charge did not fully believe the danger. He thought he could do without help. He was confident in himself. And so it is with the ungodly. The lives they lead prove that they do not realize their danger, and hence they do not feel their need of Christ, do not repent and turn to Him, do not trust Him. They think they can do without Christ.

Perhaps you have felt, "I have gone too far; there is no mercy for me." Ah, but you must trust the Pilot; you must believe that "the Son of man hath power to forgive sins." Though they "be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

You believe that God "has power to cast into hell;' you believe that Christ "has power to forgive sins;" you could trust Him for all this. Yet you are not saved, you have not a "good hope," you dare not confess yourself a Christian. Why not? calling, perhaps, hinders you; your companions are a snare to you; your own heart is in league with the "tied and bound with the chain of enemy; you are

Your

Trust the

Go

your sins. You feel wretched, and mourn over your apparently hopeless condition. Yet there is a remedy for your case, full and adequate. Pilot, and you shall find help and deliverance. to Christ. He is able to save you, 66 even to the uttermost;" able to save you from the power of sin, the world, and Satan; able to break every bond that binds you. Trust Him fully.

You have, been trying hard, perhaps, to save yourself, to cease from sin in your own strength, to make yourself fit to receive Jesus. This will never do. You must, as it were, give the ship up to Him; you must say,

"A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,

On Thy kind arms I fall;

Be Thou my strength and righteousness,

My Jesus and my all."

Bible Class Magazine.

Printed at the Cambridge Steam Printing Works, Cambridge Terrace, and 94, Grand Junction Terrace, Edgware Road. W.-March, 1867.

OR

SOLDIERS' MACAZINE.

PUBLISHED BY THE

ARMY SCRIPTURE READERS' AND SOLDIERS' FRIEND SOCIEY,

4, TRAFALGAR SQUARE, CHARING CROSS, LONDON.

No. 124.]

APRIL, 1867.

[NEW SERIES.

Why is a Christian like to a Soldier ?

VERY Christian is a spiritual soldier of Christ. He is ENLISTED under Jesus, who is the CAPTAIN of his salvation. He has entered into a solemn covenant with Jesus to serve Him at all times, and at all hazards. He has engaged himself to take Jesus to be his COMMANDER and LEADER. As a soldier leaves all other things that belong to this life, that he may attend solely to the duties of his calling, so the believer in Jesus forsakes all that would hinder him from following his Saviour. He becomes dead to the world, for the sake of Christ. His heart and affections are set on the things that are heavenly, and not on the things that are earthly. He has regard to the things of God and godliness, as his chief good.

A Christian is like to a soldier, because he is WELL ARMED. For him there is prepared "the whole armour of God." For his loins there is the girdle of truth. He has on the breast-plate of righteousness. On his feet are the sandals of the preparation of the gospel of peace. He grasps in his hand the shield of faith. On his head is the helmet of salva

tion. His offensive and defensive weapon is "The Word of God"-"The Sword of the Spirit."

A Christian is like to a soldier because he is known by his uniform. A Christian's uniform consists of holiness, humility, and all the graces of the Holy Spirit. As soldiers are clothed at the expense of the Queen or King whose soldiers they are, so Christians are clothed upon with "the righteousness of God." Their own righteousness they lay aside as "filthy rags." They are dressed in the righteousness of Jesus their King. Their robes cost a great price. Jesus spent his whole life in working them, and finished them on Calvary's cross, when He shed his precious blood.

Soldiers must not fight for their own personal advantage, but for the credit and glory of the sovereign, and for the honour of their captain. And so the true Christian will, in all he performs, thinks, and speaks, have respect to the glory of God and to the honour of his name. He loves Christ with all his heart, and soul, and strength, and therefore he obeys him sincerely and heartily.

Soldiers have their warfare appointed them, their enemies pointed out to them, and are directed how and when to fight. Christians have to fight with spiritual weapons, against spiritual foes. The world, the flesh, and the devil, are deadly foes, against whom they are constantly to be engaged in a deadly warfare. These are foes they must overcome; and foes they can only overcome by the blood of the Lamb.

Soldiers on the battle-field expect to meet their foes, and are therefore always prepared. A Christian is on the battle-field all his earthly life, and should ever expect and be prepared for attacks from his tripple enemy. As a soldier hath not to purchase his own weapons, or to wage war at his own charge,

so, a Christian hath all his weapon's provided for him out of God's armoury, and is furnished with all things that are needful and necessary to sustain him during the conflict, by the Holy Spirit.

A Christian should be like to a soldier in respect to his obedience to his commander. He should make haste and delay not to keep all the commandments of God. He should ever be ready and forward to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, his heavenly leader, who is the all-wise and ever-blessed God.

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Christians should ever follow Jesus, even soldiers ever follow their leaders. The mighty army of heaven is composed of those who followed the Lamb whithersoever he went. We should follow Jesus because he is so good, so kind, so loving, and so merciful. And by following Jesus, the Christian will become expert in spiritual warfare, and will be more than a match for all his foes, be they never so mighty, or never so numerous.

As a true soldier will never desert from the army, so a true Christian will never be a deserter from Christ. Even as Christ loveth to the end, so the true believer endureth steadfast to the end.

A soldier knoweth not what will be the issue of the battle, but the soldiers of the cross know that they shall be more than conquerors, through Christ who has loved them, and who has already insured to them the victory. No soldier of Christ can ever lose his life on the battle field, for he has everlasting life as the gift of God.

The soldiers of Christ overcome through prayer. They pray always, at all times, and in all places. They pray and supplicate in the Spirit, with all diligence and constancy. They pray, not for themselves only, but also for all their fellow-soldiers, who are "called saints." It is said that Mary, Queen of of Scots, feared more the prayers of John Knox,

than she feared an army of twenty thousand men. And she had more need to fear; for a praying man has omnipotence engaged on his behalf.

Reader, do you pray? If you do not, you are not a Christian soldier.

UR salvation is not because we do so well, but because He whom we trust hath done all things so well. The believer is never more happy nor secure than when, at the same moment, he beholds and feels his own vileness, and also his Saviour's excellence.

"I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me,"

is the burden of his song. You look at yourself too much, and the infinite price paid for you tɔo little.

For conviction, it is true, you must look to your own heart; but for comfort, to your Saviour. Thus the wounded Israelites were to look only at the brazen serpent for recovery. The graces of the Spirit, such as love, patience, goodness, faith, &c., are good things for others to judge us by. But it is Christ as reclined on, believed in, rested upon, loved and followed, that will speak to ourselves. By looking unto Him we shall grow holy; and the more holy we grow, the more we shall mourn over sin, and be sensible how very short we come of what we yet desire to be. None are so holy as those who mourn they are not so.

While our sanctification is still a gradual and imperfect work, our justification is perfect and complete; the former is wrought in us, the latter for us.