Confide also more implicitly and affectionately in him who hath done so much for you.-Friends have a mutual interest in what each other is, and all that each other has and you, as the friends of God, have an interest in him; not in his providence only, but in all the perfections of his nature, in all the treasures of his grace, in all the promises of his word. And what promise does he make ? " I will be your God, and you shall be my people." He could not say more. And having not withheld his dear Son, His best gift, surely there is nothing on earth or in heaven too great for him to confer!" Trust him, therefore, at all times, ye people; pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us." Place a constant reliance on the all-sufficieney of his power, and the fidelity of his word; encouraged by that important declaration, "My God shall supply all your need, according to his glorious riches, by Jesus Christ."

گھ

Enjoy your comforts also with grateful satisfaction.

What a friend gives us, he wishes us to enjoy: we cannot please him better than by the cheerful use of his favours; and as coming from a friend, every benefit is doubly sweet: a generous mind values the kindness which a friend confers, chiefly as a pledge of the affection of his heart. And remember, the God of heaven bestows your comforts; and is he not your Friend? Trace your unnumbered mercies to his munificent hand: your health, your mental peace, your food and raiment, your success in business, and all your domestic and social comforts; accept of all as from your heavenly Friend, taste his love in every benefit he bestows, and enjoy all as the fruit of his Covenant regard.

Learn also, to endure trials with calm submission. We can bear that from a friend which we cannot bear from an enemy: if one that loves us put us to pain, we do not repine; we are not grieved, so long as we are persuaded of his affection. Reflect, therefore, your

trials come from the same Power that administers your comforts: both are equally from your Father and your Friend in heaven! Does he afflict? He designs nothing but your true interest, your best improvement. The severest parts of his conduct are proofs of his presence, and are pledges of his love and care: "for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." And be his chastisements ever so heavy, the affection of his heart is unalterable: "the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee*." . But especially, beware you offend not this Friend. It is mentioned as the aggravation of affliction, "I was wounded in the house of my friendst." Who does not know, that the wounds of a friend pierce the deepest? If a man professing kindness, and inviting ourconfidence, do us an injury, we feel it most sensibly. Now, keep in mind, you are, called the friends of God, and can you dishonour him? Can you trifle with his truth, wander from his ways, and grieve his blessed Spirit? The question which Absalom put to Hushai, is pointed and appropriate: "Is this thy kindness to thy friendt?" Daily should the same inquiry be present to our minds, and applied to our conscience. Are we tempted to act unworthily, to violate our tender obligations, to offend against Infinite Love and Goodness? The inconsistency of this should forbid it; the base ingratitude which it involves should restrain us.

Having, therefore, such a Friend, and calling ourselves his friends, let us labour to justify the high relation. Let us study to please him; let us be active to serve him; in all things let it ever be our concern to "walk worthy of God, who hath called us unto his kingdom and glory."

*Heb. xii. 6; Is. liv. 10. ↑ Zech. xiii. 6. †2 Sam. xvi. 17.

159

SERMON XIV.

THE WATER OF LIFE.

JOHN iv. 14.

But 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.

THE Lord Jesus was the wisest Teacher. His wisdom appears not only in adapting his subjects to the occasion on which he spoke, but in his manner of treating them. He refers to visible objects, and avails himself of passing incidents, in order to illustrate spiritual truths; and his allusions are always natural and easy.

A striking instance of the truth of this remark occurs in the verses connected with the text.

Jesus was on his way to Galilee, "and he must needs go through Samaria." Wearied with his journey, he sat down on the side of a well, called "Jacob's well." While there alone, a certain woman came to draw water: on her part the meeting was accidental, but not so on his-it was ordered in infinite wisdom, and designed for the exercise and display of boundless mercy.

Immediately a conversation took place between the blessed Saviour and this Samaritan stranger: "Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink." She perceived from his dress, or from his dialect and manner, to what country he belonged, and replied, "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." Jesus took no notice of the animosity between the two nations, and his silence on this point suggests a lesson of prudence: some differences are best healed by disregarding them, and by avoiding any dispute about them: besides, he had another object in view the spiritual instruction and salvation of this person. "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." Alas! she was utterly ignorant of these things, as appears from what immediately follows: she had no idea that by "living water" was meant any thing more than clear spring water: "The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; whence then hast thou that living water?" She asks further, "Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?"

The correctness of the statement here implied might have been objected to: Jacob was not the ancestor of a Samaritan; nor was this well his gift in any other sense than as manna was the gift of Moses: but higher subjects occupied the mind of the blessed Saviour, and to these he continues to di rect her attention: "Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." He meant literally what he said, referring to the water of the well on which he sat. Its value and its use he admits, but still it was no more than comTM

mon water, and could serve only common purposes: the thirst which it was adapted to allay would again be felt.

See from this the indigence and dependence of man! He cannot live without the plainest provision of nature; and let his wants be ever so amply supplied, they presently return, and solicit relief.

See also the imperfection of earthly comforts! They are neither lasting nor satisfying: the supports of yesterday will not suffice for to-day; they must be frequently renewed, and constantly administered, or we languish and die.

But how just the application of this sentiment to the various expedients of happiness which man devises! It may be said of them all," Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." One man plunges into gross and dissipated pleasure; but he is galled with disappointment, and recompensed with keen remorse. Another engages in more refined and intellectual pursuits; but these do not satisfy, for he finds that "in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." Α third enters into business, occupies himself with eagerness in the bustle of life and in the search of earthly gain but he is not happy; for "they that will be rich fall into temptation, and a suare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition ;-they pierce themselves through with many sorrows." A fourth is a man of leisure free from the ties of business and the cares of a family, he has time sufficient; but his hours move heavily, his very leisure is attended with satiety, and he becomes a burden to himself.

Beside, there are schemes of happiness of another kind which are sure to fail. A man has convictions of sin, but he labours to get rid of them by drowning reflection. His conscience is uneasy, but he applies some palliative. His mind unenlightened and his heart unhumbled, he flees to religious duties, he forms