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the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not fol- low, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
The chapter we have now begun is closely connected with the preceding one. The parable before us was spoken with direct reference to the blind teachers of the Jewish Church. The Scribes and Pharisees were the persons our Lord had in view, when He described the false shepherd. The very men who had just said " We see," were denounced with holy boldness, as " thieves and robbers."
We have, for one thing, in these verses, a vivid picture of a false teacher of religion. Our Lord says that he is one who" enters not by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way."
The " door," in this sentence, must evidently mean something far more than outward calling and com- mission. The Jewish teachers, at any rate, were not deficient i#fchis point : they could probably trace up their orders in direct succession to Aaron himself. Ordination is no proof whatever that a man is fit to show others the way to heaven. He may have been regularly set apart by those who have authority to call ministers, and yet all his life may never come near the door, and at last may die nothing better than " a thief and a robber."
The true sense of the "door" must be sought in our Lord's own interpretation. It is Christ Himself who is " the door." The true shepherd of souls is he who enters the ministry with a single eye to Christ, desiring to glorify Christ, doing all in the strength of Christ, preaching Christ's doctrine, walking in Christ's steps, and labouring to bring men and women to Christ. The false shepherd of