eature holds to its Creator in regard to its physical
being. 'In him we live, and move, and have our being' is the very
foundation truth in regard to the constitution of the universe. 'In Him
we live, and move, and have our being' is the very foundation truth in
regard to the relation of the Christian soul to Jesus Christ. All
earthly unions are but poor adumbrations from afar of that deep,
transcendent, mysterious, but most real union, by which the Christian
soul is in Christ, as the branch is in the vine, the member in the body,
the planet in its atmosphere, and by which Christ is in the Christian
soul as the life sap is in every twig, as the mysterious vital power is
in every member. Thus abiding in Him, in a manner which admits of no
parallel nor of any doubt, we may, and we shall, be glad.

But then, passing from the mysterious, we come to the plain. To be 'in
Christ' which is commended to us here as the basis of all true
blessedness, means that the whole of our nature shall be occupied with,
and fastened upon, Him; thought turning to Him, the tendrils of the
heart clinging and creeping around Him, the will submitting itself in
glad obedience to His beloved and supreme commandments, the aspirations,
and desires feeling out after Him as the sufficient and eternal good,
and all the current of our being setting towards Him in earnestness of
desire, and resting in Him in tranquillity of possession. Thus 'in
Christ' we may all be.

And, says Paul, in the great words of my text, such a union, reciprocal
and close, is the secret of all blessedness. If thus we are wedded to
that Lord, and His life is in us and ours enclosed in Him, then there is
such correspondence between our necessities and our supplies as that
there is no room for aching emptiness; no gnawing of unsatisfied
longings, but the blessedness that comes from having found that which we
seek, and in the finding being stimulated to a still closer, happier,
and not restless search after fuller possession. The man that knows
where to get anything and everything that he needs, and to whom desires
are but the prophets of instantaneous fruition; surely that man has in
his possession the talismanic secret of perpetual gladness. They who
thus dwell in Christ by faith, love, obedience, imitation, aspiration,
and enjoyment, are like men housed in some strong fortress, who can look
out over all the fields alive with enemies, and feel that they are safe.
They who thus dwe