highth of admiration they manifested to the World the frequent effusion of the Spirit upon themselves the communicating of it to others by praying preaching and laying on of hands whereby evil Spirits became subject to them that they prevailed over the Devil and his deluding Oracles whose Tongues they silenc'd whose Forgeries they discover'd whose Favorites they strangely and in a moment struck dead and restrained the malice and fury of Lucifer himself Were these the effects of any other power than the Spirit of the Lord Was it ever heard that a meer Mortal was able to do the like to alter the course of Nature and produce effects directly contrary to the production of natural causes Is it within the power of the Mighty or can the Devils themselves bring it to pass No It requires an Omnipotent arm no less than that which created the World and setled the particular Beings therein to change their courses to alter their natures to work not onely with slender and unlikely means but without and against all probable methods certainly none but the Spirit of the Almighty can do thus When therefore the power of working Miracles is the alone work of a Deity and such remarkable instances were plainly manifest by Christ and his Apostles to discover the Divinity and procure the belief of his Doctrine it 's a plain Argument that that extraordinary power with which they were invested was on purpose designed to discard the Devil and confront his Power because that Doctrine which was confirmed by them is directly contrary to the designes and projects of that evil Spirit Secondly By its continual influence upon the Understanding and Wills of men to enable them to resist the Devil and overcome his Temptations Though the Doctrine of the Gospel had such an undeniable Evidence as the Power of Miracles to ascertain the truth and verity of it that one would think no man which believes the matter of fact that such miracles were wrought should doubt of the truth or question the divine Authority of the Christian Religion and consequently would soon resigne up their Understanding to the obedience of Faith to be governed by the Laws of that divine Institution yet he that considers how little men regard the Authority of that divine Testimony and consider the excellency of the Gospel discovery and how careless men are to be strict and serious in their Conversations and how soon debauched by the most easie Temptation who profess to believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and assent to his Doctrine as infallibly true will soon perceive the necessity of some supernatural assistance to bring the hearts of men to the love and their lives to the practice of all necessary truths contained therein over and above that miraculous diffusion at the first delivery and preaching of it And blessed be the Name of God such is the large and plentiful effusion of divine Grace now under the dispensation of the Gospel that 't is always ready at hand to assist the spirits of men in all religious purposes and holy undertakings Joh. 14.26.16 And in several places of the Gospel the Spirit is promised to the devout and humble petitions of honest Christians Luke 11.13 Joh. 16.23.26 So that the most degenerate Soul that does but seriously apply his mind to fear God and keep his Commandments will find such continual assistance from the blessed spirit of Grace as will enable him to mortifie his own Corruption to quench the fiery darts of the Devil to vanquish all oppositions in the way to Goodness and with ease and pleasure to do the Will of God For this very purpose the Son of God intercedes with his Father and presents our Prayers to the Throne of Grace by vertue of his own intercession that the Promise of the Holy Ghost may be continued to his Church to the end of the world to sanctifie the hearts of his People and to fill their Souls with all those graces that accompany Salvation to enlighten the Understanding to convince the Judgment to awaken the Consciences of men that they may believe and consider the great and weighty Principles of Religion and be preserved from all false Doctrine Heresies and Schisms to press upon their consideration the folly and unreasonableness of sin with the dreadful consequences of a wicked life the excellency of true Religion and Goodness with the blessed effects of a vertuous Conversation that men may be perswaded to depart from evil and do good to remove the obstinacy and perverseness that is natural to fallen man that their Spirits may become pliable and submissive to the providential dealings of God respective and obedient to the Laws and Constitutions of Heaven and entirely devoted to his Will and Pleasure to confirm their Faith increase their Integrity to assist them against Temptations to support them with patience under afflictions to compleat their Charity to perfect their Repentance and to enable them by Promises Encouragements and Gifts to suffer for the Lord Jesus and the profession of the Gospel if called to it All this and much more is the Promise of the Father to purchase of the Son of God and the gift of them both to give the holy Spirit to the Church first to sanctifie and make it good Gal. 5.22 1 Thess 5.23 then to preserve it spotless and unblamable to the coming of the Lord. These are the principal means invented by the Wisdom of God to take away the sins of the world to destroy the works of the devil and in infinite mercy presented to mankind by his onely begotten Son to deliver them from the power of darkness and by turning them away from their iniquities to translate them into the kingdom of his dear Son And what can the wit of man conceive what doth the weakness of men want as farther needful to promote and carry on this blessed and glorious designe What could God have done more to subvert the power of the Devil and to reconcile Mankind to himself If he had raised up some mighty Prophet in the World and furnished him with the Inspiration of the Almighty that he had spoken as one having Authority and commended his Message to us in the Name of the Lord we should certainly have received him in the Name of a Prophet or if an Angel had descended from Heaven and appeared visibly to us Mortals and delivered his Embassage to us in a Seraphick manner and backt it with Reasons clear as his Angelical nature we should certainly have admired the goodness of God and acknowledged our selves obliged to so gracious a Dispensation But that God himself should descend from those Regions above into this dark and dismal World become one like us one of us and so in a way agreeable to our humane capacities deliver us the Records of Heaven tell us the terms on which our Eternity depends assure us upon his undoubted Veracity that upon our obedience or disobedience to them Heaven or Hell Life
to violate what he had commanded And when this first Stratagem too fatally succeeded in the world and to the ruine of man directly answered the designe and expectation of the Devil it inspired a new life into that old Serpent and encouraged him with the greater vigour to range up and down the world seeking whom he might devour and destroy that he hath long since usurpt a principality and dominion over the Souls of men and to this day continues the Prince of the power of the Air nay the God of this World working in the Children of disobedience and leading them captive at his will But the All-compassionate God pitying the Shipwrackt condition of Man did not as in justice he might totally abhor and eternally reject him for since by his fall he had divested himself of his primitive Integrity proved a Rebel to his Lord and Maker listed himself into the service of the Devil and so stood at open defiance with Heaven it self God Almighty by the most signal instance of Wisdom Power and Goodness hath at once manifested his unspeakable Love to Mankind and his implacable Enmity to those accursed Spirits by sending his Son into the World as the Captain of man's Salvation who solemnly proclaimed open War with the Devil bid defiance to him at his entrance into the World and by Almighty power will overcome his aspiring Pride and desperate Malice rescue men from the hands of that roaring Lion and so at once demolish his usurped Kingdom and destroy his works from off the face of the Earth All which as it was represented to man immediately after his fall Gen. 3.15 that the Seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head and that Promise frequently renewed in succeeding Ages so in the fulness of time it was happily begun by the Incarnation of the Son of God who came to deliver men from the tyranny of the Devil to invest them with the liberty of the Sons of God and to bring everlasting Righteousness into the World is still continued by his prevalency over the Devil in confronting his Power restraining his Malice weakening his Interest in the World and dispossessing those evil Spirits from the heart of man and when time shall be no more shall be perfectly accomplished to the eternal horrour confusion and amazement of the Devil and his Angels Which is the just designe and proper import of these words For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil By the works of the Devil is here meant all manner of sin v. 5. for as he was the first Author so he is the continual Promoter of that Corruption which resides in the breast of men and that Impiety which reigns in the World So that all sin of what nature or quality soever it be is the Brat and Off-spring of that diabolical Spirit the proper effect of his spleen and malice to mankind and in the expression of our Apostle the works of the Devil for he that committeth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinn'd from the beginning The Son of God is the second person in the blessed Trinity God coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Holy Ghost Who was manifest in the flesh became man dwelt among us and died for us that he might destroy the works of the Devil i. e. to teach and enable men to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world That the Son of God was thus manifest to destroy the works of the Devil will most evidently appear from the consideration of three very material instances 1. That the Son of God hath used those means and taken that course which does directly tend and is abundantly able to subvert the power of the Devil 2. That in many remarkable instances he hath already supplanted his Power in the World 3. That he will certainly obtain a most perfect Victory over the Devil before he resigne up his Commission to his Father I. The Son of God hath used those means and taken that course which does directly tend and is abundantly able to subvert the power of the Devil The truth of which Proposition will be fully illustrated from the consideration of four things 1. From the whole course and frame of his Life whilst manifest in the World wherein he was so far from complying with that he did utterly discountenance the works of the Devil The Generation of Mankind according to the course of Nature is too much attended with the heat of Lust and the propagation of Original Corruption into the Embryo at its first conception therefore the ever-blessed Jesus coming into the World was conceived by a most stupendous and admirable manner the power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing a pure Virgin that she became great with Child of the Son of God and when the number of her months were accomplished she brought him forth into the World as richly adorned with divine and supernatural Graces as he was poor in respect of outward appearance When his Infancy was past that he came to the use of Reason and Understanding a time wherein other men begin to discover the natural corruption of their hearts by their actual rebellion against God the Son of God truly so called from his divine-like nature and holy life as well as his miraculous and happy birth begins his Conversation with an even and a regular Piety free from those sinful passions though attended with the natural infirmities which mankind labours under and accordingly regulates them according to the Laws of Nature and the Pleasure of his heavenly Father His Charity was truly Christian and diffusive such as extended to all orders and degrees of men His meek and sweet disposition with his humble and modest Spirit such as appears in Infants before they can discern between good and evil His conversing with men was free and familiar easie and unaffected His dutiful respects toward his Friends and Relations transcending that of the most ingenuous disposition though cultivated by the early advantages of a pious Education Neither did he suffer his Religion to decline as some men do when their years increase but as he multiplied days and grew in stature he increased in wisdom and favour with God and man Luke 2.52 He was careful to omit no duty and so desirous to give no offence that where he might lawfully conform to the Customs of his Nation and Kindred he did not with a morose and churlish disposition like the men of our Age depart from them but with great freedom and a cheerful spirit comply with and conform to them Witness his Circumcision the eighth day his being baptized by John his paying Tribute c. But where the sacred Bonds of Religion required and commanded his obedience neither the violent assaults of Satan Mat. 16.22 23 nor the courteous compellations of Friends could constrain him to violate the dearest Heaven He esteemed Obedience the
best Sacrifice to his Father and preferred the service of God before the love and kindness of his dearest Friends Heb. 10.7 chusing rather to die than to sin against God For when his Enemies were most furiously inraged against him and consulted to put him to death he makes no evasion nor unjust excuses he denies not the truth nor distrusts his Father but committing his Case to the providence of God Mat. c. 26. c. 29. he meekly endures their affronts and injuries and when their malice was so great as to put him to death he patiently bears their indignation their fury and their wrath like a good man and a glorious Martyr praying for his Enemies till he gave up the Ghost Behold here a Mirrour of Piety the Wonder of the world for his Devotion and Charity Was there any action of his life or the least circumstance attending his actions that might justly bear the charge of sin None certainly for from his birth to his death he was a most virulent Enemy to that wicked One and a perfect hater of his works The Devils themselves confess he was the holy One of God His most malicious Enemies could not but say he did all things well Mark 5.7 Pilate that sate in Judgment upon him could find no evil in him and therefore according to his Wife's admonition Mat. 27.19 23 24. proclaims him before a full Assembly of Scribes and Elders to be a just person So that his whole Life was but one continued Series of actions perfectly designed against that wicked One. His Baptism was his solemn inauguration into this Office His Conversation the most plain and easie Mat. 11.28 29. the most full and comprehensive the most encouraging and authentick Pattern for his Followers to imitate in their Christian course of life in defiance to that grand Impostor that while they behold him as the Captain of their Salvation despising the World confronting the Devil bearing Afflictions with patience Persecutions with cheerfulness resisting and overcoming Temptations forgiving and loving his Enemies willing to live so long as God pleased yet ready to die the most ignominious accursed death since it was the determinate counsel of God Whilst his Disciples thus consider his regular Piety his undaunted Courage they may learn to do likewise and in opposition to the Prince of Darkness be encouraged to do to suffer and to be whatever God shall be pleased to call them to 'T was Plato's opinion as Tully reports that if Vertue could but admit herself to view she would appear so amiable in the eyes of all men that Vice in the most costly dress and gorgeous array would appear most contemptible and bare if compared with her If incorporated Vertue in the Philosophers judgment would be so attractive of mens affections certainly the unspotted innocency of an incarnate Deity should be much more powerful to invite and perswade his Followers to the love and practice of Piety and Goodness than the former conceit would be to engage men to the love and practice of Vertue So that if men would consider that grand Exemplar of Piety the life of the holy Jesus his Example must needs inspirit their minds with the most active diligence undaunted courage to fight manfully under his Banner â—eb 12.1 2 3. as the Captain of their Salvation against the World the Flesh and the Devil to run with patience the race that is set before them and to continue in that spiritual Combat his faithful Servants and Souldiers unto their lifes end 2. From some remarkable actions of his Life and especially the bitter passions of his Death whereby he hath given a fatal blow to the power and designes of the Devil The Son of God is not to be considered onely as a meer man though just and innocent but in reference also to that grand undertaking The Redemption of the World from its slavery to Sin and subjection to Satan the Saviour of the World the Redeemer of Mankind His very Birth struck a terrour to those evil Spirits his Life shone with so glorious a light that it confounded the Kingdom of Darkness But the most signal Conquest he obtained over Death Eph 2.13 c. and the Devil that had the power of it was by his meritorious Death and powerful Resurrection For when the Jews had crucified the Lord of Life and laid him full low even in the dust that they began to triumph and applaud themselves in their supposed Victory the Devils also rejoyced as if they had vanquished the power of God How miraculously did the Counsels of Heaven defeat the carnal policy of men and the malicious designes of the Devil too That death which they executed upon the Lord 's Anointed was converted to their own destruction and contrary to the Devils expectation most happily proved the greatest Engine to rout his Forces and destroy his Kingdom For can God die or his holy One see corruption No the price of man's Redemption being paid by the Sufferings of the Son of God Rom. 6.9 10 he broke through the powers of the Grave and in despight of the Devil Hell and Death arose a mighty Conquerour over them all and as a Trophey of Victory led captivity captive and treated them as he pleased And when he had given sufficient demonstration of his Resurrection Acts 1.9 he ascended gloriously into Heaven from whence immediately he sent down the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples and prevalently interceding with his Father received power and authority to demolish the Kingdom of Satan Eph. 2.19 20 21 22. and by delivering men from his insulting Tyranny to constitute a Kingdom of his own and to preserve and keep it from the furious assaults of the Devil by the power of his Providence and the conduct of his Spirit And now he is set down at the right hand of God he continueth for ever and having an unchangeable Priesthood is able to save his Church and People to the utmost seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Heb. 7.24 25. By which and other such remarkable passages preceding accompanying and following his death he hath obtained a considerable interest in the very Forts and Dwellings of the Prince of this World by turning many souls from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God 3. From the grand intent and designe of his Doctrine which is most aptly contrived to destroy the works of the Devil to deliver men from the power and dominion of sin and to direct and encourage them to Righteousness and true Holiness For First The Christian Religion delivers the strictest Precepts for the rule of good living with the greatest Majesty and Authority conceivable In general it commands men to love the Lord their God with all their heart Mat. 22.37 38 39. and with all their soul and with all their mind and their neighbours as themselves Mat. 7.12 to do as they would be done unto to
Orators Grammarians Rhetoricians Lawyers Physitians and Philosophers forsook their former Sentiments and adhered to the Doctrine of Christ Nay so mightily prevailed the Word of God in despight of the Devil and all the Powers of Darkness that within an Age or two after the Incarnation of the Son of God his dominion was as large as the World and extended over the Territories of the whole Earth Hesterni sumus Apol. C. 36. c. 1. vestra omnia implevimus c. saith Tertullian For the Temple of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed and the daily Sacrifice perfectly ceased and such the Reformation in the Gentile World that the Devils forsook their ancient Habitations and trembled Eus Ecc. Hist l. 2. c. 3. l. 3. c. 8. where-ever the noise of the Gospel sounded their clamorous Oracles soon became dumb and their principal Deities mute as a Child their great Gods forsook their beloved Temples and though some were chained yet they were constrained to run away Nay so bold and confident were the Primitive Christians in their Apologies before their Persecutors that they challenged the Governours and Rulers Tert. Apol. c. 23 22. before whom they appeared to bring any persons possessed with evil Spirits or grieved with any other Infirmities and if they did not in the Name of Christ restore the one sound to his health the other to an entire mind they would be content to die the most ignominious accursed death Nay Lact. de fals Sap. l. 2. c. 25 26 to discover the excellency and vertue of the Christian Religion they were bold to say that by the Administration of the Gospel they would undertake to convince the most obstinate to convert the most obdurate sinner and to transform the most diabolical and hellish nature into a divine and heavenly temper verifying hereby those lofty Expressions of the Apostle that the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword Heb. 4.12 Mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And to this very day the Son of God hath rode in triumph over the Devil not onely by teaching men to deny all ungoaliness and worldly lusts to live soverly righteously and godly in this present world but by redeeming them actually from all iniquity and purifying to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Thus it was prophesied of the Messiah Isai 61.1 and fulfilled by him when he appeared in the World as he himself testifies The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath appointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bound and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord Luke 4.18 19. In a word the glorious company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs and all the Saints of God that have departed this life in his Faith and Fear and now make up that part of the Church Triumphant in the Kingdom of Heaven waiting for the accomplishment of our Victory and the perfecting of the Body of Christ have been redeemed by the Bloud of the Son of God delivered by him from the snares of Death and the power of the Devil and are now sate down with the Lamb of God in the highest Heavens III. The Son of God will most certainly obtain a perfect Victory over the Devil before he resigne up his Commission to his Father as from all eternity he was fore-ordained and in the fulness of time solemnly inaugurated into this Office As to this very day he hath been faithful in the administration of it to the destruction of Satan's Kingdom so he will undoubtedly continue till he hath accomplished the number of his Elect 1 Cor. 15.28 compleated the body of the Church Triumphant and subdued the Power and Authority of his Enemies So that though the Devil disturb the Peace of the Church and make his rendezvouz in the World seeking whom he might devour and destroy yet the Son of God who in his Resurrection led captivity captive and to this day hath gone on conquering and to conquer will still proceed in this victorious manner till he hath perfectly routed the Devil and his Angels and his place be found no more on the Earth as it is prophesied by St. John Rev. 12. For at the last and dreadful day there shall be a general conflagration in the World to consume the Wickedness thereof when the Devil and his Angels shall be constrained to appear before this glorious Prince and receive their final doom which was denounced upon them when they were cast out of Heaven to be thrust into the bottomless Pit with all their accursed Crew to be tormented day and night and to dwell in everlasting burnings when the great Redeemer of the World the Captain of mans Salvation shall gloriously ascend to the Kingdom of his Father and in triumphant Chariots carry up with him an innumerable company of blessed Saints who shall sit down with him in his Fathers Kingdom and reign as Kings and Queens for evermore We have hitherto considered the truth of the Proposition delivered in the Text That it was the grand designe and purpose of the Son of God to destroy the works of the Devil that he was manifest in the World to deliver Man from his Power and Dominion to teach and enable them to walk in the ways of Vertue and Goodness From which Argument 't is just and obvious to infer three things 1. From hence men may learn whether they be indeed the Servants of God and Disciples of Christ or the Slaves and Vassals of the Devil 'T is the continual Employment of that accursed Spirit to lay Snares in our way to Heaven to tempt and entice Souls to the practice of sin and thereby to ascertain their eternal Ruine On the other side 't is the constant endeavour of our blessed Saviour to deliver men from their evil ways to encline their hearts to the Love and their lives to the Practice of all manner of Goodness thereby to reconcile them unto God and to save them in the day of the Lord. Flatter not your selves then in a business of so great concernment Our Apostle lays down a plain Rule from this Doctrine He that doth righteousness is righteous even as Christ is righteous v. 7. He that committeth sin is of the Devil v. 8. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin v. 9. And in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God v. 10. Let men pretend what they will a sinful and wicked life is a plain Mark and Character of one that belongs to the Devil as on the contrary a vertuous and godly Conversation