of its surrender to Satan. Even if our own experience did not teach us
better, His word, so often repeated, should reassure us. What can be
more comforting than the many passages concerning the divine care and
compassion with which the Scriptures teem?

We recall the final summing up of the last great blessing which Moses
gave his people from God before he went up into the mount to be seen of
them no more. "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the
everlasting arms."[9] Do these words leave room for anxious doubt that
in every assault of the enemy He will be with us? Or those other words
that have brought strong {67} consolation to so many souls in the midst
of the conflict: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee"?[10]

Would that we could learn the lesson as the Psalmist learned it, that
we might rest upon the divine compassion, not enervated as we too often
are by human sympathy, but with our hearts thrilling with courage,
fearing naught, knowing that He is faithful that hath promised,[11] and
should the battle prove too strong He will save and deliver. "He shall
send down from on high to fetch me; and shall take me out of many
waters."[12]

III. _The Cure of a Doubting Spirit_

There are many practical means we can employ to allay that kind of
solicitude which is both the cause and effect of a doubting spirit.

(1) Think not overmuch of the dangers of the warfare. The imagination
brooding over them will be apt to paint them in lurid colours that will
terrify and weaken. If the thought of the peril presses upon us,
supplant it by recalling the oft repeated pledges of divine help.
Think rather of the glory of a conflict in which God is our Leader, and
in which victory is absolutely assured if only we do not lose heart but
fight on to the end.

{68}

Recall the precious promises He has given us, and how that often in the
very language of these promises we gain a glimpse of conditions of the
war that ought mightily to encourage us. "Resist the devil and he will
flee from you,"[13] says the Spirit, comforting us concerning the peril
of the conflict. Glance for a moment at the particular words the Holy
Ghost here chooses. "Resist the devil"; or, to go back to the
etymology of the word, Stand against him; yield not one step to him
however he may fling the full weight of his power against you. But
what will be the result? Not only that your soul will be safe from
stain or guilt, but th