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THE GOOD SHEPHERD

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 11, 1877

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 50, No. 15.

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THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

By W. H. D. A.

The snow was drifting o’er the hills, Fierce was the wind and loud, While the Good Shepherd forward pressed, His head in sorrow bowed: “O Shepherd, rest, nor farther go, The tempest hath begun.” “I cannot stay, I must away To seek my little one!”
A thorn-wreath bound the gentle brow That beam’d with pity sweet, And marks of wounds were in his hands, And scars upon his feet. Again I said: “O Shepherd, rest, The tempest hath begun.” He murmur’d: “Nay, I must away To seek my little one.”
“I saw thy flock at peace within Thine own well-guarded fold; O Shepherd, pause, for wild the gale That rages o’er the wold!” “No; one poor lamb hath gone astray, And soon may be undone; I cannot stay, I must away To seek my little one!”
“But, since thy flock are all secure, Why to the night repair? If thou hast ninety-nine at home Why for a truant care?” “Dearer to me than all the rest Is that poor struggling one! I cannot stay, I must away To seek my little one!”
“Good Shepherd, tell me, if his need Should bring the wanderer home, Wilt thou not punish him with stripes, Lest he again should roam?” “No; I would clasp him to my heart, As mother clasps her son. I cannot stay, I must away To seek my little one!”
Even so, I thought, our gracious Lord Hath in his heart divine A wealth of love for all his saints— For all the ninety-nine! But most he loves and most he seeks The soul by sin undone; And still he sighs: “I must away To seek my little one!”
—W. H. D. A., in Scottish Guardian.