1 Bishop J. C. Ryle, The Upper Boom, 117.
336 LIVING WATER
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." By and by part of that seemed to slip its hold, and she would quietly be repeating, " that which I have committed to him." The last few weeks as the ripened old saint hovered about the borderland between this and the spirit world, her feebleness increased. Her loved ones would notice her lips moving, and thinking she might be needing some creature comfort, they would go over and bend down to listen for her request. And time and again they found the old saint repeating over to herself one word, over and over again, the same one word, " Him — Him — Him." She had lost the whole Bible but one word. But she had the whole Bible in that one word." ^
(4) " Let him come." He that thirsts and wants relief from Christ must actually come to Him. It is not enough to wish, and talk, and mean, and intend, and resolve, and hope. The thirsty have to come. To come in inquiry and by knowledge, to come in thought and by faith, to come in prayer and by trust, to come in the surrender of themselves to the Saviour. The sole condition is coming, and the only limit to the ministrations of the Saviour is our receptivity. Simple as this remedy for thirst appears, it is the only cure for man's spiritual disease, and the only bridge from earth to heaven. Kings and their subjects, preachers and hearers, masters and servants, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, all alike must drink of this water of life, and drink in the same way. For eighteen centuries men have laboured to find some other medicine for weary consciences; but they have laboured in vain. Thousands, after blistering their hands, and growing grey in hewing out " broken cisterns, which can hold no water," have been obliged to come back at last to the old Fountain, and have confessed in their latest moment that here, in Christ alone, is true peace.
(5) " And drink." Too many analyse, criticize, gather to the fountain and gaze on its waters ; they do not drink. They do not live by Christ. When we drink of love we live on it, it enters into all our thoughts, colours all our hopes, gives strength to all our purposes ; it is ourself. It must be even so with us and Christ. We must drink, must so draw His life and spirit into our souls that we shall be able to say, " For me to live is Christ." So shall the thirst of the heart be satisfied, but only so,
* S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Service, 77.
ST. JOHN VII. 37 337
^ How many seem to come to Jesus Christ, and yet do not drink ! How few Christians are like a tree planted by the rivers of water ! What would you have thought of the Jews, if, when Moses smote the rock, they had refused to drink ? or what would you have thought if they had only put the water to their lips ? Yet such is the way with most Christians. It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. The Spirit was given to Him without measure. The command is given to us to draw out of His fulness ; yet who obeys ? Not one in a thousand. A Christian in our day is like a man who has got a great reservoir brimful of water. He is at liberty to drink as much as he pleases, for he never can drink it dry ; but instead of drinking the full stream that flows from it, he dams it up, and is content to drink the few drops that trickle through. 0 that ye would draw out of His fulness, ye that have come to Christ ! Do not be misers of grace. There is far more than you will use in eternity. The same waters are now in Christ that refreshed St. Paul, that gave St. Peter his boldness, that gave St. John his affectionate tenderness. Why is your soul less richly supplied than theirs ? Because you will not drink : " If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." ^
2. Christ satisfies every thirst of the soul. Do we thirst for activity ? Jesus says, " Come unto me, and drink." Hear Jesus say, " He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." He opened the eyes of the blind, unstopped deaf ears, made the lame to walk, healed the sick, cleansed the leper, and raised the dead. We thirst for enjoyment^ and still Jesus says, " Come unto me, and drink." Christ gives joy in every gift, and promises it in every promise. There is joy in the eternal life He gives, joy in the rest He gives, and joy in the peace which He bequeaths. We thirst for jpower, and Christ continues to say, " Come unto me, and drink," for He makes His disciples now the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and ultimately He makes them kings and priests unto God. We thirst for society, and still Jesus says, " Come unto me, and drink." Our Saviour makes those who are strangers and foreigners and aliens fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God. We thirst for the love of others, and Christ says, " Come unto me,