Christ"1. Seek then to become living branches of the living vine : seek an union with the Lord Jesus Christ by faith : so shall you be enabled to bring forth fruit to his glory, and be approved by the Great Husbandman in the day that he shall come to inspect his vineyard11 — ]
2. Those who by faith are united to him —
[Happy, happy are ye : for, as " those who are separate from him can do nothing" you, on the contrary, by virtue of your union with him can do every thing ; as St. Paul has said, " I can do all things through Christ, who strengthened me °." In order to this however you must " abide in him," just as the branch abideth in the vine. You must be continually " re- ceiving out of his fulness the grace" which your necessities require p. This life of faith is your wisdom, your happiness, your security i : and the more entire is your affiance in him, the more will you " be filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God."]
m Rom. xi. 24. n ver. 1, 2, 6, 8. ° Phil. iv. 13.
p John i. 16. i Gal. ii. 20.
John xv. 8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye hear much fruit ; so shall ye be my Disciples.
IT is not uncommon to hear those who preach or profess the Gospel spoken of as depreciating and dis- regarding good works. But this is nothing more than what the Gospel itself teaches us to expect : and, if we be not spoken of in a greater or less degree as undervaluing good works, there is reason to fear that we have not yet fully embraced that Gospel which Paul preached. We see it was the objection raised against him, when he proclaimed salvation by faith in Christ; and therefore he took frequent occasion to obviate it, and to shew that it had no real foundation. He abhorred the idea of such a consequence being deduced from the doctrines of grace, and therefore shuddered at the very mention of it : " Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! how shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer