This is the true way to declare your pedigree; and be assured of it, you must be able to declare it ere you can “go forth to war.” We do not mean to say you cannot be saved without this. God forbid we should say any such thing. We believe there are hundreds of the true spiritual Israel who are not able to declare their pedigree; but we ask, Are such able to go forth to war? are they vigorous military men? Far from it. They cannot even know what true conflict is: on the contrary, persons of this class mistake their doubts and fears—their dark and cloudy seasons for true Christian conflict. This is a most serious mistake, but, alas! a very common one. We continually find a low, dark, legal condition of soul defended on the ground of Christian conflict, whereas, according to the New Testament, true Christian conflict, or warfare, is carried on in a region where doubts and fears are unknown. It is when we stand in the clear daylight of God’s full salvation—salvation in a risen Christ—that we really enter upon the warfare proper to us as Christians. Are we to suppose for a moment that our legal struggles, our culpable unbelief, our refusal to submit to the righteousness of God, our questionings and reasonings, can be viewed as Christian conflict? By no means. All these things must be regarded as conflict with God; whereas Christian conflict is carried on with Satan.—“We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high place.” (Eph. vi. 12.) This is Christian conflict. But can such conflict be waged by those who are continually doubting whether they are Christians or not? We do not believe it. Could we imagine an Israelite in conflict with Amalek in the wilderness, or with the Canaanites in the land of promise, while yet unable to “declare his pedigree” or recognize his “standard”? The thing is inconceivable. No, no; every member of the congregation who was able to go forth to war was perfectly clear and settled as to those two points. Indeed, he could not go forth if he were not so. And while on the important subject of Christian conflict, it may be well to call the reader’s attention to the three portions of New-Testament scripture in which we have three distinct characters of conflict presented, namely, Romans vii. 7-24; Galatians v. 17; Ephesians vi. 10-17. If the reader will just turn for a moment to the above scriptures, we shall seek to point out the true character of each.