in disobedience, the
weapons which he thinks himself to have resisted will one day make him
feel their edge. We cannot set ourselves against the salvation of Jesus
without bringing upon ourselves consequences which are wholly evil and
harmful. Torpid consciences, hungry hearts, stormy wills, tyrannous
desires, vain hopes and not vain fears come to be, by slow degrees, the
tortures of the man who drops the portcullis and lifts the bridge
against the entrance of Jesus. There are hells enough on earth if men's
hearts were displayed.

But the love which is obliged to smite gives warning that it is ready to
avenge, long before it lets the blow fall, and does so in order that it
may never need to fall. As long as it is possible that the disobedient
shall become obedient to Christ, He holds back the vengeance that is
ready to fall and will one day fall 'on all disobedience.' Not till all
other means have been patiently tried will He let that terrible ending
crash down. It hangs over the heads of many of us who are all unaware
that we walk beneath the shadow of a rock that at any moment may be set
in motion and bury us beneath its weight. It is 'in readiness,' but it
is still at rest. Let us be wise in time and yield to the merciful
weapons with which Jesus would make His way into our hearts. Or if the
metaphor of our text presents Him in too warlike a guise, let us listen
to His own gentle pleading, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if
any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.'

SIMPLICITY TOWARDS CHRIST

'But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ.'--2 COR. xi. 3.

The Revised Version, amongst other alterations, reads, 'the simplicity
that is _towards_ Christ.'

The inaccurate rendering of the Authorised Version is responsible for a
mistake in the meaning of these words, which has done much harm. They
have been supposed to describe a quality or characteristic belonging to
Christ or the Gospel; and, so construed, they have sometimes been made
the watchword of narrowness and of intellectual indolence. 'Give us the
simple Gospel' has been the cry of people who have thought themselves to
be evangelical when they were only lazy, and the consequence has been
that preachers have been expected to reiterate commonplaces, which have
made both th