"Herein is My Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples."
" I am the vine and ye are the branches, and My Father is the husbandman."

HE it is who prepares the winepress in which the fruit of the branches must be thrown and trodden underfoot; which by the Divine Alchemy of God is changed into the Wine of Christ.

The treader of the winepress, knowing nothing of the process of transmutation, would naturally feel all was lost and that nothing remained but a mass of ruined fruit. But the Great Alchemist, who sees the end from the beginning, knows that fruit if left upon the branches will fall to the ground rotten and useless.

Whosoever would drink the wine of life must yield the fruit of his endeavour to the Winepress of God; but once having tasted of that Wine, there would remain no feeling of loss, nor desire for the fruit ; for the essence of all fruit is contained therein.

The joy of a gathered blossom is but for a day. If that joy be renounced, by one who can abide in faith the autumn harvest, he can gather fruit for his sustenance, but he who is able still further to renounce, and yield the fruit to be trodden in the press of life, awaiting in patience the time of its maturity, shall drink the sacramental wine.

Verily he who drinks the Wine of Christ shall never thirst.

-oOo-