{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36692/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36692","id":"gutenberg_36692","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36692","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Sermons, English"],"text":"The following typos were fixed:\n\n    page 11: Moffat -> Moffatt\n    page 57: loathesome -> loathsome\n    page 60: fellowmen -> fellow-men\n    page 115: battle-fields -> battlefields\n    page 145: baptised -> baptized\n    page 153: multidudinous -> multitudinous\n    page 225: today -> to-day\n    page 233: pruninghooks -> pruning-hooks\n    page 260: frost-bitten -> frostbitten\n\n    There are text lines missing on page 112, which were marked with\n    \"[missing text]\". The missing text could not be found anywhere,\n    so most likely all subsequent editions reproduced this error.\n    Anyway, the meaning of the paragraph is evident from the\n    context.\n\n    Bold text is marked with =, italics with _.\n\n    *** End of the transcription notes\n\n\n\n\nTHE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD\n\n\n\n\nBy J. H. JOWETT, D.D.\n\n\n    The Whole Armour of God\n\n      12mo, cloth                                              net $1.35\n\n    My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year\n\n      12mo, cloth                                              net $1.35\n\n        \"There is something to think about each day. It is\n        scriptural, spiritual, stimulating.\"\n\n                    --_Herald and Presbyter_.\n\n    Things That Matter Most\n\n      Devotional Papers. A Book of Spiritual Uplift and\n      Comfort. 12mo, cloth                                     net $1.35\n\n    The Transfigured Church\n\n      A Portrayal of the Possibilities Within the Church.\n      12mo, cloth                                              net $1.35\n\n    The High Calling\n\n      Meditations on St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians.\n      12mo, cloth                                              net $1.35\n\n    The Silver Lining\n\n      A Message of Hope and Cheer, for the Troubled and\n      Tried. 12mo, cloth                                       net $1.15\n\n    Our Blessed Dead\n\n      16mo, boards                                               net 25c\n\n    The Passion for Souls\n\n      Devotional Messages for Christian Workers. 16mo, cloth     net 60c\n\n    The Folly of Unbelief\n\n      And Other Meditations for Quiet Moments. 12mo, cloth       net 60c\n\n\n    _SENTENCE PRAYERS for EVERY DAY_\n\n    The Daily Altar\n\n      A Prayer for Each Day. Cloth                               net 25c\n      Leather                                                    net 35c\n\n    Yet Another Day\n\n      A Prayer for Each Day. 32mo, cloth,                        net 25c\n      Leather                                                    net 35c\n      A new large type edition. Cloth                            net 75c\n      Leather                                                  net $1.00\n\n\n\n\n    THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD\n\n    BY\n\n    JOHN HENRY JOWETT, M.A., D.D.\n\n    _Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City_\n\n    [Illustration: Logo of Fleming H. Revell Company]\n\n    NEW YORK   CHICAGO   TORONTO\n\n    Fleming H. Revell Company\n\n    LONDON AND EDINBURGH\n\n\n\n\n    Copyright, 1916, by\n    FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\n    New York: 158 Fifth Avenue\n    Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.\n    London: 21 Paternoster Square\n    Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n    CHAPTER                                        PAGE\n\n       I. THE INVISIBLE ANTAGONISMS                   9\n\n      II. THE GIRDLE OF TRUTH                        25\n\n     III. THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS           41\n\n      IV. READY!                                     59\n\n       V. THE SHIELD OF FAITH                        77\n\n      VI. THE HELMET OF HOPE                         91\n\n     VII. THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT                   109\n\n    VIII. THE SOLDIER'S USE OF PRAYER               127\n\n      IX. WATCH YE!                                 143\n\n       X. ENDURING HARDNESS                         161\n\n      XI. THE INVISIBLE COMMANDER ON THE FIELD      179\n\n     XII. THE SOLDIER'S FIRE                        197\n\n    XIII. THE VICTORY OVER THE BEAST                215\n\n     XIV. THE COMING GOLDEN AGE                     231\n\n      XV. MORE THAN CONQUERORS                      249\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE INVISIBLE ANTAGONISMS\n\n\n    _Eternal God, may no distraction draw us away from our communion\n    with Thee. May we come to Thee like children going home,\n    jubilant and glad. We have been in the far country and our\n    garments are stained. May we hasten to the ministry of\n    forgiveness and reconciliation. If we have been on fields of\n    heavy battle, where the fire of the enemy has been awful and\n    unceasing, may we hasten to Thee for the overhauling of our\n    armor, and for the renewal of our strength. If we have been\n    called upon to walk weary roads of unfamiliar sorrow, may we\n    turn to Thee as to refreshing springs. If we have lapsed from\n    our high calling, may we renew our covenant. If we have missed a\n    gracious opportunity, may we seek another chance. If we have\n    been counted faithful in any service, and have fulfilled our\n    commission by the help of Thy grace, may we hasten to give the\n    glory to Thee. Unite us, we humbly pray Thee, in the holy bonds\n    of Christian sympathy. Deepen our pity so that we may share the\n    sorrows of people far away. May we feel the burden of the\n    burdened and weep with them that weep. May we not add to our sin\n    by ceasing to remember those who are in need. Grant peace in our\n    time, O Lord, the peace which is the fruit of righteousness. Let\n    Thy will be done among all the peoples, so that in common\n    obedience to Thee all the nations may find abiding union. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE INVISIBLE ANTAGONISMS\n\n    \"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be\n    able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to\n    stand.\" Eph. 6:13.\n\n\nLet me give one or two other translations which devout scholars have\nmade in the attempt to bring out the precise significance of Paul's\noriginal words. Many interpreting minds act like the solar spectrum, and\nthey help to display the wealthy contents in the pure white light of\ngospel truth. Here then is Dr. Moffat's translation: \"So take God's\narmour that you may be able to make a stand in the evil day and hold\nyour ground by overcoming all your foes.\" And here is Dr. Weymouth's\nfine attempt to elicit the buried wealth of the apostle's words: \"Put on\nthe complete armour of God so that you may be able to stand your ground\non the day of battle, and having fought to the end to remain victors on\nthe field.\" That is a translation which stirs one's blood, and I am\ninclined to regard it as a very vital interpretation of the rousing,\nsoldierly counsel of the apostle Paul.\n\nThe apostle is writing to a tiny company of Christians at Ephesus, so\ntiny that they are like a drop in a bucket in the midst of that teaming\npopulation. For this is what has happened. Under the constraining\ninfluence of the gospel of Christ this little handful of men and women\nhave done one of the hardest things we are ever called upon to do. They\nhave cut themselves away from old fellowships. They have separated\nthemselves from the fond attachments of a lifetime. They have severed\nthemselves from venerable roots. They have forfeited dear and vital\nfriendships, and they are now living an alien life within the circle of\ntheir own city. They are strangers in their own home. They are\nforeigners in their native land. They are pilgrims in their own country.\nThey are in it and yet not of it. They are like tropical plants which\nfind themselves in the Arctic Zone. And it is to this little company\nthat the apostle writes this letter, and to them he gives the inspiring\ncounsel of my text: \"Put on the complete armour of God that ye may be\nable to stand your ground in the day of battle.\"\n\nIn what sort of circumstances did these people live? Let us take a swift\nsurvey of the hostility of their surroundings. What was the nature of\nthe antagonisms by which this little company were beset? First of all,\nthere was the overwhelming power of the world. Their city itself was\nluxuriously placed. The very location of Ephesus was favourable to\nprosperity, enjoying as it did the double advantage of shelter and of\nopenness to the outer world. I was amazed when I walked among its ruins\nin the late spring at the magnificence of its position. If you will\nthink of a cup, with more than a third of its rim broken down to its\nbase, you will gain a rough but practical suggestion of the groundwork\nof this ancient city. About two-thirds of the city are immediately\nengirt with noble and richly verdured hills. Then this sheltering rim of\nhills is broken, and the cup opens out in one direction to a port on\nthe open sea, and in the other direction to a rich alluvial plain,\nfamous for its wonderful fertility. Such was Ephesus, sheltered and yet\nopen, with protective arms of hills about it, and yet widely hospitable\nto the trade and wealth of the world. No wonder Ephesus was luxurious,\nno wonder she was carnal, and no wonder she was ennervated. She was the\nvery hunting ground of the garish world, and in this mesmeric garishness\nthis little company of Christians had their home. This was the first of\ntheir antagonisms.\n\nWell, then, to mention a second antagonism, there was the majestic power\nof an alien religion. The magnificent Temple of Diana, which is now only\na little heap of stones, with literally not one stone resting orderly\nupon another, then dominated the city by its splendour, and represented\na religion which held the people in the loose leash of easy and\nlicentious morals. Just think of that resplendent temple, that gorgeous\ntemple, and then think of some obscure house in some obscure street,\nwhere this little company of Christians met to commune with their Lord,\nand in the contrast you will realize another of the antagonisms which\nassailed their discipleship every hour of the day. The Temple of Diana\nversus the little Christian meeting-house! It makes one think of another\ncontrast in the grey and windy city of Edinburgh; the dark, frowning\nPalace of Holyrood versus John Knox's small house in Canongate! And\nhistory tells us which of these two proved to be the dwelling-place of\ninvincible strength. This was the second of their antagonisms.\n\nAnd then, to name a third of their antagonisms, there was the pervasive\npower of popular customs and traditions. Every day this little handful\nof Christians were up against customs that were like invisible bonds.\nYes, religious and social customs always thread the common life, and to\noppose them is to run up against antagonisms which are like invisible\nwebs of barbed wire. We know what it means to oppose a popular custom\nto-day. Just oppose even a simple one; decide to wear no black in the\nhour of bereavement and you are up against a world of hostility and\nsuspicion. And, still further, let the convention you defy be an\necclesiastical convention, or one which has somehow come to wear\nreligious sanctions, and the antagonism is tremendous. Well, this little\ncompany of Christians in Ephesus were defying popular social customs and\npopular religious customs every day, and they were, therefore,\nconfronted with a fierce and terrific opposition. And so they had all\nthese antagonisms to meet, the hardening glare of the world, the\nfar-reaching power of an alien religion, and the tyranny of popular\ncustom and tradition. And in the very thick of all these you must\nimagine these comparatively youthful Christians seeking to live their\nseparate and consecrated life.\n\nBut in this strong and tender letter to this little flock of Christians,\nthe apostle Paul looks beyond the opposition of flesh and blood, and the\nsteelly barriers of usage and tradition; he pierces the visible veil and\nbeholds invisible antagonists, spiritual, alive, active and hostile.\nListen to him: \"For ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood,\nbut with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern\nthis dark world, the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us in the\nheavenly warfare.\" When the apostle looked upon Ephesus it seemed as\nthough the whole city became transparent, and behind the visible and\ntransient veils he saw these spiritual foes. There was much mischief in\nEphesus, there was much weaving of evil webs, there was much coming and\ngoing of worldly forces; but to Paul, the real prompters and instigators\nwere back in the unseen. This is the teaching of this great apostle.\nThese Christians in the early Church had to fight unseen enemies,\nantagonists in the spirit--\"spiritual hosts of evil in the heavenly\nwarfare.\" The real enemy is entrenched in the unseen, and he is ever\nactive, night and day, and the early believer confronted him in ancient\nEphesus, as the later believer confronts him in modern New York and\nLondon.\n\nNow it is of these invisible antagonists that the apostle most urgently\nwarns these young disciples. He warns them of the extraordinary subtlety\nof the warfare, of the wiles of the devil, of the stratagems of these\nmysterious powers, of their traps and devices, of their diabolic\ncleverness, and of their amazing and manifold ingenuities. The\ninstruments of modern material warfare are almost incredible in the\nrefinement of their destructiveness, and I have no doubt in my own mind\nthat even these ingenuities are also diabolic, and that if we could\npierce the veil we should see the invisible enemies at their fiendish\nwork. But these unseen antagonists out-do all the subtleties of the\nmaterial instruments of destruction in the devices in which they lure\nand snare and entrap and overthrow the soul.\n\nWell, then, how do these antagonists work? How is this cunning\nantagonism exerted upon the soul? It is exerted both mediately and\nimmediately. First of all, these invisible antagonists work immediately\nupon the soul. Spirit can work upon spirit; mind can lay pressure upon\nmind. There is a direct and immediate influence upon the secret life of\nman. That is the teaching of the Word of God, and I freely confess to\nyou that there are phenomena in my own life, and in the lives of others\nwhich I cannot interpret in any other way. I know it is altogether\nmysterious, but it is by no means incredible. In our own day we are\nobtaining first glimpses into avenues of spiritual activity which\nhitherto have been shrouded in mist and darkness. The phenomena of\nthought transference, of telepathy, of hypnotism, are lifting the veil\nupon modes of influence of which we have scarcely dreamed. One mind can\ninfluence another mind directly without either speech or deed, leaving\nupon the other the seal and imprint of its own mould. When I see this I\ndo not count it incredible when it is reported to me that there are\nspiritual antagonists in Ephesus and in New York who prey upon the\nthoughts of man, and work upon his imagination, and engage his\nsentiments and ambitions with the purpose of luring him from his sacred\nloyalties, and inciting him to rebellion against the holy and most high\nGod. \"Ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood,\" says the\napostle. We have invisible foes.\n\nAnd then, in the second place, these spiritual antagonists work\nmediately upon the soul. They work upon the soul through the medium of\nhuman ministries--through the contagious power of crowds, through the\ngravitation of the age, through the general spirit of society, through\nthe psychological climate in which our life is cast. And they also work\nupon the soul through the medium of individuals, through men and women\nwho have been captured by the evil one and who are now used in his\npurposes of moral and spiritual destruction. Our invisible antagonists\ncast their lure upon us through the ministry of our fellow-men.\n\nNow all these antagonisms, seen and unseen, mediate and immediate, this\nlittle company of Christians had to meet in ancient Ephesus. You say the\nantagonisms are tremendous! Yes, indeed they are, and the Christian life\nis a tremendous thing. That is what tens of thousands of professing\nChristians have yet to learn. Let it be said that of all tremendous\nthings the Christian life is the most tremendous. It is not something we\ncan play with in idle hours, it is not a merely pleasant fellowship, it\nis not the bloodless act of joining the visible Church. No, it is not\nthe carrying of a highly imposing label; it is a desperate, continuous,\nbut withal, a glorious campaign. Speaking for myself, I confess that I\nhave to have my fingers on the throat of the devil every day of my\nmortal life. This is how I find it. I do not gain a single inch without\na fight. No fine victory is ever gained by me without blood. O, the\nsternness of the Christian fight! and O, its attractiveness and its\nglory! Yes, indeed, you are right; the antagonisms are tremendous.\n\nHow then, are they to be met? If these are our antagonisms, seen and\nunseen, in New York as well as in Ephesus, how can we meet and overcome\nthem? Let us listen to the Word: \"Put on the complete armour of _God_.\"\nLet us begin there. Our first need is God. Without God we are beaten\neven before the fight begins. We have no more likelihood of vanquishing\nour spiritual foes without God than this unaided hand of mine would be\nable to drive back the solid phalanxes of the German hosts. We must\nbegin with God. In the tenth verse of this chapter the apostle unfolds\nthe primary secret of victory. \"Be strong in the Lord and in the power\nof His might.\" But that is a very imperfect translation, laying too much\nemphasis upon the soldier and too little upon his Lord. I greatly like\nthe marginal rendering of the revised version: \"Be made powerful in the\nLord.\" Does not that word sound full of promise for soldiers who are\nabout to storm a difficult position? \"Be made powerful in the Lord.\" Let\nGod make you powerful! Such power is not a trophy of battle; it is the\nfruit of communion. It is a bequest and not a conquest. This power is\nnot something we have to win; it is something we have to receive. It is\nnot something we have to gain; it is something we have to take. \"Be made\npowerful in the Lord!\" And listen again: \"Ye shall receive power when\nthe Holy Spirit is come upon you.\" That power, that vital endowment of\nstrength, is the gift of God, one of the ministries of the divine grace,\nand it is offered to every soldier without money and without price. So\nis it true that our first necessity in battle is to hasten away to the\nLord to receive the gifts of the soldier's strength.\n\nBut not only is there the imperative need of God for our initial\nstrength, but for every piece of armour which may be needful in the\nfight. Armour for offence, and armour for defence; armour to meet every\ndevice and stratagem with which we may be assailed. I propose to\nconsider this armour, piece by piece, and over and over again I shall\nhave to tell you that you may find every piece of armour in the\nabundantly stocked and open and free armoury of God. And therefore do I\nsay again that if we are to be triumphant over our antagonists, our\nfirst need is God. \"Seek ye the Lord.\" \"O come, let us kneel before the\nLord our Maker.\"\n\nAnd then, our other great requirement is the ceaseless co-operation of\nour wills. The life of a Christian soldier is not a continuous reclining\non \"flowery beds of ease.\" Having obtained the strength we must\nceaselessly exercise it in the practice of our wills. Listen to the\ndivine challenge to the will: \"Be made powerful in the Lord!\" Well,\nthen, exercise the will you have, your weak will, and go and kneel in\nhumility at the source of power, and receive the promised gift. \"Put on\nthe whole armour of God!\" Well, then, exercise the will and go to the\narmoury of grace for thine arms. \"Stand therefore!\" Well, then, having\nreceived the gift of power, exercise thy will in stubborn and invincible\nresistance. \"Here stand I,\" said one who had received the strength,\n\"Here stand I; I can do no other, God help me!\" \"Having done all,\nstand\"--and victory shall be yours! In the name of God the Father, God\nthe Son, and God the Holy Spirit, victory shall most certainly be yours!\n\nSays Dr. Weymouth: \"Stand your ground in the day of battle, and having\nfought to the end remain victors on the field.\" \"Victors on the field.\"\nI am thrilled by the inspiring word--\"Victors on the field.\" After every\ntemptation--the temptation that comes to me in sunshine, or the\ntemptation that comes to me in the gloom--after every fight, victors on\nthe field! The Lord's banner flying, His banner of love and grace; and\nthe evil one and all his host in utter rout, and in full and dire\nretreat!\n\n    Soldiers of Christ arise,\n      And put your armour on;\n    Strong in the strength which God supplies\n      Through His eternal Son.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTHE GIRDLE OF TRUTH\n\n\n    _Holy Father, we humbly pray Thee to reveal unto us the\n    unsearchable riches of Christ. Refine our discernments in order\n    that we may behold them; and deepen our hearts in order that we\n    may long to possess them. Unveil to us our poverty so that we\n    may seek Thy wealth. Lead us through meekness and penitence to\n    the reception of spiritual power. May our loins be girt about\n    with truth. May we drink deeply at the waters of promise and\n    find refreshment in immediate duty. We pray that Thou wilt bind\n    us together in the bonds of holy sympathy. Help us to gather up\n    the needs of others in common intercession. Make us ready to\n    bear the burden of the race. Quicken our imaginations in order\n    that we may enter into the sorrows of Thy children in every\n    land. We humbly pray Thee to steady our faith in these days of\n    bewilderment. In all the confusion of our time may we never lose\n    sight of Thy throne. In all the obscuring of our ideals may we\n    never lose sight of Christ. And O, Lord, out of our disorder may\n    we be led into larger ways. Let Thy Holy Spirit brood over us,\n    quickening all that is full of sacred promise, and destroying\n    all that hinders our friendship with Thee. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTHE GIRDLE OF TRUTH\n\n    \"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.\" Eph.\n    6:14.\n\n\nThe girdle was just a strong belt holding the different pieces of a\nsoldier's armour securely in their place. Even in the ordinary Oriental\nattire the girdle was a necessity. Without the girdle the loose, flowing\ngarments became very cumbersome, flapping about the feet, and especially\nhindering the movements in a hostile wind. Even the most graceful attire\nbecame an entanglement unless the girdle held it in serviceable bonds.\nBut the necessity of a girdle was still more imperative on the field of\nwar. In active fighting loose pieces of armour would be like\nembarrassing articles hanging on the soldier rather than appropriate\nimplements to make him efficient. Loose armour was troublesome and\ndistressing, making the soldier feel soft, and awkward, and unready,\ngiving him a sense of going to pieces. The belt bound the loose pieces\ntogether, creating a healthy sense of firmness, compactness, and making\nthe soldier feel that he had everything well in hand, and enabling him\nto meet the enemy's attack with united strength and confidence.\n\nNow it is that figure of the military belt which the apostle is using\nin our text, \"Let your loins be girt about with truth.\" The soldier of\nJesus can have his armour flapping about him in disorderly array. He can\nbe loose and distracted. His energies can be scattered. He can be just a\nmass of incoherences and inconsistencies in the presence of the foe. Or\na soldier of Jesus can be firm, and collected, and decisive. He can be\n\"all there,\" with every ounce of his strength available for the\nimmediate fight. And the apostle teaches that this bracing sense of\ncollectedness, this fine, firm feeling of moral and spiritual\nconcentration, can only be obtained by binding the entire life with the\nsplendid and tenacious girdle of gospel truth.\n\nI want to approach the apostle's central teaching along roads which\nwill gather up the testimony of common experience. We all know the\nstrength which is imparted to a life when it is girt about with firm\nprinciple. It is even so in the life of a boy when he is passing his\nearliest days at school. Is there anything nobler to contemplate than a\nfine boy whose life and character are held firm and free in the bond and\ngirdle of moral principle? It is even so in the later days of college\nand university. What college or university graduate has not admired the\ndecisive strength of some man or woman whose character was held in\nsplendid consistency by the girdle of moral conviction! What joyful and\nboisterous liberty there is in such a life! And it is all the more free\nand jubilant because it recognizes fields of license into which it never\nstrays. And in the broader fields of the world we have the witness of\nthe same experience. Life that is held in a girdle quadruples its\nstrength. Life which is bound together even by a strong expediency\ngathers force in the bondage. A life which is held in the constraint of\na policy is far mightier than a life which is trailing in scattered\nindifference. But a life which is bound together in moral principle,\nhaving all its faculties and powers gathered under one control, has\ntremendous force both of attack and resistance.\n\nYou may study the contents of that statement and find abundant\nillustrations in the lives of men like Lincoln, and Mazzini, and\nGladstone, and John Bright, and John Morley, and James Bryce. All these\nmen, whether we approve or disapprove their political programmes and\nambitions, are men whose characters reveal no loose ends, no trailing\ngarments, no unchartered opinions, no vagrant and unlicensed moods, but\nrather a moral wholeness and solidity which we know will retain its\nsplendid consistency in the teeth of the fiercest storm. Yes, even in\nthe ways of the world men recognize the man who is wearing the belt of\nprinciple, and whose loins are girt about with truth.\n\nBut the apostle Paul is thinking of something more than moral\nprinciple, splendid as is the influence of a great principle on the\nhealthy action of a life. He is thinking of something even finer and\ndeeper than this, and in which the moral principle is included. He is\nthinking of a soul belted with the more distinctive truth of the\nScriptures, a soul girt about with gospel truth and with the ample\npromises of God. He is thinking of a man who takes some great truth of\nrevelation, some mighty word of life, or some broad and bracing promise\nof grace, and who belts it about his soul and wears it on active service\nin seeking to do the sovereign will. I know not where to begin, or where\nto end, when I turn to the pages of biography for examples of men and\nwomen who have worn the girdle of gospel truth and promise. Let me dip\nhere and there in the many and brilliant records.\n\nWell, then, let us begin with Martin Luther. It is one of the strong\ncharacteristics of Luther that he is ever wearing the girdle of truth,\nand bracing himself with the promises of grace. I open his letters\nalmost at random, in the great year of his life when he defied the pope,\nand opposed himself to the strength of uncounted hosts. He is writing to\nMelanchthon on May 26, 1521: \"Do not be troubled in spirit; but sing the\nLord's song in the night, as we are commanded, and I shall join in. Let\nus only be concerned about the Word.\" There you find him putting on the\ngirdle! Once again I find him writing a letter to a poor little company\nof Christians at Wittenberg: \"I send you this thirty-seventh Psalm for\nyour consolation and instruction. Take comfort and remain steadfast. Do\nnot be alarmed through the raging of the godless.\" There again he is\nwearing the girdle and urging others to wear it. His loins are girt\nabout with truth.\n\nThen again there is John Wesley. Let me give you a glimpse of that\nnoble servant of the spirit as he is putting on the girdle of truth:\n\"When I opened the New Testament at five o'clock in the morning my eyes\nfell on the words, 'There are given unto us exceeding great and precious\npromises that we should be partakers of the divine nature.'\" He girt his\nloins with that truth. \"Just before I left the room I opened the Book\nagain, and this sentence gleamed from the open page, 'Thou art not far\nfrom the Kingdom of God.'\" And he girt himself with that promise. He\nwent to St. Paul's that morning, and in the chant there came to him this\npersonal message from the Word: \"O Israel, trust in the Lord, for in the\nLord there is mercy and in Him there is plenteous redemption, and He\nshall redeem Israel from all his sins.\" Do you not see this noble knight\nbelting himself for the great crusade that even now awaits him at the\ngate?\n\nThen I think I will mention General Gordon, who laid down his life at\nKhartoum. Only, if you want to see Gordon girding himself with truth,\nand see it adequately, you will have to quote from almost every letter\nhe ever wrote, and especially his wonderful correspondence with his\nsister. Take this sentence from a letter written in Cairo in 1884: \"I\nhave taken the words, 'He will hide me in His hands'; good-night, my\ndear sister, I am not moved, even a little.\" Or take this sentence from\na letter written in Khartoum toward the end of his days: \"This word has\nbeen given me, 'It is nothing to our God to help with many or with few,'\nand I now take my worries more quietly than before.\" He put on the\ngirdle of truth, and his worries were leashed in the girdle, and his\nsoul was quieted in gospel confidence and serenity.\n\nAnd I had other examples to offer you, but these must suffice. I had on\nmy table David Livingstone, and John Woolman, and Josephine Butler, and\nFrances Willard, and Catherine Booth, and I wanted to give you glimpses\nof all these notable soldiers of the Lord girding themselves for the\nopen field. But their names shall be their witness. I might have quoted,\nhad I the knowledge and the time, the testimony of all the saints who\nfrom their labours rest. And concerning them all we should have seen\nthat their loins were girt about with truth.\n\nNow it was to spiritual equipment of this kind that the apostle was\ndirecting the little company of Christians at Ephesus. Think of their\nsurroundings:--the overwhelming worldliness, the dominating influence of\nan alien religion, the fierce antagonisms of popular customs and\ntraditions, and all of these backed by invisible hosts of wickedness in\nheavenly places. Now what chance would a loose, shuffling Christian have\nin circumstances so hostile as these? The Christian in Ephesus, if he is\nto be a conqueror, must not slouch along the way with a loose, hang-dog\nsort of air, but rather with all the poise and movement of a lion. The\nChristian must belt himself about with big truth, truth that will not\nonly confirm but invigorate, truth that will not only define his creed\nbut vitalize his soul. And these Ephesian Christians followed the\napostle's counsel and they girded themselves with truth, and so were\nable to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.\n\nLet us watch how they did it. They had been converted to the Christian\nfaith and life. One sure effect of their conversion was a more vivid\nsense of sin. After their conversion their own sinfulness began to\nreveal itself in more awful relief. The nearer they got to the light the\nmore their sin appeared, just like invisible writing emerging from its\nsecrecy when exposed to the open fire. They saw their sin, and they saw\nthe sin of the people. They were like the prophet Isaiah, to whom also\nthere came the awakening sense of sin, and with him they could have\ncried: \"Woe is me, for I am unclean, and I dwell in the midst of a\npeople of unclean lips.\" Well, now, how could that little company of\nChristians deal with the sin? It was like trying to drain a vast and\nbitter marsh that was fed by secret springs. How could they do it? And\nthe tremendous task only emphasized their weakness, and might have\ndepressed them into a feeling of helplessness and despair. And we share\nthat feeling to-day. Think of the colossal sins of Europe, and think of\nthe sins and moral indifference of the great cities. If the sin be like\na bitter marsh, what is going to drain it? Nay, how are we going to get\nthe confidence that it can be drained? Well what did Paul do, and what\ndid he teach his fellow-disciples to do? This is what he did. He found\nsomething even bigger than sin, and he girded himself with the bigger\nthing when he confronted the appalling task. Listen to him: \"Where sin\nabounds grace does much more abound.\" Yes, sin is a big thing, but grace\nis a bigger thing; the biggest thing even in this rebellious and\nindifferent world. Sin is a strong thing, but grace is a stronger thing,\neven the strongest thing in a revolting and alienated world. Well then,\nlet your loins be girt about with that truth! Put it around your fears\nand uncertainties like a strong girdle. Wear it ever night and day. Go\nup to every stupendous task in the vigour of its bracing grip. Begin at\nthe piece of the bitter marsh nearest to you, and begin to drain it. And\nwear the truth--\"Where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound.\" Wear\nthe truth, say it, sing it, and you will be amazed how the difficulty\nwill be subdued; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.\n\nThere was something else in Ephesus for which these Christians needed\nthe girdle of truth. Ephesus was a vast city, and these Christians were\nonly a tiny and obscure fellowship. And even this small fellowship had\nto be broken up during the hours of labour, and in those hours each\nbeliever had to stand alone. One of them was perhaps a slave, and there\nwas no fellow-believer in the house. Or perhaps one was a soldier, and\nthere wasn't another believer in his regiment, and he had to face it all\nalone. We have been reading that one reason for the massed solidity of\nthe German advance is that the individual German soldier craves the\nmystic strength of fellowship, and desires even the physical touch of a\ncomrade-in-arms. I can understand it. And so could the Ephesian\nChristians have understood it. They felt strong when they touched their\nfellow-believers, and they felt weakened when the visible communion was\nbroken.\n\nWhat, then, shall they do when alone? They must let their loins be girt\nabout with truth. But what truth? What did the apostle Paul wear in such\nisolation? He took this girdle and wrapped it round his loins: \"He loved\nme, and gave Himself for me.\" And that girdle gives a man a sense of\nglorious fellowship along the emptiest and loneliest road. Put that\ngirdle on, lonely soul! \"He loves me, and gave Himself for me!\" Wear it\never, night and day. And wear it consciously! Say it; sing it--\"He loved\nme, and gave Himself for me.\" \"Let your loins be girt about with that\ntruth.\"\n\nAnd so have we seen these Ephesian soldiers putting on the girdle. In\nthe presence of threat and persecution they wore this girdle, \"We are\nmore than conquerors through Him that loved us.\" When their\ncircumstances were a medley and a confusion, full of ups and downs, of\nstrange comings and goings, of mingled joy and sorrow, foul and fair,\nthey wore this girdle: \"All things work together for good to them that\nlove God.\" And thus they were braced for all the changes of the\never-changing day.\n\nSo do I urge my fellow-soldiers in this later day to wear the belt.\n\"Let your loins be girt about with truth.\" Let us pray the good Lord to\nhelp us even now to put it on. Is the girdle we need this--\"He loved me\nand gave Himself for me?\" Well, put it on. Or is it this--\"We have\nforgiveness through His blood?\" Put it on. Or is it this--\"I will come\nagain and receive you unto myself?\" Put it on. Or is it this--\"In My\nFather's house are many mansions?\" Put it on. Or is it this--\"I will\nnever leave thee nor forsake thee?\" Put it on. Or is it this great\ngirdle--\"When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and\nthrough the rivers, they shall not overthrow thee, when thou walkest\nthrough the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame\nkindle upon thee?\" Put on the girdle, wear it ever, night and day, and\nthou shalt find that in the strength of gospel truth thou are competent\nto meet all circumstances, and triumphantly perfect thy Saviour's will.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS\n\n\n    _Almighty God, our Father, it is by Thy grace that we attain\n    unto holiness, and it is by Thy light that we find wisdom. We\n    humbly pray that Thy grace and light may be given unto us so\n    that we may come into the liberty of purity and truth. Wilt Thou\n    graciously exalt our spirits and enable us to live in heavenly\n    places in Christ Jesus. Impart unto us a deep dissatisfaction\n    with everything that is low, and mean, and unclean, and create\n    within us such pure desire that we may appreciate the things\n    which Thou hast prepared for them that love Thee. Wilt Thou\n    receive us as guests of Thy table. Give us the glorious sense of\n    Thy presence, and the precious privilege of intimate communion.\n    Feed us with the bread of life; nourish all our spiritual\n    powers; help us to find our delight in such things as please\n    Thee. Give us strength to fight the good fight of faith. Give us\n    holy courage, that we may not be daunted by any fear, or turn\n    aside from our appointed task. Make us calm when we have to\n    tread an unfamiliar road, and may Thy presence give us\n    companionship divine. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS\n\n    \"Having on the breastplate of righteousness.\" Ephesians 6:14.\n\n\nThis is counsel given to a little company of Christians, so little as\nto be almost submerged and lost in the great unfriendly city of Ephesus,\nso little as to be like a tiny boat in the midst of a vast and\nthreatening sea. A missionary of the gospel has been among them and they\nhave received the word of the Lord Jesus. They have answered the\nconstraint of redeeming love and they have confessed their faith in\nChrist. And what has happened? Their confession has compelled their\nseparation from many of their old fellowships and attachments. They are\nloosened from many of their old affections. The forces that were once\nfriendly to them have become unfriendly, and they are now confronted by\noverwhelming hostilities on every side.\n\nWe must try to feel the power and peril of their isolation if we would\nunderstand the force of the apostle's words. Imagine then the lot of\nsome German in Germany who espoused the cause of the Allies, or conceive\nthe lot of some Englishman in England who sided with Germany, and you\nmay realize the heat and fierceness of the antagonism with which these\nimmature Christians were surrounded in the city of Ephesus. But their\nperil was not only found in the hostility of their old friends. There\nwas the enervating moral atmosphere which they had to breathe; there was\nthe recurring inclination of their own riotous passions; there was a\nremnant of appetite for the old delights; and there was the nervous fear\nthat the forces against them might prove overwhelming.\n\nWhat should they do? How should they be able to stand? And especially\nhow should they be able to stand in the evil day, the day when external\ncircumstances might culminate in some terrific assault, or when their\nown passions might rise against them in some particularly fierce\nresurgence? Well, this chapter records the counsel of a great and\nexperienced apostle, a mighty soldier of the Lord, in which he advises\nthese young recruits of the Kingdom what armour they must wear if they\nwould be victorious on the field. \"Put on the whole armour of God.\" And\nwe are considering these noble pieces of armour if haply we too may\npossess the equipment and so turn our days of battle into days of\nglorious victory.\n\nAnd now, in the name of the Lord Jesus, I bring you this piece of\narmour, \"the breastplate of righteousness,\" and it is to be worn in our\nmodern warfare in this difficult city of New York. What is this\nbreastplate of righteousness? What indeed was the Roman breastplate from\nwhich the figure of speech is taken? Unfortunately, the word breastplate\nis very inaccurate and misleading. The piece of armour to which the\napostle refers protected the back as well as the breast, and in addition\nit gave protection to the neck and the hips. It would be much more truly\ndescribed by the phrase, \"a coat of mail,\" because it was a sort of vest\nmade of small metal plates, overlapping one another like shield upon\nshield, wrapping the body in its defences, and protecting the vital\norgans, back and front, from every assault of the foe.\n\nLet us then venture to lift this more accurate description into our\ntext, \"Put on righteousness like a coat of mail, wear it in all your\ncomings and goings in the city of Ephesus, and in it meet all the\nmalicious antagonisms of devils and of men.\" Now I wonder how the\napostle's counsel affected these fearful struggling Christians in\nEphesus. Let us look at them. Let us assume that we are with them, and\nthat we are about to give them the counsel offered in the text. How will\nthey receive it? Remember that they have just been lifted out of the\nhorrible pit and out of the miry clay of long-continued sin, and that\nthey are oppressed by their own weakness and helplessness, and by the\nstrength of the evil inclinations and habits which they have just\nrenounced. Well, now, let us offer these inexperienced disciples the\napostle's counsel: \"Put on righteousness like a coat of mail!\" Why, they\njust look at you in utter despair! It is their very weakness that they\ncannot forge and weave such a coat of mail to cover them in the day of\nbattle. The counsel would surely seem like the taunting cry of the foe.\n\nSuppose we had waylaid poor Christian in \"The Pilgrim's Progress\" when\nhe was struggling with his oppressive burden up the hill, and with the\nfiery darts of the devil hurtling around him on every side, and suppose\nwe had called out to him, \"Put on righteousness like a coat of mail!\" We\nshould surely only have added heaviness to his burden and crushed him to\nthe ground in despair. \"Put on righteousness like a coat of mail?\" he\nwould have moaned in his reply, \"My righteousness is like unto filthy\nrags!\"\n\nOne poor, sorrowful correspondent wrote to me some weeks ago who was\nthe victim of alcohol and drugs. For years he had walked in ways of\nuncleanness, but he was now just waking from his awful sleep and turning\nhis thoughts toward home. Suppose now I had written to him and said \"Put\non righteousness like a coat of mail!\" I think his eyes would have\ndulled into weariness again, and he would have slipped back to his drugs\nand his despair. This cannot be the meaning of the apostle's counsel, or\nthis coat of mail would never be worn.\n\nWhat, then, does the apostle mean when he says \"Put on righteousness\nlike a coat of mail\"? Let us seek for light in his own life, for he is a\nsoldier as well as a counsellor, and we shall find him following his own\nadvice and wearing the armour which he recommends to others. Let us\nlisten then to this word, and let us mark its significance; \"Touching\nthe righteousness which is in the law I was found blameless.\" That seems\nlike an invincible protection. \"Touching the righteousness which is in\nthe law I was found blameless!\" But there was nothing invincible about\nit. It was no more a coat of mail than an ordinary vest, and the devil\nsmote through the defences a dozen times a day.\n\nListen again to the apostle when he has passed into the intimate\nfriendship of Christ: \"Not having a righteousness of mine own.\" Mark\nthat; yea verily mark that;--\"Not having a righteousness of mine own.\"\nThis coat of mail he wears is not his own righteousness. Whose, then, is\nit? It is the righteousness of Christ. As Paul declares: \"It is the\nrighteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness\nwhich is of God by faith.\" The apostle is wearing the righteousness of\nChrist, and he wears it like a coat of mail, covering back and front,\nshielding him before and behind.\n\nI want to pause a little there because we are very near one of the\ndeepest mysteries in the gospel of grace, and I want to state the\nmystery as plainly as words can express it. This, then, is what the\nScriptures state: The Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely righteous, so\nrighteous that human imagination and human dream cannot conceive it\nexcelled. His holy obedience was perfect. There was no rent in the\nvesture of His holiness. There was no frayed edge, there was no\nimperfect strand, there were no stains. \"In Him was no sin.\" We must\nbegin there.\n\nAnd now let us assume that a poor penitent comes to this perfectly holy\nLord. Let us make the sinner as nauseous and repulsive as you please.\nLet us make him a moral leper, the wretched victim of uncleanness,\nbefouled by his own habits, consumed in his own sin, eaten without and\nwithin. That poor penitent sinner, laden with defilement, comes to the\nholy Lord Jesus, humbly seeking His favour and grace.\n\nNow what happens? What do the Scriptures tell us about the happening?\nThey tell us that the holy Saviour covers the sinner with the robe of\nHis own righteousness. The Lord puts His merits on to the sinner who has\nno merits. He puts His obedience on to the sinner who has nothing but a\nrecord of disobedience. He puts His spiritual conquests on to the sinner\nwho is torn and scarred by nothing but appalling defeats. He puts His\nholiness on to a sinner who has been raked by defilements. That is the\nproclamation of the gospel. That poor penitent believing sinner stands\nnow before the devil, and before men and angels, and before the presence\nof God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ! What, in all his\nimperfections? Yes. In all his weaknesses? Yes. With the scorching marks\nof hell-fire still upon him? Yes. He is covered with the robe of\nChrist's righteousness. He wears the merits and the strength and the\ndefences of the Lord's obedience. Have we not read of one who wrapped\nhimself in his country's flag and then dared an alien power to fire? It\nis an altogether imperfect illustration, but it offers me some faint and\nhelpful analogy when I hear the saints give this witness: \"He hath\nclothed me with the robe of righteousness, and covered me with the\ngarments of salvation.\" No, it was not Paul's own righteousness which\nconstituted his coat of mail. It was the righteousness of his Lord.\n\nNow, this is the word of grace, and this is the message of the gospel.\nIt is this of which Toplady sings in his immortal hymn--\"Rock of Ages\":\n\n    \"Naked, look to Thee for dress.\"\n\nIt is this also of which Charles Wesley sings in his also immortal\nhymn--\"Jesus, Lover of my Soul\":\n\n    \"I am all unrighteousness,\n     Thou art full of truth and grace.\"\n\nIt is this which was discovered by George Fox, the founder of the\nSociety of Friends, and of which he tells us so rapturously in the early\npages of his journal. It was this which John Bunyan found, and of which\nhe tells us in the pages of \"Grace Abounding\": \"One day, as I was\npassing into the field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience,\nsuddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, 'Thy righteousness is in\nheaven,' and me thought that I saw with the eyes of my soul, Jesus\nChrist at God's right hand. There, I saw, was my righteousness; so that\nwherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, He\nwants my righteousness, for that was just before Him. I also saw,\nmoreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my\nrighteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness\nworse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same\nyesterday, to-day and forever. Now did my chains fall off my legs\nindeed; I was loosened from my afflictions and irons.... Now went I also\nhome rejoicing for the grace and love of God.\" All these men, at the\nbeginning of their Christian life, were covered not with a righteousness\nof their own, but with the righteousness of Christ, and they could sing\nwith Paul that they were clothed in the garments of His salvation. Their\ncoat of mail was the righteousness of Christ.\n\nNow I recognize, and I experience the difficulty, of realizing all\nthis, and I sympathize with you in the poverty of our apprehension. But\nI think our difficulty is in some ways occasioned by the inadequacy of\nall figures of speech to convey to us the real vitality of the truth.\nFor instance, a coat of mail is something detached, separate and\nexternal, and so is a robe, and they have no vital relation to the body\nwhich wears them. And therefore, when we think of the righteousness of\nChrist covering another like a robe or a coat of mail, it appears\nsomething unreal, a superficial ministry, or even a fine pretence. We\nthink of some villain clothed in the garb of a minister, but all the\nmore a villain because of the robes which cover him. Or we think of some\nvile woman wearing the habits of a nun, and all the more vile because of\nthe significant garments in which she is clothed. A leprous sinner\nwearing the robe of Christ's righteousness! It all appears detached and\nsuperficial, like a climbing rose hiding a rubbish heap, or some lovely\nferns and greenery concealing an open sewer. There appears no deep\nreality in it,--a sinner just covered with the robe of Christ's\nholiness, and wearing the Lord's righteousness as a coat of mail.\n\nYes, I admit that the figures all fail. The figure of a robe leaves the\nsinner and the Saviour in no vital relation. And so it is with the coat\nof mail. But in the blessed reality there is no detachment. There is\nunion between the sinner and the Saviour of the most profound and vital\nkind. You must remember our assumption; the sinner who comes to the\nSaviour comes in faith, and in penitence and in prayer, and these things\nnever leave a soul separate and detached from the life and love of the\nLord. Faith itself, even amid human relationships, is never a dividing\nministry; it always consolidates and unites. You may trace the vital\nunifying influence of faith in a score of relations. The faith which a\npatient has in a doctor is a minister of very vital union in every\neffort to recover the lost genius of health. The faith which a pupil has\nin a teacher unites the two in a very vital relation, and puts the pupil\ninto communion with the knowledge which is stored up in the teacher's\nmind. The faith which one man has in another incorporates the two in\none. Faith always unifies; it never divides.\n\nAnd all this has its supreme application in the relation of the soul to\nChrist. A poor penitent sinner who comes to the Lord in faith becomes\none with the Lord in the profoundest union which the mind of man can\nconceive. Faith in Christ unites the soul with Christ just as in\ngrafting the engrafted scion becomes one with the vital stock.\n\nNow this is the beginning of our reasoning. We are assuming a poor,\npenitent, weary soul flinging himself by faith on Christ, and thereby\nbecoming one with Christ, one with all He is; one with all He has been;\none with all He shall be, sharing His merits, His holiness, His\nobedience! By faith in Christ I become one with Christ, and all He is is\nthrown over me! And now before the devil I stand as one in Christ; and\nin the day of judgment I shall stand as one in Christ, one with Him in\nspite of all the sins of my past, and all the weaknesses and\nimmaturities of the present. \"Thou hast covered me with the robe of\nrighteousness, and clothed me in the garment of salvation.\" I wear the\nrighteousness of Christ, and I wear it as a coat of mail.\n\nNow is not that a strong defence? Go back to the illustration of\ngrafting. I saw a young graft which had just been newly related to a\nstrong and healthy stock. The graft still looked very poor and weak and\nsickly, but it had become vitally one with the healthy stock; it stood\nno longer in its own strength. All the resources of the stock were\nthrown about it, the merits of the stock were now the scion's, all the\nvictories of its yesterdays, and all the sap and energies of to-morrow.\nThe stock is to the scion as a coat of mail! And so it is with the soul\nwhich has become by faith the scion of the Lord.\n\n    \"All my trust on Thee is stayed,\n     All my help from Thee I bring;\n     Cover my defenseless head\n     With the shadow of Thy wing.\"\n\nThe righteousness of Christ is the breastplate of the soul.\n\nNow let us gather up our practical conclusions: The righteousness of\nChrist becomes immediately mine by the act and attitude of faith. Yea,\nverily, the most leprous and unclean soul in this city, with a history\nunutterably loathsome, whose faith looks up tremblingly to the Saviour,\nis immediately covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness, for by\nfaith he immediately becomes one with the righteousness of Christ. By\nfaith I can here and now become one with Christ; however poor and\nwretched I be, and however sinful I have been, the righteousness of\nChrist becomes the armour of my soul. You say that is very dogmatic.\nYes, blessed be God, it is dogmatic, but it is justified dogmatism, for\nit is the glorious dogmatism of the gospel of Christ.\n\nAnd covered with the righteousness of Christ, that imputed\nrighteousness becomes progressively mine in the appropriation of\nexperience. His life flows into me like the life of stock into scion,\nand all through my days I am assimilating more and more the\nrighteousness which covers me. His covering righteousness becomes more\nand more my rectitude. His covering holiness becomes more and more my\nobedience. His righteousness passes more and more into my conscience and\nmakes it holy; more and more into my affections and makes them lovely;\nmore and more into my will to make it rich and dutiful in obedience.\nForever and ever His righteousness will cover me, and forever and\nforever I shall be growing into His likeness. His righteousness is my\ndefence. Yes, it is a coat of mail, a protection for breast and back.\nHis righteousness protects me from the things that are behind, the guilt\nand the sins of my yesterdays. His righteousness protects me from the\nthings of to-morrow, from all the assaults of the unknown way, from the\nfear of death, and from the day of judgment.\n\n    \"When I soar through worlds unknown,\n    See Thee on Thy Judgment Throne,\n        Rock of Ages, cleft for me,\n        Let me hide myself in Thee.\"\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nREADY!\n\n\n    _Heavenly Father, we thank Thee we are called to be children of\n    the light. Even though we have been children of the darkness,\n    and have loved the ways of error rather than of truth, and of\n    sin rather than of holiness, Thou art calling us to the light of\n    eternal day. We would answer Thy call in penitence, and we would\n    return to Thee like wayward children who are coming home again.\n    We do not ask to lose the sense of our shame, but we ask to\n    taste the sweetness of Thy forgiveness. We do not ask to forget\n    our rebelliousness, but we ask to be assured that we are\n    reconciled to Thee. We would sit at Thy table and receive the\n    bread of life. We would worship at Thy feet and receive the\n    baptism of the Holy Spirit. We would stand before Thee with our\n    feet shod with the shoes of readiness, willing to go out on\n    errands of Christian love and service. If we are inclined to\n    frivolity may we become inclined to be serious and reverent. If\n    we are heedless may we become fired with heavenly ambition and\n    spiritual devotion. Redeem us from the littleness of selfishness\n    and lift us into the blessed communion of our fellow-men. Give\n    us a wide and generous outlook upon human affairs. Endow us with\n    the sympathy that rejoices with them who are rejoicing and that\n    weeps with them that weep. If Thou art leading us through the\n    gloom of adversity may we find that even the clouds drop\n    fatness. If Thou art leading us through the green pastures and\n    by the still waters, may we recognize the presence of the great\n    Shepherd and may our joys be sanctified. Hallow all our\n    experiences, we humbly pray Thee, and may we all become branches\n    in the vine of our Lord. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nREADY!\n\n    \"Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.\"\n    Ephesians 6:15.\n\n\nA little while ago an article appeared in one of the daily papers with\nthis startling title: \"Boots and shoes may be vital determining factors\nin the war.\" And contrasts and comparisons were made between the\nopposing forces in respect to their footgear, and the provision which\nhad been made for keeping the soldiers' feet strong and hardy. And\nallowing even for the ordinary journalistic exaggeration, it is a most\nreasonable thing to assume that good, durable, well-fitting boots are\npart of the requisite armour for all soldiers who are called to\nprolonged and exacting service. Think of those heavy tramps in the early\ndays of the war, whether in advance or in retreat; and think of the miry\nroads and the marshy ground since the rains have fallen; and think of\nthe wet and soaking trenches where the men have to stand for hours\ntogether; and you will begin to realize what a vital part boots may play\nin the terrible hardships of a long and wintry campaign.\n\nIn the Roman Empire scrupulous care was given to the feet of the\nfighting men. The shoes were specially made, not only for long marches,\nbut for protection against the secret dangers of the way. They had not\narrived at some of our refinements in devilry, but some of their\nsubtleties occasioned great destruction. Gall-traps were set along the\nroad, multitudes of sharp sticks were inserted on the surface of the\nroad, keen as dagger points, to obstruct the advance of an enemy, and to\nmaim his soldiers and compel them to fall out by the way. And so it was\nan imperative necessity that the Roman soldier be well shod, his feet\nmade easy for the most exacting march, and defended against the hidden\nperils which would maim him in service and spoil him for the fray.\n\nNow the apostle Paul had seen the Roman soldier marching as to war. I\nthink he must have been particularly fond of watching soldiers because\nwe can so often see and hear them reflected in his letters. We can\nalways learn a great deal from a man by studying his metaphors and\nfigures of speech, and we can get some very suggestive glimpses of his\ntastes and interests by watching the analogies of the apostle Paul,\nwhere the army is often tramping through his letters, and the Roman\nsoldier is often presented to offer counsel to the soldiers of the Lord.\nAnd here in my text we are bidden to look to the soldier's shoes. He is\nwell shod, so splendidly shod that in a moment he is ready for any call,\nalong any road, and for any service.\n\nAnd the Christian, too, has long marches, and often along difficult and\ntrying roads, and there are flints about and sharp thorns, and other\nthings that wound and make him stumble. And sometimes there is scarcely\na road at all, and we have never been that way before, and it is like\nthe work of a pioneer cutting his way through the jungle. What roads we\nhave to tramp! Especially when we are apostles sent forth on the King's\nbidding! And, says the great apostle, \"You need shoes for the roads or\nyou will be unfit for the long journeys, and you will easily become\ntired and sore, and you may even drop out of the ranks.\" And what kind\nof shoes are we to wear as soldiers of Christ? How can we be defended in\nour long journeyings and in our crusades in the service of the King? The\nanswer to these questions is given in the words: \"Have your feet shod\nwith the preparation of the gospel of peace.\" Now what is that?\n\nLet me slightly recast the phrase. One of the words has slightly\naltered its colour and significance since the days of the Authorized\nVersion. I mean the word \"preparation.\" In the earlier days if you spoke\nof a man of \"preparation\" you meant a man who was prepared, a man who\nwas equal to opportunity, a man who was awaiting the opening of the\ndoor, having everything ready for the call of obligation and service. So\nthat the word \"preparedness\" would now be more accurate than the\nauthorized word \"preparation.\" \"Having your feet shod with the\npreparedness of the gospel of peace.\" But I think we shall do even\nbetter if instead of either of these we use the word \"readiness.\"\n\"Having your feet shod with the readiness of the gospel of peace.\" What\nis that? Look at it a little more closely. \"The readiness of the\ngospel\"; that is the readiness which is born of the gospel as heat is\nborn of the sun. The gospel of peace enters the soul of a man and takes\npossession of it, and then inspires the man with readiness. What for?\nReadiness to take the road to tell others the good tidings which have\nfilled his own soul. That is it. The gospel of peace enters and\nglorifies the soul, and it then imparts to the feet a readiness to take\nthe road, the long and difficult road, if need be, in order to tell to\nothers the good news which has set it free. That is it. Have your feet\nshod with the readiness begotten of the gospel of peace!\n\nLet me give an example, and let it be taken from the book of the\nprophet Isaiah. Here, then, are people in exile, sitting in the cold\nshadow of oppression, and longing for freedom and home. And over the\nhard mountain tracks there come messengers, swift messengers carrying\nthe glad tidings of emancipation. There they come over the long roads!\nAnd when the suffering exiles see and hear them they break into this\nsong: \"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that\nbringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings\nof God, that publisheth salvation; that saith to Zion, Thy God reigneth!\nBreak forth into joy! Sing together!\" The feet of the messengers were\nshod with the readiness begotten of good news, and they were speeding\nwith comfort to the desolate and distressed.\n\nWe have another example in the same book where messengers who were\nladened with a rich experience were bidden to take the high road and\ntell their news to others. \"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee\nup into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift\nup thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the\ncities of Judah, Behold your God!... He shall feed His flock like a\nshepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His\nbosom; and shall gently lead those that are with young.\" That was the\ngood news, and with the readiness begotten of the good news the\nmessengers hastened to make it known. And so it is that our feet, as\ndisciples of the Lord Jesus, are to be shod with similar readiness, the\nreadiness begotten of our own experience of the goodness of God, the\nreadiness to go out on the rough and troubled roads of life, into its\nhighways and its byways, its broad streets and its narrow streets,\ncarrying the good cheer of the news of God's redeeming love and grace.\nTo be ready to go wherever there is any form of bondage, singing the\ngospel song of joy and freedom,--that is the privileged service of the\nsoldiers of the Lord. \"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of\nhim that bringeth good tidings!\" \"Have your feet shod with the readiness\nof the gospel of peace.\"\n\nNow I think it might be good for us to just glance along the roads of\nlife and look at one or two sorts of people who are held in spiritual\nbondage, and who are therefore in need of good news and cheer, and we\nwill challenge ourselves if our feet are shod with readiness to take\nthem the gospel of peace. Well, then, look down this road, for here is a\nsoul who is held in the bondage of despondency and despair. You will\nfind such souls upon almost any road you like to tread. They are souls\nwho somehow have fainted; they have lost the warm, cheering, kindling\nlight of hope. Now failure is never really deadly until it puts out our\nhope and freezes the springs of resolution. The only really fatal\nelement in defeat is the resolution not to try again. We have only\nterribly failed when we have furled our sails. Yes, I repeat it; failure\nonly becomes virulent when it breeds despair.\n\nNow these folk are on the road. They have so utterly failed that they\nhave lost their vital confidence, and they have become pathetic victims\nof self-disparagement. What do they need? They need to have their lamps\nre-lit with the cheering light of hope. They need to have their fires\nrekindled with the blessed warmth of confidence. They need to hear of\nnew dawnings, of radiant to-morrows, of larger, brighter coming days.\nAnd if they do need light and fire and sunrise, what is that but to say\nthat they need to hear again the good tidings of the inexhaustible love\nof the risen Lord. They just need Jesus, and the comforting gospel of\nHis peace.\n\nYes, but who is to take it? Messengers are wanted, messengers shod with\n\"the readiness of the gospel of peace,\" messengers swift and ready to\nrun these glorious errands as the ministers of eternal hope. Now, are we\nshod with that gospel readiness? Are our feet ready for the road? It is\na noble and a gracious ministry. How beautiful upon the mountains are\nthe feet of him that bringeth oil to smouldering lamps, and fuel to\ndying fires, and that cheer and illumine the cold haunts of despondency\nand despair! It is Mark Rutherford who says somewhere in what is to me\nan unforgettable word: \"Blessed are they who heal us of our\nself-despisings.\" Yes, verily it is a beautiful ministry to kindle again\nthe lovely light of confidence and hope. Are we ready for such service?\nSoldiers of Jesus, are our feet \"shod with the readiness of the gospel\nof peace\"?\n\nLook again along the road. Here is another lonely soul, held in the\nbondage of a blinding experience. Let us say it is Saul of Tarsus, who\nis now on the road to Damascus: \"And as he journeyed, he came near\nDamascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:\nand he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him: Saul, Saul,\nwhy persecuteth thou me?... And Saul arose from the earth, and when his\neyes were opened he saw no man: but they led him by the hand and brought\nhim into Damascus.\" Now here is a man who is held in the bondage of a\nblinding experience. He has been smitten in the midnight, but has not\nyet seen the dawn. He is convicted of sin, but has not yet found peace.\nHe has lost his old life but has not yet found the new one. His old\ndelights have gone, but the new joys have not yet arrived. He has been\nstunned, but he is not yet free! And there he is! What is needed? O\nsurely, what is needed is some human messenger in whom the gospel of\npeace dwells like summer sunshine and fragrance, and whose feet are shod\nwith readiness to carry that gracious summer to others. \"And the Lord\nsaid unto Ananias, Arise and go into the street which is called\nStraight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul.... And\nAnanias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands\non him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto\nthee on the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive\nthy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell\nfrom his eyes as it had been scales.\" And so the blinded found his\nsight, and the enslaved found his liberty, and the bewildered found his\npeace; and one of the Lord's messengers was the human minister in the\ngreat emancipation. His feet were shod with the readiness of the gospel\nof peace. \"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that\nbringeth good tidings.\"\n\nThere are other blinded people along the road, people who are stunned\nand bewildered, not by dazzling light but by fierce lightning. There are\npeople who are just blinded by calamity. They have suffered the\nlightning stroke of disaster or bereavement. I was talking to one such\ntroubled soul this very week; and speaking of the repeated blows of her\nheavy sorrows she said: \"They just left me blind and dumb!\" Blind and\ndumb along the road! What did she need? O, she just needed the restoring\nbalm and cordials of heavenly comfort. She needed the soft consolations\nof divine grace. And what is that but to say again that she needed the\ngospel of peace? And where are the messengers, with feet shod with the\nreadiness of the gospel of peace, to carry the good tidings to this soul\nheld in the bondage of silence and night? How unspeakable is the\nprivilege of carrying this holy grace, and seeing the holy light of\nfaith breaking upon the face of bewilderment, lovelier far than the\nglory of sunrise breaking upon the mountains, flushing the cold snows,\nand suffusing with living color the gloominess of the pines! Yes, it is\na beautiful service to carry good tidings to those who are stunned. \"How\nbeautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him that bringeth good\ntidings!\" Soldiers of Jesus, are our feet shod with this readiness of\nthe gospel of peace?\n\nLook once more down the road, for there is another soul held in the\nbondage of ignorance. Let it be a man of Ethiopia. Let the road be the\nsteep descent which leadeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza. \"A man of\nEthiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of the\nEthiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and did go to\nJerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot,\nread Esaias, the prophet.\" This man has the Word, but he has not got the\nclue. He has the Scriptures, but he has no interpreter. What is needed?\nHe needs some messenger in whom the Word has become life, and who has\ndiscovered the central secret of the Scriptures in the companionship of\nthe Lord. \"The angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and\ngo toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto\nGaza. And he arose and went.\" \"How beautiful upon the mountain are the\nfeet of him that bringeth good tidings!\" \"And Philip ran thither to him,\nand heard him read the prophet Esaias.\" He ran on his errand because his\nfeet were shod with readiness!\n\n    \"Take my feet and let them be\n     Swift and beautiful for Thee.\"\n\n\"And Philip said, Understandest thou what thou readest?\" So he\nexplained to him the Word, and through the Word led him unto the Lord.\nAnd this is the last word we read about this man going down to Egypt:\n\"He went on his way rejoicing!\" What a ministry for a servant of the\nLord! And that is your gracious service, fellow-preacher, in the\nministry of the Word. And that is your privilege, Sunday-school teacher,\nwhen you meet your children in the class. You are appointed by the Lord\nto light up words that will burn in your scholars' minds to the very end\nof the pilgrim way. And that is the privilege of all of us if we will\njust have confidence in the guiding grace of the Lord. We need not be\nstars in order to light lamps and kindle fires. A taper is quite enough\nif it burns with genuine flame. Our greatest fitness for this kind of\nservice is to be ready to do it, and the Lord Himself will provide the\nneedful equipment. To have feet shod with readiness, that is what we\nneed. Then through our ministry it may joyfully happen that many of\n\n    \"The sons of ignorance and night\n     Will dwell in the eternal light\n       Through the eternal love.\"\n\nThere is only one thing remaining to be said. The apostle teaches that\nsuch readiness is armour for our own souls, it is defensive armour\nagainst the world, the flesh and the devil. To be ready to tell the good\nnews of grace, the gospel of peace, is to have stout protection as you\ntrudge along the road. Readiness is one piece of armour in the panoply\nof God. The soul which is not ready to serve is an easy prey to the evil\none. A man whose feet are swift to carry the good tidings of grace is\nthe favoured child of glorious promise: \"He shall give His angels charge\nover thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.\" While we are ministering to\nothers we are being ministered unto by the spirits that surround His\nthrone, and our security is complete.\n\nThen let us pray for the grace and protection of readiness. Let us\npray that the gospel of peace may more and more deeply possess our\nsouls, so that we may be inspired with that spontaneous readiness which\nawaits the King's bidding, and which speeds on its way carrying the\nglorious treasures of grace. \"Have your feet shod with the readiness of\nthe gospel of peace.\" \"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of\nhim that bringeth good tidings!\"\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE SHIELD OF FAITH\n\n\n    _Most Holy God, Who lightenest every man that cometh into the\n    world, enlighten our hearts, we pray Thee, with the light of Thy\n    grace, that we may fully know our sins and our shortcomings, and\n    may confess them with true sorrow and contrition of heart.\n    Unveil Thy love to us, so that in its clear shining we may\n    behold the sin of our rebellion, and may turn unto Thee in\n    humility and fervent devotion. Deliver us, we pray Thee, from\n    the tyranny of evil habit. Save us from acknowledging any\n    sovereignty above Thine. Keep us in sight of the great white\n    throne, and may Thy judgments determine all our ways. Defend us\n    when we are tempted to fields of transgression. Protect us from\n    the allurements which assail the senses, and which entice us,\n    through our fleshly desires, into impure delights. Loose us from\n    the bonds of vanity and pride, and remove every perverting\n    prejudice which blinds our vision. Impart unto us the grace of\n    simplicity. May our worship be perfectly candid and sincere.\n    Give us a healthy recoil from all hypocrisy, from all mere\n    acting in Thy holy Presence. Quicken our perception that we may\n    realize Thy Presence, and feel the awe of the unseen. Lead us,\n    we pray Thee, to the fountain of life. Quicken our souls so that\n    we may apprehend the things that concern our peace. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE SHIELD OF FAITH\n\n    \"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be\n    able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.\" Ephesians\n    6:16.\n\n\nBut did the apostle who gives the counsel find his faith an\nall-sufficient shield? He recommends the shield of faith, but is the\nrecommendation based on personal experience? And if so, what is the\nnature and value of that experience? What sort of protection did his\nfaith give to him? When I examine his life what tokens do I find of\nguardianship and strong defence? When I move through the ways of his\nexperience is it like passing through quiet and shady cloisters shut\naway from the noise and heat of the fierce and feverish world? Is his\nprotected life like a garden walled around, full of sweet and pleasant\nthings, and secured against the maraudings of robber and beast? Let us\nlook at this protected life. Let us glance at the outer circumstances.\nHere is one glimpse of his experience: \"Of the Jews five times received\nI forty stripes save one; once was I stoned; thrice have I suffered\nshipwreck; a day and a night have I been in the deep; in stripes above\nmeasure; in prisons more frequent; in deaths oft; in weariness and\npainfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings\noften, in cold and nakedness.\" And yet this is the man who speaks about\nthe shield of faith, and in spite of the protecting shield all these\nthings happened unto him!\n\nLook at his bodily infirmities. \"There was given unto me a thorn in the\nflesh.\" Where was the shield? It is not necessary for us to know the\ncharacter of his thorn. But assuredly it was some ailment which appeared\nto interfere with the completeness of his work. Some think it was an\naffliction of the eyes; others think that it was a proneness to some\nform of malarial fever which frequently brought him into a state of\ncollapse and exhaustion. But there it was, and the shield of faith did\nnot keep it away.\n\nOr look again at his exhausting labours. There is no word concerning his\nministry more pregnant with meaning than this word \"labour,\" which the\napostle so frequently used to describe his work. \"In labours oft;\"\n\"whereunto I labour;\" \"I laboured more abundantly than they all.\" This\nis not the labour of ordinary toil. It is the labour of travail. It is\nlabour to the degree of poignant pang. It is labour that so expends the\nstrength as to empty the fountain. It is the labour of sacrifice. And I\nthought that perhaps a protected life might have been spared the\nsufferings of a living martyrdom and that the service such a man\nrendered might have been made fruitful without pain. I thought God might\nhave protected His servant. But the shield of faith did not deliver him\nfrom the labour of travail through which he sought the birth of the\nchildren of grace.\n\nOr look once more at his repeated failures. You can hear the wail of\nsadness as he frequently contemplates his ruined hopes concerning little\nchurches which he had built, or concerning fellow-believers whom he had\nwon to Christ. \"Are ye so soon fallen away?\" \"Ye would have given your\neyes to me but now--.\" \"I hear that there is strife among you.\" \"It is\nreported that there is uncleanness among you.\" \"Demus hath forsaken me.\"\nAnd it is wail after wail, for it is failure after failure. Defeat is\npiled upon defeat. It is declared to be a protected life, and yet\ndisasters litter the entire way. It is perfectly clear that the shield\nof faith did not guard him from the agony of defeat.\n\nSuch are the experiences of the man who gave his strength to proclaim\nthe all-sufficiency of the shield of faith, who spent his days in\nrecommending it to his fellow-men, and whose own life was nevertheless\nnoisy with tumult, and burdened with antagonisms, and crippled by\ninfirmity, and clouded with defeat. Can this life be said to be wearing\na shield? We have so far been looking at the man's environment, at his\nbodily infirmities, at his activities of labor, at his external defeats.\nWhat if in all these things we have not come within sight of the realm\nwhich the apostle would describe as his life? When Paul speaks of life\nhe means the life of the soul. When he thinks of life his eyes are on\nthe soul. In all the estimates and values which he makes of life he is\nfixedly regarding the soul. The question of success or failure in life\nis judged by him in the courthouse of the soul. You cannot entice the\napostle away to life's accidents and induce him to take his measurements\nthere. He always measures life with the measurement of an angel, and\nthus he busies himself not with the amplitude of possessions, but with\nthe quality of being, not with the outer estates of circumstances but\nwith the central keep and citadel of the soul. We never find the apostle\nPaul with his eyes glued upon the wealth or poverty of his surroundings.\nBut everywhere and always and with endless fascination, he watches the\ngrowth or decay of the soul. When, therefore, this man speaks of the\nshield of faith we may be quite sure that he is still dwelling near the\nsoul and that he is speaking of a protection which will defend the\ninnermost life from foul and destructive invasion.\n\nNow our emphasis is prone to be entirely the other way, and therefore\nwe are very apt to misinterpret the teachings of the apostle Paul and to\nmisunderstand the holy promises of the Lord. We are prone to live in the\nincidents of life rather than in its essentials, in environment rather\nthan in character, in possessions rather than in dispositions, in the\nbody rather than in the soul. The consequence is that we seek our\nshields in the realms in which we live. We live only in the things of\nthe body and therefore against bodily ills we seek our shields. We want\na shield against sorrow, to keep it away, a shield to protect us against\nthe break-up of our happy estate. We want a shield against adversity, to\nkeep it away, a shield against the darkening eclipse of the sunny day.\nWe want a shield against loss, to keep it away, a shield against the\nrupture of pleasant relations, a shield to protect us against the\nbereavements which destroy the completeness of our fellowships. We want\na shield against pain, to keep it away, a shield against the pricks and\ngoads of piercing circumstances, against the stings and arrows of\noutrageous fortune.\n\nIn a word, we want a shield to make us comfortable, and because the\nshield of faith does not do it we are often stunned and confused, and\nour thin reasonings are often twisted and broken, and the world appears\na labyrinth without a providence and without a plan. It is just here\nthat our false emphasis leads us astray. We live in circumstances and\nseek a shield to make us comfortable; but the apostle Paul lived in\ncharacter and sought a shield to make him holy. He was not concerned\nwith the arrangement of circumstances, but he was concerned with the\naspiration that, be the circumstances what they might, they should never\nbring disaster to his soul. He did not seek a shield to keep off\nill-circumstances, but he sought a shield to keep ill-circumstances from\ndoing him harm. He sought a shield to defend him from the\ndestructiveness of every kind of circumstance, whether fair or foul,\nwhether laden with sunshine or heavy with gloom. Paul wanted a shield\nagainst all circumstances in order that no circumstance might unman him\nand impoverish the wealth of his soul.\n\nLet me offer a simple illustration. A ray of white light is made up of\nmany colors, but we can devise screens to keep back any one of these\ncolors and to let through those we please. We can filter the rays. Or we\ncan devise a screen to let in rays of light and to keep out rays of\nheat. We can intercept certain rays and forbid their presence. Now, to\nthe apostle Paul the shield of faith was a screen to intercept the\ndeadly rays which dwell in every kind of circumstance; and to Paul the\ndeadly rays in circumstances, whether the circumstances were bright or\ncloudy, were just those that consumed his spiritual susceptibilities and\nlessened his communion with God, the things that ate out his moral\nfibre, and that destroyed the wholeness and wholesomeness of his human\nsympathies, and impaired his intimacy with God and man. It was against\nthese deadly rays he needed a shield, and he found it in the shield of\nfaith.\n\nPaul wanted a shield, not against failure; that might come or stay\naway. But he wanted a shield against the pessimism that may be born of\nfailure, and which holds the soul in the fierce bondage of an Arctic\nwinter. Paul wanted a shield, not against injury; that might come or\nstay away; but against the deadly thing that is born of injury, even the\nfoul offspring of revenge. Paul wanted a shield, not against pain; that\nmight come or might not come; he sought a shield against the spirit of\nmurmuring which is so frequently born of pain, the deadly, deadening\nmood of complaint. Paul wanted a shield, not against disappointment,\nthat might come or might not come; but against the bitterness that is\nborn of disappointment, the mood of cynicism which sours the milk of\nhuman kindness and perverts all the gentle currents of the soul. Paul\nwanted a shield, not against difficulty; that might come or might not\ncome; but against the fear that is born of difficulty, the cowardice and\nthe disloyalty which are so often bred of stupendous tasks. Paul did not\nwant a shield against success; that might come or might not come; but\nagainst the pride that is born of success, the deadly vanity and\nself-conceit which scorch the fair and gracious things of the soul as a\nprairie-fire snaps up a homestead or a farm. Paul did not want a shield\nagainst wealth; that might come or might not come; but against the\nmaterialism that is born of wealth, the deadly petrifying influence\nwhich turns flesh into stone, spirituality into benumbment, and which\nmakes a soul unconscious of God and of eternity. The apostle did not\nwant a shield against any particular circumstance, but against every\nkind of circumstance, that in everything he might be defended against\nthe fiery darts of the devil.\n\nHe found the shield he needed in a vital faith in Christ. First of all\nthe faith-life cultivates the personal fellowship of the Lord Jesus\nChrist. The ultimate concern of faith is not with a polity, not with a\ncreed, not with a church, and not with a sacrament, but with the person\nof the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore the first thing we have to do if\nwe wish to wear the shield of faith is to cultivate the companionship of\nthe Lord. We must seek His holy presence. We must let His purpose enter\ninto and possess our minds. We must let His promises distil into our\nhearts. And we must let our own hearts and minds dwell upon the Lord\nJesus in holy thought and aspiration, just as our hearts and minds dwell\nupon the loved ones who have gone from our side. We must talk to Him in\nsecret and we must let Him talk to us. We must consult Him about our\naffairs, and then take His counsels as our statutes, and pay such heed\nto them that the statutes will become our songs. Faith-life cultivates\nthe friendship of Christ, and leans upon it, and surrenders itself with\nglorious abandon to the sovereign decrees of His grace and love.\n\nAnd then, secondly, the faith-life puts first things first, and in its\nlist of primary values it gives first place to the treasures of the\nsoul. Faith-life is more concerned with habits than with things, with\ncharacter than with office, with self-respect than with popular esteem.\nThe faith-life puts first things first, the clean mind and the pure\nheart, and from these it never turns its eyes away.\n\nAnd, lastly, the faith-life contemplates the campaign rather than the\nsingle battle. One battle may seem to go against it. But faith knows\nthat one battle is not the end of the world. \"I will see you again, and\nyour sorrow shall be turned into joy.\" Faith takes the long view, the\nview of the entire campaign. \"I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,\ncoming down out of heaven from God.\" \"The kingdoms of this world shall\nbecome the kingdom of our God.\" Such a relationship to the Lord protects\nour life as with an invincible shield. It may please God to conduct our\nlife through long reaches of cloudless noon; the shield of faith will be\nour defence. It may please God to lead us through the gloom of a long\nand terrible night; the shield of faith will be our defence. \"Thou shalt\nnot be afraid of the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the\ndestruction that wasteth at noonday.\"\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTHE HELMET OF HOPE\n\n\n    _Eternal God, mercifully help us to unitedly draw near to the\n    atoning Saviour, and through His mercies find access into the\n    inheritance of the saints in light. Forgive the sins of our\n    rebellion and redeem us from our guilt. Transform our spiritual\n    habits that we may find ourselves able to fix our minds upon\n    things above. Cleanse our hearts by the waters of regeneration,\n    in order that our inclinations may be fixed upon the things that\n    please Thee. Rekindle the fire of our affections, purify the\n    light of our conscience. Broaden our compassions and make them\n    more delicate in their discernments. Impart unto us the saving\n    sense of Thy Companionship, and in the assurance of Thy Presence\n    may we know ourselves competent to do Thy will. Meet with us one\n    by one. Equip us with all needful armour for our daily battle.\n    Feed us with hidden manna, that so our strength may be equal to\n    our task. Unite us in the bonds of holy fear, and may we all be\n    partakers of Thy love and grace. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTHE HELMET OF HOPE\n\n    \"And take the helmet of salvation.\" Ephesians 6:17.\n\n    \"And for an helmet the hope of salvation.\" I Thessalonians 5:8.\n\n\nThe helmet of hope! Who has not experienced the energy of a mighty\nhope? It is always a force to be reckoned with in the day of life's\nbattle. Hope is a splendid helmet, firmly covering the head, and\ndefending all its thoughts and purposes and visions from the subtle\nassaults of the evil one. The helmet of hope is one of the best\nprotections against \"losing one's head\"; it is the best security against\nall attacks made upon the mind by small but deadly fears; it is the only\neffective safeguard against petty but deadly compromise. Far away the\nbest defence against all sorts of mental vagrancy and distraction is to\nhave the executive chambers of the life encircled and possessed by a\nstrong and brilliant hope.\n\nNow every student of the apostle Paul knows that he is an optimist. But\nhe is an optimist, not because he closes his eyes, but because he opens\nthem and uses them to survey the entire field of vision and possibility.\nHe is an optimist, not because he cannot see the gross darkness,--no one\nhas painted the darkness in blacker hues,--but because he can also see\nthe light; and no one has portrayed the light with more alluring\nbrilliance and glory. He is an optimist, not because he cannot see the\nloathsome presence of weakness, but because he sees the unutterable\ngrace and love of God.\n\nYes, he is a reasonable optimist, and I dare to say that you cannot\nfind anywhere in human literature a hundred pages more glowing and\nradiant with the spirit of hope than in the letters of the apostle Paul.\nNowhere can you travel with him, not even to the darkest and most tragic\nrealms of human need, without catching the bright shining of a splendid\nhope. You know how it is when you walk along the shore with the full\nmoon riding over the sea. Between you and the moon, and right across the\ntroubled waters, there is a broad pathway of silver light. If you move\nup the shore the shining path moves with you. If you move down the shore\nstill you have the silver path across the waves. Wherever you stand\nthere is always between you and the moon a shining vista stretching\nathwart the restless sea. And wherever the great apostle journeyed, and\nthrough whatever cold or desolate circumstances, there was always\nbetween him and the risen Lord, the Lord of grace and love, a bright and\nbroadening way of eternal hope. No matter where he is, and how appalling\nthe need, no matter what corruption may gather about the shore on which\nhe is walking, always there is the silver path of gospel-hope stretching\nfrom the human shore-line to the burning bliss of the eternal Presence.\nIn Jerusalem, in Antioch, in Lystra, in Ephesus, in Philippi, in Rome,\nhe was never without these holy beams. They moved with him wherever he\nwent, for they were the outshining rays of the mercy of the eternal God.\nYes indeed, he was an optimist born and sustained in grace. He saw a\nshining road of hope out of every pit, stretching from the miry clay to\nthe awful and yet glorious sanctities of holiness and peace.\n\nNow our ordinary experience teaches us how much energy resides in a\ncommanding hope. A big expectation is stored with wonderful dynamic, and\nit transmits its power to every faculty in the soul. The influence of a\ngreat hope fills the mind with an alert and sensitive trembling,\ninspiring every thought to rise as it were on tiptoe to await and greet\nthe expected guest. A great hope pours its energy into the will,\nendowing it with the strength of marvellous patience and perseverance. I\nhave lately read of an ingenious contrivance, which is now being used in\nsome parts of Egypt, in which, by a subtle combination of glass\nreceivers, the heat of the sun is collected, and the gathered energy\nconcentrated and used in turning machinery in the varied ministries of\nagriculture. That is to say, the power of a diffused shining is directed\nto an engine and its strength enlisted in practical service. And so it\nis with the sunny light of a large hope. Its gathered energy is poured\ninto the engine of the will, imparting glorious driving power, the power\nof \"go\" and laborious persistence.\n\nEvery sphere of human interest provides examples of this principle.\nTurn to the realm of invention. An inventor has a great hope shining\nbefore him as a brilliant vision of possible achievement. With what\nenergy of will it endows him, and with what tireless, sleepless,\ninvincible patience! Think of the immeasurable endurance of the brothers\nWright who were inspired by the great hope of achieving the conquest of\nthe air! Their hope was indeed a helmet defending them against all\nwithering suggestions of ease, protecting them against the call of an\nignoble indolence which is so often heard in hours of defeat. An\nelectric railway has just been introduced by its inventor to the British\nGovernment, which is capable of transmitting mails and parcels along a\nprepared track at the rate of three hundred miles per hour; and the\ninventor has recently quietly told us that he has been at work upon it\nfor thirty years! But think how, all through those long and many\nfruitless years, his helmet of hope defended him, and especially\nprotected him from those alluring suggestions which come from the mild\nclimate of Lotus-Land, and which tempt a man to relax his tension and\nlie down in the pleasant and thymy banks of rest and ease.\n\nOr seek your examples in the realms of discovery. Read the chapters in\nLord Lister's life which tell how he, braced and inspired by a mighty\nhope, laboured and laboured in the quest of an anaesthetic. Or turn to\nthe equally fascinating pages which tell how Sir James Simpson toiled,\nand moiled, and dared, and suffered in the long researches which led to\nthe discovery of chloroform. His will was rendered indomitable by the\nsplendid hope of assuaging human pain.\n\nOr think again of the restless, tireless labours of hundreds of men who\nare to-day engaged in searching for the microscopic cause of cancer,\nthat having found it they might isolate it, and discover an antagonist\nwhich shall work its complete destruction. There is a glorious hope\nshining across the cancer waste, and it is nerving the will of research\nwith unconquerable perseverance. Yes, indeed, men wear a splendid\nhelmet, even in the ways of common experience, when they wear the helmet\nof hope.\n\nAnd mark their condition when they lose it. Turn to the scriptural\nrecord of the voyage when Paul and his fellow-prisoners were being\nescorted by soldiers to take their trial in Rome: A tempestuous storm\narose, and, in the power of a mighty hope to save the boat and\nthemselves the men called out every ounce of their strength. But now\nnote this connection in the narrative as I read it to you: \"All hope was\ntaken away.\" ... \"We let her drift.\" That is it, and it offers a\nstriking symbol of a common experience. While our hope is burning we\nsteer; when our hope is gone out we drift. The motive power is gone, and\nthe hopeless man is like a drifting hull in the midst of a wild and\ndesolate sea.\n\nOr turn to the pages of Capt. Scott's journal when he and his party are\nsurmounting colossal tasks in the chivalrous hope of winning for their\ncountry the honourable distinction of first discovery of the South Pole.\nThe narrative just blazes with hope, and therefore it tingles with\nenergy and shouts with song! But when Amundsen's flag was seen at the\nPole, and their strong hope was gone, and the disappointed company began\nto return--O what heavy feet, and what accumulated burdens, and what\nfiercely added laboriousness to an already laborious road! Hope had\ngone, and they nobly trudged, and trudged, and trudged, to faint, and\nfall, and die! Aye, men and women, hope is a tremendous power. To have\nhope is to have always fresh reserves to meet every new expenditure of\nthe will. To lose hope is like losing the dynamo, the secret of\ninspiration, and the once indomitable will droops and faints away. It\njust makes an infinite difference whether or not we are wearing the\nhelmet of hope.\n\nBut now, if all this is true of common hope and common experience, how\nis it with the supreme hope, \"the hope of salvation?\" What is this\nhope,--\"the hope of salvation?\" To whom is the apostle Paul giving this\ncounsel? He is giving it to Christian believers in Ephesus: But were\nthey not already saved? Why should he speak to them of \"the hope of\nsalvation\" as though it were something still to be won? I remember when\nI was a mere boy going to Spurgeon's Tabernacle, and as I was retiring\nfrom the building at the close of the service, a gentleman laid his hand\nupon my shoulder, and said: \"My boy, are you saved?\" His question\nsuggested that it was something I might already have experienced. Well,\nhad not the Ephesian disciples passed through that same experience? A\nlittle while ago a London cabman stood at the foot of the pulpit-stairs\nin our church, and told me that by the grace of God he had been\nwonderfully saved. But the apostle speaks to these believers of \"the\nhope of salvation\" as though it were something still before them. They\nhad taken a great step in discipleship in that vast and wicked city of\nEphesus, crowded with all sorts of antagonisms, and they had boldly\nconfessed themselves on the side of Christ. And yet, the apostle\ncounsels them to wear as a helmet \"the hope of salvation.\"\n\nThe truth is that the apostle Paul uses all the three primary tenses\nin speaking of salvation. He speaks to believers in the past tense, and\nhe says: \"We were saved.\" And to the same believers he uses the present\ntense, and he says: \"Ye are being saved.\" And yet again to the same\nbelievers he uses the future tense, \"Ye shall be saved.\" All of which\nmeans that to this great apostle a gloriously full salvation stretches\nacross the years from past to future, gathering riches with every\npassing day. Salvation to Paul was more than a step, it was also a walk.\nIt was more than a crisis, it was also a prolonged process. It was more\nthan the gift of new life, it was the maturing in growth and power. A\ndrowning man, when he is lifted out of the water, is in a very profound\nsense vitally saved. But after this initial salvation there is the\nfurther salvation of re-collecting his scattered consciousness, and of\nrecovering his exhausted strength. And in a very glorious sense a man is\nspiritually saved in a moment; in a moment in Christ Jesus he passed\nfrom death into life. But it is also equally true that a man is only\nsaved in a lifetime, as he appropriates to himself more and more the\ngrace and truth of the risen Lord. Yes, after we have been converted and\nsaved, there is a further salvation in self-recovery, in self-discovery,\nall of which becomes ours in a fuller and richer discovery of Christ.\nOur possibilities of salvation in Christ Jesus stretch before us like\nrange upon range of glorious mountains. When we have attained one range\nwe have only obtained a new vantage-ground for beholding another; when\nthat, too, has been climbed, still vaster and grander ranges rise into\nview. Every fresh addition to our Christlikeness increases our power of\ndiscernment, and every added power of discernment unfolds a larger\nvision and a more glorious and alluring hope. All believers in Christ\nJesus have been saved. All believers in Christ Jesus are being saved.\nAll believers in Christ Jesus will be saved. And therefore, says the\napostle, always wear the helmet of hope, \"the hope of salvation.\"\n\nNow perhaps we cannot better draw this meditation to a close in more\nimmediate and practical purpose than by just gazing upon one or two of\nthe hopes of the apostle Paul, if perchance by God's good grace we may\nappropriate them to our own souls. For he, too, is wearing the helmet of\nhope, the hope of salvation. What, then, does he hope for? What mighty\nhope is throwing the energies of its defences upon and around his soul?\nHere is one of his hopes; look at it: \"In hope of the glory of God.\" He\nwore that hope, and he wore it like a helmet, and he wore it night and\nday. He had gazed upon the glory of the Lord, the wondrous light of\ngrace and truth which shone in the face of Jesus Christ. And now he\ndared to hold the glorious hope of becoming glorified with the same\nglory. He dared to hope that his own soul would become translucent with\nthe holy light of divine truth and purity. It almost makes one catch the\nbreath to see such spiritual audacity. One has read of young boys\ntrembling with artistic sensibility, bowing in the presence of the\nworld's masterpieces in art or music, and becoming possessed with the\namazing hope of one day sharing the master's light and glory. But here\nis a man who has been prostrate in the presence of his God. He has been\nhumbly gazing upon \"the chief among ten thousand and the altogether\nlovely.\" And now, in a daring which yet quiets the soul in reverence and\nprayerful lowliness, he tells his fellow-believers that he lives \"in\nhope of the glory of God.\" What a hope! The hope of being glorified with\nGod's glory, of being made gracious with His grace, of being made\ntruthful with His truth, of being sanctified with His holiness, of being\ntransformed into the same image, from glory unto glory! I say, what a\nhope, and therefore, what a helmet! With a helmet like that defending a\nman's brain, what a defence he has against all the petty devilries which\nseek to enter among our thoughts in the shape of mean purposes, and\npetty moral triflings, such as so often invade and desolate the whole\nrealm of the mind! What a hope this is, and what a helmet; \"the hope of\nthe glory of God.\"\n\nAnd here is another way the apostle has of describing the hope he\nwears, \"the hope of salvation;\"--\"To present us spotless before His\nthrone.\" Quietly and reverently repeat that phrase, again, and again,\nand again, until something of its grandeur begins to fill your soul as\nthe advancing light of the rising sun fills a vale in Switzerland with\nits soft and mellowing glory. \"To present us spotless before His\nthrone.\" What a hope! And yet this man wore it every day, in all the ups\nand downs, the victories and defeats of his ever-changing life. \"To\npresent us spotless before His throne!\" Just think of wearing that hope\nin New York! And by God's good grace we can wear it; yes, indeed, we\ncan, and what a helmet to wear! When a man has got that helmet on, and\nsome sharp temptation is hurled at him, it will fall away from him like\na paper pellet thrown against the armour plate of a mighty dreadnought.\n\"To present us spotless!\" Wear that helmet of hope, and the devil shall\nbatter thee in vain. For what can the devil do with men and women in\nwhom these hopes are blazing? He offers us his glittering snares, and\nthey are revealed as common paste in the presence of genuine stones.\nThey stand exposed as noisy fireworks in the presence of the stars.\n\nLet us wear the helmet of hope, the helmet of salvation, and we are\nquite secure. But let us put it on every day. Every morning let us put\non the helmet, and often and again during the day let us feel that it is\nin its place. Let us begin the day by saying, \"Now, my soul, live to-day\nin hope of the glory of God! Live to-day in the hope of being presented\nspotless before His throne! Live to-day in the hope of being 'filled\nunto all the fulness of God'.\" Let us put that helmet on, and let us do\nit deliberately, prayerfully, and trustfully, and in life's evil day we\nshall be able to stand, and having done all, to stand.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nTHE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT\n\n\n    _Heavenly Father, Who hast given Thy Holy Spirit to comfort and\n    to guide Thy servants, teach us to trust His leading. Day by day\n    we would listen to His consolation and direction. When we open\n    Thy Word of Life we would rely upon His illuminating\n    interpretation. When the story of the character and the depths\n    of the teaching of Jesus are far beyond us, and seem\n    unapproachable, when doubts and fears assail the mind, let us\n    abide in quiet repose under the tuition of the indwelling\n    Spirit. When desire for the highest life fails, and hunger and\n    thirst after righteousness are forgotten in other pursuits, may\n    the kindly Spirit inspire afresh the ardor of enthusiasm which\n    He alone can create. When we have lost our bearings in the maze\n    of life teach us to look to the ever-present Guide Who brings\n    back into the clear path all Who trust Him; through Jesus\n    Christ. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nTHE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT\n\n    \"Take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.\"\n    Ephesians 6:17.\n\n\nHere is the Christian soldier with his sword, and his sword is the Word\nof God. And what a sword it is! \"Then said Mr. Greatheart to Mr.\nValiant-for-truth, Thou hast worthily behaved thyself; let me see thy\nsword. So he showed it him. When he had taken it into his hand and\nlooked thereon a while, he said, Ha, it is a right Jerusalem blade. Then\nsaid Mr. Valiant-for-truth, It is so. Let a man have one of these\nblades, with a hand to wield it, and skill to use it, and he may venture\nupon an angel with it. He need not fear its holding if he can but tell\nhow to lay on. Its edge will never blunt. It will cut flesh and bones,\nand soul and spirit and all.\" Yes indeed, this sword is a serviceable\nand most efficient weapon. And it might be profitable, in the very\nbeginning of our meditation, to go on to the field of actual battle and\nwatch one or two mighty swordsmen wielding the sword in actual war. And\nlet us begin with Him who could wield the sword as none other could do\nand who never drew it in vain. \"And the tempter came to Him and said, If\nThou art the Son of God command that these stones be made bread.\" At\nonce the Master's hand was on the hilt of His sword and He drew it forth\nfor combat. \"It is written man shall not live by bread alone.\" It was\n\"the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!\" The place of battle\nis now changed, but the [missing text] unto Him, \"All these things will\nI give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.\" And again the Master\nwhipped out His sword;--\"Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou\nshalt worship the Lord Thy God, and Him only shalt Thou serve.\" It was\n\"the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God!\"\n\nNow turn your eyes to quite another field of battle where one of the\nMaster's disciples, a very skilful swordsman, is in combat with a very\ndeadly foe. \"And when the people saw what Paul had done\"--he had just\ngiven a cripple the power to walk--\"they lifted up their voices saying,\nThe gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called\nBarnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.\"\nNow what did the apostle do in the presence of so deadly a peril, a\nperil which garbed itself in the attractive robes of light? Immediately\nhe drew out his sword, and fought his shining antagonist with a word\nfrom the 146th Psalm! That is excellent swordwork, by a most excellent\nswordsman! And he used \"the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of\nGod.\"\n\nOr turn once more to another field of battle, to the Valley of\nHumiliation, where \"poor Christian was hard put to it. For he had gone\nbut a little way before he espied a foul fiend coming over the field to\nmeet him; his name was Apollyon.\" \"Then did Christian draw, for he saw\nit was time to bestir him; Apollyon as fast made at him, throwing darts\nas thick as hail.... The sword combat lasted for about half a day, even\ntill Christian was almost quite spent; for you must know that Christian,\nby reason of his wounds, must needs grow weaker and weaker. Then\nApollyon, espying his opportunity, began to gather up close to\nChristian, and wrestling with him gave him a dreadful fall; and with\nthat Christian's sword flew out of his hand. Then said Apollyon, I am\nsure of thee now. And with that he had almost pressed him to death, so\nthat Christian began to despair of life. But as God would have it, while\nApollyon was fetching his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this\ngood man, Christian nimbly reached out his hand for his sword, saying,\nRejoice not against me, oh mine enemy: when I fall I shall arise; and\nwith that gave him a deadly thrust which made him give back as one that\nhad received his mortal wound. Christian perceiving that made at him\nagain, saying, 'Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors\nthrough Him that loved us.' And with that Apollyon spread forth his\nbroken wings, and sped him away, so that Christian saw him no more.... I\nnever saw Christian all this while give as much as one pleasant look,\ntill he perceived he had wounded Apollyon with his two-edged sword; then\nindeed he did smile and look upward.... Then there came to him a man\nwith some of the leaves of the tree of life, the which Christian took\nand applied to the wounds that he had received in the battle and was\nhealed immediately.\" Surely to watch expert fighters like these, who\nturn their battlefields into fields of glory, makes one more ambitious\nto possess and wield that same two-edged sword, the sword of the Spirit\nwhich is the Word of God!\n\nWell now, it is this sword which Paul advises these young disciples at\nEphesus to get and hold at all costs, and never to leave it rusting in\nthe scabbard at home. And surely, if there was need for swordwork\nanywhere it was in that gay, shallow, materialistic city of Ephesus. We\nhave been reading many terrible accounts of late of bayonet fighting in\nthe trenches in Belgium and France, where gunnery attacks were\nunavailable, and where men came face to face in the hot breath of one\nanother's passions, and were locked in the death-grip of hand-to-hand\nencounter. It was even so with the spiritual warfare in Ephesus. There\nwas no long-range fighting, no far distant antagonisms, no remote or\nmerely theoretical persecution. The foes of the soul were exceedingly\nreal, exceedingly near, and exceedingly intimate. In Ephesus your enemy\nwas upon you in a moment, and there was nothing for it but never to let\nthe sword fall from your hand. Spiritual enemies approached the soul\nevery hour of the day, and it was imperative to run them through with\nthe sword of the truth. There were falsities, and subtleties, and\nevasions; there were ambiguities and sophistries; there were half truths\nlinked with black falsehood, and white lies linked with snatches of\ntruth; there were exaggerations and perversions; there were insinuations\nand evil counsels; there were mean expediencies and illicit compromises;\nthere were hypocrisies of every kind in that prosperous city of Ephesus,\ntricked out in apparent seemliness, and perilous in all the wiles of the\ndevil. What, then, was a young Christian to do in all that immoral\nwelter? He must have his sword in hand, always in hand, and he must\nprick these bubbles, and pierce these showy disguises, and rend these\ndeceptive veils, and he must do it at once, before they mastered him\nwith the plausible counterfeits of the truth.\n\nI saw a photograph the other day from the European field of war, in\nwhich a company of soldiers were examining a load of hay. They were\npiercing it with their swords in the endeavour to find out if any foe\nlay hidden in the fragrant pile. And I could not but think of the\nwarfare of the soul, and of the sweet and fragrant disguises in which\nthe devil is so often concealed. The devil in a hay-rick! I have\nexperienced it a thousand times. A deadly temptation hidden in some\ninnocent expediency! Some fatal lure concealed in a popular custom!\nCorruption housing itself in a white lie! The enemy wearing a white\nrobe! The devil, I say, in a hay-rick! In such conditions there was only\none resource for these disciples in Ephesus, as there is only one\nresource for you and me to-day, to have our swords always ready, and to\npierce these glistening falsities in the blessed name of the holy and\nunchanging God. Yes, whip out your sword, the sword of the Spirit, which\nis the Word of God.\n\nWhat, then, is this sword? It is \"the Word of God.\" And what is this\nWord of God which we are to flash through all falsehood like the thrust\nof a gleaming sword? What is this Word which is to be our sword? Well,\nfirst of all, it is the word of divine truth; God's way of thinking\nabout things. And therefore when we are wielding the sword we are using\na thought of God. We are to use God's thought about a thing in fighting\nall other thoughts about that thing. For instance, we are to take God's\nthought about life, and use it as a sword to meet and destroy all mean\nand unworthy conceptions of life. We are to take God's thought about sin\nand use it in combating all the lax and deadly conceptions of sin which\nare so loose and rampant in our own day. We are to take God's thought\nabout holiness, and use it in fighting all ignoble compromises which may\nsatisfy a poor standard in the kingdom of the letter, but which have no\nstanding in the more glorious realm of the spirit. We are to take God's\nthought about worship, and fight all the little, mean, seductive\nritualisms which so frequently strut about in royal and gorgeous robes,\nbut which are empty of all vital spiritual wealth and power.\n\nAnd so with a thousand other relations. God's thought about a thing is\nto be our sword in fighting all the debasing thoughts of that thing; it\nmay be God's thought of work, or of wealth, or of success, or of\nfailure, or God's thought of pleasure, or of service, or of death. What\ndoes God think about a thing? That is my sword, the thought of God which\nis the word of God. And we are to take that shining, flaming, flashing\nthought, and use it as a sword among all the creeping, crawling things,\nor against all the flying and bewitching subtleties of things which\nabounded in Ephesus, and which are equally prolific in London or New\nYork. And so does the apostle give us this counsel: \"Take the sword of\nthe spirit, which is the thought or word of God.\"\n\nAnd now I can add a second characteristic of the sword, a\ncharacteristic which amplifies and corroborates the first. This word of\nGod, which is to be our sword, is not only the word of divine truth as\nlaid upon the mind. It is also the word of divine commandment as laid\nupon the will. It is a word which divinely reveals our personal duty,\nimposing upon us some imperative mission. Some word of God comes to us\nwith the mysterious suggestion of obligation, and we often receive it\nover against some soft and wooing temptation to an indulgent indolence;\nand we are to take the divine word of obligation, and with it fight and\nslay the soft seduction to ease.\n\nWe have this sort of warfare most vividly described in the experience\nof the prophet Jonah. Let me set it before you. \"And the word of the\nLord came unto Jonah, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and\ncry against it!\" Let us note the lines of this experience. The word of\nthe Lord came to Jonah as an imperative and an obligation. It said\n\"Nineveh!\" But another word came to Jonah, a soft, luxurious, seductive\nword, luring him to Tarshish. And there you have all the conditions of\nspiritual warfare; and the only way for the believer is to take the word\nof obligation, and use it as a mighty sword against the word of\nseduction; he must take his sword and slay it, or chase it in miserable\nflight from the field. The word of duty is the word of God, and\ntherefore the word of duty is thy sword against every plausible\ntemptation that would snare thee to disloyal ease.\n\nThere is still a third descriptive word about the sword, and which\nagain corroborates and enriches the others. The word of God, which is\nthe sword of the spirit, is not only the word of divine truth laying\nGod's thought upon the mind; and not only the word of divine commandment\nlaying God's purpose upon the will; it is also the word of divine\npromise laying God's strengthening comfort upon the heart. Just think of\nthat fine sword, the word of promise, being handed to these young and\ntempted disciples in this awful, hostile city of Ephesus. I think we may\neasily imagine, without presumption, how they would apply the apostle's\ncounsel, and how the older men among them would train the younger men in\nthe expert use of this shining sword. They would say: \"Whenever you go\nout to your work, amid all the cold, bristling antagonisms of the world,\ncarry the sword of promise! When your circumstances seem to mock you\nbecause of your unnerving loneliness, whip out the sword of promise!\nWhen you appear to be in a minority of one, and the enemy swarms in\nmenace around you on every side, carry this sword of promise in your\nright hand, 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' And when the\nenemy taunts you because of your weakness, or your want of culture, or\nyour lack of rank and social prestige, or your nobodyism and nothingism,\nwhip out the sword and fight the taunt with this word of promise,\n'Neither shall any one pluck you out of my hand'!\" Thus do I think these\ndisciples would speak to one another, as, blessed be God, disciples can\nspeak to one another to-day. When the devil comes to us in our\nloneliness, in our weakness, in our seeming abandonment, let us lay hold\nof the word of grace, and fight all the enemies' taunts with the divine\npromise, and pierce them through and through, turning the foe to rout,\nand remaining more than conquerors on the hard and finely won field.\n\nWell, such is what I think to be the sword. It is the word of divine\ntruth, it is the word of divine commandment, and it is the word of\ndivine promise. It is a superlatively excellent sword, \"it is a right\nJerusalem blade.\" \"Let a man have one of these blades, with a hand to\nwield it, and skill to use it, and he may venture upon an angel with\nit.\" Its edge will never blunt, for it is \"the sword of the spirit,\nwhich is the word of God.\"\n\nWhere, then, can we find this word of God which is to be our sword of\nthe spirit. Well, first of all, we can find the word of God in the\nsacred Scriptures. We can get our sword from its splendid armoury. Here\nis the word which gives the revelation of truth, telling me how the\ngreat God thinks about things, and therefore, telling me how to think\namid all the plausible errors of our time. And here, too, is the word\nwhich gives the revelation of duty, telling me what the great God would\nhave me do. And here also is the word which gives the revelation of\npromise, telling me what resources are prepared for them who follow the\nfair gleams of truth and take the divine road of duty and obedience.\nYes, the word of God is in the old Book, and here you can find your\nsword.\n\nBut sometimes the word of God is given to us, not through the medium of\na book, not even the book of the Scriptures, but in a direct and\nimmediate message to our own souls. Oh, yes, sometimes the Captain of\nour salvation gives me my sword without my having to make recourse to\nthe written word. He speaks to me and hands me my sword with no\nintermediary between us. The word of the Lord comes unto thee and unto\nme as it came to the herdman Amos, and the courtier Isaiah, and to the\nfisherman Peter, and to the university student Paul. He speaks to thee\nand to me. \"Hath He not promised, and shall He not do it\"? \"Thine ears\nshall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way; walk ye in it.\"\n\n    \"And His that gentle voice we hear,\n       Soft as the breath of even;\n     That checks each fault, and calms each fear,\n       And speaks of heaven!\"\n\nIf the sword of the spirit is the word of God, then sometimes I take my\nsword immediately from my Sovereign's hand,--the word of truth, the word\nof duty, and the word of promise,--and like St. Francis of Assisi, and\nSt. Catherine of Sienna, and George Fox, all of them mystics, and all of\nthem deep in the knowledge of the mind and heart of God, I, too, can\ntake the sword and use it on the wide and changing battlefields of life,\nand be more than conqueror through Him Who loved me and gave Himself for\nme. \"Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.\"\n\nWell, then, let us take the sword; let us draw it, and let us use it.\nLet us reverently find the word in the Book of Holy Writ, or in the\nsecret chamber of our own soul; and then let us carry it as our sword to\nthe immediate occasion, and to the next stage upon life's road. Let us\nhave the sword ready, always ready; let us be always at attention,\nwaiting with the word of God to meet the tempting word of man. A man\nwithout a sword is in a sorry way when the devil leaps upon him. That\nwas the tragic plight of Judas Iscariot. When the chief priests and\nscribes came to bargain with him, to induce him to sell his Lord, he\nought to have had his sword ready, and to have run it through the\ndevilish suggestion when it was only newly born. But somehow, somehow,\nhe had lost his sword, and he was undone--\"and he covenanted with them\nfor thirty pieces of silver\"! And when you and I are tempted to sell the\nLord, when we are tempted to make a dirty bargain of any kind, when we\nare tempted to prefer money to integrity, or unholy ease to stern duty,\nor soft flattery to rugged truth, let us have our swords in our\nhands,--\"the sword of the spirit which is the word of God\"--and let us\nslay the suggestion at its very birth. Have your sword ready. You may\nneed it before you get home. Have your sword ready! Fight the good fight\nof faith, and lay hold on eternal life.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHE SOLDIER'S USE OF PRAYER\n\n\n    _Almighty God, Our Father, it is by Thy grace that we attain\n    unto holiness, and it is by Thy light that we find wisdom. We\n    humbly pray that Thy grace and light may be given unto us, so\n    that we may come into the liberty of purity and truth. Wilt Thou\n    graciously exalt our spirits and enable us to live in heavenly\n    places in Christ Jesus? Impart unto us a deep dissatisfaction\n    with everything that is low, and mean, and unclean, and create\n    within us such pure desire that we may appreciate the things\n    which Thou hast prepared for them that love Thee. Wilt Thou\n    receive us as guests of Thy table? Give us the glorious sense of\n    Thy presence, and the precious privilege of intimate communion.\n    Feed us with the bread of life; nourish all our spiritual\n    powers; help us to find our delight in such things as please\n    Thee. Give us strength to fight the good fight of faith. Give us\n    holy courage, that we may not be daunted by any fear, or turn\n    aside from our appointed task. Make us calm when we are to tread\n    an unfamiliar road, and may Thy presence give us companionship\n    divine. Meet with us, we humbly pray Thee, in all the appointed\n    means of grace, and may the joyful remembrance of this service\n    inspire us in all common life and service of after days. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHE SOLDIER'S USE OF PRAYER\n\n    \"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,\n    and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication\n    for all saints; and for me that utterance may be given unto me,\n    that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of\n    the gospel.\" Ephesians 6:18, 19.\n\n\nWe have been engaged in studying the different pieces of the Christian\nsoldier's armour as it is described to us by the apostle Paul. Let us\nnow glance at the warrior as he stands before us fully armed and ready\nfor the field. His loins are girt about with truth, the truth revealed\nin Jesus Christ our Lord. He is protected back and front with a coat of\nmail, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, a righteousness which covers\nhim in a moment as with a garment, and then little by little imparts to\nhim the holy likeness of his Lord. His feet are shod with readiness, and\nare swiftly obedient to do the King's bidding and to carry his message\nof grace and good-will. He bears the shield of faith, his sure screen\nfrom every deadly dart springing from any kind of circumstance, whether\nin the cloudless noon or in the blackest midnight. On his head there is\nthe helmet of salvation, the helmet of a mighty hope, protecting his\nmind from the invasion of deadly distractions, and from all the\nbelittling suggestions of the evil one. In his hand he carries the sword\nof the Spirit, the word or thought of God, the shining thought wherewith\nevery other kind of thought is overthrown or put to utter rout.\n\nNow that, surely, is a brave and gleaming equipment. Surely the armour\nis all-sufficient, and the well-appointed, well-defended warrior is now\nready for the field! Let him go forth to meet the great enemy of souls.\nLet him encounter all the wiles of the devil, and let him so hold\nhimself and so use himself as to convert every hour of opportunity into\na season of spiritual glory. No, no, not yet! Says the apostle,\n\"Steady!\" With all his shining armour his equipment is not yet complete.\nThere is one other vital thing to be named, and this the Christian\nwarrior must take along with him, for his warfare will be hopeless if he\nleaves it behind. \"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in\nthe Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and\nsupplication for all saints.\"\n\nNow why should the Christian warrior pray? He must pray as a suppliant\nfor the robust health of his own spirit. Yes, but why should he pray for\nthe maintenance of his own spiritual health? What is the vital\nrelationship between the praying soul and the attainment of moral and\nspiritual robustness? How is prayer related to a man's moral force? This\nis the relationship. A praying warrior receives into his soul the\ngrace-energies of the eternal God. The power of grace is just the holy\nlove and strength and beauty of the holy Godhead flowing into the needs\nof the soul and filling them with its own completeness. Now we do not\npray in order to make God willing to impart this grace, but in order to\nfit ourselves to receive it. We do not pray to ingratiate God's\ngood-will, but to open our souls in hospitality. We do not pray in order\nto create a friendly air, but to let it in, not to propitiate God but to\nappropriate Him. We do not pray to turn a reluctant God toward\nourselves, but to turn our reluctant selves toward a ready and bountiful\nGod.\n\nIt is imperative that we should lay hold of this teaching very firmly.\nIt is of the utmost moment we should know what we are doing when we pray\nfor the bracing and sanctifying energies of the Holy Spirit. Prayer\nthen, I say, is first and chiefly the establishment of communion with\nGod. Prayer is the clearing of the blocked roads which are crowded with\nall sorts of worldly hindrances. Prayer is the preparing of the way of\nthe Lord. When I turn to the Lord in prayer I open the doors and windows\nof my soul toward the heavenlies, and I open them for the reception of\nany gifts of grace which God's holy love may wish me to receive. My\nreverent thought in prayer perfects communion between my soul and God.\n\nLet me offer an illustration. I am told there is electricity in my\nhouse. I am told that this mysterious, invisible, electric spirit is\nwaiting to be my minister and to serve me in a dozen different ways. I\ngo into a room where the genius is said to be waiting, and yet the room\nis held in darkness. Where is this friendly spirit? Where is the light\nwhich is one of its promised services? And then I am told that an action\nof mine, quite a simple one, is required, and that when the action has\nbeen performed the waiting spirit will reveal itself in radiant beams.\nAnd so I bring my will into play, and I push a button, or I lift a tiny\nlever, and my action completes the circuit, and the subtle energy leaps\ninto the carbon filament and turns my darkness into light.\n\nThat is it! My action completes the circuit! And when I turn my will to\npray, when I seek the holy, sanctifying power of God, my prayer\ncompletes the circuit between my soul and God, and I receive whatever\nthe inexhaustible fountain of grace is always waiting to bestow. And so\ndo I say that prayer is first of all, and most of all, the establishing\nof a vital _communion_ between the soul and God.\n\nLord Tennyson, in what must have been a wonderful conversation on the\nsubject of prayer with Mr. Gladstone, and Holman Hunt, and James\nAddington Symonds, said that to him prayer was the opening of the\nsluice-gates between his soul and the waters of eternal life. It is\nworth while just to dwell upon Tennyson's figure for a moment. The\nfigure may have been taken from a canal. You enter a lock and you are\nshut up within its prison. And then you open the sluice-gates, and the\nwater pours into your prison and lifts you up to the higher level, and\nyour boat emerges again on a loftier plane of your journey.\n\nOr the figure may have been taken from a miller's wheel: There are the\nmiller and his mill. And the wheel is standing idle, or it is running\nbut sluggishly and wearily at its work. And then the miller opens the\nsluice-gate, and the waiting water rushes along, and leaps upon the\nwheel, and makes it sing in the bounding rapidity of its motion. Prayer,\nsays Tennyson, is the opening of the sluice-gates and the letting into\nthe soul of the waiting life and power of God. Prayer opens the\nsluice-gates, and the water of life floods the sluggish affections, and\nfreshens the drowsy sympathies, and braces and speeds the will like the\nglorious rush of the stream upon the miller's wheel.\n\nThat, to me, is the dominant conception of prayer. Prayer opens the\nsoul to God. Prayer opens the life to the workings of infinite grace.\nAnd now I see why the Christian soldier should be so urgently counselled\nto pray. Prayer keeps open his lines of communication. Prayer keeps him\nin touch with his base of supplies. Without prayer he is isolated by the\nflanking movements of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and he will\nspeedily give out in the dark and cloudy day. \"Men ought always to pray\nand not to faint.\"\n\nIf that is one reason why the Christian soldier should pray in order to\nmaintain the bounding health of his own spirit, we are now faced with\nthe second question as to when he should pray. And here is the answer of\nthe veteran warrior Paul: \"Praying always.\" Not at some time, but at all\ntimes! \"Praying always.\" But can we do that? \"Always\"? But I am called\nupon to earn my daily bread. I have to face a hundred different\nproblems. Every bit of gray matter in my brain is devoting its strength\nto the immediate task. Is it possible for us to think of two things at\nonce? Can we be thinking out some absorbing question in business, and at\nthe same time be praying to God? One thing is surely perfectly clear, we\ncannot always be thinking of God: It is constitutionally impossible.\n\nBut now, while we cannot always be thinking of God, and always speaking\nto God, we can always be mentally disposed toward Him, so that whatever\nwe are doing there can be a mental leaning or bias towards His most holy\nwill. Let me show you what I mean. We must reverently dare to reason in\nthis great matter as we reason in other relationships. Turn, then, for\nan illustration, to common gymnastics. In physical gymnastics there is\nno need for us to be always exercising, to be at it every moment of the\nwaking day. The body does not need it. Indeed, it would resent it, and\nrebel against it. But here is the healthy genius of gymnastic exercises.\nRegular exercises give the body a certain healthy pose, a certain vigour\nand excellence of carriage, which the body retains between the exercises\nwhen we are going about our accustomed work. That is to say, conscious\nexercise makes unconscious habit. Our conscious exercise forces the body\ninto attitudes which persist as habits when we are doing something else.\nWe can retain the pose of the gymnasium on the street, and we can retain\nit without thinking.\n\nAnd so it is with spiritual exercises when they are as real as the\nexercises in the gymnasium. When a man prays, and prays as deliberately\nand purposely as he practices physical exercises, when he drills his\nsoul as he drills his body, he gives his mind and soul a certain pose, a\ncertain attitude, a certain stateliness and loftiness of carriage. He\ngives his soul a healthy bias towards God, and the soul retains the bias\nwhen he is no longer upon his knees. His soul carries itself Godward\neven when he is earning his daily bread. God can get at him any time and\nanywhere! The way is open, the communion is unbroken!\n\nThat is the vital logic of the matter. By regular spiritual exercises\nwe can subdue the soul to spiritual habit. Again and again throughout\nthe day it is possible for us, by a conscious upward glance, to confirm\nthe habit; until it happens that the soul is always in the posture of\nprayer,--in business, in laughter, in trade, at home, or abroad, always\nin prayer,--and therefore, in every part of the wide and varied\nbattleground of life receiving the all-sufficient grace and love of God.\nAnd so the Christian soldier is to be \"Praying always, with all prayer\nand supplication in the spirit.\"\n\nBut the Christian soldier is not only a suppliant for his own spiritual\nhealth. He is much more than this. The apostle counsels him to be a\nsuppliant for the health of the entire Christian army. \"Praying always,\nwith all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto\nwith all perseverance and supplication for all saints.\" That is to say,\nthe Christian soldier not only prays for the health of his own spirit,\nbut for a healthy \"esprit de corps\" throughout the whole militant Church\nof Christ. It is his duty and privilege to be prayerfully jealous for\nall the saints, and for the spiritual equipment of all his\nfellow-soldiers on the field.\n\nNow this is a very wonderful privilege entrusted to the disciple of\nChrist. To every believer there is entrusted the marvellous ministry of\nhelping others to receive the energies of divine grace, and to\nstrengthen them in the fierce combats of their own \"evil day.\" For the\ncharacter of our evil days is very varied. Your evil day may not be\nmine, and my evil day may not be yours. What makes an evil day for you\nmay never trouble me, and what makes my day difficult and tempestuous\nmay leave you perfectly serene. It is to be accounted for in many ways.\nThe differences in our circumstances account, to some extent, for the\ndifferences in our evil days. The differences in our occupations create\ngreat differences in our daily warfare in the spirit. The differences in\nour temperaments make no two persons' battles quite alike. And yet, with\nall our differences, we are all called upon to stand in our own evil\nday, \"and having done all, to stand.\" Peter's evil day would be very\ndifferent from John's. Thomas' evil day would be very different from\nNathanael's. Dorcas' evil day would be quite different to the evil days\nwhich gloomed upon Euodia and Synteche. But blessed be God, by the holy\nministry of prayer we can strengthen one another to \"stand in the evil\nday.\" We can help every soldier to keep his spiritual roads open and to\nprepare the way of the Lord. We are called upon to be sentinel\nsuppliants on their behalf, \"watching thereunto with all perseverance\nand supplication for all saints.\" We are to be ever on the look-out,\nvigilant for the entire army of the Lord, divinely jealous for its\nhealthy spirit, and seeking for every man in the ranks the grace and\nglory which we seek for ourselves. What a magnificent man this true\nsoldier of the Lord must be!\n\nAnd then, just to finish it all, and by one example to show us how deep\nand wide is this ministry of supplication, the apostle Paul asks the\nyoung Ephesian soldiers to pray for him. \"And for me, that utterance may\nbe given unto me.\" Let us carefully note this, and let us observe its\nheartening significance. These young, immature Christians in Ephesus,\ntrembling in their early faith, are asked to pray for the old warrior in\nRome. He is now \"an ambassador in bonds,\" held in captivity in imperial\nRome, and the young soldiers in Ephesus are asked to be\nsentinel-suppliants for the stricken soldier far away. Do you believe\nthis? And what does he want them to pray for? Listen to him again. \"And\nfor me, that utterance may be given unto me.\" Have you got the real\ninwardness of that appeal? A poor slave in Ephesus may, by his own\nprayer, anoint the lips of a great apostle with grace and power. What a\nvista of powerful possibility! Do all congregations realize that\nprivilege and service concerning their ministers? \"For me, that\nutterance may be given unto me.\" Do I realize that my prayers, obscure\nand nameless though I be, can give utterance to a Paul, a Livingstone, a\nMoffatt, or a Chalmers? Do I realize that I can pour grace upon their\nlips? What a brave and splendid privilege! Am I using it? I cannot get\nout of my mind the vision of some poor slave in Ephesus pouring grace\nand truth upon the apostle's lips in Rome, and I cannot get out of my\nimagination the surprise which awaited the slave in glory, when Paul\nasked him, as a fellow-labourer, to share in gathering in the sheaves.\n\n\"And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my\nmouth boldly.\" And can we do that for a man, and do it by prayer? Can\none soldier give another soldier nerve, and can he do it by prayer? Can\nhe chase away his fears? Can he change timidity into pluck? Can he\ntransform a lamb into a lion? What a marvellous power has God given to\nme and thee! The unbounded privilege of it all! Some slave in Ephesus\ngiving new boldness to Paul in Rome, and enabling Paul to take some new\nground and conquer it for the Lord! And once again I say, to be called\nto share in the apostle's triumphs! If any one has prayed for me, your\nfellow-soldier, that utterance and courage may be given unto me, and if\nby my ministry some depressed and retreating soldier finds heart again,\nand takes up his fallen sword, and fights anew the good fight, then that\nsuppliant shall share my holy conquest in the Lord, and the joy of the\nLord shall be his strength.\n\nSo once again, let us hear the apostle's counsel, and keep it in our\nhearts. \"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,\nand watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all\nsaints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open\nmy mouth boldly, to make known the mysteries of the gospel.\"\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\n\"WATCH YE!\"\n\n\n    _Eternal God, we bow before Thee as the children of grace and\n    love. Purify our souls, make our eyes keen and watchful, in\n    order that we may discern Thy purpose at every turning of the\n    way. Help us to hallow all our circumstances whether they appear\n    friendly or adverse, and may we subdue them all to the King's\n    will. We pray that we may obtain new visions of the glory of\n    Christ. May His gospel of grace become more exceedingly precious\n    as we gaze into its unsearchable wealth. Let in the light as our\n    eyes are able to bear it. Tell us some of the many things which\n    are yet withholden because we are not able to bear them. May we\n    exercise our senses in discernment, that so we may be led into\n    the deeper secrets of Thy truth. And wilt Thou graciously grant\n    unto us new possibilities of service. May we light lamps on many\n    a dark road. May we give help to many a tired pilgrim who is\n    burdened by the greatness of the way. May we give cups of\n    refreshment to those who are thirsty and faint. And may our own\n    faith and hope restore the flickering light where courage is\n    nearly spent. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nWATCH YE!\n\n    \"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be\n    strong.\" I Corinthians 16:13.\n\n\nThis is the counsel of a brave warrior, experienced and weather-beaten,\nwriting to raw and comparatively untried recruits. One is reminded of\nthe veteran Lord Roberts when he lately spake to young English recruits\nwho had not yet been baptized in the actual flames of battle, advising\nthem about their own warfare of the spirit, and counselling them on no\naccount to forfeit their self-respect and self-control. And this tried\nwarrior, Paul, is addressing a little company of Christian recruits in\nthe city of Corinth. Corinth is now wiped out, buried in the accumulated\ndebris of the centuries. Here and there an excavated column bears\ndesolate witness to the glory of former days, but Corinth as a city is\nsealed up in an unknown grave. But just behind the site of the city\nthere appears the Acrocorinthius, rising to the height of two thousand\nfeet. I climbed this famous hill in the spring because I wanted to see\nthe panorama on which the apostle had gazed, and also to see the setting\nand relations of this once imperial city. It was a wonderful vision of\nnatural glory, with deep, far-stretching valleys, and distant gleams of\nthe sea, and range upon range of hills, many of them snow-covered and\nglistening in the blazing sunshine of a splendid noon. There below was\nthe plain on which Corinth found her shelter, and beyond the plain the\nnarrow water-way, which gave her such intimate relations with the\ncommerce of the Mediterranean; and beyond the water-way there is a touch\nof old romance, for there rise the shrines of the muses, the twin peaks\nof Helicon and Parnassus.\n\nStanding on this elevated eminence I tried to realize the conditions in\nwhich this little company of Christian recruits had to live the\nconsecrated life. They had to fight the Christian warfare amid the soft\nluxuriousness of Corinth, a luxuriousness which relaxed the moral fibre,\nand made the Corinthians conspicuous for their depravity, \"even amid all\nthe depraved cities of a dying heathenism.\" Corinth was a city of\nabyssmal profligacy; \"it was the Vanity Fair of the Roman Empire, at\nonce the London and Paris of the ancient world\"! And it was in this\ncity, away there on the plain before me, that these untried Christian\nrecruits had to \"fight the good fight of faith.\"\n\nThen I thought of the little church in which they found their\nfellowship. It was besieged by continual assaults of their Jewish foes.\nIt was torn with internal divisions. It was honeycombed by deadly\nheresies. It was defiled by sensuality. Nearly all the members of the\nchurch were of obscure origin and standing. Many of them were slaves. It\nwas in these conditions of fierce and growing difficulties that these\ndisciples had to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And it is to this\nlittle company of Christian recruits that the apostle sends this\nchallenging letter in which is found the rousing bugle-peal of my text.\n\"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.\"\n\nNow I will confess to you that times and again during the last few\nmonths this trumpet-blast has sounded in my ears, as though it were a\nclarion-call to the Christians of to-day. For we too have our warfare\nupon a most exacting field. We have fallen upon gravely troubled times.\nWe are witnessing a resurgence of devilry that is perfectly appalling.\nThe baser passions have become frightfully aggressive, and a crude\nanimalism is at large like a surging, boiling sea which has burst its\ndykes. Some of us had begun to dream that the sweet angel of peace was\nalmost at our gates, and that nothing could happen to drive her away;\nand now, when we look out of the gate, it is no fair angel-messenger\nwhich we see, but the red fury of unprecedented strife and slaughter.\nAnd amid all this we have to live the Christian life.\n\nBut it is not only the \"fightings without\" which trouble us. There are\nalso \"the fears within.\" Many of our venerable assumptions are lying in\nruin. Our spiritual world has suffered an upheaval as though with the\nconvulsion of an earthquake, and many of us are trembling and confused.\nWhat then shall we do in this terrible hour? What path shall we take?\nCan we settle our goings upon any promising road of purpose and\nendeavour? Along what lines shall we pull ourselves together? And in\nanswer to all these questions I bring you this well-tried counsel of the\ngreat Christian apostle, this bugle-peal from the first century, and I\nask you to let it be to you as the inspired word of the living God.\n\"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.\" Let\nus examine the counsel in order that we may buckle it on to our souls.\n\nHere then is the first note of this soldierly blast. \"Watch ye!\" The\nphrase literally means \"keep awake!\" You perhaps think there is no need\nof that counsel to-day. You probably think that in times like these our\ndifficulty is not to keep awake but to go to sleep. I am not so sure\nabout that. If we have loved ones at the war there will not be the\nremotest peril of our going to sleep. Every post that comes to our door\nwill startle us like the crack of doom. Every headline in the daily\npress will tighten our nerves in sleepless attention. But when we have\nno flesh and blood at the front, when many miles roll between us and the\nfields of war, when we are only spectators, a certain drowsiness is not\nso far away as we may suppose. When we only read about things, things\nbecome familiar, and the familiar is apt to lose its terror. Custom is a\ndull narcotic, and frequent repetition dims our apprehension. When the\nTitanic went down the whole city spoke in whispers, such a dread was\nresting over our souls. But now a dreadnought goes down, or a half dozen\ncruisers, and we scarcely catch our breath at the news. The cushion of\nfamiliarity is thickening between us and realities, and awful facts do\nnot hit us on the raw. The awful becomes less awful by repetition, and\nwe grow less sensitive as the tragedies increase. The newspaper\nstatistics cease to be significant, and the descriptive adjectives\nbecome the tamest blanks. And therefore there is need for the apostle's\ntrumpet blast to sound in our ears. \"Keep awake!\" Do not let familiarity\nbecome an opiate, so putting the senses to sleep that the direst woes\nbecome a painless commonplace. \"Keep awake!\" Make it a matter of will.\nBring the stream of vital thought to bear upon the field. Exercise the\nimagination. Nourish the sympathies. We must keep awake, for our primary\nhope of emancipation in this dark hour is to remain sensitive, to be\ncapable of being shocked and wounded with the appalling blows of every\nsucceeding day.\n\nBut it is not only wakefulness, but also watchfulness which the apostle\nenjoins in the counsel of our text. The soldier of Jesus is to be awake\nand watchful with all the keen quest of a sentinel peering about him\nnight and day. But our watchfulness must be intelligent and disciplined,\nand we must carefully survey the entire field. We must keep awake, and\nwe must diligently watch for all enemies of the sanctified brotherhood\nof the race, as a sentry would watch every suspicious movement in the\nnight. What are the real enemies behind all the appalling desolation and\nsorrow of our time? Is it militarism? Then \"Watch ye!\" Is it something\ndeeper than militarism? Is it racial animosity and jealousy and\nprejudice? Then \"Watch ye!\" Is it something even deeper than racial\nantipathy? Is it a profound and deadly materialism in all the nations--a\nmaterialism which has been tricked out in the ribbons of culture, and\ndisguised in the glamour of progress? Then \"Keep awake, Watch ye!\" Or is\nit a faithless church, muttering many shibboleths, but confessing no\nvital faith; a church which has been too much a pretense, offering no\nstrong moral and spiritual preservatives, and supplying no saving salt\nto social fellowships, and, therefore, not exercising any restraint upon\nmoral degeneracy and corruption? \"Keep awake, and Watch ye!\" And amid\nall the horrors and agonies of our day fasten your eyes upon the real\nenemy of the Lord Jesus, the outstanding antagonist of His kingdom of\nrighteousness and truth.\n\nBut there is a further word to say about our vigilance. We must keep\nawake and watchful, not only to detect the busy lurking, ambushed foes,\nbut also to see all the bright and wonderful things of the hour, all the\nsplendid happenings which are favourable to the holy will and Kingdom of\nour Lord. What should we think of a sentinel who could not distinguish\nbetween enemy and friend? And what shall we say of a soldier-sentinel of\nChrist who has no eye for the great and friendly happenings on the\nfield? Watch ye, and behold the growing seriousness of the world;\nfrivolity has almost begun to apologize for itself, and tinselled gaiety\nis ill at ease. Watch ye, and behold the unsealing of multitudinous\nsprings of human sympathy, and the flowing of holy currents from the\nends of the earth. Watch ye, and behold the magnificent courage which in\nevery land of strife is purging families from the dross of indolence and\nindifference, and educing the gold of chivalry and sacrifice. Watch ye,\nand behold the marvellous re-equipment of Christian motive--thousands\nupon thousands of Christian disciples realizing as they have never done\nbefore that the world needs the vital redeeming grace of the Lord Jesus,\nand that without Him human brotherhood will remain a phantom and a\ndream. A real wakeful watchman will see these things. He will not only\nrecord the things of the night and the nightmares, but he will be as\n\"they who watch for the morning.\" The Moslem priest appears on the tower\nof his mosque half an hour after sunset to call the people to prayer,\nbut he also appears on the tower half an hour before sunrise, when the\ngrey gleams of morning are faintly falling upon the night. And we too,\nwatchmen of Jesus, must watch for the sunrise as well as for the\nsunsets, and we too must tell what fair jewels of hope we see shining on\nthe dark robe of the night. Brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ is abroad!\n\"Watch ye, for at such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man will\ncome.\"\n\nNow let us consider the second note of the counsel which is given by\nthis warrior, Paul. \"Stand fast in the faith.\" Just try to realize that\nbracing counsel coming to these young recruits in the city of Corinth.\nLet me try to paraphrase it as I think it would be interpreted to them.\n\"When the soft, enervating air of Corinth's luxuriousness steals over\nyou like the mild air of Lotus-Land, 'Stand fast in the faith'! When the\ncold wind of persecution assails you like an icy blast from the north,\n'Stand fast in the faith'! If some supercilious philosopher comes along\nand breathes cynically upon your new-found piety and devotion, 'Stand\nfast in the faith'! Stand fast in your faith and meet all your\nantagonisms there.\"\n\nAnd has that counsel no pertinency for the Christian believers of our\nown time? There are some among us who are ready, because of the\nunspeakable horrors through which we are passing, to throw their faith\naway like obsolete arms and armour. Now men who can drop their faith in\nthe day of real emergency have never been really held by it. That is\nsurely true; men who can drop their faith like a handkerchief have never\nknown their faith as a strong and vital defence. And yet that is what\nyou sometimes find them doing in modern novels. They just drop their\nfaith as they would drop a pair of gloves. Robert Elsmere, in Mrs.\nHumphry Ward's story of twenty years ago, dropped his faith in about ten\ndays. If my memory serves me truly, George Eliot dropped her faith in\nabout the same length of time. If our faith has ever meant anything\nvital, it will be as difficult to drop it as to drop our skin. But it is\nthe inexperienced who are in peril. It is the young recruit who is\ndangerously convulsed by the upheavals of our day, and it is to him I\nbring the nerving counsel of the Lord: \"Stand fast in the faith!\"\n\n\"Stand fast in the faith!\" What faith? \"The faith once for all delivered\nto the saints.\" Stand fast in the faith of the atoning Saviour as the\nsecret of the reconciliation of mankind. Stand fast in the faith of the\nrisen Lord as the secret and promise of racial union and brotherhood.\nStand fast in the faith of the Holy Spirit as the source of all the\nlight and cheer which illumines the race. Stand fast in your own\npersonal faith in the exalted Lord. Don't doubt Him! Don't suspect Him!\nDon't desert Him! Above all, don't sell Him! In this hour of darkness,\nwhen devilry seems to be pulling down the very pillars of the temple,\nstand fast in the faith, and let this be your strong but humble cry:\n\n    \"Although the fig-tree shall not blossom,\n     Neither shall fruit be in the vines;\n     The labour of the olive shall fail,\n     And the fields shall yield no meat;\n     The flock shall be cut off from the fold,\n     And there shall be no herd in the stalls:\n     Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,\n     I will joy in the God of my salvation.\"\n\nAnd the third note in the great apostle's counsel in this: \"Quit you\nlike men.\" Our translators have taken four words to express a single\nword in the original letter. We have no one English word which can carry\nthe splendid load of meaning. It really means--play the man! It really\nmeans--no funk! All the school children will know the value of that\nword. It is a good strong vital English word, and I am sure it expresses\nthe spirit of the apostle's counsel to these young recruits. Lowell uses\nit in the Bigelow Papers: \"To funk right out o' p'litical strife ain't\nthought to be the thing.\" No funk, soldiers of Christ! I have sometimes\nheard men talk of late as though the Lord were dead, and the game is up,\nand the Kingdom is in ruins. \"Play the man!\" The European soldiers of\nevery nation are showing the world in their own sphere what it means to\nplay the man. Some of us are becoming almost afraid to call ourselves\nsoldiers of Jesus when we see what a true soldier really is. Think of\nit! Think of his readiness for the front! Think of his laughter in\nsacrifice! Think of his song in the midst of danger and pain! Think of\nhis endurance even unto death! And then, think how we stand up and sing\n\"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war\"! And shall we funk in\nthe day of darkness and disaster, and after months of appalling\nbloodshed and woe shall we talk as if the campaign of righteousness were\nended, and the Kingdom of Jesus is overturned? Let us stop this kind of\ntalk. Let us silence this sort of fear. Let us crush this type of\ndisloyalty. It is an insult to our flag; it is a dishonour to our Lord.\n\n\"Quit you like men, be strong!\" Put strength into everything, and do\neverything strongly. Do not let us speak or serve in a faint, lax,\nirresolute, anaemic, dying sort of way. \"Be strong!\" Be strong in your\nprayers. Be strong in your moral and spiritual ambitions. Be strong in\nyour visions and hopes. Be strong in your beneficence; strengthen it to\nthe vigour of sacrifice. And if there be a devil, as more than ever I\nbelieve there is, let the Church surprise him by her strength. Let her\nturn the day of calamity into the day of opportunity. Let her\ntransfigure the hour of disaster into the hour of deeper consecration.\nLet us make new vows. Let us enter into new devotion. Let us exercise\nourselves in new chivalry. Let us go out in new ways of sacrifice. My\nbrethren, God is not dead! \"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you\nlike men, be strong!\"\n\n    \"Stand up, stand up for Jesus!\n      The trumpet call obey;\n    Forth to the mighty conflict\n      In this His glorious day.\n    Ye that are men now serve Him\n      Against unnumbered foes,\n    Let courage rise with danger\n      And strength to strength oppose.\n\n    \"Stand up, stand up for Jesus!\n      Ye soldiers of the Cross.\n    Lift high His royal banner,\n      It must not suffer loss.\n    From victory unto victory\n      His army shall He lead,\n    Till every foe is vanquished,\n      And Christ is Lord indeed!\"\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nENDURING HARDNESS\n\n\n    _Heavenly Father, may all our hearts be filled with Thy praise.\n    May the spirit of Thanksgiving fill all our days, and deliver us\n    from the mood of murmuring and complaint. Graciously remove the\n    scales from our eyes, so that we may look upon our life with\n    eyes anointed with the eye-salve of grace. Help us to discern\n    Thy footprints in the ordinary road. Grant that we may now\n    review our yesterdays and see the providences which have crowded\n    our paths. Help us to see Thy name on blessings that we never\n    recognized, so that we may now be praiseful where we have been\n    indifferent. Redeem us from our spiritual sloth. Awake us out of\n    our perilous sleep. May our consciences goad us when we are in\n    peril. May the good desires within us be so strengthened as to\n    destroy every desire that is vain. Sow in our hearts the word of\n    Thy truth. Guard the seed with the vigilance of Thy blessed\n    Spirit, and let it appear in our life as a fragrant and\n    bountiful harvest. Graciously watch us and defend us and make us\n    mighty in consecration, and may we place our all upon the altar.\n    Amen._\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nENDURING HARDNESS\n\n    \"Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus\n    Christ.\" 2 Timothy 2:3.\n\n\nAny military metaphor which is used to-day will surely have a very\narresting significance. Many of our hymns are crowded with military\nterminology. In the Wesleyan Methodist Hymn-Book there is a whole\nsection entitled \"For Believers Fighting.\" We are all familiar with\nthese martial hymns: \"Onward, Christian Soldiers\", \"The Son of God goes\nforth to war\", \"Soldiers of Christ arise\", \"Stand up, stand up, for\nJesus, ye soldiers of the cross\", \"Oft in danger, oft in woe, onward\nChristians, onward go.\" But too often the soldier-like hymn is only a\nbit of martial poetry which pleases the emotions but does not stir the\nwill. We like the swing of the theme. It brings a sort of exhilaration\ninto our moods, just as lively dance music awakes a nimble restlessness\nin our feet. Too often it is the song of the parade ground, and it is\nnot broken with the awful thundering of the guns in actual war. But just\nnow when we hear the phrase, \"Endure hardness as a good soldier,\" our\nthoughts are carried away to the battlefields of Europe. We recall those\nroads like deeply ploughed fields! Those fields scooped by the shells\ninto graves in which you can bury a score of men! Those trenches filling\nwith the rain or snows, the hiding place of disease, and assailed\ncontinually with the most frightful engines of destruction! Pestilence\non the prowl! Frost stiffening the limbs into benumbment! Death always\npossible before the next breath! These military metaphors in our hymns\nget some red blood into them when we use them against backgrounds and\nscenes like these. \"Endure hardness as a good soldier.\"\n\nNow the apostle calls for this soldierly spirit in Thessalonica. He is\nwriting to young recruits in the army of the Lord. They are having their\nfirst baptism of fire. Their enemies are strong, subtle, ubiquitous. To\nbe a Christian in Thessalonica was to face the fierce onslaught of\noverwhelming odds. But indeed in those early days, Christian believers,\nwherever they lived, had to be heroic in the defence of their faith and\nobedience. Everywhere circumstances were hostile. Nothing was won\nwithout sacrifice. Nothing was held without blood. To be a witness was\nto be a martyr. If a believer would be faithful to his Lord he must\n\"fight the good fight of faith\"; if he would extend the frontiers of the\nKingdom of Heaven he must endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus\nChrist.\n\nWhat are the circumstances amid which the modern Church is placed? The\nChristian believer in our day is confronted with stupendous\ndifficulties. Look at the present field on which our Christian warfare\nis to be waged. When the European war broke out I was staying at a quiet\nseaside village, from which I could see the soft green beauty of the\nmountains which encircle the English lakes. On the morning that war was\nproclaimed I felt as though some venerable and majestic temple had\nsuddenly crumbled into dust. One of my most intimate friends, a noble\nGerman, was staying in my home, and we both felt as though some devil of\nmischief and disaster had toppled human affairs into confusion. The\nquiet sequence of human progress seemed to have been smashed at a\nstroke. The nations drew apart, and gulfs of isolation yawned between\nthem, and down the gulfs there swept the cruel shrieking blasts of\nracial hatred and antipathy. Holy ministries which had been leagued in\nsacred fellowship were wrenched asunder. Spiritual communions which had\nbeen sweet and welcome curdled in the biting blast of resentment. The\nwork of the Kingdom of our Lord was smitten as by an enemy; ploughshares\nwere beaten into swords; pruning-hooks were transformed into spears; and\ninstead of the fir and the myrtle-tree there sprang up the thorns and\nthe briars. And then, to crown our difficulties, the red fury of war\nleaped into countries where our missionaries are proclaiming the gospel\nof peace, and the passion of battle began to burn where they are telling\nthe story of the passion of Calvary, that holy passion of sacrifice\nwhich brought to the whole world redemption from sin, and reconciliation\nwith God, and the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is\nto come.\n\nOur immediate circumstances do not offer the soldiers of Jesus an easy\nparade ground where we can just loll and sing our lilting songs; they\nrather offer us a fearfully rugged and broken field which demands as\nheroic and chivalrous virtues as ever clothed a child of God. What shall\nwe do? Is it the hour for craven fear or for a noble courage? What shall\nwe do on our mission fields? Shall we cry \"forward,\" or shall we sound\nthe depressing and despairing note of retreat? Shall we throw up the\nsponge, or shall we, in the spirit of unprecedented sacrifice, march\nforward in our campaign, and endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus\nChrist?\n\nFirst of all, we must keep our eyes steadily fixed upon the object for\nwhich Christ died, that solemn and holy end for which He created and\nappointed His own Church. And what is that object? It is to let \"all men\nknow that all men move under a canopy of love\" as broad as the blue sky\nabove. It is to break down all middle walls of partition, and to merge\nthe sundered peoples in the quickening communion of His grace. It is to\nunite all the kingdoms of the world in the one and radiant Kingdom of\nHis love. That is the aim and purpose of our blessed Lord, and in all\nthe shock and convulsions of to-day we must keep that object steadfastly\nin sight. It was said of Napoleon that \"he never for a moment lost sight\nof his way onward in the dazzle and uproar of present circumstances.\"\nThat is to say, Napoleon was never blinded by the glare of victory or by\nthe lowering cloud of defeat. \"He saw only the object.\" Quietness did\nnot throw its perilous spell about him. Calamity did not turn his eyes\nfrom the forward way. He saw only the object, and the glory of the goal\nsent streams of energy into his will and into his feet at every step of\nthe changing road.\n\nNow our temptation is to permit events to determine our sight. There is\nthe shimmer of gold on the right hand, and we turn to covet. There is\nthe gleam of the sword on the left hand, and we turn in fear. We allow\ncircumstances to govern our aims. Our eyes are deflected from their\nobject by the dazzle or the uproar around us. And here is the peril of\nit all. When we lose the object of our warfare we begin to lose the\ncampaign. And, therefore, one of the first necessities of the Christian\nChurch in the present hour is to have our Lord's own purpose steadily in\nview, to keep her eyes glued upon that supreme end, and to allow nothing\nto turn her aside. \"Let thine eyes look right on;\" \"Thy kingdom come;\"\n\"The kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our God;\" \"He\nmust reign until He hath put all enemies under His feet.\" This, I say,\nis the pressing and immediate need of the good soldier of Christ Jesus,\nto refuse to have his single aim complicated by the entanglement of\npassing circumstances, and to constantly \"apprehend that for which we\nalso were apprehended by Christ Jesus our Lord.\"\n\nWhat else shall we do in this hour of upheaval and disaster? The Church\nmust eclipse the exploits of carnal warfare by the more glorious warfare\nof the spirit. Just recall the heroisms which are happening every day in\nEurope, and on which the eyes of the world are riveted with an almost\nmesmerized wonder! Think of the magnificent sacrifices! Think of the\nsplendid courage! Think of the exquisite chivalry! Think of the\nincredible powers of endurance! And then, further, think that the Church\nof Christ is called upon to outshine these glories with demonstrations\nmore glorious still.\n\nThis was surely one of the outstanding distinctions of apostolic life.\nWhenever hostilities confronted the early Church, whenever the first\ndisciples were opposed by the gathered forces of the world, wherever the\nsword was bared and active, wherever tyranny exulted in sheer brutality,\nthese early disciples unveiled a more splendid strength, and threw the\ncarnal power into the shade. They faced their difficulties with such\nforce and splendour of character that their very antagonisms became only\nthe dark background on which the glory of the Lord was more manifestly\nrevealed. Their courage rose with danger and eclipsed it!\n\nLet me open one or two windows in the apostolic record which give us\nglimpses of this conquering life. Here, then, is a glimpse of the\nhostilities: \"Let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth\nto no man in this name.\" There you have the naked tyranny of carnal\npower, and there you have the threat that burns through carnal speech.\nAnd now, over against that power put the action of the Church: \"And they\nspake the word of God with boldness!\" They were good soldiers of Jesus\nChrist, and by that boldness the tyranny and threat of carnal power were\ncompletely eclipsed.\n\nHere is another glimpse of those heroic days: \"And when they had called\nthe apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak\nin the name of Jesus.\" There again you have the demonstration of carnal\npower; and here again is the demonstration of the power of the spirit:\n\"And they departed from the presence of the counsel, rejoicing that they\nwere counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And they ceased not to\nteach and preach Jesus Christ.\" I say that this \"rejoicing\" eclipses\nthat beating, and the good soldier of Jesus Christ puts the Roman\nsoldier into the shade.\n\nLet me open another window: \"And they cast Stephen out of the city and\nstoned him.\" Get your eyes on that display of carnal passion and\ntyranny; and then lift your eyes upon the victim of it: \"And he kneeled\ndown and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their\ncharge.\" Who is the conqueror in that tragedy, the stoners or the\nstoned, the ministers of destruction or the good soldier of Jesus\nChrist? The carnal power was terrific and deadly, but it was utterly\neclipsed by the power of grace, the power which blazed forth in this\nredeemed and consecrated life. Open yet another window upon this day of\nshining exploits: \"Having stoned Paul they drew him out of the city,\nsupposing he had been dead.\" That incident seems to record the\ncoronation and sovereignty of brutal strength. Now read: \"And they\nreturned again to Lystra.\" Paul went back to the place where he had been\nstoned, to tell again the good news of grace, and to carry to broken\npeople the ministries of healing. And I say that this bruised man,\nbeaten and sore, returning again to the scene of the stoning, is a good\nsoldier of Jesus Christ, and by his magnificent courage and grace he\neclipsed all the rough strength of the world and threw its achievements\ninto the shade.\n\nBut it is not only in apostolic days that you can find these brilliant\ncontrasts. The Church has been distinguished by such demonstrations of\nspiritual glory all along her history. When material power has been\nriotous and rampant, when rude, crude passions have blazed through the\nearth, the chivalry of the Church has shone resplendent in the murky\nnight, and she has eclipsed the dread shocks of the world and the flesh\nand the devil by her noble sacrifices, and by her serenity, and by her\nspontaneous joy. The Church has distinguished herself by her\nmanifestations of spiritual strength, by her lofty Christian purpose, by\nher glowing devotional enthusiasm, and this over against gigantic\nobstacles, and in the face of enemies who seemed to be overwhelming.\n\nI think of James Chalmers, the martyred missionary of New Guinea. How\nwell I remember the last time I met him; his big, powerful body, his\nlion-like head, his shock of rough hair, his face with such a strange\ncommingling of strength and gentleness, indomitableness and grace! And\nwhat he went through in New Guinea in carrying to the natives the story\nof our Saviour's love! And then, having gone through it all, he stood up\nthere in England, on the platform of Exeter Hall, and said: \"Recall\nthese twenty-one years, give me back all its experiences, give me its\nshipwrecks, give me its standings in the face of death, give it me\nsurrounded with savages with spears and clubs, give it me back again\nwith spears flying about me, with the club knocking me to the ground,\ngive it me back, and I will still be your missionary.\" What is happening\nin Europe just now that can put that exploit in the shade? I do not\nwonder that when that man thought of heaven he used these words: \"There\nwill be much visiting in heaven, and much work. I guess I shall have\ngood mission work to do, great, brave work for Christ. He will have to\nfind it, for I can be nothing else than a missionary.\" James Chalmers\nwent back to New Guinea to tell and retell to the natives why Jesus came\nto thee and me and all men, and he won the martyr's crown. The love of\nChrist constrained him. And again I ask, what incidents in carnal\nwarfare are not eclipsed by shining heroisms like these?\n\nI might go on telling you these glorious exploits of grace, but I hasten\nto say that it is our privilege to continue the story. To-day carnal\nstrength is stalking in deadly stride through a whole continent. And\nto-day the Church must do something so splendid and so heroic as will\noutshine the glamour of material war. This is the hour when we must send\nout more men and women who are willing to live and toil and die for the\nHindu, and for the Turk, and the Persian, and the Chinese and the\nJapanese, and all the dusky sons of Africa. I verily believe that if the\napostle Paul were in our midst to-day, with the war raging in Europe, he\nwould sound an advance all along the line. He would call us in this hour\nto send out more men and women to save, and to comfort, and to heal; men\nand women who will lay down their lives in bringing life to their\nfellow-men. We must send forth new army corps of the soldiers of Christ,\nand we must give them more abundant means, endowing them so plentifully\nthat they can go out into the needy places of Asia and Africa, and\nassuage the pains and burdens of the body, and dispel the darkness of\nthe mind, and give liberty to the imprisoned spirit, and lead the souls\nof men into the life and joy and peace of our blessed Lord. If the\nChurch would, and if the Church will, she can so arrest the attention\nand win the hearts of the natives of Africa and Asia with the grace and\ngentleness of the Lord Jesus, a grace and gentleness made incarnate\nagain in you and me, and in those whom we send to the field, that the\nexcellent glory of the Spirit shall shine pre-eminent, and in this hour\nof world-wide disaster the risen Lord shall again be glorified.\n\nShall we quietly challenge ourselves amid all the awful happenings of\nto-day? Here are the terms of the challenge. Shall the good soldier of\nChrist Jesus be overshadowed by the soldiers of the world? Or shall the\ncourage and ingenuities of the world be eclipsed by the heroism and the\nwise audacity of the Church? Shall we withdraw our army from the field\nbecause the war is raging in Europe, or shall we send it reinforcements?\nShall we practice a more severe economy and straiten our army's\nequipment for service; or shall we practice a more glorious\nself-sacrifice, and make its equipment more efficient? Shall we exalt\nand glorify our Saviour, or shall we allow Him to be put in the shade?\nShall we endure hardness, as good soldiers of Christ, or shall we take\nto the fields of indulgence, and allow the Church of the Living God to\nbe outshone by the army of the world? Which shall it be?\n\nOur holy battlefield is as wide as the world. The needs are clamant. The\nopportunities of victory are on every side. Our Captain is calling! What\nthen, shall it be? Advance or retreat? What answer can there be but one?\nSurely the answer must be that we will advance, even though it mean the\nshedding of the blood of sacrifice.\n\nOne of our medical missionaries was Dr. Francis J. Hall of Peking,\nChina. He had been graduated with high honours at the Johns Hopkins\nMedical School in Baltimore, and had consecrated his life to medical\nmissionary work in China, where his large abilities promptly won him\nwide influence. In 1913 he said to one of his associates: \"I have just\nbeen called to a Chinese who has typhus fever. Many physicians have\ndied of that disease, but I must go.\" Two weeks later he was stricken.\nAs he lay dying his mind wandered, and he was heard to exclaim: \"I hear\nthem calling, I must go; I hear them calling!\" Do we hear them calling?\nIs the answer \"Yes\"? Then let us joyfully register a vow that, God\nhelping us, the army of the Lord shall not be maimed because of our\nindifference, but as good soldiers of Jesus Christ we will, if need be,\nendure hardness, and give of our possessions, even unto the shedding of\nour blood.\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nTHE INVISIBLE COMMANDER\n\n\n    _Eternal God, we rejoice in the security that is offered to us\n    in our midnights and in our noons. Thou wilt not leave us to the\n    loneliness of self-communion, but Thou wilt hold fellowship with\n    us along the way. Come to us as the Lord Jesus came to the men\n    who were journeying to Emmaus, and make our hearts burn within\n    us in the revelation of light and grace. Especially in these\n    bewildering times wilt Thou steady our minds with Thy councils\n    and inspire our hearts in the assurance of Thy sovereign love.\n    Lead us along our troubled road. Let the heavenly light break\n    upon our darkness. Help us to believe in Thy peace even when the\n    world is at strife. Let Thy kingdom come. Even when the world is\n    filled with the smoke of battle may we discern the presence of\n    the Lord. Save us from the sin of unbelief. Reveal to us, we\n    humbly pray Thee, the sin in which this strife has been born,\n    and help the nations to turn from it in new consecration to\n    Thee. In this gracious purpose wilt Thou possess our services.\n    Help us to look beyond the seen into the strength and glory of\n    the unseen. Cheer us with Thy consolations. Uphold us with Thine\n    hand, and impart to us the gift of Thy gracious peace. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nTHE INVISIBLE COMMANDER ON THE FIELD\n\n    \"And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will\n    hiss unto them from the end of the earth.\" Isaiah 5:26.\n\n    \"And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss\n    for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of\n    Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.\" Isaiah\n    7:18.\n\n\nThat was a startling word to fall upon the ears of the people of Judah.\nIt shocked them into confusion. It was an altogether revolutionary word.\nIt played havoc with their traditional beliefs. It smashed up all their\neasy securities. It turned their world upside down, and all their\nancient confidences were broken. Let us try to feel the shock of the\nmessage. The people had come to regard their land as a sort of divine\nreservation, and they looked upon their nation as a specially favoured\ninstrument in the hand of the Lord. They esteemed themselves as being in\nthe friendly grip and fellowship of the Lord of hosts. All their\nmovements were the inspirations of His counsels, and in the strength of\nHis providence their nation's progress and destiny were assured. They\nlived in the assumption that every step in their national life was\nforeseen, and planned, and provided for, and that they were always being\nled towards divinely appointed goals. There was nothing of chance in\ntheir journeyings, and nothing of uncertainty in their ends. For them\nthere was no blind groping in the darkness, for the Lord of hosts had\ncharge of their national life; and \"the sure mercies of David\" would\nsecure it from calamity and destruction.\n\nThat was what they thought about themselves. What did they think of the\nnations beyond their frontier? That was quite another story. They looked\nupon other nations as struggling blindly, and in their dark rage\nimagining vain things. These other nations had the promptings of\npassion, but they had no divine and mystic leadership. They moved\nhither and thither, but it was under no divine appointment, and a\nthousand traps were laid for their unhallowed feet. Yonder was Assyria,\nfull of strength and full of movement, expressing herself in the might\nof tremendous armies, but she was under no divine command or\ninspiration. Assyria was like a boat in unknown waters, without a pilot,\nand she was marked for inevitable destruction. And yonder was proud\nEgypt, swelling with her power and renown, colossal in her material\nachievements, but she had no divinely enlightened eyes, she was blind in\nher goings, and her marching was in reality a staggering towards doom.\nAnd yonder were other nations from afar; but they were all just chance\nmasses, looked upon as existing outside the frontier line of divine\nfavour and enlightenment. They dwelt in some hinterland of life where\nGod's gracious decrees do not run. They were beyond the orbit of divine\nthought and grace. Now that was the kind of thinking which the prophet\nhad to meet. Judah regarded herself as nestling within the home circle\nof Providence, and all other nations were outcasts living beyond the\nsacred pale.\n\nAnd now perhaps we shall be able to feel something of the astounding\neffect of the prophet's words. \"And the Lord shall lift up an ensign to\nthe nations from far.\" Far-away peoples are to move under the impulse\nand inspiration of the Lord, and in the light of His guiding command.\n\"The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the\nrivers of Egypt.\" A far-away nation, thick as flies, is to move under\nthe touch and ordination of God! \"The Lord shall hiss for the bee that\nis in the land of Assyria.\" A far-away nation, thick as a hive of bees,\nis to move under the controlling purpose of the Lord! Can you feel the\nshock of the prophet's words? It is the shock of a larger thought which\nshakes the nations out of their small and cosey contentment. They had\nconceived the divine Providence as being confined exclusively to Judah's\nparticular guidance and defence. They had thought within the limits of a\ncountry; they are now bidden to cross the frontier and conceive a\nProvidence which encircles a continent and a world. The fly in Egypt,\nand the bee in Assyria, raising their wings at the touch of the\nLord,--it staggered them into incredulity!\n\nNow we can see what the prophet was doing. He was seeking to enlarge\ntheir sense of the orbit of the divine movement. For the little ripples\non their pool he was substituting the ocean tides. For the circle of\ntheir native hills and valleys he was substituting a line which embraced\nthe uttermost parts of the earth. And that is what I wish to do in this\nmeditation. I wish to proclaim the vastness of the divine orbit, the\ntremendous sweep of the divine decrees, and I wish to emphasize the\nteaching of this great prophet, that momentous destinies may be born in\nfar-away places, even at the very end of the world. \"The Lord shall hiss\nfor the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and\nfor the bee that is in the land of Assyria.\"\n\nWell then, under the power of this teaching, let us think in wider\norbits of the divine inspiration of nations. For we are apt to imprison\nour thought within very narrow and artificial restraints. Much of our\nthought about providential movements shuts God up to the circle of\nso-called Christian nations: But what if a fierce and decadent\ncivilization is to be corrected by the inspired influence of such\npeoples as are described by Rudyard Kipling as \"lesser breeds without\nthe law?\" What if our God will hiss for the fly and the bee among just\nsuch peoples as we are inclined to patronize or despise? Let us imagine\nsome modern Isaiah standing up in London or New York and uttering words\nlike these;--\"The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost\npart of China, and for the bee that is in the land of India.\" I know\nthat such a doctrine shocks our national susceptibilities, just as a\nsimilar doctrine shocked the national pride of the ancient Jews. But\nsuch a doctrine offers the only true interpretation of the range of the\ndivine orbit. It may be that the reinforcements of civilization are to\ncome from the movements of the stagnant waters of China. It may be that\nrivers of vitality are to flow into our life from the meditative,\ncontemplative, philosophic, mystic races of India. Just think of their\nquiet, lofty, serious brooding, stealing into our feverish materialism\nand sobering the fierceness of the quest. I cannot but wonder what the\ngood Lord, in the vastness of His orbit, is even now preparing for the\nworld on the far-away plains of India and China.\n\nLet your imagination exercise itself again in the larger orbit, and\nthink of some modern prophet standing up in London with this message\nupon his lips;--\"The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the\nuttermost parts of Russia.\" The message strikes us as incredible, but it\nis only because, like the people of Judah, our conception of the divine\norbit is so small and circumscribed. I for one am watching with\nfascinated eyes the movements of Russia. I am wondering what is coming\nto us from that great people, so long and patiently sad, so full of\nreverence, going on long, weary pilgrimages to bow at holy shrines.\nSuperstition? Yes, if you please. But I am wondering what is going to\nhappen when the dogged strength of that superstition becomes an\nenlightened faith. I am wondering what will happen when that rich,\nfertile bed of national reverence begins to bear the full and matured\nfruits of the Spirit. What then? I know it is not easy to think it. It\nis not easy to widen the orbit of one's thought. It is never easy to\nstretch a neglected or unused muscle. But the wider thought is the orbit\nof our God, and in the mysterious land of Russia untold destinies may be\neven now at the birth.\n\nAnd so do I urge that we think in vaster orbits of the divine\ninspiration of nations. Let us reject the atheism of incredulity, and\nlet us encourage ourselves in the boundless hope of an all-encompassing\nGod of the human race. The great God journeys on in His tremendous\norbit, and who knows from what unlikely peoples the rejuvenation of the\nworld is to come? \"The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the\nuttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the\nland of Assyria.\"\n\nNow I want to go further, and under the power of the prophet's teaching\nI would urge that we think in wide orbits of the divine raising of the\nheroic leaders of men. In what wide and mysterious sweeps the great God\nworks when He wants a leader of men! The man is wanted here at the\ncenter, but he is being prepared yonder on the remote circumference! God\nhisses for the fly or the bee, and He calls it from very obscure and\nunlikely fields.\n\nHere is ancient Israel. Her altars are defiled, and her balances are\nperverted. She is hollow in worship, and she is crooked in trade, and\nthe people are listless in their debasement. A leader is wanted to awake\nand scourge the people. Where shall he be found? The Lord hisses for a\nfly in Tekoa, a wretched little village, in a mean and scanty setting;\nand the fly was a poor herdman, following the flock, and eking out his\nmiserable living by gathering the figs of the sycamore. And this Amos\nwas God's man! A prophet of fire was wanted in Bethel, and God prepared\nhim in Tekoa! But what an orbit, and who would have thought that Tekoa\nwould have been a school of the prophets?\n\nStride across the centuries. The religion of Europe has become a gloss\nfor indulgence. Nay, it has become an excuse for it. The Father's house\nhas become a den of thieves. The doctrines of grace have been wiped out\nby a system of man-devised works. Religion is devitalized, and morals\nhave become dissolute. Wanted, a man, who shall be both scourge and\nevangelist! Where shall he be found? \"The Lord hissed for the fly\" that\nwas in Eisleben, in the house of a poor miner, and Martin Luther came\nforth to grapple with all the corruptions of established religion. But\nwhat an orbit! A fire was wanted to burn up the refuse which had\naccumulated over spiritual religion, and the fire was first kindled in a\nlittle home, in a little village, far away from the broad highways of\nsocial privilege and advantage. Again, I say, what an orbit!\n\nMarch forward again across the years. Here is England under the\noppression of a king who claims divine sanction for his oppression.\nThere is no tyranny like the tyranny which stamps itself with a holy\nseal. And in those old days of Charles I, tyranny wore a sacred badge.\nTyranny carried a cross. It was tyranny by divine right. Wrong was\njustified by grace. I say, of all tyrannies, this is the most\ntyrannical. Wanted, a man to meet and overthrow it! Where will he be\nfound? Will he be found in some national centre of learning where\nwealthy privilege holds her seat? Oh, no! The Lord hissed for a fly on\nthe fens, from a little farm at Huntington, and Oliver Cromwell\nemerged, to try swords with the king on his throne! Let me give the\nfamiliar glimpse which Sir Philip Warwick offers us of Cromwell making\nhis first speech in the House of Commons. \"I came into the House one\nmorning, well clad, and perceived a gentleman speaking whom I knew not,\nvery ordinarily appareled, for it was a plain cloth suit, which seemed\nto have been made by an ill country tailor. His linen was plain and not\nvery clean, and I remember a speck or two of blood upon his little band,\nwhich was not much larger than his collar. His hat was without a\nhat-band. His stature was of a good size; his sword stuck close to his\nside; his countenance swollen and reddish; his voice sharp and\nuntunable, and his eloquence full of fervour.\" And there is God's man!\nBut what an orbit! A man was wanted for the defence of liberty and\nspiritual religion, and God prepared this man in the obscurity of a\nlittle farm among the fens. What an orbit is marked by the goings of the\nLord. The Lord hissed for the fly on the fen.\n\nMarch forward across the centuries. Here is slavery in the American\nrepublic. In spite of the noble words of the Declaration of\nIndependence: \"That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by\ntheir Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are\nlife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness\"--in spite of these ringing\nhuman claims slavery nestled beneath the American flag. Well, wanted a\nman to deal with it! Where will he be found? Will he be found in some\nuniversity centre? Will he be a paragon of intellectual learning and\naccomplishment? Oh no! The Lord hissed for a fly in Harden, in a scraggy\npart of Kentucky, Harden with its \"barren hillocks and weedy hollows,\nand stunted and scrubby underbush,\"--and there in a dismal solitude, and\nin a cheerless home, and in the deepest poverty, the great God made His\nman, and Abraham Lincoln came forth to cross swords with the great\nwrong, and to ring the bells of freedom from the \"frozen North to the\nglowing South, and from the stormy waters of the Atlantic westward to\nthe calmer waters of the Pacific Main.\" But what an orbit of divine\nprovidence! Who would have guessed that just there, in that poor,\nunschooled, and unprivileged family the great God was doing His\nmomentous work? And I wonder where now in the vast orbit of His\nprovidence He is rearing the leaders of to-morrow? Our God moves in\nmighty sweeps, and He is even now at work in the mysterious ministries\nof His grace. \"The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost\npart of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of\nAssyria.\"\n\nAnd then, under the influence of the prophet's teaching I want once more\nto urge that we think in wider orbits of the divine presence in the\nindividual life. For instance, in what sweeping orbits the Lord moves on\nHis journeys in seeking to bring us to Himself, and to fashion us into\nthe strength and beauty of His own image. He lifts an ensign to some\nremote circumstance, and from afar there comes an influence which sets\nme on the road to God. He calls a ministry from distant Egypt, or from\nfar off Assyria, and my life is turned to the home of my Lord.\n\nHere is a careless young son of wealth in Cambridge University. Life for\nhim is just an idle sport, a careless revel, a jaunty outing, an\nenjoyable extravagance. Life is just a shallow, shimmering pool; not an\nocean with momentous tidal forces, and with the voice of the great\nEternal speaking in its mighty tones. Wanted a man to awake this\nindolent son of wealth! And in what an orbit God moved to find the man!\nThe Lord hissed for a fly in Massachusetts, and there, in Northfield,\nwas a poor homestead, encumbered with mortgage; and a poor widow with\nseven children, so poor that the very kindling wood was taken by the\ncreditors from the shed. And there in that poor woman's house God made\nHis man, and Dwight Moody came forth, and went to Cambridge University,\nand proclaimed the evangel of grace, and by the love of God won this\nyoung fellow from a loose and jaunty and indifferent life, and kindled\nin him a passionate devotion to Christ which is now blazing away on the\nSouthern Soudan in a campaign to light a line of Christian beacon-fires\nwhich shall stretch from coast to coast! But what an orbit! From a poor\nwidow's homestead in Northfield to a sporting young fellow in Cambridge\nUniversity!\n\nI met a cultured man the other day, a man who has enjoyed all the\nacademic advantages that money can provide, a man of university culture\nand distinction, but whose life has been spiritually indifferent, and\nwho has held coldly aloof from God and the Kingdom of God. And in the\nvast orbit of His providence the great God brought this man into\ncommunion with Billy Sunday, and all the stubble of his neglected life\nwas burned up in the consuming fire of his kindled love for the Lord.\nBut just think of the orbit! The Lord hissed for His fly, and from the\napparently incredible circumstance of a slangy evangelist this man was\nbrought to his Father's House in reconciliation and peace. Again I say,\nwhat an orbit! \"I will bring the blind by a way that they know not,\" and\nunder His wide and mysterious leadership the blind find themselves at\nhome.\n\nAnd so, my friends, our God is still moving in these vast orbits. He\nhisses for a disappointment, and it comes and throws its shadow upon our\nlife, but the shadow is purposed to be one of the healing shadows of\ngrace. \"I will command the clouds, saith the Lord.\" Yes, even our cloudy\nexperiences move under command. They travel in the tremendous orbit of\nHis providence. \"I will command the ravens, saith the Lord God.\" Yes,\nthere are diverse circumstances that come to us on wings,--kind words,\ncheering messages, bright inspirations, and they are the commanded\nministers of God's providence. They are God's messengers on wings!\n\nWe can never tell in what remote circumstances the good Lord is even now\npreparing our to-morrow. But of one thing we may be perfectly sure, the\ngreat Lord is at work, and He is at work over wide fields. \"Rest in the\nLord, and wait patiently for Him.\" \"The Lord is thy keeper.... The Lord\nshall keep thee from all evil, He shall keep thy soul. The Lord shall\nkeep thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for\nevermore.\"\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nTHE SOLDIER'S FIRE\n\n\n    _Heavenly Father, may we experience that deepest of all joys\n    which is born of holy communion with Thee. Lead us into new\n    fields of our wonderful inheritance in Christ. May we have new\n    surprises of grace. May some fresh revelations of Thy love break\n    upon our astonished vision. Remove the scales from our eyes, so\n    that we may see clearly the things which are waiting to be\n    unveiled. Graciously make known to us what Thou wouldst have us\n    be in order that we may then more clearly apprehend what Thou\n    wouldst have us do. Help us to remember what we ought not to\n    forget, and help us to forget what we ought not to remember. May\n    our minds be the servants of Thy truth. Let the beams of\n    heavenly light chase out the darkness of error and let it be all\n    glorious within. We humbly pray Thee to deliver us from our\n    selfishness, and enlarge and refine our sympathies until they\n    express themselves in willing sacrifice. May we feel the pains\n    of others, and carry their burdens and share their yokes. May\n    the circles of our compassion grow larger every day. Let the\n    ends of the earth be at our own doors, and so may we hear the\n    cry which is very far off. Illumine our lives in this service,\n    and send us forth to enlighten and kindle the lives of others.\n    Make us missionaries of Thy truth and ambassadors of Thy grace\n    and love. May we be quick to discern opportunity, and ready to\n    use it in the service of the King. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nTHE SOLDIER'S FIRE\n\n    \"He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.\"\n    Matthew 3:11.\n\n\nSuch is the divine promise. Let me read the story of its fulfilment.\n\"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one\naccord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a\nrushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were\nsitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire,\nand it sat upon each of them.\" Do not let us become victims of the\nletter and become entangled in the symbolism. It is possible so to\nregard material signs as to lose their spiritual significance. A musical\nword may conceal its own thought. Words are purposed to be the vehicles\nof mind. Symbols are intended to be transparencies, losing themselves\nin something better. They are ordained to be thoroughfares through which\nwe pass to nobler destinations. The sign is to be the servant of its own\nsignificance.\n\nHere then are men and women who are about to receive the promised gift\nof the Spirit of God. They have been waiting as their Master directed,\nwaiting in prayer, and in prayer incalculably strengthened by community\nof desire, waiting in trembling watchfulness and expectation. Then the\nmuch-hoped-for day arrives and their spirits receive the infinite\nreinforcement of the gift of the Holy Spirit.\n\nWe have a very pale reflection of this experience when two human spirits\nare given to each other in deep and vital communion. When David received\nthe gift of Jonathan's spirit, and Jonathan received the gift of David's\nspirit, each of them obtained immeasurable enrichment. When Robert\nBrowning received the gift of Elizabeth Barrett's spirit, and Elizabeth\nBarrett received the gift of Robert Browning's spirit, who can calculate\nthe wealth which each of them found in the other's possession?\n\nBut these examples, and others even more sacred which we could gather\nfrom our own experience, are only pale and wan and shadowy, compared\nwith the wonder which breaks upon the soul when the spirit of man\nreceives the gift of the Spirit of God, and the two dwell together in\nmystic and glorious communion. What happens to the human spirit is\nsuggested to us under the familiar symbols of wind and fire. \"Like unto\na rushing mighty wind;\" \"like unto fire.\" Do not let us be enslaved by\nany hampering details in the figures. Let us seek their broad\nsignificance. And what is the characteristic of a rushing mighty wind?\nIt dispels the fog. It freshens the atmosphere. It gives life and\nnimbleness to the air. It is the minister of vitality. And the breath of\nGod's Spirit is like that; it clears the human spirit, and freshens it,\nand vitalizes it; it acts upon the soul like the air of a spiritual\nspring. And as for the symbol of the fire; fire is the antagonist of all\nthat is frozen; it is the antagonist of the torpid, the tepid; it is the\nminister of fervour, and buoyancy, and expansion. The wind changes the\natmosphere, the fire changes the temperature; and the holy Spirit of\nGod changes the atmosphere and temperature of the soul; and when you\nhave changed the atmosphere and temperature of a soul you have\naccomplished a mighty transformation. It is about this change in the\nmoral and spiritual temperature that I want to meditate, the gift of\nfire which we receive in the baptism of the Holy Ghost. If the spirit of\nman and the spirit of God come into blessed communion, and the fire of\nGod is given, how will it reveal and express itself? For if there be a\ngift of fire in the soul we shall most surely know it. Fire is one of\nthe things which cannot be hid. You can hide a painted sun in your\nparlour and no one will know it is there, but you cannot hide a glowing\nfire. A man can hide a denominational label, he cannot possibly hide the\nholy fire of God. How, then, shall we know that the fire is there?\n\nFirst of all I think I should look for the holy fire on the common\nhearthstone of human love. If the fire of God does not warm up the\naffections I fail to recognize what its heat can be worth. The first\nthing to warm up is the heart. The intimate friend of the Holy Spirit\nis known by the ardour of his affections. He loves with a pure heart\nfervently. He is baptized with fire. Now I need not seek to prove the\nexistence of cold hearts among us. I am afraid we must accept them\nwithout question. Whether there are hearts like fire-grates without a\nspark of fire I cannot tell. Personally, I have never met with anyone in\nwhose soul the fire of love had gone quite out. I think that if we\nsought very diligently among the gray dusty ashes of any burnt-out life\nwe should find a little love somewhere. Yes, even in Judas Iscariot, or\nin the dingy soul-grate of old frozen-out Scrooge. But there are surely\nsouls so cold, and so destitute of love, that the poor fire never leaps\nup in dancing, cheering, welcome flames. Their temperature is zero.\n\nThere are other souls with a little fire of love burning, but it is very\nsad, very sodden, very sullen, very dull. There is more smoke than fire.\nThere is more surliness than love. Their fire is not inviting and\nattractive. There is a little spitting, and spluttering, and crackling,\nbut there is no fine, honest, ruddy glow. Their temperature is about\nten above freezing. They are not frozen but they are not comforting.\n\nThere are other lives where the fire of affection is burning more\nbrightly, and certainly with more attractive glow, but where it seems as\nif the quality of the fuel must be poor because the fire gives out\ncomparatively little heat. The heart sends out a cheery beam across the\nfamily circle, but it does not reach beyond. There is no cordial warmth\nfor the wider circles of fellowship. The fire burns in the home but it\ndoes not affect the office. It encompasses the child but it has no cheer\nfor the stranger. What is the temperature of such a life? It is very\ndifficult to appraise it. Perhaps it will be best to say that in one\nroom of the soul the temperature is 60, while in all the other rooms it\nis down towards freezing.\n\nAnd, therefore, I need not say how profound is the need in the world for\nwarm, glowing, affectional fires. What awfully cold lives there are in\nthe city, just waiting for the cheer of \"the flame of sacred love!\"\nThere are souls whose fires have died down at the touch of death. There\nare others whose glow has been dulled by heavy sorrow. There are others\nwhose love has been slaked by the pitiless rains of pelting defeat.\nThere are others again whose hearts are cold in the midst of material\nwealth. They have richly furnished dwellings, but their hearts are like\nice. They are unloved and unlovely, and they are frostbitten in the\nrealms of luxury. Wealth can buy attention; it can never purchase love.\nMy God! What cold souls there are in this great city!\n\nAnd, therefore, what a clamant and urgent need there is for love-fires\nat which to kindle these souls that are heavy, and burdened, and cold.\nAnd when the Holy Spirit is given to a man, and he is baptized with\nfire, it must surely, first of all, be the fire of cordial, human\naffection. And such is the teaching of experience. When John Wesley came\ninto the fulness of the divine blessing in a little service at\nAldersgate Street, London, he said that he \"felt his heart strangely\nwarmed.\" He was receiving the gift of holy fire. And I cannot but think\nthat Charles Wesley was thinking about his brother's experience on that\nday when he wrote his own immortal hymn which includes the prayerful\nlines:\n\n    \"Kindle a flame of sacred love\n     In these cold hearts of ours.\"\n\nYou find and feel the glow of that love-fire throughout the New\nTestament Scriptures. They who have the most of God's Spirit have the\nmost of the fire. There was Barnabas, who was declared to be \"full of\nthe Holy Spirit,\" and he is also described as \"the son of consolation.\"\nWhat a consummate title! Cannot we feel the love-fire burning and\nglowing in all his ample ministry? Full of the Spirit, and therefore\nfull of consolation! The truth of the matter is this,--we cannot be much\nwith the Spirit of Christ, and not take fire from His presence. In these\nhigh realms, communing is partaking, and we kindle to the same affection\nas fills the heart of the Lord. \"We love because He first loved us.\" His\nfire lights our fire, and we burn in kindred passion. So do I proclaim\nthat when the fire of God falls upon our spirits the sacred gift kindles\nand inflames the soul's affections. When we are baptized with the Holy\nGhost and with fire, we receive the glowing power of Christian love.\n\nWhere else shall we look for that holy fire in human life? I think I\nshould look for the presence of the fire of the Holy Ghost in fervent\nenthusiasm for the cause of Christ's Kingdom. And that indeed is what I\nfind. The New Testament instructs me in this, and it teaches me that\nwhere man is baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire his own spirit\nbecomes fervent. He is declared to be \"_fervent_ in spirit,\" and the\noriginal word means to bubble up, to boil, as in a boiling kettle; it is\nthe emergence of the mighty power of steam. And so the significance is\nthis: the fire of God generates steam, it creates driving power, it\nproduces forceful and invincible enthusiasm. You will find abundant\nexamples of this spiritual miracle in the Acts of the Apostles; perhaps\nthe Book might be more truly named \"The Acts of the Holy Spirit,\" for\nall the glorious activity is generated by His holy fire. Let your eyes\nglance over the apostolic record. Mark how the fire of God endows man\nwith the power of magnificent initiative. Take the apostle Peter;--once\nhis strength was the strength of impulse, a spurt and then a collapse, a\nspasm and then a retreat, proud beginnings bereft of patience and\nperseverance. But see him when the Spirit of God has got hold upon him,\nand what a gift he has received of initial and sustained enthusiasm!\n\"And Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit!\" You should see him then, and\nnote the strength of his drive, and the ardour of his enterprise! And\nthe example of Peter would be confirmed by the examples of all the other\napostles, if only we knew their personal history and experience. I wish\nthere had been given to us just a glimpse of doubting Thomas, slow,\nhesitant, reluctant, uncertain, when the Holy Spirit had him in\npossession. \"And Thomas filled with the Holy Spirit,\"--I would give\nsomething to know the end of that sentence. And I wish we had one\nglimpse of timid, fearful, night-walking Nicodemus, when the fire of\nGod's Spirit blazed in his soul. \"Then Nicodemus, filled with the Holy\nSpirit,\"--I wonder what notable exploits would complete that unfinished\nsentence. This we know; the holy fire transformed the timid into the\ncourageous, the lukewarm into the fervent, it generated a moral steam\nwhich made them invincible.\n\nThe first apostles drove through tremendous obstacles. Indeed, they\nnever had the comfort of an open and unimpeded road. Every road was\nthick with adversaries. What then? Through them or over them! \"But,\nSire,\" said a timid and startled officer to Napoleon, on receiving\napparently impossible commands, \"But, Sire, there are the Alps!\" \"Then\nthere must be no Alps,\" replied his audacious chief. \"There must be no\nAlps!\" That was the very spirit of the first apostles. Mighty\nantagonisms reared themselves in their way,--ecclesiastical prejudices,\nthe prejudices of culture, social hostilities, political expediences,\nand all the subtle and violent contrivances of the world, the flesh and\nthe devil. \"But, Sire, there are the Alps!\" \"There must be no Alps!\"\nThrough them! Over them! What that coward Peter got through when the\nfire of God glowed in his soul! When a man has the holy fire of God\nwithin him he has a boiling fervency of spirit, and he can drive through\nanything.\n\nAnd that same holy fire gives the same terrific power to-day, the same\ndriving enthusiasm, the same patient, dogged, invincible perseverance.\nIf a man declares that he has received the fire of God's Holy Spirit, I\nwill look eagerly for the impetus of his sacred enthusiasm. If he be a\npreacher I will look for labour in the passion, and the unsnarable\nenergy and patience which he will assuredly put into his work. If he be\na teacher, I will examine the generated steam, and note how much he can\ndo, how far he can travel, and how long he can hold out in the service\nof his Lord. If he be a man who has set himself to some piece of social\nreconstruction I will watch with what ardour, and ingenuity, and\ninevitableness he is moving towards his goal. Is it the smashing of the\nsaloons? \"Then Peter, filled with the Holy fire;\"--what if that power\nwere harnessed to the enterprise? Or is it the awful plague and blight\nof impurity; or is it the cleaning up of politics; the establishment of\nrectitude in civic and national life? Whatever it be, the holy fire of\nGod will reveal its presence in the soul of man in an ardent enthusiasm\nwhich cannot be quenched. It is the promise of our God, and shall He not\ndo it? \"He maketh His ministers a flaming fire,\"--and that fire can\nnever be blown out in the darkest and most tempestuous nights.\n\nAnd lastly, I shall look for the signs of the presence of the Holy\nSpirit in the fire of sacred resentment. If a man is baptized with the\nHoly Ghost, and with fire, I shall expect to see the presence of that\nfire in the capacity of hot and sensitive indignation. I need not say\nthat there is a mighty difference between hot temper and hot\nindignation. Hot temper is a firing of loose powder upon a shovel. It is\njust a flare, and an annoyance, and a danger. But hot indignation is\npowder concentrated in the muzzle of a gun, and intelligently directed\nto the overthrow of some stronghold of iniquity. Hot temper is the fire\nof the devil. Hot indignation is the fire of God; it is the wrath of the\nLamb. What is this capacity of indignation? It is the opposite to frozen\nantipathy, to tepid curiosity, to sinful \"don't care,\" to all immoral\ncoldness and calculated indifference. There are many people who can be\nirritated, but they are never indignant. They can be offended, but they\nare never nobly angry. The souls who are possessed with the fire of God\nare the very opposite to all these. I said at the very beginning of this\nmeditation that the breath of God is like the quickening atmosphere of\nthe Spring; but it is equally true to say that it can be like the\ndestructive blast of the African sirocco--\"The grass withereth and the\nflower fadeth _because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it_.\" The hot\nbreath of God is like unto a blast that scorches things in their very\nroots. And if we share the breath of God's Spirit we too shall be\nendowed with the ministry of the destructive blast, even the power of a\nconsuming indignation. Any form of public iniquity will make our fire\nblaze with purifying wrath. Corruption in civic or national government,\ninhumanity in the treatment of the criminal and the unfortunate, the\noppression of the poor, the brutal disregard of the rights of the weak\nand the defenceless, any one of these will draw out our souls in the hot\nand aggressive indignation which is the imparted fire of the Holy Ghost.\nIf any one claims to have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and with\nfire, and he is indifferent in the presence of licensed iniquity, and\napathetic and lukewarm when gigantic wrongs glare and stare upon him,\nthat man's spiritual baptism is a pathetic fiction, and his boasted fire\nis only a painted flame.\n\nBut if a man suffer a personal injury, if some wrong is done to him,\nwhat kind of fire shall I expect to see in his life if he is filled with\nthe Holy Ghost? Yes, if some one has done an injury to another, and the\nother has been baptized with the Holy Ghost, what kind of fire will he\nreveal? Listen to this: \"If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst,\ngive him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his\nhead!\" It is the very fire that rains upon us from the Cross of our\nLord: \"And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary,\nthere they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and\nthe other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they\nknow not what they do.\" What kind of fire is that? It is the same holy\nfire which flowed from the soul of the martyr Stephen as he was being\nstoned to death: \"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.\" It is a\nmarvellous fire, a most arresting fire; and we simply cannot withstand\nit. It is the very fire of grace; it is live coal from the altar of God.\n\nSo this is the sort of fire I look for when a man claims to be filled\nwith the Holy Spirit,--the glowing fire of humble affection, the glowing\nfire of noble enthusiasm, the glowing fire of indignation, and the\nmarvellous fire of self-forgetting grace. \"He shall baptize you with the\nHoly Ghost and with fire.\"\n\n    \"He came in tongues of living flame,\n       To teach, convince, subdue,\n     All powerful as the wind He came,\n       And viewless too.\n\n     Spirit of purity and grace,\n       Our weakness, pitying see,\n     Oh, make our hearts Thy dwelling-place,\n       And worthier Thee.\"\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nVICTORY OVER THE BEAST\n\n\n    _Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for our knowledge that all our\n    springs are in Thee. Wilt Thou deliver us from any sense of\n    self-dependence, and lead us into an intimate fellowship with\n    the ministers of Thy grace. If any triumph has made us\n    self-confident, if any earthly success has made us proud, may\n    Thy Holy Spirit lead our spirits into the lowliness which is the\n    beginning of true wisdom and strength. We humbly ask that Thou\n    wilt deliver us from the sins which have become our masters, and\n    in which we find unholy delight. Incline our hearts unto Thy\n    law, and help us to find pleasure in obedience to Thy holy will.\n    Graciously redeem us from every care which fetters our souls,\n    and give us such an assurance of Thy providential love that we\n    may exult in the glorious liberty of the children of God.\n    Graciously remember us one by one. Be very near to those who\n    scarcely have the heart to pray. Mercifully meet with those who\n    have been stunned with sorrow, and who have not yet regained the\n    comforts of Thy peace. Remember all who are in grave perplexity,\n    and graciously light Thy lamp on their bewildered way. Receive\n    all our little ones into the circle of Thy blessing, and may\n    they early rejoice in Thy friendship and become devoted to Thy\n    holy will. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nVICTORY OVER THE BEAST\n\n    \"And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and they\n    that had gotten the victory over the beast.\" Revelation 15:2.\n\n\nThe symbolism of the city of God as given in the Book of Revelation\nrepresents the character of its citizens, and all the glories of the new\nJerusalem have correspondences in the souls who live and move in that\nradiant land. The sea of glass represents a spiritual character of regal\nserenity, a character transparent in its limpid depths, and reflecting\nin its stillness the very image of the Lord. And the sea of glass,\n\"mingled with fire,\" is significant of character made fervent by holy\nlove, purity made genial, righteousness changed into goodness by the\npermeating heat of affectional enthusiasm and devotion.\n\nAnd now I wish to examine the next descriptive sentence, which tells us\nsomething of the history and experiences of those who have arrived at\nthe sea of glass, and who have attained the serene and genial purity of\nthose who hold immediate communion with God. And this is the sentence\nwhich records some of the happenings which have befallen them on the\nroad; \"_They have gotten the victory over the beast._\" It is a very\nstriking conjunction, this which tells me that they who dwell by the sea\nof glass have come by the way of the beast, and that they have conquered\nthe beast by the way. What was the beast which these men and women had\nfaced and conquered as they moved onward to the crystal sea? I do not\nprofess to know the precise historic interpretation. The beast may have\nbeen the malignant and vindictive antagonism of the Emperor Nero. He may\nhave been the beast. The beast may have been the hostile and suffocating\npressure of the Roman Empire. The beast may have been the stealthy\nseductions of the imperial city of Rome. The beast may have been the\nfascinating and paralyzing charm of the world, the flesh, and the devil.\nAnyone or all of these together may have been the beast which straddled\nacross the road and opposed these Christians on their journey towards\nhome. I do not know, and I frankly confess I am not deeply concerned to\nknow. The general boldness of the figure is quite enough for me.\nWhatever else the beast may mean it must essentially mean anti-God,\nanti-Christ, the antagonist of the divine. It must mean the animal side\nof our nature seeking to invade the realm of the spirit, to force its\nway among the executive powers of the soul, and to usurp the throne of\nGod. The beast is triumphant when the flesh and all the works of the\nflesh have ousted the forces of the spirit. The beast is conquered when\nthe powers of the spirit never surrender their holy sovereignty, when\nthe forces of the flesh have been ordered to their place among the rank\nand file, and when they are never allowed to wear the honours and\nprerogatives of the commander-in-chief. \"They that have gotten the\nvictory over the beast.\" The beast is just anti-Christ, in whatever form\nhe may appear.\n\nLet us spend a little while in first of all examining this beast who\nclaims the control and mastery of our souls. Everybody has a vivid\nexperience of his power, but it may help to clarify our minds if we\nconsider what has been said about him by the recognized masters and\ncounsellors of the soul. Let us turn, then, to the pages of literature,\nand first of all let us turn to the inspired literature itself. You have\nscarcely opened the Word of God before the beast makes his appearance in\nthe form of a serpent. \"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast\nof the field.\" And who has not experienced the wiles of the serpent when\nhe approaches the soul in some charming seduction, in some fascinating\ncrookedness, in some wriggling sophistry, in some twisted excuse, in\nsome winding compromise? Who has not seen the beast when he has sought\nto persuade the soul that the wriggle is the most graceful form of\nmotion, and that the curve is more acceptable than the straight line?\nWho has not heard him when he has argued that the detour is the shortest\nway home, and that a slight deviation from rectitude will lead to the\nnoblest ends? Yes, this beast is the apostle of the serpentine, and this\nis his creed,--the wriggle is the best way to your goal. \"The serpent\nwas more subtle than any beast of the field.\"\n\nI turn over the pages of the old book, and I am confronted with an\nextraordinary change in the form of the beast. He is no longer a\nwriggling serpent but a prowling lion. \"The devil goeth abroad like a\nroaring lion.\" He no longer makes a seductive approach to the intellect\nwith his advocacy of the crooked way; he makes a passionate assault upon\nthe spirit with all the fiery forces of the flesh. It is no longer the\nwriggle but a terrific leap. And who has not known him in this wild\napproach? It is just the tremendous weight and pounce of anti-spiritual\nimpulse, the mighty onrush of carnal longing and desire. The lion is\nsheer mass and weight of hungry craving. Who has not known the lion in\nthe way?... And yet beside the crystal sea are those \"who have gotten\nthe victory over the beast.\"\n\nAgain I turn over the pages of the old book, and once again the form of\nthe beast has changed and he appears before me in the guise of a fox. It\nis our Master's name for the foe. And who has not known the beast when\nhe has assailed the soul in the manner of a fox? It is the assault of\ncunning, when things are made to appear in semblance what they are not\nin spirit and in truth. Nay, it is the very art of foxiness that the fox\nitself is made to look like a goose, and the wolf is given the\nappearance of a lamb. Vice is dressed up like virtue. Falsehood moves\nabout in white robes and innocently accosts us in the dress of a white\nlie. License tricks itself out as gaiety. Sin clothes itself in the\nfashions of the hour and hides its talons in silks. I say this is the\nvery genius of the fox,--he makes you think you are having converse with\na harmless old goose! Who has not known the fox when he cunningly tried\nto persuade us that the devil was God, and that hell was heaven, and\nthat death was.... But, O no, he never mentions death! In his scheme it\nis part of the trick that death shall never be known. The old fox! And\nyet, in spite of fox and lion and serpent, there were those beside the\nsea of glass \"who had gotten the victory over the beast.\"\n\nLet me lead you further, for a moment or two, into the pages of a wider\nliterature, and let it be into the pages of Dante and John Bunyan. In\nhis immortal book Dante tells us that when he turned his feet to the\npilgrim road he was successively confronted by three beasts which sought\nto stop his journey. And first he met a leopard:\n\n    \"And lo! just as the sloping side I gained,\n     A leopard, subtle, lithe, exceeding fleet,\n     Whose skin full many a dusky spot did stain;\n     Nor did she from before my face retreat;\n     Nay, hindered so my journey on the way,\n     That many a time I backward turned my feet.\"\n\nThe leopard which confronted Dante was the symbol of sensuous beauty\nwhich sought to block his road and ensnare his feet. Next he was\nconfronted by a lion:\n\n    \"Yet o'er me, spite of this, did terror creep--\n     From aspect of a lion drawing near.\n     He seemed as if upon me he would leap,\n     With head upraised and hunger fierce and wild,\n     So that a shudder through the air did sweep.\"\n\nThe lion was to Dante the symbol of worldly pride. And next he met a\nwolf:\n\n    \"A she-wolf, with all ill-greed defiled,\n     Laden with hungry leanness terrible.\"\n\nAnd the wolf was to Dante the lean symbol of a hungry greed; it was the\nbeastly type of avarice. And who has not shared the experience of Dante\non his own road and encountered the leopard, the lion and the wolf?...\nAnd yet there were those before the sea of glass who had got the victory\nover the beast.\n\nTurn to John Bunyan. There is a wonderful passage in the early part of\nJohn Bunyan's \"Holy War,\" in which he describes the preparations which\nthe beast has made for his attack upon the soul. He tells how beast held\ncounsel with beast, and how it was agreed that they should assume forms\nwith which the soul was quite familiar; such as were accounted harmless,\nlest the soul should be alarmed when they made their deadly approach.\n\"Therefore let us assault the soul in all pretended fairness, covering\nour intentions with all manner of lies, flatteries, and illusive words;\nfeigning things that will never be, and promising that to them which\nthey shall never find.\" And so they marched toward the soul, \"all in a\nmanner invisible,\" save only one, and he took on a shape as harmless and\nfamiliar as a bird, and when he spoke he spake with such gentleness \"as\nif he had been a lamb.\" And I for one put myself side by side with John\nBunyan, for I too have known the beast when he has come disguised, and\nhas addressed me with all the harmlessness and innocence of a lamb.\n\nI will add one further word in our consideration of the beast. When I\nlook around on the world to-day, upon the appalling scenes of passion\nand hatred and slaughter,--it is to me very significant that so many of\nthe national emblems, which represent the corporate life of peoples, are\ndifferent types of beasts. It is the beast which still provides the\nsymbols of our national life. There is the lion; there is the bear;\nthere is the wolf, and I know not what besides! We talk of rousing the\nbear and of twisting the lion's tail! Our national emblems are beasts.\nThe American nation has happily discarded the beast, but it has chosen\none of the fiercest among the birds--the bird whose talons are more\nobtrusive than its song. I am suggesting the significance of the fact\nthat we have found nothing above the beast to symbolize the\nindividuality of national life. Perhaps some day we may \"move upward,\"\nand we may erase the beasts from our emblems, but it will only be when\nwe have driven the beasts from our souls!\n\nWell, then, after this swift glimpse into inspired and general\nliterature, and this glance upon the typical symbols of the national\nlife, we are more disposed than ever to say that the beast is just\nanti-Christ, the presumptuous claim of the animal to take the place of\nthe spiritual, the defiant claim of the devil to usurp the throne of\nGod. But here are men and women whose triumph is recorded in my text,\nwho have conquered the beast, and who have attained a strong and fervent\npurity in which the spirit is all in all. What was the secret of their\ntriumph? By what means and ministries did they conquer the beast?\nHappily we are left in no manner of doubt, and the means by which they\nconquered are offered to you and me. What says the Old Book?--\"They\novercame by the blood of the Lamb.\" Let us tell their secret very\nquietly and very simply, without any waste of words,--they shared the\nblood of Jesus Christ and it changed them into giants. In some way or\nother a communion was formed between their life and His life, and His\nmighty life flowed into their life as vine-blood flows into the branch\nof the vine. They shared the strength of Him who fought the beast in the\nwilderness of Judea, and who fought him again in still more alluring\nforms in the courts of Jerusalem and by the shores of the Lake of\nGalilee. Yes, if you had asked these radiant victors by the sea of glass\nto tell you how they triumphed, they would have reverently turned their\nfaces towards the Lord and eagerly answered, \"By the blood of the Lamb!\"\n\n    \"I asked them whence their victory came,\n     They with united breath\n     Ascribed their conquest to the Lamb,\n     Their triumph to His death.\"\n\nAnd the second secret of their triumph is to be found in their\ncontinual warfare. They drank his blood to fight his fights. It is a\nfight that knows no armistice. It acknowledges no flag of truce. Eternal\nvigilance and eternal struggle is the price of spiritual freedom. Life\nis warfare; it is never parade-drill; it is never holiday review; we are\nnever off duty; the contest is constant, and the close of every day\nrecords a victory or a defeat. Our Master never promised his soldiers a\nlife of ease. The beast promises roads which are pleasant as field paths\nthat lead through grassy meadows. There shall be no flints, no thorns,\nno briars; and if we choose, we can lie down in the meadows morning,\nnoon and night! That is the promise that the beast makes,--a promise\nwhich is always broken. Our Lord always calls us to battles, to noble\ncrusades and prolonged campaigns. \"His blood-red banner streams afar!\"\nHe calls us to share the travail that makes His Kingdom come. Yes, He\ncalls us to glorious, endless battles, but He promises sure and certain\nvictory if we drink His blood along the way.\n\nAnd so they conquered the beast by the blood of the Lamb. They\nconquered by the continual battles of their faith. And lastly they\nconquered by their songs of victory. They sang their way to the sea of\nglass, and their songs were songs of victory all along the road. They\ndid not moan in misereres; they did not wail in lamentations as if the\nbeast were mightier than their Lord. They knew their Lord was mightier\nthan all; and their songs of victory were the beginning of their\ntriumph. O, the singing that abounds in the Word of God! O, the singing\nyou may hear in the Acts of the Apostles! And, O, the singing that\nsounds through the Book of Revelation; the song of victory, the song of\nMoses and the Lamb! At the battle of Dunbar, in the great critical days\nof English freedom, Cromwell's troops sang their way to victory. They\ncould hear the roaring of the sea. The land was swept with deluges of\nrain. But above the roar of the sea, and the sound of the pelting rain,\nthey lifted their voices in praise to God, and as they swept into battle\ntheir song rang out; \"God is our refuge and strength, a very present\nhelp in time of trouble; therefore will we not fear if the earth be\nremoved and the mountains be shaken in the heart of the seas! The Lord\nof Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge!\" Their song was\npart of their armour; it was indeed the armour of their souls. I greatly\nlike that word of the Christian, Appollinaris, in Ibsen's play,--\"The\nEmperor Julian,\" which he spake when the forces of the beast were massed\nagainst the soldiers of the cross;--\"Verily I say unto you, so long as\nsong rings out above our sorrows, Satan shall never conquer!\" Verily, I\ntoo will say that our praise is an invincible armour,--we sing our way\nto the triumph we seek!\n\nMen and women, the beast can be conquered, for the mouth of the Lord\nhath spoken it! You and I may stand at the sea of glass, pure,\ntransparent, fervent with divine love, victors over the beast, through\nthe blood of the Lamb, through constancy in battle, and in songs which\nring out above our sorrows, as we push along life's way.\n\n    \"Soldiers of Christ, arise!\n     And put your armour on;\n     Strong in the strength which God supplies\n     Through His eternal Son.\n\n     From strength to strength go on,\n     Wrestle, and fight and pray;\n     Tread all the powers of darkness down\n     And win the well-fought day.\"\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nTHE COMING GOLDEN AGE\n\n\n    _Holy Father, we thank Thee for the privilege of fellowship, and\n    for the help which we can give to one another. May the faith of\n    everyone be strengthened by the faith of all. May our penitence\n    be deepened because we are all engaged in common confession. May\n    our joys be enriched because we are all contemplating the\n    unsearchable riches of Christ. May our obedience become more\n    devoted because we all drink of the waters of inspiration.\n    Impart unto us the grace of sacred sympathy. May we reverently\n    bear one another's burdens and carry them in the arms of\n    intercession. We beseech Thee to grant unto us visions of Thy\n    glory in so far as our eyes are able to bear them. May we make\n    new discoveries among the mysteries of Thy truth. May the whole\n    worship prepare us for a larger ministry in the service of Thy\n    kingdom. Wilt Thou give us the armor we need for the great\n    campaign. Especially may we receive the endowment of the love\n    that never grows faint. Reveal to us our work, and then lead us\n    into a devotion which will never be satisfied until the work is\n    finished. Look upon the whole world in this hour of desolation\n    and woe. Enlarge our hearts to comprehend the sorrow, and may we\n    share the sufferings of our Lord in sacrificial labors. Let Thy\n    kingdom come, O Lord, and let Thy will be done on earth as it is\n    in heaven. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nTHE COMING GOLDEN AGE\n\n    \"And many people shall go up and say, Come ye and let us go up\n    to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob;\n    and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:\n    for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord\n    from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall\n    rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into\n    ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall\n    not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war\n    any more.\" Isaiah 2: 3, 4.\n\n\nThere is something almost unreal in these words when they are read\naloud in the times through which we are passing. They sound like the\nvoice of a mocking-bird calling from the midst of the dust and the\ndebris of a ruined world. It is like hearing the gentle peal of church\nbells on the bloody field of battle. It is like anything you choose\nwhich has become unreal, and which has been transferred from the healthy\nbook of noble prophecy to the bitter pages of satire and the sour lips\nof the cynic. Yes, I grant that the great passage unfolds ideals which\nhave become mere scraps of paper, torn and retorn into a thousand\npieces, and blown about like withered leaves in an autumn gale. What,\nthen, are we to do? I am reminded of what Lord Morley said in Manchester\na few weeks ago. \"When the war is ended,--this mournful chapter of sore\nbereavement and wasted treasure, when all that is gone, I ask is there\nnot a moral loss which ought to be counted, a moral loss in the wreck of\nideals in which the men of my generation were deeply concerned? That\nloss has got to be counted and retrieved. The fabric of those ideals has\nto be built up again in the hearts and minds of men and women.\" Surely\nthat is an opportune word, and it offers both counsel and warning to the\nChristian Church. We must not just sit down in the bloody dust, and wail\nour misereres in deadly impotence. We have got to reconstruct the ruined\npile, and we must begin the reconstruction by rebuilding the golden\npalace of our dreams.\n\nAnd if we are going to rear again that stately temple of vision and\ndream, who can give us nobler help than the Hebrew prophets, and who\namong the prophets can help us more than Isaiah? Isaiah was a prophet\ninterpreting the mind of God. He was a statesman with a keen and\ncomprehensive outlook on human affairs. He was also a poet bringing to\nhuman problems the illuminating imagination of the seer. He lived in a\ntime of grave national disloyalties, a time when peoples were abandoning\ntheir most sacred trust. His were days of international strife and\nconvulsion, days witnessing vast world movements in which empires were\nseen at their birth, and empires were seen in withering decline and\ndeath. Isaiah was a man whose thought was distinguished by breadth and\ndepth and length. He saw things broadly, he saw things deeply, and he\nalso saw the things which gleamed afar. And as he looked out upon the\nworld to his vision the troubled and chaotic day merged into a\nreconstituted order of active concord and peace. Isaiah was a confirmed\noptimist. He had a keen sense of the future. He felt the days before\nhim. He could scent the waving harvest while yet the snow was on the\nground. He could catch the sound of harvest-home while the wintry wind\nwas whistling across the ice-bound field. And looking out over the dark\nscene of convulsion and disaster, and amid the rude and brutal clamour\nof international strife, he sang this song of the morning,--\"They shall\nbeat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into\npruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither\nshall they learn war any more.\" If we are purposing to rebuild the\nfallen ideals of our own day, and so reconstruct our common life, can we\ndo better than stand near this man for guidance and inspiration?\n\nHow, then, does this man say that the golden dream is to be realized?\nThrough what preparatory stages are we to pass before we reach the\nshining consummation? Isaiah declares that the fulfilment of the dream\nis to begin in _the profound revival of spiritual religion_. \"It shall\ncome to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house\nshall be established at the head of the mountains, and shall be exalted\nabove the hills.\" That is to say, the dominant peak in the reconstructed\nlandscape is to be a shining spirituality of pure and undefiled\nreligion. Man's relationship to God is to be the supreme relation\novertopping and overseeing everything else. \"And many peoples shall say,\nCome ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of\nthe God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in\nHis paths.\" That is to say, in the golden age this is to be the common\naspiration; spiritual desire and spiritual ambition are to be dominant;\nthe biggest thing in life is to be the yearning for the divine\ncommunion, the gladsome craving for fellowship in the heavenly quest.\nThat is how the golden dream is to begin to be fulfilled; it is to begin\nin the recovery of vital worship, in the profound revival of spiritual\nreligion.\n\nNow, all the best things can be mimicked in the cheapest counterfeits!\nPearls can be so skilfully manufactured that even the expert eye can be\ndeceived. There are diamonds about, common as window glass, and their\ndancing gleams can delude the very elect. Yes, the best things can be\ncleverly imitated, and their counterfeits can move unsuspected in the\nmost exalted places. It would be an amusing trait, if it were not a\ntragic characteristic of human nature, how willing we are to borrow the\nclothes of realities, and just strut about in our cheap and glittering\nattire. And it is so easily done! Anybody can borrow the jolly meters of\nRudyard Kipling and put their own tawdry stuff into his caskets; and a\nthousand people have done it! Anybody can borrow the disorderly\nirregularities of Walt Whitman, and into his eccentric bottles they can\npour their own cheap wine; and crowds of people have done it! It is so\neasy to borrow clothes, and bottles, and outer forms. Yes, and it is so\neasy to borrow the outer garments of religion and to move about in the\nmere trappings of devotion. We can borrow the sacramental cup and put\ninto it the thinnest and the most diluted wine of life. Our apparent\nreligion can be just an affair of clothes, a borrowed skin, an acted\nthing, a play, a theatricality with feigned postures and emotions,\naltogether devoid of blood-red life, and having no deep and vital\ncommerce with the Infinite. Religion can be conventional, having no\ninner sanction of fine awe and godly fear. We can get religion while all\nthe time religion has not got us. It can be just a light performance, a\nsocial convention and not a solemn travail in which the soul is doing\ngreat business in deep waters in communion with the eternal God.\n\nNow, is not this the religious condition into which the world has\ndrifted in these latter days? I do not make exception of any country,\nnot even of America. This country is delivered from the horrors of the\nEuropean convulsion, not by a separating gulf of moral and spiritual\ncondition, but by 3,000 miles of sea. If the coast line of America had\nbeen twenty-five miles from the coast of Europe she would have been\ninvolved in the woes of the boiling cauldron. And therefore do I put the\ninclusive question,--and I venture to challenge your judgments,--is not\nthe religious condition which I have suggested one into which the entire\nChristian world appears to have fallen? Multitudes of Christian people\nare just wearing the clothes of religion. We have religious professions\nwithout spiritual possessions. We have religious conventionality without\ndevotional vitality. We have the show without the life. We have the skin\nof religion without its sacrificial heart. We have the crucifix without\nthe Saviour. We have the altar but not the open heaven.\n\nYou may make the test in any way you please. Let us test our condition\nby any one of the primary characteristics of true and vital religion.\nLet us apply one test. Let us test our condition by our own secret and\npersonal communion with the Lord. I am speaking in a Christian church,\nand I am addressing professedly Christian people; well, how do we stand\nthe test? What proportion of the members of the Church of Christ in this\ncountry have a really living and fruitful fellowship with God? How many\nhave walked the way of communion so frequently that it is now a\nmuch-beloved and well-trodden road, along which they can easily and\nnaturally make their way in the dark, yea, even in the stormy midnight\nwhen the floods are out, and the tempest howls about their ways?\n\nFor we cannot have religion with God wiped out! If religion is only\nbeneficence, if it is only decent, respectable living, if it is only a\ncomfortable conformity with accepted social standards,--if that is all\nit is, then let us say so and have done with it. Let us pull down our\naltars and fling their useless stones to the winds. But this is not\nreligion. True religion is more than this. True religion is the reverent\nand most solemn recognition of the eternal God. It is the conscious\nprostration of the soul in His most holy Presence. It is the free\nbecause reverent fellowship of a child with the Father. It is the loyal\nacceptance of the Father's will. It is the humble reception of His grace\nas offered to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the assumption of our\nlife as a sacred trust accepted from the hands of God. It is the\nanticipation of His glory in our eternal home. Religion has great human\nrelationships with our fellowman, and these shall not be overlooked. But\nfor the moment, I am speaking of the fontal relationship of the soul\nwith God, that fundamental fellowship in which all other worthy\nfellowships are born, and I ask you whether all the peoples of all\nprofessing Christian nations have not wandered far from the vitalizing\nbond of this primary communion? Let your eyes roam over the darkened\nworld; dense clouds are still rising everywhere on the ominous horizon.\nHow is that night-time to be turned into day, yea, into a day like unto\na lovely summer's morning? Here is the answer of the greatest of the\nprophets when he, too, was confronted with tempest and night;--the first\nthing we have to pray for, and work for, and seek for, in every\nChristian country, is a profound revival of spiritual religion, when\n\"the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established at the head of\nthe mountains, and when many peoples shall say, Let us go up to the\nmountain of the Lord, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk\nin His paths.\" This, I say, is needed in every country, until in every\ncountry all who profess the Saviour's name shall cry out in the fervour\nof a great and quenchless desire,--\"As the hart panteth after the water\nbrook, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God!\"\n\nNow look at the second stage in the realization of the golden dream.\n\"He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.... And He\nshall judge between the nations.\" That is to say, a profound revival of\nspiritual religion will be accompanied by _loftier and more exacting\nmoral standards_. He will teach and we will walk. Morals always grow lax\nwhen piety gets cool. When religion becomes a mere conventionality,\nmorality always loses its awful sanctions. Wipe out God and your moral\nstandards will surely fall. If I neglect the temperature of my\ngreenhouse, or if I play fast and loose with it, my tender plants will\nassuredly droop. And if I neglect my spiritual temperature, which is the\nclimate of my soul, my moral and spiritual flowers will be smitten and\npinched. We cannot lower our spirituality and yet have our morality keep\nits winsome bloom. Let me ask you,--have you ever known anyone grow\nloose and careless in their religion, and at the same time become\ncorrespondingly nobler and purer, and more scrupulously faithful in\ntheir daily life? Have you ever known anyone drop Christ and then become\nmore like Him? Have you ever had occasion to whisper this secret\nconcerning any living woman,--\"O, yes, she broke off communion with\nChrist, and then she put on moral grace and beauty like a robe?\" The\nvery question is an insult to our intelligence, as it is an affront to\nour experience; for this is the eternal law, whose workings can be\nwitnessed every day,--when the spirit deteriorates the moral life\nbecomes diseased.\n\nOn the other hand, let there be an enrichment in vital godliness and\nour conduct will begin to shine like burnished gold. \"He will teach,\"\nsays the prophet, \"and we will walk.\" _He_, with Whom we hold vital\ncommunion, _He_ will be the teacher of the spirit, and the illuminant of\nthe conscience and the inspiration of the will; a nobler conduct will be\nborn of that fellowship as surely as the choicest grapes are the\nchildren of the healthiest vines. When we are all in living and deep\ncommunion with Christ, truly worshipping in the innermost secret\nplace,--English, and German, and American, and Japanese,--a finer spirit\nof judgment will be abroad in the earth, a healthier moral climate, and\nwe shall naturally and instinctively seek to do what Jesus did, and in\nthe way that Jesus did it, when He came and dwelt among us as a\ncarpenter's Son, Son of Mary, Son of Man, Son of God!\n\nOnly one thing remains to be said as to the process by which the\nradiant dream of the prophet is to be fulfilled. When there has come a\nprofound revival of spiritual religion, and, consequently, a loftier and\nmore exacting moral standard, there will be a wonderful conversion of\ndestructive forces in the personal and national life. \"They shall beat\ntheir swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks.\" I\nwant you carefully to notice that the sword is not to be destroyed; it\nis to be transformed; it is to become a ploughshare. The spear is not to\nbe broken and thrown away; it is to be converted into a pruning-hook.\nThat is to say, the rudely destructive energies in human life are to be\nchanged into constructive energies. What was darkly negative is to\nbecome brightly positive. The martial is to be transformed into the\npastoral. The rude implement of slaughter is to become the breaker of\nthe earth-clod or the helpful friend of the vine. \"They shall beat their\nswords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks.\" After the\nfirst historic siege of Antwerp, the cannon balls were taken and\nconverted into church bells; and may the gracious and holy Lord grant\nthat there may speedily come such a transformation in modern Antwerp,\nwhen all the ministers of carnage shall be changed into sweet and sacred\nministers of worship and devotion!\n\nBut now, if swords are to be beaten into ploughshares and spears into\npruning-hooks, where must that work begin? It must begin in the\nindividual heart. We are never going to get the swords out of the\nnations until we have got them out of the hearts. There is a sword in\nthe heart, a cruel sword, a minister of destruction. There is a sword in\nthe German heart, and a sword in the English heart, and a sword in the\nAmerican heart, and that sword has got to be transformed before the\nmaterial sword can become a ploughshare of the field! We are all\nfamiliar with our own swords; perhaps I had better say, we are all\nacquainted with one another's swords. There is the sword of ill-will.\nThere is the spear of deadly gossip. There is the sword of evil\nprejudice. There is the spear of petty spite and contempt. Yea, surely\nthere is a sordid armoury in the soul. And this has to be converted into\na tool-house of a noble Christian culture before the material armouries\ncan be emptied and the sound of war is heard no more.\n\nAnd therefore, the great national revolution is to begin in individual\nconversions, and these are to be the children of a vital and saving\nreligion. The transformation of the world is to begin in the conversion\nof people like you and me. There is no other way. When our own\nmilitaristic armour, the one stored in our own soul, is changed into a\ngarden tool-house,--malice changed into good-will, suspicion into\nenlightened understanding, cynicism into genial and gracious esteem, and\nfoul hatred into Christ's own strong and fruitful love, then we are\nbringing the day nearer of which the herald angels sang, when there\nshall be \"peace on earth and good will among men.\"\n\nAll this cannot be done by scholarship. We cannot do it by legislation.\nWe cannot do it by commerce. It is the vital work of salvation, and it\nonly can be done by the Saviour of the world. And He must do it in His\nown way, and His work must be thorough, profound, fundamental. He must\nsearch the very cellarings of our being, seeking out our wickednesses as\nwith a candle, and cleansing and purifying us in the deepest and most\nsecret rooms of the soul. And when we thus come to know our Saviour, we\nshall most surely come to know our brother, for we shall see him with\nourselves in the radiant light of the same eternal grace and love. Then\nwill our swords be beaten into ploughshares and our spears into\npruning-hooks and we shall learn war no more!\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nMORE THAN CONQUERORS\n\n\n    _Heavenly Father, wilt Thou graciously redeem us from any\n    perilous mood of independence which sets our wills against\n    Thine. Help us to find ourselves in Thee, and to come to our\n    inheritance in the riches of Thy grace. Give us that lowliness\n    of spirit which will enable us to find the gate of higher life\n    and to enter in. Forgive the sin that binds our judgment and\n    enable us through a pure heart to see ourselves in Christ, and\n    to behold ourselves perfected in the power of His love. Save us\n    from low ideals. Lift us out of the thoughts that belittle us\n    and which check and destroy our powers of growth. Give us wider\n    and deeper conceptions of all things. May the experiences of our\n    life come to us as helpful disciplines, through which we may\n    apprehend more of Thy purpose, and more swiftly put on the\n    likeness of our Lord. May we not be mastered by our\n    circumstances, but may we be so strong in Thy strength, that\n    every circumstance may be our servant, adding some fresh grace\n    to our spirits, and some new influence to our lives. May we lose\n    the things we ought not to keep, and may we desire the things we\n    ought to find. Control us, O Lord, by Thy spirit, taking us away\n    from the shallows of common life into the great deep privileges\n    of communion with Thee. Amen._\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nMORE THAN CONQUERORS\n\n    \"In all these things, we are more than conquerors.\" Rom. 8:37.\n\n\nWas the writer of these words himself a conqueror? To whom is he making\nthe proud boast? He is writing his letter to the people of Rome. And it\nis in this letter to Rome that the apostle claims to be a conqueror. If\nhe had been writing to a little company of people living in some quiet\nand remote district in Asia Minor, far away from the movement and\npageantry of imperial life, his boast of being a conqueror might have\nbeen received without surprise. But think of the daring of making his\nclaim in a letter to the Romans, who were accustomed to gaze upon their\nconquerors as they returned in glory from triumphant wars of conquest,\ndragging their distinguished captives at their chariot wheels! When the\napostle claims to be a conqueror he is using a word which to the Romans\nis weighted with pomp and glory, suggesting cities ablaze with emblems\nof festivity, and streets thronged with cheering multitudes, and a hero\nupon whom favours are being showered thick as the flowers which are\nflung upon his triumphal car. When Paul dares to call himself a\nconqueror in a letter to the Romans he is using a word significant of\nall this wealth and effulgence, and he is using it to describe the\npassage of his own life down the ways of time. \"We are more than\nconquerors.\" Such a claim would surely strike the Roman reader with\namazement.\n\nWhat was there in the apostle's life to correspond to the claim? What\nwas there about it which in any way recalled the radiant entry of an\nacclaimed warrior into the festive city of Rome? Let us glance at the\nexternal circumstances of his Christian life. Is there anything in these\ncircumstances of pomp, and flowers, and favour, and acclamation? Run\nyour eye over the apostle's road. What are its features? What is it like\nas it stretches from Damascus to Rome? In peril of his life in Damascus,\nhis enemies watching the gates day and night to kill him; coldly\nsuspected by his fellow-believers in Jerusalem; persecuted at Antioch;\nassaulted in Iconium; stoned in Lystra; beaten with many stripes in\nPhilippi; attacked by a lewd and envious crowd in Thessalonica; pursued\nby callous enmity in Berea; despised in Athens; blasphemed in Corinth\nand dragged before the judgment-seat; exposed to the fierce wrath of the\nEphesians; bound with chains in Jerusalem, and finally imprisoned at\nRome! Such is the character of his cold, storm-swept, painful road. And\nyet he dares to call himself a conqueror, and to so style himself to the\nmen of imperial Rome! When I turn away from the gay and rapturous\nstreets, through which the Roman conqueror made his tumultuous entry,\nand then gaze on the long, dark, cruel road on which this man trudged\nthroughout all his public days, his life seems to be broken up in\nsuccessive tragedies, and to sink at last in the black defeat of utter\nand complete eclipse. And yet he sings aloud in joyful pride: \"We are\nmore than conquerors\"! Where, then, shall we look for the signs of\nconquest, and for the waving banners, and the rapturous shouts?\n\nThere are two ways of estimating a triumphant life. We may trace the\nline of external circumstances, and we make an inventory of the material\ntreasures, and the flattering diplomas, and the public honours that have\nbeen gained along the way. That road winds by the bank, and the Stock\nExchange, through Wall Street, or Threadneedle Street, and thence it\nstretches away through fair suburbs of material comforts, and through\ngardens of enticing ease, ascending even to lofty eminences of public\nfavour and regard. We may walk along this road in our desire to estimate\na man's standing, and to reckon the degree and quality of his conquests.\nAnd judged by that standard Paul's circumstances were disastrous, and\nhis life was just a dismal succession of appalling defeats. Indeed the\napostle himself has given his own verdict upon his life when it is\njudged by the standard of Wall Street, and he has done it in two words\nof pregnant and sweeping brevity--\"having nothing\"! And yet he claimed\nto be \"more than conqueror\"!\n\nBut there is another way of judging the failure or triumph of a life. We\nmay follow the line of character. We may register the success of the\nsoul in its mastery of circumstances, in its refusal to be submerged by\nevil antagonisms, in its preservation of a diamond-like translucency\namid engulfing floods of defilement, in its buoyancy in the days of\nprolonged disappointment, in its quiet and firm ascendency over the\nbeast, in its inevitable emergence from every kind of hostility in\nincreasing majesty and strength. These are the two lines of\ninvestigation. These are the possible criteria of judgment. On the one\nhand we may measure the success of a life by the progressive enrichment\nof circumstances; on the other hand we may estimate its conquests by the\nprogressive growth of the soul. We may make our valuation in the\nmaterial world or in the spiritual world; that is to say, we may value\nthe man or we may value his possessions.\n\nNow the circumstantial happenings in a life had little or no interest\nfor the apostle Paul. All his concern followed the inward line of the\nspirit. He kept his eyes on spiritual processes and never on material\nresults. He did not busy himself with a man's happenings; he busied\nhimself with the effect of the happenings on the man. Always and\neverywhere he pressed through condition to character; his thought always\ntook the short cut to the soul. If in the streets of Rome or of Ephesus\nyou had pointed out to him some rich man, Paul would have immediately\nleaped the adjective and inquired about the noun. He would have had no\ninterest whatever in the man's riches; riches are no criterion of\ntriumph; but he would have been devouringly interested in what the\nriches had done with the man. While the man has been making riches, what\nhave riches made of the man? Measure the man! Is the man who is within\nthe riches a victor or a victim, a noble master or a poor ignoble slave.\n\nAnd so also do I believe that if you had pointed out to the apostle\nsome poor man, he would have left the adjective and fixed upon the noun.\nWhat about the man inside the poverty? What about the soul so ill-housed\nin indigence? Is the soul royal or servile? Is it crouching or has it a\nnoble and stately rectitude? That would be the concern of the apostle\nPaul. He would get behind the riches to the man. He would get behind the\npoverty to the man. For every external happening or every material\npossession is only a house, and within the happening there is the man or\nthe woman, the tenant of the house. What about them? What about the\nquality of their manliness or womanliness? That was the apostle's line\nof investigation. The apostle Paul was not much concerned about the\ncharacter of the road, whether it was bare or flowery, but he was\nvitally concerned with the spiritual condition of the traveller. How is\nit with the pilgrim soul? What spiritual conquests has the soul made\nalong the road? That is the apostle's standard of measurement, and by\nits records he registers life's conquests or defeats.\n\nWell, then, what was the quality of his own life when it is measured by\nthese interior standards? For, after all, these are the only standards\nworth naming, as in our sober and thoughtful moments we all very well\nknow. We are not here to make fortunes, we are here to grow souls. How\nthen does the apostle bear the supreme test of his own spiritual\nstandards? Is he master or slave? Are the streets of his soul festive\nwith triumph, or are they dull and cheerless in defeat? Is he more than\nconqueror?\n\nLet us begin the test with a day when his external circumstances were\nbrilliant. Brilliant days came but rarely to the apostle Paul; they were\nas infrequent as oases in Sahara's thirsty waste. Test him then on one\nof his rare, brilliant days, for the dazzling circumstance is often our\nseverest test. Some souls shrivel in the bright sunshine. They grow less\nin their enlarging circumstances as some nut-kernels contract in the\nexpanding shell. Here is Paul on a great day, when by the mighty grace\nof God he has made an impotent man to walk. How is the deed regarded?\nWhat does the crowd think about him? Listen to the records: \"And when\nthe people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying\nin the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness\nof men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because\nhe was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before\ntheir city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have\ndone sacrifice with the people.\" How now? The public favour is dazzling!\nWhat about the man inside the dazzling happenings? Is the man\ncontracting in pride or is his soul expanding in humility? \"Which, when\nthe apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and\nran in among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these\nthings? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you\nthat ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made\nheaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.\" Do you\nmark that? This man shines in the sunshine. Popular favour made him\nkneel before his God, and God's gentleness made him great. The\ncircumstances did not lessen him. His soul did not shrivel and wither in\nthe popular blaze. His soul grew larger, and the man mastered his\ncircumstances; he was bigger than his blazing fate, he was \"more than\nconqueror.\"\n\nBut I have said that brilliant days were rare with the apostle Paul:\nLet us test him, then, when his days were frowning, when the clouds were\nlowering, and when his circumstances nipped him like the winter frosts.\nDoes his soul expand in the winter, or does it shrink like frostbitten\nfruit? Take this little glimpse of one of his days: \"And there came to\nLystra certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people,\nand, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been\ndead.\" Having stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city. How swift\nand red is the record! Did he grow hard in the stoning? Did he become\nsmall and petty and peevish and revengeful? Let me read to you: \"And\nwhen they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many,\nthey returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming\nthe souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith,\nand that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of\nGod.\" This man's fruit grew sweeter at the touch of the frost. This soul\ngrew larger in the season of apparent defeat. He was \"more than\nconqueror.\"\n\nLook again through this window. Here is a very dark and bitter\nhappening: \"And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast\nthem into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely: who, having\nreceived such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made\ntheir feet fast in the stocks.\" How now? Will this man Paul scowl in the\ndarkness? Will his magnanimity sour into the bitter mood of revenge?\nListen to the record: \"And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang\npraises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.\" Do you mark that? This\nman was a victim but he was also a victor. We almost forget his\nsufferings in the sound of his praise. Adversity did not rob him of his\ncrown. He was \"more than conqueror.\"\n\nAnd so I might go on introducing instance after instance, in every\nrecord of his turbulent life, showing how he attained to magnificent\nmastery in the spirit. When Paul speaks of being a \"conqueror\" he means\nthat he is on the top of his circumstances and not beneath them. To be\nmore than conqueror is to be on the top of your wealth and not beneath\nit; to be on the top of your poverty and not beneath it; to be on the\ntop of your joy and not beneath it; to be on the top of your sorrow and\nnot beneath it; to be on the top of your disappointment and not beneath\nit. To be more than conqueror is to be on the top of the old serpent,\nand, as Browning says, to stand upon him and to feel him wriggle beneath\nyour feet! The real conqueror, the only one worthy of that royal name,\nis he who makes every circumstance his subject, permitting no\ncircumstance to be the lord and master of his soul. He is \"more than\nconqueror.\"\n\nAnd what is the secret of such conquest? Here is the secret: \"We are\nmore than conquerors _through Christ that loved us_.\" It is conquest\nthrough the energy of an imparted love. Nay, it is much more than that.\nIt is conquest through humble yet intimate communion with the eternal\nLover. You remember what conquests the knights of the olden time could\nachieve when they were conscious that love-eyes were fixed upon them in\nthe jousts. And if this were so with knights of ancient chivalry, when\nlove inspired them in the fray, how infinitely more must it be so with\nthe knights of King Jesus' Order when they know that the love-eyes of\nthe Lord are always fixed upon them in the field! \"He loved me\" sings\nthe greatest of the apostolic knights. \"He loved me and gave Himself for\nme.\" What tremendous exploits of patience and of service lie latent in\nthat supreme assurance!\n\nFor, mark you, all love conveys the lover to the beloved. The very\nsecret of love is self-impartation to the beloved. Love can never\ncontent herself with the gifts of things. Charity gives things. Love\nalways gives herself. Yes, the lover gives herself! And if love is thus\nself-giving tell me, then, what inconceivable giving is wrapped up in\nthe love of Christ for Paul, and in the love of Christ for thee and me?\nIn an infinitely deeper and richer sense than ever a loving bridegroom\ngives himself to his loving bride, our great and gracious Lover, the\nChrist, gives Himself to all who will receive Him. The Saviour's love is\nthe giving of Himself.\n\nShall I now dare to put that vast and awe-inspiring content into my\ntext? Listen again to the text: \"We are more than conquerors through\nChrist who loved us.\" Now hear it: \"We are more than conquerors through\nHim who has given himself to us.\" That word expresses the very gospel of\nHis grace. The Christian believer faces all his circumstances, not\nmerely with a love but with a Lover, and with a Lover who Himself\nmastered every circumstance, and was the conqueror of sin and death. So\nthis is how the Gospel music rings: \"We are more than conquerors through\nHim the Conqueror\"! By reverent faith we share His very love, we drink\nHis very blood, and all our circumstances are made to pay tribute to the\nhealth and welfare of our souls. We are more than conquerors through Him\nWho is ever riding forth, conquering, and to conquer.\n\nNow I think I can go back to those streets of Rome where we began, and\nwhere we watched the triumphant conqueror returning home with his\nspoils. And now I am not surprised at Paul's daring to use the glowing\nword \"Conqueror\" to portray the glorious victories of the soul. When I\ngo into the realm of his soul the roadway is lined with a cheering\nmultitude; he is \"compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses.\" A\nblood-red banner is waving triumphantly in all his goings; \"His banner\nover me is love!\" A garland of victory awaits the victor's brow;\n\"henceforth there is laid up for me a crown.\" And as for his spirits,\nthey are festive in the love of the Lord, and they dance in the joy of\nblessed assurance. \"I know in whom I have believed!\" \"I can do all\nthings through Christ who strengtheneth me!\" We are more than conquerors\nin the conquering fellowship of our holy and gracious Lord. And this\nsong of the conqueror is intended to be sung by thee and me. O, let us\nbelieve it!\n\n    \"Shall this divinely-urged heart\n       Half toward its glory move?\n     What! shall I love in part--in part\n       Yield to the Lord of love?\n     O sweetest freedom, Lord, to be\n       Thy love's full prisoner!\n     Take me all captive; make of me\n       A more than conqueror!\"\n\n    _Printed in the United States of America_\n\n\n\n\nDEVOTIONAL\n\n\n_JOHN HENRY JOWETT_\n\n=My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year=\n\n12mo, cloth, net $1.35\n\n    A series of choice, tabloid talks--a spiritual meditation for\n    every day in the year. Dr. Jowett points every word of these\n    brief expositions so that it tells, while the lessons he seeks\n    to convey are so propounded as to enter the understanding of his\n    readers along a pathway of light. The whole volume is of true\n    mintage, bearing the impress of Dr. Jowett's ripest thought and\n    fruitful mind.\n\n\n_S. D. GORDON_\n\n=Quiet Talks About the Crowned Christ=\n\n12mo, cloth, net 85c.\n\n    After many years' study of the one book of the Bible devoted to\n    the subject of the crowned Christ--the Revelation of John--Mr.\n    Gordon has put these latest talks together. No book of the\n    sixty-six has seemed so much like a riddle, and set so many\n    guessing. Mr. Gordon, however, holds the deep conviction that it\n    is wholly a _practical book_, and concerned wholly with our\n    practical daily lives.\n\n\n_F. B. MEYER, B.A._\n\n=My Daily Prayer=\n\nA Short Supplication for Every Day in the Year. 32mo, leather, net 35c;\ncloth, net 25c.\n\n    \"This is a tiny volume, in the 'Yet Another Day' series, and\n    contains a brief prayer for each day in the year. Some of the\n    petitions contain only one sentence, but each one is simple,\n    pertinent, and helpful.\"--_Zion's Herald_.\n\n\n_GEORGE MATHESON_\n\n=Day Unto Day=\n\nA Brief Prayer for Every Day. _New Edition._ 16mo, cloth, net 50c.\n\n    These choice prayers will be valued by the Christian world for\n    the stimulus, inspiration, and wide spiritual outlook which have\n    made the memory of their author a cherished possession.\n\n\n_HENRY WARD BEECHER_\n\n=A Book of Public Prayer=\n\n12mo, cloth, net 75c.\n\n    \"A distinct addition to our devotional literature. It is good\n    for private reading; but would be especially valuable for\n    ministers as an aid to the difficult, but immensely important,\n    service of voicing the petitions of a congregation in public\n    prayer.\"--_Standard_.\n\n\nBIBLE STUDY, Etc.\n\n\n_B. H. CARROLL, D.D._\n\n=An Interpretation of the English Bible=\n\n=Numbers to Ruth=. 8vo, cloth, net $1.75.\n\n    \"These works are designed especially for class use in the\n    Seminary, Christian Colleges and Bible Schools, as well as the\n    Sunday School. That they will make the greatest commentary on\n    the English Bible ever published, is our sincere\n    conviction.\"--_Baptist and Reflector_.\n\n    _OTHER VOLUMES NOW READY_\n\n    =The Book of Revelation=. 8vo, cloth, net $1.75.\n    =The Book of Genesis=. 8vo, cloth, net $2.25.\n    =Exodus and Leviticus=. 8vo, cloth, net $2.25.\n\n\n_J. FRANK SMITH, D.D._\n\n=My Father's Business--And Mine=\n\n12mo, cloth, net $1.00.\n\n    Dr. Smith devotes the earlier part of his book to a study of\n    Christ's historic pronouncement concerning His Father's\n    business, presenting an examination of the analogical content of\n    the word \"Father,\" and an analysis of the Master's own sayings\n    respecting His earthly mission.\n\n\n_JOHN F. STIRLING_\n\n    _Author of \"An Atlas of the Life of Christ\"_\n\n=An Atlas of the Acts and Epistles=\n\nA Complete Outline of Apostolic History, Showing the Details of the\nApostles' Journeys and the Area of the Epistles in Specially Drawn Maps.\n8vo, limp cloth, net 50c.\n\n    \"Gives at a glance a complete and graphic outline of apostolic\n    history. The outline follows the narrative of the Acts of the\n    Apostles, supplemented by the data furnished in the epistles,\n    and interpreted in the light of the best scholarship. The\n    historical details are presented in their geographical and\n    chronological setting, on a series of specially drawn maps, so\n    that the student may follow easily the movements of the leading\n    figures in the growth of the early church.\"--_Service_.\n\n\n_JESSE FOREST SILVER_\n\n=The Lord's Return=\n\nSeen in History and in Scripture as Pre-Millennial and Imminent. With an\nIntroduction by Bishop Wilson T. Hogue, Ph.D. 8vo, cloth, net $1.15.\n\n    In his Introductory Preface, Bishop Hogue of the Free Methodist\n    Church says: \"An encyclopedia of valuable information condensed\n    into a convenient hand-book for ready reference.\"\n\n\n_PROF. EDOUARD NAVILLE, C.D.L., LL.D., F.R.S._\n\n=Archaeology of the Old Testament=\n\nWas the Old Testament Written in Hebrew? _Library of Historic Theology_.\n8vo, cloth, net $1.50.\n\n    Professor A. H. Sayce says: \"A very remarkable work, and coming\n    as it does from one of the leading Egyptologists of the day, who\n    is also a practical archaeologist, its arguments and conclusions\n    carry unusual weight.\"\n\n\n_A. R. BUCKLAND, M.A._ (_Editor_)\n\n    _An Entirely New Bible Dictionary_\n\n=Universal Bible Dictionary=\n\nLarge 8vo, cloth, net $1.50.\n\n    A work prepared with the definite aim of aiding the ordinary\n    reader and Bible student, rather than critic and scholar. It is\n    also arranged so as to serve as an introduction to systematic\n    theology study, and contains extended articles on the cardinal\n    doctrines of the Christian faith by such experienced teachers as\n    Prof. S. W. Green, Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas, Principal Warman,\n    and others of equal standing. On questions of modern criticism,\n    the general exposition taken by the compilers is a conservative\n    one, although exhaustive account has been taken of the\n    conclusion of up-to-date criticism and research. The volume\n    extends to about five hundred pages, and contains upwards of\n    four thousand five hundred articles.\n\n\n_PHILIP MAURO_\n\n_EXPOSITORY READINGS IN THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS_\n\n=God's Gospel and God's Righteousness=\n\n    Romans I-V. 12mo, cloth, net 50c.\n\n=God's Gift and Our Response=\n\n    Romans VI-VIII. 12mo, cloth, net 50c.\n\n=God's Love and God's Children=\n\n    Romans IX-XVII. 12mo, cloth, net 50c.\n\n    A helpful and clearly-written body of comment on St. Paul's\n    Letter to the Romans. The author is a layman whose work is known\n    and valued on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr. Mauro does not\n    write for scholars, but for devout and worshipful believers--for\n    men and women whose faith is simple, yet grounded on the Word of\n    the Living God.\n\n\nSERMONS--LECTURES--ADDRESSES\n\n\n_JAMES L. GORDON, D.D._\n\n=All's Love Yet All's Law=\n\n12mo, cloth, net $1.25.\n\n    \"Discloses the secret of Dr. Gordon's eloquence--fresh, and\n    intimate presentations of truth which always keep close to\n    reality. Dr. Gordon also seems to have the world's literature at\n    his command. A few of the titles will give an idea of the scope\n    of his preaching. 'The Law of Truth: The Science of Universal\n    Relationships'; 'The Law of Inspiration: The Vitalizing Power of\n    Truth'; 'The Law of Vibration'; 'The Law of Beauty: The\n    Spiritualizing Power of Thought'; The Soul's Guarantee of\n    Immortality.\"--_Christian Work_.\n\n\n_BISHOP FRANCIS J. McCONNELL_\n\n    _Cole Lectures_\n\n=Personal Christianity=\n\nInstruments and Ends in the Kingdom of God. 12mo, cloth, net $1.25.\n\n    The latest volume of the famous \"Cole Lectures\" delivered at\n    Vanderbilt University. The subjects are: I. The Personal in\n    Christianity. II. The Instrumental in Christianity. III. The\n    Mastery of World-Views. IV. The Invigoration of Morality. V. The\n    Control of Social Advance. VI. \"Every Kindred, and People, and\n    Tongue.\"\n\n\n_NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS, D.D._\n\n=Lectures and Orations by Henry Ward Beecher=\n\nCollected by Newell Dwight Hillis. 12mo, net $1.20.\n\n    It is fitting that one who is noted for the grace, finish and\n    eloquence of his own addresses should choose those of his\n    predecessor which he deems worthy to be preserved in a bound\n    volume as the most desirable, the most characteristic and the\n    most dynamic utterances of America's greatest pulpit orator.\n\n\n_W. L. WATKINSON, D.D._\n\n=The Moral Paradoxes of St. Paul=\n\n12mo, cloth, net 75c.\n\n    \"These sermons are marked, even to greater degree than is usual\n    with their talented preacher, by clearness, force and\n    illustrative aptness. He penetrates unerringly to the heart of\n    Paul's paradoxical settings forth of great truths, and illumines\n    them with pointed comment and telling illustration. The sermons\n    while thoroughly practical are garbed in striking and eloquent\n    sentences, terse, nervous, attention-compelling.\"--_Christian\n    World_.\n\n\n_LEN G. BROUGHTON, D.D._\n\n=The Prodigal and Others=\n\n12mo, cloth, net $1.00.\n\n    \"The discourses are vital, bright, interesting and helpful. It\n    makes a preacher feel like preaching once more on this\n    exhaustless parable, and will prove helpful to all young\n    people--and elder ones, too. Dr. Broughton does not hesitate to\n    make his utterances striking and entertaining by the\n    introduction of numerous appropriate and homely stories and\n    illustrations. He reaches the heart.\"--_Review and Expositor_.\n\n\nESSAYS, STUDIES, ADDRESSES\n\n\n_PROF. HUGH BLACK_\n\n=The New World=\n\n16mo, cloth, net $1.15.\n\n    \"The old order changeth, bringing in the new.\" To a review of\n    our changing world--religious, scientific, social--Hugh Black\n    brings that interpretative skill and keen insight which\n    distinguishes all his writings and thinking. Especially does he\n    face the problem of the present-day unsettlement and unrest in\n    religious beliefs with sanity and courage, furnishing in this,\n    as in other aspects of his enquiry, a new viewpoint and\n    clarified outlook.\n\n\n_S. D. GORDON_\n\n=Quiet Talks on John's Gospel=\n\nAs Presented in the Gospel of John. Cloth, net 85c.\n\n    Mr. Gordon halts his reader here and there, at some precious\n    text, some outstanding instance of God's tenderness, much as a\n    traveller lingers for refreshment at a wayside spring, and bids\n    us hearken as God's wooing note is heard pleading for\n    consecrated service. An enheartening book, and a restful. A book\n    of the winning Voice, of outstretched Hands.\n\n\n_ROBERT F. HORTON, D.D._\n\n=The Springs Of Joy and Other Addresses=\n\n12mo, cloth, net $1.00.\n\n    \"Scholarly, reverent, penetrating, human. The product of a\n    mature mind and of a genuine and sustained religious experience.\n    The message of a thinker and a saint, which will be found to be\n    very helpful.\"--_Christian Intelligencer_.\n\n\n_BISHOP WALTER R. LAMBUTH_\n\n=Winning the World for Christ=\n\nA Study of Dynamics. Cole Lectures for 1915. 12mo, cloth, net $1.25.\n\n    This Lecture-Course is a spirited contribution to the dynamics\n    of Missions. It presents a study of the sources of inspiration\n    and power in the lives of missionaries, native and foreign, who\n    with supreme abandon gave themselves utterly to the work to\n    which they were called.\n\n\n_FREDERICK F. SHANNON, D.D._\n\n=The New Personality and Other Sermons=\n\n12mo, cloth, net $1.00.\n\n    Mr. Shannon, pastor of the Reformed Church on the Heights,\n    Brooklyn, is possessed of lofty ideals, is purposeful, more than\n    ordinarily eloquent and has the undoubted gifts of felicitous\n    and epigrammatic expression. This new volume by the popular\n    preacher is a contribution of distinct value to current sermonic\n    literature.\n\n\nEARLIER WORKS IN DEMAND\n\n\n_WAYNE WHIPPLE_\n\n=The Story-Life of the Son of Man=\n\n8vo, illustrated, net $2.50.\n\n    \"A literary mosaic, consisting of quotations from a great number\n    of writers concerning all the events of the Gospels. The\n    sub-title accurately describes its contents. That sub-title is\n    'Nearly a thousand stories from sacred and secular sources in a\n    continuous and complete chronicle of the earth life of the\n    Saviour.' The book was prepared for the general reader, but will\n    be valuable to minister, teacher and student. There are many\n    full-page engravings from historic paintings and sacred\n    originals, some reproduced for the first time.\"--_Christian\n    Observer_.\n\n\n_GAIUS GLENN ATKINS, D.D._\n\n=Pilgrims of the Lonely Road=\n\n12mo, cloth, net $1.50.\n\n    \"A rare book for its style, its theme and the richness of its\n    insight. Seldom is seen a book of more exquisite grace of\n    diction--happy surprises of phrase, and lovely lengths of\n    haunting prose to delight the eye. Each of the great pilgrim's\n    studies is followed step by step along the lonely way of the\n    soul in its quest of light, toward the common goal of all--union\n    with the eternal.\"--_Chicago Record-Herald_.\n\n\n_S. D. GORDON_\n\n=Quiet Talks on Following The Christ=\n\n12mo, cloth, net 85c.\n\n    \"This volume is well calculated to aid in Christian life, to\n    give strength, courage and light on difficult problems. It grips\n    one's very life, brings one face to face with God's word, ways\n    of understanding it and, even its every day application. It is\n    plain, clear, direct, no confusion of dark sentences.\"--_Bapt.\n    Observer_.\n\n\n_G. CAMPBELL MORGAN, D.D._\n\n=The Teaching of Christ=\n\nA Companion Volume to \"The Crises of The Christ.\" 8vo, cloth, net $1.75.\n\n    \"One does not read far before he is amazed at the clear and\n    logical grasp Dr. Morgan has upon divine truths. Could a copy of\n    this book, with its marvelous insight, its straightforwardness,\n    its masterly appeal, be placed in the hands of our church\n    leaders, it would go far toward negativing the spiritual\n    barrenness of destructive criticism. Here is a work that may\n    profitably occupy a prominent place in the minister's\n    library.\"--_Augsburg Teacher_.\n\n\n_ZEPHINE HUMPHREY_\n\n=The Edge of the Woods And Other Papers=\n\n12mo, cloth, net $1.25.\n\n    \"Sane optimism, an appreciation of the beautiful and a delicate\n    humor pervades the book which is one for lovers of real\n    literature to enjoy.\"--_Pittsburgh Post_.","title":"The Whole Armour of God","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":49072}