ship to Christ to every other. It is more vital;-by which we mean, that it is more essential to our spiritual life than our natural ties are to our natural life. The rupture of the latter we may survive; but Christ is our life, and were it possible for the ties which bind us to him to be broken asunder-though we might live on as men, as Christians we should perish.

It is more dignified than any earthly relationship. It allies us to the throne of God-to the royalty of heaven-to dignities which will survive the wreck of all things earthly, and live on when time shall be no more. By our kindred to him, our weakness becomes linked to Almighty strength, and our exigence to Divine all-sufficiency. We become entitled to share in all his possessions and glories.

This union is more tender than any earthly connexion. The language of Christ on this point is remark able; he does not say, "the same is my brother, or', sister, or mother;" but, "the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. He is bound to me by a tie so tender and intimate, that it includes all relations in one. I feel for my obedient followers all the tenderness due to a mother-all the kindness and generous regard a man would feel towards his own sister-and all the faithful friendship due to an affectionate brother." Whatever there is peculiar in the affection or regard of the different endeared relations of life, all centres in the love of Jesus to his sincere disciples.

And this union is more enduring than any earthly connexion. Mere human relationships are daily breaking up. Whole families, with every branch belonging to them, have entirely disappeared. How probable is it that the family from which our Lord himself descended, in his human nature, is now entirely extinct. But the relation which subsisted between him and his primitive disciples is not extinct: he can now point them out in the ranks of the blessed above, and say, Behold my mother and my brethren. And when every earthly tie shall be dissolved-when he shall come to receive his people to himself-he declares that he

will recognize and acknowledge them all as his brethren, his true and only kindred: for he will say to such as have cherished a benevolent and fraternal spirit towards his followers, " inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me. He will look around on the assembled world, as he once did on his assembled hearers, and, extending his hand towards them, will draw on them the admiring regards of the universe, by saying, Behold my mother and my brethren. And, oh, who would not in that day gladly disclaim relationship to the noble and mighty of the earth, rather than be destitute of relationship to Christ! Who among the proudest and the loftiest will not then wish that he had claimed kindred with the dust which he almost disdained to tread-that he had said "to corruption, Thou art my mother,' and to the worm, 'Thou art my sister'". rather than be destitute of relationship to Christ? Who among the dispisers and persecutors of the saints will not deplore their folly, and envy the faithful the relationship which binds them to Christ? Every other connexion will then have melted away before the fires of the last day-the golden chain which binds his people to himself will be the only remaining bond-and that shall remain for ever; for, saith he, "because I live, ye shall live also.”

:

6

How utterly insufficient is every other relationship to Christ than that which arises from faith, and love, and holy obedience! How little has it availed the Jews that they are related to Christ by the ties of country and as little will it avail them in the last day, when the nations shall be seen coming from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, to sit down with the patriarchs in the kingdom of God, and they themselves shall be cast out. How little will it aval those who enjoyed the personal ministry of Christor those who performed miracles in his name -to plead their peculiar privileges, when he shall say to them, "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you." And as useless will it be for one

nominal Christian to plead that he occupied a high station in the church-and another that he maintained a profession of religion—and a third that he was born of a pious ancestry—and a fourth that he gave even his body to be burned as a martyr to religion. If they were not his humble and sincere followers, he would say to each of them, as the Almighty is represented saying of one of old, "Though this man were the signet on my right hand, I would pluck him off and cast him away.' The salvation of our Lord's brethren-the salvation of the virgin mother herself-arose not from the alliance of blood, but from sincerely believing in his name. Nothing, nothing short of a Divine and scriptural relationship to Christ will ever entitle us to the joys of heaven. But, possessed of this, let the Christian rejoice in the assurance that the hand which unites every other bond, shall only draw the principle which binds him to Christ closer than ever, and render it indissoluble.

INTERCESSORY PRAYER.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. JAMES.

ALL who have made pretensions to religion, have uniformly assigned a distinguished place to the exercise and efficacy of prayer; and even they who have practically renounced religion, are generally found, in the hour of suffering or danger, to make an involuntary effort to call on the name of the Lord. The voice of nature, at such periods, overpowering the prejudice of irreligion, which had hitherto silenced it, asserts the presence, the power, and the goodness of God, and invokes his favourable interposition. But the Christian, taught by that Being who is at once the great Object and Spirit of prayer, avails himself of this holy exercise as of the richest privilege; not that he is always equally disposed to engage in it, but, having acquired this habit, and enjoyed the advantage of prayer, he can never allow himself to regard it merely in the light of an arbitrary duty, dangerous to be neglected, and, therefore, necessary to be performed. It is his meat and his drink, the aliment which sustains and invigorates his spiritual life; he values it as the only channel of communication with his unseen and almighty Friend; he regards it as the instrument which allies his weakness to the power of God, and his emptiness and unworthiness to the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The Scriptures reveal the character of a Being who is infinite in wisdom, unchangeable in truth, and unlimited in power and benevolence. Prayer allies the believer to all these perfections, and makes them all virtually his own. They lay open to his view the economy of redemption, with all its blessings of pardon, adoption,

and complete preparation for heaven. By prayer, the believer appropriates all these blessings to himself; they tell him of a world where all is pure, and glorious, and happy; he prays, and becomes entitled to it, prepared for it, and soon receives the call to enter on its richest joys.

Nor is the efficacy of prayer confined to the believer himself: it places him in a new relation to all around him. He was needy and helpless, and unable to take a single step toward the accomplishment of his own salvation; but having acquired the habit of prayer, he can contribute largely toward the salvation of others. It is an invisible cord by which he can draw them to ward heaven; it invests him with an indefinite power over the destiny and happiness of the world at large.

It is of intercessory prayer that the apostle speaks— 66 confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." And having illustrated the truth of this declaration, by referring to the prayers of Elijah, he concludes the epistle by saying, "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he who converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins;" thus intimating that the salvation of a sinner, and even of an apostate, the most hopeless of sinners, is quite within the limits of prayer, and may be effected by it. The text describes the character and efficacy of genuine prayer.

It describes the character of prayer. It is inwrought by the energy of the Spirit. This is a characteristic of prayer suggested by the text; and most abundantly is it confirmed by the universal experience of believers and the testimony of the word of God:-"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we shall pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groaning that cannot be uttered; and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he