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that we have the word of God to rule our consciences, and that other matters are not pressed on us but as matters of decency and order. Alas, if we were in bondage to those proud popish wretches, our consciences would be enthralled to a world of snares.
Last of all, * From the days of the Baptist,' and so forward, * the kingdom of heaven did sutler violence,' because from that time forward the Spirit bi'ffan to be more plentifitUi/ f/iven. Christ comes with his Spirit, which is soul of our soul, and the life of our life. The Spirit is like a * mighty w^ind,' that moves the ship in the water. The ship is becalmed. It cannot move unless there be a wind. So the soul cannot move to that which is good without the Spirit. Now there is more abundance of the Spirit since the coming of Christ. Christ, who is the king of his church, the Lord of heaven and earth, he reserved the abundance of the Spirit till his own coming, especially till he entered into heaven. Then the Spirit came in abundance. ' It was poured upon all flesh,' Joel ii. 28. It was but, as it were, dropped before, but then it was ' poured out.' Then the Gentiles came in, and the apostles received the Spirit in abundance. Therefore no wonder that there was violence ofi'ered to the kingdom of heaven. Then hence we may observe.
That the more clearly Christ and the blessed mysteries of Christ are opened, the more effectual the Spirit is, and the more heavenly men are, and more eayerly disposed to spiritual tJiiiiys.
(L) The reason and ground of it is in nature. The affections follow the discovery of the excellency of thinys. When first the necessity of beiny in Christ is laid open ; that there are but two kingdoms, the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the devil, and that a man must either enter into the kingdom of Christ, or be of the devil's kingdom still ;
(2.) And when, secondly, together with the necessity, the excellency of Christ's kinydom is discovered, that it is a state that will make us all kings ; a state wherein we shall at length overcome all opposition of hell, sin, death, the wrath of God ; that whereas earthly kingdoms are opposed, and enthralled, and one dash against another, the kingdom of heaven is a state that subdues all that is against it by little and little. As Christ overcame death and the wrath of his Father, and now rules in heaven in his person, so all his members shall overcome all in time. When the excellency of this kingdom is laid open to the understandings of men, is it a wonder that their affections are set on fire ? Will anything do it more than such a kingdom ?
(3.) Then, in the third place, ivhen it is hopeful, too; when, together ivith the necessity and excellency of it, there is assurance yiven us that ive shall obtain it if ice strive for it ; when it is offered freely, even grace and glory, and we are entreated to receive grace : ' Come unto me, ye that are weary,' &c., Mat. xi. 28. Nay, we are threatened if we do not come, and we have example of the worst sort of people : of Zaccheus, and the poor woman out of whom the devils were cast ; of Peter, that denied Christ ; of Paul, that persecuted him ; such as had been wi'etched persons, that have come out of Satan's kingdom ; when these things are propounded, and understood, and apprehended, men that are in their wits, that are not besotted by the devil, men that are not in love with damnation, and hate their own souls, they will embrace them. When they see a state discovered in Christ wherein they are above angels, in some sort, above death and hell, that they triumph over all in Christ, that because it is as sure that they shall be crowned conquerors with Christ in heaven, as if they were there
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already ; when it is propounded thus hopefully, who would not offer violence to this kingdom ? When John Baptist laid it open so clearly to them, ' This is the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world,' John i. 29, it made them offer violence to it.
And this is another reason why in the latter, the second spring of the gospel — for there was a winter in the time of popery, it being a kingdom of darkness, keeping people in ignorance — so many nations so suddenly embraced the truth. Luther was a man that was wondrously exercised and afflicted in conscience. This made him relish the doctrine of justifi- cation by grace in Christ, and thereupon to lay open the mysteries of Christ and the bondage of popery ;_ and this being once a-foot, the people's minds being prepared out of the sense of their former bondage, whole king- doms came in presently. As in the spring time, when there comes a fine sunshine day, the prisoners are let loose out of the earth after a cold winter, so after the winter of affliction and persecution, inward and out- ward, came the sunshine of the gospel, and made all come forth and flourish presently. Wheresoever Christ is taught powerfully and plainly, and the excellency and necessity of the state we have by him, and that men may partake of it, if they be not false to their own souls, there is always violence offered to these things, because where the riches of Christ are opened, the Spirit goes with it, and goes with violence, that it carries all before it.