A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…

2. We were Captives to Satan, as God's Executioner, given up to his Power, that he might blind, harden and lead us to all manner of Sin by a just Tradition; 2 Tim. 2.26. That they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil, who are taken captive by him at his Will. Natural Men are at the Will of another; as Christ told Peter, John 21.18. Another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not. So Satan leads and carries us up and down, but it is there where we would our selves be; we consent to this Bondage, and are acted by the Spirit of the Devil, and are at his beck. Nay, that is not all, but we are also given up Captives to Satan, that we might be tormented by him; therefore he is said to have the Power of Death, Heb. 2.14. The Devil, as God's Executioner, hath a great Power over carnal Men, to stir up Bondage and Fear, and Horrors of Wrath, and to take them away to Torment, though not as he will, but as God willeth. Satan is our Keeper, as God is our Judg; and Conscience which was made to be God's Deputy, is as it were Satan's Under-keeper, stirs up Fear, and holds us in Chains of Darkness.

3. We are Captives to Sin. Every natural Man is a Slave to his own Lusts; Tit. 3.3. Serving divers Lusts and Pleasures. Man in his natural State is a Slave to his own Affections. For the explaining of which let me tell you, while Man was in his Original State and Condition, his Actions were to be thus governed, the Understanding and Conscience were to prescribe to the Will, and the Will according to right Reason and Conscience was to stir up the Affections; and the Affections according to the Counsel and Command of the Will were to move the Spirits and the Members of the Body: This was the Order settled in Man's Nature before the Fall. But now by Corruption there is a woeful Change and Disorder, and the Head is where the Feet should be; the bodily Spirits move the Affections, the Law in the Members prescribes many times to the Law of the Mind; carnal Pleasures move the Affections, and the Affections carry away the Will by Violence; and the corrupt Bent of the Will blinds the Understanding, and so Man is led headlong to his own Destruction; and therefore the Apostle saith, that carnal Men are sold under Sin;