ve it is,
either it is not the Devil that makes those Bargains, or the Devil has
not such Power as we bestow on him, except on Special Occasions he gets
a Permit, and is bid go, as in the Case of _Job_, the _Gadaren Hogs_,
and the like.

We have another Example of a Man's selling himself to the _Devil_, that
is very remarkable, and that is in the Bible too, and even in that, I
do not find, what the _Devil_ did for him, in Payment of the Purchase
Price. The Person selling was _Ahab_, of whom the Text says expresly,
_there was none like_ him, _who did sell himself to work Wickedness in
the Sight of the_ LORD, 1 _Kings_ xxi. 20, and the 25. I think it might
have been rendred, if not translated _in Spight of the Lord_, or _in
Defiance of God_; for certainly that's the Meaning of it; and now
allowing me to preach a little upon this Text, my Sermon shall be very
short. _Ahab_ sold himself, who did he sell himself to? I answer that
Question by a Question; who would buy him? who, _as we say_, would give
any thing for him? and the Answer to that is plain also, you may judge
of the Purchaser by the Work he was to do; he that buys a Slave in the
Market, buys him to work for him, and to do such Business as he has for
him to do: _Ahab_ was bought to work wickedness, and who would buy him
for that but the _Devil_?

I think there's no room to doubt but _Ahab_ sold himself to the Devil;
the Text is plain that he sold himself, and the Work he was sold to do
points out the Master that bought him; what Price he agreed with the
_Devil_ for, that indeed the Text is silent in, so we may let it alone,
nor is it much to our Purpose, unless it be to enquire whether the
_Devil_ stood to his Bargain or not, and whether he paid the Money
according to Agreement, or cheated him as he did the Farmer at
_Hereford_.

This buying and selling between the _Devil_ and us, is, I must confess,
an odd kind of Stock-jobbing, and indeed the _Devil_ may be said to sell
the _Bear-skin_, whatever he buys; but the strangest Part is when he
comes to demand the transfer; for as I hinted before, whether he
Performs or no, he expects his Bargain to a Tittle; there is indeed
some Difficulty in resolving how and in what Manner Payment is made; the
Stories we meet with in our Chimney-Corner Histories, and which are so
many Ways made Use of to make the _Devil_ frightful to us and our Heirs
for ever, are generally so foolish and ridiculous, as, if true or not
true, they