822. , 711E GLORY Of Cf1RIST AS COD -MAN. reigning over the Gentile nations even to the ends of the earth since his ascension to heaven, may we not justly suppose this is one part of his exaltation, that by him the prince of this world should be cast out, that is, turned out and despoiiied of his old dominion among the nations, as well as out of the souls of men, according to John xii. 31 ? And that all these evil angels, who by divine permission were formerly governors of heathen king- doms, were then captivated, spoiled and dispossessed of their government, and made slaves to the sovereigri will of Christ ? Is there nit reason to conceive that these are those " principa- lities and powers which he spoiled of their dominions, and made a shew of them openly to the invisible world, triumphing over them ;" Col. ii. I54. Is not this the " captivity which he led captive, when he ascended on high far above all heavens, that he might fill all things," that is, with his influence, and so might govern all nations ; Eph. iv. 8, 10 ? Is it not upon this account that he is described in that magnificence of glory by the prophet David; Psal. lxviii. 17, 18. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels. The Lord is among them as in Sinai, in his holy place. Thou hast ascended onhigh, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men, even for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Was not this the day of his triumph over Satan and his angels, who had been gods and kings, princes and lordst of The nations, when thousands of holy angels are represented as the chariots of God attending him in that solemnity ? Then he led captive a great captivity, even those principalities and powers that had been the rulers of the darkness of the heathen world then he received gifts for men, and that not only for his ancient subjects the Jews, but for the rebellious Gentiles also, who had been the subjects of Satan, under the power of the devil, led captive by him at his pleasure. And the Psalmist says it was all * See the exposition of this text in the most and the best of our comments. tors : there is scarce any thing they say upon it but is very consistent with the sense I give it in this place, and with the scheme of my discourse. I confess Mr. Pierce supposes these " principalities andpowers" must mean good angels, whom he believes to have been governors of the Gentile nations till Christ's time : and the chief reason he gives for it is, that the Colossians are for- bid to worship them, ver. 18. for they are dispossessed of their government by the exaltation of Christ: whereas bad they been evil angels or devils, there would bave been no need of forbidding the christian Colossians to worship them. To this i answer, That these Colossians were hat young converts, and might not know that these were evil spirits whom they were tempted to worship, but only some invisible powersby whom God governed the nations in former times. And let it be observed too, that the apostle in the course of his argumentexcludes all angels from worship, verses 10, and 18, 19. and not merely evil angels, verse 15. f The heathen idols, or devils, whom they worshipped, had such names as signify their dominion ; Baal and Bel denote a lord, Moloch denotes a king, Ad- rlrnrrsmclech and Annametech denote kings, &e.
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