Fair truth, and smiling love, And seek from thee redress. Thou in their cause shalt prosp'rous ride, Before thine awful face Millions of foes shall fall, The captives of thy grace That grace which conquers all. Here to my willing soul My heart thy throne, blest Jesus, see Doctrinal Instruction. weapon. The Sword was ever esteemed a most necessary part of the soldier's furniture, and, therefore, hath obtained a more general use in all ages, and among all nations, than any other Most nations have some particular weapons proper to themselves; but few or none come into the field without a Sword. A pilot without his chart, a scholar without his book, and a soldier without his Sword, are alike ridiculous. But, above all these, how absurd it is for one to think of being a Christian, without knowledge of the Word of God, and some skill to use this weapon! The usual name in Scripture for war, is the Sword; "I will call for a Sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth;"r that is, I will send war. And this, because the Sword is the weapon of most universal use in war, and also that whereby the greatest execution is done in battle. Now, such a weapon is the Word of God in the Christian's hand. By the edge of this, his enemies fall, and his great exploits are done. "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of their testimony." There are two things we may take notice of. First, from the sort of arms here appointed for the Christian's use. A weapon that is both defensive and offensive, such is the Sword. All the rest in the apostle's armoury are set out by defensive arms, girdle, breastplate, shield, and helmet. Such as are of use to defend and save the soldier from his enemy's stroke. But the Sword doth both defend him, and serves to wound his enemy also. Of like use is the Word of God to the Christian. First, it is for defence. Easily might the soldier be disarmed of all his other furniture, how glittering and glorious soever, had he not a Sword in his hand to lift up against his enemy's assaults. And with as little ado would the Christian be stripped of all his graces, had he not this Sword to defend them and himself too from Satan's fury. "Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction." This is like the flaming Sword with which God kept Adam out of Paradise. The saint is often compared to Christ's t Ps. cxix. 92. garden. There would not long hang any of their sweet fruit upon their souls, were not Satan kept off with the point of this Sword. Oh, this Word of God is a terror to him; he cannot for his life overcome the dread of it. Let Christ say but, "It is written," and the foul fiend runs away with more confusion and terror, than Caligula at a crack of thunder. And that which was of such force coming from Christ's blessed lips to drive him away, the saints have always found the most successful instrument to defend against the fiercest temptations. Ask David what was the weapon with which he warded off the blows his enemy made at him, and he will tell you, it was the Word of God: Concerning the works of men, by the Word of thy lips, I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer:"" that is, by the help of thy Word, I have been able to preserve myself from those wicked works, and outrageous practices to which others, for want of this weapon to defend them, have been hurried. Again, the Sword, as it defends the soldier, so it offends his enemy. Thus the Word of God is, as a keeping, so a killing Sword. It doth not only keep and restrain him from yielding to the force of temptations without, but also by it he kills and mortifies his lusts within, and this makes the victory complete. I begin with the weapon itself, "The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." I shall first hold forth the Sword naked, and then put it again into the sheath, to handle it under the metaphor of a Sword. There is a twofold Word of God. First, a substantial, or subsisting Word, and that is the Son of God; “The Word was with God, and the Word was God." "And 66 he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God." This is spoken of a person, and he no other than Christ, the Son of God. But he is not the Word of God in the text. The Spirit is rather Christ's Sword, than Christ the Sword of the Spirit. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp Sword, that with it he should smite the nations." Secondly, there is a declaratory Word of God, and this is manifold, according to the divers ways and manners whereby the Lord hath been pleased to declare his mind to the sons of men. At first, while the earth was thinly sowed with people, and the age of man so voluminous as to contain many centuries of years, God delivered his mind by dreams and visions, with such like immediate revelations, unto faithful witnesses, who might instruct others of their generation therein, and transmit the knowledge of the same to after ages: they living so long, that three holy men were able, from the death of Adam, to preserve the purity of religion by certain traditions, till within a few years of the Israelites going down to Egypt. The Sword being both of general and constant use among soldiers, and also that weapon with which they not only defend themselves, but do the greatest execution upon their enemies, most fitly sets forth the necessity and excellent use of the Word of God, by which the Christian both defends himself, and offends, yea, cuts down before him, all his enemies. Why is this Sword attributed to the Spirit? Some take the abstract here to be put for the concrete, the Sword of the Spirit, for the spiritual Sword; as if it w Rev. xix. 13. The were no more but, "Take the spiritual Sword, which is the Word of God;" according to that of the apostle, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God;"* that is spiritual. Indeed, Satan, being a spirit, must be fought with spiritual arms; and such is the Word, a spiritual Sword. And in these three respects the written Word is the Sword of the Spirit. First, he is the author of it: a weapon it is which his hand alone formed and fashioned; it came not out of any creature's forge: "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Secondly, the Spirit is the only true interpreter of the Word. Scriptures must be read, and can be understood by that Spirit alone, by whom they were made. He that made the lock, can only help us to a key that will fit its wards, and open its sense. "No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation ;"z and why not? It follows, because it came not from any private spirit at first; "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man," etc. And who knows the mind of the Spirit so well as himself? Thirdly, it is only the Spirit of God can Word its efficacy and power in the soul. Except he lays his weight on the truths we read and hear, to apply them close, and, as it were, cut their very image in our minds and hearts, they leave no more impression than a seal set upon a rock or stone would do; still the mind fluctuates, and the heart is unsatisfied, notwithstanding our own and other's utmost endeavours to the contrary.-GURNALL. give the x 2 Cor. x. 4. y 2 Pet. i. 21. z 2 Pet. i. 20. |