them; he enjoined them still to have continual intercourse with Him, on which their welfare would depend; and having, as we have seen in a former chapter, spoken of his departing, he informs them in the present one by what means they still might keep up that intercourse with him after he was gone, exhorting them to the continued exercise of that faith and love whereby they might.

It was "in the same night in which he was betrayed," when he instituted the sacrament of the Lord's supper (" as a pledge of his love and for a continual remembrance of his death") and said, "I will not henceforth drink of this fruit of the vine, until I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom;"" when, illustrating (as in other cases) his doctrine by what was immediately before them, he represents their relation to him under the likeness of a vine and its branches, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring

1 Matt. xxvi. 29.

forth more fruit;" and, applying it to themselves, he continues, in the words of the text, "Abide in me, and I (will) abide in you"-let the sense of your natural weakness and impotence engage you to live in faithful obedience and in constant dependence upon me, and I will still communicate as constant an influence to you;

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my grace shall be sufficient for you"-my presence shall be vouchsafed to you-it will be the means by which your spiritual life may be preserved the source from which you may derive strength and "growth in grace"-the living root from which the stem springs up, and without which it cannot, for "as the branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me."4

It might refer, primarily, to "that mystical union which is between Christ and his Church," to that invisible government which he exerciseth over it by himself and his spirit, whereby he hath promised to be with it even to the end of the world, and whereby "the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified.”

2 St. John xv. 1.

32 Cor. xii. 9.

4 Verse 4.

It refers also to every individual member of the same; to that agency by which Christ is present with every believer, and every true Christian is united with Him-is under his protection, power, and promises-is defended in all dangers and supported in all adversities-is led by his grace to those things which are needful, and kept from those which are hurtful and sinful-is admitted to the covenant of grace, and hopes to be hereafter to the participation of glory-" blessed if he do his Lord's commandments, that he may have a right to the tree of life."

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There is no image in the scripture under which the Church of God is more frequently represented than that in the text: "he fenced it and planted it with the choicest vine, and looked that it should bring forth grapes. "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt, thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it, thou madest room for it, and when it had taken root it filled the land." "I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me."

5 Isaiah v. 3.

6 Psalm lxxx. 8.

7 Jeremiah ii. 21.

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Nothing, perhaps, more aptly figures the very nature of Christ's religion, which is, like himself, as a tender plant in a dry and uncongenial ground," which must be tended and cherished in order to be kept alive; and which, after all the care and diligence of human aid, must be refreshed with the dew of heaven, watered from above, and brought out by the sun; but as, even then, it flourishes not through its own virtue, but in virtue of the root, and such a root as naturally is not its own, (wild by nature, but receiving the engrafted word,) so, we are taught, it is with us; our own endeavours after righteousness are unavailable; what we do, and what we are, is "through Christ which strengtheneth us;" he is the medium through which is conveyed every good and every perfect gift;" and all our fruitfulness and all our fruit depend so absolutely upon the influence and communication of Him, that" without Him we can do nothing." We, indeed, must cultivate the seed which he hath sown, but the blessing and the increase of it, our perfection and every degree of it, depend upon Him, upon his being with us and

to us

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abiding in us; and, "as the benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and lively faith, we receive this gift—' for then we spiritually dwell in Christ and Christ in us, we are one with Christ and Christ with us'-so is the danger great if we receive the same unworthily;" for if" whoso abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God;" if, instead of seeking that "Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith," we are careless whether he do or no; if, instead of seeking that continued intercourse, of asking that spirit which is necessary for sanctification and holiness, we neglect it, are we not subject to that declaration of our Lord, "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch that is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."

Separation from God is, in every degree of it, a state of unhappiness, as communion with Him is man's highest privilege and comfort; it is in this communion with Him, as he is revealed to us, that the very spirit and life of Christians, as such, consist; it is the condition and the means