The Tupelo journal., 1902-12-12

~ ~ w vi Ok4Oll
national pride?
Jesus spoke the words of our text OF
the threshold of the darkest moments
in His own life and the lives of His
disciples. In the quiet condolences
of that last sad hour He told them:
II am the True Vine, and My Fa.
Their is the H~usbandman . ye
are the branches" and then the TEN.
pest of hell and the wrath of MAI
burst full upon Him and He was torn
from the midst of His disciples, and
they were scattered. How many
times during the days that followed
while their Lord was in the tomb
do you suppose His words occurred
to them? What mockery they must
have seemed to them, and yet how
they must have kept stirring their
hearts to expectancy. If God the
Father was the Husbandman He
would not permit the True Vine to
be destroyed root and branch. And
SO they waited, waited, waited. Oh,
that is what you must do during the
dark hours. Remember the words of
Jesus, and wait. The thrill of the
Divine Life was felt as the glory of
the resurrection morning broke and
Jesus came and spoke with them.
And when your dark hours are past
during which you have felt yourself
completely severed from the Vine,
Jesus will come to you and you will
feel the awakening of new life, and
the dark hours will be seen to have
been but the purging and pruning of
the faithful H~usbandman.
But now watch the disciples grow.
as during those forty days of COM
munion with their risen Lord the
Scriptures are opened up to their
hearts and they begin to understand
the marvellous plan of Gods saliva
ton. The branches are being pre-
pared and strengthened for the
fruit-bearing of the day of Pentecost.
Then come the ten days of quietw wait
ing; the learning of the lesson of pa
thence, "for We have need of patience.
that, after We have done the will Of
God, ye might receive the PROMISE
And so with every branch in the
Vine, there is the period of growth.
the preparation for fruit bearing.
During the dark hours of trial the
Husbandman breaks down the self
will and self-confidence so that theI G
may be spiritual development and
growth. And then as the new life
thrills and throbs through the awak-
ened branch, and it begins to feel its
capabilities for fruit-bearing, there
comes the period of waiting, that
the wonderfully important lesson OF
patience may be learned. How hard
it is to wait! You wonder why it is.
But if the branch is content t. wait
the will of the Vine, the fruit-bear-
ing is certain and large.
Two conditions are incumbent upon
the branch to enable the Vine to
realize its full possibilities; one IS
must abide in the Vine, and it must
yield submissive obedience to the inn
pulses of the Vine. What is abiding
in the Vine? Il don't feel a bit like
going to prayer-meeting tonight, but
l know l ought to 60, and that l
will get a blessing if l do" And
the branch starts off for Gods house.
That's abiding in the Vine. The ia
Their gets home tired and hungry at
night. The baby is cross, the chill
dren noisy and supper isn't ready.
The impatient spirit rises in the
heart and the lips are about to speak
unkind and hasty words, when the
still small voice whispers in the
heart: Rejoice, for all things work
together for good to them that love
God" even a delayed supper. A
CHEEKY smile greets the tired wife, in
stead, and the voice of sympathy
says: well, dear, this has been -
hard day for you, hasn't it?" That's
abiding in the Vine. The lady is call
ing on her friend and the conversa-
ton, unfortunately, but as is sc. often
the case, becomes of a gossipy ma
ture. The unkindly criticism is
passed upon another member of the
church, but the hostess, instead of
encouraging the criticism by saying
something mean, too, looks for the
good IN the person under discussion
and says something kindly about her.
That is abiding in the Vine. The
man in the office or the shop hears
the unclean word or the suggestive,
smutty story, and, instead of keeping
silent or in the uneasiness of his
w mind passing it off with a short,
jerky laugh that condemns him as
a coward, he rebukes the foul utter
ance by a quiet, earnest word. That
is abiding in the Vine. 1t takes cour-
age to abide in the Vine. 1t takes
se~lf-denial, it takes thoughtfulness,
it takes self-control, it, takes kindly
sympathy and love, it takes purity OF
heart and singleness of heart to
abide in the Vine, but it is worth all
it costs, and more, infinitely more;
for the Divine Life flows through the
n who is abiding in the Vine, there
is spiritual growth, and there is
fruit-bearing. The Husbandman faith
fully cares for the Vine. He cuts off
the dead branches, He prunes and
purges the fruitful ones, and when
He sees the glorious fruitage, He
rejoiceth exceedingly. The Vine,
with unfailing devotion, .pours its
life into the branches, compelling
growth and fruit-bearing. The
branches, that are obedient to the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus,
abide in the Vine, and by submissive
obedience become the channels