Page:Sermons on the Lord's Prayer.djvu/87

 prayer to the Lord, to put them down and keep them down.

This experience every spiritual man must have gone through. And this shows us, that the Lord's forgiveness of our sins is one thing, and the removal of our evils quite another. After the Lord has forgiven,—after we have seen our evils and confessed them before the Lord, and have felt for the time, in consequence, an inward peace, which is the sign of the Lord's recognition of us as his repentant children, and of his acceptance of our good resolves—is the work then done? No! it is but begun: the difficult part is now to commence. We have but come to the Lord, acknowledged ourselves his subjects, and looking to him for strength, have buckled on our armor for the fight; for now it is to begin:—the fight with our evils, the combat with our long-cherished and often-indulged inclinations, the struggle with our passions and lusts, which hell has long infused, and which hell means still to stir up, and of which it will not easily let go its hold. But it is our comfort, that we have an Almighty power to support us, an Omnipotent arm to aid us, the great Redeemer's strength to sustain us. He fought with all the Powers of hell before, when in his humanity on earth; and by continual victories, gained to himself full dominion over them, and stands now ready to help us in our hour of need. And if we pray to him fervently, and then strive as of ourselves,—little by little, we shall find the enemy give way,—gradually we shall gain the mastery over our passions,—one after another our evils will be brought into