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upon the terrestrial world, which His Almighty Sovereign was pleased to speak out of nothing, and pronounced it Good. But this rebellion against the Maker of heaven and earth, insured the utter destruction of its original perpetrator, who, (with all his accomplices or adherents, which fell with (him, is "reserved (by the Lord) in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." I do not know a parallel of the short epistle in which this declaration is made, for decision upon the subject of Satan's punishment, and the character of his last brood of vipers upon the earth, the latter being worse than the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah, Balaam, Korah, and Cain, because they are of the Gospel age. Oh! how dreadful the act, to tread under foot the Son of God, to count His blood an unholy thing, and by rejecting Him who died and rose again, (without seeing corruption,) to do "despite unto the Spirit of Grace." The Apostle Paul adds, "we know Him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me," &c.—also, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

I have spoken of satan as the original of sin. Observe that sin means erring, wandering from Good. It was permitted-No more can be saidnor less. It is a fearful mystery. None but God will unravel it-none but God manifest in the flesh can destroy it. He will do it, who conquered death by dying. He will destroy the devil and all the works of the devil, in the Glorious epiphany of His Advent to reign upon earth, "the King of kings, and the Lord of lords."

Previous to this certain work of JESUS Christ, sin (which is a fretting sore in the souls of the children of men) will form a crisis, by a descendant from fallen Adam, who is the son of Lueifer, as Jesus is

the Son of God. I mean the literal, the outward manifestation of the serpent-the dragon-the devil, and Satan. The spiritual goes before; and brings out the literal, working in, and by man, (as the tool of his malice against our race), to whom he is allowed to give his power for a short time. The commencement of evil was elicited in the garden called Eden, where Adam and Eve were placed by their Good Maker, "to dress it, and to keep it." Satan was the author; and man the bringer forth of satan's work. God is the Original of Good; and Christ Jesus made Goodness apparent in its real beauty. The two opposites, Good and Evil, have never ceased from operation, since evil was permitted to come. Good, which is of God, the Great Existence, can never cease, because He is the Author of it. Evil must fall, and forever too, because its Author the Devil is to be destroyed, when his works are all destroyed; and He, who is the Beginning of Good, is likewise the Ending of Evil. Christ is able to control angels, at His second appearing, and while judgment is set against the fallen host, Michael, the archangel, with his company, is among the worshippers of the Lamb. There is no danger of falling from God, among the holy Seraphims, and Cherubims, for they are sealed to Christ in His Glory. See Isaiah's vision of the Glory. 4 Chap.

The workings of satan (commencing in Eden) were visible in Cain, the first murderer; and from him (who was of that wicked one. See 1 E. Gen. John 3. 12) came wicked daughters, whom the sons of Seth (after Enos, the elect seed) married; and then "GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every thought of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from off the face of the earth," &c.-"But (remember

the decree of God. Gen. 3. 15) Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."

"Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations; and Noah walked with God." To this patriarch God revealed his determination to destroy the world by a flood. That judgment came. Only Noah, his wife, their three sons, and the wives of those sons, were called into the ark, and shut in, by the Lord. These eight souls, Peter says, "were saved by water." See 1 E. Gen. Pet. 3. 20. Noah and his family came safe through the judgment, which destroyed all the race of wicked Cain, and Noah acknowledged "the Lord to be the God of judgment," by building an altar to the Lord, upon which he offered every of clean beast and clean fowl, which came with Noah out of the ark of gopher wood. And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them,

"Be fruitful, and multiply,
"And replenish the earth.
"And the fear of you,
"And the dread of you

"shall be upon every beast of the earth,

"And upon every fowl of the air,

"Upon all that moveth upon the earth,
"And upon all the fishes of the sea,

"Into your hand are they delivered."

Read the ninth chapter of Genesis. Behold the serpent's work in the new world. See Noah, an eminent type of Christ, yet not able to hold out his probation to the end, deceived by wine; and disgraced by one of his three sons. But God did not forsake Noah-God endued him with the spirit of prophecy; and by Noah the Almighty made known an election of Glory, an election of servitude, and an election of a part of the Gentiles to power for times.

The generations of the sons of Noah have indeed

replenished the earth-with sinners. The tower of Babel, the sin of Sodom, the pride of Gomorrah, the cruelty of Egypt, the wickedness of Jerusalem, &c. sent up provocations to Heaven, and judgment came down the Wicked One has not ceased to work, however, nor will he stop till his literal work be brought forth in the short time of his great wrath, which is the forerunner of his imprisonment in the bottomless pit a thousand years.

This literal work of satan is accomplished by a man, in opposition to the word of God by JESUS Christ; and, on this account, the serpent's head is called anti Christ. It is plain enough, that satan's malice is against the personal representative of innocent and immortal man, as the Son of God. Such is JESUS. He went through all probations for man, to the Glory of man's Creator; and after tasting death for every man, spoiled death of his power, by coming forth a living body, and ascending up to heaven, in that body, upon a cloud. Satan knows that "the Son of man" will come to this world again, even in that very body which rose from the dead. Yes; "the devils believe and tremble." But the malice of satan allows him no rest from working his evil, although he knows the Good will conquer at last. And the utmost stretch of his envy at the second Adam, is to employ a man to fill his seat upon the earth, who shall usurp authority over all that is called Good, or that is worshipped. Paul, the great apostle of the Gentiles, calls this agent for satan by three very significant names—

1. That man of sin.

2. The son of perdition.

3. That Wicked.

Paul describes the rise of anti Christ as the result of a falling away from the Truth; and in addition to his "coming after the working of satan, with all

power (of satan) and signs, and lying wonders:" Paul adds, yet farther, "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish." Here we are shown, that satan prepares a people to serve anti Christ, as the Holy Spirit of God prepares an army for the Lamb. The great cause of the delusion (which Paul says GoD shall send) is rejection of the Truth, and consequent unbelief. This is nothing more nor less than denying the Person of Jesus Christ. It is expressly asserted by the beloved John, that the spirit of anti Christ denies the coming of Christ in the flesh. See 1 E. 4. 3. I do believe the spiritual goes before the literal; and that the spiritualizers of original holy prophecy will be visited with "a strong delusion" from God, when the literal anti Christ shall be permitted to ascend out of the bottomless pit; and will "make a path to shine after him," which leadeth to sudden ruin.

If types of anti Christ be inquired for, the Holy Scriptures furnish a variety, both literal and figurative. Of the former, Cain represents the cruelty of the Wild Beast, who will make war with the saints of Jesus-of the haughtiness of anti Christ, Pharoah was a pattern, as well as Goliath, Sennacherib, and Herod. But the figurative types illustrate more fully the character of this Great Demoniac propia personia. Read and mark the description of Leviathan.

"His teeth are terrible round about.

"His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. "One is so near to another that no air can come between them. "They are joined one to another, they stick together,

"that they cannot be sundered.

"By his musings a light doth shine;

"And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

"Out of his mouth go burning lamps,

"And sparks of fire leap out.

"Out of his nostrils goeth smoke,

"As out of a seething pot or caldron.

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