I have just been reading again that lovely fourth chapter of John. What a little heaven it is to sit in spirit there, and be in company with Him that is the eternal life, in full grace dispensing Himself to one of the degraded captives of pollution and death!
The satisfying water springs from that grace in the Son of God which reaches and quiets the conscience; and it was such that Jesus here dispenses to her. Till our need as sinners is met and answered, we must be thirsting again, let us get what we may, because the soul is not at rest with God. But Jesus came to repair the breach in the conscience-to give rest before God, and in God, and thus to impart the satisfying water of life through the Holy Ghost.
And when this is done, in a great divine sense, the end is reached--God is glorified--the sinner made happy, and entrance into the places of glory becomes a necessary result.
This end is beautifully shown in this same exquisite and marvellous chapter; for the woman goes away with a spirit in deep refreshment because of conscious acceptance and life, and the Son of God Himself is so satisfied in the fruit of His own way, that He has had that which sets Him above the thirst He had been feeling and the food He had wanted. 'I have meat to eat that ye know not of.' It was as manna to Him. What a thought! the Son of God comes down to our degraded earth to find His manna, His strange mysterious food and satisfaction of heart--bread which He could never have known in heaven--a joy that He could never have tasted amid the glories of His unfallen creatures. But here, on earth, among sinners, He finds, in the dispensing of the Father's grace, the deepest and fullest answer of all the longings of His divine love.
When a sinner is happy in Him, His end is reached, and so is ours, and all that remains is to spend eternity in the glory that becomes such an end as this-His joy in us, and ours in Him."
"In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 1 Thess. 5: 18.
"In everything give thanks." My God, is this Thy will? Give thanks for disappointments given, For prayers unanswer'd still?
Give thanks! In vain I've pray'd That I might useful be, And by Thy Spirit's helpful aid, Bring many souls to Thee.
Give thanks! when in the place Of health and usefulness, Through sickness, Thou hast paled my face With pain and weariness.
Give thanks! If 'twere Thy will Submission to demand, I then might bid myself be still, And bow to Thy command.
But hush, beneath my eye I see, in words of blood, "Will He who gave His Son to die, Refuse thee any good?"
Give thanks! Yea, Lord, I do, And by Thy help I will, Give thanks for blessings not received, Although expected still.
Give thanks for mercies given, Unnoticed oft by me; Give thanks for sins forgiven, Known only, Lord, to Thee.
Give thanks in word and deed, For Thy surpassing love, That sent Thy Son on earth to save, And now to plead above.
Give thanks for tender love, That our Redeemer show'd, Who, in the absence of Himself, A Comforter bestow'd.
Oh grant me by Thy grace To walk by faith alone, Until before my Father's face, I know as I am known! J. G. B.
Christian Friend Vol. 3. p. 186.
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John Gifford Bellett was an Irish Christian writer and theologian, and was influential in the beginning of the Plymouth Brethren movement. Bellett was born in Dublin, Ireland. He was educated first at the Grammar School in Exeter, England, then at Trinity College Dublin, where he excelled in Classics, and afterwards in London. It was in Dublin that, as a layman, he first became acquainted with John Nelson Darby, then a minister in the established Church of Ireland, and in 1829 the pair began meeting with others such as Edward Cronin and Francis Hutchinson for communion and prayer.
Bellett had become a Christian as a student and by 1827 was a layman serving the Church. In a letter to James McAllister, written in 1858, he describes the episcopal charge of William Magee, Archbishop of Dublin, that sought for greater state protection for the Church. The Erastian nature of the charge offended Darby particularly, but also many others including Bellett.
The pair bonded particularly over prophetic issues, and attended meetings and discussions together at the home of Lady Powerscourt, and Bellett and Darby (along with the Brethren movement in particular) were particularly associated with dispensationalism and premillenialism.
Bellett wrote many articles and books on scriptural subjects, his most famous works being The Patriarchs, The Evangelists and The Minor Prophets.