than man. He affirms that there can be no life apart from Him; that
souls not united with Him wither on the forest floor. He says, that
fruit-bearing is only possible to those who receive from His fullness
grace for grace. He says, that to be in union with Him will secure
union with all holy souls. He says, that if His words are carefully
pondered and obeyed, we shall make no petition which His Father will
not grant. He says, that His love, in quality and quantity, is like
the love that God has toward Himself; that His commands take rank with
those of Deity. He offers Himself to all mankind in coming ages, as
their contemporary, and as the one sufficient source of life and
godliness. All these assumptions are made in the range of these
verses; and as we ponder them, we feel that the Speaker must be
conscious of being other than human, and as possessing those infinite
attributes which are the sole property of the Eternal.

Yet, who shall say that He has offered more than He can give? Have not
we tested Him in each of these particulars, and do not we, who have
come to Him by faith, know that in no one item has He been guilty of
exaggeration? We were dead, but behold, we live! We spent our
energies in profitless work; but now we bear fruit unto God. We were
lonely and isolated, but now have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, to
the innumerable company of angels, and to the Church of the Firstborn.
Our prayers were aimless and ineffective; but now we have the petitions
we desired. New hope and joy have filled our hearts, as the ruddy
clusters hang full and ripe in the autumn. Prove Him for yourself and
see if this shall not be so for you also. Only give yourself entirely
up to Christ. Abide in Him. Remain in Him. Let thought and speech
and life be bathed in the influences of His Holy Spirit; Let the sap of
His life flow where the sap of the self-life was wont to flow; and lo!
old things will pass away, and all things will become new.

_The law and method of abiding._--There are two currents always flowing
within our reach:

The Not I, and the I.

The last Adam, and the first.

The Spirit, and the flesh.

God has put us by His grace into the first of these. The Master says,
"Stop there." Much as when a father puts his little boy in the railway
carriage, _en route_ for home, and says, "My boy, stop where you are.
Do not get out; no change is necessary." We are in Christ by
regeneration and faith. We