Chapter 4

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.