ch men are prone to boast
to-day.

He had physical strength. "His height was six cubits and a span."
Athletics had done all they could for him, and he was a fine type of
animal perfection.

He had splendid military equipment. "A helmet of brass," and "a coat of
mail," and "a spear like a weaver's beam!" Surely, if fine material
equipment determines combats, the shepherd-lad from the hills of Bethlehem
will be annihilated.

And he enjoyed the enthusiastic confidence of the Philistines. He was his
nation's pride and glory! He strode out amid their shouts, and the cheers
were like iron in his blood.

But all this counted for nothing, because God was against him. Men and
nations may attain to a fine animalism, their warlike equipment may
satisfy the most exacting standard, and yet, with God against them, they
shall be as structures woven out of mists, and they shall collapse at the
touch of apparent weakness. The issue was not Goliath versus David, but
Goliath versus God!

APRIL The Twenty-seventh

_OBSCURE BIRTHPLACES_

1 SAMUEL xvii. 12-27.

God's champion is at present feeding sheep! Who would have expected that
Goliath's antagonist would emerge from the quiet pastures? "Genius hatches
her offspring in strange places." Very humble homes are the birthplaces of
mighty emancipations.

There was a little farm at St. Ives, and the farmer lived a quiet and
unsensational life. But the affairs of the nation became more and more
confused and threatening. Monarchical power despoiled the people's
liberties, and tyranny became rampant. And out from the little farm strode
Oliver Cromwell, the ordained of God, to emancipate his country.

There was an obscure rectory at Epworth. The doings in the little rectory
were just the quiet practices of similar homes in countless parts of
England. And England was becoming brutalized, because its religious life
was demoralized. The Church was asleep, and the devil was wide awake! And
forth from the humble rectory strode John Wesley, the appointed champion
of the Lord to enthuse, to purify, and to sweeten the life of the people.

On what quiet farm is the coming deliverer now labouring? Who knows?

APRIL The Twenty-eighth

_PREPARING FOR GREAT ENCOUNTERS_

1 SAMUEL xvii. 28-37.

This young champion of the Lord had won many victories before he faced
Goliath. Everything depends on how I approach my supreme conflicts. If I
have been careless in smaller combats I sh