from all his high places of worship when he came; that 'tis therefore fit he should have forced him from all his other less notorious Haunts: and upon the imagination of a decency, which they frame, conclude a fact, contrary to the greatest evidence of which the thing is capable. And once more,
(5.) The consequence of this imagined Decorum, if it be pursued, would be this, that Satan, should now be deprived of all the ways and tricks of Cozenage, whereby he abuseth us; and mankind since the coming of Christ, should have been secure from all his Temptations; for there is a greater congruity in believing, that, when he was forced from his haunts in Temples and publick places, he should be put also from those nearer ones, about us and within us in his daily temptations of universal Mankind; than, that upon relinquishing those, he should be made to leave all profest communication and correspondence with those profligate persons, whose vileness had fitted them for such company.
So that these Reasoners are very Fair for the denial of all internal diabolical Temptations. And because I durst not trust them, I'll crave your leave here to add some things concerning those.
In order to which, that I may obtain the favour of those wary persons, who are so coy, and shy of their assent, I grant; That men frequently out of a desire to excuse themselves, lay their own guilt upon the Devil, and charge him with things of which in earnest he is not guilty: For I doubt not but every wicked Man hath Devil enough in his own nature to prompt him to Evil, and needs not another Tempter to incite him. But yet, that Sathan endeavours to further our wickedness, and our ruin by his inticements, and goes up and down seeking whom he may devour, is too evident in the holy Oracles, to need my endeavours particularly to make it good; Only those diffident men cannot perhaps apprehend the manner of the operation, and from thence are tempted to believe, that there is really no such thing. Therefore I judge it requisite to explain this, and 'tis not unsuitable to my general subject.
In order to it I consider, That sense is primarily caused by motion in the Organs, which by continuity is conveyed to the brain, where sensation is immediately performed; and it is nothing else but a notice excited in the Soul by the impulse of an external object. Thus it is in simple outward sense, But imagination, though caused immediately by material motion also, yet it differs from the external senses in this, That 'tis not from an impress directly from without, but the prime, and original motion is from within our selves: Thus the Soul it self sometimes strikes upon those
