The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts
by Daniel Defoe · English · Gutenberg #31053 · 728,121 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts
Author: Daniel Defoe
Release date: January 23, 2010 [eBook #31053]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31053
Credits: Produced by Michael Roe, Stephanie Eason, and the Online
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL, AS WELL ANCIENT AS MODERN: IN TWO PARTS ***
Produced by Michael Roe, Stephanie Eason, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries.)
THE
HISTORY
OF THE
DEVIL,
AS WELL
ANCIENT as MODERN:
IN TWO PARTS.
PART I.
Containing a State of the _Devil_'s Circumstances, and the various
Turns of his Affairs; from his Expulsion out of Heaven, to the
_Creation_ of Man; with Remarks on the Several Mistakes concerning
the Reason and Manner of his Fall.
Also his Proceedings with _Mankind_ ever since _Adam_, to the first
planting of the Christian Religion in the World.
PART II.
Containing his more private Conduct, down to the present Times: His
Government, his Appearances, his manner of Working, and the Tools
he works with.
_Bad as he is, the Devil may be abus'd,_
_Be falsly charg'd, and causelesly accus'd,_
_When Men, unwilling to be blam'd alone,_
_Shift off these Crimes on Him which are their Own._
The SECOND EDITION.
_LONDON:_
Printed for T. WARNER, at the _Black Boy_ in
_Pater-noster Row_. 1727.
The PREFACE
TO THE
SECOND EDITION.
_This Second Edition of this Work, notwithstanding a large Impression of
the First, is a Certificate from the World of its general Acceptation;
so we need not, according to the Custom of Editors, boast of it without
Evidence, or tell a F----b in its Favour._
_The Subject is singular, and it has been handled after a singular
Manner: The wise World has been pleased with it, the merry World has
been diverted with it, and the ignorant World has been taught by it;
none but the malicious part of the World has been offended at it: Who
can wonder, that when the_ Devil _is not pleased,_ his Friends should be
angry?
_The strangest thing of it all is, to hear_ Satan _complain that the
Story is handled prophanely: But who can think it strange that his
Advocates should_ BE, what he was from the Beginning?
_The Author affirms, and has good Vouchers for it (in the Opinion of
such whose Judgment passes with him for an Authority) that the whole
Tenor of the Work is solemn, calculated to promote serious Religion, and
capable of being improv'd in a religious manner. But he does not think
that we are bound never to speak of the_ Devil _but with an Air of
Terror, as if we were always afraid of him._
_'Tis evident the_ Devil, _as subtle and as frightful as he is, has
acted the ridiculous and foolish Part, as much as most of God's
Creatures, and daily does so. And he cannot believe 'tis any Sin to
expose him for a foolish_ Devil, _as he is, or shew the World that he
may be laugh'd at._
_Those that think the Subject not handled with Gravity enough, have all
the Room given them in the World to handle it better; and as the Author
professes he is far from thinking his Piece perfect, they ought not to
be angry that_ he gives them leave to mend it. _He has had the
Satisfaction to please some Readers, and to see good Men approve it; and
for the rest, as my Lord_ Rochester _says in another Case,_
He counts their Censure Fame.
_As for a certain Reverend Gentleman, who is pleased gravely to dislike
the Work_ (_he hopes, rather for the Author's sake than the_ Devil's)
_he only says,_ Let the Performance be how it will, and the Author what
he will, it is apparent he has not yet preach'd away all his Hearers.
_It is enough to me (says the Author) that the_ Devil _himself is not
pleased with my Work, and less with the Design of it; let the_ Devil
_and all his fellow Complainers stand on one side, and the honest, well
meaning, charitable World, who approve my Work, on the other, and I'll
tell Noses with_ Satan, _if he dares._
THE CONTENTS.
PART I.
CHAP. I.
_Being an Introduction to the whole Work_, Page 1
CHAP. II.
_Of the Word_ DEVIL, _as it is a proper Name to the Devil, and
any or all his Host, Angels_, &c. 18
CHAP. III.
_Of the Original of the_ DEVIL, _who he is, what he was before
his Expulsion out of Heaven, and in what State he was from that
Time to the Creation of Man_ 31
CHAP. IV.
_Of the Name of the Devil, his Original, and the Nature of his
Circumstances since he has been call'd by that Name_ 38
CHAP. V.
_Of the Station Satan had in Heaven before he fell; the Nature
and Original of his Crime, and some of Mr._ Milton's _Mistakes
about it_ 63
CHAP. VI.
_What became of the_ Devil _and his Host of fallen Spirits after
their being expell'd from Heaven, and his wandring Condition till
the Creation; with some more of Mr._ Milton_'s Absurdities on
that Subject_ 77
CHAP. VII.
_Of the Number of Satan's Host; how they came first to know of
the new created Worlds now in Being, and their Measures with
Mankind upon the Discovery_ 86
CHAP. VIII.
_Of the Power of the Devil at the Time of the Creation of this
World; whether it has not been farther straiten'd and limited
since that Time, and what Shifts and Stratagems he is oblig'd
to make use of to compass his Designs upon Mankind_ 95
CHAP. IX.
_Of the Progress of Satan in carrying on his Conquest over
Mankind, from the Fall of_ Eve _to the Deluge_ 111
CHAP. X.
_Of the Devil's second Kingdom, and how he got footing in the
renewed World by his Victory over_ Noah _and his Race_ 129
CHAP. XI.
_Of God's calling a Church out of the midst of a degenerate
World, and of Satan's new Measures upon that Incident: How
he attacked them immediately, and his Success in those Attacks_ 159
PART II.
CHAP. I.
_The Introduction_ 192
CHAP. II.
_Of Hell as it is represented to us, and how the_ Devil _is to
be understood, as being personally in Hell, when at the same
Time we find him at Liberty ranging over the World_ 206
CHAP. III.
_Of the Manner of_ Satan's _acting and carrying on his Affairs
in this World, and particularly of his ordinary Workings in the
dark, by_ Possession _and_ Agitation 216
CHAP. IV.
_Of Satan's Agents or Missionaries, and their Actings upon and
in the Minds of Men in his Name_ 226
CHAP. V.
_Of the_ Devil_'s Management in the Pagan Hierarchy by Omens,
Entrails, Augurs, Oracles, and such like Pageantry of Hell; and
how they went off the Stage at last by the Introduction of true
Religion_ 245
CHAP. VI.
_Of the extraordinary Appearances of the Devil, and particularly
of the Cloven-Foot_ 265
CHAP. VII.
_Whether is most hurtful to the World, the_ Devil _walking about
without his Cloven-Foot, or the Cloven-Foot walking about without
the_ Devil? 282
CHAP. VIII.
_Of the Cloven-Foot walking about the World without the_ Devil
(viz.) _of Witches making Bargains with the_ Devil, _and
particularly of selling the Soul to the_ Devil 316
CHAP. IX.
_Of the Tools the_ Devil _works with_ (viz.) _Witches, Wizards
or Warlocks, Conjurers, Magicians, Diviners, Astrologers,
Interpreters of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes; and above all the
rest, his particular modern Privy-Counsellors call'd Wits and
Fools_ 339
CHAP. X.
_Of the various Methods the Devil takes to converse with Mankind_ 352
CHAP. XI.
_Of Divination, Sorcery, the Black-Art, Pawawing, and such like
Pretenders to Devilisms, and how far the_ Devil _is or is not
concern'd in them_ 377
The CONCLUSION.
_Of the_ Devil'_s last Scene of Liberty, and what may be supposed
to be his End; with what we are to understand of his being
tormented for ever and ever_ 404
THE
HISTORY
OF THE
DEVIL, _&c._
CHAP. I.
_Being an Introduction to the whole Work._
I doubt not but the title of this book will amuse some of my reading
friends a little at first; they will make a pause, perhaps, as they do
at a witch's prayer, and be some time resolving whether they had best
look into it or no, lest they should really raise the _Devil_ by reading
his story.
Children and old women have told themselves so many frightful things _of
the Devil_, and have form'd ideas of him in their minds, in so many
horrible and monstrous shapes, that really it were enough to fright the
_Devil_ himself, to meet himself in the dark, dress'd up in the several
figures which imagination has form'd for him in the minds of men; and as
for themselves, I cannot think by any means that the _Devil_ would
terrify them half so much, if they were to converse face to face with
him.
It must certainly therefore be a most useful undertaking to give the
true history of this _Tyrant of the air_, this _God of the world_, this
terror and aversion of mankind, which we call _Devil_; to shew what he
IS, and what he IS NOT, where he IS, and where he IS NOT, when he is IN
US, and when he IS NOT; for I cannot doubt but that the _Devil_ is
really and _bona fide_ in a great many of our honest weak-headed
friends, when they themselves know nothing of the matter.
Nor is the work so difficult as some may imagine. The _Devil_'s
_history_ is not so hard to come at, as it seems to be; His original and
the first rise of his family is upon record, and as for his conduct, he
has acted indeed in the dark, as to method in many things; but _in
general_, as cunning as he is, he has been fool enough to expose himself
in some of the most considerable transactions of his Life, and has not
shewn himself a politician at all: Our old friend _Matchiavel_ outdid
him in many things, and I may in the process of this work give an
account of several of the sons of _Adam_, and some societies of 'em too,
who have out-witted _the Devil_, nay, who have out-sin'd _the Devil_,
and that I think may be call'd out-shooting him in his own bow.
It may perhaps be expected of me in this history, that since I seem
inclin'd to speak favourably of _Satan_, to do him justice, and to write
his story impartially, I should take some pains to tell you what
religion he is of; and even this part may not be so much a jest, as at
first sight you may take it to be; for _Satan_ has something of religion
in him, I assure you; nor is he such an unprofitable _Devil_ that way,
as some may suppose him to be; for tho', in reverence to my brethren, I
will not reckon him among the Clergy; No not so much as a gifted
Brother, yet I cannot deny, but that he often preaches, and if it be not
profitably to his hearers; 'tis as much their fault, as it is out of his
design.
It has indeed been suggested that he has taken orders, and that a
certain Pope, famous for being an extraordinary favourite of his, gave
him both institution and induction; but as this is not upon record, and
therefore we have no authentic document for the probation, I shall not
affirm it for a truth, for I would not slander the _Devil_.
It is said also, and I am apt to believe it, that he was very familiar
with that holy father Pope _Silvester_ II. and some charge him with
personating Pope _Hildebrand_ on an extraordinary occasion, and himself
sitting in the chair apostolick, in a full congregation; and you may
hear more of this hereafter: But as I do not meet with Pope _Diabolus_
among the list; in all father _Platina_'s lives of the Popes, so I am
willing to leave it as I find it.
But to speak to the point, and a nice point it is I acknowledge;
_namely_, what religion _the Devil_ is of; my answer will indeed be
general, yet not at all ambiguous, for I love to speak positively and
with undoubted evidence.
1. _He is a believer._ And if in saying so it should follow, that
even the _Devil_ has more religion than some of our men of fame can
at this time be charged with, I hope my Lord ---- and his Grace the
---- of ---- and some of the upper class in the red-hot club, will
not wear the coat, however well it may sit to their shapes, or
challenge the Satyr, as if it were pointed at them, because 'tis
due to them: In a word, whatever their Lordships are, I can assure
them that the _Devil_ is no Infidel.
2. _He fears God._ We have such abundant evidence of this in sacred
History, that if I were not at present, in common with a few
others, talking to an infidel sort of Gentlemen, with whom those
remote things call'd Scriptures are not allow'd in evidence, I
might say it was sufficiently prov'd; but I doubt not in the
process of this undertaking to shew, that _the Devil_ really _fears
God_, and that after another manner than ever he fear'd Saint
_Frances_ or Saint _Dunstan_; and if that be proved, as I take upon
me to advance, I shall leave it to judgment, who's the better
Christian, _the Devil_ who _believes_ and _trembles_, or our modern
gentry of ---- who believe neither _God nor Devil_.
Having thus brought the _Devil_ within the _Pale_, I shall leave him
among you for the present; not but that I may examine in its order who
has the best claim to his brotherhood, the Papists or the Protestants;
and among the latter the Lutherans or the Calvinists; and so descending
to all the several denominations of churches, see who has less of _the
Devil_ in them, and who more; and whether _less_ or _more_ the Devil has
not a seat in every synagogue, a pew in every church, a place in every
pulpit, and a vote in every synod; even from the Sanhedrim of the
_Jews_, to our friends at the _Bull and Mouth_, &c. from the greatest to
the least.
It will, I confess, come very much within the compass of this part of my
discourse, to give an account, _or at least make an essay toward it_, of
the share _the Devil_ has had in the spreading religion in the world;
and especially of dividing and subdividing opinions in religion;
perhaps, to eke it out and make it reach the farther; and also to shew
how far he is or has made himself a missionary of the famous clan _de
propaganda fide_; it is true, we find him heartily employ'd in almost
every corner of the world _ad propagandum errorem_: But that may require
a history by it self.
As to his propagating religion, 'tis a little hard indeed, at first
sight, to charge _the Devil_ with propagating religion, that is to say,
if we take it literally, and in the gross; but if you take it as the
_Scots_ insisted to take the oath of fidelity, _viz._ with an
_explanation_, it is plain _Satan_ has very often had a share in the
method, if not in the design of propagating the _christian faith_: For
example.
I think I do no injury at all to the Devil, to say that he had a great
hand in the old _holy war_, as it was ignorantly and enthusiastically
call'd; stirring up the christian princes and powers of _Europe_ to run
a madding after the _Turks_ and _Saracens_, and make war with those
innocent people above a thousand miles off, only because they entred
into God's heritage when he had forsaken it; graz'd upon his ground when
he had fairly turn'd it into a common, and laid it open for the next
comer; spending their nation's treasure, and embarking their kings and
people, (I say) in a war above a thousand miles off, filling their heads
with that religious madness, call'd, in those days, _holy zeal_ to
recover the _terra sancta_, the sepulchers of Christ and the Saints, and
as they call'd it falsly, the _holy city_, tho' true religion says it
was the accursed city, and not worth spending one drop of blood for.
This religious _Bubble_ was certainly of _Satan_, who, as he craftily
drew them in, so like a true _Devil_ he left them in the lurch when they
came there, fac'd about to the _Saracens_, animated the immortal
_Saladin_ against them, and manag'd so dexterously that he left the
bones of about thirteen or fourteen hundred thousand Christians there as
a trophy of his infernal politicks; and after the christian world had
run _a la santa terra_, or in _English_ a _saunt'ring_, about a hundred
year, he dropt it to play another game less foolish, but ten times
wickeder than that which went before it, _namely_, turning the crusadoes
of the Christians one against another; and, as _Hudibras_ said in
another case,
"Made them fight like mad or drunk
"For dame religion as for punk.
Of this you have a compleat account in the history of the Popes decrees
against the Count _de Thoulouse_, and the _Waldenses_ and _Albigenses_,
with the crusadoes and massacres which follow'd upon them, wherein to do
_the Devil_'s politicks some justice, he met with all the success he
could desire; the zealots of that day executed his infernal orders most
punctually, and planted religion in those countries in a glorious and
triumphant manner, upon the destruction of an infinite number of
innocent people, whose blood has fatten'd the soil for the growth of the
Catholick faith, in a manner very particular, and to Satan's full
satisfaction.
I might, to compleat this part of his history, give you the detail of
his progress in these first steps of his alliances with _Rome_; and add
a long list of massacres, wars, and expeditions in behalf of religion,
which he has had the honour to have a visible hand in; such as the
_Parisian_ massacre, the _Flemish_ war under the Duke _d' Alva_, the
_Smithfield_ fires in the _Marian days_ in _England_, and the massacres
in _Ireland_; all which would most effectually convince us that _the
Devil_ has not been idle in his business; but I may meet with these
again in my way, 'tis enough, while I am upon the generals only, to
mention them thus in a summary way; I say, 'tis enough to prove that
_the Devil_ has really been as much concerned as any body, in the
methods taken by some people for propagating the christian religion in
the world.
Some have rashly, and I had almost said maliciously charg'd _the Devil_
with the great triumphs of his friends the _Spaniards_ in _America_, and
would place the conquest of _Mexico_ and _Peru_ to the credit of his
account.
But I cannot join with them in this at all, I must say, I believe _the
Devil_ was innocent of that matter; my reason is, because, _Satan_ was
never such a fool as to spend his time, or his politicks, or embark his
allies to conquer nations who were already his own; that would be
_Satan_ against _Beelzebub_, making war upon himself, and at least doing
nothing to the purpose.
If they should charge him, indeed, with deluding _Philip_ II. of _Spain_
into that preposterous attempt call'd _the Armada_, (_anglice_, the
_Spanish Invasion_,) I should indeed more readily join with them; but
whether he did it weakly, in hope, _which was indeed not likely_, that
it should succeed; or wickedly, to destroy that great fleet of the
_Spaniards_, and draw them within the reach of his own dominions, the
elements; this being a question which authors differ exceedingly about,
I shall leave it to decide it self.
But the greatest piece of management, which we find _the Devil_ has
concern'd himself in of late, in the matter of religion, seems to be
that of the mission into _China_; and here indeed _Satan_ has acted his
master-piece: It was, no doubt, much for his service that _the Chineses_
should have no insight into matters of religion, I mean, that we call
christian; and therefore, tho' _Popery_ and the _Devil_ are not at so
much variance as some may imagine, yet he did not think it safe to let
the general system of Christianity be heard of among them in _China_.
Hence when the name of the christian religion had but been received with
some seeming approbation in the country of _Japan_, _Satan_ immediately,
as if alarm'd at the thing, and dreading what the consequence of it
might be, arm'd the _Japoneses_ against it with such fury, that they
expell'd it at once.
It was much safer to his designs, when, if the story be not a fiction,
he put that _Dutch_ witicism into the mouths of the States commanders,
when they came to _Japan_; who having more wit than to own themselves
Christians in such a place as that, when the question was put to them,
answered negatively, _That they were not_, but that _they were of
another religion call'd_ Hollanders.
However, it seems the diligent _Jesuits_ out-witted the Devil in
_China_, and, as I said above, over-shot him in his own Bow; for the
mission being in danger _by the Devil and the_ Chinese _Emperor_'s
_joining together_, of being wholly expell'd there too, as they had been
in _Japan_, they cunningly fell in with the ecclesiasticks of the
country, and joining the priestcraft of both religions together, they
brought _Jesus Christ_ and _Confucius_ to be so reconcilable, that the
_Chinese_ and the _Roman_ idolatry appeared capable of a confederacy, of
going on hand in hand together, and consequently of being very good
friends.
This was a master-piece indeed, and, _as they say_, almost frighted
_Satan_ out of his wits; but he being a ready manager, and particularly
famous for serving himself of the rogueries of the priests, fac'd about
immediately to the mission, and making a virtue of necessity, clapt in,
with all possible alacrity, with the proposal[1]; so the _Jesuits_ and
he form'd a _hotch-potch_ of _religion_ made up of _Popery_ and _Paganism_
and calculated to leave the latter rather worse than they found it,
binding the faith of Christ and the philosophy or morals of _Confucius_
together, and formally christening them by the name of _religion_; by
which means the politick interest of the mission was preserved; and yet
_Satan_ lost not one inch of ground with the _Chineses_, no, not by the
planting the Gospel it self, _such as it was_, among them.
Nor has it been such disadvantage to him that this plan or scheme of a
new modell'd religion would not go down at _Rome_, and that the
Inquisition damn'd it with Bell, Book and Candle; distance of place
serv'd his new allies, the missionaries, in the stead of a protection
from the Inquisition; and now and then a rich present well plac'd found
them friends in the congregation it self; and where any Nuncio with his
impudent zeal pretended to take such a long voyage to oppose them,
_Satan_ took care to get him sent back _re infecta_, or inspir'd the
million to move him off the premisses, by methods of their own (that is
to say, being interpreted) to _murther him_.
Thus the mission has in itself been truly _devilish_, and the Devil has
interested himself in the planting the christian religion in _China_.
The influence _the Devil_ has in the Politicks of mankind, is another
especial part of his history, and would require, if it were possible, a
very exact description; but here we shall necessarily be obliged to
inquire so nicely into the Arcana of circumstances, and unlock the
cabinets of state in so many courts, canvass the councils of ministers
and the conduct of princes so fully, and expose them so much, that it
may, perhaps, make a combustion among the great politicians abroad; and
in doing that we may come so near home too, that tho' personal safety
and prudentials forbid our medling with our own country, we may be taken
in a double entendre, and fall unpitied for being only suspected of
touching truths that are so tender, whether we are guilty or no; on
these accounts I must meddle the less with that part, at least for the
present.
Be it that the Devil has had a share in some of the late councils of
_Europe_, influencing them this way or that way, to his own advantage,
what is it to us? For example, What if he has had any concern in the
late affair of _Thorn_? What need we put it upon him, seeing his
confederates the _Jesuites_ with the _Assessorial_ tribunal of _Poland_
take it upon themselves? I shall leave that part to the issue of time. I
wish it were as easy to persuade the world that he had no hand in
bringing the injur'd Protestants to leave the justice due to the cries
of protestant blood to the arbitrament of a popish power, who dare say
that _the Devil_ must be in it, if justice should be obtain'd that way:
I should rather say, _the Devil_ is in it, or else it would never be
expected.
It occurs next to enquire from the premisses, whether _the Devil_ has
more influence or less in the affairs of the world now, than he had in
former ages; and this will depend upon comparing, as we go along, his
methods and way of working in past times, and the modern politicks by
which he acts in our days; with the differing reception which he has met
with among the men of such distant ages.
But there is so much to enquire of about _the Devil_, before we can
bring his story down to our modern times, that we must for the present
let them drop, and look a little back to the remoter parts of this
history; drawing his picture that people may know him when they meet
him, and see who and what he is, and what he has been doing ever since
he got leave to act in the high station he now appears in.
In the mean time, if I might obtain leave to present an humble petition
to _Satan_, it should be, that he would according to modern usage oblige
us all, with writing _the history of his own times_; 'twould, as well as
one that is gone before it, be a Devilish good one; for as to the
sincerity of the performance, the authority of the particulars, the
justice of the characters, _&c._ if they were no better vouch'd, no more
consistent with themselves, with charity, with truth, and with the
honour of an historian, than the last of that kind which came abroad
among us, it must be a reproach to _the Devil_ himself to be the author
of it.
Were _Satan_ to be brought under the least obligation to write truth,
and that the matters of fact, which he should write, might be depended
upon, he is certainly qualified by his knowledge of things to be a
compleat historian; nor could the Bishop himself, _who, by the way, has
given us already the Devil of a history_, come up to him: _Milton_'s
_Pandemonium_, tho' an excellent dramatick performance, would appear a
meer trifling sing-song business, beneath the dignity of _Chevy-chase_:
The _Devil_ could give us a true account of all the civil wars in
Heaven; how and by whom, and in what manner he lost the day there, and
was oblig'd to quit the field: The fiction of his refusing to
acknowledge and submit to the _Messiah_, upon his being declar'd
Generalissimo of the Heavenly forces, which Satan expected himself, as
the eldest officer; and his not being able to brook another to be put in
over his head; I say, that fine-spun thought of Mr. _Milton_ would
appear to be strain'd too far, and only serve to convince us that he
(_Milton_) knew nothing of the matter. _Satan_ knows very well, that the
_Messiah_ was not _declared to be the Son of God with power_ till by and
after _the resurrection from the dead_, and that all power was then
given him _in Heaven and earth_, and not before; so that _Satan_'s
rebellion must derive from other causes, and upon other occasions, as he
himself can doubtless give us an account, if he thinks fit, and of which
we shall speak further in this work.
What a fine History might this old Gentleman write of the Antediluvian
world, and of all the weighty affairs, as well of state as of religion,
which happen'd during the fifteen hundred years of the patriarchal
administration!
Who, like him, could give a full and compleat account of the Deluge,
whether it was a meer vindictive, a blast from Heaven, wrought by a
supernatural power in the way of miracle? or whether, according to Mr.
_Burnet_'s _Theory_, it was a consequence following antecedent causes by
the meer necessity of nature; seen in constitution, natural position,
and unavoidable working of things, as by the Theory publish'd by that
learn'd enthusiast it seems to be?
_Satan_ could easily account for all the difficulties of the _Theory_,
and tell us whether, as there was a natural necessity of the Deluge,
there is not the like necessity and natural tendency to a Conflagration
at last.
Would _the Devil_ exert himself as an Historian, for our improvement and
diversion, how glorious an account could he give us of _Noah_'s Voyage
round the world, in the famous Ark! he could resolve all the
difficulties about the building it, the furnishing it, and the laying up
provision in it for all the collection of kinds that he had made; He
could tell us whether all the creatures came voluntier to him to go into
the ark, or whether he went a hunting for several years before, in order
to bring them together.
He could give us a true relation how he wheedled the people of the next
world into the absurd ridiculous undertaking of building a _Babel_; how
far that stupendous stair-case, which was in imagination to reach up to
Heaven, was carried, before it was interrupted and the builders
confounded; how their speech was alter'd, how many Tongues it was
divided into, or whether they were divided at all; and how many
subdivisions or dialects have been made since that, by which means very
few of God's creatures, except the Brutes, understand one another, or
care one farthing whether they do or no.
In all these things _Satan_, who, no doubt, would make a very good
chronologist, could settle every Epocha, correct every Calendar, and
bring all our accounts of time to a general agreement; as well the
_Grecian Olympiads_, the _Turkish Heghira_, the _Chinese_ fictitious
account of the world's duration, as our blind _Julian_ and _Gregorian_
accounts, which have put the world, to this day, into such confusion,
that we neither agree in our holy-days or working days, fasts or feasts,
nor keep the same sabbaths in any part of the same globe.
This great Antiquary could bring us to a certainty in all the
difficulties of ancient story, and tell us whether the tale of the siege
of _Troy_, and the rape of _Helen_ was a fable of _Homer_ or a history;
whether the fictions of the Poets are form'd from their own brain, or
founded in facts; and whether letters were invented by _Cadmus_ the
_Phoenician_, or dictated immediately from _Heaven_ at mount _Sinai_.
Nay, he could tell us how and in what manner he wheedled _Eve_, deluded
_Adam_, put _Cain_ into a passion, till he made him murther his own
brother; and made _Noah_, who was above 500 years a preacher of
righteousness, turn Sot in his old age, dishonour all his ministry,
debauch himself with wine, and by getting drunk and exposing himself,
become the jest and laughing-stock of his children, and of all his
posterity to this day.
And would Satan, according to the modern practice of the late right
reverend Historian, enter into the characters of the great men of his
age, how should we be diverted with the just history of _Adam_, in
paradise and out of it; his character, and how he behaved at and after
his expulsion; how _Cain_ wandered in the land of _Nod_, what the mark
was which _God_ set upon him, whose daughter his wife was, and how big
the city was he built there, according to a certain Poet of noble
extraction,
How _Cain_ in the land of _Nod_
When the rascal was alone
Like an owl in an ivy tod
Built a city as big as _Roan_.
_Roch._
He could have certainly drawn _Eve_'s picture, told us every feature in
her face, and every inch in her shape, whether she was a perfect beauty
or no, and whether with the fall she did grow crooked, ugly, ill-natur'd
and a scold; as the learned _Valdemar_ suggests to be the effects of the
curse.
Descending to the character of the Patriarchs in that age, he might, no
doubt, give us in particular the characters of _Belus_, worship'd under
the name of _Baal_; with _Satan_, and _Jupiter_, his successors; who
they were here, and how they behaved; with all the _Pharaohs_ of
_Egypt_, the _Abimilechs_ of _Canaan_, and the great monarchs of
_Assyria_ and _Babylon_.
Hence also he is able to write the lives of all the Heroes of the world,
from _Alexander_ of _Macedon_ to _Lewis_ the XIV. and from _Augustus_ to
the great King _George_; nor could the Bishop himself go beyond him for
flattery, any more than the Devil himself could go beyond the Bishop for
falshood.
I could enlarge with a particular satisfaction upon the many fine things
which _Satan_, rummaging his inexhaustible storehouse of slander, could
set down to blacken the characters of good men, and load the best
Princes of the world with infamy and reproach.
But we shall never prevail with him, I doubt, to do mankind so much
service, as resolving all those difficulties would be; for he has an
indelible grudge against us; as he believes, and perhaps is assur'd that
men were at first created by his sovereign, to the intent that after a
certain state of Probation in life, such of them as shall be approved,
are appointed to fill up those vacancies in the Heavenly Host, which
were made by the abdication and expulsion of him (_the Devil_) and his
Angels; so that man is appointed to come in _Satan_'s stead, to make
good the breach, and enjoy all those ineffable Joys and Beatitudes which
_Satan_ enjoy'd before his fall; no wonder then, that _the Devil_ swells
with envy and rage at mankind in general, and at the best of them in
particular; nay, the granting this point is giving an unanswerable
reason, why the _Devil_ practises with such unwearied and indefatigable
application upon the best men, if possible, to disappoint GOD
Almighty's decree, and that he should not find enough among the whole
Race, to be proper subjects of his clemency, and qualified to succeed
_the Devil_ and his host, or fill up the places vacant by the Fall. It
is true indeed, _the Devil_, who we have reason to say is no fool, ought
to know better than to suppose that if he should seduce the whole race
of mankind, and make them as bad as himself, he could, by that success
of his wickedness, thwart or disappoint the determined purposes of
Heaven; but that those which are appointed to inherit the Thrones, which
he and his followers abdicated, and were deposed from, shall certainly
be preserv'd in spite of his Devices for that inheritance, and shall
have the possession secur'd to them, notwithstanding all that _the
Devil_ and all the Host of _Hell_ can do to prevent it.
But, however he knows the certainty of this, and that when he endeavours
the seducing the chosen servants of the most High, he fights against GOD
himself, struggles with irresistible grace, and makes war with infinite
power; undermining the church of God, and that faith in him which is
fortified with the eternal promises of Jesus Christ, that the gates of
_Hell_, that is to say, the _Devil_ and all his power, shall not prevail
against them; I say, however he knows the impossibility there is that he
should obtain his ends, yet so blind is his rage, so infatuate his
wisdom, that he cannot refrain breaking himself to pieces against this
mountain, and splitting against the rock. _qui Jupiter vult perdere hos
dementat._
But to leave this serious part, which is a little too solemn, for the
account of this rebel; seeing we are not to expect he will write his own
History for our information and diversion, I shall see if I cannot write
it for him: In order to this, I shall extract the substance of his
whole story, from the beginning to our own times, which I shall collect
out of what is come to hand, whether by revelation or inspiration,
that's nothing to him; I shall take care so to improve my intelligence,
as may make my account of him authentick, and, _in a word_, such as the
Devil himself shall not be able to contradict.
In writing this uncouth story I shall be freed from the censures of the
Criticks, in a more than ordinary manner, upon one account especially;
(_viz._) that my story shall be so just and so well grounded, and, after
all the good things I shall say of _Satan_, will be so little to his
satisfaction, that _the Devil_ himself will not be able to say, I _dealt
with the Devil_ in writing it: I might, perhaps, give you some account
where I had my intelligence, and how all the Arcana of his management
have come to my hands; _but pardon me, Gentlemen_, this would be to
betray conversation, and to discover my agents, and you know statesmen
are very careful to preserve the correspondences they keep in the
enemy's country, lest they expose their friends to the resentment of the
Power whose councils they betray.
Besides, the learned tell us, that ministers of state make an excellent
plea of their not betraying their intelligence, against all party
inquiries into the great sums of money pretended to be paid for _secret
service_; and whether the secret service was to bribe people to betray
things abroad or at home; whether the money was paid to some body or to
no body, employ'd to establish correspondences abroad, or to establish
families and amass treasure at home; in a word, whether it was to serve
their country or serve themselves, it has been the same thing, and the
same plea has been their protection: Likewise in the important affair
which I am upon, 'tis hoped you will not desire me to betray my
Correspondents; for you know _Satan_ is naturally cruel and malicious,
and who knows what he might do to shew his resentment? at least it might
endanger a stop of our intelligence for the future.
And yet, before I have done, I shall make it very plain, that however my
information may be secret and difficult, that yet I came very honestly
by it, and shall make a very good use of it; for 'tis a great mistake in
those who think that an acquaintance with the affairs of _the Devil_ may
not be made very useful to us all: They that know no evil can know no
good; and, as the learned tell us, that a stone taken out of the head of
a Toad is a good antidote against poison; so a competent knowledge of
_the Devil_, and all his ways, may be the best help to make us defie
_the Devil_ and all his _works_.
CHAP. II.
_Of the word_ DEVIL, _as it is a proper name to the Devil, and any or all
his host, Angels,_ &c.
It is a question, not yet determined by the learned, whether the word
_Devil_ be a _singular_, that is to say, the _name_ of a person standing
by himself, or a _noun of multitude_; if it be a singular, and so must
be used personally only as _a proper name_, it consequently implies one
imperial _Devil_, Monarch or King of the whole clan of Hell; justly
distinguish'd by the term THE DEVIL, or as the _Scots_ call him, _the
muckle horn'd Dee'l_, or as others in a wilder dialect, _the Devil of
Hell_, that is to say, the _Devil_ of a _Devil_; or (better still) as
the Scripture expresses it, by way of emphasis, the _great red Dragon_,
the _Devil_ and _Satan_.
But if we take this word to be, as above, _a noun of multitude_, and so
to be used _ambo-dexter_, as occasion presents, singular or plural; then
_the Devil_ signifies _Satan_ by himself, or _Satan with all his
Legions_ at his heels, as you please, more or less; and this way of
understanding the word, as it may be very convenient for my purpose, in
the account I am now to give of the infernal Powers, so it is not
altogether improper in the nature of the thing: It is thus express'd in
Scripture, where the person possess'd _Matt._ iv. 24. is first said to
be possess'd of _the Devil_ (singular) and our Saviour asks him, as
speaking to a single person, _what is thy name?_ and is answer'd in the
plural and singular together, my name is LEGION, for _we are many_.
Nor will it be any wrong to _the Devil_, supposing him a single person,
seeing entitling him to the conduct of all his inferior Agents, is what
he will take rather for an addition to his infernal glory, than a
diminution or lessening of him in the extent of his Fame.
Having thus articl'd with the _Devil_ for liberty of speech, I shall
talk of him sometimes in the singular, as a person, and sometimes in the
plural, as an host of _Devils_ or of infernal Spirits, just as occasion
requires, and as the history of his affairs makes necessary.
But before I enter upon any part of his history, the nature of the thing
calls me back, and my Lord B---- of ---- in his late famous orations in
defence of liberty, summons me to prove that there is such a thing or
such a person as _the Devil_; and in short, unless I can give some
evidence of his existence, as my Lord ---- said very well, I am talking
of _nobody_.
D--m me, Sir, says a graceless comrade of his to a great man, _your
Grace_ will go to _the Devil_.
D--m ye, Sir, says the D----, then I shall go _no where_; I wonder where
you intend to go?
Nay, to _the D----l_ too I doubt, _says Graceless_, for I am almost as
wicked as my _Lord Duke_.
_D._ Thou ar't a silly empty Dog, says the D--, and if there is such a
place as _a Hell_, tho' I believe nothing of it, 'tis a place for fools,
such as thou art.
_Gr._ I wonder then, what Heaven the great wits go to, such as my _Lord
Duke_; I don't care to go there, let it be where it will; they are a
tiresome kind of people, there's no bearing them, they'll make _a Hell_
wherever they come.
_D._ Prithee hold thy fool's tongue, I tell thee, if there is any such
place as we call NO WHERE; that's all the Heaven or Hell that I know of,
or believe any thing about.
_Gr._ Very good, my Lord--; so that _Heaven_ is _no where_, and
_Hell_ is _no where_, and the _Devil_ is _nobody_, according to my _Lord
Duke_!
_D._ Yes Sir, and what then?
_Gr._ And you are to go _no where_ when you die, are you?
_D._ Yes, you Dog, don't you know what that incomparable noble genius my
Lord _Rochester_ sings upon the subject, I believe it unfeignedly,
After death nothing is,
And nothing death.
_Gr._ You believe it, my Lord, you mean, you would fain believe it if
you could; but since you put that great genius my Lord _Rochester_ upon
me, let me play him back upon _your Grace_; I am sure you have read his
fine poem upon _nothing_, in one of the stanzas of which is this
beautiful thought,
And to be part of [2] thee
The wicked wisely pray.
_D._ You are a foolish Dog.
_Gr._ And my _Lord Duke_ is a wise Infidel.
_D._ Why? is it not wiser to believe _no Devil_, than to be always
terrify'd at him?
_Gr._ But shall I toss another Poet upon you, my Lord?
If it should so fall out, as who can tell
But there may be a GOD, a _Heaven_ and _Hell_?
Mankind had best consider well, for fear
'T should be too late when their mistakes appear.
_D._ D--m your foolish Poet, that's not my Lord _Rochester_.
_Gr._ But how must I be damn'd, if there's _no Devil_? Is not _your
Grace_ a little inconsistent there? My Lord _Rochester_ would not have
said that, and't please your Grace.
_D._ No, _you Dog_, I am not inconsistent at all, and if I had the
ordering of you, I'd make you sensible of it; I'd make you think your
self damn'd for want of _a Devil_.
_Gr._ That's like one of _your Grace_'s paradoxes, such as when you
swore _by God_ that you did not believe there was any such thing as _a
God_, or _Devil_; so you swear by _nothing_, and damn me to _no where_.
_D._ You are a critical Dog, who taught you to believe these solemn
trifles? who taught you to say there is a GOD?
_Gr._ Nay, I had a better school-master than my _Lord Duke_.
_D._ Why, who was your school-master pray?
_Gr._ _The Devil_, and't please your _Grace_.
_D._ The Devil! _the Devil he did?_ what you're going to quote
Scripture, are you? Prithee don't tell me of _Scripture_, I know what
you mean, _the Devils believe and tremble_; why then I have the
whip-hand of _the Devil_, for I hate trembling; and I am deliver'd from
it effectually, for I never believed any thing of it, and therefore I
don't tremble.
_Gr._ And there, indeed, I am a wickeder creature than the _Devil_, or
even than my _Lord Duke_, for I believe, and yet don't tremble neither.
_D._ Nay, if you are come to your penitentials I have done with you.
_Gr._ And I think I must have done with my _Lord Duke_, for the same
reason.
_D._ _Ay, ay_, pray do, I'll go and enjoy my self; I won't throw away
the pleasure of my life, I know the consequence of it.
_Gr._ And I'll go and reform my self, else I know the consequence too.
This short Dialogue happen'd between two men of quality, and both men of
wit too; and the effect was, that the Lord brought the reality of _the
Devil_ into the question, and the debate brought the profligate to be a
penitent; so in short, _the Devil_ was made a preacher of repentance.
The Truth is, _God_ and _the Devil_, however opposite in their nature,
and remote from one another in their place of abiding, seem to stand
pretty much upon a level in our faith: For as to our believing the
reality of their existence, he that denies one, generally denies both;
and he that believes one, necessarily believes both.
Very few, if any of those who believe there is a GOD, and acknowledge
the debt of homage which mankind owes to the supreme Governor of the
World, doubt the existence of _the Devil_, except here and there one,
whom we call practical Atheists; and 'tis the character of an Atheist,
if there is such a creature on Earth, that like my _Lord Duke_, he
believes neither GOD or _Devil_.
As the belief of both these stands upon a level, and that GOD and the
_Devil_ seem to have an equal share in our faith, so the evidence of
their existence seems to stand upon a level too, in many things; and as
they are known by their Works in the same particular cases, so they are
discover'd after the same manner of demonstration.
Nay, in some respects 'tis equally criminal to deny the reality of them
both, only with this difference, that to believe the existence of a GOD
is a debt to nature, and to believe the existence of _the Devil_ is a
like debt to reason; one is a demonstration from the reality of visible
causes, and the other a deduction from the like reality of their
effects.
One demonstration of the existence of GOD, is from the universal
well-guided consent of all nations to worship and adore a supreme Power;
One demonstration of the existence of the _Devil_, is from the avow'd
ill-guided consent of some nations, who knowing no other GOD, make a GOD
of the _Devil_, for want of a better.
It may be true, that those nations have no other Ideas of the Devil than
as of a superior Power; if they thought him a supreme Power it would
have other effects on them, and they would submit to and worship him
with a different kind of fear.
But 'tis plain they have right notions of him as a Devil or evil Spirit,
because the best reason, and in some places the only reason they give
for worshiping him is, that he may do them no hurt; having no notions at
all of his having any power, much less any inclination to do them good;
so that indeed they make a meer _Devil_ of him, at the same time that
they bow to him as to a GOD.
All the ages of Paganism in the World have had this notion of _the
Devil_: indeed in some parts of the World they had also some Deities
which they honour'd above him, as being supposed to be beneficent, kind
and inclined, as well as capable to give them good things; for this
reason the more polite Heathens, such as the _Grecians_ and the
_Romans_, had their _Lares_ or houshold Gods, whom they paid a
particular respect to; as being their Protectors from Hobgoblins, Ghosts
of the Dead, evil Spirits, frightful Appearances, evil Genius's and
other noxious Beings from the invisible World; or to put it into the
language of the day we live in, from _the Devil_, in whatever shape or
appearance he might come to them, and from whatever might hurt them: and
what was all this but setting up _Devils_ against _Devils_, supplicating
one _Devil_ under the notion of a good Spirit, to drive out and protect
them from another, whom they call'd a bad Spirit, the white _Devil_
against the black _Devil_?
This proceeds from the natural notions mankind necessarily entertain of
things to come; _superior_ or _inferior_, GOD and the _Devil_, fill up
all futurity in our thoughts; and 'tis impossible for us to form any
images in our minds of an immortality and an invisible World, but under
the notions of perfect felicity, or extreme misery.
Now as these two respect the Eternal state of man after life, they are
respectively the object of our reverence and affection, or of our
horror and aversion; but notwithstanding they are plac'd thus in a
diametrical opposition in our affections and passions, they are on an
evident level as to the certainty of their existence, and, as I said
above, bear an equal share in our faith.
It being then as certain that there is _a Devil_, as that there is _a
God_, I must from this time forward admit no more doubt of his
existence, nor take any more pains to convince you of it; but speaking
of him as a reality in Being, proceed to enquire who he is, and from
whence, in order to enter directly into the detail of his History.
Now not to enter into all the metaphysical trumpery of his Schools, nor
wholly to confine my self to the language of the Pulpit; where we are
told, that to think of GOD and of the _Devil_, we must endeavour first
to form Ideas of those things which illustrate the description of
rewards and punishments; in the one the eternal presence of the highest
good, and, as a necessary attendant, the most perfect, consummate,
durable bliss and felicity, springing from the presence of that Being in
whom all possible Beatitude is inexpressibly present, and that in the
highest perfection: On the contrary, to conceive of a sublime fallen
Arch-angel, attended with an innumerable host of degenerate, rebel
Seraphs or Angels cast out of Heaven together; all guilty of
inexpressible rebellion, and all suffering from that time, and to suffer
for ever the eternal vengeance of the Almighty, in an inconceivable
manner; that his presence, tho' blessed in it self, is to them the most
compleat article of terror; That they are in themselves perfectly
miserable; and to be with whom for ever, adds an inexpressible misery to
any state as well as place; and fills the minds of those who are to be,
or expect to be banish'd to them with inconceivable horror and
amazement.
But when you have gone over all this, and a great deal more of the like,
tho' less intelligible language, which the passions of men collect to
amuse one another with; you have said nothing if you omit the main
article, namely, the personality of _the Devil_; and till you add to all
the rest some description of the company with whom all this is to be
suffer'd, _viz._ the _Devil and his Angels_.
Now who this _Devil and his Angels_ are, what share they have either
actively or passively in the eternal miseries of a future state, how far
they are Agents in or Partners with the sufferings of the place, is a
difficulty yet not fully discover'd by the most learned; nor do I
believe 'tis made less a difficulty by their medling with it.
But to come to the person and original of _the Devil_, or, as I said
before, of _Devils_; I allow him to come of an ancient family, for he is
from Heaven, and more truly than the _Romans_ could say of their
idoliz'd _Numa_, he is of the race of the Gods.
That _Satan_ is a fallen Angel, a rebel Seraph, cast out for his
Rebellion, is the general opinion, and 'tis not my business to dispute
things universally receiv'd; as he was try'd, condemn'd, and the
sentence of expulsion executed on him in Heaven, he is in this World
like a transported Felon never to return; His crime, whatever particular
aggravations it might have, 'tis certain, amounted to High-treason
against his Lord and Governor, who was also his Maker; against whom he
rose in rebellion, took up arms, and in a word, rais'd a horrid and
unnatural war in his dominions; but being overcome in battle, and made
prisoner, he and all his Host, whose numbers were infinite, all
glorious Angels like himself, lost at once their beauty and glory with
their Innocence, and commenc'd _Devils_, being transform'd by crime into
monsters and frightful objects; such as to describe, human fancy is
obliged to draw pictures and descriptions in such forms as are most
hateful and frightful to the imagination.
These notions, I doubt not, gave birth to all the beauteous Images and
sublime expressions in Mr. _Milton_'s majestick Poem; where, tho' he has
play'd the Poet in a most luxuriant manner, he has sinn'd against
_Satan_ most egregiously, and done the _Devil_ a manifest injury in a
great many particulars, as I shall shew in its place. And as I shall be
oblig'd to do _Satan_ justice when I come to that part of his History,
Mr. _Milton_'s admirers must pardon me, if I let them see, that tho' I
admire Mr. _Milton_ as a Poet, yet that he was greatly out in matters of
History, and especially the History of the _Devil_; in short, That he
has charged _Satan_ falsly in several particulars; and so he has _Adam_
and _Eve_ too: But that I shall leave till I come to the History of the
Royal Family of _Eden_; which I resolve to present you with when the
_Devil_ and I have done with one another.
But not to run down Mr. _Milton_ neither, whose poetry, or his judgment,
cannot be reproached without injury to our own; all those bright Ideas
of his, which make his poem so justly valued, whether they are capable
of proof as to the fact, are notwithstanding, confirmations of my
hypothesis; and are taken from a supposition of the Personality of the
_Devil_, placing him at the head of the infernal host, as a sovereign
elevated Spirit and Monarch of Hell; and as such it is that I undertake
to write his history.
By the word Hell I do not suppose, or at least not determine, that his
residence, or that of the whole army of _Devils_, is yet in the same
local HELL, to which the Divines tell us he shall be at last chain'd
down; or at least that he is yet confin'd to it, for we shall find he is
at present a prisoner at large: of both which circumstances of Satan I
shall take occasion to speak in its course.
But when I call the Devil the Monarch of _Hell_, I am to be understood
as suits to the present purpose; that he is the Sovereign of all the
race of Hell, that is to say of all the Devils or Spirits of the
infernal Clan, let their numbers, quality and powers be what they will.
Upon this supposed personality and superiority of _Satan_, or, as I call
it, the sovereignty and government of one Devil above all the rest; I
say, upon this notion are form'd all the systems of the dark side of
futurity, that we can form in our minds: And so general is the opinion
of it, that it will hardly bear to be oppos'd by any other argument, at
least that will bear to be reason'd upon: All the notions of a parity of
Devils, or making a common-wealth among the black Divan, seem to be
enthusiastick and visionary, but with no consistency or certainty, and
is so generally exploded, that we must not venture so much as to debate
the point.
Taking it then as the generality of mankind do, that there is a Grand
Devil, a superior of the whole black race; that they all fell, together
with their General, _Satan_, at the head of them; that tho' he, _Satan_,
could not maintain his high station in Heaven, yet that he did continue
his dignity among the rest, who are call'd his servants, _in Scripture
his Angels_; that he has a kind of dominion or authority over the rest,
and that they were all, how many millions soever in number, at his
command; employ'd by him in all his hellish designs, and in all his
wicked contrivances for the destruction of man, and for the setting up
his own kingdom in the world.
Supposing then that there is such a superior Master-Devil over all the
rest, it remains that we enquire into his character, and something of
his History; in which, tho' we cannot perhaps produce such authentick
documents as in the story of other great Monarchs, Tyrants, and Furies
of the World; yet I shall endeavour to speak some things which the
experience of mankind may be apt to confirm, and which the Devil himself
will hardly be able to contradict.
It being then granted that there is such a thing or person, call him
which we will, as a Master-Devil; that he is thus superior to all the
rest in power and in authority, and that all the other evil Spirits are
his Angels, or Ministers, or Officers to execute his commands, and are
employ'd in his business; it remains to enquire, whence he came? how he
got hither, into this World? what that business is which he is employ'd
about? what his present state is, and where and to what part of the
creation of God he is limited and restrained? what the liberties are he
takes or is allow'd to take? in what manner he works, and how his
instruments are likewise allow'd to work? what he has done ever since he
commenc'd Devil, what he is now doing, and what he may yet do before his
last and closer confinement? as also what he cannot do, and how far we
may or may not be said to be exposed to him, or have or have not reason
to be afraid of him? These, and whatever else occurs in the History and
conduct of this Arch-devil and his Agents, that may be useful for
information, caution, or diversion, you may expect in the process of
this work.
I know it has been question'd by some, with more face than fear, how it
consists with a compleat victory of the Devil, which they say was at
first obtained by the Heavenly Powers over _Satan_ and his apostate army
in _Heaven_, that when he was cast out of his holy place, and dash'd
down into the abyss of eternal darkness, as into a place of punishment,
a condemn'd hold, or place of confinement, to be reserved there to the
judgment of the great Day; _I say_, how it consists with that entire
victory, to let him loose again, and give him liberty, like a thief that
has broken prison, to range about God's creation, and there to continue
his rebellion, commit new ravages, and acts of hostility against God,
make new efforts at dethroning the almighty Creator; and in particular
to fall upon the weakest of his creatures, MAN? how _Satan_ being so
entirely vanquish'd, he should be permitted to recover any of his wicked
powers, and find room to do mischief to mankind.
Nay they go farther, and suggest bold things against the wisdom of
Heaven, in exposing mankind, weak in comparison of the immense extent of
the _Devil_'s power, to so manifest an overthrow, to so unequal a fight,
in which he is sure, if alone in the conflict, to be worsted; to leave
him such a dreadful enemy to engage with, and so ill furnish'd with
weapons to assist him.
These objections I shall give as good an answer to as the case will
admit in this course, but must adjourn them for the present.
That the Devil is not yet a close prisoner, we have evidence enough to
confirm; I will not suggest, that like our _Newgate_ Thieves, (to bring
little Devils and great Devils together) he is let out by connivance,
and has some little latitudes and advantages for mischief, by that
means; returning at certain seasons to his confinement again. This
might hold, were it not, that the comparison must suggest, that the
power which has cast him down could be deluded, and the under-keepers or
jaylors, under whose charge he was in custody, could wink at his
excursions, and the Lord of the place know nothing of the matter. But
this wants farther explanation.
CHAP. III.
_Of the original of the_ DEVIL, _who he is, and what he was before his
expulsion out of Heaven, and in what state he was from that time
to the creation of Man._
To come to a regular enquiry into Satan's affairs, 'tis needful we
should go back to his original, as far as history and the opinion of the
learned World will give us leave.
It is agreed by all Writers, as well sacred as prophane, that this
creature we now call a Devil, was originally an Angel of light, a
glorious Seraph; perhaps the choicest of all the glorious Seraphs. See
how _Milton_ describes his original glory:
_Satan_, so call him now, his former name
Is heard no more in Heaven: He of the first,
If not _the first Archangel_; great in power,
In favour and preeminence.
_lib._ v. _fol._ 140.
And again the same author, and upon the same subject:
------Brighter once amidst the host
Of Angels, than that star the stars among.
_lib._ vii. _fol._ 189.
The glorious figure which Satan is supposed to make among the _Thrones_
and _Dominions_ in Heaven is such, as we might suppose the highest Angel
in that exalted train could make; and some think, _as above_, that he
was the chief of the Arch-angels.
Hence that notion, (and not ill founded) _namely_, that the first cause
of his disgrace, and on which ensued his rebellion, was occasioned upon
God's proclaiming his SON Generalissimo, and with himself supreme ruler
in heaven; giving the dominion of all his works of creation, as well
already finish'd, as not then begun, to him; which post of honour (say
they) _Satan_ expected to be conferr'd on himself, as next in honour,
majesty and power to God the Supreme.
This opinion is follow'd by Mr. _Milton_ too, as appears in the
following lines, where he makes all the Angels attending all a general
summons, and God the Father making the following declaration to them.
"Here, all ye Angels, prodigy of light,
"Thrones, dominions, princedoms, virtues, pow'rs!
"Hear my decree, which unrevok'd shall stand.
"This day I have begot whom I declare
"My only SON, and on this hill
"Him have anointed, whom you now behold
"At my right hand; your Head I Him appoint:
"And my self have sworn to him shall bow
"All knees in Heav'n, and shall confess him Lord,
"Under his great vice-gerent reign abide
"United, as one individual soul,
"For ever happy: Him who disobeys,
"Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day
"Cast out from GOD, and blessed vision, falls
"Into utter darkness, deep ingulph'd, his place
"Ordain'd without redemption, without end.
Satan, affronted at the appearance of a new Essence or Being in Heaven,
call'd the Son of God; for God, says Mr. _Milton_, (tho' erroneously)
declared himself at that time, saying, _This day have I begotten him_,
and that he should be set up, above all the former Powers of Heaven, of
whom Satan (as above) was the Chief and expecting, if any higher post
could be granted, it might be his due; I say, affronted at this he
resolv'd
"With all his Legions to dislodge, and leave
"Unworship'd, unobey'd, the throne supreme
"Contemptuous. ------
_Par. lost_, lib. v. fo. 140.
But Mr. _Milton_ is grosly erroneous in ascribing those words, _This day
have I begotten thee_, to that declaration of the Father before Satan
fell, and consequently to a time before the creation; whereas, it is by
Interpreters agreed to be understood of the Incarnation of the Son of
God, or at least of the Resurrection: [3] see _Pool_ upon _Acts_ xiii.
33.
In a word, Satan withdrew with all his followers malecontent and
chagrine, resolv'd to disobey this new command, and not yield obedience
to the Son.
But Mr. _Milton_ agrees in that opinion, that the number of Angels which
rebel'd with _Satan_ was infinite, and suggests in one place, that they
were the greatest half of all the angelick Body or seraphick Host.
"But Satan with his Power,
"An host
"Innumerable as the stars of night,
"Or stars of morning, dew drops, which the Sun
"Impearls on ev'ry leaf and ev'ry flower.
_ib._ lib. v. fo. 142.
Be their number as it is, numberless millions and legions of millions,
that is no part of my present enquiry; Satan the leader, guide and
superior, as he was author of the celestial rebellion, is still the
great Head and Master-Devil as before; under his authority they still
act, not obeying but carrying on the same insurrection against God,
which they begun in Heaven; making war still against Heaven, in the
person of his Image and Creature man; and tho' vanquish'd by the thunder
of the Son of God, and cast down headlong from Heaven, they have yet
reassumed, or rather not lost either the will or the power of doing
evil.
This fall of the Angels, with the war in Heaven which preceded it, is
finely describ'd by _Ovid_, in his war of the _Titans_ against
_Jupiter_; casting mountain upon mountain, and hill upon hill (_Pelion_
upon _Ossa_) in order to scale the Adamantine walls, and break open the
gates of _Heaven_; till _Jupiter_ struck them with his thunder-bolts and
overwhelm'd them in the abyss: _Vide Ovid Metam._ new translation, lib.
i. p. 19.
"Nor were the Gods themselves secure on high,
"For now the _Gyants_ strove to storm _the sky_,
"The lawless brood with bold attempt invade
"THE GODS, and mountains upon mountains _laid_.
"But now the _bolt_, enrag'd _the Father_ took,
"_Olympus_ from her deep foundations shook,
"Their structure nodded at the mighty stroke,
"And _Ossa_'s shatter'd top o'er _Pelion_ broke,
"They're in their own ungodly ruines slain.--
Then again speaking of _Jupiter_, resolving in council to destroy
mankind by a deluge, and giving the reasons of it to the heavenly Host,
say thus, speaking of the demy-Gods alluding to good men below.
"Think you that they in safety can remain,
"When I my self who o'er Immortals reign,
"Who send the lightning, and Heaven's empire sway,
"The stern [4] Lycaon practis'd to betray.
_ib._ p. 10.
Since then so much poetic liberty is taken with the Devil, relating to
his most early state, and the time before his fall, give me leave to
make an excursion of the like kind, relating to his History immediately
after the fall, and till the creation of man; an interval which I think
much of the Devil's story is to be seen in, and which Mr. _Milton_ has
taken little notice of, at least it does not seem compleatly fill'd up;
after which I shall return to honest Prose again, and persue the duty of
an Historian.
_Satan_, with hideous ruin thus supprest
_Expell'd_ the seat of blessedness and rest,
Look'd back and saw the _high eternal mound_,
Where all _his rebel host_ their _outlet_ found
_Restor'd impregnable_: The breach made up,
And garrisons of Angels rang'd a top;
In front a hundred thousand thunders roll,
And lightnings temper'd to transfix a soul,
Terror of _Devils_. _Satan_ and his host,
Now to themselves _as well as station lost_,
Unable to support the hated sight, }
Expand _seraphic wings_, and swift as light }
Seek for new safety in _eternal Night_. }
In the remotest gulphs _of dark_ they land,
Here vengeance gives them leave to make their stand,
Not that to _steps_ and _measures_ they pretend,
_Councils_ and _schemes_ their station to defend;
But broken, disconcerted and _dismay'd_,
By guilt and fright to guilt and fright _betray'd_;
Rage and confusion ev'ry Spirit possess'd,
And _shame_ and _horror_ swell'd in ev'ry breast;
Transforming envy to their essentials burns,
And _the bright_ Angel to a _frightful Devil_ turns.
_Thus Hell began_; the fire of conscious rage
No years can quench, no length of time asswage.
_Material Fire_, with its intensest flame,
Compar'd _with this_ can scarce deserve a Name;
How should it up to _immaterials_ rise,
When we're _all flame_, we shall _all fire_ despise.
This fire outrageous and its heat intense
Turns all the pain _of loss_ to pain _of sense_.
The folding flames _concave_ and _inward_ roll,
Act _upon spirit_ and penetrate _the soul_:
Not force of _Devils_ can its new powers repel,
Where'er it burns _it finds_ or _makes_ a HELL;
For _Satan_ flaming with unquench'd desire
Forms _his own Hell_, and kindles _his own fire_,
Vanquish'd, _not humbl'd_, not in will brought low,
But as _his powers_ decline _his passions_ grow:
The malice, _Viper like_, takes vent within,
Gnaws its own bowels, and bursts in _its own sin_:
Impatient of the change _he scorns to bow_,
And never _impotent_ in power _till now_;
Ardent with hate, and _with revenge_ distract,
A will to new attempts, _but none_ to act;
Yet all _seraphick_, and in just degree,
Suited _to Spirits high sense_ of misery,
Deriv'd from _loss_ which _nothing_ can repair,
And _room for nothing left_ but meer despair.
_Here's finish'd Hell!_ what fiercer fire _can burn_?
Enough ten thousand Worlds to over-turn.
HELL's but the frenzy of defeated pride,
Seraphick Treason's strong impetuous tide,
Where vile ambition _disappointed_ first,
To its _own rage_ and _boundless hatred_ curst;
The hate's _fan'd up to fury_, that to _flame_,
For _fire_ and _fury_ are in kind the same;
These burn unquenchable in every face,
And the word ENDLESS constitutes the place.
O _state of Being!_ where being's the only grief,
And the _chief torture_'s to be damn'd to life;
_O life!_ the only thing they have to hate;
The _finish'd torment_ of a future state,
Compleat in all the parts of endless misery,
And worse ten thousand times than _not_ to BE!
Could but the Damn'd _the immortal law_ repeal,
And _Devils dye_, there'd be _an end of Hell_;
Could they that thing call'd _Being_ annihilate,
There'd be _no sorrows_ in a future state;
The Wretch, whose crimes had shut him out _on high_,
Could be reveng'd on God himself _and die_;
_Job's Wife_ was in the right, and always we
Might end _by death_ all human misery, }
Might have it in our choice, _to be_ or not to be. }
CHAP. IV.
_Of the name of the Devil, his original, and the nature of his
circumstances since he has been called by that name._
The Scripture is the first writing on earth where we find the _Devil_
called by his own proper distinguishing denomination, DEVIL, or the [5]
_Destroyer_; nor indeed is there any other author of antiquity or of
sufficient authority which says any thing of that kind about him.
Here he makes his first appearance in the world, and on that occasion he
is called the _Serpent_; but the _Serpent_ however since made to signify
the _Devil_, when spoken of in general terms, was but the Devil's
representative, or the Devil _in quo vis vehiculo_, for that time,
clothed in a bodily shape, acting under cover and in disguise, or if you
will the _Devil_ in _masquerade_: Nay, if we believe Mr. _Milton_, the
_Angel Gabriel_'s spear had such a secret powerful influence, as to make
him strip of a sudden, and with a touch to unmask, and stand upright in
his naked original shape, meer _Devil_, without any disguises
whatsoever.
Now as we go to the Scripture for much of his history, so we must go
there also for some of his names; and he has a great variety of names
indeed, as his several mischievous doings guide us to conceive of him.
The truth is, all the ancient names given him, of which the Scripture is
full, seems to be originals derived from and adapted to the several
steps he has taken, and the several shapes he has appeared in to do
mischief in the world.
Here he is called the _Serpent_, Gen. iii. 1.
The _old Serpent_, Rev. xii. 9.
The _great red Dragon_, Rev. xii. 3.
The _Accuser of the Brethren_, Rev. xii. 10.
The _Enemy_, Matt. xxiii. 29.
_Satan_, Job i. Zech. iii. 1, 2.
_Belial_, 2 Cor. vi. 15.
_Beelzebub_, Matt. xii. 24.
_Mammon_, Matt. vi. 24.
The _Angel of light_, 2 Cor. xi. 14.
The _Angel of the bottomless pit_, Rev. ix. 11.
The _Prince of the power of the air_, Eph. ii. 2.
_Lucifer_, Isa. xiv. 12.
_Abbaddon_ or _Apollion_, Rev. ix. 11.
_Legion_, Mark v. 9.
The _God of this world_, 2 Cor. iv. 4.
The _Foul Spirit_, Mark ix. 5.
The _Unclean Spirit_, Mark i. 27.
The _Lying Spirit_, 2 Chron. xxx.
The _Tempter_, Matt. iv. 3.
The _Son of the morning_, Isa. xiv. 12.
But to sum them all up in one, he is called in the new Testament _plain_
DEVIL; all his other names are varied according to the custom of speech,
and the dialects of the several nations where he is spoken of; But in a
word, _Devil_ is the common name of the _Devil_ in all the known
languages of the earth. Nay, all the mischiefs he is empowered to do,
are in Scripture placed to his account, under the particular title of
the _Devil_, not of _Devils_ in the plural number, though they are
sometimes mentioned too; but in the singular it is the identical
individual _Devil_, in and under whom all the little _Devils_, and all
the great _Devils_, if such there be, are supposed to act; nay, they are
supposed to be govern'd and directed by him. Thus we are told in
Scripture of the works of _the Devil_, 1 John iii. 8. of casting out
_the Devil_, Mark i. 34. of resisting _the Devil_, James iv. 5. of our
Saviour being tempted of _the Devil_, Mat. iv. 1. of _Simon Magus_, a
child of the _Devil_, Acts xiii. 10. The _Devil_ came down in a great
wrath, _Rev._ xii. 12. _and the like_. According to this usage in
speech we go on to this day, and all the infernal things we converse
with in the world, are fathered upon the _Devil_, as one undivided
simple essence, by how many agents soever working: Every thing evil,
frightful in appearance, wicked in its actings, horrible in its manner,
monstrous in its effects, is called the _Devil_; in a word, _Devil_ is
the common name for all _Devils_; that is to say, for all evil Spirits,
all evil Powers, all evil Works, and even all evil things: Yet 'tis
remarkable _the Devil_ is no old Testament word, and we never find it
used in all that part of the Bible but four times, and then not once in
the singular number, and not once to signify _Satan_ as 'tis now
understood.
It is true, the Learned give a great many differing interpretations of
the word _Devil_; the _English_ Commentators tell us, it means _a
destroyer_, others that it signifies a deceiver, and the _Greeks_ derive
it from a _Calumniator_ or false witness; for we find that _Calumny_ was
a _Goddess_, to whom the _Athenians_ built altars and offer'd Sacrifices
upon some solemn occasions, and they call her Diabolè from
whence came the masculine Diabolos which we translate _Devil_.
Thus we take the name of _Devil_ to signify not persons only, but
actions and habits; making imaginary Devils, and transforming that
substantial creature call'd DEVIL into every thing noxious and
offensive: Thus St. _Francis_ being tempted by the _Devil_ in the shape
of a bag of money lying in the highway, _the Saint_ having discover'd
the fraud, whether seeing his _Cloven-foot_ hang out of the purse, or
whether he distinguish'd him by his smell of _sulphur_, or how
otherwise, authors are not agreed; but, I say, the Saint having
discover'd the cheat, and out-witted the _Devil_, took occasion to
preach that eminent sermon to his disciples, where his Text was, _Money
is_ THE DEVIL.
Nor, upon the whole, is any wrong done to _the Devil_ by this kind of
treatment, it only gives him the sovereignty of the whole army of Hell,
and making all the numberless legions of the bottomless pit servants;
or, _as the Scripture calls them_, Angels to _Satan_ the grand _Devil_;
all their actions, performances and atchievements are justly attributed
to him, not as the prince of _Devils_ only, but the Emperor of _Devils_;
the prince of all the princes of _Devils_.
Under this denomination then of DEVIL, all the Powers of Hell, all the
Princes of the air, all the black armies of _Satan_ are comprehended,
and in such manner they are to be understood in this whole work;
_mutatis mutandis_, according to the several circumstances of which we
are to speak of them.
This being premis'd, and my authority being so good, _Satan_ must not
take it ill, if I treat him _after the manner of men_, and give him
those titles which he is best known by among us; for indeed having so
many, 'tis not very easy to call him out of his name.
However, as I am oblig'd by the duty of an Historian to decency as well
as impartiality, so I thought it necessary, before I used too much
freedom with _Satan_, to produce authentick Documents, and bring
antiquity upon the stage, to justify the manner of my writing, and let
you see I shall describe him in no colours, nor call him by any name,
but what he has been known by for many ages before me.
And now, though writing to the common understanding of my Readers, I am
oblig'd to treat _Satan_ very coarsly, and to speak of him in the common
acceptation, calling him plain _Devil_, a word which in this mannerly
age is not so _sonorous_ as others might be, and which by the error of
the Times is apt to prejudice us against his Person; yet it must be
acknowledg'd he has a great many other names and sirnames which he might
be known by, of a less obnoxious import than that of _Devil_, or
_Destroyer_, &c.
Mr. _Milton_, indeed, wanting titles of honour to give to the Leaders of
Satan's Host, is oblig'd to borrow several of his Scripture names, and
bestow them upon his infernal _Heroes_, whom he makes the Generals and
Leaders of the armies of Hell; and so he makes _Beelzebub_, _Lucifer_,
_Belial_, _Mammon_, and some others, to be the names of particular
Devils, members of _Satan's upper house_ or _Pandemonium_; whereas
indeed, these are all names proper and peculiar to _Satan_ himself.
The Scripture also has some names of a coarser kind, by which _the
Devil_ is understood, as particularly, which is noted already, in the
Apocalypse he is call'd the _Great Red Dragon_, the _Beast_, the _Old
Serpent_, and the like: But take it in the Scripture, or where you will
in History sacred or prophane, you will find that in general the _Devil_
is, as I have said above, his ordinary name in all languages and in all
nations; the name by which he and his works are principally
distinguish'd: Also the Scripture, besides that it often gives him this
name, speaks of the works of _the Devil_, of the subtilty of _the
Devil_, of casting out _Devils_, of being tempted of the _Devil_, of
being possess'd with a _Devil_, and so many other expressions of that
kind, as I have said already, are made use of for us to understand the
evil Spirit by, that in a word, _Devil_ is the common name of all wicked
Spirits: For _Satan_ is no more _the Devil_, as if he alone was so, and
all the rest were a diminutive species who did not go by that name; But,
I say, even in Scripture, every Spirit, whether under his Dominion or
out of his Dominion, is called the _Devil_, and is as much a real
_Devil_, that is to say, a condemn'd Spirit, and employ'd in the same
wicked work as _Satan_ himself.
His Name then being thus ascertain'd, and his Existence acknowledg'd, it
should be a little enquir'd _what he is_; we believe there is such a
thing, such a creature as _the Devil_, and that he has been, and may
still with propriety of speech, and without injustice to his Character
be call'd by his antient name _Devil_.
But who is he? what is his original? whence came he? and what is his
present station and condition? for these things and these enquiries are
very necessary to his History, nor indeed can any part of his History be
compleat without them.
That he is of an antient and noble original must be acknowledged, for he
is _Heaven-born_, and of _Angelic Race_, as has been touch'd already: If
Scripture-evidence may be of any weight in the question, there is no
room to doubt the genealogy of the _Devil_; he is not only spoken of as
an _Angel_, but as a _fallen Angel_, one that had been in _Heaven_, had
beheld the face of GOD in his full effulgence of glory, and had
surrounded the Throne of the most High; from whence, commencing rebel
and being expell'd, he was cast down, down, down, GOD and the _Devil_
himself only knows where; for indeed we cannot say that any man on Earth
knows it; and wherever it is, he has ever since man's creation been a
plague to him, been a tempter, a deluder, a calumniator, an enemy and
the object of man's horror and aversion.
As his original is _Heaven-born_, and his Race _Angelic_, so the Angelic
nature is evidently plac'd in a class superior to the human, and this
the Scripture is express in also; when speaking of man, it says, he
made him a little lower than the Angels.
Thus _the Devil_, as mean thoughts as you may have of him, is of a
better family than any of you, nay than the best Gentleman of you all;
what he may be fallen to, is _one thing_, but what he is fallen from,
_is another_; and therefore I must tell my learned and reverend friend
_J. W._ LL. D. when he spoke so rudely of _the Devil_ lately, That in my
opinion he abus'd his Betters.
Nor is the Scripture more a help to us in the search after _the Devil_'s
Original, than it is in our search after his Nature: it is true, Authors
are not agreed about his age, what time he was created, how many years
he enjoy'd his state of blessedness before he fell; or how many years he
continued with his whole army in a state of darkness, and before the
creation of man. 'Tis supposed it might be a considerable space, and
that it was a part of his punishment too, being all the while unactive,
unemploy'd, having no business, nothing to do but gnawing his own
Bowels, and rolling in the agony of his own self-approaches, being a
Hell to himself in reflecting on the glorious state from whence he was
fallen.
How long he remain'd thus, 'tis true, we have no light into from
History, and but little from Tradition; _Rabbi Judah_ says, the _Jews_
were of the opinion, that he remain'd twenty thousand years in that
condition, and that the World shall continue twenty thousand more, in
which he shall find work enough to satisfy his mischievous desires; but
he shews no authority for his opinion.
Indeed let the _Devil_ have been as idle as they think he was before, it
must be acknowledg'd that now he is the most busy, vigilant and
diligent, of all GOD's creatures, and very full of employment too,
_such as it is_.
Scripture indeed, gives us light into the enmity there is between the
two natures, the Diabolical and the Human; the reason of it, and how and
by what means the power of _the Devil_ is restrain'd by the _Messias_;
and to those who are willing to trust to Gospel-light, and believe what
the Scripture says of _the Devil_, there may much of his History be
discover'd, and therefore those that list may go there for a fuller
account of the matter.
But to reserve all Scripture-evidence of these things, as a Magazine in
store for the use of those with whom Scripture-testimony is of force, I
must for the present turn to other enquiries, being now directing my
story to an age, wherein to be driven to Revelation and
Scripture-assertions is esteem'd giving up the dispute; people
now-a-days must have demonstration; and in a word, nothing will satisfy
the age, but such evidence as perhaps the nature of the question will
not admit.
It is hard, indeed, to bring demonstrations in such a case as this: _No
man has seen_ GOD _at any time_, says the scripture, 1 _John_ iv. 12. So
_the Devil_ being a spirit incorporeal, an Angel of light, and
consequently not visible in his own substance, nature and form, it may
in some sense be said, _no man has seen the Devil at any time_; all
those pretences of phrenziful and fanciful people, who tell us, they
have seen _the Devil_, I shall examine, and perhaps expose by
themselves.
It might take up a great deal of our time here, to enquire whether _the
Devil_ has any particular shape or personality of substance, which can
be visible to us, felt, heard, or understood; and which he cannot alter,
and then, what shapes or appearances _the Devil_ has at any time taken
upon him; and whether he can really appear in a body which might be
handled and seen, and yet so as to know it to have been _the Devil_ at
the time of his appearing; but this also I defer as not of weight in the
present enquiry.
We have divers accounts of Witches conversing with _the Devil_; the
_Devil_ in a real body, with all the appearance of a body of a man or
woman appearing to them; also of having a _Familiar_, as they call it,
an _Incubus_ or _little Devil_, which sucks their bodies, runs away with
them into the air, _and the like_: Much of this is said, but much more
than it is easy to prove, and we ought to give but a just proportion of
credit to those things.
As to his borrow'd shapes and his subtle transformings, that we have
such open testimony of, that there is no room for any question about it;
and when I come to that part, I shall be oblig'd rather to give a
history of the fact, than enter into any dissertation upon the nature
and reason of it.
I do not find in any author, whom we can call creditable, that even in
those countries where the dominion of _Satan_ is more particularly
establish'd, and where they may be said to worship him in a more
particular manner, as _a Devil_; which some tell us the _Indians_ in
_America_ did, who worship'd the _Devil_ that he might not hurt them;
yet, _I say_, I do not find that even there the _Devil_ appear'd to them
in any particular constant shape or personality peculiar to himself.
Scripture and History therefore, giving us no light into that part of
the question, I conclude and lay it down, not as my opinion only, but as
what all ages seem to concur in, that the _Devil_ has no particular
body; that he is a spirit, and that tho' he may, _Proteus_ like, assume
the appearance of either man or beast, yet it must be some borrow'd
shape, some assum'd figure, _pro hac vice_, and that he has no visible
body of his own.
I thought it needful to discuss this as a preliminary, and that the next
discourse might go upon a certainty in this grand point; namely, that
the Devil, however, he may for his particular occasions put himself into
a great many shapes, and clothe himself, perhaps, with what appearances
he pleases, yet that he is himself still a meer Spirit, that he retains
the seraphic Nature, is not visible by our eyes, which are human and
Organic, neither can he act with the ordinary Powers, or in the ordinary
manner as bodies do; and therefore, when he has thought fit to descend
to the meannesses of disturbing and frightning children and old women,
by noises and knockings, dislocating the chairs and stools, breaking
windows, and such like little ambulatory things, which would seem to be
below the dignity of his character, and which in particular, is
ordinarily performed by organic Powers; yet even then he has thought fit
not to be seen, and rather to make the poor people believe he had a real
shape and body, with hands to act, mouth to speak, _and the like_, than
to give proof of it in common to the whole World, by shewing himself,
and acting visibly and openly, as a body usually and ordinarily does.
Nor is it any disadvantage to the Devil, that his Seraphic nature is not
confin'd or imprison'd in a body or shape, suppose that shape to be what
monstrous thing we would; for this would, indeed, confine his actings
within the narrow sphere of the organ or body to which he was limited;
and tho' you were to suppose the body to have wings for a velocity of
Motion equal to spirit, yet if it had not a power of invisibility too,
and a capacity of conveying it self, undiscover'd, into all the secret
recesses of mankind, and the same secret art or capacity of insinuation,
suggestion, accusation, _&c._ by which his wicked designs are now
propagated, and all his other devices assisted, by which he deludes and
betrays mankind; I say, he would be no more a Devil, that is a
Destroyer, no more a Deceiver, and, no more a Satan, that is, a
dangerous Arch enemy to the souls of men; nor would it be any difficulty
to mankind to shun and avoid him, as I shall make plain in the other
part of his History.
Had the Devil from the beginning been embodied, as he could not have
been invisible to us, whose souls equally seraphic are only prescrib'd
by being embody'd and encas'd in flesh and blood as we are; so he would
have been no more a Devil to any body but himself: The imprisonment in a
body, had the powers of that body been all that we can conceive to make
him formidable to us, would yet have been a Hell to him; consider him as
a conquer'd exasperated Rebel, retaining all that fury and swelling
ambition, that hatred of God, and envy at his creatures which dwells now
in his enrag'd spirit as a _Devil_: yet suppose him to have been
condemn'd to organic Powers, confin'd to corporeal motion, and
restrain'd as a Body must be supposed to restrain a Spirit; it must, at
the same time, suppose him to be effectually disabled from all the
methods he is now allow'd to make use of, for exerting his rage and
enmity against God, any farther than as he might suppose it to affect
his Maker at second hand, by wounding his Glory thro' the sides of his
weakest creature, MAN.
He must, certainly, be thus confin'd, because Body can only act upon
Body, not upon Spirit; no species being empower'd to act out of the
compass of its own sphere: He might have been empower'd, indeed, to have
acted terrible and even destructive things upon mankind, especially if
this body had any powers given it which mankind had not, by which man
would be overmatch'd and not be in a condition of self-defence; for
example, suppose him to have had wings to have flown in the air; Or to
be invulnerable, and that no human invention, art, or engine could hurt,
ensnare, captivate, or restrain him.
But this is to suppose the righteous and wise Creator to have made a
creature and not be able to defend and preserve him; or to have left him
defenceless to the mercy of another of his own creatures, whom he had
given power to destroy him; This indeed, might have occasion'd a general
idolatry, and made mankind, as the _Americans_ do to this day, worship
the _Devil_, that he might not hurt them; but it could not have
prevented the destruction of mankind, supposing the Devil to have had
malice equal to his power: and he must put on a new nature, be
compassionate, generous, beneficent, and steadily good in sparing the
rival enemy he was able to destroy, or he must have ruin'd mankind: _In
short_, he must have ceas'd to have been a Devil, and must have
re-assum'd his original, Angelic, heavenly nature; been fill'd with the
principles of love to, and delight in the Works of his Creator, and bent
to propagate his Glory and Interest; or he must have put an end to the
race of man, whom it would be in his Power to destroy, and oblige his
Maker to create a new species, or fortify the old with some kind of
defence, which must be invulnerable, and which his fiery darts could not
penetrate.
On this occasion suffer me to make an excursion from the usual stile of
this Work, and with some solemnity to express my Thoughts thus:
How glorious is the wisdom and goodness of the great Creator of the
World! in thus restraining these seraphic OUTCASTS from the power of
assuming human or organic bodies! which could they do, envigorating them
with the supernatural Powers, which, as Seraphs and Angels, they now
possess and might exert, they would be able even to fright mankind from
the face of the Earth, and to destroy and confound God's Creation; nay,
_even as they are_, were not their power limited, they might destroy the
Creation it self, reverse and over-turn nature, and put the World into a
general conflagration: But were those immortal Spirits embodied, tho'
they were not permitted to confound nature, they would be able to
harrass poor weak and defenceless man out of his wits, and render him
perfectly useless, either to his Maker or himself.
But the Dragon is chain'd, the Devil's Power is limited; he has indeed a
vastly extended Empire, being Prince of the Air, having, at least, the
whole Atmosphere to range in, and how far that Atmosphere is extended,
is not yet ascertain'd by the nicest observations; _I say at least_,
because we do not yet know how far he may be allow'd to make excursions
beyond the Atmosphere of this Globe into the planetary Worlds, and what
power he may exercise in all the habitable parts of the _solar system_;
nay, of all the other _solar systems_, which, for ought we know, may
exist in the mighty extent of created space, and of which you may hear
farther in its order.
But let his power be what it will there, we are sure 'tis limited here,
and that in two particulars; first, he is limited as above, from
assuming body or bodily shapes with substance; and secondly, from
exerting seraphic Powers, and acting with that supernatural force,
which, as an Angel, he was certainly vested with before the fall, and
which we are not certain is yet taken from him; or at most, we do not
know how much it may or may not be diminish'd by his degeneracy, and by
the blow given him at his expulsion: this we are certain, that be his
Power greater or less, he is restrain'd from the exercise of it in this
World; and he, who was one equal to the Angel who kill'd 180000 men in
one night, is not able now, without a new commission, to take away the
life of one _Job_, nor to touch any thing he had.
But let us consider him then limited and restrained as he is, yet he
remains a mighty, a terrible, an immortal Being; infinitely superior to
man, as well in the dignity of his nature, as in the dreadful powers he
retains still about him; it is true the brain-sick heads of our
Enthusiasticks paint him blacker than he is, and, as I have said,
wickedly represent him clothed with terrors that do not really belong to
him; as if the power of good and evil was wholly vested in him, and that
he was placed in the Throne of his Maker, to distribute both punishments
and rewards; In this they are much wrong, terrifying and deluding
fanciful people about him, till they turn their heads, and fright them
into a belief that the _Devil_ will let them alone, if they do such and
such good things; or carry them away with him they know not whither, if
they do not; as if the _Devil_, whose proper business is mischief,
seducing and deluding mankind, and drawing them in to be rebels like
himself, should threaten to seize upon them, carry them away, and in a
word, fall upon them to hurt them, if they did evil, and on the
contrary, be favourable and civil to them, if they did well.
Thus a poor deluded country fellow in our Town, that had liv'd a wicked,
abominable, debauch'd life, was frighted with an Apparition, as he
call'd it, of the _Devil_; He fancy'd that he spoke to him, and telling
his tale to a good honest christian Gentleman his neighbour, that had a
little more sense than himself; the Gentleman ask'd him if he was sure
he really saw the _Devil_? yes, yes, Sir, _says he_, I saw him very
plain, and so they began the following discourse.
_Gent._ See him! See the Devil! art thou sure of it, _Thomas_?
_Tho._ Yes, yes, I am sure enough of it, _Master_; to be sure 'twas the
_Devil_.
_Gent._ And how do you know 'twas the _Devil_, _Thomas_? had you ever
seen the _Devil_ before?
_Tho._ No, no, I had never seen him before, _to be sure_; but, for all
that, I know 'twas the _Devil_.
_Gent._ Well, if you're sure, _Thomas_, there's no contradicting you;
pray what clothes had he on?
_Tho._ Nay, Sir, don't jest with me, he had no clothes on, he was
clothed with fire and brimstone.
_Gent._ Was it dark or day light when you saw him?
_Tho._ O! it was very dark, for it was midnight.
_Gent._ How could you see him then? did you see by the light of the fire
you speak of?
_Tho._ No, no, he gave no light himself; but I saw him, for all that.
_Gent._ But was it within doors, or out in the street?
_Tho._ It was within, it was in my own Chamber, when I was just going
into bed, that I saw him.
_Gent._ Well then, you had a candle, hadn't you?
_Tho._ Yes, I had a candle, but it burnt as blue! and as dim!
_Gent._ Well, but if the Devil was clothed with fire and brimstone, he
must give you some light, there can't be such a fire as you speak of,
but it must give a light with it.
_Tho._ _No, no_, He gave no light, but I smelt his fire and brimstone;
he left a smell of it behind him, when he was gone.
_Gent._ Well, so you say he had fire, but gave no light, it was a
devilish fire indeed; did it feel warm? was the room hot while he was in
it?
_Tho._ No, no, but I was hot enough without it, for it put me into a
great sweat with the fright.
_Gent._ Very well, he was all in fire, you say, but without light or
heat, only, it seems, he stunk of brimstone; pray what shapes was he in,
what was he like; for you say you saw him?
_Tho._ O! Sir, I saw two great staring saucer eyes, enough to fright any
body out of their wits.
_Gent._ And was that all you saw?
_Tho._ No, I saw his _cloven-foot_ very plain, 'twas as big as one of
our bullocks that goes to plow.
_Gent._ So you saw none of his body, but his eyes and his feet? a fine
vision indeed!
_Tho._ Sir, that was enough to send me going.
_Gent._ Going! what did you run away from him?
_Tho._ No, but I fled into bed at one jump, and sunk down and pull'd the
bed-clothes quite over me.
_Gent._ And what did you do that for?
_Tho._ To hide my self from such a frightful creature.
_Gent._ Why, if it had really been the Devil, do you think the
bed-clothes would have secur'd you from him?
_Tho._ Nay, I don't know, but in a fright it was all I could do.
_Gent._ Nay, 'twas as wise as all the rest; but come, _Thomas_, to be a
little serious, pray did he speak to you?
_Tho._ Yes, yes, I heard a voice, but who it was the Lord knows.
_Gent._ What kind of voice was it, was it like a man's voice?
_Tho._ No, it was a hoarse ugly noise, like the croaking of a Frog, and
it call'd me by my name twice, _Thomas Dawson, Thomas Dawson_.
_Gent._ Well, did you answer?
_Tho._ No, not I, I could not have spoke a word for my life; why, I was
frighted to death.
_Gent._ Did it say any thing else?
_Tho._ _Yes_, when it saw that I did not speak, it said, _Thomas Dawson,
Thomas Dawson, you are a wicked wretch, you lay with_ Jenny S---- _last
night; if you don't repent, I will take you away alive and carry you to
Hell, and you shall be damned, you wretch_.
_Gent._ And was it true, _Thomas_, did you lye with _Jenny S----_ the
night before?
_Tho._ Indeed Master, why yes it was true, but I was very sorry
afterwards.
_Gent._ But how should the Devil know it, _Thomas_?
_Tho._ Nay, he knows it to be sure; why, they say he knows every thing.
_Gent._ _Well_, but why should he be angry at that? he would rather did
you lye with her again, and encourage you to lye with forty whores, than
hinder you: This can't be the Devil, _Thomas_.
_Tho._ Yes, yes. Sir, 'twas the _Devil_ to be sure.
_Gent._ But he bid you repent too, you say?
_Tho._ Yes, he threatn'd me if I did not.
_Gent._ Why, _Thomas_, do you think the Devil would have you repent?
_Tho._ _Why no_, that's true too, I don't know what to say to that; but
what could it be? 'twas the Devil to be sure, it could be nobody else?
_Gent._ No, no, 'twas neither the Devil, _Thomas_, nor any body else,
but your own frighted imagination; you had lain with that wench, and
being a young sinner of that kind, your Conscience terrified you, told
you the Devil would fetch you away, and you would be damn'd; and you
were so persuaded it would be so, that you at last imagin'd he was come
for you indeed; that you saw him and heard him; whereas, you may depend
upon it, if _Jenny S----_ will let you lye with her every night, the
Devil will hold the candle, or do any thing to forward it, but will
never disturb you; he's too much a friend to your wickedness, it could
never be the Devil, _Thomas_; 'twas only your own guilt frighted you,
and that was _Devil_ enough too, if you knew the worst of it, you need
no other enemy.
_Tho._ Why that's true, Master, one would think the _Devil_ should not
bid me repent, that's true; but certainly 'twas the Devil for all that.
Now _Thomas_ was not the only man that having committed a flagitious
crime had been deluded by his own imagination, and the power of fancy,
to think the Devil was come for him; whereas the Devil, to give him his
due, is too honest to pretend to such things; 'tis his business to
persuade men to offend, not to repent; and he professes no other; he may
press men to this or that action, by telling them 'tis no sin, no
offence, no breach of God's Law, and the like, when really 'tis both;
but to press them to repent, when they have offended, that's quite out
of his way; 'tis none of his business, nor does he pretend to it;
therefore, let no man charge the Devil with what he is not concern'd in.
But to return to his Person, he is, as I have said, notwithstanding his
lost glory, a mighty, a terrible and an immortal Spirit; he is himself
call'd a Prince, _the Prince of the Power of the Air_; the Prince of
Darkness, the Prince of _Devils_, and the like, and his attending
Spirits are call'd _his Angels_: so that however _Satan_ has lost the
glory and rectitude of his Nature, by his apostate state, yet he retains
a greatness and magnificence, which places him above our rank, and
indeed above our conception; for we know not what he is, any more than
we know what the blessed Angels are; of whom we can say no more than
that they are _ministring Spirits_, &c. as the Scripture has describ'd
them.
Two things, however, may give us some insight into the nature of the
Devil, in the present state he is in; and these we have a clear
discovery of in the whole series of his Conduct from the Beginning.
1. That he is the vanquish'd but implacable enemy of God his
Creator, who has conquer'd him, and expell'd him from the
habitations of bliss; on which account he is fill'd with envy,
rage, malice, and all uncharitableness; would dethrone God and
overturn the thrones of Heaven, if it was in his power.
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.
1. He saw by some thwart lines in her face, (legible, perhaps, to
himself only) that there was a throne ready prepar'd for the sin of
pride to sit in state upon, especially if it took an early possession:
EVE you may suppose was a perfect Beauty, if ever such a thing may be
supposed in the human frame; her figure being so extraordinary, was the
groundwork of his project; there needed no more than to bring her to be
vain of it, and to conceit that it either was so, or was infinitely more
sublime and beautiful than it really was; and having thus tickl'd her
vanity, to introduce Pride gradually, till at last he might persuade
her, that she was really Angelic, or of heavenly Race, and wanted
nothing but to eat the forbidden fruit, and that would make her
something more excellent still.
2. Looking farther into her Frame, and with a nearer view to her
imperfections, he saw room to conclude that she was of a constitution
easy to be seduc'd, and especially by flattering her; raising a
commotion in her Soul, and a disturbance among her passions; and
accordingly he set himself to work, to disturb her repose, and put
dreams of great things into her head; together with something of a
nameless Kind, which (however, some have been ill-natur'd enough to
suggest) I shall not injure the Devil so much as to mention, without
better evidence.
3. But, besides this, he found, upon the very first survey of her
outside, something so very charming in her mein and behaviour, so
engaging as well as agreeable in the whole texture of her person, and
withal such a sprightly wit, such a vivacity of parts, such a fluency of
tongue, and above all, such a winning prevailing whine in her smiles, or
at least in her tears, that he made no doubt if he could but once delude
her, she would easily be brought to delude _Adam_, whom he found set not
only a great value upon her person, but was perfectly captivated by her
charms; in a word, he saw plainly, that if he could but ruin her, he
should easily make a Devil of her, to ruin her husband, and draw him
into any gulph of mischief, were it ever so black and dreadful, that she
should first fall into herself; how far some may be wicked enough, from
hence, to suggest of the _fair sex_, that they have been Devils to their
husbands ever since, I cannot say; I hope they will not be so unmerciful
to discover truths of such fatal consequence, tho' they should come to
their knowledge.
Thus subtle and penetrating has Satan been from the beginning; and who
can wonder that upon these discoveries made into the woman's inside, he
went immediately to work with her, rather than with _Adam_? not but that
one would think, if _Adam_ was fool enough to be deluded by his wife,
the Devil might have seen so much of it in his countenance, as to have
encourag'd him to make his attack directly upon him, and not go round
about, beating the bush, and ploughing with the Heifer; setting upon the
woman first, and then setting her upon her husband, who might as easily
have been imposed upon as she.
Other Commentators upon this critical Text suggest to us, that _Eve_ was
not so pleased with the hopes of being made a Goddess; That the pride of
a Seraphic Knowledge did not so much work upon her imagination to bring
her to consent, as a certain secret Notion infus'd into her head by the
same wicked instrument, that she should be wiser than _Adam_, and should
by the superiority of her understanding, necessarily have the government
over him; which, at present, she was sensible she had not, he being
master of a particular air of gravity and majesty, as well as of
strength, infinitely superior to her.
This is an ill-natur'd suggestion; but it must be confess'd the
impatient desire of government, which (since that) appears in the
general Behaviour of the sex, and particularly of governing husbands,
leaves too much room to legitimate the supposition.
The Expositors, who are of this opinion, add to it, that this being her
original crime, or the particular temptation to that crime; Heaven
thought fit to shew his justice, in making her more entire subjection to
her husband be a part of the Curse, that she might read her sin in the
punishment, (_viz._) _he shall rule over thee_.
I only give the general hint of these things as they appear recorded in
the annals of _Satan_'s first Tyranny, and at the beginning of his
government in the World; those that would be more particularly inform'd,
may enquire of him _and know farther_.
I cannot however, but observe here _with some regret_, how it appears by
the consequence, that the Devil was not mistaken when he made an early
judgment of Mrs. _Eve_; and how _Satan_ really went the right way to
work, to judge of her; 'tis certain the Devil had nothing to do but to
look in her face, and upon a near steady view he might easily see there,
an instrument for his Turn; nor has he fail'd to make her a Tool ever
since, by the very methods which he at first proposed; to which,
perhaps, he has made some additions in the corrupting her composition,
as well as her understanding; qualifying her to be a compleat snare to
the poor _weaker vessel_ MAN; to wheedle him with her _Syren_'s voice,
abuse him with her smiles, delude him with her crocodile tears, and
sometimes cock her crown at him, and terrify him with the thunder of her
TREBLE; making the effeminated _Male Apple-eater_ tremble at the noise
of that very Tongue, which at first commanded him to Sin. For it is yet
a debate which the Learned have not decided, whether she persuaded and
entreated him, or like a true she-tyrant, exercised her authority and
oblig'd him to eat the forbidden fruit.
And therefore a certain author, whose name, _for fear of the Sex's
resentment_ I conceal, brings her in, calling to _Adam_ at a great
distance, in an imperious haughty manner, beckoning to him with her
hand, thus; _Here_, says she, _you cowardly faint-hearted wretch, take
this branch of heavenly fruit, eat and be a stupid fool no longer; eat
and be wise; eat and be a God; and know, to your eternal shame, that
your wife has been made an enlightn'd Goddess before you_.
He tells you _Adam_ hung back a little at first, and trembl'd, _afraid
to trespass_: _What ails the_ SOT, says the new Termagant? _what are you
afraid of? did God forbid you! yes, and why? that we might not be
knowing and wise like himself! What reason can there be that we, who
have capacious souls, able to receive knowledge, should have it
withheld? take it, you Fool, and eat; don't you see how I am exalted in
soul by it, and am quite another Creature? Take it_, I say, _or, if you
don't, I'll go and cut down the Tree, and you shall never eat any of it
at all, and you shall be still a fool, and be governed by your wife for
ever_.
Thus, if this interpretation of the thing be just, she Scolded him into
it; Rated him, and brought him to it by the terror of her voice; a thing
that has retained a dreadful influence over him ever since; nor have the
greatest of _Adam_'s Successors, how light soever some husbands make of
it in this age, been ever able, since that, to conceal their terror, at
the very Sound; nay, if we may believe history, it prevailed even among
the Gods; not all the noise of _Vulcan_'s hammers could silence the
clamours of that outrageous whore his Goddess; nay, even _Jupiter_
himself led such a life with a termagant wife, that once, they say,
_Juno_ out-scolded the noise of all his Thunders, and was within an ace
of brawling him out of Heaven. But to return to the Devil.
With these views he resolv'd, it seems, to attack the woman; and if you
consider him as a Devil, and what he aim'd at, and consider the fair
prospect he had of success, I must confess, I do not see who can blame
him, or at least, how any thing less could be expected from him; But we
shall meet with it again by and by.
CHAP. V.
_Of the station Satan had in Heaven before he fell; the nature and
original of his crime, and some of Mr._ Milton_'s mistakes about
it._
Thus far I have gone upon general observation, in this great affair of
_Satan_ and his Empire in the World; I now come to _my Title_, and shall
enter upon the historical part, as the main work before me.
Besides what has been said Poetically, relating to the fall and
wandering condition of the _Devil_ and his Host, which poetical part I
offer only as an excursion, and desire it should be taken so; I shall
give you what I think is deduc'd from good originals on the part of
_Satan_'s story in a few words.
He was one of the created Angels, form'd by the same omnipotent hand and
glorious power, who created the Heavens and the Earth, and all that is
therein: This innumerable heavenly host, as we have reason to believe,
contain'd Angels of higher and lower stations, of greater and of lesser
degree, express'd in the Scripture by _Thrones_, _Dominions_, and
_Principalities_: This, I think, we have as much reason to believe, as
we have, that there are Stars in the Firmament (or starry Heavens) of
greater and of lesser magnitude.
What particular station among the immortal Choir of Angels, this
Arch-seraph, this Prince of _Devils_, call'd _Satan_, was plac'd in
before his expulsion, that indeed, we cannot come at the knowledge of,
at least, not with such an Authority as may be depended upon; but as
from Scripture authority, he is plac'd at the head of all the Apostate
armies, after he was fallen, we cannot think it in the least assuming to
say, that he might be supposed to be one of the principal Agents in the
_Rebellion_ which happen'd in Heaven, and consequently that he might be
one of the highest in dignity there, before that Rebellion.
The higher his station, the lower, and with the greater precipitation,
was his overthrow; and therefore, those words, tho' taken in another
sense, may very well be apply'd to him: _How art thou fallen_, O
Lucifer! _Son of the Morning!_
Having granted the dignity of his Person, and the high station in which
he was placed among the heavenly Host; it would come then necessarily to
inquire into the nature of his fall, and _above all_, a little into the
reason of it; certain it is, _he did fall_, was guilty of Rebellion and
Disobedience, the just effect of Pride; sins, which, in that holy place,
might well be call'd wonderful.
But what to me is more wonderful, and which, I think, will be very ill
accounted for, is, how came seeds of crime to rise in the Angelic
Nature? created in a state of perfect, unspotted holiness? how was it
first found in a place where no unclean thing can enter? how came
ambition, pride, or envy to generate there? could there be offence where
there was no crime? could untainted purity breed corruption? could that
nature contaminate and infect, which was always Drinking in principles
of perfection?
Happy 'tis to me, _that_ writing the History, _not_ solving the
Difficulties of _Satan_'s Affairs, is my province in this Work; that I
am to relate the Fact, not give reasons for it, or sign causes; if it
was otherwise, I should break off at this difficulty, for I acknowledge
I do not see thro' it; neither do I think that the great _Milton_, after
all his fine Images and lofty Excursions upon the Subject, has left it
one jot clearer than he found it: Some are of opinion, and among them
the great Dr. _B----s_, that crime broke in upon them at some interval,
when they omitted but one moment fixing their eyes and thoughts on the
glories of the divine face, to admire and adore, which is the full
employment of Angels; but even this, tho' it goes as high as imagination
can carry us, does not reach it, nor, to me, make it one jot more
comprehensible than it was before; all I can say to it here, is, that
_so it was_, the fact was upon Record, and the rejected Troop are in
being, whose circumstances confess the Guilt, and still groan under the
Punishment.
If you will bear with a poetic excursion upon the subject, not to solve
but to illustrate the difficulty; take it in a few lines, thus,
Thou sin of Witchcraft! firstborn child of Crime!
Produc'd before the bloom of Time;
Ambition's maiden Sin, in Heaven conceiv'd,
And who could have believ'd
Defilement could in purity begin,
And bright eternal Day be soil'd with Sin?
Tell us, sly penetrating Crime,
How cam'st thou there, thou fault sublime?
How didst thou pass the Adamantine Gate;
And into Spirit thy self insinuate?
From what dark state? from what deep place?
From what strange uncreated race?
Where was thy ancient habitation found
Before void Chaos heard the forming sound?
Wast thou a Substance, or an airy Ghost,
A Vapour flying in the fluid waste
Of unconcocted air?
And how at first didst thou come there?
Sure there was once a time when thou wert not,
By whom wast thou created? and for what?
Art thou a steam from some contagious damp exhal'd?
How should contagion be intail'd,
On bright seraphic Spirits, and in a place
Where all's supreme, and Glory fills the Space?
No noxious vapour there could rise,
For there no noxious matter lies;
Nothing that's evil could appear,
Sin never could Seraphic Glory bear;
The brightness of the eternal Face,
Which fills as well as constitutes the place,
Would be a fire too hot for crime to bear,
'Twould calcine Sin, or melt it into air.
How then did first defilement enter in?
Ambition, thou first vital seed of Sin!
Thou Life of Death, how cam'st thou there?
In what bright form didst thou appear?
In what Seraphic Orb didst thou arise?
Surely that place admits of no disguise,
Eternal Sight must know thee there,
And being known, thou soon must disappear.
But since the fatal Truth we know,
Without the matter whence or manner how:
Thou high superlative of Sin,
Tell us thy nature, where thou didst begin?
The first degree of thy increase,
Debauch'd the Regions of eternal Peace,
And fill'd the breasts of loyal Angels there
With the first Treason and infernal War.
Thou art the high extreme of pride,
And dost o'er lesser crimes preside;
Not for the mean attempt of Vice design'd,
But to embroil the World, and damn Mankind.
Transforming mischief, now hast thou procur'd
That loss that ne'er to be restor'd,
And made the bright Seraphic Morning-star
In horrid monstrous shapes appear?
_Satan_, that while he dwelt in glorious light,
Was always then as pure as he was bright,
That in effulgent rays of glory shone,
Excell'd by eternal Light, by him alone,
Distorted now, and stript of Innocence,
And banish'd with thee from the high Pre-eminence,
How has the splendid Seraph chang'd his face,
Transform'd by thee, and like thy monstrous race?
Ugly as is the crime, for which he fell, }
Fitted by thee to make a local Hell, }
For such must be the place where either of you dwell. }
Thus, as I told you, I only moralize upon the subject, but as to the
difficulty, I must leave it as I find it, unless, _as I hinted at
first_, I could prevail with Satan to set pen to paper, and write this
part of his own History: No question, but he could let us into the
secret; but to be plain, I doubt I shall tell so many plain truths of
the _Devil_, in this History, and discover so many of his secrets, which
it is not for his interest to have discover'd, that before I have done,
the _Devil_ and I may not be so good friends as you may suppose we are;
at least, not friends enough to obtain such a favour of him, tho' it be
for public good; so we must be content till we come ont' other side the
_Blue-Blanket_, and then we shall know the whole Story.
But now, tho' as I said, I will not attempt to solve the difficulty, I
may, I hope, venture to tell you, that there is not so much difficulty
in it, as at first sight appears: and especially not so much as some
people would make us believe; let us see how others are mistaken in it,
perhaps, that may help us a little in the enquiry; for to know _what it
is not_, is one help towards knowing _what it is_.
Mr. _Milton_ has indeed told us a great many merry things of the Devil,
in a most formal, solemn manner; till in short he has made a good PLAY
of _Heaven_ and _Hell_; and no doubt if he had liv'd in our times, he
might have had it acted with our _Pluto_ and _Proserpine_. He has made
fine Speeches both for _God_ and the _Devil_, and a little addition
might have turn'd it _a la modern_ into a _Harlequin Dieu & Diable_.
I confess I don't well know how far the dominion of Poetry extends
itself; it seems the Buts and Bounds of _Parnassus_ are not yet
ascertain'd; so that for ought I know, by vertue of their antient
privileges call'd _Licentia Poetarum_, there can be no _Blasphemy_ in
_Verse_; as some of our Divines say there can be no _Treason_ in the
_Pulpit_. But they that will venture to write that way, ought to be
better satisfy'd about that Point than I am.
Upon this foot Mr. _Milton_, to grace his Poem, and give room for his
Towring Fancy, has gone a length beyond all that ever went before him,
since _Ovid_ in his _Metamorphosis_. He has indeed complimented GOD
_Almighty_ with a flux of lofty words, and great sounds; and has made a
very fine Story of the _Devil_, but he has made a meer _je ne scay Quoi_
of _Jesus Christ_. In one line he has him riding on a _Cherub_, and in
another sitting on a Throne, both in the very same moment of action. In
another place he has brought him in making a Speech to his _Saints_,
when 'tis evident he had none there; for we all know _Man was not
created till a long while after_; and no body can be so dull as to say
the _Angels_ may be called _Saints_, without the greatest absurdity in
nature. Besides, he makes CHRIST himself distinguish them, as in two
several Bands, and of differing Persons and Species, as to be sure they
are.
Stand still in bright array, _ye Saints_------
---- ------ -------- -------- Here stand,
_Ye Angels_. ------
_Par. Lost. lib._ vi. _fo._ 174.
So that CHRIST here is brought in drawing up his Army before the last
Battle, and making a Speech to them, to tell them they shall only stand
by in warlike order, but that they shall have no occasion to fight, for
he alone will engage the Rebels. Then in embattling his Legions, he
places the Saints here, and the Angels there, as if one were the main
Battle of Infantry, and the other the Wings of Cavalry. But who are
those Saints? they are indeed all of _Milton_'s own making; 'tis certain
there were no Saints at all in _Heaven_ or _Earth_ at that time; GOD and
his _Angels_ fill'd up the place; and till some of the _Angels_ fell,
and Men were created, had liv'd, and were dead, there could have been no
_Saints_ there. Saint _Abel_ was certainly the _Proto-Saint_ of all that
ever were seen in _Heaven_, as well as the Proto-martyr of all that have
been upon _Earth_.
Just such another Mistake, not to call it a Blunder, he makes about
_Hell_; which he not only makes LOCAL, but gives it a being before the
Fall of the _Angels_; and brings it in opening its mouth to receive
them. This is so contrary to the nature of the thing, and so great an
absurdity, that no Poetic License can account for it; for tho' Poesie
may form Stories, as Idea and Fancy may furnish Materials, yet Poesy
must not break in upon Chronology, and make things which in time were to
exist, act before they existed.
Thus a Painter may make a fine piece of Work, the fancy may be good, the
strokes masterly, and the beauty of the Workmanship inimitably curious
and fine, and yet have some unpardonable improprieties which marr the
whole Work. So the famous Painter of _Toledo_ painted the story of the
three Wisemen of the _East_ coming to worship, and bring their presents
to our Lord upon his birth at _Bethlehem_, where he represents them as
three _Arabian_ or _Indian_ Kings; two of them are white, and one black;
But unhappily when he drew the latter part of them kneeling, which to be
sure was done after their faces; their legs being necessarily a little
intermix'd, he made three black feet for the _Negroe_ King, and but
three white feet for the two white Kings, and yet never discover'd the
mistake till the piece was presented to the King, and hung up in the
great Church. As this is an unpardonable error in Sculpture or Limning,
it must be much more so in Poetry, where the Images must have no
improprieties, much less inconsistencies.
In a word, Mr. _Milton_ has indeed made a fine Poem, but it is _the
Devil of a History_. I can easily allow Mr. _Milton_ to make Hills and
Dales, flowry Meadows and Plains (and the like) in Heaven; and places of
Retreat and Contemplation in _Hell_; tho' I must add, that it can be
allowed to no Poet on Earth but Mr. _Milton_. Nay, I will allow Mr.
_Milton_, if you please, to set the _Angels_ a dancing in _Heaven_,
_lib._ v. _fo._ 138. and the _Devils_ a singing in Hell, _lib._ i. _fo._
44. tho' they are in short, especially the last, most horrid
Absurdities. But I cannot allow him to make their Musick in _Hell_ to be
harmonious and charming as he does; such Images being incongruous, and
indeed shocking to Nature. Neither can I think we should allow things to
be plac'd out of time in Poetry, any more than in History; 'tis a
confusion of Images which is allow'd to be disallow'd by all the
Criticks of what tribe or species soever in the world, and is indeed
unpardonable. But we shall find so many more of these things in Mr.
_Milton_, that really taking notice of them all, would carry me quite
out of my way, I being at this time not writing the History of Mr.
_Milton_, but of the _Devil_: besides, Mr. _Milton_ is such a
celebrated Man, that who but he that can write the History of the
_Devil_ dare meddle with him?
But to come back to the business. As I had caution'd you against running
to Scripture for shelter in cases of difficulty, Scripture weighing very
little among the people I am directing my Speech to; so indeed Scripture
gives but very little light into any thing of the _Devil_'s Story before
his Fall, and but _to very little_ of it for some time after.
Nor has Mr. _Milton_ said one word to solve the main difficulty (_viz._)
How the _Devil_ came to fall, and how Sin came into Heaven; how the
spotless Seraphic Nature could receive infection, whence the contagion
proceeded, what noxious matter could emit corruption there, how and
whence any vapour to poison the Angelick Frame could rise up, or how it
increas'd and grew up to crime. But all this he passes over, and
hurrying up that part in two or three words, only tells us,
------ his Pride,
Had cast him out of Heaven with all his Host
Of rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring
He trusted to have equal'd the most High.
_lib._ i. _fo._ 3.
_His pride!_ but how came _Satan_ while an Arch-angel to be proud? How
did it consist, that Pride and perfect Holiness should meet in the same
Person? Here we must bid Mr. _Milton_ good night; for, in plain terms,
he is in the dark about it, and so we are all; and the most that can be
said, is, that we know the fact is so, but nothing of the nature or
reason of it.
But to come to the History: The Angels fell, they sinn'd (wonderful!) in
Heaven, and God cast them out; what their sin was is not explicit, but
in general 'tis call'd a Rebellion against GOD; all sin must be so.
Mr. _Milton_ here takes upon him to give the History of it, as
particularly as if he had been born there, and came down hither on
purpose to give us an account of it; (I hope he is better inform'd by
this time;) but this he does in such a manner, as jostles with Religion,
and shocks our Faith in so many points necessary to be believ'd, that we
must forbear to give up to Mr. _Milton_, or must set aside part of the
sacred Text, in such a manner, as will assist some people to set it all
aside.
I mean by this, his invented Scheme of the Son's being declared in
Heaven to be begotten then, and then to be declar'd Generalissimo of all
the Armies of Heaven; and of the Father's Summoning all the Angels of
the heavenly Host to submit to him, and pay him homage. The words are
quoted already, page 32.
I must own the Invention, indeed, is very fine; the Images exceeding
magnificent, the Thought rich and bright, and, in some respect, truly
sublime: But the Authorities fail most wretchedly, and the miss-timing
of it, is unsufferably gross, as is noted in the Introduction to this
Work; for Christ is not declar'd the Son of God but on Earth; 'tis true,
'tis spoken from Heaven, but then 'tis spoken as perfected on Earth; if
it was at all to be assign'd to Heaven, it was from Eternity, and there,
indeed, his eternal Generation is allow'd; but to take upon us to say,
that _On a day, a certain day_, for so our Poet assumes, lib. v. fol.
137.
------ 'When on a day,
------ 'On such a day
'As Heaven's great Year brings forth, the empyreal Host
'Of Angels by imperial Summons call'd,
'Forthwith from all the ends of Heaven appear'd.
This is, indeed, too gross; at this meeting he makes God declare the Son
to be _that day begotten_, as before; had he made him not begotten that
day, but declared General that day, it would be reconcileable with
Scripture and with sense; for either the begetting is meant of ordaining
to an office, or else the eternal Generation falls to the ground; and if
it was to the office (Mediator) then Mr. _Milton_ is out in ascribing
another fix'd day to the Work; see lib. x. fo. 194. But then the
declaring him _that day_, is wrong chronology too, for Christ is
declar'd _the Son of God with power_, only _by the Resurrection of the
dead_, and this is both a Declaration in Heaven and in Earth. _Rom._ i.
4. And _Milton_ can have no authority to tell us, there was any
Declaration of it in Heaven before this, except it be that dull
authority call'd _poetic License_, which will not pass in so solemn an
affair as that.
But the thing was necessary to _Milton_, who wanted to assign some cause
or original of the _Devil_'s Rebellion; and so, _as I said above_, the
design is well laid, it only wants two Trifles call'd _Truth_ and
_History_; so I leave it to struggle for itself.
This Ground-plot being laid, he has a fair field for the _Devil_ to play
the Rebel in, for he immediately brings him in, not satisfy'd with the
Exaltation of the Son of God. The case must be thus; _Satan_ being an
eminent _Arch-angel_, and perhaps, the highest of all the Angelic Train,
hearing this Sovereign Declaration, that the _Son of God_ was declar'd
to be Head or Generalissimo of all the heavenly Host, took it ill to see
another put into the high station _over his head_, as the Soldiers call
it; he, perhaps, thinking himself the senior Officer, and disdaining to
submit to any but to his former immediate Sovereign; in short, he threw
up his Commission, and, in order not to be compel'd to obey, revolted
and broke out in open Rebellion.
All this part is a Decoration noble and great, nor is there any
objection to be made against the invention, because a deduction of
probable Events; but the Plot is wrong laid, as is observ'd above,
because contradicted by the Scripture account, according to which Christ
was declared in Heaven, not then, but from Eternity, and not declared
with power, but on Earth, (_viz._) in his victory over Sin and Death, by
the Resurrection from the dead: so that Mr. _Milton_ is not orthodox in
this part, but lays an avow'd foundation for the corrupt Doctrine of
_Arius_, which says, there was a time when Christ _was not_ the Son of
GOD.
But to leave Mr. _Milton_ to his flights, I agree with him in this part,
_viz._ that the wicked or sinning Angels, with the great Arch-angel at
the head of them, revolted from their obedience, even in Heaven it self;
that _Satan_ began the wicked defection, and being a Chief among the
heavenly Host, consequently carry'd over a great party with him, who all
together rebel'd against God; that upon this Rebellion they were
sentenc'd, by the righteous judgment of GOD, to be expel'd the holy
Habitation; this, besides the authority of Scripture, we have visible
testimonies of, from the Devils themselves; their influences and
operations among us every day, of which Mankind are witnesses; in all
the merry things they do in his name, and under his protection, in
almost every scene of life they pass thro', whether we talk of things
done openly or in Masquerade, things done in--or out of it, things done
in earnest or in jest.
But then, what comes of the long and bloody War that Mr. _Milton_ gives
such a full and particular account of, and the terrible Battles in
Heaven between _Michael_ with the royal Army of Angels on one hand, and
_Satan_ with his rebel Host on the other; in which he supposes the
numbers and strength to be pretty near equal? but at length brings in
the _Devil_'s Army, upon doubling their rage and bringing new engines of
war into the field, putting _Michael_ and all the faithful Army to the
worst; and, in a word, defeats them? For tho' they were not put to a
plain flight, in which case he must, at least, have given an account of
two or three thousand millions of Angels cut in pieces and wounded, yet
he allows them to give over the fight, and make a kind of retreat; so
making way for the compleat victory of the Son of GOD: Now this is all
invention, or at least, a borrow'd thought from the old Poets, and the
Fight of the _Giants_ against _Jupiter_, so nobly design'd by _Ovid_,
almost two thousand years ago; and there 'twas well enough; but whether
Poetic Fancy should be allow'd to fable upon _Heaven_, or no, and upon
the King of Heaven too, that I leave to the Sages.
By this expulsion of the _Devils_, it is allow'd by most Authors, they
are, _ipso facto_, stript of the Rectitude and Holiness of their Nature,
which was their Beauty and Perfection; and being ingulph'd in the abyss
of irrecoverable ruin, _'tis no matter where_, from that very time they
lost their Angelic beautiful Form, commenc'd ugly frightful Monsters and
_Devils_, and became evil doers, as well as evil Spirits; fill'd with a
horrid malignity and enmity against their Maker, and arm'd with a
hellish resolution to shew and exert it on all occasions; retaining
however their exalted spirituous Nature, and having a vast extensive
power of Action, all which they can exert in nothing else but doing
evil, for they are entirely divested of either Power or will to do good;
and even in doing evil, they are under restraints and limitations of a
superior Power, which it is their Torment, and, perhaps, a great part of
their Hell that they cannot break thro'.
CHAP. VI.
_What became of the_ Devil _and his Host of fallen Spirits after their
being expell'd from Heaven, and his wandring condition till the
Creation; with some more of Mr._ Milton's _absurdities on that
subject._
Having thus brought the _Devil_ and his innumerable Legions to the edge
of the Bottomless-pit, it remains, before I bring them to action, that
some enquiry should be made into the posture of their affairs
immediately after their precipitate Fall, and into the place of their
immediate Residence; for this will appear to be very necessary to
_Satan_'s History, and indeed, so as that without it, all the farther
account we have to give of him, will be inconsistent and imperfect.
And first, I take upon me to lay down some Fundamentals, which I believe
I shall be able to make out Historically, tho', perhaps, not so
Geographically as some have pretended to do.
1. That _Satan_ was not immediately, nor is yet lock'd down into
the Abyss of a _local Hell_, such as is supposed by some, and such
as he shall be at last; or that,
2. If he was, he has certain liberties allowed him for excursions
into the Regions of this Air, and certain spheres of action, in
which he can, and does move, to do, _like a very Devil as he is_,
all the mischief he can, and of which we see so many examples both
about us and in us; in the inquiry after which, I shall take
occasion to examine whether the Devil is not in most of us,
sometimes, if not in all of us one time or other.
3. That _Satan_ has no particular residence in this Globe or Earth
where we live; that he rambles about among us, and marches over and
over our whole country, he and his Devils in _Camps volant_; but
that he pitches his grand Army or chief Encampment in our
Adjacencies or Frontiers, which the Philosophers call _Atmosphere_;
and whence he is call'd the Prince of the Power of that Element or
part of the World we call _Air_; from whence he sends out his
Spies, his Agents and Emissaries, to get intelligence, and to carry
his Commissions to his trusty and well beloved Cousins and
Counsellors on Earth, by which his business is done, and his
affairs carried on in the World.
Here, again, I meet Mr. _Milton_ full in my face, who will have it, that
_the Devil_, immediately at his expulsion, roll'd down directly into a
Hell proper and local; nay, he measures the very distance, at least
gives the length of the journey by the time they were passing or
falling, which, he says, was _nine days_; a good Poetical flight, but
neither founded on Scripture or Philosophy; he might every jot as well
have brought _Hell_ up to the Walls of _Heaven_, advanc'd to receive
them, or he ought to have consider'd the space which is to be allow'd
to any locality, let him take what part of infinite distance between
_Heaven_ and a created Hell he pleases.
But let that be as Mr. _Milton_'s extraordinary genius pleases to place
it; the passage, it seems, is just _nine days_ betwixt Heaven and Hell;
well might _Dives_ then see father _Abraham_, and talk to him too; but
then the great Gulph which _Abraham_ tells him was fix'd between them,
does not seem to be so large, as according to Sir _Isaac Newton_, Dr.
_Halley_, Mr. _Whiston_, and the rest of our Men of Science, we take it
to be.
But suppose the passage to be nine Days, according to Mr. _Milton_, what
follow'd? why Hell gap'd wide, open'd its frightful mouth, and received
them all at once; millions and thousands of millions as they were, it
received them all at a gulp, _as we call it_, they had no difficulty to
go in, no, none at all.
_Facilis desensus averni, sed revocare gradum
Hoc opus hic labor est._---- Virg.
All this, as Poetical, we may receive, but not at all as Historical; for
then come difficulties insuperable in our way, some of which may be as
follow: (1.) Hell is here supposed to be a place; nay a place created
for the punishment of Angels and Men, and likewise created long before
those had fallen, or these had Being; this makes me say, Mr. _Milton_
was a good Poet, but a bad Historian: _Tophet_ was prepar'd of old,
indeed, but it was for the King, that is to say, it was prepar'd for
those whose lot it should be to come there; but this does not at all
suppose it was prepar'd before it was resolv'd whether there should be
subjects for it, or no; else we must suppose both Men and Angels were
made by the glorious and upright Maker of all things, on purpose for
destruction, which would be incongruous and absurd.
But there is worse yet to come; in the next place he adds, that _Hell_
having receiv'd them, clos'd upon them; that is to say, took them in,
clos'd or shut its Mouth; and in a word, they were lock'd in, as it was
said in another place, they were lock'd in, and the Key is carry'd up to
Heaven and kept there; for _we know_ the Angel came down from Heaven,
having the Key of the Bottomless-pit; but first, see Mr. _Milton_.
'Nine days they fell, confounded chaos roar'd
'And felt ten-fold confusion in their fall:
'----Hell at last
'Yawning receiv'd them all, and on them clos'd;
'Down from the verge of Heaven, eternal wrath
'Burnt after them----
'Unquenchable.
This Scheme is certainly deficient, if not absurd, and I think is more
so than any other he has laid; 'tis evident, neither _Satan_ or his Host
of _Devils_ are, _no not any of them_, yet, even now, confin'd in the
eternal Prison, where the Scripture says, he shall be _reserved in
chains of darkness_. They must have mean thoughts of _Hell_, as a
Prison, a _local_ Confinement, that can suppose the _Devil_ able to
break Goal, knock off his Fetters, and come abroad, if he had been once
lock'd in there, as Mr. _Milton_ says he was: Now we know that he is
abroad again, he presented himself before _God_, among his neighbours,
when _Job_'s case came to be discours'd of; and more than that, it's
plain he was a prisoner at large, by his answer to God's question, which
was, _whence comest thou?_ to which he answer'd, _from going to and fro
thro' the Earth_, &c. this, I say, is plain, and if it be as certain
that Hell closed upon them, I demand then, how got he out? and why was
there not a Proclamation for apprehending him, as there usually is,
after such Rogues as break prison?
In short, the true Account of the _Devil_'s Circumstances, since his
Fall from _Heaven_, is much more likely to be thus: That he is more of a
Vagrant than a Prisoner, that he is a Wanderer in the wild unbounded
Wast, where he and his Legions, like the Hoords of _Tartary_, who, in
the wild Countries of _Karakathay_, the Desarts of _Barkan_, _Kassan_,
and _Astracan_, live up and down where they find proper; so Satan and
his innumerable Legions rove about _hic & ubique_, pitching their Camps
(being Beasts of prey) where they find the most Spoil; watching over
this World, (and all the other Worlds for ought we know, and if there
are any such,) I say watching, and seeking who they may devour, _that
is_, who they may deceive and delude, and so destroy, for devour they
cannot.
_Satan_ being thus confin'd to a vagabond, wandring, unsettl'd
Condition, is without any certain Abode; For tho' he has, in consequence
of his Angelic Nature, a kind of Empire in the liquid Wast or _Air_;
yet, this is certainly part of his punishment, that he is continually
hovering over this inhabited Globe of Earth; swelling with the Rage of
Envy, at the Felicity of his Rival, Man; and studying all the means
possible to injure and ruin him; but extremely limited in Power, to his
unspeakable Mortification: This is his present State, without any fix'd
Abode, Place, or Space, allow'd him to rest the Sole of his Foot upon.
From his Expulsion, I take his first View of Horror to be that, of
looking back towards the Heaven which he had lost; there to see the
Chasm or Opening made up, out at which, as at a Breach in the Wall of
the holy Place, he was thrust Head-long by the Power which expel'd him;
I say, to see the Breach repair'd, the Mounds built up, the Walls
garison'd with millions of Angels, and arm'd with Thunders; and, above
all, made terrible by that Glory from whose Presence they were expel'd,
as is Poetically hinted at before.
Upon this sight, 'tis no wonder (if there was such a Place) that they
fled till the Darkness might cover them, and that they might be out of
the View of so hated a Sight.
Wherever they found it, you may be sure they pitch'd their first Camp,
and began, after many a sour Reflection upon what was pass'd, to
consider and think a little, upon what was to come.
If I had as much personal Acquaintance with the _Devil_, as would admit
it, and could depend upon the Truth of what Answer he would give me, the
first Question I would ask him, should be, what Measures they resolv'd
on at their first Assembly? and the next should be, how they were
employ'd in all that space of Time, between their so flying the Face of
their almighty Conqueror, and the Creation of Man? as for the Length of
the Time, which, according to the Learn'd, was twenty thousand Years,
and according to the more Learned, not half a Quarter so much, I would
not concern my Curiosity much about it; 'tis most certain, there was a
considerable time between, but of that immediately; first let me enquire
what they were doing all that time.
The Devil and his Host, being thus, I say, cast out of Heaven, and not
yet confin'd strictly to _Hell_, 'tis plain they must be _some where_.
Satan and all his Legions did not lose their Existence, no, nor the
Existence of _Devils_ neither; GOD was so far from annihilating him,
that he still preserv'd his Being; and this not Mr. _Milton_ only, but
GOD himself has made known to us, having left his History so far upon
record; several expressions in Scripture also make it evident, as
particularly the story of _Job_, mentioned before; the like in our
Saviour's time, and several others.
If Hell did not immediately ingulph them, as _Milton_ suggests, 'tis
certain, I say, that they fled Somewhere, from the anger of Heaven, from
the face of the Avenger; and his absence, and their own guilt, _wonder
not at it_, would make Hell enough for them wherever they went.
Nor need we fly to the Dreams of our _Astronomers_, who take a great
deal of pains to fill up the vast Spaces of the starry Heavens with
innumerable habitable Worlds; allowing as many _solar Systems_ as there
are fix'd Stars, and that not only in the known Constellations, but even
in _Gallaxie_ it self; who, to every such System allow a certain number
of Planets, and to every one of those Planets so many _Satellites_ or
_Moons_, and all these Planets and Moons to be Worlds; solid, dark,
opaque Bodies, habitable, and (as they would have us believe) inhabited
by the like Animals and rational Creatures as on this Earth; so that
they may, at this rate, find room enough for the _Devil_ and all his
Angels, without making a Hell on purpose; nay they may, for ought I
know, find a World for every _Devil_ in all the _Devil'_s _Host_, and so
every one may be a Monarch or _Master-Devil_, separately in his own
Sphere or World, and play the _Devil_ there by himself.
And even if this were so, it cannot be denied but that one _Devil_ in a
place would be enough for a whole systemary World, and be able, if not
restrained, to do mischief enough there too, and even to ruin and
overthrow the whole body of People contain'd in it.
But, I say, we need not fly to these shifts, or consult the Astronomers
in the decision of this point; for wherever _Satan_ and his defeated
Host went, at their expulsion from _Heaven_, we think we are certain,
none of all these Beautiful Worlds, or be they Worlds or no, I mean the
fix'd Stars, Planets, _&c._ had then any existence; for the Beginning,
as the Scripture calls it, was not yet Begun.
But to speak a little by the rules of Philosophy, that is to say, so as
to be understood by others, even when we speak of things we cannot fully
understand ourselves: Tho' in the Beginning of Time all this glorious
Creation was form'd, the Earth, the starry Heavens, and all the
Furniture thereof, and there was a Time when they were not; yet we
cannot say so of the Void, or that nameless _no-where_, as I call'd it
before, which now appears to be a _some-where_, in which these glorious
Bodies are plac'd. That immense Space which those take up, and which
they move in at this Time, must be supposed, before they had Being, to
be plac'd there: As God himself was, and existed before all Being, Time,
or Place, so the Heaven of Heavens, or the Place, where the Thrones and
Dominions of his Kingdom then existed, inconceivable and ineffable, had
an existence before the glorious Seraphs, the innumerable company of
Angels which attended about the Throne of God existed; these all had a
Being long before, as the Eternal Creator of them all had before them.
Into this void or abyss of Nothing, however unmeasurable, infinite, and
even to those Spirits, themselves Inconceivable, they certainly launch'd
from the bright Precipice which they fell from, and here they shifted as
well as they could.
Here expanding those Wings which Fear, and Horror at their Defeat
furnish'd them, as I hinted before, they hurried away to the utmost
Distance possible, from the Face of GOD their Conqueror, and then most
dreaded Enemy; formerly their Joy and Glory.
Be this utmost remov'd Distance _where it will_, Here, certainly,
_Satan_ and all his _Gang of Devils_, his numberless, tho' routed Armies
retired. Here _Milton_ might, with some good Ground, have form'd his
_Pandemonium_, and have brought them in, consulting what was next to be
done, and whether there was any room left to renew the War, or to carry
on the Rebellion; but had they been cast immediately into _Hell_, closed
up there, the Bottomless pit lock'd upon them, and the Key carried up to
_Heaven_ to be kept there, as Mr. _Milton_ himself in part confesses,
and the Scripture affirms; I say, had this been so, the _Devil_ himself
could not have been so ignorant as to think of any future Steps to be
taken, to retrieve his Affairs, and therefore a _Pandemonium_ or Divan
in Hell, to consult of it, was ridiculous.
All Mr. _Milton_'s Scheme of _Satan_'s future Conduct, and all the
Scripture Expressions about _the Devil_ and his numerous Attendants, and
of his actings since that time, make it not reasonable to suggest that
the _Devils_ were confin'd to their eternal Prison, at their Expulsion
out of _Heaven_; But that they were in a State of Liberty to act, tho'
limited in acting, of which I shall also speak in its place.
CHAP. VII.
_Of the Number of Satan's Host; how they came first to know of the new
created Worlds, now in being, and their Measures with Mankind upon
the Discovery._
Several things have been suggested to set us a calculating the number of
this frightful throng of _Devils_, who with Satan, the _Master-Devil_,
was thus cast out of _Heaven_; I cannot say, I am so much Master of
Political Arithmetick as to cast up the Number of the Beast, no, nor the
Number of the Beasts _or Devils_, who make up this Throng. St.
_Francis_, they tell us, or some other Saint, they do not say who, ask'd
the _Devil_ once, how strong he was? for St. _Francis_, you must know,
was very familiar with him; _The Devil_, it seems, did not tell him, but
presently raised a great Cloud of Dust, by the help, I suppose, of a
Gust of Wind, and bid that Saint count it; He was, I suppose, a
Calculator, that would be call'd grave, who dividing _Satan_'s Troops
into three Lines, cast up the Number of the _Devils_ of all sorts in
each Battalia, at ten hundred times a hundred thousand millions of the
first Line, fifty millions of times as many in the second Line, and
three hundred thousand times as many as both in the third Line.
The Impertinence of this account would hardly have given it a place
here, only to hint that it has always been the Opinion, that _Satan_'s
Name may well be call'd a Noun of Multitude, and that _the Devil_ and
his _Angels_ are certainly no inconsiderable Number: It was a smart
Repartee that a _Venetian_ Nobleman made to a Priest who rallied him
upon his refusing to give something to the Church, which the Priest
demanded for the delivering him from Purgatory; when the Priest asking
him, _if he knew what an innumerable Number of_ Devils _there were to
take him_? he answer'd, _yes, he knew how many_ Devils _there were in
all_: _How many?_ says the Priest, his curiosity, I suppose, being
rais'd by the novelty of the answer. _Why ten millions five hundred and
eleven thousand, six hundred and seventy five Devils and a half_, says
the Nobleman: _A half!_ says the Priest, _pray what kind of a Devil is
that? your self_, says the Nobleman, _for you are half a Devil already
(and will be a whole one when you come there) for you are for deluding
all you deal with, and bringing us Soul and Body into your Hands, that
you may be paid for letting us go again_. So much for their Number.
Here also it would come in very aptly, to consider the state of that
long interval between the Time of their Expulsion from _Heaven_, and the
Creation of the World; and what the Posture of the Devil's Affairs might
be, during that Time. The horror of their Condition can only be
conceiv'd of at a Distance, and especially by us, who being embodied
Creatures, cannot fully judge of what is, or is not a Punishment to
_Seraphs_ and _Spirits_; But 'tis just to suppose they suffer'd all that
Spirits of a Seraphic Nature were capable to sustain, consistent with
their Existence; notwithstanding which they retain'd still the
_Hellishness_ of their rebellious Principles; namely, their Hatred and
Rage against God, and their Envy at the Felicity of his Creatures.
As to how long their time might be, I shall leave that Search; no lights
being given me that are either probable or rational, and we have so
little room to make a Judgment of it, that we may as well believe Father
_M----_, who supposes it to be a hundred thousand Years, as those who
judge it one thousand Years; 'tis enough that we are sure, it was before
the Creation, how long before is not material to _the Devil's History_,
unless we had some Records of what happen'd to him, or was done by him
in the Interval.
During the wandring Condition the Devil was in at that Time, we may
suppose, he and his whole Clan to be employ'd in exerting their Hatred
and Rage at the Almighty, and at the Happiness of the remaining faithful
Angels, by all the ways they had power to shew it.
From this determin'd stated Enmity of _Satan_ and his Host against
_God_, and at every thing that brought Glory to his Name, Mr. _Milton_
brings in _Satan_, (when first he saw _Adam_ in _Paradise_, and the
Felicity of his Station there) swelling with Rage and Envy, and taking
up a dreadful Resolution to ruin _Adam_ and all his Posterity, meerly to
disappoint his Maker of the Glory of his Creation; I shall come to speak
of that in its Place.
How _Satan_, in his remote Situation, got Intelligence of the Place
where to find _Adam_ out, or that any such thing as a Man was created,
is Matter of just Speculation, and there might be many rational Schemes
laid for it: Mr. _Milton_ does not undertake to tell us the Particulars,
nor indeed could he find room for it; perhaps, the _Devil_ having, _as I
have said_, a Liberty to range over the whole Void or Abyss, which we
want as well a Name for, as indeed Powers to conceive of; might have
discovered that the Almighty Creator had form'd a new and glorious Work,
with infinite Beauty and Variety, filling up the immense Wast of Space,
in which he, (the _Devil_) and his _Angels_, had rov'd for so long a
time, without finding any thing to work on, or to exert their Apostate
Rage in against their Maker.
That at length they found the infinite untrodden Space, on a sudden
spread full with glorious Bodies, shining in self-existing Beauty, with
a new, and to them unknown Lustre, call'd Light: They found these
luminous Bodies, tho' immense in Bulk, and infinite in Number, yet fixt
in their wondrous Stations, regular and exact in their Motions, confin'd
in their proper Orbits, tending to their particular Centers, and
enjoying every one their peculiar Systems, within which was contain'd
innumerable Planets with their Satellites or Moons, in which (_again_) a
reciprocal Influence, Motion and Revolution conspired to Form the most
admirable Uniformity of the whole.
Surprized, to be sure, with this sudden and yet glorious Work of the
Almighty; for the Creation was enough, with its Lustre, even to surprize
_the Devils_; they might reasonably be supposed to start out of their
dark Retreat, and with a Curiosity not below the Seraphic Dignity; for
_these are_ some of _the things which the Angels desire to look into_,
to take a flight thro' all the amazing Systems of the fix'd Suns or
Stars, which we see now but at a Distance, and only make Astronomical
Guesses at.
Here the Devil found not subject of Wonder only, but matter to swell his
revolted Spirit with more Rage, and to revive the Malignity of his Mind
against his Maker, and especially against this new encrease of Glory,
which to his infinite Regret was extended over the whole Wast, and which
he look'd upon, as we say in human Affairs, as a _Pays conquis_, or, if
you will have it in the Language of the _Devil_, as an invasion upon his
Kingdom.
Here it naturally occur'd to them, in their State of Envy and Rebellion,
that tho' they could not assault the impregnable Walls of Heaven, and
could no more pretend to raise War in the Place of Blessedness and
Peace; yet that perhaps they might find Room in this new, and however
glorious, yet inferior Kingdom or Creation, to work some despite to
their great Creator, or to affront his Majesty in the Person of some of
his new made Creatures; and upon this they may be justly supposed to
double their Vigilance, in the survey they resolve to take of these new
Worlds, however great, numberless and wonderful.
What Discoveries they may have made in the other and greater Worlds,
than this Earth, we have not yet had an account; possibly they are
conversant with other Parts of God's Creation, besides this little
little Globe, which is but as a Point in comparison of the Rest; and
with other of God's Creatures besides Man, who may, according to the
Opinion of our Philosophers, inhabit those Worlds; but as no body knows
that Part but the _Devil_, we shall not trouble our selves with the
Enquiry.
But 'tis very reasonable, and indeed probable, that _the Devils_ were
more than ordinarily surpriz'd at the Nature and Reason of all this
glorious Creation, after they had, with the utmost Curiosity, view'd all
the parts of it; The Glories of the several Systems; the immense spaces
in which those glorious Bodies that were created and made part of it,
were allow'd respectively to move; the innumerable fix'd Stars, as so
many Suns in the Center of so many distant _Solar Systems_; the
(likewise innumerable) dark opaque Bodies receiving light, and depending
upon those Suns respectively for such light, and then reflecting that
light again upon and for the Use of one another; To see the Beauty and
Splendor of their Forms, the Regularity of their Position, the Order and
Exactness, and yet inconceivable Velocity of their Motions, the
certainty of their Revolutions, and the Variety and Virtue of their
Influences; and then, which was even to the Devils themselves most
astonishing, That after all the rest of their Observations they should
find this whole immense Work was adapted for, and made subservient to
the Use, Delight and Blessing only of one poor Species, in itself small,
and in Appearance contemptible; the meanest of all the Kinds supposed to
inhabit so many glorious Worlds, as appeared now to be form'd; I mean,
that Moon call'd the Earth, and the Creature call'd Man; that all was
made for him, upheld by the wise Creator, on his account only, and would
necessarily end and cease whenever that Species should end and be
determin'd.
That this Creature was to be found no where but (as above) in one little
individual _Moon_; a Spot less than almost any of the Moons, which were
in such great Numbers to be found attendant upon, and prescrib'd with in
every System of the whole created Heavens; This was astonishing even to
the _Devil_ himself, nay the whole Clan of _Devils_ could scarce
entertain any just Ideas of the thing; Till at last _Satan_,
indefatigable in his Search or Enquiry into the Nature and Reason of
this new Work, and particularly searching into the Species of Man, whom
he found God had thus plac'd in the little Globe, call'd _Earth_; he
soon came to an _Eclairicissement_, or a clear Understanding of the
whole. _For Example_,
_First_, He found this Creature, call'd Man, was however mean and
small in his Appearance, a kind of a Seraphic Species; that he was
made in the very Image of God, endowed with reasonable Faculties to
know Good and Evil, and possess'd of a certain thing till then
unknown and unheard of even in Hell it self; that is, in the
Habitation of Devils, let that be where it would, (_viz._)
2. That GOD had made him indeed of the lowest and coarsest
Materials, but that he had breath'd into him the Breath of Life,
and that he became a living thing call'd SOUL, being a kind of an
extraordinary heavenly and divine Emanation; and consequently that
Man, however mean and Terrestrial his Body might be, was yet,
Heaven-born, in his spirituous Part compleatly Seraphic; and after
a Space of Life here, (determin'd to be a state of probation) he
should be translated thro' the Regions of Death into a Life purely
and truly Heavenly, and which should remain so for ever; being
capable of knowing and enjoying God his Maker, and standing in his
Presence, as the glorified Angels do.
3. That he had the most sublime Faculties infused into him; was
capable not only of knowing and contemplating God, and which was
still more, of enjoying him, as above; but (which the _Devil_ now
was not) capable of honouring and glorifying his Maker; who also
had condescended to accept of Honour from him.
4. And which was still more, that being of an Angelic Nature, tho'
mix'd with, and confined for the present in a Case of mortal Flesh;
he was intended to be remov'd from this Earth after a certain time
of Life here, to inhabit that Heaven, and enjoy that very Glory and
Felicity, from which Satan and his Angels had been expell'd.
When he found all this, it presently occur'd to him, that God had done
it all as an act of Triumph over him (Satan,) and that these Creatures
were only created to people Heaven, depopulated or stript of its
inhabitants by his Expulsion, and that these were all to be made
_Angels_ in the _Devil_'s stead.
If this thought encreas'd his Fury and Envy, as far as _Rage of Devils_
can be capable of being made greater; it doubtless set him on work to
give a Vent to that Rage and Envy, by searching into the Nature and
Constitution of this Creature, call'd _Man_; and to find out whether he
was invulnerable, and could by no means be hurt by the Power of Hell, or
deluded by his Subtilty; or whether he might be beguil'd and deluded,
and so, instead of being preserv'd in Holiness and Purity, wherein he
was certainly created, be brought to fall and rebell as he (_Satan_) had
done before him; by which, instead of being transplanted into a glorious
State, after this Life in Heaven, as his Maker had design'd him to be,
to fill up the Angelic Choir, and supply the Place from whence he
(_Satan_) had fallen, he might be made to fall also like him, and in a
Word, be made a _Devil_ like himself.
This convinces us that the _Devil_ has not lost his natural Powers by
his Fall; and our learned Commentator Mr. _Pool_ is of the same Opinion;
tho' he grants that the _Devil_ has lost his moral Power, or his Power
of doing Good, which he can never recover. _Vide_ Mr. _Pool_ upon _Acts_
xix. 17. where we may particularly observe, when the Man possess'd with
an evil Spirit flew upon the seven Sons of _Scæva_ the _Jew_, who would
have Exorcis'd them in the Name of _Jesus_, without the Authority of
_Jesus_, or without Faith in him; He flew on them and master'd them, so
that they fled out of the House from the Devil conquered, naked and
wounded: But of this Power of the Devil I shall speak by it self.
In a Word, and to sum up all the _Devil_'s Story from his first
Expulsion, it stands thus: For so many Years as were between his Fall
and the Creation of Man, tho' we have no _Memoirs_ of his particular
Affairs, we have Reason to believe he was without any Manner of
Employment; but a certain tormenting Endeavour to be always expressing
his Rage and Enmity against Heaven; I call it tormenting, Because ever
disappointed; every thought about it proving empty; every attempt
towards it abortive; Leaving him only Light enough to see still more and
more Reason to despair of Success; and that this made his Condition
still more and more a Hell than it was before.
After a Space of Duration in this Misery, which we have no light given
us to measure or judge of, He at length discovered the new Creation of
Man, as above, upon which he soon found Matter to set himself to work
upon, and has been busily employ'd ever since.
And now indeed there may be room to suggest a Local _Hell_, and the
Confinement of Souls (made corrupt and degenerate by him) to it, as a
Place; tho' he himself, as is still apparent by his Actings, is not yet
confin'd to it; of this Hell, its Locality, Extent, Dimensions,
Continuance and Nature, as it does not belong to Satan's History, I have
a good excuse for saying nothing, and so put off my meddling with that,
which if I would meddle with, I could say nothing of to the Purpose.
CHAP. VIII.
_Of the Power of the Devil at the Time of the Creation of this World;
whether it has not been farther straitn'd and limited since that
Time, and what Shifts and Stratagems he is obliged to make use of to
compass his Designs upon Mankind._
Cunning Men have fabled, and tho' it be without either Religion,
Authority or physical Foundation, it may be we may like it ne'er the
worse for that; that when God made the Stars and all the Heavenly
Luminaries, the _Devil_, to mimick his Maker and insult his new
Creation, made Comets, in Imitation of the fix'd Stars; but that the
Composition of them being combustible, when they came to wander in the
Abyss, rolling by an irregular ill-grounded Motion, they took Fire, in
their Approach to some of those great Bodies of Flame, _the fix'd
Stars_; and being thus kindled (like a Fire-work unskilfully let off)
they then took wild and excentrick, as also different Motions of their
own, out of Satan's Direction, and beyond his Power to regulate ever
after.
Let this Thought stand by it self, it matters not to our purpose whether
we believe any thing of it, or no; 'tis enough to our Case, that if
Satan had any such Power then, he has no such Power now, and that leads
me to enquire into his more recent Limitations.
I am to suppose, he and all his Accomplices being confounded at the
Discovery of the new Creation, and racking their Wits to find out the
meaning of it, had at last (_no matter how_) discover'd the whole
System, and concluded, _as I have said_, that the Creature, _call'd
Man_, was to be their Successor in the Heavenly Mansions; upon which I
suggest that the first Motion of Hell was to destroy this new Work, and,
if possible, to overwhelm it.
But when they came to make the Attempt, they found their Chains were not
long enough, and that they could not reach to the Extremes of the
System: They had no Power either to break the Order, or stop the Motion,
dislocate the Parts, or confound the Situation of Things; they
traversed, no doubt, the whole Work, visited every Star, landed upon
every Solid, and sail'd upon every Fluid in the whole Scheme, to see
what Mischief they could do.
Upon a long and full Survey, they came to this Point in their Enquiry,
that in short they could do nothing by Force; that they could not
displace any Part, annihilate any Atom, or destroy any Life in the whole
Creation; but that as Omnipotence had created it, so the same
Omnipotence had arm'd it at all Points against the utmost Power of Hell,
had made the smallest Creature in it invulnerable, as to _Satan_; so
that without the Permission of the same Power which had made _Heaven_,
and conquer'd the _Devil_, he could do nothing at all, as to destroying
any thing that God had made, no, not the little diminutive thing call'd
Man, who _Satan_ saw so much reason to hate, as being created to succeed
him in Happiness in _Heaven_.
Satan found him placed out of his Power to hurt, or out of his Reach to
touch; and here, by the way, appears the second Conquest of _Heaven_
over the _Devil_; that having plac'd his Rival, as it were, just before
his Face, and shew'd the hateful sight to him, he saw written upon his
Image, _Touch him if you dare_.
It cannot be doubted, but, had it not been thus, Man is so far from
being a Match for the _Devil_, that one of Satan's least Imps or
_Angels_ could destroy all the Race of them in the World, ay World and
all in a moment;
As he is Prince of the Power of the Air, taking the Air for _the
Elementary World_, how easily could he, at one Blast, sweep all the
Surface of the Earth into the Sea, or drive weighty immense Surges of
the Ocean over the whole Plane of the Earth, and deluge the Globe at
once with a Storm? Or how easily could he, who, by the Situation of the
Empire, must be supposed able to manage the Clouds, draw them up, in
such Position as should naturally produce Thunders and Lightnings, cause
those Lightnings to blast the Earth, dash in Pieces all the Buildings,
burn all the populous Towns and Cities, and lay wast the World;
At the same time he might command suited Quantities of sublimated Air to
burst out of the Bowels of the Earth, and overwhelm and swallow up, in
the opening Chasms, all the Inhabitants of the Globe?
In a Word, _Satan_ left to himself as a Devil, and to the Power, which
by virtue of his Seraphic Original he must be vested with, was able to
have made Devilish Work in the World, if by a superior Power he was not
restrain'd.
But there is no doubt, _at least to me_, but that with his fall from
Heaven, as he lost the Rectitude and Glory of his Angelic Nature, I mean
his Innocence, so he lost the Power too that he had before; and that
when he first commenc'd Devil, he received the Chains of Restraint too,
as the Badge of his Apostacy, _viz._ a general Prohibition, to do any
thing to the Prejudice of this Creation, or to act any thing by Force or
Violence without special Permission.
This Prohibition was not sent him by a Messenger, or by an Order in
Writing, or proclaimed from Heaven by a Law; but _Satan_, by a strange,
invisible and unaccountable Impression felt the Restraint within him;
and at the same time that his moral Capacity was not taken away, yet his
Power of exerting that Capacity felt the Restraint, and left him unable
to do, even what he was able to do at the same time.
I make no question, but the Devil is sensible of this Restraint, that is
to say, _not_ as it is a restraint only, or as an effect of his
Expulsion from _Heaven_; But as it prevents his Capital Design against
Man, who, for the Reason I have given already, he entertains a mortal
Hatred of, and would destroy with all his Heart, if he might; and
therefore, like a chain'd Mastiff, we find him oftentimes making a
horrid hellish Clamour and Noise, barking and howling, and frighting the
People, letting them know, that if he was loose he would tear them in
pieces; but at the same time his very Fury shakes his Chain, which lets
them know, to their Satisfaction, he can only Bark, but cannot Bite.
Some are of Opinion that the Devil is not restrain'd so much by the
superior Power of his Sovereign and Maker; but that all his milder
Measures with Man are the effect of a political Scheme, and done upon
mature Deliberation; that it was resolved to act thus, in the great
Council or P----t of Devils, call'd upon this very Occasion, when they
first were inform'd of the Creation of Man; and especially when they
considered what kind of Creature he was, and what might probably be the
Reason of making him, (_viz._) to fill up the Vacancies in Heaven; I
say, that then the _Devils_ resolv'd, that it was not for their
Interest to fall upon him with Fury and Rage, and so destroy the
Species, for that this would be no Benefit at all to them, and would
only cause another original Man to be created; for that they knew GOD
could, by the same Omnipotence, form as many new Species of Creatures as
he pleased; and, if he thought fit, create them in Heaven too, out of
the Reach of _Devils_ or evil Spirits, and that therefore, to destroy
Man would no way answer their End.
On the other hand, examining strictly the Mould of this new made
Creature, and of what Materials he was form'd; how mixt up of a Nature
convertible and pervertible, capable indeed of infinite Excellence, and
consequently of eternal Felicity; but subject likewise to Corruption and
Degeneracy, and consequently to eternal Misery; That instead of being
fit to supply the Places of Satan and his rejected Tribe (the expell'd
Angels) in Heaven, and filling up the Thrones or Stalls in the Celestial
Choir, they might, if they could but be brought into Crime, become a
Race of Rebels and Traytors like the rest; and so come at last to keep
them Company, as well in the Place of eternal Misery, as in the Merit of
it, and in a Word, become Devils instead of Angels.
Upon this Discovery, I say, they found it infinitely more for the
Interest of Satan's infernal Kingdom, to go another way to work with
Mankind, and see if it were possible, by the strength of all their
infernal Wit and Counsels, to lay some Snare for him, and by some
Stratagem to bring him to eternal Ruin and Misery.
This being then approv'd as their only Method, (and the _Devil_ shew'd
he was no Fool in the Choice) he next resolv'd that there was no time to
be lost; that it was to be set about immediately, before the Race was
Multiplied, and by that means the Work be not made greater only, but
perhaps the more difficult too; accordingly the diligent Devil went
instantly about it, agreeably to all the Story of _Eve_ and the serpent,
as before; the belief of which, whether historically or allegorically,
is not at all obstructed by this Hypothesis.
I do not affirm that this was the Case at first, because being not
present in that black _Divan_, at least not that I know of, _for who
knows where he was or was not in his pre-existent State?_ I cannot be
positive in the Resolve that past there; but except for some very little
Contradiction, which we find in the sacred Writings, I should, I
confess, incline to believe it Historically; and I shall speak of those
things which I call Contradictions to it more largely hereafter.
In the mean time, be it one way or other, _that is to say_, either that
Satan had no Power to have proceeded with Man by Violence, and to have
destroy'd him as soon as he was made; or that he had the Power, but
chose rather to proceed by other Methods to deceive and debauch him; _I
say_, be it which you please, I am still of the Opinion that it really
was not the _Devil_'s Business to destroy the Species; that it would
have been nothing to the purpose, and no Advantage at all to him, if he
had done it; for that, as above, God could immediately have created
another Species to the same end, whom he either could have made
invulnerable, and not subject to the Devil's Power, or remov'd him out
of _Satan_'s Reach, plac'd him out of the _Devil_'s Ken, in Heaven or
some other Place, where the Devil could not come to hurt him; and that
therefore it is infinitely more his Advantage, and more suited to his
real Design of defeating the End of Man's Creation, to debauch him and
make a _Devil_ of him, that he may be rejected like himself, and
increase the infernal Kingdom and Company in the Lake of Misery _in
æternum_.
It may be true, for ought I know, that Satan has not the Power of
Destruction put into his Hand, and that he cannot take away the Life of
a Man: and it seems probable to be so, from the Story of _Satan_ and
_Job_, when _Satan_ appear'd among the Sons of GOD, as the Text says,
_Job_ i. 6. Now when God gave such a Character of _Job_ to him, and
ask'd him _if he had consider'd his Servant Job_, ver. 8. why did not
the Devil go immediately and exert his Malice against the good Man at
once, to let his Maker see what would become of his Servant _Job_ in his
Distress? On the contrary, we see he only answers by shewing the Reason
of _Job_'s good Behaviour; that it was but common Gratitude for the
Blessing and Protection he enjoy'd, ver. 10. and pleading that if his
Estate was taken away, and he was expos'd as he (Satan) was, to be a
beggar and a Vagabond, going _to and fro in the Earth, and walking up
and down therein_, he should be a very Devil too, like himself, and
curse God to his Face.
Upon this, the Text says, that God answered ver. 11. _Behold all that
he hath is in thy Power_; now 'tis plain here, that God gave up _Job_'s
Wealth and Estate, nay his Family, and the Lives of his Children and
Servants into the Devil's Power; and accordingly, like a true merciless
Devil, _as he is_, he destroy'd them all; he mov'd the _Sabeans_ to fall
upon the Oxen and the Asses, and carry them off; he mov'd the
_Chaldeans_ to fall upon the Camels and the Servants, to carry off the
first, and murther the last; he made Lightning flash upon the poor
Sheep, and kill them all; and he blow'd his House down upon his poor
Children, and buried them all in the Ruins.
Now here is (1.) a Specimen of Satan's good Will to Mankind, and what
Havock the _Devil_ would make in the World, if he might; and here is a
Testimony too, that he could not do this without leave; so that I cannot
but be of the Opinion he has some Limitations, some Bounds set to his
natural Fury; a certain Number of Links in his Chain, which he cannot
exceed, or, in a Word, that he cannot go a Foot beyond his _Tether_.
The same kind of Evidence we have in the Gospel, _Matth._ viii. 31.
where Satan could not so much as possess the filthiest and meanest of
all Creatures, _the Swine_, till he had ask'd leave; and that still, to
shew his good Will, as soon as he had gotten leave, he hurried them all
into the Sea and choak'd them; these, I say, are some of the Reasons why
I am not willing to say, the _Devil_ is not restrain'd in Power; but on
the other side, we are told of so many mischievous things the Devil has
done in the World, by virtue of his Dominion over the Elements, and by
other Testimonies of his Power, that I don't know what to think of it;
tho', upon the whole, the first is the safest Opinion; for if we should
believe the last, we might, for ought I know, be brought, like the
_American Indians_, to worship him _at last_, that he may do us no Harm.
And now I have nam'd those People in _America_, I confess it would go a
great way in favour of Satan's Generosity, as well as in Testimony of
his Power, if we might believe all the Accounts, which indeed Authors
are pretty well agreed in the Truth of, namely, of the Mischiefs the
_Devil_ does in those Countries, where his Dominion seems to be
establish'd; how he uses them when they deny him the Homage he claims of
them as his Due; what Havock and Combustion he makes among them; and
how Beneficent he is (or at least negative in his Mischiefs) when they
Appease him by their hellish Sacrifices.
Likewise we see a Test of his wicked Subtilty in his Management of those
dark Nations, when he was more immediately worship'd by them; namely,
the making them believe that all their good Weather, Rains, Dews, and
kind Influences upon the Earth, to make it fruitful, was from Him;
whereas they really were the common Blessings of a higher Hand, and came
not from him, the _Devil_, but from him that made the _Devil_, and made
him a Devil or fallen Angel by his Curse.
But to go back to the Method the Devil took with the first of Mankind;
'tis plain the Policy of Hell was right, tho' the Execution of the
Resolves they took did not fully answer their End neither; For _Satan_
fastening upon poor, proud, ridiculous Mother _Eve_, as I have said
before, made presently a true Judgment of her Capacities, and of her
Temper; took her by the right Handle, and soothing her Vanity (which is
to this Day the softest Place in the Head of all the Sex) wheedl'd her
out of her Senses, by praising her Beauty, and promising to make her a
Goddess.
The foolish Woman yielded presently, and that we are told is the Reason
why the same Method so strangely takes with all her Posterity (_viz._)
that you are sure to prevail with them, if you can but once persuade
them that you believe they are Witty and Handsome; for the Devil, you
may observe, never quits any Hold he gets, and having once found a way
into the Heart, always takes care to keep the Door open, that any of his
Agents may enter after him without any more Difficulty: Hence the same
Argument, especially the last, has so bewitching an Influence on the
Sex, that they rarely deny you any thing, after they are but weak
enough and vain enough to accept of the Praises you offer them on that
Head; on the other hand you are sure they never forgive you the
unpardonable Crime of saying they are Ugly or Disagreeable: It is
suggested that the first Method the Devil took to insinuate all those
fine things into _Eve_'s giddy Head, was by creeping close to her _one
Night_, when she was asleep, and laying his Mouth to her _Ear_,
whispering all the fine things to her, which he knew would set her Fancy
a Tip-toe, and so made her receive them involuntarily into her Mind;
knowing well enough that when she had form'd such Ideas in her Soul,
however they came there, she would never be quiet till she had work'd
them up to some extraordinary thing or other.
It was evident what the _Devil_ aim'd at, _namely_, that she should
break in upon the Command of GOD, and so having corrupted her self,
bring the Curse upon her self and all her Race, as GOD had threatn'd;
but why the Pride of _Eve_ should be so easily tickled by the Motion of
her exquisite Beauty, when there then was no prospect of the use or want
of those Charms? that indeed makes a kind of Difficulty here, which the
learn'd have not determined. For,
1. If she had been as Ugly as the _Devil_, she had no body to rival
her, so that she need not fear _Adam_ should leave her and get
another Mistress.
2. If she had been Bright and Beautiful as an Angel, she had no
other Admirer but poor _Adam_, and he could have no room to be
jealous of her, or afraid she should cuckold him; so that in short,
_Eve_ had no such Occasion for her Beauty, nor could she make any
use of it either to a bad purpose or to a good, and therefore I
believe the _Devil_, who is too cunning to do any thing that
signifies Nothing, rather tempted her by the Hope of encreasing her
Wit, than her Beauty.
But to come back to the Method of Satan's tempting her, _viz._ by
whispering to her in her sleep; 'twas a cunning Trick, that's the Truth
of it, and by that means he certainly set her Head a madding after
_Deism_, and to be made a Goddess, and then back'd it by the subtle talk
he had with her afterward.
I am the more particular upon this Part, because, however the Devil may
have been the first that ever practised it, yet I can assure him the
Experiment has been tried upon many a Woman since, to the wheedling her
out of her Modesty, as well as her Simplicity; and the Cunning Men tell
us still, that if you can come at a Woman when she is in a deep sleep,
and Whisper to her close to her Ear, she will certainly Dream of the
Thing you say to her, and so will a Man too.
Well, be this so to her Race or not, it was it seems so to her; for she
wak'd with her Head fill'd with pleasing Ideas, and as some will have
it, unlawful Desires; such, as to be sure she never had entertain'd
before; These are supposed to be fatally infused in her Dream, and
suggested to her waking Soul, when the Organ Ear which convey'd them was
doz'd and insensible; strange Fate of sleeping in _Paradise_! that
whereas we have Notice but of two Sleeps there, that in one a _Woman_
should go out of him, and in the other, the _Devil_ should come into
her.
Certainly, when Satan first made the Attempt upon _Eve_, he did not
think he should have so easily conquered her, or have brought his
Business about so soon; the _Devil_ himself could not have imagined she
should have been so soon brought to forget the Command given, or at
least who gave it, and have ventur'd to transgress against him, and made
her forget that GOD had told her, it should be Death to her to touch it;
and above all, that she should aspire to be as wise as him, who was so
ignorant before, as to believe it was for fear of her being like
himself, that he had forbid it her.
Well might she be said to be the weaker Vessel, tho' _Adam_ himself had
little enough to say for his being the stronger of the two, when he was
over-persuaded (if it were done by Persuasion) by his Wife to do the
same thing.
And mark how wise they were after they had Eaten, and what Fools they
both acted like, even to one another; nay, even all the Knowledge they
attain'd to by it was, for ought I see, only to know that they were
Fools, and to be sensible both of _Sin_ and _Shame_; and see how simply
they acted, I say, upon their having committed the Crime, and being
detected in it.
'View them to Day conversing with their God,
'His Image both enjoy'd and understood,
'_To Morrow_ skulking with a sordid Flight, }
'Among the Bushes from the _Infinite_, }
'As if that Power _was blind_, which gave them _Sight_; }
'With senseless Labour Tagging Fig-Leaf Vests,
'To hide their Bodies from the sight of Beasts.
'Hark! how the Fool pleads faint, for forfeit Life,
'First he reproaches Heaven, and then his Wife;
'_The Woman which thou gav'st_ as if the Gift
'Could rob him of the little Reason left,
'A weak Pretence to shift his early Crime,
'As if accusing her would excuse him;
'But thus encroaching Crime dethrones the Sense,
'And intercepts the Heavenly Influence,
'Debauches Reason, makes the Man a Fool,
'And turns his active Light to Ridicule.
It must be confess'd that it was unaccountable Degeneracy, even of their
common Reasoning, which _Adam_ and _Eve_ both fell into upon the first
committing the Offence of taking the forbidden Fruit: If that was their
being made as Gods, it made but a poor Appearance in its first coming,
to hide their Nakedness when there was no body to see them, and cover
themselves among the Bushes from their Maker; but thus it was, and this
the Devil had brought them to, and well might he, and all the Clan of
Hell, as Mr. _Milton_ brings them in, laugh and triumph over the Man
after the Blow was given, as having so egregiously abused and deluded
them both.
But here, to be sure, began the _Devil_'s new Kingdom; as he had now
seduc'd the two first Creatures, he was pretty sure of Success upon all
the Race, and therefore prepar'd to attack them also, as soon as they
came on; nor was their encreasing Multitude any Discouragement to his
Attempt, but just the contrary; for he had Agents enough to employ, if
every Man and Woman that should be born was to want a _Devil_ to wait
upon them, separately and singly to seduce them; whereas some whole
Nations have been such willing subjects to him, that one of his Seraphic
Imps may, _for ought we know_, have been enough to guide a whole
Country; the People being entirely subjected to his Government for many
Ages; as in _America, for example_, where some will have it, that he
convey'd the first Inhabitants, at least if he did not, we don't well
know who did, or how they got thither.
And how came all the Communication to be so entirely cut off between the
Nations of _Europe_ and _Africa_, from whence _America_ must certainly
have been peopl'd, or else the _Devil_ must have done it indeed? I say,
how came the Communication to be so entirely cut off between them, that
except the time, _whenever it was_, that People did at first reach from
one to the other, none ever came back to give their Friends any account
of their Success, or invite them to follow? Nor did they hear of one
another afterwards, as we have Reason to think: Did _Satan_ politically
keep them thus asunder, lest News from Heaven should reach them, and so
they should be recover'd out of his Government? We cannot tell how to
give any other rational Account of it, that a Nation, nay a Quarter of
the World, or as some will have it be, half the Globe, should be peopled
from _Europe_ or _Africa_, or both, and no body ever go after them, or
come back from them in above three thousand years after.
Nay, that those Countries should be peopled when there was no Navigation
in use in these Parts of the World, no Ships made that could carry
Provisions enough to support the People that fail'd in them, but that
they must have been starved to death before they could reach the Shore
of _America_; the Ferry from _Europe_ or _Africa_, in any Part (which we
have known Navigation to be practised in) being at least 1000 Miles, and
in most Places much more.
But as to the _Americans_, let the _Devil_ and they alone to account for
their coming Thither, this we are certain of, that we knew nothing of
them for many hundred Years; and when we did, when the Discovery was
made, they that went from Hence found _Satan_ in a full and quiet
Possession of them, ruling them with an arbitrary Government,
particular to himself; He had led them into a blind Subjection to
himself, nay, I might call it Devotion, for it was all of Religion that
was to be found among them) worshipping horrible Idols in his Name, to
whom he directed human Sacrifices continually to be made, till he
deluged the Country with Blood, and ripen'd them up for the Destruction
that follow'd, from the Invasion of the _Spaniards_, who he knew would
hurry them all out of the World as fast as he (_the Devil_) himself
could desire of them.
But to go back a little to the Original of Things, It is evident that
_Satan_ has made a much better Market of Mankind, by thus subtilly
attacking them, and bringing them to break with their Maker as he had
done before them, than he could have done by fulminating upon them at
first, and sending them all out of the World at once; for now he has
peopled his own Dominions with them, and tho' a Remnant are snatch'd as
it were out of his Clutches, by the Agency of Invincible Grace, of which
I am not to discourse in this Place; yet this may be said of the
_Devil_, without Offence, that he has in some Sense carried his Point,
and as it were forc'd his Maker to be satisfied with a Part of Mankind,
and the least Part too, instead of the great Glory he would have brought
to himself by keeping them all in his Service.
Mr. _Milton_, as I have noted above, brings in the _Devil_ and all Hell
with him, making a _Feu de Joye_ for the Victory _Satan_ obtain'd over
one silly Woman; indeed it was a Piece of Success greater in its
Consequence than in the immediate Appearance; nor was the Conquest so
compleat as Satan himself imagin'd to make, since the Promise of a
Redemption out of his Hands, which was immediately made to the Man, in
behalf of himself and his believing Posterity, was a great
Disappointment to Satan, and as it were snatch'd the best Part of his
Victory out of his Hands.
It is certain the _Devils_ knew what the meaning of that Promise was,
and who was to be the _Seed of the Woman_, namely, the incarnate _Son of
God_, and that it was a second Blow to the whole infernal Body; but as
if they had resolved to let that alone, _Satan_ went on with his
Business; and as he had introduc'd Crime into the common Parent of
Mankind, and thereby secured the Contamination of Blood, and the Descent
or Propagation of the corrupt Seed, he had nothing to do but to assist
Nature in time to come, to carry on its own Rebellion, and act it self
in the Breasts of _Eve_'s tainted Posterity; and that indeed has been
the Devil's Business ever since his first Victory upon the Kind, to this
Day.
His Success in this Part has been such, that we see upon innumerable
Occasions a general Defection has follow'd; a kind of a Taint upon
Nature, _call it what you will_, a Blast upon the Race of Mankind; and
were it not for one thing, he had ruined the whole Family; _I say_, were
it not for one thing, namely, a selected Company or Number, which his
Maker has resolv'd he shall not be able to corrupt, or if he does, the
sending the promis'd Seed shall recover back again from him, by the
Power of irresistible Grace; which Number thus selected or elected, call
it which we will, are still to supply the Vacancies in Heaven, which
_Satan_'s Defection left open; and what was before fill'd up with
created Seraphs, is now to be restor'd by recover'd Saints, by whom
infinite Glory is to accrue to the Kingdom of the Redeemer.
This glorious Establishment has robb'd Satan of all the Joy of his
Victory, and left him just where he was, defeated and disappointed; nor
does the Possession of all the Myriads of the Sons of Perdition, who yet
some are of the Opinion will be snatch'd from him too at last; I say,
the Possession of all these makes no amends to him, for he is such a
_Devil_ in his Nature, that the Envy at those he cannot seduce, eats out
all the Satisfaction of the Mischief he has done in seducing all the
rest; but _I must not preach_, so I return to things as much needful to
know, tho' less solemn.
CHAP. IX.
_Of the Progress of Satan in carrying on his Conquest over Mankind, from
the Fall of_ Eve _to the Deluge._
I doubt if the Devil was ask'd the Question plainly, he would confess,
that after he had conquer'd _Eve_ by his own wicked Contrivance, and
then by her Assistance had brought _Adam_ too (like a Fool as he was)
into the same Gulph of Misery, he thought he had done his Work,
compassed the whole Race, that they were now his own, and that he had
put an End to the grand Design of their Creation; namely, of Peopling
Heaven with a new Angelic Race of Souls, who when glorify'd, should make
up the Defection of the Host of Hell, that had been expung'd by their
Crime; in a Word, that he had gotten a better Conquest than if he had
destroy'd them all.
But in the midst of his Conquest, he found a Check put to the Advantages
he expected to reap from his Victory, by the immediate Promise of Grace
to a Part of the Posterity of _Adam_, who, notwithstanding the Fall,
were to be purchased by the _Messiah_, and snatch'd out of his
(_Satan_'s) Hands, and over whom he could make no final Conquest; so
that his Power met with a new Limitation, and that such, as indeed fully
disappointed him in the main thing he aim'd at, (_viz._) preventing the
Beatitudes of Mankind, which were thus secur'd; (And what if the Numbers
of Mankind were upon this account encreased in such a manner, that the
selected Number should, by Length of Time, amount to just as many as the
whole Race, had they not fallen, would have amounted to in all?) And
thus, indeed, the World may be said to be upheld and continued for the
Sake of those few, since till their Number can be compleated, the
Creation cannot fall, any more than, that without them, or but for them
it would not have stood.
But leaving this Speculation, and not having enquir'd of Satan what he
has to say on that Subject, let us go back to the Antediluvian World:
The _Devil_ to be sure, gain'd his Point upon _Eve_, and in her upon all
her Race: He drew her into Sin; got her turn'd out of _Paradise_, and
the Man with her: The next Thing was to go to work with her Posterity,
and particularly with her two Sons _Cain_ and _Abel_.
_Adam_ having, notwithstanding his Fall, repented very sincerely of his
Sin; receiv'd the Promise of Redemption and Pardon, with an humble but
believing Heart; Charity bids us suppose that he led a very religious
and sober Life ever after; and especially in the first Part of his Time,
That he brought up his Children very soberly, and gave them all the
necessary Advantages of a Religious Education, and a good Introduction
into the World, that he was capable of; and that _Eve_ likewise assisted
to both in her Place and Degree.
Their two eldest Sons _Cain_ and _Abel_; The one Heir apparent to the
Patriarchal Empire, and the other Heir presumptive, I suppose also,
lived very sober and religious Lives; and as the Principles of natural
Religion dictated a Homage and Subjection due to the Almighty Maker, as
an Acknowledgment of his Mercies, and a Recognition of their Obedience;
so the receiv'd Usage of Religion dictating at that Time that this
Homage was to be paid by a Sacrifice, they either of them brought a
Free-will-offering to be dedicated to God respectively for themselves
and Families.
How it was, and for what Reason that God had respect to the Offering of
_Abel_, which the Learn'd say, was _a Lamb_ of the Firstlings of the
Flock, and did not give any Testimony of the like Respect to _Cain_ and
his Offering, which was of the first Fruits of the Earth, the Offerings
being equally suited to the respective Employment of the Men, that is
not my present Business; but this we find made Heart-burnings, and
raised Envy and Jealousy in the Mind of _Cain_; and at that Door the
_Devil_ immediately entred; for he, who from the Beginning, was very
diligent in his way, never slip'd any Opportunity, or miss'd any
Advantages that the Circumstances of Mankind offered him to do Mischief.
What Shape or Appearance the Devil took up to enter into a Conversation
with _Cain_ upon the Subject, that Authors do not take upon them to
determine; but 'tis generally supposed he personated some of _Cain_'s
Sons or Grandsons to begin the Discourse, who attack'd their Father, or
perhaps Grandfather, upon this Occasion, in the following manner, or to
that Purpose.
* * * * *
_D._ Sir, I perceive _your Majesty_ (for the first Race were certainly
all Monarchs as great as Kings, to their immediate Posterity) to be
greatly disturb'd of late, your Countenance is chang'd, your noble
Chearfulness (the Glories of your Face) are strangely sunk and gone, and
you are not the Man you used to be; please your Majesty to communicate
your Griefs to us your Children, you may be sure, that if it be
possible, we woul
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