He found that nothing else would do, He gave himself up, and laid down His life for His sheep.

"Jesus, having died for His sheep, now shows His great love for them, by watching over them as the Good Shepherd: if any sheep or lamb goes astray, He goes after it himself, picks it up, and carries it home on His shoulders. The poor little foolish lamb may bleat and cry very much, yet He will not stop, but put it into the sheep-fold, because he loves it. If one is weak, He takes even more care of it than of the others, for 'He carries the lambs in His bosom.'

"All the sheep and lambs of Jesus are very precious to Him, for He has bought them. You know that you value what you have bought, and paid, perhaps, a high price for. So Jesus says of those who follow Him, that they are 'His sheep,' and they are precious to Him.

"No man can say of any number of believers, 'My sheep,' or 'My flock;' not even the Apostle Paul, for no man has bought them: the Lord Jesus alone can say, 'My sheep.' They are His in two ways: first, His Father gave them to Him; secondly, He purchased them. If He were to lose one of these sheep, He would not be a Good Shepherd.

"Satan cannot take the least lamb away. But I will tell you what he can do, and has often done: he can scatter the sheep, if they will be foolish enough

to let him; and he can frighten and distress them very much, whenever they are so foolish as to go astray from the fold. Indeed, he is always watching for an opportunity to do this.

"All believers in Jesus are His flock and His sheep. It is true that Satan has been able to divide and scatter them very sadly; but still, the Good Shepherd cares for them, and watches over them all ; and 'not one of them shall be lost, for no one is able to pluck them out of His hand.'

"If a little child can say in his heart, 'I believe in Jesus,' even though it finds itself full of sin, yet that little child may be sure that Jesus cares for it; and may say, 'I am poor and needy, but the Lord thinketh upon me.'

"No matter how needy you are, you have a mighty and a Good Shepherd, who is able to save to the uttermost all those who come unto God by Him, and trust in Him.

"HYMN.

"How carefully the shepherds keep
Their flocks within their sight;

So Jesus watches o'er His sheep,
And guards them day and night.

"The shepherd numbers twice a day
The flock beneath his care:

He knows if any go astray,

Or sick, or dying, are.

"So Jesus reckons one by one,

And numbers all His sheep: He knows if but a lamb is gone, For He doth never sleep.

"The flocks of men are bought with gold; And grass is all their food;

The sheep and lambs of Jesus' fold
Are purchas'd with His blood;

"Their food is living and divine;
Of heav'nly things they eat :
The blood of Christ supplies them wine,
His flesh affords them meat.

"Dear Lord! who would not wish to be One of that happy band,

Who know Thy voice, and follow Thee,
Led by Thy gentle hand?"

LETTERS BY SARAH A

THE following letters appear to have been written to Roman Catholics, but the names of the persons to whom they were addressed were not attached to them. Some of them seem like fragments copied from letters after she had written them :

"December 3, 1832.

"In compliance with a wish expressed by you previous to your late attack of illness, I now desire to acquaint you with my reasons for not viewing, as sufficient to warrant a belief in the doctrine of Purgatory, the passage you brought forward from 1 Peter iii., and which so many dwell upon, and boast

of, as a proof that souls not fitted, whilst on earth, for an entrance into Heaven, are fitted by suffering after death.

"One who has written a defence of Roman Catholic principles, observes, 'The last text I am going to quote, establishes the doctrine of a third place so plainly, that it appears strange how it can be misunderstood.' But this remark is only an assumption, which indicates, in any one maintaining it, a total want of that sober exercise of the understanding which you spoke of as so necessary in the investigation of truth. In order to see the folly of inferring from the passage the existence of a place of expiation for souls separated from their bodies, we need but fairly judge of those of whom the Apostle wrote as preached to. They were 'incredulous;' they repented not; consequently were not saved from the guilt of their transgressions. Is it not, therefore, absurd in the highest degree, to speak of persons as not deserving to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, who, to the very utmost, resisted the striving of His Spirit? That His Spirit, the self-same Spirit whereby Christ arose from the dead, preached by Noah, we cannot doubt, finding, as we do, in holy writ, that he (Noah) was a preacher of righteousness, and that God spake by the mouth. of His prophets, which have been since the world

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