The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-12-02

south land" and it slopes off toward
deserts of sorrows, and the prayer
which Achsah made to her father Ca
leb we make this day to our Father
Cod: Thou has given me a south
land; give me also springs of water.
And he gave her the springs
and the neither springs
Blessed be God, we have more ad-
vantages given US than we can really
appreciate. We ave spiritual bless
ings offered us in his world which /
shall call the neither springs, and glo-
ries in the world to come which / shall
call the upper springs.
PLEASURE OF RELIGION
Where h a 1 find words enough
threaded with light to set forth the
pleasure of religion? David, nab to
describe it in words, played 1t on a
harp. Mrs. Hemans, not finding
enough power in prose, sings b a
praise in a canto. christopher Wren,
unable to describe it in language,
sprung it into the arches Of st. Pauls,
John Bunyan, unable to present it in
ordinary phraseology, takes all the fas-
cination Of allegory. Handel, with or
binary music unable to reach the
height of the theme, rouses it up in an
o~ratorio- Oh, there is no life on earth
so happy as a really Christian life!
I do not mean a sham Christian life.
but a real Christian life. Where there
is a thorn, there is a whole garland of
roses. Where there is one groan, there
are three doxologies. Where there is
one day of cloud, there is a whole
season Of sunshine. Take the hum
blest Christian man that you know
angels of God canopy him with their
white wings; the lightnings of heaven
are his armed allies; the Lord is his
Shepherd, picking out for him green
pastures by still waters. If he walk
forth, heaven is his bOdyguard; if he
lie down to sleep, ladders OF light, an
gel b~lossoming, are let into his dreams;
if he be thirsty, the p%otentates of
heaven are his cup bearers; if he sits
down to food, his plain table blooms
into the Kings banquet. Men say,
Look at that odd fellow with the
wOrnout coat" the angels of God cry,
Lift up your heads, We everlasting
gates, and let him come in!' Fastid-
ious people cry, Get off my front
steps," The doOrkeepers of heaven
cry, Come We blessed of my Father,
inhedhit thekingdam!" When he comes
to die, though he may be carried out
in a pine box to the p%otter's field, to
that potter's field the chariots of
Christ will come down, and the caval-
cade will crowd all the bOulevardS of
heaVen
L olCoo III y " IN ASoNIlk III
faction of religion. 1t makes a man all
right with reference to the past. 1t
makes a man all right with reference
to the future Oh, these neither
springs of comfort! They are peren-
NAL. The foundation of God standeth
sure having his seal, 1.-THE Lord
knoweth them that are his" 1.-THE
mountains shall depart and the hills
be removed, but my kindness shall not
depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant Of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord, who hath mercy upon
thee" Oh, cluster of diamonds set in
FURNISHED gold! Oh, neither springs of
comfort bursting through all the val
legs of trial and tribulation! When
you see, you of the world, what salts
faction there is on earth in religion, do
you not thirst after it as the daughter
of Caueb thirsted after the water
springs? 1t is no stagnant pond, scum
med over with malaria, but springs of
water leaping from the Rock of Ages!
Take up one cup of that spring water
and across the top of the chalice will
tloa the delicate shadows of the heav-
emily wall, the yellow of jasper, the
green of emerald, the blue of, sardonyX,
the fire of jacinth.
SPRINGS OF COMFORT.
I wish 1 could make you understand
the joy religion is to some of US. 1t
makes a man happy while he lives and
glad when he dies. With two feet
upon a chair and bursting with drop
sizes, / heard an old nan in the poor
house cry out, BLESS the Lord, oh, my
SOUL" 1 looked around and said,
What has this man got to thank God
fOr?"'. 1t makes the lame man leap as
a hart and the dumb sing. They say
that the old Puritan religion is a juice
less and joyless religion, but 1 remem-
Der reading of DIR. Goodwin, the cele-
brated Puritan, who in his last moment
said: us this dying? Why, my bow
abides in strength! l am swallowed
up in God" Her ways are ways of
~pleasantness, and all her paths are
peace" Oh, you who have been try
ing to satisfy yourselves with the
southland of this world, do you not
feel that you would this morning like
to have access to the neither springs OF
spiritual comfort? Would you not
like to have Jesus Christ bend over
your cradle and bless your table and
heal your Wounds and strew flowers of
consolation all up n down the graves
| of you dead?
IT'S religion that car give
Sweetest pleasures while we live,
It's religion can supply
Sweetest comforts when we die.
But I have something better to tell
you. suggested by this text* 1t seems
that old Father Caleb on the wedding
day of his daughter wanted to make
her just as happy as possible. Though
Othniel was taking her away, and his
heart was almost broken because she
was going, yet he gives her a south
land" Not only that, out the neither
springs. Not only that, but the upper
springs. o God, my Father, l thank
thee that thou hast given me a south
and" in this world, and the neither
springs of spiritual comfort in this
world, but more than all I thank thee
for the upper springs in heaven!
GLIMPSES OF HEAVEN.
1t is very fortunate that we cannot
see heaven until We get into it. o
Christian man, if you could see what a
place it is, we would never get you
back again to the office or store or shop
and the duties you ought to perform
would go neglected. I am glad / shall
not see that world until 1 enter it.
Suppose we were allowed to go on an
excursion into that good land With the