582 The Evidences of the Truth Vo1.11. thefe two heads; thofe that belong to God, and thofe that bong to the Devil, z John 3. g, He that committethfin is of the Devil; but he that committeth not fin, is born of God. In the next verfe he calleth them the Children of God, and the Children of the Devil: in this the Children of God are maniferî, and the Children of the Devil. So likewife Chap. 5.19. And we know that we are ofGod, and the whole world lieth in wickednefs. Or as the words may be render'd more fuitably to the oppofition which the Apoftle aims at , the whole world is fisbjefl to the wicked one; we are of God, but the reft of the World is fubjellto the Devil. Upon this account it is, that in the confiant phrafe of Scripture, all good mo- tions and inclinations, and all good graces and virtues are afcribed to the Spirit of'God, as the Author and Worker of them; and all wicked and vicious Inclina- tions, all the fins and vices of Men are attributed to the Devil , as in fouie fort the Author and Worker of them; and becaufe Faith is the root of all other gra- ces and virtues, as Infidelityis of fin and wickednefs, therefore Faith is in a pecu- liar manner faid to be the work of the Holy Ghoft: and Infidelity the work of the Devil. And as the Spirit of God is faid to enlighten the underflandingsofMen and to open their hearts that theymay believe: fo the Devil is faid to blind the minds ofthem that believe not. As the Spirit ofGod is faid to work in them that believe: fo the Devil is faid to work in the Childrenof unbelief. Eph. 2. 2. He is called the Spirit that worketh in the Children of difobedience, d'rec e r, of unbelief This is one of the principal Defigns which the Devil hath alwayscarried on in the World, to bring Men to unbelief, and to keep them in it. As it is the great Work of the Spirit of Truth to leadmen into truth, and bring them to the belief of it: fo the great buuinefs of the Devil is to feduce Men from the Truth. Upon this ac- count he is faid, yohn 8. 44. to be amurderer from the beginning, becaufe he a- bode not in the truth; which refers to the firft Temptation, whereby he ruined and deftroyed our firft Parents, by feducing them tounbelief; Hath Godfaid, ye (hall not eat of every treeof the Garden? And becaufe he found this attempt fo fuc- cefsful, he fti11 purfues Mankind withthe fain temptation of unbelief. This for the firFH; why Infidelity is attributed to the Devil, as the caufe ofit. I come in the Second place to íhew more particularly what influence the Devil bath upon the minds of Men, to keep them in unbelief; how and in what man- ner be blinds the minds of them that believe not. Thefe two ways chiefly; by falfe Principles; and by vicious and corrupt Habits. I. By falfe Principles, which when they have once got poffeffion of the Under - ftanding, like fo many Enemies they defend it, and hold out againft theTruth. By this "means the Devil kept a great part of the Jews and of the heathenWorld in unbelief; and their minds were fo blinded by thefe;falfe Principles which they had entertained, that they could not fee the light ofthe glorious Gofpel of Chri/l. As for the Yews, he had with a great deal of art conveyed falfe Principles into them, whereby they were extremely prejudiced, againft Chrift and his Doctrine, fo that when he, who was the defire of all Nations, and whom the Jews had look'd for, with fo longing an expeftation, was come, they could fee no beauty in him, wherefore be fhould be defirad. The Devil nodoubt underft000d very well by the Prophecies of theOld Teftament, that the MefJìas was to come, who would give a terrible blow to his Kingdom, and therefore to provide againft this Storm which he faw coming upon him, he poffeft the yews a great while before with falfe Apprehenfions of the Mesas, that he was to be a great temporal Prince, and todeliver Ifrael from all their Enemies, and to fubdue all Nations to them; and he plaid his game fo well, that the moft learned among the Yews were gene- rally poffeft with thisApprehenfion, under the notion of a divineDodrine, which had been brought down to them by Tradition from Mofes and the Prophets : So that when the Mejias came, and 'they faw nothing of the outward glory and fplen- dor which they expefted, they would not know him, but defpifed and releeted him, as a Counterfeit and Impoftor. As for the idolatrous Gentiles, he had for many Ages together blinded them with falfe Notions of God and hisWorship, and with Principles of a falfe Philo- fophy, by which when they came to meafure the Doftrine of Chrift, the plain Truths
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