cre;'iture. The workmanship of heaven and earth give h.ini the nnnie of a Creator, providence of Preserver; but this of Saviour, wherein lie doth both the former, preserve the creature, which else had been lost, and create a new creature, I mean the babe of Grace, which, through God, shall be able to beat the devil out of the field, who was able to drive Adam, though created in his full stature, out of Paradise ; and may not all the other works of God empty themselves as rivers into the sea, losing their names, or rather swelling into one redemption? Had not Satan taken God's elect prisoners, they would not have gone to heaven with such acclamations of triumph. There arc three expressions of a great joy in Scripture, the joy of a v,'oman after her travail, the joy of harvest, and the joy of him that divideth the spoil ; the exultation of all these is wrought upon a sad ground ; many a pain and tear it costs the travailing woman, many a fear the husbandman, perils and wounds the soldier, before they come at their joy, hut at last are paid for all, the remembrance of their past sorrows feeding their present joys. Had Christ come and entered into afthiity with our nature, and returned peaceably to heaven with his spouse, finding no resistance ; though this would have been admirable love, and that would have afforded true joy of marriage, yet this way of carrying his saints to heaven will heighten the joy, as it adds to the nuptial song the triumph of a conqueror, who iiath rescued his bride out of the hands of Satan, as he was leading her to the chambers of hell.
Section III. — Uae 1. IsSatan such aprince ? try whose subject tliou art. His empire is large, only a few privileged who are translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son ; even in Christ's OAvn territories, (visible church I mean,) where his name is professed, and the sceptre of his gospel held forth, there Satan hath liis subjects. As Christ hath his saints in Nero's court, so the devil his ser- vants in the outward court of his visible cluuxh. Thou must therefore have something more to exempt thee from his government, than living within the pale, and giving an outv.'ard confoi-mity to the ordinances of Christ; Satan will yield to this and be no loser : as a king lets liis merchants trade to, yea, live in a foreign kingdom, and while they are there learn the language, and observe the customs of the j^lace ; this breaks not their allegiance : nor all that thy loyalty to Satan. When a statute was made in Queen Elizabeth's reign, that all should come to church, the papists sent to Rome to know the pope's pleasure ; he returned them this answer, as it is said: ' Bid the catholics in P^ngland give me their heart, and let the queen take the rest.' His subject thou art whom thou crownest in thy heart, and not whom thou flatterest with thy lips.
But to bring the trial to an issue, know thou belongest to one of these, and but to one ; Christ and Satan divide the whole world ; Christ will bear no equal, and Satan no superior, and therefore hold in with both thou canst not. Now if thoji sayest, Christ be thy Prince, answer to these interrogatories.
First, How came he into the throne? Satan had once the quiet possession of thy heart : thou wast by birth, as the rest of thy neighbours, Satan's vassal, yea, hast oft vouched him in the course of thy life to be thy liege lord ; how then comes this great change ? Satan siu-oly would not of his own accord resign his crown and sceptre to Christ; and as for thyself, thou wert neither willing to renounce, nor able to resist his power : this then must only be the fruits of Christ's victorious arms, whom ' God hath exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour,' Acts V. 31 . Speak, therefore, hath Christ come to thee as once Abraham to Lot, when prisoner to Chedorlaomer, rescuing thee out of Satan's hands, as he was leading thee in chains of lust to hell? Didst thou ever hear a voice from heaven in the ministry of tlie word calling out to thee, as once to Saul, so as to lay thee at God's foot, and make thee face about for heaven ? to strike thee blind in thine own apprehension, who before had a good opinion of thy state ? to tame and weaken thee, so as now thou art willing to be led by the hand of a cliild after Christ? Did ever Christ come to thee, as the angel to Peter in prison, rousing thee up, and not only causing the chains of darkness and stupidity to fall off thy mind and conscience, but make thee obedient also, that the iron grate of thy will hath opene.d to Christ before he left thee ? then thou hast something to say for thy freedom. But if in all this I be a barbarian, and the language I speak be strange, thou knowest no such work to have passed upon thy spirit, tlicn
AGAINST lUIXCIPAMTiES. {),']