3. The devil is in chains, a cruel spirit, but under bonds. His power is less than his will and malice ; he is wrathful that we may not be secure ; he is chained that we may not despair ; he hath no power but what is given him from above ; and when God putteth any of his servants into Satan's hands he keepeth Satan in his own hands. If you be in Satan's hands for your exercise, remember Satan is in God's hands for your comfort and safety. He had not power over the herd of swine without leave : Mat. viii. 31, ' Suffer me,' &c. ; so Luke xxii. 31, he could not sift Peter till he had a commission : ' Satan hath desired,' <fec., Job i. 2 ; ii. 7. Satan could not so much as touch Job's estate or skin till leave obtained. Nay, he could not deceive Ahab, a wicked man, till God said Go, 1 Kings xxii. 21, 22; he is but God's exe- cutioner : ' He sent his evil angels among them,' Ps. Ixxviii. 49. God gave commission for the plagues of Egypt, and then the evil angels had
^ See my notes on James i. 25,
204 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 6.
power to execute them. The godly need not fear Satan as a dis- obedient angel ; he is cast into the chains of God's justice and power ; and as head of the kingdom of darkness, his power is more restrained by the death of Christ, John xii. 31.
4, Observe how weak the creatures are when God ma.rcheth in judg- ment against them. Guilt of conscience is one of the fallen angels' chains. If God will but arm our own thoughts against us, he needeth not bring forces from without, there is enough in that to sink us into l}ell. The law needeth not bring brimstone from heaven to burn sinners, nor open the mouth of the great deep to drown them, nor shatter the frame of nature about our heads. Alas ! we cannot bear lip under the burden of our own consciences, or the weight of our own grief ; when he layeth his finger upon the conscience, who can bear it ? The angels excel in strength, and yet the impressions of honour i laid upon them are too hard for them to grapple withal : Prov. xviii. 14, ' A wounded spirit who can bear?' as if he had said, I challenge all the world to bring me a man that is able to deal with his own con- science, when God armeth it against him.
5. That spiritual judgments of all others are most secure. To have sin punished with obstinacy and hardness in sinning this, is nothing but to have the devil's chains laid upon us, a sad intimation that we are given up to chains of darkness. Frogs and lice and hailstones were but soft judgments to Pharaoh's hard heart ; unless God should send us quick into hell, there cannot heavier judgment befall us ; nay, cer- tainly it were better to be given up to hell torments, if there could be any expectation of deliverance, than to be given up to a spirit of sinning, for there is no end of that. Say then, Lord, whatever judg- ment thou bringest upon me, bring not thy heavy judgment of a hard heart ; it is better by far that you should live miserably than sin freely without remorse. But what sins bring on this spiritual judgment ? I answer — (1.) An unthankful abuse of God's gifts ; the devils had a glorious and excellent nature, but they were not thankful. Observe it when you will, you will find it true that no man was ever punished with hardness of heart, but some former merciful dispensation was abused. The heathens were not thankful for the light of nature, and therefore God ' gave them up to vile affections,' Eom. i. 22, 24 ; others ' received not the love of the truth,' and therefore ' God gave them up to believe a lie, that they might be damned,' 2 Thes. ii. 11, 12. The very ' sin against the Holy Ghost' is so called because it is a despiting grace received, or a devilish opposing of the grace and supernatural w^ork of the Spirit, by which the mind is convinced of the truth. (2.) Sinning against the light ; that was Satan's sin, who was full of light, and sinned in the very face of God ; and it is his sin still, malice having only put out the light of prudence, but not of his understanding, so that he knowingly sinneth ; so wicked men ' imprison the truth in unrighteousness,' Kom. i. 18, and then God giveth them up to the sway of their own lusts and passions. There is more of malice in sins against light ; you laugh at Christ before his face, outdare heaven and con- science : Esther vii. 8, ' Will he force the queen before my face.? ' &c. (3.) Sinning with the light ; when malice sets wit a-work (as it doth
^ Query, ' horror ' ? — Ed.
YeR. 6.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 205
in the devils) against God and the church ; it is satanical to be wise to do evil, to make no other use of our parts than to plot wickedness, pervert the truth, and undermine religion : Jer. iv. 22, ' They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge,' When you make religion yield to policy, or bend policy to ruin religion, then ' your wis- dom hath undone you,' Isa. xlvii. 10. (4.) Malice against God and goodness ; this is Satan's direct sin. When men will not only be wicked themselves, but adversaries and malicious opposers of all that is good, this is not only to be sinners but Satans : Acts xiii. 10, ' 0 thou child of the devil, and enemy of all goodness.' Cain, that hated his brother because his works were righteous, was the devil's patriarch. (5.) A sottish obstinacy and wilfulness, when will and humour is lifted up against conviction, Jer. ii. 25, xliv. 18 ; they will not, because they will not. Foolish wilfulness meeteth with penal hardness ; he that will wink shall not see the sun, shine it never so brightly ; such men do but lay Satan's chains on their own will and understanding, (6.) A senseless security, notwithstanding the growth and increase of sin, when men lose all feeling and restraint, and grow more wicked but less tender, Eph. iv. 19 ; and so men sin freely, foully, wax worse and worse, and add ne"w links to the chains of darkness.