J. And did you write a song about it?
G. Something like it, my girl. I have said how happy the lambs belonging to this good shepherd should be under his care; and I have written it as if He were a shepherd speaking to his sheep.
W. Why, Sir, you said our song was silly because it was about a dog.
G. If your song had spoken of the faithfulness of the dog to his master, as reminding us of our duty to God, I should have been better pleased with it. You will find that what the shepherd in my song is represented as saying, is to remind you of the loving-kindness of Christ the good shepherd, and how attentive we should be to his word, if we belong to his flock.
J. I should like to hear the song. Do read it to us if you please, Sir.
G. Listen then to
THE SHEPHERD’S SONG.
Come, little lambs, and feed
Safe in the fertile mead,
Where gentle waters pass,
Amidst the flow’rs and grass:
Your Shepherd’s hand and crook are near:
Here rest in peace, exempt from fear.
Go not, my lambs, astray
In any devious way;
The savage wolves will leap
Upon the wand’ring sheep:
Here, in this pleasant pasture rest,
With plenty, peace, and safety blest.
Can that poor lamb rejoice,
Who will not hear my voice?
But though of danger told,
Resolves to leave the fold?—
The wolf has seized him—hear his cries,
The wand’rer groans—the wand’rer dies.