d all be to make the face of
heaven sparkle! we should take every candle and lamp that we could lay
hands on, light them up, and watch for the gleaming of the new wonder
in the sky. Does that seem strange? Did you never read that "They
that are wise shall shine as the sun, and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever"? The lamps and candles
in God's world do become suns and stars; the illumination that you will
have by and by will depend on the little candle that you are to-day;
and if you curtail your service for God and man down here, you will
clip the wings and shear away the strength of the angel that you hope
to be.

O Lord, that I could waste my life for others,
With no ends of my own!
That I could pour myself into my brothers,
And live for them alone!

XV

OVER-OVERCOMING

"We are more than conquerors."--ROMANS viii. 37.

The Apostle coins a word to suit his experience. We should render it
exactly by saying, "In these things we over-conquer," imitating the
formation of similar words in our language, such as "over-master,"
"over-do." More forcibly we might say, "In all these things we
over-overcome." Coverdale gives the sense of it well in his
translation, "We conquer far." Observe some of the ways in which this
excess and extravagance of victory may take place, for it is as if one
should win a victory over a foe in such a way as to prevent him from
ever troubling us again. Our conquest over special sin is to be of
this character. We are not to be content with winning the field while
the foe retires to some more secure position from which he will have to
be dislodged. It is never meant that we should sin the same sin twice,
the Lord's purpose concerning us being shown in the Exodus of the
children of Israel: "The Egyptians which ye see to-day, ye shall see
them no more again for ever." "Let him that stole steal no more."
"Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more." There is a passage in
Miss Havergal's life which narrates how, after having been angry with a
servant, the word of comfort came to her through a friend: "Perhaps
this may be the last time that you will ever be so overcome."

And then our victories are to leave us stronger than before. This will
seem quite contrary to the order of nature, in which seldom is there a
battle without garments rolled in blood, and where the victory often
costs as much to the victors as to the vanquished.