ST. JOHN IV. 13, 14 233
Nothing else will. To seek for satisfaction elsewhere is like sailors who in their desperation, when the water-tanks are empty, slake their thirst with the treacherous blue that washes cruelly along the battered sides of their ship. A moment's alleviation is followed by the recurrence, in tenfold intensity, of the pangs of thirst, and by madness, and death. Do not drink the salt water that flashes and rolls by your side when you can have recourse to the fountain of life that is with God.^
If There is a Persian legend of the well of Chidher, the fountain of eternal youth, which men are ever seeking and never find
Thee have thousands sought in vain
Over land and barren main,
Chidher's well, — of which men say, That thou makest young again;
Fountain of eternal youth, Washing free from every stain.
To thy waves the aged moons
Aye betake them, when they wane;
And the suns their golden light, While they bathe in thee, retain.
From that fountain drops are flung, Mingling with the vernal rain.
And the old earth clothes itself In its young attire again.
Thitherward the freckled trout Up the water-co arses strain,
And the timid wild gazelles Seek it through the desert plain.
Great Iskander, mighty lord. Sought that fountain, but in vain;
Through the land of darkness went In its quest with fruitless pain,
When by wealth of conquered worlds Did his thirst unslaked remain.
* A. Maclaren,
234 NO MORE THIRST
Many more with parched lip Must lie down and dizzy brain,
And of that, a fountain sealed Unto them, in death complain.
If its springs to thee are known, Weary wanderer, tell me plain.
From beneath the throne of God It must well, a lucid vein ;
To its sources lead me. Lord, That I do not thirst again.
And my lips not any more
Shall the earth's dark waters stain.^
III.
The Eteiinal Spring.
1. What, then, is this " living water " — this thirst-quenching, soul-satisfying gift promised by Christ ? The answer may be put in various ways, which really all come to one. It is Himself, the unspeakable Gift, His own greatest gift ; or it is the Spirit " which they that believe on him should receive," and whereby He comes and dwells in men's hearts ; or it is the resulting life, kindred with the life bestowed, a consequence of the indwelling Christ and the present Spirit. And so the promise is that they who believe on Him and rest upon His love shall receive into their spirits a new life-principle which shall rise in their hearts like a fountain, " springing up unto everlasting life."
2. As regards this wonderful water, there are four points to be specially noted,
(1) It^is a gift,ofjGod. — "The water that I shall give him," says Christ. There is no suggestion as to diggijog deep with much learning into the bowels of mysterious truth to find the water for ourselves ; this priceless draught is freely handed out to us by our Redeemer, without our bringing either bucket or line. There is no hint in the text that we are tiupujcchaae the life-giving water ; it is presented to us without money and without price. There ie 1 E. C. Trench, Chidher's Well,
ST. JOHN IV. 13, 14 235
no allusion to a certain measure of fitness to qualify us for the draught, it is purely a gift to be received by us here and now. Our Lord told the woman that had she known the gift of God she would have asked and He would have given. Sinner as she was, she had only to ask and have. There is no other way of obtaining eternal life but as the free gift of sovereign grace.
^ The divine gift of eternal life is not in us by nature. It $ cannot be produced in us by culture, or infused into us by \ ceremonies, or propagated in us by natural descent; it must \ come as a boon of infinite charity from heaven, unpurchased,- undeserved. Wisdom cannot impart it, power cannot fashion it, money cannot buy it, merit cannot procure it, grace alone can give it. If men desire wages they may earn them beneath the mastership of sin, for " the wages of sin is death." On the side of God all is of grace, for " the gift of God is eternal life." Whoever, then, is to be saved must be saved by the boundless charity of God — in other words, by the free gift of the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.^
(2) It is a fountain within. — " It shall be in him," it is some- thing thaF^we may carry about with us in our hearts, inseparable from our being, free from all possibility of being filched away by violence, rent from us by sorrows, or even parted from us by death. What a man has outside of him he only seems to have. Our real possessions are those which have passed into the substance of our souls. All else we shall leave behind. The only good is inward good ; and this water of life slakes our thirst because it flows into the deepest place of our being, and abides there for ever.
/ ^ I stood a little while ago in the fine old ruin of Middleham . Castle. I passed beyond the outer shell, and beyond the inner •; defences into the keep, and there in the innermost sanctum of the \ venerable pile was the old well. The castle was independent of \ outside supplies. If it were besieged it had resources of water I at its own heart. The changing seasons made no difference to \ the gracious supply. That is the purpose of our Master in | placing the " well " within us. He wants to make us independent > of external circumstances. Whatever be the season that reigns without. He wants fulness and vitality to reign within. So the Master's gift is the gift of a well, " springing up," leaping up, " unto eternal life." We are renewed " by his Spirit in the inner man." ^