The Russellville Democrat., 1889-06-27

cious children. Prayerless parents lead 1 ing prayerless children. They go through 1 every street, up every dark alley, into
 every cellar. along every highway. Hagar and fshmaell and while pronounce their names, 1t seems like the moaning of tue death wind -Hagar and lshmaeli
 learn one more lesson from this ori- 1 ental scene, and that is that every wilder ness has a well in it. Hagar and Ishmael gave up to die. Hagaris heart sank within her as she heard her child crying: Water wa.eri waterg' "Ah," she says, "my darling, there Is no water. This is
 desertn And then Gods angel said from the cloud: "What aileth thee, Hagars And she looked up and saw him pointing
 to a well of water, where she filled the
 bottle for the lad
 Blessed be God that there is in every
 wilderness well, if you only know how
 to find it--fountains for all these thirsty
 souls to day. s'On that last day, on that
 great day of the feast Jesus stood and
 cried: If any man thirst, lot him come
 to me and drink" All these other fonnt- aims you find are mere mirages of the desert. Paraeelsus you know, spent his 1 time in trying to find out the elixir of life
 "a liquid which, if taken, would keep one 1 perpetually young in this world, and | NOuA& NNAttsT AAS kt-tl btdh aAhAlA ao youth. Of course. he was disappointed; | he found not the elixir But here 1 tell 1 you to-day of the elixir of everlasting life 1 bursting from the Rock of Ages,v and that drinking that water yoa shall never | get old, and you will never be sick, and l you will never die. "Ho. every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters" 1 An, here is q man who says: T have been looking for that fountain I great while, but can't find it." And here is some one else who saysi Il believe | all you say, but l have been trudging l along in the wilderness. and can't find the l fountain" Do you know the reason? l will tell you. You never looked in the right direction. "0,n you say, l have 1 looked everywhere. have looked north, l south, east and west, and haven't found the fountain" Why, you are not looking l in the right direction at all. Look up, where Hagar looked She never would have found the fountain at all but when ] she heard the voice of the angel she | looked up, and she saw the finger point 1 ing to the supply. And O. soul, if to- day, with one earnest, intense prayer, you would only look up to Christ, He would l point you down to the supply in the will l derness. Look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved, for l am God, l and there is none else" Looki look! as l Hagar looked.
 | Yes, there is a we'll for every desert of l bereavement. Looking over the audience l to-day notice signs of mourning. Have 1 you found consolation? O. man bercft | 0, woman bereftf have you found conso- | lation? Hearse after hearse. We step 1 from one grave hillock to another grave 1 hillock. We follow corpses, ourselves soon be like them. The world is in mourn 1 ing for its dead. Every heart has become the sepuleher of some buried joy. But sing | ye 10 God, every wilderness has Nell in | it; and come to that well day, and 1 begin to draw water from that we'll. If you have lived in the country, you have l sometimes taken hold of the rope of the old well sweep, and you know how the bucket came up dripping with bright, cool water. And lay hold of the rope of Gods mercy to-day, and I begin to | draw on that Gospel we'll sweep and be- 1 gin to see the buckets coming mp. Thirsty l souls here is one bucket of life come and | drink of it: "Whosoever will, let him
 come and take of the water of life | freely" l pull away again at the rope, and another bucket comes
 up. It Is this promises; "Weep- ing may endure for a night, but joy
 cometh in the morning." 1 lay hold of the rope again, and l pull away with | all my strength, and the bucket comes up
 bright, and beautiful, and cool. Here is the promise: ''Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and l will l give you rest" The old astrologers used
 to cheat the people with the idea that they
 could tell from the position of the stars what would occur in the future, and if ! II. c -+, in, cr,a laf finY1 hat would be a prophecy of evil; if O cluster of stars stood in another relation, that
 would be prophecy of good. What su- | persttion
 But here is new astrology in which l put all my faith. By looking up to the | star of Jacob, the morning star of the Redeemer, can make this prophecy in regard to those who put their trust in God: "All things work together for good 1 to those who love God" l read it out on the sky. Tread it out in the Bible l read | it out in all things. "Ali things work to- l gether for good to those who love God" 1 Do you love Him? Have you seen the Nyetanthes? It is beautiful flower, but l it gives very little fragrance until after sunset. Then it pours its richness on the air. And this grace of the Gospel that commend to you this day, while it may be very sweet during the day of prosperity, l it pours forth it's richest aroma after sum l down, and it will be sundown with you and me after awhile. When you come to | go out of this world, will it be a desert march or will 1t be fountain for your soul:
 4 Christian Hindoo was dying, and his l heathen comrades came around him and
 tried to comfort him by reading some of
 the pages of their theology, but he
 waved his hand as much as to say: T don't want to hear it." Then
 they called in a heather priest,
 and he said If you will only recite
 the Numtra it will deliver you" He
 waved his hand as much as to say: "I | don't want to hear that" Then they
 said: Gall on Juggernaut." He shook
 his head as much as to say: ''I can't do
 that" Then they though perhaps he
 was too weary to speak, and they said:
 Now, if you can't say 'Juggernaut, think
 of that God" He shook his head again,
 as much as 10 say No, no, mo-" They
 then bent down to his pillow, and they
 said: In what will you trust:" His face
 lighted up with the very glories of the
 celestial sphere as he cried out, rallying
 all his dying energies, Jesus"
 0 come to-day to the tountain-the
 fountain open for sin and uneleanness. l
 will tell you the whole story iu two or
 three sentences. Pardon for all sin.
 Comfort for all trouble. Light for all
 darkness. And every wilderness has a
 well in it.
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