faithful to
that cause.

You say you believe in the rightness of God's claims upon the hearts
and lives of men; you believe in the humiliation and passion of Christ
to redeem men; you believe in the necessity for and possibility of
rescuing human souls from the curse of evil and the eternal penalty of
sin; but, believe me, your faith is vain if you do not stand for, and
labour and fight to enforce, God's claims to proclaim Christ's
redeeming grace, and to deliver men from going down to the pit.

The aspects of personal Holiness set out in terms such as 'perfect
peace' and the 'rest of faith' are frequently before us, and I do not
desire to reduce their value, for it is a blessed truth that 'we which
have believed do enter into rest'. If by the 'rest of faith' is meant
that calm confidence in the power and grace of God by which the
believing and obedient soul is kept in perfect peace, then, all right;
that, however, is very different from the only-believe-and-do-nothing
policy of some people who adopt the phrase. Let there be no mistake
about the fact that every consecrated man must take his place in God's
fighting line.

The story of Mary of Bethany, 'who sat at the Lord's feet, and heard
His word', also appeals to me; but the emphasis is not quite as some
people put it. What Christ commended in Mary was not that she sat at
His feet whilst Martha did all the hard work, but that she had 'chosen
the good part--the one thing needful', which her anxious sister seems
to have overlooked.

There is rest for the struggling soul who finds in Jesus a real
deliverer. There is rest for the soul tossed about on waves of doubt
and fear, who, anchoring in the haven of the Saviour's love, finds
peace in believing. For the faithful but tired servant of Christ who
'works whilst it is called day', for the warrior also who has faced the
enemy and braved the danger, there is rest; but the rest comes after
the working and fighting is over.

I like the words 'fight' and 'fighting', because _they involve taking a
side_, and devoting oneself to secure victory for the side one belongs
to. I heard some one remark the other day, 'God wants fighting saints
as well as kissing saints'; truly the phrase is not without its lesson
for us. This is the very opposite to the attitude known as 'sitting on
the fence', or that wretched fear which seems to possess some professed
followers of Jesus Christ, who, outside a church or religious Meeting,
are a