The Battle of Life
A Sermon
(No. 3511)
Published on Thursday, May 11th, 1916.
Delivered by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At [19]the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
"Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges?"–1 Cor. 9:7.
THIS question occurs in the course of an argument. The Apostle was
proving that the minister who gives all his time to the preaching of
the Word is entitled to a maintenance from those people amongst whom he
labours. He gives divers illustrations, amongst them this–that the
soldier who devotes himself to the service of his country is not
expected to find his own equipment and his own rations, but he is
provided for by his country. And so should it be, he teaches us, in the
Church of God. The minister set apart to labour wholly in spiritual
things should have temporal supplied found him. That isle topic,
however, on which it would be superfluous for me to enlarge. Your
convictions are so sound, and your practice so consistent, that you do
not need to be exhorted, much less to be expostulated with on that
matter.
But the same question may be asked when we have other morals to point.
Is it ever expected that men who go on a warfare should pay their own
charges? There is a warfare in which all of us are engaged. What is
life but a great battle, lasting from our earliest days until we
sheathe sword in death? This battle we hope to win, and yet if we
succeed, it will be a distinct and definite response to the challenge
before us, "Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges?" We may be
quite sure that if ever we attempt the warfare of life at our own
expense we shall soon find ourselves failing, and it will end in a
miserable defeat. Going at once to the subject, we have here:–
I. AN INSPIRIRING METAPHOR.
When life is represented as a warfare, some peaceful minds may feel a
little alarmed at the pictures; yet there are other minds with enough
of gallantry in their constitutions to feel their blood pulsing the
stronger at the thought that life is to be one continued contest. I do
but borrow a reflection from the secular press when I say that it were
ill for us if the love of peace, fostered among us as a nation, should
degenerate into a fear of danger, a reluctance to bear hardships, or an
indifference to the accomplishment of exploits. Craven spirits we may
expect always to find, who conjure up gloomy anticipations, and to
forbade horrible disasters. The untrodden path and the unaccustomed
climate are dreadful bugbears. But is this the instinct of an
Englishman? How else should he contemplate difficulties but as problems
to be solved? capital out of which fame or fortune is to be won? And as
for the British soldier, is he to be looked upon as a hot-house plant,
who shrinks from exposure? Far rather would I respect him as a
representative individual, the type of his race, always ready for any
emergency. In the days of the old Gallic wars, when we had to fight
with Napoleon in Egypt, there were just as many knotty points and
critical situations to be grappled with; and certainly at headquarters
the War Department was not more efficiently managed than it is now. Yet
British soldiers pressed forward then to the conflict nor did they pant
for fortune, what they did seek was a career, with some opportunity of
distinguishing themselves. Moreover, those who stayed at home scanned
the despatches with eager interest, and full often lamented that they
had not the chance given them of going forth to the fight. Well may the
patriot ask, Has Anglo-Saxon courage all fled? if at every call to
fresh deeds of heroism we listen to the crowing of those whose nature
it is to look black, and utter dark portents. Our children's children
may read how the haughty insolence of Theodore of Abyssinia was
humbled, but I hope they will never hear the screeching of the ravens
who warned us of the mountain fastnesses in which he was lodged. The
Ashantee war is behind us now, and I suppose those who were once afraid
of its perils are now amazed at its prowess. Yes, and that is how I
would have Christians feel with regard to spiritual conflicts.
Difficulties! well, they are things to be deciphered. Dangers! they are
things to be met and encountered. Impossibilities! they are to be
scouted as a nightmare, a delirious dream. The Christian wakes to find
impossibility impossible. With a history behind him and a destiny
before him, he can say, "The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." Things that
are impossible with man are possible with God. I like my text all the
better, because it implies a hostile engagement, and speaks of warfare.
For me the battlefield has no charms. With host encountering host, and
carnage left behind, I have no sympathy, but spiritually my soul seems
enamoured of the idea; I buckle on my armour at the very thought that
life is to be a conflict and a strife, in which it behaves me to get
the mastery.
Do I not address many young men just commencing life? If you have
thought of life at all I hope you have thought that it is wise to begin
the battle of life early. We have all so little time to live, and the
first years of life are so evidently the best years we shall ever have,
that it is a pity to waste them. Oh! how much more some of us might
have done if we had begun betimes! Had the very flush of our boyhood
been consecrated and the strength of our youth spent in our Master's
service, what work we might have accomplished! Now, young men, as a
comrade a little farther on the road than you, I take you to the brow
of the hill for a moment, and point out to you the pathway we have to
pursue, and as I point it out I tell you that you will have to fight
along every inch of the road, if you are at the end to win the crown
which I hope your ambition pants after. Are you ready for the conflict?
Then let us talk awhile about it, for as we shall always have to be on
the alert, it is well for us to study the map, and to acquaint
ourselves with the tactics we must practice.
Be sure, then, my friend, that if you and, I are ever to be conquerors
at the last, we shall have to, fight with that trinity of enemies–the
world, the flesh, and the devil. There is the world. Do you resolve to
do the right and to love the true, depend upon it you will get no
assistance from this world. Of its maxims, nine out of ten are false,
and the other one selfish; and even that which is selfish has a lie at
the bottom of it. As for its customs–well, live where you may, the
customs of the world are not such as a citizen of heaven can endorse.
Go into what company you please, and you will find that there is much
of the prevailing habit that is no friend to grace, and no friend to
virtue. In the upper circles, with much presence, there is little
reality; there is a lack of sound honesty. Amongst the lower classes,
go where you will, if you firmly resolve to be a Christian, to follow
closely the footsteps of your Lord, you will have to breast the
current. The most of men are going, down the hill. You will be like the
solitary traveller when you are threading your way upwards. Do you
enlist for Christ to-night? Then know that you enlist against the whole
world. You will henceforth be an alien to your mother's children, and a
stranger to your own household, unless happily that household Should
have been converted too. Young man, the young men in the shop will be
against you. Alas, for the wickedness of the young men of London! Young
woman, you will find in the workroom, aye perhaps you will find even in
your father's house, influences at work to impede, if not to thrust you
back. Man of business, when you meet others on exchange, if perchance
the conversation should turn upon religion, you will find it far from
profitable, and far from genial. You will be like a speckled bird, and
all the birds round about you will be against you. As a marked man,
your motives will be mistrusted, your character impugned, your piety
burlesqued. If you resolve to win the grown of immortality, you will
only do it as by the skin of your teeth. It matters not where you are
cast, this is sure to be your lot, unless, as here and there is the
case, you may be a timid and shielded one, too weak for conflict and,
therefore, God keeps you in retirement. And yet as for the world, I
think we could easily overcome that were it not for a worse enemy.
Soldier of Christ, you have to struggle with yourself. My own
experience is a daily struggle with myself. I wish I could find in me
something friendly to grace, but hitherto I have searched my nature
through, and have found everything in rebellion against God. At one
time there comes the torpor of sloth, when one ought to be active every
moment, having so much to do for God, and for the souls of men, and so
little time to do it in. At another time there comes the quickness of
passion. When we would be calm and cool, and play the Christian,
bearing with patience, there come the unadvised word and the rash
expression. Anon, we are troubled with conceit, the devilish whisper–I
can call it no less–"How well thou hast done! How well host thou
played thy part!" This pride is the arch-enemy of our souls. Then will
come distrust foul and faithless, suggesting that God does not regard
the affairs of men, and will not interpose on our behalf. Fresh forms
of evil are generated in our own breasts, and this chameleon heart of
ours, which never seems of one colour but for a single moment, which is
this and that by turns, and nothing long, challenges us on all
occasions, and against it we shall have perpetually to struggle. Unless
we deny ourselves and lay violent hands upon the impulses of our
nature, are shall never come to the place where the crowns are
distributed to the conquerors.
And then another foe comes up, though not the closest, the strongest of
the three–the devil! If you have ever stood foot to foot with him, as
some of us have, you will remember well that blandly day, for even he
who beats Apollyon concludes the battle wounded in his own hand and in
his own foot. Oh! that stern enemy! He knows how to attack us in our
sore points. He discerns our weaknesses and he is at no loss for
cunning devices. He understands how one moment to fawn upon us and
flatter us, and how the next moment to cast his fiery darts, telling us
that we are castaways, and shall never see the face of God with
acceptance. He can quote Scripture for his purpose. He can hurl
threatenings at the heads of the saints, which were only meant for
sinners, and he can tear promises out of the saints' hands, and cast
them in the mire, just when they are ready to feed upon them as fair
fruits of Paradise. Believe me, it is no small thing to have had to
fight with Apollyon, the Prince of Hell. Seest thou then, young
soldier, what is before thee? There is a triple host of foes, and thou
must overcome them all, or else there shall never be given to thee the
white stone, and the crown of everlasting life.
Think not that this is an engagement to be quickly terminated. Unlike
the laconic despatch of the ancient Roman, "Veni, vidi, vici," I came,
saw, and conquered, this is a continuous fight. Wouldest thou fight thy
way to heaven, not to-day, nor to-morrow; wilt thou win it with a
deadly skirmish or a brilliant dash like a knight at a tournament, thou
canst not come back a conqueror. In sober truth, every man and every
woman who enlists for Christ will have to wrestle till their bones
shall sleep in the tomb. There shall be no pause nor cessation for thee
from this day until the laurel is upon thy brow. If thou art defeated
one day, thou must overcome the next; if a conqueror to-day, thou must
fight to-morrow. Like the old knights who, slept in their armour, you
must be prepared for reprisals–always watchful, always expecting
temptation, and ready to resist it; never saying, "It is enough," for
he who saith, "It is finished," until he breathes his last has not yet
truly begun. We must have our swords drawn, even to the very last. I
have sometimes thought that could we enter heaven by one sharp, quick,
terrible encounter, such as the martyrs faced at the stake we might
endure it heroically; but day after day of protracted martyrdom, and
year after year of the wear and tear of pilgrimage and soldier-life is
the more bitter trial of patience. I do but tell you in order that you
may be convinced that it is not in our power to fight this warfare at
our own charge; that if we have to endure in our own strength and with
our own resources, it is most certain that disaster will befall us, and
defeat will humble us. To fight, and fight on, is our vocation. But if
thus you fight, you may hope to conquer, for others have done so before
you. On the summit of the palace see you not those robed in white, who
walk in light, with faces bright, and sparkling o'er with joy? Can you
not hear their song? They have overcome, and they tell you:–
"To him that overcometh
A crown of life shall be;
He with his Lord and Master
Shall reign eternally."
They have overcome; then why should not you, Jesus Christ, who is bone
of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, has passed through the sternest
part of the battle, and he has overcome–a type and representative of
all those who are cross-bearers, and who shall overcome as he has done.
Do I see some young man, eager, earnest, all of a glow, ready for the
crown? Let me remind thee that thou mayest be defeated. Though it is
well for thee to begin life with a resolute determination to fight
through the battle, still I would have thee remember that thou mayest
be led captive by thy foe. There is a most instructive little book,
issued by the Religious Tract Society, called The Mirage of life, which
I think all young men should read. It gives historical pictures of the
different ways in which men have sought to be great, wherein the result
of the greatness attained has proved to be in mirage, mocking the man,
as the mirage in the desert mocks the traveller when it promises him
water, and he finds none. That book contains the history of such men as
Beckford, a man worth £200,000 a year, who spent the former part of his
life in building Fonthill Abbey, with an enormous tower, enriching the
place with all the treasures that he could rather from every country;
making the grounds so splendid that crowned heads longed to look
within, but, it is said, were refused; and at the end of his life you
find him almost penniless–the house upon which he had spent all his
time and money a dilapidated ruin, the tower fallen to the ground, and
the name of Beckford forgotten. You have a sketch of William Pitt, the
heaven-born minister. One of the greatest of statesmen, who could make
war or peace at his will, and after years of the most brilliant success
he dies with a broken heart through grief. The high ambition of men of
art such as Haydon, is introduced to your notice. This great painter,
after blazing with wondrous fame in his art, took away his life because
he found himself a disappointed and forgotten man. As I read a series
of such cases, each one seemed sadder than the other, and it was enough
to make a man sit down and weep to think that our mortal race should be
doomed to follow such phantoms, and to be mocked by such delusions. As
I read them all I could not help feeling how necessary it was to say to
young men, especially just as they are beginning life, and to young
women too–aye, and the lesson is profitable for all of us–Take care
how ye run in the race, lest after running, till ye think ye have won
the prize, ye find that in truth ye have lost it. We must take care how
we live, for this is the only lifetime we shall have in which to settle
the life that lasts for ever. Make bankruptcy in your secular business;
why, you can start again; but once make bankruptcy in soul affairs, and
there is no second life in which to start your career afresh. Are you a
defeated soldier of life? Ah! then, you can never begin again, or turn
the defeat into a victory. If you go down to your grave a captive of
sin, the iron bands will be about you for ever. There is no retrieving
your position. The priceless boon of freedom is beyond your reach. You
may lament, you cannot attain it. See then, our life is a battle; we
must constantly fight; haply we may win, or haply we may be defeated. I
now proceed to mark a second point with:–
II. A KINDLY HINT.
Like a cool breath fanning our cheeks when too hot with ambition, this
enquiry greets us, "Who goeth a warfare at any time at his own
charges?" So, then, charges there will be in this life-battle. It is
not to be won without pain and cost. Let us just glance at some of
these charges. You will soon see how they mount up. If any man shall
get up to heaven what a demand for courage he will have to meet! How
many enemies he must face! How much ridicule he must endure! How
frequently must he be misrepresented and maligned! How often must he be
discreet enough to be silent, and anon, bold enough to speak and avow
his convictions and his purpose!
If a man shall get to heaven, what a charge of patience he will be at!
How he must bear and forbear! How he must put up with one sharp
difficulty and another, making light of fatigue and fasting, restless
days and sleepless nights; in fiery temptation unflinching, amidst cold
contempt unabashed.
If any man will get to heaven, what an amount of perseverance he will
require to hold on and to hold out! What hours of prayer, what
wrestling with God for a blessing, what striving with himself to
overcome sinful propensities! What a charge of watchfulness he will be
at! How he must guard the avenues of his being! How he must track his
actions to the springs of motives, and keep his thoughts pure from
guile! There can be little ease and not much slumber for a man who
would get the eternal crown. What fresh supplies of zeal he will need;
for we shall not drift into heaven without a conflict or a care. We
must cut, and hack and hew with intense energy, for the Saviour says,
"The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by
storm." What strength he will require, for he has to deal with potent
foes! And oh! what a charge of wisdom he will be put to the expense of,
for he has to stand against the craftiness of evil creatures, and to
overcome one who is wiser than the ancients, even Satan, the
arch-tempter.
It is possible that the difficulties of an expedition may be intensely
aggravated by a lack of knowledge as to the country to be invaded.
Under such circumstances it is hard to anticipate the contingencies
that may arise. In the battle of life this is the rub. Who knows what
lies next before him? How can we forestal the surprises that may await
us? "Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth." If I were aware of the temptations that would befall
me a year hence, I think I could guard myself against them, but I do
not even know what pinch or peril may befall me before the hour has
passed. You cannot tell the provocations that to-night may occur before
you close your eyes in slumber. You may have a trial or a temptation
such as never crossed your path before. Hence I beseech you to consider
the greatness of the charge of this warfare. You have to pass through
an experience which no man before you has proved. All the path of life
is new to you, unmapped, untrodden, unanticipated. Yet all you lack of
clear statistics is made up for in dire prognostics. No doubt the
climate is baneful, and will subject you to fever or ague. Our British
soldiers, rank and file, must press forward though they are landed on a
blazing beach, across which they have, to march; nor will it ever do
for them to be dismayed by steep mountains, dismal swamps, or savage
tribes. Bent on victory, they brave the incidents of the campaign
before they sight the adversaries they attack, while their heads and
hearts ace full of honour, promotion, stars, stripes, and Victoria
crosses. But in our eventful battle of life the checks and bars to
progress, the dangers and temptations that we shall all have to meet
with in our natural constitution and our secular calling, the
unnavigable currents and the impassable barriers that thwart us before
we grapple with the main enterprise to enter heaven, are more than I
can describe in one sermon. No marvel to me that Mr. Pliable should
say, as he turned back, "You may have the, brave country yourselves for
me." The Slough of Despond, as a first part, put him into a dudgeon and
he said, "I do not like it; I will have no more of it."
Apart from divine strength, Pliable was a wise man, wise in his
generation, to shrink from the adventure, for it is a hard journey to
the skies. They spake the truth who said that there were giants, to
fight with, dragons to be slain, mountains to be crossed, and black
rivers to be forded. It is so, and I pray you count the cost. There is
no "royal road" to heaven, except that the King's highway leads there.
There is no easy road skilfully levelled or scientifically macadamised.
The labour is too exhaustive, the obstructions are too numerous, the
difficulties are too serious, unless God himself come to our help. I
wittingly put these dilemmas before you that I may constrain you to
say, "Who can go this warfare at his own Charges?" And now, in the
third place, let us look at our text as:–
III. A GRACIOUS REMINDER.
Does any man at any time go a warfare at his own charge? I trow not.
Young man! I have told you of difficulties and of dangers. I trust your
bold spirit taught by God, has thereby been fired to greater ardour.
Now I have somewhat to say unto thee which has cheered me, and cheered
thy sires before me, and made them strong, even in their weakness. It
is this. You see you cannot go this warfare in your own strength. Is
not that clear to you? Then, I pray you, do not try it. Do not for a
moment contemplate it. If you do, you will rue it. Your fall will be
your first warning; the second time it will warn you more bitterly; if
you continue in your own strength, you will, perhaps, have a warning
too late. But you may rely on God to help you. The text implies it. If,
by faith, you yield yourself to Christ, whoever you may be, with a
desire and intent to live henceforth as a follower of Jesus, God will
help you, and that right early. Though a warfare is before you, you are
not to go at your own charges. Shall I tell you how God will help you?
Certainly you may reckon upon his watchful Providence. You little know
how easy the Almighty can make a path which otherwise would haven
difficult and dangerous. Follow God's leading, and you shall never lack
for his comfort. I have lived long enough to see many people carve for
themselves very eagerly, and cut their fingers very severely. I have
seen others who albeit they were great losers for a time by doing
right, have had to bless God year after year for the abundant
recompense they received afterwards. No man shall be a loser in the
long run by loving and serving God. If thou be willing and obedient,
trusting thyself with Christ, thou shalt find those awful wheels of
Providence revolve for thy welfare. The beasts of the field shall be in
league with thee, and the stones of the field shall be at peace with
thee. All things shall work together for good to them that love God.
Now I am not pretending that piety will procure wealth, or that if you
espouse Christ's cause you shall grow rich. I should not wonder if you
did. You are none the less likely to prosper in business for being a
Christian. I am not going to, predict that you shall be without
sickness, much less without temptation, for "whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth", but sure I am
of this, that if you put your trust in God and do right, no temporal
circumstances shall ever happen to you which shall not be for your
eternal good. This is forestalling much more than any transient
benefit. In the short space you are to live here you may reckon upon
the gigantic wheels of Providence as your helpers. The angels or God
shall be swift to defend you. Your eyes shall not see them, but your
heart shall wax confident. You shall perceive that by some means you
have been rescued from a place of drought and led into a fruitful land.
More than this; as you go this warfare, looking to God to bear your
charges, you shall have the Lord Jesus Christ to help you. Promise not
yourself that you will be able to maintain henceforth a perfect life.
Sin will harass you. Old corruptions, even when they are driven out
from the throne (for sin shall not reign over you), will yet struggle
at the foot thereof. But Jesus Christ will be your helper. He will be
always present to revive you with his precious blood, to sprinkle your
hearts from an evil conscience, to wash your bodies with pure water.
Have you never admired that picture of Christ, with the basin and the
towel washing his disciples' feet? This is what he will ever do for you
at every eventide when you have defiled yourself through inadvertence
or infirmity. Look into the face of the Crucified. Perhaps you have
sometimes wished that he were now visible, and in body accessible to
you. That sympathizing One who has suffered so much for you! You have
said, "Oh! that I might go and tell him my griefs, and get his help!"
He is alive. He is here. He is not far from any one that seeketh him.
Whosoever trusteth shall surely find Christ to be his very present help
in time of trouble. Believe this, and thou shalt prove it true.
And he that is a soldier of the cross shall have the divine power Of
God the Blessed Spirit to help him. I have sometimes thought, when some
strong passion has been raging within my soul–How can I ever overcome
it? The will was good, but the flesh was weak. But as soon as the
Spirit of God has moved on me the flesh has given way. The Holy Ghost
can give the man that is prone to idleness such an intense apprehension
of the value of time that he shall be more industrious than the
naturally active man. I believe that if any of you who are subject to a
bad temper will lay this besetting sin before God in prayer, and ask
the Holy Spirit's help, you shall not only be able to curb it, but you
will acquire a sweeter and gentler spirit than some of those whose
temperament is naturally even, with no propensity to fitful change or
sudden storm. Do not tell me that there is anything in human nature too
obdurate for the Lord to overcome, for there is not. Whatever may be
your temptation, you need not account it an effectual hindrance to your
being a Christian. What though it be beyond your own power to grapple
with it! When the Eternal arm comes to the rescue; when the right hand
of Jehovah is made bare; when the Holy Spirit puts forth his
irresistible power, he can smite through the loins of our kingly sins,
and cut the Rahabs and dragons of our iniquities in pieces. Rest thou
in the might of Jehovah, the God of Israel. He that brake Egypt in
pieces with his plagues can vanquish our sins with his judgments or
with his grace, and he can bring the new nature, like the children of
Israel, up out of bondage into joyous liberty. Go thou to the blood,
and thou shalt conquer sin. Go to the Eternal Spirit, and thy worst
corruptions shall be overthrown. "Who goeth a warfare any time at his
own charges?" As the soldier draws from his paymaster, so let every
Christian draw from his God and Saviour. Conduct your warfare trusting
in the blessed God. My last words shall be to those who are beginning
the great battle of life. Let me urge upon them these:–
IV. CAUTIONS AND COUNSELS.
Behold the wisdom of diffidence. I heard some time ago of a minister
preaching on the dignity of self-reliance; and I thought to myself,
Surely that is the dignity of a fool! The dignity of self-reliance!
Taken in a certain sense, there is some kind of truth about it; or at
least the folly of asking counsel of your neighbour in every strait is
sufficiently obvious. But he that relies on his own wits will soon
pander to expediency and grovel in the mire. His actions will admit of
no better defense than excuses and apologies. Nay, sirs; "but let him
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." A better subject,
and one that no preacher need be ashamed of if the Master should come
ere the sermon be done, is the dignity of reliance upon God, and the
wisdom of diffidence of oneself. Begin life, young man, by finding out
that the capital you thought you had, is much less than it looked
before you counted it. Begin life, young man, by understanding that all
in your nature that glitters is not gold, and that your strength is
perfect weakness. Begin by being emptied, and you will soon be filled.
Blessed are the poor in spirit." Begin by being poor. If you begin with
lowliness, you will not need to be humiliated.
"He that is down need fear no fall,
He that is low no pride;
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide."
He will win the battle who knows how to begin on the low ground and to
fight uphill by divine strength. Learn the wisdom, not of
self-reliance, but of self-diffidence, for he that trusteth in his own
heart is a fool.
Be thoroughly alive to the importance of prayer. If all our charges in
the life-war are to be paid us by the Paymaster, let us go to the
treasury. Amongst the strangest of human sins is a distaste for prayer.
I open my eyes with wonder at myself whenever I find my own self slow
to pray! Why, if your children want anything of you, they are not slow
to speak. They need not be exhorted to ask for this or that; they speak
at once. And here is the soul-enriching exercise of prayer. Is it not
strange that you and I should be slack in it? Did you ever stand in a
market and see the people coming in from the country with their goods?
How diligent they are in their business; how eager to take home as much
money as they can! How their eyes glitter; how sharp they are! But here
is heaven's market; God's wares are given away to them that will ask
for them. Yet we seem indifferent, as though we did not care to be
enriched; we even leave the mercy-seat of God unvisited! Oh! young
people, do understand the value of prayer; and you aged people, do
continue in prayer and supplication; for if we are to win this battle
of our life, it can only be by taking in our charge-bill to the great
Paymaster, and asking him to discharge the charges of this war.
Consider, too, the necessity of holiness. If, in my life's warfare, I
am entirely dependent upon God, let me not grieve him. Let me seek so
to walk with him that I may expect to have him with me. Oh! let our
consecration be unreserved and complete.
And in all these we must prove the power of faith. If we have never
begun to trust in Jesus, let us begin now. Oh! may the Eternal Spirit
breathe faith into our souls. The beginning of true spiritual life is
here–trusting what Christ has wrought for us, relying upon his
sufferings on our behalf. The continuation of spiritual life is
here–trusting still in what Christ has done and is doing. The
consummation of spiritual life on earth is still the same–trusting
still, trusting ever; always repairing to Christ for the supply of all
our needs; going to him with our blots to have them removed, with our
failings to have them forgiven, with our wants and requirements to have
them provided for, with our good works and our prayers to have them
rendered acceptable, and with ourselves that we may still be preserved
in him.
Sharpen your swords, soldiers of the cross, and be ready for the fray,
but as ye march to the battle let it be with heads bowed down in
adoration before him, who alone can cover your heads in the day of
battle; and when you lift up those heads in the front of the foe, let
this be your song, "The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; the
Lord has become my salvation!" And when the fight waxes hot, if your
head grow weary, think of "him who endured such contradiction of
sinners against himself," and still fight on until you win the day, and
then as the fight draws to a close, and your sun is going down, and you
can count your scars, and are ready to enter into your rest, be this
your prayer "I have gone astray like a lost sheep, but seek thy
servant, for I do not forget thy commandments." And be this your last
word on earth, "Into thy hand I commit my spirit, for thou best
redeemed me, O Lord God of my salvation"; so shall this be your eternal
song in heaven above, "Unto him that hath loved us, and washed us from
our sins in his own blood, to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen."