The Victory of the Spirit
Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” — ZECH. iv. 6.
ses@ HE Spirit of the Lord of Hosts is here @s distinguished from might and power,
ae and rightly so. The Spirit of the Lord of Hosts is love — the sacrifice of might and power. The world has been made great by the gentlest of all its forces. Man had no dominion over the beast of the field until the advent of love. The animal raged within him unsubdued until the Christ came. Thunder, earthquake, and fire strove in vain to quell it; it yielded only to the still small voice. The Jew proposed the terrors of the law; the philosopher advised the crucifixion of feeling; neither could suppress the passions of the soul. But when love came, it conquered the old passions by a new passion. It sent not thunder but lightning. It forbade nothing, it crucified nothing, it destroyed nothing; it simply flashed on me the light of a new presence and the old presence died. There was no go THE VICTORY OF THE SPIRIT.
mutilation of the heart, there was no destruction of the heart’s ancient possessions; there was just a transcendent glory which made the ancient possessions valueless; they were destroyed “by the brightness of Hs coming.”
O Son of Man, let my lower nature be conquered by Zky Spirit. I would not have it conquered by the terrors of law; these would bind my hands, but would leave my heart at war. I would not have it conquered by the death of feeling; that would save me from stepping into evil by depriving me of the power to walk at all. But I would have it conquered by Thee — a larger, purer love. I would have Thy beauty to extinguish all other beauties, Thy light to put out all, other lights, Thy joy to dwarf all other joys. I do not want to be converted by mutilation but by expansion; I do not want to be made good by being narrowed but by being enlarged. Nothing but a higher love will subdue my lower love — subdue it without killing it. Might and power would reduce it to ashes in a moment, but my heart would be ashes too. Thou alone canst preserve my heart and yet burn its sin, Thow alone canst enlarge my nature and yet destroy its impurities. Thou alone canst subdue my will and yet sustain its resoluteness; not by might nor by power but by Thy Spirit, O Lord.