Adventures in the Land of CanaanBerry, R. L. (Robert Lee)
Religion
Adventures in the Land of Canaan
Berry, R. L. (Robert Lee)
Christian life
"If you will give all honor to Immanuel and none to me, I will relate my
experiences--a few at least. There are many giants in Canaan, very many of
them. There is Giant Lust, who has slain thousands. Poor souls! Giant
Puff-up, who causes pilgrims to act as foolish as did the toad that saw an
elephant and burst itself trying to be as large; Giant Lethargy, who
operates an opiate factory in a hollow that runs directly down into Egypt;
Giant Covetousness, who decoys pilgrims to the silver-mine run by Balaam
and Demas; Giant Pride, an evil giant who has troubled pilgrims for time
out of mind; Giant Liar, who uses an abundance of camouflage; and others
[Galatians 5:19-21]."
"My, you almost scare us naming them! Can it be we must fight all of
them? Is not this that rest-land!"
"My dear pilgrims, this is Beulah-land, and Sabbath-land. Here is the
true rest. But remember, Canaan has its giants, more so than the
wilderness; the true rest is found in overcoming them. Do not be
frightened. Look at the armor with which you are equipped."
"Sincere, the armor is all right, but it is ourselves that we are doubtful
of. Can we use the sword and the shield as they should be used?"
"Indeed you can, pilgrims, no doubt of it. Why, when I got into Canaan
I was so weak I nearly lost my life fighting."
"Tell us about it."
"About twenty-five years ago I entered Canaan. It was a great day for
me! At last the long journey through the wilderness was over, the deep,
wide waters of Jordan passed! Canaan was my own! I praised Immanuel and
began to possess the land [Joshua 1:2, 3].
"Not long after that I met a lean, white-whiskered man named Legality.
He said he was my friend. He looked venerable and sincere, even if he
did appear rather stern and immovable! 'Now friend Sincere,' he said,
'I have something here that will help you walk safely and straight,' and
with that he slipped a peculiar jacket over my head and buckled it up
pretty tight around my waist [Galatians 5:1].
"'There,' he said, 'that jacket just fits you. You are in Canaan now,
and must walk, oh, so straight and carefully! Why, if you make even ever
so little a mistake, you will be punished, I fear, dreadfully. But that
jacket will help you and keep you from doing anything far out of the
way.' And with that he left me.
"Well, I wanted anything that would help me, so I kept the jacket on.
It bothered me considerably. It was made of stiff, iron stays, woven in
with rough haircloth, both of which were made, so Mr. Legality said, by
one Mr. Over-Conscientious Scruple who lives in the town of Sensitive.
"Every move I made was retarded by that jacket. By and by sore places
appeared where the end of the stays engaged my flesh. I met Mr. Legality
once and told him how bad the jacket was treating me, but he said the
cure was to buckle it on tighter. Oh, my, how it did hurt! But he said
it would be dangerous to take it off. So I continued to suffer. I could
not act freely in any matter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account