preserve unruffled the tranquillity of their souls. Should their reputations be assailed by the tongues of slander, they will avail themselves of the opportunities which will be then afforded them of exercising the virtues of charity and patience. And though all their undertakings should prove unsuccessful, their inward peace will still remain uninjured, since they will be satisfied that the dispensations of the Most High in their regard, however contrary to their wishes and expectations, will be more conducive to their real interest, than the most brilliant success. Nor will any unruly passions disturb the harmony prevailing within them. For the law of the Lord being the ruling principle of their souls, will keep their passions under due restraint, and prevent them from breaking out into unwarrantable excesses.

Such, my friends, is the happy state of the servants of God, whose faith is established on the unerring authority of his infallible church, and whose conduct is regulated by his holy law. They are in possession at once of that unalterable peace both of mind and heart which it is not in the power of the world either to give or to take away. And their condition, my friends, will be most assuredly yours, if you imitate their example. "The peace of God which surpasseth all understanding, will also keep your minds and hearts," and it will prepare you moreover for the enjoyment of everlasting felicity in his heavenly knigdom.

SERMON XIX.

THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

ON THE GOOD SHEPHERD,

GOSPEL. St. John, x. v. 11-16. At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep; but the hireling and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth, and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep; and the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling, and he hath no care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine, and mine know me. As the father knoweth me, and I know the father, and I lay down my life for my sheep. And other sheep I have that are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

ONE of the characters, and that assuredly by no means the least pleasing among them, in which the prophets have represented the person of the promised Messiah, is that of a shepherd. "I will set up one shepherd over them, said the Lord God by the voice of the Prophet Ezechiel, and he shall feed them, even my servant David." (EZEC. c. xxxiv. v. 23.) "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd," were the terms in which Isaiah was commissioned by the great Jehovah to announce the same august personage; " he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with

And it is in this

young," (ISAIAH c. xl. v. 11.) pastoral character that our blessed Saviour exhibits himself to us in the Gospel of this Sunday. But in order to distinguish himself from these mercenary intruders into the office of shepherd whom he denominates hirelings, he appropriates to himself the epithet of good. "I," says he, “am the good shepherd." And he justifies his title to that distinctive appellation by the sacrifice which he is prepared to make of his life for the protection of his flock. "The good shepherd, (he adds) giveth his life for his sheep." The persons whom he calls hirelings, I conceive to be those false and deceitful pretenders to the character of Messiah of whom he himself spoke on another occasion, when he said, "there shall arise false Christs and false prophets. (MATT. c. xxiv. v. 24.) and who, as we learn from the Jewish historian, Josephus, like the hireling described in the gospel, as betaking himself to flight when he beholds the wolf coming, did actually urge their deluded followers to rebel against the Roman government, and then abandon them to the fury of the soldiers. who were sent against them. Of this, a remarkable instance is recorded by the Jewish historian, who, after having mentioned that a number of impostors and deceivers persuaded the people to follow them into the wilderness, has given the following statement. "About the same time came a man out of Egypt to Jerusalem, who said he was a prophet, and having prevailed upon a con

siderable number of the lower class of people to follow him to the Mount of Olives, he told them that thence they should see the walls of Jerusalem fall down at his command, and promised thus to open to them an entrance into the city. But Felix (the Roman governor), being informed of these things, ordered his soldiers to their arms. And marching out of Jerusalem with a large body of horse and foot, he marched upon the Egyptian, and killed four hundred of them, and took two hundred prisoners. But the Egyptian getting out of the fight, escaped." (JOSEPHUS ANT. l. 20. c.8.) How strikingly does this narrative correspond with the words of the Gospel, "but the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth, and the wolf catcheth and scattereth the sheep." Our blessed Saviour next proceeds to assign the cause of the treacherous conduct of the false pretenders to the character of Messiah, ascribing it explicitly to their mercenary dispositions, which prompt them, regardless of the welfare of their followers, to devote the whole of their attention and care to the exclusive promotion of their own selfish interests. "And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling, and he careth not for the sheep." As an additional vindication of his right to the pastoral character which he assumes in the Gospel, he challenges to himself that distinctive mark by which the real shepherd of a flock may be plainly recognised,

which is, that of their mutual acquaintance with each other. "I," says he, "am the good shepherd, and I know mine, and mine know me." He then explains the nature of that reciprocal knowledge subsisting between himself and his flock, and describes it as bearing a similitude to that which subsists between himself and his heavenly Father ; "As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father." Since, therefore, the knowledge the Father had of him, was Divine, and consequently the most perfect in every respect, and as his knowledge of his Father was accompanied with a constant and unremitting endeavour, to act in all things conformably to his holy will; it follows, that the intimate and comprehensive knowledge which this good shepherd possesses of every individual of his extensive flock, being also divine, embraces at once all their wants, concerns, and interests, and whatever may be in any manner connected with them, and that they on the other hand, who are truly in the number of his sheep, will be ever ready to obey his pastoral injunctions. As the best proof of his complete and unreserved conformity to his Father's will, he subjoins his readiness to lay down his life in compliance with it, for the well being of his flock, and thus intimates to his faithful adherents, that they also should be disposed to make the same sacrifice, should he require it of them. "And I lay down my life for my sheep." But although the persons, who had hitherto been induced to profess them