"What does 'hireling' mean?" said Margaret.
"It means, dear," replied mamma, "one who is hired to care for the sheep, but who does not know them or love them as the good shepherd does."
"I know," said Harold; "it means that Jesus can take care of us better than anyone else."
"Yes," said mamma, "that is just what it means. And here is another story from the Bible, which Jesus told to show how very tenderly he loves and cares for his little ones":--
"'Jesus said, See that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. How think ye? If any man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go unto the mountains and seek that which goeth astray?
[Illustration] THE GOOD SHEPHERD By W. C. T. Dobson
"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. He that is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, beholdeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf snatcheth them, and scattereth them: he fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for his sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know mine own, and mine own know me, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd."--_The Words of Jesus_ [End illustration]
And if so be that he find it, verily, I say unto you, he rejoiceth over it more than over the ninety and nine which have not gone astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones shall perish.'"
"In the book of the Bible called the Psalms," continued mamma, "the twenty-third is often called the Shepherd Psalm."
"Suppose," said mamma, "that one of the sheep in our picture could talk and think like you. Would he not wish to say something about his shepherd, very much like this psalm? The sheep would tell you how the shepherd led him to the green pastures, and let him rest by the brooks that flow gently through the meadows, and kept him safe in the valleys where no wild beasts were hiding to kill him, and put out his long staff to guide him and to help him up the steep paths of the hills. Now let us say the psalm together."