Goodwin - BX9315 G6 v1

rv{n Exp~(ition of the Epifile ~ in his Eve. Alas! the ruining oCearthly Kingdoms, the Roman Monarchy and the ~ like,it i;but a petty Bufinefs to thebreaking ofthisKingdom,this greatHead,which. · IS as the Prim1111z Mobile, that turns about all the Kmgdomsofthe World. That's , . . the firll Obfervation. · Obfcrv. 2·. . The fecond thing which y.lu may obferve out of the Words likewife, is this That this Kingdom is a Monarchy. .Here is a Princc,onc great Devil over othe; D evils, the Power ofthe Air, and over Men, Tf.e Children of Difobedience; and thi~ Kingdom fet up againll our L9rd and S~viour Jefus Chrill. This is a Truth, wh1ch both Heathens and others acknowledg.. 'Trif"egifl~~< bath it, as in Lailan– titH his 2d Book ofDivine Inllitut}ons; he !peaks ofevil Spirits and good Spirits, and of the evil Spirits he faith, there was one chiefDevil. And it was a Tradition likewife amongft the lews,and o\vned by Chrift himfelf,in that ofM..t.I 2.who cal, led him tf.e Prince ofbevilr. And there are Teftimonies by fome that thore that were M:igi9al amongft the Heathen,when they could not raifc a Spirit, they would call upon tlpt chiefDevil,whom they durft not name that he would fend one to them. I only !peak it for this, that amongft them this was a Tradition,. that there was one great Devil. When !handled that of:Principality and Power in the 2oth Vqfc ofthe firft Chapter, I remember, I !hewed then, that take the power ofAngels in Heaven fimply,it is in refpect of then; an Arillocracy; it is a Monar– chy in refpeCl: of Chrifl indeed :•But come down to Hell, and there it is a Monar– chy i he is both7)rince of Devils, and Prin7e of this World too, as Mar. 9· 34· and Mat. I 2. 24- How he cometh to be thus the Monarch, WC will not !land ai– fputing: The Sclioo\men have many things upon it. He wa~ the moft excellent . 9fall the refl; and the order of Nature f\ill continued though they fell; as in a Man's Soul, though he fall into Sin; l·et that order, that the Powers of the Soul were let in at firlt, conrinueth !lill, the Underllanding !till guideth the Will, and the Will the Affections. Or perhaps he .was the Ring-leader of them all, and t~refore when his Puni!hment,and thar in refpea: to his firfl Sin, is mentioned, it is faid,Go into the Fire prepared 1 (prepared fo long ago even from his ~rft finning) .for the.Devil and his Angels; the ll1le ofthe Pum!hment runs as the !l!le of.the Sin runs(for it is fpoken in refpect to the Sin) the Devilhad finned,and hisAngels that cleave unto him therein, therefore the Puni!hment runs, prepared for the Devil and hi< A11gels, prepared I f.1y for him, even from. his firfl finning.'as being the Ring– leader ofthem all, m that firft Sm. And fo mdccd Grot111< tnterpreteth that in Joh.8. 44· Heir a lyar, a11d the Father ofit, he is, faith he, o· n"T"~ o<:rr~, ·a Father ofthat kind, ofall the Devils that lyed; a Father, how? Not by Generation, but as in Gm. 4· 20. he that firft invented Brafs, is faid to be the Father of Cuch as work in Brafs; and he that invented Tents, The Father ofji!CIJ tu dwell in Tents. And fo now by the ju!l ordination of God, they having finned with him, they are all thus fubjcl:ted to him ; he remains a Prince over them. The Devils they fin– ned with a Head, we finned in a Head. And they thus uniting willingly to one Monarchy, their chiefefl end being to uphold the BufineG of their Kingdom (as I .!hall !hew anon )• therefore that this may be carried on uniformly and one way, that there may be one uniform Spirit ftill,and that they may be gui,ded in all Ages by it,to breath in one kind of Activity into theChildren ofDifobediwce,theyhave all fubjeCl:ed themfelves ; partly I fay by their own voluntary fubjeCl:ion, and partly by the Ordination of God, and the Excellency of that Angel above all the reft. f!e is called that Dragon in Rev. 20. the Article is put three times there, that D~ago11, that§erpent, that Old; And though other Devils may be called Devils (though Corn~ lily that we read no where that any are called Devils but this great Devil; the others are called Demons, but they arc not called Diaboli, and they. arc called U'nc!ean Spirits and the like) but this Title [who is the Devil and Sa– tan J ·is proper and peculiar to him. .As there is a whole Antichri!l, one eminent Amichrift,though there he many Anuchnlls: fo there IS one whole Dragon, one great Devil,though there be manvothers under htm, Y •;m !hall read mEzekc29+ (it is an excellent' Alluiion) thatTharaoh Kmg ofEg)'ft tscalled the great Dragon ; the like you have in I(a. 5i. 9· Now in Pfal. 74· 13, 14. compared with thi•, yon !hall find it laid, that God gave f..ir People tle Heads ofthe Dragons for meat; mean– ing the Egyptians (it was Meat for their Faith to live upon,to fee the great Works that God did for them :)· they are called the httle Drago(IS but, Phar~oh IS · · called

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