- Home
- Speakers
- Alexander Maclaren
- Water Of Life
Alexander Maclaren
Alexander Maclaren, born 1826, died 1910, was a Scottish Baptist preacher and expositor whose eloquent sermons and biblical commentaries earned him enduring acclaim as one of the 19th century’s foremost pulpit orators. Born on February 11, 1826, in Glasgow, Scotland, to David Maclaren, a merchant and Baptist lay preacher, and his mother Ann, he was baptized at age 12 by Dr. James Paterson and moved with his family to London in 1838. There, he joined Stepney College in 1842, a Baptist training school, excelling in languages like Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and French, and delivering his first sermon at 17. Ordained in 1845, he began his ministry at Portland Chapel in Southampton, serving from 1846 to 1858, before taking the pulpit at Union Chapel in Manchester in 1858, where he remained for 45 years until retiring in 1903. Maclaren’s ministry at Union Chapel transformed it into a thriving congregation, growing from 100 to over 2,000 attendees, drawn by his meticulous expository preaching that unpacked scripture with intellectual depth and spiritual warmth. He declined a call to London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle after Charles Spurgeon’s death, preferring his Manchester flock, and twice served as president of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (1875–76 and 1901–02). His written legacy includes the multi-volume Expositions of Holy Scripture, begun in 1887, and contributions to The Expositor’s Bible, cementing his nickname “the prince of expositors.”
Download
Sermon Summary
Alexander Maclaren emphasizes that the sole condition for receiving the 'Water of Life'—representing all of God's gifts in Jesus Christ—is a genuine desire directed towards Him. He stresses that mere desire is insufficient; it must be transformed into faith and action, symbolized by 'taking' rather than 'asking.' Maclaren urges believers to recognize the abundant provision of salvation offered by Christ, who invites all to drink freely from the well of life. He warns against the blindness of those who turn away from Jesus, highlighting the necessity of understanding the thirst of the soul and the readiness of the Giver. Ultimately, he reassures that Christ's offer of rest and life is available to all who come to Him in faith.
Water of Life
The condition, the only condition, and the indispensable condition, of possessing that water of life--the summary expression for all the gifts of God in Jesus Christ, which at the last are essentially God Himself--is the desire to possess it turned to Jesus Christ. . . But it is not enough that there should be the desire. It must be turned to Him. . . the great keyword of personal religion, faith in Jesus Christ. . . . . . Another of the scriptural expressions for the act of trusting in Him is taking, not asking. You do not need to ask, as if for something that is not provided. What we all need to do is to open our eyes to see what is there, if we like to put out our hands and take it. Why should we be saying, "Give me to drink," when a pierced hand reaches out to us the cup of salvation, and says, Drink you all of it"? "Ho, everyone that thirsts come . . . and drink . . . without money and without price." There is no other condition but desire turned to Christ, and that is the necessary condition. . . Blind, blind, blind, are the men who grope as noonday as in the dark and turn away from Jesus. If you knew, not with the head only, but with the whole nature, if you knew the thirst of your soul, the sweetness of the water, the readiness of the Giver, and the dry and parched land to which you condemn yourselves by your refusal, surely you would bethink yourself and fall at His feet and ask, and get, the water of life. . . . . The only rest of the soul is in God, and the only way to get it is through Christ, as any saint of God ever was. But the knowledge does not touch their will because they like the poison and they do not want the life. Oh! dear friends, the instantaneousness of Christ's answer, and the certainty of it, are as true for each of us as they were for this woman. The offer is made to us all, just as it was to her. We can gather round that Rock like the Israelites in the wilderness, and slake every thirst of our souls from its outgushing streams. Jesus Christ says to each of us, as He did to her, tenderly, warningly, invitingly, and yet rebukingly, "If you knew . . . then you would ask, . . . and I would give" (Gospel of St. John, pp. 211-213).
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
Alexander Maclaren, born 1826, died 1910, was a Scottish Baptist preacher and expositor whose eloquent sermons and biblical commentaries earned him enduring acclaim as one of the 19th century’s foremost pulpit orators. Born on February 11, 1826, in Glasgow, Scotland, to David Maclaren, a merchant and Baptist lay preacher, and his mother Ann, he was baptized at age 12 by Dr. James Paterson and moved with his family to London in 1838. There, he joined Stepney College in 1842, a Baptist training school, excelling in languages like Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and French, and delivering his first sermon at 17. Ordained in 1845, he began his ministry at Portland Chapel in Southampton, serving from 1846 to 1858, before taking the pulpit at Union Chapel in Manchester in 1858, where he remained for 45 years until retiring in 1903. Maclaren’s ministry at Union Chapel transformed it into a thriving congregation, growing from 100 to over 2,000 attendees, drawn by his meticulous expository preaching that unpacked scripture with intellectual depth and spiritual warmth. He declined a call to London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle after Charles Spurgeon’s death, preferring his Manchester flock, and twice served as president of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (1875–76 and 1901–02). His written legacy includes the multi-volume Expositions of Holy Scripture, begun in 1887, and contributions to The Expositor’s Bible, cementing his nickname “the prince of expositors.”