he is, and tremble, lest, after all, he should not be really a lamb of Christ's flock. But remember, a lamb is of course young and tender; it is not grown up; and however weak it may be, Christ will take care of it, for he says to his servants, Feed my lambs, as well as Feed my sheep.

Therefore, if I knew who was the weakest child in this church; if I could read the heart of any little boy or girl that was desiring to serve God, and yet felt his weakness, and was like a young lamb shivering in the cold, I would say to that particular child, that Jesus Christ died for his lambs, and that, weak as he is, he shall be strong in the grace and power of his shepherd, the eternal Son of God.

This is now the second thing I had to show you; that every good child is a lamb of Christ's fold.

I shall now consider,

III. What is the FOOD that Christ provides for his lambs.

For you know the lambs in a flock must be fed every day or they will die. So Christ's lambs must be fed every day; and Jesus said to Peter, Feed my lambs. Now, what is meant by the food with which Christ's lambs are to be fed?

The food Jesus speaks of is, the instruction

which is to be given to children, to carry on what is good in their hearts. It is not food for the body, like that food which the earthly shepherd provides for his flock, in green pastures and by still waters; but it is food for the soul. And what is this? It is, in the first place, the Bible. Children must read God's word, and in that book there is a great deal of food for the lambs. There the child learns how God made the heavens and the earth: how Satan tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, by which Adam and Eve fell from God and lost his holy image, and how God turned them out of the delightful garden of Eden, where he had put them to live; and then what a wicked son Adam and Eve had, named Cain, who killed his brother Abel. Now this is food for the lambs. This is what they can understand, and what will do them good.

It is true there is much in the Bible which they cannot understand (for there are many things which grown up persons cannot understand); but there is also much that a very little child may understand. He can understand about Noah, about the world being so wicked that God drowned every person in it, except Noah and his family, whom he saved in the ark; he can understand about Abraham being commanded by God to offer up his only son Isaac as a sacrifice to God; he can understand about

Joseph being hated and sold by his brethren; he can understand about Moses being put into a cradle of bulrushes and exposed on the waters, and being found by the daughter of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and taken care of and brought up by her and then when Moses is grown to be a man, he refuses to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, because he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. O! will the child say, that I might be like Moses, and leave the world and try to love Jesus Christ better than any thing that the world can offer me. And then the child goes on to read about Job, who was the most patient man, and how he lay upon a dunghill; and about David being taken from the care of a flock of sheep and made a great king, and about Solomon and Isaiah and Jeremiah, and all the prophets. And then the little boy or girl reads of Jesus Christ being born of a virgin, and how the babe was laid in a manger, and how wicked Herod wanted to kill him, and murdered all the children of two years old in hopes to kill Christ; and then, at last, the child comes to hear what the Saviour suffered, and that he was nailed to a cross, and died to save his sheep and lambs. I have seen a child of not more than four years old, sitting upon its parent's knee and listening to the stories out of

the Bible, till its eyes streamed with tears; so affecting and wonderful is the word of God.

But, secondly, there is other food for the lambs, besides this which is the principal food. There is the instruction of your parents and schoolmasters and mistresses, and of the ladies and gentlemen who teach in different schools. Now, what is all this, but Christ feeding his lambs? These teachers take the word of God and break it into small portions, that the child may understand it and remember it, just as the shepherd leads the lambs to the best places of the pastures, because they are tender and heedless, and cannot find food for themselves.

Then, thirdly, there is the public prayers and preaching of God's word on a Sunday. Every day the lambs are to be fed, but Sunday is more particularly the day for feeding them. On Sunday the good child will look out the lessons before he comes to church, and will try to follow the minister as he reads them, and will try to understand the prayers of the church. And when the sermon is preached, he will try to remember the text and some particulars of the sermon.

And, last of all, when these lambs are grown up, they are brought to the table of the Lord: at this sacrament there is the body and blood of Christ prepared for Christ's flock to feed them and nourish them to everlasting life.

Thus I have shown you three things. First, who is the Shepherd of the flock; Secondly, who are the lambs of the flock; and, Thirdly, what food is prepared for them.

Now, I think, there are three sorts of children in this church to-day; and I would say a word to each of them, in applying what I have already been talking about.

First, I would speak to those who are already Christ's lambs; and to them I would say, obey and love your shepherd Jesus Christ, pray to him to give you more and more of his grace in your hearts, that you may daily know him more and serve him better. Avoid the company of wicked children. If there is a boy or girl in the school who is wicked, who tells lies, who is quarrelsome, and uses bad words, avoid him, pass not by him, avoid him, and turn away. All who would be lambs of Christ's flock, must keep away from children who neglect Christ and their souls. You must expect too, if you are a lamb of Christ's flock, that naughty children will sometimes laugh at you; if there is a very good boy in a school he will be sure almost to be laughed at and called by some names of reproach; this may seem strange, but I speak from my own knowledge and information that this is often the case. Now though the laughter and jeer of a child would be nothing to a man, it is very hard for a child to bear;