have nothing Material in them, are of no Signification, or
else so impossible in their Nature, that they make no Impression upon
any body above twelve Years old and under seventy; or else are so
tragical that Antiquity has fabled them down to our Taste, that we might
be able to hear them and repeat them with less Horror than is due to
them.

This Variety has taken off our Relish of the Thing in general, and made
the Trade of Soul-selling, like our late more eminent Bubbles, be taken
to be a Cheat and to have little in it.

However, to speak a little more gravely to it, I cannot say but that
since, by the two eminent Instances of it above in _Ahab_, and in Christ
himself, the Fact is evidently ascertain'd; and that the Devil has
attempted to make such a Bargain on one, and actually did make it with
the other. The Possibility of it is not to be disputed; but then I must
explain the Manner of it a little, and bring it down, nearer to our
Understanding, that it may be more intelligible than it is; for as for
this selling the Soul, and making a Bargain to give the _Devil_
Possession by Livery and Seisin on the Day appointed, that I cannot come
into by any Means; no nor into the other Part, namely, of the Devil
coming to claim his Bargain, and to demand the Soul according to
Agreement, and upon Default of a fair Delivery, taking it away by
Violence _Case and all_, of which we have many historical Relations
pretty current among us; some of which, _for ought I know_, we might
have hop'd had been true, if we had not been sure they were false, and
others we had Reason to fear were false, because it was impossible they
should be true.

The Bargains of this Kind, according to the best Accounts we have of
them, used to consist of two main Articles, according to the ordinary
Stipulations in all Covenants; namely,

1. Something to be perform'd on the Devil's Part, buying.

2. Something to be performed on the Man's Part, selling.

1. The _Devil_'s Part: This was generally some poor Trifle, for the
Devil generally bought good Penny-worths, and oftentimes like a compleat
Sharper, agreed to give what he was not able to procure; that is to say,
would bargain for a Price he could not pay, as in the Case of the
_Hereford_ Man and the Cow; for Example, 1. _Long Life_: This tho' the
deluded Chapman has often had folly enough to contract for, the Devil
never had Power to make good; and we have a famous Story, how true I
know