cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again;" — the very best thing he could do. But the angel awoke him, the second time, and preached the same sermon to him, " Arise and eat " ; and I pass on that little sermon to some of you who feel faint in heart just now. You do not know how it is, but you are very low-spirited ; here is a message for you, " Arise and eat." I will not prescribe you any physic, but I say, " Arise and eat." Go to the Bible and study that ; search out the promises, and feed upon them. Get away to Christ, and feed upon Him. " Arise and eat." Often, the best cure possible for a poor, dispirited, fainting soul is a good meal of gospel food. Your bright spirits will, in that way, come back to you ; you will not be afraid of Jezebel, and you will not say, " Let me die ; " but you will go, in the strength of that meat, for many a day according to the will of God. So I give this as God's message to any discouraged, dispirited ones whom I may now be addressing, " Arise and eat." ^
^ Hard-pressed, wayfaring men long for a drink of pure, cold water. David cries : " Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate " ; and often in the country I have known of dying men whose last wish was that they might be strong enough only once more to go to the well and have a drink of pure cold water. One of my earliest recollections is of the time my grandfather lay dying, and we were sent to a famous well, called Fulton's Well, to bring pure spring water; and if at times it had not been convenient to send a messenger, and they sought to put off the sick man with the water from the ordinary well at the farm, he could check it in a moment. And so there is a spiritual thirst that checks the water from Jacob's Well, the clear crystal water from the spring of life :
I came to Jesus, and I drank -,
Of that life-giving stream; S
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, And now I live in Him.^
5. And it has a great strength for service, for he who eats that which is good, and lets his soul delight itself in fatness, will be strong to run in the way of the Divine commands, or to perform any work that may be required of him. You recollect
^ C. H. Spnrgeon, The MetroipoUtati Tabernacle Pulpit, xlviii. p. 321. ^ J. Barr, in Christian JVorld Pulpit, Ixxvii. p. 341. 24
370 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
what Jonathan said, concerning that long day of fasting to which I have already alluded. Jonathan said, " Mine eyes have been enlightened because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely to-day of the spoil of their enemies which they found ? for had there not been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines ? " Quite right, Jonathan ; as the old proverb puts it, " Prayer and provender hinder no man's journey ; " and, for a soul to wait upon God to be fed, is to gather such strength thereby that it can do much more work than it could otherwise have done. Eat well, that you may work welL "Eat ye that which is good," that you may have the delight of being useful in the service of your Lord.'
May I reach That purest heaven, be to other souls The cup of strength in some great agony, Enkindle generous ardour, feed pure love, Beget the smiles that have no cruelty — Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, And in diffusion ever more intense. So shall I join the choir invisible Whose music is the gladness of the world.*
* C. H. Spurgeon. * George Eliot.
Abundant Pardon.
Literature.
Caird (J.), University Sermons, 27.
Churcli (R. W.), Village Sermons, i. 16.
Cox (S.), The Genesis of Evil, 61, 77.
Kingsley (C), National Sermons, 221.
M'Cheyne (R. M.), Basket of Fragments, 72.
Morison (J.), Sheaves of Ministry, 102.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xx. No. 1195 ;
xxxvi. No. 2181 ; xlviii. No. 2797. Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), xi. 930. Walker (J.), Memoir and Sermons, 267. Anglican Pulpit Library, ii. 160. Christian World Pulpit, xvii. 158 (Short) ; xx. 341 (Moody) ; xxxvii.
53 (Morison). Contemporary Pulpit, 1st Ser., vi. 313 (Glover). Keswick Week, 1899, 16. Preacher's Magazine, i. 316.
Abundant Pardon.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. — Iv. 7.
The Prophet had been commissioned to carry a message to the captive Jews who sat by the waters of Babylon and wept when they remembered Zion. The message was that, heinous as their iniquity had been, their iniquity was pardoned ; and that to the merciful and relenting heart of Jehovah it seemed as if they had already endured " double " for all their sins, i.e. twice as much as their sins had deserved. Hence he was about to appear for them, to appear among them — delivering them from their captivity, bringing them back with song and dance to their native land, making them the joy and praise of the whole earth. In this word, this message, God was drawing near to them ; finding them, that they might find Him. And the Prophet urges them to " seek Him while He may be found," to " call upon Him while He is near " ; that is to say, now that God is approaching them to deliver them, they are to fit themselves to receive, to recognise, and to follow Him, by putting away their unrighteous thoughts, by forsaking their wicked ways, and by turning in penitence, expectation, and faith toward Him who was turning toward them in truth and compassion.