Page:History of the devil, ancient and modern (3).pdf/8

 ( 8 ) ter, a deluder, a calumniator, an enemy, and the ob- ject of man's horror and averſion. How long the Devil remained wandering or con- fined in chaos, or how he employed himſelf, hiſtory is ſilent, and tradition ſays but little. Rabbi Judah ſays, the Jews were of opinion, that he remained twenty thouſand years in that condition; and that the world would continue twenty thouſand more, in which he ſhall find work enough to ſatisfy his miſchie- vous deſires : but he ſhews no authority for his opi- nion. Indeed let the Devil have been as idle as they think he was before, it muſt be acknowledged, that now he is the moſt buſy, vigilant, and diligent of all God's creatures, and very full of employment too, ſuch as it is. As the Devil's Hiſtoriographer Royal has not yet favoured us with any Publication on his infernal Highneſs, we are left much in the dark for materials, and muſt draw them as inferences from his actions and connections. This we are convinced of, when we come to ſpeak of his ſhape, or perſonality of ſub- ſtance; and as we ſhall have occaſion to ſay a good deal on that ſcore afterwards; we leave the reader, from the credibility of the witneſſes, to attach what degree of belief he pleaſes to it. Only we are certain whatever his puiſſance is as Prince of the Power of the Air, it is limited here, and that in two particu- lars; Firſt, He is limited from aſſuming a body, or bodily ſhapes, with ſubſtance; and ſecondly, from ex- erting ſeraphic powers, and acting with that ſuper natural force, which as an angel he was certainly veſted with before the Fall, and which we are not certain is yet taken from him: or, at moſt, we do not know how much it may or may not be diminiſh- ed, by his degeneracy, and by the blow given him at his expulſion. This we are certain, that be his power greater or leſs, he is reſtrained from exerciſing it in this world; and he who was once equal to the angel