Zans.

VI.

verfation and employment, especially to regard the s ER M. fervice of God and the benefit of men: thus was the example of our Saviour accommodated for all men ; especially conducting them in the hardest and rougheft parts of the way leading to blifs, the acclivities and afperities of duty; felf-denial, or neglect of worldly glory and fleshly pleasure, patience, humility, general charity; fhewing us the poffibility of performing fuch duties, and encouraging us thereto. Through thefe difficult and dangerous paffages (as a refolute chieftain of life) he undauntedly marched be-'Agxy`s fore us, charging, beating back, and breaking through as iii. 15. all oppofite forces, all enemies, all temptations, all obftacles; enduring painfully the most furious affaults. of the world; boldly withstanding and happily conquering the most malicious rage of hell; fo that vic-. tory and falvation we shall be certain of, if we pursue his fteps, and do not bafely (out of faintness or falfehood) defert fo good a leader; we fhall not fail of the unfading crown, if with patience we run the race Pet. ii. 21. that is fet before us, looking unto the Captain and Per- 1 Pet. v. 4. fecter of our faith, Jefus, who, for the joy propofed unto Apagavihim, endured the cross, defpifed the fhame, and hath fat sigavor. down at the right hand of the throne of God. Wouldipavos it not raise and inflame any courage to fee his com- Apoc.ii. 10. mander to adventure fo boldly upon all hazards, to Jam. i. 12. endure fo willingly all hardships? Whom would not the fight of fuch a forerunner animate and quickens. in his courfe; who, by running in the ftraight way of righteoufnefs with alacrity and conftancy, hath obtained himself a moft glorious crown, and holdeth forth another like thereto, for the reward of those who follow him? Now as our Lord's doctrine, so did his example, in the nature and defign thereof, refpect and appertain to all men, it being alfo like the light of heaven, a common fpectacle, a public guide, to guide our fleps in the way of peace: if it do not appear fo, if it do not effectually direct all, it is by ac

H 3

cident

I

Heb. xii. 2.

νον τῆς δόξης

ζωής.

Heb. vi. 20.

VI.

8 ER M. cident and befide God's intention; it is by the fault of them who should propound it, or of them who have not eyes fit or worthy to behold it; briefly, what was faid concerning the universal revelation of Christian doctrine may be applied to Chrift's prac

tice.

9. Jefus is the Saviour of all men, as having combated and vanquished all the enemies of man's welfare and happiness; difpoffeffing them of all their pretences and ufurpations over man, difarming them of all their power and force against him; enabling us to withstand and overcome them. Man's falvation hath many adverfaries of different nature and kind; fome directly oppugning it, fome formally prejudicing it, fome accidently hindering it; fome alluring, some forcing, some difcouraging from it, or from the means conducing to it: the chief of them we may from the Scripture (with confent of experience) reckon to be the Devil, with all his envy and malice, his ufurpations, his delufions, and his temptations to fin; the world, with its fnares and baits, its violences, perfecutions, and menaces; the flesh, or natural concupifcence, with its bad inclinations and propenfities to evil, its lufts and pleasures; fin, with its guilt, and mischievous confequences; the law, with its rigorous exactions, hard measure, and harth boding; confcience, with its accufations and complaints, its terrors and anguifhes; divine anger, with its effects, death and hell. a All these our Lord hath in feveral and suitable ways defeated; as to their malignity, contrariety, or enmity in refpect of man's falvation; he hath (as Zachariah prophefieth, in his Benedictus) Luke i. 71, faved us from our enemies, and from the hands of all that hate us: fo that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might (açć¤ws) safely and fecurely, with

72.

8 ὁ Χρισὸς ἐδὲν τῆς ἰδίας ποιήσεως προσκαλέλιπε τῷ ἄρχοντι τὸ κόσμο TTY. Atban. contra Apoll. p. 628.

out

out danger or fear, ferve him, in holiness and righteouf- S E R M. nefs before him all the days of our life

a

VI.

Luke xi. 19.

Apoc. xii.

9.

x. 38.

xvi. II.

vi. 12.

13.

A&ts x. 38.

26.

The Devil, (that enemy, that adverfary, that accufer, Matt. xiii. that flanderer, that murderer, that greedy lion, that 28. crafty ferpent, the firong one, the mischievous one, the 1 Pet. v. 8. deftroyer,) who ufurped an authority, and exercised Dragon, domination over mankind, as the Prince of this world; 3, &c. who made prize of them, captivated them at his plea-Afr. 38 fure; who detained them under the power or au-14. thority of darkness and wickednefs; who had the Apoc. xii. power of death; him our Saviour hath destroyed or John xii. defeated, (xaτngynov, as the Apostle to the Hebrews 31. xiv. 30. speaketh; that is, abolished him as to any farther Ephef. ii. 2. pretence of empire or power over us;) him he hath de- 2 Cor. iv. 4. jected from heaven, (I saw Satan like lightning falling Coloff. i. down from heaven;) him he hath caft out: Now is the Aas xxvi. judgment of this world, now fhall the Prince of this 18. world be caft out; all his works he hath diffolved: For 2 Tim. ii. this caufe (faith St. John) the Son of God did appear, feb. ii. 14. that he might diffolve the works of the Devil. He com- Luke x. 18. bated this ftrong one, (this mighty and dreadful foe of John xii. ours,) and baffled him, and bound him, and difarmed i John iii. him, (taking away Tavoníav avre, the whole armour in 8: which he trufted,) and Spoiled him, (rà oxen dingπaσE, 29. rifled all his baggage, bare away all his inftruments of Luke xi. 22. mischief,) and plundered all his house; leaving him unable (without our fault, our baseness, our negli- Colof. ii. gence) to do us mischief, (as is intimated in the 15 12th of St. Matthew, and 11th of St. Luke;) yea, he Luke x. 19. triumphed over all thofe infernal principalities and John ii. powers, and expofed them, (as St. Paul faith:) he Eph. vi. 11. imparted to his difciples ability to trample upon all by 2 Cor. ii. his power, by him all his followers are fo fortified as Eph. vi. 16. to conquer the wicked one, as St. John says: he afford. 1 Pet. v. 9. eth light to discover all his wiles and fnares, ftrength Jam. iv. 7. and courage to withstand all his affaults, to repel all his fiery darts, to put him to flight.

The World alfo (that is, the wicked principles, the bad customs, the naughty converfation and example

H 4

which

31. xvi. 11.

Matt. xii.

ἰδειγμάτισεν,

14.

11.

Eph. iv. 27.

15.

33.

VI.

SER M. which commonly prevail here among men; alluring to evil and deterring from good; the cares alfo, the riches, the pleasures, the glories of the world, which poffefs or distract the minds, fatiate and cloy the defires, employ all the affections and endeavours, take up the time of men; all in the world which fasteneth our hearts to earth, and to thofe low transitory things; or which fink them down toward hell; and which detain them from foaring toward heaven) is an enemy, an irreconcileable enemy to our falvation; the friendship thereof being inconfiftent with a friendship in us toward the God of our falvation; or in Jam. iv. 4. him toward us: for the friendship of the world is en1 John ii. mity with God; and, If any man love the world, the friendship of the Father is not in him. And this enemy our Lord hath vanquished, and enabled us to overJohn xvi. come. Be ye of courage, faith he, I have overcome the world: he, by a conftant self-denial and temperance, defeated the bewitching pleasures and flattering glories of it; he, by an immoveable patience,. baffled the terrible frowns and outrageous violences of it; he, by a refolute and invincible maintenance of truth, in great measure routed and diffipated the errors and oppofitions thereof; he, by a general and intense charity, furmounted the provocations, envies, and enmities thereof; he did it himself for us, and he also enabled us to do it; furnishing us with fufficient ftrength, and fit weapons, whereby we may combat and conquer it; may fuftain and repel its force; may fhun 1 John v. and elude its baits; for, every one that (by faith in him) is born of God, doth overcome the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith: Who is he that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jefus is the Son of God? In all these things (that is, in whatever concerns the world and its enmity; tribuRom. viii. lation, or diftrefs, or perfecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or fword) we are, faith St. Paul, more than conquerors through him that loves us; thanks be to God, Phil. i. 28. which always caufeth us to triumph in Chrift: our Lord

4, 5:

37, 38.

2 Cor, ii.

14.

hath

hath procured for us hopes that will raise our minds S E R M. and affections above the world; objects employing v1. our care and endeavour far beyond it; fatisfactions that will cheer our hearts, and fatiate our defires without it; comforts that will fupport and sustain our fpirits against all the terrors, all the affaults, all the evils thereof; by his means it is, that we have no reafon either to love it, or to fear it, or to value it, or to be concerned about it; but to contemn it as a thing unworthy of us and below us.

14.

Gal. v. 17.

Jam. i. 14.

The Flesh alfo (that is, all that within us of bodily Gal. v. 24. temper, or natural conftitution, which inclineth and fwayeth us to vicious excess in fenfual enjoyments; which difpofeth us to the inordinate love of ourselves, and of other creatures; which lufts against the fpirit, and is adversary thereto; which blindeth and dark-1 Cor. ii. eneth our minds in the apprehenfion, of our judgment Matt. xxvi. concerning divine things; which perverteth and dif-41. ableth (enfeebleth) our wills in the choice and profe- Rom. vii. cution of what is good; which difcompofeth and dif- 18, 19. ordereth the affections and paffions of our foul; which continually enticeth and feduceth us to fin) is also an enemy; a very powerful, very treacherous, very dangerous, and very mischievous enemy to us and our welfare; rendering us enemies to God, (for the carnal mind is enmity againft God; for it is not fub- Rom. viii. ject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,) being an- Rom. vii. other law in our members, warring against the law of our 23. mind, and captivating us to the law of fin; engendering Gal. v. 19. and foftering thofe fleshly lufts, which war against the 1 Cor. iii. 3. foul; whofe works and fruits are all forts of intemperance, impurity, pride, envy, contentioufnefs: this capital enemy of ours our Lord did in his own person first fubdue, rejecting all the fuggeftions and thwarting the impulfes thereof; entirely fubmitting to and performing the will of God; even in willingly drink- Luke xxii. ing that cup, which was fo diftafteful, fo grievous to Matt. xxvi. natural will and fleshly defire. He fo conquered the 39. flesh in himself for us; he alfo conquers it in us, by 19.

the

7.

1 Pet. ii. 11.

Col. iii. 5.

42.

John xvii.