Men have spoken, written entreated, sympathized, prayed.

Some critics ascribe all

success in heathen lands to sheer force of superior intelligence and moral influence; and
in civilized lands to what of moral excellence there may be in connection with a great
superstition, enforced as this is by a zeal that takes captive the uncritical. But the solution
is that God is a co-worker with the Church. The human and Divine action are concurrent,
the one being the vehicle through which the other operates. …
The work to be done before the human soul can rise to the highest form of life is
enormous. Few men consider what is involved in “entering into the kingdom of heaven”
even on earth. To rise to the life of the “kingdom” means work, conflict, suppression,
elevation, excision, nurture, self-denial, aspiration, ambition, persistence within a sphere
into which only the eye of God can penetrate. Yet all the expenditure of energy the
greatest mind can command is of itself inadequate.
We are conquerors and “more than conquerors through Christ,” who helpeth us. He
“worketh within us to will and to do.” In this subtle concurrence of the Divine and
human the highest form of life is realized for the “whole body, soul, and spirit.”

The Pulpit Commentary, I Samuel p. 203, I Samuel 11:12-15, (C. Chapman)

Gold Nugget 249

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