nows it; and wherever it is, he has ever since man's creation been a
plague to him, been a tempter, a deluder, a calumniator, an enemy and
the object of man's horror and aversion.

As his original is _Heaven-born_, and his Race _Angelic_, so the Angelic
nature is evidently plac'd in a class superior to the human, and this
the Scripture is express in also; when speaking of man, it says, he
made him a little lower than the Angels.

Thus _the Devil_, as mean thoughts as you may have of him, is of a
better family than any of you, nay than the best Gentleman of you all;
what he may be fallen to, is _one thing_, but what he is fallen from,
_is another_; and therefore I must tell my learned and reverend friend
_J. W._ LL. D. when he spoke so rudely of _the Devil_ lately, That in my
opinion he abus'd his Betters.

Nor is the Scripture more a help to us in the search after _the Devil_'s
Original, than it is in our search after his Nature: it is true, Authors
are not agreed about his age, what time he was created, how many years
he enjoy'd his state of blessedness before he fell; or how many years he
continued with his whole army in a state of darkness, and before the
creation of man. 'Tis supposed it might be a considerable space, and
that it was a part of his punishment too, being all the while unactive,
unemploy'd, having no business, nothing to do but gnawing his own
Bowels, and rolling in the agony of his own self-approaches, being a
Hell to himself in reflecting on the glorious state from whence he was
fallen.

How long he remain'd thus, 'tis true, we have no light into from
History, and but little from Tradition; _Rabbi Judah_ says, the _Jews_
were of the opinion, that he remain'd twenty thousand years in that
condition, and that the World shall continue twenty thousand more, in
which he shall find work enough to satisfy his mischievous desires; but
he shews no authority for his opinion.

Indeed let the _Devil_ have been as idle as they think he was before, it
must be acknowledg'd 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_.

Scripture indeed, gives us light into the enmity there is between the
two natures, the Diabolical and the Human; the reason of it, and how and
by what means the power of _the Devil_ is restrain'd by the _Messias_;
and to those who are willing to trust to Gospel-light, and believe what
the Scripture says of _the De