Musings on John 15:1-17 Consider this parable which the blessed Lord hath set before us concerning two sorts of professors in the visible Church. The one bears living fruit; the other remains utterly barren, withered, and dead. One is known to his fellow men as a believer—he speaks the language of Canaan and attends the house of God—yet he is known to the omniscient God as a dead, unregenerate religionist. Just as only a living mother brings forth living children, even so only a soul made alive in Christ naturally bears the fruit of the Spirit; but a dead professor bears no fruit whatsoever, for a corpse can never bring forth life. Life begets life, while death begets only death. All true believers are fruit-bearing branches grafted in, drawing their whole life from Christ, the living Vine. If a branch is cut off, the Vine remains alive and glorious; but if a branch is severed from the Vine, it dies, withers, and is fit only for the fire. How simple, how plain are these precious...