scouring. We do too little not to fear Satan ; we should comfort ourselves with the usefulness and suhserviency of his temptations to our good. ' All things are yours,' who are Christ's. He that hath given life to be yours, hath given death also. He that hath given heaven" for your inheritance, Paul and Cephas, his ministers and ordinances, to help you thither, hath given the world, with all the afflictions of it, yea, the ])rinceof it too, with all his wrath and power, in order to the same end. This, indeed, is love and wisdom in a riddle ; but you who have the spirit of Christ can unfold it.
CHAPTER V.
OF THE TIME WHEN, THE PL.VCE WHERE, AND THE SUBJECTS WHOM SATAN
RULES.
Agaiiist the rulers of the darkness of this world. These woi-ds contain the third branch in the description of our great enemy the devil : and they hold forth the proper seat of his empire, with a threefold boundary ; he is not ' lord over all,' that is the inconmiunicable title of God : but a ' ruler of the darkness of this world,' where the time, place, and subjects of his empire are stinted.
1. The time when this prince hath his rule ' in this world ;' that is, now, not hereafter.
2. The place where he rules, ' in this world ;' that is, here below, not in heaven.
3. The subjects, or persons whom he rules ; not all in this lower world neither ; and they are wrapped up in these words, ' The darkness of this world.' P'irst, of the first boundary.
Section I. — 1. The time when he rules ; so this word world, may be taken in the text for that little spot of time, which, like an inconsiderable parenthesis, is clasped in on either side with vast eternity, called sometimes the ' present world,' Tit. ii. 12. On this stage of time, this mock king acts the part of a prince ; but when Christ comes to take down this scaffold at the end of this world, then he shall be degraded ; his crown taken off, his sword broken over his head, and he hissed off with scorn and shame ; yea, of a prince, become a close prisoner in hell : no more then shall he infest the saints, no, nor rule the wicked ; but he with them, and they with him, shall lie under the immediate execution of God's wrath. For this very end Christ hath his patent and com- mission, which he will not give up, 'till he shall have put down all rule,' 1 Cor. XV. 24, 2.5. Then, and not till then, will he deliver up his economical kingdom to his Father, when he shall have put down all rule ; ' for he must reign till he have put all enemies under his feet.' Satan is cast already; his doom is passed upon him, as Adam's was upon his first sin ; but full execution is stayed till the end of the world. The devil knows it ; it is an article in his creed which made him tremblingly ask Christ, Why he came, ' to torment him before his time ?'
Use 1. First, This brings ill news to the wicked. Your prince cannot long sit in his throne ; sinners at present have a merry time of it, if it would hold ; they rejoice, while Christ's disciples weep and mourn; they rustle in ther silks, while the saint goes in his rags. Princes are not more careful to oblige their courtiers with pensions and prefennents, than the devil is to gratify his followers. He hath his rewards also; ' All this will I give thee.' ' Am not I able to promote thee?' saith Balak to Balaam. O it is strange, and yet not strange, considering the degeneracy of man's nature, to see how Satan carries sinners after him with this golden hook ! Let him but present such a bait as honour, pelf, or pleasure, and their hearts skip after it as a dog would at a crust ; he makes them sin for a morsel of bread. O the naughty heart of man loves the wages of unrighteousness, which the devil promiseth, so dearly, that it fears not the dreadful wages whicli the great God threatens! As sometimes you shall see a spaniel so greedy of a bone, that he will leap into the very river for it, if you throw it thither, and by that time he comes with nuich ado thither, it is sunk, and he gets nothing but a mouthful of water for his pains: thus sinners will calch at their desired pleasures, honours, and profits, swinnning through the very threatenings of the word to them, and oftcntuucs they lose
104 AGAJNST THE KULEES OF THE