pass into new scenes of life and action, just as naturally as we came into the present? If this be so, (and who will doubt it?) how important is every hour of life, and how many rich and valuable blessings will fall to the lot of him whose days are devoted to religion and virtue! Reader! fear not death; it is thy gain. Remember,
"That God himself points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man."
March Eighth.
THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL.
"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want."—Psalm xxiii. 1.
THERE is something so exceedingly consoling in these words, that, when read under a full conviction of their truth, they seem to make the heart throb with gladness; while love constrains the soul to fall down in humble prostration before such unparalleled condescension, mercy, and goodness! To think that Jehovah, the Creator, and Preserver of his creation, whom the heaven of heavens, on account of the glory of His Majesty, cannot fully and perfectly contain, should yet deign to announce himself as the Shepherd of his people, to feed, to guide, and to bless, is a thought which at once calls forth our gratitude and adoration. "Bow down your heads, then, O ye inhabitants of the earth; be silent, and reccive, with reverence, instruction from on high!"
The duty of a shepherd is to take care of sheep; to guard them against the inroads of beasts of prey, and to provide the flock with luxuriant pastures. From
