idea does this give us of spirit! As Satan is not omnipresent, he must pass to every part of the globe with a rapidity that far exceeds human conception. The incredulity of those who would reject, or explain away this part of the character of Satan, is founded merely in their limited notions of possibility. Milton's devil may show his agility by posting round the globe, or making the circuit of the globe in the course of a night; but the devil of the Scriptures is a spirit, and, like thought, is instantaneously present in the place of his destination.

THE DOMINION OF SATAN.

This powerful spirit is the head of the whole apostacy of angels and men. The angels who fell are called the angels of the devil.-Jude i. 6; Rev. xii. 7. Beelzebub is the prince of the demons.-Luke xi. 15. He is the prince of the power of the air. I can conceive of nothing that this expression can mean, but that the fallen angels under the government of Satan, have their residence throughout the boundless regions of the atmosphere. The infernal spirits compose a society, and live under government, having Satan for their chief ruler. It appears from Eph. vi. 12, that they are separated into distinct governments, though they have the same supreme sovereign. They are called principalities and powers, which seem to import that there are many distinct societies among them, having separate governments. Many curious speculations might be suggested with respect to the principles that retain these spirits in obedience to their sovereign; but as these can receive no elucidation from the Scriptures, it is worse than unprofitable to indulge them. One thing is certain, they are all combined in one common cause against the human race. They are the rulers (despots) of the darkness of this world.-Eph. ii. 2. They are the agents of Satan in his government of men, and they rule through the ignorance of the world. In the history of the demoniacs, we see that they delight in giving torment to the human race. Their efforts are peculiarly directed, under their prince,

to ruin Christians, and destroy Christianity.-Eph vi. 12; Rev. xii. 7.

Satan is not only the prince of the angels that fell with him; but by seducing our first parents to join in his apostacy, he has extended his empire over the human race. All men are represented as naturally his children and subjects. They continue so till they are delivered from his power, through faith in the blood of Christ.-Acts xxvi. 18. By dying under the curse of the law as a substitute for his people, and atoning for their sins by the blood of his cross, Jesus Christ has destroyed him who has the power of death.

The apostle John declares that the whole world, except believers, lieth in the wicked one.-1 John v. 19. He says again (iv. 4), "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." Believers overcome the temptations of false teachers, and the plausibility of false doctrine, not by the strength of their own understanding, but because the Spirit of God, who abides in them, is more powerful than the devil who influences and assists the corrupters of the truth. Satan is here asserted to dwell in, and influence all, wicked men.

Such is the influence of this great enemy of God and man over the human race, that Jesus Christ calls him the prince of this world.-John xii. 31; xiv. 30; xvi. 11. These passages plainly import, that he is permitted to exercise his authority over this world, and that he governs all men, but Christians, as any other king governs his subjects. The only difference is, he governs spiritually, and uses no force to give effect to his authority. He rules through the hearts and lusts of his subjects.

The apostle Paul calls him the God of this world.— 2 Cor. iv. 4. This imports, not only that he rules over men, but that their submission to his authority is considered by God as worship given to his great enemy. By complying with his temptations, and performing his works, they make him a god. All the endless variety of evil works that are in the world, are, therefore, so many ways of worshipping Satan. How little does the world think that while they are engaged in their plea

sures and sinful amusements, they are solemnizing the rites of the worship of the devil?

The connection between Satan and ungodly men is so intimate, that they are called his children, or he is called their father.—John viii. 44. As by believing God's testimony about his Son, we are born again, and become the children of God, so by believing the devil's testimony, with respect to the forbidden fruit, the human race, in their first parents, became the children of their destroyer. By believing his lie against the God of truth, they lost their divine image, and their relation to God as a father, and became assimilated to the father of lies-they became enemies to God, and lovers of iniquity-so that the devil reigns over them as willing subjects. Though they were made his subjects at first by fraud, and continue so to their temporal and eternal misery, yet they need not be kept in their allegiance by force, like the subjects of other tyrants, but obey out of their inclination to evil. He reigns in them as his children. Our Lord says, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the works of your father ye will do." They willingly and eagerly perform the works of their father.

This lamentable fact is exhibited at large, in striking language, in Eph. ii. 2. Believers, as well as others, are naturally the children of wrath; and before they come to the knowledge of the truth, they walk according to the prince of the power of the air. This spirit is said now to work in those who reject the gospel.

In tempting our Lord, the devil expressly asserts his property in the whole world. When he had showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and all the glory of them, he said, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me;" or, as Luke expresses it, "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou, therefore, wilt worship me, all shall be thine.-Luke iv. 6, 7. It is true that this is only the language of Satan, and he makes no scruple of a lie. It is sometimes said that he promised what he could not give. But, as it appears to

me, there is no reason to question the veracity of Satan in this instance. Our Lord never questions the truth of his assertion; but repels his attack by a passage of Scripture respecting the sinfulness of complying with his proposal. There is no reason to think that Satan would not make good his promise to the full extent. If he reigns over the world, what difficulty could he find, if permitted by God, in putting any fit instrument at the head of all the kingdoms of the world. Though the empire of Alexander and of Cæsar, &c., were of divine appointment, there is no reason to question that Satan gave them his authority. A thing may, in one sense, be from God, and, in another, from Satan.2 Cor. xii. 7. Indeed, if Satan could not give what he promised, there was no force in the temptation. If a man promises me a kingdom for committing treason, when I know him not to be able to fulfil his promise, his promise has no allurement. There is no temptation at all. If, therefore, this is a temptation of Jesus, the devil must have been able to make good his promise. We know also (if further confirmation is necessary) that this very spirit gave his authority to the beast. Rev. xiii. 2. The man of sin obtained his wonderful authority through the influence of Satan. The dragon gave him his seat and great authority.

The temptation that Jesus resisted, took effect with his pretended followers, and the worship of the beast was repaid with the seat of the god of this world. The man of sin is one of the principal vicegerents of Satan on the earth, though he professes to be the vicegerent of Christ.

LETTERS

TO THE

AUTHOR OF AN ARTICLE

IN

THE EDINBURGH REVIEW,

ON

EVANGELICAL PREACHING,

IN WHICH THE PRINCIPLES OF THAT WRITER ARE SHOWN TO BE IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION TO THE WORD OF GOD, AND THE DOCTRINES OF SCRIPTURE ARE STATED AND DEFENDED.

PREFACE.

AT first sight nothing appears more astonishing than that so many different and opposite doctrines should be taken out of the Scriptures. Can it be possible that in a revelation from God, with respect to the most momentous of all questions-the way of salvation-there should be just ground for all the innumerable variety of plans that have professedly been deduced from it? Are the Scriptures, like the heathen oracles, designed to be capable of different and opposite interpretations? If they are intelligible, why do not all men understand them in the same sense? Is it not the highest interest of every man to know the plan that God has appointed for sinners to escape the wrath to come? What, then, is the cause of this wonderful difference among those to whom this revelation is addressed? We have the answer to this question in the denunciation of God by Ezekiel against the false prophets: "Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy,