298 FORWARD!
After the roll-call of God's heroes in the Epistle to the Hebrews there is the application, " Let us run the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus." With very many the reason they never go forward is that they live looking backward. The story of Lot's wife has a lesson for all time — turned not into salt, but into stone. Nothing is more sure to turn one to stone than to live looking back. It is to lose all sympathy with the present and all hope for the future ; and that past is always distorted and deceptive. Israel was kept from going forward because they dreamed of the leeks, and garlic, and cucumber, and the sweet waters of the Nile. How conveniently they forgot the crack of the taskmaster's whip and the cruel decree that doomed their sons to death !
IF I was on Dartmoor some years ago, when we were overtaken by a dense mist. My friend, who knew the moor well, said he would bring us straight to the point we wanted, knowing the part of the stream at which we stood and the direction in which we wanted to go. For a while we went on safely enough ; then I stopped and turned to button my waterproof. He too turned for a moment to speak to me. Then instantly he cried, " I have lost my bearings. That turn did it. I don't know the way any longer." We went on, thinking we were right, but an hour later found ourselves back by the bank of the river we had left. We had gone in a complete circle. " Now," said he, " we can start again ; but we must not stop for anything." Away we went, and he led us right across to the point we wanted. Later he explained to me that knowing the direction at the outset he kept his eye on some furze bush or rock straight before him and so led us in a fairly straight line. " If you lose that," said he, " you are sure to go in a circle." ^
Here must the Christian onward press,
Through toil and sweat, through foul and fair;
In days of gladness or distress Of looking back he must beware.
His life of grace must still advance.
His onward gaze fixed on the goal, With penance, ever new, enhance
The love and virtue of his soul.
2. Another hindrance to progress is to go round instead of going forward. The Sunday Service, hymn, and prayer, and
» M. G. Pearse.
EXODUS XIV. 15 299
sermon, the round of observances ; the daily prayer, the round of phrases. How many of us know this same disease ? How many of us suffer from it? Always going on; never going farther. Always going on, but never going forward. The old failings just as they were ; no victories, no new possessions, no new visions, no new hopes, no added strength, no fuller service ; day after day, week after week, year after year — the same fixed round.
IT I met with a singular occurrence during my holiday this year. I had gone for a day's fishing. The river was very low and clear, and my only hope was in crouching under the rocks and hiding myself. Suddenly as I bent down absorbed in my work, not a sound about me but the tinkle of the waterfall, or the brawl of the shallows, there came a faint bleat at my side. I looked over the rock, and there was a sheep standing deep in the water. I called to my friend who was with me, and together we lifted the poor beast up over the steep bushy bank. To our unutterable disgust, it instantly tm^ned and flopped into the water again. Again we leaned over the bank, and lifted it out once more, and this time took care to take it far enough to be safe. At once it began to walk, but only went round and round. " What is the matter with it ? " said I, recalling the West-country saying, " as maazed as a sheep." " Oh," said my friend, " it has got the rounders, something the matter with the brain. They think they are going on, but they are always going round." "Poor thing," said I. " I know many people like that, only it is some- thing the matter with the heart. They think they are going on, but they are always going round." ^
3. A third hindrance is fear. Israel often looked forward, but got no farther. They said, "Their cities are walled up to heaven. The men are giants, in whose sight we are as grass- hoppers," and they went back again to the dreary round in the wilderness. Now our safety is in going on.
^ When I was in South Africa, I heard a humorous story — true, I may say, for it came to me at first hand. Two young men who had three days' holiday had set their hearts on riding up the country each to see the young lady to whom he was engaged. With light hearts they started, and entered the forest through which we were riding when my friend told me the story. Surrounded by the glory of the blue sky, under the shadow of the trees they were riding along briskly, when suddenly they