on, until the image of Jesus Christ Himself is reproduced in us, then
we may laugh at temptation. For there will be no temptation when the
heart is full of Him, and there will be no sense of surrendering
anything that we wish to keep when the superior sweetness of His grace
fills our souls. It is empty vessels into which poison can be poured. If
the vessel is full there will be no room for it. Get your hearts and
minds filled with the wine of the kingdom, and the devil's venom of
temptation will have no space to get in. It is well to resist
temptation; it is better to be lifted above it, so that it ceases to
tempt. And the one way to secure that is to live near Jesus Christ, and
let the Gospel of His grace take up more of our thoughts and more of
our affections than it has done in the past. Then we shall realise the
fulfilment of the promise: 'He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.'

THE SHIELD OF FAITH

'Above all, taking the shield of faith, whereby ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.'--Eph. vi. 16.

There were two kinds of shields in use in ancient warfare--one smaller,
carried upon the arm, and which could be used, by a movement of the arm,
for the defence of threatened parts of the body in detail; the other
large, planted in front of the soldier, fixed in the ground, and all but
covering his whole person. It is the latter which is referred to in the
text, as the word which describes it clearly shows. That word is
connected with the Greek word meaning 'door,' and gives a rough notion
of the look of the instrument of defence--a great rectangular oblong,
behind which a man could stand untouched and untouchable. And that is
the kind of shield, says Paul, which we are to have--no little defence
which may protect some part of the nature, but a great wall, behind
which he who crouches is safe.

'Above all' does not mean here, as superficial readers take it to mean,
most especially and primarily, as most important, but it simply means
_in addition to_ all these other things. Perhaps with some allusion to
the fact that the shield protected the breastplate, as well as the
breastplate protected the man, there may be a reference to the kind of
double defence which comes to him who wears that breastplate and lies
behind the shelter of a strong and resolute faith.

I. Now, looking at this metaphor from a practical point of view, the
first thing to note is the missiles, 'the fier