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master, and another troop, the Lord chooses him, and he is to please him that hath chosen him to be a soldier.

This servant or soldier is commanded to endure hardness. There are at times hard labour and hard fare; soldiers are seldom much regarded, though they are, under God, the defence of a nation, and much looked to in public calamity. So a good soldier of Christ Jesus is often sought after and looked to, when conscience is besieged, discases make inroads on a sinner's vitals, and the devil is discovered in full possession of the fort and palace ; and when the midnight cry comes, these soldiers will appear to be as Elisha was to king Joash, "the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." The lamps and watchfulness of the Lord's servants have kept them in readiness, while the foolish virgins, who have contented themselves with the law as the light of their feet, and the only lamps of their path, will go out, they having paid no regard to the salvation of God, which is a lamp that burneth; no regard to the oil of gladness, nor the oil of joy, which alone can keep it burning; this light of the righteous rejoiceth, when the lamp of the wicked is put out.

A soldier of Christ has many hard speeches to bear, cruel mockings to endure, hard hearts to besiege, hardened rebels to engage, and unrelenting devils to oppose and resist, who neither sweat nor tire. These, with their human allies, will continue to compass about the beloved city, nor will they

ever raise the siege, till Zion is established in heaven, and they imprisoned in hell.

This servant of the Lord, in his military character, is commanded to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. If so, he must be one that is acquainted with the influence of grace, and is in union with Christ Jesus; no man can be strong in grace that never felt it, nor in Christ Jesus that is not united to him. A speculative knowledge of Christ, and a barren notion of grace, will afford little support or comfort to those whose eyes never saw, whose ears never heard, and whose hands never handled the word of life. Grace must be upon him that is the Lord's servant; if sin be subdued in him, it is grace that subdues it, and grace shall reign through the righteousness of Christ to eternal life; sin will have dominion over those that are destitute of grace, and such are the servants of sin, not servants of the Lord. If they are strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, great grace must be unto them, and Christ must be formed in them, and be enjoyed by them as the hope of glory, or they cannot be strong either in grace or in him. The Lord is the strength of his people, and his strength is made perfect in their weakness, for he strengthens them with his Spirit's might in the inner man; such a one is strong in grace, and well he may, when the Lord is the strength of his heart and his portion for ever.

To be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, is to have the faith of God's elect, which is a faith

produced by the operation of God, firmly fixed on Christ, and which worketh by a feeling sense of God's everlasting love, shed abroad in the heart; such servants or soldiers will ascribe all their victories to this; saying, "Nay, but in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that hath loved us."

The apostle advises this servant or soldier of the Lord, to put on the whole armour of God that he may be able to stand. be able to stand. He allows a servant of the Lord to put no confidence in the flesh; no trust in old wives fables; no confidence in human wisdom, nor in excellency of speech, or swelling words of vanity; to yield to nothing but a divine demonstration, nor to submit to any thing short of spiritual power; that our faith may not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God: and all this caution is, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect, and to exclude the glory of salvation from an arm of flesh; for a jealous God will never give his glory to another, nor his. praise to popish images.

The apostle tells us that God's armour must be put on, that we may be able to stand and withstand. No helmet is to be worn by the Lord's servants, but Christ the hope of Israel, the hope of salvation, and the hope of glory. No breastplate but the righteousness of God by faith; the righteousness that God the Saviour wrought out, that God the Father accepts and imputes, and faith puts on, which is in Christ, whose name is Jehovah

our Righteousness. No shield but that which Abraham and David took; the Lord is my shield and the lifter up of my head. No sword but that of the Spirit, which is the word of God. No prayers but those indited by the spirit of supplication. No ammunition shoes, but the preparation of the gospel of peace, which assures the heart of an alliance with God though at war with the world; to engage without these, is to make a vain attempt upon this world, or the God of it. The man that engages in God's work while he is a stranger to the fruits of the spirit, and to Christ the firstfruit, is no minister of the new testament, no evangelist, no minister of the spirit. He may be an hireling, or a minister of the letter, but no man can partake of his grace, for he has none. He that is a stranger to grace, to Christ, and to his own personal election, is no soldier of Christ Jesus, nor is it likely he should ever please him, because he has not chosen him to be a soldier. Unbelievers cannot fight the good fight of faith, consequently cannot please God as soldiers, for without faith it is impossible to please him; for graceless, unrenewed, unpanoplied men to set themselves against the world, while they are of it, and against sin while in bondage to it, and against the devil while he reigns in their hearts and leads them captive at his will, is like Satan casting out Satan. Keep this servant of the Lord in your eye in this his twofold character, as a labourer in the vineyard, and a good soldier of Jesus Christ, while I dismiss

this part of the subject, and pass on to my second general head, which is to shew you; First, in the negative; secondly, in the positive, what is not, and what is meant by the word strive in my text, or describe lawful and unlawful strife.

Graceless ministers and empty professors will never strive lawfully; all their strife is in behalf of themselves. Their striving is, either to get a name, get a livelihood, keep a restless conscience quiet, or else, they preach to oppose others and injure them in the work of the Lord, charging them in their sermons with being influenced with antinomianism, party zeal, and a bad spirit, which is in fact charging them with the spirit of the devil; but no wonder, they called the master of the house Belzebub, accused him of breaking the law, and profaning the sabbath, both which are antinomianism, and a bad spirit; if the master fared thus, what can the household expect; the servant is not above his Lord. Such indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of good will. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to another's bonds, Phil. i. 15, 16. These can never strive lawfully, because they are destitute of that power that maintains a lawful strife. A labourer in the Lord's vineyard will strive against the errors and desperate profanity of the wicked, notwithstanding the cruel usage, and strong opposition that may be made against him; and the Spirit of God will make them maintain this strife and stand

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