to violate what he had commanded And when this first Stratagem too fatally succeeded in the world and to the ruine of man directly answered the designe and expectation of the Devil it inspired a new life into that old Serpent and encouraged him with the greater vigour to range up and down the world seeking whom he might devour and destroy that he hath long since usurpt a principality and dominion over the Souls of men and to this day continues the Prince of the power of the Air nay the God of this World working in the Children of disobedience and leading them captive at his will But the All-compassionate God pitying the Shipwrackt condition of Man did not as in justice he might totally abhor and eternally reject him for since by his fall he had divested himself of his primitive Integrity proved a Rebel to his Lord and Maker listed himself into the service of the Devil and so stood at open defiance with Heaven it self God Almighty by the most signal instance of Wisdom Power and Goodness hath at once manifested his unspeakable Love to Mankind and his implacable Enmity to those accursed Spirits by sending his Son into the World as the Captain of man's Salvation who solemnly proclaimed open War with the Devil bid defiance to him at his entrance into the World and by Almighty power will overcome his aspiring Pride and desperate Malice rescue men from the hands of that roaring Lion and so at once demolish his usurped Kingdom and destroy his works from off the face of the Earth All which as it was represented to man immediately after his fall Gen. 3.15 that the Seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head and that Promise frequently renewed in succeeding Ages so in the fulness of time it was happily begun by the Incarnation of the Son of God who came to deliver men from the tyranny of the Devil to invest them with the liberty of the Sons of God and to bring everlasting Righteousness into the World is still continued by his prevalency over the Devil in confronting his Power restraining his Malice weakening his Interest in the World and dispossessing those evil Spirits from the heart of man and when time shall be no more shall be perfectly accomplished to the eternal horrour confusion and amazement of the Devil and his Angels Which is the just designe and proper import of these words For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil By the works of the Devil is here meant all manner of sin v. 5. for as he was the first Author so he is the continual Promoter of that Corruption which resides in the breast of men and that Impiety which reigns in the World So that all sin of what nature or quality soever it be is the Brat and Off-spring of that diabolical Spirit the proper effect of his spleen and malice to mankind and in the expression of our Apostle the works of the Devil for he that committeth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinn'd from the beginning The Son of God is the second person in the blessed Trinity God coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Holy Ghost Who was manifest in the flesh became man dwelt among us and died for us that he might destroy the works of the Devil i. e. to teach and enable men to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world That the Son of God was thus manifest to destroy the works of the Devil will most evidently appear from the consideration of three very material instances 1. That the Son of God hath used those means and taken that course which does directly tend and is abundantly able to subvert the power of the Devil 2. That in many remarkable instances he hath already supplanted his Power in the World 3. That he will certainly obtain a most perfect Victory over the Devil before he resigne up his Commission to his Father I. The Son of God hath used those means and taken that course which does directly tend and is abundantly able to subvert the power of the Devil The truth of which Proposition will be fully illustrated from the consideration of four things 1. From the whole course and frame of his Life whilst manifest in the World wherein he was so far from complying with that he did utterly discountenance the works of the Devil The Generation of Mankind according to the course of Nature is too much attended with the heat of Lust and the propagation of Original Corruption into the Embryo at its first conception therefore the ever-blessed Jesus coming into the World was conceived by a most stupendous and admirable manner the power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing a pure Virgin that she became great with Child of the Son of God and when the number of her months were accomplished she brought him forth into the World as richly adorned with divine and supernatural Graces as he was poor in respect of outward appearance When his Infancy was past that he came to the use of Reason and Understanding a time wherein other men begin to discover the natural corruption of their hearts by their actual rebellion against God the Son of God truly so called from his divine-like nature and holy life as well as his miraculous and happy birth begins his Conversation with an even and a regular Piety free from those sinful passions though attended with the natural infirmities which mankind labours under and accordingly regulates them according to the Laws of Nature and the Pleasure of his heavenly Father His Charity was truly Christian and diffusive such as extended to all orders and degrees of men His meek and sweet disposition with his humble and modest Spirit such as appears in Infants before they can discern between good and evil His conversing with men was free and familiar easie and unaffected His dutiful respects toward his Friends and Relations transcending that of the most ingenuous disposition though cultivated by the early advantages of a pious Education Neither did he suffer his Religion to decline as some men do when their years increase but as he multiplied days and grew in stature he increased in wisdom and favour with God and man Luke 2.52 He was careful to omit no duty and so desirous to give no offence that where he might lawfully conform to the Customs of his Nation and Kindred he did not with a morose and churlish disposition like the men of our Age depart from them but with great freedom and a cheerful spirit comply with and conform to them Witness his Circumcision the eighth day his being baptized by John his paying Tribute c. But where the sacred Bonds of Religion required and commanded his obedience neither the violent assaults of Satan Mat. 16.22 23 nor the courteous compellations of Friends could constrain him to violate the dearest Heaven He esteemed Obedience the
reject the Devil and despise the World to avoid every occasion of sin Jam. 4.7 1 Joh. 2.15 1. Thess 5.22 and appearance of evil and whatever things are true whatever things are honest whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise seriously to think of these things and faithfully to do them Phil. 4.8 9. More particularly Heb. 11.3 1 Tim. 6.15 16 it requires men to acknowledge one God the Creator and Governours of the World to conceive him as an infinite and incomprehensible Being to testifie the inward reverence and devotion of their hearts Rom. 12.1 2. by the most ready and universal obedience to his Will to love him for his Goodness to stand in awe of his Justice and his Power 1 Joh. 4.8 Mat. 10.28 Mat. 6.25 1 Thess 5.18 Joh. 4.24 to depend upon his Providence for their protection and to express their thankfulness for the receipt of his Mercies to be serious in all parts of his Worship to live always as in his presence and to manifest their respect to God by their reverend behaviour to every thing that is appropriate to his service or participates of his nature Faithfully to believe all divine Revelations humbly to submit to all the dispensations of his Providence and sincerely to observe all the manifestations of his Will and Pleasure To believe on the Son of God as the Saviour of the World the great Doctor and Governour of the Church Mat. 1.21 Jam. 4.12 1 Tim. 2.5 and the alone Mediator between God Man It prescribes the particular Offices engaging men to a due regulation of all their thoughts words and deeds that do immediately respect their own persons Luke 21.34 It directs them to Temperance and Moderation in eating and drinking in sleeping and recreation to Chastity and Purity both in the married and unmarried estate to Humility and Modesty in the disposition and carriage of men Acts 24.16 To restrain every unruly Passion within the bounds of Reason and to regulate every the most lawful Affection according to the rules of Religion To guide and manage their Behaviour with sobriety and understanding and to order their Discourse with gravity and discretion It lays down also the most excellent Rules of Charity and Justice toward their Neighbours obliging every man to the greatest Sincerity Uprightness and Integrity to each other Mat. 5.23 24 25. Rom. 13.7 to an universal Innocence and Harmlesness in all actions to make Compensation where Offences have been committed to carry a due Respect and Reverence proper to the several Orders and Degrees of men to observe all the positive Acts of Justice distributive and commutative according to the Offices of that Calling wherein divine Providence hath disposed man's Station and to observe all the duties of Love and Charity which the necessities of others require Gal. 6.10 and the abilities of men do qualifie them for In a word the Christian Profession is so pure so undefiled a Religion that it prohibits the least impurity and gives no license to the smallest sin for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.11 12 13 14. and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Secondly It propounds the most convincing Arguments to encourage men against the Wiles and Temptations of the Devil and to perswade them to the sincere and constant practice of Vertue and Goodness It threatens the Wicked with the Wrath and Indignation of God at present and promiseth to the Vertuous and Good the Providence of God as his infinite Wisdom shall judge most expedient for them But because it is manifest God doth not call Mankind to an account in this World nor deal with them in strict Justice according to their deserts for his external Dispensations are very promiscuous both to the Good and Bad therefore the Gospel doth seriously present to the consideration of men an infallible certainty of a Judgment to come when God shall render to every man according to his works Acts 17.31 2 Pet. 3.10 2 Thess 1.7 Mat. 25.30 ad fin 2 Cor 5.10 It informs us of the nature of the Judge the dreadful preparation for his coming to Judgment the terrible appearance of his Majesty the great proceedings of that day and the irreversible Sentence past upon all concerned in it that we may be confidently assured there are Rewards in store for every man that the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him and the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him It represents the greatest fulness and exuberancy of divine Love Rom. 2.7 8 9 10. Life and Immortality to the Vertuous and Good but the utmost severity of divine Justice Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish to the Vicious and Bad. It assures to all that live according to the Rules of that holy Institution eternal and solid Bliss both in Body and Soul that the one which was corruptible shall put on incorruption which was sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory which was sown in weakness shall be raised in power 2 Cor. 15.42 43. And the faculties of the other so eminently transformed that the Understanding which now seeth the most perspicuous things but darkly and through a Glass shall be endued with the greatest measure of knowledge and entertained with the clearest sight of the divine nature to behold with infinite satisfaction the glorious attributes of God and the wonderful Counsels and effects of them all in his works of Providence toward his several Creatures The Will and Affections shall be perfectly transformed into the divine likeness that Anger Envy Hatred and such troublesome Passions shall be utterly abolished Desire shall be sped into Fruition and Hope shall be swallowed up in Victory and those delightful and ravishing affections of Love and Joy shall survive and remain to the eternal consolation of Soul and Body But it threatens the Wicked that they shall be turned into hell and all the people that forget God Mark 9.24 26. where are Flames so quick and scorching that they shall seize upon Soul and Body Torments that shall always be beginning never ending which the damned themselves by their Malice shall increase and by the gnashing of their Teeth shall help to be their own Executioners So that those who comply with the Wiles and Temptations of the Devil must expect a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour them Heb. 10.27 but those who resist that evil Spirit and seriously renounce his works may expect that glorious
Orators Grammarians Rhetoricians Lawyers Physitians and Philosophers forsook their former Sentiments and adhered to the Doctrine of Christ Nay so mightily prevailed the Word of God in despight of the Devil and all the Powers of Darkness that within an Age or two after the Incarnation of the Son of God his dominion was as large as the World and extended over the Territories of the whole Earth Hesterni sumus Apol. C. 36. c. 1. vestra omnia implevimus c. saith Tertullian For the Temple of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed and the daily Sacrifice perfectly ceased and such the Reformation in the Gentile World that the Devils forsook their ancient Habitations and trembled Eus Ecc. Hist l. 2. c. 3. l. 3. c. 8. where-ever the noise of the Gospel sounded their clamorous Oracles soon became dumb and their principal Deities mute as a Child their great Gods forsook their beloved Temples and though some were chained yet they were constrained to run away Nay so bold and confident were the Primitive Christians in their Apologies before their Persecutors that they challenged the Governours and Rulers Tert. Apol. c. 23 22. before whom they appeared to bring any persons possessed with evil Spirits or grieved with any other Infirmities and if they did not in the Name of Christ restore the one sound to his health the other to an entire mind they would be content to die the most ignominious accursed death Nay Lact. de fals Sap. l. 2. c. 25 26 to discover the excellency and vertue of the Christian Religion they were bold to say that by the Administration of the Gospel they would undertake to convince the most obstinate to convert the most obdurate sinner and to transform the most diabolical and hellish nature into a divine and heavenly temper verifying hereby those lofty Expressions of the Apostle that the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword Heb. 4.12 Mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And to this very day the Son of God hath rode in triumph over the Devil not onely by teaching men to deny all ungoaliness and worldly lusts to live soverly righteously and godly in this present world but by redeeming them actually from all iniquity and purifying to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Thus it was prophesied of the Messiah Isai 61.1 and fulfilled by him when he appeared in the World as he himself testifies The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath appointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bound and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord Luke 4.18 19. In a word the glorious company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs and all the Saints of God that have departed this life in his Faith and Fear and now make up that part of the Church Triumphant in the Kingdom of Heaven waiting for the accomplishment of our Victory and the perfecting of the Body of Christ have been redeemed by the Bloud of the Son of God delivered by him from the snares of Death and the power of the Devil and are now sate down with the Lamb of God in the highest Heavens III. The Son of God will most certainly obtain a perfect Victory over the Devil before he resigne up his Commission to his Father as from all eternity he was fore-ordained and in the fulness of time solemnly inaugurated into this Office As to this very day he hath been faithful in the administration of it to the destruction of Satan's Kingdom so he will undoubtedly continue till he hath accomplished the number of his Elect 1 Cor. 15.28 compleated the body of the Church Triumphant and subdued the Power and Authority of his Enemies So that though the Devil disturb the Peace of the Church and make his rendezvouz in the World seeking whom he might devour and destroy yet the Son of God who in his Resurrection led captivity captive and to this day hath gone on conquering and to conquer will still proceed in this victorious manner till he hath perfectly routed the Devil and his Angels and his place be found no more on the Earth as it is prophesied by St. John Rev. 12. For at the last and dreadful day there shall be a general conflagration in the World to consume the Wickedness thereof when the Devil and his Angels shall be constrained to appear before this glorious Prince and receive their final doom which was denounced upon them when they were cast out of Heaven to be thrust into the bottomless Pit with all their accursed Crew to be tormented day and night and to dwell in everlasting burnings when the great Redeemer of the World the Captain of mans Salvation shall gloriously ascend to the Kingdom of his Father and in triumphant Chariots carry up with him an innumerable company of blessed Saints who shall sit down with him in his Fathers Kingdom and reign as Kings and Queens for evermore We have hitherto considered the truth of the Proposition delivered in the Text That it was the grand designe and purpose of the Son of God to destroy the works of the Devil that he was manifest in the World to deliver Man from his Power and Dominion to teach and enable them to walk in the ways of Vertue and Goodness From which Argument 't is just and obvious to infer three things 1. From hence men may learn whether they be indeed the Servants of God and Disciples of Christ or the Slaves and Vassals of the Devil 'T is the continual Employment of that accursed Spirit to lay Snares in our way to Heaven to tempt and entice Souls to the practice of sin and thereby to ascertain their eternal Ruine On the other side 't is the constant endeavour of our blessed Saviour to deliver men from their evil ways to encline their hearts to the Love and their lives to the Practice of all manner of Goodness thereby to reconcile them unto God and to save them in the day of the Lord. Flatter not your selves then in a business of so great concernment Our Apostle lays down a plain Rule from this Doctrine He that doth righteousness is righteous even as Christ is righteous v. 7. He that committeth sin is of the Devil v. 8. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin v. 9. And in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God v. 10. Let men pretend what they will a sinful and wicked life is a plain Mark and Character of one that belongs to the Devil as on the contrary a vertuous and godly Conversation