or emolument. It was far otherwise with Christ and his Apostles. When our Lord invited men to enlist under his banners, he told them that they would have to enter on a course of pain and self-denial ; " If any man will be my disciple, let him deny him- self, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Thus St. Paul, at the very time that he is endeavour- ing to recruit the Christian army, tells us plainly, that the enemies we shall have to combat, are the most subtle and powerful of any in the universe. Deceit and violence, the two great engines of cruelty and oppression, are their daily practice and delight.
In conformity with the Apostle's plan, we have opened to you, in some measure, the zviles of that adversary, whom we are exhorting you to oppose : and we shall now proceed to set before you some- what of his power ; still however encouraging you not to be dismayed, but to go forth against him with an assurance of victory.
We shall shew you, I. What a powerful adversary we have to contend with —
As soon as any man enlists under the banners of Christ, the world will turn against him, even as the kings of Canaan did against the Gibeonites, the very instant they had made a league with Joshua a. "Those of his own household will most probably be his greatest foes." To oppose these manfully is no easy task : but yet these are of no consideration in com- parison of our other enemies ; " We wrestle not against flesh and blood b," says the Apostle, but " against all the principalities and powers" of hell0.
a Josh. x. 4. with John xv. 18, 19.
b The terms " flesh and blood" are sometimes used to signify any human being, (Matt. xvi. 17.) and sometimes, our corrupt nature, whether intellectual (Gal. i. 16.) or corporeal, (1 Cor. xv. 50.) Here they denote the world at large.
c Commentators labour exceedingly, but in vain, to make any tolerable sense of ev role eTrovpavioig as translated in our version. But if they were construed with >/ nuXri, thus, " Our conflict about hea- venly things," and ra iryev/jiuTiKd rijg irovr)pia.Q be considered as equi- valent to Trovrjpa Trveu^ara, the whole sense would be clear and