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them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which 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. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again." (JOHN x. 11-17.) It had been foretold of the Messiah, by the prophet Isaiah, "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead them that are with young." (xl. 11.) To this we may add the description of "the Lord," the "good shepherd," given in the twenty-third Psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing. He shall

feed me in a green pasture, and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort." (ver. 1, 2.)

6. As it was the endeavour of our Lord to do every thing to promote brotherly love. amongst mankind, so it was his way to expose cruelty and hard-heartedness, and to hold up humanity and kindness as the objects of love and imitation. Of this nature was the parable of the Good Samaritan, in which the hardheartedness of the Jewish priest and Levite was exposed, and the compassion and kindness of the Samaritan held up as the object of commendation, of love, and of imitation, to all nations and to all ages. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, a similar feeling is excited towards some of the brute creation. The heart of the rich man, hardened by "the deceitfulness of riches," (MATT. xiii. 22.) suffered Lazarus to lie at his gate hungry and naked, and his sores exposed to open view, and

to the festering air. In this forlorn and miserable state, neglected by man, we are told, that "the dogs: came and licked his sores." (LUKE xvi. 21.) The tongue of the dog, as we well know, is peculiarly soft, and the constant licking and keeping the sores clean, tends greatly to promote the healing of them, as we see is the case when any thing is the matter with the animals themselves. Here might the rich man have learned a lesson of humanity from his own dogs, as they were probably his

own.

7. The last passage which I shall produce on this head, is from the third chapter of the Epistle of St. James, where he is speaking of the unruly nature of the tongue, and the great offences committed by it: "My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not

in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. But we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body." (1-3.) "For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so." (7—10.)

III. Thus, as the design of the gospel was to bring "peace on earth, and good-will to men," (LUKE ii. 14.) so it was no less intended to bring peace and good-will to the lower part of the animal creation, and to promote goodwill between man and them, and between each

other. As, after six days of creation, God rested on the Sabbath-day; and, as man and beast, after six days of labour, have their Sabbath appointed to them, so we expect, that, after six thousand years of labour, of trouble, of vexation, and of sorrow, God-in whose sight a thousand years" are as one day," (2 PET. iii. 8.)-will be pleased to afford a final, full, and everlasting Sabbath to all the works of his hands. The prophet Isaiah, in speaking of the Messiah and his reign, says, in the eleventh chapter, "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a "And

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branch shall grow out of his roots."righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young

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