Sermon II (continued, part 2)
<fcc. that shall set up a form of godliness, and deny the power of
it. The fry still, even of those, will be of them that are naught ; and then, saith he, as in respect of the power of religion, they will resist the truth, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses. So that now still, as the world alters, let it alter its principles, by reason that Christ mil still get ground of the world ; yet it will still retain so much, that if men will walk according to the common principles most of the world go by, they will be unregene^ate men. Therefore every man is to learn to be, as Noah was,
* righteous in his generation.
I have but one or two things more to say, and so I will end. According to the course of the world, and the prince of the power of the air. I shall not now go about to shew you simply why he is called the prince of the power of the air, and the like. I will but make one general observation, and which is necessary for me now to make, because of the coherence of the former matter :
Ols. The world under the gospel, you see, was to have a great deal of alteration. The cunning of Satan is, still to apply himself to this world and the course of it, and secretly and cunningly to rule by the course of it, or with the course of it. In all the changes of the world, let there be never so many, still Satan will fall in : as you know he did, when he was thrown down from heaven. When heathenism was gone, and Christianity came up, the devil in appearance turneth Christian too, all the vogue runneth for
Christianity. But what doth he ? Then he goes and gathers all the seminals of heresy that had been sown in the primitive times, and hatcheth them all up, and makes Antichrist. When he could not uphold himself under the heathenish world, then he comes and giveth his throne to the beast. Still the devil s design is to creep in, and to turn as the world turneth, and to be dealing still with unregcnerate men. to hold up so much carnality as he may still maintain a persecution against the saints, if possibly he may obtain 80 much. This is his manner, and this hath been his way in all the turnings of the world
1>H. II. 2.] TO THE EPHESIAN3. 33
SERMON HI.
According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now ivorJceth in
the children of disobedience. VEK. 2.
THE habitual estate of every man by nature the Apostle mcntioneth in the
: Ye, saith he, who were dead in sins and trespasses. Here, in the second verse, he cometh to lay open what manner of conversation they had actually in their lives : In which
first verse, in the person of these Ephesians
sins, saith he, in time past ye walked ; having three guides, which in tins their walking they were led by
1. The world ; according to the course of this world.
2. Satan, the devil; according to the prince of the povrcr of the air, the
spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.
3. The lusts of theflesh that is, the corruption of their own hearts, acted and stirred up by these ; among whom also we had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, &c. I have despatched this first guide,
* according to the course of this world. I shall now come to this second, according to the prince of the power, &c. The Apostle s general scope in these words is to hold forth these three
things
1. The misery of these Ephesians, and of all men by nature, in respect of
subjection unto Satan, that they being children of disobedience, Satan, as a
prince, ruleth over them and govcrneth them.
2. That as the world, so that Satan is a cause of that sinfulness that is in the hearts and lives of men. As the world is a cause, according to which men shape their courses naturally, as the most of unregenerate men do, that is, the exemplary cause, so the devil is the impellingcause. He is a
cause, both as a prince and as a spirit
: according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that workcth,
<fcc.
3. To wind in a description, upon this occasion, of the greatness of Satan s kingdom, which he doth on purpose to illustrate and shew their misery the
greater and the more. He is not contented to shew their subjection to
Satan, but he doth it under the notion of a kingdom.
* According, saith
lie, to the prince of the power of the air, or of the spirit, or the spirit that works in the children of disobedience.
And the scope of all these three particulars tended to this, to stir up their hearts to give God thanks for that great deliverance, which in turning them to God he had wrought in them and for them. For God, saith^he, ver. 4, * who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead in sins and trespasses, and thus in subjection unto Satan, hath delivered us, &c. We find that, in Col. i. 1 3, turning unto God is called a translating us from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his Son. By the power of darkness there, he especially meaneth the kingdom of Satan, for he is the ruler of darkness, as you have it in the 6th chapter of this epistle, ver. 12. And therefore it VOL. II. C
I t AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE .:MoN ill.
is opposed to the kingdom 6f his Son, because there is a prince over that
kingdom that is, the great prince of this power of darkness who hath set
up a kingdom against his Son*
Now the Apostle had shewed, in the 19th verse of the first chapter, that
you may see the coherence, and how one thing hangs with another, the
exceeding great power that had thus wrought in them, and thus translated
them. He had likewise, in the 20th and 21st verses, shewed what a glorious kingdom God hath set up for his Son.
* The power which he wrought in
Christ, saith he, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own
riirht hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power, might and domimou, and every name that is named, and hath put all things under
his feet/ &c. Now he tells them that they, being converted, are placed in
this kingdom with Christ. That you have in the Gth verse of this second
chapter": He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in hea
venly places in Christ Jesus. Therefore now, to take their hearts so much
the more, he shews them that Satan hath an opposite kingdom to this of
Christ s, under the power of which they were ; and a kingdom it was, and
a power he had, and a power that worketh, and worketh effectually. You
may see it, saith he, in the children of disobedience to this day, and you
yourselves would have been the same. And therefore they were to bless God for that great change, for that power that had thus wrought in them, and translated them out of the devil s kingdom, which at best, saith he, is
but in the air, and will have an end with the air, whereas now, saith he,
you are set together with Christ in that kingdom which God hath given
his Son. We sit together in heavenly places with him. So now you have
both the scope of the words, and the general aspect of them.
I shall principally do these two things which eminently the text holds forth, and they are two parts, as I may divide them, that these words fall into : The iirst is, to shew you what a kingdom Satan hath, as here it is de
scribed, which the Apostle had in his eye to wind in, in way of opposition to
that kingdom which Christ hath described in the 21st and 22d verses of the
former chapter. And The second is, to sliew how that Satan rules and reigns in tlie liearts of
unreyenerate men, is the cause of sin in them, and they walk according to
this prince, he being a spirit, he and his angels, which do work, and work
effectually in the hearts of the children of disobedience ; and once wrought
in them.
Or, if you will, you may divide the words thus, for they may be divided
in a twofold manner ; here are two periods, though in the Greek the sentence
is continued, yet according to the periods there must be two sent.
made. He is said to be the prince of the power of the air, and the spirit, or
the prince of the spirit for either will stand, according as interpreters give the sense that worketh in the children of disobedience. Here, then, are two
parts of this kingdom in these two sentences 1. He is t/te prince of the
power of the air. 2. He it the prince of the spirit that works in tlie chii
of disobedience. The devil, you know, hath two titles, in respect of his
kingdom, given him, and it was given him or acknowledged by his com
petitor, Christ himself, He is first called the prii.
; hat is ini-
i in the first sentence; he is the prince of the power of the air. And
thm, Bcomdlv, he is c. dk-d the prince of this world, or of tinnn-n f the
world ; that is in.-Iiidrd in the second sentence, the prince of that spirit that
This divi.-icii y, ;U may take, because the one holdeth forth eminently the
EPII. II. 2.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 35
one, the other holds forth more eminently the other. Or, if you will, you may take the former division ; the one shews what a kingdom he hath, the other what influence he hath in the hearts of men unregenerate in point of
sinning. And indeed the one is interwoven in the other. I shall begin with the first sentence : He is a prince of the power of the air. The only difficulty of the phrases is, what is meant by power, and what by air.
By power, some understand, in the abstract, that princedom or government he hath in the air : and by air, by a double synecdoche, they understand this lower world and the men in it; and so understand that universal power and princedom that is committed unto the great devil here in this world, both over men, and over his natives, his complices, evil angels. In Rev. xvi. you shall find that when the seventh angel poured out his vial,
yer. 17, which, is that vial that ends all the enemies of Christ, and bringetli in the day of judgment, or the thousand years that go before it, it is said, he poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done ; that is, there was an end of all, because this last vial is to be upon the universal power of the
devil, which meant is by air; because as air circleth all things round, so it takes in the whole. The other vials had been poured out but upon part of the kingdom of the beast and of the devil, but this is upon the air, and so upon his whole power. And another sense, which indeed cometh all to one, is, that here, by the 1 power of the air, is meant not simply his government or power committed to him over the air whereof he is the prince, in the abstract, but that thereby is meant in a more peculiar manner his devils, his angels as they are called. It is put for the angels that have this power, whereof he is the prince ; which angels live and fly up and down in the air, as the most accommodate place for their residence. And so it would rather seem to be here understood, be cause it would hold forth something distinct from what is said in the second sentence ; now his power over men, over the children of disobedience, the Apostle expresseth that in the second sentence ; therefore here, in this first, by the power of the air, he meaneth, in a more peculiar, eminent manner, those
airy spirits that are principalities, and powers, and rulers with him in this world, and are the spirits that do work under him in the children of disobe dience. So that now by power of the air is meant that united kingdom, that body of angels, I may call them a political body, under this one prince, Satan.
The only objection against this interpretation is this, that it is called power, in the singular number, and that therefore the angels that have power under him should not be meant.
But that is easily taken off, for it is all these as united into one kingdom ; as we call an army sent from Spain, the power of Spain that is, so many men ; or an army that cometh under the command of one general against another nation, we call it such a force, or such a power cometh. In Col. i. 13, there it is put in the singular number too. As in chap. i. 21 of this
epistle, Christ is said to be the head of all
principality and power, it is not principalities and powers, and yet there he meaneth not only govern ment, but the persons in the government. In Exod. xiv. 28, that which in the Hebrew is, all the host of Pharaoh were drowned, the Septuagint ren ders it in the singular number, all the power of Pharaoh, meaning his whole army, or the men of that army ; and so it doth the like in Exod. xv. 4. And so now here, s|ou<7/, the power of the air which he is o ci^uv, prince of,
<
36 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SlRMOH III.
though sometimes they differ, yet sometimes they are put one for and with
another, as in 1 Cor. xv. 24. That which is in other places fovufist;, is there
jj f^c-jffia. And so now the meaning of it is this : he is the prince of the
power of the air, that is, of all that body of angels that are iniitrd into a
kingdom under him, and are in the air, which is the seat of their kingdom and of their rule, and are the spirits that do work in the children of disobe
dience.
And so now air doth note out the local place where they are, for king doms have denomination from the place ; as we say, the king of Spain, or
the kingdom of Spain, or the power of Spain, that is, which is in Spain, of men living there : so here, the prince of the power of the air is the prince of those angels that are united into one power and kingdom in the air, hav
ing that for their seat.
And that I may add a little more confirmation to this, according to the
analogy of Scripture phrase; you heard before that the host of Pharaoh is
called the power of Pharaoh; so in Matt. xxiv. 29, that which is there
translated the host of heaven, in the Greek is the powers of heaven. The whole creation, my brethren, is divided or at leastwise all that is above
the earth where men live into three parts, and every one of them have their
^(,jsia:, have their powers, that are inhabitants of it. There is the highest
heavens, where God, blessed for ever, and his angels are ; there is the starry heavens ; and there is the air of this sublunary world : and in respect of the
earth, these are sometimes all called heaven, the highest heaven is called the
third heaven. Now, to all these there are hosts, or powers, or a power, which is all one, that is in Scripture attributed to them that be the inhabi
tants thereof; they are set forth under that title and name. God hath his
throne in the highest heavens, and in 1 Kings xxii. 19 you shall read there
* host of heaven, namely all his holy and blessed angels that were there
of the
gathered about him, and the Septuagint there translates it likewise the
powers of heaven. Then there is the starry heavens, where the sun, and
moon, and stars are, and they rule the day and the night, whereof the sun is
the prince ; you shall find likewise that they are called the host of heaven, as
in Ps. xxxiii G, and the Septuagint translates it in the same place, power. Then here is the air, you see, that is the third, and that hath a host in it
too, but it is of devils, whereof this great devil is the prince, it is the seat of
his kingdom, it is the power of the air. And so much now for that. And
that by the power of the air should be meant the wicked angels as united
into one body, as joining and concurring in one power, one army ; this, I say, makes the sense more full and comprehensive, holdeth forth something dis
tinct from that which >follows in the next words where his subjects are men
tioned, namely the children of disobedience, and sets forth the kingdom of
Satan to the full in all its variety, in all its subordinations. lie is a prince, under him he hath a f>owcr; these work upon men, the children of di
dience. So now you have the phrases in these words opened unto you. Now I shall come to that which is instead of observations, that is, to
explain to you this same "kingdom of Satan, for the Apostle s scope is to hold
that up here. And, first, you sec that Satan hath a kingdom, and it is the
great kingdom that is set up against the kingdom of , It MIS Christ. The
fore, as he had described Jesus Christ as a mi.ul.ty king over all
:,. . in the 20th and 21st ver.-< s of tinapti-r; so
prinripality
i hof
< f ti M in tinNT, the Other dwell
. .rule up
> have a,
1 im t
ing in the earth. ]Jis great competitor, C1-:
EPH. II. 2.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 37
: Matt. xii. 26, If Satan be divided against Satan, how shall his kingdom stand ? Yea, and lie had the start of his kingdom in the world before Christ came into it, carried the world before him for many thousand
kingdom
years.
It is supposed by some, and indeed rationally and probably, by Zanchy, whom I account the best of Protestant writers in his judgment, and likewise by Suarez, the best of school-men, that upon the very setting up, or at least wise upon the notice that the angels had of the setting up of a kingdom for the man Christ Jesus, predestinated to come, (which whether it was without the fall predestinated, as some, or upon supposition of the fall, as others, yet so much might be revealed to them,) and that the human nature was to be assumed up into the Second Person, and he to be the head of all prineipality and power, and that angels and men should have their grace from him ; this, they say, being declared to be the will of God, their very refusing of this kingdom, and to be subject unto Christ as man thus assumed, was their first sin ; and that now, in opposition hereunto, they did set up another kingdom against him. Thus, I say, these writers that I have mentioned do
think, and they allege that place in the Epistle of Jude, vcr. G, where the
sin of the angels being described, it is said, they kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, which, say they, is not there brought in as their punishment; they left that station God had set them in, and they left their dwelling in heaven, to set up a kingdom here below in opposition to
Christ, and so to have an independent kingdom of themselves; for which God hath condemned them into eternal torment and to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment, 2 Peter ii. 4. And to set up this great kingdom is their business, and therefore they now do associate themselves together, not out of love, but as becometh rational creatures that would drive on a project and a design. Our Saviour Christ in that place, Matt, xii., speaks of it as the great end that Satan prosecuteth. Satan, saith he, will not cast out Satan, for that would divide his kingdom, and he is tender of that, that is his great design.
I will not much insist upon it, only I will give you the grounds that they go upon, besides this mentioned. That place in John viii. 44, where Christ
lays open both the devil s sin, and the sin of the Jews. The sin of the Jews
was, that they would not receive that truth which Christ had delivered to them, as he tells them, ver. 45, Because I tell you the truth, you believe me not, and not receiving it, they sought to kill him. Now if you ask what that truth was that Christ had so much inculcated to them, you shall see at ver. 25 what it is. They asked him there who he was. Even the same, saith he,
* that I have told you from the beginning, the Messiah, the Son of God ; and saith he, in the next verse,
* He that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him; and, ver. 28, When you have crucified me, some of you shall know it, for some were converted, or at least they saw it more eminently to their hardening, You shall know that I am he. This he calleth the truth, ver. 32 : You, saith he, speaking to his disciples, shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free/ Now the truth is the Son of God. If the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed, ver. 3G. This was the great truth that these Jews would not receive. Now he tells them likewise, ver. 44, that Satan, their father the
devil, abode not in the truth. He was the first, saith he, that opposed and contradicted this great truth, and would not be subject to God who revealed
this, nor would he accept, or embrace, or stand, or continue in this, he would quit heaven first ; arid so from hence came he to be a murderer, a
38 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [Sl.RMON III.
hater of this man Christ Jesus, and of this kingdom, and of mankind; for he that hateth God, or he that hateth Christ, is, in what in him lieth, a murderer of him, and he shewed it in falling upon man. And they back it with this reason why it should be so meant: because otherwise the devil s
sin, which he compares theirs unto, had not been so great as theirs, there had not been a likeness between the sin of the one and the other. His sin had only been telling of a lie, a lie merely in speech, and theirs had been :i
refusing of that great truth, Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Head, and so the
devil s sin would have been less than theirs; whereas he is made the great father of this great lie, of this great stubbornness to receive Christ, and to
contradict this truth ; and this, saith he, he hath opposed from the beginning, with all his might, and he setteth your hearts a-work to kill me. But, I say, I will not stand upon this, because I only deliver it as that which is the
opinion of some, and hath some probability.
However this is certain, whatsoever his sin was, he hath now, being fallen, set up his kingdom in a special manner against Christ. And so Christ hath been the great stumbling stone ; the angels fell upon it, and men fall upon
it. So that indeed the tirst quarrel was laid in this, God himself proclaimed
it at the very beginning. And a little would make one think, that there was
something before, when God denounced the sentence against the serpent. The seed of the woman shall break the serpent s head, which though $pofcen to the serpent, comes in by way of curse, as striking at the very spirit of the
devil s sin. He shall break thy head, saith he ; thou wouldest have lifted up thyself, he shall crush thee. God, I say, proclaimed the war, and the
quarrel hath continued from the beginning of the world to this day, and will do until Satan be put out of this air; for so long he is to have his kingdom, though Christ beateth him out of it every day in the world, and so will con
tinue to do, till he hath won the world from him, and then he will chain him up in the bottomless pit. Therefore saith Christ in Luke xi. 20, If I with the finger of God cast out devils, the devil hath a kingdom, saith he, he had
said that before, then know that the kingdom of God, that great kingdom prophesied of which the Son of man should have from God, is come amongst you. In John xii 28,
* I have glorified my name, saith God, and I will
glorify it ; what followeth thereupon as the consequence of it 1 Saith
* Now shall the prince of this world be cast out ; his kingdom shall
Christ,
go down, that is the way by wliich God will glorify himself. I will glorify
myself, saith he, that is, I will throw down that kingdom which the devils
possess. When the seventy returned, and rejoiced that the devils were sub
ject to them in Christ s name, saith he, I saw Satan I saw him before, this was in mine eye falling from heaven like lightning;* and that is the
great thing in Christ s eye, to bring down the devil s kingdom.
The truth is, the reason that God suffered Satan, and indeed hath given a kingdom to him by way of permission, is this : he would set up the grc enemy that could be supposed his Son Jesus Christ could have, stiv with a multitude of angels, having gained all mankind, for so Inli.
first setting up of this kingdom ; there was a law that not a man slmuld In
born in this world but he should be a subject of his kingdom, and Jesus
1 not one person upon earth ; he might have God did, that he might shew forth the glory of the kini:<l<>in of
: dom ; fbf hath in his eye, .\
great enemy and destroying this L
. .w, it is but a
earthly 1. I . ..man moi
j to \ "f this kingdom, this great h-al. \\hirh is as the
EPH. II. 2.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 39
primum molde that turns about all the kingdoms of the world. That is the
first observation.
The second thing which you may observe out of the words likewise, is this, that this kingdom is a monarchy. Here is a prince, one great devil over other devils, the power of the air; and over men, the children of disobedi ence ; and this kingdom set up against our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is a truth which both heathens and others acknowledge. Trisme<nstus hath it, as in Lactantius second book of Divine Institutions ; he speaks of evil spirits and good spirits, and of the evil spirits he saith there was one chief devil. And it was a tradition likewise amongst the Jews, and owned by Christ himself, in that of Matt, xii., who called him the prince of devils/ And there are testimonies by some that those that were magical amongst the heathen, when they could not raise a spirit, they would call upon that chief
devil, whom they durst not name, that he would send one to them. I only speak it for this, that amongst them this was a tradition, that there was one
great devil. When I handled that of principality and power in the 20th verse of the first chapter, I remember I shewed then that, take the power of
angels in heaven simply, it is in respect of them an aristocracy ; it is a monarchy in respect of Christ indeed. But come down to hell, and there it is a monarchy ; he is both prince of devils, and prince of this world too, as Matt. ix. 34, xii. 24; John xii. 31. How he cometh to be thus the monarch, we will not stand disputing. The school-men have many things upon it. He was the most excellent of all the rest, and the order of nature still continued though they fell
; as in a man s soul, though he fall into sin, yet that order that the powers of the soul were set in it at first continueth still; the understanding still guideth the will, and the will the affections. Or perhaps he was the ringleader of them all ; and therefore when his punishment, and that in respect to his first sin, is men tioned, it is said, Go into the fire prepared prepared so long ago, even from his first sinning for the devil and his angels. The style of the punishment runs as the style of the sin runs, for it is spoken in respect of the sin. The devil had sinned, and his angels that cleave unto him therein; therefore the punishment runs, prepared for the devil and his angels ; prepared, I say, for him even from his first sinning, as being the ringleader of them all in that first sin. And so indeed Grotius interpreteth that in John viii. 44, 1 He is a liar, and the father of it; he is, saith he, 6 car^ afiroy, a father of that kind, of all the devils that lied. A father, how 1 Not by generation, but as in Gen. iv. 20, he that first invented brass is said to be the father of such as work in brass; and he that invented tents, the father of such as dwell in tents. And so now by the just ordination of God, they having sinned with him, are all thus subjected to him; he remains a prince over them. The devils sinned with a head, we sinned in a head. And they thus uniting willingly to one monarchy, their chiefest end being to uphold the business of their kingdom, as I shall shew anon, therefore that this may be carried on uniformly and one way, that there may be one uniform spirit still, and that they may be guided in all ages by it, to breathe in one kind of
activity into the children of disobedience, they have all subjected themselves; partly I say by their own voluntary subjection, and partly by the ordination of God, and the excellency of that angel above all the rest. He is called that dragon in Eev. xx., the article is put three times there: that dragon, that serpent, that old. And though other devils may be called devils, though some say that we read nowhere that any are called devils but this great devil; the others are called demons, but they are not called didboli,
40 AN EXPOSITION : EPISTLE S 1 I f.
and they arc called unclean spirits and the like, but this title, who is the devil and Satan/ is proper and peculiar to him. As there is a whole Anti
christ, one eminent Antichrist, though there be many Antichrists ; so there
is one whole dragon, one great devil, though there be many others under him.
You shall read in Ezek. xxix. 3, it is an excellent allusion, that Pharaoh king of Egypt is called the great dragon ; the like you have in Isa. li. 9. Now in Ps. Ixxiv. 13, H, compared with this, you shall find it said, th;;(. God gave his people the heads of the dragons for meat; meaning the Egyp tians. (It was meat for their faith to live upon, to see the great works that God did for them.) They are called the little dragons, "but Pharaoh is called the great dragon. As this was a type of our deliverance out of the kingdom of Satan, so the type runs on : as Pharaoh, though all the rest of the Egyptians were dragons, yet he was that great dragon ; so there is one
great devil, who is prince of all the rest. And between him and Jesus Christ
it is, that this, not competition on Christ s part, that is too mean a word to be used in this business, but he is set up, and hath set up himself against our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Therefore now, when Christ came into the world, the devil, having had quiet possession of the kingdoms of the world in all ages, you know lie had been worshipped as the god of the world, he began to smell that this man was the Son of God ; and in his temptation of him, if you look into Luke iv., he doth offer him all these kingdoms. If thou be the Messiah, saith he, I know it is a kingdom that thou comest for, and that is the quarrel between thee and me ; thou shalt have it, saith he, with case ; they are all given unto me, do but hold it of me, do but worship me. He would have compounded the business of this kingdom with the man Christ Jesus. This great devil, that old serpent that tempted Adam, ternpteth the second Adam : and this was the decision of the controversy and
quarrel, Christ told him with indignation that God only must be worshipped. Now this same great devil, this same prince, he is the supreme, and the
others, powers of the air, are but sent out by him, as I may allude to what Peter speaks. Therefore in 2 Cor. xii. 7, Paul saith a messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him. It was not the great devil, but an angel, a messen
ger of his whom he sent.
Now, between this prince and these under-dcvils that are rulers of the world under him, as they are called, Eph. VL 12, there seems in Scripture to be held forth this difference, that they are much fixed to places, I do not say to persons. It is a thing observed in that Mark v. 1 2, when the legion of devils were to be cast out of the man, the text saith that they besought him much there is an emphasis put upon it
* that he would not send them away out of the country. Why I Because, as Cartwright and others well
observe, they would still continue there, where they had been familiar with men, and knew their dispositions .and manners, and therefore knew how to
lay their temptations ; and it would have been a great disadvantage, they thought, to them to be sent out of that country, and so have been pi; seek out another. Therefore the devil s punishment, when he got
.-s ..ut of
one, is said to be, that he walketh in dry places, that is, in he finds little work. But now this great devil, he goes up and down
i eing he that giveth direction to all the .it which
>b, where he is said to conn.- from omp;i. the general vizier of the world.
interpreter!
. i (
Thirdly, A one. Ti I r, if
Job.
EPH. IT. 2.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 4J
you mark it, they arc not called powers of the air, though they arc so many of them, but they are called power, in the singular number, because they do agree with one united design to carry it on. And they are not called
* the spirit that worketh, tfec. Or, at least, there
spirits/ but one spirit ;
is one common spirit comes from them all, one spirit and one power, be cause they all agree to set up sin, and to pull down the kingdom of Jesus
Christ, all that possibly they can. This agreement of theirs, to give you but one instance of it, appears in that legion that was in one man, in Mark v. and in Luke viii. These did not act one member of him one way, and others of them another, but they all agree to act the whole man one way. And
again, when at their request Christ gave them leave to enter into the swine, there were two thousand swine, therefore at least there were two thousand
devils, for it is said, they entered into them. All these agreed still in one
project, they carried these swine all of them headlong into the sea; one devil doth not carry one swine one way, and another another way, but they entered into them, they all agreed to carry them headlong into the sea.
And the reason why they are thus united is this, because they are united in one extrinsical common end, which is to them the supreme end of all the
rest, to which they lay down all lower, particular, intrinsical ends of their own, all ambition in themselves, or whatsoever else. The devils arc proud enough, yet their hatred to God and to Christ, and their zeal to their own kingdom, in the public and general, is made their supreme end. Revenge against God is certainly their main sin, as he that sins against the Holy Ghost, having received the sentence of condemnation within himself, revenge against God is his main lust. Therefore they being united in this end, which is extra se, and concernetli the public cause of them all, as I may call
it, hence they lay aside all their lower ends, and they agree to attain that end. And therefore, though they cause divisions amongst men, as they did between Abimelech and the men of Sichcm, and so they do in kingdoms ; yet they all agree in this one end of hatred to God, and therefore in the
putting of men upon sin in the uttermost ways they can.
My brethren, what should this teach us ? Give me leave to do that by the way, as I go. Is there union in hell under one prince, Satan ? and shall there not be union amongst saints, under one Head, Christ Jesus, who have a nearer relation to Christ, not as a Prince only, but as a Head ? The devil
is not properly a head to these as members. Our Saviour Christ, you know, prayed for his disciples, and so for all others that are saints, that they might be one, as he is one ; and they shall certainly be one, one day. Shall not Christ now unite us more one to another that are saints, than our own lusts and
corruptions should sever and divide 1 I said likewise, that among the devils
all lower ends fall down to the public, they are united in one end, extra se, out of themselves, for the advancement of their kingdom
: should it not be so amongst saints ? And therefore the apostle, because the saints agree in one common end, saith, though they differ in opinions and practices and he speaks in matters of worship one eateth and another doth not ; yet they both do it to the Lord. And certainly, my brethren, when men see them to aim at the same common end, the advancement of the kingdom of Christ, the great substantiate of it, differences in matters of opinion and practice ought not to make any disunion ; it doth not in hell itself. And likewise it should teach us to prefer the public good to our private ends. The devils, you see, prefer the public good, as I may call it, of their kingdom for so it
is to them to their lower ends, though they are proud enough. Therefore
42 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON III.
now, for the safety of a kingdom, for the advancement of a kingdom, of a
church, and these are mighty things, men should let all their petty ends bow and vail, and not go about to hinder the carrying on of such a work.
Fourthly, This kingdom of theirs, and these angels he speaks of, tJuy hone a gi-eat power in them. They are therefore called
* the power of the air ; he doth not call them angels or spirits only, but power. And elsewhere they are called principalities and powers. Eph. vi 12, We wrestle not/ sa it ll
* against flesh and blood. Alas ! the power of kings, and armies, and men is nothing. But we fight against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickednesses, against devils, that infinitely exceed all the sons of men. And the word is not only owd/aig, potentia physica, a physical power, of understanding and insinuation, <fec., but it is sjoy<r/a, it is authority too. For his natural power, Satan is called the strong man, Matt. xii. 2U ; a
lie,
lion, 1 Pet. v. 8, of all beasts the strongest, the fiercest. I will not insist much upon it ; for their authority,
* principalities and powers, and the word power here includes both. The consideration of this should teach us for I shall still make meditations and observations as I go along that are useful and practical to depend upon our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and to be afraid, in respect of what power Satan may have, to carry a man on to sin. They are not only powers in themselves, but they are
* power likewise ; they all concur. Small things, if they all unite, have a great deal of strength in them. Concordid pan>ce res crescunt. But if strength shall
unite, what a strength will it be ! How should we therefore live by faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ ! We are weak creatures of ourselves, but in him we are strong. How should we walk fearful of being ensnared by Satan ! How should we walk with all the armour of God continually about us ! But they are not only powers thus in respect of physical power, but in
respect of authority. All power is of God, and Satan s power is of God, at
least by permission. He himself said, Luke iv. 6, that this world was de
livered unto him, and therein he spake truth. It was indeed delivered to
him, that is, by God s permission : though he lied in this, when he said, I
give the kingdoms of the world to whomsoever I will ; for that is God s
prerogative. Indeed he gave it to Antichrist, as I shall shew you anon ; but it is God s sole prerogative to give the kingdoms of the world to whom soever he will ; so Dan. iv. But Satan had them by permission, as Christ
gave leave to the devils to enter into the swine ; it is a word of permission. Now he hath a kind of a propriety in wicked men, whilst they continue in his
kingdom. In Luke XL 21, 22, a wicked man is called his own house, and his own goods ; and they are said to be his captives, taken captive at his
will. And therefore some interpret that place, when Christ did come to cast those legions of devils out of the man, saith he, What have I to do with thee ? that is, What hurt have I done thee ? I am in this man that I have
possessed, I possess but my own, and this is my castle ; why shouldest thou come to torment me before my time? Am I not in mine own? And lie hath them by conquest : 2 Peter iL 19, Of whom a man is oven -on him he is brought in bondage. And God hath permitted him to hav<- .ill
this power, and to have so long possession of it, as he hath had in t In-
world; for if he had not suffered this great enemy to be set up, his Son s kingdom had not been so glorious in the overthrowing of it as it will 1>\ my brethren, see the mercy of God in fre< iiu and delivering those from :i..ni h<- hath translate! into the kingdom of \\]< Son. )nr
that tinprirr was paid to Satan, but to God; for so he hath ]mlll
u> from thpower of darkin^ l.y redemp-
EPH. II. 2.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 43
tion, Col. i. 13. And how doth he do it ? By being in some respects sub
ject to the power of Satan. You know the expression Christ hath, Luke
xxii. 53, This is your hour, and the power of darkness. That is, By your means, you Jews, to whom God hath given this hour, for wicked men have but an hour, the saints of God shall have the day of it, the devil, who
is the prince of darkness, and is that great power of darkness, (as you may see by comparing this with that Col. i. 13, where by power of darkness the devil s kingdom is intended,) cometh thus to have a power over me, to
crucify me, to kill me, which is the thing he aims at. ]STow Jesus Christ, being in this respect subject to the power of Satan, for otherwise he was not subject; the prince of this world cometh, saith he, and hath nothing in me ; nothing in him to tempt him, or to subdue him that way, but it was the devil s plot to have him crucified, and he stirred up the Romans, and Pilate, and all these Jews, for the crucifying of him, and he subjected himself so far to the will of Satan, and by this he hath delivered us out of the power of darkness. Yea, though his kingdom is thus great, God useth
poor flesh and blood, men, we that pray and preach, to overcome him, and we do it. In Rev. xii.,
l There was war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought against the dragon ; and the dragon fought and his angels, and pre vailed not. By Michael s angels are not meant only the angels of heaven, but men, the saints on earth too. Why? Because, at the llth verse, it is
said, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, which cannot be meant of the angels, and they loved not their lives unto the death ; that is, they gave away that part of their lives to death that was to come, and by this they overcame the devil.
The last thing that is here is, the place of this prince s dominion, the air. He is prince of the power of the air. The denomination of kingdoms is from the place where themselves and their subjects live, and by air is meant this elementary, this sublunary world, and especially the airy part of
it, the interstitium between heaven and earth.
* Being clothed with air, they run up and down. It is the place where they are. And if the devil appear, all his workmanship, his apparitions, his visions is air condensed. He took Christ up into an exceeding high mountain. Why there ? That he might in the air make a brave prospect of all the kingdoms of the world, for it was done by an outward vision ; all his power lies there. Some have thought there might be an allusion to it when he is called Beelzebub, the god of
Hesiod, speaking of the devils, saith,
flies ; for the air is as full of them as of flies in the summer. Sure we are, they are called the fowls of the air, Luke viii. 5, 1 2 compared. There is a
story reported by Frantzius, of a holy man in Germany, that that night that the great massacre was in France, he knowing nothing thereof, he saith he saw spirits in the air ; and therefore certainly, saith he, there is some great
tiling done in the world this night. My brethren, there is such an affinity between air and spirits, that the good angels, though they are not called the
powers of the air, for heaven is their place, and they are those that behold the face of God, yet when they come down to minister, they are compared to the meteors of the air, as it is a good observation of Cameron upon Heb.
i. 6. In Ps. civ. 4, He makes his angels spirits, and his ministers flames of fire. He speaks both of angels, saith he, and he speaks of meteors in the air, winds, and flames of fire that are in the air ; for the motion of angels is as lightning, which is the nearest thing to compare them to. That he speaks there of meteors is clear, because he speaks of the works of God in the elementary world, which, in Heb. i., he applies to the good
44 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE :.MON III.
angels, namely, then when they are in the air, sent forth as ministering
* to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. But now,
spirits
though they are as meteors in the air, for he compares them to wind, sent
up and down by God, and to flames of fire, yet that is not their place. But
take these bad angels, as they are as wind, as meteors in the air, so the air
is their proper place, or at least that place which their kingdom is in ; therefore now, if they do not possess men s bodies, or the like, they fly up and down in the air. It is the
* prince of the power of the air. There is a great dispute, and I confess I am yet exceeding doubtful, and know not well how to determine it, and that is this. Whether, yea or no, the ordinary place for these devils be hell, the abyssu*, the deep, as it is
called, which certainly is a differing place from the air ; for when they were
here in the air in this world, they desired that they might not be thrown
into the deep ; that is, into hell, into the abystus which is put for hell, Kcv.
xx. 3, where it is said the devil was taken and cast into abysms; it is the same word that is used in Luke viii. 31. Whether, I say, that the ordinary
placc for their abode is to be in hell; but by way of liberty only, now and
then for tcntation, or the like, as God is pleased to let them out, they are in
the air, for whilst they are in the air they cannot be in this abyssus, for the
reason I now mentioned ? Or whether, yea or no. that the ordinary seat of them is the air, and that therefore they are called the spirits of the power of
the air ? I say, it is a very hard thing to determine, because indeed the
Scriptures do seem to speak both one way and another way ; and how to
reconcile them perfectly, for my part, I confess I fully know not. For, in
2 Peter ii. 4, it is said that he spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be re
served unto judgment. And so, in Jude, ver. G, He hath reserved them in
everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. Yet, on the other side, say the devils unto Christ,
* Art thou come to torment us
before our time ? as having the day of judgment in their eye. They knew
not indeed when the day of judgment should be, yet they knew it was not
yet. And they adjured Christ by his truth and faithfulness : I adjure thee by God, saith he, that thou torment me not ; that is, I adjure thec
by that righteousness and faithfulness of God, who, in his sentencing of us
to condemnation, hath given us time till the day of judgment, that thou
torment us not now. For Christ being the Son of God, they knew not but
that he might shew his prerogative upon those themselves being but few
devils that were there, which makes them therefore so submissive.
The Scriptures, therefore, looking thus to both ways, I say, it is exceeding hard to determine. I only refer you to what Mr Mead hath written in his
JJiatribt, where he handles both that place in Peter and that in Jude. And he saith that the word in Peter, he hath cast them down to hell, doth not
necessarily signify a present throwing them down to hell, but a judging of them to hell. And so they are reserved in chains to the day of judgment ; that Is, in the mean season he lets them be in the air. As we say of a ji; vrheu he condemns a man to be hanged, that he hath hanged the man,
though the man be not hanged a long time after : so God jud^e-l tliin unt</
hell, and impressed ujx>n their consciences a receiving of
everlasting sentence of condemnation, which they shall iu v r ! fi when he prayed unto ( k v., fr the
1 men do wln-n their <:! he
prayed, not t: but that th-y
EriJ. II. 2.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 45
might not be tormented before their time. The truth is, that both may stand. I will give you but that reconciliation which I have had in my thoughts; that is this: that their kingdom is only in the air, and when they are thrown into hell by God, as it may be sometimes some of them are, at his pleasure, then they are not in their kingdom. If the great devil be thrown into hell, his power ceascth ; for the devils do not torment one
another, nor wicked souls at present ; for how is it said that the fire is pre pared for the devil and his angels ? Therefore, though they may be sometunes in hell, and let loose again, to rove up and down here below, as God sometimes lets them loose, carrying their chains about them ; yet, notwith
standing, their kingdom is only in the air, and although, I say, they are thrown into hell sometime, yet they may be let loose again. You have a clear place for that, Rev. xx. 3. It is said there that Satan was sealed up in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, because God, during that glorious time of a thousand years, would not have the saints tormented"; and afterwards he is let loose again, till at last he is cast into that lake where he is chained down for ever. And certainly, my brethren, let him now go up and down in the air, he carrieth his chain with him, that is, a chain of guilt, and his hell is about him. The place is clear, James iii. G, 1 The tongue, saith he, is set on fire of hell/ that is, of the devil, who is called hell, not only as being condemned to hell, but as carrying hell about him. There is a chain that chains them to hell, that they cannot come out; and if that by permission they are let out at any time, they are in chains
still. As men sentenced to death have chains put upon them, and whereever they go, they carry those chains along with them : so God judged, sentenced the devils unto hell ; and when they were cast to hell, that is, judged to hell, he clapped chains upon them, which they carry up and down
with them wherever they are. And this likewise is certain, that they are not in their full torment. It is said that they do now believe and tremble/ tremble at what is to come ; and they say, Do not torment us before the time / and there is a reserve. They are reserved/ saith the Apostle. And in 2 Peter ii. 9, as wicked men are said to be reserved unto the day of judgment
l reserved unto the groat day. Therefore they are not in full torment, there is a reservation of a^great deal
: so they are said likewise to be
yet to come.
The reason why they are thus permitted to be in the air, and are not in full torment, is this : because his ministry is to
* work in the children of disobedience / that is, that which God permits him to do, which we may say is his ministry designed him by God. Now he being designed to work, as the text saith he works in the children of disobedience/ of necessity he must be in the air / for if he were in hell, he could not work at such a distance. It is proper to Christ, who is the King and Head of his Church, though in heaven, to work in a man s heart here upon earth. Satan cannot do the like ; therefore to the end he may work upon men, he is in the air. And therefore to be in the
* air/ and to work in the children of disobedi ence/ are equivalent. And then again, if he were in full torment, it is certain likewise he could not be busy to tempt ; and the reason is clear, for the fulness of God s wrath which men shall have in hell takes up all the intention ; insomuch as some divines say, that therefore there is no sinning in an active way in hell, be cause they are only sufferers. I remember, it is a notion that Parker hath in his Descemion into Hell The wrath of God would distract the creature.
46 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SK!;M N 1 I I.
when it cometli in the fulness of it. Now the devil hath all his wits about
him, all his wiles, all his methods ; therefore certainly they are not in full torment
And likewise, if they had not ease, yea, a pleasure in wickedness in some
respect, they would not be so busy ; for they have lusts and desires. The
* ye will do. Now then, when
lusts of your father the devil, saith Christ,
they have put men upon what they do desire, there is a satisfaction of their
lusts, and there is in sonic respects some pleasure arising, that sets them on work. And this may seem to be one difference between the place of men s
souls departed, that go to hell, that are in a place of torment, as it is called, Luke XVL, and the devil s place. God having not appointed them a ministry to work in the children of disobedience, as he hath done the devils ; hence
therefore they are in torment, in that torment, though not such as shall be when soul and body are joined together. Therefore now, though they sin,
yet they do it not de merito, they shall not answer for all that which is done
in hell ; the text is clear in that of the Corinthians ; to answer for what is done in the body, saith he. But now the devils, they being appointed a
iniui.stry, having liberty to be, not in the deep always, but in the air, and in a respect having some ease, hence therefore they go on de merito. Why else
are the angels said to be judged ? You know it is said, the saints shall judge the angels. What ! only for the first great sin, and not for their putting men upon all the sins since 1 Then one man would have more sins than the
great devil, if the devil were to be judged only for that first great sin. They shall be judged, I say, for what they have done, from the very first sin they committed. And though they are in termino, that is, they are not in via
in respect of the sentence of condemnation itself; yet, notwithstanding, in
respect of ease they are in the way, and in termino only in respect of the
sentence. And as those that sin against the Holy Ghost, and have received
the sentence of condemnation in themselves, they are in that respect in hell
as well as the devils ; yet because they are but in the frontiers of it, they have but the first fruits, not the fulness of torment ; therefore they go on
still de merito, adding guilt to guilt, and so do the devils too.
Now, my brethren, to conclude this discourse concerning Satan and his
kingdom, with summing up to you, shortly and briefly, the greatness of this
kingdom of his. His kingdom, you see
1. For the form of it, it is a monarchy
: he is the prince of the power of the air.
2. For the subjects of it : as Christ hath for his subjects things visible and invisible, things in heaven and things in earth, Col. i. 16 ; so this great devil hath for subjects of this kingdom things invisible his own natural
complices, of the like nature with him ; they are called here, the power of the air ; and he hath things visible the children of disobedience, which
are his slaves, which he hath overcome, namely, the sons of men.
3. For the multitude of his subjects, he hath more than Christ by far :
of mankind we are sure, what of angels we know not. He is the great and
catholic king, he hath had all the world ; you see, the world and the devil
together in the text ; and he that walketh according to the world, walketh
anonrning to Satan ; and, Rev. xii. 9, he is said to be the dragon that had
* deceived the whole world*
4. It is such a kingdom as doth not consist only in outward command, but comes in that somewhat near the kingdom
1" works in
wardly. So saitli .,: diil.lr. -li -nce;
i ftd. In.- hath not that influence
til it invisibly. Only,
EPH. II. 2.] TO THE EPHESIANS 47
Christ hath; but influence he hath, by insinuating himself into men s spirits; he works in them, which no monarch can do, nor which all his agents can do.
5. For his success which he aims at, which is to carry men on to sin, the
text saith, he works in them ; that is, he works effectually in them.
6. For continuance of time, as I said before, he had the start of Christ in
this world, for he had possession of all mankind, and he thought he had them all under lock and key ; for that which bringeth every man into the world made him a child of the devil.
7. He hath given place to none, as other princes do ; nay, he himself was
worshipped in the world, not as king only, but as a god. And therefore, in Rev. xii. it is said that he and his angels were in heaven. Why ? Because
they were worshipped as gods. And he was cast out into the earth, and
his angels were cast out with him. When Constantino turned Christian, all the world turned Christian too ; then all his devils were thrown down from
having that worship as they always had before.
But, my brethren, when he ceased to be a god, he still being the prince of this world, that he might imitate God, who liath set up his Son Jesus
Christ, he likewise hath set up his son, Antichrist, the beast of Rome, whose kingdom and the devil s are in many things just alike. I remember I shewed
you, when I handled those particulars mentioned in the 20th and 21st verses of the first chapter, a parallel between the pride of the devil and the pride of the Pope, in taking upon him to be as Christ, and that parallel held a
great way in all those particulars. Now let us parallel the devil s kingdom and Antichrist s kingdom. For the devil told our Saviour Christ, that he had power to give the world to whom he would ; and God did give him power to raise up one king, and the greatest kingdom that ever was ; for that State of Rome, whereof the Pope is the head, is the greatest kingdom, and hath been of longest continuance of any other. In Rev. xiii., when the devil himself was cast out from being god of the world, he takes up another plot, and the text saith, ver. 2, that the dragon did give the beast his power, and his seat, and great authority. All power of kings and magistrates is of God, Rom. xiii. But the truth is, Antichrist s kingdom, and all his hierarchy, it
is of the devil ; he raised him up in imitation of Christ ; he is the eldest son of Satan, as Christ is the eldest son of God. And when himself could not keep his kingdom any longer, as he had done, to be immediately worshipped, then he sets up the Pope, the greatest cheat that ever was in the world, a son of his own raising, after whom the whole world ran a-wondering. Now as the devil hath two sorts of subjects, his natural subjects of his own
kind, the angels, his fellow-peers ; and men, which are his slaves, so hath the Pope. Therefore in Rev. xiii. you find two beasts, one in the llth verse
arising with two horns like a lamb, that is the Pope and his clergy, those evil angels, for ministers should be angels ; there is his ecclesiastical power. And then he is the head of the kings of the earth ; there is his secular power. He hath a double power under him, a double body, even as the devil here hath. And, my brethren, they are ordered to fall together. When the vial was poured out upon the air, Rev. xvi., which is the whole universal power of the devil, it is said that Babylon came up into remembrance before God. And Rev. xix. 20, it is said,
< The beast was cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. There is the beast that goes into the lake ; the devil goes after him, Rev. xx. 10, The devil that deceived the world was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were. But in the meantime, though the devil be a king, yet he is a miserable
king, for his very kingdom is his prison
: if he could break-through the heavens
48 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE Jj i .MON ITT.
and run away from God, lie would ; but he cannot, he is under chains, and he is under torment likewise, though not in fulness of torment.
And, my brethren, to make an observation or two upon it : He is but the prince of the air, first ; but our Lord and Saviour Christ, he is the prince in heaven, his throne is in heaven, as Hcb. i. hath it, and
Eph. i. 10, -0. And Jesus Christ is our intercessor, and our prayers go to
heaven, the devil cannot meddle with them, he cannot intercept them, though he be prince in the air; the Holy Ghost carries them up ; he holds, as I may
say, one hand in our heart, and another in Christ s. Nay, not only Christ
i.s in heaven, and the devil but in the air, but we are set in heavenly places with Christ, Eph. ii. G. Therefore, as the Apostle saith, what shall sepa rate us from the love of God i Shall principalities or powers, good angels or bad ? You may observe likewise, that Satan hath no kingdom when the air shall
cease, wliL-n this world shall be at an end. Jesus Christ will put clown all
power and rule, and God will be all in all ; that is, he will be all in heaven, and all in hell too, every way he will be all.
My brethren, fear not this prince of the air, for Jesus Christ lumself, when he ascended into heaven, went through this air, tlu s kingdom of the
devils, and spoiled these principalities and powers ; that is, virtually, he took their kingdom from them : and himself, a man, went to heaven per sonally in the sight of them all, leading them all captive in triumph at his
chariot. And, as a father well saith, he purified the air, as he went, of these unclean spirits ; that is, by virtue of this ascension of his he hath so triumphed over them, that they shall never do his people hurt, nor ever keep their souls from heaven.
I have thus largely opened to you the kingdom of Satan, as these word* hold it forth ; for I have kept punctually to them, and that because the
Apostle intended to set out this kingdom here in opposition to the kingdom of Christ, which he had described in the lUth and -Uth verses of the former
chapter.
i should likewise shew you how lie is a cause of sin, and how all wicked men walk according to this prince, and how this prince workcth in them, as
being children of disobedience. But that I reserve for the next discourse.
EPU. IL 2.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 49
SEEMON IV.
According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. VER. 2.
THE Apostle s scope in general is, to set forth the misery of all unregenerate men, brought home to these Ephesians by way of application, yet so as every man in his natural condition may see his own estate by it. Men walk in sin whilst they are unregenerate ; in which ye walked, saith he j and they have three guides. They have the world ; according to the course of this world. They have the devil ; according to the prince of the power of the air/ &c. And, last of all, the flesh, our own corrupt hearts. In opening of these words, as they relate to the Apostle s scope, I reduced them to these three heads : The first is, That Satan hath a kingdom opposite unto Christ s, which the Apostle therefore a little enlargeth upon in these words he is the prince of the power of the air ; having in his eye to describe Satan s kingdom in op position to that kingdom of Christ s which he had held forth in two or three verses before, namely, in ver. 20, 21 of the former chapter. The second is, That all men in the state of unregeneracy are subjects of that kingdom and of that prince, and do live accordingly. And that is im ported in the coherence of these words, in which ye walked accordinoto the prince of the power of the air, tfec.