The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1901-08-16

You do not want to be in company
with rustic Jacob and Rachel and be
drinking out of the fountain where
10000 sheep have been drinking be-
fore you. You will have to remove
the obstacle of pride or never find
your way to the well. You will have
to come as we came, willing to take
the water of eternal life in any way
and at any hand and in any kind of a
pitcher, crying out; "Oh, Lord Je-
sus, / am dying of thirst Give me
the water of eternal life, whether in
trough or goblet! Give me the wa
ter of life! 1 care not in wat it
comes to me-" Away with all your
hindrances of pride from the wells
mouth!
Here is another man who is kept
back from the water of life by the
stone of an obdurate heart which
lies over the mouth of the well. You
have no more feeling upon this sub
ject than if God had yet to do you
the first kindness or you had to do
God the first wrong. Seated on His
lap all these years, His everlasting
arms sheltering you, where is your
gratitude? Where is your morning
and evening prayer? Where are your
consecrated lives? 1 say to you, as
Daniel said to Belshazzar: "The God
in whose hand thy breath is, and all
thy way, thou hast not gloritied.'
If you treated anybody as badly as
you have treated God, you would have
made 500 apologies; yea, your whole
life would have been an apology.
Three times a day you have been
seated at Gods table. Spring, sum
mer, autumn and winter He has ap-
propriately appareled you Your
health from Him, your companion
from Him, your children from Him.
your home from Him, all the bright
surroundings of your life from Him.
Oh, man, what dost thou with that
hard heart? Canst thou not feel one
throb of gratitude toward the God
that made you, and the Christ who
came to redeem you, and the Holy
Ghost who has all these years been
importuning you? If you could sit
down five minutes under the tree
of a Saviour's martyrdom and feel
His lifeblood trickling on your fore
head and cheek and hands, methinks
you would get some appreciation OF
what you owe to crucitied Jesus.
Heart of stone, relent relent
Touched by Jesus cross, subdued;
See His body mangled, rent
Covered with a gore of blood.
Sinful soul, what hast thou done?
Crucified the Eternal Son!
There are men who are perfectly
disconnected. Unhappy in the past,
unhappy to-day, to be unhappy for
ever, unless you come to this Gospel
well. This satisfies the soul with
high, deep, all absorbing and eternal
satisfaction. 1t comes, and it offers
the most unfortunate man so much of
this world as is best for him, and
throws all Heaven into the bargain.
The wealth of Croesus and all the
Rothschilds is only a poor, miserable
shilling compared with the eternal for
tunes that Christ offers you to-day.
In the far east there was a king who
used once year to get on the scales,
while on the other side the scales were
placed gold and silver and gems-in-
deed, enough were placed there to
balance the king. Then, at the close
of the weighing, all those treasures
were thrown among the populace. But
Christ to-day steps on one side the
scales, and on the other side are all
the treasures of the universe, and He
says: "All are yours; all height, all
depth, all breadth, all eternity-all are
yours" We do not appreciate the prom
Uses of the Gospel.
Come also to this Gospel well, all
We troubled. l do not suppose you
have escaped. Compare your view
of this life at Is years of age with
what your view is of II at 40 or 60
or 10. What a great contrast of opin-
ion! Were you right then or are you
right now? Two cups placed in your
hands, the one a sweet cup, the
other sour cup. A cup of joy and
a cup of grief, Which has been the
nearest to being full, and out of
which have you the more frequently
partaken? What different place the
cemetery is from what it used to be!
Once it was to you grand city i'm
provement, and you went out on the
pleasure excursion, and you ran
laughingly up the mound, and you
criticised in a light way the epitaph.
But since the day when you heard the
bell toll at the gate when you went
in with the procession it is a sad
place, and there is a flood of rush
ing memories that suffuse the eye
and overmaster the heart. Oh, you
have had trouble, trouble, trouble!
God only knows how much you have
had. 1t is a wonder you have been
able to live through it.
If / could gather all the griefs of
all sorts from these crowded streets
and could put them in one scroll,
neither man nor angel could endure
the recitation. Well, what do you
want? Would you like to have your
property back again? NO." you say
as a Christian man; 81 was becoming
arrogant, and l think that is why
the Lord took it away. don't want
to have my property back" Well
would you have your departed friends
back again? NO" you say; u
couldn't take the responsibility OF
bringing them from fearless realm
to realm OIL tears. l couldn't do it,"
Well, then, what do you want? A
thousand voices in the audience cry
out; Comfort. Give us comfort"
For that reason l have rolled away
the stone from the wells mouth.
Come, all We wounded of the flock,
pursued of the wolves, come to the
fountain where the Lords sick and