catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 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. 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, 'because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. k 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. 'This commandment have I received of my Father. 19 "There was a division therefore among the Jews for these sayings. ท 20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? 21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil " open the eyes of the blind? a ch. xiv. 6. Eph. ii. 18.- Is. xl. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 12, 23; & xxxvii. 24. Heb. xiii. 20. I Pet. ii. 25; & v. 4. c Zech. xi. 16, 17.-d 2 Tim. ii. 19.-e Mat. xi. 27.— fch. xv. 13.-g Is. Ivi 8.-h Ezek. xxxvii. 22. Eph. ii. 14. 1 Pet. ii. 25.- Is. liii. 7, 8. 12. Heb. ii. 9.-k ch. it. 19. - ch. vi. 38; & xv. 10. Acts ii. 24, 32 —m cb. vii. 43; & ix. 16.-n ch. vii. 20 ; & viii. 48, 52. —-0 Ex. iv. 11. Ps. xciv. 9; & cxlvi. 8.-p ch. ix. 6, 7, 32, 33. the good shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep.-That Jesus Christ is, in doing and in suffering, our supreme and matchless example, and that he came to be so, is a truth; but that he is nothing further, and came for no other end, is a high point of falsehood. For how should man be enabled to learn and follow that example of obedience, unless there were more than an example in Christ? and what would become of that great reckoning of disobedience that man stands guilty of? No, these are notions far too narrow. He came to bear our sins in his own body on the tree, and, for this purpose, had a body fitted for him and given him to bear this burden, to do this as the will of his Father, to stand for us instead of all offerings and sacrifices; and "by that will," says the Apostle, "we are sanctified through the offering of the Heb. x. 10. body of Jesus Christ, once for all." "He This was his business, not only to rectify sinful man by his example, but to redeem him by his blood. was a teacher come from God;" as a prophet, he teaches us the way of life, and, as the best and greatest of prophets, is perfectly like his doctrines : and his actions, (which in all teachers. is the liveliest part of doctrine,) his carriage in life and death, is our great pattern and instruction. But what is said of his forerunner is more emi nently true of Christ: he is " a Prophet, and more than a prophet; a Priest satisfying justice for us; and a King conquering sin and death for us; an example indeed, but more than an example, our "sacrifice" and "our life," our 66 all in all." It is our duty to walk as he walked, to make him the pattern of our steps, 1 John i. 6; but our comfort and salvation lies in this, that "he is the propitiation for our sins," ver. 2. So, in the first chapter of that epistle, ver. 7, "We are to walk in the light; as he is in the light;" but for all our walking we have need of that which follows, that bears the great weight,-"The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." And so still, that glory which he possesseth in his own person is the pledge of ours. He is there for us; he lives" to make intercession for us," saith the Apostle, Heb. vii. 25; and "I go to prepare a place for you," says our Lord himself. John xiv. 2. -LEIGHTON. دو It was counted an ill sign amongst the heathens, when the beasts went unwillingly to be sacrificed, and drew back, and a good omen when they went willingly. But never was sacrifice so willing as our great sacrifice; and we may be assured he hath appeased his Father's wrath, and wrought atonement for us. Isaac was in this a type of Christ; we hear of no reluctance, he submitted quietly to be bound when he was to be offered up. -LEIGHTON. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. More abundantly, that is, in the highest and most excellent manner that it is possible for men to live; for this life which the Sun of righteousness raises believers to, is the life of righteousness, an holy, an heavenly, a spiritual, Divine life; it is the life of faith, whereby they live to other purposes, and in a quite different manner, from other men. They live to God, and not unto the world; they live in a constant dependance upon him, and submission to him; they live with a firm belief of his word, and sincere obedience to his laws; they live altogether in his service, so that "whether they eat or drink, or whatsoever they do, they still do it to the glory of God." 1 Cor. x. 31. In short, they strive all they can to do the will of God upon earth, as the holy angels do it in heaven, and so have their conversation there where their Saviour and their treasure is. But this life is infused into them, only by the rays of the Sun of righteousness, by the holy Spirit which proceedeth from Christ, whereby they being born again, and made the children of light, thus walk in newness of life.-BEVERIDGE. HYMN. Jesus, shepherd of the sheep, Powerful is thine arm to keep All thy flock with safest care, Fed in pastures large and fair. Thee their guide and guard they own; Lord, thy helpless sheep behold; : believe, m that the Father is in blessed trust intrusted them with him, as the choicest of his jewels, as the most precious casket amongst all me, and I in him. n 39 Therefore they sought again to take him but he escaped out of their hand, 40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. the treasures of the creation, that he should polish, preserve, present them faultless, and without spot before the presence of his glory at the last day. And for this purpose, he gave him a commandment of the greatest care and tenderness that ever the world knew, that he should lay down his life for his that was given him, but should raise sheep, and should lose nothing of all it up at the last day. John x. 18; vi. 39. So that now, want of care or compassion of Christ towards his 42' And many believed on Church would be an argument of unhim there. 41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: "but all things that John spake of this man were true. 9 I Mac. iv. 59.- Acts iii. II; & v. 12- Or. hold us in suspense-s ver. 38. ch. iii. 2; & v. 36t ch viii. 47. 1 John iv. 6.-u ver. 4. 14.- ch. vi. 37 ; & xvii. 11, 12; & xviii. 9. ch. xiv. 28.-z ch. xvil. 2, 6, &c.-a ch. xvii. 11, 22.-6 ch. viii. 59.-c ch. v. 18.-d Ps. lxxxii. 6.-e Rom. xiii. - ch. vi. 27.-g ch. iii. 17; & v. 36, 37; viii. 42.-h ch. v. 17, 18. ver. 30.-i Luke i. 35. ch. ix. 35, 37.-k ch, xv. 24. -ch. v. 36; & xiv. 10, 11.-m ch. xiv. 10, 11 ; & xvii. faithfulness; if he had not been a merciful High Priest, neither could he have been faithful to him that appointed him, for he was appointed to be merciful, and was by the Spirit of God filled with most tender affections, and 21.-n ch. vii. 30. 44; & viii. 59.-o ch. i. 28.-p ch. iii. qualified with a heart fuller of com 30.-g ch. viii. 30; & xi. 45. passion than the sea is of waters, that he might commiserate the distresses of his people, and take care of their salvation.-REYNOLDS. the I and my Father are one. The same names, properties, works, and worship, which, in Scripture, are ascribed to the Father, are frequently ascribed to the Son also in Scripture: the Father is called Jehovah in Scripture, so is the Son, Hos. i. 7; Jer. xxiii. 6; Father is called God, so is the Son, John i. 1, " In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;" with God as to his person: God as to nature. So also John xx. 28; Acts xx. 28, &c. Moreover, is the Father Alpha and Omega, the first and the last? So is the Son, Rev. i. 8. Is the Father | however, they be points, which carnal eternal? So is the Son. Isa. ix. 6; reason cannot put over; yet they are Rev. i. 8. Is the Father Almighty? such, as reason illuminate and reSo is the Son. Heb. i. 3. Is the generate can both easily and most Father every where ? So is the Son. comfortably digest. "Great is the Matt. xviii. 20. Doth the Father mystery of Godliness; God manifested know all things? So doth the Son. in the flesh;" 1 Tim. iii. 16. What John xxi. 17; ii. 24. Did the Father mystery were there in godliness, if make all things? So did the Son. the deepest secrets of religion did lie John i. 3. Doth the Father preserve open to the common apprehension of all things? So doth the Son. Heb. nature?-HALL. i. 3. Doth the Father forgive sins? So doth the Son. Matt. ix. 6. Is the Father to be worshipped? So is the Son. Heb. i. 6. Is the Father to be honoured? So is the Son. John v. 23. No wonder therefore that Christ being thus "in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God.”—Beveridge. Regenerate reason will teach me to subscribe to all those truths, which the unerring Spirit of the Holy God hath revealed in his sacred word, however contrary to the ratiocination of flesh and blood. Only this is the right reason, which is illuminated by God's Spirit, and willingly subjected to faith; which represents to me those things, which thou suggestest to me for unreasonable and impossible, as not feasible only, but most certain. That, in one Deity, there are three most glorious persons, distinguished in their subsistences, not divided in their substance; that, in one person of Christ the Mediator, there are two natures, Divine and human, not converted into each other, not confounded each with other; that the Creator of all things should become a creature; that a creature should be the mother of him that is her God; HYMN. Jesus, thou shepherd of the sheep, The flock for which thou cam'st from heaven, Oh, guard thy sheep from beasts of prey, |