PART II.

OF THE

MODERN HISTORY

OF THE

DEVIL.

CHAP. I.

I have examined the Antiquities of Satan's History in the former Part of

this Work, and brought his Affairs down from the Creation, as far as to

our blessed Christian Times; especially to the Coming of the _Messiah_,

when one would think the _Devil_ could have nothing to do among us. I

have indeed but touch'd at some Things which might have admitted of a

farther Description of Satan's Affairs, and the Particulars of which we

may all come to a farther Knowledge of hereafter; yet I think I have

spoken to the material Part of his Conduct, as it relates to his Empire

in this World: What has happen'd to his more sublimated Government, and

his Angelic Capacities, I shall have an Occasion to touch at in several

solid Particulars as we go along.

The _Messiah_ was now born, _the Fulness of Time was come_, that the old

Serpent was to have his _Head broken_, that is to say, his Empire or

Dominion over Man, which he gain'd by the Fall of our first Father and

Mother in _Paradise_, receiv'd a Downfal or Overthrow.

It is worth observing, in order to confirm what I have already mention'd

of the Limitation of Satan's Power, that not only his Angelic Strength

seems to have received a farther Blow upon the Coming of the Son of God

into the World, but he seems to have had a Blow upon his Intellects; his

Serpentine Craft and _Devil-like_ Subtilty seems to have been

circumscrib'd and cut short; and instead of his being so cunning a

Fellow as before, when, _as I said_, 'tis evident he outwitted all

Mankind, not only _Eve_, _Cain_, _Noah_, _Lot_, and all the Patriarchs,

but even Nations of Men, and that in their publick Capacity; and thereby

led them into absurd and ridiculous Things, such as the Building of

_Babel_, and deifying and worshiping their Kings, when dead and rotten;

idolizing _Beasts_, _Stocks_, _Stones_, _any Thing_, and even _Nothing_;

and in a Word, when he manag'd Mankind just as he pleased.

Now and from this Time forward he appeared a weak, foolish, ignorant

_Devil_, compar'd to what he was before; He was upon almost every

Occasion resisted, disappointed, baulk'd and defeated, especially in all

his Attempts to thwart or cross the Mission and Ministry of the

_Messiah_, while he was upon Earth, and sometimes upon other and very

mean Occasions too.

And first, how foolish a Project was it, and how below Satan's

celebrated Artifice in like Cases, to put _Herod_ upon sending to kill

the poor innocent Children in _Bethlehem_, in hopes to destroy the

Infant? for I take it for granted, it was the _Devil_ put into

_Herod_'s Thoughts that Execution, how simple and foolish soever; now we

must allow him to be very ignorant of the Nativity himself, or else he

might easily have guided his Friend _Herod_ to the Place where the

Infant was.

This shews that _either_ the _Devil_ is in general ignorant as we are,

of what is to come in the World, before it is really come to pass; and

consequently can foretel nothing, no not so much as our famous old

_Merlin_ or _Mother Shipton_ did, _or else_ that great Event was hid

from him by an immediate Power superior to his, which I cannot think

neither, considering how much he was concern'd in it, and how certainly

he knew that it was once to come to pass.

But be that as it will, 'tis certain the _Devil_ knew nothing where

Christ was born, or when; nor was he able to direct _Herod_ to find him

out, and therefore put him upon that foolish, as well as cruel Order, to

kill all the Children, that he might be sure to destroy the _Messiah_

among the rest.

The next simple Step that the _Devil_ took, and indeed the most foolish

one that he could ever be charg'd with, unworthy the very Dignity of a

_Devil_, and below the Understanding that he always was allow'd to act

with, was that of coming to tempt the _Messiah_ in the Wilderness; it is

certain, and he own'd it himself afterwards, upon many Occasions, that

the _Devil_ knew our Saviour to be the Son of God; and 'tis as certain

that he knew, that _as such_ he could have no Power or Advantage over

him; how foolish then was it in him to attack him in that Manner, _if

thou beest the Son of_ GOD? why he knew him to be the _Son of_ GOD well

enough; he said so afterwards, _I know thee who thou art, the holy One

of_ GOD; how then could he be so weak a Devil as to say, _if thou art_,

then do _so_ and _so_?

The Case is plain, the _Devil_, tho' he knew him to be the Son of GOD,

did not fully know the Mystery of the Incarnation; nor did he know how

far the _Inanition_ of Christ extended, and whether, _as Man_, he was

not subject to fall as _Adam_ was, tho' his reserv'd Godhead might be

still immaculate and pure; and upon this Foot, as he would leave no

Method untried, he attempts him three Times, one immediately after

another; but then, finding himself disappointed he fled.

This evidently proves that the _Devil_ was ignorant of the great Mystery

of Godliness, _as the Text calls it_, God manifest in the Flesh, and

therefore made that foolish Attempt upon Christ, thinking to have

conquer'd his human Nature as capable of Sin, which it was not; and at

this Repulse _Hell_ groan'd, the whole Army of regimented _Devils_

receiv'd a Wound, and felt the Shock of it; 'twas a second Overthrow to

them, they had had a long Chain of Success, carried a _devilish_

Conquest over the greatest Part of the Creation of GOD; but now they

were cut short, _the Seed of the Woman_ was now come _to break the

Serpent's Head_, that is, to cut short his Power, to contract the Limits

of his Kingdom, and in a Word, to dethrone him in the World: No doubt

the _Devil_ receiv'd a Shock, for you find him always afterward, crying

out in a horrible Manner, whenever Christ met with him, or else very

humble and submissive, as when he begg'd leave to go into the Herd of

Swine, a Thing he has often done since.

Defeated here, the first Stratagem I find him concern'd in after it, was

his entring into _Judas_, and putting him upon betraying Christ to the

Chief Priest; but here again he was entirely mistaken, for he did not

see, _as much a Devil as he was_, what the Event would be; but when he

came to know, that if Christ was put to Death, he would become a

Propitiatory and be the great Sacrifice of Mankind, so to rescue the

fallen Race from that Death they had incurr'd the Penalty of, by the

Fall, that this was the fulfilling of all Scripture Prophesy, and that

thus it was that Christ was to be _the End of the Law_, I say, as soon

as he perceiv'd this, he strove all he could to prevent it, and

disturb'd _Pilate_'s Wife in her Sleep, in order to set her upon her

Husband to hinder his delivering him up to the _Jews_; for then, and not

till then, he knew how Christ was to vanquish Hell by the Power of his

Cross.

Thus the _Devil_ was disappointed and exposed in every Step he took, and

as he now plainly saw his Kingdom declining, and even the temporal

Kingdom of Christ, rising up upon the Ruins of his (_Satan_'s) Power; he

seem'd to retreat into his own Region the Air, and to consult there with

his fellow _Devils_, what Measures he should take next to preserve his

Dominion among Men; Here it was that he resolv'd upon that truly hellish

Thing call'd Persecution, by which, _tho' he prov'd a foolish Devil in

that too_, he flatter'd himself he should be able to destroy God's

Church, and root out its Professors from the Earth, even almost as soon

as it was establish'd; whereas on the contrary, Heaven counter-acted him

there too, and tho' he arm'd the whole _Roman_ Empire against the

Christians, _that is say_, the whole World, and they were fallen upon

every where, with all the Fury and Rage of some of the most flaming

Tyrants that the World ever saw, of whom _Nero_ was the first; yet in

spight of Hell, GOD made all the Blood, which the Devil caus'd to be

spilt, to be _semen Ecclesiae_, and the DEVIL had the Mortification to

see, that the Number of Christians encreased even under the very Means

he made use of to root them out and destroy them: This was the Case

thro' the Reign of all the _Roman_ Emperors, for the first three hundred

Years after Christ.

Having thus tried all the Methods that best suited his Inclination, I

mean those of Blood and Death, complicated with Tortures and all Kinds

of Cruelty, and that for so long a Stage of Time as above; the _Devil_

all on a suddain, as if glutted with Blood, and satiated with

Destruction, sits still and becomes a peaceable Spectator for a good

while; as if he either found himself unable, or had no Disposition to

hinder the Progress of Christianity in the first Ages of its Settlement

in the World: In this interval the Christian Church was establish'd

under _Constantine_, Religion flourished in Peace, and under the most

perfect Tranquillity: The _Devil_ seem'd to be at a Loss what he should

do next, and Things began to look as if Satan's Kingdom was at an End;

but he soon let them see that he was the same indefatigable _Devil_ that

ever he was, and the Prosperity of the Church gave him a large Field of

Action; for knowing the Disposition of Mankind to Quarrel and Dispute,

the universal Passion rooted in Nature, especially among the Church-Men

for Precedency and Dominion, he fell to work with them immediately; so

that turning the Tables, and reassuming the Subtilty and Craft, which, I

say, he seem'd to have lost in the former four hundred Years, he gain'd

more Ground in the next Ages of the Church, and went farther towards

restoring his Power and Empire in the World, and towards overthrowing

that very Church which was so lately establish'd, than all he had done

by Fire and Blood before.

His Policy now seem'd to be edg'd with Resentment for the Mistakes he

had made; as if the Devil looking back with Anger at himself, to see

what a Fool he had been to expect to crush Religion by Persecution,

rejoyc'd for having discover'd that Liberty and Dominion was the only

way to ruin the Church, not Fire and Faggot; and that he had nothing to

do but to give the zealous People their utmost Liberty in Religion, only

sowing Error and Variety of Opinion among them, and they would bring

Fire and Faggot in fast enough among themselves.

It must be confess'd these were devilish Politicks; and so sure was the

Aim, and so certain was the _Devil_ to hit his Mark by them, that we

find he not only did not fail then, but the same hellish Methods have

prevail'd still, and will do so to the End of the World. Nor had the

Devil ever a better Game to play than this, for the Ruin of Religion, as

we shall have room to show in many Examples, besides that of the

Dissenters in _England_, who are evidently weaken'd by the late

Toleration: Whether the _Devil_ had any hand in baiting his Hook with an

A--- of Parliament or no, History is silent, but 'tis too evident he has

catch'd the Fish by it; and if the honest Church of _England_ does not

in Pity and Christian Charity to the Dissenters, straighten her Hand a

little, I cannot but fear the _Devil_ will gain his Point, and the

Dissenter will be undone by it.

Upon this new foot of Politicks the _Devil_ began with the Emperors

themselves: _Arius_, the Father of the Hereticks of that Age, having

broach'd his Opinions, and _Athanasius_ the orthodox Bishop of the East

opposing him, the _Devil_ no sooner saw the Door open to Strife and

Imposition, but he thrust himself in, and raising the Quarrel up to a

suited Degree of Rage and Spleen, he involv'd the good Emperor himself

in it first and _Athanasius_ was banish'd and recall'd, and banish'd

and recall'd again, several times, as Error ran high, and as the _Devil_

either got or lost Ground: After _Constantine_, the next Emperor was a

Child of his own, (_Arian_) and then the Court came all into the

Quarrel, as Courts often do, and then the _Arians_ and the _Orthodox_

persecuted one another as furiously as the Pagans persecuted them all

before. To such a Height the _Devil_ brought his Conquest in the very

Infancy of the Question, and so much did he prevail over the true

Christianity of the Primitive Church, even before they had enjoy'd the

Liberty of the pure Worship twenty Years.

Flush'd with this Success, the _Devil_ made one Push for the restoring

_Paganism_, and bringing on the old Worship of the Heathen Idols and

Temples; but like our King _James_ II. he drove too hard, and _Julian_

had so provok'd the whole _Roman_ Empire, which was generally at that

time become Christian, that had the Apostate liv'd, he would not have

been able to have held the Throne; and as he was cut off in his

Beginning, Paganism expir'd with him, and the _Devil_ himself might have

cry'd out, as _Julian_ did, and with much more Propriety, _Vicisti

Galileane_.

_Jovian_, the next Emperor, being a glorious Christian, and a very good

and great Man, the _Devil_ abdicated for a while, and left the Christian

Armies to re-establish the Orthodox Faith; nor could he bring the

Christians to a Breach again among themselves a great while after.

However, Time and a diligent _Devil_ did the Work at last, and when the

Emperors concerning themselves one way or other, did not appear

sufficient to answer his End, he chang'd Hands again, and went to work

with the Clergy: To set the Doctors effectually together by the Ears,

he threw in the new Notion of _Primacy_ among them, for a Bone of

Contention; the Bait took, the Priests swallow'd it eagerly down, and

the _Devil_, a cunninger Fisherman than ever St. _Peter_ was, _struck

them_ (as the Anglers call it) with a quick Hand, and hung them fast

upon the Hook.

Having them thus in his Clutches, and they being now, as we may say, his

own, they took their Measures afterwards from him, and most obediently

follow'd his Directions; nay, I will not say but he may have had pretty

much the Management of the whole Society ever since, of what Profession

or Party soever they may have been, with Exception only to the Reverend

and Right Reverend among our selves.

The Sacred, as above, being thus hook'd in, and the DEVIL being at the

Head of their Affairs, Matters went on most gloriously his own way;

first, the Bishops fell to bandying and Party-making for the

Superiority, as heartily as ever Temporal Tyrants did for Dominion, and

took as black and devilish Methods to carry it on, as the worst of those

Tyrants ever had done before them.

At last Satan declar'd for the _Roman_ Pontiff, and that upon excellent

Conditions, in the Reign of the Emperor _Mauritius_; for _Boniface_, who

had long contended for the Title of Supreme, fell into a Treaty with

_Phocas_, Captain of the Emperor's Guards; whether the Bargain was from

Hell or not, let any one judge, the Conditions absolutely entitle the

_Devil_ to the Honour of making the Contract, _viz._ That _Phocas_ first

murthering his Master (the Emperor) and his Sons, _Boniface_ should

countenance the Treason, and declare him Emperor; and in Return,

_Phocas_ should acknowledge the Primacy of the Church of _Rome_, and

declare _Boniface_ universal Bishop. A blessed Compact! which at once

set the _Devil_ at the Head of Affairs in the Christian World, as well

Spiritual as Temporal, Ecclesiastick and Civil. Since the Conquest over

_Eve_ in Paradise, by which Death and the DEVIL, Hand in Hand,

establish'd their first Empire upon Earth, the _Devil_ never gain'd a

more important Point than he gain'd at this time.

He had indeed prospered in his Affairs tolerably well for some time

before this, and his Interest among the Clergy had got Ground for some

Ages; but that was indeed a secret Management, was carried on privately,

and with Difficulty; as in sowing Discord and Faction among the People,

perplexing the Councils of their Princes, and secretly wheedling in with

the dignified Clergy.

Also he had raised abundance of little Church-Rebellions, by setting up

Hereticks of several Kinds, and raising them Favourers among the Clergy,

such as _Ebion_, _Cerinthius_, _Pelagius_, and others.

He had drawn in the Bishops of _Rome_ to set up the ridiculous Pageantry

of the KEY; and while he, the DEVIL, set open the Gates of Hell to

them all, set them upon locking up the Gates of Heaven, and giving the

Bishop the Key; a Cheat which, as gross as it was, the DEVIL so gilded

over, or so blinded the Age to receive it, that like _Gideon's Ephod_,

all the Catholick World went a whoring after the Idol; and the Bishop of

_Rome sent_ more Fools to the _Devil_ by it than ever he pretended to

let into Heaven, though he open'd the Door as wide as his Key was able

to do.

The Story of this Key being given to the Bishop of _Rome_ by St.

_Peter_, (who, by the way, never had it himself,) and of its being lost

by Somebody or other, (the _Devil_ it seems did not tell them who) and

its being found again by a _Lombard_ Soldier in the Army of King

_Antharis_, who attempting to cut it with his Knife, was miraculously

forced to direct the Wound to himself, and cut his own Throat; that King

_Antharis_ and his Nobles happened to see the Fellow do it, and were

converted to Christianity by it, and that the King sent the Key, with

another made like it, to Pope _Pelagius_, then Bishop of _Rome_, who

thereupon assum'd the Power of opening and shutting Heaven's Gates; and

he afterwards setting a Price or Toll upon the Entrance, as we do here

at passing a Turn-pike; these fine things, I say, were successfully

managed for some Years before this I am now speaking of, and the Devil

got a great deal of Ground by it too; but now he triumph'd openly, and

having set up a Murtherer upon the temporal Throne, and a Church Emperor

upon the Ecclesiastic Throne, and both of his own choosing, the _Devil_

may be said to begin his new Kingdom from this Epocha, and call it the

_Restoration_.

Since this time indeed the Devil's Affairs went very merrily on, and the

Clergy brought so many Gewgaws into their Worship, and such devilish

Principles were mixt with that which we call'd the Christian Faith, that

in a Word, from this Time the Bishop of _Rome_ commenc'd _Whore of

Babylon_, in all the most express Terms that could be imagin'd: Tyranny

of the worst sort crept into the Pontificate, Errors of all sorts into

the Profession, and they proceeded from one thing to another, till the

very Popes, for so the Bishop of _Rome_ was now called, by way of

Distinction; I say, the Popes themselves, their spiritual Guides,

profess'd openly to confederate with the _Devil_, and to carry on a

personal and private Correspondence with him at the same time, taking

upon them the Title of Christ's Vicar, and the infallible Guide of the

Consciences of Christians.

This we have sundry Instances of in some merry Popes, who, _if Fame lies

not_, were Sorcerers, Magicians, had familiar Spirits, and immediate

Conversation with the Devil, as well visibly as invisibly, and by this

means became what we call _Devils incarnate_: Upon this account it is

that I have left the Conversation that passes between _Devils and Men_

to this Place, as well because I believe it differs much now in his

modern State, from what it was in his ancient State, and therefore that

which most concerns us belongs rather to this part of his History; as

also because, as I am now writing to the present Age, I choose to bring

the most significant Parts of his History, especially as they relate to

our selves, into that Part of Time that we are most concern'd in.

The _Devil_ had once, as I observ'd before, the universal Monarchy or

Government of Mankind in himself, and I doubt not but in that

flourishing State of his Affairs, he governed them like what he is

(_viz._) an absolute Tyrant; during this _Theocracy_ of his, _for_ Satan

_is call'd the God of this World_, he did not familiarize himself to

Mankind so much, as he finds Occasion to do now, there was not then so

much need of it; he governed then with an absolute Sway; he had his

Oracles, where he gave Audience to his Votaries like a Deity, and he had

his Sub-Gods, who under his several Dispositions receiv'd the Homage of

Mankind in their Names; such were all the Rabble of the Heathen Deities,

from _Jupiter_ the Supreme, to the _Lares_ or Houshold Gods of every

Family; these, I say, like Residents, received the Prostrations, but the

Homage was all Satan's; the Devil had the Substance of it all, which was

the Idolatry.

During this Administration of _Hell_, there was less Witchcraft, less

true literal Magick than there has been since; there was indeed no need

of it, the DEVIL did not stoop to the Mechanism of his more modern

Operations, but rul'd as a Deity, and receiv'd the Vows and the Bows of

his Subjects in more State, and with more Solemnity; whereas since that,

he is content to employ more Agents and take more Pains himself too; now

he runs up and down Hackney in the World, more like a Drudge than a

Prince, and much more than he did then.

Hence all those Things we call Apparitions and Visions of Ghosts,

Familiar-Spirits and Dealings with the Devil, of which there is so great

a Variety in the World at this Time, were not so much known among the

People, in those first Ages of the Devil's Kingdom; _in a Word_, the

Devil seems to be put to his Shifts, and to fly to Art and Stratagem for

the carrying on his Affairs, much more now than he did then.

One Reason for this may be, that he has been more discover'd and expos'd

in these Ages, than he was before; then he could appear in the World in

his own proper Shapes, and yet not be known; when the Sons of GOD

appear'd at the divine Summons, Satan came along with them; but now he

has plaid so many scurvy Tricks upon Men, and they know him so well,

that he is oblig'd to play quite out of sight and act in disguise;

Mankind will allow nothing of his doing, and hear nothing of his saying,

in his own Name; and if you propose any Thing to be done, and it be but

said the _Devil_ is to help in the doing it, or if you say of any Man he

deals with the _Devil_, or the _Devil_ has a Hand in it, every Body

flies him and shuns him, as the most frightful Thing in the World.

Nay, if any Thing strange and improbable be done or related to be done,

we presently say the _Devil_ was at the doing it: Thus the great Ditch

at _Newmarket Heath_, is call'd the _Devil_'s _Ditch_; so the _Devil_

built _Crowland_ Abby, and the Whispering-Place in _Gloucester_

Cathedral; nay, the Cave at _Castleton_, only because there's no getting

to the farther End of it, is call'd the _Devil_'s A---- and the like:

The poor People of _Wiltshire_, when you ask them how the great Stones

at _Stonehenge_ were brought thither? they'll all tell you the _Devil_

brought them: If any Mischief extraordinary befalls us, we presently say

the _Devil_ was in it, and the _Devil_ would have it so; in a Word, the

_Devil_ has got an ill Name among us, and so he is fain to act more _in

Tenebris_, more _incog._ than he used to do, play out of sight himself,

and work by the Sap, as the Engineers call it, and not openly and

avowedly in his own Name and Person, as formerly, tho' perhaps not with

less Success than he did before; and this leads me to enquire more

narrowly into the manner of the _Devil_'s Management of his Affairs

since the Christian Religion began to spread in the World, which

manifestly differs from his Conduct in more antient Times; in which if

we discover some of the most consummate Fool's Policy, the most profound

simple Craft, and the most subtle shallow Management of Things that can

by our weak Understandings be conceiv'd, we must only resolve it into

this, that in short it is the DEVIL.

CHAP. II.

_Of Hell as it is represented to us, and how the_ Devil _is to be

understood, as being personally in Hell, when at the same Time we

find him at Liberty ranging over the World._

It is true, as that learn'd and pleasant Author, the inimitable Dr.

_Brown_ says, the _Devil_ is his own Hell; one of the most constituting

Parts of his Infelicity is, that he cannot act upon Mankind _brevi

Manu_, by his own inherent Power, as well as Rage; that he cannot

unhinge this Creation, which, _as I have observ'd in its Place_, he had

the utmost Aversion to from its Beginning, as it was a stated Design in

the Creator to supply his Place in Heaven with a new Species of _Beings_

call'd _Man_, and fill the Vacancies occasion'd by his Degeneracy and

Rebellion.

This fill'd him with Rage inexpressible, and horrible Resolutions of

Revenge, and the Impossibility of executing those Resolutions torments

him with Despair; this added to what he was before, makes him a compleat

_Devil_, with a Hell in his own Breast, and a Fire unquenchable burning

about his Heart.

I might enlarge here, and very much to the Purpose, in describing

spherically and mathematically that exquisite Quality call'd _a devilish

Spirit_, in which it would naturally occur to give you a whole Chapter

upon the glorious Articles of _Malice_ and _Envy_, and especially upon

that luscious, delightful, triumphant Passion call'd REVENGE; how

natural to Man, nay even to both Sexes; how pleasant in the very

Contemplation, tho' there be not just at that Time a Power of

Execution; how palatable it is in it self, and how well it relishes when

dish'd up with its proper Sauces, such as Plot, Contrivance, Scheme, and

Confederacy, all leading on to Execution: How it possesses a human Soul

in all the most sensible Parts; how it empowers Mankind to sin in

Imagination, as effectually to all future Intents and Purposes

(Damnation) as if he had sinned actually: How safe a Practice it is too,

as to Punishment in this Life, namely, that it empowers us to cut

Throats clear of the Gallows, to slander Virtue, reproach Innocence,

wound Honour and stab Reputation; and in a Word, to do all the wicked

Things in the World, out of the Reach of the Law.

It would also require some few Words to describe the secret Operations

of those nice Qualities when they reach the human Soul; how effectually

they form a Hell within us, and how imperceptibly they assimilate and

transform us into _Devils_, meer human Devils, as really _Devils_ as

Satan himself, or any of his Angels; and that therefore 'tis not so much

out of the Way, as some imagine, to say, such a Man is an _incarnate_

Devil; for as Crime made Satan a _Devil_, who was before a bright

immortal Seraph, or Angel of Light; how much more easily may the same

Crime make _the same_ DEVIL, tho' every Way meaner and more

contemptible, _of a Man or_ a Woman either? But this is too grave a

Subject for me at this Time.

The _Devil_ being thus, I say, fir'd with Rage and Envy, in consequence

of his Jealousy upon the Creation of Man, his Torment is encreased to

the highest by the Limitation of his Power, and his being forbid to act

against Mankind by Force of Arms; this is, I say, part of his _Hell_,

which, as above, is within him, and which he carries with him wherever

he goes; nor is it so difficult to conceive of _Hell_, or of the

_Devil_, either under this just Description, as it is by all the usual

Notions that we are taught to entertain of them, by (the old Women) our

Instructors; for every Man may, by taking but a common View of himself,

and making a just Scrutiny into his own Passions, on some of their

particular Excursions, see a _Hell_ within himself, and himself a meer

_Devil_ as long as the Inflammation lasts; and that as really, and to

all Intents and Purposes, as if he had the Angel (_Satan_) before his

Face, in his Locality and Personality; that is to say, all Devil and

Monster in his Person, and an immaterial but intense Fire flaming about

and from within him, at all the Pores of his Body.

The Notions we receive of the Devil, _as a Person_ being in Hell _as a

Place_, are infinitely absurd and ridiculous; the first we are certain

is not true in Fact, because he has a certain Liberty, (_however

limited_ that is not to the Purpose) is daily visible, and to be trac'd

in his several Attacks upon Mankind, and has been so ever since his

first Appearance in _Paradise_; as to his corporal Visibility that is

not the present Question neither; 'tis enough that we can hunt him by

the Foot, that we can follow him as Hounds do a Fox upon a hot Scent: We

can see him as plainly by the Effect, by the Mischief he does, and more

by the Mischief he puts us upon doing, _I say_, as plainly, as if we saw

him by the Eye.

It is not to be doubted but the _Devil_ can see us when and where we

cannot see him: and as he has a Personality, tho' it be spirituous, he

and his Angels too may be reasonably supposed to inhabit the World of

Spirits, and to have free Access from thence to the Regions of Life, and

to pass and repass in the Air, as really, tho' not perceptible to us,

as the Spirits of Men do after their release from the Body, pass to the

Place (wherever that is) which is appointed for them.

If the _Devil_ was confin'd to a Place (_Hell_) as a Prison, he could

then have no Business here; and if we pretend to describe _Hell_, as not

a Prison, but that the Devil has Liberty to be there, or not be there as

he pleased, then he would certainly never be there, or _Hell_ is not

such a Place as we are taught to understand it to be.

Indeed according to some, _Hell_ should be a Place of Fire and Torment

to the Souls that are cast into it, but not to the _Devils_ themselves;

who we make little more or less than keepers and Turnkeys to Hell, as a

Goal; that they are sent about to bring Souls thither, lock them in when

they come, and then away upon the Scent to fetch more: That one Sort of

_Devils_ are made to live in the World among Men, and to be busy

continually debauching and deluding Mankind bringing them as it were to

the Gates of _Hell_; and then another Sort are Porters and Carriers to

fetch them in.

This is, _in short_, little more or less than the old Story of _Pluto_,

of _Cerberus_, and of _Charon_; only that our Tale is not half so well

told, nor the Parts of the Fable so well laid together.

In all these Notions of _Hell_ and _Devil_, the Torments of the first,

and the Agency of the last Tormenting, we meet with not one Word of the

main and perhaps only Accent of Horror, which belongs to us to judge of

about Hell, I mean the Absence of Heaven; Expulsion, and Exclusion from

the Presence and Face of the chief Ultimate, the only eternal and

sufficient Good; and this loss sustain'd by a sordid Neglect of our

Concern in that excellent Part, in exchange for the most contemptible

and justly condemn'd Trifles, and all this eternal and irrecoverable:

These People tell us nothing of the eternal Reproaches of Conscience,

the Horror of Desperation, and the Anguish of a Mind hopeless of ever

seeing the Glory, which alone constitutes Heaven, and which makes all

other Places dreadful, and even Darkness it self.

And this brings me directly to the Point in Hand, (_viz._) the State of

that Hell which we ought to have in view when we speak of the _Devil_ as

_in Hell_: This is the very Hell, which is the Torment of the _Devil_;

in short, the _Devil_ is in HELL, and HELL is in the _Devil_; he is

fill'd with this unquenchable Fire, he is expel'd the Place of Glory,

banish'd from the Regions of Light, Absence from the Life of all

Beatitude is his Curse, Despair is the reigning Passion in his Mind, and

all the little Constituent Parts of his Torment, such as Rage, Envy,

Malice, and Jealousy are consolidated in this, to make his Misery

compleat, (_viz._) the Duration of it all, the Eternity of his

Condition; that he is without Hope, without Redemption, without

Recovery.

If any thing can inflame this _Hell_ and make it hotter, 'tis this only,

and this does add an inexpressible Horror to the Devil himself;

_namely_, the seeing Man (the only Creature he hates) placed in a State

of Recovery, a glorious Establishment of Redemption form'd for him in

Heaven, and the Scheme of it perfected on Earth; by which _this Man_,

tho' even the _Devil_ by his Art may have deluded him, and drawn him

into Crime, is yet in a State of Recovery, which the Devil is not; and

that it is not in his (_Satan_'s) Power to prevent it: Now take the

Devil as he is in his own Nature Angelic, a bright immortal Seraph,

Heaven-born, and having tasted the eternal Beatitude, which these are

appointed to enjoy; the Loss of that State to himself, the Possession

of it granted to his Rival tho' wicked like and as himself; I say, take

the Devil as he is, having a quick Sense of his own Perdition, and a

stinging Sight of his Rival's Felicity, 'tis _Hell enough_, and more

than enough, even for an Angel to support; nothing we can conceive can

be worse.

As to any other Fire than this, such and so immaterially intense as to

Torment a Spirit, which is it self Fire also; I will not say it cannot

be, because to Infinite every Thing is possible, but I must say, I

cannot conceive rightly of it.

I will not enter here into the Wisdom or Reasonableness of representing

the Torments of Hell to be Fire, and that Fire to be a Commixture of

_Flame_ and _Sulphur_; it has pleased God to let the Horror of those

eternal Agonies about _a lost Heaven_, be laid before us by those

Similitudes or Allegories, which are most moving to our Senses and to

our Understandings; nor will I dispute the Possibility; much less will I

doubt but that there is to be a Consummation of Misery to all the

Objects of Misery when the _Devil_'s Kingdom in this World ending with

the World it self, that Liberty he has now may be farther abridg'd; when

he may be return'd to the same State he was in between the Time of his

Fall and the Creation of the World; with perhaps some additional

Vengeance on him, such as at present we cannot describe, for all that

Treason and those high Crimes and Misdemeanours which he has been guilty

of here, in his Conversation with Mankind.

As his Infelicity will be then consummated and compleated, so the

Infelicity of that Part of Mankind, who are condemn'd with him, may

receive a considerable Addition from those Words in their Sentence, to

be tormented _with the Devil and his Angels_; for as the Absence of the

Supreme Good is a compleat Hell, so the hated Company of the Deceiver,

who was the great Cause of his Ruine, must be a Subject of additional

Horror, and he will be always saying, as a _Scots_ Gentleman, who died

of his Excesses, said to the famous Dr. _P----_, who came to see him on

his Death-bed, but had been too much his Companion in his Life,

_O tu fundamenta jecisti------_

I would not treat the very Subject it self with any Indecency, nor do I

think my Opinion of that _Hell_, which I say consists in the Absence of

him, in whom is Heaven, one Jot less Solemn than theirs who believe it

all _Fire_ and _Brimstone_; but I must own, that to me nothing can be

more ridiculous than the Notions that we entertain and fill our Heads

with about _Hell_, and about the _Devil_'s being there tormenting of

Souls, broiling them upon Gridirons, hanging them up upon Hooks,

carrying them upon their Backs, and the like, with the several Pictures

of _Hell_, represented by a great Mouth with horrible Teeth, gaping like

a Cave on the Sides of a Mountain; suppose that appropriated to _Satan_

in the _Peak_, which indeed is not much unlike it, with a Stream of Fire

coming out of it, as there is of Water, and smaller Devils going and

coming continually in and out, to fetch and carry Souls the Lord knows

whither, and for the Lord knows what.

These Things, however intended for Terror, are indeed so ridiculous,

that the _Devil_ himself, to be sure, mocks at them, and a Man of Sense

can hardly refrain doing the like, only I avoid it, because I would not

give offence to weaker Heads.

However, I must not Compliment the Brains of other Men, at the Expence

of my own, or talk Nonsense because they can understand no other; I

think all these Notions and Representations of _Hell_ and of the

_Devil_, to be as prophane as they are ridiculous, and I ought no more

to talk prophanely than merrily of them.

Let us learn to talk of these Things then, as we should do; and as we

really cannot describe them to our Reason and Understanding, why should

we describe them to our Senses; we had, I think, much better not

describe them at all, that is to say, not attempt it: The blessed

Apostle St. _Paul_ was, as he said himself, carried up, or caught up

into the _third Heaven_, yet when he came down again, he could neither

tell what he heard or describe what he saw; all he could say of it was,

that what he heard was _inutterable_, and what he saw was

_inconceivable_.

It is the same thing as to the State of the _Devil_ in those Regions

which he now possesses, and where he now more particularly inhabits; my

present Business then is not to enter into those grave Things so as to

make them ridiculous, as I think most People do that talk of them; but

as the _Devil_, let his Residence be where it will, has evidently free

Leave to come and go, not into this World only; (_I mean, the Region of

our Atmosphere_,) but for ought we know, to all the other inhabited

Worlds which God has made, where-ever they are, and by whatsoever Names

they are or may be known or distinguished; for if he is not confined in

one Place, we have no Reason to believe he is excluded from any Place,

Heaven only excepted, from whence he was expell'd for his Treason and

Rebellion.

His Liberty then being thus ascertain'd, three Things seem to be

material for us to give an Account of, in order to form this Part of

his History.

1. What his Business is on this Globe of Earth which we vulgarly

call the World, how he acts among us, what Affairs Mankind and he

have together, and how far his Conduct here relates to Us, and Ours

is, or may be influenc'd by him.

2. Where his Principal Residence is, and whether he has not a

particular Empire of his own, to which he retreats upon proper

Occasions; where he entertains his Friends when they come under his

particular Administration; and where, when he gets any Victory over

his Enemies, he carries his Prisoners of War.

3. What may probably be the great Business this black Emperor has

at present upon his Hands, either in this World or out of it, and

by what Agents he works.

As these Things may perhaps run promiscuously thro' the Course of this

whole Work, and frequently be touch'd at under other Branches of the

_Devil_'s History, so I do not propose them as Heads of Chapters or

Particular Sections, for the Order of Discourse to be handled apart; for

(by the way) as Satan's Actings have not been the most regular Things in

the World, so in our Discourse about him, it must not be expected that

we can always tie our selves down to Order and Regularity, either as to

Time, or Place, or Persons; for Satan being _hic & ubique_, a loose

ungovern'd Fellow, we must be content to trace him where we can find

him.

It is true, in the foregoing Chapter, I shew'd you the DEVIL entred into

the Herd Ecclesiastick, and gave you some Account of the first

successful Step he took with Mankind since the Christian Epocha; how

having secretly managed both Temporal and Spiritual Power apart, and by

themselves, he now united them in Point of Management, and brought the

Church Usurpation and the Army's Usurpation together; the Pope to bless

the General in deposing and murthering his Master the Emperor; and the

General to recognise the Pope in dethroning his Master Christ Jesus.

From this time forward you are to allow the _Devil_ a mystical Empire in

this World; not an Action of Moment done without him, not a Treason but

he has a Hand in it, not a Tyrant but he prompts him, not a Government

but he has a ---- in it; not a Fool but he tickles him, not a Knave but

he guides him; he has a Finger in every Fraud, a Key to every Cabinet,

from the _Divan_ at _Constantinople_, to the _Mississipi_ in _France_,

and to the _South-Sea_ Cheats at ------; from the first Attack upon the

Christian World, in the Person of the _Romish_ Antichrist, down to the

Bull _Unigenitus_; and from the Mixture of St. _Peter_ and _Confucius_

in _China_, to the Holy Office in _Spain_; and down to the _Emlins_ and

_Dodwells_ of the current Age.

How he has managed, and does manage, and how in all Probability he will

manage till his Kingdom shall come to a Period, and how at last he will

probably be managed himself, _Enquire within, and you shall know

farther_.

CHAP. III.

_Of the Manner of_ Satan_'s acting and carrying on his Affairs in this

World, and particularly of his ordinary Workings in the dark, by_

Possession _and_ Agitation.

The Devil being thus reduc'd to act upon Mankind by Stratagem only, it

remains to enquire how he performs, and which way he directs his

Attacks; the Faculties of Man are a kind of a Garrison in a strong

Castle, which as they defend it on the one hand under the Command of the

reasoning Power of Man's Soul, so they are prescribed on the other hand,

and can't sally out without Leave; for the Governor of a Fort does not

permit his Soldiers to hold any Correspondence with the Enemy, without

special Order and Direction. Now the great Enquiry before us is, How

comes the DEVIL to a Parley with us? how does he converse with our

Senses, and with the Understanding? How does he reach us, which way does

he come at the Affections, and which way does he move the Passions? 'Tis

a little difficult to discover this treasonable Correspondence, and that

Difficulty is indeed the _Devil_'s Advantage, and, for ought I see, the

chief Advantage he has over Mankind.

It is also a great Enquiry here, whether the _Devil_ knows our Thoughts

or no? If I may give my Opinion, I am with the negative; I deny that he

knows any thing of our Thoughts, except of those Thoughts which he puts

us upon thinking, for I will not doubt but he has the Art to inject

Thoughts, and to revive dormant Thoughts in us: It is not so wild a

Scheme as some take it to be, that Mr. _Milton_ lays down, to represent

the _Devil_ injecting corrupt Desires and wandring Thoughts into the

Head of _Eve_, by Dreams, and that he brought her to Dream whatever he

put into her Thoughts, by whispering to her vocally when she was asleep;

and to this End, he imagines the DEVIL laying himself close to her Ear,

in the Shape of a Toad, when she was fall asleep; I say, this is not so

wild a Scheme, seeing even now, if you can whisper any thing close to

the Ear of a Person in a deep Sleep, so as to speak distinctly to the

Person, and yet not awaken him, as has been frequently tried, the Person

sleeping shall dream distinctly of what you say to him; nay, shall dream

the very Words you say.

We have then no more to ask, but how the DEVIL can convey himself to the

Ear of a sleeping Person, and it is granted then that he may have Power

to make us dream what he pleases: But this is not all, for if he can so

forcibly, by his invisible Application, cause us to dream, what he

pleases, why can he not with the same Facility prompt our Thoughts,

whether sleeping or waking? To dream, is nothing else but to think

sleeping; and we have abundance of deep-headed Gentlemen among us, who

give us ample Testimony that they dream waking.

But if the DEVIL can prompt us to dream, that is to say, to think, yet

if he does not know our Thoughts, how then can he tell whether the

Whisper had its Effect? The answer is plain, the DEVIL, like the Angler,

baits the Hook, if the Fish bite he lies ready to take the Advantage, he

whispers to the Imagination, and then waits to see how it works; as

_Naomi_ said to _Ruth_, Chap. iii. 5, 18. _Sit still, my Daughter, until

thou know how the Matter will fall, for the Man will not be at rest

until he have finished the thing._ Thus when the DEVIL had whisper'd to

_Eve_ in her Sleep, _according to Milton_, and suggested Mischief to her

Imagination, he only sat still to see how the Matter would work, for he

knew if it took with her, he should hear more of it; and then by finding

her alone the next Day, without her ordinary Guard her Husband, he

presently concluded she had swallowed the Bait, and so attack'd her

afresh.

A small deal of Craft, and less by far than we have reason to believe

the _Devil_ is Master of, will serve to discover whether such and such

Thoughts as he knows he has suggested, have taken Place or no; the

Action of the Person presently discovers it, at least to him that lies

always upon the Watch, and has every Word, every Gesture, every Step we

take subsequent to his Operation, open to him; it may therefore, for

ought we know, be a great Mistake, and what most of us are guilty of, to

tell our Dreams to one another in the Morning, after we have been

disturb'd with them in the Night; for if the _Devil_ converses with us

so insensibly as some are of the Opinion he does, _that is to say_, if

he can hear as far as we can see, we may be telling our Story to him

indeed, when we think we are only talking to one another.

This brings me most naturally to the important Enquiry, whether the

_Devil_ can walk about the World invisibly or no? The Truth is, this is

no question to me; for as I have taken away his Visibility already, and

have denied him all Prescience of Futurity too, and have prov'd he

cannot know our Thoughts, nor put any Force upon Persons or Actions, if

we should take away his Invisibility too, we should _undevil_ him quite,

to all Intents and Purposes, as to any Mischief he could do; nay, it

would banish him the World, and he might e'en go and seek his Fortune

some where else; for if he could neither be visible or invisible,

neither act in publick or in private, he could neither have Business or

Being in this Sphere, nor could we be any way concern'd with him.

The _Devil_ therefore most certainly has a Power and Liberty of moving

about in this World, after _some manner or another_; this is verify'd as

well by way of Allegory, as by way of History, in the Scripture it self;

and as the first strongly suggests and supposes it to be so, the last

positively asserts it; and, not to croud this Work with Quotations from

a Book which we have not much to do with in the _Devil_'s Story, at

least not much to his Satisfaction, I only hint his personal Appearance

to our Saviour in the Wilderness, where it is said, _the Devil taketh

him up to an exceeding high Mountain_; and in another Place, _the Devil

departed from him_. What Shape or Figure he appear'd in, we do not find

mentioned, but I cannot doubt his appearing to him there, any more than

I can his talking to our Saviour in the Mouths, and with the Voices of

the several Persons who were under the terrible Affliction of an actual

Possession.

These Things leave us no room to doubt of what is advanced above,

namely, that he, (the _Devil_) has a certain Residence, or Liberty of

residing in, and moving about upon the Surface of this Earth, as well as

in the Compass of the Atmosphere, vulgarly call'd the Air, in some

manner or other: That is the general.

It remains to enquire into the manner, which I resolve into two Kinds;

1. _Ordinary_, which I suppose to be his invisible Motions as a

Spirit; under which Consideration I suppose him to have an

unconfin'd, unlimited, unrestrain'd Liberty, as to the manner of

acting; and this either in Persons, by Possession; or in Things, by

Agitation.

2. _Extraordinary_; which I understand to be his Appearances in

borrowed Shapes and Bodies, or Shadows rather of Bodies; assuming

Speech, Figure, Posture, and Several Powers, of which we can give

little or no Account; in which extraordinary manner of Appearances,

he is either limited by a Superior Power, or limits himself

politically, as being not the Way most for his Interest or Purpose,

to act in his Business, which is more effectually done in his State

of Obscurity.

Hence we must suppose the _Devil_ has it very much in his own Choice,

whether to act in one Capacity, or in the other, or in both; that is to

say, of appearing, and not appearing, as he finds for his Purpose: In

this State of Invisibility, and under the Operation of these Powers and

Liberties, he performs all his Functions and Offices, as _Devil_, as

Prince of Darkness, as God of this World, as Tempter, Accuser, Deceiver,

and all whatsoever other Names of Office, or Titles of Honour he is

known by.

Now taking him in this large unlimited, or little limited State of

Action, he is well call'd, _the God of this World_, for he has very much

of the Attribute of Omnipresence, and may be said, _either by himself or

his Agents_, to be every where, and see every thing; that is to say,

every thing that is visible; for I cannot allow him any Share of

_Omniscience_ at all.

That he ranges about every where, is _with us_, and sometimes _in us_,

sees when he is not seen, hears when he is not heard, comes in without

Leave, and goes out without Noise, is neither to be shut in or shut out,

that when he runs _from us_ we can't catch him, and when he runs _after

us_ we can't escape him, is seen when he is not known, and is known when

he is not seen; all these things, and more, we have Knowledge enough

about to convince us of the Truth of them; so that, as I have said

above, he is certainly walking to and fro thro' the Earth, _&c._ after

_some manner or other_, and in some Figure or other, visible or

invisible, as he finds Occasion. Now in order to make our History of him

complete, the next Question before us is, how, and in what manner he

acts with Mankind? how his Kingdom is carried on, and by what Methods he

does his Business, for he certainly has a great deal of Business to do;

he is not an idle Spectator, nor is he walking about _incognito_, and

cloth'd in Mist and Darkness, purely in Kindness to us, that we should

not be frighted at him; but 'tis in Policy, that he may act

undiscover'd, that he may see and not be seen, may play his Game in the

dark, and not be detected in his Roguery; that he may prompt Mischief,

raise Tempests, blow up Coals, kindle Strife, embroil Nations, use

Instruments, and not be known to have his Hand in any thing, when at the

same time he really has a Hand in every thing.

Some are of Opinion, _and I among the rest_, that if the _Devil_ was

personally and visibly present among us, and we conversed with him Face

to Face, we should be so familiar with him in a little time, that his

ugly Figure would not affect us at all, that his Terrors would not

fright us, or that we should any more trouble our selves about him,

than we did with the last great Comet in 1678, which appear'd so long

and so constantly without any particular known Event, that at last we

took no more Notice of it than of the other ordinary Stars which had

appear'd before we or our Ancestors were born.

Nor indeed should we have much Reason to be frighted at him, or at least

none of those silly Things could be said of him which we now amuse our

selves about, and by which we set him up like a Scare-Crow to fright

Children and old Women, to fill up old Stories, make Songs and Ballads,

and in a Word, carry on the low priz'd Buffoonery of the common People;

we should either see him in his Angelic Form, as he was from the

Original, or if he has any Deformities entail'd upon him by the supreme

Sentence, and in Justice to the Deformity of his Crime, they would be of

a superior Nature, and fitted more for our Contempt as well as Horror,

than those weak fancied Trifles contrived by our antient Devil-raisers

and Devil-makers, to feed the wayward Fancies of old Witches and

Sorcerers, who cheated the ignorant World with a _Devil_ of their own

making, set forth, _in terrorem_, with Bat's Wings, Horns, cloven Foot,

long Tail, fork'd Tongue, and the like.

In the next Place, be his frightful Figure what it would, and his

Legions as numerous as the Host of Heaven, we should see him still, as

the Prince of _Devils_, tho' monstrous as a Dragon, flaming as a Comet,

tall as a Mountain, yet dragging his Chain after him equal to the utmost

of his supposed Strength; always in Custody of his _Jailors_ the Angels,

his Power over-power'd, his Rage cow'd and abated, or at least aw'd and

under Correction, limited and restrain'd; in a Word, we should see him a

vanquish'd Slave, his Spirit broken, his Malice, tho' not abated, yet

Hand-cuff'd and overpower'd, and he not able to work any Thing against

us by Force; so that he would be to us but like the Lions in the Tower,

encag'd and lock'd up, unable to do the Hurt he wishes to do, and that

we fear, or indeed any hurt at all.

From hence 'tis evident, that 'tis not his Business to be public, or to

walk up and down in the World visibly, and in his own Shape; his Affairs

require a quite different Management, as might be made apparent from the

Nature of Things, and the Manner of our Actings, as Men, either with our

selves or to one another.

Nor could he be serviceable in his Generation, as a public Person as now

he is, or answer the End of his Party who employ him, and who, if he was

to do their Business in public, as he does in private, would not be able

to employ him at all.

As in our modern Meetings for the Propagation of Impudence and other

Virtues, there would be no Entertainment and no Improvement for the Good

of the Age, if the People did not all appear in Masque, and conceal'd

from the common Observation; so neither could _Satan_ (from whose

Management those more happy Assemblies are taken as Copies of a glorious

Original) perform the usual and necessary Business of his Profession, if

he did not appear wholly in Covert and under needful Disguises; how, but

for the Convenience of his Habit, could he call himself into so many

Shapes, act on so many different Scenes, and turn so many Wheels of

State in the World, as he has done? as a meer profess'd _Devil_ he could

do nothing.

Had he been oblig'd always to act the meer Devil in his own Clothes, and

with his own Shape, appearing uppermost in all Cafes and Places, he

could never have preach'd in so many Pulpits, presided in so many

Councils, voted in so many Committees, sat in so many Courts, and

influenc'd so many Parties and Factions in Church and State, as we have

Reason to believe he has done in our Nation, and in our Memories too, as

well as in other Nations and in more antient Times. The Share Satan has

had in all the weighty Confusions of the Times, ever since the first

Ages of Christianity in the World, has been carried on with so much

Secresy, and so much with an Air of Cabal and Intrigue, that nothing can

have been manag'd more subtilly and closely, and in the same Manner has

he acted in our Times, in order to conceal his Interest, and conceal the

Influence he has had in the Councils of the World.

Had it been possible for him to have raised the Flames of Rebellion and

War so often in this Nation, as he certainly has done? Could he have

agitated the Parties on both Sides, and inflam'd the Spirits of three

Nations, if he had appears in his own Dress, a meer naked DEVIL? It is

not the Devil as a _Devil_ that does the Mischief, but the _Devil_ in

Masquerade, _Satan_ in full Disguise, and acting at the Head of civil

Confusion and Distraction.

If History may be credited, the _French_ Court at the Time of our old

Confusions was made the Scene of Satan's Politicks, and prompted both

Parties in _England_ and in _Scotland_ also to quarrel, and how was it

done? Will any Man offer to scandalize the _Devil_ so much as to say, or

so much as to suggest that _Satan_ had no Hand in it all? Did not the

_Devil_, by the Agency of Cardinal _Richlieu_, send 400000 Crowns at one

Time, and 600000 at another, to the _Scots_, to raise an Army and march

boldly into _England?_ and did not the same _Devil_ at the same time, by

other Agents, remit 800000 Crowns to the other Party, in order to raise

an Army to fall upon the _Scots_? nay, did not the _Devil_ with the

same Subtilty send down the Archbishop's Order to impose the

Service-Book upon the People in _Scotland_, and at the same Time raise a

Mob against it, in the great Church (at St. _Giles_'s)? Nay, did not he

actually, in the Person of an old Woman (his favourite Instrument) throw

the three-leg'd Stool at the Service-Book, and animate the zealous

People to take up Arms for Religion, and turn Rebels for God Sake?

All these happy and successful Undertakings, tho' 'tis no more to be

doubted they were done by the Agency of _Satan_, and in a very

surprizing Manner too, yet were all done in secret, by what I call

Possession and Injection, and by the Agency and Contrivance of such

Instruments, or by the _Devil_ in the Disguise of such Servants as he

found out fitted to be employ'd in his Work, and who he took a more

effectual Care in concealing of.

But we shall have Occasion to touch all this Part over again, when we

come to discourse of the particular Habits and Disguises which the

_Devil_ has made use of, all along in the World, the better to cover his

Actions, and to conceal his being concern'd in them.

In the mean Time the Cunning or Artifice the _Devil_ makes use of in all

these Things is in it self very considerable; 'tis an old Practice of

his using, and he has gone on in diverse Measures, for the better

concealing himself in it; which Measures, tho' he varies sometimes, as

his extraordinary Affairs require, yet they are in all Ages much the

same, and have the same Tendency; namely, that he may get all his

Business carried on by the Instrumentality of Fools; that he may make

Mankind Agents in their own Destruction, and that he may have all his

Work done in such a Manner as that he may seem to have no Hand in it;

nay he contrives so well, that the very Name _Devil_ is put upon his

opposite Party, and the Scandal of the black Agent lies all upon them.

In order then to look a little into his Conduct, let us enquire into the

common Mistakes about him, see what Use is made of them to his

Advantage, and how far Mankind is imposed upon in those Particulars, and

to what Purpose.

CHAP. IV.

_Of Satan's Agents or Missionaries, and their Actings upon and in the

Minds of Men in his Name._

Infinite Advantages attend the _Devil_ in his retired Government, as

they respect the Management of his Interests, and the carrying on his

absolute Monarchy in the World; particularly as it gives him room to act

by the Agency of his inferior Ministers and Messengers, call'd on many

Occasions _his Angels_, of whom he has an innumerable _Multitude_, at

his Command, enough, for ought we know, to spare one to attend every Man

and Woman now alive in the World; and of whom, if we may believe our

second sight Christians, the Air is always as full, as a Beam of the

Evening Sun is of Insects, where they are ever ready for Business, and

to go and come as their great Governor issues out Orders for their

Directions.

These, as they are all of the same spirituous Quality with himself, and

consequently invisible like him, _except as above_, are ready upon all

Occasions to be sent to _and into_ any such Person, and for such

Purposes, _superior Limitations only excepted_, as the grand Director of

_Devils_, (The _Devil_ properly so call'd guides them;) and be the

Subject or the Object what it will, _that is to say_, be the Person they

are sent to, _or into, as above_, who it will, and the Business the

Messenger is to do what it will, they are sufficiently qualified; for

this is a Particular to Satan's Messengers or Agents, that they are not

like us humane _Devils_ here in the World, some bred up one Way, some

another, some of one Trade, some of another, and consequently some fit

for some Business, some for another, some good for something, and some

good for nothing, but his People are every one fit for every Thing, can

find their Way every where, and are a Match for every Body they are sent

to; in a Word, there are no _foolish Devils_, they are all fully

qualified for their Employment, fit for any thing he sets them about,

and very seldom mistake their Errand or fail in the Business they are

sent to do.

Nor is it strange at all, that the _Devil_ should have such a numberless

Train of Deputy _Devils_ to act under him; for it must be acknowledged

he has a great deal of Business upon his Hands, a vast deal of Work to

do, abundance of public Affairs under his Direction, and an infinite

Variety of particular Cases always before him; _for Example_.

How many Governments in the World are wholly in his Administration? how

many Divans and great Councils under his Direction? nay, I believe,

'twould be hard to prove that there is or has been one Council of State

in the World for many hundred Years past, down to the Year 1713, (we

don't pretend to come nearer home) where the _Devil_ by himself, or his

Agents in one Shape or another, has not sat as a Member, if not taken

the Chair.

And tho' some learn'd Authors may dispute this Point with me, by giving

some Examples where the Councils of Princes have been acted by a better

Hand, and where Things have been carried against _Satan_'s Interest, and

even to his great Mortification, it amounts to no more than this;

namely, that in such Cases the _Devil_ has been out-voted; but it does

not argue but he might have been present there, and have push'd his

Interest as far as he could, only that he had not the Success he

expected; for I don't pretend to say that he has never been

disappointed; but those Examples are so rare, and of so small

Signification, that when I come to the Particulars, as I shall do in the

Sequel of this History, you will find them hardly worth naming; and

that, take it one Time with another, the _Devil_ has met with such a

Series of Success in all his Affairs, and has so seldom been baulk'd;

and where he has met with a little Check in his Politicks, has

notwithstanding, so soon and so easily recover'd himself, regain'd his

lost Ground, or replac'd himself in another Country when he has been

supplanted in one, that his Empire is far from being lessen'd in the

World, for the last thousand Years of the Christian Establishment.

Suppose we take an Observation from the Beginning of _Luther_, or from

the Year 1420, and call the Reformation a Blow to the _Devil_'s Kingdom,

which before that was come to such a Height in Christendom, that 'tis a

Question not yet thorowly decided, whether that Medley of Superstition

and horrible Heresies, that Mass of Enthusiam and Idols call'd the

Catholick Hierarchy, was a Church of God or a Church of the _Devil_;

whether it was an Assembly of Saints or a Synagogue of Satan: I say,

take that Time to be the _Epocha_ of Satan's Declension and of

Lucifer's falling from Heaven, that is, from the Top of his terrestrial

Glory, yet whether he did not gain in the Defection of the _Greek_

Church about that Time and since, as much as he lost in the Reformation

of the _Roman_, is what Authors are not yet agreed about, not reckoning

what he has regain'd since of the Ground which he had lost even by the

Reformation, (_viz._) the Countries of the Duke of _Savoy_'s Dominion,

where the Reformation is almost eaten out by Persecution; the whole

_Valtoline_ and some adjacent Countries; the whole Kingdom of _Poland_

and almost all _Hungary_; for since the last War the Reformation, as it

were, lies gasping for Breath, and expiring in that Country, also

several large Provinces in _Germany_, as _Austria_, _Carinthia_, and the

whole Kingdom of _Bohemia_, where the Reformation once powerfully

planted, receiv'd its Death's Wound at the Battle of _Prague_, _Ann._

1627, and languish'd but a very little while, died and was buried, and

good King POPERY reign'd in its stead.

To these Countries thus regain'd to Satan's infernal Empire, let us add

his modern Conquests and the Encroachments he has made upon the

Reformation in the present Age, which are, _however light we make of

them_, very considerable (_viz._) the Electorate of the _Rhine_ and the

_Palatinate_, the one fallen to the House of _Bavaria_, and the other to

that of _Neuburgh_, both Popish; the Dutchy of _Deux Ponts_ fallen just

now to a popish Branch, the whole Electorate of _Saxony_ fallen under

the Power of popish Government by the Apostacy of their Princes, and

more likely to follow the Fate of _Bohemia_, whenever the diligent

_Devil_ can bring his new Project in _Poland_ to bear, as 'tis more than

probable he will do so some time or other, by the growing Zeal as well

as Power of (that House of Bigots) the House of _A----_.

But to sum up the dull Story; we must add in the Roll of the _Devil_'s

Conquests, the whole Kingdom of _France_, where we have in one Year

seen, to the immortal Glory of the _Devil_'s Politicks, that his

Measures have prevailed to the total Extirpation of the Protestant

Churches without a War; and that Interest which for 200 Years had

supported it self in spight of Persecutions, Massacres, five civil Wars

and innumerable Battles and Slaughters, at last receiv'd its mortal

Wound from its own Champion _Henry_ IV. and sunk into utter Oblivion, by

_Satan_'s most exquisite Management under the Agency of his two prime

Ministers Cardinal _Richlieu_ and _Lewis_ the XIV, whom he entirely

possess'd.

Thus far we have a melancholy View of the _Devil_'s new Conquests, and

the Ground he has regain'd upon the Reformation, in which his secret

Management has been so exquisite, and his Politicks so good, that could

he bring but one Thing to pass, which by his own former Mistake, (for

the _Devil_ is not infallible) he has rendred impossible, he would bring

the Protestant Interest so near its Ruin, that Heaven would be, _as it

were_, put to the Necessity of working by Miracle to prevent it; _the

Case is thus_.

Antient Historians tell us, and from good Authority, that the DEVIL

finding it for his Interest to bring his favourite _Mahomet_ upon the

Stage, and spread the victorious Half-Moon upon the Ruin of the Cross,

having with great Success, rais'd first the _Saracen_ Empire, and then

the _Turkish_ to such a Height, as that the Name of Christian seemed to

be extirpated in those two Quarters of the World, which were then not

the greatest only, but by far the most powerful, I mean _Asia_ and

_Africa_; having totally laid wast all those antient and flourishing

Churches of _Africa_, the Labours of St. _Cyprian_, _Tertullian_, St.

_Augustine_, and 670 Christian Bishops and Fathers, who govern'd there

at once, also all the Churches of _Smyrna_, _Philadelphia_, _Ephesus_,

_Sardis_, _Antioch_, _Laodicea_, and innumerable others in _Pontus_,

_Bithynia_, and the Provinces of the lesser _Asia_.

The _Devil_ having, I say, finish'd these Conquests so much to his

Satisfaction, began to turn his Eyes Northward, and tho' he had a

considerable Interest in the _Whore of Babylon_, and had brought his

Power by the Subjection of the _Roman_ Hierarchy to a great Height, yet

finding the Interest of _Mahomet_ most suitable to his _devilish_

Purposes, as most adapted to the Destruction of Mankind, and laying

waste the World, he resolv'd to espouse the growing Power of the _Turk_,

and bring him in upon _Europe_ like a Deluge.

In order to this, and to make Way for an easy Conquest, like a true

_Devil_ he work'd under Ground, and sap'd the Foundation of the

Christian Power, by sowing Discord among the reigning Princes of

_Europe_; that so envying one another they might be content to stand

still and look on while the _Turk_ devoured them one by one, and at last

might swallow them up all.

This _devilish_ Policy took to his Heart's Content; the Christian

Princes stood still, stupid, dozing, and unconcern'd, till the Turk

conquered _Thrace_, over-run _Servia_, _Macedonia_, _Bulgaria_, and all

the Remains of the _Grecian_ Empire, and at last the Imperial City of

_Constantinople_ it self.

Finding this politic Method so well answer his Ends, the _Devil_, who

always improves upon the Success of his own Experiments, resolv'd from

that time to lay a Foundation for the making those Divisions and

Jealousies of the Christian Princes immortal; whereas they were at

first only personal, and founded in private Quarrels between the Princes

respectively; such as _Emulation_ of one another's Glory, _Envy_ at the

extraordinary Valour, or other Merit of this or that Leader, or

_Revenge_ of some little Affront; for which notwithstanding, so great

was the Piety of Christian Princes in those Days, that they made no

Scruple to sacrifice whole Armies, yea, Nations, to their Piques and

private Quarrels, _a certain Sign whose Management they were under_.

These being the Causes by which the DEVIL first sow'd the Seeds of

Mischief among them, and the Success so well answering his Design, he

could not but wish to have the same Advantage always ready at his Hand;

and therefore he resolv'd to order it so, that these Divisions, which,

however useful to him, were only personal, and consequently temporary,

like an Annual in the Garden, which must be rais'd anew every Season,

might for the future be national, and consequently durable and immortal.

To this end it was necessary to lay the Foundation of eternal Feud, not

in the Humours and Passions of Men only, but in the Interests of

Nations: The Way to do this was to form and state the Dominion of those

Princes, by such a Plan drawn in Hell, and laid out from a Scheme truly

political, of which the _Devil_ was chief Engineer; that the Divisions

should always remain, being made a natural Consequence of the Situation

of the Country, the Temper of their People, the Nature of their

Commerce, the Climate, the Manner of living, or something which should

for ever render it impossible for them to unite.

This, I say, was a Scheme truly infernal, in which the _Devil_ was as

certainly the principal Operator, to illustrate great Things by small,

as ever _John_ of _Leyden_ was of the High _Dutch_ Rebellion, or Sir

_John B------t_ of the late Project, called the _South-Sea_ Stock. Nor

did this Contrivance of the _Devil_ at all dishonour his Author, or the

Success appear unworthy of the Undertaker; for we see it not only answer

the End, and made the _Turk_ victorious at the same Time, and formidable

to _Europe_ ever after, but it works to this Day, the Foundation of the

Divisions remains in all the several Nations, and that to such a Degree

that it is impossible they should unite.

This is what I hinted before, in which the _Devil_ was mistaken, and is

another instance that he knows nothing of what is to come; for this very

Foundation of immortal Jealousy and Discord between the several Nations

of _Spain_, _France_, _Germany_, and others, which the _Devil_ himself

with so much Policy contriv'd, and which serv'd his Interests so long,

is now the only Obstruction to his Designs, and prevents the entire Ruin

of the Reformation; for tho' the reform'd Countries are very Powerful,

and some of them, as _Great Britain_ and _Prussia_ is particularly, more

powerful than ever; yet it cannot be said that the Protestant Interests

in general are stronger than formerly, or so strong as they were in 1623

under the victorious Arms of the _Swede_; On the other Hand, were it

possible that the Popish Powers, to wit, of _France_, _Spain_,

_Germany_, _Italy_ and _Poland_, which are intirely Popish, could

heartily unite their Interests, and should join their Powers to attack

the Protestants, the latter would find it very difficult, if not

impossible, to defend themselves.

But as fatal as such a Union of the Popish Powers would be, and as

useful as it would be to the _Devil_'s Cause at this time, not the

_Devil_ with all his Angels are able to bring it to pass; no, not with

all his Craft and Cunning; he divided them, but he can't unite them; so

that even just as 'tis with Men, so 'tis with _Devils_, they may do in

an Hour what they can't undo in an Age.

This may comfort those faint-hearted Christians among us, who cry out of

the Danger of a religious War in _Europe_, and what terrible Things will

happen when _France_, and _Spain_, and _Germany_, and _Italy_, and

_Poland_ shall all unite; let this Answer satisfy them, The _Devil_

himself can never make _France_ and _Spain_, or _France_ and the Emperor

unite; jarring Humours may be reconcil'd, but jarring Interests never

can: They may unite so as to make Peace, _tho' that can hardly be long_,

but never so as to make Conquests together; they are too much afraid of

one another, for one to bear, that any Addition of Strength should come

to the other. But this is a Digression. We shall find the _Devil_

mistaken and disappointed too on several other Occasions, as we go

along.

I return to Satan's Interest in the several Governments and Nations, by

vertue of his Invisibility, and which he carries on by Possession; 'tis

by this Invisibility that he presides in all the Councils of _foreign

Powers_, (for we never mean our own, that we always premise;) and what

tho' it is alledged by the Criticks, that he does not preside, because

there is always a President; I say, if he is not in the President's

Chair, yet if he be in the President himself, the Difference is not

much; and if he does not vote as a Counsellor, if he votes in the

Counsellor, 'tis much the same; and here, as it was in the Story of

_Ahab_ the King of _Israel_, as he was a _lying Spirit_ in the Mouths of

_all his Prophets_, so we find him a Spirit of some particular evil

Quality or other, in all the Transactions and Transactors on that Stage

of Life we call the State.

Thus he was a dissembling Spirit in _Char._ IX. a turbulent Spirit in

_Char._ V. Emperors; a bigotted Spirit of Fire and Faggot in our Queen

_Mary_; an apostate Spirit in _Hen._ IV.; a cruel Spirit in _Peter_ of

_Castile_; a revengeful Spirit in _Ferdinand_ II.; a _Phaeton_ in

_Lewis_ XIV.; a _Sardanapalus_ in _C------_ II.

In the Great Men of the World, take them a degree lower than the Class

of Crown'd Heads, he has the same secret Influence; and hence it comes

to pass, that the greatest Heroes, and Men of the highest Character for

Atchievements of Glory, either by their Virtue or Valour, however they

have been crowned with Victories, and elevated by human Tongues,

whatever the most consummate Virtues or good Qualities they have been

known by, yet they have always had some Devil or other in them to

preserve _Satan_'s Claim to them uninterrupted, and prevent their Escape

out of his Hands; thus we have seen a bloody Devil in a _D'Alva_; a

profligate Devil in a _Buckingham_; a lying, artful, or politick Devil

in a _Richlieu_; a treacherous Devil in a _Mazarin_; a cruel, merciless

Devil in a _Cortez_; a debauch'd Devil in an _Eugene_; a conjuring Devil

in a _Luxemburg_; and a covetous Devil in a _M---------h_: In a word,

tell me the Man, I tell you the Spirit that reign'd in him.

Nor does he thus carry on his secret Management by Possession in Men of

the first Magnitude only, but have you not had Evidences of it among our

selves? how has he been a _lying_ Spirit in the Mouths of our Prophets,

a factious Spirit in the Heads of our Politicians, a profuse _Devil_ in

a _B-----s_, a corrupt Devil in _M-----_, a proud Spirit in my Lord

_Plausible_, a bullying Spirit in my Lord _Bugbear_, a talkative Spirit

in his Grace the D---- of _Rattle-hall_, a scribling Spirit in my Lord

_H------_, a run-away Spirit in my Lord _Frightful_; and so thro' a long

Roll of Heroes, whose exceeding, and particular Qualifications proclaim

loudly what Handle the _Devil_ took them by, and how fast he held them;

for these were all Men of ancient Fame, I hope you know that.

From Men of Figure, we descend to the Mob, and 'tis there the same

thing; Possession, like the Plague, is _Morbus Plebaei_; not a Family but

he is a Spirit of Strife and Contention among them; not a Man but he has

a Part in him; he is a drunken _Devil_ in one, a whoring _Devil_ in

another, a thieving _Devil_ in a third, a lying _Devil_ in the fourth,

and so on, to a thousand, and a hundred thousand, _ad infinitum_.

Nay, even the Ladies have their Share in the Possession; and if they

have not the _Devil_ in their Heads, or in their Tails, in their Faces

or their Tongues, it must be some poor despicable She-devil that Satan

did not think it worth his while to meddle with; and the Number of those

that are below his Operation, I doubt is very small. But that Part I

have much more to say to in its Place.

From Degrees of Persons, to Professions and Employments, 'tis the same;

we find the _Devil_ is a true Posture-master, he assumes any Dress,

appears in any Shape, counterfeits every Voice, acts upon every Stage;

here he wears a Gown, there a long Robe; here he wears the Jack-Boots,

there the Small-Sword; is here an _Enthusiast_, there a _Buffoon_; on

this Side he acts the _Mountebank_, on that Side the _Merry-Andrew_;

nothing comes amiss to him, from the Great _Mogul_, to the _Scaramouch_;

the _Devil_ is in them, more or less, and plays his Game so well that he

makes sure Work with 'em all: He knows where the _Common Foible_ lies,

which is UNIVERSAL PASSION, what Handle to take hold of every Man by,

and how to cultivate his Interest so, as not to fail of his End, or

mistake the Means.

How then can it be deny'd but that his acting thus _in tenebris_, and

keeping out of the sight of the World, is abundantly his Interest, and

that he could do nothing, comparatively speaking, by any other Method?

What would this publick Appearance have signified? Who would have

entertain'd him in his own proper Shape and Person? Even B---- _B----_

himself, tho' all the World knows him to have a foolish _Devil_ in him,

would not have been Fool enough to have taken him into his Service, if

he had known him: And my Lord _Simpleton_ also, who _Satan_ has set up

for a cunning Fool, seems to have it sit much better upon him now he

passes for a Fool of Art, than it should have done if the naked DEVIL

had come and challenged him for a Fool in Nature.

Infinite Variety illustrate the _Devil_'s Reign among the Sons of Men;

all which he manages with admirable Dexterity, and a Slight particular

to himself, by the mere Advantage of his present conceal'd Situation,

and which, had he been obliged to have appear'd in Publick, had been all

lost, and he capable of just nothing at all, or at least of nothing more

than the other ordinary Politicians of Wickedness could have done

without him.

Now, Authors are much divided as to the manner how the _Devil_ manages

his proper Instruments for Mischief; for Satan has a great many Agents

in the Dark, who neither have the DEVIL in them, nor are they much

acquainted with him, and yet he serves himself of them, whether of their

Folly, or of that other Frailty call'd Wit, 'tis all one, he makes them

do his Work, when they think they are doing their own; nay, so cunning

is he in his guiding the weak Part of the World, that even when they

think they are serving God, they are doing nothing less or more than

serving the _Devil_; nay, 'tis some of the nicest Part of his Operation,

to make them believe they are serving God, when they do his Work. Thus

those who the Scripture foretold should persecute Christ's Church in the

latter Days, were to think they do God _good Service_: Thus the

Inquisition, (for Example,) it may be, at this time, in all the acts of

Christian Cruelty which they are so famous for (if any of them are

ignorant enough not to know that they are _Devils_ incarnate) they may,

for ought we know, go on for God's sake; torture, murther, starve to

Death, mangle and macerate, and all for God, and God's Catholic Church;

and 'tis certainly the _Devil_'s Master-piece to bring Mankind to such a

Perfection of Devilism as that of the _Inquisition_ is; for _if the_

Devil _had not been in them_, could they christen such a _Hell-fire_

Judicature as the _Inquisition_ is, by the Name of _the Holy Office_?

And so in Paganism, how could so many Nations among the poor _Indians_

offer human Sacrifices to their Idols, and murther thousands of Men,

Women and Children, to appease this God of the Air, when he is angry, if

the _Devil_ did not act in them under the Vizor of Devotion?

But we need not go to _America_, or to the Inquisition, not to Paganism

or to Popery either, to look for People that are sacrificing to the

_Devil_, or that give their Peace-offerings to him, while they are

offer'd upon God's Altar; are not our Churches (ay, and Meeting-houses

too, as much as they pretend to be more sanctified than their

Neighbours) full of _Devil_ Worshipers? Where do his Devotees gratulate

one another, and congratulate him, more than at Church? where, while

they hold up their Hands, and turn up their Eyes towards Heaven, they

make all their Vows to Satan, or at least to the fair _Devils_ his

Representatives, which I shall speak of in their Place.

Do not the Sons of God make Assignations with the Daughters of Men in

the very House of Worship? Do they not talk to them in the Language of

the Eyes? And what is at the Bottom of it, while one Eye is upon the

Prayer-book, and the other adjusting their Dress? Are they not

sacrificing to _Venus_ and _Mercury_, nay, and the very _Devil_ they

dress at?

Let any Man impartially survey the Church-Gestures, the Air, the

Postures and the Behaviour; let him keep an exact Roll, and if I do not

shew him two _Devil_ Worshipers for one true Saint, then the Word

_Saint_ must have another Signification than I ever yet understood it

by.

The Church (as a Place) is the Receptacle of the Dead, as well as the

Assembly of the Living; what relates to those below, I doubt Satan, if

he would be so kind, could give a better Account of than I can; but as

to the Superficies, I pretend to so much Penetration as to tell you,

that there are more Spectres, more Apparitions always there, than you

that know nothing of the matter may be aware of.

I happen'd to be at an eminent Place of God's most devout Worship the

other Day, with a Gentleman of my Acquaintance, who, I observed, minded

very little the Business he ought to come about; first I saw him always

busy staring about him and bowing this Way and that Way, nay, he made

two or three bows and Scrapes when he was repeating the Responses to the

Ten Commandments, and assure you he made it correspond strangely, so

that the Harmony was not so broken in upon as you would expect it

should; thus; _Lord_, and a Bow to a fine Lady just come up to her Seat,

_have Mercy upon us_; ---- three Bows to a Throng of Ladies that came

into the next Pew altogether, _and incline_ ---- then stop'd to make a

great Scrape to my Lord ----, _our Hearts_, just then the Hearts of all

the Church were gone off from the Subject, for the Response was over, so

he huddled up the rest in Whispers, for _God a Mighty_ could hear him

well enough, _he said_, nay, as well as if he had spoken as loud as his

Neighbours did.

After we were come home, I ask'd him what he meant by all this, and what

he thought of it?

How could I help it, _said he_, I must not be rude.

What, _says I_, rude to who?

Why, _says he_, there came in so many she _Devils_ I could not help it.

What, _said I_, could not you help bowing when you were saying your

Prayers?

O Sir! _says he_, the Ladies would have thought I had slighted them, I

could not avoid it.

Ladies! _said I_, I thought you call'd them _Devils_ just now.

Ay, ay, _Devils_, _said he_, little charming Devils, but I must not be

rude to them however.

Very well, _said I_, then you would be rude to _God a Mighty_, because

you could not be rude to the Devil?

Why that's true, _said he_, but what can we do? there's no going to

Church as the Case stands now, if we must not worship the _Devil_ a

little between whiles.

This is the Case indeed, and Satan carries his Point on every Hand; for

if the fair speaking World, and the fair looking World are generally

_Devils_, that is to say, are in his Management, we are sure the foul

speaking and the foul doing World are all on his Side, and you have then

only the fair-doing Part of the World that are out of his Class, and

when we speak of them, _O how few!_

But I return to the _Devil_'s managing our wicked Part, for this he does

with most exquisite Subtilty; and this is one Part of it, (_viz._) he

thrusts our Vices into our Virtues, by which he mixes the Clean and the

Unclean, and thus by the Corruption of the one, poisons and debauches

the other, so that the Slave he governs cannot account for his own

common Actions, and is fain to be oblig'd to his Maker to accept of the

Heart without the Hands and Feet; to take, as we vulgarly express it,

_the Will_ for the _Deed_, and if Heaven was not so good to come into

that half in half Service, I don't see but the _Devil_ would carry away

all his Servants: Here indeed I should enter into a long Detail of

involuntary Wickedness, which in short, is neither more or less than the

_Devil_ in every Body, ay, in every one of you, (our Governors excepted)

take it as you please.

What is our Language when we look back with Reflection and Reproach on

past Follies? _I think I was bewitch'd_, I was _posses'd_, _certainly

the Devil was in me, or else I had never been such a Sot_: _Devil_ in

you, Sir! Ay, who doubts it; you may be sure the _Devil_ was in you, and

there he is still, and next Time he can catch you in the same Snare,

you'll be just the same SOT that you say you were before.

In short, the _Devil_ is too cunning for us, and manages us his own Way;

he governs the Vices of Men by his own Methods; tho' every Crime will

not make a Man a _Devil_, yet it must be owned that every Crime puts the

Criminal in some Measure into the Devil's Power, gives him a Title to

the Man, and he treats him magisterially ever after.

Some tell us every single Man, every individual has a _Devil_ attending

him, to execute the Orders of the (Grand Signior) Devil of the whole

Clan; that this attending _evil Angel_, for so he is call'd, sees every

Step you take, is with you in every Action, prompts you to every

Mischief, and leaves you to do every Thing that is pernicious to your

self; they also alledge that there is a good Spirit which attends him

too, which latter is always accessary to every Thing that we do that is

good, and reluctant to evil; If this is true, how comes it to pass that

those two opposite Spirits do not quarrel about it when they are

pressing us to contrary Actions, one good and the other evil? and why

does the evil tempting Spirit so often prevail? Instead of answering

this difficult Question, I shall only tell you, as to this Story of good

and evil Angels attending every particular Person, 'tis a good Allegory

indeed to represent the Struggle in the Mind of Man between good and

evil Inclinations; but as to the rest, the best Thing I can say of it

is, _that_ I think _'tis a Fib_.

But to take Things as they are, and only talk by way of natural

Consequence, for to argue from Nature is certainly the best Way to find

out the _Devil_'s Story; if there are good and evil Spirits attending

us, that is to say, a good Angel and a _Devil_, then 'tis no unjust

Reproach upon any Body to say, when they follow the Dictates of the

latter, the _Devil_ is in them; or they are _Devils_; nay, I must carry

it farther still, namely, that as the Generality and greatest Number of

People do follow and obey the evil Spirit and not the good, and that the

predominate Power is allowed to be the nominating Power; you must then

allow, that in short, the greater Part of Mankind has the Devil in

them, and so I come to my Text.

To this Purpose give me leave to borrow a few Lines of a Friend on this

very Part of the Devil's Management.

To Places and Persons he suits his Disguises,

And dresses up all his Banditti,

Who as Pickpockets flock to a Country Assizes,

Croud up to the Court and the City.

They're at every Elbow and every Ear,

And ready at every call, Sir;

The vigilant Scout plants his Agents about,

And has something to do with us all, Sir.

In some he has Part, and in some he's the Whole,

And of some (like the Vicar of _Baddow_)

It can neither be said they have Body or Soul,

But only are _Devils_ in Shadow.

The Pretty and Witty, are Devils in Masque,

The Beauties are meer Apparitions;

The homely alone by their Faces are known,

And the Good by their ugly Conditions.

The Beaus walk about like the Shadows of Men.

And wherever he leads 'em they follow,

But tak'em and shak'em, there's not one in ten

But's as light as a Feather and hollow.

Thus all his Affairs he drives on in Disguise,

And he tickles Mankind with a Feather:

Creeps in at our Ears, and looks out at our Eyes,

And jumbles our Senses together.

He raises the Vapours, and prompts the Desires,

And to ev'ry dark Deed holds the Candle;

The Passions enflames and the Appetite fires,

And takes ev'ry Thing by the Handle.

Thus he walks up and down in compleat Masquerade,

And with every Company mixes,

Sells in every Shop, works at every Trade,

And ev'ry Thing doubtful perplexes.

How Satan comes by this governing Influence in the Minds and upon the

Actions of Men, is a Question I am not yet come to, nor indeed does it

so particularly belong to the Devil's History, it seems rather a

Polemick, so it may pass at School among the Metaphysicks, and puzzle

the Heads of our Masters; wherefore I think to write to the learned Dr.

_B----_ about it, imploring his most sublime Haughtiness, that when his

other more momentous Avocations of Pedantry and Pedagogism will give him

an Interval from Wrath and Contention, he will set apart a Moment to

consider human Nature Deviliz'd, and give us a Mathematical Anatomical

Description of it; with a Map of Satan's Kingdom in the Microcosm of

Mankind, and such other Illuminations as to him and his Contemporaries

---- and, ---- _&c._ in their great Wisdom shall seem meet.

CHAP. V.

_Of the_ Devil_'s Management in the Pagan Hierarchy by Omens, Entrails,

Augurs, Oracles, and such like Pageantry of Hell; and how they went

off the Stage at last by the Introduction of true Religion._

I have adjourn'd, not finished, my Account of the _Devil_'s secret

Management by _Possession_, and shall reassume it, in its Place; but I

must take leave to mention some other Parts of his retir'd Scheme, by

which he has hitherto manag'd Mankind, and the first of these is by that

Fraud of all Frauds call'd Oracle.

Here his Trumpet yielded an uncertain Sound for some Ages, and like what

he was, and according to what he practised from the Beginning, he

deliver'd out Falshood and Delusion by Retale: The Priests of _Apollo_

acted this Farce for him to a great Nicety at _Delphos_; there were

divers others at the same Time, and some, which to give the Devil his

due, he had very little Hand in, as we shall see presently.

There were also some smaller, some greater, some more, some less famous

Places where those Oracles were seated, and Audience given to the

Enquirers, in all which the _Devil_, or some Body for him, _Permissu

Superiorum_, for either vindictive or other hidden Ends and Purposes,

was allow'd to make at least a Pretension to the Knowledge of Things to

come; but, as publick Cheats generally do, they acted in Masquerade, and

gave such uncertain and inconsistent Responses, that they were oblig'd

to use the utmost Art to reconcile Events to the Prediction, even after

things were come to pass.

Here the Devil was a _lying Spirit_, in a particular and extraordinary

manner, in the Mouths of all the Prophets; and yet he had the Cunning to

express himself so, that whatever happen'd, the Oracle was suppos'd to

have meant as it fell out; and so all their Augurs, Omens and Voices, by

which the Devil amus'd the World, not at that Time only, but since, have

been likewise interpreted.

_Julian_ the Apostate dealt mightily in these Amusements, but the Devil,

who neither wish'd his Fall, or presag'd it to him, evidenc'd that he

knew nothing of _Julian_'s Fate; for that, as he sent almost to all the

Oracles of the East, and summon'd all the Priests together to inform him

of the Success of his _Persian_ Expedition, they all, like _Ahab_'s

_Prophets_, having a lying Spirit in them, encourag'd him and promis'd

him Success.