Little is known of Robert's earlier years. After he had finished his education in this country, he prosecuted his studies for some years on the Continent; and having returned, was ordained minister of Newbottle, in the county of Mid-Lothian, after the presbyterian form. Here he remained for some time; but having resigned the charge, he was at length appointed principal of the college of Edinburgh by the magistrates of that city. Both as a parish minister, and as head of the college, his conduct was marked by Christian moderation. He appears to have felt, that in the endless disputations between prelacy and presbytery the essence of religion was lost sight of; and it was his anxiety to promote the spiritual and eternal welfare of all, rather than the temporal ascendency of either party. This moderation, rare in those days, has led some to represent him as void of any religious principle. While at Newbottle, the accusation was brought against him at a presbyterial visitation, that "he did not preach to the times." His reply was, "that if all his brethren preached to the times, surely one poor brother might preach on eternity." The lectures which he delivered to the students, while principal of Edinburgh college, both in Latin and English, testify that he was in all respects well qualified to fill that important situation. Dr. Leighton sometimes visited London during the vacations, but was peculiarly disgusted with the conduct of the dominant party. He likewise, on several occasions, went to Flanders, that he might witness the actual state of popery; and he carried on a correspondence with some of his relations at the college of Douay. This latter part of his conduct appears to have given offence, and to have excited suspicion; for an historian of those times thus expresses himself. "By many he (Leighton) was judged void of any doctrinal principle; and his close correspondence with some of his relations at Douay in popish orders, made him suspected as very much indifferent as to all professions which bear the name of Christian. He was much taken with some of the popish mystic writers, and indeed a latitudinarian, and of an over-extensive charity.' In 1661, the government resolved to re-establish episcopacy in Scotland; and as none remained of the bishops ejected by the act of Assembly in 1638, except Thomas Sydserf, who had been bishop of Galloway, and was afterwards appointed to the see of Orkney, it became necessary to renew the Scottish episcopal succession by consecrations in England. A commission was accordingly issued to the Bishops of London and Winchester, who, assisted by other prelates, consecrated James Sharp archbishop of St. Andrews, and primate, Andrew Fairfowl archbishop of Glasgow, James Hamilton bishop of Galloway, and Robert Leighton bishop of Dunblane, by whom the other nine (Sydserf, as stated before, had been bishop of Galloway) were consecrated. The account of the consecration of the four at Westminster is thus given by Wodrow, and fully warrants the remark that has been made, that it is not easy to arrive at the truth respecting these times; for the account is evidently given in a sarcastic spirit: "In December (1661) these four, with a great parade at Westminster, before a great confluence of Scots and English nobility, were dubbed, first preaching deacons, then presbyters, and then consecrated bishops in one day, by Doctor Sheldon, and a few others. The ceremony was performed in all the modes of the English Church, with vestments and all their cringes and bows; at which, it Wodrow, i. 238. The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution. By the Rev. Robert Wodrow, Minister of the Gospel at Eastwood. With an original Memoir, &c. by the Rev. Robert Burns, D.D., Minister of St. George's, Paisley. 4 vols. Blackie and Co. Glasgow, 1829. It is to this edition that the references in this biography are made. is said, some indecencies fell out; and after that they had received the sacrament kneeling, in all points they were ordained according to the office and form there. After the consecration, the bishops and peers were feasted at Westminster, and then went again to church to hear sermon. Being thus empowered, early next year they come down, and lay on their episcopal hands upon their brethren in Scotland, named by the court for their different sees." Bishop Leighton, on his return to Scotland, fully testified that his acceptance of a bishopric did not proceed from the desire of worldly grandeur, or of personal aggrandisement, but to be useful as an overseer in the Church of God. "He chose," says his biographer, Dr. Jerment, "the most obscure and least lucrative see, the diocese of Dunblane; disapproved of feasting at the time of consecration, and testified plainly against it: objected to the title of lord; refused to accompany the other Scotch bishops in their pompous entry into Edinburgh, hastening privately to Dunblane. He did not accept of the invitation to parliament: almost the only time he took his seat there being for the purpose of urging lenity towards the Presbyterians. He detested all violent measures. He persecuted no man, upbraided no man: held little correspondence with his brethren, and incurred their deep resentment by his reserve and strictness. In the end, he acknowledged that Providence frowned both on the scheme and the instruments, and confined himself to his diocese." It had been well, perhaps, considering the peculiar circumstances of the times, had the other bishops followed Leighton's example. There was unquestionably too much pomp and parade in the restoration of episcopacy in Scotland, which had a tendency to disgust the prejudices of its opponents, and to bring that mode of ecclesiastical discipline into still greater disrepute. There can be no question, that of those who had been consecrated, Bishop Leighton was by far the most enlightened Christian, and spiritually-minded man; and had his brethren of the episcopate been of the same spirit, much blood spilt on the field of battle had been spared, and many a deed of ruthless cruelty had not stained the annals of the Scottish Church. It has been urged, indeed, that he was not a sound Episcopalian, because he did not join in the worldly pomp of his brethren; but surely he might be, and there can be no question he was, a true member of the Episcopal Church, though he disapproved of the worldly conformity of those who occupied its high places. Many persons form the idea that the office of a bishop necessarily implies an office of worldly grandeur. They conceive, that what in this country are only adjuncts, are of the very essence of episcopacy itself. Let them look at Scotland at the present moment-at the United States of America. There they will perceive an episcopacy quite as pure as that of the United Church of England. and Ireland. The temporal circumstances of the bishops are indeed different; and it is necessary that, where the episcopal form of Church government is that established by law, those who occupy a high place in the Church should have the means of supporting its dignity; but as to all spiritual authority in the Church of God, there is not the shadow of a difference between the prelate who occupies the largest and wealthiest of our English and Irish sees, and the illrequited and miserably supported bishop who exercises his episcopal functions over the scattered rem nants of a Highland or Transatlantic diocese, and whose income, perhaps, scarcely exceeds that of a village curate. This fact is not sufficiently born in mind. Bishop Leighton, in choosing the see of Dunblane, -for it would appear that he might have been appointed to one more lucrative, shewed the disinterestedness of his character, though his accepting this small diocese is urged against him. "After the restoration," says Wodrow," (he) turned so courtly, as to embrace the meanest of the bishoprics." The conduct of his brethren grieved him very much. He felt it therefore his duty to have as little intercourse with them as possible. In an address to his clergy in 1665, he expressed his purpose of resigning the bishopric, assigning as a reason that he was quite worn out with the perpetual contentions, from which, however, he endeavoured to keep himself as free as possible. Before he tendered his resignation, however, he resolved to attempt to bring the affairs of Scotland to a more tranquil state; and for this purpose he went to London, where he was most graciously received by Charles. He did not scruple to enter into a full detail of the cruelties practised in the north, requesting permission to resign his bishopric, as he could not conscientiously retain an office, which, from the conduct of others who held it, had come into disgrace. The king promised that the persecutions should cease forthwith; and thus Leighton was contented to hold his situation. The king having failed to perform his promise, he made a second attempt in 1667. The Archbishop of Glasgow (Alexander Burnet) having been deposed in 1670, Bishop_Leighton was promoted to the archiepiscopal see. His acceptance of this preferment has been repeatedly urged for the purpose of shewing that he was an inconsistent and ambitious man, and that, had he been really dissatisfied with the proceedings of the episcopal party, he ought at once to have retired into private life. It would appear, however, that his sole motive in accepting the archbishopric was, that if possible he might, by his extended influence, bring the contending parties to a better mind. Through his influence an attempt was made to accomplish this desirable object. A meeting was held at Paisley on the 14th of December of that year, and was attended by the archbishop, by Mr. Gilbert Burnet, professor of divinity in the University of Glasgow (afterwards bishop of Sarum), Mr. James Ramsay, dean of Glasgow, and about twenty-six presbyterian ministers. But the conference was attended with no good result; and the archbishop had the mortification of finding that every pacific attempt on his part to bring matters to a state of conciliation utterly failed. "It is admitted by a writer on their own side" (Dr. Cook), says Dr. Russell," that had they (the presbyterian ministers) accepted the offers which were made to them, they would have been almost universally reinstated in their parishes; the spiritual instruction of the community would have been to a considerable degree entrusted to them; and with the command which they had of the people, they could perhaps have given such a direction to their minds as would have rendered it unwise in government again to attempt changes to which the Presbyterians were decidedly hostile. At this distance of time it would be difficult even to conjecture the motives by which the leading preachers were influenced; but Burnet suggests a circumstance which probably had more weight in their minds than they were willing to acknowledge: A report was spread among them, which they believed, and had its full effect upon them. It was said that the king was alienated from the Church of England, and weary of supporting Episcopacy in Scotland, and so it was resolved not to clog his government any longer with it; "The meeting was begun with prayer by Mr. Matthew Ramsay, eldest minister of the town. The bishop opened their conversation with an eloquent and elaborate discourse of near an hour's length. He harangued upon the peace of the Church, evils of division, and his own condescension to his brethren, with commendation of episcopacy, and plain enough invectives against presbytery. He added some persuasives to fall in with his proposal, and insinuated pretty open threats, if it were not gone into."- Wodrow, ii. 180. For a full acquittal of the archbishop from the calumnies recorded concerning him, the reader may consult his Life, by the Rev. J. N. Pearson, M.A. and that the concessions now made did not arise from any tenderness we had for them, but from artifice to preserve Episcopacy; so that they were made believe that their agreeing to them was really a strengthening of that government which was otherwise ready to fall with its own weight." The effect of these repeated disappointments was to induce the archbishop to resign, and for this purpose he went to London in the summer of 1673. The king, although he would not accept of the resignation, gave a sullen promise, that if after another year the archbishop found the state of religion still not congenial to his wishes, he should be at liberty to vacate his see. The time having expired, and no amendment taken place, his resignation was accepted. He now retired to Broadhurst in Sussex, where his sister, Mrs. Lightmaker, a widow, resided, and where he lived in a very humble way, sometimes preaching, and incessant in labours of love. The king in 1679 wrote to him a letter with his own hand, requesting him to return to Scotland, and endeavour to conciliate all parties; but this he begged to decline. He never again visited Scotland. He remained in his retirement for nearly ten years. In 1684 he had occasion to go to London. He was there taken ill, and died after a confinement of only three days, on the 1st of February, in the 71st year of his age, being attended by various friends, among whom was Bishop Burnet. It had long been his wish to die at an inn, that he might not be distracted by the presence of sorrowing relatives; and the request was granted, for he breathed his last at the Bell Inn, in Warwick Lane. By his own express desire he was buried in the church of Broadhurst, where a monument is erected to his memory. The character and attainments of Archbishop Leighton are thus drawn by Bishop Burnet. Something, per haps, must be allowed for the feelings of private friendship; still, comparing it with what might be expected from his writings, and from the testimony of history, " even his enemies being judges," it may be regarded as faithfully portrayed. "He had the greatest command of the purest Latin that I ever knew in any man. He was a master both of Greek and Hebrew, and of the whole compass of theological learning, chiefly in the study of the Scriptures; but that which excelled all the rest was, he was possessed of the highest and noblest sense of divine things that ever I saw in any man. He He had no regard of his person, unless it was to mortify it by a constant low diet, that was like a perpetual fast. He had a contempt of wealth and reputation. He seemed to have the lowest thoughts of himself possible, and to desire that all other persons should think as meanly of him as he did himself. bore all sorts of ill-usage and reproach like a man that took pleasure in it. He had so subdued the natural heat of his temper, that in a great variety of accidents, and in a course of twenty-two years' intimate conversation with him, I never observed the least sign of passion but upon one occasion. He brought himself into so composed a gravity, that I never saw him laugh, and but seldom smile; and he kept himself in such a constant recollection, that I do not remember that I ever heard him say one idle word. There wa a visible tendency in all he said to raise his own mind and those he conversed with to serious reflection. He seemed to be in a perpetual meditation; and though the whole course of his life was strict and ascetical. yet he had nothing of the sourness of temper that generally possesses men of that sort. He was the freest from superstition, of censuring others, or of inposing his own methods on them possible, so that he did not so much as recommend them to others. said there was a diversity of tempers, and every man was to watch his own, and to turn it in the best man He • See History of the Church in Scotland, by the Rev. Michael Russell, LL.D. ner he could. His thoughts were lively, oft out of the way and surprising, yet just and genuine; and he had laid together in his memory the greatest treasure of the best and wisest of all the ancient sayings of the heathens as well as Christians, that I have ever known any man master of; and he used them in the aptest manner possible. He had been bred up with the greatest aversion imaginable to the whole frame of the Church of England. From Scotland his father sent him to travel. He spent some years in France, and spoke that language like one born there. He came afterwards and settled in Scotland, and had presbyterian ordination; but he quickly broke through the prejudices of his education. His preaching had a sublimity both of thought and expression in it. The grace and gravity of his pronunciation were such, that few heard him without a sensible emotion-I am sure I never did. His style was rather too fine; but there was a majesty and beauty in it, that left so deep an impression, that I cannot yet forget the sermons I heard him preach thirty years ago; and yet with this he seemed to look on himself as so ordinary a preacher, that while he had a cure he was ready to employ all others; and when he was a bishop, he chose to preach to small auditories, and would never give notice beforehand. He had indeed a very low voice, and so could not he heard by a great crowd. I bear still the greatest veneration for the memory of that man that I do for any person, and reckon my early knowledge of him, and my long and intimate conversation with him, that continued to his death, for twenty-three-years, among the greatest blessings of my life, and for which I know I must give an account to God in the great day in a most particular manner." pursued into allegory; yet very natural. Upon the whole, they are such as none but a very ingenious, learned, religious man could write ..... Few uninspired writers have a greater tendency to mend the world. The disappointment which the learned and polite complained of when these posthumous works were published, is chiefly to be charged upon their ignorance of the true beauties and use of theological writings." In the preface of Dr. Doddridge to the archbishop's works, morcover, occurs the following passage, sufficiently demonstrative of the value of these works, and of the character of the author : "The preparing of these volumes for the press hath generally taken up a little of my time, in the intervals of other business, daily, for several months; but I am far from repenting the labour I have bestowed upon it. The delight and edification which I have found in the writings of this wonderful man, for such I must deliberately call him, would have been a full equivalent for my pains, separate from all prospect of that effect which they might have upon others; for truly I know not that I have ever spent a quarter of an hour in reviewing any of them, but, even amidst that interruption which a critical examination of the copy would naturally give, I have felt some impressions which I could wish always to retain. I can hardly forbear saying, as a considerable philosopher and eminent divine said to me long ago,-There is a spirit in Archbishop Leighton I never met with in any other human writings, nor can I read many lines in them without being moved.' In the conclusion of his Pastoral Care, Bishop Burnet takes another opportunity of dwelling upon the character of this inestimable man: "I have now laid together," says he, "with great simplicity, what has been the chief subject of my thoughts for above thirty years. I was formed to them by a bishop that had the greatest elevation of soul, the largest compass of knowledge, the most mortified and heavenly disposi-ing tion, that I ever yet saw in mortal; that had the greatest parts, as well as virtue, with the perfectest humility, that I ever saw in man, and had a sublime strain in preaching, with so grave a gesture, and such a majesty both of thought, of language, and of pronunciation, that I never once saw a wandering eye where he preached, and have seen whole assemblies melt in tears before him; and of whom I can say, with great truth, that in a free and frequent conversation with him for above two-and-twenty years, I never knew him say a word that had not a direct tendency to edification; and I never once saw him in any other temper than that which I wish to be in in the last moments of my life." His writings are thus noticed by Dr. Doddridge; valuable testimony from a man who differed from him on the subject of ecclesiastical polity, but who had drank with him at the same well-springs of the water of life; and the faithfulness of the character of these writings will be fully allowed by all who have perused them in simplicity of heart : "Archbishop Leighton is one of the most eminently devout and pious writers his age has produced. His sermons, indeed, are not accurately digested, and sometimes contain only hints not fully opened; which is the more excusable, as none of them were intended for the press by the author. His works ought to be reckoned amongst the greatest treasures of the English tongue. They continually overflow with love to God, and breathe a heart entirely transformed by the Gospel, above the views of every thing but pleasing God. There is a vast deal of spirit and charming imagination; multitudes of the most beautiful figures; and Scriptures applied with happiest allusions. Metaphors, especially those in the text, are sometimes "Indeed, it would be difficult for me to say where, but in the sacred oracles, I have ever found such heart-affecting lessons of simplicity and humility, candour and benevolence, exalted piety, without the least tincture of enthusiasm, and an entire mortification of every earthly interest, without any mixture of splenetic resentment. Nor can I ever sufficiently admire that artless manner in which he lays open, as it were, his whole breast to the reader, and shews, without seemto be at all conscious of it himself, all the various graces that can adorn and ennoble the Christian, running like so many veins of precious ore in the rich mine where they grew. And hence, if I mistake not, is that wonderful energy of his discourses, obvious as they seem, unadorned as they really are, which I have observed to be owned by persons of eminent piety in the most different ranks, and amidst all the variety of education and capacity that can be imagined. As every eye is struck by consummate beauty, though in the plainest dress, and the sight of such an object impresses much more than any laboured description of complexion, features, or air, or any harangue on the nicest rules of proportion, which could come into consideration; so, in the works of this great adept in true Christianity, we do not so much hear of goodness as see it in its most genuine traces-see him a living image of his divine Master, for such indeed his writings shew, I had almost said, demonstrate him to have been, by such internal characters as surely a bad man could not counterfeit, and no good man could so much as suspect. The Episcopal Church of Scotland, as has been more than once stated in the pages of this work, must be an object of deep interest to all those who are conscientiously attached to the doctrine and discipline of the United Church of England and Ireland. It has pleased God that she should suffer many privations, and that temporal poverty should be her lot. We can wish her no better boon than this, that from the pulpits of her places of worship may be heard preached, in all their soul-saving energy and life-giving power, those doctrines of grace and mercy on which Robert Leighton delighted to expatiate. May her bishops, priests, and deacons, be imbued with his heavenly spirit, and boldly proclaim, as he did, the Gospel of THE MEETING OF THE SAINTS IN An Advent Sermon, BY THE REV. THOMAS GRINFIELD, M.A. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" It is interesting and striking to reflect on the different manner in which men of faith under the Old Testament looked forward to the coming of our Saviour, as compared with the manner in which believers under the blessed dispensation of the Gospel look forward to that Saviour's coming. They waited for his first, we wait for his second advent. In the case of both, the great vital principle of faith is exercised, and is essentially the same, "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." But in the case of Abraham, Jacob, or Moses, of David, Isaiah, and the other saints of old, their faith most naturally and justly fixed itself upon the grand event which was then still to be realised, the event we hope to commemorate with sacred joy on the approaching festival, the first appearance of the promised Seed of the woman; his coming in the fulness of time, and in great humility, to "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." It was in this exercise of faith that the aged Simeon and Anna were found on his arrival "waiting "waiting for the consolation of Israel." The difference of their situation from ours gave to their faith a difference of manner from ours, while the object in view remains the same to both. Their prospect has become, by the fulfilment of prophecy, our retrospect. They looked forward to that, on which we look backward: we commemorate what was their expectation; while we have another prospect to engage our deep attention, substituted in the place of theirs-we look forward to another advent of the same promised Redeemer. "Ye turned from idols to serve the living God, and to wait for his Son from heaven." The middle distance of the prospect chiefly engaged their attention: we have left that behind; and, though we are often looking back to it, nothing remains for our onward view but the great horizon of eternity, marked out by the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." This second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, to which the apostle adverts in the text, and which fills up the whole of our prospect concerning him, is a very appropriate subject of meditation at this season, when we are preparing to celebrate his manifestation in the flesh. The coming of Christ, that only coming of the Son of Man to which we can now look forward, must surely present a most important, most interesting subject of thought and devotion to the Christian believer at any time, and perhaps at the present season more than at any other, if, indeed, times and seasons can be supposed entitled to make any difference in our impressions of such a subject, a subject how powerfully qualified to awaken the careless, and alarm the rebellious sinner on the one side, to stimulate the loitering, and gladden the persevering believer, on the other side! In both these aspects is the coming of our Lord repeatedly adverted to by himself and his apostles. The text, however, bids me on this occasion regard it chiefly in its happy and lovely aspect; as attended, not with despair, but hope; "not with distress, but joy; not with a weight of confusion, but a "crown of rejoicing, or glorying." In this view the second advent of the Lord Jesus is a theme of equal delight and edification to every devoted follower of his and as such it is peculiarly introduced in many passages of the epistles. While we can never forget, if we love the Saviour, nor ever remember without grateful joy, that first arrival of his on earth, on which our whole salvation rests and centres; while we delight to commemorate that " now once in the end of the world he hath appeared," to "bear the sins of many;" so we shall be found among those who are described as "loving his appearing," -as looking for him, when he shall appear "the second time, without sin, unto salvation." We have solemn reason, brethren, to suspect and examine our state before the Lord, if our conscience testifies that we are not yet among those who are described as "loving his appearing; looking for that blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our Saviour; looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God; waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ,"-for such are the apostolic expressions by which all true Christians are designated, and by which therefore we must ascertain our own character and state of preparation. If we sincerely rejoice in his first appearing, as the good Shepherd, who came to seek and to save those that were lost, we shall certainly feel a deep interest in the contemplation of that Shepherd as coming again, to gather all his recovered sheep together in the eternal fold, his sheep, led on as it were by those under-shepherds, who had feebly laboured to gather them in on earth, and who will then, in their humble degree, rejoice with the chief Shepherd in his infinitely more exalted and glorious joy. This last sentiment reminds me of the text, of which it is time to enter on the consideration, and in which the holy apostle expresses, as with a divine rapture of anticipation, the satisfaction with which he should meet, in the presence of his Lord, those among his hearers to whom he had been the highly honoured, though all unworthy, instrument of imparting spiritual and eternal benefits: "for what," he exclaims, "is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?—are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" May the Lord grant his blessing to our consideration of these heavenly words! I. As the first thing, I mention, it is implied in these words, that there will be a meeting and a mutual recognising of each other in the heavenly world among those who have known each other here, and who, at the same time, have been prepared and qualified by grace to perpetuate their knowledge of each other in glory. The apostle speaks to his Thessalonian converts in language evidently implying his assured expectation of meeting and recognising them in that holy, happy state to which their hearts were ever aspiring. And what he expected in this instance, is what may be expected by all real Christians in relation to their pious and congenial friends. What friends that are not friends to Christian piety, can le congenial to any real Christian?-What friends, without the love of God and Christ, his Father and their Father, his Saviour and their Saviour, without a spiritual mind and heavenly affections;-what friends, however so called in the light, customary language of the world, could be his friends in heaven, his friends for a blessed, because a hallowed, eternity? But every one of his congenial friends the departed follower of God shall meet and know again and for ever. what delightful interviews will take place, among those who depart to be with Christ in paradise, between those who knew, esteemed, and loved each other on earth, and whose mutual acquaintance, esteem, and love, were at once sanctified and immortalised by the love of God; seasoned with grace, as with the sacred salt that can alone preserve our friendships from speedy corruption! What ecstasy to the pious parent, to welcome, on their arrival, the children whom he had trained by instruction to fear and love the Lord, and live for a better country; while that parent leads them to the throne of their common Father and Redeemer, with those words of grateful triumph, "behold me, and the children whom thou hast given me!" With what exultation must we imagine-if, indeed, we could imagine-those who have been united here in the tenderest bonds, made far more tender by that unity of the Spirit which is the true cement of every human union, whether the bonds be those of nature, friendship, or marriage, rejoining each other in that land where the word "farewell" is a word proscribed and unknown-where the assurance of perfect security and endless duration heightens and completes the experience of present beatitude! And, oh! what a motive is here to sanctify our friendships; to season well all our affections of this kind with religion and immortality; at once to purify and perpetuate our love to others with that love of God, that love of Christ, which is the soul of heaven! What a motive to be select and circumspect in the social attachments and intimacies we form, and, in their enjoyment, to keep up a constant habit of reference to that world, in which, if founded on Christian principles, they will be renewed in glorified and endless perfection! Let the friends we choose, in a word, be those who have chosen Christ, our Friend, for theirs; let us love those with a peculiar love, as indeed our brethren, whom we may hope to love evermore. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing," in regard to any of our valued friendships? Is it not that we may meet, recognise, and be blessedly reunited with our friends, "in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" Let it suffice thus far to have touched on a subject very interesting to our natural and social affections, and implied, though not expressed, in the text. II. In the second place, then, from what is implied, we come to what is expressed; from the general and joyful recognition of pious relatives or friends in the society of heaven, to the peculiar and peculiarly joyful recogniOh ! tion which will take place in that society between those who acted on earth as faithful ministers of the Gospel, and those to whom their ministry was attended with a blessing from the Lord. A vast multitude and variety of interesting and delightful recognitions will take place, of the kind to which we have been adverting under the former head; but, perhaps, of them all, none will be deemed more deeply interesting, none more gloriously delightful, than that of the humble pastor, and the sheep, though few, that he was privileged to lead and to feed, to recall from their fatal wanderings, and to help forward on their return to the Shepherd of souls! Let us fix our attention awhile, and indeed from time to time, on |