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IN thinking of ANGELS, The EVIL as many in Number, (though for the undividedness of their Kingdom) called the Devil and Satan; As the worlds God, yet Gods Slave; having sinners in his chain, Taken Captive by him at his will, yet cannot force their will, though he work effectually in their will, 'tis with their will (for his Lusts will they do,) nay cannot so much as find out their Riddle, except he plow with their
own Heifer, nor known their actual thought, (that's Gods Prerogative Royal, I the Lord search the Reins,) but (as the cunning Angler doth the nibling of the Fish at the Bait under water, by the motion of the Cork and Quill above water,) by some little outward in∣dication of the minds inward motion; as when Cains countenance was fallen, He knew he was very wroth, and so hurtyeth him to Murther; and by Eve's min∣cing the Threatning (least ye die,) when God had said, ye shall surely die) and by her eying the forbidden Tree, He knew she had a moneths mind, as we say, to the Fruit. Thus when he seeth the eyes of the Adul∣terer full (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) of the Adulteress, he easily per∣ceives how the Game goes; and so in other cases; yet that he is himself much more in Gods Chain, and reserved and kept therein (ever since he left his first estate) and shall be to the Judgment of the great day; And therefore though he vex and disquiet, buffet and tempt, and accuse the Brethren before God night and day; and though he set his Cloven foot, the foot of his Pride, upon the greatest part of the World, so that the whole World lyeth (as it were) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in the very Maw, not Jaw only, of that wicked one; yet shall he never be able to hinder Christ, or to hurt the true Christian: but as a Lyon in the Grate, though his roaring be terrible, yet his reach is but short; and he knows it, therefore we may think it; Nay because he is but a Slave in Gods Chain, therefore all his tug∣ging at the Oar, shall but promote the purposes of Gods grace for his own Glory, and the good of his cho∣sen; and (as Jonah in the Whales belly was said to be as it were, in the belly of Hell, yet was afterward cast up alive upon dry ground) the Devil shall be forced to disgorge his Prey, and leave all Gods Elect safe up∣on the shore. Shall the Prey be taken from the Mighty, or the lawful Captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, even the Captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the Prey of the terrible shall be delivered, for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy
Children. So that after longest and sorest Tempta∣tions and Assaults of the great Red Dragon, the Old Serpent, the Deceiver of the World, the Lyer and Mur∣therer from the beginning, with all his Policy and Power, Rage and Experience, He shall be forced to flee from those that resist him by Faith, as he left Christ; Then the Devil leaveth him, and the ANGELS, (viz.) the GOOD Angels, came and ministred unto him.
And such indeed even Ministring Spirits, must we think them to be, even all of them sent forth for the good of those that shall be Heirs of Salvation. So that all the innumerable company of (Good) Angels, that ten thou∣sand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, are even all of them sent forth for the Good of them that are Good; to right their wrongs, and to relieve their necessities, to Guard and Protect their Persons while they live, to attend their Souls when they Die, and to gather their dust together at the Day of Judg∣ment, and the Harvest at the end of the World. And therefore it may be a comfortable thought to Believers, that they have innumerable invisible friends, to op∣pose to their visible and invisible Enemies, Angels of God excelling in strength, worshippers of Christ, not to be worshipped themselves; and Servants of the Saints, therefore called their Angels; And an awful thought too, as one would not do any thing uncomely in the sight of an Excellent person, so neither to admit any thing unseemly for Saints, though no man should see them, because of the Angels.
Right thoughts of Angels. Evil, worlds God. 1 Cor. 4.4. Sinners his Slaves. 2 Tim. 2.26. Works in their Will. Ephes. 2.2.
But with it. John 8.44.
Knows not our thoughts but by indication. Gen. 4.5. Gen. 3.3.
Verse 6.
2 Pet. 2.14.
Gods slave in his chain. 2 Pet. 2.4. 2 Cor. 12.7. Rev. 10.12.
1 John 5.19.
1 Pet. 5 8. Rev. 12.12.
And 2.7.
Verse 10. Isaiah 49.24, 25.
Rev 12.3.9. John 8.44.
James 4.7. Mat. 4.11. Good Angels.
Heb. 1.14. Ministring spi∣rits to the Saints, innu∣merable. Chap. 12 22. Rev. 5.11. 2 Chro. 32.21. 1 Kings 19.5. Acts 12.7. Psal. 91.1.12. Luke 16.22. Mat. 21.31. A comfortable thought. 2 Chro 6.27. Psal. 103.10. Heb 1.6, 14. Rev. 19 10. And an awful thought Mat. 18.10. 2 Cor. 11.10.