"Do the work of an evangelist." I believe, to do the work of an evangelist, is to expose error by preaching the truth, and by preaching the truth in clearness, simplicity and faithfulness; not in the wrath of man, that worketh not the righteousness of God. An evangelist is one taught by the Spirit the gospel and nature of the kingdom of Christ; and to do the work of an evangelist, is to preach that gospel faithfully, to the utter exclusion of every thing else for salvation; the substance of which is Christ and him crucified: then, says Paul, make full proof of your ministry.

By this exhortation the apostle has an eye to two things in a minister of Christ: First that he preach the Lord Jesus in simplicity, sincerity and truth; as God's salvation: and also that he take heed to his own spirit, that he mix no bitterness nor rancour of his own, with the gospel; and also that his conduct and conversation be as becometh a christian: that he should bridle the tongue, curb the affections, keep under his body, be courteous, kind and affectionate to all; to do good unto all, especially to the household of faith: so that none may justly speak ill of him, that no offence be given, that the ministry be not blamed that no distate be caused to the word in the hearts of men. I believe it is right for every servant of Christ to live thus, although I myself come short, and must for ever sit in the dust of self-abasement, and I believe it is every christian's duty thus to live and act for the credit of the gospel, and the glory of Christ: and though we hold salvation all of God and of grace through Christ fixed from everlasting, not of works but of grace, yet we not only hold it right to live an honourable godly life; but I can say I feel my heart and soul disposed to godliness, but I cannot do the things that I would, through sin that dwelleth in me. Well as though Paul would say, my

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son Timothy, I would have you consider all these things, and the Lord give you understanding for I am ready to be offered up, and the time of my departure is at hand. By Paul being ready, means several things, he means he is near the time of death, he also means he was quite willing and waiting for it, this is another sense in which he was ready: and again he had completed his work and he had now nothing to stay for; in this sense he was ready, nothing to do but to depart: it also signifies that he was prepared and fit, having been justified and clothed in Christ's righteousness, and washed in his blood, he needed no more! what a blessed state is this to be in, to be thus ready; here Paul outstrips many of us; taking his readiness in all these senses it is evident Paul had an item of what death he was to die, a martyr for Jesus, nevertheless he was ready he was to be a kind of sacrifice for the name, the truth, and the cause of his Master; he was to be an offering, whether burned, sawn assunder or crucified, it mattered not, death is death, let it come how it may, and he could but die, and he was willing to die, his soul's desire was, that he might be an acceptable offering to the Lord; and I fully believe he was; it is generally supposed he was beheaded. Paul could say, as it were with his dying breath, "I am ready I have fought a good fight I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: thus I am come at last to the words; now in these words the apostle speaks of what he had done; but may we not add what he himself does in another place, "It was no more I that did it, but the grace of God that was with me." Paul was ever careful not to ascribe any thing to himself, but all to grace, that God might have all the glory of his own work: whatever Paul did as a christian, he ascribes the whole glory thereof to God! And in this he shews himself a worthy pattern

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for us all this language accords with that of the church-" Not unto us, not unto us; but unto thy name be all the praise." In these words the apostle sets forth himself as a pattern to Timothy and the church of God in ages to come that he had quitted himself like a christian man, and was about to depart in peace: he sets himself forth under the metaphor of a soldier, and his life that of a warrior-I have fought a good fight. My first particular shall be to make a few remarks upon this character, the soldier, and also his warfare. Now it is evident before a man can fight the battles Paul did, he must be a soldier enlisted under the banner of King Jesus, and clothed with his armour; but here I must differ from many; the general cry is for volunteers, that is, bare legal exhortations to men to become religious which consist in attending steadily at a place of worship, engaging in prayer, and joining at the ordinance, this is all that is required in our day, and a compliance with these exhortations is called religion and conversion to God: but I believe this falls far short: not a word about a law-book, convictions for sin, or a lost perishing condition, no solid deliverance, no spiritual birth, but I do not consider such as soldiers of Jesus Christ. Oh say legal preachers, one volunteer is worth ten pressed men; now this I utterly reject, for I believe no man comes into Christ's service as a soldier, that is not first pressed into it, and one pressed man is worth a hundred of such volunteers, and will do more to establish truth and confound the enemy to prove this we all know according to God's word, that none by nature love Christ: he says, Ye shall be hated of all men for my name sake, but marvel not if the world hate you, you know it hated me before it hated you;" and this hatred and enmity to Christ is as much naturally in the elect before subdued by grace as it is in the reprobate. Paul

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was a hater and a persecuter both of Christ and his people, before God stopped him, and called him; and I am sure I was, and so doubtless were you: I often think of it with grief and shame so that as we are all haters of God, none will enter into his service till they are subdued and pressed into it by God himself. The Scripture is plain upon this point; "Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life." Again our Lord sent out his servants to invite, but not one came by bare invitation, they made light of it; again he sent them out and said compel them to come in ; what can you call this but pressing : the word of the Father's promise to his Son is this, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power:" now mind, shall be willing, and it must be the power of Christ to make a man willing, and nothing short will I am persuaded. I know there must be a wound by convictions, which none but Christ can heal; and then such an one will be glad of Christ as a physician. I know God will make a man feel that condemnation from the law, that he will be willing and glad to have Christ as his righteousness. I know God will make a sinner feel such filth and guilt in his conscience, as will make him both willing and glad to embrace Christ as atonement; but all these are first pressed and then they enter or enlist under a banner, for all the time a sinner is under the law, you cannot call him a christian indeed: he has nothing of Christ about him ; he has not the Spirit of Christ, the faith of Christ, the love of Christ, nor the righteousness of Christ: you cannot call a man a christian indeed, till he has been made a partaker of the things of Christ. When a man enters the king's service you know he has what is called the king's bounty, and this constitutes him the king's servant; if the king give him nothing he has nothing to do with the man, if he receive the bouty it is generally

soon spent among the soidiers; so when a soul enters into Christ's service, he receives his bounty, that is a feeling sense of God's love shed abroad in his heart; this is called his first love, this fills the man's mouth with praise, and his heart with joy; he begins to tell this to every one he meets, but alas by and by his money is spent and he becomes what we call a poor soldier; his glory is withered, his comforts are fled, and he is obli ged to live upon common pay, a penny a day; this is the enlisting. I believe further, that there are many who are clear and consistent with respect to the covenant of grace, made between Father, Son and Spirit, as it is recorded in the word of truth; which yet in themselves have no evidence that they are ever entered into covenant with Christ; you know that Christ is the husband, the church, the wife; then there must be a marriage covenant between these two parties, and this marriage covenant is love! First in Christ and, then in the believer, and so they become one. This is plain from what the Lord said to Abraham: after the Lord had commanded Abraham, he took an heifer of three years old, and a goat and a ram, these three being all of one age were to shew the equality of the persons of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, who are eternally one; and when this was done, it is said in the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham : now this covenant was personal, it concerned Abraham and all his mystical seed: though Abraham was not a covenant head, like Adam or Christ; this was a figure to shew God would enter into covenant with every elect person, which he does, and then they become his. Now with all your knowledge about Scrripture, and divine things, have you ever been enlisted, have you ever entered into covenant with Christ, has a sense of his love ever been manifested? If not how can you fight? and how are you

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fighting? and for what? Prove your own selves, let every man prove his own I wish to stumble no man; I believe this is Scripture: again our Lord Jesus speaking by Ezekiel of his people's consecration and birth, says, He passed by them, and said unto them live; he spread his skirt over them, he washed them with water, and he entered into covenant with them, and they became his :" now let me ask, had you ever any thing of this to prove you the property of Christ? I can truly say this was as clearly revealed to me as ever any religious truth was, yea I never had any thing revealed with so great certainty, and like the church in the Song I could say, My beloved is mine, and I am his." In this manner we enter Christ's kingdom, and become his servants and soldiers. There is another thing, when a man enters the king's service you know he must throw off his old rags and be clothed in the king's regimentals : they generally strip a man from head to foot; he is to have nothing of his own; it is just the same spiritually : a man must be stripped of all his own righteousness, worth and excellency, clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ Jesus: to see a man cleaving to the law, to self, and self righteousness with heart and soul exclaiming it is our duty: what a figure such a man cuts among the soldiers, there is not one in the regiment who does not know this man so let a pharisee pretend to what he may, he is not hid, both his speech and dress betray him, and shews that he belongs to another company, and not to Christ; neither will he fight for Christ or truth, but against both. Now let me ask has God stripped you of your own righteousness, and clothed you in the perfect robe of Christ's righteousness? If not you will make but a poor soldier, you will have nothing to defend you, nothing to distinguish you from the world. You know there is another

thing in a soldier after he has enlisted there generally comes a trial, he will be called to leave house and home, friends and acquaintance, this is indeed a sore trial: I found this a very trying thing: to lose a good name, to be scorned and taken no notice of, this hurts one's pride, all these things come close, yea, very, very close; but above all to forsake our own worldly interest this was to me a sore trial, I really found it so: parting with friends also helped forward this calamity, even my own parents were wont to say, Why cannot you live at Hitchin, you offend every body, there is none will employ you, you must move my answer was, I must leave that : I appeared as little cast down before them as possible; but in private I used to sigh out this before God, and beg earnestly for his help and blessing, also for strength fortitude and grace to leave all with God: by his help I was enabled to leave all for his name and truth's sake, and yet here I have lived to this day neither has he suffered me to go back, or sink in my shoes; neither to give up, or seek applause and interest to the present moment. When all this is done the believer is called more into the field, for when the enemies of God's truth find they cannot prevail with a soul to go back, they then become most bitter persecutors, and inveterate foes. Now the world, flesh and devil all conspire to oppose him, and now the warfare begins:

"When my pardon is sealed, and my peace is procured,

That moment my conflict begins." But then the soul must be armed to stand against such a host! of this armour you may read in Eph. v. 13, the apostle says let your loins be girt about with truth; the loins are that part of the body in which the strength of a man generally lies: unless a man has truth on his side he never can stand, however confident, boasting, or self-sufficient he may be:

it is the truth of God that is the strength and support of the soul; for instance, if I profess to be a believer, a christian, a child of God, now if I am not all this, I have not truth to support me; I appear and profess to be what I am not; therefore the want of experience, a change of heart, and the new birth, when Satan comes I have no truth to support me, and this is the case with thousands of profes sors at death; therefore it is said: "The hope of the hypocrite giveth up the ghost at death," they have not the truth on their side. The next thing spoken of is the breastplate of righteousness; this righteousness is the imputed righteousness of Christ; now remember, it is not talking of righteousness, nor performing works of righteousness, nor holding the doctrine of righteousness, but having it on, that is being justified, give it not up, hold fast the truth of what God has wrought, nothing short of justification, will do, for if God has not justified my person, he will not justify my work, and Satan will prevail, as he did against the sons of Sceva the Jew: this righteousness of Christ defends the soul from Satan. next piece of armour is for the feet; are to be shod with the preparation of peace. I believe here is meant having a sense of God's everlasting special love in the heart, the affections are engaged to God, which brings a willingness to follow God, to cleave to him, to obey, honour, and serve him; as to all obedience that does not spring from love is not with God acceptable. Again, above all take the shield of faith, some do not make faith the shield, but Christ, because Christ prayed for Peter, that his faith might not fail; so that Christ defended Peter's faith, and when the apostle was sinking his faith did not save him, but the arm of Christ, so that Christ was the shield; now as it is here called the shield of faith, it may be the Lord Jesus Christ, of whose wisdom,

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strength and faithfulness, faith takes hold, so that Christ by faith becomes the rock and refuge to defend us from all our adversaries. The next piece of armour, is for the head; it is called a helmet of salvation: no doubt this is the finished work of Christ, including both his obedience and death, by which he purchased our freedom, having obtained eternal redemption for us; or it may mean, take the hope of this, for we are said. to be saved by hope; the apostle says, "And for an helmet take the hope of salvation;" and then he adds "Take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God." O sol. dier never go without your sword. A sword it is to answer two purposes, it is to ward of the blows of the enemy, but this is not all, it is to cut and wound also; for God's word is sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing between the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart: thus equipped in feeling faith, and experience, the christian will be able to fight, but not without. Now who is our adversary ? I answer the devil is our grand foe, as to men, and other things, they are but his soldiers officers, and generals: it is said, "Your adversary the devil goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour:" again the apostle says, put ye on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil," he there includes principalities, powers, the rnlers of the darkness of this world, and all spiritual wickedness: this our adversary we are to fight against because he fights against us: it is a great matter for a soldier to know his enemies from his friends, and not be ignorant of Satan's devices: this was Paul's adversary and he fought against him in various forms and ways, and also in various places: but what does Satan level at chiefly in the christian? Why I believe at his graces, such as faith, hope, and

love, for by these graces the devil knows he is upheld, supplied and matained; and by means of these graces the christian is made one with Christ; and by these through Christ he obtains eternal life. Satan's aim is to destroy these graces, with a view to destry the soul: by cutting it off from Christ the head: and in order to effect this, I have always found the devil use all my trials crosses and afflictions to dash my hope, weaken my confidence, and cool my love when trials have come, well says Satan, now what proof of God's love or mercy towards you? I have always found this attended with despondency of mind, doubtfulness, and indifference towards God: if persecuted, distress in my family or circumstances, well, says Satan, does God hear you, notice you, or deliver you; sometimes I have been ready to fall in with all this, and have had my fears whether God does or will hear? now this I call being down, but if the Lord is pleased to give some sweet promise, if he blesses his word in hearing, or if he give nearness and liberty in prayer, how this will strengthen and make valiant the soul. We are commanded to resist stedfast in the faith; we are to stand in the truth, having our loins girt about therewith: we are to have on the breast-plate of righteousness, that is we are still to trust to Christ's righteousness, when we have none of our own: we are take the shield of faith, that is to walk by it, by the promise, and to trust in God at all times, and here all Satan's darts are qnenched; we must never put off our shoes, but be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; that is have the peace of Christ made by his death, and revealed in the gospel; ruling in our conscience, and this also is maintained by believing: we must take Christ's salvation for an helmet; also his whole work of obedience, suffering and death; also his blessed word, and by this word we must answer