Eighthly, The highest state of majesty in Satan's empire is pride; it was this that lifted him up to his present dignity; "Not a novice," says Paul, "lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil." When a spark of this exalting light shines into the head of one of these wise subjects, what wonders do they discover! Not all the saints upon earth can esteem others so much better than themselves, as these esteem themselves better than others. The hardest task that you can impose upon such men, is to set them down at the foot of another to be taught; nor doth any thing exercise their patience more, than to keep silence while another speaks; they are to be known by a multitude of words.

They take after their father for assiduity; they go to and fro in the earth, and walk up and down in it; and wherever the sons of God assemble some of these are sure to present themselves before the Lord: not to get instruction, for that is not possible; they go rather to correct mistakes and to try the spirits. Those that followed the Saviour only set him to rights when they thought he was wrong: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" "This is a hard saying, who can hear it!" "Thou bearest record of thyself, thy record is not true." "He is mad, why hear ye him?" And, if any wonderful display of supernatural power appeared, they ascribed the glory to none but their own father: "He doth it by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." Agur was never half so brutish

in his own eyes as these are angelic in theirs. The everlasting gospel is called foolishness, and omnipotence is termed weakness by them; but, "The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men,” 1 Cor. i. 25. The scorner's chair is the highest bench in Satan's kingdom; he that mounts that seat is upon the pinnacle, above the ground, and above all about him, and of course nearest to him that is the prince of the power of the air.

The next in power to devils are sin and death; sin reigns unto death, and death reigned from Adam to Moses, and from Moses till now. Το keep up the government of these two is the chief of Satan's labour, whether it be in his subjects or by them. And, when the Saviour shall raise his own family, and change them and fashion them like unto his own glorious body, then shall the works of the devil be effectually destroyed; and both sin and death, which came by Satan, shall be the everlasting destruction of himself and of all that die in his interest. Then shall Satan and all his infernal principalities and powers, .together with sin and death, and all dead sinners, depart together; they shall go with the devil and his angels into their everlasting habitations, far enough from Christ and from all the subjects of his kingdom. Then shall be brought to pass this saying, "He [God] taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong."

THE

KINGDOM OF GOD.

LUKE XI. 20.

"But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you."

SIN entered into the world by Satan, and death entered by sin. Sin separated between God and our souls: but the incarnation of the Son of God brought our nature back to God, which sin had separated and the blood of Christ made us nigh, whom wicked works had made far off. Sin had its beginning by the tree of knowledge, and it had its end on the accursed tree. Adam sinned and died, and paradise was lost; Christ was made sin and died, and a better paradise was gained. The woman, being first in the transgression, was condemned to sorrow in child-bearing, and that sorrow brought forth the woman's great deliverer. Sin is the sole cause of all our misery, and a sense of this misery renders us proper objects of God's

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mercy. By sin and death Satan aimed at the eternal destruction of men, and sin and death will be the eternal destruction of Satan. Nothing pleased Satan so well as bringing mankind under the sentence of death; and that sentence executed upon Christ bruised Satan's head, and he himself and his works were destroyed in the same nature that he had ruined. By the incarnation of Christ grace and mercy come to men, and by the death of Christ honour is brought to the justice and holiness of God. Satan is degraded, sin is condemned in Christ's flesh, and the sinner is saved; and yet God appears just when he justifies the ungodly. Sin is freely pardoned, and yet vengeance is taken of our inventions; forgiving and cleansing is of free grace, and yet God is faithful and just in forgiving and cleansing; the sinner is bought with a price, and yet saved and glorified by free grace. Sin brought us all under the wrath of God, but in pouring that wrath upon Christ everlasting love was displayed to men. All the works of devils have been to destroy human nature, and by a judge in human nature shall all devils be judged and destroyed. Devils are the accusers of the brethren, and the brethren shall be the judges of the devils. Men, aspiring to be like gods, fell under the dominion of fallen angels; Christ, by being made a little lower than the angels of light, raised us to an honour above them.

Christ spoiled principalities; and therefore some

spoils out of the devil's kingdom the Lord Jesus Christ must have, according to an ancient stipulation. These are the objects of his love, the purchase of his blood, and therefore must be the trophies of his victory. He is not to have them without a price, nor will they submit to him without conquest. "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death," Isa. liii. 11, 12. A portion with the great, is some few selected subjects out of the kingdoms of the great potentates upon earth; and the spoil that he is to divide with the strong, are God's own elect, which were given unto him, and which he takes by the dint of his sword from the strong man armed. He begins his conquest,

"The

First, By the light of his countenance. Secondly, By the edge of the sword. people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined," Isa. ix. 2. This is the first attack upon the strong man's palace, and is called the sinner's translation; for so it is written, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son," Col.