Evening star., 1932-02-20

! Washington in his life as surveyor
! soldier and statesman practiced the
principles taught b. our Lord in this
/ portrait that the Master has given us OF
! His own life Here in the message that
| Jesus gave as a rebuke to the leaders
who had misused their authority, in
casting out from the temple the blind
man to whom the great Physician had
! given sight. one can observe the prin-
ciple of the patliot. who risked his all
/ to secure liberty for the Colonies from
! the mother country because George III
! had exercised the same spirit toward
! the Colonies that the PhariSeeS haT
I manifested in their accommodation
of the blind man. whose eyes Christ had
! opened There was comfort for the
! courageous confessOr of his faith in
Jesus in Christs comparison between
the true and false shepherds. that
, furnished to the Revolutionary heroes
! inspiration to lock TO the Almighty for
help in their battles for freedom.
Throughout Palestine the shepherd is
familiar SIGHT. The people of that
land follow the examsle of Abraham,
who was a shepherd. Wherever one
travels in the Near East. they will see
the figure Cf the shepherd with his
Hooks today, as he was present in the
days of cur Lord. David in his shepherd
psalm. which is one that not only We.
but the people of Ch:ist'S time. learned
in early childhood. taught humanity S
dependence upon the Lord for shelter,
security and supplies. Moved by selfish
ness, false rulers neglected TO consider
the welfare of their subjects To that
extent that Christ called them robbers.
His condemnation of Their attitude
toward the former bind beggar was
quickly understood by the people to
! whom Jesus delivered this message,
/ which has been called the heart of
Christianity. 1t resulted i'll the final
break between the Pharisees and was
the Masters last public testimony to
Himself before HIS passion.
The Sheeprold.
One needs to picture in his own mind
! the sheepfold to which the shepherds
! bring the sheep at night for protection.
II the full force of the Masters refer
cnce to the sheepfo,d is understood. The
people to whom the words of the lesson
were addressed would easily understa nd
1t, because 1t was part of their fe
1t usually was al area that number
OF shepherds used for their f1OckS 1t
contained no rOCf, but its SIDES were
built SO as to keep out any beasts that
would seek to destroy the sheep. There
was only one entrance. which is spoken
OF as the door. Sometimes the porter
blocked that entrance by his own body
More frequently it was closed by a
strong door, SO that the sheep had
complete protection
The sheepfold pictures the character
of the people of GCd for it represents
the Kingdom of God The sheep was a
title frequently used in the Old Testa-
ment to refer to Gods people. SO here
it represents those who are saved and
are depending upon Christ Jesus for
salvation. security and substance. The
door is a symbol OF the Master. who
has provided for all believers a saliva
ton. This provided Tor them an en-
trance into the protection and blessed
ness of Gods saving love.
Jesus refers to the profesSed religious
leaders of His nation, who had e%eom-
municated the man He had healed
as thieves and robbers. They had
claimed to possess the absolute author
ity to prescribe the conditions OF en-
trance into the kingdom. They made
them cruel enough and had shut out
the one born blind and all others who
refused to recognize their authority
Jesus spoke the second part OF this ad-
dress against the prOfessed shepherds