I do not say it is, for I do
not know. But _you_ know. The hungry, critical world knows. Subtle, keen
Satan knows. The Lord Jesus knows. Do you know if that describes you?
You may know with certainty within twenty-four hours if you wish to and
will to. May we be willing to have the Spirit's searchlight turned in
upon us to-night.

The Master's Ideal.

There is another kind of christian, an utterly different kind, spoken of
and illustrated in this same Gospel of John, and I doubt not many of
them also are here. It is _Jesus' ideal_ of what a christian should be.
Have you sometimes wished you could have a few minutes of quiet talk
with Jesus? I mean face to face, as two of us might sit and talk
together. You have thought you would ask Him to say very simply and
plainly just what He expects of you. Well, I believe He would answer in
words something like those of this seventh chapter of John. It was at
the time of Feast of Tabernacles. There was a vast multitude of Jews
there from all parts of the world. It was like an immense convention,
but larger than any convention we know. The people were not entertained
in the homes, but lived for seven days in leafy booths made of branches
of trees. It was the last day of the feast. There was a large concourse
of people gathered in one of the temple areas; not women, but men; not
sitting, but standing. Up yonder stand the priests, pouring water out of
large jars, to symbolize the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the
nation of Israel. Just then Jesus speaks, and amid the silence of the
intently watching throng His voice rings out: "If any man thirst let him
come unto Me and drink; he that believeth on Me, as the Scripture saith,
_out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water_." Mark that
significant closing clause. That packs into a sentence Jesus' ideal of
what a true christian down in this world should be, and may be. Every
word is full of meaning.

The heart of the sentence is in the last word--"water." _Water_ is an
essential of life. Absence of water means suffering and sickness, dearth
and death. Plenty of good water means _life_. All the history of the
world clusters about the water courses. Study the history of the rivers,
the seashores, and lake edges, and you know the history of the earth.
Those men who heard Jesus speak would instinctively think of the Jordan.
It was their river. Travelers say that no valley exceeded in beauty and
fruitfulness that valley of the