The D.C.D: Part II
by C. T. Studd

Part II

In this second half of his booklet,The DCD, C.T. Studd defines the qualities of a D.C.D. and traces the history—both biblical and current—of those who “Don’t Care a Damn” for anything but Jesus. Throughout the booklet resounds this battle cry and passionate challenge to all believers.

Characteristics of a DCD

Now, our Saviour gave us warning that we should test everything not by words but by fruits. Let us apply the test to the D.C.D.’s.

There are three especially notable characteristics of the D.C.D.’s out here—Love, Joy, Peace.

1. LOVE. Before the night of the D.C.D. this Mission was cursed with heresy, division, and discord. Now between the D.C.D.’s there is not merely union, but love: the work and blessing of one is that of all: envies and jealousies have ceased. God has rid us of traitors, not by our action, but by His own and theirs. So here we are united in faith, hope, and charity, one family, aye and one army too, of the Living God. Is this fruit good or bad?

2. JOY. You will find no more joyful folk on earth than the D.C.D.’s. “Rejoice in the Lord! again I say rejoice!” with “joy unspeakable!” They do. Is this joy in Jesus and in one another a good thing or a bad?

3. PEACE. One of our lady missionaries used to say, “We don’t have much money, but we do see a lot.” “No guaranteed salary from any human being or committee, but from God only,” seems to many Christians to be madness, folly, a jumping from a pinnacle of the Temple, a cause of constant anxiety. Some, alas! when tried, forgot their vows and dishonoured their own word, and behaved like the Israelites of old, who murmured against God and against Moses. The “Principles and Practice” of the Mission had been sound enough for them when they were in civilization and untried, and had carried their hearty consent, admiration, enthusiasm, and signatures; but in the day of battle they failed. Well, the D.C.D. cured all that, for the glory of the D.C.D. is his God, his Father, his Saviour, his Heavenly Provider, and in being given the privilege of not merely believing, but suffering, aye, and dying for Jesus. Can we ever forget the triumph of that moment out on the Field, when authorita-tively informed that the Mission would be wrecked unless a certain policy was carried out, a policy which we knew was not of God? Shall we ever forget how our joy burst into flame as we declared with one voice that the H.A.M. was God’s, and that we did not believe that anyone or anything could wreck it; but that if it did wreck, even then we D.C.D., for such would be God’s will, which we desired, and anyhow nothing could wreck our one ambition, viz., to live in the service of our Father and Saviour on earth, and die just when and where He pleased. Such gives a peace past understanding, which nothing can disturb.

Christ said “Judge by the fruit and not by the leaves, by works and not by goody-goody words.” “All who overcome do so by the Blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony” (and his works are ever a man’s strongest testimony). And now for the third and last vital test, “And they loved not their lives to the death.” There! You cannot mistake that! That is “D.C.D.” pure and simple. “He D.C.D. what happens to himself so long as his King and Saviour is glorified”; and if any says, “I’ll throw away my life for Jesus, but I won’t throw away my prejudice against using the words D.C.D.” he may perhaps befool some into believing that he can make the big sacrifice when he cannot make the infinitesimal one, but surely no common sense persons. As though a man when urged to battle should say, “My dear good sir! I assure you I love fighting, and would fight with my last breath, But, alas! I am quite unable to overcome my unfortunate objection to the smell of gunpowder.” Personally when I find a man acting as a D.C.D., I ask no other question. I quibble not about any word or words he may use, but at once with joy, and pride take my stand to live and die for or with him; for well I know that the spirit in him is the Spirit of Jesus; and that as I act towards him, as I help him like the good Samaritan, or like the Priest and Levite pass him by on the other side, I declare myself to be a “sheep “or a “goat,” for if I have not stood beside, or have been ashamed of, one of the very least of Christ’s disciples, I have denied and been ashamed of Him. Believe me, after losing your ticket to hell, give yourself no rest till you’ve got rid of the last atom of care for your reputation, or you will never be of much real use to Jesus, nor do much damage to the devil.

Many a drug is life and salvation if taken aright, but when taken wrongly is poison and death. The Saviour and the Holy Scriptures use the word “Damn”! The Devil & Co. have stolen it. I refuse to condone their theft by regarding it as their lawful property. I reclaim it and put it to its rightful use. “Marriage,” says God in His Scriptures, “is holy and honourable,” the devil and his dupes have prostituted it: shall I be fool enough to allow that true marriage is henceforth of the devil or sin? I know no such folly nor cowardice.

The Scriptures declare the three main fruits of the Holy Ghost to be Love, Joy, Peace. The D.C.D.’s have produced these fruits in abundance. The Saviour said “Make the tree good and his fruit good, or the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt.”

Here is another good fruit of the D.C.D. Before the advent of D.C.D., to go home on furlough was looked upon as a thing to be desired, and some, in urging their own case, did not scruple to assert that such was the will of God; the only difficulty was that facts proved that either God’s will must partake of the nature of a chameleon, or else their information came from some other god than the One Who made the world and died for men. But after the birth of the D.C.D. a great change took place. Old things passed away, all things became new, especially the attitude of D.C.D. ‘s towards going home on furlough. What things had been considered gain, now became loss and dung, as Paul politely said. To suggest furlough to any D.C.D. was to offer him an insult. Their answer was ever the same, “I pray thee have me excused!” “Move on, please! We’re expecting Royalty very shortly! And we don’t want to be caught up from the Sheep-Fold, but from the Devil’s Den.”

Living Examples of D.C.D.’s

Shall I ever forget a certain interview I had with a D.C.D. lady, whose greed for work was in inverse proportion to her size. She had nearly worked herself to death; but not having quite succeeded was anxious to go back to work, which meant a speedy departure to a higher altitude. She was so blanched as to appear to have hardly a drop of blood in her veins; she was cold on the hottest day, and her figure resembled a human postage stamp. She was cannibal-proof kabisa (absolutely so).

I thought I had spoken kindly and tactfully, and judging by her silence, like Paul’s shipmates, I imagined I had obtained my desire: alas! like them I found I had to meet “Euroclydon.” But I learned a good lesson in theology, for if this was the wrath of a wee human baa-lamb, what about the wrath of the Lamb of God, which is presently going to make even earth’s greatest heroes fear and run? Her eyes darted forked lightning, her mouth thundered her burning indignation in those two terrible words—“Bwana Mukubwa!!!” Not swear words, but more forcible! Then she rose up! Oh, great Macduff! What a vision it was! She was quite 4 ft. 8 in. in height when she began to rise, but before she had finished she seemed like a New York skyscraper; then gathering up her skirts, she left the room, an artist proof-picture of righteous indignation, though gone to “potopoto “(mud). I had to call her husband from his station to exercise his powers of persuasion; he succeeded, thank God, but only because she was not a modernist, and so had vowed obedience to her “slave.” She went home, and after a little further experience wrote suggesting that after all I am not quite such a fool as I look. That little woman would fling away her life for Jesus, and resented any interference with her attainment of such a joy unspeakable. Such is the spirit of a D.C.D.

Again! Congo abounds in leopards. I know a man who for nights feared to go to bed lest a leopard should pay him a visit, yet his house was extra safe, leopards were rare in that place, and he was a missionary.

One of our D.C.D. lassie recruits was working in a station notoriously infested by leopards. The door, windows, and walls of her house were made of split bamboos, neatly tied together with native string. Our people had been taught a hymn which mocked at death, as Paul mocked, “O death, where is thy sting?” This, like most of our hymns, had an action accompaniment; in this case the action was of the nature of a salute, appropriate but not hyper-sentimental.

On a certain night this D.C.D. lassie awoke at midnight to the fact that a leopard was prowling around on the road that ran by her hut, evidently desiring to make a call. She sat up in bed, told the leopard she D.C.D. for him nor for anybody or anything else but the glory of Jesus, and added works to her faith by giving him the orthodox salute mentioned above. Then she lay down and slept the sleep of a D.C.D. till dawn. At breakfast no shrinkage in her appetite was perceptible. Recent news from that place tells of a leopard breaking through the roof of the goat-house and killing eight goats in one night.

Prayer changes things, and D.C.D. changes persons.

Here D.C.D.’s give me a hundred reasons why they should not return home; but having arrived in England they promptly find a thousand why they should return to Congo at once.

Sometimes I wonder what our D.C.D.’s will do next: one never knows! For it seems to send people crazy; yet it is, confess, a craziness I love with all my heart.

Two missionaries, both D.C.D.’s, having determined to marry, requested me to perform over them our own unique wedding service; the chief characteristic of these services is that there is more “salvation-for-all” about them than matrimonial bonds-for-two. I accepted the honour with, hope, becoming gratitude and humility. Then my breath caught, as in an attack of asthma, for they assured me that lest their marriage might become a hindrance to God’s work they had decided, with my permission, to separate at once after the service, each returning to his or her work on their different stations. Marriage is a great test, and those who are not D.C.D.’s do not do this sort of things. This was the work of the D.C.D. again, and this is a devotion that pleases God, and cannot but delight any who are God’s true children. Such things inspire God’s children NOT to hang back nor to criticise, but to seek to go yet farther in desperate devotion to our Lord Jesus.

I am frequently getting letters from my Forty Thieves—the D.C.D.’s out here who steal the devil’s goats. Here are some of the things they write:

“D.C.D. has converted me, made me a new man. I don’t believe I was ever converted before…. D.C.D. has given me a new Bible.”

“D.C.D. has given me a new sight. I now read the Bible and can see nothing but D.C.D. in it from beginning to end.”

“We must be D.C.D.’s! Be ‘out and out’ in this awful land”…. “I can tell you, ‘Bwana,’ as I have done before, what a great help and blessing D.C.D. has been to me.”…. “I see nothing else in the Bible; it is the thing to keep going”…. “When we are D.C.D.’s then nothing can touch us, we are absolutely unconquerable.” “And so we go on with Jesus, Who was surely a D.C.D., and Paul, and all the other warriors of whom we read in God’s Word.” “I feel I am a very poor specimen of a D.C.D., but God knows want to be one ‘after God’s own heart.’” “Here goes again, ‘Bwana,’ I D.C.D. for anything but the glory of Jesus and the salvation of these people.”

“We have got to get more D.C.D.’s,” wrote another missionary; “another worker is wanted. I say, send a D.C.D.” “May we always be kept by His grace, real D.C.D.’s .” “I think only those who have the spirit of D.C.D.’s will be of any good to God out here.” “Through serving as a D.C.D. I have found a greater desire to preach the Gospel at all costs than before.” “To meet a man who is a real D.C.D. has been a real inspiration to me to love the Lord Jesus more, and to seek to serve Him more in a spirit of greater sacrifice.” “On meeting a brother D.C.D. I desire to provoke him to greater sacrifice for Jesus.” “I am out for the speedy evangelisation of this people, and the sooner I get to heaven the better.” “I am with you to the end in the D.C.D. affair.” “Do allow me to say this, ‘Bwana,’ Praise the Lord for the H.A.M. and the D.C.D.’ Hallelujah!” And many other such things they write.

My own private opinion is that if I was a Christian, and would not be a D.C.D., I would first put an end to myself and then join up at once, for I could not hold myself aloof from D.C.D’s, for such abstention would mean, either that would not go to all lengths for my Saviour, or else that I thought myself better than the D.C.D.’s.

Cleansing Fire of D.C.D.

Recently at the capture of Nankin, in China, a Japanese captain had orders not to fire: he obeyed: his obedience resulted in the death of very many of his fellow- countrymen. Had he disobeyed and fired he would have saved many. He reported himself to his superior as having executed his commands, then at once blew out his brains.

An American officer at the Taku forts went to the rescue of some British sailors, and when rebuked by his superior officer—for U.S.A. were not at war with the Chinese—he replied, “Blood is thicker than water.” So also says every true man of God when he comes across a fighting D.C.D. The Blood of Christ is thicker than the water of conventionality or propriety.

If anyone shall start any society hotter for the glory of Christ than the D.C.D., then every D.C.D. will join it at once, especially if it is much spoken against. Spirit is stronger than water, or the letter, or the clothes; and if I didn’t rush to join I should know I was “a rooster,” and denying my Lord like Peter did. If I began to excuse myself I should remember the French motto, “Qui s’excuse s’accuse.” [“Whoever excuses himself, accuses himself”—ed] And if any said “Cherchez la femme” [“search for the woman”—ed], I should say “Already I have found her: she is my own effeminate heart.” And if my heart were to say “But I object to that word,” then I should hear the Holy Ghost cry out at me “Liar! The Lord, Whom you say you worship and adore, used the word, and also His Apostle; what is good enough for your Lord is good enough for you, if indeed He really is your Lord; otherwise by your abstention you convict your Lord of evil, and say you are holier than He, which methinks is hard to believe.”

My heart says with “Ole Bill,” “If you know of any other hole that is hotter for Christ than D.C.D., find it, join it, and then come and let me know that I also may join up.”

Another D.C.D. missionary wrote me how he gloried in the D.C.D. and in the change it had made in his life, and low he could never be ashamed of the D.C.D., for it was “such a gentlemanly religion.” When this D.C.D. returned home—not by his own choice (for he refused to go), but by command—he was something like the man in John ix, who was so different from the born-blind beggar that they were accustomed to see, that some said, “Oh! Is this our——? “Others said, “It is like him.” The Pharisees said, “Who the mischief are you?” But he said, “I am he!” However, the super-clever Pharisees wouldn’t believe it was himself till his parents assured them that he really was nobody but his own self. So also this D.C.D.’s friends who had sent him forth, said, “This is quite another from the one who left us to go to the Heart of Africa.” Hallelujah! That’s as it ought to be. Every missionary who goes home on furlough ought to go home much hotter than when he came out, and he should make others who are at home so hot that they cannot stay at home. If a missionary goes home less hot than when he came out, there is something glaringly wrong. Every missionary on furlough should be a recruiting-sergeant.

But there are other fruits too. One of our Crusaders went to another continent where a kindred work had been started. He had not been in favour of D.C.D. But when he arrived there and saw things as they were, he declared, “What we need to do is precisely what our Heart of Africa brethren have done: they have cleared the decks and so are of one heart and soul, and rejoicing in the blessing of God. We need the same cleansing here, that similar results may follow.”

Spirit of D.C.D.

Jesus said He had no use for patch-work, and that it were folly to put new wine into old bottles, and so I perceive that He is ever inaugurating new work and new methods, but, with every new attack on the devil, He places a stumbling-block in the way, lest hypocrites and the righteous-over-much be tempted to join. There was “Circumcision,” and “Moses’ rod”; “The blood of the Lamb upon the door posts.” On “Mount Hor” victory depended on Moses’ hands being raised above his head. There was the “dead serpent of brass” as an Almighty Doctor. There was the tootle tootling of “rams’ horns” and “the shout of the people” in order to demolish the defences of Jericho. There were Gideon’s three hundred lap-dogs with empty “pitchers,” torches, and shouts to defeat one million victorious Midianitish warriors. There was the “lad” David with his sling and “five smooth stones from the brook”—but only one was required. There was the value of a “rod resting on the face of a dead child” to make him sneeze and arise from the dead: the surprising value of porridge to aid the accumulation of wisdom and a good face and figure: of the efficiency of spittle and mud over drugs to give sight to the blind “the march of that BLIND man,” too, to the pool of Siloam, for he might so easily have tumbled in. In these days there have been the stumbling-blocks of the “enquiry room,” “The penitent form,” “The red blazer,”etc., etc., and now comes the D.C.D. to hasten the accomplishment of the evangelization of the world and to prevent God’s salt from losing its savour, and becoming out-cast, as Jesus said.

The foundation truth of Christianity is that the Son of God forsook heaven and came to earth to redeem mankind from the result of their sin, namely Hell, and enable them to go to Heaven, the place of eternal bliss. The terrific importance of heaven and hell can only be imagined by the fact of what it cost Christ to save us. He gave up heaven and endured hell-on-earth for our sakes. I speak not to those who have doubts about Christ, but to such as believe in Christ and call themselves Christians. To such I boldly declare that there is no other rat ional at t itude for a Christian man to take up than that of the D.C.D.’s. If there is no heaven, Christianity is folly: if there is no hell, a Christian is a lunatic, for Christ is a liar: but as Christ is true, then there is a heaven and also a hell, and a million souls a week are rushing to hell, and therefore a Christian must be a heartless and selfish horror if his whole life is not thrown away “to save men from hell,” for that is what it means to follow Jesus. Consider what men will do to serve their King and Country, or to obtain the temporary honours of earth, or the fleeting pleasures or riches of the world. Consider, too, that men devoted to earth for a cause are positively invincible. That devotion to death for Christ’s sake and the evangelization of the world is the spirit of D.C.D.

To obtain the yet unseen wealth of Peru, Pizarro and Almegro devoted themselves to death at the Holy Sacrament. Later Pizarro and eleven others deliberately chose unspeakable hardships, disease, and death to attempt impossible victory over millions of Peruvians in their naturally fortified country, to obtain the gold and empire of Peru. They abandoned comfort, ease, and pleasure, and life to achieve their aim. That is the D.C.D. spirit. They won.

I have stood on the field of Gettysburg, at the spot where the Confederates made their final charge. The charging line as they neared their goal seemed for a moment to lose their impetus. At once an officer rushed to the front, pointed his sword at the Federal guns and dashing forward, shouted to his men, “Come on! Come on! Do you want to live for ever?” He died a hero’s death a moment later. That is the D.C.D. spirit.

His soldiers used to declare that Sir William Olpherts won the Victoria Cross again every time he went into action. Their love and admiration rechristened him “Hell-Fire Jack.” What a compliment! His was the D.C. D. spirit, and specially appropriate, for was he not an earnest Christian man?

The man who is ashamed or refuses to become a D.C.D. in the days of calm will never qualify in the hour of storm.

According as a man has sat in the saddle, so will he act on the spur of the moment.

“Victory or Westminster Abbey,” said Nelson. That is the D.C.D. spirit. In the end he won both! Of course.

To give her King time to escape from his enemies, a gentle Scots lady bolted the door with her arm. It was smashed to pieces in the process, but she saved her King. She was a D.C.D.

Of one Man even His enemies bore testimony that He was a D.C.D., for they said, “He saved others, Himself He cannot save.”

The price of prayer to God was to be torn in pieces by savage lions. Daniel walked unmoved into their den. Of course he did! Likewise he came out again, with God, and saved the soul of his King.

“I could not love thee, dear, so much, loved I not honour more,” said another D.C.D.

D.C.D.’s Through History

An old man dashed down a steep hillside, one man charging a nation of some three million idolaters—traitors to his God—in the frenzied passion of the worship of their idol which had cost them their wealth. In his burning indignation the old man dashed in pieces the precious stones he valued more than life, being the gift of the Supreme Lover of his body and soul, and drew his sword to fight to the death for his God. He fought! He won! He lived! And many others also became D.C.D.’s.

Sometimes I think I can see the burning eyes of the One Who thus addressed the follower He loved, and had recently so highly commended; aye, the man, too, who loved Him, “Get thee behind Me, Satan. Thou art an offence unto Me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but of man.” Such exemplifies the very essence of what we describe as D.C.D.

I see three men before their King. They are marching to a burning fiery furnace. Hearing the command to heat it seven times hotter for their benefit, they appreciate the compliment, and, so to speak, make for it at “the double,” humbly yet firmly saying to the King, “Our God CAN deliver us, but we don’t know if He WILL: however, this we do know, we will not bow down to the image of gold, nor to any other image.” They were D.C.D.’s, and we needn’t wonder, therefore, that God saved their bodies and through them the soul of their King, and also had a pleasant little stroll between whiles with them in the burning fiery furnace; a little bit of prophecy concerning Christ’s coming again in flaming fire to receive His faithful followers to Himself.

I see an old man boldly march across the waste howling wilderness, with no human guide, at the command of his God, thus apparently devoting himself, and all he held dear, to certain destruction. Later I see him devoting to God his last real treasure on earth. Assuredly that man was a D.C.D. No wonder he was called the Friend of God.

I see another D.C.D. of some forty years of age, in the prime of his life, renouncing the throne of the richest and mightest kingdom on earth, to endure hardship and contempt, with a crowd of slaves, for the love of truth and loyalty to his God and the joy of self-sacrifice for others. At a great price Moses bought his membership among the D.C.D.’s.

I see a young man apparently plunging to certain death, as in hot and righteous anger he inflicted the extreme sentence of the law upon a prince, the mightiest offender in a camp of human beasts mad in their frenzy of lust. He also was a D.C.D.

I see a lad with his sling and stone rush boldly towards a giant, in the act of chasing thousands of armed soldiers, fleeing in deadly fear. I see this lad conquer the giant and save the thousands of that craven army. God put it thus, “A man after my own heart.” Thus did God describe this D.C.D.

I glance over the shoulder of a young Englishman, in all the optimism of youth. He reads a book: his face intent. He would be a follower of Christ; but, horror of horrors, he is reading the testimony of an atheist! “I am not a Christian because I do not see Christians. Were I a Christian I should believe and obey the words of Christ. Who described the world as going in a mad rush to the eternal torments of hell, and that without any need that it should be so, for Christ died for men that all who believe may be saved, and commanded His followers to make the news known to every creature. Christ threw away His life to save the world! Christ called on His followers to throw their world away and sacrifice their lives and all they held dear to save their fellows, not merely to publish the Gospel, but to prove its truth to an unbelieving world, by showing through their obedience, that they themselves believed what they preached.” “Were I a Christian,” continued the atheist, “and if by so doing I could save even one soul from hell, I should consider myself well repaid for having spent my whole life in perpetual hardship, agony, ridicule, and shame.” The book shut with a snap. The young man had made his decision. He would be a D.C.D.

A young man stands on the platform of a small suburban railway station, underneath a gas-lamp, turned down till the arrival of the train. His finger points to a passage in a small book which he cannot read till the light comes on. In his extremity he has asked for God’s guidance. He wants divine confirmation of his decision. The light goes up and he reads, “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me,” etc. No words could be more opposite. God had touched the spot. Could he leave his mother? Oh, how many have turned back at this point! But God says, “If any man cometh unto Me and hateth not . . and his own life also, he cannot lie My disciple”…. “He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” “That Christ may be glorified in my body, whether by life or by death.” “For to me to die is gain.” “Grant me, Lord, to be conformed unto death, the death of Christ, the death of the Cross.” “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself that….” “I am willing not only to be bound, but also to die (anywhere and anyhow) for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Listen to the words of this old D.C.D. in prison, writing his last letter to his beloved son Timothy. Dawn may see him led forth to execution. His last words are of love, warning, exhortation, and triumph, “Be a good soldier of Jesus Christ!”…. “Fight the good fight!”…. “God never gave us the spirit of fearfulness”…. “I have fought the good fight! I have kept the faith! henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness”…. “They laid down their necks for my sake.” “Epaphroditus gambled with his life for me.” “They were mocked…impris-oned…scourged…tortured…beaten to death…” “They were stoned…they were sawn asunder…OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY.” These men all had the D.C.D. spirit. It is because of its rarity among Christians today that the world is as it is—unevangelised! It never can be evangelised till we Christians embrace that spirit of D.C.D., for such is the spirit of Christ and His true followers.

No! I am not mad, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. Have I not seen what men can accomplish when they have such a spirit? Did I not gaze across the narrow road at a slab of stone let into the wall of the old Delhi magazine, the only memorial “To nine resolute Englishmen”? The possession of Delhi magazine by the mutineers would have meant the loss of India to the British. Those nine decided to blow up the magazine, well knowing that that entailed the blowing up of themselves. They were Englishmen! They were resolute Englishmen. They died, but they saved India. They were D.C.D.’s. They died for their King, their country, and the honour of their regiment. The Christian’s ambition is to die for his King and to save his fellowmen.

An incident in modern British history seems exactly to fit the present position of the conflict between the Church of Christ and Satan, concerning the evangelisation of the world.

For three months at Delhi the little British Army had been performing one of its tragi-comic stunts—the pip outside the orange was threatening the orange outside the pip—the few British were sitting on the ridge outside the shortest wall of the city, and calmly requesting the other three walls and the city itself to consider themselves surrounded and besieged. In other words, Jonah sat on the ridge, racked by cholera, etc., and slowly but surely losing the war by the process of attrition. Daily the whale increased in size while Jonah became smaller. The whole world watched to see the comedy become tragedy by the disappearance of Jonah, when suddenly, without the ghost of an apology, and with no respect whatever to the rules of the game, Jonah sat up, wagged his tail, opened his mouth and swallowed the whale, and when going to press the whale was still resting in the heart of the British Empire.

But how was the miracle accomplished? It is the old old story, “By God and the D.C.D.’s.” Milton calls them “God’s Englishmen.” For once again God was at the back of the nation whom He had called to receive the kingdom He had taken away from the murderers of Jesus.

Daily the position of the British became worse. To “wait and see” meant certain defeat and the loss of the war, the country, and the Empire. To assault seemed a farce, and was rightly called “The gambler’s throw.” Shall a sardine attack a shark? “Certainly,” said John Nicholson and his merry hand of D.C.D.’s. So grave was the situation, so certain was it that to delay to attack any longer meant to be lost, that ere the last Council of War met, the D.C.D.’s determined that further delay would compel them to depose the Commander and make the assault on their own responsibility.

However, the D.C.D.’s carried the Council! The British assaulted, captured Delhi, and remastered India. Oh, you Christians! What impossibility can ye not accomplish if you will only be D.C.D.’s.

Call to Arms

Today the little Christian Army sits down opposite a godless world. It is a little army. It is torn by the cholera and anaemia of Modernism, Infidelity, Idolatry. Its impotence is the entertainment of the world and the devil. The fell disease has even honeycombed the old and great Missionary Societies, who yearly parade their debts before a mocking world and threaten to retreat. Halfblind: they see men as trees walking: they can’t see Jesus clearly, nor trust Him absolutely: they know not the wisdom of Bartimeus, who cried out to Jesus and refused to ask of and listen to men. To go on thus means utter ruin: the Scarlet Woman will soon absorb the whole lot. The time for argument has passed and that for action has arrived, yea, action NOW, at once, ere the last chance dies. What action? That of the D.C.D.’s. Oh, ye members of these Missionary Societies, why not, like Nelson, refuse to retreat? Why not follow your Saviour and earn the same title, “He saved others, Himself He cannot save?” Is there any other road into Heaven so delightful as that by death for Christ? Be blind to all odds, to death, to the world, aye, and to the Church. Look to God alone. Let go your own life! Lay hold of Eternal Life! If Christians would only be D.C.D.’s, they could evangelise the world in under ten years. Men would run to enlist as they enlisted for the Great War, and such as could not go to Christ’s War would do as Jesus told the rich young man to do; then there would be no Missionary Society debts, no talk of retreat, and no inability to send out to the War suitable men. The crux is the D.C.D. If the Missionaries will only be D.C.D. funds will pour in. If the homestayers will only be D.C.D.’s, the true followers of Jesus will pour out to fight the battles of the Lord, and the greatest Revival the world has ever seen or will see will have begun.

The Voice of God comes to us: “Come forth, O My people!” Out of the bonds of a deadly respectability, into the “freedom of the Spirit, the glorious liberty of the sons of God .” Ye that fear God, but fear not death nor devils nor men nor hell, come forth! Join up! Now!

Ye who seek to live for Christ, aye, and to die for Christ! Ye who love Him better than life and breath and all things! Come forth. Now then, “Over the top.” Come forth, My people!” “Come forth! Play up! and play the game!” “Come forth! Come on! Do you want to live for ever?” Where? On earth? You can’t. In hell, that chamber of horrors—that prison of the damned, the fearful, the foolish, the selfish, and the unbelieving? Surely not! In Heaven? Yes, in Heaven! Then come and die for Jesus! for the way to live is to die, and to die means to live, for “he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.”

“Come forth and dare all for Christ and the salvation of souls.”

“Shall the soldiers of King George by their heroism put to shame the soldiers of Jesus?” If so, can we, clad in such awful shame, venture into the presence of the King? And if we could, would we? Have we indeed sunk so low as to seek to enjoy the favours of the One we have betrayed so damnably? Even Judas suicided rather than do that.

“Come! Follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth! He goeth to the whole wide world! Oh, come and fight for Jesus, Who fought and bled and died for you!”

Kitchener called! Millions forsook life and all to fight for King George and Britain, and to save Europe from the Huns.

King Jesus, our Saviour, Who died for us, calls for usto forsake all and follow Him with the Message of Salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Here are the arms which shall render us invincible: 1. The Blood of Christ. 2. Our witness for Jesus. 3. Our passion to die for Jesus while executing His command.

“Go!”said Jesus, “into all the world…to every creature!”

What says Paul?—“Quit ye like ‘men.’” How?

Be a good man—a man of God, a holy man, not merely in theory, but in practice—like Father, like son—a lover of good.

Be a true man—a consistent man, one who loves truth and righteousness, and hates sham and lies and evil as the devil.

Be a wise man—a man of obedience to God always.

Be a brave man—who loves not his life to the death! A man of chivalry, who loves to light, and to die for Christ and others, and fears only to dishonour his Saviour and his own oath of allegiance to HIM.

“Go,”says Paul, “Follow the Christ,” “Gain Christ,” Count all gains as loss and so win Christ,” and a place among “The-Mightier-than- David’s” valiant men. We cannot all be clever or strong, or young and active, but we can—every man, woman, and child of us— be true and brave.

“Come! Let us throw away our lives for Jesus and go crusading.”

O brethren, be of good courage, and let us play the man, for our people and our God, and the Lord do that which seemeth Him good.

Be not deceived. The D.C.D. is no new Missionary Society—no proselytising concern. It does not call people from their Societies. It is a personal call. Every missionary should be a D.C.D. Every Christian should be a. D.C.D. And if Christians would only be D.C.D.’s they would cut out of the mouth of the world their chief criticism and jibe, that Christians are “milk-sops”and “namby-pambies.” If Christians will only be D.C.D.’s the world will say, “We are not Christians, and we don’t love Christians; indeed, we reckon them fools, but we are bound to say these Christians are men, real men, aye, super-men, and their women are as fine as the men.”

Henceforth, ye D.C.D.’s, let our Creed be:—

Jesus is our Message, Judge! Saviour! King! Our God! Our Chief Commander! Jesus is EVERYTHING!

Beloved fellow-soldiers of our Lord Jesus Christ! Surely there can be but one honourable alternative to becoming a fiery D.C.D., and that is, to start a yet more fiery, more self-sacrificing, more devil-may-care, more death- and men- and hell-defying band of Crusaders for Christ, who shall cause us D.C.D.’s to feel but chilly souls, and for very shame to forsake our lukewarm D.C.D. concern in order to join up in your nobler and more fiery endeavour.

Criticise and chide us for being cold or lukewarm! Thus you shall earn our heartfelt thanks. Lead us to be more fiery desperadoes for Jesus Christ, to prosecute His War to evangelise the world more passionately and fiercely, and we will ever bless you and regard ourselves as your debtors.

Oh, let us not rust out—let us not glide through the world and then slip quietly out, without having even blown the trumpet loud and long for our Blessed Redeemer. At the very least let us see to it that the devil holds a thanksgiving service in hell, when he gets the news of our departure from the field of battle, and not merely spit in contempt.

Let us blaze up and burn out, both ends and in the middle. Let us explode for Jesus and humanity.

Paul was a sort of recurring and successful “Guy Fawkes”; for he pretty well blew up every place he went to; let us follow him—and when we come to our last hour let us look at Samson and imitate his exit from the world; for confessing himself to be a failure, he prayed for strength to fight one more fight for his God and his people, and his prayer was heard.

Let every good Christian be a D.C.D., and let every D.C.D. look at Samson and thus pray, “May my last end be like his,” and indeed your prayer shall be answered, and thus the devil’s thanksgiving service shall finish with the appropriate music of “The Dead March in Satan.”

In Christ’s glorious service let us reckon our own lives as of no account, and let us do so at once and be ready for everything, for the Great Tribulation is at hand, and so also the Beast, False Prophet, the Anti- Christ, and—Oh! Glory! Hallelujah!—THE Lord Christ Himself, our Glorious Redeemer, the Conquering Son of God.

Said Thomas, the D.C.D. Apostle, to his fellow-disciples, “Let us also go that we may die with Him!” Christian brothers! Is there any better way to go to meet our Saviour and Coming King than this D.C.D. way?

This way is that of the D.C.D. Anything less is Namby-P, Henceforth my prayer to God shall be, Make me a “super-D.C.D.”

Gamblers for God are what Christ wants, Like David’s worthies each, They never dreamed of counting odds, But raced to storm the breach.

They loved to fight; they laughed the more The greater risks they ran; They thought it such a privilege To go and “play the man.”

It’s good to fight for Jesus, ‘Tis the only life to live, It’s glorious fun, ‘tis heaven begun, When you’ve got no more to give.

Shall I be carried to the skies On a flowery bed of ease? Not I! I’ll fight to win the prize In Christ’s Own D.C.D.’s.