But in the second place, how! does this love operate in the heart? "The love of Christ constraineth us." peculiar word. find that it is a composite verb, having the iden of compressing, narrowing down, limiting. We] often hear of love enlarging, and we can understand it. We also} appreciate what love liberating means, but here the very opposite idea obtains; it is the love of God Limiting, compressing within. limits forcible limitation by the love of Christ. How can this be? What does it mean?
I do not think T can do better than to use a simple illustration to elucidate the thought. Suppose we compare the activities, _the instincts, the desires, the aspirations of the spiritual man to a broad river flowing over a great plain. It flows slowly, sluggishly along without restraint, and is often very shallow. But, let that river be} gathered up between banks, let it be constrained, let it be compressed, let it be narrowed within limits, and then what happens? We have deep river, flowing with mighty! force, and why? Because it has been brought within banks and has a definite channel in which to flow.
What the banks are to that river, the love of Jesus Christ is to the forces of the spiritual life,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.