money if he would only spare that idol;
but, refusing the bribe, the conqueror demolished the image, and found
within it the treasures of the temple, which for safety had been hidden
there. There are many things which we may lose by fighting our battles
faithfully, but the heavenly treasure will more than make up for it
all.

'Be thou faithful unto death' is a strong exhortation; but that which
makes it a positive inspiration to loving and enduring service and
fighting is the added sentence, 'I will give thee a crown of life'.

XVI

Sanctified Commonplaces

'_In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness
unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls
before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be
holiness unto the Lord of hosts._' (Zechariah xiv. 20, 21.)

What I have to say may not strike some of you as setting forth any very
high or exalted truth, but I am satisfied as to its being a very
important matter. I want to talk to you about the sanctification of the
commonplace things in life.

However desirable it may seem, you cannot always be sitting at the
Master's feet in that contemplative, ecstatic mood sometimes attributed
to Mary. Like Martha, we have to do a good deal of serving. Whether we
are _encumbered_ by 'much serving' is a separate question; but if we
are to fulfil the Divine tasks we have to do a great deal of serving as
well as praying and trusting. I may quote, with slight alteration, two
lines of a poem:--

_Who sleeps and dreams that life is beauty,
Will wake to find that life is duty_.

How true that is in practical life many of us know full well.

The most attractive manifestation of God's power is seen in the fact
that He stoops to touch men at the points of their daily need. It is
that aspect of the grace of God--the meeting your need in the daily
battle of life--which makes it so supremely precious. In the same way,
when we, who profess to be followers and imitators of our Heavenly
Father, and to regulate our conduct by the principles of holy living,
bring these principles to bear upon the ordinary relationships of life,
we are most accepted in our witness for Jesus Christ, and exert the
best, the most effective influence upon others.

These are the thoughts that have been in my mind, and which have led me
to the subject upon which I wish to speak: the sanctification of the
commonplace things. My thoughts