love to man, by which he has provided a Mediator; and then, by his motion and influences, brings men to love him. And thus we are brought into this friendship, and love God and the Savior, not as first moving in the affair ourselves, but because God first loved us. The devil knew that such a selfish religion is not true religion, but is an argument that a man is really a wicked man, and an enemy to God; therefore he said, in order to set Job in a bad light, and insinuate that the character God gave of him, as an upright man, did not belong to him, "Doth Job fear God for nought?" etc.; q. d., “Job is wholly selfish and mercenary in what he does, and has no true respect and love to God, nor is really his friend; for all the love and service he renders to God is grounded on God's love and kindness to him and the good he gets by it. Therefore, only take away these tokens of love and goodness, and his love will wholly cease, and he will turn an enemy to God." And God implicitly grants that, if this was the case with Job, he was not worthy the character he had given him; therefore proceeds to put this matter to the trial. Woe to the person whose love and friendship to Christ is built on no better foundation than this! When the trial comes he will be found wanting, even just such a one as the devil would have him be a real and confirmed enemy to Jesus Christ.

Let every one, then, who is inquiring whether he is a true friend to Christ or not, see to it that he does not deceive himself here, while all his love and affection is only a selfish thing, arising wholly from a thought and belief that Christ is his friend, and not consisting in any true sense of his worthiness, superlative excellence and beauty. The true friends to Christ love and esteem him, are pleased with his person and character, and are friendly and benevolent to him, rejoicing in his honor and happiness, independent of his love to them; and, therefore, if he should cast them off forever, and their character continue the same, this would not destroy their love to him, but they would, notwithstanding this, continue his hearty friends, even under the highest tokens of his displeasure, could he do this consistent with his true character.

2. The true friends of Christ are submissive and obedient to him.

There is no true principle of obedience but love; and just so far as this takes place, there is a spirit of obedience. So far as one is a true friend to another he is devoted to his service, and is at his beck, especially if he is his superior and has a right to dictate and command. And with what freedom and pleasure do we strive to serve and please our dear friends! This is no task, but a privilege. What

influence, then, will true love and friendship to Christ have in this respect! With what sweet delight do they devote themselves to him, looking on his service as the greatest privilege and happiness that they can conceive of! They long to be all submission and obedience to him, from a sense of the sweetness and pleasure of it. As soon as they become friends to him, they are reconciled to, and pleased with, all his institutions, commands, and ways. They esteem all his precepts concerning all things to be perfectly right. They will meditate on his precepts, and have respect to all his ways; yea, they will delight themselves in his statutes, and rejoice in the way of his testimonies, more than in all riches. They well understand the Psalmist when he says, "I opened my mouth, and panted, for I longed for thy commandments." They are not disposed to pick and choose for themselves, but are ready to sign a blank, and say, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" With this disposition they read God's word, desiring to find what is that good, and perfect, and acceptable will of Christ. They are not offended at the cross, or scared at the prospect of sufferings for their dear Lord and Master, but are ready to look upon this as a great privilege and happiness. All this is the natural, and even necessary, attendant of true friendship to Christ. This our dear Lord has expressed repeatedly in the strongest terms. His words are, "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. If a man love me, he will keep my words. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."

There are many professed friends of Christ who are found wanting, yea, essentially defective, when tried by this plain, infallible rule, which is most insisted on of any in the Word of God, as the best rule of trial. They have, it may be, at times, had some uncommon motions and affections of soul, as they fondly think, towards Christ; and in these they rest as a sure evidence that they are become friends to him. But what is the fruit in their life and conversation? Why, it may be truly said of them, they profess great love and friendship to Christ, but in works they dishonor and deny him. They call him. Lord and Master, but do not the things that he says; therefore, we may be sure they are not his friends; that all their affection, love, and joy, however high it rises, is of a spurious kind, and has nothing of the nature of true love to Christ.

Look well to yourselves in this point, my friends. Flatter not yourselves that you are friends to Christ, unless you are wholly devoted to his service, and are, with great exactness and conscientious care, labor, and watchfulness, attending upon whatsoever he has commanded, and avoiding all that he has

forbidden, in thought, word, and deed; at the same time not counting this a task, but a privilege, from which you never desire to be released.

3. If persons are the true friends of Christ, their obligations to him appear exceeding great to them.

It is the nature of true friendship to operate thus. This, above all things, tends to make persons sensible of the obligations they are under to their friend, and to be ready, and even delight, to acknowledge them. The more we esteem and love any one, the greater does his kindness to us appear, and the more are we affected with it, and, consequently, the more sensible shall we be of the obligations we are under to him, and the more shall we be pleased and delighted in being thus obliged.

This takes place in the friendship we are now considering to a degree beyond any parallel. No obligations in the universe are so great as those of Christ's friends and servants to him. They are enhanced to an amazing degree, and become infinite every way. They are enough to fill the soul with wonder and astonishment, and swallow up all thought. And his friends are not without a sense of this. They feel themselves bound to Christ by the strongest ties, which are beyond all expression. He has bought them by his own precious blood; and what obligations do they acknowledge themselves to be under, to be wholly and forever devoted to him, with the utmost strength of their hearts!

If you are the friends of Christ, this has been often a very affecting theme to you. You have felt and acknowledged your obligations to Christ with an ardor of soul inexpressible, and with a great degree of sweetness and delight. And you have said, many a time, "What shall I render to the Lord and Savior for all his benefits?" And you have found you had no returns to make answerable to the immense obligations you are under to him. This leads to observe, —

4. The friends of Christ never think they have done enough for him, but always, in their own view, come vastly short of what they owe to him.

This is always the attendant of true friendship among men, especially where one is a great friend to another who is much his superior every way, and to whom he is under great and peculiar obligations. He is not afraid of doing too much for his friend; but always comes short of what he would be glad to do, being ready to purpose and do more than he does. And he is not apt to magnify what he has done, and think he does a great deal, as he does it with so much pleasure, and his obligations appear so great; but he is disposed to think it little,

or even nothing; and if his friend appears to take great notice of it, he is ready to wonder at it, and think he greatly magnifies it. He thinks he is to blame that he has done no more, and is uneasy with himself on this account, and wonders that such notice should be taken of what he has done.

But, in the case before us, this takes place in a higher degree than in any other; as the Christian's friend is so much more worthy and excellent than any other, and he is under so much greater obligations to him, and his defects and short comings are so much greater and more aggravated than in any other case. All the Christian does, and renders to Christ, sinks into nothing, in his view; and he looks upon it as amazing condescension in Christ to take any notice of it, or accept it. He can heartily and feelingly espouse the language of a certain great friend of Christ, who was once in our world, but is now in heaven with him: "What I would, that I do not; and what I would not, that I do." I am infinitely in debt to my glorious friend, but pay nothing. All the returns I make to him are so little, and so much below the obligations I am under, that they are altogether unworthy his notice. O, that I could give away to him my whole self forever, in one pure, constant, ardent flame of love! And even this would be so little, worthless a gift, that it is great grace and condescension in him to accept it. If I was called to the greatest sufferings in his cause, and to lay down my life for him, this I should count the greatest privilege; but how little would this be towards paying the debt I owe! how little, compared with what hs has done for me!

There are many professed Christians who naturally think they do a great deal for Christ, and that he is much in debt to them for it; while they are really doing little, compared with what many others do. And the very reason why they have so high an opinion of what they do is, because they count Christ's service hard, and, at bottom, have no true love to him. But the true friends of Christ, from the great love they have to him, are disposed to look upon all they can do or suffer for him as little or nothing.

5. The friends of Christ are ready to espouse his cause at all times, let it cost them what it will.

This is the nature of true friendship; it will lead persons always to appear on the side of their friend, to espouse his cause, and promote his interest. Solomon observes, that a friend loveth at all times. This is applicable to the case before us; a true friend of Christ loveth at all times, is ready to stand up in his cause, and espouse his interest, let who will oppose it. He is not ashamed of his friend, and will not

account his name, estate, or his life dear to him, if he is called to give any or all of them up, to testify his love to Christ. He is tenderly affected and hurt when Christ is slighted and dishonored, and will do all he can to wipe off the reproach. And, if Christ must be dishonored and reproached, he is willing to suffer reproach with him; and desires not to fare better in the world than Christ and his cause do.

6. The true friends of Christ desire and long to have others become his friends.

Their benevolence to Christ and to their fellow-men will both influence to this. They want all should love and honor Christ, out of love and benevolence to him; and they earnestly desire that others may enjoy the happiness of this friendship, as friends to them. Under the influence of this, they are praying for others, that they may be brought to know Christ, and so become his real friends and servants; and they are taking all the proper ways they can think of to recommend Christ to others, both in words and conduct, by holding forth light, and matter of conviction of his worth and excellence.

7. The true friends to Christ know that they are naturally enemies to him, and continue to have a great degree of opposition and enmity in their hearts to him even now.

There are many professed Christians who are insensible that they are, or ever were, in any degree, real enemies to Christ. They think mankind in general, and themselves in particular, are much misrepresented and abused, if any one declares them to be naturally enemies to Christ. This, we are obliged to think, is owing to their not being real friends to Christ. If they were, they could not be so insensible of that which opposes him. It is no wonder that he who is not a friend to Christ should be blinded in this matter, and wholly overlook his opposition and enmity to Christ; but that a true friend to him should be thus blinded is perfectly unaccountable, and even impossible. All sin is most direct opposition to Christ, and enmity against him, whether it be in us or in others. But the Christian world is full of sin, and all men are naturally wholly given to it, and, therefore, really hate Christ; and even his best friends in this world have a great degree of corruption, and many sinful exercises of heart; and all this is real enmity to Christ, it being not the less so because they have a degree of love to Christ. Therefore, it seems impossible that a friend to Christ should be insensible of this.

When any one has no true love and friendship for another, but greatly undervalues, dislikes, and hates him, and yet imagines he is his true friend, he must, of consequence, be in a great degree stupid and blind to the slight and contempt that