observes that, "By turning the heathens from the power of Satan to God, Christ showed that the evil spirits, who formerly ruled them, were vanquished and stripped of their power ;" and referring to 2 Cor. ii. 14, that St. Paul "represents Christ himself or his apostles, as riding in triumph through the world, with the evil spirits following the triumphal car in chains, and exposed to public view as vanquished enemies." Again, "The evil angels, by exciting the Jews to crucify Christ, thought they had put an end to his pretensions; but by his death, having spoiled them of their usurped dominion, he triumphed over them by the cross." Agreeably to all which, our Lord speaking to his disciples of his own death, said, John xii. 31, "Now shall the ruler of this world be cast out;" and xvi. 11, “the ruler of this world is judged.”

117. In harmony with all this it may be observed that the extraordinary policy and proceedings of Satan, during our Lord's public ministry-his taking possession of the bodies of men, as if to counterfeit the incarnation, and avail himself of outward and visible means of deceiving men, and opposing the Mediator, were no less openly and publicly thwarted and exposed. He was cast out, and his subjection to the authority and power of Christ was publicly manifested.

118. "That Christ should conquer fallen angels, was promised from the foundation of the world. Gen. iii. 15. The seed of the woman, the Messiah, was to break the serpent's head, despoil him of his power, and bring him into subjection; which he performed accordingly, Col. ii. 15. 'He spoiled principalities

and powers.' The New Testament is full of instances, as to his executing his power and authority over evil angels. Man, having sinned by the instigation of Satan, was, by the just judgment of God, delivered up to his power, Heb. xi. 14. The Lord Christ undertaking to recover lost man from under his power, by destroying his works, 1 John iii. 8 and to bring them again into favor with God, Satan with all his might sets himself to oppose him in this work, and failing in his enterprise, being utterly conquered, he became absolutely subjected unto him, trodden under his feet."-OWEN on the Lordship of Christ, p. 365 ab.

119. In respect to this prolonged and mighty conflict, it remains to notice it in relation to individuals who are reclaimed from the service of Satan, and in relation to the final victory and triumph of the Mediator. Sinners who are converted, are delivered from the power of Satan and brought out of his kingdom into the kingdom of Christ. They renounce their allegiance to Satan, turn from their rebellion, are reconciled to God, and worship, serve, and obey him. They renounce Satan and his works, and thenceforth resist and oppose his attacks upon them, his secret wiles, his fiery darts, his malignant influence, his imposing, deceitful, and ceaseless temptations. In the deliverance of souls from bondage to Satan there is a manifestation of Divine power, comparable to that exhibited in the resurrection of Christ from the dead: they are rescued from captivity; the power of Satan, their captor, is overcome.

120. The final vanquishment of this powerful and

malignant adversary and all his adherents, is depicted as the result of a terrific encounter, a conflict and triumph, in the view of the whole universe. From the opening heaven the Son of God appears in the majesty and glory of his mediatorial character, followed by hosts of his redeemed people. His eyes are as a flame of fire; on his head are many crowns, which, with his incommunicable name, indicate his Divinity. His vesture is dipped in blood, by which and his name, "the Word of God," his incarnation⚫ and atonement are signified. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, by which and the name "King of kings and Lord of lords," his regal office is represented. The beast, the Romish papal power and its confederates, the kings of the earth and their armies, are gathered together to make war against him who thus gloriously appears with all power in heaven and earth. The beast, the vicegerent of Satan, and his adherents, are taken and cast alive into a lake of fire. "The dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan," is cast into the bottomless pit, and confined" that he should deceive the nations no more" till loosed again after a thousand years, to give for a brief space new proofs of his unsubdued malignity, and his influence over fallen men, when he is again cast with all the agents of wickedness into the lake of fire to be tormented for ever and ever.

Thus is that Scripture fulfilled which declares, that the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Michael, the great prince of the redeemed, and his angels, fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not, but were cast down.

CHAPTER III.

PART SECOND.

1. PRESIDENT EDWARDS, in his history of the Work of Redemption, takes a comprehensive view of the principal events and dispensations in the progress of that work as carried forward by the Mediator, and of the opposing agency of Satan as his antagonist. With the exception that he considers the work of mediation as having commenced at the fall, his views appear to be generally similar to those expressed herein. He considers the work of redemption as including not only all the works of Providence and grace after the fall, but all that were preparatory and in order to it, as the creation of the universe-of angels to be employed in connection with this work, of men to be subjects of it-and the eternal counsels and covenant in which the whole originated. And he considers the second person of the Trinity, in his mediatorial office, as the only medium of divine manifestation, by whom alone the Invisible One, the Divinity, is made known to angels or men. To him he ascribes pre-eminence in all things, "For this great work of redemption is all his work: He is the great Redeemer, and therefore the work of redemption being, as it were, the sum of God's works of providence, this shows the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ as being above all, and through all, and in all. That God intended the

world for his Son's use, in the affair of redemption, is one reason that is to be given why he created the world by him ;" vol. 2, p. 387. To Christ as Mediator, by whom all the manifestations of the Divine perfections are made, he ascribes all the Divine appearances to the patriarchs, to Moses, the children of Israel, the prophets, and others, recorded in the Old Testament: and he necessarily, from these views, treats his work as consisting of outward and visible manifestations to angels and men.

2. The following extracts from the treatise referred to, Works vol. 2, ed. of 1808, will exhibit his views on these topics:

"When I say, this work of redemption is carried on from the fall of man to the end of the world, it is not meant, that nothing was done in order to it before the fall of man. There were many things done in order to this work of redemption before that. Some things were done before the world was created; yea, from all eternity. The persons of the Trinity were, as it were, confederated in a design and a covenant of redemption; in which covenant the Father had appointed the Son, and the Son had undertaken the work; and all things to be accomplished in the work were stipulated and agreed. And besides these, there were things done at the creation of the world, in order to that work, before man fell; for the world itself seems to have been created in order to it. The work of creation was in order to God's works of providence; so that if it be inquired, which of these kinds of works is the greatest, the works of creation or the works of providence? I answer, the works of providence; be