be suspected;
_but take this with you as you go_, that all this is upon a Supposition
that the _Devil_ can assume a visible Shape, and make a real Appearance,
which however I do not yet think fit to grant or deny.

Certain it is, the first People who bestow'd a _Cloven-Foot_ upon the
Devil, were not so despicable as you may imagine, but were real
Favourites of Heaven; for did not _Aaron_ set up the _Devil_ of a Calf
in the Congregation, and set the People a dancing about it for a God?
Upon which Occasion, Expositors tell us, that particular Command was
given, _Levit._ xvii. 7. _They shall no more offer their Sacrifices
unto_ Devils, _after whom they have gone a Whoring_; likewise King
_Jeroboam_ set up the two Calves, one at _Dan_ and the other at
_Bethel_, and we find them charg'd afterwards with setting up the
Worship of _Devils_ instead of the Worship of _God_.

After this we find some Nations actually sacrificed to the _Devil_ in
the Form of a Ram, and others of a Goat; from which, and that above of
the Calves at _Horeb_, I doubt not the Story of the _Cloven-Foot_ first
derived; and it is plain that the Worship of that Calf at _Horeb_ is
meant in the Scripture quoted above, _Levit._ xvii. 7. _Thou shalt no
more offer Sacrifices unto Devils_: The Original is _Seghnirim_; that
is, rough and hairy _Goats_ or _Calves_; and some think also in this
Shape the _Devil_ most ordinarily appeared to the _Egyptians_ and
_Arabians_, from whence it was derived.

Also in the old Writings of the _Egyptians_, I mean their hieroglyphick
Writing, before the Use of Letters was known, we are told this was the
Mark that he was known by; and the Figure of a _Goat_ was the
_Hieroglyphick_ of the _Devil_; some will affirm that the _Devil_ was
particularly pleased to be so represented; how they came by their
Information, and whether they had it from his own Mouth or not, Authors
have not yet determined.

But be this as it will, I do not see that _Satan_ could have been at a
Loss for some extraordinary Figure to have banter'd Mankind with, tho'
this had not been thought of; but thinking of the _Cloven-Foot_ first,
and the Matter being indifferent, this took place, and easily rooted it
self in the bewildred Fancy of the People, and now 'tis riveted too fast
for the _Devil_ himself to remove it if he was disposed to try; but as I
said above, 'tis none of his Business to solve Doubts or remove
Difficulties out of our Heads, but to perplex us