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

OF the dying wave, all discernibie therein.
II has the witness IN itself that it belongs
to the mighty deep. And if you listen at
tentlveiy to Your own heart you will find
constant proofs of its destined abode. The
slghs, 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
from M Which, may drink and gs o1
God pity the man who has failed to- accent
the proffered gift
IL. The springs Of water we're given to
. Achsah because of her marriage with 9th
MEL and they are a perfect illustrations of
union with the Son of God. The springs
were free gift, and so is the neither spring
of the gospel, which has come to u.s. 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
Lebanon, or from the valleys of Canaan,
spring of the gospel which is the gift of
our God.
We have seen the fields in the time OF
a drought looking parched and apparently
dead and worthless, and then suddenly,
almost in the night, the meadows were
GlOtHCu Will SItGI, anu Cuc grain I1ICeu
mp 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
clients believed in the existence Of spring
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" 3'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 OF figure OF
that which enlivens, beauties and gives
new life
Solomon, refreshed by the story of
heaven, exclaims, Gas cold water to a
thirsty soul. so is good news from far
country" Isaiah, speaking of the blessed
| ness of the children of Cod writes, ''They
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-sck soul, as that which
may be drawn by you and by me from the
neither spring of the gospel
It is a good type of illustration Of the
gospel because of its brightness. Yet here
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. PauPs. Bunyan, fail
- -,
in the form of allegory, which lives on to
! day with constantly increasing power
5 Handel. with ordinary music unable te
| reach the height and sound the depth oi
the theme, thrills us with his oratoro.'
0, the gladness, the brightness. the Joy nn
utterable in that lie which is hid will
as I come to the neither springs.
There is no life on earth so happy a!
the Christians Take the humblest chile
of God you know. and why shouldn't HI
be happy? According to the Bible he il
all the time under the shadow of Cod;
wings. If he walks the angels bear him up
skies, up and down which the angels g
to and fro, bringing down blessings o
God, and bearing away his heavy burdens
Why. to get within the door of the king
dom, to have a place. not the nearest, bu
on the very outer circle, to bear the loves
title Of all the redeemed, to be the weakes
child OF all the family of God. to be tn
dfn,mest jewel in His crown of rejoicing
to be the least, yea, less than least of al
the saints is a hope which sets the hear
a-snging All this ] find and more.
| thousand times more, as | stoop and drinl
, at the neither springs.
Water is also like the gospel in it's powe
to refresh. I remember the River Jorda1
the day when Naaman came to its bank
; with his leprosy. [ see him going dow
into its waters. once. twice, three times
and then on until he had, according to tn
instructions Of the servant Of God bathe
: seven times, and then, marvellous change
his flesh became it were the flesh or
| little child
$ But here is greater change for the sir
5 full soul who will come to the nethe
: spring Here came Newton, and left be
, hind him his sins which were as scarlet
. Here came Bunyan, cursing with ever
, step until lewd people rebnked him, an
r he went away. so changed that he gave
G the world the book that stands in the est
nation of some next to the Bible for swee
. ness and power. Here came Magdalen an
1 the Philippian iailor, Zacchaeus, and th
e poor trembling thief on the cross, and the
t drank of the waters and stand to-day i
s the company of the redeemed.
o and with all the tenderness of a saved 81,
0 ner with all the assurance OF a pardone
Y child OF God, with all the alarm of frien
l. who sees his friends and neighbors goin
t down to death, away from the living wa
d ers, bid you come, come, come; WHO'S
# ever will let him come"
II It is marvellous spring of which l spea
e ] recall the fact that when the Master mi
e the man who was blind from his birth L
IS anointed his eyes with CLAW and spittle an
e then told him to go wash in the pool
e Sloan; and when he had washed he can
It seeing. imagine that first Of all he sa
g the face of the Master Himself. This
y the power of the neither spring Of the go
a pei The touch of its waters will cause tt
scales to drop from our eyes, and we sha
A. be able to see the wondrous things write
Il in the book Of God, and not only SO, b
$ we shall have given unto us the vision
re the face of the Master Himself. 1t is n
e. strange that we are unable. in our sinf
b. condition, to see things as they are in Il
Of kingdom: Of God, for we are blind. But
1t you will only come with your blindness
IS the neither spring you shall 60 away ]
O. ioicing It is like the pool of Bethesd
Sc It has healing power, and we are not on
e. saved from the guilt of sin, but we M
IS likewise be saved from its power: /
ne only difference is that in the pool the 81
It people must wait until the waters a