If The soldiers insensibly forgot the virtues of their profession and contracted only the vices of civil life. They were either degraded by the industry of mechanic trades, or enervated by the luxury of baths and theatres. They soon became careless of their martial exercises, and curious in their diet and apparel. They loved downy beds and houses of marble; and their cups were heavier than their swords.2
(3) Lastly, we are on guard for God's truth. — A man can hardly mix among other men without hearing God's truth
1 Joseph Traill. 2 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ii. 177.
i CORINTHIANS xvi. 13, 14 491
assailed. There is a certain amount of unbelief; but perhaps less unbelief than carelessness and indifference that takes the form of unbelieving and even blasphemous talk. Men who like to be independent of religion themselves, who do not want to be bound by its laws, who find their own way more convenient than God's way, sometimes profess to be unbelievers. They are not honest unbelievers, but it suits them to talk unbelief; and they do their best to argue or laugh other men into the same way of thinking. Now against this kind of thing we must be on guard.1
See the world
Such as it is, — you made it not, nor I;
I mean to take it as it is, — and you,
Not so you'll take it, — though you get nought else.
I know the special kind of life I like,
What suits the most my idiosyncrasy,
Brings out the best of me and bears me fruit
In power, peace, pleasantness and length of days.
I find that positive belief does this
For me, and unbelief, no whit of this.
— For you, it does, however? — that, we'll try!2
II.
Be Godly.
* Stand fast in the faith."
" Stand fast in the faith," stand upright in it, stand firm, stand boldly, be not tossed hither and thither, halt not between two opinions, be not half-hearted, know which master it is you are serving, and make up your mind clearly and definitely. " Stand fast in the faith." Stand up like a man, and be ready to give an account of whose you are and what you believe ; know what it is that you believe, whatever that may be ; face it in its simple form and say if that is what you are prepared to act up to, and form your life by.
Tf One of the best known stories of the battle of Waterloo is this : One regiment was hard pressed, and suffering seriously from the enemy's fire. Presently Wellington rode up and called out : " Stand firm, Ninety-fifth ! We must not be beaten. What
1 A. Debenham, On Guard, 9. a Browning, Bishop BlougrarrCs Apology,
492 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT
would they say in England ? " Stand firm ! It was an appeal to the manliness of his soldiers, and to their patriotism. The eye of their country was upon them. Whether charged by the cavalry or mowed down by the cannon, there must be no flinching. Stand firm ! We must not be beaten ! 1
1. But what is this faith that we are commanded to stand fast in ? It means our openness of soul to that eternal God who is our Father, yet our King ; it means daily fellowship with that ever-living Christ who is our Brother, yet our Priest ; it means a home within the soul to that eternal Spirit who is our Comforter, yet our Guide. Faith is the grasp of the spirit upon those eternal verities of God, which hold the spirit in time as if it were within eternity.
2. Intellectual activity is a great help to steadfastness in belief, but intellectual frivolity a grave danger. We would not make light of the difficulties that perplex the serious mind; what troubles it touches us all. To be forced to feel that the beliefs witnessed to by the Christian Church and accepted by the holy and the good cannot be believed, must ever be a heavy trial to the sober and grave mind. For if it doubts, it is not from inclination, but against it; not by preference, but from sheer conviction; and he is no friend to truth who does not respect the doubt of such a mind. But the number who belong to this class is never large. The longer we live, and the more we know of the intellectual tendencies that create conventional disbelief, the more we discover that fashion, temper, want of thought, and openness to superficial influences are more potent than grave and serious reason. Every age has its own peculiar tendencies to negation, and in our own day we may say that mental meddlesomeness, want of thought and plenitude of frivolous speech about the most awful themes are more fruitful causes of doubt, if doubt we may call it, than the questions of the critics, or the problems of philosophy and the schools.
The Apostle's exhortation must be interpreted by the help of the first verse of the preceding chapter : " Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, . . . wherein ye stand " ; and the Apostle proceeds to place in their order the truths which comprise the Gospel and the cardinal fact upon which they 1 H. M. Butler. Tuhlic School Sermons. 173.