HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Yer. 1-5. -Many adversaries. Another league is here. One in the south de- stroyed ; another in the north is formed. A formidable one scattered ; one more so gathers. Folll' kings are mentioned, and probably a dozen others of those mentioned in the following chapter are associated with them. They marshal all the fighting power of the northern half of Palestine, As the land was then (as repeatedly afterwards) very populous; as war was the most familiar of all employments; as numbers of the cities-almost impregnable by nature-were fortified as well; as the army gathered was strong in chariots and horses, and had taken up a position on the great plain of J ezreel, where cavalry could operate with ease-it seemed as if tl1ll outlook for Israel were very dark indeed. A nation of fugitive slaves assailing a Phcenician people of ,ast wealth, enterprise, civilisation, and numbers I What chance of success was there? But they unite only for their easier destruction. Cheered by God, falling thereon suddenly, the terrific shock of Israel's charge was irresistible, and this " battle of the league" at once leads to Israel's easy conquest of the whole of this half of the kingdom. Take this story as an example of the way in which God's warriors have always "many adversaries." And observe- !. THE NATURAL CHANCES AB.E ALWAYS AGAINST Gon's PEOPLE. The sacred his- tory is little more than a list of conflicts of one sort and another, fought invariably against great odds, but followed invariably by victory. The chances were many against Israel getting away from Egypt, taking Jericho, winning at Beth-boron, gaining a nctory here. It was not otherwise in the case of J ephthah, of Deborah, of Gideon. Who would have nntured to describe David as having a sin1de chance in his conflict with Goliath? How pathetic is Elijah's estimate of the odds against him in his fight for truth. Baal's prophets and Astarte's prophets are numbered by hundreds, backed by the whole power of the court and the perversity of the people. But " I am left alone, and they seek my life." The odds were heavily against Daniel and his three friends-say 10,000,000 to 1. Neither Ezra nor Nehemiah felt they had anything approaching a level chance. The Babe of Bethlehem had all superstitions, vices, prejudices of the world against His cause. The Apostle. of the Gentiles had all the philosophies, religions, and weaknesses of men agamst hllll and his simple gospel The great theologian of the early centuries lamented that he stood " Athanasius against the world." Luther had Church and State th~oughout ~11 Europe against him. Every missionary to a heathen. land, evary philanthropist seeking to remove abuses, have had the same expenence. The Church to-day sometimes deems herself "hardly bested" by science, secularism, the pre-occupa- tion of men with therr necessary cares, the sluggishness of the huma,n heart to adopt a higher principle of life. Each Christian man finds such weaknesses and perversities within him and such obstacles without that it seems often as if it would be impossible to hold hie ground, much less to make advance. Be not astonished if, in the part of the field assigned to you, the odds are altogether and absolutely against you. They always are against God's people and God's children. But ol.merve secondly, though the chances are against them- Il. THE WINNING FORCES ARE ON THEIR SIDE. lnwMd forces are on their side. The heart makes the hero. Nelaon's Methowsts were his best sailors. God in- fuses such energy of purpose, confidence, self-sacrifice, that these intensify natural force a hundredfold. [See Shakespeare's ' Cymbeline,' for illustration of effect of moral energy in war.] Good ie the strongest and sturdiest thing under heaven; ~vii, cowardly and self-aeha.med in its presence. Duty, peace, hope, ~acious OR, XI. 1-28.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 197
memories, self-respect, God's smile-these are forces which the world can never match, and which all operate in the direction of victory. Outward forces are also o~ their _side. Divine guidance is imparted, Providence aids them, concUJTently with the1.r efforts the efforts of God are put forth. When God fights His battles of mercy there is no lukewarmness in His conflict. He uses us. The weapons of our warf'!-re are heavenly, while the weapons of His warfare are often earthly. And so, whil~ the world ha_s the apl?earance, the Church has the reality, of a pre- ponderant weight on her side. Is it a case of a battle of the northern league with you ? Fight on, for they that are with you are far morA than they that are with them.-G.