And then the last thought is the life-giving influence of the river.  Everything lived whithersoever it went.  Contrast Christendom with heathendom.  Admit all the hollowness and mere nominal Christianity of large tracts of life in so-called Christian countries, and yet why is it that on the one side you find stagnation and death, and on the other side mental and manifold activity and progressiveness?  I believe that the difference between ‘the people that sit in darkness’ and ’the people that walk in the light is that one has the light and the other has not, and activity befits the light as torpor befits the darkness.

But there is a far deeper truth than that in the figure, a truth that I would fain lay upon the hearts of all my hearers, that unless we our own selves have this water of life which comes from the Sanctuary and is brought to us by Jesus Christ, ‘we are dead in trespasses and sins.’  The only true life is in Christ.  ’If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.  He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’

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THE BOOK OF DANIEL

YOUTHFUL CONFESSORS

’But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 9.  Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. 10.  And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink; for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. 11.  Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12.  Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. 13.  Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 14.  So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. 15.  And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat. 16.  Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. 17.  As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. 18.  Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19.  And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah,