He is to contend with all the enemies of his salva- tion, in obedience to the laws of God —
[The world, the flesh, and the devil, are the enemies with
whom he is to fight Now, a soldier in the army of an
earthly prince is to act in all things according to certain rules, which are laid down for him in a code of laws drawn up for that specific purpose : these are called the Articles of War ; and with them he is to be conversant, in order that he may conform himself to them in all things. The Christian soldier, also, has his code drawn up for him by God himself, and re- vealed to him in the Oracles of Truth. This code he is to study with all diligence, and " to meditate on it day and night," that there may be in him an accordance with it in every particular. " Never is he to turn aside from it, to the right hand or to the left." However difficult or self-denying its injunctions, he must obey it : and by it, as a test, must he try all the instruction or advice given to him in relation to his conduct. It must be so sacred in his eyes, that he will die rather than depart from it in any thing. If blamed in any thing, as too scrupulous and too strict, he must refer to that as his standard : "it must be ever in his mouth," as well as in his heart ; and he must inculcate on others the same observance as he pays to it himself.]
And this will require all the courage that any man can possess —
[It will require no little courage so to subdue and mortify all his corrupt inclinations, as to have them brought into sub- jection to the laws of God. And to maintain such an habit in the midst of an ungodly world, will expose him to the heaviest trials. A man who enlists in an army has but to contend with enemies : but the Christian soldier will have to maintain sore conflicts even with his friends : yea, " his greatest foes will be those of his own household." Nor is it only for a season, during a few campaigns, that he must fight ; but every day, every hour, throughout his whole life. He is never off the field of battle : he is never at liberty to relax his vigilance for a single hour. His armour must be girt upon him day and night. The weapons, too, with which he is assaulted, are formidable in the extreme. Shall it be thought that death alone has its terrors ? I scruple not to say, that there are thousands who would find it easier to face a battery of cannon, than to withstand the sneers, and pity, and contempt, and ridicule, of their nearest and dearest friends. Not but that the Christian soldier must be prepared to " resist even unto blood." If he will not lay down his life for Christ, he cannot be his disciple. And does not this require courage ? Worldly