but the seed of the serpent are; who, in numberless instances, have discovered, and are still discovering their bitter enmity against the seed of the woman. The people of God, whose New Testament name is that of the saints, and faithful in Christ Jesus, have all along had their enemies. Righteous Abel had a cruel enemy, bloody Cain. Thus the patriarch Jacob had a fierce enemy, profane Esau. Jacob, to be sure, took a wrong step to obtain the blessing; who was suffered thus to come at it, that it might appear he deserved it no more than did profane Esau; who discovered the plague and enmity of his heart, by resolving on the death of his brother. Thus Israel, under the Old Testament, had many and fierce enemies; there was Pharaoh, king of Egypt, with his cruel counsellors; there was Goliath of Gath, with his Philistines; there was Sennacherib, king of Assyria, with his railing Rabshakeh; there was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, with many more. Their own idolatrous kings were some of Israel's worst enemies who were so outrageously wicked, as not only to lay aside the worship of the true God, but to place their idols in his temple: the calves at Dan and Bethel were very provoking; but idols in the temple itself were more so.

The top instance of enmity which lives and reigns in the seed of the serpent, is the treatment which Christ and his Apostles met with, in the fulness of time among the Jews, and wherewith his Gospel and witnesses are still treated. One would have thought, that, considering who Christ was, and on what kind errand he came, he should have had no ememy, especially among his own: the prophecies relating to the sufferings of the Messiah, were as unlikely to have had their accomplishment, as that of the kings of Europe, their consenting to give away their power to the beast; but accomplished they were, which is a wonderful proof of the truth of the Christian religion. Never had any more enemies, nor fiercer, than Christ had. They who waited for the consolation of Israel, were his friends; but how few were they? The rest, from them

that sat in the gate, to them that deserved the stocks, were his enemies: he was the song of drunkards, as well as the envy of the Sanhedrim. His brethren did not believe in him, which was a plain proof he was no cheat; for had he been so, to be sure his brethren would have been let into the secret; and his near kinsfolks went forth to take him he passed for an enemy to Cæsar among the rulers, and for a madman among his relations.

Thus his Apostles, during the course of their ministry, had their enemies; few died a natural, but most a violent death; sealing the testimony they bore to the truth as it is in Jesus with their blood. How was persecuting Saul persecuted, when he came to be a Christian? Hell soon turned the tables upon him, and was in an uproar against him. Thus the primitive saints had their enemies, both at Rome and at Jerusalem, and every where else. Wherever the seed of the woman had any footing, the seed of the serpent sent out a flood of persecution to destroy them. Witness the ten bloody persecutions under Rome Pagan; which have been outdone by Rome Antichristian: the dragon filled himself with the blood of the saints; but the scarlet whore hath often made herself drunk therewith. In the massacre at Paris, she drank the blood of an hundred thousand Protestants; and of three hundred thousand in that of Ireland; and of a million in that great persecution of the Waldenses, and of the Albigenses. How did she begin to glut herself with English blood during the short reign of bloody Queen Mary! Our civil rights, as Englishmen, have all along had their enemies: How forward were many, during the reigns of king Charles and of king James, to have introduced slavery, as well as popery? And are there not still among us some who would be glad if the prince were absolute, and the clergy independent? Hath the Reformation no enemies? Are all dead and gone, who hate to be reformed? Hath the Revolution no enemies? The Protestant succession in the royal House of Hanover no enemies? It were to be wished they had none; but

enemies, to be sure, they have; though, blessed be God, their numbers lessen, as light increaseth.

Thus the doctrines of the Gospel have all along had, and still have, their enemies. The doctrine of the resurrection had so; of which number were Hymeneus and Philetus, who said it was past already, 1 Tim. i. 20. And so had the doctrine of Christ's true and proper divinity, of his incarnation, of his satisfaction, of his imputed righteousness, and of his efficacious grace.— Thus much may suffice, by way of answer to the first enquiry,

II. My next enquiry is this; why is the enemy suffered at any time, thus to come in like a flood? To which I answer, in six things.

1. It is for the manifestation of His glory, who works all things after the counsel of his own will, thus to suffer it; who can and will bring glory to himself, even praise, which is the top of glory, out of all the instances and attacks of the enemy's wrath, Psal. lxxvi. 10. "The wrath of man shall praise thee;" which holds as true of the wrath of devils. Had not Christ, the seed of the woman, been an over-match for Satan, one abundantly able to bruise his head, the old serpent had not been suffered to enter paradise, nor to tempt our first parents, and least of all, to prevail: but supercreation grace would have interposed; for to be sure, that grace, whence is our recovery by Christ the second Adam, could have prevented our fall in the first. If the King of saints were not able to cast the man of sin, as a millstone, into the sea of God's judicial wrath, to rise no more for ever, Antichrist had not been suffered to shew himself, and much less to wear a triple crown at Rome. The doing of which will out-shine Israel's deliverance out of Egypt, and Pharaoh's being drowned in the Red Sea; by this Christ will get unto himself a glorious name of praise, and be eternally exalted; whose glory, as Man and Mediator, will be but the greater, in God's salvation, for all the opposition it meets with from the enemy. It is with Christ, the Sun

of righteousness, as it is with the natural sun; we may darken our houses, and shut out the light, but cannot darken the sun: should all eyes be put out, the sun would remain as full of light as ever; the seeing eye adds nothing to the shining sun, that is the same whether the horizon be full of clouds, or without them; its light and heat are but the more manifested and recommended, by our winter seasons, and long nights.

ye

2. It is also for the trial and exercise of all his people's graces that this is suffered. As the cash of the nation should not be locked up, nor hoarded, but traded with; so the graces of the Spirit are talents of such worth and usefulness, that God will not have them hid in napkins. Untried faith is uncertain faith, which holds true of the rest of our graces. Had not Abraham's faith been tried, he had not been called, in the word of God, the father of the faithful, an higher title than his being the father of many nations, or Adam's being the father of all mankind. The trials and temptations of the people of God cannot be set in a sweeter light than they are, by the Apostle Peter, 1 Pet. i. 6. 7. "Wherein greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness, through manifold temptations. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Faith alone, because of its usefulness, is here mentioned; but all other graces are, doubtless, included. How shall the followers of the Lamb be brought off more than conquerors in the end, if they meet with no enemies in the way? Faith's victories suppose a field of battle; a flesh lusting against the Spirit, a tempting world, and a raging devil. Mean and contemptible, as the followers of the Lamb are, in the eye of the world, they will outshine all its Cæsars, in the day of Christ's appearance. "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory," will be their tribute of praise above in glory; for none in heaven sacrifice to their own net, nor burn incense to their

own drag; but shout, Grace, grace, and will do so for

ever.

3. It is to rouse and awaken the wise virgins that this is suffered; who, in slumbering and sleeping with the foolish, act below their character, as they are God's witnesses, and God's remembrancers; who are to buy the truth as it is in Jesus, at any rate, but to part with it for no price: they are also to give the Most High no rest until he so establish Jerusalem, as to make it the praise of the whole earth. Now a sleepy, drowsy, lukewarm, indifferent frame, ill becomes persons who are placed by God in so high a post, on whose diligence and watchfulness so much depends.

4. This is suffered, that the followers of the Lamb may take unto themselves the whole armour of God. No piece of which can well be spared; neither the girdle of truth, than which nothing is more dreaded by the father of lies; nor the breastplate of righteousness, that is, of Christ's imputed suretiship righteousness, which defends and screens the heart from the thunders of the law, as a broken covenant, and from the lashes of conscience, for the breach thereof: neither can the saint's shoe be any more missed, than the saint's breastplate; for the Gospel of peace, received in the love of it, promotes practical godliness, more than all the thunders of Sinai. And as for the shield of faith, we all need to be further taught how to manage it: it is among our graces like the sun among the planets; neither can we, who are as brands plucked out of the burning, be without the helmet of salvation, or lay aside the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; because "we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, and with spiritual wickednesses in high places;" with the rulers of the darkness of this world, who sit at the helm at Rome, at Constantinople, in the East and West Indies.

5. This is suffered to put those who are one spirit with the Lord, upon looking up for a fresh anointing. Your having had him as the former rain, in your re