862 CONQUEST OVER nEATA. Captain ofhis Salvation. When he first gives himself up to the Lord, he renounces every thing that is inconsistent with his faith and hope, he abandons his former slavery, undertakes the spi, ritual warfare, and enters the field of battle. It is a necessary character of the followers Qf Christ, that they tight with the flesh, subdue corrupt nature, suppress their irregular appetites, give daily wgunds to the body of sin; Col. iii. 5. Rom. viii, 13. They fight against 'thisworld ; they refuse to complywith the tempts- Lions of it, when it would allure them astray from the path of duty; they defy its frowns and discouragements, and break through all its oppositions in their way to heaven James iv, 4. They resist Satan when he tempts them to sin, and vanquish him by the" sword of the Spirit, the word of God; Eph. iv. 11, 12; 17. and when he accuses them, and attempts to bring terror, into their souls, th'y overcome him, and cast him down by the blood of the Lamb; Rev. xii. 10, 11. They are made con- querors over these adversaries in the strength of Christ, Now the pangs of death are the lest tronblers of their peace ; death is the last enemy that attacks them, and some have very terrible conflictswith it. It was in these agonies, in this sharp contention, the words of my text Were uttered by that honoured saint whose memory will be always precious, and whose loss we this day mourn. This chearful language of hope, among many other scriptures. broke out from her lips.. Thus 'lively was her faith in a dying hour. Methinks I hear her speaking the wordswith a firm trust in the promise; The last enemy that- shall be destroyed is death. And this encouraged her onward through the few remaining struggles of life and pain. It is as if she' had said, " I have given myself up long ago to Christ, I engaged myself young in hit service, I have fought with sin, I have learned to subdue flesh and sense, and to live by the faith of the Son of God : I have not courted the flatteries of the world, the vain shews of life ; and I have been enabled to despise the frowns of it, and beenkept stedfast in my profession, in the most discouraging and the darkest times. Through the grace of Christ I lieve over- come the evil one; there remains but one enemy more, whose name is death ; and I trust in the samegrace stillto obtain com- plete victory." Rejoice ye dear relatives, let all the friends ofthe deceased rejoice, her name is now written down -in heaven amongst the overcomers. 2. Death may be called the last enemy, because it is not utterly destroyed till the resurrection, till Christ bath done all his work upon earth, till he has subdued all his other adversaries, and made use of death as his slave, to destroy many .of them. It is in this sense especially that the words of my text are written by St. Paul;. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 25. Then comcth.the end, when he
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=