Once more, why may not Storms be reckoned among those Woes, with which the Devil does disturb us? It is not improbable that Natural Storms on the World are often of the Devils raising. We are told in Job 1.11, 12, 19. that the Devil made a Storm, which hurricano'd the House of Job, upon the Heads of them that were Feasting in it. Paracelsus could have informed the Devil, if he had not been informed, as besure he was before, That if much Aluminious matter, with Salt Petre not throughly prepared, be mixed, they will send up a cloud of Smoke, which will come down in Rain. But undoubtedly the Devil understands as well the way to make a Tempest as to turn the Winds at the Solicitation of a Laplander; whence perhaps it is, that Thunders are observed oftner to break upon Churches than upon any other Buildings; and besides many a Man, yea many a Ship, yea, many a Town has miscarried, when the Devil has been permitted from above to make an horrible Tempest. However that the Devil has raised many Metaphorical Storms upon the Church, is a thing, than which there is nothing more notorious. It was said unto Believers in Rev. 2.10. The Devil shall cast some of you into Prison. The Devil was he that at first set Cain upon Abel to butcher him, as the Apostle seems to suggest, for his Faith in God, as a Rewarder. And in how many Persecutions, as well as Heresies has the Devil been ever since Engaging all the Children of Cain! That Serpent the Devil has acted his cursed Seed in unwearied endeavours to have them, Of whom the World is not worthy, treated as those who are not worthy to live in the World. By the impulse of the Devil, 'tis that first the old Heathens, and then the mad Arians were pricking Briars to the true Servants of God; and that the Papists that came after them, have out done them all for Slaughters, upon those that have been accounted as the Sheep for the Slaughters. The late French Persecution is perhaps the horriblest that ever was in the World: And as the Devil of Mascon seems before to have meant it in his out-cries upon the Miseries preparing for the poor Hugonots! Thus it has been all acted by a singular Fury of the old Dragon inspiring of his Emissaries.
But in reality, Spiritual Woes are the principal Woes among all those that the Devil would have us undone withal. Sins are the worst of Woes, and the Devil seeks nothing so much as to plunge us into Sins. When men do commit a Crime for which they are to be Indicted, they are usually mov'd by the Instigation of the Devil. The Devil will put ill men upon being worse. Was it not he that said in 1 King. 22.22. I will go forth, and be a lying Spirit in the Mouth of all the Prophets? Even so the Devil becomes an Unclean Spirit, a Drinking Spirit, a Swearing Spirit, a Worldly Spirit, a Passionate Spirit, a Revengeful Spirit, and the like in the Hearts of those that are already too much of such a Spirit; and thus they become improv'd in Sinfulness. Yea, the Devil will put good men upon doing ill. Thus we read in 1 Chron. 21.1. Satan provoked David to number Israel. And so the Devil provokes men that are Eminent in Holiness unto such things as may become eminently Pernicious; he provokes them especially unto Pride, and unto many unsuitable Emulations. There are likewise most lamentable Impressions which the Devil makes upon the Souls of Men by way of punishment upon them for their Sins. 'Tis thus when an Offended God puts the Souls of Men over into the Hands of that Officer who has the power of Death, that is, the Devil. It is the woful Misery of Unbelievers in 2 Cor. 4.4. The god of this World has blinded their minds. And thus it may be said of those woful Wretches whom the Devil is a God unto, the Devil so muffles them that they cannot see the things of their peace. And the Devil so hardens them, that nothing will awaken their cares about their Souls: How come so many to be Seared in their Sins? 'Tis the Devil that with a red hot Iron fetcht from his Hell does cauterise them. Thus 'tis, till perhaps at last they come to have a Wounded Conscience in them, and the Devil has often a share in their Torturing and confounding Anguishes. The Devil who Terrified Cain, and Saul, and Judas into Desperation, still becomes a King of Terrors to many Sinners, and frights them from laying hold on the Mercy of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. In these regards, Wo to us, when the Devil comes down upon us.
Proposition V. Toward the End of his Time the Descent of the Devil in Wrath upon the World will produce more woful Effects, than what have been in former Ages. The dying Dragon, will bite more cruelly and sting more bloodily than ever he did before: The Death-pangs of the Devil will make him to be more of a Devil than ever he was; and the Furnace of this Nebuchadnezzar will be heated seven times hotter, just before its putting out.
We are in the first place to apprehend that there is a time fixed and stated by God for the Devil to enjoy a dominion over our sinful and therefore woful World. The Devil once exclaimed in Mat. 8.29. Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come hither to Torment us before our Time? It is plain, that until the second coming of our Lord the Devil must have a time of plagueing the World, which he was afraid would have Expired at his first. The Devil is by the wrath of God the Prince of this World; and the time of his Reign is to continue until the time when our Lord himself shall take to himself his great Power and Reign. Then 'tis that the Devil shall hear the Son of God swearing with loud Thunders against him, Thy time shall now be no more! Then shall the Devil with his Angels receive their doom, which will be, depart into the everlasting Fire prepared for you.
We are also to apprehend, that in the mean time, the Devil can give a shrewd guess, when he draws near to the End of his Time. When he saw Christianity enthron'd among the Romans, it is here said, in our Rev. 12.12. He knows he hath but a short time. And how does he know it? Why Reason will make the Devil to know that God won't suffer him to have the Everlasting Dominion; and that when God has once begun to rescue the World out of his hands, he'll go through with it, until the Captives of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. But the Devil will have Scripture also, to make him know, that when his Antichristian Vicar, the seven-headed Beast on the seven-hilled City, shall have spent his determined years, he with his Vicar must unavoidably go down into the bottomless Pit. It is not improbable, that the Devil often hears the Scripture expounded in our Congregations; yea that we never assemble without a Satan among us. As there are some Divines, who do with more uncertainty conjecture, from a certain place in the Epistle to the Ephesians, That the Angels do sometimes come into our Churches, to gain some advantage from our Ministry. But be sure our Demonstrable Interpretations may give Repeated Notices to the Devil, That his time is almost out; and what the Preacher says unto the Young Man, Know thou, that God will bring thee into Judgment! That may our Sermons tell unto the Old Wretch, Know thou, that thy Judgment is at hand.
But we must now, likewise, apprehend, that in such a time, the woes of the World will be heightened, beyond what they were at any time yet from the foundation of the World. Hence 'tis, that the Apostle has forewarned us, in 2 Tim. 3.1. this know, that in the last days, perillous times shall come. Truly, when the Devil knows, that he is got into his Last days, he will make perillous times for us; the times will grow more full of Devils, and therefore more full of Perils, than ever they were before. Of this, if we would know, what cause is to be assigned; It is not only, because the Devil grows more able, and more eager to vex the World; but also, and chiefly, because the World is more worthy