3. That which is ascribed to Satan is idolatry. This was his first and great endeavour in the world, to bring man to worship other gods rather than the true, or the true God by an idol. So he prevailed among the heathen ; they thought their images did ropresent their gods, and that their gods dwelt in them, as our souls do in our bodies; therefore the Psalmist saith, ' all the gods of the nations are idols' or devils, Ps. xcvi. 5, and the devil was the great master and contriver of this idolatry ; therefore it is said, Ps. cvi. 37, ' They sacrificed their sons and daugh- ters unto devils.' The service done to idols or images of man's devising is not done to God, as men pretend who worship them, but to devils, who are the devisers, suggesters, and enticers of men unto all sorts of unlawful worship, and are in effect served and obeyed by a false re- ligion : Dent, xxxii. 17, ' They sacrificed unto devils, not unto God ;' 2 Cor. x. 20, ' The things which the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed unto devils, not unto God;' 2 Chron. xi. 1.5, 'And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made ;' — they otherwise meant it : Jeroboam intended it to the true God Jehovah, but it was of the devil's invention. Now if the devil can get such a i)arty in the church as shall not only set up but be mad upon image-worship, who can more serve his turn among pro- fessing Christians than they who have consented to and continued in idolatrous worship ? Surely then Satan is concerned to befriend their
2 ThES. II. 9, 10.] THE SEVENTH SERMON. 69
usurpations, and uphold their interests ; for what will more conduce to the ruin of Christianity, or at least the decay of the power thereof ?
4. That which is ascribed to Satan is bloody cruelty, or seeking the destruction of Christ's most faithful servants ; for he is called a ' mur- derer from the beginning,' John viii. 44 ; and Cain is said to be ' of that wicked one, because he slew his brother ; and wherefore slew he him ? because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous,' 1 John iii. 12. Enmity to the power of godliness came from Satan ; and wherever it is encouraged, and notoriously practised, they are a party of men governed and influenced by Satan. Now, where shall we find this character but in Antichrist's confederacy ? In the pro- phecy of him, Kev. xiii. 15, he caused as many as Avould not worship the image of the beast to be killed ; and again, Kev. xvii. 5, ' The woman, whose name was Mystery, was drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus ;' and it hath been eminently fulfilled in the blood shed in Germany, France, and England, and other nations ; and all this to extinguish the light of, and suppress the Keformation. The world is no stranger to their bloody persecu- tions. Oh, how many seeming Christians hath Satan employed in these works of cruelty ! When once he had seduced the church to so many errors, and corrupted the doctrine and worship of Christ, he presently maketh the erroneous party his instruments of as cruel and bloody persecutions as were ever commenced by infidels and Mahometans ; witness their murders upon so many thousands of the Waldenses and Albigenses, whom they not only spoiled, but slaugh- tered with all manner of hellish cruelty. Some of their own bishops complained they could not find lime and stone to build prisons for them, nor defray the charges of their food. The world was even amazed at their unheard-of cruelties, smoking and burning thousands of men, women, and children in caves, others at stakes, and many ways butchering them ; proclaiming croisados, and preaching up the merit of paradise to such bloody cut-throats as had a mind to root them out, driving multitudes to perish in snowy mountains. What desolations they wrought in Bohemia, what horrible massacres in France, what fires they kindled in England, and of late, what cruelties they exercised in Ireland, Piedmont ! &c. Histories will tell you, and will tell all generations to come, what principles Kome is acted by, and how insatiable their thirst is for the blood of upright righteous men. And after all this, tell me, who is he whose coming is after the working of Satan ? and whether we have cause to be enamoured of blood, and fires, and inquisitions ?
5. That which is ascribed to Satan is, that he is ' the Grod of this world,' 2 Cor. iv. 4 ; and again, ' the prince of this world,' John xii. 31. He playeth the god here; the riches, honours, and wealth of this world are the great instruments of his kingdom ; and the men of this world, whose portion is in this life, are the proper subjects of his kingdom. Of the saints, Christ is their head ; but of the wicked, ungodly, ambitious world, surely Satan is the head. There are two cities (as Austin distinguisheth them) : Jerusalem is the city of God, and Babylon, that incorporation which belongeth to Satan. Now, then, where shall we find him whose cominsr is after the working of