Because Ye Are Strong

IT used to be a custom for travellers in Switzerland to bring home clusters of the edelweiss. The flower is not sought because of its beauty or for its fragrance, but in recognition of its bravery and victoriousness in living and blooming under hard conditions. It grows on the Alps and Pyrenees, at lofty altitudes, where almost nothing else lives, and on crags difficult of access, and is among the hardiest of all plants. Thus the edelweiss becomes the symbol of noble life that endures hardness, that is victorious amid antagonisms, that rises superior to obstacles.

The man who has never known a hardship, who never has had to practise self-denial or make a personal sacrifice, may be the envy of other men whose lives have been one consJfinDfitQ tle Wat

tinued struggle. They may think that if they could have had his easy circumstances they could have made a great deal more of their life. But really their chance in life thus far has been far better than his. Manhood is made in the field of struggle and hardship, not in ways of ease and luxury. Hindrances are opportunities. Difficulty is a school for manhood.

Strength is the glory of manhood. Yet it is not easy to be strong — it is easier to be weak and to drift. It is easier for the boy in school not to work hard to get his lessons, but to let them go, and then at the last depend on some other boy to help him through. It is easier, when something happens to make you irritable just to fly into a temper and say bitter words, than it is to keep quiet and self-controlled. It is easier, when you are with other young people and they are about to do something that you know to be unworthy, just to go with them, than it is to say, “I cannot do this wickedness against God.” It is easier to be weak than to be [220]

QBecaujsc ge are Strong

strong. But we know where weakness leads in the end.

Nothing is impossible to young men. General Armstrong said, “Doing what can’t be done is the glory of living.” Anybody can do the easy things, the things that can be done. A young man who has no higher goal than the things he knows he can do, will never rise to any sublime height. “What are Christians put into the world for but to do the impossible in the strength of God.’^” said General Armstrong again. Jesus said the same — that if we have faith we can remove mountains — that is, do things that are impossible to human strength, because faith unites us to God and his omnipotence works then in us and with us. God expects a great deal of those who are strong. He does not expect much of babies, of invalids, of paralytics, or of feeble-minded people; but young men have in them vast possibilities of power. Is it manly not to use this power for God, for country, for truth, for humanity? One of the most pitiful things the stars look down [221 ]

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tinued struggle. They may think that if they could have had his easy circumstances they could have made a great deal more of their life. But really their chance in life thus far has been far better than his. Manhood is made in the field of struggle and hardship, not in ways of ease and luxury. Hindrances are opportunities. Difficulty is a school for manhood.

Strength is the glory of manhood. Yet it is not easy to be strong — it is easier to be weak and to drift. It is easier for the boy in school not to work hard to get his lessons, but to let them go, and then at the last depend on some other boy to help him through. It is easier, when something happens to make you irritable just to fly into a temper and say bitter words, than it is to keep quiet and self-controlled. It is easier, when you are with other young people and they are about to do something that you know to be unworthy, just to go with them, than it is to say, “I cannot do this wickedness against God.” It is easier to be weak than to be [220]

Tdtcaim ge are strong

strong. But we know where weakness leads in the end.

Nothing is impossible to young men. General Armstrong said, “Doing what can’t be done is the glory of living.” Anybody can do the easy things, the things that can be done. A young man who has no higher goal than the things he knows he can do, will never rise to any sublime height. “What are Christians put into the world for but to do the impossible in the strength of God.^^” said General Armstrong again. Jesus said the same — that if we have faith we can remove mountains — that is, do things that are impossible to human strength, because faith unites us to God and his omnipotence works then in us and with us. God expects a great deal of those who are strong. He does not expect much of babies, of invalids, of paralytics, or of feeble-minded people; but young men have in them vast possibilities of power. Is it manly not to use this power for God, for country, for truth, for humanity? One of the most pitiful things the stars look down [221 ] finDing tle Wa

upon is a joung man with fine gifts, with strength, with love, with genius, able to do some noble work, jet wasting all his possibilities in some form of debased living. Strength is God’s gift and should be used only in worthy ways; to use it in any unworthy way is sacrilege. The device of a French admiral was a buraing and flaming oar, as a sign of his fervent and zealous activity on the sea for his king and his country. Underneath the oar was the motto: “For another — No.” While he was ready always to gird himself to fight for his country, he was not ready to do battle for any other cause. Dora Greenwell has written these lines on this motto:

/ gird me not for every cause,

I answer not to every call,
I do not wear my heart for daws

To peck, nor weep when sparrows fall.

But when I give, I give my all;
For her my love, for him my friend,
My steel, my gold, my life, I spend.
[ 222 ]
‘^TSttaim Pt are strong’’

My sword shall flash, my blood shall flow For these, but for another — No!

Show me but cause for quarrel strong. That arms the right against the wrong. That bids me battle with the brave To crush the tyrant, free the slave;

Then through the wave I winged will fly, Will cleave with oars the yielding sky, Will flame through ocean, float through air. Will all things suffer, do, and dare. For friend I love, for cause I know, I fight. But for aught other — No.

This is a splendid motto for young men — “For another — No!” They have superb strength, God’s wonderful gift to them. Let them not waste it in sin, nor squander it in uselessness of any kind. Let it not wither and shrivel away, wrapped up in any napkins of non-use. It is sacred, this marvelous strength that hides in our hands, in our brain, in our heart; it is part of God’s own life given to us. It is divine. It should be used only in ways that will honor God. We [223] sfinUfng tie Wav

should not answer every call to pour out our strength, nor draw our sword in every cause. We should keep our life sacred for our Master and for the cause that is dear to him. Dr. Guthrie was fond of saying:

/ live for those who love me,
For those who know me true,

For the heaven that bends above me.
And the good that I can do;

For the wrongs that need resistance,

For the cause that lacks assistance,

For the future in the distance,
And the good that I can do.

We are exhorted continually in the Scriptures to be strong. Christ is strong and we are to be like him. We need to be strong in order to stand firm and true in the midst of the fray of life, and to do our duty faithfully and worthily. But how can we be strong? We need the strength of heaven in our arm to make us equal to the stress of duty and responsibility that we must meet. How can we get this strength.^

““htcamt ge arc Strong”

One way is by prayer. Prayer is linking our little life to God, when his grace will flow into our weakness, and make it God’s strength. If we would be strong, we must pray.

“Lord, what a change within us one short hour Spent in thy presence will avail to make!

We kneel, how weak! We rise, hoiu full of power!

Why therefore should we do ourselves this wrong.

Or others, that we are not always strong,

That we are ever overborne with care. That we should ever weak or heartless he,

Anxious or troubled — when with us is prayer. And joy and strength and courage are with thee V*

Another secret of strength is found in fellowship, companionship, with Christ. Moses knew this secret, for it is said of him that “he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” We grievously wrong ourselves when we do not accept the help of Christ in our tasks and struggles. Even in a strong human friend we may find inspiration and help which will make our lives mean more, stimulating us to [225]

^inDing te Wat

bravery and fidelity and enabling us to be victorious. The other day a friend travelled ten miles to be helped through a terrible temptation. “If I can only sit here a few minutes and have you make a prayer with me and say a strong word of cheer, I shall not fall.” Even a human presence often carries one through danger and makes one strong to overcome. Infinitely more is the presence of Christ to us when we are weak. It is told of the widow of Schumann, the musical composer, that whenever she was going to play any of her husband’s music in public, she would read over some of his old letters to her, written in the lover days. Thus, she said, his very life seemed to fill and possess her, and she was better able then to interpret his work. If we will read over Christ’s words of love to us until his life enters into us, and his spirit breathes itself into our lives, then we can be brave and strong in resisting evil and doing his will.

Cle (KlaiSjse pou Wtav

Lord, when I look on high,

Clouds only meet my sight;
Fears deepen with the night;

But yet it is thy sky.

Help me to trust thee, then, I pray,

Wait in the dark and tearfully obey.