Clarksville 17th April 84 80807 
1. - 561 - 155 Lo, what a glorious sight appears,  
2. - 558 - 198 Say who is she that looks abroad,  
3. - 590 - 155 Sing to the Lord in joyful strains,  
In the name of our God we will set up our banners. Ps. 20:5 
[Now] In order to represent Him & His Govt on earth; in order  
to uphold and maintain [this] warfare vs.  
Sin, God has chosen to organize His Church  
upon Earth, for the double purpose of conquering  
and subduing sinners to Himself, and  
after winning them back, to furnish  
them a safe and secure fortress,  
and refuge against the influences  
that would draw them [back] away from  
Holiness, Peace, and Truth. When therefore  
men are thus sweetly conquered by the  
spiritual weapons of this Holy War, it is  
not only the suggestion of a newborn love & gratitude 
 
 
 
 
2 
to God that springs up within the regenerate  
heart, that prompts the entrance into the army of 
their Lord, but it is a part of their new nature; there  
has been infused into them the measure of the  
Holy Spirit, whereby they have become partaken  
of the Divine nature; so that what God loves  
they love; what God abhors they hate; what 
Gods cause requires they are ready to  
do, and their will co-incides entirely &  
universally with the will of God, and  
His service becomes their highest happiness  
& their chief delight, and they  
only ask with Paul, Lord what wilt thou have me  
to do?  
The object which I have in view in these remarks is to introduce the characters  
who are represented as speaking the words 
 
 
 
 
3 
of our text: In the name of our God we  
will set up our banners. They are Gods  
people who say this; once rebels; now saints; 
once against God; now enlisted on His  
side; once fighting against Him; now  
fighting for Him. And as this warfare is waged  
against the Power of Darkness, as it will  
continue to be waged until Satan shall be  
bruised under Xt.s feet, and as Gods works  
are performed by His people, or His agents,  
so the people of God when they begin the  
Xtian warfare set up banners, as they  
proclaim this war, not only to defend  
themselves against the assaults of Satan, and  
to drive Satan from the control of the  
world, but to convert sinners to God as  
well. 
 
 
 
 
561  
558  
590                           
4 
Ps. 20:5 
In the name of our God, we will set up our banners. 
I. We inquire into the meaning of the Banners  
here mentioned; and 
II. Why such resolution should be made. 
I. It is to be observed that a banner is a  
flag or standard bearing always a  
symbol, and very often an inscription  
or motto. In the case of the banner  
set up by the people of God. The symbol  
is the Cross of Xt. and on it  
is inscribed in ineffaceable letters of  
light and glory The Lord our Righteousness.  
and it is dedicated unto Him that loved  
us, and saved us with an everlasting  
salvation, to Him be glory & honor  
majesty and dominion forever and  
ever. The banner of the individual Xtian is the profession 
 
 
 
 
5 
profession of His faith in Xt. All men can see that.  
He is not ostentatious with it. But he believes  
in what Xt. said: Whosoever confesseth  
tc. and so just the moment he becomes  
a conquered rebel himself, and enters  
into the number of the followers of the Redeemer,  
he becomes a banner bearer in the  
army of the great Captain of his salvation,  
and comes out fearlessly, honestly, sincerely;  
and confesses Xt. before men, and is not  
ashamed of Him. True the Cross is  
not obtrusively thrust before you in its  
sensible and tangible form,  and worn  
upon the bosom externally; and erected  
on the steeples of your Chhs. That is not  
the Cross of Xt. It is but the crucifix, the  
 
 
 
 
6 
It may be abused & has been abused, so that it  
[abuse of which by an unholy Apostale [Apostle] Ch.] 
has caused the true soldier of Jesus to turn  
away from it, and to regard it as anything  
but an emblem of salvation.  
But the Cross of Xt. which is the true  
coat of arms of the Christian soldier, is  
the Gospel of Truth; and it is deeply  
imprinted upon his heart shown by  
his outward conformity to the  
doctrines of that Gospel, not needing to be  
shown by this Trinket, or ornament, but Known  
& read of all men by a well ordered walk  
and a godly conversation;  a living  
epistle  a lively stone in the spiritual  
building, that temple of the living God  
the invisible body of the Lord Jesus Xt. the blood 
7 
bought Church. This display of the banner of profession  
is made that all men know the Xtian to be  
what he professes to be, and that he is on  
the side of the Lord. Then; II.  
We learn the reasons for the use of banners in Religion from  
analogy.  
1. Banners are chosen by those who proclaim  
war. The banner bearer of the Army of the  
Lord, the true child of God unfurls his  
banner to let it be known that he proclaims  
war against all that is at war  
with God. Let it be ever borne in mind that the spirit, the principles,  
the declarations, the laws, precepts, &  
injunctions of the Gospel are all in deadly  
hostility against the spirit & maxisms  
and principles of an ungodly world,  
the corruptions of human nature, the ruinous heresies of  
human society the sinful follies & fashions 
 
 
 
 
8 
fashions which so absorb and pre-occupy the minds  
of vast numbers. The word of God, which is the  
Book of Constitutions for His Government & Kingdom,  
distinctly states that His design in redeeming  
sinners was to purify unto Himself a peculiar  
people. Now if they are a peculiar people, then  
there must be some method of distinguishing  
them from those who are not His. What if in  
a battle between two powerful armies a  
detachment of one of them should assume  
the banner & all the equipments and uniform  
of the other; what would be the possibility of  
distinguishing them from those they resembled?  
How are Professors of religion then to demonstrate  
their loyalty to Jesus Xt., if they fling to the breeze  
the self-same flag or banner that is now waving over the 
 
 
 
 
9 
men of the world? It may be said truly that in  
these days of degeneracy it is very often one  
of the most difficult tasks to distinguish the  
members of the Ch. from the children of  
the world. In their commercial transactions; in  
their social habits; in their intercourse with  
the men of the world; in their indifference  
to the services of Gods House; in their neglect  
of family religion, what do they more, or differently  
from others? Their righteousness does  
not exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees,  
and Xt. declares of those who are thus deficient, that  
they shall, in no case, enter into the Kingdom  
of Heaven! Such members of the Church are  
not true soldiers of the Cross; they are deserters;  
they are not under the banner which the people of  
 
 
 
 
10 
God have set up in His name. They are marching  
under the banner of the world; the trumpet  
of their Xtian life gives forth an uncertain  
sound, and carries with it no significant  
meaning, and utters no word of encouragement  
to the army of the living God; echoes no word  
of cheer promising of victory; but it cheers and  
encourages the enemy; disheartens the timorous;  
and distresses even the true soldier of  
the Cross; weighs like lead upon the spirit of  
the watchman upon the Walls of Zion; and,  
what is worse, provokes God Himself; brings disgrace  
upon the name of Jesus; grieves the  
Holy Spirit; and sets back the advancement of  
the Church in its conquest of the world for  
many a long, dark, and wearisome year! Such 
 
 
 
 
11 
men may be in the camp of the Lord; but they are not  
true men; they not only do nothing for Gods  
glory but a great deal to the dishonor of God.  
They are Auchaus in the Camp; and very  
often it is on their account that the hosts  
of God are defeated and turn their backs  
before the enemy. But I remark 
2. Banners are set up as Centres of Attraction; to rally  
and to lead the hosts engaged. Often in the midst  
of the smoke and confusion of battle the line wd  
be broken, and the troops dispersed but for the  
sight of the banner waving aloft, and every eye  
must be seeking for its familiar folds, and  
its emblems and mottoes, or they are in imminent  
peril of ruin and overthrow. So it is eminently  
true of the army of the living God and of individual 
 
 
 
 
12 
individual soldier of the Cross that the eye must be firmly, & unwaveringly  
fixed upon the banner of the Truth, with its Gospel  
emblems and its glorious mottoes. Sometimes the  
powers of darkness, and the influences of spiritual  
wickedness in high places, the clamors of Infidelity,  
and the assaults of worldliness, gather all  
their forces for one combined attack upon the  
Church of God. Under such a battle of warriors with  
confused noise and garments rolled in blood,  
the crucial test is applied, and the true & tried  
spirits of the Church stand firm, and undismayed  
amid the terrors of the onset. There are those  
whose names are upon the roll, however,  
whose souls are melted within them when  
the enemy comes thus rushing in like a  
flood, and failing to understand that then 
 
 
 
 
13 
the promise is the Spirit of the Lord will lift  
up a banner vs him, look not for the banner as  
it still floats high above the din of battle, the reach  
of defeat. Such men reach suddenly the conclusion that  
the cause is lost, that the Ch. is about to be overwhelmed,  
that Lawlessness, Atheism, and worldliness are  
about to triumph, and that it will not be long  
until Satan & his hosts will achieve the victory  
and drive the armies of The Redeemer, and all  
the soldiers of the Cross ignominiously from the field. But  
under such a pitiful presentation of cowardice,  
the true courageous warrior stands by & bids him  
look for the banner of the Truth; to rally to that;  
to follow that even through the thick of the fight,  
even to the fore-front of the hottest battle; and though  
he may not be much of a warrior yet let him lay hold 
 
 
 
 
14 
of the cross, and cling to that, and all will go well; and  
let such timorous Xtians take Spurgeons words God is not  
dead, and He will beat the Devil yet. As surely as  
Jesus Christ won the victory on the cross, He will  
win the victory over the worlds Sin. Look for your  
banner & if you can find that, you need apprehend  
nothing. The Ch. is in no danger. 
It may be that the [heavy] hostile assaults made upon  
her artworks are heavy, but her towers and bulwarks  
are immovable and impregnable; and  
so long as the people of God continue to  
set up their banners in the name of their  
God, The gates of Hell shall not, cannot  
prevail against her. This is just as true in  
the case of the individual Xtian. Many a hurling  
storm of fiery darts must he endure from the wicked 
 
 
 
 
15 
one, which will try the strength of his faith,  
and the courage of his heart. Temptations  
may come upon him in the most powerful &  
unexpected manner, and before it he may  
feel that all must give way as the forest  
before the hurricanes breath. And so it will,  
if he rely only upon human strength to resist. 
 
 
 
 
16 
There has never yet been found upon this earth, even so much as one man who 
possessed, in himself alone, the courage, the  
strength, the will, the fierce indomitable hatred of  
sin, whereby he can conquer in the strife with the  
great enemy that goeth about seeking whom he  
may devour. But thanks to God! All along the  
march of history, and all along the line of our lives 
 
 
 
 
17 
the banners of Gods eternal Truth are standing  
set up by His people in past times, set  
up by them in the name of our God &  
underneath their ample folds in the spot  
where the least & feeblest may abide, uninjured &  
unawed, while thousands fall on every side,  
They rest secure in God. So when found  
the only safety is in keeping close to the  
standard. Peter followed afar off and  
fell. Thomas absented himself from the  
gathering of the disciples for prayer, &  
was faithless & unbelieving. Judas loved  
the wages of iniquity and died by his own  
hand. David allowed his heart to go astray  
from the banner of truth & virtue & in  
an evil hour became guilty of the double 
 
 
 
 
18 
crime of murder & adultery. So be warned in time, 
and avoid everything that is not stamped with  
the image & superscription of the Gospel. Allured  
as you may be and will be time  
after time to scenes & places of earthly  
entertainment, always look to ascertain  
whether the banner of the Gospel, with the  
inscription Holiness unto the Lord deeply  
ingrained into it, is floating from their  
battlements, and if not avoid it, pass  
not by it, turn from it and pass away!  
Remove thy way far from all such places  
& resorts, & come not nigh the door of the house  
for of the presiding genii of such [?] of iniquity,  
it may be truly said, While their lips drip  
as an honeycomb, and their mouths is smoother than  
 
 
 
 
19 
oil, their end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a  
two-edged sword; their feet go down to death;  
their steps take hold on hell! I remark  
4. Banners are used sometimes as emblems of  
Peace. Preliminary to the close of the war, a  
flag of truce  a white flag is set up  
and this in token of a desire for peace.  
I would not, my beloved, that you shd be left  
under the impression that God in all the  
conflict with sin & error has ever had  
other than thoughts of Peace toward you.  
Hard fought fields there have been and the object  
has been to conquer you, & deliver you from  
the power of Sin. But all the period of this  
warfare the only feelings of enmity felt by either  
party are those you have felt toward God. He has 
 
 
 
 
20 
had none but thoughts of Love & peace. And when  
by the power of Omnipotent Grace He has overcome  
your hostility and brought you to see & feel  
your sinfulness, and yr lost & ruined condition  
what time you have feared to come to Him  
He has mercifully displayed the banner of  
peace He has made the way open to a cessation  
of hostilities, and while it is the same  
blessed banner of the Gospel, stamped  
all over with the emblem of the cross,  
it is full of invitations & promises, and  
beseechings, and intreaties to you to come 
unto Him & He will in no wise cast  
you out; and while the glorious proposal Come  
now & let us reason together, saith the Lord, tho  
your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, 
 
 
 
 
21 
and though they be red like crimson, they shall be  
as wool;  He declares, He that believeth upon  
the son of God, hath eternal life. So under  
this emblematic representation of a banner of  
peace & hope, we read & understand the  
meaning of the apostles declaration:  
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as  
though God did beseech you by us: we pray  
you, in Xt.s stead be ye reconciled to God.  
We plant here today the flag of truce, the white  
and spotless banner of peace, and we invite  
you to come & be reconciled to God. He  
is already pacified by the work of Xt., He waits to be  
gracious; all that is needful to the establishment  
of peace between you is that you come & be  
reconciled to God. Come then and come without delay.  
 
 
 
 
22 
5. Banners are symbols of victory. Gods word  
makes frequent mention of Victory & Triumph.  
Conquerors in anct. times were decreed what was  
called a triumph. Arches were erected underneath  
which he passed amid the congratulations  
of his countrymen, the weaving of  
garlands of honor, and the waving of banners,  
amid great rejoicing. The conquests of the  
Cross over mens hearts by the power of  
Divine Truth and under the influences  
of the Divine Spirit, are but feebly & faintly  
set forth by such displays. The victory acquired over  
sin & Satan when one soul is converted is frequently alluded to in  
such terms in Scripture as show conclusively  
that is deemed a very precious & glorious event.  
The banner of this victory has on it such inscriptions as  
 
 
these: There is joy in the presence, tc. Rejoice with me  
for I have found the piece [of silver] which I had lost. tc. There is more  
joy than over 99, tc. This my son was dead & is alive again, was lost & is found.  
Let him know that he converteth tc. 
2. But a succession of victories awaits the faithful soldier  
of the cross. The banners set up on such occasion  
have written upon them such inscriptions as these  
This is the victory that overcometh the world, even  
our faith  a [real????] belief in Gods word; fear of Gods wrath;  
hope of Heaven; and receiving Xt. & resting upon Him  
alone tc. a sense of Gods presence evermore around  
him to witness everything to uphold & support. Only victory  
can come to such, and it is of such, that the  
words they come off conquerors & more than  
conquerors, thro Xt. J tc. and the promise  
Hold out faithful unto death & I will give thee a  
 
 
 
 
24 
crown of Life. To all which we have Pauls personal  
testimony: I am now ready to be offered up tc. 
3. The banner of Victory is set up over one more  
scene, & the last enemy that shall be overcome is  
Death. The fears & doubts that harass the Xtian in view  
of death may be overcome. But that is not the Triumph here  
mentioned. It is completed on the morning of  
the resurrection. When this corruption shall  
have put on incorruption,  tc. and when  
Arrayed in glorious grace, 
Shall these vile bodies shine, 
And every shape and every face 
Look heavenly & divine!  
When to those who hold out faithful unto death  
shall have a crown of glory that fadeth not away  
and so our entrance shall be ministered unto them  
abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord & Savior.