qualified by his knowledge of things to be a
compleat historian; nor could the Bishop himself, _who, by the way, has
given us already the Devil of a history_, come up to him: _Milton_'s
_Pandemonium_, tho' an excellent dramatick performance, would appear a
meer trifling sing-song business, beneath the dignity of _Chevy-chase_:
The _Devil_ could give us a true account of all the civil wars in
Heaven; how and by whom, and in what manner he lost the day there, and
was oblig'd to quit the field: The fiction of his refusing to
acknowledge and submit to the _Messiah_, upon his being declar'd
Generalissimo of the Heavenly forces, which Satan expected himself, as
the eldest officer; and his not being able to brook another to be put in
over his head; I say, that fine-spun thought of Mr. _Milton_ would
appear to be strain'd too far, and only serve to convince us that he
(_Milton_) knew nothing of the matter. _Satan_ knows very well, that the
_Messiah_ was not _declared to be the Son of God with power_ till by and
after _the resurrection from the dead_, and that all power was then
given him _in Heaven and earth_, and not before; so that _Satan_'s
rebellion must derive from other causes, and upon other occasions, as he
himself can doubtless give us an account, if he thinks fit, and of which
we shall speak further in this work.

What a fine History might this old Gentleman write of the Antediluvian
world, and of all the weighty affairs, as well of state as of religion,
which happen'd during the fifteen hundred years of the patriarchal
administration!

Who, like him, could give a full and compleat account of the Deluge,
whether it was a meer vindictive, a blast from Heaven, wrought by a
supernatural power in the way of miracle? or whether, according to Mr.
_Burnet_'s _Theory_, it was a consequence following antecedent causes by
the meer necessity of nature; seen in constitution, natural position,
and unavoidable working of things, as by the Theory publish'd by that
learn'd enthusiast it seems to be?

_Satan_ could easily account for all the difficulties of the _Theory_,
and tell us whether, as there was a natural necessity of the Deluge,
there is not the like necessity and natural tendency to a Conflagration
at last.

Would _the Devil_ exert himself as an Historian, for our improvement and
diversion, how glorious an account could he give us of _Noah_'s Voyage
round the world, in the famous Ark! he could resolve all the
difficult