Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1887 — THIRST IN A CAVERN. [ARTICLE]

THIRST IN A CAVERN.

Water in the Well of Bethlehem. IDrlnkufK aud Obtain Krerlaallug Life I Thorn i» Nothing That Can Sink"- the Thtm: l.ikrTlmitir it Comc-t f . ih ihe I ouutaiu at the Gate til® Rev. Dr. Talmage preached at the Brooklyn Tabernacle last Sunday. Subject, “Thirst in a Cavern.” Text, “Oh, ; that one would give mca drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which jis by the gate! '—L Samuel, xxilL,' Ml lie said: I A text is of no use to me unless lean ! find Christ in it; and upless 1 can bring I a Gospel .put of these words that will' ' arouee and comfort and bless I shall wish j that I had never seen them; for your i time would t>e wasted, and against my’ soul the dark record would lie made that thia day I stood before a great audience of sinning, suffering and dying men. and told them of no rescue. By the Cross of the Son of God, by the throne of the eternal judgment, that shall,not be. May the Lord Jesus help j me to tell you the truth to-day 1 ft is not-an unusual thing to see peo- | pie gather around a well in the summr J time, rhe husbandman puts down his ctadle at the well curbj the builder puts I down his trowel; the traveler puts down his pack. Then one draws the water for all th’e rest, himself taking the, very last. The cup is passed around, anil the fires of thirst are put out; the J traveler starts on his journey, and the workman takes up his burden. My friends, we come to-day around the Gospel well. We put down our pack of-burdens and pur implements of toil. One man nnist draw the water for those who have gathered around the Well. I will try and draw the water today: and if,after I have poured out from this living fountain for your soul, I just

taste of it myself, you will not begrudge me a “drink from the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.” This Gospel well, like the well spoken of in the text, is a well of Bethlehem. Davjd had known hundreds of wells of water, Hut be wait: ed to drink from that particular one, and he thought nothing could slake tris thirst like that. And unie.-s your soul and mine can get access to the Fountain open for sin and unclean finess,we must die. That fountain is the well of Bethlehem. It was dug by tl e light of a lantern—the star that; hung down over the manger. It was dug, riot at the gate of C«>-ar’s. oalacefc-not iii the park of a Jerusalem bargain maker. It was dug in a barn. The camels lifted their weary heads to listen as the work went on. The shepherds, unable to sleep because the heavens were tilled with banda of music, came down to tee the opening of the well. The angels of God, at the first gush ol the.living water, clipped their chalices of joy into it and drank to the health of earth and heaven as they cried: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.” Sometimes in our modern barns the water is brought through the pipes of the city to the very nostrils of the horses or cattle; but this. _wgll in the Bethlehem.. 'mucSYorTKe beasts that perish as for onr race, thirst-smitten, desert-traveled and simoon-stm k. Oh, my soul, weary, with sin, stoop down and drink today out of that BethiyEeni well, Again, this Gospel well, like.the one spoken of in the text, is a capinrefTwell. David remembered the time when that good water of Bethlehem was in the pos session of his -ancestors.—H : s h;h*-r drank there, Iris mother drank there. He remembered how the water tasted when he was a boy, and came up there from play. We never forget the uUL well we used to drink out bi wlieuwe were boys or girls. There was something in it that blessed the 'ips and refreshed theJ row better than any tiling we found since As we think of that dear old well the memories oi the pas .flow into each ol her like cry st ail it; e drops, -s un-gli nte d, and al Itheinor ea • iwe remember that the hands that used. ■ [to hold the rope, and the hearts that | beat the wel'-etvb are still now. ; We never get over these.reminiscences < George P- Morris, the great song-writer , I of this country, once-said to me that his; “Woodman,-{Spare I’lc-'. Tree,"v.as i ' enfig in a great concert-ball, and the | Unemories of early life were so w rougin the audif’ine by that s.mg tii.t’, ■ after the singing was done, an aged man ianse in the audience, overwhelmed wrtli emotion, and said: “S;r, will you pleasa tp-tell me whether i4te--woednran-really spared that tree?’ -We never forget the tree under which we play.rd-. -We never for-te: the fQr.niai n at which we drank. Alas for the man who has no early memories.!—i———

Davit! I ho tight of that hood well, and Ire wanted a drink, oi it, but he remtmbereti ’ffiaf'tl.e Philistines had captured it. When those thrtei meu trietl to come up to tlo- well’in be-1 !i..'’ »,t .D.tvi I they saw swonls gienmiug. krona I about it. And this is true of this ■ Gospel well. Tbe Phijjstiues have at ; times captured it. When we come to | take a full, qld fashicne I crink of ; don aio’ cm tort, do not ’h -Ir v.r.vjs of ; i indignation and sarcasm fi ? sh? Why .the . skeptics tell ns that we can net .come to | that fountain!..They say th- watei is iiot t tit to drink anyhow. “If you are really . thirsty now. there is the. welhol philoSb- [ phy, there is the well qt art, there is the Fwri+;-of--se*e n ee,’h Gil - s tt’s-.0. i-.-'ead ci cur I- --yt.<laith.

a dern mix ure. Tmy stv a great 'many -5 au inn this g.- about the: Is •uuand they/fry tofee I'our imuportal l [hanger on rose leaves, and mix a mint- ; julep of w r dly stimulates when nothing will satisfy us but “a drinzef water jof the We iof Bethlehem,v iiicii is at the gate. ’ They try to starve us oh husks, ; w hen the Father s banquet is ready, and tbediest ring is tak<n from the casket, ■ 'an i the PWeefesiTiarp is s’ruck for the music, and the swiftest foot is alreadyJ . ce They patronise heaven anil' alio ish bell, and try to b.< a.-ure e-f, -lity vith their -hourglass; 'tifd.Xfie*r; r- ne "of the -great -God with '• ,- r t:,?; uu ld J a’-tipri*. yot: tbebtd'Gcspei well is a well. 1 ■ pfa<G -d -:h.< there may he some where .tn the-eh thre«-.-.ft-.ointe.d-men. twi-h A-nrsjgg ehotlith to so forth in the ■ -with 1 t -f-l'toZ. C t!at, to liew th< ■ . • 'v ‘ ‘.-t Old well. 1 ’,xi- i. t 1,-T- is tm-neirgami. .that the. rt io take Its plsch again in thru—ily, end in toen&iverity,-.and in t.c I. -sir..-. tUi' i».te-4TW.L hworfdty ~ybilosoph teg, and ha ye found cut that they d<s not give any comfort.

and that they drop An arctic .midnight upon ttie death pillow.' They fail when there i»a de th chin in the house; and x when the sovrl comes to leap into the fathomless opean of eternity they giv to the man Hot sb much As a broken spar to cling to. \ Depend upon it, that wel wijl come into our possession again, though it has bijen captured. If there j be not three aiwinteibmen in the Ix>r<l’s host with enough consecration to do the ; work, then tbe swords will leap from I Jehovah’s buck lei-,and the eternal three will descend—God the Father, G-od the Son, God ttie Holy Ghost—conquering for our dying race the way back again .to “the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is bv the gate.” <‘lf Go<. be for us who can be against us?" “It God I spared not his Own Son, but freely gave , him up for us,all, how shall He not with ’ Him also freely give us all things?” | “For 1 am purstiaded that neither height, nor depth, nor angels, nor prin-, i ci panties, nor powers nor things present, I nor things to cAme,” shall take from us 'into final captivity, the Gospel of my l blessed [Lord t'brist. ■ i Again, the Gospel well, dike the one 'spoken of in my text, is a Well at the gate. The traveler stops the camel today and gets down and dips out of thevaliey of the East some very beautiful, clear, bright Water, and that, is out of the yery well that David longed for, | Do you know that that w-elj was at the gate, so that nobody coiild go into Bethlehem without going right past it? And so it is with this gospel well—it is at the ! gate. It is. in tbe first place, at the i gate of purification. We cm not wash I away our sins unless with that water, I take the responsibility of saving that their is no man, worn n or child in this ; house to day that has escaped sinful defilement. Do you say it is outrageous* 5 and ungallant forme to make such a charge? Do you say, “I have never stolen —I have never blasphemed—l have never committed unchastitv—l have never been guilty of murder?” I reply, you have committed a sin WOFB® than blasphemy, worse than nnchastity, worse than theft, worse than murder. We

have all committed it. We have by our sin recrucified the Lord, and that is decided. And if there be who dare “ttUpTead “-Dot guilty ’ r to the ind ictment, then the hosts of heaven will be impanelled as a jury to render a. unanimous verdict against us; guilty one, guilty all. With what a slashing stroke tnat s one passage cuts us away from all our pretensions: “There is none that doeth good—no, not one,” says some one, “All we want, all the race wants, is development.” Now! want to tell you that the race develops without the gospel into a Sodom, a Five Points, a Great Salt Lake City. It always develops downward and never upward, except as the grace of God lays hold of it. What, then, is to become of our soul without Christ? Banishment. Disaster. But I bless my Lord Jfesns Christ that there is a well at the gate of purification. For great sin, great pardon. For eighty years of transgression, an eternity of forgiveness For crime deep as hell, an atonement high as heaj en; that where sin abounded,so grace may miichl inotfe abound; that as sin reigned unto death, even’ so may grace reign throughout righteousness unto eternal irfe by Jesus Christ onr Lord. Angel of th_e.-C.O.vehant, dip iby wing into this living fountain today. and wave it over this solemn assemblage,’that our semis may be washed in “rhe water of the well of Bethlehem, which,is by the gate.” Further, 1 remark that this well of tlie Gospel is at the gate Of comfort. Db y.,,:; know, where David was when he uttered the words of the text? He .Was.inXhe cave-of A-dnllam. That is where some oFyou are now. Has the world al ways gone smoothly with yon'.’ Has it never pursued you with slandei? I;- your heal ‘h al ways good? Have your fortiuies never perished? Is there one dead lamb in the fold? Are you ignorant of the way to, the cemetery? Have yon ever 1 eard ihe heli toll when it seem, d aS if tv<-rysioke of the iron claopt-r beat your heart?. Are the skies as bright whi n vou look into tlii-in as they used to be when other eyes, now glpßg.il,. used to .look, into them? Is there BGin4 trunk or drawer in your iiouse that you go. to only on sary days, when there comes beating agiir st your soul the surf of a great ocean of agony? .It is the eave cf Adul’hr ! The gay#- In ILttc' Some David hebe" wh< se fallferly heart wayward Absolam has l::o Is there'son e Abraham here who is lonely because Sarah is dead in tiieffamily plot of Machpelah? The world can not c> > fort you. What can it bring yen?' Nothing. Nothing. The salve they try to put on your wounds wili net stick. They can not wiih their bun.ilimr sur very nwj.d the broken bones. Again, the Gospel well is at ibe . g ite' of heaven. I have not hemd yp- tjne siiigle in,t eiiigej.it account of ihe. iniure ' world from anv body who does not be- • lieve injthe Bible. They throw such al fog aboi}t the subject that I do not want , to go to the skeptic’s heavin', to the ' transcfiblt nialisl’s heaven. I would; not'enehange the poorestyxcom in your house for the finest heaven that Hujxley [or Stuart Mill or Darwin .ever dreapied of. Their heaven has no Christ in it. : and a heaven without Christ, though you e uld sweep the whole universe [ into it,’ would be a hell! Oh, they tell ' us there are no .songs there; there are '.nd coronations in heaven—that is all ' They tpll us we will do ' there about what we db here, only on a larger- scale—geometrize wi'h the ; m-r ihtellt ct. and with alpenstock go I caliijbering up over the icebergs in an etei nal vacation. Rather than that, 1 | turn to my Bible, and I find John's ; picture o>. that good land—that heaven i which was your lullaby in infanev, t.hal I heaven which our children in the Sab- ; I bath-school will sing about this after- j noon, that heaven which has a ’ “well at [ tijeaate!” I » • . - Jl. _ . .1 1 I

1 do not bare whether cherub, or seraph or my own departed friendsin that Li seed land place to my lips the cup, i the touch of that cup will be life, will be heaven. I was reading of how the 1 ancients sought for the fountain of peri etm.il .youth. They though if they could only find and drink but of that welt, the old would become young vveuld be cured, and evvty Body would havp eternal juveneseerree. Of course, they couldTitjrfind it. Eu *» k-ab Ihave f>n nd ft—‘fl he w au-r <4 ■ to in. W'd-'h'¥ T.y ‘ne > • I efeink we I 'afFhetter n■ake ala r £ ipri ■ . 7 . g ’7'7 ■ ; th'b - ■ rid iron tin e tqjanfe.gs to- where iwe aid meer"-tbeu-. Traveled parting ini a place of meeiing They eay: I “We wihLzneetat Rome, or we will meet

lat Stockholm or Vienna ot Jerusalem, jor Bethlehem.” Now, *h>-n We come t tn.-stand at...the death-pillow' of those who are .eaving us for the far land,do not let us weep as though we rsee them again, but let cs, there stand' ing. appoint a place whereVwe will meet. Where shall it he? <*Shall it be on the hanks of the river? A No; the ' I'Mtiks tire too loiig. Shall it be in the ; temple? No, not There is such a host ' there—teh 'thousand times ten thousand. 'Where shall we meet our loved ones? let us make an appointment to meet at ’’the well by the gate. Oh, heaven! Sweet [heaven!- Hear heaven! Heaven where ■ Jesus is! Heaven! Heaven! I But lam glad to know that you may I come yet. The well is here—the well of heaven, Come: I do not care how I feeble you are. Let me take hold of your arm and steady you up to the 'well-curb." “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come.” I would rather win one 1 soul to Christ this morning than wear 't he crown of the world’s dominion. Do not te 7 any man go away and say I did j not invite him Oh, if you could only i just look at my Lord once; if you could [ just see Hirn fillt in the face; ay, if you I could on ly do as that did whom ; I read about at the beginning of the r-ei vii es—just come up behind Him and i touch His feet—methinks would live. ■ln Northern New Jersey, one winter, ' three little children wandered off- from i home in a snow-storm. Night came on. 1 Fattier and mother said: “Where are the children?” They could not be I found. They started out in haste, and tEe news ran to the neighbors, and be- ; fore morning it was said that there were hundredscf men hinting the mountains for these three children, but found them not. After a while a man imagined there was a place, that had not been looked at, and he went and saw the three children. He examined their bodies. He found that the older boy had taken off his coat and wrapped it around the younger one, the baby, and then taken off his vest and put it around the other one; and there they all died, lie probably the first, for he had no coat or vest. Oh, it was a touching scene when thatwasi brought to light. I was on the ground a little while after, and it -brought the whole scene to my mind, and I thought to myself of a more melting scene than that It is that Jesus, our older brother, took off the robe of His royalty, and laid aside the last garment of earthly comfort, that He might wrap our poor souls from the blast. Oh, the height, and the depth, and the length, and the breadth oi the love ot Christ!