The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 222

II. IT 18 IMP0nTANT NOT TO LET LOWEB INTEIIESTS DLIND UB TO oun HIGHEST GOOD. Eyes, hands, 11.nd feet are good and useful things in themselves. A maimed creature who has lost any of these valuable organs and limbs is certainly a pitiable object. Naturally and rightly we desire to keep our body sound and whole. Many possession3, though less intimately connected with our persons, a.re still justly valued when con- sidered by themselves. But this valuation only touches a part of life, and that tha lower part. If the enemy can seize the outworks and turn them again8t the citadel, i, is dl'sirable to demolish them, excellent as they may be in form and structure, because the principal object is to keep the citadel, The great necessity in spiritual things is to guard the very life of God within. If anything threatens this it threatens our highest interest. Selfish people are. their own wor~t enemies, bccaure, while panderin 6 to the outer self, they starve and poison the true self. III. IT 1B WISE TO lllAKE ANY SACRIFICE TO SAVE THE TilUE LIFE, We admit this in bodily disease. The shattered limb must be amputated to preserve the patient's life. The same principle applies in spiritual regions. The pain of losing what is very near and dear to us ma.y be great. But we dare not be cowardly. A greater evil is the alternative. We may spare our friendship, our wealth, our plea.sure, and yet destroy -our souls, Then at best these things can but decorate the tomb of the dead spiritual nature. We have tc rise to the stern severity of life. Sin is so terrible that it cannot be laid aside as one would put off a superfluous garment. It bas eaten its way like a. cancer into our very being. We shrink from the knife, but we must submit to it if we would live, Desperate efforts are needed--or rather a patient submission to the ,:reat Deliverer of souls who sometimes saves by terrible means. Yet he does save 1- W, F, A. Vere. 12, 13.-The lost aheep and the good shepherd. This parable ill here associated with Christ's care for little children (see vers. 10--14). But in St. Luke it is applied to the recovery of publicans and sinners (Luke xv. 1, 4-7). There can be no doubt that St. Luke coanects it with its most evident and general lesson. Still, there is an afortiori argument in the use of the parable in St. Matthew. If Christ cares for the most abandoned sinners, much more will he save little children when they begin tu wander, especially as this is too often the case just because the negligence or evil -example of older people causes them "to stumble." L THE SHEEP, 1. The hundred. We start with the picture of a complete flock. All men belong by nature tc God. We begin life with God. If we sin we fall. Siu is losing our first estate, wandering from the fold. 2. The ninety and nine. Many are here represented as faithful. We might think of many worlds of angelic beings in contrast of our own fallen world, or of many members of a Church or family when con- trasted with a single defaulter, A parable caanot be pressed ia all its details in order to extort from it the exact statistics of a religious census. It is enough that under certain -circumstances one is seen to fall away from the fidelity preserved by his companions. Now the ninety and nine are left. Absolutely Christ does not leave his true sheep. But a special care is needed to find the lost one. There is a common selfishness in religious people who would eajoy the luxuries of devotion in such a way as to hiuder the work of saving the lost. Churches are filled with worshippers, who in some cases hold their pews as private possessions, so that the wayfaring man and the stranger feel that they are not welcome, Yet if the gospel is for any one, it is for them. S. The lost sheep. There is but one. Yet it is a great trouble that one should go astray, (1) This shows the value of an individual soul. (2) It reveals the awful evil of sin. The lapse of but one man into so fearful a fall is enough to disarrange the whole order or the community, II. THE SHEPHERD, 1. His departure. He leaves the flock; but they are safe; for they are in the fold, Moreover, the sight of his departure to save the lost is a warning to those left at home of the evil of straying. 2. His journey. He must travel far in a waste and difficult country, Sin leads its votaries into hungry solitudes and among fearful dangers. Christ follows the wandering soul. His advent tc this world was hi~ following, and his hard life and death his journeying over wild mountains. He follows ench one now. He will not leave the lost to their fate. 3, His success. He finds the lost sheep. He is a good Shepherd-energetic, persevering, self-sacrificing. 'l'herefont JdATTllEW-IL Cl  226 THE GOSrEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [on. xvm. 1-35.