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once
if Feisal made his men climb about the precipitous country like goats and
tear up the railway" (Amy Carmichael in Kohila). As Feisal
looked at this fellow's "six feet of comfortable body,' he asked him if
he had ever tried to "goat himself." Those who would lead the Lord's battalions,
whether as Sunday school teacher, preacher, or missionary must learn to
"goat themselves" before they can say with Paul, "Ye became followers of
us and of the Lord."
We perhaps little realize
the solicitude of Our allied leaders, as they face the almost superhuman
task of whipping Into shape millions of soft civilian young men.
In the early days of the war a noted secular writer said: "In my opinion,
democracy will not survive unless it is prepared to impose upon itself
a discipline as rigid as that which a dictator fixes on a totalitarian
state." Our military men knew that the undisciplined, untrained warrior
had little or no chance against the disciplined men of the dictator-controlled
countries. Their only hope lay In sufficient time to develop, and
harden, and train our millions to match the already schooled, the disciplined,
the fit. In the mercy of God that time was allowed us. Now
and then a leader has lashed out against the enervating philosophies of
our modern educational system. One such leading general in World
War II, a man whose duty for the past years has been to transform civilians
into soldiers, says:
We've had so-called high
standards of living for the past generation--and one-third of our youth
are unfit for military service. And many that pass our none-too-high
physical standards for entrance into the Army require much time and patience
to harden physically--even more time and patience to toughen morally. .
. .The biggest job in the Army is to knock the complacency out of young
officers and men, to make them realize that only by dint of their greatest
effort, their utmost unselfishness, their infinite pains, and their capacity
for self-sacrifice . . . will victory be attained. We must arouse
in them the spirit of the offensive.
Do you know what these words
really mean? Many of our young people, despite their high school
and university educations, don't know until they have been in the Army
among combat troops for months--greatest effort, utmost unselfishness,
infinite pains, capacity for self-sacrifice.
It will be one of the greatest
fortunes of the war if the discipline of the army can "knock the complacency
out or' us and make us realize "greatest effort, utmost unselfishness,
infinite pains, capacity for self-sacrifice" for His sake.
How differently did the
Spartan education develop the soldiery! The Greeks of old carried
discipline to a point of almost unbelievable severity. Boys who were
taken from their homes at seven, never again slept under their mothers'
roofs. They were obliged to prepare their own meals, wear the same
clothing summer and winter, sleep on a bed of rushes, and on festival days
be publicly whipped to test their endurance. Some preferred to die
under the lash rather than to cry out. All this was to produce what
the Greek prized so highly-a perfect human specimen. Godet says:
The abstinence of the (Greek)
athletes related not only to criminal enjoyment, but also to gratifications
in themselves lawful; so the Christian's self-denial should bear, not only
on guilty pleasures, but on every habit, on every enjoyment which, without
being vicious, may involve a loss of time or a diminution of moral force.
Someone says, "What dupes
we are of our own desires! Destiny has two ways of crushing us--by
refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them. But he who only wills
what God wills escapes both catastrophes. AU things work together
for his good."
It should be said of the
hero of the Cross more truly than of Edward Wilson of the antarctic: "The
secret of his influence lay in a self-discipline that was as habitual as
most men's habits are, an inner culture of mind and heart and will that
gave his life a poise, so that he could not be untrue either to himself
or his fellow men." Why do we dwell upon discipline? Because it can
never be separated from discipleship. The Captain of our salvation
lived one lifelong renunciation and self-chosen martyrdom. Little
wonder, then, that the supreme symbol for New Testament discipleship is
that of good soldiery. The military note is struck everywhere.
Paul speaks of running, racing, wrestling, soldiering, fighting.
To him, life is continually a conflict, a contest, a |
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