the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16: 33). "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12: 32). "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8: 36). "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but Jehovah delivereth him out of them all" (Psm. 34: 19). "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4: 17).

"Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. * I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my

*

sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. ** My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, which hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one" (John 10: 7, 27).

*

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ rejoice that He is your Shepherd; nothing can harm you. The sheep do not keep the shepherd, but the shepherd keeps the sheep. "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Jehovah is thy keeper: Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. Jehovah shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. Jehovah shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time. forth and even for evermore" (Psm. 121: 4). Your Shepherd is on the throne of the universe;

you are safe forever. You may well sing, as David did a thousand years before Christ came into the world, a song filled with the assurance of faith and the assurance of hope. "For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's" (1 Cor. 3: 21).

Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ can say, "Jehovah is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy snall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of Jehovah forever" (Psalm 23).

CHRIST THE HEAD, AND BELIEVERS IN HIM MEMBERS OF HIS BODY.

THE Word of God tells us, that the Lord Jesus Christ "is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church" (Col. 1: 15; Heb. 1: 2, 3, 8). The Church is said to be the body of Christ; and every believer in Him is a particular member of the body of Christ. Paul writes to the church, in Ephesus, "I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spitit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His heritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and

set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1: 16).

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are told, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular" (1 Cor. 12: 27). "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Rom. 12: 5). "For, as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? and if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it