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"Cut deeper," said a dying soldier to the surgeon when extracting a ball from his breast,-" cut deeper, and you will find the Emperor in my heart." So every true Christian has Christ dwelling in his heart, as the object of his supreme love; and true love makes all his labour light, and all his service pleasant, and all his fighting easy.

Another qualification of a good soldier is readiness for active service. "No man that warreth," says Paul, "entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." Instead of allowing his mind and energy to be frittered away with frivolous and alien pursuits, with self-indulgence or engrossing worldly business, the Christian must be ever on the watch, and mind the one business for which he was placed in the ranks, and be always ready to do and to dare whatever his great Captain prescribes to him. Such was the readiness of Lord Clyde, to go forth on a day's notice to India to quell the mutiny, and rescue our besieged soldiers in Lucknow; and the readiness also of the apostolic William Burns, when, on being appointed to go as a missionary to China, and being asked when he would be ready, he said, "To-morrow." And so, without bidding farewell to his parents, he immediately embarked, landed in China, and did a great and good work there, and thus proved himself to be a "good soldier of Jesus Christ." Let young men therefore

do likewise.

Let them be strong and of a good courage in the service of the best of masters; and instead of being "entangled with the affairs of this life," with its pleasures or business, let them mind the one great business of life, which is to conquer sin in their own hearts, to do all the good they can, to prepare for a holy heaven, and bring as many as possible along with them to that better land. Thus, being always ready for active service, they will manifest the power of a living Christianity. And when their hearts are ready to faint, let them be encouraged by the thought that the victory has been won for them by the great Captain, and that He has promised abundant grace to help them, and has given the prospect of a crown of glory which fadeth

not away.

II. HABITUAL PRAYERFULNESS.

Many are courageous from mere self-reliance, and their boldness has little or no element of dependence on God. They plan and propose to do this or that, in utter forgetfulness that it is God who disposes, and that without Him they can do nothing. Their language is, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent." But Paul's heroic courage was as far as possible removed from self-confidence. Bold and fearless though he was, yet he was also deeply humble and habitually prayer

ful. Though, like our own great Reformer, he "never feared the face of man ;" yet the reason of this was that he feared God, and depended implicitly upon Him for every good thought, and design, and deed. "Not," he said, "as though we were sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." This was the real secret of his strength, and the true source of his courage, and of all those other graces which adorned his character. His life throughout was not one of self-reliance, but of conscious weakness and constant dependence on Christ. His prevailing sentiments were, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." He never for a moment imagined that he could do anything of himself, either in the way of subduing the evil in his own heart, or of benefiting his fellow-men, or of advancing in the divine life, or of glorifying his Master; but all his services and attainments he ascribed entirely to that grace of God which was given to him in answer to prayer. "I can do all things," not of myself or by my own power, but only "through Christ who strengtheneth me."

In tracing his Christian experience, it is very evident that he was habitually given to prayer. One of his first utterances after his conversion was a prayer

for Divine guidance-"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Then, during the three days of his blindness and soul conflict at Damascus, described in Rom. vii. 7-12, he was so wholly given to earnest supplication, that this was told to Ananias as the evidence of his conversion" Behold, he prayeth." Often before, he had said "long prayers," like the Pharisees, but never till now had he really prayed from his heart, as a sinner thirsting for salvation. This prayerfulness was the key-note of all his subsequent career; and his whole history, as recorded in the Acts and in his own epistles, shows that he lived and moved in an atmosphere of prayer. It was such a marked feature in his character, that it is needless to specify instances. It may be noticed, however, that almost every prayer he offered up for blessings desired was blended with thanksgivings for blessings bestowed. He not only "continued in prayer," but he "watched in the same with thanksgiving." He did not pray as one who beat the air, and who had no hope of success, but as one who expected and obtained answers, to furnish matter of praise. The union of prayer with thanksgiving appears in many of his addresses, both to individuals and to churches, a few examples of which may be seen in Phile. 4-6; 2 Tim. i. 3-4; Rom. i. 8-11; Phil. i. 3-6; Col. i. 3-6.

All this evidently shows that Paul combined, with his intrepid courage, a spirit of true devotion, and

that he spent much of his time in secret prayer, and personal communion with God; and that he regarded this not only as an incumbent duty, but as a most precious and profitable privilege. In all this, the apostle closely resembled his Divine Master, who spent whole nights in prayer on the mountain top. So Paul prayed"night and day" for that Divine strength which he felt that he so greatly needed to uphold him, and to render his labours successful. Nor was his prayer a mere cry of distress or a groan of anguish ; but its union with thanksgiving shows that it was a prayer of faith, which was graciously answered. Prayer granted gave him ground of praise ; and praise for mercies received led to renewed prayer for more. Thus his religion was not a gloomy but a gladsome religion; far removed from that of the monk's cloister or the hermit's cell, and making his heart glad with the sunshine of God's reconciled countenance, and the peace of a good conscience, and the hope of eternal bliss.

Here, then, is a model for young men. With moral courage in resisting evil and standing up boldly for truth, let them combine habitual prayerfulness, for this is the very life of the soul-the secret of its power and the source of its comfort and joy. To live without prayer is to live without God, and without hope in the world. In restraining or neglecting prayer we can neither be furnished for our present duty nor

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