My Lord is "the fountain of life." "This life is in His Son." The springs
are nowhere else--not in elaborate theologies, or in ethical ideals, or in
literary masterpieces, or in music or art. "In Him was life." It is so
easy to forget the medicinal spring amid the distractions of the
fashionable spa. There are some healing waters at Scarborough, but they
have been almost "crowded out" by bands and entertainments. It is possible
that the secondary ministries of the Church may crowd out the Church's
Lord. I do not object to the entertainment if only it opens out on to the
Spring!
To have the Son is to have life. Nothing else is needed. "Thou, O Christ,
art all I want." Ritualisms, and ecclesiasticisms, and formal theologies
are not requisite. We can be saved without an academic knowledge of "the
plan of salvation." Many a gamekeeper's little child knows all the roads
on the estate, although she would be quite "at sea" in explaining "the
plan of the estate" which hangs in the house of the steward. "This is life
eternal, to know Thee and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."