linen_, _white and clean_. _And out of His
mouth goeth a sharp sword_, _that He should smite the nations_; _and He
shall rule them with a rod of iron_; _and He treadeth the winepress of
the fierceness and of the wrath of almighty God_" (Rev. xix. 11).

Are not these brave words, my friends? Are not these soldier-like words?
Is not this a general worth following? Is not this a charge of cavalry
worth sharing in? Then believe that that general, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is your general. Believe that you are sharing in that everlasting
charge, to which the glorious charge of Balaclava was as nothing; the
everlasting war which the Lord Jesus wages against all sin, and cruelty,
and wrong--in which He will never draw bridle-rein, or sheath His sword,
till He has put all enemies under His feet, and swept all oppression,
injustice, and wickedness off the face of the earth which God has given
Him.

Therefore I can say to you other brave words, my friends (and not my own,
but the words of the same Lord Jesus Christ):--"Fear not them that can
kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will
forewarn you whom you shall fear; fear him who after he has killed has
power to destroy both body and soul in hell."

Now all England knows already that you do not fear those who can kill the
body; but I sometimes fear that some of you are not enough afraid of that
enemy worst of all, who can kill the soul too. And who is that? St.
Paul tells us. He is "the devil, who has the power of death," who lies
in ambuscade to destroy your body and soul in hell; and will and can do
it; _but only if you let him_. Now who is the devil? It is worth your
while to know; for many a man may be, as you are, in the ranks of God's
army, and yet doing the devil's work all the while. Many a man may fancy
himself a good soldier, and forget that a soldier is a man, and something
more; and that therefore, before you can be a good soldier, you must
first be more or less of a good man. Do you think not? Look then, and
see whether the most upright and god-fearing men in your ranks are not in
the long run the best soldiers. I don't mean merely the best
_fighters_--the bravest men in battle. There goes more than mere bull-
dog pluck to the making of a soldier; and to make a good soldier, I hold
that a man, though he be afraid of nothing else, must be horribly afraid
of the devil, and _that the better and braver soldier he is_, _the more