assert of the future is, that Christ will in an ever fuller
degree be the environment of all Christian souls, and the effect of
that constant environment will fulfil the aspiration of the apostle,
"We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Communion
produces likeness. This even now is the test of our friendship with
the Lord. Are we assimilating His mind, His way of looking at things,
His judgments, His spirit? Is the Christ-conscience being developed in
us? Have we an increasing interest in the things which interest Him,
an increasing love of the things that He loves, an increasing desire to
serve the purposes He has at heart? "Ye are My friends if ye do
whatsoever I command you," is the test by which we can try ourselves.

Fellowship with Him, being much in His company, thinking of Him,
seeking to please Him, will produce likeness, and bring us together on
more intimate terms. For, as love leads to the desire for fuller
fellowship; so fellowship leads to a deeper love. Even if sometimes we
almost doubt whether we are really in this blessed covenant of
friendship, our policy is to go on loving Him, serving Him, striving to
please Him; and we will yet receive the assurance, which will bring
peace; He will not disappoint us at the last. It is worth all the care
and effort we can give, to have and to keep Him for our friend who will
be a lasting possession, whose life enters into the very fibre of our
life, and whose love makes us certain of God.

We ought to use our faith in this friendship to bless our lives. To
have an earthly friend, whom we trust and reverence, can be to us a
source of strength, keeping us from evil, making us ashamed of evil.
The dearer the friend and the more spiritual the friendship, the keener
will be this feeling, and the more needful does it seem to keep the
garments clean. It must reach its height of intensity and of moral
effectiveness in the case of friendship with God. There can be no
motive on earth so powerful. If we could only have such a friendship,
we see at once what an influence it might have over our life. We can
appreciate more than the joy, and peace, and comfort of it; we can feel
the power of it. To know ourselves ever before a living, loving
Presence, having a constant sense of Christ abiding in us, taking Him
with us into the marketplace, into our business and our pleasure, to
have Him as our familiar friend in joy and sorrow, in gain and loss, in
s