pleased themselves with the renown that they should win by their sufferings, and that their names should be written and read in the leaves of fame when they were dead and gone, some Roman spirit might have been found to have endured as much : or if it had taught them, that they should have ascended into their fiery chariot of martyrdom, to receive heaven's glory as the purchase of their patience and prowess, this might have hardened some popish shaveling against the fear of those bloody deaths they met with . but the doctrine they preach allows neither, but teaches them, when they have done their best, and suffered the worst that their enemies' wrath can inflict for the cause of God, to i-enounce the honour of all, and write themselves unprofitable servants. All these considerations united, make a strong cord to draw any that have stagger- ed in this particular to a firm belief of the divine parentage of the Scriptures.
CHAPTER XII.
WHY THE WORD OF GOD IS CALLED THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, AND FROM IT THE
POINT RAISED.
Having dispatched the first part, which presented us with the weapon itself commended to the Christian's use, that is, ' the word of God;' the second part of the text now comes under our consideration : and that is the notion under which this weapon is commended, or the metaphor in which it is covered, that is, ' the sword of the Spirit.' And here a double inquiry would be made. First, Why the word of God is compared to a sword. Secondly, Why this sword is attributed to the Spirit, and bears his name, — ' the sword of the Spirit. '
For the first let this suffice : — The sword being both of general and constant use among soldiers, and also that weapon with which they not only defend themselves, but do the greatest execution upon their enemies, most fitly sets forth the necessity and excellent use of the word of God, by which the Chris- tian both defends himself, and offends, yea, cuts down before him all his ene- mies.
For the second, — Why is this sword attributed to the Spirit? — some take the abstract here to be put for the concrete, the sword of the Spirit, for the spiritual sword ; as if it were no more but. Take the spiritual sword, which is the word of God ; according to that of the apostle, 2 Cor. x. 4, ' tlie weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty;' that is spiritual. Indeed, Satan, being a spirit, must be fought with spiritual arms ; and such is the word, — a spiritual sword. But this, though tx-ue, reacheth not the full sense of the place ; ■TTViVfiaToc is taken personaliter, for the person of the Holy Spirit. And in these three respects the written word is the sword of the Spirit. First, He is the author of it : a weapon it is which his hand alone formed and fashioned ; it came not out of any creature's forge : ' Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,' 2 Pet. i. 21. Secondly, The Spirit is the only true interpreter of the word. Hence that known passage of Barnard, — ' Quo Spirit u fad a; sunt Scrij)tiircB, eo Spiritu legi desiderant, ipso etiam intelligendcB sunt; — The Scriptures must be read, and can be understood by that Spirit alone by whom they were made. He that made the lock, can only help us to a key that will fit its wards, and open its sense : ' No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation,' 2 Pet. i. 20. And why not? It follows, because it came not fi-om any private spirit at first; 'For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,'&c., ver. 21. And who knows the mind of the Spirit so well as himself? Thirdly, It is only the Spirit of God can give the word its efficacy and power in the soul. It is his ofiice, as I said, — Sigillare animum charactere rerum creditarum. Except he lays his weight on the truths we read and hear, to apply them close, and as it wej-e cut their very image in our minds and hearts, they leave no more impression than a seal set upon a rock or a stone would do ; still the mind fluctuates, and the heart is unsatisfied, notwithstand- ing our own and others' utmost endeavours to the contraiy. It was not the disciples' rowing, but Christ's coming, that could quiet the storm or bring them to shore. Not all our study and inquiry can fix the mind, or pacify the heart in the belief of the word, till the Spirit of God comes. ' Do ye now believe?'
AND THE SWOUD OF TIIK SPIRIT. 577