immediate and practical purpose than by just gazing upon one or two of
the hopes of the apostle Paul, if perchance by God's good grace we may
appropriate them to our own souls. For he, too, is wearing the helmet of
hope, the hope of salvation. What, then, does he hope for? What mighty
hope is throwing the energies of its defences upon and around his soul?
Here is one of his hopes; look at it: "In hope of the glory of God." He
wore that hope, and he wore it like a helmet, and he wore it night and
day. He had gazed upon the glory of the Lord, the wondrous light of
grace and truth which shone in the face of Jesus Christ. And now he
dared to hold the glorious hope of becoming glorified with the same
glory. He dared to hope that his own soul would become translucent with
the holy light of divine truth and purity. It almost makes one catch the
breath to see such spiritual audacity. One has read of young boys
trembling with artistic sensibility, bowing in the presence of the
world's masterpieces in art or music, and becoming possessed with the
amazing hope of one day sharing the master's light and glory. But here
is a man who has been prostrate in the presence of his God. He has been
humbly gazing upon "the chief among ten thousand and the altogether
lovely." And now, in a daring which yet quiets the soul in reverence and
prayerful lowliness, he tells his fellow-believers that he lives "in
hope of the glory of God." What a hope! The hope of being glorified with
God's glory, of being made gracious with His grace, of being made
truthful with His truth, of being sanctified with His holiness, of being
transformed into the same image, from glory unto glory! I say, what a
hope, and therefore, what a helmet! With a helmet like that defending a
man's brain, what a defence he has against all the petty devilries which
seek to enter among our thoughts in the shape of mean purposes, and
petty moral triflings, such as so often invade and desolate the whole
realm of the mind! What a hope this is, and what a helmet; "the hope of
the glory of God."
And here is another way the apostle has of describing the hope he
wears, "the hope of salvation;"--"To present us spotless before His
throne." Quietly and reverently repeat that phrase, again, and again,
and again, until something of its grandeur begins to fill your soul as
the advancing light of the rising sun fills a vale in Switzerland with
its soft and mellowing glory. "To present us spotless before His
throne." What a hope! And yet this man wore it every day, in all the ups
and downs, the victories and defeats of his ever-changing life. "To
present us spotless before His throne!" Just think of wearing that hope
in New York! And by God's good grace we can wear it; yes, indeed, we
can, and what a helmet to wear! When a man has got that helmet on, and
some sharp temptation is hurled at him, it will fall away from him like
a paper pellet thrown against the armour plate of a mighty dreadnought.
"To present us spotless!" Wear that helmet of hope, and the devil shall
batter thee in vain. For what can the devil do with men and women in
whom these hopes are blazing? He offers us his glittering snares, and
they are revealed as common paste in the presence of genuine stones.
They stand exposed as noisy fireworks in the presence of the stars.
Let us wear the helmet of hope, the helmet of salvation, and we are
quite secure. But let us put it on every day. Every morning let us put
on the helmet, and often and again during the day let us feel that it is
in its place. Let us begin the day by saying, "Now, my soul, live to-day
in hope of the glory of God! Live to-day in the hope of being presented
spotless before His throne! Live to-day in the hope of being 'filled
unto all the fulness of God'." Let us put that helmet on, and let us do
it deliberately, prayerfully, and trustfully, and in life's evil day we
shall be able to stand, and having done all, to stand.
VII
THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
_Heavenly Father, Who hast given Thy Holy Spirit to comfort and
to guide Thy servants, teach us to trust His leading. Day by day
we would listen to His consolation and direction. When we open
Thy Word of Life we would rely upon His illuminating
interpretation. When the story of the character and the depths
of the teaching of Jesus are far beyond us, and seem
unapproachable, when doubts and fears assail the mind, let us
abide in quiet repose under the tuition of the indwelling
Spirit. When desire for the highest life fails, and hunger and
thirst after righteousness are forgotten in other pursuits, may
the kindly Spirit inspire afresh the ardor of enthusiasm which
He alone can create. When we have lost our bearings in the maze
of life teach us to look to the ever-present Guide Who brings
back into the clear path all Who trust Him; through Jesus
Christ. Amen._
VII
THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
"Take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God."
Ephesians 6:17.
Here is the Christian soldier with his sword, and his sword is the Word
of God. And what a sword it is! "Then said Mr. Greatheart to Mr.
Valiant-for-truth, Thou hast worthily behaved thyself; let me see thy
sword. So he showed it him. When he had taken it into his hand and
looked thereon a while, he said, Ha, it is a right Jerusalem blade. Then
said Mr. Valiant-for-truth, It is so. Let a man have one of these
blades, with a hand to wield it, and skill to use it, and he may venture
upon an angel with it. He need not fear its holding if he can but tell
how to lay on. Its edge will never blunt. It will cut flesh and bones,
and soul and spirit and all." Yes indeed, this sword is a serviceable
and most efficient weapon. And it might be profitable, in the very
beginning of our meditation, to go on to the field of actual battle and
watch one or two mighty swordsmen wielding the sword in actual war. And
let us begin with Him who could wield the sword as none other could do
and who never drew it in vain. "And the tempter came to Him and said, If
Thou art the Son of God command that these stones be made bread." At
once the Master's hand was on the hilt of His sword and He drew it forth
for combat. "It is written man shall not live by bread alone." It was
"the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!" The place of battle
is now changed, but the [missing text] unto Him, "All these things will
I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." And again the Master
whipped out His sword;--"Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou
shalt worship the Lord Thy God, and Him only shalt Thou serve." It was
"the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God!"
Now turn your eyes to quite another field of battle where one of the
Master's disciples, a very skilful swordsman, is in combat with a very
deadly foe. "And when the people saw what Paul had done"--he had just
given a cripple the power to walk--"they lifted up their voices saying,
The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called
Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker."
Now what did the apostle do in the presence of so deadly a peril, a
peril which garbed itself in the attractive robes of light? Immediately
he drew out his sword, and fought his shining antagonist with a word
from the 146th Psalm! That is excellent swordwork, by a most excellent
swordsman! And he used "the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of
God."
Or turn once more to another field of battle, to the Valley of
Humiliation, where "poor Christian was hard put to it. For he had gone
but a little way before he espied a foul fiend coming over the field to
meet him; his name was Apollyon." "Then did Christian draw, for he saw
it was time to bestir him; Apollyon as fast made at him, throwing darts
as thick as hail.... The sword combat lasted for about half a day, even
till Christian was almost quite spent; for you must know that Christian,
by reason of his wounds, must needs grow weaker and weaker. Then
Apollyon, espying his opportunity, began to gather up close to
Christian, and wrestling with him gave him a dreadful fall; and with
that Christian's sword flew out of his hand. Then said Apollyon, I am
sure of thee now. And with that he had almost pressed him to death, so
that Christian began to despair of life. But as God would have it, while
Apollyon was fetching his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this
good man, Christian nimbly reached out his hand for his sword, saying,
Rejoice not against me, oh mine enemy: when I fall I shall arise; and
with that gave him a deadly thrust which made him give back as one that
had received his mortal wound. Christian perceiving that made at him
again, saying, 'Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us.' And with that Apollyon spread forth his
broken wings, and sped him away, so that Christian saw him no more.... I
never saw Christian all this while give as much as one pleasant look,
till he perceived he had wounded Apollyon with his two-edged sword; then
indeed he did smile and look upward.... Then there came to him a man
with some of the leaves of the tree of life, the which Christian took
and applied to the wounds that he had received in the battle and was
healed immediately." Surely to watch expert fighters like these, who
turn their battlefields into fields of glory, makes one more ambitious
to possess and wield that same two-edged sword, the sword of the Spirit
which is the Word of God!
Well now, it is this sword which Paul advises these young disciples at
Ephesus to get and hold at all costs, and never to leave it rusting in
the scabbard at home. And surely, if there was need for swordwork
anywhere it was in that gay, shallow, materialistic city of Ephesus. We
have been reading many terrible accounts of late of bayonet fighting in
the trenches in Belgium and France, where gunnery attacks were
unavailable, and where men came face to face in the hot breath of one
another's passions, and were locked in the death-grip of hand-to-hand
encounter. It was even so with the spiritual warfare in Ephesus. There
was no long-range fighting, no far distant antagonisms, no remote or
merely theoretical persecution. The foes of the soul were exceedingly
real, exceedingly near, and exceedingly intimate. In Ephesus your enemy
was upon you in a moment, and there was nothing for it but never to let
the sword fall from your hand. Spiritual enemies approached the soul
every hour of the day, and it was imperative to run them through with
the sword of the truth. There were falsities, and subtleties, and
evasions; there were ambiguities and sophistries; there were half truths
linked with black falsehood, and white lies linked with snatches of
truth; there were exaggerations and perversions; there were insinuations
and evil counsels; there were mean expediencies and illicit compromises;
there were hypocrisies of every kind in that prosperous city of Ephesus,
tricked out in apparent seemliness, and perilous in all the wiles of the
devil. What, then, was a young Christian to do in all that immoral
welter? He must have his sword in hand, always in hand, and he must
prick these bubbles, and pierce these showy disguises, and rend these
deceptive veils, and he must do it at once, before they mastered him
with the plausible counterfeits of the truth.
I saw a photograph the other day from the European field of war, in
which a company of soldiers were examining a load of hay. They were
piercing it with their swords in the endeavour to find out if any foe
lay hidden in the fragrant pile. And I could not but think of the
warfare of the soul, and of the sweet and fragrant disguises in which
the devil is so often concealed. The devil in a hay-rick! I have
experienced it a thousand times. A deadly temptation hidden in some
innocent expediency! Some fatal lure concealed in a popular custom!
Corruption housing itself in a white lie! The enemy wearing a white
robe! The devil, I say, in a hay-rick! In such conditions there was only
one resource for these disciples in Ephesus, as there is only one
resource for you and me to-day, to have our swords always ready, and to
pierce these glistening falsities in the blessed name of the holy and
unchanging God. Yes, whip out your sword, the sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God.
What, then, is this sword? It is "the Word of God." And what is this
Word of God which we are to flash through all falsehood like the thrust
of a gleaming sword? What is this Word which is to be our sword? Well,
first of all, it is the word of divine truth; God's way of thinking
about things. And therefore when we are wielding the sword we are using
a thought of God. We are to use God's thought about a thing in fighting
all other thoughts about that thing. For instance, we are to take God's
thought about life, and use it as a sword to meet and destroy all mean
and unworthy conceptions of life. We are to take God's thought about sin
and use it in combating all the lax and deadly conceptions of sin which
are so loose and rampant in our own day. We are to take God's thought
about holiness, and use it in fighting all ignoble compromises which may
satisfy a poor standard in the kingdom of the letter, but which have no
standing in the more glorious realm of the spirit. We are to take God's
thought about worship, and fight all the little, mean, seductive
ritualisms which so frequently strut about in royal and gorgeous robes,
but which are empty of all vital spiritual wealth and power.
And so with a thousand other relations. God's thought about a thing is
to be our sword in fighting all the debasing thoughts of that thing; it
may be God's thought of work, or of wealth, or of success, or of
failure, or God's thought of pleasure, or of service, or of death. What
does God think about a thing? That is my sword, the thought of God which
is the word of God. And we are to take that shining, flaming, flashing
thought, and use it as a sword among all the creeping, crawling things,
or against all the flying and bewitching subtleties of things which
abounded in Ephesus, and which are equally prolific in London or New
York. And so does the apostle give us this counsel: "Take the sword of
the spirit, which is the thought or word of God."
And now I can add a second characteristic of the sword, a
characteristic which amplifies and corroborates the first. This word of
God, which is to be our sword, is not only the word of divine truth as
laid upon the mind. It is also the word of divine commandment as laid
upon the will. It is a word which divinely reveals our personal duty,
imposing upon us some imperative mission. Some word of God comes to us
with the mysterious suggestion of obligation, and we often receive it
over against some soft and wooing temptation to an indulgent indolence;
and we are to take the divine word of obligation, and with it fight and
slay the soft seduction to ease.
We have this sort of warfare most vividly described in the experience
of the prophet Jonah. Let me set it before you. "And the word of the
Lord came unto Jonah, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and
cry against it!" Let us note the lines of this experience. The word of
the Lord came to Jonah as an imperative and an obligation. It said
"Nineveh!" But another word came to Jonah, a soft, luxurious, seductive
word, luring him to Tarshish. And there you have all the conditions of
spiritual warfare; and the only way for the believer is to take the word
of obligation, and use it as a mighty sword against the word of
seduction; he must take his sword and slay it, or chase it in miserable
flight from the field. The word of duty is the word of God, and
therefore the word of duty is thy sword against every plausible
temptation that would snare thee to disloyal ease.
There is still a third descriptive word about the sword, and which
again corroborates and enriches the others. The word of God, which is
the sword of the spirit, is not only the word of divine truth laying
God's thought upon the mind; and not only the word of divine commandment
laying God's purpose upon the will; it is also the word of divine
promise laying God's strengthening comfort upon the heart. Just think of
that fine sword, the word of promise, being handed to these young and
tempted disciples in this awful, hostile city of Ephesus. I think we may
easily imagine, without presumption, how they would apply the apostle's
counsel, and how the older men among them would train the younger men in
the expert use of this shining sword. They would say: "Whenever you go
out to your work, amid all the cold, bristling antagonisms of the world,
carry the sword of promise! When your circumstances seem to mock you
because of your unnerving loneliness, whip out the sword of promise!
When you appear to be in a minority of one, and the enemy swarms in
menace around you on every side, carry this sword of promise in your
right hand, 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' And when the
enemy taunts you because of your weakness, or your want of culture, or
your lack of rank and social prestige, or your nobodyism and nothingism,
whip out the sword and fight the taunt with this word of promise,
'Neither shall any one pluck you out of my hand'!" Thus do I think these
disciples would speak to one another, as, blessed be God, disciples can
speak to one another to-day. When the devil comes to us in our
loneliness, in our weakness, in our seeming abandonment, let us lay hold
of the word of grace, and fight all the enemies' taunts with the divine
promise, and pierce them through and through, turning the foe to rout,
and remaining more than conquerors on the hard and finely won field.
Well, such is what I think to be the sword. It is the word of divine
truth, it is the word of divine commandment, and it is the word of
divine promise. It is a superlatively excellent sword, "it is a right
Jerusalem blade." "Let a man have one of these blades, with a hand to
wield it, and skill to use it, and he may venture upon an angel with
it." Its edge will never blunt, for it is "the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God."
Where, then, can we find this word of God which is to be our sword of
the spirit. Well, first of all, we can find the word of God in the
sacred Scriptures. We can get our sword from its splendid armoury. Here
is the word which gives the revelation of truth, telling me how the
great God thinks about things, and therefore, telling me how to think
amid all the plausible errors of our time. And here, too, is the word
which gives the revelation of duty, telling me what the great God would
have me do. And here also is the word which gives the revelation of
promise, telling me what resources are prepared for them who follow the
fair gleams of truth and take the divine road of duty and obedience.
Yes, the word of God is in the old Book, and here you can find your
sword.
But sometimes the word of God is given to us, not through the medium of
a book, not even the book of the Scriptures, but in a direct and
immediate message to our own souls. Oh, yes, sometimes the Captain of
our salvation gives me my sword without my having to make recourse to
the written word. He speaks to me and hands me my sword with no
intermediary between us. The word of the Lord comes unto thee and unto
me as it came to the herdman Amos, and the courtier Isaiah, and to the
fisherman Peter, and to the university student Paul. He speaks to thee
and to me. "Hath He not promised, and shall He not do it"? "Thine ears
shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way; walk ye in it."
"And His that gentle voice we hear,
Soft as the breath of even;
That checks each fault, and calms each fear,
And speaks of heaven!"
If the sword of the spirit is the word of God, then sometimes I take my
sword immediately from my Sovereign's hand,--the word of truth, the word
of duty, and the word of promise,--and like St. Francis of Assisi, and
St. Catherine of Sienna, and George Fox, all of them mystics, and all of
them deep in the knowledge of the mind and heart of God, I, too, can
take the sword and use it on the wide and changing battlefields of life,
and be more than conqueror through Him Who loved me and gave Himself for
me. "Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God."
Well, then, let us take the sword; let us draw it, and let us use it.
Let us reverently find the word in the Book of Holy Writ, or in the
secret chamber of our own soul; and then let us carry it as our sword to
the immediate occasion, and to the next stage upon life's road. Let us
have the sword ready, always ready; let us be always at attention,
waiting with the word of God to meet the tempting word of man. A man
without a sword is in a sorry way when the devil leaps upon him. That
was the tragic plight of Judas Iscariot. When the chief priests and
scribes came to bargain with him, to induce him to sell his Lord, he
ought to have had his sword ready, and to have run it through the
devilish suggestion when it was only newly born. But somehow, somehow,
he had lost his sword, and he was undone--"and he covenanted with them
for thirty pieces of silver"! And when you and I are tempted to sell the
Lord, when we are tempted to make a dirty bargain of any kind, when we
are tempted to prefer money to integrity, or unholy ease to stern duty,
or soft flattery to rugged truth, let us have our swords in our
hands,--"the sword of the spirit which is the word of God"--and let us
slay the suggestion at its very birth. Have your sword ready. You may
need it before you get home. Have your sword ready! Fight the good fight
of faith, and lay hold on eternal life.
VIII
THE SOLDIER'S USE OF PRAYER
_Almighty God, Our Father, it is by Thy grace that we attain
unto holiness, and it is by Thy light that we find wisdom. We
humbly pray that Thy grace and light may be given unto us, so
that we may come into the liberty of purity and truth. Wilt Thou
graciously exalt our spirits and enable us to live in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus? Impart unto us a deep dissatisfaction
with everything that is low, and mean, and unclean, and create
within us such pure desire that we may appreciate the things
which Thou hast prepared for them that love Thee. Wilt Thou
receive us as guests of Thy table? Give us the glorious sense of
Thy presence, and the precious privilege of intimate communion.
Feed us with the bread of life; nourish all our spiritual
powers; help us to find our delight in such things as please
Thee. Give us strength to fight the good fight of faith. Give us
holy courage, that we may not be daunted by any fear, or turn
aside from our appointed task. Make us calm when we are to tread
an unfamiliar road, and may Thy presence give us companionship
divine. Meet with us, we humbly pray Thee, in all the appointed
means of grace, and may the joyful remembrance of this service
inspire us in all common life and service of after days. Amen._
VIII
THE SOLDIER'S USE OF PRAYER
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints; and for me that utterance may be given unto me,
that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of
the gospel." Ephesians 6:18, 19.
We have been engaged in studying the different pieces of the Christian
soldier's armour as it is described to us by the apostle Paul. Let us
now glance at the warrior as he stands before us fully armed and ready
for the field. His loins are girt about with truth, the truth revealed
in Jesus Christ our Lord. He is protected back and front with a coat of
mail, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, a righteousness which covers
him in a moment as with a garment, and then little by little imparts to
him the holy likeness of his Lord. His feet are shod with readiness, and
are swiftly obedient to do the King's bidding and to carry his message
of grace and good-will. He bears the shield of faith, his sure screen
from every deadly dart springing from any kind of circumstance, whether
in the cloudless noon or in the blackest midnight. On his head there is
the helmet of salvation, the helmet of a mighty hope, protecting his
mind from the invasion of deadly distractions, and from all the
belittling suggestions of the evil one. In his hand he carries the sword
of the Spirit, the word or thought of God, the shining thought wherewith
every other kind of thought is overthrown or put to utter rout.
Now that, surely, is a brave and gleaming equipment. Surely the armour
is all-sufficient, and the well-appointed, well-defended warrior is now
ready for the field! Let him go forth to meet the great enemy of souls.
Let him encounter all the wiles of the devil, and let him so hold
himself and so use himself as to convert every hour of opportunity into
a season of spiritual glory. No, no, not yet! Says the apostle,
"Steady!" With all his shining armour his equipment is not yet complete.
There is one other vital thing to be named, and this the Christian
warrior must take along with him, for his warfare will be hopeless if he
leaves it behind. "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in
the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and
supplication for all saints."