A good old prophet in olden time, looking forward to when Jesus should come to save people from their sins and speak peace to troubled hearts, said, “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:  he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom.”  When you were wandering in the deserts and mountains of sin, Jesus, the true shepherd, came seeking for you, and now that you have given yourself to his loving care, always confide in him and yield to his guidance.  Ever keep your hand in his and follow where he leads, and your life will be full of joy and terminate at last where there will be pleasures forevermore.

FOOD FOR THE LAMBS.

Of course, it is very important to know what foods are most conducive to the growth of lambs.  The apostle to whom Jesus gave the command “Feed my lambs” has said to those lambs, “As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that they may grow thereby.” 1 Pet. 2:2.  Milk is the aliment which the nature of the newly born infant demands.  The infant instinctively receives it with a readiness.  It is the natural and most proper food.  It is the food above all others for the sustaining of life and the promotion of growth.  So the glorious doctrines of the gospel are the natural and most proper food for the Christian.  The newly created life in the regenerated soul instinctively turns to the word of God for nourishment.  It is the natural food for the new life.  Nothing else can be substituted for it and growth go on unhindered.  Without this food the Christian will die.  “Man shall not live by bread alone,” says the Great Shepherd, “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

[Illustration:  “He shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom.”]

The Christian has a twofold life:  he has both physical life and spiritual life.  As bread sustains physical life, so the word of God sustains spiritual life.  I beseech you most earnestly, my dear young Christian reader, to ever remember that you can no more live a spiritual life independently of the word of God than you can live a physical life independently of bread.  If growth in grace is worth anything to you, and eternal blessedness in the sweet fields of heaven of any value, keep this ever in mind and act accordingly.  As with the physical being, so it is with the spiritual.  There must be appetite, eating, digestion, and assimilation, that the word of God may impart life.

Remember, it is the sincere milk of the Word that you need that you may grow thereby.  Sincere is from the Latin sincerus, which is derived from sine, meaning without, and cera, meaning wax; honey separated from the wax.  Milk to which has been added chalked water may yet have much the appearance of milk, but it has lost its nourishment.  So the word of God with the slightest adulteration will not meet the demands for spiritual growth.  The word of God, without modification or exaggeration, without taking from or adding to, is the only wholesome food for your soul, and may you “eat in plenty” and “grow up as calves of the stall.”