The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

INTENSIVE PUNISHMENT 193
long years of weary, miserable, aborted life
threatens
the man who resists the grace which is visiting him.
Spent nerve, decadent brain,
aching limb, loneliness
and neglect, the repugnance of bystanders, are
retributions
that do not traverse all the soul's susceptibilities
to pain. These are the primitive elements out
of which the complex, cumulative penalties of the
hereafter will be built up, if we reject the Deliverer,
and despise His admonitions.
This exhortation is addressed to those who have
come face to face with Jesus, and made proof in some
degree of His grace and quickening power.
In our
secret thought, we too often reserve the divine
threatenings for those who live careless and disobedient
lives, and do not meet Christ in
the temple,
or at the place of healing. But such as receive the
grace of God, it may be in vain, need this message,
for they challenge a more withering condemnation
than befalls the rest. Sins of the spirit lead to sins
of the flesh, and both will be rigorously judged.
dregs of the divine wrath are
The
reserved for ungrateful
and treacherous backsliding. For our quickening,
and for our comfort, let us remember that the
warning against repeated sin and the declaration of
forgiveness are conjoined. The admonitory voice
will speak in vain, unless it at the same time inspire
us with hope. We must be made to feel that there
is something worth taking care for, that we have
indeed a gift and a blessing to keep.
The man who finds here no needful or relevant
message is perhaps the man who is nearest the centre
of danger. It is said that when the great volcanic
eruption occurred in the Straits of Sunda, detona-
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