Chapter XVIII
The last and complete victory which Christ and his saints have over the devil, both before and at the day ofjudgment.
The third sort of Christ s proceedings against this common enemy are more open and judicial. For when he hath let him try his skill and power
every way (as hath been shewed) to annoy us, and that in all sorts of
attempts, as against us made, Christ hath for thousands of years still
baffled and confounded him by us ; which, because it is but invisibly done, he is not ashamed at it, but would persist to eternity in this way (if the
world should last so long), therefore Christ hath resolved to deal with him more openly and visibly. And so it became him, that when he had enabled
us to overcome him in a regular way, then to fall upon him in a hostile and
judiciary way. And this hath two degrees.
332 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK Y.
1. When the world, the time and seat of his rule, shall grow towards a
conclusion, then a strict restraint shall be clapped on him.
2. There will be a bringing him to open judgment. 1. A strict restraint shall be clapped on him towards the end. It is time ; he had chains clapped on him from his very fall, 2 Peter ii. 4, and
yet he hath been hitherto as a prisoner at large, that hath had liberty to walk up and down with his chains, to take the air, as he is the prince of
the power of the air, says the apostle, Eph. ii. 2. Well, but when the world draws to an end, he shall be bound up in chains, so as (at least) his
ruling power over this world (which hath been the fairest flower in his
crown) shall be taken from him, whilst he yet sees (to vex him) the world
of men on earth continue to go on in its succession before his face. How
far his tempting power will be taken away I will not argue, but that he will towards the end be universally restrained of his ruling the nations (as he had wont) to persecute the saints, I think there is ground for it ; Kev. xx.
1, 2, 3, And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of
the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the
dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and
set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled. You might, without much hesitation
to your thoughts, think when this is to be done. If we had no more, it is
enough signified in Rev. xx., that the time is the last hour or two before
the dawning of the great day, and shutting up of the darkness of this world. And what is this revelation but a prophecy of the fates of the church and world? Rev. i. 1 and chap. iv. 1. The world, therefore, now that is
a-drawing on its last scene, is not yet so to end but there shall be a little time for the devil to play his pranks a little while, ver. 3. But more par
ticularly, whereas it hath been shewn how in his ruling power the devil, the old serpent, was beaten out of his holes ; and we have seen how this
mountebank, who deceives the whole world, in his several stages he hath
set up in the world, hath still been beaten down, and been forced to build new. First he had Judaism, then heathenism, in the room of which he hath set up popery, Rev. xii. 13.* We have seen how, when all the world turned Christian, an antichristian beast rose up, and all the world went wandering after him, for ver. 4, the dragon gave him his
power, and his seal, and great authority, and they worshipped the dragon that gave power to the beast ; and you read of this new beast s rule until the 19th chapter, ver. 19, 20, And I saw the beast, and the kings of the
earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that
sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophets that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that
worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire
burning with brimstone. Now, when Christ and his army (which are the
saints) have clean defeated and made an end of this last beast and his
power, so as that they have had a fair and open victory in the view of men over the devil, and all this world, and this the last trial of skill
assigned him, for Christ resolves to lay all the powers of the world oppos-
* The 15th and 16th chapters are the degrees of his coining. The 17th the ex
plication who and what he should be. The 18th the funeral song of the gieat city that is borne up by him. And chapter 19, the fatal overthrow. [See the author s
exposition of the Revelation, in vol. III. of this series of his works. ED.]
CHAP. XVIII.J OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 333
ing his kingdom fairly, and in a human way of conquest, on their backs
* He that killeth with the sword shall be
(according unto that chap, xiii.,
killed with the sword), so as the devil that had acted all these is now left a naked devil, beaten out of all his fortresses ; what then immediately fol
lows ? Rev. xx. 1, 2, 3, And I saw an angel come down from heaven, hav
ing the key of the bottomless pit, &c. Now, says Christ, yourself, the great actor in all these tragedies, your time is come, your turn is next at last,
that he who led into captivity should be led into captivity, that yourself must be bound otherwise than you have been ; and bound from what ?
* That he should deceive the
Why, from deceiving the nations : ver. 3,
T tempting or ruling them any more. And he
nations no more, either b}
never deceived the nations more than in the time of popery, therefore this
his binding must be after all ; and then, to make sure of him, casts him
into the bottomless pit, shuts him up with a seal upon him ; here is the
devil fast, and so it is as a restraint before his last fatal trial and judg ment.
I will not prosecute this further ; you know where else to find it argued. To convince you that there is to be a kingdom of Christ and of the saints
for a thousand years, read the following verses ; during which time it is
meet, yea necessary, the devil be in hold, as you see he is.
2. The last scene, or final proceedings of Christ against him, is his bring
ing him and his angels into personal and open judgment before God, angels, and men. And herein, to make this victory and destruction full and com
plete, you that are the saints thus opposed by him shall be his judges. And there cannot be supposed a fuller victory than this, that after you have overcome him, all sorts of ways related, and God hath trodden him under
your feet, that then at last you should sit and be his lawful judges, of all his
wickednesses, enmities, and temptations acted against yourselves. Now,
look, as Christ triumphed over him openly, visibly, Col. ii. 15, before
angels, and the" spirits of just men made perfect, so shall you then with
Christ more visibly and openly, even before the world. This you have,
1 Cor. vi. 2, 3, Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world ? Know you not that we shall judge angels ? This judging of Satan I shall
explain and prove by these steps.
(1.) That the devil as well as men shall be brought to open judgment ;
this is plain both by Jude 6 and 2 Peter ii. 4, The angels that kept not
* and reserved them
their first estate, he cast them down to hell, so Peter,
in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgment of the great day ; so Jude ; or delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved into judg ment, so Peter. I understand the transaction of it to have been thus.
[l.J That upon the angels first sinning, there was a present throwing of them into hell, namely that place and state they shall for ever be in after
the great day, as a taste of what in a greater fulness they after judgment should be condemned unto ; yet so as,
[2.] They were presently let out again into the air, by reason of which
they have liberty and freedom of spirit, and they rule this world, which if
in full torments they could not do, Luke viii. 81. They, as dreading that
place of hell, besought him he would not command them into the deep, that is, their former hell.
[8.] Yet in the mean time, whilst they are at liberty, they are as prisoners in chains, suffered to walk up and down, and thereby marked out as re
served to an assize or judgment of the great day. And under this allusion, their condition seems to me to be different from that of men, wicked men,
334 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK V-
with whom God is yet in treaty, for they go under bail of Christ s death, that hath purchased this forbearance for them, as space to repent. These, I say, were never yet actually cast into hell (as the devils upon their first
sin were), so as these are not actually prisoners, as those are that are entered into prison, and belong to it, although they have permission to go abroad. And to shew they are so, they carry chains of that prison about them (which what they are I stand not now to determine), which chains are
badges that they are reserved unto a more open visible judgment of the
great day. The conclusion of all is this ; look, as hell itself is said to have been prepared for the devil and his angels, originally for them, so they sinning first go into hell fire, prepared, &c., and so the judgment of the
great day was appointed for them first. They in both are the mensura and
pattern of wicked men, and therefore both Jude and Peter mention their judgment first in the head and van ; and then of wicked men, the old world, and Sodom, &c.
(2.) We are, secondly, to take notice that during this vacation or time of
liberty to them, the account and score of their sinning runs on, and is daily added unto, so as they heap up thereby matter of judgment, which shall be brought forth, and charged upon them at that great day. Herein is one
difference between the case and condition of the spirits of wicked men de
ceased, and of these devils. The spirits of such men are said to be in a
strict sensa in prison, 1 Peter iii. 19 ; and so the spirits of those in Sodom are said by Jude to have been made an example, suffering the vengeance of hell fire ; so as men s souls shall answer but for the sins they have done in the body, 2 Cor v. 10. Cain shall answer for no more sins than what his soul did in his body ; his score of sinning runs not on since he was in
hell ; he is not only truly and actually a prisoner, but detained in prison, and suffers a fulness of wrath, as there a man s soul is sure to do, and that takes away the demerit of sinning ; but with the devils that go abroad as
prisoners in chains, and as belonging only to that prison, it is otherwise. What sins they commit personally, or in tempting us, shall then be accounted
for, which is proved.
[1.] Because the devil is cursed for having tempted both Eve and Adam, thus it is pronounced,
* Cursed shalt thou be above all the herd or cattle of the field, Gen. iii. 24. So that not his own first sin in falling from heaven
shall be reckoned to him only, but also all his tempting of us.
[2.] And again he in after times should bruise the heel of Christ (which was four thousand years after), and of the whole seed of Christ ; therefore his head is to be broken, namely, in vengeance for his bruising Christ s heel there is a total breaking of his head. Now if he be cursed for those, and his head to be broken for those, then he is to be judged and cast
into hell for those as reckoned sins done by him, which are matter ofjudg ment. For in that he says, Cursed shalt thou be above all cattle, &c., he designs his punishment in hell, and his meaning is, thy punishment shall be greater than of all wicked men, the cattle of the field. And our saviour s words of them are, Go ye cursed into hell fire, prepared for the devils. He is cursed, therefore, with hell fire for his sin, and that as the pattern of
sinners, and all other that are cursed and punished in like manner.
[3.] It is expressly said, 1 John iii. 18, that he sinneth from the
beginning, as continuing so to do, and what he doth being reckoned and
imputed to him, it is not only that he sinned at the beginning, but he sinned
continually from the beginning ; and this suits his scope, which was to shew
that that man that continued in a course of sinning was of the devil ; that a
CHAP. XVIII.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 335
worker of iniquity was of the devil as his father ; for lo ! says he, in like manner the devil thus sins in a perpetual constancy.
(3.) You the saints are to be his judges, so 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. Christ had
first declared this to be the privilege of the twelve apostles, to sit, and to
judge the twelve tribes of Israel ; this Paul enlargeth to all the saints,
ver. 2, 4. * Know you not the saints shall judge the world, all the world,
yea the angels ? And he speaks of judging in a time * and proper sense, then when the whole world is to be judged at the judgment-seat of Christ ; as when causes are heard and judged in courts, and persons are condemned
or acquitted, according to the nature of the fact. For he brings it as an
argument why they should not carry or transfer the civil controversies
amongst them about matters of this life to earthly judicatures, but rather to end and decide them among themselves. Ver. 1,
* Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the
saints ? And in the chapter afore he had shewn how God had given power to them as a church to judge them that are within, and so to cast out that wicked person. His argument to this had not been proper, if he had not
intended the like time* and proper way of judicature at that great judgment to be committed to them ; where though Christ shall be the great judge, yet they shall sit judging, as Christ says, as co-assessors, discerning the guilt, and carrying in the sentence, Luke xxii. 30, Mat. xix. 28. And li> Iftfv is
by you, ver. 2 ; the world shall be judged by you, ver. 4. His inference is from hence set them, xoJ/ir, put them to the chair, that are least esteemed
in the church, for at the latter day they shall sit and judge. And that he
* We shall judge the angels, and know you not that the saints shall judge the world ; and not the greater saints only, but small and great ; for he infers from it, set them to judge who* are least esteemed in the church, having before founded it on this, that if the world shall be judged by you, are you not worthy to judge the
speaks it of all saints is plain ; for, he saith,
smallest matters ? And to heighten their dignity herein, he first says,
* they shall judge the word, namely, of men; and then I tell you more, yea, the angels. As Christ s glory is, that God made two worlds for him, visible and invisible, Heb. i., Col. i., so our glory is, that we are constituted commissioners to judge two worlds, visible and invisible, such two large circuits we have. Thus much for the explanation and proof of it. Now, then, my brethren, let us lift up our hearts, and raise up our
thoughts, in the expectation of this great day, as still the New Testament
styleth it. It is termed great in respect of those great things which shall be done in it. A great and glorious day it will be, not only in respect of
the splendour of the concourse of all of mankind unto one assembly, all
that have been from Adam, all angels and saints will be there, 1 Thess.
iii. 13, but also it is great in respect of the things and matters to be judged. All the human affairs of this world, which the apostle calls things of this
life, ver. 4, which the great ones of the world are the judges of, he reckons among the smallest matters ; so he terms them, ver. 2, in comparison of
the things that then should be transacted in a way of judicature, which will be the exact scanning and trial of all actions as they pertain to eternity, that is, the spiritual good or evil that is in them, and as they tended to the honour or dishonour of the great God. These are the proper subjects that belong to the cognisance of that day. And now to have all the affairs of the whole world, of men, of all their thoughts, plots, counsels, actions, and that under the consideration, as good or evil, to have them all under
* Qu. true ? ED.
336 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK V.
this cognisance, laid open and committed to the censure of the saints with
authority, what an infinite dignity must this be to them ! Yet so he
* If the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to
heightens it,
judge the smallest matters ? ver. 2, by which he means all those things that are brought before human courts, of what kinds soever ; and then
thereupon he rises higher, ver. 3, Know you not that we shall judge
angels ? as those whose story and transactions afford higher and greater matters by far than the story of this whole world will do ?
Now, then, how and in what manner the world of mankind shall be
judged, in the same kind and manner shall the angels also be, for he casts
the same line over both. Now, how shall the world of men be judged ? Why, every work, whether it be good or evil, shall have an exact trial :
* For God shall bring every work into judgment, with
Eccles. xii. 14,
every secret thing, whether it be good or evil ; and, 1 Cor. iv. 5, Judge
nothing before the time ; the Lord will come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the
hearts ; importing that at that time all will so be discovered by the Lord, who is ready to judge the quick and the dead, as every saint shall be able
to judge too.
Now, then, think with yourselves, if you knew but all the affairs of this
present age, all the secrets of states, state ends, maxims, rules, principles, lusts of all the monarchs, of all the nobles in the world, to have (as he told
the Assyrian king) all that is said in the king s chamber revealed, yea, that
are in his thoughts, which are unsearchable, by which they rule and reign, and you had all the story of this age, past and present, nakedly spread before you, what infinite delight would this afford you! To have a
prince s cabinet, a few letters or transactions published, how greedy are men of them ! Now, you know (says the apostle) you shall have a greater
story one day, and of infinitely higher worth and elevation ; you shall judge the angels, 2 Pet. ii. 10, 11. The apostle, comparing earthly magistrates and dignities (and in his time they were the greatest that ever were, namely, those in the Roman empire), he says of the angels, that they are greater in power and might ; and as the good, so the bad ; for they contend each
with other upon all occasions, as appears by the story of Daniel, chap. x. and chap, xi., and by that passage between the devil and Michael in Jude. The devil s monarchy is the greatest that ever was. The apostles and
Christ, that had a prospect into that invisible world, termed him the prince of the world, greater than Ca3sar, than the great Turk or Mogul, &c.; they are but as petty constables, as one comparing the power and state of our
European princes with those eastern monarchs speaks. The angels they are
the rulers of the world : Eph. vi. 12, So as we fight not against flesh and
blood (in comparison of them our contentions against the world are not
* but against principalities and powers. Men are but as the
considered),
puppets above the stage, when these act all. And again, the transactions between God and Satan are many, as the story of Ahab and Job shews ; and also those between the good and bad angels are great and various. Now, then, as these grandees of this invisible world excel in power and wisdom all the petty rulers of this world, so the passages and transactions
amongst them and by them, their policies, enmities, animosities, &c., must
needs excel all other. Satan is renowned for his stratagems, his wiles. He outwitted Eve, and soon deceived her ; yea, and the whole world too, Rev. xii. 9. We are not ignorant of his devices, says Paul, 2 Cor. ii. 11. And further, his wickednesses are spiritual, sublimated wickednesses.
CHAP. XIX.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 337
The worst of earthly tyrants and monarchs are but carnal wickednesses
unto them ; and all these shall be laid open, and sentenced to a suitable
punishment. All the secret counsels of his heart, his over-reaching and
going beyond poor souls, the utmost and extremity of that malice and envy he acted all with, shall be detected, and thou a poor believer shalt be a
judge of all these. Then shalt thou see Beelzebub the great devil, and all
hell with him (that is, his angels), brought forth in chains, and Christ open
ing all their sins, even here in this world, where they did all the mischief. What a glorious and triumphant sight (think you) will it be to the primi tive Christians to see Nero or Julian stand forth, led and haled before the
judgment-seat of Christ ! How much more to see this dragon and his
angels, that inspired all these in all their rage and malice, and to have all
the stories of their actings ripped up for six thousand years continuance. In Isa. xiv. 10-13, when the king of Babel was brought down to the grave,
it is said all hell went forth, all kings and nations he had tyrannised over went out to meet him, so great a spectacle it was :
* How art thou fallen,
! And even that is an allusion (as the
Lucifer, son of the morning
ancients have conceived) of Satan s fall and ruin.
Particularly for thy comfort, thou tossed, and bruised, and weatherbeaten soul, how will it rejoice thee if it were but to hear Christ as on thy behalf openly to rebuke Satan, and to say thus to him, Didst thou, Satan,
spite, malign, vex, and provoke unto sin this poor saint ; those thoughts didst thou dart in, this train didst thou lay for him, as the fowler doth for a silly bird ; and no sooner hadst thou drawn him into thy net to commit
the sin, but thou didst run to God and accuse him of that which thou
seducedst him to do, whilst he, poor soul, went weeping bitterly, as Peter when he had done evil ? And now will Christ say, I will save him, and damn thee ; and that for all the sins which he committed through thy
instigation, of all which thou art the father more than he. And then how comfortable will it be to hear Christ excuse thee also, that the spirit was
willing but the flesh was weak ; and then to lay the load on him, and adjudge him to so much the greater torment because of what he did to thee ; this
will be much and great joy. But further will Christ say, Come thou, even
thou, weak soul, up hither, sit down here by me, thou shalt be his judge, thou shalt sit on my throne with me ; yea, more, as I triumph over him, so do thou now, and not as over one vanquished only to thy hand, but as over one instantly to be condemned and adjudged to hell ; and thou shalt
see it enrolled before thy face ere thou stirrest off this bench, and when
thy sentence hath concurred with mine, I have in readiness here about me, to revenge all their disobedience, the good angels, armed with another manner of power than ever before, who shall throw them down to hell, and take and burn them with fire and brimstone. What can be supposed a perfect victory, and triumph of Christ and his saints over the devils, if
this is not ?