which belongs only to the righteousness of Christ. It puts man in Christ's stead, and makes him his own Saviour, in a respect in which Christ only is the Saviour and so it is a doctrine contrary to the nature and design of the gospel, which is to abase man, and to ascribe all the glory of our salvation to Christ the Redeemer."

"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name,
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand."

"When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O, may I then in Him be found;
Drest in his righteousness alone,

Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand."

CHAPTER XIII.

WARFARE

The prey has been taken from the mighty and the lawful capture has been delivered. Your standing before God is now that of a righteous person. Christ has become "the end of the law for righteousness" to you as a believer. You are "complete in him" as to your acceptance, your freedom from condemnation, your assurance of full and eternal salvation from all evil in the immediate presence of God. God is now "for you" and "who can be against you" with any wellgrounded hope of final success? No one can pluck you out of your Father's hand. "Who shall separate you from the love of Christ?" You may be persuaded "that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

"Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus your Lord."

But the effort will nevertheless be made from sheer enmity to God and holiness as well as to

you in view of your new relations, tastes, aims and character. You have been "translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son," brought from bondage to liberty, from darkness to light, from allegiance to sin and satan to the obedience of Christ, from being a citizen of one kingdom to citizenship in another. The old order has ceased and you have become a new creature in Christ Jesus. But it still remains true that the actual, full and final realization of all that is involved in your changed estate is not yet. "Thou shalt call his name JESUS for he shall save his people from their sins."

Although sin, by the grace of your Lord, has been dethroned, its power shaken to the foundation, so that it shall no more "reign unto death,” yet it is by no means fully ejected, and is not only capable of doing, but certainly will do much to trouble and perplex you. Wherefore "think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you." Let your hope and your faith be in God. Amid sin's desperate onslaught you will have frequent occasion to say with the Psalmist: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."

While, on the one hand, with a triumphant faith, you may sing:

Bless God, O my soul, from sin's guilt thou art free,
"Tis gone once for all, it no more shalt thou see,
O blessed salvation! no more need'st thou fear
The voice of the Lord, thy Redeemer, to hear.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, for sin's broken power,
No more shall it reign undisturbed from this hour,
"Thy Redeemer is strong," to him shall it yield,
His sceptered dominion shall now claim the field.

Bless God, O my soul, for the hope he has given,
A hope "sure and steadfast” and anchored in heav'n—
That yet, in his presence, from sin all set free,

Thy King, in his beauty, my soul, thou shalt see.

O blessed salvation! from sin's guilt and power,
O blessed salvation! when cleansed evermore,
Thrice blessed salvation! from sin's guilt, power, stain,
Thine Lord, be the glory, Amen and Amen.

Yet, on the other hand, sin being of the devil, whether within you or without you, will wage such relentless warfare upon you that to you at times no more than to Paul will there be freedom from the oppressed cry, "Who shall deliver me from this body of death?" You may be so "brought into captivity to the law of sin which is in your members" as to penitently put forth the agonized supplication:

1

Leave me not O God of mercy,
Sorely do I need thee near;
Not in anger but compassion,
Bow Thou unto me Thine ear.

Needy breathings, mid my struggles,
Rise to Thee, or, mute I lie,
Trampled o'er by foes tyrannic,—
Lord have mercy! or I die.

Gracious Lord! to Thee a traitor!
Heeding not to "watch and pray,"
Parleying with the foe, repenting,
When, alas! was lost the day.

Not this once, but times unnumbered,
Have I thus dishonored Thee;
Justly then, Lord, I acknowledge,
Thou might'st now abandon me.

Yet long suffering, slow to anger,
Thou'rt not willing I should die,
Thus believing, I still upward

Unto Thee will lift mine eye.

But with the triumphant faith of Paul, exclaiming amid the fierce conflict, "I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord," so will you be privileged through faith to conclude your penitent prayer with the victorious strain:

Cease, my foes, then your exulting,

Fallen thus, I yet shall rise,

Christ hath died, through Him I'll conquer,
And yet enter Paradise.