IN the year 1844, as a young London schoolboy, I was spending the Midsummer holidays with a kind uncle and aunt at a farmhouse in Sussex. The attractions of the farmyard, the garden and the fields yielded me abundant occupation, to which the kindness of my elder friends imparted a most delightful character.
One morning, as we sat at the breakfast table, the farmer (as I shall now call my uncle) told me that he wanted me to go with him and look at some sheep which he had bought and which arrived at his farm the evening before. The number of sheep which he had bought was twenty-three, but, without telling me how many there should be, when we reached the meadow, he asked me to count them and tell him how many I made of them. This I did, and said: “There are twenty-two.” “Yes,” he replied, and that is what I make of them, but there should be twenty-three; there is one missing; what shall we do? I said, “We must try to find him.”
He then led me to the bottom of the field, beside which ran a brook of water. In some parts the water was clear, but in others it was covered with water-weeds and “flags.” He told me to look along the brook and see if the sheep was there. So I began the search, and after I had gone some distance I heard him call, and turning round I saw him pointing with his walking-stick to something which I had mistaken for watery bubbles amongst the weeds. He said, “What is that?” On looking attentively I discovered and answered, “It is the sheep.” What I had mistaken for watery bubbles was the wool on his back, and with his head buried amongst the flags I did not recognize him. Then the farmer asked me, “What shall we do now?” I replied, “We must pull him out.” He said, “Do you think we could?” I answered, “I do not know.”
Two fields away, on the other side of the brook, was one of his men named Diplock, at work. So the farmer called loudly, “Diplock! Diplock!” The man came to the opposite side of the brook, and his master said, “One of these sheep has got into the brook.” Diplock replied, “So he be, poor fellow.” He then got down into the water, took hold of the sheep, and lifted his fore legs up on to the bank where we were standing. The farmer laid hold of one ear and one leg, and I the other ear and leg, while Diplock, placing his shoulder well under the sheep’s quarters, enabled us to get him on dry land again. At first he looked most miserable, his legs stained with mud, for the brook was little more than a ditch, and the water was running out of his wool. But, as he began to recover from the stiffness in his legs and to feel the warmth of the sun, he moved two or three steps, while the other twenty-two sheep all looked towards him; then as he seemed to be sufficiently recovered to move faster, he uttered a cheerful bleat, and trotted as well as he could to join the flock of his companions.
While we were walking home, the farmer, who was a thoughtful Christian man, and took several opportunities to try to turn to my profit the lessons suggested by the occurrences on the farm, explained to me that these twenty-three sheep had always lived on a hill farm, where there were no ditches, and they had been used to drink out of shallow ponds cut like saucers in the chalk, so that they were in greater danger of falling into the ditch. There are many lessons we may learn from this little narrative.
Does it not remind us of what the Lord Jesus said about the ninety and nine sheep that went not astray, of the one that was lost, and the joy of the owner who went after it until he found it? Then, how he laid it on his shoulders rejoicing and called his friends and neighbors to rejoice with him, because he had found the sheep which he had lost!
Jesus said: “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” There were two things done for the sheep that fell into the ditch, which remind us of what the Lord Jesus said to Zacchaeus: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)). The farmer and I sought and found the sheep, but we could not save him until Diplock came, and went down “where he was” (Luke 10:3333But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, (Luke 10:33)). Read the whole parable (verses 25-37). So we all three had our joy in seeing the sheep that was lost safe again in the flock.
A great preacher wrote, about 250 years ago:—
“When seeking your lost cattle, keep in mind,
That thus Christ Jesus seeks your souls to find.”
and with these verses he concludes one of his dissertations, which I trust may be the heart response of some of the readers of this little story
“Why should I shun Thee? Blessed Saviour, why
Should I avoid Thee thus? Thou dost not chase
My soul to slay it; Oh, that ever I
Should fly a Saviour that’s so full of grace!
“Long hast Thou sought me, Lord, I now return,
Oh, let Thy bowels of compassion sound;
For my departure I sincerely mourn,
And let this day Thy wand’ring sheep be found.”
T. J.