But now to the bridge.  We pass quietly among the curious gazers down to the river.  Just south of the bridge I go down to the river’s edge and bathe my hands, face, and feet in water that only a few hours ago was in the lake where the waves were once stilled by His quiet command of power—­“Peace, be still,” and where He at another time walked amidst the billows to meet his own; in water that will hurry on down the valley to the place where He was baptized; and then it will pass on into oblivion in the Salt Sea of Death.  Then I try, with surprising success, to drink of the water like our Arab guide drank to-day.  Then we walk to the bridge, at the approach of which I ask my men to tarry while I go out on it alone to meditate.

I have reached this place by the expenditure of much physical energy.  I am very weary over my hard day in the saddle.  But when I seat myself on the highest point of the bridge, and give myself up to reverie, I feel the flood of sentiment and rejoice.  The moon is about one-half hour above the mountains of Gilead; a halo seems to gild the heights to the east and to the west.  I am just above the Jordan; its rippling waters tell me of Abraham, of Jacob, of Joshua, of Saul, of David, of Elijah, of Elisha, of Naaman, of John the Baptist, and of Jesus of Nazareth.  How sweet and musical is the story!  How impressive its truths as I hear it to-night?  Then I watch the play of the moon-light on the water,—­the glittering sheen on the smooth surface above the bridge, and the flashes of light on the rapids below.  It is all so beautiful!

And this is the Jordan!  For many years I have heard of it; I have read of it; I have sung of it.  It has been to me for many years a type of death.  Again I look upon the calm blue depths on the north, and then again on the rapids below—­I see the peace here, and hear the rush there.  Then I turn my eyes again to the mountains, and upward to the moon, and past the moon to the stars —­and by faith beyond the stars to search for Him of this land, because of whose earth-life I am here, and upon whom I rely for support in the hour of my approach to the shore of that river of which this is the type.