hrist has made you
to be members of the great heavenly family; so that the little child who
loves Jesus, is brother or sister to the archangel before the throne!
You may be deprived of human friendship and fellowship. The brother or
sister, the father or mother, or friend you once dearly loved, may be
laid in some earthly Machpelah--some silent grave. But rejoice! nothing
can separate you from a better friend and more lasting fellowship.
Though all earthly joys were to perish, you can always rush within the
gates of that mighty Hebron of refuge, and say, "_Truly our_
'FELLOWSHIP' _is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ_."

"Earthly friends may pain and grieve me,
One day kind, the next they leave me;
But this Friend can ne'er deceive me--
Oh, how He loves!"

[Illustration: Bezer]

Fourth City--Bezer.

BEZER was situated beyond the Jordan, in the tribe of Reuben. Although
its precise site has not been discovered, we may infer that it was
perched on one of the many rocky heights among the mountains of
_Abarim_,--perhaps a spur of the great mount Nebo, from whose summit
Moses was permitted, before death, to get a view of the Land of Promise.
The northern portion of the waters of the Dead Sea would be seen from
it, and the pastoral mountains of Judah in the distance. From its name,
as well as from its being a border town, and subject to attack from the
warlike tribe of Moab, Bezer would probably be strongly
fortified,--similar, perhaps, in this respect to the towns in the
neighbourhood, with which the Israelites were so struck on their first
approach to Canaan, with "their walls great and high, reaching to
heaven."

What does the name BEZER tell of Christ?

It literally means "_stronghold_," or Rock. Jesus is the believer's
BEZER. The sinner is in danger everywhere else, but in Jesus he is safe.
He is invited to "turn to the STRONGHOLD" as a "prisoner of hope," and
once within its gates, "though an host encamp against him," he need
"fear no evil."

What a mighty force _does_ encamp against him! There is _God's Holy
Law_, with all its terrible threatenings and curses. But sheltered in
the true BEZER he can triumphantly say, "It is God that justifieth: who
is he that condemneth?"[37]

There is _Satan_, with his artful wiles and countless temptations. He
was once a bright angel himself. He knows what holiness and happiness
are. But being now a wicked spirit, he wou