ft, He is fometimes refembled to fire, therefore called a Spirit of burning, If. iv. 4. He confumes and burns up the drofs of fin and corruption. As the fparks of fire fly upward, fo he makes the foul to feek thofe things that are above.

2dly, He is fometimes refembled to water: Ifa. xliv. 3. "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground." By his influences, the foul is fo fructified, that it becomes as a tree planted by the rivers of waters, bringing forth fruit in feafon: "I will be as the dew unto Ifrael, and he fhall grow as the lily."

3dly, He is fometimes refembled to wind: Cant. iv. 16. "Awake, O north wind, and come, thou fouth, blow upon my garden." John iii. 8. " The wind bloweth where it lifteth, and thou heareft the found thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth." When this wind filleth the fails of the affections, with what speed and livelinefs does the believer move in his voyage to the haven of glory, his everlasting rest!

4thly, He is fometimes refembled in his operations to cil: "We have an unction from the holy One, and we know all things." We read of the anointing of the Spirit; "God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." And by this oil the countenance of the believer is made to fhine, the joints of his foul are fuppled, fo that he runs and does not weary, walks and does not faint.

II. The fecond thing propofed was, to Speak a little of the Standard which is lifted up by the Spirit of the Lord. By the ftandard, as I told you in the explication of the words, I understand Christ, the bleffed enfign, which is lifted to the nations, If, xi. 10. And he is fitly refembled to a ftandard, on the following accounts.

1. The standard is a fignal of war; when war is proclaimed, the standard is fet up, or the enfign difplayed. When Chrift defcended to this lower world, and came upon an expedition of war against the god of this world, and his ufurped empire over the children of men, this war was proclaimed, and the ftandard fet up in Paradife, by that word, Gen. iii. 15. "The feed of the woman shall bruise the head of the ferpent." Accordingly, when he actually came into the world, he gave a fhout of war against the enemy, faying, "The day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come." Hence it was, that hell and its auxiliaries took the alarm, they raged, they "imagined a vain thing against the Lord, and against his anointed, faying, Come, let us break their bands afunder, and caft away their

cords

cords from us :" but the man of God's right hand wounded his head over many nations, breaks him, and his adherents, as with a rod of iron. The incarnation of the Son of God was a fignal to a loft world that God was now with us, to deliver us from the power of Satan; his appearing in our flesh, was a difplaying the standard, or a lifting up the banner, that we might gather unto him as our leader and commander.

2. A ftandard is a fignal of peace; when peace is proclaimed, the white flag or enfign is difplayed. As the appearance of God in the nature of man was a fignal of war against hell, death, and fin; fo it was a fignal of peace to man upon earth: hence the angels, at the birth of our Redeemer, cry, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men." He is our peace: "This man fhall be the peace when the Affyrian fhall come into our land." He brought with him a peace of reconciliation with God, a peace of confolation with confcience, a peace of amity and friendship between man and man, and between man and his fellow-creatures.

3. A ftandard is an enfign of victory; the victorious general fets up his standard in the field of battle, as an evidence of the enemy's being foiled. So a rifen and living Redeemer, is a fignal of his victory over the powers of hell; for "when he afcended up on high, he led captivity captive," he returned from the field with difplayed enfigns, carrying the fpoils of his enemies along with him; upon the fight of which the church cries, in a way of triumph, Pfal. lxviii. 20. "He that is our God, is the God of falvation; and unto God the Lord belong the iffues from death."

4. A ftandard is a fignal of gathering; when the standard is fet up, the army is to gather, volunteers are to be lifted. The manifeftation of Chrift in the flesh, and the revelation of him in the gospel, is a fignal to loft finners, to shake off the tyrannical yoke of fin and Satan, that they may, under Chrift's conduct, recover their ancient liberty that they enjoyed at their creation: hence is that prophecy of Jacob, Gen. xlix. 10. "Unto him fhall the gathering of the people be." If. xi. 10. "He fhall be fet for an enfign to the nations; to him fhall the Gentiles feek, and his reft fhall be glorious." And O how glad is he when volunteers come in as flocks of doves to their windows! Matth. xxiii. at the close, "How often would I have gathered thee, as the hen gather. eth her chickens under her wings!"

5. A ftandard is for direction and order; when the army is to march, the ftandard goes before, and the foldiers know whereaway

whereaway to move by the motion of their ftandard. Chrift is given for a leader to the people; it is by eying of him the faints know how to direct, and to bend their course in their travels through the wilderness. Hence the apostle exhorts believers to "run their race with patience, looking unto Jefus the author and finifher of their faith," Heb. xii. 1. 2. Thus you fee, that Chrift is the standard, and why so called.

III. The third thing was, to speak a little of the lifting up of this bleffed ftandard.

1. The first uplifting of it was in the eternal counsel of Heaven, before ever the foundation of the world was laid: Prov. viii. 23. "I was fet up (fays Chrift) from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." From all eternity, God had a purpofe of love towards loft finners of Adam's family, and a purpofe of war against the powers of hell, by Jefus Chrift.

2. This ftandard was lifted up in the first promife, Gen. iii. 15. "It fhall bruife thy head, and thou shalt bruife his heel" that is, My eternal Son, in the nature of man, shall, in the fulness of time, avenge the quarrel of the woman and her feed, in thy total ruin and overthrow.

3. This ftandard was fet up in the actual incarnation, obedience, and death of the Son of God; for then it was that "through death he deftroyed him that had the power of death;" then it was he destroyed the works of the devil, turned the counsel of that froward fpirit headlong, outfhot him in his own bow. The devil and the world thought that they had Christ at under, when they had brought him to the duft of death; but our glorious Emmanuel wrefts death out of the devil's hand, and flays him with his own weapons.

4. This standard was lifted up by the refurrection of Chrift from the dead, and his exaltation at the right hand of the Majesty on high. We are told, Pfal. cx. 7. that "having drunk of the brook in the way, he lifted up the head:" and by his uplifting, he draws all men after him. O Sirs, lift up your eyes to heaven, and behold this royal ftandard now fet up in Emmanuel's land, far above all principality and power, might and dominion. "God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name."

5. This ftandard is lifted up in the difpenfation of the everlafting gofpel, which began firft to be preached by the apoftles immediately after his refurrection, and afterward by other minifters called of God for that end, which are to continue in a fucceffion to the end of the world. Ọ how fuccefsfully was this ftandard lifted up by the apostles, when fet

up

up immediately after his exaltation, when whole thousands, by the preaching of a fermon concerning the death and refurrection of Chrift, were brought in to the fervice of Chrift; when whole nations were born to him at once; when Heathenish idolatry fell down before the everlafting gospel; whereby was fulfilled that prophecy of Ifaiah, chap. Ix. 8. "Who are thefe that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?"

6. Again, when there is any remarkable appearance for Christ and his caufe, in a church or nation, in oppofition to error, fuperftition, profaneness, or any of the works of the devil; when the Lord fpirits his minifter, and the judicatories of his church, to give a fair, full, and faithful teftimony for Chrift, in oppofition to any of thefe works of darknefs; then is it that this ftandard is lifted up. What a pity is it that there fhould be fuch faint difplay of Chrift's banner against that damnable heresy of Arianifm, vented of late in this church! It is to be feared, we fhall never be honoured to do any fignal fervice for Chrift, when fuch an opportunity of doing him justice has been flighted; however, he will give the banner to them that fear him, that it may be displayed because of truth.

7. When God in his providence breaks and baffles wicked and blood-thirsty perfecutors, who were making havock of his church and people, granting them refpite and deliverance from trouble; then is it that this ftandard is lifted up, when he raiseth up faviours in mount Zion, to judge the mount of Efau. How remarkably was this standard lifted up for Ifrael, when Pharaoh and his hoft, in their pursuit, were overthrown in the Red fea, and made to fink like lead in the mighty waters? or when, by his fervant Cyrus, he overthrew the power of Babylon, and brought back his people again to their native land? on which occafion, Ifrael could not but fay, "When the Lord brought back the captivity of his people, we were like men that dreamed." Thus God lifted up the standard in our land, when in his providence he raised up the prince of Orange, as the inftrument of our deliverance, when we were upon the point of being fwallowed up with a deluge of Popifh darkness and tyranny.

8. This royal ftandard is lifted up by the Spirit of the Lord in the morning of converfion, when through difcoveries of the glory of Chrift, the foul is determined to make a furrender of its heart, and to lift up the everlasting doors, that this King of glory may come in. And O, when he comes in, how remarkably does he drive back the enemy! he binds the strong man, fpoils him of his goods; tranflates the poor foul from

the power of darkness to his own kingdom of light, life, and liberty.

9. The Spirit of the Lord lifts up the ftandard in every renewed manifeftation and difcovery of the glory of Chrift, efpecially after a dark night of defertion, temptation, and defpondency. Perhaps the poor believer was "going mourning without the fun;" the wild beafts of hell, the roaring lion, and his emiffaries, were like to devour him, and the poor believer crying, "I am caft out of thy fight: My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgement is paffed over from my God." However, at length the Spirit of light, life, and power, comes, and by a discovery of the glory of Christ, forceth a day upon the poor creature, that was "walking in darknefs and faw no light." O then the Spirit of the Lord lifts up the ftandard, and Satan is baffled, his fiery darts are blunted, the mourning of the poor foul is turned to finging and triumph. Thus you fee when it is that the Spirit of the Lord may be faid to lift up the standard against the enemy coming in like a flood.

IV. The fourth thing was, to inquire whence is it that the lift ing up of the ftandard, or the difplaying of the glory of Chrift by the Spirit of the Lord, gives a repulse to the enemy, or drives him back?

I answer, 1. The displaying of the glory of Chrift by the Spirit of the Lord, fets faith in a lively exercife, which is the great engine whereby we are enabled to overcome Satan, the world, and all our enemies. As for Satan and his fiery darts, they are quenched by faith, Eph. vi. 16. and Rev. xii. 11. "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb," that is, by faith acting upon a glorious Redeemer and his atoning blood. As for the world, it is by faith that we trample upon its frowns and flatteries: "This is the victory whereby we overcome the world, even our faith." As for indwelling fin, Atheism, enmity, pride, carnality, and the like, every view of Christ by faith gives a new wound, and cuts off fome limb or member of the old man of fin : Acts xv. 9. the faints are there faid to "purify their hearts by faith." By faith "we behold the glory of the Lord," and fo "are changed into the fame image, from glory to glory;" and thus gradually the body of fin and death is wafted and weakened.

2. By difplays of the glory of Chrift, love is inflamed. And where the love of Chrift is fhed abroad on the heart by the Spirit of the Lord, the utmost affaults of hell are not able to prevail : Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house VOL. II.

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