INSEPARABLE LOVE.

135

Believers love Christ.-"Lord, thou knowest all things;

thou knowest that I love thee." We love him sincerely. We lay our hearts open to his omniscient eye, and say there our love burns, and will burn. And well it may, for he is worthy of heart-love. Men often love each other merely in word and profession, but Christ's sincere and tender love to us demands the same love to him. We love him supremely. Neither the world nor friends should come between our hearts and Jesus, for "he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." We love him constantly. Whatever changes of prosperity or adversity occur, our love should not be like the moon, waxing and waning, but it should be like a fixed star, shining with a steady and attractive light. If I love Jesus, I will think often of him, I will speak often of him, I will be delighted to hear others speak of him, and I will conscientiously and truly obey all his commandments.

They are united to the love of Christ.-They have the same mind in them which was also in Christ Jesus. Having heart joined to heart, the union of believers to Christ is real, and spiritual, and satisfactory. Its bond is faith, for when we believe in Christ, we are united to his person, interested in his work, and sharers of his blessings. Thus united, our hearts swell with love to him and to all who bear his image. If our enemy should rescue us from fire or water, where we must have perished, we believe his love to us, and cannot help loving him; and shall Jesus suffer and die to save us? shall we not believe the love he hath to us, and join our hearts to his? Its evidence is labour for Christ. If we are united to his love, we must do as he did. "He went about continually doing good." He instructed the ignorant, he relieved the distressed, he saved souls from death, and he warned the unbelieving and the ungodly. Let us go and do likewise, and we will give evidence of our love.

136

INSEPARABLE LOVE.

This union is inseparable.- "Who shall separate us?" Believers will be greatly tried in order that they may be drawn from Christ. Affliction, poverty, persecution, hunger, nakedness, peril, and sword will be employed to break off the allegiance, but these trials only affect the body or outward circumstances; they cannot reach the soul, they cannot injure and destroy it, and hence they love him to the last. But the security of this lies with him who says, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." "My grace is sufficient for thee." Through the love, and intercession, and power of Christ, we shall fight the good fight of faith, and come off more than conquerors.

MARCH 24.

Christ's Property.

"And ye are Christ's."-1 Cor. iii. 23.

"YE are Christ's" by creation.-"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." He made us rational beings, and endowed us with immortal souls; and though we are fallen and ruined by sin, though we are helpless and miserable, and have forfeited all claim to his regard, yet he is our Creator still, and creating good things for us every day. "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth."

"Ye are Christ's" by preservation.-Through infancy and youth he leads us up to manhood, bringing us through many dangers, and often raising us from the gates of death. Every day he feeds me from his table, he clothes me from his wardrobe; he gives the pleasures of home and the society of friends; and were he to withdraw his kindness but for one moment, how speedily would my prospects be blasted, and my cup of enjoyment dashed to the ground!

CHRIST'S PROPERTY.

137

"Ye are Christ's" by donation.-"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me: and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Jesus has everything to give us that we need, such as pardon, salvation, and eternal life; he kindly invites us to come to him that we may receive these blessings, and he assures us of a joyful reception. Until we come, we cannot know that the Father hath given us, nor make our election sure.

"Ye are Christ's" by purchase." Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money." When lying in our blood, and ready to perish, the voice of mercy reached us, "Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.” In the fulness of time, Jesus came and obeyed the law which we had broken, and died the death which we deserved to die, and purchased our souls from destruction. What a price, and how willingly paid! "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."

"Ye are Christ's" by conquest.-"He hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Sin and Satan held us fast, and we were willing to be held, but Jesus came to us by his gospel and his Spirit, and took the prey from the mighty. The Spirit rolled divine truth into our hearts, and what were we to resist him? "O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds."

"Ye are Christ's" by your own consent. He loved us and claimed us, and we have admitted his claim. He called and urged us, and we have obeyed his call. He set before us life and death, the blessing and the curse, and we have deliberately chosen life. He shewed us his bleeding hands and his pierced side, and we have felt the strength of the plea, and confessed, "My Lord and my God." He has entered into a covenant with us, and we have become his. "Lord, I am thine, save thou me."

138

MYSTERIOUS GUIDANCE.

MARCH 25.

Mysterious Guidance.

"And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them."-Isa. xlii. 16.

WHо are the blind-what will God do for them ?—and is it certain that he will do it? are the questions we shall now consider.

Who are the blind?—Those who are ignorant of their sin and danger. The captive Jews in Babylon forgot their covenant God, and were punished till they were cured of idolatry. Saul of Tarsus blasphemed God and persecuted the Christians, and multitudes still are blind to their sins and their awful consequences. They never think of the lightning of that eye, which might burn and consume, nor the grasp of that arm which might crush and destroy. Christ crucified is the most conspicuous object in the gospel and in the universe, yet how many will neither look to him nor believe in him. They are blind. The Jews did not know that Cyrus was to be their deliverer; neither had Saul of Tarsus any idea of meeting the Lord in the way, or of the ministry of Ananias; neither have sinners any idea of what sermon, or what book, or what other means is to lead them to Jesus. Am I blind? Lord, open my blind eyes.

What will God do for them?—He will bring them out of captivity. He brought the Israelites out of Egypt; he brought the Jews out of Babylon; he brought the Christians often out of the fires of persecution; and he brings every repenting sinner from the bondage of iniquity. "He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." He will lead them in a right way. He led

MYSTERIOUS GUIDANCE.

139

Abraham right when he set out from his native place, not knowing where to go. He led the Israelites and captive Jews right, till they settled in the promised land. He will give light. Darkness may be in them and around them, but his pillar of fire shall dispel the gloom, and the rays of the Sun of Righteousness shall gild their path. Little did those convicted on the day of Pentecost know that light and joy were so near. Little did the jailer imagine, when he was about to commit suicide, that salvation was at hand. He will remove difficulties. Temptations and calamities are "crooked things," yet God enables his people to overcome them, for the difficulties of the Christian are not half so great as the difficulties of the sinner.

Is it certain that he will do it ?-His word of promise, given once and again, makes it so. Though his ways are dark and mysterious, yet the safety and comfort of the humble believer are secure. Hath God said it, and shall he not do it? Let my soul as soon doubt its own existence as the promise of God! His presence shall help them in difficulty, comfort them during life, cheer them at death, and gladden them through eternity.

MARCH 26.

Christ's Body a Temple.

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."-John, ii. 19.

WHEN Jesus boldly reformed the temple of Jerusalem, and reproved the covetous Jews for their sins, they demanded a sign, and the sign he gave them is expressed in this text. In it we have Christ's body called a temple-its destruction intimated and its restoration predicted.

Christ's body is a temple.-It was built by God: "A