he Prophet Isaiah it was said that He should "gather them with His
arm, and carry them in His bosom." By carrying them in His bosom is
meant the love He bears them, and the fulness of His grace; by carrying
them on His shoulders is signified the security of their
dwelling-place; as of old time it was said of Benjamin, "the beloved of
the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him . . . and the Lord shall cover
him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders[16];"
and again, of Israel, "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth
over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them
on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange
god with him." And again, in the Prophet Isaiah, "Bel boweth down,
Nebo stoopeth; their idols were upon the beasts and upon the
cattle . . . hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob . . . which are carried
_by Me_ from the womb . . . Even to your old age I am He, and even to
hoary hairs will I carry you; I have made and I will bear, even I will
carry, and will deliver you[17]." He alone, who "bowed Himself and
came down," He alone could do it; He alone could bear a whole world's
weight, the load of a guilty world, the burden of man's sin, the
accumulated debt, past, present, and to come; the sufferings which we
owed but could not pay, the wrath of God on the children of Adam; "in
His own body on the tree[18]," "being made a curse for us[19]," "the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God," "through the
Eternal Spirit offering Himself without spot to God, and purging our
conscience from dead works to serve the Living God[20]." Such was the
deed of Christ, laying down His life for us: and therefore He is called
the Good Shepherd.

And hence, in like manner, from the time of Adam to that of Christ, a
shepherd's work has been marked out with special Divine favour, as
being a shadow of the good Shepherd who was to come. "Righteous Abel"
was "a keeper of sheep," "and in process of time" he "brought of the
firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had
respect unto Abel and to his offering[21]." And who were they to whom
the Angels first brought the news that a Saviour was born? "Shepherds
abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night[22]."
And what is the description given of the chosen family when they
descended into Egypt? "Thy servants," they say, "are shepherds, both
we and also our fathers[23];" and wha