i CORINTHIANS xvi. 13, 14 493
rest. The argument of the resurrection, which is the glory of this Epistle, was addressed to the sceptical spirit of the Corinthian Church. That spirit expressed itself in the question, " How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come ? " This is the popular mode of exclaiming against dogma. Its tone does not indicate the earnest inquiry of a child spirit, but the demand of an impatient and carping unbelief.
Tf This was the kind of battlefield to which Arnold would so often refer. To him the great curse of Public Schools, to be set against their noble powers for good, the great curse seemed to be — I quote his brilliant pupil and biographer — "the spirit" sometimes "there encouraged of combination, of companionship, of excessive deference to the public opinion prevalent in the school." Once he spoke of it in these stern words — are they even now obsolete? — "If the spirit of Elijah were to stand in the midst of us, and we were to ask him, 'What shall we do then ? ' his answer would be, ' Fear not, nor heed one another's voices, but fear and heed the voice of God only/" And the favourite image of human goodness which always stood out before Arnold was the noble portrait of Abdiel in Milton —
The Seraph Abdiel, faithful found Among the faithless, faithful only he; Among innumerable false, unmoved, Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal; Nor number nor example with him wrought To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind, Though single.1
3. This counsel to "stand fast" occurs no fewer than six times in the Epistles of St. Paul. The Apostle was evidently very anxious about his converts, that they should maintain Christian stability. If any one is to stand fast, two things are necessary, — namely, a foundation to stand upon, and strength to stand. It has been well said that " a man may have his feet on a rock, yet if he is weak as a rag, he cannot stand ; and no matter how strong he is, if his feet are on quicksand, he cannot be stable."
(1) We have a sure foundation to stand upon : " the faith," that is, the truth, — " as the truth is in Jesus." We are to take our stand upon revealed truth, the truth of the Bible. Every
1 H. M. Butler.
494 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT
Christian ought firmly to hold that Christ Jesus is the Son of God ; that He died upon the cross for our sins ; that He rose again from the dead ; that He now reigns in heaven ; that He has sent His Holy Spirit into the world ; and that He will Himself return at the last day to take all His people to be with Him in glory. While the believer is never to stand still as to growth and obedience, he is always to " stand fast " as to right principles. He is to continue firm with regard to everything that is true and just and good. He is to stand fast in the three abiding graces — " faith, hope, love."
(2) But not only has the Christian a sure ground to stand upon; he has also strength to stand. Some men are stronger than others in body, in mind, in affections, in will; but the strength that is required in order to " stand fast in the faith " is not one's own. It comes from the Lord Jesus. It is His gift to His people. The Apostle says, "Stand fast in the Lord," because the Christian is already " in Christ," and the whole secret of spiritual strength consists in union with Him. If we would stand fast, we must " abide in him."
If In the Highlands of Scotland there are two bold projecting crags or headlands, some thirty-five miles apart, both of which are called Craigellachie. The one is at Aviemore on the south, and the other near Aberlour on the north. The swift river Spey flows at the foot of both ; and the two Craigellachies form the southern and northern boundaries of Strathspey, the land of the Grants. And what used to be long ago the war-cry of the clan Grant, which was sent from Castle Grant at Grantown with " the fiery cross " all through the strath ? It was these words : " Stand fast, Craigellachie ! " A war-cry this, as John Euskin has said, full of " deep wells of feeling and thought," full of " the love of the native land, and the assurance of faithfulness to it." The repetition of these words out in India by Highland soldiers from Strathspey has been to them in the hour of battle, when they were fighting beside Indian palaces and temples, like a breath of the Scottish heather or a whisper of the birches and pines : " Stand fast, Craigellachie ! " But the Christian warrior has a still grander and more inspiring war-cry: "Stand fast in the faith ! " " Stand fast in the Lord ! " x
4. How is it that so few Christian men seem to possess this true courage, this standing fast in the faith ? Is it not because