William HuntingtonXXXIII. The Son of God in Triumph, and Satan's Work in Ruins
I WILL endeavour, from these words, to show,
It is the opinion of some that there is no such creature as the devil; which appears to have been the notion of Muggleton and Reeves, two impostors that preached in the days of Oliver Cromwell. They held that the evil nature in man is that which is called the devil. But then it is a wonder where that evil nature came from. I once knew a woman, a shining professor, who held this opinion through all her profession: her husband was a minister of the gospel. However, at length she fell into soul distress, and wished much to see me. I visited her, and soon after received a letter from her, saying she had long denied the existence of Satan, and God had now given her into his hands that she might know there is a devil. This circumstance undeceived her in that particular, and yet she went on to be deceived; for, after she had been for some time deranged, she got better, and then she put off the mask and cloak of religion. It is thought by some, and, if I mistake not, Milton was of this opinion, that angels were created long before this world was made; and that the angels fell in eternity before ever time began, But the word of God seems plainly to contradict this; "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day." If the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and all that dwell in them, were made in six days, angels, the inhabitants of heaven, must be included in the work of those six days; and perhaps the angels were the first living creatures that God made. For in God's speech to Job he asks, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the comer stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" It appears to me that the angels are called stars because of their glorious and shining appearance, and morning stars because first made in the morning of the world, even as the time of Christ's second coming is called midnight, being at the end of it. And they are called the sons of God, as all rational creatures are by creation: We have all one father; one God hath made us all. Hence one of the angels said to John, who was going to worship him, "See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." And, if I am not much mistaken, the anthem of the angels, which was sung in the morning of the creation, is still extant in the oracles of God. This I gather from its being altogether expressive of creating power, but not a word in it of redeeming love. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created," Rev. iv. 11. Though I do not imagine this song to be now sung by angels to the exclusion of the saints, for elect men as well as elect angels have cause enough to praise creating power as well as redeeming grace; but the choicest matter of the saints' song must be touching the King; and their sweetest anthem, and which shall be sung on the highest key, and that to all eternity, must be this, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb," Rev. vii. 10. And again: "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." Now, as redemption is expressly called a new song, it shews that the hymn of the creation was an old one, the new song making the first old. Desperate, rebellious, implacable, treacherous, deceitful, false, cunning, vile, foul, filthy, impure, and unclean, as the devils now are, sure I am that they never came out of the hands of their great Creator in so vile a condition, and in such a perilous state; for, when the whole creation was finished, the following is the testimony which God gives of his works: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good; and the evening and the morning were the sixth day." That the devil was once an archangel, or one of the first rank and higher order of angelic spirits, I have no doubt; because, fallen as he is, he still keeps up his dignity, and claims a kind of sore, reign power and authority over the rest of the fallen angels: and this our Lord intimates when he distinguishes him from them, calling the leader the devil, and the rest his angels: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." None of the names by which our arch-enemy is now called, seem to be his original one, for all his present names are big with mischief, and are such as he obtained by his rebellion, apostacy, and enmity against God. He is called a roaring lion, being king of devils, as a lion is of beasts, seeking whom he may devour, the souls of men being his only prey. The sea-dragon, and the old serpent, because he once abused that creature in his seduction of man; and because of his subtlety, craft, and cunning; and because of the venom of sin, which he has instilled into mankind, and upon which he works, and by which he tempts men to evil, and then accuses them of it; and, finally, because all his ways are crooked and perverse, always counteracting the will, the work, and the ways, of God; and they are unwearied at it, being spirits, immaterial; and their agility is great. He is called Abaddon, and Apollyon, both which signify a destroyer. He has destroyed all mankind; and all the reprobate part of mankind are finally destroyed. He has destroyed all the angels that were seduced by him; and he has ultimately destroyed himself, being the author of sin, death, and misery; and these will reign in him, and over him, to all eternity; and as he is supreme in sin, so he will be in death, misery, and in suffering, and that for ever; and this he believes, and at this he trembles. He is called the wicked one, that steals the word away from the careless hearer; and the evil one, being originally, independently, ultimately, unalterably, and eternally evil. He claims second sovereignty, as a rival to the Almighty, and is therefore called the god of this world, that blinds the minds of them which believe not; and has been exalted, adored, reverenced, revered, and worshipped, as God. Temples have been erected, and altars built, and sacrifices, both human and brutal, have been offered to him: "They sacrificed unto devils, not to God." The prophet Isaiah, in his funeral oration upon the king of Babylon, seems to borrow some of his materials from the brilliant appearance which this angel made before he fell; and, if the king of Babylon's tall from all his glory and majesty into a state of desperation and madness are included in the oration, the fall of Satan is included also. I mean, when Nebuchadnezzar was removed from his kingly throne, and stripped of all his glory; when a beast's heart was given unto him, and when he fancied himself a brute, went upon his hands and feet, all-fours, like a beast, and ran wild in his own forest among the cattle, eating grass as the ox, and wet with the dew of heaven and the showers of the mountains; till, in a long seven years apprenticeship, he could learn this short lesson, To know that the heavens do rule, Dan. iv. 26. The fall of that proud monarch, both into madness and into death, appears to be taken from the fall of Satan: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cast down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! for thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit," Isaiah xiv. 12-15. In this sublime and elegant speech I think we have Satan's original name; it is Lucifer, which signifies bringing light, or day-star, and serves to show us the shining lustre of glory that was upon all the angels when God made them; a shining glory attended them wherever they went, as it does attend on all the elect angels to this day. Hence we read of the glory of the holy angels, Luke ix. 26. Now, as there is nothing evil in the name of Lucifer, which is, as some say, day-star, or bringing light, it bids fair to be his original one; his present names he obtained after his fall, as they are all big with mischief; but this he bore before he fell. Moreover, it is apparent that the whole apostacy from God, both of angels and men, originated or began with one of the angels; for our Lord himself ascribes it to one only, and he is now called the Devil and Satan. "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him." All which seem to show us that Satan was the ringleader of all the apostacy, and is spoken of in the singular number, and as such called a murderer, the father of all murderers, and the father of lies, and of all liars. The first sin which took rise in the mind of Lucifer, according to the word of God, appears to be pride. "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." And it was pride that went before the destruction of Lucifer, and a haughty spirit procured his fall. Paul, in his advice to Timothy, about the choice of a minister, tells him not to choose a novice, lest, being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. According to this text the procuring cause of the devil's ruin and destruction was the pride of his mind; and, when this sin was by himself conceived, he went on from bad to worse, from sin to sin, or from pride to rebellion; for he is charged by our Lord himself with a departing from the truth, &c. Christ says that Satan was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him, John viii. 44. There is one thing very observable in the above text, that is, Satan being called a murderer from the beginning; which seems to intimate that the non-elect angels stood but a very little while. For, if the heavens and the earth, and all that are in them, angels and men, were made in those six days, and the first appearance of the creation be called, as it most certainly is, the beginning; "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," so in the above text Christ calls Satan a murderer from the beginning; it plainly indicates that the fallen angels and our first parents stood but a very little while; and no wonder, for they stood alone; they had not momentary support; and "Wo to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up." The devil's malice and murder of mankind Were from the beginning; and, as for the time of Adam's standing, it was so short, that not one word expressive of time is so much as once mentioned to denote it; neither year, month, week, day, hour, or minute; all that is said of him is, that he was and is not; he was a glorious creature, and then a brute. "Man being honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish." The next thing observable in our Lord's assertion is, that the devil abode not in the truth, Then it may be asked what this truth is that the devil departed from? "The secret things," says Moses, "belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever." The things which were then revealed and made known, and which are to be found in the scriptures of truth, appear to me to be these: 1. When Adam stood before his Maker as the sovereign ruler of the world, as the head and representative of mankind, and as the heir of all things which this world affords, all which, even to the green herb, was bestowed on him, I say, Adam, then standing in the image of God, is declared, by the scriptures of truth, to be the figure of him that was to come. Hence in the Old Testament Christ is called the everlasting Father: and he is called Adam also in the New: "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." Christ therefore is the truth of that type, and the substance of that figure; and no doubt but this was made known from the beginning; for, if all God's friends and neighbours, which must be angels and saints, are called together to rejoice at the finding of one lost sheep, that there may be joy among the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, it can hardly be thought that so great and wonderful a mystery should be concealed in the beginning. 2. Another thing that seems to me to be made known from the beginning is, a secret decree of God; and all God's decrees are truth. This we have in the Psalms: "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Song this day have I begotten thee," Psalm ii. 7. The day there spoken of is what the wise man calls perfect day, in which the shining path of the righteous is said to end: "The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Heaven and eternity with God is called day; as it is written, "And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there," Rev. xxi. 25. The begetting the Son above mentioned does not, I humbly conceive, respect his holy and divine nature, but his personality. This decree seems to have been declared from the beginning; for without a revelation how could it have been known to men or angels that God had a son? "Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?" I have no doubt but this was revealed to all the angels at the beginning, for it is plain that the devils, in the days of Christ's incarnation, well understood it, and confessed it: "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee torment me not. For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man." 3. There went forth also a commandment from God to all the angels of heaven, and I believe it went forth at the beginning, which is this, "Worship him, all ye gods," Psalm xcvii. 7. We are told by the Holy Ghost that the true meaning of that command is this, "When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let ail the angels of God worship him." And in that command the Lord's sonship seems to be clearly revealed. The universal particle, all, shows that there was not one angel exempt from that divine command, "Let all the angels of God worship him;" and this was to be done when the firstbegotten was to appear in the world, that is, when he became incarnate; for; as Christ is God, and God is immensity itself, and fills all space, the bringing him in does not signify any motion from place to place, but the humiliation of himself when he became man, or when he assumed human nature; and it is plain that all the elect angels of God did worship him on the very day of his birth, "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were afraid, And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a saviour; which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men," Luke ii, 8-14. There is one particular in this passage that strikes me, and that is, there is first an account of one angel speaking, and of no more; "And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them." Again: "And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings," &c.; and then all the heavenly host began their anthem. From which it appears to me that he was an archangel, that led in the worship of our Immanuel, and very likely the angel Gabriel, which was the name of the angel that brought to Zacharias the tidings of the birth of John, our Lord's forerunner; as it is written, "I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto-thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings." We have the name of this angel again, telling Mary of our Lord's conception and birth: "And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph." Hence I conclude that it was the angel Gabriel that led in the worship of Christ; and all the rest joined the chorus and followed in it. From which it appears that the truth from which the angels departed lies in these three things: 1. That Adam was the figure of Christ, and Christ the truth of that type. 2. That the decree declared respecting the sonship of Christ is the second branch of truth, for he is the Son of the Father in truth and love. 3. The word of God is truth, whether it be commandments or promises, and shall stand fast for ever; for the scriptures cannot be broken, nor shall one jot ever pass away unfulfilled; nor will God call back his word, or alter the thing that is gone forth out of his lips; and this is a truth, among many others, "Worship him, all ye gods;" "Let all the angels of God worship hire." And this command stands fast, for all the angels of God did worship him; and, if fallen angels did not, or would not, it doth not alter the matter, for it is plain they have lost the title of being angels of God, and are all called devils to this day, and will continue to be devils to all eternity. I do not suppose that all these things were fully made known to the angels at the hour of their creation, but rather at the marriage of Adam and Eve, and more fully in heaven soon after; for God declareth "the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure," Isaiah xlvi. 10. The angels knew their Creator to be the Son of God, for unto the angels he saith, "Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire." And they had all seen Adam, the figure of him that was to come, by which they knew that their Creator was to be made a little lower than the angels, or for a little while inferior to them. This was made known to them, and they were to adore him in his incarnation; for, "When he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him." This seems to have been the rock of offence even to these angels, and it was the stumblingblock of the Jews of old. And against God manifest in the flesh do all devils Atheists, Deists, Socinians, Arminians, and Arians, and all others that are stanch in Satan's cause, kick to this day, which shews whose interest it is that they espouse, and whose work they do. Satan abode not in the truth, says Christ. To abide in the truth is to acquiesce in it, embrace it, and obey it. But Satan rejected it, and rebelled against it; and for this rebellion he lost all his native glory, the favour of God, and of the Son of God; at which all his happiness, modesty, humility, holiness, love, reverence, and filial fear of God, forsook him, when pride lifted him up and swelled his mind; and enmity, malice, and revenge, inflamed him, smoked and burnt in him. O what a change was this! "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Their first estate was glory, holiness, and happiness; but now misery. Their habitation was heaven; but now it is this world, and the hearts of sinful men: He worketh in the children of disobedience. Their chains are their unpardonable transgressions, the hot displeasure and wrath of God, and the curbing restraints of his providence. Their darkness is their implacable enmity against God and his saints, their dark designs against them, and their furious and impetuous haste, being always hurried on by rage and malice to resist and counteract whatever appears to b the will and design of God. At the fall of angels God did not deprive them of their strength, light, knowledge, wisdom, or understanding; these are-left to aggravate their misery. They are wonderfully strong. This appears by the havoc they made in Egypt when God cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them, Psalm lxxviii. 49. And in Job also. When Satan obtained leave of God to afflict him, a banditti of Sabeans fell upon the oxen, asses, and servants; a fire from the air burnt up both sheep and shepherds; the Chaldeans fell upon the camels, and slew all their keepers; a wind from the wilderness smote the house at all its four corners and killed all the children at once. He soon mustered the armies of his wrath, and raised both wind and fire when God let him loose, or lengthened out the chain of his providence. Nor did he stop here; he smote Job in his mind with the darts of his rage, and his body with boils from head to foot. His power is great; God himself calls him, the strong, Isaiah liii. 12. And having such strength aggravates him, because, look which way he will, he meets with omnipotence. If he looks to God he trembles at his power; and if to the poor sheep of Christ, they are possessed with an omnipotent spirit; and if to the world, there is the omnipotence of Providence checking, restraining, and overruling; so that he is like a wild bull in a net. His light of knowledge is great. There is not an influence, operation, or sensation, of the Spirit, no, nor yet a fruit or grace of the Holy. Spirit, but what he can counterfeit, Hence We read of voluntary humility, long prayers, vain repetitions, will-worship, dissembled love, feigned faith, temporary joy, hypocritical hope, and vain expectations; and the devil is the author of all these, Nor is there a doctrine or truth in the Bible, from the fountain of all truth, I mean a trinity of divine persons in the one God, down to the lowest precept which is to regulate the conduct of a saint, but what he can pervert, has perverted, and does pervert, by throwing over them false glosses, obscuring their beauty, weakening their strength; by confusing the mind, putting wrong constructions upon them, and giving false apprehensions of their meaning, and making false applications of them. And an enlightened mind may see the devil working in such preachers as clearly as you may see the wind wave the standing corn, or a serpent wriggle in the grass. Not a truth but what they will name, and not a truth but what is artfully perverted; and under all this such humility and meekness, such sympathy and love, such bowels of mercy, pity, and compassion, for every class of sinners; but, at the same time, such hatred to God, to his sovereignty, to his decrees and councils, to his discriminating grace, and to the objects of his choice, as makes it manifest that they are of that wicked one. And this is the root and branch, the basis and fabric of Arminianism; Satan representing the Almighty to them in a false light, in which they think God to be just such an one as themselves. And, under: the Operations of Satan transformed with an image before them, even the Jews have had their wild affections stirred, and their corrupt passions moved, till the influence has terminated in an infernal and burning love to devils, even till they have slain their own Children without pity, to charm the devil with the sacrifices of infants; of which infernal fire God complains: "Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the rallies under the clifts of the rocks." Well may God call them the sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore, Isaiah lvii. 3. Satan transformed, operating upon the fleshly affections of unrenewed sinners, is no less than a sinful and vile union with unclean spirits; and from hence every wild and unnatural lust and corruption has been moved and stirred up, infernal imaginations have raised such fire in the wanton passions even of women, as to set them to crying and howling over devils: "He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. And, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz, Ezek. viii. 15, 14; which is the devil concealed. They exist in continual fear-and expectation of their future judgment and the awful sentence of it, which they know will be passed and executed by the Son of God in human nature; for God will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, Acts vii. 31. This the devils believe, and at this they tremble; they therefore said unto Christ, "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" The rebellion of Satan did not stop or rest with himself; the unparalleled contagion spread, and an innumerable multitude of the angelic host were infected with it, and drawn into it. When John is speaking of the papal empire under the name of a dragon, and of the many shining ministers of the letter being drawn into apostacy and errors by popery, he seems to allude to the fall of Satan, where he says, "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth," Rev. xii. 4. A great many fallen angels there must be when we read of a legion in one man; seven in Mary Magdalene: nor is there one graceless sinner in all the world that is not led captive by them. In the fall of Lucifer we see where all rebellion first began, and by whom it was spread; and this all our desperate and incurable Jacobins will one day find and confess to their everlasting shame, contempt, and confusion of face. Whatever might have been conceived in the mind of Lucifer at the sight of Adam, who was the figure of Christ, it appears that the open rebellion did not then break out, for the scriptures seem to intimate that it took place in heaven. And strange it is that the unparalleled condescension and humiliation of Christ should be the occasion of Satan's infinite pride. Never was there such humility as that of God manifest in the flesh; and this was seen of angels 1 Tim. iii. 16. And never was there such pride;in any creature as in Satan refusing worship to his Maker in a nature made a little lower than his own. But God loveth the Son; and this opposition to him was highly resented, and ever will be. God summoned Satan and all his adherents, and arraigned them, and brought home his charge against them, and left it upon their mind and conscience, and the divine displeasure of God against it; but Satan's full trial of condemnation did not take place as yet; this was reserved to a future time; ail that is said upon this head is, that God put no trust in these angelic servants; and his angels he charged with folly, Job iv. 18. Some good men understand that passage to be meant of good angels; and they talk of the charge being comparative folly. We know there can be no comparison between the creature and the Creator; but, as the angels of God are called elect angels, holy angels, and we read of the glory of the holy angels, mentioned by Christ himself; I think it is impossible that they could always behold the face of God if they could be charged with folly. And these angels do the will of God in their obedience so perfectly, that our Lord teaches us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." God pronounced all his works to be very good; but folly is always expressive of evil, in some branch of it or other. And, as the angels remain in their original and creative innocency, purity, and holiness, and are made known in the scriptures of truth to be elect angels, and are confirmed in their standing now in Christ, who is the head of all principality and power, if there is any folly in these holy creatures, it must reflect dishonour upon their creation and upon their Creator, for they are what God made them; nor have they any thing in them but what God put into them. And who will ascribe folly to God, or to the work of his hands? No one text in all the book of God ever pointed out or allowed sin or folly to be the workmanship of God; nor are they to be found in or among any one of the creatures that he made, when they came out of his hands. But it may be objected that they are called his angels; he charged his angels with folly; which shows that he claimed them as his. I answer, they were his before they fell; and even now he lays the same claim to them as he does to all wicked men; the deceived and the deceiver are his. The reason these good men urge in favour of good angels being intended, is, that the words chafed with folly are not strong enough to express the just indignation of God against such consummate wickedness as that of open rebellion against the Almighty himself. To all which I answer, that for his disobedience, apostacy, and rebellion, Satan was charged with folly, and cast out of heaven; but as yet he had not taken his full trial, he was not as yet fully judged, because, like the Amorites, he had not filled up his measure; his iniquity was not yet full. But, when he had ruined our first parents, and all the human race in them, then we hear of his full trial, and of his eternal sentence. But this was to take place in paradise in this world, which is the devil's stage of action, on which this unpardonable transgressor is to finish his work of deceiving, until all his adherents have filled up their measure as well as he, and then shall the end come. After this Satan was cast out of heaven; For John seems to speak in allusion to this when he is predicting the dethroning of the pagan Roman emperors, in which Satan had long reigned and ruled, and by whose instrumentality he had long persecuted and murdered the saints; when, by the coming of Constantine, a Christian emperor, "The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent; called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb." All these things seem to be borrowed from the fall of Satan, and by which pagan emperors and their ministers are compared to the devil and his angels. Peter says, that Satan was not only cast out of heaven, but was cast into hell. "For, if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment," &c. Now, if the word, hell, signifies the dreadful state into which the angels are fallen, even as our Lord's sufferings are called hell and the pains of hell, it is easy to be understood; but if by hell is meant the bottomless pit, the real receptacle of the damned, it is a wonder how he got out. This is no where revealed, that I know of; but, if it was so, it was permitted for the trial of mankind; for the devils are by no means in a place of confinement, or they are not confined in any prison; for Peter says that our adversary the devil is continually going about, as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And this is obvious enough, not only by the wickedness of the openly profane, but by the swarms of heretics, hypocrites, and impostors, with which the professing church is almost overrun. The highest seat of the Satanic empire, where the devils reside, hold their counsel, and keep their court, is in the air; this the scriptures testify abundantly. "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." This appears also by our Lord's parable of the sower, in which he calls the devils the fowls of the air: "And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way-side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up;" and the explanation of that part of the parable is, that Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts, Mark iv. 14. And, when the disciples returned from their labour in the ministry, and told Christ of the devils being subject to them through his name, our Lord said unto them, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." By all which it appears that the devils hold their council, and keep their court, in the air; their pride still mounting them as high as they can possibly get. And where they keep their Court there they will find the beginning of their torment, for so it is written: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth Upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together; as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the Sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously," Isaiah xxiv. 21-22. The host of the high ones that are on high are the devils, and are distinguished from the kings of the earth, which will be punished upon the earth in the battle of Armageddon, after the destruction of the beast; and this punishment will commence upon the first resurrection, in which all the just will rise, and at which time this world will be burnt up, and a new heaven and a new earth will appear. The devils and all the wicked, says the prophet, will be gathered together into the pit, and be shut up in the prison of hell, and will remain there a thousand years, in which time Christ will reign in a glorious manner before all his saints, from Adam the first down to the last soul called by grace. The first of these the prophet calls the Lord's ancients. And, when the thousand years are out, which the prophet calls many days, they will be visited, that is, they will be brought forth to be judged at the last judgment. And even the apostle John seems to have taken some of his matter from this passage of Isaiah, when he tells us that "the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done," Rev. vi. 17. And this pouring out the vial of wrath into the air is explained to be the binding of Satan; "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season," Rev. xx. 1-3. In all which John agrees with the prophet Isaiah, that upon the first resurrection, in which all that are blessed and holy will rise, the devil and his angels, which are in the air, and which are called the host of the high ones that are on high, will have the wrath of God poured out upon them. The earth and all the works of it will at the same time be burnt up, and the wicked will be burnt up also in the general conflagration, just as it was in the days of Lot: "But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." The bodies of the wicked being burnt to ashes with the world, all the souls of these wicked men, together with the devil and his angels, will be gathered together; as prisoners are gathered into the pit, or dungeon, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited, Isaiah xxiv. 22. At the close of the thousand years reign these prisoners will be visited, for death and hell must give up their dead. Death must give up the dead bodies, and hell must give up all condemned souls, in order to appear in the general and last judgment. And, when all these are raised, then Satan must be loosed for a little season, and will once more deceive the ruined race of mankind, even when they are raised from the dead. "And when the thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand upon the sea shore. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city." The devil and his adherents still bend all their rage at Christ and his saints, for hell will never cure them of their malice and indignation; they encompass the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but all in vain; for saints, in an immortal state, cannot be deceived nor hurt. The dead, small and great, must stand before God, Rev. xx. 12. And even angels shall, in one sense, be judged by the saints. And all who are not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire, Rev. xx. 15. But this fire will be poured out upon them before their eternal imprisonment takes place. "Fire," says John, "came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them," which is not to be understood of that-fire which will burn up the earth, but of the wrath of God. Read Isaiah xxx. 33. Having given my reader a small account of the origin of the devil, I now proceed to treat, 2. Of the works of the devil. That all the angels were present when the Lord delivered the law to Adam appears plain; for after Satan had entered into the serpent, he brought forth some words that the Lord spake to Adam at the delivery of the law. "But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." "And the serpent said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" By this speech it appears plain that Satan knew that the divine prohibition respected a certain tree, of which they Were not to eat; and his putting it to the woman by way of question was intended to beget a doubt in her mind, and to confuse her, and bring her to hesitate; and it had that effect, for in her answer she deviates from God's expressed assertion, thou shalt surely die, and answered, "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die." This was giving the lie even to God in his revealed word; and this lie poor Eve conceived: and, as this appears to be the first lie that ever was told in the world, and was told by Satan, he at this time obtained the name of the father of lies; and in Eve's mind he begat it, for there can be no father without a child. And this is what our Lord alludes to when he says that Satan "abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for ha is a liar, and the father of it," John viii. 44; Satan having gained this ground, he plied the woman with all his three engines at once. 1. The lust of the flesh: "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food." 2. And then with the lust of the eye: "and that it was pleasant to the eye." 3. With the pride of life; it was a tree to be desired to make one wise. And with all these three he attacked our Lord in the wilderness. 1. With the lust of the flesh: "If thou be the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread." 2. With the lust of the eyes: "And he shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." And, 3. With the pride of life: "All these shall be thine, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Satan foiled the woman, but the woman's seed foiled him: "All that is in the world? the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." And here we see where all these came from, namely, from Satan; and poor Eve conceived first a lie. 2. Unbelief: "Ye shall not surely die; which she believed; and by eating the forbidden fruit she conceived all these at once. In this affair appears the mystery of the wise man. "This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, arid it seemed great unto me. There was a little city, and a few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it; now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard." This little city was Zion in the loins of Adam; the great king, Satan; the siege, his temptations; the bulwarks, are the devils image; the wise man that delivered it is Christ; his wisdom that is despised is his gospel; the words that are not heard are the words and promises of life and those that are given up to despise them are of their father the devil. "She took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband, and he did eat." What this fruit was is variously conjectured; the citron, or citron apple, bids the fairest to be the forbidden fruit, because Christ, speaking to the church, says, "I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth; there she brought thee forth that bare thee." In which words we have, 1. The depths of man's fall, and all the elect among them, for we are all the children of wrath even as others: hence it. is said, "I raised thee up." 2. Raising them up signifies quickening them, and raising them out of a state of death and condemnation. 3. The mother that brought the church forth, and that bare her, is the covenant of grace, the heavenly Jerusalem above, which is free, for she is the mother of us all. 4. And at that time the covenant of life and peace exhibited her first promise, and held forth for the first time her breast of consolation: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." 5. And, as the words, brought thee forth, are repeated, it shows that they were not only raised from the dead and quickened, but brought forth from bondage, guilt, and fear, to the experience of mercy, compassion, goodness, and love; for without the operation of these there is no coming forth, but a hanging back and sticking fast. And, upon the whole, it appears that our first parents were the first elect called, the first converted, the first spiritual seed that appeared in the world, and the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb. Oh superabounding grace! This vile and malicious crime of Satan, in leading all the human race into apostacy, shows his implacable enmity to God, and inveterate hatred to human nature, which still appears; for although we have no account that devils disagree, or are cruel to each other, yet they appear most desperate and cruel to mankind, and even to those sinners which are the greatest drudges in the devil's service, as may be seen in his making Judas hang himself when Satan got possession of him, and driving king Saul often into insanity, and then to fall upon the point of his own sword; and by harassing others with unremitted accusations, who have been led by his allurements into the greatest enormities. Upon the whole, he is a most desperate enemy to the Almighty, and a most cruel and savage tormentor of the sons of men. But in this his seduction of mankind he filled up his measure, and ripened himself for judgment: "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." The whole of this is very obscure, but it is easy to observe the hot displeasure of God in it in these words, "Because thou hast done this." In heaven the elect and confirmed angels resisted and escaped his seduction; and the Son of God, against whom Satan rebelled, being omnipotent, soon avenged himself on this enemy; but man, poor, earthly, frail man, is for ever ruined in himself, and divested of all power either to resist or extricate himself: therefore, for this unparalleled cruelty, this unprovoked indignation, I will not spare; "Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle." Satan obtained two names by this his deception, that of the old serpent, Rev. xii. 9, because he abused that creature as the instrument of this mischief: and, as he had brought mankind under the sentence of death, he the beginning, John viii. 44. The sentence that was passed upon the serpent fell with all its weight upon the devil, the old serpent; for beasts and reptiles are not, properly speaking the subjects of the curse and wrath of God. When God cursed the ground, barrenness with briers and thorns were the effects of it: and when God tells the great men among the Jews that he had cursed their blessings, it means that the laws which he had given them would be a trap to them in Messiah's days, because they would trust in the types instead of truth, and in the shadows instead of the substance; and that their very tythes and offerings on which they lived, would prove a bane instead of a blessing; for "to the unbelieving there is nothing clean, mind and conscience being both defiled." But what; is the curse of God upon serpents, cattle, and beasts of the field? All divine laws that God has given are to rational creatures, God's wrath is revealed against sin, and his curse is levelled at sinners. And, for my part, I do not; think that the sentence of the great Judge of quick and dead fell either upon the serpent or on the beast of the field. Neither do I believe all that good men have said about the serpent's formerly going erect, though now reduced to crawl, and formerly eating better food, but now much dust with its meat, on account of its crawling in the dust, &c. for it is well known that there are many creeping things of the serpent, kind: the hooded serpent, the horned serpent, the fiery flying serpent, the basilisk, and the dragon; the deaf adder, the common adder, the viper, and the asp; the water snake; the land snake, and the rattle snake; the conger eel; the common eel, and the lamprey. All these are of the serpent kind, and go all alike upon their belly. Now, the serpent which the devil abused was but one, and could be but of one kind; but of what kind we know not. And the sentence of God is in the singular number, upon that serpent in which the devil appeared, and upon that only: "Upon thy belly shall thou go, and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life." So that, when that one serpent died the sentence was fully executed. Whereas, if it be true, as some learned men conjecture, that serpents before man's fall went erect, it follows that God's sentence has fallen upon every kind of serpent, from the dragon to the eel; for all these go upon their belly. But the sentence of the serpent, which stands upon record, is by no means so unbounded. Nor do I believe that the dust of the earth is the meat of serpents; for those who keep serpents in the kingdom of Abyssinia, for the purpose of divination, feed them with white bread and milk, which Mr. Bruce says those creatures are very fond of: and, if they ear much, it is allowed to be a good omen; if little, a bad one: and by these things those pagans judge of their good or bad success in their wars or other undertakings. But enough of this. I believe the dreadful sentence of the great God, which was passed upon so great an offender; and for such an unparalleled offence, amounts to much more than such trivial things as the above. There was an innumerable company of fallen angels in league with Satan, who were all included in him; and in the loins of Adam, then fallen, there was an innumerable multitude of reprobate sinners, who at this time, and upon this trial and judgment of satan, are, and that by God himself, called his seed: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." By the woman I understand Eve in type, but the church in truth; and by the woman's seed Christ, for he was born of a member of the house, hold of faith, and is the faithful and true witness himself; and Mary was a believer who bare him, and is blessed on account of her faith: "Blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her by the Lord." Christ therefore is the first seed; first in the choice and purpose of God; first in the promise; and first in eminence, title, and dignity, being the plant of renown, and all the rest but plants of disgrace: and next to Christ all the elect in him, which are expressly called Christ's seed; and they are likewise called the church's seed, Isaiah liv. 3. This is the woman and her seed. And there is another seed which God calls the seed of the serpent: "I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed." By the serpent's seed here, the other fallen angels that adhered to Satan are not intended; they are called the devil's angels, but are never called the devil's seed. The devil's seed are the reprobate part of mankind, which continue in Satan's image, espouse and adhere to Satan's cause, fight under his banner, and for him; who do his works, love his service; who imitate and unite with him against Christ and his believing and obedient family. Their badge and characteristic is enmity; "I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed." And sure I am that even the Mediator came not to stand in this gap: "Think ye that I am come to send peace upon earth? nay, but rather division, yea a sword and a fire; and to set three against two, and two against three; and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." These are the serpent's seed, according to Christ's account; for he calls them serpents, and adds, "You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." These says Christ, have seen and hated both me and my Father; and you shall be hated of all such men for my name's sake. These murdered Christ, and all his children which they could come at, as this seed have endeavoured to do ever since, more or less; and, whether they are under restraint or let loose, whether they act or lie dormant, they are to be known by their enmity: "I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed." Nor shall all the wisdom of the Arminians ever bring about a reconciliation between these, though they debase the just to the dust, and exalt the criminal to the clouds. This seed of the serpent not only bear his image, and defend his usurped empire and assumed authority, but they bear his name, and are expressly called serpents, and a generation of vipers, who cannot escape the damnation of hell. Now, as the devils are called lions, dragons, serpents, &c. and some of them are called by Christ fowls of the air, which devour the good seed of God's word; so these sinners are compared to cattle; called goats, Matt. xxv. 32, in opposition to sheep; they are called bulls, Psalm lxviii. 30; heifers at grass, Jer. 1. 11. All these the scriptures represent as the rebels and enemies of God and of his heritage; and these we may call cattle, for God himself calls them the same: and though the same metaphor may represent a saint as well as a sinner, as it does by the prophet Isaiah, who in one place calls a Gentile minister of Christ a ram of Nebaioth, Isaiah lx. 7; and in another place a rebellious Edomite appointed to the slaughter is called a ram also, Isaiah xxxiv. 6, 7; yet God will judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he-goats, Ezek, xxxiv. 17. This seed of the serpent are likewise compared to wild beasts: Herod is called a fox; a wicked ruler a bear; Nero a lion; and a persecutor of Christ's sheep a wolf. Therefore it appears to me that the sentence of God which he pronounced against the serpent, fell upon the old serpent the devil with all its weight; and that he is cursed of God above all the devils, being the head of all apostacy from God, both of angels and men; and that he is cursed above all the sinners of mankind, which are the serpent's seed. But we see no curse discovering itself upon cattle in a literal sense, nor upon the beast of the field, cording to the above sentence of God. Many of them are very useful tractable creatures; the ox and the ass are both brought forth to reprove the ignorance of Israel: "The ox knoweth its owner, and the ass its masters crib; but Israel doth not know." Balaam is rebuked for smiting his ass, and Israel for being a burden to the weary beasts; and, as to the serpents, I much question if any alteration ever took place in them; and it is remarkable that immediately upon the fall of man, he is compared to beasts: "Man being in honour abideth not; he is like the beasts that perish." Take notice here, that as soon as man fell he became like the beasts that perish, which makes it manifest enough that the beasts of the field, in the first part of God's sentence, are the reprobate part of mankind, which in the latter part of the sentence, are called the serpent's seed. The serpent being cursed above all the beasts of the field appears to me to amount to this, that the old serpent, the devil, is cursed above all the sinners of mankind, and that reprobate sinners are the beasts of the field: "I said in my heart, concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts." And they are beasts which will receive the same curse in the last day; the Judge will set the goats on the left hand, and say," Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." But it may be objected, that one part of the serpent's sentence is, "Upon thy belly shalt thou go." I answer: belly sometimes, in the language of scripture, means no more than the wounds, lashes, and reproaches, of a guilty conscience: "Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not; surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly." And sometimes it signifies affliction, depression, and abasement: "We are accounted as sheep for slaughter. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression? for our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth." And sure I am that Satan feels no peace in his conscience; reflecting on his former happiness pierces him; his expectation of greater misery torments him; the curse and wrath of God smoking in his conscience stirs up and inflames his enmity, and hurries him on seeking to avenge himself: but all in vain. He has no quietness in him conscience; he seeketh test, but findeth none. The belly of this serpent cleaves to the dust. We have no account that Satan ever eases his mind, or spends any of his desperate rage, upon other devils; but to men he cleaves close enough, and hates to let them go; for it is upon men, who are but dust and ashes, that he vents all his spleen. When the unclean spirit went out of the man he had no rest till he returned into his house from whence he came out, Matt. xii. 44.; and the dreadful sensations of the best saint under heaven differ little from the feelings of the devil himself when Satan is suffered, for the trial of faith, to have access to him, and to influence the carnal mind with his infernal rage, and to stir up the filth and rebellion of the heart; as may be seen by Peter in Satan's sieve; Job in the devil's hand; and the incestuous Corinthian when delivered up to Satan. Peter blasphemes, Matt. xxvi. 72; Job gets desperate, Job vi. 26; and the Corinthian is swallowed up, 2 Cor. ii. 7. Men mad, and men given up to desperation and black despair, afford the most relief to Satan of any; for, when the old serpent has conceived in his mind a fresh burden of rage and wrath, he, having these in his own power, and access to them at all times, fills them with his own indignation, and that eases himself. The next part of Satan's sentence is, "Dust shalt thou eat." God himself declares of man that he is dust: "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." This must mean the body, not the soul. Now the apostle tells us, that "Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." And in these fleshly lusts doth Satan delight; hence he is called a foul spirit, an unclean spirit; and they who allow themselves to live in all uncleanness are expressly called the sons of Belial, 1 Sam. ii. 12; Judges xix. 22. And this appears to me to be the last part of Satan's sentence, for upon these things Satan feeds; and whatever change is made in the worst of sinners by grace it makes no alteration in his food. "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall, eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," Isaiah lxv. 25. The whole sentence passed upon Satan is as follows: "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat, all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." I cannot believe that the Almighty would talk in such a way to a beast of the field, or pass such a sentence on so insignificant a thing as a serpent, which could not understand one word he said; nor do I believe the serpent to be much more subtle than the ape and the fox, until the devil entered into it and made it so: all its superior subtlety was from Satan. Nor do I believe that cattle and beasts of the field are, strictly speaking, the objects of God's wrath and curse; for many convicted sinners, under the dread of damnation, have longed to be in their place; nay, I myself have wished it, and upon no other consideration than this, but because there is no hereafter to them, nor any curse upon them. Devils and men are the transgressors of God's laws; and upon these, and upon no other, will the curse of the law be pronounced in the great day. And it should be remarked, that those who are called cattle and beasts of the field, in the first part of the sentence, are called the serpent's seed in the latter part of it. And these we see are under the curse; and the enmity between the saints of God and the seed of the serpent smokes, flames, and rages, to this day, and ever will, in all that cleave to a broken law, and as long as the curse of it abides upon them. I come now to the works of the devil. Two things in man the devil abhorred: 1. The image of God in him. 2. The human nature itself, because the Saviour's assumption of human nature was Satan's rock,of offence. This was seen of all the angels in Adam, for Adam was the figure of him that was to come; therefore the devil aimed at the ruin of human nature to prevent it, and by that means made a way for it. The Holy Spirit, who formed God's image in man, and kept him shining in it, upon man's fall left him; and upon the entrance of sin it was wholly defaced, or else it was entirely withdrawn, and man began to cover with a covering, but not of God's Spirit; sin. Satan having brought man into sin, sin separated between God and man, and man fell under the sentence of death curse of the law and under the wrath of God. The devil having effected this his, design, which is what Paul calls, four times in one chapter, the offence Rom. v. because God was angry with man, and man became an enemy to God, this breach Satan hoped would never be healed, and this gap never closed. He, having got man under his power, drew in him his own image; hence sinful men are called the children of the devil. Now they are called the children of the devil on various accounts. 1. Because, as sinners, the devil begot them. "Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death," James i. 15. Eve lusted after the forbidden fruit, and Satan told her she should not die for eating it, Thus she conceived a lie; and Christ says that the devil was a liar from the beginning; and, when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it. Ananias and Sapphira, who lied to the Holy Ghost, are said to conceive the falsehood in their hearts; and it was Satan that filled their hearts, Acts v. 3, 4. A whorish heart, Ezek. vi. 9, is the devil's strumpet; "And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils after whom they have gone a whoring," Levit. vii. 7. 2. They are called children of the devil, because by sin they are like him, and bear his names. Satan is called a liar, and so are all mankind; Satan is called a lion, and so are sinful men; he is called the old serpent, and they are called serpents, and a generation of vipers. Satan is called a destroyer, because he has destroyed all mankind, and aims to destroy the sheep of Christ; and sinners are called the destroyers of God's heritage, Jer. 1. 11. Satan is called an enemy, and reprobate sinners are the same; they hate both Christ and his Father; and all the saints are to be hated of all such men for Christ's name sake. 3. They bear the image of the devil. God's image was glorious: Man is the image and glory of God, 1 Cor. xi. 7; Satan's image is disgrace and shame, Rom. vi. 21. God's image was honour; "Man being in ho, hour abideth not." Satan's image is dishonour, 1 Cor. xv, 43. God's image is light; "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image:" Satan's image is darkness; The God of this world blinds the mind, 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. The image of God is uprightness; "God made man upright:" the devil's image is perverseness; "A perverse and crooked generation," Deut. xxxii. 5. God's image is wisdom and knowledge: "Put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him:" the devil's image is blindness and ignorance; "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." God's image is created in true holiness, Eph. iv. 24; the devil's image is nothing but sin. God's image is righteousness, Eph. iv. 24; Satan's image is guilt and condemnation. God's image is love; "He that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God:" the devil's image is enmity against God, Rom. viii. 7. God's image was life, the devil's image is death, This image our first parents conceived, and in this fallen man propagates his seed: he begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, and this image God hates. "As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image." Every one that is found in the day of judgment in Satan's image will be sent away from Christ, and will go with the devil and his angels. 4. Men are called the children of the devil, because they do his works: and they begin their works just as he did. The devil began with lying, and so do all his children: "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies." Hence our Lord says, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." 5. In Satan's image the kingdom of the devil stands. There are but two sorts of children, children of God and children of the devil. Over God's children Satan reigns not, but in his own children he reigns and rules; and his empire stands in his own image, and in nothing else. The souls of sinners are his throne, and the heart his palace. "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace his goods are in peace," Luke xi. 21; compare with Isaiah liii. 12. "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world; according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." And all the time that Satan keeps the palace men are nothing but drudges and slaves to him, for he works in the children of disobedience: he holds them in his snare, and leads hem at his pleasure. "If God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." The devils have erected a sort of empire and government among themselves, as appears from what the word of God says. Christ, at his death, is said to spoil principalities and powers: he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them on the cross, Col. ii. 15. And we read of a kingdom which the devil has usurped: "If Satan be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?" We read likewise of Beelzebub, the prince of the devils; and it should seem that they attend upon the different branches of their infernal empire severally. That of murdering and lying our Lord charges upon the devil and Satan. The man of sin also, with his false doctrine, which is called all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, is said to be after the coming of Satan, who is the head of the apostacy, the chief and king of the devils and of all sinners. Unclean sinners are called children of Belial. The covetous are palmed upon Mammon. And idolaters upon all the devils. "But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils." I come now to treat of the manifestation of the Son of God. "That he might destroy the works of the devil." The scriptures declare that Christ hath destroyed the devil's works, and even the devil himself; for Paul says that through death Christ destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and delivered them who, through the fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage, Heb. ii. 14, 15. These things, which the word of God declares, though with which the face of things in the world does not seem to agree, are not a little puzzling to weak believers; for we hear of the whole kingdom of the beast being full of darkness, and whole nations still in idolatry; and even in this land, where the truth is continued, every old heresy is revived, and every doctrine of devils advanced and defended, and all sorts of profanity riding in triumph. And, as for religion, a dead form preveils every where; nay, among professors themselves, how many have a name to live and are dead? Legions of impostors fill the pulpit, and swarms of hypocrites the pews; so that there are but a few names even in Sardis. This wonder arises from our ignorance of the scriptures. Christ never undertook in behalf of any but the elect of God, nor will he ever destroy the devil's works out of any soul living but out of the objects of his own choice. Very early intimations were given of this: for, at the same time that God declared the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, he assigned a seed to the serpent, which are called the children of the devil; between whom and the seed of the woman God put enmity, which soon appeared in Cain and Abel. Abel was a child of God by Faith, as all the elect are and shall be: and Cain was of that wicked one, and slew him. And in this matter the two seeds were made manifest, and the enmity that was put between them. And even among the Jews, instead of the devil's works being destroyed out of them, Christ declared that the devil should fall with greater force upon them after his departure, as it is written, "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none. Then he saith, I will return into my house, from whence I came out; and when he is come he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter m and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation." These Jews are called Satan's own house. The gospel of Christ tormenting him, he left it; and at his return he claims it still as his own: and, in order to repossess it with more firmness and fortitude, he goes and takes to himself seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, by which it appears that some devils are more desperately wicked than others, and these enter in and dwell there: and, if their last state is worse than the first, neither the devils nor their works were ever destroyed out of them. Even where the gospel comes the seed of the serpent only sin and rage the more: "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you." These despisers are no other than the serpent's seed: between whom and the saints God has put enmity. These, instead of believing in Christ, defend the empire of Satan to the uttermost. Some of the pagan Roman emperors abdicated their thrones, and died in despair, only because they could not extirpate the Christians; and others armed themselves, in the days of Constantine, and appeared in open war, and fought with the devil at their head, vindicating Satan's cause at the expense of a sea of blood; and even perished in support of the devil's usurpation: "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him," Rev. xii. 7-9. And even John himself, the penman of my text, speaks very strongly of the universal possession of Satan when he says, "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." The first step taken in destroying the devil's works, was The incarnation of Christ; for, as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise took part of the same. This bringing Godhead and manhood together brought God and man together: hence he is called Emmanuel, or God with us. To this the Psalmist alludes when he says, "Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the Son of man, whom thou hast made strong for thyself," The strength of this man lies in the union between the two natures, which was to answer all the good purposes of God towards men in destroying the devil's works, and in setting up an empire of grace on its ruin. The Son of God was manifested, or, as Paul says, "Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." Now the Godhead was manifested by the miracles he wrought. "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cane of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory." By raising the dead; by rebuking the sea and the winds; by his authority over the devils, and their fears and tremblings, at his presence; by the adoration and worship given him both by men and angels; by the Father's voice three times from heaven giving testimony to him; by the visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon him; by the power, wisdom, and majesty, of his word; by the communications of pardoning and every other grace; by eternal life attending his voice; by the heavenly light that shone into the hearts and souls of men; by the change made in the worst of sinners; by his transfiguration on the mount; by his patience, humility, and fortitude in death; by the prodigies that appeared in the earth, in rocks, graves, and the vail of the temple rending, when he yielded up the ghost; by his resurrection from the dead, and his appearances to his own followers afterwards; by his ascension into heaven in sight of eleven witnesses; by the coming of the Holy Ghost, as the fruit and effect of his mediation; by the miraculous power displayed in the apostles; by the conversion of Jew and Gentile; by the unparalleled fortitude of his martyrs; and by the irresistible spread of his kingdom in the world, in the face of all opposition, both from men and devils, and by its continuance to this day; "God was manifest the flesh." Men with their bodily eyes saw his flesh, before his death and after his resurrection, and no more; but the eye of faith saw God shine in it, and shine through it. "God was manifest in the flesh." 2. At eight days old Emmanuel was circumcised, and by that ordinance he became a debtor in man's room; yea, we put off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, Col. ii. 11; and if we put off our sins by Christ's circumcision, then, by the same ceremony, he took them on himself] In the life of our surety a perfect obedience was given to every precept of the law. He bore our sins in his own body; he received our sentence; he endured the curse, by being made a curse for us; be suffered all the wrath revealed in a broken law, and died in our stead, the just for the unjust; and in this he effectually destroyed the works of the devil for us. Upon this finished work the law was magnified and honoured for evermore. God was reconciled and well pleased, the debt-book cancelled and nailed to the cross, iniquities were removed in one day, and an act of grace took place in heaven, that, by the blood of the covenant, a gaoldelivery should be proclaimed to all the king's debtors. And upon the resurrection of Christ our discharge was obtained, troth was cleared, and the covenant confirmed; the wrath of God was appeased, the sword of justice sheathed, sins purged, and man was ransomed; the grave was vanquished, death swallowed up in victory, the devil's works by Christ destroyed, and apostate and apostatizing man made nigh to God by the blood of Christ. But he destroys the works of the devil in us as well as for us; for, upon the accession of Christ to the right hand of God, the Holy Ghost is received and sent forth to take possession of the Lord's purchased inheritance; and upon his coming the devil is cast out of the human heart, the atonement of Christ is applied to purge the conscience, the imputed righteousness of Christ is put on for justification, and condemnation is removed; the washing of regeneration defaces the devil's image, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost reinstamps once more the image of God, while the poor sinner stands wondering at the sight, and melting in the power. "All we, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord," This blessed image is, 1. Glorious light. And in these stand the kingdom of God, and in nothing else. "Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." This new man is the whole work of grace, and the whole of implanted grace; and in this stands the kingdom of God; for, "Even so shall grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Christ's seed are Christ's subjects. Christ reigns over his own children: "Let the children of Zion rejoice in their king." Christ's children bear his image. We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son. And his kingdom stands in his own image. The kingdom stands in righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost. But they that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his; for he produces all grace in us, and sets up and maintains the Messiah's kingdom in the heart. This cuts off and casts out all that make a fair show in the flesh; and, to complete this work, we are delivered from the law under which all the seed of the serpent continue, being under the curse that was passed upon Satan, and on all his seed in him; and we are brought under the everlasting love, grace, and mercy, of God in Christ Jesus, which are all secured to us by covenant. The remains of Satan's corruption, by the saints called the old man, is to continue in being until death, as a spur to our diligence, and to magnify the grace and power of God in us; both which are allsufficient, and evidently appear to be so when we are the most weakened and dismayed by this body of death. The working of it consists chiefly in unbelief, enmity, rebellion, and the workings of uncleanness in the carnal mind, and in striving most to oppose when the saint is most bent upon good. But this old man was condemned in Christ crucified when he died: he is put off when the new man is put on: is to have his requests daily denied; shall never be imputed to us as sin; is to be put off for good and all with the body at death, and never to be seen or felt more. And, at the resurrection, the Spirit that now dwells in us shall quicken our mortal bodies, and fashion them like unto the glorious body of Christ: and then shall the devil and all his seed perish in their own corruption, and be destroyed with endless destruction from the presence of God, and from the glory of his power; for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it. |