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diff --git a/36692-8.txt b/36692-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..67d8acf --- /dev/null +++ b/36692-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5363 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Whole Armour of God, by John Henry Jowett + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Whole Armour of God + +Author: John Henry Jowett + +Release Date: July 10, 2011 [EBook #36692] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD *** + + + + +Produced by Júlio Reis and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + *** Transcription notes: + + The following typos were fixed: + + page 11: Moffat -> Moffatt + page 57: loathesome -> loathsome + page 60: fellowmen -> fellow-men + page 115: battle-fields -> battlefields + page 145: baptised -> baptized + page 153: multidudinous -> multitudinous + page 225: today -> to-day + page 233: pruninghooks -> pruning-hooks + page 260: frost-bitten -> frostbitten + + There are text lines missing on page 112, which were marked with + "[missing text]". The missing text could not be found anywhere, + so most likely all subsequent editions reproduced this error. + Anyway, the meaning of the paragraph is evident from the + context. + + Bold text is marked with =, italics with _. + + *** End of the transcription notes + + + + +THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD + + + + +By J. H. JOWETT, D.D. + + + The Whole Armour of God + + 12mo, cloth net $1.35 + + My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year + + 12mo, cloth net $1.35 + + "There is something to think about each day. It is + scriptural, spiritual, stimulating." + + --_Herald and Presbyter_. + + Things That Matter Most + + Devotional Papers. A Book of Spiritual Uplift and + Comfort. 12mo, cloth net $1.35 + + The Transfigured Church + + A Portrayal of the Possibilities Within the Church. + 12mo, cloth net $1.35 + + The High Calling + + Meditations on St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians. + 12mo, cloth net $1.35 + + The Silver Lining + + A Message of Hope and Cheer, for the Troubled and + Tried. 12mo, cloth net $1.15 + + Our Blessed Dead + + 16mo, boards net 25c + + The Passion for Souls + + Devotional Messages for Christian Workers. 16mo, cloth net 60c + + The Folly of Unbelief + + And Other Meditations for Quiet Moments. 12mo, cloth net 60c + + + _SENTENCE PRAYERS for EVERY DAY_ + + The Daily Altar + + A Prayer for Each Day. Cloth net 25c + Leather net 35c + + Yet Another Day + + A Prayer for Each Day. 32mo, cloth, net 25c + Leather net 35c + A new large type edition. Cloth net 75c + Leather net $1.00 + + + + + THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD + + BY + + JOHN HENRY JOWETT, M.A., D.D. + + _Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City_ + + [Illustration: Logo of Fleming H. Revell Company] + + NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO + + Fleming H. Revell Company + + LONDON AND EDINBURGH + + + + + Copyright, 1916, by + FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY + + New York: 158 Fifth Avenue + Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. + London: 21 Paternoster Square + Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE INVISIBLE ANTAGONISMS 9 + + II. THE GIRDLE OF TRUTH 25 + + III. THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS 41 + + IV. READY! 59 + + V. THE SHIELD OF FAITH 77 + + VI. THE HELMET OF HOPE 91 + + VII. THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT 109 + + VIII. THE SOLDIER'S USE OF PRAYER 127 + + IX. WATCH YE! 143 + + X. ENDURING HARDNESS 161 + + XI. THE INVISIBLE COMMANDER ON THE FIELD 179 + + XII. THE SOLDIER'S FIRE 197 + + XIII. THE VICTORY OVER THE BEAST 215 + + XIV. THE COMING GOLDEN AGE 231 + + XV. MORE THAN CONQUERORS 249 + + + + +I + +THE INVISIBLE ANTAGONISMS + + + _Eternal God, may no distraction draw us away from our communion + with Thee. May we come to Thee like children going home, + jubilant and glad. We have been in the far country and our + garments are stained. May we hasten to the ministry of + forgiveness and reconciliation. If we have been on fields of + heavy battle, where the fire of the enemy has been awful and + unceasing, may we hasten to Thee for the overhauling of our + armor, and for the renewal of our strength. If we have been + called upon to walk weary roads of unfamiliar sorrow, may we + turn to Thee as to refreshing springs. If we have lapsed from + our high calling, may we renew our covenant. If we have missed a + gracious opportunity, may we seek another chance. If we have + been counted faithful in any service, and have fulfilled our + commission by the help of Thy grace, may we hasten to give the + glory to Thee. Unite us, we humbly pray Thee, in the holy bonds + of Christian sympathy. Deepen our pity so that we may share the + sorrows of people far away. May we feel the burden of the + burdened and weep with them that weep. May we not add to our sin + by ceasing to remember those who are in need. Grant peace in our + time, O Lord, the peace which is the fruit of righteousness. Let + Thy will be done among all the peoples, so that in common + obedience to Thee all the nations may find abiding union. Amen._ + + + + +I + +THE INVISIBLE ANTAGONISMS + + "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be + able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to + stand." Eph. 6:13. + + +Let me give one or two other translations which devout scholars have +made in the attempt to bring out the precise significance of Paul's +original words. Many interpreting minds act like the solar spectrum, and +they help to display the wealthy contents in the pure white light of +gospel truth. Here then is Dr. Moffat's translation: "So take God's +armour that you may be able to make a stand in the evil day and hold +your ground by overcoming all your foes." And here is Dr. Weymouth's +fine attempt to elicit the buried wealth of the apostle's words: "Put on +the complete armour of God so that you may be able to stand your ground +on the day of battle, and having fought to the end to remain victors on +the field." That is a translation which stirs one's blood, and I am +inclined to regard it as a very vital interpretation of the rousing, +soldierly counsel of the apostle Paul. + +The apostle is writing to a tiny company of Christians at Ephesus, so +tiny that they are like a drop in a bucket in the midst of that teaming +population. For this is what has happened. Under the constraining +influence of the gospel of Christ this little handful of men and women +have done one of the hardest things we are ever called upon to do. They +have cut themselves away from old fellowships. They have separated +themselves from the fond attachments of a lifetime. They have severed +themselves from venerable roots. They have forfeited dear and vital +friendships, and they are now living an alien life within the circle of +their own city. They are strangers in their own home. They are +foreigners in their native land. They are pilgrims in their own country. +They are in it and yet not of it. They are like tropical plants which +find themselves in the Arctic Zone. And it is to this little company +that the apostle writes this letter, and to them he gives the inspiring +counsel of my text: "Put on the complete armour of God that ye may be +able to stand your ground in the day of battle." + +In what sort of circumstances did these people live? Let us take a swift +survey of the hostility of their surroundings. What was the nature of +the antagonisms by which this little company were beset? First of all, +there was the overwhelming power of the world. Their city itself was +luxuriously placed. The very location of Ephesus was favourable to +prosperity, enjoying as it did the double advantage of shelter and of +openness to the outer world. I was amazed when I walked among its ruins +in the late spring at the magnificence of its position. If you will +think of a cup, with more than a third of its rim broken down to its +base, you will gain a rough but practical suggestion of the groundwork +of this ancient city. About two-thirds of the city are immediately +engirt with noble and richly verdured hills. Then this sheltering rim of +hills is broken, and the cup opens out in one direction to a port on +the open sea, and in the other direction to a rich alluvial plain, +famous for its wonderful fertility. Such was Ephesus, sheltered and yet +open, with protective arms of hills about it, and yet widely hospitable +to the trade and wealth of the world. No wonder Ephesus was luxurious, +no wonder she was carnal, and no wonder she was ennervated. She was the +very hunting ground of the garish world, and in this mesmeric garishness +this little company of Christians had their home. This was the first of +their antagonisms. + +Well, then, to mention a second antagonism, there was the majestic power +of an alien religion. The magnificent Temple of Diana, which is now only +a little heap of stones, with literally not one stone resting orderly +upon another, then dominated the city by its splendour, and represented +a religion which held the people in the loose leash of easy and +licentious morals. Just think of that resplendent temple, that gorgeous +temple, and then think of some obscure house in some obscure street, +where this little company of Christians met to commune with their Lord, +and in the contrast you will realize another of the antagonisms which +assailed their discipleship every hour of the day. The Temple of Diana +versus the little Christian meeting-house! It makes one think of another +contrast in the grey and windy city of Edinburgh; the dark, frowning +Palace of Holyrood versus John Knox's small house in Canongate! And +history tells us which of these two proved to be the dwelling-place of +invincible strength. This was the second of their antagonisms. + +And then, to name a third of their antagonisms, there was the pervasive +power of popular customs and traditions. Every day this little handful +of Christians were up against customs that were like invisible bonds. +Yes, religious and social customs always thread the common life, and to +oppose them is to run up against antagonisms which are like invisible +webs of barbed wire. We know what it means to oppose a popular custom +to-day. Just oppose even a simple one; decide to wear no black in the +hour of bereavement and you are up against a world of hostility and +suspicion. And, still further, let the convention you defy be an +ecclesiastical convention, or one which has somehow come to wear +religious sanctions, and the antagonism is tremendous. Well, this little +company of Christians in Ephesus were defying popular social customs and +popular religious customs every day, and they were, therefore, +confronted with a fierce and terrific opposition. And so they had all +these antagonisms to meet, the hardening glare of the world, the +far-reaching power of an alien religion, and the tyranny of popular +custom and tradition. And in the very thick of all these you must +imagine these comparatively youthful Christians seeking to live their +separate and consecrated life. + +But in this strong and tender letter to this little flock of Christians, +the apostle Paul looks beyond the opposition of flesh and blood, and the +steelly barriers of usage and tradition; he pierces the visible veil and +beholds invisible antagonists, spiritual, alive, active and hostile. +Listen to him: "For ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood, +but with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern +this dark world, the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us in the +heavenly warfare." When the apostle looked upon Ephesus it seemed as +though the whole city became transparent, and behind the visible and +transient veils he saw these spiritual foes. There was much mischief in +Ephesus, there was much weaving of evil webs, there was much coming and +going of worldly forces; but to Paul, the real prompters and instigators +were back in the unseen. This is the teaching of this great apostle. +These Christians in the early Church had to fight unseen enemies, +antagonists in the spirit--"spiritual hosts of evil in the heavenly +warfare." The real enemy is entrenched in the unseen, and he is ever +active, night and day, and the early believer confronted him in ancient +Ephesus, as the later believer confronts him in modern New York and +London. + +Now it is of these invisible antagonists that the apostle most urgently +warns these young disciples. He warns them of the extraordinary subtlety +of the warfare, of the wiles of the devil, of the stratagems of these +mysterious powers, of their traps and devices, of their diabolic +cleverness, and of their amazing and manifold ingenuities. The +instruments of modern material warfare are almost incredible in the +refinement of their destructiveness, and I have no doubt in my own mind +that even these ingenuities are also diabolic, and that if we could +pierce the veil we should see the invisible enemies at their fiendish +work. But these unseen antagonists out-do all the subtleties of the +material instruments of destruction in the devices in which they lure +and snare and entrap and overthrow the soul. + +Well, then, how do these antagonists work? How is this cunning +antagonism exerted upon the soul? It is exerted both mediately and +immediately. First of all, these invisible antagonists work immediately +upon the soul. Spirit can work upon spirit; mind can lay pressure upon +mind. There is a direct and immediate influence upon the secret life of +man. That is the teaching of the Word of God, and I freely confess to +you that there are phenomena in my own life, and in the lives of others +which I cannot interpret in any other way. I know it is altogether +mysterious, but it is by no means incredible. In our own day we are +obtaining first glimpses into avenues of spiritual activity which +hitherto have been shrouded in mist and darkness. The phenomena of +thought transference, of telepathy, of hypnotism, are lifting the veil +upon modes of influence of which we have scarcely dreamed. One mind can +influence another mind directly without either speech or deed, leaving +upon the other the seal and imprint of its own mould. When I see this I +do not count it incredible when it is reported to me that there are +spiritual antagonists in Ephesus and in New York who prey upon the +thoughts of man, and work upon his imagination, and engage his +sentiments and ambitions with the purpose of luring him from his sacred +loyalties, and inciting him to rebellion against the holy and most high +God. "Ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood," says the +apostle. We have invisible foes. + +And then, in the second place, these spiritual antagonists work +mediately upon the soul. They work upon the soul through the medium of +human ministries--through the contagious power of crowds, through the +gravitation of the age, through the general spirit of society, through +the psychological climate in which our life is cast. And they also work +upon the soul through the medium of individuals, through men and women +who have been captured by the evil one and who are now used in his +purposes of moral and spiritual destruction. Our invisible antagonists +cast their lure upon us through the ministry of our fellow-men. + +Now all these antagonisms, seen and unseen, mediate and immediate, this +little company of Christians had to meet in ancient Ephesus. You say the +antagonisms are tremendous! Yes, indeed they are, and the Christian life +is a tremendous thing. That is what tens of thousands of professing +Christians have yet to learn. Let it be said that of all tremendous +things the Christian life is the most tremendous. It is not something we +can play with in idle hours, it is not a merely pleasant fellowship, it +is not the bloodless act of joining the visible Church. No, it is not +the carrying of a highly imposing label; it is a desperate, continuous, +but withal, a glorious campaign. Speaking for myself, I confess that I +have to have my fingers on the throat of the devil every day of my +mortal life. This is how I find it. I do not gain a single inch without +a fight. No fine victory is ever gained by me without blood. O, the +sternness of the Christian fight! and O, its attractiveness and its +glory! Yes, indeed, you are right; the antagonisms are tremendous. + +How then, are they to be met? If these are our antagonisms, seen and +unseen, in New York as well as in Ephesus, how can we meet and overcome +them? Let us listen to the Word: "Put on the complete armour of _God_." +Let us begin there. Our first need is God. Without God we are beaten +even before the fight begins. We have no more likelihood of vanquishing +our spiritual foes without God than this unaided hand of mine would be +able to drive back the solid phalanxes of the German hosts. We must +begin with God. In the tenth verse of this chapter the apostle unfolds +the primary secret of victory. "Be strong in the Lord and in the power +of His might." But that is a very imperfect translation, laying too much +emphasis upon the soldier and too little upon his Lord. I greatly like +the marginal rendering of the revised version: "Be made powerful in the +Lord." Does not that word sound full of promise for soldiers who are +about to storm a difficult position? "Be made powerful in the Lord." Let +God make you powerful! Such power is not a trophy of battle; it is the +fruit of communion. It is a bequest and not a conquest. This power is +not something we have to win; it is something we have to receive. It is +not something we have to gain; it is something we have to take. "Be made +powerful in the Lord!" And listen again: "Ye shall receive power when +the Holy Spirit is come upon you." That power, that vital endowment of +strength, is the gift of God, one of the ministries of the divine grace, +and it is offered to every soldier without money and without price. So +is it true that our first necessity in battle is to hasten away to the +Lord to receive the gifts of the soldier's strength. + +But not only is there the imperative need of God for our initial +strength, but for every piece of armour which may be needful in the +fight. Armour for offence, and armour for defence; armour to meet every +device and stratagem with which we may be assailed. I propose to +consider this armour, piece by piece, and over and over again I shall +have to tell you that you may find every piece of armour in the +abundantly stocked and open and free armoury of God. And therefore do I +say again that if we are to be triumphant over our antagonists, our +first need is God. "Seek ye the Lord." "O come, let us kneel before the +Lord our Maker." + +And then, our other great requirement is the ceaseless co-operation of +our wills. The life of a Christian soldier is not a continuous reclining +on "flowery beds of ease." Having obtained the strength we must +ceaselessly exercise it in the practice of our wills. Listen to the +divine challenge to the will: "Be made powerful in the Lord!" Well, +then, exercise the will you have, your weak will, and go and kneel in +humility at the source of power, and receive the promised gift. "Put on +the whole armour of God!" Well, then, exercise the will and go to the +armoury of grace for thine arms. "Stand therefore!" Well, then, having +received the gift of power, exercise thy will in stubborn and invincible +resistance. "Here stand I," said one who had received the strength, +"Here stand I; I can do no other, God help me!" "Having done all, +stand"--and victory shall be yours! In the name of God the Father, God +the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, victory shall most certainly be yours! + +Says Dr. Weymouth: "Stand your ground in the day of battle, and having +fought to the end remain victors on the field." "Victors on the field." +I am thrilled by the inspiring word--"Victors on the field." After every +temptation--the temptation that comes to me in sunshine, or the +temptation that comes to me in the gloom--after every fight, victors on +the field! The Lord's banner flying, His banner of love and grace; and +the evil one and all his host in utter rout, and in full and dire +retreat! + + Soldiers of Christ arise, + And put your armour on; + Strong in the strength which God supplies + Through His eternal Son. + + + + +II + +THE GIRDLE OF TRUTH + + + _Holy Father, we humbly pray Thee to reveal unto us the + unsearchable riches of Christ. Refine our discernments in order + that we may behold them; and deepen our hearts in order that we + may long to possess them. Unveil to us our poverty so that we + may seek Thy wealth. Lead us through meekness and penitence to + the reception of spiritual power. May our loins be girt about + with truth. May we drink deeply at the waters of promise and + find refreshment in immediate duty. We pray that Thou wilt bind + us together in the bonds of holy sympathy. Help us to gather up + the needs of others in common intercession. Make us ready to + bear the burden of the race. Quicken our imaginations in order + that we may enter into the sorrows of Thy children in every + land. We humbly pray Thee to steady our faith in these days of + bewilderment. In all the confusion of our time may we never lose + sight of Thy throne. In all the obscuring of our ideals may we + never lose sight of Christ. And O, Lord, out of our disorder may + we be led into larger ways. Let Thy Holy Spirit brood over us, + quickening all that is full of sacred promise, and destroying + all that hinders our friendship with Thee. Amen._ + + + + +II + +THE GIRDLE OF TRUTH + + "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth." Eph. + 6:14. + + +The girdle was just a strong belt holding the different pieces of a +soldier's armour securely in their place. Even in the ordinary Oriental +attire the girdle was a necessity. Without the girdle the loose, flowing +garments became very cumbersome, flapping about the feet, and especially +hindering the movements in a hostile wind. Even the most graceful attire +became an entanglement unless the girdle held it in serviceable bonds. +But the necessity of a girdle was still more imperative on the field of +war. In active fighting loose pieces of armour would be like +embarrassing articles hanging on the soldier rather than appropriate +implements to make him efficient. Loose armour was troublesome and +distressing, making the soldier feel soft, and awkward, and unready, +giving him a sense of going to pieces. The belt bound the loose pieces +together, creating a healthy sense of firmness, compactness, and making +the soldier feel that he had everything well in hand, and enabling him +to meet the enemy's attack with united strength and confidence. + +Now it is that figure of the military belt which the apostle is using +in our text, "Let your loins be girt about with truth." The soldier of +Jesus can have his armour flapping about him in disorderly array. He can +be loose and distracted. His energies can be scattered. He can be just a +mass of incoherences and inconsistencies in the presence of the foe. Or +a soldier of Jesus can be firm, and collected, and decisive. He can be +"all there," with every ounce of his strength available for the +immediate fight. And the apostle teaches that this bracing sense of +collectedness, this fine, firm feeling of moral and spiritual +concentration, can only be obtained by binding the entire life with the +splendid and tenacious girdle of gospel truth. + +I want to approach the apostle's central teaching along roads which +will gather up the testimony of common experience. We all know the +strength which is imparted to a life when it is girt about with firm +principle. It is even so in the life of a boy when he is passing his +earliest days at school. Is there anything nobler to contemplate than a +fine boy whose life and character are held firm and free in the bond and +girdle of moral principle? It is even so in the later days of college +and university. What college or university graduate has not admired the +decisive strength of some man or woman whose character was held in +splendid consistency by the girdle of moral conviction! What joyful and +boisterous liberty there is in such a life! And it is all the more free +and jubilant because it recognizes fields of license into which it never +strays. And in the broader fields of the world we have the witness of +the same experience. Life that is held in a girdle quadruples its +strength. Life which is bound together even by a strong expediency +gathers force in the bondage. A life which is held in the constraint of +a policy is far mightier than a life which is trailing in scattered +indifference. But a life which is bound together in moral principle, +having all its faculties and powers gathered under one control, has +tremendous force both of attack and resistance. + +You may study the contents of that statement and find abundant +illustrations in the lives of men like Lincoln, and Mazzini, and +Gladstone, and John Bright, and John Morley, and James Bryce. All these +men, whether we approve or disapprove their political programmes and +ambitions, are men whose characters reveal no loose ends, no trailing +garments, no unchartered opinions, no vagrant and unlicensed moods, but +rather a moral wholeness and solidity which we know will retain its +splendid consistency in the teeth of the fiercest storm. Yes, even in +the ways of the world men recognize the man who is wearing the belt of +principle, and whose loins are girt about with truth. + +But the apostle Paul is thinking of something more than moral +principle, splendid as is the influence of a great principle on the +healthy action of a life. He is thinking of something even finer and +deeper than this, and in which the moral principle is included. He is +thinking of a soul belted with the more distinctive truth of the +Scriptures, a soul girt about with gospel truth and with the ample +promises of God. He is thinking of a man who takes some great truth of +revelation, some mighty word of life, or some broad and bracing promise +of grace, and who belts it about his soul and wears it on active service +in seeking to do the sovereign will. I know not where to begin, or where +to end, when I turn to the pages of biography for examples of men and +women who have worn the girdle of gospel truth and promise. Let me dip +here and there in the many and brilliant records. + +Well, then, let us begin with Martin Luther. It is one of the strong +characteristics of Luther that he is ever wearing the girdle of truth, +and bracing himself with the promises of grace. I open his letters +almost at random, in the great year of his life when he defied the pope, +and opposed himself to the strength of uncounted hosts. He is writing to +Melanchthon on May 26, 1521: "Do not be troubled in spirit; but sing the +Lord's song in the night, as we are commanded, and I shall join in. Let +us only be concerned about the Word." There you find him putting on the +girdle! Once again I find him writing a letter to a poor little company +of Christians at Wittenberg: "I send you this thirty-seventh Psalm for +your consolation and instruction. Take comfort and remain steadfast. Do +not be alarmed through the raging of the godless." There again he is +wearing the girdle and urging others to wear it. His loins are girt +about with truth. + +Then again there is John Wesley. Let me give you a glimpse of that +noble servant of the spirit as he is putting on the girdle of truth: +"When I opened the New Testament at five o'clock in the morning my eyes +fell on the words, 'There are given unto us exceeding great and precious +promises that we should be partakers of the divine nature.'" He girt his +loins with that truth. "Just before I left the room I opened the Book +again, and this sentence gleamed from the open page, 'Thou art not far +from the Kingdom of God.'" And he girt himself with that promise. He +went to St. Paul's that morning, and in the chant there came to him this +personal message from the Word: "O Israel, trust in the Lord, for in the +Lord there is mercy and in Him there is plenteous redemption, and He +shall redeem Israel from all his sins." Do you not see this noble knight +belting himself for the great crusade that even now awaits him at the +gate? + +Then I think I will mention General Gordon, who laid down his life at +Khartoum. Only, if you want to see Gordon girding himself with truth, +and see it adequately, you will have to quote from almost every letter +he ever wrote, and especially his wonderful correspondence with his +sister. Take this sentence from a letter written in Cairo in 1884: "I +have taken the words, 'He will hide me in His hands'; good-night, my +dear sister, I am not moved, even a little." Or take this sentence from +a letter written in Khartoum toward the end of his days: "This word has +been given me, 'It is nothing to our God to help with many or with few,' +and I now take my worries more quietly than before." He put on the +girdle of truth, and his worries were leashed in the girdle, and his +soul was quieted in gospel confidence and serenity. + +And I had other examples to offer you, but these must suffice. I had on +my table David Livingstone, and John Woolman, and Josephine Butler, and +Frances Willard, and Catherine Booth, and I wanted to give you glimpses +of all these notable soldiers of the Lord girding themselves for the +open field. But their names shall be their witness. I might have quoted, +had I the knowledge and the time, the testimony of all the saints who +from their labours rest. And concerning them all we should have seen +that their loins were girt about with truth. + +Now it was to spiritual equipment of this kind that the apostle was +directing the little company of Christians at Ephesus. Think of their +surroundings:--the overwhelming worldliness, the dominating influence of +an alien religion, the fierce antagonisms of popular customs and +traditions, and all of these backed by invisible hosts of wickedness in +heavenly places. Now what chance would a loose, shuffling Christian have +in circumstances so hostile as these? The Christian in Ephesus, if he is +to be a conqueror, must not slouch along the way with a loose, hang-dog +sort of air, but rather with all the poise and movement of a lion. The +Christian must belt himself about with big truth, truth that will not +only confirm but invigorate, truth that will not only define his creed +but vitalize his soul. And these Ephesian Christians followed the +apostle's counsel and they girded themselves with truth, and so were +able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. + +Let us watch how they did it. They had been converted to the Christian +faith and life. One sure effect of their conversion was a more vivid +sense of sin. After their conversion their own sinfulness began to +reveal itself in more awful relief. The nearer they got to the light the +more their sin appeared, just like invisible writing emerging from its +secrecy when exposed to the open fire. They saw their sin, and they saw +the sin of the people. They were like the prophet Isaiah, to whom also +there came the awakening sense of sin, and with him they could have +cried: "Woe is me, for I am unclean, and I dwell in the midst of a +people of unclean lips." Well, now, how could that little company of +Christians deal with the sin? It was like trying to drain a vast and +bitter marsh that was fed by secret springs. How could they do it? And +the tremendous task only emphasized their weakness, and might have +depressed them into a feeling of helplessness and despair. And we share +that feeling to-day. Think of the colossal sins of Europe, and think of +the sins and moral indifference of the great cities. If the sin be like +a bitter marsh, what is going to drain it? Nay, how are we going to get +the confidence that it can be drained? Well what did Paul do, and what +did he teach his fellow-disciples to do? This is what he did. He found +something even bigger than sin, and he girded himself with the bigger +thing when he confronted the appalling task. Listen to him: "Where sin +abounds grace does much more abound." Yes, sin is a big thing, but grace +is a bigger thing; the biggest thing even in this rebellious and +indifferent world. Sin is a strong thing, but grace is a stronger thing, +even the strongest thing in a revolting and alienated world. Well then, +let your loins be girt about with that truth! Put it around your fears +and uncertainties like a strong girdle. Wear it ever night and day. Go +up to every stupendous task in the vigour of its bracing grip. Begin at +the piece of the bitter marsh nearest to you, and begin to drain it. And +wear the truth--"Where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound." Wear +the truth, say it, sing it, and you will be amazed how the difficulty +will be subdued; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. + +There was something else in Ephesus for which these Christians needed +the girdle of truth. Ephesus was a vast city, and these Christians were +only a tiny and obscure fellowship. And even this small fellowship had +to be broken up during the hours of labour, and in those hours each +believer had to stand alone. One of them was perhaps a slave, and there +was no fellow-believer in the house. Or perhaps one was a soldier, and +there wasn't another believer in his regiment, and he had to face it all +alone. We have been reading that one reason for the massed solidity of +the German advance is that the individual German soldier craves the +mystic strength of fellowship, and desires even the physical touch of a +comrade-in-arms. I can understand it. And so could the Ephesian +Christians have understood it. They felt strong when they touched their +fellow-believers, and they felt weakened when the visible communion was +broken. + +What, then, shall they do when alone? They must let their loins be girt +about with truth. But what truth? What did the apostle Paul wear in such +isolation? He took this girdle and wrapped it round his loins: "He loved +me, and gave Himself for me." And that girdle gives a man a sense of +glorious fellowship along the emptiest and loneliest road. Put that +girdle on, lonely soul! "He loves me, and gave Himself for me!" Wear it +ever, night and day. And wear it consciously! Say it; sing it--"He loved +me, and gave Himself for me." "Let your loins be girt about with that +truth." + +And so have we seen these Ephesian soldiers putting on the girdle. In +the presence of threat and persecution they wore this girdle, "We are +more than conquerors through Him that loved us." When their +circumstances were a medley and a confusion, full of ups and downs, of +strange comings and goings, of mingled joy and sorrow, foul and fair, +they wore this girdle: "All things work together for good to them that +love God." And thus they were braced for all the changes of the +ever-changing day. + +So do I urge my fellow-soldiers in this later day to wear the belt. +"Let your loins be girt about with truth." Let us pray the good Lord to +help us even now to put it on. Is the girdle we need this--"He loved me +and gave Himself for me?" Well, put it on. Or is it this--"We have +forgiveness through His blood?" Put it on. Or is it this--"I will come +again and receive you unto myself?" Put it on. Or is it this--"In My +Father's house are many mansions?" Put it on. Or is it this--"I will +never leave thee nor forsake thee?" Put it on. Or is it this great +girdle--"When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and +through the rivers, they shall not overthrow thee, when thou walkest +through the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame +kindle upon thee?" Put on the girdle, wear it ever, night and day, and +thou shalt find that in the strength of gospel truth thou are competent +to meet all circumstances, and triumphantly perfect thy Saviour's will. + + + + +III + +THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS + + + _Almighty God, our Father, it is by Thy grace that we attain + unto holiness, and it is by Thy light that we find wisdom. We + humbly pray that Thy grace and light may be given unto us so + that we may come into the liberty of purity and truth. Wilt Thou + graciously exalt our spirits and enable us to live in heavenly + places in Christ Jesus. Impart unto us a deep dissatisfaction + with everything that is low, and mean, and unclean, and create + within us such pure desire that we may appreciate the things + which Thou hast prepared for them that love Thee. Wilt Thou + receive us as guests of Thy table. Give us the glorious sense of + Thy presence, and the precious privilege of intimate communion. + Feed us with the bread of life; nourish all our spiritual + powers; help us to find our delight in such things as please + Thee. Give us strength to fight the good fight of faith. Give us + holy courage, that we may not be daunted by any fear, or turn + aside from our appointed task. Make us calm when we have to + tread an unfamiliar road, and may Thy presence give us + companionship divine. Amen._ + + + + +III + +THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS + + "Having on the breastplate of righteousness." Ephesians 6:14. + + +This is counsel given to a little company of Christians, so little as +to be almost submerged and lost in the great unfriendly city of Ephesus, +so little as to be like a tiny boat in the midst of a vast and +threatening sea. A missionary of the gospel has been among them and they +have received the word of the Lord Jesus. They have answered the +constraint of redeeming love and they have confessed their faith in +Christ. And what has happened? Their confession has compelled their +separation from many of their old fellowships and attachments. They are +loosened from many of their old affections. The forces that were once +friendly to them have become unfriendly, and they are now confronted by +overwhelming hostilities on every side. + +We must try to feel the power and peril of their isolation if we would +understand the force of the apostle's words. Imagine then the lot of +some German in Germany who espoused the cause of the Allies, or conceive +the lot of some Englishman in England who sided with Germany, and you +may realize the heat and fierceness of the antagonism with which these +immature Christians were surrounded in the city of Ephesus. But their +peril was not only found in the hostility of their old friends. There +was the enervating moral atmosphere which they had to breathe; there was +the recurring inclination of their own riotous passions; there was a +remnant of appetite for the old delights; and there was the nervous fear +that the forces against them might prove overwhelming. + +What should they do? How should they be able to stand? And especially +how should they be able to stand in the evil day, the day when external +circumstances might culminate in some terrific assault, or when their +own passions might rise against them in some particularly fierce +resurgence? Well, this chapter records the counsel of a great and +experienced apostle, a mighty soldier of the Lord, in which he advises +these young recruits of the Kingdom what armour they must wear if they +would be victorious on the field. "Put on the whole armour of God." And +we are considering these noble pieces of armour if haply we too may +possess the equipment and so turn our days of battle into days of +glorious victory. + +And now, in the name of the Lord Jesus, I bring you this piece of +armour, "the breastplate of righteousness," and it is to be worn in our +modern warfare in this difficult city of New York. What is this +breastplate of righteousness? What indeed was the Roman breastplate from +which the figure of speech is taken? Unfortunately, the word breastplate +is very inaccurate and misleading. The piece of armour to which the +apostle refers protected the back as well as the breast, and in addition +it gave protection to the neck and the hips. It would be much more truly +described by the phrase, "a coat of mail," because it was a sort of vest +made of small metal plates, overlapping one another like shield upon +shield, wrapping the body in its defences, and protecting the vital +organs, back and front, from every assault of the foe. + +Let us then venture to lift this more accurate description into our +text, "Put on righteousness like a coat of mail, wear it in all your +comings and goings in the city of Ephesus, and in it meet all the +malicious antagonisms of devils and of men." Now I wonder how the +apostle's counsel affected these fearful struggling Christians in +Ephesus. Let us look at them. Let us assume that we are with them, and +that we are about to give them the counsel offered in the text. How will +they receive it? Remember that they have just been lifted out of the +horrible pit and out of the miry clay of long-continued sin, and that +they are oppressed by their own weakness and helplessness, and by the +strength of the evil inclinations and habits which they have just +renounced. Well, now, let us offer these inexperienced disciples the +apostle's counsel: "Put on righteousness like a coat of mail!" Why, they +just look at you in utter despair! It is their very weakness that they +cannot forge and weave such a coat of mail to cover them in the day of +battle. The counsel would surely seem like the taunting cry of the foe. + +Suppose we had waylaid poor Christian in "The Pilgrim's Progress" when +he was struggling with his oppressive burden up the hill, and with the +fiery darts of the devil hurtling around him on every side, and suppose +we had called out to him, "Put on righteousness like a coat of mail!" We +should surely only have added heaviness to his burden and crushed him to +the ground in despair. "Put on righteousness like a coat of mail?" he +would have moaned in his reply, "My righteousness is like unto filthy +rags!" + +One poor, sorrowful correspondent wrote to me some weeks ago who was +the victim of alcohol and drugs. For years he had walked in ways of +uncleanness, but he was now just waking from his awful sleep and turning +his thoughts toward home. Suppose now I had written to him and said "Put +on righteousness like a coat of mail!" I think his eyes would have +dulled into weariness again, and he would have slipped back to his drugs +and his despair. This cannot be the meaning of the apostle's counsel, or +this coat of mail would never be worn. + +What, then, does the apostle mean when he says "Put on righteousness +like a coat of mail"? Let us seek for light in his own life, for he is a +soldier as well as a counsellor, and we shall find him following his own +advice and wearing the armour which he recommends to others. Let us +listen then to this word, and let us mark its significance; "Touching +the righteousness which is in the law I was found blameless." That seems +like an invincible protection. "Touching the righteousness which is in +the law I was found blameless!" But there was nothing invincible about +it. It was no more a coat of mail than an ordinary vest, and the devil +smote through the defences a dozen times a day. + +Listen again to the apostle when he has passed into the intimate +friendship of Christ: "Not having a righteousness of mine own." Mark +that; yea verily mark that;--"Not having a righteousness of mine own." +This coat of mail he wears is not his own righteousness. Whose, then, is +it? It is the righteousness of Christ. As Paul declares: "It is the +righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness +which is of God by faith." The apostle is wearing the righteousness of +Christ, and he wears it like a coat of mail, covering back and front, +shielding him before and behind. + +I want to pause a little there because we are very near one of the +deepest mysteries in the gospel of grace, and I want to state the +mystery as plainly as words can express it. This, then, is what the +Scriptures state: The Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely righteous, so +righteous that human imagination and human dream cannot conceive it +excelled. His holy obedience was perfect. There was no rent in the +vesture of His holiness. There was no frayed edge, there was no +imperfect strand, there were no stains. "In Him was no sin." We must +begin there. + +And now let us assume that a poor penitent comes to this perfectly holy +Lord. Let us make the sinner as nauseous and repulsive as you please. +Let us make him a moral leper, the wretched victim of uncleanness, +befouled by his own habits, consumed in his own sin, eaten without and +within. That poor penitent sinner, laden with defilement, comes to the +holy Lord Jesus, humbly seeking His favour and grace. + +Now what happens? What do the Scriptures tell us about the happening? +They tell us that the holy Saviour covers the sinner with the robe of +His own righteousness. The Lord puts His merits on to the sinner who has +no merits. He puts His obedience on to the sinner who has nothing but a +record of disobedience. He puts His spiritual conquests on to the sinner +who is torn and scarred by nothing but appalling defeats. He puts His +holiness on to a sinner who has been raked by defilements. That is the +proclamation of the gospel. That poor penitent believing sinner stands +now before the devil, and before men and angels, and before the presence +of God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ! What, in all his +imperfections? Yes. In all his weaknesses? Yes. With the scorching marks +of hell-fire still upon him? Yes. He is covered with the robe of +Christ's righteousness. He wears the merits and the strength and the +defences of the Lord's obedience. Have we not read of one who wrapped +himself in his country's flag and then dared an alien power to fire? It +is an altogether imperfect illustration, but it offers me some faint and +helpful analogy when I hear the saints give this witness: "He hath +clothed me with the robe of righteousness, and covered me with the +garments of salvation." No, it was not Paul's own righteousness which +constituted his coat of mail. It was the righteousness of his Lord. + +Now, this is the word of grace, and this is the message of the gospel. +It is this of which Toplady sings in his immortal hymn--"Rock of Ages": + + "Naked, look to Thee for dress." + +It is this also of which Charles Wesley sings in his also immortal +hymn--"Jesus, Lover of my Soul": + + "I am all unrighteousness, + Thou art full of truth and grace." + +It is this which was discovered by George Fox, the founder of the +Society of Friends, and of which he tells us so rapturously in the early +pages of his journal. It was this which John Bunyan found, and of which +he tells us in the pages of "Grace Abounding": "One day, as I was +passing into the field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience, +suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, 'Thy righteousness is in +heaven,' and me thought that I saw with the eyes of my soul, Jesus +Christ at God's right hand. There, I saw, was my righteousness; so that +wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, He +wants my righteousness, for that was just before Him. I also saw, +moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my +righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness +worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same +yesterday, to-day and forever. Now did my chains fall off my legs +indeed; I was loosened from my afflictions and irons.... Now went I also +home rejoicing for the grace and love of God." All these men, at the +beginning of their Christian life, were covered not with a righteousness +of their own, but with the righteousness of Christ, and they could sing +with Paul that they were clothed in the garments of His salvation. Their +coat of mail was the righteousness of Christ. + +Now I recognize, and I experience the difficulty, of realizing all +this, and I sympathize with you in the poverty of our apprehension. But +I think our difficulty is in some ways occasioned by the inadequacy of +all figures of speech to convey to us the real vitality of the truth. +For instance, a coat of mail is something detached, separate and +external, and so is a robe, and they have no vital relation to the body +which wears them. And therefore, when we think of the righteousness of +Christ covering another like a robe or a coat of mail, it appears +something unreal, a superficial ministry, or even a fine pretence. We +think of some villain clothed in the garb of a minister, but all the +more a villain because of the robes which cover him. Or we think of some +vile woman wearing the habits of a nun, and all the more vile because of +the significant garments in which she is clothed. A leprous sinner +wearing the robe of Christ's righteousness! It all appears detached and +superficial, like a climbing rose hiding a rubbish heap, or some lovely +ferns and greenery concealing an open sewer. There appears no deep +reality in it,--a sinner just covered with the robe of Christ's +holiness, and wearing the Lord's righteousness as a coat of mail. + +Yes, I admit that the figures all fail. The figure of a robe leaves the +sinner and the Saviour in no vital relation. And so it is with the coat +of mail. But in the blessed reality there is no detachment. There is +union between the sinner and the Saviour of the most profound and vital +kind. You must remember our assumption; the sinner who comes to the +Saviour comes in faith, and in penitence and in prayer, and these things +never leave a soul separate and detached from the life and love of the +Lord. Faith itself, even amid human relationships, is never a dividing +ministry; it always consolidates and unites. You may trace the vital +unifying influence of faith in a score of relations. The faith which a +patient has in a doctor is a minister of very vital union in every +effort to recover the lost genius of health. The faith which a pupil has +in a teacher unites the two in a very vital relation, and puts the pupil +into communion with the knowledge which is stored up in the teacher's +mind. The faith which one man has in another incorporates the two in +one. Faith always unifies; it never divides. + +And all this has its supreme application in the relation of the soul to +Christ. A poor penitent sinner who comes to the Lord in faith becomes +one with the Lord in the profoundest union which the mind of man can +conceive. Faith in Christ unites the soul with Christ just as in +grafting the engrafted scion becomes one with the vital stock. + +Now this is the beginning of our reasoning. We are assuming a poor, +penitent, weary soul flinging himself by faith on Christ, and thereby +becoming one with Christ, one with all He is; one with all He has been; +one with all He shall be, sharing His merits, His holiness, His +obedience! By faith in Christ I become one with Christ, and all He is is +thrown over me! And now before the devil I stand as one in Christ; and +in the day of judgment I shall stand as one in Christ, one with Him in +spite of all the sins of my past, and all the weaknesses and +immaturities of the present. "Thou hast covered me with the robe of +righteousness, and clothed me in the garment of salvation." I wear the +righteousness of Christ, and I wear it as a coat of mail. + +Now is not that a strong defence? Go back to the illustration of +grafting. I saw a young graft which had just been newly related to a +strong and healthy stock. The graft still looked very poor and weak and +sickly, but it had become vitally one with the healthy stock; it stood +no longer in its own strength. All the resources of the stock were +thrown about it, the merits of the stock were now the scion's, all the +victories of its yesterdays, and all the sap and energies of to-morrow. +The stock is to the scion as a coat of mail! And so it is with the soul +which has become by faith the scion of the Lord. + + "All my trust on Thee is stayed, + All my help from Thee I bring; + Cover my defenseless head + With the shadow of Thy wing." + +The righteousness of Christ is the breastplate of the soul. + +Now let us gather up our practical conclusions: The righteousness of +Christ becomes immediately mine by the act and attitude of faith. Yea, +verily, the most leprous and unclean soul in this city, with a history +unutterably loathsome, whose faith looks up tremblingly to the Saviour, +is immediately covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness, for by +faith he immediately becomes one with the righteousness of Christ. By +faith I can here and now become one with Christ; however poor and +wretched I be, and however sinful I have been, the righteousness of +Christ becomes the armour of my soul. You say that is very dogmatic. +Yes, blessed be God, it is dogmatic, but it is justified dogmatism, for +it is the glorious dogmatism of the gospel of Christ. + +And covered with the righteousness of Christ, that imputed +righteousness becomes progressively mine in the appropriation of +experience. His life flows into me like the life of stock into scion, +and all through my days I am assimilating more and more the +righteousness which covers me. His covering righteousness becomes more +and more my rectitude. His covering holiness becomes more and more my +obedience. His righteousness passes more and more into my conscience and +makes it holy; more and more into my affections and makes them lovely; +more and more into my will to make it rich and dutiful in obedience. +Forever and ever His righteousness will cover me, and forever and +forever I shall be growing into His likeness. His righteousness is my +defence. Yes, it is a coat of mail, a protection for breast and back. +His righteousness protects me from the things that are behind, the guilt +and the sins of my yesterdays. His righteousness protects me from the +things of to-morrow, from all the assaults of the unknown way, from the +fear of death, and from the day of judgment. + + "When I soar through worlds unknown, + See Thee on Thy Judgment Throne, + Rock of Ages, cleft for me, + Let me hide myself in Thee." + + + + +IV + +READY! + + + _Heavenly Father, we thank Thee we are called to be children of + the light. Even though we have been children of the darkness, + and have loved the ways of error rather than of truth, and of + sin rather than of holiness, Thou art calling us to the light of + eternal day. We would answer Thy call in penitence, and we would + return to Thee like wayward children who are coming home again. + We do not ask to lose the sense of our shame, but we ask to + taste the sweetness of Thy forgiveness. We do not ask to forget + our rebelliousness, but we ask to be assured that we are + reconciled to Thee. We would sit at Thy table and receive the + bread of life. We would worship at Thy feet and receive the + baptism of the Holy Spirit. We would stand before Thee with our + feet shod with the shoes of readiness, willing to go out on + errands of Christian love and service. If we are inclined to + frivolity may we become inclined to be serious and reverent. If + we are heedless may we become fired with heavenly ambition and + spiritual devotion. Redeem us from the littleness of selfishness + and lift us into the blessed communion of our fellow-men. Give + us a wide and generous outlook upon human affairs. Endow us with + the sympathy that rejoices with them who are rejoicing and that + weeps with them that weep. If Thou art leading us through the + gloom of adversity may we find that even the clouds drop + fatness. If Thou art leading us through the green pastures and + by the still waters, may we recognize the presence of the great + Shepherd and may our joys be sanctified. Hallow all our + experiences, we humbly pray Thee, and may we all become branches + in the vine of our Lord. Amen._ + + + + +IV + +READY! + + "Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." + Ephesians 6:15. + + +A little while ago an article appeared in one of the daily papers with +this startling title: "Boots and shoes may be vital determining factors +in the war." And contrasts and comparisons were made between the +opposing forces in respect to their footgear, and the provision which +had been made for keeping the soldiers' feet strong and hardy. And +allowing even for the ordinary journalistic exaggeration, it is a most +reasonable thing to assume that good, durable, well-fitting boots are +part of the requisite armour for all soldiers who are called to +prolonged and exacting service. Think of those heavy tramps in the early +days of the war, whether in advance or in retreat; and think of the miry +roads and the marshy ground since the rains have fallen; and think of +the wet and soaking trenches where the men have to stand for hours +together; and you will begin to realize what a vital part boots may play +in the terrible hardships of a long and wintry campaign. + +In the Roman Empire scrupulous care was given to the feet of the +fighting men. The shoes were specially made, not only for long marches, +but for protection against the secret dangers of the way. They had not +arrived at some of our refinements in devilry, but some of their +subtleties occasioned great destruction. Gall-traps were set along the +road, multitudes of sharp sticks were inserted on the surface of the +road, keen as dagger points, to obstruct the advance of an enemy, and to +maim his soldiers and compel them to fall out by the way. And so it was +an imperative necessity that the Roman soldier be well shod, his feet +made easy for the most exacting march, and defended against the hidden +perils which would maim him in service and spoil him for the fray. + +Now the apostle Paul had seen the Roman soldier marching as to war. I +think he must have been particularly fond of watching soldiers because +we can so often see and hear them reflected in his letters. We can +always learn a great deal from a man by studying his metaphors and +figures of speech, and we can get some very suggestive glimpses of his +tastes and interests by watching the analogies of the apostle Paul, +where the army is often tramping through his letters, and the Roman +soldier is often presented to offer counsel to the soldiers of the Lord. +And here in my text we are bidden to look to the soldier's shoes. He is +well shod, so splendidly shod that in a moment he is ready for any call, +along any road, and for any service. + +And the Christian, too, has long marches, and often along difficult and +trying roads, and there are flints about and sharp thorns, and other +things that wound and make him stumble. And sometimes there is scarcely +a road at all, and we have never been that way before, and it is like +the work of a pioneer cutting his way through the jungle. What roads we +have to tramp! Especially when we are apostles sent forth on the King's +bidding! And, says the great apostle, "You need shoes for the roads or +you will be unfit for the long journeys, and you will easily become +tired and sore, and you may even drop out of the ranks." And what kind +of shoes are we to wear as soldiers of Christ? How can we be defended in +our long journeyings and in our crusades in the service of the King? The +answer to these questions is given in the words: "Have your feet shod +with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Now what is that? + +Let me slightly recast the phrase. One of the words has slightly +altered its colour and significance since the days of the Authorized +Version. I mean the word "preparation." In the earlier days if you spoke +of a man of "preparation" you meant a man who was prepared, a man who +was equal to opportunity, a man who was awaiting the opening of the +door, having everything ready for the call of obligation and service. So +that the word "preparedness" would now be more accurate than the +authorized word "preparation." "Having your feet shod with the +preparedness of the gospel of peace." But I think we shall do even +better if instead of either of these we use the word "readiness." +"Having your feet shod with the readiness of the gospel of peace." What +is that? Look at it a little more closely. "The readiness of the +gospel"; that is the readiness which is born of the gospel as heat is +born of the sun. The gospel of peace enters the soul of a man and takes +possession of it, and then inspires the man with readiness. What for? +Readiness to take the road to tell others the good tidings which have +filled his own soul. That is it. The gospel of peace enters and +glorifies the soul, and it then imparts to the feet a readiness to take +the road, the long and difficult road, if need be, in order to tell to +others the good news which has set it free. That is it. Have your feet +shod with the readiness begotten of the gospel of peace! + +Let me give an example, and let it be taken from the book of the +prophet Isaiah. Here, then, are people in exile, sitting in the cold +shadow of oppression, and longing for freedom and home. And over the +hard mountain tracks there come messengers, swift messengers carrying +the glad tidings of emancipation. There they come over the long roads! +And when the suffering exiles see and hear them they break into this +song: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that +bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings +of God, that publisheth salvation; that saith to Zion, Thy God reigneth! +Break forth into joy! Sing together!" The feet of the messengers were +shod with the readiness begotten of good news, and they were speeding +with comfort to the desolate and distressed. + +We have another example in the same book where messengers who were +ladened with a rich experience were bidden to take the high road and +tell their news to others. "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee +up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift +up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the +cities of Judah, Behold your God!... He shall feed His flock like a +shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His +bosom; and shall gently lead those that are with young." That was the +good news, and with the readiness begotten of the good news the +messengers hastened to make it known. And so it is that our feet, as +disciples of the Lord Jesus, are to be shod with similar readiness, the +readiness begotten of our own experience of the goodness of God, the +readiness to go out on the rough and troubled roads of life, into its +highways and its byways, its broad streets and its narrow streets, +carrying the good cheer of the news of God's redeeming love and grace. +To be ready to go wherever there is any form of bondage, singing the +gospel song of joy and freedom,--that is the privileged service of the +soldiers of the Lord. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of +him that bringeth good tidings!" "Have your feet shod with the readiness +of the gospel of peace." + +Now I think it might be good for us to just glance along the roads of +life and look at one or two sorts of people who are held in spiritual +bondage, and who are therefore in need of good news and cheer, and we +will challenge ourselves if our feet are shod with readiness to take +them the gospel of peace. Well, then, look down this road, for here is a +soul who is held in the bondage of despondency and despair. You will +find such souls upon almost any road you like to tread. They are souls +who somehow have fainted; they have lost the warm, cheering, kindling +light of hope. Now failure is never really deadly until it puts out our +hope and freezes the springs of resolution. The only really fatal +element in defeat is the resolution not to try again. We have only +terribly failed when we have furled our sails. Yes, I repeat it; failure +only becomes virulent when it breeds despair. + +Now these folk are on the road. They have so utterly failed that they +have lost their vital confidence, and they have become pathetic victims +of self-disparagement. What do they need? They need to have their lamps +re-lit with the cheering light of hope. They need to have their fires +rekindled with the blessed warmth of confidence. They need to hear of +new dawnings, of radiant to-morrows, of larger, brighter coming days. +And if they do need light and fire and sunrise, what is that but to say +that they need to hear again the good tidings of the inexhaustible love +of the risen Lord. They just need Jesus, and the comforting gospel of +His peace. + +Yes, but who is to take it? Messengers are wanted, messengers shod with +"the readiness of the gospel of peace," messengers swift and ready to +run these glorious errands as the ministers of eternal hope. Now, are we +shod with that gospel readiness? Are our feet ready for the road? It is +a noble and a gracious ministry. How beautiful upon the mountains are +the feet of him that bringeth oil to smouldering lamps, and fuel to +dying fires, and that cheer and illumine the cold haunts of despondency +and despair! It is Mark Rutherford who says somewhere in what is to me +an unforgettable word: "Blessed are they who heal us of our +self-despisings." Yes, verily it is a beautiful ministry to kindle again +the lovely light of confidence and hope. Are we ready for such service? +Soldiers of Jesus, are our feet "shod with the readiness of the gospel +of peace"? + +Look again along the road. Here is another lonely soul, held in the +bondage of a blinding experience. Let us say it is Saul of Tarsus, who +is now on the road to Damascus: "And as he journeyed, he came near +Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: +and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him: Saul, Saul, +why persecuteth thou me?... And Saul arose from the earth, and when his +eyes were opened he saw no man: but they led him by the hand and brought +him into Damascus." Now here is a man who is held in the bondage of a +blinding experience. He has been smitten in the midnight, but has not +yet seen the dawn. He is convicted of sin, but has not yet found peace. +He has lost his old life but has not yet found the new one. His old +delights have gone, but the new joys have not yet arrived. He has been +stunned, but he is not yet free! And there he is! What is needed? O +surely, what is needed is some human messenger in whom the gospel of +peace dwells like summer sunshine and fragrance, and whose feet are shod +with readiness to carry that gracious summer to others. "And the Lord +said unto Ananias, Arise and go into the street which is called +Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul.... And +Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands +on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto +thee on the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive +thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell +from his eyes as it had been scales." And so the blinded found his +sight, and the enslaved found his liberty, and the bewildered found his +peace; and one of the Lord's messengers was the human minister in the +great emancipation. His feet were shod with the readiness of the gospel +of peace. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that +bringeth good tidings." + +There are other blinded people along the road, people who are stunned +and bewildered, not by dazzling light but by fierce lightning. There are +people who are just blinded by calamity. They have suffered the +lightning stroke of disaster or bereavement. I was talking to one such +troubled soul this very week; and speaking of the repeated blows of her +heavy sorrows she said: "They just left me blind and dumb!" Blind and +dumb along the road! What did she need? O, she just needed the restoring +balm and cordials of heavenly comfort. She needed the soft consolations +of divine grace. And what is that but to say again that she needed the +gospel of peace? And where are the messengers, with feet shod with the +readiness of the gospel of peace, to carry the good tidings to this soul +held in the bondage of silence and night? How unspeakable is the +privilege of carrying this holy grace, and seeing the holy light of +faith breaking upon the face of bewilderment, lovelier far than the +glory of sunrise breaking upon the mountains, flushing the cold snows, +and suffusing with living color the gloominess of the pines! Yes, it is +a beautiful service to carry good tidings to those who are stunned. "How +beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him that bringeth good +tidings!" Soldiers of Jesus, are our feet shod with this readiness of +the gospel of peace? + +Look once more down the road, for there is another soul held in the +bondage of ignorance. Let it be a man of Ethiopia. Let the road be the +steep descent which leadeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza. "A man of +Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of the +Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and did go to +Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot, +read Esaias, the prophet." This man has the Word, but he has not got the +clue. He has the Scriptures, but he has no interpreter. What is needed? +He needs some messenger in whom the Word has become life, and who has +discovered the central secret of the Scriptures in the companionship of +the Lord. "The angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and +go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto +Gaza. And he arose and went." "How beautiful upon the mountain are the +feet of him that bringeth good tidings!" "And Philip ran thither to him, +and heard him read the prophet Esaias." He ran on his errand because his +feet were shod with readiness! + + "Take my feet and let them be + Swift and beautiful for Thee." + +"And Philip said, Understandest thou what thou readest?" So he +explained to him the Word, and through the Word led him unto the Lord. +And this is the last word we read about this man going down to Egypt: +"He went on his way rejoicing!" What a ministry for a servant of the +Lord! And that is your gracious service, fellow-preacher, in the +ministry of the Word. And that is your privilege, Sunday-school teacher, +when you meet your children in the class. You are appointed by the Lord +to light up words that will burn in your scholars' minds to the very end +of the pilgrim way. And that is the privilege of all of us if we will +just have confidence in the guiding grace of the Lord. We need not be +stars in order to light lamps and kindle fires. A taper is quite enough +if it burns with genuine flame. Our greatest fitness for this kind of +service is to be ready to do it, and the Lord Himself will provide the +needful equipment. To have feet shod with readiness, that is what we +need. Then through our ministry it may joyfully happen that many of + + "The sons of ignorance and night + Will dwell in the eternal light + Through the eternal love." + +There is only one thing remaining to be said. The apostle teaches that +such readiness is armour for our own souls, it is defensive armour +against the world, the flesh and the devil. To be ready to tell the good +news of grace, the gospel of peace, is to have stout protection as you +trudge along the road. Readiness is one piece of armour in the panoply +of God. The soul which is not ready to serve is an easy prey to the evil +one. A man whose feet are swift to carry the good tidings of grace is +the favoured child of glorious promise: "He shall give His angels charge +over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." While we are ministering to +others we are being ministered unto by the spirits that surround His +throne, and our security is complete. + +Then let us pray for the grace and protection of readiness. Let us +pray that the gospel of peace may more and more deeply possess our +souls, so that we may be inspired with that spontaneous readiness which +awaits the King's bidding, and which speeds on its way carrying the +glorious treasures of grace. "Have your feet shod with the readiness of +the gospel of peace." "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of +him that bringeth good tidings!" + + + + +V + +THE SHIELD OF FAITH + + + _Most Holy God, Who lightenest every man that cometh into the + world, enlighten our hearts, we pray Thee, with the light of Thy + grace, that we may fully know our sins and our shortcomings, and + may confess them with true sorrow and contrition of heart. + Unveil Thy love to us, so that in its clear shining we may + behold the sin of our rebellion, and may turn unto Thee in + humility and fervent devotion. Deliver us, we pray Thee, from + the tyranny of evil habit. Save us from acknowledging any + sovereignty above Thine. Keep us in sight of the great white + throne, and may Thy judgments determine all our ways. Defend us + when we are tempted to fields of transgression. Protect us from + the allurements which assail the senses, and which entice us, + through our fleshly desires, into impure delights. Loose us from + the bonds of vanity and pride, and remove every perverting + prejudice which blinds our vision. Impart unto us the grace of + simplicity. May our worship be perfectly candid and sincere. + Give us a healthy recoil from all hypocrisy, from all mere + acting in Thy holy Presence. Quicken our perception that we may + realize Thy Presence, and feel the awe of the unseen. Lead us, + we pray Thee, to the fountain of life. Quicken our souls so that + we may apprehend the things that concern our peace. Amen._ + + + + +V + +THE SHIELD OF FAITH + + "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be + able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Ephesians + 6:16. + + +But did the apostle who gives the counsel find his faith an +all-sufficient shield? He recommends the shield of faith, but is the +recommendation based on personal experience? And if so, what is the +nature and value of that experience? What sort of protection did his +faith give to him? When I examine his life what tokens do I find of +guardianship and strong defence? When I move through the ways of his +experience is it like passing through quiet and shady cloisters shut +away from the noise and heat of the fierce and feverish world? Is his +protected life like a garden walled around, full of sweet and pleasant +things, and secured against the maraudings of robber and beast? Let us +look at this protected life. Let us glance at the outer circumstances. +Here is one glimpse of his experience: "Of the Jews five times received +I forty stripes save one; once was I stoned; thrice have I suffered +shipwreck; a day and a night have I been in the deep; in stripes above +measure; in prisons more frequent; in deaths oft; in weariness and +painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings +often, in cold and nakedness." And yet this is the man who speaks about +the shield of faith, and in spite of the protecting shield all these +things happened unto him! + +Look at his bodily infirmities. "There was given unto me a thorn in the +flesh." Where was the shield? It is not necessary for us to know the +character of his thorn. But assuredly it was some ailment which appeared +to interfere with the completeness of his work. Some think it was an +affliction of the eyes; others think that it was a proneness to some +form of malarial fever which frequently brought him into a state of +collapse and exhaustion. But there it was, and the shield of faith did +not keep it away. + +Or look again at his exhausting labours. There is no word concerning his +ministry more pregnant with meaning than this word "labour," which the +apostle so frequently used to describe his work. "In labours oft;" +"whereunto I labour;" "I laboured more abundantly than they all." This +is not the labour of ordinary toil. It is the labour of travail. It is +labour to the degree of poignant pang. It is labour that so expends the +strength as to empty the fountain. It is the labour of sacrifice. And I +thought that perhaps a protected life might have been spared the +sufferings of a living martyrdom and that the service such a man +rendered might have been made fruitful without pain. I thought God might +have protected His servant. But the shield of faith did not deliver him +from the labour of travail through which he sought the birth of the +children of grace. + +Or look once more at his repeated failures. You can hear the wail of +sadness as he frequently contemplates his ruined hopes concerning little +churches which he had built, or concerning fellow-believers whom he had +won to Christ. "Are ye so soon fallen away?" "Ye would have given your +eyes to me but now--." "I hear that there is strife among you." "It is +reported that there is uncleanness among you." "Demus hath forsaken me." +And it is wail after wail, for it is failure after failure. Defeat is +piled upon defeat. It is declared to be a protected life, and yet +disasters litter the entire way. It is perfectly clear that the shield +of faith did not guard him from the agony of defeat. + +Such are the experiences of the man who gave his strength to proclaim +the all-sufficiency of the shield of faith, who spent his days in +recommending it to his fellow-men, and whose own life was nevertheless +noisy with tumult, and burdened with antagonisms, and crippled by +infirmity, and clouded with defeat. Can this life be said to be wearing +a shield? We have so far been looking at the man's environment, at his +bodily infirmities, at his activities of labor, at his external defeats. +What if in all these things we have not come within sight of the realm +which the apostle would describe as his life? When Paul speaks of life +he means the life of the soul. When he thinks of life his eyes are on +the soul. In all the estimates and values which he makes of life he is +fixedly regarding the soul. The question of success or failure in life +is judged by him in the courthouse of the soul. You cannot entice the +apostle away to life's accidents and induce him to take his measurements +there. He always measures life with the measurement of an angel, and +thus he busies himself not with the amplitude of possessions, but with +the quality of being, not with the outer estates of circumstances but +with the central keep and citadel of the soul. We never find the apostle +Paul with his eyes glued upon the wealth or poverty of his surroundings. +But everywhere and always and with endless fascination, he watches the +growth or decay of the soul. When, therefore, this man speaks of the +shield of faith we may be quite sure that he is still dwelling near the +soul and that he is speaking of a protection which will defend the +innermost life from foul and destructive invasion. + +Now our emphasis is prone to be entirely the other way, and therefore +we are very apt to misinterpret the teachings of the apostle Paul and to +misunderstand the holy promises of the Lord. We are prone to live in the +incidents of life rather than in its essentials, in environment rather +than in character, in possessions rather than in dispositions, in the +body rather than in the soul. The consequence is that we seek our +shields in the realms in which we live. We live only in the things of +the body and therefore against bodily ills we seek our shields. We want +a shield against sorrow, to keep it away, a shield to protect us against +the break-up of our happy estate. We want a shield against adversity, to +keep it away, a shield against the darkening eclipse of the sunny day. +We want a shield against loss, to keep it away, a shield against the +rupture of pleasant relations, a shield to protect us against the +bereavements which destroy the completeness of our fellowships. We want +a shield against pain, to keep it away, a shield against the pricks and +goads of piercing circumstances, against the stings and arrows of +outrageous fortune. + +In a word, we want a shield to make us comfortable, and because the +shield of faith does not do it we are often stunned and confused, and +our thin reasonings are often twisted and broken, and the world appears +a labyrinth without a providence and without a plan. It is just here +that our false emphasis leads us astray. We live in circumstances and +seek a shield to make us comfortable; but the apostle Paul lived in +character and sought a shield to make him holy. He was not concerned +with the arrangement of circumstances, but he was concerned with the +aspiration that, be the circumstances what they might, they should never +bring disaster to his soul. He did not seek a shield to keep off +ill-circumstances, but he sought a shield to keep ill-circumstances from +doing him harm. He sought a shield to defend him from the +destructiveness of every kind of circumstance, whether fair or foul, +whether laden with sunshine or heavy with gloom. Paul wanted a shield +against all circumstances in order that no circumstance might unman him +and impoverish the wealth of his soul. + +Let me offer a simple illustration. A ray of white light is made up of +many colors, but we can devise screens to keep back any one of these +colors and to let through those we please. We can filter the rays. Or we +can devise a screen to let in rays of light and to keep out rays of +heat. We can intercept certain rays and forbid their presence. Now, to +the apostle Paul the shield of faith was a screen to intercept the +deadly rays which dwell in every kind of circumstance; and to Paul the +deadly rays in circumstances, whether the circumstances were bright or +cloudy, were just those that consumed his spiritual susceptibilities and +lessened his communion with God, the things that ate out his moral +fibre, and that destroyed the wholeness and wholesomeness of his human +sympathies, and impaired his intimacy with God and man. It was against +these deadly rays he needed a shield, and he found it in the shield of +faith. + +Paul wanted a shield, not against failure; that might come or stay +away. But he wanted a shield against the pessimism that may be born of +failure, and which holds the soul in the fierce bondage of an Arctic +winter. Paul wanted a shield, not against injury; that might come or +stay away; but against the deadly thing that is born of injury, even the +foul offspring of revenge. Paul wanted a shield, not against pain; that +might come or might not come; he sought a shield against the spirit of +murmuring which is so frequently born of pain, the deadly, deadening +mood of complaint. Paul wanted a shield, not against disappointment, +that might come or might not come; but against the bitterness that is +born of disappointment, the mood of cynicism which sours the milk of +human kindness and perverts all the gentle currents of the soul. Paul +wanted a shield, not against difficulty; that might come or might not +come; but against the fear that is born of difficulty, the cowardice and +the disloyalty which are so often bred of stupendous tasks. Paul did not +want a shield against success; that might come or might not come; but +against the pride that is born of success, the deadly vanity and +self-conceit which scorch the fair and gracious things of the soul as a +prairie-fire snaps up a homestead or a farm. Paul did not want a shield +against wealth; that might come or might not come; but against the +materialism that is born of wealth, the deadly petrifying influence +which turns flesh into stone, spirituality into benumbment, and which +makes a soul unconscious of God and of eternity. The apostle did not +want a shield against any particular circumstance, but against every +kind of circumstance, that in everything he might be defended against +the fiery darts of the devil. + +He found the shield he needed in a vital faith in Christ. First of all +the faith-life cultivates the personal fellowship of the Lord Jesus +Christ. The ultimate concern of faith is not with a polity, not with a +creed, not with a church, and not with a sacrament, but with the person +of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore the first thing we have to do if +we wish to wear the shield of faith is to cultivate the companionship of +the Lord. We must seek His holy presence. We must let His purpose enter +into and possess our minds. We must let His promises distil into our +hearts. And we must let our own hearts and minds dwell upon the Lord +Jesus in holy thought and aspiration, just as our hearts and minds dwell +upon the loved ones who have gone from our side. We must talk to Him in +secret and we must let Him talk to us. We must consult Him about our +affairs, and then take His counsels as our statutes, and pay such heed +to them that the statutes will become our songs. Faith-life cultivates +the friendship of Christ, and leans upon it, and surrenders itself with +glorious abandon to the sovereign decrees of His grace and love. + +And then, secondly, the faith-life puts first things first, and in its +list of primary values it gives first place to the treasures of the +soul. Faith-life is more concerned with habits than with things, with +character than with office, with self-respect than with popular esteem. +The faith-life puts first things first, the clean mind and the pure +heart, and from these it never turns its eyes away. + +And, lastly, the faith-life contemplates the campaign rather than the +single battle. One battle may seem to go against it. But faith knows +that one battle is not the end of the world. "I will see you again, and +your sorrow shall be turned into joy." Faith takes the long view, the +view of the entire campaign. "I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, +coming down out of heaven from God." "The kingdoms of this world shall +become the kingdom of our God." Such a relationship to the Lord protects +our life as with an invincible shield. It may please God to conduct our +life through long reaches of cloudless noon; the shield of faith will be +our defence. It may please God to lead us through the gloom of a long +and terrible night; the shield of faith will be our defence. "Thou shalt +not be afraid of the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the +destruction that wasteth at noonday." + + + + +VI + +THE HELMET OF HOPE + + + _Eternal God, mercifully help us to unitedly draw near to the + atoning Saviour, and through His mercies find access into the + inheritance of the saints in light. Forgive the sins of our + rebellion and redeem us from our guilt. Transform our spiritual + habits that we may find ourselves able to fix our minds upon + things above. Cleanse our hearts by the waters of regeneration, + in order that our inclinations may be fixed upon the things that + please Thee. Rekindle the fire of our affections, purify the + light of our conscience. Broaden our compassions and make them + more delicate in their discernments. Impart unto us the saving + sense of Thy Companionship, and in the assurance of Thy Presence + may we know ourselves competent to do Thy will. Meet with us one + by one. Equip us with all needful armour for our daily battle. + Feed us with hidden manna, that so our strength may be equal to + our task. Unite us in the bonds of holy fear, and may we all be + partakers of Thy love and grace. Amen._ + + + + +VI + +THE HELMET OF HOPE + + "And take the helmet of salvation." Ephesians 6:17. + + "And for an helmet the hope of salvation." I Thessalonians 5:8. + + +The helmet of hope! Who has not experienced the energy of a mighty +hope? It is always a force to be reckoned with in the day of life's +battle. Hope is a splendid helmet, firmly covering the head, and +defending all its thoughts and purposes and visions from the subtle +assaults of the evil one. The helmet of hope is one of the best +protections against "losing one's head"; it is the best security against +all attacks made upon the mind by small but deadly fears; it is the only +effective safeguard against petty but deadly compromise. Far away the +best defence against all sorts of mental vagrancy and distraction is to +have the executive chambers of the life encircled and possessed by a +strong and brilliant hope. + +Now every student of the apostle Paul knows that he is an optimist. But +he is an optimist, not because he closes his eyes, but because he opens +them and uses them to survey the entire field of vision and possibility. +He is an optimist, not because he cannot see the gross darkness,--no one +has painted the darkness in blacker hues,--but because he can also see +the light; and no one has portrayed the light with more alluring +brilliance and glory. He is an optimist, not because he cannot see the +loathsome presence of weakness, but because he sees the unutterable +grace and love of God. + +Yes, he is a reasonable optimist, and I dare to say that you cannot +find anywhere in human literature a hundred pages more glowing and +radiant with the spirit of hope than in the letters of the apostle Paul. +Nowhere can you travel with him, not even to the darkest and most tragic +realms of human need, without catching the bright shining of a splendid +hope. You know how it is when you walk along the shore with the full +moon riding over the sea. Between you and the moon, and right across the +troubled waters, there is a broad pathway of silver light. If you move +up the shore the shining path moves with you. If you move down the shore +still you have the silver path across the waves. Wherever you stand +there is always between you and the moon a shining vista stretching +athwart the restless sea. And wherever the great apostle journeyed, and +through whatever cold or desolate circumstances, there was always +between him and the risen Lord, the Lord of grace and love, a bright and +broadening way of eternal hope. No matter where he is, and how appalling +the need, no matter what corruption may gather about the shore on which +he is walking, always there is the silver path of gospel-hope stretching +from the human shore-line to the burning bliss of the eternal Presence. +In Jerusalem, in Antioch, in Lystra, in Ephesus, in Philippi, in Rome, +he was never without these holy beams. They moved with him wherever he +went, for they were the outshining rays of the mercy of the eternal God. +Yes indeed, he was an optimist born and sustained in grace. He saw a +shining road of hope out of every pit, stretching from the miry clay to +the awful and yet glorious sanctities of holiness and peace. + +Now our ordinary experience teaches us how much energy resides in a +commanding hope. A big expectation is stored with wonderful dynamic, and +it transmits its power to every faculty in the soul. The influence of a +great hope fills the mind with an alert and sensitive trembling, +inspiring every thought to rise as it were on tiptoe to await and greet +the expected guest. A great hope pours its energy into the will, +endowing it with the strength of marvellous patience and perseverance. I +have lately read of an ingenious contrivance, which is now being used in +some parts of Egypt, in which, by a subtle combination of glass +receivers, the heat of the sun is collected, and the gathered energy +concentrated and used in turning machinery in the varied ministries of +agriculture. That is to say, the power of a diffused shining is directed +to an engine and its strength enlisted in practical service. And so it +is with the sunny light of a large hope. Its gathered energy is poured +into the engine of the will, imparting glorious driving power, the power +of "go" and laborious persistence. + +Every sphere of human interest provides examples of this principle. +Turn to the realm of invention. An inventor has a great hope shining +before him as a brilliant vision of possible achievement. With what +energy of will it endows him, and with what tireless, sleepless, +invincible patience! Think of the immeasurable endurance of the brothers +Wright who were inspired by the great hope of achieving the conquest of +the air! Their hope was indeed a helmet defending them against all +withering suggestions of ease, protecting them against the call of an +ignoble indolence which is so often heard in hours of defeat. An +electric railway has just been introduced by its inventor to the British +Government, which is capable of transmitting mails and parcels along a +prepared track at the rate of three hundred miles per hour; and the +inventor has recently quietly told us that he has been at work upon it +for thirty years! But think how, all through those long and many +fruitless years, his helmet of hope defended him, and especially +protected him from those alluring suggestions which come from the mild +climate of Lotus-Land, and which tempt a man to relax his tension and +lie down in the pleasant and thymy banks of rest and ease. + +Or seek your examples in the realms of discovery. Read the chapters in +Lord Lister's life which tell how he, braced and inspired by a mighty +hope, laboured and laboured in the quest of an anćsthetic. Or turn to +the equally fascinating pages which tell how Sir James Simpson toiled, +and moiled, and dared, and suffered in the long researches which led to +the discovery of chloroform. His will was rendered indomitable by the +splendid hope of assuaging human pain. + +Or think again of the restless, tireless labours of hundreds of men who +are to-day engaged in searching for the microscopic cause of cancer, +that having found it they might isolate it, and discover an antagonist +which shall work its complete destruction. There is a glorious hope +shining across the cancer waste, and it is nerving the will of research +with unconquerable perseverance. Yes, indeed, men wear a splendid +helmet, even in the ways of common experience, when they wear the helmet +of hope. + +And mark their condition when they lose it. Turn to the scriptural +record of the voyage when Paul and his fellow-prisoners were being +escorted by soldiers to take their trial in Rome: A tempestuous storm +arose, and, in the power of a mighty hope to save the boat and +themselves the men called out every ounce of their strength. But now +note this connection in the narrative as I read it to you: "All hope was +taken away." ... "We let her drift." That is it, and it offers a +striking symbol of a common experience. While our hope is burning we +steer; when our hope is gone out we drift. The motive power is gone, and +the hopeless man is like a drifting hull in the midst of a wild and +desolate sea. + +Or turn to the pages of Capt. Scott's journal when he and his party are +surmounting colossal tasks in the chivalrous hope of winning for their +country the honourable distinction of first discovery of the South Pole. +The narrative just blazes with hope, and therefore it tingles with +energy and shouts with song! But when Amundsen's flag was seen at the +Pole, and their strong hope was gone, and the disappointed company began +to return--O what heavy feet, and what accumulated burdens, and what +fiercely added laboriousness to an already laborious road! Hope had +gone, and they nobly trudged, and trudged, and trudged, to faint, and +fall, and die! Aye, men and women, hope is a tremendous power. To have +hope is to have always fresh reserves to meet every new expenditure of +the will. To lose hope is like losing the dynamo, the secret of +inspiration, and the once indomitable will droops and faints away. It +just makes an infinite difference whether or not we are wearing the +helmet of hope. + +But now, if all this is true of common hope and common experience, how +is it with the supreme hope, "the hope of salvation?" What is this +hope,--"the hope of salvation?" To whom is the apostle Paul giving this +counsel? He is giving it to Christian believers in Ephesus: But were +they not already saved? Why should he speak to them of "the hope of +salvation" as though it were something still to be won? I remember when +I was a mere boy going to Spurgeon's Tabernacle, and as I was retiring +from the building at the close of the service, a gentleman laid his hand +upon my shoulder, and said: "My boy, are you saved?" His question +suggested that it was something I might already have experienced. Well, +had not the Ephesian disciples passed through that same experience? A +little while ago a London cabman stood at the foot of the pulpit-stairs +in our church, and told me that by the grace of God he had been +wonderfully saved. But the apostle speaks to these believers of "the +hope of salvation" as though it were something still before them. They +had taken a great step in discipleship in that vast and wicked city of +Ephesus, crowded with all sorts of antagonisms, and they had boldly +confessed themselves on the side of Christ. And yet, the apostle +counsels them to wear as a helmet "the hope of salvation." + +The truth is that the apostle Paul uses all the three primary tenses +in speaking of salvation. He speaks to believers in the past tense, and +he says: "We were saved." And to the same believers he uses the present +tense, and he says: "Ye are being saved." And yet again to the same +believers he uses the future tense, "Ye shall be saved." All of which +means that to this great apostle a gloriously full salvation stretches +across the years from past to future, gathering riches with every +passing day. Salvation to Paul was more than a step, it was also a walk. +It was more than a crisis, it was also a prolonged process. It was more +than the gift of new life, it was the maturing in growth and power. A +drowning man, when he is lifted out of the water, is in a very profound +sense vitally saved. But after this initial salvation there is the +further salvation of re-collecting his scattered consciousness, and of +recovering his exhausted strength. And in a very glorious sense a man is +spiritually saved in a moment; in a moment in Christ Jesus he passed +from death into life. But it is also equally true that a man is only +saved in a lifetime, as he appropriates to himself more and more the +grace and truth of the risen Lord. Yes, after we have been converted and +saved, there is a further salvation in self-recovery, in self-discovery, +all of which becomes ours in a fuller and richer discovery of Christ. +Our possibilities of salvation in Christ Jesus stretch before us like +range upon range of glorious mountains. When we have attained one range +we have only obtained a new vantage-ground for beholding another; when +that, too, has been climbed, still vaster and grander ranges rise into +view. Every fresh addition to our Christlikeness increases our power of +discernment, and every added power of discernment unfolds a larger +vision and a more glorious and alluring hope. All believers in Christ +Jesus have been saved. All believers in Christ Jesus are being saved. +All believers in Christ Jesus will be saved. And therefore, says the +apostle, always wear the helmet of hope, "the hope of salvation." + +Now perhaps we cannot better draw this meditation to a close in more +immediate and practical purpose than by just gazing upon one or two of +the hopes of the apostle Paul, if perchance by God's good grace we may +appropriate them to our own souls. For he, too, is wearing the helmet of +hope, the hope of salvation. What, then, does he hope for? What mighty +hope is throwing the energies of its defences upon and around his soul? +Here is one of his hopes; look at it: "In hope of the glory of God." He +wore that hope, and he wore it like a helmet, and he wore it night and +day. He had gazed upon the glory of the Lord, the wondrous light of +grace and truth which shone in the face of Jesus Christ. And now he +dared to hold the glorious hope of becoming glorified with the same +glory. He dared to hope that his own soul would become translucent with +the holy light of divine truth and purity. It almost makes one catch the +breath to see such spiritual audacity. One has read of young boys +trembling with artistic sensibility, bowing in the presence of the +world's masterpieces in art or music, and becoming possessed with the +amazing hope of one day sharing the master's light and glory. But here +is a man who has been prostrate in the presence of his God. He has been +humbly gazing upon "the chief among ten thousand and the altogether +lovely." And now, in a daring which yet quiets the soul in reverence and +prayerful lowliness, he tells his fellow-believers that he lives "in +hope of the glory of God." What a hope! The hope of being glorified with +God's glory, of being made gracious with His grace, of being made +truthful with His truth, of being sanctified with His holiness, of being +transformed into the same image, from glory unto glory! I say, what a +hope, and therefore, what a helmet! With a helmet like that defending a +man's brain, what a defence he has against all the petty devilries which +seek to enter among our thoughts in the shape of mean purposes, and +petty moral triflings, such as so often invade and desolate the whole +realm of the mind! What a hope this is, and what a helmet; "the hope of +the glory of God." + +And here is another way the apostle has of describing the hope he +wears, "the hope of salvation;"--"To present us spotless before His +throne." Quietly and reverently repeat that phrase, again, and again, +and again, until something of its grandeur begins to fill your soul as +the advancing light of the rising sun fills a vale in Switzerland with +its soft and mellowing glory. "To present us spotless before His +throne." What a hope! And yet this man wore it every day, in all the ups +and downs, the victories and defeats of his ever-changing life. "To +present us spotless before His throne!" Just think of wearing that hope +in New York! And by God's good grace we can wear it; yes, indeed, we +can, and what a helmet to wear! When a man has got that helmet on, and +some sharp temptation is hurled at him, it will fall away from him like +a paper pellet thrown against the armour plate of a mighty dreadnought. +"To present us spotless!" Wear that helmet of hope, and the devil shall +batter thee in vain. For what can the devil do with men and women in +whom these hopes are blazing? He offers us his glittering snares, and +they are revealed as common paste in the presence of genuine stones. +They stand exposed as noisy fireworks in the presence of the stars. + +Let us wear the helmet of hope, the helmet of salvation, and we are +quite secure. But let us put it on every day. Every morning let us put +on the helmet, and often and again during the day let us feel that it is +in its place. Let us begin the day by saying, "Now, my soul, live to-day +in hope of the glory of God! Live to-day in the hope of being presented +spotless before His throne! Live to-day in the hope of being 'filled +unto all the fulness of God'." Let us put that helmet on, and let us do +it deliberately, prayerfully, and trustfully, and in life's evil day we +shall be able to stand, and having done all, to stand. + + + + +VII + +THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT + + + _Heavenly Father, Who hast given Thy Holy Spirit to comfort and + to guide Thy servants, teach us to trust His leading. Day by day + we would listen to His consolation and direction. When we open + Thy Word of Life we would rely upon His illuminating + interpretation. When the story of the character and the depths + of the teaching of Jesus are far beyond us, and seem + unapproachable, when doubts and fears assail the mind, let us + abide in quiet repose under the tuition of the indwelling + Spirit. When desire for the highest life fails, and hunger and + thirst after righteousness are forgotten in other pursuits, may + the kindly Spirit inspire afresh the ardor of enthusiasm which + He alone can create. When we have lost our bearings in the maze + of life teach us to look to the ever-present Guide Who brings + back into the clear path all Who trust Him; through Jesus + Christ. Amen._ + + + + +VII + +THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT + + "Take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God." + Ephesians 6:17. + + +Here is the Christian soldier with his sword, and his sword is the Word +of God. And what a sword it is! "Then said Mr. Greatheart to Mr. +Valiant-for-truth, Thou hast worthily behaved thyself; let me see thy +sword. So he showed it him. When he had taken it into his hand and +looked thereon a while, he said, Ha, it is a right Jerusalem blade. Then +said Mr. Valiant-for-truth, It is so. Let a man have one of these +blades, with a hand to wield it, and skill to use it, and he may venture +upon an angel with it. He need not fear its holding if he can but tell +how to lay on. Its edge will never blunt. It will cut flesh and bones, +and soul and spirit and all." Yes indeed, this sword is a serviceable +and most efficient weapon. And it might be profitable, in the very +beginning of our meditation, to go on to the field of actual battle and +watch one or two mighty swordsmen wielding the sword in actual war. And +let us begin with Him who could wield the sword as none other could do +and who never drew it in vain. "And the tempter came to Him and said, If +Thou art the Son of God command that these stones be made bread." At +once the Master's hand was on the hilt of His sword and He drew it forth +for combat. "It is written man shall not live by bread alone." It was +"the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!" The place of battle +is now changed, but the [missing text] unto Him, "All these things will +I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." And again the Master +whipped out His sword;--"Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou +shalt worship the Lord Thy God, and Him only shalt Thou serve." It was +"the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God!" + +Now turn your eyes to quite another field of battle where one of the +Master's disciples, a very skilful swordsman, is in combat with a very +deadly foe. "And when the people saw what Paul had done"--he had just +given a cripple the power to walk--"they lifted up their voices saying, +The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called +Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker." +Now what did the apostle do in the presence of so deadly a peril, a +peril which garbed itself in the attractive robes of light? Immediately +he drew out his sword, and fought his shining antagonist with a word +from the 146th Psalm! That is excellent swordwork, by a most excellent +swordsman! And he used "the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of +God." + +Or turn once more to another field of battle, to the Valley of +Humiliation, where "poor Christian was hard put to it. For he had gone +but a little way before he espied a foul fiend coming over the field to +meet him; his name was Apollyon." "Then did Christian draw, for he saw +it was time to bestir him; Apollyon as fast made at him, throwing darts +as thick as hail.... The sword combat lasted for about half a day, even +till Christian was almost quite spent; for you must know that Christian, +by reason of his wounds, must needs grow weaker and weaker. Then +Apollyon, espying his opportunity, began to gather up close to +Christian, and wrestling with him gave him a dreadful fall; and with +that Christian's sword flew out of his hand. Then said Apollyon, I am +sure of thee now. And with that he had almost pressed him to death, so +that Christian began to despair of life. But as God would have it, while +Apollyon was fetching his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this +good man, Christian nimbly reached out his hand for his sword, saying, +Rejoice not against me, oh mine enemy: when I fall I shall arise; and +with that gave him a deadly thrust which made him give back as one that +had received his mortal wound. Christian perceiving that made at him +again, saying, 'Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors +through Him that loved us.' And with that Apollyon spread forth his +broken wings, and sped him away, so that Christian saw him no more.... I +never saw Christian all this while give as much as one pleasant look, +till he perceived he had wounded Apollyon with his two-edged sword; then +indeed he did smile and look upward.... Then there came to him a man +with some of the leaves of the tree of life, the which Christian took +and applied to the wounds that he had received in the battle and was +healed immediately." Surely to watch expert fighters like these, who +turn their battlefields into fields of glory, makes one more ambitious +to possess and wield that same two-edged sword, the sword of the Spirit +which is the Word of God! + +Well now, it is this sword which Paul advises these young disciples at +Ephesus to get and hold at all costs, and never to leave it rusting in +the scabbard at home. And surely, if there was need for swordwork +anywhere it was in that gay, shallow, materialistic city of Ephesus. We +have been reading many terrible accounts of late of bayonet fighting in +the trenches in Belgium and France, where gunnery attacks were +unavailable, and where men came face to face in the hot breath of one +another's passions, and were locked in the death-grip of hand-to-hand +encounter. It was even so with the spiritual warfare in Ephesus. There +was no long-range fighting, no far distant antagonisms, no remote or +merely theoretical persecution. The foes of the soul were exceedingly +real, exceedingly near, and exceedingly intimate. In Ephesus your enemy +was upon you in a moment, and there was nothing for it but never to let +the sword fall from your hand. Spiritual enemies approached the soul +every hour of the day, and it was imperative to run them through with +the sword of the truth. There were falsities, and subtleties, and +evasions; there were ambiguities and sophistries; there were half truths +linked with black falsehood, and white lies linked with snatches of +truth; there were exaggerations and perversions; there were insinuations +and evil counsels; there were mean expediencies and illicit compromises; +there were hypocrisies of every kind in that prosperous city of Ephesus, +tricked out in apparent seemliness, and perilous in all the wiles of the +devil. What, then, was a young Christian to do in all that immoral +welter? He must have his sword in hand, always in hand, and he must +prick these bubbles, and pierce these showy disguises, and rend these +deceptive veils, and he must do it at once, before they mastered him +with the plausible counterfeits of the truth. + +I saw a photograph the other day from the European field of war, in +which a company of soldiers were examining a load of hay. They were +piercing it with their swords in the endeavour to find out if any foe +lay hidden in the fragrant pile. And I could not but think of the +warfare of the soul, and of the sweet and fragrant disguises in which +the devil is so often concealed. The devil in a hay-rick! I have +experienced it a thousand times. A deadly temptation hidden in some +innocent expediency! Some fatal lure concealed in a popular custom! +Corruption housing itself in a white lie! The enemy wearing a white +robe! The devil, I say, in a hay-rick! In such conditions there was only +one resource for these disciples in Ephesus, as there is only one +resource for you and me to-day, to have our swords always ready, and to +pierce these glistening falsities in the blessed name of the holy and +unchanging God. Yes, whip out your sword, the sword of the Spirit, which +is the Word of God. + +What, then, is this sword? It is "the Word of God." And what is this +Word of God which we are to flash through all falsehood like the thrust +of a gleaming sword? What is this Word which is to be our sword? Well, +first of all, it is the word of divine truth; God's way of thinking +about things. And therefore when we are wielding the sword we are using +a thought of God. We are to use God's thought about a thing in fighting +all other thoughts about that thing. For instance, we are to take God's +thought about life, and use it as a sword to meet and destroy all mean +and unworthy conceptions of life. We are to take God's thought about sin +and use it in combating all the lax and deadly conceptions of sin which +are so loose and rampant in our own day. We are to take God's thought +about holiness, and use it in fighting all ignoble compromises which may +satisfy a poor standard in the kingdom of the letter, but which have no +standing in the more glorious realm of the spirit. We are to take God's +thought about worship, and fight all the little, mean, seductive +ritualisms which so frequently strut about in royal and gorgeous robes, +but which are empty of all vital spiritual wealth and power. + +And so with a thousand other relations. God's thought about a thing is +to be our sword in fighting all the debasing thoughts of that thing; it +may be God's thought of work, or of wealth, or of success, or of +failure, or God's thought of pleasure, or of service, or of death. What +does God think about a thing? That is my sword, the thought of God which +is the word of God. And we are to take that shining, flaming, flashing +thought, and use it as a sword among all the creeping, crawling things, +or against all the flying and bewitching subtleties of things which +abounded in Ephesus, and which are equally prolific in London or New +York. And so does the apostle give us this counsel: "Take the sword of +the spirit, which is the thought or word of God." + +And now I can add a second characteristic of the sword, a +characteristic which amplifies and corroborates the first. This word of +God, which is to be our sword, is not only the word of divine truth as +laid upon the mind. It is also the word of divine commandment as laid +upon the will. It is a word which divinely reveals our personal duty, +imposing upon us some imperative mission. Some word of God comes to us +with the mysterious suggestion of obligation, and we often receive it +over against some soft and wooing temptation to an indulgent indolence; +and we are to take the divine word of obligation, and with it fight and +slay the soft seduction to ease. + +We have this sort of warfare most vividly described in the experience +of the prophet Jonah. Let me set it before you. "And the word of the +Lord came unto Jonah, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and +cry against it!" Let us note the lines of this experience. The word of +the Lord came to Jonah as an imperative and an obligation. It said +"Nineveh!" But another word came to Jonah, a soft, luxurious, seductive +word, luring him to Tarshish. And there you have all the conditions of +spiritual warfare; and the only way for the believer is to take the word +of obligation, and use it as a mighty sword against the word of +seduction; he must take his sword and slay it, or chase it in miserable +flight from the field. The word of duty is the word of God, and +therefore the word of duty is thy sword against every plausible +temptation that would snare thee to disloyal ease. + +There is still a third descriptive word about the sword, and which +again corroborates and enriches the others. The word of God, which is +the sword of the spirit, is not only the word of divine truth laying +God's thought upon the mind; and not only the word of divine commandment +laying God's purpose upon the will; it is also the word of divine +promise laying God's strengthening comfort upon the heart. Just think of +that fine sword, the word of promise, being handed to these young and +tempted disciples in this awful, hostile city of Ephesus. I think we may +easily imagine, without presumption, how they would apply the apostle's +counsel, and how the older men among them would train the younger men in +the expert use of this shining sword. They would say: "Whenever you go +out to your work, amid all the cold, bristling antagonisms of the world, +carry the sword of promise! When your circumstances seem to mock you +because of your unnerving loneliness, whip out the sword of promise! +When you appear to be in a minority of one, and the enemy swarms in +menace around you on every side, carry this sword of promise in your +right hand, 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' And when the +enemy taunts you because of your weakness, or your want of culture, or +your lack of rank and social prestige, or your nobodyism and nothingism, +whip out the sword and fight the taunt with this word of promise, +'Neither shall any one pluck you out of my hand'!" Thus do I think these +disciples would speak to one another, as, blessed be God, disciples can +speak to one another to-day. When the devil comes to us in our +loneliness, in our weakness, in our seeming abandonment, let us lay hold +of the word of grace, and fight all the enemies' taunts with the divine +promise, and pierce them through and through, turning the foe to rout, +and remaining more than conquerors on the hard and finely won field. + +Well, such is what I think to be the sword. It is the word of divine +truth, it is the word of divine commandment, and it is the word of +divine promise. It is a superlatively excellent sword, "it is a right +Jerusalem blade." "Let a man have one of these blades, with a hand to +wield it, and skill to use it, and he may venture upon an angel with +it." Its edge will never blunt, for it is "the sword of the spirit, +which is the word of God." + +Where, then, can we find this word of God which is to be our sword of +the spirit. Well, first of all, we can find the word of God in the +sacred Scriptures. We can get our sword from its splendid armoury. Here +is the word which gives the revelation of truth, telling me how the +great God thinks about things, and therefore, telling me how to think +amid all the plausible errors of our time. And here, too, is the word +which gives the revelation of duty, telling me what the great God would +have me do. And here also is the word which gives the revelation of +promise, telling me what resources are prepared for them who follow the +fair gleams of truth and take the divine road of duty and obedience. +Yes, the word of God is in the old Book, and here you can find your +sword. + +But sometimes the word of God is given to us, not through the medium of +a book, not even the book of the Scriptures, but in a direct and +immediate message to our own souls. Oh, yes, sometimes the Captain of +our salvation gives me my sword without my having to make recourse to +the written word. He speaks to me and hands me my sword with no +intermediary between us. The word of the Lord comes unto thee and unto +me as it came to the herdman Amos, and the courtier Isaiah, and to the +fisherman Peter, and to the university student Paul. He speaks to thee +and to me. "Hath He not promised, and shall He not do it"? "Thine ears +shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way; walk ye in it." + + "And His that gentle voice we hear, + Soft as the breath of even; + That checks each fault, and calms each fear, + And speaks of heaven!" + +If the sword of the spirit is the word of God, then sometimes I take my +sword immediately from my Sovereign's hand,--the word of truth, the word +of duty, and the word of promise,--and like St. Francis of Assisi, and +St. Catherine of Sienna, and George Fox, all of them mystics, and all of +them deep in the knowledge of the mind and heart of God, I, too, can +take the sword and use it on the wide and changing battlefields of life, +and be more than conqueror through Him Who loved me and gave Himself for +me. "Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." + +Well, then, let us take the sword; let us draw it, and let us use it. +Let us reverently find the word in the Book of Holy Writ, or in the +secret chamber of our own soul; and then let us carry it as our sword to +the immediate occasion, and to the next stage upon life's road. Let us +have the sword ready, always ready; let us be always at attention, +waiting with the word of God to meet the tempting word of man. A man +without a sword is in a sorry way when the devil leaps upon him. That +was the tragic plight of Judas Iscariot. When the chief priests and +scribes came to bargain with him, to induce him to sell his Lord, he +ought to have had his sword ready, and to have run it through the +devilish suggestion when it was only newly born. But somehow, somehow, +he had lost his sword, and he was undone--"and he covenanted with them +for thirty pieces of silver"! And when you and I are tempted to sell the +Lord, when we are tempted to make a dirty bargain of any kind, when we +are tempted to prefer money to integrity, or unholy ease to stern duty, +or soft flattery to rugged truth, let us have our swords in our +hands,--"the sword of the spirit which is the word of God"--and let us +slay the suggestion at its very birth. Have your sword ready. You may +need it before you get home. Have your sword ready! Fight the good fight +of faith, and lay hold on eternal life. + + + + +VIII + +THE SOLDIER'S USE OF PRAYER + + + _Almighty God, Our Father, it is by Thy grace that we attain + unto holiness, and it is by Thy light that we find wisdom. We + humbly pray that Thy grace and light may be given unto us, so + that we may come into the liberty of purity and truth. Wilt Thou + graciously exalt our spirits and enable us to live in heavenly + places in Christ Jesus? Impart unto us a deep dissatisfaction + with everything that is low, and mean, and unclean, and create + within us such pure desire that we may appreciate the things + which Thou hast prepared for them that love Thee. Wilt Thou + receive us as guests of Thy table? Give us the glorious sense of + Thy presence, and the precious privilege of intimate communion. + Feed us with the bread of life; nourish all our spiritual + powers; help us to find our delight in such things as please + Thee. Give us strength to fight the good fight of faith. Give us + holy courage, that we may not be daunted by any fear, or turn + aside from our appointed task. Make us calm when we are to tread + an unfamiliar road, and may Thy presence give us companionship + divine. Meet with us, we humbly pray Thee, in all the appointed + means of grace, and may the joyful remembrance of this service + inspire us in all common life and service of after days. Amen._ + + + + +VIII + +THE SOLDIER'S USE OF PRAYER + + "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, + and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication + for all saints; and for me that utterance may be given unto me, + that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of + the gospel." Ephesians 6:18, 19. + + +We have been engaged in studying the different pieces of the Christian +soldier's armour as it is described to us by the apostle Paul. Let us +now glance at the warrior as he stands before us fully armed and ready +for the field. His loins are girt about with truth, the truth revealed +in Jesus Christ our Lord. He is protected back and front with a coat of +mail, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, a righteousness which covers +him in a moment as with a garment, and then little by little imparts to +him the holy likeness of his Lord. His feet are shod with readiness, and +are swiftly obedient to do the King's bidding and to carry his message +of grace and good-will. He bears the shield of faith, his sure screen +from every deadly dart springing from any kind of circumstance, whether +in the cloudless noon or in the blackest midnight. On his head there is +the helmet of salvation, the helmet of a mighty hope, protecting his +mind from the invasion of deadly distractions, and from all the +belittling suggestions of the evil one. In his hand he carries the sword +of the Spirit, the word or thought of God, the shining thought wherewith +every other kind of thought is overthrown or put to utter rout. + +Now that, surely, is a brave and gleaming equipment. Surely the armour +is all-sufficient, and the well-appointed, well-defended warrior is now +ready for the field! Let him go forth to meet the great enemy of souls. +Let him encounter all the wiles of the devil, and let him so hold +himself and so use himself as to convert every hour of opportunity into +a season of spiritual glory. No, no, not yet! Says the apostle, +"Steady!" With all his shining armour his equipment is not yet complete. +There is one other vital thing to be named, and this the Christian +warrior must take along with him, for his warfare will be hopeless if he +leaves it behind. "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in +the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and +supplication for all saints." + +Now why should the Christian warrior pray? He must pray as a suppliant +for the robust health of his own spirit. Yes, but why should he pray for +the maintenance of his own spiritual health? What is the vital +relationship between the praying soul and the attainment of moral and +spiritual robustness? How is prayer related to a man's moral force? This +is the relationship. A praying warrior receives into his soul the +grace-energies of the eternal God. The power of grace is just the holy +love and strength and beauty of the holy Godhead flowing into the needs +of the soul and filling them with its own completeness. Now we do not +pray in order to make God willing to impart this grace, but in order to +fit ourselves to receive it. We do not pray to ingratiate God's +good-will, but to open our souls in hospitality. We do not pray in order +to create a friendly air, but to let it in, not to propitiate God but to +appropriate Him. We do not pray to turn a reluctant God toward +ourselves, but to turn our reluctant selves toward a ready and bountiful +God. + +It is imperative that we should lay hold of this teaching very firmly. +It is of the utmost moment we should know what we are doing when we pray +for the bracing and sanctifying energies of the Holy Spirit. Prayer +then, I say, is first and chiefly the establishment of communion with +God. Prayer is the clearing of the blocked roads which are crowded with +all sorts of worldly hindrances. Prayer is the preparing of the way of +the Lord. When I turn to the Lord in prayer I open the doors and windows +of my soul toward the heavenlies, and I open them for the reception of +any gifts of grace which God's holy love may wish me to receive. My +reverent thought in prayer perfects communion between my soul and God. + +Let me offer an illustration. I am told there is electricity in my +house. I am told that this mysterious, invisible, electric spirit is +waiting to be my minister and to serve me in a dozen different ways. I +go into a room where the genius is said to be waiting, and yet the room +is held in darkness. Where is this friendly spirit? Where is the light +which is one of its promised services? And then I am told that an action +of mine, quite a simple one, is required, and that when the action has +been performed the waiting spirit will reveal itself in radiant beams. +And so I bring my will into play, and I push a button, or I lift a tiny +lever, and my action completes the circuit, and the subtle energy leaps +into the carbon filament and turns my darkness into light. + +That is it! My action completes the circuit! And when I turn my will to +pray, when I seek the holy, sanctifying power of God, my prayer +completes the circuit between my soul and God, and I receive whatever +the inexhaustible fountain of grace is always waiting to bestow. And so +do I say that prayer is first of all, and most of all, the establishing +of a vital _communion_ between the soul and God. + +Lord Tennyson, in what must have been a wonderful conversation on the +subject of prayer with Mr. Gladstone, and Holman Hunt, and James +Addington Symonds, said that to him prayer was the opening of the +sluice-gates between his soul and the waters of eternal life. It is +worth while just to dwell upon Tennyson's figure for a moment. The +figure may have been taken from a canal. You enter a lock and you are +shut up within its prison. And then you open the sluice-gates, and the +water pours into your prison and lifts you up to the higher level, and +your boat emerges again on a loftier plane of your journey. + +Or the figure may have been taken from a miller's wheel: There are the +miller and his mill. And the wheel is standing idle, or it is running +but sluggishly and wearily at its work. And then the miller opens the +sluice-gate, and the waiting water rushes along, and leaps upon the +wheel, and makes it sing in the bounding rapidity of its motion. Prayer, +says Tennyson, is the opening of the sluice-gates and the letting into +the soul of the waiting life and power of God. Prayer opens the +sluice-gates, and the water of life floods the sluggish affections, and +freshens the drowsy sympathies, and braces and speeds the will like the +glorious rush of the stream upon the miller's wheel. + +That, to me, is the dominant conception of prayer. Prayer opens the +soul to God. Prayer opens the life to the workings of infinite grace. +And now I see why the Christian soldier should be so urgently counselled +to pray. Prayer keeps open his lines of communication. Prayer keeps him +in touch with his base of supplies. Without prayer he is isolated by the +flanking movements of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and he will +speedily give out in the dark and cloudy day. "Men ought always to pray +and not to faint." + +If that is one reason why the Christian soldier should pray in order to +maintain the bounding health of his own spirit, we are now faced with +the second question as to when he should pray. And here is the answer of +the veteran warrior Paul: "Praying always." Not at some time, but at all +times! "Praying always." But can we do that? "Always"? But I am called +upon to earn my daily bread. I have to face a hundred different +problems. Every bit of gray matter in my brain is devoting its strength +to the immediate task. Is it possible for us to think of two things at +once? Can we be thinking out some absorbing question in business, and at +the same time be praying to God? One thing is surely perfectly clear, we +cannot always be thinking of God: It is constitutionally impossible. + +But now, while we cannot always be thinking of God, and always speaking +to God, we can always be mentally disposed toward Him, so that whatever +we are doing there can be a mental leaning or bias towards His most holy +will. Let me show you what I mean. We must reverently dare to reason in +this great matter as we reason in other relationships. Turn, then, for +an illustration, to common gymnastics. In physical gymnastics there is +no need for us to be always exercising, to be at it every moment of the +waking day. The body does not need it. Indeed, it would resent it, and +rebel against it. But here is the healthy genius of gymnastic exercises. +Regular exercises give the body a certain healthy pose, a certain vigour +and excellence of carriage, which the body retains between the exercises +when we are going about our accustomed work. That is to say, conscious +exercise makes unconscious habit. Our conscious exercise forces the body +into attitudes which persist as habits when we are doing something else. +We can retain the pose of the gymnasium on the street, and we can retain +it without thinking. + +And so it is with spiritual exercises when they are as real as the +exercises in the gymnasium. When a man prays, and prays as deliberately +and purposely as he practices physical exercises, when he drills his +soul as he drills his body, he gives his mind and soul a certain pose, a +certain attitude, a certain stateliness and loftiness of carriage. He +gives his soul a healthy bias towards God, and the soul retains the bias +when he is no longer upon his knees. His soul carries itself Godward +even when he is earning his daily bread. God can get at him any time and +anywhere! The way is open, the communion is unbroken! + +That is the vital logic of the matter. By regular spiritual exercises +we can subdue the soul to spiritual habit. Again and again throughout +the day it is possible for us, by a conscious upward glance, to confirm +the habit; until it happens that the soul is always in the posture of +prayer,--in business, in laughter, in trade, at home, or abroad, always +in prayer,--and therefore, in every part of the wide and varied +battleground of life receiving the all-sufficient grace and love of God. +And so the Christian soldier is to be "Praying always, with all prayer +and supplication in the spirit." + +But the Christian soldier is not only a suppliant for his own spiritual +health. He is much more than this. The apostle counsels him to be a +suppliant for the health of the entire Christian army. "Praying always, +with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto +with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." That is to say, +the Christian soldier not only prays for the health of his own spirit, +but for a healthy "esprit de corps" throughout the whole militant Church +of Christ. It is his duty and privilege to be prayerfully jealous for +all the saints, and for the spiritual equipment of all his +fellow-soldiers on the field. + +Now this is a very wonderful privilege entrusted to the disciple of +Christ. To every believer there is entrusted the marvellous ministry of +helping others to receive the energies of divine grace, and to +strengthen them in the fierce combats of their own "evil day." For the +character of our evil days is very varied. Your evil day may not be +mine, and my evil day may not be yours. What makes an evil day for you +may never trouble me, and what makes my day difficult and tempestuous +may leave you perfectly serene. It is to be accounted for in many ways. +The differences in our circumstances account, to some extent, for the +differences in our evil days. The differences in our occupations create +great differences in our daily warfare in the spirit. The differences in +our temperaments make no two persons' battles quite alike. And yet, with +all our differences, we are all called upon to stand in our own evil +day, "and having done all, to stand." Peter's evil day would be very +different from John's. Thomas' evil day would be very different from +Nathanael's. Dorcas' evil day would be quite different to the evil days +which gloomed upon Euodia and Synteche. But blessed be God, by the holy +ministry of prayer we can strengthen one another to "stand in the evil +day." We can help every soldier to keep his spiritual roads open and to +prepare the way of the Lord. We are called upon to be sentinel +suppliants on their behalf, "watching thereunto with all perseverance +and supplication for all saints." We are to be ever on the look-out, +vigilant for the entire army of the Lord, divinely jealous for its +healthy spirit, and seeking for every man in the ranks the grace and +glory which we seek for ourselves. What a magnificent man this true +soldier of the Lord must be! + +And then, just to finish it all, and by one example to show us how deep +and wide is this ministry of supplication, the apostle Paul asks the +young Ephesian soldiers to pray for him. "And for me, that utterance may +be given unto me." Let us carefully note this, and let us observe its +heartening significance. These young, immature Christians in Ephesus, +trembling in their early faith, are asked to pray for the old warrior in +Rome. He is now "an ambassador in bonds," held in captivity in imperial +Rome, and the young soldiers in Ephesus are asked to be +sentinel-suppliants for the stricken soldier far away. Do you believe +this? And what does he want them to pray for? Listen to him again. "And +for me, that utterance may be given unto me." Have you got the real +inwardness of that appeal? A poor slave in Ephesus may, by his own +prayer, anoint the lips of a great apostle with grace and power. What a +vista of powerful possibility! Do all congregations realize that +privilege and service concerning their ministers? "For me, that +utterance may be given unto me." Do I realize that my prayers, obscure +and nameless though I be, can give utterance to a Paul, a Livingstone, a +Moffatt, or a Chalmers? Do I realize that I can pour grace upon their +lips? What a brave and splendid privilege! Am I using it? I cannot get +out of my mind the vision of some poor slave in Ephesus pouring grace +and truth upon the apostle's lips in Rome, and I cannot get out of my +imagination the surprise which awaited the slave in glory, when Paul +asked him, as a fellow-labourer, to share in gathering in the sheaves. + +"And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my +mouth boldly." And can we do that for a man, and do it by prayer? Can +one soldier give another soldier nerve, and can he do it by prayer? Can +he chase away his fears? Can he change timidity into pluck? Can he +transform a lamb into a lion? What a marvellous power has God given to +me and thee! The unbounded privilege of it all! Some slave in Ephesus +giving new boldness to Paul in Rome, and enabling Paul to take some new +ground and conquer it for the Lord! And once again I say, to be called +to share in the apostle's triumphs! If any one has prayed for me, your +fellow-soldier, that utterance and courage may be given unto me, and if +by my ministry some depressed and retreating soldier finds heart again, +and takes up his fallen sword, and fights anew the good fight, then that +suppliant shall share my holy conquest in the Lord, and the joy of the +Lord shall be his strength. + +So once again, let us hear the apostle's counsel, and keep it in our +hearts. "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, +and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all +saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open +my mouth boldly, to make known the mysteries of the gospel." + + + + +IX + +"WATCH YE!" + + + _Eternal God, we bow before Thee as the children of grace and + love. Purify our souls, make our eyes keen and watchful, in + order that we may discern Thy purpose at every turning of the + way. Help us to hallow all our circumstances whether they appear + friendly or adverse, and may we subdue them all to the King's + will. We pray that we may obtain new visions of the glory of + Christ. May His gospel of grace become more exceedingly precious + as we gaze into its unsearchable wealth. Let in the light as our + eyes are able to bear it. Tell us some of the many things which + are yet withholden because we are not able to bear them. May we + exercise our senses in discernment, that so we may be led into + the deeper secrets of Thy truth. And wilt Thou graciously grant + unto us new possibilities of service. May we light lamps on many + a dark road. May we give help to many a tired pilgrim who is + burdened by the greatness of the way. May we give cups of + refreshment to those who are thirsty and faint. And may our own + faith and hope restore the flickering light where courage is + nearly spent. Amen._ + + + + +IX + +WATCH YE! + + "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be + strong." I Corinthians 16:13. + + +This is the counsel of a brave warrior, experienced and weather-beaten, +writing to raw and comparatively untried recruits. One is reminded of +the veteran Lord Roberts when he lately spake to young English recruits +who had not yet been baptized in the actual flames of battle, advising +them about their own warfare of the spirit, and counselling them on no +account to forfeit their self-respect and self-control. And this tried +warrior, Paul, is addressing a little company of Christian recruits in +the city of Corinth. Corinth is now wiped out, buried in the accumulated +débris of the centuries. Here and there an excavated column bears +desolate witness to the glory of former days, but Corinth as a city is +sealed up in an unknown grave. But just behind the site of the city +there appears the Acrocorinthius, rising to the height of two thousand +feet. I climbed this famous hill in the spring because I wanted to see +the panorama on which the apostle had gazed, and also to see the setting +and relations of this once imperial city. It was a wonderful vision of +natural glory, with deep, far-stretching valleys, and distant gleams of +the sea, and range upon range of hills, many of them snow-covered and +glistening in the blazing sunshine of a splendid noon. There below was +the plain on which Corinth found her shelter, and beyond the plain the +narrow water-way, which gave her such intimate relations with the +commerce of the Mediterranean; and beyond the water-way there is a touch +of old romance, for there rise the shrines of the muses, the twin peaks +of Helicon and Parnassus. + +Standing on this elevated eminence I tried to realize the conditions in +which this little company of Christian recruits had to live the +consecrated life. They had to fight the Christian warfare amid the soft +luxuriousness of Corinth, a luxuriousness which relaxed the moral fibre, +and made the Corinthians conspicuous for their depravity, "even amid all +the depraved cities of a dying heathenism." Corinth was a city of +abyssmal profligacy; "it was the Vanity Fair of the Roman Empire, at +once the London and Paris of the ancient world"! And it was in this +city, away there on the plain before me, that these untried Christian +recruits had to "fight the good fight of faith." + +Then I thought of the little church in which they found their +fellowship. It was besieged by continual assaults of their Jewish foes. +It was torn with internal divisions. It was honeycombed by deadly +heresies. It was defiled by sensuality. Nearly all the members of the +church were of obscure origin and standing. Many of them were slaves. It +was in these conditions of fierce and growing difficulties that these +disciples had to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And it is to this +little company of Christian recruits that the apostle sends this +challenging letter in which is found the rousing bugle-peal of my text. +"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." + +Now I will confess to you that times and again during the last few +months this trumpet-blast has sounded in my ears, as though it were a +clarion-call to the Christians of to-day. For we too have our warfare +upon a most exacting field. We have fallen upon gravely troubled times. +We are witnessing a resurgence of devilry that is perfectly appalling. +The baser passions have become frightfully aggressive, and a crude +animalism is at large like a surging, boiling sea which has burst its +dykes. Some of us had begun to dream that the sweet angel of peace was +almost at our gates, and that nothing could happen to drive her away; +and now, when we look out of the gate, it is no fair angel-messenger +which we see, but the red fury of unprecedented strife and slaughter. +And amid all this we have to live the Christian life. + +But it is not only the "fightings without" which trouble us. There are +also "the fears within." Many of our venerable assumptions are lying in +ruin. Our spiritual world has suffered an upheaval as though with the +convulsion of an earthquake, and many of us are trembling and confused. +What then shall we do in this terrible hour? What path shall we take? +Can we settle our goings upon any promising road of purpose and +endeavour? Along what lines shall we pull ourselves together? And in +answer to all these questions I bring you this well-tried counsel of the +great Christian apostle, this bugle-peal from the first century, and I +ask you to let it be to you as the inspired word of the living God. +"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." Let +us examine the counsel in order that we may buckle it on to our souls. + +Here then is the first note of this soldierly blast. "Watch ye!" The +phrase literally means "keep awake!" You perhaps think there is no need +of that counsel to-day. You probably think that in times like these our +difficulty is not to keep awake but to go to sleep. I am not so sure +about that. If we have loved ones at the war there will not be the +remotest peril of our going to sleep. Every post that comes to our door +will startle us like the crack of doom. Every headline in the daily +press will tighten our nerves in sleepless attention. But when we have +no flesh and blood at the front, when many miles roll between us and the +fields of war, when we are only spectators, a certain drowsiness is not +so far away as we may suppose. When we only read about things, things +become familiar, and the familiar is apt to lose its terror. Custom is a +dull narcotic, and frequent repetition dims our apprehension. When the +Titanic went down the whole city spoke in whispers, such a dread was +resting over our souls. But now a dreadnought goes down, or a half dozen +cruisers, and we scarcely catch our breath at the news. The cushion of +familiarity is thickening between us and realities, and awful facts do +not hit us on the raw. The awful becomes less awful by repetition, and +we grow less sensitive as the tragedies increase. The newspaper +statistics cease to be significant, and the descriptive adjectives +become the tamest blanks. And therefore there is need for the apostle's +trumpet blast to sound in our ears. "Keep awake!" Do not let familiarity +become an opiate, so putting the senses to sleep that the direst woes +become a painless commonplace. "Keep awake!" Make it a matter of will. +Bring the stream of vital thought to bear upon the field. Exercise the +imagination. Nourish the sympathies. We must keep awake, for our primary +hope of emancipation in this dark hour is to remain sensitive, to be +capable of being shocked and wounded with the appalling blows of every +succeeding day. + +But it is not only wakefulness, but also watchfulness which the apostle +enjoins in the counsel of our text. The soldier of Jesus is to be awake +and watchful with all the keen quest of a sentinel peering about him +night and day. But our watchfulness must be intelligent and disciplined, +and we must carefully survey the entire field. We must keep awake, and +we must diligently watch for all enemies of the sanctified brotherhood +of the race, as a sentry would watch every suspicious movement in the +night. What are the real enemies behind all the appalling desolation and +sorrow of our time? Is it militarism? Then "Watch ye!" Is it something +deeper than militarism? Is it racial animosity and jealousy and +prejudice? Then "Watch ye!" Is it something even deeper than racial +antipathy? Is it a profound and deadly materialism in all the nations--a +materialism which has been tricked out in the ribbons of culture, and +disguised in the glamour of progress? Then "Keep awake, Watch ye!" Or is +it a faithless church, muttering many shibboleths, but confessing no +vital faith; a church which has been too much a pretense, offering no +strong moral and spiritual preservatives, and supplying no saving salt +to social fellowships, and, therefore, not exercising any restraint upon +moral degeneracy and corruption? "Keep awake, and Watch ye!" And amid +all the horrors and agonies of our day fasten your eyes upon the real +enemy of the Lord Jesus, the outstanding antagonist of His kingdom of +righteousness and truth. + +But there is a further word to say about our vigilance. We must keep +awake and watchful, not only to detect the busy lurking, ambushed foes, +but also to see all the bright and wonderful things of the hour, all the +splendid happenings which are favourable to the holy will and Kingdom of +our Lord. What should we think of a sentinel who could not distinguish +between enemy and friend? And what shall we say of a soldier-sentinel of +Christ who has no eye for the great and friendly happenings on the +field? Watch ye, and behold the growing seriousness of the world; +frivolity has almost begun to apologize for itself, and tinselled gaiety +is ill at ease. Watch ye, and behold the unsealing of multitudinous +springs of human sympathy, and the flowing of holy currents from the +ends of the earth. Watch ye, and behold the magnificent courage which in +every land of strife is purging families from the dross of indolence and +indifference, and educing the gold of chivalry and sacrifice. Watch ye, +and behold the marvellous re-equipment of Christian motive--thousands +upon thousands of Christian disciples realizing as they have never done +before that the world needs the vital redeeming grace of the Lord Jesus, +and that without Him human brotherhood will remain a phantom and a +dream. A real wakeful watchman will see these things. He will not only +record the things of the night and the nightmares, but he will be as +"they who watch for the morning." The Moslem priest appears on the tower +of his mosque half an hour after sunset to call the people to prayer, +but he also appears on the tower half an hour before sunrise, when the +grey gleams of morning are faintly falling upon the night. And we too, +watchmen of Jesus, must watch for the sunrise as well as for the +sunsets, and we too must tell what fair jewels of hope we see shining on +the dark robe of the night. Brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ is abroad! +"Watch ye, for at such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man will +come." + +Now let us consider the second note of the counsel which is given by +this warrior, Paul. "Stand fast in the faith." Just try to realize that +bracing counsel coming to these young recruits in the city of Corinth. +Let me try to paraphrase it as I think it would be interpreted to them. +"When the soft, enervating air of Corinth's luxuriousness steals over +you like the mild air of Lotus-Land, 'Stand fast in the faith'! When the +cold wind of persecution assails you like an icy blast from the north, +'Stand fast in the faith'! If some supercilious philosopher comes along +and breathes cynically upon your new-found piety and devotion, 'Stand +fast in the faith'! Stand fast in your faith and meet all your +antagonisms there." + +And has that counsel no pertinency for the Christian believers of our +own time? There are some among us who are ready, because of the +unspeakable horrors through which we are passing, to throw their faith +away like obsolete arms and armour. Now men who can drop their faith in +the day of real emergency have never been really held by it. That is +surely true; men who can drop their faith like a handkerchief have never +known their faith as a strong and vital defence. And yet that is what +you sometimes find them doing in modern novels. They just drop their +faith as they would drop a pair of gloves. Robert Elsmere, in Mrs. +Humphry Ward's story of twenty years ago, dropped his faith in about ten +days. If my memory serves me truly, George Eliot dropped her faith in +about the same length of time. If our faith has ever meant anything +vital, it will be as difficult to drop it as to drop our skin. But it is +the inexperienced who are in peril. It is the young recruit who is +dangerously convulsed by the upheavals of our day, and it is to him I +bring the nerving counsel of the Lord: "Stand fast in the faith!" + +"Stand fast in the faith!" What faith? "The faith once for all delivered +to the saints." Stand fast in the faith of the atoning Saviour as the +secret of the reconciliation of mankind. Stand fast in the faith of the +risen Lord as the secret and promise of racial union and brotherhood. +Stand fast in the faith of the Holy Spirit as the source of all the +light and cheer which illumines the race. Stand fast in your own +personal faith in the exalted Lord. Don't doubt Him! Don't suspect Him! +Don't desert Him! Above all, don't sell Him! In this hour of darkness, +when devilry seems to be pulling down the very pillars of the temple, +stand fast in the faith, and let this be your strong but humble cry: + + "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, + Neither shall fruit be in the vines; + The labour of the olive shall fail, + And the fields shall yield no meat; + The flock shall be cut off from the fold, + And there shall be no herd in the stalls: + Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, + I will joy in the God of my salvation." + +And the third note in the great apostle's counsel in this: "Quit you +like men." Our translators have taken four words to express a single +word in the original letter. We have no one English word which can carry +the splendid load of meaning. It really means--play the man! It really +means--no funk! All the school children will know the value of that +word. It is a good strong vital English word, and I am sure it expresses +the spirit of the apostle's counsel to these young recruits. Lowell uses +it in the Bigelow Papers: "To funk right out o' p'litical strife ain't +thought to be the thing." No funk, soldiers of Christ! I have sometimes +heard men talk of late as though the Lord were dead, and the game is up, +and the Kingdom is in ruins. "Play the man!" The European soldiers of +every nation are showing the world in their own sphere what it means to +play the man. Some of us are becoming almost afraid to call ourselves +soldiers of Jesus when we see what a true soldier really is. Think of +it! Think of his readiness for the front! Think of his laughter in +sacrifice! Think of his song in the midst of danger and pain! Think of +his endurance even unto death! And then, think how we stand up and sing +"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war"! And shall we funk in +the day of darkness and disaster, and after months of appalling +bloodshed and woe shall we talk as if the campaign of righteousness were +ended, and the Kingdom of Jesus is overturned? Let us stop this kind of +talk. Let us silence this sort of fear. Let us crush this type of +disloyalty. It is an insult to our flag; it is a dishonour to our Lord. + +"Quit you like men, be strong!" Put strength into everything, and do +everything strongly. Do not let us speak or serve in a faint, lax, +irresolute, anćmic, dying sort of way. "Be strong!" Be strong in your +prayers. Be strong in your moral and spiritual ambitions. Be strong in +your visions and hopes. Be strong in your beneficence; strengthen it to +the vigour of sacrifice. And if there be a devil, as more than ever I +believe there is, let the Church surprise him by her strength. Let her +turn the day of calamity into the day of opportunity. Let her +transfigure the hour of disaster into the hour of deeper consecration. +Let us make new vows. Let us enter into new devotion. Let us exercise +ourselves in new chivalry. Let us go out in new ways of sacrifice. My +brethren, God is not dead! "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you +like men, be strong!" + + "Stand up, stand up for Jesus! + The trumpet call obey; + Forth to the mighty conflict + In this His glorious day. + Ye that are men now serve Him + Against unnumbered foes, + Let courage rise with danger + And strength to strength oppose. + + "Stand up, stand up for Jesus! + Ye soldiers of the Cross. + Lift high His royal banner, + It must not suffer loss. + From victory unto victory + His army shall He lead, + Till every foe is vanquished, + And Christ is Lord indeed!" + + + + +X + +ENDURING HARDNESS + + + _Heavenly Father, may all our hearts be filled with Thy praise. + May the spirit of Thanksgiving fill all our days, and deliver us + from the mood of murmuring and complaint. Graciously remove the + scales from our eyes, so that we may look upon our life with + eyes anointed with the eye-salve of grace. Help us to discern + Thy footprints in the ordinary road. Grant that we may now + review our yesterdays and see the providences which have crowded + our paths. Help us to see Thy name on blessings that we never + recognized, so that we may now be praiseful where we have been + indifferent. Redeem us from our spiritual sloth. Awake us out of + our perilous sleep. May our consciences goad us when we are in + peril. May the good desires within us be so strengthened as to + destroy every desire that is vain. Sow in our hearts the word of + Thy truth. Guard the seed with the vigilance of Thy blessed + Spirit, and let it appear in our life as a fragrant and + bountiful harvest. Graciously watch us and defend us and make us + mighty in consecration, and may we place our all upon the altar. + Amen._ + + + + +X + +ENDURING HARDNESS + + "Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus + Christ." 2 Timothy 2:3. + + +Any military metaphor which is used to-day will surely have a very +arresting significance. Many of our hymns are crowded with military +terminology. In the Wesleyan Methodist Hymn-Book there is a whole +section entitled "For Believers Fighting." We are all familiar with +these martial hymns: "Onward, Christian Soldiers", "The Son of God goes +forth to war", "Soldiers of Christ arise", "Stand up, stand up, for +Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross", "Oft in danger, oft in woe, onward +Christians, onward go." But too often the soldier-like hymn is only a +bit of martial poetry which pleases the emotions but does not stir the +will. We like the swing of the theme. It brings a sort of exhilaration +into our moods, just as lively dance music awakes a nimble restlessness +in our feet. Too often it is the song of the parade ground, and it is +not broken with the awful thundering of the guns in actual war. But just +now when we hear the phrase, "Endure hardness as a good soldier," our +thoughts are carried away to the battlefields of Europe. We recall those +roads like deeply ploughed fields! Those fields scooped by the shells +into graves in which you can bury a score of men! Those trenches filling +with the rain or snows, the hiding place of disease, and assailed +continually with the most frightful engines of destruction! Pestilence +on the prowl! Frost stiffening the limbs into benumbment! Death always +possible before the next breath! These military metaphors in our hymns +get some red blood into them when we use them against backgrounds and +scenes like these. "Endure hardness as a good soldier." + +Now the apostle calls for this soldierly spirit in Thessalonica. He is +writing to young recruits in the army of the Lord. They are having their +first baptism of fire. Their enemies are strong, subtle, ubiquitous. To +be a Christian in Thessalonica was to face the fierce onslaught of +overwhelming odds. But indeed in those early days, Christian believers, +wherever they lived, had to be heroic in the defence of their faith and +obedience. Everywhere circumstances were hostile. Nothing was won +without sacrifice. Nothing was held without blood. To be a witness was +to be a martyr. If a believer would be faithful to his Lord he must +"fight the good fight of faith"; if he would extend the frontiers of the +Kingdom of Heaven he must endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus +Christ. + +What are the circumstances amid which the modern Church is placed? The +Christian believer in our day is confronted with stupendous +difficulties. Look at the present field on which our Christian warfare +is to be waged. When the European war broke out I was staying at a quiet +seaside village, from which I could see the soft green beauty of the +mountains which encircle the English lakes. On the morning that war was +proclaimed I felt as though some venerable and majestic temple had +suddenly crumbled into dust. One of my most intimate friends, a noble +German, was staying in my home, and we both felt as though some devil of +mischief and disaster had toppled human affairs into confusion. The +quiet sequence of human progress seemed to have been smashed at a +stroke. The nations drew apart, and gulfs of isolation yawned between +them, and down the gulfs there swept the cruel shrieking blasts of +racial hatred and antipathy. Holy ministries which had been leagued in +sacred fellowship were wrenched asunder. Spiritual communions which had +been sweet and welcome curdled in the biting blast of resentment. The +work of the Kingdom of our Lord was smitten as by an enemy; ploughshares +were beaten into swords; pruning-hooks were transformed into spears; and +instead of the fir and the myrtle-tree there sprang up the thorns and +the briars. And then, to crown our difficulties, the red fury of war +leaped into countries where our missionaries are proclaiming the gospel +of peace, and the passion of battle began to burn where they are telling +the story of the passion of Calvary, that holy passion of sacrifice +which brought to the whole world redemption from sin, and reconciliation +with God, and the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is +to come. + +Our immediate circumstances do not offer the soldiers of Jesus an easy +parade ground where we can just loll and sing our lilting songs; they +rather offer us a fearfully rugged and broken field which demands as +heroic and chivalrous virtues as ever clothed a child of God. What shall +we do? Is it the hour for craven fear or for a noble courage? What shall +we do on our mission fields? Shall we cry "forward," or shall we sound +the depressing and despairing note of retreat? Shall we throw up the +sponge, or shall we, in the spirit of unprecedented sacrifice, march +forward in our campaign, and endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus +Christ? + +First of all, we must keep our eyes steadily fixed upon the object for +which Christ died, that solemn and holy end for which He created and +appointed His own Church. And what is that object? It is to let "all men +know that all men move under a canopy of love" as broad as the blue sky +above. It is to break down all middle walls of partition, and to merge +the sundered peoples in the quickening communion of His grace. It is to +unite all the kingdoms of the world in the one and radiant Kingdom of +His love. That is the aim and purpose of our blessed Lord, and in all +the shock and convulsions of to-day we must keep that object steadfastly +in sight. It was said of Napoleon that "he never for a moment lost sight +of his way onward in the dazzle and uproar of present circumstances." +That is to say, Napoleon was never blinded by the glare of victory or by +the lowering cloud of defeat. "He saw only the object." Quietness did +not throw its perilous spell about him. Calamity did not turn his eyes +from the forward way. He saw only the object, and the glory of the goal +sent streams of energy into his will and into his feet at every step of +the changing road. + +Now our temptation is to permit events to determine our sight. There is +the shimmer of gold on the right hand, and we turn to covet. There is +the gleam of the sword on the left hand, and we turn in fear. We allow +circumstances to govern our aims. Our eyes are deflected from their +object by the dazzle or the uproar around us. And here is the peril of +it all. When we lose the object of our warfare we begin to lose the +campaign. And, therefore, one of the first necessities of the Christian +Church in the present hour is to have our Lord's own purpose steadily in +view, to keep her eyes glued upon that supreme end, and to allow nothing +to turn her aside. "Let thine eyes look right on;" "Thy kingdom come;" +"The kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our God;" "He +must reign until He hath put all enemies under His feet." This, I say, +is the pressing and immediate need of the good soldier of Christ Jesus, +to refuse to have his single aim complicated by the entanglement of +passing circumstances, and to constantly "apprehend that for which we +also were apprehended by Christ Jesus our Lord." + +What else shall we do in this hour of upheaval and disaster? The Church +must eclipse the exploits of carnal warfare by the more glorious warfare +of the spirit. Just recall the heroisms which are happening every day in +Europe, and on which the eyes of the world are riveted with an almost +mesmerized wonder! Think of the magnificent sacrifices! Think of the +splendid courage! Think of the exquisite chivalry! Think of the +incredible powers of endurance! And then, further, think that the Church +of Christ is called upon to outshine these glories with demonstrations +more glorious still. + +This was surely one of the outstanding distinctions of apostolic life. +Whenever hostilities confronted the early Church, whenever the first +disciples were opposed by the gathered forces of the world, wherever the +sword was bared and active, wherever tyranny exulted in sheer brutality, +these early disciples unveiled a more splendid strength, and threw the +carnal power into the shade. They faced their difficulties with such +force and splendour of character that their very antagonisms became only +the dark background on which the glory of the Lord was more manifestly +revealed. Their courage rose with danger and eclipsed it! + +Let me open one or two windows in the apostolic record which give us +glimpses of this conquering life. Here, then, is a glimpse of the +hostilities: "Let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth +to no man in this name." There you have the naked tyranny of carnal +power, and there you have the threat that burns through carnal speech. +And now, over against that power put the action of the Church: "And they +spake the word of God with boldness!" They were good soldiers of Jesus +Christ, and by that boldness the tyranny and threat of carnal power were +completely eclipsed. + +Here is another glimpse of those heroic days: "And when they had called +the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak +in the name of Jesus." There again you have the demonstration of carnal +power; and here again is the demonstration of the power of the spirit: +"And they departed from the presence of the counsel, rejoicing that they +were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And they ceased not to +teach and preach Jesus Christ." I say that this "rejoicing" eclipses +that beating, and the good soldier of Jesus Christ puts the Roman +soldier into the shade. + +Let me open another window: "And they cast Stephen out of the city and +stoned him." Get your eyes on that display of carnal passion and +tyranny; and then lift your eyes upon the victim of it: "And he kneeled +down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their +charge." Who is the conqueror in that tragedy, the stoners or the +stoned, the ministers of destruction or the good soldier of Jesus +Christ? The carnal power was terrific and deadly, but it was utterly +eclipsed by the power of grace, the power which blazed forth in this +redeemed and consecrated life. Open yet another window upon this day of +shining exploits: "Having stoned Paul they drew him out of the city, +supposing he had been dead." That incident seems to record the +coronation and sovereignty of brutal strength. Now read: "And they +returned again to Lystra." Paul went back to the place where he had been +stoned, to tell again the good news of grace, and to carry to broken +people the ministries of healing. And I say that this bruised man, +beaten and sore, returning again to the scene of the stoning, is a good +soldier of Jesus Christ, and by his magnificent courage and grace he +eclipsed all the rough strength of the world and threw its achievements +into the shade. + +But it is not only in apostolic days that you can find these brilliant +contrasts. The Church has been distinguished by such demonstrations of +spiritual glory all along her history. When material power has been +riotous and rampant, when rude, crude passions have blazed through the +earth, the chivalry of the Church has shone resplendent in the murky +night, and she has eclipsed the dread shocks of the world and the flesh +and the devil by her noble sacrifices, and by her serenity, and by her +spontaneous joy. The Church has distinguished herself by her +manifestations of spiritual strength, by her lofty Christian purpose, by +her glowing devotional enthusiasm, and this over against gigantic +obstacles, and in the face of enemies who seemed to be overwhelming. + +I think of James Chalmers, the martyred missionary of New Guinea. How +well I remember the last time I met him; his big, powerful body, his +lion-like head, his shock of rough hair, his face with such a strange +commingling of strength and gentleness, indomitableness and grace! And +what he went through in New Guinea in carrying to the natives the story +of our Saviour's love! And then, having gone through it all, he stood up +there in England, on the platform of Exeter Hall, and said: "Recall +these twenty-one years, give me back all its experiences, give me its +shipwrecks, give me its standings in the face of death, give it me +surrounded with savages with spears and clubs, give it me back again +with spears flying about me, with the club knocking me to the ground, +give it me back, and I will still be your missionary." What is happening +in Europe just now that can put that exploit in the shade? I do not +wonder that when that man thought of heaven he used these words: "There +will be much visiting in heaven, and much work. I guess I shall have +good mission work to do, great, brave work for Christ. He will have to +find it, for I can be nothing else than a missionary." James Chalmers +went back to New Guinea to tell and retell to the natives why Jesus came +to thee and me and all men, and he won the martyr's crown. The love of +Christ constrained him. And again I ask, what incidents in carnal +warfare are not eclipsed by shining heroisms like these? + +I might go on telling you these glorious exploits of grace, but I hasten +to say that it is our privilege to continue the story. To-day carnal +strength is stalking in deadly stride through a whole continent. And +to-day the Church must do something so splendid and so heroic as will +outshine the glamour of material war. This is the hour when we must send +out more men and women who are willing to live and toil and die for the +Hindu, and for the Turk, and the Persian, and the Chinese and the +Japanese, and all the dusky sons of Africa. I verily believe that if the +apostle Paul were in our midst to-day, with the war raging in Europe, he +would sound an advance all along the line. He would call us in this hour +to send out more men and women to save, and to comfort, and to heal; men +and women who will lay down their lives in bringing life to their +fellow-men. We must send forth new army corps of the soldiers of Christ, +and we must give them more abundant means, endowing them so plentifully +that they can go out into the needy places of Asia and Africa, and +assuage the pains and burdens of the body, and dispel the darkness of +the mind, and give liberty to the imprisoned spirit, and lead the souls +of men into the life and joy and peace of our blessed Lord. If the +Church would, and if the Church will, she can so arrest the attention +and win the hearts of the natives of Africa and Asia with the grace and +gentleness of the Lord Jesus, a grace and gentleness made incarnate +again in you and me, and in those whom we send to the field, that the +excellent glory of the Spirit shall shine pre-eminent, and in this hour +of world-wide disaster the risen Lord shall again be glorified. + +Shall we quietly challenge ourselves amid all the awful happenings of +to-day? Here are the terms of the challenge. Shall the good soldier of +Christ Jesus be overshadowed by the soldiers of the world? Or shall the +courage and ingenuities of the world be eclipsed by the heroism and the +wise audacity of the Church? Shall we withdraw our army from the field +because the war is raging in Europe, or shall we send it reinforcements? +Shall we practice a more severe economy and straiten our army's +equipment for service; or shall we practice a more glorious +self-sacrifice, and make its equipment more efficient? Shall we exalt +and glorify our Saviour, or shall we allow Him to be put in the shade? +Shall we endure hardness, as good soldiers of Christ, or shall we take +to the fields of indulgence, and allow the Church of the Living God to +be outshone by the army of the world? Which shall it be? + +Our holy battlefield is as wide as the world. The needs are clamant. The +opportunities of victory are on every side. Our Captain is calling! What +then, shall it be? Advance or retreat? What answer can there be but one? +Surely the answer must be that we will advance, even though it mean the +shedding of the blood of sacrifice. + +One of our medical missionaries was Dr. Francis J. Hall of Peking, +China. He had been graduated with high honours at the Johns Hopkins +Medical School in Baltimore, and had consecrated his life to medical +missionary work in China, where his large abilities promptly won him +wide influence. In 1913 he said to one of his associates: "I have just +been called to a Chinese who has typhus fever. Many physicians have +died of that disease, but I must go." Two weeks later he was stricken. +As he lay dying his mind wandered, and he was heard to exclaim: "I hear +them calling, I must go; I hear them calling!" Do we hear them calling? +Is the answer "Yes"? Then let us joyfully register a vow that, God +helping us, the army of the Lord shall not be maimed because of our +indifference, but as good soldiers of Jesus Christ we will, if need be, +endure hardness, and give of our possessions, even unto the shedding of +our blood. + + + + +XI + +THE INVISIBLE COMMANDER + + + _Eternal God, we rejoice in the security that is offered to us + in our midnights and in our noons. Thou wilt not leave us to the + loneliness of self-communion, but Thou wilt hold fellowship with + us along the way. Come to us as the Lord Jesus came to the men + who were journeying to Emmaus, and make our hearts burn within + us in the revelation of light and grace. Especially in these + bewildering times wilt Thou steady our minds with Thy councils + and inspire our hearts in the assurance of Thy sovereign love. + Lead us along our troubled road. Let the heavenly light break + upon our darkness. Help us to believe in Thy peace even when the + world is at strife. Let Thy kingdom come. Even when the world is + filled with the smoke of battle may we discern the presence of + the Lord. Save us from the sin of unbelief. Reveal to us, we + humbly pray Thee, the sin in which this strife has been born, + and help the nations to turn from it in new consecration to + Thee. In this gracious purpose wilt Thou possess our services. + Help us to look beyond the seen into the strength and glory of + the unseen. Cheer us with Thy consolations. Uphold us with Thine + hand, and impart to us the gift of Thy gracious peace. Amen._ + + + + +XI + +THE INVISIBLE COMMANDER ON THE FIELD + + "And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will + hiss unto them from the end of the earth." Isaiah 5:26. + + "And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss + for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of + Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria." Isaiah + 7:18. + + +That was a startling word to fall upon the ears of the people of Judah. +It shocked them into confusion. It was an altogether revolutionary word. +It played havoc with their traditional beliefs. It smashed up all their +easy securities. It turned their world upside down, and all their +ancient confidences were broken. Let us try to feel the shock of the +message. The people had come to regard their land as a sort of divine +reservation, and they looked upon their nation as a specially favoured +instrument in the hand of the Lord. They esteemed themselves as being in +the friendly grip and fellowship of the Lord of hosts. All their +movements were the inspirations of His counsels, and in the strength of +His providence their nation's progress and destiny were assured. They +lived in the assumption that every step in their national life was +foreseen, and planned, and provided for, and that they were always being +led towards divinely appointed goals. There was nothing of chance in +their journeyings, and nothing of uncertainty in their ends. For them +there was no blind groping in the darkness, for the Lord of hosts had +charge of their national life; and "the sure mercies of David" would +secure it from calamity and destruction. + +That was what they thought about themselves. What did they think of the +nations beyond their frontier? That was quite another story. They looked +upon other nations as struggling blindly, and in their dark rage +imagining vain things. These other nations had the promptings of +passion, but they had no divine and mystic leadership. They moved +hither and thither, but it was under no divine appointment, and a +thousand traps were laid for their unhallowed feet. Yonder was Assyria, +full of strength and full of movement, expressing herself in the might +of tremendous armies, but she was under no divine command or +inspiration. Assyria was like a boat in unknown waters, without a pilot, +and she was marked for inevitable destruction. And yonder was proud +Egypt, swelling with her power and renown, colossal in her material +achievements, but she had no divinely enlightened eyes, she was blind in +her goings, and her marching was in reality a staggering towards doom. +And yonder were other nations from afar; but they were all just chance +masses, looked upon as existing outside the frontier line of divine +favour and enlightenment. They dwelt in some hinterland of life where +God's gracious decrees do not run. They were beyond the orbit of divine +thought and grace. Now that was the kind of thinking which the prophet +had to meet. Judah regarded herself as nestling within the home circle +of Providence, and all other nations were outcasts living beyond the +sacred pale. + +And now perhaps we shall be able to feel something of the astounding +effect of the prophet's words. "And the Lord shall lift up an ensign to +the nations from far." Far-away peoples are to move under the impulse +and inspiration of the Lord, and in the light of His guiding command. +"The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the +rivers of Egypt." A far-away nation, thick as flies, is to move under +the touch and ordination of God! "The Lord shall hiss for the bee that +is in the land of Assyria." A far-away nation, thick as a hive of bees, +is to move under the controlling purpose of the Lord! Can you feel the +shock of the prophet's words? It is the shock of a larger thought which +shakes the nations out of their small and cosey contentment. They had +conceived the divine Providence as being confined exclusively to Judah's +particular guidance and defence. They had thought within the limits of a +country; they are now bidden to cross the frontier and conceive a +Providence which encircles a continent and a world. The fly in Egypt, +and the bee in Assyria, raising their wings at the touch of the +Lord,--it staggered them into incredulity! + +Now we can see what the prophet was doing. He was seeking to enlarge +their sense of the orbit of the divine movement. For the little ripples +on their pool he was substituting the ocean tides. For the circle of +their native hills and valleys he was substituting a line which embraced +the uttermost parts of the earth. And that is what I wish to do in this +meditation. I wish to proclaim the vastness of the divine orbit, the +tremendous sweep of the divine decrees, and I wish to emphasize the +teaching of this great prophet, that momentous destinies may be born in +far-away places, even at the very end of the world. "The Lord shall hiss +for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and +for the bee that is in the land of Assyria." + +Well then, under the power of this teaching, let us think in wider +orbits of the divine inspiration of nations. For we are apt to imprison +our thought within very narrow and artificial restraints. Much of our +thought about providential movements shuts God up to the circle of +so-called Christian nations: But what if a fierce and decadent +civilization is to be corrected by the inspired influence of such +peoples as are described by Rudyard Kipling as "lesser breeds without +the law?" What if our God will hiss for the fly and the bee among just +such peoples as we are inclined to patronize or despise? Let us imagine +some modern Isaiah standing up in London or New York and uttering words +like these;--"The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost +part of China, and for the bee that is in the land of India." I know +that such a doctrine shocks our national susceptibilities, just as a +similar doctrine shocked the national pride of the ancient Jews. But +such a doctrine offers the only true interpretation of the range of the +divine orbit. It may be that the reinforcements of civilization are to +come from the movements of the stagnant waters of China. It may be that +rivers of vitality are to flow into our life from the meditative, +contemplative, philosophic, mystic races of India. Just think of their +quiet, lofty, serious brooding, stealing into our feverish materialism +and sobering the fierceness of the quest. I cannot but wonder what the +good Lord, in the vastness of His orbit, is even now preparing for the +world on the far-away plains of India and China. + +Let your imagination exercise itself again in the larger orbit, and +think of some modern prophet standing up in London with this message +upon his lips;--"The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the +uttermost parts of Russia." The message strikes us as incredible, but it +is only because, like the people of Judah, our conception of the divine +orbit is so small and circumscribed. I for one am watching with +fascinated eyes the movements of Russia. I am wondering what is coming +to us from that great people, so long and patiently sad, so full of +reverence, going on long, weary pilgrimages to bow at holy shrines. +Superstition? Yes, if you please. But I am wondering what is going to +happen when the dogged strength of that superstition becomes an +enlightened faith. I am wondering what will happen when that rich, +fertile bed of national reverence begins to bear the full and matured +fruits of the Spirit. What then? I know it is not easy to think it. It +is not easy to widen the orbit of one's thought. It is never easy to +stretch a neglected or unused muscle. But the wider thought is the orbit +of our God, and in the mysterious land of Russia untold destinies may be +even now at the birth. + +And so do I urge that we think in vaster orbits of the divine +inspiration of nations. Let us reject the atheism of incredulity, and +let us encourage ourselves in the boundless hope of an all-encompassing +God of the human race. The great God journeys on in His tremendous +orbit, and who knows from what unlikely peoples the rejuvenation of the +world is to come? "The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the +uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the +land of Assyria." + +Now I want to go further, and under the power of the prophet's teaching +I would urge that we think in wide orbits of the divine raising of the +heroic leaders of men. In what wide and mysterious sweeps the great God +works when He wants a leader of men! The man is wanted here at the +center, but he is being prepared yonder on the remote circumference! God +hisses for the fly or the bee, and He calls it from very obscure and +unlikely fields. + +Here is ancient Israel. Her altars are defiled, and her balances are +perverted. She is hollow in worship, and she is crooked in trade, and +the people are listless in their debasement. A leader is wanted to awake +and scourge the people. Where shall he be found? The Lord hisses for a +fly in Tekoa, a wretched little village, in a mean and scanty setting; +and the fly was a poor herdman, following the flock, and eking out his +miserable living by gathering the figs of the sycamore. And this Amos +was God's man! A prophet of fire was wanted in Bethel, and God prepared +him in Tekoa! But what an orbit, and who would have thought that Tekoa +would have been a school of the prophets? + +Stride across the centuries. The religion of Europe has become a gloss +for indulgence. Nay, it has become an excuse for it. The Father's house +has become a den of thieves. The doctrines of grace have been wiped out +by a system of man-devised works. Religion is devitalized, and morals +have become dissolute. Wanted, a man, who shall be both scourge and +evangelist! Where shall he be found? "The Lord hissed for the fly" that +was in Eisleben, in the house of a poor miner, and Martin Luther came +forth to grapple with all the corruptions of established religion. But +what an orbit! A fire was wanted to burn up the refuse which had +accumulated over spiritual religion, and the fire was first kindled in a +little home, in a little village, far away from the broad highways of +social privilege and advantage. Again, I say, what an orbit! + +March forward again across the years. Here is England under the +oppression of a king who claims divine sanction for his oppression. +There is no tyranny like the tyranny which stamps itself with a holy +seal. And in those old days of Charles I, tyranny wore a sacred badge. +Tyranny carried a cross. It was tyranny by divine right. Wrong was +justified by grace. I say, of all tyrannies, this is the most +tyrannical. Wanted, a man to meet and overthrow it! Where will he be +found? Will he be found in some national centre of learning where +wealthy privilege holds her seat? Oh, no! The Lord hissed for a fly on +the fens, from a little farm at Huntington, and Oliver Cromwell +emerged, to try swords with the king on his throne! Let me give the +familiar glimpse which Sir Philip Warwick offers us of Cromwell making +his first speech in the House of Commons. "I came into the House one +morning, well clad, and perceived a gentleman speaking whom I knew not, +very ordinarily appareled, for it was a plain cloth suit, which seemed +to have been made by an ill country tailor. His linen was plain and not +very clean, and I remember a speck or two of blood upon his little band, +which was not much larger than his collar. His hat was without a +hat-band. His stature was of a good size; his sword stuck close to his +side; his countenance swollen and reddish; his voice sharp and +untunable, and his eloquence full of fervour." And there is God's man! +But what an orbit! A man was wanted for the defence of liberty and +spiritual religion, and God prepared this man in the obscurity of a +little farm among the fens. What an orbit is marked by the goings of the +Lord. The Lord hissed for the fly on the fen. + +March forward across the centuries. Here is slavery in the American +republic. In spite of the noble words of the Declaration of +Independence: "That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by +their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are +life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"--in spite of these ringing +human claims slavery nestled beneath the American flag. Well, wanted a +man to deal with it! Where will he be found? Will he be found in some +university centre? Will he be a paragon of intellectual learning and +accomplishment? Oh no! The Lord hissed for a fly in Harden, in a scraggy +part of Kentucky, Harden with its "barren hillocks and weedy hollows, +and stunted and scrubby underbush,"--and there in a dismal solitude, and +in a cheerless home, and in the deepest poverty, the great God made His +man, and Abraham Lincoln came forth to cross swords with the great +wrong, and to ring the bells of freedom from the "frozen North to the +glowing South, and from the stormy waters of the Atlantic westward to +the calmer waters of the Pacific Main." But what an orbit of divine +providence! Who would have guessed that just there, in that poor, +unschooled, and unprivileged family the great God was doing His +momentous work? And I wonder where now in the vast orbit of His +providence He is rearing the leaders of to-morrow? Our God moves in +mighty sweeps, and He is even now at work in the mysterious ministries +of His grace. "The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost +part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of +Assyria." + +And then, under the influence of the prophet's teaching I want once more +to urge that we think in wider orbits of the divine presence in the +individual life. For instance, in what sweeping orbits the Lord moves on +His journeys in seeking to bring us to Himself, and to fashion us into +the strength and beauty of His own image. He lifts an ensign to some +remote circumstance, and from afar there comes an influence which sets +me on the road to God. He calls a ministry from distant Egypt, or from +far off Assyria, and my life is turned to the home of my Lord. + +Here is a careless young son of wealth in Cambridge University. Life for +him is just an idle sport, a careless revel, a jaunty outing, an +enjoyable extravagance. Life is just a shallow, shimmering pool; not an +ocean with momentous tidal forces, and with the voice of the great +Eternal speaking in its mighty tones. Wanted a man to awake this +indolent son of wealth! And in what an orbit God moved to find the man! +The Lord hissed for a fly in Massachusetts, and there, in Northfield, +was a poor homestead, encumbered with mortgage; and a poor widow with +seven children, so poor that the very kindling wood was taken by the +creditors from the shed. And there in that poor woman's house God made +His man, and Dwight Moody came forth, and went to Cambridge University, +and proclaimed the evangel of grace, and by the love of God won this +young fellow from a loose and jaunty and indifferent life, and kindled +in him a passionate devotion to Christ which is now blazing away on the +Southern Soudan in a campaign to light a line of Christian beacon-fires +which shall stretch from coast to coast! But what an orbit! From a poor +widow's homestead in Northfield to a sporting young fellow in Cambridge +University! + +I met a cultured man the other day, a man who has enjoyed all the +academic advantages that money can provide, a man of university culture +and distinction, but whose life has been spiritually indifferent, and +who has held coldly aloof from God and the Kingdom of God. And in the +vast orbit of His providence the great God brought this man into +communion with Billy Sunday, and all the stubble of his neglected life +was burned up in the consuming fire of his kindled love for the Lord. +But just think of the orbit! The Lord hissed for His fly, and from the +apparently incredible circumstance of a slangy evangelist this man was +brought to his Father's House in reconciliation and peace. Again I say, +what an orbit! "I will bring the blind by a way that they know not," and +under His wide and mysterious leadership the blind find themselves at +home. + +And so, my friends, our God is still moving in these vast orbits. He +hisses for a disappointment, and it comes and throws its shadow upon our +life, but the shadow is purposed to be one of the healing shadows of +grace. "I will command the clouds, saith the Lord." Yes, even our cloudy +experiences move under command. They travel in the tremendous orbit of +His providence. "I will command the ravens, saith the Lord God." Yes, +there are diverse circumstances that come to us on wings,--kind words, +cheering messages, bright inspirations, and they are the commanded +ministers of God's providence. They are God's messengers on wings! + +We can never tell in what remote circumstances the good Lord is even now +preparing our to-morrow. But of one thing we may be perfectly sure, the +great Lord is at work, and He is at work over wide fields. "Rest in the +Lord, and wait patiently for Him." "The Lord is thy keeper.... The Lord +shall keep thee from all evil, He shall keep thy soul. The Lord shall +keep thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for +evermore." + + + + +XII + +THE SOLDIER'S FIRE + + + _Heavenly Father, may we experience that deepest of all joys + which is born of holy communion with Thee. Lead us into new + fields of our wonderful inheritance in Christ. May we have new + surprises of grace. May some fresh revelations of Thy love break + upon our astonished vision. Remove the scales from our eyes, so + that we may see clearly the things which are waiting to be + unveiled. Graciously make known to us what Thou wouldst have us + be in order that we may then more clearly apprehend what Thou + wouldst have us do. Help us to remember what we ought not to + forget, and help us to forget what we ought not to remember. May + our minds be the servants of Thy truth. Let the beams of + heavenly light chase out the darkness of error and let it be all + glorious within. We humbly pray Thee to deliver us from our + selfishness, and enlarge and refine our sympathies until they + express themselves in willing sacrifice. May we feel the pains + of others, and carry their burdens and share their yokes. May + the circles of our compassion grow larger every day. Let the + ends of the earth be at our own doors, and so may we hear the + cry which is very far off. Illumine our lives in this service, + and send us forth to enlighten and kindle the lives of others. + Make us missionaries of Thy truth and ambassadors of Thy grace + and love. May we be quick to discern opportunity, and ready to + use it in the service of the King. Amen._ + + + + +XII + +THE SOLDIER'S FIRE + + "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." + Matthew 3:11. + + +Such is the divine promise. Let me read the story of its fulfilment. +"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one +accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a +rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were +sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, +and it sat upon each of them." Do not let us become victims of the +letter and become entangled in the symbolism. It is possible so to +regard material signs as to lose their spiritual significance. A musical +word may conceal its own thought. Words are purposed to be the vehicles +of mind. Symbols are intended to be transparencies, losing themselves +in something better. They are ordained to be thoroughfares through which +we pass to nobler destinations. The sign is to be the servant of its own +significance. + +Here then are men and women who are about to receive the promised gift +of the Spirit of God. They have been waiting as their Master directed, +waiting in prayer, and in prayer incalculably strengthened by community +of desire, waiting in trembling watchfulness and expectation. Then the +much-hoped-for day arrives and their spirits receive the infinite +reinforcement of the gift of the Holy Spirit. + +We have a very pale reflection of this experience when two human spirits +are given to each other in deep and vital communion. When David received +the gift of Jonathan's spirit, and Jonathan received the gift of David's +spirit, each of them obtained immeasurable enrichment. When Robert +Browning received the gift of Elizabeth Barrett's spirit, and Elizabeth +Barrett received the gift of Robert Browning's spirit, who can calculate +the wealth which each of them found in the other's possession? + +But these examples, and others even more sacred which we could gather +from our own experience, are only pale and wan and shadowy, compared +with the wonder which breaks upon the soul when the spirit of man +receives the gift of the Spirit of God, and the two dwell together in +mystic and glorious communion. What happens to the human spirit is +suggested to us under the familiar symbols of wind and fire. "Like unto +a rushing mighty wind;" "like unto fire." Do not let us be enslaved by +any hampering details in the figures. Let us seek their broad +significance. And what is the characteristic of a rushing mighty wind? +It dispels the fog. It freshens the atmosphere. It gives life and +nimbleness to the air. It is the minister of vitality. And the breath of +God's Spirit is like that; it clears the human spirit, and freshens it, +and vitalizes it; it acts upon the soul like the air of a spiritual +spring. And as for the symbol of the fire; fire is the antagonist of all +that is frozen; it is the antagonist of the torpid, the tepid; it is the +minister of fervour, and buoyancy, and expansion. The wind changes the +atmosphere, the fire changes the temperature; and the holy Spirit of +God changes the atmosphere and temperature of the soul; and when you +have changed the atmosphere and temperature of a soul you have +accomplished a mighty transformation. It is about this change in the +moral and spiritual temperature that I want to meditate, the gift of +fire which we receive in the baptism of the Holy Ghost. If the spirit of +man and the spirit of God come into blessed communion, and the fire of +God is given, how will it reveal and express itself? For if there be a +gift of fire in the soul we shall most surely know it. Fire is one of +the things which cannot be hid. You can hide a painted sun in your +parlour and no one will know it is there, but you cannot hide a glowing +fire. A man can hide a denominational label, he cannot possibly hide the +holy fire of God. How, then, shall we know that the fire is there? + +First of all I think I should look for the holy fire on the common +hearthstone of human love. If the fire of God does not warm up the +affections I fail to recognize what its heat can be worth. The first +thing to warm up is the heart. The intimate friend of the Holy Spirit +is known by the ardour of his affections. He loves with a pure heart +fervently. He is baptized with fire. Now I need not seek to prove the +existence of cold hearts among us. I am afraid we must accept them +without question. Whether there are hearts like fire-grates without a +spark of fire I cannot tell. Personally, I have never met with anyone in +whose soul the fire of love had gone quite out. I think that if we +sought very diligently among the gray dusty ashes of any burnt-out life +we should find a little love somewhere. Yes, even in Judas Iscariot, or +in the dingy soul-grate of old frozen-out Scrooge. But there are surely +souls so cold, and so destitute of love, that the poor fire never leaps +up in dancing, cheering, welcome flames. Their temperature is zero. + +There are other souls with a little fire of love burning, but it is very +sad, very sodden, very sullen, very dull. There is more smoke than fire. +There is more surliness than love. Their fire is not inviting and +attractive. There is a little spitting, and spluttering, and crackling, +but there is no fine, honest, ruddy glow. Their temperature is about +ten above freezing. They are not frozen but they are not comforting. + +There are other lives where the fire of affection is burning more +brightly, and certainly with more attractive glow, but where it seems as +if the quality of the fuel must be poor because the fire gives out +comparatively little heat. The heart sends out a cheery beam across the +family circle, but it does not reach beyond. There is no cordial warmth +for the wider circles of fellowship. The fire burns in the home but it +does not affect the office. It encompasses the child but it has no cheer +for the stranger. What is the temperature of such a life? It is very +difficult to appraise it. Perhaps it will be best to say that in one +room of the soul the temperature is 60, while in all the other rooms it +is down towards freezing. + +And, therefore, I need not say how profound is the need in the world for +warm, glowing, affectional fires. What awfully cold lives there are in +the city, just waiting for the cheer of "the flame of sacred love!" +There are souls whose fires have died down at the touch of death. There +are others whose glow has been dulled by heavy sorrow. There are others +whose love has been slaked by the pitiless rains of pelting defeat. +There are others again whose hearts are cold in the midst of material +wealth. They have richly furnished dwellings, but their hearts are like +ice. They are unloved and unlovely, and they are frostbitten in the +realms of luxury. Wealth can buy attention; it can never purchase love. +My God! What cold souls there are in this great city! + +And, therefore, what a clamant and urgent need there is for love-fires +at which to kindle these souls that are heavy, and burdened, and cold. +And when the Holy Spirit is given to a man, and he is baptized with +fire, it must surely, first of all, be the fire of cordial, human +affection. And such is the teaching of experience. When John Wesley came +into the fulness of the divine blessing in a little service at +Aldersgate Street, London, he said that he "felt his heart strangely +warmed." He was receiving the gift of holy fire. And I cannot but think +that Charles Wesley was thinking about his brother's experience on that +day when he wrote his own immortal hymn which includes the prayerful +lines: + + "Kindle a flame of sacred love + In these cold hearts of ours." + +You find and feel the glow of that love-fire throughout the New +Testament Scriptures. They who have the most of God's Spirit have the +most of the fire. There was Barnabas, who was declared to be "full of +the Holy Spirit," and he is also described as "the son of consolation." +What a consummate title! Cannot we feel the love-fire burning and +glowing in all his ample ministry? Full of the Spirit, and therefore +full of consolation! The truth of the matter is this,--we cannot be much +with the Spirit of Christ, and not take fire from His presence. In these +high realms, communing is partaking, and we kindle to the same affection +as fills the heart of the Lord. "We love because He first loved us." His +fire lights our fire, and we burn in kindred passion. So do I proclaim +that when the fire of God falls upon our spirits the sacred gift kindles +and inflames the soul's affections. When we are baptized with the Holy +Ghost and with fire, we receive the glowing power of Christian love. + +Where else shall we look for that holy fire in human life? I think I +should look for the presence of the fire of the Holy Ghost in fervent +enthusiasm for the cause of Christ's Kingdom. And that indeed is what I +find. The New Testament instructs me in this, and it teaches me that +where man is baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire his own spirit +becomes fervent. He is declared to be "_fervent_ in spirit," and the +original word means to bubble up, to boil, as in a boiling kettle; it is +the emergence of the mighty power of steam. And so the significance is +this: the fire of God generates steam, it creates driving power, it +produces forceful and invincible enthusiasm. You will find abundant +examples of this spiritual miracle in the Acts of the Apostles; perhaps +the Book might be more truly named "The Acts of the Holy Spirit," for +all the glorious activity is generated by His holy fire. Let your eyes +glance over the apostolic record. Mark how the fire of God endows man +with the power of magnificent initiative. Take the apostle Peter;--once +his strength was the strength of impulse, a spurt and then a collapse, a +spasm and then a retreat, proud beginnings bereft of patience and +perseverance. But see him when the Spirit of God has got hold upon him, +and what a gift he has received of initial and sustained enthusiasm! +"And Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit!" You should see him then, and +note the strength of his drive, and the ardour of his enterprise! And +the example of Peter would be confirmed by the examples of all the other +apostles, if only we knew their personal history and experience. I wish +there had been given to us just a glimpse of doubting Thomas, slow, +hesitant, reluctant, uncertain, when the Holy Spirit had him in +possession. "And Thomas filled with the Holy Spirit,"--I would give +something to know the end of that sentence. And I wish we had one +glimpse of timid, fearful, night-walking Nicodemus, when the fire of +God's Spirit blazed in his soul. "Then Nicodemus, filled with the Holy +Spirit,"--I wonder what notable exploits would complete that unfinished +sentence. This we know; the holy fire transformed the timid into the +courageous, the lukewarm into the fervent, it generated a moral steam +which made them invincible. + +The first apostles drove through tremendous obstacles. Indeed, they +never had the comfort of an open and unimpeded road. Every road was +thick with adversaries. What then? Through them or over them! "But, +Sire," said a timid and startled officer to Napoleon, on receiving +apparently impossible commands, "But, Sire, there are the Alps!" "Then +there must be no Alps," replied his audacious chief. "There must be no +Alps!" That was the very spirit of the first apostles. Mighty +antagonisms reared themselves in their way,--ecclesiastical prejudices, +the prejudices of culture, social hostilities, political expediences, +and all the subtle and violent contrivances of the world, the flesh and +the devil. "But, Sire, there are the Alps!" "There must be no Alps!" +Through them! Over them! What that coward Peter got through when the +fire of God glowed in his soul! When a man has the holy fire of God +within him he has a boiling fervency of spirit, and he can drive through +anything. + +And that same holy fire gives the same terrific power to-day, the same +driving enthusiasm, the same patient, dogged, invincible perseverance. +If a man declares that he has received the fire of God's Holy Spirit, I +will look eagerly for the impetus of his sacred enthusiasm. If he be a +preacher I will look for labour in the passion, and the unsnarable +energy and patience which he will assuredly put into his work. If he be +a teacher, I will examine the generated steam, and note how much he can +do, how far he can travel, and how long he can hold out in the service +of his Lord. If he be a man who has set himself to some piece of social +reconstruction I will watch with what ardour, and ingenuity, and +inevitableness he is moving towards his goal. Is it the smashing of the +saloons? "Then Peter, filled with the Holy fire;"--what if that power +were harnessed to the enterprise? Or is it the awful plague and blight +of impurity; or is it the cleaning up of politics; the establishment of +rectitude in civic and national life? Whatever it be, the holy fire of +God will reveal its presence in the soul of man in an ardent enthusiasm +which cannot be quenched. It is the promise of our God, and shall He not +do it? "He maketh His ministers a flaming fire,"--and that fire can +never be blown out in the darkest and most tempestuous nights. + +And lastly, I shall look for the signs of the presence of the Holy +Spirit in the fire of sacred resentment. If a man is baptized with the +Holy Ghost, and with fire, I shall expect to see the presence of that +fire in the capacity of hot and sensitive indignation. I need not say +that there is a mighty difference between hot temper and hot +indignation. Hot temper is a firing of loose powder upon a shovel. It is +just a flare, and an annoyance, and a danger. But hot indignation is +powder concentrated in the muzzle of a gun, and intelligently directed +to the overthrow of some stronghold of iniquity. Hot temper is the fire +of the devil. Hot indignation is the fire of God; it is the wrath of the +Lamb. What is this capacity of indignation? It is the opposite to frozen +antipathy, to tepid curiosity, to sinful "don't care," to all immoral +coldness and calculated indifference. There are many people who can be +irritated, but they are never indignant. They can be offended, but they +are never nobly angry. The souls who are possessed with the fire of God +are the very opposite to all these. I said at the very beginning of this +meditation that the breath of God is like the quickening atmosphere of +the Spring; but it is equally true to say that it can be like the +destructive blast of the African sirocco--"The grass withereth and the +flower fadeth _because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it_." The hot +breath of God is like unto a blast that scorches things in their very +roots. And if we share the breath of God's Spirit we too shall be +endowed with the ministry of the destructive blast, even the power of a +consuming indignation. Any form of public iniquity will make our fire +blaze with purifying wrath. Corruption in civic or national government, +inhumanity in the treatment of the criminal and the unfortunate, the +oppression of the poor, the brutal disregard of the rights of the weak +and the defenceless, any one of these will draw out our souls in the hot +and aggressive indignation which is the imparted fire of the Holy Ghost. +If any one claims to have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and with +fire, and he is indifferent in the presence of licensed iniquity, and +apathetic and lukewarm when gigantic wrongs glare and stare upon him, +that man's spiritual baptism is a pathetic fiction, and his boasted fire +is only a painted flame. + +But if a man suffer a personal injury, if some wrong is done to him, +what kind of fire shall I expect to see in his life if he is filled with +the Holy Ghost? Yes, if some one has done an injury to another, and the +other has been baptized with the Holy Ghost, what kind of fire will he +reveal? Listen to this: "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, +give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his +head!" It is the very fire that rains upon us from the Cross of our +Lord: "And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, +there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and +the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they +know not what they do." What kind of fire is that? It is the same holy +fire which flowed from the soul of the martyr Stephen as he was being +stoned to death: "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." It is a +marvellous fire, a most arresting fire; and we simply cannot withstand +it. It is the very fire of grace; it is live coal from the altar of God. + +So this is the sort of fire I look for when a man claims to be filled +with the Holy Spirit,--the glowing fire of humble affection, the glowing +fire of noble enthusiasm, the glowing fire of indignation, and the +marvellous fire of self-forgetting grace. "He shall baptize you with the +Holy Ghost and with fire." + + "He came in tongues of living flame, + To teach, convince, subdue, + All powerful as the wind He came, + And viewless too. + + Spirit of purity and grace, + Our weakness, pitying see, + Oh, make our hearts Thy dwelling-place, + And worthier Thee." + + + + +XIII + +VICTORY OVER THE BEAST + + + _Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for our knowledge that all our + springs are in Thee. Wilt Thou deliver us from any sense of + self-dependence, and lead us into an intimate fellowship with + the ministers of Thy grace. If any triumph has made us + self-confident, if any earthly success has made us proud, may + Thy Holy Spirit lead our spirits into the lowliness which is the + beginning of true wisdom and strength. We humbly ask that Thou + wilt deliver us from the sins which have become our masters, and + in which we find unholy delight. Incline our hearts unto Thy + law, and help us to find pleasure in obedience to Thy holy will. + Graciously redeem us from every care which fetters our souls, + and give us such an assurance of Thy providential love that we + may exult in the glorious liberty of the children of God. + Graciously remember us one by one. Be very near to those who + scarcely have the heart to pray. Mercifully meet with those who + have been stunned with sorrow, and who have not yet regained the + comforts of Thy peace. Remember all who are in grave perplexity, + and graciously light Thy lamp on their bewildered way. Receive + all our little ones into the circle of Thy blessing, and may + they early rejoice in Thy friendship and become devoted to Thy + holy will. Amen._ + + + + +XIII + +VICTORY OVER THE BEAST + + "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and they + that had gotten the victory over the beast." Revelation 15:2. + + +The symbolism of the city of God as given in the Book of Revelation +represents the character of its citizens, and all the glories of the new +Jerusalem have correspondences in the souls who live and move in that +radiant land. The sea of glass represents a spiritual character of regal +serenity, a character transparent in its limpid depths, and reflecting +in its stillness the very image of the Lord. And the sea of glass, +"mingled with fire," is significant of character made fervent by holy +love, purity made genial, righteousness changed into goodness by the +permeating heat of affectional enthusiasm and devotion. + +And now I wish to examine the next descriptive sentence, which tells us +something of the history and experiences of those who have arrived at +the sea of glass, and who have attained the serene and genial purity of +those who hold immediate communion with God. And this is the sentence +which records some of the happenings which have befallen them on the +road; "_They have gotten the victory over the beast._" It is a very +striking conjunction, this which tells me that they who dwell by the sea +of glass have come by the way of the beast, and that they have conquered +the beast by the way. What was the beast which these men and women had +faced and conquered as they moved onward to the crystal sea? I do not +profess to know the precise historic interpretation. The beast may have +been the malignant and vindictive antagonism of the Emperor Nero. He may +have been the beast. The beast may have been the hostile and suffocating +pressure of the Roman Empire. The beast may have been the stealthy +seductions of the imperial city of Rome. The beast may have been the +fascinating and paralyzing charm of the world, the flesh, and the devil. +Anyone or all of these together may have been the beast which straddled +across the road and opposed these Christians on their journey towards +home. I do not know, and I frankly confess I am not deeply concerned to +know. The general boldness of the figure is quite enough for me. +Whatever else the beast may mean it must essentially mean anti-God, +anti-Christ, the antagonist of the divine. It must mean the animal side +of our nature seeking to invade the realm of the spirit, to force its +way among the executive powers of the soul, and to usurp the throne of +God. The beast is triumphant when the flesh and all the works of the +flesh have ousted the forces of the spirit. The beast is conquered when +the powers of the spirit never surrender their holy sovereignty, when +the forces of the flesh have been ordered to their place among the rank +and file, and when they are never allowed to wear the honours and +prerogatives of the commander-in-chief. "They that have gotten the +victory over the beast." The beast is just anti-Christ, in whatever form +he may appear. + +Let us spend a little while in first of all examining this beast who +claims the control and mastery of our souls. Everybody has a vivid +experience of his power, but it may help to clarify our minds if we +consider what has been said about him by the recognized masters and +counsellors of the soul. Let us turn, then, to the pages of literature, +and first of all let us turn to the inspired literature itself. You have +scarcely opened the Word of God before the beast makes his appearance in +the form of a serpent. "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast +of the field." And who has not experienced the wiles of the serpent when +he approaches the soul in some charming seduction, in some fascinating +crookedness, in some wriggling sophistry, in some twisted excuse, in +some winding compromise? Who has not seen the beast when he has sought +to persuade the soul that the wriggle is the most graceful form of +motion, and that the curve is more acceptable than the straight line? +Who has not heard him when he has argued that the detour is the shortest +way home, and that a slight deviation from rectitude will lead to the +noblest ends? Yes, this beast is the apostle of the serpentine, and this +is his creed,--the wriggle is the best way to your goal. "The serpent +was more subtle than any beast of the field." + +I turn over the pages of the old book, and I am confronted with an +extraordinary change in the form of the beast. He is no longer a +wriggling serpent but a prowling lion. "The devil goeth abroad like a +roaring lion." He no longer makes a seductive approach to the intellect +with his advocacy of the crooked way; he makes a passionate assault upon +the spirit with all the fiery forces of the flesh. It is no longer the +wriggle but a terrific leap. And who has not known him in this wild +approach? It is just the tremendous weight and pounce of anti-spiritual +impulse, the mighty onrush of carnal longing and desire. The lion is +sheer mass and weight of hungry craving. Who has not known the lion in +the way?... And yet beside the crystal sea are those "who have gotten +the victory over the beast." + +Again I turn over the pages of the old book, and once again the form of +the beast has changed and he appears before me in the guise of a fox. It +is our Master's name for the foe. And who has not known the beast when +he has assailed the soul in the manner of a fox? It is the assault of +cunning, when things are made to appear in semblance what they are not +in spirit and in truth. Nay, it is the very art of foxiness that the fox +itself is made to look like a goose, and the wolf is given the +appearance of a lamb. Vice is dressed up like virtue. Falsehood moves +about in white robes and innocently accosts us in the dress of a white +lie. License tricks itself out as gaiety. Sin clothes itself in the +fashions of the hour and hides its talons in silks. I say this is the +very genius of the fox,--he makes you think you are having converse with +a harmless old goose! Who has not known the fox when he cunningly tried +to persuade us that the devil was God, and that hell was heaven, and +that death was.... But, O no, he never mentions death! In his scheme it +is part of the trick that death shall never be known. The old fox! And +yet, in spite of fox and lion and serpent, there were those beside the +sea of glass "who had gotten the victory over the beast." + +Let me lead you further, for a moment or two, into the pages of a wider +literature, and let it be into the pages of Dante and John Bunyan. In +his immortal book Dante tells us that when he turned his feet to the +pilgrim road he was successively confronted by three beasts which sought +to stop his journey. And first he met a leopard: + + "And lo! just as the sloping side I gained, + A leopard, subtle, lithe, exceeding fleet, + Whose skin full many a dusky spot did stain; + Nor did she from before my face retreat; + Nay, hindered so my journey on the way, + That many a time I backward turned my feet." + +The leopard which confronted Dante was the symbol of sensuous beauty +which sought to block his road and ensnare his feet. Next he was +confronted by a lion: + + "Yet o'er me, spite of this, did terror creep-- + From aspect of a lion drawing near. + He seemed as if upon me he would leap, + With head upraised and hunger fierce and wild, + So that a shudder through the air did sweep." + +The lion was to Dante the symbol of worldly pride. And next he met a +wolf: + + "A she-wolf, with all ill-greed defiled, + Laden with hungry leanness terrible." + +And the wolf was to Dante the lean symbol of a hungry greed; it was the +beastly type of avarice. And who has not shared the experience of Dante +on his own road and encountered the leopard, the lion and the wolf?... +And yet there were those before the sea of glass who had got the victory +over the beast. + +Turn to John Bunyan. There is a wonderful passage in the early part of +John Bunyan's "Holy War," in which he describes the preparations which +the beast has made for his attack upon the soul. He tells how beast held +counsel with beast, and how it was agreed that they should assume forms +with which the soul was quite familiar; such as were accounted harmless, +lest the soul should be alarmed when they made their deadly approach. +"Therefore let us assault the soul in all pretended fairness, covering +our intentions with all manner of lies, flatteries, and illusive words; +feigning things that will never be, and promising that to them which +they shall never find." And so they marched toward the soul, "all in a +manner invisible," save only one, and he took on a shape as harmless and +familiar as a bird, and when he spoke he spake with such gentleness "as +if he had been a lamb." And I for one put myself side by side with John +Bunyan, for I too have known the beast when he has come disguised, and +has addressed me with all the harmlessness and innocence of a lamb. + +I will add one further word in our consideration of the beast. When I +look around on the world to-day, upon the appalling scenes of passion +and hatred and slaughter,--it is to me very significant that so many of +the national emblems, which represent the corporate life of peoples, are +different types of beasts. It is the beast which still provides the +symbols of our national life. There is the lion; there is the bear; +there is the wolf, and I know not what besides! We talk of rousing the +bear and of twisting the lion's tail! Our national emblems are beasts. +The American nation has happily discarded the beast, but it has chosen +one of the fiercest among the birds--the bird whose talons are more +obtrusive than its song. I am suggesting the significance of the fact +that we have found nothing above the beast to symbolize the +individuality of national life. Perhaps some day we may "move upward," +and we may erase the beasts from our emblems, but it will only be when +we have driven the beasts from our souls! + +Well, then, after this swift glimpse into inspired and general +literature, and this glance upon the typical symbols of the national +life, we are more disposed than ever to say that the beast is just +anti-Christ, the presumptuous claim of the animal to take the place of +the spiritual, the defiant claim of the devil to usurp the throne of +God. But here are men and women whose triumph is recorded in my text, +who have conquered the beast, and who have attained a strong and fervent +purity in which the spirit is all in all. What was the secret of their +triumph? By what means and ministries did they conquer the beast? +Happily we are left in no manner of doubt, and the means by which they +conquered are offered to you and me. What says the Old Book?--"They +overcame by the blood of the Lamb." Let us tell their secret very +quietly and very simply, without any waste of words,--they shared the +blood of Jesus Christ and it changed them into giants. In some way or +other a communion was formed between their life and His life, and His +mighty life flowed into their life as vine-blood flows into the branch +of the vine. They shared the strength of Him who fought the beast in the +wilderness of Judea, and who fought him again in still more alluring +forms in the courts of Jerusalem and by the shores of the Lake of +Galilee. Yes, if you had asked these radiant victors by the sea of glass +to tell you how they triumphed, they would have reverently turned their +faces towards the Lord and eagerly answered, "By the blood of the Lamb!" + + "I asked them whence their victory came, + They with united breath + Ascribed their conquest to the Lamb, + Their triumph to His death." + +And the second secret of their triumph is to be found in their +continual warfare. They drank his blood to fight his fights. It is a +fight that knows no armistice. It acknowledges no flag of truce. Eternal +vigilance and eternal struggle is the price of spiritual freedom. Life +is warfare; it is never parade-drill; it is never holiday review; we are +never off duty; the contest is constant, and the close of every day +records a victory or a defeat. Our Master never promised his soldiers a +life of ease. The beast promises roads which are pleasant as field paths +that lead through grassy meadows. There shall be no flints, no thorns, +no briars; and if we choose, we can lie down in the meadows morning, +noon and night! That is the promise that the beast makes,--a promise +which is always broken. Our Lord always calls us to battles, to noble +crusades and prolonged campaigns. "His blood-red banner streams afar!" +He calls us to share the travail that makes His Kingdom come. Yes, He +calls us to glorious, endless battles, but He promises sure and certain +victory if we drink His blood along the way. + +And so they conquered the beast by the blood of the Lamb. They +conquered by the continual battles of their faith. And lastly they +conquered by their songs of victory. They sang their way to the sea of +glass, and their songs were songs of victory all along the road. They +did not moan in misereres; they did not wail in lamentations as if the +beast were mightier than their Lord. They knew their Lord was mightier +than all; and their songs of victory were the beginning of their +triumph. O, the singing that abounds in the Word of God! O, the singing +you may hear in the Acts of the Apostles! And, O, the singing that +sounds through the Book of Revelation; the song of victory, the song of +Moses and the Lamb! At the battle of Dunbar, in the great critical days +of English freedom, Cromwell's troops sang their way to victory. They +could hear the roaring of the sea. The land was swept with deluges of +rain. But above the roar of the sea, and the sound of the pelting rain, +they lifted their voices in praise to God, and as they swept into battle +their song rang out; "God is our refuge and strength, a very present +help in time of trouble; therefore will we not fear if the earth be +removed and the mountains be shaken in the heart of the seas! The Lord +of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge!" Their song was +part of their armour; it was indeed the armour of their souls. I greatly +like that word of the Christian, Appollinaris, in Ibsen's play,--"The +Emperor Julian," which he spake when the forces of the beast were massed +against the soldiers of the cross;--"Verily I say unto you, so long as +song rings out above our sorrows, Satan shall never conquer!" Verily, I +too will say that our praise is an invincible armour,--we sing our way +to the triumph we seek! + +Men and women, the beast can be conquered, for the mouth of the Lord +hath spoken it! You and I may stand at the sea of glass, pure, +transparent, fervent with divine love, victors over the beast, through +the blood of the Lamb, through constancy in battle, and in songs which +ring out above our sorrows, as we push along life's way. + + "Soldiers of Christ, arise! + And put your armour on; + Strong in the strength which God supplies + Through His eternal Son. + + From strength to strength go on, + Wrestle, and fight and pray; + Tread all the powers of darkness down + And win the well-fought day." + + + + +XIV + +THE COMING GOLDEN AGE + + + _Holy Father, we thank Thee for the privilege of fellowship, and + for the help which we can give to one another. May the faith of + everyone be strengthened by the faith of all. May our penitence + be deepened because we are all engaged in common confession. May + our joys be enriched because we are all contemplating the + unsearchable riches of Christ. May our obedience become more + devoted because we all drink of the waters of inspiration. + Impart unto us the grace of sacred sympathy. May we reverently + bear one another's burdens and carry them in the arms of + intercession. We beseech Thee to grant unto us visions of Thy + glory in so far as our eyes are able to bear them. May we make + new discoveries among the mysteries of Thy truth. May the whole + worship prepare us for a larger ministry in the service of Thy + kingdom. Wilt Thou give us the armor we need for the great + campaign. Especially may we receive the endowment of the love + that never grows faint. Reveal to us our work, and then lead us + into a devotion which will never be satisfied until the work is + finished. Look upon the whole world in this hour of desolation + and woe. Enlarge our hearts to comprehend the sorrow, and may we + share the sufferings of our Lord in sacrificial labors. Let Thy + kingdom come, O Lord, and let Thy will be done on earth as it is + in heaven. Amen._ + + + + +XIV + +THE COMING GOLDEN AGE + + "And many people shall go up and say, Come ye and let us go up + to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; + and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: + for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord + from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall + rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into + ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall + not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war + any more." Isaiah 2: 3, 4. + + +There is something almost unreal in these words when they are read +aloud in the times through which we are passing. They sound like the +voice of a mocking-bird calling from the midst of the dust and the +débris of a ruined world. It is like hearing the gentle peal of church +bells on the bloody field of battle. It is like anything you choose +which has become unreal, and which has been transferred from the healthy +book of noble prophecy to the bitter pages of satire and the sour lips +of the cynic. Yes, I grant that the great passage unfolds ideals which +have become mere scraps of paper, torn and retorn into a thousand +pieces, and blown about like withered leaves in an autumn gale. What, +then, are we to do? I am reminded of what Lord Morley said in Manchester +a few weeks ago. "When the war is ended,--this mournful chapter of sore +bereavement and wasted treasure, when all that is gone, I ask is there +not a moral loss which ought to be counted, a moral loss in the wreck of +ideals in which the men of my generation were deeply concerned? That +loss has got to be counted and retrieved. The fabric of those ideals has +to be built up again in the hearts and minds of men and women." Surely +that is an opportune word, and it offers both counsel and warning to the +Christian Church. We must not just sit down in the bloody dust, and wail +our misereres in deadly impotence. We have got to reconstruct the ruined +pile, and we must begin the reconstruction by rebuilding the golden +palace of our dreams. + +And if we are going to rear again that stately temple of vision and +dream, who can give us nobler help than the Hebrew prophets, and who +among the prophets can help us more than Isaiah? Isaiah was a prophet +interpreting the mind of God. He was a statesman with a keen and +comprehensive outlook on human affairs. He was also a poet bringing to +human problems the illuminating imagination of the seer. He lived in a +time of grave national disloyalties, a time when peoples were abandoning +their most sacred trust. His were days of international strife and +convulsion, days witnessing vast world movements in which empires were +seen at their birth, and empires were seen in withering decline and +death. Isaiah was a man whose thought was distinguished by breadth and +depth and length. He saw things broadly, he saw things deeply, and he +also saw the things which gleamed afar. And as he looked out upon the +world to his vision the troubled and chaotic day merged into a +reconstituted order of active concord and peace. Isaiah was a confirmed +optimist. He had a keen sense of the future. He felt the days before +him. He could scent the waving harvest while yet the snow was on the +ground. He could catch the sound of harvest-home while the wintry wind +was whistling across the ice-bound field. And looking out over the dark +scene of convulsion and disaster, and amid the rude and brutal clamour +of international strife, he sang this song of the morning,--"They shall +beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into +pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither +shall they learn war any more." If we are purposing to rebuild the +fallen ideals of our own day, and so reconstruct our common life, can we +do better than stand near this man for guidance and inspiration? + +How, then, does this man say that the golden dream is to be realized? +Through what preparatory stages are we to pass before we reach the +shining consummation? Isaiah declares that the fulfilment of the dream +is to begin in _the profound revival of spiritual religion_. "It shall +come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house +shall be established at the head of the mountains, and shall be exalted +above the hills." That is to say, the dominant peak in the reconstructed +landscape is to be a shining spirituality of pure and undefiled +religion. Man's relationship to God is to be the supreme relation +overtopping and overseeing everything else. "And many peoples shall say, +Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of +the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in +His paths." That is to say, in the golden age this is to be the common +aspiration; spiritual desire and spiritual ambition are to be dominant; +the biggest thing in life is to be the yearning for the divine +communion, the gladsome craving for fellowship in the heavenly quest. +That is how the golden dream is to begin to be fulfilled; it is to begin +in the recovery of vital worship, in the profound revival of spiritual +religion. + +Now, all the best things can be mimicked in the cheapest counterfeits! +Pearls can be so skilfully manufactured that even the expert eye can be +deceived. There are diamonds about, common as window glass, and their +dancing gleams can delude the very elect. Yes, the best things can be +cleverly imitated, and their counterfeits can move unsuspected in the +most exalted places. It would be an amusing trait, if it were not a +tragic characteristic of human nature, how willing we are to borrow the +clothes of realities, and just strut about in our cheap and glittering +attire. And it is so easily done! Anybody can borrow the jolly meters of +Rudyard Kipling and put their own tawdry stuff into his caskets; and a +thousand people have done it! Anybody can borrow the disorderly +irregularities of Walt Whitman, and into his eccentric bottles they can +pour their own cheap wine; and crowds of people have done it! It is so +easy to borrow clothes, and bottles, and outer forms. Yes, and it is so +easy to borrow the outer garments of religion and to move about in the +mere trappings of devotion. We can borrow the sacramental cup and put +into it the thinnest and the most diluted wine of life. Our apparent +religion can be just an affair of clothes, a borrowed skin, an acted +thing, a play, a theatricality with feigned postures and emotions, +altogether devoid of blood-red life, and having no deep and vital +commerce with the Infinite. Religion can be conventional, having no +inner sanction of fine awe and godly fear. We can get religion while all +the time religion has not got us. It can be just a light performance, a +social convention and not a solemn travail in which the soul is doing +great business in deep waters in communion with the eternal God. + +Now, is not this the religious condition into which the world has +drifted in these latter days? I do not make exception of any country, +not even of America. This country is delivered from the horrors of the +European convulsion, not by a separating gulf of moral and spiritual +condition, but by 3,000 miles of sea. If the coast line of America had +been twenty-five miles from the coast of Europe she would have been +involved in the woes of the boiling cauldron. And therefore do I put the +inclusive question,--and I venture to challenge your judgments,--is not +the religious condition which I have suggested one into which the entire +Christian world appears to have fallen? Multitudes of Christian people +are just wearing the clothes of religion. We have religious professions +without spiritual possessions. We have religious conventionality without +devotional vitality. We have the show without the life. We have the skin +of religion without its sacrificial heart. We have the crucifix without +the Saviour. We have the altar but not the open heaven. + +You may make the test in any way you please. Let us test our condition +by any one of the primary characteristics of true and vital religion. +Let us apply one test. Let us test our condition by our own secret and +personal communion with the Lord. I am speaking in a Christian church, +and I am addressing professedly Christian people; well, how do we stand +the test? What proportion of the members of the Church of Christ in this +country have a really living and fruitful fellowship with God? How many +have walked the way of communion so frequently that it is now a +much-beloved and well-trodden road, along which they can easily and +naturally make their way in the dark, yea, even in the stormy midnight +when the floods are out, and the tempest howls about their ways? + +For we cannot have religion with God wiped out! If religion is only +beneficence, if it is only decent, respectable living, if it is only a +comfortable conformity with accepted social standards,--if that is all +it is, then let us say so and have done with it. Let us pull down our +altars and fling their useless stones to the winds. But this is not +religion. True religion is more than this. True religion is the reverent +and most solemn recognition of the eternal God. It is the conscious +prostration of the soul in His most holy Presence. It is the free +because reverent fellowship of a child with the Father. It is the loyal +acceptance of the Father's will. It is the humble reception of His grace +as offered to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the assumption of our +life as a sacred trust accepted from the hands of God. It is the +anticipation of His glory in our eternal home. Religion has great human +relationships with our fellowman, and these shall not be overlooked. But +for the moment, I am speaking of the fontal relationship of the soul +with God, that fundamental fellowship in which all other worthy +fellowships are born, and I ask you whether all the peoples of all +professing Christian nations have not wandered far from the vitalizing +bond of this primary communion? Let your eyes roam over the darkened +world; dense clouds are still rising everywhere on the ominous horizon. +How is that night-time to be turned into day, yea, into a day like unto +a lovely summer's morning? Here is the answer of the greatest of the +prophets when he, too, was confronted with tempest and night;--the first +thing we have to pray for, and work for, and seek for, in every +Christian country, is a profound revival of spiritual religion, when +"the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established at the head of +the mountains, and when many peoples shall say, Let us go up to the +mountain of the Lord, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk +in His paths." This, I say, is needed in every country, until in every +country all who profess the Saviour's name shall cry out in the fervour +of a great and quenchless desire,--"As the hart panteth after the water +brook, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God!" + +Now look at the second stage in the realization of the golden dream. +"He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.... And He +shall judge between the nations." That is to say, a profound revival of +spiritual religion will be accompanied by _loftier and more exacting +moral standards_. He will teach and we will walk. Morals always grow lax +when piety gets cool. When religion becomes a mere conventionality, +morality always loses its awful sanctions. Wipe out God and your moral +standards will surely fall. If I neglect the temperature of my +greenhouse, or if I play fast and loose with it, my tender plants will +assuredly droop. And if I neglect my spiritual temperature, which is the +climate of my soul, my moral and spiritual flowers will be smitten and +pinched. We cannot lower our spirituality and yet have our morality keep +its winsome bloom. Let me ask you,--have you ever known anyone grow +loose and careless in their religion, and at the same time become +correspondingly nobler and purer, and more scrupulously faithful in +their daily life? Have you ever known anyone drop Christ and then become +more like Him? Have you ever had occasion to whisper this secret +concerning any living woman,--"O, yes, she broke off communion with +Christ, and then she put on moral grace and beauty like a robe?" The +very question is an insult to our intelligence, as it is an affront to +our experience; for this is the eternal law, whose workings can be +witnessed every day,--when the spirit deteriorates the moral life +becomes diseased. + +On the other hand, let there be an enrichment in vital godliness and +our conduct will begin to shine like burnished gold. "He will teach," +says the prophet, "and we will walk." _He_, with Whom we hold vital +communion, _He_ will be the teacher of the spirit, and the illuminant of +the conscience and the inspiration of the will; a nobler conduct will be +born of that fellowship as surely as the choicest grapes are the +children of the healthiest vines. When we are all in living and deep +communion with Christ, truly worshipping in the innermost secret +place,--English, and German, and American, and Japanese,--a finer spirit +of judgment will be abroad in the earth, a healthier moral climate, and +we shall naturally and instinctively seek to do what Jesus did, and in +the way that Jesus did it, when He came and dwelt among us as a +carpenter's Son, Son of Mary, Son of Man, Son of God! + +Only one thing remains to be said as to the process by which the +radiant dream of the prophet is to be fulfilled. When there has come a +profound revival of spiritual religion, and, consequently, a loftier and +more exacting moral standard, there will be a wonderful conversion of +destructive forces in the personal and national life. "They shall beat +their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks." I +want you carefully to notice that the sword is not to be destroyed; it +is to be transformed; it is to become a ploughshare. The spear is not to +be broken and thrown away; it is to be converted into a pruning-hook. +That is to say, the rudely destructive energies in human life are to be +changed into constructive energies. What was darkly negative is to +become brightly positive. The martial is to be transformed into the +pastoral. The rude implement of slaughter is to become the breaker of +the earth-clod or the helpful friend of the vine. "They shall beat their +swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks." After the +first historic siege of Antwerp, the cannon balls were taken and +converted into church bells; and may the gracious and holy Lord grant +that there may speedily come such a transformation in modern Antwerp, +when all the ministers of carnage shall be changed into sweet and sacred +ministers of worship and devotion! + +But now, if swords are to be beaten into ploughshares and spears into +pruning-hooks, where must that work begin? It must begin in the +individual heart. We are never going to get the swords out of the +nations until we have got them out of the hearts. There is a sword in +the heart, a cruel sword, a minister of destruction. There is a sword in +the German heart, and a sword in the English heart, and a sword in the +American heart, and that sword has got to be transformed before the +material sword can become a ploughshare of the field! We are all +familiar with our own swords; perhaps I had better say, we are all +acquainted with one another's swords. There is the sword of ill-will. +There is the spear of deadly gossip. There is the sword of evil +prejudice. There is the spear of petty spite and contempt. Yea, surely +there is a sordid armoury in the soul. And this has to be converted into +a tool-house of a noble Christian culture before the material armouries +can be emptied and the sound of war is heard no more. + +And therefore, the great national revolution is to begin in individual +conversions, and these are to be the children of a vital and saving +religion. The transformation of the world is to begin in the conversion +of people like you and me. There is no other way. When our own +militaristic armour, the one stored in our own soul, is changed into a +garden tool-house,--malice changed into good-will, suspicion into +enlightened understanding, cynicism into genial and gracious esteem, and +foul hatred into Christ's own strong and fruitful love, then we are +bringing the day nearer of which the herald angels sang, when there +shall be "peace on earth and good will among men." + +All this cannot be done by scholarship. We cannot do it by legislation. +We cannot do it by commerce. It is the vital work of salvation, and it +only can be done by the Saviour of the world. And He must do it in His +own way, and His work must be thorough, profound, fundamental. He must +search the very cellarings of our being, seeking out our wickednesses as +with a candle, and cleansing and purifying us in the deepest and most +secret rooms of the soul. And when we thus come to know our Saviour, we +shall most surely come to know our brother, for we shall see him with +ourselves in the radiant light of the same eternal grace and love. Then +will our swords be beaten into ploughshares and our spears into +pruning-hooks and we shall learn war no more! + + + + +XV + +MORE THAN CONQUERORS + + + _Heavenly Father, wilt Thou graciously redeem us from any + perilous mood of independence which sets our wills against + Thine. Help us to find ourselves in Thee, and to come to our + inheritance in the riches of Thy grace. Give us that lowliness + of spirit which will enable us to find the gate of higher life + and to enter in. Forgive the sin that binds our judgment and + enable us through a pure heart to see ourselves in Christ, and + to behold ourselves perfected in the power of His love. Save us + from low ideals. Lift us out of the thoughts that belittle us + and which check and destroy our powers of growth. Give us wider + and deeper conceptions of all things. May the experiences of our + life come to us as helpful disciplines, through which we may + apprehend more of Thy purpose, and more swiftly put on the + likeness of our Lord. May we not be mastered by our + circumstances, but may we be so strong in Thy strength, that + every circumstance may be our servant, adding some fresh grace + to our spirits, and some new influence to our lives. May we lose + the things we ought not to keep, and may we desire the things we + ought to find. Control us, O Lord, by Thy spirit, taking us away + from the shallows of common life into the great deep privileges + of communion with Thee. Amen._ + + + + +XV + +MORE THAN CONQUERORS + + "In all these things, we are more than conquerors." Rom. 8:37. + + +Was the writer of these words himself a conqueror? To whom is he making +the proud boast? He is writing his letter to the people of Rome. And it +is in this letter to Rome that the apostle claims to be a conqueror. If +he had been writing to a little company of people living in some quiet +and remote district in Asia Minor, far away from the movement and +pageantry of imperial life, his boast of being a conqueror might have +been received without surprise. But think of the daring of making his +claim in a letter to the Romans, who were accustomed to gaze upon their +conquerors as they returned in glory from triumphant wars of conquest, +dragging their distinguished captives at their chariot wheels! When the +apostle claims to be a conqueror he is using a word which to the Romans +is weighted with pomp and glory, suggesting cities ablaze with emblems +of festivity, and streets thronged with cheering multitudes, and a hero +upon whom favours are being showered thick as the flowers which are +flung upon his triumphal car. When Paul dares to call himself a +conqueror in a letter to the Romans he is using a word significant of +all this wealth and effulgence, and he is using it to describe the +passage of his own life down the ways of time. "We are more than +conquerors." Such a claim would surely strike the Roman reader with +amazement. + +What was there in the apostle's life to correspond to the claim? What +was there about it which in any way recalled the radiant entry of an +acclaimed warrior into the festive city of Rome? Let us glance at the +external circumstances of his Christian life. Is there anything in these +circumstances of pomp, and flowers, and favour, and acclamation? Run +your eye over the apostle's road. What are its features? What is it like +as it stretches from Damascus to Rome? In peril of his life in Damascus, +his enemies watching the gates day and night to kill him; coldly +suspected by his fellow-believers in Jerusalem; persecuted at Antioch; +assaulted in Iconium; stoned in Lystra; beaten with many stripes in +Philippi; attacked by a lewd and envious crowd in Thessalonica; pursued +by callous enmity in Berea; despised in Athens; blasphemed in Corinth +and dragged before the judgment-seat; exposed to the fierce wrath of the +Ephesians; bound with chains in Jerusalem, and finally imprisoned at +Rome! Such is the character of his cold, storm-swept, painful road. And +yet he dares to call himself a conqueror, and to so style himself to the +men of imperial Rome! When I turn away from the gay and rapturous +streets, through which the Roman conqueror made his tumultuous entry, +and then gaze on the long, dark, cruel road on which this man trudged +throughout all his public days, his life seems to be broken up in +successive tragedies, and to sink at last in the black defeat of utter +and complete eclipse. And yet he sings aloud in joyful pride: "We are +more than conquerors"! Where, then, shall we look for the signs of +conquest, and for the waving banners, and the rapturous shouts? + +There are two ways of estimating a triumphant life. We may trace the +line of external circumstances, and we make an inventory of the material +treasures, and the flattering diplomas, and the public honours that have +been gained along the way. That road winds by the bank, and the Stock +Exchange, through Wall Street, or Threadneedle Street, and thence it +stretches away through fair suburbs of material comforts, and through +gardens of enticing ease, ascending even to lofty eminences of public +favour and regard. We may walk along this road in our desire to estimate +a man's standing, and to reckon the degree and quality of his conquests. +And judged by that standard Paul's circumstances were disastrous, and +his life was just a dismal succession of appalling defeats. Indeed the +apostle himself has given his own verdict upon his life when it is +judged by the standard of Wall Street, and he has done it in two words +of pregnant and sweeping brevity--"having nothing"! And yet he claimed +to be "more than conqueror"! + +But there is another way of judging the failure or triumph of a life. We +may follow the line of character. We may register the success of the +soul in its mastery of circumstances, in its refusal to be submerged by +evil antagonisms, in its preservation of a diamond-like translucency +amid engulfing floods of defilement, in its buoyancy in the days of +prolonged disappointment, in its quiet and firm ascendency over the +beast, in its inevitable emergence from every kind of hostility in +increasing majesty and strength. These are the two lines of +investigation. These are the possible criteria of judgment. On the one +hand we may measure the success of a life by the progressive enrichment +of circumstances; on the other hand we may estimate its conquests by the +progressive growth of the soul. We may make our valuation in the +material world or in the spiritual world; that is to say, we may value +the man or we may value his possessions. + +Now the circumstantial happenings in a life had little or no interest +for the apostle Paul. All his concern followed the inward line of the +spirit. He kept his eyes on spiritual processes and never on material +results. He did not busy himself with a man's happenings; he busied +himself with the effect of the happenings on the man. Always and +everywhere he pressed through condition to character; his thought always +took the short cut to the soul. If in the streets of Rome or of Ephesus +you had pointed out to him some rich man, Paul would have immediately +leaped the adjective and inquired about the noun. He would have had no +interest whatever in the man's riches; riches are no criterion of +triumph; but he would have been devouringly interested in what the +riches had done with the man. While the man has been making riches, what +have riches made of the man? Measure the man! Is the man who is within +the riches a victor or a victim, a noble master or a poor ignoble slave. + +And so also do I believe that if you had pointed out to the apostle +some poor man, he would have left the adjective and fixed upon the noun. +What about the man inside the poverty? What about the soul so ill-housed +in indigence? Is the soul royal or servile? Is it crouching or has it a +noble and stately rectitude? That would be the concern of the apostle +Paul. He would get behind the riches to the man. He would get behind the +poverty to the man. For every external happening or every material +possession is only a house, and within the happening there is the man or +the woman, the tenant of the house. What about them? What about the +quality of their manliness or womanliness? That was the apostle's line +of investigation. The apostle Paul was not much concerned about the +character of the road, whether it was bare or flowery, but he was +vitally concerned with the spiritual condition of the traveller. How is +it with the pilgrim soul? What spiritual conquests has the soul made +along the road? That is the apostle's standard of measurement, and by +its records he registers life's conquests or defeats. + +Well, then, what was the quality of his own life when it is measured by +these interior standards? For, after all, these are the only standards +worth naming, as in our sober and thoughtful moments we all very well +know. We are not here to make fortunes, we are here to grow souls. How +then does the apostle bear the supreme test of his own spiritual +standards? Is he master or slave? Are the streets of his soul festive +with triumph, or are they dull and cheerless in defeat? Is he more than +conqueror? + +Let us begin the test with a day when his external circumstances were +brilliant. Brilliant days came but rarely to the apostle Paul; they were +as infrequent as oases in Sahara's thirsty waste. Test him then on one +of his rare, brilliant days, for the dazzling circumstance is often our +severest test. Some souls shrivel in the bright sunshine. They grow less +in their enlarging circumstances as some nut-kernels contract in the +expanding shell. Here is Paul on a great day, when by the mighty grace +of God he has made an impotent man to walk. How is the deed regarded? +What does the crowd think about him? Listen to the records: "And when +the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying +in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness +of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because +he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before +their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have +done sacrifice with the people." How now? The public favour is dazzling! +What about the man inside the dazzling happenings? Is the man +contracting in pride or is his soul expanding in humility? "Which, when +the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and +ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these +things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you +that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made +heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein." Do you +mark that? This man shines in the sunshine. Popular favour made him +kneel before his God, and God's gentleness made him great. The +circumstances did not lessen him. His soul did not shrivel and wither in +the popular blaze. His soul grew larger, and the man mastered his +circumstances; he was bigger than his blazing fate, he was "more than +conqueror." + +But I have said that brilliant days were rare with the apostle Paul: +Let us test him, then, when his days were frowning, when the clouds were +lowering, and when his circumstances nipped him like the winter frosts. +Does his soul expand in the winter, or does it shrink like frostbitten +fruit? Take this little glimpse of one of his days: "And there came to +Lystra certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, +and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been +dead." Having stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city. How swift +and red is the record! Did he grow hard in the stoning? Did he become +small and petty and peevish and revengeful? Let me read to you: "And +when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, +they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming +the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, +and that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of +God." This man's fruit grew sweeter at the touch of the frost. This soul +grew larger in the season of apparent defeat. He was "more than +conqueror." + +Look again through this window. Here is a very dark and bitter +happening: "And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast +them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely: who, having +received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made +their feet fast in the stocks." How now? Will this man Paul scowl in the +darkness? Will his magnanimity sour into the bitter mood of revenge? +Listen to the record: "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang +praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." Do you mark that? This +man was a victim but he was also a victor. We almost forget his +sufferings in the sound of his praise. Adversity did not rob him of his +crown. He was "more than conqueror." + +And so I might go on introducing instance after instance, in every +record of his turbulent life, showing how he attained to magnificent +mastery in the spirit. When Paul speaks of being a "conqueror" he means +that he is on the top of his circumstances and not beneath them. To be +more than conqueror is to be on the top of your wealth and not beneath +it; to be on the top of your poverty and not beneath it; to be on the +top of your joy and not beneath it; to be on the top of your sorrow and +not beneath it; to be on the top of your disappointment and not beneath +it. To be more than conqueror is to be on the top of the old serpent, +and, as Browning says, to stand upon him and to feel him wriggle beneath +your feet! The real conqueror, the only one worthy of that royal name, +is he who makes every circumstance his subject, permitting no +circumstance to be the lord and master of his soul. He is "more than +conqueror." + +And what is the secret of such conquest? Here is the secret: "We are +more than conquerors _through Christ that loved us_." It is conquest +through the energy of an imparted love. Nay, it is much more than that. +It is conquest through humble yet intimate communion with the eternal +Lover. You remember what conquests the knights of the olden time could +achieve when they were conscious that love-eyes were fixed upon them in +the jousts. And if this were so with knights of ancient chivalry, when +love inspired them in the fray, how infinitely more must it be so with +the knights of King Jesus' Order when they know that the love-eyes of +the Lord are always fixed upon them in the field! "He loved me" sings +the greatest of the apostolic knights. "He loved me and gave Himself for +me." What tremendous exploits of patience and of service lie latent in +that supreme assurance! + +For, mark you, all love conveys the lover to the beloved. The very +secret of love is self-impartation to the beloved. Love can never +content herself with the gifts of things. Charity gives things. Love +always gives herself. Yes, the lover gives herself! And if love is thus +self-giving tell me, then, what inconceivable giving is wrapped up in +the love of Christ for Paul, and in the love of Christ for thee and me? +In an infinitely deeper and richer sense than ever a loving bridegroom +gives himself to his loving bride, our great and gracious Lover, the +Christ, gives Himself to all who will receive Him. The Saviour's love is +the giving of Himself. + +Shall I now dare to put that vast and awe-inspiring content into my +text? Listen again to the text: "We are more than conquerors through +Christ who loved us." Now hear it: "We are more than conquerors through +Him who has given himself to us." That word expresses the very gospel of +His grace. The Christian believer faces all his circumstances, not +merely with a love but with a Lover, and with a Lover who Himself +mastered every circumstance, and was the conqueror of sin and death. So +this is how the Gospel music rings: "We are more than conquerors through +Him the Conqueror"! By reverent faith we share His very love, we drink +His very blood, and all our circumstances are made to pay tribute to the +health and welfare of our souls. We are more than conquerors through Him +Who is ever riding forth, conquering, and to conquer. + +Now I think I can go back to those streets of Rome where we began, and +where we watched the triumphant conqueror returning home with his +spoils. And now I am not surprised at Paul's daring to use the glowing +word "Conqueror" to portray the glorious victories of the soul. When I +go into the realm of his soul the roadway is lined with a cheering +multitude; he is "compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses." A +blood-red banner is waving triumphantly in all his goings; "His banner +over me is love!" A garland of victory awaits the victor's brow; +"henceforth there is laid up for me a crown." And as for his spirits, +they are festive in the love of the Lord, and they dance in the joy of +blessed assurance. "I know in whom I have believed!" "I can do all +things through Christ who strengtheneth me!" We are more than conquerors +in the conquering fellowship of our holy and gracious Lord. And this +song of the conqueror is intended to be sung by thee and me. O, let us +believe it! + + "Shall this divinely-urgéd heart + Half toward its glory move? + What! shall I love in part--in part + Yield to the Lord of love? + O sweetest freedom, Lord, to be + Thy love's full prisoner! + Take me all captive; make of me + A more than conqueror!" + + _Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + +DEVOTIONAL + + +_JOHN HENRY JOWETT_ + +=My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year= + +12mo, cloth, net $1.35 + + A series of choice, tabloid talks--a spiritual meditation for + every day in the year. Dr. Jowett points every word of these + brief expositions so that it tells, while the lessons he seeks + to convey are so propounded as to enter the understanding of his + readers along a pathway of light. The whole volume is of true + mintage, bearing the impress of Dr. Jowett's ripest thought and + fruitful mind. + + +_S. D. GORDON_ + +=Quiet Talks About the Crowned Christ= + +12mo, cloth, net 85c. + + After many years' study of the one book of the Bible devoted to + the subject of the crowned Christ--the Revelation of John--Mr. + Gordon has put these latest talks together. No book of the + sixty-six has seemed so much like a riddle, and set so many + guessing. Mr. Gordon, however, holds the deep conviction that it + is wholly a _practical book_, and concerned wholly with our + practical daily lives. + + +_F. B. MEYER, B.A._ + +=My Daily Prayer= + +A Short Supplication for Every Day in the Year. 32mo, leather, net 35c; +cloth, net 25c. + + "This is a tiny volume, in the 'Yet Another Day' series, and + contains a brief prayer for each day in the year. 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CARROLL, D.D._ + +=An Interpretation of the English Bible= + +=Numbers to Ruth=. 8vo, cloth, net $1.75. + + "These works are designed especially for class use in the + Seminary, Christian Colleges and Bible Schools, as well as the + Sunday School. That they will make the greatest commentary on + the English Bible ever published, is our sincere + conviction."--_Baptist and Reflector_. + + _OTHER VOLUMES NOW READY_ + + =The Book of Revelation=. 8vo, cloth, net $1.75. + =The Book of Genesis=. 8vo, cloth, net $2.25. + =Exodus and Leviticus=. 8vo, cloth, net $2.25. + + +_J. FRANK SMITH, D.D._ + +=My Father's Business--And Mine= + +12mo, cloth, net $1.00. + + Dr. Smith devotes the earlier part of his book to a study of + Christ's historic pronouncement concerning His Father's + business, presenting an examination of the analogical content of + the word "Father," and an analysis of the Master's own sayings + respecting His earthly mission. + + +_JOHN F. STIRLING_ + + _Author of "An Atlas of the Life of Christ"_ + +=An Atlas of the Acts and Epistles= + +A Complete Outline of Apostolic History, Showing the Details of the +Apostles' Journeys and the Area of the Epistles in Specially Drawn Maps. +8vo, limp cloth, net 50c. + + "Gives at a glance a complete and graphic outline of apostolic + history. The outline follows the narrative of the Acts of the + Apostles, supplemented by the data furnished in the epistles, + and interpreted in the light of the best scholarship. The + historical details are presented in their geographical and + chronological setting, on a series of specially drawn maps, so + that the student may follow easily the movements of the leading + figures in the growth of the early church."--_Service_. + + +_JESSE FOREST SILVER_ + +=The Lord's Return= + +Seen in History and in Scripture as Pre-Millennial and Imminent. With an +Introduction by Bishop Wilson T. 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It is + also arranged so as to serve as an introduction to systematic + theology study, and contains extended articles on the cardinal + doctrines of the Christian faith by such experienced teachers as + Prof. S. W. Green, Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas, Principal Warman, + and others of equal standing. On questions of modern criticism, + the general exposition taken by the compilers is a conservative + one, although exhaustive account has been taken of the + conclusion of up-to-date criticism and research. The volume + extends to about five hundred pages, and contains upwards of + four thousand five hundred articles. + + +_PHILIP MAURO_ + +_EXPOSITORY READINGS IN THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS_ + +=God's Gospel and God's Righteousness= + + Romans I-V. 12mo, cloth, net 50c. + +=God's Gift and Our Response= + + Romans VI-VIII. 12mo, cloth, net 50c. + +=God's Love and God's Children= + + Romans IX-XVII. 12mo, cloth, net 50c. + + A helpful and clearly-written body of comment on St. Paul's + Letter to the Romans. The author is a layman whose work is known + and valued on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr. Mauro does not + write for scholars, but for devout and worshipful believers--for + men and women whose faith is simple, yet grounded on the Word of + the Living God. + + +SERMONS--LECTURES--ADDRESSES + + +_JAMES L. GORDON, D.D._ + +=All's Love Yet All's Law= + +12mo, cloth, net $1.25. + + "Discloses the secret of Dr. Gordon's eloquence--fresh, and + intimate presentations of truth which always keep close to + reality. Dr. Gordon also seems to have the world's literature at + his command. A few of the titles will give an idea of the scope + of his preaching. 'The Law of Truth: The Science of Universal + Relationships'; 'The Law of Inspiration: The Vitalizing Power of + Truth'; 'The Law of Vibration'; 'The Law of Beauty: The + Spiritualizing Power of Thought'; The Soul's Guarantee of + Immortality."--_Christian Work_. + + +_BISHOP FRANCIS J. McCONNELL_ + + _Cole Lectures_ + +=Personal Christianity= + +Instruments and Ends in the Kingdom of God. 12mo, cloth, net $1.25. + + The latest volume of the famous "Cole Lectures" delivered at + Vanderbilt University. The subjects are: I. The Personal in + Christianity. II. The Instrumental in Christianity. III. The + Mastery of World-Views. IV. The Invigoration of Morality. V. The + Control of Social Advance. VI. "Every Kindred, and People, and + Tongue." + + +_NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS, D.D._ + +=Lectures and Orations by Henry Ward Beecher= + +Collected by Newell Dwight Hillis. 12mo, net $1.20. + + It is fitting that one who is noted for the grace, finish and + eloquence of his own addresses should choose those of his + predecessor which he deems worthy to be preserved in a bound + volume as the most desirable, the most characteristic and the + most dynamic utterances of America's greatest pulpit orator. + + +_W. L. WATKINSON, D.D._ + +=The Moral Paradoxes of St. Paul= + +12mo, cloth, net 75c. + + "These sermons are marked, even to greater degree than is usual + with their talented preacher, by clearness, force and + illustrative aptness. He penetrates unerringly to the heart of + Paul's paradoxical settings forth of great truths, and illumines + them with pointed comment and telling illustration. The sermons + while thoroughly practical are garbed in striking and eloquent + sentences, terse, nervous, attention-compelling."--_Christian + World_. + + +_LEN G. BROUGHTON, D.D._ + +=The Prodigal and Others= + +12mo, cloth, net $1.00. + + "The discourses are vital, bright, interesting and helpful. It + makes a preacher feel like preaching once more on this + exhaustless parable, and will prove helpful to all young + people--and elder ones, too. Dr. Broughton does not hesitate to + make his utterances striking and entertaining by the + introduction of numerous appropriate and homely stories and + illustrations. He reaches the heart."--_Review and Expositor_. + + +ESSAYS, STUDIES, ADDRESSES + + +_PROF. HUGH BLACK_ + +=The New World= + +16mo, cloth, net $1.15. + + "The old order changeth, bringing in the new." To a review of + our changing world--religious, scientific, social--Hugh Black + brings that interpretative skill and keen insight which + distinguishes all his writings and thinking. Especially does he + face the problem of the present-day unsettlement and unrest in + religious beliefs with sanity and courage, furnishing in this, + as in other aspects of his enquiry, a new viewpoint and + clarified outlook. + + +_S. D. GORDON_ + +=Quiet Talks on John's Gospel= + +As Presented in the Gospel of John. Cloth, net 85c. + + Mr. Gordon halts his reader here and there, at some precious + text, some outstanding instance of God's tenderness, much as a + traveller lingers for refreshment at a wayside spring, and bids + us hearken as God's wooing note is heard pleading for + consecrated service. An enheartening book, and a restful. A book + of the winning Voice, of outstretched Hands. + + +_ROBERT F. HORTON, D.D._ + +=The Springs Of Joy and Other Addresses= + +12mo, cloth, net $1.00. + + "Scholarly, reverent, penetrating, human. The product of a + mature mind and of a genuine and sustained religious experience. + The message of a thinker and a saint, which will be found to be + very helpful."--_Christian Intelligencer_. + + +_BISHOP WALTER R. LAMBUTH_ + +=Winning the World for Christ= + +A Study of Dynamics. Cole Lectures for 1915. 12mo, cloth, net $1.25. + + This Lecture-Course is a spirited contribution to the dynamics + of Missions. It presents a study of the sources of inspiration + and power in the lives of missionaries, native and foreign, who + with supreme abandon gave themselves utterly to the work to + which they were called. + + +_FREDERICK F. SHANNON, D.D._ + +=The New Personality and Other Sermons= + +12mo, cloth, net $1.00. + + Mr. Shannon, pastor of the Reformed Church on the Heights, + Brooklyn, is possessed of lofty ideals, is purposeful, more than + ordinarily eloquent and has the undoubted gifts of felicitous + and epigrammatic expression. This new volume by the popular + preacher is a contribution of distinct value to current sermonic + literature. + + +EARLIER WORKS IN DEMAND + + +_WAYNE WHIPPLE_ + +=The Story-Life of the Son of Man= + +8vo, illustrated, net $2.50. + + "A literary mosaic, consisting of quotations from a great number + of writers concerning all the events of the Gospels. The + sub-title accurately describes its contents. That sub-title is + 'Nearly a thousand stories from sacred and secular sources in a + continuous and complete chronicle of the earth life of the + Saviour.' The book was prepared for the general reader, but will + be valuable to minister, teacher and student. There are many + full-page engravings from historic paintings and sacred + originals, some reproduced for the first time."--_Christian + Observer_. + + +_GAIUS GLENN ATKINS, D.D._ + +=Pilgrims of the Lonely Road= + +12mo, cloth, net $1.50. + + "A rare book for its style, its theme and the richness of its + insight. Seldom is seen a book of more exquisite grace of + diction--happy surprises of phrase, and lovely lengths of + haunting prose to delight the eye. Each of the great pilgrim's + studies is followed step by step along the lonely way of the + soul in its quest of light, toward the common goal of all--union + with the eternal."--_Chicago Record-Herald_. + + +_S. D. GORDON_ + +=Quiet Talks on Following The Christ= + +12mo, cloth, net 85c. + + "This volume is well calculated to aid in Christian life, to + give strength, courage and light on difficult problems. It grips + one's very life, brings one face to face with God's word, ways + of understanding it and, even its every day application. It is + plain, clear, direct, no confusion of dark sentences."--_Bapt. + Observer_. + + +_G. CAMPBELL MORGAN, D.D._ + +=The Teaching of Christ= + +A Companion Volume to "The Crises of The Christ." 8vo, cloth, net $1.75. + + "One does not read far before he is amazed at the clear and + logical grasp Dr. Morgan has upon divine truths. Could a copy of + this book, with its marvelous insight, its straightforwardness, + its masterly appeal, be placed in the hands of our church + leaders, it would go far toward negativing the spiritual + barrenness of destructive criticism. 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