* J. G. Snead-Cox, Life qf Cardinal Vauyhan, i. 11. ROMANS — 21
322 FOR THE BATTLE
been achieved for ourselves and others by genuine yet ungranted prayer.
Two brothers freely cast their lot
With David's royal Son; The cost of conquest counting not, They deem the battle won.
Brothers in heart, they hope to gain
An undivided joy ; That man may one with man remain,
As boy was one with boy.
Christ heard; and will'd that James should fall,
First prey of Satan's rage, John linger out his fellows all,
And die in bloodless age.
Now they join hands once more above,
Before the Conqueror's throne ; Thus God grants prayer, but in His love
Makes times and ways His own.^
^ J. H. Newman.
The Polemics of Christianity.
Literature.
Aitchison (J.), The Children's Own, 154.
Cronshaw (H. P.), in Sermom for the People, New Ser,, ii. 59.
Farrar (F. W.), In the Days of thy Youth, 139.
Gibbon (J. M.), In the Days of Youth, 82.
Greer (D, H.), From Things to God, 82.
Knight (W.), ThiTigs New and Old, 183.
Learmount (J.), Fifty-Two Sundays with the Children, 230.
Liddon (H. P.), Christmastide in St. Paul's, 387.
„ „ Forty Sermons Selected from the Penny Pulpit, i. 504.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Romans, 300. Macmillan (H.), The Daisies of Nazareth, 170. Robarts (F. H.), Sunday Morning Talks, 70. Sauter (B.), The Sunday Epistles, 70. Stanley (A. P.), Canterbury Sermons, 275. Watkinson (W. L.), The Supreme Conquest, 218. West (R. A.), The Greatest Things in the World, 18. Wilberforce (B.), Following on to Know the Lord, 99. Christian World Pulpit, liv. 116 (Welldon) ; Ixx. 86 CWatkinson) ;
lixvii. 28 (Scboles). Contemporary Pulpit, 1st Ser., v. 50 (Hutton).
9M
The Polemics of Christianity.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil v^ith good. — Rom. xii. 21.
This description of Christian warfare, of what may be called the Apostle's rule of " polemics " or " doing battle," is well worthy of its place at the close of his great summary of Christian duties. " Be not overcome of evil " — " be not conquered by evil " (so we might more faithfully render it) — " be not conquered by evil, but conquer evil by good." The Apostle here, as so often elsewhere, has before his mind the image of the Christian soldier. Nothing shows more completely how in his time, peaceful as it was, the military character of the Eoman Empire filled the whole horizon of the ordinary thoughts and topics of men than the Apostle's constant allusions to the armour — the sword, the shield, the helmet — the battle, the conquest, the triumph. They show this, and they show that he did not shrink from using these images, even for the most peaceful, for the most solemn, for the most sacred purposes; they show that he was not in his Epistles a different man from what he was in common life ; that the sights and sounds which filled his eyes and ears in the world around him were not forgotten when he took the parchment scroll, and bade his companion write down at his dictation the words which were to comfort and strengthen, not the Eoman Christians of his own time only, but the whole Church of God for ever.
We shall deal with the subject in two parts. Let us take them in the order of the text.
I. The Power of Evil.
II. The Power of Good. 32s
326 THE POLEMICS OF CHRISTIANITY
I.
The Power of Evil.
i. What is Evil ?
1. We should observe in the first place the immediate object of St. Paul's prohibition. What is the particular form of evil against which he directs this warning ? It is the evil of giving way to a spirit of revenge. This prohibition does not mean that no power of correction is committed to man. In the opening verses of the very next chapter we are told that an earthly ruler is " the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Distinguish between administration of punish- ment for offences against the law of God or man and infliction of chastisement through personal anger or some personal offence. The Son of Man, who never avenged Himself, by word or deed, upon those who injured or insulted Him, yet, on occasion, took upon Himself the office of avenger, visiting with His severest condemnation the profaners of His Father's Temple, and upbraid- ing with the bitterest censure the hypocrisy and essential worldli- ness of the religious leaders of His day. As is the Master, such must the servants be. Let us reserve our indignation (a gift of God) for the condemnation of sin. Let us bear with meekness whatever slights or insults are aimed at ourselves.
^ Christianity is reproached because it has brought little that is new into the sphere of morals. That is quite a gratuitous impeachment. Our Lord's method of dealing with evil, for instance, is startlingly new. Before He came the world knew no other way of treating evil than by reprisal and retribution ; pains and penalties were the only remedies known to the rulers and judges of the earth. The Incarnation disclosed to the world a new and an amazing thought : for the mailed fist it substituted the pierced hand. Henceforth error and unrighteousness were to be antagonized by knowledge, long-suffering, sympathy, and forgiveness. On these lines our Lord taught, and thus personally He dealt with the provocations of His contemporaries. His disciples drank in His spirit, imitated His example, and taught His doctrine. The contrast between the truculent systems of the ancient world and the mild programme of the Gospel is complete. •* Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth : but I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil : but