for the principle of “live and let live,” and therefore have to face unflinchingly all the sacrifice that still lies before us.  When peace is concluded it must be upon terms which will make results permanent!  Should Germany, in the mysterious providence of God, be allowed to become supreme, there will be peace, but, alas! only the peace of desolation and the numbness of despair.  But, as we have already said, it seems disloyal to all our deepest instincts, all our truest feelings, even to contemplate such a possibility.

But when the Allies triumph, what then?—­the discipline of victory.  Think for one moment of what the victory of Christ meant, as the ratification of the treaty signed upon the Cross, in the very hour of apparent defeat.  It meant for you and me all that is included in the words “the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; the means of grace and the hope of glory.”  The resurrection puts the seal to the great charter, commenced at Bethlehem, indited page by page through the wondrous life of three and thirty years, closed, as to its earthly side, on Calvary, sealed, signed and delivered on Easter morning.  In the power of that treaty of peace you and I live, day by day; secure except for our own carelessness; beyond all possibility of hurt from spiritual enemies, unless by our own traitorous dealings with them.  The victory was complete!  “He hath put all enemies under His feet”; the victory is permanent, for, “death hath no more dominion over Him.”

In these Addresses we have said much about those large results which God is allowing us already to see as obviously coming out of the war; on our Day of “Humble Prayer to Almighty God” we solemnly thanked Him: 

  For the laying aside of controversies at home, and for the unity of
  the Nation and Empire;

  For the loyal and loving response of our fellow-subjects beyond the
  seas;

  For the full harmony between our Allies and ourselves, and for the
  success which has already been granted to our common efforts;

  For the devotion of those who have laid down their lives for their
  country;

  For the revelation in danger, in suffering, and in death, of the power
  of the Cross and the benefits of the Lord’s Passion.

Now remains the question, Are the results to be permanent?  That entirely depends upon our attitude towards the discipline of victory; or how we are going to behave ourselves in the hour of success.  It is written concerning Israel, “The Lord saved them from the hand of them that hated them:  and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.  Then believed they His words, they sang His praise.  They soon forgat His works:  they waited not for His counsel.”  God willing we shall ere long be singing our Te Deum; oh! yes, we shall do it with all our heart and soul; but how are we to fix the emotions, to render permanent that thankfulness which we shall really feel.  The Israelites “waited not for His counsel.”  They failed, that is, under the discipline of success.  Victory is given that it may be used for good, just as much as failure is sent that we may rise on “stepping-stones of our dead-selves” to fresh endeavour.