believer? If Solomon were now upon earth, and that wisest and mightiest of monarchs were to admit you to intimate and confidential intercourse, to visit your dwelling-place, and sit down as a guest at your table, would you not esteem this an high honor, and receive with every suitable demonstration of respect and gratitude your royal guest? But behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Still more, were the loftiest of created beings, the archangel that stands nearest to the eternal throne, to descend from his dwelling-place of glory, and enter your habitation, and partake of your hospitality, and converse with you familiarly and affectionately, would you not esteem this an high honor indeed, and task all your faculties and resources to the uttermost, to render meet homage to your heavenly guest? But behold, a greater than the greatest of archangels is here! Yes, Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of angels and archangels, the Maker and Monarch of all the host of heaven, comes Himself, not to pay you a transient visit, but to make His abode with you-for, "if a man love Me," says Jesus, "he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him ;" and "thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble,

and to revive the heart of the contrite ones;" and what can confer honor, what can impart happiness, if this cannot? To "have fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ!" to have these divine persons making their abode with us to have Christ dwelling in our hearts-to be the habitation of Jehovah, through the Spirit-to be called the friends of God-and thus placed on a level with angels and archangels, with cherubim and seraphim! On a level, did I say? I was wrong to be raised immeasurably above them; for Jehovah-Jesus took not on Him the nature of angels, but took on Him our nature; became bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. Which of the angels can say"He loved me and gave Himself for me!" He is their Ruler, but our Redeemer! they adore Him as a Sovereign, we love Him as a Saviour.

"Yes, sinners may address their King,

In songs

that angels cannot sing!

They praise the Lamb who once was slain,

But we can add a higher strain!

Not only say, He suffered thus

But that He suffered all for us!”

All for us! Oh! how this thought should endear Jesus to us; that He has manifested such peculiar love for us; that we have such a peculiar interest and property in Him; that by Him we, who have sunk ourselves lower than the beasts, shall be raised

higher than the angels; enabled to sing before the throne a song of praise, whose sweetness even angels cannot reach. How should this thought sweeten our communion now with Christ, and make us anticipate with feelings of unutterable joy,

"The glorious hour-it comes with speed,-
When we, from sin and darkness freed,
Shall see the God who died for man,

And praise Him more than angels can !”

II. Welcome, with thankfulness, as a most precious blessing, whatever tends to promote and endear this communion, no matter what else it may deprive you of, or embitter to you. Viewed in this light, what a new and engaging aspect will affliction and death, which otherwise look so stern and repulsive, begin to wear? Is it not God's chief design, in visiting you with affliction, to promote this communion with Christ, on which your true happiness depends, by discovering to you the sins, or removing from you the objects, which have proved such fatal hindrances to its enjoyment? And unless you have sadly thwarted God's gracious design, have you not found such to be the blessed result of sanctified sorrow? Have you not been indebted to affliction for many of the sweetest hours of communion with Christ, which you have ever enjoyed? When, from the indulgence of sin or slothfulness, the influence of a worldly spirit, or idolatrous affections, you have left your first love, and declined in your relish,

value, and desire, for this divine communion, has it not been the angel of affliction that has recovered you from this backsliding state, recalled your wandering steps into the paths of peace, and quickened you to seek, with renewed ardor, Him whom your soul loveth? And when you have withdrawn from the world, weeping like Mary at the sepulchre, with inconsolable sorrow, because your Lord is taken from you, and you know not where to find Him, has it not been at such moments, Jesus himself has unexpectedly appeared, asking you affectionately-"Why weepest thou?" and once more comforting and gladdening your heart, by the assurances of His love, and the consolations of His Spirit? Have not the treachery, the fickleness, or unkindness of the earthly friends you have loved and trusted, endeared to you still more the Friend who never deceives or disappoints; "who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; who sticketh closer than a brother, and will never, never leave you nor forsake you?" Or, if you have never been deceived or disappointed in the objects of earthly love, has not separation from them drawn you closer to Christ? Has not the loss of their society given you more of His? and thus even this loss proved an unspeakable gain; yea, has not even their death been blest to you, by enabling you more fully to say, "With me to live is Christ." Oh! has it not been, after some desolating bereavement, when with

an almost breaking heart you have, like Joseph, sought some place to weep, and retired to your chamber to weep there have you not then, most of all, felt the blessedness

of having such a Friend

and Comforter? for has not Jesus come to you in your solitude, to bind up your broken heart, to wipe away your tears, and whisper, in tenderest accents of compassion, "Fear not; it is I. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. I am preparing a place for you in heaven, and by these trials I am preparing you for that place." Is it not then enough to make you in love with affliction, that, in its school, you have learned so much more than you could otherwise have known, of the sweetness of Christ's love, the tenderness of His sympathy, the preciousness of His promises, and the richness of His consolations? And look at death in this light, and do you not see a smile passing over the gloomy features of this king of terrors, when you reflect, that when he comes to you, he will come to release you from all, which has hitherto hindered or marred your enjoyment of fellowship with a SaviourGod, and to introduce you into His immediate presence, to see Him, and speak with Him face to face, and enjoy an uninterrupted communion with Him of full, perfect, satisfying bliss, in a world where not a single passing cloud, either of sin or sorrow, shall ever intercept from you the light of His countenance, but you shall bask in the sunshine