Soldier of Christ

“ Here are the terms of the challenge. Shall the good soldier of Christ Jesus be overshadowed by the soldiers of the world? Or shall the courage and ingenuities of the world be eclipsed by the heroism and the wise audacity of the Church? ”

“ But whilst we look with wonder on these awful scenes of destruction, may there not lie in them the lesson for us that antagonism and righteous wrath against evil in all its forms is the duty of the soldiers of Christ? There are many causes to-day which to further and fight for is the bounden duty of every Christian, and to further and fight for which will tax all the courage that any of us can muster. Remember that the leadership of Christ is no mere pretty metaphor, but a solemn fact, which brings with it the soldier's responsibilities. When our Centurion says to us, 'Come!' we must come. ”

“ Are you a soldier? You ought to be, for you have been chosen to be a soldier in the glorious army of Jesus Christ.
You ought to be, for you have been "received into the congregation of Christ's flock" at your baptism, and engaged "manfully to fight under His banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto your life's end." You can never undo that, even if you are a deserter, and found in the enemy's ranks. The Captain of our salvation will not undo it, for He is ready to receive you, if you will but come and enlist now. ”

“ The soldier who sheds his blood on the battlefield in a righteous cause, and with a righteous purpose, is doing the very thing that Christ did, and he may be assured of Christ’s approval and blessing. In quiet times we may fail to realize adequately the solemn truth that, whenever we receive the Holy Communion, we are receiving spiritual benefits which were won for us by the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ. ”

“ So Jesus Christ, the 'Strong Son of God,' is set forth by this military emblem as being Himself the first Soldier in the army of God, and the Leader of all the host. We forget far too much the militant character of Jesus Christ. ”

“ And are not you, too, soldiers—soldiers of Jesus Christ? Then even as that good soldier, you may be at peace, through all the battles, victories, defeats of mortal life, if you will be discontented with nothing save yourselves, and vow, in spirit and in truth, the one oath which is no blasphemy, but an act of faith, and an act of prayer, and a confession of the true theology—So help me God. ”

“ A soldier needs to have Christ in his heart before the hour of battle, although we may hope and believe that to many (like the dying thief) the Son of Righteousness may arise 'with healing in his wings,' even after the swift bullet has brought the awful message, 'Behold, this night (or this hour) thy soul shall be required of thee.'
"I had such a heavenly joy yesterday and to-day, in conversing with a young bandsman, and a corporal whom I sent for, to my room. ”

“ The holy abbot thus pursues his comparison between the soldier of the world and the soldier of Christ—the secular and the religious warrior: "As often as thou who wagest a secular warfare marchest forth to battle, it is greatly to be feared lest when thou slayest thine enemy in the body, he should destroy thee in the spirit, or lest peradventure thou shouldst be at once slain by him both in body and soul. ”

“ But the Christian soldier is not only a suppliant for his own spiritual health. He is much more than this. The apostle counsels him to be a suppliant for the health of the entire Christian army. "Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." That is to say, the Christian soldier not only prays for the health of his own spirit, but for a healthy "esprit de corps" throughout the whole militant Church of Christ. ”

“ But you must remember that, as the soldier does not choose his work or his place, but goes whither he is sent, and upon whatever service his commander orders, having no will of his own, so must it be with the soldier of Christ. ”

“ Therefore, let no soldier neglect his salvation, through fear that the temptations of the army will be too much for him. Great as they are, if he trusts in Christ, he shall be made "more than a conqueror through him that loved him;" and the more he can get his comrades to attend to the same things, the temptations will diminish. And the more the religion of Jesus prevails in the army, and the greater the number of genuine disciples are in it, the greater improvement will be made in its character, efficiency, and comfort. ”

“ The soldier of Jesus Christ is given, to defend himself from his enemies, the shield of faith, the tunic of truth, the helmet of salvation; but to fight, to overcome, to disarm, he has but one weapon,—the {88} sword of the spirit. ”

“ The soldier-priest gave a singular example of Christian courage, an absolute fearlessness which electrified the soldiers who were fighting by his side. I was at Perpignan a few weeks after a priest, who had lost an eye in the trenches, was decorated with the Legion of Honour by the General commanding the district. Truly the blood of these servants of Christ, spilt on the battle-field (and many have been killed) , is the seed of the Church, and from their self-sacrifice and heroism will spring a harvest of love and charity, if not actually a revival of religion in France. ”

“ The habits and manners of a soldier’s life are calculated, as we have already seen, to demoralize them, to obliterate all early serious impressions, to introduce and confirm them in the most daring wickedness and fit them for everlasting destruction. And notwithstanding [43] God may have occasionally, to display his sovereign power, snatched some soldiers from the ranks of rebellion and made them the heirs of his grace, yet no sober Christian will say that the army is a likely place to promote their salvation ”

“ If a nation's flag has been able to stir the soul of the soldier to deeds of noble daring amid the excitement of battle, the cross of Christ has been able, not less often, to fire the soul of the lone missionary with holy love and zeal in the midst of the savage wilderness. ”

“ If any soldier read this, let me beseech him to lay seriously to heart the immense value of his soul, and to believe in the grace and power of a Redeemer, and, although there should not be one godly person in his regiment, let him not be afraid to believe in Jesus, and to regulate his conduct by his word. Do not be afraid of the mocking of your comrades: it is indeed not easy to bear; but if you really trust in Christ, he will enable you to live down their reproaches by a consistent and steady course of life. ”

“ They who put on Christ are well clothed; they are armed from head to foot, and are proof against the darts of the devil. The Christless man is defenceless; his own understanding and gifts do not sufficiently arm him. The soldier comes into the field with no arms but what his general commands: it is not left to every one’s fancy to bring what weapons he pleases; this would breed confusion. So the Christian soldier must put on the armour God provides, and be completely clothed with it. ”

“ Although you are soldiers, you are still surely under the government of your Creator. Your being in the army will not excuse the sins you commit in it. There is no article of war that commands you to swear, or to get drunk, or to be guilty of uncleanness, or any other sin. There is no order that prohibits you from repenting of your sins, and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of your invaluable souls, and living a life of faith upon the Son of God ”

“ And lo, it is said in plain words that one who has once been marked to serve as an earthly soldier may not, unless he has either completed his service or been rejected for weakness of body, serve as the soldier of our Lord Jesus Christ. ”

“ When the panic came upon the city, and those who could made good their escape, he had remained faithful to his sense of duty, and with resolute courage faced a fearful death. The Christian soldier can face death with equal courage, for he has obtained victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ his Lord. ”

“ It is not to be forgotten that the work which the soldier did in type is the work which Christ does. He is the true Moses who leads us through the wilderness. But also He is the Captain who will bring us into the mountain of His inheritance. ”

“ It is more the honour of a Christian soldier by faith to overcome the world than by a monastical vow to retreat from it; and more for the honour of Christ to serve him in a city than to serve him in a cell. ”

“ The blessed Jesus is pleased still to own and bless my poor labours, and gives me encouragement to go on fighting his battles. My outward man decays; but I trust I shall die in the field of battle. I want to learn what it is to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I could enlarge, but multiplicity of business obliges me to be brief. I hope my most dutiful respects will find acceptance with good Lady ――, Lady ――, and all your Lordship’s fire side.—That you all may be filled with the fulness of God, is the hearty prayer of, my Lord,
Your Lordship’s most obliged, obedient servant,
G. W. ”

“ The suitability of the gospel message as a response to man's needs, and the perfection of Christ as man's Comrade and Saviour, never shine forth so fully as in the lurid glare of war's terrible perspective.
It is the business of the soldier's preacher to interpret this. He has abundant mental material to hand, and he works in an atmosphere solemn, insistent, and impressive.
If he turns aside to talk of lesser things, he wastes his time. He must not get between the men and God, or put the Church, or its ordinances, or its rules, so far as they are human, between the men and God. ”

“ How uneasy you must have felt when you read in that interesting soldier's letter, that he hoped God would accept his own sufferings and the sufferings of his blessed Saviour in atonement for his sins, when the 'blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' God grant he may see that the way to join the blessed company who are arrayed with white robes and palms in their hands, is to wash his robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. ”

“ It means this, that if you will take service in Christ's army, and by His grace resolve to be His faithful soldier till your life's end, that act of faith, which enrols you as His, is itself the victory which guarantees, if it be continued, the whole conquest in time. ”

“ Then, every Soldier of Jesus Christ must duly consider and obey the claims of the Salvation War. That is, he must strive to take his fair share in that conflict. Whether he is his own master, having the direct control of his time, or whether he works for an employer, who only allows him many hours for leisure, he must conscientiously devote much of that time as he can to saving his fellow-men, settling this question, he must use his common sense, and claim the promised direction of the Holy Spirit. God will guide him. ”

“ To each eager aspirant for everlasting remembrance Christ comes whispering his secret of abiding renown. Speaking not as an amateur, but as a master, Christ affirms that he who would save his life must lose it, that he who would be remembered by others must forget himself, that the soldier who flees from danger to save his body shall leave that life upon the battlefield, while he who plunges his banner into the very thick of the fight and is carried off the field upon his shield shall in safety bear his life away. ”

“ Saint Paul, in writing to the Christians of his day, urges them to be "good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ." If every Christian is a soldier, then the Church ought to be called "the Christian Army." And this makes plainer to us what it means to join the Church.
Armies, as you know, are divided into regiments, and regiments into companies. Every soldier in the army belongs to a certain company. ”

“ When the boy was twelve years old his father's dying hand was laid upon his head, with the earnest prayer "that he might be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and so fight manfully under his banner as to glorify his holy name." ”

“ The Soldier being thus left alone by the Holy Men, began to exercise himself for a new kind of Warfare, and having put on the Armour of Christ, stoutly waited for him, among the Devils, who shou'd first provoke him to Battle. ”

“ It will be the Saviour again loving a dying world through His people. It will be Christ indeed come again in the flesh.
"The Soldiers must be baptised with fire. It will give them the Soldier's spirit; and, with that, all a Soldier needs in the way of drill, and duty, and sacrifice will inevitably follow."
In his Letter to his Officers on his Eightieth Birthday, he wrote:--
"On the coming 10th of April, in many lands and in many ways, the Officers, Soldiers, and Friends of The Salvation Army will be celebrating my Eightieth Birthday. ”

“ In those solemn times of waiting, with war before them, and possibly wounds or death, hundreds of soldiers decided for Christ, or, as they loved to put it, 'enlisted into the army of the King.'
Pg 24
Barrack Room Life.
Somehow or other the average Englishman never thinks of the soldier as a Christian, and soldier poets bring out almost every other phase of the soldier character except this. As a matter of fact the recruit when he comes to us is little more than a lad. He has been brought up in the village Sunday school, and been accustomed to attend the village church or chapel. ”