d: "_If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink_." For,
said he: "_My words are spirit, and they are life_." His words are the
water of life. This explains my text.

It might surprise some of you if I were to point to that spring yonder
and say, "There flows the water of life." But would I not tell the
truth? Can man or beast live one moment without it? Let us think a
little. What is your blood? It is water, holding in solution the
various elements with which your bones, and sinews, and muscles, and
nerves, and other tissues of your body are to be supplied and
nourished. Can man or beast live a moment without blood? Then they
cannot live a moment without water. Can trees and plants live a moment
without sap? They cannot, because their sap is their blood. But the
water of that spring, indispensable as it is to your bodily life,
ceases as to its uses in this respect when this end is met; and if man
had no life other than that of mere corporeal or animal existence, no
other water would ever be demanded by him. In that case there would be
no need of the invitation given in the text.

But every human being has a twofold nature. He has a _spiritual_ body
as well as a _natural_ body. Paul says: "If there is a natural body,
there is also a spiritual body." Man's natural or physical
organization consists of _flesh and blood_. Paul calls this the
"_outer man_." This is man's animal or sensuous nature. Man's
spiritual body consists of _will_ and _understanding_. Paul calls this
the _inner man_; because it is the interior, "hidden man of the
heart." This is capable of becoming the higher, nobler, better part of
man, because it is the "house" of his affections and thoughts, of his
loves and enjoyments.

There is a wonderful difference between the two natures; and yet the
one corresponds to the other so perfectly that in all of man's
experiences, in all that pertains to his life in this world, the two
natures make _one man_. Whilst this is so, we must not forget that our
natural bodies are _mortal_; they will soon die. But our spiritual
bodies are _immortal_; they will never die. This is quite as true of
the evil as of the good. The spiritual bodies or souls of men will
live on, after the death of their natural bodies, through the
countless ages of eternity,--the good, in the enjoyments of ineffable
bliss; the evil, in the sufferings of deepest woe.

And is this true? Can it be that one or the other of these experiences
is