Oh pray—­and that not once for all merely, but day by day, ay, almost hour by hour—­Strengthen me, O Lord, to hate what Thou hatest, and love what Thou lovest; and therefore, whenever I see an opportunity, to put down what Thou hatest, and to help what Thou lovest—­That so, at the last dread day, when every man shall be rewarded according to his works, you may have some answer to give to the awful question—­On whose side wert thou in the battle of life?  On the side of good men and of God, or on the side of bad men and the devil?  Lest you find yourselves forced to reply—­as too many will be forced—­with surprise, and something like shame and confusion of face—­I really do not know.  I never thought about the matter at all.  I never knew that there was any battle of life.

Never knew that there was any battle of life?  And yet you were christened, and signed with the sign of the Cross, in token that you should fight manfully under Christ’s banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant to your life’s end.  Did it never occur to you that those words might possibly mean something?  And you used to sing hymns, too, on earth, about “Soldiers of Christ, arise, And put your armour on.”  What prophets, and apostles, and martyrs, and confessors meant by those words, you should know well enough.  Did it never occur to you that they might possibly mean something to you?  That as long as the world was no better than it is, there was still a battle of life; and that you too were sworn to fight in it?  How many will answer—­Yes—­Yes—­But I thought that these words only meant having my soul saved, and going to heaven when I died.  And how did you expect to do that?  By believing certain doctrines which you were told were true; and leading a tolerably respectable life, without which you would not have been received into society?  Was that all which was needed to go to heaven?  And was that all that was meant by fighting manfully under Christ’s banner against sin, the world, and the devil?  Why, Cyrus and his old Persians, 2,400 years ago, were nearer to the kingdom of God than that.  They had a clearer notion of what the battle of life meant than that, when they said that not only the man who did a merciful or just deed, but the man who drained a swamp, tilled a field, made any little corner of the earth somewhat better than he found it, was fighting against Ahriman the evil spirit of darkness, on the side of Ormuzd the good god of light; and that as he had taken his part in Ormuzd’s battle, he should share in Ormuzd’s triumph.

Oh be at least able to say in that day,—­Lord, I am no hero.  I have been careless, cowardly, sometimes all but mutinous.  Punishment I have deserved, I deny it not.  But a traitor I have never been; a deserter I have never been.  I have tried to fight on Thy side in Thy battle against evil.  I have tried to do the duty which lay nearest me; and to leave whatever Thou didst commit to my