The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-03-23

ue SSuenUdrY IN MS lie, decides UnhL he
be student. That wound by the glass
in the foot decides that he shall be John
Kitto, who shall provide the best relig-
ious encyclopaedia the world has ever
had provided, and with his other writ
ings as well, throwing light upon the
Word of God such as has come from nc
other man in this century. o mother,
mother, that little hand that wanders
over your face may yet be lifted to
hurl thunderbolts of war or drop bene-
dictions! That little voice may bias
pheme God in the grogshops or cry
''Forward!' to the Lords hosts as they
go out for their last victory. My mind
this morning leaps 80 years ahead, and
l see a merchant prince of New York.
One stroke of his pen brings a ship out
of Canton. Another stroke of his pen
brings ship into Madras. He is
mighty in all the money markets Of
the world. Who is he? He sits on Sab
baths beside you in church.
My mind leaps 80 years forward
from this time and find myself in a
relief association. A great multitude
of Christian women have met together
for generous purpose. There is one
woman in that crowd who seems to
have the confidence of all the others,
and they all look up to her for her
counsel and for her prayers. Who is
she? This afternoon you will find her
in the Sabbath school, while her teach.
er tells her of that Christ who clothed
the naked, and fed the hungry, and
healed the sick. My mind leaps for
ward thirty years from now, and l find
myself in an African Jungle; and there
is missionary of the cross addressing
the natives, and their dusky counte.
nGnces are irradiated with the glad It'd.
ings of great joy and salvation. Who
is he? Did you not hear his voice to-
day in the opening song of your church
service?
learn one more lesson from this
oriental scene, and that is, that every
wilderness has well in it. Hagar and
Ishmael gave up to die. Hagar's heart
sank within her as she heard her child
crying: water! Water! Water! "Ahp
she says, my darling, there is no
water. This is desert" And then
Gods angel said from the cloud;
"What aileth thee, Hagar?" And she
looked up and saw Him pointing to a
well of water where she filed the bot
tie for the lad. Blessed be God, that
there is in every wilderness well, il
you only know how to find it-foun.
tains for all these thirsty souls. On
that last day, on that great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried: IF any
man thirst, let him come to Me and
drink" All these other fountains
you find are mere mirages of the
desert. Paracelsus, you know, spent
his time in trying to find out
the elixir of life-a liquid, which if
taken, would keep one perpetually
young in this world, and would change
the aged back again to youth. Oh
course he was disappointed; he found
not the elixir. But here tell you OF
the elixir of everlasting life bursting
from the Rock of Ages" and that
drinking that water you shall never
get old, and you will never be sick,
and you will never die. 'Ho, every
one that thirsteth, come we to the
waters" All! here is man who says
II have been looking for that fountain
a great while, but can't find it." And
here is someone else who says: II be-
lieve all you say, but l have been
trudging along in the wilderness and
can't find the fountain" ''Do you
know the reason? l will tell you.
You never looked in the right direc-
tion. "Oh," you say, II have looked
everywhere. 1 have looked north,
south, east and west, and l haven't
found the fountain" Why, you are
not looking in the right direction at all.
Yes there is well for every desert
OF bereavement. Looking over any au-
dience l notice signs of mourning and
woe. Have you found consolation? Oh,
man bereft, Oh, woman bereft, have
you found consolation? Hearse after
hearse. We step from one grave hillocl1
to another grave hillock. we follow
corpses, ourselves soon to be like them.
The world is in mourning for its dead.
Every heart has become the sepulcher
of some buried joy. But sing we to
God; every wilderness has well in it;
and come to that well to-day, and 1
begin to draw water for you from that
well.
If you have lived in the country you
have 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 and begin to
draw on that gospel well-sweep, and 1
see the buckets coming up. Thirsty
soul! Here is one bucket of life! Come
and drink of it. "Whosoever will, let
him come and take of the water of life
freely" Ipull away again at the rope,
and another bucket comes up. 1t is
this promise: weeping may endure for
night, but joy cometh in the morn
ing" | lay hold of the rope again, and
l pull away with all my strength, and
the bucket comes up, bright, and beau
tiful, and cool. Here is the promise
Come unto me, all we who are weary
and heavy laden, and will give you
rest"
A converted Hindoo was dying, and
his heather comrades came around
him and tried to comfort him by read
ing some of the pages of their theology;
but he waved his hand, as much as to
say: II don't want to hear it." Then
they called in heather priest, and he