2. The second victory promised is individual, for each of us. Not only where cathedral-spires lift high the triumphant cross; on battle-fields which have added kingdoms to Christendom; by the martyr's stake, or in the arena of the Coliseum, have these words proved true. The victory comes down to us. In hospitals, in shops, in courts, in ships, in sick-rooms, they are fulfilled for us. We see their truth in the patience, sweetness, resignation, of little children, of old men, of weak women. They give a high consecration and a glorious meaning to much of the suffering that we see. What, we are sometimes tempted to cry--is _this_ Christ's Army? are these His soldiers, who can go anywhere and do anything? Poor weary ones! with white lips, and the beads of death-sweat on their faces, and the thorns of pain ringed like a crown round their foreheads; so wan, so worn, so tired, so suffering, that even our love dares not pray for them to live a little longer yet. Are these the elect of the elect, the vanguard of the regenerate, who carry the flag of the cross where its folds are waved by the storm of battle; whom St. John sees advancing up the slope with such a burst of cheers and such a swell of music that the words--"this is the conquest"--spring spontaneously from his lips? Perhaps the angels answer with a voice which we cannot hear--"whatsoever is born of God conquereth the world." May we fight so manfully that each may render if not his "pure" yet his purified "soul unto his captain Christ, Under whose colours he hath fought so long:" --that we may know something of the great text in the Epistle to the Romans, with its matchless translation--"we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us"[298]--that arrogance of victory which is at once so splendid and so saintly. FOOTNOTES: [276] This is expressed, after St. John's fashion, by the neuter, παν το γεγεννημενον εκ του Θεου. ver. 4. [277] ἡ πιστις ἡμων, ver. 4. [278] ὁ νικων τον κοσμον, ὁ πιστευων, ver. 5. [279] 1 John ii. 29. [280] 1 John iv. 7. [281] John iii. 5. [282] σφοδρα αινιγματωδης και σκοτεινως ειρημενος. Euseb. [283] יֻלָּר־שָׁמ וֶה. Ver. 4. יֻלַּר־בָּהּ וְאִישׁ אִישׁ. Ver. 5. יֻלָּר־שָׁמ וֶה. Ver. 6. Psalm lxxxvii. [284] "Both they who sing and they who dance, With sacred song are there; In thee fresh brooks and soft streams glance, And all my fountains clear." MILTON, Paraphrase Ps. lxxxvii. 7. This, on the whole, seems to be considered the most tenable interpretation. [285] Συ ει ὁ διδασκαλος του Ισραηλ; John iii. 10. [286] John i. 26, ii. 6, 9, iii. 5-22, iv. 6-16, v. 3, vii. 37, 39, ix. 7, xiii. 1-5, xix. 34. [287] Hooker, _E. P._, V. lix. (4).