saith Christ to his disciples, John xvi. 31. How oft, alas! had the same thing sonnded in their ears, and knocked at their door for entertainment, hnt never could he received, till now that the Spirit put in his finger to lift up the latch ! B. Davenant, on Colossians, tells us a story out of Gerson, concerning a holy man whom himself knew to be sadly beaten and huftetcd with frequent doubts and scruples, even so as to call into question an article of fiiith, but afterwards was brought into so clear a light, and full evidence of its truth, that he doubt- ed no more of it, than of his own being ; and this certainty, saith Gerson, did not come from any new argument he had found out to demonstrate the truth of it, but from the Spirit of God, humbling and captivating his proud understanding, and irradiating the same. The words thus opened present this doctrine : —
That the written word, or the Scripture, is the sword by which the Spirit of God enables the saints to overcome all their enemies. The Spirit will do no- thing for them without the word, and they can do nothing to purpose without him. The word is the sword, and the Spirit of Christ the arm which wields it in and for the saints. All the great conquests which Christ and his saints achieve in the world, are got with this sword; when Christ comes forth against his ene- mies this sword is girded on his thigh, Psa. xlv. 3 : ' Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty;* and his victory over them ascribed to it, ver. 4, 'And in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth :' that is, the word of truth. We find, Rev. i. 16, Christ holding seven stars in his right hand, intimating the great care he hath over his people, particularly the ministers, ■who are more shot at than any other ; and how doth he protect them, but by his sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth? This is the great privilege which the poorest believer in the church hath by the covenant of grace, such a one as Adam had not in the first covenant. He, when fallen, had a flaming sword to keep him out of Paradise, but had no such sword,' when innocent, to keep him from sin- ning, and so from being turned out of that happy place and state. No, he was left to stand upon his own defence, and, by his vigilance, to be a life-guard to himself But now the word of God stands between the saints and all danger. This will the better appear if we single out the chief enemies with whom the saints' war is waged, and shew how they all fall before the word, and receive their fatal blow from this one sword, as Abimelech slew the ' threescore sons of Jerubbaal upon one stone,' Judg. ix. o.
CHAPTER Xni.
WHEREIN IS SHEWN HOW THE PERSECUTORS OF GOD's TRUTH AND CHURCH ARE CONQUERED BY THIS SWORD.
The bloody persecutor, who breathes slaughter against the saints, and pursues them with fire and fagot. — Such a race of giants there ever was, and will be as long as the devil hath any kindred alive in the world, who, when it lies in their jiower to maintain their father's kingdom of darkness, will not fear to trample under their feet those stars of Heaven whose light acquaints the world with their horrid impieties, and so hazards the weakening of the devil's interests in the minds of men. Hence those bloody wars raised, cruel fires of martyrdom kindled, and massacres practised upon the saints, with many devilish witty in- ventions of torments, that these innocent souls might linger in their pains, and stay the longer in the jaws of death, thereby to feel themselves to die, as one of them barbarously and inhumanly said ! Well, what ladders doth God use to scale these mountains of pride? Where are the weapons with which the people of God resist and overcome these monsters of men that thus defy the Lord and his hosts? Wouldst thou know where ? Truly, they are to be seen in the tower of David, builded for an armoury, — the word of God, I mean. Here hang the shields and bucklers, the swoi'ds and darts, by which the worthies of God have in all ages defended themselves against the rage of persecutors, and also triumphed gloriously over their greatest force and power. Out of this brook they take those smooth stones by which they prostrate these Goliaths. This sort of the church's enemies are overcome two ways — either by their con- version or destruction. Now the word of God is the sword that effects both : it hath two edges, Heb. iv. 12^ and so cuts on both sides.
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578 AND THE SVVOKD OF THE SPIRIT.