FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157  
158   159   160   161   162   163   >>  
e great Apostle, who bound themselves together by an oath that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed him. It was their justification in their own eyes, that he was a "pestilent fellow," a "stirrer of seditions," and an abomination amid sacred institutions which God had given. And, lastly, what supported him in this great trial? that special mercy which converted him, which he, and he only, saw--the Face of Jesus Christ. That all-pitying, all-holy eye, which turned in love upon St. Peter when he denied Him, and thereby roused him to repentance, looked on St. Paul also, while he persecuted Him, and wrought in him a sudden conversion. "Last of all," he says, "He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." One sight of that Divine Countenance, so tender, so loving, so majestic, so calm, was enough, first to convert him, then to support him on his way amid the bitter hatred and fury which he was to excite in those who hitherto had loved him. And if such be the effect of a momentary vision of the glorious Presence of Christ, what think you, my brethren, will be their bliss, to whom it shall be given, this life ended, to see that Face eternally? [1] Gal. i. 8, 9. [2] Acts xxi. 13. 1 Cor. ix. 22. [3] 1 Tim. i. 13. SERMON XVI. The Shepherd of our Souls. "_I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep._"--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." And in like manner St. Peter speaks of our returning "to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls[1]." "The good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." In those countries of the East where our Lord appeared, the office of a shepherd is not only a lowly and simple office, and an office of trust, as it is with us, but, moreover, an office of great hardship and of peril. Our flocks are exposed to no enemies, such as our Lord describes. The Shepherd here has no need to prove his fidelity to the sheep by encounters with fierce beasts of prey. The hireling shepherd is not tried. But where our Lord dwelt in the days of His
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157  
158   159   160   161   162   163   >>  



Top keywords:

Shepherd

 

office

 
Christ
 

shepherd

 

fellow

 

giveth

 

SERMON

 

Almighty

 

Prophets

 
servant

appropriates
 

Apostle

 

Himself

 
foretold
 
scattered
 

exposed

 

enemies

 
describes
 

flocks

 
hardship

hireling

 
fidelity
 
encounters
 

fierce

 

beasts

 

simple

 
Zechariah
 

countries

 

appeared

 
manner

speaks
 

returning

 

Bishop

 

Ezekiel

 

turned

 

pitying

 

converted

 

denied

 

persecuted

 
wrought

sudden
 
conversion
 

roused

 

repentance

 

looked

 
special
 

justification

 

killed

 

pestilent

 

lastly