I.

fhould be difcouraged by the difficulty of the conqueft, fo many enemies being in the way, he animates them against the greatest discouragement. If they objected the number of their enemies, and their strength; he answers that objection, ver. 17, 18. He had deftroyed greater enemies than these for them; and he that had done the greater, would eafily do the lefs; he that began the work would finish it. 2. If they objected the weakness of their own strength and forces, he answers that objection, ver, 20, 21. Their greatest encouragement was, that they had God among them, a mighty God, and terrible; and if God be with us, if God be for us, we need not fear the power of any creature against us. 3. If they objected the flow progress of their arms, and feared that the Canaanites would never be fubdued, if they were not expelled at the firft; to this it is anfwered, in the words of our text, The Lord thy God will put out these nations by little and little. Where you may obferve two things, (1.) Ifrael's enemies described; they are called nations, because of their multitude and power. (2.) Ifrael's conqueft; The Lord thy God will put them out before thee by little and little. Where you may observe both the glorious conqueror, and the manner of the conqueft.

t, The conqueror is God, defcribed by his fovereignty over them, the Lord; and by his propriety in them, thy God. He it is that fights their battles.

2. Re

2dly, The manner of the conqueft: He will do it, 1. Effectually; He will put them out. markably; He will put them out before thee. 3. Gradually, which is the fpecial thing here noticed in the manner of the conqueft, namely, by little and little.

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The

The fame you read, Exod. xxiii. 29, 30. The wif dom of God is to be remarked in the gradual conqueft of his peoples enemies; and it is in real kindness to the church, that her enemies are fubdued by little and little.

Now, Ifrael being typical of the church; and the land of Canaan typical of heaven; and Ifrael's conqueft over the nations, their enemies, typical of the fpiritual conqueft of the Lord's people over their fpiritual enemies; and the manner of God's dealing with them for the moft part typical of the way of God's dealing with his people in all ages: Therefore I would deliver to you the gofpel of this text, and open it in this one doctrinal observation:

That as the true Ifrael of God have nations of enemies in their way to the poffeffion of the heavenly Canaan; fo the Lord their God will conquer thefe nations by little and little.

I shall endeavour to open and confirm this doctrine in the following method. 1. Inquire who are the true Ifrael of God. 2. Speak a little of the heavenly Canaan, which they will be brought to the poffeffion of. 3. Inquire what nations of enemies they have in their way. And, 4. Speak a little of the conqueror, the Lord their God. 5. The manner of the conqueft, his putting them out before them by little and little. 6. The reafon of this gradual conqueft. 7. Make application. And in all thefe I fhall endeavour as much brevity as poffible. Mean time, look to the Lord, that he would give fome word with power, and with a bleffing,

FIRST HEAD.

The fir thing, Who are the true Ifrael of God, to whom this promife is made in the mystical and fpiritual

fpiritual sense of it; They are not all Ifrael that are of Ifrael.

1. The true Ifrael of God, whom he will bring to the heavenly Canaan, are a people whom he hath fet apart for himself, and feparated from the reft of the world, as Ifrael was. The true Ifrael are fet apart, not only by election from eternity, but by effectual calling in time. As, in the first creation, God separated the light from the darkness, and made the one day, and the other night; fo, in effectual calling, he feparates the elect from others, as light from darkness: He leaves the reft of the world buried in their own'obscurity, and makes the others children of light. By effectual calling they get convincing grace, others are left ftupid and feared; they get enlightening grace, and others are left in the dark; they get renewing grace, and others are left in their enmity; they get perfuading and enabling grace to believe, others are left in their unbelief, and remain children of disobedience and unperfuadableness: This people have I formed for myself, &c. Hence,

2. The true Ifrael of God are a people whom he hath brought out of Egypt in a spiritual fenfe, as Ifrael was in a temporal; and that with a high hand, and outstretched arm. He hath brought them out of the Egypt of a natural ftate, and out of the houfe of bondage; from their natural bondage to fin and Satan, their bondage to the law as a covenant of works, putting them to the hard task and intolerable labour of doing for life; a task much worse than the Egyptian bondage, of making bricks without ftraw: He has brought them, I say, out of the houfe of bondage with a high hand; no power in the world being able to loofe their bonds, if the power of a God had not been put forth for that

end.

end. They are a people redeemed, not only by the price of the mediator's blood, but alfo by the power of his fpirit: by his power he hath begun to plague their enemies, and to drown them in the red-fea of his blood; for they overcame by the blood of the Lamb.

3. The true Ifrael of God are a people acquainted with travelling in the wilderness, from Sinai to Zion, as Ifrael was; I mean, from the law to the gospel, from the covenant of works to the covenant of grace. As Ifrael at Sinai was amazed at the fight of God appearing in his terrible majefty, and afterwards were brought into covenant with him; fo the true Ifrael of God are a people that have been humbled with the views of God's holiness and infinite juftice in the command and threatning of the law, and been made to flee for refuge to the hope fet before them in the gofpel covenant; they have come from Sinai to Zion, to Jefus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of fprinkling.

4. The true Ifrael of God are a people acquainted with the conduct of the pillar of cloud and of fire, as Ifrael was; I mean, they have gotten the fpirit of Christ to be their guide in the way to Canaan: If any man have not the spirit of Chrift, he is none of his ; and if any man have the fpirit of Chrift, he is guided thereby, and led into all truth, and out of all the paths of damnable error. There is a leading of the fpirit by a fecret invifible hand, and by the means of the word, that all the Ifrael of God are partakers of even a voice behind them, faying, this is the way, and that is not the way; and all his sheep know his voice.

5. The true Ifrael of God are a people fed with Manna from heaven in a fpiritual fenfe, as Ifrael

was

was in another fenfe: They are a people that eat the bidden manna; they have bread to eat, the world knows not of, even the bread of life that came down from heaven: They live by faith in the Son of God; Chrift is the Alpha and Omega of their life, the food and medicine of their life, the reftorer and preferver of their life; they cannot live without him. The worldling lives upon his riches, the carnal man lives upon his lufts, hypocrites live upon their profeffion, legalifts live upon their duties; but the true Ifrael of God live in the way of duty, upon Chrift himfelf, as their wisdom, righteoufnefs, fanctification and redemption. If I have any wisdom, Chrift is my wisdom; if any righteoufnefs, Chrift is my righteoufnefs; If any holiness, Chrift is my fanctification: Chrift is my ALL, my life, my strength, my treasure, &c.

6. The true Ifrael of God are people acquainted with wrestling with God for the bleffing, as Jacob was, who thereupon obtained the name of Ifrael; and all believers are thereupon called the feed of Jacob that fhall not feek his face in vain. They are a people whofe life of faith is acted much upon their knees, or in a way of praying in the name of Christ, and in the fpirit of Chrift; Praying in the Holy Ghoft; This is the generation of them that feek thee, that feek thy face, O Jacob's God. They are always wanters, and that makes them always feekers and beggars.

SECOND HEAD.

Second thing was to speak a little of the heavenly Canaan that they will be brought to the poffeffion of. I would hold it forth in thefe four particulars, namely in its types, epithets, parts and properties.

(1.) In