(Concluded from p. 221).

Our journey now takes us from the Ramoth heights down to Golan in Bashan. Bashan has very reasonably been taken to picture for us the allurements and enticements of this world and its pleasures; the seductive enticements of a scene controlled by one who knows how to clothe himself even in garments of light, the soft pleasures of luxury and ease. The fear of this other effort of the Adversary, who is ever quick at shifting his base from the hard and the rough to the easy and the delightful, is in the words of the Apostle John:"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world; and the world passeth away with the lust thereof."

My brethren, do not you and I know some of these shifts and changes of fortune, these Bashans following the Gileads? Do not you and I know something of the pull and tug of the world, of its intellectual and its sensuous pleasures, its proud ambitions, and the seductive calls of place and station?

When Ulysses had to pass the "Isles of the Sirens," which may for the nonce picture the allurements of the world to us, he tied his sailors to the mast, lest they be enticed to their destruction. His was the way of those who seek deliverance through the law and its "thou shalt not." Orpheus, however, found another way. He raised a sweeter song than anything from the isles. And the way of Orpheus was the way of Paul. He knew the "Joy (Golan) of the Lord." He "counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, the Lord," for whom he had suffered the loss of all things and did count them but dung that he might win Christ. The joy of the Lord was indeed his strength, and well might he have sung:

"It was the sight of Thy dear Cross
First weaned my soul from earthly things,
And taught me to esteem as dross
The mirth of fools, the pride of kings."

Raise high the banner over Golan in Bashan; read on it the inscription, as the sweetest of all heavenly music resounds:

"Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord."

And now we leave, for the moment, our Golan behind us; we cross "over Jordan" and enter the Holy Land-holy because Christ was once there. We visit Kedesh in Galilee, in mount Naphtali.

"Galilee, sweet Galilee,
Where Jesus loved so much to be,"

is dear to us just for that very reason, if for no other. But some think that it pictures to us "resurrection" land. How suitably therefore it follows our passage of the Jordan. And how natural it is to find a "sanctuary" (Kedesh) there. But this sanctuary belongs to Naphtali ("the struggler"). Do you remember what Jacob says of Naphtali? "Naphtali is a hind let loose; he giveth goodly words." And undoubtedly his struggle was just against the bonds that fastened him ere "let loose."

Paul gives us a very vivid picture in Romans 7 of another captive, a captive to a law of sin and death. No goodly words had this captive, until the proclamation of his freedom came. He struggled and tore at his bonds, but all unavailingly. He groaned:"The evil which I would not, that do I, and the good which I would, that do I not." Oh, his was a wretched struggle! No wonder that in his despair, he sighed:"Oh. wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?" But that despair became his enfranchisement, his "letting loose." His defeat was his salvation, for it brought a deliverer. The "old stone" of a dead self was left beneath the waters of Jordan. A risen other self shouted the name of His deliverer. Oh, what a thrilling shout he raised:"THANK GOD…JESUS CHRIST MY LORD." For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus had made him free from the law of sin and death. Goodly words are these, my brethren. I trust we all know something of them. The sun is rising that never sets. It is banner-hoisting time on Kedesh, and on the banner there is blazoned:

LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS

But time is pressing, and we must leave dear Kedesh in Galilee and climb, still climb, to Shechem in Mount Ephraim. The air is getting purer here up among the mountains. The mists that hang over the lowlands are scarcely ever seen. The foes that are apparent else-where are not in the Ephraim of our picture. The sun is scarcely ever clouded over, and it gives reality to Ephraim's name, "fruitfulness." Nor is this astonishing, for it is after all not so far from Kedesh, and the man who finds practically his life in Christ Jesus is the man who alone is truly fruitful. It is the man who has been set free to serve, "let loose" from self and self-reliance and service of self, who becomes useful to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ insists on this very thing in his beautiful parable of the vine. "Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me." Hence comes all power.

On the other hand, let us remember that feeding on the life-sustaining vine is not the only thing. It is truly a vital thing, but we must, in doing so, find our refuge in Shechem. We must put our "shoulder," as Shechem means, to the daily task. There must be the conscious exertion made in the strength imparted by the food. "If any man serve Me, let him follow Me, and where I am there shall also My servant be." But where was our Master? Why, He was "Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed, who went about doing good." So we see where following Him leads us. It is not by any means always an easy path, though His yoke is indeed easy and his burden light. It is through the yoke only, that the path is possible. You cannot "follow" without serving, and you cannot serve without following. Such service with us may not always be great, but it will always be good, always be fruitful, not necessarily now, but certainly by and by. As the hymn so succinctly puts is:

"Labor for and with the Lord
Brings abundant great reward."

"If any man serve Me, him will My Father honor."

"He that goeth forth with weeping
Bearing precious seed in love,
Never tiring, never sleeping,
Findeth mercy from above."
"Soft descend the dews of heaven,
Bright the rays celestial shine,
Precious fruits will thus be given,
Through an influence all divine."

And now our journey is drawing to a close, amid hallelujah songs and the music of harpers harping, for we are entering the land of Judah, and Judah means "praise," and its city of refuge is "Hebron," "communion." Jacob says of Judah:"Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise." It was formerly called Kirjath-Arba, the city of Arba, the father of Anak, one of the great men when Joshua led the Israelites into the land. But just as the praise of the great men of other lands, in that psalm of great men, the 87th, suddenly shifts from the great men of Egypt and surrounding countries to one born in "Bethlehem, in the land of Judah," of whom the singers and the players on stringed instruments say:"All my springs are in Thee," so the praise of all the ages and of all countries of the ages will shift from the great men of all those countries, of all those ages, to the Man Christ Jesus, and all those who abide in "communion" with God shall say, "every stop of their nature pulled wide open, and their whole being vibrating with praise," "All our springs are in Thee." As a beautiful hymn puts it:

"Worthy of the sweetest praise
That my ransomed soul can raise,
Is that One in whom alone
God Himself is fully known."

It is ever banner-raising time at Hebron, for there the hearts of His own are always making the "Son of David" King. The blood-red banner of the Lamb, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, is floating out from every tower and battlement. The music of the city is rising and blending with music of sweet, celestial choirs, as we listen:

"Jesus, our Lord, to Thee
Honor and majesty.
Now and forever be,
Here and in Heaven."

F. C. Grant