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lowed to approach the well of life, my brethren, where is the man among us that shall venture to draw nigh to it?

I have spoken thus briefly of the person by whom and the persons to whom the promise of the text is addressed, that we might have more time left for considering the nature of it. To exemplify this we cannot do better than follow up the figure employed by our Lord, observing the peculiar force which it derives, from the peculiar character of the country and climate in which it was spoken. To an inhabitant of Palestine it must have conveyed many an import, and suggested many a reflection which will escape us, unless we view it closely, and so far as may be, with his eyes.

In the first place, a dweller in Judea, or the region round about, would have thought it no small thing that Jesus talked of giving this water. In a country in which no rain falls from April to September, which has but one river, and the greater part of whose brooks are dried up during the hot seasons, nothing,

it is quite clear, can be much more valuable than water. Accordingly, the wells and fountains which are formed for the supply or preservation of this indispensable requisite, are objects of jealous care. Sometimes they were closed over, and secured by a lock at others they were guarded by armed men, who exacted a certain payment from those who needed refreshment from them--frequently they were the occasion of contention and strife, and a draught of water could only be purchased by blood and life itself was to be risked, in order to obtain that without which life could not be supported.

Where water then was so scarce, so valuable, and so hard to be obtained, it must have appeared no slight thing when Christ talked of giving it freely, and that in such abundant quantities as to remove all dread of thirst for ever. And by this significant and forcible image does Jesus desire to impress upon us the value of the gift of the Gospel. Do we accustom ourselves to look upon it in this light?

Do we ever, or I would say, do we habitually reflect, that a blessing for which if it had been purchaseable at all, not all our possessions, nor every drop of our blood would have been too much to pay -do we reflect that this has been freely and voluntarily given to us? There are some who look upon the Gospel as a burden imposed upon them-there are others who consider it a privilege they must purchase. Are there many who persevere always-even when its demands are the most pressing, its requirements the most severe: when it asks, perchance, a right hand or right eye? Are there many who even then persevere in regarding it as a gift? A gift accompanied by conditions certainly: but conditions founded on eternal truth and justice, and full of mercy and love. Let me leave this to you, my brethren, as a subject for serious meditation.

We will turn to another particular. Christ says, that "the water that he shall give a man shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The

water" shall be in him." The site of

the fountain which the is the believer's heart.

Gospel provides
The supply of

upon external

its waters depends not occurrences. It is not like one of those torrents, familiar to the people of Palestine; which are formed by the tempest; whose course is full to overflowing while the waterfloods fall, but is dry and deserted when the rain descends no longer. The spring of this fountain is within. Even so is that Christian principle, which is the spring and fountain of all true religion. It does not depend upon external excitement, nor does it consist in external performances. It has none of that spirit which is zealous in washing the hands, and making clean the outside of the platter, and therewith rests content; but it first of all provides that there shall be a clean fountain within, to be itself the source of many a clear bright streamlet. For though pure and undefiled, religion has its origin in the heart, it does not rest there inactive. Sound principle is the seed, but it is a seed which bringeth

forth much fruit. The well of water is to be in the Christian, but at the same time it is to be a well springing up into everlasting life. This portion of the figure again is full of meaning, if examined carefully. It must be remembered that the country in which Christ is speaking, was full of deserts, tracts, of which a modern traveller1 informs us, "it is difficult to form a correct idea without having been in one. It is an endless plain of sand and stones, without roads or shelter, without any sort of produce for food. The few scattered trees and shrubs of thorns, that only appear when the rainy season leaves some moisture, barely serve to feed wild animals, and a few birds. When these trees become old, and lose their vegetation, the sun which constantly beams upon them, burns and reduces them to ashes. The other smaller plants, have no sooner risen out of the earth, than they are dried up, and all take the colour of straw." Now these are all the results of drought, the consequences of a lack of

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