2. That he is man's irreconcilable Enemy; not as he is a man, nor on his own account simply, nor for any advantage he (the Devil) can make by the ruin and destruction of man; but in meer envy at the felicity he is supposed to enjoy as Satan's rival; and as he is appointed to succeed Satan and his Angels in the possession of those glories from which they are fallen. And here I must take upon me to say, Mr. _Milton_ makes a wrong judgment of the reason of _Satan_'s resolution to disturb the felicity of man; He tells us it was meerly to affront God his Maker, rob him of the glory design'd in his new work of creations and to disappoint him in his main design, namely, the creating a new species of creatures in a perfect rectitude of soul, and after his own image, from whom he might expect a new Fund of glory should be rais'd, and who was to appear as the triumph of the Messiah's victory over the Devil. In all which Satan could not be fool enough not to know that he should be disappointed by the same Power which had so eminently counter-acted his rage before. But, I believe, the Devil went upon a much more probable design; and tho' he may be said to act upon a meaner principle than that of pointing his rage at the personal glory of his Creator; yet I own, that in my opinion, it was by much the more rational undertaking, and more likely to succeed; and that was, that whereas he perceived this new species of creatures had a sublime as well as a human part, and were made capable of possessing the mansions of eternal Beatitude, from whence, he (_Satan_) and his Angels were expell'd and irretrievably banish'd; envy at such a rival mov'd him by all possible artifice, _for he saw him deprived of capacity to do it by force_, to render him unworthy like himself; that bringing him to fall into rebellion and disobedience, he might see his Rival damn'd with him; and those who were intended to fill up the empty spaces in Heaven, made so by the absence of so many millions of fallen Angels, be cast out into the same darkness with them. How he came to know that this new species of creatures were liable to such imperfection, is best explain'd by the _Devil_'s prying, vigilant disposition, judging or leading him to judge by himself; (for he was as near being infallible as any of God's creatures had been) and then inclining him to try whether it was so or no. Modern Naturalists, especially some who have not so large a charity for the fair sex, as I have, tell us, that as soon as ever Satan saw the woman, and look'd in her face, he saw evidently that she was the best form'd creature to make a Tool of, and the best to make a hypocrite of, that could be made, and therefore the most fitted for his purpose.