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languor with my hope; so much imperfection with all my services; so many wandering imaginations even with my most solemn prayers; that if thou dost not help me I must sink, and die. If thou dost not plead for me, I must give up every hope; but thou wilt plead for me. Thou art my intercessor, and in thee let me find my everlasting all; and cold as is this heart, does it not wish, and pray, and long to love thee? and weak as is this faith, does it not fix upon thee, and still turn to thee? and dim as is this hope, yet thou knowest this glimmering, trembling hope, would not fix on any thing but thee; nor would I be without this hope for all the works thy hands have made. But let this hope brighten; and plead thou for me; and take into thy care my everlasting concerns; and let me rejoice in thee, as my advocate and eternal friend, and then thy will be done for every thing besides !

§ 5. The Christian is represented as the peculiar property of Christ. "Whether we live we live unto the Lord, and whether we die we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord's;" and his through the purchase of his blood," bought with a price" inestimable. The thought is delightful "We are the Lord's." What more can the soul desire to secure its happiness? Whether we live we are the Lord's-then all his dealings must be meant in mercy, and all must end in good. Whether we die we are the Lord'sthen all must be well in the world unseen. The Christian may say, "I know not where heaven is; but Jesus knows, and I am his. When soul and body part, my spirit will be a stranger to the wondrous path that conducts the righteous to the presence of their God; but Jesus knows the way, and I am his. Whatever scenes may open on my view, how solemn soever the realities that await me, when I enter eternity, this one thing assures me that all must be right,-" Whether we live or die we are the Lord's." We are the Lord's"-delightful words-sweet as the harmony of heaven. A thousand and a thousand times might the charming declaration be repeated, and yet not all its power be felt, nor all its value comprehended. We We are the Lord's-then welcome life! that we may live to him; and welcome death! that we may go to him; welcome the services of time! they are what he requires ; and welcome the rest of eternity! it is what he prepares. Welcome the Christian warfare! being his makes

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victory certain. Welcome the battle! being his secures the crown. Welcome health or weakness, life or death, time or eternity, earth or heaven! Let us but hear, "We are the Lord's," and each shall be welcome-all shall be welcome.

§ 6. The Lord Jesus Christ is also declared to be the friend and brother of his flock. He owns the endearing appellations. "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. How wonderful the love which applies such endearing names to those who were once so far from God and holiness! How boundless the blessedness of having in Immanuel a brother and a friend! All that is valuable in earthly friendships, and infinitely more, is comprehended in his. The tenderest friendships of earth are but a mutual tribute of affection, where each receives, and each gives. Your friends love you because you love them, and your love to them is strengthened by their love to you; but O how different is his friendship, who died for you when you were his enemy! He is an almighty friend. The dearest relatives below are frail as the flower of the field; but he is liable to no decay. When they have a willing heart, they often have a feeble hand; and fervent prayers and unavailing pity is frequently all the relief that they can administer to those they love the best. But his means are not thus limited. When they can only mingle sorrows with our sorrows, he can drive those sorrows away. He can cheer when they can only weep. He can infuse into the heart the peace which passeth all understanding, and can so strengthen the faith of his disciples, in invisible and eternal things, that they may sometimes seem almost the objects of sight, instead of belief; and by such seasons of delightful intercourse with heaven, he can fill their souls with strong consolation. All the treasures of wisdom too are his. When perplexity and distress beset his friends, and earthly counsellors fail, or stand confounded, he will guide those who look to him for wisdom in the right way, to a city of habitation. Even with respect to temporal concerns, he can sug gest a thought, or fix on the heart an impression, which shall influence all the future life, and extend its influence to eternity itself. His friendship is unchangeable; having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them to the end. Earthly friends are often fickle and mutable; but Jesus Christ "is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." No enemies

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can lessen his love to his beloved flock; ne slanderer pour his venom into the Redeemer's ear. His friendship endures the same through the short summer of prosperity, and the dark winter of adversity; and it endures for ever. When

other friends are most faithful and affectionate, dear as the light that visits our eyes, or as the blood that warms our hearts, such is this world, that they often may be absent when wanted most. Distance may deprive us of their sympathy and affection, when these are most desirable; but this heavenly friend is ever near. He said, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."b If Jesus is our friend, we have one friend ever at hand, to hear the faintest whisper that solicits his aid. His friendship is eternal too, and this is the crown of all the rest. It lasts for eternity. Blessed eternity! It is eternity that will infuse the most rapturous delight into the triumphant believer's overflowing cup of happiness. It is eternity that will form the brightest ray in the triumphant believer's far more exceeding weight of heavenly glory; and it is eternity that renders the friendship of Jesus Christ so immense a blessing, that its worth might be for ever telling, yet for ever untold. Our most beloved friends must die; and we must die; and the fondest earthly connexions must shortly be dissolved. To mourn for the death of those we hold most dear, or to have them mourn on account of ours, is what we all are doomed to here. "The loss of friends is the sad tribute, I had almost said the sad equivalent, that in these regions of death we must pay for loving and being beloved;" but death shall never terminate the friendship of Jesus with his humble flock. That sweet, that awful word, eternity, makes him ours for ever. The sun which shines on the dwellings, where we live with our beloved friends below; the solid earth, on which we tread with them; the stars that shine on our evening walks in their company;-these, like us, are frail; and lasting as they seem, must come to nothing; but the friendship of Jesus Christ is stronger and more lasting than they. It will flourish in those new heavens wherein righteousness dwelleth. Beyond the gulf of death it will diffuse immortal good, through ages more numerous than the drops of summer rain, and the flakes (b) John xiv. 21, 23.

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of winter snow, from the creation to this day. The spirits of the just made perfect, the goodly company of the redeemed, can witness that Jesus Christ is an eternal friend. Death has long ago taken away their worldly possessions, their health, their strength, their time; but not their Redeemer; that perfect and most blessed friend, with whom they must abide to everlasting.

"'d

§ 7. Dear is the friendship of Jesus Christ; blessed is it to be his friend; but his gospel opens a richer treasury of happiness. It represents him as assuming a still dearer name than that of friend. He is the brother of his flock. When he rose from the grave, he said, "Go tell my BRETHREN that they go into Galilee. Go to my BRETHREN, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, unto my God, and your God." "He is not ashamed to call them BRETHREN.' As his brethren they are beloved; but there is a remarkable passage, in which he expresses for them an affection stronger than that of a brother. He said, "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."e His meaning evidently was, that every one who does his Father's will, becomes united to himself in the closest relation. In one so close as singly to obtain as much of his affection as a mother, and sister, and brother, could share among them.

§ 8. How honourable, how delightful, such a union with the Son of God! How wonderful the compassion and grace of the holy Jesus, in bringing into so sacred a connexion those, who were once the heirs of sin, and wrath, and death! What raptures should fire the soul at the thought of such a connexion! That Jesus, who gave angels and archangels their seats in glory, is our friend, our brother, and even more than a brother. Their exalted nature he never wore. Never did he deign to be called their brother, but he has become ours. Could we see a host of happy angels, what an honour should we deem it to be able to say to them, Your Lord is our brother; he has himself acknowledged the relation. O! my fellowpilgrim, rejoice in thinking that he has. He has lived in this land of darkness, this field of death, this vale of pollution,

(c) John xx. 17. (d) Heb. ii. 11. (e) Matt. xii. 48-50.

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and now in heaven owns as his brethren all that truly love his name. In this low world of sin, misery, and death, the divine Jesus seeks friends and brethren, that will be eternally dear to his heart. Creator, Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, all unite in him. O, truths astonishing, yet delightful! truths surpassing wonder, yet full of consolation! truths, that had they not come from heaven, it would have been sin to credit, and which it is now sin to disbelieve! O what is mortal praise, or mortal love, when offered to that Saviour, whose condescending goodness is so vast! Could we offer the praise of angels-praises like those which angels offer would be languid, poor, and cold. Lord, what is ransomed man! Man that, when washed in thy blood, claims thee as a brother, thou Ruler of the skies! thou Lord of heaven! Happy they who enjoy this sacred connexion with the adorable Son of God! This, my brother, or my sister, is our highest honour. Ah, monarchs! may the followers of the Lamb exclaim, keep your crowns, wear your vain titles, govern your wide empires, let us but reign in the presence of Jesus, and in heaven itself be known as the blood-bought kindred of the Son of God!

§ 9. Blessings immense and countless, for time and eternity, flow from such a union. If this enriches you, and peace and comfort should be your lot, you may placidly look forward to a world, where these shall be enjoyed in higher perfection through eternal days. If sorrow imbitter your way, and cloud your sky, you may rejoice in your hasty advances to that state, where the love of Jesus shall banish every grief. The friendship and love of this adorable Saviour and brother, will be the stay of his friends, when rocks crumble to dust, and mountains tremble to their base; when the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and when the fashion of the world, and the world itself, have passed away. Sweet will it be to smile amidst that last storm, and sweet indeed then to enjoy the brotherly love of a divine Saviour.

It is said, that on one occasion a poor aged Christian was observed making her scanty meal on bread and water, but expressing the warm gratitude of her heart, because the Saviour was hers. "All this," said she," and Christ too."Rich are the poorest that have such a friend; poor are the richest that have not. It is related, that a gentleman one day took an acquaintance on the leads of his house, to show