bound through long years in disease or sin. In these things the Saviour saw, not by anticipation only, the fall of Satan from his usurped dominion. (2) Still more decisively was this downfall enacted in the words and works of His own ministry as a whole. Then indeed did the stronger than the strong man armed enter into the guarded hall, and scatter possessions till then securely kept. (3) But in a higher sense than either of these was the sacrifice of the death of Christ a casting out of Satan from his heaven. Then was it, in that great consummation of the work of redemption, that Satan lost his subjects and the Saviour drew them to Himself. That was (in the language of the primeval prophecy) a bruising of the serpent's head at the moment and in Gen. 3. 15. the very act of his fancied triumph. That was indeed the very judgment of the prince of this world. From that time forth he was a condemned and sentenced criminal; from that time forth the world which still served him was convicted concern- Joh. 16. 11. ing his judgment by every single operation of the Spirit of truth in teaching, quickening, or comforting, however long might be the interval between the sentence and the punishment, between the judgment and the execution. (4) But, above all, and with a truth yet beyond these, was the glorious Ascension of Christ the casting out from their heaven of the devil and his angels. When He ascended up on Eph. 4. 8.

1Pet. 3.22. high, He led captivity captive; angels and authorities

and powers, evil no less than good, were then made subject unto Him; it was when the Divine Child, the Man Christ Jesus, was at last caught up unto God and to His throne, that there arose that decisive war in heaven in which the dragon and his angels fought and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven.

This is that conflict and that victory of which the text tells us. There was, we doubt not, an earlier struggle and an earlier defeat. God made all things upright: if there be one intelligent and moral being who is now the enemy of good, that being must have fallen; that being is not as God made him; that being has corrupted himself, and departed by whatever steps from an original rightWe believe not in the existence from the

eousness.

first of two antagonist powers, one wholly good, and one wholly evil. We account not for the origin of Deu.29.29. evil: we leave it as one of those secret things, one of

those really inscrutable mysteries, with which Revelation has not dealt, which belong wholly to the Lord our God. But one faint glimpse or two we do perceive in Scripture of a fall from good affecting not man only. Our Lord tells us, in the 8th chapter Joh. 8. 44. of St John, that the devil abode not in the truth; continued not in that light of holiness in which he was first created and made. And St Peter speaks,

in his 2nd Epistle, of God not sparing angels when 2 Pet. 2. 4. they sinned, but casting them down to hell, and delivering them to chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. And St Jude echoing the same language says, And the angels which kept not their first estate Jude 6. -their own beginning is the exact expressionbut deserted their proper habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. These things we accept in their simplicity; we read and fear. We see in them a new proof of the malignity of sin: that evil which could enter God's presence must indeed be audacious, must indeed be powerful. We see in them a new proof of God's righteous judgment: if God spared not angels when they sinned, take heed Ro. 11. 21. lest He also spare not thee. We see in them a new proof of the magnitude of our own spiritual dangers; compassed about not more with abounding mercies

than with schemes and stratagems of invisible foes. Eph. 6. 12. Well may these thoughts add earnestness to our prayers, and intensity to our watchfulness.

But with this earlier and more mysterious warfare the text is remotely concerned. It may be that the language before us is tinged and coloured from that ancient history; but its own import is that which we have already assigned to it. The place of the transaction is its interpreter. The Child, divine at once and human, after incarnation, after

temptation, after suffering, after crucifixion, after resurrection, after manifestation to His witnesses who are to proclaim Him to the world, has at length been caught up to God and to His throne. Victories won below, by Himself and by His disciples, over the spiritual hosts of evil; bodies released from suffering, souls from possession; words of truth spoken, deeds of mercy done; a perfect example set of patience, of holiness, of humanity, of godliness; a life of contempt and obloquy crowned by a death of shame and anguish, and then reversed by a blessed and glorious resurrection; these things, in their various parts and degrees, have struck a deadly blow at the throne and empire of evil, and justified to the full the song of Lu. 10. 18. anticipative triumph, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. But when, after all these things done and borne, the Conqueror Himself arises in the crowning miracle of the Ascension, and strikes at Ps. 24. 8. the heavenly portals for admission as the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle; when He takes His seat in heaven, not for Himself alone, but as the Mediator and Intercessor of all who believe; when, in fulfilment of His most true promise, He proceeds to claim from His Father the gift of His Holy Spirit to carry on in individual hearts below ITim.6.12. the good fight of faith and the transforming work of sanctification; then at last, then most decisively, did Michael the great Prince stand up for His people

against the enemy and the destroyer; then did He realize to the full the scene afterwards disclosed in vision to the eye of His Apostle and Evangelist, There arose a war in heaven, on the stage of prophetic manifestation, Michael and His angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven.

My brethren, the small portion of the passage to which our thoughts have been confined may suggest to us two or three important reflections before we conclude.

Do not imagine that because the war in heaven is ended and ended well, therefore the war on earth is over too. Nothing can be so fatal as a false security. It is true, Christ has conquered; and you know through what severe, what protracted, what cruel conflicts. And it is true that in thus conquering He conquered not for Himself alone. He was not only bearing our griefs, but also fighting our Is. 53. 4. battles. And when He had almost reached the end

of the long struggle He said, The prince of this world Joh.16. 11. is judged; now shall the prince of this world be cast ch. 12. 31. out. But remember, there is all the difference between a victory secured to those who will fight, and

a victory certain and safe whether we fight or fight not. Christ cast Satan from his throne: but He did so for those who are His, His by a living faith,