and depths of Satan we read of, which all his subjects know not of, Rev. ii. 24. These are imparted to a few favourites, such as Elynias, whom Paul calls ' full of all subtilty, and child of the devil ; ' such, whose consciences are so debauched, that they scruple not the most horrid sins ; these are his white boys. I have read of a people in America that love meat best when it is rotten and stinks. The devil is of their diet ; the more corrupt and rotten the creature is in sin, the better he pleaseth his tooth ; some are more the children of the devil than others. Christ had his beloved disciple, and Satan those that lie in his very bosom, and know what is in his heart. In a word, princes have their vccli- ffatia, their tribute and custom ; so Satan his. Indeed he doth not so much share with the sinner in all, but is owner of all he hath, so that the devil is the merchant, and the sinner but the broker to trade for him, who at last puts all his gains into the devil's purse : time, strength, parts, yea, conscience and all are spent to keep him in his throne.
Section II. — Quest. Bvit how comes Satan to his principality?
Ans. Not lawfull}-, though he can shew a fair claim. As,
First, He obtained it by conquest ; as he won his crown, so he wears it by power and policy. But conquest is a cracked title. A thief is not the honester because able to force the traveller to deliver his purse ; and a thief on the throne is no better than a private one on the road, or pirate in a pinnace, as he boldly told Alexander. Neither doth thatprove good with process of time which was evil at first. Satan indeed hath kept possession long, but a thief will be so as long as he keeps his stolen goods ; he stole the heart of Adam from God at first, and doth no better to this day. Christ's conquest is good, because the ground of the war is righteous, fo recover what was his own ; but Satan cannot say of the meanest creature, ' It is my own.'
Secondly, Satan may lay claim to his principality by election ; it is true, he came in by a wile, but now he is a prince elect, by the unanimous choice of corrupt nature; ' Ye are of your father the devil,' saith Christ, ' and his lusts ye will do.' But this also hath a flaw in it ; for man by law of creation is God's subject, and cannot give away God's right; by sin he loseth his right in God, as a protector, but God loseth not his right as a sovereign. Sin disabled man to keep God's law, but it doth not enfranchise or discharge him that he need not keep it.
Thirdly, Satan may claim a deed of gift from God himself; as he was bold to do to Christ himself, upon this ground, persuading him to worship him as the prince of the world, Luke iv. 5,6:' He shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world, saying. All this will I give thee, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it:' where there was a truth, though he spake more than the truth, as he cannot speak truth, but to gain credit to some lie at the end of it ; God indeed hath delivered in a sense this world to him, but not in his sense, to do what he will with it, nor by any approbatory act given him a patent to vouch him his viceroy; not Satan by the ' grace' of God, but by the ' permis- sion' of God, prince of the world.
Quest. But why doth God permit this apostate creature to exercise such a principality over the world ?
Ans. First, As a righteous act of vengeance on man, for revolting from the sweet government of his rightful Lord and Maker ; it is the way that God punisheth rebellion : ' Because ye would not serve me with gladness, in the abundance of all things, therefore ye shall serve your enemies in hunger,' &c. Satan is a king given in God's wrath. Ham's cvu'se is man's punishment, ' a servant of servants.' The devil is God's slave, man the devil's. Sin hath set the devil on the creature's back, and now he hurries him without mercy, as he did the swine, till he be choked with flames, if mercy interpose not.
Secondly, God permits tliis his principality, in order to the glorifying of his name in the recovery of his elect from the power of this great potentate. What a glorious name will (iod have when he hath finished this war, wherein at first he found all possessed by this enemy, and not a man of all the sons of Adam to offer himself as a volunteer in this service, till made willing in the day of his power ! This, this will gain God a name above every name, not only of creatures, but of those by which himself was known to his
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