A SHY BEARER | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 3, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 14.

A SHY BEARER.

As I PASSED his orchard on my way to town, I saw my friend Jenkins cutting down some large and healthy-looking trees. I stopped and said: “What is the matter with those trees? Has the codlin moth got into them? They don’t show any signs of disease or decay.”

“No; they grow vigorously, but they are shy bearers. Some years they blossom well, but the fruit does not mature, and I get only a quarter of a crop. I can not afford to give such a soil as this, and the best of culture, to trees that don’t pay. I must get rid of them, and put in their places those that will bear full crops.”

I admitted the wisdom of Jenkins’ course, and yet I could not help feeling sad as I saw those noble trees falling. What a pity they were so irregular and capricious in responding to the purpose for which they were planted and cultivated!

As I drove on, I thought of the shy bearers in the garden of the Lord. Our Saviour said, in His beautiful parable of the vine, “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” The emphasis is on the adjective. When we see a tree with only a few gnarly apples on it, we are tempted to think that it has been neglected. And when we see one loaded with large and luscious apples, we feel like saying, “That orchardist understands his business.” Much fruit glorifies the cultivator. And that is the kind of glory God seeks in our characters and lives. If we are only a little better than the worldlings around us; if we give only a small pittance of our means to the cause of Christ; if our Christian activity is occasional and spasmodic—the men who take knowledge of us will say, “There is probably something in religion, but not much; if it be all that it claims to be, these pious people would be giving a great deal more than they give, and doing a great deal more than they do.”

And how sadly the Lord must look down upon the shy bearers! No doubt He often feels like saying in regard to many of them, “Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?” And yet He spares us, tho we so sadly dishonor Him as the husbandman. O, if all His trees of righteousness responded to the richness of the soil in which He has planted them, and to the wise and loving culture that He bestows upon them, the world would speedily be attracted by the abundance and the excellence of Gospel fruitage!—Herald and Presbyter.