Do You Want a Friend?"

Reader,

CANT. V. 16.

"This is my Friend."

The year is fast rolling away. Christmas is once more coming round. There will be the old family gatherings. There will be the annual meeting of friends. And how will Christmas find you? Have you a friend?

A friend is one of the greatest blessings on earth. Tell me not of money. Affection is better than gold. Sympathy is better than lands. He is the poor man who has no friends. Have you a friend?

This world is full of sorrow, because it is full of sin. It is a dark place. It is a lonely place. It is a disappointing place. The brightest sunbeam in it is a friend. Friendship halves our troubles and doubles our joys. Have you a friend?

A real friend is scarce and rare. There are many who will eat, and drink, and laugh with us, in the sunshine of prosperity. There are few who will stand by

* A tract for Christmas, 1855,

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us in the days of darkness,-few who will love us when we are sick, helpless, and poor,-few, above all, who will care for our souls. Have you a real friend?

Reader, do you want a real friend? I write to recommend one to your notice this day. I know of one "who sticketh closer than a brother." (Prov. xviii. 24.) I know of one who is ready to be your friend for time and for eternity, if you will receive Him. Hear me, while I try to tell you something about Him.

The friend I want you to know is Jesus Christ. Happy is that Christmas party in which Christ has the foremost place!

I. Do you want a friend in need? the Lord Jesus Christ.

Such a friend is

Man is the neediest creature on God's earth, because he is a sinner. There is no need so great as that of sinners. Poverty, hunger, thirst, cold, sickness, all are nothing in comparison. Sinners need pardon, and they are utterly unable to provide it for themselves. They need deliverance from a guilty conscience, and the fear of death, and they have no power of their own to obtain it. This need the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to relieve. "He came into the world to save sinners." (1 Tim. i. 15.)

We are all by nature poor dying creatures. From the king on his throne to the pauper in the workhouse, we are all sick of a mortal disease of soul. Whether we know it or not, whether we feel it or not, we are all dying daily. The plague of sin is in our blood. We cannot cure ourselves, and are hourly getting