to three Lines, cast up the Number of the _Devils_ of all sorts in
each Battalia, at ten hundred times a hundred thousand millions of the
first Line, fifty millions of times as many in the second Line, and
three hundred thousand times as many as both in the third Line.

The Impertinence of this account would hardly have given it a place
here, only to hint that it has always been the Opinion, that _Satan_'s
Name may well be call'd a Noun of Multitude, and that _the Devil_ and
his _Angels_ are certainly no inconsiderable Number: It was a smart
Repartee that a _Venetian_ Nobleman made to a Priest who rallied him
upon his refusing to give something to the Church, which the Priest
demanded for the delivering him from Purgatory; when the Priest asking
him, _if he knew what an innumerable Number of_ Devils _there were to
take him_? he answer'd, _yes, he knew how many_ Devils _there were in
all_: _How many?_ says the Priest, his curiosity, I suppose, being
rais'd by the novelty of the answer. _Why ten millions five hundred and
eleven thousand, six hundred and seventy five Devils and a half_, says
the Nobleman: _A half!_ says the Priest, _pray what kind of a Devil is
that? your self_, says the Nobleman, _for you are half a Devil already
(and will be a whole one when you come there) for you are for deluding
all you deal with, and bringing us Soul and Body into your Hands, that
you may be paid for letting us go again_. So much for their Number.

Here also it would come in very aptly, to consider the state of that
long interval between the Time of their Expulsion from _Heaven_, and the
Creation of the World; and what the Posture of the Devil's Affairs might
be, during that Time. The horror of their Condition can only be
conceiv'd of at a Distance, and especially by us, who being embodied
Creatures, cannot fully judge of what is, or is not a Punishment to
_Seraphs_ and _Spirits_; But 'tis just to suppose they suffer'd all that
Spirits of a Seraphic Nature were capable to sustain, consistent with
their Existence; notwithstanding which they retain'd still the
_Hellishness_ of their rebellious Principles; namely, their Hatred and
Rage against God, and their Envy at the Felicity of his Creatures.

As to how long their time might be, I shall leave that Search; no lights
being given me that are either probable or rational, and we have so
little room to make a Judgment of it, that we may as well believe Father
_M----_, who supposes it to