SHEEP VS. THE SHEPHERD

Throughout the New Testament, the Church is likened unto a flock of sheep, under the supervision of under-shepherds, who are in turn answerable to Christ, the 8ood Shepherd, Whose sheep they are. "But some things really puzzle me.

First, I have difficulty visualizing sheep that are dumb before their shearers (Isaiah 53:7) as openly contending with their shepherds over their diet; whether it involves Doctrine or Practice, Creed or Conduct.

Second, I have trouble imagining sheep holding a parley to decide upon a shepherd.

And lastly, for the life of me, I cannot dream that gentle and meek as sheep are that they would ever foment rebellion against a shepherd and in the end would turn upon him with gnashing teeth!

It is strange how so many "sheep" have so many characteristics of wolves.

BEWARE!

There are so many snares laid for the child of God for which he will do well to beware. On the one hand, the Christian must beware of an IGNORANCE of the Scriptures; and on the other hand, he must beware of a spirit of ARROGANCE.

Then, too, he must beware of a spirit of WORLDLINESS on the one hand, while he dodges the snares of Antinomianism, or the spirit of LAWLESSNESS, on the other.

While he must beware of an emphasis on EMOTIONALISM, he must beware as well an attitude of INTELLECTUALISM.

On the one hand, he must beware of the perils of ARMINIANISM; he must beware of the danger of FATALISM as well.

But, perhaps the greatest and most insidious snare constantly laid for the child of God is a SECTARIAN SPIRIT.

May God pity us enough to spare us from being taken in these snares.

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace," --Numb. 6

THE MARRIAGE RING

Part X --

A Marriage distinguishes man from animals; as it provides not only for the continuance but for the comfort of our race; as it contains the source of human happiness, and all those virtuous emotions which refine and adorn the character of man, IT CAN NEVER BE CONTRACTED

WITH TOO MUCH PRUDENCE AND CARE.

Love is the first obligation arising out of Marriage. Where this is wanting, Marriage is degraded into a brutal and sordid compact. This duty, though especially enjoined on the husband, belongs equally to the wife. It must be mutual, or there can be no happiness. How dreadful the idea of being chained for life to an individual for whom we have no affection! To be almost ever in the company of a person from whom we are driven back by revulsion; yet driven back upon a bond which prevents all separation and escape!

A Married couple without mutual regard is one of the most pitiable spectacles on earth. They cannot, and indeed, ...ought not to separate, and yet they remain united only to be a torment to each other!

--John Angell James

OCTOBER

1, 1859 --John Angell James dies a foremost Nonconformist leader. Through the assistance of Robert Haldane, he entered a theological academy. His book The Anxious Inquirer, which has entered an American frontier town, has given hopeful evidence of the conversion of 27 people. In addition to introducing W. B. Sprague’s Lectures On Revivals of Religion, he has introduced England to Charles Finney’s Lectures On Revivals of which he wrote in 1843, "...I think Finney’s books have done a little harm in this country, and I regret I ever gave recommendation to his lectures ...The sentiment here that has given uneasiness is a virtual denial of the Spirit’s work in conversion."

2, 1677 -Matthew Poole, the English non-Conformist preacher who has written such books as Nullity of the Roman Faith has fled to Holland when he closely escaped being waylaid one night in a narrow alley. He happened to be with a friend when he met with 2 men who were waiting for him. Though they left him alone, Poole overheard something of their conversation and afterwards declared to his friend, "I had been murdered tonight had not you been with me." He dies today in Amsterdam, and it is generally suspected he has been poisoned.

5, 1600 --Thomas Goodwin is born.

1703 --At Windsor, Connecticut, a son is born to Rev. and Mrs. Timothy Edwards. He is the fifth of eleven children, all the rest of whom will be daughters. They call him, Jonathan. "It pleased God to seize me with pleurisy;" be writes of his conversion, "in which he brought me nigh unto the grave, and shook me over the pit of Hell... I was brought to seek salvation, in a manner that I never was before; I felt a spirit to part with all things in the world, for an interest in Christ; I made seeking my salvation the main business of my life."

6, 1536 --Chained to a wooden stake, William Tyndale is first strangled, then burned. His fiendish crime is that of having translated the Word of God into the English language. He will become known as the "Father of the English Bible."

9, 1747 --David Brainerd dies today in the home of Jonathan Edwards, his father-in-law. He is 29 years old.

10, 732 --Charles Martel defeats the Saracens at the Battle of Tours. The Star and Crescent of Mohammedanism will not wave over Europe.

12, 1524 --Jacques Lefevre finishes translating the Word of God into French.

1531 ---Ulrich Zwingli receives a fatal wound while serving as a chaplain to his Swiss countrymen. He has been speared. "What matters it?" he utters, "They may kill the body but they cannot kill the soul."