The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-01-15

renew his youth and live forever. We
have found that spring to-day in the text
Bible is all a-sparkle with wells and
springs, rivers and seas. They toss up THEFT
brightness from almost every chapter. And
water is many times the type or figure oil
that which enlivens, beauties and gives
new life"
Solomon, refreshed by the story of
heaven, exclaims, "As. cold water to
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 herrt, no such rest and refresh.
ment to the sin.sick soul, as that which
nsas msS be ,SrUs drHwn sy you and BY from the
1t is a good type of illustration of the
gospel because of its brightness. Yet here
y fails of giving us perfect description OF
idea, for where can you find such bright.
ness as CLEANS 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 il
in the arches of st. Pauls. Bunyan, fail.
ing to present. it in ordinary story, put it
in the form Of allegory, which lives on to.
day with constantly increasing power.
Handel, with ordinary music unable to
reach the height and sound the depth OF
the theme. thrills us with his oratoro."
utterable in that lie which is hid with
Christ in God And this i may drink in
az come to the neither springs.
There is no life on earth so happy ns
the Christians. Take the humblest child
Of God you know. and why shouldn't he
be happy? According to the Bible he is
all the time under the shadow of Gods
wings. If he walks the angels bear him up;
Il he sleeps they let down ladders from the
skies, up. and down which the angels go
to and fro. bringing down blessings of
God, and bearing away his heavy burdens.
Why, to get within the door of the king.
dom. to have place, not the nearest, but
title of all the redeemed, to be the weakest
child of all the family of God. to be. the
dimmest 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 I find and more. a
thousand times more, as ] stoop and drink
at the neither springs.
Water is also like the gospel in its power
to refresh. l remember the River Jordan
the day when Naaman came to its banks
with his leprosy. / 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 bathed
seven times, and then, marvellous change!
his flesh became as it were the flesh OF a
little child.
But here is greater change for the sin
ful soul who will come to the neither
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 world the book that stands in the esti.
nation Of some next to the Bible for sweet.
ness and power. Here came Magdalen and
the Philippian jailor, Zacchaeus, and the
poor trembling thief on the cross, and they
drank OF the waters and stand to-day in
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 pardoned
child Of God, with all the alarm OF a friend
who sees his friends and neghbors going
down to death, away from the living wat.
ers, bid you. come, come, come; "Whoso.
ever will, let him come"
1t is a mary eloGs spring of which / speak.
! recall the fact that when the Master met
the man who was blind from his birth He
anointed his eyes with clay and spittle and
then told him to go wash in the pool OF
Sloan; and when he had washed he came
seeing. l imagine that first of all he saw
the face Of the Master Himself. This 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
in the book of God, and not only so, but
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
kingdom Of God, for we are blind. But il
you will only come with your blindness to
the neither spring you shall go 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, bat we may
likewise be saved from its power; The
only difference is that in the pool the sicl;
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 ]
read in the gospel Of John these words:
th whSs9yerer Ss9I shall drink E OF the water
But the water l shall give him shall be in
him well OF water. springing up into
everlasting life.' And in the Apocalypse
these words are found: II am the Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end. j
will give unto him that is athirst, OF the
fountain of the water of life freely" o
thirsty souls, come and drink!
l know what springs OF water have done
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 us
they 20 through the valley they make il
the very synonym Of fruitfulness. Closely
akin to that is what the neither spring OF
the. gospel does for us. No one knows the
fulness 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 through
the forest, and you will see the illustration
earth 10 full of roots and the trees are full
Of buds, all of which are closely bandaged
20 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 a very
little time all nature is rejoicing. What o
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 a change which might
be wrought in you, If you will but come to
the neither spring and drink Of its life.eiv.
ing waters, for there you will meet Him
who has said: ~ am come that you might
have life, and that you ni;sh. have it more
abundantly."
III. l wish might be able to make
plain to you all that there is 80 much
more to the Christian life than simply
being, saved. That is only the beginning.
The whole experience stretches away from