2. He seeks and finds them.—We would never seek Christ if he did not seek us first. We would never find Christ if he did not find us. "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." I once asked a shepherd, "How do you find sheep that are lost in the snow ?" "Oh," he said, "we go down into the deep ravines, where the sheep go in storms; there we find the sheep huddled together beneath the snow." "And are they able to come out when you take away the snow ?" "Oh, no; if they had to take a single step to save their lives, they could not do it. So we just go in and carry them out." Ah! this is the very way Jesus saves lost sheep. He finds us frozen and dead in the deep pit of sin. If we had to take a single step to save our souls, we could not do it. But he reaches down his arm and carries us out. This he does for every sheep he saves. Glory, glory, glory be to Jesus, the shepherd of our souls: Oh, children, let Jesus gather you. Feel your helpless condition, and look up and say, Lord help me.

3. He feeds them.-" By me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture." If Jesus has saved you he will feed you. He will feed your body. "I have been young, and now am old, yet never saw I the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."

The birds without barn or storehouse are fed,
From them let us learn to trust for our bread;
His saints what is fitting shall ne'er be denied,
So long as 'tis written-the Lord will provide.

He will feed your soul. He that feeds the little flower in the cleft of the craggy precipice, where no hand of man can reach it, will feed your soul with silent drops of heavenly dew. I shall never forget the story of a little girl in Belfast in Ireland. She was at a Sabbath School, and gained a Bible as a prize for her good conduct. It became to her a treasure indeed. She was fed out of it. Her parents were wicked. She often read to them, but they became worse and worse. This broke Eliza's heart. She took to her bed, and never rose again. She desired to see her teacher. When he came

he said, "You are not without a companion, my dear child," taking up her Bible. "No," she replied

"Precious Bible! what a treasure
Does the Word of God afford;

All I want for life or pleasure,

Food and med'cine, shield and sword.

Let the world account me poor,

Having this I ask no more."

She had scarcely repeated the lines when she hung back her head and died. Beloved children, this is the way Jesus feeds his flock. He is a tender, constant, Almighty Shepherd. If you become his flock, he will feed you all the way to glory.

III. JESUS CARES FOR LAMBS.

"He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom." Every careful shepherd deals gently with the lambs of the flock. When the flocks are travelling, the lambs are not able to go far, they often grow weary and lie down. Now, a kind shepherd stoops down and puts his gentle arm beneath them, and lays them in his bosom. Such a shepherd is the Lord Jesus, and saved children are his lambs. He gathers them with his arm, and carries them in his bosom. Many a guilty lamb he has gathered and carried to his Father's house. Some he has gathered out of this place whom you and I once knew well.

Before he came into the world Jesus cared for lambs. Samuel was a very little child, no bigger than the least of you, when he was converted. He was girded with a linen ephod, and his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him every year. One night as he slept in the Holy place, near where the ark of God was kept, he heard a voice cry, "Samuel!" He started up and ran to old Eli, whose eyes were dim, and said, "Here am I, for thou calledst me." And Eli said, I called not, lie down again." He went and lay down, but a second time the voice cried, "Samuel!" He rose and went to Eli, saying, "Here am I, for thou didst call me." And Eli said, "I called not my son, lie down again." A third time the holy voice cried, "Samuel!" And he arose and went to Eli with the same words; then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child, therefore Eli said, "Go, lie down, and it shall be if he call thee thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." So he went and lay down. A fourth time (how often Christ will call on little children!) the voice cried, "Samuel, Samuel!" Then Samuel answered, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth!" Thus did Jesus gather this lamb with his arm and carried him in his bosom. For "Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him; and the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh." 1 Sam. iii

Little children, of whom I travail in birth till Christ be formed in you, pray that the same Lord would reveal himself to you. Some people say, you are too young to be converted

and saved. But Samuel was not too young. Christ can open the eyes of a child as easily as of an old man. Yea, youth is the best time to be saved in. You are not too young to die, not too young to be judged, and therefore not too young to be brought to Christ. Do not be contented to hear about Christ from your teachers; pray that he would reveal himself to you. God grant there may be many little Samuels

amongst you.

Jesus cares for lambs still. The late Duke of Hamilton had two sons. The eldest fell into consumption, when a boy, which ended in his death. Two ministers went to see him at the family seat, near Glasgow, where he lay. After prayer, the youth took his Bible from under his pillow, and turned up to 2 Tim. iv. 7, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness;" and added, "This, sirs, is all my comfort!" When his death approached, he called his younger brother to his bed, and spoke to him with great affection. He ended with these remarkable words, "And now, Douglas, in a little time you will be a Duke, but I shall be a King."

Let me tell you a word of another gentle lamb, whom Jesus gathered, and whom I saw on her way from grace to glory. She was early brought to Christ, and early taken to be with him where he is. She told her companions that she generally fell asleep on these words, " His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me;" and sometimes on these, "Underneath are the everlasting arms." She said, she did not know how it was, but somehow she felt that Christ was always near her. Another time she said, "I think it's the best way to make myself as loathsome as I can before him, and then to look to Jesus." When seized with her last illness, and told that the doctors thought she would not live long, she looked quite composed, and said, "I am very happy at that." She said she could not love Jesus enough here, that she would like to be with him, and then she would love him as she ought. To her tender watchful relative she said, "I wonder at your often looking so grave. I'm surprised at it, for I think I am the happiest person in the house. I have every temporal comfort, and then I am going to Jesus." After a companion had been with her, she said, "Margaret quite entered into my happiness; she did not look grave but smiled; that showed how much she loves me." When sitting one evening, her head resting on a pillow, she was

asked, "Is there anything the matter, my darling ?" "Oh," she said, “I am only weak. I am quite happy. Jesus has said, 'Thou art mine."" Another day, when near her last, one said to her, "Have you been praying much to-day ?" "Yes," she replied, "and I have been trying to praise too." "And what have you been praising for ?" "I praise God," she said, "for all the comforts I have. I praise him for many kind friends, you know he is the foundation of all; and I praise him for taking a sinner to glory."

These are a few of the many golden sayings of this lamb of Christ, now, I trust, safe in the fold above. Would you wish to be gathered thus ? Go now to some lonely placekneel down, and call upon the Lord Jesus. Do not leave your knees until you find him. Pray to be gathered with his arm, and carried in his bosom. Take hold of the hem of his garment, and say, "I must not-I dare not-I will not let thee go except thou bless me."

O seek him in earnest, and seek him in time,
For they that seek early shall find;

While they that neglect him are hardened in crime,
And never can come to this pure blessed clime-
They perish in anguish of mind.

DAILY BREAD,

BEING A CALENDAR FOR READING THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD IN A YEAR.

"Thy Word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it."

MY DEAR FLOCK-The approach of another year stirs up within me new desires for your salvation, and for the growth of those of you who are saved. "God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." What the coming year is to bring forth who can tell? There is plainly a weight lying on the spirits of all good men, and a looking for some strange work of judgment coming upon this land. There is need now to ask that solemn questionIf in the land of peace wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan ?”

Those believers will stand firmest who have no dependence upon self or upon creatures, but upon Jehovah our Righteousness. We must be driven more to our Bibles, and to the mercy seat, if we are to stand in the evil day. Then we shall be able to say like David—" The proud have had me greatly

in derision, yet have I not declined from thy law." "Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart standeth in awe of thy Word."

It has long been in my mind to prepare a scheme of Scripture reading, in which as many as were made willing by God might agree, so that the whole Bible might be read once by you in the year, and all might be feeding in the same portion of the green pasture at the same time.

I am quite aware that such a plan is accompanied with many

DANGERS.

1. Formality. We are such weak creatures that any regularly returning duty is apt to degenerate into a lifeless form. The tendency of reading the Word by a fixed rule may, in some minds, be to create this skeleton religion. This is to be the peculiar sin of the last days-" Having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." Guard against this. Let the calendar perish rather than this rust eat up your souls.

2. Self-righteousness.-Some, when they have devoted their set time to reading the Word, and accomplished their prescribed portion, may be tempted to look at themselves with self-complacency. Many, I am persuaded, are living without any Divine work on their soul-unpardoned, and unsanctified, and ready to perish-who spend their appointed times in secret and family devotion. This is going to hell with a lie in the right hand.

3. Careless reading.-Few tremble at the Word of God. Few, in reading it, hear the voice of Jehovah, which is full of majesty. Some, by having so large a portion, may be tempted to weary of it, as Israel did of the daily manna, saying— "Our soul loatheth this light bread;" and to read it in a slight and careless manner. This would be fearfully provoking to God. Take heed lest that word be true of you- -Ye said, also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of Hosts."

4. A yoke too heavy to bear.-Some may engage in reading with alacrity for a time, and afterwards feel it a burden grievous to be borne. They may find conscience dragging them through the appointed task without any relish of the heavenly food. If this be the case with any, throw aside the fetter and feed at liberty in the sweet garden of God. My desire is not to cast a snare upon you, but to be a helper of your joy.