their ftrength being broken at this bloody engagement, the believer hath no more ado, in effect, but to hold up the red flag of the blood of Chrift by faith, and then he overcomes by the blood of the Lamb, Rev. xii. 1. The great battle is already fought, and the great art of the believer, in all the leffer battles and fkirmishes, lies in fetting his Captain before him, faying, “I will go in the ftrength of the Lord; for in the Lord only have I righteoufnefs and ftrength;" viewing him as before them in the field, according to his promife, "The Lord thy God will put out thefe nations before thee."

4. It may import, that as the Lord their God will make their enemies to flee before their face, fo they fhall be witneffes to the wonders of his power in overthrowing the nations in their way. The true Ifrael of God dare hardly call themselves warriors against their enemies, but rather witneffes to the battle of the Lord, when he fights for them, and makes them overcome, and then gives them the name of conquerors; yea, more than conthro' him that loved them. He overcomes for querors, them, and then crowns them as the overcomers, faying, "To him that overcomes, will I give to fit with me in my throne, even as I alfo overcame, and am fet down with my Father in his throne." They are witnesses to his grand atchievements and valiant exploits against their enemies; for, his ordinary time of fighting remarkably for them, is, when their ftrength is gone, and when he fees their power is gone, and there is none fhut up or left, by reafon of the power of their enemies, Deut. xxxii. 36. then he fteps in, and takes vengeance on their enemies. And, indeed, the day of power is a day remarkable for victories over fin, Satan, the world, and the lufts thereof. Do you mind the day, believer, when you thought there was a legion of devils, a nation of lufts, an army of corruptions, a regiment of hell within you; but, behold, you got a view of the Captain of falvation ready to put out these nations before you; and you got grace to take hold of him, to believe in him, and fo to turn to flight the armies of the aliens? Are there not fome remarkable times, when you got your feet fet upon neck of your lufts? "By thee I have run thro' a troop,"

the

fays

fays David, Pfal. xviii. 29.; "and by my God I overleap wall." It is true, the conqueft is not always remarkable; for fometimes the nations compass them about like bees, and fling them, and torment them, and prevail against them; Iniquities prevail against me, fays David: yet they never prevail fo far, but that grace ftill renews the fight, and at laft obtains the victory; tho' yet, thro' many ups and downs, fallings and rifings, and viciffitudes and changes. Therefore,

Thirdly, The manner of the conqueft here expreft, is gradual, by little and little. This is the main point here intended, with reference to the manner of the Lord's deftroying the nations: Therefore I would here, 1. Show what may be imported in this his putting out the nations by little and little. 2. By what feveral steps, ftroaks, or degrees, he puts out the nations in a fpiritual fenfe.

Ift, As to the import of this phrafe, by little and little. It fays,

i. That the Ifrael of God are not to expect that their fpiritual enemies will be all vanquished at the firft onfet. Though the victory be begun, whenever the foul gets into Chrift, and under his colours, who is the Captain of falvation; yet the commencement of the spiritual war is not the completement thereof; nay, there may be many a battle before the war be at a clofe, and the victory complete for, though the enemy hath got a dead ftroak, and though the nations of lufts, like the beaft mentioned, Dan. vii, 12. have their dominion taken away; yet their lives are prolonged for a feafon; which occafions the war to be prolonged. Alfo,

2. By little and little, it imports, that the vifible advantages over the nations of fpiritual enemies may be very small; Ifrael may be at a time but helped with a little help, Dan. xi. 34.; and get a little reviving in their bondage, Ezra ix. 8.; a little victory at a time; a fmall advantage against the enemy: but though it be fmall, yet the day of fmall things is not to be defpifed, Zech. iv. 10. for, as we fay, Many fmalls make a great. Therefore,

3. The Lord's putting them out by little and little, imports,

imports, that though the feveral foils be fmall, yet they are fuccefsful; for, by little and little, the nations are thus put out and discomfited: every new battle tends to the ruin of the enemy more and more. Let not the believer say that nothing is done, becaufe fo little is done, and the enemy is yet alive. O be thankful, if, by little and little, the Lord be putting them out, and gradually diminishing their forces.

4. By little and little; it imports, the continuation and progress of the war, until there be a total extirpation of the nations. There may be an intermiffion of ftroaks, now a ftroak and then a ftroak given to the enemy; but no intermiffion of the war during the militant flate; no ceffation of arms; no proclamation of peace with the enemy; no league with any luft among the true Ifrael of God. Lufts may, indeed, rife and rage, and rally their forces again, even after they are routed, and a multitude of thefe nations may gather together; and the believer may be in great fears of the iffue, left he be fwallowed up and deftroyed before them; till, by faith, he get a new recruit of auxiliaries, and reinforcement of ftrength from heaven, and then he will fay, with the Pfalmiit, Pfal. cxviii. 10, 11. "The nations compaffed me about, but in the name of the Lord will I deftroy them; for then the right-hand of the Lord does valiantly.' Yet ftill it is by little and little; here a little, and there a little; here a little ftroak given to Satan's kingdom, and there a little ftroak: here a little dafh given to the old man and his lufts, and there a little dafh; a little at this duty, and a little at another; a little at this fermon, and a little at another fermon; a little at this facrament, and the other facrament, till the finishing ftroak be given. But this leads to the other question here,

2diy, By what fteps and degrees is the conqueft over the nations advanced to a total extirpation of them? Here I might enquire, 1. By what degrees the conqueft is advanced by Ifrael's Captain in his own perfon? 2. By what degrees it is advanced by him in their perfons?

(1.) By what degrees the conqueft is advanced and completed by the Captain of Ifrael, the Lord Jefus

Chrift,

Christ, in his own perfon? I will tell you four remarkable periods of his conqueft, wherein you may fee four remarkable degrees thereof.

1. The first period was the commencement of the war in paradife, immediately after the fall of Adam: there he proclaimed war between the feed of the woman and the feed of the ferpent; and, after the proclamation, during that Old-Teftament period, he kept all his foldiers in expectation of his appearing, according to that promife and proclamation, as their Head and General; fo that, in the faith of this coming Meffias, they over

came.

2. The fecond period was in the remarkable combat that was betwixt the two heads of the two contending parties on mount Calvary, Chrift on the one hand, and the ferpent on the other; when, though the ferpent bruifed his heel unto blood, yet he brake the ferpent's head with his bloody heel, while by death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and vanquished the nations of hell, by deftroying their com mander's power.

3. The third period was in the after-game that followed upon this memorable combat; when, in his refur rection and afcenfion unto heaven, he dismantled all the garrifons of Satan, divided the spoil with the ftrong, and led captivity captive: which laid the foundation for a fuccefsful war to his Ifrael, carried on between Michael and his angels, and the dragon and his angels; where the dragon having got a deadly ftroak, cannot prevail, Rev. xii. 7, 8.; tho' he continue thus to rally his forces against heaven, and all that bend heavenward to the end of the world. And then comes,

4. The fourth period, in that confummate froak which the Captain of faivation will give to the devil and his armies at the great day, when he will come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory: then death, and he that had the power of it, fhall be utterly deftroyed; for, The last enemy to be deftroyed is death, 1 Cor. xv. 56. From the firft to the laft enemy, not one fhall be fpared from deftruction: then fin, and death that was brought in by fin, fhall be under an eternal banish

ment,

ment, never more to appear among the Ifrael of God. Thus you fee by what fteps and degrees the conqueft is effectuated by the Lord Jefus, in his own perfon.

(2.) By what degrees, fay you, is it actually obtained by him in his members and foldiers, when he drives out the nations before them? Why, 1. By little and little, he brings them to the field of battle against the nations, in a day of power, when the spiritual war is begun. 2. By little and little, he carries on the conqueft, till the day of death, when the warfare is concluded.

[1] I fay, by little and little, he brings them forth to the field against the nations of lufts that ftand in their way to the heavenly Canaan, and that in a day of power, in a day of converfion, when the fpiritual war is commenced in the man's perfon.

QUEST. How does the Lord their God bring them forth against the enemy?

I do not limit the Lord to this or that way; he is Sovereign: but I speak of the ordinary steps and degrees, by which he brings any poor finner that was under the power of fin and Satan, mixed with, and under the power of the nations of hell; by which, I fay, he brings them to the field. There are feveral fields that the Captain of falvation leads them through, before they be on the field of battle, where the nations are put out before them.

1. He leads them to the field of confideration, and makes them there bethink themfelves what a fad ftate and condition they are in, while waging war against heaven, under the devil's banner. What am I doing? and, where am I going? and, what will be the end of these things, and of living in the fervice of thefe nations of lufts? And, oh! where will be my landing-place to eternity, if this be my courfe? Many never go fo far towards the heavenly Canaan, as to ftep in to this field of confideration: The ox knoweth his owner, and the afs bis master's crib; but Ifrael doth not know, my people do not confider, Ifa. i. 3. But, ah! many never fo much as turn their faces towards the field of battle against their lufts, fo long as they do not enter on this field of confideration: therefore, when the Lord begins a good

work,