to theE, P H E S I A~ S. on to be builf; the Devil oppofed itj and that Angel that appeareol to 'Danid,and~."" Michad they funhered tillS, and dealt With the Kwgs or Prrjicz to that purSermon r. XXXIL po.e. · · · I h· k · ~ So in that Revtt. 1 t . there IS the hke fight, (there begmnet 1 t e. Boo pro• phecy, and it beginneth as almo!t alllnt_erpr~ters agree with the pn.mmve umes,) there is the'1Jrago" mtdhM Angels; It IS plarnly meant of the Devil, for he cal• !eth him tbt old Serpmt, theaccufer o/ tbe Brtthrm. If you read the )· verfe of that Ch,ptcr~ you Jl1all fee that this Dragon had fe.vm Hmds a11d lt!1t Horm; by which is alwa~cs meant theRoman Emptrt. So that It IS evident that It was the Devil in the Rom.•n Empzre !hrnng up that fiatc agam!t the Church, The De• vi! and his Angels is faid to have ten Horns and fcven Heads and feven Crowns up• on his Heads, it is the Hitrarchy of the RomaTJ Empire, for while it was Hea• thenilh the Devil always wrought in it, therefore that Empire is called thr 'Dra– go11andhuAttgds, On the other tide you hava the Apollles and the faithful men that did endea• vour to fet up Chri!t, and you have Micbaet mtd hJS Angels ailin: thefe men a• gain!! thr 'Devil i11 thr RomaiJ Er:zpire; even ju!t as ~ou faw bef~re in that place of 'Daniel, there was Angel agamft Angel, fo there IS here m this of the Rtv e• latio11. , Read the whole Book of the Reve/,,tioJJ, this which I now fay will be one Key to it. You fhal.l find that all that is faid to be done is done by Angels; Such an Angel founded hiS Trumpn, fuch an Angel pow~edout his Vial, ~c. · He fpeaks of things done here below, Judgments upon Wicked men, and good thmgs for the Church. Why are they fa~d to be done by Angels? Becaufe thefc Angels do guide men, act Kings and Princes for to do that they do again!! A11tichrzjl; And the government of this World of the New Tejlamozt is reprefented to us rather under the notion of Angels then of Men, becaufe that Angels do ftir up men to do what they do. 1 will give you one in!iance more. You fee now how Angels both good and bad,deal in the Perji.m and the Rommt Mo11arcbie, I will give yon one inftance how they did deal in the Babylouion Mo11archze, and it is about cutting down Nebucbad~tezzar, Angels were to execute that. Read 'Da11. 4• '7· he faith it was by the decree of the Watchers; Who were the Watchers? It was not the perfons in the Triuity; they were Angels, for it is faid verfe r I· The Watchmml came dowlffrom Heave11 ? though oAe1Angel was the executioner more dpecially, yet .he faith it was by the decree of the Watchers, they decreed in Heaven, the Counfel of Angels did, as being of Counfel to the great King, and one Watcher came down to execute it: Thus you fee Angels have their hands in the great things of the World, in ruling of Kingdoms and the affairs here b~low. Let me add but one in!tance about evil Angels, it is in Judg. 9· 2 3, 2+ You read in the former Chapter howGideonhad delivered Ijrael, and he had Seven• ty Sons, but the men of Srchem fet up Abimelech, a Ba!tard Son of Gideons, begotten of a Strt~mpet out of thei: own Town, and put to death Seventy of the Sons of Gzdeo11, who were lawtully begotten. Now, to avenge this what cloth God do! There was a mighty .divilion followed, a great War; who wa. the caufe of It? There were other \'Ilible pretences, but the truth is the fiirrer up of all this was an evil Spirit, for fo it isfaid, God{tnt an wit Spirit 6etwem Abimelecb and the mm of &chem, mzd thr mm ofStchem dtalt trracherou/ly wzth Abzmrlech, that the crttrlty done to theJrvmty So1ls of Gideo11 might comr, and thezr 6/ood6r /,udttpolt A6zmelech thrir Brother which jltw thrrn, a11d ttp– Oil thr mm of Sechem whzcb had al(o a hand in tbr kttli11g of his Brtthrm. Here you fee that good Angels and bad Angels do (lir up Kings and !tares, one one way and the other another way. And they ha Ye thus dealt in the great Mo· narchtcsof the World, and they deal fo in Popery too. • I i i ~
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