al; in 1900 it was the first to enter the Transvaal--as the
inscription narrates. And by the direction of Lord Roberts, when
Pretoria was occupied, this identical flag was run up amid the shouts
of the victors. Now it rests here. "Resurgam"--it is the unquenchable
spirit of an invincible nation.

If only the manhood of Scotland could be gathered into this Church,
under these flags, and the story they tell were put into words,
pulsating with passion--then the ranks of our Army would be filled up
in a week. What a lack of imagination we reveal! We teach dates,
thinking we are teaching history. The only way to teach history is by
flags, and all they stand for. When Douglas threw the heart of Bruce
among his enemies he cried, "Lead thou on as thou wast wont and Douglas
will follow thee or die." In the spirit of Douglas our fathers
followed the flags, and we will follow in the steps of our fathers and
face death with undaunted hearts as they were wont. There comes to us
the shouting of their triumph, and we cry: "Lead on; we will follow or
die." This grey church, St. Giles', is the temple of patriotism.
Therefore our feet turn towards it in dark days, and we say, "Our feet
shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem!"

***

How the old words are born for us anew as we thus meet as one "to
entreat God for the broken peace of Christendom." We sing "God is our
refuge and our strength," but there is a note of intensity in the
singing now such as we never knew before. Men close their eyes, and
stand, the world blotted out, before their God, realising that He and
He alone is the one refuge, the only giver of victory. We hear the old
story read of Moses holding up his hands and Israel prevailing on the
plains below; but it is not Israel we see travailing in battle, but our
own brothers in the rain-sodden trenches, and we feel the uprising of
the ceaseless intercession of a nation that has anew found its God. It
is not the right hand that assureth victories; it is that spirit of
enthusiasm, that passion for righteousness which filleth the heart, and
that spirit is as the wind blowing where it listeth--and it cometh out
of the Unseen at the call of our prayers.

When in other days we prayed for the King it was in the spirit of cold
formalism. But now a lump rises in the throat as we invoke the
blessing and protection of Heaven for the solitary man who is the
symbol of the unity of our Empire, and who watcheth over it