wards His 2')eople. It is written that " having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them untc the end." Knowing perfectly well that they were about to forsake Him shamefully in a very few hours, in full view of their approaching display of weakness and in- firmity, our blessed Master did not cease to have loving thoughts of His disciples. He was not weary of them : He loved them to the last.
The love of Christ to sinners is the very essence and marrow of the Gospel. That He should love us at all, and care for our souls, — that He should love us before we love Him, or even know anything about Him, — that He should love us so much as to come into the world to save us, take our nature on Him, bear our sins, and die for us on the cross, — all this is wonderful indeed ! It is a kind of love to which there is nothino: like amonor men. The narrow selfishness of human nature cannot fully comprehend it. It is one of those things which *3ven the angels of God "desire to look into." It is a truth which Christian preachers and teachers should proclaim incessantly, and never be weary of proclaim- ing.
But the love of Christ to saints is no less wonderful, in its way, than His love to sinners, though far less con- sidered. That He should bear with all their countless infirmities from grace to glory, — that He should never be tired of their endless inconsistencies and petty prov- ocations,— that He should go on forgiving and forget- ting incessantly, and never.be provoked to cast them oflf and give them up, — all this is marvellous indeed ! No mother watching over the waywardness of her feeble babe, in the days of its infancy, has her patience so thoroughly tried, as the patience of Christ is tried by Christians. Yet His longsuflfering is infinite. His com-