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till the had seen her Head and Husband in the flesh. He was to spoil principalities and powers, and to triumph over them on his crofs, 'ere his church should take the field against the Antichriftian foe. Knowing that her Lord has overcome, the is girt with greater strength than ever, to go forth and fight his battles. In his victory, pledge and earneft of her own.

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she has the surest She has what the

had not in her. ininority. Then, fhe had the promife that the victorious feed fhould come, but now she has seen the performance. Then, fhe had a promise concerning him to come in the flesh; now she has promises which dropped from his lips, while he tabernacled among men. What encouragement in that word, John xvi. 33.—In the world ye shall bave tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Now, the can argue in the words of the apoftle, He that spared not his own Son, but de vered him up for us all; how shall he not with him alfo freely give us all things? Rom. viii. 32. Knowing that her Lord is afcended on high, fhe can break through the greateft difficulties to be where he is. Being better fhod with the preparation of the gofpel of peace than formerly, through a thorny wil derness she can walk; through feas of blood fhe can wade, to fee нIм whom her foul loveth. her minority, she suffered fore things in Egypt and Babylon. And towards the end of the Old-Teftament difpenfation, the waters of affliction rofe to a moft enormous height. The faints had trial of cruel mockings and Scourgings; yea, of bonds and imprifonment: they were ftoned, they were fawn afunder, were tempted, were flain with the fword; they wan

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dered about in sheep-fkins, and goat-fkins, being deftitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deferts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth, Heb. xi. 36, 37, 38. What affecting fcenes are thefe! But heavy as the hand of Egypt, Babel, or Antiochus was, Rome's little finger has been heavier than their loins. If they flew their thousands, fhe has flain her ten thousands. And is not the goodness of God most remarkable, that the church was not to combat fuch difficulties while fhe was in a state of non-age? As Chrift himself was not tempted, till being come of age, the Father and the Spirit attefted his Sonship at the banks of Jordan; fo the church's foreft trials were referved to New-Teftament times: And as her day is, fo fhall her strength be.

Having made these remarks, we go on to the next general Head.

PART II.

Shewing what is meant by the Enemy coming in like a Flood.

WE

E proceed to the fecond general Head of difcourfe, which was to fhow what may be meant by the enemy coming in like a flood. And, without ftretching the metaphor, it seems to me to imply two things, impetuofity and extent.

1. It implies, that the enemy fhall come in like a torrent, in a moft impetuous manner, threatening to carry all before him. Who can flop the rivers

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in their courfe? Their channel has in fome rare inftances been changed, as in the case of the Euphrates; but their current the nations cannot ftem. To the fea, whence they came, they irresistibly make their way. But,

2. Coming in like a flood, as it implies impetuofity, fo alfo extent. The rolling flood overflows every bank, and threatens wide devaftation. How frequently does it sport with all the works of men, pouring mockery on their every attempt to confine it to it's wonted channel! Under fuch imagery, a mighty foe is fometimes described. So Ifa. viii. 7,8. Behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, ftrong and many; even the king of Affyria, and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks. And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over he fball reach even to the neck, and the stretching out of his wings fhall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. And we read in Rev. xii. 15. that the ferpent, [that is, the enemy,] caft out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might caufe her to be carried away of the flood. But, to be a little more particular, the enemy may be faid to come in like a flood, in the following refpects.

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The Enemy comes in like a Flood, in refpect of avowed INFIDELITY.

THE enemy may be faid to come in like a flood, in refpect of infidelity, or the open denial

of all revealed religion. In this manner the enemy

came in at first: Yea, faid the ferpent to the woman, bath God faid, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Gen. iii. r. And having questioned. the divine command, he next gives the lie to the threatening; for, faid he, Ye shall not furely die, ver. 4. The enemy pursues the fame tract to this very day, in tempting men to disbelieve what God has faid. The word is the fword of the Spirit; and therefore it is the enemy's intereft to cause it to be laid aside, and to fleep as in it's fcabbard. When multitudes begin firft to doubt, and then to deny all revelation; when they can traduce the Bible as a. cunningly devised fable, and make no other ufe of scripture, but to furnish out a jeft; when they drefs the moft divine doctrines in the ridiculous. garb of drollery, and count Sabbaths and fermons worthy of nothing but contempt; then it may be faid that the enemy is come in like a flood. To difbelieve the doctrines, the commandments, the promises, and threatnings of the word, is the awful. and alarming overflowing of the enemy. The two Teftaments are the bulwarks of the church; hence the enemy's unwearied attempts to caft them down. It was the word that firft wounded him: the promife made concerning the feed, pierced the ferpent like a fword; and therefore at the word heftill bears a peculiar fpite. Soon as that bleffed barrier is removed, he may overflow the breadth and the length of the land. Meaning a conqueft, he is wife to destroy the celestial armour. Infidels are ready to ftorm on being styled enemies: but such they certainly are. For, as argues an infpired writer, Whofoever denieth the Son, the fame hath not the Fa

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ther, 1 John ii. 23. The Deift's God, himself being judge, is not the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift.-Such a man therefore, whatever he may profess, is an enemy to the cross of Chrift.

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The Enemy comes in like a Flood, in refpect of Erroneous Doctrine.

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HE enemy may be faid to come in like a flood, in refpect of error in doctrine. If Satan do not fucceed by one ftratagem, he can foon employ another. To mistake the meaning, to pervert the fenfe of holy fcripture, is inimical to the Redeemer and his church, in the highest degree. It is a defeating the very end of revelation, which was to rule our faith, as well as to direct our practice. Nay, to pervert the fense of holy scripture, is to fight against heaven as with its own weapons; for thereby that which was defigned to show us what is truth, is made to patronize error: the fword of the Spirit is employed in the enemy's fervice. The enemy quoted fcripture, perverting it's fenfe, while he tempted the Saviour. It is written, faid the liar. Written indeed it was, but not in the fenfe, nor to the purpose he alledged. God having revealed a fyftem of truth, no less than a rule of morals, in holy fcripture, it is our indifpenfible duty to believe the one, and to obey the other. But, ah! how does the enemy come in like a flood, when orthodoxy in belief, is counted little or no part of religion at all! When it be

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