The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-01-22

were 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 spring bursting from the
plains of Gerar, or from the mountains Of
Lebanon, OF from the valleys of Canaan,
perform such mission as this neither
spring of the gospel which is the gift OF
our God.
We have seen the fields in the time Of
dead and worthless, and then suddenly,
almost III the night, the meadows were
clothed with green, and the grain lifted
up its head rejoicing. all because the rain
had fallen: But IN this neither spring of
the gospel there is u more marvellous
power than that-he who comes to drink
Of its waters goes away with new life, and
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" The
Bible is y all a-sparkle with wells and
springs, rivers and seas. They toss up their
brightness from almost every chapter. And
that which enlivens, beauties and gives
new life"
Solomon, refreshed by the story of
heaven, exclaims, "As cold water to
thirsty soul, so is good news from 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
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 a good type Of illustration of the
gospel because of its brightness. Yet here
it fails Of giving us perfect description or
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 it
in the arches of st. Paul's. 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.
reach the height and sound the depth of
the there, thrills us with his oratoro."
0, the zladness, the brightness, the Joy nm
utterable in that lie which is hid with
Christ in God. And this I may drink in
as | come to the neither springs.
There is no life on earth SO happy as
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;
if 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
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
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 / 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. / remember the River Jordan
the day when Naaman came to its banks
with his leprosy. l see him going down
into its waters, once. twice, three times,
and then on until he had, according to the
seven times, and then, marvellous change
his flesh became as it were the flesh of
little child
But here is greater change for the sin.
full 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 iailor, 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 saved sin
child of God, with all the alarm of a 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 He
then told him to go wash in the pool of
Sloan; and when he had washed he came
seeing. | 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 crop 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 It 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 go away re-
joicing.. It is like the pool Of Bethesda.
It has healing power, and we are not only
saved from the guilt of sin, but we may
likewise be saved from it's 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
read in the gospel of John these words:
'sBut whosoverer shall drink Of the water
that 7 shall give him shall never thirst
But the water / 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. l
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,