enemies, and have shed much blood; for the Lord hath given you the necks of your enemies, and hath subdued them under you that rose up against you, and you have trod them down as mire in the streets. And therefore you shall not do this work, having been men of war; but Christ, the prince of peace, he shall reform the church of God: For this is not a work of men of war, but of the prince of peace; seeing this is not a work of human might or strength, but of the Spirit. So that you did well, that you thought to reform the church: but when you shall understand, that the reformation of the church, is as great a work as the redemption of it, you will acknowledge the work is too great for you, and that it belongs only unto Christ seeing the Father hath committed the care of this work only to him; and he hath taken this care and charge upon himself, and it is only suitable to him, as being the head of the church: and he only is able for it, as being the Son of God, and equal to God.

The third general.

By what means Christ brings this reformation about. And that is, by these two, and them only; to wit, the word, and the spirit.

The first means whereby Christ reforms the church, is the word.

By this Christ doth all that ever he doth in his kingdom by this he calls and rejects; by this he binds and looseth; by this he comforts and terrifies; by this he enlightens and makes blind; by this he kills and quickens; by this he saves and damns; and all that ever he doth in this kingdom, he doth by his word, and without this he doth nothing of all that he doth. Christ doth all in his kingdom by the word only; but antichrist doth all things without the word, even by the decrees and constitutions of

men.

Now as Christ doth all other things in the church by the word, so he reforms too: Now are ye clean through the word that I have spoken to you. All the powers in the world cannot reform the church as the word of God can do; for this is quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder. of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a descerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and doth change and renew, and reform all.

And therefore Christ, when he comes to reform the church, comes with no worldly power or weapons, but only with the word in his mouth; yea, though God set him king upon his holy hill of Sion, yet he reforms not by outward power, but by preaching; saying, I will publish the decree whereof the Lord hath said unto me, Thouart my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And again, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he hath anointed me to preach the gospel. And again, the Redeemer shall come to Sion: and then follows the covenant of God with the Redeemer, My word shall never depart out of thy mouth, Isai. lix. 10. and in Psal. xlv. the church saith by the Spirit to Christ, Ride on prosperously in the word of truth, meekness, and righteousness, which is the word of the gospel.

And so Christ, when the time of reformation was come, went up and down, preaching the word. And thus he brought to pass the glorious reformation of the New Testament, by preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and nothing else.

And when he was to leave the world, he sent his disciples to carry on the work of reformation, as he himself had begun it, as he saith, As my Father sent me, so send I you; not with the power of the world, but with the power of the word and so he bid them go teach all nations, and preach the gospel to every creature: and by teaching and preaching to the world, to reform the world: and so ac

cordingly they did, Mark xvi. 20. They went forth and preached every where, the Lord working with them. So that Christ sent them not forth with any power of swords, or guns, or prisons, to reform the world; or with any power of states, or armies: but sent forth poor, illiterate mechanic men, and only armed them with the power of the word; and behold what wonders they wrought by that power alone! They turned the world upside-down; they changed the manners, customs, religion, worship, lives, and natures of men ; they carried all oppositions and difficulties before them; they won many in most kingdoms unto Christ, and brought them into willing subjection and obedience to him: and all this they did, I say, not with any earthly or secular power, but by the ministry of the gospel alone, Christ's great and only instrument for the conquering, subduing, and reforming of the nations. And so the power appeared to be God's only, and not the

creatures.

And thus you see how the word is one of the means Christ useth for reformation.

And this word only works a right reformation: for this reforms truly and indeed; all other power reforms but in appearance. So that there is no true reformation of any thing but what is wrought by the word: but whatever evil is reformed, and not by the power of the word, it is not truly reformed; it is only reformed in the flesh, and not in the spirit: it is only suspended in the outward operation of it, but the seed and nature of it still remains in the heart, to grow up and work again, as opportunity serves. And therefore, whatever evil or corruption is reformed in thee, see it be reformed by the power of the word if the word hath killed it in thee, it is killed indeed; if not, it is alive in thee, though it seem to be dead. The outward power of the world may set up an image of

reformation, but it is the word only can work true reformation.

And therefore let us learn to rely on the word for the reformation of the church.

For this is much for the honour of the word (which God hath magnified above all his name) when we can neglect the power of the world, and leave the whole work of reformation to the power, working, and efficacy of the word alone, which is almighty, and able to bring off the heart from all things to God. As on the contrary, it is a great dishonour to God and his word, when men dare not relie on the word alone to reform the church, though it be stronger than men and angels, and all the creatures; but will needs be calling in the power of the world, and rest and rely on that, for this work, as if the power of the word were not sufficient. But let such men know, that if the power of the word will not reform them, all the power of the world will never do it. And therefore well said Luther, Prædicare annuntiare, scribere volo; neminem autem vi adigam; “I will preach, and teach, and write; but I will constrain nobody."

O therefore that our civil and ecclesiastical powers would so much honour Christ's word, as to trust the reformation of his kingdom with it; and that as it is sufficient to reform the church, so you would be pleased to think it sufficient; and thus shall you give Christ and his word due honour, as well as declare your own faith.

And if you would commit this work to the power of the word, to which only it belongs, you shall soon see what the word would do. There is no such glorious sight under heaven, as to see the word, in the spirit and power of it, come in to an unreformed world, and to observe the changes and alterations it makes there.

And thus you see that one of the means that Christ useth for the reformation of his church, is the word.

But here I must farther declare to you, that this word by which Christ reforms the church, is not the word of the law; for the law made nothing perfect, but the word of the gospel; this, this is the only word that works reformation.

For first.

1. This word works faith; and therefore it is called the word of faith, because faith comes by hearing of this word. Rom. x. 8. and ver. 17. Now as the word works faith, so faith apprehends the word, even that Word that was with God, and was God; this living and eternal Word dwells in our hearts by faith, as the apostle saith, That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith: And this Word dwelling in us by faith, changeth us into its own likeness, as fire changeth the iron into its own likeness, and takes us up into all its own virtues.

And so the word dwelling in the flesh, reforms the flesh, and it dwells in us through faith, and faith is wrought by the gospel.

So that the word whereby Christ reforms, is not the word without us, as the word of the law is; but the word within us, as it is written, The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; and this is the word of faith: If thou live under the word many years, and if it come not into thy heart, it will never change thee, nor reform thee. And therefore the reforming word is the word within us, and the word within us is the word of faith.

2. The gospel reforms, because it doth not only reveal Christ's righteousness, as it is written, The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; but also it communicates it to us; and therefore it is called the word of righteousness, because it works righteousness. So that Christ, the righteousness of God, is conveyed to us through this word of righteousness. And when the righteousness of God, revealed in the gospel, comes and dwells in us,