Christian tradition, in almost its earliest inception, seized upon the Johannine image of Christ Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and has treasured the picture ever since. To the early church the imagery of the Fourth Gospel must have conveyed a deeper significance than it could to later ages. The flock of the twentieth century is composed entirely of sheep, but the shepherd of the first century, like the shepherd of the psalmist, guarded a flock made up not merely of sheep but of goats and other animals. The early church remembered the denunciation by the fierce Tertullian:—
"He saves the sheep, the goats he doth not
save.
So rang Tertullian's sentence, on the side
Of that unpitying Phrygian sect which
cried:
'Him can no fount of fresh forgiveness
lave,' "
with the result that the early Christian artist made his picture of the Good Shepherd carrying not the lamb but the kid of the flock. The lamb could be trusted to follow the Good Shepherd. It was the goat which needed to be carried in his arms. And so the Good Shepherd did not drive his flock into the sheepfold with dogs, but led it to the sheepfold walking at its head. Then, having secured them for the night, by counting them as they passed under his rod through the opening into the fold, he laid himself down in the gap, and so became the door to the fold. "Verily, verily," said Jesus. "I say unto you. I am the door of the sheep.''
