d had trained His
disciples, and cannot equal them in their power of prayer, we may,
nevertheless, take courage in remembering that, even in the lower stages
of the Christian life, every new onward step in the striving after the
perfect branch-life, and every surrender to live for others in
intercession, will be met from above by a corresponding liberty to draw
nigh with greater boldness, and expect larger answers. The more we pray,
and the more conscious we become of our unfitness to pray in power, the
more we shall be urged and helped to press on towards the secret of
power in prayer--a life abiding in Christ entirely at His disposal.

And if any are asking, with somewhat of a despair of attainment, what
the reason may be of the failure in this blessed branch-life, so simple
and yet so mighty, and how they can come to it, let me point them to
one of the most precious lessons of the parable of the Vine. It is one
that is all too little noticed. Jesus spake, "I am the true Vine, _and
my Father is the Husbandman_." We have not only Himself, the glorified
Son of God, in His divine fulness, out of whose fulness of life and
grace we can draw,--this is very wonderful,--but there is something more
blessed still. We have the Father, as the Husbandman, watching over our
abiding in the Vine, over our growth and fruitbearing. It is not left to
our faith or our faithfulness to maintain our union with Christ: the
God, who is the Father of Christ, and who united us with Him,--God
Himself will see to it that the branch is what it should be, will enable
us to bring forth just the fruit we were appointed to bear. Hear what
Christ said of this, "Every branch that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it,
that it may bear more fruit." More fruit is what the Father seeks; more
fruit is what the Father will Himself provide. It is for this that He,
as the Vinedresser, cleanses the branches.

Just think a moment what this means. It is said that of all fruitbearing
plants on earth there is none that produces fruit so full of spirit,
from which spirit can be so abundantly distilled, as the vine. And of
all fruitbearing plants there is none that is so ready to run into wild
wood, and for which pruning and cleansing are so indispensable. The one
great work that a vinedresser has to do for the branch every year is to
prune it. Other plants can for a time dispense with it, and yet bear
fruit: the vine _must_ have it. And so the one thing the branch that
de