is but scarcely saved. He needs the help of our example to edify him. He needs our prayers, added to his own, to plead for help from heaven. Is he one that does not obey the Gospel of Christ? Where then shall he appear, unless in time he repent? How may you best help him, most move him, to repentance?

O ye, who are now in place of safety, see that ye fall not back unto perdition! O ye, who are now in the way to perish, turn ere it be too late, turn and live; turn, or ye are lost for ever; turn unto the Lord heartily, now whilst it is time, or ye must be miserable, most miserable, to all eternity! O ye, who are aware that your peril has been great, who know that ye were once rushing onward to the flames, and that you have been stopped

in

your mad career only by the undeserved mercy of God; love as you have been beloved, help, for you have been greatly helped; love God for He has first loved you; and for his sake, love and help to the utmost of your power, every one of your fellow creatures!

SERMON XIV.

PERSEVERING TO THE END.

JOHN 15. 7, 8.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."

I KNOW not of any two things, about which I feel more anxious, in parting from you, beloved brethren, than these two which are expressed in the text; first, that ye should abide in Christ, and secondly, that ye should bear much fruit to the glory of God the Father. "If a man

abide not in me," said Jesus, in the verse before the text, "he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." Our blessed Lord had been speaking of Himself under the figure

of a vine, "I am the vine, and ye are the branches." (Ver. 5.) And when I think of what must happen to those branches which are cast forth as fruitless, when I reflect on your risk of perishing for ever unless ye abide in Christ, how can I help most earnestly desiring, and most urgently exhorting you, that ye continue stedfast unto the end, that ye hold fast your profession of the true faith, and persist in the practice of true piety; in one word, that ye persevere ?

But our Lord does not only tell us of what will happen to the branches which are cast out, to those of his disciples who abide not in Him; He also sets forth the gain of those who do abide, the privileges, and grace, and glory, of those Christians who having once believed heartily, and loved, and obeyed, continue faithful, and affectionate, and obedient, to the end. It is on these precious promises that I desire now chiefly to dwell. It is by means of these that I would now endeavour to move you to abide in Christ; that I would prevail with you to be faithful unto the

end, and stir you up to a vigorous endeavour to bear the fruits of righteousness abundantly.

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. This promise is large indeed: "Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." These privileges are great indeed, to have access unto God, in prayer; and to be assured that if we pray, with faith, to God, through Christ, according to his will, we have the things that we desire of Him.

Which

soever way we view our state and case in this world, prayer seems to be the very chief of all the things that we can do, towards attaining to the happiness of the world to come. For in order to be saved, we must believe. And how can we believe, as we ought to do, unless we pray, Lord, help Thou our unbelief? (See Mark 9. 24.) Again, in order to be set on the right hand of the Judge, and to be bidden by Him to enter into heaven, we must have done his will, to have loved as He has loved us. And how can we either

love, or obey, without God's grace? And in what other way can we apply for grace, except by praying for it? And what therefore can be a more eminent advantage, a more inestimable blessing than this, that if we ask we shall receive, that we may ask what we will, and it shall be done for us?

Prayer will obtain for us grace sufficient. Prayer will prevail with God to soften our hearts, to enlighten our minds, and to strengthen our purposes. Prayer will give us admittance to the armoury of God, where we shall be furnished with ample means to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil. Prayer will open for us the door of heaven.

And what can I say more than this? Life everlasting, with God, in glory! Oh how do all other gains, and all other glories, sink to nothing in comparison with this! Oh what can persuade you, if not this, to abide in Christ stedfast to the end?

It is here taken for granted that you have been grafted into the true vine. And this, remember, is no small advantage.