The Battle of Life is an ancient phrase consecrated by use in
Commencement Orations without number. Two modern expressions have taken
their place beside it in our own day: the Strenuous Life, and the Simple
Life.

Each of these phrases has its own significance and value. It is when
they are overemphasized and driven to extremes that they lose their
truth and become catch-words of folly. The simple life which blandly
ignores all care and conflict, soon becomes flabby and invertebrate,
sentimental and gelatinous. The strenuous life which does everything
with set jaws and clenched fists and fierce effort, soon becomes
strained and violent, a prolonged nervous spasm.

Somewhere between these two extremes must lie the golden mean: a life
that has strength and simplicity, courage and calm, power and peace. But
how can we find this golden line and live along it? Some truth there
must be in the old phrase which speaks of life as a battle. No conflict,
no character. Without strife, a weak life. But what is the real meaning
of the battle? What is the vital issue at stake? What are the things
worth fighting for? In what spirit, with what weapons, are we to take
our part in the warfare?

There is an answer to these questions in the text: Overcome evil with
good. The man who knows this text by heart, knows the secret of a life
that is both strenuous and simple. For here we find the three things
that we need most: a call to the real battle of life; a plan for the
right campaign; and a promise of final victory.

I. Every man, like the knight in the old legend, is born on a field of
battle. But the warfare is not carnal, it is spiritual. Not the east