The experience of which is the believer's safety. The abiding sense of his being naturally inclined to lean to legal dependences, and therefore his want of Christ every moment to justify him by his righteousness, and to keep him by his strength, will be the surest way to prevent his falling into bondage; for this will keep him very jealous over himself, and will show him the necessity of living out of himself for righteousness and strength; and while he liveth upon Christ for these by faith, he shall not be overcome by any enemy.

The glory of the incarnate God, and his infinite sufficiency to save, have not a greater enemy than a legal spirit; and, therefore, I have enlarged upon this point, that believers might be convinced from the word of God they were saved from the condemnation of the law. They will never live comfortably, till they see the law dead and buried, and then willingly give up themselves to be espoused to Christ, who will make them free indeed. And when they have learned of him to enjoy and walk in their Christian liberty,

then they will be better acquainted with the warfare between nature and grace, the old man and the new, the flesh and the spirit, which warfare is the

Fourth great hindrance, that stops the growth of faith in weak believers. They are unskilful in it, soon tired of it, and often likely to be defeated. They do not enter into the battle strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might; nor are they certain, if they fall in battle, they shall be saved with an eternal salvation. These are great discouragements; and until these be removed, they cannot fight the good fight of faith, like good soldiers of Christ Jesus.

The case is thus: There is in every believer an old man, and a new man-nature and grace- flesh and spirit; and these are opposite and contrary, the one to the other, in their principles and actions: they are always desiring different things, and pursuing different ends, which occasions a continual war between them. The flesh lusteth always against the spirit, and has many and mighty allies on its side; armies of lusts, the faculties

of soul and body to bring forth sin, hosts of fallen angels, and all the world that layeth in wickedness. But the new man, renewed in the spirit of his mind has a reconciled God on his side; and, therefore, he need not fear what any enemy can do unto him, but may bravely face the stoutest of them, even death itself, relying upon that sure word of promise, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Here is the believer's encouragement to fight, his God will never leave him; here he obtains victory every day, his God never forsakes him: and after he has fought the good fight of faith, his God and Saviour will make him more than conqueror; he will send death to kill sin and then the believer will never more have temptation from it, nor sorrow about it. But till that happy time come, he must be fighting against his corrupt nature and all its allies. No peace can be made with them, not even a truce. He must expect no kind of favour from them; because they are God's irreconcileable enemies; and, therefore, as long as he is in the world, he must be fighting against the world;

as long as he has a body of flesh, he must oppose it with its affections and lusts; because they war against the soul; and as long as he is in the reach of temptation, he must oppose the tempter, steadfast in the faith, never putting off his armour, until the Lord give him a discharge.

The believer's peace within, and victory without, are closely connected with the clear understanding of this case, and, although I have stated it from the word of God, and agreeably to the sense in which the church of God has always interpreted it, yet, for its more full confirmation, some testimonies must be brought, which speak to the very point; first, to the believer's having in him an old man and a new; secondly, that these two are at war; and, thirdly, that they fight together till death.

First, The apostle says to the saints at Ephesus, chap. iv. 22, &c. "Put off the old man, put on the new." Mind, the same persons had both in them an old man, corrupt according to his deceitful lusts, daily to be put off, and a new man to be put on, and

renewed day by day in the spirit of his mind. The old man is described to have a body of sin with all his members, his affections, and lusts; these must not be obeyed, but mortified. "Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof, neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin." Rom. vi. 12, 13. The saints at Rome had sin in them, and it wanted to reign as it had done heretofore in the lusts thereof; but,

Secondly, They were not to obey them. There was in them a new man, who was to fight against those fleshly lusts which war against the soul. "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Gal. v. 17. Here is battle between two, the flesh, the whole nature of the old man; and the spirit, the new man born again of the spirit: the cause of it is, the one wills what the other hates; each wants to carry his own will into execution, and these being contrary the one to the other, they fight for mastery: G