I live, ye shall live also."

When Saul persecuted

the Church at Jerusalem and Damascus, see how Christ identifies Himself with it-" I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”

He puts Himself for the Church as the husband would for his wife. If the wife be injured or insulted the husband feels the injury or insult as done to Himself.

66 Know ye not, &c." "We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones."

This union is real! He is the vine, we the branches! As the branch receives life by the sap which flows through the whole tree from the trunk and root of the tree, so the Church and every Believer has life by union with Christ. The moment that union ceases that same moment spiritual life decays and perishes.

If a man abide not in Jesus, as a branch does in the vine, he is cast forth and is withered and fit only to be burned.

So long as there is life in the head, there is life in all the members of the body.

This union is mysterious. The Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is without controversy, a great mystery.

Next after this comes the union of Christ and Believers which Saint Paul having spoken of,2 says 2. Eph. v. 32.

1. Cor. vi. 15.

T

“This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church."

This union is an indissoluble union. It is a bond never to be severed.

But what is the bond of this union?

Christ's" everlasting love "-" I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and with loving kindness drawn thee."

This Believer, is the Heavenly cement which knits so closely and securely Christ and his redeemed people.

What was it that knit David and Jonathan and made them as if they had been but one soul? They loved each other as their own souls. Their love is but a faint type of Christ's for his Church.

Who can separate the Believer from the love of Christ? If Christ be your's, then it follows that all that Christ hath, is your's also. All His perfections and attributes are your's-i. e. you have the benefit and the comfort of them. They are all engaged in your behalf in bringing you to glory.

Is He Almighty? Then "He is able to keep you from falling, and present you faultless before the throne of God."

Is He Omnipresent? Then you can enjoy His presence at all times, and in all places. He is always at your right hand, and if you set Him

1. Jer. xxxi. 3. 2. Rom. viii. 35, 39. 3. Jude, verse 24.

alway before you and realise His constant presence, ("thou Lord seest me,”) you shall never be moved.

Is He Omniscient? Then He knows all your wants, and fears, and doubts, and trials, and enemies. He is the comforter "who can give songs in the night."

"Is He the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever ?” then you need not fear any alteration of His love, or change of affection.

All that He has is your's. In Him all fulness dwells, and from Him all fulness of blessing, and pardon, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, comes forth. His precious blood is your's to cleanse and atone for your guilt. His perfect righteousness is your's to justify you before the Holy God, and an assembled universe of men and angels. His kingdom of glory, the tree of life, the hidden manna, the white stone, and in it the new name written-the raiment of fine linen clean and white: the crown of life and the harps of God: the throne of Christ: and an everlasting home in God's house; these and more than these which the ear of man

:

hath never heard of, and which the eye of

upon

flesh could not gaze, all these are your's if ye are Christ's, for Christ is God. Believest thou these things? Then live accordingly. "You cannot feel (do you say) so sure!" Why not? Is it because you want to do " some great thing," to recom

ment yourself a God, and make you feel more acceptable? What mbeler: What self-righteousnews! Tu hesitate to accept a full Christ; a gorous Christ; an omnipotent, omniscient and ever-present Savicur!

There can be no question, from this passage, and others from St. Paul's epistles, that such a thing is attainable, as an assurance of knowing our interest in Christ Jesus, and all the promises and blessings of the covenant of grace.

66

Unspeakable is the mercy of having any interest in Christ's blood-much more so to know and feel it, and be capable of saying, with Thomas, “ My Lord and my God," and with Job, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," or with St. Paul, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of departure is at hand." "I have fought the good fight; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which God the righteous judge shall give me at that day," or with the Church in my text, "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine!”

If you are Christ's then, it follows you are not your own but His, being bought with a great price. You are members of His body. Think of this every day. When temptation to sin presents itself remember your oneness with Christ. How can I do this wickedness and wound my Head and Master?

1 Jno. xx. 28. 2. Job. xix. 25.

3. II. Tim. iv. 8.

Satan's, Christ

Set this continually before you: is it consistent with my oneness with Christ? Shall I promote hereby His glory? You are not has delivered you out of his hands. Obey not then Satan's temptations. Resist his motions to evil. You are not the world's. The world hates Christ-it crucified Him, and in reality sets Him at defiance and tramples His blood beneath its feet. Love not the world therefore. Serve it not, for Christ has chosen you out of it to be a peculiar people, for His own glory.

17. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a

young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

It does not appear, at first sight, whether these words stand connected with the former verse. Some think they are, and would read them thus: "My Beloved is mine, and I am his, until the day break, and the shadows flee away."

Thus, the sense of the whole passage would amount to this: "as long as day and night continue, and God's covenant stands sure, so long my covenant interest in, and union to Christ (who is my Beloved) will abide unshaken. I can no more be separated from His love than day and night cease."

But according to our version it is evident from