June 9

That ye put on the new man. — EPH. iv. 24.

Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. — MATT. xii. 33.

IN this world of "vain shows," shams, semblances, and self-deceptions, we need every hour some certain test by which to distinguish the true from the false. Such a touchstone the Master here furnishes us in his inimitable nature-teaching manner in the tree. "The tree is known by its fruit." The fruit is the only true thing about the tree. All things else are mere accidents and appendages, preludes, preparations, and promises; that upon which the tree expends all its labors and exhausts all its nature, and into which it pours its whole life, is its fruit. Its leaves and blossoms fade and fall, its branches wither, itself dies; but its fruit, enwrapping a living seed, springs up it may be in another garden on a distant continent, and lives on and on, reproducing itself forever, the only immortal thing of earth. So character, the expression of the whole nature, the product of the whole life's activities, the one reality which abides amid all changes, the only immortal thing about man, is the only infallible touchstone by which we can test ourselves and others. Professions and promises, however fair, are worthless as the faded leaves and blossoms of summer where they do not ripen into the fruits of holiness; and the fruitless tree is fit only for the burning. Reader, let me beseech you to try yourself by this test, and remember it is for your life.

Joseph J. Smith

So let our lips and lives express

The holy gospel we profess;

So let our works and virtues shine,

To prove the doctrine all divine. WATTS.