The wicked flee when no man pursues: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Pursuit and flight are in nature correlatives, and constitute an inseparable pair. A swift foot does not avail the man who is fleeing from himself. When they escape from man, God is the pursuer of the guilty. A reflector fixed in the human constitution points ever to its author, as the magnet points to its pole, whatever the windings of life may be. In effect, God is present in every human breast. Conscience within a man is one extremity of an electric wire whose other extremity is fastened to the judgment-seat. This apparatus brings the Judge and the criminal terribly near to each other. Conscience is in many respects the most wonderful element in the constitution of man. It is the point of closest contact and most intimate communion between us and the Father of our spirits. Thereby chiefly God apprehends us, thereby chiefly we apprehend God. Who shall settle the controversy between an unclean conscience and a just God? The question points, as John did, to the Lamb of God who taketh sin away. There is one Mediator between God and man. Terrors are sent as messages of mercy to arouse loiterers, and compel them to flee. It is better to be roughly awakened to safety than to perish asleep.
(W. Arnot, D.D.)

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