Heb. 2. 14.
Vid. Caten. Aur. Tho. Aquin.
Psal. 119. 89.
Psal. 147. 8. 16, 17, 18.
Psal. 148. 8.
Ephes. 6. 12.
Homil. 22. p. 257.
Jo. 8.
1. And for the first it must of necessity be granted, that their power since their fall is much diminished, or at least restrained and chained and fettered up. For they becoming Rebels against the Almighty, and not keeping their first Estate, but having left their own habitation, it was most agreeable to the wisdom and justice of God to take away from them the greatest part of that power and authority that he formerly had given them, and so to imprison and chain them up, that they might never be able to attempt or perform the like Rebellion again; otherwise the Almighty should not have used that wisdom that is ordinary with earthly Princes, who haveing overcome those that rebelled against them, do not only disarm them, but also confine or imprison them. And to this very thing do the Scriptures allude, when they say, that they are delivered into chains of darkness, and that they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. So that though the Devils still retain their cruel, wicked and devouring will and mind; yet they are but like the Lyon within the Bars of Iron, or Bajazet in the Cage of Iron led about by Tamberlan, and so though they be never so cruelly bent to do mischief, yet they are under the Chains and cooped up in the Grates of Darkness, and kept in Everlasting Chains that they are never able to break or unloose. And though he be called the God of this World and the Prince of it, yet that is not to be understood, that he is the Prince and Ruler of the Creatures of the World, or that he giveth riches, health, honour or the like, for those are the gift of God only and not of the Devil; but he is the God and Prince of the evil and wickedness that is in the World, for in that, and by that, he reigneth and ruleth; and to this purpose saith Rollock: Damnatio est Satanæ, qui peccati author est. Nam vita hujus mundi est secundum principem cui potestas est aeris, &c. Dicitur autem Princeps hujus mundi, quia per peccatum, & mortem regnat in mundo: ut enim teste Paulo, Regnum Dei positum est in justitiâ, & pace, & gaudio per spiritum sanctum, sic regnum Satanæ positum est in injustitia, & morte. Vnde ipse propter peccatum per quod regnat, dicitur rector tenebrarum. Propter mortem per quam regnat, dicitur imperium mortis habere. And upon this place St. Augustin saith thus: Nunc Princeps hujus mundi ejicietur foras, absit ut Diabolum principem mundi ita dictum existimemus, ut eum Cœli & terræ dominari posse credamus: sed mundus appellatur in malis hominibus, qui toto orbe terrarum diffusi sunt. Sic ergò dictum est: Princeps hujus mundi, id est princeps malorum hominum qui habitant in mundo. Appellatur etiam mundus in bonis, qui similiter per totum orbem terrarum diffusi sunt: Ideò dicit Apostolus, Deus erat in Christo mundum reconcilians sibi: Hi sunt ex quorum cordibus principes mundi ejicientur foras. And whereas also Satan is called the Prince of the power of the air, that worketh in the Children of disobedience, it is not literally so to be understood, as though he had the natural power of ruling the air, and causing of winds, hail, snow, frost, rain, thunder and lightning, for these are all ordered according to the will of divine providence and the causes that he hath established in the Elements: So David speaking of the Heavens, the Earth, and the Elements, doth conclude thus; They continue this day according to thine ordinances, for all thy servants: And it is he that ordereth all these, as saith the Text: Who covereth the Heavens with Clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth snow like wool, he scattereth the hoary frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: Who can stand before his Cold? He sendeth forth his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow. And all these fulfil the will and command of God, and not the will of the faln Angels; for the Text saith: Fire and hail, snow and vapour, stormy wind fulfilling his word; so that if they have any thing to do in the sublunary changes or motions of Meteors, it is but only as instrumental and organical Causes, working meerly as they are ordered and acted by the first cause that worketh all in all, as the Christian Philosopher Doctor Fludd hath most learnedly proved in his Treatise of Cosmical Meteors, which I seriously commend to those that desire full satisfaction in this particular. But the Devil is chiefly called the Prince of the power of the air, because he is the proud, high, airy and spiritual Prince and Ruler of wickedness in high or super-cœlestial places, by which proud, airy, and spiritual wickedness, he worketh in the Children of disobedience. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις. Upon which learned Beza saith thus: Homines quorum fragilis & caduca est natura, cui opponuntur versutiæ spirituales, infinitis partibus potentiores. And again, Ista nomina tribuit Angelis malis, propter effectus, non quod eos suâ vi possint præstare, sed quia illis Deus laxat habenas. And therefore S. Chrysostom upon this place saith thus: Mundi verò dominos eos vocat, non quod mundum gubernent, sed solet scriptura malos actus hunc mundum vocare, ut quando Christus dicit, vos non estis ex hoc mundo quemadmodum ego non sum ex mundo.
De operib. Dei l. 4. c. 6. p. 175.