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ing; therefore, when any of the flock of God are persecuted, slandered, or in any ways evil entreated, they ought to eye the great Shepherd standing on Mount Zion, ordering and over-ruling all for their good.

But now the shepherd appears to have lost some of his flock, for I behold him on the summit of the hill, running from one eminence to another, looking anxiously around him: Anon he descends the steep towards the place where I stand: but all on a sudden, with hasty steps, he turns aside the other way, round the corner of the hill, and is lost to my view. While I stand gazing the way which he ran, on the farther side of the hollow, at a great distance, I perceive him rising to my sight, up the side of a neighbouring mountain: With how much assiduous care does he seek the wanderer? This putteth me in mind of that beautiful parable uttered by our Lord, "What "man of you, having an 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

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"cometh home, he calleth together his "friends and neighbours, saying unto them,

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Rejoice with me, for I have found my "sheep which was lost," Luke xv. 4, 5, 6. As the parable itself is highly delightful, the inference which our Lord draweth from it is no less beautiful, and full of comfort to sinners: "I say unto you, that likewise joy "shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance,' ver. 7. When shepherds are so careful of their flocks, which are but dumb animals ; and above all, when the great Shepherd, our Lord and Saviour, hath done so infinitely much for his people, his flock; nay, even laid down his own life for them, that they might be gathered from their wanderings, and brought to his fold above, and rejoiceth over the conversion of every sinner: What an awful reproof doth this reach to careless under-shepherds, ministers of the gospel, who are at little or no pains to keep their flocks together in the green pastures and way of holiness; neither to seek them back when they go astray in the way of the ungodly! Nay, on the contrary, often, by their erronepus principles and loose examples, drive them

away, and scatter them in the cloudy and dark day, Ezek. xxxiv. 12. "As I live, saith "the Lord God, surely because my flock be" came a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was

no shepherd, neither did my shepherds "search for my flock; but the shepherds fed "themselves and fed not my flock: There"fore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the "Lord; thus saith the Lord God, behold Į "am against the shepherds; and I will re"quire my flock at their hands, and cause "them to cease from feeding the flock, nei"ther shall the shepherds feed themselves any more," Ezek. xxxiv. 8, 9, 10.

And, on the other hand, what an excellent lesson doth it teach those under-shepherds of care and diligence, not only to keep their flocks together, but to feed them with wholesome doctrine, and use all means in their power to bring them back to the good pastures, when they have gone astray on the mountains of sin and vanity. How ought not I also, who desire to be one of the sheep of Christ's pasture, to be careful in following the footsteps of the flock, feeding beside the shepherds tents, Cant. i. 8. in the green

pastures of his ordinances, delighting myself only in those things in which he would have me to take pleasure, being led and guided by him through life, so that when the chier Shepherd shall appear, 1 Pet. v. 4. I may be set among the sheep on his right hand, and received into his everlasting fold.

Now the shepherd is returned with his strayed sheep: Poor creature! it appears to have been in the mire, for it is all defiled; he is washing it at yonder rill; how compassionate he is! In like manner, the great Shepherd of Israel washeth every one of his flock, not only from the guilt of sin, in the fountain of his own blood, but also from the filth, the love and power thereof, in the laver of regeneration and sanctification of the Holy Ghost; so that their garments may be clean, and at last they may walk with him in white, Rev. iii. 4.

How pleasant is it to see the fleecy mothers suckling their little lambs! If the God of nature had not endowed them with that maternal care, their tender offspring would soon perish from the field, and the labour of the shepherd be lost. Just so the strong a

mong Christ's flock ought to exercise an af-
fectionate care towards those that are weak,
by contributing all in their power to strength-
en the feeble, cheer the drooping, and help
the young in grace forward in the paths of
religion. If it is not natural only, but abso-
lutely necessary in the fleecy tribe, to suckle
their young;
it is certainly as much so for the
Church to nourish her spiritual seed: If this
be incumbent on those who are fathers in
piety, strength, and experience; it is likewise
the duty of these who are but as babes in
knowledge and grace, to be imitating the
lambs which suckle their mothers, by apply-
ing to those who have more knowledge and
experience than themselves, for assistance
and counsel in their Christian course, always
desiring the sincere milk of the word, that
they may grow thereby," 1 Pet. ii. 2.

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It is delightful to see these little lambs, this pleasant morning, alternately frisking sportively on the hill, and browsing on the tender sproutings of the grass, which are rendered still more soft and sweet by the balmy dew which lay upon them during the night. It is certainly incomparably more so, to see the young among the flock of Christ,

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