In such a condition, the Son of God, the Saviour of lost sinners, addresses him with the voice of a friend. He calls him. He says to him, "Hearken unto me, ye that are stout-hearted and far from righteousness; behold I bring near my righteousness, and my salvation. shall not tarry!" He says to him, "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest!" He stoops to his sins, to his cares, to his fears, to his solitude and helplessness. Never sought as he ought to be, often abused, despised, rejected, trampled on, yet this Saviour becomes his friend.

It is a wondrous truth which was just now uttered, that the very sins of this lost and disconsolate sinner interest this compassionate Saviour. The sins of men are the cause of all their woes and helplessness; and these woes touch his heart. The greatest sinners have the greatest need; and where there is the greatest need, and that need is most deeply felt, there he is wont to show his kindness and friendship. He "came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance;" it was to make good the declaration, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help!"

III. In the third place, Jesus Christ is the most efficient friend.

Others may love us, but their love may be unavailing. Others may wish us well, and desire to make us holy and happy; yet can they do us very little good. Other friendships may be inconstant and weak; they may hesitate and falter, and become remiss and forgetful, because they are not willing to make the sacrifices that are necessary to our well-being. But where other friends fail us, his friendship is available to our every want. He is as willing to befriend us, as he is able.

No matter how great the sacrifices that our condition calls for; where they are the greatest, there his friendship is the most prompt, the most active and selfdenying.

Do you ask for proof of this? Go to his word and read it there. Go also and read it at his cross. He was a sufferer there; never was there any sorrow like unto his sorrow: never was there such a sufferer in the universe. But why did he suffer? He had done nothing to deserve it; for he was holy and harmless, and not even the holy God could accuse him of sin. No; they were your sins and your sorrows that he bore, the just in the room and stead of the unjust. When men as sinners were obnoxious to the sword of justice, and ignominy and woe were coming upon them like a flood, he put himself in their place, bore the suffering and despised the shame. When the bitter cup was mingled for them, he took it from their hands, and himself drank it to the dregs. When wrath was coming upon them to the uttermost, and the Avenger would take no denial, no alleviation, no delay, he gave his own life the ransom. Where is there such another friend as this? Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends; but God commendeth his love toward us, in that when we were enemies, Christ died for us."

It is this that makes the friendship of Christ so effective. The sinner that humbly looks to Christ, and receives him as his Saviour and surety, will find to his joy that the blood of this great sacrifice has paid the full demands of avenging justice, and that justice asks no more than what a trusting faith thus offers. This single act of friendship is also the pledge and earnest of

every other expression of it that the sinner needs. There is nothing his friendship will not lead him to do for sinners, after he has thus given himself for them.

IV. In the fourth place, Jesus Christ is the most unwearied, faithful, and unchanging friend.

Once secured, his friendship lasts. "Nothing shall separate us from his love." It bears long and loves still. It bears with ingratitude, with perverseness, with jealousy and suspicion, and still it loves. Men are slow to believe it, slow to learn it, slow to repay, and quick to forget it; but still it is the same. Its current is too deep and strong to be checked or diverted from its course; and though obstacle upon obstacle is thrown in its way, it still flows deep and strong.

It is rather a contrast to all earthly friendships, than a comparison with them, that is presented by the friendship of Christ to sinners. Earthly friends are fickle and changing; he is "the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever." "Whom he loves, he loves to the end." The changes of this world do not affect his friendship. Earthly friends are forgetful; the best of men, and the most watchful and tender, are sometimes forgetful and thoughtless. "They may forget," says he, "yet will I not forget." They may become languid and weary; they may be hasty and rash, provoked and angry; but his never slumbers nor sleeps; he is "slow to anger and of great kindness, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." Even a parent's friendship, a mother's love, may be exhausted; years of disappointed hope may chill it and depress it into apathy. But such is not the friendship of Christ. His is that tried friendship that is far above the instability of those passions which put the soul alternately into a ferment of jealousy and appre

hension, and sink it into despondency, and distract and toss it like so many restless waves. Glorious, soul-reviving truth! it never alters. Whether the sun cheers, or the clouds grow dark, it never alters. No change of condition alters it, nor is it altered by passing years. It decays not with withering fame, or wasted fortunes, or decaying time.

"E'en down to old age my people shall prove

I add,

My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;

And then when gray hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in my bosom be borne."

V. In the fifth and last place, Jesus Christ is a friend who is entitled by his own merits to claim for his friends all that his love desires to bestow.

He has nothing to ask for himself, but everything to ask and claim for them. When he consented to become obedient unto death, the court of heaven engaged by solemn covenant to give him all he should desire on their behalf." Ask of me, my Son, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." The reward he asks for, and claims, is the pardon of guilty men who trust in him; their acceptance and justification, their sanctification and their eternal glory. He claims it for services rendered by himself; it is but his rightful and stipulated recompense. This claim was completed

when he expired on the cross, and acknowledged when he rose from the grave. All the good ever intended for sinful men is measured out and dispensed as a reward to Christ. Whatever the sinner needs is included in his promised inheritance.

And it is this which gives the friend of sinners such claims and such influence where the sinner most needs them. He has a friend at the court of heaven, whose merit is known and whose rights are acknowledged; and they are merit and rights that are sure to be honored. It is but for him to plead their cause, and it must prevail. If he does but point them out and say, "Deliver them," they shall be delivered from going down to the pit. It is but for him to say," Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me, where I am," and they shall be with him, and behold his glory.

Earthly friends die. We weep because we shall see their face no more. Their affectionate heart no longer beats for us; it is cold. They have left us the rich legacy of their example and their prayers; and now their counsels of love sound in our ears only from the tomb. Sinners have a friend who never dies. "Fear not," saith he, "I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive forever more!" He lives no more to die; and their life "is hid with him in God."

Such is the sinner's friend. The more you know of him, the more ought you to confide in him. If you have felt your need of him, and have actually placed all your hopes in him, you will find him faithful and true. It is not worthiness he seeks for in you; he is the friend of sinners; he came to "justify the ungodly;" the blessings of his friendship are of pure grace, and he gives them "without money and without price."

He is the sailor's friend. It was from the lakes of Judea that he called some of his first disciples. It is you he calls to-day. Do not doubt it. "Reach hither thy finger, and behold his hands; and reach hither thy