16, 17, 18. 4. 'Tis a Good Fight, because of that excellent Provision which God hath made to furnish all that engage in it, with futable Armour and other neceffary Supplies. If a Man has never fo great Courage, or never fo good a Cause, if he's naked and unarmed when an Enemy approaches him, his Heart will almost die within him. But God hath taken effectual care in the Chriftian Warfare to furnish us with Arms proper to defend our felves, or to offend our Enemies. A Recital of the feveral parts of the Christian Armour, this Apostle hath given in his Epistle to the Ephefians, where he exhorts Chriftians, To put on Eph. 6. 11, the whole Armour of God.Having your Loins 13, 14, 15, girt about with Truth, and having on the Breaftplate of Righteousness; and your Feet fhod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace: above all, taking the Shield of Faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery Darts of the Wicked: And take the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God: Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all Perfeverance and Supplication for all Saints. this Enumeration, as feveral have remark'd, there is no mention made of Armour for the Back. The Reason is evident; for thofe that are good Soldiers of Jefus Chrift, must set their Ifa. 50.7. Faces like a Flint, and never turn their Backs in Fight. And as the Weapons of the Chriftian Warfare are fpiritual and not carnal, fo they are mighty only thro God, and deftructive only to the Enemies of God. The Christian Inftitution no where enjoins us to go on Pilgrimages bare-foot, or to fubmit to the Penance of fcourging our Flesh for the Disor M 4 In ders ders of our Spirits. These are the base Contrivances of the Popish Party, who would have Thongs and Whipcord as necessary Weapons in the Chriftian Warfare, as the Sword of the Spirit, and the Shield of Faith. Moreover, fhouldst thou begin to faint thro thy conftant Toils in War, God has promis'd Ifa, 40, 29, to give Power to the Faint, and to them that have no Might he encreafeth Strength; and that as our Day is, our Strength shall be. ་ 5. The Apoffle might call it a good Fight, in regard of the Excellent Company in which Christians engage under the Banner of Jefus. For in the Chriftian Warfare we fight in company with all the good Angels that are in Heaven, and all the good Men that are upon Earth. The Author to the Hebrews affures Heb. 1. 14. us, That all the good Angels are miniftring Spirits fent forth to minifter to them that shall be Heirs of Salvation. Now 'tis generally thought, that among other good Offices these kind Spirits do us, * they do oppose the evil Angels, and defend us against their Affaults, countermining their malicious Defigns and Attempts upon us. Then as to good Men, tho they have their fingle Conflicts, yet other Chriftians affift 'em therein by their Advice and Prayers; fo that in our fpiritual Warfare we may confider our felves as fighting in company with Elect Angels and Redeemed Men, who compose but one Army under the Conduct of the Prince of the Kings of the Earth. How ambitious lately were fome Perfons of Vid. Tillotson's 2d Pofthumous Vol. p. 166, of of an Illuftrious Hero, I mean William the Third of Glorious Memory? But how much. more defirous fhould Christians be to fight under the Banner of the Son of God, in company with all the Angels in Heaven and good Men upon Earth? 6. The Reward that awaits thofe that are Victors, proves that 'tis a Good Fight. In other Fights many Soldiers fall, and never fee on which fide the Victory turns; but in this Warfare, tho thou dieft in the Heat of Battel, yet thou art victorious. But what that Reward is that shall be bestow'd on fuch as fight the good Fight of Faith (for fo the Apoftle elsewhere calls this Fight) you will hear when I speak to the latter part of the Text, to which I fhall haften. II. The Apostle affirms, when he was in the view of Death, that he had finish'd his Course. Here he compares his Work, both as a Saint and as an Apostle, to the running of a Race; which comprehends all that a Christian is concern'd about, both with regard to Faith and Practice, while he abides in this World. It imports the Exercise of all Christian Graces, the Performance of all perfonal and relative Duties, together with a conftant Subjection to the Authority of the Son of God in the practice of every Gospel-Ordinance; which things are the great Ornaments of the Chriftian Life: for as the Stars beautify the Firmament, fo do these things give a Luftre and Beauty to the Converfation of Chriftians. But farther, it imports a vigorous Oppofition to whatever meets us in the way of Duty, and a furmounting all Difficulties in the Strength of the Lord, and in the Power of his Might. A A common Race cannot be run without great Strength, extraordinary Activity, and unwearied Perfeverance. The first is oppos'd to Weakness, the fecond to Sloth, and the third to Apoftacy: So that by this Allusion in the Text the Apostle fets forth the great Difficulties and the arduous Labours he met with, and pafs'd thro in the discharge of his Duty. And when he cries out, I have finifh'd my Course, 'tis as if he had faid, "Tho I have met with 66 great Oppofition in my Race as a Christian "and as an Apostle, yet I have forc'd my way "through by the Aids of omnipotent Grace; "and as I am juft closing my Days, so have Į "finish'd the Work which God gave me to "do: And as I have fuffer'd for the Teftimo"ny of Jefus already, that Teftimony I hope "to feal with my Blood; for Lexpect no cheap " and eafy Victory. Yet the affurance I have "of Divine Strength, when I fhall fuffer the "pains of Martyrdom, makes me fpeak as if "I had laid down my Life already, and was "just receiving my Reward." So that, upon the whole, the Apostle did in Heb. 12. 1. Patience poffefs his Soul, as he had with Pa tience run the Race that was fet before him. He bore the Evils God faw meet to bring upon him, and quietly waited for that Good which God had promis'd to give to him. In a word, he was fo confcientious in the whole of his Conduct, that he was ready to appeal to Heaven for the Sincerity of his Heart, and to all thofe he had labour'd amongst for the Unblamableness of his Life. He fo discharg'd all his Obligations both in a publick and private Capacity, in his excellent Deportment as a Christian, and in his abundant Labours as an Apostle, Apostle, that he could fay with respect to both, when on the Confines of the Dead, I have finish'd my Course. III. He affirms, That he had kept the Faith. Faith here may be either taken for the Grace of Faith, or the Doctrine of Faith. If we understand it in the former fenfe, then the Apoftle would fignify to us, That he had liv'd a Life of Faith, in the conftant Exercise of that excellent Grace. We walk by Faith, not by Sight, fays this Apoftle; and elsewhere, The Life that I live in the Flesh is by the Faith of the Son of God. And if we understand the Words thus, I do not fee but that they may comprehend that Faithfulness alfo which fome would have to be meant by his keeping the Faith, viz. That Faith he had plighted to God, when dedicated first by the Vow of Baptifm, and afterwards feparated to the Work of the Miniftry by the Impofition of Hands. He had faithfully discharg'd those Promises and Vows which he made on both occafions. But by Faith in this place I chufe rather to understand the Doctrine of Faith. And then the Apostle's affirming, that he had kept the Faith, may imply these things. 1. That he had kept the Doctrine of Faith uncorrupt in his Preaching: That as he received it without Mixture, fo he preached it to others in its own native Purity and Luftre. That which this Apostle faid concerning the Holy Supper of our Lord, he could fay of * Vid. Bishop of Sarum's Sermon at the Funeral of the ABp of Canterbury, P. 9. every |