THAT We may be good soldiers the Apostle commands us to "be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might." It may be regarded as a settled matter that when the Lord commands anything to be done, the command can be obeyed-the thing can be done. The very circumstance that the Lord commands is sufficient proof that whatever is commanded can be done. He could not, reasonably and justly, command his creatures to do anything that he knew they could not do. With this assumed, as a settled matter, how can the Christian obey the command to "be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might?" Men frequently excuse themselves from doing certain things which they believe and admit to be right, on the ground that they are weak. Why do they not obey the command, "Be strong?" You begin to inquire, How can I be strong? If a man has physical strength to lift five hundred pounds, and no more, he can not, by an exercise of his will, lift six hundred pounds. That is so. Yet, even the physical power is to some extent under our control. We can greatly increase or diminish it by our own conduct.

It is important to good physical strength that a man have good wholesome food, in the right proportion, and that it be prepared in a proper manner, and taken at proper intervals, or temperately. In this matter the will and judgment are employed. A man may eat too

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much, and thus injure his strength, or eat too little, though there is not much danger of this latter. Much depends on the articles of food and preparing them. A few simple articles give the greatest amount of strength. A great variety is injurious. Everything should be in its simpler form, and not too much refined, nor too many good things in it. If you use our plain article of corn bread, make the simplest and plainest article. It will give the greatest amount of nourishment, and consequently the greatest amount of strength. This article is easily produced in this country, and is probably as cheap as any other. It gives as much strength probably, for the same amount of labor or expense, as any other article we have in this country. But now, turn this plain article over to one of your artful and scientific manufacturers, and let him take it through his fine process of distillation, and bring out the sparkling article, no matter whether straight or crooked, and give that to men, and see what it will do for them! Will it give them strength of body, or brighten the intellect? It will give them blood-shot eyes, bloated faces, send them staggering, and tumble them into the gutter. It will craze the brain and ruin them in every sense. This is a bad preparation. A man has it in his power to avoid this, use the plain article that will nourish and strengthen.

The Lord has provided "the pure milk of the word" for the "new-born babes" in the kingdom, or the young converts, that they may grow thereby. But now, let a metaphysical distiller take this "pure milk of the word" and put it through a course of metaphysical distillation, and bring out the essence of it, in the form of a human creed, and give it to the young converts, and in a short time they will be off to themselves, rallying round their

essence, and will not fellowship those who continue to partake of "the pure milk of the word" and will not take their essence. This is not the way to obey the command, "Be strong," but the way to be weak.

We can not have good strength without exercise. Every limb and muscle should be exercised; not in some folly, but useful employment. This is indispensable to being strong. The Lord has wisely arranged for the strength to be drawn to the part exercised, where it is needed. The man who has lived a life of indolence, and never hardened his limbs and muscles by exercise, has not near the strength he would have had with the exercise. In like manner, the man who has no received the pure milk of the word, nor exercised his mind on it, studied it, talked about it, and treasured it up in his memory, has not only not grown thereby, but has not become "strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.'

When we think of a "soldier of the cross," two things readily come up into view: 1. Becoming a soldier; 2. The work, or life, of a soldier. There are two classes that greatly mistake. 1. One class never enlist; never become soldiers. 2. The other class enlist all right, but never do the work of the soldier. There were some old men, too old to belong to the army, at the battle of Bunker's Hill, in the time of the American Revolution, and fought, as we would say it in our Westernish style, on "their own hook," taking position behind trees, logs, stumps, rocks, etc., and did much service. There were also boys, too young to be in the army, who did the same. The historian speaks well of these, and gives them credit for what they did; but they were not enrolled in the army, and received no pay. In the same way, there are some men who skirmish for our King,

and do good battle, who have never enlisted, and do not belong to the army, and while we feel kindly toward them, and commend them for the battle they make for our King, we regret that they do not volunteer, join the army and do the complete work of the soldier; so that they, with the other soldiers, may receive the reward. Touching the other class, who volunteer, join the army, but never put the armor on; or, if they chance to put it on, never do battle, we have a long chapter for them that we can not give them in this connection. We will try and not forget them in another place before we close this discourse.

If a chieftain were beating up for volunteers to go into an army, what would be the first considerations that would come into the mind of a man thinking of enlisting? He would likely inquire, Is this cause a good one? In answer to this, he who is recruiting for the army of the Lord can reply: The cause is simply holy, just and good. But what kind of a commander shall I have? would be inquired. I do not like to enlist and be placed under some foolhardy, reckless and drunken commander, who would rush me into ruin to no purpose. In regard to this the way is clear. The Captain of our salvation is perfect. His command is so perfect that not a man who obeys orders will be lost. We only have to look to him, keep our eye on and obey him, and all will go well. We are always infallibly safe when we obey him. If he leads all will be well. But what is the prospect of success? Success is certain. God has sworn that Jesus shall reign till every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess. In his time he. will show who is the only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He must reign till all his enemies are put under his feet-till he puts down all rule, authority and power.

Can not a man take neutral ground-be neither on one side, nor the other-for or against the cause? The King has decided that "he who is not for us is against us." He puts down every man against him who is not for him. Every man who does not enlist he puts down against him. What if a man declines to enlist, will he be conscripted? No; King Jesus has no conscripts in his army. His soldiers are all volunteers. They are in the army because they want to be in it. They went into it themselves. They have conscripts in some ecclesiastical armies. We have seen a great recruiting officer, with his name loaded down with titles, go down to the cradle and conscript a little infant, before it knew its right hand from its left! This is not only conscripting, but the hardest kind. Our King has nothing of this kind in his army. What is the term of enlistment? Do they enlist for one year, two years, three years, or five years? It is not for one year, two, three, nor five, but forever. The covenant is everlasting. Their language, when they enlist, is, "Here, Lord, I give myself away." We are not our own, but have been bought with a price, and belong to Him who has purchased us with his own blood. We know one ecclesiastical army that has a term of six months-takes in six-months-men. But King Jesus has not a six-months-man in his army. Those in his army are in forever.

What is the first thing when a man enlists? The first thing is the oath of allegiance. What is the oath? We complain of the Papists for having so many sacraments, and say, We Protestants have but two. But where did you get two? You say, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Why do you call these sacraments? They are not so called in Scripture. Sacramentum is an oath and the resemblance of the oath taken by the soldier, and the