'246 SERMON UPON GENESIS III. 15.
is the repairer of it. Now salvation and destruction are diametrically opposite ; so are tlie kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan, the limction and office of Christ as a saviour, and the purpose and design of the devil as Abaddon, the destroyer. And therefore Christ proveth that he had not the least confederacy with Satan ; for ' then his king- dom would be divided against itself, and how could it stand ? ' Mat. xii. 25, 26. It was impossible the Saviour could befriend the destroyer, or the destroyer the Saviour. No ; their ends and designs are perfectly opposite.
Now, as there is such an enmity between Christ and Satan, so there is between the rest of the confederates on either side.
(1.) An enmity or contrariety of nature. The seed of the serpent inherits his venomous qualities ; for as these are an estate opposite to God, so they are to the people of God, and seek their destruction by all cruel and bloody means. All people of a false religion, whether infidels, idolaters, or heretics, are of bloody and desperate principles, their minds being efferated by their false religion, and the influence of their great guide and leader, who is the devil: Jude 11, ' They have gone in the way of Cain.'
Let me instance in antichrist and his abettors and adherents, who is the devil's eldest son. Witness their bloody practices that have been acted on the stage of Christendom for so many years. AVhat a deal of blood hath been sucked by these leeches in England in Queen Mary's days, in Germany, France, and the Netherlands ! Witness of late their horrible slaughters in Ireland, Piedmont, and the hellish powder plot, the deliverance from which we commemorate this day ; this was a flash of their malice, by which they would have blown up the whole state at once. On the other side, Christ conveyeth his holy, meek, and lamb-like nature to his sincere worshippers and followers. There is indeed a contrariety of natui-e to the carnal, so as they do not run with them into the same excess of riot, so as their righteous souls are vexed with the impure conversation of the wicked, so as they are grieved to see people go by droves to hell, and list themselves in the devil's service. But there is no destructive enmity. If they hate the wicked, it is with an hatred opposite to the love of complacency, but not with an hatred opposite to the love of good-will. There is an enmity to Satan, and his works, yet a })ity to the persons inveigled and deceived by him. The wicked hate that holy disposition which is in the hearts of God's people, and therefore malign and persecute them. But on the other side there is a contrariety of disposition : Pro v. xxix. 27, ' An unjust man is an abomination to the just, and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.' There is odium offensionis, but not i/iimicitice ; an hatred of offence, but not of enmity. They bear vyith ihem with patience, pursue their recovery, strive to rescue poor captives out of the snares of the devil, but aim not at their destruction : 2 Tim. ii, 25, 26, ' In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.'
(2.) There is an enmity of design. As Christ actually employeth anv as soldiers to fight under his banner, so they participate of the
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enmity of his design and office. Every private christian is one of Christ's soldiers ; for we give up our faculties and powers as weapons : Kom. vi. 13. ' Yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments/ or weapons, oirXa, of righteousness unto God.' And the graces of the Spirit are called armour of light : Rom. xiii. 12, ' Let us cast off the works of -darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.' And we are bidden ' to put on the whole armour of God, because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in higli places,' Eph. vi. 11, 12. The ministers and those in a public station are leaders under Christ the general, and are by office and employment engaged in this warfare against the kingdom of the devil. And there- fore the apostle biddeth Timothy to ' endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ,' 2 Tim. ii. 3 ; and the apostle says, 2 Cor. x. 4, ' The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds.' They must set themselves against the devil and his kingdom.
2. The enmity being such between the seeds, Christ sets upon his business to destroy Satan's power and works.
[1.] His power. Satan hath a twofold power over fallen man — legal and usurped.
(1.) The legal power is that which the apostle calleth the power of death, and the terrors which follow upon it : Heb. ii. 14, 15, ' That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.' The devil hath no power, as a judge, to condemn sinners: he is not dominus mortis, the Lord of death ; but minister mortis, the minister of death ; for, being con- demned of God, the poor sinner is put into his hand that he may either terrify or stupefy him, and so more and more involve him in the curse of God's broken law ; and also he may hasten his death and everlasting destruction.