l Troops_, is indeed in the
_supernal parts_ of our Air. But as 'tis said, _A sparrow of the Air
does not fall down without the will of God;_ so I may say, _Not a Devil
in the Air, can come down without the leave of God._ Of this we have a
famous Instance in that Arabian Prince, of whom the Devil was not able
so much as to _Touch_ any thing, till the most high God gave him a
permission, to _go down_. The Devil stands with all the Instruments of
death, aiming at us, and begging of the Lord, as that King ask'd for the
Hood-wink'd _Syrians_ of old, _Shall I smite 'em, shall I smite 'em?_ He
cannot strike a blow, till the Lord say, _Go down and smite_, but
sometimes he _does_ obtain from the _high possessor of Heaven and
Earth_, a License for the doing of it. The Devil sometimes does make
most rueful Havock among us; but still we may say to him, as our Lord
said unto a great Servant of his, _Thou couldest have no power against
me, except it were given thee from above._ The Devil is called in _1
Pet. 5.8._ _Your Adversary_. This is a Law-term; and it notes _An
Adversary at Law_. The Devil cannot come at us, except in some sence
according to _Law_; but sometimes he does procure sad things to be
inflicted, according to the _Law_ of the eternal King upon us. The Devil
first _goes up_ as an _Accuser_ against us. He is therefore styled _The
Accuser_; and it is on this account, that his proper Name does belong
unto him. There is a Court somewhere kept; a Court of Spirits, where the
Devil enters all sorts of Complaints against us all; he charges us with
manifold _sins_ against the Lord our God: _There_ he loads us with heavy
_Imputations_ of Hypocrysie, Iniquity, Disobedience; whereupon he urges,
_Lord, let 'em now have the death, which is their wages, paid unto 'em!_
If our _Advocate_ in the Heavens do not now take off his Libels; the
Devil, then, with a Concession of God, _comes down_, as a _destroyer_
upon us. Having first been an _Attorney_, to bespeak that the Judgments
of Heaven may be ordered for us, he then also pleads, that he may be the
_Executioner_ of those Judgments; and the God of Heaven sometimes after
a sort, signs a Warrant, for this _destroying Angel_, to do what has
been _desired_ to be done for the _destroying of men_. But such a
_permission_ from God, for the Devil to _come down_, and _break in_ upon
mankind, oftentimes must be accompany'd with a _Commission_ from some
wretches of mankind it self. Every man is, a