When one of our kings came back from captivity, as old chroniclers
tell, there were fountains in Cheapside which flowed with wine. So
bounteous was the king, and so glad the people, that instead of water,
they made wine flow free to everybody. There is a way of making our life
so rich, so full, so blessed to our fellow-men, that the metaphor may be
applicable to us, and men may say, that our life flows with wine when
other men’s lives flow with water. Ye have known some such men. John
Howard’s life was not like our poor, common lives: he was so benevolent,
his sympathy with the race so self-denying, that the streams of his life
were like generous wine. You have known personally, it may be, some
eminent saint, one who lived very near to Jesus: when he talked, there
was an unction and a savor about his words, a solidity and a strength
about his utterances, which you could appreciate, though you could not
attain unto it. You have sometimes said, “I wish my words were as full,
as sweet, as mellow, and as unctuous as the words of such a one. O, I
wish my actions were just as rich, had as deep a color, and as pure a
taste, as the acts of some other to whom you point. All I can do seems
but little and empty when compared with his high attainments. O, that I
could do more! O, that I could send streams of pure gold into every
house, instead of my poor dross!” Well, Christian, this should stimulate
thee to keep thine heart full of rich things. Never, never neglect the
Word of God; that will make thy heart rich with precept, thy head rich
with understanding, and thy bowels rich with compassion; then, thy
conversation, when it flows through thy mouth, will be from thy soul,
and, like all that is within thee, rich, unctuous, and savory. Only let
thy heart be full of sweet, generous love, and the stream that flows
from thy lips will be sweet and generous. Above all, get Jesus to live
in thine heart, and then out of thee shall flow rivers of living water,
more exhilarating, purer, and more satiating than the water of the well
of Sychar, of which Jacob drank. Go forth, with Christian, to the great
mine of unsearchable riches, and cry unto the Holy Spirit to make thy
heart rich unto salvation. So shall thy life and conversation be a boon
to thy fellows; and when they see thee, thy visage shall shine, and thy
face shall be as the angel of God.
“He hath Said.”
The apostles, like their Master, were always very ready at quotations.
As inspired men they could have always used fresh words, yet they
preferred (and herein they are an example to us) to quote old words upon
which the seal of divine authority has been set aforetime–“He hath
said.” Let us do the same, for, though the words of ministers may be
sweet, the words of God are sweeter; and though original thoughts may
have the charm of novelty, yet the ancient words of God have the ring,
and the weight, and the value of old and precious coins, and they will
never be found wanting in the day when we require to use them. “He hath
said,” not only chases away doubts and fears, but it also yields
nourishment to all our graces. When the apostle would make us contented, he says, “Be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said ;”
and when he would make us bold and courageous, he puts it thus forcibly,
“ He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” So that
we may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what
man shall do unto me.” When the apostle Paul would nourish faith, he
does it by feeding us from Scripture with the examples of Abraham, of
Isaac, of Jacob, of Moses, of Gideon, of Barak, and of Jephthah. When
another apostle would calm us with a lesson of patience, he says, “Ye
have heard of the patience of Job;” or if it be our prayerfulness that
he wants to stir up, he says, “Elias was a man subject to like passions
as we are, and he prayed and prevailed.” “ He hath said ,” is refreshing
food for every grace, and a decisive death-blow for every sin. Here you
have nourishment for that which is good, and poison for that which is
evil. Search, then, the Scriptures, for so shall you grow healthy,
strong, and vigorous in the divine life.
But besides searching them by reading, and treasuring them by memory,
we should test them by experience, and so often as a promise is proven
to be true, we should make a mark against it, and note that we also can
say, as did one of old, “This is my comfort in my affliction; for Thy
word hath quickened me.” “Wait on the Lord,” said Isaiah, and then he
added, “Wait, I say , on the Lord,” as if his own experience led him to
echo the voice of God to his hearers. Test the promise; take God’s
bank-note to the counter, and mark if it be cashed. Grasp the lever
which he ordains to lift your trials, and try if it possesses real
power. Cast this divine tree into the bitter waters of your Marah, and
learn how it will sweeten them. Take this salt, and throw it into the
turbid waters, and witness if they be not made sweet, as were the waters
of old by the prophet Elisha. “Taste and see that the Lord is good …
for there is no want to them that fear Him.”