THE BRINK OF THE RIVER.
Amer's path had now for some time led him by the banks of the river
that flowed through the Valley of the Shadows. In its shadows he found
many waiting for the King's guard to take them across, and going in and
out among them, Amer did what he could to remind them of the King's
love and of His mercy.
He had not much time to think now of his own dangers and difficulties,
indeed he had to leave the keeping of his soul to his faithful Creator
and King; and he was surrounded with an invisible army of angels, who
warded the enemy off again and again when he was engaged with those he
was seeking to comfort.
Every now and then, however, he found himself gripped by the enemies
who are peculiarly busy with those soldiers who are spending their
lives in working for others.
When Amer saw some of the pilgrims, as they passed through the valley,
paying but scant notice (because wrapped up in their own soul's
welfare) to those in hopeless misery who were on the borders of the
river, he found himself again and again passing a hard judgment on
their conduct, and criticising their selfishness, forgetting that there
had been a time in his own history, when his thoughts had been so
engaged with the health of his own soul, that he had had no eyes to see
the needs of others.
Then there were some who did what they could to help, but whose help
was so unwise in Amer's eyes, and so far from being profitable, that
the enemy, Impatience, took hold of him, and pushed him to the ground
more than once. He had in fact, constantly to be reminding himself of
the words in the Guide Book,
"'Judge not, that ye be not judged,' 'Who art thou that judgest another
man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.'" And when he
felt conscious of these enemies he could only cry to his King, as he
drew out his sword, and his cry was always heard and answered.
Amer's voice was the last that many a pilgrim heard this side of the
dark river.
He had been in the Valley for some time when he suddenly heard his name
spoken by a voice that made his heart beat, and he saw, standing on
the very brink of the river, Gabrielle, but so altered that he hardly
recognized her. Indeed, though she looked so pale and thin that he felt
she must be very near the end of her journey, the expression of her
face was so unlike that he had ever seen upon it that he was amazed; it
reminded him of the light that he had noticed on the face of Heman as
he passed to the Radiant City.
"You did not expect to meet me on the journey," she said, as he grasped
her hands, "but Amer, when I saw you were in such dead earnest and
would not give up the Radiant City or your King even for me, I felt
there must be some truth in what others told me was a mere legend, and
I could not rest till I had set out on the same journey."
"And Desmond?" asked Amer.
"I never married him," she answered, "how could I when once I had known
you. When I told you I should, I said it out of pique, I never really
intended to, though my father did all he could to persuade me. But I
could not rest till I had passed through the East Gate. But oh! my
journey has been so short! I have had such a little time in which to
prove my loyalty to my King. Just a few short weeks! And now I have to
cross the River. How can I be sure that the King will receive me after
forgetting Him for so long? I feel the enemy Doubt is doing what he can
to wrench my soul away from Him."
Amer looked at the River and noticed that across it lay the shadow of
the Cross, as it had done during the passing of Heman.
"Dearest," he said, "you must get beneath the Cross, then Doubt will
fly from you."
"Is it there for me?" she asked faintly.
"As much for you as for the warrior who for years has fought under the
King's banner."
"Help me to get within its shadow," she pleaded: and Amer, putting his
arm around her, gently moved her in its direction, and as she stood
beneath its shadow, he saw a peace steal across her face.
"I think my feet have touched the brink," she whispered, "I wish, oh! I
wish, you were coming too."
"I will not leave you till the King has hold of your hand," said Amer,
as her head sunk on his breast.
"Are you quite sure I am under the shadow of the Cross?" she murmured.
"Yes, these are the King's own words," he answered:
"'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life.' 'Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners.'"
"Then He must have come to save me," said Gabrielle, but her words were
so faint that Amer could scarcely hear them.
Suddenly she raised her head from his shoulder.
"It is the King," she said, while a radiance from the City lighted her
face, "He is calling to me," and Amer, as he loosed his hold of her,
saw her step down into the cold waters and stretch out her hand to some
Invisible One.
Then, as he stood still as if turned to stone, he suddenly fell to the
ground, for an enemy whom he had never met before had fallen upon him.
Rebellion had thrown his arrow successfully at him, and now stood over
his fallen prey so that he was unable to rise. For the time his shadow
was so deep and dark that Amer nearly lost the sight of the Radiant
City: and so well did Rebellion do his work that his victim lay without
so much as an effort to rid himself of him. He could only think of the
one he had found but to lose again, and was full of hard thoughts of
the way by which he was being led. He could not live without Gabrielle,
he cried. So successfully had he hitherto managed to banish her from
his thoughts, that he had imagined that his love for her could never
again be roused to its full heat. But now that he had once more seen
her, had looked into her eyes, had heard her voice, and had found her
so infinitely sweeter than he could have pictured, he felt his will
rise up against the will of his King, and so lay unresistingly in the
grip of Rebellion. His strength all seemed to have vanished, his work
to have lost its interest, his path impossible to tread any longer.
Suddenly in the distance he heard the sound of singing.
"If God Himself be for me
I can a host defy."
It was the band of singing pilgrims, Iddo and Chisleu amongst them,
praising, as they passed on the heights above the Dark Valley.
Then, with a sudden spring, Amer leapt up, and drawing his sword, he
fought. Fought in the strength of his King, crying out all the time for
help to overcome. And the enemy, taken by surprise, and perceiving that
this soldier, who had looked so weak and helpless, was now resolved to
conquer, gradually drew back, till a favourable moment came to turn and
fly.
Then once more Amer took up his work in the Valley, and found that the
thought of Gabrielle having passed to the Radiant City made it seem
nearer to him than ever before, and recognized the fact that though
divided from him by the River, she was really much closer to him than
she had ever been while in the Dark City.