from the throne.' The expressions, too, of 'pouring out' and
'shedding forth' the Spirit, point in the same direction, and are
drawn from more than one passage of Old Testament prophecy. What,
then, is the significance of comparing that Divine Spirit with a
river of water? First, cleansing, of which I need not say any more,
because I have dealt with It in the previous part of my sermon. Then,
further, refreshing, and satisfying. Ah! dear brethren, there is only
one thing that will slake the immortal thirst in your souls. The
world will never do it; love or ambition gratified and wealth
possessed, will never do it. You will be as thirsty after you have
drunk of these streams as ever you were before. There is one spring
'of which if a man drink, he shall never thirst' with unsatisfied,
painful longings, but shall never cease to thirst with the longing
which is blessedness, because it is fruition. Our thirst can be
slaked by the deep draught of 'the river of the Water of Life, which
proceeds from the Throne of God and the Lamb.' The Spirit of God,
drunk in by my spirit, will still and satisfy my whole nature, and
with it I shall be glad. Drink of this. 'Ho! every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters!'

The Spirit is not only refreshing and satisfying, but also productive
and fertilising. In Eastern lands a rill of water is all that is
needed to make the wilderness rejoice. Turn that stream on to the
barrenness of your hearts, and fair flowers will grow that would
never grow without it. The one means of lofty and fruitful Christian
living is a deep, inward possession of the Spirit of God. The one way
to fertilise barren souls is to let that stream flood them all over,
and then the flush of green will soon come, and that which is else a
desert will 'rejoice and blossom as the rose.'