The Christian’s Helmet

The Christian's Helmet

(No. 3167)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1909.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, IN THE YEAR 1866.

"And for a helmet the hope of salvation." 1 Thessalonians 5:8.

THE very mention of a helmet may well seem to REMIND EVERY CHRISTIAN
HERE THAT HE IS A SOLDIER.

I. If you were not soldiers, you would not need armor. But being
soldiers, you need to he clad from head to foot in armor of proof. I
suppose every Christian here knows, as a matter of theory, that he is a
Christian soldier and that he has been enlisted under the banner of the
Cross to fight against the powers of darkness until he wins the
victory. But we all need to have our memories refreshed upon this
matter, for soldiering, in time of war, at any rate, is not a very
pleasant occupation–and the flesh constantly attempts to give it over.
That "we have no abiding city here," is a Truth of God which we all
know and yet the most of us try to make the earth as comfortable for
ourselves as if it were to be our abiding residence! We are all
soldiers–we know that–but still, too many Christians act as if they
could be the friends of the world and the friends of God at the same
time. Now, Christian, remember once and for all that you are a soldier!
Did you dream, young man, that as soon as you were baptized and added
to the Church, the conflict was all over? Ah, it was then but just
beginning! Like Caesar, you then crossed the Rubicon and declared war
against your deadly enemy. You drew your sword–you did not sheathe it.
Your proper note on joining the Church is not one of congratulation, as
though the victory were won, but one of preparation–for now the
trumpet sounds and the fight begins! You are a soldier at all times,
Christian! You ought to sit even at your table as a soldier sits and
you should go out especially into the world as a soldier goes out.
Never take off your armor, for if you do, in some unguarded moment you
may meet with serious wounds! But keep your armor always about you and
be watchful, for you are always in the midst of enemies wherever you
may be! And even when the persons who surround you are your friends,
there are still evil spirits, unseen of men, who watch for your
tripping–and you must not put up your sword, for you are to wrestle
against principalities, powers and spiritual wickedness in high
places–against whom you must always be on the watch. You are a
soldier, Christian– remember that!

Nor are you a soldier in barracks, or at home, but you are a soldier in
an enemy's country. Your place is either in the trenches or else in the
thick of the battle! You who are sick are like soldiers in the
trenches. You are patiently hoping and quietly waiting, as it were,
upon the ramparts, looking for the time to come. But others of you, out
in business and engaged in the concerns of life, are like soldiers
marching in a long file to the conflict, like the housemen dashing on
to the front of the battle. More or less, according to your
circumstances, you are all exposed to the foe and that at every period

of life!

Where are you, let me ask, but in the country of an enemy who never
gives any quarter If you fall, it is death! The world never forgives
the Christian–it hates him with a perfect hatred and it longs to hurt
him. Only let the world see you commit half a stumble and they will
soon report and magnify it! What might be done by other men without
observation, if it were done by a Christian, would be noticed, reported
and misrepresented. The world understands that you are its natural
antagonist. Satan perceives in you a representative of his old enemy,
the Lord Jesus, and you may rest assured that he will never give you
quarter if once he gets an opportunity of destroying you! Mind the
enemy, mind the enemy, for he is one of a malicious spirit!

You have to fight with one, too, who never yet made a truce. You may
come to terms and parley, but the powers of evil never do. You may hang
out the white flag if you like. The foe may seem, for a time, as though
he gave you credit,

but never give your foe any credit! He hates you when he seems to love
you best. "Dread the Greeks, even when they bring you gifts," said the
tradition of old–and let the Christian dread the world most when it
puts on its softest speeches! Stand, then, upon your guard, you
warriors of the Cross, when least you fear, the cringing foe will come
behind you and stab you under the pretense of friendship! Your Master
was betrayed with a kiss, and so will you be unless you watch unto
prayer.

You have to do with an enemy who never can make anypeace with you, nor
can you ever make anypeace with him. If you become at peace with sin,
sin has conquered you–and it is impossible, unless you give up the
fight and yield your neck to the everlasting thralldom–that there
should ever be peace for so much as a moment. Oh, Christian, see how
guarded you ought to be! How necessary to be clothed with your armor!
How necessary to have it of the right kind, to keep it bright and to
wear it constantly! You are a soldier, a soldier in battle, a soldier
in the foeman's country, a soldier with a cruel and malicious enemy who
knows neither truce nor parley, and who gives no quarter, but will
fight with you till you die! Heaven is the land where your sword should
be sheathed–there shall you hang the banner high–but here we wrestle
with the foe and must do so till we cross the torrent of death. Right
up to the river's edge must the conflict be waged. Foot by foot and
inch by inch must all the land to Canaan's happy shore be won. Not a
step can be taken without conflict and strife–but once there, you may
lay aside your helmet and put on your crown, put away your sword, and
take your palm branch–your fingers shall no longer need to learn to
war, but your hearts shall learn the music of the happy songsters in
the skies! This, then, is the first thought–that you are a soldier.

II. But the second thought is BEING A SOLDIER, LOOK TO YOUR HEAD.

Soldiers, look to your heads! A wound in the head is a serious matter.
The head, being a vital part, we need to be well protected there. The
heart needs to be guarded with the breastplate, but the head needs to
be protected quite as much, for even if a man should be true-hearted,
yet if a shot should go through his brain he would not be worth much as
a soldier–his body would strew the plain. The head must be taken care
of. There are a great many Christian people who never have any trouble
with their heads at all. There are certain religionists who get their
hearts warmed and then they think that that is enough. Now, give me
above everything else a good warm heart, but oh, to have that warm
heart coupled with a head that is well taken care of! Do you know that
a hot head and a hot heart together do a deal of mischief, but with a
hot heart and a cold brain you may do a world of service to the Master.
Have right Doctrine in the head and then set the soul on fire and you
will soon win the world! There is no standing in that man's way whose
head and heart are both right–but to neglect the head has been a
serious mischief with many Christians. They have been almost powerless
for usefulness because they have not taken care of their brains. They
have got to Heaven, but they have not got many victories on the road
because their brains have been out of order. They have never been able
to clearly understand the Doctrines–they have not been able to give a
reason for the hope that is in them. They have not, in fact, looked
well to the helmet which was to cover their heads!

The text refers us to our head because it speaks of a helmet–and a
helmet is of no use to any part except the head. Among other reasons
why we should preserve the head in the day of battle, let us give
these–the head is peculiarly liable to the temptations of Satan, of
self and of fame. It is not easy, you know, to stand on a high pinnacle
without the brain beginning to reel. And if God takes a man and puts
him on a high pinnacle of usefulness, he had need to have his head
taken care of. If a Brother is possessed of a considerable amount of
wealth, there is a great danger in that wealth unless there is a wealth
of Divine Grace as well as a wealth of gold. If a man is well spoken
of, his sphere may not be very large, but if everybody praises him, he
will also need to have his head well protected–for the little praise,
even though it should come from fools–would be too much for a fool. If
a man can stand commendation, he can stand anything. The severest trial
which a Christian has to bear is probably the trial which comes from
his kind but inconsiderate friends who would puff him up, if they
could, by telling him what a fine fellow he is. If your friends will
not do this, you will probably have a friend within who will do it for
you–and if you should forget it, the devil will not! "What a capital
sermon you gave us this morning, Mr. Bunyan," said a friend where John
had been preaching. "You are too late," said Bunyan, "the devil told me
that before I came out of the pulpit." Yes, and he will be sure to do
it–and hence the need of having a helmet to put on the head so that
when you are successful, when you are getting on in life, when friends
are speaking well of you–you may not get intoxicated with it! Oh, to
have a good, cool helmet to put on your brain when it begins to get a
little hot with praise, so that you may still stand fast and not be
borne down by vanity! O Vanity, Vanity, Vanity, how

many you have slain! How many who then seemed upon the very brink of
greatness have stumbled upon this stumbling-block–men who seemed as
though they would enter Heaven–but a little bit of honor, some
glittering bribe, a golden gift has turned them aside and they fail!
Take care of your heads, Brothers and Sisters!

And is not the head liable to attacks from skepticism? People who have
no brains are not often troubled with doubts, but people who have
brains have probably felt that whether they resolved to use them or
not, the brains would use themselves. It is very good of our good
fathers to tell us not to read dangerous books, very good of them,
indeed! But we do read them for all that–and though we sometimes tell
the young folks not to read this and that heretical treatise, and we
wish they would take our advice–yet somehow or other they get hold of
such things and will ponder them. Brothers and Sisters, I believe that
in such times as these, when everything is so free, and when discussion
is so common–we must expect that our young fellows will look at a
great many things which they had better leave alone–and their heads
will be endangered thereby, for the bullets of skepticism threaten to
go right through their brains! Well, what then? As we cannot take
Christians out of the way of the bullets, we should give them a helmet
to preserve them from them! He who has a hope of salvation–a good hope
that he is saved, a hope that he shall see the face of Christ with joy
at last–is not afraid of all the quibbles of skepticism! He may hear
them all and for a moment be staggered by them, as a soldier might be
who had a sudden shock or even a wound, but after a while he recovers
and feels sound enough to enter into the conflict again. And the
Christian can say–

"Let all the forms that men devise Assail my faith with treacherous
art– I'd call them vanity and lies, And bind the Gospel to my heart."

It has been very well observed that a man is not often a very thorough
democrat after he gets a little money in the bank. Well, I think it is
very likely that when a man gets a little stake in his country, he
begins to be, to the merest extent, conservative. As soon as ever a man
gets a stake in Christianity and feels that he has got salvation in
Jesus Christ, he gets to be very, very conservative of the
old-fashioned Truth of God. He cannot give up the Bible, then, because
it is a broad land of wealth to him! He cannot give up Christ, for He
is his Savior, his salvation. He cannot give up a single promise
because that promise is so dear to his own soul. The helmet of
salvation, then, will preserve the head in times of skepticism!

The head, again, is very greatly in danger from the attacks of personal
unbelief. Who among us has not doubted his own interest in Christ?
Happy are you who are free from such trouble! But there are seasons
with some of us when we turn our title deeds over and we are sometimes
afraid lest they should not be genuine. There are times when, if we
could, we would give a world to know that we are Christ's, for at times
we cannot–

"Read our title clear To mansions in the skies."

Well, Beloved, this is very dangerous to our heads, but the man who has
got the helmet of a right, sound, God-given hope of salvation–who has
received from God the Holy Spirit a helmet which I am going to
describe, by-and-by–when these doubts and fears come, they may
distress him for a little while, but he knows the smell of gunpowder
and he is not afraid! In the midst of all of Satan's accusations, or
the rising up of his old corruptions, or the threats of the flesh and
of the world, he stands calm and unmoved because he wears as a helmet,
the hope of salvation!

Nor are these all the dangers to which the head is exposed. Some
persons are attacked by threats from the world. The world brings down
its double-handled sword with a tremendous blow upon the heads of many
Christians. "You will suffer the loss of all things for Christ if you
are such a fanatic as to do as you do. You will be poor, your children
will need bread, your wife will be worse than a widow if you are such a
fool." "Ah," says the Christian, "but I have a hope of salvation!" And
the blow, when it comes, does not go through his head, but just falls
on the helmet and the world's sword gets blunted. "I can afford to be
poor," said Dr. Gill, when one of his subscribers threatened to give up
his seat and would not attend if the doctor preached such-and-such a
Doctrine. So says the Christian, "I can afford to be poor. I can afford
to be despised. I have in Heaven a better and more enduring substance."
So, by the use of this blessed helmet he is not destroyed by the
threats of the world!

We want our young people to wear this helmet, too, because of the
errors of the times. The errors of the times are many. We have to deal
not merely with skepticism, but with superstition. They are tempted on
the one side, they are tempted on the other. This and that you will
have cried up. "Lo here," and, "Lo there!" And there will be many
misled who are not the people of God. "If it were possible, they would
deceive the very elect"–but the elect are not deceived because their
heads are not vulnerable to these errors, for they wear the hope of
salvation and they are not afraid of all the "ites" or the "isms" in
the world. The man knows he is saved. Once you get to know Christ
personally and that He loved you and gave Himself for you–and then
rejoice that you are forgiven and justified through Him–the world will
count you stupid and obstinate, but you will stand firm and be able to
resist all its sarcasm and its ridicule. He who has made a refuge of
Jesus Christ may stand safe, whatever errors may invade the land!

They tell us that the Church of God is in great danger and that Popery
will spread over the land altogether. I believe it will, but that it
will spread over the Church of God–no–I know far better than that!
The Church of God can never be in danger! Every man in whom is the life
of God would be as ready to die tomorrow for the Truth as our
forefathers were in the Marian days! Rest assured there would still be
found men and women to stand in the burning piles if the times required
them–and our prisons would not long be without heavenly-minded tenants
if the Truth needed to be defended by suffering, even unto death! There
is danger, great danger! There never was such danger in modern times of
Popery spreading over the land as now. But there is no danger to the
man who has his helmet on! No, let the arrows fly thick as hail and let
the foes have all political power and all the prestige of antiquity
that they may–a little body of true-hearted Christians will still
stand out at the thick of the onslaught and cut their way to Glory and
to victory through whole hosts because their heads are guarded with the
heavenly helmet of the hope of salvation! Soldiers, then, take care of
your heads! I will say no more on that point.

III. God has provided a covering for your heads, let us therefore now
CONSIDER THE HELMET WITH WHICH

HE WOULD HAVE YOUR HEADS PROTECTED.

"The hope of salvation!" This is not the hope I spoke about this
morning, for that was the hope that salvation was possible. This helmet
is made up of an actual hope that, being already saved in Christ Jesus,
you should abide unto eternal life. It is a personal hope, founded upon
personal conviction–and is worked in us by the Holy Spirit.

To begin, then, describing this helmet. Who is its Giver? You ask our
friend, the soldier, where he gets his uniforms, and he answers that he
gets them from the government stores. He gets his uniforms from Her
Majesty. And that is how we must get our helmets. If any of you
construct helmets of hope for yourselves, they will be of no use to you
in the day of battle! The true helmet of hope must come from the
heavenly arsenal! You must go to the Divine Storehouse, for unto God
belongs salvation and the hope of salvation must be given to you by His
free Grace. A hope of salvation is not purchasable. Our great King does
not sell His armor, but gives it freely to all who enlist. They take
the shilling and accept faith. They trust Christ and they are
enlisted–and then the armor is given them gratis. From head to foot
they are arrayed by Grace!

Do you ask, who is the Maker of this helmet? Weapons are valued often
according to the maker. A known maker gets his own price for his
articles. Armorers of old took much trouble with the ancient helmets
because a man's life might depend upon that very useful means of
defense. So we have here the name of God the Holy Spirit upon this
helmet! A hope of salvation is the work of God the Holy Spirit in our
soul. It is the Spirit who brings us to Jesus, shows us our need of Him
and gives us faith in Him–and it is that same Spirit who enables us to
hope that we shall endure to the end and enter into eternal life. Be
not satisfied with a hope which is natural, but have a hope that is
supernatural! Rest not satisfied with that which is made in the
workshop of Nature. Go not to those who buy and sell for themselves,
but go to the blessed Spirit, who gives freely and upbraids not!

Or would you inquire, further, of what metal this helmet is made? That
it is made of hope, we are told, but it is of the utmost consequence
that it is a good hope! Beware of getting a base hope, a helmet made of
paltry metal. There were some helmets they used to wear in the olden
times which looked very well, but they were of no more use than
brown-paper hats. And when a soldier goes into the fight with one of
those on, the sword went through his skull. Get a good helmet, one made
of the right metal. This is what a Christian's hope is made of–he
believes that Christ came into the world to save sinners. He trusts
Christ to save him and he hopes that when Christ comes, he shall reign
with Him. He believes that when the trumpet sounds, he shall rise with
Christ and that in Heaven he shall have a secure dwelling place at

the right hand of the Father. This hope is made up of proper and
fitting deductions from certain truthful statements. That Christ died
for sinners is true. That He died to save all who trust in Him is true.
That I trust Him is true. Therefore that I am saved is true! And, being
saved, that I shall inherit all His promises is a matter of course!

Some people have a hope, but they do not know where they get it from,
nor do they know a reason for it. When some people die, you hear it
said, "I hope, I hope he is gone to Heaven." Well, I wish he may have
gone, but I dare not say of some that I hope so, because hope must have
a reason. An anchor is of no use without its barb. It must be able to
hold fast. It must have, at any rate, the modern anchor–some weight
about it with which it can hold to the bottom. Hope must have its barb,
too! It must have its reason, it must have its weight. If I say I hope
such-and-such, I am foolish for hoping it if I have not a reason for
hoping. If you were to say you hoped the person sitting next to you
would give you a thousand pounder, it would be a most absurd hope! You
may wish it if you like, but what ground have you for the hope? But if
somebody owes you a thousand pounds and you have his acknowledgement of
the debt, you may then very well say that you hope it will be paid, for
you have a legitimate right to expect it. Such is the Christian's hope!
God has promised to save those who believe. Lord, I believe You–You
have promised to save me, and I hope you will–I knowYou will! The
Christian's hope is not a fancy, not a silly desire. It did not spring
up in the night, like Jonah's gourd, and it will not wither in a night.
The Christian's hope is something that will bear a crack from a club,
or a cut from a sharp sword. It is made of good metal. John Bunyan said
of a certain sword that it was "a true Jerusalem blade"–and I may call
this a true Jerusalem helmet and he that wears it need not fear!

Having shown the metal of which the helmet is made, let me now describe
the strength of the helmet It is so strong that he who wears it is
invulnerable under all sorts of assaults. He may stagger under a blow,
but he cannot be hurt by it. Recollect what David said. All the
troubles in the world once set on David and began to beat him–and they
gave him many terrible blows. They thought they had certainly ruined
him. David was bleeding and was full of wounds. He half thought he
would die and he tells us, himself, that he would have fainted, only he
had a bottle of cordial with him called faith. He says, "I had fainted
if I had not believed." But just at the time when they thought he would
faint and die, suddenly the old hero that slew Goliath made all his
enemies fly before him as he cried, "Why are you cast down, O my Soul,
and why are you disquieted within me? Hope you in God." And he laid
about him right and left, as he should. "I shall yet praise Him who is
the health of my countenance and my God." "Hope you in God," Christian!
Oh that blessed word, HOPE! You know what the New Zealanders call hope?
They call it in their language, "the swimming thought," because it
always swims. You cannot drown it–it always keeps its head above the
wave! When you think you have drowned the Christian's hope, up it
comes, all dripping from the brine, and cries again, "Hope you in God,
for I shall yet praise Him!" Hope is the nightingale that sings in the
night. Faith is the lark that mounts up towards Heaven, but hope is the
nightingale that cheers the valley in the darkness! Oh, Christian, be
thankful that you have so strong a helmet as this which can bear all
assaults and can keep you unwounded in the midst of the fray!

This hope of salvation is a helmet which will not come off It is of
main importance, you know, to have a helmet that will not be knocked
off the first thing in the fight. That is why our policemen are dressed
differently from what they used to be, because their hats used to get
knocked off the very first thing. So it will be with some people's
helmets if they have a commonplace hope–but the Christian wears a
helmet that he cannot get off. There was once a good soldier of Jesus
Christ–this soldier happened to be a woman, however, and some women
are the best soldiers Christ ever had–they are His true Amazons! This
good woman had been much attacked by a skeptical person and when she
was very much confused with some of his knotty questions, she turned
round and said to him, "I cannot answer you, Sir, but neither can you
answer me, for I have a something within me that you cannot understand
which makes me feel that I could not give up what I know of Christ for
all the world." You see, he could not get her helmet off–and the devil
himself cannot drag the Christian's helmet off when he has once got it
fairly buckled on. The world can neither give nor take away the hope of
a Christian! It comes from God and He will never withdraw it, for His
gifts and calling are without repentance. Once let this helmet be put
on and He will never remove it, but we shall hope on and hope always
until we shall see His face at the last!

I should like to go round among this regiment, as the commanding
officers sometimes do, to have a look at you. This helmet is an
old-fashioned kind of armor and in the old days the lieutenants and
other officials, when they went round the regiment, used to look not
only to see that the men had their helmets, but to see that they had
oiled them, for in those

times they used to oil their helmets to make them shine and to keep the
various joints, buckles and so on, in good order. No rust was ever
allowed on the helmets and it is said that when the soldiers marched
out with their bronze helmets and their white plumes, they shone most
brilliantly in the sun. David speaks, you know, of "anointing the
shield." He was speaking of a bronze shield which had to be anointed
with oil. Now, when God anoints His people's hope–when He gives them
the oil of joy, their hope begins to shine bright in the light of the
Savior's Countenance–and what a fine array of soldiers they then are!
Satan trembles at the gleaming of their swords–he cannot endure to
look upon their helmets. But some of you do not keep your hope
clear–you do not keep it bright. It gets rusty out of use and then
before long it gets to sit uncomfortably upon you and you get weary
with the fight. O Holy Spirit, anoint our heads with fresh oil and let
Your saints go forth tonight terrible as an army with banners!

Do not let it be overlooked that the helmet was generally considered to
be a place of honor The man put his plume in his helmet. He frequently
wore his crest there and in the thick of the fight the captain's plume
was seen in the midst of the smoke and dust of battle–and the men
pressed to the place where they saw it. Now, the Christian's hope is
his honor and his glory. I must not be ashamed of my hope! I must wear
it for beauty and for dignity and he who has a right good hope will be
a leader to others. Others will see it and will fight with renewed
courage. And where he hews a lane of the foes, they will follow him,
even as he follows his Lord and Master who has overcome and sits down
upon His Father's Throne! I hope there are many Christians here who
keep their helmets bright–and that there are many more who desire to
have such helmets to protect themselves and to grace their profession.

IV. YET THERE ARE SOME HERE WHO HAVE NO HELMETS. The reason is obvious.
They are not Christ's soldiers.

Of course the Lord Jesus does not provide anybody with armor but those
in His service. But Satan knows how to give you a helmet, too. His
helmets are very potent ones. Though the sword of the Spirit can go
right through them, nothing else can. He can give and has given some of
you a headpiece that covers your entire skull–a thick headpiece of
indifference, so that no matter what is preached, you do not care.
"What do I care?" you say–and that is your helmet.

Then he puts a piece in the front of the helmet called a brazen
forehead and a brow of brass. "What do I care?" That is your cry. Then
he takes care to fit the helmet right over your eyes so that you cannot
see–yes, though Hell itself is before you, you do not see it! "What do
I care?" Then he also knows how so to fit the helmet that it acts as a
gag to your mouth so that you never pray. You can swear through it, but
you cannot pray! Still you stick to your old cry, "What do I

care?"

Ah, it is not very likely that any sword of mine will get at your head!
Arguments will not move you, for that is a question that cannot very
well be argued–"What do I care?" It is all very well for you to say
that, but oh, I pray God the Holy Spirit to get at your head,
notwithstanding that horrible helmet, for if not, God has a way of
dealing with such as you are–when you come to die, you will sing
another song! When you come to lie there upon that bed of sickness and
the grim day of eternity is in view, you will not be able to say quite
so gaily as you do now, "What do I care?" And when the trumpet rings
through earth and Heaven and your body starts up from your grave–and
you see the great Judge upon His Throne–you will not be able to say,
then, "What do I care?" Your head will then be bare to the pitiless
tempest of Divine wrath! Bareheaded, you must be exposed to the
everlasting storm that shall descend upon you. And when the great angel
binds you up with your fellows in bundles to burn, you will then feel
that you are not able to say, "What do I care?" for cares will come
upon you like a wild deluge when you are banished from His Presence and
all hope is gone!

Oh, I wish you would take off that helmet! May God grant you Grace to
unbuckle it tonight, never to put it on again! Do care. You are not a
fool, my Friend, are you? It is only a fool who says, "What do I care?"
Surely you care about your soul! Surely Heel is worth escaping from!
Surely Heaven is worth winning! Surely that Cross on which our Savior
died is worth thinking of Surely that poor soul of yours is worth
caring about! Do, I pray you, think, and not go hastily on. Oh, may
Jesus Christ, who died for such as you are, bring you to trust Him! And
then, unbuckling all that evil armor of, "What do I care?" you will bow
before His Cross and kiss His hands–and He will put upon you the
golden helmet of a hope of salvation and you will rise, one of the
Kings own soldiers, to fight His battles and win an immortal wreath of
everlasting victory! May it is so with every one of us!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON:

1THESSALONIANS 5:1-28.

Verses 1, 2. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no
need that I write you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day
of the Lord comes as a thief in the night It will be a great surprise
to the wicked. It will take them by surprise. Just at that moment when
they least expect it, Christ will come, and as the thief comes to
destroy and to kill, so will the coming of Christ be the death of their
carnal ease–the destruction of their earthly hopes!

3. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not
escape. A terrible text that–"They shall not escape." They shall not
escape by their own power or force or wisdom! They shall not escape
even by the annihilation which they might well desire, but which shall
not come to them. They shall not escape.

4. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief. You know that Christ will come. You expect the
dissolution of this present state. To you, therefore, it will come as
one who calls at daytime. You cannot know the hour. You must not know
it. But since you know that He will come, and come to your joy–and
since you are in the light, you look with gladness to that coming!

5. 6. You are all the children oflight and the children ofthe day: we
are not ofthe night, nor ofdarkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do
othersIf we were children of the night, sleep is a proper occupation
for the night, but as we are the children of the day, let us not sleep
as others.

6. But let us watch and be sobe. Watchfulness and sobriety are
appropriate duties for the day. To be always serving our Lord with
constancy and to keep ourselves from the fascinations of the world
which make men's minds drunk–may these two things be our daily care.

7. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunk are
drunk in the night There are a few who have reached to such a pitch of
shameless idleness that they sleep in the day. And there are others who
have come to such a state of debauchery that they are drunk in the day.
But this is not the common way of things, nor even in the judgment of
the most licentious of the world is this at all a proper state of
things. "They that sleep, sleep in the night. They that are drunk are
drunk in the night." Let us who are of the day be sober, and let us of
course be awake, but let us be more than awake, since watchfulness is
here joined to wakefulness and watchfulness in a soldier requires that
his armor be on. So Paul pushes the parallel a little farther.

8. But let us who are ofthe day, be sober, putting on the breastplate
of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvatioi. Soldiers,
when they sleep, take off their armor. But in the day when they are
awake and on their guard they wear their armor and are ready for the
fray. See how much is involved in Christian wakefulness. God help us to
carry out every virtue to its legitimate consequences–not to be
wakeful after a fashion, but wakeful after God's fashion!

9. For Godhas not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ In making us children of light, he gave evidence that
our appointment was for the light–that His eternal ordinances were
that through the light of Gospel Grace we should, by and by, enter into
the light of eternal Glory. "God has not appointed us to wrath, but to
obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."

10. Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with Him. They who have served their day and generation, when
they sleep, are not parted from their Lord. They become not the
children of the darkness by that fact, for He died for us, that whether
we wake or sleep we should live together with Him. Whether we are
living here or living there, we shall still live together with Him.

11. Therefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, just
as you also are doing. The more of this the better. Christian people
should constantly converse with one another for mutual edification.

12. 13. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among
you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them
very highly in love for their work's sake. You see, in the Church of
old they edified one another, but for all that, they did not cast off
God's ordinance of Christian ministry. There was rule in the Church,
then, as there should be now–and the Apostle, when he speaks of this
individual edification, this mutual instruction– does not forget to
notice those who were the pastors of the flock. He says, "Know them
which labor among you and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
and esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake."

13. And be at peace among yourselves. How can a Church prosper if it is
not?

14-16. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort
the feeble minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See
that none render evil for evil unto any man, but always follow that
which is good both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore.
Here follows a string of Christian precepts–a golden chain. "Rejoice
evermore."

17-19. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit Do
not despise His operations, either in yourselves or in your brethren.
Do not quench Him by neglect, much less by open opposition!

20-22. Despise not prophesying. Prove all things; hold fast that which
is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil Not from that which other
people choose to think evil, but from all real evil whatever it
is–even from the very shadow that it casts and the shape which it
assumes!

23-26. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God
your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Faithful is He that calls you, who also
will do it Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with a holy
kiss. Give one another a hearty shake of the hands. That is the western
interpretation of the eastern form. Outward forms differ. The inward
sense abides the same. Let brotherly love continue in a hearty
friendliness among yourselves.

27, 28. I charge you by the Lord that this Epistle be read unto all the
holy brethren. The Grace of our lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amei.