I may be allow'd, I hope, for the Sake of the present Discourse, to suppose that the _Devil_ would have been so just to this wicked, tho' foolish Creature, as to have sav'd him from the Gallows if he could; but it seems, he at last acknowledg'd that it was not in his Power; nay, he could not keep him from being taken and carry'd to Prison, after he was gotten into the Hands of a bold Fellow or two, that were not to be fear'd with his Bluster, as some foolish Creatures had been before. And how simple, how weak, how unlike any Thing of an Angelick Nature, was it to attempt to save the poor Wretch, only by little Noises and sham Appearances, putting out the Candles, rushing and josteling in the Dark, _and the like_! If the _Devil_ was that mighty Seraph, which we have heard of, if he is a God of this World, a Prince of the Air, a Spirit able to destroy Cities and make Havock in the World; if he can raise Tempests and Storms, throw Fire about the World, and do wonderful Things, as an unchain'd _Devil_ no Doubt could do; what need all this Frippery? and what need he try so many ridiculous Ways, by the Emptiness, nay, the silly nonsensical Manner, of which, he shews, that he is able to do no better, and that his Power is extinguish'd? _In a Word_, he would certainly act otherwise, if he could. _Sed caret pedibus_, he wants Power. How weak a thing is it then, for any Man to expect Performance from the _Devil_? If he has not Power to do Mischief, which is his Element, his very Nature, and on many Accounts, is the very sum of his Desires; How should he have Power to do Good? how Power to deliver from Danger or from Death? which Deliverance would be in itself a Good, and we know it is not in his Nature to do Good to or for any Man? In a Word, the _Devil_ is strangely impudent, to think that any Man should depend upon him for the Performance of an Agreement of any Kind whatever, when he knows himself, that he is not able, if he was honest enough, to be as good as his Word. Come we next to his expecting our Performance to him; tho' he is not so just to us, yet, it seems, he never fails to come and demand Payment of us at the very Day appointed: He was but a weak Trader in Things of this Nature, who having sold his Soul to the _Devil_, so our old Women's Tales call the Thing, and when the _Devil_ came to demand his Bargain, put it off as a Thing of no Force, for that it was done so long ago, he thought he (_the Devil_) had forgot it. It was a better Answer, which they tell us, a _Lutheran_ Divine gave the _Devil_ in the Name of a poor Wretch, who had sold himself to the _Devil_, and who was in a terrible Fright about his coming for his Bargain, as he might well be indeed, if the _Devil_ has such a Power, as really to come and take it by Force. _The Story (if you can bear a serious one) is this._