He  has  stopped  the  lion's  mouth  for  us  His
people,  and  has  bruised  the  serpent's  head. There
is  nothing  impossible  to  us  now,  if  we  do  but  enter
into  the  fulness  of  our  privileges,  the  wondrous
power  of  our  gifts. The  thing  cannot  be  named  in
heaven  or  earth  within  the  limits  of  truth  and
obedience  which  we  cannot  do  through  Christ ;  the
petition  cannot  be  named  which  may  not  be  ac-
corded to  us  for  His  Name's  sake. For,  we  who
have  risen  with  Him  from  the  grave,  stand  in  His
might ;  we  are  allowed  to  use  His  weapons. His
infinite  influence  with  the  Father  is  ours,  not
always  to  use,  for  perchance  in  this  or  that  effort
we  make,  or  petition  we  prefer,  it  would  not  be
good  for  us ;  but  so  far  ours,  so  fully  ours,  that
when  we  ask  and  do  things  according  to  His  will,
we  are  really  possessed  of  a  power  with  God,  and
do  prevail : — so  that  little  as  we  may  know  when
and  when  not,  we  are  continually  possessed  of
heavenly  weapons,  we  are  continually  touching
the  springs  of  the  most  wonderful  providences  in
heaven  and  earth  ;  and  by  the  Name,  and  the  Sign,
and  the  Blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  we  are  able  to


XXIII.]          KEEPING  FAST  AND  FESTIVAL. 391

make  devils  tremble  and  Saints  rejoice. Such  are
the  arms  which  faith  uses,  small  in  appearance,  yet
"  not  carnal,  but  mighty  through  God  to  the  pulling
down  of  strongholds 1 ;"  despised  by  the  world,  a
mere  word,  and  a  mere  symbol,  and  what  seems
mere  bread  and  wine  ;  but  God  has  chosen  the
weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  mighty,
and  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the
wise ;  and,  as  all  things  spring  from  small  begin-
nings, from  seeds  and  elements  invisible  or  insigni-
cant,  so  when  God  would  renew  the  race  of  man,
and  reverse  the  course  of  human  life  and  earthly
affairs,  He  chose  cheap  things  for  the  rudiments  of
His  work,  and  bade  us  believe  that  He  could  work
through  them,  and  He  would  do  so. 