e Christ, you
have tests of all kinds that you plume yourselves on, therefore your
darkness and your sin remain." That is to say, the one sufficient test
of Christ's claim is need. He presents Himself as the Light of the
world, but if we are unconscious of darkness we cannot appreciate Him.
But surely there are many of us who feel as if we were born blind,
unable to see things spiritual as we ought; as if we had a sense too
little, and could not find our way satisfactorily through this life. We
hear of God with the hearing of the ear, but do not see Him; we have not
the close and unmistakable discernment that comes by sight.

FOOTNOTES:

[34] See the _Meditations_ of Marcus Aurelius.

XXI.

_JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD._

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door
into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same
is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear
his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them
out. When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them, and
the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will
they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice
of strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto them; but they
understood not what things they were which He spake unto them. Jesus
therefore said unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am
the door of the sheep. All that came before me are thieves and
robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by Me if
any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and
shall find pasture. The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and
kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it
abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down
His life for the sheep. He that is a hireling, and not a shepherd,
whose own the sheep are not, beholdeth the wolf coming, and leaveth
the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf snatcheth them, and scattereth
them: he fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the
sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know Mine own, and Mine own
know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father; and I
lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are
not of this fo