the pliant branches stretch along the espaliers, and yet one life
pervades the whole, from the root, through the crooked stem, right
away to the last leaf at the top of the farthest branch, and reddens
and mellows every cluster, 'So,' says Christ, 'between Me and the
totality of them that hold by Me in faith there is one life, passing
ever from root through branches, and ever bearing fruit.'

Let me remind you that this great thought of the unity of life
between Jesus Christ and all that believe upon Him is the familiar
teaching of Scripture, and is set forth by other emblems besides that
of the vine, the queen of the vegetable world; for we have it in the
metaphor of the body and its members, where not only are the many
members declared to be parts of one body, but the name of the
collective body, made up of many members, is Christ. 'So also is'--
not as we might expect, 'the Church,' but--'Christ,' the whole
bearing the name of Him who is the Source of life to every part.
Personality remains, individuality remains: I am I, and He is He, and
thou art thou; but across the awful gulf of individual consciousness
which parts us from one another, Jesus Christ assumes the Divine
prerogative of passing and joining Himself to each of us, if we love
Him and trust Him, in a union so close, and with a communication of
life so real, that every other union which we know is but a faint and
far-off adumbration of it. A oneness of life from root to branch,
which is the sole cause of fruitfulness and growth, is taught us
here.

And then let me remind you that that living unity between Jesus
Christ and all who love Him is a oneness which necessarily results in
oneness of relation to God and men, in oneness of character, and in
oneness of destiny. In relation to God, He is the Son, and we in Him