Meditations on ManhoodSýnishorn

WARFARE

Life is indeed a “warfare”; and just as a man enlists in our army for a term of years, and then his service runs out and he is free, so every believer is enlisted in the service of life, to serve God till his enlistment is over and we sleep in death. Our charge and our armor we shall put off together. Brethren, you are soldiers, enlisted when you believed in Jesus. Let me remind you that you are a soldier, you will be always at war, you will never have a furlough or conclude a treaty. Like the old knights who slept in their armor, you will be attacked even in your rest. There is no part of the journey to heaven which is secure from the enemy, and no moment, not even the sweet rest of the Lord’s day, when the clarion may not sound. Therefore, prepare yourselves always for the battle. “Put on the whole armor of God” and look upon life as a continued battle. Be surprised when you have not to fight; be wonderstruck when the world is peaceful towards you; be astonished when your old corruptions do not rise and assault you. You must travel with your swords always drawn, and you may as well throw away the scabbard, for you will never want it. You are a soldier who must always fight, and by the light of battle you must survey the whole of your life. We carry in our hands a sword; we have but to use it in one great life-battle and then it shall be hung up on the wall forever. Let us glorify the grace of God while we are permitted to remain on earth to glorify it. Let us up and at our enemies while there are enemies for us to fight. So now, in this life let us resolve in the name and strength of God the Holy Ghost, with all our force and vigor to glorify God, who has appointed us our warfare.