Consider first, that there are upon earth, and have been all along, two opposite kingdoms, two opposite interests, two opposite cities; Jerusalem and Babylon, the city of God and the city of the devil--two opposite standards, that of Jesus Christ, and that of Satan. From the time that man unhappily fell from God by sin, Satan set up his tyrannical usurpation; which he has, by all kinds of tricks and lies, endeavoured to maintain ever since, by alluring poor deluded mortals with the glittering show of worldly pomps, riches, and pleasures, to become his slaves, and to fight under his standard, and by establishing among them his law and maxims, calculated for nothing else but to make them miserable both for time and eternity. And ah! how unhappily has he prevailed over millions! what multitudes everywhere join with him against their God! how is this wretched Babylon spread over all the earth!

Consider 2ndly, that Jesus Christ came into this world to set up His standard, in opposition to the standard of Satan, and to invite all men to follow Him, promising to deliver His followers from all their evils, and to impart to them all His good. They that duly correspond with His call, and join His royal standard, make up the city of God, the blessed Jerusalem, the Church of the Saints. But see now the immense difference between these two opposite cities and their inhabitants; how happy the one, and how miserable the other. The children of Babylon are miserable indeed; they are slaves to passions that can never be satisfied; to a world that can never be contented; to infernal tyrants that are continually dragging them along with them towards hell: they are slaves to empty vanities, childish toys, and lying follies; labouring under a variety of fears, cares, sorrows, uneasinesses, and innumerable other evils, without enjoying so much as any one, solid or lasting satisfaction. But O, how happy are the children of Jerusalem! what content, what peace, what pure pleasure in the soul, are commonly their portion, even in this life, and immortal joys in the next! and shalt thou, my soul, stand one moment to deliberate which of the two thou wilt choose; the standard of Christ, or that of Satan; Jerusalem or Babylon; all good or all evil; verity or vanity; happiness or misery; heaven or hell?

Consider 3rdly, that all manner of motives, from time and eternity, from our origin and last end, from duty and interest, honour and pleasure, fear and love, all here concur to determine the soul in her choice, and to fix her in the happy resolution of following the standard of Jesus Christ. Turn then, my soul, turn away from this Babel of confusion, noise and disorder; break her chains from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion. Renounce, for good and all, the king of pride; the tyrant that has usurped to himself the dominion over this world and its deluded admirers; renounce his works and pomps, together with all his associates, the princes of darkness, and all their slaves, and turn thyself to the blessed Jerusalem, the city of peace; embrace the King of Peace, and His glorious standard, with all thy heart; choose Him for thy King for ever; pay Him irrevocable homage, and promise Him inviolable fidelity and obedience.

Conclude, since thou hast now chosen Jesus Christ to be thy king, to fight manfully unto death under His royal standard of the cross; against His and thy enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. In order to this, learn well the exercise of prayer, and the rules of the Gospel, which are the military discipline which He has fixed for His soldiers. Renewal of Baptismal Vows








On the Rules Prescribed by Jesus Christ to His Followers

Consider first, the laws of the military discipline which Jesus Christ prescribes to all that desire to be soldiers, Matt. xvi 24, 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.' The observance of these three articles makes a complete soldier of Christ. We must renounce ourselves, we must bear our crosses, and we must walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. The corruption of man by sin, the wounds that sin has left in all the faculties of the soul, the violence of our disorderly passions, and the bent of our natural inclinations to evil, infer a necessity of renouncing ourselves, of fighting against ourselves, and of hating our natural inclinations, if we hope to be happy either here or hereafter. We have not a more dangerous enemy than ourselves, the devil himself cannot hurt us half so much as we hurt ourselves, when we follow our own will, and indulge our own inclinations. The denying, therefore, of ourselves, is the first article of unhappy self-love, the root of all our evils, and its three principal branches, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The Son of God came down from heaven to engage us in the holy warfare. The humility, the poverty, the voluntary sufferings of His birth, of His life, and of His death, were all levelled against these enemies.

Consider 2ndly, that the soldier of Jesus Christ must stand to His colours, he must not run from the cross; he must bear and forbear; he must endure many conflicts; he must patiently submit to, and courageously go through, the labours and hardships of this short campaign of his mortal life. He must not pretend to fare better than his captain and his king. All sufferings and hardships appear nothing to a brave soldier, when he is following his prince, and is happy in his company. The Christian soldier then, must be willing to carry his cross after Jesus Christ, who opened heaven to us by the cross, and conducts His soldiers thither by the way of the cross. Embrace then, O my soul, this happy instrument of thy salvation, in which, if thou bearest it in a proper manner, thou wilt find an inexhaustible source of grace and comfort. Embrace the holy will of God, which lays the cross upon thee, to bring thee to Himself. He knows what is best for thee, because He is infinitely wise, and He sends thee what He knows is for the best, because He is infinitely good, and good to thee. Thou canst not be in a safer or better way than in the way of the cross, by which Jesus Christ and all His saints have gone to heaven. Even in this life, the true soldiers of Christ find often a greater sweetness in the cross, than in all the pleasure of this world.

Consider 3rdly, that the soldiers of Christ are all called, even as His first disciples were, to follow Him; that is to walk in His footsteps by an imitation of His life. He came down from heaven to be our teacher, and our model, and it is the great duty of all that desire to belong to Him, to copy after this blessed original, and to show forth in themselves the life of Jesus Christ; to learn of Him to be meek and humble of heart; to learn of Him poverty of spirit, a contempt of the honours, riches, and pleasures of this world, and a disengagement of the heart from all earthly things; to learn of Him a horror of sin, and an obedience even unto death; in fine, to learn of him a perpetual conformity to the will of God, and an unbounded charity to every neighbour. Such was the life of Jesus Christ, and such ought to be the life of all His soldiers.

Conclude to embrace henceforward this discipline of Jesus Christ, in all its parts. It is a heavenly discipline indeed since he came down from heaven to teach it, and the observance of it is to bring us to heaven.