September 23Ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints — Jude 3.
Our good fight of faith consists in a considerable measure in our defense of the Word of God, which includes also our defense of the character of God. This will mean our willingness to stand for the Truth at any cost and against any number of assailants—against the creeds and theories of men, which would misrepresent the good tidings of great joy which the Lord and the Apostles have announced, and which shall, thank God, yet be unto all people. As the Apostle again says, "I am set for the defence of the Gospel." We can do no less than defend the Truth. The Truth is God's representative, Christ's representative, and hence our standard, and as true soldiers we must defend our standard, even unto death—Z '03, 423 (R 3272). The faith once delivered to the saints consists of the doctrines, precepts, promises, exhortations, prophecies, histories and types of the Bible given by God to His true Gospel-Age people. These have been attacked with all the ability and malice that fallen angels and men could concentrate into the onslaught. As the custodians of the oracles of God, we would be untrue to our stewardship, if like craven cowards we inactively permitted the attack to go on. We should arm ourselves with the whole armor of God and repel the attacks of error against the Truth; and, assuming the aggressive, we should, with all our wisdom, power, justice and love, destroy the opposing errors, and deliver from their chains our captive brethren and friends—P '26, 125, 126. Parallel passages: Acts 17:2; 18:4, 19; 20:27; 24:25; 1 Cor. 9:23-27; Gal. 2:2-5, 12-14; 5:7; 2 Pet. 2:1; Phil. 2:16; 2 Tim. 2:5; 4:7. Hymns: 44, 78, 118, 183, 145, 272, 266. Poems of Dawn, 152: Heroism. Tower Reading: Z '12, 215 (R 5056). Questions: Did I this week defend the Truth? How? Why? With what results? |
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HEROISM
IT takes great strength to train
To modern service your ancestral brain;
To lift the weight of the unnumbered years
Of dead men's habits, methods and ideas;
To hold that back with one hand, and support
With the other the weak steps of new resolve!
It takes great strength to bring your life up square
With your accepted thought, and hold it there,
Resisting the inertia that drags back
From new attempts to the old habit's track.
It is so easy to drift back—to sink—
So hard to live abreast of what you think!
It takes great strength to live where you belong,
When other people think that you are wrong;
People you love, and who love you, and whose
Approval is a pleasure you would choose.
To bear this pressure, and succeed at length
In living your belief—well, it takes strength—
Courage, too. But what does courage mean
Save strength to help you face a pain foreseen;
Courage to undertake this life-long strain
Of setting yourself against your grandsire's brain:
Dangerous risk of walking alone and free,
Out of the easy paths that used to be;
And the fierce pain of hurting those we love,
When love meets truth, and truth must ride above!
But the best courage man has ever shown,
Is daring to cut loose, and think alone.
Dark are the unlit chambers of clear space,
Where light shines back from no reflecting face.
Our sun's wide glare, our heaven's shining blue,
We owe to fog and dust they fumble through;
And our rich wisdom that we treasure so,
Shines from a thousand things that we don't know.
But to think new—it takes a courage grim
As led Columbus over the world's rim.
To think—it costs some courage—and to go—
Try it—it taxes every power you know.
It takes great love to stir a human heart
To live beyond the others, and apart;
A love that is not shallow, is not small;
Is not for one or two, but for them all.
Love that can wound love for its higher need;
Love that can leave love, though the heart may bleed;
Love that can lose love, family and friend,
Yet live steadfastly, loving to the end.
A love that asks no answer, that can live,
Moved by one burning, deathless force — to give!
Love, strength and courage; courage, strength and love—
The heroes of all time are built thereof.
IT takes great strength to train
To modern service your ancestral brain;
To lift the weight of the unnumbered years
Of dead men's habits, methods and ideas;
To hold that back with one hand, and support
With the other the weak steps of new resolve!
It takes great strength to bring your life up square
With your accepted thought, and hold it there,
Resisting the inertia that drags back
From new attempts to the old habit's track.
It is so easy to drift back—to sink—
So hard to live abreast of what you think!
It takes great strength to live where you belong,
When other people think that you are wrong;
People you love, and who love you, and whose
Approval is a pleasure you would choose.
To bear this pressure, and succeed at length
In living your belief—well, it takes strength—
Courage, too. But what does courage mean
Save strength to help you face a pain foreseen;
Courage to undertake this life-long strain
Of setting yourself against your grandsire's brain:
Dangerous risk of walking alone and free,
Out of the easy paths that used to be;
And the fierce pain of hurting those we love,
When love meets truth, and truth must ride above!
But the best courage man has ever shown,
Is daring to cut loose, and think alone.
Dark are the unlit chambers of clear space,
Where light shines back from no reflecting face.
Our sun's wide glare, our heaven's shining blue,
We owe to fog and dust they fumble through;
And our rich wisdom that we treasure so,
Shines from a thousand things that we don't know.
But to think new—it takes a courage grim
As led Columbus over the world's rim.
To think—it costs some courage—and to go—
Try it—it taxes every power you know.
It takes great love to stir a human heart
To live beyond the others, and apart;
A love that is not shallow, is not small;
Is not for one or two, but for them all.
Love that can wound love for its higher need;
Love that can leave love, though the heart may bleed;
Love that can lose love, family and friend,
Yet live steadfastly, loving to the end.
A love that asks no answer, that can live,
Moved by one burning, deathless force — to give!
Love, strength and courage; courage, strength and love—
The heroes of all time are built thereof.
