And as marriage leffens the interefts of parents in their children, it is generally not dutiful to alienate it to another without their knowledge and confent: nor fhould parents unreasonably oppofe the lawful inclinations of their children.

Ver. 25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed, being free from fin and guilt.

CHA P. XI.

Of the TEMPTER who deceived EVE.

is

Gen. iii. 1- -9.

HERE ERE Eve is deceived and tempted to tranfgrefs the law of God by fome moral agent, who could fpeak and argue, called by Mo Jes won the Serpent; which, he faith, was more fubtle than any other beast of the field which the Lord God had made. But a beaft of the field, how fubtle or fagacious foever, could not speak and reafon. Who then was the moral agent that deceived Eve? St. Paul, 2 Cor. xi. 3. fpeaks of the deceiver in the fame manner as Mofes doth; I fear, left by any means, as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his fubtilty, fo your minds fhould be corrupted from the fimplicity that is in Chrift. The Apoftle did not fuppofe the Corinthians might be corrupted by the fubtilty of an irrational creature; confequently, he did not fuppofe that Eve was beguiled by the fubtilty of an irrational creature. But St. John comes nearer to the point in Rev. xii. 9. xx. 2. where he fpeaks of the Serpent as a deceiver, and defcribes him after this manner, and the great dragon was caft out, that old Serpent; called otherwife in Scripture, the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. A dragon is a huge overgrown ferpent. That old Serpent, means that Serpent which of old, at the beginning of the world, deceived Eve, and ftill was deceiving the world. (And in feveral other places of Scripture, which we shall presently have occafion to take notice of, the Devil's temptation of Eve is plainly alluded to.) Therefore this Serpent, and the Devil and Satan, are fynonymous, and mean one and the fame being. Hence divines have juftly concluded, that it was the Devil or Satan, an evil or malignant fpirit, which tempted Eve, in the body, or affuming the form and fhape, of a Serpent; which then might be a very beautiful as well as fagacious animal, familiar with Adam and Eve, and much admired by them. That there are wicked and malignant fpirits, is undeniably true, from Scripture. 2 Pet. ii. 4. For if God fpared not the Angels that finned, but cugais Copy ragragoas cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darknefs, to be referved unto juugment. [Or rather, caft them down into a low, wretched condition, in chains of darkness, delivered them to be reserved VOL. I.

D

unto

unto judgment.] Jude 6. And the Angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath referved diopos aidions To Copov in everlafting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. Being caft down to hell, and delivered into chains of darkness, in St. Peter, is the fame as being referved in perpetual chains under darkness, in St. Jude; and may fignify no more than, that they are degraded from their former high and glorious ftate, and chained, or confined to, a much lower, narrower, and darker fituation, without any hope of favour, unto the day of judgment; when they, with all workers of iniquity, fhall be caft into everlasting fire, Mat. xxv. 41. Rev. xx. 10, 15. For any thing therefore advanced in thofe two places, thofe fallen angels may at present refide in our air, and be permitted to wander about in the earth.

It must be obferved, that there is an ambiguity in both the words, Jo Satan, and Ago the Devil. The former, Satan, fignifies any adverfary among men and good angels, as well as among evil fpirits. Num. xxii. 32. And the Angel of the Lord faid,- behold, I went out to withstand thee, Dry for an adverfary, a Satan. So 2 Sam. xix. 22.Ye fons of Zeruiah are adverfaries. 1 Kin. v. 4. xi. 14. 23, 25. Pfal. lxxi. 13. cix. 20, 29. Peter was Satan, an adverfary, to our Lord, Mat. xvi. 23. And the unbelieving Jews were the Satan, or adverfaries, who hindered St. Paul's return to Theffalonica, 1 Theff. ii. 18. AaCoros, Devil, fignifies an accufer, flanderer. Joh. vi. 70. and one of you, Judas, is Aabonos a Devil. 1 Tim. iii. 11. Their wives must be grave, un Arabones not Devils, i. e. accufers, flanderers. 2 Tim. iii. 3. false accufers, Tit. ii. 3. Thus it may be applied to any wicked perfons, who flander, accufe, and perfecute the people of God. And this ambiguity in the fenfe of thofe two words, and AaCox, may render it doubtful how fome particular paflages of Scripture are to be understood.

That those two words are used to fignify one and the fame wicked fpirit, who, with many others his angels, or under-agents, are converfant in our world, and endeavour to draw men into fin, and do mischief among us, is very evident from Revelation. As in the cafe of our firft parents, of Job, whofe children and fubftance were destroyed, and his body afflicted with a grievous diforder by Satan, Job i. 12, &c. ii. 6, 7; of our Lord, who was tempted of the Devil, or Satan, Mat. iv. 1, 3, JO. Mark i. 13. Luke iv. 2. Which temptation, under all its circumftances, can never be refolved into an allegory; much less can it be fuppofed to be all tranfacted within our Lord's own mind, as if the Devil, or Satan, was no other than the fuggeftions, or thoughts, that arose in his own heart, which is very abfurd. Nor can the following texts be naturally understood of any other than a real Devil or Satan. Mat. xiii. 39. The enemy that fowed the tares is the Devil, [and his inftruments] Mark iii. 26. How can Satan caft out Satan? Joh. viii. 44. Ye are of your father the Devil. A&s x. 38. Healing all that were oppreffed of the Devil. 2 Cor. xi. 13, 14. For fuch are falfe apoftles, deceitful workers, transforming themfelves into the Apostles of Chrift. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light. Heb. ii. 14. That through death he might deftroy him that had the power of [fubjecting our fift parents,

and

who deceived Eve.

SI re

CH. XÌ. and their pofterity, to] death, that is, the Devil. 2 Tim. ii. 16. cover themselves out of the fnare of the Devil. Jam. iv. 7. Refift the Devil, and he hall flee from you. 1 Joh. iii. 8. He that committeth fin, is of the Devil; for the Devil finneth from the beginning [of the world, alluding to his tempting our first parents into fin;] for this caufe the Son of God was manifefted, that he might deflroy the works of the Devil. Jude 9. Yet Michael, the Archangel, when contending with the Devil, he difputed about the body of Mofes. And generally, Satan and Devil are thus to be underftood in the New Teftament, the few places before mentioned only excepted: though, where the Devil is principally intended, his inftruments, or wicked agents among men, may at the fame time be connoted.

Befides Satan, or the Devil, the Scripture frequently mentions other evil fpirits, called dayona, Sapores, Damons, which we tranflate Devils. That thefe Dæmons, however understood in profane authors, do belong to the Devil's retinue, and may be his angels or under-agents, over whom he is chief or prince, will appear by comparing Mat. xii. 22, 24, 28. Luke x. 17, 18. xi. 15, 18. Those who in the Gofpels are faid to be damon Coutros poffeffed by Dæmons, in Acts x. 38. are faid to be appreffed of the Devil, imo rov Alabonov, as they were under the power of his agents. Thus we may conceive of the Devil and his angels, Mat. xxv. 41. the Dragon and his angels, Rev. xii. 7. He is the prince and head, and thofe dæmons are his fubjects. They are often Ipoken of in the plural number, as being many; though Satan, or the Devil, is always in the fingular, as being but one fingle fpirit, and chief over all the reft. But, as before obferved, his angels, or agents, may fometimes be included with him.

The characters which the Devil or Satan fuftains in Scripture, are thefe, the great Dragon, or fierce Devourer, the old Serpent, full of villainous fubtilty, Rev. xii. 9. The Wicked One, Mat. xiii. 38. 1 Joh. iii. 12. A Murtherer and Liar, Joh. viii. 44. Ye are of your father, the Devil, and the lufts of your father will ye do. He was a murtherer from the beginning, [in effecting the death of Adam and his pofterity; and thus he may be faid to have had the power of death, Heb. ii. 14.] and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he fpeaketh a lie, he Speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, [as he was to Eve] and the father of it. The Accufer of the Brethren, Rev. xii. 10. [See Job i. 613. ii. I-7.] Aroaring Lion, [the lion roars only when he is hungry, Pfal. xxii. 13. Ezek. xxii. 25.) fecking whom he may devour. The Prince of the World, meaning, as it is corrupt and wicked, John xii. 31. xiv. 30. xvi. 11. The Prince of the Power of the Air, the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience, the idolatrous heathen, Ephef. ii. 2. the Devil is reprefented as a prince, or fovereign, at the head of a kingdom which stands in oppofition to, and is at war with, the kingdom of Chrift; who was manifefted as his antagonist, that he might destroy the works of the Devil, 1 John iii. 8.

Here

The Dæmons are characterized as the Devil's angels, Mat. xxv. 41. As unclean Spirits, Mark v. 2, 8, 12. Luke iv. 33, 36. viii. 27, 29. Evil, wicked, Spirits, Luke viii. 2.

Thefe vicious fpirits, the Devil and his angels, when permitted, are capable of doing any mifchief to the eftate, body, or mind, 1 Sam. xvi. 14. Job i. 12, &c. ii. 6, 7. Mark iii. 23, 26. Luke xiii. 16. 1 Cor. v. 5. 1 Tim. i. 20. Nor is there any abfurdity, any thing inconfiftent with the Divine Goodnefs, in fuppofing that evil fpirits may inflict calamities and diforders upon mankind: for they are only inftruments in God's hands, under his direction and controul, as much as any other cause whatever; and fo must come under the fame rules as any other means which Providence may employ in diftreffing or deftroying human life, as ftorms, inundations, the paffions and powers of wicked men, a putrid air, vitiated humours in the body, &c. In all thefe cafes, whatever is the inftrumental, God is the appointing and directing caufe; and it would have been all one, whether he had fent a good or evil angel, or had only changed the temperature of the air, to deftroy the Ifraelites by peftilence, 2 Sam. xxiv. 15, 16; or to flay Sennacherib's army, 2 King. xix. 35. 2 Chron. xxxii. 21. In correcting or punishing by discafes, or other diftrefles, God may ufe what inftruments he pleases.

Thus far we may go upon this part of the fubject, and not much further. The world of fpirits lies fo far out of our fight, that we can know no more of them, than what is revealed; nor have we principles fufficient to enable us to form clear and complete notions of every thing faid concerning them even in Revelation.

66

That which most of all requires our attention, is, that the Devil delighteth in feducing mankind to fin against God, and takes every advantage, and ufes every wile to effect his wicked purpose. Rev. xii. 9. The great dragon, called the Devil and Satan, deceiveth the whole world. Mat, xiii. 39. The enemy that fowed them, the tares, i. e. wicked men, is the Devil. Of which we have a fpecimen in his temptation of our first parents. He concealed himself in the body, or fhape, of a Serpent, probably at that time a creature admired by Adam and Eve for its beauty and fagacity. He firft addrefled the woman, when alone, and at a diftance from her husband; and firft endeavoured to weaken her sense of the obligation of the Divine Prohibition, by reprefenting it as uncertain or unreasonable, ver. 1. Yea, hath God faid, ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden? Surely you mistake him; it can never be fo; for why should God debar you of any of the innocent and delightful fruits this gar"den yields?" The woman expofed herself to the greatest danger by deliberating with the Tempter, upon a matter which the should not have heard fo much as called in queftion without abhorrence. But he was not aware of his wicked defign; and therefore, in much fimplicity, gave him a full account of the law they were under, ver. 2, 3. Which only gave him, on the other hand, an opportunity of contradicting it by a moft bold and impudent lie, der. 4.. Ye shall not furely die. Yea, he affures her, they fhould receive great advantage by eating the forbidden fruit, ver. 5. For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes fhall be opened; and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. Tọ favour his affertion, he perverts the word of God, by wrefting the name God had given the tree; as if it had been called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, becaufe God was aware it would endow them with the molt exalted and extenfive knowledge; whereas it had its name upon a very different account.

Thus

Thus Satan perfuades men to have hard thoughts of God, as if he envied our happiness, and laid the reftraints of his law upon our appetites out of ill-will; but infinite Goodnefs is not capable of envy. Thus he tempteth us to be uneafy in the condition Providence has allotted us, and prompts us to be ambitious of things too high for us. And thus he deludeth with falfe hopes of benefit and advantage from fin; and, when this last point is gained, we fall an eafy prey to the Tempter. ver. 6. And when the woman jaw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be defired to make one wife, fhe took of the fruit thereof, and did eat. "She faw it was to be defired to make one wife." What wrought this opinion in Eve was, poffibly, the affurance the Serpent gave her, that he which, the very well knew, before was, like other brutes, dumb and irrational, was, by the admirable virtue of the fruit, advanced in fpeech and reafon, as fhe faw, to an equality with herfelf, the moft excellent creature in the earth; and, therefore, the needed not doubt but it would, in the same proportion, exalt the human nature to the high perfection of the angelic order. This would pafs for demonftration with her, who knew not that it was an evil spirit that acted and spake in the Serpent. But this is only my own conjecture.-And she gave alfo unto her husband with her, and he did eat: being, probably, perfuaded (befides the arguments the Serpent used with Eve) by the strong affection they had for each other. Thus the Devil, by tempting our first parents to tranfgrefs the law, fubjected them, and their pofterity in them, to eternal death, Thus he was a murtherer, and may be faid to have had the power of death. Heb. ii. 14.

СНА Р. XII.

Reflections on the DEVIL'S TEMPTATIONS.

Biarching which, by Divine Permiffion, ranges about this world,

Y fearching the Scriptures we have found, that there is a mali

attended with many more of the fame depraved nature; and, as any opportunity offers, is endeavouring to draw men from the practice of virtue, into all wickednefs and alienation from the truth.

To prevent any cavils against the fcriptural account of this wicked Spirit, let it be well obferved,

I. That we cannot be fure, from any unaffifted knowledge or obferva¬ tion of our own, that this earth is not frequented by numerous fpirits of a nature much fuperior to the human. Our knowledge even of the animals which naturally belong to our globe, hath been, and probably ftill is, very defective. Without the help of microscopes, we could never have difcerned vaft tribes of infects, which we now plainly fee do live and

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