mon, Instead of being the-worst, they make the best soldiers. An army of sohliers, God-fearing and thoroughly disciplined, has UHua\ly proved more than a. match for vastly superior forces of the enemy; Cromwell's Ironsides, the Scotch Covenanters, the Cameronians. As fine examples of the soldierly character, we may name Colonel Gardiner, Sir Henry Havelock, Captain Hedley Vicars. It wonld be the life and strength of our o.rmies were they composed of such men from the top to the bottom of the scale. II. ·w ARLIKE COURAGE NEEDED IN RET,IGION, We may apply the exhortations of these verses to the spiritual warfare. The gospel summons us to warfare. 1. Wit!, evil within us. 2. With the spiritual forces of evil around us. 3. With the hydra- headed incarnations of that evil in the institutions and customs, sins and follies of society. It would be well if, in this campaign against evil, we could command in our ranks the same union, the same strict di~cipline, the same steadiness of action, above all, the same heroic bravery and endurance and preparedness to face the worst, which are often seen in earthly armies. Courage and readiness to sacrifice for Christ all that his cause demands, is a first condition of success in the spiritual warfare. There must be faith in the cause, devotion to the Leader, enthusiasm in his service, and the spirit of those who" love not their lives unto the death" (Rev. xii. 11). Instead of this, how often, when the battle approaches, do our hearts faint, fear, tremble, and are terrified because of our enemies! Victories are not thus to be gained. Vv" e forget that he who is with us is more than they who are against us. The Lord is more to those in whose midst he is than all the horses and chariots and multitudes of people that can he brought against them.-J. 0. Vers. 5-10.--,---Exemptions Three classes \Vere exempted from service in war, and one class was forbidden to take part in it. The exempted classes were: 1. He who had built a house, but had not dedicated it. 2. He who had planted a vineyard, but had not eaten of its fruit. 3. He who had betrothed a wife, but had not married her. The class forbidden to engage in the war was the class of cowards (ver. 8). 'l'hese regulations- I. HAD AN IMPORTANT BEARING ON THE STABILITY OF SOCIETY. War has naturally a disturbing effect on industry and commerce. It unsettles the public mind. It creates a feeling of insecurity. It prevents enterprise. These evils would be intensified in a state of society where, besides the danger of the country being overrun by hostile armies, each adult male was liable for service in the field. In such a condition of society there would obviously be a disinclination, when war was imminent, to acquire property, to institute improvements, or to enter into any new engagements. The man who built a house would not be sure that he would live to dedicate it; the man who planted a vineyard, that he would live to eat of it; the man who betrothed a wife, that he would be spared to take her. This provision of the Law was therefore calculated to have a reassuring and tranquillizing effect, and would so far counteract the tendency of warlike rumours to paralyze industry a.ud the arrangements of domestic life. 0
II. WERE AN IMPORTANT ALLEVIA'l'ION OF THE EVILS OF WAR. They aimed at exemptiug those who, from their circumstances and prospects, would feel most keenly the hardship of a call to service. Ver. 7 connects itself with the importance attached in ancient nations to the perpetuation of the house. "Accorcling to modern notions, a forlorn hope would naturally be composed of men who had not given hostages to fortune. Such, however, was not the light in which the matter presented itself to the Greek mind. 'l'he human plant had flowered. The continuance of the house was secure. It was therefore comparatively of little moment what befell the man whose cluty to his ancestors had been fulfilled" (Renouf). The sentiment here expressed was that of ancient nations generally. III. WERE OF GREAT IMPORTANCE IN SECURING EFFICIENCY IN THE ARMY. The army was plainly better without the cowards than with them. One coward may do harm to a whole company. But, besides these, it was likely that persons serving by com- pulsion, in a spirit of discontent at disappointed prospects, and for the sake of their prospects unwilling to part with their lives, would prove but inferior soldiers. .A.t any rate, ~l,ero was policy in recruiting the army only from those who had a fixed stake in the welfare of the nation. The mau with house, wife, and vineyard was more likely to THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [on. xx. 1-20.
hr rendy to shed the last drnp of his blood in defence of his treasures than one wholly 111rn1tnch<'d, or atta.chcd only in hope. Lr:RsoJII.'. 1. Those entering the Christian warfare need to count the cost (Luke x_i,. 25_-34). 2. In Christ's service thrre are '110 cxemptious. 3, Nevertheless, con- 111derat1on should be shown in the work of the Church for those who arc peculiarly ~it11ated. 4. The clanger of being entangled in spirit in Christ's service (2 'l'im. ii. 4). 5. The faint-heartrd are no strength to a cause (Judg. vii. 3). G. Numbers are not the only thing to be considered in reckoning the efficiency of a Church or of any body of ~piritual warriors.--J. 0.