_THE MOOD OF TRIUMPH_
"_I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts._"
--1 SAMUEL xvii. 38-54.
The man who comes up to his foes with this assurance will fight and win.
Reasonable confidence is one of the most important weapons in the
warrior's armoury. Fear is always wasteful. The man who calmly expects to
win has already begun to conquer. Our mood has so much to do with our
might. And therefore does the Word of God counsel us to attend to our
dispositions, lest, having carefully collected our material implements, we
have no strength to use them.
And the man who comes up to his foes with holy assurance will fight with
consummate skill. He will be quite "collected." All his powers will wait
upon one another, and they will move together as one. He is as
self-possessed upon the battlefield as upon parade, as undisturbed before
Goliath as before a flock of sheep! And therefore do I say that, fighting
with perfect composure, he fights with superlative skill. The right moment
is seized, the right stone is chosen, the right aim is taken, and great
Goliath is brought low.