Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/225

Rh thirst. That rivulet is baptism, which alone is able to quench the drought occasioned by original sin. Yet should the evil nature of that origin prevail, and you fall again into error, then seek out the fountain, and there drink. For that fountain is our Lord Jesus Christ, as he witnesses of himself. "I am a fountain of living water, springing up into eternal life." John iv. The streams or veins of that fountain are the words of Scripture, which too frequently issue from the mouth of a putrid dog; that is, of an evil preacher. If it should be asked, why the spring of pure water is made to flow through the rank jaws of a dog, rather than through those of any other animal, it is answered, that Scripture more usually compares it with a priest, than with anything else; and as in a dog there are four excellent qualities, described in the following couplet.