PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF GREAT COMMANDERS IN THE PAST. 77 



to have grasped the fact that the striking success of the Swedish 

 King was not only material, but due to a disciphne founded on 

 character and moral superiority. It was on this that he formed 

 his New Army, it was this that enabled him to bring his parha- 

 mentary forces into line against the cavahers with success. 

 He said the old parHamentary army was made up of " old 

 decayed serving men, and tapsters and such kind of fellows " 

 unfit to encounter " gentlemen's sons, younger sons and persons 

 of quahty." He must have men of a spirit that is Hkely to 

 go as far as gentlemen will go," and he " raised such men as 

 had the fear of God before them and made some conscience of 

 what they did," " From that day forward they never were 

 beaten." He showed in England what Gustavus had shown in 

 Germany, that a man may read his Bible and yet use his sword 

 like the best. 



Two regiments in the British Army are the modern descend- 

 ants of those days, the Coldstream Guards, the direct repre- 

 sentatives of Cromwell's New Army, and the Royal Scots : 

 first raised to fight under Christian of Denmark, and afterwards 

 the flower of Gustavus' troops at Breitenfeld. It would be 

 incorrect and invidious to say that these two splendid corps 

 have a monopoly of the fine qualities of the Gustavus Adolphus 

 era, but it may at least be said that they have maintained the 

 high traditions of their ancestors, and have evinced this never 

 more notably than in the recent terrible warfare in France, in 

 GalfipoH and Palestine. 



In conclusion, let us attempt to summarise the after-effects 

 of the influence of these two great captains. Alexander left 

 behind him a region permeated with Greek settlements, imbued 

 with Greek civiHsation, freedom, love of learning and philosophy. 

 It prepared the way for Roman law and order, and for the spread 

 of the Gospel — how rapidly we learn from sacred and secular 

 history. Yet it was necessarily limited in its scope and its 

 ideals. Gustavus, with the fuller light which the knowledge of 

 Christ had brought, raised the standard of discipline to the higher 

 ideal of the fear of God. He restored that trust in the Lord of 

 Hosts which had been the motive power in the great Warrior 

 King of Israel, and the influence of his own noble example has 

 been passed on from generation to generation, sometimes for- 

 gotten, often obscured, but still advancing into greater promin- 

 ence because founded on eternal verity. He was the first of a 

 series of leaders who have exercised a profound influence in 



