“ For Thou art with me. Ah, how could more be put into few words! With the sheep, it matters not what the surroundings are, nor how great the perils and hardships; if only the shepherd is with them, they are content. There is no finer picture of the way of peace for the troubled in all the world.
“To show how much the presence of the shepherd counts for the welfare of the sheep I can think of nothing better than the strange thing I now tell you. It is quite beyond the usual, daily care on which the flock depends so fondly. But I have seen it more than once.
“Sometimes, in spite of all the care of the shepherd and his dogs, a wolf will get into the very midst of the flock. The sheep are wild with fright. They run and leap and make it impossible to get at the foe in their midst, who at that very moment may be fastening his teeth in the throat of a helpless member of the flock. But the shepherd is with them. He knows what to do even at such a time.
He leaps to a rock or hillock that he may be seen and heard. Then he lifts his voice in a long call, something like a wolf’s cry:
‘Ooh! ooh!’
“On hearing this, the sheep remember the shepherd; they heed his voice; and, strange to tell, the poor, timid creatures, which were helpless with terror before, instantly rush with all their strength into a solid mass. The pressure is irresistible; the wolf is overcome; frequently he is crushed to death, while the shepherd stands there on a rock crying, ‘Ooh! ooh!’ I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.”
He paused, looking questioningly at one and another.
“Yes,” I said at last, “‘in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.’” He bowed his satisfaction in silence.