if the painter could have used his brush better
he would have put more expression into the attitude and the face, but
I think it is better as it is. We, too, may achieve a conquest over
the dragon which, although it requires effort, does not disturb
peace. There is a possibility of bruising that slippery head under my
foot, and yet not having to strain myself in the process. We may have
'peace subsisting at the heart of endless agitation.' Do you remember
how the Apostle, in another place, gives us the same
beautiful--though at first sight contradictory--combination when he
says, 'The peace of God shall garrison your heart'?

'My soul! there is a country
Far, far beyond the stars,
Where stands an armed sentry,
All skilful in the wars.'

And her name is Peace, as the poet goes on to tell us. Ah, brethren!
if we lived nearer the Lord, we should find it more possible to
'fight the good fight of faith,' and yet to have 'our feet shod with
the preparedness of the gospel of peace.'

'The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet'; and in
bruising He will give you His peace to do it, and His peace in doing
it, and in still greater measure after doing it. For every struggle
of the Christian soul adds something to the subsequent depth of
its tranquillity. And so the name of the God of peace is our pledge of
victory in, and of deepened peace after, our warfare with sin and
temptation.

Lastly, note the swiftness with which Paul expects that this process
shall he accomplished.

I dare say that he was thinking about the coming of the Lord, when
all the fighting and struggle would be over, and that when he said
'God shall bruise him under your feet shortly,' there lay in the back
of his mind the thought, 'the Lord is at hand.' But be that as it
may, there is another way of looking at the words. They are not in
the least like our experience, are they? 'Shortly!'--and here am I, a
Christian man for the last half century perhaps; and have I got much
further on in my course? Have I brought the sin that used to trouble
me much down, and is my character much more noble, Christ-like, than
it was long years ago? Would other people say that it is? Instead of
'shortly' we ought to put 'slowly' for the most of us. But, dear
friend, the ideal is swift conquest, and it is our fault and our
loss, if the reality is sadly different.

There are a great many evils that, unless they are conquered
suddenly, have very small