^ The late Sir James Stephen in a lecture to young men once said that he could put his suggestions in one word — Aspire. That was very good advice. But what should the aspiration be ? ^
^ On the morning of January 7, 1900, Bishop Creighton,a few days before he died, seemed particularly well. His chaplain, Mr. Percival, was with him for a long while, and they spoke of various answers which had been given to the question, What is the greatest danger of the coming century ? The Bishop said, " I have no doubt what is the greatest danger — it is the absence of high aspirations." ^
•|j The first, and last, and closest trial question to any living creature is, " What do you like ? " Tell me what you like, and I'll tell you what you are. Go out into the street, and ask the first man or woman you meet, what their " taste " is ; and if they answer candidly, you know them, body and soul. "You, my friend in the rags, with the unsteady gait, what do you like ? " "A pipe, and a quartern of gin." I know you. "You, good woman, with the quick step and tidy bonnet, what do you like ? " " A swept hearth, and a clean tea-table ; and my husband opposite me, and a baby at my breast." Good, I know you also. " You, little girl with the golden hair and the soft eyes, what do you like?" "My canary, and a run among the wood hyacinths." " You, little boy with the dirty hands, and the low forehead, what do you like?" "A shy at the sparrows, and a game at pitch farthing." Good ; we know them aU now. What more need we ask ?3
3. It is only the thirsty whom Jesus Christ invites to come to
^ Lord Avebury, Peace and IIa2jpiness, 77.
' The Life and Letters of Maiidell Creic/hton, ii. 463.
» Euskiii, The Crown of Wild Olive ( Wo^rks, xviii. 434).
330 LIVING WATER
Him as the source from which they can draw spirit and life. Those who have eaten and drunk to the full must become thirsty before they can understand, and certainly before they can take to heart, what it means when a man who has trod this earth bears witness to a whole people, and lastly to all mankind: "I am the inexhaustible well from which all man's longing after life and spirit may be satisfied."
^ I know not any pleasure of sense more exquisite than a draught of cool, clear water, when you are thirsty ; but few things are more insipid than water when there is no thirst. It is thus that Christ and His salvation are very sweet to one, and very tasteless to another.^
0 Lord, the most Fair, the most tender,
My heart is adrift and alone; JMy heart is a-weary and thirsty,
Athirst for a joy unknown. From a child I followed it, chased it,
By wilderness, wold, and hill;
1 never have reached it or seen it,
Yet must I follow it stilL
In those olden years did I seek it,
In the sweet, fair things around; But the more I sought and I thirsted,
The less, 0 my Lord, I found. When nearest it seemed to my grasping.
It fled like a wandering thought; I never have known what it is. Lord,
Too well know I what it is not.
"It is I, it is I, the Eternal,
Who chose thee Mine own to be — Who chose thee before the ages,
Who chose thee eternally. I stood in the way before thee.
In the ways thou wouldest have gone; For this is the mark of My chosen.
That they shall be Mine alone."
1 W. Arnot, The Anch(yr of Iht. Sovl, 31.
ST. JOHN VII. 37 331
11.
Christ's View of Himself.
"If any man thirst, let him come unto me." Christ claims to satisfy man's deepest need. The claim is a tremendous one. Other teachers have counselled a course of action or a mode of life. This Teacher claims to be Himself the source of good and the fountain of life. Truly never man spake like this Man.
1. The people's thirst shall be quenched, if they will but come to Him : this is the first and obvious meaning of His words. That they had some thirst for spiritual blessing their very presence in Jerusalem proved ; for, however mingled may have been their desires, however worldly in many respects their thoughts of the Kingdom of God, yet they did desire God and God's Kingdom ; and if the religious hopes of the nation could have been obliter- ated, their one distinguishing characteristic would have been gone. But they are seeking to satisfy their souls in ways that do not, that cannot, succeed. God's true presence is lost in the very abundance and show of the paraphernalia and ceremony of worship, and the life of God is dried up in them by the endless elaboration of their minute and barren rules of living. The truth of their holy religion does little more for their actual satisfaction than the sweet, living water of Siloam did for the golden vessel that it filled ; and it does no more through them for others than the water poured from such vessel on to the altar, and wasted, as it streamed and trickled away. Let the people come to Him, and God Himself shall live in them.