another prophecy in this same book of Isaiah: 'Ho, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters'; that was the voice of the Christ in
prophecy. There is a saying spoken in the temple courts: 'If any man
thirst, let him come unto Me and drink'; that was the voice of the
Christ upon earth. There is a saying at the end of Scripture--almost the
last words that the Seer in Patmos heard: 'Whosoever will, let him take
of the water of life freely'; that was the voice of the Christ from the
throne. And the triple invitation comes to every soul of man in the
world, and to thee, and thee, and thee, my brother. Answer, answer as
the Samaritan woman did: 'Sir, give me this water that I thirst not,
neither come hither' any more to draw of the broken cisterns.




THE HARVEST OF A GODLESS LIFE

'Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been
mindful of the Rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant
plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make
thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to
flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of
desperate sorrow.'--ISAIAH xvii. 10, 11.


The original application of these words is to Judah's alliance with
Damascus, which Isaiah was dead against. He saw that it would only
precipitate the Assyrian invasion, as in fact it did. Judah had forsaken
God, and because they had done so, they had gone to seek for themselves
delights--alliance with Damascus. The image of planting a garden of