AN

ADDRESS TO SOLDIERS.

WHEN we read in the Scriptures, of Wisdom, and Understanding, and Knowledge, we find them always highly extolled, earnestly recommended, and graciously rewarded with the blessing of God, and the favour of man; with the good things of the present, and the hopes of the future; with all that is valuable, both in time and in eternity.

For instance, it is written, "When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:"1 and again; "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour." Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

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"So teach

us to number our days, that we may apply our

1 Prov. ii. 10, 11.

2 Prov. iii. 13. 16.

3 Job xxviii. 28.

hearts unto wisdom."4 "Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation."5 The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy."

We cannot doubt what is the meaning of these promises and exhortations; that both the Law, and the Gospel, the Old Testament and the New, combine in urging us onward in the pursuit of that heavenly knowledge and wisdom, which it is their province to teach; that wisdom which is from above; that knowledge which will make us wise unto salvation. This wisdom, then, is of the highest kind; for it is conversant with those subjects which are of the greatest interest to us as regards our happiness both here and hereafter, which involve the welfare both of body and soul. Had it not been of importance to mankind to be acquainted with Divine truth, God probably would not have in this, any more than He has in any other case, arrested the established laws of nature, and miraculously vouchsafed to us the revelation of his truth; but this He has graciously done by marvellous means, by inspired historians, and prophets, and apostles, and evangelists, nay, by his own dearly-beloved and only-begotten Son. He knew that ignorance is misery, and leads to misery, and that there could not be a greater

4 Ps. xc. 12.

6 James iii. 17.

5 Is. xxxiii. 6.

blessing to man than a Divine law, to be a light unto his feet and a lantern unto his paths; a knowledge of the things which belong unto his peace, a revelation of his spiritual wants and necessities, and of the means of infallibly supplying and relieving them; and such knowledge is the subject matter of God's written word. We are told in it that man was created, not as now, prone to evil and delighting in sin, but upright, pure, innocent, in the image of his Maker; that by his own fault, and folly, and disobedience, he fell from his high estate of original righteousness; that he believed the tempter, rather than God, and therefore deservedly incurred the penalty of his guilt. But the Holy Scriptures proceed to inform us that even then God was full of mercy and compassion to his erring and fallen creatures; He willed not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; and He promised him a Redeemer and Deliverer when the fulness of the time should come. We are told, moreover, that this promise was fulfilled; that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world to bear our sins and sorrows, to feel actual experience our infirmities, to die, the just for the unjust, as the propitiation for our sins, and thus to reconcile to the favour of God those who had been aforetime enemies; and, lastly, we are made acquainted with the promise of the ever-present aid of God's Holy Spirit, to renew our fallen nature, to sanctify our hearts, to enable us to overcome our natural tendency

to evil, which was left us as the sad inheritance from our first parents; and, though not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us.

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Such, Christian soldiers, is briefly the nature of that wisdom which is "life unto the soul," which is beyond all price, " more precious than rubies; the merchandise of which is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold; whose ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." But do not suppose that when I thus highly extol, as the Holy Scriptures have done, spiritual knowledge, I wish to disparage other branches and subjects of instruction and education. To know Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the foundation of all human happiness; but still it is God's will that on this should be built up a superstructure of other knowledge, which will, enlivened by his heavenly grace, enable man to perform the duties of that station of life in which it has pleased God to place him. Such knowledge will improve his intellect, strengthen his faculties, and be a source of innocent and profitable gratification to him in his hours of leisure; it will refine his taste, and keep him from the temptations which idleness spreads in his path; it will teach him that there are enjoyments of a pure and elevating kind, which afford a lively and at the same time an innocent satisfaction; enjoyments in which a Christian may lawfully indulge, because they are