The angelic interpreter then read them in a fine resonant voice.
“‘Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in hereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.’”
“If these words are really true,” quickly commented Miss Church-Member, “we must be traveling in the wrong way. Does it not appear so?” she queried, as she looked with increasing interest at the angelic being.
“Naturally it does,” he shrewdly answered, “especially if you look merely at the surface of the text; but the pearls of truth lie deeper.”
“I well know that the King’s Highway is called the ‘Narrow Way’ and this, whereon we journey, the ‘Broad Way.’ Surely this part of Scripture is against us,” insisted Miss Church-Member, as her countenance grew more troubled.
“Thou needst not stumble at such easy Scripture; behold, the meaning is quite clear! They who travel on the so-called King’s Highway are continually exaggerating the _merits_ of the way, thereby making it appear greater and broader than it really is. They go so far as to claim that the way is broad enough to accommodate all the people of the world, were they minded to travel thereon. Therefore those who thus make the way broad by their own conceits will meet with destruction. This is the meaning of verse thirteen.”
“It is certain, according to verse fourteen, that we have a strait gate, and none, on this road, imagine or claim that the way is broader than it is; so we are credited with having it called ‘narrow,’ for it is as narrow as we claim it to be.”
“Notwithstanding your explanation and the relief these glasses have given me, my conscience is still troubled, and methinks I hear a voice from this Bible chiding me. This is the chief barrier to my real happiness,” she boldly confessed.
“Thou shouldst not dwell in fear,” spoke the shining adviser. “Do not allow the errors of any false teaching to mar the peace and happiness of this way. Bid farewell to all thy inward doubting, and taste the imperishable sweetness of the world, turning a deaf ear to the voice that chides thee unkindly.”
“But the voice comes from my Bible,” she tremblingly declared.