8. They were cast from heaven into this world. Do but look upon the world in a right notion. Satan, that was not fit for heaven, is cast out into the earth, as a meet place for misery and torment ; he is called ' The ruler of the darkness of this world,' Eph. vi. 12, and * The god of this world,' 2 Cor. iv. 4. It is punishment enough to the apostate angels to be cast out into the world : the world is the devils workhouse and prison ; one calleth it Satan's diocese. Who would be in love with a place of bondage and punishment ?
VeR. 6.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 201
9. The devil and his angels are in the world ; let us be tlie more cautious ; he ' conipasseth the earth to and fro,' no place can secure you from his temptation ; he is everywhere ravening for the prey with an indefatigable and unwearied diligence, 1 Peter v, 8. Let us look about us : ' Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil is come down to you,' Kev. xii. 12. Wherever you are, Satan is near you ; the world is full of devils. When you are in the shop, the devil is there to fill your hearts with lying and deceit, as he did the heart of Ananias, Acts v. ; when you are in your closets, and when you have slmt the door upon you, you do not shut out Satan, he can taint a secret duty ; when you are in the house of God, ministering before the Lord, Satan is ' at your right hand ready to resist you,' Zech. iii. 1. He is ready either to pervert your aims, or to divert your thoughts. We had need keep the heart in a humble, watchful, praying frame. God hath cast out the angels out of heaven, and now they are here upon earth, tempting the sons of men to folly and inconvenience. Be watchful, the world is the devil's chessboard ; you can hardly move back or forth, but he is ready to attack you by some temptation.
10. When grace is abused, our dejection is usually according to the degree of our exaltation ; the angels from heaven are cast down to hell, the highest in the rank of creatures are now made lowest ; corruptions of the best things are most noisome : ' Thou Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, art now brought down to hell,' J\lat. xi. 23. It was one of the chief cities of Galilee, and where our Saviour usually conversed. It is a kind of heaven to enjoy Christ in the ordinances, but now to slight this mercy will bring such confusions and miseries as are a kind of hell to you ; slighting of grace, of all sins weigheth heaviest in God's balance.
11. Spiritual judgments are most severe, and to be given up to ob- stinacy in sin is the sorest of judgment : it is diabolical to continue in sin ; the angels left their habitation, and what followed ? they lost their holiness.
12. Loss of happiness is a great judgment, it is hell enough to want God. The first part of the sentence, ' depart from me,' Mat. xxv. 41, is most dreadful ; loss of heaven is the first part of the angels' punish- ment. We in effect say now, ' Depart from us,' Job. xxi. 14, but God will then say, ' .Depart from me ; ' ye shall see my face no more, &c.
Thus we "have dispatched the first part of the angels' punishment, their loss ; we now come to the other part, their poena sensus, their punishment of sense or pain, he hath reserved in everlasting chains binder darhiess ; where there is an allusion to the state of malefactors or condemned men, who are kept in prison till execution. Now the evils of a prison are two: — (1.) The darkness of the place; (2.) The hard usage of the evil-doer; suitably to which the apostle used a double notion: — (1.) They are reserved in everlasting chains ; (2.) Under darkness.
I begin with the first part, in everlasting chains; whence two notes : — (1.) That the angels are kept in chains ; (2.) That those chains are everlasting.
1. They are kept in chains. But what chains can hold angels ? can spirits be bound with irons ? I answer — They are spiritual chains, suitable to the spiritual nature of angels ; such as these : —
202 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 6.
[1.] Guilt of conscience, which bindeth them over to judgment ; the consciences of wicked angels know that they are adjudged to dam- nation for their sin. This is a sure chain, for it fasteneth the judgment so as you cannot shake it off ; it is bound and tied upon us by the hand of God's justice. The condition of a guilty sinner is frequently com- pared to a prisoner, Isa. xlii. 7 ; Isa, xlix. 9 ; Isa Ixi. 1 ; and sin to a prison wherein we are shut up, Kom. xi. 32 ; Gal. iii. 22 ; and guilt to chains or bonds laid upon us by God the judge. Pro v. v. 22 ; Lam. i. 14.