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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,

he took our nature, and was born in so low a state of life, that his mother had no place to lay him in but a manger. And this Shepherd did for us, what no shepherd ever did for his sheep, he died for his flock.

Children, did you ever think of this? Did you ever try to think why it was that Jesus Christ came into the world? Why he suffered himself to be treated ill by men? Did you ever think why he let the Jews put a crown of thorns upon his head, and the soldier take a spear and thrust it into his side? Did you ever think that all this was because the sheep had wandered from the fold, and because God was angry, and because the sheep must all have been lost for ever, if the shepherd had not died for them? Jesus Christ poured out his blood to save the sheep, he made an atonement—an offering of himself to God for them, that they might repent and believe and go to Heaven.

Jesus Christ is frequently called the shepherd in the Bible. The Prophet Isaiah says of him, He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. And our Lord says of himself, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep".

Isaiah, xl. 11.

2 John, x. 11.

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