The Penn's Grove record., 1916-06-02
ALL ARE INVITED
Gods Love and Tenderness
Shown in His Federation of
the Word "Come."

This little word come" Is one of
the sweetest in the Bible. The Bible
begins with come" and it ends with
come" The Lord said unto Noah,
Come thou and all thy house into
the ark" The word occurs in nearly
every section of the Bible, and in the
last chapter we have this precious
invitation, "And the Spirit and the
bride say, Come. And he that heareth,
let him say, Come. And he that will,
let him take the water of life freely"
The invitation of the text gives us
a beautiful conception of the heart Of
God in its tenderness and love for hui
manity. While it is in an Old Tesla
ment setting, it has a New Testament
ring, Messianic in it's nature, evan
gelistic in it's intensity. 1t speaks forth
with wonderful power. Here God adj
dresses the world.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth." This
refers to the class of people who are
dissatisfied with worldly things. Soul
thirst is the souls anxiety and long
ing for that which is holy and spir-
itual.
A professor in psychology once
asked his class for a definition of the
soul. One pupil gave the following:
THE soul is that which feels and
thinks and acts" After this, a little
girl spoke up and said, Professor, is
the soul that thing within our breasts
that aches so hard sometimes?' Yes,
| kboESa - y, ,o;J kIo -roFoa11, Il L..
self was a child of God.
What multitudes of thirsting souls
throng this land today! They are
seeking in vain for the satisfaction
and peace which are to be found only
in reconciliation with the heavenly
father. They have wasted their SUBJ
stance in riotous living; they have
spent all; they are in want; they burn
with an unquenchable thirst. To them
is opened up that well of water, spring
ing up into everlasting life, which is
able to quench the thirst of the soul
and give them eternal satisfaction.
Invitation Is to All.
"Ho, every Il that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters" Here the invita-
ton includes everybody. The pro-
vision of grace is as free as the air
we breathe. The river Of salvation
flows past US and the proclamation of
the Lord is, HE that will, let him
take the water of life freely"
"Hearken diligently unto me.
Incline your ear, and come unto me-"
An active, responsive hearing is one
of the conditions of salvation. The
written word has been the means of
the conversion of some, notably of
Augustine and Luther. But very Of
ten it is by the spoken word that the
truth is brought home to the soul.
Hear, and your soul shall live" is
the Old Testament Gospel. The New
Testament is like unto it: "Take heed
therefore how we hear" HE that
hath ears, let him hear"
Buy wine and milk, without money
and without price" We might think,
from what has already been said, that
is a strange way Of buying when no
money is in use; yet it is not so
strange when we understand the Ian
guage of Christ. To the church of
Laodicea he said, Il counseled thee
to buy of me gold refined by fire, that
thou mayest become rich; and white
garments, that thou mayest clothe thy
self" There are some few things that
money cannot buy, for the simple rea-
o that they are too valuable to be
purchased with money. No price can
be set upon them. Wisdom cannot be
purchased with gold. "She is more
precious than rubies." Salvation, the
supreme blessing to the human soul,
Is beyond a money valuation. Blood
and not gold Is the price of our re-
demption.
Perfect Blessings.
The provisions named in the text
are likewise threefold. Let your soul
delight itself in fatness." The bless
ings which Jesus gives are not only
good, but they bring to the soul COM
plete satisfaction. The longing soul
receives an abundant and free supply
of grace. 1 read some time G Of a
man in Wales who, along the road
on a hot and sultry day, met a little
girl. carrying an earthen pitcher full
Of spring water on her head. He said
to her, MY little girl, will you give
me a drink of water?" She lifted
the jug from her head and he drank
from it, and it was so cold and pure
that it quenched his thirst, and he
asked, where do you get that re-
freshing water?" She said to him,
DO you see up yonder a spring flow
ing through the hedge?" Yes, and
does that spring eve dry up?' The
little girl said, Eyes, in the summer
time it dries up" And what do you
do then?" he asked her. DO you
see a path up the hill to another
spring." she said. "Well, does it ever
dry up?" he inquired. Yes" she
said, Gin the very hottest summers
it dries up" "And what do you do