Times-promoter., 1902-12-12

of that last sad hour He told them:
II am the True Vine, and My Fa-
ther is the Husbandman ye
are the branch rs" and then the tenn
pest of hell and the wrath of man
burst full upon Him and He was torn
from the idst 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 Husbandman.
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 quiet wait
ing; the learning of the lesson of pa
tience, for We have need of patience,
that, after ye have done the will of
God We might -~~o;.rA the nrnmise,
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
breaks down the self
will and self-confdence so that there
may be spiritual development and
thrills and throbs through the awak-
ened branch, and it begins to feel its
for fruit-bearing, there
comes the period of waiting, that
the wonderfully important lesson of
patience may be learned. How hard
~ &c Vp,, xronIar II
But if the branch is content to 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 bit like
going to prayer-meeting tonight, but
know | ought to go, and that I
will get a blessing if I do" And
the branch starts off for Gods house.
That's abiding in the Vine. The fa-
ther gets home tired and hungry at
night. The baby is cross, the chill
lren noisy and supper isn't ready.
The impatient spirit rises in the
heart and the lips are about to speak
lnkind and hasty words, when the
still small voice whispers in this
leart: Rejoice, ''for all things work
together for good to them that love
Sod" even delayed supper. A
,heery smile greets the tired wife, in
stead, and the voice of sympathy
says: well, dear, this has been u
,ard day for you, hasn't it?" That's
hiding in the Vine. The lady is call
ng on her friend and the conversa-
ion, unfortunately, but as is so often
he case, becomes of a gossipy ma
ure. The unkindly criticism is
passed upon another member of the
hurch, but the hostess, instead of
the criticism by saying
omething mean, too, looks for the
'ood IN the person under discussion
nd says something kindly about her.
That is abiding in the Vine. The
nan in the Office or the shop hears
he unclean word or the suggestive,
mutty story, and, instead of keeping
ilent or in the uneasiness of his
wn mind passing it off with short,
erky laugh that condemns him as
coward, he rebukes the foul utter
nee by a quiet, earnest word. That
5 abiding in the Vine. 1t takes cour-
ge to abide in the Vine. 1t takes
elf-denial, it takes thoughtfulness,
takes self-control, it takes kindly
and love, it takes purity OF
cart and singleness of heart to
bide in the Vine, but it is worth all
costs, and more, infinitely more;
or the Divine Life flows through the
ne who is abiding in the Vine there