The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-12-22

The Christians Enlistment and Oath
Of Loyalty.
Every soldier of his country must
take an oath of allegiance to the gov
eminent and the inclusiveness Of this
oath is very great. The Christian who
will not make a pledge to his Lord.
ordinarily in public way, lacks the
first visible testimony that he is a sol
der of the Lord. Christian profess
sion Is most important, and the ex-
ceptions to the rule but prove its inn
portance.
The Christians Equipment for Service.
The Christian must have his equip
ment for service as the government
of any country must equip its soldiers.
in which case clothing, food, shelter,
arms, ammunition and other things
are absolutely necessary. In the sixth
chapter Of the Epistle to the Ephesians
this equipment of the soldier Christian
is quite fully given. That equipment
is spiritual of course, but it will be
noticed that it Is both defensive and
offensive. The enemy of the Christian
often attacks, and the Christian must
defend himself. The Christian must
not make it rule Of his life how
ever to await the attack Of the enemy.
but must attack as well. For attack
only one weapon is named, and that
Is the sword Of the spirit Of the word
of God. Unlike human wars, the spir-
itual warfare has known no change
through the ages. The Bible today is
the best weapon and there are no Yep
pelins nor other aircraft, nor subma-1
rines, nor mines, nor anything else tha@
makes it obsolete. 1t is well to motel
that there is only the offensive weapon.
Many have forgotten this; the Bible.
has been abandoned and the enemy
has pressed the post of righteousness
back. Courage, knowledge, faith and
all other equipment will be furnished
If the Bible is used faithfully. The
weapon of offense needs emphasis.
The Christians Training.
The Christian does too much unor-
ganized fighting. His warfare is too
largely guerrilla warfare. In con-
nection with the national army of the
United States the training is most ilf-
tensive, the results of which are aston
ishing to all beholding it. There are
provisions for training the Christian.
The old Methodist class-meeting, now
showing innocuous desuetude, was a
splendid training school in the days
gone by. Sunday schools, Y. M. G. AS,
young peoples societies, ETC., give fair
training opportunity. For officers
training there are many theological
seminaries, and few of them turn
out Napoleons and Grants and Perish
ings, but many Of them are turning
out officers with very indistinct the
ory of real spiritual warfare and with
very little knowledge Of it practically
There are some great Bible schools
where the training is intensive, largely
so because the calls for workers must
be promptly met and the time Is short.
The Soldier-c Christian and Hardship.
Endure hardship as a good SOL
der Of Jesus Christ" is what Paul
said to the recruit Timothy. What
ever may be done by the government
or the people of the various countries
for the comfort of men at the battle
front, ultimately there Is hardship.
The soldier-christian Must Fight.
Slight the good fight Of faith" is
the Scripture eXhortation and there Is
on escaping that responsibility. To
fight Is to oppose an enemy, to injure
or destroy him, to gain the victory
over him by contention. The old hymn
gives the right idea:
! Fight on my soul till death
| Shall bring thee to thy God;
| He'll take thee at thy parting breath
Up to his blessed abode.
In Ephesians 6:10 the Christian is
told that he fights against principal
tiles, against powers, against the ru.'
| ers Of the darkness Of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high
places. Today there is an enemy in
the form of false religions teaching
that he must fight. The Christian
must contend for the faith once for all
delivered to the saints.
The Christians worst. enemies are
those within his own bosom-his pride,
unbelief, Indifference, unholy zeal, evil
heart, all active enemies every mo-
ment.
The bright ray of cheer that comes
to the soldier Christian is that ultimate
victory is assured. He will overcome
by the blood Of the lamb. His crown
will be given him by the righteous
Judge in that day.