And who are those who can claim the blessedness spoken of under this wondrous imagery? On whom does He lavish this unutterable affection? No outward profession will purchase it. No church, no priest, no ordinances, no denominational distinctions. It is on those who are possessed of _holy characters_. "He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven!" He who reflects the mind of Jesus; imbibes His Spirit; takes His Word as the regulator of his daily walk, and makes His glory the great end of his being; he who lives _to_ God and _with_ God, and _for_ God; the humble, lowly, Christ-like, Heaven-seeking Christian;--he it is who can claim as his own this wondrous heritage of love! If it be a worthy object of ambition to be loved by the good and the great on earth, what must it be to have an eye of love ever beaming upon us from the Throne, in comparison of which the attachment here of brother, sister, kinsman, friend--all combined--pales like the stars before the rising sun! Though we are often ashamed to call Him "Brother," "He is not ashamed to call us _brethren_." He looks down on poor worms, and says, "_The same_ is my mother, and sister, and brother!" "I will write upon them," He says in another place, "my new name." Just as we write our name on a book to tell that it belongs to us; so Jesus would write His own name on _us_, the wondrous volumes of His grace, that they may be read and pondered by principalities and powers. Have we "known and believed this love of God?" Ah, how poor has been the requital! Who cannot subscribe to the words of one, whose name was in all the churches,--"Thy love has been as a shower; the return but a dew-drop, and that dew-drop stained with sin." "IF A MAN LOVE ME, HE WILL KEEP _MY WORDS_; AND MY FATHER WILL LOVE HIM, AND WE WILL COME UNTO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM." 11TH DAY. "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."--John xiv. 18. The Befriended Orphans. Does the Christian's path lie all the way through Beulah? Nay, he is forewarned it is to be one of "much tribulation." He has his Marahs as well as his Elims--his valleys of Baca as well as his grapes of Eschol. Often is he left unbefriended to bear the brunt of the storm--his gourds fading when most needed--his sun going down while it is yet day--his happy home and happy heart darkened in a moment with sorrows with which a stranger (with which often a _brother_) cannot intermeddle. There is _One_ Brother "born for adversity," who _can_. How often has that voice broken with its silvery accents the muffled stillness of the sick-chamber or death-chamber! "'_I_ will not leave you comfortless:' the world _may_, friends _may_, the desolations of bereavement and death _may_; but _I will not_; you will be alone, yet _not_ alone, for I your Saviour and your God will be with you!"