salvation. There must be a further object in a faith that saves. It must
lay hold of the definite historical act in which Christ has become the
salvation of the world.

Do not take it upon my words, take it upon His own. He once said to His
fellow-countrymen in His lifetime, 'I am the living bread'; and many of
our modern teachers would go that length heartily. Was that where Christ
stopped? By no means. Was His Gospel a gospel of incarnation only?
Certainly not. 'I am the living bread that came down from heaven.'
Anything more? Yes; this more, 'and the bread which I will give is My
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. He that eateth Me he
shall live by Me.' 'Well,' say some people, 'that means following His
example, accepting His teaching, being loyal to His Person, absorbing
His Spirit.' Yes, it means all that; but is that all it means? Take His
own commentary: 'He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath
eternal life.' Yes, brethren, a Christ incarnate, blessed be God! A
Christ crucified, blessed be God! And not the one but _both_ must be the
basis of our faith and our hope.

Now, will you let me say one thing about this matter of drawing the
water? It is an act of faith in a whole Jesus, and eminently in the
mighty act and sacrifice of His Cross. But to go back again to the
context: 'He also is become _my_ salvation. 'That is what I desire, God
helping me, to lay on the hearts of all my hearers--that a definite act
of faith in Christ crucified is not enough unless it is a personal act,
unless it is what our old Puritan forefathers used to call
'appropriating faith.' Never mind about the somewhat dry and technical
phraseology; the thing is what I insist upon--'_my_ salvation.' O
brother! what does it matter though all Niagara were roaring past your
door; you might die of thirst all the same unless you put your own lips