all fail in the larger. If I
come, wearing the garlands of triumph won in the shade, the shout of
victory is already in the air! Let me look at David's trophies before he
removed Goliath's head.

He had conquered his temper. Read Eliab's irritating taunt in the
twenty-eighth verse, and mark the fine self-possession of the young
champion's reply! That conquest of temper helped him when he took aim at
Goliath! There is nothing like passion for disturbing the accuracy of the
eye and the steadiness of the hand.

He had conquered fear. "_Let no man's heart fail because of him._" There
was no panic, there was no feverish and wasteful excitement. There was no
shouting "to keep the spirits up!" He was perfectly calm.

And he had conquered unbelief. He had a rich history of the providential
dealings of God with him, and his confidence was now unclouded and serene.
He had known the Lord's power when he faced the bear and the lion. Now for
Goliath!

APRIL The Twenty-ninth

_THE MOOD OF TRIUMPH_

"_I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts._"
--1 SAMUEL xvii. 38-54.

The man who comes up to his foes with this assurance will fight and win.
Reasonable confidence is one of the most important weapons in the
warrior's armoury. Fear is always wasteful. The man who calmly expects to
win has already begun to conquer. Our mood has so much to do with our
might. And therefore does the Word of God counsel us to attend to our
dispositions, lest, having carefully collected our material implements, we
have no strength to use them.

And the man who comes up to his foes with holy assurance will fight with
consummate skill. He will be quite "collected." All his powers will wait
upon one another, and they will move together as one. He is as
self-possessed upon the battlefield as upon parade, as undisturbed before
Goliath as before a flock of sheep! And therefore do I say that, fighting
with perfect composure, he fights with superlative skill. The right moment
is seized, the right stone is chosen, the right aim is taken, and great
Goliath is brought low.

APRIL The Thirtieth

_THE TEST OF VICTORY_

"_David behaveth himself wisely._"
--1 SAMUEL xvii. 55--xviii. 5.

The hour of victory is a more severe moral test than the hour of defeat.
Many a man can brave the perils of adversity who succumbs to the
seductions of prosperity. He can stand the cold better than the heat! He
is enriched by failure, but "spoilt by suc