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Apostles should forsake their Lord, he never would: no; he would rather die with him than deny him." To this our Lord alludes in his first question, "Lovest thou me more than these?" To that part of the question Peter made no reply: he would no more boast of his superiority to others; but was contented with affirming what from his inmost soul he knew to be true. Moreover, he seems many years afterwards to have had in view his own fatal miscarriage, when he gave that advice to the Church at large; "Be sober, be vigilant; for your adversary the devil goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist, steadfast in the faith." Thus he learned both humility and caution from his past experience.

A similar effect in us will warrant a similar assurance of our love to Christ. It is often a long time before our besetting sin be even known to us: for sin has such a bewitching power, that it makes us not unfrequently admire as a virtue, what others see and know to be a weakness and a crime. Pride, envy, covetousness, and a variety of other evils, often lurk and reign in us, while we are scarcely sensible of their existence in our hearts. Now if we have been led to search out these hidden abominations, to mourn over them, to subdue and mortify them, and maintain a spirit directly opposed to them, we can scarcely wish for a clearer evidence of our sincerity: the very fruit we produce, indisputably proves our union with Christ; and consequently justifies an assured conviction of our love to him. Thus humbling himself for his iniquity, he must yet further,]

3. Be determined, through grace, to live and die for Christ

[If sin be unrepented of, or self-confidence be indulged, our resolutions, like Peter's, may prove fallacious: but if formed with a humble dependence upon Divine grace, and with a penitent sense of our former miscarriages, they afford a strong additional testimony on our behalf. Peter speedily evinced the renovation of his soul, when with undaunted courage he charged home upon all the Jewish Sanhedrim the murder of his Lord, and set at nought all their threatenings against him. And if we also are enabled boldly to confess Christ, and cheerfully to suffer for him, and unreservedly to devote ourselves unto him, the matter is clear; we do indeed love him; and we may appeal to the heart-searching God that we "love him in sincerity" and truth.]

Let us now institute the same all-important INQUIRY, and address to every one of you the question in the text. Let each one put his own name in the place

of Peter's, and conceive the Lord Jesus Christ saying to him, Lovest thou me? Perhaps all of you, except a few humble and contrite souls, will be ready to answer this question in the affirmative: but if you would enter more dispassionately into it, some of you might possibly apply to yourselves what was spoken to the unbelieving Jews, "I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you." Others of you might be in doubt what answer to make; while others might be able to adopt the language of Peter, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." Taking for granted that there are these three descriptions of persons here present, we shall ADDRESS ourselves,

1. To those who manifestly do not love the Lord Jesus Christ

[How surprising is it that there should be such persons in the world! yet this is the state of the generality even of those who live in this Christian land. And what shall I say to them? Are you not yourselves amazed at your own wickedness? Do you not appear to yourselves to be even monsters in impiety? Not to love Him, who is infinitely lovely! Not to love Him, who is so beloved of God, and of the holy angels, and of all the saints both in heaven and earth! Not to love Him, who has so loved you as to give himself for you, and to lay down his own life a ransom for your souls! How astonishing is it that his wrath has not long since broken forth against you to the uttermost to consume you! Must you not assent to the justice of that denunciation, " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maran-atham?" And do you not tremble lest the curse of God should come upon you? O rest not in a state of such dreadful guilt and danger: but contemplate HIM; and turn unto HIM; and make HIM "the only beloved of your souls."]

2. To those who are in doubt whether they love him or not

[Do not leave this matter any longer in suspense. Search your own hearts, and beg of God to search and try you. Indulge not a needless scrupulosity on the one hand, neither "speak peace unto your souls lightly" on the other hand. Of the two, it were better to be distressed by raising the standard too high, than to deceive yourselves by putting it too low; because, in the one case, your pain will be only small and m 1 Cor. xvi. 22.

1 John v. 42.

transient; whereas, in the other, it will be unspeakable and eternal. Not that it is at all needful to err on either side: the marks and evidences of true love to Christ are laid down with the utmost precision in the Holy Scriptures; and if you read the Scriptures with earnest prayer to God for the illumination of his Spirit," He will guide you into all truth." If you are destitute of true love, he will convince you of sin; and if you are possessed of it, he will shine upon his own work, and give you the witness of his Spirit that you are his. Your Lord and Judge "knoweth all things:" him therefore you cannot deceive: O pray that you may not deceive yourselves.]

3. To those who can truly say, "Lord, I do indeed love thee "_

[How sweet to you must be those words of our Lord, "If any man love me, my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him"." You may rest assured, that these words shall be fulfilled to you. There is not any mercy which God will not vouchsafe to those who make Christ their ALL IN ALL. While you have a scriptural evidence that you do this, you have a right to rejoice: and your joy is an earnest of that everlasting blessedness which you shall possess in his immediate presence.

Be careful then to "abide in his love." Guard against every thing that may impeach the sincerity of your regard. "Keep yourselves diligently in his love;" and be attentive to the duties

your calling, whatever they may be. To Peter, who was a minister of his Gospel, our Lord said, "Feed my sheep; feed my lambs; feed my sheep." This he required of him as the best testimony of his regard. To you he says, " Finish the work which God hath given thee to do." Can you instruct others, whether adults or children? embrace every opportunity with joy. Can you do any thing whereby your Lord may be glorified? do it: and "whatever your hand findeth to do, do it with your might."]

[ANOTHER EXORDIUM.-It is universally acknowledged, that men ought to inquire into their actions, so far at least as to ascertain that they are just and honourable: but few are aware of the obligation which they lie under, to examine the dispositions of their minds towards God. Yet this is of prime importance. We should ask ourselves frequently, Do I love God? Do I love the Lord Jesus Christ, my Saviour? This was the question which our Lord himself put to Peter after his fall. The question and the answer given to it, furnish us with a fit occasion to observe-]

n John xiv. 23.

THE ACT S.

MDCCXXXV.

CHRIST'S ASCENSION.

Acts i. 9-11. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

WE are surprised to see how slow of heart the Apostles were to receive and understand the instructions given them from time to time by their Divine Master. If he spoke to them of his death, they could not endure the thought of such an issue to his ministrations. If he spoke of his resurrection, they could not at all apprehend his meaning, or conceive to what he could refer. In like manner, when he spoke of his returning to his Father in heaven, and declared to them the special ends of his ascension, and of the deep interest which they themselves had in it, (since he was going to prepare a place for them, and to send them another Comforter, who should far more than compensate them for the loss of his bodily presence,) they could not enter into the subject. They thought, indeed, that they understood him, and said, "Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverba:" but they shewed, even after his resurrection, how ignorant they were; since they still dreamed

a John xvi. 28, 29.

of his establishing a temporal kingdom, and asked, in reference to it, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel" ?" It was thus that they surveyed the ascension of their Lord at this time. Instead of being prepared for it, and expecting the completion of his work on earth, they stood and gazed at him, with a kind of stupid amazement; till two Angels, in the form of men, reproved their stupidity and assured them, that, at a future period, their Divine Master should again return to earth, in a way similar to that of his departure from it.

The points for our present consideration are, I. The ends of his ascension to heaven

These are fully declared in the Holy Scriptures. He ascended,

1. To receive a recompence for himself—

[The Father had engaged in covenant with him, that, "if he would make his soul an offering for sin, he should see a seed, and prolong his days; and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hands." In this compact, his human nature was ordained to have a full participation of his glory, being enthroned at the right hand of God, and, by its union with the Godhead, invested with all the honours due to the Most High God. "All the angels in heaven," no less than his redeemed saints, were "bidden to worship him." And to this, in part at least, he looked forward, as to "the joy that was set before him;" in consideration of which "he endured the cross, and despised the shame, till he sat down on the right hand of the throne of Gode." All this was conferred on him as the recompence of his humiliation: for so says the holy Apostle: He, "being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. WHEREFORE God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." And in his ascension was in some degree fulfilled

b

ver. 6.

d Ps. xcvii. 7. with Heb. i. 6.

f Phil. ii. 6—11.

e Isai. liii. 10.

e Heb. xii. 2.

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