ord,
so walk in Him, rooted and builded up in
Him.'--COL. ii. 6, 7 (R.V.).

It is characteristic of Paul that he should here use three figures
incongruous with each other to express the same idea, the figures of
walking, being rooted, and built up. They, however, have in common that
they all suggest an initial act by which we are brought into connection
with Christ, and a subsequent process flowing from and following on it.
Receiving Christ, being rooted in Him, being founded on Him, stand for
the first; walking in Him, growing up from the root in Him, being built
up on Him as foundation, stand for the second. Fully expressed then, the
text would run, 'As ye have received Christ, so walk in Him; as ye have
been rooted in Him, so grow up in Him; as ye have been founded on Him,
so be builded up.' These three clauses present the one idea in slightly
different forms. The first expresses Christian progress as the
manifestation before the world of an inward possession, the exhibition
in the outward life of a treasure hid in the heart. The second expresses
the same progress as the development by its own vital energy of the life
of Christ in the soul. The third expresses the progress as the addition,
by conscious efforts, of portion after portion to the character, which
is manifestly incomplete until the headstone crowns the structure. We
may then take the passage before us as exhibiting the principles of
Christian progress.

I. The origin of all, or how Christian progress begins.

These three figures, receiving, rooted, founded, all express a great
deal more than merely accepting certain truths about Him. The acceptance
of truths is the means by which we come to what is more than any belief
of truths. We possess Christ when we believe with a true faith in Him.
We are rooted in Him. His life flows into us. We draw nourishment from
that soil. We are built on Him, and in our compact union find a real
support to a life which is otherwise baseless and blown about like
thistledown by every breath. The union which all these metaphors
presupposes is a vital connection; the possession which is the first
step in the Christian life is a real possession.

There is no progress without that initial step. Our own experience tells
us but too plainly and loudly that we need the impartation of a new
life, and to be set on a new foundation, if we are ever to be anything
else than failures and blots.

There is sure to