Page images
PDF
EPUB

This, indeed, is the high end of our ministry, to bring you unto Christ the good shepherd, and to feed you in his sacred pastures. This will be the desire of my heart, that every soul in this vast parish may return to the fold, and enter in and be saved. This will be the chief aim of all my labours, to nourish you with the food that endures to everlasting life. This will be the sum of all I shall preach, the Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, who

brought again from the dead by the blood of the everlasting covenant. This will be the sum of all I shall proclaim, that exuberant grace of Christ which can heal all the maladies of the soul, and restore it to pardon, obedience and peace. This will be the sum of all I shall inculcate, that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And do Thou vouchsafe to hear, O thou shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; do Thou shine forth, thou that dwellest between the cherubims! do Thou vouchsafe unto us, both shepherd and flock, such a measure of thy grace and Holy Spirit, that we may all be gathered into thy fold, and follow thy ways; so that when thou shalt appear again at the last solemn judgment, we may be partakers of thy glory, and receive a crown of glory which fadeth not away

!

GOOD CHILDREN THE LAMBS OF CHRIST'S

FLOCK.

A

SERMON

ADDRESSED TO THE CHILDREN

OF THE

Schools for Religious Instruction,

AT

ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, BEDFORD ROW,

On Easter Tuesday, April 8, 1817.

FIFTH EDITION.

A

SERMON,

&c.

JOHN, XXI. 15.

Jesus saith unto him, Feed my Lambs.

My dear Children, you are now come to the end of another year of your schooling; and before we distribute the books which you are severally to have as rewards, I mean to talk to you about religion. But I shall speak, not only to the children of my own school, but to all other children before me; and as I mean to be as short as I can, I hope every child will attend to what I say. I shall try to speak in so plain a manner, that the youngest child here may understand me. But then you must all pray that God would bless what I say to you, and make you good; for I cannot do that: I can only speak, but I cannot change the heart of the least among you; only the Spirit of God can do that; and therefore every little child should pray for the grace of that blessed Spirit.

Now, Children, I should suppose there are

none of you who have not seen a flock of sheep, with the little lambs frisking about, and the shepherd watching the sheep and taking care of the lambs. Now this represents Christ and his Church. Christ says to Peter in my text, Feed my sheep; feed my lambs; by which he means, Teach sinners, instruct the young.

There are three things to which I wish you now to attend:

I. JESUS CHRIST IS OUR SHEPHERD.

II. ALL GOOD CHILDREN ARE THE LAMBS OF

HIS FLOCK.

III. JESUS CHRIST FEEDS THE LAMBS OF HIS

FLOCK.

I. Let us then first think of the SHEPHERD. Whenever you have seen a flock of sheep, you have observed a man with them who is called the shepherd, whose business it is to take care of the sheep, to give them food, to bring them into the fold, to fetch back any sheep that may wander, to lift any one up that may fall, and to help the weak and young lambs. Well, my dear children, there is a great and glorious Saviour, who is the Shepherd of the Church, Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and who died for the sake of the sheep; that is, for the salvation of us sinners. Though he was the Lord of Glory,

« PreviousContinue »