ndering without a shepherd.
Only let them be Christ's sheep, and he will have compassion on
them, and teach them many things. Many may neglect them: but
Christ will not. Whoever you may be, however simple you are,
however ignorant, however lonely, still, if you are one of Christ's
sheep, if you are harmless and teachable, willing and wishing to
learn what is right, then Christ will surely teach you in his good
time. There never was a soul on earth, I believe, who really wished
for God's light, but what God's light came to it at last, as it will
to you, if you be Christ's sheep. If you are proud and conceited,
you will learn nothing. If you are fierce and headstrong, you will
learn nothing. If you are patient and gentle, you will learn all
that you need to know; for Christ will teach you. He has many ways
of teaching you. By his ministers; by the Bible; by books; by good
friends; by sorrows and troubles; by blessings and comforts; by
stirring up your mind to think over the common things which lie all
around you in your daily work. But what need for me to go on
counting by how many ways Christ will lead you, when he has more
ways than man ever dreamed of? Who hath known the mind of the Lord;
or who shall be his counsellor? Only be sure that he will teach
you, if you wish to learn; and be sure that this is what he will
teach you--to know the glory of his Father and your Father, whose
name is Love.
SERMON VI. THE HEARING EAR AND THE SEEING EYE
Proverbs xx. 12. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath
made even both of them.
This saying may seem at first a very simple one; and some may ask,
What need to tell us that? We know it already. God, who made all
things, made the ear and the eye likewise.
True, my friends: but the simplest texts are often the deepest; and
that, just because they speak to us of the most common things. For
the most common things are often the most wonderful, and deep, and
difficult to understand.
The hearing of the ear, and the seeing of the eye.--Every one hears
and sees all day long, so perpetually that we never think about our
hearing or sight, unless we find them fail us. And yet, how
wonderful are hearing and sight. How we hear, how we see, no man
knows, and perhaps ever will know.
When the ear is dissected and examined, it is found to be a piece of
machinery infinitely beyond the skill of mortal man to make. The
tiny drum of the ear, which q
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