ILL-NATURED people will quarrel about anything. Indeed, I have known some people commence a quarrel about nothing at all, just for the strange pleasure of wrangling. Everything that everybody does is wrong in their idea, and so they begin to haggle about it; and when they do thus begin, it is quite impossible to conjecture when they will leave off. I once heard of a man, who had so let this habit grow upon him, that he seldom opened his lips except to quarrel; and would sometimes talk himself into such a passion that he would burst into tears in the midst of speaking! I should imagine that king Solomon came across some people of this stamp in his day, especially among the women, for he says that a comer on the house-top is better than a brawling woman in a wide house; and somewhere else he likens a contentious woman to the continual dropping on a rainy day.
But what made me speak of quarreling was the fact, that so much of it goes on at wells. Even in the Bible we read that "the herdsmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdsmen; and he called the well Ezek, contention." (Gen. 26:2020And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. (Genesis 26:20).) There was once a certain Roquedah, who had command of a small coasting vessel in Arabian waters. Driven one day, by stress of weather into a little bay, called Birk Bay, he sent some of his sailors on shore to procure water, for which, in that neighborhood, it is always customary to pay. When the sailors reached the well, however, the price which the Bedouins wanted to charge was so exorbitant, that they refused to pay it, and a quarrel ensued. Eventually the men returned to their vessel with-out the water, and reported to the Roquedah what had taken place. Their recital was no sooner finished than the Roquedah rose in great wrath, and declared that if he could not get the water at his own price, he would have it for nothing; and buckling on his armor, he stepped into the boat, and ordered the sailors to conduct him to the shore. On reaching the well he found that the Bedouins were not less disposed for fighting than himself; but as their numbers were inferior to those of the Roquedah, they quietly sent for assistance, and meanwhile delayed hostilities by feigning a desire to come to terms. Within a quarter of an hour their number had increased to nearly one hundred, and feeling strong enough to commence an attack, they changed their policy, and refused to part with their water at any price. In the strife that followed, the Roquedah and two of his sailors were killed, and the rest were glad enough to beat a retreat, and to get back in safety to their boat. How sad is all this! Just think of it for a moment. Three precious lives lost, three immortal souls sent suddenly into eternity, and all over a childish squabble about the price of some water at a well! When will men learn wisdom?
Though the title of my book should, strictly speaking, keep me to Eastern Lands, I cannot resist the temptation to call back your thoughts awhile to your own favored country, in order that I may bring to your notice something quite unique in the way of wells.
The well in question is at Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, and is called the Dropping Well. It rises in a rock, and drops into a little pool below; and objects which get in the way of its little shower, soon get turned to stone. Yes, turned to stone; and if you were to go yourself, and take a peep at the well, you would see exactly what I mean. Hanging from the polished rock are all sorts of strange articles, which have been turned to stone by the action of this dropping well. Hats, that were once of the smoothest felt; shoes, that were once of the most elastic leather; toy-houses, from which you might once have sucked the paint (painted toys have a knack of finding their way to the mouths of some children); birds' nests, which once were warmly lined with moss and feathers; birds, which might once have snuggled in those very nests, all turned to stone, and numerous other objects besides! Sin and unbelief are like the Dropping Well of Knaresborough, for they turn our hearts to stone. You know what a stony heart means in the Bible-it means a heart which has been hardened by sin or unbelief. The people of Israel made their hearts like "an adamant stone," in order that the words which God had to say to them might have no effect. (Zech. 7:1212Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 7:12).) When God is going to save a person, He takes away his stony heart and gives him a heart of flesh (Ezek. 11:1919And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: (Ezekiel 11:19), and 36:26), so that we may say that the stony-hearted people are the unbelieving, who belong to the world; and the people with hearts of flesh are the Christians, who belong to Christ. The stony-ground hearers in Matt. 13, you will remember, came to no good.
But scripture has quite another meaning for a well, than sin or unbelief. A well is fed from heaven, from whence the thirsty soul looks for salvation. And Isaiah says, "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." The waters of a well are continually running; but the pleasures of sin (which are the muddy waters at which poor human nature drinks) are soon exhausted. A broken cistern is a better figure of the source from which all sinful pleasures flow. When the people of Israel wandered from the Lord, He charged them with having committed two evils: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Every man, woman, and child in this wide world is drinking at one or the other of these two sources-at the fountain of living waters, which is Christ, or at the broken cisterns of the world. From which source, dear reader, are you drinking?
Wells are to be met with in all countries, but they are most common in the East. In almost all cases they lie outside the cities, and the task of drawing the water devolves upon the women. They usually go to the wells in companies, choosing the cool of the mornings and evenings for that purpose. It is mostly the unmarried ones who do this sort of work, and they dress themselves up in fine style on such occasions, having their necks and arras loaded with ornaments; for they often meet with shepherds at the well, who marry them. Thus they sometimes go away with a full heart as well as a full pitcher. "The girls who flock around our fountain to fill their pitchers," says one traveler, "often crowd and jostle each other, and the jug of some one of them falls upon the pavement, and is dashed in pieces, and there is 'the pitcher broken at the fountain,' irreparably broken, its value and usefulness at an end, the emblem used in scripture of old age and the end of life.”
You are fond of stories, so here is a true story about a well: Many many years ago, there lived a long way from here, at a town called Gerar, an old man named Abraham, who had two wives. The name of the one was Sarah, and the name of the other Hagar; and Hagar had a son named Ishmael, but Sarah had no child. Now, an angel had told Abraham before they went to Gerar, that Sarah should one day have a child; but Sarah had laughed at what the angel said, and would not believe the message which God had sent. She would often feel lonely and unhappy, too, through not believing the angel's words, for she was an old woman, and had no other reason for thinking that she would ever be like Hagar. But what made her most unhappy of all was that Hagar often mocked her, because she had no child, and the taunts were hard to bear, as Hagar was only Abraham's bondwoman, whilst Sarah was his father's own daughter. God, however, never breaks His word, and so, in spite of her unbelief, a little son was born to her, whom she called Isaac.
Then one day Abraham made a great feast in honor of his son; and Sarah and Hagar, as well as Ishmael, and a great many of Abraham's servants were invited to the feast. For some time they were very happy, and, I dare say, Abraham and Sarah talked a great deal about their little son, and thought of very little else beside him; but I am only guessing this. The Book from which I get my story does not tell me so. At all events, everything went on very smoothly until Sarah, chancing to look across the tent at Ishmael, saw that he was mocking her. This was too much for poor Sarah, so when she was once more alone with Abraham, she said to him, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." Yet these words only grieved Abraham, for he was a kind and gentle man; and though Hagar had often treated him hardly, he loved her because of Ishmael their son.
But whilst he was still standing, not knowing what to do, God spoke to Abraham, and told him not to be grieved about them, but to listen to Sarah's voice, and to turn them out as she had asked him. So Abraham got up early in the morning, and took some bread and a bottle of water; and when he had told Hagar and her son what he was going to do, he put the bottle on her shoulder, and placed her bread in her hand, and sent them both away.
Now you must know, that all the land round Gerar was very wild, and nothing at all grew there that was fit to eat. There were no men or women either, or houses, or anything that would make people comfortable: nothing but stones, and dry sand, and ugly, prickly shrubs. So Hagar took Ishmael by the hand, and they walked on together till they carne to the wilderness, when Hagar took the bottle off her shoulder and gave Ishmael some water out of it; and then they went on again, farther and farther into the wilderness, until they were quite lost, and by that time Ishmael began to wish that he had never mocked Sarah. Then it began to get dark, and the stars carne out; but they still kept going on, and on, and on, till Ishmael was too tired to go a step further. Then Hagar laid him on the sand, and wrapped her cloak round him, and placed his head on her shoulder; and soon he was fast asleep. The sun woke them again next morning, and they got up, and went on with their journey; but they only seemed to get deeper and deeper into the wilderness, and by the time it was dark again, the bread was all gone, and the bottle was nearly empty. Then at last the time came when that was empty too; and Ishmael began to cry out for more water; but there was no stream anywhere about, and there were no clouds in the sky, and the sun was very hot. And presently Ishmael became so weak that he could not stand upon his feet, and the sun scorched his forehead, so that he began to say strange things, and did not know his mother's voice when she spoke to him; and he lifted up his hands for more water, but there were no clouds still, and there was no stream to be seer. Then Hagar looked anxiously at Ishmael, and on his hot, parched lips, and began to think that he was dying; but she said, "Let me not see the death of the child." So she laid him under one of the shrubs, and went away a little distance, and turned her face away from the shrub, and began crying very bitterly.
But God was looking upon her all the while, and upon Ishmael too; and when He saw their tears, His angel called to Hagar, and asked her why she was unhappy, and told her that God had heard her child's cry, and was going to bless her in a way that she had little thought of. So she went to the shrub where Ishmael was lying, and lifted him up, and took his helpless little hand in hers; and then God opened her eyes, and she saw a WELL OF WATER, and she went and filled the bottle, and gave Ishmael to drink.
How many Hagars and Ishmaels there are in this wilderness-world to-day! How many think only of making provision for the present, and forget all about their needs for the eternal future! How many are filling their bottles at the broken cisterns of this world, forgetting that sooner or later the water will all be spent, and death will be staring them in the face! Oh what folly; what blindness! But then God opened Hagar's eyes, and she saw a WELL OF WATER. Ah! that is it. A well of water. You see, when God gives He gives with no niggard hand. Abraham gave Hagar a bottle of water-God gave her a well. And it is just so now. When the water in our poor, wretched little bottles is spent, and we cry to Him in our need, He opens our eyes, and shows us a well of water. "He! every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters;" that is God's invitation. "Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely.”
Captain Basil Hall, who was a great traveler, tells us that he could never see a Hindoo female sitting by the steps of a well in India, with her arm thrown wearily over the unfilled water-pot, without thinking of the beautiful story of the woman of Samaria. Perhaps you know this story; no matter, it is worth repeating.
When Jesus was down here, a Man amongst men, there were no people more anxious to get rid of Him than those to whom He specially came-the Jews. They were His chosen people; but they hated Him, saw no beauty in Him, and tried to cast Him out. "He carne unto his own, and his own received him not." And so we find Him, on the occasion mentioned in the story, leaving Judæa where the true Jews dwelt, and going into Samaria, which was peopled by men and women with whom the Jews would have nothing to say. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. (John 4:99Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. (John 4:9).)
But Jesus was more than a mere Jew. True, in grave He had taken the form of a man, and had linked Himself with the Jewish people by being born in Bethlehem, a city of Judæa. But then He was also the Son of God; and as the Son of God, He could have dealings with whom He pleased. There was no limit to the activity of His love in this character. A Jew and a Samaritan were both alike to Him; and wherever there was a needy soul Jesus was willing to supply the need.
Well, on His way through Samaria, He carne to a city called Sychar, where there was a well; and being weary after His long journey, He sat down upon it. Think of that, the Son of God weary! He who made the world, and the whole universe of worlds, weary! Ah! but He was Man as well as God, and as Man He suffered all that man can suffer, apart from sin. Weariness, hunger, pain, sorrow-Jesus passed through all these; and the measure of His sufferings was deeper than that of any other man. But while He was thus sitting on the well, alone and weary, a Samaritan woman carne from the city to draw water. I have told you that the women usually go to the wells in companies, and choose the cool of the mornings or evenings for that purpose; but this woman came alone, and the hour of her visit was the hour of noon, the hottest part of the day. Why was that? Ah! poor woman, hers had been a bad life, a life of sin and shame, and none would associate with her now; doubtless that is why she came alone. And it would seem that she made her journey to the well at noon, because at that time there would be fewer persons about, the great heat keeping nearly every one within doors. Well, the woman was alone with Jesus. And now, what did Jesus do? The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans; and Jesus was a Jew. Did He rise from the well and move away from the Samaritan woman? No. But He was holy, and she was defiled. Did He not leave her on that account? No. "Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.”
This was a wonderful scene. The Son of God asking a drink of water from a poor, sinful woman, whom even her neighbors thought beyond hope, so evil had been her life. The woman herself, although she seemed to have no thought of her lost condition, and certainly had no knowledge of the One in whose presence she stood, even she was surprised. "How is it," she asked, "that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?" That was her difficulty; and the answer which she received only seemed to increase her perplexity. "If," said Jesus, "thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." What did she know of "living water"? Nothing at all.
By degrees, however, an uneasy feeling is awakened in her conscience, for Jesus begins to tell her something of her past history; and she finds that He can read her thoughts, and her wonder is very great. Then, as the long, dark scroll of her wasted life is unrolled before her, and her eyes fall with shame before the gaze of the Son of God, she says to Him, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." At the beginning of the interview the woman had been very talkative (as people usually are before they get consciously into God's presence); but Jesus had listened to her words with lowly patience, correcting from time to time her misguided thoughts, till the fitting moment carne to tell her who He was. She had heard of the Messiah, the great King who had been promised to Israel, who was to sit upon David's throne and rule the world; but she did not know that the wearied, lowly Man, who sat beside her on the well, was He. "I know," she said, "that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come he will tell us all things.”
But the moment had now come for Jesus to make Himself known to her, and the wondrous announcement fell upon her ears, "I THAT SPEAK UNTO THEE AM HE." In a moment her darkness and misery vanished. Jesus had opened the eyes of her soul, and given her to see (as distinctly as her bodily eyes could see the well of Sychar) the well of water of which He had been speaking. "Living water" indeed it was water that would satisfy her every need; "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." In possession of such a well, no wonder that she left her water-pot, and went into the city to tell others of the discovery which she had made.
Dear friend, this "living water" may be yours. It is God's free gift to you. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Rev. 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17).) The water from other wells has to be paid for, but this may be had "without money and without price." "Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away." (Gen. 21) But at this well there is room for all; every one is invited to drink of it. Some people, the self-righteous people of the old Pharisee type, will have no water unless they pay for it; and so they have to go without, or satisfy themselves at the broken cisterns of the world. Their language is the language of Israel to the king of Edom, "If I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay thee for it." They will not take a gift even from the hand of God. How foolish to be so proud, is it not?
But you, dear reader, will not refuse? You will not turn away? "The living water" is worth having, don't you think so? You do not like the thought of death; you would like to live forever. Well, then, "The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Get alone with Jesus, like the woman of Samaria, and He will give you of His Holy Spirit, which will be in you "a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.”
"Sweet was the hour, O Lord, to Thee,
At Sychar's lonely well,
When a poor outcast heard Thee there,
Thy great salvation tell.
“Lord, 'twas Thy power unseen that drew
The stray one to that place,
In solitude to learn from Thee
The secrets of Thy grace.
“There Jacob's erring daughter found
Those streams unknown before,
The waterbrooks of life, that make
The weary thirst no more.
“And, Lord, to us, as vile as she,
Thy gracious lips have told
That mystery of love, reveal'd
At Jacob's well of old”