ed with the just history of _Adam_, in
paradise and out of it; his character, and how he behaved at and after
his expulsion; how _Cain_ wandered in the land of _Nod_, what the mark
was which _God_ set upon him, whose daughter his wife was, and how big
the city was he built there, according to a certain Poet of noble
extraction,

How _Cain_ in the land of _Nod_
When the rascal was alone
Like an owl in an ivy tod
Built a city as big as _Roan_.

_Roch._

He could have certainly drawn _Eve_'s picture, told us every feature in
her face, and every inch in her shape, whether she was a perfect beauty
or no, and whether with the fall she did grow crooked, ugly, ill-natur'd
and a scold; as the learned _Valdemar_ suggests to be the effects of the
curse.

Descending to the character of the Patriarchs in that age, he might, no
doubt, give us in particular the characters of _Belus_, worship'd under
the name of _Baal_; with _Satan_, and _Jupiter_, his successors; who
they were here, and how they behaved; with all the _Pharaohs_ of
_Egypt_, the _Abimilechs_ of _Canaan_, and the great monarchs of
_Assyria_ and _Babylon_.

Hence also he is able to write the lives of all the Heroes of the world,
from _Alexander_ of _Macedon_ to _Lewis_ the XIV. and from _Augustus_ to
the great King _George_; nor could the Bishop himself go beyond him for
flattery, any more than the Devil himself could go beyond the Bishop for
falshood.

I could enlarge with a particular satisfaction upon the many fine things
which _Satan_, rummaging his inexhaustible storehouse of slander, could
set down to blacken the characters of good men, and load the best
Princes of the world with infamy and reproach.

But we shall never prevail with him, I doubt, to do mankind so much
service, as resolving all those difficulties would be; for he has an
indelible grudge against us; as he believes, and perhaps is assur'd that
men were at first created by his sovereign, to the intent that after a
certain state of Probation in life, such of them as shall be approved,
are appointed to fill up those vacancies in the Heavenly Host, which
were made by the abdication and expulsion of him (_the Devil_) and his
Angels; so that man is appointed to come in _Satan_'s stead, to make
good the breach, and enjoy all those ineffable Joys and Beatitudes which
_Satan_ enjoy'd before his fall; no wonder then, that _the Devil_ swells
with envy and rage at mankind in general, and