em and their hearers listless, and to sink the educational
for the evangelistic aspect of the Christian teacher's function.

It is quite true that the Gospel is simple, but it is also true that it
is deep, and they will best appreciate its simplicity who have most
honestly endeavoured to fathom its depth. When we let our little
sounding lines out, and find that they do not reach the bottom, we begin
to wonder even more at the transparency of the clear abyss. It is not
simplicity _in_ Christ, but _towards_ Christ of which the Apostle is
speaking; not a quality in Him, but a quality in _us_ towards Him. I
wish, then, to turn to the two thoughts that these words suggest. First
and chiefly, the attitude towards Christ which befits our relation to
Him; and, secondly and briefly, the solicitude for its maintenance.

I. First, then, look at the attitude towards Christ which befits the
Christian relation to Him.

The word 'simplicity' has had a touch of contempt associated with it. It
is a somewhat doubtful compliment to say of a man that he is
'simple-minded.' All noble words which describe great qualities get
oxidised by exposure to the atmosphere, and rust comes over them, as
indeed all good things tend to become deteriorated in time and by use.
But the notion of the word is really a very noble and lofty one. To be
'without a fold,' which is the meaning of the Greek word and of its
equivalent 'simplicity,' is, in one aspect, to be transparently honest
and true, and in another to be out and out of a piece. There is no
underside of the cloth, doubled up beneath the upper which shows, and
running in the opposite direction; but all tends in one way. A man with
no under-currents, no by-ends, who is down to the very roots what he
looks, and all whose being is knit together and hurled in one direction,
without reservation or back-drawing, that is the 'simple' man whom the
Apostle means. Such simplicity is the truest wisdom; such simplicity of
devotion to Jesus Christ is the only attitude of heart and mind which
corresponds to the facts of our relation to Him. That relation is set
forth in the context by a very sweet and tender image, in the true line
of scriptural teaching, which in many a place speaks of the Bride and
Bridegroom, and which on its last page shows us the Lamb's wife
descending from Heaven to meet her husband. The state of devout souls
and of the community of such here on earth is that of betrothal. Their
state in