Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-01-22

Bursting forth in Lebanon. they send their
waters down the mountain side, and as
they go through the valley they make it
akin to that is what the neither spring Of
the gospel does for us. No one knows the
fu,ness Of his own being until he Is filed
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
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 bandaCed
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 a very
little time all nature is rejoicing. What 4
marvellous change. simply because the roots
have. been warmed by the sun and kissed
by the light! and yet it is not worthy to
pc compared with a change, which might
the neither spring and drink of its life-giv-
ing waters, for there You will meet Him
who has said: Il am come that you might
have life, and that you might have it more
abundantly'
III. I wish I might be able to make
plain to You all that there is so much
more to the Christian life than simply
being saved. That is only the beginning.
The whole experience Stretches away from
that point, and gets brighter and brighter
as the days &c. by. With the hope that we
might learn the lesson together to-day [
have brought before you these two springs.
Whether the strict exegesis of the text will
allow the interpretation not. am very
sure that all will agree that it is perfect
illustration, To drink at the neither
spring is salvation. but to drink at the up
fered to every child of God 1 could bring
so many passages of Scripture to you
which, would serve as an illustration Of
what I mean. Take Ephesians i: 3:
blessed be the God and Father of our
with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus
Or, Col: ii: II: Buried with Him in bap-
tlsm, wherein also We are risen with Him,
through the faith of the operation of God,
who hath raised Him from the dead"
Or, ia take Col III: l,a: "1f We then be risen
above, where Christ sitteth on the right
| hand Of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth For We
are dead, and your life is hid with Christ
| in Cod Or, take Phil. iii: 20: "For our
conversation is in heaven. from whence
also we look for the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ
would that we might all drink at the
upper spring. What peace would then fill
! our hearts! When we drink at the lower
| spring we come to be at peace with God,
but when we learn to drink also at the
! uppC1 SpIluS we udVC luS peace OF OOU.
and there is great difference between
! the two 1t is something like the differ
ence between microscope and telescope
With the first we can see things near, and
in bulk not larger than grain Of sand I
can find a thousand million animalculae,
but with the latter / can see things afar
off. [ can actually study the Milky Way,
| which is removed from me thousands and
thousands of miles. AT the neither spring,
| hrst OF all, see myself and all my sinful
ness; then | see Christ in all His righteous
ness; then I hear Him say that though
white as snow, and there at the neither
/ spring ! am made whole, but with the up
per spring it is different. Like the teie-
scope it is all about the things which are
above. and as | drink at its waters I find
myself being lifted above this world, and
my conversation, not only but my very
life, may be in the heaveniies
And the way to this upper spring is
pointed out very plainly to us. 1 remem-
Der the dream Of Jacob as he was going
from Beersheba to Haran. 1t was Of the
ladder which was set upon earth, the top
of which reached up to heaven.
This ladder is set for US. It reaches to
the very brink of the upper spring. The
ladder is Christ; His feet rest upon the
earth. His brow is bound with the glory
Of heaven. The events of His earthly life
are. the earthward end of the ladder; His
perpetual priesthood the topmost end. In
distant city fire was raging. 1t was
thought that all the inmates had been
saved, when to the horror of the bystand-
, ers two children were seen standing at Il
third-story window. It was before the
days of the almost perfect appliances for
the SAYING Of lives. Two ladders were
hurriediy spliced together and lifted to
the side of the building. There was a
shout Of terror when it was found that
the ladder lacked six feet of reaching the
children. In moment a brave fireman
was mounting the ladder; he reached the
topmost round, and then stood for mo-
ment balancing himself until he had caught
the window sill with his hand. and then
over his body, which supplied the gap be-
came slowly down until outstretched hands
reached them in safety. And this is what
! the=Lord Jesus Christ did for you and for
, me! There was no way for lis back to
heaven. We were estranged from God.
, And then He came in His incarnation and
on the platform erected by the patriarchal
legal and prophetic dispensation, He stood,
as it were, in His own body. reaching up
!, His hands, He took hold of God, and the
! way was made complete. And SO it has
come to pass that not only in Christ we are
: saved, but it is also true that we mount by
Him into the very secret place of the Most
High. And this is drinking at the upper
spring.
: Thus the secret of this great blessing is
= = to be found by abiding in Christ. DIR. Cor
! don used to tell little circumstance which
e came beneath his eyes in New England
= which presents to US a figure of it all
= Two little saplings grew side by side
= Through the action of the wind they
? crossed each other. BY and by the bark
. of each. became wounded and the sap be
i gan to ming,e. until in some still dav they
- !, became united to each other. This pro
= = cess went on more and more until they
= we're firmly compacted. Then the stronger
y began to absorb the life from the weaker:
- it grew stronger while the other grew
- - weaker and weaker. until finally it dropped
e away and then disappeared. And nov
- there are two trunks at the bottom and
- only one at the top. Death has takeI
: away the one, life has triumphed in tk'
:, other.
y Creeds and Doctrines.
L Creeds and doctrines are the attempts tt