To the Christian Scientist there surely is a close relation between the words of Jesus in John, 10: 14,"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine," and the words on the first page of the Christian Science Journal of April, 1895, the first paragraph of "Church and School," by Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, wherein the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," are ordained as the pastor of the Church of Christ, Scientist, universally. The significance of the fact that the words shepherd and pastor are synonymous, makes this relationship apparent. To appreciate the full meaning of the term, however, we must be acquainted with the manner of the oriental shepherd. There is a tie of tenderness between this shepherd and his sheep. He leads them instead of driving them; calls them by name; watches over them and cares for them; guards and protects them by night. How beautifully we have this brought out in the twenty-third Psalm. David could appreciate the figure he used so fittingly, since he himself had faithfully watched over the "few sheep in the wilderness." Among the hills and valleys of Judæa, where the good Shepherd himself would wander, a shepherd in a higher sense, he dared, encountered, and overcame the ferocity of ravenous beasts to save—a lamb. All through the Bible this same figure is used as showing the close connection between God and his people.
Now if we consider some of the many duties of a shepherd, as the term is thus used, we may be able to gather thoughts of comfort and profit. First, the shepherd knew his sheep, and so Jesus says, "I know my sheep;" not the mortal sense of him, but the spiritual consciousness of which his high pattern of a mortal life was the expression. That consciousness knew the thoughts that were in harmony with him, so that as soon as they came in contact there was a recognition. As with Jesus, so with our shepherd (pastor) to-day. The spiritual consciousness of which the written page is the expression, is the same as that which Jesus expressed. The shepherd knows his sheep. The sheep know the shepherd. The recognition is mutual. Now the question arises, How well do we know our shepherd?
It is told of a traveller in the East that, to test the truthfulness of the matter as to whether the sheep knew the shepherd, he made arrangements with one of that occupation to exchange clothes. The stranger then went out in the shepherd's garb and called the sheep, they only looked up and then went on grazing. But as soon as the shepherd himself spoke, though disguised, the sheep ran to him. Do we know the voice of our shepherd as well, so that "the voice of a stranger we will not follow"? Are we ever listening for the voice of this shepherd, and so imbibing the spirit of our pastor, that we can recognize at once the discordant tone of strange teaching? Many are the strange voices that would lead us astray into the wilderness of mortal sense, but close attention to our pastor's voice will always save us.
