sires to abide in Christ and bring forth much fruit, and to be able to
ask whatsoever it will, must do, is to trust in and yield itself to this
Divine cleansing. What is it that the vinedresser cuts away with his
pruning-knife? Nothing but the wood that the branch has produced--true,
honest wood, with the true vine nature in it. This must be cut away. And
why? Because it draws away the strength and life of the vine, and
hinders the flow of the juice to the grape. The more it is cut down, the
less wood there is in the branch, the more all the sap can go to the
grape. The wood of the branch must decrease, that the fruit for the vine
may increase; in obedience to the law of all nature, that death is the
way to life, that gain comes through sacrifice, the rich and luxuriant
growth of wood must be cut off and cast away, that the life more
abundant may be seen in the cluster.

Even so, child of God, branch of the Heavenly Vine, there is in thee
that which appears perfectly innocent and legitimate, and which yet so
draws out thy interest and thy strength, that it must be pruned and
cleansed away. We saw what power in prayer men like Abraham and Moses
and Elijah had, and we know what fruit they bore. But we also know what
it cost them; how God had to separate them from their surroundings, and
ever again to draw them from any trust in themselves, to seek their life
in Him alone. It is only as our own will, and strength and effort and
pleasure, even where these appear perfectly natural and sinless, are cut
down, so that the whole energies of our being are free and open to
receive the sap of the Heavenly Vine, the Holy Spirit, that we shall
bear much fruit. It is in the surrender of what nature holds fast, it is
in the full and willing submission to God's holy pruning-knife, that we
shall come to what Christ chose and appointed us for--to bear fruit,
that whatsoever we ask the Father in Christ's name, He may give to us.

What the pruning-knife is, Christ tells us in the next verse. "Ye are
_clean through the word_ which I have spoken to you." As He says later,
"Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth." "The word of God
is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of
soul and spirit." What heart-searching words Christ had spoken to His
disciples on love and humility, on being the least, and, like Himself,
the servant of all, on denying self, and taking the cross, and losing
the life. Through His wor