January 5

Lovest thou me?—John 21:16.

SUCH was our Lord's question to Peter. And with a similar question we may regard our Lord as addressing every one of us. And when we remember that Paul has said, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha," well may we be solicitous to be able to respond, "Lord, thou that knowest all things, knowest that I love thee." True love to Christ will show itself in the natural and genuine effects of so strong and spiritual a grace. And by these we may determine whether we love Christ or not.

First—A universal, cheerful, and constant obedience to his holy commandments, is an evidence of love to him. "If a man," saith Christ, "love me, he will keep my commandments." There is a twofold love, a love which descends, and a love which ascends; a love of bounty and beneficence, and a love of duty and service. So then, as a father doth then only in truth love his child, when, with all care, he provides for his present education and future subsistence; so a child doth then truly love his father, when, with all reverence and submission of heart, he studies to please and to do him service. And this love, if it be free and ingenuous, by how much the more, not only pure and equal in itself, but also profitable unto him the commandment is, by so much the more carefully will it endeavor the observation thereof. And therefore since the soul of a Christian knows, that as God himself is good, and doth good; so his law, which is nothing but a ray and glimpse of his holiness, is likewise good in itself, and doth good unto those which walk uprightly; it is hereby inflamed to a more sweet and serious obedience thereunto; in the keeping whereof, there is for the present so much sweetness; and in the future so great a reward. "Thy word," saith the Psalmist, "is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it."

Secondly—Another evidence of love to Christ, is a free, willing, and cheerful suffering for him and his gospel. "Unto you," saith the apostle, "it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." We see how far a human love, either for their country, or of vainglory, has transported some heathen men, to the devoting and casting away their own lives: how much more should a spiritual love of Christ put courage into us to bear all things, and "to endure all things" for him, who bare our sins, and our stripes, and our burdens for us, which were heavier than all the world could lay on! And this was the inducement of that holy martyr Polycarp, to die for Christ, notwithstanding all the persuasions of the persecutors, who, by his apostasy, would fain have cast the more dishonor upon the Christian religion, and, as it were, by sparing

1* him, have the more cunningly persecuted that: "This eighty-six years," saith he, "I have served him; and he never, in all that time, hath done me any hurt; why should I be so ungrateful as not to trust him in death, who in so long a life hath never forsaken me?"—"I am persuaded," saith the apostle, "that neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing able to turn away his love from us, and therefore nothing should be able to quench our love to him. "Many waters," that is, by the usual expression of the holy Scriptures, many afflictions, persecutions, temptations, "can not quench love, neither can the floods drown it."

Thirdly—A zeal and jealous contention for the glory, truth, worship, and ways of Christ. Wicked men pretend much love to Christ, but they indeed only serve their own turns; as ivy, which clasps an oak very close, but only to suck out sap for its own leaves and berries. But a true love is full of care to advance the glory of Christ's kingdom, and to promote his truth and worship; fears lest Satan and his instruments should by any means corrupt his truth, or violate his church;—as the Apostle to the Galatians professes the fear which his love wrought in him toward them, "I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." So we find what contention, and disputation, and strife of spirit, the apostles and others in their ministry used, when Christ and his holy gospel was any way either injured by false brethren, or kept out by the idolatry of the places to which they came.

Lastly—A longing after his presence, a love of his appearing, a desire to be with him, which is best of all; a seeking after him, and grieving for him, when for any while he departs from the soul; a waiting for his salvation, a delight in his communion, and in his spiritual refreshments; "a communing with him in his secret chamber, in his houses of wine, and in his galleries of love." By which lovely expressions the Wise Man has described the fellowship, which the church desires to have with Christ, and that abiding and supping of Christ with his church, feasting the soul with the manifestations of himself, and his graces unto it.

"Hark, my soul, it is the Lord; 'Tis thy Saviour,—bear his word.

Jesus speaks, he speaks to thee:— Say, poor sinner, lov'st thou me?"

"Lord, it is my chief complaint That my love is still so faint, Yet I love thee and adore:- O for grace to love thee more!"