drink and live.

I remember after one of the great battles in the War we were coming
down the Tennessee River with a company of wounded men. It was in
the spring of the year, and the water was not clear. You know that
the cry of a wounded man is: "Water! water!" especially in a hot
country. I remember taking a glass of the muddy water to one of
these men. Although he was very thirsty, he only drank a little of
it. He handed the glass back to me, and as he did so, he said, "Oh
for a draught of water from my father's well!" Are there any thirsty
ones here? Come and drink of the fountain opened in Christ; your
longing will be satisfied, and you will never thirst again. It will
be in you "a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
Water rises to its own level; and as this water has come down from
the throne of God, it will carry us back to the presence of God.
Come, O ye thirsty ones, stoop down and drink, and live! You are all
invited: come along! When Moses took his rod and struck the flinty
rock in the wilderness, out of it there came a pure crystal stream
of water, which flowed or through that dry and barren land. All that
the poor thirsty Israelites had to do was to stoop and drink. It was
free to all. So the grace of God is free to all. God invites you to
come and take it: will you come?

I remember being in a large city where I noticed that the people
resorted to a favorite well in one of the parks. I said to a man one
day, "Does the well never run dry?" The man was drinking of the
water out of the well; and as he stopped drinking, he smacked his
lips, and said: "They have never been able to pump it dry yet. They
tried it a few years ago. They put the fire engines to work, and
tried all they could to pump the well dry; but they found there was
a river flowing right under the city." Thank God, the well of
salvation never gets dry, though the saints of God have been
drinking from it for six thousand years! Abel, Enoch Noah, Abraham.
Moses, Elijah, the Apostles all have drunk from it; and they are now
up yonder, where they are drinking of the stream that flows from the
throne of God. "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb
which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes."

Let me ring another Gospel bell:

COME AND DINE!