I have preached many
a time, there is a place of worship at each end. As you come from the
railway station, there is one which begins the town--a Baptist Chapel,
plain and convenient, but right on the street, with the busy traffic all
round; while at the other end of the town there is a church with a spire
that makes you look up and think it is an anthem in stone! All around
are old-fashioned houses, with gardens filled with flowers, and green
lawns, while beyond there is a real country lane, with May in the hedges,
and the music of larks and blackbirds. What a contrast! Yet if the ark
of God were in danger, there would be brave hearts come from both places
to die for the truth. No! let us have done with this wish to have all
the same. It will become monotony. Go down into the Jordan and fetch
your stone! Aye, aye, and one will pick the heaviest, one that will make
his knees totter; and another will choose the squarest, and yet another
the smoothest, but each man lays his in the heap, and it is well done!

"What mean these stones?"

WHY, THAT IT IS SAFE TO GO WHERE THE ARK GOES.

That chest is the sign of God's presence. There is the blood on the
mercy-seat, and there are the angels of gold looking at that spot of
blood. All the time the ark stood still in the bed of the river, the
people could pass in safety. There are many Jordans for some of us to
pass, but we need not to fear if God is there. There is the Jordan of
POVERTY. It is a deep stream, and the water runs fast: yes, but if the
ark goes first, thou shalt not be overcome. Does Providence call on thee
to go down in the world? Never fear! the Ark is there. "I will never
leave thee." We are thinking now of a friend of ours, not sainted, but
saintly, who has seen great reverses of fortune, yet her life has been a
psalm. She reminds me of a robin, for, like him, her song has been
sweeter than ever in the dark days. You may have to cross the river of
PERSECUTION, but the Ark is there. When the three brave men preferred
the furnace to idolatry, they found the Son of Man in the flames waiting
for them, and so shall you.

And when it comes to the Jordan of DEATH, we shall know the Ark has gone
on before. Some of you lame ones will step it out bravely when you see
the Ark. Don't you remember, that good old "Ready to Halt" left his
crutches on the bank? It was because he could see the Ark in the bed of
the river.

Do not these stones teach tha