Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-13
OUR SERMLON-IV
by CHARLES CLARK PIERCE
The Worlds Need of Leadership

i 1NAt anu Wien ne saw the lnultltudeSs
he was moved with compassion on them
because they tainted and were scattered
abroad. sheep having no shepherd. -
Mathew 9:36.
Nothing is more interesting and in
structiVe in the study OF mankind than
TO trace the still powerful resemblances
which human beings bear to the So
caled lower orders of animals, to whom
IL Is believed that man is intimately re-
lated in more ways than one. A great
Leacher under whose noble instruction
1t was once my high privilege to sit.
USED TO say to his class when referring
10 this fact, "be careful, young men.
now you despise your poor relations"
without any time or desire to dis
cuss the scientific phase of this great
question, leaving that to the scientists
and theologians to settle as thew will.
one thing we all must admit, and this
Is that 1t is a common thing to liken
human beings to animals. In various
figures of speech this has been done
as the different characteristics of man
nave been referred to, until in one form
OF another the resemblance has been
traced to many of the animals with
which we are familiar, to the lion, the
pear, the wolf, the fox, the serpent, the
haWk, the eagle and others.
Perhaps no resemblance has ever
been based on a more exact knowledge
of the nature and needs of man. and
none is more pathetic when man is re-
ferred to, nor reveals more nobility
When Christ is considered, than the
one in which the human race is lik-
ened to sheep. In so many ways the
vast rank and file of humanity have
through all the ages resembled these
We'll known domestic animals. First
OF all, the sheep is sheared by his own
er once each year, and the sheep, pro-
leSTlnR n he
around each successive year to have
the process renewed. The sheep has
little or no thought for its own well
1are, and exists largely for the enrich
ment Of those who own and herd it,
II this has not been the history of the
human race, than it has no history.
The sheep it is said is the most help
less Of animals, and can do little to
care for itself, and when we read the
history of the vast majority of man
KIND We find the parallel holds. The
great to1l1ng masses of humanity have
enriched and cared for all but them
selves. They have dug the wealth out
OF the bowels of the earth, and others
nave spent the gold and worn the Jew
els; they have built the mansions and
themselves lived in huts, novels and
sheds; they have extracted the milk of
sustenance from the breasts of old
mother earth, and others have taken
the cream, leaving to them the SKINNED
milk and the whey; they have erected
the banks and guarded the treasures
which they themselves have created,
but the treasure thus produced and
guarded has been the property of some
one else. They have laid down their
lives on every battlefield in all the
world, and in every age, and others
have enjoyed the fruits of the victory
which they have so dearly bought.
ThDFn in, ha h
tory of the world when these things
were more true of the great mass of
the people who represented the sheep,
and their rulers who represented the
masters, than in the time of Jesus the
Teacher, unless that time is the pres
ent. He saw the people with their
eXploiters, their masters, their robbers,
their rulers, but with no master having
the instincts of the true shepherd. The
same thing exists today as truly as
then.
The world has had and has today too
many masters, and too few loving lead
ers-- too many exploiters, and too few
who are seeking the interests of all
mankind; too many looking out for
their individual interests, and too few
who are deeply interested in the well
fare Of their fellows; too many who are
seeking to amass a fortune, and too few
who are figuring the inestimable value
of human life and human character as
represented and expressed in the great
rank and file of mankind; too many
millionaires, and too few who are seek
ing to make all life rich and noble and
high; too many who are studying to
look out for number one" and too few
who are cultivating the altruistic spirit;
too many who are seeking to herd and
shear the sheep, and in some cases,
alas, sacrifice them and too few who
are seeking in the spirit of loving ser
vice to care for and protect and guide
them.
When compared with the spirit all too
frequently manifested by the great
ones" of the world, it's rulers, kings,
noblemen and the rest, how glorious
seems the spirit of the worlds noblest
Leader, who loved to call himself 1.-THE
Shepherd of the sheep" How i'm
pressiVe and touching the comparison
with which he beheld the multitudes,
how tender was his thought for them,
how willingly did he sacrifice every self
that he might enrich, lead, enlighten
protect and advance the great mass of
humanity. And what the world needs
today is not so much after all leaders
and guides, for the race is itself en-
dowed with intelligence and can work
out its own problems, but the need that
is greatest today is for the spirit of love
of thoughtfulness, of service and help
fitness which will surrender its own
personal gain and trample on its own
selfish desires that the weak, the needy,
the innocent, the thoughtless and the
helpless may be led into the possession
of all that the great God of our being
would bestow upon all his children.