'Above all, taking the shield of faith, whereby ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.'--Eph. vi. 16.
There were two kinds of shields in use in ancient warfare--one smaller,
carried upon the arm, and which could be used, by a movement of the arm,
for the defence of threatened parts of the body in detail; the other
large, planted in front of the soldier, fixed in the ground, and all but
covering his whole person. It is the latter which is referred to in the
text, as the word which describes it clearly shows. That word is
connected with the Greek word meaning 'door,' and gives a rough notion
of the look of the instrument of defence--a great rectangular oblong,
behind which a man could stand untouched and untouchable. And that is
the kind of shield, says Paul, which we are to have--no little defence
which may protect some part of the nature, but a great wall, behind
which he who crouches is safe.
'Above all' does not mean here, as superficial readers take it to mean,
most especially and primarily, as most important, but it simply means
_in addition to_ all these other things. Perhaps with some allusion to
the fact that the shield protected the breastplate, as well as the
breastplate protected the man, there may be a reference to the kind of
double defence which comes to him who wears that breastplate and lies
behind the shelter of a strong and resolute faith.
I. Now, looking at this metaphor from a practical point of view, the
first thing to note is the missiles, 'the fiery darts of the wicked.'
Archæologists tell us that there were in use in ancient warfare javelins
tipped with some kind of combustible, which were set on fire, and flung,
so that they had not only the power of wounding but also of burning; and
that there were others with a hollow head, which was in like manner
filled, kindled, and thrown into the ranks of the enemy. I suppose that
the Apostle's reason for specifying these fiery darts was simply that
they were the most formidable offensive weapons that he had ever heard
of. Probably, if he had lived to-day, he would have spoken of
rifle-bullets or explosive shells, instead of fiery darts. But, though
probably the Apostle had no further meaning in the metaphor than to
suggest that faith was mightier than the mightiest assaults that can be
hurled against it, we may venture to draw attention to two particulars
in which this figure is specially instructive and warning. The one is
the action of certain temptations in setting the soul on fire; the other
is the suddenness with which they assail us.
'The fiery darts.' Now, I do not wish to confine that metaphor too
narrowly to any one department of human nature, for our whole being is
capable of being set on fire, and 'set on fire of hell,' as James says.
But there are things in us all to which the fiery darts do especially
appeal: desires, appetites, passions; or--to use the word which refined
people are so afraid of, although the Bible is not, '_lusts_--which war
against the soul,' and which need only a touch of fire to flare up like
a tar-barrel, in thick foul smoke darkening the heavens. There are fiery
darts that strike these animal natures of ours, and set them all aflame.
But, there are other fiery darts than these. There are plenty of other
desires in us: wishes, cowardices, weaknesses of all sorts, that, once
touched with the devil's dart, will burn fiercely enough. We all know
that.
Then there is the other characteristic of suddenness. The dart comes
without any warning. The arrow is invisible until it is buried in the
man's breast. The pestilence walks in darkness, and the victim does not
know until its poison fang is in him. Ah! yes! brethren, the most
dangerous of our temptations are those that are sprung upon us unawares.
We are going quietly along the course of our daily lives, occupied with
quite other thoughts, and all at once, as if a door had opened, not out
of heaven but out of hell, we are confronted with some evil thing that,
unless we are instantaneously on our guard, will conquer us almost
before we know. Evil tempts us because it comes to us, for the most
part, without any beat of drum or blast of trumpet to say that it is
coming, and to put us upon our guard. The batteries that do most harm to
the advancing force are masked until the word of command is given, and
then there is a flash from every cannon's throat and a withering hail of
shot that confounds by its unexpectedness as well as kills by its blow.
The fiery darts that light up the infernal furnace in a man's heart, and
that smite him all unawares and unsuspecting, these are the weapons that
we have to fear most.