Samuel Eyles Pierce, not to be confused with the younger Samuel Pearce (1766-1799), was an English Particular Baptist pastor and theologian who lived and ministered throughout Southern England in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Pierce was born on June 11, 1746, at Upottery in Devonshire. Though brought up in a devout Christian home under the instruction of a caring mother, Pierce was essentially a moralist, devoid of a saving knowledge of Christ. “I lived,” he recalls, “under the influential conception of devotion, and devotional conceptions;…so that I lived an animal life, a rational life, a reformed life, a devout life, wrapt up in religion and devotion, such as it was, without the least true and supernatural knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Only later, as a consequence of troubling circumstances and exposure to works of Christian literature and faithful preaching of the word, would Pierce gradually come to know and love Christ truly.

Pierce was a prolific writer and published more than fifty books, sermons, and essays. He even wrote his own funeral sermon in advance. Afflicted with the palsy later in his life, Pierce lived to be nearly 83. He died on May 10, 1829. Much of what Pierce wrote dealt directly with Christ and offered a warm application of gospel truths to the Christian soul, reminiscent of the works of Richard Sibbes or Thomas Goodwin. As he suffered often and struggled with a fear of death in his early adulthood, many of his works emphasize encouragement in the face of death and suffering, both of which, for Pierce, were eclipsed by the anticipation of seeing Christ face to face.

In this rich, Christological exposition of Psalm 23, Pierce lays out the many comforts afforded to those who have Christ as their Shepherd. The exposition is devotional, theologically rich, and beautifully written. Our hope is that all who read it experience a fresh reminder of Christ’s great love for them – as that theme is central to Pierce’s exposition.

“[Christ] finds his sheep wandering from the fold of God, and he takes them up upon his shoulders, rejoicing…He finds them defiled with sin, and he washes them from their sins, in his own blood. He finds them void of all righteousness, and he spreads the garment of his own righteousness over them.”

“As our Lord hath lambs in his flock, as well as sheep, so he will carry himself with infinite pity and tenderness towards them. They being weak and strengthless, he will take them up, and carry them in his bosom; so that they shall be near his heart.”

“This blessed shepherd maketh [his sheep] to lie down in green pastures. He feeds their souls with his word, strengthens their inward man herewith, gives them soul satisfaction for it, giving them to enjoy blessed rest in their hearts, and blessed spiritual rest in their lives, from what is revealed in the word unto them, of the love and mercy of their beloved Jesus towards them.”