263 THE DUMB DEVIL EJECTED. THAT the Prince of our Peace might approve his victories per fect, wheresoever he met with the Prince of Darkness he foiled him, he ejected him. He found him in Heaven; thence did he throw him headlong; and verified his prophet, I have cast thee out of mine holy mountain. And if the devils left their first habitation, it was because, being devils, they could not keep it. Their estate indeed they might have kept, and did not; their habitation they would have kept, and might not. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer! He found him in the heart of man; for in that closet of God did the Evil Spirit, after his exile from Heaven, shrowd himself: sin gave him possession, which he kept with a willing violence: thence he casts him, by his Word and Spirit. He found him tyrannizing in the bodies of some possessed men; and with power commands the unclean spirits to depart. This act is for no hand, but his. When a strong man keeps possession, none but a stronger can remove him. In voluntary things, the strongest may yield to the weakest, Sampson to a Dalilah; but in violent, ever the mightiest carries it. A spiritual nature must needs be in rank above a bodily: neither can any power be above a spirit, but the God of Spirits. No otherwise is it in the mental possession. Whereever sin is, there Satan is; as, on the contrary, Whosoever is born of God, the seed of God remains in him. That Evil One not only is, but rules, in the sons of disobedience. In vain shall we try to eject him, but by the Divine power of the Redeemer: For this cause the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Do we find ourselves haunted with the familiar devils of pride, selflove, sensual desires, unbelief? None, but thou, O Son of the ever-living God, can free our bosoms of these hellish guests. Oh cleanse thou me from my secret sins; and keep me, that presumptuous sins prevail not over me. O Saviour, it is no paradox to say, that thou castest out more devils now, than thou didst while thou wert upon earth. It was thy word, When I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. Satan weighs down at the feet; thou pullest at the head, yea at the heart. In every conversion which thou workest, there is a dispossession. Convert me, O Lord, and I shall be converted. I know thy means are now no other than ordinary. If we expect to be dispossessed by miracle, it would be a miracle if ever we were dispossessed. Oh, let thy Gospel have the perfect work in me; so only shall I be delivered from the powers of darkness. Nothing can be said to be dumb, but what naturally speaks: nothing can speak naturally, but what hath the instruments of speech; which because spirits want, they can no otherwise speak vocally, than as they take voices to themselves, in taking bodies. This Devil was not therefore dumb in his nature, but in his effect. The man was dumb, by the operation of that Devil, which possessed : him and now the action is attributed to the spirit, wnich was subjectively in the man. It is not you that speak, saith our Saviour, "but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. As it is in bodily diseases, that they do not infect us alike; some seize upon the humours, others upon the spirits; some assault the brain, others the heart or lungs: so in bodily and spiritual possessions; in some the Evil Spirit takes away their senses, in some their limbs, in some their inward faculties; like as spiritually they affect to move us unto several sins, one to lust, another to covetousness or ambition, another to cruelty and their names have distinguished them according to these various effects. This was a dumb devil: which yet had possessed not the tongue only of this. man, but his ear; not that only, but, as it seems, his eyes too. O subtle and tyrannous spirit, that obstructs all ways to the soul; that keeps out all means of grace both from the door and windows of the heart; yea that stops up all passages, whether of ingress or egress; of ingress at the eye or car, of egress at the mouth, that there might be no capacity of redress ! What holy use is there of our tongue, but to praise our Maker; to confess our sins; to inform our brethren? How rife is this dumb devil every where, while he stops the mouths of Christians from these useful and necessary duties! For what end hath man those two privileges above his fellowcreatures, reason and speech; but that, as by the one he may conceive of the great works of his Maker, which the rest cannot, so by the other he may express what he conceives, to the honour of the Creator both of them and himself? And why are all other creatures said to praise God, and bidden to praise him, but because they do it by the apprehension, by the expression of man? If the heavens declare the glory of God, how do they it but to the eyes, and by the tongue of that man, for whom they were made? It is no small honour, whereof the envious spirit shall rob his Maker, if he can close up the mouth of his only rational and vocal creature; and turn the best of his workmanship into a dumb idol, that hath a mouth and speaks not. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. Praise is not more necessary, than complaint; praise of God, than complaint of ourselves, whether to God or men. The only amends we can make to God, when we have not had the grace to avoid sin, is, to confess the sin we have not avoided. This is the sponge, that wipes out all the blots and blurs of our lives. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That cunning man-slayer knows there is no way to purge the sick soul but upward, by casting out the vicious humour wherewith it is clogged; and therefore holds the lips close, that the heart may not disburden, itself by so wholesome evacuation. When I kept silence, my bones consumed: for day and night thy hand, O Lord, was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. O let me confess against myself my wickedness unto thee, that thou mayest forgive the punishment of my sin. We have a tongue for God, when we praise him; for ourselves, when we pray and confess; for our brethren, when we speak the truth for their information; which if we hold back in unrighteous, ness, we yield unto that dumb devil. Where do we not see that Accursed Spirit? He is on the bench, when the mute or partial judge speaks not for truth and innocence, 1 He is in the pulpit, when the prophets of God smother, or halve,.. or adulterate the message of their Master. He is at the bar, when irreligious jurors dare lend an oath to fear, to hope, to gain. He, is in the market, when godless chapmen for their penny sell thetruth and their soul. He is in the common conversation of men,. when the tongue belies the heart, flatters the guilty, balketh reproofs even in the foulest crimes. O thou, who only art stronger than that strong one, cast him out of the hearts and mouths of men. It is time for thee, Lord, to work; for they have destroyed. thy law. That it might well appear this impediment was not natural, so soon as the man is freed from the spirit, his tongue is free to his. speech. The effects of spirits, as they are wrought, so they cease, at once. If the Son of God do but remove our spiritual possession, we shall presently break forth into the praise of God, into the confession of our vileness, into the profession of truth. But what strange variety do I see in the spectators of his miracle; some wondering; others censuring; a third sort tempting; a fourth applauding? There was never man or action, but was sub-. ject to variety of constructions. What man could be so holy, as he, that was God? What act could be more worthy, than the dispossessing of an evil spirit? Yet this man, this act, passeth these differences of interpretation. What can we do, to undergo but one opinion? If we give alms and fast, some will magnify our charity and devotion; others will tax our hypocrisy if we give not, some will condemn our hard-, heartedness; others will allow our care of justice. If we preach plainly, to some it will savour of a careless slubbering, to others of a mortified sincerity; elaborately, some will tax our affectation, others will applaud our diligence in dressing the delicate viands of God. What marvel is it, if it be thus with our imperfection, when it fared not otherwise with him, that was purity and righteousness itself? The austere Forerunner of Christ came neither eating nor drinking; they say, He hath a devil: the Son of man came eating and drinking; they say, This man is a glutton, a friend of publicans and sinners and here one of his holy acts carries away at once wonder, censure, doubt, celebration. There is no way safe for a man, but to square his actions by the right rule of justice, of charity; and then let the world have leave to spend their glosses at pleasure. It was a heroical resolution of the chosen vessel, I pass very little to be judged of you, or of man's day. I marvel not, if the people marvelled; for here were four wonders in one: the blind saw, the deaf heard, the dumb spake, the demoniac is delivered. Wonder was due to so rare and powerful a work; and if not this, nothing. We can cast away admiration upon the poor devices or activities of men; how much more upon the extraordinary works of Omnipotency! Whoso knows the frame of heaven and earth, shall not much be affected with the imperfect effects of frail humanity; but shall, with no less ravishment of soul, acknowledge the miraculous works of the same Almighty Hand. Neither is the spiritual ejection worthy of any meaner entertainment. Rarity and difficulty are wont to cause wonder. There are many things, which have wonder in their worth, and lose it in their frequence; there are some, which have it in their strangeness, and lose it in their facility: both meet in this. To see men haunted, yea possessed with a dumb devil, is so frequent, that it is a just wonder to find a man free; but to find the dumb spirit cast out of a man, and to hear him praising God, confessing his sins, teaching others the sweet experiments of mercy, deserves just admiration. If the cynic sought in the market for a man amongst men, well may we seek amongst men for a convert. Neither is the difficulty less than the rareness. The strong man hath the possession: all passages are blocked up, all helps barred, by the treachery of our nature. If any soul be rescued from these spiritual wickednesses, it is the praise of him, that doth wonders alone. But whom do I see wondering? The multitude. The unlearned beholders follow that act with wonder, which the learned scribes entertain with obloquy. God hath revealed those things to babes, which he hath hid from the wise and prudent. With what scorn did those great rabbins speak of these sons of the earth; This people, that knows not the law, is accursed! Yet the mercy of God makes an advantage of their simplicity; in that they are therefore less subject to cavillation and incredulity: as contrarily, his justice causes the proud knowledge of others to lic as a block in their way, to the ready ascent unto the divine power of the Messiah, Let the pride of glorious adversaries disdain the poverty of the clients of the Gospel: it shall not repent us, to go to heaven with the vulgar, while their great ones go in state to perdition. The multitude wondered. Who censured, but scribes; great doctors of the law, of the divinity of the Jews? What scribes, but those of Jerusalem, the most eminent academy of Judea? These were the men, who, out of their deep reputed judgment, cast these foul aspersions upon Christ. Great wits ofttimes mislead both the owners and followers. How many shall once wish they had been born dullards, yea idiots, when they shall find their wit to have barred them out of Heaven! Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made the wisdom of the world foolishness? Say the world what it will, a dram of holiness is worth a pound of wit. Let others censure with the scribes; let me wonder with the multitude. What could malice say worse? He casteth out devils, through Beelzebub, the prince of devils. The Jews well knew, that the gods of the heathen were no other than devils; amongst whom, for that the Lord of Flies (so called, whether for the concourse of flies to the abundance of his sacrifices, or for his aid implored against the infestation of those swarms,) was held the chief; therefore they stile him the Prince of Devils. There is a subordination of spirits; some higher in degree, some inferior to others. Our Saviour himself tells us of the Devil and his angels, Messengers are inferior to those that send them. The seven devils, that entered into the swept and garnished house, were worse than the former. Neither can principalities, and powers, and governors, and princes of the darkness of this world, design others, than several ranks of evil angels. There can be no being, without some kind of order; there can be no order in parity. If we look up into heaven, there is the King of Gods, the Lord of Lords; Higher than the Highest: if to the earth, there are monarchs, kings, princes, peers, people. If we look down to hell, there is the Prince of Devils. They labour for confusion, that call for parity. What should the Church do with such a form, as is not exemplified in heaven, in earth, in hell? One devil, according to their supposition, may be used, to cast out another. How far the command of one spirit over another may extend, it is a secret of infernal state, too deep for the inquiry of men. The thing itself is apparent: upon compact and precontracted composition, one gives way to other, for the common advantage. As we see in the commonwealth of cheaters and cutpurses, one doth the fact, another is feed to bring it out and to procure restitution; both are of the trade, both conspire to the fraud; the actor falls not out with the revealer, but divides with him that cunning spoil. One malicious miscreant sets the Devil on work, to the inflicting of disease or death; another, upon agreement, for a further spiritual gain, takes him off: there is a devil in both. And if there seem more bodily favour, there is no less spiritual danger in the latter in the one, Satan wins the agent; the suitor, in the other. It will be no cause of discord in hell, that one devil gives ease to the body which another tormented, that both may triumph in the gain of a soul. : O God, that any creature, which bears thine image, should not abhor to be beholding to the powers of hell for aid, for advice! Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that men go to inquire of the god of Ekron? Can men be so sottish to think, that the vowed enemy of their souls can offer them a bait without a hook? What evil is there in the city, which the Lord hath not done? what is there, which he cannot as easily redress? He wounds; he heals again and if he will not, It is the Lord, let him do what seems good in his eyes. If he do not deliver us, he will crown our faithfulnesss in a patient perseverance. The wounds of God are better than the salves of Satan. Was it possible, that the wit of envy could devise so high a slander? Beelzebub was a god of the Heathen; therefore herein they accuse him for an idolater: Beelzebub was a devil to the Jews ; therefore they accuse him for a conjurer: Beelzebub was the chief |