Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/topics27/t29750

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29751
 November 16                                              Evening

 \\"Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty."\\
                                                   --Isaiah 33:17

    The more you know about Christ the less will you be satisfied
 with superficial views of him; and the more deeply you study his
 transactions in the eternal covenant, his engagements on your
 behalf as the eternal Surety, and the fulness of his grace which
 shines in all his offices, the more truly will you see the King
 in his beauty. Be much in such outlooks. Long more and more to
 see Jesus. \\Meditation and contemplation\\ are often like
 windows of agate, and gates of carbuncle, through which we
 behold the Redeemer. Meditation puts the telescope to the eye,
 and enables us to see Jesus after a better sort than we could
 have seen him if we had lived in the days of his flesh. Would
 that our conversation were more in heaven, and that we were more
 taken up with the person, the work, the beauty of our incarnate
 Lord. More meditation, and the beauty of the King would flash
 upon us with more resplendence. Beloved, it is very probable
 that we shall have such a sight of our glorious King as we never
 had before, \\when we come to die\\. Many saints in dying have
 looked up from amidst the stormy waters, and have seen Jesus
 walking on the waves of the sea, and heard him say, "It is I, be
 not afraid." Ah, yes! when the tenement begins to shake, and the
 clay falls away, we see Christ through the rifts, and between
 the rafters the sunlight of heaven comes streaming in. But if we
 want to see face to face the "King in his beauty" \\we must go\\
 \\to heaven\\ for the sight, or the King must come here in
 person. O that he would come on the wings of the wind! He is
 our Husband, and we are widowed by his absence; he is our
 Brother dear and fair, and we are lonely without him. Thick
 veils and clouds hang between our souls and their true life:
 when shall the day break and the shadows flee away? Oh,
 long-expected day, begin!

29752
 November 17                                              Evening

 \\"He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby."\\
                                              --Ecclesiastes 10:9

    Oppressors may get their will of poor and needy men as easily
 as they can split logs of wood, but they had better mind, for it
 is a dangerous business, and a splinter from a tree has often
 killed the woodman. Jesus is persecuted in every injured saint,
 and he is mighty to avenge his beloved ones. Success in treading
 down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled at: if there
 be no danger to persecutors here there will be great danger
 hereafter.

    \\To cleave wood is a common every-day business, and yet it \\
 \\has its dangers\\; so then, reader, there are dangers
 connected with your calling and daily life which it will be well
 for you to be aware of. We refer not to hazards by flood and
 field, or by disease and sudden death, but to perils of a
 spiritual sort. Your occupation may be as humble as log
 splitting, and yet the devil can tempt you in it. You may be a
 domestic servant, a farm labourer, or a mechanic, and you may be
 greatly screened from temptations to the grosser vices, and yet
 some secret sin may do you damage. Those who dwell at home, and
 mingle not with the rough world, may yet be endangered by their
 very seclusion. Nowhere is he safe who thinks himself so. Pride
 may enter a poor man's heart; avarice may reign in a cottager's
 bosom; uncleanness may venture into the quietest home; and
 anger, and envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the
 most rural abode. Even in speaking a few words to a servant we
 may sin; a little purchase at a shop may be the first link in a
 chain of temptations; the mere looking out of a window may be
 the beginning of evil. O Lord, how exposed we are! How shall we
 be secured! To keep ourselves is work too hard for us: only thou
 thyself art able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread
 thy wings over us, and we, like little chickens, will cower down
 beneath thee, and feel ourselves safe!

29753
 November 18                                              Evening

 \\"Thou art from everlasting."\\
                                                     --Psalm 93:2

    Christ is EVERLASTING. Of him we may sing with David, "Thy
 throne, O God, is for ever and ever." Rejoice, believer, in
 Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Jesus
 always \\was\\. The Babe born in Bethlehem was united to the
 Word, which was in the beginning, by whom all things were made.
 The title by which Christ revealed himself to John in Patmos
 was, "Him which is, and which was, and which is to come." If he
 were not God from everlasting, we could not so devoutly love
 him; we could not feel that he had any share in the eternal love
 which is the fountain of all covenant blessings; but since he
 was from all eternity with the Father, we trace the stream of
 divine love to himself equally with his Father and the blessed
 Spirit. As our Lord always \\was\\, so also he is for evermore.
 Jesus is not dead; "He ever liveth to make intercession for us."
 Resort to him in all your times of need, for he is waiting to
 bless you still. Moreover, Jesus our Lord ever \\shall be\\. If
 God should spare your life to fulfil your full day of threescore
 years and ten, you will find that his cleansing fountain is
 still opened, and his precious blood has not lost its power; you
 shall find that the Priest who filled the healing fount with his
 own blood, lives to purge you from all iniquity. When only your
 last battle remains to be fought, you shall find that the hand
 of your conquering Captain has not grown feeble--the living
 Saviour shall cheer the dying saint. When you enter heaven you
 shall find him there bearing the dew of his youth; and through
 eternity the Lord Jesus shall still remain the perennial spring
 of joy, and life, and glory to his people. Living waters may you
 draw from this sacred well! Jesus always was, he always is, he
 always shall be. He is eternal in all his attributes, in all his
 offices, in all his might, and willingness to bless, comfort,
 guard, and crown his chosen people.

29754
 November 19                                              Evening

 \\"O that I knew where I might find him!"\\
                                                       --Job 23:3

    In Job's uttermost extremity he cried after the Lord. The
 longing desire of an afflicted child of God is once more to see
 his Father's face. His first prayer is not "O that I might be
 healed of the disease which now festers in every part of my
 body!" nor even "O that I might see my children restored from
 the jaws of the grave, and my property once more brought from
 the hand of the spoiler!" but the first and uppermost cry is, "O
 that I knew where I might find HIM, who is my God! that I might
 come even to his seat!" God's children run home when the storm
 comes on. It is the heaven-born instinct of a gracious soul to
 seek shelter from all ills beneath the wings of Jehovah. "He
 that hath made his refuge God," might serve as the title of a
 true believer. A hypocrite, when afflicted by God, resents the
 infliction, and, like a slave, would run from the Master who has
 scourged him; but not so the true heir of heaven, he kisses the
 hand which smote him, and seeks shelter from the rod in the
 bosom of the God who frowned upon him. Job's desire to commune
 with God was intensified by the failure of all other sources of
 consolation. The patriarch turned away from his sorry friends,
 and looked up to the celestial throne, just as a traveller turns
 from his empty skin bottle, and betakes himself with all speed
 to the well. He bids farewell to earth-born hopes, and cries, "O
 that I knew where I might find my God!" Nothing teaches us so
 much the preciousness of the Creator, as when we learn the
 emptiness of all besides. Turning away with bitter scorn from
 earth's hives, where we find no honey, but many sharp stings, we
 rejoice in him whose faithful word is sweeter than honey or the
 honeycomb. In every trouble we should first seek to realize
 God's presence with us. Only let us enjoy his smile, and we can
 bear our daily cross with a willing heart for his dear sake.

29755
 November 20                                              Evening

 \\"The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses\\
 \\in the rocks."\\
                                                 --Proverbs 30:26

    Conscious of their own natural defencelessness, the conies
 resort to burrows in the rocks, and are secure from their
 enemies. My heart, be willing to gather a lesson from these
 feeble folk. Thou art as weak and as exposed to peril as the
 timid cony, be as wise to seek a shelter. My best security is
 within the munitions of an immutable Jehovah, where his
 unalterable promises stand like giant walls of rock. It will be
 well with thee, my heart, if thou canst always hide thyself in
 the bulwarks of his glorious attributes, all of which are
 guarantees of safety for those who put their trust in him.
 Blessed be the name of the Lord, I have so done, and have found
 myself like David in Adullam, safe from the cruelty of my enemy;
 I have not now to find out the blessedness of the man who puts
 his trust in the Lord, for long ago, when Satan and my sins
 pursued me, I fled to the cleft of the rock Christ Jesus, and in
 his riven side I found a delightful resting-place. My heart,
 run to him anew to-night, whatever thy present grief may be;
 Jesus feels for thee; Jesus consoles thee; Jesus will help thee.
 No monarch in his impregnable fortress is more secure than the
 cony in his rocky burrow. The master of ten thousand chariots is
 not one whit better protected than the little dweller in the
 mountain's cleft. In Jesus the weak are strong, and the
 defenceless safe; they could not be more strong if they were
 giants, or more safe if they were in heaven. Faith gives to men
 on earth the protection of the God of heaven. More they cannot
 need, and need not wish. The conies cannot build a castle, but
 they avail themselves of what is there already: I cannot make
 myself a refuge, but Jesus has provided it, his Father has given
 it, his Spirit has revealed it, and lo, again to-night I enter
 it, and am safe from every foe.

29756
 November 21                                              Evening

 \\"Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him."\\
                                                      --John 12:2

    \\He is to be envied\\. It was well to be Martha and serve,
 but better to be Lazarus and commune. There are times for each
 purpose, and each is comely in its season, but none of the trees
 of the garden yield such clusters as the vine of fellowship. To
 sit with Jesus, to hear his words, to mark his acts, and receive
 his smiles, was such a favour as must have made Lazarus as happy
 as the angels. When it has been our happy lot to feast with our
 Beloved in his banqueting-hall, we would not have given half a
 sigh for all the kingdoms of the world, if so much breath could
 have bought them.

    \\He is to be imitated\\. It would have been a strange thing
 if Lazarus had not been at the table where Jesus was, for he had
 been dead, and Jesus had raised him. For the risen one to be
 absent when the Lord who gave him life was at his house, would
 have been ungrateful indeed. We too were once dead, yea, and
 like Lazarus stinking in the grave of sin; Jesus raised us, and
 by his life we live--can we be content to live at a distance
 from him? Do we omit to remember him at his table, where he
 deigns to feast with his brethren? Oh, this is cruel! It behoves
 us to repent, and do as \\he\\ has bidden us, for his least wish
 should be law to us. To have lived without constant intercourse
 with one of whom the Jews said, "Behold how he loved him," would
 have been disgraceful to Lazarus, is it excusable in us whom
 Jesus has loved with an everlasting love? To have been cold to
 him who wept over his lifeless corpse, would have argued great
 brutishness in Lazarus. What does it argue in us over whom the
 Saviour has not only wept, but bled? Come, brethren, who read
 this portion, let us return unto our heavenly Bridegroom, and
 ask for his Spirit that we may be on terms of closer intimacy
 with him, and henceforth sit at the table with him.

29757
 November 22                                              Evening

 \\"The power of his resurrection."\\
                                               --Philippians 3:10

    The doctrine of a risen Saviour is exceedingly precious. The
 resurrection is the corner-stone of the entire building of
 Christianity. It is the key-stone of the arch of our salvation.
 It would take a volume to set forth all the streams of living
 water which flow from this one sacred source, the resurrection
 of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; but \\to know\\ that
 he has risen, and to have fellowship with him as such--communing
 with the risen Saviour by possessing a risen life--seeing him
 leave the tomb by leaving the tomb of worldliness ourselves,
 this is even still more precious. The doctrine is the basis of
 the experience, but as the flower is more lovely than the root,
 so is the experience of fellowship with the risen Saviour more
 lovely than the doctrine itself. I would have you \\believe\\
 that Christ rose from the dead so as to sing of it, and derive
 all the consolation which it is possible for you to extract from
 this well-ascertained and well-witnessed fact; but I beseech
 you, rest not contented even there. Though you cannot, like the
 disciples, see him visibly, yet I bid you aspire to see Christ
 Jesus by the eye of faith; and though, like Mary Magdalene, you
 may not "touch" him, yet may you be privileged to converse with
 him, and to know that he is risen, you yourselves being risen in
 him to newness of life. To know a crucified Saviour as having
 crucified all my sins, is a high degree of knowledge; but to
 know a risen Saviour as having justified me, and to realize that
 he has bestowed upon me new life, having given me to be a new
 creature through his own newness of life, this is a noble style
 of experience: short of it, none ought to rest satisfied. May
 you both "know him, and the power of his resurrection." Why
 should souls who are quickened with Jesus, wear the
 grave-clothes of worldliness and unbelief? Rise, for the Lord is
 risen.

29758
 November 23                                              Evening

 \\"Get thee up into the high mountain."\\
                                                    --Isaiah 40:9

    Each believer should be thirsting for God, for the living
 God, and longing to climb the hill of the Lord, and see him face
 to face. We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley
 when the summit of Tabor awaits us. My soul thirsteth to drink
 deep of the cup which is reserved for those who reach the
 mountain's brow, and bathe their brows in heaven. How pure are
 the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich
 the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New
 Jerusalem! Many saints are content to live like men in coal
 mines, who see not the sun; they eat dust like the serpent when
 they might taste the ambrosial meat of angels; they are content
 to wear the miner's garb when they might put on king's robes;
 tears mar their faces when they might anoint them with celestial
 oil. Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when
 he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and
 Lebanon. Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast
 away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever
 interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ, thy soul's
 Husband. Make him the source, the centre, and the circumference
 of all thy soul's range of delight. What enchants thee into such
 folly as to remain in a pit when thou mayst sit on a throne?
 Live not in the lowlands of bondage now that mountain liberty is
 conferred upon thee. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish
 attainments, but press forward to things more sublime and
 heavenly. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to
 heaven! Nearer to God!

              "When wilt thou come unto me, Lord?
              Oh come, my Lord most dear!
              Come near, come nearer, nearer still,
              I'm blest when thou art near."

29759
 November 24                                              Evening

 \\"Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the\\
 \\hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that\\
 \\travelleth; and thy want as an armed man."\\
                                             --Proverbs 24:33, 34

    The  worst of sluggards only ask for a little slumber; they
 would be indignant if they were accused of thorough idleness. A
 little folding of the hands to sleep is all they crave, and they
 have a crowd of reasons to show that this indulgence is a very
 proper one. Yet by these littles the day ebbs out, and the time
 for labour is all gone, and the field is grown over with thorns.
 It is by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls. They
 have no intention to delay for years--a few months will bring
 the more convenient season--to-morrow if you will, they will
 attend to serious things; but the present hour is so occupied
 and altogether so unsuitable, that they beg to be excused. Like
 sands from an hour-glass, time passes, life is wasted by
 driblets, and seasons of grace lost by little slumbers. Oh, to
 be wise, to catch the flying hour, to use the moments on the
 wing! May the Lord teach us this sacred wisdom, for otherwise a
 poverty of the worst sort awaits us, eternal poverty which shall
 want even a drop of water, and beg for it in vain. Like a
 traveller steadily pursuing his journey, poverty overtakes the
 slothful, and ruin overthrows the undecided: each hour brings
 the dreaded pursuer nearer; he pauses not by the way, for he is
 on his master's business and must not tarry. As an armed man
 enters with authority and power, so shall want come to the idle,
 and death to the impenitent, and there will be no escape. O that
 men were wise be-times, and would seek diligently unto the Lord
 Jesus, or ere the solemn day shall dawn when it will be too late
 to plough and to sow, too late to repent and believe. In
 harvest, it is vain to lament that the seed time was neglected.
 As yet, faith and holy decision are timely. May we obtain them
 this night.

29760
 November 25                                              Evening

 \\"For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have\\
 \\mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have\\
 \\compassion."\\
                                                    --Romans 9:15

    In these words the Lord in the plainest manner claims the
 right to give or to withhold his mercy according to his own
 sovereign will. As the prerogative of life and death is vested
 in the monarch, so the Judge of all the earth has a right to
 spare or condemn the guilty, as may seem best in his sight. Men
 by their sins have forfeited all claim upon God; they deserve to
 perish for their sins--and if they all do so, they have no
 ground for complaint. If the Lord steps in to save any, he may
 do so if the ends of justice are not thwarted; but if he judges
 it best to leave the condemned to suffer the righteous sentence,
 none may arraign him at their bar. Foolish and impudent are all
 those discourses about the rights of men to be all placed on the
 same footing; ignorant, if not worse, are those contentions
 against discriminating grace, which are but the rebellions of
 proud human nature against the crown and sceptre of Jehovah.
 When we are brought to see our own utter ruin and ill desert,
 and the justice of the divine verdict against sin, we no longer
 cavil at the truth that the Lord is not bound to save us; we do
 not murmur if he chooses to save others, as though he were doing
 us an injury, but feel that if he deigns to look upon us, it
 will be his own free act of undeserved goodness, for which we
 shall for ever bless his name.

    How shall those who are the subjects of divine election
 sufficiently adore the grace of God? They have no room for
 boasting, for sovereignty most effectually excludes it. The
 Lord's will alone is glorified, and the very notion of human
 merit is cast out to everlasting contempt. There is no more
 humbling doctrine in Scripture than that of election, none more
 promotive of gratitude, and, consequently, none more
 sanctifying. Believers should not be afraid of it, but adoringly
 rejoice in it.

29761
 November 26                                              Evening

 \\"They shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of\\
 \\Zerubbabel."\\
                                                 --Zechariah 4:10

    Small things marked the beginning of the work in the hand of
 Zerubbabel, but none might despise it, for the Lord had raised
 up one who would persevere until the headstone should be brought
 forth with shoutings. The plummet was in good hands. Here is the
 comfort of every believer in the Lord Jesus; let the work of
 grace be ever so small in its beginnings, \\the plummet is in\\
 \\good hands\\, a master builder greater than Solomon has
 undertaken the raising of the heavenly temple, and he will not
 fail nor be discouraged till the topmost pinnacle shall be
 raised. If the plummet were in the hand of any merely human
 being, we might fear for the building, but the pleasure of the
 Lord shall prosper in Jesus' hand. The works did not proceed
 irregularly, and without care, for \\the master's hand carried a\\
 \\good instrument\\. Had the walls been hurriedly run up without
 due superintendence, they might have been out of the
 perpendicular; but the plummet was used by the chosen overseer.
 Jesus is evermore watching the erection of his spiritual temple,
 that it may be built securely and well. We are for haste, but
 Jesus is for judgment. He will use the plummet, and that which
 is out of line must come down, every stone of it. Hence the
 failure of many a flattering work, the overthrow of many a
 glittering profession. It is not for us to judge the Lord's
 church, since Jesus has a steady hand, and a true eye, and can
 use the plummet well. Do we not rejoice to see judgment left to
 him?

    \\The plummet was in active use\\--it was in the builder's
 hand; a sure indication that he meant to push on the work to
 completion. O Lord Jesus, how would we indeed be glad if we
 could see thee at thy great work. O Zion, the beautiful, thy
 walls are still in ruins! Rise, thou glorious Builder, and make
 her desolations to rejoice at thy coming.

29762
 November 27                                              Evening

 \\"The forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his\\
 \\grace."\\
                                                  --Ephesians 1:7

    Could there be a sweeter word in any language than that word
 "forgiveness," when it sounds in a guilty sinner's ear, like the
 silver notes of jubilee to the captive Israelite? Blessed, for
 ever blessed be that dear star of pardon which shines into the
 condemned cell, and gives the perishing a gleam of hope amid the
 midnight of despair! Can it be possible that sin, such sin as
 mine, can be forgiven, forgiven altogether, and for ever? Hell
 is my portion as a sinner--there is no possibility of my
 escaping from it while sin remains upon me--can the load of
 guilt be uplifted, the crimson stain removed? Can the adamantine
 stones of my prison-house ever be loosed from their mortices, or
 the doors be lifted from their hinges? Jesus tells me that I may
 yet be clear. For ever blessed be the revelation of atoning love
 which not only tells me that pardon is possible, but that it is
 secured to all who rest in Jesus. I have believed in the
 appointed propitiation, even Jesus crucified, and therefore my
 sins are at this moment, and for ever, forgiven by virtue of his
 substitutionary pains and death. What joy is this! What bliss to
 be a perfectly pardoned soul! My soul dedicates all her powers
 to him who of his own unpurchased love became my surety, and
 wrought out for me redemption through his blood. What riches of
 grace does free forgiveness exhibit! To forgive at all, to
 forgive fully, to forgive freely, to forgive for ever! Here is a
 constellation of wonders; and when I think of how great my sins
 were, how dear were the precious drops which cleansed me from
 them, and how gracious was the method by which pardon was sealed
 home to me, I am in a maze of wondering worshipping affection.
 I bow before the throne which absolves me, I clasp the cross
 which delivers me, I serve henceforth all my days the Incarnate
 God, through whom I am this night a pardoned soul.

29763
 November 28                                              Evening

 \\"Seeking the wealth of his people."\\
                                                    --Esther 10:3

    Mordecai was a true patriot, and therefore, being exalted to
 the highest position under Ahasuerus, he used his eminence to
 promote the prosperity of Israel. In this he was a type of
 Jesus, who, upon his throne of glory, seeks not his own, but
 spends his power for his people. It were well if every Christian
 would be a Mordecai to the church, striving according to his
 ability for its prosperity. Some are placed in stations of
 affluence and influence, let them honour their Lord in the high
 places of the earth, and testify for Jesus before great men.
 Others have what is far better, namely, close fellowship with
 the King of kings, let them be sure to plead daily for the weak
 of the Lord's people, the doubting, the tempted, and the
 comfortless. It will redound to their honour if they make much
 intercession for those who are in darkness and dare not draw
 nigh unto the mercy seat. Instructed believers may serve their
 Master greatly if they lay out their talents for the general
 good, and impart their wealth of heavenly learning to others, by
 teaching them the things of God. The very least in our Israel
 may at least \\seek\\ the welfare of his people; and his desire,
 if he can give no more, shall be acceptable. It is at once the
 most Christlike and the most happy course for a believer to
 cease from living to himself. He who blesses others cannot fail
 to be blessed himself. On the other hand, to seek our own
 personal greatness is a wicked and unhappy plan of life, its way
 will be grievous and its end will be fatal.

    Here is the place to ask thee, my friend, whether thou art to
 the best of thy power seeking the wealth of the church in thy
 neighbourhood? I trust thou art not doing it mischief by
 bitterness and scandal, nor weakening it by thy neglect. Friend,
 unite with the Lord's poor, bear their cross, do them all the
 good thou canst, and thou shalt not miss thy reward.

29764
 November 29                                              Evening

 \\"Spices for anointing oil."\\
                                                    --Exodus 35:8

    Much use was made of this anointing oil under the law, and
 that which it represents is of primary importance under the
 gospel. The Holy Spirit, who anoints us for all holy service, is
 indispensable to us if we would serve the Lord acceptably.
 Without his aid our religious services are but a vain oblation,
 and our inward experience is a dead thing. Whenever our ministry
 is without unction, what miserable stuff it becomes! nor are the
 prayers, praises, meditations, and efforts of private Christians
 one jot superior. A holy anointing is the soul and life of
 piety, its absence the most grievous of all calamities. To go
 before the Lord without anointing is as though some common
 Levite had thrust himself into the priest's office--his
 ministrations would rather have been sins than services. May we
 never venture upon hallowed exercises without sacred anointings.
 They drop upon us from our glorious Head; from his anointing we
 who are as the skirts of his garments partake of a plenteous
 unction. Choice spices were compounded with rarest art of the
 apothecary to form the anointing oil, to show forth to us how
 rich are all the influences of the Holy Spirit. All good things
 are found in the divine Comforter. Matchless consolation,
 infallible instruction, immortal quickening, spiritual energy,
 and divine sanctification all lie compounded with other
 excellencies in that sacred eye-salve, the heavenly anointing
 oil of the Holy Spirit. It imparts a delightful fragrance to the
 character and person of the man upon whom it is poured. Nothing
 like it can be found in all the treasuries of the rich, or the
 secrets of the wise. It is not to be imitated. It comes alone
 from God, and it is freely given, through Jesus Christ, to every
 waiting soul. Let us seek it, for we may have it, may have it
 this very evening. O Lord, anoint thy servants.
29765
 November 30                                              Evening

 \\"Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and\\
 \\the dragon fought and his angels."\\
                                                --Revelation 12:7

    War always will rage between the two great sovereignties
 until one or other be crushed. Peace between good and evil is an
 impossibility; the very pretence of it would, in fact, be the
 triumph of the powers of darkness. \\Michael will always\\
 \\fight\\; his holy soul is vexed with sin, and will not endure
 it. Jesus will always be the dragon's foe, and that not in a
 quiet sense, but actively, vigorously, with full determination
 to exterminate evil. All his servants, whether angels in heaven
 or messengers on earth, will and must fight; they are born to be
 warriors--at the cross they enter into covenant never to make
 truce with evil; they are a warlike company, firm in defence and
 fierce in attack. The duty of every soldier in the army of the
 Lord is daily, with all his heart, and soul, and strength, to
 fight against the dragon.

    \\The dragon and his angels will not decline the affray\\;
 they are incessant in their onslaughts, sparing no weapon, fair
 or foul. We are foolish to expect to serve God without
 opposition: the more zealous we are, the more sure are we to be
 assailed by the myrmidons of hell. The church may become
 slothful, but not so her great antagonist; his restless spirit
 never suffers the war to pause; he hates the woman's seed, and
 would fain devour the church if he could. The servants of Satan
 partake much of the old dragon's energy, and are usually an
 active race. War rages all around, and to dream of peace is
 dangerous and futile.

    Glory be to God, we know the end of the war. The great dragon
 shall be cast out and for ever destroyed, while Jesus and they
 who are with him shall receive the crown. Let us sharpen our
 swords to-night, and pray the Holy Spirit to nerve our arms for
 the conflict. Never battle so important, never crown so
 glorious. Every man to his post, ye warriors of the cross, and
 may the Lord tread Satan under your feet shortly!

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