's arm. She will secure his safety if she
succeeds! Ah, how many pleading glances are cast at us to induce us to
spare ourselves and others, by toning down our speech, and covering our
regimentals by the disguising cloke of conformity to the world around!
"If you do not approve, at least you need not express your
disapproval." "If you cannot vote for, at least do not vote against."
If you dissent, put your sentiments in courtly phrase, and so pare them
down that they may not offend sensitive ears. Such is the advice,
which is freely proffered. But those who follow it quickly discover
that the compromise of principle involves certainly and awfully the
loss of influence for good.

III. OUR BEHAVIOR AMID THE WORLD'S HATRED.--We have fallen on evil
days. The world has been coated over with a Christian veneer, whilst
the Church has become leavened with the subtle spirit of the world. It
is hard to come out and be separate, because in the dim twilight one is
apt to mistake friend and foe. The bribes are so rich for those who
conform, the dissuasive so strong for those who refuse to bow to the
great golden image. But our duty is clear. We must be true to the
spirit of Christ. We must live a holy and unworldly life; we must
avoid all that might be construed as an unworthy compromise of the
interests of our Master's Kingdom.

And through all the pitiless storm of hate that beats in our faces, we
must be glad. "Blessed are ye," said our Lord, "when men shall revile
you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you
falsely for My sake: rejoice and be exceeding glad." And why rejoice?
Because your reward is great in heaven; because you know that you are
not of the world; because you are shown to be on the path trodden by
the saints before you, every step of which has been trodden amid
similar manifestations of the devil's hate.

Moreover, abound in love. Let there be no slackening of the patient,
tender, pitying love, which heaps coals of fire on the head of the
wrongdoer, and will never rest content until it has subdued the evil of
his heart, overcoming it with good. Love must ultimately conquer hate,
as surely as tomorrow's sun will conquer the darkness that now veils
the landscape.

XVIII

The Work of the Holy Spirit on the World

"He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment."--JOHN xvi. 8.

Three facts forced themselves home on the apostles during