2. Sin depriveth us of God's presence ; this is the wall of separa- tion between us and God : Isa. lix. 2, ' Your sins have separated,' &c. It not only provoketh God to stand at a distance from us, but worketh a strangeness in us, and maketh us shy of his presence ; it cast the angels out of heaven, Adam out of Paradise, Cain out of the church. Well, then, when you are tempted to folly, bethink with yourselves : God could not endure the sight of angels when once they were defiled with sin ; if I should yield to this temptation, I should never endure God, nor he me ; this will either cause the Spirit to leave me, or me to leave the throne of grace ; guilty souls cannot sustain the presence of God, and God doth not own the presence of guilty sin- ners. Peter said, Luke v. 8, ' Depart from me, for I am a sinful man ;' and God saith, ' Depart from me into everlasting torments,' Mat. xxv.
3. Observe again, Jude maketh it their act, and Peter God's act. Jude saith, ' they left their own habitation,' and Peter, ' God cast them down:' and punishments are voluntarily contracted, founded upon some act of ours. God may pass by a creature out of his mere will, but he damneth not till we provoke him. First there is a volun- tary aversion from God, and then God turneth away from us : Hosea xiii. 9, ' 0 Israel ! thou hast destroyed thyself.' Our ruin is caused by the free motion of our own wills. God punisheth not willingly, and as delighting in our destruction : we sin, and so freely depart from our own happiness ; we leave and then he casteth down.
4. God casteth Satan out of heaven. Do you imitate your heavenly Father ; cast Satan out of your hearts. Who would entertain him whom heaven hath spewed out ? It is said, Rev. xii. 8, ' That Satan and his angels found no more place in heaven.' Oh ! then, give him not place
200 AN EXPOSITION, "WITH NOTES, [VeR. 6.
to dwell in your hearts, Eph. iv. 17 ; do not entertain wrathful or lust- ful motions. God decreed that the evil angels should be cast out of heaven, and Christ died that they might be cast out of our hearts : John xii, 31, ' Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.' Oh ! let him not erect a new heaven and empire in your souls ! His great aim is, now he cannot get into heaven, to dwell in the hearts of men.
5. Angels, creatures of the highest excellency, are not spared when they sin : 2 Peter ii. 4, ' Grod spared not the angels,' &c. Wonder at the patience of the great God to us sinners. If a king be angry with his offending nobles, should not the scullions tremble ? How come we to be of this side of hell ? Go home and adore that grace that hath kept you out of the chains of darkness : Lam. iii. 22, ' It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed,' not swallowed up quick, not cast down to hell. If the angels in the very infancy of their creation were so soon punished for the first offence, Lord, what didst thoii see in us, that, after so many offences, we should be yet alive ? It is mercy, pardoning mercy, that giveth us our beings ; we fail not because compassions fail not.
6. Angels were forced to leave their habitation ; when they changed their nature, they changed their estate. Let all sinners tremble. Consider the instance, and you will see that no dignity and worth of the creature is of any avail, nothing can keep off the strokes of ven- geance but the blood of Jesus Christ. They were angels, glorious creatures, their sin but one, and probably that in thought ; yet how dreadful is their punishment ! Cast out of heaven, kept in chains of darkness for a severer vengeance ! Oh ! then, how should we tremble that have ' drunk in iniquity like water ! ' Surely God is the same, he doth no less hate pride, obstinacy, and contempt of his grace now, than he did in times past : ' God is but one,' Gal. iii. 20 ; he acteth according to the same tenor of justice now as heretofore, &c.
7. From the word oU'qTijpiov, ' their own place,' observe the true dwelling-place and rest is heaven ; it was the habitation of the angels, and the rest of the saints. Oh ! long for your home, let your hearts and your hopes be there ; enter upon your eternal inheritance by degrees. The angels left their habitations, do you be always travel- ling thither; let your hearts be in heaven. Col. iii. 1, your conversa- tions be in heaven ere your persons, Phil. iii. 20. There are good angels still, blessed companions : Heb. xii. 22, 23, ' An innumerable company of angels and spirits of just men perfected.' A heathen could see out of a glimpse of the soul's immortality, 0 prcedarum ilium diem, ciim ad illud animarum concilium coetumque projiciscar. There you shall see the vacant rooms of the apostate angels occupied by the saints. Say, Woe is me, that my pilgrimage is prolonged, Ps. cxx. 5.