will, he becomes a willing volunteer; his encouragement and fortitude arife from the view that he has of the banner of divine and everlasting love being difplayed over him, and from the good cheer of the banqueting house. He will make but a poor recruiting ferjeant that never received the king's bounty, and unless he is in present pay and good quarters himself, in vain he beats up for volunteers. He that feeds upon Christ and his word, drinks the new wine of the kingdom, and makes God his dwelling place, will make a good recruiting officer, because he can speak cheerfully, comfortably, feelingly, and knowingly, about the Captain of our falvation, and the glorious privileges of being quartered in the cleft of the rock, of the penny a day promifed, and of the king's bounty that is given.

The apostle tells us that this fervant of the Lord is a warrior: No man that warreth entangleth bimfelf with the affairs of this life. He that kneeled down to drink water at the river Jordan was fent back as not fit for the field, none but thofe that lapped like a dog were to engage in the Lord's battle, Judges vii. 5. If bowing the knee to the world renders a man unfit for this military fervice, what fhall we fay of foldiers that aim at nothing else but the things of this life, favour not the things of God, but those of men, and load themfelves with thick clay?

This fervant or foldier is chofen by his Lord, and to please his Lord fhould be his chief aim. That he may please him who has chofen him to be a foldier, fays Paul, he is to receive all his orders from the Captain of his falvation, do all in his name, depend on his ftrength, go by his rules, and use his fpiritual weapons. Our captain has not made any old women commanders in chief of his forces, nor has he committed the word of command to them; this would look as if the God of armies had left the camp; be fuffers not a woman to be beard in his houfhold, much lefs in his wars. If Jezebel choose four hundred of Satan's foldiers, and keep them at her own table, and use them in her service, they will be expected to obey her orders, because the chooses, enlifts, and feeds them. But this fervant in my text belongs to another master, and another troop, the Lord chooses him, and he is to please him that bath chofen bim to be a foldier.

This fervant or foldier is commanded to endure hardness. There are at times hard labour and hard fare; foldiers are feldom much regarded, though they are, under God, the defence of a nation, and much looked to in public calamity. So a good foldier of Chrift Jefus is often fought after and looked to, when confcience is befieged, diseases make inroads on a finner's vitals, and the devil is discovered in full poffeffion of the fort and palace, and when the midnight cry comes, these

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thefe foldiers will appear to be as Elisha was to king Joah, the chariot of Ifrael and the horsemen thereof, The lamps and watchfulness of the Lord's fervants have kept them in readinefs, 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 falvation 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 foldier of Chrift has many hard fpeeches to bear, cruel mockings to endure, hard hearts to befiege, hardened rebels to engage, and unrelenting devils to oppofe and refift, who neither fweat nor tire. Thefe, with their human allies, will continue to compafs about the beloved city, nor will they ever raife the fiege, till Zion is eftablifhed in heaven, and they imprisoned in hell.

This fervant of the Lord, in his military character, is commanded to be strong in the grace that is in Chrift Jefus. If fo, he must be one that is acquainted with the influence of grace, and is in union with Chrift Jefus; no man can be strong in grace that never felt it, nor in Chrift Jefus that is not united to him. A fpeculative knowledge of Chrift, and a barren notion of grace, will afford little fupport or comfort to thofe whose eyes never saw, whofe ears never heard, and whofe bands never handled the word of life. Grace must

be

be upon him that is the Lord's fervant; if fin be fubdued in him, 'tis grace that fubdues it, and grace fhall reign through the righteousness of Chrift to eternal life; fin will have dominion over those that are deftitute of grace, and fuch are the fervants of fin, not fervants of the Lord. If they are frong in the grace that is in Chrift Jefus, 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 ftrength of his people, and his ftrength is made perfect in their weakness, for he ftrengthens them with his Spirit's might in the inner man; such a one is ftrong in grace, and well he may, when the Lord is the ftrength of his heart and his portion for ever.

To be ftrong in the grace that is in Chrift Jefus, is to have the faith of God's elect, which is a faith produced by the operation of God, firmly fixed on Chrift, and which worketh by a feeling sense of God's everlasting love, fhed abroad in the heart; fuch fervants or foldiers will afcribe all their victories to this; faying, nay, but in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that bath loved us.

The apoftle advises this fervant or foldier of the Lord, to put on the whole armour of God that he may be able to stand. He allows a fervant 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 fpeech, or fwelling words of vanity-to yield to nothing but a divine demonstration, nor to fubmit to any thing fhort of fpiritual power; that our faith may not ftand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God: and all this caution is, left the cross of Chrift fhould be made of none effect, and to exclude the glory of falvation from an arm of flesh; for a jealous God will never give his glory to another, nor his praise to popish images.

The apoftle tells us that God's armour muft be put on, that we may be able to ftand and withstand. No helmet is to be worn by the Lord's fervants, but Chrift the hope of Ifrael, the hope of falvation, and the hope of glory. No breaft-plate but the righteousness of God by faith; the righteoufnefs that God the Saviour wrought out, that God the Father accepts and imputes, and faith puts on, which is in Chrift, whofe name is Jehovah our Righteoufnefs. No fhield but that which Abraham and David took; the Lord is my fhield and the lifter up of my head. No fword but that of the Spirit, which is the word of God. No prayers but those indited by the spirit of fupplication. No ammunition fhoes, but the preparations of the gofpel of peace, which affures the heart of an alliance with God though at war with the world; to engage without thefe, is to make a vain attempt upon this

world,