ntract with
the _Devil_; and upon a Fast kept by some Protestant or Christian
Divines, while they were praying for the poor Man, the Devil was oblig'd
to come and throw the Contract in at the Window.

But I vouch none of these Stories, there may be much in them and much
Use made of them, even whether exactly such in Fact, as they are
related, or no; the best Use I can make of them, is this, if any wicked
desperate Wretches have made Bargain and Sale with _Satan_, their only
Way is to repent, if they know how, and that before he comes to claim
them; then batter him with his own Guns; play Religion against Devilism,
and perhaps they may drive the _Devil_ out of their Reach; at least he
will not come at them, which is as well.

On the other Hand, how many Stories have we handed about of the Devil's
really coming with a terrible Appearance at the Time appointed, and
powerfully or by violence carrying away those, that have given
themselves thus up to him; nay, and sometimes a Piece of the House along
with them, as in the famous Instance of _Sudbury_, _Anno_ 1662. It seems
he comes with Rage and Fury upon such Occasions, pretending he only
comes to take his own, or as if he had leave given him to come and take
his Goods, _as we say_, where he could find them, and would strike a
Terror into all that should oppose him.

The greatest Part of the Terror we are usually in upon this Occasion, is
from a Supposition, that when this _Hell-Fire Contract_ is once made,
God allows the _Devil_ to come and take the wicked Creature, how and in
what manner he thinks fit, as being given up to him by his own Act and
Deed; but in my Opinion there's no Divinity at all in that; for as in
our Law we punish a _Felo de se_, or Self-murtherer, because, _as the
Law suggests_, he had no Right to dismiss his own Life; that he being a
Subject of the Common-wealth, the Government claims the _Ward_ or
Custody of him, and so 'twas not Murther only, but Robbery, and is a
Felony against the State, robbing the King of his Liege-Man, as _'tis
justly call'd_; so neither has any Man a Right to dispose of his Soul,
which belongs to his Maker in Property and in Right of Creation: The Man
then having no Right to sell, Satan has no Right to buy, or at best he
has made a Purchase without a Title, and consequently has no just Claim
to the Possession.

It is therefore a Mistake to say, that when any of us have been so mad
to make such a pretended Contract with the D