unbeliever, while it leads the way to a high standard of social order,
these things remain of no value in themselves to men unspiritual: it
holds true that man can never live by bread alone, but by the words
which proceed out of the mouth of God. And there are forces at work
among us on behalf of the Divine counsel that shall not fail to maintain
the struggle necessary to the discipline and growth of souls.
The real army of faith is largely drawn from the ranks of the toilers
and the heavy laden. Yet not entirely. We reckon many and fine
exceptions. There are rich who are less worldly than those who have
little. Many whose lot lies far from the shadow of tyranny in green and
pleasant valleys are first to hear and quickest to answer every call
from the Captain of the Lord's host. Their possessions are nothing to
them. In the spiritual battle all is spent, knowledge, influence,
wealth, life. And if you look for the highest examples of Christianity,
a faith pure, keen and lovely, a generosity that most clearly reveals
the Master, a passion for truth consuming all lower regards, you will
find them where culture has done its best for the mind and the bounty of
providence has kindled a gracious humility and an abounding gentleness
of heart. The tawdry vanities of their fellows in rank and wealth seem
what they are to these, the gaudy toys of children who have not yet seen
the glory and the goal of life. And how can men and women hear the
clarion of the Christian war ringing over the valleys of degradation and
fear, see the Divine contest surging through the land, and not perceive
that here and here only is life? Men play at statecraft and grow cold as
they intrigue; they play at financing and become ciphers in a monstrous
sum; they toil at pleasure till Satan himself might pity them, for at
least he has a purpose to serve. All the while there is offered to them
the vigour, the buoyancy, the glow of an ambition and a service in which
no spirit tires and no heart withers. Passing strange it is that so few
noble, so few mighty, so few wise hear the keen cry from the cross as
one of life and power.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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