William S. Cochra 
 
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 - ■■ r H C LIBRARY OF 
 
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 CONFLICT AND VICTORY.
 
 CONFLICT AND VICTORY 
 
 By 
 
 WILLIAM S. COCHRANE 
 
 Overcome evil with good. 
 
 CmCINNATI: JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 
 NEW YORK: EATON AND MAINS
 
 Copyright, 1907, by 
 Jennings and Graham.
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 i I Jr • *N j 
 
 ^ 
 
 The writer is indebted for assistance to 
 many literary people whose thoughts have 
 oft refreshed him. He would gladly make 
 acknowledgment if possible, but, having 
 disposed of his library years ago, and be- 
 ing too weak for study, quoting almost 
 entirely from memory, is unable to do 
 more than to ask those who recognize their 
 own literary thought to accept his thanks. 
 
 William S. Cochrane. 
 
 Ridgetown, Out. 

 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 To THE Reader, ----- 
 Introduction, ----- 
 An Appreciation, _ . _ - 
 
 part L 
 
 Chapter. 
 
 I. Experience and Testimony, - 
 
 II. Lessons, ----- 
 
 III. Consecration, - . - 
 
 IV. Culture, ----- 
 Y. Co-operation, „ - . 
 
 VI. Christian Conduct, - 
 
 part II. 
 
 YII. The Fatherhood of God and the 
 
 Brotherhood of Man, - 
 
 VIII. Encouragement, - - . 
 
 IX. Intelligent Goodness, 
 
 X. The Responsibility of Citizen- 
 ship, - - . - 
 
 Page. 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 27 
 43 
 59 
 87 
 107 
 131 
 
 153 
 169 
 185 
 
 203
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The readers of this book, of whom I 
 hope there may be many, will not be able 
 to appreciate its real value without know- 
 ing something of the man, and of the con- 
 ditions under which he wrote it. 
 
 The Rev. William S. Cochrane has been 
 an honored and faithful member of the 
 Minnesota Annual Conference of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church since 1888. 
 In 1900 he passed to the roll of veterans 
 on account of disability rather than age. 
 
 His twelve years of effective service 
 were characterized by careful and con- 
 scientious work, and in every place he 
 measured up to its demands. He was an 
 
 all-round Methodist preacher, and gave 
 
 9
 
 10 Introduction. 
 
 himself entirely to his work. He is a man 
 of clean hands and a pure heart. 
 
 As a pastor he was faithful to his duties, 
 and as a preacher he was far above the 
 average. His sermons were prepared with 
 great care, usually written in full, and 
 were delivered in an easy, graceful, and 
 effective manner. His diction was elegant, 
 his exegesis sound, while it was always 
 his own; his illustrations were appropri- 
 ate, and he was easily followed. 
 
 For three years before he was super- 
 annuated he battled hopefully and heroic- 
 ally with disease, still continuing his work, 
 until it became clear to him, as it had been 
 to his friends for some time, that there 
 was no hope of recovery without entire 
 rest from labor. 
 
 His disease, which has finally been pro- 
 nounced rheumatoid arthritis, progressed 
 slowly, insidiously, but constantly, until 
 nearly every joint in his body became rigid 
 and he was helpless. Five years ago his
 
 Introduction. 1 1 
 
 eyesight began to fail, and again, slowly 
 but surely, this trouble progressed, until 
 our brother had passed into the twilight 
 and then into the dark— he is now blind. 
 
 Truly he could say, with Job: "Have 
 pity upon me, have pity upon me, ye, 
 my friends; for the hand of God hath 
 touched me." 
 
 During all these years of retirement and 
 disability he has continued cheerful, and 
 has never murmured at his hard lot. 
 
 He retains all his old-time interest in 
 the affairs of this world, both in Church 
 and State, takes a lively interest in his 
 old Conference and his old comrades, and 
 enjoys the visits and letters of friends to 
 the full limit. 
 
 During the past four years he has re- 
 sided at London, Ontario, until this spring 
 he removed to Ridgetown, Ontario. 
 
 Those who have visited him testify to 
 his remarkable patience and cheerfulness, 
 his Christian experience and life, and say
 
 1 2 Introduction. 
 
 that a visit to his room is a means of 
 grace — he gives quite as much, even more, 
 than he receives from the visitor. 
 
 From this darkened chamber of help- 
 lessness he sends out this little book — 
 written at the request of friends — hoping 
 it may do some good in the world from 
 which he is shut out. 
 
 It breathes a divine fragrance to all who 
 remember the circumstances under which 
 it was written. Having read a large part 
 of the manuscript, I wonder at the fresh- 
 ness and vigor of his thought, the marvel- 
 ous retentiveuess of his memory, and, 
 through constant correspondence with him 
 during all these years of his invalidism, 
 I glorify God on his behalf who has en- 
 abled him to triumph and to glory even 
 in tribulation, 
 
 I am sure I shall be pardoned if I say 
 a word of the faithful, devoted woman, 
 who, during all these years, has borne a 
 double burden in caring for her suffering
 
 Introduction, 13 
 
 hnsband. She has been to him hands and 
 feet and eyes, nurse and amanuensis — 
 faithful, true, constant. She has grown 
 old, not with years, but with double care 
 and anxiety, as trulj^ a martyr as any who 
 faced the wild beasts in the Colosseum in 
 the early years of our era. The heroes 
 and heroines are not dead, thank the Lord, 
 and if the Son of man should come now 
 He would find faith in the earth. 
 
 When you read this book, think of him 
 who wrote it shut in from commerce with 
 the outer world and who can never see the 
 light of the sun, the blush of the rose, or 
 the face of wife, child, or friend, until he 
 sees in the light of that world where 
 
 "Sickness and sorrow, pain and death, 
 Are felt and feared no more." 
 
 E. R. Lathrop. 
 Hastings, Minn.
 
 AN APPRECIATION. 
 
 The Introduction to this little volume 
 has been written by the Rev. Ezra R. 
 Lathrop, A. M., an honored superannuate 
 of the Minnesota Conference, who looks 
 back on the past and forward to the sun- 
 rising from the summit of fifty years of 
 effective Christian ministry. His heart is 
 as young as ever, and his sympathy with 
 all men grows with his years. He has 
 written out of his heart of the author of 
 this book, and the greater part of the story 
 he has left untold. It is in my heart to 
 set down here a few words of further ap- 
 preciation of one of the noblest and most 
 strangely tried souls I have known. And 
 
 15
 
 16 An Appreciation. 
 
 I do it because trust has won such a vic- 
 tory, and because the story should be told 
 that those who need it may be comforted. 
 
 Nearly a score of years ago there came 
 into the membership of the Minnesota 
 Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church a young man of medium height, 
 erect, alert, a gentleman — whose speaking 
 eye and pleasant smile brought him at 
 once into the fellowship of the best minds 
 in that body. His well-trained mind and 
 his previous business life made him at once 
 the careful student and the wise manager 
 of the Churches he served. We took Wil- 
 liam S. Cochrane into full membership in 
 our hearts long before his Conference pro- 
 bation was ended. 
 
 His progress was steadily upward in the 
 confidence of his brethren and in the re- 
 gard of the Churches. When his sky held 
 no cloud and his future seemed to hold 
 many years of effective service, his disease 
 began its work. This was in the autumn
 
 An Appreciation. 17 
 
 of 1896. He continued his work and, with 
 one leg in a plaster cast, got out and dis- 
 tributed the Annual Minutes of his Con- 
 ference, of which he was the secretary. 
 He was then in an important Church, and 
 between that and Asbury Hospital, in Min- 
 neapolis, the year was passed, varied by a 
 trip to Hot Springs, Ark. He took a lighter 
 work in 1897— coming to crutches, mean- 
 time—and preached until he could stand in 
 the pulpit no longer. By this time the 
 disease had progressed so far that he could 
 not hold in his arms the last infant he bap- 
 tized. Thus it went on: another winter 
 at Hot Springs, and the next in a private 
 hospital in Toronto, which he left in Feb- 
 ruary, 1900, pronounced an incurable. 
 AVhat this sentence meant to this earnest, 
 consecrated man we will never know. 
 Since that time, for more than seven years 
 he has never been able to be dressed, ex- 
 cept in a loose dressing gown, and he has 
 not been able to lie in any position but 
 2
 
 18 An Appreciation. 
 
 on his back in all these years. In the 
 winter of 1900, while taking the hot cyl- 
 inder treatment in Toronto, he noticed 
 that his back, hips, neck, and knees were 
 beginning to stiffen. For about a year 
 after he could sit propped in a chair an 
 hour or two each day. It required two, 
 and part of the time three, to lift him 
 from his cot to a chair. During all this 
 time his sufferings were intense. The 
 stiffening of the joints progressed until 
 there is scarcely any action possible, ex- 
 cept in the arms and feet. He can bend 
 his arms a little at the elbows, and can 
 move his shoulders in a slight degree. 
 He has not been able to get his hands to 
 his head for five years. His left hand is 
 not deformed and he can use the fingers; 
 but the right hand is pulled out at the 
 wrist joint, and any attempt at movement 
 causes great pain. For five years he has 
 not been able to feed himself. 
 
 Then dimness of vision came, and while
 
 An Appreciation. 19 
 
 he can distinguish daylight from dark, it 
 is four years since he lost the ability to 
 distinguish any objects, and the darkness 
 is increasing all the time. This loss of 
 sight is one result of his disease. 
 
 While he could see the time passed more 
 quickly. He was interested in everything 
 about him. He noted the habits of the 
 birds, the squirrels, and domestic animals. 
 He watched the rain and snow and clouds. 
 The changing foliage, the waving grain, 
 the farmers in the fields — all gave him in- 
 terest and pleasure. 
 
 And all this time his mind has been as 
 clear and strong as in the days of his 
 health. With almost utter helplessness 
 upon him he joins in the family conversa- 
 tion and listens to the reading of the daily 
 and religious papers. In hours when he 
 is alone he outlines sermons, plans for 
 some shut-in like himself, and contributes 
 to the common fund of cheerfulness. A 
 letter from his pastor tells us that he
 
 20 An Appreciation. 
 
 does more for his callers than they do 
 for him. He never sends his friends a 
 doleful message, but is an optimist through 
 and through. And this man, whose plan 
 of life was changed by a power not his 
 own, who was turned from a life of in- 
 creasing effectiveness in the wide field of 
 service into a quiet room to suffer, where 
 the windows of the world about him have 
 darkened into night, lives on, loves on, 
 hopes on, because he has the victory of 
 faith and has found the grace of God suf- 
 ficient for all his need. We thank God for 
 his example now, which is mightier than 
 any sermon he ever preached. He knows 
 that his disease is incurable, and he knows 
 not when he shall be summoned to eternal 
 life and light, but his victory is already 
 ,won, and all the rest is a small matter. 
 I have written so much because I want 
 you to read this book as if you could see 
 him in his sick chamber, as if vou could 
 hear his message in the same cheerful
 
 An Appreciation. 2 1 
 
 tones which were his when we used to hear 
 him speak. 
 
 There is a gracious, patient woman who 
 has ministered at his bedside through all 
 these years. She is just the same now as 
 at the beginning, for love does not fail. 
 Other things fail : other things pass away : 
 but not love. Thank God ! 
 
 One further word. I am hoping that this 
 little book will have a wide sale. It is 
 unique and worthy, and it will help far 
 beyond its cost. And each book sold will 
 add its mite to the comfort of that little 
 home in Ontario where lies one of God's 
 chosen, who watches and waits for the 
 morning. 
 
 H. C. Jennings. 
 
 Cincinnati.
 
 CONFLICT AND YICTOEY. 
 
 PART I.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 EXPEEIENCE AND TESTIMONY.
 
 "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of 
 all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, 
 that we may be able to comfort them which are in 
 any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves 
 are comforted of God." 
 
 "When thou passest through the waters, I will be 
 with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not 
 overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, 
 thou Shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame 
 kindle upon thee." 
 
 "My grace is suflicieut for thee."
 
 EXPERIENCE AND TESTIMONY. 
 
 In writing this and the following chap- 
 ter, my only purpose is to give encourage- 
 ment to tried and trusting believers, and 
 add my testimony to the keeping power of 
 the Christian religion. I have been greatly 
 helped by reading the accounts of other 
 sufferers who found in the Christian re- 
 ligion an all-sufificient support, and this 
 may be my opportunity to pass the bless- 
 ing on. If I can in this way reach and 
 comfort some one, as I have been reached 
 and comforted, then I shall be satisfied. 
 
 Brought up on a farm, educated at the 
 public school and Collegiate Institute, and 
 given a fine training in the hardware busi- 
 ness, I entered the ministry with a fair 
 knowledge of men and things. I knew 
 something of the strenuous nature of mod- 
 
 27
 
 28 Confiict and Victory. 
 
 ern business and professional life, and this 
 gave my ministry a decidedly practical 
 turn. It was ever my aim to preach a 
 gospel of applied Christianity. That 1 
 had ambitions and aimed to rank well 
 among my brethren, I am frank to ac- 
 knowledge. Had I pursued my ideal less 
 earnestly, it might have been better phys- 
 ically with me to-day, but having had un- 
 interrupted good health for over twenty 
 years, I had come to regard myself as able 
 to endure almost any amount of exposure, 
 pastoral work, and hard study. During a 
 pastorate of fourteen years three short 
 vacations are all that T can record. 
 
 The folly of such a course is wonderfully 
 apparent to me now. In this particular I 
 think our Church for the past twenty-five 
 years has pursued a ])olicy that has been 
 destructive of v a 1 a able energy. Her 
 Preachers' Meetings, Ministerial Insti- 
 tutes, and Clerical Clubs have been given 
 over altogether too much to the discussion
 
 Experience and Testhnony. 29 
 
 of ministerial work. She has been em- 
 phasizing sound preaching, pastoral work, 
 methods of study, evangelization, and ap- 
 plied Christianity, until the conscientious 
 pastor has returned to his charge rebuked 
 for the smallness of his results and goaded 
 to a determination to bring up his charge 
 to what other people think it ought to be. 
 I believe there are hundreds of preachers 
 who are working beyond their strength, 
 and are, year in and year out, on the 
 ragged edge of physical endurance 
 through pursuing just such an insane 
 policy as that which has brought me into 
 my present condition. 
 
 Not that I would undervalue good 
 preaching, wise methods, and earnest en- 
 deavor, but I would make the work of the 
 ministry to conserve rather than deplete 
 valuable energy, nervous force, and good 
 health. Only once do I remember of hav- 
 ing listened to a common-sense paper on 
 the important subject of ministerial health
 
 30 Conjiict and Victory. 
 
 and its relation to success in the ministry, 
 and that was when Dr. H. C. Jennings, 
 then of Red Wing, Minnesota, read his 
 paper, entitled, ''A New Puritanism," be- 
 fore the Preachers' Meeting in St. Paul, 
 and the unfortunate thing about it was 
 that it was not half appreciated. I plead 
 for a month's vacation at least each year 
 for every minister of the Gospel. Give 
 him an opportunity to get out from under 
 the burden and indulge in restful relax- 
 ation. It is the conscientious, faithful 
 preachers who will be most benefited by 
 such an outing and who will make the most 
 valuable returns for vacation investments. 
 As a minister of the Gospel, I tried to 
 be faithful in my pastoral labors, espe- 
 cially to the unfortunate and the shut-in. 
 My work among the latter class was most 
 beneficial to me, for I saw, as I could not 
 otherwise see, the value of our holy reli- 
 gion where the testing strain of life is the 
 severest. So impressed was I with this
 
 Eayperience cmd Testimony. 31 
 
 fact that it became a part of my stock in 
 trade to declare that the Christian can be 
 happy and rejoice under the most distress- 
 ing circumstances. I had seen it, and I 
 believed it, but I little knew then that I 
 would be called upon to illustrate my own 
 positions in my own life. 
 
 As I look back now I feel that my pur- 
 pose was pure in doing what I could to 
 merit promotion and enlarge my field of 
 usefulness, but the lack of wisdom lay in 
 my methods of procedure. I failed to 
 give myself fair play, and as a result, 
 nervous prostration set in. In this weak- 
 ened condition I became an easy prey to 
 rheumatoid arthritis which, up to the pres- 
 ent, has defied all medical treatment. 
 
 My first trial came to me when I was 
 pastor of an influential Church and secre- 
 tary of my Conference. The apprehension 
 that progressive ministerial work must 
 cease, temporarily at least, filled me with 
 distressing forebodings. It overtook me
 
 32 Conjlict and Victory. 
 
 when I felt that my family especially 
 needed me, and taken in connection with 
 the thought that I must relinquish my 
 chosen work seemed almost unendurable. 
 I shall never forget the sadness of my 
 feelings at the last Annual Conference I 
 was privileged to attend. The resigning 
 of the Conference secretaryship was in it- 
 self enough to discourage the most san- 
 guine of men, but when I asked for lighter 
 work and was met by a feeling of distrust 
 of my physical ability to care for it on the 
 part of those who had the good of the 
 work at heart, my previous apprehensions 
 seemed suddenlv to become realized, and 
 the distress of the hour was severe beyond 
 measure. Only those who have passed 
 through such an ordeal can appreciate in 
 any due measure the severity of the trial. 
 The religion of Jesus Christ is the only 
 thing that can steady, cheer, and sustain 
 in such an hour. 
 
 The packing up, moving, and settling
 
 Experience and Testimony. 33 
 
 which the taking of lighter work necessi- 
 tated, made a serious inroad upon my vital 
 energy. This was followed by a painful 
 year, relieved, so far as human effort 
 could minister, by the earnest sympathy and 
 hearty co-operation of a loyal people, who 
 asked of me the direction of the forces and 
 only such service as my strength would 
 permit me to render. They came so near 
 to me in their willingness to relieve me of 
 any service which they could perform that 
 I have ever since borne them in a loving 
 remembrance. Even the little boys and 
 girls vied with each other in rendering 
 some service which assured me of the 
 genuine sympathy of the home and that 
 my affliction was properly talked over 
 when I was not present. Although that 
 year's cloud was heavy, it had its silver 
 lining, and when the year closed it was 
 found to be one of progress with a very 
 marked change of sentiment to that which 
 characterized its opening. I verily believe 
 8
 
 34 Conflict arad Victory. 
 
 that my affliction was a benediction to that 
 Church. I was fortunate in following a 
 pastor who, although not needing it him- 
 self, having his own home, took the pre- 
 caution and had built and paid for under 
 his own supervision a well-arranged par- 
 sonage, so that my last year in the min- 
 istry was made much more comfortable by 
 his thoughtful consideration. 
 
 The closing of the year brought its sad- 
 ness and trial, for it meant the breaking 
 up of our home and the sending away of 
 the older child, a mere girl needing a 
 mother's oversight, to the home of a 
 friend, that she might continue her edu- 
 cation. The storing of the household 
 goods and preparations for a journey to a 
 health resort, taken in connection with the 
 disappointment caused by the failure of 
 the lighter work to do for us what we had 
 anticipated, and the stubborn progress of 
 the disease, made real to us in a marked 
 manner the Biblical statement, ''Hope de-
 
 Experience and Testimony. 35 
 
 f erred maketh the heart sick." It made a 
 "via dolorosa" of what under other cir- 
 cumstances would have been a very de- 
 lightful trip. 
 
 Anxious to do what I could to regain my 
 health, I determined to spend the winter 
 in Hot Springs, Ark., and try what a warm 
 climate and the hot baths would do to re- 
 lieve my trouble. I was doomed to further 
 disappointment, for my condition steadily 
 grew worse instead of yielding to treat- 
 ment. When I went to Hot Springs I 
 could manage to get around with a crutch 
 and a cane, but when I left, eight months 
 later, although I had given the baths a 
 fair trial, I had either to be wheeled in a 
 chair, or carried. We accepted an invita- 
 tion to the old home for the summer, hop- 
 ing that a summer on the farm might have 
 a restorative effect, and once again I was 
 disappointed. 
 
 Up to this time 1 had not given up the 
 hope of a recovery, and as drowning
 
 36 Conjhct a/nd Victory. 
 
 people catch at straws, I laid hold upon 
 another hope. A Methodist preacher in- 
 formed me that his wife had been cured 
 of the same trouble that afflicted me by a 
 specialist in Toronto, in whose private hos- 
 pital rheumatism was made a specialty. I 
 went and took the hot cylinder treatment 
 for four months, returning at the expira- 
 tion of that time pronounced by the phy- 
 sician in charge an incurable. That was 
 seven years ago, since which time I have 
 never been dressed. I have only been able 
 to sit up for a limited time, and for the 
 last five years have lain on my back, only 
 sitting up while my cot was being made. 
 At present, half an hour every other day 
 is my limit. 
 
 I thought I had reached my heaviest 
 trial when I realized what it meant to be 
 an incurable. I can not describe the feel- 
 ing, the strange sinking at the heart which 
 came upon me when I realized that for the
 
 Experience and Testimony. 37 
 
 rest of the journey I should belong to the 
 ranks of the totally disabled, and be to 
 those whom I loved most and who most 
 reciprocated my love a burden and a care. 
 
 Once more I was mistaken, for a deeper 
 sorrow and a heavier affliction awaited me 
 in the darkening of the world and the fad- 
 ing of those faces, the light of whose coun- 
 tenances meant so much to me. 
 
 If my ideal had been less exalted, my 
 hopes less sanguine, and my prospect of 
 success less promising, I might not have 
 suffered such mental agony, such soul tor- 
 ture, in being reduced to my present con- 
 dition. 
 
 As I look back over it all now, I can 
 not realize what I know I have passed 
 through ; but of one thing I can confidently 
 affirm, and that is, that the declaration of 
 my earlier ministry regarding the sustain- 
 ing power of the Gospel of Christ holds 
 good. If it had not been for this, I never
 
 38 Conflict and Yictory. 
 
 could have come through it as I have. I 
 have put some of God's promises to the 
 test and have found them verifiable. Yea 
 and amen to him that believeth. 
 
 "The tears we shed are not in vain; 
 
 Nor worthless is the heavy strife ; 
 For, like the bruised seed of grain. 
 
 They rise to renovated life. 
 It is through tears our spirits grow; 
 
 'T is in the tempest souls expand; 
 They simply teach us how to go 
 
 To Him who leads us by the hand. 
 Let 's welcome, then, the stormy blast; 
 
 Let's welcome, then, the ocean's roar; 
 They only drive more sure and fast 
 
 Our trembling bark to heaven's bright 
 shore." 
 
 That a great opportunity has been given 
 to me to demonstrate the worth of our holy 
 religion I can now see clearly, but I can 
 see just as clearly that T have not meas- 
 ured up to the greatness of the oppor- 
 tunity. May the next man who follows in 
 my wake do much better. He can do
 
 JExperierice and Testimony. 89 
 
 better, vastly better, if he will start in with 
 the knowledge and purpose which 1 now 
 have. 
 
 There are some lessons which we may 
 learn in the furnace of affliction that we 
 can not learn elsewhere, but these I must 
 leave for another chapter.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LESSONS.
 
 I see the wrong that round me lies, 
 
 I feel the guilt within; 
 I hear, with groan and travail-cries. 
 
 The world confess its sin. 
 
 Yet, in the maddening maze of things. 
 And tossed by storm and flood. 
 
 To one fixed trust my spirit clings: 
 I know that God is good. 
 
 I dimly guess from blessings known 
 
 Of greater out of sight, 
 And, with the chastened Psalmist own 
 
 His judgments, too, are right. 
 
 I know not what the future hath 
 
 Of marvel or surprise. 
 Assured alone that life and death 
 
 His mercy underlies. 
 
 And if my heart and flesh are weak 
 
 To bear an untried pain. 
 The bruised reed He will not break, 
 
 But strengthen and sustain.
 
 LESSONS. 
 
 I BELIEVE that a Being of infinite, active 
 love controls the universe. I have no 
 theodicy, never having been able to con- 
 struct one that did not raise more ques- 
 tions than the greatest Christian philos- 
 opher could answer. In my hours of 
 anxiety, perplexity, and distress, I fall 
 back upon the love and righteousness of 
 God, and say, with Abraham, "Shall not 
 the Judge of all the earth do right!" 
 
 "Who fathoms the Eternal Thought? 
 Who talks of scheme and plan? 
 The Lord is God! He needeth not 
 The poor device of man." 
 
 My experience has been peculiar — at 
 least it seems so to me. I can not explain 
 it, but I can trust and believe that "He 
 
 43
 
 44 Conjiict aTul Victory. 
 
 doeth all things well," and that if we knew 
 all the facts and the causes, His goodness 
 would stand approved. 
 
 "A loving worm within its clod 
 Is better than a loveless God 
 In all His worlds, I '11 dare to say." 
 
 If in all our affiictions He is afflicted, 
 is it not incumbent upon us to learn the 
 lesson of submissive obedience to the Di- 
 vine will? The following declaration of 
 the Master fortifies this position: ''What 
 I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt 
 understand hereafter." 
 
 In harmony with this teaching, I have 
 found it helpful to observe the following 
 simple rules of Christian life. Begin by 
 consecrating yourself to God for time and 
 for eternity. This done, you need not an- 
 ticipate any future trouble. Do not cross 
 any bridges until you come to them, nor 
 grieve over any trial that may await you, 
 not even the hour of dissolution. He
 
 Lessons. 45 
 
 whose love created you and still cares for 
 you will not desert you when confronted 
 by the inevitable. ' ' Rest in the Lord and 
 wait patiently for Him" to work out His 
 will concerning you, and if the discipline 
 seem severe, remember that "whom the 
 Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth 
 every son whom He receiveth. " We are 
 too apt to make a partial application of 
 the promise, "My God shall supply all 
 your need according to His riches in glory 
 by Christ Jesus." This surely means 
 more than daily food, books, friends, and 
 religious privilege. It must also imply 
 needful discipline. If the Captain of our 
 salvation was made perfect through suf- 
 fering, who are we that we should despise 
 the chastening of the Lord, or faint when 
 we are rebuked of Him? "Furthermore 
 we have had fathers of our flesh which cor- 
 rected us and we gave them reverence: 
 shall w^e not much rather be in subjection
 
 46 Confiict and Victory . 
 
 unto the Father of spirits, and live? For 
 they verily for a few days chastened us 
 after their own pleasure; but He for our 
 profit, that we might be partakers of His 
 holiness. 
 
 "Now, no chastening for the present 
 seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; never- 
 theless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable 
 fruit of righteousness unto them which are 
 exercised thereby." 
 
 Altruistic thinking becomes a strong 
 support in affliction, when wisely directed. 
 The tendency of the afflicted is to become 
 morbid or depressed through introspec- 
 tion. We are apt to dwell too much upon 
 our own troubles, thereby becoming dis- 
 qualified to patiently and cheerfully en- 
 dure misfortune, forgetting that it is our 
 high privilege as Christians to glory in 
 tribulation. 
 
 If God has permitted you to retain, even 
 in a weakened measure, the right use of 
 your intellectual powers, then it is yours,
 
 J^essons. 47 
 
 in spite of a totally disabled body, to cre- 
 ate for yourself an intellectual environ- 
 ment where you may live and move and 
 rejoice with a joy unspeakable. Even an 
 emaciated, disabled thinker, racked on a 
 bed of pain, can enter this environment 
 of his own creation, and say with the poet : 
 
 "I am owner of all the sphere, 
 Of the seven stars and the solar year; 
 Of Caesar's hand and Plato's brain, 
 Of dlvinest heart and Shakespeare's strain." 
 
 If you will turn your thought from your 
 own diiSculties and consider the social 
 progress of the race and the religious 
 transformation of the world, you will find 
 in these two departments of Christian en- 
 deavor themes of such absorbing interest 
 as to make you forget, for the time being, 
 your little environment of place and cir- 
 cumstance. We have an interesting field 
 open to us in the material progress of this 
 age, as seen in agriculture, manufacture,
 
 48 Confiict and Victory. 
 
 commerce, transportation, and the myriad 
 appliances of electricity. It is intensely 
 interesting to study the forces at work 
 transforming the world and making for 
 each succeeding generation a practically 
 new world. The boy of to-day is entering 
 a very different world from that which his 
 father knew when he was a boy. Do not 
 think because you are physically disabled, 
 that you are thereby disqualified to enter 
 into hearty sympathy with the great move- 
 ments and achievements of your own time. 
 Consider the needs of your own locality 
 and think out some practical suggestions 
 for the Young People's Society, the Sun- 
 day-school, or the local Church. Arrange 
 a bouquet of flowers for some shut-in like 
 yourself; or, better still, write a newsy, 
 racy, up-to-date letter, keeping well in the 
 background the thought that you are writ- 
 ing to a sick person. Every thoughtful 
 invalid will appreciate a letter which takes 
 for granted that the one to whom it is
 
 Lessons. 49 
 
 written is still a factor in the world's work. 
 I speak from experience, for during the 
 nine 3-ears last past of my life, Rev. E. R. 
 Lathrop, of Hastings, Minn., made me the 
 recipient of good letters like the above at 
 regular intervals, never suffering the cor- 
 respondence to flag because of my inability 
 to respond regularly. 
 
 In this way T have been kept in touch 
 with my Conference, the events of the 
 country where I labored, and the principal 
 movements of our own times. By his 
 thoughtfulness, he has conferred a positive 
 benefit upon me, much greater than he can 
 realize. Would that every one who can 
 would lay hold upon this source of power, 
 and thereby ''strengthen the weak hands 
 and confirm the feeble knees " 
 
 If you meet with anything in your read- 
 ing that is especially helpful to you, make 
 a note of it, or clip it and pass it on. What 
 will nourish your soul may strengthen and 
 cheer some one else. 
 4
 
 50 Conjlict and Victory, 
 
 "If ycu 've heard a wise word spoken, 
 
 To a friend that word impart; 
 'T is a seed-thought full of blessing. 
 Plant it in another's heart." 
 
 Make a tour of the universities and col- 
 leges in company with John R. Mott, and 
 let your soul drink in a little missionary 
 enthusiasm while he talks to you about the 
 Student Volunteer Movement. Go with 
 Dr. Grenfel] to the deep-sea fishermen of 
 Labrador, or follow those angels of light, 
 the deaconesses, through the slums of our 
 great cities, and you will realize something 
 of the power of thought to transform what 
 would otherwise be a wearisome hour of 
 suffering into one of glorious exaltation. 
 
 Be an altruist in conversation, as well 
 as in thought. Try to have something 
 helpful to talk about when your callers 
 come to see you. Interest yourself in them 
 for the time being, sidetracking your own 
 troubles, and you may be able to send them 
 away strengthened for a better service If
 
 Lessons. 5 1 
 
 you will give, as well as receive, yon will 
 find that humanity is planned upon the 
 great principle of reciprocity and that the 
 words of the Master are ever true, "It is 
 more blessed to give than to receive." 
 
 Besides those things which come into 
 life's definite plans, there are countless 
 opportunities all along the way for doing 
 little acts of kindness and helpfulness 
 which are of untold value. We may not 
 be called to great service, but as Chris- 
 tians we are called to a sjmapathetic in- 
 terest in those who are, and it is our duty 
 to help them when we can. The widow 
 of Sarepta could not beard Ahab or shake 
 Israel, but she could bake bread for the 
 prophet Elijah, who could and did do both. 
 
 "It is the duty, as it should be the privi- 
 lege, of every one who acknowledges him- 
 self to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, to do 
 with all his heart whatever his hand finds 
 to do ; and if the 'whatever' should be con- 
 fined to the little ministries of life, the
 
 52 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 privileges of this kind of service should 
 be sought after the more eagerly." 
 
 "The memory of a kindly word long, long gone by. 
 The fragrance of a fading flower, sent lovingly, 
 The gleaming of a sudden smile or sudden tear, 
 The warmer pressure of the hand, the tone of cheer. 
 The hush that means 'I can not speak, but I have 
 
 heard,' 
 The note that only bears a verse from God's own 
 
 Word; 
 Such minor things we hardly count as ministrj% 
 The givers deeming they have shown scant sym- 
 pathy : 
 But when the heart is overwrought — O, who can tell 
 The power of little things like these to make it 
 well?" 
 
 Shakespeare said, "Sweet are the uses 
 of adversity." He did not say sweet is 
 adversity. He knew better. It is often by 
 adversity that we learn to appreciate our 
 own powers and religious privileges, and 
 to place a proper valuation upon human 
 friendship and sympathy. The heart of 
 humanity is larger, warmer, and more
 
 Lessons. 53 
 
 tender and sympathetic than we are apt 
 to think it is. It manifests itself in ad- 
 versity as in no other way. We see this 
 in the relief stations along the lines of rail- 
 ways leading out of San Francisco, with 
 their supplies of food and rainment for the 
 stricken ones, and in the willing sei*vice on 
 their behalf. Even the passengers on the 
 trains give up their berths cheerfully to 
 the more disabled ones, and vie with each 
 other in ministering to their comfort and 
 necessity. 
 
 Nor does it require an earthquake to 
 demonstrate this fact, ]n my own expe- 
 rience as an invalid in traveling from place 
 to place, I have realized something of the 
 inherent goodness of humanity in the 
 many kindnesses extended to me by utter 
 strangers, the very memors^ of which fills 
 me with emotion to-day. To mention but 
 one journey. A lady with a very kind face 
 came to me and offered me a glass of 
 wine, because she thought I looked fa-
 
 54 ConjUct and Victory. 
 
 tigued. Another ^Drepared an egg and 
 milk and brongbt it to me, hoping thereby 
 to strengthen me for my journey. A¥hen 
 I changed cars at St. Louis, the train- 
 hands carried me out as tenderly and 
 cheerfully as though I had been a king, and 
 when my wife stepped on the platfoinn, a 
 gentleman touched her on the arm and 
 asked, "Is this Mrs. Cochrane?" When 
 she looked up in a strange face and an- 
 swered in the affirmative, he said, "Here 
 is a wheel-chair for j^our husband," He 
 was the general passenger agent of the 
 road, and placed the chair with a man to 
 wheel it at our disposal while we remained 
 in the depot. The station agent at the 
 l^oint of starting had wired him after our 
 departure. It was an unexpected and 
 greatly appreciated kindness. 
 
 When we reached the home depot, be- 
 fore our own friends could do anything for 
 me, the train-hands and depot agent had 
 taken me fi'om the car and placed me in
 
 Lessons. 55 
 
 the carriage that was awaiting me. A 
 thoughtful consideration on the part of 
 our fellow travelers, and the train crews, 
 characterized the entire journey from 
 start to finish, and in every case our bene- 
 factors were entire strangers to us. 
 
 It would seem like an exaggeration were 
 I to enter into detail in portraying the 
 kindness of the people of Shetland and 
 London, Ont., during our sojourn in those 
 places. The cheerful salutations, the ani- 
 mated conversations, and the many 
 thoughtful attentions, furnish me now 
 with delightful themes for meditation. 
 
 Wherever I have gone I have found the 
 good Samaritan very much in evidence, 
 and I have come to place a higher value 
 upon the average man and the average 
 woman than I thought of doing in the days 
 of my healtlj and strength.
 
 « 
 
 i
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 CONSECRATION.
 
 "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
 crucified unto me and I unto the world." 
 
 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ 
 Jesus unto good works, which God hath before or- 
 dained that we should walk in them." 
 
 "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may 
 be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For 
 we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against 
 principalities, against powers, against the rulers of 
 the darkness of the world, against spiritual wicked- 
 ness in high places."
 
 CONSECRATION. 
 
 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies 
 of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, 
 acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 
 — Rom. xii, 1. 
 
 In this world life is a conflict. Every 
 good thing in it lies beyond a battlefield. 
 To secure that which is of real value, we 
 must fight our way to it, and strive ear- 
 nestly to possess and retain it. We see this 
 in physical life, which, from infancy to old 
 age, is one continual battle with infirmity 
 and disease. Eveiy student realizes in the 
 mental world that education is a long con- 
 flict. The powers of the mind have to fight 
 their way through development to strength 
 and maturity. Pre-eminently is this true 
 of the spiritual life, for in it enemies 
 
 59
 
 60 
 
 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 throng our way and contest every step of 
 our onward progress. Tlae whole period 
 between the soul's conversion and its en- 
 trance into heaven is a strenuous conflict. 
 Hence the appropriateness of Paul's in- 
 junction, ^'Be not overcome of evil, but 
 overcome evil with good." This Scripture 
 gives us the attitude and purpose of the 
 Christian life in relation to evil. Our atti- 
 tude should be one of continuous opposi- 
 tion, coupled with a fixed purpose to over- 
 come. To make our victory permanent, we 
 must not only vanquish, the evil, but install 
 the good— ''Overcome evil with good." 
 How shall this be done? Let the author of 
 this Scripture tell us. 
 
 1. By Consecration. "Present your 
 bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 
 to God, which is your reasonable service." 
 This would indicate the consecration of a 
 life in reasonable service, which must be 
 wholly unto the Lord to be acceptable to
 
 Consecration. 61 
 
 Him. When this is done the essential re- 
 quirement is met, and nothing can take its 
 place, for in this conflict consecration is 
 first and fundamental. The first essential 
 in the Christian life is personal attachment 
 to Christ, such as will enable Him to reign 
 supremely and rule perfectly in our hearts, 
 and in our lives. Such an attachment is 
 not a mere passing emotion stirred by a 
 sentimental hymn, or a pathetic anecdote, 
 but a deep, strong, pure affection which 
 persists in every mood, shows itself in ac- 
 tion, and, when occasion requires, in sacri- 
 fice for the Master. 
 
 The great militant embodied host, the 
 true Christian army of earth, is composed 
 entirely of such, and none can reasonably 
 expect to conquer, and share in the coming 
 triumph, who do not belong to it. Jesus 
 Christ is the center of that army's unity; 
 for all believers are one in Him. He is, 
 also, the mainspring of their activity.
 
 62 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 "Without Me ye can do nothing." United 
 to Him by saving faith, we can say with 
 David, "The Lord of hosts is with ns; the 
 God of Jacob is our refuge ; " or with Paul, 
 in a more vigorous, hopeful strain, "I can 
 do all things through Christ which 
 strengtheneth me." But let a believer in 
 Christ separate himself from Christ and 
 live upon his vigor of body, his clearness 
 of intellect, his past reputation, or emi- 
 nence of position, and he will be a miser- 
 able failure; he will simply do nothing — 
 his vital strength is gone. 
 
 In our religious life Christ must be all 
 and in all. We can not do without Him 
 in this world. Without His teaching and 
 life, we would have no conception of what 
 the highest moral excellence is; without 
 His Spirit, we would be strangers to that 
 sublime power which alone enables feeble 
 man to do Jehovah's will. Take away His 
 love, and you rob mankind of the mightiest 
 motive that can influence the soul to con-
 
 Consecration. 63 
 
 seeration and service. Without His prom- 
 ises, we would have no inspiration to cheer 
 and encourage us amid the difficulties, per- 
 plexities, and privations of earth. Without 
 His sacrifice, there would be no deliverance 
 from sin, no help in sorrow, and no pros- 
 pect of heaven and eternal life; for, as 
 Peter puts it, "Neither is there salvation 
 in any other." 
 
 It is through consecration that we be- 
 come the possessors of the ''power of God 
 unto salvation," a power never bestowed 
 in all its fullness upon an unconsecrated 
 man, a power superior to the laws of 
 natural development, force of will, or 
 moral habit. 
 
 Consecration enfranchises all our nobler 
 faculties, and gives right direction to the 
 life. In proof of this, permit me to cite 
 you to the lives of three of the greatest 
 men in history. 
 
 Our first illustration is taken from the 
 Old Testament, and has to do with the life
 
 64 
 
 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 and work of Moses, the greatest man of 
 his day. The story of his birth, rescue 
 from death, education at the Egyptian 
 court, flight into Midian, and how he be- 
 came the shepherd of Jethro's flocks and 
 herds is so familiar that repetition here is 
 unnecessary. The turning point in his life 
 was when he stood before the burning bush 
 at Mount Horeb. The account of the con- 
 secration he made there is given us in the 
 third chapter of Exodus. He approached 
 this phenomenon in the spirit of a devout 
 inquirer after truth. "I will now turn 
 aside," he said, ''and see this great sight, 
 why the bush is not burnt." His attention 
 and thoughtful consideration were re- 
 warded, for the record reads: 
 
 "When the Lord saw that he turned 
 aside to see, God called unto him out of the 
 midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses ; 
 And he said, Here am I. ' ' Then followed 
 a special revelation in these words: ''I 
 am the God of thy father, the God of
 
 Consecration. 65 
 
 Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the 
 God of Jacob. ... I have surely seen 
 the afflction of My people which are 
 in Egypt and have heard their cry by 
 reason of their taskmasters; for I know 
 their sorrows ; and I am come down to de- 
 liver them out of the hand of the Egyp- 
 tians, and to bring them up out of that 
 land unto a good land and a large, into a 
 land flowing with milk and with honey. '* 
 To this revelation was added the following 
 commission : ' ' Come now therefore, and I 
 will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou 
 mayest bring forth My people the children 
 of Israel out of Egypt." 
 
 When the interview closed, Moses had 
 made his consecration, and accepted his 
 commission. Notice the change which im- 
 mediately took place. The scholar and 
 philosopher no longer tarries in the employ 
 of Jethro in the capacity of a common hire- 
 ling, but enters at once upon his duties as 
 an emancipator, a leader, and a lawgiver 
 
 5
 
 (36 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 to his nation; where with powers enfran- 
 chised, and a properly directed life, he con- 
 ducted to a successful issue the longest, 
 hardest, and dreariest march on record. 
 
 Reader, where Moses stood, you stand, 
 with this difference— you are confronted, 
 not with an unconsumed burning bush, but 
 with a great system of religion, the Chris- 
 tian religion, which has been in the furnace, 
 not for a few hours only, but for nineteen 
 centuries, and is still blazing before you. 
 The fires of persecution, social ostracism, 
 intolerant bigotry, and rationalistic skep- 
 ticism have played upon it without con- 
 suming or injuring it. Should not this 
 arouse within you the spirit of honest in- 
 quiry, and prompt you to ask yourself 
 seriously the question. Why is it not con- 
 sumed? If you will do this your experi- 
 ence will be akin to that of Moses. God 
 will speak to you, reveal Himself to you— 
 blessing you with a sense of your responsi- 
 bility—and give to you a commission. As
 
 Consecration. 67 
 
 obedience to the heavenly vision lifted 
 Moses out of common servitude and gave 
 him a prominent place among the im- 
 mortals, as the world's greatest Law- 
 giver, so will consecrated obedience to the 
 Divine will bring all the greatness of being 
 that is in you to the surface, and enable 
 you to live out your noblest. If consecra- 
 tion does not make of you a second Moses, 
 it will make of you as great a man as it is 
 possible for you to become. 
 
 The measure of man's vision and the 
 sense of God's nearness depend upon 
 man's faith and purity of purpose. ''Obe- 
 dience is better than sacrifice." 
 
 "Every faculty tasked 
 To perceive him, has gained an abyss, where a dew- 
 drop was asked. 
 Have I knowledge? Confounded it shrivels at Wis- 
 dom laid bare. . • 
 Have I forethought? How purblind, how blank to 
 
 the Infinite Care. 
 Do I task any faculty highest to image success? 
 I but open my eyes — and perfection, no more and 
 
 no less,
 
 68 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 In the kind I Imagined, full-fronts me, and God is 
 seen God 
 
 In the star, in the stone, in the flesh, in the soul 
 and the clod. 
 
 And thus looking within and around me, I ever renew 
 
 (With that stoop of the soul which in bending up- 
 raises it too) 
 
 The submission of man's nothing-perfect to God's 
 all-complete. 
 
 As by each new obeisance of spirit I climb to his 
 feet." 
 
 Coming down to another dispensation, 
 New Testament times, we Jfind the same 
 thing to be true of the next greatest char- 
 acter revealed to me in the Bible, Saul of 
 Tarsus, afterward Paul the apostle. His 
 case is familiar to us all. That he lived, 
 wrote the Epistles ascribed to him, and 
 bore the double character, first of a fierce 
 enemy of the Gospel, and afterwards of a 
 preacher of the faith which he once de- 
 stroyed, sacrificing all things, and enduring 
 all pains for the sake of Christ his Master, 
 is as well attested as any fact on the page
 
 Consecration. 69 
 
 of history. This change he tells us was 
 snpernaturally wrought. He gives the day, 
 the very hour in which his bad career was 
 stopped, and shows himself to all the world, 
 from that moment onward, another man. 
 The contrast between his former and 
 later commissions, between the direction of 
 his early life and that of his later years, 
 is so marked that its consideration may not 
 be unprofitable. Glance for a moment at 
 the two commissions held by this man. 
 When he first meets us in the splendor of 
 his young manhood, it is as a fierce enemy 
 of the Gospel. One who could stand un- 
 condemned guarding the raiment of the 
 young men who stoned Stephen. In the 
 language of Dr. Douglas, he was '' A reviler 
 and rejector of Jesus, a frenzied persecutor 
 of the saints, upon whose ear the anguish 
 of dying Christians was as sweetest music, 
 and in whose eye the blood of the faithful 
 was as Orient light." What power could
 
 70 Conflict a/nd Victory. 
 
 change such a life and make it subservient 
 to righteousness ? That we may know what 
 this man has to say in the light of his own 
 experience touching the reality and worth 
 of his consecration, we shall permit him to 
 speak for himself. 
 
 "I think myself happy, King Agrippa, 
 because I shall answer for myself this day 
 before thee touching all the things whereof 
 I am accused of the Jews : 
 
 "My manner of life from my youth, 
 which was at the first among mine own 
 nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; 
 which knew me from the beginning, if they 
 would testify, that after the most straitest 
 sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 
 
 ''I verily thought with myself, that I 
 ought to do many things contrary to the 
 name of Jesus of Nazareth. "Which thing 
 I also did in Jerusalem; and many of the 
 saints did I shut up in prison, having re- 
 ceived authority from the chief priests; 
 and when they were jout to death, I gave
 
 Consecration. 71 
 
 my voice against them. And I punished 
 them oft in every synagogue, and com- 
 pelled them to blaspheme; and being ex- 
 ceedingly mad against them, I persecuted 
 them even unto strange cities. Where- 
 upon as I went to Damascus with authority 
 and commission from the chief priests, at 
 midday, king, I saw in the way a light 
 from heaven, above the brightness of the 
 sun, shining round about me and them 
 which journeyed with me. And when we 
 were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice 
 speaking unto me, and saying in the He- 
 brew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest 
 thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick 
 against the jDricks. And I said, AAHio art 
 thou. Lord? And He said, I am Jesus 
 whom thou persecutest." 
 
 Thus the Great Confessor describes his 
 own conversion. The completeness of his 
 consecration may be inferred from his own 
 question, ''Lord, what wilt Thou have me 
 to do?" Paul gives us the answer to this
 
 72 Conflict cmd Victory. 
 
 inquiry in the following Scripture, which 
 constitutes his second commission : 
 
 "Eise, and stand upon thy feet; for I 
 have appeared unto thee for this purpose, 
 to make thee a minister and a witness both 
 of these things which thou hast seen, and 
 of those things in the which I will appear 
 unto thee ; delivering thee from the people, 
 and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I 
 send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn 
 them from darkness to light, and from the 
 power of Satan unto God, that they may 
 receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance 
 among them which are sanctified by faith 
 that is in Me. "Whereupon, O King Agrippa, 
 I was not disobedient unto the heavenly 
 vision: but shewed first unto them of 
 Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and through- 
 out all the coasts of Judea, and then to the 
 Gentiles, that they should repent and turn 
 to God, and do works meet for repentance. 
 For these causes the Jews caught me in the 
 temple, and went about to kill me. Having 
 
 II
 
 Consecration. 73 
 
 therefore obtained help of God, I continue 
 unto this day, witnessing both to small and 
 great, saying none other things than those 
 which the jjrophets and Moses did say 
 should come : that Christ should suffer, and 
 that He should be the first that should rise 
 from the dead, and should shew light unto 
 the people, and to the Gentiles. ' ' 
 
 The Divine life in him is not less evident 
 to all who know his history. His own ac- 
 count of the change which he testified in 
 every place is this, "It pleased God, who 
 separated me from my mother's womb, and 
 called me by His grace, to reveal his Son 
 in me. " ' * By the Grace of God I am what 
 I am." '* Created in Christ Jesus unto 
 good works." By this testimony and the 
 spotless character which vindicates it to 
 the world, Paul still lives, a monumental 
 man, and ' ' rules us from his urn. ' ' 
 
 In Old England, John Wesley, our third 
 character, is not likely to be forgotten. 
 There is a marked contrast between his life
 
 74 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 and that of Paul in this particular, John 
 Wesley never antagonized the Christian re- 
 ligion. Indeed, his sympathies were al- 
 ways on the side of righteousness. Nursed 
 in piety, an accomplished scholar, he lost 
 nothing of the religious flame kindled in 
 his early youth. Fired with a zeal for mis- 
 sionary enterprise, he crossed the Atlantic 
 to convert the Indians of America, and 
 during his absence he became conscious 
 of the need of a fuller consecration. After 
 a brief interval of unproductive labor, he 
 returned to England, a sincere seeker after 
 a deeper work of grace. At a meeting held 
 in Aldersgate Street, London, while one 
 was reading Luther's preface to the 
 Epistle to the Romans, he experienced such 
 an inward change, that he ever afterwards 
 regarded it as the supreme moment of his 
 life— his consecration. 
 
 His own words describing it are these: 
 ^'T felt my heart strangely warmed, I felt 
 that I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for
 
 Consecration. 75 
 
 salvation ; and an assurance was given me 
 that He had taken away my sins, even mine, 
 and saved me from the law of sin and 
 death." This profession he vindicated 
 without wavering, and without weariness 
 during a period of fifty-three laborious 
 years. He wandered everywhere, a mis- 
 sionary to the poor — telling the wondrous 
 story of Christ's love, in a manner that 
 left no doubt it was '^ heart speaking to 
 heart with intuitions kindled from above. ' ' 
 The most important lesson that his life 
 teaches us is the value of whole-hearted, 
 complete consecration to God. The his- 
 tory of Christianity, with, perhaps the ex- 
 ception of Paul, has not revealed to me a 
 consecration more unreserved and Christ- 
 like than that which the records of John 
 Wesley's labors reveal. Inconvenience, 
 privation, hardship, persecution, and 
 mortal peril failed to swerve him from 
 his great life purpose. He could look 
 calmly upon all the forces and powers of
 
 76 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 evil arrayed against him and say with Paul, 
 ' ' None of these things move me. ' ' 
 
 To show you how implicitly he relied 
 npon God, let me give you one of many 
 incidents that might be given. In a crucial 
 hour in the history of the great Methodist 
 movement, his brother Charles called upon 
 him to answer some false accusations be- 
 fore he left London for a journey to Can- 
 terbury in company with his niece Sally, 
 When Charles returned home he thus 
 described to his wife his interview with 
 John. ' ' John is a most extraordinary man 
 — I placed before him every evil conse- 
 quence which could result from his leaving 
 London just now— the stumbling blocks he 
 might cast in the way of the weak — the 
 advantage he gave to his enemies and the 
 importance of his character. When I had 
 finished, he replied with the utmost calm- 
 ness, 'When I devoted to God my leisure, 
 my time, my fortune and my life, did I 
 
 II
 
 Consecration. 11 
 
 except my reputation? No, tell Sally I will 
 take her to Canterbury to-morrow.' " 
 
 Can any reasonable person doubt that 
 his consecration was the fontal fact of his 
 eventful life ? Every estimate of his char- 
 acter is unworthy that does not start from 
 this; and no history in his life can give 
 satisfaction in which this fact is not dis- 
 tinctly apprehended. 
 
 Such was the man who in the name and 
 strength of the Almighty undertook, over 
 a century and a half ago, the gigantic task 
 of reforming what Archbishop Seeker 
 justly called ''An unhappy age of irreligion 
 and libertinism." 
 
 Do not think for a moment that I under- 
 value the decision of Moses in Egypt when 
 by a supreme act of faith "He refused to 
 be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 
 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the 
 people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures 
 of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach
 
 78 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 of Christ greater riches than the treasures 
 in Egypt; for he had respect unto the 
 recompense of the reward. ' ' 
 
 Nor would I condemn Paul for persecut- 
 ing the Church, when he assures us that 
 he did so conscientiously, believing that he 
 did God service in so doing. It was this 
 life of conscious rectitude, this desire to 
 please God that led him to ask the question 
 at his conversion, ''Lord, what wilt Thou 
 have me to do ! " And to immediately con- 
 secrate his life in service to the Divine 
 Master. 
 
 No sensible man will criticise adversely 
 the nurture and early life of John Wesley, 
 which for the most part was in the right 
 direction, lacking only the efficiency which 
 consecration gave him. 
 
 The consecration for which I plead must 
 be a consecration not only ' ' for stream side 
 villages and quiet hours, but also for the 
 realm of business and for the tragic hearts 
 of towns." It must forbid no respectable
 
 Consecration. 79 
 
 pursuit — but only require that the callings 
 of life be followed in a new spirit, to the 
 honor of God and to the benefit of man- 
 kind. This is what Tertullian pleaded for 
 when he said, "We are no Brahmins, no 
 Indian devotees, no hermits, no exiles from 
 life. We are mindful of the thanks we owe 
 to God, our Lord and Creator; we despise 
 not the enjoyment of his works; we only 
 temper it that we may avoid excess and 
 abuse. We dwell, therefore, with you in 
 this world, not without markets and fairs, 
 not without baths, inns, shops, and every 
 kind of intercourse — we carry on commerce 
 and war, agriculture and trade with you — 
 we take part in your pursuits and give our 
 labor for your use. ' ' 
 
 A few weeks ago, the Christian Guardian 
 in an editorial on "Applied Christianity" 
 had this to say about General Booth, of the 
 Salvation Army, and Dr. Wilfred T. Gren- 
 fell, author and missionary to the Deep- 
 sea Fishermen of Labrador ;
 
 80 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 ''General Booth and Dr. Grenfell are 
 about as unlike as it would be possible to 
 imagine two men being, and yet in talking 
 with them and listening to the message 
 they had to deliver and interpreting it in 
 the light of their history, one can not fail 
 to be impressed with a very noticeable 
 similarity between them, after all. Both 
 are men of resolute wills, of an intense 
 earnestness and enthusiasm, all the more 
 remarkable since it exists alongside a pecu- 
 liarly practical and business-like habit of 
 thought. Both men strike one at once as 
 being devout and deeply religious, but it is 
 the devoutness of men of action and the 
 religion of service rather than of medita- 
 tion or mere feeling. They both believe 
 thoroughly in an applied Christianity, a 
 Christianity that gives itself the task of 
 working out emigration schemes, of estab- 
 lishing rescue homes, of running suicides' 
 bureaus, of carrying on co-operative stores, 
 building hospitals, catching whisky smug-
 
 Consecration. 81 
 
 glers, teaching arts and crafts, instructing 
 in cookery and hygiene and sanitation, of 
 helping to make life brighter and happier 
 and less precarious for the multitudes who 
 seem to have more than their share to 
 carry of hardship and suffering. They be- 
 lieve in an intensely practical religion, and 
 their lives have been, and are to-day, a 
 striking testimony to the reality of their 
 faith. 
 
 •'The world to-day, irrespective of all 
 creed or class, honors them for that testi- 
 mony, and lays its tribute, as it has always 
 done, at the feet of the men with a passion 
 for helping their fellow-men. That is the 
 kind of religion men have always had re- 
 spect and reverence for, at least ever since 
 the time they saw the Great Son of Man 
 healing blind eyes, unstopping deaf ears, 
 and preaching His wonderful Gospel of de- 
 liverance to the sin-cursed, demon-pos- 
 sessed Galileans. And that is the kind of 
 religion the world is demanding to-day, and 
 6
 
 82 
 
 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 its demand is an altogether just and right- 
 eous one. Religion is something more than 
 doing good. It has to do with a man's 
 relation to his God, and it concerns itself 
 with the great and vital facts of spiritual 
 experience. But it is still true that a re- 
 ligion that does not manifest itself in good 
 deeds that seek the welfare of man from 
 all points of view is a fraud, no matter 
 what professions it may make. If it can 
 be proved that the religion of Jesus Christ 
 makes in any way for inequalities among 
 men, for poverty, for hardship, for suffer- 
 ing; yes, if it can even be shown that it 
 does not make mightily against these 
 things, then the sooner we look around for 
 something to take its place the better. If, 
 on the other hand, examination shows us 
 that the fault is ours that the Christianity 
 of to-day is not more helpful, more humani- 
 tarian, more socialistic than it is, then had 
 we not better try to drink more deeply of 
 the spirit of the Christ whose ministry of
 
 Consecration. 83 
 
 healing and helping was so full that He 
 had to steal time for prayer from the 
 all too few hours of that eastern night? 
 The world needs an applied Christianity, 
 and for you and me the point of application 
 is the point of contact between our life and 
 that of our fellow-men. To be truly Chris- 
 tian at every point of contact between our 
 lives and that of our fellows is the ideal for 
 each one who names the name of Christ, 
 and to cherish any lower ideal is scarcely 
 to be Christian at all. 
 
 "Though we must hold to the teaching 
 that the life and obedience and death of 
 Christ made in a unique sense an atone- 
 ment for men, yet it is forever true that 
 the world will be saved only as the fol- 
 lowers of Christ take up and help to bear 
 away the sin and suffering of the world 
 as these two remarkable and Christ-like 
 men have been doing. The religion that is 
 the most truly devout and the most in- 
 tensely spiritual should at the same time
 
 84 Conflict cmd Victory. 
 
 be the most broadly humanitarian and 
 brotherly. And if that is not the type of 
 our religion we are denjdng Christ. ' ' 
 
 "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by 
 the mercies of God, to present your bodies 
 a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, 
 which is your reasonable service." 
 
 " To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill, 
 O, may it all my powers engage to do my Master's 
 will."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 CULTURE
 
 "And this, I pray, that your love may abound yet 
 more and more in knowledge and all discernment ; 
 so that ye may appi'ove the things that are excellent ; 
 that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the 
 day of Christ ; being filled with the fruits of righteous- 
 ness, which are through Jesus Christ, unto the glory 
 and praise of God."
 
 CULTUEE. 
 
 Be not conformed to this world ; but be ye trans- 
 formed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may 
 prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, 
 will of God. — Rom. xii, 2. 
 
 In the previous chapter I endeavored 
 to show that consecration of life and pow- 
 ers in reasonable service to God is essential 
 to success in our conflict with evil. As to 
 how well I succeeded the reader must be his 
 own judge. In this chapter my object is 
 to emphasize the efficiency of Culture, and 
 assign to it its proper place in the inevi- 
 table conflict of good and evil. 
 
 Before we can transform society and 
 overcome evil we must ourselves be trans- 
 formed. How shall this be done! By the 
 renewing of our minds. This necessitates 
 the further inquiry, How shall we renew a 
 
 87
 
 88 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 mind I Just as we renew a muscle — by ex- 
 ercise and use. 
 
 "Be thou an ensample to them that believe, in 
 word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity. 
 Till I come, give heed to reading, to exhortation, to 
 teaching. Neglect not the gift that is in thee." 
 
 We bring with us into this world a new 
 mind which, if we are energetic and genu- 
 inely progressive, will be many times 
 renewed in the course of a life-time. Our 
 first renewing is in the home and in the 
 public school, where we master a language 
 so as to be able to use it in the practical 
 affairs of life. We give this renewed new 
 mind another renewal in the High School, 
 the College, and the Post-graduate Course; 
 and with each renewing, there is a corre- 
 sponding transformation of life, character, 
 and influence. 
 
 There is a very marked contrast between 
 the man of culture and the illiterate man. 
 The mental faculties of the one have been 
 trained and disciplined until they are 
 
 I
 
 Cxdture. 89 
 
 strong and energetic; those of the other 
 have become atrophied through disuse. 
 The mind of the one is in a healthy, vigor- 
 ous condition, while that of the other is 
 practically dead. The one is an illustration 
 of transformation by mental renewing, the 
 other of deformation through its neglect. 
 Hence we do not wonder that Peter should 
 give us this injunction, ' ' Add to your faith 
 knowledge," or that Paul should condemn 
 a zeal that is not according to knowledge. 
 
 Another question that confronts us here 
 is, why this mental renewing? The answer 
 is at hand. It is, ' ' That we may prove what 
 is that good, and acceptable, and perfect 
 will of God. ' ' Notice the three-fold charac- 
 teristic of the will of God — good, accept- 
 able, perfect. 
 
 At the risk of being criticised adversely 
 for my exegesis, I affirm that anything that 
 will lift humanity, be it ever so little, out 
 of pure devilishness is God's good will to 
 the race ; because it is force exerted in the
 
 90 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 right direction. If the small lift is all that 
 conditions will warrant, or circumstances 
 permit, it, then, constitutes God's accept- 
 able will. Our objective point must ever 
 be the perfect will of God, toward this we 
 must labor with unwearied zeal and active 
 love, and for this blessed consummation we 
 are taught to ever pray, ' ' Thy will be done 
 in earth as it is in heaven." 
 
 It requires a trained, capable mind to 
 discriminate between that which is ephem- 
 eral in the line of reform, and that which 
 is of permanent value to the race; hence 
 the necessity for culture as a factor in this 
 conflict. 
 
 How can any man judge an event, or 
 movement which has its causes far back in 
 history, who has never carefully studied 
 history! What to him is the record of the 
 past, with its moral interregnums, its 
 renaissance and splendid reforms? Simply 
 nothing. His mental horizon is bounded 
 by his own little experience in life. Such
 
 Culture. 91 
 
 a man is, clearly, in the very nature of 
 things, disqualified for capable, leadership, 
 and is, generally speaking, a very hard 
 man to lead. He is almost sure to fail in 
 appreciating the transformation his lead- 
 ers are endeavoring to bring about. Such 
 persons make the work of the reformer 
 tedious, and taxes to the limit of endurance 
 his patience. 
 
 We have seen the necessity of consecra- 
 tion in the lives of Moses, Paul, and Wes- 
 ley. The reader will please bear with me 
 while we consider what culture did for 
 these three transcendently great men. 
 
 Moses, the greatest character in the 
 drama of the Exodus, was schooled in all 
 the learning of the Egyptians — a splendid 
 intellectual foundation. To this was added 
 the wilderness training for forty years be- 
 fore his great life work began. To some 
 those forty years might seem wasted, but 
 they were not. They were only a continu- 
 ation of needful discipline. Moses had
 
 92 Conflict cmd Victory. 
 
 learned much, but he had need to learn 
 more, so God took him from the schools 
 of Egypt and placed him in the great 
 University of Nature for post-graduate 
 work, where he would have time, solitude, 
 and the desert for his teachers. What 
 could they teach him? The value of knowl- 
 edge already gained. It was well for him 
 to be educated in all the wisdom of the 
 Egyptians ; but wisdom improves by keep- 
 ing, needing time, meditation, and reflec- 
 tion to ripen it. He would also receive new 
 knowledge. True, he had few books, if any, 
 of man's making; but the book of Nature 
 in its solitude and grandeur invited study, 
 and the knowledge of the desert, as well 
 as that of the palace, would be needful to 
 him by and by. Then, too, he was a little 
 rash when he graduated from Egypt, and 
 his wilderness training not only made him 
 a wiser man, but a better man — for there 
 it was that he learned to believe and trust 
 in the great "I Am." That enforced life
 
 Culture. 93 
 
 in the desert became as important a part of 
 the training of Moses as his life at Avis, 
 It acquainted him with the wilderness of 
 the wandering, its resources, mode of life, 
 and those other children of Abraham, the 
 Midianites, where he found a wife of the 
 seed of Abraham, and where he met 
 Jethro, whose wise counsels led to an im- 
 portant policy for all the future of Israel. 
 His associates in Midian and mode of life, 
 simple and unartificial, were a wholesome 
 correction to the luxury of Egj^pt; while 
 his occupation, caring for Jethro 's flocks, 
 on that wild Sinaitic peninsula, would de- 
 velop watchfulness, skill, caution, self-re- 
 liance, bravery, and tenderness — qualities 
 indispensable in a leader. Without this 
 preparation, he never could have become 
 the great prose writer, the exalted poet, 
 the remarkable theologian, the inspired 
 philosopher and prophet, the wise, just, 
 patriotic statesman, and peerless leader of 
 his people.
 
 94 Confiict cmd Victory. 
 
 In the case of Paul we have a striking 
 illustration of the transforming power of 
 culture. Yonder he starts out from the 
 home of an exiled Jew, "bent on making 
 the most of himself. In imagination I see 
 him, early in life, mastering in his native 
 town a G-reek philosophy that rivalled that 
 of Athens — conquering and comprehending 
 Roman Law — casting himself at the feet of 
 Gamaliel with his whole intellectual being 
 absorbed in the study of Hebrew Scripture 
 and Rabbinical literature. ' ' He began his 
 great life work with intellectual powers 
 developed and disciplined in the best of 
 schools, and under the most accomplished 
 teachers. Like Moses, he was developed on 
 his moral side, having, as one has very 
 fittingly observed, ' ' An unusual measure of 
 candor, unselfishness, purity, courage, and 
 rectitude." Coleridge pays this tribute to 
 his scholarship: "I think Saint Paul's 
 Epistle to the Romans is the most pro- 
 found work in existence." In his single- 
 
 I
 
 Culture. 95 
 
 ness of aim and persistency of purpose, he 
 stands forth upon history's page a unique 
 example for us. Without his marvelous 
 preparation, how the pure gold would have 
 been dimmed, and life's purposes have lan- 
 guished ! 
 
 The utilitarian might say, ''Of what 
 value is Roman Law to a Jewish youth, or 
 Greek philosophy to an unknown boy? 
 But wait a moment; that youth shall yet 
 confound the Eoman officer by his superior 
 knowledge of Roman Law, and his claim 
 to Roman citizenship. That insignificant 
 looking Jewish boy shall yet declare to the 
 Greek philosophers, teachers, and poets of 
 the Areopagus, the Infinite Father of all, 
 and the sublime doctrine of the brother- 
 hood of man.'^ His consecrated culture, 
 and practical sagacity shall yet prevent 
 other leaders from making the early 
 Church a .Judaic institution, cumbered by 
 tradition and ceremonialism. 
 
 When we take into consideration his
 
 96 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 native qualities, his superior attainments, 
 and his wonderful consecration, we are not 
 surprised that as he stood in yonder pro- 
 consular court, though a prisoner in bonds, 
 his words were so powerful and convincing 
 that even Felix trembled, and Agrippa was 
 almost persuaded to be a Christian. 
 
 John Wesley was an earnest, thorough 
 student from the very beginning— a logi- 
 -eian, philosopher, theologian, and leader of 
 men when only twenty-three years of age. 
 His voyage to America gave him time for 
 reflection and meditation, and added to his 
 classic lore and logic a needful knowledge 
 of men and things. An able critic in paint- 
 ing, poetry, music, classics, literature, phi- 
 losophy, and theology, he was the peer in 
 his intellectual endowments of any literary 
 man of that most literary age. 
 
 Of what value are all these accomplish- 
 ments to a man against whom every church 
 door in England is closed, and against 
 
 I
 
 Culture. 97 
 
 whom ''Newspaper writers, merciless crit- 
 ics, ponderous professors, and cliurchly 
 dignitaries aimed their heaviest lances of 
 pamphlet, book, and stately treatise!" 
 His thorough preparation enabled him to 
 cross swords with any living man and con- 
 front calmly and confidently any foe; and 
 in the realm of theology to differentiate be- 
 tween the effete and that which is of per- 
 manent value. 
 
 In proof of this, let me refer you to the 
 words of Dr. Douglas, one of Canada's 
 most scholarly, eloquent divines of the last 
 century. In addressing a class of theolog- 
 ical students, he has this to say about 
 Methodist Theology : ' ' Who has ever mas- 
 tered it? For twenty years I have been 
 endeavoring to teach it, and yet I am stand- 
 ing as on the margin of apprehending its 
 sublimity. The more profoundly I look at 
 it, the more does its grandeur appear. 
 Every theological system formulated 
 
 7
 
 98 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 through the ages has contributed its best 
 elements while their fallacies have been re- 
 pudiated. 
 
 *'It accepts the Augustinian doctrine of 
 sin, but rejects its theory of decrees. It 
 accepts the Pelagian doctrine of the will, 
 but rejects its denial of human depravity 
 and the necessity of spiritual aid. It ac- 
 cepts in part the moral influence theory of 
 Abelard, and the substitutional theory of 
 Anselm relative to the work of Christ, but 
 utterly rejects the rationalism of the 
 former and the quid pro quo of the latter. 
 It accepts the Perfectionist theory and 
 deep spirituality taught by Pascal and 
 the Port Royalists, but rejects their Quiet- 
 ist teachings, which destroy all the benevo- 
 lent activities of Christian life. It accepts 
 the doctrine of universal redemption as 
 taught by the early Arminians, but is care- 
 ful to reject the semi-Pelagian laxity 
 which marks the teachings of the later 
 school of Remonstrants. It joins with the
 
 Culture, 99 
 
 several Socinian and Universalist schools 
 in exalting the benevolence and mercy of 
 God, but never falters in its declaration of 
 the perpetuity of punishment. Magnifying 
 the efficiency of Divine grace with the most 
 earnest of Calvinists, it at the same time 
 asserts that salvation is dependent on the 
 volitions of a will that is radically free. 
 Generous as God's own sunlight, it looks 
 every man in the face and says, 'Christ 
 died for you.' It publishes the glad evan- 
 gel of an indwelling and witnessing Spirit 
 in the heart. It holds out the possibility 
 of a victory over the apostate nature by 
 asserting a sanctification which is entire, 
 and a perfection in love which is not ulti- 
 mate and final, but progressive in its de- 
 velopment forever." 
 
 In the great and massive thought, the 
 burning contemplations which he gave to 
 the world, we behold the profound scholar, 
 the genuine philosopher, the man of cul- 
 ture.
 
 100 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 It is noteworthy that in each of these 
 three great characters, the decision for God 
 and righteousness was made in the early- 
 prime of manhood — made, not by hermits 
 who had not tasted life's cup of pleasure, 
 nor by sated worldlings in whose mouth it 
 had turned to bitterness— made when life 
 was in its summer and they were encom- 
 passed with its gladness and music and 
 flowers — with everything at hand which it 
 is deemed most costly to surrender, they 
 stepped forth in the sight of the world — 
 took the crown of their manliness and cast 
 it humbly at the feet of their Lord. This 
 created them champions of the liberties of 
 men and made their lives sublime. 
 
 "The word had breath, and wrought 
 
 With human hands the creed of creeds, 
 In loveliness of perfect deeds, 
 More strong than all poetic thought." 
 
 Reader, the greatness of your achieve- 
 ments will be measured by the inherent
 
 Culture. 101 
 
 greatness of your personality. Whatever 
 is possible to you, complete consecration to 
 God will bring out. I do not say you will 
 rival Moses, Paul, or Wesley in what you 
 may be able to bring to pass; that would 
 be vicious fanaticism. In these men we find 
 greatness of an unusual order. Theirs was 
 a greatness of personality, of preparation, 
 and of consecration. Is it to be wondered 
 at that their achievements were corre- 
 spondingly great! 
 
 Milton says, "The end of learning is to 
 know God, and out of that knowledge to 
 love Him and to imitate Him, as we may 
 the nearest, by possessing our souls of true 
 virtue." It is thus that culture when con- 
 secrated to God helps us to overcome the 
 evil within us and install in our hearts a 
 love of righteousness. 
 
 There is at the present writing a man 
 in America who, because of his champion- 
 ship of civic and moral righteousness, has 
 become a recognized world force. I refer
 
 102 ConJUct and Victory. 
 
 to Theodore Eoosevelt, whose consecrated 
 culture enables him to rightly estimate the 
 forces of good and evil. This is plain from 
 his own words. ' ' The forces that tend for 
 evil are great and terrible, but the forces 
 of truth and love and courage and honesty 
 and generosity and sympathy are also 
 stronger than ever before." 
 
 In this conflict the contribution of men 
 possessed of Christian culture can hardly 
 be overestimated. I think it would be im- 
 possible for me to overstate it. With 
 Bishop Newman, I believe ''A university 
 training is the great ordinary means to a 
 great but ordinary end. It aims at raising 
 the intellectual tone of society ; at cultivat- 
 ing the public mind, at purifying the na- 
 tional taste, at supplying true principles 
 to popular enthusiasm and freer aims to 
 popular aspiration, at giving enlargement 
 and sobriety to the ideas of the age, facili- 
 tating the exercise of political power, and 
 refining the intercourse of private life.'*
 
 Culture. 103 
 
 "Leap forth, O thought, in man divine, 
 And progress wake in every clime. 
 The right is thine 1 No chains can bind, 
 Thy onward march to lift the mind. 
 To see the truth so bright and fair, — 
 A guardian angel debonair. 
 Lift thou, upon thy mighty arms. 
 The race of man to holier charm.s, — 
 To loftier truths along the line, 
 That makes this age in luster shine. 
 
 Leap forth, O thought, to freedom born. 
 Though thou dost meet the tyrant's scorn. 
 Inspire to action true and bold, 
 To gain for man the strength to hold. 
 His rightful place as God decreed i 
 And ever may the power recede. 
 That seeks in thraldom man to bind. 
 And ever leads with forces blind."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 CO-OPERATION.
 
 "They helped every one his neighbor ; and every 
 one said to his brother, Be of good courage." 
 
 "For as the body is one, and hath many members, 
 and all the members of the body, being many, are 
 one body ; so also is Christ." 
 
 "And He gave some to be apostles; and some 
 prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors 
 and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, unto 
 the work of ministering, unto the building up of the 
 body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of 
 the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 
 unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the 
 stature of the fullness of Chi-ist."
 
 CO-OPERATION. 
 
 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to 
 every man that is among you, not to think of himself 
 more highly than he ought to thinli; but to think 
 soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man 
 the measure of faith. 
 
 For as we have many members in one body, and 
 all members have not the same office: so we, being 
 many, are one body in Christ, and every one members 
 one of another. 
 
 Having then gifts differing according to the grace 
 
 that is given unto us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy 
 
 according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, 
 
 let its icait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, 
 
 on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: 
 
 he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that 
 
 ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with 
 
 cheerfulness. 
 
 Let love be without dissimulation. — Rom. xii. 3-9. 
 
 After we have overcome the evil within 
 by consecration and culture, we are to as- 
 
 107
 
 108 Cmiflict and Victory. 
 
 sist in its overthrow without. The internal 
 battle fits us for the external conflict. We 
 are saved, not for happiness, but for serv- 
 ice. Every saved man is a commissioned 
 man, and finds happiness in the carrying 
 out of his commission, for "Joy's soul lies 
 in the doing." 
 
 In Paul's day he saw the necessity for 
 combined effort on the part of the forces 
 of righteousness. He found his work ham- 
 pered by an exclusive partisan spirit which 
 he branded with the stamp of carnality. 
 One faction said, ' ' I am of Paul ; ' ' another, 
 ' ' I am of Apollos ; ' ' and a third, '■ ' I am of 
 Cephas." To which Paul made answer, 
 ''Who, then, is Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas 
 but ministers by whom we believed?" 
 
 While condemning the partisan spirit, he 
 showed them, also, that their highest good 
 was the result of co-operation, for did he 
 not say, ' ' I have planted, Apollos watered, 
 God gave the increase?" ''We are labor- 
 ers together with God..' '
 
 Co-operation. 109 
 
 As Christians we are in this world to 
 contribute what we can toward the build- 
 ing up of Christ 's kingdom. Anything that 
 will tend in this direction should receive 
 our sympathy and co-operation. This does 
 not in any sense conflict with loyalty to the 
 local Church, nor should it cause us to relax 
 our effort in making the Church to which 
 we belong as efficient, strong, and influ- 
 ential as possible. The local Church is 
 our college for personal training, but the 
 world is our university for post-graduate 
 work where the altruistic spirit is to pre- 
 dominate. The home, the Church, the 
 world have all strong claims upon us which 
 can not be ignored without doing positive 
 injury to the kingdom of righteousness. 
 No man can be reasonably censured for 
 true loyalty to his home, or his Church; 
 neither can any man be exonerated, from 
 the Christian point of view, who does not 
 have a deep interest in the reformation of 
 the world. Jesus said, "I will build My
 
 110 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 Church, and the gates of hell shall not pre- 
 vail against it." This utterance of the 
 greatest authority is an assurance to us 
 that the Church of Jesus Christ in the earth 
 is the greatest potent factor in overcoming 
 evil with good. 
 
 The co-operation for which I plead is 
 what John Wesley had in view when he 
 said, *'I want a league offensive and de- 
 fensive, with every soldier of Jesus 
 Christ." My attitude is one with Bishop 
 Simpson in the declaration, "We live to 
 make our own Church a power for good in 
 the land, but we will live to love every 
 other Church that exalts our Christ." 
 Were such a spirit possessed by every 
 individual Christian, what an invincible 
 power the Church of Christ would become 
 in the overthrow of evil. How soon the 
 giant wrongs that strive defiantly in our 
 civilization would be smitten and die. 
 
 Not only did Paul see in his day the 
 danger of the partisan spirit in religion.
 
 Co-operation. Ill 
 
 but he, also, recognized another danger to 
 which he calls our special attention in the 
 chapter now under consideration. I refer 
 to egotistical thinking. His admonition is 
 this : ' ' For I say, through the grace given 
 unto me, to every man that is among you, 
 not to think of himself more highly than 
 he ought to think." 
 
 Why the division of Christendom with 
 the resultant loss of energy as seen in the 
 Greek Church, the Eoman Catholic Church, 
 and the Established Church of England? 
 Is it not due, largely, to thinking too highly 
 of themselves and their systems that they 
 do not co-operate earnestly and lovingly 
 with each other in every good word and 
 worki 
 
 Egotistical thinking creates, or tries to 
 create, a spiritual aristocracy. It is the 
 mother of intolerance, the prolific cause of 
 schism in the body of Christ. It exalts 
 cant and bigotry, promotes jealousy and 
 strife, and leads to unseemly competition
 
 112 Conjiict and Yiotory. 
 
 and waste of energy. It is opposed to the 
 sj)irit and teachings of Christ and the 
 apostles. In His parable of the Good 
 Samaritan, Christ unhesitatingly condemns 
 the exclusive ecclesiasticism which passes 
 by on the other side, and gives His unquali- 
 fied approval to the nonconformity which 
 sympathizes with and ministers to the woes 
 of men; to that love of humanity which 
 receives and treats the stranger as though 
 he were a bosom friend. 
 
 Paul's cure for this egotistical thinking 
 is " To think soberly, acording as God hath 
 dealt to every man the measure of faith." 
 
 *■' 
 
 "When we get down to sober thinking, we 
 discover the reason for co-operation. It is 
 because we are ' ' members one of another, ' ' 
 and have gifts that differ. This he illus- 
 trates by his reference to the body with its 
 many members which he compares to the 
 body of Christ. Hence his exhortation to 
 all grades of workers to pursue their call- 
 ings earnestly, but co-operatively. Let us
 
 Co-operation. 113 
 
 not club the other fellow because he will 
 not ride our hobby-horse, or in other words, 
 ''Let love be without dissimulation." 
 
 "Shall I ask the brave soldier who fights by my side 
 In the cause of humanity, if our creeds agree?" 
 
 ''"When Jesus came," says one, "He 
 found the sacred and the secular fenced 
 off as two distinct provinces. This sepa- 
 rating wall he threw down and consecrated 
 the whole sweep of human existence. ' ' His 
 teaching makes everything that is right and 
 necessary to be done religious. Recogniz- 
 ing the law of social unity, Paul follows 
 his Master in this particular. Hence his 
 message is, not only to the men of faith, 
 as jirophets, evangelists, humanitarians, 
 and preachers, but to Christian men in 
 secular pursuits; the teachers, the judges, 
 and the rulers. These he exhorts to be de- 
 voted, cheerful, and diligent. In this Epistle 
 to the Romans he declares that "the 
 powers that be are ordained of God," and
 
 114 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 ought not to be resisted, inasmuch as their 
 true purpose is not to terrify the good, but 
 to suppress the evil. In harmony with this 
 position he exhorts the Philippians to 
 ''think on whatsoever things are true, 
 honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good re- 
 port ;'' an exhortation which, if followed, 
 will make every true, progressive Christian 
 a sociological student. 
 
 Let us consider his advice a little more 
 in detail. His "Whatsoever things are 
 true" opens to us the door to all that is 
 true in science, philosophy, and religion, 
 and bids us enter and possess. His ' ' What- 
 soever things are honest" sends the Chris- 
 tian out into the commercial world, as the 
 representative of integrity and upright- 
 ness. "Whatsoever things are just" takes 
 him into the realm of politics and legisla- 
 tion as the advocate of right relations be- 
 tween man and man. ' ' Whatsoever things 
 are pure" sends him everywhere in the in- 
 terests of personal, social, and religious
 
 Co-operation. 115 
 
 purity. '' Whatsoever things are lovely" 
 calls him to a study of the beautiful and 
 the development of his esthetic nature. 
 '^ Whatsoever things are of good report" 
 lifts him out of the pessimistic rut, and 
 sends him forth to sing his optimistic &ong 
 of progress and hope to the world. His 
 ' ' If there be any virtue, and if there be any 
 praise" condemns censure and complaint, 
 and invites to thanksgiving and praise. 
 Surely this is a platform broad enough for 
 any thinking man. He who measures up 
 to this standard will be upright in life, pro- 
 found in scholarship, and genuinely cath- 
 olic in spirit. Were all Christians pos- 
 sessed of this ideal, it would secure to the 
 world a Christianity sane, progressive, 
 robust, and Christlike. 
 
 The fact that we are members one of 
 another, lays upon each an obligation to 
 consider the welfare of all. The ideal of 
 the poet, ''When all men's good shall be 
 each man's rule," is being realized as men
 
 116 ^ Conflict and Victory. 
 
 are brought to see the need of obedience 
 to the law of social responsibility. When 
 this law obtains, prosperity comes; where 
 it is ignored, or disregarded, the result is 
 invariably injurious, sometimes disastrous. 
 Deny the fact and ignore the law, and it 
 may be brought home to us in a manner 
 least expected. It is sometimes a serious 
 thing to have an unfortunate prove his 
 brotherhood by demonstration. 
 
 A case of this kind occurred in England 
 in 1-897, in what is known as the ''Maid- 
 stone Epidemic. ' ' On the twenty-eighth of 
 August in that year, there came to Maid- 
 stone, a town in one of the hop-growing 
 districts, two hundred hop-pickers from 
 London, bringing with them about three 
 hundred children. They took up their 
 quarters in the hopper-houses provided for 
 them, some of which were situated in a 
 meadow and constructed with little regard 
 for sanitary requirements or common 
 cleanliness. The drainage of this meadow
 
 Co-operation. ill 7 
 
 passed into a stream from which a part of 
 the town of Maidstone was supplied with 
 water. In about fifteen days after the ar- 
 rival of these hop-pickers, an epidemic of 
 typhoid fever broke out in that part of the 
 town supplied by water infected by the 
 drainage of the meadow above referred to. 
 It spread so rapidly that within a month 
 over 1,200 cases had been reported. 
 
 Public sentiment in Maidstone strongly 
 condemned both the water company and 
 the Urban Council for permitting the 
 source of their water supply to be pol- 
 luted in such a manner. It was simply a 
 notable, concrete illustration of Paul's ab- 
 stract truth that ' * None of us liveth to him- 
 self, and none of us dieth to himself." 
 
 This incident shows us how these hop- 
 pickers proved their brotherhood and 
 demonstrated the law of social responsi- 
 bility to the people of Maidstone in a way 
 that they will not soon forget. A little 
 care on the part of society for their com-
 
 118 Conjlict and Victory. 
 
 fort, and a little attention to the sanitary- 
 conditions of their temporary quarters 
 would have been vastly cheaper than the 
 ignoring policy pursued. A little thought- 
 ful, brotherly co-operation of the hop- 
 growers, water company, and the Urban 
 Council might easily have prevented this 
 disaster. 
 
 If the kingdom of Christ is to come to 
 this world, the Christ spirit must obtain 
 in the social, as well as in the religious 
 life of man. The place where this spirit 
 must show itself is ''where men are buy- 
 ing and selling, employing and being em- 
 ployed, struggling, sinning, suffering and 
 dying. The field is the world." ''Dr. 
 Brown, ' ' says the editor of the Circle, ' ' pre- 
 dicts that the dominant note of the next 
 revival will be that of social responsibility, 
 and that the two main texts will be, 'We 
 are all members one of another, ' and ' One 
 is our Master, even Christ, and all we are 
 brethren.' "
 
 Co-ojperation. 119 
 
 What co-operative Christianity may be 
 and do for society at large is clearly seen 
 in the history of the Nonconformist 
 Churches of England for the past hun- 
 dred years. If we go back to the begin- 
 ning of the nineteenth century, we find 
 these Churches confronted by conditions 
 discouraging beyond measure. The field 
 was pre-empted by a State Church, rich, 
 strong and influential, but exceedingly in- 
 tolerant. Her revenues from the State 
 Treasury were large, and her interference 
 in political matters was decidedly selfish 
 and pronounced. It seemed utterly impos- 
 sible for nonconformity to gain a strong 
 footing or prestige in England. The battle 
 was that of a weakling with a giant who 
 determined to monopolize everything in the 
 interest of self. The relative strength of 
 influence, according to an editorial by Dr. 
 Nicol, in the British "Weekly, was some- 
 thing like 80 to 20 at the beginning of the 
 century. This gradually changed, standing
 
 120 Cmiflict and Victory. 
 
 a little later 70 to 30, then 60 to 40, and 
 at the end of the century it stood, accord- 
 ing to this authority, 50 to 50. Eecent 
 events, such as the Education Bill and 
 kindred reforms, would indicate that the 
 arrogant State Church had met her equal 
 in Nonconformity, as regards influence and 
 prestige. How has this growth on the part 
 of the Nonconformist Churches been se- 
 cured? By co-operation. Throughout the 
 century they stood together, shoulder to 
 shoulder, and brought a united influence 
 to bear upon every question and reform 
 movement of the day. They espoused the 
 cause of civic righteousness in the interest 
 of the people. They were the friends of 
 free public schools, political purity, and of 
 a larger liberty. Their motto might well 
 have been ^ ' The greatest good of the great- 
 est number." This was done, not in the 
 interest of a selfish ecclesiasticism, but of 
 a broad and generous joatriotism, as the 
 tribunes of the people. It was thus that
 
 Co-operation. 121 
 
 they secured the respect and confidence of 
 the people, which is a great heritage of 
 blessing to them to-day. The history of 
 the century can not be truthfully written 
 without recognizing nonconformity as an 
 influential factor in the social progress of 
 the nation. 
 
 It seems a little unfortunate that Dr. 
 Campbell, of City Temple, London, should 
 be engaged just now in a bitter controversy 
 over theological questions when so many 
 issues concerning applied Christianity are 
 demanding a thoughtful consideration. It 
 is to be hoped that this apparently un- 
 necessary strife will not sow the seeds of 
 dissension among their ranks and weaken 
 the influence of nonconformity in England, 
 which would be little short of a calamity at 
 the present time. 
 
 There are not wanting in the history of 
 the Christian Church of America illustra- 
 tions of the beneficent results of co-opera- 
 tive endeavor. Giant wrongs have been
 
 122 Conflict cmd Vtctory. 
 
 met and overthrown by the united efforts 
 of the friends of righteousness. We see 
 this in the abolition of slavery, first in 
 Canada and later in the United States ; in 
 the banishment of the Louisiana State Lot- 
 tery, and in the overthrow of the army 
 canteen. These mighty evils all succumbed 
 to the united forces of righteousness war- 
 ring in the interest of the people's highest 
 good. 
 
 As these have gone so must also go the 
 iniquity of child labor, impure literature, 
 vicious narcotics, political corruption, the 
 traffic in strong drink, and every form of 
 tyranny. This will come to pass when man 
 realizes that he is his brother's keeper and 
 meets cheerfully and courageously all the 
 demands of social and religious responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 "How many lifted hands still plead 
 Along life's way; 
 The old sad story of human need 
 Reads on for aye.
 
 Co-operation. 123 
 
 But let us follow the Savior's plan — 
 Love unstinted for every man, 
 Content, if at most the world should say, 
 'He helped his brother along the way.' " 
 
 While at work on this chapter, my at- 
 tention was called to the following news 
 item which appeared in the columns of the 
 London Advertiser of April 11, 1907 : 
 
 < ' The greatest evangelical movement that 
 has ever been projected was the subject of 
 discussion at the International Laymen's 
 Conference, held at the Temple Building, 
 Toronto, on Tuesday afternoon. 
 
 "To Christianize the whole world, civi- 
 lized and savage, and that in twenty-five 
 years time, is a large order, and yet that is 
 what the meeting discussed, and with confi- 
 dence. 
 
 * ' The Conference and the banquet follow- 
 ing were marked with great enthusiasm, 
 and after all was over many of the leaders 
 present said that a great step had been 
 gained in Canada.
 
 124 Conjlict (Mid Victory. 
 
 a I 
 
 The object is to get all Protestant 
 denominations to co-operate in one Chris- 
 tian movement. Business men will finance 
 it, and if the enthusiasm spreads, as it is 
 expected to all over America, the work can 
 begin at once. Already there are thirty- 
 three laymen from the United States look- 
 ing over the mission field, and others will 
 follow. Considering that the movement be- 
 gan only last November, this is great 
 progress. 
 
 ''The laymen desire to assist the present 
 Church missions, rather than organize new 
 missionary societies to take up work inde- 
 pendently. ' ' 
 
 A day or two later the same paper con- 
 tained this information: 
 
 "Under the auspices of the National 
 Civic Federation more than three hundred 
 men, representing all grades of employers, 
 employees, capitalists, professional men, 
 and theorists, assembled at the home of 
 Andrew Carnegie recently, for what Mr. 
 
 J
 
 Co-operation. 125 
 
 Carnegie termed an 'industrial peace 
 evening. ' 
 
 ''During the evening Nicholas Murray 
 Butler, president of Columbia University, 
 caused something of a stir by declaring 
 that the National Civic Federation should 
 call a world's peace conference in this 
 country in the near future to hasten a 
 better understanding throughout the civi- 
 lized world between employers and em- 
 ployees. 
 
 ''His suggestion was enthusiastically re- 
 ceived, and many persons expressed the 
 opinion that under Mr. Carnegie's roof had 
 been made the beginning of one of the 
 greatest movements for the betterment of 
 industrial conditions in the history of civil- 
 ization." 
 
 Eight thinking men everywhere are in 
 sjanpathy with all true social reform. They 
 favor the broadest charity, and the largest 
 liberty consistent with the rights of others 
 and the powers of human government.
 
 126 Conflict a/nd Victory. 
 
 They would have all needed reformation 
 come, not by the club, but by the ballot; 
 not by clamor and riot, but by a peaceful 
 political evolution. 
 
 "Blessing the cotter and the crown. 
 
 Sweetening worn labor's bitter cup ; 
 And plucking not the highest down. 
 Lifting the lowliest up." 
 
 We are certainly living in an age of great 
 movements. The Salvation Army, the 
 Student Volunteer Movement, the Lay- 
 men's Evangelical Association, and the 
 National Civic Federation Movement show 
 us how surely the leaven of righteousness 
 has taken hold upon humanity. The spirit 
 in which these great enterprises are con- 
 ducted is that of Christian toleration with 
 a warm hand extended for co-operation. 
 We have reason to expect much from them. 
 They are not here to monopolize, but to 
 assist in the world's transformation. It 
 is gratifying to see the place they assign
 
 Co-operation. 127 
 
 to the principle of co-operation. If they 
 succeed in carrying out their program as 
 outlined, this century may see accom- 
 plished what Tennyson saw in vision — 
 
 "When the war drum throbs no longer, 
 And the battle flags are furled, 
 In the parliament of man 
 The federation of the world."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 CHRISTIAN CONDUCT.
 
 "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which 
 is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with 
 brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; not 
 slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the 
 Lord ; rejoicing in hope ; patient in tribulation ; con- 
 tinuing instant in prayer; distributing to the neces- 
 sity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which 
 persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with 
 them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 
 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not 
 high things; but condescend to men of low estate. 
 Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to 
 no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the 
 sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth 
 in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, 
 avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto 
 wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will 
 repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy 
 hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for 
 in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head."
 
 CHRISTIAN CONDUCT. 
 
 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil vrith 
 good.— Rom. xii, 21. 
 
 The remainder of this twelfth chapter of 
 Romans, from the ninth verse, constitutes 
 a treatise on Christian conduct than which 
 I know of nothing finer in literature. Paul 
 reaches his accustomed climax in the last 
 verse of the chapter, when he virtually says 
 to us, *'Be not overcome of evil," but by 
 the power of consecration, the efficiency 
 of culture, the momentum of co-operation, 
 and the influence of Christian conduct, 
 '^ overcome evil with good." 
 
 Christian conduct as a factor in the 
 transformation of the world sends us at 
 once to the statements of our Lord: '^Ye 
 are the salt of the earth,"— "The light of 
 the world." 
 
 131
 
 132 Conflict cmd Victory, 
 
 It is largely through our spirit as mani- 
 fested in our conduct, as an agency for 
 Him, that our Lord proposes to enlighten 
 and purify the world until the kingdom of 
 God is established amongst men with sav- 
 ing power. This places a high value upon 
 the individual and necessitates or implies 
 two things. 
 
 In the first place, it implies the reception 
 of Christ into the heart and life of the in- 
 dividual ; for so long as Christ remains out- 
 side of us, though we may respect and ad- 
 mire Him, still we can neither know, nor 
 love, nor serve Him as we ought. ''I will 
 come in and sup with you. " ^'^ Without Me 
 ye can do nothing. ' ' 
 
 The motive power of the Christian life 
 is ''Christ in you the hope of glory." 
 "When this incarnation takes place the be- 
 liever can say with Paul, ''I can do all 
 things through Christ which strengtheneth 
 me." 
 
 To make us susceptible of the best m-
 
 Christian Conduct. 133 
 
 fluences and responsive to the call of duty, 
 the heart must be changed by the convert- 
 ing grace of God, for only then can the 
 soul see things in their true light. ''Since 
 I have known God in a saving manner," 
 said Henry Martyn, ''painting, poetry, and 
 music have had charms unknown to me be- 
 fore. I have received what I suppose is a 
 taste for them; for religion has refined my 
 mind and made it susceptible of impres- 
 sions from the sublime and beautiful." 
 
 Thus do we see that, in a subjective 
 sense, Christ in us lays a basis for all future 
 good. It is what Chalmers calls "The im- 
 pulsive power of a new affection." But 
 there is also implied the manifestation of 
 Christ. The power of the new life which 
 Christ brings into our hearts is not to re- 
 main dormant. It is to be active in our 
 life and conduct. Hence the command, 
 ' • Work out your salvation. ' ' When Christ 
 comes into our lives with saving power, 
 then the love of Christ will constrain us
 
 134 
 
 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 to work out our salvation in all the beauti- 
 ful consistencies of Christian life and con- 
 duct. 
 
 This we are expected to do as Christians 
 in order that the world may see, and feel, 
 and know the power of His transforming 
 grace; for until Christian ideas clothe 
 themselves in a body of conduct they are 
 ghostly, unsubstantial, and comparatively 
 uninfluential things. "Let this mind be in 
 you, which was also in Christ Jesus." 
 ' ' Ambassadors are useful, ' ' says Bismarck, 
 ''only when filled with the spirit of those 
 who send them, and as crystal reveals the 
 color of the liquid that is in it, so they 
 should represent clearly the mind of their 
 sovereign masters." 
 
 As Christians we are the sent ambas- 
 sadors of Christ, and the only evidence we 
 can give to the world that we have a living 
 faith and the mind of Christ in us is the 
 manifestation of a true, pure, loving life. 
 The spirit of the world and the spirit of
 
 Christian Conduct. 135 
 
 Christ are antagonistic. The one is selfish, 
 the other beneficent; the one says get, 
 the other give. The man who has the 
 spirit or mind of the world in him says, 
 "This is mine to spend upon myself." 
 The man who has the mind of Christ in 
 him says, ' ' This I hold in trust for God to 
 use for the good of others." The mind of 
 the world contends for absolute non-ac- 
 countable ownership; the mind of Christ 
 allows only stewardship. The one is ego- 
 istic, the other altruistic. 
 
 Now it is easy to see that civilization 
 under the molding power and guiding hand 
 of Christian love, as manifested in the con- 
 duct of Christian people, would renovate 
 the bases of society and rear a structure 
 in the image of the heavenly. If Christian 
 sentiment would only put on the conduct 
 that logically follows from its profession, 
 the vices that now weaken and degrade our 
 civilization would rapidly disappear. In 
 speaking of our country's prospects. Dr.
 
 136 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 Storrs said, "Our future history is as se- 
 cure as that of the past if only that moral 
 life remains which was in the founders of 
 these commonwealths, when peril did not 
 frighten or hardship discourage them, and 
 when their daily rude experience took from 
 the Bible a consecration and a gleam." 
 
 The best service the friends of Chris- 
 tianity can render to society is to exemplify 
 its spirit and practice its principles; for 
 men will admire it and be made better by 
 it if they can only see the genuine article. 
 I think this was what Christ meant when 
 he said, "Let your light so shine before 
 men, that they may see your good works 
 and glorify your Father which is in 
 heaven." 
 
 Christians are the world's Bible, "Liv- 
 ing epistles" are they, "known and read 
 of all men." While it is true that the 
 Christian is commanded to come out and 
 be separate from the world, so far as par- 
 ticipating with those of the world in their
 
 Christian Conduct. 137 
 
 sinful practices and pleasures is concerned, 
 still he is not to regard himself as being 
 wholly separated from them; for there is a 
 sense in which we owe them certain duties 
 and in which we actually exist for their 
 benefit. For instance, we are exhorted in 
 one place to be diligent in business that 
 we may ''walk honestly toward them that 
 are without." We have no right to treat 
 them that are without as though they were 
 outlaws. 
 
 Worldly men know little, and care less, 
 about our ecclesiastical polity, or behavior 
 in church, but they are alive to the faith- 
 fulness or unfaithfulness with which we 
 discharge our relative duties as Christians. 
 Though they may not be able to sympathize 
 with us in our struggles after a pure life, 
 nevertheless, they know well how to esti- 
 mate the value of an honest day's work, 
 and they can and do appreciate the merit 
 of a prompt payment. For this reason a 
 dishonest professor of religion gives a
 
 138 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 shock to Christian evidences and does more 
 to hinder the progress of Christ's kingdom 
 than years of professing can do to advance 
 it. While on the other hand, the strongest 
 and most incontrovertible evidence that 
 Christianity can produce is to be found in 
 the lives of those who quietly, unostenta- 
 tiously, and faithfully discharge life's 
 duties ; for it is by such that Christ is pre- 
 sented in a worthy, attractive manner 
 toward them that are without. ' ' They are 
 the salt of the earth, the light of the 
 world. ' ' 
 
 That there are prejudices in the minds 
 of men against Christianity is plain. One 
 of the grave charges which the world pre- 
 fers against her to-day is that she is want- 
 ing in the matter of conformity to her 
 creed. Few, if any, of her enemies have 
 had the temerity to attack her on her ideal 
 side. But they do find fault with us in 
 the manner in which we work out our 
 Christianity. That they have cause for
 
 Christian Conduct. 139 
 
 complaint will hardly be doubted, inasmuch 
 as many professing Christians are not as 
 careful of their influence as they ought 
 to be. 
 
 Max Muller once said, when lecturing in 
 Glasgow, that "When he saw all Europe 
 turned into a military camp and the best 
 genius of the nations devoted to training 
 and inventing new machines for killing 
 men, he thought a renewed religion was 
 needed." We do not need a new religion. 
 What we want is, rather, the proof in the 
 Christian life that the old-time religion is 
 still the power of God. "When this is mani- 
 fested, there will be found few advocates 
 of the questionable things regarded by 
 many as evidencing a laxity of Christian 
 conduct. But rather Christ's injunction, 
 * ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His 
 righteousness" will be exemplified in in- 
 creased attention to the worship of God's 
 house and all official obligations ; which will 
 do more to demonstrate the spirit of this
 
 140 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 twelfth chapter of Romans and harmonize 
 conduct with Christ than any statement of 
 creed or interpretation of disciphne. 
 
 The test of concrete Christianity is two- 
 fold. First, its effect upon the individual, 
 and second, its effect upon society. The 
 latter is what determiues the genuineness 
 of the former. Good men and women live 
 forever. They project themselves down 
 the centuries and thus inspire after genera- 
 tions with something of their faith and 
 fortitude. Elizabeth Fry and John How- 
 ard live to-day in the lives of all prison 
 reformers; Bunyan leads our boys and 
 girls through Beulah land, and Dr. Duncan 
 still guards the earnings of the poor in our 
 savings banks. Such men as Moses and 
 Elijah, James and Paul, Huss and Luther, 
 Newell and Judson are still with us in ever- 
 increasing power. 
 
 That Christian conduct is a powerful 
 factor in civilization is plain from the fact 
 that it gives momentum and right direction
 
 Christian Conduct. 141 
 
 to those two great moral forces, influence 
 and example. Greatness of character is a 
 communicable attribute. The subtle power 
 of example is contagious. Rome felt it as 
 thousands of martyrs gave up their lives 
 for the Lord Jesus. Mediaeval ages felt it 
 as Christian missionaries carried to our an- 
 cestors, then savage tribes, the Gospel that 
 became the seed of commonwealths. Ger- 
 many and England felt its power in the 
 Reformations of Luther and Wesley. This 
 continent felt it as the early Methodist 
 itinerants of hero hearts and martyr faith 
 went forth on their long journeys and 
 shook the depths of forest gloom with their 
 hymns of lofty cheer. The influence of 
 their lives reaches even unto us and teaches 
 us that the Christian religion is not a mere 
 code of laws, or an abstract system, but 
 a living embodiment of goodness which 
 comes to us in human form and offers itself 
 to our eyes as well as our ears. 
 
 In an editorial entitled, "Follow me,"
 
 142 Conjlict and Yictory. 
 
 the editor of Zion's Herald made the fol- 
 lowing sensible remarks: "Saintly lives 
 have always won more followers for Christ 
 than the keenest logic, or the most tender 
 words of persuasion. The Christian in his 
 humility may hesitate to say, 'Follow me,' 
 but after all is it not his example, his in- 
 fluence, his character, his fidelity which tell 
 upon the seeker after truth? Men do not 
 readily yield themselves to argument, to 
 advice, to solicitation ; but when they see a 
 beautiful, harmonious. Christlike life, they 
 are drawn to it by a sort of spiritual 
 affinity. Such a life is a center of attrac- 
 tion to all restless, wandering souls which 
 long for the peace and rest of fixed faith 
 and purpose." 
 
 These examples of goodness are of in- 
 finite value to civilization, inasmuch as 
 they make virtue visible and desirable, and 
 not only rebuke our imperfections, but urge 
 us to the imitation of goodness. The moral 
 law and all the abstract principles of right
 
 Christian Conduct. 143 
 
 are interpreted, fortified, and recom- 
 mended by the conduct of those who are 
 honest, disinterested, and genuinely Chris- 
 tian. Our reverence for virtue is deepened 
 and streng-thened by all that we witness 
 and hear of the beneficence, self-sacrifice, 
 purity, and devotion of the true Christian 
 men and women of society. Men respect 
 realities and will not quarrel with them. 
 Men can not look upon good characters and 
 bad characters, they can not observe the 
 beauty of virtue and the nobility of in- 
 tegrity, and contrast them with the repul- 
 siveness of vice and the downward ten- 
 dency of unrestrained pleasure without 
 feeling the difference of the principles 
 which they reveal. Thus, as one puts it, 
 "Every good act preaches; every true, 
 pure life is a rampart against evil, and 
 all virtue which is visible in human con- 
 duct is an indirect but powerful emphasis 
 to all the arguments that would win men 
 to goodness and warn them from sin."
 
 144 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 "When one who holds communion with the skies 
 Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise, 
 And once more mingles with us meaner things, 
 'T is e'en as if an angel shook his wings ; 
 Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide 
 That tells us whence his treasures are supplied." 
 
 Canon Farrar said: *'I would rather 
 that any man should be a Romanist or a 
 Dissenter or a Buddhist or a Mohammedan, 
 so that he were a holy and godly man, than 
 ten times over a member of the most cath- 
 olic Church that ever existed and be a sly 
 intriguer, or a rancorous slanderer, or an 
 unclean liver, or a professed liar or in any 
 one form of conscious wickedness a hypo- 
 crite or a bad man. Just as a living dog 
 is better than a dead lion, so a good heretic 
 or righteous schismatic may be immeasur- 
 ably dearer to God and nearer to heaven 
 than a bad Christian whose conduct gives 
 the lie to his creed." 
 
 What the world needs to-day is not so 
 much consecrated capital as life preachers
 
 Christian Conduct. 145 
 
 and preaching. It is the most intelligible ; 
 for even children can understand it. It is 
 the most incontrovertible; for while men 
 can and do battle with propositions, they 
 can not argue against a true, pure, good 
 life. It is the most constant; for while 
 oral preaching is at best but occasional, 
 life-preaching is perennial. The temple of 
 Zion was magnificently grand, but not of 
 such enduring value to the race as one such 
 life as Ezra, Isaiah, or Paul. In like 
 manner, the glory of the Christian religion 
 is not in the magnificence of her temples or 
 the excellency of her ritual, but in her 
 deeds of usefulness, in her sacrifices for 
 humanity, in the beauty of life and char- 
 acter displayed in her followers. In these 
 things she is most influential, for no one 
 can wholly withstand the moral power of 
 a truly good life, for the simple reason that 
 it is God-inspired. The man who is identi- 
 fied with the cross of Christ is identified 
 with moral omnipotence, or in other words 
 10
 
 146 Confiict and Victory. 
 
 with the power of God unto salvation. 
 Hence wherever you see a man resenting 
 a bribe as an insult to his manhood ; wher- 
 ever you see a merchant refusing to con- 
 form to popular deceptions for gain ; wher- 
 ever you see a merchant refusing to con- 
 the wicked for reward, or a follower of 
 Jesus glorying in the cross of Christ in 
 spite of taunt or ridicule or persecution, 
 there vou behold the manifestation of a 
 higher power than that which moves the 
 world — the power to do right and fear God. 
 This world has been lifted into a higher 
 plane of thought and life by Christian men 
 who worked when they were weary, who 
 laid aside, for the time being, their own 
 plans and purposes that the cause of God 
 might be given right of way ; men who re- 
 garded not their lives dear unto them when 
 duty called for service or for sacrifice ; men 
 who felt that the world was in moral dark- 
 ness and that its misery and sin cried aloud 
 for the Christian mission of consolation
 
 Christian Conduct. 147 
 
 and redemption which they were able to 
 give. Such men have taught the world that 
 '* Simple duty has no place for fear," and 
 by the very force of their example have 
 'Mured" us ''to brighter worlds and led 
 the way." 
 
 "May every soul that touches ours, 
 
 Be it the slightest contact, get therefrom some good, 
 
 Some little grace; one kindly thought; 
 
 One aspiration yet unfelt; one bit of courage 
 
 For the darkening sky; one gleam of faith 
 
 To brave the thickening ills of life; 
 
 One glimpse of brighter skies beyond the gathering 
 
 mists; 
 To make this life worth while, and heaven a surer 
 
 heritage."
 
 PAET 11. 
 
 SERMONS
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD AND 
 THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN.
 
 "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God 
 created us?" 
 
 "For one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye 
 are brethren." 
 
 "I ascend unto my Father and your Father: and 
 to my God, and your God." 
 
 "One God and Father of all, who Is above all. and 
 through all, and in you all." 
 
 "Be in eubjection unto the Father of spirits and 
 live."
 
 THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD AND 
 THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN. 
 
 He giveth to all life and breath and all things; 
 and hath made of one blood all nations of men. Acta 
 xvii, 25, 26. 
 
 If it be true that the brightest gem that 
 ever adorned the finger of beauty or the 
 brow of royalty may be improved by the 
 setting, then, surely, this expression of the 
 great apostle to the Gentiles is greatly en- 
 hanced by the historic setting in which we 
 find it. You will remember that just before 
 uttering these sublime truths, Paul had 
 been making a survey of Athens. He had 
 come from treading the courts of the 
 Academy where Plato and Aristotle taught, 
 where Socrates had lived and died, and 
 where the followers of Zeno and Epicurus 
 
 153
 
 154 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 were still inculcating the peculiar tenets 
 of their respective schools, when he was 
 suddenly and unexpectedly called upon to 
 expound his own religious views. When he 
 gave utterance to the words of my text, he 
 stood upon the historic Mars' Hill in 
 Athens, the eye of cultured Greece, sur- 
 rounded by the masterpieces of Grecian art 
 and the memorials of Grecian wisdom. 
 Around him were the manifestations of 
 wonderful genius; the proofs of what 
 man's intellect could achieve. It was a 
 trying hour, but his conduct upon that oc- 
 casion was characteristic of the man, for 
 he was modest, wise, and dauntless. As he 
 looked around upon the altars of the gods, 
 his quick eye saw in them the evidence of 
 a worshipful spirit in the Athenian in re- 
 gard to the unseen, and gathering from 
 their own literature Man's true relation to 
 God, he proceeded with wonderful tact, sim- 
 plicity, and force to enunciate to them those 
 truths of natural religion which reason
 
 The Fatherhood of God. 155 
 
 could receive and adopt. And then rising 
 to the higher truths of revelation, he 
 preached unto them Jesus and the resurrec- 
 tion. My text, which is an excerpt from his 
 wonderful address, contains two precious 
 doctrines which we will now consider. 
 
 In the first place you will notice that we 
 have very clearly presented to us the 
 Fatherhood of God in the words, "He 
 giveth to all life and breath and all things." 
 It is well for us to remember, at the outset, 
 that God is not our Father simply because 
 He created us ; for my text assures us that 
 He created the flower and the insect, the 
 beast and the bird as well, but we never 
 think of Him as their Father in the sense 
 in which He is ours. These are the works 
 of His hands; we are His children. It is 
 in a spiritual sense that God is our Father. 
 The very term implies this; for to be a 
 father is to communicate one's own nature 
 and give life to kindred beings. The Scrip- 
 tures teach us that God is a spirit and that
 
 156 Conflict and Victory, 
 
 man was begotten in His image, which must 
 have been spiritual. The idea of Father- 
 hood gives to Him a paternal relation to 
 man and brings in the elements of feeling 
 and personal interest, for love is the su- 
 preme glory of fatherhood. Indeed, it is 
 the verdict of history that in every age and 
 nation of which we have any record the 
 dearest thoughts, the tenderest associa- 
 tions, and the most reverent feelings have 
 ever clustered around the word father. 
 Hence it is as our Father that God comes 
 nearest to men. The Savior recognized 
 this fact; for in one of His parables He 
 shows us a weeping prodigal pressing his 
 face into his father's bosom, heart beating 
 to heart, the one in all the agony of peni- 
 tence, the other in all the anguish of pitying 
 love. And who shall say that all law was 
 not vindicated when that father kissed 
 away his son's tears and called for music, 
 the best robe, and the fatted calf? 
 
 How it dignifies our conception of human
 
 The Fatherhood of God. 157 
 
 nature to think that the God of boundless 
 worlds and infinite systems is our Father ! 
 Indeed, our human fatherhood is but a dim 
 reflection of the Divine ; for our best, ten- 
 derest, and holiest affections are but shad- 
 ows of corresponding feelings in the heart 
 of our Heavenly Father, who thinks about 
 us, provides for us, and loves us. Hence we 
 are not surprised to learn that He has pity 
 for the erring, pardon for the guilty, and 
 an immortal life for all who trust and obey 
 him. Inasmuch as He has expended 
 thought, affection, and training upon us, 
 He has, therefore, a right to expect from us 
 filial obedience to His will, and when we fail 
 to render it to Him His heart is grieved; 
 for having created us He is interested in 
 us. Every human soul that fails to reach 
 heaven is the loss of a dear child to God. 
 Knowing, as He does, the value of a human 
 soul, it is not belittling to the Almighty 
 to say that He grieves over such losses. To 
 have any conception of what God's grief
 
 158 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 over those who rebel against Him is, it 
 would be necessary for us to purify, mag- 
 nify, and multiply to an indefinite extent the 
 grief which we feel when our children go 
 astra}^, for God is Father to the sinner as 
 well as to the saint. I am aware that there 
 are those who claim that we are not God's 
 children until we are adopted into His 
 family, and that none, therefore, but the 
 converted can call Him Father. But I main- 
 tain that every man is born into God's 
 family and remains in his Father's house 
 until, like the prodigal, he wills to leave it; 
 for surely from birth to decision every man 
 is safe. Of course, it is well for us to re- 
 member, in this connection, that the mere 
 abstract relationship, apart from the ful- 
 fillment of the duties involved in it, is of 
 verv little value to us. For instance, it is 
 a very little thing for a man to stand in 
 the abstract relation of a citizen in this 
 nation; but it is a very great thing for a 
 
 I
 
 The Fatherhood of God. 159 
 
 man to fulfill worthily all the duties of citi- 
 zenship in a country governed as we are. 
 It is a very little thing for a man to stand 
 in the mere abstract relation of a husband 
 or a father ; but it is certainly a very great 
 thing for a man to nobly meet the responsi- 
 bilities that pertain to such relationships. 
 In like manner, the fact that God is the 
 Father of your spirit will neither save nor 
 bless you until that relationship is mani- 
 fested and proved by a devoted, faithful, 
 obedient life; for it is only to such that 
 God extends an assuring, comforting, 
 gracious sense of his Divine Fatherhood. 
 It is only such who can with grateful, trust- 
 ful hearts look up and exclaim : 
 
 "Father, I know that all my life is portioned out 
 
 to me, 
 And the changes that will surely come I do not fear 
 
 to see; 
 But I ask Thee for a present mind, intent on pleasing 
 
 Thee."
 
 160 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 If God is the Father of all human spirits, 
 then there is such a thing as a human 
 brotherhood. Once establish the doctrine 
 of God's Fatherhood, and the foundation is 
 laid for the further doctrine of man's 
 brotherhood. This was the method Paul 
 adopted in his address to the Athenians 
 upon the Hill of Mars. The Greeks to 
 whom he spoke believed that the gods were 
 their ultimate ancestors, and hence they 
 divided the human family into two classes 
 — Greeks and Barbarians. This view Paul 
 sought to correct by teaching them that 
 God is our common Father, and that there- 
 fore we are all brothers, children of one 
 common parent. His claim was that God 
 ''hath made of one blood all nations of men 
 to dwell on all the face of the earth. ' ' He 
 further endeavored to show them that God 
 was interested in all men, and that for that 
 reason he commended to each an interest 
 in all. The great aim of the Gospel is to 
 hasten the time
 
 The Fatherhood of God. 161 
 
 " When all men's good shall be each man's rule 
 And universal peace, 
 
 Lie like a shaft of light across the land, 
 And like a lane of beams athwart the sea. 
 Through all the cycle of the golden year." 
 
 *'He only is a true Christian who has a 
 profound and practical consciousness of 
 the brotherhood of man, whose faith in 
 Christ is so strong that he can see in every 
 drunken outcast a possible saint, in every 
 gambling den a place of prayer, and in 
 every abandoned prostitute a Mary Mag- 
 dalene. The spirit of Christianity is sjth- 
 pathetic and helpful. It aims to destroy 
 that spirit of selfishness which would say. 
 What to me is a Turk, a Chinaman, or a 
 Patagonianf" Christianity would have 
 every one say with Lowell : 
 
 "Where'er a single slave doth pine, 
 Where'er one man may help another; 
 Thank God for such a birthright, brother. 
 That spot of land is thine and mine; 
 There is the true man's birthplace grand, 
 For his is a world-wide fatherland," 
 11
 
 162 Conflict and Victor y. 
 
 With Dr. Wm. E. Channing I believe that 
 *'war will never yield but to the principles 
 of universal justice and love, and these 
 have no sure root but in the religion of 
 Jesus Christ." It was Jesus and His 
 fishermen apostles who first conceived the 
 thought and burned with the enterprise of 
 a world-wide philanthropy. The spirit of 
 universal benevolence and brotherhood 
 which He introduced is fittingly illustrated 
 in the following event: A Hindoo and a 
 New Zealander once met upon the deck of 
 a mission ship. They both had been con- 
 verted from heathenism, and were there- 
 fore brothers in Christ. But they could not 
 speak understandingly to one another. 
 They pointed to their Bibles, shook hands, 
 and smiled upon each other, and that was 
 all that it seemed, in the very nature of 
 things, that they could do. At last a happy 
 thought occurred to the acute mind of the 
 Hindoo, for all at once with sudden joy he 
 exclaimed, *' Hallelujah!" Promptly the
 
 The Fatherhood of God. 163 
 
 New Zealander cried out, "Amen!" Thus 
 do we see that these two words, not found 
 in their own heathen tongues, were to them 
 the beginning of one language and one 
 speech. Indeed, the sympathy of man with 
 man— to weep with them that weep, to bind 
 up the broken hearted, to comfort them 
 that mourn, to act "the good Samaritan," 
 pouring oil and wine into the stranger's 
 wounds as though he were a bosom friend, 
 is a philanthrop}" based upon the grea't doc- 
 trine of human brotherhood which human 
 minds had never thought of until it was 
 revealed from heaven by the Son of man 
 who came down from heaven. Verily, 
 Christendom is the best defense of Chris- 
 tianity; for nothing else in equal measure 
 has ever taught us how to live 
 
 "For the cause that lacks assistance, 
 For the wrongs that need resistance, 
 For the future in the distance 
 And the good that we may do."
 
 164 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 Take the Christian conception of our 
 neighbor as given to us by the Lord Him- 
 self, and we shall find in it a love which 
 oversteps the limit of race, removes the 
 limit of space, and even transcends the 
 limit of character. ''It teaches us that 
 the neighbor whom we should commiserate 
 and help is not simply the poor traveler 
 who has fallen among thieves and been 
 wounded and robbed, but the erring soul 
 who has lost the true way and become 
 entangled in the darkness of sin, the piti- 
 able one who has fallen into the pit of 
 shame; for those who have been smitten 
 bv that worst of all strokes and have de- 
 scended into the darkest of all shadows 
 are as much our neighbors as any others." 
 They are our brothers and sisters, and 
 we can never be relieved from the duty 
 of doing them good when it is in our power 
 to help them. Our neighbor, as defined by 
 the Savior, is not simply the man who is 
 up and doing and who can assist us on our
 
 The Fatherhood of God. 165 
 
 way, but the man that is down and whom 
 we can assist to rise. In short, our neighbor, 
 in a true Christian sense, is the man who is 
 in the most need of our sympathy and help, 
 whether his house or farm adjoins ours, 
 or whether he lives miles and miles away. 
 It is by helping him, by going to him and 
 making ourselves neighbors to him, that 
 we fulfill the law of Christ, keep His com- 
 mandments, and live His life. Upon this 
 Biblical and Christian basis rest all the 
 great religious enterprises of to-day, all 
 the noble reforms of Christendom, all the 
 worthy charities of Christian lands and 
 every benevolent institution. Indeed, our 
 Christian civilization is undergirded and 
 strengthened and upheld by a belief in the 
 Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of 
 man. He has but very imperfectly studied 
 human nature who does not see that by 
 such helpful, timely ministrations of sym- 
 pathy and love as those to which I have 
 referred.
 
 166 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 "The meanest wretch that ever trod, the deepest sunk 
 in sin and sorrow, 
 
 Might stand erect in self-respect and share the teem- 
 ing world to-morrow, 
 
 Oppression's heart might be imbued with kindling 
 drops of loving kindness; 
 
 And knowledge pour from shore to shore light on the 
 eyes of mental blindness. 
 
 What might be done, this might be done and more 
 than this, my suffering brother, 
 
 More than the tongue ere said or sung, if men were 
 wise and loved each other."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 ENCOURAGEMENT.
 
 "To him that soweth righteousness shall be a 
 sure reward." 
 
 "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these 
 little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a 
 disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise 
 lose his reward." 
 
 "Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father's good 
 pleasui-e to give you the kingdom." 
 
 "Do good and your reward shall be great."
 
 ENCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 Let us not weary in well doing, for in due season 
 we shall reap if we faint not. — Gal. vi, 9. 
 
 In this laconic chapter, Paul touches 
 with wonderful clearness and force upon 
 some of the great principles of the Chris- 
 tian religion. In a very felicitous spirit he 
 exhorts his readers to cultivate mutual tol- 
 erance and helpfulness, to avoid censori- 
 ousness, to be liberal in maintaining their 
 religious teachers, to sow, not to the flesh, 
 but to the spirit, and to persevere in Chris- 
 tian beneficence. 
 
 These admonitions are always timely and 
 helpful, and none more so than Christian 
 beneficence. Sin in one form or another 
 repeats before God, age after age, the 
 words of the world's earliest self-seeker, 
 
 169
 
 170 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 ''Am I my brother's keeper?" By unduly 
 emphasizing the distinction between mine 
 and thine, men have alienated themselves 
 from each other and introduced all forms 
 of class distinction. In Paul's day this 
 evil was seen and felt, and hence he had 
 something to say about it, for he believed 
 that the Gospel has to do with man's 
 private, social, and political life. 
 
 In treating this question of Christian 
 beneficence, he was the right man in the 
 right place, inasmuch as he invariably 
 practiced what he preached. The lessons 
 of his voice and pen were enforced with 
 tenfold power by the actions of his daily 
 life. His life of conscious rectitude en- 
 abled him to say to those to whom he 
 wrote, "Those things which ye have 
 learned and read and heard and seen in 
 me do, and the very God of peace shall be 
 with you." As a religious teacher he not 
 only gave them a rule of thought, but he 
 exhibited in his own life a rule of conduct
 
 Encouragement. 171 
 
 worthy of their imitation. We see this iu 
 his devotion to others, and in his adapta- 
 tion to all men that he might win them to 
 Christ. ''Like a good man out of the good 
 treasure of his heart Saint Paul brought 
 forth good things in thought and life." 
 Such an exhortation comes with stronger 
 force from him than from any other New 
 Testament writer. The admonition of the 
 text is for Christian believers. The apos- 
 tle is careful to count himself in. "Let us 
 not be weary in well-doing" is the signifi- 
 cant admonition. The dignity, duty, and 
 destiny of believers is to be found in well- 
 doing, for as he elsewhere expresses it, 
 "We are God's workmanship, created in 
 Christ Jesus unto good works." 
 
 The advice given was not intended for a 
 reprimand, for the writer does not even 
 hint that the Galatian Christians are not 
 "abounding unto every good work." He 
 merely suggests by way of exhortation that 
 they become not weary in this life of well
 
 172 Confiict and Victory. 
 
 doing. It is an invitation to unite forces 
 and follow the example of the blessed 
 Master "who went about doing good." 
 The prosperity of the Church, the salvation 
 of men, and the glory of God make it neces- 
 sary for us to embrace every opportunity 
 afforded us to do good. The Christian 
 religion is not an ism, but a life; not a 
 theology, old or new, but a living force 
 within. It is an internal motive power 
 which is ever productive of results. It does 
 not terminate in self. Its emblem is not 
 the sponge which absorbs, but the summer 
 cloud which gives forth. Christ "gave 
 Himself for us that He might redeem us 
 from all iniquity and purify unto Himself 
 a peculiar people zealous of good works." 
 The admonition of the text is a needful 
 one. In a world like the one in which we 
 live, there are so many unsettling influences 
 around us that we are apt to become weary, 
 even in a life of uprightness. The causes 
 of weariness in well doing are so numerous
 
 Encouragement. 173 
 
 and complex in their operation that we 
 need to be very watchful and very careful. 
 " To do good and communicate forget not, ' ' 
 is advice that is always timely and neces- 
 sary. 
 
 There are many things which tend to 
 make well doing wearisome work. There 
 is the friction of life in a world of ungodly 
 tendencies. A life of well doing is the 
 furthest removed from a life of selfishness. 
 To persevere in it, we need a large infusion 
 of the spirit in which Christ regarded man. 
 The Christian who would lead a life of well 
 doing must be able to say with Terence, ' ' I 
 am a man and I have an interest in every- 
 thing that concerns humanity." He must 
 call nothing that God has made ''common 
 or unclean." He must be able to see be- 
 neath the vice and cruelty and moral repul- 
 siveness of human society bright jewels 
 which may be won for Christ, immortal 
 souls which may be washed in the blood of 
 the Lamb.
 
 174 Conjlict and Victory. 
 
 Eeligion does not place us above the 
 ordinary cares and difficulties of life. In- 
 deed, they often increase and act upon us 
 so as to depress us beyond all measure 
 until, like Job, our patience exhausted, we 
 cry out in despair, "My soul is weary of 
 my life. ' ' 
 
 Our failures to reach our ideals of the 
 Divine life have a depressing effect upon 
 us. Oftentimes our ideals of the Christian 
 life are so beautiful that they charm our 
 meditation and inspire our purpose. 
 Though advancing we fail to reach them. 
 They are far beyond us, hid away in the 
 infinite bosom of God. In our seasons of 
 meditation we have gazed upon the image 
 of Christ as presented to us in the Gospel 
 and pictured upon our imagination, and in 
 those choice hours we have desired, yea 
 longed to be conformed to His image, that 
 we might be able to do our full share in 
 the transformation of the world. Eising 
 from these day dreams with high hopes and
 
 Encouragement. 175 
 
 buoyant spirits, we have gone forth into 
 the world to engage in well doing, only to 
 find that the more intensely we cared for 
 the souls of men, the more were we laid 
 open to a feeling of weariness and depres- 
 sion. If you would know something of the 
 discouragements connected with well doing, 
 go down with some of God 's faithful work- 
 ers into the sickening scenes of discomfort, 
 squalor, and vice into which their work of 
 beneficence takes them, and if you have 
 any eyes to see you will be convinced con- 
 cerning this matter. 
 
 In other work we can, to a large extent, 
 walk by sight and feel the encouraging in- 
 fluence of results. In it we have something 
 to show for what our hands have been 
 doing. In a life of well doing we often 
 have little to show in the line of results. 
 Of course, in feeding the hungry, clothing 
 the naked, and imparting knowledge to the 
 young, there is something in the way of 
 results to be seen. But in seeking to in-
 
 176 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 fluence inen's hearts through Gospel truth, 
 how often do we feel like crying out with 
 the one of old, "Lord, who hath believed 
 our report, and to whom is Thine arm re- 
 vealed ? ' ' Hence Moses shatters the tables 
 of the law in sad and bitter disappointment ; 
 Elijah weeps over the apostasy of Israel, 
 falters beneath his task and cries out in the 
 anguish of his soul, "0 Lord, take away 
 my life, for I am not better than my 
 fathers." Paul finds fickleness in his con- 
 verts and mourns over it ; Luther is so sad 
 and disheartened in his work that he sits 
 down and writes in his diary, ''If God 
 wishes the Eeformation to go on He must 
 come and take it in hand Himself. ' ' What 
 wonder that we become discouraged! 
 What wonder that we become faint and 
 weary in our work of well doing when we 
 see all around us men possessed of immor- 
 tal souls, and yet so besotted, blinded, and 
 hardened by sinful indulgences as to prefer
 
 Encourojgement. 177 
 
 the slavery of Satan, with its galling yoke, 
 to the light and liberty of the Christian life. 
 It is well for us that we have a Savior who 
 is able to succor us, who because He was 
 in all points tempted like as we are, yet 
 without sin, could say unto us, ''In the 
 world ye shall have tribulation, but be of 
 good cheer, I have overcome the world.'* 
 When we think of Christ who, although 
 assailed by slander, contradiction, and en- 
 snaring questions — although betrayed by 
 one disciple, denied by another, and for- 
 saken by all — although blasphemed, 
 scourged, derided, and crucified, went 
 steadily forward in the path of suffering 
 and sacrifice until the perfect work was 
 done, we may well be thankful and very 
 appropriately offer the poet's prayer: 
 
 "Lord, should my path through suffering lead, 
 Forbid it I should e'er I'epine; 
 Still let me turn to Calvary, nor heed 
 My grief, remembering Thine." 
 
 12
 
 178 Confiict and Victory. 
 
 This is a very encouraging exhortation, 
 for it has respect unto the recompense of 
 reward. "Let us not be weary in well 
 doing, for in due season we shall reap if 
 we faint not. ' ' In the long, weary, painful 
 conflict which Saint Paul heroically waged 
 with superstition, error, and corruption, 
 the flesh must have often felt weak, and the 
 need of some such stimulus as the recom- 
 pense of reward must have often been 
 apparent. It is even so to-day, for we are 
 apt to become discouraged and weary in 
 well doing. Were it not for this hope, the 
 work of Foreign Missions would be a hope- 
 less undertaking, and would often be given 
 up in despair. The Gospel has been very 
 slow in taking root upon some soils. In 
 Burmah Dr. Judson toiled for seven j^ears 
 before he saw any fruits from his labors. 
 During those years he and his wife ob- 
 served the sacrament of the Lord 's Supper 
 regularly, but they were the only communi- 
 cants. In some parts of Africa and New
 
 Encouragement. 179 
 
 Zealand we find missionaries had to wait 
 even longer than this before the reaping 
 time came, but faithfulness in these cases 
 was abundantly rewarded. 
 
 In our home field the worker often finds 
 it very diflScult to make any headway. In 
 the early days of the Student Settlement 
 Movement the work seemed more like a 
 forlorn hope than laying foundations for 
 glorious achievements in the near future. 
 When Judge Lindsay took charge of the 
 Juvenile Court in Denver, Colorado, and 
 undertook the task of reforming the city's 
 youthful criminals, it seemed like an im- 
 possible undertaking, but his perseverance, 
 and patience, and tact were rewarded, for 
 we are told that in over ninety per cent of 
 the cases he succeeded— a record of which 
 an archangel might well be proud. Then 
 let us not be weary in well doing, for 
 though our paths of usefulness may be ob- 
 scure, our influence unobserved, and our 
 purposes slowly developed, still if we are
 
 180 ConJUct and Vicrtoy. 
 
 laboring along right lines, God is with ns, 
 and one with God is a majority. Each 
 worker in God's vineyard ought to be able 
 to look up confidently and say : 
 
 "Now do I gather strength and hope anew; 
 For well I know thy patient love perceives 
 Not what I did, but what I strove to do; 
 And though the full ripe ears are sadly few, 
 Thou wilt accept my sheaves." 
 
 Then, too, we have encouragement in the 
 thought that if we do not find the results 
 of our Christian service on earth, we will 
 find them in Heaven, for God's word as- 
 sures us that ''Good deeds in this world 
 done are paid beyond the sun. ' ' 
 
 Then let us spend our lives, not simply 
 for ourselves, but for others. It will en- 
 hance our peace and enjoyment here, and 
 fit us for that better life of service and 
 enjoyment beyond. If we would in the 
 future enjoy the reaping season to the full, 
 we must be prepared to make some sacri- 
 fices when the cause of the Master makes
 
 Encouragement. 181 
 
 the demand in the interest of humanity. 
 None are more stunted in spiritual growth 
 than he who is always thinking about his 
 own Soul's nourishment. Such a person 
 always remains spiritually weak, while he 
 
 "Who has good deeds brought well to end, 
 For him the gloomy forests shine, 
 The whole world is to him a friend. 
 And all the earth a diamond mine." 
 
 We are traveling in the footsteps of the 
 illustrious of the earth whose type of ex- 
 cellence in things temporal does not by any 
 means satisfy us. Why should we not more 
 than measure up to their standard in things 
 spiritual? Surely it is not an impossible 
 undertaking. 
 
 "If only we strive to be pure and true, 
 To each of us all there will come an hour 
 When the tree of life will burst into flower, 
 And rain at our feet a glorious dower 
 Of something grander than ever we knew."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 INTELLIGENT GOODNESS.
 
 "Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of 
 the Lord, and to do it, aud to teach in Israel statutes 
 and judgments." 
 
 "A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; 
 and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise 
 counsels." 
 
 "Let your loins be girded about and your lights 
 burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait 
 for their Lord." 
 
 "Give diligence to present thyself approved unto 
 God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, 
 handling aright the word ot truth."
 
 INTELLIGENT GOODNESS. 
 
 Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope 
 to the end. — 1 Peter i, 13. 
 
 The Apostle Peter seems always to have 
 cherished, after Pentecost, a very becoming 
 anxiety for the training, development, and 
 self-control of his brethren in Christ. In- 
 deed this, it would seem, was the object 
 Christ had in view when He called him to 
 the apostleship, for in tracing his history 
 you will notice that while he was yet a 
 stranger to the true nature of his Lord's 
 Kingdom, the Savior delivered to him this 
 solemn injunction, ''When thou art con- 
 verted strengthen thy brethren." This 
 charge Peter seems never to have lost sight 
 of, for true to its requirements, he promptly 
 began his ministry, as soon as converted, 
 by preaching a strong Gospel sermon upon 
 the day of Pentecost. We see the same 
 
 185
 
 186 Confiict and Victory. 
 
 spirit manifested in his Epistles which are 
 from beginning to end inspirational, hope- 
 ful, and helpful. The chapter from which 
 my text is taken is a model in this par- 
 ticular. In the text he calls our attention, 
 by way of exhortation, to three important, 
 necessary things. Let us then, without 
 further introduction, proceed to their con- 
 sideration, taking them in the order in 
 which they are presented in the text. 
 
 We are exhorted in the opening clause 
 to vigorous intelligence, or mental activity, 
 **Gird up the loins of your mind." The 
 Christian religion never has placed and 
 never can place a premium upon sloth. Her 
 invariable injunction to all is this: ^'^Vhat- 
 soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
 thy might." The words of the text assure 
 us that the intellectual part of our nature 
 is not to be made an exception to this rule. 
 The progressive Christian must stand in 
 the council of the Lord and learn with zeal, 
 for purity of doctrine is no less an essential
 
 Intelligent Goodness. 187 
 
 than purity of life. The Bible and the 
 Christian religion emphasize culture. Paul, 
 who was a man of vigorous intellect, broad 
 culture, and strong volition, to whose in- 
 tellectual development three civilizations 
 contributed, had none of that miserable 
 contempt for human learning which charac- 
 terizes some of the religious fanatics of 
 to-day. He believed that religion was de- 
 signed to educate the soul, build up the 
 character, develop native qualities, mar- 
 shal the energies, subject the will, and em- 
 ploy the imagination. He believed that it 
 was through mental processes, largely, that 
 the Holy Spirit works. Hence his exhorta- 
 tion — ' ' Be ye transformed by the renewing 
 of your minds, that ye may prove what is 
 that good, and acceptable, and perfect will 
 of God." If religion is to give birth, 
 growth, and maturity to our spiritual lives, 
 she must not ignore the intellectual in man. 
 She must not dispense with culture, for 
 that would be to reject her strongest ally.
 
 188 Confiict and Victory, 
 
 The point to which Peter especially di- 
 rects our attention is not so much the need 
 of being educated, but the necessity of 
 keeping the mind always under control, in 
 training and ready for action. This is evi- 
 dent from the figure he employs, ' ' Grird up 
 the loins of your mind." The reference 
 here is to the girded waiter of the ancient 
 world who, when on duty, had his loins girt 
 about, and his long, flowing robes tucked up 
 under his belt, so as to admit of free and 
 prompt movement. When a command for 
 service was given no time was permitted 
 for girding oneself. That had to be done 
 previous to presenting oneself for duty. 
 How aptly this figure applies to the life of 
 the Christian in an intellectual sense. 
 Preparation for service is a necessity in 
 the religious world if we are to be recep- 
 tive to the truth and competent to detect 
 error. As Bishop Hurst observes, * ' There 
 is an intimate union between philosophy 
 and theo]og\^ and, hence, anything less
 
 Intelligent Goodness. 189 
 
 than the pursuit and cultivation of a sound 
 philosophy will endanger our theology." 
 Tennyson gives us a beautiful word of ad- 
 vice when he says : 
 
 "Hold thou the good: define it well ; 
 Nor fear Divine philosophy 
 Should push beyond her mark, and be 
 Procuress to the lords of hell." 
 
 When I look out upon the world to-day 
 and see the mighty conflict that is waging, 
 fierce and strong, between the children of 
 light and the allied forces of evil, I feel, as 
 a Christian man, that 
 
 " I dare not sit with loins ungirt and 
 
 Staff imlifted; for death stands too near. 
 
 I must be up and doing — yea, each minute ; 
 
 The grave gives time for rest when we are in it." 
 
 As Christians it becomes us to wage an 
 eternal conflict, not simply with worldliness 
 and moral indifference, but with mental 
 sluggishness in things pertaining to reli- 
 gion. We must emphasize the fact that in
 
 190 Confiict cmd Victory. 
 
 all parts of God's Kingdom fitness is the 
 law of service, and the only law. In the 
 religious world we must study to show our- 
 selves approved unto God, for He can only 
 use our work according to its fitness. 
 Hence, God will not, because He can not in 
 the spiritual world, any more than in the 
 physical, produce grapes from thorns, or 
 figs from thistles. This would be inconsist- 
 ent, and here we draw the line. 
 
 We are also exhorted in the text to be 
 men and women of self-control. In other 
 words, we are to "be sober." There are 
 those in the religious world who would have 
 us believe that to be deeply religious, we 
 must be lost to all self-control. Such a 
 view is sadly out of harmony with the 
 teaching of God's word. If the Bible has 
 any lessons for me in this particular, it is 
 that the true Christian is not volatile, fickle, 
 or fanatical!. It expressly declares that 
 ' ' God is not the author of confusion, but of 
 peace as in all the churches of the saints. ' '
 
 Intelligent Goodness. 19i 
 
 When Peter gave us the advice of the text, 
 he spake from experience. His character 
 was very different when he wrote this Epis- 
 tle, from what it was when he said to Jesus, 
 ''Behold, we have forsaken all, and fol- 
 lowed Thee; what shall we have there- 
 fore?" The old impetuosity which 
 prompted him to strike off an ear, and the 
 old forwardness which led him to even 
 rebuke the Savior had been chastened, re- 
 fined, subdued. There was the same 
 natural temperament, the same sanguine 
 hope, but it was directed, not to self -exalta- 
 tion and pre-eminence above his brethren, 
 but to the glorious prospects that open to 
 all faithful workers. Naturally an impul- 
 sive, hot-headed, rash man, he became 
 through the influence of the Spirit self- 
 poised, calm, and thoughtful. True, he was 
 fervent, but not disorderly; full of high 
 enthusiasm, but free from religious hys- 
 teria. Such should every Christian aim to 
 be, for religion consists in a calm, quiet
 
 192 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 Tvalk with God. It has, it is true, its emo- 
 tions which at times are deep and strong, 
 but it is ever orderly and grave. In writ- 
 ing to the Thessalonian believers, Paul 
 could say concerning the conduct of Silas, 
 Timotheus, and himself, "We behaved not 
 ourselves disorderly among you." Paul 
 was a manly Christian, a follower of Jesus, 
 his ideal. In Christ we find beautifully 
 blended the highest refinement and the 
 truest grace. In studying His life among 
 men, we find that He was never common- 
 place, rude, or vulgar, even to His enemies. 
 If He was severe. He was dignified; if 
 familiar, yet always with becoming reserve. 
 No wonder that Eenan, the scholarly 
 skeptic of France, should stand with un- 
 covered head in the presence of the Man of 
 Nazareth. No wonder that IngersoU, the 
 dashing, eloquent skeptic of America, 
 should join Pilate in saying of the Man, 
 Christ, "I find no fault in Him." Why 
 these acknowledgments? Simply because
 
 Intelligent Goodness. 193 
 
 in point of behavior Christ is still the 
 world's perfect model. Those who con- 
 form their lives to the example He gave 
 while on earth will be the most influential. 
 A strong man is always stronger for be- 
 ing a thorough gentleman. A good man is 
 better, and his goodness is more highly ap- 
 preciated, if he observes those minor vir- 
 tues which refine and beautify the life, for 
 the Word of God assures us that, ' ' Better 
 is he that ruleth his own spirit than he that 
 taketh a city." It is the bane of our own 
 times that the average man is almost sure 
 to underestimate that part of himself which 
 may be termed his personal influence. This 
 is unfortunate, for every man should have 
 an ambition to impress the world and 
 leave it better than he found it. Our influ- 
 ence should and will increase if our char- 
 acters continue to grow and our conduct 
 improves. If we would enhance our influ- 
 ence and increase our power, we must sur- 
 render ourselves completely to the cause of 
 
 13
 
 194 Confiict cmd Victory. 
 
 right and be wise in all our efforts to pro- 
 mote it; for, as a general thing, when the 
 world wants a reliable man, one who is a 
 positive quantity, it almost invariably 
 turns away from the frivolous and the er- 
 ratic and makes choice of the earnest, self- 
 reliant, forceful, sober man. 
 
 "Think truly, and thy thought shall the world's 
 
 famine feed; 
 Speak truly, and thy word shall be a fruitful seed: 
 Live truly, and thy life shall be a great and noble 
 
 creed." 
 
 In the last clause of the text we are 
 exhorted to be optimistic Christians, to 
 ''hope unto the end." In the theological 
 world Peter is called the apostle of hope, 
 for while Paul emphasizes faith and John 
 love, Peter lays particular stress upon 
 hope. This is greatly to his credit, for 
 hope is a mighty motive power in the lives 
 we live here upon earth. And for him to 
 take it and make it subservient to the build- 
 ing up of Christ 's kingdom upon earth was
 
 Intelligent Goodness. 195 
 
 an undertaking worthy of an apostle. 
 ' ' Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, 
 and hope unto the end. ' ' What a wonder- 
 ful magic there is in that word hope ! What 
 would this world do, what would this life 
 be without it! In the secular world it is 
 the great secret of success and the strong- 
 est incentive to enterprise. Annihilate 
 hope and the husbandman would forsake 
 his furrow, the physician his patient, the 
 student his books, the merchant his traffic, 
 and the scientist his crucible. Even Pagan 
 mythology in her vain but beautiful dreams 
 said that when all other divinities fled 
 from the world, hope with her elastic step, 
 beaming countenance, and lustrous attire 
 lingered behind to comfort and bless. How 
 true this has been of religious hope, which 
 has never been absent from the world for 
 a single day! In every period of human 
 history the star of hope has lent its realiz- 
 ing light. I look back to Eden and I see 
 the drooping exiles going forth to an awful
 
 196 Conflict (Mid Victory. 
 
 inheritance of pain and labor, but hope is 
 there. To them has been given the promise 
 that the seed of the woman shall bruise 
 the serpent's head. A little further down 
 the centuries I see a solitary pilgrim toil- 
 ing wearily along amid wild pastoral hills, 
 ignorant of his true destiny, but as he 
 journeys his face is radiant with hope, for 
 he is traveling toward an inheritance — a 
 promised land, where his seed is to become 
 as numerous as the stars that shine above 
 him, or the grains of sand beneath his feet. 
 I follow the course of events on down to 
 the close of a great dispensation and the 
 beginning of a new and glorious era, and 
 I find myself standing upon Mount Cal- 
 vary, surrounded by a weary world of 
 moral darkness, and I see Him who is the 
 world's hope taken by rude hands and 
 crucified. I see Him taken from the cross 
 and laid in a new tomb of hewn rock, a 
 great stone is rolled to the door, and the 
 greatest eartly power — the Roman govern-
 
 Intelligent Goodness. 197 
 
 ment — seals the tomb. It seems as if re- 
 ligious hope has perished, for who shall 
 dare to interfere with a Roman seal? A 
 watch of Roman soldiers is placed on 
 guard, and thus they hold their victim. 
 But wait a little. On the morning of the 
 third day a visitant from another world 
 approaches that tomb. At the brightness 
 of his appearing the guards are overpow- 
 ered, and become as dead men. Without 
 pausing to inquire as to whose authority 
 is being interfered with the seal is broken, 
 the stone is rolled back, and the mighty 
 Conqueror comes forth from His tomb, a 
 glorious victor. I follow Him out to 
 Bethany, and I see Him lift His hands in 
 blessing on His disciples, bidding them go 
 forth to redeem the world, adding this sig- 
 nificant promise, ''Lo, I am with you al- 
 way, even unto the end of the days. ' ' This 
 is the world's hope, the Christian's an- 
 chor. 
 
 Shall men of science, art, and philosophy
 
 198 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 pursue their way undeterred by successive 
 failures, and shall the Christian become 
 the victim of faintness and despair? Shall 
 they cry out '^Excelsior," and we moan 
 out, dolefully, "Ichabod, Ichabod, — the 
 glory has departed?" No, no, it never has 
 been so, and it never shall be. Have they 
 sustaining, inspiring hope ? We have more ; 
 ours is a conquering, victorious hope. It 
 fills the whole horizon and reaches to the 
 infinite, for it is '^ Christ in me, the hope 
 of glory. ' ' 
 
 The executioners may lead Paul forth to 
 be beheaded, or torn to pieces by the wild 
 beasts, but they can not rob him of that 
 hope which anchors his soul to that which 
 is within the veil, or prevent him from 
 saying, "I am now ready to be offered up; 
 I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
 my course, I have kept the faith. Hence- 
 forth there is laid up for me a crown of 
 righteousness which the Lord, the right- 
 eous Judge, shall give unto me at that day,
 
 Intelligent Goodness. 199 
 
 and not unto me only, but unto all them 
 that love His appearing. ' ' The Christian 's 
 hope is a glorious hope. It is worth some- 
 thing to be able to say, through faith in 
 the Gospel of which the scholarly Paul was 
 not ashamed and the Christ who stood 
 waiting to receive Stephen's spirit, when 
 standing upon the verge of the grave and 
 in the prospect of the dust returning to 
 its dust, "My flesh shall rest in hope." It 
 is worth something to be able to say, "My 
 soul, wait thou only upon God, for my ex- 
 pectation is from Him. ' ' 
 
 "The wise man, saith the Bible, walks with God, 
 Surveys far on the endless line of life; 
 Values his soul: thinks on eternity; both 
 Worlds considei's and provides for both; 
 With reason's eye his passions guards; 
 Abstains from evil; lives on hope, on hope the 
 
 fruit of faith. 
 Looks upward: purifies his soul, expands his wings 
 And mounts into the sky; 
 Passes beyond the sun and gains his 
 Father's house, and drinks with angels from the 
 Fount of bliss."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CITIZEN- 
 SHIP.
 
 "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." 
 
 "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a 
 reproach to any people." 
 
 "When the righteous are in authority, the people 
 rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people 
 mourn." 
 
 "God is no respecter of persons: but in every 
 nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteous- 
 ness, is acceptable to Him." 

 
 THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CITIZEN- 
 SHIP. 
 
 Thou Shalt provide out of all the people able men, 
 such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness ; 
 and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, 
 and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers 
 of tens. — Exodus xviii, 21. 
 
 Through assisting a fellow countryman 
 to slay an Egyptian, Moses became a fugi- 
 tive and fled from justice. The land of 
 Midian became his sanctuary. Here he 
 lived for many years with Jethro, the 
 priest, whose flocks he tended and whose 
 daughter, Zipporah, he married. By this 
 marriage he had two sons, Gershom and 
 Eliezer. One day while keeping his father- 
 in-law's flocks near Mt. Horeb, an angel of 
 the Lord appeared to him out of a burning 
 
 203
 
 204 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 bush and gave him instructions to go down 
 into Egypt and liberate his oppressed 
 brethren. In obedience to this command 
 he went back to Egypt, leaving his wife 
 and two sons to be cared for by his father- 
 in-law. 
 
 I shall not stop to recount the wonder- 
 ful things that transpired in Egypt before 
 he was able to effect a deliverance for his 
 oppressed brethren, noc shall I linger to 
 give the details of their triumph at the 
 Eed Sea, and their signal victory over 
 Amalek. All these are, no doubt, very 
 familiar to you. It is enough to say that 
 the news of these strange and startling 
 events spread very rapidly over the entire 
 Sinaitic peninsula. 
 
 When Jethro heard all that the Lord had 
 done for Moses and learned that the 
 Israelites were encamped before Mount 
 Sinai, he decided to pay Moses a personal 
 visit and at the same time take to him his 
 wife and two sons, who had been left in
 
 Responsibility of Citizenship. 205 
 
 his care when he went down into Egypt to 
 help his brethren. When Jethro reached 
 Mount Sinai, he was received by Moses 
 with every token of respect, treated as a 
 superior and made welcome in the camp of 
 Israel. Moses, as might be exi^ected, told 
 him all that God had done for his country- 
 men, and Jethro, showing no signs of 
 mortification at seeing his former shepherd 
 in such an exalted position, was filled with 
 joy, and said, "Blessed be the Lord who 
 hath delivered you out of the hand of the 
 Egyptian." Owing, no doubt, to the hur- 
 ried condition of things, Moses had only 
 one day to spend in entertaining his father- 
 in-law; for we are informed by the sacred 
 historian that "On the morrow he sat to 
 judge the people." It would seem that 
 from the time he was accepted as leader 
 by the people, he had considered himself 
 bound to hear and decide all complaints 
 that might arise among them. And so 
 numerous were the cases that were brought
 
 206 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 before him that he was compelled to sit 
 from morning until evening. This was by 
 far too hea\^ a task for any one man to 
 assume in a community numbering millions 
 of souls. And Jethro, who was a man of 
 keen observation and good judgment, see- 
 ing that Moses was pursuing a course that 
 would ultimately prove disastrous, took it 
 upon himself to give him some advice in 
 this matter of governing the people. He 
 saw at once that there were enough men 
 in Israel who were sufficiently qualified to 
 execute all the minor governmental func- 
 tions and that such persons ought to be 
 utilized; for Moses would not only wear 
 himself out with fatigue, but he would 
 also exhaust the patience of the people 
 through inability to attend personally to 
 the number of cases that would be sure to 
 arise among so many. Jethro, therefore, 
 recommended the appointment of subordi- 
 nate officers to administer justice in all 
 cases of minor importance, reserving only
 
 Hesponsihilit/y of Citizenship. 207 
 
 the more difficult ones for Moses himself 
 to adjust. The kind of men he advised him 
 to appoint for this work were such as are 
 described in my text : ' ' Thou shalt provide 
 out of all the people," said Jethro, ''able 
 men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating 
 covetousness. " Nor did he wish Moses to 
 act hastily in this matter, for he further 
 remarked, ' ' If thou shalt do this thing and 
 God command thee so, then thou shalt be 
 able to endure, and all this people shall go 
 to their place in peace.'' Jethro intended 
 that the whole of this plan should be sub- 
 mitted for God's approval before being 
 adopted, and the fact that Moses, acting 
 upon Jethro 's advice, did all that he had 
 been advised to do in this matter is proof 
 positive to me that God was well pleased 
 with the plan, for if not, Moses would never 
 have put it into execution. So much, then, 
 for Jethro 's suggestion. 
 
 Let me now invite you to consider for 
 a moment some of the features pertaining
 
 208 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 to the election of these rulers in Israel, 
 which are, in a measure, analogous to our 
 own form of government. "Thou shalt 
 provide out of all the people. ' ' From the 
 phraseology of my text, one might infer 
 that Moses went through the camp of 
 Israel and selected such men as he consid- 
 ered best qualified to rule. But this, how- 
 ever, was not the case, for it was not Moses 
 who made the selection, but the people 
 themselves. Moses simply confirmed them. 
 This I infer from Deut. i, 15, where Moses 
 in referring back to this event uses these 
 words, ' ' And I spake unto you at that time, 
 saying, I am not able to bear you myself 
 alone. Take you wise men and understand- 
 ing men and known among your tribes and 
 I will make them rulers over you. And 
 ye answered me and said. The thing which 
 thou hast spoken is good for us to do." 
 By this we see that the people elected their 
 rulers and Moses simply ratified their 
 choice and installed them in office. Here, 
 
 M\
 
 Mesponsibility of Citizenship. 209 
 
 then, was a government, "of the people, 
 by the people, and for the people. ' ' 
 
 Whether Moses realized it or not, it is 
 nevertheless a fact that we are in a cer- 
 tain sense creatures of law. That is to say, 
 there is a law in our nature which compels 
 us to organize and govern. It was God 
 who placed that law there, and hence it fol- 
 lows that Civil Government has become a 
 trust committed to human society by the 
 Being who created man. Legislation is re- 
 garded by some political economists as the 
 most difficult part of human government. 
 This the Israelites had furnished for them 
 by the Supreme Ruler of the universe, who 
 gave them their laws, — laws which are the 
 basis of all wise legislation to-day. In- 
 deed, in the Jewish Theocracy, God was 
 compelled to furnish that people not only 
 with good laws, but with a good system 
 of government. And it is noteworthy that 
 that form of government which God ap- 
 proved was not one which gave general 
 
 14
 
 210 Conjlict and Victory. 
 
 power, but universal service, the aiu? of 
 which was ' ' the greatest good of £he great- 
 est number," and which, as we have seen, 
 was a government of the people, by the 
 people, and for the people. With this form 
 of government God was well pleased, but 
 when Israel asked for a king He was very 
 much displeased. In Israel, during the 
 time under consideration, the people had 
 the privilege of selecting their rulers, and 
 in this particular our condition is similar, 
 for in America the people rule. Then, too, 
 if their laws were not properly adminis- 
 tered, the people were to blame for it ; for 
 if improper persons were elected to office, 
 you will readily admit that the disgrace 
 was the people's. In like manner, if the 
 people of this nation elect incompetent, 
 unworthj^, or dishonorable men to office, 
 the disgrace will be that of the nation in 
 which such men are permitted to rule; for 
 in this country the responsibility of main- 
 taining good government lies in the hands
 
 Responsihility of Citizenshvp. 211 
 
 that deposit the ballots, and hence, it' we 
 are not governed as we ought to be, then 
 we, the people, the voters of the country, 
 are to blame for it. In the case of the 
 Israelites the people were splendidly gov- 
 erned, and the reason, or secret, whichever 
 you may term it, was to be found in the 
 fact that none but good men were eligible 
 to office. Just notice, if you please, the 
 qualifications that were demanded of all 
 candidates for office in the days of Moses. 
 None were eligible to office who could not 
 measure up to a certain standard, and 
 that standard was a very high one. 
 Character and ability were the things that 
 were taken into consideration, and further, 
 let me say, that these things were de- 
 manded alike of him who ruled over ten, 
 as well as of him who ruled over a thou- 
 sand. Let us go back and read the text 
 once more. ' ' Thou shalt provide out of all 
 the people able men, such as fear God, men 
 of tinith, hating covetousness ; and place
 
 212 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 such over them, to be rulers of thousands, 
 and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, 
 and rulers of tens. ' ' Here we see that the 
 first prerequisite was ability; for they 
 were, first of all, to be able men. You 
 may think it a little strange that this 
 quality should come first, but, no doubt, 
 Jethro realized that it required men of 
 ability to fill responsible positions. There 
 are hundreds and thousands of men who 
 are honest, upright, and reliable who ought 
 never to be promoted to positions of re- 
 sponsibility, because they have no qualifi- 
 cations whatever for public service. Or- 
 dinary powers are not enough to qualify 
 a man to properly represent his fellows in 
 the council chambers of men, for unless a 
 public man has ability, he will not be able 
 to hold the respect of his constituents, if 
 they are at all intelligent. To inspire con- 
 fidence and deserve promotion, a man must 
 have sagacity and practical discernment. 
 Lacking these, he will be an injury to the 
 
 «
 
 Responsibility of Citizenship. 213 
 
 country if raised to an important office. 
 For a man, therefore, to assist in the elec- 
 tion of an unqualified ruler is simply to 
 commit a crime against the State. But for 
 a man to allow personal fitness for office 
 to influence his choice, other things being 
 equal, is to make the eternal God the um- 
 pire, and in civic affairs it is the way to 
 do His will on earth as it is done in heaven. 
 The man, therefore, who on election day 
 allows whim, caprice, or partizanship to in- 
 duce him to cast his ballot for an incompe- 
 tent person when principles are at stake, 
 and right and justice in danger, tampers 
 with a public trust, and is a traitor to the 
 best interest of his country. 
 
 But to be an eligible public man in Israel, 
 a person needed more than ability. First, 
 Moses was to see that all the candidates 
 for public office were men of ability. Then 
 from these he was to confirm or install in 
 office such able men as feared God. ' ' Thou 
 shalt provide out of all the people able men,
 
 214 Conjiict and Victory. 
 
 such as fear God. ' ' I said, a moment ago, 
 that piety was not enough to qualify a man 
 for public service. I want to say now that 
 ability, in itself considered, is not a suffi- 
 cient guarantee that a man's i^ublic official 
 life will be what it ought to be. There must 
 be the fear of God linked with ability be- 
 fore a man can measure up to the Bible 
 standard of a ruler, even over ten persons. 
 If an upright. God-fearing, reliable, though 
 incapable man is unfit for public office, 
 which he certainly is, then let me say, with 
 all the emphasis I can give it, that the able, 
 qualified skeptic, or unrighteous person, is 
 a thousand times less qualified ; for, unless 
 God is reverenced by our public men, we 
 can have no security that justice will be 
 done, even by men of the greatest intelli- 
 gence. If a man has not the fear of God 
 before his eyes, then is it not plain that the 
 more ability he has, the more capable he is 
 to do harm, and the more likely he will be 
 to use it in that way? There is an old
 
 Mesponsibilita/ of Citisenship. 215 
 
 custom in England, which I think is still 
 extant, making it incumbent on the 
 "Judges of Assizes" to preface the open- 
 ing of their commission in each assize town 
 by attendance at divine service and the 
 hearing of God's Word preached by a min- 
 ister of the Gospel. I think this is a wise 
 and profitable custom. The only security 
 we can have for righteous judgment is to 
 be sure that the men who administer it have 
 a proper regard for righteousness. With 
 Thomas Carlyle, I believe it to be " A great 
 truth that human things can not stand upon 
 selfishness, mechanical utilities, economics, 
 and law courts;" for, ''if there be not a 
 religious element in the relations of men, 
 then such relations are miserable and 
 doomed to ruin. " ' ' The being of a God, ' ' 
 says Charnot, '4s the guard of the world; 
 the sense of a God is the foundation of civil 
 order : for without this there can be no tie 
 upon the consciences of men." These 
 words have a special application to every
 
 1 
 
 216 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 public man and citizen in America. George 
 AVashington, in his farewell address, said : 
 ''Of all the dispositions and habits which 
 lead to political prosperity, religion and 
 morality are indispensable supports. In 
 vain would that man claim the tribute of 
 patriotism who should labor to subvert 
 these great pillars of human happiness, 
 these first props of the duties of men and 
 citizens. And let us with caution indulge 
 the supposition that morality can be main- 
 tained without religion. ^Tiatever may be 
 conceded to the influence of refined educa- 
 tion on minds of peculiar mental structure, 
 reason and experience forbid us to expect 
 that national morality can prevail in the 
 exclusion of religious principles." These 
 words from the father of his country, ut- 
 tered so long ago, commend themselves to 
 our better judgment to-day. We can have 
 but little faith in the public administration 
 of any man who has no moral principles; 
 for, as has been well said, "If ability is
 
 Mesjponsibility of Citizenship. 217 
 
 the engine that drives the ship of State, 
 the fear of God is the helm that guides it 
 clear of the breakers." Passing by truth 
 loving men, which is fully covered in the 
 life of every God-fearing man, let us glance 
 at the last item of my text, ''Men who 
 hate covetousness, " or as the new revision 
 has it, ''Haters of unjust gain." It is al- 
 ways wise to shut out covetous persons 
 from a share in the government, for the 
 tendency of covetousness is to harden the 
 heart and blind the judgment. Where such 
 a spirit is indulged, self is magnified more 
 and more, and the rights of others are not 
 only disregarded, but ignored. The duty 
 of citizenship in a nation and government 
 like ours is a sacred one. We should, and 
 we will, if true men, make our ballots the 
 conscientious expression of our personal 
 convictions. We should ever remember, 
 when making choice of a candidate, that 
 while ability is never to be overlooked, still 
 the greatest importance is placed by him
 
 218 Conflict and Victory. 
 
 to whom we owe our first allegiance upon 
 his being a man of character as well as 
 ability. God's command to the citizens of 
 this nation is this: "Thou shalt provide 
 out of all the people able men, such as fear 
 God, men of truth, hating covetousness ; " 
 to govern the people in the interests of 
 righteousness. AVhen such men can be 
 found you can safely trust them; for they 
 will serve as those who have to give an 
 account. If history can be of any service to 
 us in this connection, then its findings may 
 be stated thus : ' ' There is no surer sign of 
 national demoralization, no more certain 
 indication of approaching ruin, than the 
 promotion of the unfit and the unworthy, 
 and there is no healthier symptom than the 
 advancement of the upright and the cap- 
 able. The questions which every right- 
 thinking man will ask himself before cast- 
 ing his ballot are : Has he ability? Does he 
 fear God so that an oath of office will bind
 
 Mesponsibility of Citizenship. 219 
 
 Ms conscience? Is he true? Does he hate 
 unjust gain? 
 
 "What constitutes a state? 
 Not high-raised battlement or labored mound. 
 
 Thick wall, or moated gate; 
 Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned; 
 
 Not bays and broad-armed ports. 
 Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; 
 
 Not starred and spangled courts. 
 Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. 
 
 No: men, high-minded men, 
 With powers as far above dull brutes endued 
 
 In forest, brake, or den. 
 As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude — 
 
 Men who their duties know. 
 But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain. 
 
 Prevent the long-aimed blow. 
 And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain; 
 
 These constitute a state; 
 And sovereign law, that state's collected will, 
 
 O'er thrones and globes elate. 
 Sits empress, ci-owning good, repressing ill, 
 
 Smit by her sacred frown, 
 The fiend. Dissension, like a vapor sinks; 
 
 And e'en the all-dazzling crown 
 Hides his faint rays, and at her bidding shrinks."
 
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