March 27

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that ausdeeth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

12 This is my commandment. That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should re- main; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

When we see the multitude of Christ's people, all hanging on Him, all united to Him, and all drawing sap, and moisture, and life, and strength, and fruitfulness from Him, what can more beautifully represent Jesus and His people than the rich vine and her branches, on which grow the fullest clusters of the pure blood of the grape?

The best evidence of the Christian life is "more fruit." Christ prayed for His disciples, that they might bring forth fruit. He declared to them that in the divine administration, God, as vintner, sought to make the vine bring forth more and more fruit. That is the meaning of the pruning and girdling, as well as the milder agencies of His grace and goodness. Chastisements are occasional; God's goodness constant. Bearing fruit, sweet, luscious, and blessed, is the business of the Christian life. Christ did not mean that fruit should come all at once, all ripened. It is not in one year, nor five, nor ten, that you will ripen. But however God may endure barrenness out of the Church, yet He will never endure it in the Church. To be a bramble in the orchard, to be a weed in the garden, to be noisome in a place where we should be fruitful—will God, the great husbandman, endure this? Whatsoever is not for fruit is for the fire (Matt. iii. 10).

Closet Promise.—Ye are God's husbandry.—1 Cor. iii. 9.

The word in the margin for "husbandry" is "tillage." Your heart is the field God is tilling.

"Sower divine, Sow the good seed in me, Seed for eternity. 'Tis a rough, barren soil, Yet, by thy care and toil,

Make it a fruitful field, A hundred fold to yield, Sower divine, Sow deep this heart of mine."