We surely

We

of an earthly soldier is warmed by confidence in his general, by a firm belief that he is supplied with all material helps for the struggle before him, by a conviction that the end proposed is great and worthy of his best and most heroic efforts. And so my brethren, it ought to be with us. cannot feel distrust in Christ, who died for us. must have sometimes learned by our own experience that prayer to God through Him does really protect us against sin. Our attendance at His table cannot have been always a lifeless ceremony, it has surely kindled our devotion, and supplied us with strength against temptation. The promise of eternal life with God and Christ is not a prize lightly to throw away. And therefore let me urge you all to shrink from that spirit of self-indulgence and self-pleasing, which destroys the sense of Christian duty within you, to pray that we may feel all more deeply the importance of the work to which God has called us, that we may learn from earthly warfare, how our heavenly contest must be waged, that we may realise more and more keenly the meaning of those words in which we were devoted to Christ in our Baptism, that we should not be ashamed of the Faith of Christ crucified, but manfully fight under His banner, and continue Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto our lives' end.

October 22, 1854.

IV. THE SHIELD OF FAITH.

EPHESIANS vi. 16.

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Two Sundays ago I tried to illustrate the work of a Christian by the profession of a soldier, and taking my text from an earlier verse in this chapter, I contrasted the strong sense of duty and energetic work which animates the one, with the inactivity and indifference which we observe only too often in the other. I do not wish to-day so much to continue the subject, as to suggest an answer to a question which occurred at the end of the Sermon, and was then only imperfectly considered. We were led to inquire into the reason of the different spirit in which earthly and heavenly warfare are respectively carried on. Why should a man be so much more in earnest in attacking the enemies of his country, than in resisting the corruption of his character and the ruin of his soul? Why should a soldier be faithful, steadfast, heroic; a professing Christian irresolute and treacherous to the banner under which he is enrolled?

The answer to this question well deserves a deep and attentive consideration. We shall find that it is intimately connected with the verse which I have just read to you, the direction to quench the darts of the wicked by the shield of faith. That verse is part of St Paul's description of the Christian's armour, on which was founded the analogy drawn between his calling and that of the soldier. Some few words of explanation on matters of detail may be necessary before we apply it to our present purpose. The Christian is here represented as attacked by the evil one: for those who have read the Greek will remember that the wicked is in the singular number. He is in a beleaguered camp or fortress which he is defending against the assaults of the devil's legions. The enemy is furnished according to the fashion of the day with fiery darts, such as were commonly used in sieges: malleoli and falarica* are the Latin words for them, of which the first were ponderous hammers, and the latter spears, so formed that the head was capable of carrying blazing pitch and tow. These when set on fire were projected into

* Cic. Cat. I. 13: Desinant...malleolos et faces ad inflammandam urbem comparare. Liv. XXI. 8: Falarica erat Saguntinis, missile telum hastili abiegno, et cætera tereti, præterquam ad extremum, unde ferrum exstabat ; id sicut in pilo, quadratum stuppâ circumligabant, liniebantque pice. Fala was the wooden tower or scaffolding from which falarica were thrown.

houses and other buildings so as to produce a general conflagration in the devoted city, and thus it became hard for the defenders to man the walls. Against these terrible missiles the only protection to the person of the soldier was in the large Roman shield, or scutum, which was adapted to the shape of the human body, encircling and covering it, so as to complete the defence afforded by the other parts of the armour, and to be added above or rather over all. We cannot doubt that by these darts are particularly meant wicked thoughts and suggestions of the devil, which suddenly attack the soul, inflaming its passions and desires, and bringing it into bondage to selfishness and sin, and we learn from the verse before us that the true safeguard against them, the one protection without which no others can be relied upon, is faith.

Now this brings us back to the question why it is that we are so apt to yield to temptation, and why do evil thoughts exercise over us so shameful a mastery? Surely this should lead each one to ask himself whether he is in truth protected by the shield of faith. Perhaps he does desire to resist his evil inclinations. He may be tired of the slavery in which he is living, he may see that those who do carry on an earnest struggle are rewarded by victory, he knows that there are in the world many devoted soldiers in the spiritual army, who are

really doing their duty both to God and man. Now dropping all metaphors, and bringing the subject down to the practical concerns of our own souls. and the improvement of our own characters, what the Apostle teaches us is this: We cannot expect to resist temptation successfully and permanently from any motive except the highest and best. Above all, he says, take the shield of faith. Other defences may serve you in particular points, but this protection covers every weak point. The love of truth may save you from some temptations: a sense of justice may defend you from others: a knowledge of God's word, the Gospel of peace, may often remind you of your duty the hope of salvation may encourage you in the service of God*. But even hope may sometimes waver: the Bible may be more in your head than your heart: the love of truth and justice may save you from falsehood and dishonour, but leave you proud, selfish, indolent, cold-hearted. He who has faith possesses the principle which supplies sure confidence to hesitating hope, which makes the knowledge of Scripture a guide to our daily con

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, and take the helmet of Salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. In 1 Thess. v. 8, the helmet is not Salvation, but the hope of it. Righteousness (δικαιοσύνη) seems here not to mean justification, but the virtue of justice.