woman of Samaria.

Then our Saviour, always

ready to pass from common to spiritual things, told her that if she knew who He was, she would have asked Him, and He would have given her living 'Whosoever drinketh of this water,' He said

water.

(and He pointed to that honoured well), 'shall thirst again;' and the woman knew He said true: 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 woman answered ignorantly: for she thought He spake of such water as lay deep in the rock below: and she said, 'Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.' It was not that water Christ meant: it is not such water we mean: yet we may very fitly at a Communion Table take up the Samaritan woman's words, and say, Lord, give us this water, that we thirst no more.

And what was this water, so wonderfully adapted to quench the thirst of the longing and fainting soul? Was it such water as the Apostle John saw in vision, when the angel showed him a pure river of water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb?' Was it such as - the Psalmist thought of, when he said of his God, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters?' Was it such as the prophet meant, when he cried, Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters?' or as the Spirit and the Bride spake of when they gave forth the invitation, 'Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely?' Doubtless it was that water which Christ Himself offered when in the great day of the Feast at Jerusalem He stood and cried, 'If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink :' or when He said, 'I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall

never thirst.' 'I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread which I give is My flesh, which I give for the life of the world.'

Who

soever eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day : For My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.' Is it not our humble desire, then, at a Communion Table,-'Lord, evermore give us this bread: 'Lord, give us this water, that we thirst no

more?'

'His flesh is meat indeed, His blood is drink indeed' and you have now come to that Table where, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith His people are made partakers of His body and blood. You have before you now the

memorials of Christ's shed blood and broken body: May these elements be to us as the bread and water of life, for the nourishment of our im

mortal souls. But we should err as far as the poor Samaritan woman, if we fancied that in these elements, or in this rite, there was anything which could of itself nourish our souls. It is not materially but by faith we are here to eat and drink and it is on Christ Himself we must feed; if

:

we would partake of that bread of which if a man eat he shall never die; and of that water of which if a man drink he shall live for ever.

And that we may savingly feed upon Christ, it is needful that we should receive not these elements in our lips, but His atonement in our hearts. The sign is well but the value lies in the thing it signifies. If it were, as some have fancied it, the very flesh and blood of the Redeemer that lay upon that Table before us, we might partake of both, and yet have not the least interest in the promise, Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. That flesh would not be meat indeed

to the soul, nor that blood drink indeed. No: the living water Christ promised to the woman of Samaria, was a purely spiritual blessing: and the believer partakes of the body and blood of his Saviour in a purely spiritual way. Yet, in very truth, do the Saviour's people at His Table partake of the bread and water of life, when they feel with more than ordinary clearness the all-sufficiency of Christ, and with firmer faith appropriate His promises, and realize more substantially how safe they are in Him for time and eternity: and in very truth, do they day by day feed upon Christ, and find Him all that is signified by the figures of which we have been thinking, when they receive Him with all their hearts, trust in Him with all their souls, enjoy the consolations and hopes of His religion amid all their daily trials and duties, find the perfect peace even here of the man whose mind is stayed upon his God, and anticipate the unmin