the gracious privilege; but the more enlightened believer rejoices in the remembrance of the marriage union of Christ and his spouse. To him the affection, protection, provision, honour, and intimacy involved in the divine nuptials of the blessed Jesus with his elect are well-springs of constant joy. "Thy Maker is thy Husband" is to him a choice portion of the Word, and he feasts upon it day and night, when the gracious Spirit is pleased to enable him to lay hold upon it by faith. A tranquil, confident frame will immediately result from a satisfactory persuasion of this glorious truth, and with it there will be a fervency of affection and a continued union of heart to Christ Jesus, which is hardly attainable in any other manner.

In his conjugal relation to his Church, the Lord Jesus takes great delight, and desires that we should see the glory of it. He would have us consider him in the act of betrothing and espousing his Church unto himself: "Go forth," saith he, "O ye daughters of Jerusalem, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart."*

"It is the gladness of the heart of Christ, and the joy of his soul, to take poor sinners into relation with himself;" and if so, it cannot fail to be

an equal source of rejoicing to those who are thus favoured. Meditate much on thy divine relationships, and thine heart shall be much warmed thereby.

VIII. A persuasion of our UNION to Jesus must also stir up the passions to a holy flame. We are, by the decree of God, made one with our Covenant Head the Lord Jesus. From before all worlds this eternal union was most firmly settled upon a substantial basis; but our personal knowledge of it is a thing of time, and is vouchsafed to us in the appointed season by God the Holy Ghost. How swiftly doth the heart pursue its Lord when it has learned its oneness to Him! What man will not love his own flesh? who will not love himself? Now, when the soul perceives the indissoluble union which exists between itself and the Saviour, it can no more resist the impulse of affection than a man can forbear to love his own body. It is doubtless a high attainment in the divine life to be fully possessed with a sense of vital union to Christ, and hence the love arising from it is of a peculiarly rich and vehement character. Some pastures give richness to the flesh of the cattle which feed upon them truly, this is a fat pasture, and the affection which feedeth upon it cannot be otherwise than excellent to a superlative degree. In fine, as an abiding sense of oneness with the Lord is one of

the sweetest works of the Spirit in the souls of the elect, so the love springing therefrom is of the very highest and most spiritual nature. None can surpass it; yea, it is questionable whether so high a degree of affection can be obtained by any other means, however forcible and inflaming. But set it down as a rule that we ought never to halt or sit down in any attainment of nearness to Jesus until we have brought it to such a measure that no more can be enjoyed, and until we have reached the utmost possible height therein. If there be an inner chamber in which the king doth store his choicest fruits, let us enter, for he bids us make free with all in his house; and if there be a secret place where he doth show his loves, let us hasten thither and embrace Him whom our soul loveth, and there let us abide until we see him face to face in the upper skies.

But what will be the love of Heaven? Here we utterly fail in description or conception. The best enjoyments of Christ on earth are but as the dipping our finger in water for the cooling of our thirst; but heaven is bathing in seas of bliss: even so our love here is but one drop of the same substance as the waters of the ocean, but not comparable for magnitude or depth. Oh, how sweet it will be to be married to the Lord Jesus, and to enjoy for ever, and without any interruption, the heavenly delights of his society! Surely, if a glimpse

of him melteth our soul, the full fruition of him will be enough to burn us up with affection. It is well that we shall have more noble frames in heaven than we have here, otherwise we should die of love in the very land of life. An honoured saint was once so ravished with a revelation of his Lord's love, that feeling his mortal frame to be unable to sustain more of such bliss, he cried, “Hold, Lord, it is enough, it is enough!" But there we shall be able to set the bottomless well of love to our lips, and drink on for ever, and yet feel no weakness. Ah, that will be love indeed which shall overflow our souls for ever in our Father's house above! Who can tell the transports, the raptures, the amazements of delight which that love shall beget in us? and who can guess the sweetness of the song, or the swiftness of the obedience which will be the heavenly expressions of love made perfect? No heart can conceive the surpassing bliss which the saints shall enjoy when the sea of their love to Christ, and the ocean of Christ's love to them, shall meet each other and raise a very tempest of delight. The distant prospect is full of joy: what must be the fruition of it? To answer that question we must wait all the days of our appointed time till our change come, unless the Lord himself should suddenly appear in the clouds to glorify us with himself throughout eternity.

Beloved fellow-heirs of the same inheritance, we have thus reviewed some of the causes and phases of the Christian grace of love; let us now ask ourselves the question, How is it with our love? Is it hot or cold? Is it decaying or increasing? How stands the heart, God-ward and Christ-ward? Is it not far too slow in its motions, too chilly in its devotion? We must admit it is so. Let us use the various arguments of this chapter as levers for lifting our heavy hearts to greater heights of affection, and then let us unitedly cry

"Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,

With all thy quickening powers;
Come, shed abroad the Saviour's love,
And that shall kindle ours."

It may be that the sneering critic has been offended with all this discourse concerning love, and has turned upon his heel, protesting with vehemence that he is of a philosophic spirit, and will never endure such sickly sentimentalism. To him religion is thought, not emotion. It is a cold, speculative, unfeeling divinity which he believes, and its effects upon his mind are the reverse of enthusiastic.

Reason, "heavenly Reason," is his God, and Feeling must lie dormant beneath the throne of his great deity. We beg to remind him that the religion of the cross was intended to stir the soul