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Personal Religion.

THE GLORIOUS SHEPHERD.

"Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”— PSALM C. 3.

THE writer of this short Psalm seeks to impress on our minds the importance of knowledge, gratitude, and cheerfulness in the service of God. He requires an intelligent service. "Know ye

that the Lord He is God." All who serve God must seek to know who He is. He has given us the means of knowing His true character, His glorious perfections, the deep interest He takes in our welfare. For this great purpose He has given us His precious Word, the Christian ministry, and numerous means of instruction. He sent His Son to make Him known to the world. "No man

hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." He has declared His spiritual nature, His wonderful love, His glorious method of saving penitent sinners. He delighted to reveal His Father to the children of men. The ever - blessed God desires us to worship Him in the broad daylight of revealed truth. The truly godly come to this light, they value this light, they live in this light, and thus obtain encouraging views of their glorious Shepherd. John iii. 21. All who cultivate sincere, earnest, scriptural piety, come to the light of truth God has given them, that they may know and do His will, and live to His glory. All who do this will advance in true wisdom. And God requires a grateful service. When we come to His house, we ought to come with a lively sense of the greatness of His mercies, and of our obligations to Him. He has given us many occasions for praise. He has done great things for us as the God of providence, and the God of grace. The direction is, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise be thankful unto Him, and bless His name." Have we not occasion for praise every time we enter into His house? Oh that we were more sensible of His mercies! And God

demands

Lord, all

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a cheerful service. "Make a joyful noise unto the lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before

ye

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His presence with singing." But some may say, how can we render such a cheerful service, since we are such sinners? True, we are great sinners, and it is well to feel it; but God has placed us under a dispensation of mercy. He has provided a Mediator, through whom we may rejoice in Him. His atonement for sin has satisfied His justice; therefore, His mercy can save us, and we may rejoice in Him as a pardoning God. Rom. v. 11. God requires that we render to Him a service agreeable to His revealed will, and not as mere fancy may suggest. He has given us His Word to prescribe our duty, and to encourage us to do it. "Know ye that the Lord He is God." This is true of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God, and He is able to bless His people. He has large resources, resources sufficient for the eternal happiness of all His redeemed.

Observe, the very glorious description which the Psalmist gives us of our glorious Shepherd. He is the eternal God. He is God, the living, self-existent, powerful, wise, holy, faithful, and true God. He who was born in Bethlehem, suffered on the cross, arose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and sits on the throne of the universe, was, as to His Divine nature, equal to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, in perfection, greatness, and in glory. The good Shepherd is God over all, blessed for ever. He is our Creator. "It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves." He made our bodies and our souls, the sun, moon, and stars, the mountains and valleys, the sea and the land, and all the creatures in the vast universe. He made us for His glory, that we might contemplate His works, rejoice in His favour, and live to render cheerful service to Him. He has made us Christians, as well as made us men, and His works of mercy show the might of His arm, the plenitude of His resources, and the greatness of His understanding. He is our Ruler. We are His people, the subjects of His moral government. He is qualified to rule us, and it is a comforting thought that the Saviour of men is the Ruler of men; that He presides over all worlds, creatures, and events, and that He rules to fulfil His covenant engagements, to glorify His Father, and to save all His chosen. His people practically acknowledge His rule, and seek to obey His wise, beneficent, and just laws. He is our gracious Benefactor. "And the sheep of His pasture." The expression denotes the tender care of His providence. He is good, and He does good. And He does good to vast numbers, and constantly, and with perfect ease. He

supplies their temporal and spiritual wants with unceasing care. The Psalmist says, in reference to His benevolent, active, and ever-watchful providence, "Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." His hand is almighty, and with ease He can satisfy the wants of all His dependant creatures. He is our Redeemer. He died for His flock, to free His sheep from captivity, to purchase heaven, to open a way to the better land. He is a great Redeemer. Such is the good Shepherd. The Scriptures set Him forth to encourage our hope in Him.

Let us notice the wonderful care which this glorious Shepherd takes of all His sheep. This is seen in the pasture which He has provided for them. He has provided suitable instruction, a perfect atonement, all the means necessary to fit them for heaven. The doctrines, precepts, and promises of the Gospel are the pasture He has provided for His flock. This is abundant, near, and free. The soul feeds upon this green pasture by faith, meditation, and prayer. What the pasture is to a flock of sheep, that revealed truth is to the pious soul. This nourishes the spiritual life, and causes it to grow in vigour, maturity, and meetness for heaven. The Scriptures are a permanent, striking, encouraging proof of Divine care, the interest God takes in our welfare, the greatness of His love towards us. The sheep should be often found feeding on this pasture, like the Psalmist who said, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Here was evidence of the sincerity, warmth, and constancy of His love.

by nature dead, but His care awake from their long sleep, He gives them His Spirit to affections, and dispose them to

His care is seen in the life He has given to all His sheep. They must have a spiritual life before they can feed on the provisions of His love. They are quickens them, causes them to changes their moral condition. enlighten their eyes, renew their seek God. He gives the life of faith, love, and hope. He disposes the soul to repent of sin, to receive Christ, and to sue for mercy. This spiritual life He gives to vast numbers, and it is the germ of life eternal. "I am come," says the good Shepherd, "that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly." How momentous the object of His visit to our world. His care secures the protection of all His sheep. He keeps them in the fold, keeps them near to Himself, keeps them from falling away from His religion. He restrains their enemies, strengthens the inner man, encourages hope, draws out the holy

longings of the soul, keeps us until His coming. “And they shall never perish," &c. Glorious promise. They would fall into hell but for His care. He is able to keep them all, for His arm is strong. He can keep them as in a strong fortress. The redeemed are the sheep of His pasture, the objects of His care. The Jews, as a nation, were the objects of Divine care. God conferred upon them special privileges. His care of them was a shadow of the care He takes of all His people, and this care shows the greatness, constancy, and activity of His love.

There are various ways in which this favoured flock should testify their gratitude for such great mercy. They should often think of this good Shepherd, of His character, perfections, government, works, many acts of kindness. This will affect their minds with His goodness, inspire hope, raise Him in their esteem. His benefits should be kept in constant remembrance. They should render cheerful service to Him. He requires service, and the grateful delight to render it. They trust His promises, obey His laws, acknowledge His claims, promote His cause, live to His glory. His people should live upon the provision He has made for them. They should read His Word, hear His Gospel, trust His all-sufficiency, rejoice in His fulness, receive the blessings of His salvation. John i. 16. They should tell of His kindness to others. Many have never heard of His tender love, wonderful works, rich mercy, hence they need a friend to tell them of His doings. And many who have heard of Him, need to hear of Him again, and to have their minds affected by the truth concerning Him. And they should ascribe all their salvation to Him. He is worthy of all praise. Happy are they who shall live fulness for ever.

RELIGION OF INESTIMABLE WORTH.

I MEAN not to undervalue the interests of time-to depreciate, by an empty and undiscriminating declamation, all the temporalities of personal and social enjoyment. Many of them are very precious. I should belie my own feelings were I to represent them otherwise. They are gifts of God, to be received and used with a cheerful gratitude. But

upon His H. H.

still, when weighed in the balance against the realities of eternity, they are, in the comparison, "trifles light as air." My desire is, not that you should contemn them, and throw them away, but that you should compare and weigh them. Make a fair estimate of their relative value, and act accordingly. Apply to the subject the calculating discretion

by which you regulate your worldly concerns. Say, whether of the two is the weightier; which entitled to the preference? If men would but act, in regard to the interests of their souls and of eternity, on the principles of earthly prudence-proportioning the solicitude, the eagerness, the vigilance, and the effort, to the relative magnitude of the interests at stake, and of the benefits they seek to acquire—what a change should we see in the aspect of this busy world! When the objects weighed against each other are things temporal and things eternal, I need not say on which side your judgment and conscience must determine the question of precedency. In the mind of no one who reads this (if it be in a sound state) can there be one moment's hesitation. And will you, then, my dear friends-will you, especially, my dear young friends-suffer yourselves to be laughed out of your surest and deepest convictions? Will you allow yourselves to be befooled, and cheated out of the realities of eternity? When the wisdom of God has given a decision, will you be shamed by human scorn, or misled and deluded by human folly? When the authority of God has given a command, will you give way, with ruinous infatuation, either to the frown or to the enticements of human influence? When the love of God has given an invitation, will you persist in shutting your ear to the voice of infinite mercy? When God offers YOU HIMSELF, in all the fulness of His immeasurable grace, to be your portion and your joy for an endless existence, will you deliberately reject the offer, and give the preference

to the unsubstantial vanities of a perishing world, and "the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season ?" If you will-"my soul shall weep for you in secret places." And, oh, disdain not the pity. Smile not at the well-meant expostulation. Stifle not the secret conviction of your own bosoms, which I well know is in harmony with the statements of the writer. Religion is not beneath you. It is not beneath the highest in station, and the most exalted in intellect. It is "a reasonable service" in the most elevated of human beings. It confers an infinitely higher dignity on royalty, than royalty can confer on the most abject mendicant. It is the very glory of the seraphs that surround the eternal throne. And, both on account of its relation to the infinite God as its object, and to your eternal existence as the scene of its final results, its interests are, in no loose, and vague, and general sense, but in the strictest acceptation of the term, of infinite moment. They are such as to throw all things else into shade, to stamp them with comparative worthlessness,-to make them, "when laid in the balance, altogether lighter than vanity." If religion have in it any reality, it must have in it inestimable worth. It is everything, or it is nothing!

B. W.

THE RIGHTEOUS ONE. No similar circumstances, in the fearful combination of sufferings, ever occurred to any righteous man. But Jesus was not only a righteous man;-He was "THE Righteous One," "THE Just One!" It was,

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