Whatever you have to do, you will do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inherit- ance0." May God enable you thus to live, till faith shall be lost in sight, and hope be consummated in enjoyment !
c Col. iii. 22.
Eph. vi. 17. Take the sioord of the Spirit, which is the
word of God.
THE Christian's warfare is principally of the de- fensive kind ; yet not so entirely, but that he must follow up the advantages which he has at any time gained, and seek the utter destruction of those ene- mies which infest his soul : after sustaining their assaults, he must himself become the assailant ; having resisted the world and sin, he must proceed to overcome a, condemn b, and crucify0 them ; and having withstood Satan, he must go on to " bruise him under his feetd." That he may be enabled to carry this into effect, God has provided for him an offensive weapon, which, if skilfully used, shall accom- plish the ruin of all his enemies. To the considera- tion of this we are led by the text ; in elucidating which we shall notice,
I. The description given of the Christian's sword —
II. Its usefulness to him in all his combats —
I. Let us notice the description given of the Chris- tian's sword — What the sword is to a warrior, that the Scriptures are to a child of God ; they enable him to inflict a deadly wound on his adversaries, and to subdue them before him.
a 1 John v. 4. b Heb. xi. 7.
c Gal. v. 24. and vi. 14. d Rom. xvi. 20.