Article August 7, 1926 Issue

"Living fountains of waters"

ELEANORA B. CARR

Who can read the thrilling cry at the beginning of the fifty-fifth capter of Isaiah, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," without feeling that the words welled up from a heart so full of spiritual love for mankind that they overflowed into inspired Hebrew poetry? While comparatively few in the days of Isaiah could have fully understood the meaning of the gracious invitation, or the nature of the living waters they were called upon to share, yet the divine message went forth, vital and instinct with blessing. No doubt it touched receptive ones here and there to spiritual activity and search for the truth; but it still remained, even to those whose hearts were stirred by the beautiful passage, only a promise, until centuries later Jesus stood in the Jewish temple at Jerusalem on their great feast day and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."

Jesus brought the living waters of Truth to the men of his day in a form which they must perforce either acknowledge or deny; for even if they tried to ignore the words of him who declared that man is spiritual and immortal now, Jesus' marvelous deeds and works of healing, given as proof that man is and always will be the son of God, could scarcely be passed over unnoticed.

As a matter of fact, these startling truths of spiritual existence were so disturbing and insistent to the materialists that they attempted, by destroying Jesus, to thrust back the inflowing tide of living waters; but they achieved nothing which could prevent the ushering in of a new era in human history, brought about by the better understanding of God of which Isaiah sang, and which Jesus showed to be capable of raising people out of the mortal dream called death to fuller, freer life. The material world pressed hard upon those who maintained the Christ-ideal in the days following Jesus' earthly mission; and the purity of the waters of life he so graciously proffered was to human sense contaminated by ritual and doctrine, until the essential proofs of spiritual understanding no longer occurred, healing works ceased, and religion became largely governed by priestcraft and superstition.

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