O Lord, I pray
That for this day

I may not swerve

By foot or hand

From thy command,

Not to be served but to serve.

This, too, I pray

That for this day

No love of ease

Nor pride prevent

My good intent,

Not to be pleased, but to please.

And if I may
I'd have this day

Strength from above

To set my heart

In heavenly art

Not to be loved, but to love.

Maltbie D. Babcock.

More than Conquerors

T is better that we should not sing of sadness. There are sad notes enough already in the world's air. We should sing of cheer, of joy, of hope. This is what St. Paul did when he said: "We are more than conquerors through him that loved us." We do not need to be defeated in our battles, to sink under our loads, to be crushed beneath our sorrows. We may be victorious.

We all have our struggles. Life is not easy for any of us; or if it is, we are not making much of it. Good life is never easy. It must be from first to last in the face of opposition. Jacob saw life visioned as a ladder, its foot resting in the earth, its top reaching up to heaven, into God's very glory. That meant that man could go up from his earthliness, his sinfulness, into nobleness and holiness of character, gaining at last likeness

to God and a home with God. But it meant also that the ascent never could be easy. A ladder bids us to climb, and climbing is always toilsome. It is slow, too, step by step. It never becomes easy, for heaven is ever above us and the climbing cannot cease till we enter the pearly gates.

St. Paul constantly pictured life as a battle, a warfare. We are soldiers with enemies to fight. The enemies are strong, not flesh and blood, but evil angels, spiritual foes, wicked spirits. They are invisible. They lurk in the darkness. They hide in ambush. Too often they nest in our own hearts. They take forms of good angels, to deceive us. The battle is terrific, and it never ends until we overcome the last enemy and pass within the gates of blessedness.

Every life has its cares, its duties, its responsibilities. There are sicknesses and sorrows and pains and losses and a thousand things that make it hard to live victoriously.

It is possible for us, if we are Christians, to overcome in all these struggles and trials.

"In all these things we are more than conquerors." To be more than conquerors is to be triumphant conquerors, not merely getting through the battle or the trouble, but coming out of it with rejoicing, with song and gladness. Some people bear trial and are not overcome by it, but bear it without any glad sense of victory. Others endure their sorrow, and all through it you hear as it were the notes of triumph. Paul himself was this sort of conqueror. His life was one unbroken series of struggles. It never became easy for him to live nobly. He gives us glimpses sometimes of his experiences. He was beaten with rods. He was stoned. He was shipwrecked. He was in perils of robbers, in perils in the wilderness, in the sea, among false brethren, in watchings, in fastings, in cold and nakedness. He spent years in prison. Then he had enemies in his own heart-read the seventh of Romans to find what it cost him to live right. But in all these things he was "more than conqueror." Some one compares St. Paul's life to one who goes along the street in a dark

stormy night singing sweet songs; or to a whole band of music moving through the rain and darkness, playing marches of victory. That is the way we should all try to live as Christians, not merely enduring our trials and coming through our struggles, but doing so enthusiastically-"more than conquerors."

Not only may we be conquerors, but if we are Christians we must be conquerors. We dare not yield. We believe that we should be conquerors in temptation, that we should not sin. We know that the evil in us and the evil around us should not be allowed to overcome us; that appetites and base passions and bad tempers should not be permitted to rule us. But this is not the only phase of life, in which we meet resistance and opposition, and must be conquerors, if we would live nobly. This is true in physical life. Health is simply victory over disease and weakness. It is true in mental life. It is never easy to have a trained mind. It can be gotten only through long and patient study and severe discipline. It is so in all experiences in life. We should