would be justly suspected of being a thief. Every true shep- herd, as a matter of course, makes use of the door.
The " door" He afterwards interprets to mean Himself. The latent thought evidently is, that any teacher of religion who does not take up and discharge his office with faith in Christ and His atonement, and with an aim to glorify Christ, is unfit for his business, and unable to do any good. Instead of being a shep- herd who helps and feeds, he is no better than a " robber," who does harm. Instead of saving souls, he kills them. Instead of bringing life, he brings death to his hearers.
Some, as Chrysostom, Euthymius, Theophylact, Maldonatus, think the "door" means the Scriptures. Others, as Tholuck and Hengstenberg, think the "door" means a proper divine call to office. Both views seem to me unnatural and incorrect.
Augustine observes: "Christ's fold is the Catholic Church. Whoso would enter the fold, let him enter in by the door : let him preach very Christ. Let him not only preach very Christ. but seek Christ's glory, not his own." — He says again, " I, seek- ing to enter into your hearts, preach Christ : if I preach other than that, I shall be striving to climb in some other way. Christ is my Door : through Christ I win your hearts."
Language borrowed from the care of sheep and sheepfolds would be much more intelligible in Palestine than it is here in England. Keeping sheep was much more common there than in our climate. Folds, doors, shepherds, thieves climbing over some other way, would be points familiar to most Jews. Moreover, the use of such language in speaking of spiritual things would be peculiarly intelligible to all who had read Jer. xxiii., Ezek. xxxiv., and Zech. xi.
Brentius remarks on the condescension of our Lord in bor- rowing spiritual lessons from such humble sources : " What is more low than a shepherd's condition? Every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. What more dull and stupid than a sheep ? Yet here is a picture of Christ and believers ! "
Sir Isaac Newton, in his book on Daniel, supposes that our Lord, in choosing the subject of this parable, had before His eyes the many sheepfolds near the temple and about Jerusalem, where sheep were kept ready to be sold for sacrifice.
The expression, " some other way," seems tome purposely very wide. Men may become teachers of the Church from many different motives, and in many different frames of mind. Some may be sceptical, some formalists, some worldly; but all alike are wrong, if they do not enter office " through the Door : " viz., by Christ.
The word rendered "the same " would be more literally trans- lated, "that man."
The expression, " thief and rob1 <>r, " is very strong, aud sup-