Daily EncouragementSample

There is a place for reopening the wells dug in our father’s time, if they were indeed “wells of salvation” (Isa. 12:3). How often an ancient book, an old sermon or an account of a past revival has quenched a contemporary thirst. The modern Philistine does great harm when in his search for something new he blocks up such sources of refreshment for thirsty souls.

There is a place for retaining the names which our fathers used. It would be foolish to drink at the same wells as they and yet lightly to discard their names. The deeper the satisfaction we derive, the more earnest will be our desire to learn their significance. The great terms of the gospel message such as election, calling, reconciliation, justification, sanctification are not obsolete. These stars continue to shine, albeit with a new and clearer light.

The reopening of such wells calls for heavenly wisdom. “Such a preacher do we always want in the church,” says Joseph Parker, “who will not shut up the book and make a new one on his own account, but will so read the old Hebrew and Greek and the present English as to make our blood tingle as he reads.”