intense affection, like that with which He is himself regarded by his Father, as the beloved Son," in whom," says his Father, "my soul delights." The love of God to Jesus Christ is infinite, inconceivable : yet that love is mentioned as the model of the Saviour's love to his people. The height and depth, the length and breadth, of that love which subsists between the Father and the Son, is incomprehensible : yet the apostle prays "that we may know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." And love moves in the heart of a Christian, as a pervading principle of his obedience. Jesus Christ is the object, not only of faith and trust, but also of affection; He reigns in the heart, enthroned in love.

2. This friendship, like any other, has its sacrifices. The sacrifice of Christ was a proof of his great love: to this He appeals, just before the text, in those words, "Greater love than this hath no man, that a man lay down his life for his friends: ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." His love was costly: it cost Him his body and his soul. He so loved his Church, "that He gave himself for it." No other gift, after this, can be too costly for his love to bestow. And his friends, in return, are ready to give up much, to give up all, for Him: "Whosoever forsakes not father and mother, wife and children, for my sake, is not worthy of me." They deny themselves in their most beloved desires, if those desires are inconsistent with his will. Against all that contradicts his mind they maintain an unrelenting warfare. Their first inquiry, on all occasions, is, "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?"

3. There is a delight in the reciprocal intercourse of real friendship. Many we may esteem; but, as they are not our particular friends, we do not feel their absence, nor long after their presence. And there is a fellowship of the believer with Christ. "Truly," says the beloved apostle, "our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ; and these things," he adds, "we write unto you, that ye may share this fellowship with us, and that your joy may be full." Jesus Christ holds intercourse with the souls of his people. His Spirit reveals his riches in a way not to be conceived by others: for none can teach like God. These are their sweetest moments. Christ is their life; they live in Him; they are parts of his mystical body; they prize and seek his spiritual presence; the voice of their heart is, "We would see Jesus ;" see Him as displayed in the house of God, in the word of God. A vital communion with Him is what they supremely desire; and, in prayer, they wish to have their hearts softened into love, and centred on Christ. "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!" this is the expression of their feeling, as it is given by the bride concerning her Beloved and her Friend, in the mystic Song of Solomon. He is not acquainted with the elements of Christ's love, who does not delight in the daily remembrance of Christ. All real believers feel that attraction to their Saviour, in the remembrance of himself, his offices, his love and grace, which they feel nowhere beside.

4. "The servant knows not what his master does." It is implied VOL. IV.-L LL

66

that there is perfect freedom of communication between Christ and his disciples. A servant knows little of his master's mind, as it is communicated to a friend; but here the Master reveals his secrets to his servants, whom He treats as his friends; they know the way of the Lord, they become of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." "All things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you."... And, in return, they keep nothing secret from their heavenly Friend; they spread every matter before the Lord; "they go and tell Jesus;" they commit their cares to Him, confess all their infirmities, all their sins, to Him; to Him who can correct their errors, sympathize with their infirmities, forgive their sins, relieve their sorrows. Such a freedom of intercourse is a delightful ingredient in this sacred friendship.

5. A mutual influence exists between the parties here concerned. Without this, no two persons can be intimate with each other. Friends are drawn together by congeniality, and this is increased by the habit of intercourse; the cause and effect thus mingling in mutual reaction. Few things are better adapted to improve us than the friendship of the wise and good. With Christ we are in the most improving school: "Beholding in Him the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." He is the source and sum of all beauty and blessedness; and to converse with Him is to become like Him. If friendship has a transforming, assimilating influence, so that a man, we say, may be known by his friends; how much more must this be felt and seen where the sentiment of adoration is mixed with every affection that belongs to friendship! Christ, enthroned in the centre of the heart, must have a brightening effect on the whole character.

6. Once more, there is an identity and oneness of interest. A tender friendship destroys separate interests; this is entirely realized in the case before us. Jesus Christ, indeed, makes the first advances; but his people follow," willing in the day of his power." He sets them apart, and they choose Him; become one with Him in spirit and pursuit. Their happiness is his aim; and they give themselves to Him to be made happy in his love and service. To me," says Paul," to live is Christ, and to depart is to be with Christ." It is not, on either side, a solitary happiness. His glory they desire to behold; his afflictions are also theirs; they spend themselves for Him, for the diffusion of his gospel and his grace; they feel that they are not their own, but his.

II. To conclude with one or two reflections.

1. In what a dignified character does a Christian appear, as called to be a friend of Jesus Christ! and what gratitude is due for such an exalted privilege! To be chosen and loved by the Son of God, the Lord of all, the Beloved of the Father, the theme of prophecy, the worship of angels! to call Him, not only our Lord and King, but our Friend and Brother! angels have not an honour like this: "such honour have all his saints!" Saints are nearer than angels to Jesus Christ: He is not their Friend, as He is ours. What gratitude is due

to Him, from those whom He has so highly favoured! all our affections, all our energies, are due to Him.

2. The only evidence which we can give that we are friends of Jesus Christ, is our obedience to his commands. "Then are ye My friends, when ye do whatsoever I command you." His end, in all that He did and suffered, was to obtain for himself an obedient people. "To this end He died and rose, that He might be the Lord of all." If we love Him, we keep his commands. He is the Head, his people are the members, of his mystical body, his Church; and love to Him makes them delight in his ways; impelled by love, "they run and are not weary, they walk and are not faint."

3. What manner of persons, then, ought we, who profess ourselves his friends, to be, in all holy conversation! How ought we to avoid every act of sin, to purify ourselves even as He is pure, to walk in the light, to shine as lights of the world, holding forth the word of life! If we pretend to be friends of Jesus Christ, surely the world will expect us to be above all prevarication, above all unkindness; expect us. to be above the course of the world; expect us to manifest a seriousness, a consistency, becoming those who bear such a profession. If we violate the spirit and the example of Christ, He is wounded in the house of his friends. But I would hope better things of many among you, my brethren. Having professed to put on Christ, walk worthy of your high calling; remember what manner of persons you ought to be; looking for, and hastening unto, the coming of the day of God, when the world, and all that it contains, shall be dissolved!

LXVII.

THE JOY OF THE DISCIPLES ON THE RESURRECTION OF THEIR LORD.*

JOHN, XX., 20: Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. [Preached at Broadmead, Bristol, Lord's Day evening, April 6, 1828, Easter Day.]

THOUGH Dissenters do not observe the present season as it is observed by some of their Christian brethren, because they find no Divine authority for such observance; yet, I trust, we are very ready to approve of its observance among those who think differently, and we hope that they are not disposed to censure us for following our own judgment: in such things much must be left to every one's conscience; "he that keepeth the day, to the Lord he keepeth it; and he that keepeth it not, to the Lord he keepeth it not." I shall therefore, on this occasion, strike in with the train of reflection to which many are led by the season, and consider the causes of the joy which the resurrection of Jesus Christ excited in his disciples. We can but

* From the notes of the Rev. T. Grinfield

very faintly realize this joy as they felt it; in them it was proportioned to the sorrow they had felt at his departure.

1. They were glad when they saw the Lord, as it gave proof that He had escaped the fury of his foes. They had lately looked on Him as lost to themselves." This," they said, in despair, "is now the third day." Now they saw Him completely exempt from danger; and their joy was proportioned to their intense love of their Lord: He had told them, "Ye shall see Me no more, and ye shall have sorrow; but your sorrow shall be turned into joy, and your joy no man taketh from you." Could He have given them salvation at the expense of his own destruction, it would have yielded them no satisfaction. If David, however thirsty, could not taste of the water, when he regarded it as the price of blood, how could they have enjoyed a deliverance which cost them a Friend they so dearly loved, without his return to them? In proportion as we love our Saviour, we shall rejoice that He is now at the right hand of God; every sincere disciple will feel a sincere joy in the assurance that Jesus Christ is seated on the throne, surrounded by angels, an innumerable multitude, and by the Church of God!

2. A second reason of their gladness at his resurrection was, that it afforded an evidence of his character, and a confirmation of his mission and doctrine. God has shown his complacency in virtue, by crowning it with glory in the exaltation of his Son. The signature of the Divine hand was thus put upon it; and they were enabled to go abroad, and establish Christianity on the basis of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Had He not risen, they must have been utterly ashamed and confounded; for He had himself foretold it openly even to his enemies: "I will raise this temple of My body in three days :" "we remember that deceiver said, I will rise again." But now they could appear as "witnesses of his resurrection."* Now Paul could open his Epistle to Rome with the assertion that Jesus Christ was "declared the Son of God by his resurrection," "raised by the glory of the Father." Who could pretend that the Divine Being would, by this stupendous miracle, give sanction to imposture, and currency to falsehood? Who could suppose God would lay men under an irresistible necessity of believing in the pretensions of the Messiah, unless they were altogether true ? His resurrection goes to establish the whole of his mission, every one of his commands, every thing, however mysterious and beyond the sphere of reason, which He taught. We must yield ourselves entirely to this Divine Teacher, for God hath set his seal upon Him. And how thankful to God should we be for having placed our religion on such a basis of evidence, an evidence suited to all minds, intelligible to the multitude as well as to men of Tesearch! for the Divine Father has consulted the nature of his creatures by establishing his revelation on a basis of facts, and not merely of speculative arguments; confirmed his word by miracles, and signs, and wonderful gifts of the Spirit. Hence we may rest assured that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church." Infidels

▾ See Acts, i., 22; ii., 32; iii., 15.

have chosen rather to attack particular parts, than attempt to shake the foundation of facts on which Christianity rests.

3. The resurrection of the Lord made his disciples glad, as it proved the acceptance of his sacrifice, and the completion of his obedience, in behalf of his believing followers. It proved that He gave his life a ransom for sinners, that his blood was shed for the remission of sins, not in vain. His death had been prefigured by sacrifices: when God would no more endure those sacrifices, then said He, "Lo, I come :" He was delivered for our offences; He died for all; and hence all were proved to have been dead. He died to reconcile justice and mercy in the salvation of man; but the proof of his success lies entirely in his resurrection. Without this, his death is like that of an ordinary man; but this proves the merit and power of his death. "Who is he that condemneth? when it is Christ that died; yea, rath. er, that is risen from the dead!" Will He, the Judge, condemn those for whom he died and rose ? Hence there remains no bar to the salvation of every penitent sinner; the wells of life are opened to all that will come and drink. The bar of justice is removed, justice being reconciled with mercy. For Christ has magnified and honoured the law, made an end of sin, and brought in an everlasting righteousness; He has laid a basis for justification, as well as made an atonement for sin. The great question was, "How shall man be just with God?" and the answer has been given: "Christ died, the just for the unjust; God laid on Him the iniquities of us all." This is the source of a joy as extensive as the Church of God; as the tears of penitence mingled with the hope of pardon and the emotion of tender gratitude.

4. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a source of gladness to his friends, as it was a proof of their participation in the blessings which He has procured beyond the present state; a pledge of their entrance into heaven. He rose as the Head of his body, the Church; He entered into the holiest as the Forerunner of his people; it was his prayer "that they all may be with Me, and behold My glory." They will shine, though in an inferior degree, with the lustre of the Son of God; they will partake, according to their respective capacities, the fulness of his joy his desire will be fulfilled, that their joy may be full. What an astonishing elevation is this, my brethren, for those who "dwell in houses of clay, and who are crushed before the moth!" "He will change our vile body, that it may be like his glorious body." We shall forever derive sanctity from the fountain of the Spirit; the oil of gladness, with which He was anointed, flows freely down to the skirts of his clothing, is diffused among all his followers. We shall be not only with, but like, the Lord; walk with Him in white raiment; ride with the King of kings as his army on white horses; to all eternity partake of his glory, and of that joy which eye hath not seen, nor heart conceived! As we have borne the image of the earthly Adam, so shall we be conformed to the heavenly Adam. To such an extent, where sin had abounded, grace hath superabounded!

5. Finally, the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, as they had thus a pledge of his protection of his Church from its enemies, and