yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."*

But who then is the true Christian? Who can justly appropriate to himself this character? Who is there among us, that speaking of Christ, with humble confidence can say, This is my Friend? To this question, my brethren, I would reply by proposing another inquiry. Who is there among us that speaking of Christ, can truly say, This is my Beloved? If you partake of the privilege of his people, you also partake of their character. If Christ be your friend, you have the testimony of your heart that you love him. Have you this testimony? Of such infinite importance to your peace, to your comfort, to your safety, is a clear decision on this point, that I shall proceed to specify some marks, by which you may judge whether you love Christ or not.

1. If you love Christ, you love his cause. Can you indeed be attached to your Master, and feel indifferent to his interests? What is the cause of Christ? "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." In opposition to the usurped dominion of Satan, Christ has established a kingdom; a kingdom, which commences in grace here, and will terminate in glory hereafter. Of this kingdom all true Christians are subjects. Reclaimed from the servitude of sin, they are become the servants of Christ. In the increase and prosperity of this kingdom, He "sees the travail of his soul and is satisfied." In the increase and prosperity of this kingdom shall not his subjects exult? Can you belong to this kingdom, and yet deem it a matter of little moment, whether the interests of Christ, or the interests of Satan prevail? No, my brethren. If you truly love Christ, the success of his cause in the world will lie near your heart. That his kingdom may come is your prayer. That his kingdom will come is your joy. With the angels you now rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. In hope you already anticipate that glorious time when "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."+

"Every

2. If you love Christ, you love his people. one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.”* In the nature of things can it be otherwise? The people of Christ are his representatives on earth. Faint, indeed, is their present resemblance to him. Far short do they fall of their divine original. But still they bear his likeness. The same humility, meekness, patience, purity, disinterestedness, the same love of God and of man, the same holy abhorrence of sin, which shone so resplendently in Christ, shine also, with however diminished lustre, in his people. Can you love those graces portrayed in Christ, and not love them reflected in his people? Can you love Christ, and not feel a decided partiality for those who, even in a very imperfect manner, resemble him? No. If you love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, his image, wherever discovered, will be the object of your love. By whatever name it may be distinguished, in whatever sect or party it may be found, whether it inhabit a palace or a cottage, that mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, will attract your esteem, will engage your affections. By this secret bias of your heart, your own conduct will insensibly be governed. You will do good unto all men, but especially unto them that are of the household of faith. Towards all men you will exercise a kind and benevolent disposition; but it is from among those who have obtained like precious faith with yourselves, that you will select the objects of your special regard and friendship. The faithful in Christ Jesus you will account the truly honourable on earth; the excellent, in whom is all your delight.

3. If you love Christ, you love his ordinances. It is in his ordinances that Christ more especially meets his people, and manifests himself unto them. It is in his ordinances that he restoreth the souls of his saints. Shall they not love those ordinances, in which they have been quickened, comforted, refreshed? Shall they not desire to see the power and glory of the Lord, as they have seen them in the sanctuary?

What a prominent feature in the character of David is his attachment to the house and worship of the Lord!

* 1 John v. 1.

How bitterly does he lament exclusion from them! How earnestly does he pray for restoration to them! "Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech; that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?-O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me, let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God, my exceeding joy, yea upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God.' Corresponding with these sentiments of David, if you truly love Christ, will be your sentiments. Though the frame of your mind may not at all times permit you to adopt this glowing and animated language; though the fervour of your religious affections will too often subside, and the fire even abate at the altar: yet the prevailing and settled inclination of your heart will accord with that of the Psalmist. With him you will be enabled decidedly to say, "Lord, I love the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth.-One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple."

4. If you love Christ, you love to do his will. Of all the proofs by which love to Christ is attested, obedience to his commands is the most decisive. It is that proof, without which every other attestation is insufficient to evince the reality of your love. Unattended indeed by the other marks already adduced, the sincerity of an obedience, apparently the most exemplary, might be justly suspected. But, on the other hand, unaccompanied by obedience, the most ardent profession of love to Christ, of zeal in his service, of attachment to his cause, to his people, to his ordinances, must be adjudged to be false and spurious; the effect not of christian love, but of pride or obstinacy, of a deceived and self-opinionated mind, of party spirit, of unsanctified affections. Obedience is the corner-stone which unites the whole edifice together, and renders it compact and solid. Obedience is that test which tries the genuineness of every pretension, and dis

tinguishes the sterling metal from every counterfeit. Obedience is the fruit by which Christ himself requires his people to evidence their love. "If ye love me, keep my commandments.-Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.' Obedience is the fruit by which, if you love Christ, you evidence your love. Your obedience indeed is, at the best, defective and unprofitable; but it is sincere, it is cordial, it is universal. You search the Scriptures, that you may know the will of Christ. So far as you discover his will, you desire implicitly to perform it. You neither attempt nor wish to substitute any other rule of conduct. You sin not as others sin, as you yourselves once sinned, with allowance, with complacency, with delight. Sin is your burden, your grief. Your earnest wish, your constant prayer, your daily endeavour is to grow in grace, to be more and more conformed to the image of God in righteousness and true holiness. Your language is, O that there was such a heart in me, that I might fear the Lord, and keep all his commandments always!

Does conscience, on this examination, testify in your favour? Can you justly conclude, on the grounds adduced, that you love Christ? Take to yourselves the full comfort which this conclusion warrants. Is Christ your

Be

beloved? Be assured that he is also your Friend. assured that he is a friend cordially attached to your interests: your all-powerful, your unchangeable friend: a friend who will never leave you nor forsake you: who at those seasons in which you most need a friend, in the time of adversity, in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment, by his presence, consolations, and support, will manifest the strength and tenderness of his affection for you. Confide in such a friend with full assurance of faith. Rejoice in such a friend with full assurance of hope. Dismiss every fear dishonourable to him, injurious to yourself. Live upon his fulness. Go on your way rejoicing. The day is fast approaching, when He whom your soul loveth shall no longer be hidden from your sight. Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. In that day you shall lift up your heads with

*John xiv. 15. xv. 14.

joy. With transport you shall welcome "the glorious appearing of your great God and Saviour. Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”* You shall then see him as he is, your Beloved and your Friend. You shall enter into his joy. You shall be ever with the Lord, and shall behold his glory.

But are there not some whose consciences testify against them? Some whose hearts plainly bear witness to them, that they love not Christ? They have another beloved. Some earthly idol is the object of their affections. "Other lords have dominion over them." They love sin. They love the world. They love the flesh. My brethren, in what language shall I address you? You esteem it a light thing to withhold your heart from Christ. Not to love him cannot, in your estimation, be accounted sinful. But you are grossly deceived. Is it no sin not to love him who so pre-eminently deserves your love? Is it no sin not to love him who loved you, and gave himself for you? If it be no sin not to love Christ, whence proceeds that prophetical imprecation of the apostle, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha," accursed, when our Lord shall come to judgment ?+

View the subject in another light. If Christ be not your beloved, he is not your friend. Can any of the objects which you are preferring to him, supply the want of such a friend? At present perhaps you despise his friendship. Every thing smiles around you. Prosperity crowns your worldly affairs. Health and strength are yours. But will these things be always so? Will your mountain never be removed? The next moment may crumble it to atoms. Adversity may rapidly undermine every foundation on which you are now confiding. Death must finally overturn them all. What in those seasons will you think of Christ? What will you then give for such a friend? Death may

But adversity may not come to warn you. sweep you away without affording any time for reflection.