Beloved. Thy friends and kindred in Christ are there, ot expected, with whom thou shalt have a happy meeting in thy Father's house, notwithstanding the snare on Tabor, the plots of Satan which lie in the way. O friends, get a title to that kingdom, and you are above the flight of this kite. This made Job a iiappy man indeed, who, when the devil had plundered him to his skin, and woiTied him almost out of that too, could then vouch Christ in the {ace of death and devils to be his Redeemer, whom he should with those eyes, that now stood full with brinish tears, behold, and that for himself as his own portion. It is sad with him indeed, who is robbed of all he is worth at once ; but this can never be said of a saint. The devil took away Job's purse, as I may say, which put him into some straits, but he had a God in heaven that put him into stock again. Some spending money thou hast at present in thy purse, in the activity of thy faith, the evidence of thy sonship, and comfort flowing from the same, enlargement in duty, and the like, which Satan may for a time disturb, yea, deprive thee of, but he cannot blot thy name out of the book of life ; he cannot annul thy faith, make void thy relation, dry up thy comfort in the spring, though he may dam up the stream ; nor hinder thee a happy issue of thy whole war with sin, though he may worst thee in a private skirmish ; these all are kept in heaven, among God's own crown jewels, who is said to keep us by his power ' through faith unto salvation.'
Section III. — The third boundary of the devil's principality is in regard of his subjects, and they are described here to be 'the darkness of this world,' that is, such as are in darkness. This word is used sometimes to express the desolate condition of a creature in some great distress, Isa. 1. : ' He that walks in darkness, and sees no light:' sometimes to express the nature of all sin ; so Ephes. v. 1, sin is called the work of darkness: sometimes the particular sin of ignorance; often set out by the darkness of the night, blindness of the eye : all these I conceive may be meant, but chiefly the latter; for though Satan makes a fold stir in the soul ; that is, in the darkness of sorrow, whether it be from outward crosses, or inward desertions ; yet if the creature be not in the darkness of sin at the same time, though he may disturb his peace as an enemy, yet cannot be said to rule as a prince. Sin only sets Satan in the throne ; so that I shall take the words in the two latter intei-pretations.
First, For the darkness of sin in general.
Secondly, For the darkness of ignorance in special ; and the sense will be, that the devil's rule is over those that are in a state of sin and ignorance, not over those who are sinful or ignorant ; so he would take hold of saints as well as others ; but over those who are in a state of sin, which is set out by the abstract, ' nder of the darkness,' the more to express the fulness of the sin and ignorance that possesseth Satan's slaves ; and the notes will be two.
First, Every soul in a state of sin is under the rule of Satan.
Secondly, Ignorance, above other things, enslaves a soul to Satan ; and there- fore all sins are set out by that which chiefly expresseth this, viz., darkness.
Doct, Every soid in a state of sin is under the ride of Satan ; under which point these two things must be inquired; —
First, The reason why sin is set out by darkness.
Secondly, How every one in such a state appears to be under the devil's rule. For the fii'st.
First, Sin may be called darkness, because the spring and common cause of sin in man is darkness. The external cause Satan, who is the great promoter of it ; he is a cursed spirit, held in chains of darkness. The internal is the blindness and darkness of the st)ul : we may say when any one sins, he doth he knows not what, as Christ said of his murderers. Did the creature know the time worth of the soul, which he now sells for a song, the glorious, amiable nature of God and his holy ways, the matchless love of God in Christ, the poisonous nature of sin, and all these not by a sudden beam darted into the window at a sermon, and gone again, like a flash of lightning, but by an abiding light; this would spoil the devil's market, and poor creatures would not readily take this toad into their bosom ; sin goes in a disguise, and so is welcome.
Secondly, It is darkness, because it brings darkness into the soul, and that naturally and judicially.
106 AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE