We oft hear the plea for trying to keep
The lambs of the flock in the fold;
And well we may! But what of the sheep?
Shall they be left out in the cold?
'Twas a sheep—not a lamb—that wandered
away
In the gospel of Luke fifteen:
A grown-up sheep that had gone astray
From the flock in that wilderness scene.
Out in a desert land, out in the cold,
'Twas a sheep the good Shepherd sought;
And back to the flock, then safe in the fold,
'Twas a sheep the good Shepherd brought.
And why for the sheep should we earnestly
long,
And as earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger, if they go wrong,
They will lead the young lambs away.
For the lambs will follow the sheep, you
know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
If the sheep go wrong it will not be long
'Til the lambs are as wrong as they.
And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today.
If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost
Some sheep will have to pay!