ved to tempt
there should be found nothing so alluring, nothing so terrifying, as to
turn men from the straight path. He was to produce a race of men who,
while still in the body, urged by appetites, assaulted by passions and
cravings, with death threatening and life inviting, should prefer all
suffering rather than flinch from duty, should prove themselves actually
superior to every assault that can be made on virtue, should prove that
spirit is greater than matter. And God set Christ in the world to be the
living type of human perfection, to attract men by their love for Him to
His kind of life, and to furnish them with all needed aid in becoming
like Him--that as Christ had kept the Father's commandments, His
disciples should keep His commandments, that thus a common
understanding, an identity of interest and moral life, should be
established between God and man.

Perhaps it is not pressing the figure too hard to remark that the fruit
differs from timber in this respect--that it enters into and nourishes
the life of man. No doubt in this allegory fruit-bearing primarily and
chiefly indicates that God's purpose in creating man is satisfied. The
tree He has planted is not barren, but fruitful. But certainly a great
distinction between the selfish and the unselfish man, between the man
who has private ambitions and the man who labours for the public good,
lies in this--that the selfish man seeks to erect a monument of some
kind for himself, while the unselfish man spends himself in labours that
are not conspicuous, but assist the life of his fellows. An oak carving
or a structure of hard wood will last a thousand years and keep in
memory the skill of the designer: fruit is eaten and disappears, but it
passes into human life, and becomes part of the stream that flows on for
ever. The ambitious man longs to execute a monumental work, and does not
much regard whether it will be for the good of men or not; a great war
will serve his turn, a great book, anything conspicuous. But he who is
content to be a branch of the True Vine will not seek the admiration of
men, but will strive to introduce a healthy spiritual life into those he
can reach, even although in order to do so he must remain obscure and
must see his labours absorbed without notice or recognition.

Does the teaching of this allegory, then, accord with the facts of life
as we know them? Is it a truth, and a truth we must act upon, that apart
from Christ we can do