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against the common enemy,-such assistance as shall enable them to overcome*. But with what arms did our Lord himself overcome? for with none other can his followers expect to conquer ;-not with the weapons of human warfare. When such were offered to him, previously to the grand conflict," put up thy "sword," said he to the zealous apostle, who drew it in his defence, "all they that take the sword," that rely on such arms in such a cause, "shall perish with "the sword," shall lose that victory, which is to be gained by other means. The means then used by the great Captain of our salvation," was meek perseverance in the cause of truth and righteousness, founded upon faith in his God; he conquered, he "was made perfect, by sufferings t." Which words are explained in the 14th verse of the same chapter; through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, even the devil, openly triumphing "over him," in this very act. It is for this reason, that our Lord, when preparing for this combat, in which he knew that by suffering he should overcome, calls his death his glorification §. In that last and decisive conflict in the flesh, with "the prince of this "world," as our Lord then calls him, he overcame him by suffering; and passing through the grave to heaven, he opened a passage for his faithful followers, leading them triumphantly into that kingdom, which he had prepared for them, and where "he must "reign," till all his enemies shall be finally subdued; until "Death shall be swallowed up in victory ¶." Thus, as I have seen it expressed, with brighter truth

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+ Heb. ii. 10.

* Luke x. 18. &c.
Col. ii. 15.
§ John xii. 23, 28. xiii. 31. xvii. 1. also vii. 13. xii. 16.

John xii. 13. xiv. 20.

1 Cor. xv. 24. 54-57.

than

than Latinity, "Victus qui sæviebat, vicit qui suf"ferebat." "The conqueror was subdued, the suf"ferer conquered;" or, as, in more stately language, God the Father is represented speaking of the Son incarnate;

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"I send him forth

"To conquer sin and death, the two grand foes,
"By humiliation and strong suff'rance*."

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It is the duty of every Christian to be ready at all times to fight this spiritual battle, under the conviction, that he is certain to triumph, if he be lawfully called to the conflict †, and have faith to follow his great Leader. For, to suffer in that cause is to triumph; nay, in all these things," says Saint Paul speaking of such sufferings, "we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us‡." And this notion of conflict, battle, victory, &c. will be found also to pervade the writings of the early Christians. In the martyrdom of Ignatius, published by Arch bishop Usher, that martyr is called Aτs as yɛvναιος μαρτυς Χρισία, καταπατησας τον Δίαβολον § and in that precious morsel of Ecclesiastical History in the second century, the epistle from the Gallic Churches, the persecuting power is styled avleuEVOS, the adversary, who goyuμvale, skirmishes before the battle; but αντισταίει ἡ χάρις τε Θε8, the grace of God conducts the Christian force against him, and supports the martyrs, who are called γενναιοι αθληται, noble combatants ||. Agreeably to these images, that ancient hymn of the

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* Par. Reg. i. 159.

+ 2 Tim. ii. 5.

§ Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. v. Pref. & c. i.

Rom. viii. 37.

Euseb. H. E. lib. v. Pref. & cap. i. See also the same lan

guage in Minuc. Felix Octav. c. 37.

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Christian Church, beginning withr Te Deum, recounts the "noble army of Martyrs." But besides this battle which every Christian has to fight individually, and on his own private account, against the great adversary, there is a more general and extended warfare, in whi、 he followers of Christ are engaged in a body, as he body of Christ's Church. It is against the same arch-enemy, the devil, and under the same leader, Christ. For our Lord is represented as continually presiding over the fortunes of his church: "Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the "world." It is this warfare extended through all the ages of the world, which seems principally, if not solely, to be prefigured in the Apocalypse. The Devil and his worldly agents attack by seduction and corrupt doctrine, by terror and persecution; the church resists, covering herself with the arms of her great Leader, "the cincture of truth, the breast-plate of "righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the sword of "the Spirit, and, above all, the shield of faith †.

Though she walk in the flesh, yet does she not war "after the flesh, for the weapons of her warfare are "not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pull'ing down of strong holds, bringing into captivity

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every thought to the obedience of Christ." Agreeably to which words of Scripture in the language of the Apocalypse: "He that conquereth," is "he "who keeps the works of his Lord even unto the

end;" he who, by the prevalence of faith, perseveres in the profession and practice of Christianity, when assailed by temptation or terror, is the faithful and victorious soldier of Christ. And to a church

Matt. xxviii. 20.

+ Eph. vi. 14, &c.

↑ See ch. ii. 26. where the expression may be thus paraphrased.

of

A Biographical Chart of Writers in the carly hristian Church who appear to have afforded. Evidence in favor of the Apocalypse.

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was

Domitian

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The Dotted line marks the year 97, when the Apocalypse published. The lines under each Name show the years when the writers lived to be measured upon the Scale below: When the birth or death of a Writer is uncertain that uncer tainty is expressed by Dots before or after the line!

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