A friend of mine lost all his children. No man could ever have loved his family more; but the scarlet fever took one by one away; and so the whole four or five, one after another, died.
The poor stricken parents went over to great Britain, and wandered from one place to another, there and on the continent. At length they found their way to Syria.
One day they saw an Eastern shepherd come down to a stream, and call his flock to cross. The sheep came down to the brink, and looked at the water; but they seemed to shrink from it, and he could not get them to respond to his call.
He then took a little lamb, put it under one arm; he took another lamb and put it under the other arm, and thus passed into the stream.
The old sheep no longer stood looking at the water: they plunged in after the shepherd; and in a few minutes the whole flock was on the other side; and he led them away to newer and fresher pastures.
The bereaved father and mother, as they looked on the scene, felt that it taught them a lesson. They no longer murmured because the Great Shepherd had taken their lambs one by one into yonder world; and they began to look up and look forward to the time when they would follow the loved ones they had lost.
If you have loved ones gone before, remember that your Shepherd is calling you to “set your affection on things above.” (Colossians 3:2).
Let us be faithful to Him, and follow Him, while we remain in this world.
And if you have not taken Him for your Shepherd, do so this very day.
Christ is not only all these things that I have mentioned: He is also our Mediator, our Sanctifier, our Justifier; in fact, it would take volumes to