at
first, and sending them all out of the World at once; for now he has
peopled his own Dominions with them, and tho' a Remnant are snatch'd 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 forc'd 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 in the _Devil_ and all Hell
with him, making a _Feu de Joye_ for the Victory _Satan_ obtain'd over
one silly Woman; indeed it was a Piece of Success greater in its
Consequence than in the immediate Appearance; nor was the Conquest so
compleat as Satan himself imagin'd 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 snatch'd 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 introduc'd 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 it self
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 follow'd; a kind of a 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 resolv'd he shall not be able to corrupt, or if he does, the
sending the promis'd 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