having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance, and supplication for all the saints.-Eph. 6: 14-18.

King Edward III reestablished the legendary knighthood of King Arthur's time, which was falling into desuetude, under the title of "The Order of St. George and the Garter." in 1344 he rebuilt the great castle at Windsor, on the Druid mound which was the reputed site of King Arthur's round table. The Order of the Garter, one of the most prized in all the world today, traces its lineage, as we have seen, directly back, like a golden thread through the fabric of history, to the young knight and Christian martyr from the Vale of Sharon. As St. Nicholas is the patron saint of Russia, so St. George is the patron of the British Empire. The red cross of St. George is the motif of the British flag, and in the name of his noble deeds it has flown upon every sea the whole world round. Under that flag, which is the cross of Christ, the British people have gradually emerged from barbarism, and have given to the world democracy and constitutional government. It would be hard to overestimate the influence of St. George as the embodiment of the tangible ideal of knighthood towards which the British people have striven. And this was the more necessary since the Christ had been taken from them by theological speculation.

To what extent does each individual have to face in his own life the battle of St. George against the dragon? Explain what is meant by taking the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, in the individual struggle against the dragon. What is the significance of the change from the dragon flag of China in 1911 to the rainbow flag?

First Week, Seventh Day: St. George and the Christ

Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the

joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.-Heb. 12: 1-4.

The Christ may have seemed too lofty and distant an ideal to the Christians of the middle ages, and they approached Him through the saints as intermediaries. But St. George drew his inspiration direct from the Master, and the present revival of Christianity amongst thinking people is coming from the fact that they are looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith. The serious difficulty of our times comes, however, not so much from open persecution, which would arouse us to the very depths, but from the weight of ease and prosperity, and the temptation to enjoy things as they are, which so easily besets us. If we see at all clearly we see not the marvelous attainments of our "Christian civilization," but we see the dragon of industrialism devouring little children, commercialized vice prostituting our cities, and bloody wars let loose upon the nations. It is not for us to sit down and enjoy our freedom, or our temple will rot and fall upon our heads. It is necessary for us to resist unto blood, to keep hacking at the old dragon whenever he shows up in some new form, and thus gradually to hew him in pieces.

If St. George had sat and waited for the persecutions to rout him out, what would have happened? Can a man be a good Christian and make no enemies? In what ways does the dragon show himself in our days? How can we meet him?

St. George was the ideal of chivalric knighthood. Who was St. George's ideal and where did he get his inspiration?

STUDY II

St. Augustine-Scholar

COMMENT FOR THE WEEK

Augustine was born in Tagaste, Numidia, in Northern Africa, in 354 A. D. His mother was Santa Monica, a noble Christian woman, who "considered herself but half a mother until she had communicated the life of grace to him who owed to her his natural life." His father, Patricius, however, was not yet a Christian, and he was chiefly anxious that Augustine should become a fine scholar, as he had noticed that many young men of education were obtaining good incomes by their wits. The boy was therefore sent off to school, first to Madaura, and later to Carthage, the second city of the Roman Empire.

He had had, as Neander says, "Whatever treasures of virtue and worth the life of faith can bestow set before him by his pious mother," and he set out from home a joyous, hopeful young fellow, with the prospects of a brilliant career before him. He stood easily at the head of his classes, and was a leader in all the doings of his fellow-students. But, as one of his biographers says, "Strong as Augustine was, the temptations of Carthage were stronger. His nature, deep, impetuous, and passionate, thirsted for excitement."

In his "Confessions," written years afterwards, Augustine gives the story of his downfall. He got to running with a frivolous crowd, of which he soon became a leader. They hung about the streets at night, visiting the wine shops and the houses of prostitution, they inflamed their minds with sensuous heathen books and gladiatorial shows, they plunged into the abyss of the great immoral city of Carthage. First came the corruption of his morals; then, of course, he lost his religious faith and joined the semi-heathen sect of the Manichæans. He tried to satisfy himself with philosophy, while his soul groveled in moral filth.

His mother, hearing of her son's wildness, was all but broken-hearted. Her prayers were unceasing, and at last she sought the advice of her bishop. The bishop said to her, "Reassure yourself, for it is not possible that a son for whom so many tears have been shed should perish."

About this time Augustine went to Rome, thence to Milan, followed ever by the prayers and the tears of his mother. At Milan he became a successful teacher of rhetoric and also spent much time in the study of Plato, which, he says, "kindled in his mind an incredible ardor." But his soul was not satisfied. Fortunately he came to know St. Ambrose, the eloquent Bishop of Milan, and began to go to church to hear him preach. But he still continued his evil way of living. Then something happened to give his life a sudden shock. His conscience was doubtless already haunting him, for he went one day into the garden to study the teachings of St. Paul. While there alone, he was greatly agitated at the wickedness of his life and threw himself on the ground to pray. Suddenly he heard a voice as of an angel singing, "Tolle, lege, tolle, lege"-"take and read." Augustine rose and sought the book he had been reading, which was one of St. Paul's epistles, and opening it at random read as follows: "Not in revelling and drunkenness; not in chambering and wantonness; not in strife and jealousy; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 13:13).

When he had read this, a ray of light illumined his mind; his hesitation disappeared, and his heart was filled with heavenly joy. First, he related what had happened to his bosom friend, Alpius, whom he had led astray and ruined during his wild days. Soon after, he took a public stand, and was baptized by St. Ambrose. He resigned his professorship, gave all his goods to the poor, and turned his brilliant mind to the study of Christianity. The old temptations no longer held him and he hated his sin. He became a man of wonderful purity of soul and nobility of life, but the thoughts of his past haunted him to the day of his death and led him to write his "Confessions," a book of the deepest human interest. This book has helped thousands of men during the last fifteen hundred years in their fight for character, and today stands unrivaled in its field.

St. Augustine is generally held to have been the greatest theologian and thinker of the Roman Church since its founda

tion, but of all his writings his "Confessions"-the simple story of his own downfall and his fight for character-is by far the most famous and the most useful.

In 391 he was ordained a priest at Hippo in Numidia, and four years later was ordained a bishop at the same place. For thirty years he was a leader in all the affairs of the Church in that region and in fact was one of the most prominent figures in all Christendom. Both from his personality and from his writings he stands out not only as the leading churchman of his times but as the greatest of all the Latin fathers. In 429 the Vandals, under the famous chief Genseric, invaded Northern Africa and the following year they besieged Hippo. Augustine, now in his seventy-sixth year, prayed that God would help his unhappy church and would release him from the burdens which he bore. He died in August, 430, in the third month of the siege.

DAILY READINGS

Second Week, First Day: Augustine, the Brilliant Scholar

I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as ye all are this day.-Acts 22:3.

And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.-I Cor. 2:1-5.

We get an interesting glimpse into the student life of the past in these brief references of a Jew of 1900 years ago to his boyhood days, and in Augustine's account of his life four hundred years later as a student both in his home town and after he had been away to school at Carthage. And the most interesting part of it all is that, though we have changed our clothes and our language and our games, the nature of