SERM. are befet and furrounded, on all Sides, XI. by an innumerable Host of inveterate Enemies, who are continually contriving to work our Ruin; and these, not weak and cowardly Adverfaries, but fuch as, for their Strength and Agility, their Cunning and Policy, may juftly be dreaded by us. If we would compute their Number, their Name is Legion, they are a vast Multitude; and what was faid of good Angels, may be applied to thefe evil SpiDan. vii. rits, thoufand Thousands miniftred unto him,

10.

and ten thousand Times ten Thousand stood before him. And what their Power and Agility is will appear from hence, that most of those great Revolutions, which happen in the World, whether natural or political, are brought about by the Ministry either of good or wicked Angels. Of this we have many Inftances in the Holy Writ, in which fometimes God is faid to fend his deftroying Angel, to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth with Sword or Pestilence, and to deftroy the People of Sodom and Gomorrah with Fire and BrimStone; or elfe, by his Guardian Angels, to protect and defend his People, and to reftrain the Force and Fury of such who are ready to devour them.

I AM fully perfuaded, that were our SERM. Eyes opened, or could thefe invifible A- XI. gents be made evident to our Senfes, we hould behold (as the Prophet did) numerous Hofts of Spirits incamping round about us. Alas! in this World we fee but 'in Part, and we know but in Part; and as our Knowledge is not great or perfect in any Thing, much less in the Oeconomy of spiritual Beings; but whenever we come to put off these Houses of Clay, and our Souls are freed from this Prison of the Flesh, I do not queftion but we shall be convinced, that these airy Regions are not without their numerous Inhabitants; that there is Order and Difcipline amongst the wicked, as well as the good Spirits; and that the great Springs and Wheels of the World, which fet all Things in Motion, are managed by those active and intelligent Beings. This seems to be very agreeable to the Tenor of the whole Bible, which feems to demonftrate to us the Power and Activity, not only of good, but by Confequence, of wicked Spirits. For though these apoftate Angels are fallen from their primitive Glory and Luftre, from that Holiness and Rectitude of their Natures they were at first invested with, and from that happy Condition' which

they

SERM. they enjoyed by the Vision of God, and XI. the Rank they held in the heavenly Choir;

yet they retain the Spirituality of their Nature ftill, and the fame Strength and Power, though employed to wicked Purpofes. The Excellency of their Beings ferves only to render them more exquifitely wicked, and those who, before their Fall, were the brightest Angels, are now degenerated into the moft malicious Devils.

NEITHER are thefe wicked Spirits only active and powerful, but cunning and politic alfo; the Devil is therefore denoted in the Holy Scripture, by an old Serpent, a moft fubtle and infinuating Creature; he is experienced in all the Arts of deceiving, and from the Beginning of the World, has made it his Business to seduce Mankind from their Allegiance to God, and enfnare them into Sin. Thefe are those Enemies without us, of whofe Devices we ought not to be ignorant, whofe Affaults we ought refolutely to refift: Befides these, we have other Enemies within us, who watch all Opportunities to betray us, and to give us up; which are fo much the more dangerous, because they go under the Notion of Friends, and are trufted and relied upon by us. Our depraved

Natures

Natures are ready to close with every SE RM. Temptation the Devil throws in our Way, XI. and perfuade us to take up with those gilded Balls which are scattered on Purpofe to divert us from our Race towards Heaven. But,

3. OUR Enemies are very watchful to destroy us, and therefore we should be as watchful for our own Preservation. The Devil, like a roaring Lion, walketh about Jeeking whom he may devour; he is continually forging his Projects, framing his private and fubtle Defigns; he takes no Reft, but is unwearied in his Attempts, and watches for our Ruin: He attacks us in every Place, and will not fuffer us to be, one Hour of our Lives, free from his Temptations; he winds himself into the most private Receffes of our Souls; and, when we retire into the Closet of our Breafts, purfues us thither, mingles vain Thoughts with our moft fervent Addreffes to God, and turns our very Prayers to Sin.

How bufy is he to distract our Minds, whilft we are performing religious Duties; to inject wicked Thoughts into our Hearts, and to divert our Minds from the Bufinefs we are about, and, by filling them with worldly Cares, and engaging them

in

SERM. in the Purfuit of fome fenfual Delight, XI. to take them off from God? What is the Reafon, it is fo difficult a Matter to fix our Minds on any Thing that is good; that the Church is fo often turned into a Shop or Exchange, and the public Worfhip becomes fuch a tiresome Employment, fuch a Wearinefs to us? Whence comes it, that we, who can pafs fo many Hours away with Pleasure, in any fenfual Delight, fhould be fo foon tired with doing that which is our most valuable Privilege, the Service of our Maker? Certainly, this must needs, in a great Meafure, proceed from thofe Tares which the evil One fows in the Minds of Men, those Suggestions which the Devil casts into our Minds. And fhall not we be as watchful to fave our Souls, as he is to ruin and deftroy them? It is the Obfervation of the Poet, Ut jugulent homines, that a Thief will watch and fit up all Night, and endure any Sort of Hardship to rob you: And will not you be as vigilant, and take the fame Pains to preserve yourself?

4. CONSIDER of what great Importance it is to be watchful, and of how great Confequence it will be to you. If it was concerning a Bufinefs of fmall

Moment,