ness, but the propagator of woe and misery to his family! The empire of Satan over the miserable world, would now seem confirmed, and the purpose of divine grace defeated: But his Creator yet takes pity on him, and being mindful of his promise, Seth is given to supply the loss of Abel; Seth, in whose line the promise runs, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ should

come.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE EVIL SPIRIT,

SCARCELY any subject has more baffled the attempt to be wise above what is written, than that which relates to the origin of moral evil. Let us then content ourselves with the light which sacred writ has thrown upon it.

Christ told the Jews, that the devil abode not in the truth; the plain inference from which is, that he had forfeited a good and happy state. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, writes: "I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those that believed not; and the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." This may appear a terrible doom, but the representation is highly interesting; it assures us that the power of this grand

adversary is limited, and that he cannot go beyond the length of his chain. Let this encourage us to keep on our watch, that we be not enticed by his wiles; that we do not, by dallying with temptation, go upon his ground, and thereby put ourselves in his power. Let us, in the first instance, cleave to that which impresses our minds with a sense of danger, and warns us against joining in with evil, and we shall find it will be our shield and defence. The fear of offending a holy and righteous judge, as it is regarded, will, in our experience, answer the description given by the wise man: "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death." Jude shows, that the punishment of the Lord upon the fallen angels, accorded with his dealings, on other occasions, with those of his rational creatures, who, having been remarkably distinguished by divine favour, became, nevertheless, disobedient and gain-saying. If it was not manifest that a Judge had power to pass the severest sentence, the law would be disarmed of its terror. Punishments then operate as preventive justice, and, in their effects, are extensively salutary.

Judge Blackstone says "Of all the parts of a law, the most effectual is the vindicatory." We

x Commentaries, p. 56.

must therefore observe, that the main strength and force of law, consists in the penalty annexed to it. And Locke says: "The dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human nature, than the prospect of goody."

The apostle Peter, in allusion to mankind, says: "The angels are greater in power and might;" which coincides with our ideas of their. state being more glorious and dignified than that of our first parents in paradise.

In relation to divine judgments upon men, we read, the times of ignorance were winked at; but we cannot suppose angels to be ignorant that their insubordination would incur divine displeasure; for that would be to call in question divine justice in the infliction of a terrible punishment upon them.

Responsibility, in any situation, implies previous knowledge of what was required or enjoined. By Angels leaving their habitation, must be understood the quitting of some station or situation, which had been assigned to them; or in other words deserting their post; an act which must have been wilful, and which, in its consequences, would invert the order of all the powers of the mind, and thereby produce general corruption.

y Human Understanding, B. 2d, C. 21.