The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-05-05

LESSON VI. SECOND QUARTER, INTER
NATIONAL SERIES, MAY 7.

by Rev. ID. NJ. stearns.
Unless we include in our meditations
much that the lesson committee has
felt led to omit we shall have had but
a very small glimpse Of the life and
touching of our blessed Lord. Here,
for example we have but one brief
lesson i'm the most wonderful Of an His
discourses and one lesson from the
greatest Of all recorded prayers-two
lessons from what has been well called
"the holy of HOLES Of all Scripture"
He had eaten with His disciples the
Passover which He so much desired to
eat with them before He suffered, He
had instituted the supper by which we
are to sNew His death till He come.
He had girded Himself and had wash
ed their feet, teaching them to do to
one another as He had done to them.
and now in these last words He opened
to them His heart as never before and
prayed for them and for us who be-
lieve on Him through their word.
Knowing all that was before Him that
night and on the morrow, He seemed
TO forget Himself in His desire to COM
fort and strengthen them.
Could there possibly be more helpful
words for all believers at all times, as
sured that In the world we shall have
tribulation, than the opening words of
this discourse, Let not your heart be
troubled" and, again, Let not your
heart be troubled; neither let it be
afraid" xiv, %, reminding us of Matt
xiv, g, "Ye shall hear of wars and ru-
mors of wars: see that We be not trou-
bled?' What more powerful testimony
to our oneness with the risen Christ
can there be than an untroubled heart
In the midst of trouble?
We have heard Him say. II am the
Light Of the world" Il am the good
Shepherd" Il am the Door," Il am the
Living Bread which came down from
heaven" IL am the Way and the Truth
and the Life" but now He uses new
figure. Il am the true Nine," taking us
back by contrast 20 such words as THE
NllltA dlu VI lllC Lulu VI iAOSAS ~ biiO
house Of Israel and the men of judah
His pleasant plant" and Israel is an
empty vine: he bringeth forth fruit
unto himself" Qsa. V, Z; Hos. y, u.
Here is the true Israel, the Vine that
never brought forth fruit unto Himself,
never pleased Himself, never sought
His own will nor His own glory, and
He tells us that we are branches in
Him, to bear much fruit, that the Fa-
ther, the Husbandman, may be glori-
fed
Let us remember that He IS alone
with the eleven, to whom He had said,
"Ye are clean (xiii, 10), and again in
verse of our lesson. "Now We are
clean through the word which l have
spoken unto you" These are true
branches in the true Vine and can new
er perish (JOhn Y, 21-29. There are
those who, though they may seem to
us to be branches, are not and never
were branches any more than Judas
Iscariot Such go out in due time, be-
cause they were never really in the
Vine or the fold. They are plants
which were never planted by God the
Father q John ii, 10; Matt. XIV. 49,.
But there are true branches in the
true Vine which do not bring forth
fruit unto God. They are spoken of in
Cor. iii, 10, as having their works
burned and they themselves saved as
by fire or in | Cor. Y, 3, as having
the flesh destroyed that the spirit may
be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Possibly those in l Cor. xi. 80, who
were weak and sickly and dying before
their time are in the same class.
Instead of this, which may be the ex-
perience of many, but need not be the
experience of any, it is the desire Of
our heavenly Father that we bear fruit,
more fruit, much fruit, to His glory
Patiently He waits year after year,
looking for fruit and doing all He can
to get ii before He orders the tree cut
down or the branch taken away duke
Kill, co, but If the self life persistent
ly predominates the order Is finally CIV
en-, and men are often the instruments
In His hand to remove and burn the
! DTduCueS UT cut OOWn the tree. Let us
take heed and abide.
How simply and easily the branches
In vine under the skill and care OF a
husbandman bear fruit. There is no
struggle, no effort, but just yielding
to the wise care which prunes and
causes to bleed and ties up here and
there, so as to obtain the desired fruit.
What. then is this abiding which is so
essential and without which all is moth
ing? Verse 81 If 1t is not by effort.
how is it? / know nothing better than
the thought given forth by Hudson
Taylor on one occasion that IL is weak
ness and not strength that abides The
child that is too weak to climb out of
the crib is found by it's mother just
where she put it. "His strength is
made perfect in our weakness" AS
we look more closely we note that there
is an abiding In His love and in His
word oversees Z, 81.
The first step is 10 believe firmly
"The Son of God loved me and gave
Himself for me" (Gal. II. 20). "He hath
redeemed me from the curse Of the law
being made a curse for me" (Gal i'll