If we have conquered an enemy we must hold the conquest as an illustration of the power of God rather than of the skill of our own might or hand. The idols which we bring away from the lands of darkness are to be set up in God's house, and are to mark points in the progress of Christian civilisation. They are to be regarded as indications of a universal conquest which Christ has yet to win over the nations of the whole world. If we have brought back spoils — such as art, music, or any form of pleasure by which the popular mind can be touched and moved in an upward direction — we are to remember that in all these spoils we are to see the Divine power, and not proofs of our own military genius.

(J. Parker, D. D.)