saved by
grace; and then he set forth the glory of that wondrous grace to the
living. "Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" was his theme--victory
over sin, the world, death. The Gospel of Christ full, free,
sufficient, was clearly set before the people that day.

David listened, as he was rather apt to listen to his father's sermons,
not for himself but for others. He heard all that was said, and laid it
up in his mind, that he might be able to tell it to his mother at home,
as she generally expected him to do; but, at the same time, he was
thinking how all that his father was saying would seem to this or the
other man or woman in the congregation who did not often hear his voice.
There was less wonder that he should do that to-day because there were
a great many strangers there, and for the most part they were listening
attentively. In the little pauses that came now and then, "you might
have heard a pin fall," David said afterwards to his mother, and the boy
felt proud that his father should speak so well, and that all the people
should be compelled, as it were, to listen so earnestly. This was only
for a minute, however. He was ashamed of the thought almost
immediately. For what did it matter whether the people thought well of
his father or not? And then he tried to make himself believe that he
was only glad for their sakes, that, listening so attentively to truths
so important, they might get good. And then he thought what a grand
thing it would be, and how happy it would make his father, if from this
very day some of these careless people should begin a new life, and if
the old school-house should be crowded every Sunday to hear his words.
But it never came into his mind until the very end, that all that his
father was saying was just as much for him as for any one there.

All through the sermon ran the idea of the Christian life being a
warfare, and the Christian a soldier, fighting under a Divine Leader;
and when, at the close, he spoke of the victory, how certain it was, how
complete, how satisfying beyond all that heart of man could conceive,
David forgot to wonder what all the people might be thinking, so grand
and wonderful it seemed. So when a word or two was added about the
utter loss and ruin that must overtake all who were not on the side of
the Divine Leader, in the great army which He led, it touched him, too.
It was like a nail fastened in a sure place. It could not be pushed
aside, or s