the earth; who contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints; and who are not ashamed to confess Christ before a sinful and adulterous generation. May their number increase a thousand-fold.

Luther laboured to bring back the Christian Church, not only to the purity of the faith, but to the practice of piety.

He therefore adds: "Truly religious persons crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts; and hence their sins do not finally ruin them. For, if they obey the flesh by gratifying its concupiscence, they infallibly lose their faith and the Holy Ghost. Moreover, if they do not abhor their sins, sincerely repent, and return to Christ, that they may recover their faith and the Holy Ghost, they will die in their sins. Wherefore I can speak no comfort to those who dream they have faith, and yet live in sin.

"Against all such, there is a dreadful sentence in force; namely: "They that live after the flesh shall die. And further, the works of the flesh are manifest adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, and such like they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.""

Luther then shows in what way true believers are kept from falling into gross sins, and how they are enabled to persevere even unto the end: “The severe threatenings of Almighty God against sin," he observes, "have a due effect upon the minds of true believers, so as to deter them from breaking his laws. They arm themselves with the Word of

God, with faith, and with prayer, and do not give way to the lusts of the flesh. In fact, they so resist the flesh, as to nail it to the cross with all its sinful desires. Hence it is, that the flesh, though yet alive, and capable of showing some signs of motion, cannot perform what it would, being bound hand and foot, and nailed fast to the cross. Such are the principles, and such is the practice of truly pious persons. The same important truths may be expressed a little differently thus: The faithful, while they live on earth, do actually crucify the flesh; that is, though they are sensible of its lustings, they do not obey them. Furnished with the armour of God, namely, faith, hope, and the sword of the Spirit, they oppose the natural or carnal man; and with these spiritual arms, as it were, with nails, fix him to the cross of Christ, and compel him against his will, to be subject to the spiritual man, or new creature. Afterwards, when they die, they entirely put off the carnal man, and they will rise from the dead, with a body incorruptible, and free from sinful affections and lusts."

Thus clearly did this zealous Reformer, declare, in unison with the Apostle, that there are two principles of action within us, flesh and spirit ; and though we cannot entirely put off the flesh or kill it, we must fight against it, and strive to subdue it, till we put off our mortal body, and enter that blessed state, where,

"Flesh and sin, no more controul,

The sacred pleasures of the soul."

The Church of England maintains the same truth with equal clearness in one of her Collects : "O Lord, raise up thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us."

Also, in the ninth Article: "Man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated, whereby the lust of the flesh is not subject to the law of God."

For

This remnant of corruption in the converted sinner is powerfully pressed upon our consciences, as a cause for deep humiliation in the Homily, on the misery of man :— "Let us all confess with mouth and heart, that we be full of imperfections : Let us know our own works of what imperfection they be, and then we shall not stand foolishly and arrogantly in our own conceits, nor challenge any part of justification by our merits or works. truly, there be imperfections in our best works: We do not love God so much as we are bound to do, with all our heart, mind, and power: We do not fear God so much as we ought to do: We do not pray to God, but with great and many imperfections: We give, forgive, believe, live, and hope imperfectly: We speak, think, and do imperfectly: We fight against the devil, the world, and the flesh imperfectly: Let us therefore not be

ashamed to confess plainly our state of imperfection: Yea, let us not be ashamed to confess imperfection even in all our best works."

Surely spiritual pride cannot luxuriate in such a soil as this. The deeper are our views of the sin that dwelleth in us, the more humbly we shall think of ourselves, and the more gratefully we shall prize our salvation by Christ.

What St. Paul felt in his own experience, he strongly enforced upon others. To the Christians of Galatia he writes: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth agninst the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But, if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the Law. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." This is true blessedness, to live under the daily influence of the Holy Ghost, and through his power to overcome the lustings of the flesh.

The conciousness of indwelling sin made the Apostle say to the Corinthians: "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away." What need would there have been for this self-government, if he had attained to a state of sinless perfection?

Were sin wholly destroyed in the hearts of believers, and in consequence of this happy liberation from evil, were they delivered from the fear of falling: St. Paul would not have given this admonitory exhortation to the Thessalonian Chris

tians: "This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles, which know not God: for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." The knowledge where his strength lay, enabled this good soldier of Jesus Christ to declare: "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strong-holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

Satan, taking advantage of these remnants of evil in the hearts of believers, is constantly labouring to excite opposition against the holy principle of grace implanted in the soul. Hence St. Paul, whose care over the infant churches was incessant, thus admonishes the Christians at Ephesus: "My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.”

Believers then must be strong in the Lord, for they have to encounter a mighty adversary in an