whose poor miserable sheep we are; that he only is our strength, our salvation, our defence, and our refuge; that our own powers and our own works are of no avail whatever; and that we are to put no trust in them; (whereby all our own works, and all the inventions and contrivances which the world vamps up for worshipping and gaining the favour of God, vanish like a cloud of dust before the wind;) such preaching as this, the world cannot bear, that it should be the nature of the Gospel to bring with it the cross as an inseparable companion. And therefore, whosoever shall honestly confess this from his heart before the whole world, such an one must of necessity expose his life to the sword.

If therefore these things are so, we have here a separation of the good shepherds from the bad, in the most open manner. He that is an hireling, only preaches the Gospel so long as he hears himself called a learned, good, and holy man. But afterwards, when he comes to be reviled and branded with the opprobrious appellation of an evil villain and a heretic, or is made the subject of public ridicule, he then either recants or falls utterly prostrate, and leaves the miserable and pitiable sheep alone and without a shepherd; and now, they are in a worse state than they were before. And what ayails it that the sheep were well fed; this is of no service to them now. Whereas, had they been true shepherds, they would rather have lost their lives than have left the sheep in the jaws of the wolf; being ready at any time to lay down their lives for the Gospel's sake. And hence, they are any thing but true German shepherds, the tendency of whose preaching is only the increase of their gain in this life. These are, without controversy, hirelings. They seek their own gain, under cover of the word of God; and only maintain and hold fast their principles, so long as this province will bring them honour and renown. But when the wolf begins to make his appearance, they draw back their feet, basely deny the Gospel, or betake themselves to flight, and leave the flock of sheep destitute. They look about them for their pasture and for their shepherd, who should.

defend them from the rapacious wolves, but the excellent shepherd no where makes his appearance; at the very juncture of time, when he ought to have stood forward as a defence, and to have administered strength to the sheep, he was gone!

This continually happens in our day. When these matters often come to that pass, that even violent hands are laid upon us by the rage of persecution, then preachers shut their mouths; and when the firmest stand ought to be made, then they betake themselves the most to flight; while the sheep are scattered in a miserable manner, and are carried and driven away in every direction. May God grant that some of them at least may defend the Gospel of Christ with a firmness of mind, and may be ready to shed their blood, if circumstances shall require it, in defence of the sheep.— Thus has Christ pourtrayed hirelings!

He saith moreover, "I am the good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and are known of mine." These words have an extensive signification; and it would take up a great deal of time if we were to dwell upon them particularly. He is here speaking of that office which belongs peculiarly to him, There is, says he, a mutual knowledge between me and my sheep. How comes this to pass? He shews how it is immediately afterwards. "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father." And how knoweth he the Father? Not by human, but by a divine knowledge.

I have sometimes spoken upon this more largely upon former occasions. The sum of the matter is thisChrist knows us as his sheep, and we on the other hand embrace him as our shepherd. We have already heard who the good shepherd is, and, on the other hand, who the poor weak sheep are. He looks upon us as sheep which are ready to faint, are sick, and have broken limbs that is, he is not at all offended that his sheep are thus diseased and sick, nor does he on that account despise or reject them; but rather, devotes himself to their service, and administers to them the healing hand. For although they be so diseased and unsound, that

they appear to the whole world to be no sheep of his, yet this is only the knowledge of the world. Christ does not thus know his sheep, nor does he regard of what particular kind they are; but this is what he observes,— whether they have the name of sheep, and be sheep indeed. His eyes are on the sheep, not on the wool!

In a word, those are real shepherds, and they follow the footsteps of Christ, and know sheep as he knows them, who keep their eye upon the person, and not upon the diseases or the defects; and who thus make a difference between the sheep and the disease. "My Father (saith Christ) knoweth me, but the world knoweth me not." When that time shall come, that they shall nail me to the cross, and punish me with an ignominious death, then shall they all say with one voice, What! Is this the Son of God! No! he must be some condemned and apostate wretch out of the refuse of mankind, whose soul and body are both under the full power of the devil!' The world shall hold and consider me to be some such vagabond as this. But my Father shall say, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased! He is my King, and my Saviour!' He will not look at my affliction, my wounds, my cross, and my death, but at my person; that is, he will look at me my very self. Wherefore, although I may be in the very belly of hell, and in the very jaws of the devil, yet I must of necessity be delivered therefrom, for my Father cannot cast away all his care for me! And thus it is that I know my sheep, and they know me. They are fully persuaded that I am that good shepherd, and they know me as such and therefore, they flee unto me and cleave close unto me: nor are they in the least terrified at being subject to diseases and imperfections of many kinds; because they well know, that I embrace none but sheep of such a sort.

And now he concludes and says, "Other sheep

I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."— Some have so handled this scripture, as to say, that it is to be fulfilled in the last days, when Antichrist shall

come in, and Elias and Enoch shall appear; but all this is nothing at all; and this opinion was engendered in the minds of men by that evil spirit, Jaoplanus, that they might believe, that all the world should in the end become Christian. And he tried to bring men into this persuasion, that the true doctrine being obscured, and that no one might be able to attain unto it. Wherefore, I charge thee to beware of this imposture. For this scripture was verified and fulfilled immediately upon the ascension of Christ, and is still going on to be fulfilled at this day. When the Gospel was first promulgated, it was preached to the Jews, and that people then became part of this fold. And where he here says, "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall be one fold;" he here shews that the Gospel must be preached to the Gentiles also, that they also might believe in Christ, that the Jews and Gentiles might become one church. Which thing Christ afterwards wrought by the apostles, who preached the Gospel to the Gentiles, and won them over to the faith. So that now, there is one body, one church, one faith, one hope, one love, one baptism, &c. And the same work is going on also to this day in power, and will still go on unto the last day. Wherefore, entertain not a persuasion, that all the world and all men will become holy members of Christ's church. The cross, as a certain external sign, attends Christians: and therefore, there must be the greatest part of the world of that body who persecute the disciples of Christ. But the Gospel must still go on to be preached without intermission, that some may be continually won over to Christianity. For Christ's kingdom is not yet perfectly accomplished, but will be fully perfected in the life to come. This is a compendious explanation of this Gospel!

SERMON III.

CONCERNING THE SEVEN LOAVES.

MARK viii.

In those days, the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him; and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitudé, &c.

I HOPE, my dearest friends, that the meaning of this Gospel is by no means unknown to you: for your understanding has taken root in these mysteries sufficiently deep, to make it easy for you to comprehend what knowledge you may derive from this Gospel, and what is therein set forth unto us. Namely, the true principle and nature of faith! And this is the end for which Christ is set forth unto us by all the evangelists, as being so full of all tenderness. For although the various circumstances and events are described by them with some variation, yet the simplicity of faith which they all set forth, is every where the same. And this Gospel sets forth Christ unto us, in his own colours, with so descriptive a pencil, that each one of us may with certainty know, what he may promise to himself from him: namely these things.-That he is merciful, kind, presenting himself unto us, setting himself before us, and easy of access unto all who will flee unto him. And this is the view of him that faith should ever have before itself. The scripture sets before us two objects of contemplation. The one, full of fear: which sets before our eyes the terrible wrath of God, in the sight of whom no one can stand under which contemplation, all of necessity despair, unless they be supported by faith. But, opposed to this is another object: that is, of grace: which object,