A religion of blessedness.
"Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Religion is not only safety, it is blessedness—the very highest blessedness. We are not to be ever in fear and trembling about "our state," but to remember that "perfect love casteth out fear." A really religious man finds that he cannot do without the gospel as satisfying his entire being. He is not religious because he "ought to be," or must be, to be saved; he is religious because also it is truest joy.
I. WATER MUST BE DRAWN. Certainly. The wells of truth are deep and clear, but we must come hither in one sense to draw. It is quite true that the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well said to the Savior, "Give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw," and that Jesus told her the water he should give her should be in her "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." But at the same time, we must remember that Jesus spake a parable about "the treasure hid in a field." The ideas are both true. For the Christian there is a hidden blessedness, but it needs discovering by the Word and the Spirit of God. Every quiet meditation, every prayerful perusal of the sacred page,—this is a drawing of water out of the wells of salvation.
II. WATER WILL BE JOYFULLY DRAWN. Not "must be," but "will be." You cannot command "pleasure;" you can "duty." You can make the child or the man read Scripture, but only life within will lead them to draw water "with joy." The art-student loves to wander in the foreign galleries and to gaze upon the highest ideals of art. We listen to music so differently when we love and delight in it. And a quickened soul loves religion for its own sake.
III. WATER MUST BE DISTRIBUTED WHEN DRAWN. We can "give" the cup as well as drink of the cup. It is the water that is so precious, not the wooden cup or the golden chalice that contains it. It is not new "theories" and "views" and "opinions" that are precious, but the Word of the living God, which is the pure water of life, and of which whoso drink shall live; for the written Word all leads to the living Word—Jesus Christ, the Savior of men.
IV. THE MANY WELLS ARE FED BY ONE FOUNTAIN. History or prophecy; Gospel or Epistle; precept or promise; the record of Paradise lost, in Genesis; or the story of Paradise regained, in the Apocalypse;—all these are filled from the same Divine fountain. It is the Spirit that testifies of Christ; for "the testimony of Jesus" is the theme of history and "the spirit of prophecy." Many wells! Yes; but "all my springs are in thee."—W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON