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Thus we fee, that becaule we did abufe that general peace that was between us and the Creatures, God hath thought it neceffary to firm up war between us; fo that we shall have the Devil an adverfary to us. And as he tempted us to evi, lo we shall fill be enemies to him. God indeed might easily have deftroyed the Devil, for caufing us to finne, as well as he could make him of nothing: But because it is no praise for man not to yeild to finne, when they have mone to tempt them thereunto, nor to be obedient to Gods will, when they have none to perfwade them to rebellion, as in the beginning the Serpent did, therefore he thought good that the Devil fhould fill be their enemy, as he was at the first; for the promite of reward is made to them that ftrive and overcome, To him that overcommeth will I give, Apocalyps 12 and they must not only fight, but fight lawfully, or elie they cannot be crowned, the fe cond epistle to Timothy, the fecond chapter, As for this caufe God thought it good, that this warse and hoftility should continue, fo, becaule be know men doe make warre in vain, where there is no hope of victory, therefore he proclaims, that the womans feed thail not only be at continual ware with the Serpent, but shall over come him and grince his head in picces, the more to encourage them in this fpirual battel. There shall be hurt done on both Parts but not like hurt, they, fhall both bruife, but the fame thing shall not be bruised; the head, which is the chief part, is bruifed by the Woman, and therefore the hath the greater victory, the heel or fail, which is the lowest part, is only bruifed by the Serpent, and confequenly doing Jeffè hurr, he is put to the worle. The feed of the Woman doth 10 fight with the Devil, that they break his head, but the Devil fights to as he doth no great hurt. Wherein two things are to be confidered: Fift, What this Victory is, namely, the bruising and grinding in pieces of the Serpents head. Secondly, The condition of this Victory, to wit, that it fhall not be with cafe, for it shall coft both fwear of brows and fhedding of blood, for we must refift finne unto blood, Hebrews the twelfth chapter. And the holy Ghost faith here, that howfɔever the womans feed doc bruife the head of the Serpent, yet the Serpear fhall bruife his heel.

In the Victory we are to observe, First the person that shall overcome, that is, the womans feed. Secondly, the manner how, and that is by bruising his head...

The perfon receiveth two confiderations, for by the feed of the Woman we must unde, ftand not only Chrift, but the whole Church, which is his body. This Scripture concerns Chrift, as he is the wheat corn, which being caft into the ground and dying, bringeth forsb much fruit, Fohn the twelfth chapter and twenty fourth vele: It re-fpects the fa thrull as they are the car of corne, or the crop that commerh of that grain of wheat, And as he was the feed of the Woman fo are the faithfull to the end of the worl. Therefore of the Church the Prophet faith, That when he shall offer up his fou! as an offering

offering for finne, be fhall fee a long feed, Ifaiah the fifty third chapter. And where the holy Ghoft reporteth,that the Dragon makes warre with the reft of the Womans feed, Apocalyps the twelfth chapter and the feventeenth verfe, by that is meant the congregation of the faithfull to the worlds end; who, for that they are a body politick, as Chrift is a body natural, are therefore called Chrift, the first epiftle to the Corinthians, the thirteenth chapter and the twelfth verle; And this victory is verified in them no leffe than in Christ. So that in this promise we see not a Fiat luxe, that is, Let there be light, as in the Creation, but Fiat Chriftus, Let there be a Chrift, that is, a deliverer, to restore mankinde, being now fallen from the eftate wherein they were created: For where God promifeth, That there shall be warre between the Serpent and the Womans feed, and that the one fhall conquer the other: As if Adam fhould object, How shall our feed be able to ftrive with Sathan, seeing they themselves being in ftare of perfection, could not tread upon his head, but were tempted and overcome? God answers, That he will raise them up a Captain. As of the Judges, whom God appointed to rule the People of Ifrael, it is faid, The Lord raised them up a Captain, Fudges the eleventh chapter; lo here God promileth to Adam and Eve, that he will raife up the Captain or Prince Meßiah, Daniel the niach chapter and the twenty fift verfe, that fhall fight and get the conquent for them, and that he fhall come of their feed.

Secondly, If God will raile up this Captain of the Womans feed, then he shall not be an Angel or Archangel that shall deliver us, for as the Apostle faith, He in no fort took the nature of Angels, Hebrews 12.15. but he took the feed of Abraham; that is, he shall be man, compaffed with the fame flesh that we carry about with us; he shalĺ be bone of our bones; and, as the Prophet speaks, The Captain shall be of themselves, and the Prince shall spring out from among them, Feremiah the thirtieth chapter, fo Chrift, who is appointed by God his Father, to be the Saviour of the world, is of your felves, and took our fleth upon him.

Thirdly, God faith not your feed, but the Womans feed; which is a plain manifeftation of the ordinary work of God; As if God fhould fay to the Devil, Thou beginneft with the Woman, which is the weaker veffel, the first epiftle of Peter, the third chapter,thinking to prevail the fooner; But how weak foever the be, thou fhalt finde, that out of her will I bring a feed that shall bruise thy head, and thou ihalt thereby fee that my power is made perfect in weakneffe, the fecond epiftle tothe Corinthians, the twelfth chapter, for God, in his councel, doth make the weak things of the world to counfound the ftrong, the first epifile to the Corinthians, the firft chapter. Secondly, This fhall be performed by the feed of the Woman; because, as the was the caufe of tranfgreffion, For Adam was not deceived, but the Woman, the first epiftle to Timothy, the fecond chapter and the fourteenth verte; fo God would have the caufe of remedy to come from her, to fhew, That he doth bring light out of darkneffe, the fecond epistle to Sfff

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the Corinthians, the fourth chapter. Thirdly, For that Eve, knowing that her credulity, in hearkning to the Serpents voyce, was the Caufe of all his mifery, might, as that fex is most inclined thereunto, conceive great grief of heart to comfort her, the promise of victory is by God himielf in great mercy appropriated to her, whereas Chrift came of Adam no leffe than of the Woman,

Fourthly, That it might be the gate to all Prophecies, For,as one faith of Chrift, He is fo the Womans feed, as he is not the Mans, therefore Ifaiah faith, Behold, a Virgin fhall conceive, Ifaiah the seventh chapter, and in the Prophet Feremiah God fpeaks thus, Behold, I create a new thing in earth, a Woman shall compaffe a Man, Feremiah the thirty first chapter and the twenty fecond verfe: Which feed, ofwhom he came, the Scripture doth particularly fet down: For among the fonnes of Noah, he came of Shem; among those that came of Abraham he was of the Tribe of Fuda, in that Tribe he came of the house of David, and fo is called, The Sonne of David, Matthew the first chapter; and, made of the feed of David according to the flesh, Romans the first chapter: He is that feed in whom God promiled Abraham, That all the Nations of the earth should be blessed, as the Apostle expounds it, in the third chapter of the epiftle to the Ga latians.

Secondly, For the manner how that Victory is gotten, It is by bruifing the Serpents head. Wherein, for the bruifing, we learn that Chrift goeth not to work by fubtilty, as the Serpent did; he pretends not love, as Sathan did, but he profeffeth deadly hatred; he deals not creepingly and deceiptfully, but goeth to it with open force and violence: He that hurts the heel comes by stealth behinde, as the Devil dealt here, but if a man will break another mans head, he will come before him, and fo doth Chrift. And therefore he is not like the fubtil Serpent, but as the brafen Serpent, that was set up upon a pole, Fohn the third chapter and the fourteenth verle, to thew, that his dealing is open and manifeft. The Serpent having a purpose to destroy our Parents, feduced and beguiled Eve, the second epiftle to the Corinthians, the eleventh chapter; but Chrift, having a purpose to destroy the Devil, and fo lave man, faith plainly, in the thirteenth chapter of Hofea, O death, I will be thy death, o Hell, I will be thy deftruction, and fo he speaks in the twelfth chapter of John, I, when I am lift up, will draw all men, that is, he will not entice them by fraud and fubtilty, as the Serpent doth.

Secondly, The part to be bruised is the Head of the Serpent: Chrift would not goc to the weaker part, as the tail or heel, as the Serpent doth, but to the head of the Serpent, where both his ftrength and poyfon lyeth fo he is not minded as the Serpent was. The ftrength and poyson of Satan, as it is called in the twenty fixth verfe of the eighteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, is the poyfon that he bideth in his head, which hath the fame name in the holy tongue; but Chrift bruifeth the head. Secondly, He hath poylon in his tongue, as it is in the third verfe of the hundred and fourtisth

fourtieth Pfalme, but Chrift deftroyed that poyfon, as it is in the fourth chapter of Matthew and the fourth verfe, with alledging, It is written. Thirdly, he hath poyfon in his teeth, of which Chrift faith, Now is the power of darknesse, Luke the twenty fecond chapter: But the chief poyion that he ieeks to deftroy us with, is the curfe of the Law,which the Apoftle calls,the ftrength of fin, in the first epiftle to the Corinthians,the fifteenth chapter: That Curfe is oftwelve forts, Deuteronomie the twenty feventh chapter, but Chrift hath taken them away, when he became a curfe for us, Galatians the third chapter. So hath he broken his head and drawn forth this poy fon of it, First, by refiftance Secondly, by patience: Thirdly, by receiving the poyfon of it into his own body. Having done this, to fhew, that he hath obtained a full conqueft, he went up on high and lead captivity captive, Pfalm the fixty eighth and the eighteenth verfe. Though he were dead, that by death he might deftroy him that had the power of death, Hebrews the fecond chapter and the fourteenth verse, yet now he faith, I am alive, and have the keyes of Hell and death, Apocalyps the firft chapter and the eighteenth verle; Hefast ned to the Croffe the band writing, Coloẞians the second chapter, and triumphed over Hell and Death, as it is faid, O Hell, where is thy fting? o death where is thy victory? the first epistle to the Corinthians, the fifteenth chapter. And thus is the victory fulfilled in Chrift: Buc for the condition, This Victory did not coft him nothing, fo great a matter it is to redeem a foul, Pfalm the fourty ninth; he bought his conquest at a deer rate, even with the price of his own blood; for Chrifts enemies did not only flander the footsteps of our annointed, Pfalm the eighty ninth, but left in his humanity thofe impreffions of cruelty, that made him cry, My God, my God, why hast thou for faken me? Matthew the twenty feventh chapter; and to fend forth ftrong cries with tears, Hebrews the fifth chapter; but ftill they did but bruife his heel: And fo he did fet all this at his heel, as we speak, that he might fet us at his heart.

Thus much concerning the Victory, as it was fulfilled in Christ, as he was the wheat Corne; but it is alfo fulfilled inthe Church: For whatsoever he did, he did it not for himself, but for the members of his body; and he doth infufe fuch virtue into his body, that as Christ faid to his Difciples, Behold, I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, Luke the tenth chapter and the nineteenth verse, so shall the faithfull be able to trample the Devil under their feet, to whom this promife is made, That God fhall tread down Satan under their feet, Romans the fixteenth chapter, which is a plain expofition of this promife fet down by Mofes. Chrift, as he is the wifdom of God, fhall communicate this power to his Church, That they shall tread under their feet that poyfon of temptation which the Serpent fpeweth out of his mouth by refifting it, as he himself did, Matthew the fourth chapter: They fhall be able to fuftain the poyson of his teeth, by not giving place to it. Though he hurt them in the heel, that is, in their earthly parts,

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parts, as fubftance, wealth, good name, yet they fhall be able to fuffer it, fo long as he touch not the head. But if a man refuse to fuffer detriment by Satan in thefe outward things, he fhall have no part in the victory, becaufe it is not gotten without bruifing of the heel and fome blood fhed; for it is Gods will, That all shall be conformable to the Image of his fonne, Rom. 8. 29. for of those things which Chrift in his natural body fuffered, there remaineth fomthing which must be accomplished in his my fticall body, Col. 1. 246 until the number of the Elect be fulfilled.

Here is matter of fpecial direction for us. It is plain the promise is made to no man, but to him that is at enmity with the Serpent, with whom we must make continual warte; because, although Christ have already wounded him in his head, yet he is not dead and though his courage be much abated, yet he ftill doth much mischief.

In this warfare we are to learn two things, First, what we must doc to him, to practife it. Secondly, what he will doe to us, that we may avoid it.

That which we are to doe to him, is to bruife his head in pieces, which we shall be able to doe, in him that strengthneth us, Phil. 4. That which he will doe to us is, that he will bruife our heel; there fore we are to take heed of him.

By the Serpents head is meant the firft fuggeftion whereby he ftirreth us up to finne, which, albeit in the beginning it were ftrong, when he tempted Eve, yet fince the promise Chrift hath weakned it, nothwithstanding, as Chrift refifted the first fuggeftien, Matth. 4. to must we, after his example, begin at the weakest part, even at the firft fuggeftions and provocations, which feem to us to be nothing, which the Prophet fignified by the children of Babel, which he would have dashed to the ftones, Pfal. 137. In that refpect it is that the Church would have the little Foxes destroyed that hurt the Vines, Cant. 2. 12. And the Prophets counfel is, That we tread upon the Cockatrice egge, left it prøve a Serpent, Ifaiah 59. The Fathers, out of Adams tempration, made four dégrees of our fpiritual battail, The Man, the Woman, the Serpent, the Tree: By Man they understood reafon by the Woman, the fenfuality and carnall affections of our mindes; by the Serpent, the Devil; by the Tree, the occafion. Concerning which, as it is good counsel to hear this spoken, Command Eve, foit is better counsel, Take heed of the Serpent, and thou shall be fafe; but if thou doe not look upon the tree, thou shalt be fafer: For if we avoid the occafion of finde, then shall not our concupifcence be ftirred up, bat he that maketh no conscience to fhun the occafion he loveth danger, and, as the Wife man faith, he shall perish therein.

The Nettle, if it be lightly touched, will fting and prick, but if it be crushed hard in a mans hand, it loofeth the power: So if we dally with finne, it will fting us, but if we bruife the very head of it, that is, the firft motions,then it shall not hurt us: Thus did Chrift,

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