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WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE
LAST CONFLICT?

A SHORT time since, I heard a young man,
who is in a consumption, speaking of the
exercises of his mind, and he said this
thought was often made use of by the enemy
to depress him, "WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE
LAST CONFLICT ?" He referred to death,
which is the last enemy the Christian has
to conquer, and by faith in the blood of
Jesus, he will conquer him. But every one
of us must meet death alone, we must each
of us encounter him for ourselves, and we
must conquer or be conquered by him.
Death, to a sinner is a terrific foe, he has an
awful sting; for the sting of death is sin. If
death meet us with guilt on our consciences,
and with unpardoned sin laid to our account,
the conflict will be terrible, and the conse-
quences will be terrific.
As we must meet
death, as each one of us must meet him alone,
let us attend to this solemn quesion,
"WHAT
WILL YOU DO IN THE LAST CONFLICT ?"

I think I hear the Christian say, "I will present to him the blood of Jesus, which has atoned for all my sins; I will rest on the word of Jesus to banish all my foes; I will cry aloud for the presence of Jesus, to strengthen and embolden me. In that

and

conflict, I shall look to, rely on, and expect victory through Jesus alone. I shall meet death in union with Jesus, and expect that he who conquered death for me, shall conquer death by me.' Well, and so he will, and meeting death thus, you will have to exclaim with the apostle, "We are more than conquerors, through him that loved us.' Precious Lord Jesus, thou hast delivered our souls from death, and thou wilt give us the victory over our last foe!

But sinner, what will you do? When all the sins of your past life come up before you, when the justice of God makes its demands upon you, when eternity bursts on your view, and the pains of hell get hold upon you, what will you do? What can you do? With no Saviour to deliver you, no Comforter to speak peace to you, and no hope of heaven to sustain you. When conscience accuses you, God frowns upon you, Satan stands ready to seize upon you, and death has lifted up his dart to strike you, what will you do? Oh, what! you will not find a friend in all God's universe. All will take God's part against you, because you set at nought all his counsel, and refused to be saved by his Son.

Let me tell you what to do, submit at once-accept God's free invitation at oncego, fall down before God and confess your sins at once-believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Delay not

another moment. Trifle no longer. You may be called to meet the foe, and be found in the midst of the last conflict, before you are aware of it. Now, Now, you may obtain pardon through the blood of Jesus. Now, NOW you may be prepared for death by the work of God's Holy Spirit! Now, NOW you may be united to Christ, and receive such grace and strength from Christ, as shall enable you to meet death exclaiming, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be unto God, who giveth me the victory through Jesus Christ my Lord."

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That solemn hour will surely come,
Nor distant is the day,
When in the shadows of the tomb
This life shall fade away.

The cup of trembling in my hand,
My fearful soul must drink,
And wavering, hoping, shivering, stand
On life's alarming brink.

Amid the anguish and the strife

That shrinking nature fears,

Look gently down, great Source of life,
And dry death's startling tears!

POWER! POWER!

WE greatly need spiritual power in the present day. We abound in means of grace, in opportunities to do good, in incentives to holiness; but we are very feeble. Who

that hears us pray, sees us work, or studies our characters, but must see that we are weak, and, though Christians, very much like other men. We want to be endued with the Spirit of power from on high. May the Lord impart his powerful Spirit to us in greater measure, than we have ever received or enjoyed it before; that our faith may not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. The wisdom of men can do little for us in the world in which we are engaged, and, if our faith rests on that, we shall surely fail.

What is it we want? Is it not to have our corruptions subdued, our sanctification deepened, and our comforts increased? We want to be holier and happier. Jesus and his early followers.

More like

Just what

his precepts require us to be. But this we shall never be, except we receive the Spirit of love, power, and of a sound mind, in greater measure than we ever have yet. Then, what is it we are longing for, and aiming at, as to others? Is it not to see

souls converted and brought to Jesus? To see those who are impressed and seeking the Lord, thoroughly decided for him? And to see all who profess the Saviour's name, deyoted to the Lord's service, active in the Lord's ways, and working heartily in the Lord's vineyard? In a word, to be ourselves model Christians, and to see all around us growing up into Christ, and labouring to glorify his name? O for glowing zeal, active benevolence, and self-denying devotion to the Lord's service!

But to bring about such a state of things, to whom shall we look? In vain we look to man, for the power is not in him. He may be learned, zealous, eloquent, ardent, and devout, but the work is beyond his power. The power of God, and the power of God alone, is able to accomplish it. O what a mercy, that with God all things are possible; that he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us! Man cannot; God can. We are feeble; our God is omnipotent. We are but instruments; the Lord is the great agent in accomplishing all that is good and great. We are commanded to attempt it, and his strength is made perfect in our weakness. Without Christ we can do nothing; but we can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth us. "Power belongeth unto God." But then he has promised to give power to

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