oint that I want to insist upon is this: what was good
for these slaves in Rome is good for you and me. Let us get near to
Jesus Christ, and feel that we have got hold of His hand for our own
selves, and we shall not mind very much about the possible varieties
of human condition. Rich or poor, happy or sad, surrounded by
companions or treading a solitary path, failures or successes as the
world has it, strong or broken and weak and wearied--all these
varieties, important as they are, come to be very small when we can
say, 'We are the Lord's.' That amulet makes all things tolerable; and
the Christian submission which is the expression of our love to, and
confidence in, His infinite sweetness and unerring goodness, raises
us to a height from which the varieties of earthly condition seem to
blend and melt into one. When we are down amongst the low hills, it
seems a long way from the foot of one of them to the top of it; but
when we are on the top they all melt into one dead level, and you
cannot tell which is top and which is bottom. And so, if we only can
rise high enough up the hill, the possible diversities of our
condition will seem to be very small variations in the level.
III. Lastly, these two groups suggest to us the conquering power of
Christian faithfulness.

The household of Herod's grandson was not a very likely place to find
Christian people in, was it? Such flowers do not often grow, or at
least do not easily grow, on such dunghills. And in both these cases
it was only a handful of the people, a portion of each household,
that was Christian. So they had beside them, closely identified with
them--working, perhaps, at the same tasks, I might almost say,
chained with the same chains--men who had no share in their faith or
in their love. It would not be easy to pray and love and trust God
and do His will, and keep clear of complicity with idolatry and
immorality and sin, in such a pigsty as that; would it? But these men
did it. And nobody need ever say, 'I am in such circumstances that I
cannot live a Christian life.' There are no such circumstances, at
least none of God's appointing. There are often such that we bring
upon ourselves, and then the best thing is to get out of them as soon
as we can. But as far as He is concerned, He never puts anybody
anywhere where he cannot live a holy life.

There were no difficulties too great for these men to overcome; there
are no difficulties too great for us to overcome.