THE TWO CROSSINGS.

The crossing of the Red Sea and the river Jordan, are set forth in Scripture as emblematic events, typifying the soul's exodus from the slavery of sin and its entrance into the fulness of the Spirit.

In 1 Cor. x., Paul teaches that the crossing of the Red Sea was an act of faith sufficient to initate them into the privileges of God's Church; where he shows how that "all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat," etc. This summing up of eating spiritual meat, the rite of baptism and the faith-act of crossing the sea, shows that God designed it to be an outward historic type of the soul's deliverance from the bondage of Satan and introduction into the kingdom of God.

Now if we turn to Heb. iv. we will see that Paul just as clearly teaches that the crossing of the Jordan is a type of the believer's entering into the "rest of faith," or full salvation. He says we enter by "promise" and "by faith." We which have believed do enter into the rest of perfect love; and he exhorts imperfect believers to labor, or more accurately to "hasten" to enter this Canaan. See verses 1-3-11.

With these New Testament torch-lights in our hands, let us go back to the Old Testament records of these two great crossings, and examine the contrasts between them, in which we shall find some of the differences between justification and entire purification.

DRIVEN AND DRAWN.

The main thought that pressed upon the Hebrews in Egypt was to escape out of their unbearable bondage. They spent a hundred fold more thought and prayer on how to escape slavery, than they did on the glories of Canaan. A convicted sinner likewise thinks of his guilt and doom, but he can not think much of the glories and beauties of holiness; the Canaan of sanctification is not yet in range of his vision; he is occupied with the fetters of sin, and the impending doom. He is driven out of Egypt. The prospect of death, of judgment and hell — these solemn realities drive men across the Red Sea of pardon.

But the Israelites were drawn to Canaan. They grew weary of wandering, of tent life, of their food, etc., and they hungered and pined for the fixed houses and rest and solid food of Canaan. They were not driven by storm, but drawn by the superior advantages of the country. And the believer is not driven into perfect love by fear and wrath; but he is mysteriously and powerfully drawn to it by the deep inward wants of his experience. Growing tired of his inner wilderness life, he longs for a better experience. He finds the Canaan of holiness contains just what he most needs, and is drawn into it by a mighty soul thirst. Paul preached in consonance with this truth; he preached to sinners from the terrors of the Lord, but he led believers into sanctification, beseeching them by the mercies of God.

HASTE AND PREPARATION.

In Ex. xii. 33, we find that the exit from Egypt was in great haste. "The Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste," etc. How true to experience! When a sinner fully realizes his state of guilt and danger, he moves with utmost speed to calling on a Savior.

When they were to cross Jordan, there was more definite proceeding and preparation. Joshua i. II: "Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals, for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you. " Here there is thoughtful and definite preparation for a mighty step of faith, and not that hurry and terrific alarm that accompanied their exit from slavery. And so when a child of God is on the verge of making the great step into entire sanctification, there is a definiteness in his preparatory consecration, a deep, determined and thoughtful proceeding, which it was impossible to exercise when fleeing as a slave of sin from the wrath to come.

THE TWO PATHS.

While in both instances there was a dry path way made through the sea and the river, yet there was a characteristic difference in the way in which the paths were made. In Ex. xix. 16, we read, "But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. " Here we see that the rod was stretched out and the waters divided before the people began to walk over. The road was made plain and open before their eyes, in order to induce their infant faith to step onward.

Now if we turn to Joshua iii. 13, we read, "And it shall come to pass as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap." We find here that in crossing into Canaan, the clear path was not opened until after they began the march, and actually "rested their feet in the water." In crossing the sea there is first the open path, then the stepping; but in crossing the Jordan there is first the onward tread of faith, and afterwards the open visible way.

When we seek the forgiveness of our sins, we may stand for a moment struck with terror at our pursuing foes, but suddenly some promise of Jesus, like the rod of Moses, is stretched out over the turbulent future. We see Christ on the cross as our substitute; the way of escape is so plain, our trembling faith walks over into the kingdom of God.

When we come, however, to trust Christ to deliver us from all inward sin, the way at first seems far more obscure and shut up. The clear pathway through sanctification is never fully seen and understood till after the exercise of perfect saving trust. I confess that this subject of sanctification was one of utter confusion, and turbulent waves of mixed and muddy theology rolled before my mind, until my simple and daring faith plunged forward in the swelling flood, and soon the Holy Spirit swept away the waves of mixed theology, and the pathway of holiness was clear as noon. God does not re veal to us the full secret of sanctification till after we trust Him to the uttermost.

FAITH AIDED AND UNMIXED.

Another contrast between the two crossings, is seen in the faith exercised upon the two occasions. In the first instance faith was blended with visible agents; in the second case, it was pure, simple, unmixed trust. In Ex. xiv. 21, we read: "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land." Now look at the aids and props of faith in this event.

Moses had been for many months, and was now, the visible representative of God unto the Israelites, and his very presence aided their faith; then the act of stretching his hand over the sea was calculated to inspire their trust, and then the hard east wind blowing back the sea all night, though it did not make the dry path of itself, yet it was an adjunct and an aid to infant, tottering faith. So it is in conversion. The poor fleeing penitent knows so little of trusting God, that he is permitted aids and crutches for his faith. The very presence of some enthusiastic Christian man or woman, a brave word of good cheer, or a breeze of holy song, has helped many a penitent to put forth justifying faith.

But when we go into the Canaan of full salvation, there are no extraneous aids to faith; it must be "naked faith on a naked promise."

So we refer to Josh. iii. 14, 15, and read: "And it came to pass, when the people removed tom their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; and as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest), that the waters which came down stood up," etc.

In this we see no man standing in front to lean upon, no outstretched rod over the waters, no east wind to blow back the waves, not a single magic word uttered to the river, not a visible or audible thing as an aid to faith; and besides, the river was at that time two or three times deeper than usual, so that the apparent difficulties were at the maximum, and the aids to faith at the minimum; they had naught but the naked promise of God, "Arise, go over this Jordan, and it shall come to pass," etc. Thus in going over into entire sanctification, you need not try to sing or shout, or work yourself up to the faith point, for you can not do it; you must lay aside all signs, or sights, or aids to faith, and calmly, firmly make up your mind to step out on the promise:

Faith's foot must walk the swelling flood,

And firmly claim the cleansing blood.

WATERS NEAR AND REMOTE.

By referring to Ex. xiv. 22, we see that the path through the sea was quite narrow; the waters stood in a perpendicular wall on either side, and so near that the spray of the waves on top, sprinkled them in baptism unto Moses in the sea. See 1 Cor. x. 1.

But you see in Joshua iii. 16, that the waters were not only divided, but removed entirely out of sight. On the north the waters were cut off away back to the city of Adam, near Zaretan, being several miles above them, and on the south the waters rolled down in the salt sea, several miles below, so that up and down the river, as far as the eye could see, the river bed was clear. The difficulties in the way of being saved from inbred sin, seem much more formidable than those in pardon; difficulties concerning confession, concerning how we can be kept from falling, and many other tangled problems, like the Jordan, rise up before us three times as high as usual; but when we put forth perfect faith, all these difficulties are removed farther away from us than in conversion; the perplexing waves are verily out of sight. Remember, "it was in harvest time that Jordan overflowed all its banks." Let no swelling flood obstruct your immediate "forward march" into the rich fruits of holiness. The deeper the stream, the grander the faith. Trust Jesus right now to cleanse you from all sin, and every threatening billow will vanish beyond your vision!

MEMORIAL SONGS AND STONES.

When they crossed the Red Sea, they celebrated the event with a song of triumph (Ex. xvi. 1), but they raised no monument, for they must move onward to Sinai and Canaan. But when they crossed the Jordan, they erected a permanent monument out of the very stones on which the priest's feet stood firm in the bed of the river. See Josh. iv. 3-7. God had promised them a permanent abode in Canaan, and their entrance into it must be commemorated by some thing more enduring than a song with timbrels. When we are converted we sing and shout; well we may; but when we enter entire sanctification, we have, in addition to the song, such a grasp on the word of God, that the very rock-like promise on which our foot of faith stands firm, becomes as a marble monument to us; and when our future experiences ask us the meaning of such memorial texts, we can reassure ourselves that on that stone of promise our souls marched into the Canaan of holiness.

These ancient things of the Holy Ghost were written for our instruction, and when we have interiorly learned them in the light of the Spirit, how truly do these old patterns of faith fit the frame of our modern souls.