ns of His
children. He and the power of His Gospel are held to be of small
account because those who confess Him {213} fail to be faithful to Him.
Well did the Spirit inspire the holy men of old to pray for deliverance
for the sake of His Holy Name, that it might not, through their
failure, be brought into disrepute.

So in the time of temptation the Psalmist cries, "Save me, O God, for
Thy Name's sake;"[13] and when he fails, his prayer is "For Thy Name's
sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity."[14] Realizing his sins, he asks
for forgiveness, but with no selfish motive. He thought not of his own
salvation alone. It was the honour of his Father's Name that he had at
heart, and so he asked for pardon lest his sins should give the enemy
occasion to blaspheme.

Nor is it only for deliverance that the Psalmist prays. His sins being
forgiven, he knows that he cannot walk in the paths of righteousness
save through the divine guiding, and that if his feet wander from the
way, again will that Name be dishonoured. And so he cries, "For Thy
Name's sake, lead me and guide me";[15] and again desiring more and
more of the divine life of the Spirit, he cries, "Quicken me, O Lord,
for Thy Name's sake."[16]

The lesson for our encouragement is clear. So {214} jealous is God of
His own Name, so deeply dishonoured is that Name whenever we sin, that
the Spirit again and again, in teaching us to pray against the devil,
tells us to plead with God on this very basis. When His Name is
involved God will rise in His might, and come to our help with a mighty
hand and a stretched-out arm. Even if His mighty love were not a
motive force, we can trust Him to care for His own good Name, to do His
utmost to save us, since the fall of one who is called by His Name will
lay His honour in the dust.

(3) Again, consider what is the meaning of each particular defeat to
God. Every baptized soul is a point on the far-flung battle line of
the Church Militant; every baptized soul is His soldier, made in His
image and sealed with His Sign of adoption, and set to defend a
definite point in the front of God's army. Is it nothing to Him that
such a soul be beaten down by the foe? Is it nothing to Him that His
divine image be marred and denied with the marks of the Fiend, and that
he who bears it be dragged away a captive of hell?

Unless all revelation concerning His love be false, even the smallest
defeat in the battle is to God something at which