Sermon II (continued, part 4)
world, and though he had nothing in, or against Christ, yet he ruled their hearts unanimously. Therefore, in Ps. ii., Why do the heathen rage, and the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed? The truth is, the devil was in them. This is your hour, saith Christ, and the power of darkness ; that
is, the devil, who is the power of darkness, hath power over me, by means of you.
Now, my brethren, it is a spirit likewise which, if the godly wise do
heedfully observe, may be discerned. The Apostle saith so much. Do you not see it work, saith he, in the children of disobedience ? You may see it by the nature and carriage of things, that Satan carries them on. And so much for the interpretation of those words, the spirit that worketh. I come to The Time; that now worketh? Some put it for etiamnum, that
still worketh ; but I think that is not the meaning of it, for it refers to that
present spirit that then was, which, as I said, Satan was the prince of; which now worketh. It may have relation also to the times of the gospel, in comparison of former times. In John xii 31, saith Christ, Now is the judgment of this world; that is, now is the time of the gospel, when this world is to be reformed, and the prince of this world is cast out. Now, because that is the now when the prince of this world is cast out, there fore this is the now wherein the devil being cast out, being vexed, raiseth up a spirit in the children of disobedience. And he is more active a thousand times than he was in the Old Testament. It is true, Satan under the New Testament hath less power than he had under the Old ; for the kingdom of Christ cometh still more and more upon him, and spoils his plots, eats them out ; but yet his activeness, his working, is more by far. And the reason is
this, because the devil is enraged ; for still as Christ goes, and casts him out of his kingdom, or out of men s hearts, the more he rageth. In Mark ix.
26, when the unclean spirit was to be cast out, the text saith, he cried, and rent him sore. And in Rev. xii. 12, when the devil, that great dragon, was cast out, thrown from heaven, it is said, he is come down, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time. And if he had millions of years, they would be a short time to him. But when he saw him self thrown down, it was to him as the beginning of the day of judgment, which he thinketh is approaching. And still, my brethren, the more he is VOL. IL E
66 AN UOOSIT10X OF THE KIM- [fcJEKMON IV.
confounded, the more he is enraged, and the more active he is ; therefore he
* the spirit that now worketh. You shall sec this, by comparing the instruments he doth employ in one
saith,
age, and in others, successively, that come after. In Ilev. ix., there comes
out of the bottomless pit a company of locusts, whose king was the devil ; these were, as some think, the Saracens ; or, as others, those preaching friars, that were some hundreds of years ago sent abroad to uphold the Pope s
kingdom. For my part, I think, the Holy Ghost did carry on the story of
both, even in that first part of the prophecy. Now you shall find in lu-v.
xvi, when Antichrist cometh to his last cast, his agents then are not locusts, but frogs, and so raised that they are called spirits, because they are more
nimble and active than those locusts were ; for the devil still, as his time
grows shorter and shorter, begins to work more furiously and more fiercely,
bestirs himself more in the spirits of men. Those locusts were too dull crea
tures, therefore now he hath frogs, he meaneth the Jesuits, who are a nimble
company of men, men of spirit, full of activeness, that can, like frogs, leap into kings chambers, and can be in the water and on the land, deal in
church and deal in commonwealth ; and these he calleth spirits. The locusts,
I say, those preaching friars, were too dull for his turn, now in this last cast.
And, my brethren, it is good to learn of an enemy. Still as our time draws
shorter, let us work the more. Exhort one another, saith he, Heb. x. 25,
4 and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. And if you will
* The time is short. Therefore let us im
have it more full, 1 Cor. vii 29,
prove it to the uttermost. The devil, you see, doth so ; he acteth and work-
eth more now than he did before, because he knoweth he hath but a short
time. And so much now for the time.
I have now nothing to speak to but The Persons; that worketh in the chil
dren of disobedience. I must, as I use to do, a little open the phrase. It is a Hebraism, sons of disobedience. The Jews do use in common
speech to apply the words, sons and children, to many things ; as, son of
captivity, that is, a captive. A son of the resurrection, saith the gospel ; that is, those that shall rise again, and shall be begotten by the resurrection;
for it is a begetting again, and so they are sous of it. It importeth, as the
phrase is here, one that hath addicted himself to disobedience. As wisdom
is said to be justified of her children, Matt, xi. 19; there are sous of wis
dom, that is, those that have given up their souls to be led by wisdom, that have been converted by Christ; so here, those that have addicted them
selves to disobedience, to sin, they are called sons of disobedience. You have
l The son of wickedness shall not afflict him. So, sons of violence. I shall not need to open that much, I shall speak of it when I come to handle
the like in Ps. Ixxxix. 22,
* sons/ or children of wrath, in the next words, The only question is this : whether he meaneth all sorts of unregenerate men ? or whether he meaneth some special sort, in whom the devil in those
times riinnd up a special spirit ?
The truth is, it is hard to determine it ; the context seems to carry both.
In Scripture phrase I shall speak a little to the latter a child of disobe
dience notes out one that is more eminently wicked than others, a son of
iniquity ; and it is all one with that which in the Old Testament was call, d
a son of Belial, which phrase you have often ; and you never have it used
but it nouth out one more wicked than ordinarily the generality of mankind
are. Son* of Belial are men without a yoke, that have broke the bounds, as
the prophet expresseth it, for so the word signifies. Still when they are
EPH. II. 2.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 07
mentioned, I say, it notes a special sort of wicked men. I shall quote the
places: Deut. xiii. 13 j 1 Sam. ii. 12, the sons of Eli are called sons of
Belial, being more eminently wicked than others ; so in Judges xix. 22 ; one given to drunkenness is called a daughter of Belial, 1 Sam. i. 16. Those, therefore, that either in respect of living in profaneness, or in respect of op position to God and Christ, are more eminent than others, are especially sons of Belial ; yea, they are called even Belial itself. And, in 2 Cor. vi. 15, Belial is called the devil himself ; even as in the New Testament the devil
is called that wicked one. And answerably, one that is more eminently wicked is called a devil ; as in that speech of Christ, who saith of Judas that he was a devil.
The word disobedience is aTreifaias, an obstinacy of heart, that a man hath stood out persuasions. So as now it doth import such kind of men likewise as have received the truth, or have heard of the truth, yet obey it not, but do the contrary. I have stretched forth my hands to a disobedient and gain saying people, Kom. x. 21; those are called disobedient it is the same
every good work
reprobate. And in Heb. iv. 6, 11, it is used for unbelief. Now, if it be taken in a large sense, as perhaps in Eph. v. 6, it is taken for all unregenerate men ;
< for which the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience : then the observation in a word is this. It cometh in here by way of difference from Satan s working in godly men and in un
regenerate men. He worketh in the children of disobedience, that is, he
ordinarily prevaileth with them, I mean for those lusts they are addicted to ; he ruleth them, as it is spoken in that curse concerning Judas, Ps. cix. He
prevaileth over them, he works effectually in them, take that, I say, which
is their proper and special way of sinning, that which their spirits are ad dicted to, they are, as I may so express it, his working shop, they are called his house where he dwelleth. I will go, and return to my house, saith he, when he was cast out there, in Luke xi. 24. He works as an enemy in the
people of God, but in these as a prince. He works as a tyrant in those, and
prevails often over them for acts ; but in these as a conqueror, taking them
captive at his will. My brethren, I take it, that there is this difference set by God between those that are godly and regenerate men, translated into the kingdom of Christ ; and unregenerate men, who are members of the king dom of Satan. It is true, indeed, he cannot carry all unregenerate men to all the sins he would, because, like a tyrant, he applies himself to the several humours of men, and that by God s ordination; yet so, as the com mon law that God alloweth him to rule over them with, it is in respect of their peculiar lust, and peculiar sin. Look, what a man s snare is, the devil hath him at his will, as the expression is, 2 Tim. ii. 26. But now, if he come to deal with a godly man, he ordinarily asketh leave : Luke xxii. 31, he hath desired, he hath sought to winnow thee, speaking of Peter, when the devil carried him on to that great sin against Christ. But when he comes to unregenerate men, they are. his subjects, his natives, his proper goods ; and he enters into them as into his own house. And the reason of
it is this. Because the saints are translated into the kingdom of Christ, therefore if he will deal with them, he must come like a party into another kingdom, into another s quarters, where he hath not ordinarily the power and the rule j and what hath he to do with another man s servant? That is
(J3 AX EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON
1 V.
the law. A regenerate man is Christ s free man, therefore, but by special
permission from God, to exercise his children, he doth not so come to tempt them as to carry them on to great sins.
Tow if it be meant, as I take it rather it is, of men eminently wicked,
that are the ringleaders of all the devil s kingdom ; then, in a word, here is
the observation :
Ofc. 1. That Satan in his kingdom hath several sorts of sinners, and
there are some in whom the devil s breath is so strong that a man may smell
it ; as a holy man may savour the Spirit of God in another man that is holy. You may see how it worketh, saith he, in some of the children of disobedi
ence, that are the ringleaders and so instances of the bondage that all the
rest are in. 1 say, of unregencrate men, there are several sizes of them ; yea,
the same man, as he grows wickeder, so he hath more devils. He brought
with him seven devils worse than himself. You make him, saith Christ,
4 ten times more the child of Satan than he was. I quote it for tliis, to
shew you there are several sizes of wicked men, though the meaning is, that
of every generation of men, the second is worse than the first ; for otherwise how could they make him worse than themselves ? But they making him a
proselyte, the curse of God, when they had made him so, made him worse.
i)ut 1 will not stand upon that.
Ok. 2. The second observation is this: That which makes men eminently
wicked, and the spirit thus of the devil to work in them, more than in others,
it is an unpcr.suadableness. They have been dealt withal by God, and by
the preaching of the gospel; they have had some hints, some hearsays of it ; and they refuse that light, and will not believe that truth. And for this dis
obedience, doth the Lord give them up to Satan, to rule in them more fully, and to transform his spirit into them. In 2 Thess. ii. 10, he comcth with
all deceivableness of unrighteousness. But in whom is it I In them that re
ceive not the truth in the love of it.
Now, my brethren, in a word, this is the Apostle s scope plainly to me.
Saith he, Whilst you were unregeuerated, you lived in the devil s kingdom. And though you were not opposite to the gospel of Christ then, and had not
that spirit which you see now workcth in some; why? because you never
heard of the gospel before ; yc turned, when ye first heard it : yet you may
see what you would have been, if God had not turned you. That spirit that
jou see now worketh in men eminently wicked, by which you may sec that
the devil hath a hand over men, that spirit, if you had gone on, would
have wrought in most of you too. So that his scope is, to hold forth the
spirit that was more eminently in some men that were sinners amongst them,
or perhaps in the generality of men, that did conspire in one way of wicked
ness, to let them see what themselves would have been. And, my brethren, we are apt to forget our natural condition. Let us make just that use of it
the Apostle here doth. We think we should not have been so bad, we should
never openly have done thus and thus, as others do. Oh, but remember
consider this, that whilst you walked in sin you were under the prince of
the power of the air; and look, what spirit you sec now works in the chil
dren of disobedience, had you not turned unto God, ha.l onteach-
ablc and unpersuadable, the same spirit woidd have been in yu. N. that
now what wickedness is abroad in the world, all men that anturned to God
may make use of it : The like would have been my
! .. I "M thus have n of the devil; as ti
< arrujd headlong, so should I have
1 B,
. II. 2.] TO THE EPHESIANS. CO
And, my brethren, let me add this last : Though he speaks thus of such, and saith they are children of disobedience, yet he calls them not the sons of
: he calls them children of wrath indeed, in respect of their present
perdition
state, namely, in the next words ; but he calls them not sons of perdition, as
for the future ordained to destruction. Then, although men should have great high spirits against, and be unteachable, and unpersuadable to the truth of God and ways of religion, yet pray for them, seek to God for them. Though they arc children of disobedience for the present, yet it follows not that they are children of perdition, as Judas is called. In 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25, saith he,
1 The minister of God must be gentle, in meekness instructing those that
oppose themselves ; if God peradventure will give them repentance, that
they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, that though now
they are under the spirit of Satan, and he hath a snare upon them, and out
of that they do oppose, yet in meekness instruct them ; they are children
of disobedience, thou canst not say they are children of perdition. So much now for the opening of this text.
70 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON V.