_RIVERS FROM THE SNOW_
REVELATION xxii. 1-7, 17-21.
The water of life flows out of the throne. Grace has its rise in sovereign
holiness. This river is born amid the virgin snow. All true love springs
out of spotless purity. "Love" from any other source is illegitimately
wearing a stolen name. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord!" That is the first
note in the song of redemption. In that burning whiteness I discern the
possibility of my own sanctification.
For the grace which flows out of sovereign holiness is a minister of the
holy Lord to make me holy. If it were not perfectly pure it would itself
be an agent of defilement. But it is "clear as crystal," and therefore it
purifies and fertilizes wherever it flows. Rare trees grow upon its banks,
and grace-fruits make every season beautiful. "Everything shall live
whither the river cometh."
But without the river my soul shall be "as an unwatered garden." My life
shall be a realm of perpetual drought. Things may begin to grow, but they
shall speedily droop and die. The heavenly Husbandman shall find no fruit
when He walks amid the garden in the cool of the day. And therefore, my
soul, look to the river which flows from the throne! "There is a river,
the streams whereof make glad the city of God," and that river is for
thee!