evil_, from
the Creation of Man to the Captivity; I think I may call upon him to set
up his Standard of universal Empire, at that Period; it seem'd just then
as if God had really forsaken the Earth, and given the entire Dominion
of Mankind up to his outrageous Enemy the _Devil_; for excepting the few
_Israelites_ which were left in the Territories of the King of
_Babylon_, and they were but a few; I say, except among them, there was
not one Corner of the World left where the true God was call'd upon, or
his Dominion so much as acknowledg'd; all the World was buried in
Idolatry, and that of so many horrid Kinds, that one would think, the
Light of Reason should have convinc'd Mankind, that he who exacted such
bloody Sacrifices as that of _Moloch_, and such a bloody cutting
themselves with Knives, as the Priests of _Baal_ did, could not be a
GOD, a good and beneficent Being, but must be a cruel, voracious and
devouring Devil, whose End was not the Good, but the Destruction of his
Creatures: But to such a Height was the blind demented World arriv'd to
at that Time, that in these sordid and corrupt Ways, they went on
worshiping dumb Idols, and offering human Sacrifices to them, and in a
Word, committing all the most horrid and absurd Abominations that they
were capable of, or that the _Devil_ could prompt them to, till Heaven
was again put, as it were, to the Necessity of bringing about a
Revolution, in favour of his own forsaken People, by Miracle and
Surprize, as he had done before.

We come therefore to the Restoration or Return of the Captivity: Had
_Satan_ been able to have acted any thing by Force, _as I have observ'd
before_, all the Princes and Powers of the World, having been, as they
really were, at his Devotion, he might easily have made use of them,
arm'd all the World against the _Jews_, and prevented the Rebuilding the
Temple, and even the Return of the Captivity.

But now the _Devil_'s Power manifestly received a Check, and the Hand of
God appear'd in it, and that he was resolv'd to reestablish his People
the _Jews_, and to have a second Temple built: the _Devil_, who knew the
Extent of his own Power too well, and what Limitations were laid upon
him, stood still as it were looking on, and not daring to oppose the
Return of the Captivity, which he very well knew had been prophesied,
and would come to pass.

He did indeed make some little Opposition to the Building, and to the
fortifying the City, but as it w