3. Huic ostiarius aperit, et 3. To him the porter openeth; oves vocem eius audiunt, et and the sheep hear his voice: proprias oves vocat nominatim, and he calleth his own sheep et educit eas. by name, and leadeth them out. 3. *To him the porter openeth.* In the higher sense, the porter is not the Scriptures, nor Christ Himself, but the Holy Ghost. To the true pastor of souls the Holy Ghost “openeth,” by giving him grace to teach and govern rightly, and by moving the hearts of the faithful to listen to and profit by his teaching. *And leadeth them out.* It is an obvious and familiar principle that in explaining metaphorical language, we are not to expect resemblance in all points between the two things which are implicitly compared. If we say Patrick is a lion, we mean that he has courage or strength; but we do not mean that he has four legs. Similarly, though the Church is compared to a sheepfold, it does not follow that because the sheep had to be led outside the fold in order to find pasture, that therefore the faithful must be _led outside the Church_ before they can obtain the spiritual food of their souls. No, the Church is a fold which has its pastures within itself; and what Christ here declares is that a good pastor does for the faithful what the shepherd does for the sheep when he leads them forth; namely, he provides them with proper nourishment. 4. Et cum proprias oves 4. And when he hath let out emiserit, ante eas vadit: et his own sheep, he goeth before oves illum sequuntur, quia them: and the sheep follow sciunt vocem eius. him, because they know his voice. 4. A good pastor not only puts before his people the sound doctrine of faith, and the right line of duty, but he also goes before them, guiding and directing them by his example, and is rewarded by their obedience, for “the sheep follow him,” and tread in his footsteps. 5. Alienum autem non 5. But a stranger they follow sequuntur, sed fugiunt ab eo: not, but fly from him, because quia non noverunt vocem they know not the voice of alienorum. strangers. 5. The true reading is μη ἀκολουθήσουσιν ἀλλὰ φεύξονται, (_will_ not follow, but _will_ fly), the sense, however, being the same. As the sheep followed their own shepherd every morning from the fold to their pasture, and would follow no stranger, so faithful Christians take their spiritual nourishment from, and are obedient to, only the true pastor. 6. Hoc proverbium dixit eis 6. This proverb Jesus spoke to Iesus. Illi autem non them. But they understood not cognoverunt quid loqueretur what he spoke to them. eis. 6. *Proverb.* The Greek word (παροιμίαν) suggests the notion of a saying that is deep and mysterious and not merely metaphorical. See John xvi. 25, 29.