270 THE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 



And your right-hand man is great Onesiphorus from 

 the mill down in the valley, righting an uphill battle 

 to keep the wolf from the door, while he and his wife 

 deny themselves everything, that their flock of chil- 

 dren may have better training for fighting God's bat- 

 tles than they ever enjoyed. 



I cannot describe these men and women. If you 

 have lived with them, you will need no description, 

 and would resent the inadequacy of mine. If you 

 have never had the good fortune to live with them, it 

 is impossible to make you see them as they are. 

 When you once have thoroughly known them, lan- 

 guage will fail you to do them justice, and you will 

 prefer to be silent rather than slander them by inad- 

 equate portrayal. They are at first sight not attrac- 

 tive-looking. If you stand outside and look at them 

 from a distance their lives will appear to you very 

 humdrum and prosaic. But remember that for al- 

 most thirty years our Lord lived just such a life in 

 Nazareth, making ploughs and yokes ; and then, when 

 the younger brothers and sisters were able to care for 

 themselves, snatched three years from supporting a 

 peasant family in Galilee to redeem a world. And 

 who was Peter but a rough, hardy fisherman ? 



Now a Paul, trained at the feet of Gamaliel, was 

 also needed ; and the twelve did not come from the 

 lowest ranks of society. But they were honest, indus- 

 trious, practical, courageous, hardy, common people. 

 And single-handed they went out to conquer empires. 

 And they succeeded through the power of God in 

 them. 



Who knows the possibilities of your little church 

 in the hilltown of Smyrna ? These men and women 



