The great, grand, lesson for the day is therefore this, that we each one seek, and that without delay, for this unchanging union with Christ. You have seen amongst you the fruits of such a union, you have had residing in your midst for the last twenty-five years one who was without a doubt in Christ; who, I would rather say, is in Christ, who is with Christ, and who will rise in Him at his appearing. You have seen the character formed on such a union. You have witnessed the holy peace, the warm affection, the brightness of Christian joy, the tender and ever ready sympathy, the untiring zeal for souls, the patient labour, and the earnest endeavour to bring poor sinners to their Saviour. All this you have seen yourselves. Nor must we lay it down simply to natural character or inborn qualifications. We do not exclude these, for there was undoubtedly a beautiful character as the basis; but it was the union with Christ that gave to all its true beauty. It was the gift of the Holy Spirit earnestly sought in unceasing supplication before God. There never yet was one more ready to confess her own utter nothingness, or who felt more deeply that Christ Jesus, and Christ Jesus alone, was her every and only hope. And we must enjoy the same union if we would glorify God. Do we wish to walk in the steps of those that are gone before, or rather to follow Him whom they followed? We must seek the strength to do so in this union with Christ. Do we want to overcome sin, to fight manfully against the corruption of a depraved and fallen nature? Our only hope, and, thanks be to God! it is sufficient, is in this union with Christ. Do we desire to labour for God, and like her that is gone, to spend the powers which He has given in the delightful effort to gather in poor sinners to his kingdom? As the work must be for Christ, so the power must be in Christ, and the whole blessing granted through a union with Him. Do we wish to be able to meet the day of sorrow, and when the heart is overwhelmed to repose peacefully in the sure fidelity and tender sympathy of a gracious God who has loved us with an everlasting love? Again are we driven to the necessity of the same union, for through Him it is that the Holy Comforter descends into the soul. And do we desire to pass peacefully through the valley of the shadow of death, to be kept at peace when all around us fails, when the outward man decays, when the voice becomes silent, and the eye dim? Do we wish then to fall asleep in perfect safety? Our hope must be in that same blessed union with that same blessed Saviour; for not merely in the present may we then look up and say “I will fear no evil for thou art with me,” but we may look beyond the valley and add “Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”