News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-11-20

he tainted away, and lay at the bottom
| of the well as though dead until, hours
after his recovery, he came TO the sur
/ face
1t is not like other wells, digged down
TO a fountain that fills it, but reser-
voir to catch the falling rains and to
that Christ refers when speaking to the
Samaritan woman about a spiritual
supply he said that he would, if asked,
have given her living water" that is,
water from flowing spring in dis
tinction from the water of that well
which was rain water. But why did
! Jacob make a reservoir there when
/ there is plenty of water all around and
/ abundance of springs and fountains
and seemingly no need of that reser-
voir2 Why did Jacob go to the vast
expense of boring and digging a well
perhaps two hundred feet deep as first
completed, when, by going little way
/ off, he could have water from other
| fountains at little or no expense All,
Jacob was wisel He wanted his own
well. Quarrels and wars might arise
with other tribes and the supply of
water might be cut off, so the shovels
and pickaxes and boring instruments
were ordered and the well of nearly
four thousand years ago was sunk
through the solid rock.
SEEK YE FOR LIVING WATERS.
When Jacob thus wisely insisted on
having his own well he taught us not
to be unnecessarily dependent on 9th
ers. Independence of business charac-
ter. Independence of moral character.
Independence of religious character.
Have your own well of grace, your own
well of courage, your own well of di-
vine supply. If you are an invalid you
have right to be dependent on others.
But if God has given you good health,
common sense and two eyes and two
ears and two hands and two feet, he
equipped you for independence of all
the universe except himself. If he had
meant you to be dependent on others
| you would have been built with q cord
/ around your waist to tie fast to some
body else. No; you are built with
opinions, with eyes to find your own
way, with ears to select your own mu-
sic. with hands to fight your own bat
ties. There is only one being in the
universe whose advice you need, and
that is God. Have your own well
and the Lord will fill it. Dig it if need
be through two hundred feet of solid
rock Dig it with your pen, or dig it
with your yardsticlz, or dig it with
your shovel, or dig it with your Bible
In my small way | never accom-
plished anything for God, or the church,
or the world, or my family, or myself
except in contradiction to human ad-
vice and in obedience to divine coun-
sell God knows everything, and what
is the use of going fer advice to human
beings who know so little that no one
but the all seeing God can realize how
little it isl / suppose that when Jacob
began to dig this well on which we are
sitting this noontime people gathered
around and said, What a useless ex-
pense you are going to, when rolling
down from yonder Mount GeriZim and
down from yonder Mount Ebal and
out yonder in the valley is plenty of
water!" oh" replied Jacob, that
is all true; but suppose my neighbors
should get angered against me, and cut
off my supply of mountain beverage,
what would | do, and what would my
family do, and what would my fiocks
onl hor1c lO1 Va 10
of pickaxes and crowbars, and go down
into the depths of these rocks, and
make me independent of all except him
| who fills the bottles of the clouds!
must have my own wellr'
Young man, drop cigars and cigar
| cites and wine cups and the Sunday
excursions, and build your own house
and have your own wardrobe and be
your own capitalist "Why, have
only five hundred dollars income a
year," says some one. Then spend
four hundred dollars of it in living, and
ten per cent. of it or fifty dollars in be-
nevolence, and the other fifty in begin
ming to dig your own well. Or, if you
have thousand dollars a year, spend
eight hundred dollars of it in living,
ten per cent. or one hundred dollars in
benevolence, and the remaining one
hundred in beginning to dig your own
well. The largest bird that ever flew
through the air was Matched out of one
egg, and the greatest estate was brood
ed out of one dollar
JACOBS FAITH.
] suppose when Jacob began to dig
this well on whose curb we are now
seated this December noon it was dry
season then as now, and some one
comes up and says: Now, Jacob, sup
pose you get the well fifty feet deep or
two hundred feet deep, and there
should be no water to fill it. Would
you not feel silly2" People passing
along the road and looking down from
Mount Gerizim or Mount Ebal near by
would laugh and say, That is jacobs
well, d great hole in the rock, illustrat-
ing the mans folly" Jacob replied,
There never has been a well in Pales-
tine or any other country that once
thoroughly dug was not sooner or later
filled from the clouds, and this will be
no exception" For months after Jacob
had completed the well people went by,
and out of respect for the deluded old
man put their hand over their mouth
to hide a smoker, and the well re-
manned as dry as the bottom of Il ket-
tie that has been hanging over the fire
for three hours.
But one day the sun was drawing
water and the wind got round to the
east and it began to drizzle, and then
great drops splashed all over the well
curb, and the heavens opened their
reservoir, and the rainy season poured
its floods for six weeks, and there came
| lnaidens to the well with empty pals
and carried them away full, and the
| camels thrust their mouths into the
troughs and were satisfied, and the
water was in the well three feet deep
and fifty feet deep and two hundred
feet deep, and all the Bedouins of the
nei9hborhood and all the passers by
realized that Jacob was wise in having
his own well. My nearer, it is your
part to dig your own well and it is
Gods part to fill it. You do your part
and he will do his part.
Much is said about good luck, " but
people who are industrious and self
denying almost always have good luck.
You can afford to be laughed at be-
cause of your application and economy,
for when you get your well dug and