casting of him out of strong possessions, and by recovering of some
notorious sinners out of his clutches; Luke x. 17-19.

Samson, when he would pull down the Philistines temple, took hold of
the two main pillars of it, and breaking them, down came the house.
Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, and to destroy by
converting grace, as well as by redeeming blood. Now sin swarms, and
lieth by legions, and whole armies, in the souls of the biggest
sinners, as in garrisons: wherefore the way, the most direct way to
destroy it, is first to deal with such sinners by the word of his
gospel, and by the merits of his passion.

For example, though I shall give you but a homely one: suppose a
family to be troubled with vermin, and one or two of the family to be
in chief the breeders, the way, the quickest way to clear that
family, or at least to weaken the so swarming of those vermin, is, in
the first place, to sweeten the skin, head, and clothes of the chief
breeders; and then, though all the family should be apt to breed
them, the number of them, and so the greatness of that plague there,
will be the more impaired.

Why, there are some people that are in chief the devil's sin-breeders
in the towns and places where they live. The place, town, or family
where they live, must needs be horribly verminous, as it were, eaten
up with vermin. Now, let the Lord Jesus, in the first place, cleanse
these great breeders, and there will be given a nip to those swarms
of sins that used to be committed in such places throughout the town,
house, or family, where such sin-breeding persons used to be.

I speak by experience: I was one of these verminous ones, one of