influence the springs of conduct; and to make a man's life better,
the true way is to make the man better. First of all be, and then do;
first of all receive, and then give forth; first of all draw near to
Christ, and then there will be fruit to His praise. That is the
Christian way of mending men, not tinkering at this, that, and the
other individual excellence, but grasping the secret of total
excellence in communion with Him.

Our Lord is here not merely laying down a law, but giving a promise,
and putting his veracity into pawn for the fulfilment of it. 'If a
man will keep near Me,' He says, 'he shall bear fruit.'

Notice that little word which now appears for the first time. 'He
shall bear _much_ fruit.' We are not to be content with a little
fruit; a poor shrivelled bunch of grapes that are more like marbles
than grapes, here and there, upon the half-nourished stem. The
abiding in Him will produce a character rich in manifold graces. 'A
little fruit' is not contemplated by Christ at all. God forbid that I
should say that there is no possibility of union with Christ and a
little fruit. Little union will have little fruit; but I would have
you notice that the only two alternatives which come into Christ's
view here are, on the one hand, 'no fruit,' and on the other hand,
'much fruit.' And I would ask why it is that the average Christian
man of this generation bears only a berry or two here and there, like
such as are left upon the vines after the vintage, when the promise
is that if he will abide in Christ, he will bear much fruit?

This verse, setting forth the fruitfulness of union with Jesus, ends
with the brief, solemn statement of the converse--the barrenness of
separation--'Apart from Me' (not merely 'without,' as the Authorised