Part 22 (1/2)

Men of thought and men of action, Clear the way!

The following account of the origin of the well-known hymn, the ”Ninety and Nine,” may have a tendency to stimulate others to go and do likewise. It is taken from ”Sabbath Reading,” published by the late Mr.

Dougal of this city, who has recently pa.s.sed away into his everlasting rest.

A humble lady in Melrose, Scotland, was led to see the beauty of the character of Christ in the parable of the Good Shepherd. She possessed genius, and sometimes expressed her best thoughts and feelings in verse. The vision of Christ leaving the glories of Heaven and becoming a seeker of men who had gone astray, like an Eastern shepherd seeking a wandering sheep in perilous places, touched her heart with poetic fervor, and she wrote the hymn beginning:

”There were ninety and nine that safely lay In the shelter of the fold.”

One of the stanzas most vividly and tenderly expressed her clear view of Divine sympathy and compa.s.sion:

”But none of the ransomed ever knew How deep were the waters crossed; Nor how dark was the night that the Lord pa.s.sed through Ere He found His sheep that was lost.

Out in the desert He heard its cry-- Sick and helpless, and ready to die.”

The poem was published in a local paper, and the lady soon afterward died, and went to the Good Shepherd, whose love for the wandering and peris.h.i.+ng had gained the affections and service of her life. She was buried in one of the churchyards of beautiful Melrose.

The efforts of a sincere life always meet with the needs of others, and are often given, under Providence, a special mission in the world. The simplicity and fervor of the little poem gained for it an unexpected recognition.

The American evangelist, Mr. Sankey, was one day returning from Edinburgh to Glasgow, to hold a farewell meeting there. Glasgow had been the scene of the most signal triumphs in the work of Messrs. Moody and Sankey, and this farewell gathering promised to be one of thanksgiving and tears, of wonderful interest, power, and feeling.

Mr. Sankey, on this occasion, desired to introduce a new hymn which should represent Christ as a compa.s.sionate and all-sufficient Saviour.

”Before getting on the train,” he says, ”I went to the news-stand and bought two or three papers--some secular, some religious--and in one of them I found these verses:

”'There were ninety and nine that safely lay In the shelter of the fold,' etc.

”I said to my brother Moody, 'That's just the hymn I have been wanting.

I think the Lord has really sent it to us!'

”Next day this little tune or chant it is set to, came to me.

”We went into the noon meeting, and dear Dr. Bonar, who has written so many beautiful hymns ('I was a Wandering Sheep and did not Love the Fold,' and 'I Heard the Voice of Jesus say, Come unto Me and Rest') was there, and the thought came to me, 'We must sing now this new hymn that the Lord has sent us.'

”The tune had scarcely formed itself in my head yet, but I just cut the words from the paper, put it in front of me on the organ and began to sing them, hardly knowing where the tune was coming from. But the Lord said, 'Sing it,' and as we were singing it His Spirit came upon us, and what a blessed meeting we had!”

The meeting was a very crowded one, and tender feelings were awakened in all hearts, bringing vividly to all minds, as it did, the fact that the world is full of farewell. The imagery of the hymn, the shepherd, the sheep-fold, the dark-night on the hills, the anxious search and the joyful return, was in harmony with Scottish a.s.sociations, and touched the best feelings of the converts and inquirers. Christ stood revealed in the song, and it seemed as though the listeners went up some living Tabor, and again saw Him transfigured.

Away in the gallery there sat a lady who was at first startled, and then deeply affected by the hymn. She was unable to speak with the sweet singer in the confusion that followed the close of the meeting, but she soon after wrote to him from Melrose, and said, ”I thank you for having sung, the other day, my deceased sister's words. She wrote them five years ago. She is in Heaven now.”

The hymn has had a tender mission. Thousands seeking the help of a power outside of their own sinful nature, have seen in it the vision that the prophet saw: ”And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered there was none to uphold; _therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me_.”

What a true and striking picture is painted by the dear Saviour in this immortal parable! They are the words of Him ”who spake as never man spake:”

”What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

”And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

”And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, 'Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.'