True Courage

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 6, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 18.

“THE old guard dies, but never surrenders,” the famous saying attributed to Napoleon’s trusted warriors, is considered by many almost sublime. It is the language of unswerving, uncompromising loyalty to a cause; and if that cause were true, the language would be sublime. It might be, however, the language of rashness and foolhardiness.

But there is a cause which has furnished greater examples of devotion and uncompromising loyalty than any cause earth ever knew; and that is the cause of God. We will take two illustrations, not from the inspiration of martial music, the heat of battle, and the enthusiasm of numbers, but from those who stood alone.

The first is the reply of the three young Hebrews to a king who had advanced them to posts of honor. He commanded them to fall down and worship the golden image, his apotheosis of Babylonian patriotism which he had set up, under penalty of being cast into the fiery furnace. They believed that God would deliver from the fiery furnace; “but,” said they, “if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Their faith, devotion, and loyalty were dominant in either life or death.

The second illustration is no less marked. It is that of an apostle who had been forewarned by a prophet that bonds awaited him at Jerusalem. His own brethren, who were very dear, endeavored to persuade him from going. Their strong appeals touch his heart, but they do not change his resolution nor swerve him from duty. Said he, “I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

This is the loyalty of the true soldier of Christ in all his conflicts with the enemy, in all calls of duty. History abounds in examples of such loyalty, beside which all mere human bravery pales into insignificance. This is the faith and loyalty demanded of the soldiers of Christ now.