Bell-Sheep

WE observed outside Rome, on the Appian Way, a shepherd leading his flock to the place of safety for the night. The flock hastened after him, and one of the great white dogs of the Campagna kept guard at the rear of the sheep. The shepherd was leading a sheep at his side, which had a rope tied round its neck, and the peculiar sight led us to question our companion.
“The shepherd," said he, "is by means of the leading-string training that sheep to walk at his heels. Here the bell-sheep follows close to the shepherd, and the flock follows close to the bell-sheep. Certain sheep are selected for bell-sheep, and they are regularly trained to their duty. Should the chosen sheep prove itself unfit for its position, it is set aside, and another is selected for the place. The shepherd of a large flock will have three or four sheep trained to this service. These bell-sheep the shepherd calls by name, and they know his voice, so that even after dark he has no difficulty in leading them. The flock follows the sound of the bells, and the large white dogs of the Campagna keep the flock in safety as they bring up the rear.”
This pleasant little episode gives quite a fresh idea to us on the honor of being a bell-sheep! We usually associate the distinction with extra power in leadership, but the Italian shepherd gives us to attach the power to his own voice in keeping these pre-eminent sheep close to his side. The true bell-sheep in the flock of God will surely be the one who follows the most closely the steps of the Lord and obeys most readily the voice of the Good Shepherd.
What a beautiful succession it would be in the flock of God—the Chief Shepherd going first, followed by the distinguished of the flock, swift in obeying His voice and making His Word their guide even when the darkness of the hour prevented them seeing the Shepherd; He leading His flock for the good of every sheep composing it, and the music of the bells of the selected leaders telling the flock the way the Shepherd leads!
From the Mission Field
CHINA.
THE spiritual needs of the Chinese Empire are of very great magnitude. Little more than the fringe of the darkness has after all been touched. The Holy Spirit has, however, been working wonderfully in the hearts of the people of God, stirring them to labor; but how utterly insignificant, amongst three hundred millions of heathen, are the two thousand four hundred Protestant missionaries (men and women) now in China I In all parts, but specially in the interior, millions remain unreached, while to this day the provinces of Hunan and Kwang-si, with their twenty or thirty millions of people, are still without any resident missionary.
Amongst other interesting and encouraging examples of the power of true Christian faith, "China's Millions" records the story of an old man named Li Pu-cheo, He came forward on the occasion of a conference, and laid on the table a piece of silver, value about four taels, which he wished to be given to Mrs. Hsi, the widow of the pastor, because she is a widow. This man was converted fifteen years ago through a conversation with a missionary, who was then in P'ing-yang Fu. Formerly Li Pu-cheo had been a vendor of native medicine; but, as he told us himself the other night, from the time he went out of the gate of P'ing-yang Fu after that conversation, till now, he has preached the Gospel.
“We had an interesting talk with him one evening after the conference before he went away, and he told us some of his experiences. Being asked, ' On whom do you depend for food? ‘he replied, I depend on the Lord Jesus.' And perhaps there is no one on earth, except himself, who knows what those few words mean to Li Pu-cheo! Having years ago heard Pastor Hsi say that covetousness was idolatry, in order to guard against the possibility of setting his heart on money, he has ever since refused to receive payment for his services in the opium refuge or evangelistic work. He will set off on a preaching tour through the villages, carrying no money, and depending on the hospitality of those to whom he goes.
“Not long ago he and another man started for four days' preaching, but the old man relates that the Holy Spirit did not permit them to return under ten days. He is the father of the work in the Yoh-yang district. Some money was given to him while he was in Hung-Tung, and it was then found that the old man's winter coat was in pawn. He had pawned it in order to help to pay the expense of some place in the village he wanted to use as a little chapel. He had been feeling the cold in the early mornings and evenings, yet had given the silver to Mrs. Hsi without knowing where the money would come from to redeem the coat.
“Having a wadded gown I had been keeping for old Mr. Li (for I had noticed last winter how shabby his own looked), I gladly gave it to him, and he received it with these words, ' I am better off than the Lord Jesus was.”
Another story from the same source records the experiences of an opium eater.
“Among those received was a man who came to the refuge to break off his opium, and was saved; then he went home and told his wife, who also broke off her opium, and is now earnestly seeking the light. After this they took down their idols and ancestral tablet. For this insult to the religion and customs of their country the man was badly beaten by his family.
When asked how he felt while being beaten, he said, I remembered the words of Jesus, "Love your enemies."'
“Another man baptized was also an opium smoker, and was bitterly persecuted by his mother for becoming a Christian; but he remained true to the Lord, and now his mother and wife have both become interested through his changed life, and his wife has broken off opium. This man is proving to be a great help in the work.
“One of the women received was formerly a Buddhist, and had tried almost everything to get rid of sin; she is now a bright Christian, and brings many city women to the mission.”
Yet how few are the laborers in this great empire of China! Just one here and there, like a little drinking fountain in the midst of the huge desert of idolatry and superstition.
Figures and Shadows
JEHOVAH'S PORTION IN THE SACRIFICES.
JEHOVAH reserved to Himself specific portions of the sacrifices, and these, under no consideration whatever, could be partaken of by men. This fact opens up an important inquiry, both as to the value of these portions in their symbolic character, and as to the reason why man was not permitted to partake of them. The two portions reserved by Jehovah were the fat, and the blood, of the sacrifice. We open our Bibles, and find divine instruction on this matter from the early chapters of Genesis to the detailed revelations respecting sacrifice of the Mosaic era, and also in the history of Israel under her kings, and in the testimony of the psalms and the teaching of the prophets; hence in all the writings of the Old Testament. And as the New Testament, with one voice, speaks of the spiritual signification of the types of the Old Testament, the whole Bible testifies to those portions in the sacrifice which were exclusively for divine use.
The fat and the blood of the sacrifice are spoken of as the bread of Jehovah: "My bread, the fat and the blood" "All the fat is Jehovah's," was Mosaic teaching; and again and again, in the injunctions referring to the modes of sacrifice, the command occurs to remove the fat from the rest of the offering, and to burn it for a sweet savor to Jehovah. In like manner, the blood of the sacrifice was exclusively dedicated to Jehovah, and by sprinkling, anointing, and outpouring, was presented to Him.
The altar was the table, as it were, upon which the fat was placed, where it was consumed by the fire, and thus, symbolically, Jehovah partook of that part of the sacrifice which was His "bread." In the same way, by means of the altar, the blood was offered to Jehovah. It was disposed of differently from the fat, being thrown upon the sides of the altar, placed upon its horns, or poured out at the bottom of it.
We will now look a little into the meaning of the fat. First, "the fat" was the network of fat which covers the inward parts of the animal. We have not to suppose general plumpness which is easily recognized in the creature, but, on the contrary, a part of the creature which is unseen. This fat figures the health and inward vigor of the creature, and it was specifically offered to Jehovah from the days of Abel. It was placed upon the altar, and as it was consumed it arose as a sweet savor to Jehovah—that is to say, the inward vigor and excellence of the sacrifice, by being burned, ascended wholly to Jehovah—every part of it went up to Him. The idea of the consuming by fire of the sweet savor offering is quite distinct from the burning of the sin offering. The former was a delight, as it were; the latter was the opposite—it was destruction We feel at once in the application of the figure to Christ and His sacrifice, how perfect this figure is. There was in the Lord an unseen excellence which God alone could note. There were many, many beauties in His ways of love and mercy which man could and did see, but the root of all was His own essential character and perfection. On occasions, God the Father opened heaven over Him and testified: " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased "; and when the sacrificial death of the blessed One was in view, we learn that in a peculiar way the Father loved Him because He laid down His life.”
Again, in His sacrifice of Himself He fulfilled the will of God. Thus the hidden excellence of His nature was a sweet savor to His God, and His death with all its suffering was an offering, wholly ascending in its perfection to His Father.
Under the law, the worshipper coming to Jehovah was prohibited from partaking of the fat of Jehovah's offerings, and, in like manner, there are in Christ's sacrifice excellencies in which no mere man can spiritually participate, and which must forever be the sole delight of the Father. The priest, who offered the sacrifice, became, in certain instances, possessed of a particular portion of the sacrifice; thus, the right shoulder, the breast, or the skin of the victim, were acquired by him for himself while offering the sacrifice to Jehovah. The right shoulder signifies the strength; the breast, the love; the skin, the beauty of the offering sacrificed. Among the priests of God, who rejoice in the sacrifice of Christ once offered, some have exalted thoughts of the power of Christ the Savior, some of His love, and others of His moral beauties, as they worship God the Father through His Son; but of the secret of His being—"no man knoweth the Son but the Father.”
The blood of the sacrifice, like the fat, was exclusively dedicated to Jehovah. A very different instruction, however, meets us in this case. Instead of an intrinsic excellence being shadowed forth, the power of the death of the victim to magnify divine justice, is presented. From the first the blood was associated by God with the life of the creature, and, again and again, the instruction of the Mosaic age in respect to it was "the blood is the life." The blood of the sacrifice was the life taken from the offering, which stood in the stead of the offerer in his approach to Jehovah. This was sacred to Jehovah, and was received by Him upon the altar. The fat expressed the perfection of the victim, the blood expressed propitiation effected by the victim. The fat ascended by the fire of the altar in sweetness on high, the blood effected atonement on earth on the altar for the guilty. Jehovah expressly said, "The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." We observe Jehovah does not say that the fat—the excellence of the victim—makes an atonement, but the blood—that is, the life of the victim given up—the blood upon the altar, of the perfect offering. The death of the victim in sacrifice—"upon the altar"; not death merely, but life yielded up to God upon the altar.
No one in Israel was allowed to partake of blood. "Thou shalt not eat the blood" was repeated in a variety of ways, while the penalty of so doing was death. Life had been given by God; but sin had entered the world, and death by sin; and death had passed upon all men, for all had sinned; and the only way of man back to God was by the door of death. Such death could not be man's own, which would be but the penalty of his transgression, but the death of a pure and perfect Substitute, who should make atonement on his behalf.
The blood given by Jehovah upon the altar to man, in order to make atonement for man, expresses Jehovah's own satisfied requirements on account of sin. The atonement was first made, and then man derived his benefit from it. First of all, God Himself was appeased and propitiated; after that came the reconciliation of man to God. Can we not see a divine fitness in this? By sin death entered into the world; by death sin was atoned for. Death is the wages of sin: death upon the altar proclaimed the due of sin satisfied according to God. "Having made peace through the blood of His cross," we read, and we find a remarkable likeness in the words to those already quoted from Lev. 17. The peace was made by God, and by means of the blood of His Son. And the words are express—"the blood of His cross"; the altar, as it were, is specified, and the atonement is defined as the work of the cross. Upon the basis of the peace established by the atonement, God reconciles.
Our thoughts should be directed to God's own glory in the sacrifice of His Son, and we should keep God's glory in the sacrifice before our minds as the principle of all others of prime importance. It is true that much of current religion would thus be put aside; but, since every man must give account of himself to God, let each seek in the first place to be in line with God's thoughts respecting sacrifice, for right thoughts of sacrifice lie at the root of right views of the Gospel of God.