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arms, or, yet better, a lasting peace be ours. The sword shall be turned into the ploughshare, and the spear into the pruning-hook, our poor shall be satisfied with bread, the Gospel shall spread, God's name be exalted, and an earnest be granted of that blessed time, when "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more1."

PRAYER.

(FROM THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.)

O Most Powerful and Glorious Lord God, the Lord of Hosts, That rulest and commandest all things; Thou sittest in the throne judging right and therefore we make our address to thy Divine Majesty in this our necessity, that Thou wouldest take the cause into thine own hand, and judge between us and our enemies. Stir up thy strength, O Lord, and come and help us; for Thou givest not alway the battle to the strong, but canst save by many or by few. Oh let not our sins now cry against us for vengeance; but hear us Thy poor servants begging mercy, and imploring Thy help, and that Thou wouldest be a defence unto us against the face of the enemy. Make it appear that Thou art our Saviour and mighty Deliverer, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

4 Isa. ii. 4.

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, LONDON.

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GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS;

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LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET.

THE GREAT WARFARE.

"The Son of God goes forth to war,
A kingly crown to gain;

His blood-red banner streams afar;
Who follows in his train ?”

HEBER.

THESE are stirring times! "Wars, and rumours of wars," fill every heart, and are on every tongue. In one way or another, sooner or later, the consequences of war will come home to each one of us. We have heard a great deal of The War;' but we may expect to hear a great deal more of it yet. And perhaps you will think that I can tell you nothing new about it. Probably not.

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Suppose, then, I tell you something (which, though not new, is comparatively little spoken about and thought of)—something about another war; a war which is going on at this very minute, and which comes home to us all very near to us indeed, for it is going on, not only in the home, but in the heart, of each one of us.

Matt. xxiv. 6.

I will speak plainly to you, my friend. I mean the great struggle between the spirit and the flesh, between the servants of God and the slaves of mammon; in a word, the great warfare between the soldiers of Christ and the armies of the powers of darkness.

It is a life-long struggle, and one in which we are all engaged. Yes, all; you are, and I am, engaged in it even now.

You were enlisted in this holy service in your baptism. You received the sign of the Cross, the badge of the followers of Christ crucified, as a token that you should "manfully fight under His banner," "and continue Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto your life's end." The promise made for you, in your infancy, that you would act up to this profession, is always binding on you. You allowed yourself to be called-what, indeed, you were made by admission into Christ's Church-a Christian; and you can only leave Christ's service as a renegade and deserter.

I am speaking under the supposition that no one will trouble himself to read what I have to say, who has denied the faith of Christ, thrown aside His badge for ever, and openly and avowedly deserted His banner. Nor can such deserters from their Saviour's army think that they have ceased to take a part in the great warfare. For what were

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* Baptismal Service, Book of Common Prayer.

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