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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31053-8.txt b/31053-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75bac92 --- /dev/null +++ b/31053-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12941 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of the Devil, by Daniel Defoe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +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 + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL *** + + + + +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 would procure you Relief, and restore your Delights, the +Loss of which, if thus you go on to subject yourself to too much +Melancholy, will be very hurtful to you, and in the End destroy you. + +_Cain._ It is very kind, my dear Children, to shew your Respect thus to +your true Progenitor, and to offer your Assistance: I confess, as you +say, my Mind is oppress'd and displeased; but tho' 'tis very heavy, yet +I know not which way to look for Relief, for the Distemper is above our +Reach, no Cure can be found for it on Earth. + +_D._ Do not say so, Sir; there can be no Disease sure on Earth but may +be cur'd on Earth; if it be a mental Evil, we have heard that your great +Ancestor, the first Father of us all, who lives still on the great +western Plains towards the Sea, is the Oracle to which all his Children +fly for Direction in such Cases as are out of the Reach of the ordinary +understanding of Mankind; please you to give leave, we will take a +Journey to him, and representing your Case to him, we will hear his +Advice, and bring it to you with all Speed, for the Ease of your Mind. + +_Cain._ I know not whether he can reach my Case or no. + +_D._ Doubtless he may, and if not, the Labour of our Journey is nothing +when plac'd in Competition with the Ease of your Mind; 'tis but a few +Days travel lost, and you will not be the worse if we fail of the +desired Success. + +_Cain._ The offer is filial, and I accept your affectionate Concern for +me, with a just Sense of an oblig'd Parent; go then, and my Blessing be +upon you; but alas! why do I bless? can he bless whom God has not +bless'd! + +_D._ O! Sir, do not say so, has not God bless'd you? are you not the +second Sovereign of the Earth? and does he not converse with you Face to +Face? are not you the Oracle to all your growing Posterity, and next +after his Sovereign Imperial Majesty Lord _Adam_, Patriarch of the +World? + +_Cain._ But has not God rejected me, and refused to converse any more +with me, while he daily Favours and Countenances my younger Brother +_Abel_, as if he resolv'd to set him up to rule over me? + +_D._ No, Sir, that cannot be, you cannot be disturb'd at such a thing; +is not the Right of Sovereignty yours by Primogeniture? can God himself +take that away, when 'tis once given? are not you Lord _Adam_'s eldest +Son? are you not the firstborn Glory of the Creation? and does not the +Government descend to you by the divine Right of Birth and Blood? + +_Cain._ But what does all that signify to me, while God appears to +favour and caress my younger Brother, and to shine upon him, while a +black Dejection and token of Displeasure surrounds me every Day, and he +does not appear to me as he used to do? + +_D._ And what need your Majesty be concern'd at that, if it be so? if he +does not appear pleased, you have the whole World to enjoy your self in, +and all your numerous and rising Posterity Adore and Honour you; what +need those remote Things be any disturbance to you? + +_Cain._ How! my Children, not the Favour of God be valued! yes, yes, in +his favour is Life; what can all the World avail without the Smiles and +Countenance of him that made it? + +_D._ Doubtless, Sir, he that made the World and plac'd you at the Head +of it all, to govern and direct it, has made it agreeable, and it is +able to give you a full Satisfaction and Enjoyment, if you please to +consider it well, tho' you were never to converse with him all the while +you live in't. + +_Cain._ You are _quite wrong_ there, my Children, _quite wrong_. + +_D._ But do you not, great Sir, see all your Children as well as us +rejoicing in the Plenty of all Things, and are they not compleatly +happy, and yet they know little of this great GOD? He seldom converses +among us, we hear of him indeed by your sage Advices, and we bring our +Offerings to you for him, as you direct, and when that's done, we enjoy +whatever our Hearts desire; and so doubtless may you in an abundant +manner, if you please. + +_Cain._ But your Felicity is wrong plac'd then, or you suppose that God +is pleased and satisfied in that your Offerings are brought to me; but +what would you say, if you knew that God is displeased? that he does not +accept your Offerings? that when I sacrific'd to him in behalf of you +all, he rejected my Offerings, tho' I brought a princely Gift, being of +the finest of the Wheat, the choicest and earliest Fruits, and the +sweetest of the Oil, an Offering suited to the Giver of them all? + +_D._ But if you offered them, Sir, how are you sure they were not +accepted? + +_Cain._ Yes, yes, I am sure; did not my Brother _Abel_ offer at the same +Time a Lamb of his Flock, for he, you know, delights in Cattle, and +covers the Mountains with his Herds? over him, all the while he was +sacrificing, a bright Emanation shone chearing and enlivening; a Pledge +of Favour, and light ambient Flames play'd hovering in the lower Air, as +if attending his Sacrifice; and when ready prepar'd, immediately +descended and burnt up the Flesh, a Sweet odoriferous Savour ascending +to him, who thus testified his Acceptance; whereas, over my Head a black +Cloud, misty, and distilling Vapour, hung dripping upon the humble Altar +I had raised, and wetting the finest and choicest Things I had +prepar'd, spoil'd and defac'd them; the Wood unapt to burn by the +Moisture which fell, scarce receiv'd the Fire I brought to kindle it, +and even then, rather smother'd and choaked, than kindled into a Flame; +in a Word, it went quite out, without consuming what was brought to be +offer'd up. + +_D._ Let not our truly reverenc'd Lord and Father be disquieted at all +this; if he accepts not what you bring, you are discharg'd of the Debt, +and need bring no more; nor have the Trouble of such labour'd +Collections of Rarities any more; when he thinks fit to require it +again, you will have Notice, no Question, and then it being call'd for, +will be accepted or else why should it be requir'd? + +_Cain._ That may indeed be the Case, nor do I think of attempting any +more to bring an Offering, for I rather take it, that I am forbidden for +the present; but then, what is it that my younger Brother Triumphs in? +and how am I insulted, in that he and his House are all Joy and Triumph, +as if they had some great Advantage over me, in that their Offering was +accepted when mine was not? + +_D._ Does he Triumph over your Majesty, our Lord and Sovereign? give us +but your Order, and we will go and pull him and all his Generation in +pieces; for to triumph over you who are his elder Brother, is a horrid +Rebellion and Treason, and he ought to be expell'd the Society of +Mankind. + +_Cain._ I think so too, indeed; however, my dear Children and faithful +Subjects, tho' I accept your Offer of Duty and Service, yet I will +consider very well, before I take up Arms against my Brother; besides, +our Sovereign Father and patriarchal Lord, _Adam_, being yet alive, it +is not in my Right to act offensively without his Command. + +_D._ We are ready therefore to carry your Petition to him, and doubt not +to obtain his Licence and Commission too, to empower you to do your self +Justice upon your younger Brother; who being your Vassal, or at least +inferior, as he is junior in Birth, insults you upon the fancied Opinion +of having a larger Share in the Divine Favour, and receiving a Blessing +on his Sacrifices, on Pretence of the same Favour being denied you. + +_Cain._ I am content, go then, and give a just Account of the State of +our Affairs. + +_D._ We shall soon return with the agreeable answer; let not our Lord +and Father continue sad and dejected, but depend upon a speedy Relief, +by the Assistance of thy numerous Issue, all devoted to thy Interest and +Felicity. + +_Cain._ My Blessing be with you in your Way, and give you a favourable +Reception at the venerable Tent of our universal Lord and Father. + + * * * * * + +Note, Here the cursed Race being fully given up to the Direction of the +Evil-Spirit, which so early possess'd them, and swelling with Rage at +the innocent _Abel_ and his whole Family, they resolved upon forming a +most wicked and detestable lie, to bring about the Advice which they had +already given their Father _Cain_ a touch of; and to pretend that _Adam_ +being justly provok'd at the undutiful Behaviour of _Abel_, had given +_Cain_ a Commission to chastise him, and by Force to cut him off and +all his Family, as guilty of Rebellion and Pride. + +Fill'd with this mischievous and bloody Resolution, they came back to +their Father _Cain_, after staying a few Days, such as were Sufficient +to make _Cain_ believe they had been at the spacious Plains, where +_Adam_ dwelt; the same which are now call'd the blessed Valleys, or the +Plains of _Mecca_ in _Arabia Fælix_, near the Banks of the _Red-Sea_. + +Note here also, that _Cain_ having received a wicked Hint from these +Men, his Children and Subjects, as before, intimating that _Abel_ had +broken the Laws of Primogeniture in his Behaviour towards him, (_Cain_) +and that he might be justly punish'd for it; Satan, that cunning Manager +of all our wayward Passions, fan'd the Fire of Envy and Jealousy with +his utmost Skill all the while his other Agents were absent; and by the +Time they came back had blown it up into such a Heat of Fury and Rage, +that it wanted nothing but Air to make it burn out, as it soon +afterwards did in a furious Flame of Wrath and Revenge, even to Blood +and Destruction. + +Just in the very critical Moment, while Things stood thus with _Cain_, +Satan brings in his wicked Instruments, as if just arriv'd with the +Return of his Message from _Adam_, at whose Court they had been for +Orders; and thus they, that is the _Devil_ assuming to speak by them, +approach their Father with an Air of solemn but chearful Satisfaction at +the Success of their Embassy. + + * * * * * + +_D._ Hail Sovereign, Reverend, Patriarchal Lord! we come with Joy to +render thee an Account of the Success of our Message. + +_Cain._ Have you then seen the venerable Tents where dwell the +Heaven-born, the Angelic Pair, to whom all human Reverence highly due, +is and ought always to be humbly paid? + +_D._ We have. + +_Cain._ Did you, together with my grand Request, a just, a humble Homage +for me pay, to the great Sire and Mother of Mankind? + +_D._ We did. + +_Cain._ Did you in humble Language represent the Griefs and Anguish +which oppress my Soul? + +_D._ We did, and back their Blessing to thee bring. + +_Cain._ I hope with humblest Signs of filial Duty you took it for me on +your bending Knees? + +_D._ We did, and had our Share; the Patriarch lifting his Hands to +Heaven express'd his Joy to see his spreading Race, and bless'd us all. + +_Cain._ Did you my solemn Message too deliver, my Injuries impartially +lay down, and due Assistance and Direction crave? + +_D._ We did. + +_Cain._ What spoke the Oracle? he's God to me; what just Command d'ye +bring, what's to be done? am I to bear the insulting Junior's Rage? and +meekly suffer what unjustly he, affronting Primogeniture and Laws of God +and Man, imposes by his Pride unsufferable! Am I to be crush'd, and be +no more the firstborn Son on Earth, but bow and kneel to him? + +_D._ Forbid it Heaven! as _Adam_ too forbids, who with a justice +God-like and peculiar to injur'd Parents, _Abel_'s Pride resents, and +gives his high Command to thee to punish. + +_Cain._ To punish? say you, did he use the Word, the very Word? am I +commission'd then to punish _Abel_? + +_D._ Not _Abel_ only, but his rebel Race, as they alike in Crime alike +are join'd in Punishment. + +_Cain._ The Race indeed have shar'd the Merit with him; how did they all +insult, and with a Shout of Triumph mock my Sorrow, when they saw me +from my Sacrifice dejected come, as if my Disappointment was their Joy? + +_D._ This too the venerable Prince resents, and to preserve the Race in +Bounds of Laws subordinate and limited to Duty, Commands that this first +Breach be not pass'd by, lest the Precedent upon Record stand to future +Times to encourage like Rebellion. + +_Cain._ And is it then my Sovereign Parent's Will? + +_D._ It is his Will, that thou his eldest Son, his Image, his belov'd, +should be maintain'd in all the Rights of Sovereignty deriv'd to thee +from him; and not be left expos'd to injury and Power usurped, but +should do thy self Justice on the rebel Race. + +_Cain._ And so I will; _Abel_ shall quickly know what 'tis to trample on +his elder Brother; shall know that he's thus sentenc'd by his Father, +and I'm commission'd but to execute his high Command, his Sentence, +which is God's, and that he falls by the Hand of Heavenly Justice. + + * * * * * + +So now Satan had done his Work, he had deluded the Mother to a Breach +against the first and only Command, he had drawn _Adam_ to the same +Snare, and now he brings in _Cain_ prompted by his own Rage, and deluded +by his, (Satan's,) Craft, to commit Murder, nay a Fratricide, an +aggravated Murther. + +Upon this he sends out _Cain_, while the bloody Rage was in its Ferment, +and wickedly at the same Time bringing _Abel_, innocent and fearing no +ill, just in his Way, he suggests to his Thoughts such Words as these. + +Look you _Cain_, see how Divine Justice concurs with your Father's +righteous Sentence, see there's thy Brother _Abel_ directed by Heaven to +fall into thy Hands unarm'd, unguarded, that thou may'st do thy self +Justice upon him without Fear; see thou may'st kill him, and if thou +hast a Mind to conceal it, no Eyes can see, or will the World ever know +it, so that no Resentment or Revenge upon thee, or thy Posterity, can be +apprehended, but it may be said some wild Beast had rent him; nor will +any one suggest that thou, his Brother, and Superior, could possibly be +the Person. + +_Cain_ prepar'd for the Fact, by his former avow'd Rage and Resolution +of Revenge, was so much the less prepar'd to avoid the Snare thus +artfully contriv'd by the Master of all Subtilty, the _Devil_; so he +immediately runs upon his Brother _Abel_, and after a little unarm'd +Resistance, the innocent poor Man expecting no such Mischief, was +conquer'd and murther'd; after which, as is to be supposed, the +exasperated Crew of _Cain_'s outrageous Race, over-run all his Family +and Houshold, killing Man, Woman and Child. + +It is objected here that we have no Authority in Scripture to prove this +Part of the Story; but I answer, 'tis not likely but that _Abel_, as +well as _Cain_, being at Man's Estate long before this, had several +Children by their own Sisters, for they were the only Men in the World +who were allow'd the Marrying their own Sisters, there being no other +Women then in the World; and as we never read of any of _Abel_'s +Posterity, 'tis likewise as probable they were all murther'd, as that +they should kill _Abel_ only, whose Sons might immediately fall upon +_Cain_ for the Blood of their Father, and so the World have been +involv'd in a Civil War as soon as there were two Families in it. + +But be it so or not, 'tis not doubted the Devil wrought with _Cain_ in +the horrid Murther, or he had never done it; whether it was directly or +by Agents is not material, nor is the Latter unlikely; and if the +Latter, then there is no Improbability in the Story, for why might not +he that made Use of the Serpent to tempt _Eve_, be as well supposed to +make a Tool of some of _Cain_'s Sons or Grandsons to prompt him in the +wicked Attempt of murthering his Brother? and why must we be oblig'd to +bring in a Miracle or an Apparition into the Story, to make it probable +that the _Devil_ had any Hand in it, when 'twas so natural to a +degenerate Race to act in such a Manner? + +However it was, and by whatever Tool the _Devil_ wrought, 'tis certain +that this was the Consequence, poor _Abel_ was butcher'd, and thus the +_Devil_ made a second Conquest in God's Creation; for _Adam_ was now, as +may be said, really Childless, for his two Sons were thus far lost, +_Abel_ was killed, and _Cain_ was curst and driven out from the Presence +of the Lord, and his Race blasted with him. + +It would be a useful enquiry here, and worthy our giving an Account of, +could we come to a Certainty in it, namely, what was the Mark that God +set upon _Cain_, by which he was kept from being fallen upon by _Abel_'s +Friends or Relations? but as this does not belong to the _Devil_'s +History, and it was God's Mark, not the _Devil_'s, I have nothing to do +with it here. + +The _Devil_ had now gain'd his Point, the Kingdom of Grace, so newly +erected, had been as it were extinct without a new Creation, had not +_Adam_ and _Eve_ been alive, and had not _Eve_, tho' now 130 Years of +Age, been a breeding young Lady, for we must suppose the Woman, in that +State of Longevity, bare Children till they were seven or eight hundred +Year old: This Teeming of _Eve_ peopled not the World so much as it +restored the blessed Race; for tho' _Abel_ was kill'd _Cain_ had a +numerous Offspring presently, which had _Seth_, (_Adam_'s third Son) +never been born, would soon have replenish'd the World with People, such +as they were; the Seed of a Murtherer, cursed of God, branded with a +Mark of Infamy, and who afterwards fell all together in the universal +Ruine of the Race by the Deluge. + +But after the Murther of _Abel_, _Adam_ had another Son born, namely, +_Seth_, the Father of _Enos_, and indeed the Father of the holy Race; +for during his Time and his Son _Enos_, the Text says that Men began to +call on the Name of the Lord; that is to say, they began to look back +upon _Cain_ and his wicked Race, and being convinc'd of the Wickedness +they had committed, and led their whole Posterity into, they began to +sue to Heaven for Pardon of what was past, and to lead a new sort of +Life. + +But the _Devil_ had met with too much Success in his first Attempts, not +to go on with his general Resolution of debauching the Minds of Men, and +bringing them off from God; and therefore as he kept his Hold upon +_Cain_'s cursed Race, embroil'd already in Blood and Murther; so he +proceeded with his degenerate Offspring, till in a Word he brought both +the holy Seed and the degenerate Race to joyn in one universal Consent +of Crime, and to go on in it with such aggravating Circumstances, as +that it repented the Lord that he had made Man, and he resolv'd to +overwhelm them again with a general Destruction, and clear the World of +them. + +The Succession of Blood in the royal original Line of _Adam_, is +preserv'd in the sacred Histories and brought down as low as _Noah_ and +his three Sons, for a continu'd series of 1450 Years, say some, 1640 +say others; in which Time Sin spread it self so generally thro' the +whole Race, and _the Sons of God_, so the Scripture calls the Men of the +righteous Seed, the Progeny of _Seth_, came in unto the _Daughters of +Men_, that is, join'd themselves to the curs'd Race of _Cain_, and +married promiscuously with them, according to their Fancies, the Women +it seems being beautiful and tempting; and tho' the Devil could not make +the Women handsome or ugly in one or other Families, yet he might work +up the Gust of wicked Inclination on either Side, so as to make both the +Men and Women tempting and agreeable to one another, where they ought +not to have been so; and perhaps, as it is often seen to this Day, the +more tempting for being under legal Restraint. + +It is objected here, that we do not find in the Scripture that the Men +and Women of either Race were at that Time forbidden intermarrying with +one another; and it is true, that literally it is not forbid; but if we +did not search rather to make doubts than to explain them, we might +suppose it was forbidden by some particular Command at that Time; seeing +we may reasonably allow every Thing to be forbidden, which they are +tax'd with a Crime in committing; and as the Sons of God taking them +Wives as they thought fit to choose, tho' from among the Daughters of +the cursed Race, is there charg'd upon them as a general Depravation, +and a great Crime; and for which, 'tis said, GOD even repented that he +had made them, we need go no farther to satisfy our selves that it was +certainly forbidden. + +_Satan_ no doubt too had a Hand in this Wickedness; for as it was his +Business to prompt Men to do every Thing which God had prohibited, so +the Reason given why the Men of those Days did this Thing was, they saw +the Daughters of Men, that is of the wicked Race or forbidden Sort, +_were fair_, he tempted them by the Lust of the Eye; in a word, the +Ladies were beautiful and agreeable, and the _Devil_ knew how to make +use of the Allurement; the Men liked and took them by the meer Direction +of their Fancy and Appetite, without regarding the supreme Prohibition; +_They took them Wives of all which they chose_, or such as they lik'd to +choose. + +But the Text adds, that this promiscuous Generation went farther than +the meer outward Crime of it, for it shew'd that the Wickedness of the +Heart of Man was great before God, and that he resented it; In short, +God perceived a Degeneracy or Defect of Virtue had seiz'd upon the whole +Race, that there was a general Corruption of Manners, a Depravity of +Nature upon them, that even the holy Seed was tainted with it, that the +Devil had broken in upon them, and prevail'd to a great Degree; that not +only the Practice of the Age was corrupt, for that God could easily have +restrain'd, but that the very Heart of Man was debauch'd, his Desires +wholly vitiated, and his Senses engag'd in it; so that in a Word, it +became necessary to shew the divine Displeasure, not in the ordinary +Manner, by Judgment and Reproofs of such kind as usually reclaim Men, +but by a general Destruction to sweep them away, clear the Earth of +them, and put an End to the Wickedness at once, removing the Offence and +the Offenders all together; this is signify'd at large, Gen. vi. 5. _God +saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth, and that every +Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually._ And +again ver. 11, 12. _The Earth also was corrupt before God; and the +Earth was fill'd with Violence. And God look'd upon the Earth and +behold it was corrupt; for all Flesh had corrupted his Way upon the +Earth._ + +It must be confess'd it was a strange Conquest the _Devil_ had made in +the Antediluvian World, that he had, as I may say, brought the whole +Race of Mankind into a general Revolt from God; _Noah_ was indeed a +Preacher of Righteousness, and he had preach'd about 500 Years to as +little Purpose as most of the good Ministers ever did; for we do not +read there was one Man converted by him, or at least not one of them +left, for that at the Deluge there was either none of them alive, or +none spar'd but _Noah_ and his three Sons, and their Wives; and even +they are ('tis evident) recorded, not so much to be sav'd for their own +Goodness, but because they were his Sons; Nay, without Breach of Charity +we may conclude, that at least one went to the _Devil_ even of those +three, namely, _Ham_ or _Cham_ for triumphing in a brutal Manner over +his Father's Drunkenness; for we find the Special Curse reach'd to him +and his Posterity for many Ages; and whether it went no farther than the +present State of Life with them, we cannot tell. + +We will suppose now that thro' this whole 1500 Years the Devil having so +effectually debauch'd Mankind, had advanc'd his infernal Kingdom to a +prodigious Height; for the Text says, _the whole Earth was fill'd with +violence_; in a Word, Blood, Murder, Rape, Robbery, Oppression and +Injustice prevail'd every where, and Man, like the wild Bear in the +Forest, liv'd by Prey, biting and devouring one another. + +At this Time _Noah_ begins to preach a new Doctrine to them, for as he +had before been a Preacher of Righteousness, now he becomes a Preacher +of Vengeance; first he tells them they shall be all overwhelm'd with a +Deluge, that for their Sins God repented they were made, and that +he would destroy them all, adding, that to prevent the Ruin of himself +and Family, he resolv'd to build him a Ship to have recourse to when the +Water should come over the Rest of the World. + +What Jesting, what Scorn, what Contempt did this Work expose the good +old Man to for above a 100 Years? for so long the Work was building, as +antient Authors say; let us represent to our selves in the most lively +Manner how the witty World at that Time behav'd to poor old _Noah_; how +they took their Evening Walks to see what he was doing, and passed their +Judgment upon it, and upon the Progress of it; I say, to represent this +to our selves, we need go no farther than to our own Witicisms upon +Religion, and upon the most solemn Mysteries of Divine Worship; how we +damn the Serious for Enthusiasts, think the Grave mad, and the Sober +melancholy; call Religion it self Flatus and Hyppo; make the Devout +ignorant, the Divine mercenary, and the whole Scheme of Divinity a Frame +of Priestcraft; and thus no doubt the building an Ark or Boat, or +whatever they call'd it, to float over the Mountains, and dance over the +Plains, what could it be but a religious Frenzy, and the Man that so +busied himself, a Lunatick? and all this in an Age when divine Things +came by immediate Revelation into the Minds of Men! the _Devil_ must +therefore have made a strange Conquest upon Mankind to obliterate all +the Reverence, which but a little before was so strangely impress'd upon +them concerning their Maker. + +This was certainly the Height of the _Devil_'s Kingdom, and we shall +never find him arrive to such a Pitch again; he was then truly and +literally the universal Monarch, nay the God of this World; and as all +Tyrants do, he governs them with an arbitrary absolute sway; and had not +God thought fit to give him a Writ of Ejectment, and afterwards drown +him out of Possession I know not what would have been the Case, he might +have kept his Hold for ought I know till the Seed of the Woman came to +bruise his Head, that is to say, cripple his Government, Dethrone him +and Depose his Power, as has been fulfill'd in the Messiah. + +But as he was, I say, drown'd out of the World, his Kingdom for the +present was at an End; at least, if he had a Dominion he had no +Subjects, and as the Creation was in a Manner renewed, so the _Devil_ +had all his Work to do over again: Unhappy Man! how has he, by his weak +Resistance, made the _Devil_, recovering his Hold too easy to him, and +given him all the Advantages, except as before excepted, which he had +before? Now whether he retired in the mean Time, and how he got footing +again after _Noah_ and his Family were landed upon the New Surface, that +we come next to enquire. + + + + +CHAP. X. + +_Of the Devil's second Kingdom, and how he got footing in the renew'd + World by his Victory over_ Noah _and his Race_. + + +The Story of _Noah_, his building the Ark, his embarking himself and all +Nature's Stock for a new World on board it; the long Voyage they took, +and the bad Weather they met with, tho' it would embellish this Work +very well, and come in very much to the Purpose in this Place, yet as +it does not belong to the _Devil_'s Story, for I cannot prove what some +suggest (_viz._) that he was in the Ark among the Rest, I say, for that +Reason I must omit it. + +And now having mention'd Satan's being in the Ark; as I say, I cannot +prove it, so there are, I think, some good Reasons to believe he was not +there: _First_, I know no Business he had there; _secondly_, we read of +no Mischief done there, and these joyn'd together make me conclude he +was absent; the last I chiefly insist upon, that we read of no Mischief +done there, which if he had been in the Ark, would certainly have +happen'd; and therefore I suppose rather, that when he saw his Kingdom +dissolv'd, his Subjects all ingulph'd in an inevitable Ruin and +Desolation, a Sight suitable enough to him, except as it might unking +him for a Time; _I say_, when he saw this, he took care to speed himself +away as well as he could, and make his Retreat to a Place of Safety, +where that was, is no more difficult to us, than it was to him. + +It is suggested that as he is Prince of the Power of the Air, he retired +only into that Region. It is most rational to suppose he went no further +on many Accounts, of which I shall speak by and by: Here he stay'd +hovering in the Earth's Atmosphere, as he has often done since, and +perhaps now does; or if the Atmosphere of this Globe was affected by the +Indraft of the Absorption, as some think, then he kept himself upon the +Watch, to see what the Event of the new Phænomenon would be, and this +Watch, wherever it was, I doubt not, was as near the Earth as he could +place himself, perhaps in the Atmosphere of the Moon, or in a Word, the +next Place of Retreat he could find. + +From hence I took upon me to insist, that _Satan_ has not a more certain +Knowledge of Events than we; I say, he has not a _more certain +Knowledge_; that he may be able to make stronger Conjectures and more +rational Conclusions from that he sees, I will not deny; and that which +he most outdoes us in is, that he sees more to conclude from than we +can, but I am satisfied he knows nothing of Futurity more than we can +see by Observation and Inference; nor, _for Example_, did he know +whether God would repeople the World any more or no. + +I must therefore allow that he only waited to see what would be the +Event of this strange Eruption of Water, and what God propos'd to do +with the Ark, and all that was in it. + +Some Philosophers tell us, besides what I hinted above, that the _Devil_ +could have no Retreat in the Earth's Atmosphere, for that the Air being +wholly condens'd into Water, and having continually pour'd down its +Streams to deluge the Earth, that Body was become so small, and had +suffer'd such Convulsions, that there was but just enough Air left to +surround the Water, or as might serve by its Pressure to preserve the +natural Position of Things, and supply the Creatures in the Ark with a +Part to breath in. + +The Atmosphere indeed might suffer some strange and unnatural Motions at +that Time, but not (I believe) to that Degree, however, I will not +affirm that there could be room in it, or is now for the Devil, much +less for all the numberless Legions of Satan's Host; but there was, and +now certainly is, sufficient Space to receive him, and a sufficient Body +of his Troops for the Business he had for them at that time, and that's +enough to the Purpose; or if the Earth's Atmosphere did suffer any +particular Convulsion on that Occasion, he might make his Retreat to +the Atmosphere of the Moon, or of _Mars_, or of _Venus_, or of any of +the other Planets; or to any other Place, for he that is Prince of the +Air could not want Retreats in such a Case, from whence he might watch +for the issue of Things; certainly he did not go far, because his +Business lay here, and he never goes out of his Way of doing Mischief. + +In particular, his more than ordinary Concern was, to see what would +become of the Ark; he was wise enough doubtless to see, that GOD, who +had directed its making, nay even the very Structure of it, would +certainly take Care of it, preserve it upon the Water, and bring it to +some Place of Safety or other; tho' where it should be, the _Devil_ with +all his Cunning could not resolve, whether on the same Surface the +Waters drawing off, or in any other created or to be created Place; and +this State of Uncertainty being evidently his Case, and which proves his +Ignorance of Futurity, it was his Business, _I say_, to watch with the +utmost vigilance for the Event. + +If the Ark was (as Mr. _Burnet_ thinks) guided by two Angels, they not +only held it from foundering or being swallow'd up in the Water, but +certainly kept the Waters calm about it, especially when the Lord +brought a strong Wind to blow over the whole Globe, which by the Way was +the first, and, I suppose, the only universal Storm that ever blew, for +to be sure it blew over the whole Surface at once; I say, if it was thus +guided, to be sure the _Devil_ saw it, and that with Envy and Regret +that he could do it no Injury, for doubtless had it been in the Devil's +Power, as God had drown'd the whole Race of Man, except what was in the +Ark, he would have taken care to have dispatch'd them too, and so made +an End of the Creation at once; but either he was not empower'd to go +to the Ark, or it was so well guarded by Angels, that when he came near +it he could do it no harm: So it rested at length, the Waters abating on +the Mountains of _Arrarat_ in _Armenia_, or some where else that Way, +and where they say a Piece of the Keel is remaining to this Day; of +which, however with Dr. ------ I say, I believe not one Word. + +The Ark being safe landed, 'tis reasonable to believe _Noah_ prepared to +go on Shore, as the Seamen call it, as soon as the dry Land began to +appear; and here you must allow me to suppose Satan, tho' himself +cloth'd with a Cloud, so as not to be seen, came immediately, and +pearching on the Roof, saw all the Heaven-kept Houshold safely landed, +and all the Host of living Creatures dispersing themselves down the +Sides of the Mountain, as the Search of their Food or other proper +Occasions directed them. + +This Sight was enough; Satan was at no Loss to conclude from hence that +the Design of God was to repeople the World by the Way of ordinary +Generation, from the Posterity of these eight Persons, without creating +any new Species. + +Very well, says the _Devil_, then my Advantage over them, by the Snare I +laid for poor _Eve_, is good still; and I am now just where I was after +_Adam_'s Expulsion from the Garden, and when I had _Cain_ and his Race +to go to work with; for here is the old expung'd Corrupted Race still, +as _Cain_ was the Object then, so _Noah_ is my Man now, and if I do not +master him one way or another, I am mistaken in my Mark. _Pardon me for +making a Speech for_ the Devil. + +_Noah_ big with a Sense of his late Condition, and while the Wonders of +the Deluge were fresh in his Mind, spent his first Days in the Extasies +of his Soul, giving Thanks, and praising the Power that had been his +Protection, in and thro' the Flood of Waters, and which had in so +miraculous a Manner, safely landed him on the Surface of the newly +discover'd Land; and the Text tells us, as one of the first Things he +was employ'd in, _He built an Altar unto the Lord, and offered +Burnt-Offerings upon the Altar_. Gen. viii. 20. + +While _Noah_ was thus employ'd he was safe, the _Devil_ himself could no +where break in upon him; and we may suppose very reasonably, as he found +the old Father invulnerable, he left him for some Years, watching +notwithstanding all possible Advantages against his Sons and their +Children; for now the Family began to encrease, and _Noah_'s Sons had +several Children; whether himself had any more Children after the Flood +or not, that we are not arriv'd to any Certainty about. + +Among his Sons the _Devil_ found _Japhet_ and _Shem_, good, pious, +religious, and very devout Persons; serving God daily, after the Example +of their good old Father _Noah_, and he could make nothing of them or of +any of their Posterity; but _Ham_ the second, or according to some, the +younger Son of _Noah_, had a Son who was nam'd _Canaan_, a loose young +profligate Fellow, his Education was probably but cursory and +superficial, his Father _Ham_ not being near so religious and serious a +Man as his Brothers _Shem_ and _Japhet_ were; and as _Canaan_'s +Education was defective, so he prov'd, as untaught Youth generally do, a +wild, and in short a very wicked Fellow, and consequently a fit Tool for +the _Devil_ to go to work with. + +_Noah_, a diligent industrious Man, being with all his Family thus +planted in the rich fruitful Plains of _Armenia_, or wherever you +please, let it be near the Mountains of _Caucasus_ or _Arrarat_; went +immediately to work, cultivating and improving the Soil, encreasing his +Cattle and Pastures, sowing Corn, and among other Things planting Trees +for Food, and among the Fruit Trees he planted Vines, of the Grapes +thereof he made no doubt, as they still in the same Country do make, +most excellent Wine, rich, luscious, strong, and pleasant. + +I cannot come into the Notion of our Criticks, who to excuse _Noah_ from +the guilt of what followed, or at least from the Censure, tell us, he +knew not the Strength or the Nature of Wine, but that gathering the +heavy Clusters of the Grapes, and their own weight crushing out their +balmy Juices into his Hand, he tasted the tempting Liquor, and that the +_Devil_ assisting he was charm'd with the delicious Fragrance, and +tasted again and again, pressing it out into a Bowl or Dish, that he +might take a larger Quantity; till at length the heady Froth ascended +and seizing his Brain, he became intoxicate and drunk, not in the least +imagining there was any such Strength in the Juice of that excellent +Fruit. + +But to make out this Story, which is indeed very favourable for _Noah_, +but in it self extremely ridiculous, you must necessarily fall into some +Absurdities, and beg the Question most egregiously in some particular +Cases, which way of arguing will by no means suppose what is suggested; +at first you must support there was no such Thing as Wine made before +the Deluge, and that no Body had been ever made drunk with the Juice of +the Grape before _Noah_, which, I say, is begging the Question in the +grossest Manner. + +If the Contrary is true, as I see no Reason to question, if, _I say_, it +was true that there was Wine drank, and that Men were or had been drunk +with it before, they cannot then but suppose that _Noah_, who was a +wise, a great and a good Man, and _a Preacher of Righteousness_, both +knew of it, and without doubt had in his preaching against their Crimes, +preach'd against this among the rest, upbraided them with it, reprov'd +them for it, and exhorted them against it. + +_Again_, 'tis highly probable they had Grapes growing, and consequently +Wines made from them, in the Antediluvian World, how else did _Noah_ +come by the Vines which he planted? For we are to suppose, he could +plant no Trees or Shrubs, but such as he found the Roots of in the +Earth, and which no doubt had been there before in their highest +Perfection, and had consequently grown up and brought forth the same +luscious Fruit before. + +Besides, as he found the Roots of the Vines, so he understood what they +were, and what Fruit they bore, or else it may be supposed also he would +not have planted them; for he planted them for their Fruit, as he did it +in the Provision he was making for his Subsistence, and the Subsistence +of his Family: and if he did not know what they were, he would not have +set them, for he was not planting for Diversion but for Profit. + +Upon the whole it seems plain to me he knew what he did, as well when he +planted the Vines as when he pressed out the Grapes; and also when he +drank the Juice that he knew it was Wine, was strong and would make him +drunk if he took enough of it: He knew that other Men had been drunk +with such Liquor before the Flood, and that he had reprehended them for +it; and therefore it was not his Ignorance, but the _Devil_ took him at +some Advantage, when his Appetite was eager, or he thirsty, and the +Liquor cooling and pleasant; and in short, as _Eve_ said, _the Serpent +beguilded her_, and she DID EAT, so the Devil beguiled _Noah_, and _he_ +DID DRINK; the Temptation was too strong for _Noah_, not the Wine; he +knew well enough what he did, but as the Drunkards say to this Day, it +was so good he could not forbear it, and so he got drunk before he was +aware; or as our ordinary Speech expresses it, _he was overtaken with +drink_; and Mr. _Pool_ and other Expositors are partly of the same Mind. + +No sooner was the poor old Man conquer'd, and the Wine had lighten'd his +Head, but it may be supposed he falls off from the Chair or Bench where +he sate, and tumbling backward his Clothes, which in those hot Countries +were only loose open Robes, like the Vests which the _Armenians_ wear to +this Day, flying abroad, or the _Devil_ so assisting on purpose to +expose him, he lay there in a naked indecent Posture not fit to be seen. + +In this juncture who should come by but young _Canaan_, say some; or as +others think, this young Fellow first attack'd him by way of Kindness +and pretended Affection; prompted his Grandfather to drink, on Pretence +of the Wine being good for him, and proper for the Support of his old +Age, and subtilly set upon him, drinking also with him, and so (his Head +being too strong for the old Man's) drank him down, and then, _Devil_ +like, triumph'd over him; boasted of his Conquest, insulted the Body as +it were dead, uncovered him on purpose to expose him, and leaving him in +that indecent Posture, went and made Sport with it to his Father _Ham_, +who in that Part, wicked like himself, did the same to his Brethren +_Japhet_ and _Shem_; but they like modest and good Men, far from +carrying on the wicked Insult on their Parent, went and cover'd him, as +the Scripture expresses it, and as may be supposed inform'd him how he +had been abus'd, and by whom. + +Why else should _Noah_, when he came to himself, shew his Resentment so +much against _Canaan_ his Grandson, rather than against _Ham_ his +Father, and who 'tis supposed in the Story the guilt chiefly lay upon? +we see the Curse is (as it were) laid wholly upon _Canaan_ the Grandson, +and not a Word of the Father is mention'd, Gen. ix. 25, 26, 27, _Cursed +be_ Canaan, _a Servant of Servants shall he be_, &c. + +That _Ham_ was Guilty, that's certain from the History of Fact, but I +cannot but suppose his Grandson was the Occasion of it; and in this Case +the Devil seems to have made _Canaan_ the Instrument or Tool to delude +_Noah_, and draw him in to Drunkenness, as he made the Serpent the Tool +to beguile _Eve_, and draw her into Disobedience. + +Possibly _Canaan_ might do it without Design at first, but might be +brought in to ridicule and make a Jest of the old Patriarch afterward, +as is too frequent since in the Practice of our Days; but I rather +believe he did it really with a wicked Design, and on Purpose to expose +and insult his Reverend old Parent; and this seems more likely too, +because of the great Bitterness with which _Noah_ resented it, after he +came to be inform'd of it. + +But be that as it will, the _Devil_ certainly made a great Conquest +here, and as to outward Appearance no less than that which he gain'd +before over _Adam_; nor did the _Devil_'s Victory consist barely in his +having drawn in the only righteous Man of the whole Antediluvian World, +and so beginning or initiating the new young Progeny with a Crime; but +here was the great Oracle silenc'd at once; the Preacher of +Righteousness, for such no doubt he would have been to the new World, as +he was to the old, I say, the Preacher was turn'd out of Office, or his +Mouth stopt, which was worse; nay, it was a stopping of his Mouth in the +worst kind, far worse than stopping his Breath, for had he died, the +Office had descended to his sons _Shem_ and _Japhet_, but he was dead to +the Office of an Instructor, tho' alive as to his Being; For of what +Force could his Preachings be, who had thus fallen himself into the most +shameful and beastly Excess? + +Besides some are of the Opinion, tho' I hope without Ground, that _Noah_ +was not only overtaken once in his Drink, but that being fallen into +that Sin it became habitual, and he continued in it a great while, and +that it was this which is the meaning of his being uncovered in his +Tent, and that his Son saw his Nakedness; that is, he continually +exposed himself for a long Time, a hundred Years, say they, and that his +Son _Ham_, and his Grandson _Canaan_ having drawn him into it, kept him +in it, encourag'd and prompted it, and all the while Satan still +prompting them, join'd their Scoffs and contempt of him, with their +wicked Endeavours to promote the Wickedness; and both with as much +Success as the Devil himself could wish for. + +Then as for his two Sons modestly and decently covering their Father, +they tell us, that Represents _Shem_ and _Japhet_ applying themselves in +an humble and dutiful Manner to their Father, to entreat and beseech him +to consider his ancient Glory, his own pious Exhortations to the late +drowned World, and to consider the Offence which he gave by his evil +Courses to God, and the Scandal to his whole Family, and also that they +are brought in effectually prevailing upon him; and that then _Noah_ +cursed the Wickedness of _Ham_'s degenerate Race, in Testimony of his +sincere Repentance after the Fact. + +The Story is not so very unlikely as it is certain that it is not to be +proved, and therefore we had better take it as we find it (_viz._) for +one single Act; but suppose it was so, 'tis still certain that _Noah_'s +Preaching was sadly interrupted, the Energy of his Words flatter'd, and +the Force of his Persuasions enervated and abated, by this shameful +Fall; that he was effectually silenc'd for an Instructor ever after, and +this was as much as the Devil had Occasion for; and therefore indeed we +read little more of him, except that he lived three hundred and fifty +Years after the Flood; nay, we do not so much as read that he had any +more Children, but the contrary, nor indeed could _Noah_ have any more +Children, except by his old and perhaps super-annuated Wife, who it was +very likely he had had four or five hundred Year, unless you will +suppose he was allow'd to marry some of his own Progeny, Daughters or +Grandaughters, which we do not suppose was allow'd, no not to _Adam_ +himself. + +This was certainly a Master-piece of the _Devil_'s Policy, and a fatal +Instance of his unhappy Diligence, (_viz._) that the Door of the Ark was +no sooner open, and the Face of the World hardly dry from the universal +Destruction of Mankind, but he was at work among them; and that not only +to form a general Defection among the Race, upon the Foot of the +original Taint of Nature, but like a bold _Devil_ he strikes at the very +Root, and flies at the next general Representative of Mankind, attacks +the Head of the Family, that in his Miscarriage the Rise and Progress of +a Reformation of the new World should receive an early Check, and should +be at once prevented; I say, like a bold Devil, he strikes at the Root, +and _alas!_ poor unhappy _Noah_, he proved too weak for him, _Satan_ +prevail'd in his very first Attempt, and got the Victory over him at +once. + +_Noah_ thus overcome, and Satan's Conquest carried on to the utmost of +his own Wishes, the _Devil_ had little more to do in the World for some +Ages, than to carry on an universal Degeneracy among Mankind, and to +finish it by a like diligent Application, in deluding the Generality of +the Race, and them as they came on gradually into Life; this he found +the less difficult, because of the first Defection which spread like a +Contagion upon the Earth immediately after. + +The first Evidence we have of his Success in this mischievous Design was +in the Building that great stupendious Stair-case, for such it seems it +was intended, call'd _Babel_, which if the whole World had not been +drunk, or otherwise infatuated, they would never have undertaken; even +Satan himself could never have prevail'd with them to undertake such a +preposterous Piece of Work, for it had neither End or Means, Possibility +or Probability in it. + +I must confess I am sometimes apt to vindicate our old Ancestors, in my +Thoughts, from the Charge it self, as we generally understand it, +namely, that they really design'd to build a Tower which should reach up +to Heaven, or that it should secure them in case of another Flood; and +Father _Casaubon_ is of my Opinion, whether I am of his or no, is a +Question by it self; his opinion is that the Confusion was nothing but a +Breach among the Undertakers and Directors of the Work, and that the +Building was design'd chiefly for a Store-house for Provisions, in Case +of a second Deluge; as to their Notion of its reaching up to Heaven, he +takes the Expression to be allegorical rather than little, and only to +mean that it should be exceeding high; perhaps they might not be +Astronomers enough to measure the Distance of Space between the Earth +and Heaven, as we pretend to do now; but as _Noah_ was then alive, and +as we believe all his three Sons were so too, they were able to have +inform'd them how absurd it was to suppose either the one or the other +(_viz_.) (1.) that they could build up to Heaven, or (2.) that they +could build firm enough to resist, or high enough to overtop the Waters, +supposing such another Flood should happen; I would rather think it was +only that they intended to build a most glorious and magnificent City, +where they might all inhabit together; and that this Tower was to be +built for Ornament and also for Strength, or as above, and for a +Store-house to lay up vast Magazines of Provisions, in Case of +extraordinary Floods or other Events, the City being built in a great +Plain, namely, the Plains of _Shimar_ near the River _Euphrates_. + +But the Story, as it is recorded, suits better with Satan's Measures at +that Time; and as he was from the Beginning prompting them to every +Thing that was contrary to the Happiness of Man, so the more +preposterous it was, and the more inconsistent with common Sense, the +more to his Purpose; and it shew'd the more what a compleat Conquest he +had gain'd over the Reason as well as the Religion of Mankind at that +Time. + +Again, 'tis evident in this Case, they were not only acting contrary to +the Nature of Things, but contrary to the Design and to the Command of +Heaven; for God's Command was that they should replenish the Earth, that +is, that they should spread their Habitations over it, and People the +whole Globe; whereas they were pitching in one Place, as if they were +not to multiply sufficient to take up any more. + +But what car'd the Devil for that, or to put it a little handsomer, that +was what _Satan_ aimed at; for it was enough to him, to bring Mankind +to act just contrary to what _Heaven_ had directed or commanded them in +any thing, and if possible in every Thing. + +But God himself put a stop to this foolish Piece of Work, and it was +time indeed to do so, for a madder thing the Devil himself never +proposed to them; I say, God himself put a stop to this new Undertaking, +and disappointed the Devil; and how was it done? not in Judgment and +Anger, as perhaps the Devil expected and hop'd for, but as pitying the +Simplicity of that dreaming Creature Man, he confused their Speech, or +as some say, divided and confused their Councils, so that they could not +agree with one another, which would be the same Thing as not to +understand one another; or he put a new Shibboleth upon their Tongues, +thereby separating them into Tribes or Families, for by this every +Family found themselves under a Necessity of keeping together, and this +naturally encreased that Differing Jargons of Language, for at first it +might be no more. + +What a Confusion this was to them we all know, by their being oblig'd to +leave off their building, and immediately separating one from another; +but what a Surprize it was to the old Serpent, that remains to be +considered of, for indeed it belongs to his History. + +Satan had never met with any Disappointment in all his wicked Attempts +till now; for first, he succeeded even to triumph upon _Eve_, he did the +like upon _Cain_, and in short upon the whole World, _one Man_ (Noah) +_excepted_; when he blended the Sons of God, and the Daughters of Hell, +for so the Word is understood, together, in promiscuous voluptuous +Living as well as Generation. + +As to the Deluge, Authors are not agreed whether it was a Disappointment +to the Devil or no, it might be indeed a Surprize to him, for tho' +_Noah_ had preach'd of it for a hundred Year together, yet as he +(_Satan_) daily prompted the People not to heed or believe what that old +Fellow _Noah_ said to them, and to ridicule his whimsical Building a +monstrous Tub to swim or float in, when the said Deluge should come; so +I am of the Opinion he did not believe it himself, and am positive he +could not foresee it, by any insight into Futurity that he was Master +of. + +'Tis true the Astronomers tell us, there was a very terrible Comet seen +in the Air, that it appeared for 180 Days before the Flood continually; +and that as it approach'd nearer and nearer every Day all the while, so +that at last it burst and fell down in a continual Spout or Stream of +Water, being of a watry Substance, and the Quantity so great, that it +was forty Days a falling; so that this Comet not only foretold the +Deluge or drowning of the Earth, but actually perform'd it, and drown'd +it from it self. + +But to leave this Tale to them that told it, let us consider the Devil, +surpris'd, and a little amaz'd at the Absorption or Inundation, or +whatever we are to call it, of the Earth in the Deluge, not, I say, that +he was much concern'd at it, perhaps just the Contrary; and if God would +drown it again, and as often as he thought fit, I do not see by any +thing I meet with in Satan's History, or in the Nature of him, that he +would be at all disturb'd at it; all that I can see in it, that could +give Satan any Concern, would be that all his Favourites were gone, and +he had his Work to do over again, to lay a Foundation for a new Conquest +in the Generation that was to come; But in this his Prospect was fair +enough, for why should he be discouraged, when he had now eight People +to work upon, who met with such Success when he had but two? and why +should he question breaking in now where Nature was already vitiated and +corrupted, when he had before conquer'd the same Nature, when in its +primitive Rectitude and Purity, just come out of the Hands of its Maker, +and fortify'd with the Awe of his high and solemn Command just given +them, and the threatning of Death also annext to it, if broken? + +But I go back to the Affair of _Babel_: This Confusion of Language or of +Councils, take it which way you will, as the first Disappointment that I +find the Devil met with, in all his Attempts and Practices upon Mankind, +or upon the new Creature, which I mentioned above; for now he foresaw +what would follow; namely, that the People would separate and spread +themselves over the whole Surface of the Earth, and a thousand new +Scenes of Actions would appear, in which he therefore prepares himself +to behave as he should see Occasion. + +How the Devil learn'd to speak all the Languages that were now to be +used, and how many languages they were, the several ancient Writers of +the _Devil_'s Story have not yet determined; some tell us they were +divided only into fifteen, some into seventy two, others into one +hundred and eighty, and others again into several Thousands. + +It also remains a doubt with me, and, I suppose, will be so with others +also, whether Satan has yet found out a Method to converse with Mankind, +without the Help of Language and Words, or not: Seeing Man has no other +Medium of Conversing, no not with himself: This I have not time to enter +upon here; however, this seems plain to me (_viz._) that the _Devil_ +soon learn'd to make Mankind understand him, whatever Language he spoke, +and no doubt but he found Ways and Means to understand them, whatever +Language they spoke. + +After the Confusion of Languages, the People necessarily sorted +themselves into Families and Tribes, every Family understanding their +own particular Speech, and that only; and these Families multiplying +grew into Nations, and those Nations wanting Room, and seeking out +Habitations wandred some this Way, some that, till they found out +Countries respectively proper for their settling, and there they became +a Kingdom, spreading and possessing still more and more Land as their +People encreased, till at last the whole Earth was scarce big enough for +them: This presented _Satan_ with an Opportunity to break in upon their +Morals at another Door, (_viz._) their Pride; for Men being naturally +Proud and Envious, Nations and Tribes began to jostle with one another +for Room; either one Nation enjoy'd better Accommodations, or had a +better Soil or a more favourable Climate than another; and these being +numerous and strong thrust the other out, and encroach'd upon their +Land; the other liking their Situation, prepare for their Defence, and +so began Oppression, Invasion, War, Battle and Blood, Satan all the +while beating the Drums, and his Attendants clapping their Hands, as Men +do when they set Dogs on upon one another. + +The bringing Mankind thus to _War_ and _Confusion_, as it was the first +Game the Devil play'd after the confounding of Languages and Divisions +at _Babel_ so it was a Conquest upon Mankind, purely devilish, born from +Hell, and so exactly tinctured with Satan's original Sin _Ambition_, +that it really transform'd Men into meer Devils; for when is Man +transform'd into the very Image of Satan himself, when is he turn'd into +a meer Devil, if it is not when he is fighting with his fellow +Creatures and dipping his Hands in the Blood of his own Kind? Let his +Picture be consider'd, the Fire of Hell flames or sparkles in his Eyes, +a voracious Grin sits upon his Countenance; Rage and Fury distort the +Muscles of his Face; his Passions agitate his whole Body, and he is +metamorphos'd from a comely Beauteous angelic Creature into a _Fury_, a +_Satyr_, a terrible and frightful Monster, nay, into a _Devil_; for +_Satan_ himself is describ'd by the same Word which on his very Account +is chang'd into a Substantive, and the Devils are call'd _Furies_. + +This sowing the Seeds of Strife in the World, and bringing Nations to +fight and make War upon one another, would take up a great Part of the +_Devil_'s History, and abundance of extraordinary Things would occur in +relating the particulars; for there have been very great Conflagrations +kindled in the World, by the Artifice of Hell, under this Head, (_viz._) +of making War; in which it has been the _Devil_'s Master-piece, and he +has indeed shewn himself a Workman in it, that he has wheedled Mankind +into strange unnatural Notions of things, in order to propagate and +support the fighting Principle in the World; such as Laws of War, fair +Fighting, behaving like Men of Honour, fighting at the last Drop, and +the like, by which killing and murdering is understood to be +justifiable. Virtue and a true Greatness in Spirit is rated now by Rules +which God never appointed, and the Standard of Honour is quite different +from that of Reason and of Nature: Bravery is denominated not from a +fearless undaunted Spirit in the just Defence of Life and Liberty, but +from a daring Defiance of God and Man, fighting, killing and treading +under Foot his fellow Creatures, at the ordinary Command of the Officer, +whether it be right or wrong, and whether it be in a just Defence of +Life, and our Country's Life, that is Liberty, or whether it be for the +Support of Injury and Oppression. + +A prudent avoiding causeless Quarrels is call'd Cowardice, and to take +an affront Baseness, and Meanness of Spirit; to refuse fighting, and +putting Life at a Cast on the Point of a Sword, a Practice forbid by the +Laws of God and of all good Government, is yet call'd Cowardice; and a +Man is bound to die duelling, or live and be laugh'd at. + +This trumping up these imaginary Things call'd Bravery and Gallantry, +naming them Virtue and Honour, is all from the _Devil_'s new Management, +and his subtil influencing the Minds of Men to fly in the Face of God +and Nature, and to act against his Senses; nor but for his Artifice in +the Management, could it be possible that such Inconsistencies could go +down with Mankind, or they could pass such absurd Things among them for +reasoning; for Example, A is found in Bed with B's Wife, B is the Person +injur'd, and therefore offended, and coming into the Chamber with his +Sword in his Hand, A exclaims loudly, _Why Sir, you won't murder me, +will you? as you are a Man of Honour let me rise and take my Sword_. + +A very good Story indeed! fit for no body but the Devil to put into any +Man's Head; But so it is, B being put in mind, forsooth, that he is _a +Man of Honour_, starts back and must act the honourable Part; so he lets +A get up, put on his Clothes and take his Sword; then they fight, and B +is kill'd for his Honour; whereas had the Laws of God, of Nature and of +Reason taken Place, the Adulterer and the Adulteress should have been +taken Prisoners and carried before the Judge, and being taken in the +Fact, should have been immediately sentenc'd, he to the Block and she to +the Stake, and the innocent abus'd Husband had no Reason to have run +any Risque of his Life for being made a Cuckold. + +But thus has _Satan_ abus'd the Reason of Man; and if a Man does me the +greatest Injury in the World, I must do my self Justice upon him, by +venturing my life upon an even Lay with him, and must fight him upon +equal Hazard, in which the injur'd Person is as often kill'd as the +Person offering the Injury: Suppose now it be in the same Case _as +above_, a Man abuses my Wife, and then to give me Satisfaction, tells +me, he will fight me, which the _French_ call _doing me Reason_; _No +Sir_, say I, _let me lie with your Wife too, and then if you desire it, +I may fight you; then I am upon even Terms with you_; but this indeed is +the Reasoning which the _Devil_ has brought Mankind too at this Day: But +to go back to the Subject, _viz._ the Devil bringing the Nations to fall +out, and to quarrel for Room in the World, and so to fight in order to +dispossess one another of their Settlements: This began at a Time when +certainly there were Places enough in the World for every one to choose +in, and therefore the _Devil_, not the want of Elbow-room, must be the +Occasion of it; and 'tis carried on ever since, as apparently from the +same Interest, and by the same original. + +But we shall meet with this Part again very often in the _Devil_'s +Story, and as we bring him farther on in the Management of Mankind, I +therefore lay it by for the Present, and come to the next Steps the +_Devil_ took with Mankind after the Confusion of Languages, and this was +in the Affair of Worship; It does not appear yet that ever the _Devil_ +was so bold, as either, + +1. To set himself up to be worship'd as a God, or which was still worse, + +2. To persuade Man to believe there was no God at all to worship. + +Both these are introduc'd since the Deluge, _one_ indeed by the _Devil_, +who soon found Means to set himself up for a God in many Parts of the +World, and holds it to this Day; but the _last_ is brought in by the +Invention of Man, in which it must be confess'd Man has out-sin'd the +Devil; for to do Satan justice, he never thought it could ever pass upon +Mankind, or that any Thing so gross would go down with them; so that, +_in short_, these modern Casuists, in the Reach of our Days, have, _I +say_, out-sin'd the _Devil_. + +As then both these are modern Inventions, _Satan_ went on gradually, and +being to work upon human Nature by Stratagem, not by Force, it would +have been too gross to have set himself up as an Object of Worship at +first, it was to be done Step by Step; _for Example_. + + 1. It was sufficient to bring Mankind to a Neglect of God, to + worship him by halves, and give little or no Regard to his Laws, + and so grow loose and immoral, in direct Contradiction to his + Commands; this would not go down with them at first, so the Devil + went on gradually. + + 2. From a Negligence in worshiping the true GOD, he by Degrees + introduc'd the worship of false GODs; and to introduce this he + began with the _Sun_, _Moon_, and _Stars_, call'd in the holy Text + the Host of Heaven; these had greater Majesty upon them, and seem'd + fitter to command the Homage of Mankind; so it was not the hardest + Thing in the World, to bring Men, when they had once forgotten the + true God, to embrace the Worship of such Gods as those. + + 3. Having thus debauch'd their Principles in Worship, and led them + from the true and only Object of Worship to a false, it was the + easier to carry them on; so in a few Gradations more he brought + them to downright Idolatry, and even in that Idolatry he proceeded + gradually too; for he began with awful Names, such as were + venerable in the Thoughts of Men, as BAAL or BELL, which, in + _Chaldaick_ and _Hebrew_, signifies Lord or Sovereign, or Mighty + and Magnificent, and this was therefore a Name ascrib'd at first to + the true God; but afterwards they descended to make Images and + Figures to represent him, and then they were call'd by the same + Name, as _Baal_, _Baalim_, and afterwards _Bell_; from which, by a + hellish Degeneracy, Saturn brought Mankind to adore every Block of + their own hewing, and to worshipping Stocks, Stones, Monsters, + Hobgoblins, and every sordid frightful Thing, and at last the + _Devil_ himself. + + +What Notions some People may entertain of the Forwardness of the first +Ages of the World, to run into Idolatry, I do not enquire here; I know +they tell us strange Things, of its being the Product of meer Nature, +one remove from its primitive State; but I, who pretend to have so +critically enquir'd into _Satan_'s History, can assure you, and that +from very good Authority, that the _Devil_ did not find it so easy a +task to obliterate the Knowledge of the true God, in the Minds and +Consciences of Men, as those People suggest. + +It is true he carried Things a great Length under the Patriarchal +Government of the first Ages, but still he was sixteen hundred Years +bringing it to pass; and tho' we have Reason to believe the old World, +before the Flood was arrived to a very great Height of Wickedness, and +_Ovid_ very nobly describes it by the War of the _Titans_ against +_Jupiter_, yet we do not read that ever Satan was come to such a Length +as to bring them to Idolatry; indeed we do read of Wars carried on among +them, whether it was one Nation against another, or only Personal, we +cannot tell; But the World seem'd to be swallow'd up in a Life of +Wickedness, that is to say, of Luxury and Lewdness, Rapine and Violence, +and there were _Giants_ among them, and Men of Renown, that is to say, +Men fam'd for their mighty Valour, great Actions of War we may suppose, +and their Strength, who personally oppos'd others. We read of no +considerable Wars indeed, but 'tis not to be doubted but there was such +Wars, or else it is to be understood that they liv'd (in common) a Life +somewhat like the Brutes, the Strong devouring the Weak; for the Text +says, _the whole Earth was filled with Violence_, hunting and tearing +one another in Pieces, either for Dominion or for Wealth, either for +Ambition or for Avarice, we know not well which. + +Thus far the old Antediluvian World went, and very wicked they were, +there is no doubt of that; but we have Reason to believe that was no +Idolatry, the _Devil_ had not brought them to that Length yet: perhaps +it would soon have follow'd, but the Deluge interven'd. + +After the Deluge, _as I have said_, he had all his Work to do over +again, and he went on by the same Steps; _first_ he brought them to +Violence and War, then to Oppression and Tyranny, then to neglect of +true Worship, then to false worship, and then Idolatry by the meer +natural Consequence of the Thing; who were the first Nation or People +that fell from the Worship of the true God, is something hard to +determine; the _Devil_, who certainly of all _God_'s Creatures is best +able to inform us, having left us nothing upon Record upon that +Subject, but we have Reason to believe it was thus introduc'd. + +_Nimrod_ was the Grandson of _Ham_, _Noah_'s second Son, the same who +was cursed by his Father for exposing him in his Drunkenness: This +_Nimrod_ was the first who it seems _Satan_ pick'd out for a Hero: Here +he inspir'd him with ambitious Thoughts, dreams of Empire, and having +the Government of all the Rest, _that is to say_, universal Monarchy; +the very same Bait with which he has plaid upon the Frailty of Princes, +and ensnar'd the greatest of them ever since, even from his most August +Imperial Majesty King _Nimrod_ the first, to his most Christian Majesty +_Louis_ the XIV. and many a mighty Monarch between. + +When these mighty Monarchs and Men of Fame went off the Stage, the World +had their Memories in esteem many Ages after; and as their great Actions +were no otherwise recorded than by oral Tradition, and the Tongues and +Memories of fallible Men, Time and the Custom of magnifying the past +Actions of Kings, Men soon fabl'd up their Histories, _Satan assisting_, +into Miracle and Wonder: Hence their Names were had in Veneration more +and more; Statues and Bustoes representing their Persons and great +Actions were set up in public Places, till from Heroes and Champions +they made Gods of them, and thus (_Satan_ prompting) the World was +quickly fill'd with Idols. + +This _Nimrod_ is he, who according to the received Opinion, tho' I do +not find Satan's History exactly concurring with it, was first call'd +_Belus_, then _Baal_, and worship'd in most of the eastern Countries +under those Names; sometimes with Additions of Sir-names, according to +the several countries, or People, or Towns where he was particularly +set up, as _Baal Peor_, _Baal Zephon_, _Baal Phegor_, and in other +Places plain _Baal_, as _Jupiter_ in after Times had the like Additions; +as _Jupiter Ammon_, _Jupiter Capitolinus_, _Jupiter Pistor_, _Jupiter +Feretrius_, and about ten or twelve _Jupiters_ more. + +I must acknowledge, that I think it was a Master-piece of Hell to bring +the World to Idolatry so soon after they had had such an eminent Example +of the infinite Power of the true God, as was seen in the Deluge, and +particularly in the Escape of _Noah_ in the Ark, to bring them (even +before _Noah_ or his Sons were dead) to forget whose Hand it was, and +give the Homage of the World to a Name, and that a Name of a mortal Man +dead and rotten, who was famous for nothing when he was alive but Blood +and War; I say, to bring the World to set up this Nothing, this meer +Name, nay the very Image and Picture of him for _a God_, it was _first_ +a Mark of most prodigious Stupidity in the whole Race of Men, a +monstrous Degeneracy from Nature, and even from common Sense; and in the +next Place 'twas a token of an inexpressible Craft and Subtilty in the +_Devil_, who had now gotten the People into so full and compleat a +Management, that in short, he could have brought them, by the same Rule, +to have worship'd any thing; and in a little while more, did bring many +of them to worship himself, _plain Devil as he was_, and knowing him to +be such. + +As to the Antiquity of this horrible Defection of Mankind, tho' we do +not find the beginning of it particularly recorded, yet we are certain +it was not long after the Confusion of _Babel_; for _Nimrod_, as is +said, was no more than _Noah_'s great Grandson and _Noah_ himself, I +suppose, might be alive some Years after _Nimrod_ was born; and as +_Nimrod_ was not long dead, before they forgot that he was a Tyrant and +a Murtherer, and made a _Baal_, that is a Lord or Idol of him, I say, he +was not long dead, for _Nimrod_ was born in the Year of the World 1847, +and built _Babylon_ the Year 1879; and we find _Terah_ the Father of +_Abraham_, who liv'd from the Year 1879 was an Idolater, as was +doubtless _Bethuel_, who was _Terah_'s Grandson; for we find _Laban_, +who was _Bethuel_'s Son, was so, and all this was during the Life of the +first Post-Diluvian Family, for _Terah_ was born within one hundred +ninety three Years after the Flood, and one hundred fifty seven Years +before _Noah_ was dead; and even _Abram_ himself was eight and fifty +Years old before _Noah_ died, and yet Idolatry had been then, in all +probability, above an hundred Years practised in the World. + + N. B. It is worth Remark here, what a terrible Advantage the Devil + gain'd by the debauching poor _Noah_, and drawing him into the Sin + of Drunkenness; for by this, as I said, he silenc'd and stop'd the + Mouth of the great Preacher of Righteousness, that Father and + Patriarch of the whole World, who not being able for the Shame of + his own foul Miscarriage, to pretend to instruct or reprove the + World any more, the _Devil_ took hold of them immediately, and for + want of a Prophet to warn and admonish, ran that little of Religion + which there might be left in _Shem_ and _Japhet_, quite out of the + World, and delug'd them all in IDOLATRY. + +How long the whole World may be said to be thus overwhelm'd in Ignorance +and Idolatry, we may make some tolerable guess at by the History of +_Abraham_; for it was not till God call'd him from his Father's House, +that any such Thing as a Church was establish'd in the World; nor even +then, except in his own Family and Successors for almost four hundred +Years after that Call; and till God brought the _Israelites_ back out of +_Egypt_, the whole World may be said to be involv'd in Idolatry and +_Devil_ worship. + +So absolute a Conquest had the _Devil_ made over Mankind immediately +after the Flood, and all taking its Rise and Beginning at the fatal +Defeat of _Noah_, who had he liv'd untainted and invulnerable, as he had +done for six hundred Years before, would have gone a great way to have +stem'd the Torrent of Wickedness which broke in upon Mankind; and +therefore the _Devil_, I say, was very cunning and very much in the +Right of it, take him as he is a meer _Devil_, to attack _Noah_ +personally, and give him a Blow so soon. + +It is true, the _Devil_ did not immediately raze out the Notion of +Religion and of a GOD from the Minds of Men, nor could he easily +suppress the Principle of Worship and Homage to be paid to a Sovereign +Being, the Author of Nature and Guide of the World; the _Devil_ saw this +clearly in the first Ages of the new World, and therefore, as I have +said, he proceeded politically and by Degrees: That it was so, is +evident from the Story of _Job_ and his three Friends, who, if we may +take it for a History, not a Fable, and may judge of the Time of it by +the Length of _Job_'s Life, and by the Family of _Eliphaz_ the +_Temanite_, who it is manifest was at least Grandson or Great Grandson +to _Esau Isaac_'s eldest Son, and by the Language of _Abimilech_ King of +_Gerar_ to _Abraham_, and of _Laban_ to _Jacob_, both the Latter being +at the same Time Idolaters; I say, if we may judge of it by all these, +there were still very sound Notions of Religion in the Minds of Men; nor +could Satan with all his Cunning and Policy deface those _Ideas_, and +root them out of the Minds of the People. + +And this put him upon taking new Measures to keep up his Interest and +preserve the Hold he got upon Mankind; and his Method was like himself, +subtle and politick to the last Degree, as his whole History makes +appear; for seeing he found they could not but believe the Being of a +God, and that they would needs worship something, it is evident, he had +no Game left him to play but this, namely, to set up wrong Notions of +Worship, and bring them to a false Worship instead of a True, supposing +the Object worship'd to be still the same. + +To finish this Stratagem, he first insinuates that the true God was a +terrible, a dreadful, unapproachable Being; that to see him was so +frightful, that it would be present Death; that to worship him +immediately, was a Presumption which would provoke his Wrath; and that +as he was a _consuming Fire_ in himself, so he would burn up those in +his Anger that dar'd to offer up any Sacrifice to him, but by the +Interposition of some Medium which might receive their Adorations in his +Name. + +Hence it occur'd presently, that subordinate Gods were to be found out +and set up, to whom the People might pay the Homage due to the supreme +God, and who they might worship in his Name; this I take from the most +ancient Account of Idolatry in the World; nor indeed could the Devil +himself find out any other Reason why Men should Cannonise or rather +Deify their Princes and Men of Fame, and worship them after they were +dead, as if they could save them from Death and Calamity, who were not +able to save themselves when they were alive; much less could _Satan_ +bring Men to swallow so gross, so absurd a Thing as the bowing the Knee +to a Stock or a Stone, a Calf, an Ox, a Lion, nay the Image or Figure +of a Calf, such as the _Israelites_ made at Mount _Sinai_, and say, +_These be thy Gods, O_ Israel, _who brought thee out of the Land of_ +Egypt. + +Having thus, I say, brought them to satisfy themselves that they +worship'd the true God and no other, under the Figures and Appearances +which they made to represent him, it was easy after that to worship any +thing for the true God; and thus in a few Ages they worship'd nothing +but Idols, even throughout the whole World; nor has the _Devil_ lost +this hold in some Parts of the World, nay not in most Parts of the World +to this Day; He holds still all the Eastern Parts of _Asia_, and the +Southern Parts of _Africa_, and the Northern Parts of _Europe_, and in +them the vast Countries of _China_ and _Tartary_, _Persia_ and _India_, +_Guinea_, _Ethiopia_, _Zanquebar_, _Congo_, _Angola_, _Monomotapa_, &c. +in all which, _except Ethiopia_, we find no Vestiges of any other +worship but that of Idols, Monsters, and even the _Devil_ himself; till +after the very coming of our Saviour, and even then, if it be true that +the Gospel was preach'd in the _Indies_ and _China_ by St. _Thomas_, and +in other remote Countries by other of the Apostles; we see that whatever +Ground _Satan_ lost, he seems to have recovered it again; and all _Asia_ +and _Africa_ is at present overrun with Paganism or Mahometanism, which +I think of the two is rather the worst; Besides all _America_, a Part of +the World, as some say, equal in Bigness to all the other, in which the +_Devil_'s Kingdom was never interrupted from its first being inhabited, +_whenever it was_, to the first Discovery of it by the _European_ +Nations in the sixteenth Century. + +In a Word, the _Devil_ got what we may call an entire Victory over +Mankind, and drove the Worship of the true God, in a Manner quite out +of the World, forcing, _as it were_, his Maker in a new kind of +Creation, the old one proving thus ineffectual to recover a certain +Number by Force and meer Omnipotence to return to their Duty, serve him +and worship him; _But of that hereafter_. + + + + +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 attack'd them + immediately, and his Success in those Attacks._ + + +_Satan_ having, as I have said in the preceding Chapter, made, as it +were, a full Conquest of Mankind, debauch'd them all to Idolatry, and +brought them at least to worshiping the true God by the wretched Medium +of corrupt and idolatrous Representations; God seem'd to have no true +Servants or Worshippers left in the World, but if I may be allow'd to +speak so, was oblig'd, in order to restore the World to their Senses +again, to call a select Number out from among the rest, who he himself +undertook should own his Godhead or supreme Authority, and worship him +as he requir'd to be worship'd; this, _I say_, God was oblig'd to do, +because 'tis evident it has not been done so much by the Choice and +Council of Men, _for Satan would have over-rul'd that Part_, as by the +Power and Energy of some irresistible and invincible Operation, and this +our Divines give high Names to; but be it what they will, it is the +second Defeat or Disappointment that the _Devil_ he met with in his +Progress in the World; the first I have spoken of already. + +It is true, Satan very well understood what was threatn'd to him in the +original Promise to the Woman, immediately after the Fall, namely, _thou +shalt bruise his Head_, &c. but he did not expect it so suddenly, but +thought himself sure of Mankind, till the Fullness of Time when the +Messiah should come; and therefore it was a great Surprize to him, to +see that _Abraham_ being call'd was so immediately receiv'd and +establish'd, tho' he did not so immediately follow the Voice that +directed him, yet in him, in his Loins was all God's Church at that time +contain'd. + +In the calling _Abraham_, it is easy to see that there was no other way +for God to form a Church, that is to say, to single out a People to +himself, as the World was then stated, but by immediate Revelation and a +Voice from Heaven: All Mankind were gone over to the Enemy, overwhelmed +in Idolatry, in a Word, were engag'd to the _Devil_; God Almighty, or as +the Scripture distinguishes him, _the Lord_, the true GOD, was out of +the Question; Mankind knew little or nothing of him, much less did they +know any thing of his Worship, or that there was such a Being in the +World. + +Well might it be said the _Lord_ appeared to _Abraham_, Gen. xii. 7. for +if God had not appear'd himself, he must have sent a Messenger from +Heaven, _and perhaps it was so too_, for he had not one true Servant or +Worshiper that we know of then on Earth, to send on that Errand; no +Prophet, no Preacher of Righteousness, _Noah_ was dead, and had been so +above seventeen Year; and if he had not, his preaching, as I observed +after his great Miscarriage, had but little Effect; we are indeed told, +that _Noah_ left behind him certain Rules and Orders for the true +Worship of God, which were call'd the Precepts of _Noah_, and remain'd +in the World for a long Time; tho' how written, when neither any +Letters, much less Writing were known in the World, is a Difficulty +which Remains to be solv'd; and this makes me look upon those Laws +call'd the Precepts of _Noah_ to be a modern Invention, as I do also the +_Alphabetum Noachi_, which _Bochart_ pretends to give an Account of. + +But to leave that Fiction, and come back to _Abraham_; God call'd him, +whether at first by Voice without any Vision, whether in a Dream or +Night Vision, which was very Significant in those Days, or whether by +some awful Appearance, we know not; the second Time, 'tis indeed said +expressly GOD appeared to him; Be it which Way it will, GOD himself +call'd him, shew'd him the Land of _Canaan_, gave him the Promise of it +for his Posterity, and withal gave him such a Faith, that the _Devil_ +soon found there was no room for him to meddle with _Abraham_. This is +certain, we do not read that the _Devil_ ever so much as attempted +_Abraham_ at all; some will suggest that the Command to _Abraham_ to go +and offer up his Son _Isaac_, was a Temptation of the _Devil_, if +possible to defeat the glorious Work of GOD's calling a holy Seed into +the World; for the _first_, if _Abraham_ had disobey'd that Call, the +new Favourite had been overcome and made a Rebel of, or _secondly_, if +he had _obey'd_, then the promis'd Seed had been cut off, and _Abraham_ +defeated; but as the Text is express that GOD himself proposed it to +_Abraham_, I shall not start the Suggestions of the Criticks, in Bar of +the sacred Oracle. + +Be it one way or other, _Abraham_ shew'd a Hero-like Faith and Courage, +and if the _Devil_ had been the Author of it, he had seen himself +disappointed in both his Views; (1.) by _Abraham_'s ready and bold +Compliance, as believing it to be GOD's Command; and (2.) by the divine +Countermand of the Execution, just as the fatal Knife was lifted up. + +But if the _Devil_ left _Abraham_, and made no attack upon him, seeing +him invulnerable, he made himself amends upon the other Branch of his +Family, his poor _Nephew_ LOT; who, notwithstanding he was so +immediately under the particular Care of Heaven, as that the Angel who +was sent to destroy _Sodom_, could do nothing till he was out of it; and +who, tho' after he had left _Zoar_, and was retir'd into a Cave to +dwell, yet the subtle _Devil_ found him out, deluded his two Daughters, +took an Advantage of the Fright they had been in about _Sodom_ and +_Gomorrah_, made them believe the whole World was burnt too, as well as +those Cities, and that in short, they could never have any _Husbands_, +&c. and so in their abundant Concern to repeople the World, and that the +Race of Mankind might not be destroyed, they go and lie with their own +_Father_; the _Devil_ telling them doubtless how to do it, by +intoxicating his Head with Wine; in all which Story, whether they were +not as drunk as their Father, seems to be a Question, or else they could +not have supposed all the Men in the Earth were consum'd, when they knew +that the little City _Zoar_ had been preserv'd for their Sakes. + +This now was the third Conquest _Satan_ obtain'd by the Gust of humane +Appetite; that is to say, once by Eating and twice by Drinking, or +Drunkenness, and still the last was the worst and most shameful; for +_Lot_, however his Daughters manag'd him, could not pretend he did not +understand what the Strength of Wine was; and one would have thought +after so terrible a Judgment as that of _Sodom_ was, which was, as we +may say, executed before his Face, his Thoughts should have been too +solemnly engag'd in praising God for sparing his Life, to be made drunk, +and that two Nights together. + +But the _Devil_ play'd his Game sure, he set his two Daughters to work, +and as the _Devil_'s Instruments seldom fail, so he secur'd his by that +hellish Stratagem of deluding the Daughters, to think all the World was +consum'd but they two and their Father: To be sure the old Man could not +suspect that his Daughters Design was so wicked as indeed it was, or +that they intended to debauch him with Wine, and make him drink till he +knew not what he did. + +Now the _Devil_ having carried his Game here, gain'd a great Point; for +as there were but two religious Families in the World before, from +whence a twofold Generation might be supposed to rise religious and +righteous like their Parents, (_viz._) that of _Abraham_ and this of +_Lot_; this Crime ruin'd the Hopes of one of them; it could no more be +said that just _Lot_ was in Being, who vex'd his _righteous Soul_ from +Day to Day with the wicked Behaviour of the People of _Sodom_; righteous +_Lot_ was degenerated into drunken incestuous _Lot_, LOT fallen from +what he was, to be a wicked and unrighteous Man; no pattern of Virtue, +no Reprover of the Age, but a poor fallen Degenerate Patriarch, who +could now no more reprove or exhort, but look down and be asham'd, and +nothing to do but to repent; and see the poor mean Excuses of all the +three. + + Eve says, _The Serpent beguil'd me, and I did eat_. + + Noah says, ---- _My Grandson beguil'd me, or the Wine beguil'd me, + and I did drink_. + + Lot says, _My Daughters beguil'd me, and I also did drink_. + + +It is observable, that as I said above, _Noah_ was silenc'd, and his +Preaching at an End, after that one Action, so the like may be said of +_Lot_; and in short, you never hear one Word more of either of them +after it; as for Mankind, both were useless to them, and as to +themselves, we never read of any of their Repentance, nor have we much +Reason to believe they did repent. + +From this Attack of the _Devil_ upon _Lot_, we hear no more of the +_Devil_ being so busily employ'd as he had been before in the World; he +had indeed but little to do, for all the rest of the World was his own, +lull'd asleep under the Witchcraft of Idolatry, and are so still. + +But it could not be long that the _Devil_ lay idle; as soon as God +call'd himself a People, the _Devil_ could not be at Rest; till he +attack'd them. + + 'Wherever God sets up a House of Prayer, + 'The Devil always builds a Chapel there. + + +_Abraham_ indeed went off the Stage free, and so did _Isaac_ too, they +were a Kind of first Rate Saints; we do not so much as read of any +failing they had, or of any Thing the _Devil_ had ever the Face to offer +to them; no, or with _Jacob_ either, if you will excuse him for +beguiling his Brother _Esau_, of both his Birthright and his Blessing, +but he was busy enough with all his Children; for Example, + + * * * * * + + He sent _Judah_ to his Sheep-shearing, and placed a Whore (_Tamar_) + in his Way, in the Posture of Temptation, so made him commit + Incest and Whoredom both together. + + He sent incestuous _Reuben_ to lie with his Father's Concubine + _Billah_. + + He sent _Dinah_ to the Ball, to dance with the _Sichemite_ Ladies, + and play the Whore with their Master. + + He enrag'd _Simeon_ and _Levi_, at the supposed Injury, and then + prompted them to Revenge, for which their Father heartily cursed + them. + + He set them all together to fall upon poor _Joseph_, first to + murther him intentionally, and then actually sell him to the + _Midianites_. + + He made them shew the Party-colour'd Coat, and tell a lie to their + Father, to make the poor old Man believe _Joseph_ was kill'd by a + Lion, _&c._ + + He sent _Potiphar_'s Wife to attack _Joseph_'s Chastity, and fill'd + her with Rage at the Disappointment. + + He taught _Joseph_ to swear by the Life of _Pharoah_. + + * * * * * + +In a Word, he debauch'd the whole Race, except _Benjamin_, and never Man +had such a Set of Sons, so wicked and so notorious, after so good an +Introduction into the World as they all of them had, _to be sure_; for +_Jacob_, no doubt, gave them as good Instruction as the Circumstances of +his wandring Condition would allow him to do. + +We must now consider the _Devil_ and his Affairs in a quite differing +Situation: When the World first appeared peopled by the creating Power +of God, he had only _Adam_ and _Eve_ to take care of, and I think he +ply'd his Time with them to purpose enough: After the Deluge he had +_Noah_ only to pitch upon, and he quickly conquer'd him by the +Instigation of his _Grandson_. + +At the Building of _Babel_ he guided them by their acting all in a Body +as one Man; so that in short he manag'd them with ease, taking them as a +Body politic; and we find they came into his Snare as one Man; but Now, +the Children of _Israel_ multiplying in the Land of their Bondage, and +God seeming to shew a particular Concern for them, the _Devil_ was +oblig'd to new Measures, stand at a Distance, and look on for some Time. + +The _Egyptians_ were plagued even without his Help, nor tho' the cunning +Artist, as I said, stood and looked on, yet he durst not meddle; nor +could he make a few Lice, the least and meanest of the Armies of Insects +raised to afflict the _Egyptians_. + +However, when he perceiv'd that God resolved to bring the _Israelites_ +out, he prepar'd to attend them, to watch them, and be at Hand upon all +the wicked Occasions that might offer, as if he had been fully satisfied +such Occasions would offer, and that he should not fail to have an +Opportunity to draw them into some Snare or another, and that therefore +it was his Business not to be out of the Way, but to be ready (as we +say) to make his Market of them in the best Manner he could: How many +Ways he attempted them, nay, how many Times he conquer'd them in their +Journey, we shall see presently. + +First he put them in a fright at _Baal-Zephon_, where he thought he had +drawn them into a Noose, and where he sent _Pharoah_ and his Army to +block them up between the Mountains of _Piahiroth_ and the _Red Sea_; +but there indeed _Satan_ was outwitted by _Moses_, so far as it appeared +to be a humane Action, for he little thought of their going dry footed +_thro' the Sea_, but depended upon having them all cut in Pieces the +next Morning by the _Egyptians_; an eminent Proof, _by the Way_, that +the _Devil_ has _no Knowledge of Events_, or any Insight into Futurity; +nay that he has not so much as a second Sight, or knows to Day what his +Maker intends to do to Morrow; for had _Satan_ known that God intended +to Ford them over the Sea, if he had not been able to have prevented the +Miracle, he would certainly have prevented the Escape, by sending out +_Pharoah_ and his Army time enough to have taken the Strand before them, +and so have driven them to the Necessity of travelling on Foot round the +North Point of that Sea, by the Wilderness of _Etan_, where he would +have pursu'd and harrass'd them with his Cavalry, and in all Probability +have destroy'd them: But the blind short-sighted Devil, perfectly in the +Dark, and unacquainted with Futurity, knew nothing of the Matter, was as +much deceiv'd as _Pharoah_ himself, stood still flattering himself with +the Hopes of his Booty, and the Revenge he should take upon them the +next Morning; till he saw the frighted Waves in an Uproar, and to his +utter Astonishment and Confusion saw the Passage laid open, and _Moses_ +leading his vast Army in full March over the dry Space; nay even then +'tis very propable Satan did not know that if the _Egyptians_ follow'd +them, the Sea would return upon and overwhelm them; for I can hardly +think so hard of the _Devil_ himself, that if he had, he would have +suffer'd, much less prompted _Pharoah_ to follow the Chase at such an +Expence; so that either he must be an ignorant unforeseeing Devil, or a +very ungrateful false _Devil_ to his Friends the _Egyptians_. + +I am enclin'd also to the more charitable Opinion of Satan too, because +the Escape of the _Israelites_ was really a Triumph over himself; for +the War was certainly his, or at least he was auxiliary to _Pharoah_, +it was a Victory over _Hell_ and _Egypt_ together, and he would never +have suffer'd the Disgrace, if he had known it beforehand; that is to +say, tho' he could not have prevented the Escape of _Israel_, or the +dividing the Water, yet he might have warn'd the _Egyptians_, and +cautioned them not to venture in after them. + +But we shall see a great many weak Steps taken by the Devil in the +Affair of this very People and their forty Years Wandring in the +Wilderness; and tho' he was in some things successful, and wheedled them +into many foolish and miserable Murmurings and Wranglings against God, +and Mutinies against poor _Moses_, yet the _Devil_ was oftentimes +baulk'd and disappointed; and 'tis for this Reason that I choose to +finish the first Part of his History with the particular Relation of his +Behaviour among the _Jews_, because also, we do not find any +extraordinary Things happening any where else in the World for above one +thousand five hundred Years, no Variety, no Revolutions; all the Rest of +Mankind lay still under his Yoke, quietly submitted to his Government, +did just as he bad them, worship'd every Idol he set up, and in a Word, +he had no Difficulty with any Body but the _Jews_, and for this Reason, +I say, this Part of his Story will be the more useful and instructing. + +To return therefore to _Moses_ and his dividing the _Red Sea_; that the +People went over or thro' it, that we have the sacred History for; but +how the Devil behav'd, that you must come to me for, or I know not where +you will find a true Account of it, at least not in Print. + +1. It was in the Night they march'd thro', whether the _Devil_ saw it in +the Dark or no, that's not my Business. + +But when he had Day-Light for it, and view'd the next Day's Work, I make +no Question but _all Hell felt the Surprise_, the Prey being thus +snatch'd out of their Hands unexpectedly. 'Tis true the _Egyptians_ Host +was sent to him in their Room, but that was not what he aim'd at; for he +was sure enough of them his own Way, and if it was not _just at that +Time_, yet he knew what and who they were; but as he had devour'd the +whole _Israelitish_ Host in his Imagination, to the Tune of at least a +Million and a half of Souls; Men, Women and Children; it was, no doubt, +a great Disappointment to the Devil to miss of his Prey, and to see them +all triumphing on the other Side in Safety. + +It is true, _Satan_'s Annals do not mention this Defeat, for Historians +are generally backward to register their own Misfortunes; but as we have +an Account of the Fact from other Hands, so as we cannot question the +Truth of it; the Nature of the Thing will tell us it was a +Disappointment to the _Devil_, and a very great one too. + +I cannot but observe here, that I think this Part of the _Devil_'s Story +very entertaining, because of the great Variety of Incidents which +appear in every Part of it; sometimes he is like a hunted Fox, +curvetting and counter-running to avoid his being pursued and found out, +while at the same time he is carrying on his secret Designs to draw the +People he pretends to manage, into some Snare or other to their Hurt; at +another time, tho' the Comparison is a little too low for his Dignity, +like a Monkey that has done Mischief, and who making his own Escape sits +and chatters at a Distance, as if he had triump'd in what he had done; +so Satan, when he had drawn them in to worship a Calf, to offer strange +Fire, to set up a Schism, and the like; and so to bring the Divine +Vengeance upon themselves, leaving them in their Distress, kept at a +Distance, as if he look'd on with Satisfaction to see them Burnt, +swallow'd up, swept away, and the like; as the several Stories relate. + +His indefatigable Vigilance is, on the other hand, a useful Caveat, as +well as an improving View to us; no sooner is he routed and expos'd, +defeated and disappointed in one Enterprize, but he begins another, and, +like a cunning Gladiator, warily defends himself, and boldly attacks his +Enemy at the same time. Thus we see him, up and down, conquering and +conquered, thro' this whole Part of his Story, till at last he receives +a total Defeat; of which you shall hear in its place: In the mean time, +let us take up his Story again at the _Red Sea_, where he receiv'd a +great Blow, instead of which he expected a compleat Victory; for +doubtless the Devil and the King of _Ægypt_ too, thought of nothing but +Conquest at _Piahiroth_. + +However, tho' the Triumph of the _Israelites_ over the _Egyptians_ must +needs be a great Mortification to the _Devil_, and exasperated him very +much, yet the Consequence was only this, _viz._ that _Satan_, like an +Enemy who is baulk'd and defeated, but not overcome, redoubles his Rage, +and reinforces his Army, and what the _Egyptians_ could not do for him, +he resolves to do for himself; in order then to take his Opportunity for +what Mischief might offer, being defeated, and provok'd, I say, at the +Slur that was put upon him, he resolves to follow them into the +Wilderness, and many a vile Prank he plaid them there; as first, he +straitens them for Water, and makes them murmur against GOD, and against +_Moses_, within a very few Days, nay, Hours, of their great Deliverance +of all. + +Nor was this all, but in less than one Year more we find them, (at his +Instigation too) setting up a _golden Calf_, and making all the People +dance about it at Mount _Sinai_; even when God himself had but just +before appear'd to them in the Terrors of a burning Fire upon the Top of +the Mountain; _and what was the Pretence?_ Truly, nothing but that they +had lost _Moses_, who used to be their Guide, and he had hid himself in +the Mount, and had not been seen in forty Days, so that they could not +tell what was become of him. This put them all into Confusion; a poor +Pretence indeed, to turn them all back to Idolatry! but the _watchful +Devil_ took the Hint, push'd the Advantage, and insinuated that they +should never see _Moses_ again, that he was certainly devour'd by +venturing too near the Flashes of Fire in the Mount, and presuming upon +the Liberty he had taken before; in a word, that God had destroyed +_Moses_, or he was starved to Death for want of Food, having been forty +Days and forty Nights absent. + +All these were, it's true, in themselves most foolish Suggestions, +considering _Moses_ was admitted to the Vision of God, and that God had +been pleased to appear to him in the most intimate manner; that as they +might depend God would not destroy his faithful Servant, so they might +have concluded he was able to support his Being without Food as long as +he thought fit; but to a People so easy to believe any thing, what could +be too gross for the _Devil_ to persuade them to? + +A People who could dance round a Calf, and call it their God, might do +any thing; that could say to one another, that this was the Great +JEHOVAH, _that brought them out of the Land of Egypt_; and that within +so few Days after God's miraculous Appearance to them, and for them; I +say, such a People were really fitted to be imposed upon, nothing could +be too gross for them. + +This was indeed his first considerable Experiment upon them as _a +People_, or as _a Body_; and the Truth is, his Affairs requir'd it, for +_Satan_, who had been a Successful Devil in most of his Attempts upon +Mankind, could hardly doubt of Success in any thing after he had carried +his Point at Mount _Sinai_: To bring them to Idolatry in the very Face +of their Deliverer, and just after their Deliverance! It was more +astonishing in the main than even their passing _the Red Sea_: In a +Word, the _Devil_'s whole History does not furnish us with a Story +equally surprising. + +And how was poor _Aaron_ bewilder'd in it too? He that was _Moses_'s +Partner in all the great Things that _Moses_ did in _Pharaoh_'s Sight, +and that was appointed to be his Assistant and Oracle, _or Orator +rather_, upon all public Occasions; that he, above all the rest, should +come into this absurd and ridiculous Proposal, he that was singled out +for the sacred Priesthood, for him to defile his holy Hands with a +polluted abominable Sacrifice, and with making the Idol for them too, +(for 'tis plain that he made it,) how monstrous it was! + +And see what an Answer he gives to his Brother _Moses_, how weak! how +simple! _I did so and so, indeed_, I bad them bring the Ear-rings, _&c._ +and I cast the Gold into the Fire, and _it came out this Calf_. +Ridiculous! as if the Calf came out by meer fortuitous Adventure, +without a Mould to cast it in; which could not be supposed: And if it +had not come out so without a Mould, _Moses_ would certainly have known +of it; had _Aaron_ been innocent, he would have answered after quite +another manner, and told _Moses_ honestly that the whole Body of the +People came to him in a Fright, that they forced him to make them an +Idol; which he did, by making first a proper Mould to cast it in, and +then taking the proper Metal to cast it from: That indeed he had sinn'd +in so doing, but that he was mobb'd into it, and the People terrified +him, perhaps they threatned to kill him; and if he had added, that the +_Devil_ prompting his Fear beguil'd him, he had said nothing but what +was certainly true; for if it was in Satan's Power to make the People +insolent and outrageous enough to threaten and bully the old venerable +Prophet (_for he was not yet a Priest_) who was the Brother of their +Oracle _Moses_, and had been Partner with him in so many of his +Commissions; I say, if he cou'd bring up the Passions of the People to a +Height to be rude and unmannerly to him (_Aaron_) and perhaps to +threaten and insult him, he may be easily suppos'd to be able to +intimidate _Aaron_, and terrify him into a Compliance. + +See this cunning Agent, when he has Man's Destruction in his View, how +securely he acts! he never wants a handle; the best of Men have one weak +place or other, and he always finds it out, takes the Advantage of it, +and conquers them by one Artifice or another; only take it with you as +you go, 'tis always _by Stratagem_, never _by Force_; a Proof that he is +not empower'd to use Violence: He may tempt, and he does prevail; but +'tis all _Legerdemain_, 'tis all Craft and Artifice, he is still Diabolè, +the _Calumniator_ and Deceiver, that is, the Misrepresenter; he +misrepresents _Man_ to GOD, and misrepresents GOD to _Man_, also he +misrepresents Things; he puts false Colours, and then manages the Eye to +see them with an imperfect View, raising Clouds and Fogs to intercept +our Sight; in short, he deceives all our Senses, and imposes upon us in +Things which otherwise would be the easiest to discern and judge of. + +This indeed is in part the Benefit of the _Devil_'s History, to let us +see that he has used the same Method all along; and that ever since he +has had any thing to do with Mankind, he has practis'd upon them with +Stratagem and Cunning; also 'tis observable that he has carried his +Point better that way than he would have done by Fury and Violence, if +he had been allowed to make use of it; for by his Power indeed he might +have laid the World desolate, and made a Heap of Rubbish of it long ago; +but, as I have observed before, that would not have answered his Ends +half so well, for by destroying Men he would have made Martyrs, and sent +abundance of good Men to Heaven, who would much rather have died, than +yielded to serve him, and, as he aimed to have it, to fall down and +worship him; I say, he would have made Martyrs, and that not a few: But +this was none of _Satan_'s Business; his Design lies quite another Way; +his Business is to make Men _sin_, not to make them _suffer_; to make +_Devils_ of them, not _Saints_; to delude them, and draw them away from +their Maker, not send them away to him; and therefore he works by +Stratagem, not by Force. + +We are now come to his Story, as it relates to the _Jewish_ Church in +the Wilderness, and to the Children of _Israel_ in their travelling +Circumstances; and this was the first Scene of publick Management that +the Devil had upon his Hands in the World; for, as I have said, _till +now_, he dealt with Mankind either in their separate Condition, one by +one, or else carried all before him, engrossing whole Nations in his +Systems of Idolatry, and overwhelming them in an ignorant Destruction. + +But having now a whole People as it were snatch'd away from him, taken +out of his Government, and, which was still worse, having a View of a +Kingdom being set up independent of him, and superior to his Authority, +it is not to be wondred at if he endeavour'd to overthrow them in the +Infancy of their Constitution, and tried all possible Arts to bring them +back into his own Hands again. + +He found them not only carried away from the Country where they were +even in his Clutches, surrounded with Idols, and where we have Reason to +believe the greatest part of them were polluted with the Idolatry of the +_Egyptians_; for we do not read of any stated Worship which they had of +their own, or if they did worship the true God, we scarce know in what +manner they did it; they had no Law given them, nothing but the Covenant +of Circumcision, and even _Moses_ himself had not strictly observ'd +that, till he was frighted into it; we read of no Sacrifices among them, +no Feasts were ordain'd, no solemn Worship appointed, and how, or in +what manner they perform'd their Homage, we know not; the Passover was +not ordain'd till just at their coming away; so that there was not much +Religion among them, at least that we have any Account of; and we may +suppose the _Devil_ was pretty easy with them all the while they were in +the House of their Bondage. + +But now, to have a Million of People fetch'd out of his Hands, as it +were all at once, and to have the immediate Power of Heaven engaged in +it, and that _Satan_ saw evidently God had singled them out in a +miraculous manner to favour them, and call them _his own_; this allarm'd +him at once, and therefore he resolves to follow them, lay close Siege +to them, and take all the Measures possible to bring them to rebel +against, and disobey GOD, that he might be provok'd to destroy them; and +how near he went to bring it to pass, we shall see presently. + +This making a Calf, and paying an idolatrous Worship to it (for they +acted the Heathens and Idolaters, not in the setting up the Calf only, +but in the manner of their Worshiping, _viz._ _Dancing_ and _Musick_, +Things they had not been acquainted with in the Worship of the true God) +I mention here, to observe how the Devil not only imposed upon their +Principles, but upon their Senses too; as if the awful Majesty of +Heaven, whose Glory they had seen in Mount _Sinai_, where they stood, +and whose Pillar of Cloud and Fire was their Guide and Protection, would +be worship'd by dancing round a Calf! and that not a living Creature, or +a real Calf, but the mere Image of a _Calf_ cast in Gold, or, as some +think, in Brass gilded over. + +But this was the _Devil_'s Way with Mankind, namely, to impose upon +their Senses, and bring them into the grossest Follies and Absurdities; +and then, having first made them Fools, it was much the easier to make +them Offenders. + +In this very manner he acted with them thro' all the Course of their +Wilderness Travels; for as they were led by the Hand like Children, +defended by Omnipotence, fed by Miracles, instructed immediately from +Heaven, and in all things had _Moses_ for their Guide; they had no room +to miscarry, but by acting the greatest Absurdities, and committing the +greatest Follies in Nature; and even these, the _Devil_ brought them to +be guilty of, in a surprising manner: 1. As GOD himself reliev'd them in +every Exigence, and supply'd them in every Want, one would think 'twas +impossible they should be ever brought to question either his +Willingness or his Ability, and yet they really objected against both; +which was indeed very provoking, and I doubt not, that when the _Devil_ +had brought them to act in such a preposterous Manner, he really hoped +and believed God would be provok'd effectually: The Testimonies of his +Care of them, and Ability to supply them, were miraculous and +undeniable; he gave them Water from the Rock, Bread from the Air, sent +the Fowls to feed them with Flesh, and supported them all the Way by +Miracles; their Health was preserv'd, none were sick among them, their +clothes did not wear out, nor their Shoes grow old upon their Feet; +could any thing be more absurd, than to doubt whether he could provide +for them who had never let them want for so many Years? + +But the _Devil_ managed them in spight of Miracles; nor did he ever give +them over till he had brought six hundred thousand of them to provoke +God so highly that he would not suffer above two of them to go into the +Land of Promise; so that in short, Satan gained his Point as to that +Generation, for all their Carcasses fell in the Wilderness. Let us take +but a short View to what a Height he brought 'em, and in what a rude, +absurd Manner they acted; how he set them upon murmuring upon every +Occasion, now for Water, then for Bread; nay, they murmured _at their +Bread_ when they had it; _Our Soul loaths this light Bread._ + +He sow'd the Seeds of Church-Rebellion in the Sons of _Aaron_, and made +_Nadab_ and _Abihu_ offer strange Fire till they were strangely consumed +by Fire for the doing it. + +He set them a complaining at _Taberah_, and a lusting for Flesh at the +first three Days Journey from Mount _Sinai_. + +He planted Envy in the Hearts of _Miriam_ and _Aaron_, against the +Authority of _Moses_, to pretend GOD had spoke by them as well as by +him, till he humbled the Father, and made a Leper of the Daughter. + +He debauch'd ten of the Spies, frighted them with sham Appearances of +Things, when they went out to search the Land; and made them fright the +whole People out of their Understanding as well as Duty, for which six +hundred thousand of their Carcasses fell in the Wilderness. + +He rais'd the Rebellion of _Korah_, and the two hundred and fifty +Princes, till he brought them to be swallowed up alive. + +He put _Moses_ into a Passion at _Meribah_, and ruffled the Temper of +the meekest Man upon Earth, by which he made both him and _Aaron_ +forfeit their Share of the Promise, and be shut out from the _Holy +Land_. + +He rais'd a Mutiny among them when they travelled from Mount _Hor_, till +they brought fiery Serpents among them to destroy them. + +He tried to make _Baalim_ the Prophet curse them, but there the _Devil_ +was disappointed: However, he brought the _Midianites_ to debauch them +with Women, as in the Case of _Zimri_ and _Cosbi_. + +He tempted _Achan_ with the Wedge of Gold, and the _Babylonish_ Garment, +that he might take of the accursed thing, and be destroy'd. + +He tempted the whole People, not effectually to drive out the cursed +Inhabitants of the Land of Promise, that they might remain, and be Goads +in their Sides, till at last they often oppress'd them for their +Idolatry; and, which was worse, debauched them to Idolatry. + +He prompted the _Benjamites_ to refuse Satisfaction to the People, in +the Case of the Wickedness of the Men of _Gibeah_, to the Destruction of +the whole Tribe, four hundred Men excepted in the Rock _Rimmon_. + +At last he tempted them to reject the Theocracy of their Maker, and call +upon _Samuel_ to make them a King; and most of those Kings he made +Plagues and Sorrows to them in their time, as you shall hear in their +Order. + +Thus he plagued the whole Body of the People continually, making them +sin against God, and bring Judgments upon themselves, to the consuming +some Millions of them, first and last, by the Vengeance of their Maker. + +As he did with the whole Congregation, so he did with their Rulers, and +several of the Judges, who were made Instruments to deliver the People, +yet were drawn into snares by this _subtil Serpent_, to ruin themselves +or the People they had delivered. + +He tempted _Gideon_ to make an _Ephod_, contrary to the Law of the +Tabernacle, and made the Children of _Israel_ go a whoring (that is, a +worshiping) after it. + +He tempted _Sampson_ to debauch himself with a Harlot, and betray his +own happy Secret to a Whore, at the Expence of both his Eyes, and at +last of his Life. + +He tempted _Eli_'s Sons to lie with the Women, in the very Doors of the +Tabernacle, when they came to bring their Offerings to the Priest; and +he tempted poor _Eli_ to connive at them, or not sufficiently reprove +them. + +He tempted the People to carry the Ark of God into the Camp, that it +might fall into the Hands of the _Philistines_. And + +He tempted _Uzzi_ to reach out his Hand to hold it up; as if he that had +preserved it in the House of _Dagon_ the Idol of the _Philistines_, +could not keep it from falling out of the Cart. + +When the People had gotten a King, he immediately set to work in diverse +Ways to bring that King to load them with Plagues and Calamities not a +few. + +He tempted _Saul_ to spare the King of _Amaliek_, contrary to God's +express Command. + +He not tempted _Saul_ only, but possessed him with an evil Spirit, by +which he was left to wayward Dispositions, and was forced to have it +fiddl'd out of him with a Minstrel. + +He tempted _Saul_ with a Spirit of Discontent, and with a Spirit of Envy +at poor _David_, to hunt him like a Partridge upon the Mountains. + +He tempted _Saul_ with a Spirit of Divination, and sent him to a Witch +to enquire of _Samuel_ for him; as if God would help him when he was +dead, that had forsaken him when he was alive. + +After that, he tempted him to kill himself, on a Pretence that he might +not fall into the Hands of the Uncircumcised; as if _Self-Murther_ was +not half so bad, either for Sin against God, or Disgrace among Men, as +being taken Prisoner by _a Philistine_! A Piece of Madness none but the +_Devil_ could have brought Mankind to submit to, tho' some Ages after +that, he made it a Fashion among the _Romans_. + +After _Saul_ was dead, and _David_ came to the Throne, by how much he +was a Man chosen and particularly savoured by Heaven, the _Devil_ fell +upon him with the more Vigour, attack'd him so many Ways, and conquer'd +him so very often, that as no Man was so good a King, so hardly any good +King was ever a worse Man; in many Cases one would have almost thought +the _Devil_ had made Sport with _David_, to shew how easily he could +overthrow the best Man _God_ could choose of the whole Congregation. + +He made him distrust his Benefactor so much as to feign himself mad +before the King of _Gath_, when he had fled to him for Shelter. + +He made him march with his four hundred Cut-throats, to cut off poor +_Nabal_, and all his Houshold, only because he would not send him the +good Chear he had provided for his honest Sheep-shearers. + +He made him, for his Word's sake, give _Ziba_ half his Master's Estate +for his Treachery, after he knew he had been the Traitor, and betray'd +poor _Mephibosheth_ for the sake of it; in which + + 'The good old King, it seems, was very loth + 'To break his Word, and therefore broke his Oath. + + +Then he tempted him to the ridiculous Project of numbring the People, +tho' against God's express Command; a Thing _Joab_ himself was not +wicked enough to do, till _David_ and the _Devil_ forc'd him to it. + +And to make him compleatly wicked, he carried him to the Top of his +House, and shew'd him a naked Lady bathing her self in her Garden, in +which it appear'd that the _Devil_ knew _David_ too well, and what was +the particular Sin of his Inclination; and so took him by the Right +Handle; drawing him at once into the Sins of _Murther_ and _Adultery_. + +Then, that he might not quite give him over, (tho' _David_'s Repentance +for the last Sin kept the _Devil_ off for a while) when he could attack +him no farther personally he fell upon him in his Family, and made him +as miserable as he could desire him to be, in his Children, three of +whom he brought to Destruction before his Face, and another after his +Death. + +First, he tempted _Ammon_ to ravish his Sister _Tamar_; so, there was an +End of her (_poor Girl!_) as to this World, for we never hear any more +of her. + +Then he tempted _Absalom_ to murther his Brother _Amnon_, in Revenge for +_Tamar_'s Maidenhead. + +Then he made _Joab_ run _Absalom_ thro' the Body, contrary to _David_'s +Command. + +And after _David_'s Death he brought _Adonija_ (weak Man!) to the Block, +for usurping King _Solomon_'s Throne. + +As to _Absalom_, he tempted him to Rebellion, and raising War against +his Father, to the turning him shamefully out of _Jerusalem_, and almost +out of the Kingdom. + +He tempted him, for _David_'s farther Mortification, to lie with his +Father's Wives, in the Face of the whole City; and had _Achitophel_'s +honest Council been follow'd, he had certainly sent him to Sleep with +his Fathers, long before his time--But there _Satan_ and _Achitophel_ +were both out-witted together. + +Thro' all the Reigns of the several Successors of _David_, the _Devil_ +took care to carry on his own Game, to the continual insulting the +Measures which God himself had taken for the establishing his People in +the World, and especially as a Church; till at last he so effectually +debauch'd them to Idolatry; that Crime which of all others was most +provoking to GOD, as it was carrying the People away from their +Allegiance, and transposing the Homage they ow'd God their Maker, to a +contemptible Block of Wood, or an Image of a brute Beast; and this how +sordid and brutish soever it was in it self, yet so did his Artifice +prevail among them, that, first or last, he brought them all into it, +the ten Tribes as well as the two Tribes; till at last God himself was +provoked to unchurch them, gave them up to their Enemies, and the few +that were left of them, after incredible Slaughters and Desolation, +were hurried away, some into _Tartary_, and others into _Babylon_, from +whence very few, of that few that were carried away, ever found their +Way Home again; and some, when they might have come, would not accept of +it, but continued there to the very coming of the Messiah. See Epistles +of St. _James_ and of St. _Peter_, at the Beginning. + +But to look a little back upon this Part (for it cannot be omitted, it +makes so considerable a Part of the _Devil_'s History) I mean his +drawing God's People, Kings and all, into all the Sins and Mischiefs +which gradually contributed to their Destruction. + +First, (_for he began immediately with the very best and wisest of the +Race_) he drew in King _Solomon_, in the midst of all his Zeal for the +building God's House, and for the making the most glorious and +magnificent Appearance for God's Worship that ever the World saw; I say, +in the middle of all this, he drew him into such immoderate and +insatiable an Appetite for Women, as to set up the first, and perhaps +the greatest _Seraglio_ of Whores that ever any Prince in the World had, +or pretended to before; nay, and to bring whoring so much into +Reputation, that, as the Text says, seven hundred of them were +Princesses; that is to say, Ladies of Quality: Not as the Grand +Seigniors, and Great Moguls, (other Princes of the Eastern World) have +since practised, namely, to pick up their most beautiful Slaves; but +these, it seems, were Women of Rank, King's Daughters, as _Pharaoh_'s +Daughter, and the Daughters of the Princes and prime Men among the +_Moabites_, _Ammonites_, _Zidonians_, _Hittites_, &c. 1 _Kings_ xi. 1. + +Nor was this all; but as he drew him into the Love of these forbidden +Women (_for such they were, as to their Nation, as well as Number_) so +he ensnar'd him by those Women to a Familiarity with their Worship; and +by degrees brought that famous Prince (famous for his Wisdom) to be the +greatest and most-impos'd-upon old Fool in the World; Bowing down to +those Idols by the Inticing of his Whores, whom he had abhorr'd and +detested in his Youth, as dishonouring that God for whom, and for whose +Worship he had finish'd and dedicated the most magnificent Building and +Temple in the World: Nothing but the invincible Subtlety of this _Arch +Devil_ could ever have brought such a Man as _Solomon_ to such a +Degeneracy of Manners, and to such Meannesses; no, not the _Devil_ +himself, without the Assistance of his Whores, nor the Whores +themselves, without the _Devil_ to help them. + +As to _Solomon_, _Satan_ had made Conquest enough there, we need hear no +more of him; the next Advance he made, was in the Person of his Son +_Rehoboam_; had not the _Devil_ prompted his Pride and tyrannical +Humour, he would never have given the People such an Answer as he did; +and when he saw a Fellow at the Head of them too whom he knew wanted and +waited for an Occasion to raise a Rebellion, and had ripened up the +People's Humour to the Occasion: Well might the Text call it _listening +to the Council of the young Heads_; that it was indeed with a Vengeance! +but those young Heads too were acted by an old _Devil_, who for his +Craft is called, as I have observ'd, the _Old Serpent_. + +Having thus pav'd the Way, _Jeroboam_ revolts. So far God had directed +him; for the Text says expressly, speaking in the first Person of GOD +himself, _This Thing is of Me_. + +But tho' God might appoint _Jeroboam_ to be King, (that is to say, of +ten Tribes,) yet GOD did not appoint him to set up the _two Calves_ in +the two extreme Parts of the Land, _viz._ in _Dan_, and in _Bethel_; +that was _Jeroboam_'s own doing, and done on purpose to keep the People +from falling back to _Rehoboam_, by being obliged to go to _Jerusalem_ +to the publick Worship: And the Text adds, _Jeroboam made Israel to +sin_. This was indeed a Master-piece of the _Devil_'s Policy, and it was +effectual to answer the End, nothing could have been more to the +Purpose; what Reason he had to expect the People would so universally +come into it, and be so well satisfied with a couple of Calves, instead +of the true Worship of GOD at _Jerusalem_; or what Arts and Management +he (_Satan_) made use of afterwards, to bring the People in, to join +with such a Delusion, that we find but little of in all the Annals of +_Satan_; not is it much to the Case: 'Tis certain the _Devil_ found a +strange kind of Propensity to worshiping Idols rooted in the Temper of +that whole People, even from their first breaking away from the +_Egyptian_ Bondage; so that he had nothing to do but to work upon the +old Stock, and propagate the Crime that he found was so natural to them. +And this is _Satan_'s general Way of working, not with them only, but +with us also, and with all the World, even then, and ever since. + +When he had thus secur'd _Jeroboam_'s Revolt, we need not trace him +among his Successors; for the same Reason of State that held for the +setting up the Calves at _Bethel_ and _Dan_, held good for the keeping +them up, to all _Jeroboam_'s Posterity; nor had they one good King ever +after; even _Jehu_, who call'd his Friends to come and see his _Zeal for +the Lord_, and who fulfill'd the Threatnings of God upon _Ahab_ and his +Family, and upon Queen _Jezabel_ and her Offspring, and knew all the +while that he was executing the Judgment of the true God upon an +idolatrous Race; yet he would not part with his Calves, but would have +thought it to have been parting with his Kingdom, and that as the People +would have gone up to _Jerusalem_ to worship, so they would at the same +Time have transfer'd their civil Obedience to the King of _Judah_, +(whose Right it really was, as far as they could claim by Birth and +right Line); so that by the way, _Satan_ any more than other +Politicians, is not for the _jus divinum_ of lineal Succession, or what +we call hereditary Right, any farther than serves for his Purpose. + +Thus Satan ridded his Hands of ten of the twelve Tribes; let us now see +how he went on with the rest, for his Work was now brought into a +narrower Compass; the Church of God was now reduc'd to two Tribes, +except a few religious People, who separated from the Schism of +_Jeroboam_, and came and planted themselves among the Tribes of _Judah_ +and _Benjamin_: The first thing the Devil did after this, was to foment +a War between the two Kings, while _Judah_ was governed by a Boy or +Youth, _Abija_ by Name, and he none of the best neither; but God's Time +was not come, and the Devil receiv'd a great Disappointment; when +_Jeroboam_ was so entirely overthrown; that if the Records of those Ages +do not mistake, no less than 500000 Men of _Israel_ were kill'd, such a +Slaughter, that one would think the Army of _Judah_, had they known how +to improve as well as gain a Victory, might have brought all the rest +back again, and have intirely reduc'd the House of _Jeroboam_ and the +ten Tribes that follow'd him to their Obedience; nay they did take a +great deal of the Country from them, and among the rest _Bethel_ it +self; and yet so cunningly did _Satan_ manage, that the King of _Judah_, +who was himself a wicked King, and perhaps an Idolater in his Heart, did +not take down the golden Calf that _Jeroboam_ had there, no nor destroy +the Idolatry it self, so that in short, his Victory signified nothing. + +From hence to the Captivity, we find the _Devil_ busy with the Kings of +_Judah_, especially the best of them; as for such as _Manasseth_, and +those who transgress'd by the general Tenor of their Lives, those he had +no great trouble with. + +But such as _Asa_, _Jehoshaphat_, _Hezekiah_, and _Josiah_, he hung +about them and their Courts, till he brought every one of them into some +Mischief or another. + +As first, good King _Asa_, of whom the Scripture says, his Heart was +perfect all his Days, yet this subtle Spirit, that could break in upon +him no where else, tempted him when the King of _Israel_ came out +against him, to send to hire _Benhadad_ the King of _Syria_ to help him; +as if GOD who had before enabled him to conquer the _Ethiopians_, with +an Army of ten hundred thousand Men, could not have saved him from the +King of the ten Tribes. + +In the same manner he tempted _Jehoshaphat_ to join with that wicked +King _Ahab_ against the King of _Syria_, and also to marry his Son to +_Ahab_'s Daughter, which was fatal to _Jehoshaphat_, and to his +Posterity. + +_Again_, He tempted _Hezekiah_ to shew all his Riches to the King of +_Babylon_'s Messengers; and who can doubt, but that he (_Satan_) is to +be understood by the wicked Spirit which stood before the Lord, 2 +_Chron._ xviii. 20. and offered his Service to entice _Ahab_ the King of +_Israel_ to come out to Battle to his Ruin, by being a lying Spirit in +the Mouths of all his Prophets; and who for that Time had a special +Commission, as he had another Time in the Case of _Job_? and indeed it +was a Commission fit for no body but the _Devil_: _Thou shalt entice_ +him, _and thou shalt_ also _prevail: Go out and do_ even _so_, ver. 21. + +Even good _Josiah_ himself, of whom it is recorded, that _like him there +was no King before him_, _neither after him arose there any like him_, 2 +Kings xxiii. 26. yet the _Devil_ never left him with his Machinations, +till finding he could not tempt him to any Thing wicked in his +Government, he tempted or mov'd him to a needless War with the King of +_Egypt_, in which he lost his Life. + +From the Death of this good King, the _Devil_ prevail'd so with the +whole Nation of the _Jews_, and brought them to such an incorrigible +Pitch of Wickedness, that _God_ gave them up, forsook his Habitation of +Glory, the Temple, which he suffer'd to be spoil'd first, then burnt and +demolish'd; destroying the whole Nation of the _Jews_, except a small +Number that were left, and those the Enemy carried away into Captivity. + +Nor was he satisfied with this general Destruction of the whole People +of _Israel_, for the ten Tribes were gone before; but he follow'd them +even into their Captivity; those that fled away to _Egypt_, which they +tell us were seventy thousand, he first corrupted, and then they were +destroyed there upon the Overthrow of _Egypt_, by the same King of +_Babylon_. + +Also he went very near to have them rooted out, young and old, Man, +Woman and Child, who were in Captivity in _Babylon_, by the Ministry of +that true Agent of Hell, _Haman_ the _Agagite_; but there _Satan_ met +with a Disappointment too, as in the Story of _Hester_, which was but +the fourth that he had met with, in all his Management since the +Creation; I say, there he was disappointed, and his prime Minister +_Haman_ was exalted, as he deserv'd. + +Having thus far traced the Government and Dominion of the _Devil_, from +the Creation of Man to the Captivity; I think I may call upon him to set +up his Standard of universal Empire, at that Period; it seem'd just then +as if God had really forsaken the Earth, and given the entire Dominion +of Mankind up to his outrageous Enemy the _Devil_; for excepting the few +_Israelites_ which were left in the Territories of the King of +_Babylon_, and they were but a few; I say, except among them, there was +not one Corner of the World left where the true God was call'd upon, or +his Dominion so much as acknowledg'd; all the World was buried in +Idolatry, and that of so many horrid Kinds, that one would think, the +Light of Reason should have convinc'd Mankind, that he who exacted such +bloody Sacrifices as that of _Moloch_, and such a bloody cutting +themselves with Knives, as the Priests of _Baal_ did, could not be a +GOD, a good and beneficent Being, but must be a cruel, voracious and +devouring Devil, whose End was not the Good, but the Destruction of his +Creatures: But to such a Height was the blind demented World arriv'd to +at that Time, that in these sordid and corrupt Ways, they went on +worshiping dumb Idols, and offering human Sacrifices to them, and in a +Word, committing all the most horrid and absurd Abominations that they +were capable of, or that the _Devil_ could prompt them to, till Heaven +was again put, as it were, to the Necessity of bringing about a +Revolution, in favour of his own forsaken People, by Miracle and +Surprize, as he had done before. + +We come therefore to the Restoration or Return of the Captivity: Had +_Satan_ been able to have acted any thing by Force, _as I have observ'd +before_, all the Princes and Powers of the World, having been, as they +really were, at his Devotion, he might easily have made use of them, +arm'd all the World against the _Jews_, and prevented the Rebuilding the +Temple, and even the Return of the Captivity. + +But now the _Devil_'s Power manifestly received a Check, and the Hand of +God appear'd in it, and that he was resolv'd to reestablish his People +the _Jews_, and to have a second Temple built: the _Devil_, who knew the +Extent of his own Power too well, and what Limitations were laid upon +him, stood still as it were looking on, and not daring to oppose the +Return of the Captivity, which he very well knew had been prophesied, +and would come to pass. + +He did indeed make some little Opposition to the Building, and to the +fortifying the City, but as it was to no Purpose, so he was soon oblig'd +to give it over; and thus the Captivity being return'd, and the Temple +rebuilt, the People of the _Jews_ encreased and multiplied to an infinite +Number and Strength; and from this Time we may say, the Power of the +_Devil_ rather declin'd and decreas'd, than went on with Success, as it +had done before; It is true the _Jews_ fell into Sects and Errors, and +Divisions of many Kinds, after the Return from the Captivity, and no +doubt the _Devil_ had a great Hand in those Divisions; but he could +never bring them back to Idolatry, and his not being able to do that, +made him turn his Hand so many Ways to plague and oppress them; as +particularly by _Antiochus_ the Great, who brought the Abomination of +Desolation into the holy Place; and there the Devil triumph'd over them +for some Time; but they were deliver'd many Ways, till at last they came +peaceably under the Protection rather than the Dominion of the _Roman_ +Empire: When _Herod_ the Great govern'd them as a King, and reedified, +nay almost rebuilt their Temple, with so great an Expence and +Magnificence, that he made it, as some say, greater and more glorious +than that of _Solomon_'s, tho' that I take to be a great ---- Fable, to +say no worse of it. + +In this Condition the _Jewish_ Church stood, when the Fullness of Time, +as 'tis call'd in Scripture, was come; and the _Devil_ was kept at Bay, +tho' he had made some Encroachments upon them as above; for there was a +glorious Remnant of Saints among _them_, such as old _Zacharias_ the +Father of _John_ the Baptist, and old _Simeon_, who waited for the +Salvation of _Israel_; I say, in this Condition the _Jewish_ Church +stood when the _Messiah_ came into the World, which was such another +mortal Stab to the Thrones and Principalities infernal, as that of which +I have spoken already in Chap. III. at the Creation of Man; and +therefore with this I break off the Antiquities of the _Devil_'s +History, or the antient Part of his Kingdom; for from hence downward we +shall find his Empire has declin'd gradually; and tho' by his wonderful +Address, his prodigious Application, and the Vigilance and Fidelity of +his Instruments, as well human as infernal and diabolical, and of the +Human as well the Ecclesiastick as the Secular; he has many Times +retriev'd what he has lost, and sometimes bid fair for recovering the +universal Empire he once possess'd over Mankind; yet he has been still +defeated again, repulst and beaten back, and his Kingdom has greatly +declin'd in many Parts of the World; and especially in the Northern +Parts, except _Great Britain_; and how he has politically maintain'd his +Interest and encreased his Dominion among the wise and righteous +Generation that we cohabit with and among, will be the Subject of the +_modern_ Part of _Satan_'s _History_, and of which we are next to give +an Account. + + + + + PART II. + OF THE + MODERN HISTORY + OF THE + DEVIL. + + +CHAP. I. + + +I have examined the Antiquities of Satan's History in the former Part of +this Work, and brought his Affairs down from the Creation, as far as to +our blessed Christian Times; especially to the Coming of the _Messiah_, +when one would think the _Devil_ could have nothing to do among us. I +have indeed but touch'd at some Things which might have admitted of a +farther Description of Satan's Affairs, and the Particulars of which we +may all come to a farther Knowledge of hereafter; yet I think I have +spoken to the material Part of his Conduct, as it relates to his Empire +in this World: What has happen'd to his more sublimated Government, and +his Angelic Capacities, I shall have an Occasion to touch at in several +solid Particulars as we go along. + +The _Messiah_ was now born, _the Fulness of Time was come_, that the old +Serpent was to have his _Head broken_, that is to say, his Empire or +Dominion over Man, which he gain'd by the Fall of our first Father and +Mother in _Paradise_, receiv'd a Downfal or Overthrow. + +It is worth observing, in order to confirm what I have already mention'd +of the Limitation of Satan's Power, that not only his Angelic Strength +seems to have received a farther Blow upon the Coming of the Son of God +into the World, but he seems to have had a Blow upon his Intellects; his +Serpentine Craft and _Devil-like_ Subtilty seems to have been +circumscrib'd and cut short; and instead of his being so cunning a +Fellow as before, when, _as I said_, 'tis evident he outwitted all +Mankind, not only _Eve_, _Cain_, _Noah_, _Lot_, and all the Patriarchs, +but even Nations of Men, and that in their publick Capacity; and thereby +led them into absurd and ridiculous Things, such as the Building of +_Babel_, and deifying and worshiping their Kings, when dead and rotten; +idolizing _Beasts_, _Stocks_, _Stones_, _any Thing_, and even _Nothing_; +and in a Word, when he manag'd Mankind just as he pleased. + +Now and from this Time forward he appeared a weak, foolish, ignorant +_Devil_, compar'd to what he was before; He was upon almost every +Occasion resisted, disappointed, baulk'd and defeated, especially in all +his Attempts to thwart or cross the Mission and Ministry of the +_Messiah_, while he was upon Earth, and sometimes upon other and very +mean Occasions too. + +And first, how foolish a Project was it, and how below Satan's +celebrated Artifice in like Cases, to put _Herod_ upon sending to kill +the poor innocent Children in _Bethlehem_, in hopes to destroy the +Infant? for I take it for granted, it was the _Devil_ put into +_Herod_'s Thoughts that Execution, how simple and foolish soever; now we +must allow him to be very ignorant of the Nativity himself, or else he +might easily have guided his Friend _Herod_ to the Place where the +Infant was. + +This shews that _either_ the _Devil_ is in general ignorant as we are, +of what is to come in the World, before it is really come to pass; and +consequently can foretel nothing, no not so much as our famous old +_Merlin_ or _Mother Shipton_ did, _or else_ that great Event was hid +from him by an immediate Power superior to his, which I cannot think +neither, considering how much he was concern'd in it, and how certainly +he knew that it was once to come to pass. + +But be that as it will, 'tis certain the _Devil_ knew nothing where +Christ was born, or when; nor was he able to direct _Herod_ to find him +out, and therefore put him upon that foolish, as well as cruel Order, to +kill all the Children, that he might be sure to destroy the _Messiah_ +among the rest. + +The next simple Step that the _Devil_ took, and indeed the most foolish +one that he could ever be charg'd with, unworthy the very Dignity of a +_Devil_, and below the Understanding that he always was allow'd to act +with, was that of coming to tempt the _Messiah_ in the Wilderness; it is +certain, and he own'd it himself afterwards, upon many Occasions, that +the _Devil_ knew our Saviour to be the Son of God; and 'tis as certain +that he knew, that _as such_ he could have no Power or Advantage over +him; how foolish then was it in him to attack him in that Manner, _if +thou beest the Son of_ GOD? why he knew him to be the _Son of_ GOD well +enough; he said so afterwards, _I know thee who thou art, the holy One +of_ GOD; how then could he be so weak a Devil as to say, _if thou art_, +then do _so_ and _so_? + +The Case is plain, the _Devil_, tho' he knew him to be the Son of GOD, +did not fully know the Mystery of the Incarnation; nor did he know how +far the _Inanition_ of Christ extended, and whether, _as Man_, he was +not subject to fall as _Adam_ was, tho' his reserv'd Godhead might be +still immaculate and pure; and upon this Foot, as he would leave no +Method untried, he attempts him three Times, one immediately after +another; but then, finding himself disappointed he fled. + +This evidently proves that the _Devil_ was ignorant of the great Mystery +of Godliness, _as the Text calls it_, God manifest in the Flesh, and +therefore made that foolish Attempt upon Christ, thinking to have +conquer'd his human Nature as capable of Sin, which it was not; and at +this Repulse _Hell_ groan'd, the whole Army of regimented _Devils_ +receiv'd a Wound, and felt the Shock of it; 'twas a second Overthrow to +them, they had had a long Chain of Success, carried a _devilish_ +Conquest over the greatest Part of the Creation of GOD; but now they +were cut short, _the Seed of the Woman_ was now come _to break the +Serpent's Head_, that is, to cut short his Power, to contract the Limits +of his Kingdom, and in a Word, to dethrone him in the World: No doubt +the _Devil_ receiv'd a Shock, for you find him always afterward, crying +out in a horrible Manner, whenever Christ met with him, or else very +humble and submissive, as when he begg'd leave to go into the Herd of +Swine, a Thing he has often done since. + +Defeated here, the first Stratagem I find him concern'd in after it, was +his entring into _Judas_, and putting him upon betraying Christ to the +Chief Priest; but here again he was entirely mistaken, for he did not +see, _as much a Devil as he was_, what the Event would be; but when he +came to know, that if Christ was put to Death, he would become a +Propitiatory and be the great Sacrifice of Mankind, so to rescue the +fallen Race from that Death they had incurr'd the Penalty of, by the +Fall, that this was the fulfilling of all Scripture Prophesy, and that +thus it was that Christ was to be _the End of the Law_, I say, as soon +as he perceiv'd this, he strove all he could to prevent it, and +disturb'd _Pilate_'s Wife in her Sleep, in order to set her upon her +Husband to hinder his delivering him up to the _Jews_; for then, and not +till then, he knew how Christ was to vanquish Hell by the Power of his +Cross. + +Thus the _Devil_ was disappointed and exposed in every Step he took, and +as he now plainly saw his Kingdom declining, and even the temporal +Kingdom of Christ, rising up upon the Ruins of his (_Satan_'s) Power; he +seem'd to retreat into his own Region the Air, and to consult there with +his fellow _Devils_, what Measures he should take next to preserve his +Dominion among Men; Here it was that he resolv'd upon that truly hellish +Thing call'd Persecution, by which, _tho' he prov'd a foolish Devil in +that too_, he flatter'd himself he should be able to destroy God's +Church, and root out its Professors from the Earth, even almost as soon +as it was establish'd; whereas on the contrary, Heaven counter-acted him +there too, and tho' he arm'd the whole _Roman_ Empire against the +Christians, _that is say_, the whole World, and they were fallen upon +every where, with all the Fury and Rage of some of the most flaming +Tyrants that the World ever saw, of whom _Nero_ was the first; yet in +spight of Hell, GOD made all the Blood, which the Devil caus'd to be +spilt, to be _semen Ecclesiæ_, and the DEVIL had the Mortification to +see, that the Number of Christians encreased even under the very Means +he made use of to root them out and destroy them: This was the Case +thro' the Reign of all the _Roman_ Emperors, for the first three hundred +Years after Christ. + +Having thus tried all the Methods that best suited his Inclination, I +mean those of Blood and Death, complicated with Tortures and all Kinds +of Cruelty, and that for so long a Stage of Time as above; the _Devil_ +all on a suddain, as if glutted with Blood, and satiated with +Destruction, sits still and becomes a peaceable Spectator for a good +while; as if he either found himself unable, or had no Disposition to +hinder the Progress of Christianity in the first Ages of its Settlement +in the World: In this interval the Christian Church was establish'd +under _Constantine_, Religion flourished in Peace, and under the most +perfect Tranquillity: The _Devil_ seem'd to be at a Loss what he should +do next, and Things began to look as if Satan's Kingdom was at an End; +but he soon let them see that he was the same indefatigable _Devil_ that +ever he was, and the Prosperity of the Church gave him a large Field of +Action; for knowing the Disposition of Mankind to Quarrel and Dispute, +the universal Passion rooted in Nature, especially among the Church-Men +for Precedency and Dominion, he fell to work with them immediately; so +that turning the Tables, and reassuming the Subtilty and Craft, which, I +say, he seem'd to have lost in the former four hundred Years, he gain'd +more Ground in the next Ages of the Church, and went farther towards +restoring his Power and Empire in the World, and towards overthrowing +that very Church which was so lately establish'd, than all he had done +by Fire and Blood before. + +His Policy now seem'd to be edg'd with Resentment for the Mistakes he +had made; as if the Devil looking back with Anger at himself, to see +what a Fool he had been to expect to crush Religion by Persecution, +rejoyc'd for having discover'd that Liberty and Dominion was the only +way to ruin the Church, not Fire and Faggot; and that he had nothing to +do but to give the zealous People their utmost Liberty in Religion, only +sowing Error and Variety of Opinion among them, and they would bring +Fire and Faggot in fast enough among themselves. + +It must be confess'd these were devilish Politicks; and so sure was the +Aim, and so certain was the _Devil_ to hit his Mark by them, that we +find he not only did not fail then, but the same hellish Methods have +prevail'd still, and will do so to the End of the World. Nor had the +Devil ever a better Game to play than this, for the Ruin of Religion, as +we shall have room to show in many Examples, besides that of the +Dissenters in _England_, who are evidently weaken'd by the late +Toleration: Whether the _Devil_ had any hand in baiting his Hook with an +A--- of Parliament or no, History is silent, but 'tis too evident he has +catch'd the Fish by it; and if the honest Church of _England_ does not +in Pity and Christian Charity to the Dissenters, straighten her Hand a +little, I cannot but fear the _Devil_ will gain his Point, and the +Dissenter will be undone by it. + +Upon this new foot of Politicks the _Devil_ began with the Emperors +themselves: _Arius_, the Father of the Hereticks of that Age, having +broach'd his Opinions, and _Athanasius_ the orthodox Bishop of the East +opposing him, the _Devil_ no sooner saw the Door open to Strife and +Imposition, but he thrust himself in, and raising the Quarrel up to a +suited Degree of Rage and Spleen, he involv'd the good Emperor himself +in it first and _Athanasius_ was banish'd and recall'd, and banish'd +and recall'd again, several times, as Error ran high, and as the _Devil_ +either got or lost Ground: After _Constantine_, the next Emperor was a +Child of his own, (_Arian_) and then the Court came all into the +Quarrel, as Courts often do, and then the _Arians_ and the _Orthodox_ +persecuted one another as furiously as the Pagans persecuted them all +before. To such a Height the _Devil_ brought his Conquest in the very +Infancy of the Question, and so much did he prevail over the true +Christianity of the Primitive Church, even before they had enjoy'd the +Liberty of the pure Worship twenty Years. + +Flush'd with this Success, the _Devil_ made one Push for the restoring +_Paganism_, and bringing on the old Worship of the Heathen Idols and +Temples; but like our King _James_ II. he drove too hard, and _Julian_ +had so provok'd the whole _Roman_ Empire, which was generally at that +time become Christian, that had the Apostate liv'd, he would not have +been able to have held the Throne; and as he was cut off in his +Beginning, Paganism expir'd with him, and the _Devil_ himself might have +cry'd out, as _Julian_ did, and with much more Propriety, _Vicisti +Galileane_. + +_Jovian_, the next Emperor, being a glorious Christian, and a very good +and great Man, the _Devil_ abdicated for a while, and left the Christian +Armies to re-establish the Orthodox Faith; nor could he bring the +Christians to a Breach again among themselves a great while after. + +However, Time and a diligent _Devil_ did the Work at last, and when the +Emperors concerning themselves one way or other, did not appear +sufficient to answer his End, he chang'd Hands again, and went to work +with the Clergy: To set the Doctors effectually together by the Ears, +he threw in the new Notion of _Primacy_ among them, for a Bone of +Contention; the Bait took, the Priests swallow'd it eagerly down, and +the _Devil_, a cunninger Fisherman than ever St. _Peter_ was, _struck +them_ (as the Anglers call it) with a quick Hand, and hung them fast +upon the Hook. + +Having them thus in his Clutches, and they being now, as we may say, his +own, they took their Measures afterwards from him, and most obediently +follow'd his Directions; nay, I will not say but he may have had pretty +much the Management of the whole Society ever since, of what Profession +or Party soever they may have been, with Exception only to the Reverend +and Right Reverend among our selves. + +The Sacred, as above, being thus hook'd in, and the DEVIL being at the +Head of their Affairs, Matters went on most gloriously his own way; +first, the Bishops fell to bandying and Party-making for the +Superiority, as heartily as ever Temporal Tyrants did for Dominion, and +took as black and devilish Methods to carry it on, as the worst of those +Tyrants ever had done before them. + +At last Satan declar'd for the _Roman_ Pontiff, and that upon excellent +Conditions, in the Reign of the Emperor _Mauritius_; for _Boniface_, who +had long contended for the Title of Supreme, fell into a Treaty with +_Phocas_, Captain of the Emperor's Guards; whether the Bargain was from +Hell or not, let any one judge, the Conditions absolutely entitle the +_Devil_ to the Honour of making the Contract, _viz._ That _Phocas_ first +murthering his Master (the Emperor) and his Sons, _Boniface_ should +countenance the Treason, and declare him Emperor; and in Return, +_Phocas_ should acknowledge the Primacy of the Church of _Rome_, and +declare _Boniface_ universal Bishop. A blessed Compact! which at once +set the _Devil_ at the Head of Affairs in the Christian World, as well +Spiritual as Temporal, Ecclesiastick and Civil. Since the Conquest over +_Eve_ in Paradise, by which Death and the DEVIL, Hand in Hand, +establish'd their first Empire upon Earth, the _Devil_ never gain'd a +more important Point than he gain'd at this time. + +He had indeed prospered in his Affairs tolerably well for some time +before this, and his Interest among the Clergy had got Ground for some +Ages; but that was indeed a secret Management, was carried on privately, +and with Difficulty; as in sowing Discord and Faction among the People, +perplexing the Councils of their Princes, and secretly wheedling in with +the dignified Clergy. + +Also he had raised abundance of little Church-Rebellions, by setting up +Hereticks of several Kinds, and raising them Favourers among the Clergy, +such as _Ebion_, _Cerinthius_, _Pelagius_, and others. + +He had drawn in the Bishops of _Rome_ to set up the ridiculous Pageantry +of the KEY; and while he, the DEVIL, set open the Gates of Hell to +them all, set them upon locking up the Gates of Heaven, and giving the +Bishop the Key; a Cheat which, as gross as it was, the DEVIL so gilded +over, or so blinded the Age to receive it, that like _Gideon's Ephod_, +all the Catholick World went a whoring after the Idol; and the Bishop of +_Rome sent_ more Fools to the _Devil_ by it than ever he pretended to +let into Heaven, though he open'd the Door as wide as his Key was able +to do. + +The Story of this Key being given to the Bishop of _Rome_ by St. +_Peter_, (who, by the way, never had it himself,) and of its being lost +by Somebody or other, (the _Devil_ it seems did not tell them who) and +its being found again by a _Lombard_ Soldier in the Army of King +_Antharis_, who attempting to cut it with his Knife, was miraculously +forced to direct the Wound to himself, and cut his own Throat; that King +_Antharis_ and his Nobles happened to see the Fellow do it, and were +converted to Christianity by it, and that the King sent the Key, with +another made like it, to Pope _Pelagius_, then Bishop of _Rome_, who +thereupon assum'd the Power of opening and shutting Heaven's Gates; and +he afterwards setting a Price or Toll upon the Entrance, as we do here +at passing a Turn-pike; these fine things, I say, were successfully +managed for some Years before this I am now speaking of, and the Devil +got a great deal of Ground by it too; but now he triumph'd openly, and +having set up a Murtherer upon the temporal Throne, and a Church Emperor +upon the Ecclesiastic Throne, and both of his own choosing, the _Devil_ +may be said to begin his new Kingdom from this Epocha, and call it the +_Restoration_. + +Since this time indeed the Devil's Affairs went very merrily on, and the +Clergy brought so many Gewgaws into their Worship, and such devilish +Principles were mixt with that which we call'd the Christian Faith, that +in a Word, from this Time the Bishop of _Rome_ commenc'd _Whore of +Babylon_, in all the most express Terms that could be imagin'd: Tyranny +of the worst sort crept into the Pontificate, Errors of all sorts into +the Profession, and they proceeded from one thing to another, till the +very Popes, for so the Bishop of _Rome_ was now called, by way of +Distinction; I say, the Popes themselves, their spiritual Guides, +profess'd openly to confederate with the _Devil_, and to carry on a +personal and private Correspondence with him at the same time, taking +upon them the Title of Christ's Vicar, and the infallible Guide of the +Consciences of Christians. + +This we have sundry Instances of in some merry Popes, who, _if Fame lies +not_, were Sorcerers, Magicians, had familiar Spirits, and immediate +Conversation with the Devil, as well visibly as invisibly, and by this +means became what we call _Devils incarnate_: Upon this account it is +that I have left the Conversation that passes between _Devils and Men_ +to this Place, as well because I believe it differs much now in his +modern State, from what it was in his ancient State, and therefore that +which most concerns us belongs rather to this part of his History; as +also because, as I am now writing to the present Age, I choose to bring +the most significant Parts of his History, especially as they relate to +our selves, into that Part of Time that we are most concern'd in. + +The _Devil_ had once, as I observ'd before, the universal Monarchy or +Government of Mankind in himself, and I doubt not but in that +flourishing State of his Affairs, he governed them like what he is +(_viz._) an absolute Tyrant; during this _Theocracy_ of his, _for_ Satan +_is call'd the God of this World_, he did not familiarize himself to +Mankind so much, as he finds Occasion to do now, there was not then so +much need of it; he governed then with an absolute Sway; he had his +Oracles, where he gave Audience to his Votaries like a Deity, and he had +his Sub-Gods, who under his several Dispositions receiv'd the Homage of +Mankind in their Names; such were all the Rabble of the Heathen Deities, +from _Jupiter_ the Supreme, to the _Lares_ or Houshold Gods of every +Family; these, I say, like Residents, received the Prostrations, but the +Homage was all Satan's; the Devil had the Substance of it all, which was +the Idolatry. + +During this Administration of _Hell_, there was less Witchcraft, less +true literal Magick than there has been since; there was indeed no need +of it, the DEVIL did not stoop to the Mechanism of his more modern +Operations, but rul'd as a Deity, and receiv'd the Vows and the Bows of +his Subjects in more State, and with more Solemnity; whereas since that, +he is content to employ more Agents and take more Pains himself too; now +he runs up and down Hackney in the World, more like a Drudge than a +Prince, and much more than he did then. + +Hence all those Things we call Apparitions and Visions of Ghosts, +Familiar-Spirits and Dealings with the Devil, of which there is so great +a Variety in the World at this Time, were not so much known among the +People, in those first Ages of the Devil's Kingdom; _in a Word_, the +Devil seems to be put to his Shifts, and to fly to Art and Stratagem for +the carrying on his Affairs, much more now than he did then. + +One Reason for this may be, that he has been more discover'd and expos'd +in these Ages, than he was before; then he could appear in the World in +his own proper Shapes, and yet not be known; when the Sons of GOD +appear'd at the divine Summons, Satan came along with them; but now he +has plaid so many scurvy Tricks upon Men, and they know him so well, +that he is oblig'd to play quite out of sight and act in disguise; +Mankind will allow nothing of his doing, and hear nothing of his saying, +in his own Name; and if you propose any Thing to be done, and it be but +said the _Devil_ is to help in the doing it, or if you say of any Man he +deals with the _Devil_, or the _Devil_ has a Hand in it, every Body +flies him and shuns him, as the most frightful Thing in the World. + +Nay, if any Thing strange and improbable be done or related to be done, +we presently say the _Devil_ was at the doing it: Thus the great Ditch +at _Newmarket Heath_, is call'd the _Devil_'s _Ditch_; so the _Devil_ +built _Crowland_ Abby, and the Whispering-Place in _Gloucester_ +Cathedral; nay, the Cave at _Castleton_, only because there's no getting +to the farther End of it, is call'd the _Devil_'s A---- and the like: +The poor People of _Wiltshire_, when you ask them how the great Stones +at _Stonehenge_ were brought thither? they'll all tell you the _Devil_ +brought them: If any Mischief extraordinary befalls us, we presently say +the _Devil_ was in it, and the _Devil_ would have it so; in a Word, the +_Devil_ has got an ill Name among us, and so he is fain to act more _in +Tenebris_, more _incog._ than he used to do, play out of sight himself, +and work by the Sap, as the Engineers call it, and not openly and +avowedly in his own Name and Person, as formerly, tho' perhaps not with +less Success than he did before; and this leads me to enquire more +narrowly into the manner of the _Devil_'s Management of his Affairs +since the Christian Religion began to spread in the World, which +manifestly differs from his Conduct in more antient Times; in which if +we discover some of the most consummate Fool's Policy, the most profound +simple Craft, and the most subtle shallow Management of Things that can +by our weak Understandings be conceiv'd, we must only resolve it into +this, that in short it is the DEVIL. + + + + +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._ + + +It is true, as that learn'd and pleasant Author, the inimitable Dr. +_Brown_ says, the _Devil_ is his own Hell; one of the most constituting +Parts of his Infelicity is, that he cannot act upon Mankind _brevi +Manu_, by his own inherent Power, as well as Rage; that he cannot +unhinge this Creation, which, _as I have observ'd in its Place_, he had +the utmost Aversion to from its Beginning, as it was a stated Design in +the Creator to supply his Place in Heaven with a new Species of _Beings_ +call'd _Man_, and fill the Vacancies occasion'd by his Degeneracy and +Rebellion. + +This fill'd him with Rage inexpressible, and horrible Resolutions of +Revenge, and the Impossibility of executing those Resolutions torments +him with Despair; this added to what he was before, makes him a compleat +_Devil_, with a Hell in his own Breast, and a Fire unquenchable burning +about his Heart. + +I might enlarge here, and very much to the Purpose, in describing +spherically and mathematically that exquisite Quality call'd _a devilish +Spirit_, in which it would naturally occur to give you a whole Chapter +upon the glorious Articles of _Malice_ and _Envy_, and especially upon +that luscious, delightful, triumphant Passion call'd REVENGE; how +natural to Man, nay even to both Sexes; how pleasant in the very +Contemplation, tho' there be not just at that Time a Power of +Execution; how palatable it is in it self, and how well it relishes when +dish'd up with its proper Sauces, such as Plot, Contrivance, Scheme, and +Confederacy, all leading on to Execution: How it possesses a human Soul +in all the most sensible Parts; how it empowers Mankind to sin in +Imagination, as effectually to all future Intents and Purposes +(Damnation) as if he had sinned actually: How safe a Practice it is too, +as to Punishment in this Life, namely, that it empowers us to cut +Throats clear of the Gallows, to slander Virtue, reproach Innocence, +wound Honour and stab Reputation; and in a Word, to do all the wicked +Things in the World, out of the Reach of the Law. + +It would also require some few Words to describe the secret Operations +of those nice Qualities when they reach the human Soul; how effectually +they form a Hell within us, and how imperceptibly they assimilate and +transform us into _Devils_, meer human Devils, as really _Devils_ as +Satan himself, or any of his Angels; and that therefore 'tis not so much +out of the Way, as some imagine, to say, such a Man is an _incarnate_ +Devil; for as Crime made Satan a _Devil_, who was before a bright +immortal Seraph, or Angel of Light; how much more easily may the same +Crime make _the same_ DEVIL, tho' every Way meaner and more +contemptible, _of a Man or_ a Woman either? But this is too grave a +Subject for me at this Time. + +The _Devil_ being thus, I say, fir'd with Rage and Envy, in consequence +of his Jealousy upon the Creation of Man, his Torment is encreased to +the highest by the Limitation of his Power, and his being forbid to act +against Mankind by Force of Arms; this is, I say, part of his _Hell_, +which, as above, is within him, and which he carries with him wherever +he goes; nor is it so difficult to conceive of _Hell_, or of the +_Devil_, either under this just Description, as it is by all the usual +Notions that we are taught to entertain of them, by (the old Women) our +Instructors; for every Man may, by taking but a common View of himself, +and making a just Scrutiny into his own Passions, on some of their +particular Excursions, see a _Hell_ within himself, and himself a meer +_Devil_ as long as the Inflammation lasts; and that as really, and to +all Intents and Purposes, as if he had the Angel (_Satan_) before his +Face, in his Locality and Personality; that is to say, all Devil and +Monster in his Person, and an immaterial but intense Fire flaming about +and from within him, at all the Pores of his Body. + +The Notions we receive of the Devil, _as a Person_ being in Hell _as a +Place_, are infinitely absurd and ridiculous; the first we are certain +is not true in Fact, because he has a certain Liberty, (_however +limited_ that is not to the Purpose) is daily visible, and to be trac'd +in his several Attacks upon Mankind, and has been so ever since his +first Appearance in _Paradise_; as to his corporal Visibility that is +not the present Question neither; 'tis enough that we can hunt him by +the Foot, that we can follow him as Hounds do a Fox upon a hot Scent: We +can see him as plainly by the Effect, by the Mischief he does, and more +by the Mischief he puts us upon doing, _I say_, as plainly, as if we saw +him by the Eye. + +It is not to be doubted but the _Devil_ can see us when and where we +cannot see him: and as he has a Personality, tho' it be spirituous, he +and his Angels too may be reasonably supposed to inhabit the World of +Spirits, and to have free Access from thence to the Regions of Life, and +to pass and repass in the Air, as really, tho' not perceptible to us, +as the Spirits of Men do after their release from the Body, pass to the +Place (wherever that is) which is appointed for them. + +If the _Devil_ was confin'd to a Place (_Hell_) as a Prison, he could +then have no Business here; and if we pretend to describe _Hell_, as not +a Prison, but that the Devil has Liberty to be there, or not be there as +he pleased, then he would certainly never be there, or _Hell_ is not +such a Place as we are taught to understand it to be. + +Indeed according to some, _Hell_ should be a Place of Fire and Torment +to the Souls that are cast into it, but not to the _Devils_ themselves; +who we make little more or less than keepers and Turnkeys to Hell, as a +Goal; that they are sent about to bring Souls thither, lock them in when +they come, and then away upon the Scent to fetch more: That one Sort of +_Devils_ are made to live in the World among Men, and to be busy +continually debauching and deluding Mankind bringing them as it were to +the Gates of _Hell_; and then another Sort are Porters and Carriers to +fetch them in. + +This is, _in short_, little more or less than the old Story of _Pluto_, +of _Cerberus_, and of _Charon_; only that our Tale is not half so well +told, nor the Parts of the Fable so well laid together. + +In all these Notions of _Hell_ and _Devil_, the Torments of the first, +and the Agency of the last Tormenting, we meet with not one Word of the +main and perhaps only Accent of Horror, which belongs to us to judge of +about Hell, I mean the Absence of Heaven; Expulsion, and Exclusion from +the Presence and Face of the chief Ultimate, the only eternal and +sufficient Good; and this loss sustain'd by a sordid Neglect of our +Concern in that excellent Part, in exchange for the most contemptible +and justly condemn'd Trifles, and all this eternal and irrecoverable: +These People tell us nothing of the eternal Reproaches of Conscience, +the Horror of Desperation, and the Anguish of a Mind hopeless of ever +seeing the Glory, which alone constitutes Heaven, and which makes all +other Places dreadful, and even Darkness it self. + +And this brings me directly to the Point in Hand, (_viz._) the State of +that Hell which we ought to have in view when we speak of the _Devil_ as +_in Hell_: This is the very Hell, which is the Torment of the _Devil_; +in short, the _Devil_ is in HELL, and HELL is in the _Devil_; he is +fill'd with this unquenchable Fire, he is expel'd the Place of Glory, +banish'd from the Regions of Light, Absence from the Life of all +Beatitude is his Curse, Despair is the reigning Passion in his Mind, and +all the little Constituent Parts of his Torment, such as Rage, Envy, +Malice, and Jealousy are consolidated in this, to make his Misery +compleat, (_viz._) the Duration of it all, the Eternity of his +Condition; that he is without Hope, without Redemption, without +Recovery. + +If any thing can inflame this _Hell_ and make it hotter, 'tis this only, +and this does add an inexpressible Horror to the Devil himself; +_namely_, the seeing Man (the only Creature he hates) placed in a State +of Recovery, a glorious Establishment of Redemption form'd for him in +Heaven, and the Scheme of it perfected on Earth; by which _this Man_, +tho' even the _Devil_ by his Art may have deluded him, and drawn him +into Crime, is yet in a State of Recovery, which the Devil is not; and +that it is not in his (_Satan_'s) Power to prevent it: Now take the +Devil as he is in his own Nature Angelic, a bright immortal Seraph, +Heaven-born, and having tasted the eternal Beatitude, which these are +appointed to enjoy; the Loss of that State to himself, the Possession +of it granted to his Rival tho' wicked like and as himself; I say, take +the Devil as he is, having a quick Sense of his own Perdition, and a +stinging Sight of his Rival's Felicity, 'tis _Hell enough_, and more +than enough, even for an Angel to support; nothing we can conceive can +be worse. + +As to any other Fire than this, such and so immaterially intense as to +Torment a Spirit, which is it self Fire also; I will not say it cannot +be, because to Infinite every Thing is possible, but I must say, I +cannot conceive rightly of it. + +I will not enter here into the Wisdom or Reasonableness of representing +the Torments of Hell to be Fire, and that Fire to be a Commixture of +_Flame_ and _Sulphur_; it has pleased God to let the Horror of those +eternal Agonies about _a lost Heaven_, be laid before us by those +Similitudes or Allegories, which are most moving to our Senses and to +our Understandings; nor will I dispute the Possibility; much less will I +doubt but that there is to be a Consummation of Misery to all the +Objects of Misery when the _Devil_'s Kingdom in this World ending with +the World it self, that Liberty he has now may be farther abridg'd; when +he may be return'd to the same State he was in between the Time of his +Fall and the Creation of the World; with perhaps some additional +Vengeance on him, such as at present we cannot describe, for all that +Treason and those high Crimes and Misdemeanours which he has been guilty +of here, in his Conversation with Mankind. + +As his Infelicity will be then consummated and compleated, so the +Infelicity of that Part of Mankind, who are condemn'd with him, may +receive a considerable Addition from those Words in their Sentence, to +be tormented _with the Devil and his Angels_; for as the Absence of the +Supreme Good is a compleat Hell, so the hated Company of the Deceiver, +who was the great Cause of his Ruine, must be a Subject of additional +Horror, and he will be always saying, as a _Scots_ Gentleman, who died +of his Excesses, said to the famous Dr. _P----_, who came to see him on +his Death-bed, but had been too much his Companion in his Life, + + _O tu fundamenta jecisti------_ + + +I would not treat the very Subject it self with any Indecency, nor do I +think my Opinion of that _Hell_, which I say consists in the Absence of +him, in whom is Heaven, one Jot less Solemn than theirs who believe it +all _Fire_ and _Brimstone_; but I must own, that to me nothing can be +more ridiculous than the Notions that we entertain and fill our Heads +with about _Hell_, and about the _Devil_'s being there tormenting of +Souls, broiling them upon Gridirons, hanging them up upon Hooks, +carrying them upon their Backs, and the like, with the several Pictures +of _Hell_, represented by a great Mouth with horrible Teeth, gaping like +a Cave on the Sides of a Mountain; suppose that appropriated to _Satan_ +in the _Peak_, which indeed is not much unlike it, with a Stream of Fire +coming out of it, as there is of Water, and smaller Devils going and +coming continually in and out, to fetch and carry Souls the Lord knows +whither, and for the Lord knows what. + +These Things, however intended for Terror, are indeed so ridiculous, +that the _Devil_ himself, to be sure, mocks at them, and a Man of Sense +can hardly refrain doing the like, only I avoid it, because I would not +give offence to weaker Heads. + +However, I must not Compliment the Brains of other Men, at the Expence +of my own, or talk Nonsense because they can understand no other; I +think all these Notions and Representations of _Hell_ and of the +_Devil_, to be as prophane as they are ridiculous, and I ought no more +to talk prophanely than merrily of them. + +Let us learn to talk of these Things then, as we should do; and as we +really cannot describe them to our Reason and Understanding, why should +we describe them to our Senses; we had, I think, much better not +describe them at all, that is to say, not attempt it: The blessed +Apostle St. _Paul_ was, as he said himself, carried up, or caught up +into the _third Heaven_, yet when he came down again, he could neither +tell what he heard or describe what he saw; all he could say of it was, +that what he heard was _inutterable_, and what he saw was +_inconceivable_. + +It is the same thing as to the State of the _Devil_ in those Regions +which he now possesses, and where he now more particularly inhabits; my +present Business then is not to enter into those grave Things so as to +make them ridiculous, as I think most People do that talk of them; but +as the _Devil_, let his Residence be where it will, has evidently free +Leave to come and go, not into this World only; (_I mean, the Region of +our Atmosphere_,) but for ought we know, to all the other inhabited +Worlds which God has made, where-ever they are, and by whatsoever Names +they are or may be known or distinguished; for if he is not confined in +one Place, we have no Reason to believe he is excluded from any Place, +Heaven only excepted, from whence he was expell'd for his Treason and +Rebellion. + +His Liberty then being thus ascertain'd, three Things seem to be +material for us to give an Account of, in order to form this Part of +his History. + + 1. What his Business is on this Globe of Earth which we vulgarly + call the World, how he acts among us, what Affairs Mankind and he + have together, and how far his Conduct here relates to Us, and Ours + is, or may be influenc'd by him. + + 2. Where his Principal Residence is, and whether he has not a + particular Empire of his own, to which he retreats upon proper + Occasions; where he entertains his Friends when they come under his + particular Administration; and where, when he gets any Victory over + his Enemies, he carries his Prisoners of War. + + 3. What may probably be the great Business this black Emperor has + at present upon his Hands, either in this World or out of it, and + by what Agents he works. + + +As these Things may perhaps run promiscuously thro' the Course of this +whole Work, and frequently be touch'd at under other Branches of the +_Devil_'s History, so I do not propose them as Heads of Chapters or +Particular Sections, for the Order of Discourse to be handled apart; for +(by the way) as Satan's Actings have not been the most regular Things in +the World, so in our Discourse about him, it must not be expected that +we can always tie our selves down to Order and Regularity, either as to +Time, or Place, or Persons; for Satan being _hic & ubique_, a loose +ungovern'd Fellow, we must be content to trace him where we can find +him. + +It is true, in the foregoing Chapter, I shew'd you the DEVIL entred into +the Herd Ecclesiastick, and gave you some Account of the first +successful Step he took with Mankind since the Christian Epocha; how +having secretly managed both Temporal and Spiritual Power apart, and by +themselves, he now united them in Point of Management, and brought the +Church Usurpation and the Army's Usurpation together; the Pope to bless +the General in deposing and murthering his Master the Emperor; and the +General to recognise the Pope in dethroning his Master Christ Jesus. + +From this time forward you are to allow the _Devil_ a mystical Empire in +this World; not an Action of Moment done without him, not a Treason but +he has a Hand in it, not a Tyrant but he prompts him, not a Government +but he has a ---- in it; not a Fool but he tickles him, not a Knave but +he guides him; he has a Finger in every Fraud, a Key to every Cabinet, +from the _Divan_ at _Constantinople_, to the _Mississipi_ in _France_, +and to the _South-Sea_ Cheats at ------; from the first Attack upon the +Christian World, in the Person of the _Romish_ Antichrist, down to the +Bull _Unigenitus_; and from the Mixture of St. _Peter_ and _Confucius_ +in _China_, to the Holy Office in _Spain_; and down to the _Emlins_ and +_Dodwells_ of the current Age. + +How he has managed, and does manage, and how in all Probability he will +manage till his Kingdom shall come to a Period, and how at last he will +probably be managed himself, _Enquire within, and you shall know +farther_. + + + + +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. + + +The Devil being thus reduc'd to act upon Mankind by Stratagem only, it +remains to enquire how he performs, and which way he directs his +Attacks; the Faculties of Man are a kind of a Garrison in a strong +Castle, which as they defend it on the one hand under the Command of the +reasoning Power of Man's Soul, so they are prescribed on the other hand, +and can't sally out without Leave; for the Governor of a Fort does not +permit his Soldiers to hold any Correspondence with the Enemy, without +special Order and Direction. Now the great Enquiry before us is, How +comes the DEVIL to a Parley with us? how does he converse with our +Senses, and with the Understanding? How does he reach us, which way does +he come at the Affections, and which way does he move the Passions? 'Tis +a little difficult to discover this treasonable Correspondence, and that +Difficulty is indeed the _Devil_'s Advantage, and, for ought I see, the +chief Advantage he has over Mankind. + +It is also a great Enquiry here, whether the _Devil_ knows our Thoughts +or no? If I may give my Opinion, I am with the negative; I deny that he +knows any thing of our Thoughts, except of those Thoughts which he puts +us upon thinking, for I will not doubt but he has the Art to inject +Thoughts, and to revive dormant Thoughts in us: It is not so wild a +Scheme as some take it to be, that Mr. _Milton_ lays down, to represent +the _Devil_ injecting corrupt Desires and wandring Thoughts into the +Head of _Eve_, by Dreams, and that he brought her to Dream whatever he +put into her Thoughts, by whispering to her vocally when she was asleep; +and to this End, he imagines the DEVIL laying himself close to her Ear, +in the Shape of a Toad, when she was fall asleep; I say, this is not so +wild a Scheme, seeing even now, if you can whisper any thing close to +the Ear of a Person in a deep Sleep, so as to speak distinctly to the +Person, and yet not awaken him, as has been frequently tried, the Person +sleeping shall dream distinctly of what you say to him; nay, shall dream +the very Words you say. + +We have then no more to ask, but how the DEVIL can convey himself to the +Ear of a sleeping Person, and it is granted then that he may have Power +to make us dream what he pleases: But this is not all, for if he can so +forcibly, by his invisible Application, cause us to dream, what he +pleases, why can he not with the same Facility prompt our Thoughts, +whether sleeping or waking? To dream, is nothing else but to think +sleeping; and we have abundance of deep-headed Gentlemen among us, who +give us ample Testimony that they dream waking. + +But if the DEVIL can prompt us to dream, that is to say, to think, yet +if he does not know our Thoughts, how then can he tell whether the +Whisper had its Effect? The answer is plain, the DEVIL, like the Angler, +baits the Hook, if the Fish bite he lies ready to take the Advantage, he +whispers to the Imagination, and then waits to see how it works; as +_Naomi_ said to _Ruth_, Chap. iii. 5, 18. _Sit still, my Daughter, until +thou know how the Matter will fall, for the Man will not be at rest +until he have finished the thing._ Thus when the DEVIL had whisper'd to +_Eve_ in her Sleep, _according to Milton_, and suggested Mischief to her +Imagination, he only sat still to see how the Matter would work, for he +knew if it took with her, he should hear more of it; and then by finding +her alone the next Day, without her ordinary Guard her Husband, he +presently concluded she had swallowed the Bait, and so attack'd her +afresh. + +A small deal of Craft, and less by far than we have reason to believe +the _Devil_ is Master of, will serve to discover whether such and such +Thoughts as he knows he has suggested, have taken Place or no; the +Action of the Person presently discovers it, at least to him that lies +always upon the Watch, and has every Word, every Gesture, every Step we +take subsequent to his Operation, open to him; it may therefore, for +ought we know, be a great Mistake, and what most of us are guilty of, to +tell our Dreams to one another in the Morning, after we have been +disturb'd with them in the Night; for if the _Devil_ converses with us +so insensibly as some are of the Opinion he does, _that is to say_, if +he can hear as far as we can see, we may be telling our Story to him +indeed, when we think we are only talking to one another. + +This brings me most naturally to the important Enquiry, whether the +_Devil_ can walk about the World invisibly or no? The Truth is, this is +no question to me; for as I have taken away his Visibility already, and +have denied him all Prescience of Futurity too, and have prov'd he +cannot know our Thoughts, nor put any Force upon Persons or Actions, if +we should take away his Invisibility too, we should _undevil_ him quite, +to all Intents and Purposes, as to any Mischief he could do; nay, it +would banish him the World, and he might e'en go and seek his Fortune +some where else; for if he could neither be visible or invisible, +neither act in publick or in private, he could neither have Business or +Being in this Sphere, nor could we be any way concern'd with him. + +The _Devil_ therefore most certainly has a Power and Liberty of moving +about in this World, after _some manner or another_; this is verify'd as +well by way of Allegory, as by way of History, in the Scripture it self; +and as the first strongly suggests and supposes it to be so, the last +positively asserts it; and, not to croud this Work with Quotations from +a Book which we have not much to do with in the _Devil_'s Story, at +least not much to his Satisfaction, I only hint his personal Appearance +to our Saviour in the Wilderness, where it is said, _the Devil taketh +him up to an exceeding high Mountain_; and in another Place, _the Devil +departed from him_. What Shape or Figure he appear'd in, we do not find +mentioned, but I cannot doubt his appearing to him there, any more than +I can his talking to our Saviour in the Mouths, and with the Voices of +the several Persons who were under the terrible Affliction of an actual +Possession. + +These Things leave us no room to doubt of what is advanced above, +namely, that he, (the _Devil_) has a certain Residence, or Liberty of +residing in, and moving about upon the Surface of this Earth, as well as +in the Compass of the Atmosphere, vulgarly call'd the Air, in some +manner or other: That is the general. + +It remains to enquire into the manner, which I resolve into two Kinds; + + 1. _Ordinary_, which I suppose to be his invisible Motions as a + Spirit; under which Consideration I suppose him to have an + unconfin'd, unlimited, unrestrain'd Liberty, as to the manner of + acting; and this either in Persons, by Possession; or in Things, by + Agitation. + + 2. _Extraordinary_; which I understand to be his Appearances in + borrowed Shapes and Bodies, or Shadows rather of Bodies; assuming + Speech, Figure, Posture, and Several Powers, of which we can give + little or no Account; in which extraordinary manner of Appearances, + he is either limited by a Superior Power, or limits himself + politically, as being not the Way most for his Interest or Purpose, + to act in his Business, which is more effectually done in his State + of Obscurity. + + +Hence we must suppose the _Devil_ has it very much in his own Choice, +whether to act in one Capacity, or in the other, or in both; that is to +say, of appearing, and not appearing, as he finds for his Purpose: In +this State of Invisibility, and under the Operation of these Powers and +Liberties, he performs all his Functions and Offices, as _Devil_, as +Prince of Darkness, as God of this World, as Tempter, Accuser, Deceiver, +and all whatsoever other Names of Office, or Titles of Honour he is +known by. + +Now taking him in this large unlimited, or little limited State of +Action, he is well call'd, _the God of this World_, for he has very much +of the Attribute of Omnipresence, and may be said, _either by himself or +his Agents_, to be every where, and see every thing; that is to say, +every thing that is visible; for I cannot allow him any Share of +_Omniscience_ at all. + +That he ranges about every where, is _with us_, and sometimes _in us_, +sees when he is not seen, hears when he is not heard, comes in without +Leave, and goes out without Noise, is neither to be shut in or shut out, +that when he runs _from us_ we can't catch him, and when he runs _after +us_ we can't escape him, is seen when he is not known, and is known when +he is not seen; all these things, and more, we have Knowledge enough +about to convince us of the Truth of them; so that, as I have said +above, he is certainly walking to and fro thro' the Earth, _&c._ after +_some manner or other_, and in some Figure or other, visible or +invisible, as he finds Occasion. Now in order to make our History of him +complete, the next Question before us is, how, and in what manner he +acts with Mankind? how his Kingdom is carried on, and by what Methods he +does his Business, for he certainly has a great deal of Business to do; +he is not an idle Spectator, nor is he walking about _incognito_, and +cloth'd in Mist and Darkness, purely in Kindness to us, that we should +not be frighted at him; but 'tis in Policy, that he may act +undiscover'd, that he may see and not be seen, may play his Game in the +dark, and not be detected in his Roguery; that he may prompt Mischief, +raise Tempests, blow up Coals, kindle Strife, embroil Nations, use +Instruments, and not be known to have his Hand in any thing, when at the +same time he really has a Hand in every thing. + +Some are of Opinion, _and I among the rest_, that if the _Devil_ was +personally and visibly present among us, and we conversed with him Face +to Face, we should be so familiar with him in a little time, that his +ugly Figure would not affect us at all, that his Terrors would not +fright us, or that we should any more trouble our selves about him, +than we did with the last great Comet in 1678, which appear'd so long +and so constantly without any particular known Event, that at last we +took no more Notice of it than of the other ordinary Stars which had +appear'd before we or our Ancestors were born. + +Nor indeed should we have much Reason to be frighted at him, or at least +none of those silly Things could be said of him which we now amuse our +selves about, and by which we set him up like a Scare-Crow to fright +Children and old Women, to fill up old Stories, make Songs and Ballads, +and in a Word, carry on the low priz'd Buffoonery of the common People; +we should either see him in his Angelic Form, as he was from the +Original, or if he has any Deformities entail'd upon him by the supreme +Sentence, and in Justice to the Deformity of his Crime, they would be of +a superior Nature, and fitted more for our Contempt as well as Horror, +than those weak fancied Trifles contrived by our antient Devil-raisers +and Devil-makers, to feed the wayward Fancies of old Witches and +Sorcerers, who cheated the ignorant World with a _Devil_ of their own +making, set forth, _in terrorem_, with Bat's Wings, Horns, cloven Foot, +long Tail, fork'd Tongue, and the like. + +In the next Place, be his frightful Figure what it would, and his +Legions as numerous as the Host of Heaven, we should see him still, as +the Prince of _Devils_, tho' monstrous as a Dragon, flaming as a Comet, +tall as a Mountain, yet dragging his Chain after him equal to the utmost +of his supposed Strength; always in Custody of his _Jailors_ the Angels, +his Power over-power'd, his Rage cow'd and abated, or at least aw'd and +under Correction, limited and restrain'd; in a Word, we should see him a +vanquish'd Slave, his Spirit broken, his Malice, tho' not abated, yet +Hand-cuff'd and overpower'd, and he not able to work any Thing against +us by Force; so that he would be to us but like the Lions in the Tower, +encag'd and lock'd up, unable to do the Hurt he wishes to do, and that +we fear, or indeed any hurt at all. + +From hence 'tis evident, that 'tis not his Business to be public, or to +walk up and down in the World visibly, and in his own Shape; his Affairs +require a quite different Management, as might be made apparent from the +Nature of Things, and the Manner of our Actings, as Men, either with our +selves or to one another. + +Nor could he be serviceable in his Generation, as a public Person as now +he is, or answer the End of his Party who employ him, and who, if he was +to do their Business in public, as he does in private, would not be able +to employ him at all. + +As in our modern Meetings for the Propagation of Impudence and other +Virtues, there would be no Entertainment and no Improvement for the Good +of the Age, if the People did not all appear in Masque, and conceal'd +from the common Observation; so neither could _Satan_ (from whose +Management those more happy Assemblies are taken as Copies of a glorious +Original) perform the usual and necessary Business of his Profession, if +he did not appear wholly in Covert and under needful Disguises; how, but +for the Convenience of his Habit, could he call himself into so many +Shapes, act on so many different Scenes, and turn so many Wheels of +State in the World, as he has done? as a meer profess'd _Devil_ he could +do nothing. + +Had he been oblig'd always to act the meer Devil in his own Clothes, and +with his own Shape, appearing uppermost in all Cafes and Places, he +could never have preach'd in so many Pulpits, presided in so many +Councils, voted in so many Committees, sat in so many Courts, and +influenc'd so many Parties and Factions in Church and State, as we have +Reason to believe he has done in our Nation, and in our Memories too, as +well as in other Nations and in more antient Times. The Share Satan has +had in all the weighty Confusions of the Times, ever since the first +Ages of Christianity in the World, has been carried on with so much +Secresy, and so much with an Air of Cabal and Intrigue, that nothing can +have been manag'd more subtilly and closely, and in the same Manner has +he acted in our Times, in order to conceal his Interest, and conceal the +Influence he has had in the Councils of the World. + +Had it been possible for him to have raised the Flames of Rebellion and +War so often in this Nation, as he certainly has done? Could he have +agitated the Parties on both Sides, and inflam'd the Spirits of three +Nations, if he had appears in his own Dress, a meer naked DEVIL? It is +not the Devil as a _Devil_ that does the Mischief, but the _Devil_ in +Masquerade, _Satan_ in full Disguise, and acting at the Head of civil +Confusion and Distraction. + +If History may be credited, the _French_ Court at the Time of our old +Confusions was made the Scene of Satan's Politicks, and prompted both +Parties in _England_ and in _Scotland_ also to quarrel, and how was it +done? Will any Man offer to scandalize the _Devil_ so much as to say, or +so much as to suggest that _Satan_ had no Hand in it all? Did not the +_Devil_, by the Agency of Cardinal _Richlieu_, send 400000 Crowns at one +Time, and 600000 at another, to the _Scots_, to raise an Army and march +boldly into _England?_ and did not the same _Devil_ at the same time, by +other Agents, remit 800000 Crowns to the other Party, in order to raise +an Army to fall upon the _Scots_? nay, did not the _Devil_ with the +same Subtilty send down the Archbishop's Order to impose the +Service-Book upon the People in _Scotland_, and at the same Time raise a +Mob against it, in the great Church (at St. _Giles_'s)? Nay, did not he +actually, in the Person of an old Woman (his favourite Instrument) throw +the three-leg'd Stool at the Service-Book, and animate the zealous +People to take up Arms for Religion, and turn Rebels for God Sake? + +All these happy and successful Undertakings, tho' 'tis no more to be +doubted they were done by the Agency of _Satan_, and in a very +surprizing Manner too, yet were all done in secret, by what I call +Possession and Injection, and by the Agency and Contrivance of such +Instruments, or by the _Devil_ in the Disguise of such Servants as he +found out fitted to be employ'd in his Work, and who he took a more +effectual Care in concealing of. + +But we shall have Occasion to touch all this Part over again, when we +come to discourse of the particular Habits and Disguises which the +_Devil_ has made use of, all along in the World, the better to cover his +Actions, and to conceal his being concern'd in them. + +In the mean Time the Cunning or Artifice the _Devil_ makes use of in all +these Things is in it self very considerable; 'tis an old Practice of +his using, and he has gone on in diverse Measures, for the better +concealing himself in it; which Measures, tho' he varies sometimes, as +his extraordinary Affairs require, yet they are in all Ages much the +same, and have the same Tendency; namely, that he may get all his +Business carried on by the Instrumentality of Fools; that he may make +Mankind Agents in their own Destruction, and that he may have all his +Work done in such a Manner as that he may seem to have no Hand in it; +nay he contrives so well, that the very Name _Devil_ is put upon his +opposite Party, and the Scandal of the black Agent lies all upon them. + +In order then to look a little into his Conduct, let us enquire into the +common Mistakes about him, see what Use is made of them to his +Advantage, and how far Mankind is imposed upon in those Particulars, and +to what Purpose. + + + + +CHAP. IV. + +_Of Satan's Agents or Missionaries, and their Actings upon and in the + Minds of Men in his Name._ + + +Infinite Advantages attend the _Devil_ in his retired Government, as +they respect the Management of his Interests, and the carrying on his +absolute Monarchy in the World; particularly as it gives him room to act +by the Agency of his inferior Ministers and Messengers, call'd on many +Occasions _his Angels_, of whom he has an innumerable _Multitude_, at +his Command, enough, for ought we know, to spare one to attend every Man +and Woman now alive in the World; and of whom, if we may believe our +second sight Christians, the Air is always as full, as a Beam of the +Evening Sun is of Insects, where they are ever ready for Business, and +to go and come as their great Governor issues out Orders for their +Directions. + +These, as they are all of the same spirituous Quality with himself, and +consequently invisible like him, _except as above_, are ready upon all +Occasions to be sent to _and into_ any such Person, and for such +Purposes, _superior Limitations only excepted_, as the grand Director of +_Devils_, (The _Devil_ properly so call'd guides them;) and be the +Subject or the Object what it will, _that is to say_, be the Person they +are sent to, _or into, as above_, who it will, and the Business the +Messenger is to do what it will, they are sufficiently qualified; for +this is a Particular to Satan's Messengers or Agents, that they are not +like us humane _Devils_ here in the World, some bred up one Way, some +another, some of one Trade, some of another, and consequently some fit +for some Business, some for another, some good for something, and some +good for nothing, but his People are every one fit for every Thing, can +find their Way every where, and are a Match for every Body they are sent +to; in a Word, there are no _foolish Devils_, they are all fully +qualified for their Employment, fit for any thing he sets them about, +and very seldom mistake their Errand or fail in the Business they are +sent to do. + +Nor is it strange at all, that the _Devil_ should have such a numberless +Train of Deputy _Devils_ to act under him; for it must be acknowledged +he has a great deal of Business upon his Hands, a vast deal of Work to +do, abundance of public Affairs under his Direction, and an infinite +Variety of particular Cases always before him; _for Example_. + +How many Governments in the World are wholly in his Administration? how +many Divans and great Councils under his Direction? nay, I believe, +'twould be hard to prove that there is or has been one Council of State +in the World for many hundred Years past, down to the Year 1713, (we +don't pretend to come nearer home) where the _Devil_ by himself, or his +Agents in one Shape or another, has not sat as a Member, if not taken +the Chair. + +And tho' some learn'd Authors may dispute this Point with me, by giving +some Examples where the Councils of Princes have been acted by a better +Hand, and where Things have been carried against _Satan_'s Interest, and +even to his great Mortification, it amounts to no more than this; +namely, that in such Cases the _Devil_ has been out-voted; but it does +not argue but he might have been present there, and have push'd his +Interest as far as he could, only that he had not the Success he +expected; for I don't pretend to say that he has never been +disappointed; but those Examples are so rare, and of so small +Signification, that when I come to the Particulars, as I shall do in the +Sequel of this History, you will find them hardly worth naming; and +that, take it one Time with another, the _Devil_ has met with such a +Series of Success in all his Affairs, and has so seldom been baulk'd; +and where he has met with a little Check in his Politicks, has +notwithstanding, so soon and so easily recover'd himself, regain'd his +lost Ground, or replac'd himself in another Country when he has been +supplanted in one, that his Empire is far from being lessen'd in the +World, for the last thousand Years of the Christian Establishment. + +Suppose we take an Observation from the Beginning of _Luther_, or from +the Year 1420, and call the Reformation a Blow to the _Devil_'s Kingdom, +which before that was come to such a Height in Christendom, that 'tis a +Question not yet thorowly decided, whether that Medley of Superstition +and horrible Heresies, that Mass of Enthusiam and Idols call'd the +Catholick Hierarchy, was a Church of God or a Church of the _Devil_; +whether it was an Assembly of Saints or a Synagogue of Satan: I say, +take that Time to be the _Epocha_ of Satan's Declension and of +Lucifer's falling from Heaven, that is, from the Top of his terrestrial +Glory, yet whether he did not gain in the Defection of the _Greek_ +Church about that Time and since, as much as he lost in the Reformation +of the _Roman_, is what Authors are not yet agreed about, not reckoning +what he has regain'd since of the Ground which he had lost even by the +Reformation, (_viz._) the Countries of the Duke of _Savoy_'s Dominion, +where the Reformation is almost eaten out by Persecution; the whole +_Valtoline_ and some adjacent Countries; the whole Kingdom of _Poland_ +and almost all _Hungary_; for since the last War the Reformation, as it +were, lies gasping for Breath, and expiring in that Country, also +several large Provinces in _Germany_, as _Austria_, _Carinthia_, and the +whole Kingdom of _Bohemia_, where the Reformation once powerfully +planted, receiv'd its Death's Wound at the Battle of _Prague_, _Ann._ +1627, and languish'd but a very little while, died and was buried, and +good King POPERY reign'd in its stead. + +To these Countries thus regain'd to Satan's infernal Empire, let us add +his modern Conquests and the Encroachments he has made upon the +Reformation in the present Age, which are, _however light we make of +them_, very considerable (_viz._) the Electorate of the _Rhine_ and the +_Palatinate_, the one fallen to the House of _Bavaria_, and the other to +that of _Neuburgh_, both Popish; the Dutchy of _Deux Ponts_ fallen just +now to a popish Branch, the whole Electorate of _Saxony_ fallen under +the Power of popish Government by the Apostacy of their Princes, and +more likely to follow the Fate of _Bohemia_, whenever the diligent +_Devil_ can bring his new Project in _Poland_ to bear, as 'tis more than +probable he will do so some time or other, by the growing Zeal as well +as Power of (that House of Bigots) the House of _A----_. + +But to sum up the dull Story; we must add in the Roll of the _Devil_'s +Conquests, the whole Kingdom of _France_, where we have in one Year +seen, to the immortal Glory of the _Devil_'s Politicks, that his +Measures have prevailed to the total Extirpation of the Protestant +Churches without a War; and that Interest which for 200 Years had +supported it self in spight of Persecutions, Massacres, five civil Wars +and innumerable Battles and Slaughters, at last receiv'd its mortal +Wound from its own Champion _Henry_ IV. and sunk into utter Oblivion, by +_Satan_'s most exquisite Management under the Agency of his two prime +Ministers Cardinal _Richlieu_ and _Lewis_ the XIV, whom he entirely +possess'd. + +Thus far we have a melancholy View of the _Devil_'s new Conquests, and +the Ground he has regain'd upon the Reformation, in which his secret +Management has been so exquisite, and his Politicks so good, that could +he bring but one Thing to pass, which by his own former Mistake, (for +the _Devil_ is not infallible) he has rendred impossible, he would bring +the Protestant Interest so near its Ruin, that Heaven would be, _as it +were_, put to the Necessity of working by Miracle to prevent it; _the +Case is thus_. + +Antient Historians tell us, and from good Authority, that the DEVIL +finding it for his Interest to bring his favourite _Mahomet_ upon the +Stage, and spread the victorious Half-Moon upon the Ruin of the Cross, +having with great Success, rais'd first the _Saracen_ Empire, and then +the _Turkish_ to such a Height, as that the Name of Christian seemed to +be extirpated in those two Quarters of the World, which were then not +the greatest only, but by far the most powerful, I mean _Asia_ and +_Africa_; having totally laid wast all those antient and flourishing +Churches of _Africa_, the Labours of St. _Cyprian_, _Tertullian_, St. +_Augustine_, and 670 Christian Bishops and Fathers, who govern'd there +at once, also all the Churches of _Smyrna_, _Philadelphia_, _Ephesus_, +_Sardis_, _Antioch_, _Laodicea_, and innumerable others in _Pontus_, +_Bithynia_, and the Provinces of the lesser _Asia_. + +The _Devil_ having, I say, finish'd these Conquests so much to his +Satisfaction, began to turn his Eyes Northward, and tho' he had a +considerable Interest in the _Whore of Babylon_, and had brought his +Power by the Subjection of the _Roman_ Hierarchy to a great Height, yet +finding the Interest of _Mahomet_ most suitable to his _devilish_ +Purposes, as most adapted to the Destruction of Mankind, and laying +waste the World, he resolv'd to espouse the growing Power of the _Turk_, +and bring him in upon _Europe_ like a Deluge. + +In order to this, and to make Way for an easy Conquest, like a true +_Devil_ he work'd under Ground, and sap'd the Foundation of the +Christian Power, by sowing Discord among the reigning Princes of +_Europe_; that so envying one another they might be content to stand +still and look on while the _Turk_ devoured them one by one, and at last +might swallow them up all. + +This _devilish_ Policy took to his Heart's Content; the Christian +Princes stood still, stupid, dozing, and unconcern'd, till the Turk +conquered _Thrace_, over-run _Servia_, _Macedonia_, _Bulgaria_, and all +the Remains of the _Grecian_ Empire, and at last the Imperial City of +_Constantinople_ it self. + +Finding this politic Method so well answer his Ends, the _Devil_, who +always improves upon the Success of his own Experiments, resolv'd from +that time to lay a Foundation for the making those Divisions and +Jealousies of the Christian Princes immortal; whereas they were at +first only personal, and founded in private Quarrels between the Princes +respectively; such as _Emulation_ of one another's Glory, _Envy_ at the +extraordinary Valour, or other Merit of this or that Leader, or +_Revenge_ of some little Affront; for which notwithstanding, so great +was the Piety of Christian Princes in those Days, that they made no +Scruple to sacrifice whole Armies, yea, Nations, to their Piques and +private Quarrels, _a certain Sign whose Management they were under_. + +These being the Causes by which the DEVIL first sow'd the Seeds of +Mischief among them, and the Success so well answering his Design, he +could not but wish to have the same Advantage always ready at his Hand; +and therefore he resolv'd to order it so, that these Divisions, which, +however useful to him, were only personal, and consequently temporary, +like an Annual in the Garden, which must be rais'd anew every Season, +might for the future be national, and consequently durable and immortal. + +To this end it was necessary to lay the Foundation of eternal Feud, not +in the Humours and Passions of Men only, but in the Interests of +Nations: The Way to do this was to form and state the Dominion of those +Princes, by such a Plan drawn in Hell, and laid out from a Scheme truly +political, of which the _Devil_ was chief Engineer; that the Divisions +should always remain, being made a natural Consequence of the Situation +of the Country, the Temper of their People, the Nature of their +Commerce, the Climate, the Manner of living, or something which should +for ever render it impossible for them to unite. + +This, I say, was a Scheme truly infernal, in which the _Devil_ was as +certainly the principal Operator, to illustrate great Things by small, +as ever _John_ of _Leyden_ was of the High _Dutch_ Rebellion, or Sir +_John B------t_ of the late Project, called the _South-Sea_ Stock. Nor +did this Contrivance of the _Devil_ at all dishonour his Author, or the +Success appear unworthy of the Undertaker; for we see it not only answer +the End, and made the _Turk_ victorious at the same Time, and formidable +to _Europe_ ever after, but it works to this Day, the Foundation of the +Divisions remains in all the several Nations, and that to such a Degree +that it is impossible they should unite. + +This is what I hinted before, in which the _Devil_ was mistaken, and is +another instance that he knows nothing of what is to come; for this very +Foundation of immortal Jealousy and Discord between the several Nations +of _Spain_, _France_, _Germany_, and others, which the _Devil_ himself +with so much Policy contriv'd, and which serv'd his Interests so long, +is now the only Obstruction to his Designs, and prevents the entire Ruin +of the Reformation; for tho' the reform'd Countries are very Powerful, +and some of them, as _Great Britain_ and _Prussia_ is particularly, more +powerful than ever; yet it cannot be said that the Protestant Interests +in general are stronger than formerly, or so strong as they were in 1623 +under the victorious Arms of the _Swede_; On the other Hand, were it +possible that the Popish Powers, to wit, of _France_, _Spain_, +_Germany_, _Italy_ and _Poland_, which are intirely Popish, could +heartily unite their Interests, and should join their Powers to attack +the Protestants, the latter would find it very difficult, if not +impossible, to defend themselves. + +But as fatal as such a Union of the Popish Powers would be, and as +useful as it would be to the _Devil_'s Cause at this time, not the +_Devil_ with all his Angels are able to bring it to pass; no, not with +all his Craft and Cunning; he divided them, but he can't unite them; so +that even just as 'tis with Men, so 'tis with _Devils_, they may do in +an Hour what they can't undo in an Age. + +This may comfort those faint-hearted Christians among us, who cry out of +the Danger of a religious War in _Europe_, and what terrible Things will +happen when _France_, and _Spain_, and _Germany_, and _Italy_, and +_Poland_ shall all unite; let this Answer satisfy them, The _Devil_ +himself can never make _France_ and _Spain_, or _France_ and the Emperor +unite; jarring Humours may be reconcil'd, but jarring Interests never +can: They may unite so as to make Peace, _tho' that can hardly be long_, +but never so as to make Conquests together; they are too much afraid of +one another, for one to bear, that any Addition of Strength should come +to the other. But this is a Digression. We shall find the _Devil_ +mistaken and disappointed too on several other Occasions, as we go +along. + +I return to Satan's Interest in the several Governments and Nations, by +vertue of his Invisibility, and which he carries on by Possession; 'tis +by this Invisibility that he presides in all the Councils of _foreign +Powers_, (for we never mean our own, that we always premise;) and what +tho' it is alledged by the Criticks, that he does not preside, because +there is always a President; I say, if he is not in the President's +Chair, yet if he be in the President himself, the Difference is not +much; and if he does not vote as a Counsellor, if he votes in the +Counsellor, 'tis much the same; and here, as it was in the Story of +_Ahab_ the King of _Israel_, as he was a _lying Spirit_ in the Mouths of +_all his Prophets_, so we find him a Spirit of some particular evil +Quality or other, in all the Transactions and Transactors on that Stage +of Life we call the State. + +Thus he was a dissembling Spirit in _Char._ IX. a turbulent Spirit in +_Char._ V. Emperors; a bigotted Spirit of Fire and Faggot in our Queen +_Mary_; an apostate Spirit in _Hen._ IV.; a cruel Spirit in _Peter_ of +_Castile_; a revengeful Spirit in _Ferdinand_ II.; a _Phaeton_ in +_Lewis_ XIV.; a _Sardanapalus_ in _C------_ II. + +In the Great Men of the World, take them a degree lower than the Class +of Crown'd Heads, he has the same secret Influence; and hence it comes +to pass, that the greatest Heroes, and Men of the highest Character for +Atchievements of Glory, either by their Virtue or Valour, however they +have been crowned with Victories, and elevated by human Tongues, +whatever the most consummate Virtues or good Qualities they have been +known by, yet they have always had some Devil or other in them to +preserve _Satan_'s Claim to them uninterrupted, and prevent their Escape +out of his Hands; thus we have seen a bloody Devil in a _D'Alva_; a +profligate Devil in a _Buckingham_; a lying, artful, or politick Devil +in a _Richlieu_; a treacherous Devil in a _Mazarin_; a cruel, merciless +Devil in a _Cortez_; a debauch'd Devil in an _Eugene_; a conjuring Devil +in a _Luxemburg_; and a covetous Devil in a _M---------h_: In a word, +tell me the Man, I tell you the Spirit that reign'd in him. + +Nor does he thus carry on his secret Management by Possession in Men of +the first Magnitude only, but have you not had Evidences of it among our +selves? how has he been a _lying_ Spirit in the Mouths of our Prophets, +a factious Spirit in the Heads of our Politicians, a profuse _Devil_ in +a _B-----s_, a corrupt Devil in _M-----_, a proud Spirit in my Lord +_Plausible_, a bullying Spirit in my Lord _Bugbear_, a talkative Spirit +in his Grace the D---- of _Rattle-hall_, a scribling Spirit in my Lord +_H------_, a run-away Spirit in my Lord _Frightful_; and so thro' a long +Roll of Heroes, whose exceeding, and particular Qualifications proclaim +loudly what Handle the _Devil_ took them by, and how fast he held them; +for these were all Men of ancient Fame, I hope you know that. + +From Men of Figure, we descend to the Mob, and 'tis there the same +thing; Possession, like the Plague, is _Morbus Plebæi_; not a Family but +he is a Spirit of Strife and Contention among them; not a Man but he has +a Part in him; he is a drunken _Devil_ in one, a whoring _Devil_ in +another, a thieving _Devil_ in a third, a lying _Devil_ in the fourth, +and so on, to a thousand, and a hundred thousand, _ad infinitum_. + +Nay, even the Ladies have their Share in the Possession; and if they +have not the _Devil_ in their Heads, or in their Tails, in their Faces +or their Tongues, it must be some poor despicable She-devil that Satan +did not think it worth his while to meddle with; and the Number of those +that are below his Operation, I doubt is very small. But that Part I +have much more to say to in its Place. + +From Degrees of Persons, to Professions and Employments, 'tis the same; +we find the _Devil_ is a true Posture-master, he assumes any Dress, +appears in any Shape, counterfeits every Voice, acts upon every Stage; +here he wears a Gown, there a long Robe; here he wears the Jack-Boots, +there the Small-Sword; is here an _Enthusiast_, there a _Buffoon_; on +this Side he acts the _Mountebank_, on that Side the _Merry-Andrew_; +nothing comes amiss to him, from the Great _Mogul_, to the _Scaramouch_; +the _Devil_ is in them, more or less, and plays his Game so well that he +makes sure Work with 'em all: He knows where the _Common Foible_ lies, +which is UNIVERSAL PASSION, what Handle to take hold of every Man by, +and how to cultivate his Interest so, as not to fail of his End, or +mistake the Means. + +How then can it be deny'd but that his acting thus _in tenebris_, and +keeping out of the sight of the World, is abundantly his Interest, and +that he could do nothing, comparatively speaking, by any other Method? + +What would this publick Appearance have signified? Who would have +entertain'd him in his own proper Shape and Person? Even B---- _B----_ +himself, tho' all the World knows him to have a foolish _Devil_ in him, +would not have been Fool enough to have taken him into his Service, if +he had known him: And my Lord _Simpleton_ also, who _Satan_ has set up +for a cunning Fool, seems to have it sit much better upon him now he +passes for a Fool of Art, than it should have done if the naked DEVIL +had come and challenged him for a Fool in Nature. + +Infinite Variety illustrate the _Devil_'s Reign among the Sons of Men; +all which he manages with admirable Dexterity, and a Slight particular +to himself, by the mere Advantage of his present conceal'd Situation, +and which, had he been obliged to have appear'd in Publick, had been all +lost, and he capable of just nothing at all, or at least of nothing more +than the other ordinary Politicians of Wickedness could have done +without him. + +Now, Authors are much divided as to the manner how the _Devil_ manages +his proper Instruments for Mischief; for Satan has a great many Agents +in the Dark, who neither have the DEVIL in them, nor are they much +acquainted with him, and yet he serves himself of them, whether of their +Folly, or of that other Frailty call'd Wit, 'tis all one, he makes them +do his Work, when they think they are doing their own; nay, so cunning +is he in his guiding the weak Part of the World, that even when they +think they are serving God, they are doing nothing less or more than +serving the _Devil_; nay, 'tis some of the nicest Part of his Operation, +to make them believe they are serving God, when they do his Work. Thus +those who the Scripture foretold should persecute Christ's Church in the +latter Days, were to think they do God _good Service_: Thus the +Inquisition, (for Example,) it may be, at this time, in all the acts of +Christian Cruelty which they are so famous for (if any of them are +ignorant enough not to know that they are _Devils_ incarnate) they may, +for ought we know, go on for God's sake; torture, murther, starve to +Death, mangle and macerate, and all for God, and God's Catholic Church; +and 'tis certainly the _Devil_'s Master-piece to bring Mankind to such a +Perfection of Devilism as that of the _Inquisition_ is; for _if the_ +Devil _had not been in them_, could they christen such a _Hell-fire_ +Judicature as the _Inquisition_ is, by the Name of _the Holy Office_? +And so in Paganism, how could so many Nations among the poor _Indians_ +offer human Sacrifices to their Idols, and murther thousands of Men, +Women and Children, to appease this God of the Air, when he is angry, if +the _Devil_ did not act in them under the Vizor of Devotion? + +But we need not go to _America_, or to the Inquisition, not to Paganism +or to Popery either, to look for People that are sacrificing to the +_Devil_, or that give their Peace-offerings to him, while they are +offer'd upon God's Altar; are not our Churches (ay, and Meeting-houses +too, as much as they pretend to be more sanctified than their +Neighbours) full of _Devil_ Worshipers? Where do his Devotees gratulate +one another, and congratulate him, more than at Church? where, while +they hold up their Hands, and turn up their Eyes towards Heaven, they +make all their Vows to Satan, or at least to the fair _Devils_ his +Representatives, which I shall speak of in their Place. + +Do not the Sons of God make Assignations with the Daughters of Men in +the very House of Worship? Do they not talk to them in the Language of +the Eyes? And what is at the Bottom of it, while one Eye is upon the +Prayer-book, and the other adjusting their Dress? Are they not +sacrificing to _Venus_ and _Mercury_, nay, and the very _Devil_ they +dress at? + +Let any Man impartially survey the Church-Gestures, the Air, the +Postures and the Behaviour; let him keep an exact Roll, and if I do not +shew him two _Devil_ Worshipers for one true Saint, then the Word +_Saint_ must have another Signification than I ever yet understood it +by. + +The Church (as a Place) is the Receptacle of the Dead, as well as the +Assembly of the Living; what relates to those below, I doubt Satan, if +he would be so kind, could give a better Account of than I can; but as +to the Superficies, I pretend to so much Penetration as to tell you, +that there are more Spectres, more Apparitions always there, than you +that know nothing of the matter may be aware of. + +I happen'd to be at an eminent Place of God's most devout Worship the +other Day, with a Gentleman of my Acquaintance, who, I observed, minded +very little the Business he ought to come about; first I saw him always +busy staring about him and bowing this Way and that Way, nay, he made +two or three bows and Scrapes when he was repeating the Responses to the +Ten Commandments, and assure you he made it correspond strangely, so +that the Harmony was not so broken in upon as you would expect it +should; thus; _Lord_, and a Bow to a fine Lady just come up to her Seat, +_have Mercy upon us_; ---- three Bows to a Throng of Ladies that came +into the next Pew altogether, _and incline_ ---- then stop'd to make a +great Scrape to my Lord ----, _our Hearts_, just then the Hearts of all +the Church were gone off from the Subject, for the Response was over, so +he huddled up the rest in Whispers, for _God a Mighty_ could hear him +well enough, _he said_, nay, as well as if he had spoken as loud as his +Neighbours did. + +After we were come home, I ask'd him what he meant by all this, and what +he thought of it? + +How could I help it, _said he_, I must not be rude. + +What, _says I_, rude to who? + +Why, _says he_, there came in so many she _Devils_ I could not help it. + +What, _said I_, could not you help bowing when you were saying your +Prayers? + +O Sir! _says he_, the Ladies would have thought I had slighted them, I +could not avoid it. + +Ladies! _said I_, I thought you call'd them _Devils_ just now. + +Ay, ay, _Devils_, _said he_, little charming Devils, but I must not be +rude to them however. + +Very well, _said I_, then you would be rude to _God a Mighty_, because +you could not be rude to the Devil? + +Why that's true, _said he_, but what can we do? there's no going to +Church as the Case stands now, if we must not worship the _Devil_ a +little between whiles. + +This is the Case indeed, and Satan carries his Point on every Hand; for +if the fair speaking World, and the fair looking World are generally +_Devils_, that is to say, are in his Management, we are sure the foul +speaking and the foul doing World are all on his Side, and you have then +only the fair-doing Part of the World that are out of his Class, and +when we speak of them, _O how few!_ + +But I return to the _Devil_'s managing our wicked Part, for this he does +with most exquisite Subtilty; and this is one Part of it, (_viz._) he +thrusts our Vices into our Virtues, by which he mixes the Clean and the +Unclean, and thus by the Corruption of the one, poisons and debauches +the other, so that the Slave he governs cannot account for his own +common Actions, and is fain to be oblig'd to his Maker to accept of the +Heart without the Hands and Feet; to take, as we vulgarly express it, +_the Will_ for the _Deed_, and if Heaven was not so good to come into +that half in half Service, I don't see but the _Devil_ would carry away +all his Servants: Here indeed I should enter into a long Detail of +involuntary Wickedness, which in short, is neither more or less than the +_Devil_ in every Body, ay, in every one of you, (our Governors excepted) +take it as you please. + +What is our Language when we look back with Reflection and Reproach on +past Follies? _I think I was bewitch'd_, I was _posses'd_, _certainly +the Devil was in me, or else I had never been such a Sot_: _Devil_ in +you, Sir! Ay, who doubts it; you may be sure the _Devil_ was in you, and +there he is still, and next Time he can catch you in the same Snare, +you'll be just the same SOT that you say you were before. + +In short, the _Devil_ is too cunning for us, and manages us his own Way; +he governs the Vices of Men by his own Methods; tho' every Crime will +not make a Man a _Devil_, yet it must be owned that every Crime puts the +Criminal in some Measure into the Devil's Power, gives him a Title to +the Man, and he treats him magisterially ever after. + +Some tell us every single Man, every individual has a _Devil_ attending +him, to execute the Orders of the (Grand Signior) Devil of the whole +Clan; that this attending _evil Angel_, for so he is call'd, sees every +Step you take, is with you in every Action, prompts you to every +Mischief, and leaves you to do every Thing that is pernicious to your +self; they also alledge that there is a good Spirit which attends him +too, which latter is always accessary to every Thing that we do that is +good, and reluctant to evil; If this is true, how comes it to pass that +those two opposite Spirits do not quarrel about it when they are +pressing us to contrary Actions, one good and the other evil? and why +does the evil tempting Spirit so often prevail? Instead of answering +this difficult Question, I shall only tell you, as to this Story of good +and evil Angels attending every particular Person, 'tis a good Allegory +indeed to represent the Struggle in the Mind of Man between good and +evil Inclinations; but as to the rest, the best Thing I can say of it +is, _that_ I think _'tis a Fib_. + +But to take Things as they are, and only talk by way of natural +Consequence, for to argue from Nature is certainly the best Way to find +out the _Devil_'s Story; if there are good and evil Spirits attending +us, that is to say, a good Angel and a _Devil_, then 'tis no unjust +Reproach upon any Body to say, when they follow the Dictates of the +latter, the _Devil_ is in them; or they are _Devils_; nay, I must carry +it farther still, namely, that as the Generality and greatest Number of +People do follow and obey the evil Spirit and not the good, and that the +predominate Power is allowed to be the nominating Power; you must then +allow, that in short, the greater Part of Mankind has the Devil in +them, and so I come to my Text. + +To this Purpose give me leave to borrow a few Lines of a Friend on this +very Part of the Devil's Management. + + To Places and Persons he suits his Disguises, + And dresses up all his Banditti, + Who as Pickpockets flock to a Country Assizes, + Croud up to the Court and the City. + + They're at every Elbow and every Ear, + And ready at every call, Sir; + The vigilant Scout plants his Agents about, + And has something to do with us all, Sir. + + In some he has Part, and in some he's the Whole, + And of some (like the Vicar of _Baddow_) + It can neither be said they have Body or Soul, + But only are _Devils_ in Shadow. + + The Pretty and Witty, are Devils in Masque, + The Beauties are meer Apparitions; + The homely alone by their Faces are known, + And the Good by their ugly Conditions. + + The Beaus walk about like the Shadows of Men. + And wherever he leads 'em they follow, + But tak'em and shak'em, there's not one in ten + But's as light as a Feather and hollow. + + Thus all his Affairs he drives on in Disguise, + And he tickles Mankind with a Feather: + Creeps in at our Ears, and looks out at our Eyes, + And jumbles our Senses together. + + He raises the Vapours, and prompts the Desires, + And to ev'ry dark Deed holds the Candle; + The Passions enflames and the Appetite fires, + And takes ev'ry Thing by the Handle. + + Thus he walks up and down in compleat Masquerade, + And with every Company mixes, + Sells in every Shop, works at every Trade, + And ev'ry Thing doubtful perplexes. + + +How Satan comes by this governing Influence in the Minds and upon the +Actions of Men, is a Question I am not yet come to, nor indeed does it +so particularly belong to the Devil's History, it seems rather a +Polemick, so it may pass at School among the Metaphysicks, and puzzle +the Heads of our Masters; wherefore I think to write to the learned Dr. +_B----_ about it, imploring his most sublime Haughtiness, that when his +other more momentous Avocations of Pedantry and Pedagogism will give him +an Interval from Wrath and Contention, he will set apart a Moment to +consider human Nature Deviliz'd, and give us a Mathematical Anatomical +Description of it; with a Map of Satan's Kingdom in the Microcosm of +Mankind, and such other Illuminations as to him and his Contemporaries +---- and, ---- _&c._ in their great Wisdom shall seem meet. + + + + +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._ + + +I have adjourn'd, not finished, my Account of the _Devil_'s secret +Management by _Possession_, and shall reassume it, in its Place; but I +must take leave to mention some other Parts of his retir'd Scheme, by +which he has hitherto manag'd Mankind, and the first of these is by that +Fraud of all Frauds call'd Oracle. + +Here his Trumpet yielded an uncertain Sound for some Ages, and like what +he was, and according to what he practised from the Beginning, he +deliver'd out Falshood and Delusion by Retale: The Priests of _Apollo_ +acted this Farce for him to a great Nicety at _Delphos_; there were +divers others at the same Time, and some, which to give the Devil his +due, he had very little Hand in, as we shall see presently. + +There were also some smaller, some greater, some more, some less famous +Places where those Oracles were seated, and Audience given to the +Enquirers, in all which the _Devil_, or some Body for him, _Permissu +Superiorum_, for either vindictive or other hidden Ends and Purposes, +was allow'd to make at least a Pretension to the Knowledge of Things to +come; but, as publick Cheats generally do, they acted in Masquerade, and +gave such uncertain and inconsistent Responses, that they were oblig'd +to use the utmost Art to reconcile Events to the Prediction, even after +things were come to pass. + +Here the Devil was a _lying Spirit_, in a particular and extraordinary +manner, in the Mouths of all the Prophets; and yet he had the Cunning to +express himself so, that whatever happen'd, the Oracle was suppos'd to +have meant as it fell out; and so all their Augurs, Omens and Voices, by +which the Devil amus'd the World, not at that Time only, but since, have +been likewise interpreted. + +_Julian_ the Apostate dealt mightily in these Amusements, but the Devil, +who neither wish'd his Fall, or presag'd it to him, evidenc'd that he +knew nothing of _Julian_'s Fate; for that, as he sent almost to all the +Oracles of the East, and summon'd all the Priests together to inform him +of the Success of his _Persian_ Expedition, they all, like _Ahab_'s +_Prophets_, having a lying Spirit in them, encourag'd him and promis'd +him Success. + +Nay, all the ill Omens which disturb'd him, they presag'd good from; +_for Example_, he was at a prodigious Expence when he was at _Antioch_ +to buy up white Beasts, and white Fowls, for Sacrifices, and for +predicting from the Entrails; from whence the _Antiochians_, in +contempt, call'd him _Victimarius_; but whenever the Entrails foreboded +Evil, the cunning Devil made the Priests put a different Construction +upon them, and promise him Good: When he entred into the Temple of the +_Genij_ to offer Sacrifice, one of the Priests dropt down dead; this, +had it had any Signification more than a Man falling dead of an +Apoplectic, would have signified something fatal to _Julian_, who made +himself a Brother Sacrist or Priest; whereas the Priests turn'd it +presently to signify the Death of his Colleague, the Consul _Sallust_ +which happen'd just at the same Time, tho' eight hundred Miles off; so +in another Case, _Julian_ thought it ominous that he, who was _Augustus_ +should be nam'd with two other Names of Persons, both already dead; the +Case was thus, the Stile of the Emperor was _Julianus Foelix +Augustus_, and two of his principal Officers were _Julianus_ and +_Foelix_; now both _Julianus_ and _Foelix_ died within a few Days of +one another, which disturb'd Him much, who was the third of the three +Names; but his flattering _Devil_ told him it all imported Good to him +(_viz._) that tho' _Julianus_ and _Foelix_ should die, _Augustus_ +should be immortal. + +Thus whatever happen'd, and whatever was foretold, and how much soever +they differ'd from one another, the lying Spirit was sure to reconcile +the _Prediction_ and the _Event_, and make them at least seem to +correspond in Favour of the Person enquiring. + +Now we are told Oracles are ceased, and the _Devil_ is farther limited +for the Good of Mankind, not being allow'd to vent his Delusions by the +Mouths of the Priests and Augurs, as formerly: I will not take upon me +to say how far they are really ceas'd, more than they were before; I +think 'tis much more reasonable to believe there was never any Reality +in them at all, or that any Oracle ever gave out any Answers but what +were the Invention of the Priests and the Delusions of the DEVIL; I have +a great many antient Authors on my Side in this Opinion, as _Eusebius_, +_Tertullian_, _Aristotle_, and others, who as they liv'd so near the +Pagan Times, and when even some of those Rites were yet in Use, they had +much more Reason to know, and could probably pass a better Judgment upon +them; nay _Cicero_ himself ridicules them in the openest manner; again, +other Authors descend to Particular and shew how the Cheat was manag'd +by the Heathen Sacrists and Priests, and in what enthusiastic manner +they spoke; namely, by going into the hollow Images, such as the brazen +Bull and the Image of _Apollo_, and how subtilly they gave out _dubious_ +and _ambiguous_ Answers; that when the People did not find their +Expectations answer'd by the Event, they might be imposed upon by the +Priests, and confidently told they did not rightly understand the +Oracle's Meaning: However, I cannot say but that indeed there are some +Authors of good Credit too, who will have it that there was a real +prophetic Spirit in the Voice or Answers given by the Oracles, and that +oftentimes they were miraculously exact in those Answers; and they give +that of the _Delphic_ Oracle answering the Question which was given +about _Croesus_ for an Example, _viz._ what _Croesus_ was doing at +that time? _to wit_, that he was boiling a Lamb and the Flesh of a +Tortoise together, in a brass Vessel, or Boiler, with a Cover of the +same Metal; that is to say, in a Kettle with a brass Cover. + +To affirm therefore, that they were all Cheats, a Man must encounter +with Antiquity, and set his private Judgment up against an establish'd +Opinion; but 'tis no matter for that; if I do not see any thing in that +receiv'd Opinion capable of Evidence, much less of Demonstration, I must +be allow'd still to think as I do; others may believe as they list; I +see nothing hard or difficult in the Thing; the Priests, who were always +historically inform'd of the Circumstances of the Enquirer, or at least +something about them, might easily find some ambiguous Speech to make, +and put some double _Entendre_ upon them, which upon the Event solv'd +the Credit of the Oracle, were it one way or other; and this they +certainly did, or we have room to think the DEVIL knows less of Things +now than he did in former Days. + +It is true that by these Delusions the Priests got infinite Sums of +Money, and this makes it still probable that they would labour hard, and +use the utmost of their Skill to uphold the Credit of their Oracles; and +'tis a full Discovery, as well of the Subtlety of the Sacrists, as of +the Ignorance and Stupidity of the People, in those early Days of +_Satan_'s Witchcraft; to see what merry Work the _Devil_ made with the +World, and what gross Things he put upon Mankind: Such was the Story of +the _Dordonian_ Oracle in _Epirus_, _viz_. That two _Pigeons_ flew out +of _Thebes_ (_N. B._ it was the _Egyptian Thebes_) from the Temple of +_Belus_, erected there by the antient Sacrists, and that one of these +fled Eastward into _Lybia_, and the Desarts of _Africk_, and the other +into _Greece_, namely, to _Dordona_, and these communicated the divine +Mysteries to one another, and afterwards gave mystical Solutions to the +devout Enquirers; first the _Dordonian_ Pigeon perching upon an Oak +spoke audibly to the People there, that the Gods commanded them to build +an Oracle, or Temple, to _Jupiter_, in that Place; which was accordingly +done: The other Pigeon did the like on the Hill in _Africa_, where it +commanded them to build another to _Jupiter Ammon_, or _Hammon_. + +Wise _Cicero_ contemned all this, and, as Authors tell us, ridiculed the +Answer, which, as I have hinted above, the Oracle gave to _Croesus_ +proving that the Oracle it self was a _Liar_, that it could not come +from _Apollo_, for that _Apollo_ never spoke _Latin_: In a Word, +_Cicero_ rejected them all, and _Demosthenes_ also mentions the Cheats +of the _Oracles_; when speaking of the Oracle of _Apollo_, he said, +_Pithia Philippiz'd_; that is, that when the Priests were brib'd with +Money, they always gave their Answers in favour of _Philip_ of +_Macedon_. + +But that which is most strange to me is, that in this Dispute about the +Reality of Oracles, the Heathen who made use of them are the People who +expose them, and who insist most positively upon their being Cheats and +Impostors, as in particular those mentioned above; while the Christians +who reject them, yet believe they did really foretel Things, answer +Questions, _&c._ only with this Difference, that the Heathen Authors who +oppose them, insist that 'tis all Delusion and Cheat, and charge it upon +the Priests; and the Christian Opposers insist that it was real, but +that the _Devil_, not the Gods, gave the Answers; and that he was +permitted to do it by a superior Power, to magnify that Power in the +total silencing them at last. + +But, as I said before, I am with the Heathen here, against the Christian +Writers, for I take it all to be a Cheat and Delusion: I must give my +Reason for it, or I do nothing; my Reason is this, I insist Satan is as +blind in Matters of Futurity, as we are, and can tell nothing of what is +to come; these Oracles often pretending to predict, could be nothing +else therefore but a Cheat form'd by the Money-getting Priests to amuse +the World, and bring Grist to their Mill: If I meet with any thing in my +Way to open my Eyes to a better Opinion of them, I shall tell it you as +I go on. + +On the other hand, whether the _Devil_ really spake in those Oracles, or +set the cunning Priests to speak for him; whether they predicted, or +only made the People believe they predicted; whether they gave Answers +which came to pass, or prevail'd upon the People to believe that what +was said did come to pass, it was much at one, and fully answer'd the +_Devil_'s End; namely, to amuse and delude the World; and as to do, or +to cause to be done, is the same Part of Speech, so whoever did it, the +_Devil_'s Interest was carried on by it, his Government preserv'd, and +all the Mischief he could desire was effectually brought to pass, so +that every way they were the _Devil_'s Oracles, that's out of the +Question. + +Indeed I have wonder'd sometimes why, since by this Sorcery the _Devil_ +perform'd such Wonders, that is, play'd so many Tricks in the World, and +had such universal Success, he should set up no more of them; but there +might be a great many Reasons given for that, too long to tire you with +at present: 'Tis true, there were not many of them, and yet considering +what a great deal of Business they dispatch'd, it was enough, for six or +eight Oracles were more than sufficient to amuse all the World: The +chief Oracles we meet with in History are among the _Greeks_ and the +_Romans_, _viz._ + + That of _Jupiter Ammon_, in _Lybia_, as above. + + The _Dordonian_, in _Epirus_. + + _Apollo Delphicus_, in the Country of _Phocis_ in _Greece_. + + _Apollo Clavius_, in _Asia Minor_. + + _Serapis_, in _Alexandria_ in _Egypt_. + + _Trophomis_, in _Bæotia_. + + _Sybilla Cumæa_, in _Italy_. + + _Diana_, at _Ephesus_. + + _Apollo Daphneus_, at _Antioch_. + + Besides many of lesser Note, in several other Places, as I have + hinted before. + + +I have nothing to do here with the Story mentioned by _Plutarch_, of a +Voice being heard at Sea, from some of the Islands call'd the +_Echinades_, and calling upon one _Thamuz_, an _Egyptian_, who was on +board a Ship, bidding him, when he came to the _Palodes_, other Islands +in the _Ionian_ Seas, tell them there that the great God PAN was dead; +and when _Thamuz_ perform'd it, great Groanings, and Howlings, and +Lamentation were heard from the Shore. + +This Tale tells but indifferently, tho' indeed it looks more like _a +Christian Fable_, than a Pagan; because it seems as if made to honour +the Christian Worship, and blast all the Pagan Idolatry; and for that +Reason I reject it, the Christian Profession needing no such fabulous +Stuff to confirm it. + +Nor is it true in fact, that the Oracles did cease immediately upon the +Death of Christ; but, as I noted before, the Sum of the Matter is this; +the Christian Religion spreading it self universally, as well as +miraculously, and that too _by the Foolishness of Preaching_, into all +Parts of the World, the Oracles ceas'd; that is to say, their Trade +ceas'd, their Rogueries were daily detected, the deluded People being +better taught, came no more after them, and being asham'd, as well as +discourag'd, they sneak'd out of the World as well as they could; in +short the Customers fell off, and the Priests, who were the Shopkeepers, +having no Business to do, shut up their Shops, broke, and went away; the +Trade and the Tradesmen were hiss'd off the Stage together; so that the +_Devil_, who, it must be confess'd, got infinitely by the Cheat, became +bankrupt, and was oblig'd to set other Engines at work, as other Cheats +and Deceivers do, who when one Trick grows stale, and will serve no +longer, are forc'd to try another. + +Nor was the _Devil_ to seek in new Measures; for tho' he could not give +out his delusive Trash as he did before, in Pomp and State, with the +Solemnity of a Temple and a Set of Enthusiasts call'd Priests, who plaid +a thousand Tricks to amuse the World, he then had Recourse to his old +_Egyptian_ Method, which indeed was more antient than that of Oracles; +and that was by Magic, Sorcery, Familiars, Witchcraft, and the like. + +Of this we find the people of the _South_, that is, of _Arabia_ and +_Chaldea_ were the first, from whence we are told of the Wise Men, that +is to say, Magicians, were call'd _Chaldeans_ and _Southsayers_. Hence +also we find _Ahaziah_ the King of _Israel_ sent to _Baalzebub_ the God +of _Ekron_, to enquire whether he should live or die? This some think +was a kind of an Oracle, tho' others think it was only some over-grown +Magician, who counterfeited himself to be a _Devil_, and obtain'd upon +that Idol-hunting Age to make a Cunning Man of him; and for that Purpose +he got himself made a Priest of _Baalzebub_, the God of _Ekron_, and +gave out Answers in his Name. Thus those merry Fellows in _Egypt_, +_Jannes_ and _Jambres_, are said to mimick _Moses_ and _Aaron_, when +they work'd the miraculous Plagues upon the _Egyptians_; and we have +some Instances in Scripture that support this, such as the Witch of +_Endor_, the King _Manasses_, who dealt with the _Devil_ openly, and had +a Familiar; the Woman mentioned _Acts_ xvi. who had a Spirit of +_Divination_, and who got Money by playing the Oracle; that is, +answering doubtful Questions, _&c._ which Spirit, or _Devil_, the +Apostles cast out. + +Now tho' it is true that the old Women in the World have fill'd us with +Tales, some improbable, others impossible; some weak, some ridiculous, +and that this puts a general Discredit upon all the graver Matrons, who +entertain us with Stories better put together, yet 'tis certain, and I +must be allow'd to affirm, that the _Devil_ does not disdain to take +into his Service many Troops of good _Old Women_, and Old Women-Men too, +who he finds 'tis for his Service to keep in constant Pay; to these he +is found frequently to communicate his Mind, and oftentimes we find them +such Proficients, that they know much more than the _Devil_ can teach +them. + +How far our antient Friend _Merlin_, or the grave Matron his (Satan's) +most trusty and well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor, Mother _Shipton_, +were commissioned by him to give out their prophetic Oracles, and what +degree of Possession he may have arrived to in them upon their Midnight +Excursions, I will not undertake to prove; but that he might be +acquainted with them both, as well as with several of our modern +Gentlemen, I will not deny neither. + +I confess it is not very incongruous with the _Devil_'s Temper, or with +the Nature of his Business, to shift hands; possibly he found that he +had tried the World with Oracular Cheats; that Men began to be forfeited +with them, and grew sick of the Frauds which were so frequently +detected; that it was time to take new Measures, and contrive some new +Trick to Bite the World, that he might not be expos'd to Contempt; or +perhaps he saw the Approach of new Light, which the Christian Doctrine +bringing with it began to spread in the Minds of Men; that it would +out-shine the dim burning _ignis fatuus_, with which he had so long +cheated Mankind, and was afraid to stand it, lest he should be mobb'd +off the Stage by his own People, when their Eyes should begin to open: +That upon this foot he might in Policy withdraw from those old Retreats +the Oracles, and restrain those Responses before they lost all their +Credit; for we find the People seem'd to be at a mighty Loss for some +time, for want of them, so that it made them run up and down to +Conjurers, and _Man-Gossips_, to brazen Heads, speaking Calves, and +innumerable simple Things, so gross that they are scarce fit to be +named, to satisfy the Itch of having their Fortunes told them, as we +call it. + +Now as the DEVIL is very seldom blind to his own Interest, and therefore +thought fit to quit his old way of imposing upon the World by his +Oracles, only because he found the World began to be too wise to be +imposed upon that way; so on the other hand, finding there was still a +Possibility to delude the World, tho' by other Instruments, he no sooner +laid down his Oracles, and the solemn Pageantry, magnificent +Appearances, and other Frauds of his Priests and Votaries, in their +Temples and Shrines; but he set up a new Trade, and having, as I have +said, Agents and Instruments sufficient for any Business that he could +have to employ them in, he begins in Corners, as the learned and merry +Dr. _Brown_ says, and exercises his minor Trumperies by way of his own +contriving, lifting a great Number of new-found Operators, such as +Witches, Magicians, Diviners, Figure-casters, Astrologers, and such +inferior Seducers. + +Now it is true, as that Doctor says, this was running into Corners, as +if he had been expell'd his more triumphant way of giving Audience in +Form, which for so many Ages had been allow'd him; yet I must add, that +as it seem'd to be the DEVIL's own doing, from a right Judgment of his +Affairs, which had taken a new Turn in the World, upon the shining of +new Lights from the Christian Doctrine, so it must be acknowledged the +_Devil_ made himself amends upon Mankind, by the various Methods he +took, and the Multitude of Instruments he employ'd, and perhaps deluded +Mankind in a more fatal and sensible manner than he did before, tho' not +so universally. + +He had indeed before more Pomp and Figure put upon it, and he cheated +Mankind then in a Way of Magnificence and Splendor; but this was not in +above eight or ten principal Places, and not fifty Places in all, public +or private; whereas now fifty thousand of his Angels and Instruments, +visible and invisible, hardly may be said to suffice for one Town or +City; but in short, as his invisible Agents fill the Air, and are at +hand for Mischief on every Emergence, so his visible Fools swarm in +every Village, and you have scarce a Hamlet or a Town but his Emissaries +are at Hand for Business; and which is still worse, in all Places he +finds Business; nay even where Religion is planted and seems to +flourish; yet he keeps his Ground and pushes his Interest according to +what has been said elsewhere upon the same Subject, that wherever +Religion plants, the Devil plants close by it. + +Nor, as I say, does he fail of Success, Delusion spreads like a Plague, +and the Devil is sure of Votaries; like a true Mountebank, he can always +bring a Croud about his Stage, and that some Times faster than other +People. + +What I observe upon this Subject is this, that the World is at a strange +Loss for want of the Devil; if it was not so, what's the Reason, that +upon the silencing the Oracles, and Religion telling them that Miracles +are ceas'd, and that God has done speaking by Prophets, they never +enquire whether Heaven has established any other or new Way of +Revelation, but away they ran with their Doubts and Difficulties to +these Dreamers of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes, and personal Oracles to +be resolv'd; as if when they acknowledge the Devil is dumb, these could +speak; and as if the wicked Spirit could do more than the Good, the +_Diabolical_ more than the _Divine_, or that Heaven having taken away +the DEVIL's Voice, had furnish'd him with an Equivalent, by allowing +Scolds, Termagants, and old weak and superannuated Wretches to speak for +him; for these are the People we go to now in our Doubts and +Emergencies. + +While this Blindness continues among us, 'tis Nonsense to say that +Oracles are silenced, or the _Devil_ is dumb, for the _Devil_ gives +Audience still by his Deputies; only as _Jeroboam_ made Priests of the +meanest of the People, so he is grown a little humble, and makes use of +meaner Instruments than he did before; for whereas the Priests of +_Apollo_, and of _Jupiter_, were splendid in their Appearance, of grave +and venerable Aspect, and sometimes of no mean Quality; now he makes use +of Scoundrels and Rabble, Beggars and Vagabonds, old Hags, superannuated +miserable Hermits, Gypsies and Strollers, the Pictures of Envy and ill +Luck. + +Either the _Devil_ is grown an ill Master, and gives but mean Wages, +that he can get no better Servants; or else Common Sense is grown very +low priz'd and contemptible; that such as these are fit Tools to +continue the Succession of Fraud, and carry on the _Devil_'s Interest in +the World; for were not the Passions and Temper of Mankind deeply +pre-engaged in favour of this dark Prince, we could never suffer our +selves to accept of his Favours by the Hands of such contemptible Agents +as these! How do we receive his Oracles from an old Witch of particular +Eminence, and who we believe to be more than ordinarily inspir'd from +Hell; I say, we receive the Oracle with Reverence; that is to say, with +a kind of Horror, with regard to the Black Prince it comes from, and at +the same time turn our Faces away from the Wretch that mumbles out the +Answers, lest she should cast an _Evil Eye_, as we call it, upon us, and +put a Devil into us when she plays the _Devil_ before us? How do we +listen to the Cant of those worst of Vagabonds the _Gypsies_, when at +the same time we watch our Hedges and Hen-roosts for fear of their +thieving? + +Either the DEVIL uses us more like Fools than he did our Ancestors, or +we really are worse Fools than those Ages produced, for they were never +deluded by such low-priz'd _Devils_ as we are; by such despicable +_Bridewell_ DEVILS, that are fitter for a Whipping-post than an Altar, +and instead of being receiv'd as the Voice of an Oracle, should be sent +to the House of Correction for Pick-pockets. + +Nor is this accidental, and here and there one of these Wretches to be +seen, but in short, if it has been in other Nations as it is with us, I +do not see that the DEVIL was able to get any better People into his +Pay, or at least very rarely: Where have we seen any thing above a +Tinker turn Wizard? and where have we had a Witch of Quality among us, +Mother _Je------gs_ excepted? and if she had not been more of something +else than a Witch, 'twas thought she had never got so much Money by her +Profession. + +Magicians, Southsayers, Devil-raisers, and such People, we have heard +much of, but seldom above the Degree of the meanest of the mean People, +the lowest of the lowest Rank: Indeed the Word _Wise Men_, which the +_Devil_ wou'd fain have had his Agents honour'd with, was used a while +in _Egypt_, and in _Persia_, among the _Chaldeans_, but it continued but +a little while, and never reach'd so far Northward as our Country; nor, +however the _Devil_ has managed it, have many of our great Men, who have +been most acquainted with him, ever been able to acquire the Title of +Wise Men. + +I have heard that in older Times, I suppose in good Queen _Bess_'s Days, +or beyond, (for little is to be said here for any thing on this Side of +her time) there were some Counsellors and Statesmen who merited the +Character of _wise_, in the best Sense; that is to say, _good_, and +_wise_, as they stand in Conjunction; but as to what has happen'd since +that, or, as we may call it, from that Queen's Funeral to the late +Revolution, I have little to say; but I'll tell you what honest _Andrew +Marvel_ said of those Times, and by that you may, if you please, make +your Calculation or let it alone, 'tis all one. + + "To see a white Staff-maker, a Beggar, a Lord, + "And scarce _a wise Man_ at a long Council-Board. + + +But I may be told this relates to wise Men in another Constitution, or +wise Men as they are opposed to Fools; whereas we are talking of them +now under another Class, namely, as _Wisemen_ or Magicians, +South-sayers, _&c._ such as were in former Times call'd by that Name. + +But to this I answer, that take them in which Sense you please, it may +be the same; for if I were to ask the _Devil_ the Character of the best +States-man he had employ'd among us for many Years past, I am apt to +think that tho' Oracles are ceased, he would honestly, according to the +old ambiguous Way, when I ask'd if they were Christians, answer they +were (his) _Privy-Counsellors_. + +It is but a little while ago, that I happen'd (in Conversation) to meet +with a long List of the Magistrates of that Age, in a neighbouring +Country, that is to say, the Men of Fame among them; and it was a very +diverting Thing to see the Judgment which was pass'd upon them among a +great deal of good Company; it is not for me to tell you how many white +Staves, Golden Keys, Mareshals Batoons, Cordons Blue, Gordon Rouge and +Gordon Blanc, there were among them, or by what Titles, as Dukes, +Counts, Marquis, Abbot, Bishop, or Justice they were to be +distinguish'd; but the marginal Notes I found upon most of them were +(being mark'd with an Asterism) as follows. + +Such a Duke, such eminent Offices added to his Titles (* in the Margin) +------ _No Saint_. + +Such an Arch---- with the Title of Noble added, ------ _No Archangel_. + +Such an eminent Statesman and prime Minister, ------ _No Witch_. + +Such a Ribbon with a Set of great Letters added, ------ _No Conjurer_. + +It presently occurr'd to me that tho' Oracles were ceased, and we had +now no more double _Entendre_ in such a Degree as before, yet that +ambiguous Answers were not at an End; and that whether those Negatives +were meant so by the Writers, or not, 'twas certain Custom led the +Readers to conclude them to be Satyrs, that they were to be rung +backwards like the Bells when the Town's on fire; tho' in short, I durst +not read them backward any where, but as speaking of foreign People, for +fear of raising the _Devil_ I am talking of. + +But to return to the Subject; to such mean Things is the DEVIL now +reduc'd in his ordinary Way of carrying on his Business in the World, +that his Oracles are deliver'd now by the Bellmen and the +Chimney-Sweepers, by the meanest of those that speak in the Dark, and if +he operates by them, you may expect it accordingly; his Agents seem to +me as if the DEVIL had singl'd them out by their Deformity, or that +there was something particular requir'd in their Aspect to qualify them +for their Employment; whence it is become proverbial, when our Looks are +very dismal and frightful, to say, I look like a Witch, or in other +Cases to say, as ugly as a Witch; in another Case to look as envious as +a Witch; now whether there is any Thing particularly requir'd in the +Looks of the DEVIL's modern Agents, which is assisting in the Discharge +of their Offices, and which make their Answers appear more solemn, this +the _Devil_ has not yet reveal'd, at least not to me; and therefore why +it is that he singles out such Creatures as are fit only to fright the +People that come to them with their Enquiries, I do not take upon me to +determine. + +Perhaps it is necessary they should be thus extraordinary in their +Aspect, that they might strike an Awe into the Minds of their Votaries, +as if they were Satan's true and real Representatives; and that the said +Votaries may think when they speak to the Witches they are really +talking to the _Devil_; or perhaps 'tis necessary to the Witches +themselves, that they should be so exquisitely ugly, that they might not +be surpriz'd at whatever Figure the Devil makes when he first appears to +them, being certain they can see nothing uglier than themselves. + +Some are of the Opinion that the Communication with the _Devil_, or +between the Devil and those Creatures his Agents, has something +assimulating in it, and that if they were tolerable before, they are, +_ipso facto_, turn'd into DEVILS by talking with him; I will not say but +that a Tremor in the Limbs, a Horror in the Aspect, and a surprizing +Stare in the Eyes may seize upon some of them when they really see the +DEVIL, and that the frequent Repetition may make those Distortions, +which we so constantly see in their Faces becomes natural to them; by +which if it does not continue always upon the Countenance, they can at +least, _like the Posture-Masters_, cast themselves into such Figures and +frightful Dislocations of the Lines and Features in their Faces, and so +assume a Devil's Face suitable to the Occasion, or as may serve the turn +for which they take it up, and as often as they have any use for it. + +But be it which of these the Enquirer pleases, 'tis all one to the Case +in Hand; this is certain, that such deform'd _Devil-like_ Creatures, +most of those we call _Hags_ and _Witches_, are in their Shapes and +Aspects, and that they give out their Sentences and frightful Messages +with an Air of Revenge for some Injury receiv'd; for Witches are fam'd +chiefly for doing Mischief. + +It seems the _Devil_ has always pick'd out the most ugly and frightful +old Women to do his Business; _Mother Shipton_, our famous _English_ +Witch or Prophetess, is very much wrong'd in her Picture, if she was not +of the most terrible Aspect imaginable; and if it be true that _Merlin_, +the famous _Welch_ Fortune-Teller, was a frightful Figure, it will seem +the more rational to believe, if we credit another Story, (_viz._) that +he was begotten by the Devil himself, of which I shall speak by it self: +But to go back to the Devil's Instruments being so ugly; it may be +observed, I say, that the Devil has always dealt in such sort of Cattle; +the _Sybils_, of whom so many strange prophetic Things are recorded, +whether true or no is not to the Question, are (if the _Italian_ +Painters may have any Credit given them) all represented as very old +Women; and as if Ugliness were a Beauty to old Age, they seem to paint +them out as ugly and frightful as (not they, the Painters) but even as +the Devil himself could make them; not that I believe there are any +original Pictures of them really extant; but it is not unlikely that the +_Italians_ might have some traditional Knowledge of them, or some +remaining Notions of them, or particularly that antient _Sybil_ named +_Anus_, who sold the fatal Book to _Tarquin_; 'tis said of her that +_Tarquin_ supposed she doated with Age. + +I had Thoughts indeed here to have entred into a learned Disquisition of +the Excellency of old Women in all diabolical Operations, and +particularly of the Necessity of having recourse to them for _Satan_'s +more exquisite Administration, which also may serve to solve the great +Difficulty in the natural Philosophy of Hell; namely, why it comes to +pass that the Devil is oblig'd for want of old Women, properly so +call'd, to turn so many antient Fathers, grave Counsellors both of Law +and State, and especially Civilians or Doctors of the Law into old +Women, and how the extraordinary Operation is perform'd; but this, as a +Thing of great Consequence in Satan's Management of humane Affairs, and +particularly as it may lead us into the necessary History, as well as +Characters of some of the most eminent of these Sects among us, I have +purposely reserv'd for a Work by it self, to be published, if _Satan +hinders not_, in fifteen Volumes in Folio, wherein I shall in the first +Place define in the most exact Manner possible, what is to be understood +by a _Male old Woman_, of what heterogeneous Kind they are produced, +give you the monstrous Anatomy of the Parts, and especially those of the +Head, which being fill'd with innumerable Globules of a sublime Nature, +and which being of a fine Contexture without, but particularly hollow in +the Cavity, defines most philosophically that antient paradoxical +Saying, (_viz._) _being full of Emptiness_, and makes it very consistent +with Nature and common Sense. + +I shall likewise spend some Time, _and it must be Labour too, I assure +you, when 'tis done_, in determining whether this new Species of +Wonderfuls are not deriv'd from that famous _old Woman Merlin_, which I +prove to be very reasonable for us to suppose, because of the many +several judicious Authors, who affirm the said _Merlin_, as I hinted +before, to have been begotten by the _Devil_. + +As to the deriving his Gift of Prophesy from the Devil, by that +pretended Generation, I shall omit that Part, because, as I have all +along insisted upon it, that Satan himself has no prophetic or +predicting Powers of his own, it is not very clear to me that he could +convey it to his Posterity, _nil dat quod not habet_. + +However, in deriving this so much magnified Prophet in a right Line from +the _Devil_, much may be said in favour of his ugly Face, in which it +was said he was very remarkable, for it is no new Thing for a Child to +be like the Father; but all these weighty Things I adjourn for the +present, and proceed to the Affair in Hand, namely, the several Branches +of the _Devil_'s Management since his quitting his Temples and Oracles. + + + + +CHAP. VI. + +_Of the extraordinary Appearance of the_ Devil, _and particularly of the + Cloven-Foot._ + + +Some People would fain have us treat this Tale of the _Devil_'s +appearing with a Cloven-Foot with more Solemnity than I believe the +_Devil_ himself does; for Satan, who knows how much of a Cheat it is, +must certainly ridicule it, in his own Thoughts, to the last Degree; but +as he is glad of any Way to hoodwink the Understandings, and bubble the +weak Part of the World; so if he sees Men willing to take every +Scarecrow for a Devil, it is not his Business to undeceive them; on the +other Hand, he finds it his Interest to foster the Cheat, and serve +himself of the Consequence: Nor could I doubt but the Devil, if any +Mirth be allow'd him, often laughs at the many frightful Shapes and +Figures we dress him up in, and especially to see how willing we are +first to paint him as black, and make him appear as ugly as we can, and +then stare and start at the Spectrum of our own making. + +The Truth is, that among all the Horribles that we dress up Satan in, I +cannot but think we shew the least of Invention in this of a Goat, or a +Thing with a Goat's Foot, of all the rest; for tho' a Goat is a Creature +made use of by our Saviour in the Allegory of the Day of Judgment, and +is said there to represent the wicked rejected Party, yet it seems to be +only on Account of their Similitude to the Sheep, and so to represent +the just Fate of Hypocrisy and Hypocrites, and in particular to form the +necessary Antithesis in the Story; for else, _our whimsical Fancies +excepted_, a Sheep or a Lamb has a Cloven-Foot as well as a Goat; nay, +if the Scripture be of any Value in the Case, 'tis to the _Devil_'s +Advantage, for the dividing the Hoof was the distinguishing Character or +Mark of a clean Beast, and how the Devil can be brought into that Number +is pretty hard to say. + +One would have thought if we had intended to have given a just Figure of +the _Devil_, it would have been more apposite to have rank'd him among +the Cat-kind, and given him a Foot (if he is to be known by his Foot) +like a Lion, or like a _red Dragon_, being the same Creatures which he +is represented by in the Text, and so his Claws would have had some +Terror in them as well as his Teeth. + +But neither is the _Goat_ a true Representative of the Devil at all, for +we do not rank the Goats among the Subtle or cunning Part of the Brutes; +he is counted a fierce Creature indeed of his Kind, tho' nothing like +those other abovemention'd; and he is emblematically used to represent a +lustful Temper, but even that Part does not fully serve to describe the +Devil, whose Operation lies principally another Way. + +Besides it is not the _Goat_ himself that is made use of, 'tis the +Cloven-Hoof only, and that so particularly, that the _Cloven Foot_ of a +Ram or a Swine, or any other Creature, may serve as well as that of a +_Goat_, only that History gives us some Cause to call it the _Goat_'s +_Foot_. + +In the next Place 'tis understood by us not as a bare Token to know +_Satan_ by, but as if it were a Brand upon him, and that like the Mark +God put upon _Cain_, it was given him for a Punishment, so that he +cannot get leave to appear without it, nay cannot conceal it whatever +other Dress or Disguise he may put on; and as if it was to make him as +ridiculous as possible, they will have it be, that whenever _Satan_ has +Occasion to dress himself in any humane Shape, be it of what Degree +soever, from the King to the Beggar, be it of a fine Lady or of an _old +Woman_, (the Latter it seems he oftenest assumes) yet still he not only +must have this _Cloven-Foot_ about him, but he is oblig'd to shew it +too; nay, they will not allow him any Dress, whether it be a Prince's +Robes, a Lord Cha---r's Gown, or a Lady's Hoop and long Petticoats, but +the Cloven-Foot must be shew'd from under them; they will not so much as +allow him an artificial _Shoe_ or a _Jack-Boot_, as we often see +contriv'd to conceal a _Club-Foot_ or a _Wooden-Leg_; but that the +_Devil_ may be known wherever he goes, he is bound to shew his Foot; +they might as well oblige him to set a Bill upon his Cap, as Folks do +upon a House to be let, and have it written in capital Letters, _I am +the_ DEVIL. + +It must be confess'd this is very particular, and would be very hard +upon the _Devil_, if it had not another Article in it, which is some +Advantage to him, and that is, that _the Fact is not true_; but the +Belief of this is so universal, that all the World runs away with it; by +which Mistake the good People miss the _Devil_ many times where they +look for him, and meet him as often where they did not expect him, and +when for want of this Cloven-Foot they do not know him. + +Upon this very Account I have sometimes thought, not that this has been +put upon him by meer Fancy, and the Cheat of a heavy Imagination, +propagated by Fable and Chymny-Corner Divinity, but that it has been a +Contrivance of his own; and that, in short, the Devil rais'd this +Scandal upon himself, that he might keep his Disguise the better, and +might go a Visiting among his Friends without being known; for were it +really so, that he could go no where without this particular Brand of +Infamy, he could not come into Company, could not dine with my Lord +Mayor, nor drink Tea with the Ladies, could not go to the Drawing-R---- +at ------, could not have gone to _Fountainbleau_ to the King of +_France_'s Wedding, or to the Diet of _Poland_, to prevent the Grandees +there coming to an Agreement; nay, _which would be still worse than +all_, he could not go to the Masquerade, nor to any of our Balls; the +Reason is plain, he would be always discover'd, expos'd and forc'd to +leave the good Company, or which would be as bad, the Company would all +cry out the _Devil_ and run out of the Room as if they were frighted; +nor could all the Help of Invention do him any Service, no Dress he +could put on would cover him; not all our Friends at _Tavistock Corner_ +could furnish him with a Habit that would disguise or conceal him, this +unhappy Foot would spoil it all: Now this would be a great a Loss to +him, that I question whether he could carry on any of his most important +Affairs in the World without it; for tho' he has access to Mankind in +his compleat Disguise, I mean that of his Invisibility, yet the Learned +very much agree in this, that his corporal Presence in the World is +absolutely necessary upon many Occasions, to support his Interest and +keep up his Correspondences, and particularly to encourage his Friends +when Numbers are requisite to carry on his Affairs; but this Part I +shall have Occasion to speak of again, when I come to consider him as a +Gentleman of Business in his Locality, and under the Head of visible +Apparition; but I return to the _Foot_. + +As I have thus suggested that the Devil himself has politically spread +about this Notion concerning his appearing with _a Cloven-Foot_, so I +doubt not that he has thought it for his Purpose to paint this +_Cloven-Foot_ so lively in the Imaginations of many of our People, and +especially of those clear sighted Folks who see the _Devil_ when he is +not to be seen, that they would make no Scruple to say, nay and to make +Affidavit too, even before _Satan_ himself, whenever he sat upon the +Bench, that they had seen his Worship's Foot at such and such a Time; +this I advance the rather because 'tis very much for his Interest to do +this, for if we had not many Witnesses, _viva voce_, to testify it, we +should have had some obstinate Fellows always among us, who would have +denied the Fact, or at least have spoken doubtfully of it, and so have +rais'd Disputes and Objections against it, as impossible, or at least as +improbable; buzzing one ridiculous Notion or other into our Ears, as if +the Devil was not so black as he was painted, that he had no more a +_Cloven-Foot_ than a Pope, whose Apostolical Toes have so often been +reverentially kiss'd by Kings and Emperors: but now alas this Part is +out of the Question, not the Man in the Moon, not the Groaning-Board, +not the speaking of Fryar _Bacon_'s Brazen-Head, not the Inspiration of +_Mother Shipton_, or the Miracles of Dr. _Faustus_, Things as certain as +Death and Taxes, can be more firmly believ'd: The Devil not have a +Cloven-Foot! I doubt not but I could, in a short Time, bring you a +thousand old Women together, that would as soon believe there was no +Devil at all; nay, they will tell you, he could not be a Devil without +it, any more than he could come into the Room, and the Candles not burn +blue, or go out and not leave a smell of Brimstone behind him. + +Since then the Certainty of the Thing is so well establish'd, and there +are so many good and substantial Witnesses ready to testify that he has +a Cloven-Foot, and that they have seen it too; nay, and that we have +Antiquity on our Side, for we have this Truth confirm'd by the Testimony +of many Ages; why should we doubt it any longer? we can prove that many +of our Ancestors have been of this Opinion, and divers learn'd Authors +have left it upon Record, as particularly that learned Familiarist +Mother _Hazel_, whose Writings are to be found in MS. in the famous +Library at _Pye-Corner_; also the admir'd _Joan_ of _Amesbury_, the +History of the _Lancashire_ Witches, and the Reverend Exorcist of the +_Devil_'s of _London_, whose History is extant among us to this Day; all +these and many more may be quoted, and their Writings referr'd to for +the Confirmation of the Antiquity of this Truth; but there seems to be +no Occasion for farther Evidence, 'tis enough, _Satan_ himself, if he +did not raise the Report, yet tacitly owns the Fact, at least he appears +willing to have it believ'd, and be receiv'd as a general Truth for the +Reasons above. + +But besides all this, and as much a Jest as some unbelieving People +would have this Story pass for, who knows but that if _Satan_ is +empower'd to assume any Shape or Body, and to appear to us visibly, as +if really so shap'd; I say, who knows but he may, by the same Authority, +be allow'd to assume the Addition of the Cloven-Foot, or two or four +Cloven-Feet, if he pleased? and why not a _Cloven-Foot_ as well as any +other Foot, if he thinks fit? For if the _Devil_ can assume a Shape, and +can appear to Mankind in a visible Form, it may, I doubt not, with as +good Authority be advanc'd that he is left at Liberty to assume what +Shape he pleases, and to choose _what Case of Flesh and Blood he'll +please to wear_, whether real or imaginary; and if this Liberty be +allow'd him, it is an admirable Disguise for him to come generally with +his _Cloven-Foot_, that when he finds it for his Purpose, on special +Occasions to come without it, as I said above, he may not be suspected; +_but take this with you as you go_, that all this is upon a Supposition +that the _Devil_ can assume a visible Shape, and make a real Appearance, +which however I do not yet think fit to grant or deny. + +Certain it is, the first People who bestow'd a _Cloven-Foot_ upon the +Devil, were not so despicable as you may imagine, but were real +Favourites of Heaven; for did not _Aaron_ set up the _Devil_ of a Calf +in the Congregation, and set the People a dancing about it for a God? +Upon which Occasion, Expositors tell us, that particular Command was +given, _Levit._ xvii. 7. _They shall no more offer their Sacrifices +unto_ Devils, _after whom they have gone a Whoring_; likewise King +_Jeroboam_ set up the two Calves, one at _Dan_ and the other at +_Bethel_, and we find them charg'd afterwards with setting up the +Worship of _Devils_ instead of the Worship of _God_. + +After this we find some Nations actually sacrificed to the _Devil_ in +the Form of a Ram, and others of a Goat; from which, and that above of +the Calves at _Horeb_, I doubt not the Story of the _Cloven-Foot_ first +derived; and it is plain that the Worship of that Calf at _Horeb_ is +meant in the Scripture quoted above, _Levit._ xvii. 7. _Thou shalt no +more offer Sacrifices unto Devils_: The Original is _Seghnirim_; that +is, rough and hairy _Goats_ or _Calves_; and some think also in this +Shape the _Devil_ most ordinarily appeared to the _Egyptians_ and +_Arabians_, from whence it was derived. + +Also in the old Writings of the _Egyptians_, I mean their hieroglyphick +Writing, before the Use of Letters was known, we are told this was the +Mark that he was known by; and the Figure of a _Goat_ was the +_Hieroglyphick_ of the _Devil_; some will affirm that the _Devil_ was +particularly pleased to be so represented; how they came by their +Information, and whether they had it from his own Mouth or not, Authors +have not yet determined. + +But be this as it will, I do not see that _Satan_ could have been at a +Loss for some extraordinary Figure to have banter'd Mankind with, tho' +this had not been thought of; but thinking of the _Cloven-Foot_ first, +and the Matter being indifferent, this took place, and easily rooted it +self in the bewildred Fancy of the People, and now 'tis riveted too fast +for the _Devil_ himself to remove it if he was disposed to try; but as I +said above, 'tis none of his Business to solve Doubts or remove +Difficulties out of our Heads, but to perplex us with more, as much as +he can. + +Some People carry this Matter a great deal higher still, and will have +the _Cloven-Foot_ be like the great Stone which the _Brasilian +Conjurers_ used to solve all difficult Questions upon, after having used +a great many monstrous and barbarous Gestures and Distortions of their +Bodies, and cut certain Marks or magical Figures upon the Stone; so, _I +say_, they will have this Cloven-Foot be a kind of a Conjuring-Stone, +and tell us, that in former Times, when _Satan_ drove a greater Trade +with Mankind in publick, than he has done of late, he gave this +_Cloven-Foot_ as a Token to his particular Favourites to work Wonders +with, and to conjure by, and that Witches, Fairies, Hobgoblins, and such +Things, of which the Antients had several Kinds, at least in their +Imagination, had all a _Goat's Leg_ with a _Cloven-Foot_ to put on upon +extraordinary Occasions; it seems this Method is of late grown out of +Practice, and so like the melting of Marble and the painting of Glass, +'tis laid aside among the various useful Arts which History tells us are +lost to the World; what may be practised in the Fairy World, if such a +Place there be, we can give no particular Account at present. + +But neither is this all, for other wou'd-be-wise People take upon them +to make farther and more considerable Improvements upon this Doctrine of +the _Cloven-Foot_, and treat it as a most significant Instrument of +Satan's private Operation, and that as _Joseph_ is said to _Divine_, +that is to say, to _conjure_ by his Golden Cup which was put into +_Benjamin_'s Sack, so the _Devil_ has managed several of his secret +Operations, and Possessions, and other hellish Mechanisms upon the +Spirits as well as Bodies of Men, by the Medium or Instrumentality of +the _Cloven-Foot_; accordingly it had a Kind of an hellish Inspiration +in it, and a separate and magical Power by which he wrought his infernal +Miracles; that the Cloven-Foot had a superior Signification, and was not +only emblematic and significative of the Conduct of Men, but really +guided their Conduct in the most important Affairs of Life; and that the +Agents the Devil employ'd to influence Mankind, and to delude them and +draw them into all the Snares and Traps that he lays continually for +their Destruction, were equipp'd with this Foot in Aid of their other +Powers for Mischief. + +Here they read us learn'd Lectures upon the sovereign Operations which +the Devil is at present Master of, in the Government of human Affairs; +and how the Cloven-Foot is an Emblem of the true _double Entendre_ or +divided Aspect, which the great Men of the World generally act with, and +by which all their Affairs are directed; from whence it comes to pass +that there is no such Thing as a single hearted Integrity, or an +upright Meaning to be found in the World; that Mankind, worse than the +ravenous Brutes, preys upon his own Kind, and devours them by all the +laudable Methods of Flattery, Whyne, Cheat and Treachery; _Crocodile +like_, weeping over those it will devour, destroying those it smiles +upon, and, in a Word, devours its own Kind, which the very Beasts +refuse, and that by all the Ways of Fraud and Allurement that _Hell_ can +invent; holding out a cloven divided Hoof, or Hand, pretending to save, +when the very Pretence is made use of to ensnare and destroy. + +Thus the divided Hoof is the Representative of a divided double Tongue, +and Heart, an Emblem of the most exquisite Hypocrisy, the most fawning +and fatally deceiving Flattery; and here they give us very diverting +Histories, tho' tragical in themselves, of the manner which some of the +_Devil_'s inspired Agents have manag'd themselves under the especial +Influence of the _Cloven-Foot_; how they have made War under the +Pretence of Peace, murther'd Garrisons under the most sacred +Capitulations, massacred innocent Multitudes after Surrenders to Mercy. + +Again, they tell us the _Cloven-Foot_ has been made use of in all +Treasons, Plots, Assassinations, and secret as well as open Murthers and +Rebellions. Thus _Joab_ under the Treason of an Embrace, shew'd how +dexterously he could manage the _Cloven-Foot_, and struck _Abner_ under +the fifth Rib: Thus _David_ play'd the Cloven-Foot upon poor _Uriah_, +when he had a Mind to lie with his Wife: Thus _Brutus_ play'd it upon +_Cæsar_; and to come nearer home, we have had a great many retrograde +Motions in this Country by this magical Implement the _Foot_; Such as +that of the Earl of _Essex_'s Fate, beheading the Queen of _Scots_, and +diverse others in Queen _Elizabeth_'s Time: That of the Earl of +_Shrewsbury_ and Sir _Thomas Overbury_, _Gondamor_ and Sir _Walter +Raleigh_, and many others in King _James_ the I.'s Time; in all which, +if the Cloven-Foot had not been dexterously manag'd, those Murthers had +not been so dexterously manag'd, or the Murtherers have so well been +skreen'd from Justice; for which and the imprecated Justice of Heaven +unappeased, some have thought the innocent Branches of the Royal House +of _Stuart_ did not fare the better in the Ages which follow'd. + +It must be confess'd, the Cloven-Foot was in its full Exercise in the +next Reign, and the Generation that rose up immediately after them, +arrived to the most exquisite Skill for Management of it; here they +fasted and pray'd, there they plunder'd and murther'd; here they rais'd +War for the King, and there they fought against him, cutting Throats for +_God's Sake_, and deposing both King and kingly Government according to +Law. + +Nor was the _Cloven-Foot_ unemployed on all Sides, for 'tis the main +Excellency of this Instrument of Hell, that it acts on every Side, it is +its denominating Quality, and is for that Reason call'd a cloven or +divided Hoof. + +This mutilated Apparition has been so publick in other Countries too, +that it seems to convince us the Devil is not confin'd to _England_ +only, but that as his Empire extended to all the sublunary World, so he +gives them all Room to see he is qualified to manage them his own Way. + +What abundant Use did that Prince of Dissemblers, _Charles_ V. make of +this Foot? 'twas by the Help of this Apparition of the Foot that he +baited his Hook with the City of _Milan_, and tickled _Francis_ I. of +_France_ so well with it, that when he pass'd thro' _France_, and was in +that King's Power, he let him go, and never get the Bait off of the Hook +neither; it Seems the _Foot_ was not on King _Francis_'s Side at that +Time. + +How cruelly did _Philip_ II. of _Spain_ manage this Foot in the Murther +of the Nobility of the _Spanish Netherlands_, the Assassination of the +Prince of _Orange_, and at last: in that of his own Son _Don Carlos_ +Infant of _Spain_? and yet such was the _Devil_'s Craft, and so nicely +did he bestir his _Cloven-Hoof_, that this Monarch died consolated (tho' +impenitent) in the Arms of the Church, and with the Benediction of the +Clergy too, _those second best Managers of the said Hoof in the World_. + +I must acknowledge, I agree with this Opinion thus far; namely, that the +Devil acting by this Cloven-Foot, as a Machine, has done great Things in +the World for the propagating his dark Empire among us; and History is +full of Examples, besides the little low priz'd Things done among us; +for we are come to such a Kind of Degeneracy in Folly, that we have even +dishonour'd the _Devil_, and put this glorious Engine the Cloven-Foot to +such mean Uses, that the _Devil_ himself seems to be asham'd of us. + +But to return a little to foreign History, besides what has been +mention'd above, we find flaming Examples of most glorious Mischief done +by this Weapon, when put into the Hands of Kings and Men of Fame in the +World: How many Games have the Kings of _France_ play'd with this +_Cloven-Foot_, and that within a few Years of one another? First, +_Charles_ IX. play'd the _Cloven-Foot_ upon _Gaspar Coligni_ Admiral of +_France_, when he caress'd him, complimented him, invited him to +_Paris_, to the Wedding of the King of _Navarre_, call'd him Father, +kiss'd him, and when he was wounded sent his own Surgeons to take Care +of him, and yet three Days after order'd him to be assassinated and +murther'd, used with a thousand Indignities, and at last thrown out of +the Window into the Street to be insulted by the Rabble? + +Did not _Henry_ III. in the same Country, play the Cloven-Foot upon the +Duke of _Guise_, when he call'd him to his Council, and caus'd him to be +murther'd as he went in at the Door? The _Guises_ again plaid the same +Game back upon the King, when they sent out a _Jacobin_ Friar to +assassinate him in his Tent as he lay at the Siege of _Paris_. + +In a Word, this Opera of the _Cloven-Foot_ has been acted all over the +Christian World, ever since _Judas_ betray'd the Son of God with a Kiss; +nay, our Saviour says expresly of him, _One of you is a Devil_; and the +sacred Text says in another Place, _The Devil enter'd into Judas_. + +It would take up a great deal of Time and Paper too, to give you a full +Account of the Travels of this _Cloven-Foot_; its Progress into all the +Courts of _Europe_, and with what most accurate Hypocrisy _Satan_ has +made use of it upon many Occasions, and with what Success; but as in the +elaborate Work of which I just now gave you a Specimen I design one +whole Volume upon this Subject, and which I shall call, _The compleat +History_ of the _Cloven-Foot_; I say, for that Reason, and diverse +others, I shall say but very little more to it in this Place. + +It remains to tell you, that this merry Story of the _Cloven-Foot_ is +very essential to the History which I am now writing, as it has been all +along the great Emblem of the _Devil_'s Government in the World, and by +which all his most considerable Engagements have been answer'd and +executed; for as he is said not to be able to conceal this Foot, but +that he carries it always with him, it imports most plainly, that the +_Devil_ would be no _Devil_ if he was not a Dissembler, a Deceiver, and +carried a _double Entendre_ in all he does or says; that he cannot but +say one Thing and mean another, promise one Thing and do another, engage +and not perform, declare and not intend, and act like a true _Devil_ as +he is, with a Countenance that is no Index of his Heart. + +I might indeed go back to Originals, and derive this _Cloven-Foot_ from +Satan's primitive State as a Cherubim or a celestial Being, which +Cherubims, as _Moses_ is said to have seen them about the Throne of God +in Mount _Sinai_, and as the same _Moses_, from the Original represented +them afterwards covering the Ark, had the Head and Face of a Man, Wings +of an Eagle, Body of a Lion, and Legs and Feet of a Calf; but this is +not so much to our present Purpose, for as we are to allow that whatever +_Satan_ had of heavenly Beauty before the Fall, he lost it all when he +commenc'd _Devil_, so to fetch his Original so far up would be only to +say, that he retain'd nothing but the _Cloven-Foot_, and that all the +rest of him was alter'd and deform'd, become frightful and horrible as +the DEVIL; but his Cloven-Foot, as we now understand it, is rather +mystical and emblematick, and describes him only as the Fountain of +Mischief and Treason, and the Prince of Hypocrites, and as such we are +now to speak of him. + +'Tis from this Original all the hypocritic World copy, he wears the Foot +on their Account, and from this Model they act: This made our blessed +Lord tell them, _the Works of your Father ye will do_, meaning the +_Devil_, as he had express'd it just before. + +Nor does he deny the Use of the _Foot_ to the meaner Class of his +Disciples in the World, but decently equips them all upon every +Occasion with a needful Proportion of Hypocrisy and Deceit; that they +may hand on the Power of promiscuous Fraud thro' all his temporal +Dominions, and wear _the Foot_ always about them as a Badge of their +profess'd Share in whatever is done by that Means. + +Thus every Dissembler, every false Friend, every secret Cheat, every +Bearskin-Jobber has a _Cloven-Foot_, and so far hands on the Devil's +Interest by the same powerful Agency of Art, as the _Devil_ himself uses +to act when he appears in Person, or would act if he was just now upon +the Spot; for this _Foot_ is a Machine which is to be wound up and wound +down, as the Cause it appears for requires; and there are Agents and +Engineers to act in it by Directions of _Satan_ (the grand Engineer) who +lies still in his Retirement, only issuing out his Orders as he sees +convenient. + +Again, every Class, every Trade, every Shopkeeper, every Pedlar, nay, +that meanest of Tradesmen, that Church Pedlar the Pope, has a +Cloven-Foot, with which he _Paw wa's_ upon the World, wishes them all +well, and at the same time cheats them; wishes them all fed, and at the +same time starves them; wishes them all in Heaven, and at the same time +marches before them directly to the Devil, _alamode de Cloven-Foot_. + +Nay, the very Bench, the everliving Foundation of Justice in the World; +how often has it been made the Tool of Violence, the Refuge of +Oppression, the Seat of Bribery and Corruption, by this Monster in +Masquerade, and that every where (our own Country always excepted)? They +had much better wipe out the Picture of justice blinded, and having the +Sword and Scales in her Hand, which in foreign Countries is generally +painted over the Seat of those who sit to do Justice, and place instead +thereof a naked unarm'd Cloven-Hoof, a proper Emblem of that Spirit that +Influences the World, and of the Justice we often see administred among +them; human Imagination cannot form an Idea more suitable, nor the +_Devil_ propose an Engine more or better qualified for an Operation of +Justice, by the Influence of Bribery and Corruption; it is this +magnipotent Instrument in the Hands of the Devil, which under the +closest Disguise agitates every Passion, bribes every Affection, +blackens every Virtue, gives a double Face to Words and Actions, and to +all Persons who have any Concern in them, and in a Word, makes us all +Devils to one another. + +Indeed the Devil has taken but a dark Emblem to be distinguish'd by, for +this of a Goat was said to be a Creature hated by Mankind from the +beginning, and that there is a natural Antipathy in Mankind against +them: Hence the Scape Goat was to bear the Sins of the People, and to go +into the Wilderness with all that Burthen upon him. + +But we have a Saying among us, in Defence of which we must enquire into +the proper Sphere of Action which may be assigned to this Cloven-Foot, +as hitherto described: The Proverb is this; _Every_ Devil _has not a +Cloven-Foot_. This Proverb, instead of giving us some more favourable +Thoughts of the _Devil_, confirms what I have said already, that the +_Devil_ rais'd this Scandal upon himself; I mean, the Report that he +cannot conceal or disguise his Devil's Foot, or Hoof, but that it must +appear, under whatever Habit he shews himself; and the Reason I gave +holds good still, _namely_, that he may be more effectually conceal'd +when he goes abroad without it: For if the People were fully persuaded +that the _Devil_ could not appear without this Badge of his Honour, or +Mark of his Infamy, _take it as you will_; and that he was bound also to +shew it upon all Occasions, it would be natural to conclude, that +whatever frightful Appearances might be seen in the World, if the +Cloven-Foot did not also appear, we had no Occasion to look for the +_Devil_, or so much as to think of him, much less to apprehend he was +near us; and as this might be a Mistake, and that the _Devil_ might be +there while we thought our selves so secure, it might on many Occasions +be a Mistake of very ill Consequence, and in particular, as it would +give the _Devil_ room to act in the Dark, and not be discover'd, where +it might be most needful to know him. + +From this short Hint, thus repeated, I draw a new Thesis, namely, That +_Devil_ is most dangerous that has no Cloven-Foot; or, if you will have +it in Words more to the common Understanding, the _Devil_ seems to be +most dangerous when he goes without his Cloven-Foot. + +And here a learned Speculation offers it self to our Debate, and which +indeed I ought to call a Council of Casuists, and Men learned in the +_Devil_'s Politicks, to determine: + +Whether is most hurtful to the World, the _Devil_ walking about without +his Cloven-Foot, or the Cloven-Foot walking about without the _Devil_? + +It is indeed a nice and difficult Question, and merits to be well +enquir'd into; for which Reason, and diverse others, I have referr'd it +to be treated with some Decency, and as a Dispute of Dignity sufficient +to take up a Chapter by itself. + + + + +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? + + +In discussing this most critical Distinction of Satan's private Motions, +I must, as the Pulpit Gentlemen direct us, explain the Text, and let you +know what I mean by several dark Expressions in it, that I may not be +understood to talk (as the _Devil_ walks) in the dark. + + 1. As to the Devil's walking about. + + 2. His walking without his Cloven-Foot. + + 3. The Cloven-Foot walking about without the _Devil_. + + +Now as I study Brevity, and yet would be understood too, you may please +to understand me as I understand my self, thus. + + 1. That I must be allow'd to suppose the _Devil_ really has a full + Intercourse in, and through, and about this Globe, with Egress and + Regress, for the carrying on his special Affairs, when, how, and + where, to his Majesty, in his great Wisdom, it shall seem meet; + that sometimes he appears and becomes visible, and that, like a + Mastiff without his Clog, he does not always carry his Cloven-Foot + with him. This will necessarily bring me to some Debate upon the + most important Question of Apparitions, Hauntings, Walkings, _&c._ + whether of _Satan_ in human Shape, or of human Creatures in the + _Devil_'s Shape, or in any other manner whatsoever. + + 2. I must also be allow'd to tell you that Satan has a great deal + of Wrong done him by the general embracing vulgar Errors, and that + there is a Cloven-Foot oftentimes without a _Devil_; or, in short, + that Satan is not guilty of all the simple Things, no, or of all + the wicked Things we charge him with. + + +These two Heads well settled will fully explain the Title of this +Chapter, answer the Query mentioned in it, and at the same time +correspond very well with, and give us a farther Prospect into the main +and original Design of this Work, _namely, The History of the Devil_. We +are so fond of, and pleased with the general Notion of seeing the +_Devil_, that I am loth to disoblige my Readers so much as calling in +question his Visibility would do. Nor is it my Business, any more than +it is his, to undeceive them, where the Belief is so agreeable to them; +especially since upon the whole 'tis not one Farthing matter, either on +one Side or on the other, whether it be so or no, or whether the Truth +of Fact be ever discovered or not. + +Certain it is, whether we see him or no, here he is, and I make no doubt +but he is looking on while I am writing this Part of his Story, whether +behind me, or at my Elbow, or over my Shoulder, is not material to me, +nor have I once turned my Head about to see whether he is there or no; +for if he be not in the Inside, I have so mean an Opinion of all his +extravasated Powers, that it seems of very little Consequence to me what +Shape he takes up, or in what Posture he appears; nor indeed can I find +in all my Enquiry that ever the _Devil_ appear'd (_Qua Devil_) in any +of the most dangerous or important of his Designs in the World; the most +of his Projects, especially of the significant Part of them, having been +carried on another way. + +However, as I am satisfied no Body will be pleas'd if I should dispute +the Reality of his Appearance, and the World runs away with it as a +receiv'd Point, and that admits no Dispute, I shall most readily grant +the General, and give you some Account of the Particulars. + +History is fruitful of Particulars, whether Invention has supply'd them +or not, I will not say, where the _Devil_ is brought upon the Stage in +plain and undeniable Apparition: The Story of _Samuel_ being rais'd by +the Witch of _Endor_, I shall leave quite out of my List, because there +are so many Scruples and Objections against that Story; and as I shall +not dispute with the Scripture, so on the other hand, I have so much +Deference for the Dignity of the _Devil_, as not to determine rashly how +far it may be in the Power of every old (_Witch_) Woman, to call him up +whenever she pleases, and that he must come, whatever the Pretence is, +or whatever Business of Consequence he may be engaged in, as often as +'tis needful for her to _Pa wa_ for half a Crown, or perhaps less than +half the Money. + +Nor will I undertake to tell you, till I have talk'd farther with him +about it, how far the _Devil_ is concern'd to discover Frauds, detect +Murthers, reveal Secrets, and especially to tell where any Money is hid, +and shew Folks where to find it; 'tis an odd thing that Satan should +think it of Consequence to come and tell us where such a Miser hid a +Strong Box, or where such an old Woman buried her _Chamber Pot_ full of +Money, the Value of all which is perhaps but a Trifle, when at the same +time he lets so many Veins of Gold, so many unexhausted Mines, nay, +Mountains of Silver, as, we may depend upon it, are hid in the Bowels of +the Earth, and which it would be so much to the Good of whole Nations to +discover, lie still there, and never say one Word of them to any Body. +Besides, how does the _Devil_'s doing Things so foreign to himself, and +so out of his way, agree with the rest of his Character; namely, shewing +a kind of a friendly Disposition to Mankind, or doing beneficent Things? +This is so beneath _Satan_'s Quality, and looks so little, that I scarce +know what to say to it; but that which is still more pungent in the Case +is, these Things are so out of his Road, and so foreign to his Calling, +that it shocks our Faith in them, and seems to clash with all the just +Notions we have of him, and of his Business in the World. The like is to +be said of those little merry Turns we bring him in acting with us, and +upon us, upon trifling and simple Occasions, such as tumbling Chairs and +Stools about House, setting Pots and Vessels Bottom upward, tossing the +Glass and Crokery Ware about without breaking; and such like mean +foolish Things, beneath the Dignity of the _Devil_, who, in my Opinion, +is rather employ'd in setting the World with the Bottom upward, tumbling +Kings and Crowns about, and dashing the Nations one against another; +raising Tempests and Storms, whether at Sea, or on Shore; and, in a +word, doing capital Mischiefs suitable to his Nature, and agreeable to +his Name, _Devil_; and suited to that Circumstance of his Condition, +which I have fully represented in the primitive Part of his exil'd +State. + +But to bring in the _Devil_ playing at Push-pin with the World, or like +_Domitian_ catching Flies, that is to say, doing nothing to the +purpose; this is not only deluding our selves, but putting a Slur upon +the _Devil_ himself; and, I say, I shall not dishonour Satan so much as +to suppose any thing in it: However, as I must have a care too how I +take away the proper Materials of Winter Evening Frippery, and leave the +good Wives nothing of the Devil to fright the Children with, I shall +carry the weighty Point no farther. No doubt the _Devil_ and Dr. +_Faustus_ were very intimate; I should rob you of a very significant [6] +Proverb, if I should so much as doubt it; no doubt the _Devil_ shew'd +himself in the Glass to that fair Lady who look'd in it to see where to +place her Patches; but then it should follow too that the _Devil_ is an +Enemy to the Ladies wearing Patches, and that has some Difficulties in +it which we cannot so easily reconcile; but we must tell the Story, and +leave out the Consequences. + +But to come to more remarkable Things, and in which the _Devil_ has +thought fit to act in a Figure more suitable to his Dignity, and on +Occasions consistent with himself; take the Story of the Appearance of +_Julius Cæsar_, or the _Devil_ assuming that murthered _Emperor_, to the +great _Marcus Brutus_, who notwithstanding all the good Things said to +justify it, was no less than a King-killer and an Assassinator, which we +in our Language call by a very good Name, and peculiar to the _English_ +Tongue, a _Ruffian_. + +The Spectre had certainly the Appearance of _Cæsar_, with his Wounds +bleeding fresh, as if he had just receiv'd the fatal Blow; he had +reproach'd him with his Ingratitude, with a _Tu Brute! tu quoque, mi +fili_: "What Thou _Brutus_! Thou, my adopted Son!" Now History seems +to agree universally, not only in the Story itself, but in the +Circumstances of it; we have only to observe that the _Devil_ had +certainly Power to assume, not a human Shape only, but the Shape of +_Julius Cæsar_ in particular. + +Had _Brutus_ been a timorous _Conscience-harry'd_, weak-headed Wretch, +had he been under the Horror of the Guilt, and terrify'd with the +Dangers that were before him at that time, we might suggest that he was +over-run with the Vapours, that the Terrors which were upon his Mind +disorder'd him, that his Head was delirious and prepossess'd, and that +his Fancy only plac'd _Cæsar_ so continually in his Eye, that it +realiz'd him to his Imagination, and he believ'd he saw him; with many +other suggested Difficulties to invalidate the Story, and render the +Reality of it doubtful. + +But the contrary, to an Extreme, was the Case of _Brutus_; his known +Character plac'd him above the Power of all Hypocondriacks, or fanciful +Delusions; _Brutus_ was of a true _Roman_ Spirit, a bold Hero, of an +intrepid Courage; one that scorn'd to fear even the _Devil_, as the +Story allows: Besides, he glory'd in the Action; there cou'd be no +Terror of Mind upon him; he valued himself upon it, as done in the +Service of Liberty, and the Cause of his Country; and was so far from +being frighted at the _Devil_ in the worst Shape, that he spoke first to +him, and ask'd him, _What art thou?_ and when he was cited to see him +again at _Philippi_, answer'd, with a Gallantry that knew no Fear, _well +I will see thee there_. Whatever the _Devil_'s Business was with +_Brutus_, this is certain, according to all the Historians who give us +the Account of it, that _Brutus_ discover'd no Fear; he did not, _like +Saul at Endor_, fall to the Ground in a Swoon, 1 _Sam._ xxviii. 20. +_Then Saul fell all along upon the Earth, and there was no Strength in +him, and was sore afraid._ In a word, I see no room to charge _Brutus_ +with being over-run with the _Hyppo_, or with Vapours, or with Fright +and Terror of Mind; but he saw the _Devil_, that's certain, and with +Eyes open, his Courage not at all daunted, his Mind resolute, and with +the utmost Composure spoke to him, reply'd to his Answer, and defy'd his +Summons to Death, which indeed he fear'd not, as appear'd afterward. + +I come next to an Instance as eminent in History as the other; this was +in _Char._ VI. of _France_, sirnamed, _The Beloved_; who riding over the +Forest near _Mans_, a ghastly frightful Fellow (that is to say, the +_Devil_ so clothed in human Vizor) came up to his Horse, and taking hold +of his Bridle, stop'd him, with the Addition of these Words, _Stop King, +whither go you? You are betray'd!_ and immediately disappear'd. It is +true, the King had been distemper'd in his Head before, and so he might +have been deceived, and we might have charg'd it to the Account of a +whimsical Brain, or the Power of his Imagination; but this was in the +Face of his Attendants, several of his great Officers, Courtiers, and +Princes of the Blood being with him, who all saw the Man, heard the +Words, and immediately, to their Astonishment, lost Sight of the +Spectre, who vanish'd from them all. + +Two Witnesses will convict a Murtherer, why not a Traitor? This must be +the _Old Gentleman_, emblematically so called, or who must it be? nay, +who else could it be? His Ugliness is not the Case, tho' _ugly as the +Devil_, is a Proverb in his Favour; but vanishing out of sight is an +Essential to a Spirit, and to an evil Spirit in our Times especially. + +These are some of the _Devil_'s Extraordinaries, and it must be +confess'd they are not the most agreeable to Mankind, for sometimes he +takes upon him to disorder his Friends very much on these Occasions, as +in the above Case of _Cha._ VI. of _France_; the King, they say, was +really demented ever after; that is, as we vulgarly, but not always +improperly, express it, he was really _frighted out of his Wits_. +Whether the malicious _Devil_ intended it so, or not, is not certain, +tho' it was not so foreign to his particular Disposition if he did. + +But where he is more intimate, we are told he appears in a manner less +disagreeable, and there he is more properly _a familiar Spirit_; that +is, in short, a _Devil_ of their Acquaintance: It is true, the Antients +understand the Word, _a familiar Spirit_, to be one of the kinds of +Possession; but if it serves our turn as well under the Denomination of +an intimate _Devil_, or a _Devil_ visitant, it must be acknowledg'd to +be as near in the literal Sense and Acceptation of the Word, as the +other; nay, it must be allow'd 'tis a very great Piece of Familiarity in +the _Devil_ to make Visits, and shew none of his Disagreeables, not +appear formidable, or in the Shape of what he is, respectfully +withholding his dismal Part, in Compassion to the Infirmities of his +Friends. + +It is true, _Satan_ may be oblig'd to make different Appearances, as the +several Circumstances of Things call for it; in some Cases he makes his +publick Entry, and then he must shew himself in his Habit of Ceremony; +in other Cases he comes upon private Business, and then he appears in +Disguise; in some publick Cases he may thing fit to be _incog._ and then +he appears dress'd _a la Masque_; so they say he appear'd at the famous +St. _Bartholomew_ Wedding at _Paris_, where, he came in dress'd up like +a Trumpeter, danc'd in his Habit, sounded a _Levet_, and then went out +and rung the Alarm-Bell (which was the Signal to begin the Massacre) +half an Hour before the Time appointed, lest the King's Mind should +alter, and his Heart fail him. + +If the Story be not made upon him, (for we should not slander the +_Devil_) it should seem, he was not thoroughly satisfied in King +_Charles_ IX.'s Steadiness in his Cause; for the King, it seems, had +relax'd a little once before, and Satan might be afraid he would fall +off again, and so prevent the Execution: Others say, the King did relent +immediately after the ringing the _Alarm-Bell_, but that then it was too +late, the Work was begun, and the Rage of Blood having been let loose +among the People, there was no recalling the Order. If the _Devil_ was +thus brought to the Necessity of a secret Management, it must be owned +he did it dexterously; but I have not Authority enough for the Story, to +charge him with the Particulars, so I leave it _au croc._ + +I have much better Vouchers for the Story following, which I had so +solemnly confirm'd by one that liv'd in the Family, that I never doubted +the Truth of it. There liv'd, in the Parish of St. _Bennet Fynk_, near +the _Royal Exchange_, an honest poor Widow Woman, who, _her Husband +being lately dead_, took Lodgers into her House; that is, she let out +some of her Rooms in order to lessen her own Charge of Rent; among the +rest, she let her Garrets to a working Watchwheel-maker, or one some way +concern'd in making the Movements of Watches, and who work'd to those +Shop-keepers who sell Watches; as is usual. + +It happened that a Man and Woman went up, to speak with this +Movement-maker upon some Business which related to his Trade, and when +they were near the Top of the Stairs, the Garret-Door where he usually +worked being wide open, they saw the poor Man (the Watch-maker, or +Wheel-maker) had hang'd himself upon a Beam which was left open in the +Room a little lower than the Plaister, or Ceiling: Surpriz'd at the +Sight, the Woman stop'd, and cried out to the Man who was behind her on +the Stairs that he should run up, and cut the poor Creature down. + +At that very Moment comes a Man hastily from another Part of the Room +which they upon the Stairs could not see, bringing a Joint-Stool in his +Hand, as if in great Haste, and sets it down just by the Wretch that was +hang'd, and getting up as hastily upon it pulls a Knife out of his +Pocket, and taking hold of the Rope with one of his Hands, beckon'd to +the Woman and the Man behind her with his Head, as if to stop and not +come up, shewing them the Knife in his other Hand, as if he was just +going to cut the poor Man down. + +Upon this, the Woman stopp'd a while, but the Man who stood on the +Joint-Stool continued with his Hand and Knife as if fumbling at the +Knot, but did not yet cut the Man down; at which the Woman cried out +again, and the Man behind her call'd to her. Go up, _says he_, and help +the Man upon the Stool! supposing something hindred. But the Man upon +the Stool made Signs to them again to be quiet, and not come on, as if +saying, I shall do it immediately; then he made two Strokes with his +Knife, as if cutting the Rope, and then stopp'd again; and still the +poor Man was hanging, and consequently dying: Upon this, the Woman on +the Stairs cried out to him. What ails you? Why don't you cut the poor +Man down? And the Man behind her, having no more Patience, thrusts her +by, and said to her. Let me come, I'll warrant you I'll do it; and with +that runs up and forward into the Room to the Man; but when he came +there, behold, the poor Man was there hanging; but no Man with a Knife, +or Joint-Stool, or any such thing to be seen, all that was Spectre and +Delusion, in order, no doubt, to let the poor Creature that had hang'd +himself perish and expire. + +The Man was so frighted and surpriz'd, that with all the Courage he had +before, he drop'd on the Floor as one dead, and the Woman at last was +fain to cut the poor Man down with a Pair of Scissars, and had much to +do to effect it. + +As I have no room to doubt the Truth of this Story, which I had from +Persons on whose Honesty I could depend. So I think it needs very little +Trouble to convince us who the Man upon the Stool must be, and that it +was the _Devil_ who plac'd himself there in order to finish the Murther +of the Man who he had, _Devil_-like, tempted before, and prevail'd with +to be his own Executioner. Besides, it corresponds so well with the +_Devil_'s Nature, and with his Business, _viz._ that of a _Murtherer_, +that I never question'd it; nor can I think we wrong the _Devil_ at all +to charge him with it. + + _N. B._ I cannot be positive in the remaining Part of this Story, + _viz._ whether the Man was cut down soon enough to be recover'd, + or whether the _Devil_ carry'd his Point, and kept off the Man and + Woman till it was too late; but be it which it will, 'tis plain he + did his Devilish Endeavour, and stay'd till he was forc'd to + abscond again. + + +We have many solid Tales well attested, as well in History as in the +Reports of honest People, who could not be deceived, intimating the +_Devil_'s personal Appearance, some in one Place, some in another; as +also sometimes in one Habit or Dress, and sometimes in another; and it +is to be observed, that in none of those which are most like to be real, +and in which there is least of Fancy and Vapour, you have any Mention of +the _Cloven Foot_, which rather seems to be a mere Invention of Men (and +perhaps chiefly of those who had a Cloven Understanding) I mean a +shallow kind of Craft, the Effect of an empty and simple Head, thinking +by such a well-meant, tho' weak Fraud, to represent the _Devil_ to the +old Women and Children of the Age, with some Addition suitable to the +Weakness of their Intellects, and suited to making them afraid of him. + +I have another Account of a Person who travell'd upwards of four Years +with the _Devil_ in his Company, and convers'd most intimately with him +all the while; nay, if I may believe the Story, he knew most part of the +Time that he was the _Devil_, and yet convers'd with him, and that very +profitably, for he perform'd many very useful Services for him, and +constantly preserv'd him from the Danger of Wolves and wild Beasts, +which the Country he travell'd thro' was intolerably full of. Where, by +the way, you are to understand, that the Wolves and Bears in those +Countries knew the _Devil_, whatever Disguise he went in; or that the +_Devil_ has some Way to fright Bears and such Creatures, more than we +know of. Nor could this _Devil_ ever be prevail'd upon to hurt him or +any of his Company. This Account has an innumerable Number of diverting +Incidents attending it; but they are equal to all the rest in Bulk, and +therefore too long for this Book. + +I find too upon some more ordinary Occasions the _Devil_ has appear'd to +several People at their Call: This indeed shews abundance of good Humour +in him, considering him as a _Devil_, and that he was mighty +complaisant: Nay some, they tell us, have a Power to raise the _Devil_ +whenever they think fit; this I cannot bring the _Devil_ to a Level +with, unless I should allow him to be _Servus Servorum_, as another +_Devil_ in Disguise calls himself; subjected to ever old Wizard's Call; +or that he is under a Necessity of appearing on such or such particular +Occasions, whoever it is that calls him; which would bring the _Devil_'s +Circumstances to a pitch of Slavery which I see no Reason to believe of +them. + +Here also I must take Notice again, that tho' I say the _Devil_, when I +speak of all these Apparitions, whether of a greater or lesser Kind, yet +I am not oblig'd to suppose Satan himself in Person is concern'd to shew +himself, but that some of his _Agents_, Deputies and Servants, are sent +to that Purpose, and directed what Disguise of Flesh and Blood to put +on, as may be suitable to the Occasion. + +This seems to be the only Way to reconcile all those simple and +ridiculous Appearances which not _Satan_, but his Emissaries, (which we +old Women call Imps) sometimes make, and the mean and sorry Employment +they are put to: Thus Fame tells us of a certain Witch of Quality, who +call'd the _Devil_ once to carry her over a Brook where the Water was +swell'd with a hasty Rain, and lash'd him soundly with her Whip for +letting her Ladyship fall into the Water before she was quite over. Thus +also, as Fame tells us, she set the _Devil_ to work, and made him build +_Crowland_ Abbey, where there was no Foundation to be found, only for +disturbing the Workmen a little who were first set about it. So it +seems another laborious _Devil_ was oblig'd to dig the great Ditch cross +the Country from the Fenn Country to the Edge of _Suffolk_ and _Essex_; +which who ever he has preserv'd the Reputation of, and where it crosses +_New-Market_ Heath, 'tis call'd _Devil_'s _Ditch_ to this Day. + +Another Piece of Punishment no doubt it was, when the _Devil_ was +oblig'd to bring the Stones out of _Wales_ into _Wiltshire_, to build +_Stone-heng_: How this was ordered in those Days, when it seems they +kept _Satan_ to hard Labour, I know not; I believe it must be registred +among the antient Pieces of Art which are lost in the World, such as +melting of Stone, painting of Glass, _&c._ Certainly they had the +_Devil_ under Correction in those Days; that is to say, those lesser +Sorts of _Devils_; but I cannot think that the _muckle Thief Devil_, as +they call him in the _North_, the Grand Seignior _Devil_ of all, was +ever reduced to Discipline. What _Devil_ it was that _Dunstan_ took by +the Nose with his red hot Tongs, I have not yet examin'd Antiquity +enough to be certain of, any more than I can what Devil it was that St. +_Francis_ play'd so many warm Tricks with, and made him run away from +him so often: However, this I take upon me to say, in the _Devil_'s +Behalf, that it cou'd not be our _Satan_, the Arch _Devil_ of all +_Devils_, of whom I have been talking so long. + +Now is it unworthy the Occasion, to take notice that we really wrong the +_Devil_, and speak of him very much to his Disadvantage, when we say of +such a Great Lord, or of such a Lady of Quality, _I think the_ Devil _is +in your Grace_: No, no, Satan has other Business, he very rarely +possesses F--ls: Besides, some are so far from having the _Devil_ in +them, that they are really transmigrated into the very Essence of the +_Devil_ themselves; and others again not transmigrated, or assimilated, +but Indeed and in Truth shew us that they are to have mere native +_Devils_ in every Part and Parcel of them, and that the rest is only +Masque and Disguise. Thus if _Rage_, _Envy_, _Pride_ and _Revenge_ can +constitute the Parts of a _Devil_, why should not a Lady of such +Quality, in whom all those Extraordinaries abound, have a Right to the +Title of being a _Devil_ really and substantially, and to all Intents +and Purposes, in the most perfect and absolute Sense, according to the +most exquisite Descriptions of Devils already given by me or any Body +else; and even just as _Joan_ of _Arc_, or _Joan_ Queen of _Naples_ +were, who were both sent home to their native Country, as soon as it was +discovered that they were real _Devils_, and that _Satan_ acknowledg'd +them in that Quality. + +Nor does my Lady D----ss's wearing sometimes a Case of Humanity about +her, call'd _Flesh and Blood_, at all alter the Case; for so 'tis +Evident, according to our present Hypothesis, _Satan_ has been always +allow'd to do, upon urgent Occasions; ay, and to make his Personal +Appearance as such, among even the Sons and Daughters of God too, as +well as among the Children of Men; and therefore _her Grace_ may have +appeared in the Shape of a fine Lady, as long as she has been suppos'd +to do, without any Impeachment of her just Claim to the Title of +_Devil_; which being her true and natural Original, she ought not, nor +indeed shall not, by me, be denied her Shapes of Honour, whenever she +pleases to declare for a Re-assumption. + +And farther, to give every Truth its due Illustration, this need not be +thought so strange; and is far from being unjust; _her Grace_ (as she, +it may be, is now stiled) has not acted, at least that I never heard of, +so unworthy her great and illustrious Original, that we should think she +has lost any thing by walking about the World so many Years in +Apparition: But to give her the due Homage of her Quality, she has acted +as consonant to the Essence and Nature of _Devil_, which she has such a +Claim to, as was consistent with the needful Reserve of her present +Disguise. + +Nor shall we lead the Reader into any Mistake concerning this part of +our Work, as if this was or is meant to be a particular Satyr upon the +D-----ss of -----------, and upon her only, as if we had no DEVILS among +us in the Phenomena of fair Ladies, but this one: If Satan would be so +honest to us as he might be (and 'twou'd be very ingenuous in him, that +must be acknowledg'd, to give us a little of his Illumination in this +Case) we should soon be able to unmasque a great many notable Figures +among us, to our real Surprize. + +Indeed 'tis a Point worth our further Enquiry, and would be a Discovery +many ways to our Advantage, were we bless'd with it, to see how many +real _Devils_ we have walking up and down the World in Masque, and how +many Hoop-Petticoats compleat the entire Masque that disguises the Devil +in the Shape of that Thing call'd Woman. + +As for the Men, Nature has satisfied her self in letting them be their +own Disguise, and in suffering them to act the _old Women_, as old Women +are vulgarly understood, in Matters of Council and Politicks; but if at +any time they have Occasion for the _Devil_ in Person, they are oblig'd +to call him to their Aid in such Shape as he pleases to make use of _pro +hac vice_; and of all those Shapes, the most agreeable to him seems to +be that of a Female of Quality, in which he has infinite Opportunity to +act to Perfection, what Part soever he is call'd in for. + +How happy are those People who they say have the particular Quality, or +acquir'd Habit, call'd the _Second Sight_; one Sort of whom they tell us +are able to distinguish the _Devil_, in whatever Case or Outside of +Flesh and Blood he is pleas'd to put on, and consequently could know the +_Devil_ wherever they met him? Were I blest with this excellent and +useful Accomplishment, how pleasant would it be, and how would it +particularly gratify my Spleen, and all that which I, in common with my +fellow Creatures carry about me, call'd Ill-Nature, to stand in the +_Mall_, or at the Entrance to any of our _Assemblies of Beauties_, and +point them out as they pass by, with this particular Mark, That's a +_Devil_; that fine young Toast is a _Devil_; There's a _Devil_ drest in +a new Habit for the Ball; There's a _Devil_ in a Coach and Six, _cum +aliis_. In short, it would make a merry World among us if we cou'd but +enter upon some proper Method of such Discriminations: but, _Lawr'd_, +what a Hurricane would it raise, if, like -------, who they say scourg'd +the _Devil_ so often that he durst not come near him in any Shape +whatever, we cou'd find some new Method out to make the _Devil_ unmask, +like the Angel _Uriel_, who, Mr. _Milton_ says, had an enchanted Spear, +with which if he did but touch the _Devil_, in whatever Disguise he had +put on, it oblig'd him immediately to start up, and shew himself in his +true original Shape, mere _Devil_ as he was. + +This would do nicely, and as I who am originally a Projector, have spent +some Time upon this Study, and doubt not in a little Time to finish my +Engine, which I am contriving, to screw the _Devil_ out of every Body, +or any Body; I question not when I have brought it to Perfection, but I +shall make most excellent Discoveries by it; and besides the many +extraordinary Advantages of it to human Society, I doubt not but it will +make good Sport in the World too; wherefore, when I publish my +Proposals, and divide it into Shares, as other less useful Projects have +been done, I question not, for all the severe Act lately pass'd against +Bubbles, but I shall get Subscribers enough, _&c._ + +In a Word, a secret Power of discovering what Devils we have among us, +and where and what Business they are doing, would be a vast Advantage to +us all; that we might know among the Crowd of _Devils_ that walk about +Streets, who are _Apparitions_, and who are not. + +Now I, you must know, at certain Intervals when the Old Gentleman's +Illuminations are upon me, and when I have something of an +_Eclaricissement_ with him, have some Degrees of this discriminating +_Second Sight_, and therefore 'tis no strange thing for me to tell a +great many of my Acquaintance that they are really _Devils_, when they +themselves know nothing of the Matter: Sometimes indeed I find it pretty +hard to convince them of it, or at least they are very unwilling to own +it, but it is not the less so for that. + +I had a long Discourse upon this Subject one day, with a young beautiful +Lady of my Acquaintance, who the World very much admired; and as the +World judges no farther than they can see, (and how should they, you +would say) they took her to be, as she really was, a most charming +Creature. + +To me indeed she discover'd her self many Ways, besides the Advantage I +had of my extraordinary Penetration by the magic Powers which I am +vested with: To me, _I say_, she appear'd a Fury, a Satyr, a fiery +little Fiend as could possibly be dress'd up in Flesh; in short, she +appear'd to me what really she was, a very DEVIL: It is natural to human +Creatures to desire to discover any extraordinary Powers they are +possess'd of superior to others, and this Itch prevailing in me, among +the rest, I was impatient to let this Lady know that I understood her +Composition perfectly well, nay, as well as she did her self. + +In order to this, happening to be in the Family once for some Days, and +having the Honour to be very intimate with her and her Husband too, I +took an Opportunity on an extraordinary Occasion, when she was in the +Height of good Humour, to talk with her; You must note, that as I said, +the Lady was in an extraordinary good Humour, and there had been a great +deal of Mirth in the Family for some Days; but one Evening, Sir _E----_ +her Husband, upon some very sharp Turn she gave to another Gentleman, +which made all the Company pleasant, run to her, and with a Passion of +good Humour takes her in his Arms, and turning to me, says he, Jack, +This Wife of mine is full of Wit and good Humour, but when she has a +Mind to be smart, she is the keenest little _Devil_ in the World: This +was alluding to the quick Turn she had given the other Gentleman. + +Is that the best Language you can give your Wife, says my Lady? O Madam, +says I, such _Devils_ as you, are all _Angels_; ay, ay, says my Lady, I +know that, he has only let a Truth fly out that he does not understand: +Look ye there now, _says Sir_ Edward, could any thing but such a dear +_Devil_ as this have said a thing so pointed? Well, well, adds he, +_Devil_ to a Lady in a Man's Arms, is a Word of divers Interpretations. +Thus they rallied for a good while, he holding her fast all the while in +his Arms, and frequently kissing her, and at last it went off, all in +Sunshine and Mirth. + +But the next Day, for I had the Honour to lodge in the Lady's Father's +House, where it all happen'd; I say, the next Day my Lady begins with me +upon the Subject, and that very smartly, so that first I did not know +whether she was in jest or earnest: Ay, ay, _says she_, you Men make +nothing of your Wives after you have them, _alluding to the Discourse +with_ Sir Edward _the Night before_. + +Why Madam, says I, _we Men_, as you are pleas'd to term it, if we meet +with good Wives worship them, and make Idols of them, what would you +have more of us? + +No, no, says she, before you have them they are Angels, but when you +have been in Heaven, _adds she and smil'd_, then they are Devils. + +Why Madam, _says I_, Devils are Angels, you know, and were the highest +Sort of Angels once. + +Yes, _says she_, very smartly, all _Devils_ are Angels, but all Angels +are not _Devils_. + +But Madam, _says I_, you should never take it ill to be call'd _Devil_, +you know. + +I know, _says she_, hastily, what d'ye mean by that? + +Why Madam, _says I_, and look'd very gravely and serious, I thought you +had known that I knew it, or else I would not have said so, for I would +not offend you; but you may depend I shall never discover it, unless you +order me to do so for your particular Service. + +Upon this she look'd hard and wild, and bid me explain my self. + +I told her, I was ready to explain my self, if she would give me her +Word, she would not resent it, and would take nothing ill. + +She gave me her word solemnly she would not, tho' like a true _Devil_ +she broke her Promise with me all at once. + +Well however, being unconcern'd whether she kept her Word or no, I +began, by telling her that I had not long since obtain'd the second +sight, and had some years studied Magic, by which I could penetrate into +many things, which to ordinary Perception were invisible, and had some +Glasses, by the Help of which I could see into all visionary or +imaginary Appearances in a different Manner than other People did. + +Very well, _says she_, suppose you can, what's that to me? + +I told her it was nothing to her any further than that as she knew her +self to be originally not the same Creature she seem'd to be, but was of +a sublime angelic Original; so by the Help of my recited Art I knew it +too, and so far it might relate to her. + +Very fine, says she, so you would make a _Devil_ of me indeed. + +I took that Occasion to tell her, I would make nothing of her but what +she was; that I suppos'd she knew well enough God Almighty never thought +fit to make any human Creature so perfect and compleatly beautiful as +she was, but that such were also reserved for Figures to be assum'd by +Angels of one Kind or other. + +She rallied me upon that, and told me that would not bring me off, for I +had not determined her for any thing Angelic, but a meer _Devil_; and +how could I flatter her with being handsome and a _Devil_ both at the +same time? + +I told her, as Satan, whom we abusively call'd _Devil_, was an immortal +Seraph, and of an original angelic Nature, so abstracted from any thing +wicked, he was a most glorious Being; that when he thought fit to encase +himself with Flesh, and walk about in Disguise, it was in his Power +equally with the other Angels to make the Form he took upon himself be +as he thought fit, beautiful or deform'd. + +Here she disputed the Possibility of that, and after charging me faintly +with flattering her Face, told me the Devil could not be represented by +any thing handsome, alledging our constant picturing the _Devil_ in all +the frightful Appearances imaginable. + +I told her we wrong'd him very much in that, and quoted St. _Francis_, +to whom the _Devil_ frequently appeared in the Form of the most +incomparably beautiful naked Woman, to allure him, and what Means he +used to turn the Appearance into a _Devil_ again, and how he effected +it. + +She put by the Discourse, and returned to that of Angels, and insisted +that Angels did not always assume beautiful Appearances; that sometimes +they appear'd in terrible Shapes, but that when they did not, it was at +best only amiable Faces, not exquisite; and that therefore it would not +hold, that to be handsome, should always render them suspected. + +I told her the _Devil_ had more Occasion to form Beauties than other +Angels had, his Business being principally to deceive and ensnare +Mankind. And then I gave her some Examples upon the whole. + +I found by her Discourse she was willing enough to pass for an _Angel_, +but 'twas the hardest thing in the World to convince her that she was a +DEVIL, and she would not come into that by any means; she argued that I +knew her Father, and that her Mother was a very good Woman, and was +delivered of her in the ordinary Way, and that there was such and such +Ladies who were present in the Room when she was born, and that had +often told her so. + +I told her that was nothing in such a Case as hers; that when the Old +Gentleman had occasion to transform himself into a fine Lady, he could +easily dispose of a Child, and place himself in the Cradle instead of +it, when the Nurse or Mother were asleep; nay, or when they were broad +awake either, it was the same thing to him; and I quoted _Luther_ to her +upon that Occasion, who affirms that it had been so. However I said, to +convince her that I knew it, (for I would have it that she knew it +already) if she pleas'd I would go to my Chamber and fetch her my Magick +Looking-glass, where she should see her own Picture, not only as it was +an angelick Picture for the World to admire, but a _Devil_ also +frightful enough to any Body but herself and me that understood it. + +No, no, _said she_, I'll look in none of your conjuring Glasses; I know +my self well enough, and I desire to look no otherwise than I am. + +No, Madam, _says I_, I know that very well; nor do you need any better +Shape than that you appear in, 'tis most exquisitely fine; all the World +knows you are a compleat Beauty, and that is a clear Evidence what you +would be if your present appearing Form was reduced to its proper +Personality. + +_Appearing Form!_ says she, why, what would you make an _Apparition_ of +me? + +An _Apparition!_ Madam, said I, yes, to be sure; why you know, you are +nothing else but an _Apparition_; and what else would you be, when it is +so infinitely to your Advantage? + +With that, she turn'd pale and angry, and then rose up hastily, and +look'd into the Glass, (_a large Peer-glass being in the Room_) where +she stood, surveying her self from Head to Foot, with Vanity not a +little. + + I took that Time to slip away, and running up into my Apartment, I + fetch'd my _Magic Glass_ as I call'd it, in which I had a hollow + Case so framed behind a Looking-glass, that in the first; she would + see her own Face only; in the second, she would see the _Devil_'s + Face, ugly and frightful enough, but dress'd up with a Lady's + Head-Clothes in a Circle, the _Devil_'s Face in the Center, and as + it were at a little Distance behind. + + +I came down again so soon that she did not think the Time long, +especially having spent it in surveying her fair self; when I return'd, +I said, Come, Madam, do not trouble your self to look there, that is not +a Glass capable of shewing you any thing; come, take this Glass. + +It will shew me as much of my self, _says she, a little scornfully_, as +I desire to see; so she continued looking in the Peer-glass; after some +time more (for seeing her a little out of Humour, I waited to see what +Observations she would make) I ask'd her if she had view'd her self to +her Satisfaction? She said she had, and she had seen nothing of _Devil_ +about her. Come, Madam, said I, look here; and with that I open'd the +Looking-glass, and she look'd in it, but saw nothing but her own Face; +Well, _says she_, the Glasses agree well enough, I see no Difference; +what can you make of it? With that I took it a little away; Don't you? +_says I_, then I shou'd be mistaken very much; so I look'd in it my +self, and giving it a Turn imperceptible to her, I shew'd it her again, +where she saw the _Devil_ indeed, dress'd up like a fine Lady, but +ugly, and _Devil_ like as could be desired for a _Devil_ to be. + +She started, and cry'd out most horribly, and told me, she thought I was +more of a _Devil_ than she, for that she knew nothing of all those +Tricks, and I did it to fright her, she believ'd I had rais'd the +_Devil_. + +I told her it was nothing but her own natural Picture, and that she knew +well enough, and that I did not shew it her to inform her of it, but to +let her know that I knew it too; that so she might make no Pretences of +being offended when I talk'd familiarly to her of a Thing of this +Nature. + +Very well; so, _says she_, I am a real frightful _Devil_, am I? + +O, Madam, says I, don't say, _Am I?_ why you know what you are, don't +you? A _Devil_! ay, certainly; as sure as the rest of the World believes +you a Lady. + +I had a great deal of farther Discourse with her upon that Subject, tho' +she would fain have beat me off of it, and two or three times she put +the Talk off, and brought something else on; but I always found Means to +revive it, and to attack her upon the Reality of her being a Devil, till +at last I made her downright angry, and then she shew'd it. + +First she cried, told me I came to affront her, that I would not talk so +if Sir _Ed----_ was by; and that she ought not to be used so. I +endeavour'd to pacify her, and told her I had not treated her with any +Indecency, nor I would not; because while she thought fit to walk Abroad +_incog._ it was none of my Business to discover her; that if she thought +fit to tell Sir _Ed----_ any thing of the Discourse, she was very +welcome, or to conceal it, (_which I thought the wisest Course_) she +should do just as she pleas'd; but I made no question I should convince +Sir _E----_ her Husband, that what I said was just, and that I was +really so; whether it was for her Service or no for him to know it, was +for her to consider. + +This calm'd her a little, and she look'd hard at me a Minute without +speaking a Word, when on a sudden she broke out thus: And you will +undertake, _says she_, to convince Sir _Ed----_ that he has married a +_Devil_, will ye? A fine Story indeed! and what follows? why then it +must follow that the Child I go with (for she was big with Child) will +be a _Devil_ too, will it? A fine Story for Sir _Ed----_ indeed! isn't +it? + +I don't know that, Madam, said I, that's as you order it; by the +Father's Side, _said I_, I know it will not, but what it may by the +Mother's Side, that's a Doubt I can't resolve till the _Devil_ and I +talk farther about it. + +You and the Devil talk together! _says she_, and looks rufully at me; +why do you talk with the _Devil_ then? + +Ay, Madam, _says I_, as sure as ever you did your self; besides, said I, +can you question that? Pray who am I talking to now? + +I think you are mad, _says she_; why you will make _Devils_ of all the +Family, it may be, and particularly I must be with Child of a _Devil_, +that's certain. + +No, Madam, _said I_, 'tis not certain, as I said before, I question it. + +Why you say I am the DEVIL, the Child, you know, has always most of the +Mother in it, then that must be a Devil too I think, what else can it +be, _says she_? + +I can't tell that, Madam, _said I_; that's as you agree among your +selves, this Kind does not go by Generation; that's a Dispute foreign to +the present Purpose. + +Then I entred into a Discourse with her of the Ends and Purposes for +which the Devil takes up such beautiful Forms as hers, and why it always +gave me a Suspicion when I saw a Lady handsomer than ordinary, and set +me upon the Search to be satisfied whether she was really a Woman or an +_Apparition_? a Lady or a Devil? allowing all along that her being a +Devil was quite out of the Question. + +Upon that very Foot, she took me up again roundly, and so, _says she_, +you are very civil to me through all your Discourse, for I see it ends +all in that, and you take it as a thing confest, that I am a Devil! A +very pretty piece of good Usage indeed! _says she_; _I thank you for +it_. + +Nay, Madam, _says I_, do not take it ill of me, for I only discover to +you that I knew it; I do not tell it you as a Secret, for you are +satisfied of that another way. + +Satisfied of what? says she, that I am a Devil? I think the Devil's in +you: _And so began to be hot_. + +A Devil! yes, Madam, says I, without doubt a meer DEVIL; take it as you +please, I can't help that: And so I began to take it ill that she should +be disgusted at opening such a well-known Truth to her. + +With that she discover'd it all at once, for she turn'd _Fury_, in the +very Letter of it; flew out in a Passion, rail'd at me, curst me most +heartily, and immediately disappeared; which you know is the particular +Mark of a Spirit or Apparition. + +We had a great deal of Discourse besides this, relating to several other +young Ladies of her Acquaintance, some of which, I said, were mere +_Apparitions_ like her self; and told her which were so, and which not; +and the Reason why they were so, and for what Uses and Purposes, some +to delude the World one way, and some another; and she was pretty well +pleased to hear that, but she could not bear to hear her own true +Character, which however, as cunning as she was, made her act the Devil +at last, as you have heard; and then vanished out of my sight. + +I have seen her in Miniature several Times since; but she proves her +self still to be the Devil of a Lady, for she bears Malice, and will +never forgive me, that I would not let her be an Angel; but like a very +Devil as she is, she endeavours to kill me at a Distance; and indeed the +Poison of her Eyes, (Basilisk-like) is very strong, and she has a +strange Influence upon me; but I that know her to be a Devil, strive +very hard with my self to drive the Memory of her out of my Thoughts. + +I have had two or three Engagements since this, with other _Apparitions_ +of the same Sex, and I find they are all alike, they are willing enough +to be thought Angels, but the Word Devil does not go down at all with +them: But 'tis all one, whenever we see an _Apparition_, it is so +natural to say we have seen the Devil, that there's no prevailing with +Mankind to talk any other Language. A Gentleman of my Acquaintance, the +other Day, that had courted a Lady a long time, had the Misfortune to +come a little suddenly upon her, when she did not expect him, and found +her in such a Rage at some of her Servants, that it quite disorder'd +her, especially a Footman; the Fellow had done something that was indeed +provoking, but not sufficient to put her into such a Passion, and so out +of her self; nor was she able to restrain her self when she saw her +Lover come in, but damn'd the Fellow, and rag'd like a Fury at him. + +My Friend did his best to compose her, and begg'd the Fellow's Pardon of +her, but it would not do; nay, the poor Fellow made all the Submissions +that could be expected, but 'twas the same thing: And so the Gentleman, +not caring to engage himself farther than became him, withdrew, and came +no more at her for three Days, in all which time she was hardly cool. + +The next Day my Friend came to me, and talking of it in Confidence to +me, I am afraid, _says he_, I am going to marry a She _Devil_, and so +told me the Story; I took no Notice to him, but finding out his +Mistress, and taking proper Measures, with some of my particular Skill, +I soon found out that it was really so, that she was a mere +_Apparition_; and had it not been for that accidental Disorder of her +Passions, which discover'd her Inside, she might indeed have cheated any +Man, for she was a lovely Devil as ever was seen; she talk'd like an +Angel, sung like a Syren, did every thing, and said every thing that was +taking and charming: But what then? it was all Apparition, for she was a +mere _Devil_. It is true, my Friend marry'd her, and tho' she was a +_Devil_ without doubt, yet either she behav'd so well, or he was so +good, I never could hear him find Fault with her. + +These are particular Instances; but alas! I could run you a Length +beyond all those Examples, and give you such a List of Devils among the +gay Things of the Town, that would fright you to think of; and you would +presently conclude, with me, that all the perfect Beauties are Devils, +mere Apparitions; but Time and Paper fails, so we must only leave the +Men the Caution, let them venture at their Peril. I return to the +Subject. + +We have a great many charming _Apparitions_ of like kind go daily about +the World in compleat Masquerade, and, tho' we must not say so, they are +in themselves mere _Devils_, wicked dangerous murthering Devils, that +kill various Ways, some, Basilisk-like, with their Eyes; some +Syren-like, with their Tongues; all _Murtherers_, even from the +_Beginning_: It is true, 'tis pity these pretty _Apparitions_ should be +Devils, and be so mischievous as they are; but since it is so, I can do +no less than to advertise you of it, that you may shun the Devil in +whatever Shape you meet with him. + +Again, there are some half Devils, they say, like the _Sagittarii_, half +Man, half Horse, or rather like the _Satyr_, who, _they say_, is half +Devil, half Man; or, like my Lord Bishop, who, _they say_, was +half-headed; whether they mean half-witted or no, I do not find Authors +agreed about it: But if they had voted him such, it had been as kind a +thing as any they cou'd say of him, because it would have clear'd him +from the Scandal of being a Devil, or half a Devil, for we don't find +the Devil makes any Alliance with F----ls. + +Then as to merry Devils, there's my Master _G------_, he may indeed have +the Devil in him, but it must be said, to the Credit of Possession in +general, that Satan would have scorn'd to have entred into a Soul so +narrow that there was not room to hold him, or to take up with so +discording a Creature, so abject, so scoundrel, as never made a Figure +among Mankind greater than that of a Thief, a _Moroder_, moulded up into +Quality, and a Raparee dress'd up _a-la-Masque_, with a _Robe_ and a +_Coronet_. + +Some little Dog-kennel Devil may indeed take up his Quarters in or near +him, and so run into and out of him as his Drum beats a Call; but to +him that was born a _Devil_, Satan, that never acts to no purpose, cou'd +not think him worth being possess'd by any thing better than a Devil of +a dirty Quality; that is to say, a Spirit too mean to wear the Name of +_Devil_, without some Badge or Addition of Infamy and Meanness to +distinguish it by. + +Thus what _Devil_ of Quality would be confin'd to a _P--------n_, who +inheriting all the Pride and Insolence of his Ancestors, without one of +their good Qualities; the Bully, the _Billingsgate_, and all the +hereditary ill Language of his Family, without an Ounce of their +Courage; that has been rescued five or six times from the Scandal of a +Coward, by the Bravery, and at the Hazard of Friends, and never fail'd +to be ungrateful; that if ever he committed a Murther, did it in cold +Blood, because no body could prove he ever had any hot; who possess'd +with a Poltroon _Devil_, was always wickeder in the Dark, than he durst +be by Day-light; and who, after innumerable passive Sufferings, has been +turned out of human Society, because he could not be kick'd or cuff'd +either into good Manners or good Humour. + +To say this was a _Devil_, an Apparition, or even a half _Devil_, would +be unkind to _Satan_ himself, since tho' he (the _Devil_) has so many +Millions of inferior _Devils_ under his Command, not one cou'd be found +base enough to match him, nor one _Devil_ found but what would think +himself dishonour'd to be employ'd about him. + +Some merry good-for-nothing _Devils_ we have indeed, which we might, if +we had room, speak of at large, and divert you too with the Relation, +such as my Lady _Hatt's Devil_ in _Essex_, who upon laying a Joiner's +Mallet in the Window of a certain Chamber, would come very orderly and +knock with it all Night upon the Window, or against the Wainscot, and +disturb the Neighbourhood, and then go away in the Morning, as well +satisfied as may be; whereas if the Mallet was not left, he would think +himself affronted, and be as unsufferable and terrifying as possible, +breaking the Windows, splitting the Wainscot, committing all the +Disorders, and doing all the Damage that he was able to the House, and +to the Goods in it. And again, such as the Druming _Devil_ in the Well +at _Oundle_ in _Northamptonshire_, and such like. + +A great many antick _Devils_ have been seen also, who seem'd to have +little or nothing to do, but only to assure us that they can appear if +they please, and that there is a Reality in the thing call'd Apparition. + +As to Shadows of _Devils_, and imaginary Appearances, such as appear, +and yet are invisible at the same time, I had thought to have bestow'd a +Chapter upon them by themselves, but it may be as much to the Purpose to +let them alone, as to meddle with them; 'tis said our old Friend +_Luther_ used to be exceedingly troubled with such invisible +Apparitions, and he tells us much of them, in what they call his +Table-talk; but with Master _Luther_'s leave, tho' the _Devil_ passes +for a very great Lyar, I could swallow many things of his own proper +making, as soon as some of those I find in a Book that goes by his Name, +particularly the Story of the Devil in a Basket, the Child flying out of +the Cradle, and the like. + +In a word, the walking _Devils_ that we have generally among us, are of +the female Sex; whether it be that the _Devil_ finds less Difficulty to +manage them, or that he lives quieter with them, or that they are fitter +for his Business than the Men, I shall not now enter into a Dispute +about that; perhaps he goes better disguis'd in the fair Sex than +otherwise; Antiquity gives us many Histories of She-Devils, such as we +can very seldom match for Wickedness among the Men; such now as in the +Text, _Lot_'s Daughters, _Joseph_'s Mistress, _Sampson_'s _Dalilah_, +_Herod_'s _Herodias_, these were certainly _Devils_, or play'd the +_Devil_ sufficiently in their Turn; one Male Apparition indeed the +Scripture furnishes you with, and that is _Judas_; for his Master says +expresly of him, _One of you is a Devil_; not has the _Devil_, or is +possess'd of the DEVIL; but really is a DEVIL, or is a real DEVIL. + +How happy is it, that this great Secret comes thus to be discover'd to +mankind? Certainly the World has gone on in Ignorance a long time, and +at a strange rate, that we should have so many _Devils_ continually +walking about among us in humane Shape, and we know it not. + +Philosophers tell us that there is a World of Spirits, and many learned +Pieces of Guess-work they make at it, representing the World to be so +near us, that the Air, as they describe it, must be full of Dragons and +_Devils_, enough to fright our Imaginations with the very Thoughts of +them; and if they say true, 'tis our great Felicity that we cannot see +any farther into it than we do, which if we could, would appear as +frightful as Hell itself; but none of those Sages ever told us, till +now, that half the People who converse with us are _Apparitions_, +especially of the Women; and among them especially this valuable Part, +the Woman of Figure, the fair, the beautiful, or patch'd and painted. + +This unusual Phænomenon has been seen but a little while, and but a +little way, and the general Part of Mankind cannot come into the same +Notions about it; nay, perhaps they will all think it strange; but be +it as strange as it will, the Nature of the Thing confirms it, this +lower Sphere is full of _Devils_; and some of both Sexes have given +strange Testimonies of the Reality of their pre-existent _Devilism_ for +many Ages past, tho' I think it never came to that Height as it has now. + +It is true, in former times Satan dealt much in old Women, and those, as +I have observ'd already, very ugly, _Ugly as a Witch_, _Black as a +Witch_, _I look like a Witch_, all proverbial Speeches, and which +testify'd what Tools it was Satan generally work'd with; and these old +Spectres, they tell us, us'd to ride thro' the Air in the Night, and +upon Broomsticks too, all mighty homely Doings; some say they us'd to go +to visit their Grand Seignior the _Devil_, in those Nocturnal +Perambulations: But be that as it will, 'tis certain the _Devil_ has +chang'd hands, and that now he walks about the World cloth'd in Beauty, +cover'd with the Charms of the Lovely, and he fails not to disguise +himself effectually by it, for who would think a beautiful Lady could be +a Masque to the Devil? and that a fine Face, a divine Shape, a heavenly +Aspect, should bring the _Devil_ in her Company, nay, should be herself +an _Apparition_, a mere DEVIL. + +The Enquiry is indeed worth our while, and therefore I hope all the +enamour'd Beaus and Boys, all the Beauty-hunters and Fortune-hunters, +will take heed, for I suppose if they get the _Devil_, they will not +complain for want of a Fortune; and there's Danger enough, I assure you, +for the World is full of Apparitions, _non rosa sine spinis_; not a +Beauty without a _Devil_, the old Women Spectres, and the young Women +Apparitions; the ugly ones Witches, and the handsome ones _Devils_; +Lord ha' Mercy, and a [Illustration: Cross] may be Set on the Man's Door +that goes a courting. + + + + +CHAP. VIII. + +_Of the Cloven-Foot walking about the World without the_ Devil, (viz.) _of + Witches making Bargains for the_ Devil, _and particularly of selling + the Soul to the_ Devil. + + +I have dwelt long upon the _Devil_ in Masque as he goes about the World +incog. and especially without his Cloven-Foot, and have touched upon +some of his Disguises in the Management of his Interest in the World; I +must say some of his Disguises only, for who can give a full account of +all his Tricks and Arts in so narrow a Compass as I am prescrib'd to? + +But as I said, that every _Devil_ has not a Cloven-Foot, so I must add +now for the present Purpose, that every Cloven-Foot is not the Devil. + +Not but that wherever I should meet the Cloven-Hoof, I should expect +that the _Devil_ was not far off, and should be apt to raise the Posse +against him, to apprehend him; yet it may happen otherwise, that's +certain; every Coin has its Counterfeit, every Art its Pretender, every +Whore her Admirer, every Error its Patron, and every Day has its DEVIL. + +I have had some thought of making a full and compleat Discovery here of +that great Doubt which has so long puzzl'd the World, namely, whether +there is any such Thing, as secret making Bargains with the Devil, and +the first positive Assurance I can give you in the Case, is, that if +there is not, 'tis not his Fault, 'tis not for want of his Endeavour, +'tis plain, if you will pardon me for taking so mean a Step, as that of +quoting Scripture; I say, 'tis evident he would fain have made a +Contract with our Saviour, and he bid boldly (_give him his due_) +namely, _all the Kingdoms of the World for one bend of his Knee_: +Impudent Seraph! To think thy Lord should pay thee Homage! How many +would agree with him here for a less Price! They say, _Oliver Cromwell_ +struck a Bargain with him, and that he gave _Oliver_ the Protectorship, +but would not let him call himself King, which stuck so close to that +_Furioso_, that the Mortification Spread into his Soul, and 'tis said, +he dy'd of a Gangreen in the Spleen. But take Notice and do _Oliver_ +Justice; I do not vouch the Story, neither does the Bishop say one Word +of it. + +Fame us'd to say, that the old famous Duke of _Luxemburg_ made a Magic +compact of this Kind; nay, I have heard many an (old Woman) Officer of +the Troops, who never car'd to see his Face, declare that he carry'd the +Devil at his Back. I remember a certain Author of a News Paper in +_London_ was once taken up, and they say, it cost him 50_l._ for +printing in his News, that _Luxemburg_ was _Humpback'd_. Now if I have +resolv'd the Difficulty, namely, that he was not hump'd, only carry'd +the _Devil_ at his Back; I think the poor Man should have his 50_l._ +again, or I should have it for the Discovery. + +I confess, I do not well understand this compacting with such a Fellow +as can neither write nor read; nor do I know who is the Scrivener +between them, or how the Indenture can be executed; but that which is +worse than all the rest is, that in _the first Place_, the _Devil_ never +keeps Articles; he will contract perhaps, and they say he is mighty +forward to make Conditions; but who shall bind him to the Performance, +and where is the Penalty if he fails? if we agree with him, he will be +apt enough to claim his Bargain and demand Payment; nay, perhaps before +it is due; but who shall make him stand to his. + +Besides, he is a Knave in his Dealing, for he really promises what he +cannot perform; witness his impudent Proposal to our Lord mentioned +above. _All these Kingdoms will I give_ thee! _Lying Spirit!_ Why they +were none of thine to give, no not one of them; for the Earth is the +Lords and the kingdoms thereof, nor were they in his Power any more than +in his Right: So (I have heard that) some poor dismal Creatures have +sold themselves to the Devil for a Sum of Money, for so much Cash, and +yet even in that Case, when the Day of Payment came, I never heard that +he brought the Money or paid the Purchase, so that he is a Scoundrel in +his Treaties, for you shall trust for your Bargain, but not be able to +get your Money; and yet for your Part, he comes for you to an Hour: _Of +which by it self_. + +In a Word, let me caution you all, when you trade with the Devil, either +get the Price or quit the Bargain; the _Devil_ is a cunning Shaver, he +will wriggle himself out of the Performance on his Side if possible, and +yet expect you should be punctual on your Side. They tell you of a poor +Fellow in _Herefordshire_, that offer'd to sell his Soul to him for a +Cow, and though the _Devil_ promised, and as they say, sign'd the +Writings, yet the poor Countryman could never get the Cow of him, but +still as he brought a Cow to him, some body or other came and challeng'd +it, proving that it was lost or stolen from them; so that the Man got +nothing but the Name of a Cow-stealer, and was at last carried to +_Hereford_ Goal, and condemn'd to be hang'd for stealing two Cows, one +after the other: The wicked Fellow was then in the greatest Distress +imaginable, he summon'd his _Devil_ to help him out, but he failed him, +as the _Devil_ always will; he really had not stolen the Cows, but they +were found in his Possession, and he could give no Account how he came +by them; at last he was driven to confess the Truth, told the horrid +Bargain he had made, and how the _Devil_ often promis'd him a Cow, but +never gave him one, except that several Times in the Morning early he +found a Cow put into his Yard, but it always prov'd to belong to some of +his Neighbours: Whether the Man was hang'd or no, the Story does not +relate; but this Part is to my Purpose, that they that make Bargains +with the _Devil_, ought to make him give Security for the Performance of +Covenants, and who the Devil would get to be bound for him, I can't +tell, they must look to that who make the Bargain: Besides, if he had +not had a Mind to cheat or baffle the poor Man, what need he have taken +a Cow so near home? if he had such and such Powers as we talk of, and as +Fancy and Fable furnish for him, could not he have carried a Cow in the +Air upon a Broom-stick, as well as an old Woman? Could he not have stole +a Cow for him in _Lincolnshire_, and set it down in _Herefordshire_, and +so have performed his Bargain, saved his Credit, and kept the poor Man +out of Trouble? so that if the Story is True, as I really believe it is, +either it is not the Devil that makes those Bargains, or the Devil has +not such Power as we bestow on him, except on Special Occasions he gets +a Permit, and is bid go, as in the Case of _Job_, the _Gadaren Hogs_, +and the like. + +We have another Example of a Man's selling himself to the _Devil_, that +is very remarkable, and that is in the Bible too, and even in that, I +do not find, what the _Devil_ did for him, in Payment of the Purchase +Price. The Person selling was _Ahab_, of whom the Text says expresly, +_there was none like_ him, _who did sell himself to work Wickedness in +the Sight of the_ LORD, 1 _Kings_ xxi. 20, and the 25. I think it might +have been rendred, if not translated _in Spight of the Lord_, or _in +Defiance of God_; for certainly that's the Meaning of it; and now +allowing me to preach a little upon this Text, my Sermon shall be very +short. _Ahab_ sold himself, who did he sell himself to? I answer that +Question by a Question; who would buy him? who, _as we say_, would give +any thing for him? and the Answer to that is plain also, you may judge +of the Purchaser by the Work he was to do; he that buys a Slave in the +Market, buys him to work for him, and to do such Business as he has for +him to do: _Ahab_ was bought to work wickedness, and who would buy him +for that but the _Devil_? + +I think there's no room to doubt but _Ahab_ sold himself to the Devil; +the Text is plain that he sold himself, and the Work he was sold to do +points out the Master that bought him; what Price he agreed with the +_Devil_ for, that indeed the Text is silent in, so we may let it alone, +nor is it much to our Purpose, unless it be to enquire whether the +_Devil_ stood to his Bargain or not, and whether he paid the Money +according to Agreement, or cheated him as he did the Farmer at +_Hereford_. + +This buying and selling between the _Devil_ and us, is, I must confess, +an odd kind of Stock-jobbing, and indeed the _Devil_ may be said to sell +the _Bear-skin_, whatever he buys; but the strangest Part is when he +comes to demand the transfer; for as I hinted before, whether he +Performs or no, he expects his Bargain to a Tittle; there is indeed +some Difficulty in resolving how and in what Manner Payment is made; the +Stories we meet with in our Chimney-Corner Histories, and which are so +many Ways made Use of to make the _Devil_ frightful to us and our Heirs +for ever, are generally so foolish and ridiculous, as, if true or not +true, they have nothing Material in them, are of no Signification, or +else so impossible in their Nature, that they make no Impression upon +any body above twelve Years old and under seventy; or else are so +tragical that Antiquity has fabled them down to our Taste, that we might +be able to hear them and repeat them with less Horror than is due to +them. + +This Variety has taken off our Relish of the Thing in general, and made +the Trade of Soul-selling, like our late more eminent Bubbles, be taken +to be a Cheat and to have little in it. + +However, to speak a little more gravely to it, I cannot say but that +since, by the two eminent Instances of it above in _Ahab_, and in Christ +himself, the Fact is evidently ascertain'd; and that the Devil has +attempted to make such a Bargain on one, and actually did make it with +the other. The Possibility of it is not to be disputed; but then I must +explain the Manner of it a little, and bring it down, nearer to our +Understanding, that it may be more intelligible than it is; for as for +this selling the Soul, and making a Bargain to give the _Devil_ +Possession by Livery and Seisin on the Day appointed, that I cannot come +into by any Means; no nor into the other Part, namely, of the Devil +coming to claim his Bargain, and to demand the Soul according to +Agreement, and upon Default of a fair Delivery, taking it away by +Violence _Case and all_, of which we have many historical Relations +pretty current among us; some of which, _for ought I know_, we might +have hop'd had been true, if we had not been sure they were false, and +others we had Reason to fear were false, because it was impossible they +should be true. + +The Bargains of this Kind, according to the best Accounts we have of +them, used to consist of two main Articles, according to the ordinary +Stipulations in all Covenants; namely, + + 1. Something to be perform'd on the Devil's Part, buying. + + 2. Something to be performed on the Man's Part, selling. + + +1. The _Devil_'s Part: This was generally some poor Trifle, for the +Devil generally bought good Penny-worths, and oftentimes like a compleat +Sharper, agreed to give what he was not able to procure; that is to say, +would bargain for a Price he could not pay, as in the Case of the +_Hereford_ Man and the Cow; for Example, 1. _Long Life_: This tho' the +deluded Chapman has often had folly enough to contract for, the Devil +never had Power to make good; and we have a famous Story, how true I +know not, of a Wretch that sold himself to the DEVIL on Condition he, +_Satan_, should assure him (1.) That he should never want Victuals; (2.) +That he should never be a cold; (3.) That he should always come to him +when he call'd him; and (4.) That he should let him live one and twenty +Years, and then Satan was at Liberty to have him; that is, I suppose, to +take him wherever he could find him. + +It seems, the Fellow's desire to be assur'd of 21 Years Life, was +chiefly, that during that Time, he might be as wicked as he would, and +should yet be sure not to be hang'd, nay, to be free from all +Punishment; upon this Foot 'tis said he commenc'd Rogue, and committed a +great many Robberies and other villanous Things; now it seems the +_Devil_ was pretty true to his Bargain in several of those things; +particularly, that two or three times when the Fellow was taken up for +petty Crimes, and call'd for his old Friend, he came and frighted the +Constables so, that they let the Offender get away from them: But at +Length having done some capital Crime, a Set of Constables, or such like +Officers, seiz'd upon him, who were not to be frighted with the _Devil_, +in what Shape soever he appear'd; so that they carry'd him off, and he +was committed to _Newgate_ or some other Prison as effectual. + +Nor could Satan with all his Skill unlock his Fetters, much less the +Prison Doors; But he was try'd, convicted, and executed. The Fellow in +his Extremity, _they say_, expostulated with the _Devil_ for his +Bargain, the Term of 21 Years it seems not being expir'd. But the +_Devil_, it is said, shuffl'd with him, told him a good while, he would +get him out, bid him have Patience and stay a little, and thus led him +on, till he came as it were within Sight of the Gallows, that is to say, +within a Day or two of his Execution; when the _Devil_ cavill'd upon his +Bargain, told him, he agreed to let him live 21 Years, and he had not +hindred him, but that he did not Covenant to cause him to live that +Time; that there was a great deal of Difference between doing and +suffering; that he was to suffer him to live, and that he did; but he +could not make him live when he had brought himself to the Gallows. + +Whether this Story were true or not, for you must not expect we +Historians should answer for the Discourse between the _Devil_ and his +Chaps, because we were not privy to the Bargain: I say, whether it was +true or not, the Inference is to our Purpose several Ways. + + 1. It confirms what I have said of the Knavery of the _Devil_ in + his Dealings, and that when he has Stock-jobb'd with us on the best + Conditions he can get, he very seldom performs his Bargain. + + 2. It confirms what I have likewise said, that the _Devil_'s Power + is limited; with this Addition, that he not only cannot destroy the + Life of Man, but that he cannot preserve it; _in short_, he can + neither prevent or bring on our Destruction. + + +I may be allow'd, I hope, for the Sake of the present Discourse, to +suppose that the _Devil_ would have been so just to this wicked, tho' +foolish Creature, as to have sav'd him from the Gallows if he could; but +it seems, he at last acknowledg'd that it was not in his Power; nay, he +could not keep him from being taken and carry'd to Prison, after he was +gotten into the Hands of a bold Fellow or two, that were not to be +fear'd with his Bluster, as some foolish Creatures had been before. + +And how simple, how weak, how unlike any Thing of an Angelick Nature, +was it to attempt to save the poor Wretch, only by little Noises and +sham Appearances, putting out the Candles, rushing and josteling in the +Dark, _and the like_! If the _Devil_ was that mighty Seraph, which we +have heard of, if he is a God of this World, a Prince of the Air, a +Spirit able to destroy Cities and make Havock in the World; if he can +raise Tempests and Storms, throw Fire about the World, and do wonderful +Things, as an unchain'd _Devil_ no Doubt could do; what need all this +Frippery? and what need he try so many ridiculous Ways, by the +Emptiness, nay, the silly nonsensical Manner, of which, he shews, that +he is able to do no better, and that his Power is extinguish'd? _In a +Word_, he would certainly act otherwise, if he could. _Sed caret +pedibus_, he wants Power. + +How weak a thing is it then, for any Man to expect Performance from the +_Devil_? If he has not Power to do Mischief, which is his Element, his +very Nature, and on many Accounts, is the very sum of his Desires; How +should he have Power to do Good? how Power to deliver from Danger or +from Death? which Deliverance would be in itself a Good, and we know it +is not in his Nature to do Good to or for any Man? + +In a Word, the _Devil_ is strangely impudent, to think that any Man +should depend upon him for the Performance of an Agreement of any Kind +whatever, when he knows himself, that he is not able, if he was honest +enough, to be as good as his Word. + +Come we next to his expecting our Performance to him; tho' he is not so +just to us, yet, it seems, he never fails to come and demand Payment of +us at the very Day appointed: He was but a weak Trader in Things of this +Nature, who having sold his Soul to the _Devil_, so our old Women's +Tales call the Thing, and when the _Devil_ came to demand his Bargain, +put it off as a Thing of no Force, for that it was done so long ago, he +thought he (_the Devil_) had forgot it. It was a better Answer, which +they tell us, a _Lutheran_ Divine gave the _Devil_ in the Name of a poor +Wretch, who had sold himself to the _Devil_, and who was in a terrible +Fright about his coming for his Bargain, as he might well be indeed, if +the _Devil_ has such a Power, as really to come and take it by Force. +_The Story (if you can bear a serious one) is this._ + +The Man was in great Horror of Mind, and the Family fear'd he would +destroy himself; at length they sent for a _Lutheran_ Minister to talk +with him, and who after some Labour with him, got out the Truth (_viz._) +that he had sold himself to the _Devil_, and that the Time was almost +expir'd, when he expected the _Devil_ would come and fetch him away, and +he was sure he would not fail coming to the Time to a Minute; the +Minister first endeavour'd to convince him of the horrid Crime, and to +bring him to a true Penitence for that Part; and having as he thought +made him a sincere Penitent, he then began to encourage him, and +particularly, desir'd of him, that when the Time was come, that the +_Devil_ should fetch him away, he, the Minister, should be in the House +with him; accordingly, to make the Story short, the Time came, the +_Devil_ came, and the Minister was present, when the _Devil_ came; what +Shape he was in, the Story does not say; the Man said he saw him, and +cry'd out; the Minister could not see him, but the Man affirming he was +in the Room, the Minister said aloud, _in the Name of the_ living God, +_Satan, what comest thou here for?_ The _Devil_ answer'd, _I come for my +own_; the Minister answer'd, _He is not thy own, for Jesus Christ has +redeem'd him, and in his Name I charge thee to avoid and touch him not_; +at which, says the Story, the _Devil_ gave a furious Stamp (with his +Cloven-Foot I suppose) and went away, and was never known to molest him +afterward. + +Another Story, tho' it be in it self a long one, I shall abridge (for +your reading with the less Uneasiness) as follows. + +A young Gentleman of _----berg_, in the Elector of _Brandenburgh_'s (now +the King of _Prussia_'s) Dominions, being deeply in Love with a +beautiful Lady, but something above his Fortune, and whom he could by no +Means bring to love him again, apply'd himself to an _old thing_ call'd +_a Witch_, for her Assistance, and promised her great Things, if she +could bring the Lady to love him, or any how compass her, so as he might +have his Will of her; nay, at last he told her he would give up his Soul +to her, if she would answer his Desire. + +The old Hag, it seems, having had some of his Money, had very honestly +tried what she could do, but all to no Purpose, the Lady would not +comply; but when he offer'd such a great Price, she told him, she would +consider farther against such a Time, and so appointed him the next +Evening. + +At the Time appointed he comes, and the Witch made a long Speech to him +upon the Nicety of the Affair; I suppose to prepare him not to be +surpriz'd at what was to come; for she suppos'd he was not so very +desperately bent as he appear'd to be; she told him it was a Thing of +very great Difficulty; but as he had made such a great Offer, of +_selling his Soul for it_, she had an Acquaintance in the House, who was +better skill'd (than she was) in such particular Things, and would treat +with him farther, and she doubted not but that both together they might +answer his End. The Fellow it seems was still of the same Mind, and told +her, he car'd not what he pawn'd or sold, if he could but obtain the +Lady; well, says the old Hag, sit still a while, and with that she +withdraws. + +By and by she comes in again with a Question in her Mouth; pray, says +she, do you seek this Lady for a Wife, or for a Mistress, would you +marry her, or would you only lie with her? The young Man told her _no, +no_, he did not expect she would lie with him, therefore he would be +satisfied to marry her, but asks her the Reason of the Question; why +truly, says the old Hag, my Reason is very Weighty; for if you would +have her for your Wife, I doubt, we can do you no Service; but if you +have a Mind to lie with her, the Person, I speak of, will undertake it. + +The Man was surpriz'd at that, only he objected that this was a +transient or short Felicity, and that he should perhaps have her no +more; the old Hag bid him not fear, but that if she once yielded to be +his Whore, he might have her as often as he pleased; upon this he +consents, for he was stark mad for the Lady; He having consented, she +told him then, he should follow her, but told him, whoever he saw, he +must speak to no body but her, till she gave him leave, and that he +should not be surpriz'd, whatever happen'd, for no hurt should befall +him; all which he agreed to, and the old Woman going out he follow'd +her. + +Being upon this led into another Room, where there was but very little +Light, yet enough to let him see that there was no body in it but +himself and the Woman, he was desired to sit down in a Chair next to a +Table, and the old Woman clapping the Door too after her, he asked her +why she shut the Door, and where was the Person she told him of? At +which she answer'd _there he is_, pointing to a Chair at a little +Distance: The young Gentleman turning his Head, saw a grave Kind of a +Man sitting in an Elbow-Chair, tho' he said, he could have sworn there +was no body in the Chair when the old Woman shut the Door; however, +having promis'd not to speak to any body but the old Woman, he said not +a Word. + +By and by the Woman making abundance of strange Gestures and Motions, +and mumbling over several Things which he could not understand, on a +suddain a large Wicker-Chair, which stood by the Chimney, removes to the +other End of the Table which he sat by, but there was no body in the +Chair; in about two Minutes after that the Chair remov'd, there appear'd +a Person sitting in that too, who, the Room being, as is said, almost +dark, could not be so distinguish'd by the Eye, as to see his +Countenance. + +After some while, the first Man, and the Chair he sat in, mov'd, as if +they had been one Body, to the Table also; and the old Woman and the two +Men seem'd to talk together, but the young Man could not understand any +Thing they said; after some Time the old Witch turn'd to the young +Gentleman, told him his Request was granted, but not for Marriage, but +the Lady should love and receive him. + +The Witch then gave him a Stick dipt in Tar at both Ends, and bid him +hold it to a Candle, which he did, and instead of burning like a Stick +it burnt out like a Torch; then she bid him break it off in the Middle, +and light the other End; he did that too, and all the Room seem'd to be +in a light Flame; then she said, deliver one Piece here, pointing to one +only of the Persons, so he gave the first Fire-stick to the first Man or +_Apparition_; now says she, deliver the other here, so he gave the other +Piece to the other Apparition, at which they both rose up and spoke to +him Words, which he said he understood not, and could not repeat, and +immediately vanish'd with the Fire-sticks and all, leaving the Room full +of Smoke: I do not remember that the Story says any Thing of Brimstone, +or the Smell of it, but it says the Door continu'd fast lock'd, and no +Body was left in the Room but the young Gentleman and the Witch. + +Now the Ceremony being over, he ask'd the Witch if the Business was +done? She said _yes_. Well, but says he, have I sold my Soul to the +Devil? Yes, says she, you have, and you gave him Possession, when you +deliver'd the two Fire-sticks to him. _To him!_ says he, why, was that +the _Devil_? Yes, says the old Hag. At which the young Man was in a +terrible Fright for a while, but it went off again. + +And what's next, says he, when shall I see the Lady for whose sake I +have done all this? You shall know that presently, said she, and opening +the Door, in the next Room she presents him with a most beautiful Lady, +but had charg'd him not to speak a Word to her: She was exactly dress'd +like, and he presently knew her to be the Lady he desir'd; upon which he +flew to her and clasped her in his Arms, but that Moment he had her +fast, as he thought, in his Arms, she vanish'd out of his sight. + +Finding himself thus disappointed, he upbraids the old Woman with +betraying him, and flew out with ill Language at her, in a great Rage; +the _Devil_ often deluded him thus, after this, with Shews and +Appearances, but still no Performance; after a while he gets an +Opportunity to speak with the Lady her self in Reality, but she was as +positive in her Denial as ever, and even took away all Hopes of his ever +obtaining her, which put him into Despair; for now he thought he had +given himself up to the _Devil_ for nothing, and this brought him to +himself; so that he made a penitent Confession of his Crime to some +Friends, who took great Care of him, and encourag'd him, and at last +furnish'd him with such an Answer as put the _Devil_ into a Fright, when +he came for the Bargain. + +For Satan, it seems, _as the Story says_, had the Impudence to demand +his Agreement, notwithstanding he had fail'd in the Performance on his +Part; what the Answer was I do not pretend to have seen, but it seems +it was something like what is mention'd above, (_viz._) that he was in +better Hands, and that he durst not touch him. + +I have heard of another Person that had actually sign'd a Contract with +the _Devil_; and upon a Fast kept by some Protestant or Christian +Divines, while they were praying for the poor Man, the Devil was oblig'd +to come and throw the Contract in at the Window. + +But I vouch none of these Stories, there may be much in them and much +Use made of them, even whether exactly such in Fact, as they are +related, or no; the best Use I can make of them, is this, if any wicked +desperate Wretches have made Bargain and Sale with _Satan_, their only +Way is to repent, if they know how, and that before he comes to claim +them; then batter him with his own Guns; play Religion against Devilism, +and perhaps they may drive the _Devil_ out of their Reach; at least he +will not come at them, which is as well. + +On the other Hand, how many Stories have we handed about of the Devil's +really coming with a terrible Appearance at the Time appointed, and +powerfully or by violence carrying away those, that have given +themselves thus up to him; nay, and sometimes a Piece of the House along +with them, as in the famous Instance of _Sudbury_, _Anno_ 1662. It seems +he comes with Rage and Fury upon such Occasions, pretending he only +comes to take his own, or as if he had leave given him to come and take +his Goods, _as we say_, where he could find them, and would strike a +Terror into all that should oppose him. + +The greatest Part of the Terror we are usually in upon this Occasion, is +from a Supposition, that when this _Hell-Fire Contract_ is once made, +God allows the _Devil_ to come and take the wicked Creature, how and in +what manner he thinks fit, as being given up to him by his own Act and +Deed; but in my Opinion there's no Divinity at all in that; for as in +our Law we punish a _Felo de se_, or Self-murtherer, because, _as the +Law suggests_, he had no Right to dismiss his own Life; that he being a +Subject of the Common-wealth, the Government claims the _Ward_ or +Custody of him, and so 'twas not Murther only, but Robbery, and is a +Felony against the State, robbing the King of his Liege-Man, as _'tis +justly call'd_; so neither has any Man a Right to dispose of his Soul, +which belongs to his Maker in Property and in Right of Creation: The Man +then having no Right to sell, Satan has no Right to buy, or at best he +has made a Purchase without a Title, and consequently has no just Claim +to the Possession. + +It is therefore a Mistake to say, that when any of us have been so mad +to make such a pretended Contract with the Devil, that God gives him +leave to take it as his Due; _'tis no such thing_; the _Devil_ has +bought, what you had no Right to sell, and therefore, as an unlawful +Oath is to be repented of, and then broken; so your Business is to +repent of the Crime, and then tell the _Devil_, you have better +consider'd of it, and that you won't stand to your Bargain, for you had +no Power to sell; and if he pretends to Violence after that, I am +mistaken; I believe the _Devil_ knows better. + +It is true, our old Mothers and Nurses have told us other Things, but +they only told us what their Mothers and Nurses told them, and so the +Tale has been handed down from one Generation of old Women to another; +but we have no Vouchers for the Fact other than Oral Tradition, the +Credit of which, I confess, goes but a very little Way with me; nor do I +believe it one Jot the more for all the frightful Addenda which they +generally join to the Tale, for it never wants a great Variety of that +Kind. + +Thus they tell us the Devil carried away Dr. _Faustus_ and took a Piece +of the Wall of his Garden along with them: Thus at _Salisbury_ the +_Devil_ as it is said, and publickly printed, carried away two Fellows +that had given themselves up to him, and carried away the Roof of the +House with them, _and the like_; all which I believe my Share of; +besides, if these Stories were really true, they are all against the +Devil's true Interest, _Satan_ must be a Fool, which is indeed what I +never took him to be in the Main; this would be the Way not to encrease +the Number of Desperadoes, who should thus put themselves into his Hand, +but to make himself a Terror to them; and this is one of the most +powerful Objections I have against the Thing, for the Devil, I say, is +no Fool, that must be acknowledg'd; he knows his own Game, and generally +plays it sure. + +I might, before I quit this Point, seriously reflect here upon our _Beau +mond_ (_viz._) the gay Part of Mankind, especially those of the Times we +live in, who walk about in a Composure and Tranquillity inexpressible, +and yet as we all know, must certainly have all sold themselves to the +Devil, for the Power of acting the foolishest Things with the greater +Applause; it is true, to be a Fool is the most pleasant Life in the +World, if the Fool has but the particular Felicity, which few Fools +want, (_viz._) to think themselves wise: The learned say, it is the +Dignity and Perfection of Fools, that they never fail trusting +themselves; they believe themselves sufficient and able for every Thing; +and hence their want or waste of Brains is no Grievance to them, but +they hug themselves in the Satiety of their own Wit; but to bring other +People to have the same Notion of them, which they have of themselves, +and to have their apish and ridiculous Conduct make the same Impression +on the Minds of others, as it does on their own; this requires a general +Infatuation, and must either be a Judgment from Heaven, or a Mist of +Hell; nothing but the Devil can make all the Men of Brains applaud a +Fool, and can any Man believe, that the Devil will do this for nothing? +no, no, he will be well paid for it, and I know no other Way they have +to compound with him, but this of Bargain and Sale. + +'Tis the same thing with Rakes and Bullies, as 'tis with Fools and +Beaus; and this brings me to the Subject of _buying_ and _selling_ it +self, and to examine what is understood by it in the World, what People +mean by such and such a Man selling himself to the Devil: I know the +common Acceptation of it is, that they make some Capitulation for some +Indulgence in Wickedness, on Conditions of Safety and Impunity, which +the Devil promises them; tho' as I said above, he is a _Bite_ in that +too, for he can't perform the Conditions; however, I say, he promises +boldly, and they believe him, and for this Privilege in Wickedness, they +consent, that he shall come and fetch them for his own, at such or such +a Time. + +This is the State of the Case in the general Acceptation of it; I do not +say 'tis really so, nay 'tis even an Inconsistency in it self; for one +would think, they need not capitulate with the Devil to be so, and so, +superlatively wicked, and give him such a Price for it, seeing, unless +we have a wrong Notion of him, he is naturally enclin'd, as well as +avow'dly willing to have all Men be as superlatively wicked as possibly +they can, and must necessarily be always ready to issue out his Licenses +gratis, as far as his Authority will go in the Case; and therefore I do +not see why the Wretches that deal with him, should article with him for +a Price; but suppose, for Argument sake, that it is so, then the next +Thing is, some capital Crime follows the Contract, and then the Wretch +is forsaken, for the Devil cannot protect him, as he promised; so he is +_Trust up_, and like _Coleman_ at the Gallows, he exclaims that _there +is no Truth in_ Devils. + +It may be true, however, that under the powerful Guard and Protection of +the Devil, Men do sometimes go a great Way in Crime, and that perhaps +farther in these our Days of boasted Morals than was known among our +Fathers; the only Difference that I meet with between the Sons of +_Belial_ in former Days, and those of our Ages, seems to be in the +Devil's Management, not in theirs; the Sum of which amounts to this, +that Satan seems to act with more Cunning, and they with less; for in +the former Ages of Satan's Dominion, he had much Business upon his +Hands, all his Art and Engines, and Engineers also, were kept fully +employ'd, to wheedle, allure, betray and circumvent People, and draw +them into Crimes, and they found him, as we may say, a full Employment; +I doubt not, he was call'd the Tempter on that very Account; but the +Case seems quite alter'd now, the Tables are turned; then the Devil +tempted Men to sin, _But now, in short_, they tempt the Devil; Men push +into Crimes before he pushes them; they out shoot him in his own Bow, +out run him on his own Ground, and, as we say of some hot Spurs who ride +Post, they whip the Post-Boy; in a Word, the Devil seems to have no +Business now but to sit still and look on. + +This, I must confess, seems to intimate some secret Compact between the +Devil and them; but then it looks, not as is they had contracted with +the Devil for leave to sin, but that the Devil had contracted with them, +that they should sin so and so, up to such a Degree, and that without +giving him the Trouble of daily Solicitation, private Management, and +artful screwing up their Passions, their Affections and their most +retir'd Faculties, as he was before oblig'd to do. + +This also appears more agreeable to the Nature of the Thing; and as it +is a most exquisite part of Satan's Cunning, so 'tis an undoubted +Testimony of his Success; if it was not so, he could never bring his +Kingdom to such a height of absolute Power as he has done; this also +solves several Difficulties in the Affair of the World's present Way of +sinning, which otherwise it would be very hard to understand; as +particularly how some eminent Men of Quality among us, whose upper Rooms +are not extraordinary well furnished in other Cases, yet are so very +witty in their Wickedness, that they gather Admirers by hundreds and +thousands; who, however heavy, lumpish, slow and backward, even by +Nature, and in force of Constitution in better things, yet in their Race +Devil-wards they are of a sudden grown nimble, light of Foot, and outrun +all their Neighbours; Fellows that are as empty of Sense as Beggars are +of Honesty, and as far from Brains as a Whore is of Modesty; on a sudden +you shall find them dip into _Polemicks_, study _Michael Servetus_, +_Socinus_, and the most learned of their Disciples; they shall reason +against all Religion, as strongly as a Philosopher; blaspheme with such +a Keenness of Wit, and satyrise God and Eternity, with such a Brightness +of Fancy, as if the soul of a _Rochester_ or a _Hobbs_ was +transmigrated into them; in a little length of Time more they banter +Heaven, burlesque the Trinity, and jest with every sacred thing, and all +so sharp, so ready, and so terribly witty, as if they were born +Buffoons, and were singl'd out by Nature to be Champions for the Devil. + +Whence can all this come? how is the Change wrought? who but the Devil +can inject Wit in Spight of natural Dullness, create Brains, fill empty +Heads, and supply the Vacuities in the Understanding? and will Satan do +all this for nothing? _No, no_, he is too wise for that; I can never +doubt a secret Compact, if there is such a thing in Nature; when I see a +Head where there was no Head, Sense in _Posse_ where there is no Sense +in _Esse_, Wit without Brains, and Sight without Eyes, 'tis all +_Devil-Work_: Could _G----_ write Satyrs, that could neither read +_Latin_ or spell _English_, like old Sir _William Read_, who wrote a +Book of Opticks, which when it was printed, he did not know which was +the right Side uppermost, and which the wrong? Could this eminent +uninform'd Beau turn Atheist, and make wise Speeches against that Being, +which made him a Fool, if the Devil had not sold him some Wit in +exchange for that Trifle of his, call'd Soul? Had he not barter'd his +Inside with that Son of the Morning, to have his Tongue tip'd with +Blasphemy, he that knew nothing of a God, but only to swear by him, +could never have set up for a Wit, to burlesque his Providence and +ridicule his Government of the World. + +But the Devil, as he is God of the World, has one particular Advantage, +and that is, that when he has Work to do he very seldom wants +Instruments; with this Circumstance also, that the Degeneracy of human +Nature supplies him; as the late King of _France_ said of himself, when +they told him what a Calamity was like to befal his Kingdom by the +Famine: _Well_, says the King, then I shall not want Soldiers; _and it +was so_, want of Bread supplied his Army with Recruits; so want of Grace +supplied the _Devil_ with Reprobates for his Work. + +Another Reason why, I think, the _Devil_ has made more Bargains of that +Kind we speak of, in this Age, is, because he seems to have laid by his +Cloven-Foot; all his old Emissaries, the Tools of his Trade, the +Engineers which he employ'd in his Mines, such as Witches, Warlocks, +Magicians, Conjurers, Astrologers, and all the hellish Train or Rabble +of human _Devils_, who did his Drudgery in former Days, seem to be out +of Work: I shall give you a fuller Enumeration of them in the next +Chapter. + +These, I say, seem to be laid aside; not that his Work is abated, or +that his Business with Mankind, for their Delusion and Destruction is +not the same, or perhaps more than ever; but the _Devil_ seems to have +chang'd Hands; the Temper and Genius of Mankind is alter'd, and they are +not to be taken by Fright and Horror, as they were then: The Figures of +those Creatures was always dismal and horrible, and that is it which I +mean by the _Cloven-Foot_; but now Wit, Beauty and gay Things, are the +Sum of his Craft, he manages by the Soft and the Smooth, the Fair and +the Artful, the Kind and the Cunning, not by the Frightful and Terrible, +the Ugly and the Odious. + + When the _Devil_ for weighty Dispatches, + Wanted Messengers cunning and bold, + He pass'd by the beautiful Faces, + And pick'd out the _Ugly_ and _Old_. + + Of these he made _Warlocks_ and _Witches_, + To run of his Errands by Night, + Till the over wrought Hag-ridden Wretches, + Were as fit as the _Devil_, to fright. + + But whoever has been his Adviser, + As his Kingdom encreases in Growth; + He now takes his Measures much wiser, + And Trafficks with Beauty and Youth. + + Disguis'd in the Wanton and Witty, + He haunts both the Church and the Court, + And sometimes he visits the City, + Where all the best Christians resort. + + Thus dress'd up in full Masquerade, + He the bolder can range up and down, + For he better can drive on his Trade, + In any one's Name than his own. + + + + +CHAP. IX. + +_Of the Tools the_ Devil _works with,_ (viz.) _Witches, Wizards or + Warlocks, Conjurers, Magicians, Divines, Astrologers, Interpreters + of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes; and above all the rest, his + particular modern Privy-Counsellors call'd Wits and Fools._ + + +Tho', as I have advanc'd in the foregoing Chapter, the _Devil_ has very +much chang'd Hands in his modern Management of the World, and that +instead of the Rabble and long Train of Implements reckoned up above, he +now walks about in Beaus, Beauties, Wits and Fools; yet I must not omit +to tell you that he has not dismiss'd his former Regiments, but like +Officers in Time of Peace, he keeps them all in half Pay, or like +Extraordinary Men at the Custom-House, they are kept at a Call, to be +ready to fill up Vacancies, or to employ when he is more than ordinarily +full of Business; and therefore it may not be amiss to give some brief +Account of them, from Satan's own Memoirs, their Performance being no +inconsiderable Part of his History. + +Nor will it be an unprofitable Digression to go back a little to the +primitive Institution of all these _Orders_, for they are very antient, +and I assure you, it requires great Knowledge of Antiquity, to give a +Particular of their Original; I shall be very brief in it. + +In order then to this Enquiry, you must know that it was not for want of +Servants, that Satan took this Sort of People into his Pay; he had, as I +have observ'd in its Place, Millions of diligent _Devils_ at his Call, +whatever Business, and however difficult, he had for them to do; but as +I have said above, that our modern People are forwarder than even the +_Devil_ himself can desire them to be; and that they come before they +are call'd, run before they are sent, and crowd themselves into his +Service; so it seems it was in those early Days, when the World was one +universal Monarchy under his Dominion, as I have at large describ'd in +its Place. + +In those Days the Wickedness of the World keeping a just Pace with their +Ignorance, this inferior Sort of low priz'd Instruments did the +_Devil_'s work mighty well; they drudg'd on in his Black-Art so +laboriously, and with such good Success, that he found it was better to +employ them as Tools to delude and draw in Mankind, than to send his +invisible Implements about, and oblige them to take such Shapes and +Dresses as were necessary upon every trifling Occasion; which, perhaps, +was more Cost than Worship, more Pains than Pay. + +Having then a Set of these Voluntiers in his Service, the true _Devil_ +had nothing to do but to keep an exact Correspondence with them, and +communicate some needful Powers to them, to make them be and do +something extraordinary, and give them a Reputation in their Business; +and these, in a Word, did a great Part of, nay almost all the _Devil_'s +Business in the World. + +To this Purpose gave he them Power, if we may believe old _Glanville_, +_Baxter_, _Hicks_, and other learn'd Consultors of Oracles, to walk +invisible, to fly in the Air, ride upon Broom-sticks, and other Wooden +Gear, to interpret Dreams, answer Questions, betray Secrets, to talk +(Gibberish) the universal Language, to raise Storms, sell Winds, bring +up Spirits, disturb the Dead, and torment the Living, with a thousand +other needful Tricks to amuse the World, keep themselves in Veneration, +and carry on the _Devil_'s Empire in the World. + +The first Nations among whom these infernal Practices were found, were +the _Chaldeans_; and that I may do Justice in earnest, as well as in +jest, it must be allow'd that the _Chaldeans_, or those of them so +call'd, were not Conjurers or Magicians, only Philosophers and Studiers +of Nature, wise, sober and studious Men at first, and we have an +extraordinary Account of them; and if we may believe some of our best +Writers of Fame, _Abraham_ was himself famous among them for such +Magick, as Sir _Walter Raleigh_ expresses it, _Qui Contemplatione +Creaturarum Cognovit Creatorem_. + +Now granting this, it is all to my Purpose, namely, that the Devil drew +these wise Men in, to search after more Knowledge than Nature could +instruct them in; and the Knowledge of the true God being at that Time +sunk very low, he debauch'd them all with Dreams, Apparitions, +Conjurers, _&c._ till he ruin'd the just Notions they had, and made +_Devils_ of them all, like himself. + +The learned _Senensis_, speaking of this _Chaldean_ Kind of Learning, +gives us an Account of five Sorts of them; you will pardon me for being +so grave as to go this Length back. + + 1. _Chascedin_ or _Chaldeans_, properly so call'd, being + Astronomers. + + 2. _Asaphim_ or _Magicians_, such was _Zoroastres_ and _Balaam_ the + Son of _Beor_. + + 3. _Chatumim_ or Interpreters of Dreams and hard Speeches, + Inchanters, _&c._ + + 4. _Mecasphim_ or Witches, call'd at first Prophets, afterwards + _Malefici_ or _Venefici_, Poisoners. + + 5. _Gazarim_ or _Auruspices_, and Diviners, such as divin'd by the + Entrails of Beasts, the Liver in particular; mention'd in _Ezek._ + or as others, call'd Augurs. + + +Now, as to all these, I suppose, I may do them no wrong, if I say, +however justifiable they were in the Beginning, the _Devil_ got them all +into his Service at last, and that brings me to my Text again, from +which the rest was a Digression. + + 1. The _Chascedin_ or _Chaldean_ Astronomers turned Astrologers, + Fortune-Tellers, Calculators of Nativities, and vile Deluders of + the People, as if the Wisdom of the holy God was in them, as + _Nebuchadnezzar_ said of _Daniel_ on that very Account. + + 2. The _Asaphim_ or Magi, or Magicians; _Sixtus Senensis_ says, + they were such as wrought by Covenants with Devils, but turn'd to + it from their Wisdom, which was to study the practical Part of + Natural Philosophy, working admirable Effects by the mutual + Application of Natural Causes. + + 3. The _Chartumim_ from being Reasoners or Disputers upon difficult + Points in Philosophy, became Enchanters and Conjurers. So, + + 4. The _Mecasphim_ or Prophets, they turn'd to be Sorcerers, + Raisers of Spirits, such as wounded by an evil Eye, and by bitter + Curses, and were afterwards fam'd for having familiar Converse with + the _Devil_, and were called Witches. + + 5. The _Gazarim_, from the bare observing of the good and bad + Omens, by the Entrails of Beasts, flying of Birds, _&c._ were + turn'd to Sacrists or Priests of the Heathen Idols and Sacrificers. + + +Thus, I say, first or last the _Devil_ engross'd all the Wise-Men of the +East, for so they are call'd; made them all his own, and by them he +work'd Wonders, that is, he fill'd the World with lying Wonders, as if +wrought by these Men, when indeed it was all his own, from Beginning to +the End, and set on Foot meerly to propagate Delusion, impose upon +blinded and ignorant Men; the God of this World blinded their Minds, and +they were led away by the Subtilty of the _Devil_, to say no worse of +it, till they became _Devils_ themselves, as to Mankind; for they +carried on the Devil's Work upon all Occasions, and the Race of them +still continue in other Nations, and some of them among our selves, as +we shall see presently. + +The _Arabians_ follow'd the _Chaldeans_ in this Study, while it was kept +within its due Bounds, and after them the _Egyptians_; and among the +Latter we find that _Jannes_ and _Jambres_ were famous for their leading +_Pharaoh_ by their pretended magic Performances, to reject the real +Miracles of _Moses_; and History tells us of strange Pranks the +Wise-Men, the Magicians and the Southsayers plaid to delude the People +in the most early Ages of the World. + +But, as I say, now, the _Devil_ has improv'd himself, so he did then; +for the _Grecian_ and _Roman_ Heathen Rites coming on, they outdid all +the Magicians and Southsayers, by establishing the _Devil_'s lying +Oracles, which, as a Master-Piece of Hell, did the _Devil_ more Honour, +and brought more Homage to him, than ever he had before, or could arrive +to since. + +Again, as by the setting up the Oracles, all the Magicians and +Southsayers grew out of Credit; so at the ceasing of those Oracles, the +_Devil_ was fain to go back to the old Game again, and take up with the +Agency of Witches, Divinations, Inchantments and Conjurings, as I hinted +before, answerable to the four Sorts mention'd in the Story of +_Nebuchadnezzar_, (viz.) _Magicians_, _Astrologers_, the _Chaldeans_ and +the _Southsayers_: How these began to be out of Request, I have +mention'd already; but as the _Devil_ has not quite given them over, +only laid them aside a little for the present, we may venture to ask +what they were, and what Use he made of them when he did employ them. + +The Truth is, I think, as it was a very mean Employment for any thing +that wears a human Countenance to take up, so I must acknowledge, I +think, 'twas a mean low priz'd Business for _Satan_ to take up with; +below the very _Devil_; below his Dignity as an Angelic, tho' condemn'd +Creature; below him even as a _Devil_; to go to talk to a parcel of +ugly, deform'd, spiteful, malicious old Women; to give them Power to do +Mischief, who never had a Will, after they enter'd into the State of +_old Woman-Hood_, to do any thing else: Why the _Devil_ always chose the +ugliest old Women he could find; whether _Wizardism_ made them ugly, +that were not so before, and whether the Ugliness, as it was a Beauty in +Witchcraft, did not encrease according to the meritorious Performance in +the Black-Trade? These are all Questions of Moment to be decided, (if +human Learning can arrive to so much Perfection) in Ages to come. + +Some say the evil Eye and the wicked Look were Parts of the Enchantment, +and that the Witches, when they were in the height of their Business, +had a powerful Influence with both; that by looking upon any Person they +could bewitch them, and make the _Devil_, _as the Scots express it_, +ride through them booted and spurr'd; and that hence came that very +significant Saying, _to look like a Witch_. + +The strange Work which the _Devil_ has made in the World, by this Sort +of his Agents call'd Witches, is such, and so extravagantly wild, that +except our Hope that most of those Tales happen not to be true, I know +not how any one could be easy to live near a Widow after she was five +and fifty. + +All the other Sorts of Emissaries which Satan employs, come short of +these Ghosts; and Apparitions sometimes come and shew themselves, on +particular Accounts, and some of those Particulars respect doing +Justice, repairing Wrongs, preventing Mischief; sometimes in Matters +very considerable, and on Things so necessary to publick Benefit, that +we are tempted to believe they proceed from some vigilant Spirit who +wishes us well; but on the other Hand, these Witches are never concern'd +in any thing but Mischief; nay, if what they do portends good to one, it +issues in hurt to many; the whole Tenour of their Life, their Design in +general, is to do Mischief, and they are only employ'd in Mischief, and +nothing else: How far they are furnish'd with Ability suitable to the +horrid Will they are vested with, remains to be describ'd. + +These Witches, 'tis said, are furnish'd with Power suitable to the +Occasion that is before them, and particularly that which deserves to be +consider'd, as Prediction, and foretelling Events, which I insist the +Author of Witchcraft is not accomplish'd with himself, nor can he +communicate it to any other: How then _Witches_ come to be able to +foretel Things to come, which, 'tis said, the _Devil_ himself cannot +know, and which, as I have shewn, 'tis evident he does not know himself, +is yet to be determin'd; that Witches do foretel, is certain, from the +Witch of _Endor_, who foretold Things to _Saul_, which he knew not +before, namely, that he should be slain in Battle the next Day, which +accordingly came to pass. + +There are, however, and notwithstanding this particular Case, many +Instances wherein the _Devil_ has not been able to foretel approaching +Events, and that in Things of the utmost Consequence, and he has given +certain foolish or false Answers in such Cases; the DEVIL's Priests, +which were summon'd in by the Prophet _Elija_, to decide the Dispute +between God and _Baal_, had the _Devil_ been able to have inform'd them +of it, would certainly have receiv'd Notice from him, of what was +intended against them by _Elija_; that is to say, that they would be all +cut in pieces; for Satan was not such a Fool as not to know that _Baal_ +was a Non-Entity, a Nothing, at best a dead Man, perish'd and rotting in +his Grave; for _Baal_ was _Bell_ or _Belus_, an ancient King of the +_Assyrian_ Monarchy, and he could no more answer by Fire to consume the +Sacrifice, than he could raise himself from the dead. + +But the Priests of _Baal_ were left of their Master to their just Fate, +namely, to be a Sacrifice to the Fury of a deluded People; hence I infer +his Inability, for it would have been very unkind and ungrateful in him +not to have answer'd them, if he had been able. There is another +Argument raised here most justly against the _Devil_, with Relation to +his being under Restraint, and that of greater Eminence than we imagine, +and it is drawn from this very Passage, thus; 'tis not to be doubted but +that _Satan_, who has much of the Element put into his Hands, as Prince +of the Air, had a Power, or was able potentially speaking, to have +answer'd _Baal_'s Priests by Fire; Fire being in Vertue of his airy +Principality a Part of his Dominion; but he was certainly _withheld_ by +the Superior Hand, which gave him that Dominion, I mean _withheld_ for +the Occasion only: So in another Case, it was plain that _Balaam_, who +was one of those Sorts of _Chaldeans_ mention'd above, who dealt in +_Divinations_ and _Inchantments_, was withheld from cursing Israel. + +Some are of Opinion that _Balaam_ was not a Witch or a Dealer with the +_Devil_ because 'tis said of him, or rather he says it of himself, that +he saw the Visions of God, _Numb._ xxiv. 16. _He hath said_, who _heard +the Words of_ GOD, _and knew the Knowledge of the most High, which saw +the Visions of the Almighty, falling into a_ TRANCE, _but having his +Eyes open_: Hence they alledge he was one of those Magi, which St. +_Augustin_ speaks of, _de Divinatione_, who by the Study of Nature, and +by the Contemplation of created Beings came to the Knowledge of the +Creature; and that _Balaam_'s Fault was, that being tempted by the +Rewards and Honours that the King promised him, he intended to have +curs'd _Israel_; but when his Eyes were open'd, and that he saw they +were God's own People, he durst not do it; they will have it therefore, +that except, _as above_, _Balaam_ was a good Man, or at least that he +had the Knowledge of the true God, and the Fear of that God upon him, +and that he honestly declares this, _Numb._ xxii. 18. _If_ Balak _would +give me his House full of Silver and Gold, I cannot go beyond the Word +of the Lord_ MY GOD: Where tho' he is call'd a false Prophet by some, he +evidently owns God, and assumes a Property in him, as other Prophets +did; MY GOD, and I cannot go beyond his Orders; but that which gives me +a better Opinion of _Balaam_ than all this is, his plain Prophesy of +Christ, Chap. xxiv. 17. where he calls him the Star of _Jacob_, and +declares, _I shall see him, but not now, I shall behold him, but not +nigh; there shall come a Star out of_ Jacob, _and a Scepter shall rise +out of_ Israel, _and shall smite the Corners of_ Moab, _and destroy all +the Children of_ Seth, all which express not a Knowledge only, but a +Faith in Christ; but I have done preaching, this is all by the by, I +return to my Business, which is the History. + +There is another Piece of dark Practice here, which lies between Satan +and his particular Agents, and which they must give us an Answer to, +when they can, which I think will not be in haste; and that is about the +obsequious _Devil_ submitting to be call'd up into Visibility, whenever +an old Woman has her Hand cross'd with a white Six-pence, _as they Call +it_: One would think that instead of these vile Things call'd Witches, +being sold to the _Devil_, the _Devil_ was really sold for a Slave to +them; for how far soever Satan's Residence is off of this State of Life, +they have Power, it seems, to fetch him from home, and oblige him to +come at their Call. + +I can give little Account of this, only that indeed so it is; nor is the +Thing so strange in its self, as the Methods to do it are mean, foolish, +and ridiculous; as making a Circle and dancing in it, pronouncing such +and such Words, saying the Lord's Prayer backward, and the like; now is +this agreeable to the Dignity of the Prince of the Air or Atmosphere, +that he should be commanded forth with no more Pomp or Ceremony than +that of muttering a few Words, such as the old Witches and he agree +about? or is there something else in it, which none of us or themselves +understand? + +Perhaps, indeed, he is always with those People call'd Witches and +Conjurers, or at least some of his _Camp Volant_ are always present, and +so upon the least call of the Wizard, it is but putting off the misty +Cloak and showing themselves. + +Then we have a Piece of mock Pageantry in bringing those Things call'd +witches or Conjurers to Justice, that is, first to know if a Woman be a +Witch, throw her into a Pond, and if she be a Witch, she will swim, and +it is not in her own Power to prevent it; if she does all she can to +sink her self, it will not do, she will swim like a Cork. Then that a +Rope will not hang a Witch, but you must get a With, a green Osyer; that +if you nail a Horse-Shoe on the Sill of the Door, she cannot come into +the House, or go out, if she be in; these and a thousand more, too +simple to be believ'd, are yet so vouch'd, so taken for granted, and so +universally receiv'd for Truth, that there is no resisting them without +being thought atheistical. + +What Methods to take to know, who are _Witches_, I really know not; but +on the other Side, I think there are variety of Methods to be used to +know who are not; _W--- G---_, Esq; is a Man of Fame, his Parts are +great, because his Estate is so; he has threescore and eight Lines of +_Virgil_ by rote, and they take up many of the Intervals of his merry +Discourses; he has just as many witty Stories to please Society; when +they are well told, _once over_, he begins again, and so he lives in a +round of Wit and Learning; he is a Man of great Simplicity and +Sincerity; you must be careful not to mistake my Meaning, as to the Word +Simplicity; some take it to mean Honesty, and so do I, only that it has +a Negative attending it, in his particular Case; in a Word, _W---- +G----_ is an honest Man, and no _Conjurer_; a good Character, I think, +and without Impeachment to his Understanding, he may be a Man of Worth +for all that; take the other Sex, there is the Lady _H----_ is another +Discovery; bless us! what Charms in that Face! How bright those Eyes! +How flowing white her Breasts! How sweet her Voice? add to all, how +heavenly, divinely good her Temper! How inimitable her Behaviour! How +spotless her Virtue! How perfect her Innocence! and to sum up her +Character, we may add, the Lady _H----_ is no _Witch_; sure none of our +Beau Critics will be so unkind now as to censure me in those honest +Descriptions, as if I meant that my good Friend _W---- G----_ Esq; or my +ador'd Angel, the bright, the charming Lady _H----_ were Fools; but what +will not those Savages, call'd Critics, do, whose barbarous Nature +enclines them to trample on the brightest Characters, and to cavil on +the clearest Expressions? + +It might be expected of me, however, in justice to my Friends, and to +the bright Characters of abundance of Gentlemen of this Age, who, by the +Depth of their Politics, and the Height of their Elevations might be +suspected, and might give us Room to charge them with Subterranean +Intelligence; I say, it might be expected that I should clear up their +Fame, and assure the World concerning them, even by Name, that they are +no _Conjurers_, that they do not deal with the _Devil_, at least, not by +the Way Witchcraft and Divination, such as Sir _T---k_, _E--- B---_, +Esq; my Lord _Homily_, Coll. _Swagger_, _Jeoffry Well with_, Esq; Capt. +_Harry Go Deeper_, Mr. _Wellcome Woollen_, Citizen and Merchant Taylor +of _London_, _Henry Cadaver_, Esq; the D---- of _Caerfilly_, the +Marquess of _Sillyhoo_, Sir _Edward Thro' and Thro'_ Bart. and a World +of fine Gentlemen more, whose great Heads and Weighty Understandings +have given the World such Occasion to challenge them with being at least +descended from the _Magi_, and perhaps engaged with old Satan in his +Politics and Experiments; but I, that have such good Intelligence among +_Satan_'s Ministers of State, as is necessary to the present +Undertaking, am thereby well able to clear up their Characters: and I +doubt not, but they will value themselves upon it, and acknowledge +their Obligation to me, for letting the World know the _Devil_ does not +pretend to have had any Business with them, or to have enroll'd them in +the List of his Operators; _in a Word_, that none of them are +_Conjurers_: Upon which Testimony of mine, I expect they be no longer +charg'd with, or so much as suspected of having an unlawful Quantity of +Wit, or having any Sorts of it about them, that are contraband or +prohibited, but that for the future they pass unmolested, and be taken +for nothing but what they are, (_viz._) very honest worthy Gentlemen. + + + + +CHAP. X. + +_Of the various Methods the Devil takes to converse with Mankind._ + + +Having spoken something of Persons, and particularly of such as the +_Devil_ thinks fit to employ in his Affairs in the World, it comes next +of course to say something of the Manner how he communicates his Mind to +them, and by them to the rest of his Acquaintance in the World. + +I take the _Devil_ to be under great Difficulties in his Affairs on his +Part, especially occasion'd by the Bounds which are set him, or which +Policys oblige him to set to himself, in his Access to the conversing +with Mankind; 'tis evident he is not permitted to fall upon them with +Force and Arms, that is to say, to muster up his infernal Troops, and +attack them with Fire and Sword; if he was not loose to act in this +Manner as he was able, by his own seraphic Power to have destroy'd the +whole Race, and even the Earth they dwelt upon, so he would certainly, +and long ago have effectually done it; his particular Interests and +Inclinations are well enough known. + +But in the next Place, as he is thus restrain'd from Violence, so +Prudentials restrain him in all his other Actings with Mankind; and +being confin'd to Stratagem, and soft still Methods, such as Persuasion, +Allurement, feeding the Appetite, prompting, and then gratifying corrupt +Desires, and the like; he finds it for his Purpose not to appear in +Person, except very rarely, and then in Disguise; but to act all the +rest in the Dark, under the Vizor of Art and Craft, making Use of +Persons and Methods conceal'd, or at least not fully understood or +discover'd. + +As to the Persons whom he employs, I have taken some Pains you see to +discover some of them; but the Methods he uses with them, either to +inform and instruct, and give Orders to them, or to converse with other +People by them, these are very particular, and deserve some Place in our +Memoirs, particularly as they may serve to remove some of our Mistakes, +and to take off some of the frightful Ideas we are apt to entertain in +Prejudice of this great Manager; as if he was no more to be match'd in +his Politics, than he would be to be match'd in his Power, if it was let +loose; which is so much a Mistake, that on the contrary, we read of +several People that have abused and cheated the _Devil_, a Thing, which +I cannot say, is very honest nor just, notwithstanding the old Latin +Proverb, _Fallere fallentem non est fraus_, (which Men construe, or +rather render, by way of Banter Upon Satan) 'tis no Sin to cheat the +_Devil_, which for all that, upon the whole I deny, and alledge, that +let the _Devil_ act how he will by us, we ought to deal fairly by him. + +But to come to the Business, without Circumlocutions; I am to enquire +how Satan issues out his Orders, gives his Instructions and fully +delivers his Mind to his Emissaries, of whom I have mention'd some in +the Title to Chap. IX. In order to this, you must form an Idea of the +_Devil_ sitting in great State, in open Campaign, with all his Legions +about him, in the height of the Atmosphere; or if you will, at a certain +Distance from the Atmosphere, and above it, that the Plan of his +Encampment might not be hurried round its own Axis, with the Earth's +diurnal Motion, which might be some Disturbance to him. + +By this fix'd Situation, the Earth performing its Rotation, he has every +Part and Parcel of it brought to a direct Opposition to him, and +consequently to his View once in twenty four Hours: The last time I was +there, if I remember right, he had this Quarter of the World, which we +call Christendom, just under his Eye; and as the Motion is not so swift, +but that his piercing Opticks can take a strict View of it _en passant_; +for the Circumference of it being but twenty one thousand Miles, and its +circular Motion being full twenty four Hours performing, he has +something more than an Hour to view every thousand Miles, which, to his +supernatural Penetration, is not worth naming. + +As he takes thus a daily View of all the Circle, and an hourly View of +the Parts, he is fully Master of all Transactions, at least such as are +done above Board by all Mankind; and then he dispatches his Emissaries +or _Aid du Camps_ to every Part with his Orders and Instructions: Now +these Emissaries, you are to understand, are not the _Witches_ and +_Diviners_, who I spoke of above, for I call them also Emissaries; but +they are all _Devils_ or (as you know they are call'd) _Devil_'s Angels; +and these may, perhaps, come and converse personally with the +Sub-emissaries I mention'd, to be ready for their Support and Assistance +on all Occasions of Business: These are those _Devils_ which the Witches +are said to raise; for we can hardly suppose the Master _Devil_ comes +himself, at the Summons of every ugly old Woman. + +These run about into every Nook and Corner, wherever Satan's Business +calls them, and are never wanting to him; but are the most diligent +_Devils_ imaginable; like the _Turkish Chaiux_, they no sooner receive +their Errand, but they execute it with the utmost Alacrity; and as to +their Speed, it may be truly written as a Motto, upon the Head of every +individual _Devil_, + + _Non indiget calcaribus._ + + +These are those, who they tell us our Witches, Sorcerers, Wizards, and +such Sorts of Folks converse freely with, and are therefore call'd their +_Familiars_; and as they tell us, come to them in human Shapes, talk to +them with articulate plain Voices, as if Men, and that yet the said +Witches, _&c._ know them to be _Devils_. + +History has not yet enlighten'd us in this Part of useful Knowledge, or +at least not sufficiently for a Description of the Persons or Habits of +these Sorts of Appearances; as what Shapes they take up, what Language +they speak, and what particular Works they perform, so we must refer it +to farther Enquiry; but if we may credit History, we are told many +famous Stories of these Appearances; for Example, the famous Mother +_Lakland_, who was burnt for a Witch at _Ipswich_, _Anno_ 1646, +confessed at the Time of her Execution, or a little before it, that she +had frequent Conversation with the _Devil_ himself; that she being very +poor, and withal of a devilish passionate, cruel and revengeful +Disposition before, used to wish she had it in her Power to do such and +such mischievous Things to some that she hated; and that the _Devil_ +himself, who, it seems, knew her Temper, came to her one Night as she +lay in her Bed, and was between sleeping and waking, and speaking in a +deep hollow Voice, told her; if she would serve him in some Things he +would employ her to do, she should have her Will of all her Enemies, and +should want for nothing: That she was much afraid at first, but that he +solliciting her very often, bad her not be afraid of him, and still +urg'd her to yield, and as she says, struck his Claw into her Hand, and +tho' it did not hurt her, made it bleed, and with the Blood wrote the +Covenants, that is to say, the Bargain between them: being ask'd what +was in them, and whether he requir'd her to curse or deny God or Christ? +She said no. + + N. B. I do not find she told them whether the _Devil_ wrote it with + a Pen, or whether on Paper or Parchment, nor whether she sign'd it + or no, but it seems he carry'd it away with him. I suppose, if + Satan's Register were examin'd, it might be found among the + Archives of Hell, the Rolls of his _acta Publica_; and when his + Historiographer Royal publishes them, we may look for it among + them. + + +Then he furnish'd her with three _Devils_, to wait upon her (I suppose) +for she confess'd they were to be employ'd in her Service; they attended +in the Shapes of two little Dogs and a Mole: The first she bewitch'd +was her own Husband, by which he lay a while in great Misery and died; +then she sent to one Captain _Beal_ and burnt a new Ship of his just +built, which had never been at Sea; these and many other horrid Things +she did and confess'd, and having been twenty Years a Witch, at last the +_Devil_ left her, and she was burnt as she deserv'd. + +That some extraordinary Occasions may bring these Agents of the _Devil_, +nay, sometimes the _Devil_ himself, to assume human Shapes, and appear +to other People we cannot doubt; he did thus in the Case of our Saviour +_as a Tempter_, and some think he did so to _Manasses_ as a Familiar, +who the Scripture charges with Sorcery, and having a Familiar or Devil; +Fame tells us that St. _Dunstan_ frequently converst with him, and +finally, took him by the Nose; and so of others. + +But in these modern Ages of the World, he finds it much more to his +Purpose to work under Ground as I have observ'd, and to keep upon the +Reserve; so that we have no authentick Accounts of his personal +Appearance, but what are very antient or very remote from our Faith, as +well as our Enquiry. + +It seems to be a Question that would bear some debating, whether all +Apparitions are not _Devils_ or from the _Devil_; but there being so +many of those Apparitions which we call Spirits, which really assume +Shapes and make Appearances in the World, upon such Accounts as we know +_Satan_ himself scorns to be employ'd in, that I must dismiss the +Question in favour of the _Devil_; assuring them, that as he never +willingly did any good in his Life, so he would be far from giving +himself the Trouble of setting one Foot into the World, on such an +Errand; and for that Reason we maybe assur'd those certain Apparitions, +which we are told came to detect a Murther in _Gloucestershire_, and +others who appear'd to prevent the ruining an Orphan for want of finding +a Deed, that was not lost, was certainly some other Power equally +concern'd, and not the _Devil_. + +On the other Hand, neither will it follow that _Satan_ never appears in +human Shape; for tho' every Apparition may not be the _Devil_, yet it +does not follow that the _Devil_ never makes an Apparition: All I shall +say to it is, as I have mention'd before, that generally speaking, the +_Devil_ finds it more for his Purpose, to have his Interest in the World +propagated another Way; namely, in private, and his personal Appearances +are reserv'd for Things only of extraordinary Consequence, and, as I may +say, of evident Necessity, where his Honour is concern'd, and where his +Interest could be carried on no other Way; not forgetting to take Notice +that this is very seldom. + +It remains to enquire, what then those Things are which we make so much +stir about, and which are call'd _Apparitions_, or Spirits assuming +human Shapes, and shewing themselves to People on particular Occasions? +whether they are evil Spirits or good? and tho', indeed, this is out of +my Way at this Time, and does not relate at all to the _Devil_'s +History, yet I thought it not amiss to mention it; (1.) Because, as I +have said, I do not wholly exclude Satan from all Concern in such +Things; and (2.) Because I shall dismiss the Question with so very short +an Answer, namely, that we may determine which are and which are not the +_Devil_'s, by the Errand they come upon; every one to his own Business; +if it comes of a good Errand, you may certainly acquit the _Devil_ of +it, conclude him innocent, and that he has no hand in it; if it comes of +a wicked and devilish Errand, you may e'en take him up upon Suspicion, +'tis ten to one but you find him at the Bottom of it. + +Next to Apparitions, we find Mankind disturb'd by abundance of little +odd reserv'd Ways which the _Devil_ is shrewdly suspected of having a +Hand in, such as _Dreams_, _Noises_, _Voices_, &c. smells of Brimstone, +Candles burning blue, and the like. + +As to Dreams, I have nothing to say in Satan's Prejudice at all there; I +make no Question but he deals very much in that Kind of Intelligence, +and why should he not? we know _Heaven_ it self formerly converst very +often with the greatest of Men, by the same Method, and the _Devil_ is +known to mimick the Methods, as well as the Actions of his Maker; +whether Heaven has not quite left off that Way of working, we are not +certain; but we pretty well know the _Devil_ has not left it, and I +believe some Instances may be given where his Worship has been really +seen and talk'd to in sleep, as much as if the Person had been awake +with his Eyes open. + +These are to be distinguish'd too, pretty much by the Goodness or +Badness of the Subject; how often have Men committed Murther, Robbery +and Adultery in a Dream, and at the same time except an extraordinary +Agitation of the Soul, and express'd by extraordinary Noises in the +Sleep, by violent Sweating and other such Ways, the Head has never been +remov'd from the Pillow, or the Body so much as turn'd in the Bed? + +Whether in such Cases, the Soul with all the Passions and Affections +being agitated, and giving their full assent to the Facts, of whatever +Kind soever, the Man is not as guilty as if the Sins so dream'd of his +committing, had been actually committed? tho' it be no Doubt to me, but +that it is so, yet as it is foreign to the present Affair, and not at +all relating to the _Devil_'s History, I leave it to the Reverend +Doctors of the Church, as properly belonging to them to decide. + +I knew a Person who the _Devil_ so haunted with naked Women, fine +beautiful Ladies in Bed with him, and Ladies of his Acquaintance too, +offering their Favours to him, and all in his Sleep; so that he seldom +slept without some such Entertainment; the Particulars are too gross for +my Story, but he gave me several long Accounts of his Night's _Amours_, +and being a Man of a virtuous Life and good Morals, it was the greatest +Surprize to him imaginable; for you cannot doubt but that the cunning +_Devil_ made every thing be acted to the Life with him, and in a manner +the most wicked; he own'd with Grief to me, that the very first Attack +the _Devil_ made upon him, was with a very beautiful Lady of his +Acquaintance, who he had been really something freer than ordinary with +in their common Conversation; This Lady he brought to him in a Posture +for Wickedness, and wrought up his Inclination so high in his Sleep, +that he, as he thought, actually went about to debauch her, she not at +all resisting; but that he wak'd in the very Moment, to his particular +Satisfaction. + +He was greatly concern'd at this Part, namely, that he really gave the +Consent of his Will to the Fact, and wanted to know if he was not as +guilty of Adultery, as if he had lain with her; indeed he decided the +Question against himself, so forcibly, that I, who was of the same +Opinion before, had nothing to say against it; however, I confirm'd him +in it, by asking him these Questions. + + 1. Whether he did not think the _Devil_ had the chief Hand in such + a Dream? he answer'd, it could certainly be no body else, it must + be the _Devil_. + + 2. I then ask'd him what Reason the _Devil_ could have for it, if + his Consent to the Fact in Sleep had not been criminal? _That's + true indeed_, says he, _I am answer'd_: But then he ask'd another + Question, which, I confess, is not so easy to answer, namely, How + he should prevent being serv'd so again. + + +Nor could all my Divinity or his own keep the _Devil_ from attacking him +again; on the other Hand, as I have said, he worried him to that Degree, +that he injur'd his Health, bringing naked Women to him, sometimes one, +sometimes another, sometimes in one Posture of Lewdness, sometimes in +another, sometimes into his very Arms, sometimes with such Additions as +I am not merry enough, and sometimes such as I am not wicked enough to +put into your Heads; the Man, indeed, could not help it, and so the +_Devil_ was more Faulty than he; but as I hinted to him, he might bring +his Mind to such a stated Habit of Virtue, as to prevent its assenting +to any wicked Motion, even in Sleep, and that would be the Way to put an +End to the Attempt; and this Advice he relish'd very well, and +practised, I believe, with Success. + +By this same Method, the same _Devil_ injects powerful Incentives to +other Crimes, provokes Avarice, by laying a great Quantity of Gold in +your View, and no body present, giving you an Opportunity to steal it, +or some of it, at the same time, perhaps, knowing your Circumstances to +be such as that you are at that Time in a great want of the Money. + +I knew another, who being a Tradesman, and in great Distress for Money +in his Business, dream'd that he was walking all alone in a great Wood, +and that he met a little Child with a Bag of Gold in its Hand, and a +fine Necklace of Diamonds on its Neck, upon the Sight, his Wants +presently dictated to him to rob the Child; the little innocent +Creature, (just so he dream'd) not being able to resist; or to tell who +it was, accordingly he consented to take the Money from the Child, and +then to take the Diamond Necklace from it too, and did so. + +But the _Devil_, (a full Testimony, as I told him, that it was the +_Devil_, not contented with that, hinted to him, that perhaps the Child +might some time or other know him, and single him out, by crying or +pointing, or some such Thing, especially if he was suspected and shew'd +to it, and therefore it would be better for him to kill the Child, +prompting him to kill it for his own Safety, and that he need do no more +but twist the Neck of it a little, or crush it with his Knee; He told me +he stood debating with himself, whether he should do so or not; but that +in that Instant his Heart struck him with the Word Murther, and he +entertain'd a Horror of it, refus'd to do it, and immediately waked. + +He told me, that when he wak'd, he found himself in so violent a Sweat +as he never had known the like; that his Pulse beat with that Heat and +Rage, that it was like a Palpitation of the Heart to him, and that the +Agitation of his Spirits was such, that he was not fully composed in +some Hours; tho' the Satisfaction and Joy that attended him, when he +found it was but a Dream, assisted much to return his Spirits to their +due Temperament. + +It is neither my Business or Inclination to turn Divine here, nor is the +Age I write to sufficiently Grave to relish a Sermon, if I was disposed +to preach, though they must allow the Subject would very well bear it; +but I shall only ask them, if they think this is not the _Devil_, what +they think it is? If they believe it is the _Devil_, they will act +accordingly I hope, or let it alone, as Satan and they can agree about +it. + +I should not oblige the _Devil_ over much, whatever I might do to those +that read it; if I should enter here upon a Debate of Interests, +(_viz._) to enquire whether the _Devil_ has not a vast Advantage upon +Mankind this Way, and whether it is not much his Interest to preserve +it; and if I prove the Affirmative, I leave it to you to enquire whose +Interest it is to disappoint and supplant him. + +In short, I take Dreams to be the second Best of the Advantages the +_Devil_ has over Mankind; the first, I suppose, you all know (_viz._) +the Treachery of the Garrison within; by Dreams he may be said to get +into the Inside of us without Opposition; here he opens and locks +without a Key, and like an Enemy laying siege to a fortified City, +Reason and Nature, the Governor of the City, keep him out by Day, and +keep the Garrison true to their Duty; but in the Dark he gets in and +parlees with the Garrison (the Affections and Passions) Debauches their +Loyalty, stirring up them to Disloyalty and Rebellion, so they betray +their Trust, Revolt, Mutiny, and go over to the Besieger. + +Thus he manages his Interest, I say, and insinuates himself into the +Inside of us, without our Consent, nay, without our Knowledge; for +whatever Speculation may do, 'tis evident Demonstration does not assist +us to discover which Way he gets Access to the Soul, while the Organ +tied up, and dozed with Sleep has lock'd it up from Action; that it is +so is clear, but how he does it is a Secret which I do not find the +Antients or Moderns have yet made a Discovery of. + +That Devil of a Creature, Mother _Lakland_, whose Story I mention'd +above, acknowledg'd that the first Time the _Devil_ attempted to draw +her in to be a Witch was in a Dream, and even when she consented, she +said, she was between sleeping and waking; that is, she did not know +whether she was awake or asleep, and the cunning Devil it seems was +satisfied with her Assent given so, when she was asleep, or neither +asleep or awake, so taking the Advantage of her Incapacity to act +rationally. + +The Stories of her bewitching several People, and the manner in which +they died, are so formidable and extravagant, that I care not to put any +one's Faith to the stretch about them, tho' publish'd by Authority, and +testified by Abundance of Witnesses; but this is recorded in particular, +and to my Purpose, whether from her own Mouth or not, I do not say, +namely, the Description of a Witch, and the Difference between Witches, +and those other of Satan's Acquaintance who act in his Name. + + 1. They have consulted and covenanted with a Spirit or _Devil_. + + 2. They have a Deputy _Devil_, sometimes several to serve and + assist them. + + 3. These they employ as they please, call them by Name, and command + their Appearance in whatever Shape they think fit. + + 4. They send them abroad to or into the Persons who they design to + bewitch, who they always torment, and often murther them, as Mother + _Lakland_ did several. + + +As to the Difference between the several Devils that appear, it relates +to the Office of the Persons who employ them; as Conjurers, who seem to +command the particular _Devil_ that waits upon them with more Authority, +and raise them and lay them at Pleasure, drawing Circles, casting +Figures, and the like; but the Witch, in a more familiar manner, +whispers with the Devil, keeps the _Devil_ in a Bag or a Sack, sometimes +in her Pocket, and the like, and like Mr. _Faux_ shews Tricks with him. + +But all these Kinds deal much in Dreams, talk with the Devil in their +Sleep, and make other People talk with him in their Sleep too; and 'tis +on this Occasion I mention it here; in short, the Devil may well take +this Opportunity with Mankind, for not half the World that came into his +Measures would comply, if they were awake; but of that hereafter. + +And yet his thus insinuating himself by Dream, does not seem sufficient, +in my Opinion, to answer the _Devil_'s End, and to carry on his +Business; and therefore we must be forc'd to allow him a Kind of actual +Possession, in particular Cases, and that in the Souls of some People, +by different Methods from others; _Luther_ is of the Opinion that the +_Devil_ gets a Familiarity with some Souls just at, or rather before +their being embodied; as to the Manner and Method how he gets in, that +is another Question, and may be spoken of by it self; besides, why may +not he, that at Satan's Request to enter into the Herd of Swine, said +_go_, give the same Commission to possess a sort of Creatures so many +Degrees below the Dignity of the _Gaderenian_ Swine, and open the Door +too? but as for that, when our Lord said _go_, the _Devil_ never +enquir'd which Way he should get in. + +When then I see Nations, or indeed Herds of Nations set on Fire of Hell, +and as I may say, enflam'd by the _Devil_; when I see Towns, Parties, +Factions and Rabbles of People visibly possess'd; 'tis enough to me that +the great Master of the Devils has said to him, GO; there's no need to +enquire which Way he finds open, or at what postern Gate he gets in; as +to his appearing, 'tis plain he often gets in without appearing, and +therefore the Question about his appearing still remains a Doubt, and is +not very easy to be resolv'd. + +In the Scripture we have some Light into it, and that is all the Help I +find from Antiquity, and it goes a great Way to solve the Phænomena of +Satan's appearing; what I mean by the Scripture giving some Light to it, +is this; 'tis said in several Places, and of several Persons, God came +to them in a Dream, _Gen._ xx. 3. _God came to_ Abimelech _in a Dream by +Night_, Gen. xxxi. 24. _And God came to_ Laban _the_ Syrian _in a +Dream_, Matt. ii. 13. _The Angel of the Lord appear'd to_ Joseph _in a +Dream_; short Comments are sufficient to plain Texts, applying this to +my Friend when he wanted to be satisfied about the How, relating to his +Dream (_viz._) how he should come to Dream such wicked Things? I told +him, in short, the Case was plain, _the Devil came to him in a Dream by +Night_: How and in what manner he form'd the wicked Representations, and +spread debauch'd Appearances before his Fancy, by real Whispers and +Voice, according to _Milton_, or by what other Methods, the Learned are +not arriv'd to any Certainty about it. + +This leads me necessarily to enquire whether the _Devil_ or some of his +Agents are not always in our Company, whether they make any visible +Appearances or no? For my Part I make no Question of it, how else could +he come at the Knowledge of what we do; for as I can allow him no +Prescience at all, as for many Reasons I have observ'd already, he must +be able to see and know us, and what we are about when we know nothing +of him, or else he could know nothing of us and our Affairs, which yet +we find otherwise; and this gives him infinite Advantage to Influence +our Actions, to judge of our Inclinations, and to bring our Passions to +clash with our Reason, as they often do, and get the better of it too. + +All this he obtains by his being able to walk about invisible, and see +when he is not seen, of which I have spoken already; hence that most +wise and solid Suggestion, that when the Candles burn blue the _Devil_ +is in the Room, which great Secret in Nature, that you may more fully be +convinc'd of its imaginary Reality, I must tell you the following Story +which I saw in a Letter directed to a particular Friend, take it Word +for Word as in the Letter; because I do not make my self accountable for +the Facts, but take them _ad referendum_. + + +SIR, + +We had one Day, very early in the Morning, and for the most Part of the +Day a great deal of Rain with a high Wind, and the Clouds very thick and +dark all Day. + +In the Evening the cloudy thick Weather continued, tho' not the Rain, +when being at a Friend's House in ---- Lane _London_, and several Ladies +and some Gentlemen in the Room, besides two or three Servants (for we +had been eating) the following Interlude happen'd for our Entertainment: +When the Cloth was taken away, two large Candles were brought upon the +Table and plac'd there with some Bottles and Glasses for the Gentlemen, +who, it seems, were intending to drink and be very merry; two large +Wax-Candles were also set on another Table, the Ladies being going to +Cards, also there were two large Candles in Sconces over or near the +Chimney, and one more in a Looking-Glass Sconce, on a Peer by the +Window. + +With all this _Apparatus_, the Company separating sat down, the +Gentlemen at their Table, and the Ladies at theirs, to play _as above_; +when after some time the Gentleman of the House said hastily to a +Servant, _what a P---- ails the Candles_? and turning to the Servant +raps out an Oath or two, and bids him snuff the Candles, for they burnt +as if the Devil was in the Room. + +The Fellow going to snuff one of the Candles, snuffs it out, at which +his Master being in a Passion the Fellow lights it again immediately at +the other Candle, and then being in a little hurry, going to snuff the +other Candle snuffed that out too. + +The first Candle that was relighted (as is usual in such Cases) burn'd +dim and dull for a good while, and the other being out, the Room was +much darker than before, and a Wench that stood by the Ladies Table, +bawls out to her Mistress, _Law Madam!_ the Candles _burn blue_; an old +Lady that sat by says, _ay Betty!_ so they do; upon this one of the +Ladies starts up, _Mercy upon us_, says she, _what is the Matter!_ In +this unlucky Moment another Servant, without Orders, went to the great +Peer Sconce, and because, _as he thought_, he would be sure to snuff the +Candle well, he offers to take it down, but very unhappily, I say, the +Hook came out and down falls the Sconce Candle and all, and the +Looking-Glass broke all to pieces, with a horrible Noise; however, the +Candle falling out of the Sconce did not go out, but lay on the Floor +burning dully, and as it is usual on such Cases, all on one Side, +_Betty_ cries out again, _Law Madam_, that Candle burns blue too; the +very Moment she said this, the Footman that had thrown down the Sconce, +says to his fellow Servant, that came to his Assistance, I _think_ the +Devil _is in the Candles to Night_, and away he run out of the Room, for +fear of his Master. + +The old Lady, who, upon the Maid _Betty_'s Notion of the Candles burning +blue, had her Head just full of that old _Chimney-Corner Story_, the +Candles _burn blue when the Spirits are in the Room_, heard the Footman +Say the Word _Devil_, but heard nothing else of what he said; upon this +she rises up in a terrible Fright, and cries out that the Footman said +the _Devil was in the Room_; as she was, indeed, frighted out of her +Wits, she frighted the Ladies most terribly, and they all starting up +together, down goes the Card Table, and put the Wax-Candles out. + +Mrs. _Betty_, that had frighted them all, runs to the Sconce next the +Chimney, but that having a long Snuff, she cried out it burnt blue too, +and she durst not touch it; in short, tho' there were three Candles left +still burning in the Room, yet the Ladies we're all so frighted, that +they and the Maids too run out of the Parlour screaming like mad Folks. +The Master in a Rage kick'd his first Man out of the Room, and the +second Man was run out to avoid, as I said before, the like, so that no +Servant was to be had, but all was in Confusion. + +The two other Gentlemen, who were sitting at the first Table, kept their +Seats composed and easy enough, only concern'd to see all the House in +such a fright; it was true, they said, the Candles burnt dim and very +oddly, but they could not perceive they _burnt blue_, except one of +those over the Chimney, and that on the Table, which was relighted +after the Fellow had snufft it out. + +However, the Maid, the old Lady and the Footman that pull'd down the +Sconce, all insist that the Candles _burnt blue_, and all pretend that +the Devil was certainly in the Room, and was the Occasion of it; and +they now came to me with the Story, to desire my Opinion of it. + +This put me upon Enquiry into the Notion of Candles _burning blue_ when +Spirits are in a Room, which upon all the Search into Things, that I am +able to make, amounts to no more than this; that upon any extraordinary +Emission of sulphureous or of nitrous Particles, either in a close Room, +or in any not very open Place, if the Quantity be great, a Candle or +Lamp, or any such little Blaze of Fire will seem to be, or to _burn +blue_; and if then they can prove that any such Effluvia attends or is +emitted from a Spirit, then when SATAN is at Hand it may be so. + +But then 'tis begging the Question grossly, because no Man can assure us +that the Devil has any sulphureous Particles about him. + +It is true, the Candles burn thus in Mines and Vaults, and damp Places; +and 'tis as true that they will do so upon Occasion of very damp, stormy +and moist Air, when an extraordinary Quantity of Vapours are supposed to +be dispers'd abroad, as was the Case when this happen'd; and if there +was any Thing of that in it on that _Monday_ Night, the Candles might, +perhaps, burn blue upon that Occasion; but that the _Devil_ was abroad +upon any extraordinary Business that Night, that I cannot grant, unless +I have some better Testimony than the _old Lady_ that heard the +Footman's out-cry but by halves, or than Mrs. _Betty_, who first fancied +the Candles _burnt blue_; so I must suspend my Judgment till I hear +farther. + +This Story however may solve a great many of those Things which pass for +Apparitions in the World, and which are laid to the Devil's Charge, tho' +he really may know nothing of the Matter; and this would bring me to +defend _Satan_ in many Things, wherein he may truly be said to suffer +wrongfully; and if I thought it would oblige him, I might say something +to his Advantage this Way; however, I'll venture a Word or two for an +injur'd _Devil_, take it as you will. + +First, it is certain, that as this Invisibility of the _Devil_ is very +much to our Prejudice, so the Doctrine of his Visibility is a great +Prejudice to him, as we make Use of it. + +By his Invisibility he is certainly vested with infinite Advantages +against us; while he can be present with us, and we know nothing of the +Matter, he informs himself of all our Measures, and arms himself in the +best and most suitable manner to injure and assault us, as he can +counteract all our secret concerted Designs, disappoint all our Schemes, +and except when Heaven apparently concerns it self to over-rule him, can +defeat all our Enterprizes, break all our Measures, and do us Mischief +in almost every Part of our Life, and all this, because we are not privy +to all his Motions, as he is to ours. + +But now for his Visibility and his real Appearance in the World, and +particularly among his Disciples and Emissaries, such as Witches and +Wizards, Demonaists, and the like: Here, I think Satan has a great deal +of Loss, suffers manifest Injury, and has great Injustice done him; and, +that therefore I ought to clear this Matter up a little, if it be +possible, to do Justice to Satan, and set Matters right in the World +about him, according to that useful old Maxim of setting the Saddle upon +the right Horse, or _giving the_ Devil _his due_. + +First, _as I have said_, we are not to believe every idle Head, who +pretends even to converse Face to Face with the _Devil_, and who tells +us, they have thus seen him, and been acquainted with him every Day: +Many of these Pretenders are manifest Cheats; and, however, they would +have the Honour of a private Interest in him, and boast how they have +him at their Beck, can call him this Way, and send him that, as they +please, raise him and lay him when and how, and as often as they find +for their Purpose; I say, whatever Boasts they make of this Kind, they +really have nothing of Truth in them. + +Now the Injuries and Injustice done to the _Devil_, in these Cases, are +manifest; namely, that they entitle the _Devil_ to all the Mischief they +are pleased to do in the World; and if they commit a Murther or a +Robbery, fire a House, or do any Act of Violence in the World, they +presently are said to do it by the Agency of the _Devil_, and the +_Devil_ helps them; so Satan bears the Reproach, and they have all the +Guilt; this is, (1.) a grand Cheat upon the World, and (2.) a notorious +Slander upon the _Devil_; and it would be a public Benefit to Mankind, +to have such would-be-Devils as these turn'd inside out, that we might +know when the _Devil_ was really at work among us, and when not; what +Mischiefs were of his doing, and which were not; and that these Fellows +might not slip their Necks out of the Halter, by continually laying the +Blame of their Wickedness upon the _Devil_. + +Not that the _Devil_ is not very willing to have his Hand in any +Mischief, or in all the Mischief that is done in the World; but there +are some low priz'd Rogueries that are too little for him, beneath the +Dignity of his Operation, and which 'tis really a Scandal to the _Devil_ +to charge upon him. I remember the _Devil_ had such a Cheat put upon +him in _East-Smithfield_ once, where a Person pretended to converse with +the _Devil_ Face to Face, and that in open Day too, and to cause him to +tell Fortunes, foretel Good and Evil, _&c._ discover stollen Goods, tell +where they were who stole them, and how to find them again, nay, and +even to find out the Thieves; but _Satan_ was really sandered in the +Case, the Fellow had no more to do with the _Devil_ than other People, +and perhaps not so much neither: This was one of those they call'd +CUNNING-MEN, or at least he endeavour'd to pass for such a one, but +'twas all a Cheat. + +Besides, what had the _Devil_ to do to detect Thieves, and restore +stollen Goods? Thieving and Robbing, Trick and Cheat, are part of the +Craft of his Agency, and of the Employments which it is his Business to +encourage; they greatly mistake him, who think he will assist any Body +in suppressing and detecting such laudable Arts and such diligent +Servants. + +I won't say, but the _Devil_, to draw these People we call +_Cunning-Men_, into a Snare, and to push on his farther Designs, may +encourage them privately, and in a manner that they themselves know +nothing of, to make use of his Name, and abuse the World about him, till +at last they may really believe they do deal with the _Devil_, when +indeed 'tis only he deals with them, and they know nothing of the +Matter. + +In other Cases he may encourage them in these little Frauds and Cheats, +and give them leave, as above, to make use of his Name to bring them +afterwards, and by Degrees to have a real Acquaintance with him; so +bringing the Jest of their Trade into Earnest, till at length prompting +them to commit some great Villany, he secures them to be his own, by +their very Fear of his leaving them to be exposed to the World; thus he +puts a _Jonathan Wild_ upon them, and makes them be the very Wretches +they only pretended to be before: So old _Parsons_ of _Clithroe_, as +Fame tells, was twenty five Years a _Cunning-man_, and twenty two Years +a Witch; that is to say, for five and twenty Years, he was only +pretending to deal with the _Devil_, when Satan and he had no manner of +Acquaintance, and he only put his _Leger-de-main_ upon the People in the +_Devil_'s Name, without his leave; but at length the _Devil_'s Patience +being tir'd quite out, he told the old Counterfeit, that in short, he +had been his stalking Horse long enough, and that now, if he thought fit +to enter himself, and take a Commission, well and good; and he should +have a Lease to carry on his Trade for so many Years more, to his +Heart's content; but if not, he would expose his Knavery to the World, +for that he should take away his Peoples Trade no longer; but that he +(Satan) would set up another in his Room, that should make a meer Fool +of him, and carry away all his Customers. + +Upon this, the old Man consider'd of it, took the _Devil_'s Counsel, and +listed in his Pay; so he, that had plaid his Pranks twenty five Years as +a Conjurer, when he was no Conjurer, was then forc'd really to deal with +the DEVIL, for fear the People should know he did not: Till now he had +_ambo dexter_, cheated the Devil on one Hand, and the People on the +other; but the _Devil_ gain'd his Point at last, and so he was a real +Wizard ever after. + +But this is not the only way the Devil is injur'd neither, for we have +often found People pretend upon him in other Cases, and of nearer +Concern to him a great deal, and in Articles more Weighty, as in +particular, in the great Business of Possession; it is true this Point +is not thoro'ly understood among Men, neither has the Devil thought fit +to give us those Illuminations about it, as I believe he might do; +particularly that great and important Article, is not, for ought I can +see, rightly explain'd, namely; whether there are not two several Kinds +of Possession, (_viz._) some wherein the Devil possesses us, and some in +which we really possess the Devil; the Nicety of which I doubt this Age, +with all its Penetration, is not qualified to explain, and a +Dissertation upon it being too long for this Work, especially so near +its Conclusion, I am oblig'd to omit, as I am also all the practical +Discourses upon the Usefulness and Advantages of real Possession, +whether consider'd one Way or other to Mankind, all which I must leave +to hereafter. + +But to come back to the Point in Hand, and to consider the Injustice +done to the Devil, in the various Turns and Tricks which Men put upon +him very often in this one Article (_viz._) pretending to Possession, +and to have the Devil in them, when really it is not so; certainly the +Devil must take it very ill, to have all their demented, lunatick Tricks +charg'd upon him; some of which, nay, most of which are so gross, so +simple, so empty, and so little to the Purpose, that the _Devil_ must be +asham'd to see such Things pass in his Name, or that the World should +think he was concern'd in them. + +It is true, that Possession being one of the principal Pieces of the +Devil's Artifice in his managing Mankind, and in which, with the most +exquisite skill he plays the Devil among us, he has the more Reason to +be affronted when he finds himself invaded in this Part, and angry that +any Body should pretend to possess, or be possess'd without his leave, +and this may be the Reason for ought we know, why so many Blunders have +been made, when People have pretended to it without him, and he has +thought fit not to own them in it; of which we have many Examples in +History, as in _Simon Magus_, _the Devil of_ London, _the fair Maid of_ +Kent, and several others, whose History it is not worth while to enlarge +upon. + +In short, Possessions, as I have said, are nice Things, as it is not so +easy to mimick the _Devil_ in that Part, as it may be in some other; +designing Men have attempted it often, but their manner has been easily +distinguish'd, even without the Devil's Assistance. + +Thus the People of _Salem_ in _New-England_ pretended to be bewitch'd, +and that a black Man tormented them by the Instigation of such and such, +whom they resolv'd to bring to the Gallows: This black Man they would +have be the _Devil_, employ'd by the Person who they accus'd for a +Witch: Thus making the _Devil_ a Page or a Footman to the Wizard, to go +and torment whoever the said Wizard commanded, till the _Devil_ himself +was so weary of the foolish Part, that he left them to go on their own +Way, and at last they over-acted the murthering Part so far, that when +they confess'd themselves to be Witches, and possess'd, and that they +had Correspondence with the Devil, _Satan_ not appearing to vouch for +them, no Jury would condemn them upon their own Evidence, and they could +not get themselves hang'd, whatever Pains they took to bring it to pass. + +Thus you see the _Devil_ may be wrong'd, and falsely accus'd in many +Particulars, and often has been so; there are likewise some other sorts +of counterfeit _Devils_ in the World, such as _Gypsies_, +_Fortune-Tellers_, Foretellers of good and bad Luck, Sellers of Winds, +Raisers of Storms, and many more, some practis'd among us, some in +foreign Parts, too many almost to reckon up; nay I almost doubt whether +the Devil himself knows all the Sorts of them; for 'tis evident he has +little or nothing to do with them, I mean not in the Way of their Craft. + +These I take to be Interlopers, or with the _Guinea_ Merchants leave, +separate Traders, and who act under the Skreen and Protection of Satan's +Power, but without his License or Authority; no doubt these carry away a +great deal of his Trade, that is to say, the Trade which otherwise the +_Devil_ might have carried on by Agents or his own; I cannot but say, +that while these People would fain be thought _Devils_, tho' they really +are not, it is but just they should be really made as much _Devils_ as +they pretended to be, or that _Satan_ should do himself Justice upon +them, as he threaten'd to do upon old _Parsons_ of _Clithroe_ +abovemention'd, and let the World know them. + + + + +CHAP. XI. + +_Of Divination, Sorcery, the Black-Art, Pawawing, and such like Pretenders + to Devilism, and how far the_ Devil _is or is not concern'd in them._ + + +Tho' I am writing the History of the _Devil_, I have not undertaken to +do the like of all the Kinds of People, Male or Female, who set up for +_Devils_ in the World: This would be a Task for the _Devil_ indeed, and +fit only for him to undertake, for their Number is and has been +prodigious great, and may, with his other Legions be rank'd among the +Innumerable. + +What a World do we inhabit! where there is not only with us a great +_Roaring-Lyon-Devil_ daily seeking whom of us he may devour, and +innumerable Millions of lesser Devils hovering in the whole Atmosphere +over us, nay, and for ought we know, other Millions always invisibly +moving about us, and perhaps in us, or at least in many of us; but that +have, besides all these, a vast many counterfeit _Hocus Pocus Devils_; +human _Devils_, who are visible among us, of our own Species and +Fraternity, conversing with us upon all Occasions; who like Mountebanks +set up their Stages in every Town, chat with us at every Tea-Table, +converse with us in every Coffee-House, and impudently tell us to our +Faces that they are Devils, boast of it, and use a thousand Tricks and +Arts to make us believe it too, and that too often with Success. + +It must be confess'd there is a strong Propensity in Man's Nature, +especially the more ignorant part of Mankind, to resolve every strange +Thing, or whether really strange or no, if it be but strange to us, into +Devilism, and to say every Thing is the Devil, that they can give no +Account of. + +Thus the famous Doctors of the Faculty at _Paris_, when _John Faustus_ +brought the first printed Books that had then been seen in the World, or +at least seen there, into the City, and sold them for Manuscripts: They +were surpriz'd at the Performance, and question'd _Faustus_ about it; +but he affirming they were Manuscripts, and that he kept a great many +Clarks employ'd to write them, they were satisfied for a while. + +But looking farther into the Work, they observ'd the exact Agreement of +every Book, one with another, that every Line stood in the same Place, +every Page a like Number of Lines, every Line a like Number of Words; if +a Word was mis-spelt in one, it was mis-spelt also in all, nay, that if +there was a Blot in one, it was alike in all; they began again to muse, +how this should be? in a Word, the learned Divines not being able to +comprehend the Thing (and that was always sufficient) concluded it must +be the _Devil_, that it was done by Magick and Witchcraft, and that in +short, poor _Faustus_ (who was indeed nothing but a meer Printer) dealt +with the _Devil_. + + N. B. _John Faustus_ was Servant, or Journeyman, or Compositor, or + what you please to call it, to _Koster_ of _Harlem_, the first + inventor of Printing; and having printed the Psalter, sold them at + _Paris_ as Manuscripts; because as such they yielded a better + Price. + + +But the learned Doctors not being able to understand how the Work was +perform'd, concluded as above, it was all _the Devil_, and that the Man +was a _Witch_; accordingly they took him up for a _Magician_ and a +_Conjurer_, and one that work'd by the _Black Art_, that is to say, by +the help of the _Devil_; and in a Word, they threaten'd to hang him for +a Witch, and in order to it, commenc'd a Process against him in their +criminal Courts, which made such a Noise in the World as rais'd the Fame +of poor _John Faustus_ to a frightful Height, till at last he was +oblig'd, for fear of the Gallows, to discover the whole Secret to them. + + N. B. This is the true original of the famous Dr. _Faustus_ or + _Foster_, of whom we have believ'd such strange Things, as that it + is become a Proverb, _as great as the_ Devil _and Dr._ Foster: + Whereas poor _Faustus_ was no Doctor, and knew no more of the + _Devil_ than another Body. + + +Thus the Magistrates of _Bern_ and _Switzerland_, finding a Gang of +_French_ Actors of Puppet-shew open'd their Stage in the Town, upon +hearing the surprizing Accounts which the People gave of their wonderful +Puppets, how they made them speak, answer Questions, and discourse, +appear and disappear in a Moment, pop up here, as if they rise out of +the Earth, and down there, as if they vanish'd, and Abundance more Feats +of Art, censur'd them as Demons; and if they had not pack'd up their +Trinkets, and disappeared almost as dextrously as their Puppets, they +had certainly condemn'd the poor Puppets to the Flames for _Devils_, and +censur'd, if not otherwise punished their Masters. See _the Count de +Rochfort's Memoirs_, p. 179. + +Wonderful Operations astonish the Mind, especially where the Head is not +over-burthen'd with Brains; and Custom has made it so natural to give +the _Devil_ either the Honour or Scandal of every Thing, that we cannot +otherwise Account for, that it is not possible to put the People out of +the Road of it. + +The _Magicians_ were, in the _Chaldean_ Monarchy, call'd the Wisemen; +and tho' they are joined with the Sorcerers and Astrologers in the same +Place, _Dan._ ii. 4. yet they were generally so understood among those +People; but in our Language we understand them to be People that have an +Art to reveal Secrets, interpret Dreams, foretel Events, _&c._ and that +use Enchantments and Sorceries, by all which we understand the same +Thing; which now in a more vulgar Way we express by one general coarse +Expression, _Dealing with the_ DEVIL. + +The Scripture speaks of a Spirit of _Divination_, _Acts_ xvi. 16. and a +Wench that was possess'd by this Spirit _brought her Master much Gain by +Southsaying_, that is to say, according to the Learned, by _Oracling_ or +answering Questions; whence you will see in the Margin, that this +southsaying _Devil_ is there call'd _Python_, that is, _Apollo_, who is +often call'd _Python_, and who at the Oracle of _Delphos_ gave out such +Answers and _double Entendres_, as this Wench possibly did; and hence +all those Spirits which were call'd Spirits of Divination, were in +another Sense call'd _Pythons_. + +Now when the Apostle St. _Paul_ came to see this Creature, this Spirit +takes upon it to declare that _those Men_, meaning St. _Paul_ and +_Timotheus_, _were the Servants of the most high God, which shew'd unto +them the Way of Salvation_; this was a good turn of the _Devil_, to +preserve his Authority in the possess'd Girl; she brought them Gain by +Southsaying, that is to say, resolving difficult Questions, answering +Doubts, interpreting Dreams, _&c._ Among these Doubts, he makes her give +Testimony to _Paul_ and _Timotheus_, to wheedle in with the new +Christians, and perhaps (tho' very ignorantly) even with _Paul_ and +_Timotheus_ themselves, so to give a Kind of Credit and Respect to her +for speaking. + +But the _Devil_, who never speaks Truth, but with some sinister End, was +discover'd here and detected; his flattering Recognition not accepted, +and he himself unkennel'd as he deserv'd; there the _Devil_ was +over-shot in his own Bow again. + +Here now was a real Possession, and the evil Spirits who possess'd her, +did stoop to sundry little Acts of Servitude, that we could give little +or no Reason for, only that the Girl's Master might get Money by her; +but perhaps this was a particular Case, and, prepar'd to honour the +Authority and Power the Apostles had over evil Spirits. + +But we find these Things carried a great Way farther in many Cases, that +is to say, where the Parties are thus really possess'd; namely, the +_Devil_ makes Agents of the possess'd Parties to do many Things for the +propagating his Interest and Kingdom, and particularly for the carrying +on his Dominion in the World: But I am for the present not so much upon +the real Possession as the pretended, and particularly we have had many +that have believed themselves possess'd, when the _Devil_ never believed +it of them, and perhaps knew them better; some of these are really poor +_Devils_ to be pitied, and are what I call _Diables Imaginaire_; these +have notwithstanding done the _Devil_ good Service, and brought their +Masters good Gain by Southsaying. + +We find Possessions acknowledg'd in Scripture to be really and +personally the _Devil_, or according to the Text, Legions of _Devils_ in +the Plural. The _Devil_ or _Devils_ rather, which possessed the Man +among the Tombs, is positively affirm'd to be the _Devil_ in the +Scripture; all the Evangelists agree in calling him so, and his very +Works shew it; namely, the Mischief he did, as well to the poor Creature +among the Tombs, who was made so fierce, that he was the Terror of all +the Country, as to the Herd of Swine and to the Country in the Loss of +them. + +I might preach you a Lecture here of the _Devil_'s Terror upon the +Approach of our Saviour, the Dread of his Government, and how he +acknowledg'd that there was a Time for his Torment, which was not yet +come: _Art thou come to torment us before our Time?_ It is evident the +Devil apprehended that Christ would chain them up before the Day of +Judgment; and therefore some think the Devil here, being, as it were, +caught out of his due Bounds, possessing the poor Man in such a furious +manner, was afraid, and petition'd Christ not to chain him up for it, +and as the Text says, _They besought him to suffer them to go away_, &c. +that is to say, when they say, art thou come to torment us before the +Time? the Meaning is, they begg'd he would not cast them into Torment +before the Time, which was already fix'd; but that if he would cast them +out of the Man, he would let them go away, _&c._ + +The Evangelist St. _Luke_ says, the _Devil besought him that he would +not command them to go out into the Deep_: Our learned Annotators think +that part is not rightly render'd; adding, that they do not believe the +_Devil_ fears drowning; but with Submission, I believe the meaning is, +that they would not be confin'd to the vast Ocean, where no Inhabitants +being to be seen, they would be effectually imprison'd and tied down +from doing Mischief, which would be a Hell to them; as to their going +into the Swine, that might afford us some Allegory; but I am not +disposed to jest with the Scripture, no nor with the _Devil_ neither, +farther than needs must. + +It is evident the _Devil_ makes Use of very mean Instruments sometimes, +such as the Damsel possess'd with a Spirit of Divination, and several +others. + +I remember a Story, how true I know not, of a weak Creature next Door to +an Ideot, who was establish'd in the Country for an Oracle, and would +tell People strange Things that should be, long before they came to +pass; when People were sick, would tell them whether they should live or +die; if People were married, tell how many Children they should have; +and a hundred such Things as fill'd the People with Admiration, and they +were the easier brought to believe that the Girl was possess'd; but then +they were divided about her too, and that was the finest spun Thread +the Devil could work, for he carried a great Point in it; some said she +had a good Spirit, and some a bad, some said she was a Prophetess, and +some that she was the _Devil_. + +Now had I been there to decide the Question, I should certainly have +given it for the latter; if it were only upon this Account, namely, that +the Devil has often found Fools very necessary Agents for the +propagating his Interest and Kingdom, but we never knew the good Spirits +do so; on the other Hand, it does not seem likely that Heaven should +deprive a poor Creature of its Senses, and as it were take her Soul from +her, and then make her an Instrument of Instruction to others, and an +Oracle to declare his Decrees by; this does not seem to be rational. + +But as far as this kind of Divination is in Use in our Days, yet I do +not find room to charge the Devil with making any great Use of Fools, +unless it be such as he has particularly qualified for his Work, for as +to _Ideots_ and _Naturals_, they are perfectly useless to him; but a +sort of Fools call'd the Magi, indeed, we have some Reason to think he +often works with. + +We are not arriv'd to a certainty yet, in the settling this great Point, +namely, what Magick is? whether a diabolical Art or a Branch of the +Mathematicks? Our most learned _Lexicon Technicum_ is of the latter +Opinion, and gives the _Magic Square_ and the _Magic Lantern_, two Terms +of Art. + +The _Magic Square_ is when Numbers in _Arithmetical Proportion_ are +dispos'd into such Parallels or equal Ranks, as that the Sums of each +Row as well _Diagonally_ as _Laterally_ shall be all equal; for Example, +2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Place these Nine in a Square of three, they +will _directly_ and _diagonally_ make 18. Thus, + + +------------+ + | 5 | 10 | 3 | + -------------| + | 4 | 6 | 8 | + -------------| + | 9 | 2 | 7 | + +------------+ + +This he calls the _Magic Square_, but gives no Reason for the Term, nor +any Account of what infernal Operations are wrought by this Concurrence +of the Numbers; neither do I see that there can be any such Use made of +it. + +The _Magic Lantern_ is an optic Machine, by the Means of which are +represented, on a Wall in the Dark, many Phantasms and terrible +Appearances, _but no_ Devil _in all this_, only that they are taken for +the Effects of Magic, by those that are not acquainted with the Secret. + +All this is done by the help of several little painted Pieces of Glass, +only so and so situated, plac'd in certain Oppositions to one another, +and painted with different Figures, the most formidable being plac'd +foremost, and such as are most capable of terrifying the Spectators; and +by this all the Figures may be represented upon the opposite Wall, in +the largest Size. + +I cannot but take Notice, that this very Piece of optic Delusion seems +too much akin to the mock Possessions and infernal Accomplishments, +which most of the Possessionists of this Age pretend to, so that they +are most of them meer Phantasms and Appearances, and no more; Nor is the +Spirit of Divination, the Magic, the Necromancing, and other Arts which +were call'd Diabolical, found to be of any Use in modern Practice, at +least, in these Parts of the World; but the Devil seems to do most of +his Work himself, and by shorter Methods; for he has so compleat an +Influence among those that he now Lists in his Service, that he brings +all the common Affairs of Mankind into a narrower Compass in his +Management, with a Dexterity particular to himself, and by which he +carries on his Interest silently and surely, much more to the Detriment +of Virtue and good Government, and consequently much more to his +Satisfaction, than ever he did before. + +There is a Kind of _Magic_ or _Sorcery_, or what else you may please to +call it, which, tho' unknown to us, is yet, it seems, still very much +encourag'd by the _Devil_; but this is a great Way off, and in Countries +where the politer Instruments, which he finds here, are not to be had; +namely, among the _Indians_ of _North-America_; This is call'd +_Pawawing_, and they have their Divines, which they call _Pawaws_ or +Witches, who use strange Gestures, Distortions, horrid Smokes, Burnings, +and Scents, and several such Things which the Sorcerers and Witches in +ancient Times are said to use in casting Nativities, in Philtres, and in +determining, or as they pretended, directing the Fate of Persons; by +burning such and such Herbs and Roots, such as _Helebore_, _Wormwood_, +_Storax_, _Devilwort_, _Mandrake_, _Nightshade_, and Abundance more +such, which are call'd noxious Plants, or the Product of noxious Plants; +also melting such and such Minerals, Gums, and poisonous Things, and by +several hellish Mutterings and Markings over them, the like do these +_Pawaws_; and the _Devil_ is pleased, it seems, (or is permitted) to +fall in with these Things, and as some People think, appears often to +them for their Assistance upon those Occasions. + +But be that as it will, he is eas'd of all that Trouble here; he can +_Pawaw_ here himself, without their aid, and having laid them all aside, +he negotiates much of his Business without Ambassadors; he is his own +Plenipotentiary, for he finds Man so easy to come at, and so easy when +he is come at, that he stands in no need of secret Emissaries, or at +least not so much as he used to do. + +Upon the whole, as the World, within the Compass of a few pass'd Years +is advanc'd in all Kinds of Knowledge and Arts, and every useful Branch +of what they knew before improv'd, and innumerable useful Parts of +Knowledge, which were conceal'd before are discover'd; why should we +think the _Devil_ alone should stand at a stay, has taken no Steps to +his farther Accomplishment, and made no useful Discoveries in his Way? +That he alone should stand at a Stay, and be just the same unimprov'd +Devil that he was before? No, no, as the World is improv'd every Day, +and every Age is grown wiser and wiser than their Fathers; so, no doubt, +he has bestirr'd himself too, in order to an encrease of Knowledge and +Discovery, and that he finds every Day a nearer Way to go to work with +Mankind than he had before. + +Besides, as Men in general seem to have alter'd their manner, and that +they move in a higher and more exalted Sphere, especially as to Vice and +Virtue; so the _Devil_ may have been obliged to change his Measures, and +alter his Way of working; particularly, those Things which would take in +former Times, and which a stupid Age would come easily into, won't go +down with us now: As the taste of Vice and Virtue alters, the _Devil_ is +forc'd to bait his Hook with new Compositions; the very Thing call'd +Temptation is alter'd in its Nature, and that which serv'd to delude our +Ancestors, whose gross Conceptions of Things caused them to be +manageable with less Art, will not do now; the Case is quite alter'd; in +some Things, perhaps, as I hinted above, we come into Crime with ease, +and may be led by a Finger; but when we come to a more refin'd Way of +sinning, which our Ancestors never understood, other and more refin'd +Politics must be made Use of, and the _Devil_ has been put upon many +useful Projects and Inventions, to make many new Discoveries and +Experiments to carry on his Affairs; and to speak impartially, he is +strangely improv'd either in Knowledge or Experiment, within these few +Years; he has found out a great many new Inventions to shorten his own +Labour, and carry on his Business in the World currently, which he never +was master of before, or at least we never knew he was. + +No wonder then that he has chang'd Hands too, and that he has left of +pawawing in these Parts of the World; that we don't find our Houses +disturb'd as they used to be, and the Stools and Chairs walking about +out of one Room into another, as formerly; that Children don't vomit +crooked Pins and rusty stub Nails, as of old, the Air is not full of +Noises, nor the Church-Yard full of Hobgoblins; Ghosts don't walk about +in Winding-Sheets, and the good old scolding Wives visit and plague +their Husbands after they are dead, as they did when they were alive. + +The Age is grown too wise to be agitated by these dull scare-crow Things +which their Fore-Fathers were tickled with; _Satan_ has been obliged to +lay by his Puppet-shews and his Tumblers, those things are grown stale; +his morrice-dancing Devils, his mountebanking and quacking won't do now; +those Things, as they may be supposed to be very troublesome to him, +(and but that he has Servants enough would be chargeable too) are now of +no great Use in the new Management of his Affairs. + +_In a Word_, Men are too much Devils themselves, in the Sense that I +have call'd them so, to be frighted with such little low priz'd +Appearances as these; they are better acquainted with the old +Arch-Angel than so, and they seem to tell him they must be treated after +another manner, and that then, as they are good-natur'd and tractable, +he may deal with them upon better Terms. + +Hence the _Devil_ goes to work with Mankind a much shorter Way; for +instead of the Art of Wheedling and Whining, together with the laborious +Part of Tricking and Sharping, Hurrying and Driving, Frighting and +Terrifying, all which the _Devil_ was put to the Trouble of before; in +short, he acts the GRAND MANNER as the Architects call it (I don't know +whether our Free-Masons may understand the Word) and therefore I may +hereafter explain it, as it is to be Diabolically as well as +mathematically understood. + +At present my meaning is, he acts with them immediately and personally +by a magnificent Transformation, making them meer _Devils_ to +themselves, upon all needful Occasions, and _Devils_ to one another too, +whenever he (Satan), has Need of their Service. + +This Way of embarking Mankind in the _Devil_'s particular Engagement, is +really very modern; and tho' the Devil himself may have been long +acquainted with the Method, and as I have heard, began to practise it +towards the Close of the _Roman_ Empire, when Men began to act upon very +polite Principles, and were capable of the most refin'd Wickedness, and +afterwards with some Popes, who likewise were a kind of Church Devils, +such as Satan himself could hardly expect to find in the World; yet I do +not find that he was ever able to bring it into Practice, at least, not +so universally as he does now: But now the Case is alter'd, and Men +being generally more expert in Wickedness than they were formerly; they +suffer the smaller Alteration of the Species, in being transmigrated; +in a Word, they turn into _Devils_, with no trouble at all hardly, +either to the _Devil_ or to themselves. + +This Particular would want much the less Explanation, could I obtain a +License from Sir _Hellebore Wormwood_, Bart. or from my Lord +_Thwartover_, Baron of _Scoundrel Hall_ in the Kingdom of _Ireland_, to +write the true History of their own Conduct; and how early, and above +all, how easily they commenc'd _Devils_, without the least Impeachment +of their Characters, as wise Men, and without any Diminution of that +Part of their Denomination which establish'd them for Fools. + +How many mad Fellows appear among us every Day in the critical Juncture +of their Transmigration, just when they have so much of the Man left as +to be known by their Names, and enough of the _Devil_ taken up to settle +their Characters? This Easiness of the _Devil_'s access to these People, +and the great Convenience it is to him in his general Business, is a +Proof to me that he has no more Occasion of Diviners, Magicians, +Sorcerers, and whatever else we please to call those People who were +formerly so great with him; for what Occasion has he to employ _Devils_ +and Wizards to confound Mankind, when he is arriv'd to such a Perfection +of Art as to bring Men, at least in these Parts of the World, to do it +all themselves; upon this Account we do not find any of the old +Sorcerers and Diviners, Magicians or Witches appear among us; not that +the _Devil_ might not be as well able to employ such People as formerly, +and qualify them for the Employment too, but that really there is no +need of them hereabout, the _Devil_ having a shorter Way, and Mankind +being much more easily possess'd; not the old _Herd of Swine_ were +sooner agitated, tho' there was full 2000 of them together; Nature has +open'd the Door, and the _Devil_ has egress and regress at Pleasure, so +that Witches and Diviners are quite out of the Question. + +Nor let any Man be alarm'd at this Alteration, in the Case as it stands +between Mankind and the _Devil_, and think the _Devil_ having gain'd so +much Ground, may in time, by Encroachment, come to a general Possession +of the whole Race, and so we should all come to be _Devils_ incarnate; I +say, let us not be alarm'd, for Satan does not get these Advantages by +Encroachment, and by his infernal Power or Art, no not at all; but 'tis +the Man himself does it by his Indolence and Negligence on one Hand, and +his Complaisance to the _Devil_ on the other; and both Ways he, as it +were, opens the Door to him, beckons him with his very Hand to come in, +and the Devil has nothing to do but enter and take Possession: Now if it +be so, and Man is so frank to him; you know the _Devil_ is no Fool not +to take the Advantage when 'tis offer'd him, and therefore 'tis no +wonder if the Consequences which I have been just now naming follow. + +But let no Man be discourag'd by this, from reaffirming his natural and +religious Powers, and venturing to shut the _Devil_ out; for the Case is +plain he may be shut out; the Soul is a strong Castle, and has a good +Garrison plac'd within to defend it; if the Garrison behave well, and do +their Duty, it is impregnable, and the cowardly _Devil_ must raise his +Siege and be gone; nay, he must fly, or, as we call it, make his Escape, +lest he be laid by the Heels, that is, lest his Weakness be exposed, and +all his Lurking, lying in Wait, ambuscade-Tricks; this Part would bear a +great Enlargement, but I have not room to be witty upon him, so you must +take it in the Gross, the DEVIL lies at _Blye Bush_, as our Country +People call it, to watch your coming out of your Hold; and if you happen +to go abroad unarm'd he seizes upon and masters you with ease. + +Unarm'd, you'll say, what Arms should I take? what Fence against a +Flail? What Weapons can a Man take to fight the _Devil_? I could tell +you what to fight him with, and what you might fright him with, for the +_Devil_ is to be frighted with several Things besides _Holy Water_; but +'tis too serious for you, and you'll tell me I am a preaching and a +canting, and the like; so I must let the _Devil_ manage you rather than +displease you with talking Scripture and Religion. + +Well, but may not the _Devil_ be fought with some of his own Weapons? Is +there no dealing with him in a Way of human Nature? This would require a +long answer, and some Philosophy might be acted, or at least imitated, +and some Magic, perhaps; for they tells us there are Spells to draw away +even the Devil himself; as in some Places they nail Horse-Shoes upon the +Threshold of the Door, to keep him out; in other Places old pieces of +Flint, with so many Holes and so many Corners, and the like: But I must +answer in the Negative, I don't know what _Satan_ might be scar'd at in +those Days, but he is either grown cunninger since or bolder, for he +values none of those Things now; I question much whether he would value +St. _Dunstan_ and his red hot Tongs, if he was to meet him now, or St. +_Francis_ or any of the Saints, no not the Host itself in full +Procession; and therefore, tho' you don't care I should preach, yet in +short, if you are afraid he should charge upon you and attack you, if +you won't make Use of those Scripture Weapons I should have mention'd, +and which you may hear of, if you enquire at _Eph._ vi. 16. you must +look for better where you think you can find them. + +But to go on with my Work, the Devil, I say, is not to be fear'd with +Maukins, nor does he employ his old Instruments, but does much of his +Work himself without Instruments. + +And yet I must enter a Caveat here too, against being misunderstood in +my saying the Devil stands in no need of Agents; for when I speak so, I +am to be taken in a limited Sense; I don't say he needs them no where, +but only that he does not need them in those polite Parts of the World +which I have been speaking of, and perhaps not much here; but in many +remote Countries 'tis otherwise still; the _Indians_ of _America_ are +particularly said to have Witches among them, as well in those Countries +where the _Spaniards_ and the _English_ and other Nations have planted +themselves, as amongst those where the _European_ Nations seldom come: +_for Example_, the People of _Canada_, that is, of the Countries under +the _French_ Government of _Quebeck_, the Equimeaux, and other Northern +Climates, have Magicians, Wizards and Witches, who they call _Pilloatas_ +or _Pillotoas_; these pretend they speak intimately and familiarly with +the Devil, and receive from him the Knowledge of Things to come; all +which, by the Way, I take to be little more than this; that these +Fellows being a little more cunning than the rest, think, that by +pretending to something more than human, they shall make the stronger +Impressions on the ignorant People; as _Mahomet_ amus'd the World with +his Pigeon, using it to pick Peas out of his Ear, and persuaded the +People it brought him superior Revelations and Inspirations from +Paradise. + +Thus these _Pillotoas_ gaining an Opinion among the People, behave like +so many Mountebanks of Hell, pretending to understand dark Things, cure +Diseases, practise Surgery, Physick and Necromancy altogether; I will +not say, but _Satan_ may pick out such Tools to work with, and I believe +does in those Parts, but I think he has found a nearer Way to the Wood +with us, and that is sufficient to my present Purpose. + +Some would persuade me the _Devil_ had a great Hand in the late +religious Breaches in _France_, among the Clergy, (_viz._) about the +Pope's Constitution _Unigenitus_, and that he made a fair Attempt to set +the Pope and the _Gallican_ Church together by the Ears, for they were +all just upon the Point or breaking out into a Church War, that for +ought we knew might have gone farther than the _Devil_ himself car'd it +should; now I am of the quite contrary Opinion, I believe the _Devil_ +really did not make the Breach, but rather heal'd it, for fear it should +have gone so far among them as to have set them all in a Flame, and have +open'd the Door to the Return of the _Hugonots_ again, which it was in a +fair Way to have done. + +But be it one Way or t'other, the historical Part seems to be a little +against me; for 'tis certain, the _Devil_ both wanted and made Use of +Legions of Agents, as well human as infernal, visible and invisible in +that great and important Affair, and we cannot doubt but he has +innumerable Instruments still at work about it. + +Like as in _Poland_, I make no Question but the _Devil_ has thousands of +his Banditti at work at this Time, and in another Country not far from +it, perhaps, preparing Matters for the next General Diet, taking care to +prevent giving any Relaxation to the Protestants, and to justify the +moderate Executions at _Thorn_, to excite a Nation to quarrel with every +Body who are able to fight with no body; to erect the Apostate Race of +_S----y_ upon a Throne which they have no Title to, and turn an elective +Throne into an hereditary, in favour of Popery. + +I might anticipate all your Objections, by granting the busy _Devil_ at +this Time employing all his Agents and Instruments (for I never told you +they were idle and useless) in striving to enflame the Christian World, +and bring a new War to overspread _Europe_; I might, perhaps, point out +to you some of the Measures he takes, the Provocatives which his State +Physicians administer to the Courts and Counsellors of Princes, to +foment and ferment the Spirits, and Members of Nations, Kingdoms, +Empires and States in the World, in order to bring these glorious Ends +of Blood and War to pass; for you cannot think but he that knows so much +of the _Devil_'s Affairs, as to write his History, must know something +of all these Matters more than those that do not know so much as he. + +But all this is remote to the present Case, for this is no Impeachment +of Satan's new Methods with Mankind, in this Part of the World, and in +his private and separate Capacity; all this only signifies that in his +more general and national Affairs, the _Devil_ acts still by his old +Methods; and when he is to seduce or embroil Nations, he, like other +Conquerors, subdues them by Armies, employs mighty Squadrons of +_Devils_, and sends out strong Detachments, with Generals and +Generalissimos to lead them, some to one Part of the World, some to +another; some to influence one Nation, some to manage and direct +another, according as Business presents, and his Occasions require, that +his Affairs may be carried on currently, and to his Satisfaction. + +If it were not thus, but that the _Devil_ by his new and exquisite +Management, of which I have said so much, had brought Mankind in general +to be the Agents of their own Mischiefs, and that the World were so at +his Beck, that he need but command them to go and fight, declare War, +raise Armies, destroy Cities, Kingdoms, Countries and People; the World +would be a Field of Blood indeed, and all Things would run into +Confusion presently. + +But this is not the Case at all, Heaven has not let go the Government of +the Creation to his subdu'd Enemy, the Devil; that would overturn the +whole System of God, and give Satan more Power, than ever he was or will +be vested with; when, therefore, I speak of a few forward Wretches in +our Day, who are so warm in their Wickedness, that they anticipate the +Devil, save him the Trouble to tempt, turn Devils to themselves, and +gallop Hellward faster than he drives; I speak of them as single +Persons, and acting in their own personal and private Capacity, but when +I speak of Nations and Kingdoms, there the Devil is oblig'd to go on in +the old Road, and act by Stratagem, by his proper Machinery, and to make +use of all his Arts, and all his Agents, just as he has done in all +Ages, from the beginning of his politic Government to this Day. + +And if it was not thus too, what would become of all his numberless +Legions, of which all Ages have heard so much, and all Parts of the +World have had so much fatal Experience? They would seem to be quite out +of Employment, and be render'd useless in the World of Spirits, where it +is to be supposed they reside; not the Devil himself could find any +Business for them, which by the Way, to busy and mischievous Spirits, as +they are, would be a Hell to them, even before their Time; they would +be, as it were, doom'd to a State of Inactivity, which we may suppose +was one Part of their Expulsion from Blessedness and the Creation of +Man; or as they were for the surprising Interval between the Destruction +of Mankind by the Deluge and _Noah_'s coming out of the Ark, when +indeed they might be said to have nothing at all to do. + +But this is not Satan's Case, and therefore let me tell you too, that +you may not think I treat the Case with more Levity than I really do, +and than I am sure I intend to do; tho' it is too true that our modern +and modish Sinners have arrived to more exquisite Ways of being wicked, +than their Fathers, and really seem, as I have said, to need no Devil to +tempt them; nay, that they do Satan's Work for him as to others also, +and make themselves Devils to their Neighbours, tempting others to crime +even faster than the Devil desires them, running before they are sent, +and going of the _Devil_'s Errands _gratis_; by which Means Satan's Work +is, as to them, done to his Hand, and they may be said to save him a +great deal of Trouble; yet after all, the Devil has still a great deal +of Business upon his Hands, and as well himself as all his Legions, find +themselves a full Employment in disturbing the World, and opposing the +Glory and Kingdom of their great Superior, whose Kingdom it is their +whole Business, however vain in its End, to overthrow and destroy, if +they were able, or at least to endeavour it. + +This being the Case, it follows of course that the general Mischiefs of +Mankind, as well national and public, as family Mischiefs, and even +personal, (except as before excepted) lie all still at the _Devil_'s +Door, as much as ever, let his Advocates bring him off of it if they +can; and this brings us back again to the manner of the Devil's +Management, and the Way of his working by human Agents, or if you will, +the Way of human Devils, working in Affairs of low Life, such as we call +Divination, Sorcery, Black-Art, Necromancy, and the like; all which I +take to consist of two material Parts, and both very necessary for us to +be rightly inform'd of. + + 1. The Part which Satan by himself or his inferior _Devils_ + empowers such People to do, as he is in Confederacy with here on + Earth; to whom he may be said, like the Master of an Opera or + Comedy, to give their Parts to act, and to qualify them to act it; + whether he obliges them to a Rehearsal in his Presence, to try + their Talents, and see that they are capable of performing, that + indeed I have not enquir'd into. + + 2. That Part which these empower'd People do voluntier or beyond + their Commission, to shew their Diligence in the Service of their + new Master, and either (1.) to bring Grist to their own Mill, and + make their Market of their Employment in the best manner they can; + or (2.) to gain Applause, be admir'd, wonder'd at, and applauded, + as if they were ten Times more _Devils_ than really they are. + + +In a Word, the Matter consists of what the _Devil_ does by the Help of +these People, and what they do in his Name without him; the Devil is +sometimes cheated in his own Business; there are Pretenders to +Witchcraft and Black-Art, who Satan never made any Bargain with, but who +he connives at, because at least they do his Cause no harm, tho' their +Business is rather to get Money, than to render him any Service, of +which I gave you a remarkable Instance before. + +But to go back to his real Agents, of which I reckon two. + + 1. Those who act by Direction and Confederacy, as I have said + already many do. + + 2. Those whom he acts in and by, and they (perhaps) know it not, of + which Sort History gives us plenty of Examples, from _Machiavel_'s + first Disciple ---- to the famous Cardinal _Alberoni_, and even to + some more modern than his Eminence, of whom I can say no more till + farther Occasion offers. + + +1. Those who act by immediate Direction of the Devil, and in Confederacy +with him; these are such as I mention'd in the beginning of this +Chapter, whose Arts are truly black, because really infernal; it will be +very hard to decide the Dispute between those who really act thus in +Confederacy with the _Devil_, and those who only pretend to it; so I +shall leave that Dispute where I find it; but that there are, or at +least have been, a Set of People in the World, who really are of his +Acquaintance, and very intimate with him; and tho', as I have said, he +has much alter'd his Schemes and chang'd Hands of late; yet that there +are such People, perhaps of all Sorts; and that the Devil keeps up his +Correspondence with them; I must not venture to deny that Part, lest I +bring upon me the whole Posse of the conjuring and bewitching Crew, Male +and Female, and they should mob me for pretending to deny them the +Honour of dealing with the _Devil_, which they are so exceeding willing +to have the Fame of. + +Not that I am hereby oblig'd to believe all the strange Things the +Witches and Wizards, who have been allow'd to be such, nay, who have +been hang'd for it, have said of themselves; nay, that they have +confess'd of themselves, even at the Gallows; and if I come to have an +Occasion to speak freely of the Matter, I may perhaps convince you that +the Devil's possessing Power is much lessen'd of late, and that he +either is limited, and his Fetter shortened more than it has been, or +that he does not find the old Way (as I said before) so fit for his +Purpose as he did formerly, and therefore takes other Measures, but I +must adjourn that to a Time and Place by itself: But we are told that +there are another Sort of People, and, perhaps, a great many of them +too, in whom and by whom the Devil really acts, and they know it not. + +It would take up a great deal of Time and Room, too much for this Place, +so near the Close of this Work, to describe and mark out the involuntary +_Devils_ which there are in the World; of whom it may be truly said, +that really the _Devil_ is in them, and they know it not: Now, tho' the +_Devil_ is cunning and managing, and can be very silent where he finds +it for his Interest not to be known; yet it is very hard for him to +conceal himself, and to give so little Disturbance in the House, as that +the Family should not know who lodged in it; yet, I say, the Devil is so +subtle and so mischievous an Agent, that he uses all manner of Methods +and Craft to reside in such People as he finds for his Purpose, whether +they will or no, and which is more, whether they know it or no. + +And let none of my Readers be angry or think themselves ill used, when I +tell them the Devil may be in them, and may act them, and by them, and +they not know it; for I must add, it may, perhaps, be one of the +greatest Pieces of human Wisdom in the World, for a Man to know when the +Devil is in him, and when not; when he is a Tool and Agent of Hell, and +when he is not; in a Word, when he is doing the Devil's Work, and under +his Direction, and when not. + +It is true, this is a very weighty Point, and might deserve to be +handled in a more serious Way than I seem to be talking in all this +Book; but give me leave to talk of Things my own way, and withall, to +tell you, that there is no Part of this Work so seemingly ludicrous, but +a grave and well weigh'd Mind may make a serious and solid Application +of it, if they please; nor is there any Part of this Work, in which a +clear Sight and a good Sense may not see that the Author's Design is, +that they should do so; and as I am now so near the End of my Book, I +thought it was meet to tell you so, and lead you to it as far as I can. + +I say, 'tis a great Part of human Wisdom to know when the _Devil_ is +acting in us and by us, and when not; the next and still greatest Part +would be to prevent him, put a Stop to his Progress, bid him go about +his Business, and let him know he should carry on his Designs no farther +in that manner; that we will be his Tools no longer; in short, to turn +him out of Doors, and bring a stronger Power to take Possession; but +this, indeed, is too solid a Subject, and too great to begin with here. + +But now, as to the bare knowing when he is at work with us, I say this, +tho' it is considerable, may be done, nor is it so very difficult; _for +Example_, you have no more to do but look a little into the Microcosm of +the Soul, and see there how the Passions which are the Blood, and the +Affections which are the Spirit, move in their particular Vessels; how +they circulate, and in what Temper the Pulse beats there, and you may +easily see who turns the Wheel; if a perfect Calm possesses the Soul; if +Peace and Temper prevail, and the Mind feels no Tempests rising; if the +Affections are regular and exalted to vertuous and sublime Objects, the +Spirits cool, and the Mind sedate, the Man is in a general Rectitude of +Mind, he may be truly said to be _his own Man_; Heaven shines upon his +Soul with its benign Influences, and he is out of the Reach of the evil +Spirit; for the divine Spirit is an Influence of Peace, all calm and +bright, happy and sweet like it self, and tending to every Thing that is +good both present and future. + +But on the other Hand, if at any Time the Mind is ruffled, if Vapours +rise, Clouds gather, if Passions swell the Breast, if Anger, Envy, +Revenge, Hatred, Wrath, Strife; if these, or any of these hover over +you, much more if you feel them within you; if the Affections are +possess'd, and the Soul hurried down the Stream to embrace low and base +Objects; if those Spirits, which are the Life and enlivening Powers of +the Soul, are drawn off to Parties, and to be engag'd in a vicious and +corrupt manner, shooting out wild and wicked Desires, and running the +Man headlong into Crime, the Case is easily resolv'd, the Man is +possess'd, the _Devil_ is in him; and having taken the Fort, or at least +the Counterscarp and Out-Works, is making his Lodgment to cover and +secure himself in his Hold, that he may not be dispossess'd. + +Nor can he be easily dispossess'd when he has got such hold as this; and +'tis no wonder, that being lodg'd thus upon the Out-Works of the Soul he +continues to sap the Foundation of the rest, and by his incessant and +furious Assaults, reduces the Man at last to a Surrender. + +If the Allegory be not as just and apposite as you would have it be, you +may, however, see by it in a full View, the State of the Man, and how +the _Devil_ carries on his Designs; nothing is more common, and I +believe there are few thinking Minds but may reflect upon it in their +own Compass, than for our Passions and Affections to flow out of the +ordinary Channel; the Spirits and Blood of the Soul to be extravasated, +the Passions grow violent and outragious, the Affections impetuous, +corrupt and violently vicious: Whence does all this proceed? from Heaven +we can't pretend it comes; if we must not say 'tis the _Devil_, whose +Door must it lie at? Pride swells the Passions; Avarice moves the +Affections; and what is Pride, and what is Avarice, but the _Devil_ in +the Inside of the Man? ay, as personally and really as ever he was in +the Herd of Swine. + +Let not any Man then, who is a Slave to his Passions, or who is chain'd +down to his Covetousness, pretend to take it ill, when I say he has the +_Devil_ in him, or that he is a _Devil_: What else can it be, and how +comes it to pass that Passion and Revenge so often dispossess the Man of +himself, as to lead him to commit Murther, to lay Plots and Snares for +the Life of his Enemies, and so to thirst for Blood? How comes this but +by the Devil's putting those Spirits of the Soul into so violent a +Ferment, into a Fever? that the Circulation is precipitated to that +Degree, and that the Man too is precipitated into Mischief, and at last +into Ruin; 'tis all the _Devil_, tho' the Man does not know it. + +In like manner Avarice leads him to rob, plunder and destroy for Money, +and to commit sometimes the worst of Violences to obtain the wicked +Reward. How many have had their Throats cut for their Money, have been +murther'd on the Highway, or in their Beds, for the Desire of what they +had? It is the same Thing in other Articles, every Vice is the Devil in +a Man; Lust of Rule is the _Devil_ of great Men, and that Ambition is +their _Devil_ as much as whoring is Father ------'s _Devil_, one has a +_Devil_ of one Class acting him, one another, and every Man's reigning +Vice is a _Devil_ to him. + +Thus the _Devil_ has his involuntary Instruments, as well as those who +act in Confederacy with him; he has a very great Share in many of us, +and acts us, and in us, unknown to our selves tho' we know nothing of +it, and indeed tho' we may not suspect it of our selves; like _Hazael_ +the _Assyrian_, who when the Prophet told him how he would act the +_Devil_ upon the poor _Israelites_, answer'd with Detestation, _is thy +Servant a Dog that he should do this Thing_, and yet he was that Dog, +and did all those cruel Things for all that; the _Devil_ acting him, or +acting in him, to make him wickeder than ever he thought it was possible +for him to be. + + + + +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._ + + +As the _Devil_ is a Prince of the Power of the Air, his Kingdom is +mortal, and must have an End; and as he is call'd the God of this World, +that is, the great Usurper of the Homage and Reverence which Mankind +ought of right to pay to their Maker, so his Usurpation also, like the +World it self, must have an End: Satan is call'd the God of the World, +as Men too much prostrate and prostitute themselves to him, yet he is +not the Governor of this World; and therefore the Homage and Worship he +has from the World is an Usurpation; and this will have an End, because +the World it self will have an End; and all Mankind, as they had a +beginning in Time, so must expire and be remov'd before the End of Time. + +Since then the _Devil_'s Empire is to expire and come to an End, and +that the _Devil_ himself and all his Host of _Devils_ are immortal +Seraphs, Spirits that are not embodied and cannot die, but are to remain +in being; the Question before us next will be, what is to become of him? +what is his State to be? whether is he to wander, and in what Condition +is he to remain to that Eternity to which he is still to exist? + +I hope no Man will mistake me so much in what I have said as to Spirits, +which are all Flame, not being affected with Fire, as if I supposed +there was no Place of Punishment for the _Devil_, nor any Kind of +Punishment that could affect them; and so of our Spirits also when +transform'd into Flame. + +I must be allow'd to speak there of that material Fire, by which, as by +an Allegory, all the Terrors of an eternal State are represented to us +in Scripture, and in the Writings of the learned Commentators, and by +which the Pain of Sense is describ'd; this, perhaps, I do not understand +as they seem to do, and therefore have said, + +When we're all Flame (that is all Spirit) we shall all Fire (that is, +all such Fire as this) despise. And thus I claim to be understood. + +It does not follow from hence, neither do I suggest, or so much as think +that infinite Power cannot form a something (tho' inconceivable to us +here) which shall be as tormenting, and as insupportable to a Devil, an +apostate Seraph, and to a Spirit, tho' exalted, unembodied and rarified +into _Flame_, as Fire would be to other Bodies; in which I think I am +orthodox, and do not give the least Occasion to an Enemy to charge me +with profane Speaking, in those Words, or to plead for thinking +prophanely himself. + +It must be Atheistical to the last Degree to suggest, that whereas the +_Devil_ has been heaping up and amassing Guilt ever since the Creation +of Man, encreasing in hatred of God and Rebellion against him, and in +all possible endeavour to dethrone and depose the Majesty of Heaven; +that yet Heaven had not prepar'd, or could not prepare a just Penalty +for him; and that it should not all end in God's entire Victory over +Hell, and in Satan's open Condemnation: Heaven could not be just to its +own Glory, if he should not avenge himself upon this Rebel, for all his +superlative Wickedness in his modern as well as ancient Station; for the +Blood of so many millions of his faithful Subjects and Saints whom he +has destroy'd; and if nothing else offer'd it self to prove this Part, +it would appear undoubted to me; but this, I confess, does not belong to +Satan's History, and therefore I have reserv'd it to this Place, and +shall also be the shorter in it. + +That his Condition is to be a State of Punishment, and that by Torment, +the _Devil_ himself has own'd, and his calling out to our blessed Lord +when he cast him out of the furious Man among the Tombs, is a Proof of +it, _What have we to do with thee_, and _art thou come to torment us +before the Time?_ Luke viii. 28. where the _Devil_ acknowledges four +Things, and three of them are directly to my present Purpose, and if you +won't believe the Word of God, I hope you will believe the _Devil_, +especially when 'tis an open Confession against himself. + +1. He confess Christ to be the _Son of God_ (that by the Way) and _no +Thanks to him_, for that does not want the _Devil_'s Evidence. + +2. He acknowledges he may be tormented. + +3. He acknowledges Christ was able to torment him. + +4. He acknowledges that there is a Time appointed when he shall be +tormented. + +As to _how_, in _what Manner_, and by _what Means_, this tormenting the +Devil is to be performed or executed, that I take to be as needless to +us as 'tis impossible to know, and being not at present inclined to fill +your Heads and Thoughts with weak and imperfect Guesses, I leave it +where I find it. + +It is enough to us that this Torment of the _Devil_ is represented to us +by Fire, it being impossible for our confin'd Thoughts to conceive of +Torment by any Thing in the World more exquisite; whence I conclude, +that _Devils_ shall at last receive a Punishment suitable to their +Spirituous Nature, and as exquisitely Tormenting as a burning Fire would +be to our Bodies. + +Having thus settl'd my own Belief of this Matter, and stated it so, as I +think will let you see 'tis rightly sounded, the Matter stands thus. + +Satan having been let loose to play his Game in this World, has improv'd +his Time to the utmost; he has not fail'd on all Occasions to exert his +Hatred, Rage, and Malice at his Conqueror and Enemy, _namely, his +Maker_; he has nor fail'd, from Principles of meer Envy and Pride, to +pursue Mankind with all possible Rancour, in order to deprive him of the +Honour and Felicity which he was created for, namely, to succeed the +_Devil_ and his Angels in the State of Glory from which they fell. + +This Hatred of God and Envy at Man, having broken out in so many several +Ways in the whole Series of Time from the Creation, must necessarily +have greatly encreased his Guilt; and as Heaven is righteous to judge +him, must terminate in an encrease of Punishment, adequate to his Crime, +and sufficient to his Nature. + +Some have suggested, that there is yet a Time to come, when the _Devil_ +shall exert more Rage, and do more Mischief than ever yet he has been +permitted to do; whether he shall break his Chain, or be unchain'd for a +Time, they cannot tell, nor I neither; and 'tis happy for my Work, that +even this Part too does not belong to his History; if ever it shall be +given an Account of by Mankind, it must be after it is come to pass, for +my Part is not Prophesy of foretelling what the Devil shall do, but +History of what he has done. + +Thus, good People, I have brought the History of the Devil down to _your +own Times_; I have, as it were, _rais'd him_ for you, and set him in +your View, that you may know him and have a Care of him. + +If any cunninger Men among you think they are able now to _lay him_ +again, and so dispose of him out of your Sight, that you shall be +troubled no more with him, either here or hereafter, let them go to work +with him their own Way; you know Things future do not belong to an +Historian, so I leave him among you, wishing you may be able to give no +worse an Account of him for the Time to come, than I have done for the +Time past. + + +FINIS. + + + + +Footnotes: + +[1] N. B. He never refus'd setting his hand to any opinion, which he +thought it for his interest to acknowledge. + +[2] Mean't of nothing. + +[3] _Mr._ Pool's _words are these_: Some refer the words, _This day have +I begotten thee_, to the incarnation of the Son of GOD, others to the +Resurrection: our Translators lay the stress on the preposition of which +the verb is compounded, and by adding _again_, (viz.) _rais'd up Jesus +again_, Acts xiii. 33. intend it to be understood of the Resurrection; +and there is ground for it, in the context, for the Resurrection of +Christ, is that which St. _Paul_ had propounded in v. 30. of the same +Chapter, as his theme or argument to preach upon. + +Not that Christ at his Resurrection began to be the Son of God, but that +he was manifested then to be so. + +[4] Satan. + +[5] The meaning of the word Devil is Destroyer. See _Pool_ upon _Acts_ +xiii. 10. + +[6] _As great as the Devil and Doctor_ Faustus. Vulg. Dr. _Foster_. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. + +Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate +both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as +presented in the original text. + +Long "s" has been modernized. + +The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these +letters have been replaced with transliterations. + +The text includes two instances of unmatched round brackets; as these +require interpretation to close, they have been left unmatched. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "Origiual" corrected to "Original" (Table of Contents) + "34" corrected to "31" (Table of Contents) + "259" corrected to "159" (Table of Contents) + extraneous "a" removed (page 1) + "blinding" corrected to "binding" (page 9) + "decrib'd" corrected to "describ'd" (page 57) + "Battels" corrected to "Battles" (page 76) + "inconcievable" corrected to "inconceivable" (page 91) + "Devils" corrected to "Devil's" (page 101) + "hut" corrected to "but" (page 120) + "that that" corrected to "that" (page 127) + "opposs'd" corrected to "oppos'd" (page 152) + "notwitstanding" corrected to "notwithstanding" (page 162) + "a as Body" corrected to "as a Body" (page 172) + "Peoples" corrected to "People's" (page 184) + "Asia" corrected to "Asa" (page 187) + "was" corrected to "saw" (page 213) + "faling" corrected to "falling" (page 229) + "Christain" corrected to "Christian" (page 230) + "what's is" corrected to "what is" (page 233) + "disapointed" corrected to "disappointed" (page 234) + "been" corrected to "seen" (page 235) + "momentons" corrected to "momentous" (page 244) + "Chritians" corrected to "Christians" (page 250) + "Egyytian" corrected to "Egyptian" (page 252) + "Magnifience" corrected to "Magnificence" (page 256) + "whereever" corrected to "wherever" (page 267) + "compliasant" corrected to "complaisant" (page 294) + "coul'd" corrected to "cou'd" (page 298) + "Acquiantance" corrected to "Acquaintance" (page 299) + "Oportunity" corrected to "Opportunity" (page 300) + "har'd" corrected to "hard" (page 301) + "distingush" corrected to "distinguish" (page 312) + "whereever" corrected to "wherever" (page 322) + "the the" corrected to "the" (page 330) + "CHAP. VII" corrected to "CHAP. IX" (page 339) + "Businses" corrected to "Business" (page 370) + +Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in +spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation usage have been retained. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The History of the Devil, by Daniel Defoe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL *** + +***** This file should be named 31053-8.txt or 31053-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/5/31053/ + +Produced by Michael Roe, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +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 + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL *** + + + + +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.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/front.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<div class="title"> +<h3>THE</h3> +<h1>HISTORY</h1> +<h3>OF THE</h3> +<h1>DEVIL,</h1> +<h4>AS WELL</h4> +<h3>ANCIENT as MODERN:</h3> +<h3>IN TWO PARTS.</h3> + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><b><span class="smcap">Part I.</span></b></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Containing a State of the <i>Devil</i>’s Circumstances, and the various +Turns of his Affairs; from his Expulsion out of Heaven, to the +<i>Creation</i> of Man; with Remarks on the Several Mistakes concerning +the Reason and Manner of his Fall.</p> +<p class="hang">Also his Proceedings with <i>Mankind</i> ever since <i>Adam</i>, to the first +planting of the Christian Religion in the World.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><b><span class="smcap">Part II.</span></b></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Containing his more private Conduct, down to the present Times: His +Government, his Appearances, his manner of Working, and the Tools +he works with.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p class="poem"> +<i>Bad as he is, the Devil may be abus’d,</i><br /> +<i>Be falsly charg’d, and causelesly accus’d,</i><br /> +<i>When Men, unwilling to be blam’d alone,</i><br /> +<i>Shift off these Crimes on Him which are their Own.</i></p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>The <span class="smcap">Second Edition</span>.</h3> +<p> </p> +<h3><i>LONDON:</i></h3> +<p class="center">Printed for <span class="smcap">T. Warner</span>, at the <i>Black Boy</i> in<br /> +<i>Pater-noster Row</i>. 1727.</p></div> +<p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>The PREFACE</h1> +<h3>TO THE</h3> +<h2>SECOND EDITION.</h2> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps"><i>This</i></span> <i>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.</i></p> + +<p><i>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</i> Devil <i>is not pleased,</i> his Friends should be +angry?</p> + +<p><i>The strangest thing of it all is, to hear</i> Satan <i>complain that the +Story is handled prophanely: But who can think it strange that his +Advocates should</i> <span class="smcap">be</span>, what he was from the Beginning?</p> + +<p><i>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</i> Devil <i>but with an Air of +Terror, as if we were always afraid of him.</i></p> + +<p><i>’Tis evident the</i> Devil, <i>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</i> Devil, <i>as he is, or shew the World that he +may be laugh’d at.</i></p> + +<p><i>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</i> he gives them leave to mend it. <i>He has had the +Satisfaction to please some Readers, and to see good Men approve it; and +for the rest, as my Lord</i> Rochester <i>says in another Case,</i></p> + +<p class="poem">He counts their Censure Fame.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p><i>As for a certain Reverend Gentleman, who is pleased gravely to dislike +the Work</i> (<i>he hopes, rather for the Author’s sake than the</i> Devil’s) +<i>he only says,</i> 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.</p> + +<p><i>It is enough to me (says the Author) that the</i> Devil <i>himself is not +pleased with my Work, and less with the Design of it; let the</i> Devil +<i>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</i> Satan, <i>if he dares.</i></p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE CONTENTS.</h2> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><b>PART I.</b></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_I"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> I.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Being an Introduction to the whole Work</i>,</td> +<td valign="top" align="right">Page <a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><a href="#Chap_II"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> II.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the Word</i> DEVIL, <i>as it is a proper Name to the Devil,<br />and any or +all his Host, Angels</i>, &c.</td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_III"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> III.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Origiual'">Original</ins> of the</i> DEVIL, <i>who he is, what he was<br />before his +Expulsion out of Heaven, and in what<br />State he was from that Time to the Creation of Man</i></td> +<td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_31"><ins class="correction" title="original reads '34'">31</ins></a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_IV"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> IV.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the Name of the Devil, his Original, and the Nature of his<br />Circumstances since he has been call’d by that Name</i></td> +<td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_V"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> V.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the Station Satan had in Heaven before he fell; the Nature<br />and Original +of his Crime, and some of Mr.</i> Milton’s<br /><i>Mistakes about it</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_VI"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VI.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>What became of the</i> Devil <i>and his Host of fallen Spirits<br />after their +being expell’d from Heaven, and his<br />wandring Condition till the +Creation; with some more<br />of Mr.</i> Milton<i>’s Absurdities on that Subject</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_VII"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VII.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the Number of Satan’s Host; how they came first to know<br />of the new +created Worlds now in Being, and their<br />Measures with Mankind upon the Discovery</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_VIII"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VIII.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the Power of the Devil at the Time of the Creation of this<br />World; +whether it has not been farther straiten’d and<br />limited since that Time, +and what Shifts and Stratagems<br />he is oblig’d to make use of to compass +his Designs upon<br />Mankind</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_IX"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> IX.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the Progress of Satan in carrying on his Conquest over<br />Mankind, from +the Fall of</i> Eve <i>to the Deluge</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_X"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> X.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the Devil’s second Kingdom, and how he got footing in the<br />renewed +World by his Victory over</i> Noah <i>and his Race</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_XI"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> XI.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of God’s calling a Church out of the midst of a degenerate<br />World, and +of Satan’s new Measures upon that Incident:<br />How he attacked them +immediately, and his Success in<br />those Attacks</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_159"><ins class="correction" title="original reads '259'">159</ins></a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><b>PART II.</b></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_I.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> I.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>The Introduction</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_II.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> II.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of Hell as it is represented to us, and how the</i> Devil <i>is to be<br /> +understood, as being personally in Hell, when at the same<br />Time we find him at Liberty ranging over the World</i></td> +<td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_III.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> III.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the Manner of</i> Satan’s <i>acting and carrying on his Affairs in<br />this +World, and particularly of his ordinary Workings in the<br />dark, by</i> Possession <i>and</i> Agitation</td> +<td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_216">216</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_IV.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> IV.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of Satan’s Agents or Missionaries, and their Actings upon and in<br />the +Minds of Men in his Name</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_V.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> V.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the</i> Devil<i>’s Management in the Pagan Hierarchy by Omens,<br />Entrails, +Augurs, Oracles, and such like Pageantry of Hell;<br />and how they went off +the Stage at last by the Introduction<br />of true Religion</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_VI.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VI.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the extraordinary Appearances of the Devil, and particularly<br />of the Cloven-Foot</i></td> +<td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_VII.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VII.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Whether is most hurtful to the World, the</i> Devil <i>walking about<br />without +his Cloven-Foot, or the Cloven-Foot walking about<br />without the</i> Devil?</td> +<td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_VIII.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VIII.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the Cloven-Foot walking about the World without the</i> Devil<br />(viz.) +<i>of Witches making Bargains with the</i> Devil, <i>and<br />particularly of selling the Soul to the</i> Devil</td> +<td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_316">316</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_IX.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> IX.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the Tools the</i> Devil <i>works with</i> (viz.) <i>Witches, Wizards or<br /> +Warlocks, Conjurers, Magicians, Diviners, Astrologers,<br />Interpreters of +Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes; and above<br />all the rest, his particular +modern Privy-Counsellors<br />call’d Wits and Fools</i></td><td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_X.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> X.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the various Methods the Devil takes to converse with<br />Mankind</i></td> +<td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_352">352</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#Chap_XI.2"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> XI.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of Divination, Sorcery, the Black-Art, Pawawing, and<br />such like +Pretenders to Devilisms, and how far the</i><br />Devil <i>is or is not concern’d in them</i></td> +<td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_377">377</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#The_CONCLUSION">The <span class="smcap">Conclusion</span>.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="hang"><i>Of the</i> Devil’<i>s last Scene of Liberty, and what may be<br />supposed to be +his End; with what we are to<br />understand of his being tormented for ever and ever</i></td> +<td valign="top" align="right"><a href="#Page_404">404</a></td></tr></table> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<p><a name="Chap_I" id="Chap_I"></a></p> + +<h1>THE<br />HISTORY<br />OF THE<br />DEVIL, <i>&c.</i></h1> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> I.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center"><i>Being an Introduction to the whole Work.</i></p></div> + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">I</span> 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 <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'time a resolving'">time resolving</ins> whether they had best +look into it or no, lest they should really raise the <i>Devil</i> by reading his story.</p> + +<p>Children and old women have told themselves so many frightful things <i>of +the Devil</i>, 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 +<i>Devil</i> 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 <i>Devil</i> would +terrify them half<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> so much, if they were to converse face to face with him.</p> + +<p>It must certainly therefore be a most useful undertaking to give the +true history of this <i>Tyrant of the air</i>, this <i>God of the world</i>, this +terror and aversion of mankind, which we call <i>Devil</i>; to shew what he +<span class="smcap">is</span>, and what he <span class="smcap">is not</span>, where +he <span class="smcap">is</span>, and where he <span class="smcap">is not</span>, when he is <span class="smcap">in +us</span>, and when he <span class="smcap">is not</span>; for I cannot doubt but that the <i>Devil</i> is +really and <i>bona fide</i> in a great many of our honest weak-headed +friends, when they themselves know nothing of the matter.</p> + +<p>Nor is the work so difficult as some may imagine. The <i>Devil</i>’s +<i>history</i> 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 <i>in +general</i>, 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 <i>Matchiavel</i> outdid +him in many things, and I may in the process of this work give an +account of several of the sons of <i>Adam</i>, and some societies of ’em too, +who have out-witted <i>the Devil</i>, nay, who have out-sin’d <i>the Devil</i>, +and that I think may be call’d out-shooting him in his own bow.</p> + +<p>It may perhaps be expected of me in this history, that since I seem +inclin’d to speak favourably of <i>Satan</i>, 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 <i>Satan</i> has something of religion +in him, I assure you; nor is he such an unprofitable <i>Devil</i> that way, +as some may suppose him to be; for tho’, in reverence to my brethren,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>It is said also, and I am apt to believe it, that he was very familiar +with that holy father Pope <i>Silvester</i> II. and some charge him with +personating Pope <i>Hildebrand</i> 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 <i>Diabolus</i> +among the list; in all father <i>Platina</i>’s lives of the Popes, so I am +willing to leave it as I find it.</p> + +<p>But to speak to the point, and a nice point it is I acknowledge; +<i>namely</i>, what religion <i>the Devil</i> is of; my answer will indeed be +general, yet not at all ambiguous, for I love to speak positively and +with undoubted evidence.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. <i>He is a believer.</i> And if in saying so it should follow, that +even the <i>Devil</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> are, I can assure +them that the <i>Devil</i> is no Infidel.</p> + +<p>2. <i>He fears God.</i> 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 <i>the Devil</i> really <i>fears +God</i>, and that after another manner than ever he fear’d Saint +<i>Frances</i> or Saint <i>Dunstan</i>; and if that be proved, as I take upon +me to advance, I shall leave it to judgment, who’s the better +Christian, <i>the Devil</i> who <i>believes</i> and <i>trembles</i>, or our modern +gentry of —— who believe neither <i>God nor Devil</i>.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Having thus brought the <i>Devil</i> within the <i>Pale</i>, 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 <i>the +Devil</i> in them, and who more; and whether <i>less</i> or <i>more</i> 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 +<i>Jews</i>, to our friends at the <i>Bull and Mouth</i>, &c. from the greatest to the least.</p> + +<p>It will, I confess, come very much within the compass of this part of my +discourse, to give an account, <i>or at least make an essay toward it</i>, of +the share <i>the Devil</i> has had in the spreading religion in the world; +and especially of dividing and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> 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 <i>de +propaganda fide</i>; it is true, we find him heartily employ’d in almost +every corner of the world <i>ad propagandum errorem</i>: But that may require a history by it self.</p> + +<p>As to his propagating religion, ’tis a little hard indeed, at first +sight, to charge <i>the Devil</i> with propagating religion, that is to say, +if we take it literally, and in the gross; but if you take it as the +<i>Scots</i> insisted to take the oath of fidelity, <i>viz.</i> with an +<i>explanation</i>, it is plain <i>Satan</i> has very often had a share in the +method, if not in the design of propagating the <i>christian faith</i>: For example.</p> + +<p>I think I do no injury at all to the Devil, to say that he had a great +hand in the old <i>holy war</i>, as it was ignorantly and enthusiastically +call’d; stirring up the christian princes and powers of <i>Europe</i> to run +a madding after the <i>Turks</i> and <i>Saracens</i>, 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, <i>holy zeal</i> to +recover the <i>terra sancta</i>, the sepulchers of Christ and the Saints, and +as they call’d it falsly, the <i>holy city</i>, tho’ true religion says it +was the accursed city, and not worth spending one drop of blood for.</p> + +<p>This religious <i>Bubble</i> was certainly of <i>Satan</i>, who, as he craftily +drew them in, so like a true <i>Devil</i> he left them in the lurch when they +came there, fac’d about to the <i>Saracens</i>, animated the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> immortal +<i>Saladin</i> 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 <i>a la santa terra</i>, or in <i>English</i> a <i>saunt’ring</i>, about a hundred +year, he dropt it to play another game less foolish, but ten times +wickeder than that which went before it, <i>namely</i>, turning the crusadoes +of the Christians one against another; and, as <i>Hudibras</i> said in another case,</p> + +<p class="poem">“Made them fight like mad or drunk<br /> +“For dame religion as for punk.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Of this you have a compleat account in the history of the Popes decrees +against the Count <i>de Thoulouse</i>, and the <i>Waldenses</i> and <i>Albigenses</i>, +with the crusadoes and massacres which follow’d upon them, wherein to do +<i>the Devil</i>’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.</p> + +<p>I might, to compleat this part of his history, give you the detail of +his progress in these first steps of his alliances with <i>Rome</i>; 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 +<i>Parisian</i> massacre, the <i>Flemish</i> war under the Duke <i>d’ Alva</i>, the +<i>Smithfield</i> fires in the <i>Marian days</i> in <i>England</i>, and the massacres +in <i>Ireland</i>; all which would most effectually convince us that <i>the +Devil</i> has not been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> 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 +<i>the Devil</i> has really been as much concerned as any body, in the +methods taken by some people for propagating the christian religion in the world.</p> + +<p>Some have rashly, and I had almost said maliciously charg’d <i>the Devil</i> +with the great triumphs of his friends the <i>Spaniards</i> in <i>America</i>, and +would place the conquest of <i>Mexico</i> and <i>Peru</i> to the credit of his account.</p> + +<p>But I cannot join with them in this at all, I must say, I believe <i>the +Devil</i> was innocent of that matter; my reason is, because, <i>Satan</i> 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 +<i>Satan</i> against <i>Beelzebub</i>, making war upon himself, and at least doing +nothing to the purpose.</p> + +<p>If they should charge him, indeed, with deluding <i>Philip</i> II. of <i>Spain</i> +into that preposterous attempt call’d <i>the Armada</i>, (<i>anglice</i>, the +<i>Spanish Invasion</i>,) I should indeed more readily join with them; but +whether he did it weakly, in hope, <i>which was indeed not likely</i>, that +it should succeed; or wickedly, to destroy that great fleet of the +<i>Spaniards</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>But the greatest piece of management, which we find <i>the Devil</i> has +concern’d himself in of late, in the matter of religion, seems to be +that of the mission into <i>China</i>; and here indeed <i>Satan</i> has acted his +master-piece: It was, no doubt, much for his service that <i>the Chineses</i> +should have no insight into matters of religion, I mean, that we call +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>christian; and therefore, tho’ <i>Popery</i> and the <i>Devil</i> 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 <i>China</i>. +Hence when the name of the christian religion had but been received with +some seeming approbation in the country of <i>Japan</i>, <i>Satan</i> immediately, +as if alarm’d at the thing, and dreading what the consequence of it +might be, arm’d the <i>Japoneses</i> against it with such fury, that they expell’d it at once.</p> + +<p>It was much safer to his designs, when, if the story be not a fiction, +he put that <i>Dutch</i> witicism into the mouths of the States commanders, +when they came to <i>Japan</i>; who having more wit than to own themselves +Christians in such a place as that, when the question was put to them, +answered negatively, <i>That they were not</i>, but that <i>they were of +another religion call’d</i> Hollanders.</p> + +<p>However, it seems the diligent <i>Jesuits</i> out-witted the Devil in +<i>China</i>, and, as I said above, over-shot him in his own Bow; for the +mission being in danger <i>by the Devil and the</i> Chinese <i>Emperor</i>’s +<i>joining together</i>, of being wholly expell’d there too, as they had been +in <i>Japan</i>, they cunningly fell in with the ecclesiasticks of the +country, and joining the priestcraft of both religions together, they +brought <i>Jesus Christ</i> and <i>Confucius</i> to be so reconcilable, that the +<i>Chinese</i> and the <i>Roman</i> idolatry appeared capable of a confederacy, of +going on hand in hand together, and consequently of being very good friends.</p> + +<p>This was a master-piece indeed, and, <i>as they say</i>, almost frighted +<i>Satan</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> all possible alacrity, with the proposal<small><a name="f1.1" id="f1.1" href="#f1">[1]</a></small>; +so the <i>Jesuits</i> and he form’d a <i>hotch-potch</i> of <i>religion</i> made up of <i>Popery</i> and <i>Paganism</i> +and calculated to leave the latter rather worse than they found it, +<ins class="correction" title="original reads 'blinding'">binding</ins> the faith of Christ and the philosophy or morals of <i>Confucius</i> +together, and formally christening them by the name of <i>religion</i>; by +which means the politick interest of the mission was preserved; and yet +<i>Satan</i> lost not one inch of ground with the <i>Chineses</i>, no, not by the +planting the Gospel it self, <i>such as it was</i>, among them.</p> + +<p>Nor has it been such disadvantage to him that this plan or scheme of a +new modell’d religion would not go down at <i>Rome</i>, 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, +<i>Satan</i> took care to get him sent back <i>re infecta</i>, or inspir’d the +million to move him off the premisses, by methods of their own (that is +to say, being interpreted) to <i>murther him</i>.</p> + +<p>Thus the mission has in itself been truly <i>devilish</i>, and the Devil has +interested himself in the planting the christian religion in <i>China</i>.</p> + +<p>The influence <i>the Devil</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>Be it that the Devil has had a share in some of the late councils of +<i>Europe</i>, 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 <i>Thorn</i>? What need we put it upon him, seeing his +confederates the <i>Jesuites</i> with the <i>Assessorial</i> tribunal of <i>Poland</i> +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 <i>the Devil</i> must be in it, if justice should be obtain’d that way: +I should rather say, <i>the Devil</i> is in it, or else it would never be expected.</p> + +<p>It occurs next to enquire from the premisses, whether <i>the Devil</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>But there is so much to enquire of about <i>the Devil</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, if I might obtain leave to present an humble petition +to <i>Satan</i>, it should be, that he would according to modern usage oblige +us all, with writing <i>the history of his own times</i>; ’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, <i>&c.</i> 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 <i>the Devil</i> himself to be the author of it.</p> + +<p>Were <i>Satan</i> 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, <i>who, by the way, has +given us already the Devil of a history</i>, come up to him: <i>Milton</i>’s +<i>Pandemonium</i>, tho’ an excellent dramatick performance, would appear a +meer trifling sing-song business, beneath the dignity of <i>Chevy-chase</i>: +The <i>Devil</i> 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 <i>Messiah</i>, upon his being declar’d +Generalissimo of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> 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. <i>Milton</i> would +appear to be strain’d too far, and only serve to convince us that he +(<i>Milton</i>) knew nothing of the matter. <i>Satan</i> knows very well, that the +<i>Messiah</i> was not <i>declared to be the Son of God with power</i> till by and +after <i>the resurrection from the dead</i>, and that all power was then +given him <i>in Heaven and earth</i>, and not before; so that <i>Satan</i>’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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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. +<i>Burnet</i>’s <i>Theory</i>, 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?</p> + +<p><i>Satan</i> could easily account for all the difficulties of the <i>Theory</i>, +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.</p> + +<p>Would <i>the Devil</i> exert himself as an Historian, for our improvement and +diversion, how glorious an account could he give us of <i>Noah</i>’s Voyage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>He could give us a true relation how he wheedled the people of the next +world into the absurd ridiculous undertaking of building a <i>Babel</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>In all these things <i>Satan</i>, 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 +<i>Grecian Olympiads</i>, the <i>Turkish Heghira</i>, the <i>Chinese</i> fictitious +account of the world’s duration, as our blind <i>Julian</i> and <i>Gregorian</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Troy</i>, and the rape of <i>Helen</i> was a fable of <i>Homer</i> or a history; +whether the fictions of the Poets are form’d from their own brain, or +founded in facts; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> whether letters were invented by <i>Cadmus</i> the +<i>Phœnician</i>, or dictated immediately from <i>Heaven</i> at mount <i>Sinai</i>.</p> + +<p>Nay, he could tell us how and in what manner he wheedled <i>Eve</i>, deluded +<i>Adam</i>, put <i>Cain</i> into a passion, till he made him murther his own +brother; and made <i>Noah</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Adam</i>, in +paradise and out of it; his character, and how he behaved at and after +his expulsion; how <i>Cain</i> wandered in the land of <i>Nod</i>, what the mark +was which <i>God</i> 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,</p> + +<p class="poem">How <i>Cain</i> in the land of <i>Nod</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the rascal was alone</span><br /> +Like an owl in an ivy tod<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Built a city as big as <i>Roan</i>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>Roch.</i></span></p> + +<p> </p> +<p>He could have certainly drawn <i>Eve</i>’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 <i>Valdemar</i> suggests to be the effects of the +curse.</p> + +<p>Descending to the character of the Patriarchs in that age, he might, no +doubt, give us in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> particular the characters of <i>Belus</i>, worship’d under +the name of <i>Baal</i>; with <i>Satan</i>, and <i>Jupiter</i>, his successors; who +they were here, and how they behaved; with all the <i>Pharaohs</i> of +<i>Egypt</i>, the <i>Abimilechs</i> of <i>Canaan</i>, and the great monarchs of +<i>Assyria</i> and <i>Babylon</i>.</p> + +<p>Hence also he is able to write the lives of all the Heroes of the world, +from <i>Alexander</i> of <i>Macedon</i> to <i>Lewis</i> the XIV. and from <i>Augustus</i> to +the great King <i>George</i>; nor could the Bishop himself go beyond him for +flattery, any more than the Devil himself could go beyond the Bishop for +falshood.</p> + +<p>I could enlarge with a particular satisfaction upon the many fine things +which <i>Satan</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>the Devil</i>) and his +Angels; so that man is appointed to come in <i>Satan</i>’s stead, to make +good the breach, and enjoy all those ineffable Joys and Beatitudes which +<i>Satan</i> enjoy’d before his fall; no wonder then, that <i>the Devil</i> 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 <i>Devil</i> practises with such unwearied and indefatigable +application upon the best men, if possible, to disappoint <span class="smcap">God</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +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 +<i>the Devil</i> and his host, or fill up the places vacant by the Fall. It +is true indeed, <i>the Devil</i>, 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 <i>the +Devil</i> and all the Host of <i>Hell</i> can do to prevent it.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="smcap">God</span> +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 +<i>Hell</i>, that is to say, the <i>Devil</i> 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. <i>qui Jupiter vult perdere hos dementat.</i></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> 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, <i>in a word</i>, such as the +Devil himself shall not be able to contradict.</p> + +<p>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; +(<i>viz.</i>) that my story shall be so just and so well grounded, and, after +all the good things I shall say of <i>Satan</i>, will be so little to his +satisfaction, that <i>the Devil</i> himself will not be able to say, I <i>dealt +with the Devil</i> 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; <i>but pardon me, Gentlemen</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>secret +service</i>; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> hoped you will not desire me to betray my +Correspondents; for you know <i>Satan</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>the Devil</i> 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 +<i>the Devil</i>, and all his ways, may be the best help to make us defie +<i>the Devil</i> and all his <i>works</i>.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_II" id="Chap_II"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> II.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the word</i> DEVIL, <i>as it is a proper name to the Devil, and any +or all his host, Angels,</i> &c.</p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">It</span> is a question, not yet determined by the learned, whether the word +<i>Devil</i> be a <i>singular</i>, that is to say, the <i>name</i> of a person standing +by himself, or a <i>noun of multitude</i>; if it be a singular, and so must +be used personally only as <i>a proper name</i>, it consequently implies one +imperial <i>Devil</i>, Monarch or King of the whole clan of Hell; justly +distinguish’d by the term <span class="smcap">the Devil</span>, or as +the <i>Scots</i> call him, <i>the</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +<i>muckle horn’d Dee’l</i>, or as others in a wilder dialect, <i>the Devil of +Hell</i>, that is to say, the <i>Devil</i> of a <i>Devil</i>; or (better still) as +the Scripture expresses it, by way of emphasis, the <i>great red Dragon</i>, +the <i>Devil</i> and <i>Satan</i>.</p> + +<p>But if we take this word to be, as above, <i>a noun of multitude</i>, and so +to be used <i>ambo-dexter</i>, as occasion presents, singular or plural; then +<i>the Devil</i> signifies <i>Satan</i> by himself, or <i>Satan with all his +Legions</i> 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 <i>Matt.</i> iv. 24. is first said to +be possess’d of <i>the Devil</i> (singular) and our Saviour asks him, as +speaking to a single person, <i>what is thy name?</i> and is answer’d in the +plural and singular together, my name is <span class="smcap">Legion</span>, for <i>we are many</i>.</p> + +<p>Nor will it be any wrong to <i>the Devil</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>Having thus articl’d with the <i>Devil</i> 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 <i>Devils</i> or of infernal Spirits, just as occasion +requires, and as the history of his affairs makes necessary.</p> + +<p>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 <i>the Devil</i>; and in short, unless I can give some +evidence of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> existence, as my Lord —— said very well, I am talking +of <i>nobody</i>.</p> + +<p>D—m me, Sir, says a graceless comrade of his to a great man, <i>your +Grace</i> will go to <i>the Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>D—m ye, Sir, says the D——, then I shall go <i>no where</i>; I wonder where +you intend to go?</p> + +<p>Nay, to <i>the D——l</i> too I doubt, <i>says Graceless</i>, for I am almost as +wicked as my <i>Lord Duke</i>.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Thou ar’t a silly empty Dog, says the D—, and if there is such a +place as <i>a Hell</i>, tho’ I believe nothing of it, ’tis a place for fools, +such as thou art.</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> I wonder then, what Heaven the great wits go to, such as my <i>Lord +Duke</i>; 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 <i>a Hell</i> +wherever they come.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Prithee hold thy fool’s tongue, I tell thee, if there is any such +place as we call <span class="smcap">no where</span>; that’s all the Heaven or Hell that I know of, +or believe any thing about.</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> Very good, my Lord—; so that <i>Heaven</i> is <i>no where</i>, and +<i>Hell</i> is <i>no where</i>, and the <i>Devil</i> is <i>nobody</i>, according to my <i>Lord +Duke</i>!</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Yes Sir, and what then?</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> And you are to go <i>no where</i> when you die, are you?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Yes, you Dog, don’t you know what that incomparable noble genius my +Lord <i>Rochester</i> sings upon the subject, I believe it unfeignedly,</p> + +<p class="poem">After death nothing is,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And nothing death.</span></p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> You believe it, my Lord, you mean, you would fain believe it if +you could; but since you put that great genius my Lord <i>Rochester</i> upon +me, let me play him back upon <i>your Grace</i>; I am sure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> you have read his +fine poem upon <i>nothing</i>, in one of the stanzas of which is this +beautiful thought,</p> + +<p class="poem">And to be part of <small><a name="f2.1" id="f2.1" href="#f2">[2]</a></small> thee<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The wicked wisely pray.</span></p> + +<p><i>D.</i> You are a foolish Dog.</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> And my <i>Lord Duke</i> is a wise Infidel.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Why? is it not wiser to believe <i>no Devil</i>, than to be always +terrify’d at him?</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> But shall I toss another Poet upon you, my Lord?</p> + +<p class="poem">If it should so fall out, as who can tell<br /> +But there may be a <span class="smcap">God</span>, a <i>Heaven</i> and <i>Hell</i>?<br /> +Mankind had best consider well, for fear<br /> +’T should be too late when their mistakes appear.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> D—m your foolish Poet, that’s not my Lord <i>Rochester</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> But how must I be damn’d, if there’s <i>no Devil</i>? Is not <i>your +Grace</i> a little inconsistent there? My Lord <i>Rochester</i> would not have +said that, and’t please your Grace.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> No, <i>you Dog</i>, 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 <i>a Devil</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> That’s like one of <i>your Grace</i>’s paradoxes, such as when you +swore <i>by God</i> that you did not believe there was any such thing as <i>a +God</i>, or <i>Devil</i>; so you swear by <i>nothing</i>, and damn me to <i>no where</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span><i>D.</i> You are a critical Dog, who taught you to believe these solemn +trifles? who taught you to say there is a <span class="smcap">God</span>?</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> Nay, I had a better school-master than my <i>Lord Duke</i>.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Why, who was your school-master pray?</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> <i>The Devil</i>, and’t please your <i>Grace</i>.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> The Devil! <i>the Devil he did?</i> what you’re going to quote +Scripture, are you? Prithee don’t tell me of <i>Scripture</i>, I know what +you mean, <i>the Devils believe and tremble</i>; why then I have the +whip-hand of <i>the Devil</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> And there, indeed, I am a wickeder creature than the <i>Devil</i>, or +even than my <i>Lord Duke</i>, for I believe, and yet don’t tremble neither.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Nay, if you are come to your penitentials I have done with you.</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> And I think I must have done with my <i>Lord Duke</i>, for the same +reason.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> <i>Ay, ay</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><i>Gr.</i> And I’ll go and reform my self, else I know the consequence too.</p> + +<p>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 <i>the +Devil</i> into the question, and the debate brought the profligate to be a +penitent; so in short, <i>the Devil</i> was made a preacher of repentance.</p> + +<p>The Truth is, <i>God</i> and <i>the Devil</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> denies one, generally denies both; +and he that believes one, necessarily believes both.</p> + +<p>Very few, if any of those who believe there is a <span class="smcap">God</span>, and acknowledge +the debt of homage which mankind owes to the supreme Governor of the +World, doubt the existence of <i>the Devil</i>, 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 <i>Lord Duke</i>, he +believes neither <span class="smcap">God</span> or <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>As the belief of both these stands upon a level, and that <span class="smcap">God</span> and the +<i>Devil</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="smcap">God</span> +is a debt to nature, and to believe the existence of <i>the Devil</i> 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.</p> + +<p>One demonstration of the existence of <span class="smcap">God</span>, is from the universal +well-guided consent of all nations to worship and adore a supreme Power; +One demonstration of the existence of the <i>Devil</i>, is from the avow’d +ill-guided consent of some nations, who knowing no other <span class="smcap">God</span>, make a <span class="smcap">God</span> +of the <i>Devil</i>, for want of a better.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>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 <i>Devil</i> of him, at the same time that +they bow to him as to a <span class="smcap">God</span>.</p> + +<p>All the ages of Paganism in the World have had this notion of <i>the +Devil</i>: 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 <i>Grecians</i> and the +<i>Romans</i>, had their <i>Lares</i> 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 <i>the Devil</i>, in whatever shape or +appearance he might come to them, and from whatever might hurt them: and +what was all this but setting up <i>Devils</i> against <i>Devils</i>, supplicating +one <i>Devil</i> under the notion of a good Spirit, to drive out and protect +them from another, whom they call’d a bad Spirit, the white <i>Devil</i> +against the black <i>Devil</i>?</p> + +<p>This proceeds from the natural notions mankind necessarily entertain of +things to come; <i>superior</i> or <i>inferior</i>, <span class="smcap">God</span> and the <i>Devil</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>Now as these two respect the Eternal state of man after life, they are +respectively the object<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>It being then as certain that there is <i>a Devil</i>, as that there is <i>a +God</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="smcap">God</span> and of the <i>Devil</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> be banish’d to them with inconceivable horror and +amazement.</p> + +<p>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 <i>the Devil</i>; and till you add to all +the rest some description of the company with whom all this is to be +suffer’d, <i>viz.</i> the <i>Devil and his Angels</i>.</p> + +<p>Now who this <i>Devil and his Angels</i> 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.</p> + +<p>But to come to the person and original of <i>the Devil</i>, or, as I said +before, of <i>Devils</i>; I allow him to come of an ancient family, for he is +from Heaven, and more truly than the <i>Romans</i> could say of their +idoliz’d <i>Numa</i>, he is of the race of the Gods.</p> + +<p>That <i>Satan</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> infinite, all +glorious Angels like himself, lost at once their beauty and glory with +their Innocence, and commenc’d <i>Devils</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>These notions, I doubt not, gave birth to all the beauteous Images and +sublime expressions in Mr. <i>Milton</i>’s majestick Poem; where, tho’ he has +play’d the Poet in a most luxuriant manner, he has sinn’d against +<i>Satan</i> most egregiously, and done the <i>Devil</i> a manifest injury in a +great many particulars, as I shall shew in its place. And as I shall be +oblig’d to do <i>Satan</i> justice when I come to that part of his History, +Mr. <i>Milton</i>’s admirers must pardon me, if I let them see, that tho’ I +admire Mr. <i>Milton</i> as a Poet, yet that he was greatly out in matters of +History, and especially the History of the <i>Devil</i>; in short, That he +has charged <i>Satan</i> falsly in several particulars; and so he has <i>Adam</i> +and <i>Eve</i> too: But that I shall leave till I come to the History of the +Royal Family of <i>Eden</i>; which I resolve to present you with when the +<i>Devil</i> and I have done with one another.</p> + +<p>But not to run down Mr. <i>Milton</i> 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 +<i>Devil</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>By the word Hell I do not suppose, or at least not determine, that his +residence, or that of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> whole army of <i>Devils</i>, is yet in the same +local <span class="smcap">Hell</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>But when I call the Devil the Monarch of <i>Hell</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>Upon this supposed personality and superiority of <i>Satan</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>Satan</i>, at the head of them; that tho’ he, <i>Satan</i>, +could not maintain his high station in Heaven, yet that he did continue +his dignity among the rest, who are call’d his servants, <i>in Scripture +his Angels</i>; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> designs, and in all his +wicked contrivances for the destruction of man, and for the setting up +his own kingdom in the world.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>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 <i>Satan</i> and his apostate army +in <i>Heaven</i>, 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>I say</i>, 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, <span class="smcap">Man</span>? how <i>Satan</i> being so +entirely vanquish’d, he should be permitted to recover any of his wicked +powers, and find room to do mischief to mankind.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i>’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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That the Devil is not yet a close prisoner, we have evidence enough to +confirm; I will not suggest, that like our <i>Newgate</i> 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> 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.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_III" id="Chap_III"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> III.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the original of the</i> <span class="smcap">Devil</span>, <i>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.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">To</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Milton</i> describes his original glory:</p> + +<p class="poem"><i>Satan</i>, so call him now, his former name<br /> +Is heard no more in Heaven: He of the first,<br /> +If not <i>the first Archangel</i>; great in power,<br /> +In favour and preeminence.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>lib.</i> v. <i>fol.</i> 140.</span></p> + +<p>And again the same author, and upon the same subject:</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +———Brighter once amidst the host<br /> +Of Angels, than that star the stars among.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>lib.</i> vii. <i>fol.</i> 189.</span></p> + +<p> </p> +<p>The glorious figure which Satan is supposed to make among the <i>Thrones</i> +and <i>Dominions</i> in Heaven is such, as we might suppose the highest Angel +in that exalted train could make; and some think, <i>as above</i>, that he +was the chief of the Arch-angels.</p> + +<p>Hence that notion, (and not ill founded) <i>namely</i>, that the first cause +of his disgrace, and on which ensued his rebellion, was occasioned upon +God’s proclaiming his <span class="smcap">Son</span> 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) <i>Satan</i> expected to be conferr’d on himself, as next in honour, +majesty and power to God the Supreme.</p> + +<p>This opinion is follow’d by Mr. <i>Milton</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Here, all ye Angels, prodigy of light,</span><br /> +“Thrones, dominions, princedoms, virtues, pow’rs!<br /> +“Hear my decree, which unrevok’d shall stand.<br /> +“This day I have begot whom I declare<br /> +“My only <span class="smcap">Son</span>, and on this hill<br /> +“Him have anointed, whom you now behold<br /> +“At my right hand; your Head I Him appoint:<br /> +“And my self have sworn to him shall bow<br /> +“All knees in Heav’n, and shall confess him Lord,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>“Under his great vice-gerent reign abide<br /> +“United, as one individual soul,<br /> +“For ever happy: Him who disobeys,<br /> +“Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day<br /> +“Cast out from <span class="smcap">God</span>, and blessed vision, falls<br /> +“Into utter darkness, deep ingulph’d, his place<br /> +“Ordain’d without redemption, without end.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Satan, affronted at the appearance of a new Essence or Being in Heaven, +call’d the Son of God; for God, says Mr. <i>Milton</i>, (tho’ erroneously) +declared himself at that time, saying, <i>This day have I begotten him</i>, +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</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“With all his Legions to dislodge, and leave<br /> +“Unworship’d, unobey’d, the throne supreme<br /> +“Contemptuous. ———<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>Par. lost</i>, lib. v. fo. 140.</span></p> + +<p> </p> +<p>But Mr. <i>Milton</i> is grosly erroneous in ascribing those words, <i>This day +have I begotten thee</i>, 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: <small><a name="f3.1" id="f3.1" href="#f3">[3]</a></small> see <i>Pool</i> upon <i>Acts</i> xiii. 33.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>But Mr. <i>Milton</i> agrees in that opinion, that the number of Angels which +rebel’d with <i>Satan</i> was infinite, and suggests in one place, that they +were the greatest half of all the angelick Body or seraphick Host.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">“But Satan with his Power,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">“An host</span><br /> +“Innumerable as the stars of night,<br /> +“Or stars of morning, dew drops, which the Sun<br /> +“Impearls on ev’ry leaf and ev’ry flower.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>ib.</i> lib. v. fo. 142.</span></p> + +<p> </p> +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>lost either the will or the power of doing +evil.</p> + +<p>This fall of the Angels, with the war in Heaven which preceded it, is +finely describ’d by <i>Ovid</i>, in his war of the <i>Titans</i> against +<i>Jupiter</i>; casting mountain upon mountain, and hill upon hill (<i>Pelion</i> +upon <i>Ossa</i>) in order to scale the Adamantine walls, and break open the +gates of <i>Heaven</i>; till <i>Jupiter</i> struck them with his thunder-bolts and +overwhelm’d them in the abyss: <i>Vide Ovid Metam.</i> new translation, lib. +i. p. 19.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Nor were the Gods themselves secure on high,<br /> +“For now the <i>Gyants</i> strove to storm <i>the sky</i>,<br /> +“The lawless brood with bold attempt invade<br /> +“<span class="smcap">The Gods</span>, and mountains upon mountains <i>laid</i>.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“But now the <i>bolt</i>, enrag’d <i>the Father</i> took,</span><br /> +“<i>Olympus</i> from her deep foundations shook,<br /> +“Their structure nodded at the mighty stroke,<br /> +“And <i>Ossa</i>’s shatter’d top o’er <i>Pelion</i> broke,<br /> +“They’re in their own ungodly ruines slain.—</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Then again speaking of <i>Jupiter</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Think you that they in safety can remain,<br /> +“When I my self who o’er Immortals reign,<br /> +“Who send the lightning, and Heaven’s empire sway,<br /> +“The stern <small><a name="f4.1" id="f4.1" href="#f4">[4]</a></small> Lycaon practis’d to betray.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>ib.</i> p. 10.</span></p> + +<p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>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. <i>Milton</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Satan</i>, with hideous ruin thus supprest</span><br /> +<i>Expell’d</i> the seat of blessedness and rest,<br /> +Look’d back and saw the <i>high eternal mound</i>,<br /> +Where all <i>his rebel host</i> their <i>outlet</i> found<br /> +<i>Restor’d impregnable</i>: The breach made up,<br /> +And garrisons of Angels rang’d a top;<br /> +In front a hundred thousand thunders roll,<br /> +And lightnings temper’d to transfix a soul,<br /> +Terror of <i>Devils</i>. <i>Satan</i> and his host,<br /> +Now to themselves <i>as well as station lost</i>,<br /> +Unable to support the hated sight,<br /> +Expand <i>seraphic wings</i>, and swift as light<br /> +Seek for new safety in <i>eternal Night</i>.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the remotest gulphs <i>of dark</i> they land,</span><br /> +Here vengeance gives them leave to make their stand,<br /> +Not that to <i>steps</i> and <i>measures</i> they pretend,<br /> +<i>Councils</i> and <i>schemes</i> their station to defend;<br /> +But broken, disconcerted and <i>dismay’d</i>,<br /> +By guilt and fright to guilt and fright <i>betray’d</i>;<br /> +Rage and confusion ev’ry Spirit possess’d,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>And <i>shame</i> and <i>horror</i> swell’d in ev’ry breast;<br /> +Transforming envy to their essentials burns,<br /> +And <i>the bright</i> Angel to a <i>frightful Devil</i> turns.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Thus Hell began</i>; the fire of conscious rage</span><br /> +No years can quench, no length of time asswage.<br /> +<i>Material Fire</i>, with its intensest flame,<br /> +Compar’d <i>with this</i> can scarce deserve a Name;<br /> +How should it up to <i>immaterials</i> rise,<br /> +When we’re <i>all flame</i>, we shall <i>all fire</i> despise.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This fire outrageous and its heat intense</span><br /> +Turns all the pain <i>of loss</i> to pain <i>of sense</i>.<br /> +The folding flames <i>concave</i> and <i>inward</i> roll,<br /> +Act <i>upon spirit</i> and penetrate <i>the soul</i>:<br /> +Not force of <i>Devils</i> can its new powers repel,<br /> +Where’er it burns <i>it finds</i> or <i>makes</i> a <span class="smcap">Hell</span>;<br /> +For <i>Satan</i> flaming with unquench’d desire<br /> +Forms <i>his own Hell</i>, and kindles <i>his own fire</i>,<br /> +Vanquish’d, <i>not humbl’d</i>, not in will brought low,<br /> +But as <i>his powers</i> decline <i>his passions</i> grow:<br /> +The malice, <i>Viper like</i>, takes vent within,<br /> +Gnaws its own bowels, and bursts in <i>its own sin</i>:<br /> +Impatient of the change <i>he scorns to bow</i>,<br /> +And never <i>impotent</i> in power <i>till now</i>;<br /> +Ardent with hate, and <i>with revenge</i> distract,<br /> +A will to new attempts, <i>but none</i> to act;<br /> +Yet all <i>seraphick</i>, and in just degree,<br /> +Suited <i>to Spirits high sense</i> of misery,<br /> +Deriv’d from <i>loss</i> which <i>nothing</i> can repair,<br /> +And <i>room for nothing left</i> but meer despair.<br /> +<i>Here’s finish’d Hell!</i> what fiercer fire <i>can burn</i>?<br /> +Enough ten thousand Worlds to over-turn.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Hell</span>’s but the frenzy of defeated pride,</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>Seraphick Treason’s strong impetuous tide,<br /> +Where vile ambition <i>disappointed</i> first,<br /> +To its <i>own rage</i> and <i>boundless hatred</i> curst;<br /> +The hate’s <i>fan’d up to fury</i>, that to <i>flame</i>,<br /> +For <i>fire</i> and <i>fury</i> are in kind the same;<br /> +These burn unquenchable in every face,<br /> +And the word <span class="smcap">Endless</span> constitutes the place.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O <i>state of Being!</i> where being’s the only grief,</span><br /> +And the <i>chief torture</i>’s to be damn’d to life;<br /> +<i>O life!</i> the only thing they have to hate;<br /> +The <i>finish’d torment</i> of a future state,<br /> +Compleat in all the parts of endless misery,<br /> +And worse ten thousand times than <i>not</i> to <span class="smcap">Be</span>!<br /> +Could but the Damn’d <i>the immortal law</i> repeal,<br /> +And <i>Devils dye</i>, there’d be <i>an end of Hell</i>;<br /> +Could they that thing call’d <i>Being</i> annihilate,<br /> +There’d be <i>no sorrows</i> in a future state;<br /> +The Wretch, whose crimes had shut him out <i>on high</i>,<br /> +Could be reveng’d on God himself <i>and die</i>;<br /> +<i>Job’s Wife</i> was in the right, and always we<br /> +Might end <i>by death</i> all human misery,<br /> +Might have it in our choice, <i>to be</i> or not to be.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_IV" id="Chap_IV"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> IV.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the name of the Devil, his original, and the nature of his +circumstances since he has been called by that name.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> Scripture is the first writing on earth where we find the <i>Devil</i> +called by his own proper distinguishing denomination, DEVIL,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> or +the <small><a name="f5.1" id="f5.1" href="#f5">[5]</a></small> <i>Destroyer</i>; nor indeed is there any other author of antiquity or of +sufficient authority which says any thing of that kind about him.</p> + +<p>Here he makes his first appearance in the world, and on that occasion he +is called the <i>Serpent</i>; but the <i>Serpent</i> however since made to signify +the <i>Devil</i>, when spoken of in general terms, was but the Devil’s +representative, or the Devil <i>in quo vis vehiculo</i>, for that time, +clothed in a bodily shape, acting under cover and in disguise, or if you +will the <i>Devil</i> in <i>masquerade</i>: Nay, if we believe Mr. <i>Milton</i>, the +<i>Angel Gabriel</i>’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 <i>Devil</i>, without any disguises +whatsoever.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="poem">Here he is called the <i>Serpent</i>, Gen. iii. 1.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>old Serpent</i>, Rev. xii. 9.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>great red Dragon</i>, Rev. xii. 3.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>Accuser of the Brethren</i>, Rev. xii. 10.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>Enemy</i>, Matt. xxiii. 29.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Satan</i>, Job i. Zech. iii. 1, 2.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Belial</i>, 2 Cor. vi. 15.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Beelzebub</i>, Matt. xii. 24.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Mammon</i>, Matt. vi. 24.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>Angel of light</i>, 2 Cor. xi. 14.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>Angel of the bottomless pit</i>, Rev. ix. 11.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>Prince of the power of the air</i>, Eph. ii. 2.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Lucifer</i>, Isa. xiv. 12.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Abbaddon</i> or <i>Apollion</i>, Rev. ix. 11.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Legion</i>, Mark v. 9.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>God of this world</i>, 2 Cor. iv. 4.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>Foul Spirit</i>, Mark ix. 5.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>Unclean Spirit</i>, Mark i. 27.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>Lying Spirit</i>, 2 Chron. xxx.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>Tempter</i>, Matt. iv. 3.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The <i>Son of the morning</i>, Isa. xiv. 12.</span></p> + +<p> </p> +<p>But to sum them all up in one, he is called in the new Testament <i>plain</i> +<span class="smcap">Devil</span>; 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, <i>Devil</i> is the common name of the <i>Devil</i> 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 <i>Devil</i>, not of <i>Devils</i> in the plural number, though they are +sometimes mentioned too; but in the singular it is the identical +individual <i>Devil</i>, in and under whom all the little <i>Devils</i>, and all +the great <i>Devils</i>, 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 <i>the Devil</i>, 1 John iii. 8. of casting out +<i>the Devil</i>, Mark i. 34. of resisting <i>the Devil</i>, James iv. 5. of our +Saviour being tempted of <i>the Devil</i>, Mat. iv. 1. of <i>Simon Magus</i>, a +child of the <i>Devil</i>, Acts xiii. 10. The <i>Devil</i> came down in a great +wrath, <i>Rev.</i> xii.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> 12. <i>and the like</i>. 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 <i>Devil</i>, 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 <i>Devil</i>; in a word, <i>Devil</i> is +the common name for all <i>Devils</i>; that is to say, for all evil Spirits, +all evil Powers, all evil Works, and even all evil things: Yet ’tis +remarkable <i>the Devil</i> 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 <i>Satan</i> as ’tis now understood.</p> + +<p>It is true, the Learned give a great many differing interpretations of +the word <i>Devil</i>; the <i>English</i> Commentators tell us, it means <i>a +destroyer</i>, others that it signifies a deceiver, and the <i>Greeks</i> derive +it from a <i>Calumniator</i> or false witness; for we find that <i>Calumny</i> was +a <i>Goddess</i>, to whom the <i>Athenians</i> built altars and offer’d Sacrifices +upon some solemn occasions, and they call her Διαβολὴ from +whence came the masculine Διάβολος which we translate <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>Thus we take the name of <i>Devil</i> to signify not persons only, but +actions and habits; making imaginary Devils, and transforming that +substantial creature call’d <span class="smcap">Devil</span> into every thing noxious and +offensive: Thus St. <i>Francis</i> being tempted by the <i>Devil</i> in the shape +of a bag of money lying in the highway, <i>the Saint</i> having discover’d +the fraud, whether seeing his <i>Cloven-foot</i> hang out of the purse, or +whether he distinguish’d him by his smell of <i>sulphur</i>, or how +otherwise, authors are not agreed; but, I say, the Saint having +discover’d the cheat, and out-witted the <i>Devil</i>, took occasion to +preach that eminent sermon to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> disciples, where his Text was, <i>Money +is</i> <span class="smcap">the Devil</span>.</p> + +<p>Nor, upon the whole, is any wrong done to <i>the Devil</i> 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, <i>as the Scripture calls them</i>, Angels to <i>Satan</i> the grand <i>Devil</i>; +all their actions, performances and atchievements are justly attributed +to him, not as the prince of <i>Devils</i> only, but the Emperor of <i>Devils</i>; +the prince of all the princes of <i>Devils</i>.</p> + +<p>Under this denomination then of <span class="smcap">Devil</span>, all the Powers of Hell, all the +Princes of the air, all the black armies of <i>Satan</i> are comprehended, +and in such manner they are to be understood in this whole work; +<i>mutatis mutandis</i>, according to the several circumstances of which we are to speak of them.</p> + +<p>This being premis’d, and my authority being so good, <i>Satan</i> must not +take it ill, if I treat him <i>after the manner of men</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Satan</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>And now, though writing to the common understanding of my Readers, I am +oblig’d to treat <i>Satan</i> very coarsly, and to speak of him in the common +acceptation, calling him plain <i>Devil</i>, a word which in this mannerly +age is not so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> <i>sonorous</i> 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 <i>Devil</i>, or <i>Destroyer</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>Mr. <i>Milton</i>, 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 <i>Heroes</i>, whom he makes the Generals and +Leaders of the armies of Hell; and so he makes <i>Beelzebub</i>, <i>Lucifer</i>, +<i>Belial</i>, <i>Mammon</i>, and some others, to be the names of particular +Devils, members of <i>Satan’s upper house</i> or <i>Pandemonium</i>; whereas +indeed, these are all names proper and peculiar to <i>Satan</i> himself.</p> + +<p>The Scripture also has some names of a coarser kind, by which <i>the +Devil</i> is understood, as particularly, which is noted already, in the +Apocalypse he is call’d the <i>Great Red Dragon</i>, the <i>Beast</i>, the <i>Old +Serpent</i>, 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 <i>Devil</i> +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 <i>the Devil</i>, of the subtilty of <i>the +Devil</i>, of casting out <i>Devils</i>, of being tempted of the <i>Devil</i>, of +being possess’d with a <i>Devil</i>, 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, <i>Devil</i> is the common name of all wicked +Spirits: For <i>Satan</i> is no more <i>the Devil</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> Dominion or +out of his Dominion, is called the <i>Devil</i>, and is as much a real +<i>Devil</i>, that is to say, a condemn’d Spirit, and employ’d in the same +wicked work as <i>Satan</i> himself.</p> + +<p>His Name then being thus ascertain’d, and his Existence acknowledg’d, it +should be a little enquir’d <i>what he is</i>; we believe there is such a +thing, such a creature as <i>the Devil</i>, 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 <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That he is of an antient and noble original must be acknowledged, for he +is <i>Heaven-born</i>, and of <i>Angelic Race</i>, 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 <i>Devil</i>; he is not only spoken of as +an <i>Angel</i>, but as a <i>fallen Angel</i>, one that had been in <i>Heaven</i>, had +beheld the face of <span class="smcap">God</span> 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, <span class="smcap">God</span> and the <i>Devil</i> +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.</p> + +<p>As his original is <i>Heaven-born</i>, and his Race <i>Angelic</i>, 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> it says, he +made him a little lower than the Angels.</p> + +<p>Thus <i>the Devil</i>, 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 <i>one thing</i>, but what he is fallen from, +<i>is another</i>; and therefore I must tell my learned and reverend friend +<i>J. W.</i> LL. D. when he spoke so rudely of <i>the Devil</i> lately, That in my +opinion he abus’d his Betters.</p> + +<p>Nor is the Scripture more a help to us in the search after <i>the Devil</i>’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.</p> + +<p>How long he remain’d thus, ’tis true, we have no light into from +History, and but little from Tradition; <i>Rabbi Judah</i> says, the <i>Jews</i> +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.</p> + +<p>Indeed let the <i>Devil</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">God</span>’s creatures, and very full of employment too, <i>such as it is</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>the Devil</i> is restrain’d by the <i>Messias</i>; +and to those who are willing to trust to Gospel-light, and believe what +the Scripture says of <i>the Devil</i>, there may much of his History be +discover’d, and therefore those that list may go there for a fuller +account of the matter.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It is hard, indeed, to bring demonstrations in such a case as this: <i>No +man has seen</i> <span class="smcap">God</span> <i>at any time</i>, says the scripture, 1 <i>John</i> iv. 12. So +<i>the Devil</i> 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, <i>no man has seen the Devil at any time</i>; all +those pretences of phrenziful and fanciful people, who tell us, they +have seen <i>the Devil</i>, I shall examine, and perhaps expose by +themselves.</p> + +<p>It might take up a great deal of our time here, to enquire whether <i>the +Devil</i> 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 <i>the Devil</i> has at any time taken +upon him;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> 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 <i>the Devil</i> at +the time of his appearing; but this also I defer as not of weight in the +present enquiry.</p> + +<p>We have divers accounts of Witches conversing with <i>the Devil</i>; the +<i>Devil</i> in a real body, with all the appearance of a body of a man or +woman appearing to them; also of having a <i>Familiar</i>, as they call it, +an <i>Incubus</i> or <i>little Devil</i>, which sucks their bodies, runs away with +them into the air, <i>and the like</i>: 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I do not find in any author, whom we can call creditable, that even in +those countries where the dominion of <i>Satan</i> is more particularly +establish’d, and where they may be said to worship him in a more +particular manner, as <i>a Devil</i>; which some tell us the <i>Indians</i> in +<i>America</i> did, who worship’d the <i>Devil</i> that he might not hurt them; +yet, <i>I say</i>, I do not find that even there the <i>Devil</i> appear’d to them +in any particular constant shape or personality peculiar to himself.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i> has no particular +body; that he is a spirit, and that tho’ he may, <i>Proteus</i> like, assume +the appearance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> either man or beast, yet it must be some borrow’d +shape, some assum’d figure, <i>pro hac vice</i>, and that he has no visible +body of his own.</p> + +<p>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, <i>and the like</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +secret recesses of mankind, and the same secret art or capacity of insinuation, +suggestion, accusation, <i>&c.</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i>: 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, <span class="smcap">Man</span>.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Americans</i> do to this day, worship +the <i>Devil</i>, 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: <i>In +short</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>How glorious is the wisdom and goodness of the great Creator of the +World! in thus restraining<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> these seraphic <span class="smcap">outcasts</span> 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, +<i>even as they are</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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>I say at least</i>, +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 <i>solar system</i>; +nay, of all the other <i>solar systems</i>, which, for ought we know, may +exist in the mighty extent of created space, and of which you may hear +farther in its order.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> 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 <i>Job</i>, nor to touch any thing he had.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i> 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 <i>Devil</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i>; He fancy’d that he spoke to him, and telling +his tale to a good honest christian Gentleman his neighbour, that had a +little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> more sense than himself; the Gentleman ask’d him if he was sure +he really saw the <i>Devil</i>? yes, yes, Sir, <i>says he</i>, I saw him very +plain, and so they began the following discourse.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> See him! See the Devil! art thou sure of it, <i>Thomas</i>?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Yes, yes, I am sure enough of it, <i>Master</i>; to be sure ’twas the +<i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> And how do you know ’twas the <i>Devil</i>, <i>Thomas</i>? had you ever +seen the <i>Devil</i> before?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> No, no, I had never seen him before, <i>to be sure</i>; but, for all +that, I know ’twas the <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> Well, if you’re sure, <i>Thomas</i>, there’s no contradicting you; +pray what clothes had he on?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Nay, Sir, don’t jest with me, he had no clothes on, he was +clothed with fire and brimstone.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> Was it dark or day light when you saw him?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> O! it was very dark, for it was midnight.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> How could you see him then? did you see by the light of the fire +you speak of?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> No, no, he gave no light himself; but I saw him, for all that.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> But was it within doors, or out in the street?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> It was within, it was in my own Chamber, when I was just going +into bed, that I saw him.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> Well then, you had a candle, hadn’t you?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Yes, I had a candle, but it burnt as blue! and as dim!</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> 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.</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> <i>No, no</i>, He gave no light, but I smelt his fire and brimstone; +he left a smell of it behind him, when he was gone.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span><i>Gent.</i> 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?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> No, no, but I was hot enough without it, for it put me into a +great sweat with the fright.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> 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?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> O! Sir, I saw two great staring saucer eyes, enough to fright any +body out of their wits.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> And was that all you saw?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> No, I saw his <i>cloven-foot</i> very plain, ’twas as big as one of +our bullocks that goes to plow.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> So you saw none of his body, but his eyes and his feet? a fine +vision indeed!</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Sir, that was enough to send me going.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> Going! what did you run away from him?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> No, but I fled into bed at one jump, and sunk down and pull’d the +bed-clothes quite over me.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> And what did you do that for?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> To hide my self from such a frightful creature.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> Why, if it had really been the Devil, do you think the +bed-clothes would have secur’d you from him?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Nay, I don’t know, but in a fright it was all I could do.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> Nay, ’twas as wise as all the rest; but come, <i>Thomas</i>, to be a +little serious, pray did he speak to you?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Yes, yes, I heard a voice, but who it was the Lord knows.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> What kind of voice was it, was it like a man’s voice?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> No, it was a hoarse ugly noise, like the croaking of a Frog, and +it call’d me by my name twice, <i>Thomas Dawson, Thomas Dawson</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span><i>Gent.</i> Well, did you answer?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> No, not I, I could not have spoke a word for my life; why, I was +frighted to death.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> Did it say any thing else?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> <i>Yes</i>, when it saw that I did not speak, it said, <i>Thomas Dawson, +Thomas Dawson, you are a wicked wretch, you lay with</i> Jenny S—— <i>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</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> And was it true, <i>Thomas</i>, did you lye with <i>Jenny S——</i> the +night before?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Indeed Master, why yes it was true, but I was very sorry +afterwards.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> But how should the Devil know it, <i>Thomas</i>?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Nay, he knows it to be sure; why, they say he knows every thing.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> <i>Well</i>, 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, <i>Thomas</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Yes, yes. Sir, ’twas the <i>Devil</i> to be sure.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> But he bid you repent too, you say?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Yes, he threatn’d me if I did not.</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> Why, <i>Thomas</i>, do you think the Devil would have you repent?</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> <i>Why no</i>, 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?</p> + +<p><i>Gent.</i> No, no, ’twas neither the Devil, <i>Thomas</i>, 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 <i>Jenny S——</i> will let you lye with her every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> 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, <i>Thomas</i>; ’twas only your own guilt frighted you, +and that was <i>Devil</i> enough too, if you knew the worst of it, you need +no other enemy.</p> + +<p><i>Tho.</i> Why that’s true, Master, one would think the <i>Devil</i> should not +bid me repent, that’s true; but certainly ’twas the Devil for all that.</p> + +<p>Now <i>Thomas</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>the Prince of the Power of the Air</i>; the Prince of +Darkness, the Prince of <i>Devils</i>, and the like, and his attending +Spirits are call’d <i>his Angels</i>: so that however <i>Satan</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> <i>ministring Spirits</i>, &c. +as the Scripture has <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'decrib'd'">describ’d</ins> them.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>And here I must take upon me to say, Mr. <i>Milton</i> makes a wrong judgment +of the reason of <i>Satan</i>’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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> be disappointed by the same +Power which had so eminently counter-acted his rage before.</p> + +<p>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 +(<i>Satan</i>) and his Angels were expell’d and irretrievably banish’d; envy +at such a rival mov’d him by all possible artifice, <i>for he saw him +deprived of capacity to do it by force</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>How he came to know that this new species of creatures were liable to +such imperfection, is best explain’d by the <i>Devil</i>’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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>1. He saw by some thwart lines in her face, (legible, perhaps, to +himself only) that there was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> a throne ready prepar’d for the sin of +pride to sit in state upon, especially if it took an early possession: +<span class="smcap">Eve</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Adam</i>, whom he found set not +only a great value upon her person, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> 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 <i>fair sex</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Adam</i>? not but that +one would think, if <i>Adam</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Other Commentators upon this critical Text suggest to us, that <i>Eve</i> 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 <i>Adam</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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, (<i>viz.</i>) <i>he shall rule over thee</i>.</p> + +<p>I only give the general hint of these things as they appear recorded in +the annals of <i>Satan</i>’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 <i>and know farther</i>.</p> + +<p>I cannot however, but observe here <i>with some regret</i>, how it appears by +the consequence, that the Devil was not mistaken when he made an early +judgment of Mrs. <i>Eve</i>; and how <i>Satan</i> 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 <i>weaker vessel</i> <span class="smcap">Man</span>; to wheedle him with her <i>Syren</i>’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 +<span class="smcap">Treble</span>; making the effeminated <i>Male Apple-eater</i> tremble at +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>And therefore a certain author, whose name, <i>for fear of the Sex’s +resentment</i> I conceal, brings her in, calling to <i>Adam</i> at a great +distance, in an imperious haughty manner, beckoning to him with her +hand, thus; <i>Here</i>, says she, <i>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</i>.</p> + +<p>He tells you <i>Adam</i> hung back a little at first, and trembl’d, <i>afraid +to trespass</i>: <i>What ails the</i> <span class="smcap">Sot</span>, says the new Termagant? <i>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>, I say, <i>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</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Adam</i>’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;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> not all the noise of <i>Vulcan</i>’s hammers could silence the +clamours of that outrageous whore his Goddess; nay, even <i>Jupiter</i> +himself led such a life with a termagant wife, that once, they say, +<i>Juno</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_V" id="Chap_V"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> V.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the station Satan had in Heaven before he fell; the nature and +original of his crime, and some of Mr.</i> Milton<i>’s mistakes about +it.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Thus</span> far I have gone upon general observation, in this great affair of +<i>Satan</i> and his Empire in the World; I now come to <i>my Title</i>, and shall +enter upon the historical part, as the main work before me.</p> + +<p>Besides what has been said Poetically, relating to the fall and +wandering condition of the <i>Devil</i> 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 +<i>Satan</i>’s story in a few words.</p> + +<p>He was one of the created Angels, form’d by the same omnipotent hand and +glorious power,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> 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 <i>Thrones</i>, <i>Dominions</i>, and +<i>Principalities</i>: 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.</p> + +<p>What particular station among the immortal Choir of Angels, this +Arch-seraph, this Prince of <i>Devils</i>, call’d <i>Satan</i>, 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 +<i>Rebellion</i> which happen’d in Heaven, and consequently that he might be +one of the highest in dignity there, before that Rebellion.</p> + +<p>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: <i>How art thou fallen</i>, O +Lucifer! <i>Son of the Morning!</i></p> + +<p>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 <i>above all</i>, a little into the +reason of it; certain it is, <i>he did fall</i>, was guilty of Rebellion and +Disobedience, the just effect of Pride; sins, which, in that holy place, +might well be call’d wonderful.</p> + +<p>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?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> 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?</p> + +<p>Happy ’tis to me, <i>that</i> writing the History, <i>not</i> solving the +Difficulties of <i>Satan</i>’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 <i>Milton</i>, 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. <i>B——s</i>, 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 +<i>so it was</i>, the fact was upon Record, and the rejected Troop are in +being, whose circumstances confess the Guilt, and still groan under the +Punishment.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<p class="poem"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +Thou sin of Witchcraft! firstborn child of Crime!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Produc’d before the bloom of Time;</span><br /> +Ambition’s maiden Sin, in Heaven conceiv’d,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And who could have believ’d</span><br /> +Defilement could in purity begin,<br /> +And bright eternal Day be soil’d with Sin?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tell us, sly penetrating Crime,</span><br /> +How cam’st thou there, thou fault sublime?<br /> +How didst thou pass the Adamantine Gate;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And into Spirit thy self insinuate?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From what dark state? from what deep place?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From what strange uncreated race?</span><br /> +Where was thy ancient habitation found<br /> +Before void Chaos heard the forming sound?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wast thou a Substance, or an airy Ghost,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A Vapour flying in the fluid waste</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of unconcocted air?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And how at first didst thou come there?</span><br /> +Sure there was once a time when thou wert not,<br /> +By whom wast thou created? and for what?<br /> +Art thou a steam from some contagious damp exhal’d?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How should contagion be intail’d,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On bright seraphic Spirits, and in a place</span><br /> +Where all’s supreme, and Glory fills the Space?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No noxious vapour there could rise,</span><br /> +For there no noxious matter lies;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nothing that’s evil could appear,</span><br /> +Sin never could Seraphic Glory bear;<br /> +The brightness of the eternal Face,<br /> +Which fills as well as constitutes the place,<br /> +Would be a fire too hot for crime to bear,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>’Twould calcine Sin, or melt it into air.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How then did first defilement enter in?</span><br /> +Ambition, thou first vital seed of Sin!<br /> +Thou Life of Death, how cam’st thou there?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In what bright form didst thou appear?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In what Seraphic Orb didst thou arise?</span><br /> +Surely that place admits of no disguise,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eternal Sight must know thee there,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And being known, thou soon must disappear.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But since the fatal Truth we know,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Without the matter whence or manner how:</span><br /> +Thou high superlative of Sin,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tell us thy nature, where thou didst begin?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The first degree of thy increase,</span><br /> +Debauch’d the Regions of eternal Peace,<br /> +And fill’d the breasts of loyal Angels there<br /> +With the first Treason and infernal War.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou art the high extreme of pride,</span><br /> +And dost o’er lesser crimes preside;<br /> +Not for the mean attempt of Vice design’d,<br /> +But to embroil the World, and damn Mankind.<br /> +Transforming mischief, now hast thou procur’d<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That loss that ne’er to be restor’d,</span><br /> +And made the bright Seraphic Morning-star<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In horrid monstrous shapes appear?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Satan</i>, that while he dwelt in glorious light,</span><br /> +Was always then as pure as he was bright,<br /> +That in effulgent rays of glory shone,<br /> +Excell’d by eternal Light, by him alone,<br /> +Distorted now, and stript of Innocence,<br /> +And banish’d with thee from the high Pre-eminence,<br /> +How has the splendid Seraph chang’d his face,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>Transform’d by thee, and like thy monstrous race?<br /> +Ugly as is the crime, for which he fell,<br /> +Fitted by thee to make a local Hell,<br /> +For such must be the place where either of you dwell.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>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, <i>as I hinted at +first</i>, 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 <i>Devil</i>, 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 <i>Devil</i> 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 +<i>Blue-Blanket</i>, and then we shall know the whole Story.</p> + +<p>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 <i>what it +is not</i>, is one help towards knowing <i>what it is</i>.</p> + +<p>Mr. <i>Milton</i> 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 <span class="smcap">Play</span> +of <i>Heaven</i> and <i>Hell</i>; and no doubt if he had liv’d in our times, he +might have had it acted with our <i>Pluto</i> and <i>Proserpine</i>. He has made +fine Speeches both for <i>God</i> and the <i>Devil</i>, and a little addition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +might have turn’d it <i>a la modern</i> into a <i>Harlequin Dieu & Diable</i>.</p> + +<p>I confess I don’t well know how far the dominion of Poetry extends +itself; it seems the Buts and Bounds of <i>Parnassus</i> are not yet +ascertain’d; so that for ought I know, by vertue of their antient +privileges call’d <i>Licentia Poetarum</i>, there can be no <i>Blasphemy</i> in +<i>Verse</i>; as some of our Divines say there can be no <i>Treason</i> in the +<i>Pulpit</i>. But they that will venture to write that way, ought to be +better satisfy’d about that Point than I am.</p> + +<p>Upon this foot Mr. <i>Milton</i>, to grace his Poem, and give room for his +Towring Fancy, has gone a length beyond all that ever went before him, +since <i>Ovid</i> in his <i>Metamorphosis</i>. He has indeed complimented <span class="smcap">God</span> +<i>Almighty</i> with a flux of lofty words, and great sounds; and has made a +very fine Story of the <i>Devil</i>, but he has made a meer <i>je ne scay Quoi</i> +of <i>Jesus Christ</i>. In one line he has him riding on a <i>Cherub</i>, 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 <i>Saints</i>, +when ’tis evident he had none there; for we all know <i>Man was not +created till a long while after</i>; and no body can be so dull as to say +the <i>Angels</i> may be called <i>Saints</i>, without the greatest absurdity in +nature. Besides, he makes <span class="smcap">Christ</span> himself distinguish them, as in two +several Bands, and of differing Persons and Species, as to be sure they +are.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Stand still in bright array, <i>ye Saints</i>———<br /> +—— ——— ———— ———— Here stand,<br /> +<i>Ye Angels</i>. ———<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>Par. Lost. lib.</i> vi. <i>fo.</i> 174.</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>So that +<span class="smcap">Christ</span> 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 <i>Milton</i>’s own making; ’tis certain +there were no Saints at all in <i>Heaven</i> or <i>Earth</i> at that time; <span class="smcap">God</span> and +his <i>Angels</i> fill’d up the place; and till some of the <i>Angels</i> fell, +and Men were created, had liv’d, and were dead, there could have been no +<i>Saints</i> there. Saint <i>Abel</i> was certainly the <i>Proto-Saint</i> of all that +ever were seen in <i>Heaven</i>, as well as the Proto-martyr of all that have +been upon <i>Earth</i>.</p> + +<p>Just such another Mistake, not to call it a Blunder, he makes about +<i>Hell</i>; which he not only makes <span class="smcap">local</span>, but gives it a being before the +Fall of the <i>Angels</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Toledo</i> painted the story of the +three Wisemen of the <i>East</i> coming to worship, and bring their presents +to our Lord upon his birth at <i>Bethlehem</i>, where he represents them as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +three <i>Arabian</i> or <i>Indian</i> 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 <i>Negroe</i> 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.</p> + +<p>In a word, Mr. <i>Milton</i> has indeed made a fine Poem, but it is <i>the +Devil of a History</i>. I can easily allow Mr. <i>Milton</i> to make Hills and +Dales, flowry Meadows and Plains (and the like) in Heaven; and places of +Retreat and Contemplation in <i>Hell</i>; tho’ I must add, that it can be +allowed to no Poet on Earth but Mr. <i>Milton</i>. Nay, I will allow Mr. +<i>Milton</i>, if you please, to set the <i>Angels</i> a dancing in <i>Heaven</i>, +<i>lib.</i> v. <i>fo.</i> 138. and the <i>Devils</i> a singing in Hell, <i>lib.</i> i. <i>fo.</i> +44. tho’ they are in short, especially the last, most horrid +Absurdities. But I cannot allow him to make their Musick in <i>Hell</i> 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. +<i>Milton</i>, 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. +<i>Milton</i>, but of the <i>Devil</i>: besides,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> Mr. <i>Milton</i> is such a +celebrated Man, that who but he that can write the History of the +<i>Devil</i> dare meddle with him?</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i>’s Story before +his Fall, and but <i>to very little</i> of it for some time after.</p> + +<p>Nor has Mr. <i>Milton</i> said one word to solve the main difficulty (<i>viz.</i>) +How the <i>Devil</i> 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,</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">——— his Pride,</span><br /> +Had cast him out of Heaven with all his Host<br /> +Of rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring<br /> +He trusted to have equal’d the most High.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>lib.</i> i. <i>fo.</i> 3.</span></p> + +<p><i>His pride!</i> but how came <i>Satan</i> 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. <i>Milton</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>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 <span class="smcap">God</span>; all sin must be so.</p> + +<p>Mr. <i>Milton</i> 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. <i>Milton</i>, or must set aside part of the +sacred Text, in such a manner, as will assist some people to set it all +aside.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>On a day, a certain day</i>, for so our Poet assumes, lib. v. fol. +137.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">——— ‘When on a day,</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 4em;">——— ‘On such a day</span><br /> +‘As Heaven’s great Year brings forth, the empyreal Host<br /> +‘Of Angels by imperial Summons call’d,<br /> +‘Forthwith from all the ends of Heaven appear’d.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>This is, indeed, too gross; at this meeting he makes God declare the Son +to be <i>that day begotten</i>, 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. <i>Milton</i> is out in ascribing +another fix’d day to the Work; see lib. x. fo. 194. But then the +declaring him <i>that day</i>, is wrong chronology too, for Christ is +declar’d <i>the Son of God with power</i>, only <i>by the Resurrection of the +dead</i>, and this is both a Declaration in Heaven and in Earth. <i>Rom.</i> i. +4. And <i>Milton</i> 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 <i>poetic License</i>, which will not pass in so solemn an +affair as that.</p> + +<p>But the thing was necessary to <i>Milton</i>, who wanted to assign some cause +or original of the <i>Devil</i>’s Rebellion; and so, <i>as I said above</i>, the +design is well laid, it only wants two Trifles call’d <i>Truth</i> and +<i>History</i>; so I leave it to struggle for itself.</p> + +<p>This Ground-plot being laid, he has a fair field for the <i>Devil</i> 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; <i>Satan</i> being an +eminent <i>Arch-angel</i>, and perhaps, the highest of all the Angelic Train, +hearing this Sovereign Declaration, that the <i>Son</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> <i>of God</i> was declar’d +to be Head or Generalissimo of all the heavenly Host, took it ill to see +another put into the high station <i>over his head</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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, (<i>viz.</i>) in his victory over Sin and Death, by +the Resurrection from the dead: so that Mr. <i>Milton</i> is not orthodox in +this part, but lays an avow’d foundation for the corrupt Doctrine of +<i>Arius</i>, which says, there was a time when Christ <i>was not</i> the Son of +<span class="smcap">God</span>.</p> + +<p>But to leave Mr. <i>Milton</i> to his flights, I agree with him in this part, +<i>viz.</i> 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 <i>Satan</i> 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 <span class="smcap">God</span>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> things +done openly or in Masquerade, things done in—or out of it, things done +in earnest or in jest.</p> + +<p>But then, what comes of the long and bloody War that Mr. <i>Milton</i> gives +such a full and particular account of, and the terrible <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Battels'">Battles</ins> in +Heaven between <i>Michael</i> with the royal Army of Angels on one hand, and +<i>Satan</i> 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 <i>Devil</i>’s Army, upon doubling their rage and bringing new engines of +war into the field, putting <i>Michael</i> 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 <span class="smcap">God</span>: Now this is all +invention, or at least, a borrow’d thought from the old Poets, and the +Fight of the <i>Giants</i> against <i>Jupiter</i>, so nobly design’d by <i>Ovid</i>, +almost two thousand years ago; and there ’twas well enough; but whether +Poetic Fancy should be allow’d to fable upon <i>Heaven</i>, or no, and upon +the King of Heaven too, that I leave to the Sages.</p> + +<p>By this expulsion of the <i>Devils</i>, it is allow’d by most Authors, they +are, <i>ipso facto</i>, 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, <i>’tis no matter where</i>, from that very time they +lost their Angelic beautiful Form, commenc’d ugly frightful Monsters and +<i>Devils</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> 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’.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_VI" id="Chap_VI"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VI.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>What became of the</i> Devil <i>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.</i> Milton’s <i>absurdities on that +subject.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Having</span> thus brought the <i>Devil</i> 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 +<i>Satan</i>’s History, and indeed, so as that without it, all the farther +account we have to give of him, will be inconsistent and imperfect.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. That <i>Satan</i> was not immediately, nor is yet lock’d down into +the Abyss of a <i>local Hell</i>, such as is supposed by some, and such +as he shall be at last; or that,</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>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, <i>like a very Devil as he is</i>, +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.</p> + +<p>3. That <i>Satan</i> 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 <i>Camps volant</i>; but +that he pitches his grand Army or chief Encampment in our +Adjacencies or Frontiers, which the Philosophers call <i>Atmosphere</i>; +and whence he is call’d the Prince of the Power of that Element or +part of the World we call <i>Air</i>; 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.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Here, again, I meet Mr. <i>Milton</i> full in my face, who will have it, that +<i>the Devil</i>, 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 <i>nine days</i>; a good Poetical flight, but +neither founded on Scripture or Philosophy; he might every jot as well +have brought <i>Hell</i> up to the Walls of <i>Heaven</i>, advanc’d to receive +them, or he ought to have consider’d the space which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> is to be allow’d +to any locality, let him take what part of infinite distance between +<i>Heaven</i> and a created Hell he pleases.</p> + +<p>But let that be as Mr. <i>Milton</i>’s extraordinary genius pleases to place +it; the passage, it seems, is just <i>nine days</i> betwixt Heaven and Hell; +well might <i>Dives</i> then see father <i>Abraham</i>, and talk to him too; but +then the great Gulph which <i>Abraham</i> tells him was fix’d between them, +does not seem to be so large, as according to Sir <i>Isaac Newton</i>, Dr. +<i>Halley</i>, Mr. <i>Whiston</i>, and the rest of our Men of Science, we take it +to be.</p> + +<p>But suppose the passage to be nine Days, according to Mr. <i>Milton</i>, 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, <i>as we call it</i>, they had no difficulty to +go in, no, none at all.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Facilis desensus averni, sed revocare gradum</i></span><br /> +<i>Hoc opus hic labor est.</i>——<span class="spacer"> </span>Virg.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>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. <i>Milton</i> +was a good Poet, but a bad Historian: <i>Tophet</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> Maker of all things, on purpose for +destruction, which would be incongruous and absurd.</p> + +<p>But there is worse yet to come; in the next place he adds, that <i>Hell</i> +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 <i>we know</i> the Angel came down from Heaven, +having the Key of the Bottomless-pit; but first, see Mr. <i>Milton</i>.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +‘Nine days they fell, confounded chaos roar’d<br /> +‘And felt ten-fold confusion in their fall:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">‘——Hell at last</span><br /> +‘Yawning receiv’d them all, and on them clos’d;<br /> +‘Down from the verge of Heaven, eternal wrath<br /> +‘Burnt after them ——<br /> +‘Unquenchable.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>This Scheme is certainly deficient, if not absurd, and I think is more +so than any other he has laid; ’tis evident, neither <i>Satan</i> or his Host +of <i>Devils</i> are, <i>no not any of them</i>, yet, even now, confin’d in the +eternal Prison, where the Scripture says, he shall be <i>reserved in +chains of darkness</i>. They must have mean thoughts of <i>Hell</i>, as a +Prison, a <i>local</i> Confinement, that can suppose the <i>Devil</i> able to +break Goal, knock off his Fetters, and come abroad, if he had been once +lock’d in there, as Mr. <i>Milton</i> says he was: Now we know that he is +abroad again, he presented himself before <i>God</i>, among his neighbours, +when <i>Job</i>’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, <i>whence comest thou?</i> to which he answer’d, <i>from going to and fro +thro’</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> <i>the Earth</i>, &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?</p> + +<p>In short, the true Account of the <i>Devil</i>’s Circumstances, since his +Fall from <i>Heaven</i>, 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 <i>Tartary</i>, who, in +the wild Countries of <i>Karakathay</i>, the Desarts of <i>Barkan</i>, <i>Kassan</i>, +and <i>Astracan</i>, live up and down where they find proper; so Satan and +his innumerable Legions rove about <i>hic & ubique</i>, 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, <i>that +is</i>, who they may deceive and delude, and so destroy, for devour they +cannot.</p> + +<p><i>Satan</i> 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 <i>Air</i>; +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>If I had as much personal Acquaintance with the <i>Devil</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>The Devil and his Host, being thus, I say, cast out of Heaven, and not +yet confin’d strictly to <i>Hell</i>, ’tis plain they must be <i>some where</i>. +Satan and all his Legions did not lose their Existence, no, nor the +Existence of <i>Devils</i> neither; <span class="smcap">God</span> was so far from annihilating him, +that he still preserv’d<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> his Being; and this not Mr. <i>Milton</i> only, but +<span class="smcap">God</span> 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 <i>Job</i>, mentioned before; the like in our +Saviour’s time, and several others.</p> + +<p>If Hell did not immediately ingulph them, as <i>Milton</i> 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, <i>wonder +not at it</i>, would make Hell enough for them wherever they went.</p> + +<p>Nor need we fly to the Dreams of our <i>Astronomers</i>, who take a great +deal of pains to fill up the vast Spaces of the starry Heavens with +innumerable habitable Worlds; allowing as many <i>solar Systems</i> as there +are fix’d Stars, and that not only in the known Constellations, but even +in <i>Gallaxie</i> it self; who, to every such System allow a certain number +of Planets, and to every one of those Planets so many <i>Satellites</i> or +<i>Moons</i>, 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 <i>Devil</i> and all his +Angels, without making a Hell on purpose; nay they may, for ought I +know, find a World for every <i>Devil</i> in all the <i>Devil’</i>s <i>Host</i>, and so +every one may be a Monarch or <i>Master-Devil</i>, separately in his own +Sphere or World, and play the <i>Devil</i> there by himself.</p> + +<p>And even if this were so, it cannot be denied but that one <i>Devil</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>But, I say, we need not fly to these shifts, or consult the Astronomers +in the decision of this point; for wherever <i>Satan</i> and his defeated +Host went, at their expulsion from <i>Heaven</i>, we think we are certain, +none of all these Beautiful Worlds, or be they Worlds or no, I mean the +fix’d Stars, Planets, <i>&c.</i> had then any existence; for the Beginning, +as the Scripture calls it, was not yet Begun.</p> + +<p>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 <i>no-where</i>, as I call’d it +before, which now appears to be a <i>some-where</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>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 <span class="smcap">God</span> their Conqueror, and then most +dreaded Enemy; formerly their Joy and Glory.</p> + +<p>Be this utmost remov’d Distance <i>where it will</i>, Here, certainly, +<i>Satan</i> and all his <i>Gang of Devils</i>, his numberless, tho’ routed Armies +retired. Here <i>Milton</i> might, with some good Ground, have form’d his +<i>Pandemonium</i>, 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 <i>Hell</i>, closed +up there, the Bottomless pit lock’d upon them, and the Key carried up to +<i>Heaven</i> to be kept there, as Mr. <i>Milton</i> himself in part confesses, +and the Scripture affirms; I say, had this been so, the <i>Devil</i> himself +could not have been so ignorant as to think of any future Steps to be +taken, to retrieve his Affairs, and therefore a <i>Pandemonium</i> or Divan +in Hell, to consult of it, was ridiculous.</p> + +<p>All Mr. <i>Milton</i>’s Scheme of <i>Satan</i>’s future Conduct, and all the +Scripture Expressions about <i>the Devil</i> and his numerous Attendants, and +of his actings since that time, make it not reasonable to suggest that +the <i>Devils</i> were confin’d to their eternal Prison, at their Expulsion +out of <i>Heaven</i>; But that they were in a State of Liberty to act, tho’ +limited in acting, of which I shall also speak in its place.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chap_VII" id="Chap_VII"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VII.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>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.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Several</span> things have been suggested to set us a calculating the number of +this frightful throng of <i>Devils</i>, who with Satan, the <i>Master-Devil</i>, +was thus cast out of <i>Heaven</i>; 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 <i>or Devils</i>, who make up this Throng. St. +<i>Francis</i>, they tell us, or some other Saint, they do not say who, ask’d +the <i>Devil</i> once, how strong he was? for St. <i>Francis</i>, you must know, +was very familiar with him; <i>The Devil</i>, 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 <i>Satan</i>’s Troops +into three Lines, cast up the Number of the <i>Devils</i> 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.</p> + +<p>The Impertinence of this account would hardly have given it a place +here, only to hint that it has always been the Opinion, that <i>Satan</i>’s +Name may well be call’d a Noun of Multitude, and that <i>the Devil</i> and +his <i>Angels</i> are certainly no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> inconsiderable Number: It was a smart +Repartee that a <i>Venetian</i> 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, <i>if he knew what an innumerable Number of</i> Devils <i>there were to +take him</i>? he answer’d, <i>yes, he knew how many</i> Devils <i>there were in +all</i>: <i>How many?</i> says the Priest, his curiosity, I suppose, being +rais’d by the novelty of the answer. <i>Why ten millions five hundred and +eleven thousand, six hundred and seventy five Devils and a half</i>, says +the Nobleman: <i>A half!</i> says the Priest, <i>pray what kind of a Devil is +that? your self</i>, says the Nobleman, <i>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</i>. So much for their Number.</p> + +<p>Here also it would come in very aptly, to consider the state of that +long interval between the Time of their Expulsion from <i>Heaven</i>, 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 +<i>Seraphs</i> and <i>Spirits</i>; 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 +<i>Hellishness</i> of their rebellious Principles; namely, their Hatred and +Rage against God, and their Envy at the Felicity of his Creatures.</p> + +<p>As to how long their time might be, I shall leave that Search; no lights +being given me that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> are either probable or rational, and we have so +little room to make a Judgment of it, that we may as well believe Father +<i>M——</i>, 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 <i>the Devil’s History</i>, +unless we had some Records of what happen’d to him, or was done by him +in the Interval.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>From this determin’d stated Enmity of <i>Satan</i> and his Host against +<i>God</i>, and at every thing that brought Glory to his Name, Mr. <i>Milton</i> +brings in <i>Satan</i>, (when first he saw <i>Adam</i> in <i>Paradise</i>, and the +Felicity of his Station there) swelling with Rage and Envy, and taking +up a dreadful Resolution to ruin <i>Adam</i> 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.</p> + +<p>How <i>Satan</i>, in his remote Situation, got Intelligence of the Place +where to find <i>Adam</i> 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. <i>Milton</i> does not undertake to tell us the Particulars, +nor indeed could he find room for it; perhaps, the <i>Devil</i> having, <i>as I +have said</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> up the immense Wast of Space, +in which he, (the <i>Devil</i>) and his <i>Angels</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>again</i>) a +reciprocal Influence, Motion and Revolution conspired to Form the most +admirable Uniformity of the whole.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>the Devils</i>; they might reasonably be supposed to start out of their +dark Retreat, and with a Curiosity not below the Seraphic Dignity; for +<i>these are</i> some of <i>the things which the Angels desire to look into</i>, +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> Affairs, as a <i>Pays conquis</i>, or, if +you will have it in the Language of the <i>Devil</i>, as an invasion upon his +Kingdom.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i>, we shall not trouble our selves with the +Enquiry.</p> + +<p>But ’tis very reasonable, and indeed probable, that <i>the Devils</i> 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 <i>Solar Systems</i>; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +(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 <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'inconcievable'">inconceivable</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>That this Creature was to be found no where but (as above) in one little +individual <i>Moon</i>; 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 <i>Devil</i> himself, nay the whole Clan of <i>Devils</i> could scarce +entertain any just Ideas of the thing; Till at last <i>Satan</i>, +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 <i>Earth</i>; he +soon came to an <i>Eclairicissement</i>, or a clear Understanding of the +whole. <i>For Example</i>,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span><i>First</i>, 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, (<i>viz.</i>)</p> + +<p>2. That <span class="smcap">God</span> 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 <span class="smcap">Soul</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i> now +was not) capable of honouring and glorifying his Maker; who also +had condescended to accept of Honour from him.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>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.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>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 +<i>Angels</i> in the <i>Devil</i>’s stead.</p> + +<p>If this thought encreas’d his Fury and Envy, as far as <i>Rage of Devils</i> +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 <i>Man</i>; 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 (<i>Satan</i>) 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 +(<i>Satan</i>) had fallen, he might be made to fall also like him, and in a +Word, be made a <i>Devil</i> like himself.</p> + +<p>This convinces us that the <i>Devil</i> has not lost his natural Powers by +his Fall; and our learned Commentator Mr. <i>Pool</i> is of the same Opinion; +tho’ he grants that the <i>Devil</i> has lost his moral Power, or his Power +of doing Good, which he can never recover. <i>Vide</i> Mr. <i>Pool</i> upon <i>Acts</i> +xix. 17. where we may particularly observe,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> when the Man possess’d with +an evil Spirit flew upon the seven Sons of <i>Scæva</i> the <i>Jew</i>, who would +have Exorcis’d them in the Name of <i>Jesus</i>, without the Authority of +<i>Jesus</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>In a Word, and to sum up all the <i>Devil</i>’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 <i>Memoirs</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And now indeed there may be room to suggest a Local <i>Hell</i>, 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> and so put off my meddling with that, +which if I would meddle with, I could say nothing of to the Purpose.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_VIII" id="Chap_VIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VIII.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>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.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Cunning</span> 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 <i>Devil</i>, 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, <i>the fix’d +Stars</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>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 (<i>no matter how</i>) discover’d the whole +System, and concluded, <i>as I have said</i>, that the Creature, <i>call’d +Man</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Satan</i>; so +that without the Permission of the same Power which had made <i>Heaven</i>, +and conquer’d the <i>Devil</i>, 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 <i>Satan</i> saw so much reason to hate, as being created to succeed +him in Happiness in <i>Heaven</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Heaven</i> +over the <i>Devil</i>; that having plac’d his Rival, as it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> were, just before +his Face, and shew’d the hateful sight to him, he saw written upon his +Image, <i>Touch him if you dare</i>.</p> + +<p>It cannot be doubted, but, had it not been thus, Man is so far from +being a Match for the <i>Devil</i>, that one of Satan’s least Imps or +<i>Angels</i> could destroy all the Race of them in the World, ay World and +all in a moment;</p> + +<p>As he is Prince of the Power of the Air, taking the Air for <i>the +Elementary World</i>, 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;</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>In a Word, <i>Satan</i> 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.</p> + +<p>But there is no doubt, <i>at least to me</i>, 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, <i>viz.</i> a general<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> Prohibition, to do any +thing to the Prejudice of this Creation, or to act any thing by Force or +Violence without special Permission.</p> + +<p>This Prohibition was not sent him by a Messenger, or by an Order in +Writing, or proclaimed from Heaven by a Law; but <i>Satan</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>I make no question, but the Devil is sensible of this Restraint, that is +to say, <i>not</i> as it is a restraint only, or as an effect of his +Expulsion from <i>Heaven</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>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, (<i>viz.</i>) to fill up the Vacancies in Heaven; I +say, that then the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> <i>Devils</i> 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 <span class="smcap">God</span> +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 <i>Devils</i> or evil Spirits, and that therefore, to destroy +Man would no way answer their End.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>This being then approv’d as their only Method, (and the <i>Devil</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> 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 <i>Eve</i> and the serpent, +as before; the belief of which, whether historically or allegorically, +is not at all obstructed by this Hypothesis.</p> + +<p>I do not affirm that this was the Case at first, because being not +present in that black <i>Divan</i>, at least not that I know of, <i>for who +knows where he was or was not in his pre-existent State?</i> 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.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, be it one way or other, <i>that is to say</i>, 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>I +say</i>, be it which you please, I am still of the Opinion that it really +was not the <i>Devil</i>’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 <i>Satan</i>’s Reach, plac’d him out of the <i>Devil</i>’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 <i>Devil</i> of him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> that he may be rejected like himself, and +increase the infernal Kingdom and Company in the Lake of Misery <i>in +æternum</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Satan</i> and +<i>Job</i>, when <i>Satan</i> appear’d among the Sons of <span class="smcap">God</span>, as the Text says, +<i>Job</i> i. 6. Now when God gave such a Character of <i>Job</i> to him, and +ask’d him <i>if he had consider’d his Servant Job</i>, ℣ 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 <i>Job</i> in his +Distress? On the contrary, we see he only answers by shewing the Reason +of <i>Job</i>’s good Behaviour; that it was but common Gratitude for the +Blessing and Protection he enjoy’d, ℣ 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 <i>to and fro in the Earth, and walking up +and down therein</i>, he should be a very Devil too, like himself, and +curse God to his Face.</p> + +<p>Upon this, the Text says, that God answered ℣ 11. <i>Behold all that +he hath is in thy Power</i>; now ’tis plain here, that God gave up <i>Job</i>’s +Wealth and Estate, nay his Family, and the Lives of his Children and +Servants into the <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Devils'">Devil’s</ins> Power; and accordingly, like a true merciless +Devil, <i>as he is</i>, he destroy’d them all; he mov’d the <i>Sabeans</i> to fall +upon the Oxen and the Asses, and carry them off; he mov’d the +<i>Chaldeans</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>Now here is (1.) a Specimen of Satan’s good Will to Mankind, and what +Havock the <i>Devil</i> 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 <i>Tether</i>.</p> + +<p>The same kind of Evidence we have in the Gospel, <i>Matth.</i> viii. 31. +where Satan could not so much as possess the filthiest and meanest of +all Creatures, <i>the Swine</i>, 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 <i>Devil</i> 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 +<i>American Indians</i>, to worship him <i>at last</i>, that he may do us no Harm.</p> + +<p>And now I have nam’d those People in <i>America</i>, 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 +<i>Devil</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> among them; and +how Beneficent he is (or at least negative in his Mischiefs) when they +Appease him by their hellish Sacrifices.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i>, but from him that made the <i>Devil</i>, and made +him a Devil or fallen Angel by his Curse.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Satan</i> +fastening upon poor, proud, ridiculous Mother <i>Eve</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>The foolish Woman yielded presently, and that we are told is the Reason +why the same Method so strangely takes with all her Posterity (<i>viz.</i>) +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +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 <i>Eve</i>’s giddy Head, was by creeping close to her <i>one +Night</i>, when she was asleep, and laying his Mouth to her <i>Ear</i>, +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.</p> + +<p>It was evident what the <i>Devil</i> aim’d at, <i>namely</i>, that she should +break in upon the Command of <span class="smcap">God</span>, and so having corrupted her self, +bring the Curse upon her self and all her Race, as <span class="smcap">God</span> had threatn’d; +but why the Pride of <i>Eve</i> 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,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. If she had been as Ugly as the <i>Devil</i>, she had no body to rival +her, so that she need not fear <i>Adam</i> should leave her and get +another Mistress.</p> + +<p>2. If she had been Bright and Beautiful as an Angel, she had no +other Admirer but poor <i>Adam</i>, and he could have no room to be +jealous of her, or afraid she should cuckold him; so that in short, +<i>Eve</i> 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 <i>Devil</i>, who is too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> cunning to do any thing that +signifies Nothing, rather tempted her by the Hope of encreasing her +Wit, than her Beauty.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>But to come back to the Method of Satan’s tempting her, <i>viz.</i> 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 +<i>Deism</i>, and to be made a Goddess, and then back’d it by the subtle talk +he had with her afterward.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Paradise</i>! that +whereas we have Notice but of two Sleeps there, that in one a <i>Woman</i> +should go out of him, and in the other, the <i>Devil</i> should come into +her.</p> + +<p>Certainly, when Satan first made the Attempt upon <i>Eve</i>, he did not +think he should have so easily conquered her, or have brought his +Business about so soon; the <i>Devil</i> himself could not have imagined she +should have been so soon brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> to forget the Command given, or at +least who gave it, and have ventur’d to transgress against him, and made +her forget that <span class="smcap">God</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Well might she be said to be the weaker Vessel, tho’ <i>Adam</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Sin</i> and <i>Shame</i>; and see how simply +they acted, I say, upon their having committed the Crime, and being +detected in it.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">‘View them to Day conversing with their God,</span><br /> +‘His Image both enjoy’d and understood,<br /> +‘<i>To Morrow</i> skulking with a sordid Flight,<br /> +‘Among the Bushes from the <i>Infinite</i>,<br /> +‘As if that Power <i>was blind</i>, which gave them <i>Sight</i>;<br /> +‘With senseless Labour Tagging Fig-Leaf Vests,<br /> +‘To hide their Bodies from the sight of Beasts.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">‘Hark! how the Fool pleads faint, for forfeit Life,</span><br /> +‘First he reproaches Heaven, and then his Wife;<br /> +‘<i>The Woman which thou gav’st</i> as if the Gift<br /> +‘Could rob him of the little Reason left,<br /> +‘A weak Pretence to shift his early Crime,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>‘As if accusing her would excuse him;<br /> +‘But thus encroaching Crime dethrones the Sense,<br /> +‘And intercepts the Heavenly Influence,<br /> +‘Debauches Reason, makes the Man a Fool,<br /> +‘And turns his active Light to Ridicule.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>It must be confess’d that it was unaccountable Degeneracy, even of their +common Reasoning, which <i>Adam</i> and <i>Eve</i> 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. <i>Milton</i> brings them in, laugh and triumph over the Man +after the Blow was given, as having so egregiously abused and deluded +them both.</p> + +<p>But here, to be sure, began the <i>Devil</i>’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 <i>Devil</i> 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, <i>for ought we know</i>, have been enough to guide a whole +Country; the People being entirely subjected to his Government for many +Ages; as in <i>America, for example</i>, where some will have it, that he +convey’d the first Inhabitants, at least<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> if he did not, we don’t well +know who did, or how they got thither.</p> + +<p>And how came all the Communication to be so entirely cut off between the +Nations of <i>Europe</i> and <i>Africa</i>, from whence <i>America</i> must certainly +have been peopl’d, or else the <i>Devil</i> must have done it indeed? I say, +how came the Communication to be so entirely cut off between them, that +except the time, <i>whenever it was</i>, 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 <i>Satan</i> 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 <i>Europe</i> or <i>Africa</i>, or both, and no body ever go after them, or +come back from them in above three thousand years after.</p> + +<p>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 <i>America</i>; the Ferry from <i>Europe</i> or <i>Africa</i>, in any Part (which we +have known Navigation to be practised in) being at least 1000 Miles, and +in most Places much more.</p> + +<p>But as to the <i>Americans</i>, let the <i>Devil</i> 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 <i>Satan</i> in a full and quiet +Possession of them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> 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 <i>Spaniards</i>, who he knew would +hurry them all out of the World as fast as he (<i>the Devil</i>) himself +could desire of them.</p> + +<p>But to go back a little to the Original of Things, It is evident that +<i>Satan</i> 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 +<i>Devil</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>Mr. <i>Milton</i>, as I have noted above, brings in the <i>Devil</i> and all Hell +with him, making a <i>Feu de Joye</i> for the Victory <i>Satan</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>It is certain the <i>Devils</i> knew what the meaning of that Promise was, +and who was to be the <i>Seed of the Woman</i>, namely, the incarnate <i>Son of +God</i>, and that it was a second Blow to the whole infernal Body; but as +if they had resolved to let that alone, <i>Satan</i> 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 <i>Eve</i>’s tainted Posterity; and that indeed has been +the Devil’s Business ever since his first Victory upon the Kind, to this +Day.</p> + +<p>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, <i>call it what you will</i>, a Blast upon the Race of Mankind; and +were it not for one thing, he had ruined the whole Family; <i>I say</i>, 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 +<i>Satan</i>’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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +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 +<i>Devil</i> 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>I must not preach</i>, so I return to things as much needful to +know, tho’ less solemn.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_IX" id="Chap_IX"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> IX.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the Progress of Satan in carrying on his Conquest over Mankind, +from the Fall of</i> Eve <i>to the Deluge.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">I</span> doubt if the Devil was ask’d the Question plainly, he would confess, +that after he had conquer’d <i>Eve</i> by his own wicked Contrivance, and +then by her Assistance had brought <i>Adam</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Adam</i>, who, notwithstanding the Fall, +were to be purchased by the <i>Messiah</i>, and snatch’d out of his +(<i>Satan</i>’s)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> 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, (<i>viz.</i>) 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Devil</i> to be sure, gain’d his Point upon <i>Eve</i>, and in her upon all +her Race: He drew her into Sin; got her turn’d out of <i>Paradise</i>, and +the Man with her: The next Thing was to go to work with her Posterity, +and particularly with her two Sons <i>Cain</i> and <i>Abel</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Adam</i> 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 <i>Eve</i> likewise assisted +to both in her Place and Degree.</p> + +<p>Their two eldest Sons <i>Cain</i> and <i>Abel</i>; The one Heir apparent to the +Patriarchal Empire, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>How it was, and for what Reason that God had respect to the Offering of +<i>Abel</i>, which the Learn’d say, was <i>a Lamb</i> of the Firstlings of the +Flock, and did not give any Testimony of the like Respect to <i>Cain</i> 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 <i>Cain</i>; and at that Door the +<i>Devil</i> 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.</p> + +<p>What Shape or Appearance the Devil took up to enter into a Conversation +with <i>Cain</i> upon the Subject, that Authors do not take upon them to +determine; but ’tis generally supposed he personated some of <i>Cain</i>’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.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><i>D.</i> Sir, I perceive <i>your Majesty</i> (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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> 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 would procure you Relief, and restore your Delights, the +Loss of which, if thus you go on to subject yourself to too much +Melancholy, will be very hurtful to you, and in the End destroy you.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> It is very kind, my dear Children, to shew your Respect thus to +your true Progenitor, and to offer your Assistance: I confess, as you +say, my Mind is oppress’d and displeased; but tho’ ’tis very heavy, yet +I know not which way to look for Relief, for the Distemper is above our +Reach, no Cure can be found for it on Earth.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Do not say so, Sir; there can be no Disease sure on Earth but may +be cur’d on Earth; if it be a mental Evil, we have heard that your great +Ancestor, the first Father of us all, who lives still on the great +western Plains towards the Sea, is the Oracle to which all his Children +fly for Direction in such Cases as are out of the Reach of the ordinary +understanding of Mankind; please you to give leave, we will take a +Journey to him, and representing your Case to him, we will hear his +Advice, and bring it to you with all Speed, for the Ease of your Mind.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> I know not whether he can reach my Case or no.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Doubtless he may, and if not, the Labour of our Journey is nothing +when plac’d in Competition with the Ease of your Mind; ’tis but a few +Days travel lost, and you will not be the worse if we fail of the +desired Success.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> The offer is filial, and I accept your affectionate Concern for +me, with a just Sense of an oblig’d Parent; go then, and my Blessing be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +upon you; but alas! why do I bless? can he bless whom God has not +bless’d!</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> O! Sir, do not say so, has not God bless’d you? are you not the +second Sovereign of the Earth? and does he not converse with you Face to +Face? are not you the Oracle to all your growing Posterity, and next +after his Sovereign Imperial Majesty Lord <i>Adam</i>, Patriarch of the +World?</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> But has not God rejected me, and refused to converse any more +with me, while he daily Favours and Countenances my younger Brother +<i>Abel</i>, as if he resolv’d to set him up to rule over me?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> No, Sir, that cannot be, you cannot be disturb’d at such a thing; +is not the Right of Sovereignty yours by Primogeniture? can God himself +take that away, when ’tis once given? are not you Lord <i>Adam</i>’s eldest +Son? are you not the firstborn Glory of the Creation? and does not the +Government descend to you by the divine Right of Birth and Blood?</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> But what does all that signify to me, while God appears to +favour and caress my younger Brother, and to shine upon him, while a +black Dejection and token of Displeasure surrounds me every Day, and he +does not appear to me as he used to do?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> And what need your Majesty be concern’d at that, if it be so? if he +does not appear pleased, you have the whole World to enjoy your self in, +and all your numerous and rising Posterity Adore and Honour you; what +need those remote Things be any disturbance to you?</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> How! my Children, not the Favour of God be valued! yes, yes, in +his favour is Life; what can all the World avail without the Smiles and +Countenance of him that made it?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span><i>D.</i> Doubtless, Sir, he that made the World and plac’d you at the Head +of it all, to govern and direct it, has made it agreeable, and it is +able to give you a full Satisfaction and Enjoyment, if you please to +consider it well, tho’ you were never to converse with him all the while +you live in’t.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> You are <i>quite wrong</i> there, my Children, <i>quite wrong</i>.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> But do you not, great Sir, see all your Children as well as us +rejoicing in the Plenty of all Things, and are they not compleatly +happy, and yet they know little of this great <span class="smcap">God</span>? He seldom converses +among us, we hear of him indeed by your sage Advices, and we bring our +Offerings to you for him, as you direct, and when that’s done, we enjoy +whatever our Hearts desire; and so doubtless may you in an abundant +manner, if you please.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> But your Felicity is wrong plac’d then, or you suppose that God +is pleased and satisfied in that your Offerings are brought to me; but +what would you say, if you knew that God is displeased? that he does not +accept your Offerings? that when I sacrific’d to him in behalf of you +all, he rejected my Offerings, tho’ I brought a princely Gift, being of +the finest of the Wheat, the choicest and earliest Fruits, and the +sweetest of the Oil, an Offering suited to the Giver of them all?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> But if you offered them, Sir, how are you sure they were not +accepted?</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> Yes, yes, I am sure; did not my Brother <i>Abel</i> offer at the same +Time a Lamb of his Flock, for he, you know, delights in Cattle, and +covers the Mountains with his Herds? over him, all the while he was +sacrificing, a bright Emanation shone chearing and enlivening; a Pledge +of Favour, and light ambient Flames play’d hovering in the lower Air, as +if attending his Sacrifice; and when ready<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> prepar’d, immediately +descended and burnt up the Flesh, a Sweet odoriferous Savour ascending +to him, who thus testified his Acceptance; whereas, over my Head a black +Cloud, misty, and distilling Vapour, hung dripping upon the humble Altar +I had raised, and wetting the finest and choicest Things I had +prepar’d, spoil’d and defac’d them; the Wood unapt to burn by the +Moisture which fell, scarce receiv’d the Fire I brought to kindle it, +and even then, rather smother’d and choaked, than kindled into a Flame; +in a Word, it went quite out, without consuming what was brought to be +offer’d up.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Let not our truly reverenc’d Lord and Father be disquieted at all +this; if he accepts not what you bring, you are discharg’d of the Debt, +and need bring no more; nor have the Trouble of such labour’d +Collections of Rarities any more; when he thinks fit to require it +again, you will have Notice, no Question, and then it being call’d for, +will be accepted or else why should it be requir’d?</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> That may indeed be the Case, nor do I think of attempting any +more to bring an Offering, for I rather take it, that I am forbidden for +the present; but then, what is it that my younger Brother Triumphs in? +and how am I insulted, in that he and his House are all Joy and Triumph, +as if they had some great Advantage over me, in that their Offering was +accepted when mine was not?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Does he Triumph over your Majesty, our Lord and Sovereign? give us +but your Order, and we will go and pull him and all his Generation in +pieces; for to triumph over you who are his elder Brother, is a horrid +Rebellion and Treason, and he ought to be expell’d the Society of +Mankind.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span><i>Cain.</i> I think so too, indeed; however, my dear Children and faithful +Subjects, tho’ I accept your Offer of Duty and Service, yet I will +consider very well, before I take up Arms against my Brother; besides, +our Sovereign Father and patriarchal Lord, <i>Adam</i>, being yet alive, it +is not in my Right to act offensively without his Command.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> We are ready therefore to carry your Petition to him, and doubt not +to obtain his Licence and Commission too, to empower you to do your self +Justice upon your younger Brother; who being your Vassal, or at least +inferior, as he is junior in Birth, insults you upon the fancied Opinion +of having a larger Share in the Divine Favour, and receiving a Blessing +on his Sacrifices, on Pretence of the same Favour being denied you.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> I am content, go then, and give a just Account of the State of +our Affairs.</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> We shall soon return with the agreeable answer; let not our Lord +and Father continue sad and dejected, but depend upon a speedy Relief, +by the Assistance of thy numerous Issue, all devoted to thy Interest and +Felicity.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> My Blessing be with you in your Way, and give you a favourable +Reception at the venerable Tent of our universal Lord and Father.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Note, Here the cursed Race being fully given up to the Direction of the +Evil-Spirit, which so early possess’d them, and swelling with Rage at +the innocent <i>Abel</i> and his whole Family, they resolved upon forming a +most wicked and detestable lie, to bring about the Advice which they had +already given their Father <i>Cain</i> a touch of; and to pretend that <i>Adam</i> +being justly provok’d at the undutiful Behaviour of <i>Abel</i>, had given +<i>Cain</i> a Commission to chastise him, and by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> Force to cut him off and +all his Family, as guilty of Rebellion and Pride.</p> + +<p>Fill’d with this mischievous and bloody Resolution, they came back to +their Father <i>Cain</i>, after staying a few Days, such as were Sufficient +to make <i>Cain</i> believe they had been at the spacious Plains, where +<i>Adam</i> dwelt; the same which are now call’d the blessed Valleys, or the +Plains of <i>Mecca</i> in <i>Arabia Fælix</i>, near the Banks of the <i>Red-Sea</i>.</p> + +<p>Note here also, that <i>Cain</i> having received a wicked Hint from these +Men, his Children and Subjects, as before, intimating that <i>Abel</i> had +broken the Laws of Primogeniture in his Behaviour towards him, (<i>Cain</i>) +and that he might be justly punish’d for it; Satan, that cunning Manager +of all our wayward Passions, fan’d the Fire of Envy and Jealousy with +his utmost Skill all the while his other Agents were absent; and by the +Time they came back had blown it up into such a Heat of Fury and Rage, +that it wanted nothing but Air to make it burn out, as it soon +afterwards did in a furious Flame of Wrath and Revenge, even to Blood +and Destruction.</p> + +<p>Just in the very critical Moment, while Things stood thus with <i>Cain</i>, +Satan brings in his wicked Instruments, as if just arriv’d with the +Return of his Message from <i>Adam</i>, at whose Court they had been for +Orders; and thus they, that is the <i>Devil</i> assuming to speak by them, +approach their Father with an Air of solemn but chearful Satisfaction at +the Success of their Embassy.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><i>D.</i> Hail Sovereign, Reverend, Patriarchal Lord! we come with Joy to +render thee an Account of the Success of our Message.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> Have you then seen the venerable Tents where dwell the +Heaven-born, the Angelic Pair,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> to whom all human Reverence highly due, +is and ought always to be humbly paid?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> We have.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> Did you, together with my grand Request, a just, a humble Homage +for me pay, to the great Sire and Mother of Mankind?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> We did.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> Did you in humble Language represent the Griefs and Anguish +which oppress my Soul?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> We did, and back their Blessing to thee bring.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> I hope with humblest Signs of filial Duty you took it for me on +your bending Knees?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> We did, and had our Share; the Patriarch lifting his Hands to +Heaven express’d his Joy to see his spreading Race, and bless’d us all.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> Did you my solemn Message too deliver, my Injuries impartially +lay down, and due Assistance and Direction crave?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> We did.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> What spoke the Oracle? he’s God to me; what just Command d’ye +bring, what’s to be done? am I to bear the insulting Junior’s Rage? and +meekly suffer what unjustly he, affronting Primogeniture and Laws of God +and Man, imposes by his Pride unsufferable! Am I to be crush’d, and be +no more the firstborn Son on Earth, <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'hut'">but</ins> bow and kneel to him?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Forbid it Heaven! as <i>Adam</i> too forbids, who with a justice +God-like and peculiar to injur’d Parents, <i>Abel</i>’s Pride resents, and +gives his high Command to thee to punish.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> To punish? say you, did he use the Word, the very Word? am I +commission’d then to punish <i>Abel</i>?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> Not <i>Abel</i> only, but his rebel Race, as they alike in Crime alike +are join’d in Punishment.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span><i>Cain.</i> The Race indeed have shar’d the Merit with him; how did they all +insult, and with a Shout of Triumph mock my Sorrow, when they saw me +from my Sacrifice dejected come, as if my Disappointment was their Joy?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> This too the venerable Prince resents, and to preserve the Race in +Bounds of Laws subordinate and limited to Duty, Commands that this first +Breach be not pass’d by, lest the Precedent upon Record stand to future +Times to encourage like Rebellion.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> And is it then my Sovereign Parent’s Will?</p> + +<p><i>D.</i> It is his Will, that thou his eldest Son, his Image, his belov’d, +should be maintain’d in all the Rights of Sovereignty deriv’d to thee +from him; and not be left expos’d to injury and Power usurped, but +should do thy self Justice on the rebel Race.</p> + +<p><i>Cain.</i> And so I will; <i>Abel</i> shall quickly know what ’tis to trample on +his elder Brother; shall know that he’s thus sentenc’d by his Father, +and I’m commission’d but to execute his high Command, his Sentence, +which is God’s, and that he falls by the Hand of Heavenly Justice.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>So now Satan had done his Work, he had deluded the Mother to a Breach +against the first and only Command, he had drawn <i>Adam</i> to the same +Snare, and now he brings in <i>Cain</i> prompted by his own Rage, and deluded +by his, (Satan’s,) Craft, to commit Murder, nay a Fratricide, an +aggravated Murther.</p> + +<p>Upon this he sends out <i>Cain</i>, while the bloody Rage was in its Ferment, +and wickedly at the same Time bringing <i>Abel</i>, innocent and fearing no +ill, just in his Way, he suggests to his Thoughts such Words as these.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>Look you <i>Cain</i>, see how Divine Justice concurs with your Father’s +righteous Sentence, see there’s thy Brother <i>Abel</i> directed by Heaven to +fall into thy Hands unarm’d, unguarded, that thou may’st do thy self +Justice upon him without Fear; see thou may’st kill him, and if thou +hast a Mind to conceal it, no Eyes can see, or will the World ever know +it, so that no Resentment or Revenge upon thee, or thy Posterity, can be +apprehended, but it may be said some wild Beast had rent him; nor will +any one suggest that thou, his Brother, and Superior, could possibly be +the Person.</p> + +<p><i>Cain</i> prepar’d for the Fact, by his former avow’d Rage and Resolution +of Revenge, was so much the less prepar’d to avoid the Snare thus +artfully contriv’d by the Master of all Subtilty, the <i>Devil</i>; so he +immediately runs upon his Brother <i>Abel</i>, and after a little unarm’d +Resistance, the innocent poor Man expecting no such Mischief, was +conquer’d and murther’d; after which, as is to be supposed, the +exasperated Crew of <i>Cain</i>’s outrageous Race, over-run all his Family +and Houshold, killing Man, Woman and Child.</p> + +<p>It is objected here that we have no Authority in Scripture to prove this +Part of the Story; but I answer, ’tis not likely but that <i>Abel</i>, as +well as <i>Cain</i>, being at Man’s Estate long before this, had several +Children by their own Sisters, for they were the only Men in the World +who were allow’d the Marrying their own Sisters, there being no other +Women then in the World; and as we never read of any of <i>Abel</i>’s +Posterity, ’tis likewise as probable they were all murther’d, as that +they should kill <i>Abel</i> only, whose Sons might immediately fall upon +<i>Cain</i> for the Blood of their Father, and so the World have been +involv’d in a Civil War as soon as there were two Families in it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>But be it so or not, ’tis not doubted the Devil wrought with <i>Cain</i> in +the horrid Murther, or he had never done it; whether it was directly or +by Agents is not material, nor is the Latter unlikely; and if the +Latter, then there is no Improbability in the Story, for why might not +he that made Use of the Serpent to tempt <i>Eve</i>, be as well supposed to +make a Tool of some of <i>Cain</i>’s Sons or Grandsons to prompt him in the +wicked Attempt of murthering his Brother? and why must we be oblig’d to +bring in a Miracle or an Apparition into the Story, to make it probable +that the <i>Devil</i> had any Hand in it, when ’twas so natural to a +degenerate Race to act in such a Manner?</p> + +<p>However it was, and by whatever Tool the <i>Devil</i> wrought, ’tis certain +that this was the Consequence, poor <i>Abel</i> was butcher’d, and thus the +<i>Devil</i> made a second Conquest in God’s Creation; for <i>Adam</i> was now, as +may be said, really Childless, for his two Sons were thus far lost, +<i>Abel</i> was killed, and <i>Cain</i> was curst and driven out from the Presence +of the Lord, and his Race blasted with him.</p> + +<p>It would be a useful enquiry here, and worthy our giving an Account of, +could we come to a Certainty in it, namely, what was the Mark that God +set upon <i>Cain</i>, by which he was kept from being fallen upon by <i>Abel</i>’s +Friends or Relations? but as this does not belong to the <i>Devil</i>’s +History, and it was God’s Mark, not the <i>Devil</i>’s, I have nothing to do +with it here.</p> + +<p>The <i>Devil</i> had now gain’d his Point, the Kingdom of Grace, so newly +erected, had been as it were extinct without a new Creation, had not +<i>Adam</i> and <i>Eve</i> been alive, and had not <i>Eve</i>, tho’ now 130 Years of +Age, been a breeding young Lady, for we must suppose the Woman, in that +State of Longevity, bare Children till they were seven or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> eight hundred +Year old: This Teeming of <i>Eve</i> peopled not the World so much as it +restored the blessed Race; for tho’ <i>Abel</i> was kill’d <i>Cain</i> had a +numerous Offspring presently, which had <i>Seth</i>, (<i>Adam</i>’s third Son) +never been born, would soon have replenish’d the World with People, such +as they were; the Seed of a Murtherer, cursed of God, branded with a +Mark of Infamy, and who afterwards fell all together in the universal +Ruine of the Race by the Deluge.</p> + +<p>But after the Murther of <i>Abel</i>, <i>Adam</i> had another Son born, namely, +<i>Seth</i>, the Father of <i>Enos</i>, and indeed the Father of the holy Race; +for during his Time and his Son <i>Enos</i>, the Text says that Men began to +call on the Name of the Lord; that is to say, they began to look back +upon <i>Cain</i> and his wicked Race, and being convinc’d of the Wickedness +they had committed, and led their whole Posterity into, they began to +sue to Heaven for Pardon of what was past, and to lead a new sort of +Life.</p> + +<p>But the <i>Devil</i> had met with too much Success in his first Attempts, not +to go on with his general Resolution of debauching the Minds of Men, and +bringing them off from God; and therefore as he kept his Hold upon +<i>Cain</i>’s cursed Race, embroil’d already in Blood and Murther; so he +proceeded with his degenerate Offspring, till in a Word he brought both +the holy Seed and the degenerate Race to joyn in one universal Consent +of Crime, and to go on in it with such aggravating Circumstances, as +that it repented the Lord that he had made Man, and he resolv’d to +overwhelm them again with a general Destruction, and clear the World of +them.</p> + +<p>The Succession of Blood in the royal original Line of <i>Adam</i>, is +preserv’d in the sacred Histories and brought down as low as <i>Noah</i> and +his three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> Sons, for a continu’d series of 1450 Years, say some, 1640 +say others; in which Time Sin spread it self so generally thro’ the +whole Race, and <i>the Sons of God</i>, so the Scripture calls the Men of the +righteous Seed, the Progeny of <i>Seth</i>, came in unto the <i>Daughters of +Men</i>, that is, join’d themselves to the curs’d Race of <i>Cain</i>, and +married promiscuously with them, according to their Fancies, the Women +it seems being beautiful and tempting; and tho’ the Devil could not make +the Women handsome or ugly in one or other Families, yet he might work +up the Gust of wicked Inclination on either Side, so as to make both the +Men and Women tempting and agreeable to one another, where they ought +not to have been so; and perhaps, as it is often seen to this Day, the +more tempting for being under legal Restraint.</p> + +<p>It is objected here, that we do not find in the Scripture that the Men +and Women of either Race were at that Time forbidden intermarrying with +one another; and it is true, that literally it is not forbid; but if we +did not search rather to make doubts than to explain them, we might +suppose it was forbidden by some particular Command at that Time; seeing +we may reasonably allow every Thing to be forbidden, which they are +tax’d with a Crime in committing; and as the Sons of God taking them +Wives as they thought fit to choose, tho’ from among the Daughters of +the cursed Race, is there charg’d upon them as a general Depravation, +and a great Crime; and for which, ’tis said, <span class="smcap">God</span> even repented that he +had made them, we need go no farther to satisfy our selves that it was +certainly forbidden.</p> + +<p><i>Satan</i> no doubt too had a Hand in this Wickedness; for as it was his +Business to prompt Men to do every Thing which God had prohibited, so +the Reason given why the Men of those Days<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> did this Thing was, they saw +the Daughters of Men, that is of the wicked Race or forbidden Sort, +<i>were fair</i>, he tempted them by the Lust of the Eye; in a word, the +Ladies were beautiful and agreeable, and the <i>Devil</i> knew how to make +use of the Allurement; the Men liked and took them by the meer Direction +of their Fancy and Appetite, without regarding the supreme Prohibition; +<i>They took them Wives of all which they chose</i>, or such as they lik’d to +choose.</p> + +<p>But the Text adds, that this promiscuous Generation went farther than +the meer outward Crime of it, for it shew’d that the Wickedness of the +Heart of Man was great before God, and that he resented it; In short, +God perceived a Degeneracy or Defect of Virtue had seiz’d upon the whole +Race, that there was a general Corruption of Manners, a Depravity of +Nature upon them, that even the holy Seed was tainted with it, that the +Devil had broken in upon them, and prevail’d to a great Degree; that not +only the Practice of the Age was corrupt, for that God could easily have +restrain’d, but that the very Heart of Man was debauch’d, his Desires +wholly vitiated, and his Senses engag’d in it; so that in a Word, it +became necessary to shew the divine Displeasure, not in the ordinary +Manner, by Judgment and Reproofs of such kind as usually reclaim Men, +but by a general Destruction to sweep them away, clear the Earth of +them, and put an End to the Wickedness at once, removing the Offence and +the Offenders all together; this is signify’d at large, Gen. vi. 5. <i>God +saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth, and that every +Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually.</i> And +again ℣ 11, 12. <i>The Earth also was corrupt before God; and the +Earth was fill’d with Violence. And God look’d upon the Earth and</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span><i>behold it was corrupt; for all Flesh had corrupted his Way upon the Earth.</i></p> + +<p>It must be confess’d it was a strange Conquest the <i>Devil</i> had made in +the Antediluvian World, that he had, as I may say, brought the whole +Race of Mankind into a general Revolt from God; <i>Noah</i> was indeed a +Preacher of Righteousness, and he had preach’d about 500 Years to as +little Purpose as most of the good Ministers ever did; for we do not +read there was one Man converted by him, or at least not one of them +left, for that at the Deluge there was either none of them alive, or +none spar’d but <i>Noah</i> and his three Sons, and their Wives; and even +they are (’tis evident) recorded, not so much to be sav’d for their own +Goodness, but because they were his Sons; Nay, without Breach of Charity +we may conclude, that at least one went to the <i>Devil</i> even of those +three, namely, <i>Ham</i> or <i>Cham</i> for triumphing in a brutal Manner over +his Father’s Drunkenness; for we find the Special Curse reach’d to him +and his Posterity for many Ages; and whether it went no farther than the +present State of Life with them, we cannot tell.</p> + +<p>We will suppose now that thro’ this whole 1500 Years the Devil having so +effectually debauch’d Mankind, had advanc’d his infernal Kingdom to a +prodigious Height; for the Text says, <i>the whole Earth was fill’d with +violence</i>; in a Word, Blood, Murder, Rape, Robbery, Oppression and +Injustice prevail’d every where, and Man, like the wild Bear in the +Forest, liv’d by Prey, biting and devouring one another.</p> + +<p>At this Time <i>Noah</i> begins to preach a new Doctrine to them, for as he +had before been a Preacher of Righteousness, now he becomes a Preacher +of Vengeance; first he tells them they shall be all overwhelm’d with a +Deluge, <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'that that'">that</ins><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> for +their Sins God repented they were made, and that he would destroy them all, adding, that to prevent the Ruin of himself +and Family, he resolv’d to build him a Ship to have recourse to when the Water should come over the Rest of the World.</p> + +<p>What Jesting, what Scorn, what Contempt did this Work expose the good +old Man to for above a 100 Years? for so long the Work was building, as +antient Authors say; let us represent to our selves in the most lively +Manner how the witty World at that Time behav’d to poor old <i>Noah</i>; how +they took their Evening Walks to see what he was doing, and passed their +Judgment upon it, and upon the Progress of it; I say, to represent this +to our selves, we need go no farther than to our own Witicisms upon +Religion, and upon the most solemn Mysteries of Divine Worship; how we +damn the Serious for Enthusiasts, think the Grave mad, and the Sober +melancholy; call Religion it self Flatus and Hyppo; make the Devout +ignorant, the Divine mercenary, and the whole Scheme of Divinity a Frame +of Priestcraft; and thus no doubt the building an Ark or Boat, or +whatever they call’d it, to float over the Mountains, and dance over the +Plains, what could it be but a religious Frenzy, and the Man that so +busied himself, a Lunatick? and all this in an Age when divine Things +came by immediate Revelation into the Minds of Men! the <i>Devil</i> must +therefore have made a strange Conquest upon Mankind to obliterate all +the Reverence, which but a little before was so strangely impress’d upon +them concerning their Maker.</p> + +<p>This was certainly the Height of the <i>Devil</i>’s Kingdom, and we shall +never find him arrive to such a Pitch again; he was then truly and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>literally the universal Monarch, nay the God of this World; and as all +Tyrants do, he governs them with an arbitrary absolute sway; and had not +God thought fit to give him a Writ of Ejectment, and afterwards drown +him out of Possession I know not what would have been the Case, he might +have kept his Hold for ought I know till the Seed of the Woman came to +bruise his Head, that is to say, cripple his Government, Dethrone him +and Depose his Power, as has been fulfill’d in the Messiah.</p> + +<p>But as he was, I say, drown’d out of the World, his Kingdom for the +present was at an End; at least, if he had a Dominion he had no +Subjects, and as the Creation was in a Manner renewed, so the <i>Devil</i> +had all his Work to do over again: Unhappy Man! how has he, by his weak +Resistance, made the <i>Devil</i>, recovering his Hold too easy to him, and +given him all the Advantages, except as before excepted, which he had +before? Now whether he retired in the mean Time, and how he got footing +again after <i>Noah</i> and his Family were landed upon the New Surface, that +we come next to enquire.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_X" id="Chap_X"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> X.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the Devil’s second Kingdom, and how he got footing in the +renew’d World by his Victory over</i> Noah <i>and his Race</i>.</p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> Story of <i>Noah</i>, his building the Ark, his embarking himself and all +Nature’s Stock for a new World on board it; the long Voyage they took, +and the bad Weather they met with, tho’ it would embellish this Work +very well, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> come in very much to the Purpose in this Place, yet as +it does not belong to the <i>Devil</i>’s Story, for I cannot prove what some +suggest (<i>viz.</i>) that he was in the Ark among the Rest, I say, for that +Reason I must omit it.</p> + +<p>And now having mention’d Satan’s being in the Ark; as I say, I cannot +prove it, so there are, I think, some good Reasons to believe he was not +there: <i>First</i>, I know no Business he had there; <i>secondly</i>, we read of +no Mischief done there, and these joyn’d together make me conclude he +was absent; the last I chiefly insist upon, that we read of no Mischief +done there, which if he had been in the Ark, would certainly have +happen’d; and therefore I suppose rather, that when he saw his Kingdom +dissolv’d, his Subjects all ingulph’d in an inevitable Ruin and +Desolation, a Sight suitable enough to him, except as it might unking +him for a Time; <i>I say</i>, when he saw this, he took care to speed himself +away as well as he could, and make his Retreat to a Place of Safety, +where that was, is no more difficult to us, than it was to him.</p> + +<p>It is suggested that as he is Prince of the Power of the Air, he retired +only into that Region. It is most rational to suppose he went no further +on many Accounts, of which I shall speak by and by: Here he stay’d +hovering in the Earth’s Atmosphere, as he has often done since, and +perhaps now does; or if the Atmosphere of this Globe was affected by the +Indraft of the Absorption, as some think, then he kept himself upon the +Watch, to see what the Event of the new Phænomenon would be, and this +Watch, wherever it was, I doubt not, was as near the Earth as he could +place himself, perhaps in the Atmosphere of the Moon, or in a Word, the +next Place of Retreat he could find.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>From hence I took upon me to insist, that <i>Satan</i> has not a more certain +Knowledge of Events than we; I say, he has not a <i>more certain +Knowledge</i>; that he may be able to make stronger Conjectures and more +rational Conclusions from that he sees, I will not deny; and that which +he most outdoes us in is, that he sees more to conclude from than we +can, but I am satisfied he knows nothing of Futurity more than we can +see by Observation and Inference; nor, <i>for Example</i>, did he know +whether God would repeople the World any more or no.</p> + +<p>I must therefore allow that he only waited to see what would be the +Event of this strange Eruption of Water, and what God propos’d to do +with the Ark, and all that was in it.</p> + +<p>Some Philosophers tell us, besides what I hinted above, that the <i>Devil</i> +could have no Retreat in the Earth’s Atmosphere, for that the Air being +wholly condens’d into Water, and having continually pour’d down its +Streams to deluge the Earth, that Body was become so small, and had +suffer’d such Convulsions, that there was but just enough Air left to +surround the Water, or as might serve by its Pressure to preserve the +natural Position of Things, and supply the Creatures in the Ark with a +Part to breath in.</p> + +<p>The Atmosphere indeed might suffer some strange and unnatural Motions at +that Time, but not (I believe) to that Degree, however, I will not +affirm that there could be room in it, or is now for the Devil, much +less for all the numberless Legions of Satan’s Host; but there was, and +now certainly is, sufficient Space to receive him, and a sufficient Body +of his Troops for the Business he had for them at that time, and that’s +enough to the Purpose; or if the Earth’s Atmosphere did suffer any +particular Convulsion on that Occasion, he might make his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> Retreat to +the Atmosphere of the Moon, or of <i>Mars</i>, or of <i>Venus</i>, or of any of +the other Planets; or to any other Place, for he that is Prince of the +Air could not want Retreats in such a Case, from whence he might watch +for the issue of Things; certainly he did not go far, because his +Business lay here, and he never goes out of his Way of doing Mischief.</p> + +<p>In particular, his more than ordinary Concern was, to see what would +become of the Ark; he was wise enough doubtless to see, that <span class="smcap">God</span>, who +had directed its making, nay even the very Structure of it, would +certainly take Care of it, preserve it upon the Water, and bring it to +some Place of Safety or other; tho’ where it should be, the <i>Devil</i> with +all his Cunning could not resolve, whether on the same Surface the +Waters drawing off, or in any other created or to be created Place; and +this State of Uncertainty being evidently his Case, and which proves his +Ignorance of Futurity, it was his Business, <i>I say</i>, to watch with the +utmost vigilance for the Event.</p> + +<p>If the Ark was (as Mr. <i>Burnet</i> thinks) guided by two Angels, they not +only held it from foundering or being swallow’d up in the Water, but +certainly kept the Waters calm about it, especially when the Lord +brought a strong Wind to blow over the whole Globe, which by the Way was +the first, and, I suppose, the only universal Storm that ever blew, for +to be sure it blew over the whole Surface at once; I say, if it was thus +guided, to be sure the <i>Devil</i> saw it, and that with Envy and Regret +that he could do it no Injury, for doubtless had it been in the Devil’s +Power, as God had drown’d the whole Race of Man, except what was in the +Ark, he would have taken care to have dispatch’d them too, and so made +an End of the Creation at once; but either he was not empower’d<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> to go +to the Ark, or it was so well guarded by Angels, that when he came near +it he could do it no harm: So it rested at length, the Waters abating on +the Mountains of <i>Arrarat</i> in <i>Armenia</i>, or some where else that Way, +and where they say a Piece of the Keel is remaining to this Day; of +which, however with Dr. ——— I say, I believe not one Word.</p> + +<p>The Ark being safe landed, ’tis reasonable to believe <i>Noah</i> prepared to +go on Shore, as the Seamen call it, as soon as the dry Land began to +appear; and here you must allow me to suppose Satan, tho’ himself +cloth’d with a Cloud, so as not to be seen, came immediately, and +pearching on the Roof, saw all the Heaven-kept Houshold safely landed, +and all the Host of living Creatures dispersing themselves down the +Sides of the Mountain, as the Search of their Food or other proper +Occasions directed them.</p> + +<p>This Sight was enough; Satan was at no Loss to conclude from hence that +the Design of God was to repeople the World by the Way of ordinary +Generation, from the Posterity of these eight Persons, without creating +any new Species.</p> + +<p>Very well, says the <i>Devil</i>, then my Advantage over them, by the Snare I +laid for poor <i>Eve</i>, is good still; and I am now just where I was after +<i>Adam</i>’s Expulsion from the Garden, and when I had <i>Cain</i> and his Race +to go to work with; for here is the old expung’d Corrupted Race still, +as <i>Cain</i> was the Object then, so <i>Noah</i> is my Man now, and if I do not +master him one way or another, I am mistaken in my Mark. <i>Pardon me for +making a Speech for</i> the Devil.</p> + +<p><i>Noah</i> big with a Sense of his late Condition, and while the Wonders of +the Deluge were fresh in his Mind, spent his first Days in the Extasies +of his Soul, giving Thanks, and praising the Power<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> that had been his +Protection, in and thro’ the Flood of Waters, and which had in so +miraculous a Manner, safely landed him on the Surface of the newly +discover’d Land; and the Text tells us, as one of the first Things he +was employ’d in, <i>He built an Altar unto the Lord, and offered +Burnt-Offerings upon the Altar</i>. Gen. viii. 20.</p> + +<p>While <i>Noah</i> was thus employ’d he was safe, the <i>Devil</i> himself could no +where break in upon him; and we may suppose very reasonably, as he found +the old Father invulnerable, he left him for some Years, watching +notwithstanding all possible Advantages against his Sons and their +Children; for now the Family began to encrease, and <i>Noah</i>’s Sons had +several Children; whether himself had any more Children after the Flood +or not, that we are not arriv’d to any Certainty about.</p> + +<p>Among his Sons the <i>Devil</i> found <i>Japhet</i> and <i>Shem</i>, good, pious, +religious, and very devout Persons; serving God daily, after the Example +of their good old Father <i>Noah</i>, and he could make nothing of them or of +any of their Posterity; but <i>Ham</i> the second, or according to some, the +younger Son of <i>Noah</i>, had a Son who was nam’d <i>Canaan</i>, a loose young +profligate Fellow, his Education was probably but cursory and +superficial, his Father <i>Ham</i> not being near so religious and serious a +Man as his Brothers <i>Shem</i> and <i>Japhet</i> were; and as <i>Canaan</i>’s +Education was defective, so he prov’d, as untaught Youth generally do, a +wild, and in short a very wicked Fellow, and consequently a fit Tool for +the <i>Devil</i> to go to work with.</p> + +<p><i>Noah</i>, a diligent industrious Man, being with all his Family thus +planted in the rich fruitful Plains of <i>Armenia</i>, or wherever you +please, let it be near the Mountains of <i>Caucasus</i> or <i>Arrarat</i>; went +immediately to work, cultivating and improving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> the Soil, encreasing his +Cattle and Pastures, sowing Corn, and among other Things planting Trees +for Food, and among the Fruit Trees he planted Vines, of the Grapes +thereof he made no doubt, as they still in the same Country do make, +most excellent Wine, rich, luscious, strong, and pleasant.</p> + +<p>I cannot come into the Notion of our Criticks, who to excuse <i>Noah</i> from +the guilt of what followed, or at least from the Censure, tell us, he +knew not the Strength or the Nature of Wine, but that gathering the +heavy Clusters of the Grapes, and their own weight crushing out their +balmy Juices into his Hand, he tasted the tempting Liquor, and that the +<i>Devil</i> assisting he was charm’d with the delicious Fragrance, and +tasted again and again, pressing it out into a Bowl or Dish, that he +might take a larger Quantity; till at length the heady Froth ascended +and seizing his Brain, he became intoxicate and drunk, not in the least +imagining there was any such Strength in the Juice of that excellent +Fruit.</p> + +<p>But to make out this Story, which is indeed very favourable for <i>Noah</i>, +but in it self extremely ridiculous, you must necessarily fall into some +Absurdities, and beg the Question most egregiously in some particular +Cases, which way of arguing will by no means suppose what is suggested; +at first you must support there was no such Thing as Wine made before +the Deluge, and that no Body had been ever made drunk with the Juice of +the Grape before <i>Noah</i>, which, I say, is begging the Question in the +grossest Manner.</p> + +<p>If the Contrary is true, as I see no Reason to question, if, <i>I say</i>, it +was true that there was Wine drank, and that Men were or had been drunk +with it before, they cannot then but suppose that <i>Noah</i>, who was a +wise, a great and a good Man, and <i>a Preacher of Righteousness</i>, both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +knew of it, and without doubt had in his preaching against their Crimes, +preach’d against this among the rest, upbraided them with it, reprov’d +them for it, and exhorted them against it.</p> + +<p><i>Again</i>, ’tis highly probable they had Grapes growing, and consequently +Wines made from them, in the Antediluvian World, how else did <i>Noah</i> +come by the Vines which he planted? For we are to suppose, he could +plant no Trees or Shrubs, but such as he found the Roots of in the +Earth, and which no doubt had been there before in their highest +Perfection, and had consequently grown up and brought forth the same +luscious Fruit before.</p> + +<p>Besides, as he found the Roots of the Vines, so he understood what they +were, and what Fruit they bore, or else it may be supposed also he would +not have planted them; for he planted them for their Fruit, as he did it +in the Provision he was making for his Subsistence, and the Subsistence + +of his Family: and if he did not know what they were, he would not have +set them, for he was not planting for Diversion but for Profit.</p> + +<p>Upon the whole it seems plain to me he knew what he did, as well when he +planted the Vines as when he pressed out the Grapes; and also when he +drank the Juice that he knew it was Wine, was strong and would make him +drunk if he took enough of it: He knew that other Men had been drunk +with such Liquor before the Flood, and that he had reprehended them for +it; and therefore it was not his Ignorance, but the <i>Devil</i> took him at +some Advantage, when his Appetite was eager, or he thirsty, and the +Liquor cooling and pleasant; and in short, as <i>Eve</i> said, <i>the Serpent +beguilded her</i>, and she <span class="smcap">did eat</span>, so the Devil beguiled <i>Noah</i>, and <i>he</i> +<span class="smcap">did drink</span>; the Temptation was too strong for <i>Noah</i>, not the Wine; he +knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> well enough what he did, but as the Drunkards say to this Day, it +was so good he could not forbear it, and so he got drunk before he was +aware; or as our ordinary Speech expresses it, <i>he was overtaken with +drink</i>; and Mr. <i>Pool</i> and other Expositors are partly of the same Mind.</p> + +<p>No sooner was the poor old Man conquer’d, and the Wine had lighten’d his +Head, but it may be supposed he falls off from the Chair or Bench where +he sate, and tumbling backward his Clothes, which in those hot Countries +were only loose open Robes, like the Vests which the <i>Armenians</i> wear to +this Day, flying abroad, or the <i>Devil</i> so assisting on purpose to +expose him, he lay there in a naked indecent Posture not fit to be seen.</p> + +<p>In this juncture who should come by but young <i>Canaan</i>, say some; or as +others think, this young Fellow first attack’d him by way of Kindness +and pretended Affection; prompted his Grandfather to drink, on Pretence +of the Wine being good for him, and proper for the Support of his old +Age, and subtilly set upon him, drinking also with him, and so (his Head +being too strong for the old Man’s) drank him down, and then, <i>Devil</i> +like, triumph’d over him; boasted of his Conquest, insulted the Body as +it were dead, uncovered him on purpose to expose him, and leaving him in +that indecent Posture, went and made Sport with it to his Father <i>Ham</i>, +who in that Part, wicked like himself, did the same to his Brethren +<i>Japhet</i> and <i>Shem</i>; but they like modest and good Men, far from +carrying on the wicked Insult on their Parent, went and cover’d him, as +the Scripture expresses it, and as may be supposed inform’d him how he +had been abus’d, and by whom.</p> + +<p>Why else should <i>Noah</i>, when he came to himself, shew his Resentment so +much against <i>Canaan</i> his Grandson, rather than against <i>Ham</i> his +Father,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> and who ’tis supposed in the Story the guilt chiefly lay upon? +we see the Curse is (as it were) laid wholly upon <i>Canaan</i> the Grandson, +and not a Word of the Father is mention’d, Gen. ix. 25, 26, 27, <i>Cursed +be</i> Canaan, <i>a Servant of Servants shall he be</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>That <i>Ham</i> was Guilty, that’s certain from the History of Fact, but I +cannot but suppose his Grandson was the Occasion of it; and in this Case +the Devil seems to have made <i>Canaan</i> the Instrument or Tool to delude +<i>Noah</i>, and draw him in to Drunkenness, as he made the Serpent the Tool +to beguile <i>Eve</i>, and draw her into Disobedience.</p> + +<p>Possibly <i>Canaan</i> might do it without Design at first, but might be +brought in to ridicule and make a Jest of the old Patriarch afterward, +as is too frequent since in the Practice of our Days; but I rather +believe he did it really with a wicked Design, and on Purpose to expose +and insult his Reverend old Parent; and this seems more likely too, +because of the great Bitterness with which <i>Noah</i> resented it, after he +came to be inform’d of it.</p> + +<p>But be that as it will, the <i>Devil</i> certainly made a great Conquest +here, and as to outward Appearance no less than that which he gain’d +before over <i>Adam</i>; nor did the <i>Devil</i>’s Victory consist barely in his +having drawn in the only righteous Man of the whole Antediluvian World, +and so beginning or initiating the new young Progeny with a Crime; but +here was the great Oracle silenc’d at once; the Preacher of +Righteousness, for such no doubt he would have been to the new World, as +he was to the old, I say, the Preacher was turn’d out of Office, or his +Mouth stopt, which was worse; nay, it was a stopping of his Mouth in the +worst kind, far worse than stopping his Breath,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> for had he died, the +Office had descended to his sons <i>Shem</i> and <i>Japhet</i>, but he was dead to +the Office of an Instructor, tho’ alive as to his Being; For of what +Force could his Preachings be, who had thus fallen himself into the most +shameful and beastly Excess?</p> + +<p>Besides some are of the Opinion, tho’ I hope without Ground, that <i>Noah</i> +was not only overtaken once in his Drink, but that being fallen into +that Sin it became habitual, and he continued in it a great while, and +that it was this which is the meaning of his being uncovered in his +Tent, and that his Son saw his Nakedness; that is, he continually +exposed himself for a long Time, a hundred Years, say they, and that his +Son <i>Ham</i>, and his Grandson <i>Canaan</i> having drawn him into it, kept him +in it, encourag’d and prompted it, and all the while Satan still +prompting them, join’d their Scoffs and contempt of him, with their +wicked Endeavours to promote the Wickedness; and both with as much +Success as the Devil himself could wish for.</p> + +<p>Then as for his two Sons modestly and decently covering their Father, +they tell us, that Represents <i>Shem</i> and <i>Japhet</i> applying themselves in +an humble and dutiful Manner to their Father, to entreat and beseech him +to consider his ancient Glory, his own pious Exhortations to the late +drowned World, and to consider the Offence which he gave by his evil +Courses to God, and the Scandal to his whole Family, and also that they +are brought in effectually prevailing upon him; and that then <i>Noah</i> +cursed the Wickedness of <i>Ham</i>’s degenerate Race, in Testimony of his +sincere Repentance after the Fact.</p> + +<p>The Story is not so very unlikely as it is certain that it is not to be +proved, and therefore we had better take it as we find it (<i>viz.</i>) for +one single Act; but suppose it was so, ’tis still certain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> that <i>Noah</i>’s +Preaching was sadly interrupted, the Energy of his Words flatter’d, and +the Force of his Persuasions enervated and abated, by this shameful +Fall; that he was effectually silenc’d for an Instructor ever after, and +this was as much as the Devil had Occasion for; and therefore indeed we +read little more of him, except that he lived three hundred and fifty +Years after the Flood; nay, we do not so much as read that he had any +more Children, but the contrary, nor indeed could <i>Noah</i> have any more +Children, except by his old and perhaps super-annuated Wife, who it was +very likely he had had four or five hundred Year, unless you will +suppose he was allow’d to marry some of his own Progeny, Daughters or +Grandaughters, which we do not suppose was allow’d, no not to <i>Adam</i> +himself.</p> + +<p>This was certainly a Master-piece of the <i>Devil</i>’s Policy, and a fatal +Instance of his unhappy Diligence, (<i>viz.</i>) that the Door of the Ark was +no sooner open, and the Face of the World hardly dry from the universal +Destruction of Mankind, but he was at work among them; and that not only +to form a general Defection among the Race, upon the Foot of the +original Taint of Nature, but like a bold <i>Devil</i> he strikes at the very +Root, and flies at the next general Representative of Mankind, attacks +the Head of the Family, that in his Miscarriage the Rise and Progress of +a Reformation of the new World should receive an early Check, and should +be at once prevented; I say, like a bold Devil, he strikes at the Root, +and <i>alas!</i> poor unhappy <i>Noah</i>, he proved too weak for him, <i>Satan</i> +prevail’d in his very first Attempt, and got the Victory over him at +once.</p> + +<p><i>Noah</i> thus overcome, and Satan’s Conquest carried on to the utmost of +his own Wishes, the <i>Devil</i> had little more to do in the World<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> for some +Ages, than to carry on an universal Degeneracy among Mankind, and to +finish it by a like diligent Application, in deluding the Generality of +the Race, and them as they came on gradually into Life; this he found +the less difficult, because of the first Defection which spread like a +Contagion upon the Earth immediately after.</p> + +<p>The first Evidence we have of his Success in this mischievous Design was +in the Building that great stupendious Stair-case, for such it seems it +was intended, call’d <i>Babel</i>, which if the whole World had not been +drunk, or otherwise infatuated, they would never have undertaken; even +Satan himself could never have prevail’d with them to undertake such a +preposterous Piece of Work, for it had neither End or Means, Possibility +or Probability in it.</p> + +<p>I must confess I am sometimes apt to vindicate our old Ancestors, in my +Thoughts, from the Charge it self, as we generally understand it, +namely, that they really design’d to build a Tower which should reach up +to Heaven, or that it should secure them in case of another Flood; and +Father <i>Casaubon</i> is of my Opinion, whether I am of his or no, is a +Question by it self; his opinion is that the Confusion was nothing but a +Breach among the Undertakers and Directors of the Work, and that the +Building was design’d chiefly for a Store-house for Provisions, in Case +of a second Deluge; as to their Notion of its reaching up to Heaven, he +takes the Expression to be allegorical rather than little, and only to +mean that it should be exceeding high; perhaps they might not be +Astronomers enough to measure the Distance of Space between the Earth +and Heaven, as we pretend to do now; but as <i>Noah</i> was then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> alive, and +as we believe all his three Sons were so too, they were able to have +inform’d them how absurd it was to suppose either the one or the other +(<i>viz</i>.) (1.) that they could build up to Heaven, or (2.) that they +could build firm enough to resist, or high enough to overtop the Waters, +supposing such another Flood should happen; I would rather think it was +only that they intended to build a most glorious and magnificent City, +where they might all inhabit together; and that this Tower was to be +built for Ornament and also for Strength, or as above, and for a +Store-house to lay up vast Magazines of Provisions, in Case of +extraordinary Floods or other Events, the City being built in a great +Plain, namely, the Plains of <i>Shimar</i> near the River <i>Euphrates</i>.</p> + +<p>But the Story, as it is recorded, suits better with Satan’s Measures at +that Time; and as he was from the Beginning prompting them to every +Thing that was contrary to the Happiness of Man, so the more +preposterous it was, and the more inconsistent with common Sense, the +more to his Purpose; and it shew’d the more what a compleat Conquest he +had gain’d over the Reason as well as the Religion of Mankind at that +Time.</p> + +<p>Again, ’tis evident in this Case, they were not only acting contrary to +the Nature of Things, but contrary to the Design and to the Command of +Heaven; for God’s Command was that they should replenish the Earth, that +is, that they should spread their Habitations over it, and People the +whole Globe; whereas they were pitching in one Place, as if they were +not to multiply sufficient to take up any more.</p> + +<p>But what car’d the Devil for that, or to put it a little handsomer, that +was what <i>Satan</i> aimed at; for it was enough to him, to bring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +Mankind to act just contrary to what <i>Heaven</i> had directed or commanded them in +any thing, and if possible in every Thing.</p> + +<p>But God himself put a stop to this foolish Piece of Work, and it was +time indeed to do so, for a madder thing the Devil himself never +proposed to them; I say, God himself put a stop to this new Undertaking, +and disappointed the Devil; and how was it done? not in Judgment and +Anger, as perhaps the Devil expected and hop’d for, but as pitying the +Simplicity of that dreaming Creature Man, he confused their Speech, or +as some say, divided and confused their Councils, so that they could not +agree with one another, which would be the same Thing as not to +understand one another; or he put a new Shibboleth upon their Tongues, +thereby separating them into Tribes or Families, for by this every +Family found themselves under a Necessity of keeping together, and this +naturally encreased that Differing Jargons of Language, for at first it +might be no more.</p> + +<p>What a Confusion this was to them we all know, by their being oblig’d to +leave off their building, and immediately separating one from another; +but what a Surprize it was to the old Serpent, that remains to be +considered of, for indeed it belongs to his History.</p> + +<p>Satan had never met with any Disappointment in all his wicked Attempts +till now; for first, he succeeded even to triumph upon <i>Eve</i>, he did the +like upon <i>Cain</i>, and in short upon the whole World, <i>one Man</i> (Noah) +<i>excepted</i>; when he blended the Sons of God, and the Daughters of Hell, +for so the Word is understood, together, in promiscuous voluptuous +Living as well as Generation.</p> + +<p>As to the Deluge, Authors are not agreed whether it was a Disappointment +to the Devil or no,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> it might be indeed a Surprize to him, for tho’ +<i>Noah</i> had preach’d of it for a hundred Year together, yet as he +(<i>Satan</i>) daily prompted the People not to heed or believe what that old +Fellow <i>Noah</i> said to them, and to ridicule his whimsical Building a +monstrous Tub to swim or float in, when the said Deluge should come; so +I am of the Opinion he did not believe it himself, and am positive he +could not foresee it, by any insight into Futurity that he was Master +of.</p> + +<p>’Tis true the Astronomers tell us, there was a very terrible Comet seen +in the Air, that it appeared for 180 Days before the Flood continually; +and that as it approach’d nearer and nearer every Day all the while, so +that at last it burst and fell down in a continual Spout or Stream of +Water, being of a watry Substance, and the Quantity so great, that it +was forty Days a falling; so that this Comet not only foretold the +Deluge or drowning of the Earth, but actually perform’d it, and drown’d +it from it self.</p> + +<p>But to leave this Tale to them that told it, let us consider the Devil, +surpris’d, and a little amaz’d at the Absorption or Inundation, or +whatever we are to call it, of the Earth in the Deluge, not, I say, that +he was much concern’d at it, perhaps just the Contrary; and if God would +drown it again, and as often as he thought fit, I do not see by any +thing I meet with in Satan’s History, or in the Nature of him, that he +would be at all disturb’d at it; all that I can see in it, that could +give Satan any Concern, would be that all his Favourites were gone, and +he had his Work to do over again, to lay a Foundation for a new Conquest +in the Generation that was to come; But in this his Prospect was fair +enough, for why should he be discouraged, when he had now eight People +to work upon, who met with such Success when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> had but two? and why +should he question breaking in now where Nature was already vitiated and +corrupted, when he had before conquer’d the same Nature, when in its +primitive Rectitude and Purity, just come out of the Hands of its Maker, +and fortify’d with the Awe of his high and solemn Command just given +them, and the threatning of Death also annext to it, if broken?</p> + +<p>But I go back to the Affair of <i>Babel</i>: This Confusion of Language or of +Councils, take it which way you will, as the first Disappointment that I +find the Devil met with, in all his Attempts and Practices upon Mankind, +or upon the new Creature, which I mentioned above; for now he foresaw +what would follow; namely, that the People would separate and spread +themselves over the whole Surface of the Earth, and a thousand new +Scenes of Actions would appear, in which he therefore prepares himself +to behave as he should see Occasion.</p> + +<p>How the Devil learn’d to speak all the Languages that were now to be +used, and how many languages they were, the several ancient Writers of +the <i>Devil</i>’s Story have not yet determined; some tell us they were +divided only into fifteen, some into seventy two, others into one +hundred and eighty, and others again into several Thousands.</p> + +<p>It also remains a doubt with me, and, I suppose, will be so with others +also, whether Satan has yet found out a Method to converse with Mankind, +without the Help of Language and Words, or not: Seeing Man has no other +Medium of Conversing, no not with himself: This I have not time to enter +upon here; however, this seems plain to me (<i>viz.</i>) that the <i>Devil</i> +soon learn’d to make Mankind understand him, whatever Language he spoke, +and no doubt but he found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> Ways and Means to understand them, whatever +Language they spoke.</p> + +<p>After the Confusion of Languages, the People necessarily sorted +themselves into Families and Tribes, every Family understanding their +own particular Speech, and that only; and these Families multiplying +grew into Nations, and those Nations wanting Room, and seeking out +Habitations wandred some this Way, some that, till they found out +Countries respectively proper for their settling, and there they became +a Kingdom, spreading and possessing still more and more Land as their +People encreased, till at last the whole Earth was scarce big enough for +them: This presented <i>Satan</i> with an Opportunity to break in upon their +Morals at another Door, (<i>viz.</i>) their Pride; for Men being naturally +Proud and Envious, Nations and Tribes began to jostle with one another +for Room; either one Nation enjoy’d better Accommodations, or had a +better Soil or a more favourable Climate than another; and these being +numerous and strong thrust the other out, and encroach’d upon their +Land; the other liking their Situation, prepare for their Defence, and +so began Oppression, Invasion, War, Battle and Blood, Satan all the +while beating the Drums, and his Attendants clapping their Hands, as Men +do when they set Dogs on upon one another.</p> + +<p>The bringing Mankind thus to <i>War</i> and <i>Confusion</i>, as it was the first +Game the Devil play’d after the confounding of Languages and Divisions +at <i>Babel</i> so it was a Conquest upon Mankind, purely devilish, born from +Hell, and so exactly tinctured with Satan’s original Sin <i>Ambition</i>, +that it really transform’d Men into meer Devils; for when is Man +transform’d into the very Image of Satan himself, when is he turn’d into +a meer Devil, if it is not when he is fighting with his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> fellow +Creatures and dipping his Hands in the Blood of his own Kind? Let his +Picture be consider’d, the Fire of Hell flames or sparkles in his Eyes, +a voracious Grin sits upon his Countenance; Rage and Fury distort the +Muscles of his Face; his Passions agitate his whole Body, and he is +metamorphos’d from a comely Beauteous angelic Creature into a <i>Fury</i>, a +<i>Satyr</i>, a terrible and frightful Monster, nay, into a <i>Devil</i>; for +<i>Satan</i> himself is describ’d by the same Word which on his very Account +is chang’d into a Substantive, and the Devils are call’d <i>Furies</i>.</p> + +<p>This sowing the Seeds of Strife in the World, and bringing Nations to +fight and make War upon one another, would take up a great Part of the +<i>Devil</i>’s History, and abundance of extraordinary Things would occur in +relating the particulars; for there have been very great Conflagrations +kindled in the World, by the Artifice of Hell, under this Head, (<i>viz.</i>) +of making War; in which it has been the <i>Devil</i>’s Master-piece, and he +has indeed shewn himself a Workman in it, that he has wheedled Mankind +into strange unnatural Notions of things, in order to propagate and +support the fighting Principle in the World; such as Laws of War, fair +Fighting, behaving like Men of Honour, fighting at the last Drop, and +the like, by which killing and murdering is understood to be +justifiable. Virtue and a true Greatness in Spirit is rated now by Rules +which God never appointed, and the Standard of Honour is quite different +from that of Reason and of Nature: Bravery is denominated not from a +fearless undaunted Spirit in the just Defence of Life and Liberty, but +from a daring Defiance of God and Man, fighting, killing and treading +under Foot his fellow Creatures, at the ordinary Command of the Officer, +whether it be right or wrong,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> and whether it be in a just Defence of +Life, and our Country’s Life, that is Liberty, or whether it be for the +Support of Injury and Oppression.</p> + +<p>A prudent avoiding causeless Quarrels is call’d Cowardice, and to take +an affront Baseness, and Meanness of Spirit; to refuse fighting, and +putting Life at a Cast on the Point of a Sword, a Practice forbid by the +Laws of God and of all good Government, is yet call’d Cowardice; and a +Man is bound to die duelling, or live and be laugh’d at.</p> + +<p>This trumping up these imaginary Things call’d Bravery and Gallantry, +naming them Virtue and Honour, is all from the <i>Devil</i>’s new Management, +and his subtil influencing the Minds of Men to fly in the Face of God +and Nature, and to act against his Senses; nor but for his Artifice in +the Management, could it be possible that such Inconsistencies could go +down with Mankind, or they could pass such absurd Things among them for +reasoning; for Example, A is found in Bed with B’s Wife, B is the Person +injur’d, and therefore offended, and coming into the Chamber with his +Sword in his Hand, A exclaims loudly, <i>Why Sir, you won’t murder me, +will you? as you are a Man of Honour let me rise and take my Sword</i>.</p> + +<p>A very good Story indeed! fit for no body but the Devil to put into any +Man’s Head; But so it is, B being put in mind, forsooth, that he is <i>a +Man of Honour</i>, starts back and must act the honourable Part; so he lets +A get up, put on his Clothes and take his Sword; then they fight, and B +is kill’d for his Honour; whereas had the Laws of God, of Nature and of +Reason taken Place, the Adulterer and the Adulteress should have been +taken Prisoners and carried before the Judge, and being taken in the +Fact, should have been immediately sentenc’d, he to the Block and she to +the Stake, and the innocent abus’d<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> Husband had no Reason to have run +any Risque of his Life for being made a Cuckold.</p> + +<p>But thus has <i>Satan</i> abus’d the Reason of Man; and if a Man does me the +greatest Injury in the World, I must do my self Justice upon him, by +venturing my life upon an even Lay with him, and must fight him upon +equal Hazard, in which the injur’d Person is as often kill’d as the +Person offering the Injury: Suppose now it be in the same Case <i>as +above</i>, a Man abuses my Wife, and then to give me Satisfaction, tells +me, he will fight me, which the <i>French</i> call <i>doing me Reason</i>; <i>No +Sir</i>, say I, <i>let me lie with your Wife too, and then if you desire it, +I may fight you; then I am upon even Terms with you</i>; but this indeed is +the Reasoning which the <i>Devil</i> has brought Mankind too at this Day: But +to go back to the Subject, <i>viz.</i> the Devil bringing the Nations to fall +out, and to quarrel for Room in the World, and so to fight in order to +dispossess one another of their Settlements: This began at a Time when +certainly there were Places enough in the World for every one to choose +in, and therefore the <i>Devil</i>, not the want of Elbow-room, must be the +Occasion of it; and ’tis carried on ever since, as apparently from the +same Interest, and by the same original.</p> + +<p>But we shall meet with this Part again very often in the <i>Devil</i>’s +Story, and as we bring him farther on in the Management of Mankind, I +therefore lay it by for the Present, and come to the next Steps the +<i>Devil</i> took with Mankind after the Confusion of Languages, and this was +in the Affair of Worship; It does not appear yet that ever the <i>Devil</i> +was so bold, as either,</p> + +<p>1. To set himself up to be worship’d as a God, or which was still worse,</p> + +<p>2. To persuade Man to believe there was no God at all to worship.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>Both these are introduc’d since the Deluge, <i>one</i> indeed by the <i>Devil</i>, +who soon found Means to set himself up for a God in many Parts of the +World, and holds it to this Day; but the <i>last</i> is brought in by the +Invention of Man, in which it must be confess’d Man has out-sin’d the +Devil; for to do Satan justice, he never thought it could ever pass upon +Mankind, or that any Thing so gross would go down with them; so that, +<i>in short</i>, these modern Casuists, in the Reach of our Days, have, <i>I +say</i>, out-sin’d the <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>As then both these are modern Inventions, <i>Satan</i> went on gradually, and +being to work upon human Nature by Stratagem, not by Force, it would +have been too gross to have set himself up as an Object of Worship at +first, it was to be done Step by Step; <i>for Example</i>.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. It was sufficient to bring Mankind to a Neglect of God, to +worship him by halves, and give little or no Regard to his Laws, +and so grow loose and immoral, in direct Contradiction to his +Commands; this would not go down with them at first, so the Devil +went on gradually.</p> + +<p>2. From a Negligence in worshiping the true <span class="smcap">God</span>, he by Degrees +introduc’d the worship of false <span class="smcap">God</span>s; and to introduce this he +began with the <i>Sun</i>, <i>Moon</i>, and <i>Stars</i>, call’d in the holy Text +the Host of Heaven; these had greater Majesty upon them, and seem’d +fitter to command the Homage of Mankind; so it was not the hardest +Thing in the World, to bring Men, when they had once forgotten the +true God, to embrace the Worship of such Gods as those.</p> + +<p>3. Having thus debauch’d their Principles in Worship, and led them +from the true and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> only Object of Worship to a false, it was the +easier to carry them on; so in a few Gradations more he brought +them to downright Idolatry, and even in that Idolatry he proceeded +gradually too; for he began with awful Names, such as were +venerable in the Thoughts of Men, as <span class="smcap">Baal</span> or <span class="smcap">Bell</span>, which, in +<i>Chaldaick</i> and <i>Hebrew</i>, signifies Lord or Sovereign, or Mighty +and Magnificent, and this was therefore a Name ascrib’d at first to +the true God; but afterwards they descended to make Images and +Figures to represent him, and then they were call’d by the same +Name, as <i>Baal</i>, <i>Baalim</i>, and afterwards <i>Bell</i>; from which, by a +hellish Degeneracy, Saturn brought Mankind to adore every Block of +their own hewing, and to worshipping Stocks, Stones, Monsters, +Hobgoblins, and every sordid frightful Thing, and at last the +<i>Devil</i> himself.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>What Notions some People may entertain of the Forwardness of the first +Ages of the World, to run into Idolatry, I do not enquire here; I know +they tell us strange Things, of its being the Product of meer Nature, +one remove from its primitive State; but I, who pretend to have so +critically enquir’d into <i>Satan</i>’s History, can assure you, and that +from very good Authority, that the <i>Devil</i> did not find it so easy a +task to obliterate the Knowledge of the true God, in the Minds and +Consciences of Men, as those People suggest.</p> + +<p>It is true he carried Things a great Length under the Patriarchal +Government of the first Ages, but still he was sixteen hundred Years +bringing it to pass; and tho’ we have Reason to believe the old World, +before the Flood was arrived to a very great Height of Wickedness, and +<i>Ovid</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> very nobly describes it by the War of the <i>Titans</i> against +<i>Jupiter</i>, yet we do not read that ever Satan was come to such a Length +as to bring them to Idolatry; indeed we do read of Wars carried on among +them, whether it was one Nation against another, or only Personal, we +cannot tell; But the World seem’d to be swallow’d up in a Life of +Wickedness, that is to say, of Luxury and Lewdness, Rapine and Violence, +and there were <i>Giants</i> among them, and Men of Renown, that is to say, +Men fam’d for their mighty Valour, great Actions of War we may suppose, +and their Strength, who personally <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'opposs'd'">oppos’d</ins> others. We read of no +considerable Wars indeed, but ’tis not to be doubted but there was such +Wars, or else it is to be understood that they liv’d (in common) a Life +somewhat like the Brutes, the Strong devouring the Weak; for the Text +says, <i>the whole Earth was filled with Violence</i>, hunting and tearing +one another in Pieces, either for Dominion or for Wealth, either for +Ambition or for Avarice, we know not well which.</p> + +<p>Thus far the old Antediluvian World went, and very wicked they were, +there is no doubt of that; but we have Reason to believe that was no +Idolatry, the <i>Devil</i> had not brought them to that Length yet: perhaps +it would soon have follow’d, but the Deluge interven’d.</p> + +<p>After the Deluge, <i>as I have said</i>, he had all his Work to do over +again, and he went on by the same Steps; <i>first</i> he brought them to +Violence and War, then to Oppression and Tyranny, then to neglect of +true Worship, then to false worship, and then Idolatry by the meer +natural Consequence of the Thing; who were the first Nation or People +that fell from the Worship of the true God, is something hard to +determine; the <i>Devil</i>, who certainly of all <i>God</i>’s Creatures is best +able<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> to inform us, having left us nothing upon Record upon that +Subject, but we have Reason to believe it was thus introduc’d.</p> + +<p><i>Nimrod</i> was the Grandson of <i>Ham</i>, <i>Noah</i>’s second Son, the same who +was cursed by his Father for exposing him in his Drunkenness: This +<i>Nimrod</i> was the first who it seems <i>Satan</i> pick’d out for a Hero: Here +he inspir’d him with ambitious Thoughts, dreams of Empire, and having +the Government of all the Rest, <i>that is to say</i>, universal Monarchy; +the very same Bait with which he has plaid upon the Frailty of Princes, +and ensnar’d the greatest of them ever since, even from his most August +Imperial Majesty King <i>Nimrod</i> the first, to his most Christian Majesty +<i>Louis</i> the XIV. and many a mighty Monarch between.</p> + +<p>When these mighty Monarchs and Men of Fame went off the Stage, the World +had their Memories in esteem many Ages after; and as their great Actions +were no otherwise recorded than by oral Tradition, and the Tongues and +Memories of fallible Men, Time and the Custom of magnifying the past +Actions of Kings, Men soon fabl’d up their Histories, <i>Satan assisting</i>, +into Miracle and Wonder: Hence their Names were had in Veneration more +and more; Statues and Bustoes representing their Persons and great +Actions were set up in public Places, till from Heroes and Champions +they made Gods of them, and thus (<i>Satan</i> prompting) the World was +quickly fill’d with Idols.</p> + +<p>This <i>Nimrod</i> is he, who according to the received Opinion, tho’ I do +not find Satan’s History exactly concurring with it, was first call’d +<i>Belus</i>, then <i>Baal</i>, and worship’d in most of the eastern Countries +under those Names; sometimes with Additions of Sir-names, according to +the several countries, or People, or Towns where he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> particularly +set up, as <i>Baal Peor</i>, <i>Baal Zephon</i>, <i>Baal Phegor</i>, and in other +Places plain <i>Baal</i>, as <i>Jupiter</i> in after Times had the like Additions; +as <i>Jupiter Ammon</i>, <i>Jupiter Capitolinus</i>, <i>Jupiter Pistor</i>, <i>Jupiter +Feretrius</i>, and about ten or twelve <i>Jupiters</i> more.</p> + +<p>I must acknowledge, that I think it was a Master-piece of Hell to bring +the World to Idolatry so soon after they had had such an eminent Example +of the infinite Power of the true God, as was seen in the Deluge, and +particularly in the Escape of <i>Noah</i> in the Ark, to bring them (even +before <i>Noah</i> or his Sons were dead) to forget whose Hand it was, and +give the Homage of the World to a Name, and that a Name of a mortal Man +dead and rotten, who was famous for nothing when he was alive but Blood +and War; I say, to bring the World to set up this Nothing, this meer +Name, nay the very Image and Picture of him for <i>a God</i>, it was <i>first</i> +a Mark of most prodigious Stupidity in the whole Race of Men, a +monstrous Degeneracy from Nature, and even from common Sense; and in the +next Place ’twas a token of an inexpressible Craft and Subtilty in the +<i>Devil</i>, who had now gotten the People into so full and compleat a +Management, that in short, he could have brought them, by the same Rule, +to have worship’d any thing; and in a little while more, did bring many +of them to worship himself, <i>plain Devil as he was</i>, and knowing him to +be such.</p> + +<p>As to the Antiquity of this horrible Defection of Mankind, tho’ we do +not find the beginning of it particularly recorded, yet we are certain +it was not long after the Confusion of <i>Babel</i>; for <i>Nimrod</i>, as is +said, was no more than <i>Noah</i>’s great Grandson and <i>Noah</i> himself, I +suppose, might be alive some Years after <i>Nimrod</i> was born; and as +<i>Nimrod</i> was not long dead, before they forgot that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> he was a Tyrant and +a Murtherer, and made a <i>Baal</i>, that is a Lord or Idol of him, I say, he +was not long dead, for <i>Nimrod</i> was born in the Year of the World 1847, +and built <i>Babylon</i> the Year 1879; and we find <i>Terah</i> the Father of +<i>Abraham</i>, who liv’d from the Year 1879 was an Idolater, as was +doubtless <i>Bethuel</i>, who was <i>Terah</i>’s Grandson; for we find <i>Laban</i>, +who was <i>Bethuel</i>’s Son, was so, and all this was during the Life of the +first Post-Diluvian Family, for <i>Terah</i> was born within one hundred +ninety three Years after the Flood, and one hundred fifty seven Years +before <i>Noah</i> was dead; and even <i>Abram</i> himself was eight and fifty +Years old before <i>Noah</i> died, and yet Idolatry had been then, in all +probability, above an hundred Years practised in the World.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">N. B. It is worth Remark here, what a terrible Advantage the Devil +gain’d by the debauching poor <i>Noah</i>, and drawing him into the Sin +of Drunkenness; for by this, as I said, he silenc’d and stop’d the +Mouth of the great Preacher of Righteousness, that Father and +Patriarch of the whole World, who not being able for the Shame of +his own foul Miscarriage, to pretend to instruct or reprove the +World any more, the <i>Devil</i> took hold of them immediately, and for +want of a Prophet to warn and admonish, ran that little of Religion +which there might be left in <i>Shem</i> and <i>Japhet</i>, quite out of the +World, and delug’d them all in <span class="smcap">Idolatry</span>.</p></div> + +<p>How long the whole World may be said to be thus overwhelm’d in Ignorance +and Idolatry, we may make some tolerable guess at by the History of +<i>Abraham</i>; for it was not till God call’d him from his Father’s House, +that any such Thing as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> Church was establish’d in the World; nor even +then, except in his own Family and Successors for almost four hundred +Years after that Call; and till God brought the <i>Israelites</i> back out of +<i>Egypt</i>, the whole World may be said to be involv’d in Idolatry and +<i>Devil</i> worship.</p> + +<p>So absolute a Conquest had the <i>Devil</i> made over Mankind immediately +after the Flood, and all taking its Rise and Beginning at the fatal +Defeat of <i>Noah</i>, who had he liv’d untainted and invulnerable, as he had +done for six hundred Years before, would have gone a great way to have +stem’d the Torrent of Wickedness which broke in upon Mankind; and +therefore the <i>Devil</i>, I say, was very cunning and very much in the +Right of it, take him as he is a meer <i>Devil</i>, to attack <i>Noah</i> +personally, and give him a Blow so soon.</p> + +<p>It is true, the <i>Devil</i> did not immediately raze out the Notion of +Religion and of a <span class="smcap">God</span> from the Minds of Men, nor could he easily +suppress the Principle of Worship and Homage to be paid to a Sovereign +Being, the Author of Nature and Guide of the World; the <i>Devil</i> saw this +clearly in the first Ages of the new World, and therefore, as I have +said, he proceeded politically and by Degrees: That it was so, is +evident from the Story of <i>Job</i> and his three Friends, who, if we may +take it for a History, not a Fable, and may judge of the Time of it by +the Length of <i>Job</i>’s Life, and by the Family of <i>Eliphaz</i> the +<i>Temanite</i>, who it is manifest was at least Grandson or Great Grandson +to <i>Esau Isaac</i>’s eldest Son, and by the Language of <i>Abimilech</i> King of +<i>Gerar</i> to <i>Abraham</i>, and of <i>Laban</i> to <i>Jacob</i>, both the Latter being +at the same Time Idolaters; I say, if we may judge of it by all these, +there were still very sound Notions of Religion in the Minds of Men; nor +could Satan with all his Cunning and Policy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> deface those <i>Ideas</i>, and +root them out of the Minds of the People.</p> + +<p>And this put him upon taking new Measures to keep up his Interest and +preserve the Hold he got upon Mankind; and his Method was like himself, +subtle and politick to the last Degree, as his whole History makes +appear; for seeing he found they could not but believe the Being of a +God, and that they would needs worship something, it is evident, he had +no Game left him to play but this, namely, to set up wrong Notions of +Worship, and bring them to a false Worship instead of a True, supposing +the Object worship’d to be still the same.</p> + +<p>To finish this Stratagem, he first insinuates that the true God was a +terrible, a dreadful, unapproachable Being; that to see him was so +frightful, that it would be present Death; that to worship him +immediately, was a Presumption which would provoke his Wrath; and that +as he was a <i>consuming Fire</i> in himself, so he would burn up those in +his Anger that dar’d to offer up any Sacrifice to him, but by the +Interposition of some Medium which might receive their Adorations in his +Name.</p> + +<p>Hence it occur’d presently, that subordinate Gods were to be found out +and set up, to whom the People might pay the Homage due to the supreme +God, and who they might worship in his Name; this I take from the most +ancient Account of Idolatry in the World; nor indeed could the Devil +himself find out any other Reason why Men should Cannonise or rather +Deify their Princes and Men of Fame, and worship them after they were +dead, as if they could save them from Death and Calamity, who were not +able to save themselves when they were alive; much less could <i>Satan</i> +bring Men to swallow so gross, so absurd a Thing as the bowing the Knee +to a Stock or a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> Stone, a Calf, an Ox, a Lion, nay the Image or Figure +of a Calf, such as the <i>Israelites</i> made at Mount <i>Sinai</i>, and say, +<i>These be thy Gods, O</i> Israel, <i>who brought thee out of the Land of</i> +Egypt.</p> + +<p>Having thus, I say, brought them to satisfy themselves that they +worship’d the true God and no other, under the Figures and Appearances +which they made to represent him, it was easy after that to worship any +thing for the true God; and thus in a few Ages they worship’d nothing +but Idols, even throughout the whole World; nor has the <i>Devil</i> lost +this hold in some Parts of the World, nay not in most Parts of the World +to this Day; He holds still all the Eastern Parts of <i>Asia</i>, and the +Southern Parts of <i>Africa</i>, and the Northern Parts of <i>Europe</i>, and in +them the vast Countries of <i>China</i> and <i>Tartary</i>, <i>Persia</i> and <i>India</i>, +<i>Guinea</i>, <i>Ethiopia</i>, <i>Zanquebar</i>, <i>Congo</i>, <i>Angola</i>, <i>Monomotapa</i>, &c. +in all which, <i>except Ethiopia</i>, we find no Vestiges of any other +worship but that of Idols, Monsters, and even the <i>Devil</i> himself; till +after the very coming of our Saviour, and even then, if it be true that +the Gospel was preach’d in the <i>Indies</i> and <i>China</i> by St. <i>Thomas</i>, and +in other remote Countries by other of the Apostles; we see that whatever +Ground <i>Satan</i> lost, he seems to have recovered it again; and all <i>Asia</i> +and <i>Africa</i> is at present overrun with Paganism or Mahometanism, which +I think of the two is rather the worst; Besides all <i>America</i>, a Part of +the World, as some say, equal in Bigness to all the other, in which the +<i>Devil</i>’s Kingdom was never interrupted from its first being inhabited, +<i>whenever it was</i>, to the first Discovery of it by the <i>European</i> +Nations in the sixteenth Century.</p> + +<p>In a Word, the <i>Devil</i> got what we may call an entire Victory over +Mankind, and drove the Worship of the true God, in a Manner quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> out +of the World, forcing, <i>as it were</i>, his Maker in a new kind of +Creation, the old one proving thus ineffectual to recover a certain +Number by Force and meer Omnipotence to return to their Duty, serve him +and worship him; <i>But of that hereafter</i>.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_XI" id="Chap_XI"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> XI.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>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 attack’d +them immediately, and his Success in those Attacks.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps"><i>Satan</i></span> having, as I have said in the preceding Chapter, made, as it +were, a full Conquest of Mankind, debauch’d them all to Idolatry, and +brought them at least to worshiping the true God by the wretched Medium +of corrupt and idolatrous Representations; God seem’d to have no true +Servants or Worshippers left in the World, but if I may be allow’d to +speak so, was oblig’d, in order to restore the World to their Senses +again, to call a select Number out from among the rest, who he himself +undertook should own his Godhead or supreme Authority, and worship him +as he requir’d to be worship’d; this, <i>I say</i>, God was oblig’d to do, +because ’tis evident it has not been done so much by the Choice and +Council of Men, <i>for Satan would have over-rul’d that Part</i>, as by the +Power and Energy of some irresistible and invincible Operation, and this +our Divines give high Names to; but be it what they will, it is the +second Defeat or Disappointment that the <i>Devil</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> he met with in his +Progress in the World; the first I have spoken of already.</p> + +<p>It is true, Satan very well understood what was threatn’d to him in the +original Promise to the Woman, immediately after the Fall, namely, <i>thou +shalt bruise his Head</i>, &c. but he did not expect it so suddenly, but +thought himself sure of Mankind, till the Fullness of Time when the +Messiah should come; and therefore it was a great Surprize to him, to +see that <i>Abraham</i> being call’d was so immediately receiv’d and +establish’d, tho’ he did not so immediately follow the Voice that +directed him, yet in him, in his Loins was all God’s Church at that time +contain’d.</p> + +<p>In the calling <i>Abraham</i>, it is easy to see that there was no other way +for God to form a Church, that is to say, to single out a People to +himself, as the World was then stated, but by immediate Revelation and a +Voice from Heaven: All Mankind were gone over to the Enemy, overwhelmed +in Idolatry, in a Word, were engag’d to the <i>Devil</i>; God Almighty, or as +the Scripture distinguishes him, <i>the Lord</i>, the true <span class="smcap">God</span>, was out of +the Question; Mankind knew little or nothing of him, much less did they +know any thing of his Worship, or that there was such a Being in the +World.</p> + +<p>Well might it be said the <i>Lord</i> appeared to <i>Abraham</i>, Gen. xii. 7. for +if God had not appear’d himself, he must have sent a Messenger from +Heaven, <i>and perhaps it was so too</i>, for he had not one true Servant or +Worshiper that we know of then on Earth, to send on that Errand; no +Prophet, no Preacher of Righteousness, <i>Noah</i> was dead, and had been so +above seventeen Year; and if he had not, his preaching, as I observed +after his great Miscarriage, had but little Effect; we are indeed told, +that <i>Noah</i> left behind him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> certain Rules and Orders for the true +Worship of God, which were call’d the Precepts of <i>Noah</i>, and remain’d +in the World for a long Time; tho’ how written, when neither any +Letters, much less Writing were known in the World, is a Difficulty +which Remains to be solv’d; and this makes me look upon those Laws +call’d the Precepts of <i>Noah</i> to be a modern Invention, as I do also the +<i>Alphabetum Noachi</i>, which <i>Bochart</i> pretends to give an Account of.</p> + +<p>But to leave that Fiction, and come back to <i>Abraham</i>; God call’d him, +whether at first by Voice without any Vision, whether in a Dream or +Night Vision, which was very Significant in those Days, or whether by +some awful Appearance, we know not; the second Time, ’tis indeed said +expressly <span class="smcap">God</span> appeared to him; Be it which Way it will, <span class="smcap">God</span> himself +call’d him, shew’d him the Land of <i>Canaan</i>, gave him the Promise of it +for his Posterity, and withal gave him such a Faith, that the <i>Devil</i> +soon found there was no room for him to meddle with <i>Abraham</i>. This is +certain, we do not read that the <i>Devil</i> ever so much as attempted +<i>Abraham</i> at all; some will suggest that the Command to <i>Abraham</i> to go +and offer up his Son <i>Isaac</i>, was a Temptation of the <i>Devil</i>, if +possible to defeat the glorious Work of <span class="smcap">God</span>’s calling a holy Seed into +the World; for the <i>first</i>, if <i>Abraham</i> had disobey’d that Call, the +new Favourite had been overcome and made a Rebel of, or <i>secondly</i>, if +he had <i>obey’d</i>, then the promis’d Seed had been cut off, and <i>Abraham</i> +defeated; but as the Text is express that <span class="smcap">God</span> himself proposed it to +<i>Abraham</i>, I shall not start the Suggestions of the Criticks, in Bar of +the sacred Oracle.</p> + +<p>Be it one way or other, <i>Abraham</i> shew’d a Hero-like Faith and Courage, +and if the <i>Devil</i> had been the Author of it, he had seen himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +disappointed in both his Views; (1.) by <i>Abraham</i>’s ready and bold +Compliance, as believing it to be <span class="smcap">God</span>’s Command; and (2.) by the divine +Countermand of the Execution, just as the fatal Knife was lifted up.</p> + +<p>But if the <i>Devil</i> left <i>Abraham</i>, and made no attack upon him, seeing +him invulnerable, he made himself amends upon the other Branch of his +Family, his poor <i>Nephew</i> <span class="smcap">Lot</span>; who, <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'notwitstanding'">notwithstanding</ins> he was so +immediately under the particular Care of Heaven, as that the Angel who +was sent to destroy <i>Sodom</i>, could do nothing till he was out of it; and +who, tho’ after he had left <i>Zoar</i>, and was retir’d into a Cave to +dwell, yet the subtle <i>Devil</i> found him out, deluded his two Daughters, +took an Advantage of the Fright they had been in about <i>Sodom</i> and +<i>Gomorrah</i>, made them believe the whole World was burnt too, as well as +those Cities, and that in short, they could never have any <i>Husbands</i>, +&c. and so in their abundant Concern to repeople the World, and that the +Race of Mankind might not be destroyed, they go and lie with their own +<i>Father</i>; the <i>Devil</i> telling them doubtless how to do it, by +intoxicating his Head with Wine; in all which Story, whether they were +not as drunk as their Father, seems to be a Question, or else they could +not have supposed all the Men in the Earth were consum’d, when they knew +that the little City <i>Zoar</i> had been preserv’d for their Sakes.</p> + +<p>This now was the third Conquest <i>Satan</i> obtain’d by the Gust of humane +Appetite; that is to say, once by Eating and twice by Drinking, or +Drunkenness, and still the last was the worst and most shameful; for +<i>Lot</i>, however his Daughters manag’d him, could not pretend he did not +understand what the Strength of Wine was; and one would have thought +after so terrible a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> Judgment as that of <i>Sodom</i> was, which was, as we +may say, executed before his Face, his Thoughts should have been too +solemnly engag’d in praising God for sparing his Life, to be made drunk, +and that two Nights together.</p> + +<p>But the <i>Devil</i> play’d his Game sure, he set his two Daughters to work, +and as the <i>Devil</i>’s Instruments seldom fail, so he secur’d his by that +hellish Stratagem of deluding the Daughters, to think all the World was +consum’d but they two and their Father: To be sure the old Man could not +suspect that his Daughters Design was so wicked as indeed it was, or +that they intended to debauch him with Wine, and make him drink till he +knew not what he did.</p> + +<p>Now the <i>Devil</i> having carried his Game here, gain’d a great Point; for +as there were but two religious Families in the World before, from +whence a twofold Generation might be supposed to rise religious and +righteous like their Parents, (<i>viz.</i>) that of <i>Abraham</i> and this of +<i>Lot</i>; this Crime ruin’d the Hopes of one of them; it could no more be +said that just <i>Lot</i> was in Being, who vex’d his <i>righteous Soul</i> from +Day to Day with the wicked Behaviour of the People of <i>Sodom</i>; righteous +<i>Lot</i> was degenerated into drunken incestuous <i>Lot</i>, <span class="smcap">Lot</span> fallen from +what he was, to be a wicked and unrighteous Man; no pattern of Virtue, +no Reprover of the Age, but a poor fallen Degenerate Patriarch, who +could now no more reprove or exhort, but look down and be asham’d, and +nothing to do but to repent; and see the poor mean Excuses of all the +three.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Eve says, <i>The Serpent beguil’d me, and I did eat</i>.</p> + +<p>Noah says, —— <i>My Grandson beguil’d me, or the Wine beguil’d me, +and I did drink</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>Lot says, <i>My Daughters beguil’d me, and I also did drink</i>.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>It is observable, that as I said above, <i>Noah</i> was silenc’d, and his +Preaching at an End, after that one Action, so the like may be said of +<i>Lot</i>; and in short, you never hear one Word more of either of them +after it; as for Mankind, both were useless to them, and as to +themselves, we never read of any of their Repentance, nor have we much +Reason to believe they did repent.</p> + +<p>From this Attack of the <i>Devil</i> upon <i>Lot</i>, we hear no more of the +<i>Devil</i> being so busily employ’d as he had been before in the World; he +had indeed but little to do, for all the rest of the World was his own, +lull’d asleep under the Witchcraft of Idolatry, and are so still.</p> + +<p>But it could not be long that the <i>Devil</i> lay idle; as soon as God +call’d himself a People, the <i>Devil</i> could not be at Rest; till he +attack’d them.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +‘Wherever God sets up a House of Prayer,<br /> +‘The Devil always builds a Chapel there.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p><i>Abraham</i> indeed went off the Stage free, and so did <i>Isaac</i> too, they +were a Kind of first Rate Saints; we do not so much as read of any +failing they had, or of any Thing the <i>Devil</i> had ever the Face to offer +to them; no, or with <i>Jacob</i> either, if you will excuse him for +beguiling his Brother <i>Esau</i>, of both his Birthright and his Blessing, +but he was busy enough with all his Children; for Example,</p> + +<p class="hang">He sent <i>Judah</i> to his Sheep-shearing, and placed a Whore (<i>Tamar</i>) +in his Way, in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> Posture of Temptation, so made him commit +Incest and Whoredom both together.</p> + +<p class="hang">He sent incestuous <i>Reuben</i> to lie with his Father’s Concubine +<i>Billah</i>.</p> + +<p class="hang">He sent <i>Dinah</i> to the Ball, to dance with the <i>Sichemite</i> Ladies, +and play the Whore with their Master.</p> + +<p class="hang">He enrag’d <i>Simeon</i> and <i>Levi</i>, at the supposed Injury, and then +prompted them to Revenge, for which their Father heartily cursed +them.</p> + +<p class="hang">He set them all together to fall upon poor <i>Joseph</i>, first to +murther him intentionally, and then actually sell him to the +<i>Midianites</i>.</p> + +<p class="hang">He made them shew the Party-colour’d Coat, and tell a lie to their +Father, to make the poor old Man believe <i>Joseph</i> was kill’d by a +Lion, <i>&c.</i></p> + +<p class="hang">He sent <i>Potiphar</i>’s Wife to attack <i>Joseph</i>’s Chastity, and fill’d +her with Rage at the Disappointment.</p> + +<p class="hang">He taught <i>Joseph</i> to swear by the Life of <i>Pharoah</i>.</p> + +<p>In a Word, he debauch’d the whole Race, except <i>Benjamin</i>, and never Man +had such a Set of Sons, so wicked and so notorious, after so good an +Introduction into the World as they all of them had, <i>to be sure</i>; for +<i>Jacob</i>, no doubt, gave them as good Instruction as the Circumstances of +his wandring Condition would allow him to do.</p> + +<p>We must now consider the <i>Devil</i> and his Affairs in a quite differing +Situation: When the World first appeared peopled by the creating Power +of God, he had only <i>Adam</i> and <i>Eve</i> to take care of, and I think he +ply’d his Time with them to purpose enough: After the Deluge he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +<i>Noah</i> only to pitch upon, and he quickly conquer’d him by the +Instigation of his <i>Grandson</i>.</p> + +<p>At the Building of <i>Babel</i> he guided them by their acting all in a Body +as one Man; so that in short he manag’d them with ease, taking them as a +Body politic; and we find they came into his Snare as one Man; but Now, +the Children of <i>Israel</i> multiplying in the Land of their Bondage, and +God seeming to shew a particular Concern for them, the <i>Devil</i> was +oblig’d to new Measures, stand at a Distance, and look on for some Time.</p> + +<p>The <i>Egyptians</i> were plagued even without his Help, nor tho’ the cunning +Artist, as I said, stood and looked on, yet he durst not meddle; nor +could he make a few Lice, the least and meanest of the Armies of Insects +raised to afflict the <i>Egyptians</i>.</p> + +<p>However, when he perceiv’d that God resolved to bring the <i>Israelites</i> +out, he prepar’d to attend them, to watch them, and be at Hand upon all +the wicked Occasions that might offer, as if he had been fully satisfied +such Occasions would offer, and that he should not fail to have an +Opportunity to draw them into some Snare or another, and that therefore +it was his Business not to be out of the Way, but to be ready (as we +say) to make his Market of them in the best Manner he could: How many +Ways he attempted them, nay, how many Times he conquer’d them in their +Journey, we shall see presently.</p> + +<p>First he put them in a fright at <i>Baal-Zephon</i>, where he thought he had +drawn them into a Noose, and where he sent <i>Pharoah</i> and his Army to +block them up between the Mountains of <i>Piahiroth</i> and the <i>Red Sea</i>; +but there indeed <i>Satan</i> was outwitted by <i>Moses</i>, so far as it appeared +to be a humane Action, for he little thought of their going dry footed +<i>thro’ the Sea</i>, but depended upon having them all cut in Pieces the +next Morning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> by the <i>Egyptians</i>; an eminent Proof, <i>by the Way</i>, that +the <i>Devil</i> has <i>no Knowledge of Events</i>, or any Insight into Futurity; +nay that he has not so much as a second Sight, or knows to Day what his +Maker intends to do to Morrow; for had <i>Satan</i> known that God intended +to Ford them over the Sea, if he had not been able to have prevented the +Miracle, he would certainly have prevented the Escape, by sending out +<i>Pharoah</i> and his Army time enough to have taken the Strand before them, +and so have driven them to the Necessity of travelling on Foot round the +North Point of that Sea, by the Wilderness of <i>Etan</i>, where he would +have pursu’d and harrass’d them with his Cavalry, and in all Probability +have destroy’d them: But the blind short-sighted Devil, perfectly in the +Dark, and unacquainted with Futurity, knew nothing of the Matter, was as +much deceiv’d as <i>Pharoah</i> himself, stood still flattering himself with +the Hopes of his Booty, and the Revenge he should take upon them the +next Morning; till he saw the frighted Waves in an Uproar, and to his +utter Astonishment and Confusion saw the Passage laid open, and <i>Moses</i> +leading his vast Army in full March over the dry Space; nay even then +’tis very propable Satan did not know that if the <i>Egyptians</i> follow’d +them, the Sea would return upon and overwhelm them; for I can hardly +think so hard of the <i>Devil</i> himself, that if he had, he would have +suffer’d, much less prompted <i>Pharoah</i> to follow the Chase at such an +Expence; so that either he must be an ignorant unforeseeing Devil, or a +very ungrateful false <i>Devil</i> to his Friends the <i>Egyptians</i>.</p> + +<p>I am enclin’d also to the more charitable Opinion of Satan too, because +the Escape of the <i>Israelites</i> was really a Triumph over himself; for +the War was certainly his, or at least he was auxiliary to <i>Pharoah</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +it was a Victory over <i>Hell</i> and <i>Egypt</i> together, and he would never +have suffer’d the Disgrace, if he had known it beforehand; that is to +say, tho’ he could not have prevented the Escape of <i>Israel</i>, or the +dividing the Water, yet he might have warn’d the <i>Egyptians</i>, and +cautioned them not to venture in after them.</p> + +<p>But we shall see a great many weak Steps taken by the Devil in the +Affair of this very People and their forty Years Wandring in the +Wilderness; and tho’ he was in some things successful, and wheedled them +into many foolish and miserable Murmurings and Wranglings against God, +and Mutinies against poor <i>Moses</i>, yet the <i>Devil</i> was oftentimes +baulk’d and disappointed; and ’tis for this Reason that I choose to +finish the first Part of his History with the particular Relation of his +Behaviour among the <i>Jews</i>, because also, we do not find any +extraordinary Things happening any where else in the World for above one +thousand five hundred Years, no Variety, no Revolutions; all the Rest of +Mankind lay still under his Yoke, quietly submitted to his Government, +did just as he bad them, worship’d every Idol he set up, and in a Word, +he had no Difficulty with any Body but the <i>Jews</i>, and for this Reason, +I say, this Part of his Story will be the more useful and instructing.</p> + +<p>To return therefore to <i>Moses</i> and his dividing the <i>Red Sea</i>; that the +People went over or thro’ it, that we have the sacred History for; but +how the Devil behav’d, that you must come to me for, or I know not where +you will find a true Account of it, at least not in Print.</p> + +<p>1. It was in the Night they march’d thro’, whether the <i>Devil</i> saw it in +the Dark or no, that’s not my Business.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>But when he had Day-Light for it, and view’d the next Day’s Work, I make +no Question but <i>all Hell felt the Surprise</i>, the Prey being thus +snatch’d out of their Hands unexpectedly. ’Tis true the <i>Egyptians</i> Host +was sent to him in their Room, but that was not what he aim’d at; for he +was sure enough of them his own Way, and if it was not <i>just at that +Time</i>, yet he knew what and who they were; but as he had devour’d the +whole <i>Israelitish</i> Host in his Imagination, to the Tune of at least a +Million and a half of Souls; Men, Women and Children; it was, no doubt, +a great Disappointment to the Devil to miss of his Prey, and to see them +all triumphing on the other Side in Safety.</p> + +<p>It is true, <i>Satan</i>’s Annals do not mention this Defeat, for Historians +are generally backward to register their own Misfortunes; but as we have +an Account of the Fact from other Hands, so as we cannot question the +Truth of it; the Nature of the Thing will tell us it was a +Disappointment to the <i>Devil</i>, and a very great one too.</p> + +<p>I cannot but observe here, that I think this Part of the <i>Devil</i>’s Story +very entertaining, because of the great Variety of Incidents which +appear in every Part of it; sometimes he is like a hunted Fox, +curvetting and counter-running to avoid his being pursued and found out, +while at the same time he is carrying on his secret Designs to draw the +People he pretends to manage, into some Snare or other to their Hurt; at +another time, tho’ the Comparison is a little too low for his Dignity, +like a Monkey that has done Mischief, and who making his own Escape sits +and chatters at a Distance, as if he had triump’d in what he had done; +so Satan, when he had drawn them in to worship a Calf, to offer strange +Fire, to set up a Schism, and the like; and so to bring the Divine +Vengeance upon themselves, leaving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> them in their Distress, kept at a +Distance, as if he look’d on with Satisfaction to see them Burnt, +swallow’d up, swept away, and the like; as the several Stories relate.</p> + +<p>His indefatigable Vigilance is, on the other hand, a useful Caveat, as +well as an improving View to us; no sooner is he routed and expos’d, +defeated and disappointed in one Enterprize, but he begins another, and, +like a cunning Gladiator, warily defends himself, and boldly attacks his +Enemy at the same time. Thus we see him, up and down, conquering and +conquered, thro’ this whole Part of his Story, till at last he receives +a total Defeat; of which you shall hear in its place: In the mean time, +let us take up his Story again at the <i>Red Sea</i>, where he receiv’d a +great Blow, instead of which he expected a compleat Victory; for +doubtless the Devil and the King of <i>Ægypt</i> too, thought of nothing but +Conquest at <i>Piahiroth</i>.</p> + +<p>However, tho’ the Triumph of the <i>Israelites</i> over the <i>Egyptians</i> must +needs be a great Mortification to the <i>Devil</i>, and exasperated him very +much, yet the Consequence was only this, <i>viz.</i> that <i>Satan</i>, like an +Enemy who is baulk’d and defeated, but not overcome, redoubles his Rage, +and reinforces his Army, and what the <i>Egyptians</i> could not do for him, +he resolves to do for himself; in order then to take his Opportunity for +what Mischief might offer, being defeated, and provok’d, I say, at the +Slur that was put upon him, he resolves to follow them into the +Wilderness, and many a vile Prank he plaid them there; as first, he +straitens them for Water, and makes them murmur against <span class="smcap">God</span>, and against +<i>Moses</i>, within a very few Days, nay, Hours, of their great Deliverance +of all.</p> + +<p>Nor was this all, but in less than one Year more we find them, (at his +Instigation too) setting up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> a <i>golden Calf</i>, and making all the People +dance about it at Mount <i>Sinai</i>; even when God himself had but just +before appear’d to them in the Terrors of a burning Fire upon the Top of +the Mountain; <i>and what was the Pretence?</i> Truly, nothing but that they +had lost <i>Moses</i>, who used to be their Guide, and he had hid himself in +the Mount, and had not been seen in forty Days, so that they could not +tell what was become of him. This put them all into Confusion; a poor +Pretence indeed, to turn them all back to Idolatry! but the <i>watchful +Devil</i> took the Hint, push’d the Advantage, and insinuated that they +should never see <i>Moses</i> again, that he was certainly devour’d by +venturing too near the Flashes of Fire in the Mount, and presuming upon +the Liberty he had taken before; in a word, that God had destroyed +<i>Moses</i>, or he was starved to Death for want of Food, having been forty +Days and forty Nights absent.</p> + +<p>All these were, it’s true, in themselves most foolish Suggestions, +considering <i>Moses</i> was admitted to the Vision of God, and that God had +been pleased to appear to him in the most intimate manner; that as they +might depend God would not destroy his faithful Servant, so they might +have concluded he was able to support his Being without Food as long as +he thought fit; but to a People so easy to believe any thing, what could +be too gross for the <i>Devil</i> to persuade them to?</p> + +<p>A People who could dance round a Calf, and call it their God, might do +any thing; that could say to one another, that this was the Great +<span class="smcap">Jehovah</span>, <i>that brought them out of the Land of Egypt</i>; and that within +so few Days after God’s miraculous Appearance to them, and for them; I +say, such a People were really fitted to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> imposed upon, nothing could +be too gross for them.</p> + +<p>This was indeed his first considerable Experiment upon them as <i>a +People</i>, or <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'a as Body'">as <i>a Body</i></ins>; and the Truth is, his Affairs requir’d it, for +<i>Satan</i>, who had been a Successful Devil in most of his Attempts upon +Mankind, could hardly doubt of Success in any thing after he had carried +his Point at Mount <i>Sinai</i>: To bring them to Idolatry in the very Face +of their Deliverer, and just after their Deliverance! It was more +astonishing in the main than even their passing <i>the Red Sea</i>: In a +Word, the <i>Devil</i>’s whole History does not furnish us with a Story +equally surprising.</p> + +<p>And how was poor <i>Aaron</i> bewilder’d in it too? He that was <i>Moses</i>’s +Partner in all the great Things that <i>Moses</i> did in <i>Pharaoh</i>’s Sight, +and that was appointed to be his Assistant and Oracle, <i>or Orator +rather</i>, upon all public Occasions; that he, above all the rest, should +come into this absurd and ridiculous Proposal, he that was singled out +for the sacred Priesthood, for him to defile his holy Hands with a +polluted abominable Sacrifice, and with making the Idol for them too, +(for ’tis plain that he made it,) how monstrous it was!</p> + +<p>And see what an Answer he gives to his Brother <i>Moses</i>, how weak! how +simple! <i>I did so and so, indeed</i>, I bad them bring the Ear-rings, <i>&c.</i> +and I cast the Gold into the Fire, and <i>it came out this Calf</i>. +Ridiculous! as if the Calf came out by meer fortuitous Adventure, +without a Mould to cast it in; which could not be supposed: And if it +had not come out so without a Mould, <i>Moses</i> would certainly have known +of it; had <i>Aaron</i> been innocent, he would have answered after quite +another manner, and told <i>Moses</i> honestly that the whole Body of the +People came to him in a Fright, that they forced him to make them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> an +Idol; which he did, by making first a proper Mould to cast it in, and +then taking the proper Metal to cast it from: That indeed he had sinn’d +in so doing, but that he was mobb’d into it, and the People terrified +him, perhaps they threatned to kill him; and if he had added, that the +<i>Devil</i> prompting his Fear beguil’d him, he had said nothing but what +was certainly true; for if it was in Satan’s Power to make the People +insolent and outrageous enough to threaten and bully the old venerable +Prophet (<i>for he was not yet a Priest</i>) who was the Brother of their +Oracle <i>Moses</i>, and had been Partner with him in so many of his +Commissions; I say, if he cou’d bring up the Passions of the People to a +Height to be rude and unmannerly to him (<i>Aaron</i>) and perhaps to +threaten and insult him, he may be easily suppos’d to be able to +intimidate <i>Aaron</i>, and terrify him into a Compliance.</p> + +<p>See this cunning Agent, when he has Man’s Destruction in his View, how +securely he acts! he never wants a handle; the best of Men have one weak +place or other, and he always finds it out, takes the Advantage of it, +and conquers them by one Artifice or another; only take it with you as +you go, ’tis always <i>by Stratagem</i>, never <i>by Force</i>; a Proof that he is +not empower’d to use Violence: He may tempt, and he does prevail; but +’tis all <i>Legerdemain</i>, ’tis all Craft and Artifice, he is still Διαβολὴ, +the <i>Calumniator</i> and Deceiver, that is, the Misrepresenter; +he misrepresents <i>Man</i> to <span class="smcap">God</span>, and misrepresents <span class="smcap">God</span> to <i>Man</i>, also he +misrepresents Things; he puts false Colours, and then manages the Eye to +see them with an imperfect View, raising Clouds and Fogs to intercept +our Sight; in short, he deceives all our Senses, and imposes upon us in +Things which otherwise would be the easiest to discern and judge of.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>This indeed is in part the Benefit of the <i>Devil</i>’s History, to let us +see that he has used the same Method all along; and that ever since he +has had any thing to do with Mankind, he has practis’d upon them with +Stratagem and Cunning; also ’tis observable that he has carried his +Point better that way than he would have done by Fury and Violence, if +he had been allowed to make use of it; for by his Power indeed he might +have laid the World desolate, and made a Heap of Rubbish of it long ago; +but, as I have observed before, that would not have answered his Ends +half so well, for by destroying Men he would have made Martyrs, and sent +abundance of good Men to Heaven, who would much rather have died, than +yielded to serve him, and, as he aimed to have it, to fall down and +worship him; I say, he would have made Martyrs, and that not a few: But +this was none of <i>Satan</i>’s Business; his Design lies quite another Way; +his Business is to make Men <i>sin</i>, not to make them <i>suffer</i>; to make +<i>Devils</i> of them, not <i>Saints</i>; to delude them, and draw them away from +their Maker, not send them away to him; and therefore he works by +Stratagem, not by Force.</p> + +<p>We are now come to his Story, as it relates to the <i>Jewish</i> Church in +the Wilderness, and to the Children of <i>Israel</i> in their travelling +Circumstances; and this was the first Scene of publick Management that +the Devil had upon his Hands in the World; for, as I have said, <i>till +now</i>, he dealt with Mankind either in their separate Condition, one by +one, or else carried all before him, engrossing whole Nations in his +Systems of Idolatry, and overwhelming them in an ignorant Destruction.</p> + +<p>But having now a whole People as it were snatch’d away from him, taken +out of his Government, and, which was still worse, having a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> View of a +Kingdom being set up independent of him, and superior to his Authority, +it is not to be wondred at if he endeavour’d to overthrow them in the +Infancy of their Constitution, and tried all possible Arts to bring them +back into his own Hands again.</p> + +<p>He found them not only carried away from the Country where they were +even in his Clutches, surrounded with Idols, and where we have Reason to +believe the greatest part of them were polluted with the Idolatry of the +<i>Egyptians</i>; for we do not read of any stated Worship which they had of +their own, or if they did worship the true God, we scarce know in what +manner they did it; they had no Law given them, nothing but the Covenant +of Circumcision, and even <i>Moses</i> himself had not strictly observ’d +that, till he was frighted into it; we read of no Sacrifices among them, +no Feasts were ordain’d, no solemn Worship appointed, and how, or in +what manner they perform’d their Homage, we know not; the Passover was +not ordain’d till just at their coming away; so that there was not much +Religion among them, at least that we have any Account of; and we may +suppose the <i>Devil</i> was pretty easy with them all the while they were in +the House of their Bondage.</p> + +<p>But now, to have a Million of People fetch’d out of his Hands, as it +were all at once, and to have the immediate Power of Heaven engaged in +it, and that <i>Satan</i> saw evidently God had singled them out in a +miraculous manner to favour them, and call them <i>his own</i>; this allarm’d +him at once, and therefore he resolves to follow them, lay close Siege +to them, and take all the Measures possible to bring them to rebel +against, and disobey <span class="smcap">God</span>, that he might be provok’d to destroy them; and +how near he went to bring it to pass, we shall see presently.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>This making a Calf, and paying an idolatrous Worship to it (for they +acted the Heathens and Idolaters, not in the setting up the Calf only, +but in the manner of their Worshiping, <i>viz.</i> <i>Dancing</i> and <i>Musick</i>, +Things they had not been acquainted with in the Worship of the true God) +I mention here, to observe how the Devil not only imposed upon their +Principles, but upon their Senses too; as if the awful Majesty of +Heaven, whose Glory they had seen in Mount <i>Sinai</i>, where they stood, +and whose Pillar of Cloud and Fire was their Guide and Protection, would +be worship’d by dancing round a Calf! and that not a living Creature, or +a real Calf, but the mere Image of a <i>Calf</i> cast in Gold, or, as some +think, in Brass gilded over.</p> + +<p>But this was the <i>Devil</i>’s Way with Mankind, namely, to impose upon +their Senses, and bring them into the grossest Follies and Absurdities; +and then, having first made them Fools, it was much the easier to make +them Offenders.</p> + +<p>In this very manner he acted with them thro’ all the Course of their +Wilderness Travels; for as they were led by the Hand like Children, +defended by Omnipotence, fed by Miracles, instructed immediately from +Heaven, and in all things had <i>Moses</i> for their Guide; they had no room +to miscarry, but by acting the greatest Absurdities, and committing the +greatest Follies in Nature; and even these, the <i>Devil</i> brought them to +be guilty of, in a surprising manner: 1. As <span class="smcap">God</span> himself reliev’d them in +every Exigence, and supply’d them in every Want, one would think ’twas +impossible they should be ever brought to question either his +Willingness or his Ability, and yet they really objected against both; +which was indeed very provoking, and I doubt not, that when the <i>Devil</i> +had brought them to act<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> in such a preposterous Manner, he really hoped +and believed God would be provok’d effectually: The Testimonies of his +Care of them, and Ability to supply them, were miraculous and +undeniable; he gave them Water from the Rock, Bread from the Air, sent +the Fowls to feed them with Flesh, and supported them all the Way by +Miracles; their Health was preserv’d, none were sick among them, their +clothes did not wear out, nor their Shoes grow old upon their Feet; +could any thing be more absurd, than to doubt whether he could provide +for them who had never let them want for so many Years?</p> + +<p>But the <i>Devil</i> managed them in spight of Miracles; nor did he ever give +them over till he had brought six hundred thousand of them to provoke +God so highly that he would not suffer above two of them to go into the +Land of Promise; so that in short, Satan gained his Point as to that +Generation, for all their Carcasses fell in the Wilderness. Let us take +but a short View to what a Height he brought ’em, and in what a rude, +absurd Manner they acted; how he set them upon murmuring upon every +Occasion, now for Water, then for Bread; nay, they murmured <i>at their +Bread</i> when they had it; <i>Our Soul loaths this light Bread.</i></p> + +<p>He sow’d the Seeds of Church-Rebellion in the Sons of <i>Aaron</i>, and made +<i>Nadab</i> and <i>Abihu</i> offer strange Fire till they were strangely consumed +by Fire for the doing it.</p> + +<p>He set them a complaining at <i>Taberah</i>, and a lusting for Flesh at the +first three Days Journey from Mount <i>Sinai</i>.</p> + +<p>He planted Envy in the Hearts of <i>Miriam</i> and <i>Aaron</i>, against the +Authority of <i>Moses</i>, to pretend <span class="smcap">God</span> had spoke by them as well as by +him, till he humbled the Father, and made a Leper of the Daughter.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>He debauch’d ten of the Spies, frighted them with sham Appearances of +Things, when they went out to search the Land; and made them fright the +whole People out of their Understanding as well as Duty, for which six +hundred thousand of their Carcasses fell in the Wilderness.</p> + +<p>He rais’d the Rebellion of <i>Korah</i>, and the two hundred and fifty +Princes, till he brought them to be swallowed up alive.</p> + +<p>He put <i>Moses</i> into a Passion at <i>Meribah</i>, and ruffled the Temper of +the meekest Man upon Earth, by which he made both him and <i>Aaron</i> +forfeit their Share of the Promise, and be shut out from the <i>Holy +Land</i>.</p> + +<p>He rais’d a Mutiny among them when they travelled from Mount <i>Hor</i>, till +they brought fiery Serpents among them to destroy them.</p> + +<p>He tried to make <i>Baalim</i> the Prophet curse them, but there the <i>Devil</i> +was disappointed: However, he brought the <i>Midianites</i> to debauch them +with Women, as in the Case of <i>Zimri</i> and <i>Cosbi</i>.</p> + +<p>He tempted <i>Achan</i> with the Wedge of Gold, and the <i>Babylonish</i> Garment, +that he might take of the accursed thing, and be destroy’d.</p> + +<p>He tempted the whole People, not effectually to drive out the cursed +Inhabitants of the Land of Promise, that they might remain, and be Goads +in their Sides, till at last they often oppress’d them for their +Idolatry; and, which was worse, debauched them to Idolatry.</p> + +<p>He prompted the <i>Benjamites</i> to refuse Satisfaction to the People, in +the Case of the Wickedness of the Men of <i>Gibeah</i>, to the Destruction of +the whole Tribe, four hundred Men excepted in the Rock <i>Rimmon</i>.</p> + +<p>At last he tempted them to reject the Theocracy of their Maker, and call +upon <i>Samuel</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> to make them a King; and most of those Kings he made +Plagues and Sorrows to them in their time, as you shall hear in their +Order.</p> + +<p>Thus he plagued the whole Body of the People continually, making them +sin against God, and bring Judgments upon themselves, to the consuming +some Millions of them, first and last, by the Vengeance of their Maker.</p> + +<p>As he did with the whole Congregation, so he did with their Rulers, and +several of the Judges, who were made Instruments to deliver the People, +yet were drawn into snares by this <i>subtil Serpent</i>, to ruin themselves +or the People they had delivered.</p> + +<p>He tempted <i>Gideon</i> to make an <i>Ephod</i>, contrary to the Law of the +Tabernacle, and made the Children of <i>Israel</i> go a whoring (that is, a +worshiping) after it.</p> + +<p>He tempted <i>Sampson</i> to debauch himself with a Harlot, and betray his +own happy Secret to a Whore, at the Expence of both his Eyes, and at +last of his Life.</p> + +<p>He tempted <i>Eli</i>’s Sons to lie with the Women, in the very Doors of the +Tabernacle, when they came to bring their Offerings to the Priest; and +he tempted poor <i>Eli</i> to connive at them, or not sufficiently reprove +them.</p> + +<p>He tempted the People to carry the Ark of God into the Camp, that it +might fall into the Hands of the <i>Philistines</i>. And</p> + +<p>He tempted <i>Uzzi</i> to reach out his Hand to hold it up; as if he that had +preserved it in the House of <i>Dagon</i> the Idol of the <i>Philistines</i>, +could not keep it from falling out of the Cart.</p> + +<p>When the People had gotten a King, he immediately set to work in diverse +Ways to bring that King to load them with Plagues and Calamities not a +few.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>He tempted <i>Saul</i> +to spare the King of <i>Amaliek</i>, contrary to God’s express Command.</p> + +<p>He not tempted <i>Saul</i> only, but possessed him with an evil Spirit, by +which he was left to wayward Dispositions, and was forced to have it +fiddl’d out of him with a Minstrel.</p> + +<p>He tempted <i>Saul</i> with a Spirit of Discontent, and with a Spirit of Envy +at poor <i>David</i>, to hunt him like a Partridge upon the Mountains.</p> + +<p>He tempted <i>Saul</i> with a Spirit of Divination, and sent him to a Witch +to enquire of <i>Samuel</i> for him; as if God would help him when he was +dead, that had forsaken him when he was alive.</p> + +<p>After that, he tempted him to kill himself, on a Pretence that he might +not fall into the Hands of the Uncircumcised; as if <i>Self-Murther</i> was +not half so bad, either for Sin against God, or Disgrace among Men, as +being taken Prisoner by <i>a Philistine</i>! A Piece of Madness none but the +<i>Devil</i> could have brought Mankind to submit to, tho’ some Ages after +that, he made it a Fashion among the <i>Romans</i>.</p> + +<p>After <i>Saul</i> was dead, and <i>David</i> came to the Throne, by how much he +was a Man chosen and particularly savoured by Heaven, the <i>Devil</i> fell +upon him with the more Vigour, attack’d him so many Ways, and conquer’d +him so very often, that as no Man was so good a King, so hardly any good +King was ever a worse Man; in many Cases one would have almost thought +the <i>Devil</i> had made Sport with <i>David</i>, to shew how easily he could +overthrow the best Man <i>God</i> could choose of the whole Congregation.</p> + +<p>He made him distrust his Benefactor so much as to feign himself mad +before the King of <i>Gath</i>, when he had fled to him for Shelter.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>He made him march with his four hundred Cut-throats, to cut off poor +<i>Nabal</i>, and all his Houshold, only because he would not send him the +good Chear he had provided for his honest Sheep-shearers.</p> + +<p>He made him, for his Word’s sake, give <i>Ziba</i> half his Master’s Estate +for his Treachery, after he knew he had been the Traitor, and betray’d +poor <i>Mephibosheth</i> for the sake of it; in which</p> + +<p class="poem"> +‘The good old King, it seems, was very loth<br /> +‘To break his Word, and therefore broke his Oath.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Then he tempted him to the ridiculous Project of numbring the People, +tho’ against God’s express Command; a Thing <i>Joab</i> himself was not +wicked enough to do, till <i>David</i> and the <i>Devil</i> forc’d him to it.</p> + +<p>And to make him compleatly wicked, he carried him to the Top of his +House, and shew’d him a naked Lady bathing her self in her Garden, in +which it appear’d that the <i>Devil</i> knew <i>David</i> too well, and what was +the particular Sin of his Inclination; and so took him by the Right +Handle; drawing him at once into the Sins of <i>Murther</i> and <i>Adultery</i>.</p> + +<p>Then, that he might not quite give him over, (tho’ <i>David</i>’s Repentance +for the last Sin kept the <i>Devil</i> off for a while) when he could attack +him no farther personally he fell upon him in his Family, and made him +as miserable as he could desire him to be, in his Children, three of +whom he brought to Destruction before his Face, and another after his +Death.</p> + +<p>First, he tempted <i>Ammon</i> to ravish his Sister <i>Tamar</i>; so, there was an +End of her (<i>poor Girl!</i>) as to this World, for we never hear any more +of her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>Then he tempted <i>Absalom</i> to murther his Brother <i>Amnon</i>, in Revenge for +<i>Tamar</i>’s Maidenhead.</p> + +<p>Then he made <i>Joab</i> run <i>Absalom</i> thro’ the Body, contrary to <i>David</i>’s +Command.</p> + +<p>And after <i>David</i>’s Death he brought <i>Adonija</i> (weak Man!) to the Block, +for usurping King <i>Solomon</i>’s Throne.</p> + +<p>As to <i>Absalom</i>, he tempted him to Rebellion, and raising War against +his Father, to the turning him shamefully out of <i>Jerusalem</i>, and almost +out of the Kingdom.</p> + +<p>He tempted him, for <i>David</i>’s farther Mortification, to lie with his +Father’s Wives, in the Face of the whole City; and had <i>Achitophel</i>’s +honest Council been follow’d, he had certainly sent him to Sleep with +his Fathers, long before his time—But there <i>Satan</i> and <i>Achitophel</i> +were both out-witted together.</p> + +<p>Thro’ all the Reigns of the several Successors of <i>David</i>, the <i>Devil</i> +took care to carry on his own Game, to the continual insulting the +Measures which God himself had taken for the establishing his People in +the World, and especially as a Church; till at last he so effectually +debauch’d them to Idolatry; that Crime which of all others was most +provoking to <span class="smcap">God</span>, as it was carrying the People away from their +Allegiance, and transposing the Homage they ow’d God their Maker, to a +contemptible Block of Wood, or an Image of a brute Beast; and this how +sordid and brutish soever it was in it self, yet so did his Artifice +prevail among them, that, first or last, he brought them all into it, +the ten Tribes as well as the two Tribes; till at last God himself was +provoked to unchurch them, gave them up to their Enemies, and the few +that were left of them, after incredible Slaughters and Desolation, +were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> hurried away, some into <i>Tartary</i>, and others into <i>Babylon</i>, from +whence very few, of that few that were carried away, ever found their +Way Home again; and some, when they might have come, would not accept of +it, but continued there to the very coming of the Messiah. See Epistles +of St. <i>James</i> and of St. <i>Peter</i>, at the Beginning.</p> + +<p>But to look a little back upon this Part (for it cannot be omitted, it +makes so considerable a Part of the <i>Devil</i>’s History) I mean his +drawing God’s People, Kings and all, into all the Sins and Mischiefs +which gradually contributed to their Destruction.</p> + +<p>First, (<i>for he began immediately with the very best and wisest of the +Race</i>) he drew in King <i>Solomon</i>, in the midst of all his Zeal for the +building God’s House, and for the making the most glorious and +magnificent Appearance for God’s Worship that ever the World saw; I say, +in the middle of all this, he drew him into such immoderate and +insatiable an Appetite for Women, as to set up the first, and perhaps +the greatest <i>Seraglio</i> of Whores that ever any Prince in the World had, +or pretended to before; nay, and to bring whoring so much into +Reputation, that, as the Text says, seven hundred of them were +Princesses; that is to say, Ladies of Quality: Not as the Grand +Seigniors, and Great Moguls, (other Princes of the Eastern World) have +since practised, namely, to pick up their most beautiful Slaves; but +these, it seems, were Women of Rank, King’s Daughters, as <i>Pharaoh</i>’s +Daughter, and the Daughters of the Princes and prime Men among the +<i>Moabites</i>, <i>Ammonites</i>, <i>Zidonians</i>, <i>Hittites</i>, &c. 1 <i>Kings</i> xi. 1.</p> + +<p>Nor was this all; but as he drew him into the Love of these forbidden +Women (<i>for such they were, as to their Nation, as well as Number</i>) so +he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> ensnar’d him by those Women to a Familiarity with their Worship; and +by degrees brought that famous Prince (famous for his Wisdom) to be the +greatest and most-impos’d-upon old Fool in the World; Bowing down to +those Idols by the Inticing of his Whores, whom he had abhorr’d and +detested in his Youth, as dishonouring that God for whom, and for whose +Worship he had finish’d and dedicated the most magnificent Building and +Temple in the World: Nothing but the invincible Subtlety of this <i>Arch +Devil</i> could ever have brought such a Man as <i>Solomon</i> to such a +Degeneracy of Manners, and to such Meannesses; no, not the <i>Devil</i> +himself, without the Assistance of his Whores, nor the Whores +themselves, without the <i>Devil</i> to help them.</p> + +<p>As to <i>Solomon</i>, <i>Satan</i> had made Conquest enough there, we need hear no +more of him; the next Advance he made, was in the Person of his Son +<i>Rehoboam</i>; had not the <i>Devil</i> prompted his Pride and tyrannical +Humour, he would never have given the People such an Answer as he did; +and when he saw a Fellow at the Head of them too whom he knew wanted and +waited for an Occasion to raise a Rebellion, and had ripened up the +<ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Peoples'">People’s</ins> Humour to the Occasion: Well might the Text call it <i>listening +to the Council of the young Heads</i>; that it was indeed with a Vengeance! +but those young Heads too were acted by an old <i>Devil</i>, who for his +Craft is called, as I have observ’d, the <i>Old Serpent</i>.</p> + +<p>Having thus pav’d the Way, <i>Jeroboam</i> revolts. So far God had directed +him; for the Text says expressly, speaking in the first Person of <span class="smcap">God</span> +himself, <i>This Thing is of Me</i>.</p> + +<p>But tho’ God might appoint <i>Jeroboam</i> to be King, (that is to say, of +ten Tribes,) yet <span class="smcap">God</span> did not appoint him to set up the <i>two Calves</i> in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +the two extreme Parts of the Land, <i>viz.</i> in <i>Dan</i>, and in <i>Bethel</i>; +that was <i>Jeroboam</i>’s own doing, and done on purpose to keep the People +from falling back to <i>Rehoboam</i>, by being obliged to go to <i>Jerusalem</i> +to the publick Worship: And the Text adds, <i>Jeroboam made Israel to +sin</i>. This was indeed a Master-piece of the <i>Devil</i>’s Policy, and it was +effectual to answer the End, nothing could have been more to the +Purpose; what Reason he had to expect the People would so universally +come into it, and be so well satisfied with a couple of Calves, instead +of the true Worship of <span class="smcap">God</span> at <i>Jerusalem</i>; or what Arts and Management +he (<i>Satan</i>) made use of afterwards, to bring the People in, to join +with such a Delusion, that we find but little of in all the Annals of +<i>Satan</i>; not is it much to the Case: ’Tis certain the <i>Devil</i> found a +strange kind of Propensity to worshiping Idols rooted in the Temper of +that whole People, even from their first breaking away from the +<i>Egyptian</i> Bondage; so that he had nothing to do but to work upon the +old Stock, and propagate the Crime that he found was so natural to them. +And this is <i>Satan</i>’s general Way of working, not with them only, but +with us also, and with all the World, even then, and ever since.</p> + +<p>When he had thus secur’d <i>Jeroboam</i>’s Revolt, we need not trace him +among his Successors; for the same Reason of State that held for the +setting up the Calves at <i>Bethel</i> and <i>Dan</i>, held good for the keeping +them up, to all <i>Jeroboam</i>’s Posterity; nor had they one good King ever +after; even <i>Jehu</i>, who call’d his Friends to come and see his <i>Zeal for +the Lord</i>, and who fulfill’d the Threatnings of God upon <i>Ahab</i> and his +Family, and upon Queen <i>Jezabel</i> and her Offspring, and knew all the +while that he was executing the Judgment of the true God upon an +idolatrous Race; yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> he would not part with his Calves, but would have +thought it to have been parting with his Kingdom, and that as the People +would have gone up to <i>Jerusalem</i> to worship, so they would at the same +Time have transfer’d their civil Obedience to the King of <i>Judah</i>, +(whose Right it really was, as far as they could claim by Birth and +right Line); so that by the way, <i>Satan</i> any more than other +Politicians, is not for the <i>jus divinum</i> of lineal Succession, or what +we call hereditary Right, any farther than serves for his Purpose.</p> + +<p>Thus Satan ridded his Hands of ten of the twelve Tribes; let us now see +how he went on with the rest, for his Work was now brought into a +narrower Compass; the Church of God was now reduc’d to two Tribes, +except a few religious People, who separated from the Schism of +<i>Jeroboam</i>, and came and planted themselves among the Tribes of <i>Judah</i> +and <i>Benjamin</i>: The first thing the Devil did after this, was to foment +a War between the two Kings, while <i>Judah</i> was governed by a Boy or +Youth, <i>Abija</i> by Name, and he none of the best neither; but God’s Time +was not come, and the Devil receiv’d a great Disappointment; when +<i>Jeroboam</i> was so entirely overthrown; that if the Records of those Ages +do not mistake, no less than 500000 Men of <i>Israel</i> were kill’d, such a +Slaughter, that one would think the Army of <i>Judah</i>, had they known how +to improve as well as gain a Victory, might have brought all the rest +back again, and have intirely reduc’d the House of <i>Jeroboam</i> and the +ten Tribes that follow’d him to their Obedience; nay they did take a +great deal of the Country from them, and among the rest <i>Bethel</i> it +self; and yet so cunningly did <i>Satan</i> manage, that the King of <i>Judah</i>, +who was himself a wicked King, and perhaps an Idolater in his Heart, did +not take down the golden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> Calf that <i>Jeroboam</i> had there, no nor destroy +the Idolatry it self, so that in short, his Victory signified nothing.</p> + +<p>From hence to the Captivity, we find the <i>Devil</i> busy with the Kings of +<i>Judah</i>, especially the best of them; as for such as <i>Manasseth</i>, and +those who transgress’d by the general Tenor of their Lives, those he had +no great trouble with.</p> + +<p>But such as <i>Asa</i>, <i>Jehoshaphat</i>, <i>Hezekiah</i>, and <i>Josiah</i>, he hung +about them and their Courts, till he brought every one of them into some +Mischief or another.</p> + +<p>As first, good King <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Asia'"><i>Asa</i></ins>, of whom the Scripture says, his Heart was +perfect all his Days, yet this subtle Spirit, that could break in upon +him no where else, tempted him when the King of <i>Israel</i> came out +against him, to send to hire <i>Benhadad</i> the King of <i>Syria</i> to help him; +as if <span class="smcap">God</span> who had before enabled him to conquer the <i>Ethiopians</i>, with +an Army of ten hundred thousand Men, could not have saved him from the +King of the ten Tribes.</p> + +<p>In the same manner he tempted <i>Jehoshaphat</i> to join with that wicked +King <i>Ahab</i> against the King of <i>Syria</i>, and also to marry his Son to +<i>Ahab</i>’s Daughter, which was fatal to <i>Jehoshaphat</i>, and to his +Posterity.</p> + +<p><i>Again</i>, He tempted <i>Hezekiah</i> to shew all his Riches to the King of +<i>Babylon</i>’s Messengers; and who can doubt, but that he (<i>Satan</i>) is to +be understood by the wicked Spirit which stood before the Lord, 2 +<i>Chron.</i> xviii. 20. and offered his Service to entice <i>Ahab</i> the King of +<i>Israel</i> to come out to Battle to his Ruin, by being a lying Spirit in +the Mouths of all his Prophets; and who for that Time had a special +Commission, as he had another Time in the Case of <i>Job</i>? and indeed it +was a Commission fit for no body but the <i>Devil</i>: <i>Thou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> shalt entice</i> +him, <i>and thou shalt</i> also <i>prevail: Go out and do</i> even <i>so</i>, ℣ 21.</p> + +<p>Even good <i>Josiah</i> himself, of whom it is recorded, that <i>like him there +was no King before him</i>, <i>neither after him arose there any like him</i>, 2 +Kings xxiii. 26. yet the <i>Devil</i> never left him with his Machinations, +till finding he could not tempt him to any Thing wicked in his +Government, he tempted or mov’d him to a needless War with the King of +<i>Egypt</i>, in which he lost his Life.</p> + +<p>From the Death of this good King, the <i>Devil</i> prevail’d so with the +whole Nation of the <i>Jews</i>, and brought them to such an incorrigible +Pitch of Wickedness, that <i>God</i> gave them up, forsook his Habitation of +Glory, the Temple, which he suffer’d to be spoil’d first, then burnt and +demolish’d; destroying the whole Nation of the <i>Jews</i>, except a small +Number that were left, and those the Enemy carried away into Captivity.</p> + +<p>Nor was he satisfied with this general Destruction of the whole People +of <i>Israel</i>, for the ten Tribes were gone before; but he follow’d them +even into their Captivity; those that fled away to <i>Egypt</i>, which they +tell us were seventy thousand, he first corrupted, and then they were +destroyed there upon the Overthrow of <i>Egypt</i>, by the same King of +<i>Babylon</i>.</p> + +<p>Also he went very near to have them rooted out, young and old, Man, +Woman and Child, who were in Captivity in <i>Babylon</i>, by the Ministry of +that true Agent of Hell, <i>Haman</i> the <i>Agagite</i>; but there <i>Satan</i> met +with a Disappointment too, as in the Story of <i>Hester</i>, which was but +the fourth that he had met with, in all his Management since the +Creation; I say, there he was disappointed, and his prime Minister +<i>Haman</i> was exalted, as he deserv’d.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>Having thus far traced the Government and Dominion of the <i>Devil</i>, from +the Creation of Man to the Captivity; I think I may call upon him to set +up his Standard of universal Empire, at that Period; it seem’d just then +as if God had really forsaken the Earth, and given the entire Dominion +of Mankind up to his outrageous Enemy the <i>Devil</i>; for excepting the few +<i>Israelites</i> which were left in the Territories of the King of +<i>Babylon</i>, and they were but a few; I say, except among them, there was +not one Corner of the World left where the true God was call’d upon, or +his Dominion so much as acknowledg’d; all the World was buried in +Idolatry, and that of so many horrid Kinds, that one would think, the +Light of Reason should have convinc’d Mankind, that he who exacted such +bloody Sacrifices as that of <i>Moloch</i>, and such a bloody cutting +themselves with Knives, as the Priests of <i>Baal</i> did, could not be a +<span class="smcap">God</span>, a good and beneficent Being, but must be a cruel, voracious and +devouring Devil, whose End was not the Good, but the Destruction of his +Creatures: But to such a Height was the blind demented World arriv’d to +at that Time, that in these sordid and corrupt Ways, they went on +worshiping dumb Idols, and offering human Sacrifices to them, and in a +Word, committing all the most horrid and absurd Abominations that they +were capable of, or that the <i>Devil</i> could prompt them to, till Heaven +was again put, as it were, to the Necessity of bringing about a +Revolution, in favour of his own forsaken People, by Miracle and +Surprize, as he had done before.</p> + +<p>We come therefore to the Restoration or Return of the Captivity: Had +<i>Satan</i> been able to have acted any thing by Force, <i>as I have observ’d +before</i>, all the Princes and Powers of the World, having been, as they +really were, at his Devotion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> he might easily have made use of them, +arm’d all the World against the <i>Jews</i>, and prevented the Rebuilding the +Temple, and even the Return of the Captivity.</p> + +<p>But now the <i>Devil</i>’s Power manifestly received a Check, and the Hand of +God appear’d in it, and that he was resolv’d to reestablish his People +the <i>Jews</i>, and to have a second Temple built: the <i>Devil</i>, who knew the +Extent of his own Power too well, and what Limitations were laid upon +him, stood still as it were looking on, and not daring to oppose the +Return of the Captivity, which he very well knew had been prophesied, +and would come to pass.</p> + +<p>He did indeed make some little Opposition to the Building, and to the +fortifying the City, but as it was to no Purpose, so he was soon oblig’d +to give it over; and thus the Captivity being return’d, and the Temple +rebuilt, the People of the <i>Jews</i> encreased and multiplied to an infinite +Number and Strength; and from this Time we may say, the Power of the +<i>Devil</i> rather declin’d and decreas’d, than went on with Success, as it +had done before; It is true the <i>Jews</i> fell into Sects and Errors, and +Divisions of many Kinds, after the Return from the Captivity, and no +doubt the <i>Devil</i> had a great Hand in those Divisions; but he could +never bring them back to Idolatry, and his not being able to do that, +made him turn his Hand so many Ways to plague and oppress them; as +particularly by <i>Antiochus</i> the Great, who brought the Abomination of +Desolation into the holy Place; and there the Devil triumph’d over them +for some Time; but they were deliver’d many Ways, till at last they came +peaceably under the Protection rather than the Dominion of the <i>Roman</i> +Empire: When <i>Herod</i> the Great govern’d them as a King, and reedified, +nay almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> rebuilt their Temple, with so great an Expence and +Magnificence, that he made it, as some say, greater and more glorious +than that of <i>Solomon</i>’s, tho’ that I take to be a great —— Fable, to +say no worse of it.</p> + +<p>In this Condition the <i>Jewish</i> Church stood, when the Fullness of Time, +as ’tis call’d in Scripture, was come; and the <i>Devil</i> was kept at Bay, +tho’ he had made some Encroachments upon them as above; for there was a +glorious Remnant of Saints among <i>them</i>, such as old <i>Zacharias</i> the +Father of <i>John</i> the Baptist, and old <i>Simeon</i>, who waited for the +Salvation of <i>Israel</i>; I say, in this Condition the <i>Jewish</i> Church +stood when the <i>Messiah</i> came into the World, which was such another +mortal Stab to the Thrones and Principalities infernal, as that of which +I have spoken already in <a href="#Chap_III">Chap. III.</a> at the Creation of Man; and +therefore with this I break off the Antiquities of the <i>Devil</i>’s +History, or the antient Part of his Kingdom; for from hence downward we +shall find his Empire has declin’d gradually; and tho’ by his wonderful +Address, his prodigious Application, and the Vigilance and Fidelity of +his Instruments, as well human as infernal and diabolical, and of the +Human as well the Ecclesiastick as the Secular; he has many Times +retriev’d what he has lost, and sometimes bid fair for recovering the +universal Empire he once possess’d over Mankind; yet he has been still +defeated again, repulst and beaten back, and his Kingdom has greatly +declin’d in many Parts of the World; and especially in the Northern +Parts, except <i>Great Britain</i>; and how he has politically maintain’d his +Interest and encreased his Dominion among the wise and righteous +Generation that we cohabit with and among, will be the Subject of the +<i>modern</i> Part of <i>Satan</i>’s <i>History</i>, and of which we are next to give +an Account.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> +<p><a name="Chap_I.2" id="Chap_I.2"></a></p> + +<h1>PART II.<br />OF THE<br /><span class="smcap">Modern History</span><br />OF THE<br />DEVIL.</h1> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> I.</h2> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">I</span> have examined the Antiquities of Satan’s History in the former Part of +this Work, and brought his Affairs down from the Creation, as far as to +our blessed Christian Times; especially to the Coming of the <i>Messiah</i>, +when one would think the <i>Devil</i> could have nothing to do among us. I +have indeed but touch’d at some Things which might have admitted of a +farther Description of Satan’s Affairs, and the Particulars of which we +may all come to a farther Knowledge of hereafter; yet I think I have +spoken to the material Part of his Conduct, as it relates to his Empire +in this World: What has happen’d to his more sublimated Government, and +his Angelic Capacities, I shall have an Occasion to touch at in several +solid Particulars as we go along.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>The <i>Messiah</i> was now born, <i>the Fulness of Time was come</i>, that the old +Serpent was to have his <i>Head broken</i>, that is to say, his Empire or +Dominion over Man, which he gain’d by the Fall of our first Father and +Mother in <i>Paradise</i>, receiv’d a Downfal or Overthrow.</p> + +<p>It is worth observing, in order to confirm what I have already mention’d +of the Limitation of Satan’s Power, that not only his Angelic Strength +seems to have received a farther Blow upon the Coming of the Son of God +into the World, but he seems to have had a Blow upon his Intellects; his +Serpentine Craft and <i>Devil-like</i> Subtilty seems to have been +circumscrib’d and cut short; and instead of his being so cunning a +Fellow as before, when, <i>as I said</i>, ’tis evident he outwitted all +Mankind, not only <i>Eve</i>, <i>Cain</i>, <i>Noah</i>, <i>Lot</i>, and all the Patriarchs, +but even Nations of Men, and that in their publick Capacity; and thereby +led them into absurd and ridiculous Things, such as the Building of +<i>Babel</i>, and deifying and worshiping their Kings, when dead and rotten; +idolizing <i>Beasts</i>, <i>Stocks</i>, <i>Stones</i>, <i>any Thing</i>, and even <i>Nothing</i>; +and in a Word, when he manag’d Mankind just as he pleased.</p> + +<p>Now and from this Time forward he appeared a weak, foolish, ignorant +<i>Devil</i>, compar’d to what he was before; He was upon almost every +Occasion resisted, disappointed, baulk’d and defeated, especially in all +his Attempts to thwart or cross the Mission and Ministry of the +<i>Messiah</i>, while he was upon Earth, and sometimes upon other and very +mean Occasions too.</p> + +<p>And first, how foolish a Project was it, and how below Satan’s +celebrated Artifice in like Cases, to put <i>Herod</i> upon sending to kill +the poor innocent Children in <i>Bethlehem</i>, in hopes to destroy the +Infant? for I take it for granted, it was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> <i>Devil</i> put into +<i>Herod</i>’s Thoughts that Execution, how simple and foolish soever; now we +must allow him to be very ignorant of the Nativity himself, or else he +might easily have guided his Friend <i>Herod</i> to the Place where the +Infant was.</p> + +<p>This shews that <i>either</i> the <i>Devil</i> is in general ignorant as we are, +of what is to come in the World, before it is really come to pass; and +consequently can foretel nothing, no not so much as our famous old +<i>Merlin</i> or <i>Mother Shipton</i> did, <i>or else</i> that great Event was hid +from him by an immediate Power superior to his, which I cannot think +neither, considering how much he was concern’d in it, and how certainly +he knew that it was once to come to pass.</p> + +<p>But be that as it will, ’tis certain the <i>Devil</i> knew nothing where +Christ was born, or when; nor was he able to direct <i>Herod</i> to find him +out, and therefore put him upon that foolish, as well as cruel Order, to +kill all the Children, that he might be sure to destroy the <i>Messiah</i> +among the rest.</p> + +<p>The next simple Step that the <i>Devil</i> took, and indeed the most foolish +one that he could ever be charg’d with, unworthy the very Dignity of a +<i>Devil</i>, and below the Understanding that he always was allow’d to act +with, was that of coming to tempt the <i>Messiah</i> in the Wilderness; it is +certain, and he own’d it himself afterwards, upon many Occasions, that +the <i>Devil</i> knew our Saviour to be the Son of God; and ’tis as certain +that he knew, that <i>as such</i> he could have no Power or Advantage over +him; how foolish then was it in him to attack him in that Manner, <i>if +thou beest the Son of</i> <span class="smcap">God</span>? why he knew him to be the <i>Son of</i> <span class="smcap">God</span> well +enough; he said so afterwards, <i>I know thee who thou art, the holy One +of</i> <span class="smcap">God</span>; how then could he be so weak a Devil as to say, <i>if thou art</i>, +then do <i>so</i> and <i>so</i>?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>The Case +is plain, the <i>Devil</i>, tho’ he knew him to be the Son of <span class="smcap">God</span>, +did not fully know the Mystery of the Incarnation; nor did he know how +far the <i>Inanition</i> of Christ extended, and whether, <i>as Man</i>, he was +not subject to fall as <i>Adam</i> was, tho’ his reserv’d Godhead might be +still immaculate and pure; and upon this Foot, as he would leave no +Method untried, he attempts him three Times, one immediately after +another; but then, finding himself disappointed he fled.</p> + +<p>This evidently proves that the <i>Devil</i> was ignorant of the great Mystery +of Godliness, <i>as the Text calls it</i>, God manifest in the Flesh, and +therefore made that foolish Attempt upon Christ, thinking to have +conquer’d his human Nature as capable of Sin, which it was not; and at +this Repulse <i>Hell</i> groan’d, the whole Army of regimented <i>Devils</i> +receiv’d a Wound, and felt the Shock of it; ’twas a second Overthrow to +them, they had had a long Chain of Success, carried a <i>devilish</i> +Conquest over the greatest Part of the Creation of <span class="smcap">God</span>; but now they +were cut short, <i>the Seed of the Woman</i> was now come <i>to break the +Serpent’s Head</i>, that is, to cut short his Power, to contract the Limits +of his Kingdom, and in a Word, to dethrone him in the World: No doubt +the <i>Devil</i> receiv’d a Shock, for you find him always afterward, crying +out in a horrible Manner, whenever Christ met with him, or else very +humble and submissive, as when he begg’d leave to go into the Herd of +Swine, a Thing he has often done since.</p> + +<p>Defeated here, the first Stratagem I find him concern’d in after it, was +his entring into <i>Judas</i>, and putting him upon betraying Christ to the +Chief Priest; but here again he was entirely mistaken, for he did not +see, <i>as much a Devil as he was</i>, what the Event would be; but when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +came to know, that if Christ was put to Death, he would become a +Propitiatory and be the great Sacrifice of Mankind, so to rescue the +fallen Race from that Death they had incurr’d the Penalty of, by the +Fall, that this was the fulfilling of all Scripture Prophesy, and that +thus it was that Christ was to be <i>the End of the Law</i>, I say, as soon +as he perceiv’d this, he strove all he could to prevent it, and +disturb’d <i>Pilate</i>’s Wife in her Sleep, in order to set her upon her +Husband to hinder his delivering him up to the <i>Jews</i>; for then, and not +till then, he knew how Christ was to vanquish Hell by the Power of his +Cross.</p> + +<p>Thus the <i>Devil</i> was disappointed and exposed in every Step he took, and +as he now plainly saw his Kingdom declining, and even the temporal +Kingdom of Christ, rising up upon the Ruins of his (<i>Satan</i>’s) Power; he +seem’d to retreat into his own Region the Air, and to consult there with +his fellow <i>Devils</i>, what Measures he should take next to preserve his +Dominion among Men; Here it was that he resolv’d upon that truly hellish +Thing call’d Persecution, by which, <i>tho’ he prov’d a foolish Devil in +that too</i>, he flatter’d himself he should be able to destroy God’s +Church, and root out its Professors from the Earth, even almost as soon +as it was establish’d; whereas on the contrary, Heaven counter-acted him +there too, and tho’ he arm’d the whole <i>Roman</i> Empire against the +Christians, <i>that is say</i>, the whole World, and they were fallen upon +every where, with all the Fury and Rage of some of the most flaming +Tyrants that the World ever saw, of whom <i>Nero</i> was the first; yet in +spight of Hell, <span class="smcap">God</span> made all the Blood, which the Devil caus’d to be +spilt, to be <i>semen Ecclesiæ</i>, and the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> had the Mortification to +see, that the Number of Christians encreased even under the very Means +he made use<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> of to root them out and destroy them: This was the Case +thro’ the Reign of all the <i>Roman</i> Emperors, for the first three hundred +Years after Christ.</p> + +<p>Having thus tried all the Methods that best suited his Inclination, I +mean those of Blood and Death, complicated with Tortures and all Kinds +of Cruelty, and that for so long a Stage of Time as above; the <i>Devil</i> +all on a suddain, as if glutted with Blood, and satiated with +Destruction, sits still and becomes a peaceable Spectator for a good +while; as if he either found himself unable, or had no Disposition to +hinder the Progress of Christianity in the first Ages of its Settlement +in the World: In this interval the Christian Church was establish’d +under <i>Constantine</i>, Religion flourished in Peace, and under the most +perfect Tranquillity: The <i>Devil</i> seem’d to be at a Loss what he should +do next, and Things began to look as if Satan’s Kingdom was at an End; +but he soon let them see that he was the same indefatigable <i>Devil</i> that +ever he was, and the Prosperity of the Church gave him a large Field of +Action; for knowing the Disposition of Mankind to Quarrel and Dispute, +the universal Passion rooted in Nature, especially among the Church-Men +for Precedency and Dominion, he fell to work with them immediately; so +that turning the Tables, and reassuming the Subtilty and Craft, which, I +say, he seem’d to have lost in the former four hundred Years, he gain’d +more Ground in the next Ages of the Church, and went farther towards +restoring his Power and Empire in the World, and towards overthrowing +that very Church which was so lately establish’d, than all he had done +by Fire and Blood before.</p> + +<p>His Policy now seem’d to be edg’d with Resentment for the Mistakes he +had made; as if the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> Devil looking back with Anger at himself, to see +what a Fool he had been to expect to crush Religion by Persecution, +rejoyc’d for having discover’d that Liberty and Dominion was the only +way to ruin the Church, not Fire and Faggot; and that he had nothing to +do but to give the zealous People their utmost Liberty in Religion, only +sowing Error and Variety of Opinion among them, and they would bring +Fire and Faggot in fast enough among themselves.</p> + +<p>It must be confess’d these were devilish Politicks; and so sure was the +Aim, and so certain was the <i>Devil</i> to hit his Mark by them, that we +find he not only did not fail then, but the same hellish Methods have +prevail’d still, and will do so to the End of the World. Nor had the +Devil ever a better Game to play than this, for the Ruin of Religion, as +we shall have room to show in many Examples, besides that of the +Dissenters in <i>England</i>, who are evidently weaken’d by the late +Toleration: Whether the <i>Devil</i> had any hand in baiting his Hook with an +A— of Parliament or no, History is silent, but ’tis too evident he has +catch’d the Fish by it; and if the honest Church of <i>England</i> does not +in Pity and Christian Charity to the Dissenters, straighten her Hand a +little, I cannot but fear the <i>Devil</i> will gain his Point, and the +Dissenter will be undone by it.</p> + +<p>Upon this new foot of Politicks the <i>Devil</i> began with the Emperors +themselves: <i>Arius</i>, the Father of the Hereticks of that Age, having +broach’d his Opinions, and <i>Athanasius</i> the orthodox Bishop of the East +opposing him, the <i>Devil</i> no sooner saw the Door open to Strife and +Imposition, but he thrust himself in, and raising the Quarrel up to a +suited Degree of Rage and Spleen, he involv’d the good Emperor himself +in it first and <i>Athanasius</i> was banish’d and recall’d, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>banish’d +and recall’d again, several times, as Error ran high, and as the <i>Devil</i> +either got or lost Ground: After <i>Constantine</i>, the next Emperor was a +Child of his own, (<i>Arian</i>) and then the Court came all into the +Quarrel, as Courts often do, and then the <i>Arians</i> and the <i>Orthodox</i> +persecuted one another as furiously as the Pagans persecuted them all +before. To such a Height the <i>Devil</i> brought his Conquest in the very +Infancy of the Question, and so much did he prevail over the true +Christianity of the Primitive Church, even before they had enjoy’d the +Liberty of the pure Worship twenty Years.</p> + +<p>Flush’d with this Success, the <i>Devil</i> made one Push for the restoring +<i>Paganism</i>, and bringing on the old Worship of the Heathen Idols and +Temples; but like our King <i>James</i> II. he drove too hard, and <i>Julian</i> +had so provok’d the whole <i>Roman</i> Empire, which was generally at that +time become Christian, that had the Apostate liv’d, he would not have +been able to have held the Throne; and as he was cut off in his +Beginning, Paganism expir’d with him, and the <i>Devil</i> himself might have +cry’d out, as <i>Julian</i> did, and with much more Propriety, <i>Vicisti +Galileane</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Jovian</i>, the next Emperor, being a glorious Christian, and a very good +and great Man, the <i>Devil</i> abdicated for a while, and left the Christian +Armies to re-establish the Orthodox Faith; nor could he bring the +Christians to a Breach again among themselves a great while after.</p> + +<p>However, Time and a diligent <i>Devil</i> did the Work at last, and when the +Emperors concerning themselves one way or other, did not appear +sufficient to answer his End, he chang’d Hands again, and went to work +with the Clergy: To set the Doctors effectually together by the Ears, +he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> threw in the new Notion of <i>Primacy</i> among them, for a Bone of +Contention; the Bait took, the Priests swallow’d it eagerly down, and +the <i>Devil</i>, a cunninger Fisherman than ever St. <i>Peter</i> was, <i>struck +them</i> (as the Anglers call it) with a quick Hand, and hung them fast +upon the Hook.</p> + +<p>Having them thus in his Clutches, and they being now, as we may say, his +own, they took their Measures afterwards from him, and most obediently +follow’d his Directions; nay, I will not say but he may have had pretty +much the Management of the whole Society ever since, of what Profession +or Party soever they may have been, with Exception only to the Reverend +and Right Reverend among our selves.</p> + +<p>The Sacred, as above, being thus hook’d in, and the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> being at the +Head of their Affairs, Matters went on most gloriously his own way; +first, the Bishops fell to bandying and Party-making for the +Superiority, as heartily as ever Temporal Tyrants did for Dominion, and +took as black and devilish Methods to carry it on, as the worst of those +Tyrants ever had done before them.</p> + +<p>At last Satan declar’d for the <i>Roman</i> Pontiff, and that upon excellent +Conditions, in the Reign of the Emperor <i>Mauritius</i>; for <i>Boniface</i>, who +had long contended for the Title of Supreme, fell into a Treaty with +<i>Phocas</i>, Captain of the Emperor’s Guards; whether the Bargain was from +Hell or not, let any one judge, the Conditions absolutely entitle the +<i>Devil</i> to the Honour of making the Contract, <i>viz.</i> That <i>Phocas</i> first +murthering his Master (the Emperor) and his Sons, <i>Boniface</i> should +countenance the Treason, and declare him Emperor; and in Return, +<i>Phocas</i> should acknowledge the Primacy of the Church of <i>Rome</i>, and +declare <i>Boniface</i> universal Bishop.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> A blessed Compact! which at once +set the <i>Devil</i> at the Head of Affairs in the Christian World, as well +Spiritual as Temporal, Ecclesiastick and Civil. Since the Conquest over +<i>Eve</i> in Paradise, by which Death and the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>, Hand in Hand, +establish’d their first Empire upon Earth, the <i>Devil</i> never gain’d a +more important Point than he gain’d at this time.</p> + +<p>He had indeed prospered in his Affairs tolerably well for some time +before this, and his Interest among the Clergy had got Ground for some +Ages; but that was indeed a secret Management, was carried on privately, +and with Difficulty; as in sowing Discord and Faction among the People, +perplexing the Councils of their Princes, and secretly wheedling in with +the dignified Clergy.</p> + +<p>Also he had raised abundance of little Church-Rebellions, by setting up +Hereticks of several Kinds, and raising them Favourers among the Clergy, +such as <i>Ebion</i>, <i>Cerinthius</i>, <i>Pelagius</i>, and others.</p> + +<p>He had drawn in the Bishops of <i>Rome</i> to set up the ridiculous Pageantry +of the <span class="smcap">Key</span>; and while he, the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>, set open the Gates of Hell to +them all, set them upon locking up the Gates of Heaven, and giving the +Bishop the Key; a Cheat which, as gross as it was, the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> so gilded +over, or so blinded the Age to receive it, that like <i>Gideon’s Ephod</i>, +all the Catholick World went a whoring after the Idol; and the Bishop of +<i>Rome sent</i> more Fools to the <i>Devil</i> by it than ever he pretended to +let into Heaven, though he open’d the Door as wide as his Key was able +to do.</p> + +<p>The Story of this Key being given to the Bishop of <i>Rome</i> by St. +<i>Peter</i>, (who, by the way, never had it himself,) and of its being lost +by Somebody or other, (the <i>Devil</i> it seems did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> tell them who) and +its being found again by a <i>Lombard</i> Soldier in the Army of King +<i>Antharis</i>, who attempting to cut it with his Knife, was miraculously +forced to direct the Wound to himself, and cut his own Throat; that King +<i>Antharis</i> and his Nobles happened to see the Fellow do it, and were +converted to Christianity by it, and that the King sent the Key, with +another made like it, to Pope <i>Pelagius</i>, then Bishop of <i>Rome</i>, who +thereupon assum’d the Power of opening and shutting Heaven’s Gates; and +he afterwards setting a Price or Toll upon the Entrance, as we do here +at passing a Turn-pike; these fine things, I say, were successfully +managed for some Years before this I am now speaking of, and the Devil +got a great deal of Ground by it too; but now he triumph’d openly, and +having set up a Murtherer upon the temporal Throne, and a Church Emperor +upon the Ecclesiastic Throne, and both of his own choosing, the <i>Devil</i> +may be said to begin his new Kingdom from this Epocha, and call it the +<i>Restoration</i>.</p> + +<p>Since this time indeed the Devil’s Affairs went very merrily on, and the +Clergy brought so many Gewgaws into their Worship, and such devilish +Principles were mixt with that which we call’d the Christian Faith, that +in a Word, from this Time the Bishop of <i>Rome</i> commenc’d <i>Whore of +Babylon</i>, in all the most express Terms that could be imagin’d: Tyranny +of the worst sort crept into the Pontificate, Errors of all sorts into +the Profession, and they proceeded from one thing to another, till the +very Popes, for so the Bishop of <i>Rome</i> was now called, by way of +Distinction; I say, the Popes themselves, their spiritual Guides, +profess’d openly to confederate with the <i>Devil</i>, and to carry on a +personal and private Correspondence with him at the same time, taking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +upon them the Title of Christ’s Vicar, and the infallible Guide of the +Consciences of Christians.</p> + +<p>This we have sundry Instances of in some merry Popes, who, <i>if Fame lies +not</i>, were Sorcerers, Magicians, had familiar Spirits, and immediate +Conversation with the Devil, as well visibly as invisibly, and by this +means became what we call <i>Devils incarnate</i>: Upon this account it is +that I have left the Conversation that passes between <i>Devils and Men</i> +to this Place, as well because I believe it differs much now in his +modern State, from what it was in his ancient State, and therefore that +which most concerns us belongs rather to this part of his History; as +also because, as I am now writing to the present Age, I choose to bring +the most significant Parts of his History, especially as they relate to +our selves, into that Part of Time that we are most concern’d in.</p> + +<p>The <i>Devil</i> had once, as I observ’d before, the universal Monarchy or +Government of Mankind in himself, and I doubt not but in that +flourishing State of his Affairs, he governed them like what he is +(<i>viz.</i>) an absolute Tyrant; during this <i>Theocracy</i> of his, <i>for</i> Satan +<i>is call’d the God of this World</i>, he did not familiarize himself to +Mankind so much, as he finds Occasion to do now, there was not then so +much need of it; he governed then with an absolute Sway; he had his +Oracles, where he gave Audience to his Votaries like a Deity, and he had +his Sub-Gods, who under his several Dispositions receiv’d the Homage of +Mankind in their Names; such were all the Rabble of the Heathen Deities, +from <i>Jupiter</i> the Supreme, to the <i>Lares</i> or Houshold Gods of every +Family; these, I say, like Residents, received the Prostrations, but the +Homage was all Satan’s; the Devil had the Substance of it all, which was +the Idolatry.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>During this Administration of <i>Hell</i>, there was less Witchcraft, less +true literal Magick than there has been since; there was indeed no need +of it, the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> did not stoop to the Mechanism of his more modern +Operations, but rul’d as a Deity, and receiv’d the Vows and the Bows of +his Subjects in more State, and with more Solemnity; whereas since that, +he is content to employ more Agents and take more Pains himself too; now +he runs up and down Hackney in the World, more like a Drudge than a +Prince, and much more than he did then.</p> + +<p>Hence all those Things we call Apparitions and Visions of Ghosts, +Familiar-Spirits and Dealings with the Devil, of which there is so great +a Variety in the World at this Time, were not so much known among the +People, in those first Ages of the Devil’s Kingdom; <i>in a Word</i>, the +Devil seems to be put to his Shifts, and to fly to Art and Stratagem for +the carrying on his Affairs, much more now than he did then.</p> + +<p>One Reason for this may be, that he has been more discover’d and expos’d +in these Ages, than he was before; then he could appear in the World in +his own proper Shapes, and yet not be known; when the Sons of <span class="smcap">God</span> +appear’d at the divine Summons, Satan came along with them; but now he +has plaid so many scurvy Tricks upon Men, and they know him so well, +that he is oblig’d to play quite out of sight and act in disguise; +Mankind will allow nothing of his doing, and hear nothing of his saying, +in his own Name; and if you propose any Thing to be done, and it be but +said the <i>Devil</i> is to help in the doing it, or if you say of any Man he +deals with the <i>Devil</i>, or the <i>Devil</i> has a Hand in it, every Body +flies him and shuns him, as the most frightful Thing in the World.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>Nay, if any Thing strange and improbable be done or related to be done, +we presently say the <i>Devil</i> was at the doing it: Thus the great Ditch +at <i>Newmarket Heath</i>, is call’d the <i>Devil</i>’s <i>Ditch</i>; so the <i>Devil</i> +built <i>Crowland</i> Abby, and the Whispering-Place in <i>Gloucester</i> +Cathedral; nay, the Cave at <i>Castleton</i>, only because there’s no getting +to the farther End of it, is call’d the <i>Devil</i>’s A—— and the like: +The poor People of <i>Wiltshire</i>, when you ask them how the great Stones +at <i>Stonehenge</i> were brought thither? they’ll all tell you the <i>Devil</i> +brought them: If any Mischief extraordinary befalls us, we presently say +the <i>Devil</i> was in it, and the <i>Devil</i> would have it so; in a Word, the +<i>Devil</i> has got an ill Name among us, and so he is fain to act more <i>in +Tenebris</i>, more <i>incog.</i> than he used to do, play out of sight himself, +and work by the Sap, as the Engineers call it, and not openly and +avowedly in his own Name and Person, as formerly, tho’ perhaps not with +less Success than he did before; and this leads me to enquire more +narrowly into the manner of the <i>Devil</i>’s Management of his Affairs +since the Christian Religion began to spread in the World, which +manifestly differs from his Conduct in more antient Times; in which if +we discover some of the most consummate Fool’s Policy, the most profound +simple Craft, and the most subtle shallow Management of Things that can +by our weak Understandings be conceiv’d, we must only resolve it into +this, that in short it is the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chap_II.2" id="Chap_II.2"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> II.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of Hell as it is represented to us, and how the</i> Devil <i>is to be +understood, as being personally in Hell, when at the same Time we +find him at Liberty ranging over the World.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">It</span> is true, as that learn’d and pleasant Author, the inimitable Dr. +<i>Brown</i> says, the <i>Devil</i> is his own Hell; one of the most constituting +Parts of his Infelicity is, that he cannot act upon Mankind <i>brevi +Manu</i>, by his own inherent Power, as well as Rage; that he cannot +unhinge this Creation, which, <i>as I have observ’d in its Place</i>, he had +the utmost Aversion to from its Beginning, as it was a stated Design in +the Creator to supply his Place in Heaven with a new Species of <i>Beings</i> +call’d <i>Man</i>, and fill the Vacancies occasion’d by his Degeneracy and +Rebellion.</p> + +<p>This fill’d him with Rage inexpressible, and horrible Resolutions of +Revenge, and the Impossibility of executing those Resolutions torments +him with Despair; this added to what he was before, makes him a compleat +<i>Devil</i>, with a Hell in his own Breast, and a Fire unquenchable burning +about his Heart.</p> + +<p>I might enlarge here, and very much to the Purpose, in describing +spherically and mathematically that exquisite Quality call’d <i>a devilish +Spirit</i>, in which it would naturally occur to give you a whole Chapter +upon the glorious Articles of <i>Malice</i> and <i>Envy</i>, and especially upon +that luscious, delightful, triumphant Passion call’d <span class="smcap">Revenge</span>; how +natural to Man, nay even to both Sexes; how pleasant in the very +Contemplation, tho’<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> there be not just at that Time a Power of +Execution; how palatable it is in it self, and how well it relishes when +dish’d up with its proper Sauces, such as Plot, Contrivance, Scheme, and +Confederacy, all leading on to Execution: How it possesses a human Soul +in all the most sensible Parts; how it empowers Mankind to sin in +Imagination, as effectually to all future Intents and Purposes +(Damnation) as if he had sinned actually: How safe a Practice it is too, +as to Punishment in this Life, namely, that it empowers us to cut +Throats clear of the Gallows, to slander Virtue, reproach Innocence, +wound Honour and stab Reputation; and in a Word, to do all the wicked +Things in the World, out of the Reach of the Law.</p> + +<p>It would also require some few Words to describe the secret Operations +of those nice Qualities when they reach the human Soul; how effectually +they form a Hell within us, and how imperceptibly they assimilate and +transform us into <i>Devils</i>, meer human Devils, as really <i>Devils</i> as +Satan himself, or any of his Angels; and that therefore ’tis not so much +out of the Way, as some imagine, to say, such a Man is an <i>incarnate</i> +Devil; for as Crime made Satan a <i>Devil</i>, who was before a bright +immortal Seraph, or Angel of Light; how much more easily may the same +Crime make <i>the same</i> <span class="smcap">Devil</span>, tho’ every Way meaner and more +contemptible, <i>of a Man or</i> a Woman either? But this is too grave a +Subject for me at this Time.</p> + +<p>The <i>Devil</i> being thus, I say, fir’d with Rage and Envy, in consequence +of his Jealousy upon the Creation of Man, his Torment is encreased to +the highest by the Limitation of his Power, and his being forbid to act +against Mankind by Force of Arms; this is, I say, part of his <i>Hell</i>, +which, as above, is within him, and which he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> carries with him wherever +he goes; nor is it so difficult to conceive of <i>Hell</i>, or of the +<i>Devil</i>, either under this just Description, as it is by all the usual +Notions that we are taught to entertain of them, by (the old Women) our +Instructors; for every Man may, by taking but a common View of himself, +and making a just Scrutiny into his own Passions, on some of their +particular Excursions, see a <i>Hell</i> within himself, and himself a meer +<i>Devil</i> as long as the Inflammation lasts; and that as really, and to +all Intents and Purposes, as if he had the Angel (<i>Satan</i>) before his +Face, in his Locality and Personality; that is to say, all Devil and +Monster in his Person, and an immaterial but intense Fire flaming about +and from within him, at all the Pores of his Body.</p> + +<p>The Notions we receive of the Devil, <i>as a Person</i> being in Hell <i>as a +Place</i>, are infinitely absurd and ridiculous; the first we are certain +is not true in Fact, because he has a certain Liberty, (<i>however +limited</i> that is not to the Purpose) is daily visible, and to be trac’d +in his several Attacks upon Mankind, and has been so ever since his +first Appearance in <i>Paradise</i>; as to his corporal Visibility that is +not the present Question neither; ’tis enough that we can hunt him by +the Foot, that we can follow him as Hounds do a Fox upon a hot Scent: We +can see him as plainly by the Effect, by the Mischief he does, and more +by the Mischief he puts us upon doing, <i>I say</i>, as plainly, as if we saw +him by the Eye.</p> + +<p>It is not to be doubted but the <i>Devil</i> can see us when and where we +cannot see him: and as he has a Personality, tho’ it be spirituous, he +and his Angels too may be reasonably supposed to inhabit the World of +Spirits, and to have free Access from thence to the Regions of Life, and +to pass and repass in the Air, as really, tho’ not perceptible to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> us, +as the Spirits of Men do after their release from the Body, pass to the +Place (wherever that is) which is appointed for them.</p> + +<p>If the <i>Devil</i> was confin’d to a Place (<i>Hell</i>) as a Prison, he could +then have no Business here; and if we pretend to describe <i>Hell</i>, as not +a Prison, but that the Devil has Liberty to be there, or not be there as +he pleased, then he would certainly never be there, or <i>Hell</i> is not +such a Place as we are taught to understand it to be.</p> + +<p>Indeed according to some, <i>Hell</i> should be a Place of Fire and Torment +to the Souls that are cast into it, but not to the <i>Devils</i> themselves; +who we make little more or less than keepers and Turnkeys to Hell, as a +Goal; that they are sent about to bring Souls thither, lock them in when +they come, and then away upon the Scent to fetch more: That one Sort of +<i>Devils</i> are made to live in the World among Men, and to be busy +continually debauching and deluding Mankind bringing them as it were to +the Gates of <i>Hell</i>; and then another Sort are Porters and Carriers to +fetch them in.</p> + +<p>This is, <i>in short</i>, little more or less than the old Story of <i>Pluto</i>, +of <i>Cerberus</i>, and of <i>Charon</i>; only that our Tale is not half so well +told, nor the Parts of the Fable so well laid together.</p> + +<p>In all these Notions of <i>Hell</i> and <i>Devil</i>, the Torments of the first, +and the Agency of the last Tormenting, we meet with not one Word of the +main and perhaps only Accent of Horror, which belongs to us to judge of +about Hell, I mean the Absence of Heaven; Expulsion, and Exclusion from +the Presence and Face of the chief Ultimate, the only eternal and +sufficient Good; and this loss sustain’d by a sordid Neglect of our +Concern in that excellent Part, in exchange for the most contemptible +and justly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> condemn’d Trifles, and all this eternal and irrecoverable: +These People tell us nothing of the eternal Reproaches of Conscience, +the Horror of Desperation, and the Anguish of a Mind hopeless of ever +seeing the Glory, which alone constitutes Heaven, and which makes all +other Places dreadful, and even Darkness it self.</p> + +<p>And this brings me directly to the Point in Hand, (<i>viz.</i>) the State of +that Hell which we ought to have in view when we speak of the <i>Devil</i> as +<i>in Hell</i>: This is the very Hell, which is the Torment of the <i>Devil</i>; +in short, the <i>Devil</i> is in <span class="smcap">Hell</span>, and <span class="smcap">Hell</span> is in the <i>Devil</i>; he is +fill’d with this unquenchable Fire, he is expel’d the Place of Glory, +banish’d from the Regions of Light, Absence from the Life of all +Beatitude is his Curse, Despair is the reigning Passion in his Mind, and +all the little Constituent Parts of his Torment, such as Rage, Envy, +Malice, and Jealousy are consolidated in this, to make his Misery +compleat, (<i>viz.</i>) the Duration of it all, the Eternity of his +Condition; that he is without Hope, without Redemption, without +Recovery.</p> + +<p>If any thing can inflame this <i>Hell</i> and make it hotter, ’tis this only, +and this does add an inexpressible Horror to the Devil himself; +<i>namely</i>, the seeing Man (the only Creature he hates) placed in a State +of Recovery, a glorious Establishment of Redemption form’d for him in +Heaven, and the Scheme of it perfected on Earth; by which <i>this Man</i>, +tho’ even the <i>Devil</i> by his Art may have deluded him, and drawn him +into Crime, is yet in a State of Recovery, which the Devil is not; and +that it is not in his (<i>Satan</i>’s) Power to prevent it: Now take the +Devil as he is in his own Nature Angelic, a bright immortal Seraph, +Heaven-born, and having tasted the eternal Beatitude, which these are +appointed to enjoy; the Loss of that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> State to himself, the Possession +of it granted to his Rival tho’ wicked like and as himself; I say, take +the Devil as he is, having a quick Sense of his own Perdition, and a +stinging Sight of his Rival’s Felicity, ’tis <i>Hell enough</i>, and more +than enough, even for an Angel to support; nothing we can conceive can +be worse.</p> + +<p>As to any other Fire than this, such and so immaterially intense as to +Torment a Spirit, which is it self Fire also; I will not say it cannot +be, because to Infinite every Thing is possible, but I must say, I +cannot conceive rightly of it.</p> + +<p>I will not enter here into the Wisdom or Reasonableness of representing +the Torments of Hell to be Fire, and that Fire to be a Commixture of +<i>Flame</i> and <i>Sulphur</i>; it has pleased God to let the Horror of those +eternal Agonies about <i>a lost Heaven</i>, be laid before us by those +Similitudes or Allegories, which are most moving to our Senses and to +our Understandings; nor will I dispute the Possibility; much less will I +doubt but that there is to be a Consummation of Misery to all the +Objects of Misery when the <i>Devil</i>’s Kingdom in this World ending with +the World it self, that Liberty he has now may be farther abridg’d; when +he may be return’d to the same State he was in between the Time of his +Fall and the Creation of the World; with perhaps some additional +Vengeance on him, such as at present we cannot describe, for all that +Treason and those high Crimes and Misdemeanours which he has been guilty +of here, in his Conversation with Mankind.</p> + +<p>As his Infelicity will be then consummated and compleated, so the +Infelicity of that Part of Mankind, who are condemn’d with him, may +receive a considerable Addition from those Words in their Sentence, to +be tormented <i>with the Devil and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> Angels</i>; for as the Absence of the +Supreme Good is a compleat Hell, so the hated Company of the Deceiver, +who was the great Cause of his Ruine, must be a Subject of additional +Horror, and he will be always saying, as a <i>Scots</i> Gentleman, who died +of his Excesses, said to the famous Dr. <i>P——</i>, who came to see him on +his Death-bed, but had been too much his Companion in his Life,</p> + +<p class="poem"><i>O tu fundamenta jecisti———</i></p> + +<p> </p> +<p>I would not treat the very Subject it self with any Indecency, nor do I +think my Opinion of that <i>Hell</i>, which I say consists in the Absence of +him, in whom is Heaven, one Jot less Solemn than theirs who believe it +all <i>Fire</i> and <i>Brimstone</i>; but I must own, that to me nothing can be +more ridiculous than the Notions that we entertain and fill our Heads +with about <i>Hell</i>, and about the <i>Devil</i>’s being there tormenting of +Souls, broiling them upon Gridirons, hanging them up upon Hooks, +carrying them upon their Backs, and the like, with the several Pictures +of <i>Hell</i>, represented by a great Mouth with horrible Teeth, gaping like +a Cave on the Sides of a Mountain; suppose that appropriated to <i>Satan</i> +in the <i>Peak</i>, which indeed is not much unlike it, with a Stream of Fire +coming out of it, as there is of Water, and smaller Devils going and +coming continually in and out, to fetch and carry Souls the Lord knows +whither, and for the Lord knows what.</p> + +<p>These Things, however intended for Terror, are indeed so ridiculous, +that the <i>Devil</i> himself, to be sure, mocks at them, and a Man of Sense +can hardly refrain doing the like, only I avoid it, because I would not +give offence to weaker Heads.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>However, I must not Compliment the Brains of other Men, at the Expence +of my own, or talk Nonsense because they can understand no other; I +think all these Notions and Representations of <i>Hell</i> and of the +<i>Devil</i>, to be as prophane as they are ridiculous, and I ought no more +to talk prophanely than merrily of them.</p> + +<p>Let us learn to talk of these Things then, as we should do; and as we +really cannot describe them to our Reason and Understanding, why should +we describe them to our Senses; we had, I think, much better not +describe them at all, that is to say, not attempt it: The blessed +Apostle St. <i>Paul</i> was, as he said himself, carried up, or caught up +into the <i>third Heaven</i>, yet when he came down again, he could neither +tell what he heard or describe what he <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'was'">saw</ins>; all he could say of it was, +that what he heard was <i>inutterable</i>, and what he saw was +<i>inconceivable</i>.</p> + +<p>It is the same thing as to the State of the <i>Devil</i> in those Regions +which he now possesses, and where he now more particularly inhabits; my +present Business then is not to enter into those grave Things so as to +make them ridiculous, as I think most People do that talk of them; but +as the <i>Devil</i>, let his Residence be where it will, has evidently free +Leave to come and go, not into this World only; (<i>I mean, the Region of +our Atmosphere</i>,) but for ought we know, to all the other inhabited +Worlds which God has made, where-ever they are, and by whatsoever Names +they are or may be known or distinguished; for if he is not confined in +one Place, we have no Reason to believe he is excluded from any Place, +Heaven only excepted, from whence he was expell’d for his Treason and +Rebellion.</p> + +<p>His Liberty then being thus ascertain’d, three Things seem to be +material for us to give an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> Account of, +in order to form this Part of his History.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. What his Business is on this Globe of Earth which we vulgarly +call the World, how he acts among us, what Affairs Mankind and he +have together, and how far his Conduct here relates to Us, and Ours +is, or may be influenc’d by him.</p> + +<p>2. Where his Principal Residence is, and whether he has not a +particular Empire of his own, to which he retreats upon proper +Occasions; where he entertains his Friends when they come under his +particular Administration; and where, when he gets any Victory over +his Enemies, he carries his Prisoners of War.</p> + +<p>3. What may probably be the great Business this black Emperor has +at present upon his Hands, either in this World or out of it, and +by what Agents he works.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>As these Things may perhaps run promiscuously thro’ the Course of this +whole Work, and frequently be touch’d at under other Branches of the +<i>Devil</i>’s History, so I do not propose them as Heads of Chapters or +Particular Sections, for the Order of Discourse to be handled apart; for +(by the way) as Satan’s Actings have not been the most regular Things in +the World, so in our Discourse about him, it must not be expected that +we can always tie our selves down to Order and Regularity, either as to +Time, or Place, or Persons; for Satan being <i>hic & ubique</i>, a loose +ungovern’d Fellow, we must be content to trace him where we can find him.</p> + +<p>It is true, in the foregoing Chapter, I shew’d you the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> entred into +the Herd Ecclesiastick,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> and gave you some Account of the first +successful Step he took with Mankind since the Christian Epocha; how +having secretly managed both Temporal and Spiritual Power apart, and by +themselves, he now united them in Point of Management, and brought the +Church Usurpation and the Army’s Usurpation together; the Pope to bless +the General in deposing and murthering his Master the Emperor; and the +General to recognise the Pope in dethroning his Master Christ Jesus.</p> + +<p>From this time forward you are to allow the <i>Devil</i> a mystical Empire in +this World; not an Action of Moment done without him, not a Treason but +he has a Hand in it, not a Tyrant but he prompts him, not a Government +but he has a —— in it; not a Fool but he tickles him, not a Knave but +he guides him; he has a Finger in every Fraud, a Key to every Cabinet, +from the <i>Divan</i> at <i>Constantinople</i>, to the <i>Mississipi</i> in <i>France</i>, +and to the <i>South-Sea</i> Cheats at ———; from the first Attack upon the +Christian World, in the Person of the <i>Romish</i> Antichrist, down to the +Bull <i>Unigenitus</i>; and from the Mixture of St. <i>Peter</i> and <i>Confucius</i> +in <i>China</i>, to the Holy Office in <i>Spain</i>; and down to the <i>Emlins</i> and +<i>Dodwells</i> of the current Age.</p> + +<p>How he has managed, and does manage, and how in all Probability he will +manage till his Kingdom shall come to a Period, and how at last he will +probably be managed himself, <i>Enquire within, and you shall know +farther</i>.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chap_III.2" id="Chap_III.2"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> III.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the Manner of</i> Satan<i>’s acting and carrying on his Affairs in +this World, and particularly of his ordinary Workings in the dark, +by</i> Possession <i>and</i> Agitation.</p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">The</span> Devil being thus reduc’d to act upon Mankind by Stratagem only, it +remains to enquire how he performs, and which way he directs his +Attacks; the Faculties of Man are a kind of a Garrison in a strong +Castle, which as they defend it on the one hand under the Command of the +reasoning Power of Man’s Soul, so they are prescribed on the other hand, +and can’t sally out without Leave; for the Governor of a Fort does not +permit his Soldiers to hold any Correspondence with the Enemy, without +special Order and Direction. Now the great Enquiry before us is, How +comes the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> to a Parley with us? how does he converse with our +Senses, and with the Understanding? How does he reach us, which way does +he come at the Affections, and which way does he move the Passions? ’Tis +a little difficult to discover this treasonable Correspondence, and that +Difficulty is indeed the <i>Devil</i>’s Advantage, and, for ought I see, the +chief Advantage he has over Mankind.</p> + +<p>It is also a great Enquiry here, whether the <i>Devil</i> knows our Thoughts +or no? If I may give my Opinion, I am with the negative; I deny that he +knows any thing of our Thoughts, except of those Thoughts which he puts +us upon thinking, for I will not doubt but he has the Art to inject +Thoughts, and to revive dormant Thoughts in us: It is not so wild a +Scheme as some take it to be,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> that Mr. <i>Milton</i> lays down, to represent +the <i>Devil</i> injecting corrupt Desires and wandring Thoughts into the +Head of <i>Eve</i>, by Dreams, and that he brought her to Dream whatever he +put into her Thoughts, by whispering to her vocally when she was asleep; +and to this End, he imagines the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> laying himself close to her Ear, +in the Shape of a Toad, when she was fall asleep; I say, this is not so +wild a Scheme, seeing even now, if you can whisper any thing close to +the Ear of a Person in a deep Sleep, so as to speak distinctly to the +Person, and yet not awaken him, as has been frequently tried, the Person +sleeping shall dream distinctly of what you say to him; nay, shall dream +the very Words you say.</p> + +<p>We have then no more to ask, but how the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> can convey himself to the +Ear of a sleeping Person, and it is granted then that he may have Power +to make us dream what he pleases: But this is not all, for if he can so +forcibly, by his invisible Application, cause us to dream, what he +pleases, why can he not with the same Facility prompt our Thoughts, +whether sleeping or waking? To dream, is nothing else but to think +sleeping; and we have abundance of deep-headed Gentlemen among us, who +give us ample Testimony that they dream waking.</p> + +<p>But if the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> can prompt us to dream, that is to say, to think, yet +if he does not know our Thoughts, how then can he tell whether the +Whisper had its Effect? The answer is plain, the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>, like the Angler, +baits the Hook, if the Fish bite he lies ready to take the Advantage, he +whispers to the Imagination, and then waits to see how it works; as +<i>Naomi</i> said to <i>Ruth</i>, Chap. iii. 5, 18. <i>Sit still, my Daughter, until +thou know how the Matter will fall, for the Man will not be at rest +until he have finished the thing.</i> Thus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +when the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> had whisper’d to +<i>Eve</i> in her Sleep, <i>according to Milton</i>, and suggested Mischief to her +Imagination, he only sat still to see how the Matter would work, for he +knew if it took with her, he should hear more of it; and then by finding +her alone the next Day, without her ordinary Guard her Husband, he +presently concluded she had swallowed the Bait, and so attack’d her afresh.</p> + +<p>A small deal of Craft, and less by far than we have reason to believe +the <i>Devil</i> is Master of, will serve to discover whether such and such +Thoughts as he knows he has suggested, have taken Place or no; the +Action of the Person presently discovers it, at least to him that lies +always upon the Watch, and has every Word, every Gesture, every Step we +take subsequent to his Operation, open to him; it may therefore, for +ought we know, be a great Mistake, and what most of us are guilty of, to +tell our Dreams to one another in the Morning, after we have been +disturb’d with them in the Night; for if the <i>Devil</i> converses with us +so insensibly as some are of the Opinion he does, <i>that is to say</i>, if +he can hear as far as we can see, we may be telling our Story to him +indeed, when we think we are only talking to one another.</p> + +<p>This brings me most naturally to the important Enquiry, whether the +<i>Devil</i> can walk about the World invisibly or no? The Truth is, this is +no question to me; for as I have taken away his Visibility already, and +have denied him all Prescience of Futurity too, and have prov’d he +cannot know our Thoughts, nor put any Force upon Persons or Actions, if +we should take away his Invisibility too, we should <i>undevil</i> him quite, +to all Intents and Purposes, as to any Mischief he could do; nay, it +would banish him the World,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> and he might e’en go and seek his Fortune +some where else; for if he could neither be visible or invisible, +neither act in publick or in private, he could neither have Business or +Being in this Sphere, nor could we be any way concern’d with him.</p> + +<p>The <i>Devil</i> therefore most certainly has a Power and Liberty of moving +about in this World, after <i>some manner or another</i>; this is verify’d as +well by way of Allegory, as by way of History, in the Scripture it self; +and as the first strongly suggests and supposes it to be so, the last +positively asserts it; and, not to croud this Work with Quotations from +a Book which we have not much to do with in the <i>Devil</i>’s Story, at +least not much to his Satisfaction, I only hint his personal Appearance +to our Saviour in the Wilderness, where it is said, <i>the Devil taketh +him up to an exceeding high Mountain</i>; and in another Place, <i>the Devil +departed from him</i>. What Shape or Figure he appear’d in, we do not find +mentioned, but I cannot doubt his appearing to him there, any more than +I can his talking to our Saviour in the Mouths, and with the Voices of +the several Persons who were under the terrible Affliction of an actual +Possession.</p> + +<p>These Things leave us no room to doubt of what is advanced above, +namely, that he, (the <i>Devil</i>) has a certain Residence, or Liberty of +residing in, and moving about upon the Surface of this Earth, as well as +in the Compass of the Atmosphere, vulgarly call’d the Air, in some +manner or other: That is the general.</p> + +<p>It remains to enquire into the manner, which I resolve into two Kinds;</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. <i>Ordinary</i>, which I suppose to be his invisible Motions as a +Spirit; under which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> Consideration I suppose him to have an +unconfin’d, unlimited, unrestrain’d Liberty, as to the manner of +acting; and this either in Persons, by Possession; or in Things, by +Agitation.</p> + +<p>2. <i>Extraordinary</i>; which I understand to be his Appearances in +borrowed Shapes and Bodies, or Shadows rather of Bodies; assuming +Speech, Figure, Posture, and Several Powers, of which we can give +little or no Account; in which extraordinary manner of Appearances, +he is either limited by a Superior Power, or limits himself +politically, as being not the Way most for his Interest or Purpose, +to act in his Business, which is more effectually done in his State +of Obscurity.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Hence we must suppose the <i>Devil</i> has it very much in his own Choice, +whether to act in one Capacity, or in the other, or in both; that is to +say, of appearing, and not appearing, as he finds for his Purpose: In +this State of Invisibility, and under the Operation of these Powers and +Liberties, he performs all his Functions and Offices, as <i>Devil</i>, as +Prince of Darkness, as God of this World, as Tempter, Accuser, Deceiver, +and all whatsoever other Names of Office, or Titles of Honour he is +known by.</p> + +<p>Now taking him in this large unlimited, or little limited State of +Action, he is well call’d, <i>the God of this World</i>, for he has very much +of the Attribute of Omnipresence, and may be said, <i>either by himself or +his Agents</i>, to be every where, and see every thing; that is to say, +every thing that is visible; for I cannot allow him any Share of +<i>Omniscience</i> at all.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>That he ranges about every where, is <i>with us</i>, and sometimes <i>in us</i>, +sees when he is not seen, hears when he is not heard, comes in without +Leave, and goes out without Noise, is neither to be shut in or shut out, +that when he runs <i>from us</i> we can’t catch him, and when he runs <i>after +us</i> we can’t escape him, is seen when he is not known, and is known when +he is not seen; all these things, and more, we have Knowledge enough +about to convince us of the Truth of them; so that, as I have said +above, he is certainly walking to and fro thro’ the Earth, <i>&c.</i> after +<i>some manner or other</i>, and in some Figure or other, visible or +invisible, as he finds Occasion. Now in order to make our History of him +complete, the next Question before us is, how, and in what manner he +acts with Mankind? how his Kingdom is carried on, and by what Methods he +does his Business, for he certainly has a great deal of Business to do; +he is not an idle Spectator, nor is he walking about <i>incognito</i>, and +cloth’d in Mist and Darkness, purely in Kindness to us, that we should +not be frighted at him; but ’tis in Policy, that he may act +undiscover’d, that he may see and not be seen, may play his Game in the +dark, and not be detected in his Roguery; that he may prompt Mischief, +raise Tempests, blow up Coals, kindle Strife, embroil Nations, use +Instruments, and not be known to have his Hand in any thing, when at the +same time he really has a Hand in every thing.</p> + +<p>Some are of Opinion, <i>and I among the rest</i>, that if the <i>Devil</i> was +personally and visibly present among us, and we conversed with him Face +to Face, we should be so familiar with him in a little time, that his +ugly Figure would not affect us at all, that his Terrors would not +fright us, or that we should any more trouble our selves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> about him, +than we did with the last great Comet in 1678, which appear’d so long +and so constantly without any particular known Event, that at last we +took no more Notice of it than of the other ordinary Stars which had +appear’d before we or our Ancestors were born.</p> + +<p>Nor indeed should we have much Reason to be frighted at him, or at least +none of those silly Things could be said of him which we now amuse our +selves about, and by which we set him up like a Scare-Crow to fright +Children and old Women, to fill up old Stories, make Songs and Ballads, +and in a Word, carry on the low priz’d Buffoonery of the common People; +we should either see him in his Angelic Form, as he was from the +Original, or if he has any Deformities entail’d upon him by the supreme +Sentence, and in Justice to the Deformity of his Crime, they would be of +a superior Nature, and fitted more for our Contempt as well as Horror, +than those weak fancied Trifles contrived by our antient Devil-raisers +and Devil-makers, to feed the wayward Fancies of old Witches and +Sorcerers, who cheated the ignorant World with a <i>Devil</i> of their own +making, set forth, <i>in terrorem</i>, with Bat’s Wings, Horns, cloven Foot, +long Tail, fork’d Tongue, and the like.</p> + +<p>In the next Place, be his frightful Figure what it would, and his +Legions as numerous as the Host of Heaven, we should see him still, as +the Prince of <i>Devils</i>, tho’ monstrous as a Dragon, flaming as a Comet, +tall as a Mountain, yet dragging his Chain after him equal to the utmost +of his supposed Strength; always in Custody of his <i>Jailors</i> the Angels, +his Power over-power’d, his Rage cow’d and abated, or at least aw’d and +under Correction, limited and restrain’d; in a Word, we should see him a +vanquish’d Slave, his Spirit broken,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> his Malice, tho’ not abated, yet +Hand-cuff’d and overpower’d, and he not able to work any Thing against +us by Force; so that he would be to us but like the Lions in the Tower, +encag’d and lock’d up, unable to do the Hurt he wishes to do, and that +we fear, or indeed any hurt at all.</p> + +<p>From hence ’tis evident, that ’tis not his Business to be public, or to +walk up and down in the World visibly, and in his own Shape; his Affairs +require a quite different Management, as might be made apparent from the +Nature of Things, and the Manner of our Actings, as Men, either with our +selves or to one another.</p> + +<p>Nor could he be serviceable in his Generation, as a public Person as now +he is, or answer the End of his Party who employ him, and who, if he was +to do their Business in public, as he does in private, would not be able +to employ him at all.</p> + +<p>As in our modern Meetings for the Propagation of Impudence and other +Virtues, there would be no Entertainment and no Improvement for the Good +of the Age, if the People did not all appear in Masque, and conceal’d +from the common Observation; so neither could <i>Satan</i> (from whose +Management those more happy Assemblies are taken as Copies of a glorious +Original) perform the usual and necessary Business of his Profession, if +he did not appear wholly in Covert and under needful Disguises; how, but +for the Convenience of his Habit, could he call himself into so many +Shapes, act on so many different Scenes, and turn so many Wheels of +State in the World, as he has done? as a meer profess’d <i>Devil</i> he could +do nothing.</p> + +<p>Had he been oblig’d always to act the meer Devil in his own Clothes, and +with his own Shape, appearing uppermost in all Cafes and Places, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +could never have preach’d in so many Pulpits, presided in so many +Councils, voted in so many Committees, sat in so many Courts, and +influenc’d so many Parties and Factions in Church and State, as we have +Reason to believe he has done in our Nation, and in our Memories too, as +well as in other Nations and in more antient Times. The Share Satan has +had in all the weighty Confusions of the Times, ever since the first +Ages of Christianity in the World, has been carried on with so much +Secresy, and so much with an Air of Cabal and Intrigue, that nothing can +have been manag’d more subtilly and closely, and in the same Manner has +he acted in our Times, in order to conceal his Interest, and conceal the +Influence he has had in the Councils of the World.</p> + +<p>Had it been possible for him to have raised the Flames of Rebellion and +War so often in this Nation, as he certainly has done? Could he have +agitated the Parties on both Sides, and inflam’d the Spirits of three +Nations, if he had appears in his own Dress, a meer naked <span class="smcap">Devil</span>? It is +not the Devil as a <i>Devil</i> that does the Mischief, but the <i>Devil</i> in +Masquerade, <i>Satan</i> in full Disguise, and acting at the Head of civil +Confusion and Distraction.</p> + +<p>If History may be credited, the <i>French</i> Court at the Time of our old +Confusions was made the Scene of Satan’s Politicks, and prompted both +Parties in <i>England</i> and in <i>Scotland</i> also to quarrel, and how was it +done? Will any Man offer to scandalize the <i>Devil</i> so much as to say, or +so much as to suggest that <i>Satan</i> had no Hand in it all? Did not the +<i>Devil</i>, by the Agency of Cardinal <i>Richlieu</i>, send 400000 Crowns at one +Time, and 600000 at another, to the <i>Scots</i>, to raise an Army and march +boldly into <i>England?</i> and did not the same <i>Devil</i> at the same time, by +other Agents, remit 800000 Crowns to the other Party, in order to raise +an Army to fall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> upon the <i>Scots</i>? nay, did not the <i>Devil</i> with the +same Subtilty send down the Archbishop’s Order to impose the +Service-Book upon the People in <i>Scotland</i>, and at the same Time raise a +Mob against it, in the great Church (at St. <i>Giles</i>’s)? Nay, did not he +actually, in the Person of an old Woman (his favourite Instrument) throw +the three-leg’d Stool at the Service-Book, and animate the zealous +People to take up Arms for Religion, and turn Rebels for God Sake?</p> + +<p>All these happy and successful Undertakings, tho’ ’tis no more to be +doubted they were done by the Agency of <i>Satan</i>, and in a very +surprizing Manner too, yet were all done in secret, by what I call +Possession and Injection, and by the Agency and Contrivance of such +Instruments, or by the <i>Devil</i> in the Disguise of such Servants as he +found out fitted to be employ’d in his Work, and who he took a more +effectual Care in concealing of.</p> + +<p>But we shall have Occasion to touch all this Part over again, when we +come to discourse of the particular Habits and Disguises which the +<i>Devil</i> has made use of, all along in the World, the better to cover his +Actions, and to conceal his being concern’d in them.</p> + +<p>In the mean Time the Cunning or Artifice the <i>Devil</i> makes use of in all +these Things is in it self very considerable; ’tis an old Practice of +his using, and he has gone on in diverse Measures, for the better +concealing himself in it; which Measures, tho’ he varies sometimes, as +his extraordinary Affairs require, yet they are in all Ages much the +same, and have the same Tendency; namely, that he may get all his +Business carried on by the Instrumentality of Fools; that he may make +Mankind Agents in their own Destruction, and that he may have all his +Work done in such a Manner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> as that he may seem to have no Hand in it; +nay he contrives so well, that the very Name <i>Devil</i> is put upon his +opposite Party, and the Scandal of the black Agent lies all upon them.</p> + +<p>In order then to look a little into his Conduct, let us enquire into the +common Mistakes about him, see what Use is made of them to his +Advantage, and how far Mankind is imposed upon in those Particulars, and +to what Purpose.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_IV.2" id="Chap_IV.2"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> IV.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of Satan’s Agents or Missionaries, and their Actings upon and in +the Minds of Men in his Name.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Infinite</span> Advantages attend the <i>Devil</i> in his retired Government, as +they respect the Management of his Interests, and the carrying on his +absolute Monarchy in the World; particularly as it gives him room to act +by the Agency of his inferior Ministers and Messengers, call’d on many +Occasions <i>his Angels</i>, of whom he has an innumerable <i>Multitude</i>, at +his Command, enough, for ought we know, to spare one to attend every Man +and Woman now alive in the World; and of whom, if we may believe our +second sight Christians, the Air is always as full, as a Beam of the +Evening Sun is of Insects, where they are ever ready for Business, and +to go and come as their great Governor issues out Orders for their +Directions.</p> + +<p>These, as they are all of the same spirituous Quality with himself, and +consequently invisible like him, <i>except as above</i>, are ready upon all +Occasions to be sent to <i>and into</i> any such Person, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> for such +Purposes, <i>superior Limitations only excepted</i>, as the grand Director of +<i>Devils</i>, (The <i>Devil</i> properly so call’d guides them;) and be the +Subject or the Object what it will, <i>that is to say</i>, be the Person they +are sent to, <i>or into, as above</i>, who it will, and the Business the +Messenger is to do what it will, they are sufficiently qualified; for +this is a Particular to Satan’s Messengers or Agents, that they are not +like us humane <i>Devils</i> here in the World, some bred up one Way, some +another, some of one Trade, some of another, and consequently some fit +for some Business, some for another, some good for something, and some +good for nothing, but his People are every one fit for every Thing, can +find their Way every where, and are a Match for every Body they are sent +to; in a Word, there are no <i>foolish Devils</i>, they are all fully +qualified for their Employment, fit for any thing he sets them about, +and very seldom mistake their Errand or fail in the Business they are +sent to do.</p> + +<p>Nor is it strange at all, that the <i>Devil</i> should have such a numberless +Train of Deputy <i>Devils</i> to act under him; for it must be acknowledged +he has a great deal of Business upon his Hands, a vast deal of Work to +do, abundance of public Affairs under his Direction, and an infinite +Variety of particular Cases always before him; <i>for Example</i>.</p> + +<p>How many Governments in the World are wholly in his Administration? how +many Divans and great Councils under his Direction? nay, I believe, +’twould be hard to prove that there is or has been one Council of State +in the World for many hundred Years past, down to the Year 1713, (we +don’t pretend to come nearer home) where the <i>Devil</i> by himself, or his +Agents in one Shape or another, has not sat as a Member, if not taken +the Chair.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>And tho’ some learn’d Authors may dispute this Point with me, by giving +some Examples where the Councils of Princes have been acted by a better +Hand, and where Things have been carried against <i>Satan</i>’s Interest, and +even to his great Mortification, it amounts to no more than this; +namely, that in such Cases the <i>Devil</i> has been out-voted; but it does +not argue but he might have been present there, and have push’d his +Interest as far as he could, only that he had not the Success he +expected; for I don’t pretend to say that he has never been +disappointed; but those Examples are so rare, and of so small +Signification, that when I come to the Particulars, as I shall do in the +Sequel of this History, you will find them hardly worth naming; and +that, take it one Time with another, the <i>Devil</i> has met with such a +Series of Success in all his Affairs, and has so seldom been baulk’d; +and where he has met with a little Check in his Politicks, has +notwithstanding, so soon and so easily recover’d himself, regain’d his +lost Ground, or replac’d himself in another Country when he has been +supplanted in one, that his Empire is far from being lessen’d in the +World, for the last thousand Years of the Christian Establishment.</p> + +<p>Suppose we take an Observation from the Beginning of <i>Luther</i>, or from +the Year 1420, and call the Reformation a Blow to the <i>Devil</i>’s Kingdom, +which before that was come to such a Height in Christendom, that ’tis a +Question not yet thorowly decided, whether that Medley of Superstition +and horrible Heresies, that Mass of Enthusiam and Idols call’d the +Catholick Hierarchy, was a Church of God or a Church of the <i>Devil</i>; +whether it was an Assembly of Saints or a Synagogue of Satan: I say, +take that Time to be the <i>Epocha</i> of Satan’s Declension and of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>Lucifer’s +<ins class="correction" title="original reads 'faling'">falling</ins> from Heaven, that is, from the Top of his terrestrial +Glory, yet whether he did not gain in the Defection of the <i>Greek</i> +Church about that Time and since, as much as he lost in the Reformation +of the <i>Roman</i>, is what Authors are not yet agreed about, not reckoning +what he has regain’d since of the Ground which he had lost even by the +Reformation, (<i>viz.</i>) the Countries of the Duke of <i>Savoy</i>’s Dominion, +where the Reformation is almost eaten out by Persecution; the whole +<i>Valtoline</i> and some adjacent Countries; the whole Kingdom of <i>Poland</i> +and almost all <i>Hungary</i>; for since the last War the Reformation, as it +were, lies gasping for Breath, and expiring in that Country, also +several large Provinces in <i>Germany</i>, as <i>Austria</i>, <i>Carinthia</i>, and the +whole Kingdom of <i>Bohemia</i>, where the Reformation once powerfully +planted, receiv’d its Death’s Wound at the Battle of <i>Prague</i>, <i>Ann.</i> +1627, and languish’d but a very little while, died and was buried, and +good King <span class="smcap">Popery</span> reign’d in its stead.</p> + +<p>To these Countries thus regain’d to Satan’s infernal Empire, let us add +his modern Conquests and the Encroachments he has made upon the +Reformation in the present Age, which are, <i>however light we make of +them</i>, very considerable (<i>viz.</i>) the Electorate of the <i>Rhine</i> and the +<i>Palatinate</i>, the one fallen to the House of <i>Bavaria</i>, and the other to +that of <i>Neuburgh</i>, both Popish; the Dutchy of <i>Deux Ponts</i> fallen just +now to a popish Branch, the whole Electorate of <i>Saxony</i> fallen under +the Power of popish Government by the Apostacy of their Princes, and +more likely to follow the Fate of <i>Bohemia</i>, whenever the diligent +<i>Devil</i> can bring his new Project in <i>Poland</i> to bear, as ’tis more than +probable he will do so some time or other, by the growing Zeal as well +as Power of (that House of Bigots) the House of <i>A——</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>But to sum up the dull Story; we must add in the Roll of the <i>Devil</i>’s +Conquests, the whole Kingdom of <i>France</i>, where we have in one Year +seen, to the immortal Glory of the <i>Devil</i>’s Politicks, that his +Measures have prevailed to the total Extirpation of the Protestant +Churches without a War; and that Interest which for 200 Years had +supported it self in spight of Persecutions, Massacres, five civil Wars +and innumerable Battles and Slaughters, at last receiv’d its mortal +Wound from its own Champion <i>Henry</i> IV. and sunk into utter Oblivion, by +<i>Satan</i>’s most exquisite Management under the Agency of his two prime +Ministers Cardinal <i>Richlieu</i> and <i>Lewis</i> the XIV, whom he entirely +possess’d.</p> + +<p>Thus far we have a melancholy View of the <i>Devil</i>’s new Conquests, and +the Ground he has regain’d upon the Reformation, in which his secret +Management has been so exquisite, and his Politicks so good, that could +he bring but one Thing to pass, which by his own former Mistake, (for +the <i>Devil</i> is not infallible) he has rendred impossible, he would bring +the Protestant Interest so near its Ruin, that Heaven would be, <i>as it +were</i>, put to the Necessity of working by Miracle to prevent it; <i>the +Case is thus</i>.</p> + +<p>Antient Historians tell us, and from good Authority, that the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> +finding it for his Interest to bring his favourite <i>Mahomet</i> upon the +Stage, and spread the victorious Half-Moon upon the Ruin of the Cross, +having with great Success, rais’d first the <i>Saracen</i> Empire, and then +the <i>Turkish</i> to such a Height, as that the Name of <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Christain'">Christian</ins> seemed to +be extirpated in those two Quarters of the World, which were then not +the greatest only, but by far the most powerful, I mean <i>Asia</i> and +<i>Africa</i>; having totally laid wast all those antient and flourishing +Churches of <i>Africa</i>, the Labours of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> St. <i>Cyprian</i>, <i>Tertullian</i>, St. +<i>Augustine</i>, and 670 Christian Bishops and Fathers, who govern’d there +at once, also all the Churches of <i>Smyrna</i>, <i>Philadelphia</i>, <i>Ephesus</i>, +<i>Sardis</i>, <i>Antioch</i>, <i>Laodicea</i>, and innumerable others in <i>Pontus</i>, +<i>Bithynia</i>, and the Provinces of the lesser <i>Asia</i>.</p> + +<p>The <i>Devil</i> having, I say, finish’d these Conquests so much to his +Satisfaction, began to turn his Eyes Northward, and tho’ he had a +considerable Interest in the <i>Whore of Babylon</i>, and had brought his +Power by the Subjection of the <i>Roman</i> Hierarchy to a great Height, yet +finding the Interest of <i>Mahomet</i> most suitable to his <i>devilish</i> +Purposes, as most adapted to the Destruction of Mankind, and laying +waste the World, he resolv’d to espouse the growing Power of the <i>Turk</i>, +and bring him in upon <i>Europe</i> like a Deluge.</p> + +<p>In order to this, and to make Way for an easy Conquest, like a true +<i>Devil</i> he work’d under Ground, and sap’d the Foundation of the +Christian Power, by sowing Discord among the reigning Princes of +<i>Europe</i>; that so envying one another they might be content to stand +still and look on while the <i>Turk</i> devoured them one by one, and at last +might swallow them up all.</p> + +<p>This <i>devilish</i> Policy took to his Heart’s Content; the Christian +Princes stood still, stupid, dozing, and unconcern’d, till the Turk +conquered <i>Thrace</i>, over-run <i>Servia</i>, <i>Macedonia</i>, <i>Bulgaria</i>, and all +the Remains of the <i>Grecian</i> Empire, and at last the Imperial City of +<i>Constantinople</i> it self.</p> + +<p>Finding this politic Method so well answer his Ends, the <i>Devil</i>, who +always improves upon the Success of his own Experiments, resolv’d from +that time to lay a Foundation for the making those Divisions and +Jealousies of the Christian Princes immortal; whereas they were at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +first only personal, and founded in private Quarrels between the Princes +respectively; such as <i>Emulation</i> of one another’s Glory, <i>Envy</i> at the +extraordinary Valour, or other Merit of this or that Leader, or +<i>Revenge</i> of some little Affront; for which notwithstanding, so great +was the Piety of Christian Princes in those Days, that they made no +Scruple to sacrifice whole Armies, yea, Nations, to their Piques and +private Quarrels, <i>a certain Sign whose Management they were under</i>.</p> + +<p>These being the Causes by which the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> first sow’d the Seeds of +Mischief among them, and the Success so well answering his Design, he +could not but wish to have the same Advantage always ready at his Hand; +and therefore he resolv’d to order it so, that these Divisions, which, +however useful to him, were only personal, and consequently temporary, +like an Annual in the Garden, which must be rais’d anew every Season, +might for the future be national, and consequently durable and immortal.</p> + +<p>To this end it was necessary to lay the Foundation of eternal Feud, not +in the Humours and Passions of Men only, but in the Interests of +Nations: The Way to do this was to form and state the Dominion of those +Princes, by such a Plan drawn in Hell, and laid out from a Scheme truly +political, of which the <i>Devil</i> was chief Engineer; that the Divisions +should always remain, being made a natural Consequence of the Situation +of the Country, the Temper of their People, the Nature of their +Commerce, the Climate, the Manner of living, or something which should +for ever render it impossible for them to unite.</p> + +<p>This, I say, was a Scheme truly infernal, in which the <i>Devil</i> was as +certainly the principal Operator, to illustrate great Things by small, +as ever <i>John</i> of <i>Leyden</i> was of the High <i>Dutch</i> Rebellion, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +Sir <i>John B———t</i> of the late Project, called the <i>South-Sea</i> Stock. Nor +did this Contrivance of the <i>Devil</i> at all dishonour his Author, or the +Success appear unworthy of the Undertaker; for we see it not only answer +the End, and made the <i>Turk</i> victorious at the same Time, and formidable +to <i>Europe</i> ever after, but it works to this Day, the Foundation of the +Divisions remains in all the several Nations, and that to such a Degree +that it is impossible they should unite.</p> + +<p>This is what I hinted before, in which the <i>Devil</i> was mistaken, and is +another instance that he knows nothing of <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'what's is'">what is</ins> to come; for this very +Foundation of immortal Jealousy and Discord between the several Nations +of <i>Spain</i>, <i>France</i>, <i>Germany</i>, and others, which the <i>Devil</i> himself +with so much Policy contriv’d, and which serv’d his Interests so long, +is now the only Obstruction to his Designs, and prevents the entire Ruin +of the Reformation; for tho’ the reform’d Countries are very Powerful, +and some of them, as <i>Great Britain</i> and <i>Prussia</i> is particularly, more +powerful than ever; yet it cannot be said that the Protestant Interests +in general are stronger than formerly, or so strong as they were in 1623 +under the victorious Arms of the <i>Swede</i>; On the other Hand, were it +possible that the Popish Powers, to wit, of <i>France</i>, <i>Spain</i>, +<i>Germany</i>, <i>Italy</i> and <i>Poland</i>, which are intirely Popish, could +heartily unite their Interests, and should join their Powers to attack +the Protestants, the latter would find it very difficult, if not +impossible, to defend themselves.</p> + +<p>But as fatal as such a Union of the Popish Powers would be, and as +useful as it would be to the <i>Devil</i>’s Cause at this time, not the +<i>Devil</i> with all his Angels are able to bring it to pass; no, not with +all his Craft and Cunning; he divided<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> them, but he can’t unite them; so +that even just as ’tis with Men, so ’tis with <i>Devils</i>, they may do in +an Hour what they can’t undo in an Age.</p> + +<p>This may comfort those faint-hearted Christians among us, who cry out of +the Danger of a religious War in <i>Europe</i>, and what terrible Things will +happen when <i>France</i>, and <i>Spain</i>, and <i>Germany</i>, and <i>Italy</i>, and +<i>Poland</i> shall all unite; let this Answer satisfy them, The <i>Devil</i> +himself can never make <i>France</i> and <i>Spain</i>, or <i>France</i> and the Emperor +unite; jarring Humours may be reconcil’d, but jarring Interests never +can: They may unite so as to make Peace, <i>tho’ that can hardly be long</i>, +but never so as to make Conquests together; they are too much afraid of +one another, for one to bear, that any Addition of Strength should come +to the other. But this is a Digression. We shall find the <i>Devil</i> +mistaken and <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'disapointed'">disappointed</ins> too on several other Occasions, as we go +along.</p> + +<p>I return to Satan’s Interest in the several Governments and Nations, by +vertue of his Invisibility, and which he carries on by Possession; ’tis +by this Invisibility that he presides in all the Councils of <i>foreign +Powers</i>, (for we never mean our own, that we always premise;) and what +tho’ it is alledged by the Criticks, that he does not preside, because +there is always a President; I say, if he is not in the President’s +Chair, yet if he be in the President himself, the Difference is not +much; and if he does not vote as a Counsellor, if he votes in the +Counsellor, ’tis much the same; and here, as it was in the Story of +<i>Ahab</i> the King of <i>Israel</i>, as he was a <i>lying Spirit</i> in the Mouths of +<i>all his Prophets</i>, so we find him a Spirit of some particular evil +Quality or other, in all the Transactions and Transactors on that Stage +of Life we call the State.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>Thus he was a dissembling Spirit in <i>Char.</i> IX. a turbulent Spirit in +<i>Char.</i> V. Emperors; a bigotted Spirit of Fire and Faggot in our Queen +<i>Mary</i>; an apostate Spirit in <i>Hen.</i> IV.; a cruel Spirit in <i>Peter</i> of +<i>Castile</i>; a revengeful Spirit in <i>Ferdinand</i> II.; a <i>Phaeton</i> in +<i>Lewis</i> XIV.; a <i>Sardanapalus</i> in <i>C———</i> II.</p> + +<p>In the Great Men of the World, take them a degree lower than the Class +of Crown’d Heads, he has the same secret Influence; and hence it comes +to pass, that the greatest Heroes, and Men of the highest Character for +Atchievements of Glory, either by their Virtue or Valour, however they +have been crowned with Victories, and elevated by human Tongues, +whatever the most consummate Virtues or good Qualities they have been +known by, yet they have always had some Devil or other in them to +preserve <i>Satan</i>’s Claim to them uninterrupted, and prevent their Escape +out of his Hands; thus we have <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'been'">seen</ins> a bloody Devil in a <i>D’Alva</i>; a +profligate Devil in a <i>Buckingham</i>; a lying, artful, or politick Devil +in a <i>Richlieu</i>; a treacherous Devil in a <i>Mazarin</i>; a cruel, merciless +Devil in a <i>Cortez</i>; a debauch’d Devil in an <i>Eugene</i>; a conjuring Devil +in a <i>Luxemburg</i>; and a covetous Devil in a <i>M————h</i>: In a word, +tell me the Man, I tell you the Spirit that reign’d in him.</p> + +<p>Nor does he thus carry on his secret Management by Possession in Men of +the first Magnitude only, but have you not had Evidences of it among our +selves? how has he been a <i>lying</i> Spirit in the Mouths of our Prophets, +a factious Spirit in the Heads of our Politicians, a profuse <i>Devil</i> in +a <i>B——s</i>, a corrupt Devil in <i>M——</i>, a proud Spirit in my Lord +<i>Plausible</i>, a bullying Spirit in my Lord <i>Bugbear</i>, a talkative Spirit +in his Grace the D—— of <i>Rattle-hall</i>, a scribling Spirit in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> Lord +<i>H———</i>, a run-away Spirit in my Lord <i>Frightful</i>; and so thro’ a long +Roll of Heroes, whose exceeding, and particular Qualifications proclaim +loudly what Handle the <i>Devil</i> took them by, and how fast he held them; +for these were all Men of ancient Fame, I hope you know that.</p> + +<p>From Men of Figure, we descend to the Mob, and ’tis there the same +thing; Possession, like the Plague, is <i>Morbus Plebæi</i>; not a Family but +he is a Spirit of Strife and Contention among them; not a Man but he has +a Part in him; he is a drunken <i>Devil</i> in one, a whoring <i>Devil</i> in +another, a thieving <i>Devil</i> in a third, a lying <i>Devil</i> in the fourth, +and so on, to a thousand, and a hundred thousand, <i>ad infinitum</i>.</p> + +<p>Nay, even the Ladies have their Share in the Possession; and if they +have not the <i>Devil</i> in their Heads, or in their Tails, in their Faces +or their Tongues, it must be some poor despicable She-devil that Satan +did not think it worth his while to meddle with; and the Number of those +that are below his Operation, I doubt is very small. But that Part I +have much more to say to in its Place.</p> + +<p>From Degrees of Persons, to Professions and Employments, ’tis the same; +we find the <i>Devil</i> is a true Posture-master, he assumes any Dress, +appears in any Shape, counterfeits every Voice, acts upon every Stage; +here he wears a Gown, there a long Robe; here he wears the Jack-Boots, +there the Small-Sword; is here an <i>Enthusiast</i>, there a <i>Buffoon</i>; on +this Side he acts the <i>Mountebank</i>, on that Side the <i>Merry-Andrew</i>; +nothing comes amiss to him, from the Great <i>Mogul</i>, to the <i>Scaramouch</i>; +the <i>Devil</i> is in them, more or less, and plays his Game so well that he +makes sure Work with ’em all: He knows where the <i>Common Foible</i> lies, +which is <span class="smcap">Universal Passion</span>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> what Handle to take hold of every Man by, +and how to cultivate his Interest so, as not to fail of his End, or +mistake the Means.</p> + +<p>How then can it be deny’d but that his acting thus <i>in tenebris</i>, and +keeping out of the sight of the World, is abundantly his Interest, and +that he could do nothing, comparatively speaking, by any other Method?</p> + +<p>What would this publick Appearance have signified? Who would have +entertain’d him in his own proper Shape and Person? Even B—— <i>B——</i> +himself, tho’ all the World knows him to have a foolish <i>Devil</i> in him, +would not have been Fool enough to have taken him into his Service, if +he had known him: And my Lord <i>Simpleton</i> also, who <i>Satan</i> has set up +for a cunning Fool, seems to have it sit much better upon him now he +passes for a Fool of Art, than it should have done if the naked <span class="smcap">Devil</span> +had come and challenged him for a Fool in Nature.</p> + +<p>Infinite Variety illustrate the <i>Devil</i>’s Reign among the Sons of Men; +all which he manages with admirable Dexterity, and a Slight particular +to himself, by the mere Advantage of his present conceal’d Situation, +and which, had he been obliged to have appear’d in Publick, had been all +lost, and he capable of just nothing at all, or at least of nothing more +than the other ordinary Politicians of Wickedness could have done +without him.</p> + +<p>Now, Authors are much divided as to the manner how the <i>Devil</i> manages +his proper Instruments for Mischief; for Satan has a great many Agents +in the Dark, who neither have the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> in them, nor are they much +acquainted with him, and yet he serves himself of them, whether of their +Folly, or of that other Frailty call’d Wit, ’tis all one, he makes them +do his Work, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> they think they are doing their own; nay, so cunning +is he in his guiding the weak Part of the World, that even when they +think they are serving God, they are doing nothing less or more than +serving the <i>Devil</i>; nay, ’tis some of the nicest Part of his Operation, +to make them believe they are serving God, when they do his Work. Thus +those who the Scripture foretold should persecute Christ’s Church in the +latter Days, were to think they do God <i>good Service</i>: Thus the +Inquisition, (for Example,) it may be, at this time, in all the acts of +Christian Cruelty which they are so famous for (if any of them are +ignorant enough not to know that they are <i>Devils</i> incarnate) they may, +for ought we know, go on for God’s sake; torture, murther, starve to +Death, mangle and macerate, and all for God, and God’s Catholic Church; +and ’tis certainly the <i>Devil</i>’s Master-piece to bring Mankind to such a +Perfection of Devilism as that of the <i>Inquisition</i> is; for <i>if the</i> +Devil <i>had not been in them</i>, could they christen such a <i>Hell-fire</i> +Judicature as the <i>Inquisition</i> is, by the Name of <i>the Holy Office</i>? +And so in Paganism, how could so many Nations among the poor <i>Indians</i> +offer human Sacrifices to their Idols, and murther thousands of Men, +Women and Children, to appease this God of the Air, when he is angry, if +the <i>Devil</i> did not act in them under the Vizor of Devotion?</p> + +<p>But we need not go to <i>America</i>, or to the Inquisition, not to Paganism +or to Popery either, to look for People that are sacrificing to the +<i>Devil</i>, or that give their Peace-offerings to him, while they are +offer’d upon God’s Altar; are not our Churches (ay, and Meeting-houses +too, as much as they pretend to be more sanctified than their +Neighbours) full of <i>Devil</i> Worshipers? Where do his Devotees gratulate +one another, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> congratulate him, more than at Church? where, while +they hold up their Hands, and turn up their Eyes towards Heaven, they +make all their Vows to Satan, or at least to the fair <i>Devils</i> his +Representatives, which I shall speak of in their Place.</p> + +<p>Do not the Sons of God make Assignations with the Daughters of Men in +the very House of Worship? Do they not talk to them in the Language of +the Eyes? And what is at the Bottom of it, while one Eye is upon the +Prayer-book, and the other adjusting their Dress? Are they not +sacrificing to <i>Venus</i> and <i>Mercury</i>, nay, and the very <i>Devil</i> they +dress at?</p> + +<p>Let any Man impartially survey the Church-Gestures, the Air, the +Postures and the Behaviour; let him keep an exact Roll, and if I do not +shew him two <i>Devil</i> Worshipers for one true Saint, then the Word +<i>Saint</i> must have another Signification than I ever yet understood it +by.</p> + +<p>The Church (as a Place) is the Receptacle of the Dead, as well as the +Assembly of the Living; what relates to those below, I doubt Satan, if +he would be so kind, could give a better Account of than I can; but as +to the Superficies, I pretend to so much Penetration as to tell you, +that there are more Spectres, more Apparitions always there, than you +that know nothing of the matter may be aware of.</p> + +<p>I happen’d to be at an eminent Place of God’s most devout Worship the +other Day, with a Gentleman of my Acquaintance, who, I observed, minded +very little the Business he ought to come about; first I saw him always +busy staring about him and bowing this Way and that Way, nay, he made +two or three bows and Scrapes when he was repeating the Responses to the +Ten Commandments, and assure you he made it correspond strangely, so +that the Harmony was not so broken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> in upon as you would expect it +should; thus; <i>Lord</i>, and a Bow to a fine Lady just come up to her Seat, +<i>have Mercy upon us</i>; —— three Bows to a Throng of Ladies that came +into the next Pew altogether, <i>and incline</i> —— then stop’d to make a +great Scrape to my Lord ——, <i>our Hearts</i>, just then the Hearts of all +the Church were gone off from the Subject, for the Response was over, so +he huddled up the rest in Whispers, for <i>God a Mighty</i> could hear him +well enough, <i>he said</i>, nay, as well as if he had spoken as loud as his +Neighbours did.</p> + +<p>After we were come home, I ask’d him what he meant by all this, and what +he thought of it?</p> + +<p>How could I help it, <i>said he</i>, I must not be rude.</p> + +<p>What, <i>says I</i>, rude to who?</p> + +<p>Why, <i>says he</i>, there came in so many she <i>Devils</i> I could not help it.</p> + +<p>What, <i>said I</i>, could not you help bowing when you were saying your +Prayers?</p> + +<p>O Sir! <i>says he</i>, the Ladies would have thought I had slighted them, I +could not avoid it.</p> + +<p>Ladies! <i>said I</i>, I thought you call’d them <i>Devils</i> just now.</p> + +<p>Ay, ay, <i>Devils</i>, <i>said he</i>, little charming Devils, but I must not be +rude to them however.</p> + +<p>Very well, <i>said I</i>, then you would be rude to <i>God a Mighty</i>, because +you could not be rude to the Devil?</p> + +<p>Why that’s true, <i>said he</i>, but what can we do? there’s no going to +Church as the Case stands now, if we must not worship the <i>Devil</i> a +little between whiles.</p> + +<p>This is the Case indeed, and Satan carries his Point on every Hand; for +if the fair speaking World, and the fair looking World are generally +<i>Devils</i>, that is to say, are in his Management,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> we are sure the foul +speaking and the foul doing World are all on his Side, and you have then +only the fair-doing Part of the World that are out of his Class, and +when we speak of them, <i>O how few!</i></p> + +<p>But I return to the <i>Devil</i>’s managing our wicked Part, for this he does +with most exquisite Subtilty; and this is one Part of it, (<i>viz.</i>) he +thrusts our Vices into our Virtues, by which he mixes the Clean and the +Unclean, and thus by the Corruption of the one, poisons and debauches +the other, so that the Slave he governs cannot account for his own +common Actions, and is fain to be oblig’d to his Maker to accept of the +Heart without the Hands and Feet; to take, as we vulgarly express it, +<i>the Will</i> for the <i>Deed</i>, and if Heaven was not so good to come into +that half in half Service, I don’t see but the <i>Devil</i> would carry away +all his Servants: Here indeed I should enter into a long Detail of +involuntary Wickedness, which in short, is neither more or less than the +<i>Devil</i> in every Body, ay, in every one of you, (our Governors excepted) +take it as you please.</p> + +<p>What is our Language when we look back with Reflection and Reproach on +past Follies? <i>I think I was bewitch’d</i>, I was <i>posses’d</i>, <i>certainly +the Devil was in me, or else I had never been such a Sot</i>: <i>Devil</i> in +you, Sir! Ay, who doubts it; you may be sure the <i>Devil</i> was in you, and +there he is still, and next Time he can catch you in the same Snare, +you’ll be just the same <span class="smcap">Sot</span> that you say you were before.</p> + +<p>In short, the <i>Devil</i> is too cunning for us, and manages us his own Way; +he governs the Vices of Men by his own Methods; tho’ every Crime will +not make a Man a <i>Devil</i>, yet it must be owned that every Crime puts the +Criminal in some Measure into the Devil’s Power, gives him a Title<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +to the Man, and he treats him magisterially ever after.</p> + +<p>Some tell us every single Man, every individual has a <i>Devil</i> attending +him, to execute the Orders of the (Grand Signior) Devil of the whole +Clan; that this attending <i>evil Angel</i>, for so he is call’d, sees every +Step you take, is with you in every Action, prompts you to every +Mischief, and leaves you to do every Thing that is pernicious to your +self; they also alledge that there is a good Spirit which attends him +too, which latter is always accessary to every Thing that we do that is +good, and reluctant to evil; If this is true, how comes it to pass that +those two opposite Spirits do not quarrel about it when they are +pressing us to contrary Actions, one good and the other evil? and why +does the evil tempting Spirit so often prevail? Instead of answering +this difficult Question, I shall only tell you, as to this Story of good +and evil Angels attending every particular Person, ’tis a good Allegory +indeed to represent the Struggle in the Mind of Man between good and +evil Inclinations; but as to the rest, the best Thing I can say of it +is, <i>that</i> I think <i>’tis a Fib</i>.</p> + +<p>But to take Things as they are, and only talk by way of natural +Consequence, for to argue from Nature is certainly the best Way to find +out the <i>Devil</i>’s Story; if there are good and evil Spirits attending +us, that is to say, a good Angel and a <i>Devil</i>, then ’tis no unjust +Reproach upon any Body to say, when they follow the Dictates of the +latter, the <i>Devil</i> is in them; or they are <i>Devils</i>; nay, I must carry +it farther still, namely, that as the Generality and greatest Number of +People do follow and obey the evil Spirit and not the good, and that the +predominate Power is allowed to be the nominating Power; you must then +allow, that in short, the greater Part of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> Mankind has the Devil in +them, and so I come to my Text.</p> + +<p>To this Purpose give me leave to borrow a few Lines of a Friend on this +very Part of the Devil’s Management.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +To Places and Persons he suits his Disguises,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And dresses up all his Banditti,</span><br /> +Who as Pickpockets flock to a Country Assizes,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Croud up to the Court and the City.</span><br /> +<br /> +They’re at every Elbow and every Ear,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And ready at every call, Sir;</span><br /> +The vigilant Scout plants his Agents about,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And has something to do with us all, Sir.</span><br /> +<br /> +In some he has Part, and in some he’s the Whole,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And of some (like the Vicar of <i>Baddow</i>)</span><br /> +It can neither be said they have Body or Soul,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But only are <i>Devils</i> in Shadow.</span><br /> +<br /> +The Pretty and Witty, are Devils in Masque,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Beauties are meer Apparitions;</span><br /> +The homely alone by their Faces are known,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the Good by their ugly Conditions.</span><br /> +<br /> +The Beaus walk about like the Shadows of Men.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And wherever he leads ’em they follow,</span><br /> +But tak’em and shak’em, there’s not one in ten<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But’s as light as a Feather and hollow.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thus all his Affairs he drives on in Disguise,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And he tickles Mankind with a Feather:</span><br /> +Creeps in at our Ears, and looks out at our Eyes,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And jumbles our Senses together.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span><br /> +He raises the Vapours, and prompts the Desires,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And to ev’ry dark Deed holds the Candle;</span><br /> +The Passions enflames and the Appetite fires,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And takes ev’ry Thing by the Handle.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thus he walks up and down in compleat Masquerade,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And with every Company mixes,</span><br /> +Sells in every Shop, works at every Trade,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And ev’ry Thing doubtful perplexes.</span></p> + +<p> </p> +<p>How Satan comes by this governing Influence in the Minds and upon the +Actions of Men, is a Question I am not yet come to, nor indeed does it +so particularly belong to the Devil’s History, it seems rather a +Polemick, so it may pass at School among the Metaphysicks, and puzzle +the Heads of our Masters; wherefore I think to write to the learned Dr. +<i>B——</i> about it, imploring his most sublime Haughtiness, that when his +other more <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'momentons'">momentous</ins> Avocations of Pedantry and Pedagogism will give him +an Interval from Wrath and Contention, he will set apart a Moment to +consider human Nature Deviliz’d, and give us a Mathematical Anatomical +Description of it; with a Map of Satan’s Kingdom in the Microcosm of +Mankind, and such other Illuminations as to him and his Contemporaries +—— and, —— <i>&c.</i> in their great Wisdom shall seem meet.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chap_V.2" id="Chap_V.2"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> V.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the</i> Devil<i>’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.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">I</span> have adjourn’d, not finished, my Account of the <i>Devil</i>’s secret +Management by <i>Possession</i>, and shall reassume it, in its Place; but I +must take leave to mention some other Parts of his retir’d Scheme, by +which he has hitherto manag’d Mankind, and the first of these is by that +Fraud of all Frauds call’d Oracle.</p> + +<p>Here his Trumpet yielded an uncertain Sound for some Ages, and like what +he was, and according to what he practised from the Beginning, he +deliver’d out Falshood and Delusion by Retale: The Priests of <i>Apollo</i> +acted this Farce for him to a great Nicety at <i>Delphos</i>; there were +divers others at the same Time, and some, which to give the Devil his +due, he had very little Hand in, as we shall see presently.</p> + +<p>There were also some smaller, some greater, some more, some less famous +Places where those Oracles were seated, and Audience given to the +Enquirers, in all which the <i>Devil</i>, or some Body for him, <i>Permissu +Superiorum</i>, for either vindictive or other hidden Ends and Purposes, +was allow’d to make at least a Pretension to the Knowledge of Things to +come; but, as publick Cheats generally do, they acted in Masquerade, and +gave such uncertain and inconsistent Responses, that they were oblig’d<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +to use the utmost Art to reconcile Events to the Prediction, even after +things were come to pass.</p> + +<p>Here the Devil was a <i>lying Spirit</i>, in a particular and extraordinary +manner, in the Mouths of all the Prophets; and yet he had the Cunning to +express himself so, that whatever happen’d, the Oracle was suppos’d to +have meant as it fell out; and so all their Augurs, Omens and Voices, by +which the Devil amus’d the World, not at that Time only, but since, have +been likewise interpreted.</p> + +<p><i>Julian</i> the Apostate dealt mightily in these Amusements, but the Devil, +who neither wish’d his Fall, or presag’d it to him, evidenc’d that he +knew nothing of <i>Julian</i>’s Fate; for that, as he sent almost to all the +Oracles of the East, and summon’d all the Priests together to inform him +of the Success of his <i>Persian</i> Expedition, they all, like <i>Ahab</i>’s +<i>Prophets</i>, having a lying Spirit in them, encourag’d him and promis’d +him Success.</p> + +<p>Nay, all the ill Omens which disturb’d him, they presag’d good from; +<i>for Example</i>, he was at a prodigious Expence when he was at <i>Antioch</i> +to buy up white Beasts, and white Fowls, for Sacrifices, and for +predicting from the Entrails; from whence the <i>Antiochians</i>, in +contempt, call’d him <i>Victimarius</i>; but whenever the Entrails foreboded +Evil, the cunning Devil made the Priests put a different Construction +upon them, and promise him Good: When he entred into the Temple of the +<i>Genij</i> to offer Sacrifice, one of the Priests dropt down dead; this, +had it had any Signification more than a Man falling dead of an +Apoplectic, would have signified something fatal to <i>Julian</i>, who made +himself a Brother Sacrist or Priest; whereas the Priests turn’d it +presently to signify the Death of his Colleague, the Consul <i>Sallust</i> +which happen’d just at the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> Time, tho’ eight hundred Miles off; so +in another Case, <i>Julian</i> thought it ominous that he, who was <i>Augustus</i> +should be nam’d with two other Names of Persons, both already dead; the +Case was thus, the Stile of the Emperor was <i>Julianus Fœlix +Augustus</i>, and two of his principal Officers were <i>Julianus</i> and +<i>Fœlix</i>; now both <i>Julianus</i> and <i>Fœlix</i> died within a few Days of +one another, which disturb’d Him much, who was the third of the three +Names; but his flattering <i>Devil</i> told him it all imported Good to him +(<i>viz.</i>) that tho’ <i>Julianus</i> and <i>Fœlix</i> should die, <i>Augustus</i> +should be immortal.</p> + +<p>Thus whatever happen’d, and whatever was foretold, and how much soever +they differ’d from one another, the lying Spirit was sure to reconcile +the <i>Prediction</i> and the <i>Event</i>, and make them at least seem to +correspond in Favour of the Person enquiring.</p> + +<p>Now we are told Oracles are ceased, and the <i>Devil</i> is farther limited +for the Good of Mankind, not being allow’d to vent his Delusions by the +Mouths of the Priests and Augurs, as formerly: I will not take upon me +to say how far they are really ceas’d, more than they were before; I +think ’tis much more reasonable to believe there was never any Reality +in them at all, or that any Oracle ever gave out any Answers but what +were the Invention of the Priests and the Delusions of the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>; I have +a great many antient Authors on my Side in this Opinion, as <i>Eusebius</i>, +<i>Tertullian</i>, <i>Aristotle</i>, and others, who as they liv’d so near the +Pagan Times, and when even some of those Rites were yet in Use, they had +much more Reason to know, and could probably pass a better Judgment upon +them; nay <i>Cicero</i> himself ridicules them in the openest manner; again, +other Authors descend to Particular and shew how the Cheat was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> manag’d +by the Heathen Sacrists and Priests, and in what enthusiastic manner +they spoke; namely, by going into the hollow Images, such as the brazen +Bull and the Image of <i>Apollo</i>, and how subtilly they gave out <i>dubious</i> +and <i>ambiguous</i> Answers; that when the People did not find their +Expectations answer’d by the Event, they might be imposed upon by the +Priests, and confidently told they did not rightly understand the +Oracle’s Meaning: However, I cannot say but that indeed there are some +Authors of good Credit too, who will have it that there was a real +prophetic Spirit in the Voice or Answers given by the Oracles, and that +oftentimes they were miraculously exact in those Answers; and they give +that of the <i>Delphic</i> Oracle answering the Question which was given +about <i>Crœsus</i> for an Example, <i>viz.</i> what <i>Crœsus</i> was doing at +that time? <i>to wit</i>, that he was boiling a Lamb and the Flesh of a +Tortoise together, in a brass Vessel, or Boiler, with a Cover of the +same Metal; that is to say, in a Kettle with a brass Cover.</p> + +<p>To affirm therefore, that they were all Cheats, a Man must encounter +with Antiquity, and set his private Judgment up against an establish’d +Opinion; but ’tis no matter for that; if I do not see any thing in that +receiv’d Opinion capable of Evidence, much less of Demonstration, I must +be allow’d still to think as I do; others may believe as they list; I +see nothing hard or difficult in the Thing; the Priests, who were always +historically inform’d of the Circumstances of the Enquirer, or at least +something about them, might easily find some ambiguous Speech to make, +and put some double <i>Entendre</i> upon them, which upon the Event solv’d +the Credit of the Oracle, were it one way or other; and this they +certainly did, or we have room to think the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> knows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> less of Things +now than he did in former Days.</p> + +<p>It is true that by these Delusions the Priests got infinite Sums of +Money, and this makes it still probable that they would labour hard, and +use the utmost of their Skill to uphold the Credit of their Oracles; and +’tis a full Discovery, as well of the Subtlety of the Sacrists, as of +the Ignorance and Stupidity of the People, in those early Days of +<i>Satan</i>’s Witchcraft; to see what merry Work the <i>Devil</i> made with the +World, and what gross Things he put upon Mankind: Such was the Story of +the <i>Dordonian</i> Oracle in <i>Epirus</i>, <i>viz</i>. That two <i>Pigeons</i> flew out +of <i>Thebes</i> (<i>N. B.</i> it was the <i>Egyptian Thebes</i>) from the Temple of +<i>Belus</i>, erected there by the antient Sacrists, and that one of these +fled Eastward into <i>Lybia</i>, and the Desarts of <i>Africk</i>, and the other +into <i>Greece</i>, namely, to <i>Dordona</i>, and these communicated the divine +Mysteries to one another, and afterwards gave mystical Solutions to the +devout Enquirers; first the <i>Dordonian</i> Pigeon perching upon an Oak +spoke audibly to the People there, that the Gods commanded them to build +an Oracle, or Temple, to <i>Jupiter</i>, in that Place; which was accordingly +done: The other Pigeon did the like on the Hill in <i>Africa</i>, where it +commanded them to build another to <i>Jupiter Ammon</i>, or <i>Hammon</i>.</p> + +<p>Wise <i>Cicero</i> contemned all this, and, as Authors tell us, ridiculed the +Answer, which, as I have hinted above, the Oracle gave to <i>Crœsus</i> +proving that the Oracle it self was a <i>Liar</i>, that it could not come +from <i>Apollo</i>, for that <i>Apollo</i> never spoke <i>Latin</i>: In a Word, +<i>Cicero</i> rejected them all, and <i>Demosthenes</i> also mentions the Cheats +of the <i>Oracles</i>; when speaking of the Oracle of <i>Apollo</i>, he said, +<i>Pithia Philippiz’d</i>; that is, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> when the Priests were brib’d with +Money, they always gave their Answers in favour of <i>Philip</i> of +<i>Macedon</i>.</p> + +<p>But that which is most strange to me is, that in this Dispute about the +Reality of Oracles, the Heathen who made use of them are the People who +expose them, and who insist most positively upon their being Cheats and +Impostors, as in particular those mentioned above; while the <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Chritians'">Christians</ins> +who reject them, yet believe they did really foretel Things, answer +Questions, <i>&c.</i> only with this Difference, that the Heathen Authors who +oppose them, insist that ’tis all Delusion and Cheat, and charge it upon +the Priests; and the Christian Opposers insist that it was real, but +that the <i>Devil</i>, not the Gods, gave the Answers; and that he was +permitted to do it by a superior Power, to magnify that Power in the +total silencing them at last.</p> + +<p>But, as I said before, I am with the Heathen here, against the Christian +Writers, for I take it all to be a Cheat and Delusion: I must give my +Reason for it, or I do nothing; my Reason is this, I insist Satan is as +blind in Matters of Futurity, as we are, and can tell nothing of what is +to come; these Oracles often pretending to predict, could be nothing +else therefore but a Cheat form’d by the Money-getting Priests to amuse +the World, and bring Grist to their Mill: If I meet with any thing in my +Way to open my Eyes to a better Opinion of them, I shall tell it you as +I go on.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, whether the <i>Devil</i> really spake in those Oracles, or +set the cunning Priests to speak for him; whether they predicted, or +only made the People believe they predicted; whether they gave Answers +which came to pass, or prevail’d upon the People to believe that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> what +was said did come to pass, it was much at one, and fully answer’d the +<i>Devil</i>’s End; namely, to amuse and delude the World; and as to do, or +to cause to be done, is the same Part of Speech, so whoever did it, the +<i>Devil</i>’s Interest was carried on by it, his Government preserv’d, and +all the Mischief he could desire was effectually brought to pass, so +that every way they were the <i>Devil</i>’s Oracles, that’s out of the +Question.</p> + +<p>Indeed I have wonder’d sometimes why, since by this Sorcery the <i>Devil</i> +perform’d such Wonders, that is, play’d so many Tricks in the World, and +had such universal Success, he should set up no more of them; but there +might be a great many Reasons given for that, too long to tire you with +at present: ’Tis true, there were not many of them, and yet considering +what a great deal of Business they dispatch’d, it was enough, for six or +eight Oracles were more than sufficient to amuse all the World: The +chief Oracles we meet with in History are among the <i>Greeks</i> and the +<i>Romans</i>, <i>viz.</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>That of <i>Jupiter Ammon</i>, in <i>Lybia</i>, as above.</p> + +<p>The <i>Dordonian</i>, in <i>Epirus</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Apollo Delphicus</i>, in the Country of <i>Phocis</i> in <i>Greece</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Apollo Clavius</i>, in <i>Asia Minor</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Serapis</i>, in <i>Alexandria</i> in <i>Egypt</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Trophomis</i>, in <i>Bæotia</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Sybilla Cumæa</i>, in <i>Italy</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Diana</i>, at <i>Ephesus</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Apollo Daphneus</i>, at <i>Antioch</i>.</p> + +<p>Besides many of lesser Note, in several other Places, as I have +hinted before.</p></div> + + +<p>I have nothing to do here with the Story mentioned by <i>Plutarch</i>, of a +Voice being heard at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> Sea, from some of the Islands call’d the +<i>Echinades</i>, and calling upon one <i>Thamuz</i>, an <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Egyytian'"><i>Egyptian</i></ins>, who was on +board a Ship, bidding him, when he came to the <i>Palodes</i>, other Islands +in the <i>Ionian</i> Seas, tell them there that the great God <span class="smcap">Pan</span> was dead; +and when <i>Thamuz</i> perform’d it, great Groanings, and Howlings, and +Lamentation were heard from the Shore.</p> + +<p>This Tale tells but indifferently, tho’ indeed it looks more like <i>a +Christian Fable</i>, than a Pagan; because it seems as if made to honour +the Christian Worship, and blast all the Pagan Idolatry; and for that +Reason I reject it, the Christian Profession needing no such fabulous +Stuff to confirm it.</p> + +<p>Nor is it true in fact, that the Oracles did cease immediately upon the +Death of Christ; but, as I noted before, the Sum of the Matter is this; +the Christian Religion spreading it self universally, as well as +miraculously, and that too <i>by the Foolishness of Preaching</i>, into all +Parts of the World, the Oracles ceas’d; that is to say, their Trade +ceas’d, their Rogueries were daily detected, the deluded People being +better taught, came no more after them, and being asham’d, as well as +discourag’d, they sneak’d out of the World as well as they could; in +short the Customers fell off, and the Priests, who were the Shopkeepers, +having no Business to do, shut up their Shops, broke, and went away; the +Trade and the Tradesmen were hiss’d off the Stage together; so that the +<i>Devil</i>, who, it must be confess’d, got infinitely by the Cheat, became +bankrupt, and was oblig’d to set other Engines at work, as other Cheats +and Deceivers do, who when one Trick grows stale, and will serve no +longer, are forc’d to try another.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>Nor was the <i>Devil</i> to seek in new Measures; for tho’ he could not give +out his delusive Trash as he did before, in Pomp and State, with the +Solemnity of a Temple and a Set of Enthusiasts call’d Priests, who plaid +a thousand Tricks to amuse the World, he then had Recourse to his old +<i>Egyptian</i> Method, which indeed was more antient than that of Oracles; +and that was by Magic, Sorcery, Familiars, Witchcraft, and the like.</p> + +<p>Of this we find the people of the <i>South</i>, that is, of <i>Arabia</i> and +<i>Chaldea</i> were the first, from whence we are told of the Wise Men, that +is to say, Magicians, were call’d <i>Chaldeans</i> and <i>Southsayers</i>. Hence +also we find <i>Ahaziah</i> the King of <i>Israel</i> sent to <i>Baalzebub</i> the God +of <i>Ekron</i>, to enquire whether he should live or die? This some think +was a kind of an Oracle, tho’ others think it was only some over-grown +Magician, who counterfeited himself to be a <i>Devil</i>, and obtain’d upon +that Idol-hunting Age to make a Cunning Man of him; and for that Purpose +he got himself made a Priest of <i>Baalzebub</i>, the God of <i>Ekron</i>, and +gave out Answers in his Name. Thus those merry Fellows in <i>Egypt</i>, +<i>Jannes</i> and <i>Jambres</i>, are said to mimick <i>Moses</i> and <i>Aaron</i>, when +they work’d the miraculous Plagues upon the <i>Egyptians</i>; and we have +some Instances in Scripture that support this, such as the Witch of +<i>Endor</i>, the King <i>Manasses</i>, who dealt with the <i>Devil</i> openly, and had +a Familiar; the Woman mentioned <i>Acts</i> xvi. who had a Spirit of +<i>Divination</i>, and who got Money by playing the Oracle; that is, +answering doubtful Questions, <i>&c.</i> which Spirit, or <i>Devil</i>, the +Apostles cast out.</p> + +<p>Now tho’ it is true that the old Women in the World have fill’d us with +Tales, some improbable, others impossible; some weak, some ridiculous, +and that this puts a general Discredit upon all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> the graver Matrons, who +entertain us with Stories better put together, yet ’tis certain, and I +must be allow’d to affirm, that the <i>Devil</i> does not disdain to take +into his Service many Troops of good <i>Old Women</i>, and Old Women-Men too, +who he finds ’tis for his Service to keep in constant Pay; to these he +is found frequently to communicate his Mind, and oftentimes we find them +such Proficients, that they know much more than the <i>Devil</i> can teach +them.</p> + +<p>How far our antient Friend <i>Merlin</i>, or the grave Matron his (Satan’s) +most trusty and well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor, Mother <i>Shipton</i>, +were commissioned by him to give out their prophetic Oracles, and what +degree of Possession he may have arrived to in them upon their Midnight +Excursions, I will not undertake to prove; but that he might be +acquainted with them both, as well as with several of our modern +Gentlemen, I will not deny neither.</p> + +<p>I confess it is not very incongruous with the <i>Devil</i>’s Temper, or with +the Nature of his Business, to shift hands; possibly he found that he +had tried the World with Oracular Cheats; that Men began to be forfeited +with them, and grew sick of the Frauds which were so frequently +detected; that it was time to take new Measures, and contrive some new +Trick to Bite the World, that he might not be expos’d to Contempt; or +perhaps he saw the Approach of new Light, which the Christian Doctrine +bringing with it began to spread in the Minds of Men; that it would +out-shine the dim burning <i>ignis fatuus</i>, with which he had so long +cheated Mankind, and was afraid to stand it, lest he should be mobb’d +off the Stage by his own People, when their Eyes should begin to open: +That upon this foot he might in Policy withdraw from those old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> Retreats +the Oracles, and restrain those Responses before they lost all their +Credit; for we find the People seem’d to be at a mighty Loss for some +time, for want of them, so that it made them run up and down to +Conjurers, and <i>Man-Gossips</i>, to brazen Heads, speaking Calves, and +innumerable simple Things, so gross that they are scarce fit to be +named, to satisfy the Itch of having their Fortunes told them, as we +call it.</p> + +<p>Now as the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> is very seldom blind to his own Interest, and therefore +thought fit to quit his old way of imposing upon the World by his +Oracles, only because he found the World began to be too wise to be +imposed upon that way; so on the other hand, finding there was still a +Possibility to delude the World, tho’ by other Instruments, he no sooner +laid down his Oracles, and the solemn Pageantry, magnificent +Appearances, and other Frauds of his Priests and Votaries, in their +Temples and Shrines; but he set up a new Trade, and having, as I have +said, Agents and Instruments sufficient for any Business that he could +have to employ them in, he begins in Corners, as the learned and merry +Dr. <i>Brown</i> says, and exercises his minor Trumperies by way of his own +contriving, lifting a great Number of new-found Operators, such as +Witches, Magicians, Diviners, Figure-casters, Astrologers, and such +inferior Seducers.</p> + +<p>Now it is true, as that Doctor says, this was running into Corners, as +if he had been expell’d his more triumphant way of giving Audience in +Form, which for so many Ages had been allow’d him; yet I must add, that +as it seem’d to be the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>’s own doing, from a right Judgment of his +Affairs, which had taken a new Turn in the World, upon the shining of +new Lights from the Christian Doctrine, so it must be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> acknowledged the +<i>Devil</i> made himself amends upon Mankind, by the various Methods he +took, and the Multitude of Instruments he employ’d, and perhaps deluded +Mankind in a more fatal and sensible manner than he did before, tho’ not +so universally.</p> + +<p>He had indeed before more Pomp and Figure put upon it, and he cheated +Mankind then in a Way of <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Magnifience'">Magnificence</ins> and Splendor; but this was not in +above eight or ten principal Places, and not fifty Places in all, public +or private; whereas now fifty thousand of his Angels and Instruments, +visible and invisible, hardly may be said to suffice for one Town or +City; but in short, as his invisible Agents fill the Air, and are at +hand for Mischief on every Emergence, so his visible Fools swarm in +every Village, and you have scarce a Hamlet or a Town but his Emissaries +are at Hand for Business; and which is still worse, in all Places he +finds Business; nay even where Religion is planted and seems to +flourish; yet he keeps his Ground and pushes his Interest according to +what has been said elsewhere upon the same Subject, that wherever +Religion plants, the Devil plants close by it.</p> + +<p>Nor, as I say, does he fail of Success, Delusion spreads like a Plague, +and the Devil is sure of Votaries; like a true Mountebank, he can always +bring a Croud about his Stage, and that some Times faster than other +People.</p> + +<p>What I observe upon this Subject is this, that the World is at a strange +Loss for want of the Devil; if it was not so, what’s the Reason, that +upon the silencing the Oracles, and Religion telling them that Miracles +are ceas’d, and that God has done speaking by Prophets, they never +enquire whether Heaven has established any other or new Way of +Revelation, but away they ran with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> their Doubts and Difficulties to +these Dreamers of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes, and personal Oracles to +be resolv’d; as if when they acknowledge the Devil is dumb, these could +speak; and as if the wicked Spirit could do more than the Good, the +<i>Diabolical</i> more than the <i>Divine</i>, or that Heaven having taken away +the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>’s Voice, had furnish’d him with an Equivalent, by allowing +Scolds, Termagants, and old weak and superannuated Wretches to speak for +him; for these are the People we go to now in our Doubts and +Emergencies.</p> + +<p>While this Blindness continues among us, ’tis Nonsense to say that +Oracles are silenced, or the <i>Devil</i> is dumb, for the <i>Devil</i> gives +Audience still by his Deputies; only as <i>Jeroboam</i> made Priests of the +meanest of the People, so he is grown a little humble, and makes use of +meaner Instruments than he did before; for whereas the Priests of +<i>Apollo</i>, and of <i>Jupiter</i>, were splendid in their Appearance, of grave +and venerable Aspect, and sometimes of no mean Quality; now he makes use +of Scoundrels and Rabble, Beggars and Vagabonds, old Hags, superannuated +miserable Hermits, Gypsies and Strollers, the Pictures of Envy and ill +Luck.</p> + +<p>Either the <i>Devil</i> is grown an ill Master, and gives but mean Wages, +that he can get no better Servants; or else Common Sense is grown very +low priz’d and contemptible; that such as these are fit Tools to +continue the Succession of Fraud, and carry on the <i>Devil</i>’s Interest in +the World; for were not the Passions and Temper of Mankind deeply +pre-engaged in favour of this dark Prince, we could never suffer our +selves to accept of his Favours by the Hands of such contemptible Agents +as these! How do we receive his Oracles from an old Witch of particular +Eminence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> and who we believe to be more than ordinarily inspir’d from +Hell; I say, we receive the Oracle with Reverence; that is to say, with +a kind of Horror, with regard to the Black Prince it comes from, and at +the same time turn our Faces away from the Wretch that mumbles out the +Answers, lest she should cast an <i>Evil Eye</i>, as we call it, upon us, and +put a Devil into us when she plays the <i>Devil</i> before us? How do we +listen to the Cant of those worst of Vagabonds the <i>Gypsies</i>, when at +the same time we watch our Hedges and Hen-roosts for fear of their +thieving?</p> + +<p>Either the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> uses us more like Fools than he did our Ancestors, or +we really are worse Fools than those Ages produced, for they were never +deluded by such low-priz’d <i>Devils</i> as we are; by such despicable +<i>Bridewell</i> <span class="smcap">Devils</span>, that are fitter for a Whipping-post than an Altar, +and instead of being receiv’d as the Voice of an Oracle, should be sent +to the House of Correction for Pick-pockets.</p> + +<p>Nor is this accidental, and here and there one of these Wretches to be +seen, but in short, if it has been in other Nations as it is with us, I +do not see that the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> was able to get any better People into his +Pay, or at least very rarely: Where have we seen any thing above a +Tinker turn Wizard? and where have we had a Witch of Quality among us, +Mother <i>Je———gs</i> excepted? and if she had not been more of something +else than a Witch, ’twas thought she had never got so much Money by her +Profession.</p> + +<p>Magicians, Southsayers, Devil-raisers, and such People, we have heard +much of, but seldom above the Degree of the meanest of the mean People, +the lowest of the lowest Rank: Indeed the Word <i>Wise Men</i>, which the +<i>Devil</i> wou’d fain have had his Agents honour’d with, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> used a while +in <i>Egypt</i>, and in <i>Persia</i>, among the <i>Chaldeans</i>, but it continued but +a little while, and never reach’d so far Northward as our Country; nor, +however the <i>Devil</i> has managed it, have many of our great Men, who have +been most acquainted with him, ever been able to acquire the Title of +Wise Men.</p> + +<p>I have heard that in older Times, I suppose in good Queen <i>Bess</i>’s Days, +or beyond, (for little is to be said here for any thing on this Side of +her time) there were some Counsellors and Statesmen who merited the +Character of <i>wise</i>, in the best Sense; that is to say, <i>good</i>, and +<i>wise</i>, as they stand in Conjunction; but as to what has happen’d since +that, or, as we may call it, from that Queen’s Funeral to the late +Revolution, I have little to say; but I’ll tell you what honest <i>Andrew +Marvel</i> said of those Times, and by that you may, if you please, make +your Calculation or let it alone, ’tis all one.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“To see a white Staff-maker, a Beggar, a Lord,<br /> +“And scarce <i>a wise Man</i> at a long Council-Board.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>But I may be told this relates to wise Men in another Constitution, or +wise Men as they are opposed to Fools; whereas we are talking of them +now under another Class, namely, as <i>Wisemen</i> or Magicians, +South-sayers, <i>&c.</i> such as were in former Times call’d by that Name.</p> + +<p>But to this I answer, that take them in which Sense you please, it may +be the same; for if I were to ask the <i>Devil</i> the Character of the best +States-man he had employ’d among us for many Years past, I am apt to +think that tho’ Oracles are ceased, he would honestly, according to the +old ambiguous Way, when I ask’d if they were Christians, answer they +were (his) <i>Privy-Counsellors</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>It is but a little while ago, that I happen’d (in Conversation) to meet +with a long List of the Magistrates of that Age, in a neighbouring +Country, that is to say, the Men of Fame among them; and it was a very +diverting Thing to see the Judgment which was pass’d upon them among a +great deal of good Company; it is not for me to tell you how many white +Staves, Golden Keys, Mareshals Batoons, Cordons Blue, Gordon Rouge and +Gordon Blanc, there were among them, or by what Titles, as Dukes, +Counts, Marquis, Abbot, Bishop, or Justice they were to be +distinguish’d; but the marginal Notes I found upon most of them were +(being mark’d with an Asterism) as follows.</p> + +<p>Such a Duke, such eminent Offices added to his Titles (* in the Margin) +——— <i>No Saint</i>.</p> + +<p>Such an Arch—— with the Title of Noble added, ——— <i>No Archangel</i>.</p> + +<p>Such an eminent Statesman and prime Minister, ——— <i>No Witch</i>.</p> + +<p>Such a Ribbon with a Set of great Letters added, ——— <i>No Conjurer</i>.</p> + +<p>It presently occurr’d to me that tho’ Oracles were ceased, and we had +now no more double <i>Entendre</i> in such a Degree as before, yet that +ambiguous Answers were not at an End; and that whether those Negatives +were meant so by the Writers, or not, ’twas certain Custom led the +Readers to conclude them to be Satyrs, that they were to be rung +backwards like the Bells when the Town’s on fire; tho’ in short, I durst +not read them backward any where, but as speaking of foreign People, for +fear of raising the <i>Devil</i> I am talking of.</p> + +<p>But to return to the Subject; to such mean Things is the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> now +reduc’d in his ordinary Way of carrying on his Business in the World, +that his Oracles are deliver’d now by the Bellmen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> and the +Chimney-Sweepers, by the meanest of those that speak in the Dark, and if +he operates by them, you may expect it accordingly; his Agents seem to +me as if the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> had singl’d them out by their Deformity, or that +there was something particular requir’d in their Aspect to qualify them +for their Employment; whence it is become proverbial, when our Looks are +very dismal and frightful, to say, I look like a Witch, or in other +Cases to say, as ugly as a Witch; in another Case to look as envious as +a Witch; now whether there is any Thing particularly requir’d in the +Looks of the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>’s modern Agents, which is assisting in the Discharge +of their Offices, and which make their Answers appear more solemn, this +the <i>Devil</i> has not yet reveal’d, at least not to me; and therefore why +it is that he singles out such Creatures as are fit only to fright the +People that come to them with their Enquiries, I do not take upon me to +determine.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it is necessary they should be thus extraordinary in their +Aspect, that they might strike an Awe into the Minds of their Votaries, +as if they were Satan’s true and real Representatives; and that the said +Votaries may think when they speak to the Witches they are really +talking to the <i>Devil</i>; or perhaps ’tis necessary to the Witches +themselves, that they should be so exquisitely ugly, that they might not +be surpriz’d at whatever Figure the Devil makes when he first appears to +them, being certain they can see nothing uglier than themselves.</p> + +<p>Some are of the Opinion that the Communication with the <i>Devil</i>, or +between the Devil and those Creatures his Agents, has something +assimulating in it, and that if they were tolerable before, they are, +<i>ipso facto</i>, turn’d into <span class="smcap">Devils</span> by talking with him; I will not say but +that a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> Tremor in the Limbs, a Horror in the Aspect, and a surprizing +Stare in the Eyes may seize upon some of them when they really see the +<span class="smcap">Devil</span>, and that the frequent Repetition may make those Distortions, +which we so constantly see in their Faces becomes natural to them; by +which if it does not continue always upon the Countenance, they can at +least, <i>like the Posture-Masters</i>, cast themselves into such Figures and +frightful Dislocations of the Lines and Features in their Faces, and so +assume a Devil’s Face suitable to the Occasion, or as may serve the turn +for which they take it up, and as often as they have any use for it.</p> + +<p>But be it which of these the Enquirer pleases, ’tis all one to the Case +in Hand; this is certain, that such deform’d <i>Devil-like</i> Creatures, +most of those we call <i>Hags</i> and <i>Witches</i>, are in their Shapes and +Aspects, and that they give out their Sentences and frightful Messages +with an Air of Revenge for some Injury receiv’d; for Witches are fam’d +chiefly for doing Mischief.</p> + +<p>It seems the <i>Devil</i> has always pick’d out the most ugly and frightful +old Women to do his Business; <i>Mother Shipton</i>, our famous <i>English</i> +Witch or Prophetess, is very much wrong’d in her Picture, if she was not +of the most terrible Aspect imaginable; and if it be true that <i>Merlin</i>, +the famous <i>Welch</i> Fortune-Teller, was a frightful Figure, it will seem +the more rational to believe, if we credit another Story, (<i>viz.</i>) that +he was begotten by the Devil himself, of which I shall speak by it self: +But to go back to the Devil’s Instruments being so ugly; it may be +observed, I say, that the Devil has always dealt in such sort of Cattle; +the <i>Sybils</i>, of whom so many strange prophetic Things are recorded, +whether true or no is not to the Question, are (if the <i>Italian</i> +Painters may have any Credit given them)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> all represented as very old +Women; and as if Ugliness were a Beauty to old Age, they seem to paint +them out as ugly and frightful as (not they, the Painters) but even as +the Devil himself could make them; not that I believe there are any +original Pictures of them really extant; but it is not unlikely that the +<i>Italians</i> might have some traditional Knowledge of them, or some +remaining Notions of them, or particularly that antient <i>Sybil</i> named +<i>Anus</i>, who sold the fatal Book to <i>Tarquin</i>; ’tis said of her that +<i>Tarquin</i> supposed she doated with Age.</p> + +<p>I had Thoughts indeed here to have entred into a learned Disquisition of +the Excellency of old Women in all diabolical Operations, and +particularly of the Necessity of having recourse to them for <i>Satan</i>’s +more exquisite Administration, which also may serve to solve the great +Difficulty in the natural Philosophy of Hell; namely, why it comes to +pass that the Devil is oblig’d for want of old Women, properly so +call’d, to turn so many antient Fathers, grave Counsellors both of Law +and State, and especially Civilians or Doctors of the Law into old +Women, and how the extraordinary Operation is perform’d; but this, as a +Thing of great Consequence in Satan’s Management of humane Affairs, and +particularly as it may lead us into the necessary History, as well as +Characters of some of the most eminent of these Sects among us, I have +purposely reserv’d for a Work by it self, to be published, if <i>Satan +hinders not</i>, in fifteen Volumes in Folio, wherein I shall in the first +Place define in the most exact Manner possible, what is to be understood +by a <i>Male old Woman</i>, of what heterogeneous Kind they are produced, +give you the monstrous Anatomy of the Parts, and especially those of the +Head, which being fill’d with innumerable Globules of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> sublime Nature, +and which being of a fine Contexture without, but particularly hollow in +the Cavity, defines most philosophically that antient paradoxical +Saying, (<i>viz.</i>) <i>being full of Emptiness</i>, and makes it very consistent +with Nature and common Sense.</p> + +<p>I shall likewise spend some Time, <i>and it must be Labour too, I assure +you, when ’tis done</i>, in determining whether this new Species of +Wonderfuls are not deriv’d from that famous <i>old Woman Merlin</i>, which I +prove to be very reasonable for us to suppose, because of the many +several judicious Authors, who affirm the said <i>Merlin</i>, as I hinted +before, to have been begotten by the <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>As to the deriving his Gift of Prophesy from the Devil, by that +pretended Generation, I shall omit that Part, because, as I have all +along insisted upon it, that Satan himself has no prophetic or +predicting Powers of his own, it is not very clear to me that he could +convey it to his Posterity, <i>nil dat quod not habet</i>.</p> + +<p>However, in deriving this so much magnified Prophet in a right Line from +the <i>Devil</i>, much may be said in favour of his ugly Face, in which it +was said he was very remarkable, for it is no new Thing for a Child to +be like the Father; but all these weighty Things I adjourn for the +present, and proceed to the Affair in Hand, namely, the several Branches +of the <i>Devil</i>’s Management since his quitting his Temples and Oracles.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chap_VI.2" id="Chap_VI.2"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VI.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the extraordinary Appearance of the</i> Devil, <i>and particularly +of the Cloven-Foot.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Some</span> People would fain have us treat this Tale of the <i>Devil</i>’s +appearing with a Cloven-Foot with more Solemnity than I believe the +<i>Devil</i> himself does; for Satan, who knows how much of a Cheat it is, +must certainly ridicule it, in his own Thoughts, to the last Degree; but +as he is glad of any Way to hoodwink the Understandings, and bubble the +weak Part of the World; so if he sees Men willing to take every +Scarecrow for a Devil, it is not his Business to undeceive them; on the +other Hand, he finds it his Interest to foster the Cheat, and serve +himself of the Consequence: Nor could I doubt but the Devil, if any +Mirth be allow’d him, often laughs at the many frightful Shapes and +Figures we dress him up in, and especially to see how willing we are +first to paint him as black, and make him appear as ugly as we can, and +then stare and start at the Spectrum of our own making.</p> + +<p>The Truth is, that among all the Horribles that we dress up Satan in, I +cannot but think we shew the least of Invention in this of a Goat, or a +Thing with a Goat’s Foot, of all the rest; for tho’ a Goat is a Creature +made use of by our Saviour in the Allegory of the Day of Judgment, and +is said there to represent the wicked rejected Party, yet it seems to be +only on Account of their Similitude to the Sheep, and so to represent +the just Fate of Hypocrisy and Hypocrites, and in particular to form the +necessary Antithesis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> in the Story; for else, <i>our whimsical Fancies +excepted</i>, a Sheep or a Lamb has a Cloven-Foot as well as a Goat; nay, +if the Scripture be of any Value in the Case, ’tis to the <i>Devil</i>’s +Advantage, for the dividing the Hoof was the distinguishing Character or +Mark of a clean Beast, and how the Devil can be brought into that Number +is pretty hard to say.</p> + +<p>One would have thought if we had intended to have given a just Figure of +the <i>Devil</i>, it would have been more apposite to have rank’d him among +the Cat-kind, and given him a Foot (if he is to be known by his Foot) +like a Lion, or like a <i>red Dragon</i>, being the same Creatures which he +is represented by in the Text, and so his Claws would have had some +Terror in them as well as his Teeth.</p> + +<p>But neither is the <i>Goat</i> a true Representative of the Devil at all, for +we do not rank the Goats among the Subtle or cunning Part of the Brutes; +he is counted a fierce Creature indeed of his Kind, tho’ nothing like +those other abovemention’d; and he is emblematically used to represent a +lustful Temper, but even that Part does not fully serve to describe the +Devil, whose Operation lies principally another Way.</p> + +<p>Besides it is not the <i>Goat</i> himself that is made use of, ’tis the +Cloven-Hoof only, and that so particularly, that the <i>Cloven Foot</i> of a +Ram or a Swine, or any other Creature, may serve as well as that of a +<i>Goat</i>, only that History gives us some Cause to call it the <i>Goat</i>’s +<i>Foot</i>.</p> + +<p>In the next Place ’tis understood by us not as a bare Token to know +<i>Satan</i> by, but as if it were a Brand upon him, and that like the Mark +God put upon <i>Cain</i>, it was given him for a Punishment, so that he +cannot get leave to appear without it, nay cannot conceal it whatever +other Dress or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> Disguise he may put on; and as if it was to make him as +ridiculous as possible, they will have it be, that whenever <i>Satan</i> has +Occasion to dress himself in any humane Shape, be it of what Degree +soever, from the King to the Beggar, be it of a fine Lady or of an <i>old +Woman</i>, (the Latter it seems he oftenest assumes) yet still he not only +must have this <i>Cloven-Foot</i> about him, but he is oblig’d to shew it +too; nay, they will not allow him any Dress, whether it be a Prince’s +Robes, a Lord Cha—r’s Gown, or a Lady’s Hoop and long Petticoats, but +the Cloven-Foot must be shew’d from under them; they will not so much as +allow him an artificial <i>Shoe</i> or a <i>Jack-Boot</i>, as we often see +contriv’d to conceal a <i>Club-Foot</i> or a <i>Wooden-Leg</i>; but that the +<i>Devil</i> may be known <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'whereever'">wherever</ins> he goes, he is bound to shew his Foot; +they might as well oblige him to set a Bill upon his Cap, as Folks do +upon a House to be let, and have it written in capital Letters, <i>I am +the</i> <span class="smcap">Devil</span>.</p> + +<p>It must be confess’d this is very particular, and would be very hard +upon the <i>Devil</i>, if it had not another Article in it, which is some +Advantage to him, and that is, that <i>the Fact is not true</i>; but the +Belief of this is so universal, that all the World runs away with it; by +which Mistake the good People miss the <i>Devil</i> many times where they +look for him, and meet him as often where they did not expect him, and +when for want of this Cloven-Foot they do not know him.</p> + +<p>Upon this very Account I have sometimes thought, not that this has been +put upon him by meer Fancy, and the Cheat of a heavy Imagination, +propagated by Fable and Chymny-Corner Divinity, but that it has been a +Contrivance of his own; and that, in short, the Devil rais’d this +Scandal upon himself, that he might keep his Disguise the better, and +might go a Visiting among<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> his Friends without being known; for were it +really so, that he could go no where without this particular Brand of +Infamy, he could not come into Company, could not dine with my Lord +Mayor, nor drink Tea with the Ladies, could not go to the Drawing-R—— +at ———, could not have gone to <i>Fountainbleau</i> to the King of +<i>France</i>’s Wedding, or to the Diet of <i>Poland</i>, to prevent the Grandees +there coming to an Agreement; nay, <i>which would be still worse than +all</i>, he could not go to the Masquerade, nor to any of our Balls; the +Reason is plain, he would be always discover’d, expos’d and forc’d to +leave the good Company, or which would be as bad, the Company would all +cry out the <i>Devil</i> and run out of the Room as if they were frighted; +nor could all the Help of Invention do him any Service, no Dress he +could put on would cover him; not all our Friends at <i>Tavistock Corner</i> +could furnish him with a Habit that would disguise or conceal him, this +unhappy Foot would spoil it all: Now this would be a great a Loss to +him, that I question whether he could carry on any of his most important +Affairs in the World without it; for tho’ he has access to Mankind in +his compleat Disguise, I mean that of his Invisibility, yet the Learned +very much agree in this, that his corporal Presence in the World is +absolutely necessary upon many Occasions, to support his Interest and +keep up his Correspondences, and particularly to encourage his Friends +when Numbers are requisite to carry on his Affairs; but this Part I +shall have Occasion to speak of again, when I come to consider him as a +Gentleman of Business in his Locality, and under the Head of visible +Apparition; but I return to the <i>Foot</i>.</p> + +<p>As I have thus suggested that the Devil himself has politically spread +about this Notion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> concerning his appearing with <i>a Cloven-Foot</i>, so I +doubt not that he has thought it for his Purpose to paint this +<i>Cloven-Foot</i> so lively in the Imaginations of many of our People, and +especially of those clear sighted Folks who see the <i>Devil</i> when he is +not to be seen, that they would make no Scruple to say, nay and to make +Affidavit too, even before <i>Satan</i> himself, whenever he sat upon the +Bench, that they had seen his Worship’s Foot at such and such a Time; +this I advance the rather because ’tis very much for his Interest to do +this, for if we had not many Witnesses, <i>viva voce</i>, to testify it, we +should have had some obstinate Fellows always among us, who would have +denied the Fact, or at least have spoken doubtfully of it, and so have +rais’d Disputes and Objections against it, as impossible, or at least as +improbable; buzzing one ridiculous Notion or other into our Ears, as if +the Devil was not so black as he was painted, that he had no more a +<i>Cloven-Foot</i> than a Pope, whose Apostolical Toes have so often been +reverentially kiss’d by Kings and Emperors: but now alas this Part is +out of the Question, not the Man in the Moon, not the Groaning-Board, +not the speaking of Fryar <i>Bacon</i>’s Brazen-Head, not the Inspiration of +<i>Mother Shipton</i>, or the Miracles of Dr. <i>Faustus</i>, Things as certain as +Death and Taxes, can be more firmly believ’d: The Devil not have a +Cloven-Foot! I doubt not but I could, in a short Time, bring you a +thousand old Women together, that would as soon believe there was no +Devil at all; nay, they will tell you, he could not be a Devil without +it, any more than he could come into the Room, and the Candles not burn +blue, or go out and not leave a smell of Brimstone behind him.</p> + +<p>Since then the Certainty of the Thing is so well establish’d, and there +are so many good and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> substantial Witnesses ready to testify that he has +a Cloven-Foot, and that they have seen it too; nay, and that we have +Antiquity on our Side, for we have this Truth confirm’d by the Testimony +of many Ages; why should we doubt it any longer? we can prove that many +of our Ancestors have been of this Opinion, and divers learn’d Authors +have left it upon Record, as particularly that learned Familiarist +Mother <i>Hazel</i>, whose Writings are to be found in MS. in the famous +Library at <i>Pye-Corner</i>; also the admir’d <i>Joan</i> of <i>Amesbury</i>, the +History of the <i>Lancashire</i> Witches, and the Reverend Exorcist of the +<i>Devil</i>’s of <i>London</i>, whose History is extant among us to this Day; all +these and many more may be quoted, and their Writings referr’d to for +the Confirmation of the Antiquity of this Truth; but there seems to be +no Occasion for farther Evidence, ’tis enough, <i>Satan</i> himself, if he +did not raise the Report, yet tacitly owns the Fact, at least he appears +willing to have it believ’d, and be receiv’d as a general Truth for the +Reasons above.</p> + +<p>But besides all this, and as much a Jest as some unbelieving People +would have this Story pass for, who knows but that if <i>Satan</i> is +empower’d to assume any Shape or Body, and to appear to us visibly, as +if really so shap’d; I say, who knows but he may, by the same Authority, +be allow’d to assume the Addition of the Cloven-Foot, or two or four +Cloven-Feet, if he pleased? and why not a <i>Cloven-Foot</i> as well as any +other Foot, if he thinks fit? For if the <i>Devil</i> can assume a Shape, and +can appear to Mankind in a visible Form, it may, I doubt not, with as +good Authority be advanc’d that he is left at Liberty to assume what +Shape he pleases, and to choose <i>what Case of Flesh and Blood he’ll +please to wear</i>, whether real or imaginary; and if this Liberty be +allow’d him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> it is an admirable Disguise for him to come generally with +his <i>Cloven-Foot</i>, that when he finds it for his Purpose, on special +Occasions to come without it, as I said above, he may not be suspected; +<i>but take this with you as you go</i>, that all this is upon a Supposition +that the <i>Devil</i> can assume a visible Shape, and make a real Appearance, +which however I do not yet think fit to grant or deny.</p> + +<p>Certain it is, the first People who bestow’d a <i>Cloven-Foot</i> upon the +Devil, were not so despicable as you may imagine, but were real +Favourites of Heaven; for did not <i>Aaron</i> set up the <i>Devil</i> of a Calf +in the Congregation, and set the People a dancing about it for a God? +Upon which Occasion, Expositors tell us, that particular Command was +given, <i>Levit.</i> xvii. 7. <i>They shall no more offer their Sacrifices +unto</i> Devils, <i>after whom they have gone a Whoring</i>; likewise King +<i>Jeroboam</i> set up the two Calves, one at <i>Dan</i> and the other at +<i>Bethel</i>, and we find them charg’d afterwards with setting up the +Worship of <i>Devils</i> instead of the Worship of <i>God</i>.</p> + +<p>After this we find some Nations actually sacrificed to the <i>Devil</i> in +the Form of a Ram, and others of a Goat; from which, and that above of +the Calves at <i>Horeb</i>, I doubt not the Story of the <i>Cloven-Foot</i> first +derived; and it is plain that the Worship of that Calf at <i>Horeb</i> is +meant in the Scripture quoted above, <i>Levit.</i> xvii. 7. <i>Thou shalt no +more offer Sacrifices unto Devils</i>: The Original is <i>Seghnirim</i>; that +is, rough and hairy <i>Goats</i> or <i>Calves</i>; and some think also in this +Shape the <i>Devil</i> most ordinarily appeared to the <i>Egyptians</i> and +<i>Arabians</i>, from whence it was derived.</p> + +<p>Also in the old Writings of the <i>Egyptians</i>, I mean their hieroglyphick +Writing, before the Use of Letters was known, we are told this was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> the +Mark that he was known by; and the Figure of a <i>Goat</i> was the +<i>Hieroglyphick</i> of the <i>Devil</i>; some will affirm that the <i>Devil</i> was +particularly pleased to be so represented; how they came by their +Information, and whether they had it from his own Mouth or not, Authors +have not yet determined.</p> + +<p>But be this as it will, I do not see that <i>Satan</i> could have been at a +Loss for some extraordinary Figure to have banter’d Mankind with, tho’ +this had not been thought of; but thinking of the <i>Cloven-Foot</i> first, +and the Matter being indifferent, this took place, and easily rooted it +self in the bewildred Fancy of the People, and now ’tis riveted too fast +for the <i>Devil</i> himself to remove it if he was disposed to try; but as I +said above, ’tis none of his Business to solve Doubts or remove +Difficulties out of our Heads, but to perplex us with more, as much as +he can.</p> + +<p>Some People carry this Matter a great deal higher still, and will have +the <i>Cloven-Foot</i> be like the great Stone which the <i>Brasilian +Conjurers</i> used to solve all difficult Questions upon, after having used +a great many monstrous and barbarous Gestures and Distortions of their +Bodies, and cut certain Marks or magical Figures upon the Stone; so, <i>I +say</i>, they will have this Cloven-Foot be a kind of a Conjuring-Stone, +and tell us, that in former Times, when <i>Satan</i> drove a greater Trade +with Mankind in publick, than he has done of late, he gave this +<i>Cloven-Foot</i> as a Token to his particular Favourites to work Wonders +with, and to conjure by, and that Witches, Fairies, Hobgoblins, and such +Things, of which the Antients had several Kinds, at least in their +Imagination, had all a <i>Goat’s Leg</i> with a <i>Cloven-Foot</i> to put on upon +extraordinary Occasions; it seems this Method is of late grown out of +Practice,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> and so like the melting of Marble and the painting of Glass, +’tis laid aside among the various useful Arts which History tells us are +lost to the World; what may be practised in the Fairy World, if such a +Place there be, we can give no particular Account at present.</p> + +<p>But neither is this all, for other wou’d-be-wise People take upon them +to make farther and more considerable Improvements upon this Doctrine of +the <i>Cloven-Foot</i>, and treat it as a most significant Instrument of +Satan’s private Operation, and that as <i>Joseph</i> is said to <i>Divine</i>, +that is to say, to <i>conjure</i> by his Golden Cup which was put into +<i>Benjamin</i>’s Sack, so the <i>Devil</i> has managed several of his secret +Operations, and Possessions, and other hellish Mechanisms upon the +Spirits as well as Bodies of Men, by the Medium or Instrumentality of +the <i>Cloven-Foot</i>; accordingly it had a Kind of an hellish Inspiration +in it, and a separate and magical Power by which he wrought his infernal +Miracles; that the Cloven-Foot had a superior Signification, and was not +only emblematic and significative of the Conduct of Men, but really +guided their Conduct in the most important Affairs of Life; and that the +Agents the Devil employ’d to influence Mankind, and to delude them and +draw them into all the Snares and Traps that he lays continually for +their Destruction, were equipp’d with this Foot in Aid of their other +Powers for Mischief.</p> + +<p>Here they read us learn’d Lectures upon the sovereign Operations which +the Devil is at present Master of, in the Government of human Affairs; +and how the Cloven-Foot is an Emblem of the true <i>double Entendre</i> or +divided Aspect, which the great Men of the World generally act with, and +by which all their Affairs are directed; from whence it comes to pass +that there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> no such Thing as a single hearted Integrity, or an +upright Meaning to be found in the World; that Mankind, worse than the +ravenous Brutes, preys upon his own Kind, and devours them by all the +laudable Methods of Flattery, Whyne, Cheat and Treachery; <i>Crocodile +like</i>, weeping over those it will devour, destroying those it smiles +upon, and, in a Word, devours its own Kind, which the very Beasts +refuse, and that by all the Ways of Fraud and Allurement that <i>Hell</i> can +invent; holding out a cloven divided Hoof, or Hand, pretending to save, +when the very Pretence is made use of to ensnare and destroy.</p> + +<p>Thus the divided Hoof is the Representative of a divided double Tongue, +and Heart, an Emblem of the most exquisite Hypocrisy, the most fawning +and fatally deceiving Flattery; and here they give us very diverting +Histories, tho’ tragical in themselves, of the manner which some of the +<i>Devil</i>’s inspired Agents have manag’d themselves under the especial +Influence of the <i>Cloven-Foot</i>; how they have made War under the +Pretence of Peace, murther’d Garrisons under the most sacred +Capitulations, massacred innocent Multitudes after Surrenders to Mercy.</p> + +<p>Again, they tell us the <i>Cloven-Foot</i> has been made use of in all +Treasons, Plots, Assassinations, and secret as well as open Murthers and +Rebellions. Thus <i>Joab</i> under the Treason of an Embrace, shew’d how +dexterously he could manage the <i>Cloven-Foot</i>, and struck <i>Abner</i> under +the fifth Rib: Thus <i>David</i> play’d the Cloven-Foot upon poor <i>Uriah</i>, +when he had a Mind to lie with his Wife: Thus <i>Brutus</i> play’d it upon +<i>Cæsar</i>; and to come nearer home, we have had a great many retrograde +Motions in this Country by this magical Implement the <i>Foot</i>; Such as +that of the Earl of <i>Essex</i>’s Fate, beheading the Queen of <i>Scots</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> +and diverse others in Queen <i>Elizabeth</i>’s Time: That of the Earl of +<i>Shrewsbury</i> and Sir <i>Thomas Overbury</i>, <i>Gondamor</i> and Sir <i>Walter +Raleigh</i>, and many others in King <i>James</i> the I.’s Time; in all which, +if the Cloven-Foot had not been dexterously manag’d, those Murthers had +not been so dexterously manag’d, or the Murtherers have so well been +skreen’d from Justice; for which and the imprecated Justice of Heaven +unappeased, some have thought the innocent Branches of the Royal House +of <i>Stuart</i> did not fare the better in the Ages which follow’d.</p> + +<p>It must be confess’d, the Cloven-Foot was in its full Exercise in the +next Reign, and the Generation that rose up immediately after them, +arrived to the most exquisite Skill for Management of it; here they +fasted and pray’d, there they plunder’d and murther’d; here they rais’d +War for the King, and there they fought against him, cutting Throats for +<i>God’s Sake</i>, and deposing both King and kingly Government according to +Law.</p> + +<p>Nor was the <i>Cloven-Foot</i> unemployed on all Sides, for ’tis the main +Excellency of this Instrument of Hell, that it acts on every Side, it is +its denominating Quality, and is for that Reason call’d a cloven or +divided Hoof.</p> + +<p>This mutilated Apparition has been so publick in other Countries too, +that it seems to convince us the Devil is not confin’d to <i>England</i> +only, but that as his Empire extended to all the sublunary World, so he +gives them all Room to see he is qualified to manage them his own Way.</p> + +<p>What abundant Use did that Prince of Dissemblers, <i>Charles</i> V. make of +this Foot? ’twas by the Help of this Apparition of the Foot that he +baited his Hook with the City of <i>Milan</i>, and tickled <i>Francis</i> I.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> of +<i>France</i> so well with it, that when he pass’d thro’ <i>France</i>, and was in +that King’s Power, he let him go, and never get the Bait off of the Hook +neither; it Seems the <i>Foot</i> was not on King <i>Francis</i>’s Side at that +Time.</p> + +<p>How cruelly did <i>Philip</i> II. of <i>Spain</i> manage this Foot in the Murther +of the Nobility of the <i>Spanish Netherlands</i>, the Assassination of the +Prince of <i>Orange</i>, and at last: in that of his own Son <i>Don Carlos</i> +Infant of <i>Spain</i>? and yet such was the <i>Devil</i>’s Craft, and so nicely +did he bestir his <i>Cloven-Hoof</i>, that this Monarch died consolated (tho’ +impenitent) in the Arms of the Church, and with the Benediction of the +Clergy too, <i>those second best Managers of the said Hoof in the World</i>.</p> + +<p>I must acknowledge, I agree with this Opinion thus far; namely, that the +Devil acting by this Cloven-Foot, as a Machine, has done great Things in +the World for the propagating his dark Empire among us; and History is +full of Examples, besides the little low priz’d Things done among us; +for we are come to such a Kind of Degeneracy in Folly, that we have even +dishonour’d the <i>Devil</i>, and put this glorious Engine the Cloven-Foot to +such mean Uses, that the <i>Devil</i> himself seems to be asham’d of us.</p> + +<p>But to return a little to foreign History, besides what has been +mention’d above, we find flaming Examples of most glorious Mischief done +by this Weapon, when put into the Hands of Kings and Men of Fame in the +World: How many Games have the Kings of <i>France</i> play’d with this +<i>Cloven-Foot</i>, and that within a few Years of one another? First, +<i>Charles</i> IX. play’d the <i>Cloven-Foot</i> upon <i>Gaspar Coligni</i> Admiral of +<i>France</i>, when he caress’d him, complimented him, invited him to +<i>Paris</i>, to the Wedding of the King of <i>Navarre</i>, call’d him Father, +kiss’d him, and when he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> wounded sent his own Surgeons to take Care +of him, and yet three Days after order’d him to be assassinated and +murther’d, used with a thousand Indignities, and at last thrown out of +the Window into the Street to be insulted by the Rabble?</p> + +<p>Did not <i>Henry</i> III. in the same Country, play the Cloven-Foot upon the +Duke of <i>Guise</i>, when he call’d him to his Council, and caus’d him to be +murther’d as he went in at the Door? The <i>Guises</i> again plaid the same +Game back upon the King, when they sent out a <i>Jacobin</i> Friar to +assassinate him in his Tent as he lay at the Siege of <i>Paris</i>.</p> + +<p>In a Word, this Opera of the <i>Cloven-Foot</i> has been acted all over the +Christian World, ever since <i>Judas</i> betray’d the Son of God with a Kiss; +nay, our Saviour says expresly of him, <i>One of you is a Devil</i>; and the +sacred Text says in another Place, <i>The Devil enter’d into Judas</i>.</p> + +<p>It would take up a great deal of Time and Paper too, to give you a full +Account of the Travels of this <i>Cloven-Foot</i>; its Progress into all the +Courts of <i>Europe</i>, and with what most accurate Hypocrisy <i>Satan</i> has +made use of it upon many Occasions, and with what Success; but as in the +elaborate Work of which I just now gave you a Specimen I design one +whole Volume upon this Subject, and which I shall call, <i>The compleat +History</i> of the <i>Cloven-Foot</i>; I say, for that Reason, and diverse +others, I shall say but very little more to it in this Place.</p> + +<p>It remains to tell you, that this merry Story of the <i>Cloven-Foot</i> is +very essential to the History which I am now writing, as it has been all +along the great Emblem of the <i>Devil</i>’s Government in the World, and by +which all his most considerable Engagements have been answer’d and +executed; for as he is said not to be able to conceal this Foot, but +that he carries it always with him, it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> imports most plainly, that the +<i>Devil</i> would be no <i>Devil</i> if he was not a Dissembler, a Deceiver, and +carried a <i>double Entendre</i> in all he does or says; that he cannot but +say one Thing and mean another, promise one Thing and do another, engage +and not perform, declare and not intend, and act like a true <i>Devil</i> as +he is, with a Countenance that is no Index of his Heart.</p> + +<p>I might indeed go back to Originals, and derive this <i>Cloven-Foot</i> from +Satan’s primitive State as a Cherubim or a celestial Being, which +Cherubims, as <i>Moses</i> is said to have seen them about the Throne of God +in Mount <i>Sinai</i>, and as the same <i>Moses</i>, from the Original represented +them afterwards covering the Ark, had the Head and Face of a Man, Wings +of an Eagle, Body of a Lion, and Legs and Feet of a Calf; but this is +not so much to our present Purpose, for as we are to allow that whatever +<i>Satan</i> had of heavenly Beauty before the Fall, he lost it all when he +commenc’d <i>Devil</i>, so to fetch his Original so far up would be only to +say, that he retain’d nothing but the <i>Cloven-Foot</i>, and that all the +rest of him was alter’d and deform’d, become frightful and horrible as +the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>; but his Cloven-Foot, as we now understand it, is rather +mystical and emblematick, and describes him only as the Fountain of +Mischief and Treason, and the Prince of Hypocrites, and as such we are +now to speak of him.</p> + +<p>’Tis from this Original all the hypocritic World copy, he wears the Foot +on their Account, and from this Model they act: This made our blessed +Lord tell them, <i>the Works of your Father ye will do</i>, meaning the +<i>Devil</i>, as he had express’d it just before.</p> + +<p>Nor does he deny the Use of the <i>Foot</i> to the meaner Class of his +Disciples in the World, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> decently equips them all upon every +Occasion with a needful Proportion of Hypocrisy and Deceit; that they +may hand on the Power of promiscuous Fraud thro’ all his temporal +Dominions, and wear <i>the Foot</i> always about them as a Badge of their +profess’d Share in whatever is done by that Means.</p> + +<p>Thus every Dissembler, every false Friend, every secret Cheat, every +Bearskin-Jobber has a <i>Cloven-Foot</i>, and so far hands on the Devil’s +Interest by the same powerful Agency of Art, as the <i>Devil</i> himself uses +to act when he appears in Person, or would act if he was just now upon +the Spot; for this <i>Foot</i> is a Machine which is to be wound up and wound +down, as the Cause it appears for requires; and there are Agents and +Engineers to act in it by Directions of <i>Satan</i> (the grand Engineer) who +lies still in his Retirement, only issuing out his Orders as he sees +convenient.</p> + +<p>Again, every Class, every Trade, every Shopkeeper, every Pedlar, nay, +that meanest of Tradesmen, that Church Pedlar the Pope, has a +Cloven-Foot, with which he <i>Paw wa’s</i> upon the World, wishes them all +well, and at the same time cheats them; wishes them all fed, and at the +same time starves them; wishes them all in Heaven, and at the same time +marches before them directly to the Devil, <i>alamode de Cloven-Foot</i>.</p> + +<p>Nay, the very Bench, the everliving Foundation of Justice in the World; +how often has it been made the Tool of Violence, the Refuge of +Oppression, the Seat of Bribery and Corruption, by this Monster in +Masquerade, and that every where (our own Country always excepted)? They +had much better wipe out the Picture of justice blinded, and having the +Sword and Scales in her Hand, which in foreign Countries is generally +painted over the Seat of those who sit to do Justice, and place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> instead +thereof a naked unarm’d Cloven-Hoof, a proper Emblem of that Spirit that +Influences the World, and of the Justice we often see administred among +them; human Imagination cannot form an Idea more suitable, nor the +<i>Devil</i> propose an Engine more or better qualified for an Operation of +Justice, by the Influence of Bribery and Corruption; it is this +magnipotent Instrument in the Hands of the Devil, which under the +closest Disguise agitates every Passion, bribes every Affection, +blackens every Virtue, gives a double Face to Words and Actions, and to +all Persons who have any Concern in them, and in a Word, makes us all +Devils to one another.</p> + +<p>Indeed the Devil has taken but a dark Emblem to be distinguish’d by, for +this of a Goat was said to be a Creature hated by Mankind from the +beginning, and that there is a natural Antipathy in Mankind against +them: Hence the Scape Goat was to bear the Sins of the People, and to go +into the Wilderness with all that Burthen upon him.</p> + +<p>But we have a Saying among us, in Defence of which we must enquire into +the proper Sphere of Action which may be assigned to this Cloven-Foot, +as hitherto described: The Proverb is this; <i>Every</i> Devil <i>has not a +Cloven-Foot</i>. This Proverb, instead of giving us some more favourable +Thoughts of the <i>Devil</i>, confirms what I have said already, that the +<i>Devil</i> rais’d this Scandal upon himself; I mean, the Report that he +cannot conceal or disguise his Devil’s Foot, or Hoof, but that it must +appear, under whatever Habit he shews himself; and the Reason I gave +holds good still, <i>namely</i>, that he may be more effectually conceal’d +when he goes abroad without it: For if the People were fully persuaded +that the <i>Devil</i> could not appear without this Badge of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> his Honour, or +Mark of his Infamy, <i>take it as you will</i>; and that he was bound also to +shew it upon all Occasions, it would be natural to conclude, that +whatever frightful Appearances might be seen in the World, if the +Cloven-Foot did not also appear, we had no Occasion to look for the +<i>Devil</i>, or so much as to think of him, much less to apprehend he was +near us; and as this might be a Mistake, and that the <i>Devil</i> might be +there while we thought our selves so secure, it might on many Occasions +be a Mistake of very ill Consequence, and in particular, as it would +give the <i>Devil</i> room to act in the Dark, and not be discover’d, where +it might be most needful to know him.</p> + +<p>From this short Hint, thus repeated, I draw a new Thesis, namely, That +<i>Devil</i> is most dangerous that has no Cloven-Foot; or, if you will have +it in Words more to the common Understanding, the <i>Devil</i> seems to be +most dangerous when he goes without his Cloven-Foot.</p> + +<p>And here a learned Speculation offers it self to our Debate, and which +indeed I ought to call a Council of Casuists, and Men learned in the +<i>Devil</i>’s Politicks, to determine:</p> + +<p>Whether is most hurtful to the World, the <i>Devil</i> walking about without +his Cloven-Foot, or the Cloven-Foot walking about without the <i>Devil</i>?</p> + +<p>It is indeed a nice and difficult Question, and merits to be well +enquir’d into; for which Reason, and diverse others, I have referr’d it +to be treated with some Decency, and as a Dispute of Dignity sufficient +to take up a Chapter by itself.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Chap_VII.2" id="Chap_VII.2"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VII.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Whether is most hurtful to the World, the</i> Devil <i>walking about +without his Cloven-Foot, or the Cloven-Foot walking about without +the</i> Devil?</p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">In</span> discussing this most critical Distinction of Satan’s private Motions, +I must, as the Pulpit Gentlemen direct us, explain the Text, and let you +know what I mean by several dark Expressions in it, that I may not be +understood to talk (as the <i>Devil</i> walks) in the dark.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. As to the Devil’s walking about.</p> + +<p>2. His walking without his Cloven-Foot.</p> + +<p>3. The Cloven-Foot walking about without the <i>Devil</i>.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Now as I study Brevity, and yet would be understood too, you may please +to understand me as I understand my self, thus.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. That I must be allow’d to suppose the <i>Devil</i> really has a full +Intercourse in, and through, and about this Globe, with Egress and +Regress, for the carrying on his special Affairs, when, how, and +where, to his Majesty, in his great Wisdom, it shall seem meet; +that sometimes he appears and becomes visible, and that, like a +Mastiff without his Clog, he does not always carry his Cloven-Foot +with him. This will necessarily bring me to some Debate upon the +most important Question of Apparitions, Hauntings, Walkings, <i>&c.</i> +whether of <i>Satan</i> in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> human Shape, or of human Creatures in the +<i>Devil</i>’s Shape, or in any other manner whatsoever.</p> + +<p>2. I must also be allow’d to tell you that Satan has a great deal +of Wrong done him by the general embracing vulgar Errors, and that +there is a Cloven-Foot oftentimes without a <i>Devil</i>; or, in short, +that Satan is not guilty of all the simple Things, no, or of all +the wicked Things we charge him with.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>These two Heads well settled will fully explain the Title of this +Chapter, answer the Query mentioned in it, and at the same time +correspond very well with, and give us a farther Prospect into the main +and original Design of this Work, <i>namely, The History of the Devil</i>. We +are so fond of, and pleased with the general Notion of seeing the +<i>Devil</i>, that I am loth to disoblige my Readers so much as calling in +question his Visibility would do. Nor is it my Business, any more than +it is his, to undeceive them, where the Belief is so agreeable to them; +especially since upon the whole ’tis not one Farthing matter, either on +one Side or on the other, whether it be so or no, or whether the Truth +of Fact be ever discovered or not.</p> + +<p>Certain it is, whether we see him or no, here he is, and I make no doubt +but he is looking on while I am writing this Part of his Story, whether +behind me, or at my Elbow, or over my Shoulder, is not material to me, +nor have I once turned my Head about to see whether he is there or no; +for if he be not in the Inside, I have so mean an Opinion of all his +extravasated Powers, that it seems of very little Consequence to me what +Shape he takes up, or in what Posture he appears; nor indeed can I find +in all my Enquiry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> that ever the <i>Devil</i> appear’d (<i>Qua Devil</i>) in any +of the most dangerous or important of his Designs in the World; the most +of his Projects, especially of the significant Part of them, having been +carried on another way.</p> + +<p>However, as I am satisfied no Body will be pleas’d if I should dispute +the Reality of his Appearance, and the World runs away with it as a +receiv’d Point, and that admits no Dispute, I shall most readily grant +the General, and give you some Account of the Particulars.</p> + +<p>History is fruitful of Particulars, whether Invention has supply’d them +or not, I will not say, where the <i>Devil</i> is brought upon the Stage in +plain and undeniable Apparition: The Story of <i>Samuel</i> being rais’d by +the Witch of <i>Endor</i>, I shall leave quite out of my List, because there +are so many Scruples and Objections against that Story; and as I shall +not dispute with the Scripture, so on the other hand, I have so much +Deference for the Dignity of the <i>Devil</i>, as not to determine rashly how +far it may be in the Power of every old (<i>Witch</i>) Woman, to call him up +whenever she pleases, and that he must come, whatever the Pretence is, +or whatever Business of Consequence he may be engaged in, as often as +’tis needful for her to <i>Pa wa</i> for half a Crown, or perhaps less than +half the Money.</p> + +<p>Nor will I undertake to tell you, till I have talk’d farther with him +about it, how far the <i>Devil</i> is concern’d to discover Frauds, detect +Murthers, reveal Secrets, and especially to tell where any Money is hid, +and shew Folks where to find it; ’tis an odd thing that Satan should +think it of Consequence to come and tell us where such a Miser hid a +Strong Box, or where such an old Woman buried her <i>Chamber Pot</i> full of +Money, the Value of all which is perhaps but a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> Trifle, when at the same +time he lets so many Veins of Gold, so many unexhausted Mines, nay, +Mountains of Silver, as, we may depend upon it, are hid in the Bowels of +the Earth, and which it would be so much to the Good of whole Nations to +discover, lie still there, and never say one Word of them to any Body. +Besides, how does the <i>Devil</i>’s doing Things so foreign to himself, and +so out of his way, agree with the rest of his Character; namely, shewing +a kind of a friendly Disposition to Mankind, or doing beneficent Things? +This is so beneath <i>Satan</i>’s Quality, and looks so little, that I scarce +know what to say to it; but that which is still more pungent in the Case +is, these Things are so out of his Road, and so foreign to his Calling, +that it shocks our Faith in them, and seems to clash with all the just +Notions we have of him, and of his Business in the World. The like is to +be said of those little merry Turns we bring him in acting with us, and +upon us, upon trifling and simple Occasions, such as tumbling Chairs and +Stools about House, setting Pots and Vessels Bottom upward, tossing the +Glass and Crokery Ware about without breaking; and such like mean +foolish Things, beneath the Dignity of the <i>Devil</i>, who, in my Opinion, +is rather employ’d in setting the World with the Bottom upward, tumbling +Kings and Crowns about, and dashing the Nations one against another; +raising Tempests and Storms, whether at Sea, or on Shore; and, in a +word, doing capital Mischiefs suitable to his Nature, and agreeable to +his Name, <i>Devil</i>; and suited to that Circumstance of his Condition, +which I have fully represented in the primitive Part of his exil’d +State.</p> + +<p>But to bring in the <i>Devil</i> playing at Push-pin with the World, or like +<i>Domitian</i> catching Flies,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> that is to say, doing nothing to the +purpose; this is not only deluding our selves, but putting a Slur upon +the <i>Devil</i> himself; and, I say, I shall not dishonour Satan so much as +to suppose any thing in it: However, as I must have a care too how I +take away the proper Materials of Winter Evening Frippery, and leave the +good Wives nothing of the Devil to fright the Children with, I shall +carry the weighty Point no farther. No doubt the <i>Devil</i> and Dr. +<i>Faustus</i> were very intimate; I should rob you of a very significant <small><a name="f6.1" id="f6.1" href="#f6">[6]</a></small> +Proverb, if I should so much as doubt it; no doubt the <i>Devil</i> shew’d +himself in the Glass to that fair Lady who look’d in it to see where to +place her Patches; but then it should follow too that the <i>Devil</i> is an +Enemy to the Ladies wearing Patches, and that has some Difficulties in +it which we cannot so easily reconcile; but we must tell the Story, and +leave out the Consequences.</p> + +<p>But to come to more remarkable Things, and in which the <i>Devil</i> has +thought fit to act in a Figure more suitable to his Dignity, and on +Occasions consistent with himself; take the Story of the Appearance of +<i>Julius Cæsar</i>, or the <i>Devil</i> assuming that murthered <i>Emperor</i>, to the +great <i>Marcus Brutus</i>, who notwithstanding all the good Things said to +justify it, was no less than a King-killer and an Assassinator, which we +in our Language call by a very good Name, and peculiar to the <i>English</i> +Tongue, a <i>Ruffian</i>.</p> + +<p>The Spectre had certainly the Appearance of <i>Cæsar</i>, with his Wounds +bleeding fresh, as if he had just receiv’d the fatal Blow; he had +reproach’d him with his Ingratitude, with a <i>Tu Brute! tu quoque, mi +fili</i>: “What Thou <i>Brutus</i>! <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>Thou, my adopted Son!” Now History seems +to agree universally, not only in the Story itself, but in the +Circumstances of it; we have only to observe that the <i>Devil</i> had +certainly Power to assume, not a human Shape only, but the Shape of +<i>Julius Cæsar</i> in particular.</p> + +<p>Had <i>Brutus</i> been a timorous <i>Conscience-harry’d</i>, weak-headed Wretch, +had he been under the Horror of the Guilt, and terrify’d with the +Dangers that were before him at that time, we might suggest that he was +over-run with the Vapours, that the Terrors which were upon his Mind +disorder’d him, that his Head was delirious and prepossess’d, and that +his Fancy only plac’d <i>Cæsar</i> so continually in his Eye, that it +realiz’d him to his Imagination, and he believ’d he saw him; with many +other suggested Difficulties to invalidate the Story, and render the +Reality of it doubtful.</p> + +<p>But the contrary, to an Extreme, was the Case of <i>Brutus</i>; his known +Character plac’d him above the Power of all Hypocondriacks, or fanciful +Delusions; <i>Brutus</i> was of a true <i>Roman</i> Spirit, a bold Hero, of an +intrepid Courage; one that scorn’d to fear even the <i>Devil</i>, as the +Story allows: Besides, he glory’d in the Action; there cou’d be no +Terror of Mind upon him; he valued himself upon it, as done in the +Service of Liberty, and the Cause of his Country; and was so far from +being frighted at the <i>Devil</i> in the worst Shape, that he spoke first to +him, and ask’d him, <i>What art thou?</i> and when he was cited to see him +again at <i>Philippi</i>, answer’d, with a Gallantry that knew no Fear, <i>well +I will see thee there</i>. Whatever the <i>Devil</i>’s Business was with +<i>Brutus</i>, this is certain, according to all the Historians who give us +the Account of it, that <i>Brutus</i> discover’d no Fear; he did not, <i>like +Saul at Endor</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> fall to the Ground in a Swoon, 1 <i>Sam.</i> xxviii. 20. +<i>Then Saul fell all along upon the Earth, and there was no Strength in +him, and was sore afraid.</i> In a word, I see no room to charge <i>Brutus</i> +with being over-run with the <i>Hyppo</i>, or with Vapours, or with Fright +and Terror of Mind; but he saw the <i>Devil</i>, that’s certain, and with +Eyes open, his Courage not at all daunted, his Mind resolute, and with +the utmost Composure spoke to him, reply’d to his Answer, and defy’d his +Summons to Death, which indeed he fear’d not, as appear’d afterward.</p> + +<p>I come next to an Instance as eminent in History as the other; this was +in <i>Char.</i> VI. of <i>France</i>, sirnamed, <i>The Beloved</i>; who riding over the +Forest near <i>Mans</i>, a ghastly frightful Fellow (that is to say, the +<i>Devil</i> so clothed in human Vizor) came up to his Horse, and taking hold +of his Bridle, stop’d him, with the Addition of these Words, <i>Stop King, +whither go you? You are betray’d!</i> and immediately disappear’d. It is +true, the King had been distemper’d in his Head before, and so he might +have been deceived, and we might have charg’d it to the Account of a +whimsical Brain, or the Power of his Imagination; but this was in the +Face of his Attendants, several of his great Officers, Courtiers, and +Princes of the Blood being with him, who all saw the Man, heard the +Words, and immediately, to their Astonishment, lost Sight of the +Spectre, who vanish’d from them all.</p> + +<p>Two Witnesses will convict a Murtherer, why not a Traitor? This must be +the <i>Old Gentleman</i>, emblematically so called, or who must it be? nay, +who else could it be? His Ugliness is not the Case, tho’ <i>ugly as the +Devil</i>, is a Proverb in his Favour; but vanishing out of sight is an +Essential to a Spirit, and to an evil Spirit in our Times especially.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>These are some of the <i>Devil</i>’s Extraordinaries, and it must be +confess’d they are not the most agreeable to Mankind, for sometimes he +takes upon him to disorder his Friends very much on these Occasions, as +in the above Case of <i>Cha.</i> VI. of <i>France</i>; the King, they say, was +really demented ever after; that is, as we vulgarly, but not always +improperly, express it, he was really <i>frighted out of his Wits</i>. +Whether the malicious <i>Devil</i> intended it so, or not, is not certain, +tho’ it was not so foreign to his particular Disposition if he did.</p> + +<p>But where he is more intimate, we are told he appears in a manner less +disagreeable, and there he is more properly <i>a familiar Spirit</i>; that +is, in short, a <i>Devil</i> of their Acquaintance: It is true, the Antients +understand the Word, <i>a familiar Spirit</i>, to be one of the kinds of +Possession; but if it serves our turn as well under the Denomination of +an intimate <i>Devil</i>, or a <i>Devil</i> visitant, it must be acknowledg’d to +be as near in the literal Sense and Acceptation of the Word, as the +other; nay, it must be allow’d ’tis a very great Piece of Familiarity in +the <i>Devil</i> to make Visits, and shew none of his Disagreeables, not +appear formidable, or in the Shape of what he is, respectfully +withholding his dismal Part, in Compassion to the Infirmities of his +Friends.</p> + +<p>It is true, <i>Satan</i> may be oblig’d to make different Appearances, as the +several Circumstances of Things call for it; in some Cases he makes his +publick Entry, and then he must shew himself in his Habit of Ceremony; +in other Cases he comes upon private Business, and then he appears in +Disguise; in some publick Cases he may thing fit to be <i>incog.</i> and then +he appears dress’d <i>a la Masque</i>; so they say he appear’d at the famous +St. <i>Bartholomew</i> Wedding at <i>Paris</i>, where,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> he came in dress’d up like +a Trumpeter, danc’d in his Habit, sounded a <i>Levet</i>, and then went out +and rung the Alarm-Bell (which was the Signal to begin the Massacre) +half an Hour before the Time appointed, lest the King’s Mind should +alter, and his Heart fail him.</p> + +<p>If the Story be not made upon him, (for we should not slander the +<i>Devil</i>) it should seem, he was not thoroughly satisfied in King +<i>Charles</i> IX.’s Steadiness in his Cause; for the King, it seems, had +relax’d a little once before, and Satan might be afraid he would fall +off again, and so prevent the Execution: Others say, the King did relent +immediately after the ringing the <i>Alarm-Bell</i>, but that then it was too +late, the Work was begun, and the Rage of Blood having been let loose +among the People, there was no recalling the Order. If the <i>Devil</i> was +thus brought to the Necessity of a secret Management, it must be owned +he did it dexterously; but I have not Authority enough for the Story, to +charge him with the Particulars, so I leave it <i>au croc.</i></p> + +<p>I have much better Vouchers for the Story following, which I had so +solemnly confirm’d by one that liv’d in the Family, that I never doubted +the Truth of it. There liv’d, in the Parish of St. <i>Bennet Fynk</i>, near +the <i>Royal Exchange</i>, an honest poor Widow Woman, who, <i>her Husband +being lately dead</i>, took Lodgers into her House; that is, she let out +some of her Rooms in order to lessen her own Charge of Rent; among the +rest, she let her Garrets to a working Watchwheel-maker, or one some way +concern’d in making the Movements of Watches, and who work’d to those +Shop-keepers who sell Watches; as is usual.</p> + +<p>It happened that a Man and Woman went up, to speak with this +Movement-maker upon some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> Business which related to his Trade, and when +they were near the Top of the Stairs, the Garret-Door where he usually +worked being wide open, they saw the poor Man (the Watch-maker, or +Wheel-maker) had hang’d himself upon a Beam which was left open in the +Room a little lower than the Plaister, or Ceiling: Surpriz’d at the +Sight, the Woman stop’d, and cried out to the Man who was behind her on +the Stairs that he should run up, and cut the poor Creature down.</p> + +<p>At that very Moment comes a Man hastily from another Part of the Room +which they upon the Stairs could not see, bringing a Joint-Stool in his +Hand, as if in great Haste, and sets it down just by the Wretch that was +hang’d, and getting up as hastily upon it pulls a Knife out of his +Pocket, and taking hold of the Rope with one of his Hands, beckon’d to +the Woman and the Man behind her with his Head, as if to stop and not +come up, shewing them the Knife in his other Hand, as if he was just +going to cut the poor Man down.</p> + +<p>Upon this, the Woman stopp’d a while, but the Man who stood on the +Joint-Stool continued with his Hand and Knife as if fumbling at the +Knot, but did not yet cut the Man down; at which the Woman cried out +again, and the Man behind her call’d to her. Go up, <i>says he</i>, and help +the Man upon the Stool! supposing something hindred. But the Man upon +the Stool made Signs to them again to be quiet, and not come on, as if +saying, I shall do it immediately; then he made two Strokes with his +Knife, as if cutting the Rope, and then stopp’d again; and still the +poor Man was hanging, and consequently dying: Upon this, the Woman on +the Stairs cried out to him. What ails you? Why don’t you cut the poor +Man down? And the Man behind her,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> having no more Patience, thrusts her +by, and said to her. Let me come, I’ll warrant you I’ll do it; and with +that runs up and forward into the Room to the Man; but when he came +there, behold, the poor Man was there hanging; but no Man with a Knife, +or Joint-Stool, or any such thing to be seen, all that was Spectre and +Delusion, in order, no doubt, to let the poor Creature that had hang’d +himself perish and expire.</p> + +<p>The Man was so frighted and surpriz’d, that with all the Courage he had +before, he drop’d on the Floor as one dead, and the Woman at last was +fain to cut the poor Man down with a Pair of Scissars, and had much to +do to effect it.</p> + +<p>As I have no room to doubt the Truth of this Story, which I had from +Persons on whose Honesty I could depend. So I think it needs very little +Trouble to convince us who the Man upon the Stool must be, and that it +was the <i>Devil</i> who plac’d himself there in order to finish the Murther +of the Man who he had, <i>Devil</i>-like, tempted before, and prevail’d with +to be his own Executioner. Besides, it corresponds so well with the +<i>Devil</i>’s Nature, and with his Business, <i>viz.</i> that of a <i>Murtherer</i>, +that I never question’d it; nor can I think we wrong the <i>Devil</i> at all +to charge him with it.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>N. B.</i> I cannot be positive in the remaining Part of this Story, +<i>viz.</i> whether the Man was cut down soon enough to be recover’d, or +whether the <i>Devil</i> carry’d his Point, and kept off the Man and +Woman till it was too late; but be it which it will, ’tis plain he +did his Devilish Endeavour, and stay’d till he was forc’d to +abscond again.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>We have many solid Tales well attested, as well in History as in the +Reports of honest People,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> who could not be deceived, intimating the +<i>Devil</i>’s personal Appearance, some in one Place, some in another; as +also sometimes in one Habit or Dress, and sometimes in another; and it +is to be observed, that in none of those which are most like to be real, +and in which there is least of Fancy and Vapour, you have any Mention of +the <i>Cloven Foot</i>, which rather seems to be a mere Invention of Men (and +perhaps chiefly of those who had a Cloven Understanding) I mean a +shallow kind of Craft, the Effect of an empty and simple Head, thinking +by such a well-meant, tho’ weak Fraud, to represent the <i>Devil</i> to the +old Women and Children of the Age, with some Addition suitable to the +Weakness of their Intellects, and suited to making them afraid of him.</p> + +<p>I have another Account of a Person who travell’d upwards of four Years +with the <i>Devil</i> in his Company, and convers’d most intimately with him +all the while; nay, if I may believe the Story, he knew most part of the +Time that he was the <i>Devil</i>, and yet convers’d with him, and that very +profitably, for he perform’d many very useful Services for him, and +constantly preserv’d him from the Danger of Wolves and wild Beasts, +which the Country he travell’d thro’ was intolerably full of. Where, by +the way, you are to understand, that the Wolves and Bears in those +Countries knew the <i>Devil</i>, whatever Disguise he went in; or that the +<i>Devil</i> has some Way to fright Bears and such Creatures, more than we +know of. Nor could this <i>Devil</i> ever be prevail’d upon to hurt him or +any of his Company. This Account has an innumerable Number of diverting +Incidents attending it; but they are equal to all the rest in Bulk, and +therefore too long for this Book.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>I find too upon some more ordinary Occasions the <i>Devil</i> has appear’d to +several People at their Call: This indeed shews abundance of good Humour +in him, considering him as a <i>Devil</i>, and that he was mighty +<ins class="correction" title="original reads 'compliasant'">complaisant</ins>: Nay some, they tell us, have a Power to raise the <i>Devil</i> +whenever they think fit; this I cannot bring the <i>Devil</i> to a Level +with, unless I should allow him to be <i>Servus Servorum</i>, as another +<i>Devil</i> in Disguise calls himself; subjected to ever old Wizard’s Call; +or that he is under a Necessity of appearing on such or such particular +Occasions, whoever it is that calls him; which would bring the <i>Devil</i>’s +Circumstances to a pitch of Slavery which I see no Reason to believe of +them.</p> + +<p>Here also I must take Notice again, that tho’ I say the <i>Devil</i>, when I +speak of all these Apparitions, whether of a greater or lesser Kind, yet +I am not oblig’d to suppose Satan himself in Person is concern’d to shew +himself, but that some of his <i>Agents</i>, Deputies and Servants, are sent +to that Purpose, and directed what Disguise of Flesh and Blood to put +on, as may be suitable to the Occasion.</p> + +<p>This seems to be the only Way to reconcile all those simple and +ridiculous Appearances which not <i>Satan</i>, but his Emissaries, (which we +old Women call Imps) sometimes make, and the mean and sorry Employment +they are put to: Thus Fame tells us of a certain Witch of Quality, who +call’d the <i>Devil</i> once to carry her over a Brook where the Water was +swell’d with a hasty Rain, and lash’d him soundly with her Whip for +letting her Ladyship fall into the Water before she was quite over. Thus +also, as Fame tells us, she set the <i>Devil</i> to work, and made him build +<i>Crowland</i> Abbey, where there was no Foundation to be found, only for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>disturbing the Workmen a little who were first set about it. So it +seems another laborious <i>Devil</i> was oblig’d to dig the great Ditch cross +the Country from the Fenn Country to the Edge of <i>Suffolk</i> and <i>Essex</i>; +which who ever he has preserv’d the Reputation of, and where it crosses +<i>New-Market</i> Heath, ’tis call’d <i>Devil</i>’s <i>Ditch</i> to this Day.</p> + +<p>Another Piece of Punishment no doubt it was, when the <i>Devil</i> was +oblig’d to bring the Stones out of <i>Wales</i> into <i>Wiltshire</i>, to build +<i>Stone-heng</i>: How this was ordered in those Days, when it seems they +kept <i>Satan</i> to hard Labour, I know not; I believe it must be registred +among the antient Pieces of Art which are lost in the World, such as +melting of Stone, painting of Glass, <i>&c.</i> Certainly they had the +<i>Devil</i> under Correction in those Days; that is to say, those lesser +Sorts of <i>Devils</i>; but I cannot think that the <i>muckle Thief Devil</i>, as +they call him in the <i>North</i>, the Grand Seignior <i>Devil</i> of all, was +ever reduced to Discipline. What <i>Devil</i> it was that <i>Dunstan</i> took by +the Nose with his red hot Tongs, I have not yet examin’d Antiquity +enough to be certain of, any more than I can what Devil it was that St. +<i>Francis</i> play’d so many warm Tricks with, and made him run away from +him so often: However, this I take upon me to say, in the <i>Devil</i>’s +Behalf, that it cou’d not be our <i>Satan</i>, the Arch <i>Devil</i> of all +<i>Devils</i>, of whom I have been talking so long.</p> + +<p>Now is it unworthy the Occasion, to take notice that we really wrong the +<i>Devil</i>, and speak of him very much to his Disadvantage, when we say of +such a Great Lord, or of such a Lady of Quality, <i>I think the</i> Devil <i>is +in your Grace</i>: No, no, Satan has other Business, he very rarely +possesses F—ls: Besides, some are so far from having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> the <i>Devil</i> in +them, that they are really transmigrated into the very Essence of the +<i>Devil</i> themselves; and others again not transmigrated, or assimilated, +but Indeed and in Truth shew us that they are to have mere native +<i>Devils</i> in every Part and Parcel of them, and that the rest is only +Masque and Disguise. Thus if <i>Rage</i>, <i>Envy</i>, <i>Pride</i> and <i>Revenge</i> can +constitute the Parts of a <i>Devil</i>, why should not a Lady of such +Quality, in whom all those Extraordinaries abound, have a Right to the +Title of being a <i>Devil</i> really and substantially, and to all Intents +and Purposes, in the most perfect and absolute Sense, according to the +most exquisite Descriptions of Devils already given by me or any Body +else; and even just as <i>Joan</i> of <i>Arc</i>, or <i>Joan</i> Queen of <i>Naples</i> +were, who were both sent home to their native Country, as soon as it was +discovered that they were real <i>Devils</i>, and that <i>Satan</i> acknowledg’d +them in that Quality.</p> + +<p>Nor does my Lady D——ss’s wearing sometimes a Case of Humanity about +her, call’d <i>Flesh and Blood</i>, at all alter the Case; for so ’tis +Evident, according to our present Hypothesis, <i>Satan</i> has been always +allow’d to do, upon urgent Occasions; ay, and to make his Personal +Appearance as such, among even the Sons and Daughters of God too, as +well as among the Children of Men; and therefore <i>her Grace</i> may have +appeared in the Shape of a fine Lady, as long as she has been suppos’d +to do, without any Impeachment of her just Claim to the Title of +<i>Devil</i>; which being her true and natural Original, she ought not, nor +indeed shall not, by me, be denied her Shapes of Honour, whenever she +pleases to declare for a Re-assumption.</p> + +<p>And farther, to give every Truth its due Illustration, this need not be +thought so strange;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> and is far from being unjust; <i>her Grace</i> (as she, +it may be, is now stiled) has not acted, at least that I never heard of, +so unworthy her great and illustrious Original, that we should think she +has lost any thing by walking about the World so many Years in +Apparition: But to give her the due Homage of her Quality, she has acted +as consonant to the Essence and Nature of <i>Devil</i>, which she has such a +Claim to, as was consistent with the needful Reserve of her present +Disguise.</p> + +<p>Nor shall we lead the Reader into any Mistake concerning this part of +our Work, as if this was or is meant to be a particular Satyr upon the +D——ss of —————, and upon her only, as if we had no <span class="smcap">Devils</span> among +us in the Phenomena of fair Ladies, but this one: If Satan would be so +honest to us as he might be (and ’twou’d be very ingenuous in him, that +must be acknowledg’d, to give us a little of his Illumination in this +Case) we should soon be able to unmasque a great many notable Figures +among us, to our real Surprize.</p> + +<p>Indeed ’tis a Point worth our further Enquiry, and would be a Discovery +many ways to our Advantage, were we bless’d with it, to see how many +real <i>Devils</i> we have walking up and down the World in Masque, and how +many Hoop-Petticoats compleat the entire Masque that disguises the Devil +in the Shape of that Thing call’d Woman.</p> + +<p>As for the Men, Nature has satisfied her self in letting them be their +own Disguise, and in suffering them to act the <i>old Women</i>, as old Women +are vulgarly understood, in Matters of Council and Politicks; but if at +any time they have Occasion for the <i>Devil</i> in Person, they are oblig’d +to call him to their Aid in such Shape as he pleases to make use of <i>pro +hac vice</i>; and of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> all those Shapes, the most agreeable to him seems to +be that of a Female of Quality, in which he has infinite Opportunity to +act to Perfection, what Part soever he is call’d in for.</p> + +<p>How happy are those People who they say have the particular Quality, or +acquir’d Habit, call’d the <i>Second Sight</i>; one Sort of whom they tell us +are able to distinguish the <i>Devil</i>, in whatever Case or Outside of +Flesh and Blood he is pleas’d to put on, and consequently could know the +<i>Devil</i> wherever they met him? Were I blest with this excellent and +useful Accomplishment, how pleasant would it be, and how would it +particularly gratify my Spleen, and all that which I, in common with my +fellow Creatures carry about me, call’d Ill-Nature, to stand in the +<i>Mall</i>, or at the Entrance to any of our <i>Assemblies of Beauties</i>, and +point them out as they pass by, with this particular Mark, That’s a +<i>Devil</i>; that fine young Toast is a <i>Devil</i>; There’s a <i>Devil</i> drest in +a new Habit for the Ball; There’s a <i>Devil</i> in a Coach and Six, <i>cum +aliis</i>. In short, it would make a merry World among us if we <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'coul'd'">cou’d</ins> but +enter upon some proper Method of such Discriminations: but, <i>Lawr’d</i>, +what a Hurricane would it raise, if, like ———, who they say scourg’d +the <i>Devil</i> so often that he durst not come near him in any Shape +whatever, we cou’d find some new Method out to make the <i>Devil</i> unmask, +like the Angel <i>Uriel</i>, who, Mr. <i>Milton</i> says, had an enchanted Spear, +with which if he did but touch the <i>Devil</i>, in whatever Disguise he had +put on, it oblig’d him immediately to start up, and shew himself in his +true original Shape, mere <i>Devil</i> as he was.</p> + +<p>This would do nicely, and as I who am originally a Projector, have spent +some Time upon this Study, and doubt not in a little Time to finish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> my +Engine, which I am contriving, to screw the <i>Devil</i> out of every Body, +or any Body; I question not when I have brought it to Perfection, but I +shall make most excellent Discoveries by it; and besides the many +extraordinary Advantages of it to human Society, I doubt not but it will +make good Sport in the World too; wherefore, when I publish my +Proposals, and divide it into Shares, as other less useful Projects have +been done, I question not, for all the severe Act lately pass’d against +Bubbles, but I shall get Subscribers enough, <i>&c.</i></p> + +<p>In a Word, a secret Power of discovering what Devils we have among us, +and where and what Business they are doing, would be a vast Advantage to +us all; that we might know among the Crowd of <i>Devils</i> that walk about +Streets, who are <i>Apparitions</i>, and who are not.</p> + +<p>Now I, you must know, at certain Intervals when the Old Gentleman’s +Illuminations are upon me, and when I have something of an +<i>Eclaricissement</i> with him, have some Degrees of this discriminating +<i>Second Sight</i>, and therefore ’tis no strange thing for me to tell a +great many of my Acquaintance that they are really <i>Devils</i>, when they +themselves know nothing of the Matter: Sometimes indeed I find it pretty +hard to convince them of it, or at least they are very unwilling to own +it, but it is not the less so for that.</p> + +<p>I had a long Discourse upon this Subject one day, with a young beautiful +Lady of my <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Acquiantance'">Acquaintance</ins>, who the World very much admired; and as the +World judges no farther than they can see, (and how should they, you +would say) they took her to be, as she really was, a most charming +Creature.</p> + +<p>To me indeed she discover’d her self many Ways, besides the Advantage I +had of my extraordinary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> Penetration by the magic Powers which I am +vested with: To me, <i>I say</i>, she appear’d a Fury, a Satyr, a fiery +little Fiend as could possibly be dress’d up in Flesh; in short, she +appear’d to me what really she was, a very <span class="smcap">Devil</span>: It is natural to human +Creatures to desire to discover any extraordinary Powers they are +possess’d of superior to others, and this Itch prevailing in me, among +the rest, I was impatient to let this Lady know that I understood her +Composition perfectly well, nay, as well as she did her self.</p> + +<p>In order to this, happening to be in the Family once for some Days, and +having the Honour to be very intimate with her and her Husband too, I +took an <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Oportunity'">Opportunity</ins> on an extraordinary Occasion, when she was in the +Height of good Humour, to talk with her; You must note, that as I said, +the Lady was in an extraordinary good Humour, and there had been a great +deal of Mirth in the Family for some Days; but one Evening, Sir <i>E——</i> +her Husband, upon some very sharp Turn she gave to another Gentleman, +which made all the Company pleasant, run to her, and with a Passion of +good Humour takes her in his Arms, and turning to me, says he, Jack, +This Wife of mine is full of Wit and good Humour, but when she has a +Mind to be smart, she is the keenest little <i>Devil</i> in the World: This +was alluding to the quick Turn she had given the other Gentleman.</p> + +<p>Is that the best Language you can give your Wife, says my Lady? O Madam, +says I, such <i>Devils</i> as you, are all <i>Angels</i>; ay, ay, says my Lady, I +know that, he has only let a Truth fly out that he does not understand: +Look ye there now, <i>says Sir</i> Edward, could any thing but such a dear +<i>Devil</i> as this have said a thing so pointed? Well, well, adds he, +<i>Devil</i> to a Lady in a Man’s Arms,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> is a Word of divers Interpretations. +Thus they rallied for a good while, he holding her fast all the while in +his Arms, and frequently kissing her, and at last it went off, all in +Sunshine and Mirth.</p> + +<p>But the next Day, for I had the Honour to lodge in the Lady’s Father’s +House, where it all happen’d; I say, the next Day my Lady begins with me +upon the Subject, and that very smartly, so that first I did not know +whether she was in jest or earnest: Ay, ay, <i>says she</i>, you Men make +nothing of your Wives after you have them, <i>alluding to the Discourse +with</i> Sir Edward <i>the Night before</i>.</p> + +<p>Why Madam, says I, <i>we Men</i>, as you are pleas’d to term it, if we meet +with good Wives worship them, and make Idols of them, what would you +have more of us?</p> + +<p>No, no, says she, before you have them they are Angels, but when you +have been in Heaven, <i>adds she and smil’d</i>, then they are Devils.</p> + +<p>Why Madam, <i>says I</i>, Devils are Angels, you know, and were the highest +Sort of Angels once.</p> + +<p>Yes, <i>says she</i>, very smartly, all <i>Devils</i> are Angels, but all Angels +are not <i>Devils</i>.</p> + +<p>But Madam, <i>says I</i>, you should never take it ill to be call’d <i>Devil</i>, +you know.</p> + +<p>I know, <i>says she</i>, hastily, what d’ye mean by that?</p> + +<p>Why Madam, <i>says I</i>, and look’d very gravely and serious, I thought you +had known that I knew it, or else I would not have said so, for I would +not offend you; but you may depend I shall never discover it, unless you +order me to do so for your particular Service.</p> + +<p>Upon this she look’d <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'har'd'">hard</ins> and wild, and bid me explain my self.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>I told her, I was ready to explain my self, if she would give me her +Word, she would not resent it, and would take nothing ill.</p> + +<p>She gave me her word solemnly she would not, tho’ like a true <i>Devil</i> +she broke her Promise with me all at once.</p> + +<p>Well however, being unconcern’d whether she kept her Word or no, I +began, by telling her that I had not long since obtain’d the second +sight, and had some years studied Magic, by which I could penetrate into +many things, which to ordinary Perception were invisible, and had some +Glasses, by the Help of which I could see into all visionary or +imaginary Appearances in a different Manner than other People did.</p> + +<p>Very well, <i>says she</i>, suppose you can, what’s that to me?</p> + +<p>I told her it was nothing to her any further than that as she knew her +self to be originally not the same Creature she seem’d to be, but was of +a sublime angelic Original; so by the Help of my recited Art I knew it +too, and so far it might relate to her.</p> + +<p>Very fine, says she, so you would make a <i>Devil</i> of me indeed.</p> + +<p>I took that Occasion to tell her, I would make nothing of her but what +she was; that I suppos’d she knew well enough God Almighty never thought +fit to make any human Creature so perfect and compleatly beautiful as +she was, but that such were also reserved for Figures to be assum’d by +Angels of one Kind or other.</p> + +<p>She rallied me upon that, and told me that would not bring me off, for I +had not determined her for any thing Angelic, but a meer <i>Devil</i>; and +how could I flatter her with being handsome and a <i>Devil</i> both at the +same time?</p> + +<p>I told her, as Satan, whom we abusively call’d<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> <i>Devil</i>, was an immortal +Seraph, and of an original angelic Nature, so abstracted from any thing +wicked, he was a most glorious Being; that when he thought fit to encase +himself with Flesh, and walk about in Disguise, it was in his Power +equally with the other Angels to make the Form he took upon himself be +as he thought fit, beautiful or deform’d.</p> + +<p>Here she disputed the Possibility of that, and after charging me faintly +with flattering her Face, told me the Devil could not be represented by +any thing handsome, alledging our constant picturing the <i>Devil</i> in all +the frightful Appearances imaginable.</p> + +<p>I told her we wrong’d him very much in that, and quoted St. <i>Francis</i>, +to whom the <i>Devil</i> frequently appeared in the Form of the most +incomparably beautiful naked Woman, to allure him, and what Means he +used to turn the Appearance into a <i>Devil</i> again, and how he effected +it.</p> + +<p>She put by the Discourse, and returned to that of Angels, and insisted +that Angels did not always assume beautiful Appearances; that sometimes +they appear’d in terrible Shapes, but that when they did not, it was at +best only amiable Faces, not exquisite; and that therefore it would not +hold, that to be handsome, should always render them suspected.</p> + +<p>I told her the <i>Devil</i> had more Occasion to form Beauties than other +Angels had, his Business being principally to deceive and ensnare +Mankind. And then I gave her some Examples upon the whole.</p> + +<p>I found by her Discourse she was willing enough to pass for an <i>Angel</i>, +but ’twas the hardest thing in the World to convince her that she was a +<span class="smcap">Devil</span>, and she would not come into that by any means; she argued that I +knew her Father,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> and that her Mother was a very good Woman, and was +delivered of her in the ordinary Way, and that there was such and such +Ladies who were present in the Room when she was born, and that had +often told her so.</p> + +<p>I told her that was nothing in such a Case as hers; that when the Old +Gentleman had occasion to transform himself into a fine Lady, he could +easily dispose of a Child, and place himself in the Cradle instead of +it, when the Nurse or Mother were asleep; nay, or when they were broad +awake either, it was the same thing to him; and I quoted <i>Luther</i> to her +upon that Occasion, who affirms that it had been so. However I said, to +convince her that I knew it, (for I would have it that she knew it +already) if she pleas’d I would go to my Chamber and fetch her my Magick +Looking-glass, where she should see her own Picture, not only as it was +an angelick Picture for the World to admire, but a <i>Devil</i> also +frightful enough to any Body but herself and me that understood it.</p> + +<p>No, no, <i>said she</i>, I’ll look in none of your conjuring Glasses; I know +my self well enough, and I desire to look no otherwise than I am.</p> + +<p>No, Madam, <i>says I</i>, I know that very well; nor do you need any better +Shape than that you appear in, ’tis most exquisitely fine; all the World +knows you are a compleat Beauty, and that is a clear Evidence what you +would be if your present appearing Form was reduced to its proper +Personality.</p> + +<p><i>Appearing Form!</i> says she, why, what would you make an <i>Apparition</i> of +me?</p> + +<p>An <i>Apparition!</i> Madam, said I, yes, to be sure; why you know, you are +nothing else but an <i>Apparition</i>; and what else would you be, when it is +so infinitely to your Advantage?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>With that, she turn’d pale and angry, and then rose up hastily, and +look’d into the Glass, (<i>a large Peer-glass being in the Room</i>) where +she stood, surveying her self from Head to Foot, with Vanity not a +little.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">I took that Time to slip away, and running up into my Apartment, I +fetch’d my <i>Magic Glass</i> as I call’d it, in which I had a hollow +Case so framed behind a Looking-glass, that in the first; she would +see her own Face only; in the second, she would see the <i>Devil</i>’s +Face, ugly and frightful enough, but dress’d up with a Lady’s +Head-Clothes in a Circle, the <i>Devil</i>’s Face in the Center, and as +it were at a little Distance behind.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>I came down again so soon that she did not think the Time long, +especially having spent it in surveying her fair self; when I return’d, +I said, Come, Madam, do not trouble your self to look there, that is not +a Glass capable of shewing you any thing; come, take this Glass.</p> + +<p>It will shew me as much of my self, <i>says she, a little scornfully</i>, as +I desire to see; so she continued looking in the Peer-glass; after some +time more (for seeing her a little out of Humour, I waited to see what +Observations she would make) I ask’d her if she had view’d her self to +her Satisfaction? She said she had, and she had seen nothing of <i>Devil</i> +about her. Come, Madam, said I, look here; and with that I open’d the +Looking-glass, and she look’d in it, but saw nothing but her own Face; +Well, <i>says she</i>, the Glasses agree well enough, I see no Difference; +what can you make of it? With that I took it a little away; Don’t you? +<i>says I</i>, then I shou’d be mistaken very much; so I look’d in it my +self, and giving it a Turn imperceptible to her, I shew’d it her again, +where she saw the <i>Devil</i> indeed, dress’d<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> up like a fine Lady, but +ugly, and <i>Devil</i> like as could be desired for a <i>Devil</i> to be.</p> + +<p>She started, and cry’d out most horribly, and told me, she thought I was +more of a <i>Devil</i> than she, for that she knew nothing of all those +Tricks, and I did it to fright her, she believ’d I had rais’d the +<i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>I told her it was nothing but her own natural Picture, and that she knew +well enough, and that I did not shew it her to inform her of it, but to +let her know that I knew it too; that so she might make no Pretences of +being offended when I talk’d familiarly to her of a Thing of this +Nature.</p> + +<p>Very well; so, <i>says she</i>, I am a real frightful <i>Devil</i>, am I?</p> + +<p>O, Madam, says I, don’t say, <i>Am I?</i> why you know what you are, don’t +you? A <i>Devil</i>! ay, certainly; as sure as the rest of the World believes +you a Lady.</p> + +<p>I had a great deal of farther Discourse with her upon that Subject, tho’ +she would fain have beat me off of it, and two or three times she put +the Talk off, and brought something else on; but I always found Means to +revive it, and to attack her upon the Reality of her being a Devil, till +at last I made her downright angry, and then she shew’d it.</p> + +<p>First she cried, told me I came to affront her, that I would not talk so +if Sir <i>Ed——</i> was by; and that she ought not to be used so. I +endeavour’d to pacify her, and told her I had not treated her with any +Indecency, nor I would not; because while she thought fit to walk Abroad +<i>incog.</i> it was none of my Business to discover her; that if she thought +fit to tell Sir <i>Ed——</i> any thing of the Discourse, she was very +welcome, or to conceal it, (<i>which I thought the wisest Course</i>)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> she +should do just as she pleas’d; but I made no question I should convince +Sir <i>E——</i> her Husband, that what I said was just, and that I was +really so; whether it was for her Service or no for him to know it, was +for her to consider.</p> + +<p>This calm’d her a little, and she look’d hard at me a Minute without +speaking a Word, when on a sudden she broke out thus: And you will +undertake, <i>says she</i>, to convince Sir <i>Ed——</i> that he has married a +<i>Devil</i>, will ye? A fine Story indeed! and what follows? why then it +must follow that the Child I go with (for she was big with Child) will +be a <i>Devil</i> too, will it? A fine Story for Sir <i>Ed——</i> indeed! isn’t +it?</p> + +<p>I don’t know that, Madam, said I, that’s as you order it; by the +Father’s Side, <i>said I</i>, I know it will not, but what it may by the +Mother’s Side, that’s a Doubt I can’t resolve till the <i>Devil</i> and I +talk farther about it.</p> + +<p>You and the Devil talk together! <i>says she</i>, and looks rufully at me; +why do you talk with the <i>Devil</i> then?</p> + +<p>Ay, Madam, <i>says I</i>, as sure as ever you did your self; besides, said I, +can you question that? Pray who am I talking to now?</p> + +<p>I think you are mad, <i>says she</i>; why you will make <i>Devils</i> of all the +Family, it may be, and particularly I must be with Child of a <i>Devil</i>, +that’s certain.</p> + +<p>No, Madam, <i>said I</i>, ’tis not certain, as I said before, I question it.</p> + +<p>Why you say I am the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>, the Child, you know, has always most of the +Mother in it, then that must be a Devil too I think, what else can it +be, <i>says she</i>?</p> + +<p>I can’t tell that, Madam, <i>said I</i>; that’s as you agree among your +selves, this Kind does not go by Generation; that’s a Dispute foreign to +the present Purpose.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>Then I entred into a Discourse with her of the Ends and Purposes for +which the Devil takes up such beautiful Forms as hers, and why it always +gave me a Suspicion when I saw a Lady handsomer than ordinary, and set +me upon the Search to be satisfied whether she was really a Woman or an +<i>Apparition</i>? a Lady or a Devil? allowing all along that her being a +Devil was quite out of the Question.</p> + +<p>Upon that very Foot, she took me up again roundly, and so, <i>says she</i>, +you are very civil to me through all your Discourse, for I see it ends +all in that, and you take it as a thing confest, that I am a Devil! A +very pretty piece of good Usage indeed! <i>says she</i>; <i>I thank you for +it</i>.</p> + +<p>Nay, Madam, <i>says I</i>, do not take it ill of me, for I only discover to +you that I knew it; I do not tell it you as a Secret, for you are +satisfied of that another way.</p> + +<p>Satisfied of what? says she, that I am a Devil? I think the Devil’s in +you: <i>And so began to be hot</i>.</p> + +<p>A Devil! yes, Madam, says I, without doubt a meer <span class="smcap">Devil</span>; take it as you +please, I can’t help that: And so I began to take it ill that she should +be disgusted at opening such a well-known Truth to her.</p> + +<p>With that she discover’d it all at once, for she turn’d <i>Fury</i>, in the +very Letter of it; flew out in a Passion, rail’d at me, curst me most +heartily, and immediately disappeared; which you know is the particular +Mark of a Spirit or Apparition.</p> + +<p>We had a great deal of Discourse besides this, relating to several other +young Ladies of her Acquaintance, some of which, I said, were mere +<i>Apparitions</i> like her self; and told her which were so, and which not; +and the Reason why they were so,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> and for what Uses and Purposes, some +to delude the World one way, and some another; and she was pretty well +pleased to hear that, but she could not bear to hear her own true +Character, which however, as cunning as she was, made her act the Devil +at last, as you have heard; and then vanished out of my sight.</p> + +<p>I have seen her in Miniature several Times since; but she proves her +self still to be the Devil of a Lady, for she bears Malice, and will +never forgive me, that I would not let her be an Angel; but like a very +Devil as she is, she endeavours to kill me at a Distance; and indeed the +Poison of her Eyes, (Basilisk-like) is very strong, and she has a +strange Influence upon me; but I that know her to be a Devil, strive +very hard with my self to drive the Memory of her out of my Thoughts.</p> + +<p>I have had two or three Engagements since this, with other <i>Apparitions</i> +of the same Sex, and I find they are all alike, they are willing enough +to be thought Angels, but the Word Devil does not go down at all with +them: But ’tis all one, whenever we see an <i>Apparition</i>, it is so +natural to say we have seen the Devil, that there’s no prevailing with +Mankind to talk any other Language. A Gentleman of my Acquaintance, the +other Day, that had courted a Lady a long time, had the Misfortune to +come a little suddenly upon her, when she did not expect him, and found +her in such a Rage at some of her Servants, that it quite disorder’d +her, especially a Footman; the Fellow had done something that was indeed +provoking, but not sufficient to put her into such a Passion, and so out +of her self; nor was she able to restrain her self when she saw her +Lover come in, but damn’d the Fellow, and rag’d like a Fury at him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>My Friend did his best to compose her, and begg’d the Fellow’s Pardon of +her, but it would not do; nay, the poor Fellow made all the Submissions +that could be expected, but ’twas the same thing: And so the Gentleman, +not caring to engage himself farther than became him, withdrew, and came +no more at her for three Days, in all which time she was hardly cool.</p> + +<p>The next Day my Friend came to me, and talking of it in Confidence to +me, I am afraid, <i>says he</i>, I am going to marry a She <i>Devil</i>, and so +told me the Story; I took no Notice to him, but finding out his +Mistress, and taking proper Measures, with some of my particular Skill, +I soon found out that it was really so, that she was a mere +<i>Apparition</i>; and had it not been for that accidental Disorder of her +Passions, which discover’d her Inside, she might indeed have cheated any +Man, for she was a lovely Devil as ever was seen; she talk’d like an +Angel, sung like a Syren, did every thing, and said every thing that was +taking and charming: But what then? it was all Apparition, for she was a +mere <i>Devil</i>. It is true, my Friend marry’d her, and tho’ she was a +<i>Devil</i> without doubt, yet either she behav’d so well, or he was so +good, I never could hear him find Fault with her.</p> + +<p>These are particular Instances; but alas! I could run you a Length +beyond all those Examples, and give you such a List of Devils among the +gay Things of the Town, that would fright you to think of; and you would +presently conclude, with me, that all the perfect Beauties are Devils, +mere Apparitions; but Time and Paper fails, so we must only leave the +Men the Caution, let them venture at their Peril. I return to the +Subject.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>We have a great many charming <i>Apparitions</i> of like kind go daily about +the World in compleat Masquerade, and, tho’ we must not say so, they are +in themselves mere <i>Devils</i>, wicked dangerous murthering Devils, that +kill various Ways, some, Basilisk-like, with their Eyes; some +Syren-like, with their Tongues; all <i>Murtherers</i>, even from the +<i>Beginning</i>: It is true, ’tis pity these pretty <i>Apparitions</i> should be +Devils, and be so mischievous as they are; but since it is so, I can do +no less than to advertise you of it, that you may shun the Devil in +whatever Shape you meet with him.</p> + +<p>Again, there are some half Devils, they say, like the <i>Sagittarii</i>, half +Man, half Horse, or rather like the <i>Satyr</i>, who, <i>they say</i>, is half +Devil, half Man; or, like my Lord Bishop, who, <i>they say</i>, was +half-headed; whether they mean half-witted or no, I do not find Authors +agreed about it: But if they had voted him such, it had been as kind a +thing as any they cou’d say of him, because it would have clear’d him +from the Scandal of being a Devil, or half a Devil, for we don’t find +the Devil makes any Alliance with F——ls.</p> + +<p>Then as to merry Devils, there’s my Master <i>G———</i>, he may indeed have +the Devil in him, but it must be said, to the Credit of Possession in +general, that Satan would have scorn’d to have entred into a Soul so +narrow that there was not room to hold him, or to take up with so +discording a Creature, so abject, so scoundrel, as never made a Figure +among Mankind greater than that of a Thief, a <i>Moroder</i>, moulded up into +Quality, and a Raparee dress’d up <i>a-la-Masque</i>, with a <i>Robe</i> and a +<i>Coronet</i>.</p> + +<p>Some little Dog-kennel Devil may indeed take up his Quarters in or near +him, and so run into and out of him as his Drum beats a Call; but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> to +him that was born a <i>Devil</i>, Satan, that never acts to no purpose, cou’d +not think him worth being possess’d by any thing better than a Devil of +a dirty Quality; that is to say, a Spirit too mean to wear the Name of +<i>Devil</i>, without some Badge or Addition of Infamy and Meanness to +<ins class="correction" title="original reads 'distingush'">distinguish</ins> it by.</p> + +<p>Thus what <i>Devil</i> of Quality would be confin’d to a <i>P————n</i>, who +inheriting all the Pride and Insolence of his Ancestors, without one of +their good Qualities; the Bully, the <i>Billingsgate</i>, and all the +hereditary ill Language of his Family, without an Ounce of their +Courage; that has been rescued five or six times from the Scandal of a +Coward, by the Bravery, and at the Hazard of Friends, and never fail’d +to be ungrateful; that if ever he committed a Murther, did it in cold +Blood, because no body could prove he ever had any hot; who possess’d +with a Poltroon <i>Devil</i>, was always wickeder in the Dark, than he durst +be by Day-light; and who, after innumerable passive Sufferings, has been +turned out of human Society, because he could not be kick’d or cuff’d +either into good Manners or good Humour.</p> + +<p>To say this was a <i>Devil</i>, an Apparition, or even a half <i>Devil</i>, would +be unkind to <i>Satan</i> himself, since tho’ he (the <i>Devil</i>) has so many +Millions of inferior <i>Devils</i> under his Command, not one cou’d be found +base enough to match him, nor one <i>Devil</i> found but what would think +himself dishonour’d to be employ’d about him.</p> + +<p>Some merry good-for-nothing <i>Devils</i> we have indeed, which we might, if +we had room, speak of at large, and divert you too with the Relation, +such as my Lady <i>Hatt’s Devil</i> in <i>Essex</i>, who upon laying a Joiner’s +Mallet in the Window of a certain Chamber, would come very orderly and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> +knock with it all Night upon the Window, or against the Wainscot, and +disturb the Neighbourhood, and then go away in the Morning, as well +satisfied as may be; whereas if the Mallet was not left, he would think +himself affronted, and be as unsufferable and terrifying as possible, +breaking the Windows, splitting the Wainscot, committing all the +Disorders, and doing all the Damage that he was able to the House, and +to the Goods in it. And again, such as the Druming <i>Devil</i> in the Well +at <i>Oundle</i> in <i>Northamptonshire</i>, and such like.</p> + +<p>A great many antick <i>Devils</i> have been seen also, who seem’d to have +little or nothing to do, but only to assure us that they can appear if +they please, and that there is a Reality in the thing call’d Apparition.</p> + +<p>As to Shadows of <i>Devils</i>, and imaginary Appearances, such as appear, +and yet are invisible at the same time, I had thought to have bestow’d a +Chapter upon them by themselves, but it may be as much to the Purpose to +let them alone, as to meddle with them; ’tis said our old Friend +<i>Luther</i> used to be exceedingly troubled with such invisible +Apparitions, and he tells us much of them, in what they call his +Table-talk; but with Master <i>Luther</i>’s leave, tho’ the <i>Devil</i> passes +for a very great Lyar, I could swallow many things of his own proper +making, as soon as some of those I find in a Book that goes by his Name, +particularly the Story of the Devil in a Basket, the Child flying out of +the Cradle, and the like.</p> + +<p>In a word, the walking <i>Devils</i> that we have generally among us, are of +the female Sex; whether it be that the <i>Devil</i> finds less Difficulty to +manage them, or that he lives quieter with them, or that they are fitter +for his Business than the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> Men, I shall not now enter into a Dispute +about that; perhaps he goes better disguis’d in the fair Sex than +otherwise; Antiquity gives us many Histories of She-Devils, such as we +can very seldom match for Wickedness among the Men; such now as in the +Text, <i>Lot</i>’s Daughters, <i>Joseph</i>’s Mistress, <i>Sampson</i>’s <i>Dalilah</i>, +<i>Herod</i>’s <i>Herodias</i>, these were certainly <i>Devils</i>, or play’d the +<i>Devil</i> sufficiently in their Turn; one Male Apparition indeed the +Scripture furnishes you with, and that is <i>Judas</i>; for his Master says +expresly of him, <i>One of you is a Devil</i>; not has the <i>Devil</i>, or is +possess’d of the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>; but really is a <span class="smcap">Devil</span>, or is a real <span class="smcap">Devil</span>.</p> + +<p>How happy is it, that this great Secret comes thus to be discover’d to +mankind? Certainly the World has gone on in Ignorance a long time, and +at a strange rate, that we should have so many <i>Devils</i> continually +walking about among us in humane Shape, and we know it not.</p> + +<p>Philosophers tell us that there is a World of Spirits, and many learned +Pieces of Guess-work they make at it, representing the World to be so +near us, that the Air, as they describe it, must be full of Dragons and +<i>Devils</i>, enough to fright our Imaginations with the very Thoughts of +them; and if they say true, ’tis our great Felicity that we cannot see +any farther into it than we do, which if we could, would appear as +frightful as Hell itself; but none of those Sages ever told us, till +now, that half the People who converse with us are <i>Apparitions</i>, +especially of the Women; and among them especially this valuable Part, +the Woman of Figure, the fair, the beautiful, or patch’d and painted.</p> + +<p>This unusual Phænomenon has been seen but a little while, and but a +little way, and the general Part of Mankind cannot come into the same +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>Notions about it; nay, perhaps they will all think it strange; but be +it as strange as it will, the Nature of the Thing confirms it, this +lower Sphere is full of <i>Devils</i>; and some of both Sexes have given +strange Testimonies of the Reality of their pre-existent <i>Devilism</i> for +many Ages past, tho’ I think it never came to that Height as it has now.</p> + +<p>It is true, in former times Satan dealt much in old Women, and those, as +I have observ’d already, very ugly, <i>Ugly as a Witch</i>, <i>Black as a +Witch</i>, <i>I look like a Witch</i>, all proverbial Speeches, and which +testify’d what Tools it was Satan generally work’d with; and these old +Spectres, they tell us, us’d to ride thro’ the Air in the Night, and +upon Broomsticks too, all mighty homely Doings; some say they us’d to go +to visit their Grand Seignior the <i>Devil</i>, in those Nocturnal +Perambulations: But be that as it will, ’tis certain the <i>Devil</i> has +chang’d hands, and that now he walks about the World cloth’d in Beauty, +cover’d with the Charms of the Lovely, and he fails not to disguise +himself effectually by it, for who would think a beautiful Lady could be +a Masque to the Devil? and that a fine Face, a divine Shape, a heavenly +Aspect, should bring the <i>Devil</i> in her Company, nay, should be herself +an <i>Apparition</i>, a mere <span class="smcap">Devil</span>.</p> + +<p>The Enquiry is indeed worth our while, and therefore I hope all the +enamour’d Beaus and Boys, all the Beauty-hunters and Fortune-hunters, +will take heed, for I suppose if they get the <i>Devil</i>, they will not +complain for want of a Fortune; and there’s Danger enough, I assure you, +for the World is full of Apparitions, <i>non rosa sine spinis</i>; not a +Beauty without a <i>Devil</i>, the old Women Spectres, and the young Women +Apparitions; the ugly ones Witches, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> handsome ones <i>Devils</i>; +Lord ha’ Mercy, and a <big>✠</big> may be Set on the Man’s Door that goes a +courting.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_VIII.2" id="Chap_VIII.2"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> VIII.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the Cloven-Foot walking about the World without the</i> Devil, +(viz.) <i>of Witches making Bargains for the</i> Devil, <i>and +particularly of selling the Soul to the</i> Devil.</p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">I</span> have dwelt long upon the <i>Devil</i> in Masque as he goes about the World +incog. and especially without his Cloven-Foot, and have touched upon +some of his Disguises in the Management of his Interest in the World; I +must say some of his Disguises only, for who can give a full account of +all his Tricks and Arts in so narrow a Compass as I am prescrib’d to?</p> + +<p>But as I said, that every <i>Devil</i> has not a Cloven-Foot, so I must add +now for the present Purpose, that every Cloven-Foot is not the Devil.</p> + +<p>Not but that wherever I should meet the Cloven-Hoof, I should expect +that the <i>Devil</i> was not far off, and should be apt to raise the Posse +against him, to apprehend him; yet it may happen otherwise, that’s +certain; every Coin has its Counterfeit, every Art its Pretender, every +Whore her Admirer, every Error its Patron, and every Day has its <span class="smcap">Devil</span>.</p> + +<p>I have had some thought of making a full and compleat Discovery here of +that great Doubt which has so long puzzl’d the World, namely, whether +there is any such Thing, as secret making Bargains with the Devil, and +the first positive Assurance I can give you in the Case, is, that if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +there is not, ’tis not his Fault, ’tis not for want of his Endeavour, +’tis plain, if you will pardon me for taking so mean a Step, as that of +quoting Scripture; I say, ’tis evident he would fain have made a +Contract with our Saviour, and he bid boldly (<i>give him his due</i>) +namely, <i>all the Kingdoms of the World for one bend of his Knee</i>: +Impudent Seraph! To think thy Lord should pay thee Homage! How many +would agree with him here for a less Price! They say, <i>Oliver Cromwell</i> +struck a Bargain with him, and that he gave <i>Oliver</i> the Protectorship, +but would not let him call himself King, which stuck so close to that +<i>Furioso</i>, that the Mortification Spread into his Soul, and ’tis said, +he dy’d of a Gangreen in the Spleen. But take Notice and do <i>Oliver</i> +Justice; I do not vouch the Story, neither does the Bishop say one Word +of it.</p> + +<p>Fame us’d to say, that the old famous Duke of <i>Luxemburg</i> made a Magic +compact of this Kind; nay, I have heard many an (old Woman) Officer of +the Troops, who never car’d to see his Face, declare that he carry’d the +Devil at his Back. I remember a certain Author of a News Paper in +<i>London</i> was once taken up, and they say, it cost him 50<i>l.</i> for +printing in his News, that <i>Luxemburg</i> was <i>Humpback’d</i>. Now if I have +resolv’d the Difficulty, namely, that he was not hump’d, only carry’d +the <i>Devil</i> at his Back; I think the poor Man should have his 50<i>l.</i> +again, or I should have it for the Discovery.</p> + +<p>I confess, I do not well understand this compacting with such a Fellow +as can neither write nor read; nor do I know who is the Scrivener +between them, or how the Indenture can be executed; but that which is +worse than all the rest is, that in <i>the first Place</i>, the <i>Devil</i> never +keeps Articles; he will contract perhaps, and they say<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> he is mighty +forward to make Conditions; but who shall bind him to the Performance, +and where is the Penalty if he fails? if we agree with him, he will be +apt enough to claim his Bargain and demand Payment; nay, perhaps before +it is due; but who shall make him stand to his.</p> + +<p>Besides, he is a Knave in his Dealing, for he really promises what he +cannot perform; witness his impudent Proposal to our Lord mentioned +above. <i>All these Kingdoms will I give</i> thee! <i>Lying Spirit!</i> Why they +were none of thine to give, no not one of them; for the Earth is the +Lords and the kingdoms thereof, nor were they in his Power any more than +in his Right: So (I have heard that) some poor dismal Creatures have +sold themselves to the Devil for a Sum of Money, for so much Cash, and +yet even in that Case, when the Day of Payment came, I never heard that +he brought the Money or paid the Purchase, so that he is a Scoundrel in +his Treaties, for you shall trust for your Bargain, but not be able to +get your Money; and yet for your Part, he comes for you to an Hour: <i>Of +which by it self</i>.</p> + +<p>In a Word, let me caution you all, when you trade with the Devil, either +get the Price or quit the Bargain; the <i>Devil</i> is a cunning Shaver, he +will wriggle himself out of the Performance on his Side if possible, and +yet expect you should be punctual on your Side. They tell you of a poor +Fellow in <i>Herefordshire</i>, that offer’d to sell his Soul to him for a +Cow, and though the <i>Devil</i> promised, and as they say, sign’d the +Writings, yet the poor Countryman could never get the Cow of him, but +still as he brought a Cow to him, some body or other came and challeng’d +it, proving that it was lost or stolen from them; so that the Man got +nothing but the Name of a Cow-stealer, and was at last carried to +<i>Hereford</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> Goal, and condemn’d to be hang’d for stealing two Cows, one +after the other: The wicked Fellow was then in the greatest Distress +imaginable, he summon’d his <i>Devil</i> to help him out, but he failed him, +as the <i>Devil</i> always will; he really had not stolen the Cows, but they +were found in his Possession, and he could give no Account how he came +by them; at last he was driven to confess the Truth, told the horrid +Bargain he had made, and how the <i>Devil</i> often promis’d him a Cow, but +never gave him one, except that several Times in the Morning early he +found a Cow put into his Yard, but it always prov’d to belong to some of +his Neighbours: Whether the Man was hang’d or no, the Story does not +relate; but this Part is to my Purpose, that they that make Bargains +with the <i>Devil</i>, ought to make him give Security for the Performance of +Covenants, and who the Devil would get to be bound for him, I can’t +tell, they must look to that who make the Bargain: Besides, if he had +not had a Mind to cheat or baffle the poor Man, what need he have taken +a Cow so near home? if he had such and such Powers as we talk of, and as +Fancy and Fable furnish for him, could not he have carried a Cow in the +Air upon a Broom-stick, as well as an old Woman? Could he not have stole +a Cow for him in <i>Lincolnshire</i>, and set it down in <i>Herefordshire</i>, and +so have performed his Bargain, saved his Credit, and kept the poor Man +out of Trouble? so that if the Story is True, as I really believe it is, +either it is not the Devil that makes those Bargains, or the Devil has +not such Power as we bestow on him, except on Special Occasions he gets +a Permit, and is bid go, as in the Case of <i>Job</i>, the <i>Gadaren Hogs</i>, +and the like.</p> + +<p>We have another Example of a Man’s selling himself to the <i>Devil</i>, that +is very remarkable, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> that is in the Bible too, and even in that, I +do not find, what the <i>Devil</i> did for him, in Payment of the Purchase +Price. The Person selling was <i>Ahab</i>, of whom the Text says expresly, +<i>there was none like</i> him, <i>who did sell himself to work Wickedness in +the Sight of the</i> <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, 1 <i>Kings</i> xxi. 20, and the 25. I think it might +have been rendred, if not translated <i>in Spight of the Lord</i>, or <i>in +Defiance of God</i>; for certainly that’s the Meaning of it; and now +allowing me to preach a little upon this Text, my Sermon shall be very +short. <i>Ahab</i> sold himself, who did he sell himself to? I answer that +Question by a Question; who would buy him? who, <i>as we say</i>, would give +any thing for him? and the Answer to that is plain also, you may judge +of the Purchaser by the Work he was to do; he that buys a Slave in the +Market, buys him to work for him, and to do such Business as he has for +him to do: <i>Ahab</i> was bought to work wickedness, and who would buy him +for that but the <i>Devil</i>?</p> + +<p>I think there’s no room to doubt but <i>Ahab</i> sold himself to the Devil; +the Text is plain that he sold himself, and the Work he was sold to do +points out the Master that bought him; what Price he agreed with the +<i>Devil</i> for, that indeed the Text is silent in, so we may let it alone, +nor is it much to our Purpose, unless it be to enquire whether the +<i>Devil</i> stood to his Bargain or not, and whether he paid the Money +according to Agreement, or cheated him as he did the Farmer at +<i>Hereford</i>.</p> + +<p>This buying and selling between the <i>Devil</i> and us, is, I must confess, +an odd kind of Stock-jobbing, and indeed the <i>Devil</i> may be said to sell +the <i>Bear-skin</i>, whatever he buys; but the strangest Part is when he +comes to demand the transfer; for as I hinted before, whether he +Performs or no, he expects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> his Bargain to a Tittle; there is indeed +some Difficulty in resolving how and in what Manner Payment is made; the +Stories we meet with in our Chimney-Corner Histories, and which are so +many Ways made Use of to make the <i>Devil</i> frightful to us and our Heirs +for ever, are generally so foolish and ridiculous, as, if true or not +true, they have nothing Material in them, are of no Signification, or +else so impossible in their Nature, that they make no Impression upon +any body above twelve Years old and under seventy; or else are so +tragical that Antiquity has fabled them down to our Taste, that we might +be able to hear them and repeat them with less Horror than is due to +them.</p> + +<p>This Variety has taken off our Relish of the Thing in general, and made +the Trade of Soul-selling, like our late more eminent Bubbles, be taken +to be a Cheat and to have little in it.</p> + +<p>However, to speak a little more gravely to it, I cannot say but that +since, by the two eminent Instances of it above in <i>Ahab</i>, and in Christ +himself, the Fact is evidently ascertain’d; and that the Devil has +attempted to make such a Bargain on one, and actually did make it with +the other. The Possibility of it is not to be disputed; but then I must +explain the Manner of it a little, and bring it down, nearer to our +Understanding, that it may be more intelligible than it is; for as for +this selling the Soul, and making a Bargain to give the <i>Devil</i> +Possession by Livery and Seisin on the Day appointed, that I cannot come +into by any Means; no nor into the other Part, namely, of the Devil +coming to claim his Bargain, and to demand the Soul according to +Agreement, and upon Default of a fair Delivery, taking it away by +Violence <i>Case and all</i>, of which we have many historical Relations +pretty current among<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> us; some of which, <i>for ought I know</i>, we might +have hop’d had been true, if we had not been sure they were false, and +others we had Reason to fear were false, because it was impossible they +should be true.</p> + +<p>The Bargains of this Kind, according to the best Accounts we have of +them, used to consist of two main Articles, according to the ordinary +Stipulations in all Covenants; namely,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. Something to be perform’d on the Devil’s Part, buying.</p> + +<p>2. Something to be performed on the Man’s Part, selling.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>1. The <i>Devil</i>’s Part: This was generally some poor Trifle, for the +Devil generally bought good Penny-worths, and oftentimes like a compleat +Sharper, agreed to give what he was not able to procure; that is to say, +would bargain for a Price he could not pay, as in the Case of the +<i>Hereford</i> Man and the Cow; for Example, 1. <i>Long Life</i>: This tho’ the +deluded Chapman has often had folly enough to contract for, the Devil +never had Power to make good; and we have a famous Story, how true I +know not, of a Wretch that sold himself to the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> on Condition he, +<i>Satan</i>, should assure him (1.) That he should never want Victuals; (2.) +That he should never be a cold; (3.) That he should always come to him +when he call’d him; and (4.) That he should let him live one and twenty +Years, and then Satan was at Liberty to have him; that is, I suppose, to +take him <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'whereever'">wherever</ins> he could find him.</p> + +<p>It seems, the Fellow’s desire to be assur’d of 21 Years Life, was +chiefly, that during that Time, he might be as wicked as he would, and +should yet be sure not to be hang’d, nay, to be free from all +Punishment; upon this Foot ’tis said he commenc’d Rogue, and committed a +great many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> Robberies and other villanous Things; now it seems the +<i>Devil</i> was pretty true to his Bargain in several of those things; +particularly, that two or three times when the Fellow was taken up for +petty Crimes, and call’d for his old Friend, he came and frighted the +Constables so, that they let the Offender get away from them: But at +Length having done some capital Crime, a Set of Constables, or such like +Officers, seiz’d upon him, who were not to be frighted with the <i>Devil</i>, +in what Shape soever he appear’d; so that they carry’d him off, and he +was committed to <i>Newgate</i> or some other Prison as effectual.</p> + +<p>Nor could Satan with all his Skill unlock his Fetters, much less the +Prison Doors; But he was try’d, convicted, and executed. The Fellow in +his Extremity, <i>they say</i>, expostulated with the <i>Devil</i> for his +Bargain, the Term of 21 Years it seems not being expir’d. But the +<i>Devil</i>, it is said, shuffl’d with him, told him a good while, he would +get him out, bid him have Patience and stay a little, and thus led him +on, till he came as it were within Sight of the Gallows, that is to say, +within a Day or two of his Execution; when the <i>Devil</i> cavill’d upon his +Bargain, told him, he agreed to let him live 21 Years, and he had not +hindred him, but that he did not Covenant to cause him to live that +Time; that there was a great deal of Difference between doing and +suffering; that he was to suffer him to live, and that he did; but he +could not make him live when he had brought himself to the Gallows.</p> + +<p>Whether this Story were true or not, for you must not expect we +Historians should answer for the Discourse between the <i>Devil</i> and his +Chaps, because we were not privy to the Bargain: I say, whether it was +true or not, the Inference is to our Purpose several Ways.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>1. It confirms what I have said +of the Knavery of the <i>Devil</i> in his Dealings, and that when he has Stock-jobb’d with us on the best +Conditions he can get, he very seldom performs his Bargain.</p> + +<p>2. It confirms what I have likewise said, that the <i>Devil</i>’s Power +is limited; with this Addition, that he not only cannot destroy the +Life of Man, but that he cannot preserve it; <i>in short</i>, he can +neither prevent or bring on our Destruction.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>I may be allow’d, I hope, for the Sake of the present Discourse, to +suppose that the <i>Devil</i> would have been so just to this wicked, tho’ +foolish Creature, as to have sav’d him from the Gallows if he could; but +it seems, he at last acknowledg’d that it was not in his Power; nay, he +could not keep him from being taken and carry’d to Prison, after he was +gotten into the Hands of a bold Fellow or two, that were not to be +fear’d with his Bluster, as some foolish Creatures had been before.</p> + +<p>And how simple, how weak, how unlike any Thing of an Angelick Nature, +was it to attempt to save the poor Wretch, only by little Noises and +sham Appearances, putting out the Candles, rushing and josteling in the +Dark, <i>and the like</i>! If the <i>Devil</i> was that mighty Seraph, which we +have heard of, if he is a God of this World, a Prince of the Air, a +Spirit able to destroy Cities and make Havock in the World; if he can +raise Tempests and Storms, throw Fire about the World, and do wonderful +Things, as an unchain’d <i>Devil</i> no Doubt could do; what need all this +Frippery? and what need he try so many ridiculous Ways, by the +Emptiness, nay, the silly nonsensical Manner, of which, he shews, that +he is able to do no better,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> and that his Power is extinguish’d? <i>In a +Word</i>, he would certainly act otherwise, if he could. <i>Sed caret +pedibus</i>, he wants Power.</p> + +<p>How weak a thing is it then, for any Man to expect Performance from the +<i>Devil</i>? If he has not Power to do Mischief, which is his Element, his +very Nature, and on many Accounts, is the very sum of his Desires; How +should he have Power to do Good? how Power to deliver from Danger or +from Death? which Deliverance would be in itself a Good, and we know it +is not in his Nature to do Good to or for any Man?</p> + +<p>In a Word, the <i>Devil</i> is strangely impudent, to think that any Man +should depend upon him for the Performance of an Agreement of any Kind +whatever, when he knows himself, that he is not able, if he was honest +enough, to be as good as his Word.</p> + +<p>Come we next to his expecting our Performance to him; tho’ he is not so +just to us, yet, it seems, he never fails to come and demand Payment of +us at the very Day appointed: He was but a weak Trader in Things of this +Nature, who having sold his Soul to the <i>Devil</i>, so our old Women’s +Tales call the Thing, and when the <i>Devil</i> came to demand his Bargain, +put it off as a Thing of no Force, for that it was done so long ago, he +thought he (<i>the Devil</i>) had forgot it. It was a better Answer, which +they tell us, a <i>Lutheran</i> Divine gave the <i>Devil</i> in the Name of a poor +Wretch, who had sold himself to the <i>Devil</i>, and who was in a terrible +Fright about his coming for his Bargain, as he might well be indeed, if +the <i>Devil</i> has such a Power, as really to come and take it by Force. +<i>The Story (if you can bear a serious one) is this.</i></p> + +<p>The Man was in great Horror of Mind, and the Family fear’d he would +destroy himself; at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> length they sent for a <i>Lutheran</i> Minister to talk +with him, and who after some Labour with him, got out the Truth (<i>viz.</i>) +that he had sold himself to the <i>Devil</i>, and that the Time was almost +expir’d, when he expected the <i>Devil</i> would come and fetch him away, and +he was sure he would not fail coming to the Time to a Minute; the +Minister first endeavour’d to convince him of the horrid Crime, and to +bring him to a true Penitence for that Part; and having as he thought +made him a sincere Penitent, he then began to encourage him, and +particularly, desir’d of him, that when the Time was come, that the +<i>Devil</i> should fetch him away, he, the Minister, should be in the House +with him; accordingly, to make the Story short, the Time came, the +<i>Devil</i> came, and the Minister was present, when the <i>Devil</i> came; what +Shape he was in, the Story does not say; the Man said he saw him, and +cry’d out; the Minister could not see him, but the Man affirming he was +in the Room, the Minister said aloud, <i>in the Name of the</i> living God, +<i>Satan, what comest thou here for?</i> The <i>Devil</i> answer’d, <i>I come for my +own</i>; the Minister answer’d, <i>He is not thy own, for Jesus Christ has +redeem’d him, and in his Name I charge thee to avoid and touch him not</i>; +at which, says the Story, the <i>Devil</i> gave a furious Stamp (with his +Cloven-Foot I suppose) and went away, and was never known to molest him +afterward.</p> + +<p>Another Story, tho’ it be in it self a long one, I shall abridge (for +your reading with the less Uneasiness) as follows.</p> + +<p>A young Gentleman of <i>——berg</i>, in the Elector of <i>Brandenburgh</i>’s (now +the King of <i>Prussia</i>’s) Dominions, being deeply in Love with a +beautiful Lady, but something above his Fortune, and whom he could by no +Means bring to love him again,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> apply’d himself to an <i>old thing</i> call’d +<i>a Witch</i>, for her Assistance, and promised her great Things, if she +could bring the Lady to love him, or any how compass her, so as he might +have his Will of her; nay, at last he told her he would give up his Soul +to her, if she would answer his Desire.</p> + +<p>The old Hag, it seems, having had some of his Money, had very honestly +tried what she could do, but all to no Purpose, the Lady would not +comply; but when he offer’d such a great Price, she told him, she would +consider farther against such a Time, and so appointed him the next +Evening.</p> + +<p>At the Time appointed he comes, and the Witch made a long Speech to him +upon the Nicety of the Affair; I suppose to prepare him not to be +surpriz’d at what was to come; for she suppos’d he was not so very +desperately bent as he appear’d to be; she told him it was a Thing of +very great Difficulty; but as he had made such a great Offer, of +<i>selling his Soul for it</i>, she had an Acquaintance in the House, who was +better skill’d (than she was) in such particular Things, and would treat +with him farther, and she doubted not but that both together they might +answer his End. The Fellow it seems was still of the same Mind, and told +her, he car’d not what he pawn’d or sold, if he could but obtain the +Lady; well, says the old Hag, sit still a while, and with that she +withdraws.</p> + +<p>By and by she comes in again with a Question in her Mouth; pray, says +she, do you seek this Lady for a Wife, or for a Mistress, would you +marry her, or would you only lie with her? The young Man told her <i>no, +no</i>, he did not expect she would lie with him, therefore he would be +satisfied to marry her, but asks her the Reason of the Question; why +truly, says the old Hag, my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> Reason is very Weighty; for if you would +have her for your Wife, I doubt, we can do you no Service; but if you +have a Mind to lie with her, the Person, I speak of, will undertake it.</p> + +<p>The Man was surpriz’d at that, only he objected that this was a +transient or short Felicity, and that he should perhaps have her no +more; the old Hag bid him not fear, but that if she once yielded to be +his Whore, he might have her as often as he pleased; upon this he +consents, for he was stark mad for the Lady; He having consented, she +told him then, he should follow her, but told him, whoever he saw, he +must speak to no body but her, till she gave him leave, and that he +should not be surpriz’d, whatever happen’d, for no hurt should befall +him; all which he agreed to, and the old Woman going out he follow’d +her.</p> + +<p>Being upon this led into another Room, where there was but very little +Light, yet enough to let him see that there was no body in it but +himself and the Woman, he was desired to sit down in a Chair next to a +Table, and the old Woman clapping the Door too after her, he asked her +why she shut the Door, and where was the Person she told him of? At +which she answer’d <i>there he is</i>, pointing to a Chair at a little +Distance: The young Gentleman turning his Head, saw a grave Kind of a +Man sitting in an Elbow-Chair, tho’ he said, he could have sworn there +was no body in the Chair when the old Woman shut the Door; however, +having promis’d not to speak to any body but the old Woman, he said not +a Word.</p> + +<p>By and by the Woman making abundance of strange Gestures and Motions, +and mumbling over several Things which he could not understand, on a +suddain a large Wicker-Chair, which stood by the Chimney, removes to the +other End of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> the Table which he sat by, but there was no body in the +Chair; in about two Minutes after that the Chair remov’d, there appear’d +a Person sitting in that too, who, the Room being, as is said, almost +dark, could not be so distinguish’d by the Eye, as to see his +Countenance.</p> + +<p>After some while, the first Man, and the Chair he sat in, mov’d, as if +they had been one Body, to the Table also; and the old Woman and the two +Men seem’d to talk together, but the young Man could not understand any +Thing they said; after some Time the old Witch turn’d to the young +Gentleman, told him his Request was granted, but not for Marriage, but +the Lady should love and receive him.</p> + +<p>The Witch then gave him a Stick dipt in Tar at both Ends, and bid him +hold it to a Candle, which he did, and instead of burning like a Stick +it burnt out like a Torch; then she bid him break it off in the Middle, +and light the other End; he did that too, and all the Room seem’d to be +in a light Flame; then she said, deliver one Piece here, pointing to one +only of the Persons, so he gave the first Fire-stick to the first Man or +<i>Apparition</i>; now says she, deliver the other here, so he gave the other +Piece to the other Apparition, at which they both rose up and spoke to +him Words, which he said he understood not, and could not repeat, and +immediately vanish’d with the Fire-sticks and all, leaving the Room full +of Smoke: I do not remember that the Story says any Thing of Brimstone, +or the Smell of it, but it says the Door continu’d fast lock’d, and no +Body was left in the Room but the young Gentleman and the Witch.</p> + +<p>Now the Ceremony being over, he ask’d the Witch if the Business was +done? She said <i>yes</i>. Well, but says he, have I sold my Soul to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +Devil? Yes, says she, you have, and you gave him Possession, when you +deliver’d the two Fire-sticks to him. <i>To him!</i> says he, why, was that +the <i>Devil</i>? Yes, says the old Hag. At which the young Man was in a +terrible Fright for a while, but it went off again.</p> + +<p>And what’s next, says he, when shall I see <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'the the'">the</ins> Lady for whose sake I +have done all this? You shall know that presently, said she, and opening +the Door, in the next Room she presents him with a most beautiful Lady, +but had charg’d him not to speak a Word to her: She was exactly dress’d +like, and he presently knew her to be the Lady he desir’d; upon which he +flew to her and clasped her in his Arms, but that Moment he had her +fast, as he thought, in his Arms, she vanish’d out of his sight.</p> + +<p>Finding himself thus disappointed, he upbraids the old Woman with +betraying him, and flew out with ill Language at her, in a great Rage; +the <i>Devil</i> often deluded him thus, after this, with Shews and +Appearances, but still no Performance; after a while he gets an +Opportunity to speak with the Lady her self in Reality, but she was as +positive in her Denial as ever, and even took away all Hopes of his ever +obtaining her, which put him into Despair; for now he thought he had +given himself up to the <i>Devil</i> for nothing, and this brought him to +himself; so that he made a penitent Confession of his Crime to some +Friends, who took great Care of him, and encourag’d him, and at last +furnish’d him with such an Answer as put the <i>Devil</i> into a Fright, when +he came for the Bargain.</p> + +<p>For Satan, it seems, <i>as the Story says</i>, had the Impudence to demand +his Agreement, notwithstanding he had fail’d in the Performance on his +Part; what the Answer was I do not pretend to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> have seen, but it seems +it was something like what is mention’d above, (<i>viz.</i>) that he was in +better Hands, and that he durst not touch him.</p> + +<p>I have heard of another Person that had actually sign’d a Contract with +the <i>Devil</i>; and upon a Fast kept by some Protestant or Christian +Divines, while they were praying for the poor Man, the Devil was oblig’d +to come and throw the Contract in at the Window.</p> + +<p>But I vouch none of these Stories, there may be much in them and much +Use made of them, even whether exactly such in Fact, as they are +related, or no; the best Use I can make of them, is this, if any wicked +desperate Wretches have made Bargain and Sale with <i>Satan</i>, their only +Way is to repent, if they know how, and that before he comes to claim +them; then batter him with his own Guns; play Religion against Devilism, +and perhaps they may drive the <i>Devil</i> out of their Reach; at least he +will not come at them, which is as well.</p> + +<p>On the other Hand, how many Stories have we handed about of the Devil’s +really coming with a terrible Appearance at the Time appointed, and +powerfully or by violence carrying away those, that have given +themselves thus up to him; nay, and sometimes a Piece of the House along +with them, as in the famous Instance of <i>Sudbury</i>, <i>Anno</i> 1662. It seems +he comes with Rage and Fury upon such Occasions, pretending he only +comes to take his own, or as if he had leave given him to come and take +his Goods, <i>as we say</i>, where he could find them, and would strike a +Terror into all that should oppose him.</p> + +<p>The greatest Part of the Terror we are usually in upon this Occasion, is +from a Supposition, that when this <i>Hell-Fire Contract</i> is once made, +God allows the <i>Devil</i> to come and take the wicked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> Creature, how and in +what manner he thinks fit, as being given up to him by his own Act and +Deed; but in my Opinion there’s no Divinity at all in that; for as in +our Law we punish a <i>Felo de se</i>, or Self-murtherer, because, <i>as the +Law suggests</i>, he had no Right to dismiss his own Life; that he being a +Subject of the Common-wealth, the Government claims the <i>Ward</i> or +Custody of him, and so ’twas not Murther only, but Robbery, and is a +Felony against the State, robbing the King of his Liege-Man, as <i>’tis +justly call’d</i>; so neither has any Man a Right to dispose of his Soul, +which belongs to his Maker in Property and in Right of Creation: The Man +then having no Right to sell, Satan has no Right to buy, or at best he +has made a Purchase without a Title, and consequently has no just Claim +to the Possession.</p> + +<p>It is therefore a Mistake to say, that when any of us have been so mad +to make such a pretended Contract with the Devil, that God gives him +leave to take it as his Due; <i>’tis no such thing</i>; the <i>Devil</i> has +bought, what you had no Right to sell, and therefore, as an unlawful +Oath is to be repented of, and then broken; so your Business is to +repent of the Crime, and then tell the <i>Devil</i>, you have better +consider’d of it, and that you won’t stand to your Bargain, for you had +no Power to sell; and if he pretends to Violence after that, I am +mistaken; I believe the <i>Devil</i> knows better.</p> + +<p>It is true, our old Mothers and Nurses have told us other Things, but +they only told us what their Mothers and Nurses told them, and so the +Tale has been handed down from one Generation of old Women to another; +but we have no Vouchers for the Fact other than Oral Tradition, the +Credit of which, I confess, goes but a very little Way with me; nor do I +believe it one Jot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> the more for all the frightful Addenda which they +generally join to the Tale, for it never wants a great Variety of that Kind.</p> + +<p>Thus they tell us the Devil carried away Dr. <i>Faustus</i> and took a Piece +of the Wall of his Garden along with them: Thus at <i>Salisbury</i> the +<i>Devil</i> as it is said, and publickly printed, carried away two Fellows +that had given themselves up to him, and carried away the Roof of the +House with them, <i>and the like</i>; all which I believe my Share of; +besides, if these Stories were really true, they are all against the +Devil’s true Interest, <i>Satan</i> must be a Fool, which is indeed what I +never took him to be in the Main; this would be the Way not to encrease +the Number of Desperadoes, who should thus put themselves into his Hand, +but to make himself a Terror to them; and this is one of the most +powerful Objections I have against the Thing, for the Devil, I say, is +no Fool, that must be acknowledg’d; he knows his own Game, and generally +plays it sure.</p> + +<p>I might, before I quit this Point, seriously reflect here upon our <i>Beau +mond</i> (<i>viz.</i>) the gay Part of Mankind, especially those of the Times we +live in, who walk about in a Composure and Tranquillity inexpressible, +and yet as we all know, must certainly have all sold themselves to the +Devil, for the Power of acting the foolishest Things with the greater +Applause; it is true, to be a Fool is the most pleasant Life in the +World, if the Fool has but the particular Felicity, which few Fools +want, (<i>viz.</i>) to think themselves wise: The learned say, it is the +Dignity and Perfection of Fools, that they never fail trusting +themselves; they believe themselves sufficient and able for every Thing; +and hence their want or waste of Brains is no Grievance to them, but +they hug themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> in the Satiety of their own Wit; but to bring other +People to have the same Notion of them, which they have of themselves, +and to have their apish and ridiculous Conduct make the same Impression +on the Minds of others, as it does on their own; this requires a general +Infatuation, and must either be a Judgment from Heaven, or a Mist of +Hell; nothing but the Devil can make all the Men of Brains applaud a +Fool, and can any Man believe, that the Devil will do this for nothing? +no, no, he will be well paid for it, and I know no other Way they have +to compound with him, but this of Bargain and Sale.</p> + +<p>’Tis the same thing with Rakes and Bullies, as ’tis with Fools and +Beaus; and this brings me to the Subject of <i>buying</i> and <i>selling</i> it +self, and to examine what is understood by it in the World, what People +mean by such and such a Man selling himself to the Devil: I know the +common Acceptation of it is, that they make some Capitulation for some +Indulgence in Wickedness, on Conditions of Safety and Impunity, which +the Devil promises them; tho’ as I said above, he is a <i>Bite</i> in that +too, for he can’t perform the Conditions; however, I say, he promises +boldly, and they believe him, and for this Privilege in Wickedness, they +consent, that he shall come and fetch them for his own, at such or such +a Time.</p> + +<p>This is the State of the Case in the general Acceptation of it; I do not +say ’tis really so, nay ’tis even an Inconsistency in it self; for one +would think, they need not capitulate with the Devil to be so, and so, +superlatively wicked, and give him such a Price for it, seeing, unless +we have a wrong Notion of him, he is naturally enclin’d, as well as +avow’dly willing to have all Men be as superlatively wicked as possibly +they can, and must necessarily be always ready to issue out his Licenses +gratis, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> far as his Authority will go in the Case; and therefore I do +not see why the Wretches that deal with him, should article with him for +a Price; but suppose, for Argument sake, that it is so, then the next +Thing is, some capital Crime follows the Contract, and then the Wretch +is forsaken, for the Devil cannot protect him, as he promised; so he is +<i>Trust up</i>, and like <i>Coleman</i> at the Gallows, he exclaims that <i>there +is no Truth in</i> Devils.</p> + +<p>It may be true, however, that under the powerful Guard and Protection of +the Devil, Men do sometimes go a great Way in Crime, and that perhaps +farther in these our Days of boasted Morals than was known among our +Fathers; the only Difference that I meet with between the Sons of +<i>Belial</i> in former Days, and those of our Ages, seems to be in the +Devil’s Management, not in theirs; the Sum of which amounts to this, +that Satan seems to act with more Cunning, and they with less; for in +the former Ages of Satan’s Dominion, he had much Business upon his +Hands, all his Art and Engines, and Engineers also, were kept fully +employ’d, to wheedle, allure, betray and circumvent People, and draw +them into Crimes, and they found him, as we may say, a full Employment; +I doubt not, he was call’d the Tempter on that very Account; but the +Case seems quite alter’d now, the Tables are turned; then the Devil +tempted Men to sin, <i>But now, in short</i>, they tempt the Devil; Men push +into Crimes before he pushes them; they out shoot him in his own Bow, +out run him on his own Ground, and, as we say of some hot Spurs who ride +Post, they whip the Post-Boy; in a Word, the Devil seems to have no +Business now but to sit still and look on.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>This, I must confess, seems to intimate some secret Compact between the +Devil and them; but then it looks, not as is they had contracted with +the Devil for leave to sin, but that the Devil had contracted with them, +that they should sin so and so, up to such a Degree, and that without +giving him the Trouble of daily Solicitation, private Management, and +artful screwing up their Passions, their Affections and their most +retir’d Faculties, as he was before oblig’d to do.</p> + +<p>This also appears more agreeable to the Nature of the Thing; and as it +is a most exquisite part of Satan’s Cunning, so ’tis an undoubted +Testimony of his Success; if it was not so, he could never bring his +Kingdom to such a height of absolute Power as he has done; this also +solves several Difficulties in the Affair of the World’s present Way of +sinning, which otherwise it would be very hard to understand; as +particularly how some eminent Men of Quality among us, whose upper Rooms +are not extraordinary well furnished in other Cases, yet are so very +witty in their Wickedness, that they gather Admirers by hundreds and +thousands; who, however heavy, lumpish, slow and backward, even by +Nature, and in force of Constitution in better things, yet in their Race +Devil-wards they are of a sudden grown nimble, light of Foot, and outrun +all their Neighbours; Fellows that are as empty of Sense as Beggars are +of Honesty, and as far from Brains as a Whore is of Modesty; on a sudden +you shall find them dip into <i>Polemicks</i>, study <i>Michael Servetus</i>, +<i>Socinus</i>, and the most learned of their Disciples; they shall reason +against all Religion, as strongly as a Philosopher; blaspheme with such +a Keenness of Wit, and satyrise God and Eternity, with such a Brightness +of Fancy, as if the soul of a <i>Rochester</i> or a <i>Hobbs</i> was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>transmigrated into them; in a little length of Time more they banter +Heaven, burlesque the Trinity, and jest with every sacred thing, and all +so sharp, so ready, and so terribly witty, as if they were born +Buffoons, and were singl’d out by Nature to be Champions for the Devil.</p> + +<p>Whence can all this come? how is the Change wrought? who but the Devil +can inject Wit in Spight of natural Dullness, create Brains, fill empty +Heads, and supply the Vacuities in the Understanding? and will Satan do +all this for nothing? <i>No, no</i>, he is too wise for that; I can never +doubt a secret Compact, if there is such a thing in Nature; when I see a +Head where there was no Head, Sense in <i>Posse</i> where there is no Sense +in <i>Esse</i>, Wit without Brains, and Sight without Eyes, ’tis all +<i>Devil-Work</i>: Could <i>G——</i> write Satyrs, that could neither read +<i>Latin</i> or spell <i>English</i>, like old Sir <i>William Read</i>, who wrote a +Book of Opticks, which when it was printed, he did not know which was +the right Side uppermost, and which the wrong? Could this eminent +uninform’d Beau turn Atheist, and make wise Speeches against that Being, +which made him a Fool, if the Devil had not sold him some Wit in +exchange for that Trifle of his, call’d Soul? Had he not barter’d his +Inside with that Son of the Morning, to have his Tongue tip’d with +Blasphemy, he that knew nothing of a God, but only to swear by him, +could never have set up for a Wit, to burlesque his Providence and +ridicule his Government of the World.</p> + +<p>But the Devil, as he is God of the World, has one particular Advantage, +and that is, that when he has Work to do he very seldom wants +Instruments; with this Circumstance also, that the Degeneracy of human +Nature supplies him; as the late King of <i>France</i> said of himself, when +they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> told him what a Calamity was like to befal his Kingdom by the +Famine: <i>Well</i>, says the King, then I shall not want Soldiers; <i>and it +was so</i>, want of Bread supplied his Army with Recruits; so want of Grace +supplied the <i>Devil</i> with Reprobates for his Work.</p> + +<p>Another Reason why, I think, the <i>Devil</i> has made more Bargains of that +Kind we speak of, in this Age, is, because he seems to have laid by his +Cloven-Foot; all his old Emissaries, the Tools of his Trade, the +Engineers which he employ’d in his Mines, such as Witches, Warlocks, +Magicians, Conjurers, Astrologers, and all the hellish Train or Rabble +of human <i>Devils</i>, who did his Drudgery in former Days, seem to be out +of Work: I shall give you a fuller Enumeration of them in the next +Chapter.</p> + +<p>These, I say, seem to be laid aside; not that his Work is abated, or +that his Business with Mankind, for their Delusion and Destruction is +not the same, or perhaps more than ever; but the <i>Devil</i> seems to have +chang’d Hands; the Temper and Genius of Mankind is alter’d, and they are +not to be taken by Fright and Horror, as they were then: The Figures of +those Creatures was always dismal and horrible, and that is it which I +mean by the <i>Cloven-Foot</i>; but now Wit, Beauty and gay Things, are the +Sum of his Craft, he manages by the Soft and the Smooth, the Fair and +the Artful, the Kind and the Cunning, not by the Frightful and Terrible, +the Ugly and the Odious.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +When the <i>Devil</i> for weighty Dispatches,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wanted Messengers cunning and bold,</span><br /> +He pass’d by the beautiful Faces,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And pick’d out the <i>Ugly</i> and <i>Old</i>.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span><br /> +Of these he made <i>Warlocks</i> and <i>Witches</i>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To run of his Errands by Night,</span><br /> +Till the over wrought Hag-ridden Wretches,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Were as fit as the <i>Devil</i>, to fright.</span><br /> +<br /> +But whoever has been his Adviser,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As his Kingdom encreases in Growth;</span><br /> +He now takes his Measures much wiser,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And Trafficks with Beauty and Youth.</span><br /> +<br /> +Disguis’d in the Wanton and Witty,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He haunts both the Church and the Court,</span><br /> +And sometimes he visits the City,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where all the best Christians resort.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thus dress’d up in full Masquerade,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He the bolder can range up and down,</span><br /> +For he better can drive on his Trade,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In any one’s Name than his own.</span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_IX.2" id="Chap_IX.2"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'VII'">IX.</ins></h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the Tools the</i> Devil <i>works with,</i> (viz.) <i>Witches, Wizards or +Warlocks, Conjurers, Magicians, Divines, Astrologers, Interpreters +of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes; and above all the rest, his +particular modern Privy-Counsellors call’d Wits and Fools.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Tho’,</span> as I have advanc’d in the foregoing Chapter, the <i>Devil</i> has very +much chang’d Hands in his modern Management of the World,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> and that +instead of the Rabble and long Train of Implements reckoned up above, he +now walks about in Beaus, Beauties, Wits and Fools; yet I must not omit +to tell you that he has not dismiss’d his former Regiments, but like +Officers in Time of Peace, he keeps them all in half Pay, or like +Extraordinary Men at the Custom-House, they are kept at a Call, to be +ready to fill up Vacancies, or to employ when he is more than ordinarily +full of Business; and therefore it may not be amiss to give some brief +Account of them, from Satan’s own Memoirs, their Performance being no +inconsiderable Part of his History.</p> + +<p>Nor will it be an unprofitable Digression to go back a little to the +primitive Institution of all these <i>Orders</i>, for they are very antient, +and I assure you, it requires great Knowledge of Antiquity, to give a +Particular of their Original; I shall be very brief in it.</p> + +<p>In order then to this Enquiry, you must know that it was not for want of +Servants, that Satan took this Sort of People into his Pay; he had, as I +have observ’d in its Place, Millions of diligent <i>Devils</i> at his Call, +whatever Business, and however difficult, he had for them to do; but as +I have said above, that our modern People are forwarder than even the +<i>Devil</i> himself can desire them to be; and that they come before they +are call’d, run before they are sent, and crowd themselves into his +Service; so it seems it was in those early Days, when the World was one +universal Monarchy under his Dominion, as I have at large describ’d in +its Place.</p> + +<p>In those Days the Wickedness of the World keeping a just Pace with their +Ignorance, this inferior Sort of low priz’d Instruments did the +<i>Devil</i>’s work mighty well; they drudg’d on in his Black-Art so +laboriously, and with such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> good Success, that he found it was better to +employ them as Tools to delude and draw in Mankind, than to send his +invisible Implements about, and oblige them to take such Shapes and +Dresses as were necessary upon every trifling Occasion; which, perhaps, +was more Cost than Worship, more Pains than Pay.</p> + +<p>Having then a Set of these Voluntiers in his Service, the true <i>Devil</i> +had nothing to do but to keep an exact Correspondence with them, and +communicate some needful Powers to them, to make them be and do +something extraordinary, and give them a Reputation in their Business; +and these, in a Word, did a great Part of, nay almost all the <i>Devil</i>’s +Business in the World.</p> + +<p>To this Purpose gave he them Power, if we may believe old <i>Glanville</i>, +<i>Baxter</i>, <i>Hicks</i>, and other learn’d Consultors of Oracles, to walk +invisible, to fly in the Air, ride upon Broom-sticks, and other Wooden +Gear, to interpret Dreams, answer Questions, betray Secrets, to talk +(Gibberish) the universal Language, to raise Storms, sell Winds, bring +up Spirits, disturb the Dead, and torment the Living, with a thousand +other needful Tricks to amuse the World, keep themselves in Veneration, +and carry on the <i>Devil</i>’s Empire in the World.</p> + +<p>The first Nations among whom these infernal Practices were found, were +the <i>Chaldeans</i>; and that I may do Justice in earnest, as well as in +jest, it must be allow’d that the <i>Chaldeans</i>, or those of them so +call’d, were not Conjurers or Magicians, only Philosophers and Studiers +of Nature, wise, sober and studious Men at first, and we have an +extraordinary Account of them; and if we may believe some of our best +Writers of Fame, <i>Abraham</i> was himself famous among them for such +Magick, as Sir <i>Walter Raleigh</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> expresses it, <i>Qui Contemplatione +Creaturarum Cognovit Creatorem</i>.</p> + +<p>Now granting this, it is all to my Purpose, namely, that the Devil drew +these wise Men in, to search after more Knowledge than Nature could +instruct them in; and the Knowledge of the true God being at that Time +sunk very low, he debauch’d them all with Dreams, Apparitions, +Conjurers, <i>&c.</i> till he ruin’d the just Notions they had, and made +<i>Devils</i> of them all, like himself.</p> + +<p>The learned <i>Senensis</i>, speaking of this <i>Chaldean</i> Kind of Learning, +gives us an Account of five Sorts of them; you will pardon me for being +so grave as to go this Length back.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. <i>Chascedin</i> or <i>Chaldeans</i>, properly so call’d, being +Astronomers.</p> + +<p>2. <i>Asaphim</i> or <i>Magicians</i>, such was <i>Zoroastres</i> and <i>Balaam</i> the +Son of <i>Beor</i>.</p> + +<p>3. <i>Chatumim</i> or Interpreters of Dreams and hard Speeches, +Inchanters, <i>&c.</i></p> + +<p>4. <i>Mecasphim</i> or Witches, call’d at first Prophets, afterwards +<i>Malefici</i> or <i>Venefici</i>, Poisoners.</p> + +<p>5. <i>Gazarim</i> or <i>Auruspices</i>, and Diviners, such as divin’d by the +Entrails of Beasts, the Liver in particular; mention’d in <i>Ezek.</i> +or as others, call’d Augurs.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Now, as to all these, I suppose, I may do them no wrong, if I say, +however justifiable they were in the Beginning, the <i>Devil</i> got them all +into his Service at last, and that brings me to my Text again, from +which the rest was a Digression.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. The <i>Chascedin</i> or <i>Chaldean</i> Astronomers turned Astrologers, +Fortune-Tellers, Calculators <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>of Nativities, and vile Deluders of +the People, as if the Wisdom of the holy God was in them, as +<i>Nebuchadnezzar</i> said of <i>Daniel</i> on that very Account.</p> + +<p>2. The <i>Asaphim</i> or Magi, or Magicians; <i>Sixtus Senensis</i> says, +they were such as wrought by Covenants with Devils, but turn’d to +it from their Wisdom, which was to study the practical Part of +Natural Philosophy, working admirable Effects by the mutual +Application of Natural Causes.</p> + +<p>3. The <i>Chartumim</i> from being Reasoners or Disputers upon difficult +Points in Philosophy, became Enchanters and Conjurers. So,</p> + +<p>4. The <i>Mecasphim</i> or Prophets, they turn’d to be Sorcerers, +Raisers of Spirits, such as wounded by an evil Eye, and by bitter +Curses, and were afterwards fam’d for having familiar Converse with +the <i>Devil</i>, and were called Witches.</p> + +<p>5. The <i>Gazarim</i>, from the bare observing of the good and bad +Omens, by the Entrails of Beasts, flying of Birds, <i>&c.</i> were +turn’d to Sacrists or Priests of the Heathen Idols and Sacrificers.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Thus, I say, first or last the <i>Devil</i> engross’d all the Wise-Men of the +East, for so they are call’d; made them all his own, and by them he +work’d Wonders, that is, he fill’d the World with lying Wonders, as if +wrought by these Men, when indeed it was all his own, from Beginning to +the End, and set on Foot meerly to propagate Delusion, impose upon +blinded and ignorant Men; the God of this World blinded their Minds, and +they were led away by the Subtilty of the <i>Devil</i>, to say no worse of +it, till they became <i>Devils</i> themselves, as to Mankind;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> for they +carried on the Devil’s Work upon all Occasions, and the Race of them +still continue in other Nations, and some of them among our selves, as +we shall see presently.</p> + +<p>The <i>Arabians</i> follow’d the <i>Chaldeans</i> in this Study, while it was kept +within its due Bounds, and after them the <i>Egyptians</i>; and among the +Latter we find that <i>Jannes</i> and <i>Jambres</i> were famous for their leading +<i>Pharaoh</i> by their pretended magic Performances, to reject the real +Miracles of <i>Moses</i>; and History tells us of strange Pranks the +Wise-Men, the Magicians and the Southsayers plaid to delude the People +in the most early Ages of the World.</p> + +<p>But, as I say, now, the <i>Devil</i> has improv’d himself, so he did then; +for the <i>Grecian</i> and <i>Roman</i> Heathen Rites coming on, they outdid all +the Magicians and Southsayers, by establishing the <i>Devil</i>’s lying +Oracles, which, as a Master-Piece of Hell, did the <i>Devil</i> more Honour, +and brought more Homage to him, than ever he had before, or could arrive +to since.</p> + +<p>Again, as by the setting up the Oracles, all the Magicians and +Southsayers grew out of Credit; so at the ceasing of those Oracles, the +<i>Devil</i> was fain to go back to the old Game again, and take up with the +Agency of Witches, Divinations, Inchantments and Conjurings, as I hinted +before, answerable to the four Sorts mention’d in the Story of +<i>Nebuchadnezzar</i>, (viz.) <i>Magicians</i>, <i>Astrologers</i>, the <i>Chaldeans</i> and +the <i>Southsayers</i>: How these began to be out of Request, I have +mention’d already; but as the <i>Devil</i> has not quite given them over, +only laid them aside a little for the present, we may venture to ask +what they were, and what Use he made of them when he did employ them.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>The Truth is, I think, as it was a very mean Employment for any thing +that wears a human Countenance to take up, so I must acknowledge, I +think, ’twas a mean low priz’d Business for <i>Satan</i> to take up with; +below the very <i>Devil</i>; below his Dignity as an Angelic, tho’ condemn’d +Creature; below him even as a <i>Devil</i>; to go to talk to a parcel of +ugly, deform’d, spiteful, malicious old Women; to give them Power to do +Mischief, who never had a Will, after they enter’d into the State of +<i>old Woman-Hood</i>, to do any thing else: Why the <i>Devil</i> always chose the +ugliest old Women he could find; whether <i>Wizardism</i> made them ugly, +that were not so before, and whether the Ugliness, as it was a Beauty in +Witchcraft, did not encrease according to the meritorious Performance in +the Black-Trade? These are all Questions of Moment to be decided, (if +human Learning can arrive to so much Perfection) in Ages to come.</p> + +<p>Some say the evil Eye and the wicked Look were Parts of the Enchantment, +and that the Witches, when they were in the height of their Business, +had a powerful Influence with both; that by looking upon any Person they +could bewitch them, and make the <i>Devil</i>, <i>as the Scots express it</i>, +ride through them booted and spurr’d; and that hence came that very +significant Saying, <i>to look like a Witch</i>.</p> + +<p>The strange Work which the <i>Devil</i> has made in the World, by this Sort +of his Agents call’d Witches, is such, and so extravagantly wild, that +except our Hope that most of those Tales happen not to be true, I know +not how any one could be easy to live near a Widow after she was five +and fifty.</p> + +<p>All the other Sorts of Emissaries which Satan employs, come short of +these Ghosts; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> Apparitions sometimes come and shew themselves, on +particular Accounts, and some of those Particulars respect doing +Justice, repairing Wrongs, preventing Mischief; sometimes in Matters +very considerable, and on Things so necessary to publick Benefit, that +we are tempted to believe they proceed from some vigilant Spirit who +wishes us well; but on the other Hand, these Witches are never concern’d +in any thing but Mischief; nay, if what they do portends good to one, it +issues in hurt to many; the whole Tenour of their Life, their Design in +general, is to do Mischief, and they are only employ’d in Mischief, and +nothing else: How far they are furnish’d with Ability suitable to the +horrid Will they are vested with, remains to be describ’d.</p> + +<p>These Witches, ’tis said, are furnish’d with Power suitable to the +Occasion that is before them, and particularly that which deserves to be +consider’d, as Prediction, and foretelling Events, which I insist the +Author of Witchcraft is not accomplish’d with himself, nor can he +communicate it to any other: How then <i>Witches</i> come to be able to +foretel Things to come, which, ’tis said, the <i>Devil</i> himself cannot +know, and which, as I have shewn, ’tis evident he does not know himself, +is yet to be determin’d; that Witches do foretel, is certain, from the +Witch of <i>Endor</i>, who foretold Things to <i>Saul</i>, which he knew not +before, namely, that he should be slain in Battle the next Day, which +accordingly came to pass.</p> + +<p>There are, however, and notwithstanding this particular Case, many +Instances wherein the <i>Devil</i> has not been able to foretel approaching +Events, and that in Things of the utmost Consequence, and he has given +certain foolish or false Answers in such Cases; the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>’s Priests, +which were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> summon’d in by the Prophet <i>Elija</i>, to decide the Dispute +between God and <i>Baal</i>, had the <i>Devil</i> been able to have inform’d them +of it, would certainly have receiv’d Notice from him, of what was +intended against them by <i>Elija</i>; that is to say, that they would be all +cut in pieces; for Satan was not such a Fool as not to know that <i>Baal</i> +was a Non-Entity, a Nothing, at best a dead Man, perish’d and rotting in +his Grave; for <i>Baal</i> was <i>Bell</i> or <i>Belus</i>, an ancient King of the +<i>Assyrian</i> Monarchy, and he could no more answer by Fire to consume the +Sacrifice, than he could raise himself from the dead.</p> + +<p>But the Priests of <i>Baal</i> were left of their Master to their just Fate, +namely, to be a Sacrifice to the Fury of a deluded People; hence I infer +his Inability, for it would have been very unkind and ungrateful in him +not to have answer’d them, if he had been able. There is another +Argument raised here most justly against the <i>Devil</i>, with Relation to +his being under Restraint, and that of greater Eminence than we imagine, +and it is drawn from this very Passage, thus; ’tis not to be doubted but +that <i>Satan</i>, who has much of the Element put into his Hands, as Prince +of the Air, had a Power, or was able potentially speaking, to have +answer’d <i>Baal</i>’s Priests by Fire; Fire being in Vertue of his airy +Principality a Part of his Dominion; but he was certainly <i>withheld</i> by +the Superior Hand, which gave him that Dominion, I mean <i>withheld</i> for +the Occasion only: So in another Case, it was plain that <i>Balaam</i>, who +was one of those Sorts of <i>Chaldeans</i> mention’d above, who dealt in +<i>Divinations</i> and <i>Inchantments</i>, was withheld from cursing Israel.</p> + +<p>Some are of Opinion that <i>Balaam</i> was not a Witch or a Dealer with the +<i>Devil</i> because ’tis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> said of him, or rather he says it of himself, that +he saw the Visions of God, <i>Numb.</i> xxiv. 16. <i>He hath said</i>, who <i>heard +the Words of</i> <span class="smcap">God</span>, <i>and knew the Knowledge of the most High, which saw +the Visions of the Almighty, falling into a</i> <span class="smcap">Trance</span>, <i>but having his +Eyes open</i>: Hence they alledge he was one of those Magi, which St. +<i>Augustin</i> speaks of, <i>de Divinatione</i>, who by the Study of Nature, and +by the Contemplation of created Beings came to the Knowledge of the +Creature; and that <i>Balaam</i>’s Fault was, that being tempted by the +Rewards and Honours that the King promised him, he intended to have +curs’d <i>Israel</i>; but when his Eyes were open’d, and that he saw they +were God’s own People, he durst not do it; they will have it therefore, +that except, <i>as above</i>, <i>Balaam</i> was a good Man, or at least that he +had the Knowledge of the true God, and the Fear of that God upon him, +and that he honestly declares this, <i>Numb.</i> xxii. 18. <i>If</i> Balak <i>would +give me his House full of Silver and Gold, I cannot go beyond the Word +of the Lord</i> <span class="smcap">my God</span>: Where tho’ he is call’d a false Prophet by some, he +evidently owns God, and assumes a Property in him, as other Prophets +did; <span class="smcap">my God</span>, and I cannot go beyond his Orders; but that which gives me +a better Opinion of <i>Balaam</i> than all this is, his plain Prophesy of +Christ, Chap. xxiv. 17. where he calls him the Star of <i>Jacob</i>, and +declares, <i>I shall see him, but not now, I shall behold him, but not +nigh; there shall come a Star out of</i> Jacob, <i>and a Scepter shall rise +out of</i> Israel, <i>and shall smite the Corners of</i> Moab, <i>and destroy all +the Children of</i> Seth, all which express not a Knowledge only, but a +Faith in Christ; but I have done preaching, this is all by the by, I +return to my Business, which is the History.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span>There is another Piece of dark Practice here, which lies between Satan +and his particular Agents, and which they must give us an Answer to, +when they can, which I think will not be in haste; and that is about the +obsequious <i>Devil</i> submitting to be call’d up into Visibility, whenever +an old Woman has her Hand cross’d with a white Six-pence, <i>as they Call +it</i>: One would think that instead of these vile Things call’d Witches, +being sold to the <i>Devil</i>, the <i>Devil</i> was really sold for a Slave to +them; for how far soever Satan’s Residence is off of this State of Life, +they have Power, it seems, to fetch him from home, and oblige him to +come at their Call.</p> + +<p>I can give little Account of this, only that indeed so it is; nor is the +Thing so strange in its self, as the Methods to do it are mean, foolish, +and ridiculous; as making a Circle and dancing in it, pronouncing such +and such Words, saying the Lord’s Prayer backward, and the like; now is +this agreeable to the Dignity of the Prince of the Air or Atmosphere, +that he should be commanded forth with no more Pomp or Ceremony than +that of muttering a few Words, such as the old Witches and he agree +about? or is there something else in it, which none of us or themselves +understand?</p> + +<p>Perhaps, indeed, he is always with those People call’d Witches and +Conjurers, or at least some of his <i>Camp Volant</i> are always present, and +so upon the least call of the Wizard, it is but putting off the misty +Cloak and showing themselves.</p> + +<p>Then we have a Piece of mock Pageantry in bringing those Things call’d +witches or Conjurers to Justice, that is, first to know if a Woman be a +Witch, throw her into a Pond, and if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> she be a Witch, she will swim, and +it is not in her own Power to prevent it; if she does all she can to +sink her self, it will not do, she will swim like a Cork. Then that a +Rope will not hang a Witch, but you must get a With, a green Osyer; that +if you nail a Horse-Shoe on the Sill of the Door, she cannot come into +the House, or go out, if she be in; these and a thousand more, too +simple to be believ’d, are yet so vouch’d, so taken for granted, and so +universally receiv’d for Truth, that there is no resisting them without +being thought atheistical.</p> + +<p>What Methods to take to know, who are <i>Witches</i>, I really know not; but +on the other Side, I think there are variety of Methods to be used to +know who are not; <i>W—— G——</i>, Esq; is a Man of Fame, his Parts are +great, because his Estate is so; he has threescore and eight Lines of +<i>Virgil</i> by rote, and they take up many of the Intervals of his merry +Discourses; he has just as many witty Stories to please Society; when +they are well told, <i>once over</i>, he begins again, and so he lives in a +round of Wit and Learning; he is a Man of great Simplicity and +Sincerity; you must be careful not to mistake my Meaning, as to the Word +Simplicity; some take it to mean Honesty, and so do I, only that it has +a Negative attending it, in his particular Case; in a Word, <i>W—— +G——</i> is an honest Man, and no <i>Conjurer</i>; a good Character, I think, +and without Impeachment to his Understanding, he may be a Man of Worth +for all that; take the other Sex, there is the Lady <i>H——</i> is another +Discovery; bless us! what Charms in that Face! How bright those Eyes! +How flowing white her Breasts! How sweet her Voice? add to all, how +heavenly, divinely good her Temper! How inimitable her Behaviour! How +spotless her Virtue!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> How perfect her Innocence! and to sum up her +Character, we may add, the Lady <i>H——</i> is no <i>Witch</i>; sure none of our +Beau Critics will be so unkind now as to censure me in those honest +Descriptions, as if I meant that my good Friend <i>W—— G——</i> Esq; or my +ador’d Angel, the bright, the charming Lady <i>H——</i> were Fools; but what +will not those Savages, call’d Critics, do, whose barbarous Nature +enclines them to trample on the brightest Characters, and to cavil on +the clearest Expressions?</p> + +<p>It might be expected of me, however, in justice to my Friends, and to +the bright Characters of abundance of Gentlemen of this Age, who, by the +Depth of their Politics, and the Height of their Elevations might be +suspected, and might give us Room to charge them with Subterranean +Intelligence; I say, it might be expected that I should clear up their +Fame, and assure the World concerning them, even by Name, that they are +no <i>Conjurers</i>, that they do not deal with the <i>Devil</i>, at least, not by +the Way Witchcraft and Divination, such as Sir <i>T——k</i>, <i>E—— B——</i>, +Esq; my Lord <i>Homily</i>, Coll. <i>Swagger</i>, <i>Jeoffry Well with</i>, Esq; Capt. +<i>Harry Go Deeper</i>, Mr. <i>Wellcome Woollen</i>, Citizen and Merchant Taylor +of <i>London</i>, <i>Henry Cadaver</i>, Esq; the D—— of <i>Caerfilly</i>, the +Marquess of <i>Sillyhoo</i>, Sir <i>Edward Thro’ and Thro’</i> Bart. and a World +of fine Gentlemen more, whose great Heads and Weighty Understandings +have given the World such Occasion to challenge them with being at least +descended from the <i>Magi</i>, and perhaps engaged with old Satan in his +Politics and Experiments; but I, that have such good Intelligence among +<i>Satan</i>’s Ministers of State, as is necessary to the present +Undertaking, am thereby well able to clear up their Characters: and I +doubt not, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> they will value themselves upon it, and acknowledge +their Obligation to me, for letting the World know the <i>Devil</i> does not +pretend to have had any Business with them, or to have enroll’d them in +the List of his Operators; <i>in a Word</i>, that none of them are +<i>Conjurers</i>: Upon which Testimony of mine, I expect they be no longer +charg’d with, or so much as suspected of having an unlawful Quantity of +Wit, or having any Sorts of it about them, that are contraband or +prohibited, but that for the future they pass unmolested, and be taken +for nothing but what they are, (<i>viz.</i>) very honest worthy Gentlemen.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_X.2" id="Chap_X.2"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> X.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the various Methods the Devil takes to converse with Mankind.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Having</span> spoken something of Persons, and particularly of such as the +<i>Devil</i> thinks fit to employ in his Affairs in the World, it comes next +of course to say something of the Manner how he communicates his Mind to +them, and by them to the rest of his Acquaintance in the World.</p> + +<p>I take the <i>Devil</i> to be under great Difficulties in his Affairs on his +Part, especially occasion’d by the Bounds which are set him, or which +Policys oblige him to set to himself, in his Access to the conversing +with Mankind; ’tis evident he is not permitted to fall upon them with +Force and Arms, that is to say, to muster up his infernal Troops, and +attack them with Fire and Sword; if he was not loose to act in this +Manner as he was able, by his own seraphic Power to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> have destroy’d the +whole Race, and even the Earth they dwelt upon, so he would certainly, +and long ago have effectually done it; his particular Interests and +Inclinations are well enough known.</p> + +<p>But in the next Place, as he is thus restrain’d from Violence, so +Prudentials restrain him in all his other Actings with Mankind; and +being confin’d to Stratagem, and soft still Methods, such as Persuasion, +Allurement, feeding the Appetite, prompting, and then gratifying corrupt +Desires, and the like; he finds it for his Purpose not to appear in +Person, except very rarely, and then in Disguise; but to act all the +rest in the Dark, under the Vizor of Art and Craft, making Use of +Persons and Methods conceal’d, or at least not fully understood or +discover’d.</p> + +<p>As to the Persons whom he employs, I have taken some Pains you see to +discover some of them; but the Methods he uses with them, either to +inform and instruct, and give Orders to them, or to converse with other +People by them, these are very particular, and deserve some Place in our +Memoirs, particularly as they may serve to remove some of our Mistakes, +and to take off some of the frightful Ideas we are apt to entertain in +Prejudice of this great Manager; as if he was no more to be match’d in +his Politics, than he would be to be match’d in his Power, if it was let +loose; which is so much a Mistake, that on the contrary, we read of +several People that have abused and cheated the <i>Devil</i>, a Thing, which +I cannot say, is very honest nor just, notwithstanding the old Latin +Proverb, <i>Fallere fallentem non est fraus</i>, (which Men construe, or +rather render, by way of Banter Upon Satan) ’tis no Sin to cheat the +<i>Devil</i>, which for all that, upon the whole I deny, and alledge, that +let the <i>Devil</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> act how he will by us, we ought to deal fairly by him.</p> + +<p>But to come to the Business, without Circumlocutions; I am to enquire +how Satan issues out his Orders, gives his Instructions and fully +delivers his Mind to his Emissaries, of whom I have mention’d some in +the Title to <a href="#Chap_IX.2">Chap. IX</a>. In order to this, you must form an Idea of the +<i>Devil</i> sitting in great State, in open Campaign, with all his Legions +about him, in the height of the Atmosphere; or if you will, at a certain +Distance from the Atmosphere, and above it, that the Plan of his +Encampment might not be hurried round its own Axis, with the Earth’s +diurnal Motion, which might be some Disturbance to him.</p> + +<p>By this fix’d Situation, the Earth performing its Rotation, he has every +Part and Parcel of it brought to a direct Opposition to him, and +consequently to his View once in twenty four Hours: The last time I was +there, if I remember right, he had this Quarter of the World, which we +call Christendom, just under his Eye; and as the Motion is not so swift, +but that his piercing Opticks can take a strict View of it <i>en passant</i>; +for the Circumference of it being but twenty one thousand Miles, and its +circular Motion being full twenty four Hours performing, he has +something more than an Hour to view every thousand Miles, which, to his +supernatural Penetration, is not worth naming.</p> + +<p>As he takes thus a daily View of all the Circle, and an hourly View of +the Parts, he is fully Master of all Transactions, at least such as are +done above Board by all Mankind; and then he dispatches his Emissaries +or <i>Aid du Camps</i> to every Part with his Orders and Instructions: Now +these Emissaries, you are to understand, are not the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> <i>Witches</i> and +<i>Diviners</i>, who I spoke of above, for I call them also Emissaries; but +they are all <i>Devils</i> or (as you know they are call’d) <i>Devil</i>’s Angels; +and these may, perhaps, come and converse personally with the +Sub-emissaries I mention’d, to be ready for their Support and Assistance +on all Occasions of Business: These are those <i>Devils</i> which the Witches +are said to raise; for we can hardly suppose the Master <i>Devil</i> comes +himself, at the Summons of every ugly old Woman.</p> + +<p>These run about into every Nook and Corner, wherever Satan’s Business +calls them, and are never wanting to him; but are the most diligent +<i>Devils</i> imaginable; like the <i>Turkish Chaiux</i>, they no sooner receive +their Errand, but they execute it with the utmost Alacrity; and as to +their Speed, it may be truly written as a Motto, upon the Head of every +individual <i>Devil</i>,</p> + +<p class="poem"><i>Non indiget calcaribus.</i></p> + +<p> </p> +<p>These are those, who they tell us our Witches, Sorcerers, Wizards, and +such Sorts of Folks converse freely with, and are therefore call’d their +<i>Familiars</i>; and as they tell us, come to them in human Shapes, talk to +them with articulate plain Voices, as if Men, and that yet the said +Witches, <i>&c.</i> know them to be <i>Devils</i>.</p> + +<p>History has not yet enlighten’d us in this Part of useful Knowledge, or +at least not sufficiently for a Description of the Persons or Habits of +these Sorts of Appearances; as what Shapes they take up, what Language +they speak, and what particular Works they perform, so we must refer it +to farther Enquiry; but if we may credit History, we are told many +famous Stories of these Appearances; for Example, the famous Mother +<i>Lakland</i>, who was burnt for a Witch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> at <i>Ipswich</i>, <i>Anno</i> 1646, +confessed at the Time of her Execution, or a little before it, that she +had frequent Conversation with the <i>Devil</i> himself; that she being very +poor, and withal of a devilish passionate, cruel and revengeful +Disposition before, used to wish she had it in her Power to do such and +such mischievous Things to some that she hated; and that the <i>Devil</i> +himself, who, it seems, knew her Temper, came to her one Night as she +lay in her Bed, and was between sleeping and waking, and speaking in a +deep hollow Voice, told her; if she would serve him in some Things he +would employ her to do, she should have her Will of all her Enemies, and +should want for nothing: That she was much afraid at first, but that he +solliciting her very often, bad her not be afraid of him, and still +urg’d her to yield, and as she says, struck his Claw into her Hand, and +tho’ it did not hurt her, made it bleed, and with the Blood wrote the +Covenants, that is to say, the Bargain between them: being ask’d what +was in them, and whether he requir’d her to curse or deny God or Christ? +She said no.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">N. B. I do not find she told them whether the <i>Devil</i> wrote it with +a Pen, or whether on Paper or Parchment, nor whether she sign’d it +or no, but it seems he carry’d it away with him. I suppose, if +Satan’s Register were examin’d, it might be found among the +Archives of Hell, the Rolls of his <i>acta Publica</i>; and when his +Historiographer Royal publishes them, we may look for it among +them.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Then he furnish’d her with three <i>Devils</i>, to wait upon her (I suppose) +for she confess’d they were to be employ’d in her Service; they attended +in the Shapes of two little Dogs and a Mole: The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> first she bewitch’d +was her own Husband, by which he lay a while in great Misery and died; +then she sent to one Captain <i>Beal</i> and burnt a new Ship of his just +built, which had never been at Sea; these and many other horrid Things +she did and confess’d, and having been twenty Years a Witch, at last the +<i>Devil</i> left her, and she was burnt as she deserv’d.</p> + +<p>That some extraordinary Occasions may bring these Agents of the <i>Devil</i>, +nay, sometimes the <i>Devil</i> himself, to assume human Shapes, and appear +to other People we cannot doubt; he did thus in the Case of our Saviour +<i>as a Tempter</i>, and some think he did so to <i>Manasses</i> as a Familiar, +who the Scripture charges with Sorcery, and having a Familiar or Devil; +Fame tells us that St. <i>Dunstan</i> frequently converst with him, and +finally, took him by the Nose; and so of others.</p> + +<p>But in these modern Ages of the World, he finds it much more to his +Purpose to work under Ground as I have observ’d, and to keep upon the +Reserve; so that we have no authentick Accounts of his personal +Appearance, but what are very antient or very remote from our Faith, as +well as our Enquiry.</p> + +<p>It seems to be a Question that would bear some debating, whether all +Apparitions are not <i>Devils</i> or from the <i>Devil</i>; but there being so +many of those Apparitions which we call Spirits, which really assume +Shapes and make Appearances in the World, upon such Accounts as we know +<i>Satan</i> himself scorns to be employ’d in, that I must dismiss the +Question in favour of the <i>Devil</i>; assuring them, that as he never +willingly did any good in his Life, so he would be far from giving +himself the Trouble of setting one Foot into the World, on such an +Errand; and for that Reason we maybe assur’d those certain Apparitions, +which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> we are told came to detect a Murther in <i>Gloucestershire</i>, and +others who appear’d to prevent the ruining an Orphan for want of finding +a Deed, that was not lost, was certainly some other Power equally +concern’d, and not the <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>On the other Hand, neither will it follow that <i>Satan</i> never appears in +human Shape; for tho’ every Apparition may not be the <i>Devil</i>, yet it +does not follow that the <i>Devil</i> never makes an Apparition: All I shall +say to it is, as I have mention’d before, that generally speaking, the +<i>Devil</i> finds it more for his Purpose, to have his Interest in the World +propagated another Way; namely, in private, and his personal Appearances +are reserv’d for Things only of extraordinary Consequence, and, as I may +say, of evident Necessity, where his Honour is concern’d, and where his +Interest could be carried on no other Way; not forgetting to take Notice +that this is very seldom.</p> + +<p>It remains to enquire, what then those Things are which we make so much +stir about, and which are call’d <i>Apparitions</i>, or Spirits assuming +human Shapes, and shewing themselves to People on particular Occasions? +whether they are evil Spirits or good? and tho’, indeed, this is out of +my Way at this Time, and does not relate at all to the <i>Devil</i>’s +History, yet I thought it not amiss to mention it; (1.) Because, as I +have said, I do not wholly exclude Satan from all Concern in such +Things; and (2.) Because I shall dismiss the Question with so very short +an Answer, namely, that we may determine which are and which are not the +<i>Devil</i>’s, by the Errand they come upon; every one to his own Business; +if it comes of a good Errand, you may certainly acquit the <i>Devil</i> of +it, conclude him innocent, and that he has no hand in it; if it comes of +a wicked and devilish Errand, you may e’en take him up upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> Suspicion, +’tis ten to one but you find him at the Bottom of it.</p> + +<p>Next to Apparitions, we find Mankind disturb’d by abundance of little +odd reserv’d Ways which the <i>Devil</i> is shrewdly suspected of having a +Hand in, such as <i>Dreams</i>, <i>Noises</i>, <i>Voices</i>, &c. smells of Brimstone, +Candles burning blue, and the like.</p> + +<p>As to Dreams, I have nothing to say in Satan’s Prejudice at all there; I +make no Question but he deals very much in that Kind of Intelligence, +and why should he not? we know <i>Heaven</i> it self formerly converst very +often with the greatest of Men, by the same Method, and the <i>Devil</i> is +known to mimick the Methods, as well as the Actions of his Maker; +whether Heaven has not quite left off that Way of working, we are not +certain; but we pretty well know the <i>Devil</i> has not left it, and I +believe some Instances may be given where his Worship has been really +seen and talk’d to in sleep, as much as if the Person had been awake +with his Eyes open.</p> + +<p>These are to be distinguish’d too, pretty much by the Goodness or +Badness of the Subject; how often have Men committed Murther, Robbery +and Adultery in a Dream, and at the same time except an extraordinary +Agitation of the Soul, and express’d by extraordinary Noises in the +Sleep, by violent Sweating and other such Ways, the Head has never been +remov’d from the Pillow, or the Body so much as turn’d in the Bed?</p> + +<p>Whether in such Cases, the Soul with all the Passions and Affections +being agitated, and giving their full assent to the Facts, of whatever +Kind soever, the Man is not as guilty as if the Sins so dream’d of his +committing, had been actually committed? tho’ it be no Doubt to me, but +that it is so, yet as it is foreign to the present Affair, and not at +all relating to the <i>Devil</i>’s History, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> leave it to the Reverend +Doctors of the Church, as properly belonging to them to decide.</p> + +<p>I knew a Person who the <i>Devil</i> so haunted with naked Women, fine +beautiful Ladies in Bed with him, and Ladies of his Acquaintance too, +offering their Favours to him, and all in his Sleep; so that he seldom +slept without some such Entertainment; the Particulars are too gross for +my Story, but he gave me several long Accounts of his Night’s <i>Amours</i>, +and being a Man of a virtuous Life and good Morals, it was the greatest +Surprize to him imaginable; for you cannot doubt but that the cunning +<i>Devil</i> made every thing be acted to the Life with him, and in a manner +the most wicked; he own’d with Grief to me, that the very first Attack +the <i>Devil</i> made upon him, was with a very beautiful Lady of his +Acquaintance, who he had been really something freer than ordinary with +in their common Conversation; This Lady he brought to him in a Posture +for Wickedness, and wrought up his Inclination so high in his Sleep, +that he, as he thought, actually went about to debauch her, she not at +all resisting; but that he wak’d in the very Moment, to his particular +Satisfaction.</p> + +<p>He was greatly concern’d at this Part, namely, that he really gave the +Consent of his Will to the Fact, and wanted to know if he was not as +guilty of Adultery, as if he had lain with her; indeed he decided the +Question against himself, so forcibly, that I, who was of the same +Opinion before, had nothing to say against it; however, I confirm’d him +in it, by asking him these Questions.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. Whether he did not think the <i>Devil</i> had the chief Hand in such +a Dream? he answer’d, it could certainly be no body else, it must +be the <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>2. I then ask’d him what Reason the <i>Devil</i> could have for it, if +his Consent to the Fact in Sleep had not been criminal? <i>That’s +true indeed</i>, says he, <i>I am answer’d</i>: But then he ask’d another +Question, which, I confess, is not so easy to answer, namely, How +he should prevent being serv’d so again.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Nor could all my Divinity or his own keep the <i>Devil</i> from attacking him +again; on the other Hand, as I have said, he worried him to that Degree, +that he injur’d his Health, bringing naked Women to him, sometimes one, +sometimes another, sometimes in one Posture of Lewdness, sometimes in +another, sometimes into his very Arms, sometimes with such Additions as +I am not merry enough, and sometimes such as I am not wicked enough to +put into your Heads; the Man, indeed, could not help it, and so the +<i>Devil</i> was more Faulty than he; but as I hinted to him, he might bring +his Mind to such a stated Habit of Virtue, as to prevent its assenting +to any wicked Motion, even in Sleep, and that would be the Way to put an +End to the Attempt; and this Advice he relish’d very well, and +practised, I believe, with Success.</p> + +<p>By this same Method, the same <i>Devil</i> injects powerful Incentives to +other Crimes, provokes Avarice, by laying a great Quantity of Gold in +your View, and no body present, giving you an Opportunity to steal it, +or some of it, at the same time, perhaps, knowing your Circumstances to +be such as that you are at that Time in a great want of the Money.</p> + +<p>I knew another, who being a Tradesman, and in great Distress for Money +in his Business, dream’d that he was walking all alone in a great Wood, +and that he met a little Child with a Bag of Gold in its Hand, and a +fine Necklace of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> Diamonds on its Neck, upon the Sight, his Wants +presently dictated to him to rob the Child; the little innocent +Creature, (just so he dream’d) not being able to resist; or to tell who +it was, accordingly he consented to take the Money from the Child, and +then to take the Diamond Necklace from it too, and did so.</p> + +<p>But the <i>Devil</i>, (a full Testimony, as I told him, that it was the +<i>Devil</i>, not contented with that, hinted to him, that perhaps the Child +might some time or other know him, and single him out, by crying or +pointing, or some such Thing, especially if he was suspected and shew’d +to it, and therefore it would be better for him to kill the Child, +prompting him to kill it for his own Safety, and that he need do no more +but twist the Neck of it a little, or crush it with his Knee; He told me +he stood debating with himself, whether he should do so or not; but that +in that Instant his Heart struck him with the Word Murther, and he +entertain’d a Horror of it, refus’d to do it, and immediately waked.</p> + +<p>He told me, that when he wak’d, he found himself in so violent a Sweat +as he never had known the like; that his Pulse beat with that Heat and +Rage, that it was like a Palpitation of the Heart to him, and that the +Agitation of his Spirits was such, that he was not fully composed in +some Hours; tho’ the Satisfaction and Joy that attended him, when he +found it was but a Dream, assisted much to return his Spirits to their +due Temperament.</p> + +<p>It is neither my Business or Inclination to turn Divine here, nor is the +Age I write to sufficiently Grave to relish a Sermon, if I was disposed +to preach, though they must allow the Subject would very well bear it; +but I shall only ask them, if they think this is not the <i>Devil</i>, what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> +they think it is? If they believe it is the <i>Devil</i>, they will act +accordingly I hope, or let it alone, as Satan and they can agree about +it.</p> + +<p>I should not oblige the <i>Devil</i> over much, whatever I might do to those +that read it; if I should enter here upon a Debate of Interests, +(<i>viz.</i>) to enquire whether the <i>Devil</i> has not a vast Advantage upon +Mankind this Way, and whether it is not much his Interest to preserve +it; and if I prove the Affirmative, I leave it to you to enquire whose +Interest it is to disappoint and supplant him.</p> + +<p>In short, I take Dreams to be the second Best of the Advantages the +<i>Devil</i> has over Mankind; the first, I suppose, you all know (<i>viz.</i>) +the Treachery of the Garrison within; by Dreams he may be said to get +into the Inside of us without Opposition; here he opens and locks +without a Key, and like an Enemy laying siege to a fortified City, +Reason and Nature, the Governor of the City, keep him out by Day, and +keep the Garrison true to their Duty; but in the Dark he gets in and +parlees with the Garrison (the Affections and Passions) Debauches their +Loyalty, stirring up them to Disloyalty and Rebellion, so they betray +their Trust, Revolt, Mutiny, and go over to the Besieger.</p> + +<p>Thus he manages his Interest, I say, and insinuates himself into the +Inside of us, without our Consent, nay, without our Knowledge; for +whatever Speculation may do, ’tis evident Demonstration does not assist +us to discover which Way he gets Access to the Soul, while the Organ +tied up, and dozed with Sleep has lock’d it up from Action; that it is +so is clear, but how he does it is a Secret which I do not find the +Antients or Moderns have yet made a Discovery of.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>That Devil of a Creature, Mother <i>Lakland</i>, whose Story I mention’d +above, acknowledg’d that the first Time the <i>Devil</i> attempted to draw +her in to be a Witch was in a Dream, and even when she consented, she +said, she was between sleeping and waking; that is, she did not know +whether she was awake or asleep, and the cunning Devil it seems was +satisfied with her Assent given so, when she was asleep, or neither +asleep or awake, so taking the Advantage of her Incapacity to act +rationally.</p> + +<p>The Stories of her bewitching several People, and the manner in which +they died, are so formidable and extravagant, that I care not to put any +one’s Faith to the stretch about them, tho’ publish’d by Authority, and +testified by Abundance of Witnesses; but this is recorded in particular, +and to my Purpose, whether from her own Mouth or not, I do not say, +namely, the Description of a Witch, and the Difference between Witches, +and those other of Satan’s Acquaintance who act in his Name.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. They have consulted and covenanted with a Spirit or <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>2. They have a Deputy <i>Devil</i>, sometimes several to serve and +assist them.</p> + +<p>3. These they employ as they please, call them by Name, and command +their Appearance in whatever Shape they think fit.</p> + +<p>4. They send them abroad to or into the Persons who they design to +bewitch, who they always torment, and often murther them, as Mother +<i>Lakland</i> did several.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>As to the Difference between the several Devils that appear, it relates +to the Office of the Persons who employ them; as Conjurers, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> seem to +command the particular <i>Devil</i> that waits upon them with more Authority, +and raise them and lay them at Pleasure, drawing Circles, casting +Figures, and the like; but the Witch, in a more familiar manner, +whispers with the Devil, keeps the <i>Devil</i> in a Bag or a Sack, sometimes +in her Pocket, and the like, and like Mr. <i>Faux</i> shews Tricks with him.</p> + +<p>But all these Kinds deal much in Dreams, talk with the Devil in their +Sleep, and make other People talk with him in their Sleep too; and ’tis +on this Occasion I mention it here; in short, the Devil may well take +this Opportunity with Mankind, for not half the World that came into his +Measures would comply, if they were awake; but of that hereafter.</p> + +<p>And yet his thus insinuating himself by Dream, does not seem sufficient, +in my Opinion, to answer the <i>Devil</i>’s End, and to carry on his +Business; and therefore we must be forc’d to allow him a Kind of actual +Possession, in particular Cases, and that in the Souls of some People, +by different Methods from others; <i>Luther</i> is of the Opinion that the +<i>Devil</i> gets a Familiarity with some Souls just at, or rather before +their being embodied; as to the Manner and Method how he gets in, that +is another Question, and may be spoken of by it self; besides, why may +not he, that at Satan’s Request to enter into the Herd of Swine, said +<i>go</i>, give the same Commission to possess a sort of Creatures so many +Degrees below the Dignity of the <i>Gaderenian</i> Swine, and open the Door +too? but as for that, when our Lord said <i>go</i>, the <i>Devil</i> never +enquir’d which Way he should get in.</p> + +<p>When then I see Nations, or indeed Herds of Nations set on Fire of Hell, +and as I may say, enflam’d by the <i>Devil</i>; when I see Towns, Parties,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +Factions and Rabbles of People visibly possess’d; ’tis enough to me that +the great Master of the Devils has said to him, <span class="smcap">go</span>; there’s no need to +enquire which Way he finds open, or at what postern Gate he gets in; as +to his appearing, ’tis plain he often gets in without appearing, and +therefore the Question about his appearing still remains a Doubt, and is +not very easy to be resolv’d.</p> + +<p>In the Scripture we have some Light into it, and that is all the Help I +find from Antiquity, and it goes a great Way to solve the Phænomena of +Satan’s appearing; what I mean by the Scripture giving some Light to it, +is this; ’tis said in several Places, and of several Persons, God came +to them in a Dream, <i>Gen.</i> xx. 3. <i>God came to</i> Abimelech <i>in a Dream by +Night</i>, Gen. xxxi. 24. <i>And God came to</i> Laban <i>the</i> Syrian <i>in a +Dream</i>, Matt. ii. 13. <i>The Angel of the Lord appear’d to</i> Joseph <i>in a +Dream</i>; short Comments are sufficient to plain Texts, applying this to +my Friend when he wanted to be satisfied about the How, relating to his +Dream (<i>viz.</i>) how he should come to Dream such wicked Things? I told +him, in short, the Case was plain, <i>the Devil came to him in a Dream by +Night</i>: How and in what manner he form’d the wicked Representations, and +spread debauch’d Appearances before his Fancy, by real Whispers and +Voice, according to <i>Milton</i>, or by what other Methods, the Learned are +not arriv’d to any Certainty about it.</p> + +<p>This leads me necessarily to enquire whether the <i>Devil</i> or some of his +Agents are not always in our Company, whether they make any visible +Appearances or no? For my Part I make no Question of it, how else could +he come at the Knowledge of what we do; for as I can allow him no +Prescience at all, as for many Reasons I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> observ’d already, he must +be able to see and know us, and what we are about when we know nothing +of him, or else he could know nothing of us and our Affairs, which yet +we find otherwise; and this gives him infinite Advantage to Influence +our Actions, to judge of our Inclinations, and to bring our Passions to +clash with our Reason, as they often do, and get the better of it too.</p> + +<p>All this he obtains by his being able to walk about invisible, and see +when he is not seen, of which I have spoken already; hence that most +wise and solid Suggestion, that when the Candles burn blue the <i>Devil</i> +is in the Room, which great Secret in Nature, that you may more fully be +convinc’d of its imaginary Reality, I must tell you the following Story +which I saw in a Letter directed to a particular Friend, take it Word +for Word as in the Letter; because I do not make my self accountable for +the Facts, but take them <i>ad referendum</i>.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir,</span></p> + +<p>We had one Day, very early in the Morning, and for the most Part of the +Day a great deal of Rain with a high Wind, and the Clouds very thick and +dark all Day.</p> + +<p>In the Evening the cloudy thick Weather continued, tho’ not the Rain, +when being at a Friend’s House in —— Lane <i>London</i>, and several Ladies +and some Gentlemen in the Room, besides two or three Servants (for we +had been eating) the following Interlude happen’d for our Entertainment: +When the Cloth was taken away, two large Candles were brought upon the +Table and plac’d there with some Bottles and Glasses for the Gentlemen, +who, it seems, were intending to drink and be very merry; two large +Wax-Candles were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> also set on another Table, the Ladies being going to +Cards, also there were two large Candles in Sconces over or near the +Chimney, and one more in a Looking-Glass Sconce, on a Peer by the +Window.</p> + +<p>With all this <i>Apparatus</i>, the Company separating sat down, the +Gentlemen at their Table, and the Ladies at theirs, to play <i>as above</i>; +when after some time the Gentleman of the House said hastily to a +Servant, <i>what a P—— ails the Candles</i>? and turning to the Servant +raps out an Oath or two, and bids him snuff the Candles, for they burnt +as if the Devil was in the Room.</p> + +<p>The Fellow going to snuff one of the Candles, snuffs it out, at which +his Master being in a Passion the Fellow lights it again immediately at +the other Candle, and then being in a little hurry, going to snuff the +other Candle snuffed that out too.</p> + +<p>The first Candle that was relighted (as is usual in such Cases) burn’d +dim and dull for a good while, and the other being out, the Room was +much darker than before, and a Wench that stood by the Ladies Table, +bawls out to her Mistress, <i>Law Madam!</i> the Candles <i>burn blue</i>; an old +Lady that sat by says, <i>ay Betty!</i> so they do; upon this one of the +Ladies starts up, <i>Mercy upon us</i>, says she, <i>what is the Matter!</i> In +this unlucky Moment another Servant, without Orders, went to the great +Peer Sconce, and because, <i>as he thought</i>, he would be sure to snuff the +Candle well, he offers to take it down, but very unhappily, I say, the +Hook came out and down falls the Sconce Candle and all, and the +Looking-Glass broke all to pieces, with a horrible Noise; however, the +Candle falling out of the Sconce did not go out, but lay on the Floor +burning dully, and as it is usual on such Cases, all on one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> Side, +<i>Betty</i> cries out again, <i>Law Madam</i>, that Candle burns blue too; the +very Moment she said this, the Footman that had thrown down the Sconce, +says to his fellow Servant, that came to his Assistance, I <i>think</i> the +Devil <i>is in the Candles to Night</i>, and away he run out of the Room, for +fear of his Master.</p> + +<p>The old Lady, who, upon the Maid <i>Betty</i>’s Notion of the Candles burning +blue, had her Head just full of that old <i>Chimney-Corner Story</i>, the +Candles <i>burn blue when the Spirits are in the Room</i>, heard the Footman +Say the Word <i>Devil</i>, but heard nothing else of what he said; upon this +she rises up in a terrible Fright, and cries out that the Footman said +the <i>Devil was in the Room</i>; as she was, indeed, frighted out of her +Wits, she frighted the Ladies most terribly, and they all starting up +together, down goes the Card Table, and put the Wax-Candles out.</p> + +<p>Mrs. <i>Betty</i>, that had frighted them all, runs to the Sconce next the +Chimney, but that having a long Snuff, she cried out it burnt blue too, +and she durst not touch it; in short, tho’ there were three Candles left +still burning in the Room, yet the Ladies we’re all so frighted, that +they and the Maids too run out of the Parlour screaming like mad Folks. +The Master in a Rage kick’d his first Man out of the Room, and the +second Man was run out to avoid, as I said before, the like, so that no +Servant was to be had, but all was in Confusion.</p> + +<p>The two other Gentlemen, who were sitting at the first Table, kept their +Seats composed and easy enough, only concern’d to see all the House in +such a fright; it was true, they said, the Candles burnt dim and very +oddly, but they could not perceive they <i>burnt blue</i>, except one of +those over the Chimney, and that on the Table, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> was relighted +after the Fellow had snufft it out.</p> + +<p>However, the Maid, the old Lady and the Footman that pull’d down the +Sconce, all insist that the Candles <i>burnt blue</i>, and all pretend that +the Devil was certainly in the Room, and was the Occasion of it; and +they now came to me with the Story, to desire my Opinion of it.</p> + +<p>This put me upon Enquiry into the Notion of Candles <i>burning blue</i> when +Spirits are in a Room, which upon all the Search into Things, that I am +able to make, amounts to no more than this; that upon any extraordinary +Emission of sulphureous or of nitrous Particles, either in a close Room, +or in any not very open Place, if the Quantity be great, a Candle or +Lamp, or any such little Blaze of Fire will seem to be, or to <i>burn +blue</i>; and if then they can prove that any such Effluvia attends or is +emitted from a Spirit, then when <span class="smcap">Satan</span> is at Hand it may be so.</p> + +<p>But then ’tis begging the Question grossly, because no Man can assure us +that the Devil has any sulphureous Particles about him.</p> + +<p>It is true, the Candles burn thus in Mines and Vaults, and damp Places; +and ’tis as true that they will do so upon Occasion of very damp, stormy +and moist Air, when an extraordinary Quantity of Vapours are supposed to +be dispers’d abroad, as was the Case when this happen’d; and if there +was any Thing of that in it on that <i>Monday</i> Night, the Candles might, +perhaps, burn blue upon that Occasion; but that the <i>Devil</i> was abroad +upon any extraordinary <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Businses'">Business</ins> that Night, that I cannot grant, unless +I have some better Testimony than the <i>old Lady</i> that heard the +Footman’s out-cry but by halves, or than Mrs. <i>Betty</i>, who first fancied +the Candles <i>burnt blue</i>; so I must suspend my Judgment till I hear +farther.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>This Story however may solve a great many of those Things which pass for +Apparitions in the World, and which are laid to the Devil’s Charge, tho’ +he really may know nothing of the Matter; and this would bring me to +defend <i>Satan</i> in many Things, wherein he may truly be said to suffer +wrongfully; and if I thought it would oblige him, I might say something +to his Advantage this Way; however, I’ll venture a Word or two for an +injur’d <i>Devil</i>, take it as you will.</p> + +<p>First, it is certain, that as this Invisibility of the <i>Devil</i> is very +much to our Prejudice, so the Doctrine of his Visibility is a great +Prejudice to him, as we make Use of it.</p> + +<p>By his Invisibility he is certainly vested with infinite Advantages +against us; while he can be present with us, and we know nothing of the +Matter, he informs himself of all our Measures, and arms himself in the +best and most suitable manner to injure and assault us, as he can +counteract all our secret concerted Designs, disappoint all our Schemes, +and except when Heaven apparently concerns it self to over-rule him, can +defeat all our Enterprizes, break all our Measures, and do us Mischief +in almost every Part of our Life, and all this, because we are not privy +to all his Motions, as he is to ours.</p> + +<p>But now for his Visibility and his real Appearance in the World, and +particularly among his Disciples and Emissaries, such as Witches and +Wizards, Demonaists, and the like: Here, I think Satan has a great deal +of Loss, suffers manifest Injury, and has great Injustice done him; and, +that therefore I ought to clear this Matter up a little, if it be +possible, to do Justice to Satan, and set Matters right in the World +about him, according to that useful old Maxim of setting the Saddle upon +the right Horse, or <i>giving the</i> Devil <i>his due</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span>First, <i>as I have said</i>, we are not to believe every idle Head, who +pretends even to converse Face to Face with the <i>Devil</i>, and who tells +us, they have thus seen him, and been acquainted with him every Day: +Many of these Pretenders are manifest Cheats; and, however, they would +have the Honour of a private Interest in him, and boast how they have +him at their Beck, can call him this Way, and send him that, as they +please, raise him and lay him when and how, and as often as they find +for their Purpose; I say, whatever Boasts they make of this Kind, they +really have nothing of Truth in them.</p> + +<p>Now the Injuries and Injustice done to the <i>Devil</i>, in these Cases, are +manifest; namely, that they entitle the <i>Devil</i> to all the Mischief they +are pleased to do in the World; and if they commit a Murther or a +Robbery, fire a House, or do any Act of Violence in the World, they +presently are said to do it by the Agency of the <i>Devil</i>, and the +<i>Devil</i> helps them; so Satan bears the Reproach, and they have all the +Guilt; this is, (1.) a grand Cheat upon the World, and (2.) a notorious +Slander upon the <i>Devil</i>; and it would be a public Benefit to Mankind, +to have such would-be-Devils as these turn’d inside out, that we might +know when the <i>Devil</i> was really at work among us, and when not; what +Mischiefs were of his doing, and which were not; and that these Fellows +might not slip their Necks out of the Halter, by continually laying the +Blame of their Wickedness upon the <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>Not that the <i>Devil</i> is not very willing to have his Hand in any +Mischief, or in all the Mischief that is done in the World; but there +are some low priz’d Rogueries that are too little for him, beneath the +Dignity of his Operation, and which ’tis really a Scandal to the <i>Devil</i> +to charge upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> him. I remember the <i>Devil</i> had such a Cheat put upon +him in <i>East-Smithfield</i> once, where a Person pretended to converse with +the <i>Devil</i> Face to Face, and that in open Day too, and to cause him to +tell Fortunes, foretel Good and Evil, <i>&c.</i> discover stollen Goods, tell +where they were who stole them, and how to find them again, nay, and +even to find out the Thieves; but <i>Satan</i> was really slandered in the +Case, the Fellow had no more to do with the <i>Devil</i> than other People, +and perhaps not so much neither: This was one of those they call’d +<span class="smcap">Cunning-Men</span>, or at least he endeavour’d to pass for such a one, but +’twas all a Cheat.</p> + +<p>Besides, what had the <i>Devil</i> to do to detect Thieves, and restore +stollen Goods? Thieving and Robbing, Trick and Cheat, are part of the +Craft of his Agency, and of the Employments which it is his Business to +encourage; they greatly mistake him, who think he will assist any Body +in suppressing and detecting such laudable Arts and such diligent +Servants.</p> + +<p>I won’t say, but the <i>Devil</i>, to draw these People we call +<i>Cunning-Men</i>, into a Snare, and to push on his farther Designs, may +encourage them privately, and in a manner that they themselves know +nothing of, to make use of his Name, and abuse the World about him, till +at last they may really believe they do deal with the <i>Devil</i>, when +indeed ’tis only he deals with them, and they know nothing of the +Matter.</p> + +<p>In other Cases he may encourage them in these little Frauds and Cheats, +and give them leave, as above, to make use of his Name to bring them +afterwards, and by Degrees to have a real Acquaintance with him; so +bringing the Jest of their Trade into Earnest, till at length prompting +them to commit some great Villany, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> secures them to be his own, by +their very Fear of his leaving them to be exposed to the World; thus he +puts a <i>Jonathan Wild</i> upon them, and makes them be the very Wretches +they only pretended to be before: So old <i>Parsons</i> of <i>Clithroe</i>, as +Fame tells, was twenty five Years a <i>Cunning-man</i>, and twenty two Years +a Witch; that is to say, for five and twenty Years, he was only +pretending to deal with the <i>Devil</i>, when Satan and he had no manner of +Acquaintance, and he only put his <i>Leger-de-main</i> upon the People in the +<i>Devil</i>’s Name, without his leave; but at length the <i>Devil</i>’s Patience +being tir’d quite out, he told the old Counterfeit, that in short, he +had been his stalking Horse long enough, and that now, if he thought fit +to enter himself, and take a Commission, well and good; and he should +have a Lease to carry on his Trade for so many Years more, to his +Heart’s content; but if not, he would expose his Knavery to the World, +for that he should take away his Peoples Trade no longer; but that he +(Satan) would set up another in his Room, that should make a meer Fool +of him, and carry away all his Customers.</p> + +<p>Upon this, the old Man consider’d of it, took the <i>Devil</i>’s Counsel, and +listed in his Pay; so he, that had plaid his Pranks twenty five Years as +a Conjurer, when he was no Conjurer, was then forc’d really to deal with +the <span class="smcap">Devil</span>, for fear the People should know he did not: Till now he had +<i>ambo dexter</i>, cheated the Devil on one Hand, and the People on the +other; but the <i>Devil</i> gain’d his Point at last, and so he was a real +Wizard ever after.</p> + +<p>But this is not the only way the Devil is injur’d neither, for we have +often found People pretend upon him in other Cases, and of nearer +Concern to him a great deal, and in Articles more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> Weighty, as in +particular, in the great Business of Possession; it is true this Point +is not thoro’ly understood among Men, neither has the Devil thought fit +to give us those Illuminations about it, as I believe he might do; +particularly that great and important Article, is not, for ought I can +see, rightly explain’d, namely; whether there are not two several Kinds +of Possession, (<i>viz.</i>) some wherein the Devil possesses us, and some in +which we really possess the Devil; the Nicety of which I doubt this Age, +with all its Penetration, is not qualified to explain, and a +Dissertation upon it being too long for this Work, especially so near +its Conclusion, I am oblig’d to omit, as I am also all the practical +Discourses upon the Usefulness and Advantages of real Possession, +whether consider’d one Way or other to Mankind, all which I must leave +to hereafter.</p> + +<p>But to come back to the Point in Hand, and to consider the Injustice +done to the Devil, in the various Turns and Tricks which Men put upon +him very often in this one Article (<i>viz.</i>) pretending to Possession, +and to have the Devil in them, when really it is not so; certainly the +Devil must take it very ill, to have all their demented, lunatick Tricks +charg’d upon him; some of which, nay, most of which are so gross, so +simple, so empty, and so little to the Purpose, that the <i>Devil</i> must be +asham’d to see such Things pass in his Name, or that the World should +think he was concern’d in them.</p> + +<p>It is true, that Possession being one of the principal Pieces of the +Devil’s Artifice in his managing Mankind, and in which, with the most +exquisite skill he plays the Devil among us, he has the more Reason to +be affronted when he finds himself invaded in this Part, and angry that +any Body should pretend to possess, or be possess’d<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> without his leave, +and this may be the Reason for ought we know, why so many Blunders have +been made, when People have pretended to it without him, and he has +thought fit not to own them in it; of which we have many Examples in +History, as in <i>Simon Magus</i>, <i>the Devil of</i> London, <i>the fair Maid of</i> +Kent, and several others, whose History it is not worth while to enlarge +upon.</p> + +<p>In short, Possessions, as I have said, are nice Things, as it is not so +easy to mimick the <i>Devil</i> in that Part, as it may be in some other; +designing Men have attempted it often, but their manner has been easily +distinguish’d, even without the Devil’s Assistance.</p> + +<p>Thus the People of <i>Salem</i> in <i>New-England</i> pretended to be bewitch’d, +and that a black Man tormented them by the Instigation of such and such, +whom they resolv’d to bring to the Gallows: This black Man they would +have be the <i>Devil</i>, employ’d by the Person who they accus’d for a +Witch: Thus making the <i>Devil</i> a Page or a Footman to the Wizard, to go +and torment whoever the said Wizard commanded, till the <i>Devil</i> himself +was so weary of the foolish Part, that he left them to go on their own +Way, and at last they over-acted the murthering Part so far, that when +they confess’d themselves to be Witches, and possess’d, and that they +had Correspondence with the Devil, <i>Satan</i> not appearing to vouch for +them, no Jury would condemn them upon their own Evidence, and they could +not get themselves hang’d, whatever Pains they took to bring it to pass.</p> + +<p>Thus you see the <i>Devil</i> may be wrong’d, and falsely accus’d in many +Particulars, and often has been so; there are likewise some other sorts +of counterfeit <i>Devils</i> in the World, such as <i>Gypsies</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> +<i>Fortune-Tellers</i>, Foretellers of good and bad Luck, Sellers of Winds, +Raisers of Storms, and many more, some practis’d among us, some in +foreign Parts, too many almost to reckon up; nay I almost doubt whether +the Devil himself knows all the Sorts of them; for ’tis evident he has +little or nothing to do with them, I mean not in the Way of their Craft.</p> + +<p>These I take to be Interlopers, or with the <i>Guinea</i> Merchants leave, +separate Traders, and who act under the Skreen and Protection of Satan’s +Power, but without his License or Authority; no doubt these carry away a +great deal of his Trade, that is to say, the Trade which otherwise the +<i>Devil</i> might have carried on by Agents or his own; I cannot but say, +that while these People would fain be thought <i>Devils</i>, tho’ they really +are not, it is but just they should be really made as much <i>Devils</i> as +they pretended to be, or that <i>Satan</i> should do himself Justice upon +them, as he threaten’d to do upon old <i>Parsons</i> of <i>Clithroe</i> +abovemention’d, and let the World know them.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chap_XI.2" id="Chap_XI.2"></a><span class="smcap">Chap.</span> XI.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of Divination, Sorcery, the Black-Art, Pawawing, and such like +Pretenders to Devilism, and how far the</i> Devil <i>is or is not +concern’d in them.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="dropcap"><span class="caps">Tho’</span> I am writing the History of the <i>Devil</i>, I have not undertaken to +do the like of all the Kinds of People, Male or Female, who set up for +<i>Devils</i> in the World: This would be a Task for the <i>Devil</i> indeed, and +fit only for him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> to undertake, for their Number is and has been +prodigious great, and may, with his other Legions be rank’d among the +Innumerable.</p> + +<p>What a World do we inhabit! where there is not only with us a great +<i>Roaring-Lyon-Devil</i> daily seeking whom of us he may devour, and +innumerable Millions of lesser Devils hovering in the whole Atmosphere +over us, nay, and for ought we know, other Millions always invisibly +moving about us, and perhaps in us, or at least in many of us; but that +have, besides all these, a vast many counterfeit <i>Hocus Pocus Devils</i>; +human <i>Devils</i>, who are visible among us, of our own Species and +Fraternity, conversing with us upon all Occasions; who like Mountebanks +set up their Stages in every Town, chat with us at every Tea-Table, +converse with us in every Coffee-House, and impudently tell us to our +Faces that they are Devils, boast of it, and use a thousand Tricks and +Arts to make us believe it too, and that too often with Success.</p> + +<p>It must be confess’d there is a strong Propensity in Man’s Nature, +especially the more ignorant part of Mankind, to resolve every strange +Thing, or whether really strange or no, if it be but strange to us, into +Devilism, and to say every Thing is the Devil, that they can give no +Account of.</p> + +<p>Thus the famous Doctors of the Faculty at <i>Paris</i>, when <i>John Faustus</i> +brought the first printed Books that had then been seen in the World, or +at least seen there, into the City, and sold them for Manuscripts: They +were surpriz’d at the Performance, and question’d <i>Faustus</i> about it; +but he affirming they were Manuscripts, and that he kept a great many +Clarks employ’d to write them, they were satisfied for a while.</p> + +<p>But looking farther into the Work, they observ’d the exact Agreement of +every Book, one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> with another, that every Line stood in the same Place, +every Page a like Number of Lines, every Line a like Number of Words; if +a Word was mis-spelt in one, it was mis-spelt also in all, nay, that if +there was a Blot in one, it was alike in all; they began again to muse, +how this should be? in a Word, the learned Divines not being able to +comprehend the Thing (and that was always sufficient) concluded it must +be the <i>Devil</i>, that it was done by Magick and Witchcraft, and that in +short, poor <i>Faustus</i> (who was indeed nothing but a meer Printer) dealt +with the <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">N. B. <i>John Faustus</i> was Servant, or Journeyman, or Compositor, or +what you please to call it, to <i>Koster</i> of <i>Harlem</i>, the first +inventor of Printing; and having printed the Psalter, sold them at +<i>Paris</i> as Manuscripts; because as such they yielded a better +Price.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>But the learned Doctors not being able to understand how the Work was +perform’d, concluded as above, it was all <i>the Devil</i>, and that the Man +was a <i>Witch</i>; accordingly they took him up for a <i>Magician</i> and a +<i>Conjurer</i>, and one that work’d by the <i>Black Art</i>, that is to say, by +the help of the <i>Devil</i>; and in a Word, they threaten’d to hang him for +a Witch, and in order to it, commenc’d a Process against him in their +criminal Courts, which made such a Noise in the World as rais’d the Fame +of poor <i>John Faustus</i> to a frightful Height, till at last he was +oblig’d, for fear of the Gallows, to discover the whole Secret to them.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">N. B. This is the true original of the famous Dr. <i>Faustus</i> or +<i>Foster</i>, of whom we have believ’d such strange Things, as that it +is become a Proverb, <i>as great as the</i> Devil <i>and</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> <i>Dr.</i> Foster: +Whereas poor <i>Faustus</i> was no Doctor, and knew no more of the +<i>Devil</i> than another Body.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>Thus the Magistrates of <i>Bern</i> and <i>Switzerland</i>, finding a Gang of +<i>French</i> Actors of Puppet-shew open’d their Stage in the Town, upon +hearing the surprizing Accounts which the People gave of their wonderful +Puppets, how they made them speak, answer Questions, and discourse, +appear and disappear in a Moment, pop up here, as if they rise out of +the Earth, and down there, as if they vanish’d, and Abundance more Feats +of Art, censur’d them as Demons; and if they had not pack’d up their +Trinkets, and disappeared almost as dextrously as their Puppets, they +had certainly condemn’d the poor Puppets to the Flames for <i>Devils</i>, and +censur’d, if not otherwise punished their Masters. See <i>the Count de +Rochfort’s Memoirs</i>, p. 179.</p> + +<p>Wonderful Operations astonish the Mind, especially where the Head is not +over-burthen’d with Brains; and Custom has made it so natural to give +the <i>Devil</i> either the Honour or Scandal of every Thing, that we cannot +otherwise Account for, that it is not possible to put the People out of +the Road of it.</p> + +<p>The <i>Magicians</i> were, in the <i>Chaldean</i> Monarchy, call’d the Wisemen; +and tho’ they are joined with the Sorcerers and Astrologers in the same +Place, <i>Dan.</i> ii. 4. yet they were generally so understood among those +People; but in our Language we understand them to be People that have an +Art to reveal Secrets, interpret Dreams, foretel Events, <i>&c.</i> and that +use Enchantments and Sorceries, by all which we understand the same +Thing; which now in a more vulgar Way we express by one general coarse +Expression, <i>Dealing with the</i> <span class="smcap">Devil</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>The Scripture speaks of a Spirit of <i>Divination</i>, <i>Acts</i> xvi. 16. and a +Wench that was possess’d by this Spirit <i>brought her Master much Gain by +Southsaying</i>, that is to say, according to the Learned, by <i>Oracling</i> or +answering Questions; whence you will see in the Margin, that this +southsaying <i>Devil</i> is there call’d <i>Python</i>, that is, <i>Apollo</i>, who is +often call’d <i>Python</i>, and who at the Oracle of <i>Delphos</i> gave out such +Answers and <i>double Entendres</i>, as this Wench possibly did; and hence +all those Spirits which were call’d Spirits of Divination, were in +another Sense call’d <i>Pythons</i>.</p> + +<p>Now when the Apostle St. <i>Paul</i> came to see this Creature, this Spirit +takes upon it to declare that <i>those Men</i>, meaning St. <i>Paul</i> and +<i>Timotheus</i>, <i>were the Servants of the most high God, which shew’d unto +them the Way of Salvation</i>; this was a good turn of the <i>Devil</i>, to +preserve his Authority in the possess’d Girl; she brought them Gain by +Southsaying, that is to say, resolving difficult Questions, answering +Doubts, interpreting Dreams, <i>&c.</i> Among these Doubts, he makes her give +Testimony to <i>Paul</i> and <i>Timotheus</i>, to wheedle in with the new +Christians, and perhaps (tho’ very ignorantly) even with <i>Paul</i> and +<i>Timotheus</i> themselves, so to give a Kind of Credit and Respect to her +for speaking.</p> + +<p>But the <i>Devil</i>, who never speaks Truth, but with some sinister End, was +discover’d here and detected; his flattering Recognition not accepted, +and he himself unkennel’d as he deserv’d; there the <i>Devil</i> was +over-shot in his own Bow again.</p> + +<p>Here now was a real Possession, and the evil Spirits who possess’d her, +did stoop to sundry little Acts of Servitude, that we could give little +or no Reason for, only that the Girl’s Master might get Money by her; +but perhaps this was a particular Case, and, prepar’d to honour the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>Authority and Power the Apostles had over evil Spirits.</p> + +<p>But we find these Things carried a great Way farther in many Cases, that +is to say, where the Parties are thus really possess’d; namely, the +<i>Devil</i> makes Agents of the possess’d Parties to do many Things for the +propagating his Interest and Kingdom, and particularly for the carrying +on his Dominion in the World: But I am for the present not so much upon +the real Possession as the pretended, and particularly we have had many +that have believed themselves possess’d, when the <i>Devil</i> never believed +it of them, and perhaps knew them better; some of these are really poor +<i>Devils</i> to be pitied, and are what I call <i>Diables Imaginaire</i>; these +have notwithstanding done the <i>Devil</i> good Service, and brought their +Masters good Gain by Southsaying.</p> + +<p>We find Possessions acknowledg’d in Scripture to be really and +personally the <i>Devil</i>, or according to the Text, Legions of <i>Devils</i> in +the Plural. The <i>Devil</i> or <i>Devils</i> rather, which possessed the Man +among the Tombs, is positively affirm’d to be the <i>Devil</i> in the +Scripture; all the Evangelists agree in calling him so, and his very +Works shew it; namely, the Mischief he did, as well to the poor Creature +among the Tombs, who was made so fierce, that he was the Terror of all +the Country, as to the Herd of Swine and to the Country in the Loss of +them.</p> + +<p>I might preach you a Lecture here of the <i>Devil</i>’s Terror upon the +Approach of our Saviour, the Dread of his Government, and how he +acknowledg’d that there was a Time for his Torment, which was not yet +come: <i>Art thou come to torment us before our Time?</i> It is evident the +Devil apprehended that Christ would chain them up before the Day of +Judgment; and therefore some think the Devil here, being, as it were,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> +caught out of his due Bounds, possessing the poor Man in such a furious +manner, was afraid, and petition’d Christ not to chain him up for it, +and as the Text says, <i>They besought him to suffer them to go away</i>, &c. +that is to say, when they say, art thou come to torment us before the +Time? the Meaning is, they begg’d he would not cast them into Torment +before the Time, which was already fix’d; but that if he would cast them +out of the Man, he would let them go away, <i>&c.</i></p> + +<p>The Evangelist St. <i>Luke</i> says, the <i>Devil besought him that he would +not command them to go out into the Deep</i>: Our learned Annotators think +that part is not rightly render’d; adding, that they do not believe the +<i>Devil</i> fears drowning; but with Submission, I believe the meaning is, +that they would not be confin’d to the vast Ocean, where no Inhabitants +being to be seen, they would be effectually imprison’d and tied down +from doing Mischief, which would be a Hell to them; as to their going +into the Swine, that might afford us some Allegory; but I am not +disposed to jest with the Scripture, no nor with the <i>Devil</i> neither, +farther than needs must.</p> + +<p>It is evident the <i>Devil</i> makes Use of very mean Instruments sometimes, +such as the Damsel possess’d with a Spirit of Divination, and several +others.</p> + +<p>I remember a Story, how true I know not, of a weak Creature next Door to +an Ideot, who was establish’d in the Country for an Oracle, and would +tell People strange Things that should be, long before they came to +pass; when People were sick, would tell them whether they should live or +die; if People were married, tell how many Children they should have; +and a hundred such Things as fill’d the People with Admiration, and they +were the easier brought to believe that the Girl was possess’d; but then +they were divided about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> her too, and that was the finest spun Thread +the Devil could work, for he carried a great Point in it; some said she +had a good Spirit, and some a bad, some said she was a Prophetess, and +some that she was the <i>Devil</i>.</p> + +<p>Now had I been there to decide the Question, I should certainly have +given it for the latter; if it were only upon this Account, namely, that +the Devil has often found Fools very necessary Agents for the +propagating his Interest and Kingdom, but we never knew the good Spirits +do so; on the other Hand, it does not seem likely that Heaven should +deprive a poor Creature of its Senses, and as it were take her Soul from +her, and then make her an Instrument of Instruction to others, and an +Oracle to declare his Decrees by; this does not seem to be rational.</p> + +<p>But as far as this kind of Divination is in Use in our Days, yet I do +not find room to charge the Devil with making any great Use of Fools, +unless it be such as he has particularly qualified for his Work, for as +to <i>Ideots</i> and <i>Naturals</i>, they are perfectly useless to him; but a +sort of Fools call’d the Magi, indeed, we have some Reason to think he +often works with.</p> + +<p>We are not arriv’d to a certainty yet, in the settling this great Point, +namely, what Magick is? whether a diabolical Art or a Branch of the +Mathematicks? Our most learned <i>Lexicon Technicum</i> is of the latter +Opinion, and gives the <i>Magic Square</i> and the <i>Magic Lantern</i>, two Terms +of Art.</p> + +<p>The <i>Magic Square</i> is when Numbers in <i>Arithmetical Proportion</i> are +dispos’d into such Parallels or equal Ranks, as that the Sums of each +Row as well <i>Diagonally</i> as <i>Laterally</i> shall be all equal; for Example, +2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Place these Nine in a Square of three, they +will <i>directly</i> and <i>diagonally</i> make 18. Thus,</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/square.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p>This he calls the <i>Magic Square</i>, but gives no Reason for the Term, nor +any Account of what infernal Operations are wrought by this Concurrence +of the Numbers; neither do I see that there can be any such Use made of +it.</p> + +<p>The <i>Magic Lantern</i> is an optic Machine, by the Means of which are +represented, on a Wall in the Dark, many Phantasms and terrible +Appearances, <i>but no</i> Devil <i>in all this</i>, only that they are taken for +the Effects of Magic, by those that are not acquainted with the Secret.</p> + +<p>All this is done by the help of several little painted Pieces of Glass, +only so and so situated, plac’d in certain Oppositions to one another, +and painted with different Figures, the most formidable being plac’d +foremost, and such as are most capable of terrifying the Spectators; and +by this all the Figures may be represented upon the opposite Wall, in +the largest Size.</p> + +<p>I cannot but take Notice, that this very Piece of optic Delusion seems +too much akin to the mock Possessions and infernal Accomplishments, +which most of the Possessionists of this Age pretend to, so that they +are most of them meer Phantasms and Appearances, and no more; Nor is the +Spirit of Divination, the Magic, the Necromancing, and other Arts which +were call’d Diabolical, found to be of any Use in modern Practice, at +least, in these Parts of the World; but the Devil seems to do most of +his Work himself, and by shorter Methods; for he has so compleat an +Influence among those that he now Lists in his Service, that he brings +all the common Affairs of Mankind into a narrower Compass in his +Management, with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> Dexterity particular to himself, and by which he +carries on his Interest silently and surely, much more to the Detriment +of Virtue and good Government, and consequently much more to his +Satisfaction, than ever he did before.</p> + +<p>There is a Kind of <i>Magic</i> or <i>Sorcery</i>, or what else you may please to +call it, which, tho’ unknown to us, is yet, it seems, still very much +encourag’d by the <i>Devil</i>; but this is a great Way off, and in Countries +where the politer Instruments, which he finds here, are not to be had; +namely, among the <i>Indians</i> of <i>North-America</i>; This is call’d +<i>Pawawing</i>, and they have their Divines, which they call <i>Pawaws</i> or +Witches, who use strange Gestures, Distortions, horrid Smokes, Burnings, +and Scents, and several such Things which the Sorcerers and Witches in +ancient Times are said to use in casting Nativities, in Philtres, and in +determining, or as they pretended, directing the Fate of Persons; by +burning such and such Herbs and Roots, such as <i>Helebore</i>, <i>Wormwood</i>, +<i>Storax</i>, <i>Devilwort</i>, <i>Mandrake</i>, <i>Nightshade</i>, and Abundance more +such, which are call’d noxious Plants, or the Product of noxious Plants; +also melting such and such Minerals, Gums, and poisonous Things, and by +several hellish Mutterings and Markings over them, the like do these +<i>Pawaws</i>; and the <i>Devil</i> is pleased, it seems, (or is permitted) to +fall in with these Things, and as some People think, appears often to +them for their Assistance upon those Occasions.</p> + +<p>But be that as it will, he is eas’d of all that Trouble here; he can +<i>Pawaw</i> here himself, without their aid, and having laid them all aside, +he negotiates much of his Business without Ambassadors; he is his own +Plenipotentiary, for he finds Man so easy to come at, and so easy when +he is come at, that he stands in no need of secret Emissaries, or at +least not so much as he used to do.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span>Upon the whole, as the World, within the Compass of a few pass’d Years +is advanc’d in all Kinds of Knowledge and Arts, and every useful Branch +of what they knew before improv’d, and innumerable useful Parts of +Knowledge, which were conceal’d before are discover’d; why should we +think the <i>Devil</i> alone should stand at a stay, has taken no Steps to +his farther Accomplishment, and made no useful Discoveries in his Way? +That he alone should stand at a Stay, and be just the same unimprov’d +Devil that he was before? No, no, as the World is improv’d every Day, +and every Age is grown wiser and wiser than their Fathers; so, no doubt, +he has bestirr’d himself too, in order to an encrease of Knowledge and +Discovery, and that he finds every Day a nearer Way to go to work with +Mankind than he had before.</p> + +<p>Besides, as Men in general seem to have alter’d their manner, and that +they move in a higher and more exalted Sphere, especially as to Vice and +Virtue; so the <i>Devil</i> may have been obliged to change his Measures, and +alter his Way of working; particularly, those Things which would take in +former Times, and which a stupid Age would come easily into, won’t go +down with us now: As the taste of Vice and Virtue alters, the <i>Devil</i> is +forc’d to bait his Hook with new Compositions; the very Thing call’d +Temptation is alter’d in its Nature, and that which serv’d to delude our +Ancestors, whose gross Conceptions of Things caused them to be +manageable with less Art, will not do now; the Case is quite alter’d; in +some Things, perhaps, as I hinted above, we come into Crime with ease, +and may be led by a Finger; but when we come to a more refin’d Way of +sinning, which our Ancestors never understood, other and more refin’d +Politics must be made Use of, and the <i>Devil</i> has been put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> upon many +useful Projects and Inventions, to make many new Discoveries and +Experiments to carry on his Affairs; and to speak impartially, he is +strangely improv’d either in Knowledge or Experiment, within these few +Years; he has found out a great many new Inventions to shorten his own +Labour, and carry on his Business in the World currently, which he never +was master of before, or at least we never knew he was.</p> + +<p>No wonder then that he has chang’d Hands too, and that he has left of +pawawing in these Parts of the World; that we don’t find our Houses +disturb’d as they used to be, and the Stools and Chairs walking about +out of one Room into another, as formerly; that Children don’t vomit +crooked Pins and rusty stub Nails, as of old, the Air is not full of +Noises, nor the Church-Yard full of Hobgoblins; Ghosts don’t walk about +in Winding-Sheets, and the good old scolding Wives visit and plague +their Husbands after they are dead, as they did when they were alive.</p> + +<p>The Age is grown too wise to be agitated by these dull scare-crow Things +which their Fore-Fathers were tickled with; <i>Satan</i> has been obliged to +lay by his Puppet-shews and his Tumblers, those things are grown stale; +his morrice-dancing Devils, his mountebanking and quacking won’t do now; +those Things, as they may be supposed to be very troublesome to him, +(and but that he has Servants enough would be chargeable too) are now of +no great Use in the new Management of his Affairs.</p> + +<p><i>In a Word</i>, Men are too much Devils themselves, in the Sense that I +have call’d them so, to be frighted with such little low priz’d +Appearances as these; they are better acquainted with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> the old +Arch-Angel than so, and they seem to tell him they must be treated after +another manner, and that then, as they are good-natur’d and tractable, +he may deal with them upon better Terms.</p> + +<p>Hence the <i>Devil</i> goes to work with Mankind a much shorter Way; for +instead of the Art of Wheedling and Whining, together with the laborious +Part of Tricking and Sharping, Hurrying and Driving, Frighting and +Terrifying, all which the <i>Devil</i> was put to the Trouble of before; in +short, he acts the <span class="smcap">Grand Manner</span> as the Architects call it (I don’t know +whether our Free-Masons may understand the Word) and therefore I may +hereafter explain it, as it is to be Diabolically as well as +mathematically understood.</p> + +<p>At present my meaning is, he acts with them immediately and personally +by a magnificent Transformation, making them meer <i>Devils</i> to +themselves, upon all needful Occasions, and <i>Devils</i> to one another too, +whenever he (Satan), has Need of their Service.</p> + +<p>This Way of embarking Mankind in the <i>Devil</i>’s particular Engagement, is +really very modern; and tho’ the Devil himself may have been long +acquainted with the Method, and as I have heard, began to practise it +towards the Close of the <i>Roman</i> Empire, when Men began to act upon very +polite Principles, and were capable of the most refin’d Wickedness, and +afterwards with some Popes, who likewise were a kind of Church Devils, +such as Satan himself could hardly expect to find in the World; yet I do +not find that he was ever able to bring it into Practice, at least, not +so universally as he does now: But now the Case is alter’d, and Men +being generally more expert in Wickedness than they were formerly; they +suffer the smaller Alteration of the Species, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> being transmigrated; +in a Word, they turn into <i>Devils</i>, with no trouble at all hardly, +either to the <i>Devil</i> or to themselves.</p> + +<p>This Particular would want much the less Explanation, could I obtain a +License from Sir <i>Hellebore Wormwood</i>, Bart. or from my Lord +<i>Thwartover</i>, Baron of <i>Scoundrel Hall</i> in the Kingdom of <i>Ireland</i>, to +write the true History of their own Conduct; and how early, and above +all, how easily they commenc’d <i>Devils</i>, without the least Impeachment +of their Characters, as wise Men, and without any Diminution of that +Part of their Denomination which establish’d them for Fools.</p> + +<p>How many mad Fellows appear among us every Day in the critical Juncture +of their Transmigration, just when they have so much of the Man left as +to be known by their Names, and enough of the <i>Devil</i> taken up to settle +their Characters? This Easiness of the <i>Devil</i>’s access to these People, +and the great Convenience it is to him in his general Business, is a +Proof to me that he has no more Occasion of Diviners, Magicians, +Sorcerers, and whatever else we please to call those People who were +formerly so great with him; for what Occasion has he to employ <i>Devils</i> +and Wizards to confound Mankind, when he is arriv’d to such a Perfection +of Art as to bring Men, at least in these Parts of the World, to do it +all themselves; upon this Account we do not find any of the old +Sorcerers and Diviners, Magicians or Witches appear among us; not that +the <i>Devil</i> might not be as well able to employ such People as formerly, +and qualify them for the Employment too, but that really there is no +need of them hereabout, the <i>Devil</i> having a shorter Way, and Mankind +being much more easily possess’d; not the old <i>Herd of Swine</i> were +sooner agitated, tho’ there was full 2000 of them together; Nature<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> has +open’d the Door, and the <i>Devil</i> has egress and regress at Pleasure, so +that Witches and Diviners are quite out of the Question.</p> + +<p>Nor let any Man be alarm’d at this Alteration, in the Case as it stands +between Mankind and the <i>Devil</i>, and think the <i>Devil</i> having gain’d so +much Ground, may in time, by Encroachment, come to a general Possession +of the whole Race, and so we should all come to be <i>Devils</i> incarnate; I +say, let us not be alarm’d, for Satan does not get these Advantages by +Encroachment, and by his infernal Power or Art, no not at all; but ’tis +the Man himself does it by his Indolence and Negligence on one Hand, and +his Complaisance to the <i>Devil</i> on the other; and both Ways he, as it +were, opens the Door to him, beckons him with his very Hand to come in, +and the Devil has nothing to do but enter and take Possession: Now if it +be so, and Man is so frank to him; you know the <i>Devil</i> is no Fool not +to take the Advantage when ’tis offer’d him, and therefore ’tis no +wonder if the Consequences which I have been just now naming follow.</p> + +<p>But let no Man be discourag’d by this, from reaffirming his natural and +religious Powers, and venturing to shut the <i>Devil</i> out; for the Case is +plain he may be shut out; the Soul is a strong Castle, and has a good +Garrison plac’d within to defend it; if the Garrison behave well, and do +their Duty, it is impregnable, and the cowardly <i>Devil</i> must raise his +Siege and be gone; nay, he must fly, or, as we call it, make his Escape, +lest he be laid by the Heels, that is, lest his Weakness be exposed, and +all his Lurking, lying in Wait, ambuscade-Tricks; this Part would bear a +great Enlargement, but I have not room to be witty upon him, so you must +take it in the Gross, the <span class="smcap">Devil</span> lies at <i>Blye Bush</i>, as our Country<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> +People call it, to watch your coming out of your Hold; and if you happen +to go abroad unarm’d he seizes upon and masters you with ease.</p> + +<p>Unarm’d, you’ll say, what Arms should I take? what Fence against a +Flail? What Weapons can a Man take to fight the <i>Devil</i>? I could tell +you what to fight him with, and what you might fright him with, for the +<i>Devil</i> is to be frighted with several Things besides <i>Holy Water</i>; but +’tis too serious for you, and you’ll tell me I am a preaching and a +canting, and the like; so I must let the <i>Devil</i> manage you rather than +displease you with talking Scripture and Religion.</p> + +<p>Well, but may not the <i>Devil</i> be fought with some of his own Weapons? Is +there no dealing with him in a Way of human Nature? This would require a +long answer, and some Philosophy might be acted, or at least imitated, +and some Magic, perhaps; for they tells us there are Spells to draw away +even the Devil himself; as in some Places they nail Horse-Shoes upon the +Threshold of the Door, to keep him out; in other Places old pieces of +Flint, with so many Holes and so many Corners, and the like: But I must +answer in the Negative, I don’t know what <i>Satan</i> might be scar’d at in +those Days, but he is either grown cunninger since or bolder, for he +values none of those Things now; I question much whether he would value +St. <i>Dunstan</i> and his red hot Tongs, if he was to meet him now, or St. +<i>Francis</i> or any of the Saints, no not the Host itself in full +Procession; and therefore, tho’ you don’t care I should preach, yet in +short, if you are afraid he should charge upon you and attack you, if +you won’t make Use of those Scripture Weapons I should have mention’d, +and which you may hear of, if you enquire at <i>Eph.</i> vi. 16. you must +look for better where you think you can find them.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>But to go on with my Work, the Devil, I say, is not to be fear’d with +Maukins, nor does he employ his old Instruments, but does much of his +Work himself without Instruments.</p> + +<p>And yet I must enter a Caveat here too, against being misunderstood in +my saying the Devil stands in no need of Agents; for when I speak so, I +am to be taken in a limited Sense; I don’t say he needs them no where, +but only that he does not need them in those polite Parts of the World +which I have been speaking of, and perhaps not much here; but in many +remote Countries ’tis otherwise still; the <i>Indians</i> of <i>America</i> are +particularly said to have Witches among them, as well in those Countries +where the <i>Spaniards</i> and the <i>English</i> and other Nations have planted +themselves, as amongst those where the <i>European</i> Nations seldom come: +<i>for Example</i>, the People of <i>Canada</i>, that is, of the Countries under +the <i>French</i> Government of <i>Quebeck</i>, the Equimeaux, and other Northern +Climates, have Magicians, Wizards and Witches, who they call <i>Pilloatas</i> +or <i>Pillotoas</i>; these pretend they speak intimately and familiarly with +the Devil, and receive from him the Knowledge of Things to come; all +which, by the Way, I take to be little more than this; that these +Fellows being a little more cunning than the rest, think, that by +pretending to something more than human, they shall make the stronger +Impressions on the ignorant People; as <i>Mahomet</i> amus’d the World with +his Pigeon, using it to pick Peas out of his Ear, and persuaded the +People it brought him superior Revelations and Inspirations from +Paradise.</p> + +<p>Thus these <i>Pillotoas</i> gaining an Opinion among the People, behave like +so many Mountebanks of Hell, pretending to understand dark Things, cure +Diseases, practise Surgery, Physick and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> Necromancy altogether; I will +not say, but <i>Satan</i> may pick out such Tools to work with, and I believe +does in those Parts, but I think he has found a nearer Way to the Wood +with us, and that is sufficient to my present Purpose.</p> + +<p>Some would persuade me the <i>Devil</i> had a great Hand in the late +religious Breaches in <i>France</i>, among the Clergy, (<i>viz.</i>) about the +Pope’s Constitution <i>Unigenitus</i>, and that he made a fair Attempt to set +the Pope and the <i>Gallican</i> Church together by the Ears, for they were +all just upon the Point or breaking out into a Church War, that for +ought we knew might have gone farther than the <i>Devil</i> himself car’d it +should; now I am of the quite contrary Opinion, I believe the <i>Devil</i> +really did not make the Breach, but rather heal’d it, for fear it should +have gone so far among them as to have set them all in a Flame, and have +open’d the Door to the Return of the <i>Hugonots</i> again, which it was in a +fair Way to have done.</p> + +<p>But be it one Way or t’other, the historical Part seems to be a little +against me; for ’tis certain, the <i>Devil</i> both wanted and made Use of +Legions of Agents, as well human as infernal, visible and invisible in +that great and important Affair, and we cannot doubt but he has +innumerable Instruments still at work about it.</p> + +<p>Like as in <i>Poland</i>, I make no Question but the <i>Devil</i> has thousands of +his Banditti at work at this Time, and in another Country not far from +it, perhaps, preparing Matters for the next General Diet, taking care to +prevent giving any Relaxation to the Protestants, and to justify the +moderate Executions at <i>Thorn</i>, to excite a Nation to quarrel with every +Body who are able to fight with no body; to erect the Apostate Race of +<i>S——y</i> upon a Throne which they have no Title to, and turn an elective +Throne into an hereditary, in favour of Popery.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span>I might anticipate all your Objections, by granting the busy <i>Devil</i> at +this Time employing all his Agents and Instruments (for I never told you +they were idle and useless) in striving to enflame the Christian World, +and bring a new War to overspread <i>Europe</i>; I might, perhaps, point out +to you some of the Measures he takes, the Provocatives which his State +Physicians administer to the Courts and Counsellors of Princes, to +foment and ferment the Spirits, and Members of Nations, Kingdoms, +Empires and States in the World, in order to bring these glorious Ends +of Blood and War to pass; for you cannot think but he that knows so much +of the <i>Devil</i>’s Affairs, as to write his History, must know something +of all these Matters more than those that do not know so much as he.</p> + +<p>But all this is remote to the present Case, for this is no Impeachment +of Satan’s new Methods with Mankind, in this Part of the World, and in +his private and separate Capacity; all this only signifies that in his +more general and national Affairs, the <i>Devil</i> acts still by his old +Methods; and when he is to seduce or embroil Nations, he, like other +Conquerors, subdues them by Armies, employs mighty Squadrons of +<i>Devils</i>, and sends out strong Detachments, with Generals and +Generalissimos to lead them, some to one Part of the World, some to +another; some to influence one Nation, some to manage and direct +another, according as Business presents, and his Occasions require, that +his Affairs may be carried on currently, and to his Satisfaction.</p> + +<p>If it were not thus, but that the <i>Devil</i> by his new and exquisite +Management, of which I have said so much, had brought Mankind in general +to be the Agents of their own Mischiefs, and that the World were so at +his Beck, that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> need but command them to go and fight, declare War, +raise Armies, destroy Cities, Kingdoms, Countries and People; the World +would be a Field of Blood indeed, and all Things would run into +Confusion presently.</p> + +<p>But this is not the Case at all, Heaven has not let go the Government of +the Creation to his subdu’d Enemy, the Devil; that would overturn the +whole System of God, and give Satan more Power, than ever he was or will +be vested with; when, therefore, I speak of a few forward Wretches in +our Day, who are so warm in their Wickedness, that they anticipate the +Devil, save him the Trouble to tempt, turn Devils to themselves, and +gallop Hellward faster than he drives; I speak of them as single +Persons, and acting in their own personal and private Capacity, but when +I speak of Nations and Kingdoms, there the Devil is oblig’d to go on in +the old Road, and act by Stratagem, by his proper Machinery, and to make +use of all his Arts, and all his Agents, just as he has done in all +Ages, from the beginning of his politic Government to this Day.</p> + +<p>And if it was not thus too, what would become of all his numberless +Legions, of which all Ages have heard so much, and all Parts of the +World have had so much fatal Experience? They would seem to be quite out +of Employment, and be render’d useless in the World of Spirits, where it +is to be supposed they reside; not the Devil himself could find any +Business for them, which by the Way, to busy and mischievous Spirits, as +they are, would be a Hell to them, even before their Time; they would +be, as it were, doom’d to a State of Inactivity, which we may suppose +was one Part of their Expulsion from Blessedness and the Creation of +Man; or as they were for the surprising Interval between the Destruction +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> Mankind by the Deluge and <i>Noah</i>’s coming out of the Ark, when +indeed they might be said to have nothing at all to do.</p> + +<p>But this is not Satan’s Case, and therefore let me tell you too, that +you may not think I treat the Case with more Levity than I really do, +and than I am sure I intend to do; tho’ it is too true that our modern +and modish Sinners have arrived to more exquisite Ways of being wicked, +than their Fathers, and really seem, as I have said, to need no Devil to +tempt them; nay, that they do Satan’s Work for him as to others also, +and make themselves Devils to their Neighbours, tempting others to crime +even faster than the Devil desires them, running before they are sent, +and going of the <i>Devil</i>’s Errands <i>gratis</i>; by which Means Satan’s Work +is, as to them, done to his Hand, and they may be said to save him a +great deal of Trouble; yet after all, the Devil has still a great deal +of Business upon his Hands, and as well himself as all his Legions, find +themselves a full Employment in disturbing the World, and opposing the +Glory and Kingdom of their great Superior, whose Kingdom it is their +whole Business, however vain in its End, to overthrow and destroy, if +they were able, or at least to endeavour it.</p> + +<p>This being the Case, it follows of course that the general Mischiefs of +Mankind, as well national and public, as family Mischiefs, and even +personal, (except as before excepted) lie all still at the <i>Devil</i>’s +Door, as much as ever, let his Advocates bring him off of it if they +can; and this brings us back again to the manner of the Devil’s +Management, and the Way of his working by human Agents, or if you will, +the Way of human Devils, working in Affairs of low Life, such as we call +Divination, Sorcery, Black-Art, Necromancy, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> like; all which I +take to consist of two material Parts, and both very necessary for us to +be rightly inform’d of.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. The Part which Satan by himself or his inferior <i>Devils</i> +empowers such People to do, as he is in Confederacy with here on +Earth; to whom he may be said, like the Master of an Opera or +Comedy, to give their Parts to act, and to qualify them to act it; +whether he obliges them to a Rehearsal in his Presence, to try +their Talents, and see that they are capable of performing, that +indeed I have not enquir’d into.</p> + +<p>2. That Part which these empower’d People do voluntier or beyond +their Commission, to shew their Diligence in the Service of their +new Master, and either (1.) to bring Grist to their own Mill, and +make their Market of their Employment in the best manner they can; +or (2.) to gain Applause, be admir’d, wonder’d at, and applauded, +as if they were ten Times more <i>Devils</i> than really they are.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>In a Word, the Matter consists of what the <i>Devil</i> does by the Help of +these People, and what they do in his Name without him; the Devil is +sometimes cheated in his own Business; there are Pretenders to +Witchcraft and Black-Art, who Satan never made any Bargain with, but who +he connives at, because at least they do his Cause no harm, tho’ their +Business is rather to get Money, than to render him any Service, of +which I gave you a remarkable Instance before.</p> + +<p>But to go back to his real Agents, of which I reckon two.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>1. Those who act +by Direction and Confederacy, as I have said already many do.</p> + +<p>2. Those whom he acts in and by, and they (perhaps) know it not, of +which Sort History gives us plenty of Examples, from <i>Machiavel</i>’s +first Disciple —— to the famous Cardinal <i>Alberoni</i>, and even to +some more modern than his Eminence, of whom I can say no more till +farther Occasion offers.</p></div> + +<p> </p> +<p>1. Those who act by immediate Direction of the Devil, and in Confederacy +with him; these are such as I mention’d in the beginning of this +Chapter, whose Arts are truly black, because really infernal; it will be +very hard to decide the Dispute between those who really act thus in +Confederacy with the <i>Devil</i>, and those who only pretend to it; so I +shall leave that Dispute where I find it; but that there are, or at +least have been, a Set of People in the World, who really are of his +Acquaintance, and very intimate with him; and tho’, as I have said, he +has much alter’d his Schemes and chang’d Hands of late; yet that there +are such People, perhaps of all Sorts; and that the Devil keeps up his +Correspondence with them; I must not venture to deny that Part, lest I +bring upon me the whole Posse of the conjuring and bewitching Crew, Male +and Female, and they should mob me for pretending to deny them the +Honour of dealing with the <i>Devil</i>, which they are so exceeding willing +to have the Fame of.</p> + +<p>Not that I am hereby oblig’d to believe all the strange Things the +Witches and Wizards, who have been allow’d to be such, nay, who have +been hang’d for it, have said of themselves; nay, that they have +confess’d of themselves, even at the Gallows; and if I come to have an +Occasion to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> speak freely of the Matter, I may perhaps convince you that +the Devil’s possessing Power is much lessen’d of late, and that he +either is limited, and his Fetter shortened more than it has been, or +that he does not find the old Way (as I said before) so fit for his +Purpose as he did formerly, and therefore takes other Measures, but I +must adjourn that to a Time and Place by itself: But we are told that +there are another Sort of People, and, perhaps, a great many of them +too, in whom and by whom the Devil really acts, and they know it not.</p> + +<p>It would take up a great deal of Time and Room, too much for this Place, +so near the Close of this Work, to describe and mark out the involuntary +<i>Devils</i> which there are in the World; of whom it may be truly said, +that really the <i>Devil</i> is in them, and they know it not: Now, tho’ the +<i>Devil</i> is cunning and managing, and can be very silent where he finds +it for his Interest not to be known; yet it is very hard for him to +conceal himself, and to give so little Disturbance in the House, as that +the Family should not know who lodged in it; yet, I say, the Devil is so +subtle and so mischievous an Agent, that he uses all manner of Methods +and Craft to reside in such People as he finds for his Purpose, whether +they will or no, and which is more, whether they know it or no.</p> + +<p>And let none of my Readers be angry or think themselves ill used, when I +tell them the Devil may be in them, and may act them, and by them, and +they not know it; for I must add, it may, perhaps, be one of the +greatest Pieces of human Wisdom in the World, for a Man to know when the +Devil is in him, and when not; when he is a Tool and Agent of Hell, and +when he is not; in a Word, when he is doing the Devil’s Work, and under +his Direction, and when not.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span>It is true, this is a very weighty Point, and might deserve to be +handled in a more serious Way than I seem to be talking in all this +Book; but give me leave to talk of Things my own way, and withall, to +tell you, that there is no Part of this Work so seemingly ludicrous, but +a grave and well weigh’d Mind may make a serious and solid Application +of it, if they please; nor is there any Part of this Work, in which a +clear Sight and a good Sense may not see that the Author’s Design is, +that they should do so; and as I am now so near the End of my Book, I +thought it was meet to tell you so, and lead you to it as far as I can.</p> + +<p>I say, ’tis a great Part of human Wisdom to know when the <i>Devil</i> is +acting in us and by us, and when not; the next and still greatest Part +would be to prevent him, put a Stop to his Progress, bid him go about +his Business, and let him know he should carry on his Designs no farther +in that manner; that we will be his Tools no longer; in short, to turn +him out of Doors, and bring a stronger Power to take Possession; but +this, indeed, is too solid a Subject, and too great to begin with here.</p> + +<p>But now, as to the bare knowing when he is at work with us, I say this, +tho’ it is considerable, may be done, nor is it so very difficult; <i>for +Example</i>, you have no more to do but look a little into the Microcosm of +the Soul, and see there how the Passions which are the Blood, and the +Affections which are the Spirit, move in their particular Vessels; how +they circulate, and in what Temper the Pulse beats there, and you may +easily see who turns the Wheel; if a perfect Calm possesses the Soul; if +Peace and Temper prevail, and the Mind feels no Tempests rising; if the +Affections are regular and exalted to vertuous and sublime<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> Objects, the +Spirits cool, and the Mind sedate, the Man is in a general Rectitude of +Mind, he may be truly said to be <i>his own Man</i>; Heaven shines upon his +Soul with its benign Influences, and he is out of the Reach of the evil +Spirit; for the divine Spirit is an Influence of Peace, all calm and +bright, happy and sweet like it self, and tending to every Thing that is +good both present and future.</p> + +<p>But on the other Hand, if at any Time the Mind is ruffled, if Vapours +rise, Clouds gather, if Passions swell the Breast, if Anger, Envy, +Revenge, Hatred, Wrath, Strife; if these, or any of these hover over +you, much more if you feel them within you; if the Affections are +possess’d, and the Soul hurried down the Stream to embrace low and base +Objects; if those Spirits, which are the Life and enlivening Powers of +the Soul, are drawn off to Parties, and to be engag’d in a vicious and +corrupt manner, shooting out wild and wicked Desires, and running the +Man headlong into Crime, the Case is easily resolv’d, the Man is +possess’d, the <i>Devil</i> is in him; and having taken the Fort, or at least +the Counterscarp and Out-Works, is making his Lodgment to cover and +secure himself in his Hold, that he may not be dispossess’d.</p> + +<p>Nor can he be easily dispossess’d when he has got such hold as this; and +’tis no wonder, that being lodg’d thus upon the Out-Works of the Soul he +continues to sap the Foundation of the rest, and by his incessant and +furious Assaults, reduces the Man at last to a Surrender.</p> + +<p>If the Allegory be not as just and apposite as you would have it be, you +may, however, see by it in a full View, the State of the Man, and how +the <i>Devil</i> carries on his Designs; nothing is more common, and I +believe there are few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> thinking Minds but may reflect upon it in their +own Compass, than for our Passions and Affections to flow out of the +ordinary Channel; the Spirits and Blood of the Soul to be extravasated, +the Passions grow violent and outragious, the Affections impetuous, +corrupt and violently vicious: Whence does all this proceed? from Heaven +we can’t pretend it comes; if we must not say ’tis the <i>Devil</i>, whose +Door must it lie at? Pride swells the Passions; Avarice moves the +Affections; and what is Pride, and what is Avarice, but the <i>Devil</i> in +the Inside of the Man? ay, as personally and really as ever he was in +the Herd of Swine.</p> + +<p>Let not any Man then, who is a Slave to his Passions, or who is chain’d +down to his Covetousness, pretend to take it ill, when I say he has the +<i>Devil</i> in him, or that he is a <i>Devil</i>: What else can it be, and how +comes it to pass that Passion and Revenge so often dispossess the Man of +himself, as to lead him to commit Murther, to lay Plots and Snares for +the Life of his Enemies, and so to thirst for Blood? How comes this but +by the Devil’s putting those Spirits of the Soul into so violent a +Ferment, into a Fever? that the Circulation is precipitated to that +Degree, and that the Man too is precipitated into Mischief, and at last +into Ruin; ’tis all the <i>Devil</i>, tho’ the Man does not know it.</p> + +<p>In like manner Avarice leads him to rob, plunder and destroy for Money, +and to commit sometimes the worst of Violences to obtain the wicked +Reward. How many have had their Throats cut for their Money, have been +murther’d on the Highway, or in their Beds, for the Desire of what they +had? It is the same Thing in other Articles, every Vice is the Devil in +a Man; Lust of Rule is the <i>Devil</i> of great Men, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> Ambition is +their <i>Devil</i> as much as whoring is Father ———’s <i>Devil</i>, one has a +<i>Devil</i> of one Class acting him, one another, and every Man’s reigning +Vice is a <i>Devil</i> to him.</p> + +<p>Thus the <i>Devil</i> has his involuntary Instruments, as well as those who +act in Confederacy with him; he has a very great Share in many of us, +and acts us, and in us, unknown to our selves tho’ we know nothing of +it, and indeed tho’ we may not suspect it of our selves; like <i>Hazael</i> +the <i>Assyrian</i>, who when the Prophet told him how he would act the +<i>Devil</i> upon the poor <i>Israelites</i>, answer’d with Detestation, <i>is thy +Servant a Dog that he should do this Thing</i>, and yet he was that Dog, +and did all those cruel Things for all that; the <i>Devil</i> acting him, or +acting in him, to make him wickeder than ever he thought it was possible +for him to be.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_CONCLUSION" id="The_CONCLUSION"></a>The CONCLUSION.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Of the</i> Devil<i>’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.</i></p></div> + + +<p>As the <i>Devil</i> is a Prince of the Power of the Air, his Kingdom is +mortal, and must have an End; and as he is call’d the God of this World, +that is, the great Usurper of the Homage and Reverence which Mankind +ought of right to pay to their Maker, so his Usurpation also, like the +World it self, must have an End: Satan is call’d the God of the World, +as Men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> too much prostrate and prostitute themselves to him, yet he is +not the Governor of this World; and therefore the Homage and Worship he +has from the World is an Usurpation; and this will have an End, because +the World it self will have an End; and all Mankind, as they had a +beginning in Time, so must expire and be remov’d before the End of Time.</p> + +<p>Since then the <i>Devil</i>’s Empire is to expire and come to an End, and +that the <i>Devil</i> himself and all his Host of <i>Devils</i> are immortal +Seraphs, Spirits that are not embodied and cannot die, but are to remain +in being; the Question before us next will be, what is to become of him? +what is his State to be? whether is he to wander, and in what Condition +is he to remain to that Eternity to which he is still to exist?</p> + +<p>I hope no Man will mistake me so much in what I have said as to Spirits, +which are all Flame, not being affected with Fire, as if I supposed +there was no Place of Punishment for the <i>Devil</i>, nor any Kind of +Punishment that could affect them; and so of our Spirits also when +transform’d into Flame.</p> + +<p>I must be allow’d to speak there of that material Fire, by which, as by +an Allegory, all the Terrors of an eternal State are represented to us +in Scripture, and in the Writings of the learned Commentators, and by +which the Pain of Sense is describ’d; this, perhaps, I do not understand +as they seem to do, and therefore have said,</p> + +<p>When we’re all Flame (that is all Spirit) we shall all Fire (that is, +all such Fire as this) despise. And thus I claim to be understood.</p> + +<p>It does not follow from hence, neither do I suggest, or so much as think +that infinite Power cannot form a something (tho’ inconceivable to us +here) which shall be as tormenting, and as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> insupportable to a Devil, an +apostate Seraph, and to a Spirit, tho’ exalted, unembodied and rarified +into <i>Flame</i>, as Fire would be to other Bodies; in which I think I am +orthodox, and do not give the least Occasion to an Enemy to charge me +with profane Speaking, in those Words, or to plead for thinking +prophanely himself.</p> + +<p>It must be Atheistical to the last Degree to suggest, that whereas the +<i>Devil</i> has been heaping up and amassing Guilt ever since the Creation +of Man, encreasing in hatred of God and Rebellion against him, and in +all possible endeavour to dethrone and depose the Majesty of Heaven; +that yet Heaven had not prepar’d, or could not prepare a just Penalty +for him; and that it should not all end in God’s entire Victory over +Hell, and in Satan’s open Condemnation: Heaven could not be just to its +own Glory, if he should not avenge himself upon this Rebel, for all his +superlative Wickedness in his modern as well as ancient Station; for the +Blood of so many millions of his faithful Subjects and Saints whom he +has destroy’d; and if nothing else offer’d it self to prove this Part, +it would appear undoubted to me; but this, I confess, does not belong to +Satan’s History, and therefore I have reserv’d it to this Place, and +shall also be the shorter in it.</p> + +<p>That his Condition is to be a State of Punishment, and that by Torment, +the <i>Devil</i> himself has own’d, and his calling out to our blessed Lord +when he cast him out of the furious Man among the Tombs, is a Proof of +it, <i>What have we to do with thee</i>, and <i>art thou come to torment us +before the Time?</i> Luke viii. 28. where the <i>Devil</i> acknowledges four +Things, and three of them are directly to my present Purpose, and if you +won’t believe the Word of God, I hope you will believe the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> <i>Devil</i>, +especially when ’tis an open Confession against himself.</p> + +<p>1. He confess Christ to be the <i>Son of God</i> (that by the Way) and <i>no +Thanks to him</i>, for that does not want the <i>Devil</i>’s Evidence.</p> + +<p>2. He acknowledges he may be tormented.</p> + +<p>3. He acknowledges Christ was able to torment him.</p> + +<p>4. He acknowledges that there is a Time appointed when he shall be +tormented.</p> + +<p>As to <i>how</i>, in <i>what Manner</i>, and by <i>what Means</i>, this tormenting the +Devil is to be performed or executed, that I take to be as needless to +us as ’tis impossible to know, and being not at present inclined to fill +your Heads and Thoughts with weak and imperfect Guesses, I leave it +where I find it.</p> + +<p>It is enough to us that this Torment of the <i>Devil</i> is represented to us +by Fire, it being impossible for our confin’d Thoughts to conceive of +Torment by any Thing in the World more exquisite; whence I conclude, +that <i>Devils</i> shall at last receive a Punishment suitable to their +Spirituous Nature, and as exquisitely Tormenting as a burning Fire would +be to our Bodies.</p> + +<p>Having thus settl’d my own Belief of this Matter, and stated it so, as I +think will let you see ’tis rightly sounded, the Matter stands thus.</p> + +<p>Satan having been let loose to play his Game in this World, has improv’d +his Time to the utmost; he has not fail’d on all Occasions to exert his +Hatred, Rage, and Malice at his Conqueror and Enemy, <i>namely, his +Maker</i>; he has nor fail’d, from Principles of meer Envy and Pride, to +pursue Mankind with all possible Rancour, in order to deprive him of the +Honour and Felicity which he was created for, namely, to succeed the +<i>Devil</i> and his Angels in the State of Glory from which they fell.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span>This Hatred of God and Envy at Man, having broken out in so many several +Ways in the whole Series of Time from the Creation, must necessarily +have greatly encreased his Guilt; and as Heaven is righteous to judge +him, must terminate in an encrease of Punishment, adequate to his Crime, +and sufficient to his Nature.</p> + +<p>Some have suggested, that there is yet a Time to come, when the <i>Devil</i> +shall exert more Rage, and do more Mischief than ever yet he has been +permitted to do; whether he shall break his Chain, or be unchain’d for a +Time, they cannot tell, nor I neither; and ’tis happy for my Work, that +even this Part too does not belong to his History; if ever it shall be +given an Account of by Mankind, it must be after it is come to pass, for +my Part is not Prophesy of foretelling what the Devil shall do, but +History of what he has done.</p> + +<p>Thus, good People, I have brought the History of the Devil down to <i>your +own Times</i>; I have, as it were, <i>rais’d him</i> for you, and set him in +your View, that you may know him and have a Care of him.</p> + +<p>If any cunninger Men among you think they are able now to <i>lay him</i> +again, and so dispose of him out of your Sight, that you shall be +troubled no more with him, either here or hereafter, let them go to work +with him their own Way; you know Things future do not belong to an +Historian, so I leave him among you, wishing you may be able to give no +worse an Account of him for the Time to come, than I have done for the +Time past.</p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h2>F<span class="spacer2"> </span>I<span class="spacer2"> </span>N<span class="spacer2"> </span>I<span class="spacer2"> </span>S.</h2> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<p><a name="f1" id="f1" href="#f1.1">[1]</a> N. B. He never refus’d setting his hand to any opinion, which he +thought it for his interest to acknowledge.</p> + +<p><a name="f2" id="f2" href="#f2.1">[2]</a> Mean’t of nothing.</p> + +<p><a name="f3" id="f3" href="#f3.1">[3]</a> <i>Mr.</i> Pool’s <i>words are these</i>: Some refer the words, <i>This day have +I begotten thee</i>, to the incarnation of the Son of <span class="smcap">God</span>, others to the +Resurrection: our Translators lay the stress on the preposition of which +the verb is compounded, and by adding <i>again</i>, (viz.) <i>rais’d up Jesus +again</i>, Acts xiii. 33. intend it to be understood of the Resurrection; +and there is ground for it, in the context, for the Resurrection of +Christ, is that which St. <i>Paul</i> had propounded in v. 30. of the same +Chapter, as his theme or argument to preach upon.</p> + +<p>Not that Christ at his Resurrection began to be the Son of God, but that he was manifested then to be so.</p> + +<p><a name="f4" id="f4" href="#f4.1">[4]</a> Satan.</p> + +<p><a name="f5" id="f5" href="#f5.1">[5]</a> The meaning of the word Devil is Destroyer. See <i>Pool</i> upon <i>Acts</i> xiii. 10.</p> + +<p><a name="f6" id="f6" href="#f6.1">[6]</a> <i>As great as the Devil and Doctor</i> Faustus. Vulg. Dr. <i>Foster</i>.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><b>Transcriber’s Notes:</b></p> + +<p>Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate +both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as presented in the original text.</p> + +<p>Long “s” has been modernized.</p> + +<p>The text includes two instances of unmatched round brackets; as these require interpretation to close, they have been left unmatched.</p> + +<p>Other than the corrections noted in the text by hover informaiton, printer’s inconsistencies in +spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation usage have been retained.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The History of the Devil, by Daniel Defoe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL *** + +***** This file should be named 31053-h.htm or 31053-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/5/31053/ + +Produced by Michael Roe, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +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 + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL *** + + + + +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 Diabole 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 _Scaeva_ 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 +aeternum_. + +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 would procure you Relief, and restore your Delights, the +Loss of which, if thus you go on to subject yourself to too much +Melancholy, will be very hurtful to you, and in the End destroy you. + +_Cain._ It is very kind, my dear Children, to shew your Respect thus to +your true Progenitor, and to offer your Assistance: I confess, as you +say, my Mind is oppress'd and displeased; but tho' 'tis very heavy, yet +I know not which way to look for Relief, for the Distemper is above our +Reach, no Cure can be found for it on Earth. + +_D._ Do not say so, Sir; there can be no Disease sure on Earth but may +be cur'd on Earth; if it be a mental Evil, we have heard that your great +Ancestor, the first Father of us all, who lives still on the great +western Plains towards the Sea, is the Oracle to which all his Children +fly for Direction in such Cases as are out of the Reach of the ordinary +understanding of Mankind; please you to give leave, we will take a +Journey to him, and representing your Case to him, we will hear his +Advice, and bring it to you with all Speed, for the Ease of your Mind. + +_Cain._ I know not whether he can reach my Case or no. + +_D._ Doubtless he may, and if not, the Labour of our Journey is nothing +when plac'd in Competition with the Ease of your Mind; 'tis but a few +Days travel lost, and you will not be the worse if we fail of the +desired Success. + +_Cain._ The offer is filial, and I accept your affectionate Concern for +me, with a just Sense of an oblig'd Parent; go then, and my Blessing be +upon you; but alas! why do I bless? can he bless whom God has not +bless'd! + +_D._ O! Sir, do not say so, has not God bless'd you? are you not the +second Sovereign of the Earth? and does he not converse with you Face to +Face? are not you the Oracle to all your growing Posterity, and next +after his Sovereign Imperial Majesty Lord _Adam_, Patriarch of the +World? + +_Cain._ But has not God rejected me, and refused to converse any more +with me, while he daily Favours and Countenances my younger Brother +_Abel_, as if he resolv'd to set him up to rule over me? + +_D._ No, Sir, that cannot be, you cannot be disturb'd at such a thing; +is not the Right of Sovereignty yours by Primogeniture? can God himself +take that away, when 'tis once given? are not you Lord _Adam_'s eldest +Son? are you not the firstborn Glory of the Creation? and does not the +Government descend to you by the divine Right of Birth and Blood? + +_Cain._ But what does all that signify to me, while God appears to +favour and caress my younger Brother, and to shine upon him, while a +black Dejection and token of Displeasure surrounds me every Day, and he +does not appear to me as he used to do? + +_D._ And what need your Majesty be concern'd at that, if it be so? if he +does not appear pleased, you have the whole World to enjoy your self in, +and all your numerous and rising Posterity Adore and Honour you; what +need those remote Things be any disturbance to you? + +_Cain._ How! my Children, not the Favour of God be valued! yes, yes, in +his favour is Life; what can all the World avail without the Smiles and +Countenance of him that made it? + +_D._ Doubtless, Sir, he that made the World and plac'd you at the Head +of it all, to govern and direct it, has made it agreeable, and it is +able to give you a full Satisfaction and Enjoyment, if you please to +consider it well, tho' you were never to converse with him all the while +you live in't. + +_Cain._ You are _quite wrong_ there, my Children, _quite wrong_. + +_D._ But do you not, great Sir, see all your Children as well as us +rejoicing in the Plenty of all Things, and are they not compleatly +happy, and yet they know little of this great GOD? He seldom converses +among us, we hear of him indeed by your sage Advices, and we bring our +Offerings to you for him, as you direct, and when that's done, we enjoy +whatever our Hearts desire; and so doubtless may you in an abundant +manner, if you please. + +_Cain._ But your Felicity is wrong plac'd then, or you suppose that God +is pleased and satisfied in that your Offerings are brought to me; but +what would you say, if you knew that God is displeased? that he does not +accept your Offerings? that when I sacrific'd to him in behalf of you +all, he rejected my Offerings, tho' I brought a princely Gift, being of +the finest of the Wheat, the choicest and earliest Fruits, and the +sweetest of the Oil, an Offering suited to the Giver of them all? + +_D._ But if you offered them, Sir, how are you sure they were not +accepted? + +_Cain._ Yes, yes, I am sure; did not my Brother _Abel_ offer at the same +Time a Lamb of his Flock, for he, you know, delights in Cattle, and +covers the Mountains with his Herds? over him, all the while he was +sacrificing, a bright Emanation shone chearing and enlivening; a Pledge +of Favour, and light ambient Flames play'd hovering in the lower Air, as +if attending his Sacrifice; and when ready prepar'd, immediately +descended and burnt up the Flesh, a Sweet odoriferous Savour ascending +to him, who thus testified his Acceptance; whereas, over my Head a black +Cloud, misty, and distilling Vapour, hung dripping upon the humble Altar +I had raised, and wetting the finest and choicest Things I had +prepar'd, spoil'd and defac'd them; the Wood unapt to burn by the +Moisture which fell, scarce receiv'd the Fire I brought to kindle it, +and even then, rather smother'd and choaked, than kindled into a Flame; +in a Word, it went quite out, without consuming what was brought to be +offer'd up. + +_D._ Let not our truly reverenc'd Lord and Father be disquieted at all +this; if he accepts not what you bring, you are discharg'd of the Debt, +and need bring no more; nor have the Trouble of such labour'd +Collections of Rarities any more; when he thinks fit to require it +again, you will have Notice, no Question, and then it being call'd for, +will be accepted or else why should it be requir'd? + +_Cain._ That may indeed be the Case, nor do I think of attempting any +more to bring an Offering, for I rather take it, that I am forbidden for +the present; but then, what is it that my younger Brother Triumphs in? +and how am I insulted, in that he and his House are all Joy and Triumph, +as if they had some great Advantage over me, in that their Offering was +accepted when mine was not? + +_D._ Does he Triumph over your Majesty, our Lord and Sovereign? give us +but your Order, and we will go and pull him and all his Generation in +pieces; for to triumph over you who are his elder Brother, is a horrid +Rebellion and Treason, and he ought to be expell'd the Society of +Mankind. + +_Cain._ I think so too, indeed; however, my dear Children and faithful +Subjects, tho' I accept your Offer of Duty and Service, yet I will +consider very well, before I take up Arms against my Brother; besides, +our Sovereign Father and patriarchal Lord, _Adam_, being yet alive, it +is not in my Right to act offensively without his Command. + +_D._ We are ready therefore to carry your Petition to him, and doubt not +to obtain his Licence and Commission too, to empower you to do your self +Justice upon your younger Brother; who being your Vassal, or at least +inferior, as he is junior in Birth, insults you upon the fancied Opinion +of having a larger Share in the Divine Favour, and receiving a Blessing +on his Sacrifices, on Pretence of the same Favour being denied you. + +_Cain._ I am content, go then, and give a just Account of the State of +our Affairs. + +_D._ We shall soon return with the agreeable answer; let not our Lord +and Father continue sad and dejected, but depend upon a speedy Relief, +by the Assistance of thy numerous Issue, all devoted to thy Interest and +Felicity. + +_Cain._ My Blessing be with you in your Way, and give you a favourable +Reception at the venerable Tent of our universal Lord and Father. + + * * * * * + +Note, Here the cursed Race being fully given up to the Direction of the +Evil-Spirit, which so early possess'd them, and swelling with Rage at +the innocent _Abel_ and his whole Family, they resolved upon forming a +most wicked and detestable lie, to bring about the Advice which they had +already given their Father _Cain_ a touch of; and to pretend that _Adam_ +being justly provok'd at the undutiful Behaviour of _Abel_, had given +_Cain_ a Commission to chastise him, and by Force to cut him off and +all his Family, as guilty of Rebellion and Pride. + +Fill'd with this mischievous and bloody Resolution, they came back to +their Father _Cain_, after staying a few Days, such as were Sufficient +to make _Cain_ believe they had been at the spacious Plains, where +_Adam_ dwelt; the same which are now call'd the blessed Valleys, or the +Plains of _Mecca_ in _Arabia Faelix_, near the Banks of the _Red-Sea_. + +Note here also, that _Cain_ having received a wicked Hint from these +Men, his Children and Subjects, as before, intimating that _Abel_ had +broken the Laws of Primogeniture in his Behaviour towards him, (_Cain_) +and that he might be justly punish'd for it; Satan, that cunning Manager +of all our wayward Passions, fan'd the Fire of Envy and Jealousy with +his utmost Skill all the while his other Agents were absent; and by the +Time they came back had blown it up into such a Heat of Fury and Rage, +that it wanted nothing but Air to make it burn out, as it soon +afterwards did in a furious Flame of Wrath and Revenge, even to Blood +and Destruction. + +Just in the very critical Moment, while Things stood thus with _Cain_, +Satan brings in his wicked Instruments, as if just arriv'd with the +Return of his Message from _Adam_, at whose Court they had been for +Orders; and thus they, that is the _Devil_ assuming to speak by them, +approach their Father with an Air of solemn but chearful Satisfaction at +the Success of their Embassy. + + * * * * * + +_D._ Hail Sovereign, Reverend, Patriarchal Lord! we come with Joy to +render thee an Account of the Success of our Message. + +_Cain._ Have you then seen the venerable Tents where dwell the +Heaven-born, the Angelic Pair, to whom all human Reverence highly due, +is and ought always to be humbly paid? + +_D._ We have. + +_Cain._ Did you, together with my grand Request, a just, a humble Homage +for me pay, to the great Sire and Mother of Mankind? + +_D._ We did. + +_Cain._ Did you in humble Language represent the Griefs and Anguish +which oppress my Soul? + +_D._ We did, and back their Blessing to thee bring. + +_Cain._ I hope with humblest Signs of filial Duty you took it for me on +your bending Knees? + +_D._ We did, and had our Share; the Patriarch lifting his Hands to +Heaven express'd his Joy to see his spreading Race, and bless'd us all. + +_Cain._ Did you my solemn Message too deliver, my Injuries impartially +lay down, and due Assistance and Direction crave? + +_D._ We did. + +_Cain._ What spoke the Oracle? he's God to me; what just Command d'ye +bring, what's to be done? am I to bear the insulting Junior's Rage? and +meekly suffer what unjustly he, affronting Primogeniture and Laws of God +and Man, imposes by his Pride unsufferable! Am I to be crush'd, and be +no more the firstborn Son on Earth, but bow and kneel to him? + +_D._ Forbid it Heaven! as _Adam_ too forbids, who with a justice +God-like and peculiar to injur'd Parents, _Abel_'s Pride resents, and +gives his high Command to thee to punish. + +_Cain._ To punish? say you, did he use the Word, the very Word? am I +commission'd then to punish _Abel_? + +_D._ Not _Abel_ only, but his rebel Race, as they alike in Crime alike +are join'd in Punishment. + +_Cain._ The Race indeed have shar'd the Merit with him; how did they all +insult, and with a Shout of Triumph mock my Sorrow, when they saw me +from my Sacrifice dejected come, as if my Disappointment was their Joy? + +_D._ This too the venerable Prince resents, and to preserve the Race in +Bounds of Laws subordinate and limited to Duty, Commands that this first +Breach be not pass'd by, lest the Precedent upon Record stand to future +Times to encourage like Rebellion. + +_Cain._ And is it then my Sovereign Parent's Will? + +_D._ It is his Will, that thou his eldest Son, his Image, his belov'd, +should be maintain'd in all the Rights of Sovereignty deriv'd to thee +from him; and not be left expos'd to injury and Power usurped, but +should do thy self Justice on the rebel Race. + +_Cain._ And so I will; _Abel_ shall quickly know what 'tis to trample on +his elder Brother; shall know that he's thus sentenc'd by his Father, +and I'm commission'd but to execute his high Command, his Sentence, +which is God's, and that he falls by the Hand of Heavenly Justice. + + * * * * * + +So now Satan had done his Work, he had deluded the Mother to a Breach +against the first and only Command, he had drawn _Adam_ to the same +Snare, and now he brings in _Cain_ prompted by his own Rage, and deluded +by his, (Satan's,) Craft, to commit Murder, nay a Fratricide, an +aggravated Murther. + +Upon this he sends out _Cain_, while the bloody Rage was in its Ferment, +and wickedly at the same Time bringing _Abel_, innocent and fearing no +ill, just in his Way, he suggests to his Thoughts such Words as these. + +Look you _Cain_, see how Divine Justice concurs with your Father's +righteous Sentence, see there's thy Brother _Abel_ directed by Heaven to +fall into thy Hands unarm'd, unguarded, that thou may'st do thy self +Justice upon him without Fear; see thou may'st kill him, and if thou +hast a Mind to conceal it, no Eyes can see, or will the World ever know +it, so that no Resentment or Revenge upon thee, or thy Posterity, can be +apprehended, but it may be said some wild Beast had rent him; nor will +any one suggest that thou, his Brother, and Superior, could possibly be +the Person. + +_Cain_ prepar'd for the Fact, by his former avow'd Rage and Resolution +of Revenge, was so much the less prepar'd to avoid the Snare thus +artfully contriv'd by the Master of all Subtilty, the _Devil_; so he +immediately runs upon his Brother _Abel_, and after a little unarm'd +Resistance, the innocent poor Man expecting no such Mischief, was +conquer'd and murther'd; after which, as is to be supposed, the +exasperated Crew of _Cain_'s outrageous Race, over-run all his Family +and Houshold, killing Man, Woman and Child. + +It is objected here that we have no Authority in Scripture to prove this +Part of the Story; but I answer, 'tis not likely but that _Abel_, as +well as _Cain_, being at Man's Estate long before this, had several +Children by their own Sisters, for they were the only Men in the World +who were allow'd the Marrying their own Sisters, there being no other +Women then in the World; and as we never read of any of _Abel_'s +Posterity, 'tis likewise as probable they were all murther'd, as that +they should kill _Abel_ only, whose Sons might immediately fall upon +_Cain_ for the Blood of their Father, and so the World have been +involv'd in a Civil War as soon as there were two Families in it. + +But be it so or not, 'tis not doubted the Devil wrought with _Cain_ in +the horrid Murther, or he had never done it; whether it was directly or +by Agents is not material, nor is the Latter unlikely; and if the +Latter, then there is no Improbability in the Story, for why might not +he that made Use of the Serpent to tempt _Eve_, be as well supposed to +make a Tool of some of _Cain_'s Sons or Grandsons to prompt him in the +wicked Attempt of murthering his Brother? and why must we be oblig'd to +bring in a Miracle or an Apparition into the Story, to make it probable +that the _Devil_ had any Hand in it, when 'twas so natural to a +degenerate Race to act in such a Manner? + +However it was, and by whatever Tool the _Devil_ wrought, 'tis certain +that this was the Consequence, poor _Abel_ was butcher'd, and thus the +_Devil_ made a second Conquest in God's Creation; for _Adam_ was now, as +may be said, really Childless, for his two Sons were thus far lost, +_Abel_ was killed, and _Cain_ was curst and driven out from the Presence +of the Lord, and his Race blasted with him. + +It would be a useful enquiry here, and worthy our giving an Account of, +could we come to a Certainty in it, namely, what was the Mark that God +set upon _Cain_, by which he was kept from being fallen upon by _Abel_'s +Friends or Relations? but as this does not belong to the _Devil_'s +History, and it was God's Mark, not the _Devil_'s, I have nothing to do +with it here. + +The _Devil_ had now gain'd his Point, the Kingdom of Grace, so newly +erected, had been as it were extinct without a new Creation, had not +_Adam_ and _Eve_ been alive, and had not _Eve_, tho' now 130 Years of +Age, been a breeding young Lady, for we must suppose the Woman, in that +State of Longevity, bare Children till they were seven or eight hundred +Year old: This Teeming of _Eve_ peopled not the World so much as it +restored the blessed Race; for tho' _Abel_ was kill'd _Cain_ had a +numerous Offspring presently, which had _Seth_, (_Adam_'s third Son) +never been born, would soon have replenish'd the World with People, such +as they were; the Seed of a Murtherer, cursed of God, branded with a +Mark of Infamy, and who afterwards fell all together in the universal +Ruine of the Race by the Deluge. + +But after the Murther of _Abel_, _Adam_ had another Son born, namely, +_Seth_, the Father of _Enos_, and indeed the Father of the holy Race; +for during his Time and his Son _Enos_, the Text says that Men began to +call on the Name of the Lord; that is to say, they began to look back +upon _Cain_ and his wicked Race, and being convinc'd of the Wickedness +they had committed, and led their whole Posterity into, they began to +sue to Heaven for Pardon of what was past, and to lead a new sort of +Life. + +But the _Devil_ had met with too much Success in his first Attempts, not +to go on with his general Resolution of debauching the Minds of Men, and +bringing them off from God; and therefore as he kept his Hold upon +_Cain_'s cursed Race, embroil'd already in Blood and Murther; so he +proceeded with his degenerate Offspring, till in a Word he brought both +the holy Seed and the degenerate Race to joyn in one universal Consent +of Crime, and to go on in it with such aggravating Circumstances, as +that it repented the Lord that he had made Man, and he resolv'd to +overwhelm them again with a general Destruction, and clear the World of +them. + +The Succession of Blood in the royal original Line of _Adam_, is +preserv'd in the sacred Histories and brought down as low as _Noah_ and +his three Sons, for a continu'd series of 1450 Years, say some, 1640 +say others; in which Time Sin spread it self so generally thro' the +whole Race, and _the Sons of God_, so the Scripture calls the Men of the +righteous Seed, the Progeny of _Seth_, came in unto the _Daughters of +Men_, that is, join'd themselves to the curs'd Race of _Cain_, and +married promiscuously with them, according to their Fancies, the Women +it seems being beautiful and tempting; and tho' the Devil could not make +the Women handsome or ugly in one or other Families, yet he might work +up the Gust of wicked Inclination on either Side, so as to make both the +Men and Women tempting and agreeable to one another, where they ought +not to have been so; and perhaps, as it is often seen to this Day, the +more tempting for being under legal Restraint. + +It is objected here, that we do not find in the Scripture that the Men +and Women of either Race were at that Time forbidden intermarrying with +one another; and it is true, that literally it is not forbid; but if we +did not search rather to make doubts than to explain them, we might +suppose it was forbidden by some particular Command at that Time; seeing +we may reasonably allow every Thing to be forbidden, which they are +tax'd with a Crime in committing; and as the Sons of God taking them +Wives as they thought fit to choose, tho' from among the Daughters of +the cursed Race, is there charg'd upon them as a general Depravation, +and a great Crime; and for which, 'tis said, GOD even repented that he +had made them, we need go no farther to satisfy our selves that it was +certainly forbidden. + +_Satan_ no doubt too had a Hand in this Wickedness; for as it was his +Business to prompt Men to do every Thing which God had prohibited, so +the Reason given why the Men of those Days did this Thing was, they saw +the Daughters of Men, that is of the wicked Race or forbidden Sort, +_were fair_, he tempted them by the Lust of the Eye; in a word, the +Ladies were beautiful and agreeable, and the _Devil_ knew how to make +use of the Allurement; the Men liked and took them by the meer Direction +of their Fancy and Appetite, without regarding the supreme Prohibition; +_They took them Wives of all which they chose_, or such as they lik'd to +choose. + +But the Text adds, that this promiscuous Generation went farther than +the meer outward Crime of it, for it shew'd that the Wickedness of the +Heart of Man was great before God, and that he resented it; In short, +God perceived a Degeneracy or Defect of Virtue had seiz'd upon the whole +Race, that there was a general Corruption of Manners, a Depravity of +Nature upon them, that even the holy Seed was tainted with it, that the +Devil had broken in upon them, and prevail'd to a great Degree; that not +only the Practice of the Age was corrupt, for that God could easily have +restrain'd, but that the very Heart of Man was debauch'd, his Desires +wholly vitiated, and his Senses engag'd in it; so that in a Word, it +became necessary to shew the divine Displeasure, not in the ordinary +Manner, by Judgment and Reproofs of such kind as usually reclaim Men, +but by a general Destruction to sweep them away, clear the Earth of +them, and put an End to the Wickedness at once, removing the Offence and +the Offenders all together; this is signify'd at large, Gen. vi. 5. _God +saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth, and that every +Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually._ And +again ver. 11, 12. _The Earth also was corrupt before God; and the +Earth was fill'd with Violence. And God look'd upon the Earth and +behold it was corrupt; for all Flesh had corrupted his Way upon the +Earth._ + +It must be confess'd it was a strange Conquest the _Devil_ had made in +the Antediluvian World, that he had, as I may say, brought the whole +Race of Mankind into a general Revolt from God; _Noah_ was indeed a +Preacher of Righteousness, and he had preach'd about 500 Years to as +little Purpose as most of the good Ministers ever did; for we do not +read there was one Man converted by him, or at least not one of them +left, for that at the Deluge there was either none of them alive, or +none spar'd but _Noah_ and his three Sons, and their Wives; and even +they are ('tis evident) recorded, not so much to be sav'd for their own +Goodness, but because they were his Sons; Nay, without Breach of Charity +we may conclude, that at least one went to the _Devil_ even of those +three, namely, _Ham_ or _Cham_ for triumphing in a brutal Manner over +his Father's Drunkenness; for we find the Special Curse reach'd to him +and his Posterity for many Ages; and whether it went no farther than the +present State of Life with them, we cannot tell. + +We will suppose now that thro' this whole 1500 Years the Devil having so +effectually debauch'd Mankind, had advanc'd his infernal Kingdom to a +prodigious Height; for the Text says, _the whole Earth was fill'd with +violence_; in a Word, Blood, Murder, Rape, Robbery, Oppression and +Injustice prevail'd every where, and Man, like the wild Bear in the +Forest, liv'd by Prey, biting and devouring one another. + +At this Time _Noah_ begins to preach a new Doctrine to them, for as he +had before been a Preacher of Righteousness, now he becomes a Preacher +of Vengeance; first he tells them they shall be all overwhelm'd with a +Deluge, that for their Sins God repented they were made, and that +he would destroy them all, adding, that to prevent the Ruin of himself +and Family, he resolv'd to build him a Ship to have recourse to when the +Water should come over the Rest of the World. + +What Jesting, what Scorn, what Contempt did this Work expose the good +old Man to for above a 100 Years? for so long the Work was building, as +antient Authors say; let us represent to our selves in the most lively +Manner how the witty World at that Time behav'd to poor old _Noah_; how +they took their Evening Walks to see what he was doing, and passed their +Judgment upon it, and upon the Progress of it; I say, to represent this +to our selves, we need go no farther than to our own Witicisms upon +Religion, and upon the most solemn Mysteries of Divine Worship; how we +damn the Serious for Enthusiasts, think the Grave mad, and the Sober +melancholy; call Religion it self Flatus and Hyppo; make the Devout +ignorant, the Divine mercenary, and the whole Scheme of Divinity a Frame +of Priestcraft; and thus no doubt the building an Ark or Boat, or +whatever they call'd it, to float over the Mountains, and dance over the +Plains, what could it be but a religious Frenzy, and the Man that so +busied himself, a Lunatick? and all this in an Age when divine Things +came by immediate Revelation into the Minds of Men! the _Devil_ must +therefore have made a strange Conquest upon Mankind to obliterate all +the Reverence, which but a little before was so strangely impress'd upon +them concerning their Maker. + +This was certainly the Height of the _Devil_'s Kingdom, and we shall +never find him arrive to such a Pitch again; he was then truly and +literally the universal Monarch, nay the God of this World; and as all +Tyrants do, he governs them with an arbitrary absolute sway; and had not +God thought fit to give him a Writ of Ejectment, and afterwards drown +him out of Possession I know not what would have been the Case, he might +have kept his Hold for ought I know till the Seed of the Woman came to +bruise his Head, that is to say, cripple his Government, Dethrone him +and Depose his Power, as has been fulfill'd in the Messiah. + +But as he was, I say, drown'd out of the World, his Kingdom for the +present was at an End; at least, if he had a Dominion he had no +Subjects, and as the Creation was in a Manner renewed, so the _Devil_ +had all his Work to do over again: Unhappy Man! how has he, by his weak +Resistance, made the _Devil_, recovering his Hold too easy to him, and +given him all the Advantages, except as before excepted, which he had +before? Now whether he retired in the mean Time, and how he got footing +again after _Noah_ and his Family were landed upon the New Surface, that +we come next to enquire. + + + + +CHAP. X. + +_Of the Devil's second Kingdom, and how he got footing in the renew'd + World by his Victory over_ Noah _and his Race_. + + +The Story of _Noah_, his building the Ark, his embarking himself and all +Nature's Stock for a new World on board it; the long Voyage they took, +and the bad Weather they met with, tho' it would embellish this Work +very well, and come in very much to the Purpose in this Place, yet as +it does not belong to the _Devil_'s Story, for I cannot prove what some +suggest (_viz._) that he was in the Ark among the Rest, I say, for that +Reason I must omit it. + +And now having mention'd Satan's being in the Ark; as I say, I cannot +prove it, so there are, I think, some good Reasons to believe he was not +there: _First_, I know no Business he had there; _secondly_, we read of +no Mischief done there, and these joyn'd together make me conclude he +was absent; the last I chiefly insist upon, that we read of no Mischief +done there, which if he had been in the Ark, would certainly have +happen'd; and therefore I suppose rather, that when he saw his Kingdom +dissolv'd, his Subjects all ingulph'd in an inevitable Ruin and +Desolation, a Sight suitable enough to him, except as it might unking +him for a Time; _I say_, when he saw this, he took care to speed himself +away as well as he could, and make his Retreat to a Place of Safety, +where that was, is no more difficult to us, than it was to him. + +It is suggested that as he is Prince of the Power of the Air, he retired +only into that Region. It is most rational to suppose he went no further +on many Accounts, of which I shall speak by and by: Here he stay'd +hovering in the Earth's Atmosphere, as he has often done since, and +perhaps now does; or if the Atmosphere of this Globe was affected by the +Indraft of the Absorption, as some think, then he kept himself upon the +Watch, to see what the Event of the new Phaenomenon would be, and this +Watch, wherever it was, I doubt not, was as near the Earth as he could +place himself, perhaps in the Atmosphere of the Moon, or in a Word, the +next Place of Retreat he could find. + +From hence I took upon me to insist, that _Satan_ has not a more certain +Knowledge of Events than we; I say, he has not a _more certain +Knowledge_; that he may be able to make stronger Conjectures and more +rational Conclusions from that he sees, I will not deny; and that which +he most outdoes us in is, that he sees more to conclude from than we +can, but I am satisfied he knows nothing of Futurity more than we can +see by Observation and Inference; nor, _for Example_, did he know +whether God would repeople the World any more or no. + +I must therefore allow that he only waited to see what would be the +Event of this strange Eruption of Water, and what God propos'd to do +with the Ark, and all that was in it. + +Some Philosophers tell us, besides what I hinted above, that the _Devil_ +could have no Retreat in the Earth's Atmosphere, for that the Air being +wholly condens'd into Water, and having continually pour'd down its +Streams to deluge the Earth, that Body was become so small, and had +suffer'd such Convulsions, that there was but just enough Air left to +surround the Water, or as might serve by its Pressure to preserve the +natural Position of Things, and supply the Creatures in the Ark with a +Part to breath in. + +The Atmosphere indeed might suffer some strange and unnatural Motions at +that Time, but not (I believe) to that Degree, however, I will not +affirm that there could be room in it, or is now for the Devil, much +less for all the numberless Legions of Satan's Host; but there was, and +now certainly is, sufficient Space to receive him, and a sufficient Body +of his Troops for the Business he had for them at that time, and that's +enough to the Purpose; or if the Earth's Atmosphere did suffer any +particular Convulsion on that Occasion, he might make his Retreat to +the Atmosphere of the Moon, or of _Mars_, or of _Venus_, or of any of +the other Planets; or to any other Place, for he that is Prince of the +Air could not want Retreats in such a Case, from whence he might watch +for the issue of Things; certainly he did not go far, because his +Business lay here, and he never goes out of his Way of doing Mischief. + +In particular, his more than ordinary Concern was, to see what would +become of the Ark; he was wise enough doubtless to see, that GOD, who +had directed its making, nay even the very Structure of it, would +certainly take Care of it, preserve it upon the Water, and bring it to +some Place of Safety or other; tho' where it should be, the _Devil_ with +all his Cunning could not resolve, whether on the same Surface the +Waters drawing off, or in any other created or to be created Place; and +this State of Uncertainty being evidently his Case, and which proves his +Ignorance of Futurity, it was his Business, _I say_, to watch with the +utmost vigilance for the Event. + +If the Ark was (as Mr. _Burnet_ thinks) guided by two Angels, they not +only held it from foundering or being swallow'd up in the Water, but +certainly kept the Waters calm about it, especially when the Lord +brought a strong Wind to blow over the whole Globe, which by the Way was +the first, and, I suppose, the only universal Storm that ever blew, for +to be sure it blew over the whole Surface at once; I say, if it was thus +guided, to be sure the _Devil_ saw it, and that with Envy and Regret +that he could do it no Injury, for doubtless had it been in the Devil's +Power, as God had drown'd the whole Race of Man, except what was in the +Ark, he would have taken care to have dispatch'd them too, and so made +an End of the Creation at once; but either he was not empower'd to go +to the Ark, or it was so well guarded by Angels, that when he came near +it he could do it no harm: So it rested at length, the Waters abating on +the Mountains of _Arrarat_ in _Armenia_, or some where else that Way, +and where they say a Piece of the Keel is remaining to this Day; of +which, however with Dr. ------ I say, I believe not one Word. + +The Ark being safe landed, 'tis reasonable to believe _Noah_ prepared to +go on Shore, as the Seamen call it, as soon as the dry Land began to +appear; and here you must allow me to suppose Satan, tho' himself +cloth'd with a Cloud, so as not to be seen, came immediately, and +pearching on the Roof, saw all the Heaven-kept Houshold safely landed, +and all the Host of living Creatures dispersing themselves down the +Sides of the Mountain, as the Search of their Food or other proper +Occasions directed them. + +This Sight was enough; Satan was at no Loss to conclude from hence that +the Design of God was to repeople the World by the Way of ordinary +Generation, from the Posterity of these eight Persons, without creating +any new Species. + +Very well, says the _Devil_, then my Advantage over them, by the Snare I +laid for poor _Eve_, is good still; and I am now just where I was after +_Adam_'s Expulsion from the Garden, and when I had _Cain_ and his Race +to go to work with; for here is the old expung'd Corrupted Race still, +as _Cain_ was the Object then, so _Noah_ is my Man now, and if I do not +master him one way or another, I am mistaken in my Mark. _Pardon me for +making a Speech for_ the Devil. + +_Noah_ big with a Sense of his late Condition, and while the Wonders of +the Deluge were fresh in his Mind, spent his first Days in the Extasies +of his Soul, giving Thanks, and praising the Power that had been his +Protection, in and thro' the Flood of Waters, and which had in so +miraculous a Manner, safely landed him on the Surface of the newly +discover'd Land; and the Text tells us, as one of the first Things he +was employ'd in, _He built an Altar unto the Lord, and offered +Burnt-Offerings upon the Altar_. Gen. viii. 20. + +While _Noah_ was thus employ'd he was safe, the _Devil_ himself could no +where break in upon him; and we may suppose very reasonably, as he found +the old Father invulnerable, he left him for some Years, watching +notwithstanding all possible Advantages against his Sons and their +Children; for now the Family began to encrease, and _Noah_'s Sons had +several Children; whether himself had any more Children after the Flood +or not, that we are not arriv'd to any Certainty about. + +Among his Sons the _Devil_ found _Japhet_ and _Shem_, good, pious, +religious, and very devout Persons; serving God daily, after the Example +of their good old Father _Noah_, and he could make nothing of them or of +any of their Posterity; but _Ham_ the second, or according to some, the +younger Son of _Noah_, had a Son who was nam'd _Canaan_, a loose young +profligate Fellow, his Education was probably but cursory and +superficial, his Father _Ham_ not being near so religious and serious a +Man as his Brothers _Shem_ and _Japhet_ were; and as _Canaan_'s +Education was defective, so he prov'd, as untaught Youth generally do, a +wild, and in short a very wicked Fellow, and consequently a fit Tool for +the _Devil_ to go to work with. + +_Noah_, a diligent industrious Man, being with all his Family thus +planted in the rich fruitful Plains of _Armenia_, or wherever you +please, let it be near the Mountains of _Caucasus_ or _Arrarat_; went +immediately to work, cultivating and improving the Soil, encreasing his +Cattle and Pastures, sowing Corn, and among other Things planting Trees +for Food, and among the Fruit Trees he planted Vines, of the Grapes +thereof he made no doubt, as they still in the same Country do make, +most excellent Wine, rich, luscious, strong, and pleasant. + +I cannot come into the Notion of our Criticks, who to excuse _Noah_ from +the guilt of what followed, or at least from the Censure, tell us, he +knew not the Strength or the Nature of Wine, but that gathering the +heavy Clusters of the Grapes, and their own weight crushing out their +balmy Juices into his Hand, he tasted the tempting Liquor, and that the +_Devil_ assisting he was charm'd with the delicious Fragrance, and +tasted again and again, pressing it out into a Bowl or Dish, that he +might take a larger Quantity; till at length the heady Froth ascended +and seizing his Brain, he became intoxicate and drunk, not in the least +imagining there was any such Strength in the Juice of that excellent +Fruit. + +But to make out this Story, which is indeed very favourable for _Noah_, +but in it self extremely ridiculous, you must necessarily fall into some +Absurdities, and beg the Question most egregiously in some particular +Cases, which way of arguing will by no means suppose what is suggested; +at first you must support there was no such Thing as Wine made before +the Deluge, and that no Body had been ever made drunk with the Juice of +the Grape before _Noah_, which, I say, is begging the Question in the +grossest Manner. + +If the Contrary is true, as I see no Reason to question, if, _I say_, it +was true that there was Wine drank, and that Men were or had been drunk +with it before, they cannot then but suppose that _Noah_, who was a +wise, a great and a good Man, and _a Preacher of Righteousness_, both +knew of it, and without doubt had in his preaching against their Crimes, +preach'd against this among the rest, upbraided them with it, reprov'd +them for it, and exhorted them against it. + +_Again_, 'tis highly probable they had Grapes growing, and consequently +Wines made from them, in the Antediluvian World, how else did _Noah_ +come by the Vines which he planted? For we are to suppose, he could +plant no Trees or Shrubs, but such as he found the Roots of in the +Earth, and which no doubt had been there before in their highest +Perfection, and had consequently grown up and brought forth the same +luscious Fruit before. + +Besides, as he found the Roots of the Vines, so he understood what they +were, and what Fruit they bore, or else it may be supposed also he would +not have planted them; for he planted them for their Fruit, as he did it +in the Provision he was making for his Subsistence, and the Subsistence +of his Family: and if he did not know what they were, he would not have +set them, for he was not planting for Diversion but for Profit. + +Upon the whole it seems plain to me he knew what he did, as well when he +planted the Vines as when he pressed out the Grapes; and also when he +drank the Juice that he knew it was Wine, was strong and would make him +drunk if he took enough of it: He knew that other Men had been drunk +with such Liquor before the Flood, and that he had reprehended them for +it; and therefore it was not his Ignorance, but the _Devil_ took him at +some Advantage, when his Appetite was eager, or he thirsty, and the +Liquor cooling and pleasant; and in short, as _Eve_ said, _the Serpent +beguilded her_, and she DID EAT, so the Devil beguiled _Noah_, and _he_ +DID DRINK; the Temptation was too strong for _Noah_, not the Wine; he +knew well enough what he did, but as the Drunkards say to this Day, it +was so good he could not forbear it, and so he got drunk before he was +aware; or as our ordinary Speech expresses it, _he was overtaken with +drink_; and Mr. _Pool_ and other Expositors are partly of the same Mind. + +No sooner was the poor old Man conquer'd, and the Wine had lighten'd his +Head, but it may be supposed he falls off from the Chair or Bench where +he sate, and tumbling backward his Clothes, which in those hot Countries +were only loose open Robes, like the Vests which the _Armenians_ wear to +this Day, flying abroad, or the _Devil_ so assisting on purpose to +expose him, he lay there in a naked indecent Posture not fit to be seen. + +In this juncture who should come by but young _Canaan_, say some; or as +others think, this young Fellow first attack'd him by way of Kindness +and pretended Affection; prompted his Grandfather to drink, on Pretence +of the Wine being good for him, and proper for the Support of his old +Age, and subtilly set upon him, drinking also with him, and so (his Head +being too strong for the old Man's) drank him down, and then, _Devil_ +like, triumph'd over him; boasted of his Conquest, insulted the Body as +it were dead, uncovered him on purpose to expose him, and leaving him in +that indecent Posture, went and made Sport with it to his Father _Ham_, +who in that Part, wicked like himself, did the same to his Brethren +_Japhet_ and _Shem_; but they like modest and good Men, far from +carrying on the wicked Insult on their Parent, went and cover'd him, as +the Scripture expresses it, and as may be supposed inform'd him how he +had been abus'd, and by whom. + +Why else should _Noah_, when he came to himself, shew his Resentment so +much against _Canaan_ his Grandson, rather than against _Ham_ his +Father, and who 'tis supposed in the Story the guilt chiefly lay upon? +we see the Curse is (as it were) laid wholly upon _Canaan_ the Grandson, +and not a Word of the Father is mention'd, Gen. ix. 25, 26, 27, _Cursed +be_ Canaan, _a Servant of Servants shall he be_, &c. + +That _Ham_ was Guilty, that's certain from the History of Fact, but I +cannot but suppose his Grandson was the Occasion of it; and in this Case +the Devil seems to have made _Canaan_ the Instrument or Tool to delude +_Noah_, and draw him in to Drunkenness, as he made the Serpent the Tool +to beguile _Eve_, and draw her into Disobedience. + +Possibly _Canaan_ might do it without Design at first, but might be +brought in to ridicule and make a Jest of the old Patriarch afterward, +as is too frequent since in the Practice of our Days; but I rather +believe he did it really with a wicked Design, and on Purpose to expose +and insult his Reverend old Parent; and this seems more likely too, +because of the great Bitterness with which _Noah_ resented it, after he +came to be inform'd of it. + +But be that as it will, the _Devil_ certainly made a great Conquest +here, and as to outward Appearance no less than that which he gain'd +before over _Adam_; nor did the _Devil_'s Victory consist barely in his +having drawn in the only righteous Man of the whole Antediluvian World, +and so beginning or initiating the new young Progeny with a Crime; but +here was the great Oracle silenc'd at once; the Preacher of +Righteousness, for such no doubt he would have been to the new World, as +he was to the old, I say, the Preacher was turn'd out of Office, or his +Mouth stopt, which was worse; nay, it was a stopping of his Mouth in the +worst kind, far worse than stopping his Breath, for had he died, the +Office had descended to his sons _Shem_ and _Japhet_, but he was dead to +the Office of an Instructor, tho' alive as to his Being; For of what +Force could his Preachings be, who had thus fallen himself into the most +shameful and beastly Excess? + +Besides some are of the Opinion, tho' I hope without Ground, that _Noah_ +was not only overtaken once in his Drink, but that being fallen into +that Sin it became habitual, and he continued in it a great while, and +that it was this which is the meaning of his being uncovered in his +Tent, and that his Son saw his Nakedness; that is, he continually +exposed himself for a long Time, a hundred Years, say they, and that his +Son _Ham_, and his Grandson _Canaan_ having drawn him into it, kept him +in it, encourag'd and prompted it, and all the while Satan still +prompting them, join'd their Scoffs and contempt of him, with their +wicked Endeavours to promote the Wickedness; and both with as much +Success as the Devil himself could wish for. + +Then as for his two Sons modestly and decently covering their Father, +they tell us, that Represents _Shem_ and _Japhet_ applying themselves in +an humble and dutiful Manner to their Father, to entreat and beseech him +to consider his ancient Glory, his own pious Exhortations to the late +drowned World, and to consider the Offence which he gave by his evil +Courses to God, and the Scandal to his whole Family, and also that they +are brought in effectually prevailing upon him; and that then _Noah_ +cursed the Wickedness of _Ham_'s degenerate Race, in Testimony of his +sincere Repentance after the Fact. + +The Story is not so very unlikely as it is certain that it is not to be +proved, and therefore we had better take it as we find it (_viz._) for +one single Act; but suppose it was so, 'tis still certain that _Noah_'s +Preaching was sadly interrupted, the Energy of his Words flatter'd, and +the Force of his Persuasions enervated and abated, by this shameful +Fall; that he was effectually silenc'd for an Instructor ever after, and +this was as much as the Devil had Occasion for; and therefore indeed we +read little more of him, except that he lived three hundred and fifty +Years after the Flood; nay, we do not so much as read that he had any +more Children, but the contrary, nor indeed could _Noah_ have any more +Children, except by his old and perhaps super-annuated Wife, who it was +very likely he had had four or five hundred Year, unless you will +suppose he was allow'd to marry some of his own Progeny, Daughters or +Grandaughters, which we do not suppose was allow'd, no not to _Adam_ +himself. + +This was certainly a Master-piece of the _Devil_'s Policy, and a fatal +Instance of his unhappy Diligence, (_viz._) that the Door of the Ark was +no sooner open, and the Face of the World hardly dry from the universal +Destruction of Mankind, but he was at work among them; and that not only +to form a general Defection among the Race, upon the Foot of the +original Taint of Nature, but like a bold _Devil_ he strikes at the very +Root, and flies at the next general Representative of Mankind, attacks +the Head of the Family, that in his Miscarriage the Rise and Progress of +a Reformation of the new World should receive an early Check, and should +be at once prevented; I say, like a bold Devil, he strikes at the Root, +and _alas!_ poor unhappy _Noah_, he proved too weak for him, _Satan_ +prevail'd in his very first Attempt, and got the Victory over him at +once. + +_Noah_ thus overcome, and Satan's Conquest carried on to the utmost of +his own Wishes, the _Devil_ had little more to do in the World for some +Ages, than to carry on an universal Degeneracy among Mankind, and to +finish it by a like diligent Application, in deluding the Generality of +the Race, and them as they came on gradually into Life; this he found +the less difficult, because of the first Defection which spread like a +Contagion upon the Earth immediately after. + +The first Evidence we have of his Success in this mischievous Design was +in the Building that great stupendious Stair-case, for such it seems it +was intended, call'd _Babel_, which if the whole World had not been +drunk, or otherwise infatuated, they would never have undertaken; even +Satan himself could never have prevail'd with them to undertake such a +preposterous Piece of Work, for it had neither End or Means, Possibility +or Probability in it. + +I must confess I am sometimes apt to vindicate our old Ancestors, in my +Thoughts, from the Charge it self, as we generally understand it, +namely, that they really design'd to build a Tower which should reach up +to Heaven, or that it should secure them in case of another Flood; and +Father _Casaubon_ is of my Opinion, whether I am of his or no, is a +Question by it self; his opinion is that the Confusion was nothing but a +Breach among the Undertakers and Directors of the Work, and that the +Building was design'd chiefly for a Store-house for Provisions, in Case +of a second Deluge; as to their Notion of its reaching up to Heaven, he +takes the Expression to be allegorical rather than little, and only to +mean that it should be exceeding high; perhaps they might not be +Astronomers enough to measure the Distance of Space between the Earth +and Heaven, as we pretend to do now; but as _Noah_ was then alive, and +as we believe all his three Sons were so too, they were able to have +inform'd them how absurd it was to suppose either the one or the other +(_viz_.) (1.) that they could build up to Heaven, or (2.) that they +could build firm enough to resist, or high enough to overtop the Waters, +supposing such another Flood should happen; I would rather think it was +only that they intended to build a most glorious and magnificent City, +where they might all inhabit together; and that this Tower was to be +built for Ornament and also for Strength, or as above, and for a +Store-house to lay up vast Magazines of Provisions, in Case of +extraordinary Floods or other Events, the City being built in a great +Plain, namely, the Plains of _Shimar_ near the River _Euphrates_. + +But the Story, as it is recorded, suits better with Satan's Measures at +that Time; and as he was from the Beginning prompting them to every +Thing that was contrary to the Happiness of Man, so the more +preposterous it was, and the more inconsistent with common Sense, the +more to his Purpose; and it shew'd the more what a compleat Conquest he +had gain'd over the Reason as well as the Religion of Mankind at that +Time. + +Again, 'tis evident in this Case, they were not only acting contrary to +the Nature of Things, but contrary to the Design and to the Command of +Heaven; for God's Command was that they should replenish the Earth, that +is, that they should spread their Habitations over it, and People the +whole Globe; whereas they were pitching in one Place, as if they were +not to multiply sufficient to take up any more. + +But what car'd the Devil for that, or to put it a little handsomer, that +was what _Satan_ aimed at; for it was enough to him, to bring Mankind +to act just contrary to what _Heaven_ had directed or commanded them in +any thing, and if possible in every Thing. + +But God himself put a stop to this foolish Piece of Work, and it was +time indeed to do so, for a madder thing the Devil himself never +proposed to them; I say, God himself put a stop to this new Undertaking, +and disappointed the Devil; and how was it done? not in Judgment and +Anger, as perhaps the Devil expected and hop'd for, but as pitying the +Simplicity of that dreaming Creature Man, he confused their Speech, or +as some say, divided and confused their Councils, so that they could not +agree with one another, which would be the same Thing as not to +understand one another; or he put a new Shibboleth upon their Tongues, +thereby separating them into Tribes or Families, for by this every +Family found themselves under a Necessity of keeping together, and this +naturally encreased that Differing Jargons of Language, for at first it +might be no more. + +What a Confusion this was to them we all know, by their being oblig'd to +leave off their building, and immediately separating one from another; +but what a Surprize it was to the old Serpent, that remains to be +considered of, for indeed it belongs to his History. + +Satan had never met with any Disappointment in all his wicked Attempts +till now; for first, he succeeded even to triumph upon _Eve_, he did the +like upon _Cain_, and in short upon the whole World, _one Man_ (Noah) +_excepted_; when he blended the Sons of God, and the Daughters of Hell, +for so the Word is understood, together, in promiscuous voluptuous +Living as well as Generation. + +As to the Deluge, Authors are not agreed whether it was a Disappointment +to the Devil or no, it might be indeed a Surprize to him, for tho' +_Noah_ had preach'd of it for a hundred Year together, yet as he +(_Satan_) daily prompted the People not to heed or believe what that old +Fellow _Noah_ said to them, and to ridicule his whimsical Building a +monstrous Tub to swim or float in, when the said Deluge should come; so +I am of the Opinion he did not believe it himself, and am positive he +could not foresee it, by any insight into Futurity that he was Master +of. + +'Tis true the Astronomers tell us, there was a very terrible Comet seen +in the Air, that it appeared for 180 Days before the Flood continually; +and that as it approach'd nearer and nearer every Day all the while, so +that at last it burst and fell down in a continual Spout or Stream of +Water, being of a watry Substance, and the Quantity so great, that it +was forty Days a falling; so that this Comet not only foretold the +Deluge or drowning of the Earth, but actually perform'd it, and drown'd +it from it self. + +But to leave this Tale to them that told it, let us consider the Devil, +surpris'd, and a little amaz'd at the Absorption or Inundation, or +whatever we are to call it, of the Earth in the Deluge, not, I say, that +he was much concern'd at it, perhaps just the Contrary; and if God would +drown it again, and as often as he thought fit, I do not see by any +thing I meet with in Satan's History, or in the Nature of him, that he +would be at all disturb'd at it; all that I can see in it, that could +give Satan any Concern, would be that all his Favourites were gone, and +he had his Work to do over again, to lay a Foundation for a new Conquest +in the Generation that was to come; But in this his Prospect was fair +enough, for why should he be discouraged, when he had now eight People +to work upon, who met with such Success when he had but two? and why +should he question breaking in now where Nature was already vitiated and +corrupted, when he had before conquer'd the same Nature, when in its +primitive Rectitude and Purity, just come out of the Hands of its Maker, +and fortify'd with the Awe of his high and solemn Command just given +them, and the threatning of Death also annext to it, if broken? + +But I go back to the Affair of _Babel_: This Confusion of Language or of +Councils, take it which way you will, as the first Disappointment that I +find the Devil met with, in all his Attempts and Practices upon Mankind, +or upon the new Creature, which I mentioned above; for now he foresaw +what would follow; namely, that the People would separate and spread +themselves over the whole Surface of the Earth, and a thousand new +Scenes of Actions would appear, in which he therefore prepares himself +to behave as he should see Occasion. + +How the Devil learn'd to speak all the Languages that were now to be +used, and how many languages they were, the several ancient Writers of +the _Devil_'s Story have not yet determined; some tell us they were +divided only into fifteen, some into seventy two, others into one +hundred and eighty, and others again into several Thousands. + +It also remains a doubt with me, and, I suppose, will be so with others +also, whether Satan has yet found out a Method to converse with Mankind, +without the Help of Language and Words, or not: Seeing Man has no other +Medium of Conversing, no not with himself: This I have not time to enter +upon here; however, this seems plain to me (_viz._) that the _Devil_ +soon learn'd to make Mankind understand him, whatever Language he spoke, +and no doubt but he found Ways and Means to understand them, whatever +Language they spoke. + +After the Confusion of Languages, the People necessarily sorted +themselves into Families and Tribes, every Family understanding their +own particular Speech, and that only; and these Families multiplying +grew into Nations, and those Nations wanting Room, and seeking out +Habitations wandred some this Way, some that, till they found out +Countries respectively proper for their settling, and there they became +a Kingdom, spreading and possessing still more and more Land as their +People encreased, till at last the whole Earth was scarce big enough for +them: This presented _Satan_ with an Opportunity to break in upon their +Morals at another Door, (_viz._) their Pride; for Men being naturally +Proud and Envious, Nations and Tribes began to jostle with one another +for Room; either one Nation enjoy'd better Accommodations, or had a +better Soil or a more favourable Climate than another; and these being +numerous and strong thrust the other out, and encroach'd upon their +Land; the other liking their Situation, prepare for their Defence, and +so began Oppression, Invasion, War, Battle and Blood, Satan all the +while beating the Drums, and his Attendants clapping their Hands, as Men +do when they set Dogs on upon one another. + +The bringing Mankind thus to _War_ and _Confusion_, as it was the first +Game the Devil play'd after the confounding of Languages and Divisions +at _Babel_ so it was a Conquest upon Mankind, purely devilish, born from +Hell, and so exactly tinctured with Satan's original Sin _Ambition_, +that it really transform'd Men into meer Devils; for when is Man +transform'd into the very Image of Satan himself, when is he turn'd into +a meer Devil, if it is not when he is fighting with his fellow +Creatures and dipping his Hands in the Blood of his own Kind? Let his +Picture be consider'd, the Fire of Hell flames or sparkles in his Eyes, +a voracious Grin sits upon his Countenance; Rage and Fury distort the +Muscles of his Face; his Passions agitate his whole Body, and he is +metamorphos'd from a comely Beauteous angelic Creature into a _Fury_, a +_Satyr_, a terrible and frightful Monster, nay, into a _Devil_; for +_Satan_ himself is describ'd by the same Word which on his very Account +is chang'd into a Substantive, and the Devils are call'd _Furies_. + +This sowing the Seeds of Strife in the World, and bringing Nations to +fight and make War upon one another, would take up a great Part of the +_Devil_'s History, and abundance of extraordinary Things would occur in +relating the particulars; for there have been very great Conflagrations +kindled in the World, by the Artifice of Hell, under this Head, (_viz._) +of making War; in which it has been the _Devil_'s Master-piece, and he +has indeed shewn himself a Workman in it, that he has wheedled Mankind +into strange unnatural Notions of things, in order to propagate and +support the fighting Principle in the World; such as Laws of War, fair +Fighting, behaving like Men of Honour, fighting at the last Drop, and +the like, by which killing and murdering is understood to be +justifiable. Virtue and a true Greatness in Spirit is rated now by Rules +which God never appointed, and the Standard of Honour is quite different +from that of Reason and of Nature: Bravery is denominated not from a +fearless undaunted Spirit in the just Defence of Life and Liberty, but +from a daring Defiance of God and Man, fighting, killing and treading +under Foot his fellow Creatures, at the ordinary Command of the Officer, +whether it be right or wrong, and whether it be in a just Defence of +Life, and our Country's Life, that is Liberty, or whether it be for the +Support of Injury and Oppression. + +A prudent avoiding causeless Quarrels is call'd Cowardice, and to take +an affront Baseness, and Meanness of Spirit; to refuse fighting, and +putting Life at a Cast on the Point of a Sword, a Practice forbid by the +Laws of God and of all good Government, is yet call'd Cowardice; and a +Man is bound to die duelling, or live and be laugh'd at. + +This trumping up these imaginary Things call'd Bravery and Gallantry, +naming them Virtue and Honour, is all from the _Devil_'s new Management, +and his subtil influencing the Minds of Men to fly in the Face of God +and Nature, and to act against his Senses; nor but for his Artifice in +the Management, could it be possible that such Inconsistencies could go +down with Mankind, or they could pass such absurd Things among them for +reasoning; for Example, A is found in Bed with B's Wife, B is the Person +injur'd, and therefore offended, and coming into the Chamber with his +Sword in his Hand, A exclaims loudly, _Why Sir, you won't murder me, +will you? as you are a Man of Honour let me rise and take my Sword_. + +A very good Story indeed! fit for no body but the Devil to put into any +Man's Head; But so it is, B being put in mind, forsooth, that he is _a +Man of Honour_, starts back and must act the honourable Part; so he lets +A get up, put on his Clothes and take his Sword; then they fight, and B +is kill'd for his Honour; whereas had the Laws of God, of Nature and of +Reason taken Place, the Adulterer and the Adulteress should have been +taken Prisoners and carried before the Judge, and being taken in the +Fact, should have been immediately sentenc'd, he to the Block and she to +the Stake, and the innocent abus'd Husband had no Reason to have run +any Risque of his Life for being made a Cuckold. + +But thus has _Satan_ abus'd the Reason of Man; and if a Man does me the +greatest Injury in the World, I must do my self Justice upon him, by +venturing my life upon an even Lay with him, and must fight him upon +equal Hazard, in which the injur'd Person is as often kill'd as the +Person offering the Injury: Suppose now it be in the same Case _as +above_, a Man abuses my Wife, and then to give me Satisfaction, tells +me, he will fight me, which the _French_ call _doing me Reason_; _No +Sir_, say I, _let me lie with your Wife too, and then if you desire it, +I may fight you; then I am upon even Terms with you_; but this indeed is +the Reasoning which the _Devil_ has brought Mankind too at this Day: But +to go back to the Subject, _viz._ the Devil bringing the Nations to fall +out, and to quarrel for Room in the World, and so to fight in order to +dispossess one another of their Settlements: This began at a Time when +certainly there were Places enough in the World for every one to choose +in, and therefore the _Devil_, not the want of Elbow-room, must be the +Occasion of it; and 'tis carried on ever since, as apparently from the +same Interest, and by the same original. + +But we shall meet with this Part again very often in the _Devil_'s +Story, and as we bring him farther on in the Management of Mankind, I +therefore lay it by for the Present, and come to the next Steps the +_Devil_ took with Mankind after the Confusion of Languages, and this was +in the Affair of Worship; It does not appear yet that ever the _Devil_ +was so bold, as either, + +1. To set himself up to be worship'd as a God, or which was still worse, + +2. To persuade Man to believe there was no God at all to worship. + +Both these are introduc'd since the Deluge, _one_ indeed by the _Devil_, +who soon found Means to set himself up for a God in many Parts of the +World, and holds it to this Day; but the _last_ is brought in by the +Invention of Man, in which it must be confess'd Man has out-sin'd the +Devil; for to do Satan justice, he never thought it could ever pass upon +Mankind, or that any Thing so gross would go down with them; so that, +_in short_, these modern Casuists, in the Reach of our Days, have, _I +say_, out-sin'd the _Devil_. + +As then both these are modern Inventions, _Satan_ went on gradually, and +being to work upon human Nature by Stratagem, not by Force, it would +have been too gross to have set himself up as an Object of Worship at +first, it was to be done Step by Step; _for Example_. + + 1. It was sufficient to bring Mankind to a Neglect of God, to + worship him by halves, and give little or no Regard to his Laws, + and so grow loose and immoral, in direct Contradiction to his + Commands; this would not go down with them at first, so the Devil + went on gradually. + + 2. From a Negligence in worshiping the true GOD, he by Degrees + introduc'd the worship of false GODs; and to introduce this he + began with the _Sun_, _Moon_, and _Stars_, call'd in the holy Text + the Host of Heaven; these had greater Majesty upon them, and seem'd + fitter to command the Homage of Mankind; so it was not the hardest + Thing in the World, to bring Men, when they had once forgotten the + true God, to embrace the Worship of such Gods as those. + + 3. Having thus debauch'd their Principles in Worship, and led them + from the true and only Object of Worship to a false, it was the + easier to carry them on; so in a few Gradations more he brought + them to downright Idolatry, and even in that Idolatry he proceeded + gradually too; for he began with awful Names, such as were + venerable in the Thoughts of Men, as BAAL or BELL, which, in + _Chaldaick_ and _Hebrew_, signifies Lord or Sovereign, or Mighty + and Magnificent, and this was therefore a Name ascrib'd at first to + the true God; but afterwards they descended to make Images and + Figures to represent him, and then they were call'd by the same + Name, as _Baal_, _Baalim_, and afterwards _Bell_; from which, by a + hellish Degeneracy, Saturn brought Mankind to adore every Block of + their own hewing, and to worshipping Stocks, Stones, Monsters, + Hobgoblins, and every sordid frightful Thing, and at last the + _Devil_ himself. + + +What Notions some People may entertain of the Forwardness of the first +Ages of the World, to run into Idolatry, I do not enquire here; I know +they tell us strange Things, of its being the Product of meer Nature, +one remove from its primitive State; but I, who pretend to have so +critically enquir'd into _Satan_'s History, can assure you, and that +from very good Authority, that the _Devil_ did not find it so easy a +task to obliterate the Knowledge of the true God, in the Minds and +Consciences of Men, as those People suggest. + +It is true he carried Things a great Length under the Patriarchal +Government of the first Ages, but still he was sixteen hundred Years +bringing it to pass; and tho' we have Reason to believe the old World, +before the Flood was arrived to a very great Height of Wickedness, and +_Ovid_ very nobly describes it by the War of the _Titans_ against +_Jupiter_, yet we do not read that ever Satan was come to such a Length +as to bring them to Idolatry; indeed we do read of Wars carried on among +them, whether it was one Nation against another, or only Personal, we +cannot tell; But the World seem'd to be swallow'd up in a Life of +Wickedness, that is to say, of Luxury and Lewdness, Rapine and Violence, +and there were _Giants_ among them, and Men of Renown, that is to say, +Men fam'd for their mighty Valour, great Actions of War we may suppose, +and their Strength, who personally oppos'd others. We read of no +considerable Wars indeed, but 'tis not to be doubted but there was such +Wars, or else it is to be understood that they liv'd (in common) a Life +somewhat like the Brutes, the Strong devouring the Weak; for the Text +says, _the whole Earth was filled with Violence_, hunting and tearing +one another in Pieces, either for Dominion or for Wealth, either for +Ambition or for Avarice, we know not well which. + +Thus far the old Antediluvian World went, and very wicked they were, +there is no doubt of that; but we have Reason to believe that was no +Idolatry, the _Devil_ had not brought them to that Length yet: perhaps +it would soon have follow'd, but the Deluge interven'd. + +After the Deluge, _as I have said_, he had all his Work to do over +again, and he went on by the same Steps; _first_ he brought them to +Violence and War, then to Oppression and Tyranny, then to neglect of +true Worship, then to false worship, and then Idolatry by the meer +natural Consequence of the Thing; who were the first Nation or People +that fell from the Worship of the true God, is something hard to +determine; the _Devil_, who certainly of all _God_'s Creatures is best +able to inform us, having left us nothing upon Record upon that +Subject, but we have Reason to believe it was thus introduc'd. + +_Nimrod_ was the Grandson of _Ham_, _Noah_'s second Son, the same who +was cursed by his Father for exposing him in his Drunkenness: This +_Nimrod_ was the first who it seems _Satan_ pick'd out for a Hero: Here +he inspir'd him with ambitious Thoughts, dreams of Empire, and having +the Government of all the Rest, _that is to say_, universal Monarchy; +the very same Bait with which he has plaid upon the Frailty of Princes, +and ensnar'd the greatest of them ever since, even from his most August +Imperial Majesty King _Nimrod_ the first, to his most Christian Majesty +_Louis_ the XIV. and many a mighty Monarch between. + +When these mighty Monarchs and Men of Fame went off the Stage, the World +had their Memories in esteem many Ages after; and as their great Actions +were no otherwise recorded than by oral Tradition, and the Tongues and +Memories of fallible Men, Time and the Custom of magnifying the past +Actions of Kings, Men soon fabl'd up their Histories, _Satan assisting_, +into Miracle and Wonder: Hence their Names were had in Veneration more +and more; Statues and Bustoes representing their Persons and great +Actions were set up in public Places, till from Heroes and Champions +they made Gods of them, and thus (_Satan_ prompting) the World was +quickly fill'd with Idols. + +This _Nimrod_ is he, who according to the received Opinion, tho' I do +not find Satan's History exactly concurring with it, was first call'd +_Belus_, then _Baal_, and worship'd in most of the eastern Countries +under those Names; sometimes with Additions of Sir-names, according to +the several countries, or People, or Towns where he was particularly +set up, as _Baal Peor_, _Baal Zephon_, _Baal Phegor_, and in other +Places plain _Baal_, as _Jupiter_ in after Times had the like Additions; +as _Jupiter Ammon_, _Jupiter Capitolinus_, _Jupiter Pistor_, _Jupiter +Feretrius_, and about ten or twelve _Jupiters_ more. + +I must acknowledge, that I think it was a Master-piece of Hell to bring +the World to Idolatry so soon after they had had such an eminent Example +of the infinite Power of the true God, as was seen in the Deluge, and +particularly in the Escape of _Noah_ in the Ark, to bring them (even +before _Noah_ or his Sons were dead) to forget whose Hand it was, and +give the Homage of the World to a Name, and that a Name of a mortal Man +dead and rotten, who was famous for nothing when he was alive but Blood +and War; I say, to bring the World to set up this Nothing, this meer +Name, nay the very Image and Picture of him for _a God_, it was _first_ +a Mark of most prodigious Stupidity in the whole Race of Men, a +monstrous Degeneracy from Nature, and even from common Sense; and in the +next Place 'twas a token of an inexpressible Craft and Subtilty in the +_Devil_, who had now gotten the People into so full and compleat a +Management, that in short, he could have brought them, by the same Rule, +to have worship'd any thing; and in a little while more, did bring many +of them to worship himself, _plain Devil as he was_, and knowing him to +be such. + +As to the Antiquity of this horrible Defection of Mankind, tho' we do +not find the beginning of it particularly recorded, yet we are certain +it was not long after the Confusion of _Babel_; for _Nimrod_, as is +said, was no more than _Noah_'s great Grandson and _Noah_ himself, I +suppose, might be alive some Years after _Nimrod_ was born; and as +_Nimrod_ was not long dead, before they forgot that he was a Tyrant and +a Murtherer, and made a _Baal_, that is a Lord or Idol of him, I say, he +was not long dead, for _Nimrod_ was born in the Year of the World 1847, +and built _Babylon_ the Year 1879; and we find _Terah_ the Father of +_Abraham_, who liv'd from the Year 1879 was an Idolater, as was +doubtless _Bethuel_, who was _Terah_'s Grandson; for we find _Laban_, +who was _Bethuel_'s Son, was so, and all this was during the Life of the +first Post-Diluvian Family, for _Terah_ was born within one hundred +ninety three Years after the Flood, and one hundred fifty seven Years +before _Noah_ was dead; and even _Abram_ himself was eight and fifty +Years old before _Noah_ died, and yet Idolatry had been then, in all +probability, above an hundred Years practised in the World. + + N. B. It is worth Remark here, what a terrible Advantage the Devil + gain'd by the debauching poor _Noah_, and drawing him into the Sin + of Drunkenness; for by this, as I said, he silenc'd and stop'd the + Mouth of the great Preacher of Righteousness, that Father and + Patriarch of the whole World, who not being able for the Shame of + his own foul Miscarriage, to pretend to instruct or reprove the + World any more, the _Devil_ took hold of them immediately, and for + want of a Prophet to warn and admonish, ran that little of Religion + which there might be left in _Shem_ and _Japhet_, quite out of the + World, and delug'd them all in IDOLATRY. + +How long the whole World may be said to be thus overwhelm'd in Ignorance +and Idolatry, we may make some tolerable guess at by the History of +_Abraham_; for it was not till God call'd him from his Father's House, +that any such Thing as a Church was establish'd in the World; nor even +then, except in his own Family and Successors for almost four hundred +Years after that Call; and till God brought the _Israelites_ back out of +_Egypt_, the whole World may be said to be involv'd in Idolatry and +_Devil_ worship. + +So absolute a Conquest had the _Devil_ made over Mankind immediately +after the Flood, and all taking its Rise and Beginning at the fatal +Defeat of _Noah_, who had he liv'd untainted and invulnerable, as he had +done for six hundred Years before, would have gone a great way to have +stem'd the Torrent of Wickedness which broke in upon Mankind; and +therefore the _Devil_, I say, was very cunning and very much in the +Right of it, take him as he is a meer _Devil_, to attack _Noah_ +personally, and give him a Blow so soon. + +It is true, the _Devil_ did not immediately raze out the Notion of +Religion and of a GOD from the Minds of Men, nor could he easily +suppress the Principle of Worship and Homage to be paid to a Sovereign +Being, the Author of Nature and Guide of the World; the _Devil_ saw this +clearly in the first Ages of the new World, and therefore, as I have +said, he proceeded politically and by Degrees: That it was so, is +evident from the Story of _Job_ and his three Friends, who, if we may +take it for a History, not a Fable, and may judge of the Time of it by +the Length of _Job_'s Life, and by the Family of _Eliphaz_ the +_Temanite_, who it is manifest was at least Grandson or Great Grandson +to _Esau Isaac_'s eldest Son, and by the Language of _Abimilech_ King of +_Gerar_ to _Abraham_, and of _Laban_ to _Jacob_, both the Latter being +at the same Time Idolaters; I say, if we may judge of it by all these, +there were still very sound Notions of Religion in the Minds of Men; nor +could Satan with all his Cunning and Policy deface those _Ideas_, and +root them out of the Minds of the People. + +And this put him upon taking new Measures to keep up his Interest and +preserve the Hold he got upon Mankind; and his Method was like himself, +subtle and politick to the last Degree, as his whole History makes +appear; for seeing he found they could not but believe the Being of a +God, and that they would needs worship something, it is evident, he had +no Game left him to play but this, namely, to set up wrong Notions of +Worship, and bring them to a false Worship instead of a True, supposing +the Object worship'd to be still the same. + +To finish this Stratagem, he first insinuates that the true God was a +terrible, a dreadful, unapproachable Being; that to see him was so +frightful, that it would be present Death; that to worship him +immediately, was a Presumption which would provoke his Wrath; and that +as he was a _consuming Fire_ in himself, so he would burn up those in +his Anger that dar'd to offer up any Sacrifice to him, but by the +Interposition of some Medium which might receive their Adorations in his +Name. + +Hence it occur'd presently, that subordinate Gods were to be found out +and set up, to whom the People might pay the Homage due to the supreme +God, and who they might worship in his Name; this I take from the most +ancient Account of Idolatry in the World; nor indeed could the Devil +himself find out any other Reason why Men should Cannonise or rather +Deify their Princes and Men of Fame, and worship them after they were +dead, as if they could save them from Death and Calamity, who were not +able to save themselves when they were alive; much less could _Satan_ +bring Men to swallow so gross, so absurd a Thing as the bowing the Knee +to a Stock or a Stone, a Calf, an Ox, a Lion, nay the Image or Figure +of a Calf, such as the _Israelites_ made at Mount _Sinai_, and say, +_These be thy Gods, O_ Israel, _who brought thee out of the Land of_ +Egypt. + +Having thus, I say, brought them to satisfy themselves that they +worship'd the true God and no other, under the Figures and Appearances +which they made to represent him, it was easy after that to worship any +thing for the true God; and thus in a few Ages they worship'd nothing +but Idols, even throughout the whole World; nor has the _Devil_ lost +this hold in some Parts of the World, nay not in most Parts of the World +to this Day; He holds still all the Eastern Parts of _Asia_, and the +Southern Parts of _Africa_, and the Northern Parts of _Europe_, and in +them the vast Countries of _China_ and _Tartary_, _Persia_ and _India_, +_Guinea_, _Ethiopia_, _Zanquebar_, _Congo_, _Angola_, _Monomotapa_, &c. +in all which, _except Ethiopia_, we find no Vestiges of any other +worship but that of Idols, Monsters, and even the _Devil_ himself; till +after the very coming of our Saviour, and even then, if it be true that +the Gospel was preach'd in the _Indies_ and _China_ by St. _Thomas_, and +in other remote Countries by other of the Apostles; we see that whatever +Ground _Satan_ lost, he seems to have recovered it again; and all _Asia_ +and _Africa_ is at present overrun with Paganism or Mahometanism, which +I think of the two is rather the worst; Besides all _America_, a Part of +the World, as some say, equal in Bigness to all the other, in which the +_Devil_'s Kingdom was never interrupted from its first being inhabited, +_whenever it was_, to the first Discovery of it by the _European_ +Nations in the sixteenth Century. + +In a Word, the _Devil_ got what we may call an entire Victory over +Mankind, and drove the Worship of the true God, in a Manner quite out +of the World, forcing, _as it were_, his Maker in a new kind of +Creation, the old one proving thus ineffectual to recover a certain +Number by Force and meer Omnipotence to return to their Duty, serve him +and worship him; _But of that hereafter_. + + + + +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 attack'd them + immediately, and his Success in those Attacks._ + + +_Satan_ having, as I have said in the preceding Chapter, made, as it +were, a full Conquest of Mankind, debauch'd them all to Idolatry, and +brought them at least to worshiping the true God by the wretched Medium +of corrupt and idolatrous Representations; God seem'd to have no true +Servants or Worshippers left in the World, but if I may be allow'd to +speak so, was oblig'd, in order to restore the World to their Senses +again, to call a select Number out from among the rest, who he himself +undertook should own his Godhead or supreme Authority, and worship him +as he requir'd to be worship'd; this, _I say_, God was oblig'd to do, +because 'tis evident it has not been done so much by the Choice and +Council of Men, _for Satan would have over-rul'd that Part_, as by the +Power and Energy of some irresistible and invincible Operation, and this +our Divines give high Names to; but be it what they will, it is the +second Defeat or Disappointment that the _Devil_ he met with in his +Progress in the World; the first I have spoken of already. + +It is true, Satan very well understood what was threatn'd to him in the +original Promise to the Woman, immediately after the Fall, namely, _thou +shalt bruise his Head_, &c. but he did not expect it so suddenly, but +thought himself sure of Mankind, till the Fullness of Time when the +Messiah should come; and therefore it was a great Surprize to him, to +see that _Abraham_ being call'd was so immediately receiv'd and +establish'd, tho' he did not so immediately follow the Voice that +directed him, yet in him, in his Loins was all God's Church at that time +contain'd. + +In the calling _Abraham_, it is easy to see that there was no other way +for God to form a Church, that is to say, to single out a People to +himself, as the World was then stated, but by immediate Revelation and a +Voice from Heaven: All Mankind were gone over to the Enemy, overwhelmed +in Idolatry, in a Word, were engag'd to the _Devil_; God Almighty, or as +the Scripture distinguishes him, _the Lord_, the true GOD, was out of +the Question; Mankind knew little or nothing of him, much less did they +know any thing of his Worship, or that there was such a Being in the +World. + +Well might it be said the _Lord_ appeared to _Abraham_, Gen. xii. 7. for +if God had not appear'd himself, he must have sent a Messenger from +Heaven, _and perhaps it was so too_, for he had not one true Servant or +Worshiper that we know of then on Earth, to send on that Errand; no +Prophet, no Preacher of Righteousness, _Noah_ was dead, and had been so +above seventeen Year; and if he had not, his preaching, as I observed +after his great Miscarriage, had but little Effect; we are indeed told, +that _Noah_ left behind him certain Rules and Orders for the true +Worship of God, which were call'd the Precepts of _Noah_, and remain'd +in the World for a long Time; tho' how written, when neither any +Letters, much less Writing were known in the World, is a Difficulty +which Remains to be solv'd; and this makes me look upon those Laws +call'd the Precepts of _Noah_ to be a modern Invention, as I do also the +_Alphabetum Noachi_, which _Bochart_ pretends to give an Account of. + +But to leave that Fiction, and come back to _Abraham_; God call'd him, +whether at first by Voice without any Vision, whether in a Dream or +Night Vision, which was very Significant in those Days, or whether by +some awful Appearance, we know not; the second Time, 'tis indeed said +expressly GOD appeared to him; Be it which Way it will, GOD himself +call'd him, shew'd him the Land of _Canaan_, gave him the Promise of it +for his Posterity, and withal gave him such a Faith, that the _Devil_ +soon found there was no room for him to meddle with _Abraham_. This is +certain, we do not read that the _Devil_ ever so much as attempted +_Abraham_ at all; some will suggest that the Command to _Abraham_ to go +and offer up his Son _Isaac_, was a Temptation of the _Devil_, if +possible to defeat the glorious Work of GOD's calling a holy Seed into +the World; for the _first_, if _Abraham_ had disobey'd that Call, the +new Favourite had been overcome and made a Rebel of, or _secondly_, if +he had _obey'd_, then the promis'd Seed had been cut off, and _Abraham_ +defeated; but as the Text is express that GOD himself proposed it to +_Abraham_, I shall not start the Suggestions of the Criticks, in Bar of +the sacred Oracle. + +Be it one way or other, _Abraham_ shew'd a Hero-like Faith and Courage, +and if the _Devil_ had been the Author of it, he had seen himself +disappointed in both his Views; (1.) by _Abraham_'s ready and bold +Compliance, as believing it to be GOD's Command; and (2.) by the divine +Countermand of the Execution, just as the fatal Knife was lifted up. + +But if the _Devil_ left _Abraham_, and made no attack upon him, seeing +him invulnerable, he made himself amends upon the other Branch of his +Family, his poor _Nephew_ LOT; who, notwithstanding he was so +immediately under the particular Care of Heaven, as that the Angel who +was sent to destroy _Sodom_, could do nothing till he was out of it; and +who, tho' after he had left _Zoar_, and was retir'd into a Cave to +dwell, yet the subtle _Devil_ found him out, deluded his two Daughters, +took an Advantage of the Fright they had been in about _Sodom_ and +_Gomorrah_, made them believe the whole World was burnt too, as well as +those Cities, and that in short, they could never have any _Husbands_, +&c. and so in their abundant Concern to repeople the World, and that the +Race of Mankind might not be destroyed, they go and lie with their own +_Father_; the _Devil_ telling them doubtless how to do it, by +intoxicating his Head with Wine; in all which Story, whether they were +not as drunk as their Father, seems to be a Question, or else they could +not have supposed all the Men in the Earth were consum'd, when they knew +that the little City _Zoar_ had been preserv'd for their Sakes. + +This now was the third Conquest _Satan_ obtain'd by the Gust of humane +Appetite; that is to say, once by Eating and twice by Drinking, or +Drunkenness, and still the last was the worst and most shameful; for +_Lot_, however his Daughters manag'd him, could not pretend he did not +understand what the Strength of Wine was; and one would have thought +after so terrible a Judgment as that of _Sodom_ was, which was, as we +may say, executed before his Face, his Thoughts should have been too +solemnly engag'd in praising God for sparing his Life, to be made drunk, +and that two Nights together. + +But the _Devil_ play'd his Game sure, he set his two Daughters to work, +and as the _Devil_'s Instruments seldom fail, so he secur'd his by that +hellish Stratagem of deluding the Daughters, to think all the World was +consum'd but they two and their Father: To be sure the old Man could not +suspect that his Daughters Design was so wicked as indeed it was, or +that they intended to debauch him with Wine, and make him drink till he +knew not what he did. + +Now the _Devil_ having carried his Game here, gain'd a great Point; for +as there were but two religious Families in the World before, from +whence a twofold Generation might be supposed to rise religious and +righteous like their Parents, (_viz._) that of _Abraham_ and this of +_Lot_; this Crime ruin'd the Hopes of one of them; it could no more be +said that just _Lot_ was in Being, who vex'd his _righteous Soul_ from +Day to Day with the wicked Behaviour of the People of _Sodom_; righteous +_Lot_ was degenerated into drunken incestuous _Lot_, LOT fallen from +what he was, to be a wicked and unrighteous Man; no pattern of Virtue, +no Reprover of the Age, but a poor fallen Degenerate Patriarch, who +could now no more reprove or exhort, but look down and be asham'd, and +nothing to do but to repent; and see the poor mean Excuses of all the +three. + + Eve says, _The Serpent beguil'd me, and I did eat_. + + Noah says, ---- _My Grandson beguil'd me, or the Wine beguil'd me, + and I did drink_. + + Lot says, _My Daughters beguil'd me, and I also did drink_. + + +It is observable, that as I said above, _Noah_ was silenc'd, and his +Preaching at an End, after that one Action, so the like may be said of +_Lot_; and in short, you never hear one Word more of either of them +after it; as for Mankind, both were useless to them, and as to +themselves, we never read of any of their Repentance, nor have we much +Reason to believe they did repent. + +From this Attack of the _Devil_ upon _Lot_, we hear no more of the +_Devil_ being so busily employ'd as he had been before in the World; he +had indeed but little to do, for all the rest of the World was his own, +lull'd asleep under the Witchcraft of Idolatry, and are so still. + +But it could not be long that the _Devil_ lay idle; as soon as God +call'd himself a People, the _Devil_ could not be at Rest; till he +attack'd them. + + 'Wherever God sets up a House of Prayer, + 'The Devil always builds a Chapel there. + + +_Abraham_ indeed went off the Stage free, and so did _Isaac_ too, they +were a Kind of first Rate Saints; we do not so much as read of any +failing they had, or of any Thing the _Devil_ had ever the Face to offer +to them; no, or with _Jacob_ either, if you will excuse him for +beguiling his Brother _Esau_, of both his Birthright and his Blessing, +but he was busy enough with all his Children; for Example, + + * * * * * + + He sent _Judah_ to his Sheep-shearing, and placed a Whore (_Tamar_) + in his Way, in the Posture of Temptation, so made him commit + Incest and Whoredom both together. + + He sent incestuous _Reuben_ to lie with his Father's Concubine + _Billah_. + + He sent _Dinah_ to the Ball, to dance with the _Sichemite_ Ladies, + and play the Whore with their Master. + + He enrag'd _Simeon_ and _Levi_, at the supposed Injury, and then + prompted them to Revenge, for which their Father heartily cursed + them. + + He set them all together to fall upon poor _Joseph_, first to + murther him intentionally, and then actually sell him to the + _Midianites_. + + He made them shew the Party-colour'd Coat, and tell a lie to their + Father, to make the poor old Man believe _Joseph_ was kill'd by a + Lion, _&c._ + + He sent _Potiphar_'s Wife to attack _Joseph_'s Chastity, and fill'd + her with Rage at the Disappointment. + + He taught _Joseph_ to swear by the Life of _Pharoah_. + + * * * * * + +In a Word, he debauch'd the whole Race, except _Benjamin_, and never Man +had such a Set of Sons, so wicked and so notorious, after so good an +Introduction into the World as they all of them had, _to be sure_; for +_Jacob_, no doubt, gave them as good Instruction as the Circumstances of +his wandring Condition would allow him to do. + +We must now consider the _Devil_ and his Affairs in a quite differing +Situation: When the World first appeared peopled by the creating Power +of God, he had only _Adam_ and _Eve_ to take care of, and I think he +ply'd his Time with them to purpose enough: After the Deluge he had +_Noah_ only to pitch upon, and he quickly conquer'd him by the +Instigation of his _Grandson_. + +At the Building of _Babel_ he guided them by their acting all in a Body +as one Man; so that in short he manag'd them with ease, taking them as a +Body politic; and we find they came into his Snare as one Man; but Now, +the Children of _Israel_ multiplying in the Land of their Bondage, and +God seeming to shew a particular Concern for them, the _Devil_ was +oblig'd to new Measures, stand at a Distance, and look on for some Time. + +The _Egyptians_ were plagued even without his Help, nor tho' the cunning +Artist, as I said, stood and looked on, yet he durst not meddle; nor +could he make a few Lice, the least and meanest of the Armies of Insects +raised to afflict the _Egyptians_. + +However, when he perceiv'd that God resolved to bring the _Israelites_ +out, he prepar'd to attend them, to watch them, and be at Hand upon all +the wicked Occasions that might offer, as if he had been fully satisfied +such Occasions would offer, and that he should not fail to have an +Opportunity to draw them into some Snare or another, and that therefore +it was his Business not to be out of the Way, but to be ready (as we +say) to make his Market of them in the best Manner he could: How many +Ways he attempted them, nay, how many Times he conquer'd them in their +Journey, we shall see presently. + +First he put them in a fright at _Baal-Zephon_, where he thought he had +drawn them into a Noose, and where he sent _Pharoah_ and his Army to +block them up between the Mountains of _Piahiroth_ and the _Red Sea_; +but there indeed _Satan_ was outwitted by _Moses_, so far as it appeared +to be a humane Action, for he little thought of their going dry footed +_thro' the Sea_, but depended upon having them all cut in Pieces the +next Morning by the _Egyptians_; an eminent Proof, _by the Way_, that +the _Devil_ has _no Knowledge of Events_, or any Insight into Futurity; +nay that he has not so much as a second Sight, or knows to Day what his +Maker intends to do to Morrow; for had _Satan_ known that God intended +to Ford them over the Sea, if he had not been able to have prevented the +Miracle, he would certainly have prevented the Escape, by sending out +_Pharoah_ and his Army time enough to have taken the Strand before them, +and so have driven them to the Necessity of travelling on Foot round the +North Point of that Sea, by the Wilderness of _Etan_, where he would +have pursu'd and harrass'd them with his Cavalry, and in all Probability +have destroy'd them: But the blind short-sighted Devil, perfectly in the +Dark, and unacquainted with Futurity, knew nothing of the Matter, was as +much deceiv'd as _Pharoah_ himself, stood still flattering himself with +the Hopes of his Booty, and the Revenge he should take upon them the +next Morning; till he saw the frighted Waves in an Uproar, and to his +utter Astonishment and Confusion saw the Passage laid open, and _Moses_ +leading his vast Army in full March over the dry Space; nay even then +'tis very propable Satan did not know that if the _Egyptians_ follow'd +them, the Sea would return upon and overwhelm them; for I can hardly +think so hard of the _Devil_ himself, that if he had, he would have +suffer'd, much less prompted _Pharoah_ to follow the Chase at such an +Expence; so that either he must be an ignorant unforeseeing Devil, or a +very ungrateful false _Devil_ to his Friends the _Egyptians_. + +I am enclin'd also to the more charitable Opinion of Satan too, because +the Escape of the _Israelites_ was really a Triumph over himself; for +the War was certainly his, or at least he was auxiliary to _Pharoah_, +it was a Victory over _Hell_ and _Egypt_ together, and he would never +have suffer'd the Disgrace, if he had known it beforehand; that is to +say, tho' he could not have prevented the Escape of _Israel_, or the +dividing the Water, yet he might have warn'd the _Egyptians_, and +cautioned them not to venture in after them. + +But we shall see a great many weak Steps taken by the Devil in the +Affair of this very People and their forty Years Wandring in the +Wilderness; and tho' he was in some things successful, and wheedled them +into many foolish and miserable Murmurings and Wranglings against God, +and Mutinies against poor _Moses_, yet the _Devil_ was oftentimes +baulk'd and disappointed; and 'tis for this Reason that I choose to +finish the first Part of his History with the particular Relation of his +Behaviour among the _Jews_, because also, we do not find any +extraordinary Things happening any where else in the World for above one +thousand five hundred Years, no Variety, no Revolutions; all the Rest of +Mankind lay still under his Yoke, quietly submitted to his Government, +did just as he bad them, worship'd every Idol he set up, and in a Word, +he had no Difficulty with any Body but the _Jews_, and for this Reason, +I say, this Part of his Story will be the more useful and instructing. + +To return therefore to _Moses_ and his dividing the _Red Sea_; that the +People went over or thro' it, that we have the sacred History for; but +how the Devil behav'd, that you must come to me for, or I know not where +you will find a true Account of it, at least not in Print. + +1. It was in the Night they march'd thro', whether the _Devil_ saw it in +the Dark or no, that's not my Business. + +But when he had Day-Light for it, and view'd the next Day's Work, I make +no Question but _all Hell felt the Surprise_, the Prey being thus +snatch'd out of their Hands unexpectedly. 'Tis true the _Egyptians_ Host +was sent to him in their Room, but that was not what he aim'd at; for he +was sure enough of them his own Way, and if it was not _just at that +Time_, yet he knew what and who they were; but as he had devour'd the +whole _Israelitish_ Host in his Imagination, to the Tune of at least a +Million and a half of Souls; Men, Women and Children; it was, no doubt, +a great Disappointment to the Devil to miss of his Prey, and to see them +all triumphing on the other Side in Safety. + +It is true, _Satan_'s Annals do not mention this Defeat, for Historians +are generally backward to register their own Misfortunes; but as we have +an Account of the Fact from other Hands, so as we cannot question the +Truth of it; the Nature of the Thing will tell us it was a +Disappointment to the _Devil_, and a very great one too. + +I cannot but observe here, that I think this Part of the _Devil_'s Story +very entertaining, because of the great Variety of Incidents which +appear in every Part of it; sometimes he is like a hunted Fox, +curvetting and counter-running to avoid his being pursued and found out, +while at the same time he is carrying on his secret Designs to draw the +People he pretends to manage, into some Snare or other to their Hurt; at +another time, tho' the Comparison is a little too low for his Dignity, +like a Monkey that has done Mischief, and who making his own Escape sits +and chatters at a Distance, as if he had triump'd in what he had done; +so Satan, when he had drawn them in to worship a Calf, to offer strange +Fire, to set up a Schism, and the like; and so to bring the Divine +Vengeance upon themselves, leaving them in their Distress, kept at a +Distance, as if he look'd on with Satisfaction to see them Burnt, +swallow'd up, swept away, and the like; as the several Stories relate. + +His indefatigable Vigilance is, on the other hand, a useful Caveat, as +well as an improving View to us; no sooner is he routed and expos'd, +defeated and disappointed in one Enterprize, but he begins another, and, +like a cunning Gladiator, warily defends himself, and boldly attacks his +Enemy at the same time. Thus we see him, up and down, conquering and +conquered, thro' this whole Part of his Story, till at last he receives +a total Defeat; of which you shall hear in its place: In the mean time, +let us take up his Story again at the _Red Sea_, where he receiv'd a +great Blow, instead of which he expected a compleat Victory; for +doubtless the Devil and the King of _AEgypt_ too, thought of nothing but +Conquest at _Piahiroth_. + +However, tho' the Triumph of the _Israelites_ over the _Egyptians_ must +needs be a great Mortification to the _Devil_, and exasperated him very +much, yet the Consequence was only this, _viz._ that _Satan_, like an +Enemy who is baulk'd and defeated, but not overcome, redoubles his Rage, +and reinforces his Army, and what the _Egyptians_ could not do for him, +he resolves to do for himself; in order then to take his Opportunity for +what Mischief might offer, being defeated, and provok'd, I say, at the +Slur that was put upon him, he resolves to follow them into the +Wilderness, and many a vile Prank he plaid them there; as first, he +straitens them for Water, and makes them murmur against GOD, and against +_Moses_, within a very few Days, nay, Hours, of their great Deliverance +of all. + +Nor was this all, but in less than one Year more we find them, (at his +Instigation too) setting up a _golden Calf_, and making all the People +dance about it at Mount _Sinai_; even when God himself had but just +before appear'd to them in the Terrors of a burning Fire upon the Top of +the Mountain; _and what was the Pretence?_ Truly, nothing but that they +had lost _Moses_, who used to be their Guide, and he had hid himself in +the Mount, and had not been seen in forty Days, so that they could not +tell what was become of him. This put them all into Confusion; a poor +Pretence indeed, to turn them all back to Idolatry! but the _watchful +Devil_ took the Hint, push'd the Advantage, and insinuated that they +should never see _Moses_ again, that he was certainly devour'd by +venturing too near the Flashes of Fire in the Mount, and presuming upon +the Liberty he had taken before; in a word, that God had destroyed +_Moses_, or he was starved to Death for want of Food, having been forty +Days and forty Nights absent. + +All these were, it's true, in themselves most foolish Suggestions, +considering _Moses_ was admitted to the Vision of God, and that God had +been pleased to appear to him in the most intimate manner; that as they +might depend God would not destroy his faithful Servant, so they might +have concluded he was able to support his Being without Food as long as +he thought fit; but to a People so easy to believe any thing, what could +be too gross for the _Devil_ to persuade them to? + +A People who could dance round a Calf, and call it their God, might do +any thing; that could say to one another, that this was the Great +JEHOVAH, _that brought them out of the Land of Egypt_; and that within +so few Days after God's miraculous Appearance to them, and for them; I +say, such a People were really fitted to be imposed upon, nothing could +be too gross for them. + +This was indeed his first considerable Experiment upon them as _a +People_, or as _a Body_; and the Truth is, his Affairs requir'd it, for +_Satan_, who had been a Successful Devil in most of his Attempts upon +Mankind, could hardly doubt of Success in any thing after he had carried +his Point at Mount _Sinai_: To bring them to Idolatry in the very Face +of their Deliverer, and just after their Deliverance! It was more +astonishing in the main than even their passing _the Red Sea_: In a +Word, the _Devil_'s whole History does not furnish us with a Story +equally surprising. + +And how was poor _Aaron_ bewilder'd in it too? He that was _Moses_'s +Partner in all the great Things that _Moses_ did in _Pharaoh_'s Sight, +and that was appointed to be his Assistant and Oracle, _or Orator +rather_, upon all public Occasions; that he, above all the rest, should +come into this absurd and ridiculous Proposal, he that was singled out +for the sacred Priesthood, for him to defile his holy Hands with a +polluted abominable Sacrifice, and with making the Idol for them too, +(for 'tis plain that he made it,) how monstrous it was! + +And see what an Answer he gives to his Brother _Moses_, how weak! how +simple! _I did so and so, indeed_, I bad them bring the Ear-rings, _&c._ +and I cast the Gold into the Fire, and _it came out this Calf_. +Ridiculous! as if the Calf came out by meer fortuitous Adventure, +without a Mould to cast it in; which could not be supposed: And if it +had not come out so without a Mould, _Moses_ would certainly have known +of it; had _Aaron_ been innocent, he would have answered after quite +another manner, and told _Moses_ honestly that the whole Body of the +People came to him in a Fright, that they forced him to make them an +Idol; which he did, by making first a proper Mould to cast it in, and +then taking the proper Metal to cast it from: That indeed he had sinn'd +in so doing, but that he was mobb'd into it, and the People terrified +him, perhaps they threatned to kill him; and if he had added, that the +_Devil_ prompting his Fear beguil'd him, he had said nothing but what +was certainly true; for if it was in Satan's Power to make the People +insolent and outrageous enough to threaten and bully the old venerable +Prophet (_for he was not yet a Priest_) who was the Brother of their +Oracle _Moses_, and had been Partner with him in so many of his +Commissions; I say, if he cou'd bring up the Passions of the People to a +Height to be rude and unmannerly to him (_Aaron_) and perhaps to +threaten and insult him, he may be easily suppos'd to be able to +intimidate _Aaron_, and terrify him into a Compliance. + +See this cunning Agent, when he has Man's Destruction in his View, how +securely he acts! he never wants a handle; the best of Men have one weak +place or other, and he always finds it out, takes the Advantage of it, +and conquers them by one Artifice or another; only take it with you as +you go, 'tis always _by Stratagem_, never _by Force_; a Proof that he is +not empower'd to use Violence: He may tempt, and he does prevail; but +'tis all _Legerdemain_, 'tis all Craft and Artifice, he is still Diabole, +the _Calumniator_ and Deceiver, that is, the Misrepresenter; he +misrepresents _Man_ to GOD, and misrepresents GOD to _Man_, also he +misrepresents Things; he puts false Colours, and then manages the Eye to +see them with an imperfect View, raising Clouds and Fogs to intercept +our Sight; in short, he deceives all our Senses, and imposes upon us in +Things which otherwise would be the easiest to discern and judge of. + +This indeed is in part the Benefit of the _Devil_'s History, to let us +see that he has used the same Method all along; and that ever since he +has had any thing to do with Mankind, he has practis'd upon them with +Stratagem and Cunning; also 'tis observable that he has carried his +Point better that way than he would have done by Fury and Violence, if +he had been allowed to make use of it; for by his Power indeed he might +have laid the World desolate, and made a Heap of Rubbish of it long ago; +but, as I have observed before, that would not have answered his Ends +half so well, for by destroying Men he would have made Martyrs, and sent +abundance of good Men to Heaven, who would much rather have died, than +yielded to serve him, and, as he aimed to have it, to fall down and +worship him; I say, he would have made Martyrs, and that not a few: But +this was none of _Satan_'s Business; his Design lies quite another Way; +his Business is to make Men _sin_, not to make them _suffer_; to make +_Devils_ of them, not _Saints_; to delude them, and draw them away from +their Maker, not send them away to him; and therefore he works by +Stratagem, not by Force. + +We are now come to his Story, as it relates to the _Jewish_ Church in +the Wilderness, and to the Children of _Israel_ in their travelling +Circumstances; and this was the first Scene of publick Management that +the Devil had upon his Hands in the World; for, as I have said, _till +now_, he dealt with Mankind either in their separate Condition, one by +one, or else carried all before him, engrossing whole Nations in his +Systems of Idolatry, and overwhelming them in an ignorant Destruction. + +But having now a whole People as it were snatch'd away from him, taken +out of his Government, and, which was still worse, having a View of a +Kingdom being set up independent of him, and superior to his Authority, +it is not to be wondred at if he endeavour'd to overthrow them in the +Infancy of their Constitution, and tried all possible Arts to bring them +back into his own Hands again. + +He found them not only carried away from the Country where they were +even in his Clutches, surrounded with Idols, and where we have Reason to +believe the greatest part of them were polluted with the Idolatry of the +_Egyptians_; for we do not read of any stated Worship which they had of +their own, or if they did worship the true God, we scarce know in what +manner they did it; they had no Law given them, nothing but the Covenant +of Circumcision, and even _Moses_ himself had not strictly observ'd +that, till he was frighted into it; we read of no Sacrifices among them, +no Feasts were ordain'd, no solemn Worship appointed, and how, or in +what manner they perform'd their Homage, we know not; the Passover was +not ordain'd till just at their coming away; so that there was not much +Religion among them, at least that we have any Account of; and we may +suppose the _Devil_ was pretty easy with them all the while they were in +the House of their Bondage. + +But now, to have a Million of People fetch'd out of his Hands, as it +were all at once, and to have the immediate Power of Heaven engaged in +it, and that _Satan_ saw evidently God had singled them out in a +miraculous manner to favour them, and call them _his own_; this allarm'd +him at once, and therefore he resolves to follow them, lay close Siege +to them, and take all the Measures possible to bring them to rebel +against, and disobey GOD, that he might be provok'd to destroy them; and +how near he went to bring it to pass, we shall see presently. + +This making a Calf, and paying an idolatrous Worship to it (for they +acted the Heathens and Idolaters, not in the setting up the Calf only, +but in the manner of their Worshiping, _viz._ _Dancing_ and _Musick_, +Things they had not been acquainted with in the Worship of the true God) +I mention here, to observe how the Devil not only imposed upon their +Principles, but upon their Senses too; as if the awful Majesty of +Heaven, whose Glory they had seen in Mount _Sinai_, where they stood, +and whose Pillar of Cloud and Fire was their Guide and Protection, would +be worship'd by dancing round a Calf! and that not a living Creature, or +a real Calf, but the mere Image of a _Calf_ cast in Gold, or, as some +think, in Brass gilded over. + +But this was the _Devil_'s Way with Mankind, namely, to impose upon +their Senses, and bring them into the grossest Follies and Absurdities; +and then, having first made them Fools, it was much the easier to make +them Offenders. + +In this very manner he acted with them thro' all the Course of their +Wilderness Travels; for as they were led by the Hand like Children, +defended by Omnipotence, fed by Miracles, instructed immediately from +Heaven, and in all things had _Moses_ for their Guide; they had no room +to miscarry, but by acting the greatest Absurdities, and committing the +greatest Follies in Nature; and even these, the _Devil_ brought them to +be guilty of, in a surprising manner: 1. As GOD himself reliev'd them in +every Exigence, and supply'd them in every Want, one would think 'twas +impossible they should be ever brought to question either his +Willingness or his Ability, and yet they really objected against both; +which was indeed very provoking, and I doubt not, that when the _Devil_ +had brought them to act in such a preposterous Manner, he really hoped +and believed God would be provok'd effectually: The Testimonies of his +Care of them, and Ability to supply them, were miraculous and +undeniable; he gave them Water from the Rock, Bread from the Air, sent +the Fowls to feed them with Flesh, and supported them all the Way by +Miracles; their Health was preserv'd, none were sick among them, their +clothes did not wear out, nor their Shoes grow old upon their Feet; +could any thing be more absurd, than to doubt whether he could provide +for them who had never let them want for so many Years? + +But the _Devil_ managed them in spight of Miracles; nor did he ever give +them over till he had brought six hundred thousand of them to provoke +God so highly that he would not suffer above two of them to go into the +Land of Promise; so that in short, Satan gained his Point as to that +Generation, for all their Carcasses fell in the Wilderness. Let us take +but a short View to what a Height he brought 'em, and in what a rude, +absurd Manner they acted; how he set them upon murmuring upon every +Occasion, now for Water, then for Bread; nay, they murmured _at their +Bread_ when they had it; _Our Soul loaths this light Bread._ + +He sow'd the Seeds of Church-Rebellion in the Sons of _Aaron_, and made +_Nadab_ and _Abihu_ offer strange Fire till they were strangely consumed +by Fire for the doing it. + +He set them a complaining at _Taberah_, and a lusting for Flesh at the +first three Days Journey from Mount _Sinai_. + +He planted Envy in the Hearts of _Miriam_ and _Aaron_, against the +Authority of _Moses_, to pretend GOD had spoke by them as well as by +him, till he humbled the Father, and made a Leper of the Daughter. + +He debauch'd ten of the Spies, frighted them with sham Appearances of +Things, when they went out to search the Land; and made them fright the +whole People out of their Understanding as well as Duty, for which six +hundred thousand of their Carcasses fell in the Wilderness. + +He rais'd the Rebellion of _Korah_, and the two hundred and fifty +Princes, till he brought them to be swallowed up alive. + +He put _Moses_ into a Passion at _Meribah_, and ruffled the Temper of +the meekest Man upon Earth, by which he made both him and _Aaron_ +forfeit their Share of the Promise, and be shut out from the _Holy +Land_. + +He rais'd a Mutiny among them when they travelled from Mount _Hor_, till +they brought fiery Serpents among them to destroy them. + +He tried to make _Baalim_ the Prophet curse them, but there the _Devil_ +was disappointed: However, he brought the _Midianites_ to debauch them +with Women, as in the Case of _Zimri_ and _Cosbi_. + +He tempted _Achan_ with the Wedge of Gold, and the _Babylonish_ Garment, +that he might take of the accursed thing, and be destroy'd. + +He tempted the whole People, not effectually to drive out the cursed +Inhabitants of the Land of Promise, that they might remain, and be Goads +in their Sides, till at last they often oppress'd them for their +Idolatry; and, which was worse, debauched them to Idolatry. + +He prompted the _Benjamites_ to refuse Satisfaction to the People, in +the Case of the Wickedness of the Men of _Gibeah_, to the Destruction of +the whole Tribe, four hundred Men excepted in the Rock _Rimmon_. + +At last he tempted them to reject the Theocracy of their Maker, and call +upon _Samuel_ to make them a King; and most of those Kings he made +Plagues and Sorrows to them in their time, as you shall hear in their +Order. + +Thus he plagued the whole Body of the People continually, making them +sin against God, and bring Judgments upon themselves, to the consuming +some Millions of them, first and last, by the Vengeance of their Maker. + +As he did with the whole Congregation, so he did with their Rulers, and +several of the Judges, who were made Instruments to deliver the People, +yet were drawn into snares by this _subtil Serpent_, to ruin themselves +or the People they had delivered. + +He tempted _Gideon_ to make an _Ephod_, contrary to the Law of the +Tabernacle, and made the Children of _Israel_ go a whoring (that is, a +worshiping) after it. + +He tempted _Sampson_ to debauch himself with a Harlot, and betray his +own happy Secret to a Whore, at the Expence of both his Eyes, and at +last of his Life. + +He tempted _Eli_'s Sons to lie with the Women, in the very Doors of the +Tabernacle, when they came to bring their Offerings to the Priest; and +he tempted poor _Eli_ to connive at them, or not sufficiently reprove +them. + +He tempted the People to carry the Ark of God into the Camp, that it +might fall into the Hands of the _Philistines_. And + +He tempted _Uzzi_ to reach out his Hand to hold it up; as if he that had +preserved it in the House of _Dagon_ the Idol of the _Philistines_, +could not keep it from falling out of the Cart. + +When the People had gotten a King, he immediately set to work in diverse +Ways to bring that King to load them with Plagues and Calamities not a +few. + +He tempted _Saul_ to spare the King of _Amaliek_, contrary to God's +express Command. + +He not tempted _Saul_ only, but possessed him with an evil Spirit, by +which he was left to wayward Dispositions, and was forced to have it +fiddl'd out of him with a Minstrel. + +He tempted _Saul_ with a Spirit of Discontent, and with a Spirit of Envy +at poor _David_, to hunt him like a Partridge upon the Mountains. + +He tempted _Saul_ with a Spirit of Divination, and sent him to a Witch +to enquire of _Samuel_ for him; as if God would help him when he was +dead, that had forsaken him when he was alive. + +After that, he tempted him to kill himself, on a Pretence that he might +not fall into the Hands of the Uncircumcised; as if _Self-Murther_ was +not half so bad, either for Sin against God, or Disgrace among Men, as +being taken Prisoner by _a Philistine_! A Piece of Madness none but the +_Devil_ could have brought Mankind to submit to, tho' some Ages after +that, he made it a Fashion among the _Romans_. + +After _Saul_ was dead, and _David_ came to the Throne, by how much he +was a Man chosen and particularly savoured by Heaven, the _Devil_ fell +upon him with the more Vigour, attack'd him so many Ways, and conquer'd +him so very often, that as no Man was so good a King, so hardly any good +King was ever a worse Man; in many Cases one would have almost thought +the _Devil_ had made Sport with _David_, to shew how easily he could +overthrow the best Man _God_ could choose of the whole Congregation. + +He made him distrust his Benefactor so much as to feign himself mad +before the King of _Gath_, when he had fled to him for Shelter. + +He made him march with his four hundred Cut-throats, to cut off poor +_Nabal_, and all his Houshold, only because he would not send him the +good Chear he had provided for his honest Sheep-shearers. + +He made him, for his Word's sake, give _Ziba_ half his Master's Estate +for his Treachery, after he knew he had been the Traitor, and betray'd +poor _Mephibosheth_ for the sake of it; in which + + 'The good old King, it seems, was very loth + 'To break his Word, and therefore broke his Oath. + + +Then he tempted him to the ridiculous Project of numbring the People, +tho' against God's express Command; a Thing _Joab_ himself was not +wicked enough to do, till _David_ and the _Devil_ forc'd him to it. + +And to make him compleatly wicked, he carried him to the Top of his +House, and shew'd him a naked Lady bathing her self in her Garden, in +which it appear'd that the _Devil_ knew _David_ too well, and what was +the particular Sin of his Inclination; and so took him by the Right +Handle; drawing him at once into the Sins of _Murther_ and _Adultery_. + +Then, that he might not quite give him over, (tho' _David_'s Repentance +for the last Sin kept the _Devil_ off for a while) when he could attack +him no farther personally he fell upon him in his Family, and made him +as miserable as he could desire him to be, in his Children, three of +whom he brought to Destruction before his Face, and another after his +Death. + +First, he tempted _Ammon_ to ravish his Sister _Tamar_; so, there was an +End of her (_poor Girl!_) as to this World, for we never hear any more +of her. + +Then he tempted _Absalom_ to murther his Brother _Amnon_, in Revenge for +_Tamar_'s Maidenhead. + +Then he made _Joab_ run _Absalom_ thro' the Body, contrary to _David_'s +Command. + +And after _David_'s Death he brought _Adonija_ (weak Man!) to the Block, +for usurping King _Solomon_'s Throne. + +As to _Absalom_, he tempted him to Rebellion, and raising War against +his Father, to the turning him shamefully out of _Jerusalem_, and almost +out of the Kingdom. + +He tempted him, for _David_'s farther Mortification, to lie with his +Father's Wives, in the Face of the whole City; and had _Achitophel_'s +honest Council been follow'd, he had certainly sent him to Sleep with +his Fathers, long before his time--But there _Satan_ and _Achitophel_ +were both out-witted together. + +Thro' all the Reigns of the several Successors of _David_, the _Devil_ +took care to carry on his own Game, to the continual insulting the +Measures which God himself had taken for the establishing his People in +the World, and especially as a Church; till at last he so effectually +debauch'd them to Idolatry; that Crime which of all others was most +provoking to GOD, as it was carrying the People away from their +Allegiance, and transposing the Homage they ow'd God their Maker, to a +contemptible Block of Wood, or an Image of a brute Beast; and this how +sordid and brutish soever it was in it self, yet so did his Artifice +prevail among them, that, first or last, he brought them all into it, +the ten Tribes as well as the two Tribes; till at last God himself was +provoked to unchurch them, gave them up to their Enemies, and the few +that were left of them, after incredible Slaughters and Desolation, +were hurried away, some into _Tartary_, and others into _Babylon_, from +whence very few, of that few that were carried away, ever found their +Way Home again; and some, when they might have come, would not accept of +it, but continued there to the very coming of the Messiah. See Epistles +of St. _James_ and of St. _Peter_, at the Beginning. + +But to look a little back upon this Part (for it cannot be omitted, it +makes so considerable a Part of the _Devil_'s History) I mean his +drawing God's People, Kings and all, into all the Sins and Mischiefs +which gradually contributed to their Destruction. + +First, (_for he began immediately with the very best and wisest of the +Race_) he drew in King _Solomon_, in the midst of all his Zeal for the +building God's House, and for the making the most glorious and +magnificent Appearance for God's Worship that ever the World saw; I say, +in the middle of all this, he drew him into such immoderate and +insatiable an Appetite for Women, as to set up the first, and perhaps +the greatest _Seraglio_ of Whores that ever any Prince in the World had, +or pretended to before; nay, and to bring whoring so much into +Reputation, that, as the Text says, seven hundred of them were +Princesses; that is to say, Ladies of Quality: Not as the Grand +Seigniors, and Great Moguls, (other Princes of the Eastern World) have +since practised, namely, to pick up their most beautiful Slaves; but +these, it seems, were Women of Rank, King's Daughters, as _Pharaoh_'s +Daughter, and the Daughters of the Princes and prime Men among the +_Moabites_, _Ammonites_, _Zidonians_, _Hittites_, &c. 1 _Kings_ xi. 1. + +Nor was this all; but as he drew him into the Love of these forbidden +Women (_for such they were, as to their Nation, as well as Number_) so +he ensnar'd him by those Women to a Familiarity with their Worship; and +by degrees brought that famous Prince (famous for his Wisdom) to be the +greatest and most-impos'd-upon old Fool in the World; Bowing down to +those Idols by the Inticing of his Whores, whom he had abhorr'd and +detested in his Youth, as dishonouring that God for whom, and for whose +Worship he had finish'd and dedicated the most magnificent Building and +Temple in the World: Nothing but the invincible Subtlety of this _Arch +Devil_ could ever have brought such a Man as _Solomon_ to such a +Degeneracy of Manners, and to such Meannesses; no, not the _Devil_ +himself, without the Assistance of his Whores, nor the Whores +themselves, without the _Devil_ to help them. + +As to _Solomon_, _Satan_ had made Conquest enough there, we need hear no +more of him; the next Advance he made, was in the Person of his Son +_Rehoboam_; had not the _Devil_ prompted his Pride and tyrannical +Humour, he would never have given the People such an Answer as he did; +and when he saw a Fellow at the Head of them too whom he knew wanted and +waited for an Occasion to raise a Rebellion, and had ripened up the +People's Humour to the Occasion: Well might the Text call it _listening +to the Council of the young Heads_; that it was indeed with a Vengeance! +but those young Heads too were acted by an old _Devil_, who for his +Craft is called, as I have observ'd, the _Old Serpent_. + +Having thus pav'd the Way, _Jeroboam_ revolts. So far God had directed +him; for the Text says expressly, speaking in the first Person of GOD +himself, _This Thing is of Me_. + +But tho' God might appoint _Jeroboam_ to be King, (that is to say, of +ten Tribes,) yet GOD did not appoint him to set up the _two Calves_ in +the two extreme Parts of the Land, _viz._ in _Dan_, and in _Bethel_; +that was _Jeroboam_'s own doing, and done on purpose to keep the People +from falling back to _Rehoboam_, by being obliged to go to _Jerusalem_ +to the publick Worship: And the Text adds, _Jeroboam made Israel to +sin_. This was indeed a Master-piece of the _Devil_'s Policy, and it was +effectual to answer the End, nothing could have been more to the +Purpose; what Reason he had to expect the People would so universally +come into it, and be so well satisfied with a couple of Calves, instead +of the true Worship of GOD at _Jerusalem_; or what Arts and Management +he (_Satan_) made use of afterwards, to bring the People in, to join +with such a Delusion, that we find but little of in all the Annals of +_Satan_; not is it much to the Case: 'Tis certain the _Devil_ found a +strange kind of Propensity to worshiping Idols rooted in the Temper of +that whole People, even from their first breaking away from the +_Egyptian_ Bondage; so that he had nothing to do but to work upon the +old Stock, and propagate the Crime that he found was so natural to them. +And this is _Satan_'s general Way of working, not with them only, but +with us also, and with all the World, even then, and ever since. + +When he had thus secur'd _Jeroboam_'s Revolt, we need not trace him +among his Successors; for the same Reason of State that held for the +setting up the Calves at _Bethel_ and _Dan_, held good for the keeping +them up, to all _Jeroboam_'s Posterity; nor had they one good King ever +after; even _Jehu_, who call'd his Friends to come and see his _Zeal for +the Lord_, and who fulfill'd the Threatnings of God upon _Ahab_ and his +Family, and upon Queen _Jezabel_ and her Offspring, and knew all the +while that he was executing the Judgment of the true God upon an +idolatrous Race; yet he would not part with his Calves, but would have +thought it to have been parting with his Kingdom, and that as the People +would have gone up to _Jerusalem_ to worship, so they would at the same +Time have transfer'd their civil Obedience to the King of _Judah_, +(whose Right it really was, as far as they could claim by Birth and +right Line); so that by the way, _Satan_ any more than other +Politicians, is not for the _jus divinum_ of lineal Succession, or what +we call hereditary Right, any farther than serves for his Purpose. + +Thus Satan ridded his Hands of ten of the twelve Tribes; let us now see +how he went on with the rest, for his Work was now brought into a +narrower Compass; the Church of God was now reduc'd to two Tribes, +except a few religious People, who separated from the Schism of +_Jeroboam_, and came and planted themselves among the Tribes of _Judah_ +and _Benjamin_: The first thing the Devil did after this, was to foment +a War between the two Kings, while _Judah_ was governed by a Boy or +Youth, _Abija_ by Name, and he none of the best neither; but God's Time +was not come, and the Devil receiv'd a great Disappointment; when +_Jeroboam_ was so entirely overthrown; that if the Records of those Ages +do not mistake, no less than 500000 Men of _Israel_ were kill'd, such a +Slaughter, that one would think the Army of _Judah_, had they known how +to improve as well as gain a Victory, might have brought all the rest +back again, and have intirely reduc'd the House of _Jeroboam_ and the +ten Tribes that follow'd him to their Obedience; nay they did take a +great deal of the Country from them, and among the rest _Bethel_ it +self; and yet so cunningly did _Satan_ manage, that the King of _Judah_, +who was himself a wicked King, and perhaps an Idolater in his Heart, did +not take down the golden Calf that _Jeroboam_ had there, no nor destroy +the Idolatry it self, so that in short, his Victory signified nothing. + +From hence to the Captivity, we find the _Devil_ busy with the Kings of +_Judah_, especially the best of them; as for such as _Manasseth_, and +those who transgress'd by the general Tenor of their Lives, those he had +no great trouble with. + +But such as _Asa_, _Jehoshaphat_, _Hezekiah_, and _Josiah_, he hung +about them and their Courts, till he brought every one of them into some +Mischief or another. + +As first, good King _Asa_, of whom the Scripture says, his Heart was +perfect all his Days, yet this subtle Spirit, that could break in upon +him no where else, tempted him when the King of _Israel_ came out +against him, to send to hire _Benhadad_ the King of _Syria_ to help him; +as if GOD who had before enabled him to conquer the _Ethiopians_, with +an Army of ten hundred thousand Men, could not have saved him from the +King of the ten Tribes. + +In the same manner he tempted _Jehoshaphat_ to join with that wicked +King _Ahab_ against the King of _Syria_, and also to marry his Son to +_Ahab_'s Daughter, which was fatal to _Jehoshaphat_, and to his +Posterity. + +_Again_, He tempted _Hezekiah_ to shew all his Riches to the King of +_Babylon_'s Messengers; and who can doubt, but that he (_Satan_) is to +be understood by the wicked Spirit which stood before the Lord, 2 +_Chron._ xviii. 20. and offered his Service to entice _Ahab_ the King of +_Israel_ to come out to Battle to his Ruin, by being a lying Spirit in +the Mouths of all his Prophets; and who for that Time had a special +Commission, as he had another Time in the Case of _Job_? and indeed it +was a Commission fit for no body but the _Devil_: _Thou shalt entice_ +him, _and thou shalt_ also _prevail: Go out and do_ even _so_, ver. 21. + +Even good _Josiah_ himself, of whom it is recorded, that _like him there +was no King before him_, _neither after him arose there any like him_, 2 +Kings xxiii. 26. yet the _Devil_ never left him with his Machinations, +till finding he could not tempt him to any Thing wicked in his +Government, he tempted or mov'd him to a needless War with the King of +_Egypt_, in which he lost his Life. + +From the Death of this good King, the _Devil_ prevail'd so with the +whole Nation of the _Jews_, and brought them to such an incorrigible +Pitch of Wickedness, that _God_ gave them up, forsook his Habitation of +Glory, the Temple, which he suffer'd to be spoil'd first, then burnt and +demolish'd; destroying the whole Nation of the _Jews_, except a small +Number that were left, and those the Enemy carried away into Captivity. + +Nor was he satisfied with this general Destruction of the whole People +of _Israel_, for the ten Tribes were gone before; but he follow'd them +even into their Captivity; those that fled away to _Egypt_, which they +tell us were seventy thousand, he first corrupted, and then they were +destroyed there upon the Overthrow of _Egypt_, by the same King of +_Babylon_. + +Also he went very near to have them rooted out, young and old, Man, +Woman and Child, who were in Captivity in _Babylon_, by the Ministry of +that true Agent of Hell, _Haman_ the _Agagite_; but there _Satan_ met +with a Disappointment too, as in the Story of _Hester_, which was but +the fourth that he had met with, in all his Management since the +Creation; I say, there he was disappointed, and his prime Minister +_Haman_ was exalted, as he deserv'd. + +Having thus far traced the Government and Dominion of the _Devil_, from +the Creation of Man to the Captivity; I think I may call upon him to set +up his Standard of universal Empire, at that Period; it seem'd just then +as if God had really forsaken the Earth, and given the entire Dominion +of Mankind up to his outrageous Enemy the _Devil_; for excepting the few +_Israelites_ which were left in the Territories of the King of +_Babylon_, and they were but a few; I say, except among them, there was +not one Corner of the World left where the true God was call'd upon, or +his Dominion so much as acknowledg'd; all the World was buried in +Idolatry, and that of so many horrid Kinds, that one would think, the +Light of Reason should have convinc'd Mankind, that he who exacted such +bloody Sacrifices as that of _Moloch_, and such a bloody cutting +themselves with Knives, as the Priests of _Baal_ did, could not be a +GOD, a good and beneficent Being, but must be a cruel, voracious and +devouring Devil, whose End was not the Good, but the Destruction of his +Creatures: But to such a Height was the blind demented World arriv'd to +at that Time, that in these sordid and corrupt Ways, they went on +worshiping dumb Idols, and offering human Sacrifices to them, and in a +Word, committing all the most horrid and absurd Abominations that they +were capable of, or that the _Devil_ could prompt them to, till Heaven +was again put, as it were, to the Necessity of bringing about a +Revolution, in favour of his own forsaken People, by Miracle and +Surprize, as he had done before. + +We come therefore to the Restoration or Return of the Captivity: Had +_Satan_ been able to have acted any thing by Force, _as I have observ'd +before_, all the Princes and Powers of the World, having been, as they +really were, at his Devotion, he might easily have made use of them, +arm'd all the World against the _Jews_, and prevented the Rebuilding the +Temple, and even the Return of the Captivity. + +But now the _Devil_'s Power manifestly received a Check, and the Hand of +God appear'd in it, and that he was resolv'd to reestablish his People +the _Jews_, and to have a second Temple built: the _Devil_, who knew the +Extent of his own Power too well, and what Limitations were laid upon +him, stood still as it were looking on, and not daring to oppose the +Return of the Captivity, which he very well knew had been prophesied, +and would come to pass. + +He did indeed make some little Opposition to the Building, and to the +fortifying the City, but as it was to no Purpose, so he was soon oblig'd +to give it over; and thus the Captivity being return'd, and the Temple +rebuilt, the People of the _Jews_ encreased and multiplied to an infinite +Number and Strength; and from this Time we may say, the Power of the +_Devil_ rather declin'd and decreas'd, than went on with Success, as it +had done before; It is true the _Jews_ fell into Sects and Errors, and +Divisions of many Kinds, after the Return from the Captivity, and no +doubt the _Devil_ had a great Hand in those Divisions; but he could +never bring them back to Idolatry, and his not being able to do that, +made him turn his Hand so many Ways to plague and oppress them; as +particularly by _Antiochus_ the Great, who brought the Abomination of +Desolation into the holy Place; and there the Devil triumph'd over them +for some Time; but they were deliver'd many Ways, till at last they came +peaceably under the Protection rather than the Dominion of the _Roman_ +Empire: When _Herod_ the Great govern'd them as a King, and reedified, +nay almost rebuilt their Temple, with so great an Expence and +Magnificence, that he made it, as some say, greater and more glorious +than that of _Solomon_'s, tho' that I take to be a great ---- Fable, to +say no worse of it. + +In this Condition the _Jewish_ Church stood, when the Fullness of Time, +as 'tis call'd in Scripture, was come; and the _Devil_ was kept at Bay, +tho' he had made some Encroachments upon them as above; for there was a +glorious Remnant of Saints among _them_, such as old _Zacharias_ the +Father of _John_ the Baptist, and old _Simeon_, who waited for the +Salvation of _Israel_; I say, in this Condition the _Jewish_ Church +stood when the _Messiah_ came into the World, which was such another +mortal Stab to the Thrones and Principalities infernal, as that of which +I have spoken already in Chap. III. at the Creation of Man; and +therefore with this I break off the Antiquities of the _Devil_'s +History, or the antient Part of his Kingdom; for from hence downward we +shall find his Empire has declin'd gradually; and tho' by his wonderful +Address, his prodigious Application, and the Vigilance and Fidelity of +his Instruments, as well human as infernal and diabolical, and of the +Human as well the Ecclesiastick as the Secular; he has many Times +retriev'd what he has lost, and sometimes bid fair for recovering the +universal Empire he once possess'd over Mankind; yet he has been still +defeated again, repulst and beaten back, and his Kingdom has greatly +declin'd in many Parts of the World; and especially in the Northern +Parts, except _Great Britain_; and how he has politically maintain'd his +Interest and encreased his Dominion among the wise and righteous +Generation that we cohabit with and among, will be the Subject of the +_modern_ Part of _Satan_'s _History_, and of which we are next to give +an Account. + + + + + PART II. + OF THE + MODERN HISTORY + OF THE + DEVIL. + + +CHAP. I. + + +I have examined the Antiquities of Satan's History in the former Part of +this Work, and brought his Affairs down from the Creation, as far as to +our blessed Christian Times; especially to the Coming of the _Messiah_, +when one would think the _Devil_ could have nothing to do among us. I +have indeed but touch'd at some Things which might have admitted of a +farther Description of Satan's Affairs, and the Particulars of which we +may all come to a farther Knowledge of hereafter; yet I think I have +spoken to the material Part of his Conduct, as it relates to his Empire +in this World: What has happen'd to his more sublimated Government, and +his Angelic Capacities, I shall have an Occasion to touch at in several +solid Particulars as we go along. + +The _Messiah_ was now born, _the Fulness of Time was come_, that the old +Serpent was to have his _Head broken_, that is to say, his Empire or +Dominion over Man, which he gain'd by the Fall of our first Father and +Mother in _Paradise_, receiv'd a Downfal or Overthrow. + +It is worth observing, in order to confirm what I have already mention'd +of the Limitation of Satan's Power, that not only his Angelic Strength +seems to have received a farther Blow upon the Coming of the Son of God +into the World, but he seems to have had a Blow upon his Intellects; his +Serpentine Craft and _Devil-like_ Subtilty seems to have been +circumscrib'd and cut short; and instead of his being so cunning a +Fellow as before, when, _as I said_, 'tis evident he outwitted all +Mankind, not only _Eve_, _Cain_, _Noah_, _Lot_, and all the Patriarchs, +but even Nations of Men, and that in their publick Capacity; and thereby +led them into absurd and ridiculous Things, such as the Building of +_Babel_, and deifying and worshiping their Kings, when dead and rotten; +idolizing _Beasts_, _Stocks_, _Stones_, _any Thing_, and even _Nothing_; +and in a Word, when he manag'd Mankind just as he pleased. + +Now and from this Time forward he appeared a weak, foolish, ignorant +_Devil_, compar'd to what he was before; He was upon almost every +Occasion resisted, disappointed, baulk'd and defeated, especially in all +his Attempts to thwart or cross the Mission and Ministry of the +_Messiah_, while he was upon Earth, and sometimes upon other and very +mean Occasions too. + +And first, how foolish a Project was it, and how below Satan's +celebrated Artifice in like Cases, to put _Herod_ upon sending to kill +the poor innocent Children in _Bethlehem_, in hopes to destroy the +Infant? for I take it for granted, it was the _Devil_ put into +_Herod_'s Thoughts that Execution, how simple and foolish soever; now we +must allow him to be very ignorant of the Nativity himself, or else he +might easily have guided his Friend _Herod_ to the Place where the +Infant was. + +This shews that _either_ the _Devil_ is in general ignorant as we are, +of what is to come in the World, before it is really come to pass; and +consequently can foretel nothing, no not so much as our famous old +_Merlin_ or _Mother Shipton_ did, _or else_ that great Event was hid +from him by an immediate Power superior to his, which I cannot think +neither, considering how much he was concern'd in it, and how certainly +he knew that it was once to come to pass. + +But be that as it will, 'tis certain the _Devil_ knew nothing where +Christ was born, or when; nor was he able to direct _Herod_ to find him +out, and therefore put him upon that foolish, as well as cruel Order, to +kill all the Children, that he might be sure to destroy the _Messiah_ +among the rest. + +The next simple Step that the _Devil_ took, and indeed the most foolish +one that he could ever be charg'd with, unworthy the very Dignity of a +_Devil_, and below the Understanding that he always was allow'd to act +with, was that of coming to tempt the _Messiah_ in the Wilderness; it is +certain, and he own'd it himself afterwards, upon many Occasions, that +the _Devil_ knew our Saviour to be the Son of God; and 'tis as certain +that he knew, that _as such_ he could have no Power or Advantage over +him; how foolish then was it in him to attack him in that Manner, _if +thou beest the Son of_ GOD? why he knew him to be the _Son of_ GOD well +enough; he said so afterwards, _I know thee who thou art, the holy One +of_ GOD; how then could he be so weak a Devil as to say, _if thou art_, +then do _so_ and _so_? + +The Case is plain, the _Devil_, tho' he knew him to be the Son of GOD, +did not fully know the Mystery of the Incarnation; nor did he know how +far the _Inanition_ of Christ extended, and whether, _as Man_, he was +not subject to fall as _Adam_ was, tho' his reserv'd Godhead might be +still immaculate and pure; and upon this Foot, as he would leave no +Method untried, he attempts him three Times, one immediately after +another; but then, finding himself disappointed he fled. + +This evidently proves that the _Devil_ was ignorant of the great Mystery +of Godliness, _as the Text calls it_, God manifest in the Flesh, and +therefore made that foolish Attempt upon Christ, thinking to have +conquer'd his human Nature as capable of Sin, which it was not; and at +this Repulse _Hell_ groan'd, the whole Army of regimented _Devils_ +receiv'd a Wound, and felt the Shock of it; 'twas a second Overthrow to +them, they had had a long Chain of Success, carried a _devilish_ +Conquest over the greatest Part of the Creation of GOD; but now they +were cut short, _the Seed of the Woman_ was now come _to break the +Serpent's Head_, that is, to cut short his Power, to contract the Limits +of his Kingdom, and in a Word, to dethrone him in the World: No doubt +the _Devil_ receiv'd a Shock, for you find him always afterward, crying +out in a horrible Manner, whenever Christ met with him, or else very +humble and submissive, as when he begg'd leave to go into the Herd of +Swine, a Thing he has often done since. + +Defeated here, the first Stratagem I find him concern'd in after it, was +his entring into _Judas_, and putting him upon betraying Christ to the +Chief Priest; but here again he was entirely mistaken, for he did not +see, _as much a Devil as he was_, what the Event would be; but when he +came to know, that if Christ was put to Death, he would become a +Propitiatory and be the great Sacrifice of Mankind, so to rescue the +fallen Race from that Death they had incurr'd the Penalty of, by the +Fall, that this was the fulfilling of all Scripture Prophesy, and that +thus it was that Christ was to be _the End of the Law_, I say, as soon +as he perceiv'd this, he strove all he could to prevent it, and +disturb'd _Pilate_'s Wife in her Sleep, in order to set her upon her +Husband to hinder his delivering him up to the _Jews_; for then, and not +till then, he knew how Christ was to vanquish Hell by the Power of his +Cross. + +Thus the _Devil_ was disappointed and exposed in every Step he took, and +as he now plainly saw his Kingdom declining, and even the temporal +Kingdom of Christ, rising up upon the Ruins of his (_Satan_'s) Power; he +seem'd to retreat into his own Region the Air, and to consult there with +his fellow _Devils_, what Measures he should take next to preserve his +Dominion among Men; Here it was that he resolv'd upon that truly hellish +Thing call'd Persecution, by which, _tho' he prov'd a foolish Devil in +that too_, he flatter'd himself he should be able to destroy God's +Church, and root out its Professors from the Earth, even almost as soon +as it was establish'd; whereas on the contrary, Heaven counter-acted him +there too, and tho' he arm'd the whole _Roman_ Empire against the +Christians, _that is say_, the whole World, and they were fallen upon +every where, with all the Fury and Rage of some of the most flaming +Tyrants that the World ever saw, of whom _Nero_ was the first; yet in +spight of Hell, GOD made all the Blood, which the Devil caus'd to be +spilt, to be _semen Ecclesiae_, and the DEVIL had the Mortification to +see, that the Number of Christians encreased even under the very Means +he made use of to root them out and destroy them: This was the Case +thro' the Reign of all the _Roman_ Emperors, for the first three hundred +Years after Christ. + +Having thus tried all the Methods that best suited his Inclination, I +mean those of Blood and Death, complicated with Tortures and all Kinds +of Cruelty, and that for so long a Stage of Time as above; the _Devil_ +all on a suddain, as if glutted with Blood, and satiated with +Destruction, sits still and becomes a peaceable Spectator for a good +while; as if he either found himself unable, or had no Disposition to +hinder the Progress of Christianity in the first Ages of its Settlement +in the World: In this interval the Christian Church was establish'd +under _Constantine_, Religion flourished in Peace, and under the most +perfect Tranquillity: The _Devil_ seem'd to be at a Loss what he should +do next, and Things began to look as if Satan's Kingdom was at an End; +but he soon let them see that he was the same indefatigable _Devil_ that +ever he was, and the Prosperity of the Church gave him a large Field of +Action; for knowing the Disposition of Mankind to Quarrel and Dispute, +the universal Passion rooted in Nature, especially among the Church-Men +for Precedency and Dominion, he fell to work with them immediately; so +that turning the Tables, and reassuming the Subtilty and Craft, which, I +say, he seem'd to have lost in the former four hundred Years, he gain'd +more Ground in the next Ages of the Church, and went farther towards +restoring his Power and Empire in the World, and towards overthrowing +that very Church which was so lately establish'd, than all he had done +by Fire and Blood before. + +His Policy now seem'd to be edg'd with Resentment for the Mistakes he +had made; as if the Devil looking back with Anger at himself, to see +what a Fool he had been to expect to crush Religion by Persecution, +rejoyc'd for having discover'd that Liberty and Dominion was the only +way to ruin the Church, not Fire and Faggot; and that he had nothing to +do but to give the zealous People their utmost Liberty in Religion, only +sowing Error and Variety of Opinion among them, and they would bring +Fire and Faggot in fast enough among themselves. + +It must be confess'd these were devilish Politicks; and so sure was the +Aim, and so certain was the _Devil_ to hit his Mark by them, that we +find he not only did not fail then, but the same hellish Methods have +prevail'd still, and will do so to the End of the World. Nor had the +Devil ever a better Game to play than this, for the Ruin of Religion, as +we shall have room to show in many Examples, besides that of the +Dissenters in _England_, who are evidently weaken'd by the late +Toleration: Whether the _Devil_ had any hand in baiting his Hook with an +A--- of Parliament or no, History is silent, but 'tis too evident he has +catch'd the Fish by it; and if the honest Church of _England_ does not +in Pity and Christian Charity to the Dissenters, straighten her Hand a +little, I cannot but fear the _Devil_ will gain his Point, and the +Dissenter will be undone by it. + +Upon this new foot of Politicks the _Devil_ began with the Emperors +themselves: _Arius_, the Father of the Hereticks of that Age, having +broach'd his Opinions, and _Athanasius_ the orthodox Bishop of the East +opposing him, the _Devil_ no sooner saw the Door open to Strife and +Imposition, but he thrust himself in, and raising the Quarrel up to a +suited Degree of Rage and Spleen, he involv'd the good Emperor himself +in it first and _Athanasius_ was banish'd and recall'd, and banish'd +and recall'd again, several times, as Error ran high, and as the _Devil_ +either got or lost Ground: After _Constantine_, the next Emperor was a +Child of his own, (_Arian_) and then the Court came all into the +Quarrel, as Courts often do, and then the _Arians_ and the _Orthodox_ +persecuted one another as furiously as the Pagans persecuted them all +before. To such a Height the _Devil_ brought his Conquest in the very +Infancy of the Question, and so much did he prevail over the true +Christianity of the Primitive Church, even before they had enjoy'd the +Liberty of the pure Worship twenty Years. + +Flush'd with this Success, the _Devil_ made one Push for the restoring +_Paganism_, and bringing on the old Worship of the Heathen Idols and +Temples; but like our King _James_ II. he drove too hard, and _Julian_ +had so provok'd the whole _Roman_ Empire, which was generally at that +time become Christian, that had the Apostate liv'd, he would not have +been able to have held the Throne; and as he was cut off in his +Beginning, Paganism expir'd with him, and the _Devil_ himself might have +cry'd out, as _Julian_ did, and with much more Propriety, _Vicisti +Galileane_. + +_Jovian_, the next Emperor, being a glorious Christian, and a very good +and great Man, the _Devil_ abdicated for a while, and left the Christian +Armies to re-establish the Orthodox Faith; nor could he bring the +Christians to a Breach again among themselves a great while after. + +However, Time and a diligent _Devil_ did the Work at last, and when the +Emperors concerning themselves one way or other, did not appear +sufficient to answer his End, he chang'd Hands again, and went to work +with the Clergy: To set the Doctors effectually together by the Ears, +he threw in the new Notion of _Primacy_ among them, for a Bone of +Contention; the Bait took, the Priests swallow'd it eagerly down, and +the _Devil_, a cunninger Fisherman than ever St. _Peter_ was, _struck +them_ (as the Anglers call it) with a quick Hand, and hung them fast +upon the Hook. + +Having them thus in his Clutches, and they being now, as we may say, his +own, they took their Measures afterwards from him, and most obediently +follow'd his Directions; nay, I will not say but he may have had pretty +much the Management of the whole Society ever since, of what Profession +or Party soever they may have been, with Exception only to the Reverend +and Right Reverend among our selves. + +The Sacred, as above, being thus hook'd in, and the DEVIL being at the +Head of their Affairs, Matters went on most gloriously his own way; +first, the Bishops fell to bandying and Party-making for the +Superiority, as heartily as ever Temporal Tyrants did for Dominion, and +took as black and devilish Methods to carry it on, as the worst of those +Tyrants ever had done before them. + +At last Satan declar'd for the _Roman_ Pontiff, and that upon excellent +Conditions, in the Reign of the Emperor _Mauritius_; for _Boniface_, who +had long contended for the Title of Supreme, fell into a Treaty with +_Phocas_, Captain of the Emperor's Guards; whether the Bargain was from +Hell or not, let any one judge, the Conditions absolutely entitle the +_Devil_ to the Honour of making the Contract, _viz._ That _Phocas_ first +murthering his Master (the Emperor) and his Sons, _Boniface_ should +countenance the Treason, and declare him Emperor; and in Return, +_Phocas_ should acknowledge the Primacy of the Church of _Rome_, and +declare _Boniface_ universal Bishop. A blessed Compact! which at once +set the _Devil_ at the Head of Affairs in the Christian World, as well +Spiritual as Temporal, Ecclesiastick and Civil. Since the Conquest over +_Eve_ in Paradise, by which Death and the DEVIL, Hand in Hand, +establish'd their first Empire upon Earth, the _Devil_ never gain'd a +more important Point than he gain'd at this time. + +He had indeed prospered in his Affairs tolerably well for some time +before this, and his Interest among the Clergy had got Ground for some +Ages; but that was indeed a secret Management, was carried on privately, +and with Difficulty; as in sowing Discord and Faction among the People, +perplexing the Councils of their Princes, and secretly wheedling in with +the dignified Clergy. + +Also he had raised abundance of little Church-Rebellions, by setting up +Hereticks of several Kinds, and raising them Favourers among the Clergy, +such as _Ebion_, _Cerinthius_, _Pelagius_, and others. + +He had drawn in the Bishops of _Rome_ to set up the ridiculous Pageantry +of the KEY; and while he, the DEVIL, set open the Gates of Hell to +them all, set them upon locking up the Gates of Heaven, and giving the +Bishop the Key; a Cheat which, as gross as it was, the DEVIL so gilded +over, or so blinded the Age to receive it, that like _Gideon's Ephod_, +all the Catholick World went a whoring after the Idol; and the Bishop of +_Rome sent_ more Fools to the _Devil_ by it than ever he pretended to +let into Heaven, though he open'd the Door as wide as his Key was able +to do. + +The Story of this Key being given to the Bishop of _Rome_ by St. +_Peter_, (who, by the way, never had it himself,) and of its being lost +by Somebody or other, (the _Devil_ it seems did not tell them who) and +its being found again by a _Lombard_ Soldier in the Army of King +_Antharis_, who attempting to cut it with his Knife, was miraculously +forced to direct the Wound to himself, and cut his own Throat; that King +_Antharis_ and his Nobles happened to see the Fellow do it, and were +converted to Christianity by it, and that the King sent the Key, with +another made like it, to Pope _Pelagius_, then Bishop of _Rome_, who +thereupon assum'd the Power of opening and shutting Heaven's Gates; and +he afterwards setting a Price or Toll upon the Entrance, as we do here +at passing a Turn-pike; these fine things, I say, were successfully +managed for some Years before this I am now speaking of, and the Devil +got a great deal of Ground by it too; but now he triumph'd openly, and +having set up a Murtherer upon the temporal Throne, and a Church Emperor +upon the Ecclesiastic Throne, and both of his own choosing, the _Devil_ +may be said to begin his new Kingdom from this Epocha, and call it the +_Restoration_. + +Since this time indeed the Devil's Affairs went very merrily on, and the +Clergy brought so many Gewgaws into their Worship, and such devilish +Principles were mixt with that which we call'd the Christian Faith, that +in a Word, from this Time the Bishop of _Rome_ commenc'd _Whore of +Babylon_, in all the most express Terms that could be imagin'd: Tyranny +of the worst sort crept into the Pontificate, Errors of all sorts into +the Profession, and they proceeded from one thing to another, till the +very Popes, for so the Bishop of _Rome_ was now called, by way of +Distinction; I say, the Popes themselves, their spiritual Guides, +profess'd openly to confederate with the _Devil_, and to carry on a +personal and private Correspondence with him at the same time, taking +upon them the Title of Christ's Vicar, and the infallible Guide of the +Consciences of Christians. + +This we have sundry Instances of in some merry Popes, who, _if Fame lies +not_, were Sorcerers, Magicians, had familiar Spirits, and immediate +Conversation with the Devil, as well visibly as invisibly, and by this +means became what we call _Devils incarnate_: Upon this account it is +that I have left the Conversation that passes between _Devils and Men_ +to this Place, as well because I believe it differs much now in his +modern State, from what it was in his ancient State, and therefore that +which most concerns us belongs rather to this part of his History; as +also because, as I am now writing to the present Age, I choose to bring +the most significant Parts of his History, especially as they relate to +our selves, into that Part of Time that we are most concern'd in. + +The _Devil_ had once, as I observ'd before, the universal Monarchy or +Government of Mankind in himself, and I doubt not but in that +flourishing State of his Affairs, he governed them like what he is +(_viz._) an absolute Tyrant; during this _Theocracy_ of his, _for_ Satan +_is call'd the God of this World_, he did not familiarize himself to +Mankind so much, as he finds Occasion to do now, there was not then so +much need of it; he governed then with an absolute Sway; he had his +Oracles, where he gave Audience to his Votaries like a Deity, and he had +his Sub-Gods, who under his several Dispositions receiv'd the Homage of +Mankind in their Names; such were all the Rabble of the Heathen Deities, +from _Jupiter_ the Supreme, to the _Lares_ or Houshold Gods of every +Family; these, I say, like Residents, received the Prostrations, but the +Homage was all Satan's; the Devil had the Substance of it all, which was +the Idolatry. + +During this Administration of _Hell_, there was less Witchcraft, less +true literal Magick than there has been since; there was indeed no need +of it, the DEVIL did not stoop to the Mechanism of his more modern +Operations, but rul'd as a Deity, and receiv'd the Vows and the Bows of +his Subjects in more State, and with more Solemnity; whereas since that, +he is content to employ more Agents and take more Pains himself too; now +he runs up and down Hackney in the World, more like a Drudge than a +Prince, and much more than he did then. + +Hence all those Things we call Apparitions and Visions of Ghosts, +Familiar-Spirits and Dealings with the Devil, of which there is so great +a Variety in the World at this Time, were not so much known among the +People, in those first Ages of the Devil's Kingdom; _in a Word_, the +Devil seems to be put to his Shifts, and to fly to Art and Stratagem for +the carrying on his Affairs, much more now than he did then. + +One Reason for this may be, that he has been more discover'd and expos'd +in these Ages, than he was before; then he could appear in the World in +his own proper Shapes, and yet not be known; when the Sons of GOD +appear'd at the divine Summons, Satan came along with them; but now he +has plaid so many scurvy Tricks upon Men, and they know him so well, +that he is oblig'd to play quite out of sight and act in disguise; +Mankind will allow nothing of his doing, and hear nothing of his saying, +in his own Name; and if you propose any Thing to be done, and it be but +said the _Devil_ is to help in the doing it, or if you say of any Man he +deals with the _Devil_, or the _Devil_ has a Hand in it, every Body +flies him and shuns him, as the most frightful Thing in the World. + +Nay, if any Thing strange and improbable be done or related to be done, +we presently say the _Devil_ was at the doing it: Thus the great Ditch +at _Newmarket Heath_, is call'd the _Devil_'s _Ditch_; so the _Devil_ +built _Crowland_ Abby, and the Whispering-Place in _Gloucester_ +Cathedral; nay, the Cave at _Castleton_, only because there's no getting +to the farther End of it, is call'd the _Devil_'s A---- and the like: +The poor People of _Wiltshire_, when you ask them how the great Stones +at _Stonehenge_ were brought thither? they'll all tell you the _Devil_ +brought them: If any Mischief extraordinary befalls us, we presently say +the _Devil_ was in it, and the _Devil_ would have it so; in a Word, the +_Devil_ has got an ill Name among us, and so he is fain to act more _in +Tenebris_, more _incog._ than he used to do, play out of sight himself, +and work by the Sap, as the Engineers call it, and not openly and +avowedly in his own Name and Person, as formerly, tho' perhaps not with +less Success than he did before; and this leads me to enquire more +narrowly into the manner of the _Devil_'s Management of his Affairs +since the Christian Religion began to spread in the World, which +manifestly differs from his Conduct in more antient Times; in which if +we discover some of the most consummate Fool's Policy, the most profound +simple Craft, and the most subtle shallow Management of Things that can +by our weak Understandings be conceiv'd, we must only resolve it into +this, that in short it is the DEVIL. + + + + +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._ + + +It is true, as that learn'd and pleasant Author, the inimitable Dr. +_Brown_ says, the _Devil_ is his own Hell; one of the most constituting +Parts of his Infelicity is, that he cannot act upon Mankind _brevi +Manu_, by his own inherent Power, as well as Rage; that he cannot +unhinge this Creation, which, _as I have observ'd in its Place_, he had +the utmost Aversion to from its Beginning, as it was a stated Design in +the Creator to supply his Place in Heaven with a new Species of _Beings_ +call'd _Man_, and fill the Vacancies occasion'd by his Degeneracy and +Rebellion. + +This fill'd him with Rage inexpressible, and horrible Resolutions of +Revenge, and the Impossibility of executing those Resolutions torments +him with Despair; this added to what he was before, makes him a compleat +_Devil_, with a Hell in his own Breast, and a Fire unquenchable burning +about his Heart. + +I might enlarge here, and very much to the Purpose, in describing +spherically and mathematically that exquisite Quality call'd _a devilish +Spirit_, in which it would naturally occur to give you a whole Chapter +upon the glorious Articles of _Malice_ and _Envy_, and especially upon +that luscious, delightful, triumphant Passion call'd REVENGE; how +natural to Man, nay even to both Sexes; how pleasant in the very +Contemplation, tho' there be not just at that Time a Power of +Execution; how palatable it is in it self, and how well it relishes when +dish'd up with its proper Sauces, such as Plot, Contrivance, Scheme, and +Confederacy, all leading on to Execution: How it possesses a human Soul +in all the most sensible Parts; how it empowers Mankind to sin in +Imagination, as effectually to all future Intents and Purposes +(Damnation) as if he had sinned actually: How safe a Practice it is too, +as to Punishment in this Life, namely, that it empowers us to cut +Throats clear of the Gallows, to slander Virtue, reproach Innocence, +wound Honour and stab Reputation; and in a Word, to do all the wicked +Things in the World, out of the Reach of the Law. + +It would also require some few Words to describe the secret Operations +of those nice Qualities when they reach the human Soul; how effectually +they form a Hell within us, and how imperceptibly they assimilate and +transform us into _Devils_, meer human Devils, as really _Devils_ as +Satan himself, or any of his Angels; and that therefore 'tis not so much +out of the Way, as some imagine, to say, such a Man is an _incarnate_ +Devil; for as Crime made Satan a _Devil_, who was before a bright +immortal Seraph, or Angel of Light; how much more easily may the same +Crime make _the same_ DEVIL, tho' every Way meaner and more +contemptible, _of a Man or_ a Woman either? But this is too grave a +Subject for me at this Time. + +The _Devil_ being thus, I say, fir'd with Rage and Envy, in consequence +of his Jealousy upon the Creation of Man, his Torment is encreased to +the highest by the Limitation of his Power, and his being forbid to act +against Mankind by Force of Arms; this is, I say, part of his _Hell_, +which, as above, is within him, and which he carries with him wherever +he goes; nor is it so difficult to conceive of _Hell_, or of the +_Devil_, either under this just Description, as it is by all the usual +Notions that we are taught to entertain of them, by (the old Women) our +Instructors; for every Man may, by taking but a common View of himself, +and making a just Scrutiny into his own Passions, on some of their +particular Excursions, see a _Hell_ within himself, and himself a meer +_Devil_ as long as the Inflammation lasts; and that as really, and to +all Intents and Purposes, as if he had the Angel (_Satan_) before his +Face, in his Locality and Personality; that is to say, all Devil and +Monster in his Person, and an immaterial but intense Fire flaming about +and from within him, at all the Pores of his Body. + +The Notions we receive of the Devil, _as a Person_ being in Hell _as a +Place_, are infinitely absurd and ridiculous; the first we are certain +is not true in Fact, because he has a certain Liberty, (_however +limited_ that is not to the Purpose) is daily visible, and to be trac'd +in his several Attacks upon Mankind, and has been so ever since his +first Appearance in _Paradise_; as to his corporal Visibility that is +not the present Question neither; 'tis enough that we can hunt him by +the Foot, that we can follow him as Hounds do a Fox upon a hot Scent: We +can see him as plainly by the Effect, by the Mischief he does, and more +by the Mischief he puts us upon doing, _I say_, as plainly, as if we saw +him by the Eye. + +It is not to be doubted but the _Devil_ can see us when and where we +cannot see him: and as he has a Personality, tho' it be spirituous, he +and his Angels too may be reasonably supposed to inhabit the World of +Spirits, and to have free Access from thence to the Regions of Life, and +to pass and repass in the Air, as really, tho' not perceptible to us, +as the Spirits of Men do after their release from the Body, pass to the +Place (wherever that is) which is appointed for them. + +If the _Devil_ was confin'd to a Place (_Hell_) as a Prison, he could +then have no Business here; and if we pretend to describe _Hell_, as not +a Prison, but that the Devil has Liberty to be there, or not be there as +he pleased, then he would certainly never be there, or _Hell_ is not +such a Place as we are taught to understand it to be. + +Indeed according to some, _Hell_ should be a Place of Fire and Torment +to the Souls that are cast into it, but not to the _Devils_ themselves; +who we make little more or less than keepers and Turnkeys to Hell, as a +Goal; that they are sent about to bring Souls thither, lock them in when +they come, and then away upon the Scent to fetch more: That one Sort of +_Devils_ are made to live in the World among Men, and to be busy +continually debauching and deluding Mankind bringing them as it were to +the Gates of _Hell_; and then another Sort are Porters and Carriers to +fetch them in. + +This is, _in short_, little more or less than the old Story of _Pluto_, +of _Cerberus_, and of _Charon_; only that our Tale is not half so well +told, nor the Parts of the Fable so well laid together. + +In all these Notions of _Hell_ and _Devil_, the Torments of the first, +and the Agency of the last Tormenting, we meet with not one Word of the +main and perhaps only Accent of Horror, which belongs to us to judge of +about Hell, I mean the Absence of Heaven; Expulsion, and Exclusion from +the Presence and Face of the chief Ultimate, the only eternal and +sufficient Good; and this loss sustain'd by a sordid Neglect of our +Concern in that excellent Part, in exchange for the most contemptible +and justly condemn'd Trifles, and all this eternal and irrecoverable: +These People tell us nothing of the eternal Reproaches of Conscience, +the Horror of Desperation, and the Anguish of a Mind hopeless of ever +seeing the Glory, which alone constitutes Heaven, and which makes all +other Places dreadful, and even Darkness it self. + +And this brings me directly to the Point in Hand, (_viz._) the State of +that Hell which we ought to have in view when we speak of the _Devil_ as +_in Hell_: This is the very Hell, which is the Torment of the _Devil_; +in short, the _Devil_ is in HELL, and HELL is in the _Devil_; he is +fill'd with this unquenchable Fire, he is expel'd the Place of Glory, +banish'd from the Regions of Light, Absence from the Life of all +Beatitude is his Curse, Despair is the reigning Passion in his Mind, and +all the little Constituent Parts of his Torment, such as Rage, Envy, +Malice, and Jealousy are consolidated in this, to make his Misery +compleat, (_viz._) the Duration of it all, the Eternity of his +Condition; that he is without Hope, without Redemption, without +Recovery. + +If any thing can inflame this _Hell_ and make it hotter, 'tis this only, +and this does add an inexpressible Horror to the Devil himself; +_namely_, the seeing Man (the only Creature he hates) placed in a State +of Recovery, a glorious Establishment of Redemption form'd for him in +Heaven, and the Scheme of it perfected on Earth; by which _this Man_, +tho' even the _Devil_ by his Art may have deluded him, and drawn him +into Crime, is yet in a State of Recovery, which the Devil is not; and +that it is not in his (_Satan_'s) Power to prevent it: Now take the +Devil as he is in his own Nature Angelic, a bright immortal Seraph, +Heaven-born, and having tasted the eternal Beatitude, which these are +appointed to enjoy; the Loss of that State to himself, the Possession +of it granted to his Rival tho' wicked like and as himself; I say, take +the Devil as he is, having a quick Sense of his own Perdition, and a +stinging Sight of his Rival's Felicity, 'tis _Hell enough_, and more +than enough, even for an Angel to support; nothing we can conceive can +be worse. + +As to any other Fire than this, such and so immaterially intense as to +Torment a Spirit, which is it self Fire also; I will not say it cannot +be, because to Infinite every Thing is possible, but I must say, I +cannot conceive rightly of it. + +I will not enter here into the Wisdom or Reasonableness of representing +the Torments of Hell to be Fire, and that Fire to be a Commixture of +_Flame_ and _Sulphur_; it has pleased God to let the Horror of those +eternal Agonies about _a lost Heaven_, be laid before us by those +Similitudes or Allegories, which are most moving to our Senses and to +our Understandings; nor will I dispute the Possibility; much less will I +doubt but that there is to be a Consummation of Misery to all the +Objects of Misery when the _Devil_'s Kingdom in this World ending with +the World it self, that Liberty he has now may be farther abridg'd; when +he may be return'd to the same State he was in between the Time of his +Fall and the Creation of the World; with perhaps some additional +Vengeance on him, such as at present we cannot describe, for all that +Treason and those high Crimes and Misdemeanours which he has been guilty +of here, in his Conversation with Mankind. + +As his Infelicity will be then consummated and compleated, so the +Infelicity of that Part of Mankind, who are condemn'd with him, may +receive a considerable Addition from those Words in their Sentence, to +be tormented _with the Devil and his Angels_; for as the Absence of the +Supreme Good is a compleat Hell, so the hated Company of the Deceiver, +who was the great Cause of his Ruine, must be a Subject of additional +Horror, and he will be always saying, as a _Scots_ Gentleman, who died +of his Excesses, said to the famous Dr. _P----_, who came to see him on +his Death-bed, but had been too much his Companion in his Life, + + _O tu fundamenta jecisti------_ + + +I would not treat the very Subject it self with any Indecency, nor do I +think my Opinion of that _Hell_, which I say consists in the Absence of +him, in whom is Heaven, one Jot less Solemn than theirs who believe it +all _Fire_ and _Brimstone_; but I must own, that to me nothing can be +more ridiculous than the Notions that we entertain and fill our Heads +with about _Hell_, and about the _Devil_'s being there tormenting of +Souls, broiling them upon Gridirons, hanging them up upon Hooks, +carrying them upon their Backs, and the like, with the several Pictures +of _Hell_, represented by a great Mouth with horrible Teeth, gaping like +a Cave on the Sides of a Mountain; suppose that appropriated to _Satan_ +in the _Peak_, which indeed is not much unlike it, with a Stream of Fire +coming out of it, as there is of Water, and smaller Devils going and +coming continually in and out, to fetch and carry Souls the Lord knows +whither, and for the Lord knows what. + +These Things, however intended for Terror, are indeed so ridiculous, +that the _Devil_ himself, to be sure, mocks at them, and a Man of Sense +can hardly refrain doing the like, only I avoid it, because I would not +give offence to weaker Heads. + +However, I must not Compliment the Brains of other Men, at the Expence +of my own, or talk Nonsense because they can understand no other; I +think all these Notions and Representations of _Hell_ and of the +_Devil_, to be as prophane as they are ridiculous, and I ought no more +to talk prophanely than merrily of them. + +Let us learn to talk of these Things then, as we should do; and as we +really cannot describe them to our Reason and Understanding, why should +we describe them to our Senses; we had, I think, much better not +describe them at all, that is to say, not attempt it: The blessed +Apostle St. _Paul_ was, as he said himself, carried up, or caught up +into the _third Heaven_, yet when he came down again, he could neither +tell what he heard or describe what he saw; all he could say of it was, +that what he heard was _inutterable_, and what he saw was +_inconceivable_. + +It is the same thing as to the State of the _Devil_ in those Regions +which he now possesses, and where he now more particularly inhabits; my +present Business then is not to enter into those grave Things so as to +make them ridiculous, as I think most People do that talk of them; but +as the _Devil_, let his Residence be where it will, has evidently free +Leave to come and go, not into this World only; (_I mean, the Region of +our Atmosphere_,) but for ought we know, to all the other inhabited +Worlds which God has made, where-ever they are, and by whatsoever Names +they are or may be known or distinguished; for if he is not confined in +one Place, we have no Reason to believe he is excluded from any Place, +Heaven only excepted, from whence he was expell'd for his Treason and +Rebellion. + +His Liberty then being thus ascertain'd, three Things seem to be +material for us to give an Account of, in order to form this Part of +his History. + + 1. What his Business is on this Globe of Earth which we vulgarly + call the World, how he acts among us, what Affairs Mankind and he + have together, and how far his Conduct here relates to Us, and Ours + is, or may be influenc'd by him. + + 2. Where his Principal Residence is, and whether he has not a + particular Empire of his own, to which he retreats upon proper + Occasions; where he entertains his Friends when they come under his + particular Administration; and where, when he gets any Victory over + his Enemies, he carries his Prisoners of War. + + 3. What may probably be the great Business this black Emperor has + at present upon his Hands, either in this World or out of it, and + by what Agents he works. + + +As these Things may perhaps run promiscuously thro' the Course of this +whole Work, and frequently be touch'd at under other Branches of the +_Devil_'s History, so I do not propose them as Heads of Chapters or +Particular Sections, for the Order of Discourse to be handled apart; for +(by the way) as Satan's Actings have not been the most regular Things in +the World, so in our Discourse about him, it must not be expected that +we can always tie our selves down to Order and Regularity, either as to +Time, or Place, or Persons; for Satan being _hic & ubique_, a loose +ungovern'd Fellow, we must be content to trace him where we can find +him. + +It is true, in the foregoing Chapter, I shew'd you the DEVIL entred into +the Herd Ecclesiastick, and gave you some Account of the first +successful Step he took with Mankind since the Christian Epocha; how +having secretly managed both Temporal and Spiritual Power apart, and by +themselves, he now united them in Point of Management, and brought the +Church Usurpation and the Army's Usurpation together; the Pope to bless +the General in deposing and murthering his Master the Emperor; and the +General to recognise the Pope in dethroning his Master Christ Jesus. + +From this time forward you are to allow the _Devil_ a mystical Empire in +this World; not an Action of Moment done without him, not a Treason but +he has a Hand in it, not a Tyrant but he prompts him, not a Government +but he has a ---- in it; not a Fool but he tickles him, not a Knave but +he guides him; he has a Finger in every Fraud, a Key to every Cabinet, +from the _Divan_ at _Constantinople_, to the _Mississipi_ in _France_, +and to the _South-Sea_ Cheats at ------; from the first Attack upon the +Christian World, in the Person of the _Romish_ Antichrist, down to the +Bull _Unigenitus_; and from the Mixture of St. _Peter_ and _Confucius_ +in _China_, to the Holy Office in _Spain_; and down to the _Emlins_ and +_Dodwells_ of the current Age. + +How he has managed, and does manage, and how in all Probability he will +manage till his Kingdom shall come to a Period, and how at last he will +probably be managed himself, _Enquire within, and you shall know +farther_. + + + + +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. + + +The Devil being thus reduc'd to act upon Mankind by Stratagem only, it +remains to enquire how he performs, and which way he directs his +Attacks; the Faculties of Man are a kind of a Garrison in a strong +Castle, which as they defend it on the one hand under the Command of the +reasoning Power of Man's Soul, so they are prescribed on the other hand, +and can't sally out without Leave; for the Governor of a Fort does not +permit his Soldiers to hold any Correspondence with the Enemy, without +special Order and Direction. Now the great Enquiry before us is, How +comes the DEVIL to a Parley with us? how does he converse with our +Senses, and with the Understanding? How does he reach us, which way does +he come at the Affections, and which way does he move the Passions? 'Tis +a little difficult to discover this treasonable Correspondence, and that +Difficulty is indeed the _Devil_'s Advantage, and, for ought I see, the +chief Advantage he has over Mankind. + +It is also a great Enquiry here, whether the _Devil_ knows our Thoughts +or no? If I may give my Opinion, I am with the negative; I deny that he +knows any thing of our Thoughts, except of those Thoughts which he puts +us upon thinking, for I will not doubt but he has the Art to inject +Thoughts, and to revive dormant Thoughts in us: It is not so wild a +Scheme as some take it to be, that Mr. _Milton_ lays down, to represent +the _Devil_ injecting corrupt Desires and wandring Thoughts into the +Head of _Eve_, by Dreams, and that he brought her to Dream whatever he +put into her Thoughts, by whispering to her vocally when she was asleep; +and to this End, he imagines the DEVIL laying himself close to her Ear, +in the Shape of a Toad, when she was fall asleep; I say, this is not so +wild a Scheme, seeing even now, if you can whisper any thing close to +the Ear of a Person in a deep Sleep, so as to speak distinctly to the +Person, and yet not awaken him, as has been frequently tried, the Person +sleeping shall dream distinctly of what you say to him; nay, shall dream +the very Words you say. + +We have then no more to ask, but how the DEVIL can convey himself to the +Ear of a sleeping Person, and it is granted then that he may have Power +to make us dream what he pleases: But this is not all, for if he can so +forcibly, by his invisible Application, cause us to dream, what he +pleases, why can he not with the same Facility prompt our Thoughts, +whether sleeping or waking? To dream, is nothing else but to think +sleeping; and we have abundance of deep-headed Gentlemen among us, who +give us ample Testimony that they dream waking. + +But if the DEVIL can prompt us to dream, that is to say, to think, yet +if he does not know our Thoughts, how then can he tell whether the +Whisper had its Effect? The answer is plain, the DEVIL, like the Angler, +baits the Hook, if the Fish bite he lies ready to take the Advantage, he +whispers to the Imagination, and then waits to see how it works; as +_Naomi_ said to _Ruth_, Chap. iii. 5, 18. _Sit still, my Daughter, until +thou know how the Matter will fall, for the Man will not be at rest +until he have finished the thing._ Thus when the DEVIL had whisper'd to +_Eve_ in her Sleep, _according to Milton_, and suggested Mischief to her +Imagination, he only sat still to see how the Matter would work, for he +knew if it took with her, he should hear more of it; and then by finding +her alone the next Day, without her ordinary Guard her Husband, he +presently concluded she had swallowed the Bait, and so attack'd her +afresh. + +A small deal of Craft, and less by far than we have reason to believe +the _Devil_ is Master of, will serve to discover whether such and such +Thoughts as he knows he has suggested, have taken Place or no; the +Action of the Person presently discovers it, at least to him that lies +always upon the Watch, and has every Word, every Gesture, every Step we +take subsequent to his Operation, open to him; it may therefore, for +ought we know, be a great Mistake, and what most of us are guilty of, to +tell our Dreams to one another in the Morning, after we have been +disturb'd with them in the Night; for if the _Devil_ converses with us +so insensibly as some are of the Opinion he does, _that is to say_, if +he can hear as far as we can see, we may be telling our Story to him +indeed, when we think we are only talking to one another. + +This brings me most naturally to the important Enquiry, whether the +_Devil_ can walk about the World invisibly or no? The Truth is, this is +no question to me; for as I have taken away his Visibility already, and +have denied him all Prescience of Futurity too, and have prov'd he +cannot know our Thoughts, nor put any Force upon Persons or Actions, if +we should take away his Invisibility too, we should _undevil_ him quite, +to all Intents and Purposes, as to any Mischief he could do; nay, it +would banish him the World, and he might e'en go and seek his Fortune +some where else; for if he could neither be visible or invisible, +neither act in publick or in private, he could neither have Business or +Being in this Sphere, nor could we be any way concern'd with him. + +The _Devil_ therefore most certainly has a Power and Liberty of moving +about in this World, after _some manner or another_; this is verify'd as +well by way of Allegory, as by way of History, in the Scripture it self; +and as the first strongly suggests and supposes it to be so, the last +positively asserts it; and, not to croud this Work with Quotations from +a Book which we have not much to do with in the _Devil_'s Story, at +least not much to his Satisfaction, I only hint his personal Appearance +to our Saviour in the Wilderness, where it is said, _the Devil taketh +him up to an exceeding high Mountain_; and in another Place, _the Devil +departed from him_. What Shape or Figure he appear'd in, we do not find +mentioned, but I cannot doubt his appearing to him there, any more than +I can his talking to our Saviour in the Mouths, and with the Voices of +the several Persons who were under the terrible Affliction of an actual +Possession. + +These Things leave us no room to doubt of what is advanced above, +namely, that he, (the _Devil_) has a certain Residence, or Liberty of +residing in, and moving about upon the Surface of this Earth, as well as +in the Compass of the Atmosphere, vulgarly call'd the Air, in some +manner or other: That is the general. + +It remains to enquire into the manner, which I resolve into two Kinds; + + 1. _Ordinary_, which I suppose to be his invisible Motions as a + Spirit; under which Consideration I suppose him to have an + unconfin'd, unlimited, unrestrain'd Liberty, as to the manner of + acting; and this either in Persons, by Possession; or in Things, by + Agitation. + + 2. _Extraordinary_; which I understand to be his Appearances in + borrowed Shapes and Bodies, or Shadows rather of Bodies; assuming + Speech, Figure, Posture, and Several Powers, of which we can give + little or no Account; in which extraordinary manner of Appearances, + he is either limited by a Superior Power, or limits himself + politically, as being not the Way most for his Interest or Purpose, + to act in his Business, which is more effectually done in his State + of Obscurity. + + +Hence we must suppose the _Devil_ has it very much in his own Choice, +whether to act in one Capacity, or in the other, or in both; that is to +say, of appearing, and not appearing, as he finds for his Purpose: In +this State of Invisibility, and under the Operation of these Powers and +Liberties, he performs all his Functions and Offices, as _Devil_, as +Prince of Darkness, as God of this World, as Tempter, Accuser, Deceiver, +and all whatsoever other Names of Office, or Titles of Honour he is +known by. + +Now taking him in this large unlimited, or little limited State of +Action, he is well call'd, _the God of this World_, for he has very much +of the Attribute of Omnipresence, and may be said, _either by himself or +his Agents_, to be every where, and see every thing; that is to say, +every thing that is visible; for I cannot allow him any Share of +_Omniscience_ at all. + +That he ranges about every where, is _with us_, and sometimes _in us_, +sees when he is not seen, hears when he is not heard, comes in without +Leave, and goes out without Noise, is neither to be shut in or shut out, +that when he runs _from us_ we can't catch him, and when he runs _after +us_ we can't escape him, is seen when he is not known, and is known when +he is not seen; all these things, and more, we have Knowledge enough +about to convince us of the Truth of them; so that, as I have said +above, he is certainly walking to and fro thro' the Earth, _&c._ after +_some manner or other_, and in some Figure or other, visible or +invisible, as he finds Occasion. Now in order to make our History of him +complete, the next Question before us is, how, and in what manner he +acts with Mankind? how his Kingdom is carried on, and by what Methods he +does his Business, for he certainly has a great deal of Business to do; +he is not an idle Spectator, nor is he walking about _incognito_, and +cloth'd in Mist and Darkness, purely in Kindness to us, that we should +not be frighted at him; but 'tis in Policy, that he may act +undiscover'd, that he may see and not be seen, may play his Game in the +dark, and not be detected in his Roguery; that he may prompt Mischief, +raise Tempests, blow up Coals, kindle Strife, embroil Nations, use +Instruments, and not be known to have his Hand in any thing, when at the +same time he really has a Hand in every thing. + +Some are of Opinion, _and I among the rest_, that if the _Devil_ was +personally and visibly present among us, and we conversed with him Face +to Face, we should be so familiar with him in a little time, that his +ugly Figure would not affect us at all, that his Terrors would not +fright us, or that we should any more trouble our selves about him, +than we did with the last great Comet in 1678, which appear'd so long +and so constantly without any particular known Event, that at last we +took no more Notice of it than of the other ordinary Stars which had +appear'd before we or our Ancestors were born. + +Nor indeed should we have much Reason to be frighted at him, or at least +none of those silly Things could be said of him which we now amuse our +selves about, and by which we set him up like a Scare-Crow to fright +Children and old Women, to fill up old Stories, make Songs and Ballads, +and in a Word, carry on the low priz'd Buffoonery of the common People; +we should either see him in his Angelic Form, as he was from the +Original, or if he has any Deformities entail'd upon him by the supreme +Sentence, and in Justice to the Deformity of his Crime, they would be of +a superior Nature, and fitted more for our Contempt as well as Horror, +than those weak fancied Trifles contrived by our antient Devil-raisers +and Devil-makers, to feed the wayward Fancies of old Witches and +Sorcerers, who cheated the ignorant World with a _Devil_ of their own +making, set forth, _in terrorem_, with Bat's Wings, Horns, cloven Foot, +long Tail, fork'd Tongue, and the like. + +In the next Place, be his frightful Figure what it would, and his +Legions as numerous as the Host of Heaven, we should see him still, as +the Prince of _Devils_, tho' monstrous as a Dragon, flaming as a Comet, +tall as a Mountain, yet dragging his Chain after him equal to the utmost +of his supposed Strength; always in Custody of his _Jailors_ the Angels, +his Power over-power'd, his Rage cow'd and abated, or at least aw'd and +under Correction, limited and restrain'd; in a Word, we should see him a +vanquish'd Slave, his Spirit broken, his Malice, tho' not abated, yet +Hand-cuff'd and overpower'd, and he not able to work any Thing against +us by Force; so that he would be to us but like the Lions in the Tower, +encag'd and lock'd up, unable to do the Hurt he wishes to do, and that +we fear, or indeed any hurt at all. + +From hence 'tis evident, that 'tis not his Business to be public, or to +walk up and down in the World visibly, and in his own Shape; his Affairs +require a quite different Management, as might be made apparent from the +Nature of Things, and the Manner of our Actings, as Men, either with our +selves or to one another. + +Nor could he be serviceable in his Generation, as a public Person as now +he is, or answer the End of his Party who employ him, and who, if he was +to do their Business in public, as he does in private, would not be able +to employ him at all. + +As in our modern Meetings for the Propagation of Impudence and other +Virtues, there would be no Entertainment and no Improvement for the Good +of the Age, if the People did not all appear in Masque, and conceal'd +from the common Observation; so neither could _Satan_ (from whose +Management those more happy Assemblies are taken as Copies of a glorious +Original) perform the usual and necessary Business of his Profession, if +he did not appear wholly in Covert and under needful Disguises; how, but +for the Convenience of his Habit, could he call himself into so many +Shapes, act on so many different Scenes, and turn so many Wheels of +State in the World, as he has done? as a meer profess'd _Devil_ he could +do nothing. + +Had he been oblig'd always to act the meer Devil in his own Clothes, and +with his own Shape, appearing uppermost in all Cafes and Places, he +could never have preach'd in so many Pulpits, presided in so many +Councils, voted in so many Committees, sat in so many Courts, and +influenc'd so many Parties and Factions in Church and State, as we have +Reason to believe he has done in our Nation, and in our Memories too, as +well as in other Nations and in more antient Times. The Share Satan has +had in all the weighty Confusions of the Times, ever since the first +Ages of Christianity in the World, has been carried on with so much +Secresy, and so much with an Air of Cabal and Intrigue, that nothing can +have been manag'd more subtilly and closely, and in the same Manner has +he acted in our Times, in order to conceal his Interest, and conceal the +Influence he has had in the Councils of the World. + +Had it been possible for him to have raised the Flames of Rebellion and +War so often in this Nation, as he certainly has done? Could he have +agitated the Parties on both Sides, and inflam'd the Spirits of three +Nations, if he had appears in his own Dress, a meer naked DEVIL? It is +not the Devil as a _Devil_ that does the Mischief, but the _Devil_ in +Masquerade, _Satan_ in full Disguise, and acting at the Head of civil +Confusion and Distraction. + +If History may be credited, the _French_ Court at the Time of our old +Confusions was made the Scene of Satan's Politicks, and prompted both +Parties in _England_ and in _Scotland_ also to quarrel, and how was it +done? Will any Man offer to scandalize the _Devil_ so much as to say, or +so much as to suggest that _Satan_ had no Hand in it all? Did not the +_Devil_, by the Agency of Cardinal _Richlieu_, send 400000 Crowns at one +Time, and 600000 at another, to the _Scots_, to raise an Army and march +boldly into _England?_ and did not the same _Devil_ at the same time, by +other Agents, remit 800000 Crowns to the other Party, in order to raise +an Army to fall upon the _Scots_? nay, did not the _Devil_ with the +same Subtilty send down the Archbishop's Order to impose the +Service-Book upon the People in _Scotland_, and at the same Time raise a +Mob against it, in the great Church (at St. _Giles_'s)? Nay, did not he +actually, in the Person of an old Woman (his favourite Instrument) throw +the three-leg'd Stool at the Service-Book, and animate the zealous +People to take up Arms for Religion, and turn Rebels for God Sake? + +All these happy and successful Undertakings, tho' 'tis no more to be +doubted they were done by the Agency of _Satan_, and in a very +surprizing Manner too, yet were all done in secret, by what I call +Possession and Injection, and by the Agency and Contrivance of such +Instruments, or by the _Devil_ in the Disguise of such Servants as he +found out fitted to be employ'd in his Work, and who he took a more +effectual Care in concealing of. + +But we shall have Occasion to touch all this Part over again, when we +come to discourse of the particular Habits and Disguises which the +_Devil_ has made use of, all along in the World, the better to cover his +Actions, and to conceal his being concern'd in them. + +In the mean Time the Cunning or Artifice the _Devil_ makes use of in all +these Things is in it self very considerable; 'tis an old Practice of +his using, and he has gone on in diverse Measures, for the better +concealing himself in it; which Measures, tho' he varies sometimes, as +his extraordinary Affairs require, yet they are in all Ages much the +same, and have the same Tendency; namely, that he may get all his +Business carried on by the Instrumentality of Fools; that he may make +Mankind Agents in their own Destruction, and that he may have all his +Work done in such a Manner as that he may seem to have no Hand in it; +nay he contrives so well, that the very Name _Devil_ is put upon his +opposite Party, and the Scandal of the black Agent lies all upon them. + +In order then to look a little into his Conduct, let us enquire into the +common Mistakes about him, see what Use is made of them to his +Advantage, and how far Mankind is imposed upon in those Particulars, and +to what Purpose. + + + + +CHAP. IV. + +_Of Satan's Agents or Missionaries, and their Actings upon and in the + Minds of Men in his Name._ + + +Infinite Advantages attend the _Devil_ in his retired Government, as +they respect the Management of his Interests, and the carrying on his +absolute Monarchy in the World; particularly as it gives him room to act +by the Agency of his inferior Ministers and Messengers, call'd on many +Occasions _his Angels_, of whom he has an innumerable _Multitude_, at +his Command, enough, for ought we know, to spare one to attend every Man +and Woman now alive in the World; and of whom, if we may believe our +second sight Christians, the Air is always as full, as a Beam of the +Evening Sun is of Insects, where they are ever ready for Business, and +to go and come as their great Governor issues out Orders for their +Directions. + +These, as they are all of the same spirituous Quality with himself, and +consequently invisible like him, _except as above_, are ready upon all +Occasions to be sent to _and into_ any such Person, and for such +Purposes, _superior Limitations only excepted_, as the grand Director of +_Devils_, (The _Devil_ properly so call'd guides them;) and be the +Subject or the Object what it will, _that is to say_, be the Person they +are sent to, _or into, as above_, who it will, and the Business the +Messenger is to do what it will, they are sufficiently qualified; for +this is a Particular to Satan's Messengers or Agents, that they are not +like us humane _Devils_ here in the World, some bred up one Way, some +another, some of one Trade, some of another, and consequently some fit +for some Business, some for another, some good for something, and some +good for nothing, but his People are every one fit for every Thing, can +find their Way every where, and are a Match for every Body they are sent +to; in a Word, there are no _foolish Devils_, they are all fully +qualified for their Employment, fit for any thing he sets them about, +and very seldom mistake their Errand or fail in the Business they are +sent to do. + +Nor is it strange at all, that the _Devil_ should have such a numberless +Train of Deputy _Devils_ to act under him; for it must be acknowledged +he has a great deal of Business upon his Hands, a vast deal of Work to +do, abundance of public Affairs under his Direction, and an infinite +Variety of particular Cases always before him; _for Example_. + +How many Governments in the World are wholly in his Administration? how +many Divans and great Councils under his Direction? nay, I believe, +'twould be hard to prove that there is or has been one Council of State +in the World for many hundred Years past, down to the Year 1713, (we +don't pretend to come nearer home) where the _Devil_ by himself, or his +Agents in one Shape or another, has not sat as a Member, if not taken +the Chair. + +And tho' some learn'd Authors may dispute this Point with me, by giving +some Examples where the Councils of Princes have been acted by a better +Hand, and where Things have been carried against _Satan_'s Interest, and +even to his great Mortification, it amounts to no more than this; +namely, that in such Cases the _Devil_ has been out-voted; but it does +not argue but he might have been present there, and have push'd his +Interest as far as he could, only that he had not the Success he +expected; for I don't pretend to say that he has never been +disappointed; but those Examples are so rare, and of so small +Signification, that when I come to the Particulars, as I shall do in the +Sequel of this History, you will find them hardly worth naming; and +that, take it one Time with another, the _Devil_ has met with such a +Series of Success in all his Affairs, and has so seldom been baulk'd; +and where he has met with a little Check in his Politicks, has +notwithstanding, so soon and so easily recover'd himself, regain'd his +lost Ground, or replac'd himself in another Country when he has been +supplanted in one, that his Empire is far from being lessen'd in the +World, for the last thousand Years of the Christian Establishment. + +Suppose we take an Observation from the Beginning of _Luther_, or from +the Year 1420, and call the Reformation a Blow to the _Devil_'s Kingdom, +which before that was come to such a Height in Christendom, that 'tis a +Question not yet thorowly decided, whether that Medley of Superstition +and horrible Heresies, that Mass of Enthusiam and Idols call'd the +Catholick Hierarchy, was a Church of God or a Church of the _Devil_; +whether it was an Assembly of Saints or a Synagogue of Satan: I say, +take that Time to be the _Epocha_ of Satan's Declension and of +Lucifer's falling from Heaven, that is, from the Top of his terrestrial +Glory, yet whether he did not gain in the Defection of the _Greek_ +Church about that Time and since, as much as he lost in the Reformation +of the _Roman_, is what Authors are not yet agreed about, not reckoning +what he has regain'd since of the Ground which he had lost even by the +Reformation, (_viz._) the Countries of the Duke of _Savoy_'s Dominion, +where the Reformation is almost eaten out by Persecution; the whole +_Valtoline_ and some adjacent Countries; the whole Kingdom of _Poland_ +and almost all _Hungary_; for since the last War the Reformation, as it +were, lies gasping for Breath, and expiring in that Country, also +several large Provinces in _Germany_, as _Austria_, _Carinthia_, and the +whole Kingdom of _Bohemia_, where the Reformation once powerfully +planted, receiv'd its Death's Wound at the Battle of _Prague_, _Ann._ +1627, and languish'd but a very little while, died and was buried, and +good King POPERY reign'd in its stead. + +To these Countries thus regain'd to Satan's infernal Empire, let us add +his modern Conquests and the Encroachments he has made upon the +Reformation in the present Age, which are, _however light we make of +them_, very considerable (_viz._) the Electorate of the _Rhine_ and the +_Palatinate_, the one fallen to the House of _Bavaria_, and the other to +that of _Neuburgh_, both Popish; the Dutchy of _Deux Ponts_ fallen just +now to a popish Branch, the whole Electorate of _Saxony_ fallen under +the Power of popish Government by the Apostacy of their Princes, and +more likely to follow the Fate of _Bohemia_, whenever the diligent +_Devil_ can bring his new Project in _Poland_ to bear, as 'tis more than +probable he will do so some time or other, by the growing Zeal as well +as Power of (that House of Bigots) the House of _A----_. + +But to sum up the dull Story; we must add in the Roll of the _Devil_'s +Conquests, the whole Kingdom of _France_, where we have in one Year +seen, to the immortal Glory of the _Devil_'s Politicks, that his +Measures have prevailed to the total Extirpation of the Protestant +Churches without a War; and that Interest which for 200 Years had +supported it self in spight of Persecutions, Massacres, five civil Wars +and innumerable Battles and Slaughters, at last receiv'd its mortal +Wound from its own Champion _Henry_ IV. and sunk into utter Oblivion, by +_Satan_'s most exquisite Management under the Agency of his two prime +Ministers Cardinal _Richlieu_ and _Lewis_ the XIV, whom he entirely +possess'd. + +Thus far we have a melancholy View of the _Devil_'s new Conquests, and +the Ground he has regain'd upon the Reformation, in which his secret +Management has been so exquisite, and his Politicks so good, that could +he bring but one Thing to pass, which by his own former Mistake, (for +the _Devil_ is not infallible) he has rendred impossible, he would bring +the Protestant Interest so near its Ruin, that Heaven would be, _as it +were_, put to the Necessity of working by Miracle to prevent it; _the +Case is thus_. + +Antient Historians tell us, and from good Authority, that the DEVIL +finding it for his Interest to bring his favourite _Mahomet_ upon the +Stage, and spread the victorious Half-Moon upon the Ruin of the Cross, +having with great Success, rais'd first the _Saracen_ Empire, and then +the _Turkish_ to such a Height, as that the Name of Christian seemed to +be extirpated in those two Quarters of the World, which were then not +the greatest only, but by far the most powerful, I mean _Asia_ and +_Africa_; having totally laid wast all those antient and flourishing +Churches of _Africa_, the Labours of St. _Cyprian_, _Tertullian_, St. +_Augustine_, and 670 Christian Bishops and Fathers, who govern'd there +at once, also all the Churches of _Smyrna_, _Philadelphia_, _Ephesus_, +_Sardis_, _Antioch_, _Laodicea_, and innumerable others in _Pontus_, +_Bithynia_, and the Provinces of the lesser _Asia_. + +The _Devil_ having, I say, finish'd these Conquests so much to his +Satisfaction, began to turn his Eyes Northward, and tho' he had a +considerable Interest in the _Whore of Babylon_, and had brought his +Power by the Subjection of the _Roman_ Hierarchy to a great Height, yet +finding the Interest of _Mahomet_ most suitable to his _devilish_ +Purposes, as most adapted to the Destruction of Mankind, and laying +waste the World, he resolv'd to espouse the growing Power of the _Turk_, +and bring him in upon _Europe_ like a Deluge. + +In order to this, and to make Way for an easy Conquest, like a true +_Devil_ he work'd under Ground, and sap'd the Foundation of the +Christian Power, by sowing Discord among the reigning Princes of +_Europe_; that so envying one another they might be content to stand +still and look on while the _Turk_ devoured them one by one, and at last +might swallow them up all. + +This _devilish_ Policy took to his Heart's Content; the Christian +Princes stood still, stupid, dozing, and unconcern'd, till the Turk +conquered _Thrace_, over-run _Servia_, _Macedonia_, _Bulgaria_, and all +the Remains of the _Grecian_ Empire, and at last the Imperial City of +_Constantinople_ it self. + +Finding this politic Method so well answer his Ends, the _Devil_, who +always improves upon the Success of his own Experiments, resolv'd from +that time to lay a Foundation for the making those Divisions and +Jealousies of the Christian Princes immortal; whereas they were at +first only personal, and founded in private Quarrels between the Princes +respectively; such as _Emulation_ of one another's Glory, _Envy_ at the +extraordinary Valour, or other Merit of this or that Leader, or +_Revenge_ of some little Affront; for which notwithstanding, so great +was the Piety of Christian Princes in those Days, that they made no +Scruple to sacrifice whole Armies, yea, Nations, to their Piques and +private Quarrels, _a certain Sign whose Management they were under_. + +These being the Causes by which the DEVIL first sow'd the Seeds of +Mischief among them, and the Success so well answering his Design, he +could not but wish to have the same Advantage always ready at his Hand; +and therefore he resolv'd to order it so, that these Divisions, which, +however useful to him, were only personal, and consequently temporary, +like an Annual in the Garden, which must be rais'd anew every Season, +might for the future be national, and consequently durable and immortal. + +To this end it was necessary to lay the Foundation of eternal Feud, not +in the Humours and Passions of Men only, but in the Interests of +Nations: The Way to do this was to form and state the Dominion of those +Princes, by such a Plan drawn in Hell, and laid out from a Scheme truly +political, of which the _Devil_ was chief Engineer; that the Divisions +should always remain, being made a natural Consequence of the Situation +of the Country, the Temper of their People, the Nature of their +Commerce, the Climate, the Manner of living, or something which should +for ever render it impossible for them to unite. + +This, I say, was a Scheme truly infernal, in which the _Devil_ was as +certainly the principal Operator, to illustrate great Things by small, +as ever _John_ of _Leyden_ was of the High _Dutch_ Rebellion, or Sir +_John B------t_ of the late Project, called the _South-Sea_ Stock. Nor +did this Contrivance of the _Devil_ at all dishonour his Author, or the +Success appear unworthy of the Undertaker; for we see it not only answer +the End, and made the _Turk_ victorious at the same Time, and formidable +to _Europe_ ever after, but it works to this Day, the Foundation of the +Divisions remains in all the several Nations, and that to such a Degree +that it is impossible they should unite. + +This is what I hinted before, in which the _Devil_ was mistaken, and is +another instance that he knows nothing of what is to come; for this very +Foundation of immortal Jealousy and Discord between the several Nations +of _Spain_, _France_, _Germany_, and others, which the _Devil_ himself +with so much Policy contriv'd, and which serv'd his Interests so long, +is now the only Obstruction to his Designs, and prevents the entire Ruin +of the Reformation; for tho' the reform'd Countries are very Powerful, +and some of them, as _Great Britain_ and _Prussia_ is particularly, more +powerful than ever; yet it cannot be said that the Protestant Interests +in general are stronger than formerly, or so strong as they were in 1623 +under the victorious Arms of the _Swede_; On the other Hand, were it +possible that the Popish Powers, to wit, of _France_, _Spain_, +_Germany_, _Italy_ and _Poland_, which are intirely Popish, could +heartily unite their Interests, and should join their Powers to attack +the Protestants, the latter would find it very difficult, if not +impossible, to defend themselves. + +But as fatal as such a Union of the Popish Powers would be, and as +useful as it would be to the _Devil_'s Cause at this time, not the +_Devil_ with all his Angels are able to bring it to pass; no, not with +all his Craft and Cunning; he divided them, but he can't unite them; so +that even just as 'tis with Men, so 'tis with _Devils_, they may do in +an Hour what they can't undo in an Age. + +This may comfort those faint-hearted Christians among us, who cry out of +the Danger of a religious War in _Europe_, and what terrible Things will +happen when _France_, and _Spain_, and _Germany_, and _Italy_, and +_Poland_ shall all unite; let this Answer satisfy them, The _Devil_ +himself can never make _France_ and _Spain_, or _France_ and the Emperor +unite; jarring Humours may be reconcil'd, but jarring Interests never +can: They may unite so as to make Peace, _tho' that can hardly be long_, +but never so as to make Conquests together; they are too much afraid of +one another, for one to bear, that any Addition of Strength should come +to the other. But this is a Digression. We shall find the _Devil_ +mistaken and disappointed too on several other Occasions, as we go +along. + +I return to Satan's Interest in the several Governments and Nations, by +vertue of his Invisibility, and which he carries on by Possession; 'tis +by this Invisibility that he presides in all the Councils of _foreign +Powers_, (for we never mean our own, that we always premise;) and what +tho' it is alledged by the Criticks, that he does not preside, because +there is always a President; I say, if he is not in the President's +Chair, yet if he be in the President himself, the Difference is not +much; and if he does not vote as a Counsellor, if he votes in the +Counsellor, 'tis much the same; and here, as it was in the Story of +_Ahab_ the King of _Israel_, as he was a _lying Spirit_ in the Mouths of +_all his Prophets_, so we find him a Spirit of some particular evil +Quality or other, in all the Transactions and Transactors on that Stage +of Life we call the State. + +Thus he was a dissembling Spirit in _Char._ IX. a turbulent Spirit in +_Char._ V. Emperors; a bigotted Spirit of Fire and Faggot in our Queen +_Mary_; an apostate Spirit in _Hen._ IV.; a cruel Spirit in _Peter_ of +_Castile_; a revengeful Spirit in _Ferdinand_ II.; a _Phaeton_ in +_Lewis_ XIV.; a _Sardanapalus_ in _C------_ II. + +In the Great Men of the World, take them a degree lower than the Class +of Crown'd Heads, he has the same secret Influence; and hence it comes +to pass, that the greatest Heroes, and Men of the highest Character for +Atchievements of Glory, either by their Virtue or Valour, however they +have been crowned with Victories, and elevated by human Tongues, +whatever the most consummate Virtues or good Qualities they have been +known by, yet they have always had some Devil or other in them to +preserve _Satan_'s Claim to them uninterrupted, and prevent their Escape +out of his Hands; thus we have seen a bloody Devil in a _D'Alva_; a +profligate Devil in a _Buckingham_; a lying, artful, or politick Devil +in a _Richlieu_; a treacherous Devil in a _Mazarin_; a cruel, merciless +Devil in a _Cortez_; a debauch'd Devil in an _Eugene_; a conjuring Devil +in a _Luxemburg_; and a covetous Devil in a _M---------h_: In a word, +tell me the Man, I tell you the Spirit that reign'd in him. + +Nor does he thus carry on his secret Management by Possession in Men of +the first Magnitude only, but have you not had Evidences of it among our +selves? how has he been a _lying_ Spirit in the Mouths of our Prophets, +a factious Spirit in the Heads of our Politicians, a profuse _Devil_ in +a _B-----s_, a corrupt Devil in _M-----_, a proud Spirit in my Lord +_Plausible_, a bullying Spirit in my Lord _Bugbear_, a talkative Spirit +in his Grace the D---- of _Rattle-hall_, a scribling Spirit in my Lord +_H------_, a run-away Spirit in my Lord _Frightful_; and so thro' a long +Roll of Heroes, whose exceeding, and particular Qualifications proclaim +loudly what Handle the _Devil_ took them by, and how fast he held them; +for these were all Men of ancient Fame, I hope you know that. + +From Men of Figure, we descend to the Mob, and 'tis there the same +thing; Possession, like the Plague, is _Morbus Plebaei_; not a Family but +he is a Spirit of Strife and Contention among them; not a Man but he has +a Part in him; he is a drunken _Devil_ in one, a whoring _Devil_ in +another, a thieving _Devil_ in a third, a lying _Devil_ in the fourth, +and so on, to a thousand, and a hundred thousand, _ad infinitum_. + +Nay, even the Ladies have their Share in the Possession; and if they +have not the _Devil_ in their Heads, or in their Tails, in their Faces +or their Tongues, it must be some poor despicable She-devil that Satan +did not think it worth his while to meddle with; and the Number of those +that are below his Operation, I doubt is very small. But that Part I +have much more to say to in its Place. + +From Degrees of Persons, to Professions and Employments, 'tis the same; +we find the _Devil_ is a true Posture-master, he assumes any Dress, +appears in any Shape, counterfeits every Voice, acts upon every Stage; +here he wears a Gown, there a long Robe; here he wears the Jack-Boots, +there the Small-Sword; is here an _Enthusiast_, there a _Buffoon_; on +this Side he acts the _Mountebank_, on that Side the _Merry-Andrew_; +nothing comes amiss to him, from the Great _Mogul_, to the _Scaramouch_; +the _Devil_ is in them, more or less, and plays his Game so well that he +makes sure Work with 'em all: He knows where the _Common Foible_ lies, +which is UNIVERSAL PASSION, what Handle to take hold of every Man by, +and how to cultivate his Interest so, as not to fail of his End, or +mistake the Means. + +How then can it be deny'd but that his acting thus _in tenebris_, and +keeping out of the sight of the World, is abundantly his Interest, and +that he could do nothing, comparatively speaking, by any other Method? + +What would this publick Appearance have signified? Who would have +entertain'd him in his own proper Shape and Person? Even B---- _B----_ +himself, tho' all the World knows him to have a foolish _Devil_ in him, +would not have been Fool enough to have taken him into his Service, if +he had known him: And my Lord _Simpleton_ also, who _Satan_ has set up +for a cunning Fool, seems to have it sit much better upon him now he +passes for a Fool of Art, than it should have done if the naked DEVIL +had come and challenged him for a Fool in Nature. + +Infinite Variety illustrate the _Devil_'s Reign among the Sons of Men; +all which he manages with admirable Dexterity, and a Slight particular +to himself, by the mere Advantage of his present conceal'd Situation, +and which, had he been obliged to have appear'd in Publick, had been all +lost, and he capable of just nothing at all, or at least of nothing more +than the other ordinary Politicians of Wickedness could have done +without him. + +Now, Authors are much divided as to the manner how the _Devil_ manages +his proper Instruments for Mischief; for Satan has a great many Agents +in the Dark, who neither have the DEVIL in them, nor are they much +acquainted with him, and yet he serves himself of them, whether of their +Folly, or of that other Frailty call'd Wit, 'tis all one, he makes them +do his Work, when they think they are doing their own; nay, so cunning +is he in his guiding the weak Part of the World, that even when they +think they are serving God, they are doing nothing less or more than +serving the _Devil_; nay, 'tis some of the nicest Part of his Operation, +to make them believe they are serving God, when they do his Work. Thus +those who the Scripture foretold should persecute Christ's Church in the +latter Days, were to think they do God _good Service_: Thus the +Inquisition, (for Example,) it may be, at this time, in all the acts of +Christian Cruelty which they are so famous for (if any of them are +ignorant enough not to know that they are _Devils_ incarnate) they may, +for ought we know, go on for God's sake; torture, murther, starve to +Death, mangle and macerate, and all for God, and God's Catholic Church; +and 'tis certainly the _Devil_'s Master-piece to bring Mankind to such a +Perfection of Devilism as that of the _Inquisition_ is; for _if the_ +Devil _had not been in them_, could they christen such a _Hell-fire_ +Judicature as the _Inquisition_ is, by the Name of _the Holy Office_? +And so in Paganism, how could so many Nations among the poor _Indians_ +offer human Sacrifices to their Idols, and murther thousands of Men, +Women and Children, to appease this God of the Air, when he is angry, if +the _Devil_ did not act in them under the Vizor of Devotion? + +But we need not go to _America_, or to the Inquisition, not to Paganism +or to Popery either, to look for People that are sacrificing to the +_Devil_, or that give their Peace-offerings to him, while they are +offer'd upon God's Altar; are not our Churches (ay, and Meeting-houses +too, as much as they pretend to be more sanctified than their +Neighbours) full of _Devil_ Worshipers? Where do his Devotees gratulate +one another, and congratulate him, more than at Church? where, while +they hold up their Hands, and turn up their Eyes towards Heaven, they +make all their Vows to Satan, or at least to the fair _Devils_ his +Representatives, which I shall speak of in their Place. + +Do not the Sons of God make Assignations with the Daughters of Men in +the very House of Worship? Do they not talk to them in the Language of +the Eyes? And what is at the Bottom of it, while one Eye is upon the +Prayer-book, and the other adjusting their Dress? Are they not +sacrificing to _Venus_ and _Mercury_, nay, and the very _Devil_ they +dress at? + +Let any Man impartially survey the Church-Gestures, the Air, the +Postures and the Behaviour; let him keep an exact Roll, and if I do not +shew him two _Devil_ Worshipers for one true Saint, then the Word +_Saint_ must have another Signification than I ever yet understood it +by. + +The Church (as a Place) is the Receptacle of the Dead, as well as the +Assembly of the Living; what relates to those below, I doubt Satan, if +he would be so kind, could give a better Account of than I can; but as +to the Superficies, I pretend to so much Penetration as to tell you, +that there are more Spectres, more Apparitions always there, than you +that know nothing of the matter may be aware of. + +I happen'd to be at an eminent Place of God's most devout Worship the +other Day, with a Gentleman of my Acquaintance, who, I observed, minded +very little the Business he ought to come about; first I saw him always +busy staring about him and bowing this Way and that Way, nay, he made +two or three bows and Scrapes when he was repeating the Responses to the +Ten Commandments, and assure you he made it correspond strangely, so +that the Harmony was not so broken in upon as you would expect it +should; thus; _Lord_, and a Bow to a fine Lady just come up to her Seat, +_have Mercy upon us_; ---- three Bows to a Throng of Ladies that came +into the next Pew altogether, _and incline_ ---- then stop'd to make a +great Scrape to my Lord ----, _our Hearts_, just then the Hearts of all +the Church were gone off from the Subject, for the Response was over, so +he huddled up the rest in Whispers, for _God a Mighty_ could hear him +well enough, _he said_, nay, as well as if he had spoken as loud as his +Neighbours did. + +After we were come home, I ask'd him what he meant by all this, and what +he thought of it? + +How could I help it, _said he_, I must not be rude. + +What, _says I_, rude to who? + +Why, _says he_, there came in so many she _Devils_ I could not help it. + +What, _said I_, could not you help bowing when you were saying your +Prayers? + +O Sir! _says he_, the Ladies would have thought I had slighted them, I +could not avoid it. + +Ladies! _said I_, I thought you call'd them _Devils_ just now. + +Ay, ay, _Devils_, _said he_, little charming Devils, but I must not be +rude to them however. + +Very well, _said I_, then you would be rude to _God a Mighty_, because +you could not be rude to the Devil? + +Why that's true, _said he_, but what can we do? there's no going to +Church as the Case stands now, if we must not worship the _Devil_ a +little between whiles. + +This is the Case indeed, and Satan carries his Point on every Hand; for +if the fair speaking World, and the fair looking World are generally +_Devils_, that is to say, are in his Management, we are sure the foul +speaking and the foul doing World are all on his Side, and you have then +only the fair-doing Part of the World that are out of his Class, and +when we speak of them, _O how few!_ + +But I return to the _Devil_'s managing our wicked Part, for this he does +with most exquisite Subtilty; and this is one Part of it, (_viz._) he +thrusts our Vices into our Virtues, by which he mixes the Clean and the +Unclean, and thus by the Corruption of the one, poisons and debauches +the other, so that the Slave he governs cannot account for his own +common Actions, and is fain to be oblig'd to his Maker to accept of the +Heart without the Hands and Feet; to take, as we vulgarly express it, +_the Will_ for the _Deed_, and if Heaven was not so good to come into +that half in half Service, I don't see but the _Devil_ would carry away +all his Servants: Here indeed I should enter into a long Detail of +involuntary Wickedness, which in short, is neither more or less than the +_Devil_ in every Body, ay, in every one of you, (our Governors excepted) +take it as you please. + +What is our Language when we look back with Reflection and Reproach on +past Follies? _I think I was bewitch'd_, I was _posses'd_, _certainly +the Devil was in me, or else I had never been such a Sot_: _Devil_ in +you, Sir! Ay, who doubts it; you may be sure the _Devil_ was in you, and +there he is still, and next Time he can catch you in the same Snare, +you'll be just the same SOT that you say you were before. + +In short, the _Devil_ is too cunning for us, and manages us his own Way; +he governs the Vices of Men by his own Methods; tho' every Crime will +not make a Man a _Devil_, yet it must be owned that every Crime puts the +Criminal in some Measure into the Devil's Power, gives him a Title to +the Man, and he treats him magisterially ever after. + +Some tell us every single Man, every individual has a _Devil_ attending +him, to execute the Orders of the (Grand Signior) Devil of the whole +Clan; that this attending _evil Angel_, for so he is call'd, sees every +Step you take, is with you in every Action, prompts you to every +Mischief, and leaves you to do every Thing that is pernicious to your +self; they also alledge that there is a good Spirit which attends him +too, which latter is always accessary to every Thing that we do that is +good, and reluctant to evil; If this is true, how comes it to pass that +those two opposite Spirits do not quarrel about it when they are +pressing us to contrary Actions, one good and the other evil? and why +does the evil tempting Spirit so often prevail? Instead of answering +this difficult Question, I shall only tell you, as to this Story of good +and evil Angels attending every particular Person, 'tis a good Allegory +indeed to represent the Struggle in the Mind of Man between good and +evil Inclinations; but as to the rest, the best Thing I can say of it +is, _that_ I think _'tis a Fib_. + +But to take Things as they are, and only talk by way of natural +Consequence, for to argue from Nature is certainly the best Way to find +out the _Devil_'s Story; if there are good and evil Spirits attending +us, that is to say, a good Angel and a _Devil_, then 'tis no unjust +Reproach upon any Body to say, when they follow the Dictates of the +latter, the _Devil_ is in them; or they are _Devils_; nay, I must carry +it farther still, namely, that as the Generality and greatest Number of +People do follow and obey the evil Spirit and not the good, and that the +predominate Power is allowed to be the nominating Power; you must then +allow, that in short, the greater Part of Mankind has the Devil in +them, and so I come to my Text. + +To this Purpose give me leave to borrow a few Lines of a Friend on this +very Part of the Devil's Management. + + To Places and Persons he suits his Disguises, + And dresses up all his Banditti, + Who as Pickpockets flock to a Country Assizes, + Croud up to the Court and the City. + + They're at every Elbow and every Ear, + And ready at every call, Sir; + The vigilant Scout plants his Agents about, + And has something to do with us all, Sir. + + In some he has Part, and in some he's the Whole, + And of some (like the Vicar of _Baddow_) + It can neither be said they have Body or Soul, + But only are _Devils_ in Shadow. + + The Pretty and Witty, are Devils in Masque, + The Beauties are meer Apparitions; + The homely alone by their Faces are known, + And the Good by their ugly Conditions. + + The Beaus walk about like the Shadows of Men. + And wherever he leads 'em they follow, + But tak'em and shak'em, there's not one in ten + But's as light as a Feather and hollow. + + Thus all his Affairs he drives on in Disguise, + And he tickles Mankind with a Feather: + Creeps in at our Ears, and looks out at our Eyes, + And jumbles our Senses together. + + He raises the Vapours, and prompts the Desires, + And to ev'ry dark Deed holds the Candle; + The Passions enflames and the Appetite fires, + And takes ev'ry Thing by the Handle. + + Thus he walks up and down in compleat Masquerade, + And with every Company mixes, + Sells in every Shop, works at every Trade, + And ev'ry Thing doubtful perplexes. + + +How Satan comes by this governing Influence in the Minds and upon the +Actions of Men, is a Question I am not yet come to, nor indeed does it +so particularly belong to the Devil's History, it seems rather a +Polemick, so it may pass at School among the Metaphysicks, and puzzle +the Heads of our Masters; wherefore I think to write to the learned Dr. +_B----_ about it, imploring his most sublime Haughtiness, that when his +other more momentous Avocations of Pedantry and Pedagogism will give him +an Interval from Wrath and Contention, he will set apart a Moment to +consider human Nature Deviliz'd, and give us a Mathematical Anatomical +Description of it; with a Map of Satan's Kingdom in the Microcosm of +Mankind, and such other Illuminations as to him and his Contemporaries +---- and, ---- _&c._ in their great Wisdom shall seem meet. + + + + +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._ + + +I have adjourn'd, not finished, my Account of the _Devil_'s secret +Management by _Possession_, and shall reassume it, in its Place; but I +must take leave to mention some other Parts of his retir'd Scheme, by +which he has hitherto manag'd Mankind, and the first of these is by that +Fraud of all Frauds call'd Oracle. + +Here his Trumpet yielded an uncertain Sound for some Ages, and like what +he was, and according to what he practised from the Beginning, he +deliver'd out Falshood and Delusion by Retale: The Priests of _Apollo_ +acted this Farce for him to a great Nicety at _Delphos_; there were +divers others at the same Time, and some, which to give the Devil his +due, he had very little Hand in, as we shall see presently. + +There were also some smaller, some greater, some more, some less famous +Places where those Oracles were seated, and Audience given to the +Enquirers, in all which the _Devil_, or some Body for him, _Permissu +Superiorum_, for either vindictive or other hidden Ends and Purposes, +was allow'd to make at least a Pretension to the Knowledge of Things to +come; but, as publick Cheats generally do, they acted in Masquerade, and +gave such uncertain and inconsistent Responses, that they were oblig'd +to use the utmost Art to reconcile Events to the Prediction, even after +things were come to pass. + +Here the Devil was a _lying Spirit_, in a particular and extraordinary +manner, in the Mouths of all the Prophets; and yet he had the Cunning to +express himself so, that whatever happen'd, the Oracle was suppos'd to +have meant as it fell out; and so all their Augurs, Omens and Voices, by +which the Devil amus'd the World, not at that Time only, but since, have +been likewise interpreted. + +_Julian_ the Apostate dealt mightily in these Amusements, but the Devil, +who neither wish'd his Fall, or presag'd it to him, evidenc'd that he +knew nothing of _Julian_'s Fate; for that, as he sent almost to all the +Oracles of the East, and summon'd all the Priests together to inform him +of the Success of his _Persian_ Expedition, they all, like _Ahab_'s +_Prophets_, having a lying Spirit in them, encourag'd him and promis'd +him Success. + +Nay, all the ill Omens which disturb'd him, they presag'd good from; +_for Example_, he was at a prodigious Expence when he was at _Antioch_ +to buy up white Beasts, and white Fowls, for Sacrifices, and for +predicting from the Entrails; from whence the _Antiochians_, in +contempt, call'd him _Victimarius_; but whenever the Entrails foreboded +Evil, the cunning Devil made the Priests put a different Construction +upon them, and promise him Good: When he entred into the Temple of the +_Genij_ to offer Sacrifice, one of the Priests dropt down dead; this, +had it had any Signification more than a Man falling dead of an +Apoplectic, would have signified something fatal to _Julian_, who made +himself a Brother Sacrist or Priest; whereas the Priests turn'd it +presently to signify the Death of his Colleague, the Consul _Sallust_ +which happen'd just at the same Time, tho' eight hundred Miles off; so +in another Case, _Julian_ thought it ominous that he, who was _Augustus_ +should be nam'd with two other Names of Persons, both already dead; the +Case was thus, the Stile of the Emperor was _Julianus Foelix +Augustus_, and two of his principal Officers were _Julianus_ and +_Foelix_; now both _Julianus_ and _Foelix_ died within a few Days of +one another, which disturb'd Him much, who was the third of the three +Names; but his flattering _Devil_ told him it all imported Good to him +(_viz._) that tho' _Julianus_ and _Foelix_ should die, _Augustus_ +should be immortal. + +Thus whatever happen'd, and whatever was foretold, and how much soever +they differ'd from one another, the lying Spirit was sure to reconcile +the _Prediction_ and the _Event_, and make them at least seem to +correspond in Favour of the Person enquiring. + +Now we are told Oracles are ceased, and the _Devil_ is farther limited +for the Good of Mankind, not being allow'd to vent his Delusions by the +Mouths of the Priests and Augurs, as formerly: I will not take upon me +to say how far they are really ceas'd, more than they were before; I +think 'tis much more reasonable to believe there was never any Reality +in them at all, or that any Oracle ever gave out any Answers but what +were the Invention of the Priests and the Delusions of the DEVIL; I have +a great many antient Authors on my Side in this Opinion, as _Eusebius_, +_Tertullian_, _Aristotle_, and others, who as they liv'd so near the +Pagan Times, and when even some of those Rites were yet in Use, they had +much more Reason to know, and could probably pass a better Judgment upon +them; nay _Cicero_ himself ridicules them in the openest manner; again, +other Authors descend to Particular and shew how the Cheat was manag'd +by the Heathen Sacrists and Priests, and in what enthusiastic manner +they spoke; namely, by going into the hollow Images, such as the brazen +Bull and the Image of _Apollo_, and how subtilly they gave out _dubious_ +and _ambiguous_ Answers; that when the People did not find their +Expectations answer'd by the Event, they might be imposed upon by the +Priests, and confidently told they did not rightly understand the +Oracle's Meaning: However, I cannot say but that indeed there are some +Authors of good Credit too, who will have it that there was a real +prophetic Spirit in the Voice or Answers given by the Oracles, and that +oftentimes they were miraculously exact in those Answers; and they give +that of the _Delphic_ Oracle answering the Question which was given +about _Croesus_ for an Example, _viz._ what _Croesus_ was doing at +that time? _to wit_, that he was boiling a Lamb and the Flesh of a +Tortoise together, in a brass Vessel, or Boiler, with a Cover of the +same Metal; that is to say, in a Kettle with a brass Cover. + +To affirm therefore, that they were all Cheats, a Man must encounter +with Antiquity, and set his private Judgment up against an establish'd +Opinion; but 'tis no matter for that; if I do not see any thing in that +receiv'd Opinion capable of Evidence, much less of Demonstration, I must +be allow'd still to think as I do; others may believe as they list; I +see nothing hard or difficult in the Thing; the Priests, who were always +historically inform'd of the Circumstances of the Enquirer, or at least +something about them, might easily find some ambiguous Speech to make, +and put some double _Entendre_ upon them, which upon the Event solv'd +the Credit of the Oracle, were it one way or other; and this they +certainly did, or we have room to think the DEVIL knows less of Things +now than he did in former Days. + +It is true that by these Delusions the Priests got infinite Sums of +Money, and this makes it still probable that they would labour hard, and +use the utmost of their Skill to uphold the Credit of their Oracles; and +'tis a full Discovery, as well of the Subtlety of the Sacrists, as of +the Ignorance and Stupidity of the People, in those early Days of +_Satan_'s Witchcraft; to see what merry Work the _Devil_ made with the +World, and what gross Things he put upon Mankind: Such was the Story of +the _Dordonian_ Oracle in _Epirus_, _viz_. That two _Pigeons_ flew out +of _Thebes_ (_N. B._ it was the _Egyptian Thebes_) from the Temple of +_Belus_, erected there by the antient Sacrists, and that one of these +fled Eastward into _Lybia_, and the Desarts of _Africk_, and the other +into _Greece_, namely, to _Dordona_, and these communicated the divine +Mysteries to one another, and afterwards gave mystical Solutions to the +devout Enquirers; first the _Dordonian_ Pigeon perching upon an Oak +spoke audibly to the People there, that the Gods commanded them to build +an Oracle, or Temple, to _Jupiter_, in that Place; which was accordingly +done: The other Pigeon did the like on the Hill in _Africa_, where it +commanded them to build another to _Jupiter Ammon_, or _Hammon_. + +Wise _Cicero_ contemned all this, and, as Authors tell us, ridiculed the +Answer, which, as I have hinted above, the Oracle gave to _Croesus_ +proving that the Oracle it self was a _Liar_, that it could not come +from _Apollo_, for that _Apollo_ never spoke _Latin_: In a Word, +_Cicero_ rejected them all, and _Demosthenes_ also mentions the Cheats +of the _Oracles_; when speaking of the Oracle of _Apollo_, he said, +_Pithia Philippiz'd_; that is, that when the Priests were brib'd with +Money, they always gave their Answers in favour of _Philip_ of +_Macedon_. + +But that which is most strange to me is, that in this Dispute about the +Reality of Oracles, the Heathen who made use of them are the People who +expose them, and who insist most positively upon their being Cheats and +Impostors, as in particular those mentioned above; while the Christians +who reject them, yet believe they did really foretel Things, answer +Questions, _&c._ only with this Difference, that the Heathen Authors who +oppose them, insist that 'tis all Delusion and Cheat, and charge it upon +the Priests; and the Christian Opposers insist that it was real, but +that the _Devil_, not the Gods, gave the Answers; and that he was +permitted to do it by a superior Power, to magnify that Power in the +total silencing them at last. + +But, as I said before, I am with the Heathen here, against the Christian +Writers, for I take it all to be a Cheat and Delusion: I must give my +Reason for it, or I do nothing; my Reason is this, I insist Satan is as +blind in Matters of Futurity, as we are, and can tell nothing of what is +to come; these Oracles often pretending to predict, could be nothing +else therefore but a Cheat form'd by the Money-getting Priests to amuse +the World, and bring Grist to their Mill: If I meet with any thing in my +Way to open my Eyes to a better Opinion of them, I shall tell it you as +I go on. + +On the other hand, whether the _Devil_ really spake in those Oracles, or +set the cunning Priests to speak for him; whether they predicted, or +only made the People believe they predicted; whether they gave Answers +which came to pass, or prevail'd upon the People to believe that what +was said did come to pass, it was much at one, and fully answer'd the +_Devil_'s End; namely, to amuse and delude the World; and as to do, or +to cause to be done, is the same Part of Speech, so whoever did it, the +_Devil_'s Interest was carried on by it, his Government preserv'd, and +all the Mischief he could desire was effectually brought to pass, so +that every way they were the _Devil_'s Oracles, that's out of the +Question. + +Indeed I have wonder'd sometimes why, since by this Sorcery the _Devil_ +perform'd such Wonders, that is, play'd so many Tricks in the World, and +had such universal Success, he should set up no more of them; but there +might be a great many Reasons given for that, too long to tire you with +at present: 'Tis true, there were not many of them, and yet considering +what a great deal of Business they dispatch'd, it was enough, for six or +eight Oracles were more than sufficient to amuse all the World: The +chief Oracles we meet with in History are among the _Greeks_ and the +_Romans_, _viz._ + + That of _Jupiter Ammon_, in _Lybia_, as above. + + The _Dordonian_, in _Epirus_. + + _Apollo Delphicus_, in the Country of _Phocis_ in _Greece_. + + _Apollo Clavius_, in _Asia Minor_. + + _Serapis_, in _Alexandria_ in _Egypt_. + + _Trophomis_, in _Baeotia_. + + _Sybilla Cumaea_, in _Italy_. + + _Diana_, at _Ephesus_. + + _Apollo Daphneus_, at _Antioch_. + + Besides many of lesser Note, in several other Places, as I have + hinted before. + + +I have nothing to do here with the Story mentioned by _Plutarch_, of a +Voice being heard at Sea, from some of the Islands call'd the +_Echinades_, and calling upon one _Thamuz_, an _Egyptian_, who was on +board a Ship, bidding him, when he came to the _Palodes_, other Islands +in the _Ionian_ Seas, tell them there that the great God PAN was dead; +and when _Thamuz_ perform'd it, great Groanings, and Howlings, and +Lamentation were heard from the Shore. + +This Tale tells but indifferently, tho' indeed it looks more like _a +Christian Fable_, than a Pagan; because it seems as if made to honour +the Christian Worship, and blast all the Pagan Idolatry; and for that +Reason I reject it, the Christian Profession needing no such fabulous +Stuff to confirm it. + +Nor is it true in fact, that the Oracles did cease immediately upon the +Death of Christ; but, as I noted before, the Sum of the Matter is this; +the Christian Religion spreading it self universally, as well as +miraculously, and that too _by the Foolishness of Preaching_, into all +Parts of the World, the Oracles ceas'd; that is to say, their Trade +ceas'd, their Rogueries were daily detected, the deluded People being +better taught, came no more after them, and being asham'd, as well as +discourag'd, they sneak'd out of the World as well as they could; in +short the Customers fell off, and the Priests, who were the Shopkeepers, +having no Business to do, shut up their Shops, broke, and went away; the +Trade and the Tradesmen were hiss'd off the Stage together; so that the +_Devil_, who, it must be confess'd, got infinitely by the Cheat, became +bankrupt, and was oblig'd to set other Engines at work, as other Cheats +and Deceivers do, who when one Trick grows stale, and will serve no +longer, are forc'd to try another. + +Nor was the _Devil_ to seek in new Measures; for tho' he could not give +out his delusive Trash as he did before, in Pomp and State, with the +Solemnity of a Temple and a Set of Enthusiasts call'd Priests, who plaid +a thousand Tricks to amuse the World, he then had Recourse to his old +_Egyptian_ Method, which indeed was more antient than that of Oracles; +and that was by Magic, Sorcery, Familiars, Witchcraft, and the like. + +Of this we find the people of the _South_, that is, of _Arabia_ and +_Chaldea_ were the first, from whence we are told of the Wise Men, that +is to say, Magicians, were call'd _Chaldeans_ and _Southsayers_. Hence +also we find _Ahaziah_ the King of _Israel_ sent to _Baalzebub_ the God +of _Ekron_, to enquire whether he should live or die? This some think +was a kind of an Oracle, tho' others think it was only some over-grown +Magician, who counterfeited himself to be a _Devil_, and obtain'd upon +that Idol-hunting Age to make a Cunning Man of him; and for that Purpose +he got himself made a Priest of _Baalzebub_, the God of _Ekron_, and +gave out Answers in his Name. Thus those merry Fellows in _Egypt_, +_Jannes_ and _Jambres_, are said to mimick _Moses_ and _Aaron_, when +they work'd the miraculous Plagues upon the _Egyptians_; and we have +some Instances in Scripture that support this, such as the Witch of +_Endor_, the King _Manasses_, who dealt with the _Devil_ openly, and had +a Familiar; the Woman mentioned _Acts_ xvi. who had a Spirit of +_Divination_, and who got Money by playing the Oracle; that is, +answering doubtful Questions, _&c._ which Spirit, or _Devil_, the +Apostles cast out. + +Now tho' it is true that the old Women in the World have fill'd us with +Tales, some improbable, others impossible; some weak, some ridiculous, +and that this puts a general Discredit upon all the graver Matrons, who +entertain us with Stories better put together, yet 'tis certain, and I +must be allow'd to affirm, that the _Devil_ does not disdain to take +into his Service many Troops of good _Old Women_, and Old Women-Men too, +who he finds 'tis for his Service to keep in constant Pay; to these he +is found frequently to communicate his Mind, and oftentimes we find them +such Proficients, that they know much more than the _Devil_ can teach +them. + +How far our antient Friend _Merlin_, or the grave Matron his (Satan's) +most trusty and well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor, Mother _Shipton_, +were commissioned by him to give out their prophetic Oracles, and what +degree of Possession he may have arrived to in them upon their Midnight +Excursions, I will not undertake to prove; but that he might be +acquainted with them both, as well as with several of our modern +Gentlemen, I will not deny neither. + +I confess it is not very incongruous with the _Devil_'s Temper, or with +the Nature of his Business, to shift hands; possibly he found that he +had tried the World with Oracular Cheats; that Men began to be forfeited +with them, and grew sick of the Frauds which were so frequently +detected; that it was time to take new Measures, and contrive some new +Trick to Bite the World, that he might not be expos'd to Contempt; or +perhaps he saw the Approach of new Light, which the Christian Doctrine +bringing with it began to spread in the Minds of Men; that it would +out-shine the dim burning _ignis fatuus_, with which he had so long +cheated Mankind, and was afraid to stand it, lest he should be mobb'd +off the Stage by his own People, when their Eyes should begin to open: +That upon this foot he might in Policy withdraw from those old Retreats +the Oracles, and restrain those Responses before they lost all their +Credit; for we find the People seem'd to be at a mighty Loss for some +time, for want of them, so that it made them run up and down to +Conjurers, and _Man-Gossips_, to brazen Heads, speaking Calves, and +innumerable simple Things, so gross that they are scarce fit to be +named, to satisfy the Itch of having their Fortunes told them, as we +call it. + +Now as the DEVIL is very seldom blind to his own Interest, and therefore +thought fit to quit his old way of imposing upon the World by his +Oracles, only because he found the World began to be too wise to be +imposed upon that way; so on the other hand, finding there was still a +Possibility to delude the World, tho' by other Instruments, he no sooner +laid down his Oracles, and the solemn Pageantry, magnificent +Appearances, and other Frauds of his Priests and Votaries, in their +Temples and Shrines; but he set up a new Trade, and having, as I have +said, Agents and Instruments sufficient for any Business that he could +have to employ them in, he begins in Corners, as the learned and merry +Dr. _Brown_ says, and exercises his minor Trumperies by way of his own +contriving, lifting a great Number of new-found Operators, such as +Witches, Magicians, Diviners, Figure-casters, Astrologers, and such +inferior Seducers. + +Now it is true, as that Doctor says, this was running into Corners, as +if he had been expell'd his more triumphant way of giving Audience in +Form, which for so many Ages had been allow'd him; yet I must add, that +as it seem'd to be the DEVIL's own doing, from a right Judgment of his +Affairs, which had taken a new Turn in the World, upon the shining of +new Lights from the Christian Doctrine, so it must be acknowledged the +_Devil_ made himself amends upon Mankind, by the various Methods he +took, and the Multitude of Instruments he employ'd, and perhaps deluded +Mankind in a more fatal and sensible manner than he did before, tho' not +so universally. + +He had indeed before more Pomp and Figure put upon it, and he cheated +Mankind then in a Way of Magnificence and Splendor; but this was not in +above eight or ten principal Places, and not fifty Places in all, public +or private; whereas now fifty thousand of his Angels and Instruments, +visible and invisible, hardly may be said to suffice for one Town or +City; but in short, as his invisible Agents fill the Air, and are at +hand for Mischief on every Emergence, so his visible Fools swarm in +every Village, and you have scarce a Hamlet or a Town but his Emissaries +are at Hand for Business; and which is still worse, in all Places he +finds Business; nay even where Religion is planted and seems to +flourish; yet he keeps his Ground and pushes his Interest according to +what has been said elsewhere upon the same Subject, that wherever +Religion plants, the Devil plants close by it. + +Nor, as I say, does he fail of Success, Delusion spreads like a Plague, +and the Devil is sure of Votaries; like a true Mountebank, he can always +bring a Croud about his Stage, and that some Times faster than other +People. + +What I observe upon this Subject is this, that the World is at a strange +Loss for want of the Devil; if it was not so, what's the Reason, that +upon the silencing the Oracles, and Religion telling them that Miracles +are ceas'd, and that God has done speaking by Prophets, they never +enquire whether Heaven has established any other or new Way of +Revelation, but away they ran with their Doubts and Difficulties to +these Dreamers of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes, and personal Oracles to +be resolv'd; as if when they acknowledge the Devil is dumb, these could +speak; and as if the wicked Spirit could do more than the Good, the +_Diabolical_ more than the _Divine_, or that Heaven having taken away +the DEVIL's Voice, had furnish'd him with an Equivalent, by allowing +Scolds, Termagants, and old weak and superannuated Wretches to speak for +him; for these are the People we go to now in our Doubts and +Emergencies. + +While this Blindness continues among us, 'tis Nonsense to say that +Oracles are silenced, or the _Devil_ is dumb, for the _Devil_ gives +Audience still by his Deputies; only as _Jeroboam_ made Priests of the +meanest of the People, so he is grown a little humble, and makes use of +meaner Instruments than he did before; for whereas the Priests of +_Apollo_, and of _Jupiter_, were splendid in their Appearance, of grave +and venerable Aspect, and sometimes of no mean Quality; now he makes use +of Scoundrels and Rabble, Beggars and Vagabonds, old Hags, superannuated +miserable Hermits, Gypsies and Strollers, the Pictures of Envy and ill +Luck. + +Either the _Devil_ is grown an ill Master, and gives but mean Wages, +that he can get no better Servants; or else Common Sense is grown very +low priz'd and contemptible; that such as these are fit Tools to +continue the Succession of Fraud, and carry on the _Devil_'s Interest in +the World; for were not the Passions and Temper of Mankind deeply +pre-engaged in favour of this dark Prince, we could never suffer our +selves to accept of his Favours by the Hands of such contemptible Agents +as these! How do we receive his Oracles from an old Witch of particular +Eminence, and who we believe to be more than ordinarily inspir'd from +Hell; I say, we receive the Oracle with Reverence; that is to say, with +a kind of Horror, with regard to the Black Prince it comes from, and at +the same time turn our Faces away from the Wretch that mumbles out the +Answers, lest she should cast an _Evil Eye_, as we call it, upon us, and +put a Devil into us when she plays the _Devil_ before us? How do we +listen to the Cant of those worst of Vagabonds the _Gypsies_, when at +the same time we watch our Hedges and Hen-roosts for fear of their +thieving? + +Either the DEVIL uses us more like Fools than he did our Ancestors, or +we really are worse Fools than those Ages produced, for they were never +deluded by such low-priz'd _Devils_ as we are; by such despicable +_Bridewell_ DEVILS, that are fitter for a Whipping-post than an Altar, +and instead of being receiv'd as the Voice of an Oracle, should be sent +to the House of Correction for Pick-pockets. + +Nor is this accidental, and here and there one of these Wretches to be +seen, but in short, if it has been in other Nations as it is with us, I +do not see that the DEVIL was able to get any better People into his +Pay, or at least very rarely: Where have we seen any thing above a +Tinker turn Wizard? and where have we had a Witch of Quality among us, +Mother _Je------gs_ excepted? and if she had not been more of something +else than a Witch, 'twas thought she had never got so much Money by her +Profession. + +Magicians, Southsayers, Devil-raisers, and such People, we have heard +much of, but seldom above the Degree of the meanest of the mean People, +the lowest of the lowest Rank: Indeed the Word _Wise Men_, which the +_Devil_ wou'd fain have had his Agents honour'd with, was used a while +in _Egypt_, and in _Persia_, among the _Chaldeans_, but it continued but +a little while, and never reach'd so far Northward as our Country; nor, +however the _Devil_ has managed it, have many of our great Men, who have +been most acquainted with him, ever been able to acquire the Title of +Wise Men. + +I have heard that in older Times, I suppose in good Queen _Bess_'s Days, +or beyond, (for little is to be said here for any thing on this Side of +her time) there were some Counsellors and Statesmen who merited the +Character of _wise_, in the best Sense; that is to say, _good_, and +_wise_, as they stand in Conjunction; but as to what has happen'd since +that, or, as we may call it, from that Queen's Funeral to the late +Revolution, I have little to say; but I'll tell you what honest _Andrew +Marvel_ said of those Times, and by that you may, if you please, make +your Calculation or let it alone, 'tis all one. + + "To see a white Staff-maker, a Beggar, a Lord, + "And scarce _a wise Man_ at a long Council-Board. + + +But I may be told this relates to wise Men in another Constitution, or +wise Men as they are opposed to Fools; whereas we are talking of them +now under another Class, namely, as _Wisemen_ or Magicians, +South-sayers, _&c._ such as were in former Times call'd by that Name. + +But to this I answer, that take them in which Sense you please, it may +be the same; for if I were to ask the _Devil_ the Character of the best +States-man he had employ'd among us for many Years past, I am apt to +think that tho' Oracles are ceased, he would honestly, according to the +old ambiguous Way, when I ask'd if they were Christians, answer they +were (his) _Privy-Counsellors_. + +It is but a little while ago, that I happen'd (in Conversation) to meet +with a long List of the Magistrates of that Age, in a neighbouring +Country, that is to say, the Men of Fame among them; and it was a very +diverting Thing to see the Judgment which was pass'd upon them among a +great deal of good Company; it is not for me to tell you how many white +Staves, Golden Keys, Mareshals Batoons, Cordons Blue, Gordon Rouge and +Gordon Blanc, there were among them, or by what Titles, as Dukes, +Counts, Marquis, Abbot, Bishop, or Justice they were to be +distinguish'd; but the marginal Notes I found upon most of them were +(being mark'd with an Asterism) as follows. + +Such a Duke, such eminent Offices added to his Titles (* in the Margin) +------ _No Saint_. + +Such an Arch---- with the Title of Noble added, ------ _No Archangel_. + +Such an eminent Statesman and prime Minister, ------ _No Witch_. + +Such a Ribbon with a Set of great Letters added, ------ _No Conjurer_. + +It presently occurr'd to me that tho' Oracles were ceased, and we had +now no more double _Entendre_ in such a Degree as before, yet that +ambiguous Answers were not at an End; and that whether those Negatives +were meant so by the Writers, or not, 'twas certain Custom led the +Readers to conclude them to be Satyrs, that they were to be rung +backwards like the Bells when the Town's on fire; tho' in short, I durst +not read them backward any where, but as speaking of foreign People, for +fear of raising the _Devil_ I am talking of. + +But to return to the Subject; to such mean Things is the DEVIL now +reduc'd in his ordinary Way of carrying on his Business in the World, +that his Oracles are deliver'd now by the Bellmen and the +Chimney-Sweepers, by the meanest of those that speak in the Dark, and if +he operates by them, you may expect it accordingly; his Agents seem to +me as if the DEVIL had singl'd them out by their Deformity, or that +there was something particular requir'd in their Aspect to qualify them +for their Employment; whence it is become proverbial, when our Looks are +very dismal and frightful, to say, I look like a Witch, or in other +Cases to say, as ugly as a Witch; in another Case to look as envious as +a Witch; now whether there is any Thing particularly requir'd in the +Looks of the DEVIL's modern Agents, which is assisting in the Discharge +of their Offices, and which make their Answers appear more solemn, this +the _Devil_ has not yet reveal'd, at least not to me; and therefore why +it is that he singles out such Creatures as are fit only to fright the +People that come to them with their Enquiries, I do not take upon me to +determine. + +Perhaps it is necessary they should be thus extraordinary in their +Aspect, that they might strike an Awe into the Minds of their Votaries, +as if they were Satan's true and real Representatives; and that the said +Votaries may think when they speak to the Witches they are really +talking to the _Devil_; or perhaps 'tis necessary to the Witches +themselves, that they should be so exquisitely ugly, that they might not +be surpriz'd at whatever Figure the Devil makes when he first appears to +them, being certain they can see nothing uglier than themselves. + +Some are of the Opinion that the Communication with the _Devil_, or +between the Devil and those Creatures his Agents, has something +assimulating in it, and that if they were tolerable before, they are, +_ipso facto_, turn'd into DEVILS by talking with him; I will not say but +that a Tremor in the Limbs, a Horror in the Aspect, and a surprizing +Stare in the Eyes may seize upon some of them when they really see the +DEVIL, and that the frequent Repetition may make those Distortions, +which we so constantly see in their Faces becomes natural to them; by +which if it does not continue always upon the Countenance, they can at +least, _like the Posture-Masters_, cast themselves into such Figures and +frightful Dislocations of the Lines and Features in their Faces, and so +assume a Devil's Face suitable to the Occasion, or as may serve the turn +for which they take it up, and as often as they have any use for it. + +But be it which of these the Enquirer pleases, 'tis all one to the Case +in Hand; this is certain, that such deform'd _Devil-like_ Creatures, +most of those we call _Hags_ and _Witches_, are in their Shapes and +Aspects, and that they give out their Sentences and frightful Messages +with an Air of Revenge for some Injury receiv'd; for Witches are fam'd +chiefly for doing Mischief. + +It seems the _Devil_ has always pick'd out the most ugly and frightful +old Women to do his Business; _Mother Shipton_, our famous _English_ +Witch or Prophetess, is very much wrong'd in her Picture, if she was not +of the most terrible Aspect imaginable; and if it be true that _Merlin_, +the famous _Welch_ Fortune-Teller, was a frightful Figure, it will seem +the more rational to believe, if we credit another Story, (_viz._) that +he was begotten by the Devil himself, of which I shall speak by it self: +But to go back to the Devil's Instruments being so ugly; it may be +observed, I say, that the Devil has always dealt in such sort of Cattle; +the _Sybils_, of whom so many strange prophetic Things are recorded, +whether true or no is not to the Question, are (if the _Italian_ +Painters may have any Credit given them) all represented as very old +Women; and as if Ugliness were a Beauty to old Age, they seem to paint +them out as ugly and frightful as (not they, the Painters) but even as +the Devil himself could make them; not that I believe there are any +original Pictures of them really extant; but it is not unlikely that the +_Italians_ might have some traditional Knowledge of them, or some +remaining Notions of them, or particularly that antient _Sybil_ named +_Anus_, who sold the fatal Book to _Tarquin_; 'tis said of her that +_Tarquin_ supposed she doated with Age. + +I had Thoughts indeed here to have entred into a learned Disquisition of +the Excellency of old Women in all diabolical Operations, and +particularly of the Necessity of having recourse to them for _Satan_'s +more exquisite Administration, which also may serve to solve the great +Difficulty in the natural Philosophy of Hell; namely, why it comes to +pass that the Devil is oblig'd for want of old Women, properly so +call'd, to turn so many antient Fathers, grave Counsellors both of Law +and State, and especially Civilians or Doctors of the Law into old +Women, and how the extraordinary Operation is perform'd; but this, as a +Thing of great Consequence in Satan's Management of humane Affairs, and +particularly as it may lead us into the necessary History, as well as +Characters of some of the most eminent of these Sects among us, I have +purposely reserv'd for a Work by it self, to be published, if _Satan +hinders not_, in fifteen Volumes in Folio, wherein I shall in the first +Place define in the most exact Manner possible, what is to be understood +by a _Male old Woman_, of what heterogeneous Kind they are produced, +give you the monstrous Anatomy of the Parts, and especially those of the +Head, which being fill'd with innumerable Globules of a sublime Nature, +and which being of a fine Contexture without, but particularly hollow in +the Cavity, defines most philosophically that antient paradoxical +Saying, (_viz._) _being full of Emptiness_, and makes it very consistent +with Nature and common Sense. + +I shall likewise spend some Time, _and it must be Labour too, I assure +you, when 'tis done_, in determining whether this new Species of +Wonderfuls are not deriv'd from that famous _old Woman Merlin_, which I +prove to be very reasonable for us to suppose, because of the many +several judicious Authors, who affirm the said _Merlin_, as I hinted +before, to have been begotten by the _Devil_. + +As to the deriving his Gift of Prophesy from the Devil, by that +pretended Generation, I shall omit that Part, because, as I have all +along insisted upon it, that Satan himself has no prophetic or +predicting Powers of his own, it is not very clear to me that he could +convey it to his Posterity, _nil dat quod not habet_. + +However, in deriving this so much magnified Prophet in a right Line from +the _Devil_, much may be said in favour of his ugly Face, in which it +was said he was very remarkable, for it is no new Thing for a Child to +be like the Father; but all these weighty Things I adjourn for the +present, and proceed to the Affair in Hand, namely, the several Branches +of the _Devil_'s Management since his quitting his Temples and Oracles. + + + + +CHAP. VI. + +_Of the extraordinary Appearance of the_ Devil, _and particularly of the + Cloven-Foot._ + + +Some People would fain have us treat this Tale of the _Devil_'s +appearing with a Cloven-Foot with more Solemnity than I believe the +_Devil_ himself does; for Satan, who knows how much of a Cheat it is, +must certainly ridicule it, in his own Thoughts, to the last Degree; but +as he is glad of any Way to hoodwink the Understandings, and bubble the +weak Part of the World; so if he sees Men willing to take every +Scarecrow for a Devil, it is not his Business to undeceive them; on the +other Hand, he finds it his Interest to foster the Cheat, and serve +himself of the Consequence: Nor could I doubt but the Devil, if any +Mirth be allow'd him, often laughs at the many frightful Shapes and +Figures we dress him up in, and especially to see how willing we are +first to paint him as black, and make him appear as ugly as we can, and +then stare and start at the Spectrum of our own making. + +The Truth is, that among all the Horribles that we dress up Satan in, I +cannot but think we shew the least of Invention in this of a Goat, or a +Thing with a Goat's Foot, of all the rest; for tho' a Goat is a Creature +made use of by our Saviour in the Allegory of the Day of Judgment, and +is said there to represent the wicked rejected Party, yet it seems to be +only on Account of their Similitude to the Sheep, and so to represent +the just Fate of Hypocrisy and Hypocrites, and in particular to form the +necessary Antithesis in the Story; for else, _our whimsical Fancies +excepted_, a Sheep or a Lamb has a Cloven-Foot as well as a Goat; nay, +if the Scripture be of any Value in the Case, 'tis to the _Devil_'s +Advantage, for the dividing the Hoof was the distinguishing Character or +Mark of a clean Beast, and how the Devil can be brought into that Number +is pretty hard to say. + +One would have thought if we had intended to have given a just Figure of +the _Devil_, it would have been more apposite to have rank'd him among +the Cat-kind, and given him a Foot (if he is to be known by his Foot) +like a Lion, or like a _red Dragon_, being the same Creatures which he +is represented by in the Text, and so his Claws would have had some +Terror in them as well as his Teeth. + +But neither is the _Goat_ a true Representative of the Devil at all, for +we do not rank the Goats among the Subtle or cunning Part of the Brutes; +he is counted a fierce Creature indeed of his Kind, tho' nothing like +those other abovemention'd; and he is emblematically used to represent a +lustful Temper, but even that Part does not fully serve to describe the +Devil, whose Operation lies principally another Way. + +Besides it is not the _Goat_ himself that is made use of, 'tis the +Cloven-Hoof only, and that so particularly, that the _Cloven Foot_ of a +Ram or a Swine, or any other Creature, may serve as well as that of a +_Goat_, only that History gives us some Cause to call it the _Goat_'s +_Foot_. + +In the next Place 'tis understood by us not as a bare Token to know +_Satan_ by, but as if it were a Brand upon him, and that like the Mark +God put upon _Cain_, it was given him for a Punishment, so that he +cannot get leave to appear without it, nay cannot conceal it whatever +other Dress or Disguise he may put on; and as if it was to make him as +ridiculous as possible, they will have it be, that whenever _Satan_ has +Occasion to dress himself in any humane Shape, be it of what Degree +soever, from the King to the Beggar, be it of a fine Lady or of an _old +Woman_, (the Latter it seems he oftenest assumes) yet still he not only +must have this _Cloven-Foot_ about him, but he is oblig'd to shew it +too; nay, they will not allow him any Dress, whether it be a Prince's +Robes, a Lord Cha---r's Gown, or a Lady's Hoop and long Petticoats, but +the Cloven-Foot must be shew'd from under them; they will not so much as +allow him an artificial _Shoe_ or a _Jack-Boot_, as we often see +contriv'd to conceal a _Club-Foot_ or a _Wooden-Leg_; but that the +_Devil_ may be known wherever he goes, he is bound to shew his Foot; +they might as well oblige him to set a Bill upon his Cap, as Folks do +upon a House to be let, and have it written in capital Letters, _I am +the_ DEVIL. + +It must be confess'd this is very particular, and would be very hard +upon the _Devil_, if it had not another Article in it, which is some +Advantage to him, and that is, that _the Fact is not true_; but the +Belief of this is so universal, that all the World runs away with it; by +which Mistake the good People miss the _Devil_ many times where they +look for him, and meet him as often where they did not expect him, and +when for want of this Cloven-Foot they do not know him. + +Upon this very Account I have sometimes thought, not that this has been +put upon him by meer Fancy, and the Cheat of a heavy Imagination, +propagated by Fable and Chymny-Corner Divinity, but that it has been a +Contrivance of his own; and that, in short, the Devil rais'd this +Scandal upon himself, that he might keep his Disguise the better, and +might go a Visiting among his Friends without being known; for were it +really so, that he could go no where without this particular Brand of +Infamy, he could not come into Company, could not dine with my Lord +Mayor, nor drink Tea with the Ladies, could not go to the Drawing-R---- +at ------, could not have gone to _Fountainbleau_ to the King of +_France_'s Wedding, or to the Diet of _Poland_, to prevent the Grandees +there coming to an Agreement; nay, _which would be still worse than +all_, he could not go to the Masquerade, nor to any of our Balls; the +Reason is plain, he would be always discover'd, expos'd and forc'd to +leave the good Company, or which would be as bad, the Company would all +cry out the _Devil_ and run out of the Room as if they were frighted; +nor could all the Help of Invention do him any Service, no Dress he +could put on would cover him; not all our Friends at _Tavistock Corner_ +could furnish him with a Habit that would disguise or conceal him, this +unhappy Foot would spoil it all: Now this would be a great a Loss to +him, that I question whether he could carry on any of his most important +Affairs in the World without it; for tho' he has access to Mankind in +his compleat Disguise, I mean that of his Invisibility, yet the Learned +very much agree in this, that his corporal Presence in the World is +absolutely necessary upon many Occasions, to support his Interest and +keep up his Correspondences, and particularly to encourage his Friends +when Numbers are requisite to carry on his Affairs; but this Part I +shall have Occasion to speak of again, when I come to consider him as a +Gentleman of Business in his Locality, and under the Head of visible +Apparition; but I return to the _Foot_. + +As I have thus suggested that the Devil himself has politically spread +about this Notion concerning his appearing with _a Cloven-Foot_, so I +doubt not that he has thought it for his Purpose to paint this +_Cloven-Foot_ so lively in the Imaginations of many of our People, and +especially of those clear sighted Folks who see the _Devil_ when he is +not to be seen, that they would make no Scruple to say, nay and to make +Affidavit too, even before _Satan_ himself, whenever he sat upon the +Bench, that they had seen his Worship's Foot at such and such a Time; +this I advance the rather because 'tis very much for his Interest to do +this, for if we had not many Witnesses, _viva voce_, to testify it, we +should have had some obstinate Fellows always among us, who would have +denied the Fact, or at least have spoken doubtfully of it, and so have +rais'd Disputes and Objections against it, as impossible, or at least as +improbable; buzzing one ridiculous Notion or other into our Ears, as if +the Devil was not so black as he was painted, that he had no more a +_Cloven-Foot_ than a Pope, whose Apostolical Toes have so often been +reverentially kiss'd by Kings and Emperors: but now alas this Part is +out of the Question, not the Man in the Moon, not the Groaning-Board, +not the speaking of Fryar _Bacon_'s Brazen-Head, not the Inspiration of +_Mother Shipton_, or the Miracles of Dr. _Faustus_, Things as certain as +Death and Taxes, can be more firmly believ'd: The Devil not have a +Cloven-Foot! I doubt not but I could, in a short Time, bring you a +thousand old Women together, that would as soon believe there was no +Devil at all; nay, they will tell you, he could not be a Devil without +it, any more than he could come into the Room, and the Candles not burn +blue, or go out and not leave a smell of Brimstone behind him. + +Since then the Certainty of the Thing is so well establish'd, and there +are so many good and substantial Witnesses ready to testify that he has +a Cloven-Foot, and that they have seen it too; nay, and that we have +Antiquity on our Side, for we have this Truth confirm'd by the Testimony +of many Ages; why should we doubt it any longer? we can prove that many +of our Ancestors have been of this Opinion, and divers learn'd Authors +have left it upon Record, as particularly that learned Familiarist +Mother _Hazel_, whose Writings are to be found in MS. in the famous +Library at _Pye-Corner_; also the admir'd _Joan_ of _Amesbury_, the +History of the _Lancashire_ Witches, and the Reverend Exorcist of the +_Devil_'s of _London_, whose History is extant among us to this Day; all +these and many more may be quoted, and their Writings referr'd to for +the Confirmation of the Antiquity of this Truth; but there seems to be +no Occasion for farther Evidence, 'tis enough, _Satan_ himself, if he +did not raise the Report, yet tacitly owns the Fact, at least he appears +willing to have it believ'd, and be receiv'd as a general Truth for the +Reasons above. + +But besides all this, and as much a Jest as some unbelieving People +would have this Story pass for, who knows but that if _Satan_ is +empower'd to assume any Shape or Body, and to appear to us visibly, as +if really so shap'd; I say, who knows but he may, by the same Authority, +be allow'd to assume the Addition of the Cloven-Foot, or two or four +Cloven-Feet, if he pleased? and why not a _Cloven-Foot_ as well as any +other Foot, if he thinks fit? For if the _Devil_ can assume a Shape, and +can appear to Mankind in a visible Form, it may, I doubt not, with as +good Authority be advanc'd that he is left at Liberty to assume what +Shape he pleases, and to choose _what Case of Flesh and Blood he'll +please to wear_, whether real or imaginary; and if this Liberty be +allow'd him, it is an admirable Disguise for him to come generally with +his _Cloven-Foot_, that when he finds it for his Purpose, on special +Occasions to come without it, as I said above, he may not be suspected; +_but take this with you as you go_, that all this is upon a Supposition +that the _Devil_ can assume a visible Shape, and make a real Appearance, +which however I do not yet think fit to grant or deny. + +Certain it is, the first People who bestow'd a _Cloven-Foot_ upon the +Devil, were not so despicable as you may imagine, but were real +Favourites of Heaven; for did not _Aaron_ set up the _Devil_ of a Calf +in the Congregation, and set the People a dancing about it for a God? +Upon which Occasion, Expositors tell us, that particular Command was +given, _Levit._ xvii. 7. _They shall no more offer their Sacrifices +unto_ Devils, _after whom they have gone a Whoring_; likewise King +_Jeroboam_ set up the two Calves, one at _Dan_ and the other at +_Bethel_, and we find them charg'd afterwards with setting up the +Worship of _Devils_ instead of the Worship of _God_. + +After this we find some Nations actually sacrificed to the _Devil_ in +the Form of a Ram, and others of a Goat; from which, and that above of +the Calves at _Horeb_, I doubt not the Story of the _Cloven-Foot_ first +derived; and it is plain that the Worship of that Calf at _Horeb_ is +meant in the Scripture quoted above, _Levit._ xvii. 7. _Thou shalt no +more offer Sacrifices unto Devils_: The Original is _Seghnirim_; that +is, rough and hairy _Goats_ or _Calves_; and some think also in this +Shape the _Devil_ most ordinarily appeared to the _Egyptians_ and +_Arabians_, from whence it was derived. + +Also in the old Writings of the _Egyptians_, I mean their hieroglyphick +Writing, before the Use of Letters was known, we are told this was the +Mark that he was known by; and the Figure of a _Goat_ was the +_Hieroglyphick_ of the _Devil_; some will affirm that the _Devil_ was +particularly pleased to be so represented; how they came by their +Information, and whether they had it from his own Mouth or not, Authors +have not yet determined. + +But be this as it will, I do not see that _Satan_ could have been at a +Loss for some extraordinary Figure to have banter'd Mankind with, tho' +this had not been thought of; but thinking of the _Cloven-Foot_ first, +and the Matter being indifferent, this took place, and easily rooted it +self in the bewildred Fancy of the People, and now 'tis riveted too fast +for the _Devil_ himself to remove it if he was disposed to try; but as I +said above, 'tis none of his Business to solve Doubts or remove +Difficulties out of our Heads, but to perplex us with more, as much as +he can. + +Some People carry this Matter a great deal higher still, and will have +the _Cloven-Foot_ be like the great Stone which the _Brasilian +Conjurers_ used to solve all difficult Questions upon, after having used +a great many monstrous and barbarous Gestures and Distortions of their +Bodies, and cut certain Marks or magical Figures upon the Stone; so, _I +say_, they will have this Cloven-Foot be a kind of a Conjuring-Stone, +and tell us, that in former Times, when _Satan_ drove a greater Trade +with Mankind in publick, than he has done of late, he gave this +_Cloven-Foot_ as a Token to his particular Favourites to work Wonders +with, and to conjure by, and that Witches, Fairies, Hobgoblins, and such +Things, of which the Antients had several Kinds, at least in their +Imagination, had all a _Goat's Leg_ with a _Cloven-Foot_ to put on upon +extraordinary Occasions; it seems this Method is of late grown out of +Practice, and so like the melting of Marble and the painting of Glass, +'tis laid aside among the various useful Arts which History tells us are +lost to the World; what may be practised in the Fairy World, if such a +Place there be, we can give no particular Account at present. + +But neither is this all, for other wou'd-be-wise People take upon them +to make farther and more considerable Improvements upon this Doctrine of +the _Cloven-Foot_, and treat it as a most significant Instrument of +Satan's private Operation, and that as _Joseph_ is said to _Divine_, +that is to say, to _conjure_ by his Golden Cup which was put into +_Benjamin_'s Sack, so the _Devil_ has managed several of his secret +Operations, and Possessions, and other hellish Mechanisms upon the +Spirits as well as Bodies of Men, by the Medium or Instrumentality of +the _Cloven-Foot_; accordingly it had a Kind of an hellish Inspiration +in it, and a separate and magical Power by which he wrought his infernal +Miracles; that the Cloven-Foot had a superior Signification, and was not +only emblematic and significative of the Conduct of Men, but really +guided their Conduct in the most important Affairs of Life; and that the +Agents the Devil employ'd to influence Mankind, and to delude them and +draw them into all the Snares and Traps that he lays continually for +their Destruction, were equipp'd with this Foot in Aid of their other +Powers for Mischief. + +Here they read us learn'd Lectures upon the sovereign Operations which +the Devil is at present Master of, in the Government of human Affairs; +and how the Cloven-Foot is an Emblem of the true _double Entendre_ or +divided Aspect, which the great Men of the World generally act with, and +by which all their Affairs are directed; from whence it comes to pass +that there is no such Thing as a single hearted Integrity, or an +upright Meaning to be found in the World; that Mankind, worse than the +ravenous Brutes, preys upon his own Kind, and devours them by all the +laudable Methods of Flattery, Whyne, Cheat and Treachery; _Crocodile +like_, weeping over those it will devour, destroying those it smiles +upon, and, in a Word, devours its own Kind, which the very Beasts +refuse, and that by all the Ways of Fraud and Allurement that _Hell_ can +invent; holding out a cloven divided Hoof, or Hand, pretending to save, +when the very Pretence is made use of to ensnare and destroy. + +Thus the divided Hoof is the Representative of a divided double Tongue, +and Heart, an Emblem of the most exquisite Hypocrisy, the most fawning +and fatally deceiving Flattery; and here they give us very diverting +Histories, tho' tragical in themselves, of the manner which some of the +_Devil_'s inspired Agents have manag'd themselves under the especial +Influence of the _Cloven-Foot_; how they have made War under the +Pretence of Peace, murther'd Garrisons under the most sacred +Capitulations, massacred innocent Multitudes after Surrenders to Mercy. + +Again, they tell us the _Cloven-Foot_ has been made use of in all +Treasons, Plots, Assassinations, and secret as well as open Murthers and +Rebellions. Thus _Joab_ under the Treason of an Embrace, shew'd how +dexterously he could manage the _Cloven-Foot_, and struck _Abner_ under +the fifth Rib: Thus _David_ play'd the Cloven-Foot upon poor _Uriah_, +when he had a Mind to lie with his Wife: Thus _Brutus_ play'd it upon +_Caesar_; and to come nearer home, we have had a great many retrograde +Motions in this Country by this magical Implement the _Foot_; Such as +that of the Earl of _Essex_'s Fate, beheading the Queen of _Scots_, and +diverse others in Queen _Elizabeth_'s Time: That of the Earl of +_Shrewsbury_ and Sir _Thomas Overbury_, _Gondamor_ and Sir _Walter +Raleigh_, and many others in King _James_ the I.'s Time; in all which, +if the Cloven-Foot had not been dexterously manag'd, those Murthers had +not been so dexterously manag'd, or the Murtherers have so well been +skreen'd from Justice; for which and the imprecated Justice of Heaven +unappeased, some have thought the innocent Branches of the Royal House +of _Stuart_ did not fare the better in the Ages which follow'd. + +It must be confess'd, the Cloven-Foot was in its full Exercise in the +next Reign, and the Generation that rose up immediately after them, +arrived to the most exquisite Skill for Management of it; here they +fasted and pray'd, there they plunder'd and murther'd; here they rais'd +War for the King, and there they fought against him, cutting Throats for +_God's Sake_, and deposing both King and kingly Government according to +Law. + +Nor was the _Cloven-Foot_ unemployed on all Sides, for 'tis the main +Excellency of this Instrument of Hell, that it acts on every Side, it is +its denominating Quality, and is for that Reason call'd a cloven or +divided Hoof. + +This mutilated Apparition has been so publick in other Countries too, +that it seems to convince us the Devil is not confin'd to _England_ +only, but that as his Empire extended to all the sublunary World, so he +gives them all Room to see he is qualified to manage them his own Way. + +What abundant Use did that Prince of Dissemblers, _Charles_ V. make of +this Foot? 'twas by the Help of this Apparition of the Foot that he +baited his Hook with the City of _Milan_, and tickled _Francis_ I. of +_France_ so well with it, that when he pass'd thro' _France_, and was in +that King's Power, he let him go, and never get the Bait off of the Hook +neither; it Seems the _Foot_ was not on King _Francis_'s Side at that +Time. + +How cruelly did _Philip_ II. of _Spain_ manage this Foot in the Murther +of the Nobility of the _Spanish Netherlands_, the Assassination of the +Prince of _Orange_, and at last: in that of his own Son _Don Carlos_ +Infant of _Spain_? and yet such was the _Devil_'s Craft, and so nicely +did he bestir his _Cloven-Hoof_, that this Monarch died consolated (tho' +impenitent) in the Arms of the Church, and with the Benediction of the +Clergy too, _those second best Managers of the said Hoof in the World_. + +I must acknowledge, I agree with this Opinion thus far; namely, that the +Devil acting by this Cloven-Foot, as a Machine, has done great Things in +the World for the propagating his dark Empire among us; and History is +full of Examples, besides the little low priz'd Things done among us; +for we are come to such a Kind of Degeneracy in Folly, that we have even +dishonour'd the _Devil_, and put this glorious Engine the Cloven-Foot to +such mean Uses, that the _Devil_ himself seems to be asham'd of us. + +But to return a little to foreign History, besides what has been +mention'd above, we find flaming Examples of most glorious Mischief done +by this Weapon, when put into the Hands of Kings and Men of Fame in the +World: How many Games have the Kings of _France_ play'd with this +_Cloven-Foot_, and that within a few Years of one another? First, +_Charles_ IX. play'd the _Cloven-Foot_ upon _Gaspar Coligni_ Admiral of +_France_, when he caress'd him, complimented him, invited him to +_Paris_, to the Wedding of the King of _Navarre_, call'd him Father, +kiss'd him, and when he was wounded sent his own Surgeons to take Care +of him, and yet three Days after order'd him to be assassinated and +murther'd, used with a thousand Indignities, and at last thrown out of +the Window into the Street to be insulted by the Rabble? + +Did not _Henry_ III. in the same Country, play the Cloven-Foot upon the +Duke of _Guise_, when he call'd him to his Council, and caus'd him to be +murther'd as he went in at the Door? The _Guises_ again plaid the same +Game back upon the King, when they sent out a _Jacobin_ Friar to +assassinate him in his Tent as he lay at the Siege of _Paris_. + +In a Word, this Opera of the _Cloven-Foot_ has been acted all over the +Christian World, ever since _Judas_ betray'd the Son of God with a Kiss; +nay, our Saviour says expresly of him, _One of you is a Devil_; and the +sacred Text says in another Place, _The Devil enter'd into Judas_. + +It would take up a great deal of Time and Paper too, to give you a full +Account of the Travels of this _Cloven-Foot_; its Progress into all the +Courts of _Europe_, and with what most accurate Hypocrisy _Satan_ has +made use of it upon many Occasions, and with what Success; but as in the +elaborate Work of which I just now gave you a Specimen I design one +whole Volume upon this Subject, and which I shall call, _The compleat +History_ of the _Cloven-Foot_; I say, for that Reason, and diverse +others, I shall say but very little more to it in this Place. + +It remains to tell you, that this merry Story of the _Cloven-Foot_ is +very essential to the History which I am now writing, as it has been all +along the great Emblem of the _Devil_'s Government in the World, and by +which all his most considerable Engagements have been answer'd and +executed; for as he is said not to be able to conceal this Foot, but +that he carries it always with him, it imports most plainly, that the +_Devil_ would be no _Devil_ if he was not a Dissembler, a Deceiver, and +carried a _double Entendre_ in all he does or says; that he cannot but +say one Thing and mean another, promise one Thing and do another, engage +and not perform, declare and not intend, and act like a true _Devil_ as +he is, with a Countenance that is no Index of his Heart. + +I might indeed go back to Originals, and derive this _Cloven-Foot_ from +Satan's primitive State as a Cherubim or a celestial Being, which +Cherubims, as _Moses_ is said to have seen them about the Throne of God +in Mount _Sinai_, and as the same _Moses_, from the Original represented +them afterwards covering the Ark, had the Head and Face of a Man, Wings +of an Eagle, Body of a Lion, and Legs and Feet of a Calf; but this is +not so much to our present Purpose, for as we are to allow that whatever +_Satan_ had of heavenly Beauty before the Fall, he lost it all when he +commenc'd _Devil_, so to fetch his Original so far up would be only to +say, that he retain'd nothing but the _Cloven-Foot_, and that all the +rest of him was alter'd and deform'd, become frightful and horrible as +the DEVIL; but his Cloven-Foot, as we now understand it, is rather +mystical and emblematick, and describes him only as the Fountain of +Mischief and Treason, and the Prince of Hypocrites, and as such we are +now to speak of him. + +'Tis from this Original all the hypocritic World copy, he wears the Foot +on their Account, and from this Model they act: This made our blessed +Lord tell them, _the Works of your Father ye will do_, meaning the +_Devil_, as he had express'd it just before. + +Nor does he deny the Use of the _Foot_ to the meaner Class of his +Disciples in the World, but decently equips them all upon every +Occasion with a needful Proportion of Hypocrisy and Deceit; that they +may hand on the Power of promiscuous Fraud thro' all his temporal +Dominions, and wear _the Foot_ always about them as a Badge of their +profess'd Share in whatever is done by that Means. + +Thus every Dissembler, every false Friend, every secret Cheat, every +Bearskin-Jobber has a _Cloven-Foot_, and so far hands on the Devil's +Interest by the same powerful Agency of Art, as the _Devil_ himself uses +to act when he appears in Person, or would act if he was just now upon +the Spot; for this _Foot_ is a Machine which is to be wound up and wound +down, as the Cause it appears for requires; and there are Agents and +Engineers to act in it by Directions of _Satan_ (the grand Engineer) who +lies still in his Retirement, only issuing out his Orders as he sees +convenient. + +Again, every Class, every Trade, every Shopkeeper, every Pedlar, nay, +that meanest of Tradesmen, that Church Pedlar the Pope, has a +Cloven-Foot, with which he _Paw wa's_ upon the World, wishes them all +well, and at the same time cheats them; wishes them all fed, and at the +same time starves them; wishes them all in Heaven, and at the same time +marches before them directly to the Devil, _alamode de Cloven-Foot_. + +Nay, the very Bench, the everliving Foundation of Justice in the World; +how often has it been made the Tool of Violence, the Refuge of +Oppression, the Seat of Bribery and Corruption, by this Monster in +Masquerade, and that every where (our own Country always excepted)? They +had much better wipe out the Picture of justice blinded, and having the +Sword and Scales in her Hand, which in foreign Countries is generally +painted over the Seat of those who sit to do Justice, and place instead +thereof a naked unarm'd Cloven-Hoof, a proper Emblem of that Spirit that +Influences the World, and of the Justice we often see administred among +them; human Imagination cannot form an Idea more suitable, nor the +_Devil_ propose an Engine more or better qualified for an Operation of +Justice, by the Influence of Bribery and Corruption; it is this +magnipotent Instrument in the Hands of the Devil, which under the +closest Disguise agitates every Passion, bribes every Affection, +blackens every Virtue, gives a double Face to Words and Actions, and to +all Persons who have any Concern in them, and in a Word, makes us all +Devils to one another. + +Indeed the Devil has taken but a dark Emblem to be distinguish'd by, for +this of a Goat was said to be a Creature hated by Mankind from the +beginning, and that there is a natural Antipathy in Mankind against +them: Hence the Scape Goat was to bear the Sins of the People, and to go +into the Wilderness with all that Burthen upon him. + +But we have a Saying among us, in Defence of which we must enquire into +the proper Sphere of Action which may be assigned to this Cloven-Foot, +as hitherto described: The Proverb is this; _Every_ Devil _has not a +Cloven-Foot_. This Proverb, instead of giving us some more favourable +Thoughts of the _Devil_, confirms what I have said already, that the +_Devil_ rais'd this Scandal upon himself; I mean, the Report that he +cannot conceal or disguise his Devil's Foot, or Hoof, but that it must +appear, under whatever Habit he shews himself; and the Reason I gave +holds good still, _namely_, that he may be more effectually conceal'd +when he goes abroad without it: For if the People were fully persuaded +that the _Devil_ could not appear without this Badge of his Honour, or +Mark of his Infamy, _take it as you will_; and that he was bound also to +shew it upon all Occasions, it would be natural to conclude, that +whatever frightful Appearances might be seen in the World, if the +Cloven-Foot did not also appear, we had no Occasion to look for the +_Devil_, or so much as to think of him, much less to apprehend he was +near us; and as this might be a Mistake, and that the _Devil_ might be +there while we thought our selves so secure, it might on many Occasions +be a Mistake of very ill Consequence, and in particular, as it would +give the _Devil_ room to act in the Dark, and not be discover'd, where +it might be most needful to know him. + +From this short Hint, thus repeated, I draw a new Thesis, namely, That +_Devil_ is most dangerous that has no Cloven-Foot; or, if you will have +it in Words more to the common Understanding, the _Devil_ seems to be +most dangerous when he goes without his Cloven-Foot. + +And here a learned Speculation offers it self to our Debate, and which +indeed I ought to call a Council of Casuists, and Men learned in the +_Devil_'s Politicks, to determine: + +Whether is most hurtful to the World, the _Devil_ walking about without +his Cloven-Foot, or the Cloven-Foot walking about without the _Devil_? + +It is indeed a nice and difficult Question, and merits to be well +enquir'd into; for which Reason, and diverse others, I have referr'd it +to be treated with some Decency, and as a Dispute of Dignity sufficient +to take up a Chapter by itself. + + + + +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? + + +In discussing this most critical Distinction of Satan's private Motions, +I must, as the Pulpit Gentlemen direct us, explain the Text, and let you +know what I mean by several dark Expressions in it, that I may not be +understood to talk (as the _Devil_ walks) in the dark. + + 1. As to the Devil's walking about. + + 2. His walking without his Cloven-Foot. + + 3. The Cloven-Foot walking about without the _Devil_. + + +Now as I study Brevity, and yet would be understood too, you may please +to understand me as I understand my self, thus. + + 1. That I must be allow'd to suppose the _Devil_ really has a full + Intercourse in, and through, and about this Globe, with Egress and + Regress, for the carrying on his special Affairs, when, how, and + where, to his Majesty, in his great Wisdom, it shall seem meet; + that sometimes he appears and becomes visible, and that, like a + Mastiff without his Clog, he does not always carry his Cloven-Foot + with him. This will necessarily bring me to some Debate upon the + most important Question of Apparitions, Hauntings, Walkings, _&c._ + whether of _Satan_ in human Shape, or of human Creatures in the + _Devil_'s Shape, or in any other manner whatsoever. + + 2. I must also be allow'd to tell you that Satan has a great deal + of Wrong done him by the general embracing vulgar Errors, and that + there is a Cloven-Foot oftentimes without a _Devil_; or, in short, + that Satan is not guilty of all the simple Things, no, or of all + the wicked Things we charge him with. + + +These two Heads well settled will fully explain the Title of this +Chapter, answer the Query mentioned in it, and at the same time +correspond very well with, and give us a farther Prospect into the main +and original Design of this Work, _namely, The History of the Devil_. We +are so fond of, and pleased with the general Notion of seeing the +_Devil_, that I am loth to disoblige my Readers so much as calling in +question his Visibility would do. Nor is it my Business, any more than +it is his, to undeceive them, where the Belief is so agreeable to them; +especially since upon the whole 'tis not one Farthing matter, either on +one Side or on the other, whether it be so or no, or whether the Truth +of Fact be ever discovered or not. + +Certain it is, whether we see him or no, here he is, and I make no doubt +but he is looking on while I am writing this Part of his Story, whether +behind me, or at my Elbow, or over my Shoulder, is not material to me, +nor have I once turned my Head about to see whether he is there or no; +for if he be not in the Inside, I have so mean an Opinion of all his +extravasated Powers, that it seems of very little Consequence to me what +Shape he takes up, or in what Posture he appears; nor indeed can I find +in all my Enquiry that ever the _Devil_ appear'd (_Qua Devil_) in any +of the most dangerous or important of his Designs in the World; the most +of his Projects, especially of the significant Part of them, having been +carried on another way. + +However, as I am satisfied no Body will be pleas'd if I should dispute +the Reality of his Appearance, and the World runs away with it as a +receiv'd Point, and that admits no Dispute, I shall most readily grant +the General, and give you some Account of the Particulars. + +History is fruitful of Particulars, whether Invention has supply'd them +or not, I will not say, where the _Devil_ is brought upon the Stage in +plain and undeniable Apparition: The Story of _Samuel_ being rais'd by +the Witch of _Endor_, I shall leave quite out of my List, because there +are so many Scruples and Objections against that Story; and as I shall +not dispute with the Scripture, so on the other hand, I have so much +Deference for the Dignity of the _Devil_, as not to determine rashly how +far it may be in the Power of every old (_Witch_) Woman, to call him up +whenever she pleases, and that he must come, whatever the Pretence is, +or whatever Business of Consequence he may be engaged in, as often as +'tis needful for her to _Pa wa_ for half a Crown, or perhaps less than +half the Money. + +Nor will I undertake to tell you, till I have talk'd farther with him +about it, how far the _Devil_ is concern'd to discover Frauds, detect +Murthers, reveal Secrets, and especially to tell where any Money is hid, +and shew Folks where to find it; 'tis an odd thing that Satan should +think it of Consequence to come and tell us where such a Miser hid a +Strong Box, or where such an old Woman buried her _Chamber Pot_ full of +Money, the Value of all which is perhaps but a Trifle, when at the same +time he lets so many Veins of Gold, so many unexhausted Mines, nay, +Mountains of Silver, as, we may depend upon it, are hid in the Bowels of +the Earth, and which it would be so much to the Good of whole Nations to +discover, lie still there, and never say one Word of them to any Body. +Besides, how does the _Devil_'s doing Things so foreign to himself, and +so out of his way, agree with the rest of his Character; namely, shewing +a kind of a friendly Disposition to Mankind, or doing beneficent Things? +This is so beneath _Satan_'s Quality, and looks so little, that I scarce +know what to say to it; but that which is still more pungent in the Case +is, these Things are so out of his Road, and so foreign to his Calling, +that it shocks our Faith in them, and seems to clash with all the just +Notions we have of him, and of his Business in the World. The like is to +be said of those little merry Turns we bring him in acting with us, and +upon us, upon trifling and simple Occasions, such as tumbling Chairs and +Stools about House, setting Pots and Vessels Bottom upward, tossing the +Glass and Crokery Ware about without breaking; and such like mean +foolish Things, beneath the Dignity of the _Devil_, who, in my Opinion, +is rather employ'd in setting the World with the Bottom upward, tumbling +Kings and Crowns about, and dashing the Nations one against another; +raising Tempests and Storms, whether at Sea, or on Shore; and, in a +word, doing capital Mischiefs suitable to his Nature, and agreeable to +his Name, _Devil_; and suited to that Circumstance of his Condition, +which I have fully represented in the primitive Part of his exil'd +State. + +But to bring in the _Devil_ playing at Push-pin with the World, or like +_Domitian_ catching Flies, that is to say, doing nothing to the +purpose; this is not only deluding our selves, but putting a Slur upon +the _Devil_ himself; and, I say, I shall not dishonour Satan so much as +to suppose any thing in it: However, as I must have a care too how I +take away the proper Materials of Winter Evening Frippery, and leave the +good Wives nothing of the Devil to fright the Children with, I shall +carry the weighty Point no farther. No doubt the _Devil_ and Dr. +_Faustus_ were very intimate; I should rob you of a very significant [6] +Proverb, if I should so much as doubt it; no doubt the _Devil_ shew'd +himself in the Glass to that fair Lady who look'd in it to see where to +place her Patches; but then it should follow too that the _Devil_ is an +Enemy to the Ladies wearing Patches, and that has some Difficulties in +it which we cannot so easily reconcile; but we must tell the Story, and +leave out the Consequences. + +But to come to more remarkable Things, and in which the _Devil_ has +thought fit to act in a Figure more suitable to his Dignity, and on +Occasions consistent with himself; take the Story of the Appearance of +_Julius Caesar_, or the _Devil_ assuming that murthered _Emperor_, to the +great _Marcus Brutus_, who notwithstanding all the good Things said to +justify it, was no less than a King-killer and an Assassinator, which we +in our Language call by a very good Name, and peculiar to the _English_ +Tongue, a _Ruffian_. + +The Spectre had certainly the Appearance of _Caesar_, with his Wounds +bleeding fresh, as if he had just receiv'd the fatal Blow; he had +reproach'd him with his Ingratitude, with a _Tu Brute! tu quoque, mi +fili_: "What Thou _Brutus_! Thou, my adopted Son!" Now History seems +to agree universally, not only in the Story itself, but in the +Circumstances of it; we have only to observe that the _Devil_ had +certainly Power to assume, not a human Shape only, but the Shape of +_Julius Caesar_ in particular. + +Had _Brutus_ been a timorous _Conscience-harry'd_, weak-headed Wretch, +had he been under the Horror of the Guilt, and terrify'd with the +Dangers that were before him at that time, we might suggest that he was +over-run with the Vapours, that the Terrors which were upon his Mind +disorder'd him, that his Head was delirious and prepossess'd, and that +his Fancy only plac'd _Caesar_ so continually in his Eye, that it +realiz'd him to his Imagination, and he believ'd he saw him; with many +other suggested Difficulties to invalidate the Story, and render the +Reality of it doubtful. + +But the contrary, to an Extreme, was the Case of _Brutus_; his known +Character plac'd him above the Power of all Hypocondriacks, or fanciful +Delusions; _Brutus_ was of a true _Roman_ Spirit, a bold Hero, of an +intrepid Courage; one that scorn'd to fear even the _Devil_, as the +Story allows: Besides, he glory'd in the Action; there cou'd be no +Terror of Mind upon him; he valued himself upon it, as done in the +Service of Liberty, and the Cause of his Country; and was so far from +being frighted at the _Devil_ in the worst Shape, that he spoke first to +him, and ask'd him, _What art thou?_ and when he was cited to see him +again at _Philippi_, answer'd, with a Gallantry that knew no Fear, _well +I will see thee there_. Whatever the _Devil_'s Business was with +_Brutus_, this is certain, according to all the Historians who give us +the Account of it, that _Brutus_ discover'd no Fear; he did not, _like +Saul at Endor_, fall to the Ground in a Swoon, 1 _Sam._ xxviii. 20. +_Then Saul fell all along upon the Earth, and there was no Strength in +him, and was sore afraid._ In a word, I see no room to charge _Brutus_ +with being over-run with the _Hyppo_, or with Vapours, or with Fright +and Terror of Mind; but he saw the _Devil_, that's certain, and with +Eyes open, his Courage not at all daunted, his Mind resolute, and with +the utmost Composure spoke to him, reply'd to his Answer, and defy'd his +Summons to Death, which indeed he fear'd not, as appear'd afterward. + +I come next to an Instance as eminent in History as the other; this was +in _Char._ VI. of _France_, sirnamed, _The Beloved_; who riding over the +Forest near _Mans_, a ghastly frightful Fellow (that is to say, the +_Devil_ so clothed in human Vizor) came up to his Horse, and taking hold +of his Bridle, stop'd him, with the Addition of these Words, _Stop King, +whither go you? You are betray'd!_ and immediately disappear'd. It is +true, the King had been distemper'd in his Head before, and so he might +have been deceived, and we might have charg'd it to the Account of a +whimsical Brain, or the Power of his Imagination; but this was in the +Face of his Attendants, several of his great Officers, Courtiers, and +Princes of the Blood being with him, who all saw the Man, heard the +Words, and immediately, to their Astonishment, lost Sight of the +Spectre, who vanish'd from them all. + +Two Witnesses will convict a Murtherer, why not a Traitor? This must be +the _Old Gentleman_, emblematically so called, or who must it be? nay, +who else could it be? His Ugliness is not the Case, tho' _ugly as the +Devil_, is a Proverb in his Favour; but vanishing out of sight is an +Essential to a Spirit, and to an evil Spirit in our Times especially. + +These are some of the _Devil_'s Extraordinaries, and it must be +confess'd they are not the most agreeable to Mankind, for sometimes he +takes upon him to disorder his Friends very much on these Occasions, as +in the above Case of _Cha._ VI. of _France_; the King, they say, was +really demented ever after; that is, as we vulgarly, but not always +improperly, express it, he was really _frighted out of his Wits_. +Whether the malicious _Devil_ intended it so, or not, is not certain, +tho' it was not so foreign to his particular Disposition if he did. + +But where he is more intimate, we are told he appears in a manner less +disagreeable, and there he is more properly _a familiar Spirit_; that +is, in short, a _Devil_ of their Acquaintance: It is true, the Antients +understand the Word, _a familiar Spirit_, to be one of the kinds of +Possession; but if it serves our turn as well under the Denomination of +an intimate _Devil_, or a _Devil_ visitant, it must be acknowledg'd to +be as near in the literal Sense and Acceptation of the Word, as the +other; nay, it must be allow'd 'tis a very great Piece of Familiarity in +the _Devil_ to make Visits, and shew none of his Disagreeables, not +appear formidable, or in the Shape of what he is, respectfully +withholding his dismal Part, in Compassion to the Infirmities of his +Friends. + +It is true, _Satan_ may be oblig'd to make different Appearances, as the +several Circumstances of Things call for it; in some Cases he makes his +publick Entry, and then he must shew himself in his Habit of Ceremony; +in other Cases he comes upon private Business, and then he appears in +Disguise; in some publick Cases he may thing fit to be _incog._ and then +he appears dress'd _a la Masque_; so they say he appear'd at the famous +St. _Bartholomew_ Wedding at _Paris_, where, he came in dress'd up like +a Trumpeter, danc'd in his Habit, sounded a _Levet_, and then went out +and rung the Alarm-Bell (which was the Signal to begin the Massacre) +half an Hour before the Time appointed, lest the King's Mind should +alter, and his Heart fail him. + +If the Story be not made upon him, (for we should not slander the +_Devil_) it should seem, he was not thoroughly satisfied in King +_Charles_ IX.'s Steadiness in his Cause; for the King, it seems, had +relax'd a little once before, and Satan might be afraid he would fall +off again, and so prevent the Execution: Others say, the King did relent +immediately after the ringing the _Alarm-Bell_, but that then it was too +late, the Work was begun, and the Rage of Blood having been let loose +among the People, there was no recalling the Order. If the _Devil_ was +thus brought to the Necessity of a secret Management, it must be owned +he did it dexterously; but I have not Authority enough for the Story, to +charge him with the Particulars, so I leave it _au croc._ + +I have much better Vouchers for the Story following, which I had so +solemnly confirm'd by one that liv'd in the Family, that I never doubted +the Truth of it. There liv'd, in the Parish of St. _Bennet Fynk_, near +the _Royal Exchange_, an honest poor Widow Woman, who, _her Husband +being lately dead_, took Lodgers into her House; that is, she let out +some of her Rooms in order to lessen her own Charge of Rent; among the +rest, she let her Garrets to a working Watchwheel-maker, or one some way +concern'd in making the Movements of Watches, and who work'd to those +Shop-keepers who sell Watches; as is usual. + +It happened that a Man and Woman went up, to speak with this +Movement-maker upon some Business which related to his Trade, and when +they were near the Top of the Stairs, the Garret-Door where he usually +worked being wide open, they saw the poor Man (the Watch-maker, or +Wheel-maker) had hang'd himself upon a Beam which was left open in the +Room a little lower than the Plaister, or Ceiling: Surpriz'd at the +Sight, the Woman stop'd, and cried out to the Man who was behind her on +the Stairs that he should run up, and cut the poor Creature down. + +At that very Moment comes a Man hastily from another Part of the Room +which they upon the Stairs could not see, bringing a Joint-Stool in his +Hand, as if in great Haste, and sets it down just by the Wretch that was +hang'd, and getting up as hastily upon it pulls a Knife out of his +Pocket, and taking hold of the Rope with one of his Hands, beckon'd to +the Woman and the Man behind her with his Head, as if to stop and not +come up, shewing them the Knife in his other Hand, as if he was just +going to cut the poor Man down. + +Upon this, the Woman stopp'd a while, but the Man who stood on the +Joint-Stool continued with his Hand and Knife as if fumbling at the +Knot, but did not yet cut the Man down; at which the Woman cried out +again, and the Man behind her call'd to her. Go up, _says he_, and help +the Man upon the Stool! supposing something hindred. But the Man upon +the Stool made Signs to them again to be quiet, and not come on, as if +saying, I shall do it immediately; then he made two Strokes with his +Knife, as if cutting the Rope, and then stopp'd again; and still the +poor Man was hanging, and consequently dying: Upon this, the Woman on +the Stairs cried out to him. What ails you? Why don't you cut the poor +Man down? And the Man behind her, having no more Patience, thrusts her +by, and said to her. Let me come, I'll warrant you I'll do it; and with +that runs up and forward into the Room to the Man; but when he came +there, behold, the poor Man was there hanging; but no Man with a Knife, +or Joint-Stool, or any such thing to be seen, all that was Spectre and +Delusion, in order, no doubt, to let the poor Creature that had hang'd +himself perish and expire. + +The Man was so frighted and surpriz'd, that with all the Courage he had +before, he drop'd on the Floor as one dead, and the Woman at last was +fain to cut the poor Man down with a Pair of Scissars, and had much to +do to effect it. + +As I have no room to doubt the Truth of this Story, which I had from +Persons on whose Honesty I could depend. So I think it needs very little +Trouble to convince us who the Man upon the Stool must be, and that it +was the _Devil_ who plac'd himself there in order to finish the Murther +of the Man who he had, _Devil_-like, tempted before, and prevail'd with +to be his own Executioner. Besides, it corresponds so well with the +_Devil_'s Nature, and with his Business, _viz._ that of a _Murtherer_, +that I never question'd it; nor can I think we wrong the _Devil_ at all +to charge him with it. + + _N. B._ I cannot be positive in the remaining Part of this Story, + _viz._ whether the Man was cut down soon enough to be recover'd, + or whether the _Devil_ carry'd his Point, and kept off the Man and + Woman till it was too late; but be it which it will, 'tis plain he + did his Devilish Endeavour, and stay'd till he was forc'd to + abscond again. + + +We have many solid Tales well attested, as well in History as in the +Reports of honest People, who could not be deceived, intimating the +_Devil_'s personal Appearance, some in one Place, some in another; as +also sometimes in one Habit or Dress, and sometimes in another; and it +is to be observed, that in none of those which are most like to be real, +and in which there is least of Fancy and Vapour, you have any Mention of +the _Cloven Foot_, which rather seems to be a mere Invention of Men (and +perhaps chiefly of those who had a Cloven Understanding) I mean a +shallow kind of Craft, the Effect of an empty and simple Head, thinking +by such a well-meant, tho' weak Fraud, to represent the _Devil_ to the +old Women and Children of the Age, with some Addition suitable to the +Weakness of their Intellects, and suited to making them afraid of him. + +I have another Account of a Person who travell'd upwards of four Years +with the _Devil_ in his Company, and convers'd most intimately with him +all the while; nay, if I may believe the Story, he knew most part of the +Time that he was the _Devil_, and yet convers'd with him, and that very +profitably, for he perform'd many very useful Services for him, and +constantly preserv'd him from the Danger of Wolves and wild Beasts, +which the Country he travell'd thro' was intolerably full of. Where, by +the way, you are to understand, that the Wolves and Bears in those +Countries knew the _Devil_, whatever Disguise he went in; or that the +_Devil_ has some Way to fright Bears and such Creatures, more than we +know of. Nor could this _Devil_ ever be prevail'd upon to hurt him or +any of his Company. This Account has an innumerable Number of diverting +Incidents attending it; but they are equal to all the rest in Bulk, and +therefore too long for this Book. + +I find too upon some more ordinary Occasions the _Devil_ has appear'd to +several People at their Call: This indeed shews abundance of good Humour +in him, considering him as a _Devil_, and that he was mighty +complaisant: Nay some, they tell us, have a Power to raise the _Devil_ +whenever they think fit; this I cannot bring the _Devil_ to a Level +with, unless I should allow him to be _Servus Servorum_, as another +_Devil_ in Disguise calls himself; subjected to ever old Wizard's Call; +or that he is under a Necessity of appearing on such or such particular +Occasions, whoever it is that calls him; which would bring the _Devil_'s +Circumstances to a pitch of Slavery which I see no Reason to believe of +them. + +Here also I must take Notice again, that tho' I say the _Devil_, when I +speak of all these Apparitions, whether of a greater or lesser Kind, yet +I am not oblig'd to suppose Satan himself in Person is concern'd to shew +himself, but that some of his _Agents_, Deputies and Servants, are sent +to that Purpose, and directed what Disguise of Flesh and Blood to put +on, as may be suitable to the Occasion. + +This seems to be the only Way to reconcile all those simple and +ridiculous Appearances which not _Satan_, but his Emissaries, (which we +old Women call Imps) sometimes make, and the mean and sorry Employment +they are put to: Thus Fame tells us of a certain Witch of Quality, who +call'd the _Devil_ once to carry her over a Brook where the Water was +swell'd with a hasty Rain, and lash'd him soundly with her Whip for +letting her Ladyship fall into the Water before she was quite over. Thus +also, as Fame tells us, she set the _Devil_ to work, and made him build +_Crowland_ Abbey, where there was no Foundation to be found, only for +disturbing the Workmen a little who were first set about it. So it +seems another laborious _Devil_ was oblig'd to dig the great Ditch cross +the Country from the Fenn Country to the Edge of _Suffolk_ and _Essex_; +which who ever he has preserv'd the Reputation of, and where it crosses +_New-Market_ Heath, 'tis call'd _Devil_'s _Ditch_ to this Day. + +Another Piece of Punishment no doubt it was, when the _Devil_ was +oblig'd to bring the Stones out of _Wales_ into _Wiltshire_, to build +_Stone-heng_: How this was ordered in those Days, when it seems they +kept _Satan_ to hard Labour, I know not; I believe it must be registred +among the antient Pieces of Art which are lost in the World, such as +melting of Stone, painting of Glass, _&c._ Certainly they had the +_Devil_ under Correction in those Days; that is to say, those lesser +Sorts of _Devils_; but I cannot think that the _muckle Thief Devil_, as +they call him in the _North_, the Grand Seignior _Devil_ of all, was +ever reduced to Discipline. What _Devil_ it was that _Dunstan_ took by +the Nose with his red hot Tongs, I have not yet examin'd Antiquity +enough to be certain of, any more than I can what Devil it was that St. +_Francis_ play'd so many warm Tricks with, and made him run away from +him so often: However, this I take upon me to say, in the _Devil_'s +Behalf, that it cou'd not be our _Satan_, the Arch _Devil_ of all +_Devils_, of whom I have been talking so long. + +Now is it unworthy the Occasion, to take notice that we really wrong the +_Devil_, and speak of him very much to his Disadvantage, when we say of +such a Great Lord, or of such a Lady of Quality, _I think the_ Devil _is +in your Grace_: No, no, Satan has other Business, he very rarely +possesses F--ls: Besides, some are so far from having the _Devil_ in +them, that they are really transmigrated into the very Essence of the +_Devil_ themselves; and others again not transmigrated, or assimilated, +but Indeed and in Truth shew us that they are to have mere native +_Devils_ in every Part and Parcel of them, and that the rest is only +Masque and Disguise. Thus if _Rage_, _Envy_, _Pride_ and _Revenge_ can +constitute the Parts of a _Devil_, why should not a Lady of such +Quality, in whom all those Extraordinaries abound, have a Right to the +Title of being a _Devil_ really and substantially, and to all Intents +and Purposes, in the most perfect and absolute Sense, according to the +most exquisite Descriptions of Devils already given by me or any Body +else; and even just as _Joan_ of _Arc_, or _Joan_ Queen of _Naples_ +were, who were both sent home to their native Country, as soon as it was +discovered that they were real _Devils_, and that _Satan_ acknowledg'd +them in that Quality. + +Nor does my Lady D----ss's wearing sometimes a Case of Humanity about +her, call'd _Flesh and Blood_, at all alter the Case; for so 'tis +Evident, according to our present Hypothesis, _Satan_ has been always +allow'd to do, upon urgent Occasions; ay, and to make his Personal +Appearance as such, among even the Sons and Daughters of God too, as +well as among the Children of Men; and therefore _her Grace_ may have +appeared in the Shape of a fine Lady, as long as she has been suppos'd +to do, without any Impeachment of her just Claim to the Title of +_Devil_; which being her true and natural Original, she ought not, nor +indeed shall not, by me, be denied her Shapes of Honour, whenever she +pleases to declare for a Re-assumption. + +And farther, to give every Truth its due Illustration, this need not be +thought so strange; and is far from being unjust; _her Grace_ (as she, +it may be, is now stiled) has not acted, at least that I never heard of, +so unworthy her great and illustrious Original, that we should think she +has lost any thing by walking about the World so many Years in +Apparition: But to give her the due Homage of her Quality, she has acted +as consonant to the Essence and Nature of _Devil_, which she has such a +Claim to, as was consistent with the needful Reserve of her present +Disguise. + +Nor shall we lead the Reader into any Mistake concerning this part of +our Work, as if this was or is meant to be a particular Satyr upon the +D-----ss of -----------, and upon her only, as if we had no DEVILS among +us in the Phenomena of fair Ladies, but this one: If Satan would be so +honest to us as he might be (and 'twou'd be very ingenuous in him, that +must be acknowledg'd, to give us a little of his Illumination in this +Case) we should soon be able to unmasque a great many notable Figures +among us, to our real Surprize. + +Indeed 'tis a Point worth our further Enquiry, and would be a Discovery +many ways to our Advantage, were we bless'd with it, to see how many +real _Devils_ we have walking up and down the World in Masque, and how +many Hoop-Petticoats compleat the entire Masque that disguises the Devil +in the Shape of that Thing call'd Woman. + +As for the Men, Nature has satisfied her self in letting them be their +own Disguise, and in suffering them to act the _old Women_, as old Women +are vulgarly understood, in Matters of Council and Politicks; but if at +any time they have Occasion for the _Devil_ in Person, they are oblig'd +to call him to their Aid in such Shape as he pleases to make use of _pro +hac vice_; and of all those Shapes, the most agreeable to him seems to +be that of a Female of Quality, in which he has infinite Opportunity to +act to Perfection, what Part soever he is call'd in for. + +How happy are those People who they say have the particular Quality, or +acquir'd Habit, call'd the _Second Sight_; one Sort of whom they tell us +are able to distinguish the _Devil_, in whatever Case or Outside of +Flesh and Blood he is pleas'd to put on, and consequently could know the +_Devil_ wherever they met him? Were I blest with this excellent and +useful Accomplishment, how pleasant would it be, and how would it +particularly gratify my Spleen, and all that which I, in common with my +fellow Creatures carry about me, call'd Ill-Nature, to stand in the +_Mall_, or at the Entrance to any of our _Assemblies of Beauties_, and +point them out as they pass by, with this particular Mark, That's a +_Devil_; that fine young Toast is a _Devil_; There's a _Devil_ drest in +a new Habit for the Ball; There's a _Devil_ in a Coach and Six, _cum +aliis_. In short, it would make a merry World among us if we cou'd but +enter upon some proper Method of such Discriminations: but, _Lawr'd_, +what a Hurricane would it raise, if, like -------, who they say scourg'd +the _Devil_ so often that he durst not come near him in any Shape +whatever, we cou'd find some new Method out to make the _Devil_ unmask, +like the Angel _Uriel_, who, Mr. _Milton_ says, had an enchanted Spear, +with which if he did but touch the _Devil_, in whatever Disguise he had +put on, it oblig'd him immediately to start up, and shew himself in his +true original Shape, mere _Devil_ as he was. + +This would do nicely, and as I who am originally a Projector, have spent +some Time upon this Study, and doubt not in a little Time to finish my +Engine, which I am contriving, to screw the _Devil_ out of every Body, +or any Body; I question not when I have brought it to Perfection, but I +shall make most excellent Discoveries by it; and besides the many +extraordinary Advantages of it to human Society, I doubt not but it will +make good Sport in the World too; wherefore, when I publish my +Proposals, and divide it into Shares, as other less useful Projects have +been done, I question not, for all the severe Act lately pass'd against +Bubbles, but I shall get Subscribers enough, _&c._ + +In a Word, a secret Power of discovering what Devils we have among us, +and where and what Business they are doing, would be a vast Advantage to +us all; that we might know among the Crowd of _Devils_ that walk about +Streets, who are _Apparitions_, and who are not. + +Now I, you must know, at certain Intervals when the Old Gentleman's +Illuminations are upon me, and when I have something of an +_Eclaricissement_ with him, have some Degrees of this discriminating +_Second Sight_, and therefore 'tis no strange thing for me to tell a +great many of my Acquaintance that they are really _Devils_, when they +themselves know nothing of the Matter: Sometimes indeed I find it pretty +hard to convince them of it, or at least they are very unwilling to own +it, but it is not the less so for that. + +I had a long Discourse upon this Subject one day, with a young beautiful +Lady of my Acquaintance, who the World very much admired; and as the +World judges no farther than they can see, (and how should they, you +would say) they took her to be, as she really was, a most charming +Creature. + +To me indeed she discover'd her self many Ways, besides the Advantage I +had of my extraordinary Penetration by the magic Powers which I am +vested with: To me, _I say_, she appear'd a Fury, a Satyr, a fiery +little Fiend as could possibly be dress'd up in Flesh; in short, she +appear'd to me what really she was, a very DEVIL: It is natural to human +Creatures to desire to discover any extraordinary Powers they are +possess'd of superior to others, and this Itch prevailing in me, among +the rest, I was impatient to let this Lady know that I understood her +Composition perfectly well, nay, as well as she did her self. + +In order to this, happening to be in the Family once for some Days, and +having the Honour to be very intimate with her and her Husband too, I +took an Opportunity on an extraordinary Occasion, when she was in the +Height of good Humour, to talk with her; You must note, that as I said, +the Lady was in an extraordinary good Humour, and there had been a great +deal of Mirth in the Family for some Days; but one Evening, Sir _E----_ +her Husband, upon some very sharp Turn she gave to another Gentleman, +which made all the Company pleasant, run to her, and with a Passion of +good Humour takes her in his Arms, and turning to me, says he, Jack, +This Wife of mine is full of Wit and good Humour, but when she has a +Mind to be smart, she is the keenest little _Devil_ in the World: This +was alluding to the quick Turn she had given the other Gentleman. + +Is that the best Language you can give your Wife, says my Lady? O Madam, +says I, such _Devils_ as you, are all _Angels_; ay, ay, says my Lady, I +know that, he has only let a Truth fly out that he does not understand: +Look ye there now, _says Sir_ Edward, could any thing but such a dear +_Devil_ as this have said a thing so pointed? Well, well, adds he, +_Devil_ to a Lady in a Man's Arms, is a Word of divers Interpretations. +Thus they rallied for a good while, he holding her fast all the while in +his Arms, and frequently kissing her, and at last it went off, all in +Sunshine and Mirth. + +But the next Day, for I had the Honour to lodge in the Lady's Father's +House, where it all happen'd; I say, the next Day my Lady begins with me +upon the Subject, and that very smartly, so that first I did not know +whether she was in jest or earnest: Ay, ay, _says she_, you Men make +nothing of your Wives after you have them, _alluding to the Discourse +with_ Sir Edward _the Night before_. + +Why Madam, says I, _we Men_, as you are pleas'd to term it, if we meet +with good Wives worship them, and make Idols of them, what would you +have more of us? + +No, no, says she, before you have them they are Angels, but when you +have been in Heaven, _adds she and smil'd_, then they are Devils. + +Why Madam, _says I_, Devils are Angels, you know, and were the highest +Sort of Angels once. + +Yes, _says she_, very smartly, all _Devils_ are Angels, but all Angels +are not _Devils_. + +But Madam, _says I_, you should never take it ill to be call'd _Devil_, +you know. + +I know, _says she_, hastily, what d'ye mean by that? + +Why Madam, _says I_, and look'd very gravely and serious, I thought you +had known that I knew it, or else I would not have said so, for I would +not offend you; but you may depend I shall never discover it, unless you +order me to do so for your particular Service. + +Upon this she look'd hard and wild, and bid me explain my self. + +I told her, I was ready to explain my self, if she would give me her +Word, she would not resent it, and would take nothing ill. + +She gave me her word solemnly she would not, tho' like a true _Devil_ +she broke her Promise with me all at once. + +Well however, being unconcern'd whether she kept her Word or no, I +began, by telling her that I had not long since obtain'd the second +sight, and had some years studied Magic, by which I could penetrate into +many things, which to ordinary Perception were invisible, and had some +Glasses, by the Help of which I could see into all visionary or +imaginary Appearances in a different Manner than other People did. + +Very well, _says she_, suppose you can, what's that to me? + +I told her it was nothing to her any further than that as she knew her +self to be originally not the same Creature she seem'd to be, but was of +a sublime angelic Original; so by the Help of my recited Art I knew it +too, and so far it might relate to her. + +Very fine, says she, so you would make a _Devil_ of me indeed. + +I took that Occasion to tell her, I would make nothing of her but what +she was; that I suppos'd she knew well enough God Almighty never thought +fit to make any human Creature so perfect and compleatly beautiful as +she was, but that such were also reserved for Figures to be assum'd by +Angels of one Kind or other. + +She rallied me upon that, and told me that would not bring me off, for I +had not determined her for any thing Angelic, but a meer _Devil_; and +how could I flatter her with being handsome and a _Devil_ both at the +same time? + +I told her, as Satan, whom we abusively call'd _Devil_, was an immortal +Seraph, and of an original angelic Nature, so abstracted from any thing +wicked, he was a most glorious Being; that when he thought fit to encase +himself with Flesh, and walk about in Disguise, it was in his Power +equally with the other Angels to make the Form he took upon himself be +as he thought fit, beautiful or deform'd. + +Here she disputed the Possibility of that, and after charging me faintly +with flattering her Face, told me the Devil could not be represented by +any thing handsome, alledging our constant picturing the _Devil_ in all +the frightful Appearances imaginable. + +I told her we wrong'd him very much in that, and quoted St. _Francis_, +to whom the _Devil_ frequently appeared in the Form of the most +incomparably beautiful naked Woman, to allure him, and what Means he +used to turn the Appearance into a _Devil_ again, and how he effected +it. + +She put by the Discourse, and returned to that of Angels, and insisted +that Angels did not always assume beautiful Appearances; that sometimes +they appear'd in terrible Shapes, but that when they did not, it was at +best only amiable Faces, not exquisite; and that therefore it would not +hold, that to be handsome, should always render them suspected. + +I told her the _Devil_ had more Occasion to form Beauties than other +Angels had, his Business being principally to deceive and ensnare +Mankind. And then I gave her some Examples upon the whole. + +I found by her Discourse she was willing enough to pass for an _Angel_, +but 'twas the hardest thing in the World to convince her that she was a +DEVIL, and she would not come into that by any means; she argued that I +knew her Father, and that her Mother was a very good Woman, and was +delivered of her in the ordinary Way, and that there was such and such +Ladies who were present in the Room when she was born, and that had +often told her so. + +I told her that was nothing in such a Case as hers; that when the Old +Gentleman had occasion to transform himself into a fine Lady, he could +easily dispose of a Child, and place himself in the Cradle instead of +it, when the Nurse or Mother were asleep; nay, or when they were broad +awake either, it was the same thing to him; and I quoted _Luther_ to her +upon that Occasion, who affirms that it had been so. However I said, to +convince her that I knew it, (for I would have it that she knew it +already) if she pleas'd I would go to my Chamber and fetch her my Magick +Looking-glass, where she should see her own Picture, not only as it was +an angelick Picture for the World to admire, but a _Devil_ also +frightful enough to any Body but herself and me that understood it. + +No, no, _said she_, I'll look in none of your conjuring Glasses; I know +my self well enough, and I desire to look no otherwise than I am. + +No, Madam, _says I_, I know that very well; nor do you need any better +Shape than that you appear in, 'tis most exquisitely fine; all the World +knows you are a compleat Beauty, and that is a clear Evidence what you +would be if your present appearing Form was reduced to its proper +Personality. + +_Appearing Form!_ says she, why, what would you make an _Apparition_ of +me? + +An _Apparition!_ Madam, said I, yes, to be sure; why you know, you are +nothing else but an _Apparition_; and what else would you be, when it is +so infinitely to your Advantage? + +With that, she turn'd pale and angry, and then rose up hastily, and +look'd into the Glass, (_a large Peer-glass being in the Room_) where +she stood, surveying her self from Head to Foot, with Vanity not a +little. + + I took that Time to slip away, and running up into my Apartment, I + fetch'd my _Magic Glass_ as I call'd it, in which I had a hollow + Case so framed behind a Looking-glass, that in the first; she would + see her own Face only; in the second, she would see the _Devil_'s + Face, ugly and frightful enough, but dress'd up with a Lady's + Head-Clothes in a Circle, the _Devil_'s Face in the Center, and as + it were at a little Distance behind. + + +I came down again so soon that she did not think the Time long, +especially having spent it in surveying her fair self; when I return'd, +I said, Come, Madam, do not trouble your self to look there, that is not +a Glass capable of shewing you any thing; come, take this Glass. + +It will shew me as much of my self, _says she, a little scornfully_, as +I desire to see; so she continued looking in the Peer-glass; after some +time more (for seeing her a little out of Humour, I waited to see what +Observations she would make) I ask'd her if she had view'd her self to +her Satisfaction? She said she had, and she had seen nothing of _Devil_ +about her. Come, Madam, said I, look here; and with that I open'd the +Looking-glass, and she look'd in it, but saw nothing but her own Face; +Well, _says she_, the Glasses agree well enough, I see no Difference; +what can you make of it? With that I took it a little away; Don't you? +_says I_, then I shou'd be mistaken very much; so I look'd in it my +self, and giving it a Turn imperceptible to her, I shew'd it her again, +where she saw the _Devil_ indeed, dress'd up like a fine Lady, but +ugly, and _Devil_ like as could be desired for a _Devil_ to be. + +She started, and cry'd out most horribly, and told me, she thought I was +more of a _Devil_ than she, for that she knew nothing of all those +Tricks, and I did it to fright her, she believ'd I had rais'd the +_Devil_. + +I told her it was nothing but her own natural Picture, and that she knew +well enough, and that I did not shew it her to inform her of it, but to +let her know that I knew it too; that so she might make no Pretences of +being offended when I talk'd familiarly to her of a Thing of this +Nature. + +Very well; so, _says she_, I am a real frightful _Devil_, am I? + +O, Madam, says I, don't say, _Am I?_ why you know what you are, don't +you? A _Devil_! ay, certainly; as sure as the rest of the World believes +you a Lady. + +I had a great deal of farther Discourse with her upon that Subject, tho' +she would fain have beat me off of it, and two or three times she put +the Talk off, and brought something else on; but I always found Means to +revive it, and to attack her upon the Reality of her being a Devil, till +at last I made her downright angry, and then she shew'd it. + +First she cried, told me I came to affront her, that I would not talk so +if Sir _Ed----_ was by; and that she ought not to be used so. I +endeavour'd to pacify her, and told her I had not treated her with any +Indecency, nor I would not; because while she thought fit to walk Abroad +_incog._ it was none of my Business to discover her; that if she thought +fit to tell Sir _Ed----_ any thing of the Discourse, she was very +welcome, or to conceal it, (_which I thought the wisest Course_) she +should do just as she pleas'd; but I made no question I should convince +Sir _E----_ her Husband, that what I said was just, and that I was +really so; whether it was for her Service or no for him to know it, was +for her to consider. + +This calm'd her a little, and she look'd hard at me a Minute without +speaking a Word, when on a sudden she broke out thus: And you will +undertake, _says she_, to convince Sir _Ed----_ that he has married a +_Devil_, will ye? A fine Story indeed! and what follows? why then it +must follow that the Child I go with (for she was big with Child) will +be a _Devil_ too, will it? A fine Story for Sir _Ed----_ indeed! isn't +it? + +I don't know that, Madam, said I, that's as you order it; by the +Father's Side, _said I_, I know it will not, but what it may by the +Mother's Side, that's a Doubt I can't resolve till the _Devil_ and I +talk farther about it. + +You and the Devil talk together! _says she_, and looks rufully at me; +why do you talk with the _Devil_ then? + +Ay, Madam, _says I_, as sure as ever you did your self; besides, said I, +can you question that? Pray who am I talking to now? + +I think you are mad, _says she_; why you will make _Devils_ of all the +Family, it may be, and particularly I must be with Child of a _Devil_, +that's certain. + +No, Madam, _said I_, 'tis not certain, as I said before, I question it. + +Why you say I am the DEVIL, the Child, you know, has always most of the +Mother in it, then that must be a Devil too I think, what else can it +be, _says she_? + +I can't tell that, Madam, _said I_; that's as you agree among your +selves, this Kind does not go by Generation; that's a Dispute foreign to +the present Purpose. + +Then I entred into a Discourse with her of the Ends and Purposes for +which the Devil takes up such beautiful Forms as hers, and why it always +gave me a Suspicion when I saw a Lady handsomer than ordinary, and set +me upon the Search to be satisfied whether she was really a Woman or an +_Apparition_? a Lady or a Devil? allowing all along that her being a +Devil was quite out of the Question. + +Upon that very Foot, she took me up again roundly, and so, _says she_, +you are very civil to me through all your Discourse, for I see it ends +all in that, and you take it as a thing confest, that I am a Devil! A +very pretty piece of good Usage indeed! _says she_; _I thank you for +it_. + +Nay, Madam, _says I_, do not take it ill of me, for I only discover to +you that I knew it; I do not tell it you as a Secret, for you are +satisfied of that another way. + +Satisfied of what? says she, that I am a Devil? I think the Devil's in +you: _And so began to be hot_. + +A Devil! yes, Madam, says I, without doubt a meer DEVIL; take it as you +please, I can't help that: And so I began to take it ill that she should +be disgusted at opening such a well-known Truth to her. + +With that she discover'd it all at once, for she turn'd _Fury_, in the +very Letter of it; flew out in a Passion, rail'd at me, curst me most +heartily, and immediately disappeared; which you know is the particular +Mark of a Spirit or Apparition. + +We had a great deal of Discourse besides this, relating to several other +young Ladies of her Acquaintance, some of which, I said, were mere +_Apparitions_ like her self; and told her which were so, and which not; +and the Reason why they were so, and for what Uses and Purposes, some +to delude the World one way, and some another; and she was pretty well +pleased to hear that, but she could not bear to hear her own true +Character, which however, as cunning as she was, made her act the Devil +at last, as you have heard; and then vanished out of my sight. + +I have seen her in Miniature several Times since; but she proves her +self still to be the Devil of a Lady, for she bears Malice, and will +never forgive me, that I would not let her be an Angel; but like a very +Devil as she is, she endeavours to kill me at a Distance; and indeed the +Poison of her Eyes, (Basilisk-like) is very strong, and she has a +strange Influence upon me; but I that know her to be a Devil, strive +very hard with my self to drive the Memory of her out of my Thoughts. + +I have had two or three Engagements since this, with other _Apparitions_ +of the same Sex, and I find they are all alike, they are willing enough +to be thought Angels, but the Word Devil does not go down at all with +them: But 'tis all one, whenever we see an _Apparition_, it is so +natural to say we have seen the Devil, that there's no prevailing with +Mankind to talk any other Language. A Gentleman of my Acquaintance, the +other Day, that had courted a Lady a long time, had the Misfortune to +come a little suddenly upon her, when she did not expect him, and found +her in such a Rage at some of her Servants, that it quite disorder'd +her, especially a Footman; the Fellow had done something that was indeed +provoking, but not sufficient to put her into such a Passion, and so out +of her self; nor was she able to restrain her self when she saw her +Lover come in, but damn'd the Fellow, and rag'd like a Fury at him. + +My Friend did his best to compose her, and begg'd the Fellow's Pardon of +her, but it would not do; nay, the poor Fellow made all the Submissions +that could be expected, but 'twas the same thing: And so the Gentleman, +not caring to engage himself farther than became him, withdrew, and came +no more at her for three Days, in all which time she was hardly cool. + +The next Day my Friend came to me, and talking of it in Confidence to +me, I am afraid, _says he_, I am going to marry a She _Devil_, and so +told me the Story; I took no Notice to him, but finding out his +Mistress, and taking proper Measures, with some of my particular Skill, +I soon found out that it was really so, that she was a mere +_Apparition_; and had it not been for that accidental Disorder of her +Passions, which discover'd her Inside, she might indeed have cheated any +Man, for she was a lovely Devil as ever was seen; she talk'd like an +Angel, sung like a Syren, did every thing, and said every thing that was +taking and charming: But what then? it was all Apparition, for she was a +mere _Devil_. It is true, my Friend marry'd her, and tho' she was a +_Devil_ without doubt, yet either she behav'd so well, or he was so +good, I never could hear him find Fault with her. + +These are particular Instances; but alas! I could run you a Length +beyond all those Examples, and give you such a List of Devils among the +gay Things of the Town, that would fright you to think of; and you would +presently conclude, with me, that all the perfect Beauties are Devils, +mere Apparitions; but Time and Paper fails, so we must only leave the +Men the Caution, let them venture at their Peril. I return to the +Subject. + +We have a great many charming _Apparitions_ of like kind go daily about +the World in compleat Masquerade, and, tho' we must not say so, they are +in themselves mere _Devils_, wicked dangerous murthering Devils, that +kill various Ways, some, Basilisk-like, with their Eyes; some +Syren-like, with their Tongues; all _Murtherers_, even from the +_Beginning_: It is true, 'tis pity these pretty _Apparitions_ should be +Devils, and be so mischievous as they are; but since it is so, I can do +no less than to advertise you of it, that you may shun the Devil in +whatever Shape you meet with him. + +Again, there are some half Devils, they say, like the _Sagittarii_, half +Man, half Horse, or rather like the _Satyr_, who, _they say_, is half +Devil, half Man; or, like my Lord Bishop, who, _they say_, was +half-headed; whether they mean half-witted or no, I do not find Authors +agreed about it: But if they had voted him such, it had been as kind a +thing as any they cou'd say of him, because it would have clear'd him +from the Scandal of being a Devil, or half a Devil, for we don't find +the Devil makes any Alliance with F----ls. + +Then as to merry Devils, there's my Master _G------_, he may indeed have +the Devil in him, but it must be said, to the Credit of Possession in +general, that Satan would have scorn'd to have entred into a Soul so +narrow that there was not room to hold him, or to take up with so +discording a Creature, so abject, so scoundrel, as never made a Figure +among Mankind greater than that of a Thief, a _Moroder_, moulded up into +Quality, and a Raparee dress'd up _a-la-Masque_, with a _Robe_ and a +_Coronet_. + +Some little Dog-kennel Devil may indeed take up his Quarters in or near +him, and so run into and out of him as his Drum beats a Call; but to +him that was born a _Devil_, Satan, that never acts to no purpose, cou'd +not think him worth being possess'd by any thing better than a Devil of +a dirty Quality; that is to say, a Spirit too mean to wear the Name of +_Devil_, without some Badge or Addition of Infamy and Meanness to +distinguish it by. + +Thus what _Devil_ of Quality would be confin'd to a _P--------n_, who +inheriting all the Pride and Insolence of his Ancestors, without one of +their good Qualities; the Bully, the _Billingsgate_, and all the +hereditary ill Language of his Family, without an Ounce of their +Courage; that has been rescued five or six times from the Scandal of a +Coward, by the Bravery, and at the Hazard of Friends, and never fail'd +to be ungrateful; that if ever he committed a Murther, did it in cold +Blood, because no body could prove he ever had any hot; who possess'd +with a Poltroon _Devil_, was always wickeder in the Dark, than he durst +be by Day-light; and who, after innumerable passive Sufferings, has been +turned out of human Society, because he could not be kick'd or cuff'd +either into good Manners or good Humour. + +To say this was a _Devil_, an Apparition, or even a half _Devil_, would +be unkind to _Satan_ himself, since tho' he (the _Devil_) has so many +Millions of inferior _Devils_ under his Command, not one cou'd be found +base enough to match him, nor one _Devil_ found but what would think +himself dishonour'd to be employ'd about him. + +Some merry good-for-nothing _Devils_ we have indeed, which we might, if +we had room, speak of at large, and divert you too with the Relation, +such as my Lady _Hatt's Devil_ in _Essex_, who upon laying a Joiner's +Mallet in the Window of a certain Chamber, would come very orderly and +knock with it all Night upon the Window, or against the Wainscot, and +disturb the Neighbourhood, and then go away in the Morning, as well +satisfied as may be; whereas if the Mallet was not left, he would think +himself affronted, and be as unsufferable and terrifying as possible, +breaking the Windows, splitting the Wainscot, committing all the +Disorders, and doing all the Damage that he was able to the House, and +to the Goods in it. And again, such as the Druming _Devil_ in the Well +at _Oundle_ in _Northamptonshire_, and such like. + +A great many antick _Devils_ have been seen also, who seem'd to have +little or nothing to do, but only to assure us that they can appear if +they please, and that there is a Reality in the thing call'd Apparition. + +As to Shadows of _Devils_, and imaginary Appearances, such as appear, +and yet are invisible at the same time, I had thought to have bestow'd a +Chapter upon them by themselves, but it may be as much to the Purpose to +let them alone, as to meddle with them; 'tis said our old Friend +_Luther_ used to be exceedingly troubled with such invisible +Apparitions, and he tells us much of them, in what they call his +Table-talk; but with Master _Luther_'s leave, tho' the _Devil_ passes +for a very great Lyar, I could swallow many things of his own proper +making, as soon as some of those I find in a Book that goes by his Name, +particularly the Story of the Devil in a Basket, the Child flying out of +the Cradle, and the like. + +In a word, the walking _Devils_ that we have generally among us, are of +the female Sex; whether it be that the _Devil_ finds less Difficulty to +manage them, or that he lives quieter with them, or that they are fitter +for his Business than the Men, I shall not now enter into a Dispute +about that; perhaps he goes better disguis'd in the fair Sex than +otherwise; Antiquity gives us many Histories of She-Devils, such as we +can very seldom match for Wickedness among the Men; such now as in the +Text, _Lot_'s Daughters, _Joseph_'s Mistress, _Sampson_'s _Dalilah_, +_Herod_'s _Herodias_, these were certainly _Devils_, or play'd the +_Devil_ sufficiently in their Turn; one Male Apparition indeed the +Scripture furnishes you with, and that is _Judas_; for his Master says +expresly of him, _One of you is a Devil_; not has the _Devil_, or is +possess'd of the DEVIL; but really is a DEVIL, or is a real DEVIL. + +How happy is it, that this great Secret comes thus to be discover'd to +mankind? Certainly the World has gone on in Ignorance a long time, and +at a strange rate, that we should have so many _Devils_ continually +walking about among us in humane Shape, and we know it not. + +Philosophers tell us that there is a World of Spirits, and many learned +Pieces of Guess-work they make at it, representing the World to be so +near us, that the Air, as they describe it, must be full of Dragons and +_Devils_, enough to fright our Imaginations with the very Thoughts of +them; and if they say true, 'tis our great Felicity that we cannot see +any farther into it than we do, which if we could, would appear as +frightful as Hell itself; but none of those Sages ever told us, till +now, that half the People who converse with us are _Apparitions_, +especially of the Women; and among them especially this valuable Part, +the Woman of Figure, the fair, the beautiful, or patch'd and painted. + +This unusual Phaenomenon has been seen but a little while, and but a +little way, and the general Part of Mankind cannot come into the same +Notions about it; nay, perhaps they will all think it strange; but be +it as strange as it will, the Nature of the Thing confirms it, this +lower Sphere is full of _Devils_; and some of both Sexes have given +strange Testimonies of the Reality of their pre-existent _Devilism_ for +many Ages past, tho' I think it never came to that Height as it has now. + +It is true, in former times Satan dealt much in old Women, and those, as +I have observ'd already, very ugly, _Ugly as a Witch_, _Black as a +Witch_, _I look like a Witch_, all proverbial Speeches, and which +testify'd what Tools it was Satan generally work'd with; and these old +Spectres, they tell us, us'd to ride thro' the Air in the Night, and +upon Broomsticks too, all mighty homely Doings; some say they us'd to go +to visit their Grand Seignior the _Devil_, in those Nocturnal +Perambulations: But be that as it will, 'tis certain the _Devil_ has +chang'd hands, and that now he walks about the World cloth'd in Beauty, +cover'd with the Charms of the Lovely, and he fails not to disguise +himself effectually by it, for who would think a beautiful Lady could be +a Masque to the Devil? and that a fine Face, a divine Shape, a heavenly +Aspect, should bring the _Devil_ in her Company, nay, should be herself +an _Apparition_, a mere DEVIL. + +The Enquiry is indeed worth our while, and therefore I hope all the +enamour'd Beaus and Boys, all the Beauty-hunters and Fortune-hunters, +will take heed, for I suppose if they get the _Devil_, they will not +complain for want of a Fortune; and there's Danger enough, I assure you, +for the World is full of Apparitions, _non rosa sine spinis_; not a +Beauty without a _Devil_, the old Women Spectres, and the young Women +Apparitions; the ugly ones Witches, and the handsome ones _Devils_; +Lord ha' Mercy, and a [Illustration: Cross] may be Set on the Man's Door +that goes a courting. + + + + +CHAP. VIII. + +_Of the Cloven-Foot walking about the World without the_ Devil, (viz.) _of + Witches making Bargains for the_ Devil, _and particularly of selling + the Soul to the_ Devil. + + +I have dwelt long upon the _Devil_ in Masque as he goes about the World +incog. and especially without his Cloven-Foot, and have touched upon +some of his Disguises in the Management of his Interest in the World; I +must say some of his Disguises only, for who can give a full account of +all his Tricks and Arts in so narrow a Compass as I am prescrib'd to? + +But as I said, that every _Devil_ has not a Cloven-Foot, so I must add +now for the present Purpose, that every Cloven-Foot is not the Devil. + +Not but that wherever I should meet the Cloven-Hoof, I should expect +that the _Devil_ was not far off, and should be apt to raise the Posse +against him, to apprehend him; yet it may happen otherwise, that's +certain; every Coin has its Counterfeit, every Art its Pretender, every +Whore her Admirer, every Error its Patron, and every Day has its DEVIL. + +I have had some thought of making a full and compleat Discovery here of +that great Doubt which has so long puzzl'd the World, namely, whether +there is any such Thing, as secret making Bargains with the Devil, and +the first positive Assurance I can give you in the Case, is, that if +there is not, 'tis not his Fault, 'tis not for want of his Endeavour, +'tis plain, if you will pardon me for taking so mean a Step, as that of +quoting Scripture; I say, 'tis evident he would fain have made a +Contract with our Saviour, and he bid boldly (_give him his due_) +namely, _all the Kingdoms of the World for one bend of his Knee_: +Impudent Seraph! To think thy Lord should pay thee Homage! How many +would agree with him here for a less Price! They say, _Oliver Cromwell_ +struck a Bargain with him, and that he gave _Oliver_ the Protectorship, +but would not let him call himself King, which stuck so close to that +_Furioso_, that the Mortification Spread into his Soul, and 'tis said, +he dy'd of a Gangreen in the Spleen. But take Notice and do _Oliver_ +Justice; I do not vouch the Story, neither does the Bishop say one Word +of it. + +Fame us'd to say, that the old famous Duke of _Luxemburg_ made a Magic +compact of this Kind; nay, I have heard many an (old Woman) Officer of +the Troops, who never car'd to see his Face, declare that he carry'd the +Devil at his Back. I remember a certain Author of a News Paper in +_London_ was once taken up, and they say, it cost him 50_l._ for +printing in his News, that _Luxemburg_ was _Humpback'd_. Now if I have +resolv'd the Difficulty, namely, that he was not hump'd, only carry'd +the _Devil_ at his Back; I think the poor Man should have his 50_l._ +again, or I should have it for the Discovery. + +I confess, I do not well understand this compacting with such a Fellow +as can neither write nor read; nor do I know who is the Scrivener +between them, or how the Indenture can be executed; but that which is +worse than all the rest is, that in _the first Place_, the _Devil_ never +keeps Articles; he will contract perhaps, and they say he is mighty +forward to make Conditions; but who shall bind him to the Performance, +and where is the Penalty if he fails? if we agree with him, he will be +apt enough to claim his Bargain and demand Payment; nay, perhaps before +it is due; but who shall make him stand to his. + +Besides, he is a Knave in his Dealing, for he really promises what he +cannot perform; witness his impudent Proposal to our Lord mentioned +above. _All these Kingdoms will I give_ thee! _Lying Spirit!_ Why they +were none of thine to give, no not one of them; for the Earth is the +Lords and the kingdoms thereof, nor were they in his Power any more than +in his Right: So (I have heard that) some poor dismal Creatures have +sold themselves to the Devil for a Sum of Money, for so much Cash, and +yet even in that Case, when the Day of Payment came, I never heard that +he brought the Money or paid the Purchase, so that he is a Scoundrel in +his Treaties, for you shall trust for your Bargain, but not be able to +get your Money; and yet for your Part, he comes for you to an Hour: _Of +which by it self_. + +In a Word, let me caution you all, when you trade with the Devil, either +get the Price or quit the Bargain; the _Devil_ is a cunning Shaver, he +will wriggle himself out of the Performance on his Side if possible, and +yet expect you should be punctual on your Side. They tell you of a poor +Fellow in _Herefordshire_, that offer'd to sell his Soul to him for a +Cow, and though the _Devil_ promised, and as they say, sign'd the +Writings, yet the poor Countryman could never get the Cow of him, but +still as he brought a Cow to him, some body or other came and challeng'd +it, proving that it was lost or stolen from them; so that the Man got +nothing but the Name of a Cow-stealer, and was at last carried to +_Hereford_ Goal, and condemn'd to be hang'd for stealing two Cows, one +after the other: The wicked Fellow was then in the greatest Distress +imaginable, he summon'd his _Devil_ to help him out, but he failed him, +as the _Devil_ always will; he really had not stolen the Cows, but they +were found in his Possession, and he could give no Account how he came +by them; at last he was driven to confess the Truth, told the horrid +Bargain he had made, and how the _Devil_ often promis'd him a Cow, but +never gave him one, except that several Times in the Morning early he +found a Cow put into his Yard, but it always prov'd to belong to some of +his Neighbours: Whether the Man was hang'd or no, the Story does not +relate; but this Part is to my Purpose, that they that make Bargains +with the _Devil_, ought to make him give Security for the Performance of +Covenants, and who the Devil would get to be bound for him, I can't +tell, they must look to that who make the Bargain: Besides, if he had +not had a Mind to cheat or baffle the poor Man, what need he have taken +a Cow so near home? if he had such and such Powers as we talk of, and as +Fancy and Fable furnish for him, could not he have carried a Cow in the +Air upon a Broom-stick, as well as an old Woman? Could he not have stole +a Cow for him in _Lincolnshire_, and set it down in _Herefordshire_, and +so have performed his Bargain, saved his Credit, and kept the poor Man +out of Trouble? so that if the Story is True, as I really believe it is, +either it is not the Devil that makes those Bargains, or the Devil has +not such Power as we bestow on him, except on Special Occasions he gets +a Permit, and is bid go, as in the Case of _Job_, the _Gadaren Hogs_, +and the like. + +We have another Example of a Man's selling himself to the _Devil_, that +is very remarkable, and that is in the Bible too, and even in that, I +do not find, what the _Devil_ did for him, in Payment of the Purchase +Price. The Person selling was _Ahab_, of whom the Text says expresly, +_there was none like_ him, _who did sell himself to work Wickedness in +the Sight of the_ LORD, 1 _Kings_ xxi. 20, and the 25. I think it might +have been rendred, if not translated _in Spight of the Lord_, or _in +Defiance of God_; for certainly that's the Meaning of it; and now +allowing me to preach a little upon this Text, my Sermon shall be very +short. _Ahab_ sold himself, who did he sell himself to? I answer that +Question by a Question; who would buy him? who, _as we say_, would give +any thing for him? and the Answer to that is plain also, you may judge +of the Purchaser by the Work he was to do; he that buys a Slave in the +Market, buys him to work for him, and to do such Business as he has for +him to do: _Ahab_ was bought to work wickedness, and who would buy him +for that but the _Devil_? + +I think there's no room to doubt but _Ahab_ sold himself to the Devil; +the Text is plain that he sold himself, and the Work he was sold to do +points out the Master that bought him; what Price he agreed with the +_Devil_ for, that indeed the Text is silent in, so we may let it alone, +nor is it much to our Purpose, unless it be to enquire whether the +_Devil_ stood to his Bargain or not, and whether he paid the Money +according to Agreement, or cheated him as he did the Farmer at +_Hereford_. + +This buying and selling between the _Devil_ and us, is, I must confess, +an odd kind of Stock-jobbing, and indeed the _Devil_ may be said to sell +the _Bear-skin_, whatever he buys; but the strangest Part is when he +comes to demand the transfer; for as I hinted before, whether he +Performs or no, he expects his Bargain to a Tittle; there is indeed +some Difficulty in resolving how and in what Manner Payment is made; the +Stories we meet with in our Chimney-Corner Histories, and which are so +many Ways made Use of to make the _Devil_ frightful to us and our Heirs +for ever, are generally so foolish and ridiculous, as, if true or not +true, they have nothing Material in them, are of no Signification, or +else so impossible in their Nature, that they make no Impression upon +any body above twelve Years old and under seventy; or else are so +tragical that Antiquity has fabled them down to our Taste, that we might +be able to hear them and repeat them with less Horror than is due to +them. + +This Variety has taken off our Relish of the Thing in general, and made +the Trade of Soul-selling, like our late more eminent Bubbles, be taken +to be a Cheat and to have little in it. + +However, to speak a little more gravely to it, I cannot say but that +since, by the two eminent Instances of it above in _Ahab_, and in Christ +himself, the Fact is evidently ascertain'd; and that the Devil has +attempted to make such a Bargain on one, and actually did make it with +the other. The Possibility of it is not to be disputed; but then I must +explain the Manner of it a little, and bring it down, nearer to our +Understanding, that it may be more intelligible than it is; for as for +this selling the Soul, and making a Bargain to give the _Devil_ +Possession by Livery and Seisin on the Day appointed, that I cannot come +into by any Means; no nor into the other Part, namely, of the Devil +coming to claim his Bargain, and to demand the Soul according to +Agreement, and upon Default of a fair Delivery, taking it away by +Violence _Case and all_, of which we have many historical Relations +pretty current among us; some of which, _for ought I know_, we might +have hop'd had been true, if we had not been sure they were false, and +others we had Reason to fear were false, because it was impossible they +should be true. + +The Bargains of this Kind, according to the best Accounts we have of +them, used to consist of two main Articles, according to the ordinary +Stipulations in all Covenants; namely, + + 1. Something to be perform'd on the Devil's Part, buying. + + 2. Something to be performed on the Man's Part, selling. + + +1. The _Devil_'s Part: This was generally some poor Trifle, for the +Devil generally bought good Penny-worths, and oftentimes like a compleat +Sharper, agreed to give what he was not able to procure; that is to say, +would bargain for a Price he could not pay, as in the Case of the +_Hereford_ Man and the Cow; for Example, 1. _Long Life_: This tho' the +deluded Chapman has often had folly enough to contract for, the Devil +never had Power to make good; and we have a famous Story, how true I +know not, of a Wretch that sold himself to the DEVIL on Condition he, +_Satan_, should assure him (1.) That he should never want Victuals; (2.) +That he should never be a cold; (3.) That he should always come to him +when he call'd him; and (4.) That he should let him live one and twenty +Years, and then Satan was at Liberty to have him; that is, I suppose, to +take him wherever he could find him. + +It seems, the Fellow's desire to be assur'd of 21 Years Life, was +chiefly, that during that Time, he might be as wicked as he would, and +should yet be sure not to be hang'd, nay, to be free from all +Punishment; upon this Foot 'tis said he commenc'd Rogue, and committed a +great many Robberies and other villanous Things; now it seems the +_Devil_ was pretty true to his Bargain in several of those things; +particularly, that two or three times when the Fellow was taken up for +petty Crimes, and call'd for his old Friend, he came and frighted the +Constables so, that they let the Offender get away from them: But at +Length having done some capital Crime, a Set of Constables, or such like +Officers, seiz'd upon him, who were not to be frighted with the _Devil_, +in what Shape soever he appear'd; so that they carry'd him off, and he +was committed to _Newgate_ or some other Prison as effectual. + +Nor could Satan with all his Skill unlock his Fetters, much less the +Prison Doors; But he was try'd, convicted, and executed. The Fellow in +his Extremity, _they say_, expostulated with the _Devil_ for his +Bargain, the Term of 21 Years it seems not being expir'd. But the +_Devil_, it is said, shuffl'd with him, told him a good while, he would +get him out, bid him have Patience and stay a little, and thus led him +on, till he came as it were within Sight of the Gallows, that is to say, +within a Day or two of his Execution; when the _Devil_ cavill'd upon his +Bargain, told him, he agreed to let him live 21 Years, and he had not +hindred him, but that he did not Covenant to cause him to live that +Time; that there was a great deal of Difference between doing and +suffering; that he was to suffer him to live, and that he did; but he +could not make him live when he had brought himself to the Gallows. + +Whether this Story were true or not, for you must not expect we +Historians should answer for the Discourse between the _Devil_ and his +Chaps, because we were not privy to the Bargain: I say, whether it was +true or not, the Inference is to our Purpose several Ways. + + 1. It confirms what I have said of the Knavery of the _Devil_ in + his Dealings, and that when he has Stock-jobb'd with us on the best + Conditions he can get, he very seldom performs his Bargain. + + 2. It confirms what I have likewise said, that the _Devil_'s Power + is limited; with this Addition, that he not only cannot destroy the + Life of Man, but that he cannot preserve it; _in short_, he can + neither prevent or bring on our Destruction. + + +I may be allow'd, I hope, for the Sake of the present Discourse, to +suppose that the _Devil_ would have been so just to this wicked, tho' +foolish Creature, as to have sav'd him from the Gallows if he could; but +it seems, he at last acknowledg'd that it was not in his Power; nay, he +could not keep him from being taken and carry'd to Prison, after he was +gotten into the Hands of a bold Fellow or two, that were not to be +fear'd with his Bluster, as some foolish Creatures had been before. + +And how simple, how weak, how unlike any Thing of an Angelick Nature, +was it to attempt to save the poor Wretch, only by little Noises and +sham Appearances, putting out the Candles, rushing and josteling in the +Dark, _and the like_! If the _Devil_ was that mighty Seraph, which we +have heard of, if he is a God of this World, a Prince of the Air, a +Spirit able to destroy Cities and make Havock in the World; if he can +raise Tempests and Storms, throw Fire about the World, and do wonderful +Things, as an unchain'd _Devil_ no Doubt could do; what need all this +Frippery? and what need he try so many ridiculous Ways, by the +Emptiness, nay, the silly nonsensical Manner, of which, he shews, that +he is able to do no better, and that his Power is extinguish'd? _In a +Word_, he would certainly act otherwise, if he could. _Sed caret +pedibus_, he wants Power. + +How weak a thing is it then, for any Man to expect Performance from the +_Devil_? If he has not Power to do Mischief, which is his Element, his +very Nature, and on many Accounts, is the very sum of his Desires; How +should he have Power to do Good? how Power to deliver from Danger or +from Death? which Deliverance would be in itself a Good, and we know it +is not in his Nature to do Good to or for any Man? + +In a Word, the _Devil_ is strangely impudent, to think that any Man +should depend upon him for the Performance of an Agreement of any Kind +whatever, when he knows himself, that he is not able, if he was honest +enough, to be as good as his Word. + +Come we next to his expecting our Performance to him; tho' he is not so +just to us, yet, it seems, he never fails to come and demand Payment of +us at the very Day appointed: He was but a weak Trader in Things of this +Nature, who having sold his Soul to the _Devil_, so our old Women's +Tales call the Thing, and when the _Devil_ came to demand his Bargain, +put it off as a Thing of no Force, for that it was done so long ago, he +thought he (_the Devil_) had forgot it. It was a better Answer, which +they tell us, a _Lutheran_ Divine gave the _Devil_ in the Name of a poor +Wretch, who had sold himself to the _Devil_, and who was in a terrible +Fright about his coming for his Bargain, as he might well be indeed, if +the _Devil_ has such a Power, as really to come and take it by Force. +_The Story (if you can bear a serious one) is this._ + +The Man was in great Horror of Mind, and the Family fear'd he would +destroy himself; at length they sent for a _Lutheran_ Minister to talk +with him, and who after some Labour with him, got out the Truth (_viz._) +that he had sold himself to the _Devil_, and that the Time was almost +expir'd, when he expected the _Devil_ would come and fetch him away, and +he was sure he would not fail coming to the Time to a Minute; the +Minister first endeavour'd to convince him of the horrid Crime, and to +bring him to a true Penitence for that Part; and having as he thought +made him a sincere Penitent, he then began to encourage him, and +particularly, desir'd of him, that when the Time was come, that the +_Devil_ should fetch him away, he, the Minister, should be in the House +with him; accordingly, to make the Story short, the Time came, the +_Devil_ came, and the Minister was present, when the _Devil_ came; what +Shape he was in, the Story does not say; the Man said he saw him, and +cry'd out; the Minister could not see him, but the Man affirming he was +in the Room, the Minister said aloud, _in the Name of the_ living God, +_Satan, what comest thou here for?_ The _Devil_ answer'd, _I come for my +own_; the Minister answer'd, _He is not thy own, for Jesus Christ has +redeem'd him, and in his Name I charge thee to avoid and touch him not_; +at which, says the Story, the _Devil_ gave a furious Stamp (with his +Cloven-Foot I suppose) and went away, and was never known to molest him +afterward. + +Another Story, tho' it be in it self a long one, I shall abridge (for +your reading with the less Uneasiness) as follows. + +A young Gentleman of _----berg_, in the Elector of _Brandenburgh_'s (now +the King of _Prussia_'s) Dominions, being deeply in Love with a +beautiful Lady, but something above his Fortune, and whom he could by no +Means bring to love him again, apply'd himself to an _old thing_ call'd +_a Witch_, for her Assistance, and promised her great Things, if she +could bring the Lady to love him, or any how compass her, so as he might +have his Will of her; nay, at last he told her he would give up his Soul +to her, if she would answer his Desire. + +The old Hag, it seems, having had some of his Money, had very honestly +tried what she could do, but all to no Purpose, the Lady would not +comply; but when he offer'd such a great Price, she told him, she would +consider farther against such a Time, and so appointed him the next +Evening. + +At the Time appointed he comes, and the Witch made a long Speech to him +upon the Nicety of the Affair; I suppose to prepare him not to be +surpriz'd at what was to come; for she suppos'd he was not so very +desperately bent as he appear'd to be; she told him it was a Thing of +very great Difficulty; but as he had made such a great Offer, of +_selling his Soul for it_, she had an Acquaintance in the House, who was +better skill'd (than she was) in such particular Things, and would treat +with him farther, and she doubted not but that both together they might +answer his End. The Fellow it seems was still of the same Mind, and told +her, he car'd not what he pawn'd or sold, if he could but obtain the +Lady; well, says the old Hag, sit still a while, and with that she +withdraws. + +By and by she comes in again with a Question in her Mouth; pray, says +she, do you seek this Lady for a Wife, or for a Mistress, would you +marry her, or would you only lie with her? The young Man told her _no, +no_, he did not expect she would lie with him, therefore he would be +satisfied to marry her, but asks her the Reason of the Question; why +truly, says the old Hag, my Reason is very Weighty; for if you would +have her for your Wife, I doubt, we can do you no Service; but if you +have a Mind to lie with her, the Person, I speak of, will undertake it. + +The Man was surpriz'd at that, only he objected that this was a +transient or short Felicity, and that he should perhaps have her no +more; the old Hag bid him not fear, but that if she once yielded to be +his Whore, he might have her as often as he pleased; upon this he +consents, for he was stark mad for the Lady; He having consented, she +told him then, he should follow her, but told him, whoever he saw, he +must speak to no body but her, till she gave him leave, and that he +should not be surpriz'd, whatever happen'd, for no hurt should befall +him; all which he agreed to, and the old Woman going out he follow'd +her. + +Being upon this led into another Room, where there was but very little +Light, yet enough to let him see that there was no body in it but +himself and the Woman, he was desired to sit down in a Chair next to a +Table, and the old Woman clapping the Door too after her, he asked her +why she shut the Door, and where was the Person she told him of? At +which she answer'd _there he is_, pointing to a Chair at a little +Distance: The young Gentleman turning his Head, saw a grave Kind of a +Man sitting in an Elbow-Chair, tho' he said, he could have sworn there +was no body in the Chair when the old Woman shut the Door; however, +having promis'd not to speak to any body but the old Woman, he said not +a Word. + +By and by the Woman making abundance of strange Gestures and Motions, +and mumbling over several Things which he could not understand, on a +suddain a large Wicker-Chair, which stood by the Chimney, removes to the +other End of the Table which he sat by, but there was no body in the +Chair; in about two Minutes after that the Chair remov'd, there appear'd +a Person sitting in that too, who, the Room being, as is said, almost +dark, could not be so distinguish'd by the Eye, as to see his +Countenance. + +After some while, the first Man, and the Chair he sat in, mov'd, as if +they had been one Body, to the Table also; and the old Woman and the two +Men seem'd to talk together, but the young Man could not understand any +Thing they said; after some Time the old Witch turn'd to the young +Gentleman, told him his Request was granted, but not for Marriage, but +the Lady should love and receive him. + +The Witch then gave him a Stick dipt in Tar at both Ends, and bid him +hold it to a Candle, which he did, and instead of burning like a Stick +it burnt out like a Torch; then she bid him break it off in the Middle, +and light the other End; he did that too, and all the Room seem'd to be +in a light Flame; then she said, deliver one Piece here, pointing to one +only of the Persons, so he gave the first Fire-stick to the first Man or +_Apparition_; now says she, deliver the other here, so he gave the other +Piece to the other Apparition, at which they both rose up and spoke to +him Words, which he said he understood not, and could not repeat, and +immediately vanish'd with the Fire-sticks and all, leaving the Room full +of Smoke: I do not remember that the Story says any Thing of Brimstone, +or the Smell of it, but it says the Door continu'd fast lock'd, and no +Body was left in the Room but the young Gentleman and the Witch. + +Now the Ceremony being over, he ask'd the Witch if the Business was +done? She said _yes_. Well, but says he, have I sold my Soul to the +Devil? Yes, says she, you have, and you gave him Possession, when you +deliver'd the two Fire-sticks to him. _To him!_ says he, why, was that +the _Devil_? Yes, says the old Hag. At which the young Man was in a +terrible Fright for a while, but it went off again. + +And what's next, says he, when shall I see the Lady for whose sake I +have done all this? You shall know that presently, said she, and opening +the Door, in the next Room she presents him with a most beautiful Lady, +but had charg'd him not to speak a Word to her: She was exactly dress'd +like, and he presently knew her to be the Lady he desir'd; upon which he +flew to her and clasped her in his Arms, but that Moment he had her +fast, as he thought, in his Arms, she vanish'd out of his sight. + +Finding himself thus disappointed, he upbraids the old Woman with +betraying him, and flew out with ill Language at her, in a great Rage; +the _Devil_ often deluded him thus, after this, with Shews and +Appearances, but still no Performance; after a while he gets an +Opportunity to speak with the Lady her self in Reality, but she was as +positive in her Denial as ever, and even took away all Hopes of his ever +obtaining her, which put him into Despair; for now he thought he had +given himself up to the _Devil_ for nothing, and this brought him to +himself; so that he made a penitent Confession of his Crime to some +Friends, who took great Care of him, and encourag'd him, and at last +furnish'd him with such an Answer as put the _Devil_ into a Fright, when +he came for the Bargain. + +For Satan, it seems, _as the Story says_, had the Impudence to demand +his Agreement, notwithstanding he had fail'd in the Performance on his +Part; what the Answer was I do not pretend to have seen, but it seems +it was something like what is mention'd above, (_viz._) that he was in +better Hands, and that he durst not touch him. + +I have heard of another Person that had actually sign'd a Contract with +the _Devil_; and upon a Fast kept by some Protestant or Christian +Divines, while they were praying for the poor Man, the Devil was oblig'd +to come and throw the Contract in at the Window. + +But I vouch none of these Stories, there may be much in them and much +Use made of them, even whether exactly such in Fact, as they are +related, or no; the best Use I can make of them, is this, if any wicked +desperate Wretches have made Bargain and Sale with _Satan_, their only +Way is to repent, if they know how, and that before he comes to claim +them; then batter him with his own Guns; play Religion against Devilism, +and perhaps they may drive the _Devil_ out of their Reach; at least he +will not come at them, which is as well. + +On the other Hand, how many Stories have we handed about of the Devil's +really coming with a terrible Appearance at the Time appointed, and +powerfully or by violence carrying away those, that have given +themselves thus up to him; nay, and sometimes a Piece of the House along +with them, as in the famous Instance of _Sudbury_, _Anno_ 1662. It seems +he comes with Rage and Fury upon such Occasions, pretending he only +comes to take his own, or as if he had leave given him to come and take +his Goods, _as we say_, where he could find them, and would strike a +Terror into all that should oppose him. + +The greatest Part of the Terror we are usually in upon this Occasion, is +from a Supposition, that when this _Hell-Fire Contract_ is once made, +God allows the _Devil_ to come and take the wicked Creature, how and in +what manner he thinks fit, as being given up to him by his own Act and +Deed; but in my Opinion there's no Divinity at all in that; for as in +our Law we punish a _Felo de se_, or Self-murtherer, because, _as the +Law suggests_, he had no Right to dismiss his own Life; that he being a +Subject of the Common-wealth, the Government claims the _Ward_ or +Custody of him, and so 'twas not Murther only, but Robbery, and is a +Felony against the State, robbing the King of his Liege-Man, as _'tis +justly call'd_; so neither has any Man a Right to dispose of his Soul, +which belongs to his Maker in Property and in Right of Creation: The Man +then having no Right to sell, Satan has no Right to buy, or at best he +has made a Purchase without a Title, and consequently has no just Claim +to the Possession. + +It is therefore a Mistake to say, that when any of us have been so mad +to make such a pretended Contract with the Devil, that God gives him +leave to take it as his Due; _'tis no such thing_; the _Devil_ has +bought, what you had no Right to sell, and therefore, as an unlawful +Oath is to be repented of, and then broken; so your Business is to +repent of the Crime, and then tell the _Devil_, you have better +consider'd of it, and that you won't stand to your Bargain, for you had +no Power to sell; and if he pretends to Violence after that, I am +mistaken; I believe the _Devil_ knows better. + +It is true, our old Mothers and Nurses have told us other Things, but +they only told us what their Mothers and Nurses told them, and so the +Tale has been handed down from one Generation of old Women to another; +but we have no Vouchers for the Fact other than Oral Tradition, the +Credit of which, I confess, goes but a very little Way with me; nor do I +believe it one Jot the more for all the frightful Addenda which they +generally join to the Tale, for it never wants a great Variety of that +Kind. + +Thus they tell us the Devil carried away Dr. _Faustus_ and took a Piece +of the Wall of his Garden along with them: Thus at _Salisbury_ the +_Devil_ as it is said, and publickly printed, carried away two Fellows +that had given themselves up to him, and carried away the Roof of the +House with them, _and the like_; all which I believe my Share of; +besides, if these Stories were really true, they are all against the +Devil's true Interest, _Satan_ must be a Fool, which is indeed what I +never took him to be in the Main; this would be the Way not to encrease +the Number of Desperadoes, who should thus put themselves into his Hand, +but to make himself a Terror to them; and this is one of the most +powerful Objections I have against the Thing, for the Devil, I say, is +no Fool, that must be acknowledg'd; he knows his own Game, and generally +plays it sure. + +I might, before I quit this Point, seriously reflect here upon our _Beau +mond_ (_viz._) the gay Part of Mankind, especially those of the Times we +live in, who walk about in a Composure and Tranquillity inexpressible, +and yet as we all know, must certainly have all sold themselves to the +Devil, for the Power of acting the foolishest Things with the greater +Applause; it is true, to be a Fool is the most pleasant Life in the +World, if the Fool has but the particular Felicity, which few Fools +want, (_viz._) to think themselves wise: The learned say, it is the +Dignity and Perfection of Fools, that they never fail trusting +themselves; they believe themselves sufficient and able for every Thing; +and hence their want or waste of Brains is no Grievance to them, but +they hug themselves in the Satiety of their own Wit; but to bring other +People to have the same Notion of them, which they have of themselves, +and to have their apish and ridiculous Conduct make the same Impression +on the Minds of others, as it does on their own; this requires a general +Infatuation, and must either be a Judgment from Heaven, or a Mist of +Hell; nothing but the Devil can make all the Men of Brains applaud a +Fool, and can any Man believe, that the Devil will do this for nothing? +no, no, he will be well paid for it, and I know no other Way they have +to compound with him, but this of Bargain and Sale. + +'Tis the same thing with Rakes and Bullies, as 'tis with Fools and +Beaus; and this brings me to the Subject of _buying_ and _selling_ it +self, and to examine what is understood by it in the World, what People +mean by such and such a Man selling himself to the Devil: I know the +common Acceptation of it is, that they make some Capitulation for some +Indulgence in Wickedness, on Conditions of Safety and Impunity, which +the Devil promises them; tho' as I said above, he is a _Bite_ in that +too, for he can't perform the Conditions; however, I say, he promises +boldly, and they believe him, and for this Privilege in Wickedness, they +consent, that he shall come and fetch them for his own, at such or such +a Time. + +This is the State of the Case in the general Acceptation of it; I do not +say 'tis really so, nay 'tis even an Inconsistency in it self; for one +would think, they need not capitulate with the Devil to be so, and so, +superlatively wicked, and give him such a Price for it, seeing, unless +we have a wrong Notion of him, he is naturally enclin'd, as well as +avow'dly willing to have all Men be as superlatively wicked as possibly +they can, and must necessarily be always ready to issue out his Licenses +gratis, as far as his Authority will go in the Case; and therefore I do +not see why the Wretches that deal with him, should article with him for +a Price; but suppose, for Argument sake, that it is so, then the next +Thing is, some capital Crime follows the Contract, and then the Wretch +is forsaken, for the Devil cannot protect him, as he promised; so he is +_Trust up_, and like _Coleman_ at the Gallows, he exclaims that _there +is no Truth in_ Devils. + +It may be true, however, that under the powerful Guard and Protection of +the Devil, Men do sometimes go a great Way in Crime, and that perhaps +farther in these our Days of boasted Morals than was known among our +Fathers; the only Difference that I meet with between the Sons of +_Belial_ in former Days, and those of our Ages, seems to be in the +Devil's Management, not in theirs; the Sum of which amounts to this, +that Satan seems to act with more Cunning, and they with less; for in +the former Ages of Satan's Dominion, he had much Business upon his +Hands, all his Art and Engines, and Engineers also, were kept fully +employ'd, to wheedle, allure, betray and circumvent People, and draw +them into Crimes, and they found him, as we may say, a full Employment; +I doubt not, he was call'd the Tempter on that very Account; but the +Case seems quite alter'd now, the Tables are turned; then the Devil +tempted Men to sin, _But now, in short_, they tempt the Devil; Men push +into Crimes before he pushes them; they out shoot him in his own Bow, +out run him on his own Ground, and, as we say of some hot Spurs who ride +Post, they whip the Post-Boy; in a Word, the Devil seems to have no +Business now but to sit still and look on. + +This, I must confess, seems to intimate some secret Compact between the +Devil and them; but then it looks, not as is they had contracted with +the Devil for leave to sin, but that the Devil had contracted with them, +that they should sin so and so, up to such a Degree, and that without +giving him the Trouble of daily Solicitation, private Management, and +artful screwing up their Passions, their Affections and their most +retir'd Faculties, as he was before oblig'd to do. + +This also appears more agreeable to the Nature of the Thing; and as it +is a most exquisite part of Satan's Cunning, so 'tis an undoubted +Testimony of his Success; if it was not so, he could never bring his +Kingdom to such a height of absolute Power as he has done; this also +solves several Difficulties in the Affair of the World's present Way of +sinning, which otherwise it would be very hard to understand; as +particularly how some eminent Men of Quality among us, whose upper Rooms +are not extraordinary well furnished in other Cases, yet are so very +witty in their Wickedness, that they gather Admirers by hundreds and +thousands; who, however heavy, lumpish, slow and backward, even by +Nature, and in force of Constitution in better things, yet in their Race +Devil-wards they are of a sudden grown nimble, light of Foot, and outrun +all their Neighbours; Fellows that are as empty of Sense as Beggars are +of Honesty, and as far from Brains as a Whore is of Modesty; on a sudden +you shall find them dip into _Polemicks_, study _Michael Servetus_, +_Socinus_, and the most learned of their Disciples; they shall reason +against all Religion, as strongly as a Philosopher; blaspheme with such +a Keenness of Wit, and satyrise God and Eternity, with such a Brightness +of Fancy, as if the soul of a _Rochester_ or a _Hobbs_ was +transmigrated into them; in a little length of Time more they banter +Heaven, burlesque the Trinity, and jest with every sacred thing, and all +so sharp, so ready, and so terribly witty, as if they were born +Buffoons, and were singl'd out by Nature to be Champions for the Devil. + +Whence can all this come? how is the Change wrought? who but the Devil +can inject Wit in Spight of natural Dullness, create Brains, fill empty +Heads, and supply the Vacuities in the Understanding? and will Satan do +all this for nothing? _No, no_, he is too wise for that; I can never +doubt a secret Compact, if there is such a thing in Nature; when I see a +Head where there was no Head, Sense in _Posse_ where there is no Sense +in _Esse_, Wit without Brains, and Sight without Eyes, 'tis all +_Devil-Work_: Could _G----_ write Satyrs, that could neither read +_Latin_ or spell _English_, like old Sir _William Read_, who wrote a +Book of Opticks, which when it was printed, he did not know which was +the right Side uppermost, and which the wrong? Could this eminent +uninform'd Beau turn Atheist, and make wise Speeches against that Being, +which made him a Fool, if the Devil had not sold him some Wit in +exchange for that Trifle of his, call'd Soul? Had he not barter'd his +Inside with that Son of the Morning, to have his Tongue tip'd with +Blasphemy, he that knew nothing of a God, but only to swear by him, +could never have set up for a Wit, to burlesque his Providence and +ridicule his Government of the World. + +But the Devil, as he is God of the World, has one particular Advantage, +and that is, that when he has Work to do he very seldom wants +Instruments; with this Circumstance also, that the Degeneracy of human +Nature supplies him; as the late King of _France_ said of himself, when +they told him what a Calamity was like to befal his Kingdom by the +Famine: _Well_, says the King, then I shall not want Soldiers; _and it +was so_, want of Bread supplied his Army with Recruits; so want of Grace +supplied the _Devil_ with Reprobates for his Work. + +Another Reason why, I think, the _Devil_ has made more Bargains of that +Kind we speak of, in this Age, is, because he seems to have laid by his +Cloven-Foot; all his old Emissaries, the Tools of his Trade, the +Engineers which he employ'd in his Mines, such as Witches, Warlocks, +Magicians, Conjurers, Astrologers, and all the hellish Train or Rabble +of human _Devils_, who did his Drudgery in former Days, seem to be out +of Work: I shall give you a fuller Enumeration of them in the next +Chapter. + +These, I say, seem to be laid aside; not that his Work is abated, or +that his Business with Mankind, for their Delusion and Destruction is +not the same, or perhaps more than ever; but the _Devil_ seems to have +chang'd Hands; the Temper and Genius of Mankind is alter'd, and they are +not to be taken by Fright and Horror, as they were then: The Figures of +those Creatures was always dismal and horrible, and that is it which I +mean by the _Cloven-Foot_; but now Wit, Beauty and gay Things, are the +Sum of his Craft, he manages by the Soft and the Smooth, the Fair and +the Artful, the Kind and the Cunning, not by the Frightful and Terrible, +the Ugly and the Odious. + + When the _Devil_ for weighty Dispatches, + Wanted Messengers cunning and bold, + He pass'd by the beautiful Faces, + And pick'd out the _Ugly_ and _Old_. + + Of these he made _Warlocks_ and _Witches_, + To run of his Errands by Night, + Till the over wrought Hag-ridden Wretches, + Were as fit as the _Devil_, to fright. + + But whoever has been his Adviser, + As his Kingdom encreases in Growth; + He now takes his Measures much wiser, + And Trafficks with Beauty and Youth. + + Disguis'd in the Wanton and Witty, + He haunts both the Church and the Court, + And sometimes he visits the City, + Where all the best Christians resort. + + Thus dress'd up in full Masquerade, + He the bolder can range up and down, + For he better can drive on his Trade, + In any one's Name than his own. + + + + +CHAP. IX. + +_Of the Tools the_ Devil _works with,_ (viz.) _Witches, Wizards or + Warlocks, Conjurers, Magicians, Divines, Astrologers, Interpreters + of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes; and above all the rest, his + particular modern Privy-Counsellors call'd Wits and Fools._ + + +Tho', as I have advanc'd in the foregoing Chapter, the _Devil_ has very +much chang'd Hands in his modern Management of the World, and that +instead of the Rabble and long Train of Implements reckoned up above, he +now walks about in Beaus, Beauties, Wits and Fools; yet I must not omit +to tell you that he has not dismiss'd his former Regiments, but like +Officers in Time of Peace, he keeps them all in half Pay, or like +Extraordinary Men at the Custom-House, they are kept at a Call, to be +ready to fill up Vacancies, or to employ when he is more than ordinarily +full of Business; and therefore it may not be amiss to give some brief +Account of them, from Satan's own Memoirs, their Performance being no +inconsiderable Part of his History. + +Nor will it be an unprofitable Digression to go back a little to the +primitive Institution of all these _Orders_, for they are very antient, +and I assure you, it requires great Knowledge of Antiquity, to give a +Particular of their Original; I shall be very brief in it. + +In order then to this Enquiry, you must know that it was not for want of +Servants, that Satan took this Sort of People into his Pay; he had, as I +have observ'd in its Place, Millions of diligent _Devils_ at his Call, +whatever Business, and however difficult, he had for them to do; but as +I have said above, that our modern People are forwarder than even the +_Devil_ himself can desire them to be; and that they come before they +are call'd, run before they are sent, and crowd themselves into his +Service; so it seems it was in those early Days, when the World was one +universal Monarchy under his Dominion, as I have at large describ'd in +its Place. + +In those Days the Wickedness of the World keeping a just Pace with their +Ignorance, this inferior Sort of low priz'd Instruments did the +_Devil_'s work mighty well; they drudg'd on in his Black-Art so +laboriously, and with such good Success, that he found it was better to +employ them as Tools to delude and draw in Mankind, than to send his +invisible Implements about, and oblige them to take such Shapes and +Dresses as were necessary upon every trifling Occasion; which, perhaps, +was more Cost than Worship, more Pains than Pay. + +Having then a Set of these Voluntiers in his Service, the true _Devil_ +had nothing to do but to keep an exact Correspondence with them, and +communicate some needful Powers to them, to make them be and do +something extraordinary, and give them a Reputation in their Business; +and these, in a Word, did a great Part of, nay almost all the _Devil_'s +Business in the World. + +To this Purpose gave he them Power, if we may believe old _Glanville_, +_Baxter_, _Hicks_, and other learn'd Consultors of Oracles, to walk +invisible, to fly in the Air, ride upon Broom-sticks, and other Wooden +Gear, to interpret Dreams, answer Questions, betray Secrets, to talk +(Gibberish) the universal Language, to raise Storms, sell Winds, bring +up Spirits, disturb the Dead, and torment the Living, with a thousand +other needful Tricks to amuse the World, keep themselves in Veneration, +and carry on the _Devil_'s Empire in the World. + +The first Nations among whom these infernal Practices were found, were +the _Chaldeans_; and that I may do Justice in earnest, as well as in +jest, it must be allow'd that the _Chaldeans_, or those of them so +call'd, were not Conjurers or Magicians, only Philosophers and Studiers +of Nature, wise, sober and studious Men at first, and we have an +extraordinary Account of them; and if we may believe some of our best +Writers of Fame, _Abraham_ was himself famous among them for such +Magick, as Sir _Walter Raleigh_ expresses it, _Qui Contemplatione +Creaturarum Cognovit Creatorem_. + +Now granting this, it is all to my Purpose, namely, that the Devil drew +these wise Men in, to search after more Knowledge than Nature could +instruct them in; and the Knowledge of the true God being at that Time +sunk very low, he debauch'd them all with Dreams, Apparitions, +Conjurers, _&c._ till he ruin'd the just Notions they had, and made +_Devils_ of them all, like himself. + +The learned _Senensis_, speaking of this _Chaldean_ Kind of Learning, +gives us an Account of five Sorts of them; you will pardon me for being +so grave as to go this Length back. + + 1. _Chascedin_ or _Chaldeans_, properly so call'd, being + Astronomers. + + 2. _Asaphim_ or _Magicians_, such was _Zoroastres_ and _Balaam_ the + Son of _Beor_. + + 3. _Chatumim_ or Interpreters of Dreams and hard Speeches, + Inchanters, _&c._ + + 4. _Mecasphim_ or Witches, call'd at first Prophets, afterwards + _Malefici_ or _Venefici_, Poisoners. + + 5. _Gazarim_ or _Auruspices_, and Diviners, such as divin'd by the + Entrails of Beasts, the Liver in particular; mention'd in _Ezek._ + or as others, call'd Augurs. + + +Now, as to all these, I suppose, I may do them no wrong, if I say, +however justifiable they were in the Beginning, the _Devil_ got them all +into his Service at last, and that brings me to my Text again, from +which the rest was a Digression. + + 1. The _Chascedin_ or _Chaldean_ Astronomers turned Astrologers, + Fortune-Tellers, Calculators of Nativities, and vile Deluders of + the People, as if the Wisdom of the holy God was in them, as + _Nebuchadnezzar_ said of _Daniel_ on that very Account. + + 2. The _Asaphim_ or Magi, or Magicians; _Sixtus Senensis_ says, + they were such as wrought by Covenants with Devils, but turn'd to + it from their Wisdom, which was to study the practical Part of + Natural Philosophy, working admirable Effects by the mutual + Application of Natural Causes. + + 3. The _Chartumim_ from being Reasoners or Disputers upon difficult + Points in Philosophy, became Enchanters and Conjurers. So, + + 4. The _Mecasphim_ or Prophets, they turn'd to be Sorcerers, + Raisers of Spirits, such as wounded by an evil Eye, and by bitter + Curses, and were afterwards fam'd for having familiar Converse with + the _Devil_, and were called Witches. + + 5. The _Gazarim_, from the bare observing of the good and bad + Omens, by the Entrails of Beasts, flying of Birds, _&c._ were + turn'd to Sacrists or Priests of the Heathen Idols and Sacrificers. + + +Thus, I say, first or last the _Devil_ engross'd all the Wise-Men of the +East, for so they are call'd; made them all his own, and by them he +work'd Wonders, that is, he fill'd the World with lying Wonders, as if +wrought by these Men, when indeed it was all his own, from Beginning to +the End, and set on Foot meerly to propagate Delusion, impose upon +blinded and ignorant Men; the God of this World blinded their Minds, and +they were led away by the Subtilty of the _Devil_, to say no worse of +it, till they became _Devils_ themselves, as to Mankind; for they +carried on the Devil's Work upon all Occasions, and the Race of them +still continue in other Nations, and some of them among our selves, as +we shall see presently. + +The _Arabians_ follow'd the _Chaldeans_ in this Study, while it was kept +within its due Bounds, and after them the _Egyptians_; and among the +Latter we find that _Jannes_ and _Jambres_ were famous for their leading +_Pharaoh_ by their pretended magic Performances, to reject the real +Miracles of _Moses_; and History tells us of strange Pranks the +Wise-Men, the Magicians and the Southsayers plaid to delude the People +in the most early Ages of the World. + +But, as I say, now, the _Devil_ has improv'd himself, so he did then; +for the _Grecian_ and _Roman_ Heathen Rites coming on, they outdid all +the Magicians and Southsayers, by establishing the _Devil_'s lying +Oracles, which, as a Master-Piece of Hell, did the _Devil_ more Honour, +and brought more Homage to him, than ever he had before, or could arrive +to since. + +Again, as by the setting up the Oracles, all the Magicians and +Southsayers grew out of Credit; so at the ceasing of those Oracles, the +_Devil_ was fain to go back to the old Game again, and take up with the +Agency of Witches, Divinations, Inchantments and Conjurings, as I hinted +before, answerable to the four Sorts mention'd in the Story of +_Nebuchadnezzar_, (viz.) _Magicians_, _Astrologers_, the _Chaldeans_ and +the _Southsayers_: How these began to be out of Request, I have +mention'd already; but as the _Devil_ has not quite given them over, +only laid them aside a little for the present, we may venture to ask +what they were, and what Use he made of them when he did employ them. + +The Truth is, I think, as it was a very mean Employment for any thing +that wears a human Countenance to take up, so I must acknowledge, I +think, 'twas a mean low priz'd Business for _Satan_ to take up with; +below the very _Devil_; below his Dignity as an Angelic, tho' condemn'd +Creature; below him even as a _Devil_; to go to talk to a parcel of +ugly, deform'd, spiteful, malicious old Women; to give them Power to do +Mischief, who never had a Will, after they enter'd into the State of +_old Woman-Hood_, to do any thing else: Why the _Devil_ always chose the +ugliest old Women he could find; whether _Wizardism_ made them ugly, +that were not so before, and whether the Ugliness, as it was a Beauty in +Witchcraft, did not encrease according to the meritorious Performance in +the Black-Trade? These are all Questions of Moment to be decided, (if +human Learning can arrive to so much Perfection) in Ages to come. + +Some say the evil Eye and the wicked Look were Parts of the Enchantment, +and that the Witches, when they were in the height of their Business, +had a powerful Influence with both; that by looking upon any Person they +could bewitch them, and make the _Devil_, _as the Scots express it_, +ride through them booted and spurr'd; and that hence came that very +significant Saying, _to look like a Witch_. + +The strange Work which the _Devil_ has made in the World, by this Sort +of his Agents call'd Witches, is such, and so extravagantly wild, that +except our Hope that most of those Tales happen not to be true, I know +not how any one could be easy to live near a Widow after she was five +and fifty. + +All the other Sorts of Emissaries which Satan employs, come short of +these Ghosts; and Apparitions sometimes come and shew themselves, on +particular Accounts, and some of those Particulars respect doing +Justice, repairing Wrongs, preventing Mischief; sometimes in Matters +very considerable, and on Things so necessary to publick Benefit, that +we are tempted to believe they proceed from some vigilant Spirit who +wishes us well; but on the other Hand, these Witches are never concern'd +in any thing but Mischief; nay, if what they do portends good to one, it +issues in hurt to many; the whole Tenour of their Life, their Design in +general, is to do Mischief, and they are only employ'd in Mischief, and +nothing else: How far they are furnish'd with Ability suitable to the +horrid Will they are vested with, remains to be describ'd. + +These Witches, 'tis said, are furnish'd with Power suitable to the +Occasion that is before them, and particularly that which deserves to be +consider'd, as Prediction, and foretelling Events, which I insist the +Author of Witchcraft is not accomplish'd with himself, nor can he +communicate it to any other: How then _Witches_ come to be able to +foretel Things to come, which, 'tis said, the _Devil_ himself cannot +know, and which, as I have shewn, 'tis evident he does not know himself, +is yet to be determin'd; that Witches do foretel, is certain, from the +Witch of _Endor_, who foretold Things to _Saul_, which he knew not +before, namely, that he should be slain in Battle the next Day, which +accordingly came to pass. + +There are, however, and notwithstanding this particular Case, many +Instances wherein the _Devil_ has not been able to foretel approaching +Events, and that in Things of the utmost Consequence, and he has given +certain foolish or false Answers in such Cases; the DEVIL's Priests, +which were summon'd in by the Prophet _Elija_, to decide the Dispute +between God and _Baal_, had the _Devil_ been able to have inform'd them +of it, would certainly have receiv'd Notice from him, of what was +intended against them by _Elija_; that is to say, that they would be all +cut in pieces; for Satan was not such a Fool as not to know that _Baal_ +was a Non-Entity, a Nothing, at best a dead Man, perish'd and rotting in +his Grave; for _Baal_ was _Bell_ or _Belus_, an ancient King of the +_Assyrian_ Monarchy, and he could no more answer by Fire to consume the +Sacrifice, than he could raise himself from the dead. + +But the Priests of _Baal_ were left of their Master to their just Fate, +namely, to be a Sacrifice to the Fury of a deluded People; hence I infer +his Inability, for it would have been very unkind and ungrateful in him +not to have answer'd them, if he had been able. There is another +Argument raised here most justly against the _Devil_, with Relation to +his being under Restraint, and that of greater Eminence than we imagine, +and it is drawn from this very Passage, thus; 'tis not to be doubted but +that _Satan_, who has much of the Element put into his Hands, as Prince +of the Air, had a Power, or was able potentially speaking, to have +answer'd _Baal_'s Priests by Fire; Fire being in Vertue of his airy +Principality a Part of his Dominion; but he was certainly _withheld_ by +the Superior Hand, which gave him that Dominion, I mean _withheld_ for +the Occasion only: So in another Case, it was plain that _Balaam_, who +was one of those Sorts of _Chaldeans_ mention'd above, who dealt in +_Divinations_ and _Inchantments_, was withheld from cursing Israel. + +Some are of Opinion that _Balaam_ was not a Witch or a Dealer with the +_Devil_ because 'tis said of him, or rather he says it of himself, that +he saw the Visions of God, _Numb._ xxiv. 16. _He hath said_, who _heard +the Words of_ GOD, _and knew the Knowledge of the most High, which saw +the Visions of the Almighty, falling into a_ TRANCE, _but having his +Eyes open_: Hence they alledge he was one of those Magi, which St. +_Augustin_ speaks of, _de Divinatione_, who by the Study of Nature, and +by the Contemplation of created Beings came to the Knowledge of the +Creature; and that _Balaam_'s Fault was, that being tempted by the +Rewards and Honours that the King promised him, he intended to have +curs'd _Israel_; but when his Eyes were open'd, and that he saw they +were God's own People, he durst not do it; they will have it therefore, +that except, _as above_, _Balaam_ was a good Man, or at least that he +had the Knowledge of the true God, and the Fear of that God upon him, +and that he honestly declares this, _Numb._ xxii. 18. _If_ Balak _would +give me his House full of Silver and Gold, I cannot go beyond the Word +of the Lord_ MY GOD: Where tho' he is call'd a false Prophet by some, he +evidently owns God, and assumes a Property in him, as other Prophets +did; MY GOD, and I cannot go beyond his Orders; but that which gives me +a better Opinion of _Balaam_ than all this is, his plain Prophesy of +Christ, Chap. xxiv. 17. where he calls him the Star of _Jacob_, and +declares, _I shall see him, but not now, I shall behold him, but not +nigh; there shall come a Star out of_ Jacob, _and a Scepter shall rise +out of_ Israel, _and shall smite the Corners of_ Moab, _and destroy all +the Children of_ Seth, all which express not a Knowledge only, but a +Faith in Christ; but I have done preaching, this is all by the by, I +return to my Business, which is the History. + +There is another Piece of dark Practice here, which lies between Satan +and his particular Agents, and which they must give us an Answer to, +when they can, which I think will not be in haste; and that is about the +obsequious _Devil_ submitting to be call'd up into Visibility, whenever +an old Woman has her Hand cross'd with a white Six-pence, _as they Call +it_: One would think that instead of these vile Things call'd Witches, +being sold to the _Devil_, the _Devil_ was really sold for a Slave to +them; for how far soever Satan's Residence is off of this State of Life, +they have Power, it seems, to fetch him from home, and oblige him to +come at their Call. + +I can give little Account of this, only that indeed so it is; nor is the +Thing so strange in its self, as the Methods to do it are mean, foolish, +and ridiculous; as making a Circle and dancing in it, pronouncing such +and such Words, saying the Lord's Prayer backward, and the like; now is +this agreeable to the Dignity of the Prince of the Air or Atmosphere, +that he should be commanded forth with no more Pomp or Ceremony than +that of muttering a few Words, such as the old Witches and he agree +about? or is there something else in it, which none of us or themselves +understand? + +Perhaps, indeed, he is always with those People call'd Witches and +Conjurers, or at least some of his _Camp Volant_ are always present, and +so upon the least call of the Wizard, it is but putting off the misty +Cloak and showing themselves. + +Then we have a Piece of mock Pageantry in bringing those Things call'd +witches or Conjurers to Justice, that is, first to know if a Woman be a +Witch, throw her into a Pond, and if she be a Witch, she will swim, and +it is not in her own Power to prevent it; if she does all she can to +sink her self, it will not do, she will swim like a Cork. Then that a +Rope will not hang a Witch, but you must get a With, a green Osyer; that +if you nail a Horse-Shoe on the Sill of the Door, she cannot come into +the House, or go out, if she be in; these and a thousand more, too +simple to be believ'd, are yet so vouch'd, so taken for granted, and so +universally receiv'd for Truth, that there is no resisting them without +being thought atheistical. + +What Methods to take to know, who are _Witches_, I really know not; but +on the other Side, I think there are variety of Methods to be used to +know who are not; _W--- G---_, Esq; is a Man of Fame, his Parts are +great, because his Estate is so; he has threescore and eight Lines of +_Virgil_ by rote, and they take up many of the Intervals of his merry +Discourses; he has just as many witty Stories to please Society; when +they are well told, _once over_, he begins again, and so he lives in a +round of Wit and Learning; he is a Man of great Simplicity and +Sincerity; you must be careful not to mistake my Meaning, as to the Word +Simplicity; some take it to mean Honesty, and so do I, only that it has +a Negative attending it, in his particular Case; in a Word, _W---- +G----_ is an honest Man, and no _Conjurer_; a good Character, I think, +and without Impeachment to his Understanding, he may be a Man of Worth +for all that; take the other Sex, there is the Lady _H----_ is another +Discovery; bless us! what Charms in that Face! How bright those Eyes! +How flowing white her Breasts! How sweet her Voice? add to all, how +heavenly, divinely good her Temper! How inimitable her Behaviour! How +spotless her Virtue! How perfect her Innocence! and to sum up her +Character, we may add, the Lady _H----_ is no _Witch_; sure none of our +Beau Critics will be so unkind now as to censure me in those honest +Descriptions, as if I meant that my good Friend _W---- G----_ Esq; or my +ador'd Angel, the bright, the charming Lady _H----_ were Fools; but what +will not those Savages, call'd Critics, do, whose barbarous Nature +enclines them to trample on the brightest Characters, and to cavil on +the clearest Expressions? + +It might be expected of me, however, in justice to my Friends, and to +the bright Characters of abundance of Gentlemen of this Age, who, by the +Depth of their Politics, and the Height of their Elevations might be +suspected, and might give us Room to charge them with Subterranean +Intelligence; I say, it might be expected that I should clear up their +Fame, and assure the World concerning them, even by Name, that they are +no _Conjurers_, that they do not deal with the _Devil_, at least, not by +the Way Witchcraft and Divination, such as Sir _T---k_, _E--- B---_, +Esq; my Lord _Homily_, Coll. _Swagger_, _Jeoffry Well with_, Esq; Capt. +_Harry Go Deeper_, Mr. _Wellcome Woollen_, Citizen and Merchant Taylor +of _London_, _Henry Cadaver_, Esq; the D---- of _Caerfilly_, the +Marquess of _Sillyhoo_, Sir _Edward Thro' and Thro'_ Bart. and a World +of fine Gentlemen more, whose great Heads and Weighty Understandings +have given the World such Occasion to challenge them with being at least +descended from the _Magi_, and perhaps engaged with old Satan in his +Politics and Experiments; but I, that have such good Intelligence among +_Satan_'s Ministers of State, as is necessary to the present +Undertaking, am thereby well able to clear up their Characters: and I +doubt not, but they will value themselves upon it, and acknowledge +their Obligation to me, for letting the World know the _Devil_ does not +pretend to have had any Business with them, or to have enroll'd them in +the List of his Operators; _in a Word_, that none of them are +_Conjurers_: Upon which Testimony of mine, I expect they be no longer +charg'd with, or so much as suspected of having an unlawful Quantity of +Wit, or having any Sorts of it about them, that are contraband or +prohibited, but that for the future they pass unmolested, and be taken +for nothing but what they are, (_viz._) very honest worthy Gentlemen. + + + + +CHAP. X. + +_Of the various Methods the Devil takes to converse with Mankind._ + + +Having spoken something of Persons, and particularly of such as the +_Devil_ thinks fit to employ in his Affairs in the World, it comes next +of course to say something of the Manner how he communicates his Mind to +them, and by them to the rest of his Acquaintance in the World. + +I take the _Devil_ to be under great Difficulties in his Affairs on his +Part, especially occasion'd by the Bounds which are set him, or which +Policys oblige him to set to himself, in his Access to the conversing +with Mankind; 'tis evident he is not permitted to fall upon them with +Force and Arms, that is to say, to muster up his infernal Troops, and +attack them with Fire and Sword; if he was not loose to act in this +Manner as he was able, by his own seraphic Power to have destroy'd the +whole Race, and even the Earth they dwelt upon, so he would certainly, +and long ago have effectually done it; his particular Interests and +Inclinations are well enough known. + +But in the next Place, as he is thus restrain'd from Violence, so +Prudentials restrain him in all his other Actings with Mankind; and +being confin'd to Stratagem, and soft still Methods, such as Persuasion, +Allurement, feeding the Appetite, prompting, and then gratifying corrupt +Desires, and the like; he finds it for his Purpose not to appear in +Person, except very rarely, and then in Disguise; but to act all the +rest in the Dark, under the Vizor of Art and Craft, making Use of +Persons and Methods conceal'd, or at least not fully understood or +discover'd. + +As to the Persons whom he employs, I have taken some Pains you see to +discover some of them; but the Methods he uses with them, either to +inform and instruct, and give Orders to them, or to converse with other +People by them, these are very particular, and deserve some Place in our +Memoirs, particularly as they may serve to remove some of our Mistakes, +and to take off some of the frightful Ideas we are apt to entertain in +Prejudice of this great Manager; as if he was no more to be match'd in +his Politics, than he would be to be match'd in his Power, if it was let +loose; which is so much a Mistake, that on the contrary, we read of +several People that have abused and cheated the _Devil_, a Thing, which +I cannot say, is very honest nor just, notwithstanding the old Latin +Proverb, _Fallere fallentem non est fraus_, (which Men construe, or +rather render, by way of Banter Upon Satan) 'tis no Sin to cheat the +_Devil_, which for all that, upon the whole I deny, and alledge, that +let the _Devil_ act how he will by us, we ought to deal fairly by him. + +But to come to the Business, without Circumlocutions; I am to enquire +how Satan issues out his Orders, gives his Instructions and fully +delivers his Mind to his Emissaries, of whom I have mention'd some in +the Title to Chap. IX. In order to this, you must form an Idea of the +_Devil_ sitting in great State, in open Campaign, with all his Legions +about him, in the height of the Atmosphere; or if you will, at a certain +Distance from the Atmosphere, and above it, that the Plan of his +Encampment might not be hurried round its own Axis, with the Earth's +diurnal Motion, which might be some Disturbance to him. + +By this fix'd Situation, the Earth performing its Rotation, he has every +Part and Parcel of it brought to a direct Opposition to him, and +consequently to his View once in twenty four Hours: The last time I was +there, if I remember right, he had this Quarter of the World, which we +call Christendom, just under his Eye; and as the Motion is not so swift, +but that his piercing Opticks can take a strict View of it _en passant_; +for the Circumference of it being but twenty one thousand Miles, and its +circular Motion being full twenty four Hours performing, he has +something more than an Hour to view every thousand Miles, which, to his +supernatural Penetration, is not worth naming. + +As he takes thus a daily View of all the Circle, and an hourly View of +the Parts, he is fully Master of all Transactions, at least such as are +done above Board by all Mankind; and then he dispatches his Emissaries +or _Aid du Camps_ to every Part with his Orders and Instructions: Now +these Emissaries, you are to understand, are not the _Witches_ and +_Diviners_, who I spoke of above, for I call them also Emissaries; but +they are all _Devils_ or (as you know they are call'd) _Devil_'s Angels; +and these may, perhaps, come and converse personally with the +Sub-emissaries I mention'd, to be ready for their Support and Assistance +on all Occasions of Business: These are those _Devils_ which the Witches +are said to raise; for we can hardly suppose the Master _Devil_ comes +himself, at the Summons of every ugly old Woman. + +These run about into every Nook and Corner, wherever Satan's Business +calls them, and are never wanting to him; but are the most diligent +_Devils_ imaginable; like the _Turkish Chaiux_, they no sooner receive +their Errand, but they execute it with the utmost Alacrity; and as to +their Speed, it may be truly written as a Motto, upon the Head of every +individual _Devil_, + + _Non indiget calcaribus._ + + +These are those, who they tell us our Witches, Sorcerers, Wizards, and +such Sorts of Folks converse freely with, and are therefore call'd their +_Familiars_; and as they tell us, come to them in human Shapes, talk to +them with articulate plain Voices, as if Men, and that yet the said +Witches, _&c._ know them to be _Devils_. + +History has not yet enlighten'd us in this Part of useful Knowledge, or +at least not sufficiently for a Description of the Persons or Habits of +these Sorts of Appearances; as what Shapes they take up, what Language +they speak, and what particular Works they perform, so we must refer it +to farther Enquiry; but if we may credit History, we are told many +famous Stories of these Appearances; for Example, the famous Mother +_Lakland_, who was burnt for a Witch at _Ipswich_, _Anno_ 1646, +confessed at the Time of her Execution, or a little before it, that she +had frequent Conversation with the _Devil_ himself; that she being very +poor, and withal of a devilish passionate, cruel and revengeful +Disposition before, used to wish she had it in her Power to do such and +such mischievous Things to some that she hated; and that the _Devil_ +himself, who, it seems, knew her Temper, came to her one Night as she +lay in her Bed, and was between sleeping and waking, and speaking in a +deep hollow Voice, told her; if she would serve him in some Things he +would employ her to do, she should have her Will of all her Enemies, and +should want for nothing: That she was much afraid at first, but that he +solliciting her very often, bad her not be afraid of him, and still +urg'd her to yield, and as she says, struck his Claw into her Hand, and +tho' it did not hurt her, made it bleed, and with the Blood wrote the +Covenants, that is to say, the Bargain between them: being ask'd what +was in them, and whether he requir'd her to curse or deny God or Christ? +She said no. + + N. B. I do not find she told them whether the _Devil_ wrote it with + a Pen, or whether on Paper or Parchment, nor whether she sign'd it + or no, but it seems he carry'd it away with him. I suppose, if + Satan's Register were examin'd, it might be found among the + Archives of Hell, the Rolls of his _acta Publica_; and when his + Historiographer Royal publishes them, we may look for it among + them. + + +Then he furnish'd her with three _Devils_, to wait upon her (I suppose) +for she confess'd they were to be employ'd in her Service; they attended +in the Shapes of two little Dogs and a Mole: The first she bewitch'd +was her own Husband, by which he lay a while in great Misery and died; +then she sent to one Captain _Beal_ and burnt a new Ship of his just +built, which had never been at Sea; these and many other horrid Things +she did and confess'd, and having been twenty Years a Witch, at last the +_Devil_ left her, and she was burnt as she deserv'd. + +That some extraordinary Occasions may bring these Agents of the _Devil_, +nay, sometimes the _Devil_ himself, to assume human Shapes, and appear +to other People we cannot doubt; he did thus in the Case of our Saviour +_as a Tempter_, and some think he did so to _Manasses_ as a Familiar, +who the Scripture charges with Sorcery, and having a Familiar or Devil; +Fame tells us that St. _Dunstan_ frequently converst with him, and +finally, took him by the Nose; and so of others. + +But in these modern Ages of the World, he finds it much more to his +Purpose to work under Ground as I have observ'd, and to keep upon the +Reserve; so that we have no authentick Accounts of his personal +Appearance, but what are very antient or very remote from our Faith, as +well as our Enquiry. + +It seems to be a Question that would bear some debating, whether all +Apparitions are not _Devils_ or from the _Devil_; but there being so +many of those Apparitions which we call Spirits, which really assume +Shapes and make Appearances in the World, upon such Accounts as we know +_Satan_ himself scorns to be employ'd in, that I must dismiss the +Question in favour of the _Devil_; assuring them, that as he never +willingly did any good in his Life, so he would be far from giving +himself the Trouble of setting one Foot into the World, on such an +Errand; and for that Reason we maybe assur'd those certain Apparitions, +which we are told came to detect a Murther in _Gloucestershire_, and +others who appear'd to prevent the ruining an Orphan for want of finding +a Deed, that was not lost, was certainly some other Power equally +concern'd, and not the _Devil_. + +On the other Hand, neither will it follow that _Satan_ never appears in +human Shape; for tho' every Apparition may not be the _Devil_, yet it +does not follow that the _Devil_ never makes an Apparition: All I shall +say to it is, as I have mention'd before, that generally speaking, the +_Devil_ finds it more for his Purpose, to have his Interest in the World +propagated another Way; namely, in private, and his personal Appearances +are reserv'd for Things only of extraordinary Consequence, and, as I may +say, of evident Necessity, where his Honour is concern'd, and where his +Interest could be carried on no other Way; not forgetting to take Notice +that this is very seldom. + +It remains to enquire, what then those Things are which we make so much +stir about, and which are call'd _Apparitions_, or Spirits assuming +human Shapes, and shewing themselves to People on particular Occasions? +whether they are evil Spirits or good? and tho', indeed, this is out of +my Way at this Time, and does not relate at all to the _Devil_'s +History, yet I thought it not amiss to mention it; (1.) Because, as I +have said, I do not wholly exclude Satan from all Concern in such +Things; and (2.) Because I shall dismiss the Question with so very short +an Answer, namely, that we may determine which are and which are not the +_Devil_'s, by the Errand they come upon; every one to his own Business; +if it comes of a good Errand, you may certainly acquit the _Devil_ of +it, conclude him innocent, and that he has no hand in it; if it comes of +a wicked and devilish Errand, you may e'en take him up upon Suspicion, +'tis ten to one but you find him at the Bottom of it. + +Next to Apparitions, we find Mankind disturb'd by abundance of little +odd reserv'd Ways which the _Devil_ is shrewdly suspected of having a +Hand in, such as _Dreams_, _Noises_, _Voices_, &c. smells of Brimstone, +Candles burning blue, and the like. + +As to Dreams, I have nothing to say in Satan's Prejudice at all there; I +make no Question but he deals very much in that Kind of Intelligence, +and why should he not? we know _Heaven_ it self formerly converst very +often with the greatest of Men, by the same Method, and the _Devil_ is +known to mimick the Methods, as well as the Actions of his Maker; +whether Heaven has not quite left off that Way of working, we are not +certain; but we pretty well know the _Devil_ has not left it, and I +believe some Instances may be given where his Worship has been really +seen and talk'd to in sleep, as much as if the Person had been awake +with his Eyes open. + +These are to be distinguish'd too, pretty much by the Goodness or +Badness of the Subject; how often have Men committed Murther, Robbery +and Adultery in a Dream, and at the same time except an extraordinary +Agitation of the Soul, and express'd by extraordinary Noises in the +Sleep, by violent Sweating and other such Ways, the Head has never been +remov'd from the Pillow, or the Body so much as turn'd in the Bed? + +Whether in such Cases, the Soul with all the Passions and Affections +being agitated, and giving their full assent to the Facts, of whatever +Kind soever, the Man is not as guilty as if the Sins so dream'd of his +committing, had been actually committed? tho' it be no Doubt to me, but +that it is so, yet as it is foreign to the present Affair, and not at +all relating to the _Devil_'s History, I leave it to the Reverend +Doctors of the Church, as properly belonging to them to decide. + +I knew a Person who the _Devil_ so haunted with naked Women, fine +beautiful Ladies in Bed with him, and Ladies of his Acquaintance too, +offering their Favours to him, and all in his Sleep; so that he seldom +slept without some such Entertainment; the Particulars are too gross for +my Story, but he gave me several long Accounts of his Night's _Amours_, +and being a Man of a virtuous Life and good Morals, it was the greatest +Surprize to him imaginable; for you cannot doubt but that the cunning +_Devil_ made every thing be acted to the Life with him, and in a manner +the most wicked; he own'd with Grief to me, that the very first Attack +the _Devil_ made upon him, was with a very beautiful Lady of his +Acquaintance, who he had been really something freer than ordinary with +in their common Conversation; This Lady he brought to him in a Posture +for Wickedness, and wrought up his Inclination so high in his Sleep, +that he, as he thought, actually went about to debauch her, she not at +all resisting; but that he wak'd in the very Moment, to his particular +Satisfaction. + +He was greatly concern'd at this Part, namely, that he really gave the +Consent of his Will to the Fact, and wanted to know if he was not as +guilty of Adultery, as if he had lain with her; indeed he decided the +Question against himself, so forcibly, that I, who was of the same +Opinion before, had nothing to say against it; however, I confirm'd him +in it, by asking him these Questions. + + 1. Whether he did not think the _Devil_ had the chief Hand in such + a Dream? he answer'd, it could certainly be no body else, it must + be the _Devil_. + + 2. I then ask'd him what Reason the _Devil_ could have for it, if + his Consent to the Fact in Sleep had not been criminal? _That's + true indeed_, says he, _I am answer'd_: But then he ask'd another + Question, which, I confess, is not so easy to answer, namely, How + he should prevent being serv'd so again. + + +Nor could all my Divinity or his own keep the _Devil_ from attacking him +again; on the other Hand, as I have said, he worried him to that Degree, +that he injur'd his Health, bringing naked Women to him, sometimes one, +sometimes another, sometimes in one Posture of Lewdness, sometimes in +another, sometimes into his very Arms, sometimes with such Additions as +I am not merry enough, and sometimes such as I am not wicked enough to +put into your Heads; the Man, indeed, could not help it, and so the +_Devil_ was more Faulty than he; but as I hinted to him, he might bring +his Mind to such a stated Habit of Virtue, as to prevent its assenting +to any wicked Motion, even in Sleep, and that would be the Way to put an +End to the Attempt; and this Advice he relish'd very well, and +practised, I believe, with Success. + +By this same Method, the same _Devil_ injects powerful Incentives to +other Crimes, provokes Avarice, by laying a great Quantity of Gold in +your View, and no body present, giving you an Opportunity to steal it, +or some of it, at the same time, perhaps, knowing your Circumstances to +be such as that you are at that Time in a great want of the Money. + +I knew another, who being a Tradesman, and in great Distress for Money +in his Business, dream'd that he was walking all alone in a great Wood, +and that he met a little Child with a Bag of Gold in its Hand, and a +fine Necklace of Diamonds on its Neck, upon the Sight, his Wants +presently dictated to him to rob the Child; the little innocent +Creature, (just so he dream'd) not being able to resist; or to tell who +it was, accordingly he consented to take the Money from the Child, and +then to take the Diamond Necklace from it too, and did so. + +But the _Devil_, (a full Testimony, as I told him, that it was the +_Devil_, not contented with that, hinted to him, that perhaps the Child +might some time or other know him, and single him out, by crying or +pointing, or some such Thing, especially if he was suspected and shew'd +to it, and therefore it would be better for him to kill the Child, +prompting him to kill it for his own Safety, and that he need do no more +but twist the Neck of it a little, or crush it with his Knee; He told me +he stood debating with himself, whether he should do so or not; but that +in that Instant his Heart struck him with the Word Murther, and he +entertain'd a Horror of it, refus'd to do it, and immediately waked. + +He told me, that when he wak'd, he found himself in so violent a Sweat +as he never had known the like; that his Pulse beat with that Heat and +Rage, that it was like a Palpitation of the Heart to him, and that the +Agitation of his Spirits was such, that he was not fully composed in +some Hours; tho' the Satisfaction and Joy that attended him, when he +found it was but a Dream, assisted much to return his Spirits to their +due Temperament. + +It is neither my Business or Inclination to turn Divine here, nor is the +Age I write to sufficiently Grave to relish a Sermon, if I was disposed +to preach, though they must allow the Subject would very well bear it; +but I shall only ask them, if they think this is not the _Devil_, what +they think it is? If they believe it is the _Devil_, they will act +accordingly I hope, or let it alone, as Satan and they can agree about +it. + +I should not oblige the _Devil_ over much, whatever I might do to those +that read it; if I should enter here upon a Debate of Interests, +(_viz._) to enquire whether the _Devil_ has not a vast Advantage upon +Mankind this Way, and whether it is not much his Interest to preserve +it; and if I prove the Affirmative, I leave it to you to enquire whose +Interest it is to disappoint and supplant him. + +In short, I take Dreams to be the second Best of the Advantages the +_Devil_ has over Mankind; the first, I suppose, you all know (_viz._) +the Treachery of the Garrison within; by Dreams he may be said to get +into the Inside of us without Opposition; here he opens and locks +without a Key, and like an Enemy laying siege to a fortified City, +Reason and Nature, the Governor of the City, keep him out by Day, and +keep the Garrison true to their Duty; but in the Dark he gets in and +parlees with the Garrison (the Affections and Passions) Debauches their +Loyalty, stirring up them to Disloyalty and Rebellion, so they betray +their Trust, Revolt, Mutiny, and go over to the Besieger. + +Thus he manages his Interest, I say, and insinuates himself into the +Inside of us, without our Consent, nay, without our Knowledge; for +whatever Speculation may do, 'tis evident Demonstration does not assist +us to discover which Way he gets Access to the Soul, while the Organ +tied up, and dozed with Sleep has lock'd it up from Action; that it is +so is clear, but how he does it is a Secret which I do not find the +Antients or Moderns have yet made a Discovery of. + +That Devil of a Creature, Mother _Lakland_, whose Story I mention'd +above, acknowledg'd that the first Time the _Devil_ attempted to draw +her in to be a Witch was in a Dream, and even when she consented, she +said, she was between sleeping and waking; that is, she did not know +whether she was awake or asleep, and the cunning Devil it seems was +satisfied with her Assent given so, when she was asleep, or neither +asleep or awake, so taking the Advantage of her Incapacity to act +rationally. + +The Stories of her bewitching several People, and the manner in which +they died, are so formidable and extravagant, that I care not to put any +one's Faith to the stretch about them, tho' publish'd by Authority, and +testified by Abundance of Witnesses; but this is recorded in particular, +and to my Purpose, whether from her own Mouth or not, I do not say, +namely, the Description of a Witch, and the Difference between Witches, +and those other of Satan's Acquaintance who act in his Name. + + 1. They have consulted and covenanted with a Spirit or _Devil_. + + 2. They have a Deputy _Devil_, sometimes several to serve and + assist them. + + 3. These they employ as they please, call them by Name, and command + their Appearance in whatever Shape they think fit. + + 4. They send them abroad to or into the Persons who they design to + bewitch, who they always torment, and often murther them, as Mother + _Lakland_ did several. + + +As to the Difference between the several Devils that appear, it relates +to the Office of the Persons who employ them; as Conjurers, who seem to +command the particular _Devil_ that waits upon them with more Authority, +and raise them and lay them at Pleasure, drawing Circles, casting +Figures, and the like; but the Witch, in a more familiar manner, +whispers with the Devil, keeps the _Devil_ in a Bag or a Sack, sometimes +in her Pocket, and the like, and like Mr. _Faux_ shews Tricks with him. + +But all these Kinds deal much in Dreams, talk with the Devil in their +Sleep, and make other People talk with him in their Sleep too; and 'tis +on this Occasion I mention it here; in short, the Devil may well take +this Opportunity with Mankind, for not half the World that came into his +Measures would comply, if they were awake; but of that hereafter. + +And yet his thus insinuating himself by Dream, does not seem sufficient, +in my Opinion, to answer the _Devil_'s End, and to carry on his +Business; and therefore we must be forc'd to allow him a Kind of actual +Possession, in particular Cases, and that in the Souls of some People, +by different Methods from others; _Luther_ is of the Opinion that the +_Devil_ gets a Familiarity with some Souls just at, or rather before +their being embodied; as to the Manner and Method how he gets in, that +is another Question, and may be spoken of by it self; besides, why may +not he, that at Satan's Request to enter into the Herd of Swine, said +_go_, give the same Commission to possess a sort of Creatures so many +Degrees below the Dignity of the _Gaderenian_ Swine, and open the Door +too? but as for that, when our Lord said _go_, the _Devil_ never +enquir'd which Way he should get in. + +When then I see Nations, or indeed Herds of Nations set on Fire of Hell, +and as I may say, enflam'd by the _Devil_; when I see Towns, Parties, +Factions and Rabbles of People visibly possess'd; 'tis enough to me that +the great Master of the Devils has said to him, GO; there's no need to +enquire which Way he finds open, or at what postern Gate he gets in; as +to his appearing, 'tis plain he often gets in without appearing, and +therefore the Question about his appearing still remains a Doubt, and is +not very easy to be resolv'd. + +In the Scripture we have some Light into it, and that is all the Help I +find from Antiquity, and it goes a great Way to solve the Phaenomena of +Satan's appearing; what I mean by the Scripture giving some Light to it, +is this; 'tis said in several Places, and of several Persons, God came +to them in a Dream, _Gen._ xx. 3. _God came to_ Abimelech _in a Dream by +Night_, Gen. xxxi. 24. _And God came to_ Laban _the_ Syrian _in a +Dream_, Matt. ii. 13. _The Angel of the Lord appear'd to_ Joseph _in a +Dream_; short Comments are sufficient to plain Texts, applying this to +my Friend when he wanted to be satisfied about the How, relating to his +Dream (_viz._) how he should come to Dream such wicked Things? I told +him, in short, the Case was plain, _the Devil came to him in a Dream by +Night_: How and in what manner he form'd the wicked Representations, and +spread debauch'd Appearances before his Fancy, by real Whispers and +Voice, according to _Milton_, or by what other Methods, the Learned are +not arriv'd to any Certainty about it. + +This leads me necessarily to enquire whether the _Devil_ or some of his +Agents are not always in our Company, whether they make any visible +Appearances or no? For my Part I make no Question of it, how else could +he come at the Knowledge of what we do; for as I can allow him no +Prescience at all, as for many Reasons I have observ'd already, he must +be able to see and know us, and what we are about when we know nothing +of him, or else he could know nothing of us and our Affairs, which yet +we find otherwise; and this gives him infinite Advantage to Influence +our Actions, to judge of our Inclinations, and to bring our Passions to +clash with our Reason, as they often do, and get the better of it too. + +All this he obtains by his being able to walk about invisible, and see +when he is not seen, of which I have spoken already; hence that most +wise and solid Suggestion, that when the Candles burn blue the _Devil_ +is in the Room, which great Secret in Nature, that you may more fully be +convinc'd of its imaginary Reality, I must tell you the following Story +which I saw in a Letter directed to a particular Friend, take it Word +for Word as in the Letter; because I do not make my self accountable for +the Facts, but take them _ad referendum_. + + +SIR, + +We had one Day, very early in the Morning, and for the most Part of the +Day a great deal of Rain with a high Wind, and the Clouds very thick and +dark all Day. + +In the Evening the cloudy thick Weather continued, tho' not the Rain, +when being at a Friend's House in ---- Lane _London_, and several Ladies +and some Gentlemen in the Room, besides two or three Servants (for we +had been eating) the following Interlude happen'd for our Entertainment: +When the Cloth was taken away, two large Candles were brought upon the +Table and plac'd there with some Bottles and Glasses for the Gentlemen, +who, it seems, were intending to drink and be very merry; two large +Wax-Candles were also set on another Table, the Ladies being going to +Cards, also there were two large Candles in Sconces over or near the +Chimney, and one more in a Looking-Glass Sconce, on a Peer by the +Window. + +With all this _Apparatus_, the Company separating sat down, the +Gentlemen at their Table, and the Ladies at theirs, to play _as above_; +when after some time the Gentleman of the House said hastily to a +Servant, _what a P---- ails the Candles_? and turning to the Servant +raps out an Oath or two, and bids him snuff the Candles, for they burnt +as if the Devil was in the Room. + +The Fellow going to snuff one of the Candles, snuffs it out, at which +his Master being in a Passion the Fellow lights it again immediately at +the other Candle, and then being in a little hurry, going to snuff the +other Candle snuffed that out too. + +The first Candle that was relighted (as is usual in such Cases) burn'd +dim and dull for a good while, and the other being out, the Room was +much darker than before, and a Wench that stood by the Ladies Table, +bawls out to her Mistress, _Law Madam!_ the Candles _burn blue_; an old +Lady that sat by says, _ay Betty!_ so they do; upon this one of the +Ladies starts up, _Mercy upon us_, says she, _what is the Matter!_ In +this unlucky Moment another Servant, without Orders, went to the great +Peer Sconce, and because, _as he thought_, he would be sure to snuff the +Candle well, he offers to take it down, but very unhappily, I say, the +Hook came out and down falls the Sconce Candle and all, and the +Looking-Glass broke all to pieces, with a horrible Noise; however, the +Candle falling out of the Sconce did not go out, but lay on the Floor +burning dully, and as it is usual on such Cases, all on one Side, +_Betty_ cries out again, _Law Madam_, that Candle burns blue too; the +very Moment she said this, the Footman that had thrown down the Sconce, +says to his fellow Servant, that came to his Assistance, I _think_ the +Devil _is in the Candles to Night_, and away he run out of the Room, for +fear of his Master. + +The old Lady, who, upon the Maid _Betty_'s Notion of the Candles burning +blue, had her Head just full of that old _Chimney-Corner Story_, the +Candles _burn blue when the Spirits are in the Room_, heard the Footman +Say the Word _Devil_, but heard nothing else of what he said; upon this +she rises up in a terrible Fright, and cries out that the Footman said +the _Devil was in the Room_; as she was, indeed, frighted out of her +Wits, she frighted the Ladies most terribly, and they all starting up +together, down goes the Card Table, and put the Wax-Candles out. + +Mrs. _Betty_, that had frighted them all, runs to the Sconce next the +Chimney, but that having a long Snuff, she cried out it burnt blue too, +and she durst not touch it; in short, tho' there were three Candles left +still burning in the Room, yet the Ladies we're all so frighted, that +they and the Maids too run out of the Parlour screaming like mad Folks. +The Master in a Rage kick'd his first Man out of the Room, and the +second Man was run out to avoid, as I said before, the like, so that no +Servant was to be had, but all was in Confusion. + +The two other Gentlemen, who were sitting at the first Table, kept their +Seats composed and easy enough, only concern'd to see all the House in +such a fright; it was true, they said, the Candles burnt dim and very +oddly, but they could not perceive they _burnt blue_, except one of +those over the Chimney, and that on the Table, which was relighted +after the Fellow had snufft it out. + +However, the Maid, the old Lady and the Footman that pull'd down the +Sconce, all insist that the Candles _burnt blue_, and all pretend that +the Devil was certainly in the Room, and was the Occasion of it; and +they now came to me with the Story, to desire my Opinion of it. + +This put me upon Enquiry into the Notion of Candles _burning blue_ when +Spirits are in a Room, which upon all the Search into Things, that I am +able to make, amounts to no more than this; that upon any extraordinary +Emission of sulphureous or of nitrous Particles, either in a close Room, +or in any not very open Place, if the Quantity be great, a Candle or +Lamp, or any such little Blaze of Fire will seem to be, or to _burn +blue_; and if then they can prove that any such Effluvia attends or is +emitted from a Spirit, then when SATAN is at Hand it may be so. + +But then 'tis begging the Question grossly, because no Man can assure us +that the Devil has any sulphureous Particles about him. + +It is true, the Candles burn thus in Mines and Vaults, and damp Places; +and 'tis as true that they will do so upon Occasion of very damp, stormy +and moist Air, when an extraordinary Quantity of Vapours are supposed to +be dispers'd abroad, as was the Case when this happen'd; and if there +was any Thing of that in it on that _Monday_ Night, the Candles might, +perhaps, burn blue upon that Occasion; but that the _Devil_ was abroad +upon any extraordinary Business that Night, that I cannot grant, unless +I have some better Testimony than the _old Lady_ that heard the +Footman's out-cry but by halves, or than Mrs. _Betty_, who first fancied +the Candles _burnt blue_; so I must suspend my Judgment till I hear +farther. + +This Story however may solve a great many of those Things which pass for +Apparitions in the World, and which are laid to the Devil's Charge, tho' +he really may know nothing of the Matter; and this would bring me to +defend _Satan_ in many Things, wherein he may truly be said to suffer +wrongfully; and if I thought it would oblige him, I might say something +to his Advantage this Way; however, I'll venture a Word or two for an +injur'd _Devil_, take it as you will. + +First, it is certain, that as this Invisibility of the _Devil_ is very +much to our Prejudice, so the Doctrine of his Visibility is a great +Prejudice to him, as we make Use of it. + +By his Invisibility he is certainly vested with infinite Advantages +against us; while he can be present with us, and we know nothing of the +Matter, he informs himself of all our Measures, and arms himself in the +best and most suitable manner to injure and assault us, as he can +counteract all our secret concerted Designs, disappoint all our Schemes, +and except when Heaven apparently concerns it self to over-rule him, can +defeat all our Enterprizes, break all our Measures, and do us Mischief +in almost every Part of our Life, and all this, because we are not privy +to all his Motions, as he is to ours. + +But now for his Visibility and his real Appearance in the World, and +particularly among his Disciples and Emissaries, such as Witches and +Wizards, Demonaists, and the like: Here, I think Satan has a great deal +of Loss, suffers manifest Injury, and has great Injustice done him; and, +that therefore I ought to clear this Matter up a little, if it be +possible, to do Justice to Satan, and set Matters right in the World +about him, according to that useful old Maxim of setting the Saddle upon +the right Horse, or _giving the_ Devil _his due_. + +First, _as I have said_, we are not to believe every idle Head, who +pretends even to converse Face to Face with the _Devil_, and who tells +us, they have thus seen him, and been acquainted with him every Day: +Many of these Pretenders are manifest Cheats; and, however, they would +have the Honour of a private Interest in him, and boast how they have +him at their Beck, can call him this Way, and send him that, as they +please, raise him and lay him when and how, and as often as they find +for their Purpose; I say, whatever Boasts they make of this Kind, they +really have nothing of Truth in them. + +Now the Injuries and Injustice done to the _Devil_, in these Cases, are +manifest; namely, that they entitle the _Devil_ to all the Mischief they +are pleased to do in the World; and if they commit a Murther or a +Robbery, fire a House, or do any Act of Violence in the World, they +presently are said to do it by the Agency of the _Devil_, and the +_Devil_ helps them; so Satan bears the Reproach, and they have all the +Guilt; this is, (1.) a grand Cheat upon the World, and (2.) a notorious +Slander upon the _Devil_; and it would be a public Benefit to Mankind, +to have such would-be-Devils as these turn'd inside out, that we might +know when the _Devil_ was really at work among us, and when not; what +Mischiefs were of his doing, and which were not; and that these Fellows +might not slip their Necks out of the Halter, by continually laying the +Blame of their Wickedness upon the _Devil_. + +Not that the _Devil_ is not very willing to have his Hand in any +Mischief, or in all the Mischief that is done in the World; but there +are some low priz'd Rogueries that are too little for him, beneath the +Dignity of his Operation, and which 'tis really a Scandal to the _Devil_ +to charge upon him. I remember the _Devil_ had such a Cheat put upon +him in _East-Smithfield_ once, where a Person pretended to converse with +the _Devil_ Face to Face, and that in open Day too, and to cause him to +tell Fortunes, foretel Good and Evil, _&c._ discover stollen Goods, tell +where they were who stole them, and how to find them again, nay, and +even to find out the Thieves; but _Satan_ was really sandered in the +Case, the Fellow had no more to do with the _Devil_ than other People, +and perhaps not so much neither: This was one of those they call'd +CUNNING-MEN, or at least he endeavour'd to pass for such a one, but +'twas all a Cheat. + +Besides, what had the _Devil_ to do to detect Thieves, and restore +stollen Goods? Thieving and Robbing, Trick and Cheat, are part of the +Craft of his Agency, and of the Employments which it is his Business to +encourage; they greatly mistake him, who think he will assist any Body +in suppressing and detecting such laudable Arts and such diligent +Servants. + +I won't say, but the _Devil_, to draw these People we call +_Cunning-Men_, into a Snare, and to push on his farther Designs, may +encourage them privately, and in a manner that they themselves know +nothing of, to make use of his Name, and abuse the World about him, till +at last they may really believe they do deal with the _Devil_, when +indeed 'tis only he deals with them, and they know nothing of the +Matter. + +In other Cases he may encourage them in these little Frauds and Cheats, +and give them leave, as above, to make use of his Name to bring them +afterwards, and by Degrees to have a real Acquaintance with him; so +bringing the Jest of their Trade into Earnest, till at length prompting +them to commit some great Villany, he secures them to be his own, by +their very Fear of his leaving them to be exposed to the World; thus he +puts a _Jonathan Wild_ upon them, and makes them be the very Wretches +they only pretended to be before: So old _Parsons_ of _Clithroe_, as +Fame tells, was twenty five Years a _Cunning-man_, and twenty two Years +a Witch; that is to say, for five and twenty Years, he was only +pretending to deal with the _Devil_, when Satan and he had no manner of +Acquaintance, and he only put his _Leger-de-main_ upon the People in the +_Devil_'s Name, without his leave; but at length the _Devil_'s Patience +being tir'd quite out, he told the old Counterfeit, that in short, he +had been his stalking Horse long enough, and that now, if he thought fit +to enter himself, and take a Commission, well and good; and he should +have a Lease to carry on his Trade for so many Years more, to his +Heart's content; but if not, he would expose his Knavery to the World, +for that he should take away his Peoples Trade no longer; but that he +(Satan) would set up another in his Room, that should make a meer Fool +of him, and carry away all his Customers. + +Upon this, the old Man consider'd of it, took the _Devil_'s Counsel, and +listed in his Pay; so he, that had plaid his Pranks twenty five Years as +a Conjurer, when he was no Conjurer, was then forc'd really to deal with +the DEVIL, for fear the People should know he did not: Till now he had +_ambo dexter_, cheated the Devil on one Hand, and the People on the +other; but the _Devil_ gain'd his Point at last, and so he was a real +Wizard ever after. + +But this is not the only way the Devil is injur'd neither, for we have +often found People pretend upon him in other Cases, and of nearer +Concern to him a great deal, and in Articles more Weighty, as in +particular, in the great Business of Possession; it is true this Point +is not thoro'ly understood among Men, neither has the Devil thought fit +to give us those Illuminations about it, as I believe he might do; +particularly that great and important Article, is not, for ought I can +see, rightly explain'd, namely; whether there are not two several Kinds +of Possession, (_viz._) some wherein the Devil possesses us, and some in +which we really possess the Devil; the Nicety of which I doubt this Age, +with all its Penetration, is not qualified to explain, and a +Dissertation upon it being too long for this Work, especially so near +its Conclusion, I am oblig'd to omit, as I am also all the practical +Discourses upon the Usefulness and Advantages of real Possession, +whether consider'd one Way or other to Mankind, all which I must leave +to hereafter. + +But to come back to the Point in Hand, and to consider the Injustice +done to the Devil, in the various Turns and Tricks which Men put upon +him very often in this one Article (_viz._) pretending to Possession, +and to have the Devil in them, when really it is not so; certainly the +Devil must take it very ill, to have all their demented, lunatick Tricks +charg'd upon him; some of which, nay, most of which are so gross, so +simple, so empty, and so little to the Purpose, that the _Devil_ must be +asham'd to see such Things pass in his Name, or that the World should +think he was concern'd in them. + +It is true, that Possession being one of the principal Pieces of the +Devil's Artifice in his managing Mankind, and in which, with the most +exquisite skill he plays the Devil among us, he has the more Reason to +be affronted when he finds himself invaded in this Part, and angry that +any Body should pretend to possess, or be possess'd without his leave, +and this may be the Reason for ought we know, why so many Blunders have +been made, when People have pretended to it without him, and he has +thought fit not to own them in it; of which we have many Examples in +History, as in _Simon Magus_, _the Devil of_ London, _the fair Maid of_ +Kent, and several others, whose History it is not worth while to enlarge +upon. + +In short, Possessions, as I have said, are nice Things, as it is not so +easy to mimick the _Devil_ in that Part, as it may be in some other; +designing Men have attempted it often, but their manner has been easily +distinguish'd, even without the Devil's Assistance. + +Thus the People of _Salem_ in _New-England_ pretended to be bewitch'd, +and that a black Man tormented them by the Instigation of such and such, +whom they resolv'd to bring to the Gallows: This black Man they would +have be the _Devil_, employ'd by the Person who they accus'd for a +Witch: Thus making the _Devil_ a Page or a Footman to the Wizard, to go +and torment whoever the said Wizard commanded, till the _Devil_ himself +was so weary of the foolish Part, that he left them to go on their own +Way, and at last they over-acted the murthering Part so far, that when +they confess'd themselves to be Witches, and possess'd, and that they +had Correspondence with the Devil, _Satan_ not appearing to vouch for +them, no Jury would condemn them upon their own Evidence, and they could +not get themselves hang'd, whatever Pains they took to bring it to pass. + +Thus you see the _Devil_ may be wrong'd, and falsely accus'd in many +Particulars, and often has been so; there are likewise some other sorts +of counterfeit _Devils_ in the World, such as _Gypsies_, +_Fortune-Tellers_, Foretellers of good and bad Luck, Sellers of Winds, +Raisers of Storms, and many more, some practis'd among us, some in +foreign Parts, too many almost to reckon up; nay I almost doubt whether +the Devil himself knows all the Sorts of them; for 'tis evident he has +little or nothing to do with them, I mean not in the Way of their Craft. + +These I take to be Interlopers, or with the _Guinea_ Merchants leave, +separate Traders, and who act under the Skreen and Protection of Satan's +Power, but without his License or Authority; no doubt these carry away a +great deal of his Trade, that is to say, the Trade which otherwise the +_Devil_ might have carried on by Agents or his own; I cannot but say, +that while these People would fain be thought _Devils_, tho' they really +are not, it is but just they should be really made as much _Devils_ as +they pretended to be, or that _Satan_ should do himself Justice upon +them, as he threaten'd to do upon old _Parsons_ of _Clithroe_ +abovemention'd, and let the World know them. + + + + +CHAP. XI. + +_Of Divination, Sorcery, the Black-Art, Pawawing, and such like Pretenders + to Devilism, and how far the_ Devil _is or is not concern'd in them._ + + +Tho' I am writing the History of the _Devil_, I have not undertaken to +do the like of all the Kinds of People, Male or Female, who set up for +_Devils_ in the World: This would be a Task for the _Devil_ indeed, and +fit only for him to undertake, for their Number is and has been +prodigious great, and may, with his other Legions be rank'd among the +Innumerable. + +What a World do we inhabit! where there is not only with us a great +_Roaring-Lyon-Devil_ daily seeking whom of us he may devour, and +innumerable Millions of lesser Devils hovering in the whole Atmosphere +over us, nay, and for ought we know, other Millions always invisibly +moving about us, and perhaps in us, or at least in many of us; but that +have, besides all these, a vast many counterfeit _Hocus Pocus Devils_; +human _Devils_, who are visible among us, of our own Species and +Fraternity, conversing with us upon all Occasions; who like Mountebanks +set up their Stages in every Town, chat with us at every Tea-Table, +converse with us in every Coffee-House, and impudently tell us to our +Faces that they are Devils, boast of it, and use a thousand Tricks and +Arts to make us believe it too, and that too often with Success. + +It must be confess'd there is a strong Propensity in Man's Nature, +especially the more ignorant part of Mankind, to resolve every strange +Thing, or whether really strange or no, if it be but strange to us, into +Devilism, and to say every Thing is the Devil, that they can give no +Account of. + +Thus the famous Doctors of the Faculty at _Paris_, when _John Faustus_ +brought the first printed Books that had then been seen in the World, or +at least seen there, into the City, and sold them for Manuscripts: They +were surpriz'd at the Performance, and question'd _Faustus_ about it; +but he affirming they were Manuscripts, and that he kept a great many +Clarks employ'd to write them, they were satisfied for a while. + +But looking farther into the Work, they observ'd the exact Agreement of +every Book, one with another, that every Line stood in the same Place, +every Page a like Number of Lines, every Line a like Number of Words; if +a Word was mis-spelt in one, it was mis-spelt also in all, nay, that if +there was a Blot in one, it was alike in all; they began again to muse, +how this should be? in a Word, the learned Divines not being able to +comprehend the Thing (and that was always sufficient) concluded it must +be the _Devil_, that it was done by Magick and Witchcraft, and that in +short, poor _Faustus_ (who was indeed nothing but a meer Printer) dealt +with the _Devil_. + + N. B. _John Faustus_ was Servant, or Journeyman, or Compositor, or + what you please to call it, to _Koster_ of _Harlem_, the first + inventor of Printing; and having printed the Psalter, sold them at + _Paris_ as Manuscripts; because as such they yielded a better + Price. + + +But the learned Doctors not being able to understand how the Work was +perform'd, concluded as above, it was all _the Devil_, and that the Man +was a _Witch_; accordingly they took him up for a _Magician_ and a +_Conjurer_, and one that work'd by the _Black Art_, that is to say, by +the help of the _Devil_; and in a Word, they threaten'd to hang him for +a Witch, and in order to it, commenc'd a Process against him in their +criminal Courts, which made such a Noise in the World as rais'd the Fame +of poor _John Faustus_ to a frightful Height, till at last he was +oblig'd, for fear of the Gallows, to discover the whole Secret to them. + + N. B. This is the true original of the famous Dr. _Faustus_ or + _Foster_, of whom we have believ'd such strange Things, as that it + is become a Proverb, _as great as the_ Devil _and Dr._ Foster: + Whereas poor _Faustus_ was no Doctor, and knew no more of the + _Devil_ than another Body. + + +Thus the Magistrates of _Bern_ and _Switzerland_, finding a Gang of +_French_ Actors of Puppet-shew open'd their Stage in the Town, upon +hearing the surprizing Accounts which the People gave of their wonderful +Puppets, how they made them speak, answer Questions, and discourse, +appear and disappear in a Moment, pop up here, as if they rise out of +the Earth, and down there, as if they vanish'd, and Abundance more Feats +of Art, censur'd them as Demons; and if they had not pack'd up their +Trinkets, and disappeared almost as dextrously as their Puppets, they +had certainly condemn'd the poor Puppets to the Flames for _Devils_, and +censur'd, if not otherwise punished their Masters. See _the Count de +Rochfort's Memoirs_, p. 179. + +Wonderful Operations astonish the Mind, especially where the Head is not +over-burthen'd with Brains; and Custom has made it so natural to give +the _Devil_ either the Honour or Scandal of every Thing, that we cannot +otherwise Account for, that it is not possible to put the People out of +the Road of it. + +The _Magicians_ were, in the _Chaldean_ Monarchy, call'd the Wisemen; +and tho' they are joined with the Sorcerers and Astrologers in the same +Place, _Dan._ ii. 4. yet they were generally so understood among those +People; but in our Language we understand them to be People that have an +Art to reveal Secrets, interpret Dreams, foretel Events, _&c._ and that +use Enchantments and Sorceries, by all which we understand the same +Thing; which now in a more vulgar Way we express by one general coarse +Expression, _Dealing with the_ DEVIL. + +The Scripture speaks of a Spirit of _Divination_, _Acts_ xvi. 16. and a +Wench that was possess'd by this Spirit _brought her Master much Gain by +Southsaying_, that is to say, according to the Learned, by _Oracling_ or +answering Questions; whence you will see in the Margin, that this +southsaying _Devil_ is there call'd _Python_, that is, _Apollo_, who is +often call'd _Python_, and who at the Oracle of _Delphos_ gave out such +Answers and _double Entendres_, as this Wench possibly did; and hence +all those Spirits which were call'd Spirits of Divination, were in +another Sense call'd _Pythons_. + +Now when the Apostle St. _Paul_ came to see this Creature, this Spirit +takes upon it to declare that _those Men_, meaning St. _Paul_ and +_Timotheus_, _were the Servants of the most high God, which shew'd unto +them the Way of Salvation_; this was a good turn of the _Devil_, to +preserve his Authority in the possess'd Girl; she brought them Gain by +Southsaying, that is to say, resolving difficult Questions, answering +Doubts, interpreting Dreams, _&c._ Among these Doubts, he makes her give +Testimony to _Paul_ and _Timotheus_, to wheedle in with the new +Christians, and perhaps (tho' very ignorantly) even with _Paul_ and +_Timotheus_ themselves, so to give a Kind of Credit and Respect to her +for speaking. + +But the _Devil_, who never speaks Truth, but with some sinister End, was +discover'd here and detected; his flattering Recognition not accepted, +and he himself unkennel'd as he deserv'd; there the _Devil_ was +over-shot in his own Bow again. + +Here now was a real Possession, and the evil Spirits who possess'd her, +did stoop to sundry little Acts of Servitude, that we could give little +or no Reason for, only that the Girl's Master might get Money by her; +but perhaps this was a particular Case, and, prepar'd to honour the +Authority and Power the Apostles had over evil Spirits. + +But we find these Things carried a great Way farther in many Cases, that +is to say, where the Parties are thus really possess'd; namely, the +_Devil_ makes Agents of the possess'd Parties to do many Things for the +propagating his Interest and Kingdom, and particularly for the carrying +on his Dominion in the World: But I am for the present not so much upon +the real Possession as the pretended, and particularly we have had many +that have believed themselves possess'd, when the _Devil_ never believed +it of them, and perhaps knew them better; some of these are really poor +_Devils_ to be pitied, and are what I call _Diables Imaginaire_; these +have notwithstanding done the _Devil_ good Service, and brought their +Masters good Gain by Southsaying. + +We find Possessions acknowledg'd in Scripture to be really and +personally the _Devil_, or according to the Text, Legions of _Devils_ in +the Plural. The _Devil_ or _Devils_ rather, which possessed the Man +among the Tombs, is positively affirm'd to be the _Devil_ in the +Scripture; all the Evangelists agree in calling him so, and his very +Works shew it; namely, the Mischief he did, as well to the poor Creature +among the Tombs, who was made so fierce, that he was the Terror of all +the Country, as to the Herd of Swine and to the Country in the Loss of +them. + +I might preach you a Lecture here of the _Devil_'s Terror upon the +Approach of our Saviour, the Dread of his Government, and how he +acknowledg'd that there was a Time for his Torment, which was not yet +come: _Art thou come to torment us before our Time?_ It is evident the +Devil apprehended that Christ would chain them up before the Day of +Judgment; and therefore some think the Devil here, being, as it were, +caught out of his due Bounds, possessing the poor Man in such a furious +manner, was afraid, and petition'd Christ not to chain him up for it, +and as the Text says, _They besought him to suffer them to go away_, &c. +that is to say, when they say, art thou come to torment us before the +Time? the Meaning is, they begg'd he would not cast them into Torment +before the Time, which was already fix'd; but that if he would cast them +out of the Man, he would let them go away, _&c._ + +The Evangelist St. _Luke_ says, the _Devil besought him that he would +not command them to go out into the Deep_: Our learned Annotators think +that part is not rightly render'd; adding, that they do not believe the +_Devil_ fears drowning; but with Submission, I believe the meaning is, +that they would not be confin'd to the vast Ocean, where no Inhabitants +being to be seen, they would be effectually imprison'd and tied down +from doing Mischief, which would be a Hell to them; as to their going +into the Swine, that might afford us some Allegory; but I am not +disposed to jest with the Scripture, no nor with the _Devil_ neither, +farther than needs must. + +It is evident the _Devil_ makes Use of very mean Instruments sometimes, +such as the Damsel possess'd with a Spirit of Divination, and several +others. + +I remember a Story, how true I know not, of a weak Creature next Door to +an Ideot, who was establish'd in the Country for an Oracle, and would +tell People strange Things that should be, long before they came to +pass; when People were sick, would tell them whether they should live or +die; if People were married, tell how many Children they should have; +and a hundred such Things as fill'd the People with Admiration, and they +were the easier brought to believe that the Girl was possess'd; but then +they were divided about her too, and that was the finest spun Thread +the Devil could work, for he carried a great Point in it; some said she +had a good Spirit, and some a bad, some said she was a Prophetess, and +some that she was the _Devil_. + +Now had I been there to decide the Question, I should certainly have +given it for the latter; if it were only upon this Account, namely, that +the Devil has often found Fools very necessary Agents for the +propagating his Interest and Kingdom, but we never knew the good Spirits +do so; on the other Hand, it does not seem likely that Heaven should +deprive a poor Creature of its Senses, and as it were take her Soul from +her, and then make her an Instrument of Instruction to others, and an +Oracle to declare his Decrees by; this does not seem to be rational. + +But as far as this kind of Divination is in Use in our Days, yet I do +not find room to charge the Devil with making any great Use of Fools, +unless it be such as he has particularly qualified for his Work, for as +to _Ideots_ and _Naturals_, they are perfectly useless to him; but a +sort of Fools call'd the Magi, indeed, we have some Reason to think he +often works with. + +We are not arriv'd to a certainty yet, in the settling this great Point, +namely, what Magick is? whether a diabolical Art or a Branch of the +Mathematicks? Our most learned _Lexicon Technicum_ is of the latter +Opinion, and gives the _Magic Square_ and the _Magic Lantern_, two Terms +of Art. + +The _Magic Square_ is when Numbers in _Arithmetical Proportion_ are +dispos'd into such Parallels or equal Ranks, as that the Sums of each +Row as well _Diagonally_ as _Laterally_ shall be all equal; for Example, +2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Place these Nine in a Square of three, they +will _directly_ and _diagonally_ make 18. Thus, + + +------------+ + | 5 | 10 | 3 | + -------------| + | 4 | 6 | 8 | + -------------| + | 9 | 2 | 7 | + +------------+ + +This he calls the _Magic Square_, but gives no Reason for the Term, nor +any Account of what infernal Operations are wrought by this Concurrence +of the Numbers; neither do I see that there can be any such Use made of +it. + +The _Magic Lantern_ is an optic Machine, by the Means of which are +represented, on a Wall in the Dark, many Phantasms and terrible +Appearances, _but no_ Devil _in all this_, only that they are taken for +the Effects of Magic, by those that are not acquainted with the Secret. + +All this is done by the help of several little painted Pieces of Glass, +only so and so situated, plac'd in certain Oppositions to one another, +and painted with different Figures, the most formidable being plac'd +foremost, and such as are most capable of terrifying the Spectators; and +by this all the Figures may be represented upon the opposite Wall, in +the largest Size. + +I cannot but take Notice, that this very Piece of optic Delusion seems +too much akin to the mock Possessions and infernal Accomplishments, +which most of the Possessionists of this Age pretend to, so that they +are most of them meer Phantasms and Appearances, and no more; Nor is the +Spirit of Divination, the Magic, the Necromancing, and other Arts which +were call'd Diabolical, found to be of any Use in modern Practice, at +least, in these Parts of the World; but the Devil seems to do most of +his Work himself, and by shorter Methods; for he has so compleat an +Influence among those that he now Lists in his Service, that he brings +all the common Affairs of Mankind into a narrower Compass in his +Management, with a Dexterity particular to himself, and by which he +carries on his Interest silently and surely, much more to the Detriment +of Virtue and good Government, and consequently much more to his +Satisfaction, than ever he did before. + +There is a Kind of _Magic_ or _Sorcery_, or what else you may please to +call it, which, tho' unknown to us, is yet, it seems, still very much +encourag'd by the _Devil_; but this is a great Way off, and in Countries +where the politer Instruments, which he finds here, are not to be had; +namely, among the _Indians_ of _North-America_; This is call'd +_Pawawing_, and they have their Divines, which they call _Pawaws_ or +Witches, who use strange Gestures, Distortions, horrid Smokes, Burnings, +and Scents, and several such Things which the Sorcerers and Witches in +ancient Times are said to use in casting Nativities, in Philtres, and in +determining, or as they pretended, directing the Fate of Persons; by +burning such and such Herbs and Roots, such as _Helebore_, _Wormwood_, +_Storax_, _Devilwort_, _Mandrake_, _Nightshade_, and Abundance more +such, which are call'd noxious Plants, or the Product of noxious Plants; +also melting such and such Minerals, Gums, and poisonous Things, and by +several hellish Mutterings and Markings over them, the like do these +_Pawaws_; and the _Devil_ is pleased, it seems, (or is permitted) to +fall in with these Things, and as some People think, appears often to +them for their Assistance upon those Occasions. + +But be that as it will, he is eas'd of all that Trouble here; he can +_Pawaw_ here himself, without their aid, and having laid them all aside, +he negotiates much of his Business without Ambassadors; he is his own +Plenipotentiary, for he finds Man so easy to come at, and so easy when +he is come at, that he stands in no need of secret Emissaries, or at +least not so much as he used to do. + +Upon the whole, as the World, within the Compass of a few pass'd Years +is advanc'd in all Kinds of Knowledge and Arts, and every useful Branch +of what they knew before improv'd, and innumerable useful Parts of +Knowledge, which were conceal'd before are discover'd; why should we +think the _Devil_ alone should stand at a stay, has taken no Steps to +his farther Accomplishment, and made no useful Discoveries in his Way? +That he alone should stand at a Stay, and be just the same unimprov'd +Devil that he was before? No, no, as the World is improv'd every Day, +and every Age is grown wiser and wiser than their Fathers; so, no doubt, +he has bestirr'd himself too, in order to an encrease of Knowledge and +Discovery, and that he finds every Day a nearer Way to go to work with +Mankind than he had before. + +Besides, as Men in general seem to have alter'd their manner, and that +they move in a higher and more exalted Sphere, especially as to Vice and +Virtue; so the _Devil_ may have been obliged to change his Measures, and +alter his Way of working; particularly, those Things which would take in +former Times, and which a stupid Age would come easily into, won't go +down with us now: As the taste of Vice and Virtue alters, the _Devil_ is +forc'd to bait his Hook with new Compositions; the very Thing call'd +Temptation is alter'd in its Nature, and that which serv'd to delude our +Ancestors, whose gross Conceptions of Things caused them to be +manageable with less Art, will not do now; the Case is quite alter'd; in +some Things, perhaps, as I hinted above, we come into Crime with ease, +and may be led by a Finger; but when we come to a more refin'd Way of +sinning, which our Ancestors never understood, other and more refin'd +Politics must be made Use of, and the _Devil_ has been put upon many +useful Projects and Inventions, to make many new Discoveries and +Experiments to carry on his Affairs; and to speak impartially, he is +strangely improv'd either in Knowledge or Experiment, within these few +Years; he has found out a great many new Inventions to shorten his own +Labour, and carry on his Business in the World currently, which he never +was master of before, or at least we never knew he was. + +No wonder then that he has chang'd Hands too, and that he has left of +pawawing in these Parts of the World; that we don't find our Houses +disturb'd as they used to be, and the Stools and Chairs walking about +out of one Room into another, as formerly; that Children don't vomit +crooked Pins and rusty stub Nails, as of old, the Air is not full of +Noises, nor the Church-Yard full of Hobgoblins; Ghosts don't walk about +in Winding-Sheets, and the good old scolding Wives visit and plague +their Husbands after they are dead, as they did when they were alive. + +The Age is grown too wise to be agitated by these dull scare-crow Things +which their Fore-Fathers were tickled with; _Satan_ has been obliged to +lay by his Puppet-shews and his Tumblers, those things are grown stale; +his morrice-dancing Devils, his mountebanking and quacking won't do now; +those Things, as they may be supposed to be very troublesome to him, +(and but that he has Servants enough would be chargeable too) are now of +no great Use in the new Management of his Affairs. + +_In a Word_, Men are too much Devils themselves, in the Sense that I +have call'd them so, to be frighted with such little low priz'd +Appearances as these; they are better acquainted with the old +Arch-Angel than so, and they seem to tell him they must be treated after +another manner, and that then, as they are good-natur'd and tractable, +he may deal with them upon better Terms. + +Hence the _Devil_ goes to work with Mankind a much shorter Way; for +instead of the Art of Wheedling and Whining, together with the laborious +Part of Tricking and Sharping, Hurrying and Driving, Frighting and +Terrifying, all which the _Devil_ was put to the Trouble of before; in +short, he acts the GRAND MANNER as the Architects call it (I don't know +whether our Free-Masons may understand the Word) and therefore I may +hereafter explain it, as it is to be Diabolically as well as +mathematically understood. + +At present my meaning is, he acts with them immediately and personally +by a magnificent Transformation, making them meer _Devils_ to +themselves, upon all needful Occasions, and _Devils_ to one another too, +whenever he (Satan), has Need of their Service. + +This Way of embarking Mankind in the _Devil_'s particular Engagement, is +really very modern; and tho' the Devil himself may have been long +acquainted with the Method, and as I have heard, began to practise it +towards the Close of the _Roman_ Empire, when Men began to act upon very +polite Principles, and were capable of the most refin'd Wickedness, and +afterwards with some Popes, who likewise were a kind of Church Devils, +such as Satan himself could hardly expect to find in the World; yet I do +not find that he was ever able to bring it into Practice, at least, not +so universally as he does now: But now the Case is alter'd, and Men +being generally more expert in Wickedness than they were formerly; they +suffer the smaller Alteration of the Species, in being transmigrated; +in a Word, they turn into _Devils_, with no trouble at all hardly, +either to the _Devil_ or to themselves. + +This Particular would want much the less Explanation, could I obtain a +License from Sir _Hellebore Wormwood_, Bart. or from my Lord +_Thwartover_, Baron of _Scoundrel Hall_ in the Kingdom of _Ireland_, to +write the true History of their own Conduct; and how early, and above +all, how easily they commenc'd _Devils_, without the least Impeachment +of their Characters, as wise Men, and without any Diminution of that +Part of their Denomination which establish'd them for Fools. + +How many mad Fellows appear among us every Day in the critical Juncture +of their Transmigration, just when they have so much of the Man left as +to be known by their Names, and enough of the _Devil_ taken up to settle +their Characters? This Easiness of the _Devil_'s access to these People, +and the great Convenience it is to him in his general Business, is a +Proof to me that he has no more Occasion of Diviners, Magicians, +Sorcerers, and whatever else we please to call those People who were +formerly so great with him; for what Occasion has he to employ _Devils_ +and Wizards to confound Mankind, when he is arriv'd to such a Perfection +of Art as to bring Men, at least in these Parts of the World, to do it +all themselves; upon this Account we do not find any of the old +Sorcerers and Diviners, Magicians or Witches appear among us; not that +the _Devil_ might not be as well able to employ such People as formerly, +and qualify them for the Employment too, but that really there is no +need of them hereabout, the _Devil_ having a shorter Way, and Mankind +being much more easily possess'd; not the old _Herd of Swine_ were +sooner agitated, tho' there was full 2000 of them together; Nature has +open'd the Door, and the _Devil_ has egress and regress at Pleasure, so +that Witches and Diviners are quite out of the Question. + +Nor let any Man be alarm'd at this Alteration, in the Case as it stands +between Mankind and the _Devil_, and think the _Devil_ having gain'd so +much Ground, may in time, by Encroachment, come to a general Possession +of the whole Race, and so we should all come to be _Devils_ incarnate; I +say, let us not be alarm'd, for Satan does not get these Advantages by +Encroachment, and by his infernal Power or Art, no not at all; but 'tis +the Man himself does it by his Indolence and Negligence on one Hand, and +his Complaisance to the _Devil_ on the other; and both Ways he, as it +were, opens the Door to him, beckons him with his very Hand to come in, +and the Devil has nothing to do but enter and take Possession: Now if it +be so, and Man is so frank to him; you know the _Devil_ is no Fool not +to take the Advantage when 'tis offer'd him, and therefore 'tis no +wonder if the Consequences which I have been just now naming follow. + +But let no Man be discourag'd by this, from reaffirming his natural and +religious Powers, and venturing to shut the _Devil_ out; for the Case is +plain he may be shut out; the Soul is a strong Castle, and has a good +Garrison plac'd within to defend it; if the Garrison behave well, and do +their Duty, it is impregnable, and the cowardly _Devil_ must raise his +Siege and be gone; nay, he must fly, or, as we call it, make his Escape, +lest he be laid by the Heels, that is, lest his Weakness be exposed, and +all his Lurking, lying in Wait, ambuscade-Tricks; this Part would bear a +great Enlargement, but I have not room to be witty upon him, so you must +take it in the Gross, the DEVIL lies at _Blye Bush_, as our Country +People call it, to watch your coming out of your Hold; and if you happen +to go abroad unarm'd he seizes upon and masters you with ease. + +Unarm'd, you'll say, what Arms should I take? what Fence against a +Flail? What Weapons can a Man take to fight the _Devil_? I could tell +you what to fight him with, and what you might fright him with, for the +_Devil_ is to be frighted with several Things besides _Holy Water_; but +'tis too serious for you, and you'll tell me I am a preaching and a +canting, and the like; so I must let the _Devil_ manage you rather than +displease you with talking Scripture and Religion. + +Well, but may not the _Devil_ be fought with some of his own Weapons? Is +there no dealing with him in a Way of human Nature? This would require a +long answer, and some Philosophy might be acted, or at least imitated, +and some Magic, perhaps; for they tells us there are Spells to draw away +even the Devil himself; as in some Places they nail Horse-Shoes upon the +Threshold of the Door, to keep him out; in other Places old pieces of +Flint, with so many Holes and so many Corners, and the like: But I must +answer in the Negative, I don't know what _Satan_ might be scar'd at in +those Days, but he is either grown cunninger since or bolder, for he +values none of those Things now; I question much whether he would value +St. _Dunstan_ and his red hot Tongs, if he was to meet him now, or St. +_Francis_ or any of the Saints, no not the Host itself in full +Procession; and therefore, tho' you don't care I should preach, yet in +short, if you are afraid he should charge upon you and attack you, if +you won't make Use of those Scripture Weapons I should have mention'd, +and which you may hear of, if you enquire at _Eph._ vi. 16. you must +look for better where you think you can find them. + +But to go on with my Work, the Devil, I say, is not to be fear'd with +Maukins, nor does he employ his old Instruments, but does much of his +Work himself without Instruments. + +And yet I must enter a Caveat here too, against being misunderstood in +my saying the Devil stands in no need of Agents; for when I speak so, I +am to be taken in a limited Sense; I don't say he needs them no where, +but only that he does not need them in those polite Parts of the World +which I have been speaking of, and perhaps not much here; but in many +remote Countries 'tis otherwise still; the _Indians_ of _America_ are +particularly said to have Witches among them, as well in those Countries +where the _Spaniards_ and the _English_ and other Nations have planted +themselves, as amongst those where the _European_ Nations seldom come: +_for Example_, the People of _Canada_, that is, of the Countries under +the _French_ Government of _Quebeck_, the Equimeaux, and other Northern +Climates, have Magicians, Wizards and Witches, who they call _Pilloatas_ +or _Pillotoas_; these pretend they speak intimately and familiarly with +the Devil, and receive from him the Knowledge of Things to come; all +which, by the Way, I take to be little more than this; that these +Fellows being a little more cunning than the rest, think, that by +pretending to something more than human, they shall make the stronger +Impressions on the ignorant People; as _Mahomet_ amus'd the World with +his Pigeon, using it to pick Peas out of his Ear, and persuaded the +People it brought him superior Revelations and Inspirations from +Paradise. + +Thus these _Pillotoas_ gaining an Opinion among the People, behave like +so many Mountebanks of Hell, pretending to understand dark Things, cure +Diseases, practise Surgery, Physick and Necromancy altogether; I will +not say, but _Satan_ may pick out such Tools to work with, and I believe +does in those Parts, but I think he has found a nearer Way to the Wood +with us, and that is sufficient to my present Purpose. + +Some would persuade me the _Devil_ had a great Hand in the late +religious Breaches in _France_, among the Clergy, (_viz._) about the +Pope's Constitution _Unigenitus_, and that he made a fair Attempt to set +the Pope and the _Gallican_ Church together by the Ears, for they were +all just upon the Point or breaking out into a Church War, that for +ought we knew might have gone farther than the _Devil_ himself car'd it +should; now I am of the quite contrary Opinion, I believe the _Devil_ +really did not make the Breach, but rather heal'd it, for fear it should +have gone so far among them as to have set them all in a Flame, and have +open'd the Door to the Return of the _Hugonots_ again, which it was in a +fair Way to have done. + +But be it one Way or t'other, the historical Part seems to be a little +against me; for 'tis certain, the _Devil_ both wanted and made Use of +Legions of Agents, as well human as infernal, visible and invisible in +that great and important Affair, and we cannot doubt but he has +innumerable Instruments still at work about it. + +Like as in _Poland_, I make no Question but the _Devil_ has thousands of +his Banditti at work at this Time, and in another Country not far from +it, perhaps, preparing Matters for the next General Diet, taking care to +prevent giving any Relaxation to the Protestants, and to justify the +moderate Executions at _Thorn_, to excite a Nation to quarrel with every +Body who are able to fight with no body; to erect the Apostate Race of +_S----y_ upon a Throne which they have no Title to, and turn an elective +Throne into an hereditary, in favour of Popery. + +I might anticipate all your Objections, by granting the busy _Devil_ at +this Time employing all his Agents and Instruments (for I never told you +they were idle and useless) in striving to enflame the Christian World, +and bring a new War to overspread _Europe_; I might, perhaps, point out +to you some of the Measures he takes, the Provocatives which his State +Physicians administer to the Courts and Counsellors of Princes, to +foment and ferment the Spirits, and Members of Nations, Kingdoms, +Empires and States in the World, in order to bring these glorious Ends +of Blood and War to pass; for you cannot think but he that knows so much +of the _Devil_'s Affairs, as to write his History, must know something +of all these Matters more than those that do not know so much as he. + +But all this is remote to the present Case, for this is no Impeachment +of Satan's new Methods with Mankind, in this Part of the World, and in +his private and separate Capacity; all this only signifies that in his +more general and national Affairs, the _Devil_ acts still by his old +Methods; and when he is to seduce or embroil Nations, he, like other +Conquerors, subdues them by Armies, employs mighty Squadrons of +_Devils_, and sends out strong Detachments, with Generals and +Generalissimos to lead them, some to one Part of the World, some to +another; some to influence one Nation, some to manage and direct +another, according as Business presents, and his Occasions require, that +his Affairs may be carried on currently, and to his Satisfaction. + +If it were not thus, but that the _Devil_ by his new and exquisite +Management, of which I have said so much, had brought Mankind in general +to be the Agents of their own Mischiefs, and that the World were so at +his Beck, that he need but command them to go and fight, declare War, +raise Armies, destroy Cities, Kingdoms, Countries and People; the World +would be a Field of Blood indeed, and all Things would run into +Confusion presently. + +But this is not the Case at all, Heaven has not let go the Government of +the Creation to his subdu'd Enemy, the Devil; that would overturn the +whole System of God, and give Satan more Power, than ever he was or will +be vested with; when, therefore, I speak of a few forward Wretches in +our Day, who are so warm in their Wickedness, that they anticipate the +Devil, save him the Trouble to tempt, turn Devils to themselves, and +gallop Hellward faster than he drives; I speak of them as single +Persons, and acting in their own personal and private Capacity, but when +I speak of Nations and Kingdoms, there the Devil is oblig'd to go on in +the old Road, and act by Stratagem, by his proper Machinery, and to make +use of all his Arts, and all his Agents, just as he has done in all +Ages, from the beginning of his politic Government to this Day. + +And if it was not thus too, what would become of all his numberless +Legions, of which all Ages have heard so much, and all Parts of the +World have had so much fatal Experience? They would seem to be quite out +of Employment, and be render'd useless in the World of Spirits, where it +is to be supposed they reside; not the Devil himself could find any +Business for them, which by the Way, to busy and mischievous Spirits, as +they are, would be a Hell to them, even before their Time; they would +be, as it were, doom'd to a State of Inactivity, which we may suppose +was one Part of their Expulsion from Blessedness and the Creation of +Man; or as they were for the surprising Interval between the Destruction +of Mankind by the Deluge and _Noah_'s coming out of the Ark, when +indeed they might be said to have nothing at all to do. + +But this is not Satan's Case, and therefore let me tell you too, that +you may not think I treat the Case with more Levity than I really do, +and than I am sure I intend to do; tho' it is too true that our modern +and modish Sinners have arrived to more exquisite Ways of being wicked, +than their Fathers, and really seem, as I have said, to need no Devil to +tempt them; nay, that they do Satan's Work for him as to others also, +and make themselves Devils to their Neighbours, tempting others to crime +even faster than the Devil desires them, running before they are sent, +and going of the _Devil_'s Errands _gratis_; by which Means Satan's Work +is, as to them, done to his Hand, and they may be said to save him a +great deal of Trouble; yet after all, the Devil has still a great deal +of Business upon his Hands, and as well himself as all his Legions, find +themselves a full Employment in disturbing the World, and opposing the +Glory and Kingdom of their great Superior, whose Kingdom it is their +whole Business, however vain in its End, to overthrow and destroy, if +they were able, or at least to endeavour it. + +This being the Case, it follows of course that the general Mischiefs of +Mankind, as well national and public, as family Mischiefs, and even +personal, (except as before excepted) lie all still at the _Devil_'s +Door, as much as ever, let his Advocates bring him off of it if they +can; and this brings us back again to the manner of the Devil's +Management, and the Way of his working by human Agents, or if you will, +the Way of human Devils, working in Affairs of low Life, such as we call +Divination, Sorcery, Black-Art, Necromancy, and the like; all which I +take to consist of two material Parts, and both very necessary for us to +be rightly inform'd of. + + 1. The Part which Satan by himself or his inferior _Devils_ + empowers such People to do, as he is in Confederacy with here on + Earth; to whom he may be said, like the Master of an Opera or + Comedy, to give their Parts to act, and to qualify them to act it; + whether he obliges them to a Rehearsal in his Presence, to try + their Talents, and see that they are capable of performing, that + indeed I have not enquir'd into. + + 2. That Part which these empower'd People do voluntier or beyond + their Commission, to shew their Diligence in the Service of their + new Master, and either (1.) to bring Grist to their own Mill, and + make their Market of their Employment in the best manner they can; + or (2.) to gain Applause, be admir'd, wonder'd at, and applauded, + as if they were ten Times more _Devils_ than really they are. + + +In a Word, the Matter consists of what the _Devil_ does by the Help of +these People, and what they do in his Name without him; the Devil is +sometimes cheated in his own Business; there are Pretenders to +Witchcraft and Black-Art, who Satan never made any Bargain with, but who +he connives at, because at least they do his Cause no harm, tho' their +Business is rather to get Money, than to render him any Service, of +which I gave you a remarkable Instance before. + +But to go back to his real Agents, of which I reckon two. + + 1. Those who act by Direction and Confederacy, as I have said + already many do. + + 2. Those whom he acts in and by, and they (perhaps) know it not, of + which Sort History gives us plenty of Examples, from _Machiavel_'s + first Disciple ---- to the famous Cardinal _Alberoni_, and even to + some more modern than his Eminence, of whom I can say no more till + farther Occasion offers. + + +1. Those who act by immediate Direction of the Devil, and in Confederacy +with him; these are such as I mention'd in the beginning of this +Chapter, whose Arts are truly black, because really infernal; it will be +very hard to decide the Dispute between those who really act thus in +Confederacy with the _Devil_, and those who only pretend to it; so I +shall leave that Dispute where I find it; but that there are, or at +least have been, a Set of People in the World, who really are of his +Acquaintance, and very intimate with him; and tho', as I have said, he +has much alter'd his Schemes and chang'd Hands of late; yet that there +are such People, perhaps of all Sorts; and that the Devil keeps up his +Correspondence with them; I must not venture to deny that Part, lest I +bring upon me the whole Posse of the conjuring and bewitching Crew, Male +and Female, and they should mob me for pretending to deny them the +Honour of dealing with the _Devil_, which they are so exceeding willing +to have the Fame of. + +Not that I am hereby oblig'd to believe all the strange Things the +Witches and Wizards, who have been allow'd to be such, nay, who have +been hang'd for it, have said of themselves; nay, that they have +confess'd of themselves, even at the Gallows; and if I come to have an +Occasion to speak freely of the Matter, I may perhaps convince you that +the Devil's possessing Power is much lessen'd of late, and that he +either is limited, and his Fetter shortened more than it has been, or +that he does not find the old Way (as I said before) so fit for his +Purpose as he did formerly, and therefore takes other Measures, but I +must adjourn that to a Time and Place by itself: But we are told that +there are another Sort of People, and, perhaps, a great many of them +too, in whom and by whom the Devil really acts, and they know it not. + +It would take up a great deal of Time and Room, too much for this Place, +so near the Close of this Work, to describe and mark out the involuntary +_Devils_ which there are in the World; of whom it may be truly said, +that really the _Devil_ is in them, and they know it not: Now, tho' the +_Devil_ is cunning and managing, and can be very silent where he finds +it for his Interest not to be known; yet it is very hard for him to +conceal himself, and to give so little Disturbance in the House, as that +the Family should not know who lodged in it; yet, I say, the Devil is so +subtle and so mischievous an Agent, that he uses all manner of Methods +and Craft to reside in such People as he finds for his Purpose, whether +they will or no, and which is more, whether they know it or no. + +And let none of my Readers be angry or think themselves ill used, when I +tell them the Devil may be in them, and may act them, and by them, and +they not know it; for I must add, it may, perhaps, be one of the +greatest Pieces of human Wisdom in the World, for a Man to know when the +Devil is in him, and when not; when he is a Tool and Agent of Hell, and +when he is not; in a Word, when he is doing the Devil's Work, and under +his Direction, and when not. + +It is true, this is a very weighty Point, and might deserve to be +handled in a more serious Way than I seem to be talking in all this +Book; but give me leave to talk of Things my own way, and withall, to +tell you, that there is no Part of this Work so seemingly ludicrous, but +a grave and well weigh'd Mind may make a serious and solid Application +of it, if they please; nor is there any Part of this Work, in which a +clear Sight and a good Sense may not see that the Author's Design is, +that they should do so; and as I am now so near the End of my Book, I +thought it was meet to tell you so, and lead you to it as far as I can. + +I say, 'tis a great Part of human Wisdom to know when the _Devil_ is +acting in us and by us, and when not; the next and still greatest Part +would be to prevent him, put a Stop to his Progress, bid him go about +his Business, and let him know he should carry on his Designs no farther +in that manner; that we will be his Tools no longer; in short, to turn +him out of Doors, and bring a stronger Power to take Possession; but +this, indeed, is too solid a Subject, and too great to begin with here. + +But now, as to the bare knowing when he is at work with us, I say this, +tho' it is considerable, may be done, nor is it so very difficult; _for +Example_, you have no more to do but look a little into the Microcosm of +the Soul, and see there how the Passions which are the Blood, and the +Affections which are the Spirit, move in their particular Vessels; how +they circulate, and in what Temper the Pulse beats there, and you may +easily see who turns the Wheel; if a perfect Calm possesses the Soul; if +Peace and Temper prevail, and the Mind feels no Tempests rising; if the +Affections are regular and exalted to vertuous and sublime Objects, the +Spirits cool, and the Mind sedate, the Man is in a general Rectitude of +Mind, he may be truly said to be _his own Man_; Heaven shines upon his +Soul with its benign Influences, and he is out of the Reach of the evil +Spirit; for the divine Spirit is an Influence of Peace, all calm and +bright, happy and sweet like it self, and tending to every Thing that is +good both present and future. + +But on the other Hand, if at any Time the Mind is ruffled, if Vapours +rise, Clouds gather, if Passions swell the Breast, if Anger, Envy, +Revenge, Hatred, Wrath, Strife; if these, or any of these hover over +you, much more if you feel them within you; if the Affections are +possess'd, and the Soul hurried down the Stream to embrace low and base +Objects; if those Spirits, which are the Life and enlivening Powers of +the Soul, are drawn off to Parties, and to be engag'd in a vicious and +corrupt manner, shooting out wild and wicked Desires, and running the +Man headlong into Crime, the Case is easily resolv'd, the Man is +possess'd, the _Devil_ is in him; and having taken the Fort, or at least +the Counterscarp and Out-Works, is making his Lodgment to cover and +secure himself in his Hold, that he may not be dispossess'd. + +Nor can he be easily dispossess'd when he has got such hold as this; and +'tis no wonder, that being lodg'd thus upon the Out-Works of the Soul he +continues to sap the Foundation of the rest, and by his incessant and +furious Assaults, reduces the Man at last to a Surrender. + +If the Allegory be not as just and apposite as you would have it be, you +may, however, see by it in a full View, the State of the Man, and how +the _Devil_ carries on his Designs; nothing is more common, and I +believe there are few thinking Minds but may reflect upon it in their +own Compass, than for our Passions and Affections to flow out of the +ordinary Channel; the Spirits and Blood of the Soul to be extravasated, +the Passions grow violent and outragious, the Affections impetuous, +corrupt and violently vicious: Whence does all this proceed? from Heaven +we can't pretend it comes; if we must not say 'tis the _Devil_, whose +Door must it lie at? Pride swells the Passions; Avarice moves the +Affections; and what is Pride, and what is Avarice, but the _Devil_ in +the Inside of the Man? ay, as personally and really as ever he was in +the Herd of Swine. + +Let not any Man then, who is a Slave to his Passions, or who is chain'd +down to his Covetousness, pretend to take it ill, when I say he has the +_Devil_ in him, or that he is a _Devil_: What else can it be, and how +comes it to pass that Passion and Revenge so often dispossess the Man of +himself, as to lead him to commit Murther, to lay Plots and Snares for +the Life of his Enemies, and so to thirst for Blood? How comes this but +by the Devil's putting those Spirits of the Soul into so violent a +Ferment, into a Fever? that the Circulation is precipitated to that +Degree, and that the Man too is precipitated into Mischief, and at last +into Ruin; 'tis all the _Devil_, tho' the Man does not know it. + +In like manner Avarice leads him to rob, plunder and destroy for Money, +and to commit sometimes the worst of Violences to obtain the wicked +Reward. How many have had their Throats cut for their Money, have been +murther'd on the Highway, or in their Beds, for the Desire of what they +had? It is the same Thing in other Articles, every Vice is the Devil in +a Man; Lust of Rule is the _Devil_ of great Men, and that Ambition is +their _Devil_ as much as whoring is Father ------'s _Devil_, one has a +_Devil_ of one Class acting him, one another, and every Man's reigning +Vice is a _Devil_ to him. + +Thus the _Devil_ has his involuntary Instruments, as well as those who +act in Confederacy with him; he has a very great Share in many of us, +and acts us, and in us, unknown to our selves tho' we know nothing of +it, and indeed tho' we may not suspect it of our selves; like _Hazael_ +the _Assyrian_, who when the Prophet told him how he would act the +_Devil_ upon the poor _Israelites_, answer'd with Detestation, _is thy +Servant a Dog that he should do this Thing_, and yet he was that Dog, +and did all those cruel Things for all that; the _Devil_ acting him, or +acting in him, to make him wickeder than ever he thought it was possible +for him to be. + + + + +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._ + + +As the _Devil_ is a Prince of the Power of the Air, his Kingdom is +mortal, and must have an End; and as he is call'd the God of this World, +that is, the great Usurper of the Homage and Reverence which Mankind +ought of right to pay to their Maker, so his Usurpation also, like the +World it self, must have an End: Satan is call'd the God of the World, +as Men too much prostrate and prostitute themselves to him, yet he is +not the Governor of this World; and therefore the Homage and Worship he +has from the World is an Usurpation; and this will have an End, because +the World it self will have an End; and all Mankind, as they had a +beginning in Time, so must expire and be remov'd before the End of Time. + +Since then the _Devil_'s Empire is to expire and come to an End, and +that the _Devil_ himself and all his Host of _Devils_ are immortal +Seraphs, Spirits that are not embodied and cannot die, but are to remain +in being; the Question before us next will be, what is to become of him? +what is his State to be? whether is he to wander, and in what Condition +is he to remain to that Eternity to which he is still to exist? + +I hope no Man will mistake me so much in what I have said as to Spirits, +which are all Flame, not being affected with Fire, as if I supposed +there was no Place of Punishment for the _Devil_, nor any Kind of +Punishment that could affect them; and so of our Spirits also when +transform'd into Flame. + +I must be allow'd to speak there of that material Fire, by which, as by +an Allegory, all the Terrors of an eternal State are represented to us +in Scripture, and in the Writings of the learned Commentators, and by +which the Pain of Sense is describ'd; this, perhaps, I do not understand +as they seem to do, and therefore have said, + +When we're all Flame (that is all Spirit) we shall all Fire (that is, +all such Fire as this) despise. And thus I claim to be understood. + +It does not follow from hence, neither do I suggest, or so much as think +that infinite Power cannot form a something (tho' inconceivable to us +here) which shall be as tormenting, and as insupportable to a Devil, an +apostate Seraph, and to a Spirit, tho' exalted, unembodied and rarified +into _Flame_, as Fire would be to other Bodies; in which I think I am +orthodox, and do not give the least Occasion to an Enemy to charge me +with profane Speaking, in those Words, or to plead for thinking +prophanely himself. + +It must be Atheistical to the last Degree to suggest, that whereas the +_Devil_ has been heaping up and amassing Guilt ever since the Creation +of Man, encreasing in hatred of God and Rebellion against him, and in +all possible endeavour to dethrone and depose the Majesty of Heaven; +that yet Heaven had not prepar'd, or could not prepare a just Penalty +for him; and that it should not all end in God's entire Victory over +Hell, and in Satan's open Condemnation: Heaven could not be just to its +own Glory, if he should not avenge himself upon this Rebel, for all his +superlative Wickedness in his modern as well as ancient Station; for the +Blood of so many millions of his faithful Subjects and Saints whom he +has destroy'd; and if nothing else offer'd it self to prove this Part, +it would appear undoubted to me; but this, I confess, does not belong to +Satan's History, and therefore I have reserv'd it to this Place, and +shall also be the shorter in it. + +That his Condition is to be a State of Punishment, and that by Torment, +the _Devil_ himself has own'd, and his calling out to our blessed Lord +when he cast him out of the furious Man among the Tombs, is a Proof of +it, _What have we to do with thee_, and _art thou come to torment us +before the Time?_ Luke viii. 28. where the _Devil_ acknowledges four +Things, and three of them are directly to my present Purpose, and if you +won't believe the Word of God, I hope you will believe the _Devil_, +especially when 'tis an open Confession against himself. + +1. He confess Christ to be the _Son of God_ (that by the Way) and _no +Thanks to him_, for that does not want the _Devil_'s Evidence. + +2. He acknowledges he may be tormented. + +3. He acknowledges Christ was able to torment him. + +4. He acknowledges that there is a Time appointed when he shall be +tormented. + +As to _how_, in _what Manner_, and by _what Means_, this tormenting the +Devil is to be performed or executed, that I take to be as needless to +us as 'tis impossible to know, and being not at present inclined to fill +your Heads and Thoughts with weak and imperfect Guesses, I leave it +where I find it. + +It is enough to us that this Torment of the _Devil_ is represented to us +by Fire, it being impossible for our confin'd Thoughts to conceive of +Torment by any Thing in the World more exquisite; whence I conclude, +that _Devils_ shall at last receive a Punishment suitable to their +Spirituous Nature, and as exquisitely Tormenting as a burning Fire would +be to our Bodies. + +Having thus settl'd my own Belief of this Matter, and stated it so, as I +think will let you see 'tis rightly sounded, the Matter stands thus. + +Satan having been let loose to play his Game in this World, has improv'd +his Time to the utmost; he has not fail'd on all Occasions to exert his +Hatred, Rage, and Malice at his Conqueror and Enemy, _namely, his +Maker_; he has nor fail'd, from Principles of meer Envy and Pride, to +pursue Mankind with all possible Rancour, in order to deprive him of the +Honour and Felicity which he was created for, namely, to succeed the +_Devil_ and his Angels in the State of Glory from which they fell. + +This Hatred of God and Envy at Man, having broken out in so many several +Ways in the whole Series of Time from the Creation, must necessarily +have greatly encreased his Guilt; and as Heaven is righteous to judge +him, must terminate in an encrease of Punishment, adequate to his Crime, +and sufficient to his Nature. + +Some have suggested, that there is yet a Time to come, when the _Devil_ +shall exert more Rage, and do more Mischief than ever yet he has been +permitted to do; whether he shall break his Chain, or be unchain'd for a +Time, they cannot tell, nor I neither; and 'tis happy for my Work, that +even this Part too does not belong to his History; if ever it shall be +given an Account of by Mankind, it must be after it is come to pass, for +my Part is not Prophesy of foretelling what the Devil shall do, but +History of what he has done. + +Thus, good People, I have brought the History of the Devil down to _your +own Times_; I have, as it were, _rais'd him_ for you, and set him in +your View, that you may know him and have a Care of him. + +If any cunninger Men among you think they are able now to _lay him_ +again, and so dispose of him out of your Sight, that you shall be +troubled no more with him, either here or hereafter, let them go to work +with him their own Way; you know Things future do not belong to an +Historian, so I leave him among you, wishing you may be able to give no +worse an Account of him for the Time to come, than I have done for the +Time past. + + +FINIS. + + + + +Footnotes: + +[1] N. B. He never refus'd setting his hand to any opinion, which he +thought it for his interest to acknowledge. + +[2] Mean't of nothing. + +[3] _Mr._ Pool's _words are these_: Some refer the words, _This day have +I begotten thee_, to the incarnation of the Son of GOD, others to the +Resurrection: our Translators lay the stress on the preposition of which +the verb is compounded, and by adding _again_, (viz.) _rais'd up Jesus +again_, Acts xiii. 33. intend it to be understood of the Resurrection; +and there is ground for it, in the context, for the Resurrection of +Christ, is that which St. _Paul_ had propounded in v. 30. of the same +Chapter, as his theme or argument to preach upon. + +Not that Christ at his Resurrection began to be the Son of God, but that +he was manifested then to be so. + +[4] Satan. + +[5] The meaning of the word Devil is Destroyer. See _Pool_ upon _Acts_ +xiii. 10. + +[6] _As great as the Devil and Doctor_ Faustus. Vulg. Dr. _Foster_. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. + +Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate +both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as +presented in the original text. + +Long "s" has been modernized. + +The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these +letters have been replaced with transliterations. + +The text includes two instances of unmatched round brackets; as these +require interpretation to close, they have been left unmatched. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "Origiual" corrected to "Original" (Table of Contents) + "34" corrected to "31" (Table of Contents) + "259" corrected to "159" (Table of Contents) + extraneous "a" removed (page 1) + "blinding" corrected to "binding" (page 9) + "decrib'd" corrected to "describ'd" (page 57) + "Battels" corrected to "Battles" (page 76) + "inconcievable" corrected to "inconceivable" (page 91) + "Devils" corrected to "Devil's" (page 101) + "hut" corrected to "but" (page 120) + "that that" corrected to "that" (page 127) + "opposs'd" corrected to "oppos'd" (page 152) + "notwitstanding" corrected to "notwithstanding" (page 162) + "a as Body" corrected to "as a Body" (page 172) + "Peoples" corrected to "People's" (page 184) + "Asia" corrected to "Asa" (page 187) + "was" corrected to "saw" (page 213) + "faling" corrected to "falling" (page 229) + "Christain" corrected to "Christian" (page 230) + "what's is" corrected to "what is" (page 233) + "disapointed" corrected to "disappointed" (page 234) + "been" corrected to "seen" (page 235) + "momentons" corrected to "momentous" (page 244) + "Chritians" corrected to "Christians" (page 250) + "Egyytian" corrected to "Egyptian" (page 252) + "Magnifience" corrected to "Magnificence" (page 256) + "whereever" corrected to "wherever" (page 267) + "compliasant" corrected to "complaisant" (page 294) + "coul'd" corrected to "cou'd" (page 298) + "Acquiantance" corrected to "Acquaintance" (page 299) + "Oportunity" corrected to "Opportunity" (page 300) + "har'd" corrected to "hard" (page 301) + "distingush" corrected to "distinguish" (page 312) + "whereever" corrected to "wherever" (page 322) + "the the" corrected to "the" (page 330) + "CHAP. VII" corrected to "CHAP. IX" (page 339) + "Businses" corrected to "Business" (page 370) + +Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in +spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation usage have been retained. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The History of the Devil, by Daniel Defoe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL *** + +***** This file should be named 31053.txt or 31053.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/5/31053/ + +Produced by Michael Roe, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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