poured upon us from on high; for the Spirit is life, and its graces
are life, and when that is infused by God from the throne, then we
live, and not till then. And hence it is called as before, living
water, the water of life, springing up in us into everlasting life.
The Spirit then and graces of the Spirit, which is the river here
spoken of, is that, and that only, which can cause us to live; that
being life to the soul, as the soul is life to the body. All men
therefore, as was said afore--though elect, though purchased by the
blood of Christ--are dead and must be dead until the Spirit of life
from God and his throne shall enter into them; until they shall
drink it in by vehement thirst, as the parched ground drinks in the
rain. Now when this living water is received, it takes up its seat
in the heart, whence it spreads itself to the awakening of all the
powers of the soul. For as in the first creation, the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters, in order to the putting of that
creation into that excellent fashion and harmony which now we behold
with our eyes, even so the new creation, to wit, the making of us
new to God, is done by the overspreading of the same Spirit also.

As the herb that is planted or seed sown needs watering with
continual showers of the mountains, so our graces implanted in us by
the Spirit of grace must also be watered by the rain of Heaven.
"Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly, thou settest the
furrows thereof, thou makest it soft with showers, thou blessest the
springing thereof." Hence he says that our graces shall grow. But
how? "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily,
and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and
his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as
the corn, and grow as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the