We  are  living  in  sober,  solemn  times— the  hostile  forces  of  the  world  and
of  a  highly  trained  intellectualism  are  pressing  us  on  every  side.  Special
care  and  effort  and  great  wisdom  are  needed,  alike  in  the  choice  of  the
means  of  our  defence  and  the  method  of  an  aggressive  warfare.  God  has
supplied  to  us  these  means,  and  has  provided  an  instrumentality  good  and
perfect,  which  cannot  fail.  //  is  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ — the  truth  as  it
is  in  Jesus,  written  in  scripture  and  handed  down  to  us  by  and  in  the  Church.
It  is  pre-eminently  God's  truth.  He  prepared  it  for  such  a  purpose  in  all
its  variety  of  form  and  beauty,  and  He  inspired  holy  men  to  preach  it  for
the  regeneration  of  the  world.  Gospel  truth,  that  truth  which  centres  in  the
Cross  of  Christ,  which  was  all  that  the  Apostles  cared  to  know  in  their
Apostolic  work — //  alone  has  power  over  the  human  mind,  and  can  rightly
move  the  heart  for  religious  ends.  It  is  sealed  upon  the  heart  by  the  Divine
Spirit.  This  Gospel  truth  was  the  strength  of  the  early  Apostolic  Church.
