Our master loves
all alike; but he cannot supply us with fresh waters and new life if we
have not used the old and prepared for the new."
"I suppose, if we had them ever so clean now, that the carrier would
pass us by," remarked one of the group.
"Try, and see," said Faithful. "We may always rest assured that if our
part is done the master will do his; for no one, however kind and
merciful, can benefit us if we do not put ourselves in a state to be
blessed. If the master sends us fresh water each day, and our urns are
impure, is it the fault of the benefactor that they are so? We must
prepare to receive."
Faithful went on his way. The sun sank in its bed of fleecy clouds,
the evening dew fell on the earth, and all was still. The lesson must
have penetrated the hearts of the listeners; for on the morrow their
urns, white and clean, were full of sparkling water.
Do we look into our hearts each day and see that the life from thence
has gone forth for good and made ready for new, or are we idly murmuring
that we have no life-waters? Can the Father's life inflow if we do
not _give_? Our souls are sacred urns, which He longs to fill to
overflowing with pure and heavenly truths if we are willing to receive,
and faithful to extend, his mercies.
XIII.
SELF-EXERTION.
An aged man who had built for himself a house upon a high elevation
of land, and had labored many years, yea, the most of his lifetime,
in conveying trees, plants, and flowers with which to decorate his
grounds, came one day in his descent upon a youth who sat by the roadside
looking greatly dispirited.
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