| WAS THERE EVER KINDEST SHEPHERD? |
Was there ever kindest shepherd Half so gentle, half so sweet As the Saviour, who would have us Come and gather round His feet? There's a wideness in God's mercy, Like the wideness of the sea; There's a kindness in His justice, Which is more than liberty. For the love of God is broader Than the measure of man's mind; And the heart of the Eternal Is most wonderfully kind. If our love were but more simple, We should take Him at His word; And our lives would be all sunshine In the sweetness of our Lord. |
| --Frederick William Faber |
THE LOST LAMB FOUND
By P. Giradet
Sometimes in winter the sheep suffer greatly from the cold and heavy snowstorms. This is a description of sheep covered by the snow in winter:--
"The flock was buried Beneath a great white billow as high as a barn and as broad as a house. This great drift was rolling and curling beneath the violent blast, tufting and combing with rustling swirls, and carved as if patterns of cornice where the grooving-chisel of the wind swept round. Ever and again the tempest snatched little whiffs from the channeled edges, twirled them round and made them dance over the chine of the monster pile, then let them lie like herringbones or the seams of the sand where the tide has been. And all the while, from the smothery sky, more and more fiercely at every blast, came the pelting pitiless arrows winged with murky white and pointed with the barbs of the frost."--Blackmore
| GRACIOUS SAVIOUR, HOLY SHEPHERD |
Gracious Saviour, holy Shepherd, Little ones are dear to Thee; Gathered with Thine arms, and carried In Thy bosom, may they be Sweetly, fondly, safely tended, From all want and danger free. Let Thy holy words instruct them; Fill their minds with heavenly light; Let Thy love and grace constrain them To approve whate'er is right; Let them feel Thy yoke is easy, Let them prove Thy burden light. Taught to lisp Thy holy praises Which on earth Thy children sing, With both lips and hearts, unfeigned, Glad thank-offering may they bring; Then with all Thy saints in glory Join to praise their Lord and King. |
| --Jane E. Leeson and J. Whittemore. |