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mental feeling.

"Our souls cleave to the dust;

quicken thou us, O Lord, according to thy word."

"Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love,

And that shall kindle ours."

3. It must be constant. If the perfections of Christ changed; if at one time his attractive excellencies were weaker than at another, our love to him might fluctuate; but he changeth not. If our obligations to Christ abated; if he were daily doing less for us, and taking from what he had already done; then might our love decline. But is this the case? Is he not doing more for us every day, every hour, of our lives? He is adding, to the unequalled expression of his love on the cross, innumerable and inestimable benefits. O that our love to him were constant as his kindness to us, and lasting as all his favours! In this rejoice; the principle of love to Christ, once enkindled in the heart by the Holy Spirit, and cherished by the true believer, shall not be utterly extinguished. It may languish, but it shall not perish. It may lose its brightness, and be concealed for a while amidst the dark clouds of ignorance and sin which envelop our present state, but it shall yet exist; it shall yet be seen; ere long it shall break out with transcendent lustre, and be perpetuated in eternal glory.

III. The TEST by which love to Christ is ascertained.

"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." It is good to have the commandments of Jesus Christ, to be born in a land of Bibles. It is a great privilege to live where his revealed will is known, and where his truth is taught; but this is not enough. To have the words of Christ

is no sure sign of love to him; he that hath them, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth him.

And what is this keeping the commandments of Christ? Do they keep them who are ignorant of them, and who discover little concern to become acquainted with them? There are many of this class, who scarcely open the book of God from month to month, and who seldom attend any place of religious worship. Is there one such here? You surely do not pretend to love Christ; you are conscious of no such feeling. The king expects loyalty in his subjects :—suppose, as a test of loyalty, he were to issue a proclamation, enacting obedience to certain laws; and suppose these laws, strictly reasonable and constitutional, were to be printed and circulated plentifully in the land, and one day in seven appointed for reading and explaining them; now, if you would scarcely look at a copy of these laws, if you would not come together to hear them, if you refused to use any proper means to get acquainted with them, could you pretend to loyalty? You that keep the words of Christ are seeking to know them; you read the book in which they are contained, you frequent the place in which they are enforced, you do not put these things from you.

Do they keep the commandments of Christ who have no relish for them? There are many persons of this description. They read the word of the Lord, and they hear it, but have no taste for it, no true desire of heart towards it: they read and hear merely from custom, or to quiet conscience, or because a parent or master requires it. There are others who have a sort of liking to scripture history, because it amuses; some taste for certain doctrines,

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because they can speculate upon them; a little more attachment to promises, because they think them comfortable; but precepts they do not admire, because precepts require practice. Such persons are no lovers of Jesus Christ. If you love him, you love his word; the whole of it. You revere his character, not only as a Priest to atone for sin, but as a Prophet to instruct, and as a King to command. As Cornelius said to Peter, so can you say, when you assemble for religious worship; "Now, therefore, are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God." Whatever truths are dispensed in his house, the sentiment of your soul is, like that of Samuel, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth t." "This is the love of

God;" yea, and the love of Christ too," that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous." He himself assures us; and experience confirms the pleasing fact; "My yoke is easy, and my burthen is light §."

Do they keep the commandments of Christ who do not obey them? A proper relish for that which is right must lead to the observance of it; yet how often is this pretended to where practical obedience does not appear! Men "profess that they know God, but in works they deny him;" they say that they love Christ, and yet act in direct contradiction to his word. They are living in the careless omission of known duty, and in the allowed practice of known sin. They abstain, it may be, from grosser vices, such as would blast their reputation, and bring upon them disgrace in the eyes of men, but they indulge

• Acts xvi. 33.
↑ 1 John iii. 5.

+ 1 Sam. iii. 9.
§ Matt. xi. 30.

much evil which is abominable in the sight of God. Our Lord once proposed a question to his hearers, which equally applies to professors of religion in the present day; "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" Why do you talk of Christ, and own the authority of Christ, and profess the love of Christ, and yet refuse obedience to the plainest dictates of his word?

The obedience of many is very partial, superficial, and fluctuating: can such be said to keep his commandments? Some professors of religion pretend they love to hear duties enforced; that sermons in which precepts are explained and urged give them the highest delight. Alas! this may be the fruit of pride, the offspring of a legal spirit. Men want to save themselves: they think a little morality, and a little mending, will do great things towards the accomplishment of their own salvation. But the commands of Christ, remember, relate to faith as well as practice. Hear his words: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven*." This will of the Father relates to the humbling of the soul, the renouncing of self-righteousness, the falling in cordially with that method of saving sinners prescribed in the Gospel, which is by grace through faith in the obedience and sacrifice of his dear Son. "This is his commandment, that we believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ t." Living faith stimulates to that obedience which is sincere, affectionate, and universal. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me."

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This word keepeth deserves more particular notice. It means," to hold in custody, to preserve, or guard any thing, lest it be lost, or wrested from us." Thus we are to keep, to guard, to hold fast, the words of Christ; and so far as we do this, we have scriptural evidence of love to him.

And is there not peculiar beauty in this test of affection to the Lord Jesus? It is adapted to persons in all circumstances and situations. Not he that is most learned, he that is most wise, he that can talk best and do most for me, or that can give most to encourage and support my cause; these things are no certain mark of genuine love to Christ. A man may have the tongue of an angel, he may possess the gift of prophecy, he may understand all mysteries and all knowledge, he may bestow all his goods to feed the poor, and give even his body to be burned; yet without love he is nothing; and the proper fruit of love is keeping the words of Christ. So that, let a person have ever so little to give or to say, let him be ever so unlearned, and inferior to many in mental capacity, and active zeal, still the test which the Saviour lays down is the same: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." Some of you, I trust, answer this character. You are conscious of much defect, and of many imperfections, which you greatly lament; yet can you not humbly appeal, as Peter did, to the Searcher of hearts: "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee*."

IV. The REWARD with which love to Christ is connected.

. John xxi. 17.

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