But
it so happens that He has dealt with it in words of unusual fullness.
I need not recall the whole illustration. It is the parable of
the Vine. Did you ever think why Christ spoke that parable? He
did not merely throw it into space as a find illustration of general
truths. It was not simply a statement of the mystical union, and
the doctrine of an indwelling Christ. It was that; but it was
more. After He had said it, He did what was not an unusual thing
when He was teaching His greatest lessons--He turned to the disciples
and said He would tell them why He had spoken it. It was to tell
them
How to get joy.
"These things I have spoken unto you," He said, "that My Joy might
remain in you, and that your Joy might be full." It was a purposed
and deliberate communication of His
Secret of Happiness.
Go back over these verses, then, and you will find the Causes of
this Effect, the spring, and the only spring, out of which true
Happiness comes. I am not going to analyze them in detail. I ask
you to enter into the words for yourselves.
Remember, in the first place, that the Vine was the Eastern symbol
of Joy. It was its fruit that made glad the heart of man. Yet,
however innocent that gladness--for the expressed juice of the
grape was the common drink at every peasant's board--the gladness
was only a gross and passing thing.
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