Picture to yourself, kind reader, a high, rugged range of mountains, ending in a bold, precipitous crag, standing out sharp and clear against the blue of heaven’s dome, bending to the resplendent glory of a crimson sunset in the west. Only by a narrow isthmus of ledge is the bold crag joined to the parent range,—the only pathway by which human foot could gain its otherwise inaccessible height. A solitary man reclines in a restful spot upon the summit of that high crag, contemplating the sublime, the glorious panorama spread out before him, his soul feasting upon the matchless marvels of his Maker’s might.
WHILE basking in seeming security and peace, the man feels the throes of an earthquake shock, the very mountain seems lifted as a boat upon the billows, trembles a moment, and then settles down to rest. He feels safer when the convulsion is over, till he looks toward the great mountain range, and, horrors unspeakable! he finds himself separated from the mountain mass by a bottomless, yawning chasm, which he has no means of crossing. To attempt to leap it is to dash to death in the yawning gulf. To remain on the mountain-top there is to die of starvation and despair. He goes all around the top of the crag, but finds no path by which he can escape. The precipitous sides present no possible descent save that of destruction. Words can not describe his feelings, no pen can portray his loneliness, desolation, and despair. The night settles down, but it brings no restful repose. The man prayed as he never prayed before “out of the depths,” for help he knew not how could come. Even God seemed far away. At last, overcome by his feelings, he sinks into
“a watchful sleep,
Wearier than another’s waking.”
He awakes with a start, feeling that he is falling down the black, bottomless abyss. Presently there steals over him again the sense of his despairing situation. He moans and weeps and cries in agony. He clutches at the cold, unfeeling rock, which seems mutely to mock at his misery. He dare not at first even look toward the frightful chasm, lest he shall go mad and plunge into its depths. Finally, in the calmness of despair, he turns toward the mountains, where the last greeting of the night was the blackness of a fathomless abyss, which separated him from all that was dear. But, O, joy of joys, the chasm is bridged! Strong and firm, a ladder of rock reaches from the crag to the mountain, and joyfully his feet are planted upon its blessed steps till he stands rejoicing in the pathway of safety, leading to home and happiness.
IT is no fancy picture, reader. When sin entered Eden, Earth broke from the Continent of Heaven. The mighty convulsion left a chasm so deep that man could not fill it, so black that he could not pierce its shadows, so wide that he could not span its yawning, hungry mouth. He was in himself helpless, doomed, lost. He knew that he deserved his awful fate of eternal death, but this was no consolation in losing life, and all the love and liberty and glory and beauty which life brought.
YET, in man’s despair he was not forgotten. The great Father will not leave the wayward son till the son forever turns away from Him. Therefore God bridged that gulf by the giving of Him whose life was more precious than that of all creatures, because He possessed in Himself the potencies of all creation. Yet God “gave His only-begotten Son,” that Son “gave Himself” for the disobedient. The Eternal Son of God spanned the fearful chasm in Himself, and made a safe and living way for man to reach again the land of love and light and life.
THE deceiver would have men forget the awful gulf which sin made, to forget that as truly as it broke the earth from Heaven’s Land, so truly does it separate each soul from God,2and that forever, unless the awful gulf is bridged.
SOMETIMES God lets man stand alone in the darkness, that man may appreciate his lost condition. So He did Jacob, “the supplanter.” Better than Esau in principle tho he was, he was still selfish and sinful. He took advantage of his brother’s hunger to buy his birthright for a mess of pottage, and then, through his mother’s connivance, he deceived his father and stole the blessing of his brother Esau. Little wonder, then, that when news came to their ears that Esau was about to kill him, the mother calls him, and sends him away to distant Padan-aram to his uncle’s house. How a guilty conscience makes cowards of us all!
WITH heavy, despairing heart Jacob takes leave of his mother, never to see her again. He lies down upon the bare ground at night, feeling utterly forsaken of God and man. His sins, like a great gulf, had separated him from Heaven.
YET God had not left him. In a vision of the night He revealed His love and care to Jacob, and left it on record for all generations to come, that Infinite Love and Infinite Sacrifice had bridged the chasm between earth and heaven. Resting upon the earth and reaching to the glorious gate of the City of God, Jacob saw a shining ladder, and upon that ladder angels of God, passing to and fro from earth to heaven in tireless ministry for the lost and needy ones of earth. The erstwhile despairing pilgrim awoke with a great feeling of awe in his soul, yet with new hope in his heart, and new purposes in his life. “Surely,” said he, “Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of the place Beth-el [the house of God]; but the name of the city was Luz [separation] at first.” And then followed his solemn vow to do faithful service for God and render to the Master His own.
READER, whosoever you are, howsoever separated by the black, yawning gulf of sin, there is salvation for you. Christ has bridged the gulf and made a safe pathway for you. Let faith behold the shining ladder and set foot upon its golden steps. It will bear your weight. Every round has been tested by almost infinite temptation, till its living fiber will bear the stress of any burden. Look up, lift up the head. Are you separated and lonely, the presence of Christ will change the Vale of Separation to the House of God and the Gate of Heaven.
