The History of the Devil Part 15

Then, that he might not quite give him over, (tho' _David_'s Repentance for the last Sin kept the _Devil_ off for a while) when he could attack him no farther personally he fell upon him in his Family, and made him as miserable as he could desire him to be, in his Children, three of whom he brought to Destruction before his Face, and another after his Death.

First, he tempted _Ammon_ to ravish his Sister _Tamar_; so, there was an End of her (_poor Girl!_) as to this World, for we never hear any more of her.

Then he tempted _Absalom_ to murther his Brother _Amnon_, in Revenge for _Tamar_'s Maidenhead.

Then he made _Joab_ run _Absalom_ thro' the Body, contrary to _David_'s Command.

And after _David_'s Death he brought _Adonija_ (weak Man!) to the Block, for usurping King _Solomon_'s Throne.

As to _Absalom_, he tempted him to Rebellion, and raising War against his Father, to the turning him shamefully out of _Jerusalem_, and almost out of the Kingdom.

He tempted him, for _David_'s farther Mortification, to lie with his Father's Wives, in the Face of the whole City; and had _Achitophel_'s honest Council been follow'd, he had certainly sent him to Sleep with his Fathers, long before his time--But there _Satan_ and _Achitophel_ were both out-witted together.

Thro' all the Reigns of the several Successors of _David_, the _Devil_ took care to carry on his own Game, to the continual insulting the Measures which G.o.d himself had taken for the establis.h.i.+ng his People in the World, and especially as a Church; till at last he so effectually debauch'd them to Idolatry; that Crime which of all others was most provoking to G.o.d, as it was carrying the People away from their Allegiance, and transposing the Homage they ow'd G.o.d their Maker, to a contemptible Block of Wood, or an Image of a brute Beast; and this how sordid and brutish soever it was in it self, yet so did his Artifice prevail among them, that, first or last, he brought them all into it, the ten Tribes as well as the two Tribes; till at last G.o.d himself was provoked to unchurch them, gave them up to their Enemies, and the few that were left of them, after incredible Slaughters and Desolation, were hurried away, some into _Tartary_, and others into _Babylon_, from whence very few, of that few that were carried away, ever found their Way Home again; and some, when they might have come, would not accept of it, but continued there to the very coming of the Messiah. See Epistles of St. _James_ and of St. _Peter_, at the Beginning.

But to look a little back upon this Part (for it cannot be omitted, it makes so considerable a Part of the _Devil_'s History) I mean his drawing G.o.d's People, Kings and all, into all the Sins and Mischiefs which gradually contributed to their Destruction.

First, (_for he began immediately with the very best and wisest of the Race_) he drew in King _Solomon_, in the midst of all his Zeal for the building G.o.d's House, and for the making the most glorious and magnificent Appearance for G.o.d's Wors.h.i.+p that ever the World saw; I say, in the middle of all this, he drew him into such immoderate and insatiable an Appet.i.te for Women, as to set up the first, and perhaps the greatest _Seraglio_ of Wh.o.r.es that ever any Prince in the World had, or pretended to before; nay, and to bring whoring so much into Reputation, that, as the Text says, seven hundred of them were Princesses; that is to say, Ladies of Quality: Not as the Grand Seigniors, and Great Moguls, (other Princes of the Eastern World) have since practised, namely, to pick up their most beautiful Slaves; but these, it seems, were Women of Rank, King's Daughters, as _Pharaoh_'s Daughter, and the Daughters of the Princes and prime Men among the _Moabites_, _Ammonites_, _Zidonians_, _Hitt.i.tes_, &c. 1 _Kings_ xi. 1.

Nor was this all; but as he drew him into the Love of these forbidden Women (_for such they were, as to their Nation, as well as Number_) so he ensnar'd him by those Women to a Familiarity with their Wors.h.i.+p; and by degrees brought that famous Prince (famous for his Wisdom) to be the greatest and most-impos'd-upon old Fool in the World; Bowing down to those Idols by the Inticing of his Wh.o.r.es, whom he had abhorr'd and detested in his Youth, as dishonouring that G.o.d for whom, and for whose Wors.h.i.+p he had finish'd and dedicated the most magnificent Building and Temple in the World: Nothing but the invincible Subtlety of this _Arch Devil_ could ever have brought such a Man as _Solomon_ to such a Degeneracy of Manners, and to such Meannesses; no, not the _Devil_ himself, without the a.s.sistance of his Wh.o.r.es, nor the Wh.o.r.es themselves, without the _Devil_ to help them.

As to _Solomon_, _Satan_ had made Conquest enough there, we need hear no more of him; the next Advance he made, was in the Person of his Son _Rehoboam_; had not the _Devil_ prompted his Pride and tyrannical Humour, he would never have given the People such an Answer as he did; and when he saw a Fellow at the Head of them too whom he knew wanted and waited for an Occasion to raise a Rebellion, and had ripened up the People's Humour to the Occasion: Well might the Text call it _listening to the Council of the young Heads_; that it was indeed with a Vengeance!

but those young Heads too were acted by an old _Devil_, who for his Craft is called, as I have observ'd, the _Old Serpent_.

Having thus pav'd the Way, _Jeroboam_ revolts. So far G.o.d had directed him; for the Text says expressly, speaking in the first Person of G.o.d himself, _This Thing is of Me_.

But tho' G.o.d might appoint _Jeroboam_ to be King, (that is to say, of ten Tribes,) yet G.o.d did not appoint him to set up the _two Calves_ in the two extreme Parts of the Land, _viz._ in _Dan_, and in _Bethel_; that was _Jeroboam_'s own doing, and done on purpose to keep the People from falling back to _Rehoboam_, by being obliged to go to _Jerusalem_ to the publick Wors.h.i.+p: And the Text adds, _Jeroboam made Israel to sin_. This was indeed a Master-piece of the _Devil_'s Policy, and it was effectual to answer the End, nothing could have been more to the Purpose; what Reason he had to expect the People would so universally come into it, and be so well satisfied with a couple of Calves, instead of the true Wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d at _Jerusalem_; or what Arts and Management he (_Satan_) made use of afterwards, to bring the People in, to join with such a Delusion, that we find but little of in all the Annals of _Satan_; not is it much to the Case: 'Tis certain the _Devil_ found a strange kind of Propensity to wors.h.i.+ping Idols rooted in the Temper of that whole People, even from their first breaking away from the _Egyptian_ Bondage; so that he had nothing to do but to work upon the old Stock, and propagate the Crime that he found was so natural to them.

And this is _Satan_'s general Way of working, not with them only, but with us also, and with all the World, even then, and ever since.

When he had thus secur'd _Jeroboam_'s Revolt, we need not trace him among his Successors; for the same Reason of State that held for the setting up the Calves at _Bethel_ and _Dan_, held good for the keeping them up, to all _Jeroboam_'s Posterity; nor had they one good King ever after; even _Jehu_, who call'd his Friends to come and see his _Zeal for the Lord_, and who fulfill'd the Threatnings of G.o.d upon _Ahab_ and his Family, and upon Queen _Jezabel_ and her Offspring, and knew all the while that he was executing the Judgment of the true G.o.d upon an idolatrous Race; yet he would not part with his Calves, but would have thought it to have been parting with his Kingdom, and that as the People would have gone up to _Jerusalem_ to wors.h.i.+p, so they would at the same Time have transfer'd their civil Obedience to the King of _Judah_, (whose Right it really was, as far as they could claim by Birth and right Line); so that by the way, _Satan_ any more than other Politicians, is not for the _jus divinum_ of lineal Succession, or what we call hereditary Right, any farther than serves for his Purpose.

Thus Satan ridded his Hands of ten of the twelve Tribes; let us now see how he went on with the rest, for his Work was now brought into a narrower Compa.s.s; the Church of G.o.d was now reduc'd to two Tribes, except a few religious People, who separated from the Schism of _Jeroboam_, and came and planted themselves among the Tribes of _Judah_ and _Benjamin_: The first thing the Devil did after this, was to foment a War between the two Kings, while _Judah_ was governed by a Boy or Youth, _Abija_ by Name, and he none of the best neither; but G.o.d's Time was not come, and the Devil receiv'd a great Disappointment; when _Jeroboam_ was so entirely overthrown; that if the Records of those Ages do not mistake, no less than 500000 Men of _Israel_ were kill'd, such a Slaughter, that one would think the Army of _Judah_, had they known how to improve as well as gain a Victory, might have brought all the rest back again, and have intirely reduc'd the House of _Jeroboam_ and the ten Tribes that follow'd him to their Obedience; nay they did take a great deal of the Country from them, and among the rest _Bethel_ it self; and yet so cunningly did _Satan_ manage, that the King of _Judah_, who was himself a wicked King, and perhaps an Idolater in his Heart, did not take down the golden Calf that _Jeroboam_ had there, no nor destroy the Idolatry it self, so that in short, his Victory signified nothing.

From hence to the Captivity, we find the _Devil_ busy with the Kings of _Judah_, especially the best of them; as for such as _Mana.s.seth_, and those who transgress'd by the general Tenor of their Lives, those he had no great trouble with.

But such as _Asa_, _Jehoshaphat_, _Hezekiah_, and _Josiah_, he hung about them and their Courts, till he brought every one of them into some Mischief or another.

As first, good King _Asa_, of whom the Scripture says, his Heart was perfect all his Days, yet this subtle Spirit, that could break in upon him no where else, tempted him when the King of _Israel_ came out against him, to send to hire _Benhadad_ the King of _Syria_ to help him; as if G.o.d who had before enabled him to conquer the _Ethiopians_, with an Army of ten hundred thousand Men, could not have saved him from the King of the ten Tribes.

In the same manner he tempted _Jehoshaphat_ to join with that wicked King _Ahab_ against the King of _Syria_, and also to marry his Son to _Ahab_'s Daughter, which was fatal to _Jehoshaphat_, and to his Posterity.

_Again_, He tempted _Hezekiah_ to shew all his Riches to the King of _Babylon_'s Messengers; and who can doubt, but that he (_Satan_) is to be understood by the wicked Spirit which stood before the Lord, 2 _Chron._ xviii. 20. and offered his Service to entice _Ahab_ the King of _Israel_ to come out to Battle to his Ruin, by being a lying Spirit in the Mouths of all his Prophets; and who for that Time had a special Commission, as he had another Time in the Case of _Job_? and indeed it was a Commission fit for no body but the _Devil_: _Thou shalt entice_ him, _and thou shalt_ also _prevail: Go out and do_ even _so_, ver. 21.

Even good _Josiah_ himself, of whom it is recorded, that _like him there was no King before him_, _neither after him arose there any like him_, 2 Kings xxiii. 26. yet the _Devil_ never left him with his Machinations, till finding he could not tempt him to any Thing wicked in his Government, he tempted or mov'd him to a needless War with the King of _Egypt_, in which he lost his Life.

From the Death of this good King, the _Devil_ prevail'd so with the whole Nation of the _Jews_, and brought them to such an incorrigible Pitch of Wickedness, that _G.o.d_ gave them up, forsook his Habitation of Glory, the Temple, which he suffer'd to be spoil'd first, then burnt and demolish'd; destroying the whole Nation of the _Jews_, except a small Number that were left, and those the Enemy carried away into Captivity.

Nor was he satisfied with this general Destruction of the whole People of _Israel_, for the ten Tribes were gone before; but he follow'd them even into their Captivity; those that fled away to _Egypt_, which they tell us were seventy thousand, he first corrupted, and then they were destroyed there upon the Overthrow of _Egypt_, by the same King of _Babylon_.

Also he went very near to have them rooted out, young and old, Man, Woman and Child, who were in Captivity in _Babylon_, by the Ministry of that true Agent of h.e.l.l, _Haman_ the _Agagite_; but there _Satan_ met with a Disappointment too, as in the Story of _Hester_, which was but the fourth that he had met with, in all his Management since the Creation; I say, there he was disappointed, and his prime Minister _Haman_ was exalted, as he deserv'd.

Having thus far traced the Government and Dominion of the _Devil_, from the Creation of Man to the Captivity; I think I may call upon him to set up his Standard of universal Empire, at that Period; it seem'd just then as if G.o.d had really forsaken the Earth, and given the entire Dominion of Mankind up to his outrageous Enemy the _Devil_; for excepting the few _Israelites_ which were left in the Territories of the King of _Babylon_, and they were but a few; I say, except among them, there was not one Corner of the World left where the true G.o.d was call'd upon, or his Dominion so much as acknowledg'd; all the World was buried in Idolatry, and that of so many horrid Kinds, that one would think, the Light of Reason should have convinc'd Mankind, that he who exacted such b.l.o.o.d.y Sacrifices as that of _Moloch_, and such a b.l.o.o.d.y cutting themselves with Knives, as the Priests of _Baal_ did, could not be a G.o.d, a good and beneficent Being, but must be a cruel, voracious and devouring Devil, whose End was not the Good, but the Destruction of his Creatures: But to such a Height was the blind demented World arriv'd to at that Time, that in these sordid and corrupt Ways, they went on wors.h.i.+ping dumb Idols, and offering human Sacrifices to them, and in a Word, committing all the most horrid and absurd Abominations that they were capable of, or that the _Devil_ could prompt them to, till Heaven was again put, as it were, to the Necessity of bringing about a Revolution, in favour of his own forsaken People, by Miracle and Surprize, as he had done before.

We come therefore to the Restoration or Return of the Captivity: Had _Satan_ been able to have acted any thing by Force, _as I have observ'd before_, all the Princes and Powers of the World, having been, as they really were, at his Devotion, he might easily have made use of them, arm'd all the World against the _Jews_, and prevented the Rebuilding the Temple, and even the Return of the Captivity.

But now the _Devil_'s Power manifestly received a Check, and the Hand of G.o.d appear'd in it, and that he was resolv'd to reestablish his People the _Jews_, and to have a second Temple built: the _Devil_, who knew the Extent of his own Power too well, and what Limitations were laid upon him, stood still as it were looking on, and not daring to oppose the Return of the Captivity, which he very well knew had been prophesied, and would come to pa.s.s.

He did indeed make some little Opposition to the Building, and to the fortifying the City, but as it was to no Purpose, so he was soon oblig'd to give it over; and thus the Captivity being return'd, and the Temple rebuilt, the People of the _Jews_ encreased and multiplied to an infinite Number and Strength; and from this Time we may say, the Power of the _Devil_ rather declin'd and decreas'd, than went on with Success, as it had done before; It is true the _Jews_ fell into Sects and Errors, and Divisions of many Kinds, after the Return from the Captivity, and no doubt the _Devil_ had a great Hand in those Divisions; but he could never bring them back to Idolatry, and his not being able to do that, made him turn his Hand so many Ways to plague and oppress them; as particularly by _Antiochus_ the Great, who brought the Abomination of Desolation into the holy Place; and there the Devil triumph'd over them for some Time; but they were deliver'd many Ways, till at last they came peaceably under the Protection rather than the Dominion of the _Roman_ Empire: When _Herod_ the Great govern'd them as a King, and reedified, nay almost rebuilt their Temple, with so great an Expence and Magnificence, that he made it, as some say, greater and more glorious than that of _Solomon_'s, tho' that I take to be a great ---- Fable, to say no worse of it.

In this Condition the _Jewish_ Church stood, when the Fullness of Time, as 'tis call'd in Scripture, was come; and the _Devil_ was kept at Bay, tho' he had made some Encroachments upon them as above; for there was a glorious Remnant of Saints among _them_, such as old _Zacharias_ the Father of _John_ the Baptist, and old _Simeon_, who waited for the Salvation of _Israel_; I say, in this Condition the _Jewish_ Church stood when the _Messiah_ came into the World, which was such another mortal Stab to the Thrones and Princ.i.p.alities infernal, as that of which I have spoken already in Chap. III. at the Creation of Man; and therefore with this I break off the Antiquities of the _Devil_'s History, or the antient Part of his Kingdom; for from hence downward we shall find his Empire has declin'd gradually; and tho' by his wonderful Address, his prodigious Application, and the Vigilance and Fidelity of his Instruments, as well human as infernal and diabolical, and of the Human as well the Ecclesiastick as the Secular; he has many Times retriev'd what he has lost, and sometimes bid fair for recovering the universal Empire he once possess'd over Mankind; yet he has been still defeated again, repulst and beaten back, and his Kingdom has greatly declin'd in many Parts of the World; and especially in the Northern Parts, except _Great Britain_; and how he has politically maintain'd his Interest and encreased his Dominion among the wise and righteous Generation that we cohabit with and among, will be the Subject of the _modern_ Part of _Satan_'s _History_, and of which we are next to give an Account.

PART II.

OF THE MODERN HISTORY OF THE DEVIL.

CHAP. I.

I have examined the Antiquities of Satan's History in the former Part of this Work, and brought his Affairs down from the Creation, as far as to our blessed Christian Times; especially to the Coming of the _Messiah_, when one would think the _Devil_ could have nothing to do among us. I have indeed but touch'd at some Things which might have admitted of a farther Description of Satan's Affairs, and the Particulars of which we may all come to a farther Knowledge of hereafter; yet I think I have spoken to the material Part of his Conduct, as it relates to his Empire in this World: What has happen'd to his more sublimated Government, and his Angelic Capacities, I shall have an Occasion to touch at in several solid Particulars as we go along.

The _Messiah_ was now born, _the Fulness of Time was come_, that the old Serpent was to have his _Head broken_, that is to say, his Empire or Dominion over Man, which he gain'd by the Fall of our first Father and Mother in _Paradise_, receiv'd a Downfal or Overthrow.

It is worth observing, in order to confirm what I have already mention'd of the Limitation of Satan's Power, that not only his Angelic Strength seems to have received a farther Blow upon the Coming of the Son of G.o.d into the World, but he seems to have had a Blow upon his Intellects; his Serpentine Craft and _Devil-like_ Subtilty seems to have been circ.u.mscrib'd and cut short; and instead of his being so cunning a Fellow as before, when, _as I said_, 'tis evident he outwitted all Mankind, not only _Eve_, _Cain_, _Noah_, _Lot_, and all the Patriarchs, but even Nations of Men, and that in their publick Capacity; and thereby led them into absurd and ridiculous Things, such as the Building of _Babel_, and deifying and wors.h.i.+ping their Kings, when dead and rotten; idolizing _Beasts_, _Stocks_, _Stones_, _any Thing_, and even _Nothing_; and in a Word, when he manag'd Mankind just as he pleased.

Now and from this Time forward he appeared a weak, foolish, ignorant _Devil_, compar'd to what he was before; He was upon almost every Occasion resisted, disappointed, baulk'd and defeated, especially in all his Attempts to thwart or cross the Mission and Ministry of the _Messiah_, while he was upon Earth, and sometimes upon other and very mean Occasions too.

And first, how foolish a Project was it, and how below Satan's celebrated Artifice in like Cases, to put _Herod_ upon sending to kill the poor innocent Children in _Bethlehem_, in hopes to destroy the Infant? for I take it for granted, it was the _Devil_ put into _Herod_'s Thoughts that Execution, how simple and foolish soever; now we must allow him to be very ignorant of the Nativity himself, or else he might easily have guided his Friend _Herod_ to the Place where the Infant was.

This shews that _either_ the _Devil_ is in general ignorant as we are, of what is to come in the World, before it is really come to pa.s.s; and consequently can foretel nothing, no not so much as our famous old _Merlin_ or _Mother s.h.i.+pton_ did, _or else_ that great Event was hid from him by an immediate Power superior to his, which I cannot think neither, considering how much he was concern'd in it, and how certainly he knew that it was once to come to pa.s.s.

But be that as it will, 'tis certain the _Devil_ knew nothing where Christ was born, or when; nor was he able to direct _Herod_ to find him out, and therefore put him upon that foolish, as well as cruel Order, to kill all the Children, that he might be sure to destroy the _Messiah_ among the rest.

The next simple Step that the _Devil_ took, and indeed the most foolish one that he could ever be charg'd with, unworthy the very Dignity of a _Devil_, and below the Understanding that he always was allow'd to act with, was that of coming to tempt the _Messiah_ in the Wilderness; it is certain, and he own'd it himself afterwards, upon many Occasions, that the _Devil_ knew our Saviour to be the Son of G.o.d; and 'tis as certain that he knew, that _as such_ he could have no Power or Advantage over him; how foolish then was it in him to attack him in that Manner, _if thou beest the Son of_ G.o.d? why he knew him to be the _Son of_ G.o.d well enough; he said so afterwards, _I know thee who thou art, the holy One of_ G.o.d; how then could he be so weak a Devil as to say, _if thou art_, then do _so_ and _so_?

The Case is plain, the _Devil_, tho' he knew him to be the Son of G.o.d, did not fully know the Mystery of the Incarnation; nor did he know how far the _Inanition_ of Christ extended, and whether, _as Man_, he was not subject to fall as _Adam_ was, tho' his reserv'd G.o.dhead might be still immaculate and pure; and upon this Foot, as he would leave no Method untried, he attempts him three Times, one immediately after another; but then, finding himself disappointed he fled.

This evidently proves that the _Devil_ was ignorant of the great Mystery of G.o.dliness, _as the Text calls it_, G.o.d manifest in the Flesh, and therefore made that foolish Attempt upon Christ, thinking to have conquer'd his human Nature as capable of Sin, which it was not; and at this Repulse _h.e.l.l_ groan'd, the whole Army of regimented _Devils_ receiv'd a Wound, and felt the Shock of it; 'twas a second Overthrow to them, they had had a long Chain of Success, carried a _devilish_ Conquest over the greatest Part of the Creation of G.o.d; but now they were cut short, _the Seed of the Woman_ was now come _to break the Serpent's Head_, that is, to cut short his Power, to contract the Limits of his Kingdom, and in a Word, to dethrone him in the World: No doubt the _Devil_ receiv'd a Shock, for you find him always afterward, crying out in a horrible Manner, whenever Christ met with him, or else very humble and submissive, as when he begg'd leave to go into the Herd of Swine, a Thing he has often done since.

Defeated here, the first Stratagem I find him concern'd in after it, was his entring into _Judas_, and putting him upon betraying Christ to the Chief Priest; but here again he was entirely mistaken, for he did not see, _as much a Devil as he was_, what the Event would be; but when he came to know, that if Christ was put to Death, he would become a Propitiatory and be the great Sacrifice of Mankind, so to rescue the fallen Race from that Death they had incurr'd the Penalty of, by the Fall, that this was the fulfilling of all Scripture Prophesy, and that thus it was that Christ was to be _the End of the Law_, I say, as soon as he perceiv'd this, he strove all he could to prevent it, and disturb'd _Pilate_'s Wife in her Sleep, in order to set her upon her Husband to hinder his delivering him up to the _Jews_; for then, and not till then, he knew how Christ was to vanquish h.e.l.l by the Power of his Cross.

Thus the _Devil_ was disappointed and exposed in every Step he took, and as he now plainly saw his Kingdom declining, and even the temporal Kingdom of Christ, rising up upon the Ruins of his (_Satan_'s) Power; he seem'd to retreat into his own Region the Air, and to consult there with his fellow _Devils_, what Measures he should take next to preserve his Dominion among Men; Here it was that he resolv'd upon that truly h.e.l.lish Thing call'd Persecution, by which, _tho' he prov'd a foolish Devil in that too_, he flatter'd himself he should be able to destroy G.o.d's Church, and root out its Professors from the Earth, even almost as soon as it was establish'd; whereas on the contrary, Heaven counter-acted him there too, and tho' he arm'd the whole _Roman_ Empire against the Christians, _that is say_, the whole World, and they were fallen upon every where, with all the Fury and Rage of some of the most flaming Tyrants that the World ever saw, of whom _Nero_ was the first; yet in spight of h.e.l.l, G.o.d made all the Blood, which the Devil caus'd to be spilt, to be _s.e.m.e.n Ecclesiae_, and the DEVIL had the Mortification to see, that the Number of Christians encreased even under the very Means he made use of to root them out and destroy them: This was the Case thro' the Reign of all the _Roman_ Emperors, for the first three hundred Years after Christ.

Having thus tried all the Methods that best suited his Inclination, I mean those of Blood and Death, complicated with Tortures and all Kinds of Cruelty, and that for so long a Stage of Time as above; the _Devil_ all on a suddain, as if glutted with Blood, and satiated with Destruction, sits still and becomes a peaceable Spectator for a good while; as if he either found himself unable, or had no Disposition to hinder the Progress of Christianity in the first Ages of its Settlement in the World: In this interval the Christian Church was establish'd under _Constantine_, Religion flourished in Peace, and under the most perfect Tranquillity: The _Devil_ seem'd to be at a Loss what he should do next, and Things began to look as if Satan's Kingdom was at an End; but he soon let them see that he was the same indefatigable _Devil_ that ever he was, and the Prosperity of the Church gave him a large Field of Action; for knowing the Disposition of Mankind to Quarrel and Dispute, the universal Pa.s.sion rooted in Nature, especially among the Church-Men for Precedency and Dominion, he fell to work with them immediately; so that turning the Tables, and rea.s.suming the Subtilty and Craft, which, I say, he seem'd to have lost in the former four hundred Years, he gain'd more Ground in the next Ages of the Church, and went farther towards restoring his Power and Empire in the World, and towards overthrowing that very Church which was so lately establish'd, than all he had done by Fire and Blood before.

His Policy now seem'd to be edg'd with Resentment for the Mistakes he had made; as if the Devil looking back with Anger at himself, to see what a Fool he had been to expect to crush Religion by Persecution, rejoyc'd for having discover'd that Liberty and Dominion was the only way to ruin the Church, not Fire and f.a.ggot; and that he had nothing to do but to give the zealous People their utmost Liberty in Religion, only sowing Error and Variety of Opinion among them, and they would bring Fire and f.a.ggot in fast enough among themselves.