fenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls,
against the whole land." Thou canst not; but He can. He will
strengthen thee; yea, He will help thee; yea, He will uphold thee with
the right hand of his righteousness. Keep looking steadfastly up to
Him, that He may teach thy hands to war, and thy fingers to fight; for
thou shalt be able to do all things through Him that strengtheneth thee.

(2) _His simplicity_. A second time the Master asked the people what
they went forth into the wilderness to behold; and by his question
implied that John was no Sybarite clothed in soft raiment, and feasting
in luxury, but a strong, pure soul, that had learnt the secret of
self-denial and self-control. Too many of us are inclined to put on
the soft raiment of self-indulgence and luxury. We are the slaves of
fashion, or we are perpetually considering what we shall eat, what we
shall drink, and with what we shall be clothed: or we act as though we
supposed that life consisted in the number of things we possessed, and
the variety of servants that waited upon us: whereas the exact contrary
is the case. The real happiness of life consists not in increasing our
possessions, but in limiting our wants.

To all my young brothers and sisters who may read this page, and who
have yet the making of their lives in their own hands, I would say,
with all my heart, learn to do without the soft clothing and the many
servants which characterise kings' courts. At table have your eye on
the simpler dishes, those which supply the maximum of nutriment and
strength, and do not allow your choice to be determined by what pleases
the palate or gratifies the taste. A young friend stood me out the
other day against some article of diet, which was acknowledged to be
the more nutritious (it was whole-meal bread), because another was
sweeter and more palatable (some white, light French rolls, from which
all the nutriment had been extracted). This is the deliberate
preference of the fare of kings' courts to Daniel's pulse and the
Baptist's locusts and wild honey. Please note, here, that there was
nothing inconsistent in his taking honey. We are not to refuse a
certain diet because it is pleasant; but we are not to choose it
because it is so.

So with dress. Our Master does not require of us to dress grotesquely,
or to attract notice by the singularity and grotesqueness of our
attire. We must dress suitably and in conformity with that station in
li