An Expofition of t!Je Epijlle 7'1J' Throne in the hige£1: Heavens,and in rKin.22.1 9. you !hall read there ofthe hojl of ~ Heavm, namely all his holy and bleffed Angels that were there gathered about him, and the Septuagint there tranflates lt ltkew1le the Powers of Heaven. Then there is the Starry Heavens, where the Sun and Moon and Statr~ are 1 and they rule the Day and the Nll(ht,whereoftbe Sun 1s the Pnnce; you fhall find Hkewife that they are called the HoJi of&vw, as in Pfal. 33· 6. and the Septuagint ttanl– late.s it in the fame Place, Power. Then here is the Air you fee, that is the third and that bath an Hof't in it t-oo, but it is of Devils, whereof this great Devil is th~ Prince, it is the Seat of his Kingdom, it is the Power ofthe Air. And fo much now for that. And that by the Power of the Air fhould be meant the wicked Angels as united into one Body, as joyning and concurring in one Power one Army, this I fay makes the fence more full and eompr<henfive,holdeth fonh fomethiug diO:inCt from that which follows in the next Words, where his SubjeCts are mentioned, namely the Children of Difobedience, and fets forth the Kingdom of Satan to the full in all its Variety, in all its Subordinations : He is a Prince, under him be bath a Power; thele work upon Men the Children ofD'.fobedimce. Sonow you have the Phrafes in thefe Words opened unto you. Now I fhall come to that which is infrend of Oblervations, that is, to explain to you this fame Kingdom ofSatan (for the ApoO:Ie's !cope is to hold that up here.) And firf't you fee, that Satan bath a Ktngdom, and tt 1s the great Kingdotrr that i·s fet up again£1: the Kingdom ofJelus Chrifi. The ApoO:Ie therefore as he had de– fcribed JeiLis Chri£1: as a mighty King over alP Principality and Power, in the 20, & 2I Verfcs ofthe'former Chapter; fo here he holdeth forth the oppofite King– dom Satan bath, confifiing both of Men and Angels, made up ofthole two, the one in ·the Air, the other dwelling in the Earth. His great Competitor Chri£1:, he acknowledgeth him to have a Kingdom, Mat.I2.26. lf~tan be divided agait'.Jf Sa– tmz, how Jba/1 his Kingdomfland? Yea, and he had the Start ofhis Kingdom in the World before Chri£1: came into it,carried the World before him fo;· many thml.fand Years. It is fuppofed by Come, and indeed rationally and probably, by z,mch;, whom I account the be£1: of Protefrant Writers in his Judgment, and likewife b'y Srurez, the be£1: ofSchool·men, that upon the very fetting up, or at leaO:wife up– on the Notice that the ·Angels had of the fettmg up of a Kmgdom, for the Mail Chri£1: Jefus, predeO:inated to come (which whether it was withoUt the Fall pre– defr{nated, as Come, or upon Suppofition ofthe Fall,as others,yet fo much might be revealed to them) and that the humane Nature was to be affumed up into the fe– cond Perfon,and he to be the Head ofall Principality and Power, and that Angels and Men fl10uld have their Grace from him; this they lay being declared to be the Will ofGod, their very refufing of this Kingdom, and to be Cubjeet unto Chrift, as Man thus aflumed, was their fir£1: Sin: And that now in Oppofition hereunto they did fer up another Kingdom again£1: him. Thus !Cay,thele Writers, that I have mentioned, do think, and they alledge that Place in the EpiO:!e of 'jude, ver. 6. where the Sin of the Angels being defcribed, it is laid, the; k§pt not theirjirfl Eftate, h11t left their own Habitation (which tly they is not there brought in as their Pu– ni(hment ) they left that Station God had let them in; and they left their Dwe!– ing in Heaven, to fer up a Kingdom here below, in oppofition to Chrifr, and fo to have an Jndependam Kingdom ofthemlelves, for which God bath condemned them into eternal Torment, and to Hell, and delivered them into Chains ofDark..nef, to be referved HfliO 'j11dgment, 2 Pet.2.4. And to let up this Great Kingdom is their BufineCs, and therefore they now do affociate themfelvcs together, not out of Love, but as becometh Rational Creatures that would drive on a Projed and a Defign. Our Saviour Chrift in that Place Mat. 12. fpeaks of it as the great End that Satan profecuteth, Satan, faith he, will'not cajl ont Satan, for that would divide hi< Kingdom, and he is tender ofthat, that is his great Defign. I will not much infi£1: upon it, only I will give you the Grounds that they go upon, bcfides this mentioned. That Place in 'jo/.>.8.44- where Chri£1: lays open both the Devil's Sin,and the Sin ofthe Jews. The Sin ofthe Jews was,that they would not receive thatTruth which Chrifr had delivered to them, as he tells tbemver. 45· Bccaufe I tellyou the Truth, you believe me not, and not receiving it, they fought to kill him. Now 1f you ask what that Truth was, that Cbrill! had fo much inculcated to them, you !hall fee at ver. 2 5· what it is, they asked him there;who he wru, even thefame, faith he
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