6, There is little reason that we should adore him whom God holdeth in chains of darkness, that we should exalt him whom the Lord hath cast down, and make a god of him who hath made himself a devil. All sins do, as it were, set the crown upon Satan's head ; these especially — (1.) False worship : Satan is the head of idolaters ; if the sacrifice was offered in an unbecoming manner, God saith it was a sacrifice offered unto devils, Lev, xvii, 7, In all false worships the devil is served either directly or obliquely, either by consequence or in the intention of the worshippers ; thence those expressions, ' table of devils,' 1 Cor. x. 21 ; ' They sacrificed to devils and not to God,' Deut. xxxii. 17. You gratify Satan if you be not right in worship ; those among Christians that worshipped towards an idol of gold and silver are said to ' worship devils,' Kev, ix. 20. Satan is, saith Synesius, elhwKo- X^^'PV'i, a lover of images, and a patron of false worship. (2.) Worldly conversation : he is called ' the god of this world,' 2 Cor, iv. 4. Sensual, covetous, proud men are Satan's votaries, at his beck and pleasure ; and will you be one of the number ? When Christ came to ' dissolve Satan's works,' 1 John iii, 8, will you uphold them ? (3,) Base fear of wicked men : you do but fear the devil in them : Kev. ii, 10, ' Fear not ; behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison.' He that will deny the truth for fear of men, preferreth the devil before God. (4.) Being of the faction of the wicked : there is a corrupt party in the world, over whom Satan usurpeth empire and domination : ' Rulers of the darkness of this world,' Eph. vi, 12 ; Col, i. 13, Cry not up a con- federacy with these ; take heed how your soul entereth into that secret. I confess it is ingeniousness, a matter of Christian skill and art, to find out the snare that we may escape it. Generally they are the antichristian dark part of the world, such as are led with a blind zeal and rage to oppose the interest of righteousness, such as oppose the gospel with rage and lies : John viii. 44, ' Ye are of your father the devil, and his lusts will ye do,' Many that deny Satan yet may be of his faction and party.
206 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. G.
We are now come to the second part of the punishment of pain, taken from the other inconvenience of a prison, vtto ^6(f>ov, under dark- ness, in allusion to malefactors who are cast into dungeons, where, be- sides the load of irons, the very darkness of the place concurreth to their misery. Light is pleasant, as giving us the sight of what is grate- ful in the world, of which when we are deprived, the mind, like a mill, falleth and worketh upon itself. Peter saith ' in chains of darkness,' as implying that God did bind them fast with their darkness and horror as with a chain ; but our apostle here seemeth to make them two dis- tinct parts of their torment, as certainly it is a more lull description of it. Well, then, the proposition will be, that the apostate angels are kept under darkness.
Ohs. Darkness in scripture representeth three things : — First, ignor- ance ; secondly, sin ; thirdly, misery ; as light, the contrary quality, implieth knowledge, holiness, and happiness. Because light discovereth all things, it is put for knowledge ; because of all bodily qualities it is most pure and unmixed, therefore it is put for holiness ; because it is wonderfully pleasing and delightful to sense, therefore it is put for glory. So contrariwise darkness, which is nothing else but the absence and privation of light, signifieth ignorance, John iii. 19 ; sin, 1 I'eter ii, 9 ; misery, Ps. cvii. 10. Now all these three make way for one another ; ignorance for sin, and sin for misery ; the understanding being the great wheel of the soul, if it be not right nothing can be right. Mat. vi. 22, Ignorance maketh us stumble upon sin, and by sin we fall into the pit of everlasting darkness.
If you ask what kind of darkness is intended here ? I answer — Though all may be implied, yet chiefly the darkness of misery is here intended, they being cast down from the light and glory of the highest heavens into dark and obscure habitations, where they want the sight of God and the light of his countenance. As when the sun is gone there is nothing but darkness in the world, so being banished out of the presence of God, they are fitly said to be held under darkness ; for as the sun is to the corporeal world, so is God to the world of spirits, Ps. iv. 6. Now their sun is eclipsed, and by the interposition of the dark cloud of their sin and obstinacy, they cannot have the least com- fortable glimpse and fruition of God ; to which also may be added the horrible apprehension of their loss, and that terror and discomfort that lieth upon them, for they have only so much light left as serveth to increase their torment. I confess it is disputed by divines whether the devils can grieve for the loss of the light of God's countenance, or the want of the beatifical vision ; and the ground of doubting is, be- cause there is in the devils an extreme averseness, enmity, and hatred of God and his glory ; but certainly, as they are rational creatures, they cannot but be sensible of their loss, as also the damned spirits are, and so great a loss of happiness (for that is the consideration under which they are sensible of ii) must needs breed horror and torment. They do not mourn for the absence of God as the saints do, out of a principle of holiness, and because God is lovely in himself, but as pro- fitable to them ; and this sense, as it is accompanied with despair, so with blasphemy and hatred of God. Surely every part of the sentence that is pronounced upon wicked men is fitted to beget terror in them ;