It cannot be doubted, but, had it not been thus, Man is so far from being a Match for the Devil, that one of Satan’s least Imps or Angels could destroy all the Race of them in the World, ay World and all in a moment;
As he is Prince of the Power of the Air, taking the Air for the Elementary World, how easily could he, at one Blast, sweep all the Surface of the Earth into the Sea, or drive weighty immense Surges of the Ocean over the whole Plane of the Earth, and deluge the Globe at once with a Storm? Or how easily could he, who, by the Situation of the Empire, must be supposed able to manage the Clouds, draw them up, in such Position as should naturally produce Thunders and Lightnings, cause those Lightnings to blast the Earth, dash in Pieces all the Buildings, burn all the populous Towns and Cities, and lay wast the World;
At the same time he might command suited Quantities of sublimated Air to burst out of the Bowels of the Earth, and overwhelm and swallow up, in the opening Chasms, all the Inhabitants of the Globe?
In a Word, Satan left to himself as a Devil, and to the Power, which by virtue of his Seraphic Original he must be vested with, was able to have made Devilish Work in the World, if by a superior Power he was not restrain’d.
But there is no doubt, at least to me, but that with his fall from Heaven, as he lost the Rectitude and Glory of his Angelic Nature, I mean his Innocence, so he lost the Power too that he had before; and that when he first commenc’d Devil, he received the Chains of Restraint too, as the Badge of his Apostacy, viz. a general Prohibition, to do any thing to the Prejudice of this Creation, or to act any thing by Force or Violence without special Permission.
This Prohibition was not sent him by a Messenger, or by an Order in Writing, or proclaimed from Heaven by a Law; but Satan, by a strange, invisible and unaccountable Impression felt the Restraint within him; and at the same time that his moral Capacity was not taken away, yet his Power of exerting that Capacity felt the Restraint, and left him unable to do, even what he was able to do at the same time.
I make no question, but the Devil is sensible of this Restraint, that is to say, not as it is a restraint only, or as an effect of his Expulsion from Heaven; But as it prevents his Capital Design against Man, who, for the Reason I have given already, he entertains a mortal Hatred of, and would destroy with all his Heart, if he might; and therefore, like a chain’d Mastiff, we find him oftentimes making a horrid hellish Clamour and Noise, barking and howling, and frighting the People, letting them know, that if he was loose he would tear them in pieces; but at the same time his very Fury shakes his Chain, which lets them know, to their Satisfaction, he can only Bark, but cannot Bite.
Some are of Opinion that the Devil is not restrain’d so much by the superior Power of his Sovereign and Maker; but that all his milder Measures with Man are the effect of a political Scheme, and done upon mature Deliberation; that it was resolved to act thus, in the great Council or P——t of Devils, call’d upon this very Occasion, when they first were inform’d of the Creation of Man; and especially when they considered what kind of Creature he was, and what might probably be the Reason of making him, (viz.) to fill up the Vacancies in Heaven; I say, that then the Devils resolv’d, that it was not for their Interest to fall upon him with Fury and Rage, and so destroy the Species, for that this would be no Benefit at all to them, and would only cause another original Man to be created; for that they knew God could, by the same Omnipotence, form as many new Species of Creatures as he pleased; and, if he thought fit, create them in Heaven too, out of the Reach of Devils or evil Spirits, and that therefore, to destroy Man would no way answer their End.
On the other hand, examining strictly the Mould of this new made Creature, and of what Materials he was form’d; how mixt up of a Nature convertible and pervertible, capable indeed of infinite Excellence, and consequently of eternal Felicity; but subject likewise to Corruption and Degeneracy, and consequently to eternal Misery; That instead of being fit to supply the Places of Satan and his rejected Tribe (the expell’d Angels) in Heaven, and filling up the Thrones or Stalls in the Celestial Choir, they might, if they could but be brought into Crime, become a Race of Rebels and Traytors like the rest; and so come at last to keep them Company, as well in the Place of eternal Misery, as in the Merit of it, and in a Word, become Devils instead of Angels.
Upon this Discovery, I say, they found it infinitely more for the Interest of Satan’s infernal Kingdom, to go another way to work with Mankind, and see if it were possible, by the strength of all their infernal Wit and Counsels, to lay some Snare for him, and by some Stratagem to bring him to eternal Ruin and Misery.