God from the mast-head. Dr. Kane found this fountain all unfrozen amidst the icebergs of the North; and Dr. Livingstone found it all undried, and flowing freely, as he travelled over the burning plains of Central Africa. There is no other fountain like it in this respect. It is the best fountain, because it is easy to get at.

But in the second place, it is the best fountain because it

NEVER CHANGES.

Other fountains change very much. Sometimes they are in full play, and look very beautiful. At other times they are in very feeble play; then, again, they do not play at all. If you go out into the country, and look at the springs or fountains which God has made to flow out of valleys and hills, you will find that they often change very much. Sometimes the spring will be very full, and flow out with great power; at other times it will dry up and fail entirely. Sometimes the water in it will be clear and wholesome; at other times it will be muddy and disagreeable, and unfit to drink. Sometimes the water in a particular fountain will have the power to cure a certain kind of disease; and then again it will lose that power altogether.

We read in the New Testament (John v. 1-4) of the pool of Bethesda, at Jerusalem, which at certain seasons of the year, after a particular movement of the waters, had the power of healing the person who first stepped into it. But as soon as one person had stepped in, a change came over the water, and it lost its power to heal anybody else till another of those wonderful movements was made in it.

How different it is with the best fountain! This never

The Best Fountain has Wonderful Powers. 15

changes. It is flowing all the time; by night as well as by day, in summer and in winter, it is still flowing. It has been flowing for hundreds of years, and in all that time it has never once stopped. This fountain has always been full, and the stream which flows from it has always been the same. The apostles, Peter and John and Paul, came to this fountain to wash away their sins; and it did wash them all away. This was 1800 years ago. And what the fountain did for them it will do for you. How many millions have washed in this fountain since the days of the apostles! But time has not spoiled the fountain. Use has not injured it. It is just the same now that is was on the first day it was opened. It is the best fountain because it never changes.

The third reason why it is the best fountain is, because of its WONDERFUL POWERS.

We hear about fountains or holy wells in different places, especially in Ireland and Wales, the water from which is said to have the power of curing people who are sick with different diseases, and of making them well.

But these are nothing in comparison with this best fountain. If you could get the good qualities of all the fountains in the world, and put them all in one, still it would not begin to compare with this fountain.

The best fountain is designed for the souls of men, not for their bodies; but oh, the powers which it exerts on those who wash in it are very wonderful! Let us see, now, what these wonderful powers are.

This fountain has a WONDERFUL CLEANSING Power. Suppose there was a great king, who lived in a large and splendid palace. And suppose this king should

resolve to make a great feast, and invite his people to attend it. He fixes the time for the feast, and makes his preparations. But he makes a law that no persons shall enter the palace, or appear at the feast, unless they are dressed in pure white, without a spot or stain of any kind. The people set out to the palace, all arrayed in beautiful white robes. They move on in a long procession. But, see now! the pathway to the palace leads through a forest. In that forest lies hidden an enemy of the king, with a company of soldiers. As the procession is moving quietly on through the forest, these soldiers spring out upon the people. They tear their white

Wonderful Cleansing Power.

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robes into rags, drag them through the ditches, and trample them in the mire. The people finally escape from the soldiers, and arrive at the gate of the palace. But what a sorry sight they present! Not one of them is fit to enter into the king's presence. What can they do? Their clothes are all spoiled, and they have no others to put on.

Now suppose the king should hear of what has taken place. And suppose that out of love and pity to those poor distressed people, he should cause a fountain to be opened near the gate of his palace. Suppose that this fountain had such wonderful power that when any of these people plunged into it, just as they were, it would mend every hole and rent in their clothes, so that nobody could tell they had ever been torn-it would take away every spot and stain from them, and make them stronger, and whiter, and more beautiful than they were when new. Suppose the king should direct them all to wash in this fountain, and that all who did wash therein were made fit to enter the palace and join in the feast. We might well say of such a fountain, that its cleansing power was wonderful.

Now what we have been supposing of this fountain is really true of the best fountain. The king referred to represents God. The palace is heaven. The white robes necessary to enter mean the righteousness of Christ. The procession of people marching to the palace are the inhabitants of this world. The enemy of the king, with his soldiers in the wood, represents Satan with his evil spirits. The condition of the people when they arrive at the palace gate, with their garments all torn and soiled,

represents the state of our souls by nature. We are all sinners; and it is because we are sinners that the Bible speaks of our souls as having nothing to cover them but garments of "filthy rags." We never can go into heaven with these on. At the same time we cannot of ourselves put off these "filthy rags." We cannot mend them, or clean them. Then what are we to do? Oh, listen to the text! "There shall be a fountain opened ** for sin and for uncleanness." Jesus shed His blood to open this fountain. And now He says to us all: “Wash and be clean." These are His words: "Come now, and let us reason together though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Those who wash in this fountain are cleansed from all their sins. Their souls are clothed in white raiment; they are ready to enter God's palace in heaven. This fountain has a wonderful cleansing power.

**

This best fountain has a WONDERFUL HEALING POWER.

The Bible represents sin as a disease. When it would show us the condition of a sinner's soul, it compares it to a man whose head is sick, whose heart is faint, and whose body is covered all over, from head to foot, with "wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores." If our bodies were in such a condition as this, we should want, above all things, to get something that would heal them. Whatever could really heal our suffering bodies and make them well again, we should prize beyond anything else in the world.

Suppose a fountain should be discovered which had