Times-promoter., 1902-12-12

branches and that God the Father
is the Husbandman? The branches
dead and lifeless without the Vine
the Vine incomplete without the
branches, and both planted, and
nourished, and tended by the Fa.
ther, the Husbandman. The life OF
the Vine, the life of the branches;
the nature Of TIE Vine, the nature
of the branches; the purpose and
desire of the Vine, the purpose and
desire of the branches: the fruit
bearing power of the Vine swelling
and pushing through the branches
and crowning them with the glory
OF the luscious fruit. Think of it,!
Jack of the nursery fairy tale mount
eel up the miraculous beanstalk into
new and wonderful realms, but the
true believer in Christ is grated into
the True Vine, and is able to mount
to the secret recesses of the Most
High. Everything that the Father
gives to the Vine flows through the
Vine to the branches, so that all the
riches of Heaven and earth are free
ly given as the branches have need.
But remember that the branches
are not the Vine. This may appear
at first thought as foolish and
needless statement, but when you
consider that pride and self-centered
esteem, as blasting perils, threaten
every Christian, it becomes a matter
of supreme Importance to emphasize
the fact that after all he is nothing
but branch and spiritually is alb.
solutely dependent upon the Vine
for life, for growth and for fruit
bearing impulses. The lesson of hu-
mility is beautifully illustrated and
emphasized by this figure. Nothing
but branches! Why he is the pastor
of the biggest church in the city and
most eloquent pulpit orator! Yes,
but he is nothing but branch.
Whatever opiritual 1ifA- -hn hos, --,I->+
fruit he bears, all come from the
Vine. Whether he is called bishop,
or elder, or writes D. D. after his
name, whether he is Sunday school
or president of a
young peoples society, before God
he is only branch, and dependent |
upon the Vine. Peter, the great |
apostle, upon the rock of whose faith |
was to be reared the Church of Jesus |
Christ, and Paul, the great apostle to
the Gentiles, the mighty preacher
the untiring missionary, were moth
ing but. branches of the Vine. What
ever success attended their efforts !
in Christian service was wholly the |
channel through which Christ, the |
Vine, could pour His power and bless
ing. Peter. realizing this, eXhorts:
'Be clothed with humility; for God
resisteth the proud, and giveth grace
to the humble. Humble yourselves, !
under the mighty hand of
God, that He may exalt you in due
time" And Pail exclaims, to the
Christians, after reminding
them of all the mighty work he had
done among them: "But God forbid
that ! should glory save in the cross
Of our Lord Jesus Christ" Yes.
but branches. but, oh, look
At the possibilities if they will be
only branches and abide in the Vine!
And another thing, the figure of
he Vine and the branches is destruc-
i've of denominational pride. Con-
and Methodists, and
and Baptists, and
and so forth, are only
branches of the Vine. The source
If their life is the same, their growth
s proportionate to the opportunity
hey offer for free flow of the Di-
'ine life through them, and their
ruit-bearing possibilities are depend
mt upon a spirit of submission to the
perfect will of the Vine. The mar
owness of denominational pride
would disfgure the Vine with ugly
igns and bristling figures, and as
ign sunny exposures to one branch
While all the other branches would
,e cast into the shade of disapproval
nd distrust, wholly unmindful and
orgetful of the fact that Christ the
line and the branches abiding in Him
re one beautifully symmetrical and
whole-the> branches all
rawing life and nourishment from
he Vine and the Vine glorying, not
n one branch to the forgetfulness
f the others, but in all the branches,
ecause all the branches have their I
art in the Vine and have their fruit
o bear. Imagine one branch on
inc beholding itself with complacent
because it was longer
nd rounder and more leafy than it's $
eighbor. Imagine it reasoning with
tself that, because the bend of the 6
ther branch was different from its l
wn, and because the color of its !
4. l. ba ~ Al.