ARMOUR OF PROOF. EPHESIANS vi. 11. "Put on the whole armour of God." THE Christian is a soldier; and should be a man of war from his youth. He fights under the banner of the cross. His great enemy is the devil; and never, until his eyes close in death, does he let go his hold of the sword; or enter into parley with the foe. Never can he say, "my warfare is accomplished;" until the heavenly Salem, city of peace, is close at hand; and he drops his armour on the dark shore of the dead sea, to be robed with robes of immortality, and the victor's crown, by the ministering angels in heaven. What! and are we such soldiers, you and I? Then happy is our lot, and goodly is our prospect; march on, my brethren, companions in arms, and meet the common foe. Resist him and he will flee; and we shall go from strength to strength, as from fortress to fortress, until we appear before God in Zion. "Lead on Almighty Lord; lead on to victory: Encouraged by Thy bright reward, with joy we'll follow Thee." But the soldier wears armour, at least he did of old; and the Christian soldier ever does. Look to it; is it all on? Is it all right? It will not be amiss, if, at the command of one of our chief officers, we consider this subject. And now, may I have wisdom to speak of it aright. Pray, my brethren, that courage may not flag, and that discretion may not fail; but that, by the power of God; our martial spirit may be stirred; and with the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, we may go forth conquering and to conquer. Armour is for defence; body-guard you may call it. The Christians, to whom Paul wrote this epistle, had often heard a company of heavy armed soldiers go tramp along the streets of Ephesus. "There now, look at those stalworth soldiers," we can fancy one Christian saying to another-"mark the different parts of their bright and compact armour. How well that girdle keeps it all together. How the sun flashes back bright lustre from the breastplate. Look at the What nerve greaves; how well they guard the legs. and muscle the man must have to hold out that shield, heavy and strong! What a helmet! What a sword! Our beloved brother Paul, that faithful minister of Jesus Christ, did well to bring such a picture as this before our minds; come brother, we are soldiers; let us put on the whole armour of God." Thus, we fancy, Christian spoke to Christian, in those days of |