he might reconcile both unto God, in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself: who, blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Col. i. 14, 20, 21, and ii. 14, 15.) They were foolish men that crucified Christ, but he overlooks them, and takes notice of the enemy that he came thither to contest with, and makes his cross a means of victory, and place of triumph, even over those powers that fain would have` overcome him. And as Christ hath done thus much against Satan on the cross, so we shall next see what he hath done against him since, in his doctrine, and by it on the hearts of men, and openly in the world, and first in his word. 11. It is one of Christ's principal works by his doctrine, to make the devil more odious to the sons of men, and to bring them into a fuller knowledge of his mischievous disposition and designs, that so they may avoid him, and more valiantly resist him; to which end, he first gives them to know his nature by his names, and calleth him by all those names that may make him hateful to man, or awaken them to the war which he calls them into against him; and certainly, this is so contrary to Satan's interest, that none but the foes of reason can imagine that Satan was the author of it, or did lend Christ his power to attest it by miracles. By all these names of disgrace do we find the devil named in the Gospel. 1. He is called, frequently, Satan, an adversary; to let us know that it is he against whom we are listed under Christ. (Matt. iv. 10; 1 Pet. v. 8.) 2. He is called expòs, the enemy. (Matt. xiii. 28, 39.) The name by which we denote those whom we oppose, and that hate us. 3. He is oft called Adsox, because he is a calumniator, or false accuser; and he who, by accusing us, would have God to condemn us. 4. He is called Пovnpòs, the evil one, or the wicked one, (Matt. xiii. 19,) which is the most hateful title in the world, as signifying him to be both the first in evil for time, and the deep est in evil for degree; as being the very worst of all creatures, and also the father or cause of evil to others by his temptations. 5. He is called d Пepákov the tempter; (Matt. iv. 3;) to acquaint who it is that would drive us from God and happiness, and how he would do it. 6 He and his companions are called Πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα, unclean Spirits oft; as being of a filthy disposition, and the cause of men's uncleanliness, and contrary to the holy, sanctifying Spirit of Christ, whose office is to purify our hearts and cleanse us from our sins. 7. He is called the strong man armed, keeping his house and goods in peace, till Christ come and bind him and cast him out. (Matt. xii. 29.) 8. He is called the serpent, and the old serpent; (Rev. xii. 9, 14;) both to let us know his subtlety and his enmity, and venomous, hurting power, and to remember us of the mischief he did us by his first deceiving us. 9. He is called the dragon, the great red dragon; yea, all these four names, or five, are given him together; (Rev. xii. 9;) the great dragon, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. 10. He is called "A roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Pet. v. 8.) Yea, all these three titles are given him together: the devil, our adversary, and as a roaring lion, &c. 11. He is called a murderer from the beginning; (John viii. 44;) to tell us what he hath done to us, what he is doing and would do, and what he would have men do to themselves and to others, both soul and body. 12. They are called the angels that kept not their first estate ; (Jude 6;) to let us know their apostasy. 13. He is called Belial; (2 Cor. vi. 15;) as being the head of all those rebels and outlaws that have cast off the yoke of subjection unto God. 14. Of the name Beelzebub we have spoken before. 15. He is called "The prince of this world;" (John xii. 21 ;) as being the leader of worldly men who rebel against God. 16. He is called the god of this world, because these worldly rebels make him their god, and he would be honoured and obeyed as God. (2 Cor. iv. 5.) 17. He is called "The prince of the powers of the air;" (Eph. ii. 2;) to show that he hath a kingdom or army of evil spirits, against whom Christ and his army must wage war. 18. He is called "The ruler of the world," (Eph. vi. 12,) because rebels are ruled by him against God. 19. He is called "The father of murderous, wicked men;" (John viii. 44 ;) to show that all wickedness had its rise from him. 20. He is called, Rev. ix. 11, by three names: The Angel of the bottomless pit, as being destined there to be miserable, and to be the companion of those whom he can draw thither with him; also Abaddon, which signifieth a destruction and mischief, as being the very plague and ruin of mankind, a name perfectly contrary to the name of Jesus Christ, the anointed Saviour, who is anointed to the office of saving men from this destruction; also, he is there called Apollyon, the destroyer to the same purpose, as delighting in our destruction, and making it his very business. Many other names are given the devil in the New Testament, and in the Old, which I will not stand to recite ; by all which Christ endeavoureth to make Satan odious, and men jealous of him, and watchful against him, and fully manifesteth his enmity to him. 12. The Lord Jesus doth not only by names, but by assertions, lay upon Satan the odium and blame of all the evil that hath been done in the world, as the original of it: and heaps upon him so much disgrace by the opening of his vileness, as never was done by any other: never was Satan so stigmatized, and reproached, and laid naked as in the Gospel; so that among all Christians the name of the devil is the most odious, accursed name that is imaginable, and intimateth a perfect irreconcilable enmity to them, and in them to him: when among the pagans it was a name of less dishonour, and they made less difference between good spirits and evil, and called both demons by the same name; and manifested no such enmity to them, though some God had planted in nature, ever since the fall. The first sin that ever was in the world, Christ chargeth upon Satan as the deceiver. He publisheth his own sin, "As not abiding in the truth, and falling from his first estate;" (John viii. 44.; Jude 6;) and saith, "That there is no truth in him." (John viii. 44.) He telleth us that it was he that deceived Eve; (2 Cor. xi. 3;) and that he is a murderer from the beginning. All the resistance that his Gospel hath in the world, and all the sins that yet are committed, he proclaimeth Satan to be the cause of, by his temptations. He chargeth him with sowing tares of heresy and profaneness in his field; (Matt. xiii. 39;) and as doing this as his enemy. He tells us that it is the devil that taketh away the seed that was sown, that men receive not the word of life. (Luke viii. 12.) He calleth wicked men the children of the devil. (John viii. 44; 1 John iii. 10.) He tells us that all that commit sin are of the devil, so far as they are sinners; and if sin prevail, Satan prevails; and tells how the two families may be known asunder. (1 John iii. 8-10.) In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. He is said to sin from the beginning, and to be that wicked one, and Cain who killed his brother, to be of that wicked one. (1 John iii. 8, 12.) When Paul, a leader in Christ's army, doth charge one of Satan's champions, Elimas the witch, (Acts xiii. 10,) he doth it so as to charge his general through him: O full of all subtlety and mischief; thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness; wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord!' When Judas was disposed to betray him, Christ telleth us the reason, the devil put it into his heart, and entered into him. (John xiii. 2, 27.) And before saith of him, (John vi. 70,) that he was a devil, as being on his side, and to do his work. Do but mark the Scripture expressions, and you will see through all a constant war carried on between Christ and Satan; and a hostility in all Christ's words and actions to Satan and his kingdom. It was Satan that filled the heart of Ananias to lie to the Holy Ghost. (Acts v. 3.) The man of sin, and son of perdition, is the servant of Satan, and his coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. (2 Thess. ii. 8-10.) This is one of Satan's chief commanders, and therefore an antichrist. All those fugitives that forsake their colours, and turn from Christ, do turn aside after Satan. (1 Tim. v. 15.) When Christ cashiereth any, and turneth them out of his church, and delivereth them to destruction, he is said to deliver them to Satan. (1 Cor. v. 5; 1 Tim. i. 20.) When Paul was hindered from coming to the Thessalonians, once and again he saith it was Satan that hindered him. (1 Thess. ii. 18.) And when the churches of Smyrna were to be persecuted, it is said that the devil shall cast some of them into prison. (Rev. ii. 10.) The congregations and company of heretics and ungodly men, who are the church's enemies, he calleth the 'Synagogues of Satan.' (Rev. ii. 9, and iii. 9.) For they are those societies by whom Satan's work is done, and those assemblies in which he is served publicly, as by the witches in their assemblies he is more secretly. Yea, when rulers of nations are drawn into sin and misery, it is by the malice of this common enemy. It was he that "stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." (1 Chron. xxi. 1.) It was he that "was a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets." (1 Kings xxii. 22.) And when judgment is to be executed, especially on the people of God, it is he that is commonly permitted to be the executioner, for God will employ his creatures according to their own natures and offices; when he will burn, it shall be usually with fire; when he will drown, it shall be with water; and so, when he will destroy, he will send a destroying angel, whose nature doth more incline him to destroy; when the Israelites murmur, he sendeth evil angels among them, and they are destroyed of the destroyer. (1 Cor. x. 10; Psalm lxxviii. 49.) These are the dogs that God sendeth to drive home his sheep. The idols also of the heathen, and idolaters, are called devils, and being God's greatest enemies, and to which he beareth the greatest hatred. (Lev. xvii. 7; Deut. xxxii. 17.) "They sacrifice to devils, and not to God, to new gods, newly come up, whom their fathers feared not." (Chron. xi. 15.) When Jeroboạm had made him priests of the meanest of the people for his calves, and had expelled the priests of the Lord, it is said that he "made him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves that he made:" and "they are said to sacrifice their sons and daughters to devils." (Psalm cvi. 33.) These things are spoken to the reproach of devils, by the Spirit of Christ in his prophets before his coming, conformable to which are his own and his apostles' speeches since. By all this, Christ's enmity to Satan is most evident, he having done and said so much to his disgrace, and making his name odious to all his disciples, that thereby he may fortify them against his temptations, and encourage them to the war to which he calleth them. 13. Moreover, to testify this enmity yet further, Christ listeth all his servants in their baptism, of purpose to fight under him against Satan and his kingdom: so that it is essential to a disciple of Christ to be a soldier against the devil. How full an evidence is this to shame all blasphemous suggestions, as if Christ were ou Satan's side, and borrowed his power! No wou |