1 T. T. Lynch, The Rivulet, 143. 2 L. A. Banks.
206 THE LASH OF THE LAW
When I have a convenient season, he bids me say to the Saviour and the Spirit of God, I will send for Thee. And how pitifully often the convenient season never dawns.1
4. " Go thy way." Let us think what reasons influence us to make this reply.
(1) First, there is the instinctive, natural wish to get rid of a disagreeable subject, — much as a man, without knowing what he is doing, twitches his hand away from the surgeon's lancet. So many of us do not like these thoughts of the old Book about " righteousness and temperance and the judgement to come," and make a natural effort to get our minds away from the contempla- tion of the subject because it is painful and unpleasant. But would it be a wise thing for a man, if he began to suspect that he was insolvent, to refuse to look into his books or to take stock, and let things drift, till there was not a halfpenny in the pound for anybody ? What would his creditors call him ? And is it not the part of a wise man, if he begins to see that something is wrong, to get to the bottom of it, and as quickly as possible to set it right? What do we call people who, suspecting that there may be a great hole in the bottom of the ship, never man the pumps or do any caulking, but say, "Oh! she will very likely keep afloat until we get into harbour " ? Would it not be a wiser thing, if, because the subject is disagreeable, we should force our- selves to think about it until it became agreeable ?
(2) Some of us say to the messenger of God's love : " Go thy way for this time," because we do not like to give up something that we know is inconsistent with His love and service. Felix would not part with Drusilla, nor disgorge the ill-gotten gain of his province. Felix therefore was obliged to put away from him the thoughts that looked in that direction. Felix was ambitious. He was unpopular with the Jews, but this was in his favour at Eome. He might become emperor. Who could tell? To turn Christian would ruin his prospects. His duty was clear enough} but just now it stood in his way of personal elevation.
(3) Some of us fall into this habit of putting off the decision for Christ, simply by letting the impressions made on our hearts and consciences be crowded out of them by cares and enjoyments and pleasures and duties of this world. And if some stray seed here
1 A. Smellie.
ACTS xxiv. 25 207
and there remains and begins to sprout, the ill weeds which grow apace, spring up with ranker stems and choke it. We did not intend it to go, we simply opened the door to the flocking in of the whole crowd of the world's cares and occupations, and away went the shy solitary thought which, if it had been cared for and tended, might have led us at last to the Cross of Jesus Christ.
(4) But the fourth reason brings the most grist to the Devil's mill. It is the inherent tendency in men to procrastinate and to compromise. Eemember the foolish virgins who found it too late to enter in ; the guests called to the feast, who chose rather to look after their worldly interest, and thus were shut out from the kingdom of God ; the people whom Christ called, and who wanted first to attend to their friends and business, and with whom Christ would allow no delay. Can we help seeing that what makes people put off in worldly business and put off in religion is exactly the same thing, namely, a dislike to what has to be done, and that the dislike is not likely to become less by this waiting for a more convenient season ?
Visions and Obedience.
ACTS & ROM. — 14
Literature.
Alexander (S. A.), The Christianity of St. Paul, 61.
Campbell (R. J.), Sermons to Young Men, 115.
Cuckson (J.), Faith and Fellowship, 65.
Greenhough (J. G.), The Mind of Christ in St. Paul, 241.
Grimley (H. N.), The Temple of Humanity, 256.
Gunsaulus (F. W.), Paths to the City of God, 215.
Hutton (A. W.), Ecclesia Discens, 41.
Keen (J. 0.), The Emphasis of Belief, 26.
Kelman (J.), Ephemera Eternitatis, 34, 39.
Knox-Little (W. J.), The Light of Life, 246.
Lockyer (T. F.), The Inspirations of the Christian Life, 137.
Maclaren (A.), The Unchanging Christ, 236.
Maggs (J. T. L.), The Spiritual Experience of St. Paul, 9.
Roberts (J. E.), The Lord's Prayer, 46.
Tborold (A. W.), The Gospel of Work, 17.
Wilson (J. M.), Sermons in Clifton College Chapel, ii. 154.
Winterbotham (R.), Sermons in Holy Trinity Church, 329.
Christian World Pulpit, xiii. 360 (Macleod) ; xxii. 234 (Rosevear) ;
xxxix. 37 (Lunn) ; xlii. 241 (Monod) ; xlvi. 81 (Bradford) ;
lxiii 84 (Knox-Little) ; lxiv. 68 (Griffith- Jones).
Visions and Obedience.
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.— Acts xxvi. 19.
1. To the critic of the Christian religion there has always been one insuperable difficulty. That difficulty is St. Paul. Wherever the critic goes, and however successful he may find or fancy himself elsewhere in explaining and analysing, that strange, heroic figure stands before him on every path. How came St. Paul to be converted? How came this learned and dogmatic Pharisee to be the most devoted champion of a despised and rejected Christ? No adequate answer has ever been found to those questions, save the answer of St. Paul himself : that in one way or another he had seen a " heavenly vision," and had not been " disobedient " to the call.