The sword has been a mighty factor in human history. However peace and harmony may be the ideal state of human society, the chronicles of the past and the observation of the present concur to assure us that there are elements in man's nature which will surely reveal themselves in hostility and in mutual ill will, in bloodshed, and in violent death. Nation rises against nation. The sword is drawn, and is only sheathed when one combatant is constrained to submit to the superior power of the other.

I. THERE IS A SENSE IN WHICH THE SWORD OF THE MIGHTY CONQUEROR IS THE SWORD OF GOD HIMSELF. When the King of Babylon attacked the King of Egypt, there is no doubt he was actuated by motives of hostility, of personal ambition, perhaps of revenge. But for all this, and although he knew it not, he was the minister of God, was doing God's work, executing God's purposes. The Almighty can overrule the wrathful passions of men to bring about the objects he desires to compass.

II. THE SWORD OF THE CONQUEROR IS THE SYMBOL OF SUPREME POWER. Men talk of submitting matters to the arbitrament of the sword, implying that there is no possibility of going behind and beyond this. In all earthly government physical force is the Ultimate resource; it may not be brought prominently forward, but it lies in the background, to be used when necessary. God's power controls and rules the nations; he cannot be resisted. "The nations are as nothing before him; they are counted as less than nothing and vanity;" "Let not the rebellious exalt themselves!"

III. THE CONQUEROR'S SWORD IS THE EMBLEM OF THE EXECUTION OF DIVINE JUSTICE. We speak of the sword of the magistrate, as well as of the sword of the soldier: "He beareth not the sword in vain." There is certainly no allusion in this prophetic passage to judicial functions, if they are understood to be distinct from military operations. Yet in God's hand the sword is not a weapon of violence, far less of injustice. He never smites vindictively, but always as a righteous Ruler and an impartial Judge. Even in warfare he is exercising a magisterial as well as a military office and power. His sword subdues the rebel, corrects the offender, and establishes the rule of justice, and brings about the purposes of equitable and happy peace. - T.

Whatever may be the primary meaning of these words, they have a very blessed application to those who have gone forth from so many Christian families into heathen lands. For no choice of their own, and simply in obedience to their King's command, hundreds of our sons and daughters have gone forth to dwell in the midst of the heathen. They have taken up their home amid conditions which they would not have chosen had it not been for the constraining love of Christ, and the imperative need of dying men; and as fond relatives and friends regard their lot from a distance, they are often filled with anxious forebodings. May they not be involved in some sudden riot, and sacrificed to a frenzy of hate? May not the sanitary conditions and methods of life be seriously detrimental to their health or morals? "Oh, if only I could be there," you sigh. Hush! Christ is there; as near them as He is to you, casting over them the shadow of His presence, beckoning them to His secret place. He is the shadow of a great Rock in a weary land; or like the canopy of cloud that hovered over the camp of Israel by day, screening it from the torrid glare. Do not fear to trust your loved ones to the immortal Lover, who fainteth not, neither is weary. The hand that would harm is arrested and paralysed when it attempts to penetrate that safe enclosure.

(F. B. Meyer, B. A.).