The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-11-18

'Exccpt the branch ABIDE in tho vine It
brngeth forth no fruit. If We abide IN Me
and My words abide in you, We shall bring
forth much fruit.
Oh, friends. limit the range Of the
Christian life, aAd our hearts and minds
are so set upon getting, getting, getting
enjoying, enjoying, enloying-that we are
deaf to the words Of Christ concerning do
ing, doing, doing. Apart from the vine the
branch can bear no fruit; apart from the
branch the vine cannot bear fruit And
here, friends, we come up to something
that ought to brinh you and me very lowly
before God. Lowry, not so much with the
sense of modification and pentence, but
with kind Of eXultant JOY. II BELTS us to
confess always our dependence upon Christ,
but here we have Christ confessing His de-
pendence on lis. Marvellous thingl "The
branch cannot bear of itself except il abide
in the vine" and the vine cannot bear
fruit without the b inches. The Apostle
Paul puts that tho. ut in another form
when he says: "Ye are the body Of Christ,
and members-each severally-members of
that body" Apart from the body the
members perish. There is no power in the
hand, no vision in the eye, no power in the
ear to hear the voice Of God apart from
the body. We are the body Of Christ we
are the organization through which Christ
works; we are the organization by which
Christ builds up Els kingdom on the earth.
We are the hands Of Christ. Christ wants,
Christ desires to feed the hungry, and
clothe the naked, and visit the sick, and
build homes for the homeless, and open
prison doors for those in captivity, but
supposing the hands of the Lord be par
alyzed, how can He do these things? We
are the voice Of Christ. Christ wants to
publish abroad to the end of the earth the
message of Gods love and the way of sal
walton, but IL the voice be silent, how can
He do it?
We talk about the mercy of God having
no limitation. We talk about the bound
less pity Of God. and we do well. but the
pity of God and the mercy OF God have
their limitations. Not according to the dis
torted Calvinism which our fathers believ-
ed, Gods mercy ID infinite; Gods pity 10
boundless; His love extends to all men
glory; we count it the very flower and cor
onation Of our religion. And yet Gods
mercy il limited. His compassion is bound
ed, His pity is shortened by us-by us. Ac-
eording a. we are willing or unwilling ID
the limitlessness Of the love Of God.
Let us take homely illustration. Here
is friend-a man whom you have always
known, classmate it may be in school. an
associate in business--and he has fallen
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spent his life in accommodating is gone. You
are rich, you are perfectly able to put that
man on his feet again; to give him a Sec
ond chance and another start; you are
Gods elected minister for that purpose.
But you don't do it. God is kindly dis
posed to that man: God would help that
man, and He has put YOU in a position to
help him. You are His hands; you are
Gods ministering agency, but you limit
God'c rood poco dop't 1-OuS
God il very pitiful, very pitiful. Rich
men can feed Door men. but they don't do
it. No manpa falls from heaven to feed
those poor men. They starve. God is
wondrously pitiful, and there are strong
people who are perfectly able to help and
comfort weak and sickv people, but these
sickly people die for lack of help. No min
istering angel comes down to cool their fe-
yer and heal them. Don't you see that we,
Gods hand, Gods voice, the branches and
twigs of the vine, limit the fruitfulness of
the vine, limit the power of the Almighty?
"Herein is NV Father glorifed, that We
bear much fruit, SO shall We be My disci-
pies" Friends, the thought is appalling;
it Expresses me. When / look at that
from one side am terrified to think that
the thing that God wanted done yesterday
is not done through my neglect.
And yet there is encouragement here for
us all. Apart from the vine the branch
withers; it can do nothing. Abiding in the
vine, the branch bringeth forth much fruit,
and we may abide and we may glorify our
Father. Glorify Him. Make Him shine
with radiance and beauty in the eyes of
man. Make God manifest. We can make
God real; we can make the gospel sublime
in the eyes of those who are living without
it. We can SO tell the story; we can SO
live our religion; we can so manifest the
grace Of God in our lives: we can so let
our light shine that others-our neighbors
and friends, our children and relatives
shall glorify our Father in heaven.