The Penn's Grove record., 1903-01-16
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
UPPER AND NEITHER SPRINGS"
The Rev. DIR. j. Wilbur Chapman Uses
an Old Testament Story as . Parallel to
illustrate the Great Blessings We Re-
ceIve From Our Heavenly Father.

1aio the Oreat Blessings We Is-
ceive From Our Heavenly Father.
New YORK CITY.-The following SER
mon IS one of a series prepared some time
since by the Rev. DR.. J.. Wilbur Chapman,
the distinguished evangelist. 1t is entitled
was preached from the text and he gave
her the upper springs and the neither
springs" Joshua XIV: 10.
Halt way between Hebron and Beershe-
pa there once stood the ancient city of
Debir. 1t was the city of brains and books
and the centre of intellectual culture of the
soiden days. At the same point now may
be seen a rude assemblage Of stone novels,
many OF which are half standing. but the
others are entirely broken down.
One OF the names given to this city,
being translated, means the City of Brooks,
or OF learning-what Athens was TO Greece
the city of Debir was to Southern Pales-
tine. 1t was supposed that all the records
OF antiquity OF the nation were stored
there. 1t was, indeed, a famous place.
Caleb, the son of Heron, of the tribe of
Judah, was very anxious to secure posses
SION OF the city. It is this fact which gives
rise to the text. His name is very familiar
to US. He was one of the twelve spies
sent by Moses over into Canaan, and he
and Joshua were the only two born in
Egypt who were given the privilege of en-
tering canaan, with the possible exception
OF the Levltes, and that, not only because
they had brought a truthful report of the
land they had explored, but were also will
ing to take God at His word, and put all
their trust in Him.
Forty-ive years after, when the wander
ings were over, Caleb applied to Joshua
for the share Of the land which had been
promised him, and among other portions
there was granted to him Debir. the city of
learning. 1t was still, however, the strong
hold of the giants of Canaan, and must be
captured to be possessed.
Caleb then made the proposition that he
would give his daughter Achsah in mar
rage to any one who was able to take the
city, and one Othniel, who had been much
OF a warrior, for he had delivered the chill
dren of Israel from the King of Mesopota-
mia, marched against Debir. After a great
struggle the gates were broken down, the
giants were captured or driven away, and
the City of Books lay at the feet of the
conqueror. When the victory was won
Caleb was as good as his word, and his
daughter was given in marriage to the SOL
der. With her he also gave as an inherit
ance, a peculiar piece of property, known
as 1.-THE South Land" valuable for some
reasons, but it was mountainous and sloped
southwark toward the deserts Of Arabia,
the hot winds Of which again and again
swept across it.. Before Achsah left her
fathers house she besought him for his
blessing. The south land was not enough,
she would also have springs of water, and
Caleb responded at once, and gave her
more than she had asked, for we read in
the text: HE gave her the upper springs
ingly fertile territory the land was chosen.
1t contained no less than fourteen springs.
The valley was beautiful, for look which
way you woul you could see them gushing
forth. Their presence in the field meant
not only a blessing for the field in which
they were found, but for all the country
around them.
I find in this beautiful story a good illus
tration of ali that we receive from our
Father.
All that has been bestowed upon US is as
ISOLATED with victory, and that was won by
Him whose name was called in the pro-
phets the Conqueror. It was for Him a
fierce struggle, but He came off more than
conqueror. Then, after that, He was called
the bridegroom of the church, which is to
be His bride, and with Him we have re-
ceived not only the gift of salvation, but in
Him we are also blessed with all spiritual
blessings. Paul gives us this when he
writes to the Ephesians, BLESSED be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed US with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus"
/. God starts His children in this world
as Caleb started his daughter. with an in
heritance. No one is SO poor but God has
given him something.
Some have taken the inheritance and
treated it as the man with the five talents,
they have gained other five also; others
like the man with one talent, have wrapped
1t in a napkin, and SO they leave the world
as poor as when they entered it. God has
been very good to us. He has given us this
world with all its beauty, its green pas
lures, its still waters, its rivers and its seas,
Its starry canopy stretching out above.
The world is filed with forces of all kinds,
but man has seemed to gain control over
them, until to-day he stands himself like
a conquerer in the midst of them all.
But the inheritance is better than that.
He has given us all the faculties of mind
and all the powers of body. The mind, the
heart, the hands, the feet-no one is sent
into the world a pauper. God has thus
child of His. It is such a great thing to
have a mind, for with it man is able to
search the deep things of God and really
take hold of the thought of the Eternal.
The science of geometry was worked out
from a few simple principles by Euclid
and Archimedes, by pure reasoning out of
their minds, and on the sands Of the floor
"a XIX W0CI tACt WSlC tuu Liz
Archimedes traced the curves in which, ac-
cording to science, the heavenly bodies
must move. And long after, when the tele-
scope was invented. the Galileos and the
Newtons beheld with reverent wonder that
the heavenly bodies were sweeping along
in the same curves described so long ago by
the great Mathematician. 1t is, indeed, a
wonderful thing to have a mind.
But, If these things which / have men
toned as our natural inheritance are all
what we possess, then, with the success
that may be GAINED by means of them we
may still be of allmen the most miserable.
For they are like the south land of Ach-
sab, they stretch off toward the deserts of
sorrow and care and darkness, and the hot
winds of despair come sweeping past us
again and again. The most miserable peo-
PIE in the world, sooner or later. are those
who have just the world and nothing else.
Men are born unto trouble as the sparks
fly upward, and this south land of the
world is a poor portion. It is beautiful; it
is the handiwork of God. But we must
have more than that if the soul be salts
fed. "The stars are beautiful. but they
pour no light into the midnight of a
they pour no balm into the wounded
heart" There are times when the hungry,
thirsty. fevered soul must have what the
natural inheritance can not give, and God
has made provision for that.
Man signs with ~groanings which can not
be uttered for the infinite. If YOU put a
seashell to your ear you viii find in it
"reminiscences of its original home. the roar
| of the sea. the wall of the wind. the groan
| of the dying wave, all discernible therein.
It has the witness in itself that it belongs
to the mighty deep. And if you listen at
tentively to your own heart you win find
constant proofs of its destined abode The
signs, the warnings, the dreams, the tears,
| the sadness, the music, all testify that we
are made for God, and that only God can
satisfy our wants. And God knew this.
and so, as well as giving us the south land
| He has also given us the springs of water
from which we may drink and be satisfied
God pity the man who has failed to accept
| the proffered gift.
III. The springs of water were given to
| Achsah because of her marriage with 9th
MEL, and they are a perfect illustration of
that which comes to us because of our
union with the Son of God. The springs
were q free gift. and SO is the neither spring
| of the gospel, which has come to US. For
/ by grace are We saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift OF
God"
And never a spring bursting from the
| plains Of Gerar, or from the mountains of
] = oLauon er from tho ~vo1lavx IF Eauaau