l life, in order
that in the heat of a fierce shame she might cry out, "I thirst for God,
for the living God!" And sure I am that, before the Lord had done with
her, this quiet, lone cry leapt from her lips, and in immediate response
to the cry she was given a deep draught from the eternal well.

And, good Lord, arouse my sense of my sin that I, too, may thirst for Thy
water! Now, make me thirst for it, and in the thirst receive it!

AUGUST The Fourth

_HIDDEN MANNA_

"_I have meat to eat that ye know not of._"
--JOHN iv. 31-42.

And what sort of meat is this? The Lord found secret refreshment in
feeding other people. In vitalizing the woman of Samaria He restored His
own soul. The disciples were amazed when they returned to find that the
weariness had gone out of His face, and that He looked like one who had
been at a feast!

And that is the law of life. "_My meat is to do the will._" There is a
secret nutriment in the bread we give away. The Lord gives us to eat of
the "hidden manna" whenever we are seeking the refreshment of our fellows.
Distributed bread has a sacramental efficacy for our own souls. The man
who feeds the hungry shall himself be "satisfied as with marrow."

And these ways of service are open on every side. There are millions of
weary people waiting, like the woman at the well. "_Lift up your eyes, and
look on the fields: for they are white already to harvest!_" Be it mine to
be a minister in the mighty service, and in the ways of obedience let me
find delights and delicacies for my own soul.

"Bread of Heaven,
Feed me till I want no more!"

AUGUST The Fifth

_BROOKS BY THE WAY_

ISAIAH xii.

The wells of the Lord are to be found where most I need them. The Lord of
the way knows the pilgrim life, and the wells have been unsealed just
where the soul is prone to become dry and faint. At the foot of the hill
Difficulty was found a spring! Yes, these health-springs are lifting their
crystal flood in the cheerless wastes of evil antagonisms and exhausting
grief.

Sometimes I am foolish, and in my need I assume that the well is far away.
I knew a farmer who for a generation had carried every pail of water from
a distant well to meet the needs of his homestead. And one day he sunk a
shaft by his own house door, and to his great joy he found that the water
was waiting at his own gate! My soul, thy well is near, even here! Go not
i