The wind was blowing hard the day we saw the Dead Sea and the heavy water was in commotion. The waves rolled on the shore making quite a roaring sound. The water is intensely bitter and salty, and after having tasted some of it I felt sorry enough, for the bitter taste was in my mouth the rest of the day, and even now I almost shudder when thinking of it. You know this body of water is spoken of in Scripture as the “salt sea,” “the sea of the plain” and the “east sea.” Not a fish is found in its waters and the name Dead Sea seems fitting, for it is death to animal life. A ride of perhaps four miles brought us to the banks of the river Jordan, and there we dismounted and ate our luncheon. Oh what a relief to be upon our feet again and then to be under the shade of trees. The contrast between this resting place and the last one was great, for there everything was dead; here were green grass and beautiful trees. Do you remember the Bible story of John the Baptist who preached in the wilderness of Judea? You know great crowds of people went from all parts of the country to hear him, for he told them something they had never heard before. This man was very poor and wore the coarsest kind of clothing, which was camel’s hair, “and a leathern girdle about his loins.” He ate the simplest kind of food, consisting of locusts and wild honey. Though poor his ministry was successful, and many people confessed their sins and went down into the water and were “baptized of him in Jordan,” the very river on whose banks we ate our noonday lunch. The people wondered “whether he was the Christ or not,” and John, not desiring to receive any more reverence than belonged to him, said to the people, “He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.” In time Jesus appeared and desired baptism, but John felt too unworthy to baptize such a personage as Jesus, so refused to administer it, saying, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” Well, they talked the matter over and the Savior said, “Suffer it to be so now,” and the good preacher complied with the wish; after which John and Jesus came “up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.” The Jordan is mentioned many times in the Scriptures, and we feel that every part of it is sacred. We cannot tell where John baptized the blessed Master, or where Elisha told Naaman to wash seven times that he might be healed of the leprosy, but we do know that the river Jordan which we saw is the same river in which John baptized Jesus and a great multitude of people.