w the Mystery of the Incarnation; nor did he know how
far the _Inanition_ of Christ extended, and whether, _as Man_, he was
not subject to fall as _Adam_ was, tho' his reserv'd Godhead might be
still immaculate and pure; and upon this Foot, as he would leave no
Method untried, he attempts him three Times, one immediately after
another; but then, finding himself disappointed he fled.

This evidently proves that the _Devil_ was ignorant of the great Mystery
of Godliness, _as the Text calls it_, God manifest in the Flesh, and
therefore made that foolish Attempt upon Christ, thinking to have
conquer'd his human Nature as capable of Sin, which it was not; and at
this Repulse _Hell_ groan'd, the whole Army of regimented _Devils_
receiv'd a Wound, and felt the Shock of it; 'twas a second Overthrow to
them, they had had a long Chain of Success, carried a _devilish_
Conquest over the greatest Part of the Creation of GOD; but now they
were cut short, _the Seed of the Woman_ was now come _to break the
Serpent's Head_, that is, to cut short his Power, to contract the Limits
of his Kingdom, and in a Word, to dethrone him in the World: No doubt
the _Devil_ receiv'd a Shock, for you find him always afterward, crying
out in a horrible Manner, whenever Christ met with him, or else very
humble and submissive, as when he begg'd leave to go into the Herd of
Swine, a Thing he has often done since.

Defeated here, the first Stratagem I find him concern'd in after it, was
his entring into _Judas_, and putting him upon betraying Christ to the
Chief Priest; but here again he was entirely mistaken, for he did not
see, _as much a Devil as he was_, what the Event would be; but when he
came to know, that if Christ was put to Death, he would become a
Propitiatory and be the great Sacrifice of Mankind, so to rescue the
fallen Race from that Death they had incurr'd the Penalty of, by the
Fall, that this was the fulfilling of all Scripture Prophesy, and that
thus it was that Christ was to be _the End of the Law_, I say, as soon
as he perceiv'd this, he strove all he could to prevent it, and
disturb'd _Pilate_'s Wife in her Sleep, in order to set her upon her
Husband to hinder his delivering him up to the _Jews_; for then, and not
till then, he knew how Christ was to vanquish Hell by the Power of his
Cross.

Thus the _Devil_ was disappointed and exposed in every Step he took, and
as he now plainly saw his Kingdom declining, and even the temporal
King