do? Here is a man with two wives. Which one shall he retain? And then here are the children? Another indeed has one wife only but she is unlawfully his wife. What can you do about that? He says, "I make no compromise with any of these complications. Here is the Word of God. That is truth. That is life. That must stand. And no matter what it costs, no matter what it overturns, it is imperative that God's Word be obeyed." Well, could that be done? Will not the people revolt? You saw the heathen king's heart turned. You saw the contempt and treachery and hostility of their enemies disarmed. You saw a debt-laden people, whose lands were mortgaged and whose children were bound to slavery, released by the class of men who of all others show the least deference to the requirements of God's Word. And then you saw where love of money was wrapped up in disobedience of God's commandment with reference to the Sabbath day, and you saw that yield.

Now, shall it fail when it comes to the question of marriage? It did not fail there. The result of it was that Jerusalem was rebuilt. Her walls became impregnable. They could not be successfully assailed by any force that could be brought against them from the outside. They would stand forever if the garrison remained true. And peace came. And what a glorious revolution was wrought. The valleys that had seemed as if stricken by lightning and scarred by fire, these valleys again blossomed

like the rose, the hillsides were covered with the clustering grapevines, and from the summits of the mountains to the bottoms of the gorges, the land which had re-acknowledged its God, the land which sterility had cursed under sin, that land responded to the people of piety and of prayer, and once more put forth abundant fruit, until the whole of it looked like the garden of the Lord. And here were happy families, happy children, happy fathers and mothers. Thieves, robbers and murderers were expelled, and all over the country law and order reigned and the voice of prayer and the voice of praise were heard.

Now, I want to say to you that there can never be any restoration of your souls to the divine favor by any different road than is indicated by the principles set forth in this case. There must be the conviction of sin. There must be abhorrence of it. There must be a recurrence to God's Word as the supreme and only and all-sufficient law which defines right and wrong. There must be a determination to abide the decision of that word, cost what it may. And there must come a courage into your heart that will not be intimidated by any threat from an outside enemy, and there must be a moral courage that will enable you to support yourself under this derision and contempt, so that in every aspect of it you may say, "I am God's. I belong to him. I will do what he tells me to do."

What then if these men did have to watch and work and war, at the same time? It was a mag

nificent education that produced a hardy and vigorous and successful generation. Oftentimes we deplore the very circumstances that rightly used go to our upbuilding, and oftentimes we long for just that condition which if God should give it to us would enervate us, would take the strength out of our hands and courage out of our hearts and patience out of our souls. Let no man, then, complain of hard work. It is from the realms of difficulty and poverty and straitened circumstances that the really great ones of this earth emerge. It is where the people toil; it is where they live with difficulties as their bedfellows, it is where, without external human aid, that innate manhood, magnetized under the Spirit of God, rises up and asserts itself, and welcomes foes from without and fears from within, and successfully overcomes all.

I need refer to only one circumstance more in connection with this case. Right at the critical time when at every moment they expected the invading army to come and assail their unfinished walls, when there were breaches yet that had not been repaired, when the gates had not been hung, there came a man who claimed to be a brother, with a message: "You are all to be put to death. Your only safety is to go yonder into the holy place and shut yourselves up." Our hero replied to him, "Who am I that I should fear the face of man? I will not go and shut myself up." And so he took his position right in the greatest breach in the wall, took his stand

right there. "Let the enemy come. I will not hide. I will not be enticed from this great work in which I am engaged. I make it my chief concern. I put it above all other matters. I allow no other matter to divert my attention or to diminish the importance of this. Here God put me and here, if need be, I will die in the discharge of my duty."

My reason for calling your attention to this subject to-night arises from a conversation that I have had within the last ten days. A man came to see me in great distress. He seemed to be utterly hopeless. Very frankly he stated to me his condition. He pointed away back when he was a happy Christian, happy in the Sunday school, happy in the church; when he could pray with fervor and sing with melody. And he said, “I never can get back there." I asked him to listen to me patiently. I told him that the road of repentance was not a pleasant path, but it was the road of life and that there was no option in this matter; that as his was a desperate case it called for a desperate remedy, and that he must return to the King's highway which he had abandoned no matter how far, and that if he would come with prayer and confession and abhorrence of sin, and if he would have faith in God, he would see difficulties vanish that seemed invincible by human power.

Have faith in God. I stated to-day what I conceive to be the chief sin of this generation, the lack of moral courage and the lack of simple, implicit faith in God's Word, in the Lord Jesus Christ. I

do not know of any kind of difficulty, no matter what it is, that can successfully oppose sublime, moral heroism, where the soul humbly and lovingly trusts in Jesus Christ for victory. If only there be faith in God speak to the mountain upon thy right hand or upon thy left. Speak to the yawning gulf. Come right up and face the enemy, looking them right in the eye. Do not hide. Do not become discouraged. Do not be afraid. Have faith in God and do just what the Book says, and the victory is just as certainly yours as that God reigns in the heavens.

Now, if that people, under those conditions such as I have described, found themselves able and resourceful enough, poverty-stricken as they were, and harassed as they were by outside enemies, if they were able in the strength of God to do what they did, then what we need is not so much the external conditions of success as men count it; we do not need to go out and study the clouds to see whether there will be a storm; we do not need to count our enemies and talk about the sons of Anak and their fortified places. All on earth we need is to feel contrition for sin and to have faith in God, and go and do what that Book says do. That is all. Then watch and war and work. Watch against thyself. Watch for the Master.

Watch for God's promises. War against the flesh and against the world and against the devil. And work, work, work! Satan finds for idle hands his darkest deeds to be done.