Eook IV. S A I N T S COMPARED TO S 0 L D I E R S. 7=23 5· Confider, Though your Number be the·feweft, yet your Side is the ftrongeft; God is for us, and on our Side : With them is the Arm of Flejh, but with us the Lord our God, to fight for us. How many, faid Antig01tor, will you reckon me for? Poor Mortal! How ·many then may we reckon God, Chrift, the Holy Ghoft for! The whole Trinity is engaged for us. 6. Confider, Though your Service be hard, and ConAict fharp, yet it will be fhort. It .is bttt a little while, and yotir Enemy fhall trouble you no more. Our light /l.lflic– tior;s which are but for a Moment, &c. 2 Cor. i\', 1;. 7· Confider, The Devih, and all other linemies, thou?lt ever fo potent, cruel, and malicious, yet rhty arc all cooquered and fpoiled : lfaving fpoiled Principalities tmd Powers, be made a Sbew of tbem opt:tt!y, triumphing 07.'er them in it, Col. ~i. 5· The Roman; were wont in a triumphant fv!Jnner to carry rhofe they had conquered about with them, and to brandifh their Swords, and difp!Jy their Colors, and carry t heir Arms in open View, as Trophies and Emblems of Vitlory: So the Lord Jefus, having conquered Satan, and the Powers of Hell, rode as it l'lne in Triumph through their Kingdom, the Air, and made a Shew of them openly, as a glorious VJC1or. 2. Again, the \Vorld is fubciued: Be of good cheer, faid1 Ch.riil:, I have o-:Jen·ome the World, John xvi. And we through him are hereby made more tban Conquerors. Come 'l'ribulation, Dijlrep, Ptrfecution, &c. with all their BL!cknef.'i, Darknefs, Threats, and Terror; what will they do? Who jh.;ll Jeparate liS from the Love of Chrijl ? or hinder us of eternal Life. 3· Death is fubdued, Chrift .bath got the Victory ovrr that. 'vVhat.Joy and Comfort is this to Believers, to hear that all their Enemies are conquered.; your Captain-General hath broken them all to pieces, Rom. viii. 35· 8. The Enemy cannot hurt you ; the worft you can meet with will work for your Good, Rom. viii. 28. 9· Confider, Though you meet with hard Th;ngs, Chrifl: .can and will make them ealy to you. All your Wounds he can heal, and all your bn,ken BJnes he can fet. The more you fulfer for Chrift, the greater your Reward will be. tO. Confider what great and glorious Pay you fh all have in the Ent!. Is not a Kingdom, a Crown of Glory that fadeth n-.Jt away, worth fighting and flriving for? 1 r. Look to Chrifl, remember what he hath clone and fultered for you; and con– fider what many Saints have endured for his Sake before you, that were moft precious in God's Sight. Is it not better to fulfer here, than to fulfer in Hell ? What is the Pain and Sorrow of the Godly in this Life, to the everbi\ ing Pains and Torments of the Damned in the World to come? Get much Faith, and provide yourfelves with all your 1\.rmor, and the rig ht Ufe of it, the Nature of which is opened under the Fifth Head. Get your Hearts loofe from the ·World : No Ma11 that warreth, entangleth himfelf with the Affairs 'Of his Life, 2 'rim. . ii. 4Labor for much Love to God. lt was a notable Saying of Mr. Bland the Martyr, when he was ar the Stake: This Death, faith he, is more dear to me .than Thou[ands of Gold and Silvor ; fuch Love, 0 L ord, haft thou laid up in .my Breajl, that I hunger for tiJCe. Take heed you confult not with carnal Realon ; rely wholly upon Chrilt, and never confulr thy prefent Strength with thy future Sufferings. Take -heed you do not overvalue your Lives. Alas! you cannot live Jong; what if you die a little fooner than you might do ac– cording to the Courfe of Nature? Alfo conlider, is it nor better if God call you to it, to glorify him by dying, than to die orherwife? Remember, you are not your own ; let God therefore make what Improvement of you he plea(es. L aftly; Pray continually, pray always, for this is the Way to overcome. Prayer hath done wonderfully. And this is one great T hing that is enjoined on the C hriftian Soldier. Pra)'ing always with all Pra)'Cr and Supplication, in the Spirit, aud watching thereunto with all Perfevt~·ance, and Supplication for all Samts, and }or nu, &c. Eph. vi. 1 t , HERE are two Things .to be noted : I. A Duty enjoined, Prayer. 11. Blelfed Directions about it, 'lliz. I- The Time., /.!!ways. 2. The Kinds, /ill Pr.apr .ani. Supplicatioll. 3 3· How,
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