in all that he did as a man, we are to follow his steps : and if we neglect to do so, we shew, that we have no part or lot in his salvation.
The words I have read will lead me to set before you the principles, and the practice, of every true Christian.
I. His principles —
The Christian is united unto Christ by faith, as a branch to the vine ; and his one great concern is to " abide in Christ."
For this he labours as the one ground of his hope —
[He knows that he has nothing, and can have nothing, in himself. He needs no one to tell him this : he has learned it, as from the inspired volume, so also from his own experience. He has found on numberless occasions how weak and sinful a creature he is : and is well assured, that, if he had not " Je- hovah himself for his righteousness and strength," it would be impossible for him ever to be saved. Hence he views with complacency the Lord Jesus Christ as the great Head of the Church. " It has pleased the Father, that in Christ should all fulness dwell a:" and in this respect he is altogether like- minded with the Father : for it pleases him in his inmost soul to have such a Head of vital influence, and such a Depository of all spiritual blessings. He is sensible that the branch de- rives all its life and fertility from its union with the vine : and that, if once separated from the stem, it would wither and dieb. This idea he endeavours to realize: and " the life which he lives in the flesh, he lives altogether by faith in the Son of Godc," " receiving out of his fulnessd" a constant supply of grace and peace. If, as a blind and ignorant creature, he need wisdom ; or as a guilty creature, he need righteousness ; or as a polluted creature, he need sanctification ; or as an enslaved creature, he need redemption : he looks for it all in Christ, whom he regards as furnished with all for the use of his Church, and as empowered to communicate it all to every one that trusts in hime.]
In this he glories as his most exalted privilege —
[Humiliating as this life of dependence at first sight ap- peal's, he considers it as his highest honour, and as raising him even above Adam in Paradise. Adam, when in Paradise, was
a Col. i. 19. b John xv, 1—5. c Gal. ii. 21.
d John i. 16. e 1 Cor. i. 30.