Section I. — This is the second branch of the description, wherein Satan is set forth by his might and power. This gives weight to the former ; were he a prince, and not able to raise a force that might appal the saints, tlie swelling name of a prince were contemptible ; but he hath power answerable to his dignity, which in five particulars will appear.
First, In his names; Secondly, his nature ; Thirdly, his numl)er; Fourthly, his order and unity ; Lastly, the mighty works that are attributed to him.
First: For the first. He hath names of great power, called the ' strong man, Luke xi. 21, so strong, that he keeps his house in peace, in defiance of all the sons of Adam, none on earth being able to cope with this giant : Christ must come from heaven to destroy hiin and his works, or the field is lost. He is called the 'roaring lion,' which beast commands the whole forest; if he roars, all tremble ; yea, in such a manner, as Pliny relates, that he goes amongst them, and they stand exanimated while he chooseth his prey without resistance : such a lion is Satan, who leads sinners ' captive at his will,' 2 Tim. iii. 26. ' He takes them alive,' as the word is, as the fowler the bird, which with a little sci'ap is enticed into the net ; or as the conqueror his cowardly enemy, who has no heart to fight, but yields without contest. Such cowards the devil finds sinners ; he no sooner appears in a motion, but they yield : there are but a very few noble spirits, and those are the children of the most high God, who dare valiantly oppose him, and in striving against sin resist to blood. He is called the ' great red dragon,' who with his tail, wicked men, his instruments, sweeps down the third part of the stars of heaven. ' The prince of tlie power of the air ;' because as a prince can muster his subjects, and draw them into the field for his service, so the devil can raise the posse cceti aerii. In a word, he is called ' the god of this world,' 2 Cor. iv. 4, because sinners give him a god-like worship, fear him as the saints do God himself.
Secondly, The devil's nature shows his power; it is angelical. ' Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength,' Psa. ciii. 20. Strength is put for angels, Psa. Ixxviii. 25. ' They did cat angels' food;' Heb., ' the food of the mighty.' In two things the power of angelical nature will appear, — in its superiority, and in its spiritualit3^
First, Its superiority. Angels are the top of the creation; man himself made a little lower than the angels. Now in the works of creation, the superior hath a power over the inferior ; the beasts over the grass and herb, man over the beasts, and angels over man.
Secondly, The spirituality of their nature. The weakness of man is from his flesh : his soul, made for great enterprises, but weighed down with a lump of flesh, is forced to row with a strength suitable to its weaker partner ; but now the devils, being angels, have no such encumbrance, no fiiines from a fleshly part to cloud their understanding, which is clear and piercing; no clog at their lieel to retaTd their motion, which for swiftness is set out by the wind and flame of fire ; yea, being spiritual, they cannot be resisted with carnal force ; fire and sword hurt them not ; the angel which appeared to Manoah went up in the fire that consumed the sacrifice. Such hath been the dotage, and is at this day, of superstitious ones, that they think to charm the devil with their carnal exorcisms ; hence the Romish relics, cross, holy water; yea, and among the Jews themselves in corrupter times, who thought by their phylacteries and circumcision to scare away the devil, which mode some of them expound that, Cant. iii. 8, of circumcision, ' Every man liath his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night.' By sword on the thigh, they expound circumcision, which they will vainly have given as a charm against evil spirits that aflfright tliem in tlie night. But alas! the devil cares for none of these, no, not for an ordinance of God, when by fleshly confidence we make it a spell : he hath been often bound with these fetters and chains, (as is said of him in the gospel,) and
98 AGAINST POWERS.
the chains have been phicked asunder by him, neither could any man thus tame him. He esteems, as Job saith of the Leviathan, ' iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.' It must be a stj-onger than the strong man must bind him, and none stronger but God, the Father of spirits. The devil lost, indeed, by his fall, nujch of his power, in relation to that holy and happy state in which he was created, but not his natural abilities ; he is an angel still, and hath an angel's power.