A Complete Body of Divinity, Sermons · 52 (Question 13 cont.)
SERMON LII.
II. WE are now to proceed to conſider the blameable Cauſes of the Apoſtacy: and theſe are reckon'd to be either the instrumental or the principal. The ground of this diſtribution is, becauſe man fell by Temptation, and therefore the temptersare reckoned as inſtruments in this affair; and yet becauſe they could but tempt, and he had a power of reſiſtance, there is an higher cauſe than they: and becauſe it was their duty not to tempt him, and his not to be tempted by them, both are therefore blameable.
Firſt. WE may begin with the Inſtrumental, becauſe they were leading: and theſe are reckoned to be three, viz. the Devil, the Serpent, and the Woman That the Serpent was an inſtrument uſed in the temptation is not to be denied; but whether blameable or no will be conſidered in the place of it.
Here then.
1. THE firſt of theſe is the Devil, who was the leader in the Temptation; and though he be not named in the hiſtory of man's doleful fall, Gen. 3. yet he is plainly intimated, who elſe managed the Serpent to ſpeak, and reaſon, and plead, which was altogether preternatural to that creature? and for this reaſon he is in Scripture charged, to be the biginner, father, or author of Sin; Joh. 8.44. 1 Jo…. 3.8. And here,
1. WE may methodically treat ſomething about the nature of Devils. For man is n…r a little concerned with good and bad Angels, as therefore we treated of them as Angels under the doctrine of the Creation; ſo we may look upon them as Devils under the head of Apoſtacy; both becauſe they ma… themſelves ſo by Apoſtatizing, and becauſe their ſin ſeems to have been compleated … their procuring man's fall. To be ſure … is the firſt notice that is given us of their ſhewing themſelves Devils; and in their … apoſtacy, they became the inſtrumental ca… of man's fall. Of the Devils then take … deſcription; They are apoſtate Angels, … diſdaining, through pride, that ſpecial … which God put upon them at firſt; becauſe blaſphemers of God, and …urderers of … opening of this deſcription we ſhall ſee … deeply they were concerned in the … man. Here then,
1. THEY are Angels. This is their … they have all the natural angelical prope… belonging to them: they were created in the firſt moment of time; they are ſpiritual …ſtances, incorporeal, inviſible, of a … underſtanding, exceeding active, &c. … they have the name Angel put upon … 1 Pet. 2.4. and Jude 6.
2. THEY are apoſtate Angels. And … they morally differ from thoſe bleſſed … that never fell: they were created by God with all moral perfections, they were good for ſo was all that God made, as it ca… … of his hands, Gen. 1. ult. they were … capable of ſerving to their end, in … glorifying of God; but by apoſtatizing … made themſelves Devils, which word … name of diſgrace; the Engliſh word … doing Evil; the Latin and Greek. … ſignifies an Overthrower, or one who … through another. The Hebrew, S…t…n, ſignifies a ſpiteful Adverſary: they ſtood off from … armed themſelves againſt him, ſet up for themſelves to be Gods in the world. Ha… that? Con… The god of this world. The Scripture often ſpeaks of them, in the ſing… one, partly becauſe they are united in their great and general de…ign; their Kingdom is not divided, but there is an unanimous agreement whereby they conſent as one … againſt God and man: partly becauſe … are ſubjected to … Prince, to whom they yield a diabolical obedience. However, … are multitudes of them; a legion could … be ſpared to one man, and yet enough … tempt all the world beſides: we the… read of the Devil and his Angels. If the … of this apoſtacy be enquired after, thus … may be ſaid about it, viz. that they did … fall during Creation; …r all ſtood right … after man was made, that is the obſervation which God made upon the whole, Gen. 1. … and it is certain that they were at leaſt … to fall before man, for they were the … tempters of him. But,
3. THE ground of their Apoſtacy, or that wherein they fell. They through pride diſdained the ſpecial office which was put upon them at the firſt. There are various opinions about the ſin of the Angels which ruined them, and the Scripture ſeems to ſpeak ſomething darkly above it; but yet if we put things together, we may …pell our ſomething about it. Here then take theſe Concluſions.
(1.) THAT there was a ſpecial office for the good of man, which God put the Angels into a… firſt, and made it the reſt or trial of their obedience. Angels, as all other Beings, were made for the ſervice of God: they being in the top of the Creation, and the moſt noble Beings, were therefore in order next unto God, and thereupon nextly and immediately for him. Man was made a little lower than them, and therefore they were not put into his …rter, nor was he to have any dominion over them: but God, by a poſitive order …ned them for his min…ſtration; ſo we …, Heb. 1.14. Are they not all min…ſtring …, ſent forth to miniſter for them, who ſhall be …eirs of ſalvation? where we have their inferiority to Chriſt, proved by the office they … and the whole texture of the words import it to be an office. This precept then was poſitive; and this office was to be a reſt. They owed all homage to God, now God would prove them by ſuch an appointment as this, as he did man by another teſt, viz. the … of Knowledge.
(2.) THAT this teſt was the unblameable … of their f…ll. To call it a cauſe is too … …n occaſion it was. The Angels f…ll, was a revolt from God, a renouncing of the … they owed to him; now they … cauſe by counſel; they therefore … ſomething that was to them a motive, which put them upon ſo doing; and what could that be but this office of theirs? for, if we …ider them as glorious Intelligences, … with knowledge and perfect holineſs … creation, they could not be diſ…, either at their Being, …or as … they had the greateſt excellency of … of any, they could ſee no other creation of a better make for them to emulate; … at the Place of their Habitation, for that … Heaven, the beſt and moſt glorious in the … Creation, and every way fitted for their entertainment, no… at their Serving and … of God directly, for they knew him … the moſt glorious Being, and themſelves … Creatures, and had a natural delight …, and ſubjection to him, and knew it … their happineſs; and therefore all the … that the reſt of the Creation was in …, they ſung to him in conſort, Job … and what elſe doth their now remain … moving cauſe of their rejecting their … to God, but not liking of their Special Work?
(3.) HEREUPON their fall i… aſſigned to their Pride. This was the firſt ſin, and …ding to all the reſt, which went into the compleating of their apoſtacy; 1 Tim 3.6 Not … …vice, leſt being li…ted up with pride, …e fall into the condemnation of the devil. And what is pride, but an overwee…i…g opinion of ones ſel…, which makes him thi…k h…mſelf too good for his duty, and ſo puts him upon ſcornfully neglecting it. And this is re…em…led by the pride of an upſta… Miniſter, who thinks himſelf too good for his People, and ſo neglects his care of them: this therefore points directly to the miniſtry of the Angels.
(4.) THIS pride led them to diſdain the ſpecial office which God had ſet them in. The nature of their fall is deſcribed in, J…d. 6. The Angels which kept … their firſt …, but left their own habitation. They left it, and we have obſerved that it was pride that made them to leave it; and therefore they did it in diſdain; and the word, ſtate ſignifies a Magiſtracy, or an high office that is put upon perſons, this was it that they l…ft. It could not be their nature, for they could not charge it for a better; it could not be their …rder in the Creation, for there was …o higher; it could not be their habitation in Heaven, for it was the moſt glorious, and therefore it muſt be their office; and here was the matter of their indignation. For,
1. THEY were conſcious of their own excellency, and dignity. As Angels, they excelled in Knowlege, ſo that they could not but know themſelves to be the maſter-pieces of the works of God; to ſurpaſs in all excellent endowments, every other piece of the Creation: they did ſo in reality, and they had a power of reflection upon themſelves by which they were able to diſcern it.
2. THEY knew man to be in a lower order of being than themſelves. This is conſequent on the former; though they could not but diſcern man to be the ma…ter-piece of the viſible Creation, and adorned with a great many excellent endowments, and to be in his ſpiritual faculties and perfections …kin to themſelves, yet as to his bodily frame to be raiſed ou… of the Duſt; and in many reſpects to be of an inferiour order; Pſal. 8.5. Then haſt made him a little lower th…n the Angels.
3. HENCE they reckoned themſ…lves to be degraded, in being employed to miniſter for man. Their ſervice appeared to them to be diſhonourable, it was below their dignity, and unworthy of ſuch noble Creatures; pride now enters … …hem, when they reflect upon themſelves, and their office, and it tells them they are too high, and too good to wait upon ſo mean a perſonage as man, and they know not how to brook it.
4. THIS raiſed in them a diſdain or contempt of their ſervice. They ſcorned it, their minds roſe up againſt it, and would not ſuffer them to comply with it: … …hereupon they reſolved not to perform it; their pride would not give them …ve to ſtoop to ſuch a peaſant as man.
5. HEREUPON they are filled with Malice againſt God and: …. And that is a natural and proper offspring o… pride; they entertained prejudices againſt God, for the injury they conceived he had done them, in finding ſuch an employment for them, as if he had put an affront upon them, and caſt diſparagement upon their high and gloriuos nature; and againſt Man, becauſe …e is thus become an object of their ea…y, in that there ſeemed to be a greater honour conferred on him, than upon themſelves; and that he was in higher favour with the Creator than they were.
6. THIS …er and envy ſet there upon de…iſing a was …ow they might at once be revenged both upon God and Man. And that was by caſting of man ou… of God's favour, and ſo undoing him: they conſulted and contrived how to deprive God of that glory which was due to him from men, and make man to forfeit himſelf, and loſe his happineſs for ever without any hope of a retrieval. And this was of meer ſpite, and they reſolved to venture their own eternal ruin, for the bringing about this deſign; and here was the way and ground of their apoſtacy: Hence called Satan, and our Adverſary.
4. THE conſummation of their tranſgreſſion was in their proſecution of this deſign, and actual accompliſhment of it, ſo far as in them lay; and it conſiſts in two things, viz.
(1.) THEY hereupon became blaſphemers of God. And that appears in thoſe lying and reproachful reflections which they caſt upon Him, in the temptation. They were lies, and for that reaſon, is the Devil called both a liar, and the father of lies, Joh. 8.44. They were the firſt who ſpake equivocations, untruths and falſhoods: and they were blaſphemous lies againſt God; for we find in the reply upon the woman's firſt anſwer; Gen. 3.4, 5. a direct impeachment of God's glorious perfections; endeavouring to perſwade man, that God in treating with him, had dealt unkindly, yea injuriouſly, yea falſly with him; had envied him his happineſs, had impoſed upon him, had no love for him, had laid a foundation for his miſery; and what is this but blaſphemouſly to traduce Him?
(2.) THEY alſo thus became murderers of Men. And that not of their Bodies only, but of their Souls too: they ſeduced them, and ſo undid them, and thus in procuring of man's fall, they compleated their own, in making of him miſerable, they made themſelves Devils.
II. HERE therefore we are to obſerve how they murdered Mankind. That they did, ſee Job. 8.44. and the way was by ſeducing him into the Sin, whereby he fell; and ſo he was the leading inſtrument; He is therefore ſaid to have beguiled our firſt Parents, 2 Cor. 11.3. the word is a metaphor taken from a thief, who collogues a traveller out of his way, upon pretence of ſhewing him a nearer and better, and ſo draws him into ſome blind corner where he robs him. Here then we may take this concluſion: That the Devil was not a neceſſary compelling cauſe, but only a counſelling and tempting agent about the fall of man. And for this reaſon he is called the Te…pur Math. 4.3. becauſe that is the trade which he is always driving, and by which he draws men to deſtruction.
Here then obſerve.
1. THAT be was …o compelling cauſe of … fall; he did not neceſſitate it. For,
(1.) HE had not the power of man's free w…ll. He was never made the lord and ſovereign of man in the order of Gubernation; that do… nion which he hath, he hath gotten it by … fall; by God's juſt Judgment, and man's … ſent: he not only would not force by violence, for that the humane will is not capa… of, but he could not morally alter or … it, or put any new principles into it, … was a creature.
(2.) ADAM had in him created abi…i… … ſerve God, and conſequently to have … the temptation. For God made him able … perform the whole law, and this was … eſſential part of it, to hearken to …o … made to him, to draw him away from … obedience, but with greateſt indignation … renounce them; this therefore he could … done, by the improvement of his … powers.
2. HENCE he could be no more than …eeping Agent. It was only morally that he was … inſtrument.
NOW if we con…ider what the Temptation was, we ſhall find in general; that it was a fallacy, whereby under the prete… truth and goodneſs, he endeavoured to … man to believe a lye, and thereupon to e… tain evil. Man is a cauſe by counſel of his actions, his underſtanding is for eyes to his will; and therefore, by deceiving of th… … is drawn into miſchief▪ accordingly … applied himſelf to man. Here obſerve,
(1.) MAN hath a natural reach after … neſs. This is a principle engraven in … nature, and inſeperable from it: hence … ſtrongeſt motives to perſwade him to any … are from this to pick, to make him … that it will be a medium to happineſs: … that, Pſal. 4.6. There be many that ſay, … will ſhew us any good?
(2.) GOD therefore made theſe the … of his law, viz. happineſs in caſe of obed… miſery upon diſobedience. Theſe being … of all accommodated to man's nature, … having the ſtrongeſt tye or obligation … them, the one to encourage, the other to caution him.
(3.) GOD to try man's obedience, gave … alſo a teſt; a prohibition to eat of the … &c. on pain of death. This, we have … was a poſitive command, in a thing in … indifferent, 'till God uſed his ſovereig… about it.
(4.) THE Devil hereupon makes an advan… by his lies, to lay before men, matter of prejudice againſt God. The ſubſtance whereof is in Gen. 3.4, 5. And the ſerpent ſaid unto … woman, …e ſhall not ſurely die. For God … know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your yet ſhall be opened: and ye ſhall be as Gods …ing good and evil. Where, 1. HE propoſeth a ſhort and eaſy way to be …ppy at once, by eating the fruit of this Tree. He therefore abuſeth the name of it, to in…imate a ſecret vertue hidden in it, to …ill man with divine wiſdom, and advance him to a God-like perfection: and he knew if he could but ſcrew into man an opinion of being happy by it, he could go a great way to prevail with him. 2. HE calumniates God, as having ſome ill deſign in prohibiting man the uſe of this tree. q. d. God knows how much a very taſte of this fruit will advance your perfection, and becauſe he envies you ſo much felicity, therefore he hath forbidden you to touch it, left you ſhould thereby be made more happy than He is willing to have you. 3. HE perſwades them that the threatning was but a bugbear to fright children, and not to be regarded; and gives his word that there was no danger in it, ſo to remove them from all fear of any miſery likely to en…u… upon their undertaking to eat of it. ve…. 3. 4. HEREUPON be offers the fruit to them i… its lovelineſs. Gen. 3.6. The woman ſaw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleaſant to the eyes, and a tree to be deſired to make one wiſe. q. d. See what a beautiful thing it is, look over all that garden, obſerve if you can find ſuch another, and it muſt needs have ſome ſecret ſtrange vertue in it.
USE. 1. LEARN hence, What are the Sins which make us moſt like the devil; and let it out us upon hating of them.
THERE is Pride, this was his ma…ter Sin; and when you ſhew moſt pride in your look, in your talk, in your garb, in your carriage to others, the more Devil-like you appear.
THERE is diſcontent at the ſtate and place God ſets us in, thinking it beneath us, and below thoſe endowments and abilities that we have; we think our ſelves better then ſome whom God hath preferred to us, either in honour, eſteem, preferment, or wealth; and now we murmur and fre…
THERE is malice and envying others the favours beſtowed on them by God, and thereupon ſtudying and endeavouring to undermine them, to blaſt them, looking upon them with an evil eye, waiting to do them a miſchief.
THERE is lying; a being given to a ſpirit of it, and driving of a trade, of equivocations, falſhoods, and endeavours to deceive others with our impoſtures.
THERE is blaſphemy, in aſperſing the glorious Name of God with reproaches, and caſting vile reflections upon any of his precious Attributes.
THERE is ſeduction, improving of our wit to draw others into ſin, to ſtudy devices, and lay snares to entrap their Souls withal.
AND there is murder, whether of ſoul or body, by endeavouring to ruin them, all theſe are ſpecially Satanical ſins: by them the fallen Angels made themſelves Devils; and they that live in them, look as like him, as the child like the father.
USE II. LEARN hence, What need we have to implore the conſtant help of God to preſerve us from the power of Satans Te…ptation…. Though he cannot force, yet how ſtrong is he in perſwading, how ſubtle in in…in…ating? Remember he beguiled Man in his integrity, was too hard for him in his greateſt perfection, who are we then to withſtand him, who have always a party in us ready to betray us into his hands? Let us not then be ſecure, but always ſuſpecting his ſtrat…g…ms, and ſenſible of our own infirmity, refuſe to entertain any parley with him; let us commend our ſelves to the Grace of God, that by it we may be preſerved, and enabled to eſcape the wiles of the Devil.
[MARCH 22. 1691.]