1 Chronicles 7:11

"Handfuls of Purpose,"

For All Gleaners

"... fit to go out for war and battle." 1 Chronicles 7:11 .

This was the estimate of usefulness in the olden time. Are we entitled to change that estimate even now, living as we do in the Christian dispensation? We are only entitled to give new definitions to the words "war" and "battle "; we are not entitled to lower the standard of qualification or fitness for the discharge of life's duties. "Fit to go" is an expression which points to the matter of qualification. Mere age does not make a man fit to sit in the council, or to go forth to the battle, or to assume the position of dignity. We must undergo discipline, instruction, mortification; we must be humbled and chastened; then we shall know how to rule with well-controlled energy and well-directed capacity. How many are called to go out who have not undergone preparation! Sometimes a man's qualification is merely a paper one; something has been handed to him by his dead ancestors, and he is bound to go out according to the terms of certain written covenants, to which he never consented, and which he can hardly fully understand. If we are to be fit for our work we must submit to the process needful for our education. At first that process is hard, but by repetition it becomes easier, and at last it becomes playful. Strive to enter in at the strait gate. We do it to obtain an incorruptible crown: how much higher therefore should be our discipline and completer our training than the process which is undergone by the athlete who runs that he may be crowned with ivy or with bay? Do not go out until you are qualified. When you are truly qualified you will know the fact by the rising of holy impulses, by the pressure as of an invisible hand urging you on in the right way, the way of divine decree and destiny. There is a zeal that is not according to knowledge, there is a ruthlessness which cannot win a battle. We must be so strong as to be quiet; the moment we become the victims of tumult we lose presence of mind, self-control; we strike without aiming, and we spend our strength for nought. To-day should always be a preparation for tomorrow; everything we learn should have in it something more than itself. When the gymnast undergoes his discipline it is that he may use his acquired strength in other and better directions than mere amusement. Let all eating and drinking, all reading and study, all companionship and travel, have before it a high purpose, a purpose of preparation for battle and race, for conflict and suffering.