THE EMPIRE OF SATAN. If Satan also be divided against himself, how fhall his kingdom ftand? Luke xi. 18. IT appears, from this text, that the devils have a chief, or a head over them, who is called Satan; and that the other devils are his princes, as Beelzebub is called the prince of the devils. And we read of principalities and powers among the devils, which Chrift fpoiled by his death, and triumphed over upon the cross. There is not one hint dropped in the fcriptures that the devils ever fall out or difagree; for, as there is no door of hope opened to them, nor any ground to expect any favour from God, there is no place for repenting or relenting; their mind is hardened and shut up under the guilt of the unpardonable fin, and a continual fenfe of God's wrath; and this fills them with eternal hatred both to God and man. Their Their abode is principally in the air. Eph. ii. 2. Their palaces are the hearts of poor finners, as Chrift tells us, "When the ftrong man armed keepeth the palace, his goods are in peace." Many are the ways and means by which the devil contrives to keep his poffeffion; and wonderfully hath he fortified himself in the hearts of the children of men, as appears by the account of the wife man: "There was a little city, and few. men within it; and there came a great king againft it, and befieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. Now there was found in it a poor wife man, and he by his wifdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that fame poor man. Then faid I, Wisdom is better than ftrength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard." Eccl. ix. 14-16. This little city is mount Zion, and it was in the loins of Adam when this great king befieged and took it. The bulwarks of Satan, by which he keeps poffeflion of his ftrong holds, are, Firft, Darknefs and blindnefs of mind. our gofpel be hid, it is hid to them that are loft; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, left the light of the glorious gofpel of Chrift, who is the image of God, fhould fhine unto them." 2 Cor, iv. 3, 4. Hence the kingdom of the beaft, or the popif countries, are faid to be full of darkness. Rev. xvi. 10. And the reason of this is, because it is full of devils; devils; it is called the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit. Rev. xviii. 2. Secondly, Hatred to the light, and a love to darkness, keeps Satan in the throne of the finner's affections. A finner blinded by Satan cannot endure the light of divine revelation; it difcovers the follies of his life, the corruptions of his heart, and the vanity of his hopes, and flashes conviction upon his confcience; on which account he hates it, and fuch an one loves darkness, and is willingly ignorant. And fo faith the Saviour, "This is condemnation, that light is come into the world, but men love darknefs rather than light, because their deeds are evil; for every one that doth evil hateth the light, nor will he come to the light, left his deeds fhould be reproved." Nor are any men fo felf-fufficient in their own efteem, or fo lifted up with their knowledge, as thofe that are given. up to blindness of mind, and hardness of heart; witness the boafted infallibility of the pope, of the popish clergy, and of the Jewish pharifees, who faid, even to Chrift himself, "Are we blind alfo ? If ye were blind, faith Jefus, ye fhould not have fin; but fince ye fay, We fee, therefore your fin remaineth." Thofe that are fenfible of their blindness and ignorance Chrift illuminates; but to those who boast of their light and knowledge, wisdom and prudence, his myfteries are hid; for they love darkness, and he leaves them in that which they love. Such hate God, who is light, and Chrift the true light, and the glorious gofpel,. which is a light to our fect and a lamp to our path, and the minifters of Chrift, who are burning and fhining lights, and the children of light; and this is their condemnation; and, being in a ftate of condemnation, Satan keeps poffeflion of their hearts, and reigns in them.. Thirdly, Another bulwark, by which Satankeeps up his empire in the hearts of the children of men, is that of felf-righteousness. Every subject of Satan eats his own bread, and wears his own apparel. Ifa. iv. 1. Hence the threatening, pafs, in the day of the "And it thall come to Lord's facrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king's children, and all fuch as are clothed with firange apparel." Zeph. i. 8.. "There is a generation (fays God) that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthinefs." Prov. xxx. 12. And this was the generation that fell, in the days of the Lord's facrifice, for not being believers in Chrift; but it was the bond children that fell, both by the fword of the Chaldeans and of the Romans; for they were ignorant of God's righteoutnefs, and went about to efablifh their own righteoufnefs, and fo ftumbled at that ftumbling ftone, and Chrift became a rock of offence to them. And fure I am that there is nothing under heaven that founds fo difguftful in the ears of a child of God as the boafting and lying of felf-righteous fouls: "All these things have I kept from |