Moral Blindness
Ministry by E. L. Bevir

A servant of the Lord, no longer with us, once said "infatuation precedes destruction";

• See J. G. Bellett, in his beautiful 'Introduction to Isaiah', page 21.
• it was no doubt true of the Jewish nation in their treatment of Messiah before Titus was sent to demolish their city,

• and I believe it to be true, in every time, in the ways of God with men.

The antediluvians were infatuated – morally blinded; so far as I can understand they were so intent upon living on the earth that the preacher of righteousness could get no true hearing;

• yet surely the very state of things must have been enough to make them attentive, yet they allowed the flood to come upon them.

• Intent upon life – Luke 17: 27 – death surprised them, and they were all drowned.
  • It is well to notice that pursuit of wealth and a disturbed state of society may co-exist; so now in this present age. 1 Thessalonians 5: 3.

The Jews in Jeremiah's day were infatuated.

• Their pretensions were unparalleled, and their blindness inconceivable – Jeremiah 18: 12 –

• and the fall of Jerusalem involved both the prophets who so blindly affirmed security and the unfortunate people who listened to them.

• Insolent pride had taken possession of Judah, and she fell in the very midst of it.

It appears to me that the whole of Christendom, on a larger scale, will be thoroughly infatuated just before the final catastrophe of the age;

• I mean that sudden destruction which shall come upon the allied forces of the Beast, and upon the whole earth.

• The inspired page predicts that there will be no repentance even in the very midst of judgments, but daring revolt and defiance of God to the very end.

But do we not see a strange infatuation in many cases just before a moral judgment from God falls upon those blinded by it?

• I mean by a moral judgment the intervention of divine power in such a manner as to manifest, even before the tribunal of Christ, the utter vanity of their pretensions.

• The signs of infatuation I think are much the same in all ages, and the chief one of all is that of pride which goes before a fall;

• a spirit which pretends to know everything, which refuses to be taught, and will not even bear a remonstrance.

• It is a state of soul bordering upon judicial blindness, and very different from the assurance of faith which is always accompanied by the fear of God.

Since Christianity has been upon earth I think that whenever ecclesiastical power has asserted itself upon human principles,

• when there has been the assumption of certain grand truths of the church of God, and the attempt to monopolise them,

• then infatuation has set in, and judgment has followed.
• It will be said: 'You refer to Rome'. No doubt Rome is infatuated, and will be judged and destroyed;

• but I refer to every attempt by proud man to exalt himself by claiming ecclesiastical power which is not his.

• I believe we might find many instances of this without going to the Vatican,

• nor can we be too anxious, whilst owning the grand truths of the assembly of God, to be kept from any assumption of power and infallibility which is not ours.

• The Lord is with those who seek to be humbly faithful to Him, the Head of the church, and He is their wisdom; power to stand true to Him and serve Him too is found in Him alone.

• He will not fail us; but the spirit that accompanies such a walk will be rather that of the broken and contrite order, which is precious to God.

Ignorance and presumption with a display of religious zeal are the marks of infatuation, and no doubt characterize man's religion in the age in which we are living as in every other age.

• May there be that humility which can proceed only from a true walk with the Lord;

• and may we be kept from every effort to glorify that man who was set aside in the cross, whilst retaining the precious truths which are ours in Christ.

• If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light!

It is evident that no single truth, however great and blessed in itself, can ever be taken as a ground of fellowship in an evil day when Christendom presents one vast field of ruins;

• for ruin it is, whatever may be the pretensions of the Roman, Greek, or other 'churches'.
• It may seem to be insisting too much upon what is too patent; yet it is well, sometimes, to insist upon what is visible to those who have eyes to see; the very fact, too, of insisting may cause some to open their eyes.

• Let us then insist upon this; that we are not living in Pentecostal times, but in the nineteenth century, when all the characteristics of the last days – 2 Timothy 3: 1, 'the very last days' – are to be seen on every hand, and judgment is imminent upon the whole Christianized portion of the globe.

• The question before us is whether it be possible, in the existing confusion, to be in the position of a true remnant,
  • and that without falling into narrow sectarianism on the one hand, or into Romanism on the other.

Much has been said lately about a remnant; and I shall confine myself to this, I believe, true aspect of one, that it represents a true part of the whole thing.

• I believe the illustration has been made of part of a large piece of woven silk, saved out of a fire; the loom, let us suppose, has been burnt, but a piece of the woven texture has been saved, and is a true specimen of the whole piece.

There are two passages that may be useful at this point; one is, the whole of 2 Timothy, the other is Revelation 3: 7-13.

• The latter passage is of so purely an unsectarian character that any such sentiment as, 'We are Philadelphia!' is precluded.

• Some indeed have indulged such an idea with notorious consequences; but the passage applies evidently to those who are in the position of a remnant,
  • who would at once disclaim being the church, but who recognise and are governed by the grand truths of the church of God.

But we must not confuse the recognition of these truths with the taking any of them for a basis of fellowship.

• It is one thing to be faithful to the Lord and to receive His word but quite another to claim as a foundation to communion any truth, however blessed.

• Such a course must end in one of two things either in pretension like that of Rome, or the very narrowest sectarianism under the sun.

If we were to take, for example, the blessed truth of the unity of the body in this way – in a day like our own – there would be imminent danger of thinking that we are the body,

• instead of being a feeble remnant dependent entirely upon the Lord to carry out, in our measure, the truths he has confided to us.
• Timothy's second epistle, too, will keep us from sectarianism. That we cannot get out of Christendom – without becoming Jews or pagans – is well known.

• The great house contains a very miscellaneous collection of vessels, but the faithful one is called to purify himself from such as are to dishonour, and then he shall find fellowship with those who pursue, righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

That the blessed truths of the church will be known in this little company we cannot doubt; that they may be recognised as binding on the conscience will be the very first effect of "follow righteousness"!

• But this is very different from making any one of them the basis of communion.

May the Lord give us to call upon His name out of a pure heart!

Of all the wonderful truths connected with the new creation, that of the one body is the most remarkable.

• Much has lately been said as to this aspect of the church of God; and I wish merely to insist once more upon its immense importance,
  • and especially as delivering every faithful heart from sectarian principles.

There are two points which I should like to notice:

1. The moral character which should be found in those who endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit.
   • We are never told to keep the unity of the body, which is in far safer keeping than ours. I take the opportunity of giving a definition of the unity of the Spirit, made by JND at Croydon in 1881, "It is the realization of the present power of the Holy Ghost, for the truths of the one body".

2. The wide basis of communion which the truth of the one body implies when we are met at the Lord's table.

For the first, we must look at Ephesians 4; and for the second at 1 Corinthians 10.

In the beginning of the first passage, as the apostle is leading them up to the truth of the one body, he exhorts them to all lowliness and meekness with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.

• Lowliness is the result of being in God's presence, for no one wishes to exalt himself there; and then follow "meekness and longsuffering" towards one's brethren.

• If one be humble before God, there will be no want of true patience with others; and it is no small miracle to see men who naturally were violent and intolerant becoming magnanimous in the true Christian sense, and bearing with one another in love, as members of the one body.
  • Notice that in Ephesians 4: 2, it is makrothumia, and not hupomone. Many people are naturally phlegmatic, and have not wit enough to be impatient. But what a wonder when an ardent, intolerant man, like Saul of Tarsus, becomes a model of longsuffering.

• Were we more fully in God's presence, we should understand practically the unity of the Spirit; and our conduct would correspond to our vocation.

But now let us for a moment look at 1 Corinthians 10, where the Lord's table is referred to, and the communion of our Lord's death clearly established; the cup being the communion of the blood, and the bread being that of the body of Christ.

• Verse 17 introduces the one body: "We, being many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf".

• The saints are here actually gathered around the Lord's table, and their communion is that of death – for the body and blood of the Christ are mentioned separately;

• then comes in the blessed truth of the one body, which shuts out once and for all any sectarian thought. "We are one body."

The immense importance of this in a day of utter ruin, cannot be too much insisted upon; for while we disclaim to be the body, to the exclusion of other true believers,

• we would seek to maintain in dependence upon the Lord all the blessed truths which characterize the whole church of God.
• This surely is the true spirit of a remnant; and faith recognises the unity of the body, notwithstanding all that man has done.

• Elijah could see the twelve tribes by faith when all was in disorder in Israel – 1 Kings 18: 31 –
  • and we can perceive the one body, safe in God's keeping, amidst the endless ivisions of Christendom.

I wish to disclaim any originality in the chief thought contained in this short paper. It is merely the following out of what has already been noticed.

• It has been said that modern infidelity tries to work up to God; whereas truth comes down from Him, the Holy Ghost having descended from the glorified Christ. 1 John 5: 6.

Indeed God has worked, and is still working, from what He is in His own blessed nature.

• The God, who is light and love, has formed His own counsels, perfectly consistent with His unchangeable righteousness, and is carrying them out according to what He is.

• Oh that we might know the heart and the majesty of God a little more! He has declared His infinite satisfaction in the second Man, the risen Jesus, and is now working according to His delight in Him.

• I believe the failing to see this has caused so many Christians to limit 2 Corinthians 5: 2 – and many other passages – to our deliverance and blessing merely, leaving out God's delight and joy.

Evolution is a wretched and lame attempt to establish a chain of progress and development from the lowest forms of life to the highest; and I am only using here the language of a materialist.

• There is a certain progress from the first faintly animated matter, they say, up to mankind.

• Many links are missing in the chain, and I believe that the theory is now fairly exploded even amongst scientific people; however it has its adherents, and I think especially in a religious way.

I mean this, that the grand theory of the present day is the development of man, of the race of Adam.

• Progress is announced on all sides from every school of religion; the sons of Adam are getting nearer to God, we are told.

• It is true that they do not quite love the Lord with all their heart and soul yet, nor their neighbours as themselves; that is that they are sadly given to blaspheming and fighting still, but we are told that there is constant improvement.

Now this whole theory is condemned and set aside for ever by the revelation of God's glory, his full satisfaction in Christ;

• and the fact of Christ having answered to the first man's responsibility upon the cross.

• The Lord Jesus Christ answered in His own blessed Person to the guilt of the first man, and ended his history at His death.

And then? And then, God began an entirely new order of things at the resurrection.

• There could be no moral change in Jesus, but the change from "the days of his flesh", when He was the Man of sorrows to resurrection glory, is past expression.

Thus the whole theory of evolution is swept away as a cobweb with one stroke of the broom;

• and the second Man, who went the whole way of the via dolorosa in dependence on God, ended the first man's history, and is now crowned with glory and honour, becomes the one bright object of our souls.

May God, even our Father, cause us to increase in the sense of His delight in Jesus risen and glorified;

• may we enter more simply into His counsels, and thus understand what He is doing in working downwards from that point where His heart is fully satisfied;

• the result will be death to the first man and all his theories, no quarter given, and growth in the knowledge of Christ.

The importance of understanding clearly that the "second man" applies to an order entirely different from that of the "first man" is very great, and may still be considered, though so much has been said about it.

Adam is looked at in 1 Corinthians 15 as the head of a race, and when our Lord's place as last Adam, quickening all those in the race of which He is Head, has been clearly established,

• the Holy Spirit goes on to speak of the character or order of humanity of the second race, in contrast with that of the first.
  • I give here a note by one no longer with us. "Adam is the head of a race; man, first and second, denote two characters of manhood. Adam means head-man, but then looked at as a race, and personally the head of it". JND.

The earth is a very beautiful place, though man has done what he can to spoil it, and seen even as we see it, through eyes that have lost much of their power since the fall, and bearing as it does the effects of the curse,

• we can still trace the splendid proportions of the great Architect's hand in the very midst of the ruin.

• I shall never forget, as a lad, coming suddenly upon Tintern Abbey when walking along one evening, and imagining the complete Gothic edifice from the shattered arches still left standing.

The earth was very beautiful when Adam was made out of dust and the breath of life breathed into him by God.

• He was fitted for all that was called life in an earthly sphere: so formed that he could enjoy all that God had given him in Eden; and that, in innocence.

• And we are speaking of what Adam was before the fall; for Eden is not heaven whatever people may say.

He fell, and the whole race was involved in his ruin; of this, much has been said, but not too much, for on every hand

• men are still endeavouring to bring to perfection the natural man which has been hopelessly spoiled.

Adam, no doubt, had happy intercourse with God, as an innocent happy earthly being, very different from the brutes, and having an immortal soul, in relation to the Creator who had breathed the breath of life into him.

The great point before us is the new order. The expression "out of heaven" refers to the origin and moral character of a humanity entirely distinct from that which was "out of earth".

• If the last Adam be the head – last, because there will be no other order of humanity after Him – of an entirely new race,
  • the character of this race becomes evident when others are spoken of: "as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly ones".

A great effort has been made, and is still being made, to throw this into the future instead of accepting it as a grand fact,

• as true now morally, as it will be actually, later on, when the glorified saints shall be seen in the splendour of the resurrection. As is the heavenly One, so are the heavenly ones.

• If the earth was beautiful when if came out of God's hands at the creation, and is still beautiful even in its ruin, the heavenly One could tell of things of an immensely higher sphere

• and seeing that the most instructed did not even understand earthly things, could say: "How if I speak to you of the heavenly things will ye believe?"

To apprehend the new order and character of a race of heavenly men, to understand it in the soul and walk in it

• would make us as truly separate from the earthly race – as to our ambition, aim, and service – as a stranger in Italy with an English passport would be separate politically from the Italians.

But there is more to be thought of; that is that the grace, fortitude, joy, peace, belonging to another race to that of the first man be made good in our souls by the Holy Ghost.

• That as we understand more simply what the new creation means, we may enjoy these blessed realities; and not cease to thank and praise Him who came down from heaven, the living Bread,

• in order that we by His death and resurrection might be brought into this new order of things, and be characterized by what is "out of heaven".

Instead of interfering with our present path and duties it will give new force and weight to all that we do or say,

• whilst we wait for the full accomplishment of all the counsels of God in the glorification of our bodies. May the "out of heaven" character be more simply known!

The last three verses of the first Epistle to Timothy are of great importance.

• Timothy had to keep the entrusted deposit – the pure and simple revelation of grace in a glorified Christ –

• and to avoid two snares; snares into which many more have fallen than is usually supposed.

The first of these are "profane vain babblings", that is the fruitless discussions – what is vulgarly called 'talk' – which waste time and demoralise the soul; this is easy to understand.

But what are the "oppositions of false-named knowledge"? The expression is a very peculiar one, literally 'pseudonymous knowledge';

• that is, that which is called – but is not – knowledge. It is really what is called in our time 'scientific theology'.
  • It would be better surely to translate gnosis "knowledge" here, for it refers evidently to the Gnostics, who pretended to the art of thinking, just as though no one thought but themselves.

I shall explain myself, for it is really a very serious question in the present day.

• Many in Christendom have been led into speculations, which though not exactly the same as those of the Gnostics in Timothy's time, yet have a strong analogy to that kind of pretentious 'knowledge'.

• Alas! I fear that some of the seats of religious learning are as full of fabulous theology as the wild and speculative school of Alexandria in A.D. 60.

• Surely the second Epistle to Timothy – for instance, chapter 4: 3-4 – will apply to what I say; and the proofs are not wanting.

It is no question here of exact mathematical science – such as 2 + 2 = 4 – which may be useful for a man to gain his living here on this earth;

• whatever may happen the relations of space and time will always be the same, I mean that even were the very chemical elements themselves changed, 2 + 2 would always be equal to 4, and all the angles of a plain triangle would equal 180 degrees.

No; we have here something far different: that is, the systematical opposition of pretentious knowledge,

• that would vainly seek out such questions as the origin of good and evil, investigate the invisible powers of darkness, and explain things that are not revealed.

• Many in the present day, who smile at Gnostic imposture, are not so far off from the Gnostics as they suppose.

Timothy, it will be said, had a special service, a special deposit entrusted to him; and this is true,

• but the point is that we enjoy all the value of it, and know the full Christian revelation.

Our hearts being filled with Christ as He has been revealed to us, knowing the grace of God according to that which Paul confided to Timothy, and the blessed Lord in glory;

• the heart, I say, being satisfied, we shall not need any false-named knowledge.

• The mind follows the heart, and we have full rest and blessing in the true knowledge of God; and having this, there is no need to go to the sources of spurious 'knowledge' that abound in the present day.

May God fill our hearts with the knowledge of Himself in Christ, so that – instead of missing the mark, verse 21 – we may be kept in the truth!

This does not merely mean that we are citizens of the heavens, but that we are formed in such a way by the heavenly order of things that it may be said of us that our politeuma is there.

• It is in contrast with a very common and popular religion; that is of those who walk in outward Christian profession, but are enemies of the cross of Christ, and mind earthly things.
  • Notice that it is not 'who mind only earthly things', but they think of earthly things as being part of their religion.

• They do not allow the doctrine of the end of the first man, whose history the cross of Christ surely closed;

• and if asked as what they think of Christianity, they will say that it is a very good thing and that it should be practised in making the very best use of the earth, and in getting as much as possible out of it. Their end is perdition.

The true Christian is already so far – spiritually, or in his soul – above the earth, that it is said of him that all that properly forms him so as to give him a status, is in the heavens.

• In this world, you will at once know a man by the country to which he belongs; and if any one speaks of a German, Frenchman, or Russian, he means a man formed by German, French, or Muscovite polity, and that the man himself is moulded by it.

It is none the less so for the Christian; his whole soul and mode of thought is formed by the Holy Ghost in that heaven where the blessed name of the Lord Jesus is supreme and where everything is ordered around and under Him.

• I shall never forget an aged servant of the Lord saying once, after he had been much alone with the word of God and enjoying the truths of Christianity, that

• it seemed to him upon getting into intercourse with people afterwards that their conversation was literally nonsense;

• and so, indeed, it would seem to us sometimes if we were more thoroughly in the sense of our heavenly citizenship.

Can a Christian then retire into a corner, and have nothing whatever to do with those around him?

• This would be a fatal mistake, and those who have tried to be eremites, from St. Anthony down to our time, have failed entirely to carry out the Lord's mind.
  • I suppose there can be no doubt that Anthony was a Christian, though he never attained what he sought. He predicted that many would wear the weeds of a monk with far less sincerity than himself.

• He did not pray that we should be taken out of the world; nor does the apostle suppose that we can go out of it. 1 Corinthians 5: 10.

The point is that we already belong to heaven in such a way that if we were called upon to sing the praise of any 'fatherland' it would be this one;

• our heart and mind is there already, and the formative power of the Holy Spirit will certainly produce the features of a heavenly citizen in each one who truly walks with the Lord through this world.

In contrast with what is now called utilitarian, and which is really none else than the minding earthly things of verse 19,

• there is a true walk with a heavenly Christ, and anxious expectation of Him who shall come forth from the heavens and crown the whole work of salvation by bringing us, glorified ourselves, into that celestial splendour.

All thoughts of human glory and civic honours fade away at once into nothing before the splendour of that day,

• when the divine might of Him who can subdue all things unto Himself shall transform the bodies of our humiliation into the likeness of His glorious body.

Our home, our place of honour, our all is with Him where he is in the heavens, and a true sense of this will keep us morally outside all the false and earthly religion of this century.

It may be well to look, though not for the first time, at the circumstances of the apostle to the Gentiles when he wrote thus to Timothy.

• He had been unjustly imprisoned; he had committed nothing worthy of death or of bonds.

• He was anticipating an unjust capital sentence from the iniquitous head of the Roman Empire; and from the Emperor down to venal procurators there was not for him a shadow of justice in the whole earth.

• A Felix may have trembled as Paul spoke of righteousness, temperance and imminent judgment, but there had been no administration of justice; even had much learning made the accused man mad, there was no pretext for the unfair imprisonment and condemnation.
  • Some suppose Paul's first arrival at Rome to have been about A.D. 62, and that about A.D. 64 he was released from imprisonment; then a second time apprehended about A.D. 66. But this does not change the question.

That the preacher of God's righteousness and grace could find no justice at the hands of the world is not to be wondered at;

• but in the second Epistle to Timothy, injustice is to be found in quarters where it is least expected, that is, in those who bear the name of Christians.

• It is sad to think that a great number of those who bore the name of Christ behaved unjustly to the one who had brought them the very truth they professed, and had suffered pain and tribulation of every kind in bringing it to them.

• A life of entire devotedness to the Lord and to the church of God had been repaid by the world with the scourge, chains and prospective death;

• and by the great number of those he had so devotedly served, Paul had received nothing else than cruel neglect and desertion. All they of Asia had turned away from him.

Is it then possible for Christians to be unjust? I believe it is possible, unless we go on with God in the present power of the Holy Ghost,

• not only to abandon the true path of a Christian upon earth, but to unjustly condemn one who shows it forth in his life.

The great thing to be noticed in Paul is that he practised what he taught.

• He had announced the heavenly position of the Christ, and all connected with it, and his whole life had been a visible example of his preaching.

• Here was a man who could be perfectly calm and confident in the midst of reverses and loss, who sought no honours for himself, who behaved in very trying circumstances as a citizen of quite another country (of heaven itself);

• who had been characterised since his call from on high and extraordinary mission, by a heavenly aim, and by the virtues which are found in a heavenly Christ, and not in Saul of Tarsus.

He had carried out the precept of the Lord Himself, that it is more blessed to give than receive;

• while showing the greatest for-bearance and patience with all men, he had kept firmly to his call by the Lord of glory; he had not been disobedient to the heavenly vision.

And on every side he was deserted. Where was to be the reward of this devoted service, of the patient suffering he had endured?

• The Lord, the righteous Judge, had reserved the crown for him; there could be no doubt as to His appreciation of all.

• There is one tribunal where just rewards shall be given to such as deserve them, and we must not be astonished if the world ignores it.

• The more terrible thing is that Christians should ignore it; and though it may seem very sad, I have no hesitation in saying that
  • whenever there has been a wrong direction taken, those who follow it do not like the just retribution of the just Judge at His tribunal to be spoken of.

Appealing to Caesar is one thing; appealing to Christ is quite another.

Let us notice "all those who love his appearing". May God awake the consciences of us all, for we long to see Him appear in His glory who was crowned with thorns, insulted and crucified here.

• Our expectation is to see Him in the place which is justly His, and to see in that day all true service rewarded, justice fully established, the crown of righteousness given to those who shall have shared His rejection and followed His steps in an unjust world.

May we all be awakened to serve Him with true purpose of heart until that day!

The great question here is to be found standing – holding the ground – at the end of the battle, when the enemy shall have exhausted all his attacking force and ingenuity.

There can be no truce, the position occupied is too important and conspicuous for the enemy to allow any repose;

• and though he may, every now and then, draw back in order to spring forward again with more vigour than ever, these short respites are but sufficient to allow us to draw our breath,

• and then we must be ready for an attack more fierce and more cleverly planned than the last.

I know of no better illustration than an obvious one to many a mind; a weakened force, formed into squares and occupying a ground that the opposing general wishes to have at all costs.

• His astonishment at seeing the position still held, after the failure of each attack, can only equal his rage.

The enemy is laying out his last artifices, and I believe that every awakened saint – awakened to the gravity of the contest – is

• praying to be kept among the number of those whom the head of the opposition shall not be able to drive off the heights where he is standing through grace.

Much has been said of the whole armour of God, of prayer, and perseverance; and we need to be reminded of these things more than ever.

• It is no small thing to be called to hold such a post against the universal lords of darkness.

• Yet surely we are called to this, and whatever be the force the enemy may have actually in the field, the might of the strength of the Lord is for us and He will sustain us to the very end.

The expression, "having accomplished all things", is worthy of our notice, for it implies perhaps more than we think.

• See the note in the New [Darby] Translation: "put in execution all purposed and called for, in spite of opposition".
• I suppose a long battle, during which the resisting force – following my first illustration – is called upon, every now and then, to withstand some new shock of the attacking columns;

• I suppose the vicissitudes of such a struggle, and that those who remain in the position at the end, have answered to their Lord's mind at each new call to stand and resist the impact of the foe.

But it is not a physical impact. There can be no doubt that all the attacks here are made by artful and specious combinations; and if I may be allowed such an expression,

• the enemy often assumes the appearance of rigid orthodoxy to confound, if possible, those who are standing for the truth.

• It is not that the form of sound words is to be neglected; we cannot be too careful in the present moment, to keep to the written word of God:

• but the enemy succeeds in terrifying souls and raising alarms with plausibility and success, where no cause for alarm exists.

It is no doubt a day in which the very last efforts of the foe are being directed against the church of God upon earth; and we must not suppose that we are to be left in peace.

• If we enter into the meaning of the sentence, "having accomplished all things", we shall be all the more cast on the Lord, as the weary struggle draws to a close;

• only to find that His might and force are the same as at the beginning, and to be able to praise Him as the true Leader.

If our state correspond to the rest of this passage, we need not be afraid of the expression "having done all things" for He who has called us to the war will supply power and endurance to the end.

• The shoes shall be strong, for a sure footing, and as the days, so shall the strength be.

The word "secret" may well be translated "wonderful" – Isaiah 9: 6 – and the expression in the next verse, where it is said that the angel did wonderfully, is in connection with it.