But where are they now? In those days were men who towered in moral and physical frame. They were not second-rate intelligences to demand a rational explanation of every reference to the super natural in the Bible — not hu manistic pinheads to refuse to tread the high places of the Lord, faith illuminating t ha t wh i ch sight could not comprehend.” A great servant of Christ was not speaking in weird wildness but in words descriptive of much mincing of feet as those strolling in a park when he said: “ The eagle of the he i gh t has been tamed into a little bird that eats out o f your hand — glad of get ting a crumb. We have more or less exchanged Niagara with its tremendous sweep for the slug gish canal with its slow move ment. We have more or less ex changed the tide for the ripple of the pond. We have forgotten the splendor of the sunshine in the satisfaction which we feel in the candlelight.” Certainly God was not talking about those who trip lightly with mincing feet when, by His serv ant, He said: "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet” (Psalm s 01 :13 ). Paul said: “ And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:20). Dr. Robert G. Lee is Pastor Emeritus of Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee.
truth, he would have to change ‘marching’ to ‘limping!’ and it is not the limp of the warrior re turning from the battle. It is the limp of the tight shoes from walk ing the Broadways and Rialtos of the world. Did angels ever see more sorry spectacle than this present generation of powerless Christians trying to make them selves comfortable in a world of despairing men? Once Christians were warriors. Now they are tourists. A t times they were cru saders. Now they are country gentlemen.” I wonde r i f some similar thoughts were not in the mind of Senate Chaplain, Dr. Peter Mar shall, when he said, “ Church members in too many cases are like deep-sea divers, encased in suits designed for many fathoms deep, marching bravely to pull out plugs in bathtubs.” This hu morous picture is all too true of many nominal followers of Christ. They are piddling with small things when they should be in a great crusade for Christian liv ing. They are wasting time and effort on second-rate causes when they ought to be engaged in heroic endeavors in the cause of Christ. Dr. Robert F. Gribble, Austin Seminary, Austin, Texas, must have had in mind some of the mincing instead of the marching men do when he said, “ Pygmies are crowding your doorstep. This is the house for Lilliputians and all others of like stature. The an cient oracles of God proclaim : ‘There were giants in those days.’
“ ft j i n c e ” m e a n s to trip lightly |U| — “with fantastic toe” — ■ in antithesis to the solid tread of the marching soldiers. So many, when they should be soldiers “marching as to war,” and enduring hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ ( I I Tim. 2:3), are described by what the prophet said about “the daugh ters of Zion” : "M o reove r the Lord satth, Be cause the daughters of Zion are haughty, and wa lk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet” (Isa iah 3 :16 ). Instead of walking as soldiers who march with an army in bat tle, they trip lightly as those who chase the short-lived butterflies of pleasure and dance to the music of selfish indulgence. I read a bit of biography the other day, of Robert McCheyne, who died at twenty-nine years of age. It is said of him: “Wherever his feet stepped, Scotland shook.” No mincing step of a playboy was his, but the steps of a soldier marching! I wond e r i f the great Dr. Houghton did not have in mind the mincing footsteps of those who walk t im i d l y as delicate women rather than triumphantly as soldiers of Christ’s cross when he said: “ The old-time Christians used to sing ‘Marching as to war!' I f the modern Christian told the
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JAN U AR Y, 1970
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