by the Spirit that our hearts learn more of the truth of God. It is the Spirit that is our Comforter in trouble, our Guide in doubt, our Sanctifier continually. We ought to seek that our hearts may be temples of the Holy Ghost, in which he may always abide. When we pray for this, God will hear us. For there is no doubt that this is good. We may feel sure, when we seek the Spirit, that we are seeking according to the will of God, and that he will give to us according to our prayer. Why do we not believe this promise more fully, and pray more constantly, more earnestly, and more in faith, for the Spirit?

But is the promise confined to those who expressly ask for the Holy Spirit? The words are more general -" to them that ask him." God knows what we most want. Perhaps sometimes when we put up a prayer in all sincerity for something that would not be for our good, God answers it by sending us the Holy Spirit. Perhaps when we, in some hour of deep distress, can only cry, "Lord, help me!" God answers that prayer by the gift of the Spirit. There are times when we cannot find words for prayer, and when even our thoughts refuse to form themselves into petitions. Still let us pray. Even at such times let us cast ourselves upon the love and compassion of God in Christ, and place our hearts, as it were, in the attitude of prayer. Then the Spirit will help our infirmities, aking intercession for us with groanings which cannot ttered. God will give his Holy Spirit to them that him, even in the way of helping them to ask him; the earnest desires and the broken cries which Spirit prompts will be answered in a larger outing of the Spirit's grace into the soul.

XXII.

CHRIST THE DOOR.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, 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. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, 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. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever 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 out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." JOHN X. 1-10.

F we take the whole passage down to the end of the sixteenth verse as containing one parable and its explanation, still the parable seems naturally to divide itself into two parts, in the first of which our Lord likens himself to the door of the sheepfold, in the second to the shepherd. We will here consider the first part only, keeping the second part for another chapter.

The sheepfold in that age and country was very different from ours. It was inclosed within high walls, and was entered by a door. This door was kept by a porter, who would of course who had a right to go in.

open it to none but those If a thief therefore came,

he would not try to enter by the door, but would climb up by the wall in some other place; and whoever did so would be proved thereby to be a thief and a robber; for if he were the shepherd, the porter would readily open to him, and he would go in by the door.

It is not difficult to see that by the sheepfold is meant the Church of Christ, within which his sheep, or people, are, as it were, kept and fed. And it is equally plain that "the shepherd of the sheep" means the true minister of the gospel. In the latter part of the parable we shall see that Jesus himself is "the Good Shepherd"; but here, when he says, "He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep," he is probably speaking of an under-shepherd, a minister; for there would seem to be some confusion in his speaking of himself in the same sentence, both under the figure of the door, and under that of the shepherd who goes in by the door;-and there is no confusion in the teaching of our Lord.

In explaining the parable, he tells us plainly what is meant by the door: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep." He himself is the door of the sheepfold, and by him every true shepherd goes in. But the Jewish teachers did not go in by him. When once he had come and proclaimed himself as the Son of God, the promised Messiah, they ought to have believed in him, and received him, and taught the people to do the same. Then they would have been true ministers of God, going in by the door to tend the flock. Instead of this, they rejected and opposed him. Thus they proved themselves to be no shepherds, but thieves and robbers. For every true shepherd went in

by the door, Christ Jesus; but they climbed up another

way.

If any

This applies to ministers of the gospel now. one does not go in to the flock by Christ as the door, he is no true shepherd. He may bear the name, and fill the office outwardly, as even the scribes sat in Moses' seat; but unless he has received Christ himself by faith, and become partaker of his Spirit, and unless he preaches Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, he is no real minister of his. He does indeed appear in the sheepfold, and profess to feed the sheep; but he has not come in by the door, he has climbed up some other way. What is he then? A thief and a robber. If he preach any other doctrine than that of Christ crucified, he is but stealing the hearts of the people, robbing them of the truth, misleading and deceiving them. And if he has undertaken the ministry, and still carries it on, not from faith in Christ, and a desire to spread his kingdom and win souls to him, but from some selfish or worldly motive, then also he is not a true shepherd; for he has gone without being sent, he has taken an office to which he was not called, he has not entered by the door, he has no right to be where he is. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ," says the apostle," he is none of his."

And if any one who is outwardly Christ's minister be destitute of his Spirit, surely he too is really no minister of his.

"All that ever came before me," said our Lord, "are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them." Probably he still meant to allude to the Jewish teachers just before his coming, and at the very time of it; for he could not be speaking of the ancient prophets. Now it is expressly said that the people

were astonished at the teaching of our Lord, "for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes"; showing that the Jewish teachers, not being true teachers, had no weight with the people. They were thieves and robbers, not shepherds, and the sheep did not hear them or follow them. There was nothing in their teaching to touch the conscience or to meet the wants of the soul, for they did not speak from God.

Whether our Lord in this first part of the parable alludes to himself at all, as being the chief shepherd, or whether (as before supposed) he here speaks of himself under the figure of the door only, and means by the shepherd a common minister, it is clear that he describes what will be the effect of every true minister's work. All who go in to the sheep by the door, and simply and faithfully preach Jesus Christ, will find that the sheep hear them, and learn to know their voice, and to follow them. The faithful ministry of the word will never be in vain. There will, indeed, be many failures and disappointments; yet some at least of those who hear will hear to the saving of their souls, and will be brought into the true spiritual fold of Christ. There is an attractive power in the preaching of the cross, which all other preaching wants. Great gifts will often draw a crowd to hear, whatever the substance of the preaching may be; but that which will win hearts is the simple preaching of Christ. God's word does not return to him void.

The parable beautifully shows the close and loving union between a true minister of the gospel and those to whom he ministers. Going in and out among them in his Master's name, he is gladly welcomed by them. "To him the porter openeth." Some think there is a