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ers. Buckle on the armor anew, facing the cares of home in the power of Christ, and your spirit will hearten those around you. In the Industrial World. These are days of keen competition, and it is not easy to be honest, sincere, and without reproach, But, brother, there is no discharge from the war against every form of trickery and deceit and under handedness in your world. It is no lighi thing for a soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the silver trumpet pressed to his lips, to decry those tradesmen who use false balances and countenance dishonest methods. It may be hard to expose the master who robs laborers of their hire, to speak out against the rich who grind the poor, to condemn the poor who squan der the little they earn on drink, gam bling, and soul-destroying pleasures. Yet having donned the armor of light, you must live in the pure, white light of holiness. Yours is a harder, dead lier fight, requiring courage more dauntless than the physical courage displayed upon a battlefield. In the Religious Realm. Paul urged Timothy to war a good warfare and to fight the good fight of faith. The exhortation is for us as well. To live lives of heroic devotion to God; to be honest, true, and sincere amid a crook ed and perverse generation;' to live in chastity, avoiding the slippery paths of sin and the accepted customs of society unworthy of our high calling as believers in Christ; to live in vic tory above all petty things, such as jealousy and criticism and unforgiving attitudes; to love the Master with all our heart, and grieve not the Holy Spirit by sin willfully indulged m— this is the hardest of all tasks and the sternest and longest of all battles. Yet if we fight manfully under the banner of the cross, when ultimately we reach the gates of heaven, having fought a good fight, we will be found, through the grace of God, in the army of overcomers. What a glorious pros pect! Engagements with Trials and Disappointments The sorrows and adversities of .life form another war from which there is no discharge. As good soldiers of Jesus Christ, we are to endure hard ness in this conflict. Perhaps you feel that you are in the hottest part of the battle. Deep wounds are yours, caus ing bitter pain and anguish. You wonder when the fighting is to cease and the enemy retire or you receive a furlough of rest from the manifold trials of life. But, my friend, there is no discharge from the war. You must be valiant. When armies return from a victorious war, the loud est cheers are not for those who fought the fewest battles nor kept their flags the cleanest. Thunderous acclamations
are for the regiments cut down to & few men and for the colors riddled with bullets and stained with blood. Thus will it be when wè . reach heaven, when life’s greatest sufferers will be welcomed to their eternal home o f rest. Those who fought the most battles and bore the most marks of the Lord Jesus are to receive the highest honors. The undying attrac tions of glory are the scars of the Redeemer. Do you want to wear "Heaven’s Victoria Cross” ? Suffer, then, patiently, and nobly, in Christ’s name. Battle Against Sickness and Disease Thousands of men discharged from a war in which they bravely fought are never discharged from sickness, pain, and diseases contracted as the result of war. Think of the hospitals scattered over the land where maimed soldiers are forced to spend their days! In spite of the astounding victories of' science over the ills the flesh is heir to, what appalling tragedies remain in the physical realm! Some of you are doomed to suffer, physically, for the remainder of your days on earth. Seeing that there is no discharge from the war, you must go down to life’s last day a happy, resigned warrior.—that is, if you are a trusting believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, assured of the truth of Romans 8:28. Let it be seen that Satan’s serv ants, who sometimes boast and swag ger as if all courage were theirs, are not the only ones who are able to suffer well. Fight Against Death Finally, the death battle must be fought by every person, unless that one is spared death at the coming of Christ. Every man must fight his own battle when he enters the dark arena. But even this last battle holds no dread for those who love the Saviour, the One who “dying, death He slew.” The story is told of a little girl who was being put to bed. “Mummie, must I go to sleep in the dark?” she asked. "Yes, my dear, you will be all right. God will be with you, so there is no need to be afraid.” But this assurance did not satisfy the timid child, who replied, “I know God will be with me, Mummie. But I should like some one to be with me with a face.” What a perfectly natural desire that was! Yes, and amid all the darkness and distress of life and death, we will need some one near who has a face of cheer and encouragement. We have such a One in Jesus Christ, whose human face was scarred and marred more than any man’s. “Looking unto Jesus,” let us endure all the battles of life, seeing Him who is invisible.
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