almost like a
real personal enemy rejoicing over the destruction that it has made,
he can scarcely conceive the deep rapture which rushed into the mind
of the Apostle Paul when he remembered that a day was coming when all
this was to be reversed. A day was coming, and it was the day of
reality for which he lived, ever present and ever certain, when this
sad world was to put _off for ever_ its changefulness and its misery,
and the grave was to be robbed of its victory, and the bodies were to
come forth purified by their long sleep. He called all this a victory,
because he felt that it was a real battle that has to be fought and
won before that can be secured. One battle has been fought by Christ,
and another battle, most real and difficult, but yet a conquering one,
is to be fought by us. He hath imparted to us the virtue of His
wrestlings, and the strength of His victory. So that, when the body
shall rise again, the power of the law to condemn is gone, because we
have learned to love the law.

And now to conclude all this, there are but two things which remain to
say. In the first place, brethren, if we would be conquerors, we must
realize God's love in Christ. Take care not to be under the law.
Constraint never yet made a conqueror: the utmost it can do is to make
either a rebel or a slave. Believe that God loves you. He gave a
triumphant demonstration of it in the Cross. Never shall we conquer
self till we have learned _to love_. My Christian brethren, let us
remember our high privilege. Christian life, so far as it deserves the
name, is victory. We are not going forth to mere battle--we are going
forth to conquer. To gain mastery over self, and sin, and doubt, and
fear: till the last coldness, coming across the brow, tells us that
all is over, and our warfare accomplished--that we are safe, the
everlasting arms beneath us--_that_ is our calling. Brethren beloved,
do not be content with a slothful, dreamy, uncertain struggle. You are
to conquer, and the banner under which we are to win is not Fear, but
Love. "The strength of sin is the law;" the victory is by keeping
before us God in Christ.

Lastly, there is need of encouragement for those of us whose faith is
not of the conquering, but the timid kind. There are some whose hearts
will reply to all this, Surely victory is not always a Christian's
portion. Is there no cold dark watching in Christian life--no struggle
when victory