April 22

But this is not all. There is danger as well as loss. Our inaction is guilt. We neglect the use of the finest opportunity for usefulness. We hide our talent in the earth. Our indifference is rebellion to the call of God. "Who will rise up for me against the evil doers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?" "Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty."

APRIL 22.—"If God were your Father ye would love me."—John 8:43.

SOME are so full of self-conceit and self-sufficiency, that they seem to consider themselves the standard of all worth and excellency; and are disposed to judge of others principally if not only, by their regard to them. If you dislike them, you are worthless; but just in proportion as you esteem and admire them, you rise in value. And such is the injustice of our fallen nature, that we are pleased with commendations which we know we do not deserve; and court praise for abilities and qualities which we are sure we do not possess.

It was not so with Christ. He was meek and lowly in heart; and if he spoke highly of himself it was not from pride and vainglory, but from the necessity of the case. He knew himself; he knew his importance to us; and he knew that we ought to be acquainted with it. Therefore he said, "Come unto me"—"I am the light of the world"—"I am the bread of life"—"I am the way, the truth, and the life"—"This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." He knew that God's relation to us could only be determined by our regard to himself, and therefore he was authorized and required to say, "If God was your Father you would love me." There can be no doubt of this; for he that belongs to God will resemble him; he will love peculiarly what God loves peculiarly; and he will love supremely what God loves supremely: and "this," says he, "is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." "Mine elect in whom my soul delighteth." "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand."

It is a great thing to have God for our father—not by creation, in which sense all mankind are his offspring; but by adoption and regeneration. What an honour! What a blessedness! To be the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty! To have free and invited access to him! To share in all the love and pity of his heart! To be authorized to depend upon him for instruction, and correction, and defence, and support! To be heirs of God, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us!

But how are we to ascertain this privilege? By our regard to Christ—if God is our Father we love him. Now this love, though not a passion, is a real, powerful, influential principle; and it is the mainspring of action in the Christian life. There are two modes of determining our love to him. The First is to consider him relatively, and observe how we are affected towards those parts of him, so to speak, with which we are constantly coming more imme-