them, and bringing them to break with their Maker as he had done before them, than he could have done by fulminating upon them at first, and sending them all out of the world at once; for now he has peopled his own dominions with them; and though a remnant are snatched, as it were, out of his clutches, by the agency of invincible grace, of which I am not to discourse in this place, yet this may be said of the Devil, without offence, that he has in some sense, carried his point, and, as it were, forced his Maker to be satisfied with a part of mankind, and the least part too, instead of the great glory he would have brought to himself by keeping them all in his service.
Mr. Milton, as I have noted above, brings the Devil and all hell with him, making a feu de joie for the victory Satan obtained over one silly woman. Indeed it was a piece of success greater in its consequence than in the immediate appearance: nor was 8 the conquest so complete as Satan himself imagined to make, since the promise of a redemption out of his hands, which was immediately made to the man, in behalf of himself and his believing posterity, was a great disappointment to Satan, and, as it were, snatched the best part of his victory out of his hands.
It is certain, the devils knew what the meaning of that promise was, and who was to be the seed of the woman, namely, the incarnate Son of God; and that it was a second blow to the whole infernal body; but as if they had resolved to let. that alone, Satan went on with his business; and as he had introduced crime into the common parent of mankind, and thereby secured the contamination of blood, and the descent or propagation of the corrupt seed, he had nothing to do but to assist nature in time to come, to carry on its own rebellion, and act itself in the breasts of Eve’s tainted posterity; and that indeed has been the Devil’s business ever since his first victory upon the kind, to this day.
His success in this part has been such, that we see upon innumerable occasions a general defection has followed; a kind of taint upon nature, call it what you will, a blast upon the race of mankind; and were it not for one thing, he had ruined the whole family;
I say, were it not for one thing, namely, a selected company or number, which his Maker has resolved he shall not be able to corrupt, or, if he does, the sending the promised seed shall recover back again from him, by the power of irresistible grace; which number thus selected or elected, call it which we will, are still to supply the vacancies in heaven, which Satan’s defection has left open; and what was before filled up with created seraphs, is now to be restored by recovered saints, by whom infinite glory is to accrue to the kingdom of the Redeemer.
This glorious establishment has robbed Satan of all the jov of his victory, and left him just where he was, defeareh and disappointed; nor does the possession of all the myriads of the sons of perdition, who yet some are of the opinion will be snatched from him too at last; I say, the possession of all these makes no amends to him: for he is such a devil in his nature, that the envy at those he cannot seduce, eats out all the satisfaction of the mischief he has done in seducing all the rest; hut I must not preach, so I return to things as much needful to know, though less solemn.
Chapter 9
OF THE PROGRESS OF Satan in carrying on his conquest over mankind, from the fall of Eve to the Deluge.
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I DOUBT, IF THE DEVIL was asked the question plainly, he would confess, that after he had conquered Eve by his own wicked contrivance, and then by her assistance had brought Adam too (like a fool as he was,) into the same gulf of misery, he thought he had done his work, compassed the whole race, that they were now his own, and that he had put an end to the grand design of their creation; namely, of peopling heaven with a new angelic race of souls, who, when glorified, should make up the defection of the host of hell, that had been expunged by their crime; in a word, that he had gotten a better conquest than if he had destroyed them all.
But, in the midst of his conquest, he found a check put to the advantages he expected to reap from his victory, by the immediate promise of grace to a part of the posterity of Adam, who, notwithstanding the fall, were to be purchased by the Messiah, and snatched out of his (Satan’s) hands, and over whom he could make no final conquest; so that his power met with a new limitation, and that such, as indeed fully disappointed him in the main thing he aimed at; namely, preventing the beatitudes of mankind; which were thus secured; (and what if the numbers of mankind were upon this account increased in such a manner, that the selected number should, by length of time, amount to just as many as the whole race, had they not fallen, would have amounted to in all?) And thus, indeed, the world may be said to be upheld and continued for the sake of those few, since, till their number can be completed, the creation cannot fall, any more than that without them, or but for them, it would not have stood.
Bat leaving this speculation, and not having inquired of Satan what he has to say on that subject, let us go back to the antediluvian world. The Devil, to be sure, gained his point upon Eve, and in her upon all her race: he drew her into sin; got her turned out of paradise, and the man with her: the next thing was to go to work with her posterity, and particularly with her two sons, Cain and Abel.
Adam having, notwithstanding his fall, repented very sincerely of his sin, received the promise of redemption and pardon, with an humble, but believing heart; charity bids us suppose that he led a very religious and sober life ever after; arid, especially in the first part of his time, that he brought up his children very soberly, and gave them all the necessary advantages of a religious education, and a good introduction into the world, that he was capable of; and that Eve likewise assisted to both in her place and degree.
Their two eldest sons, Cain and Abel, the one heir apparent to the patriarchal empire, and the other heir presumptive, I suppose also, lived very sober and religious lives; and as the principles of natural religion dictated an homage and subjection due to the Almighty Maker, as an acknowledgment of his mercies, and a recognition of their obedience; so the received usage of religion dictating, at that time, that this homage was to be paid by a sacrifice, they either of them brought a free-will offering to be dedicated to God respectively for themselves and families.
How it was, and for what reason, that God had respect to the offering of Abel, which, the learned say, was a lamb of the firstlings of the flock, and did not give any testimony of the like respect to Cain, and his offering, which was of the first fruits of the earth, the offerings being equally suited to the respective employment of the men, that is not my present business; but this we find made heart-burnings, and raised envy and jealousy in the mind of Cain; and at that door the Devil immediately entered; for he, who, from the beginning, was very diligent in his way, never slipped any opportunity, or missed any advantages, that the circumstances of mankind offered him to do mischief.
What shape or appearance the Devil took up to enter into a conversation with Cain upon the subject, that authors do not take upon them to determine; but it is generally supposed he personated some of bain’s sons or grandsons to begin the discourse, who attacked their father, or perhaps grandfather, upon this occasion, in the following manner, or to that purpose:
D. Sir, I perceive your majesty (for the first race were certainly all monarchs as great as kings, to their immediate posterity) to be greatly disturbed of late; your countenance is changed, your noble cheerfulness, the glories of your face, are strangely sunk and gone, and you are not the man you used to be. Please your majesty to communicate your griefs to us your children; you may be sure, that, if it be possible, we would procure you relief, and restore your delights, the loss of which, if thus you go on to subject yourself to too much melancholy, will be very hurtful to you, and, in the end, destroy you.
Cain. It is very kind, my dear children, to show your respect thus to your true progenitor, and to offer your assistance. I confess, as you say. my mind is oppressed and displeased; but, though it is very heavy,
