1. To love christians, as such, is to love them on account of their relation to God and the Redeemer. 2. On account of their attachment to both. 3. On account of the resemblance which they bear to these divine persons. 1. He who loves christians as such, is attached to them on account of their relation to God. The Supreme Being stands in a peculiar relation to christians, as their God: He is their "covenant God and Father through Christ Jesus." They are, emphatically, a peculiar treasure to him above all the nations of the earth. They are his possession, his inheritance, his people. In every age there have been a people in whom the blessed God claimed a peculiar interest, on whom he fixed his special love, and manifested himself unto them, as he does not to the world; a people who were "the temple of God,"* the seat of his special presence, among whom he walked and dwelt. Under the christian dispensation true christians compose this people. In whatever interesting and endearing relation God stood to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; he stands in that same relation to the sincere followers of Christ. They are the objects of that special love, of which the Saviour speaks in these words: "For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God."+ To feel attached to christians, on this account, is a proof of a heart well affected towards the Supreme † John xvi. 27. * 1 Cor. iii. 16. Being, reconciled to his requirements and government and as "the carnal mind is enmity against God," it affords an evidence that this enmity is subdued. If we feel favourably towards the domestics of a family, on account of their relation to their master, it is an evidence of affection to the master himself; it is a fruit of it. The relation which christians bear to the Redeemer is still more intimate and endearing: they are the people that were given him to redeem before the world [began]; they are the children for whose sake he took flesh and blood; they are his pupils, his household, and family; nay, more, his spiritual spouse and the members of his mystical body. The love of the brethren contemplates them in that light, and consequently evinces a heart well affected towards their Lord and head. To give "a cup of water in the name of a disciple," shall not lose its reward. 2. On account of their attachment to God, and their zeal for the interest of his glory. This is so essential a part of the christian character, that it cannot be separated from the grounds and reasons of a rational regard for christians, unless we are supposed to be ruled by a blind and unthinking impulse. Our esteem for good men will be intimately blended with the consideration of their being on God's side. While the rest of the world continue in a state of enmity and alienation, we must look upon these as reconciled, as persons who have given a cordial and respectful reception to his Matt. x. 42. *Rom. viii. 7. ambassadors, and have renewed their alliance, or rather, made their submission, upon the gracious terms he was pleased to propose. "You, that were enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death."* And being reconciled, they are employed to manage his interests, to maintain his honour, and to propagate, as far as possible, the sentiments of loyal obedience by which they themselves are actuated. These views enter deeply into the christian character and calling. How can we give a more unequivocal evidence of a loyal and affectionate disposition towards the prince than by abetting his, in opposition to the disaffected party? As the case will not admit of neutrality-as he, in such a situation, who is not for the prince is necessarily looked upon as a rebel, so a cordial attachment to his interests cannot be more decisively expressed than by a determined [adherence] to those who cheerfully submit to his authority, and delight in his government. "He that knoweth God heareth us.”† 3. True christians are distinguished by some peculiar traits of resemblance to God and the Redeemer; and this enters into the grounds of that regard for them which the apostle speaks of in the text. They not only adore the divine nature, but are in some degree partakers of it; not only "behold in a glass the glory of the Lord, but are changed into the same image from glory to glory." *Coloss. i. 21, 22. † 1 John iv. 6. + 2 Cor. iii. 18. Their character makes a very distant, it is confessed, but yet a real approach, to the absolute rectitude of the divine, which they [constantly] study and imitate, [until] they are presented before him unblamable in holiness. In regeneration, some traces of the paternal image are impressed; and with that strange, that more than natural affection it becomes them to feel towards such a parent, they become "followers of God, as dear children."* If they profess to have fellowship with God, they evince that profession to be no empty boast, by walking in the light as he who is in the light. If they profess to know Christ, to have a sacred intimacy with him, they justify the pretension, in some good degree, by walking as he also walked, by doing righteousness as he also did. To feel an attachment to christians on this account, is an unequivocal proof of a love of rectitude, a love of God, an attachment to those great moral properties in which the true beauty of the divine character consists. Close with three remarks. I. The criterion supplied in the text may be inverted. If we do not love Christ, other love will discover itself by the choice of our society. II. It is not only a safe, but a useful criterion suggested in the text, which may be applied to great advantage. We may see the sun through the water when we cannot look upon it in its place in the heavens. * Ephes. v. 1. III. It should be our care to improve in this part of the christian character, to abound therein more and more. Love is the characteristic of the christian. XXXVII. ON THE DUTY OF INTERCESSION. 1 TIM. ii. 1.-I exhort therefore, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men. I. DUTY. 1. The reasons and obligations of prayer arise out of the fundamental principles of religion-the belief that there is a God, and that he is “ the rewarder of such as diligently seek him." The duty of intercession, or praying for others, springs from the relation we stand in to our fellow-creatures. As the former is an essential part of piety, so the latter is a branch of benevolence, not less essential. To love our neighbour as ourselves is the fulfilment of the second table of the law. Unless we believe in the efficacy of prayer, we have no pretensions to the character of christians; but if we are convinced that the prayer of the righteous avails, we have no right to withhold from those we ourselves are bound to love this advantage, especially as it is a benefit which it is always in our power to confer without loss or detriment to ourselves. In almost every other instance, the favour we confer seems at least |