78. Elijah went first to Beersheba, to the
mysteries and sacraments of the divine and holy Law, next he is sent to
the brook, to the stream of the river which makes glad the City of
God. Ps. xlvi. [xlv.]
4. You perceive the two Testaments
of the One Author; the old Scripture as a well deep and obscure, whence
you can only draw with labour; it is not full, for He Who was to fill
it was not yet come, Who afterwards said: “I am come not to
destroy but to fulfil the Law.” S. Matt. v. 17. And so the Saint is bidden of
the Lord to pass over to the stream, for he who has drunk of the New
Testament, not only is a river, but also “from his belly shall
flow rivers of living water,” S. John vii. 38. rivers of
understanding, rivers of meditation, spiritual rivers, which, however,
dried up in the times of unbelief, lest the sacrilegious and
unbelieving should drink.