n of body, or pain of mind, such as shame, loneliness, the
dislike of ridicule, and the contempt of his fellow-men; in a word, the
more of a man he is, the more chance there is of his brute courage
breaking down, just when he wants it more to keep him up, and leaving him
to play the coward and come to shame.

Yes; to go through with a difficult or dangerous undertaking a man wants
more than brute courage. He wants spiritual courage, the courage which
comes by faith. He needs to have faith in what he is doing to be certain
that he is doing his duty--to be certain that he is in the right. To
give one example. Look at the class of men who in all England in times
of peace undergo the most fearful dangers; who know not at what hour of
any night they may not be called up to the most serious and hard labour
and responsibility, with the chance of a horrible and torturing death. I
mean the firemen of our great cities, than whom there are no steadier,
braver, nobler-hearted men. Not a week passes without one or more of
those firemen, in trying to save life and property, doing things which
are altogether heroic. What do you fancy keeps them up to their work?
High pay? The amusement and excitement of the fires? The vanity of
being praised for their courage? My friends, those would be but weak and
paltry motives, which would not keep a man's heart calm and his head
clear under such responsibility and danger as theirs.

No; it is the sense of duty. The knowledge that they are doing a good
and a noble work in saving the lives of human beings and the wealth of
the nation--the knowledge that they are in God's hands, and that no evil
can happen to him who is doing right--that to him even death at his post
is not a loss, but a gain. In short, faith in God, more or less clear,
is what gives those men their strong and quiet courage. God grant that
you and I, if ever we have dangerous work to do, may get true courage
from the same fountain of ghostly strength.

Yes; it is the courage which comes by faith which makes truly brave men,
men like St. Peter and St. John, who can say, "If I am right, God is on
my side, I will not fear what men can do unto me." "I will not fear,"
said David, "though the earth be moved, and the mountains carried into
the midst of the sea." The just man who holds firm to his duty will not,
says a wise old writer, "be shaken from his solid mind by the rage of the
mob bidding him do base things, or the f