Matthew 10:6

But go rather to the lost sheep, &c.— See what has been said concerning the metaphors of sheep and harvest, in the note on Matthew 10:1. With respect to the first, it should be remembered, that in the note on ch. Matthew 3:7 it was observed, that men, as animals, have each of them a peculiar resemblance to some particular species of other animals; which we exemplified in the term lamb, sheep, wolves, dogs, &c. We now farther add, that those appellations are upon no account to be taken for indelible characters; but those to whom they are applicable at any given time, may in the future course of life, through the converting and sanctifying grace of God, be enabled so far to control their wrong propensities by a steady practice of the contrary graces and virtues, as to afford to the church and to the world a quite opposite character. To effect this is the proper work of grace, producing repentance in the soul, and then genuine conversion, including a change of mental disposition, whereby the crafty, rapacious, mischievous, stubborn, or other savage temper, may be transmuted into that simplicity, meekness, harmlessness, and ductility, which constitute the character of sheep, or, what is an infinitely more honourable title, members of Christ's mystical body. When our Lord is said to behold the multitudes, tired, lying down, and without a shepherd;—when, in consequence of this view, he directs his apostles to go in quest of them, he calls them the lost sheep; not that they had gone astray from their shepherd, for they wanted one; but lost here imports, that they were quite at a loss how to proceed, and actually perishing for want of a guide. Such were the persons who had moved the compassion of our Lord, and for whose sake he had sent forth his apostles to publish the glad tidings of his kingdom, with assurances that divine power was at hand to take them under his immediate regency. And as that kingdom was mental, and therefore not obvious to sense, the apostles were at the same time sent to give visible proofs of its reality, by healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and casting out demons. These miraculous testimonies were to those who were, by the grace of repentance, rightly disposed, a sure ground of faith in Christ; and, when concurring with the attractions of still superior degrees of grace, would induce them in simple faith to resign themselves, with an implicit submission, to the conduct of his Spirit, the fulness of which dwelt without measure in the incarnate Jesus, and was communicated in the power of converting grace to those whose repentant hearts were prepared to receive it.