He that is not with me, is against me
These words chiefly refer to Satan, and are a further proof, that
Christ did not cast out devils by him; since they two are as much
opposites, as can possibly be; Satan is not on the side of
Christ, but an adversary to him; there is an original, and
implacable enmity, between the serpent and the seed of the woman;
there is an open war between them, and therefore one cannot be
thought to lend assistance to the other. They were concerned in
different things, had different views and interests, and so took
different methods;
and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth:
Christ is the good shepherd, that gathers his sheep to himself,
and into his fold, by the external ministry of the word, and
internal efficacy of his grace; Satan is the wolf, that catches
and scatters the sheep, and seeks to kill and destroy them: and
since there is such an open war proclaimed and carried on between
Christ and the devil, none ought to be neutral; whoever is not on
the side of Christ, is reckoned as an enemy; and whoever is not
concerned by prayer or preaching, or other means to gather souls
to his word and ordinances, and to his church, and to himself, is
deemed by him a scatterer of them.
