all they that draw the fword fhall perish with the fword." And as the weapons of our warfare are not physically, fo are they not morally, carnal: That is, the conqueft of fouls unto the obedience of Chrift is not carried on by the wisdom of words, high ftrains of oratory or of human eloquence, like fome preachers in our day, who go to the pulpit under a pretence of preaching Christ crucified, and, instead of that, study to tickle the ears and fancies of men with a jingle of fine words, dry heathenifh harangues of morality, or, at beft, mere legal ftuff, turning the gospel of Chrift, with their conditions and qualification, into a new fashioned covenant of works; just like the Pharifees of old, who took away the key of knowledge, and, inftead of opening the gofpel door of falvation to poor perifhing finners, thut it up, and would "neither enter in themselves, nor fuffer others to enter in," who had a defire after it. I fay, Chrift's kingdom in the heart was never advanced by fuch weapons as thefe: The weapons that faithful minifters make ufe of are not carnal, but fpiritual; namely, the "word of God, which is the fword of the Spirit," Heb. iv. 12. "The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged fword, piercing even to the dividing afunder of foul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a difcerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Both law and gospel are comprehended under the notion of the fword, or these are the two edges thereof.

1. The law preached in its fpirituality and extent, rigour and feverity, is an engine to be made ufe of for battering down the devil's kingdom. Indeed there is a way of preaching the law, that will never harm the kingdom of Satan; Seneca's and Plato's morals never converted any to Chriftianity: The Pharifees preached the law to the people, but then they pared off the fpirituality of it, and confined themselves to the bare letter, which made men to imagine, that they might be faved by their own obedience, and thus they fettled them upon a fandy foundation. The way of preaching the law, fo as to pull down Satan's ftrong holds, is to preach it as Chrift himself preached, particularly in his fermon upon the mount, by entering into its fpirituality, as ranfacking the fouls and confciences of men, and thewing how, by the leaft finful thought or word, they become thereby liable unto eternal wrath and vengeance, according to that of the apostle, Gal. iii. 10. "Curfed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." By this way of preaching the law, men become dead to the law, fin becomes exceeding finful, it revives and appears in its native hellish hue, whereby

the

the finner dies to all conceit of his own ability, ftrength, or righteoufnefs, and thus it is a schoolmafter to lead us unto Christ, that we may be juftified by faith.

2. Another weapon or edge of the fword of the word of God, is the gofpel of the grace of God through an incarnate God, a crucified Christ. "We preach Christ crucified (fays the apostle), to the Jews a ftumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Chrift the power of God, and the wifdom of God." "I determined not to know any thing among you (fays Paul to the Corinthians), fave Jefus Chrift, and him crucified." By this weapon it was, that the apoftles of Chrift invaded the devil's kingdom of darkness, whereby the idols of the heathen nations were brought down, the devil's oracles filenced, his flaves and votaries brought over to the obedience of Chrift, and the Mofaic economy unhinged; and it is nothing but a vain chimera and imagination of men's brains, deftitute of the true knowledge of religion and Chriftianity, who think they advance the intereft of Christ in the fouls of men by any other mean. Now, we are told here, that thefe weapons of law and gofpel are mighty through God. It is not, they are mighty through our eloquence, or through the excellency of the inftrument; no, no, Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but it is God that gives the increafe; all depends upon the concurring efficacy of the Spirit of the Lord: "Not by might, nor by power of man, but by my Spirit, faith the Lord of hofts," Zech. iv. 6. "He puts the treasure in earthen veffels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of man," 2 Cor. iv. 7.

3. We may notice the glorious effects produced by thefe weapons of the word, the artillery of Chrift's kingdom. What execution do they by the Spirit of God? "They pull down frong holds; they caft down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itfelf against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Chrift." Where again briefly we may notice,

(1.) The great end aimed at by the artillery of the gospel, committed into the hands of minifters and ambafadors of Chrift. It is twofold:

[1.] To convey the knowledge of God; and, [2.] To: bring them to the obedience of Christ.

[1] I fay, To bring them to the knowledge of God; "For this is life eternal, to know the only true God, and Jefus Chrift whom he hath fent." Sinners have loft all faving knowledge of God, of his nature, of his will, of his perfections, inVOL. III.

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fomuch, that they are alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them. Now, the defign of the gospel revelation is, to make God known as he is in Chrift, reconciling the world unto himfelf; to publish his name to be "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, and tranfgreffion, and fin," that fo knowing the excellency of his loving kindness, they may be engaged to " put their traft under the fhadow of his wings."

[2.] Another end of the gospel revelation is, to bring finners unto the obedience of Christ, and of God in him. God has fet his Chrift as King in his holy hill of Zion; he has appointed all flefh to hear and obey him, to receive the law, and all the difcoveries of the mind of God, from him. It is his will," that all men fhould honour the Son, even as they honour the Father ;" and, for this end, he hath "highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at (or in) the name of Jefus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue fhould confefs, that Jefus Chrift is Lord, to the glory of his eternal Father," Phil. ii. 9-11. Now, when thefe defigns of the gospel revelation are obtained, the victory is the Lord's, and the kingdom of God is reared up in the foul. But,

(2.) We may notice the ftrong oppofition that lies in the way of finners being brought to the knowledge of God, and obedience of Chrift. Why, there are ftrong holds, imaginations, high things, and fwarms of difobedient thoughts.

[1] By ftrong holds, I think we are principally to underftand original fin, which is called ftrong holds in the plural number, because it is feated in every faculty and affection, and because of the many faftneffes that original fin has in the heart, fo that, when it is beat out of one lying refuge, it retires and lurks in another; and it is called ftrong, because of its advantageous fituation, even in the very heart, Rom. vii. 20. 23. called "fin that dwells in us; a law in our members.” It is feated in the darkened mind, deceitful heart, obftinate will, feared confcience, irregular paffions and affections. It is ftrong, being founded in our natures, conveyed by natural generation, "I was fhapen in iniquity, and in fin did my mother conceive me:" ftrong, becaufe of its impenetrable nature, called therefore a heart of ftone, proof against attacks either from mercy or judgement; "Thou haft ftricken them, but they have not grieved, thou haft confumed them, but they refufed to receive correction; they made their faces harder than a rock; they refufed to return," Jer. v. 3.

Again, [2] In the heart of man there are imaginations or reasonings

teafenings that oppose themselves unto the erection of the fpiritual kingdom in the heart. When God's method of grace and falvation is revealed; when the mystery of a Trinity of perfons in one God, the mystery of the union of the two natures in the perfon of Chrift, the mystery of regeneration and fanctification by the fpirit of Chrift, and of juftification by imputed righteoufnefs without the works of the law, the mystery of the life of faith on the Son of God, and of union to him by faith, and of receiving out of his fulness grace for grace: I fay, upon hearing of thefe, and the like fupernatural myfteries, carnal reafon is ready to ftart up, and fay, How can these things be? They cannot go down with corrupt reafon, the wildom of God is foolishness unto man, and hence it comes, that we have got a fet of preachers in our day, who explode all the fupernatural myfteries of the gofpel; they make their own corrupted reafon the ftandard of revelation, and whatever their reafon cannot comprehend, that must be fet afide as a piece of enthufiaftic nonfenfe, or myitical divis nity, that nobody can comprehend; thefe profefling themfelves to be wife, they become fools. A rational religion, as Mr Thomas Halyburton obferves, is like to be the ruin of religion in our day and generation.

Again, [3.]The apoftle tells us here of high things in the heart, that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, and the entrance of this spiritual kingdom; by which I understand principally the pride, vanity, and self-conceit of the heart of man by nature, which is ready to vent itself in language like that of Laodicea, Rev. iii. 17. "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;" or like that of the proud Pharifee, Luke xvii. "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are: I faft twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I poffefs." Every man in a natural ftate fits mounted upon an imaginary throne of felf-conceit: He is conceited of his own wifdom, though he be born like a wild afs's colt; conceited of his own righteoufnefs by the law, though it be no better than filthy rags; conceited of his own ftrength and ability to do what is pleafing to God, although he "be not fufficient of himfelf to think a good thought;" conceited of his own fulness, though he "be wretched, miferable, blind, poor, and naked;" conceited of his own purity and holiness, clean in his own eyes, though he be not washed from his iniquity. These are high things that stand in the way of the erection of the kingdom of God in the foul.

[4] There are:fwarms of rebellious thoughts every day, and hour and moment bullering up from the fource of corruption in the heart; and thefe taking up their lodging in the foul,

every thought and imagination being evil only, and continually evil," every thought of the natural heart which is enmity against God, being an act of rebellion against the authority of Chrift. So you fee what ftrong oppofition there is in the heart against the erection of this kingdom.

(3.) We may notice what execution is done in a day of power upon all thefe, when Chrift comes to fet up his throne: ftrong holds are pulled down, imaginations and reasonings are caft down at the foot of divine revelation, high and proud conceits are levelled, and rebellious thoughts reduced to the obedience of Chrift. Take up the fcope of this in the following particulars, relating to the way of erecting and maintaining the kingdom of God in the fouls or hearts of men.

[1.] Then, God by the power of his Spirit, accompanying the revelation of the word, batters and fhakes the foundation of the ftrong holds of fin and felf in the heart; infomuch, that the rocky heart, which before feemed impenetrable, begins to fhake and quake within the man, and, through a sense and apprehenfion of the wrath of God, begins to cry, "What thall I do to be faved? Is not my word a hammer, faith the Lord, to break the rock in pieces ?" Jer. xxiii. 29.

[2.] A window is opened, as it were, in the dark vault of the mind, whereby a beam of light is let in, and there is a twofold beam that fhines into the heart.

1. A beam of law-light, whereby the vermin of hell that is in the foul, is difcovered, and the wrath of an infinite God ready to fall down and grind it into powder.

2. A beam of gofpet-light difcovering Chrift in his glo rious fulness and excellency, every way fuited unto the foul's neceflity, 2 Cor. iv. 6. 7. " God, who commanded the light to thine out of darknefs, hath fhined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jefus Chrift."

[3] Chrift being difcovered, the heart is fummoned to furrender and open unto him, as " the Lord of hofts, the King of glory, the Lord mighty in battle," Pfal. xxiv. 7.; upon which the iron finew of the will gives way, the gates of brafs, and bars of iron, whereby the heart was fhut against the Lord, are all broken in pieces by the arm of Jehovah, and the foul is fo willing to entertain him, that it cries, as Pfal. cxviii. "Open unto him the gates of righteoufnefs, for bleffed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord to fave us."

[4] Chrift, by his Spirit, comes in and takes poffeffion of the heart, as his temple and dwelling-place, faying of it, as he faid of Zion of old, "This is my reft, here will I dwell," Ezek, xxxvi. 27. “I will put my Spirit within them." And

thus