try spent their substance in riotous living,
it would not have been necessary that they should return repenting to
their Father.

XXII.

THE LOST SHEEP.

"Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth
sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them,
saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of
them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go
after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found
it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh
home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto
them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I
say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which
need no repentance."--LUKE xv. 1-7.

Although by another saying of the Lord, it is rendered certain that
hired, and even in a sinister sense "hireling," shepherds were known at
the time in the country, the presumption that the flock which this
shepherd tended was his own property is favoured both by the specific
phraseology employed in the narrative, and the special circumstances of
this particular case. The size of this flock, consisting of only a
hundred sheep, points rather to the entire wealth of a comparatively
poor man, than to the stock of a territorial magnate. The conduct of the
shepherd, moreover, is precisely the reverse of that which is elsewhere
ascribed to the "hireling whose own the sheep are not." The salient
feature of the man's character, as it is represented in the parable,
constitutes a specific proof of his ownership,--"he careth for the
sheep," and that too with a peculiar and self-sacrificing
tenderness.[75]

[75] In the nature of the case a great and incurable defect adheres
to the method of employing a hired servant to keep a flock of sheep,
without giving him a material interest in the prosperity of his
charge. Such is the nature of the occupation, and such its sphere,
that the servant is necessarily far and long removed from the
master's inspection, and if suspicion should arise, proof of
unfaithfulness could hardly be brought home to the accused. It is
the interest of the owner to contrive some method of linking the
profit of the shepherd