Page:History of the devil, ancient and modern (3).pdf/15

 (15) cut ſhort; and inſtead of his being ſo cunning a fel low as before, when, as I ſaid, it is evident he out- witted all mankind, not only Eve, Cain, Noah, Lot, and all the patriarchs, but even nations of men, and that in their public capacity; and thereby led them into abſurd and ridiculous things, ſuch as the building of Babel, and deifying and worſhipping their kings, when dead and rotten ; idolizing beaſts, ſtocks, ſtones, any thing and even nothing; and in a word, when he managed mankind juſt as he pleaſed. Now, and from this time forward, he appeared a weak, fooliſh, ignorant Devil, compared to what he was before. He was upon almoſt every occaſion reſiſted, diſappointed, balked, and defeated : eſpecially in all his attempts to thwart or croſs the million 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 be- low Satan's celebrated artifice in like cafes, to put Herod upon fending to kill the poor innocent children in Bethlehem in hopes to deſtroy Chriſt? 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 igno- rant, as we are, of what is to happen in the world, be- fore it is really come to paſs; and conſequently can foretel nothing, no not ſo much as our famous old Merlin or mother Shipton 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 concerned in it, and how certainly he knew that it was once to come to paſs But be that as it will, it is certain the Devil knew nothing where Chriſt was born, or when : nor was he able to direct Herod to find him out; and therefore