Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-01-15

And never spring bursting from the
plains Of Gerar, or from the mountains OF
Lebanon, or from the valleys of Canaan,
perform such a mission as this neither
spring Of the gospel which is the gift oi
our God.
We have seen the fields in the time OF
drought looking parched and apparently
dead and worthless, and then suddenly,
almost in the night, the meadows were
clothed with green, and the grain lifted
up it's head rejoicing, all because the rain
had fallen. But in this neither spring of
the gospel there is a more marvellous
| power than that-he who comes to drink
| of its waters goes away with new life, and
his whole nature is changed The an
in which, if person bathed, he would
renew his youth and live forever. We
have found that spring to-day in the text,
! for "The gift of God is eternal life" THE
| Bible is all a-sparkle with wells and
springs, rivers and seas. They toss up their
brightness from almost every chapter. And
water is many times the type or figure OF
that which enlivens, beauties and gives
new life"
Solomon, refreshed by the story of
heaven, exclaims, "As cold water to a
thirsty soul, so is good news from a far
country" Isaiah, speaking of the Blessed
ness Of the children of God, writes, 'They
shall spring as willows from the water
courses" The prophet, glowing with the
thought Of the millennium, says, .".Streams
shall break forth from the desert"
The mission of water in this world is to
bless and satisfy, refresh and help. But
all the waters that ever leaped in the tor
rents, or foamed in the cascade, or fell in
the summer shower, or hung in the morn
ing dew. have given no such comfort to the
troubled heart, no such rest and refresh
ment to the sin.sick soul. as that which
may be drawn by you and by me from the
neither spring of the gospel"
1t is good type Of illustration Of the
gospel because of its brightness. Yet here
it fails of giving us perfect description or
ness as geams in this neither spring?
David, unable to put it into words,
plays it on his harp. Christopher Wren.
unable to put it into language, springs It
in the arches of st. Pau's. Bunyan, fail
ing to present it in ordinary story, put it
in the form of alegory, which lives on to-
day with constantly increasing power.
| Handel. with ordinary music unable to
reach the height and sound the depth of
| o. the C.adness. the brightness, the 10y I'M
uttcrab'e in that lie which is hid with
| Christ in God And this ] may drink in
as come to the neither springs.
There is no life on earth so happy as
| the Christians. Take the humblnst child
of God you know, and why shouldn't t he
be happy? According to the Bible he is
| all the time under the shadow of God S
wings. If he walks the angels bear him up;
| skies, mp and down which the angels 90
! to and fro. bringing down blessings of
| God and bearing away his heavy burdens.
| Why, to ret within the door of the king
| dom. to have place, not the nearest, but
| on the very outer circle. to bear the lowest
| title of all the redeemed, to be the weakest
| child of all the family of God. to be the
| dmmest jewel in His crown of rejoicing
| to be the least, yea less than least Of all
the saints is hope which sets the heart
a.singing. All this / find and more. a
| thousand times more, as l stoop and drink
| at the neither springs.
Water is also like the gospel in its power
| to refresh. | remember the River Jordan
| the day when Naaman came to its banks
| with his lcprosy. I see him going down
| into its waters. once, twice, three times,
and then on until he had, according to the
| instructions of the servant of God hathed
seven times, and then, marvellous change.
| his flesh became as it were the flesh OF
little child.
But here is a greater change for the sin
spring. Here came Newton, and left be
hind him his sins which were as scarlet.
Here came Bunyan, cursing with every
step until lewd people rebuked him, and
he went away, so changed that he gave to
the word the book that stands in the esti-
nation of some next to the Bible for sweet,
ness and power. Here came Magdalen and
the Phlippian iailor, Zacchaeus, and the
poor trembling thief on the cross, and they
&c tlo and stand tO -doy
the company of the redeemed.
stand by the side of the waters to-day,
and with all the tenderness of a saved sin.
ner, with all the assurance OF par9oned
child of God, with all the alarm of friend
who sees his friends and neighbors going
down to death, away from the living wat
ers, bid you come. come, come; whose
ever will, let him come
1t is a marvellous spring of which | speak.
recall the fact that when the Master met
the man who was blind from his birth Tie
anointcd his eyes with clay and Spite and
then told him to go wash in the pool OF
Siloam and when he had washed he came
seeing. [ imagine that first of all he saw
the face of the Master Himself. Fhis Is
the power of the neither spring OF the gos-
pei. The touch of its waters will cause the
scales to drop from our eyes, and we shall
be able to see the wondrous things written
III tiIc Duuh vi SouJ anu INV o'i' 49,,
we shall have given unto us the vision OF
the face of the Master Himself. 1t Is not
strange that we are unable, in our sinful
condition, to see things as they are in the
kingdom of God, for we are blind. But if
YOU will only come with your blindness to
the neither spring you shall 60 away re-
joicing. 1t is like the pool of Bethesda.
1t has healing power, and we are not only
saved from the guilt of sin, but we may
likewise be saved from its power The
only difference is that in the pool the sick
people must wait until the waters are
troubled before they may step in and be
healed, while in this neither spring the wat
ers are always ready. This is no new idea
so to represent the gospel of Christ, for l
read in the gospel of John these words:
but whosoverer shall drink of the water
But the water | shall give him shall be in
him a well of water; sprlnging up INTO
everlasting life And in the Apocalypse
these words are found: II am the Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end.
will give unto him that is athirst,, of the
fountain of the water of life freely" U
thirsty souls, come and drink!
for the world. Found in Gerar by Isaac,
they make the field fruitful in abundance.
Bursting forth in Lebanon, they send their
waters down the mountain side, and as
they 20 through the valley they make it
II, very synonym of fruitfulness. Closely
akin to that is what the neither, spring, OF
The gospel does for us. No one knows the
funess of his own being until he is filled
with the influence and power of the gospel,
You walk, in the month of January, over
the most fertile place in field or or through
the forest, and you will see the illustration
of what man is in his natural state. The
earth is full of roots and the trees are full
of buds, all of which are closely bandaged
so that they can not expand, but when the
spring time comes the roots in the earth |
commence to push forward and the buds
on the trees begin to unfold. and in q very |
little time all nature is rejoicing What a |
marvellous change, simply because the roots
have been warmed by the sun and kissed |
by the light! and yet it is not worthy to
be compared with change which might |
be ,rrnunht in vnr II Won will but come to |