ey into the Homeland. He holds the keys of death and the
grave. How helpless a thing a sheep is! How much in need of a defender
it is! It seems as though almost any other animal can defend itself. A
dog will fight when attacked. A sheep stands helpless in the presence
of its opponent. Christ, the Good Shepherd, will protect to the last.

The comforting thoughts of this verse must certainly take the sting out
of death to those who grasp the great truths taught here. It surely
abolishes death and illumines immortality.

No one need fear death with such thoughts as these before him. The
Apostle Paul asserts that every believer in Christ has "a cheerful view
of death," and desires rather "to be absent from the body and at home
with the Lord" than to remain here upon the earth.

Go to thy grave, not as the slave scourged to his dungeon, or the dog
whipped to his kennel, but as the prince wraps around him the drapery of
his couch and lies down to pleasant dreams. The conscious companionship
of the Christ will remove thy fears. With what alacrity, courage and
fearlessness doth he walk the highway whose heart is honest and whose
conscience doth not convict him of the violation of his country's laws!
How different with the criminal! How full of fear and apprehension!

Abide with me! fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens--Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me!

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me!

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies;
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!

--_Henry F. Lyte_

CHAPTER FIVE

[Illustration]

="Thou preparest a table before me in the
presence of mine enemies; thou
anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over."=

There is a variety of senses in which the truth of this verse may be
understood.

It is said that in the ancient days a shepherd's tent was a kind of city
of