and narrow it down. You can't go along
without the thorns scratching face and hands badly as you push through.

And then you suddenly find a knife, a sharpedged knife, being held out
across the road, by an unseen hand back in the bushes. The cutting edge is
toward you. It is held firmly. It is clearly impossible to go on without a
clash with that knife. The real meaning of that "Follow Me" is beginning
to be seen now. Just ahead beyond the knife stands the Master, looking
longingly, beckoning earnestly, calling still. But that knife! It takes
your eyes, and the question is on in real earnest.

And it is very grievous to say that some stop there. They pitch their
tents this side the knife. They may have had the courage to push through
the thorns, but this knife stops them. They're not honest enough to back
clear out of the road. So they hold meetings on the roadway, conferences
for the deepening of the Christian life, with earnest addresses, and
consecration meetings, and soft singing. And if perchance some one calls
attention to the Master standing ahead there, beyond the knife,
beckoning,--well, they sing louder and pray longer so as to ease their
consciences a bit, and deaden unpleasant sounds, but they make no move
toward striking tents and pushing on.

And many coming up along the road are hindered. The crowds, the meetings,
the singing, the earnestness,--these take hold of them and keep them from
discerning that all this is an obstruction in the way. The Master's ahead
yonder, past that cutting knife. In a very clear voice that rises above
meetings and music, He calls, "If any man would serve Me, let him follow
Me, let him get _in behind Me_, and come _up close after Me_." He who
would serve, he who would help, must not stop here, but push on to where
the Master is beckoning,--yes, past the knife!

But there are big crowds at the half-way place, this side the knife. And
there are still larger crowds looking on and sneering, sneering at those
whose following hasn't got much beyond the singing stage. The outside
crowd does love sincerity, and is very keen for the faults and flaws in
those who call themselves followers.

The Tuning-Fork for the Best Music.

But some push on; they go forward; and as they reach the knife they grasp
it firmly by the blade. Yes, it cuts, and cuts deep. But they push on, on
after the Master. They turn the knife into a tuning-fork. Do you know
about this sort of thing? The steel