The True Vine
1. AFTER these things Iesus spake saying unto them:
I am the true vine, and my Parent is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit is taken away: and every branch that beareth fruit, is purged that it may bring forth more fruit.
2. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the tree, ye are the branches: Whoso abide in me and I in them, the same bring forth much fruit; for without me ye do nothing.
3. If any abide not in me, they are cast forth [as] useless branches, and they wither away; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it will be done unto you.
4. Verily, I am the true Bread (which cometh down out of Heaven) even the Substance of God (which is one with the Life of God). And, as many grains are in one bread, so are ye, who believe, and do the will of my Parent, one in me. Not [as] your ancestors did eat manna and are dead; but they who eat this Bread shall live for ever.
5. As the wheat is separated from the chaff, so must ye be separated from the falsities (of the world); yet must ye not go out of the world, but live separate in the world, for the life (of the world).
6. Verily, verily, the wheat is parched by fire, so must ye my disciples pass through tribulations. But rejoice ye: for having suffered with me [as] one body ye shall reign with me in one body, and give life to the world.
7. Herein is my Parent glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the All-Parent hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Parent’s commandments, and abide in the Spirit (of Love).
8. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
9. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Parent I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the All-Parent in my Name, ye may receive.
10. These things I command you, that ye love one another and all the creatures of God. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world’ therefore the world hateth you.
11. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my Name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
12. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Parent also. If I had not done among them the works (which none other man did) they had not had sin: but now have they, have seen and hated both me and my Parent. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
13. But when the Comforter is come (Whom I will send unto you from the All Parent even the Spirit of Truth), which proceedeth from the Father and the Mother the same shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
LECTION 73. 1-6. -"I am the true Vine, ye are the branches" -in unity with the stem by the continual possession of the One Life, not by mere external unity, valuable as this is, and certainly not by a dead uniformity of opinion in all things. "Tot homines tut sententice."