Practical Observations.

1. The life of the branch springs from the life of the vine. The branch does not give life to the vine, but the vine to the branches. So Christ is our life.

2. If the connection between the branch and the vine is severed it will at 234once die. As the sap must flow from the vine into the branch to give it life and keep it alive, so the life of the True Vine must flow into our souls. Christ is not only the fountain of our life, but we must abide in him in order to maintain it. If we let sin come between and cut us off we are dead.

3. Whatever works of beneficence and love are done by the church, or by Christians, serve to honor and glorify Christ, because it is his life in us that works and bears fruit. Without him we can do nothing.

4. Christ and sin cannot abide in the heart together. If sin abides there, Christ will not enter; if Christ abides there, sin can find no room.

5. The beneficent work of Christ for man. Now, if there were to be made two maps of the world, one showing the happiness, comforts, morality, good deeds, benevolent gifts, means of innocent enjoyment, the light shades showing the countries in which a large degree of happiness is enjoyed, and the shades growing darker as the blessings grow less; the other map showing the prevalence of Christianity, the lands where the purest Christianity is most prevalent being represented in white, and the shades darkening as the lands have a less pure Christianity, or it is less prevalent, down to the blackness of utter heathenism,—it would be found that these two maps almost exactly coincide.