CHRIST IS ALL by James Smith

needs. Unhappy creatures! Miserable state! Those who reject Christ
now — shall be rejected by him forever.
O how wondrous the grace which . . .
opened my eyes,
sanctified my will, and
controlled my affections!
But for grace, Jesus would have been "a stone of stumbling, and rock of
offense," to me! I also would have stumbled at the Word, and he whom I
now adore — would have been refused and rejected by me. Join me, you
highly favored souls, to whom Christ is precious, who are daily coming
to him "as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men — but chosen
of God, and precious;" join me in giving glory to the riches of sovereign
grace! Join me in praising the blessed Comforter, who revealed Jesus to
our hearts — and formed him in us the hope of glory.
Christ, the VINE
On the side of this house, grows a fruitful vine. Jesus is the TRUE VINE
— and all his people are branches in him. They are united to him by faith
and love — and derive from him all their verdure, beauty, fruitfulness,
and life. Could they be separated but one moment from Jesus — they
must droop, fade, and die. He is the stem which supports them, and
the root which supplies them. They bear fruit in him, fruit of the same
nature as the vine to which they are united — good fruit. They are
entirely dependent upon him, and separate from him — they can do
nothing. God expects to find fruit on every branch that professes to be
united unto the living vine; and every branch that bears no fruit, is
taken away and cast into the fire.
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