You are probably aware that some persons have denied the inspiration of the Book of Esther because the name of God does not occur in it. They might with equal justice deny the inspiration of a great number of chapters in the Bible, and of a far greater number of verses. Although the name of God does not occur in the Book of Esther, the Lord himself is there most conspicuously in every incident which it relates. I have seen portraits bearing the names of persons for whom they were intended, and they certainly needed them, but we have all seen others which required no name, because they were such striking likenesses that the moment you looked upon them you knew them. In the Book of Esther, as much as in any other part of the word of God, and I had almost committed myself by saying-more than anywhere else, the hand of Providence is manifestly to be seen.

To condense the whole of the story of the Book of Esther into one sermon would be impossible, and therefore I must rely upon your previous acquaintance with it; I must also ask your patience if there should be more of history in the sermon than is usual with me. All Scripture is given by inspiration, and is profitable, whether it be history or doctrine. God never meant the Book of Esther to lie dumb, and whatever it seemed good to him to teach us by it, it ought to be our earnest endeavour to learn.

The Lord intended by the narrative of Esther’s history to set before us a wonderful instance of his providence, that when we had viewed it with interest and pleasure, we might praise his name, and then go on to acquire the habit of observing his hand in other histories, and especially in our own lives. Well does Flavel say, that he who observes providence will never be long without a providence to observe. The man who can walk through the world and see no God, is said upon inspired authority to be a fool; but the wise man’s eyes are in his head, he sees with an inner sight, and discovers God everywhere at work. It is his joy to perceive that the Lord is working according to his will in heaven, and earth, and in all deep places.

It has pleased God at different times in history to startle the heathen world into a conviction of his presence. He had a chosen people, to whom he committed the true light, and to these he revealed himself continually: the rest of the world was left in darkness, but every now and then the divine glory flamed through the gloom, as the lightning pierces the blackness of tempest. Some by that sudden light were led to seek after God, and found him; others were rendered uneasy, and without excuse, though they continued in their blind idolatry. The wonderful destruction of Pharaoh and his armies at the Red Sea was a burst of light, which startled the midnight of the world by giving proof to mankind that the Lord lived, and could accomplish his purposes by suspending the laws of nature and working miracles. The marvellous drama enacted at Shushan, the capital of Persia, was intended to be another manifestation of the being and glory of God, working not as formerly, by a miracle, but in the usual methods of his providence, and yet accomplishing all his designs. It has been well said that the Book of Esther is a record of wonders without a miracle, and therefore, though equally revealing the glory of the Lord, it sets it forth in another fashion from that which is displayed in the overthrow of Pharaoh by miraculous power.

Let us come now to the story. There were two races, one of which God had blessed and promised to preserve, and another of which he had said that he would utterly put out the remembrance of it from under heaven. Israel was to be blessed and made a blessing, but of Amalek the Lord had sworn that “The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” These two peoples were therefore in deadly hostility, like the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, between whom the Lord himself has put an enmity. Many years had rolled away; the chosen people were in great distress, and at this far off time there still existed upon the face of the earth some relics of the race of Amalek; among them was one descended of the royal line of Agag, whose name was Haman, and he was in supreme power at the court of Ahasuerus, the Persian monarch. Now it was God’s intent that a last conflict should take place between Israel and Amalek: the conflict which began with Joshua in the desert was to be finished by Mordecai in the king’s palace. This last struggle began with great disadvantage to God’s people. Haman was prime minister of the far-extending empire of Persia, the favourite of a despotic monarch, who was pliant to his will. Mordecai, a Jew in the employment of the king, sat in the king’s gate; and when he saw proud Haman go to and fro, he refused to pay to him the homage which others rendered obsequiously. He would not bow his head or bend his knee to him, and this galled Haman exceedingly. It came into his mind that this Mordecai was of the seed of the Jews, and with the remembrance came the high ambition to avenge the quarrel of his race. He thought it scorn to touch one man, and resolved that in himself he would incarnate all the hate of generations, and at one blow sweep the accursed Jews, as he thought them, from off the face of the earth. He went in to the king, with whom his word was power, and told him that there was a singular people scattered up and down the Persian empire, different from all others, and opposed to the king’s laws, and that it was not for the king’s profit to suffer them. He asked that they might all be destroyed, and he would pay into the king’s treasury an enormous sum of money to compensate for any loss of revenue by their destruction. He intended that the spoil which would be taken from the Jews should tempt their neighbours to kill them, and that the part allotted to himself should repay the amount which he advanced, thus he would make the Jews pay for their own murder. He had no sooner asked for this horrible grant than the monarch conceded it; taking his signet ring from off his finger, he bade him do with the Jews as seemed good to him. Thus the chosen seed are in the hands of the Agagite, who thirsts to annihilate them. Only one thing stands in the way, the Lord has said, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.” We shall see what happens, and learn from it,

First, we shall learn from the narrative that God places his agents in fitting places for doing his work. The Lord was not taken by surprise by this plot of Haman; he had foreseen it and forestalled it. It was needful, in order to match this cunning, malicious design of Haman, that some one of Jewish race should possess great influence with the king. How was this to be effected? Should a Jewess become Queen of Persia, the power she would possess would be useful in counteracting the enemy’s design. This had been all arranged years before Haman had concocted in his wicked heart the scheme of murdering the Jews. Esther, whose sweet name signifies myrtle, had been elevated to the position of Queen of Persia by a singular course of events. It happened that Ahasuerus, at a certain drinking bout, was so far gone with wine as to forget all the proprieties of eastern life, and send for his queen, Vashti, to exhibit herself to the people and the princes. No one dreamed in those days of disobeying the tyrant’s word, and therefore all stood aghast when Vashti, evidently a woman of right royal spirit, refused to degrade herself by being made a spectacle before that ribald rout of drinking princes, and refused to come. For her courage Vashti was divorced, and a new queen was sought for. We cannot commend Mordecai for putting his adopted daughter in competition for the monarch’s choice; it was contrary to the law of God, and dangerous to her soul in the highest degree. It would have been better for Esther to have been the wife of the poorest man of the house of Israel than to have gone into the den of the Persian despot. The Scripture does not excuse, much less commend, the wrong doing of Esther and Mordecai in thus acting, but simply tells us how divine wisdom brought good out of evil, even as the chemist distils healing drugs from poisonous plants. The high position of Esther, though gained contrary to the wisest of laws, was overruled for the best interests of her people. Esther in the king’s house was the means of defeating the malicious adversary. But Esther alone would not suffice; she is shut up in the harem, surrounded by her chamberlains and her maids of honour, but quite secluded from the outside world. A watchman is needed outside the palace to guard the people of the Lord, and to urge Esther to action when help is wanted. Mordecai, her cousin and foster-father obtained an office which placed him at the palace gate. Where could he be better posted? He is where much of the royal business will come under his eye, and he is both quick, courageous, and unflinching: never had Israel a better sentinel than Mordecai, the son of Kish, a Benjamite-a very different man from that other son of Kish, who had suffered Amalek to escape in former times. His relationship to the queen allowed him to communicate with her through Hatach, her chamberlain, and, when Haman’s evil decree was published, it was not long before intelligence of it reached her ear, and she felt the danger to which Mordecai and all her people were exposed. By singular providences did the Lord place those two most efficient instruments in their places. Mordecai would have been of little use without Esther, and Esther could have rendered no aid had it not been for Mordecai. Meanwhile, there is a conspiracy hatched against the king, which Mordecai discovers, and communicates to the highest authority, and so puts the king under obligation to him, which was a needful part of the Lord’s plan.

Now, brethren, whatever mischief may be brewing against the cause of God and truth, and I dare say there is very much going on at this moment, for neither the devil, nor the Jesuits, nor the atheists are long quiet, this we are sure of, the Lord knows all about it, and he has his Esther and his Mordecai ready at their posts to frustrate their designs. The Lord has his men well placed, and his ambushes hidden in their coverts, to surprise his foes. We need never be afraid but what the Lord has forestalled his enemies, and provided against their mischief.

Every child of God is where God has placed him for some purpose, and the practical use of this first point is to lead you to inquire for what practical purpose has God placed each one of you where you now are? You have been wishing for another position where you could do something for Jesus: do not wish anything of the kind, but serve him where you are. If you are sitting at the King’s gate there is something for you to do there, and if you were on the queen’s throne, there would be something for you to do there; do not ask either to be gatekeeper or queen, but whichever you are, serve God therein. Brother, are you rich? God has made you a steward, take care that you are a good steward. Brother, are you poor? God has thrown you into a position where you will be the better able to give a word of sympathy to poor saints. Are you doing your allotted work? Do you live in a godly family? God has a motive for placing you in so happy a position. Are you in an ungodly house? You are a lamp hung up in a dark place; mind you shine there. Esther did well, because she acted as an Esther should, and Mordecai did well, because he acted as a Mordecai should. I like to think, as I look over you all,-God has put each one of them in the right place, even as a good captain well arranges the different parts of his army, and though we do not know his plan of battle, it will be seen during the conflict that he has placed each soldier where he should be. Our wisdom is not to desire another place, nor to judge those who are in another position, but each one being redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus, should consecrate himself fully to the Lord, and say, “Lord, what would thou have me to do, for here I am, and by thy grace I am ready to do it.” Forget not then the fact that God in his providence places his servants in positions where he can make use of them.

Secondly, the Lord not only arranges his servants, but he restrains his enemies. I would call your attention particularly to the fact that Haman, having gained a decree for the destruction of all the Jews upon a certain day, was very anxious to have his cruel work done thoroughly, and therefore, being very superstitious and believing in astrology, he bade his magicians cast lots that he might find a lucky day for his great undertaking. The lots were cast for the various months, but not a single fortunate day could be found till hard by the close of the year, and then the chosen day was the thirteenth of the twelfth month. On that day the magicians told their dupe that the heavens would be propitious, and the star of Haman would be in the ascendant. Truly the lot was cast into the lap, but the disposal of it was of the Lord. See ye not that there were eleven clear months left before the Jews would be put to death, and that would give Mordecai and Esther time to turn round, and if anything could be done to reverse the cruel decree they had space to do it in. Suppose that the lot had fallen on the second or third month, the swift dromedaries and camels and messengers would scarcely have been able to reach the extremity of the Persian dominions, certainly a second set of messengers to counteract the decree could not have done so, and, humanly speaking, the Jews must have been destroyed; but oh, in that secret council chamber where sit the sorcerers and the man who asks counsel at the hands of the infernal powers, the Lord himself is present, frustrating the tokens of the liars and making diviners mad. Vain were their enchantments and the multitude of their sorceries; the astrologers, the star-gazers, and the monthly prognosticators were all fools together, and led the superstitious Haman to destruction. “Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, nor divination against Israel.” Trust ye in the Lord ye righteous, and in patience possess your souls. Leave your adversaries in the hands of God, for he can make them fall into the snare which they have privily laid for you.

Notice attentively that Haman selected a mode of destroying the Jews which was wonderfully overruled for their preservation. They were to be slain by any of the people among whom they lived who chose to do so, and their plunder was to reward their slayers. Now, this was a very cunning device, for greed would naturally incite the baser sort of men to murder the thrifty Jews, and no doubt there were debtors who would also be glad to see their creditors disposed of: but see the loophole for escape which this afforded! If the decree had enacted that the Jews should be slain by the soldiery of the Persian empire it must have been done, and it is not easy to see how they could have escaped, but, the matter being left in private hands, the subsequent decree that they might defend themselves, was a sufficient counteraction of the first edict. Thus the Lord arranged that the wisdom of Haman should turn out to be folly after all.

In another point, also, we mark the restraining hand of God: namely, that Mordecai, though he had provoked Haman to the utmost, was not put to death at once. Haman “refrained himself.” Why did he do so? Proud men are usually in a mighty tiff if they consider themselves insulted, and are ready at once to take revenge; but Haman “refrained himself; until that day in which his anger burned furiously, and he set up the gallows, he smothered his passion. I marvel at this; it shows how God makes the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder he doth restrain. Mordecai must not die a violent death by Haman’s hand. The enemies of the church of God, and of his people, can never do more than the Lord permits; they cannot go a hair’s breadth beyond the divine license, and when they are permitted to do their worst there is always some weak point about all that they do, some extreme folly which renders their fury vain. The wicked carry about them the weapons of their own destruction, and when they rage most against the Most High, the Lord of all brings out of it good for his people and glory to himself. Judge not providence in little pieces, it is a grand mosaic, and must be seen as a whole. Say not of any one hour “This is dark,”-it may be so, but that darkness will minister to the light, even as the ebon gloom of midnight makes the stars appear the more effulgent. Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength. His wisdom will undermine the mines of cunning, his skill will overtop the climbings of craft; “he taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.”

Next we will notice that God in his providence tries his people. You must not suppose that those who are God’s servants will be screened from trial; that is no part of the design of providence. “If ye be without chastisement,” says the apostle, “then are ye bastards and not sons.” God’s intent is to educate his people by affliction, and we must not therefore dream that an event is not providential because it is grievous, nay, ye may count it to be all the more so, for “the Lord trieth the righteous.” Observe that God tried Mordecai; he was a quiet old man, I have no doubt, and it must have been a daily trial to him to stand erect, or to sit in his place when that proud peer of the realm went strutting by. His fellow servants told him that the King has commanded all men to pay homage to Haman, but he held his own, not, however, without knowing what it might cost him to be so sternly independent. Haman was an Amalekite, and the Jew would not bow before him. But what a trouble it must have been to the heart of Mordecai, when he saw the proclamation that all the Jews must die: the good man must have bitterly lamented his unhappy fate in being the innocent cause of the destruction of his nation. “Perhaps,” he thought within himself, “I have been too obstinate. Woe is me; my whole house, and my whole people are to be slain because of what I have done.” He put on sackcloth and cast ashes on his head, and was full of sorrow, a sorrow which we can hardly realise; for even if you know you have done right, yet if you bring down trouble, and especially destruction, upon the heads of others it cuts you to the quick. You could bear martyrdom for yourself, but it is sad to see others suffer through your firmness.

Esther also had to be tried. Amid the glitter of the Persian court she might have grown forgetful of her God, but the sad news comes to her, “Your cousin and your nation are to be destroyed.” Sorrow and dread filled her heart. There was no hope for her people, unless she would go in unto the king-that despot from whom one angry look would be death; she must risk all, and go unbidden into his presence, and plead for her nation. Do you wonder that she trembled? Do you marvel that she asked the prayers of the faithful? Are you surprised to see both herself and her maids of honour fasting and lamenting before God? Do not think, my prosperous friend, that the Lord has given you a high place that you may escape the trials which belong to all his people: yours is no position of ease, but one of the hottest parts of the battle. Neither the lowest and most quiet position, nor the most public and exposed condition will enable you to escape the “much tribulation” through which the church militant must fight its way to glory. Why should we wish it? Should not the gold be tested in the crucible? Should not the strong pillar sustain great weights? When the Menai bridge was first flung across the straits the engineer did not stipulate that his tube should never be tried with great weights; on the contrary, I can imagine his saying, “Bring up your heaviest trains and load the bridge as much as ever you will, for it will bear every strain.” The Lord trieth the righteous because he has made them of metal which will endure the test, and he knows that by the sustaining power of his Holy Spirit they will be held up and made more than conquerors; therefore is it a part of the operation of providence to try the saints. Let that comfort those of you who are in trouble at this time.

But we must pass on to note, fourthly, that the Lord’s wisdom is seen in arranging the smallest events so as to produce great results. We frequently hear persons say of a pleasant or a great event, “What a providence!” while they are silent as to anything which appears less important, or has an unpleasant savour. But, my brethren, the place of the gorse upon the heath is as fixed as the station of a king, and the dust which is raised by a chariot-wheel is as surely steered by providence as the planet in its orbit. There is as much providence in the creeping of an aphis upon a rose leaf as in the marching of an army to ravage a continent. Everything, the most minute as well as the most magnificent, is ordered by the Lord who has prepared his throne in the heavens, whose kingdom ruleth over all. The history before us furnishes proof of this.

We have reached the point where Esther is to go in unto the king and plead for her people. Strengthened by prayer, but doubtless trembling still, Esther entered the inner court, and the king’s affection led him instantly to stretch out the golden sceptre. Being told to ask what she pleases, she invites the king to come to a banquet, and bring Haman with him. He comes, and for the second time invites her to ask what she wills to the half of his kingdom. Why, when the king was in so kind a spirit, did not. Esther speak? He was charmed with her beauty, and his royal word was given to deny her nothing, why not speak out? But no, she merely asks that he and Haman will come to another banquet of wine to-morrow. O, daughter of Abraham, what an opportunity hast thou lost! Wherefore didst thou not plead for thy people? Their very existence hangs upon thy entreaty, and the king has said, “What wilt thou?” and yet thou art backward! Was it timidity? It is possible. Did she think that Haman stood too high in the king’s favour for her to prevail? It would be hard to say. Some of us are very unaccountable, but on that woman’s unaccountable silence far more was hanging than appears at first sight. Doubtless she longed to bring out her secret, but the words came not. God was in it; it was not the right time to speak, and therefore she was led to put off her disclosure. I dare say she regretted it, and wondered when she should be able to come to the point, but the Lord knew best. After that banquet Haman went out joyfully at the palace gate, but being mortified beyond measure by Mordecai’s unbending posture, he called for his wife and his friends, and told them that his riches and honours availed him nothing so long as Mordecai, the Jew, sat in the king’s gate. They might have told him, “You will destroy Mordecai and all his people in a few months, and the man is already fretting himself over the decree; let him live, and be you content to watch his miseries and gloat over his despair!” But no, they counsel speedy revenge. Let Mordecai be hanged on a gibbet on the top of the house, and let the gallows be set up at once, and let Haman early in the morning ask for the Jew’s life, and let his insolence be punished. Go, call the workmen, and let the gallows be set up at a great height that very night. It seemed a small matter that Haman should be so enraged just at that hour, but it was a very important item in the whole transaction, for had he not been so hasty he would not have gone so early in the morning to the palace, and would not have been at hand when the king said, “Who is in the court?”

But what has happened? Why, that very night, when Haman was devising to hang up Mordecai, the king could not sleep. What caused the monarch’s restlessness? Why happened it on that night of all others? Ahasuerus is master of one hundred and twenty and seven provinces, but not master of ten minutes’ sleep. What shall he do? Shall he call for soothing instruments of music, or beguile the hours with a tale that is told, or with a merry ballad of the minstrel? No, he calls for a book. Who would have thought that this luxurious, prince must listen to a reader at dead of night. “Bring a book!” What book? A volume perfumed with roses, musical with songs, sweet as the notes of the nightingale? “No, bring the chronicles of the empire.” Dull reading, that! But there are one hundred and twenty seven provinces,-which volume shall the page bring from the recorder’s shelves? He chose the record of Shushan the royal city. That is the centre of the empire, and its record is lengthy, in which section shall the reader make a beginning? He may begin where he pleases, but ere he closes the book the story of the discovery of a conspiracy by Mordecai has been read in the king’s hearing. Was not this a singular accident? Singular if you like, but no accident. Out of ten thousand other records the reader pitches upon that one of all others. The Jews tell us that he began at another place, but that the book closed and fell open at the chapter upon Mordecai. Be that as it may, this is certain, that the Lord knew where the record was, and guided the reader to the right page. Speaking after the manner of men, there were a million chances against one that the king of Persia should, in the dead of the night, be reading the chronicle of his own kingdom, and that he should light upon this particular part of it. But that was not all, the king is interested, he had desired to go to sleep, but that wish is gone, and he is in haste to act. He says, “This man Mordecai has done me good service, has he been rewarded?” “No.” Then cries the impulsive monarch, “He shall be rewarded at once. Who is in the court?” It was the most unlikely thing in the world for the luxurious Ahasuerus to be in haste to do justice, for he had done injustice thousands of times without remorse, and chiefly on that day when he wantonly signed the death warrant of that very Mordecai and his people. For once, the king is intent on being just, and at the door stands Haman,-but you know the rest of the story, and how he had to lead Mordecai in state through the streets. It seems a very small matter whether you or I shall sleep to-night or toss restlessly on our beds, but God will be in our rest or in our wakefulness; we know not what his purpose may be, but his hand will be in it, neither doth any man sleep or wake but according to the decree of the Lord.

Observe well how this matter prepared the way for the queen at the next banquet; for when she unfolded her sorrow and told of the threatened destruction of the Jews, and pointed to that wicked Haman, the king must have been the more interested and ready to grant her request, from the fact that the man who had saved his life was a Jew, and that he had already awarded the highest honours to a man in every way fitted to supersede his worthless favourite. All was well, the plotter was unmasked, the gibbet ready, and he who ordered it was made to try his own arrangements.

Our next remark is the Lord in his providence calls his own servants to be active. This business was done, and well done, by divine providence, but those concerned had to pray about it. Mordecai and all the Jews outside in Shushan fasted, and cried unto the Lord. Unbelievers inquire, “What difference could prayer make?” My brethren, prayer is an essential part of the providence of God. so essential, that you will always find that when God delivers his people, his people have been praying for that deliverance. They tell us that prayer does not affect the Most High, and cannot alter his purposes. We never thought it did; but prayer is a part of the purpose and plan, and a must effective wheel in the machinery of providence. The Lord sets his people praying, and then he blesses them. Moreover, Mordecai was quite sure the Lord would deliver his people, and he expressed that confidence, but he did not therefore sit still: he stirred up Esther, and when she seemed a little slack, he put it very strongly, “If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then enlargement and deliverance will arise from another place, but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed.” Nerved by this message, Esther braced herself to the effort. She did not sit still and say, “The Lord will arrange this business, there is nothing for me to do,” but she both pleaded with God, and ventured her life and her all for her people’s sake, and then acted very wisely and discreetly in her interviews with the king. So, my brethren, we rest confidently in providence, but we are not idle We believe that God has an elect people, and therefore do we preach in the hope that we may be the means, in the hands of his Spirit, of bringing this elect people to Christ. We believe that God has appointed for his people both holiness here and heaven hereafter; therefore do we strive against sin, and press forward to the rest which remaineth for the people of God. Faith in God’s providence, instead of repressing our energies, excites us to diligence. We labour as if all depended upon us, and then fall back upon the Lord with the calm faith which knows that all depends upon him.

Now must we close our historical review with the remark that in the end the Lord achieves the total defeat of his foes and the safety of his people. Never was a man so utterly defeated as Haman, never was a project so altogether turned aside. He was taken in his own trap, and he and his sons were hanged up on the gibbet set up for Mordecai. As for the Jews, they were in this special danger, that they were to be destroyed on a certain day, and though Esther pleaded with the king for their lives, he was not able to alter his decree, though willing to do so, for it was a rule of the constitution that the law of the Medes and Persians altered not. The king might determine what he pleased, but when he had once decreed it he could not change it, the people feeling it better to submit to the worst established law than to be left utterly to every capricious whim of their master. Now, what was to be done? The decree was given that the Jews might be slain, and it could not be reversed. Here was the door of escape,-another decree was issued giving the Jews permission to defend themselves, and take the property of any who dared to attack them; thus one decree effectually neutralized the other. With great haste this mandate was sent all over the kingdom, and on the appointed day the Jews stood up for themselves and slew their foes. According to their tradition nobody attempted to attack them except the Amalekites, and consequently only Amalekites were slain, and the race of Amalek was on that day swept from off the face of the earth. “God thus gave to the Jews a high position in the empire and we are told that many became Jews, or were proselytes to the God of Abraham, because they saw what God had done. As I commenced by saying that God sometimes darted flashes of light through the thick darkness, you will now see what a flash this must have been. All the people were perplexed when they found that the Hebrews might be put to death, but they must have been far more astonished when the decree came that they might defend themselves. All the world enquired “Why is this?” and the answer was “The living God whom the Jews worship, has displayed his wisdom and rescued his people.” All nations were compelled to feel that there was a God in Israel, and thus the divine purpose was fully accomplished, his people were secured, and his name was glorified to the world’s end.

From the whole we learn the following lessons.

First, it is clear that the divine will is accomplished, and yet men are perfectly free agents. Haman acted according to his own will, Ahasuerus did whatever he pleased, Mordecai behaved as his heart moved him, and so did Esther. We see no interference with them, no force or coercion; hence the entire sin and responsibility rest with each guilty one, yet, acting with perfect freedom, none of them acts otherwise than divine providence had foreseen. “I cannot understand it,” says one. My dear friend, I am compelled to say the same,-I do not understand it either. I have known many who think they comprehend all things, but I fancy they had a higher opinion of themselves than truth would endorse. Certain of my brethren deny free agency, and so get out of the difficulty; others assert that there is no predestination, and so cut the knot. As I do not wish to get out of the difficulty, and have no wish to shut my eyes to any part of the truth, I believe both free agency and predestination to be facts. How they can be made to agree I do not know, or care to know; I am satisfied to know anything which God chooses to reveal to me, and equally content not to know what he does not reveal. There it is; man is a free agent in what he does, responsible for his actions, and verily guilty when he does wrong, and he will be justly punished too, and if he be lost the blame will rest with himself alone: but yet there is One who ruleth over all, who, without complicity in their sin, makes even the actions of wicked men to subserve his holy and righteous purposes. Believe these two truths and you will see them in practical agreement in daily life, though you will not be able to devise a theory for harmonising them on paper.

Next, we learn what wonders can be wrought without miracles. When God does a wonderful thing by suspending the laws of nature men are greatly astonished and say, “This is the finger of God”, but now-a-days they say to us, “Where is your God? He never suspends his laws now!” Now, I see God in the history Pharaoh, but I must confess I see him quite as clearly in the history of Haman, and I think I see him in even a grander light; for (I say it with reverence to his holy name) it is a somewhat rough method of accomplishing a purpose to stop the wheel of nature and reverse wise and admirable laws; certainly it reveals his power, but it does not so clearly display his immutability. When, however, the Lord allows everything to go on in the usual way, and gives mind and thought, ambition, and passion their full liberty, and yet achieves his purpose, it is doubly wonderful. In the miracles of Pharaoh we see the finger of God, but in the wonders of providence, without miracle, we see the hand of God. To-day, whatever the event may be, whether it be the war between the Germans and the French, or the march into Coomassie, or the change of our own government, the attentive eye will as clearly see the Lord as if by miraculous power the hills had leaped from their places, or the floods had stood upright as an heap. I am sure that God is in the world, ay, and is at my own fireside, and in my chamber, and manages my affairs, and orders all things for me, and for each one of his children. We want no miracles to convince us of his working, the wonders of his providence are as great marvels as miracles themselves.

Next we learn how safe the church of God is. At one time the people of God seemed to be altogether in Haman’s power. Nero once said that he wished his enemies had but one neck that he might destroy them all at a blow, and Haman seemed to have realised just such power. Yet the chosen nation was delivered, the Jewish people lived on until the Messiah came, and does exist, and will exist till they shall enjoy the bright future which is decreed for them. So is it with the church of God to-day. The foes of truth can never put out the candle which God has lit, never crush the living seed which the Lord Jesus has sown in his own blood-bought people. Brethren, be ye not afraid, but stablish your hearts in God.

Again, we see that the wicked will surely come to an ill end. They may be very powerful, but God will bring them down. They may be very crafty, and may plot and plan, and may think that even God himself is their accomplice, because everything goes as they desire; but they may be sure their sin will find them out. They may dig deep as hell, but God will undermine them, and they may climb as high as the stars, but God will be above them to hurl them down. Wicked man, I charge you if you be wise, turn you from your career of opposition to the Most High, you cannot stand against him, neither can you outwit him. Cease, I beseech you, from this idle opposition, and hear the voice of his gospel which says, “Confess your sin and forsake it. Believe in Jesus, the Son of God, the great atoning sacrifice, and even you shall yet be saved.” If you do not so, upon your own head shall your iniquities fall.

Last of all, let each child of God rejoice that we have a guardian so near the throne. Every Jew in Shushan must have felt hope when he remembered that the queen was a Jewess. To-day let us be glad that Jesus is exalted.

“He is at the Father’s side,

The Man of love, the crucified.”

How safe are all his people, for “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” There is one that lieth in the bosom of God who will plead for all those who put their trust in him. Therefore be ye not dismayed, but let your souls rest in God, and wait patiently for him, for sooner shall heaven and earth pass away than those who trust the Lord shall perish. “They shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end.” Amen.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon-Esther 5:9-14; 6, 7.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-251, 210, 207.

HOLY WATER

A Sermon

Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, November 8th, 1874, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”-John 4:14.

All things that are of earth are unsatisfactory. Our spirit craveth for something more than time and sense can yield it. Nothing which comes of earth, even if it should yield a transient satisfaction, can long maintain its excellency. Pointing to the water in Jacob’s well, our Lord said, “He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again;” and therein he took up his parable against all earthly things, whether they be fame, or riches, or fleshly pleasure, or aught else beneath the sun. He that drinketh at these shallow wells shall not quench his thirst, or if for a time he imagines that he has so done, he will be undeceived, and in a little season the old craving will return. That which is born of the flesh is flesh even at its best, and all flesh is grass, and the goodliness thereof is as the flower of grass; the grass withereth and the flower thereof fadeth away, and in like manner fadeth the flesh and its glory. The religion of the flesh shares in the common fate, if it has a man’s own self for its author, his own energy as its impulse, and his own opinions for its creed, it may for a little while flourish like the flower of the field, but the wind passeth over it and it is gone. Waters from his own cistern may stay a man’s desires for a space, but ere long he must thirst again. Nothing can abide for ever but that which comes from the Eternal One. Not from the will of man, but from the work of the Holy Ghost, all truly satisfying religion must proceed. It is the prerogative of the gospel of Christ thoroughly to satisfy the soul of man, and to do this abidingly: the chief object of our present discourse is to set forth that most admirable fact.

Finding that it greatly helps the memory of the hearer if the preacher keeps to the words of the text, I shall do so, and note first that we have here before us the way of obtaining true religion. “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” It is clear from this that true religion must come to us as a gift. The water that I shall give him, says Christ. There is no suggestion as to digging 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 to purchase the life-giving water; it is presented to us without money and without price. There is 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 Jesus 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 life is not in us by nature, it cannot be produced in us by culture, nor infused into us by ceremonies, nor 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. This is an elementary truth of the gospel, but it needs to be told out in every sermon, for man is so hostile to it, and the natural mind so runs upon merit, and its own boasted doings, that man will not understand the doctrine of salvation by grace though it is as plain as the sun at noonday.

Observe next that true religion is a gift from Jesus. Our Lord says, “the water that I shall give him.” The only true religion in the world is that which comes from Jesus Christ, and the only realisation of that true religion in your own soul is by receiving it from the hand of Christ; for it is in all its details connected with him. Do we want peace of conscience because sin is forgiven? We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Do we desire deliverance from the power of sin within us? We can only overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Do we need teaching? The best instruction comes from his lips. Do we desire an example which will inspirit us to obey the teaching? He is our pattern, yea, “he is made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” He is our all in all. If any man dreams that he has a God-given religion, he is in deadly error if there be not the mark of the pierced hand upon it. That peace which does not come to us sealed with the blood of the Mediator’s sacrifice is a false peace. Your soul is deceived with the semblance of satisfaction, but its thirst will soon be upon you again, like an armed man, unless you have been drinking from the fountain opened upon Calvary. Drink from the cup which Jesus fills, think not that satisfying waters can be drawn from any well but himself.

True godliness is next described in the text as a gift which must be received. “He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him.” It is received, you see, not merely into the hand, but into the inward parts. When we drink water it enters into us, saturates us, becomes a part of our being, and helps to build up the fabric of our body: even so we must receive Jesus Christ into our innermost self, not professing to believe with the creed of the head, while the heart remains in unbelief; not paying to our Lord the empty compliment of praising his character while we reject his mission; but so trusting him, depending upon him, loving him, following him, yielding ourselves up to him, living upon him, living in him, that it may be clear that he has entered into and become one with us for ever. We need Christ in us,-Christ in the secret fountain of our being. The Holy Spirit must create in us a new heart and a right spirit, and then dwell in our renewed nature as a king in his palace. My brethren, be ye sure that this, is so with you; be not content with the outward name, which is no more a part of yourself than if it were a label hung about your neck: be not satisfied with mere externals which do not enter into the heart; never rest till ye have the divine life within. We need not the faith which prates and talks, but the faith which eats the flesh of the Son of Man and drinks his blood. What we want is not Jesus Christ pictured on the wall, nor his name on the lip, nor words about him from pious books; we want the Lord himself received into our heart-“Christ in you the hope of glory.” Oh for Christ living, dwelling, reigning within our entire nature, looking out from our eyes, speaking by our lips, blessing the poor by our hands, going about doing good with these feet, and magnifying God in these mortal bodies as once he did on earth in his own body. This, then, is true religion,-Jesus Christ received by an act of faith into our innermost soul. Dear friend, have you got this? Before we go an inch further let every man and woman among us press this question home. Do I know what it is to drink of the life-giving stream which Jesus Christ bestows?

We notice in the second place the satisfying power of true religion. We are told in the text, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” Grace relieves our soul-thirst as soon as it is received. In Eastern countries the idea of thirst is much more vivid than it is with us. Owing to the great heat and the dryness of the atmosphere, and the frequency with which thirst really happens to men, they feel it to be one of the severest physical sufferings. To the Oriental thirst would be a forcible metaphor of the longing of an awakened soul, let it be so to us. A man once startled from the sleep of sinful indifference so as to look about him, and to ask what he is, and where he is, and whither he is going, finds in his spirit an eager craving; he scarce knows what it is, nor what will satisfy it, but urged onward by an insatiable sense of need, he searches after a something which will fill what Dr. Watts has very aptly called the “aching void” within him. He tries the virtue of riches, but gold and silver cannot fill a soul: he seeks after knowledge, and it is no mean pursuit, but science has no well from which a weary spirit may be refreshed: “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” It may be he dazzles his fancy with fame, or charms his eye with beauty, and his ear with music; but “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, thus saith the preacher,” and the preacher’s verdict finds a thousand echoes in experience. There is a horseleech in human nature which continually crieth, “Give, give;” and had it all the stars for a possession, it would still cry for more, for like the sea it cannot be quiet. Man, though he knows it not, wants his God, he needs reconciliation to his offended Maker, and until he gets it he cannot rest; he is like “a rolling thing before the whirlwind,” he is tossed up and down like a thistledown in the breeze, and like Noah’s dove, he finds no rest for the sole of his foot. He who believes in Christ has received the atonement, and finds in it an at-one-ment with God; the great quarrel is ended; his nature is also changed, and now he seeks after that which God delights in, and in the Lord his soul is satisfied. He has the new birth, he belongs to the family of God; he begins to understand divine realities, and to see them, taste them, handle them, and to find rest for his soul in them. “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Faith in Jesus quenches our souls’ thirst, and it continues to do so. This is the beauty of it. He that drinketh of the water from earth’s wells is refreshed, but after a little time the effect of his drinking is gone, and he thirsts again; but he that drinketh of the water that Christ shall give him, shall never thirst. That one draught has created in him an inexhaustible fountain of supply, which will satisfy his mouth with good things, so that his youth shall be renewed like the eagle’s. Though the thirst will for ever strive to return, yet shall it be always met by the well within, which shall spring up into everlasting life. Accept the gospel of Christ, poor thirsty heart, and you have accepted a satisfaction which will endure as long as you endure. Glory be to God that we have such living water to present to you in Jesus Christ’s name this morning.

Here is the secret cause of this abiding satisfaction-it continues because the grace continues. Our Lord adds, “The water that I shall give him shall be in him.” The water drank to-day has its uses and is gone; it serves our present purpose and disappears; but he that drinks of the water which Jesus gives, has it always in him, and hence he enjoys always a freedom from spiritual thirst. Whatever effect the grace of God produces to-day, it will be capable of producing the same to-morrow, and other effects as they shall be required, for it retains its potency, and the same cause will produce the same effect. O matchless draught, which never leaves the man who drinks it, but remains in him, as part and parcel of his noblest self, for ever contenting his whole nature, and causing rivers of living water to flow out of him, even the Spirit which those who believe in Jesus have received. Well may every instructed heart pray, “Lord, give us of this water.”

Now this final and abiding removal of thirst by a draught of grace, which remains in the man, is a matchless blessing, and averts a thousand ills. It is often useful to measure our mercies by their negative aspect, asking ourselves, What should we have been without them? O sinner, without the living water, thou art thirsting now, or or if not thirsting, a deadly stupor is upon thy soul, which is worse than thirst. How mournful is thy condition! And yet, my brother in the Lord, thou hadst been in a like pitiable case hadst thou not believed; thou hadst been cast into the same lethargic sleep with which sin steeps the senses of thy fellow-man; or hadst thou been awakened out of that sleep, thou hadst been in bondage to fears, and dreads and horrors innumerable. Now would sin have been as a burning fever to thy nature, and all the joys of earth a mockery to thine anguish. Now wouldst thou have been crushed beneath an awful sense of present wrath, and a deadly fear of coming judgment; perhaps also at this time thou hadst been going from bad to worse, trying to satisfy thy cravings with the delusions of Satan, poisoning thy heart by drinking down what seemed to be water, but turned out to be liquid fire, inflaming thy passions with intoxicating vices, and preparing in thy heart a flame which shall burn even to the lowest hell. Thy fleshly lusts might at this hour have been steeling thy spirit more and more with a dreadful hate of God, and proud disdain of his gospel. Ah, perhaps at this moment thou wouldst have been in hell, where thirst rages both in body and in soul for ever, and not a drop of water can be found to allay the torment. But now thou hast drunk of what Jesus Christ has given thee, and thou art satisfied, and at peace. Blessed be the Lord for this. The ills averted and the good bestowed thou canst not sufficiently calculate, but thou canst to-day adore that dear hand which bestowed this matchless draught upon thee.

I think I hear some one interpose the observation that there is still in the believer a thirst. I answer, yes, it is true, and blessed be God for it. We sang right well in our hymn just now-

“I thirst, but not as once I did,

The vain delights of earth to share;

Thy wounds, Immanuel, all forbid

That I should find my pleasure there.”

The moment a man knows Christ he thirsts to know more of him; but there is a very great difference between the thirsting of horrible, unappeased longings, and the thirsting of unutterable joy which longs to continue, and of burning love which fain would know more and more of its adorable Lord. The inward desires of the Christian after more holiness, more communion with God, and more love to Christ, are not so much a thirst for grace as the bubblings up of the well of spiritual life which is in the soul already. I would not wish to be in such a state as to be satisfied with myself, or satisfied with my attainments. Satisfied with Christ the Christian always is, but altogether and entirely satisfied with his own realisation of the blessings which Jesus brings, so as to desire no more, I think he never will be till he gets to heaven. Have you never heard of that great painter who one day breaking his palette, and putting aside his brush, said to a friend that he should paint no more, for his day was over; and when his friend inquired why he had come to that singular conclusion, he said, “Because the last painting which I executed perfectly contented me, and therefore I feel that the high ideal which led me on has departed and I shall succeed no more.” It is so. There is in every man who is a master of his art a high ideal after which he strains, and the fact that he has that ideal ever above him is one of the tokens of his lofty genius. I suppose that Milton as a poet never reached the “height of that great argument” as he desired to reach it: when he had composed a portion of his wondrous epic he would feel that his thoughts were above his words, and that he had an inner unshaped conception towering higher than his actually formed and shapen thoughts. He was a poet because that was the case, and other rhymesters are not poets because their verses please them. That man is holy who mourns the unholiness of his holiest deeds, and that man is no longer holy who conceives himself to be without sin and to have reached the highest attainable excellence. The mariner who has reached the Ultima Thule, and dreams that he has cast anchor hard by earth’s utmost bound where the universe comes to an end, will never be a Columbus. Up with your anchor, my brother, for there are wide seas beyond, and a land of gold across the main. Self-satisfaction is the grave of progress; he who thinks himself perfect is never likely to be so. Brethren, shun the spirit of self-content. Whatever doctrinal views you may hold as to the higher life, I will not dispute with you, but practically I beseech you to shun the spirit which lulls the heart into soft slumbers by the music of spiritual flattery. Whoever you are, I make bold to say that you are not all you should be, nor all you can be. There is a blessed hungering and thirsting after righteousness, a panting after God as the hart panteth after the water brooks, which still abides in the Christian, but it is in no degree akin to the thirst which is mentioned in the text. Grace in the heart gives rest, peace, joy, and holy calm of soul; it satisfies our cravings and fills our largest desires, and all because by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit it daily enables us to realise Jesus and God in Jesus. What fulness there is in him:-

“In want, my plentiful supply;

In weakness, my almighty power;

In bonds, my perfect liberty;

My refuge in temptation’s hour;

My comfort midst all grief and thrall,

My life in death, my all in all.”

Having noticed the way of obtaining true religion, and the satisfying effect of it, we will now observe its abiding character. “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” There is a theory of religion which supposes that a man may be regenerated, and yet may so depart from the Lord that the inner life may become extinct, and I have met with persons of whom I have been told that they have been born again three or four times,-that after experiencing regeneration they had fallen from grace altogether, and yet had been renewed again unto repentance. I must confess I have not believed what I have been told, for it is contrary to those many scriptures which declare that “if these shall fall away it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance,” for “if the salt have lost its savour wherewith shall it be seasoned.” My heart believes, and as I read the Scriptures I believe it more and more, that where a good work is begun by God, he will carry it on, and that the new life bestowed upon us is an incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth for ever, so that “the righteous shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.” Notice how the text describes the matter. “The water that I shall give him shall be in him;-not of him, not upon him, not around him, but in him, and hence it cannot be lost. You know how we use that expression. Here is a man trying to write poetry; (Ah, how many are guilty of that folly) but it is not in him, and it cannot come out of him; so he rhymes his nonsense, but a poet he never becomes; but if a man has it in him who can take it away? Another sits down to paint; but if it is not in him he becomes eminent in the school of Van Daub, but reaches no further, it is not in him; but if in him who shall deprive him of the gift? True religion is, however, more than a faculty, it is a new life, and so is even more abidingly in the man than my illustration sets forth. The poet may be despoiled of his goods, he may be deprived of his liberty, he may be shut up within iron bars, but he sings still; you cannot rob him of his poetic faculty, for it is in him. The artist may scarce be allowed a ray of light in the dark dungeon into which he is thrust, but he follows the lone sunbeam around his prison wall, and works by its light, for his art is in him. We all agree with the remark that it is better to give a lad an education than a fortune, for the one he carries in him and cannot lose, but the other may soon be gone, since it is no part of himself. That part of our inheritance which we carry in us is beyond the thief’s cunning and the tyrant’s power. If we have the grace of God we shall have it still, for Jesus says-“it shall be in him.” Blessed be God it is not in our frail body nor in our feeble mind, but in our heaven-born spirit, and so it is in that part of our nature which death itself cannot cause to die, which no power on earth is able to touch. If religion were a garb it could be laid aside; if it were a rite its efficacy might cease; but since it is a life, a vital principle, an essential part of our new nature, and is interwoven with the warp and woof of our renewed manhood, it is ours eternally. Christ has said it, and we believe it, “The water that I shall give him shall be in him,” and in us it shall be as long as we live.

Our Lord also promises that this water shall be in the man “a well of living water.” It shall always remain in him as an operative force, full of freshness and life. It shall not be there like water in a cistern, which may gradually evaporate, and cannot have the freshness of spring water; nor as a stagnant pool which becomes useless and even pestilential to all around. It shall not even be as water forced into our houses by pressure, it shall have an upspringing power of its own. It shall be as permanent and changeless as Jacob’s well which was there in the patriarch’s day, and is there still as full as ever; it shall be ever new, yet ever the same; it shall have an energy and force in it which shall cause a perpetual uprising in the soul. Like the village brook born at the spring-head our new life shall flow on, and as it flows it shall sing,

“Men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever.”

As surely as the well continues to fill itself without machinery of man’s invention, or force-pump of earthly power, so surely shall the new life within the Christian continue to stir and move and bubble up. There will always be in it a vitality which comes from the quickening Spirit. Mechanical religion, which consists in ceremonies and observances, is a very stale thing. I should think after seeing the mass, or any other Popish display some fifty times, it must become rather a dreary business, however prettily the show may be arranged; and the mere repetition of a liturgical service, without heart, with the same words and tones, must become very monotonous; certainly extempore prayer and the most varied service is heavy enough when the soul is taken out of it. Anything which has not spiritual life in it becomes in due time insipid, flat, wearisome. As well be a blind horse going round in a mill as the performer of religious acts without the inner life. Coming to this place, and sitting in these seats, and listening to me may soon become a piece of mere clockwork to you if your hearts are not alive towards God. How very different is worship, in spirit and in truth. Real inward vitality is as perpetually beautiful as the sea, which never appears to be twice alike, though it is ever the same; or like the rising of the sun, a perpetual novelty, for ever exhibiting some new phase of glory. It is a joy to me to linger near a spring, and mark the widening circles, the countless wavelets, the sparkling ripples, and the translucent streams, which in their perpetual variety and laughing joyousness are the very image of youth and freshness.

True religion is like a well, because it is independent of its surroundings, in summer and in winter does it flow. The pond overflows because there has been a shower of rain, but the deep well is full in the drought, and the villagers flock to it in the dryest season, for they never knew it fail. Its secret sources are too abundant to be affected by a few weeks of parching heat. Would you go in search of them, they are far away on yonder cloud-capped hills, where the river of God which is full of water, empties itself into reservoirs which the Lord has digged. “I will look unto the hills from whence cometh my help,” saith the Christian. He directs his expectations to the all-sufficiency of God, and sings, “All my fresh springs are in thee.” He knows that it is the Lord who “sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills.” The believer is independent of his outward surroundings, he is not exalted by riches, nor crushed by poverty; he trusts not in man whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of. Nothing earthly can feed or famish the divine life in man, and even the visible means of grace are not absolutely needful to it, for concerning them it may be said, “man shall not live by bread alone.” Should a Christian be cast into a heathen land, or caled to live where truth has fallen in the streets, and zeal is dead, and corruption abounds, he is greatly tried, but still the inner well springs up, because his faith has tapped “the deep which lieth under,” and he draws his supplies from the infinity of God and not from outward ordinances. Elijah is strong amid idolators, Paul’s faith is vigorous on board ship among heathen, just as wells are found in places where all around is arid as a desert. Elim was in the wilderness, not in the king’s garden, and many a believer is found in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. God is infinite, and all-sufficient, and the man whose sources lie in the All-sufficient One receives of his fulness; and when natural religion and fleshly excitement are gone, the faith, and hope, and joy of vital godliness, manifest the dew of their youth. Alas, how often is the contrast seen! Do I not know some who were converted under a very earnest preacher, and as long as they heard him they remained in their apparent godliness, but when he was gone what became of them? I enquired the other day as to the permanent results of a certain revival, which at the time I hoped was a genuine one: some two or three hundred were added to a certain church, but the pastor left, and I asked his successor whether the converts remained, and he replied, “I cannot give a good account of them. Very few are with us now.” That is not a rare case, I have other instances within my knowledge where churches have been revived into absolute annihilation. The balloon has been filled till it burst. “Warmed up into a furnace heat by tremendous blasts of excitement, a cold of corresponding intensity has set in when the heating apparatus has consumed its fuel. Not a word have I to say against real spiritual revivals, but I warn you excitable people that principle is the main matter, not passion. Give me a man who does not depend upon a preacher, nor drink in his inspiration from warmhearted friends, and crowded meetings, but has inward, vital experience by which he knows the Lord for himself, and has had personal dealings with a personal Saviour. Such a man will follow the Lamb though every preacher should die, and every outward ministry should be struck dumb at once. The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit rises superior to all disadvantages, like a spring which cannot be kept under, do what you may. Our engineers and builders know how hard it is to bind up the earth-floods from overflowing, and the spiritual floods are yet more unconquerable. It is wonderful how springs will bubble up in places where we least expect them. The great desert of Sahara will no doubt be made a very easy country to traverse, and, perhaps, may even become a fertile plain, from the fact that there is water everywhere at no very great depth below the surface, and where it is reached an oasis is formed. The government of Algeria has sent engineers into parts of the Sahara bordering on the French possession, and these men hare bored the rock by Artesian wells, and greatly astonished the natives, for in the wilderness have waters leaped out and streams in the desert. At the magic touch of the living water, palm trees have sprung up and an undergrowth of vegetation, so that the solitary places have been made to sing together. When the Lord gives our souls to drink from the fountains of the great deep of his own eternal love, and to have a vital principle of grace within us, our wilderness rejoices and blossoms as the rose, neither can the Sahara around us wither our verdure; our soul is as an oasis, though all around is barrenness. Happy is the man whose life is hid with Christ in God, for he shall be filled with all the fulness of God:-

“From thee the overflowing spring,

His soul shall drink a fresh supply;

While such as trust their native strength

Shall melt away and droop and die.”

When God shall fail, the believer will fail, but not till then; on him rests the blessing given to Joseph, securing to him the precious things of heaven, and of the dew and of the deep which coucheth beneath.

Observers tell us, and we may have noticed ourselves, that wells are not always equally full, for verily earthly things must change, and none of them are full types of the heavenly. Springs which are never frozen in the coldest winter, and never dry in the hottest summer, yet exhibit certain ebbs and flows, and even so the Christian, because he is still in the body, is not always at his best, by reason of infirmity and fault. There are happy times when we overflow delightfully, and there are other seasons when we have to cry most anxiously, “Spring up, O well.” Yet, blessed be God, the well is always there, and as it is never disconnected from its springs, it never utterly fails. Our Lord says the well shall always be in us, and, therefore, we may exultantly cry, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who shall destroy the life which is one with his? The notion that our Lord’s spiritual body is undergoing a constant change in the loss of its members and the growth of new ones is so strange, and withal so dishonouring to him, that I must leave its defence to those who can tolerate it. I believe that no member of Christ shall be amputated from his body, and “not a bone of him shall be broken.” He says, “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.” “Because I live, ye live also.” He has said moreover, “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth in me hath everlasting life.” But a life which expires is not everlasting, and, therefore, we are sure that it will live on eternally. The principle implanted in us when we believe is an abiding one, for we were “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” If it be so, how can we perish? No, brethren, grace will remain in us, and the Lord will perfect that which concerneth us.

The text further says it is a well which is springing, a well which never ceases to flow; upon which we will not dwell, only we will say this, that God worketh hitherto, and worketh ever; and therefore the life of God in the soul is usually operative in some form or other. The great motives which set the Christian working at first are as forcible in his old age as in his youth, and his obedience to them is even more complete, therefore he ceases not from spiritual activity. His soul bubbles up in prayer, and praise, and love, and hope, and joy evermore; he must do the will of him that sent him; he cannot but work out his own salvation, for God continues to work in him to will and to do of his good pleasure. Thus all that happens to a Christian, overruled by the grace of God, tends to keep him springing up. Is he surrounded by the wicked? He feels it his duty to bear his protest the more vigorously. Is he in the midst of the righteous? He owns that in such congenial society he ought to do more for Christ. Is he poor? He feels that he had need be rich in faith to sustain his spirits. Is he rich? He knows that uncertain riches are certain temptations, and that he needs great grace both to escape the snare and bear up under the responsibility of his station. Thus even adverse things are made to help him, and even as the Nile overflows in the hot season because of the melting of the snows on the far-off mountains, so does the inner life flow all the more when we might have imagined it would be drawn dry.

The text adds, “Springing up into everlasting life;”-not to life merely but to that life which is everlasting, and I for one shall never be able to attach any meaning to the word everlasting but that of lasting for ever, even though it compels me to remain among those bigoted people who believe in the never-ending duration of future punishment. The believer lives on for ever, and grace blossoms into glory. The life of the saints on earth is of the same essence as the life of the saints in heaven; they receive no new life when they enter into glory, only that which they received in regeneration is purged from every hindrance, and is developed to perfection. Our life below tends in the same direction as the heavenly life, for both flow towards God, and seek his glory, and delight in fellowship with him. We have now within us the germs of the glorified character; a holy life, a humble life, an obedient life, a blessed life, we have ever here, and such is the life of the golden city. Our life is sustained by the same power as the life of those in heaven. “Because I live, ye shall live also,” is the life both of saints in heaven and saints on earth; it is guaranteed by the same covenant, and if a child of God on earth can perish, a child of God in heaven may for aught I can see. The fidelity which will keep the blessed is the same fidelity which preserves us while here below, and if our life, which is hid with Christ, can fail, I know not what additional security belongs to a soul in heaven.

The whole text together gives us this full assurance, that if we have drunk of the water which Christ gives us, it cannot be extracted from us or fail to save us; it is a living well, and must spring up into everlasting life.

The practical outcome of it all is just this. Let each one answer this question-where did you get your religion? Does any one reply, “I am of the religion of my father before me, and that’s enough for me.” Yes, that is what the old heathen chieftain said, when he had one foot in the baptismal font, and turned round to the missionary and asked where his ancestors’ souls were, and when he heard that they had gone to hell he said he would not be parted from them. I see no sense in such talk. I suppose if your parents had been blind you would have put your eyes out; or if they had been lame, you would have made yourself a cripple. No, dear friends, we should follow our parents so far as they followed Christ, but when they leave Jesus we must take another road! Where did you get your religion from? Is it of your own home manufacture? Is it the creature of your own power and will? Then it will come to nought. Nothing is worth having as to everlasting life but that which comes from the hand which was nailed to the cross, and there bought our redemption, and now freely bestows it upon us.

The next question is, what has your religion done for you? Has it satisfied your heart? Does it bring rest to your soul? Has it quenched your thirst? Now, there are many religions in the world which do not profess to do this. When nine persons out of ten talk of what they call the Christian religion, their notion is that perhaps a man may know he is safe when he is dying, perhaps he may get his sins forgiven in the last solemn article, but as to any idea of being saved now, they do not comprehend it: their religion does not deal with present salvation. How few rejoice in that text, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” How few can say “Being justified by faith we have peace with God.” They think it presumption, for they are ignorant of the power of faith. Go to Jesus Christ then, dear friends, and receive from him the free gift of his mercy, and you will say “Lord, it is enough, my soul is satisfied.”

The next question is this: Does your religion abide with you? You had great joy in it once? Do you possess it now? Is it in you? That religion which you can lose it might be well to lose at once, that you might be driven to seek a better; but that religion which you never can lose is the religion of Christ. Now for a straightforward question. Does your religion always dwell in you? I know some people whose godliness lies in their best hats. They put them on when Sunday comes round, and then they are wonderfully religious, and when they get into a place of worship they look into the hats to which they owe so much; but when the new garments are laid by, and the work-day hat is on, in which they go to the City or the workshop, they act as badly as other men. The Sunday bonnet and go-to-meeting dress make a deal of difference to some people. When the hymn book and the Bible are near at hand, they are devout; when the ledger and the day book are near what a change comes over the scene. Genuine religion is in a man, you cannot lay it aside as the soldier may hang up his sword or put away his regimentals, but you carry it with you everywhere, it is your delight to do so.

Lastly, does your religion spring up within your soul by the secret energy of the Spirit of God? Do you feel emotions, longings, regrets and desires, arising in you without any outward prompting? You do not pray by order, but because you cannot help it: you are in need and must pray. Nobody stands by and says, “Lament before God;” you groan because you must groan, and sing because you feel like singing. You pray continually because your soul’s needs are constant, and you praise frequently because your soul’s gratitude bursts forth like a mighty spring. Your obedience does not arise from a law upon stone, but from a law written on your hearts, from life in you, from heavenly instinct, from the sacred impulses of the Spirit. “For me to live is Christ.” Happy is the man who feels the well within him bubbling up, so that it is in his very life to obey the Lord Jesus. God grant we all may drink of the living water for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Portions of Scripture Read before Sermon-John 4:1-42.

Hymns from “Our Own Hymn Book”-435, 775, 805.