But in these modern Ages of the World, he finds it much more to his

Purpose to work under Ground as I have observ'd, and to keep upon the

Reserve; so that we have no authentick Accounts of his personal

Appearance, but what are very antient or very remote from our Faith, as

well as our Enquiry.

It seems to be a Question that would bear some debating, whether all

Apparitions are not _Devils_ or from the _Devil_; but there being so

many of those Apparitions which we call Spirits, which really assume

Shapes and make Appearances in the World, upon such Accounts as we know

_Satan_ himself scorns to be employ'd in, that I must dismiss the

Question in favour of the _Devil_; assuring them, that as he never

willingly did any good in his Life, so he would be far from giving

himself the Trouble of setting one Foot into the World, on such an

Errand; and for that Reason we maybe assur'd those certain Apparitions,

which we are told came to detect a Murther in _Gloucestershire_, and

others who appear'd to prevent the ruining an Orphan for want of finding

a Deed, that was not lost, was certainly some other Power equally

concern'd, and not the _Devil_.

On the other Hand, neither will it follow that _Satan_ never appears in

human Shape; for tho' every Apparition may not be the _Devil_, yet it

does not follow that the _Devil_ never makes an Apparition: All I shall

say to it is, as I have mention'd before, that generally speaking, the

_Devil_ finds it more for his Purpose, to have his Interest in the World

propagated another Way; namely, in private, and his personal Appearances

are reserv'd for Things only of extraordinary Consequence, and, as I may

say, of evident Necessity, where his Honour is concern'd, and where his

Interest could be carried on no other Way; not forgetting to take Notice

that this is very seldom.

It remains to enquire, what then those Things are which we make so much

stir about, and which are call'd _Apparitions_, or Spirits assuming

human Shapes, and shewing themselves to People on particular Occasions?

whether they are evil Spirits or good? and tho', indeed, this is out of

my Way at this Time, and does not relate at all to the _Devil_'s

History, yet I thought it not amiss to mention it; (1.) Because, as I

have said, I do not wholly exclude Satan from all Concern in such

Things; and (2.) Because I shall dismiss the Question with so very short

an Answer, namely, that we may determine which are and which are not the

_Devil_'s, by the Errand they come upon; every one to his own Business;

if it comes of a good Errand, you may certainly acquit the _Devil_ of

it, conclude him innocent, and that he has no hand in it; if it comes of

a wicked and devilish Errand, you may e'en take him up upon Suspicion,

'tis ten to one but you find him at the Bottom of it.

Next to Apparitions, we find Mankind disturb'd by abundance of little

odd reserv'd Ways which the _Devil_ is shrewdly suspected of having a

Hand in, such as _Dreams_, _Noises_, _Voices_, &c. smells of Brimstone,

Candles burning blue, and the like.

As to Dreams, I have nothing to say in Satan's Prejudice at all there; I

make no Question but he deals very much in that Kind of Intelligence,

and why should he not? we know _Heaven_ it self formerly converst very

often with the greatest of Men, by the same Method, and the _Devil_ is

known to mimick the Methods, as well as the Actions of his Maker;

whether Heaven has not quite left off that Way of working, we are not

certain; but we pretty well know the _Devil_ has not left it, and I

believe some Instances may be given where his Worship has been really

seen and talk'd to in sleep, as much as if the Person had been awake

with his Eyes open.

These are to be distinguish'd too, pretty much by the Goodness or

Badness of the Subject; how often have Men committed Murther, Robbery

and Adultery in a Dream, and at the same time except an extraordinary

Agitation of the Soul, and express'd by extraordinary Noises in the

Sleep, by violent Sweating and other such Ways, the Head has never been

remov'd from the Pillow, or the Body so much as turn'd in the Bed?

Whether in such Cases, the Soul with all the Passions and Affections

being agitated, and giving their full assent to the Facts, of whatever

Kind soever, the Man is not as guilty as if the Sins so dream'd of his

committing, had been actually committed? tho' it be no Doubt to me, but

that it is so, yet as it is foreign to the present Affair, and not at

all relating to the _Devil_'s History, I leave it to the Reverend

Doctors of the Church, as properly belonging to them to decide.

I knew a Person who the _Devil_ so haunted with naked Women, fine

beautiful Ladies in Bed with him, and Ladies of his Acquaintance too,

offering their Favours to him, and all in his Sleep; so that he seldom

slept without some such Entertainment; the Particulars are too gross for

my Story, but he gave me several long Accounts of his Night's _Amours_,

and being a Man of a virtuous Life and good Morals, it was the greatest

Surprize to him imaginable; for you cannot doubt but that the cunning

_Devil_ made every thing be acted to the Life with him, and in a manner

the most wicked; he own'd with Grief to me, that the very first Attack

the _Devil_ made upon him, was with a very beautiful Lady of his

Acquaintance, who he had been really something freer than ordinary with

in their common Conversation; This Lady he brought to him in a Posture

for Wickedness, and wrought up his Inclination so high in his Sleep,

that he, as he thought, actually went about to debauch her, she not at

all resisting; but that he wak'd in the very Moment, to his particular

Satisfaction.

He was greatly concern'd at this Part, namely, that he really gave the

Consent of his Will to the Fact, and wanted to know if he was not as

guilty of Adultery, as if he had lain with her; indeed he decided the

Question against himself, so forcibly, that I, who was of the same

Opinion before, had nothing to say against it; however, I confirm'd him

in it, by asking him these Questions.

1. Whether he did not think the _Devil_ had the chief Hand in such

a Dream? he answer'd, it could certainly be no body else, it must

be the _Devil_.

2. I then ask'd him what Reason the _Devil_ could have for it, if

his Consent to the Fact in Sleep had not been criminal? _That's

true indeed_, says he, _I am answer'd_: But then he ask'd another

Question, which, I confess, is not so easy to answer, namely, How

he should prevent being serv'd so again.

Nor could all my Divinity or his own keep the _Devil_ from attacking him

again; on the other Hand, as I have said, he worried him to that Degree,

that he injur'd his Health, bringing naked Women to him, sometimes one,

sometimes another, sometimes in one Posture of Lewdness, sometimes in

another, sometimes into his very Arms, sometimes with such Additions as

I am not merry enough, and sometimes such as I am not wicked enough to

put into your Heads; the Man, indeed, could not help it, and so the

_Devil_ was more Faulty than he; but as I hinted to him, he might bring

his Mind to such a stated Habit of Virtue, as to prevent its assenting

to any wicked Motion, even in Sleep, and that would be the Way to put an

End to the Attempt; and this Advice he relish'd very well, and

practised, I believe, with Success.

By this same Method, the same _Devil_ injects powerful Incentives to

other Crimes, provokes Avarice, by laying a great Quantity of Gold in

your View, and no body present, giving you an Opportunity to steal it,

or some of it, at the same time, perhaps, knowing your Circumstances to

be such as that you are at that Time in a great want of the Money.

I knew another, who being a Tradesman, and in great Distress for Money

in his Business, dream'd that he was walking all alone in a great Wood,

and that he met a little Child with a Bag of Gold in its Hand, and a

fine Necklace of Diamonds on its Neck, upon the Sight, his Wants

presently dictated to him to rob the Child; the little innocent

Creature, (just so he dream'd) not being able to resist; or to tell who

it was, accordingly he consented to take the Money from the Child, and

then to take the Diamond Necklace from it too, and did so.

But the _Devil_, (a full Testimony, as I told him, that it was the

_Devil_, not contented with that, hinted to him, that perhaps the Child

might some time or other know him, and single him out, by crying or

pointing, or some such Thing, especially if he was suspected and shew'd

to it, and therefore it would be better for him to kill the Child,

prompting him to kill it for his own Safety, and that he need do no more

but twist the Neck of it a little, or crush it with his Knee; He told me

he stood debating with himself, whether he should do so or not; but that

in that Instant his Heart struck him with the Word Murther, and he

entertain'd a Horror of it, refus'd to do it, and immediately waked.

He told me, that when he wak'd, he found himself in so violent a Sweat

as he never had known the like; that his Pulse beat with that Heat and

Rage, that it was like a Palpitation of the Heart to him, and that the

Agitation of his Spirits was such, that he was not fully composed in

some Hours; tho' the Satisfaction and Joy that attended him, when he

found it was but a Dream, assisted much to return his Spirits to their

due Temperament.

It is neither my Business or Inclination to turn Divine here, nor is the

Age I write to sufficiently Grave to relish a Sermon, if I was disposed

to preach, though they must allow the Subject would very well bear it;

but I shall only ask them, if they think this is not the _Devil_, what

they think it is? If they believe it is the _Devil_, they will act

accordingly I hope, or let it alone, as Satan and they can agree about

it.

I should not oblige the _Devil_ over much, whatever I might do to those

that read it; if I should enter here upon a Debate of Interests,

(_viz._) to enquire whether the _Devil_ has not a vast Advantage upon

Mankind this Way, and whether it is not much his Interest to preserve

it; and if I prove the Affirmative, I leave it to you to enquire whose

Interest it is to disappoint and supplant him.

In short, I take Dreams to be the second Best of the Advantages the

_Devil_ has over Mankind; the first, I suppose, you all know (_viz._)

the Treachery of the Garrison within; by Dreams he may be said to get

into the Inside of us without Opposition; here he opens and locks

without a Key, and like an Enemy laying siege to a fortified City,

Reason and Nature, the Governor of the City, keep him out by Day, and

keep the Garrison true to their Duty; but in the Dark he gets in and

parlees with the Garrison (the Affections and Passions) Debauches their

Loyalty, stirring up them to Disloyalty and Rebellion, so they betray

their Trust, Revolt, Mutiny, and go over to the Besieger.

Thus he manages his Interest, I say, and insinuates himself into the

Inside of us, without our Consent, nay, without our Knowledge; for

whatever Speculation may do, 'tis evident Demonstration does not assist

us to discover which Way he gets Access to the Soul, while the Organ

tied up, and dozed with Sleep has lock'd it up from Action; that it is

so is clear, but how he does it is a Secret which I do not find the

Antients or Moderns have yet made a Discovery of.

That Devil of a Creature, Mother _Lakland_, whose Story I mention'd

above, acknowledg'd that the first Time the _Devil_ attempted to draw

her in to be a Witch was in a Dream, and even when she consented, she

said, she was between sleeping and waking; that is, she did not know

whether she was awake or asleep, and the cunning Devil it seems was

satisfied with her Assent given so, when she was asleep, or neither

asleep or awake, so taking the Advantage of her Incapacity to act

rationally.

The Stories of her bewitching several People, and the manner in which

they died, are so formidable and extravagant, that I care not to put any

one's Faith to the stretch about them, tho' publish'd by Authority, and

testified by Abundance of Witnesses; but this is recorded in particular,

and to my Purpose, whether from her own Mouth or not, I do not say,

namely, the Description of a Witch, and the Difference between Witches,

and those other of Satan's Acquaintance who act in his Name.

1. They have consulted and covenanted with a Spirit or _Devil_.

2. They have a Deputy _Devil_, sometimes several to serve and

assist them.

3. These they employ as they please, call them by Name, and command

their Appearance in whatever Shape they think fit.

4. They send them abroad to or into the Persons who they design to

bewitch, who they always torment, and often murther them, as Mother

_Lakland_ did several.

As to the Difference between the several Devils that appear, it relates

to the Office of the Persons who employ them; as Conjurers, who seem to

command the particular _Devil_ that waits upon them with more Authority,

and raise them and lay them at Pleasure, drawing Circles, casting

Figures, and the like; but the Witch, in a more familiar manner,

whispers with the Devil, keeps the _Devil_ in a Bag or a Sack, sometimes

in her Pocket, and the like, and like Mr. _Faux_ shews Tricks with him.

But all these Kinds deal much in Dreams, talk with the Devil in their

Sleep, and make other People talk with him in their Sleep too; and 'tis

on this Occasion I mention it here; in short, the Devil may well take

this Opportunity with Mankind, for not half the World that came into his

Measures would comply, if they were awake; but of that hereafter.

And yet his thus insinuating himself by Dream, does not seem sufficient,

in my Opinion, to answer the _Devil_'s End, and to carry on his

Business; and therefore we must be forc'd to allow him a Kind of actual

Possession, in particular Cases, and that in the Souls of some People,

by different Methods from others; _Luther_ is of the Opinion that the

_Devil_ gets a Familiarity with some Souls just at, or rather before

their being embodied; as to the Manner and Method how he gets in, that

is another Question, and may be spoken of by it self; besides, why may

not he, that at Satan's Request to enter into the Herd of Swine, said

_go_, give the same Commission to possess a sort of Creatures so many

Degrees below the Dignity of the _Gaderenian_ Swine, and open the Door

too? but as for that, when our Lord said _go_, the _Devil_ never

enquir'd which Way he should get in.

When then I see Nations, or indeed Herds of Nations set on Fire of Hell,

and as I may say, enflam'd by the _Devil_; when I see Towns, Parties,

Factions and Rabbles of People visibly possess'd; 'tis enough to me that

the great Master of the Devils has said to him, GO; there's no need to

enquire which Way he finds open, or at what postern Gate he gets in; as

to his appearing, 'tis plain he often gets in without appearing, and

therefore the Question about his appearing still remains a Doubt, and is

not very easy to be resolv'd.

In the Scripture we have some Light into it, and that is all the Help I

find from Antiquity, and it goes a great Way to solve the Phaenomena of

Satan's appearing; what I mean by the Scripture giving some Light to it,

is this; 'tis said in several Places, and of several Persons, God came

to them in a Dream, _Gen._ xx. 3. _God came to_ Abimelech _in a Dream by

Night_, Gen. xxxi. 24. _And God came to_ Laban _the_ Syrian _in a

Dream_, Matt. ii. 13. _The Angel of the Lord appear'd to_ Joseph _in a

Dream_; short Comments are sufficient to plain Texts, applying this to

my Friend when he wanted to be satisfied about the How, relating to his

Dream (_viz._) how he should come to Dream such wicked Things? I told

him, in short, the Case was plain, _the Devil came to him in a Dream by

Night_: How and in what manner he form'd the wicked Representations, and

spread debauch'd Appearances before his Fancy, by real Whispers and

Voice, according to _Milton_, or by what other Methods, the Learned are

not arriv'd to any Certainty about it.

This leads me necessarily to enquire whether the _Devil_ or some of his

Agents are not always in our Company, whether they make any visible

Appearances or no? For my Part I make no Question of it, how else could

he come at the Knowledge of what we do; for as I can allow him no

Prescience at all, as for many Reasons I have observ'd already, he must

be able to see and know us, and what we are about when we know nothing

of him, or else he could know nothing of us and our Affairs, which yet

we find otherwise; and this gives him infinite Advantage to Influence

our Actions, to judge of our Inclinations, and to bring our Passions to

clash with our Reason, as they often do, and get the better of it too.

All this he obtains by his being able to walk about invisible, and see

when he is not seen, of which I have spoken already; hence that most

wise and solid Suggestion, that when the Candles burn blue the _Devil_

is in the Room, which great Secret in Nature, that you may more fully be

convinc'd of its imaginary Reality, I must tell you the following Story

which I saw in a Letter directed to a particular Friend, take it Word

for Word as in the Letter; because I do not make my self accountable for

the Facts, but take them _ad referendum_.

SIR,

We had one Day, very early in the Morning, and for the most Part of the

Day a great deal of Rain with a high Wind, and the Clouds very thick and

dark all Day.

In the Evening the cloudy thick Weather continued, tho' not the Rain,

when being at a Friend's House in ---- Lane _London_, and several Ladies

and some Gentlemen in the Room, besides two or three Servants (for we

had been eating) the following Interlude happen'd for our Entertainment:

When the Cloth was taken away, two large Candles were brought upon the

Table and plac'd there with some Bottles and Glasses for the Gentlemen,

who, it seems, were intending to drink and be very merry; two large

Wax-Candles were also set on another Table, the Ladies being going to

Cards, also there were two large Candles in Sconces over or near the

Chimney, and one more in a Looking-Glass Sconce, on a Peer by the

Window.

With all this _Apparatus_, the Company separating sat down, the

Gentlemen at their Table, and the Ladies at theirs, to play _as above_;

when after some time the Gentleman of the House said hastily to a

Servant, _what a P---- ails the Candles_? and turning to the Servant

raps out an Oath or two, and bids him snuff the Candles, for they burnt

as if the Devil was in the Room.

The Fellow going to snuff one of the Candles, snuffs it out, at which

his Master being in a Passion the Fellow lights it again immediately at

the other Candle, and then being in a little hurry, going to snuff the

other Candle snuffed that out too.

The first Candle that was relighted (as is usual in such Cases) burn'd

dim and dull for a good while, and the other being out, the Room was

much darker than before, and a Wench that stood by the Ladies Table,

bawls out to her Mistress, _Law Madam!_ the Candles _burn blue_; an old

Lady that sat by says, _ay Betty!_ so they do; upon this one of the

Ladies starts up, _Mercy upon us_, says she, _what is the Matter!_ In

this unlucky Moment another Servant, without Orders, went to the great

Peer Sconce, and because, _as he thought_, he would be sure to snuff the

Candle well, he offers to take it down, but very unhappily, I say, the

Hook came out and down falls the Sconce Candle and all, and the

Looking-Glass broke all to pieces, with a horrible Noise; however, the

Candle falling out of the Sconce did not go out, but lay on the Floor

burning dully, and as it is usual on such Cases, all on one Side,

_Betty_ cries out again, _Law Madam_, that Candle burns blue too; the

very Moment she said this, the Footman that had thrown down the Sconce,

says to his fellow Servant, that came to his Assistance, I _think_ the

Devil _is in the Candles to Night_, and away he run out of the Room, for

fear of his Master.

The old Lady, who, upon the Maid _Betty_'s Notion of the Candles burning

blue, had her Head just full of that old _Chimney-Corner Story_, the

Candles _burn blue when the Spirits are in the Room_, heard the Footman

Say the Word _Devil_, but heard nothing else of what he said; upon this

she rises up in a terrible Fright, and cries out that the Footman said

the _Devil was in the Room_; as she was, indeed, frighted out of her

Wits, she frighted the Ladies most terribly, and they all starting up

together, down goes the Card Table, and put the Wax-Candles out.

Mrs. _Betty_, that had frighted them all, runs to the Sconce next the

Chimney, but that having a long Snuff, she cried out it burnt blue too,

and she durst not touch it; in short, tho' there were three Candles left

still burning in the Room, yet the Ladies we're all so frighted, that

they and the Maids too run out of the Parlour screaming like mad Folks.

The Master in a Rage kick'd his first Man out of the Room, and the

second Man was run out to avoid, as I said before, the like, so that no

Servant was to be had, but all was in Confusion.

The two other Gentlemen, who were sitting at the first Table, kept their

Seats composed and easy enough, only concern'd to see all the House in

such a fright; it was true, they said, the Candles burnt dim and very

oddly, but they could not perceive they _burnt blue_, except one of

those over the Chimney, and that on the Table, which was relighted

after the Fellow had snufft it out.

However, the Maid, the old Lady and the Footman that pull'd down the

Sconce, all insist that the Candles _burnt blue_, and all pretend that

the Devil was certainly in the Room, and was the Occasion of it; and

they now came to me with the Story, to desire my Opinion of it.

This put me upon Enquiry into the Notion of Candles _burning blue_ when

Spirits are in a Room, which upon all the Search into Things, that I am

able to make, amounts to no more than this; that upon any extraordinary

Emission of sulphureous or of nitrous Particles, either in a close Room,

or in any not very open Place, if the Quantity be great, a Candle or

Lamp, or any such little Blaze of Fire will seem to be, or to _burn

blue_; and if then they can prove that any such Effluvia attends or is

emitted from a Spirit, then when SATAN is at Hand it may be so.

But then 'tis begging the Question grossly, because no Man can assure us

that the Devil has any sulphureous Particles about him.

It is true, the Candles burn thus in Mines and Vaults, and damp Places;

and 'tis as true that they will do so upon Occasion of very damp, stormy

and moist Air, when an extraordinary Quantity of Vapours are supposed to

be dispers'd abroad, as was the Case when this happen'd; and if there

was any Thing of that in it on that _Monday_ Night, the Candles might,

perhaps, burn blue upon that Occasion; but that the _Devil_ was abroad

upon any extraordinary Business that Night, that I cannot grant, unless

I have some better Testimony than the _old Lady_ that heard the

Footman's out-cry but by halves, or than Mrs. _Betty_, who first fancied

the Candles _burnt blue_; so I must suspend my Judgment till I hear

farther.

This Story however may solve a great many of those Things which pass for

Apparitions in the World, and which are laid to the Devil's Charge, tho'

he really may know nothing of the Matter; and this would bring me to

defend _Satan_ in many Things, wherein he may truly be said to suffer

wrongfully; and if I thought it would oblige him, I might say something

to his Advantage this Way; however, I'll venture a Word or two for an

injur'd _Devil_, take it as you will.

First, it is certain, that as this Invisibility of the _Devil_ is very

much to our Prejudice, so the Doctrine of his Visibility is a great

Prejudice to him, as we make Use of it.

By his Invisibility he is certainly vested with infinite Advantages

against us; while he can be present with us, and we know nothing of the

Matter, he informs himself of all our Measures, and arms himself in the

best and most suitable manner to injure and assault us, as he can

counteract all our secret concerted Designs, disappoint all our Schemes,

and except when Heaven apparently concerns it self to over-rule him, can

defeat all our Enterprizes, break all our Measures, and do us Mischief

in almost every Part of our Life, and all this, because we are not privy

to all his Motions, as he is to ours.

But now for his Visibility and his real Appearance in the World, and

particularly among his Disciples and Emissaries, such as Witches and

Wizards, Demonaists, and the like: Here, I think Satan has a great deal

of Loss, suffers manifest Injury, and has great Injustice done him; and,

that therefore I ought to clear this Matter up a little, if it be

possible, to do Justice to Satan, and set Matters right in the World

about him, according to that useful old Maxim of setting the Saddle upon

the right Horse, or _giving the_ Devil _his due_.

First, _as I have said_, we are not to believe every idle Head, who

pretends even to converse Face to Face with the _Devil_, and who tells

us, they have thus seen him, and been acquainted with him every Day:

Many of these Pretenders are manifest Cheats; and, however, they would

have the Honour of a private Interest in him, and boast how they have

him at their Beck, can call him this Way, and send him that, as they

please, raise him and lay him when and how, and as often as they find

for their Purpose; I say, whatever Boasts they make of this Kind, they

really have nothing of Truth in them.

Now the Injuries and Injustice done to the _Devil_, in these Cases, are

manifest; namely, that they entitle the _Devil_ to all the Mischief they

are pleased to do in the World; and if they commit a Murther or a

Robbery, fire a House, or do any Act of Violence in the World, they

presently are said to do it by the Agency of the _Devil_, and the

_Devil_ helps them; so Satan bears the Reproach, and they have all the

Guilt; this is, (1.) a grand Cheat upon the World, and (2.) a notorious

Slander upon the _Devil_; and it would be a public Benefit to Mankind,

to have such would-be-Devils as these turn'd inside out, that we might

know when the _Devil_ was really at work among us, and when not; what

Mischiefs were of his doing, and which were not; and that these Fellows

might not slip their Necks out of the Halter, by continually laying the

Blame of their Wickedness upon the _Devil_.

Not that the _Devil_ is not very willing to have his Hand in any

Mischief, or in all the Mischief that is done in the World; but there

are some low priz'd Rogueries that are too little for him, beneath the

Dignity of his Operation, and which 'tis really a Scandal to the _Devil_

to charge upon him. I remember the _Devil_ had such a Cheat put upon

him in _East-Smithfield_ once, where a Person pretended to converse with

the _Devil_ Face to Face, and that in open Day too, and to cause him to

tell Fortunes, foretel Good and Evil, _&c._ discover stollen Goods, tell

where they were who stole them, and how to find them again, nay, and

even to find out the Thieves; but _Satan_ was really sandered in the

Case, the Fellow had no more to do with the _Devil_ than other People,

and perhaps not so much neither: This was one of those they call'd

CUNNING-MEN, or at least he endeavour'd to pass for such a one, but

'twas all a Cheat.

Besides, what had the _Devil_ to do to detect Thieves, and restore

stollen Goods? Thieving and Robbing, Trick and Cheat, are part of the

Craft of his Agency, and of the Employments which it is his Business to

encourage; they greatly mistake him, who think he will assist any Body

in suppressing and detecting such laudable Arts and such diligent

Servants.

I won't say, but the _Devil_, to draw these People we call

_Cunning-Men_, into a Snare, and to push on his farther Designs, may

encourage them privately, and in a manner that they themselves know

nothing of, to make use of his Name, and abuse the World about him, till

at last they may really believe they do deal with the _Devil_, when

indeed 'tis only he deals with them, and they know nothing of the

Matter.

In other Cases he may encourage them in these little Frauds and Cheats,

and give them leave, as above, to make use of his Name to bring them

afterwards, and by Degrees to have a real Acquaintance with him; so

bringing the Jest of their Trade into Earnest, till at length prompting

them to commit some great Villany, he secures them to be his own, by

their very Fear of his leaving them to be exposed to the World; thus he

puts a _Jonathan Wild_ upon them, and makes them be the very Wretches

they only pretended to be before: So old _Parsons_ of _Clithroe_, as

Fame tells, was twenty five Years a _Cunning-man_, and twenty two Years

a Witch; that is to say, for five and twenty Years, he was only

pretending to deal with the _Devil_, when Satan and he had no manner of

Acquaintance, and he only put his _Leger-de-main_ upon the People in the

_Devil_'s Name, without his leave; but at length the _Devil_'s Patience

being tir'd quite out, he told the old Counterfeit, that in short, he

had been his stalking Horse long enough, and that now, if he thought fit

to enter himself, and take a Commission, well and good; and he should

have a Lease to carry on his Trade for so many Years more, to his

Heart's content; but if not, he would expose his Knavery to the World,

for that he should take away his Peoples Trade no longer; but that he

(Satan) would set up another in his Room, that should make a meer Fool

of him, and carry away all his Customers.

Upon this, the old Man consider'd of it, took the _Devil_'s Counsel, and

listed in his Pay; so he, that had plaid his Pranks twenty five Years as

a Conjurer, when he was no Conjurer, was then forc'd really to deal with

the DEVIL, for fear the People should know he did not: Till now he had

_ambo dexter_, cheated the Devil on one Hand, and the People on the

other; but the _Devil_ gain'd his Point at last, and so he was a real

Wizard ever after.

But this is not the only way the Devil is injur'd neither, for we have

often found People pretend upon him in other Cases, and of nearer

Concern to him a great deal, and in Articles more Weighty, as in

particular, in the great Business of Possession; it is true this Point

is not thoro'ly understood among Men, neither has the Devil thought fit

to give us those Illuminations about it, as I believe he might do;

particularly that great and important Article, is not, for ought I can

see, rightly explain'd, namely; whether there are not two several Kinds

of Possession, (_viz._) some wherein the Devil possesses us, and some in

which we really possess the Devil; the Nicety of which I doubt this Age,

with all its Penetration, is not qualified to explain, and a

Dissertation upon it being too long for this Work, especially so near

its Conclusion, I am oblig'd to omit, as I am also all the practical

Discourses upon the Usefulness and Advantages of real Possession,

whether consider'd one Way or other to Mankind, all which I must leave

to hereafter.

But to come back to the Point in Hand, and to consider the Injustice

done to the Devil, in the various Turns and Tricks which Men put upon

him very often in this one Article (_viz._) pretending to Possession,

and to have the Devil in them, when really it is not so; certainly the

Devil must take it very ill, to have all their demented, lunatick Tricks

charg'd upon him; some of which, nay, most of which are so gross, so

simple, so empty, and so little to the Purpose, that the _Devil_ must be

asham'd to see such Things pass in his Name, or that the World should

think he was concern'd in them.

It is true, that Possession being one of the principal Pieces of the

Devil's Artifice in his managing Mankind, and in which, with the most

exquisite skill he plays the Devil among us, he has the more Reason to

be affronted when he finds himself invaded in this Part, and angry that

any Body should pretend to possess, or be possess'd without his leave,

and this may be the Reason for ought we know, why so many Blunders have

been made, when People have pretended to it without him, and he has

thought fit not to own them in it; of which we have many Examples in

History, as in _Simon Magus_, _the Devil of_ London, _the fair Maid of_

Kent, and several others, whose History it is not worth while to enlarge

upon.

In short, Possessions, as I have said, are nice Things, as it is not so

easy to mimick the _Devil_ in that Part, as it may be in some other;

designing Men have attempted it often, but their manner has been easily

distinguish'd, even without the Devil's Assistance.

Thus the People of _Salem_ in _New-England_ pretended to be bewitch'd,

and that a black Man tormented them by the Instigation of such and such,

whom they resolv'd to bring to the Gallows: This black Man they would

have be the _Devil_, employ'd by the Person who they accus'd for a

Witch: Thus making the _Devil_ a Page or a Footman to the Wizard, to go

and torment whoever the said Wizard commanded, till the _Devil_ himself

was so weary of the foolish Part, that he left them to go on their own

Way, and at last they over-acted the murthering Part so far, that when

they confess'd themselves to be Witches, and possess'd, and that they

had Correspondence with the Devil, _Satan_ not appearing to vouch for

them, no Jury would condemn them upon their own Evidence, and they could

not get themselves hang'd, whatever Pains they took to bring it to pass.

Thus you see the _Devil_ may be wrong'd, and falsely accus'd in many

Particulars, and often has been so; there are likewise some other sorts

of counterfeit _Devils_ in the World, such as _Gypsies_,

_Fortune-Tellers_, Foretellers of good and bad Luck, Sellers of Winds,

Raisers of Storms, and many more, some practis'd among us, some in

foreign Parts, too many almost to reckon up; nay I almost doubt whether

the Devil himself knows all the Sorts of them; for 'tis evident he has

little or nothing to do with them, I mean not in the Way of their Craft.

These I take to be Interlopers, or with the _Guinea_ Merchants leave,

separate Traders, and who act under the Skreen and Protection of Satan's

Power, but without his License or Authority; no doubt these carry away a

great deal of his Trade, that is to say, the Trade which otherwise the

_Devil_ might have carried on by Agents or his own; I cannot but say,

that while these People would fain be thought _Devils_, tho' they really

are not, it is but just they should be really made as much _Devils_ as

they pretended to be, or that _Satan_ should do himself Justice upon

them, as he threaten'd to do upon old _Parsons_ of _Clithroe_

abovemention'd, and let the World know them.

CHAP. XI.

_Of Divination, Sorcery, the Black-Art, Pawawing, and such like Pretenders

to Devilism, and how far the_ Devil _is or is not concern'd in them._

Tho' I am writing the History of the _Devil_, I have not undertaken to

do the like of all the Kinds of People, Male or Female, who set up for

_Devils_ in the World: This would be a Task for the _Devil_ indeed, and

fit only for him to undertake, for their Number is and has been

prodigious great, and may, with his other Legions be rank'd among the

Innumerable.

What a World do we inhabit! where there is not only with us a great

_Roaring-Lyon-Devil_ daily seeking whom of us he may devour, and

innumerable Millions of lesser Devils hovering in the whole Atmosphere

over us, nay, and for ought we know, other Millions always invisibly

moving about us, and perhaps in us, or at least in many of us; but that

have, besides all these, a vast many counterfeit _Hocus Pocus Devils_;

human _Devils_, who are visible among us, of our own Species and

Fraternity, conversing with us upon all Occasions; who like Mountebanks

set up their Stages in every Town, chat with us at every Tea-Table,

converse with us in every Coffee-House, and impudently tell us to our

Faces that they are Devils, boast of it, and use a thousand Tricks and

Arts to make us believe it too, and that too often with Success.

It must be confess'd there is a strong Propensity in Man's Nature,

especially the more ignorant part of Mankind, to resolve every strange

Thing, or whether really strange or no, if it be but strange to us, into

Devilism, and to say every Thing is the Devil, that they can give no

Account of.

Thus the famous Doctors of the Faculty at _Paris_, when _John Faustus_

brought the first printed Books that had then been seen in the World, or

at least seen there, into the City, and sold them for Manuscripts: They

were surpriz'd at the Performance, and question'd _Faustus_ about it;

but he affirming they were Manuscripts, and that he kept a great many

Clarks employ'd to write them, they were satisfied for a while.

But looking farther into the Work, they observ'd the exact Agreement of

every Book, one with another, that every Line stood in the same Place,

every Page a like Number of Lines, every Line a like Number of Words; if

a Word was mis-spelt in one, it was mis-spelt also in all, nay, that if

there was a Blot in one, it was alike in all; they began again to muse,

how this should be? in a Word, the learned Divines not being able to

comprehend the Thing (and that was always sufficient) concluded it must

be the _Devil_, that it was done by Magick and Witchcraft, and that in

short, poor _Faustus_ (who was indeed nothing but a meer Printer) dealt

with the _Devil_.

N. B. _John Faustus_ was Servant, or Journeyman, or Compositor, or

what you please to call it, to _Koster_ of _Harlem_, the first

inventor of Printing; and having printed the Psalter, sold them at

_Paris_ as Manuscripts; because as such they yielded a better

Price.

But the learned Doctors not being able to understand how the Work was

perform'd, concluded as above, it was all _the Devil_, and that the Man

was a _Witch_; accordingly they took him up for a _Magician_ and a

_Conjurer_, and one that work'd by the _Black Art_, that is to say, by

the help of the _Devil_; and in a Word, they threaten'd to hang him for

a Witch, and in order to it, commenc'd a Process against him in their

criminal Courts, which made such a Noise in the World as rais'd the Fame

of poor _John Faustus_ to a frightful Height, till at last he was

oblig'd, for fear of the Gallows, to discover the whole Secret to them.

N. B. This is the true original of the famous Dr. _Faustus_ or

_Foster_, of whom we have believ'd such strange Things, as that it

is become a Proverb, _as great as the_ Devil _and Dr._ Foster:

Whereas poor _Faustus_ was no Doctor, and knew no more of the

_Devil_ than another Body.

Thus the Magistrates of _Bern_ and _Switzerland_, finding a Gang of

_French_ Actors of Puppet-shew open'd their Stage in the Town, upon

hearing the surprizing Accounts which the People gave of their wonderful

Puppets, how they made them speak, answer Questions, and discourse,

appear and disappear in a Moment, pop up here, as if they rise out of

the Earth, and down there, as if they vanish'd, and Abundance more Feats

of Art, censur'd them as Demons; and if they had not pack'd up their

Trinkets, and disappeared almost as dextrously as their Puppets, they

had certainly condemn'd the poor Puppets to the Flames for _Devils_, and

censur'd, if not otherwise punished their Masters. See _the Count de

Rochfort's Memoirs_, p. 179.

Wonderful Operations astonish the Mind, especially where the Head is not

over-burthen'd with Brains; and Custom has made it so natural to give

the _Devil_ either the Honour or Scandal of every Thing, that we cannot

otherwise Account for, that it is not possible to put the People out of

the Road of it.

The _Magicians_ were, in the _Chaldean_ Monarchy, call'd the Wisemen;

and tho' they are joined with the Sorcerers and Astrologers in the same

Place, _Dan._ ii. 4. yet they were generally so understood among those

People; but in our Language we understand them to be People that have an

Art to reveal Secrets, interpret Dreams, foretel Events, _&c._ and that

use Enchantments and Sorceries, by all which we understand the same

Thing; which now in a more vulgar Way we express by one general coarse

Expression, _Dealing with the_ DEVIL.

The Scripture speaks of a Spirit of _Divination_, _Acts_ xvi. 16. and a

Wench that was possess'd by this Spirit _brought her Master much Gain by

Southsaying_, that is to say, according to the Learned, by _Oracling_ or

answering Questions; whence you will see in the Margin, that this

southsaying _Devil_ is there call'd _Python_, that is, _Apollo_, who is

often call'd _Python_, and who at the Oracle of _Delphos_ gave out such

Answers and _double Entendres_, as this Wench possibly did; and hence

all those Spirits which were call'd Spirits of Divination, were in

another Sense call'd _Pythons_.

Now when the Apostle St. _Paul_ came to see this Creature, this Spirit

takes upon it to declare that _those Men_, meaning St. _Paul_ and

_Timotheus_, _were the Servants of the most high God, which shew'd unto

them the Way of Salvation_; this was a good turn of the _Devil_, to

preserve his Authority in the possess'd Girl; she brought them Gain by

Southsaying, that is to say, resolving difficult Questions, answering

Doubts, interpreting Dreams, _&c._ Among these Doubts, he makes her give

Testimony to _Paul_ and _Timotheus_, to wheedle in with the new

Christians, and perhaps (tho' very ignorantly) even with _Paul_ and

_Timotheus_ themselves, so to give a Kind of Credit and Respect to her

for speaking.

But the _Devil_, who never speaks Truth, but with some sinister End, was

discover'd here and detected; his flattering Recognition not accepted,

and he himself unkennel'd as he deserv'd; there the _Devil_ was

over-shot in his own Bow again.

Here now was a real Possession, and the evil Spirits who possess'd her,

did stoop to sundry little Acts of Servitude, that we could give little

or no Reason for, only that the Girl's Master might get Money by her;

but perhaps this was a particular Case, and, prepar'd to honour the

Authority and Power the Apostles had over evil Spirits.

But we find these Things carried a great Way farther in many Cases, that

is to say, where the Parties are thus really possess'd; namely, the

_Devil_ makes Agents of the possess'd Parties to do many Things for the

propagating his Interest and Kingdom, and particularly for the carrying

on his Dominion in the World: But I am for the present not so much upon

the real Possession as the pretended, and particularly we have had many

that have believed themselves possess'd, when the _Devil_ never believed

it of them, and perhaps knew them better; some of these are really poor

_Devils_ to be pitied, and are what I call _Diables Imaginaire_; these

have notwithstanding done the _Devil_ good Service, and brought their

Masters good Gain by Southsaying.

We find Possessions acknowledg'd in Scripture to be really and

personally the _Devil_, or according to the Text, Legions of _Devils_ in

the Plural. The _Devil_ or _Devils_ rather, which possessed the Man

among the Tombs, is positively affirm'd to be the _Devil_ in the

Scripture; all the Evangelists agree in calling him so, and his very

Works shew it; namely, the Mischief he did, as well to the poor Creature

among the Tombs, who was made so fierce, that he was the Terror of all

the Country, as to the Herd of Swine and to the Country in the Loss of

them.

I might preach you a Lecture here of the _Devil_'s Terror upon the

Approach of our Saviour, the Dread of his Government, and how he

acknowledg'd that there was a Time for his Torment, which was not yet

come: _Art thou come to torment us before our Time?_ It is evident the

Devil apprehended that Christ would chain them up before the Day of

Judgment; and therefore some think the Devil here, being, as it were,

caught out of his due Bounds, possessing the poor Man in such a furious

manner, was afraid, and petition'd Christ not to chain him up for it,

and as the Text says, _They besought him to suffer them to go away_, &c.

that is to say, when they say, art thou come to torment us before the

Time? the Meaning is, they begg'd he would not cast them into Torment

before the Time, which was already fix'd; but that if he would cast them

out of the Man, he would let them go away, _&c._

The Evangelist St. _Luke_ says, the _Devil besought him that he would

not command them to go out into the Deep_: Our learned Annotators think

that part is not rightly render'd; adding, that they do not believe the

_Devil_ fears drowning; but with Submission, I believe the meaning is,

that they would not be confin'd to the vast Ocean, where no Inhabitants

being to be seen, they would be effectually imprison'd and tied down

from doing Mischief, which would be a Hell to them; as to their going

into the Swine, that might afford us some Allegory; but I am not

disposed to jest with the Scripture, no nor with the _Devil_ neither,

farther than needs must.

It is evident the _Devil_ makes Use of very mean Instruments sometimes,

such as the Damsel possess'd with a Spirit of Divination, and several

others.

I remember a Story, how true I know not, of a weak Creature next Door to

an Ideot, who was establish'd in the Country for an Oracle, and would

tell People strange Things that should be, long before they came to

pass; when People were sick, would tell them whether they should live or

die; if People were married, tell how many Children they should have;

and a hundred such Things as fill'd the People with Admiration, and they

were the easier brought to believe that the Girl was possess'd; but then

they were divided about her too, and that was the finest spun Thread

the Devil could work, for he carried a great Point in it; some said she

had a good Spirit, and some a bad, some said she was a Prophetess, and

some that she was the _Devil_.

Now had I been there to decide the Question, I should certainly have

given it for the latter; if it were only upon this Account, namely, that

the Devil has often found Fools very necessary Agents for the

propagating his Interest and Kingdom, but we never knew the good Spirits

do so; on the other Hand, it does not seem likely that Heaven should

deprive a poor Creature of its Senses, and as it were take her Soul from

her, and then make her an Instrument of Instruction to others, and an

Oracle to declare his Decrees by; this does not seem to be rational.

But as far as this kind of Divination is in Use in our Days, yet I do

not find room to charge the Devil with making any great Use of Fools,

unless it be such as he has particularly qualified for his Work, for as

to _Ideots_ and _Naturals_, they are perfectly useless to him; but a

sort of Fools call'd the Magi, indeed, we have some Reason to think he

often works with.

We are not arriv'd to a certainty yet, in the settling this great Point,

namely, what Magick is? whether a diabolical Art or a Branch of the

Mathematicks? Our most learned _Lexicon Technicum_ is of the latter

Opinion, and gives the _Magic Square_ and the _Magic Lantern_, two Terms

of Art.

The _Magic Square_ is when Numbers in _Arithmetical Proportion_ are

dispos'd into such Parallels or equal Ranks, as that the Sums of each

Row as well _Diagonally_ as _Laterally_ shall be all equal; for Example,

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Place these Nine in a Square of three, they

will _directly_ and _diagonally_ make 18. Thus,

+------------+

| 5 | 10 | 3 |

-------------|

| 4 | 6 | 8 |

-------------|

| 9 | 2 | 7 |

+------------+

This he calls the _Magic Square_, but gives no Reason for the Term, nor

any Account of what infernal Operations are wrought by this Concurrence

of the Numbers; neither do I see that there can be any such Use made of

it.

The _Magic Lantern_ is an optic Machine, by the Means of which are

represented, on a Wall in the Dark, many Phantasms and terrible

Appearances, _but no_ Devil _in all this_, only that they are taken for

the Effects of Magic, by those that are not acquainted with the Secret.

All this is done by the help of several little painted Pieces of Glass,

only so and so situated, plac'd in certain Oppositions to one another,

and painted with different Figures, the most formidable being plac'd

foremost, and such as are most capable of terrifying the Spectators; and

by this all the Figures may be represented upon the opposite Wall, in

the largest Size.

I cannot but take Notice, that this very Piece of optic Delusion seems

too much akin to the mock Possessions and infernal Accomplishments,

which most of the Possessionists of this Age pretend to, so that they

are most of them meer Phantasms and Appearances, and no more; Nor is the

Spirit of Divination, the Magic, the Necromancing, and other Arts which

were call'd Diabolical, found to be of any Use in modern Practice, at

least, in these Parts of the World; but the Devil seems to do most of

his Work himself, and by shorter Methods; for he has so compleat an

Influence among those that he now Lists in his Service, that he brings

all the common Affairs of Mankind into a narrower Compass in his

Management, with a Dexterity particular to himself, and by which he

carries on his Interest silently and surely, much more to the Detriment

of Virtue and good Government, and consequently much more to his

Satisfaction, than ever he did before.

There is a Kind of _Magic_ or _Sorcery_, or what else you may please to

call it, which, tho' unknown to us, is yet, it seems, still very much

encourag'd by the _Devil_; but this is a great Way off, and in Countries

where the politer Instruments, which he finds here, are not to be had;

namely, among the _Indians_ of _North-America_; This is call'd

_Pawawing_, and they have their Divines, which they call _Pawaws_ or

Witches, who use strange Gestures, Distortions, horrid Smokes, Burnings,

and Scents, and several such Things which the Sorcerers and Witches in

ancient Times are said to use in casting Nativities, in Philtres, and in

determining, or as they pretended, directing the Fate of Persons; by

burning such and such Herbs and Roots, such as _Helebore_, _Wormwood_,

_Storax_, _Devilwort_, _Mandrake_, _Nightshade_, and Abundance more

such, which are call'd noxious Plants, or the Product of noxious Plants;

also melting such and such Minerals, Gums, and poisonous Things, and by

several hellish Mutterings and Markings over them, the like do these

_Pawaws_; and the _Devil_ is pleased, it seems, (or is permitted) to

fall in with these Things, and as some People think, appears often to

them for their Assistance upon those Occasions.

But be that as it will, he is eas'd of all that Trouble here; he can

_Pawaw_ here himself, without their aid, and having laid them all aside,

he negotiates much of his Business without Ambassadors; he is his own

Plenipotentiary, for he finds Man so easy to come at, and so easy when

he is come at, that he stands in no need of secret Emissaries, or at

least not so much as he used to do.

Upon the whole, as the World, within the Compass of a few pass'd Years

is advanc'd in all Kinds of Knowledge and Arts, and every useful Branch

of what they knew before improv'd, and innumerable useful Parts of

Knowledge, which were conceal'd before are discover'd; why should we

think the _Devil_ alone should stand at a stay, has taken no Steps to

his farther Accomplishment, and made no useful Discoveries in his Way?

That he alone should stand at a Stay, and be just the same unimprov'd

Devil that he was before? No, no, as the World is improv'd every Day,

and every Age is grown wiser and wiser than their Fathers; so, no doubt,

he has bestirr'd himself too, in order to an encrease of Knowledge and

Discovery, and that he finds every Day a nearer Way to go to work with

Mankind than he had before.

Besides, as Men in general seem to have alter'd their manner, and that

they move in a higher and more exalted Sphere, especially as to Vice and

Virtue; so the _Devil_ may have been obliged to change his Measures, and

alter his Way of working; particularly, those Things which would take in

former Times, and which a stupid Age would come easily into, won't go

down with us now: As the taste of Vice and Virtue alters, the _Devil_ is

forc'd to bait his Hook with new Compositions; the very Thing call'd

Temptation is alter'd in its Nature, and that which serv'd to delude our

Ancestors, whose gross Conceptions of Things caused them to be

manageable with less Art, will not do now; the Case is quite alter'd; in

some Things, perhaps, as I hinted above, we come into Crime with ease,

and may be led by a Finger; but when we come to a more refin'd Way of

sinning, which our Ancestors never understood, other and more refin'd

Politics must be made Use of, and the _Devil_ has been put upon many

useful Projects and Inventions, to make many new Discoveries and

Experiments to carry on his Affairs; and to speak impartially, he is

strangely improv'd either in Knowledge or Experiment, within these few

Years; he has found out a great many new Inventions to shorten his own

Labour, and carry on his Business in the World currently, which he never

was master of before, or at least we never knew he was.

No wonder then that he has chang'd Hands too, and that he has left of

pawawing in these Parts of the World; that we don't find our Houses

disturb'd as they used to be, and the Stools and Chairs walking about

out of one Room into another, as formerly; that Children don't vomit

crooked Pins and rusty stub Nails, as of old, the Air is not full of

Noises, nor the Church-Yard full of Hobgoblins; Ghosts don't walk about

in Winding-Sheets, and the good old scolding Wives visit and plague

their Husbands after they are dead, as they did when they were alive.

The Age is grown too wise to be agitated by these dull scare-crow Things

which their Fore-Fathers were tickled with; _Satan_ has been obliged to

lay by his Puppet-shews and his Tumblers, those things are grown stale;

his morrice-dancing Devils, his mountebanking and quacking won't do now;

those Things, as they may be supposed to be very troublesome to him,

(and but that he has Servants enough would be chargeable too) are now of

no great Use in the new Management of his Affairs.

_In a Word_, Men are too much Devils themselves, in the Sense that I

have call'd them so, to be frighted with such little low priz'd

Appearances as these; they are better acquainted with the old

Arch-Angel than so, and they seem to tell him they must be treated after

another manner, and that then, as they are good-natur'd and tractable,

he may deal with them upon better Terms.

Hence the _Devil_ goes to work with Mankind a much shorter Way; for

instead of the Art of Wheedling and Whining, together with the laborious

Part of Tricking and Sharping, Hurrying and Driving, Frighting and

Terrifying, all which the _Devil_ was put to the Trouble of before; in

short, he acts the GRAND MANNER as the Architects call it (I don't know

whether our Free-Masons may understand the Word) and therefore I may

hereafter explain it, as it is to be Diabolically as well as

mathematically understood.

At present my meaning is, he acts with them immediately and personally

by a magnificent Transformation, making them meer _Devils_ to

themselves, upon all needful Occasions, and _Devils_ to one another too,

whenever he (Satan), has Need of their Service.

This Way of embarking Mankind in the _Devil_'s particular Engagement, is

really very modern; and tho' the Devil himself may have been long

acquainted with the Method, and as I have heard, began to practise it

towards the Close of the _Roman_ Empire, when Men began to act upon very

polite Principles, and were capable of the most refin'd Wickedness, and

afterwards with some Popes, who likewise were a kind of Church Devils,

such as Satan himself could hardly expect to find in the World; yet I do

not find that he was ever able to bring it into Practice, at least, not

so universally as he does now: But now the Case is alter'd, and Men

being generally more expert in Wickedness than they were formerly; they

suffer the smaller Alteration of the Species, in being transmigrated;

in a Word, they turn into _Devils_, with no trouble at all hardly,

either to the _Devil_ or to themselves.

This Particular would want much the less Explanation, could I obtain a

License from Sir _Hellebore Wormwood_, Bart. or from my Lord

_Thwartover_, Baron of _Scoundrel Hall_ in the Kingdom of _Ireland_, to

write the true History of their own Conduct; and how early, and above

all, how easily they commenc'd _Devils_, without the least Impeachment

of their Characters, as wise Men, and without any Diminution of that

Part of their Denomination which establish'd them for Fools.

How many mad Fellows appear among us every Day in the critical Juncture

of their Transmigration, just when they have so much of the Man left as

to be known by their Names, and enough of the _Devil_ taken up to settle

their Characters? This Easiness of the _Devil_'s access to these People,

and the great Convenience it is to him in his general Business, is a

Proof to me that he has no more Occasion of Diviners, Magicians,

Sorcerers, and whatever else we please to call those People who were

formerly so great with him; for what Occasion has he to employ _Devils_

and Wizards to confound Mankind, when he is arriv'd to such a Perfection

of Art as to bring Men, at least in these Parts of the World, to do it

all themselves; upon this Account we do not find any of the old

Sorcerers and Diviners, Magicians or Witches appear among us; not that

the _Devil_ might not be as well able to employ such People as formerly,

and qualify them for the Employment too, but that really there is no

need of them hereabout, the _Devil_ having a shorter Way, and Mankind

being much more easily possess'd; not the old _Herd of Swine_ were

sooner agitated, tho' there was full 2000 of them together; Nature has

open'd the Door, and the _Devil_ has egress and regress at Pleasure, so

that Witches and Diviners are quite out of the Question.

Nor let any Man be alarm'd at this Alteration, in the Case as it stands

between Mankind and the _Devil_, and think the _Devil_ having gain'd so

much Ground, may in time, by Encroachment, come to a general Possession

of the whole Race, and so we should all come to be _Devils_ incarnate; I

say, let us not be alarm'd, for Satan does not get these Advantages by

Encroachment, and by his infernal Power or Art, no not at all; but 'tis

the Man himself does it by his Indolence and Negligence on one Hand, and

his Complaisance to the _Devil_ on the other; and both Ways he, as it

were, opens the Door to him, beckons him with his very Hand to come in,

and the Devil has nothing to do but enter and take Possession: Now if it

be so, and Man is so frank to him; you know the _Devil_ is no Fool not

to take the Advantage when 'tis offer'd him, and therefore 'tis no

wonder if the Consequences which I have been just now naming follow.

But let no Man be discourag'd by this, from reaffirming his natural and

religious Powers, and venturing to shut the _Devil_ out; for the Case is

plain he may be shut out; the Soul is a strong Castle, and has a good

Garrison plac'd within to defend it; if the Garrison behave well, and do

their Duty, it is impregnable, and the cowardly _Devil_ must raise his

Siege and be gone; nay, he must fly, or, as we call it, make his Escape,

lest he be laid by the Heels, that is, lest his Weakness be exposed, and

all his Lurking, lying in Wait, ambuscade-Tricks; this Part would bear a

great Enlargement, but I have not room to be witty upon him, so you must

take it in the Gross, the DEVIL lies at _Blye Bush_, as our Country

People call it, to watch your coming out of your Hold; and if you happen

to go abroad unarm'd he seizes upon and masters you with ease.

Unarm'd, you'll say, what Arms should I take? what Fence against a

Flail? What Weapons can a Man take to fight the _Devil_? I could tell

you what to fight him with, and what you might fright him with, for the

_Devil_ is to be frighted with several Things besides _Holy Water_; but

'tis too serious for you, and you'll tell me I am a preaching and a

canting, and the like; so I must let the _Devil_ manage you rather than

displease you with talking Scripture and Religion.

Well, but may not the _Devil_ be fought with some of his own Weapons? Is

there no dealing with him in a Way of human Nature? This would require a

long answer, and some Philosophy might be acted, or at least imitated,

and some Magic, perhaps; for they tells us there are Spells to draw away

even the Devil himself; as in some Places they nail Horse-Shoes upon the

Threshold of the Door, to keep him out; in other Places old pieces of

Flint, with so many Holes and so many Corners, and the like: But I must

answer in the Negative, I don't know what _Satan_ might be scar'd at in

those Days, but he is either grown cunninger since or bolder, for he

values none of those Things now; I question much whether he would value

St. _Dunstan_ and his red hot Tongs, if he was to meet him now, or St.

_Francis_ or any of the Saints, no not the Host itself in full

Procession; and therefore, tho' you don't care I should preach, yet in

short, if you are afraid he should charge upon you and attack you, if

you won't make Use of those Scripture Weapons I should have mention'd,

and which you may hear of, if you enquire at _Eph._ vi. 16. you must

look for better where you think you can find them.

But to go on with my Work, the Devil, I say, is not to be fear'd with

Maukins, nor does he employ his old Instruments, but does much of his

Work himself without Instruments.

And yet I must enter a Caveat here too, against being misunderstood in

my saying the Devil stands in no need of Agents; for when I speak so, I

am to be taken in a limited Sense; I don't say he needs them no where,

but only that he does not need them in those polite Parts of the World

which I have been speaking of, and perhaps not much here; but in many

remote Countries 'tis otherwise still; the _Indians_ of _America_ are

particularly said to have Witches among them, as well in those Countries

where the _Spaniards_ and the _English_ and other Nations have planted

themselves, as amongst those where the _European_ Nations seldom come:

_for Example_, the People of _Canada_, that is, of the Countries under

the _French_ Government of _Quebeck_, the Equimeaux, and other Northern

Climates, have Magicians, Wizards and Witches, who they call _Pilloatas_

or _Pillotoas_; these pretend they speak intimately and familiarly with

the Devil, and receive from him the Knowledge of Things to come; all

which, by the Way, I take to be little more than this; that these

Fellows being a little more cunning than the rest, think, that by

pretending to something more than human, they shall make the stronger

Impressions on the ignorant People; as _Mahomet_ amus'd the World with

his Pigeon, using it to pick Peas out of his Ear, and persuaded the

People it brought him superior Revelations and Inspirations from

Paradise.

Thus these _Pillotoas_ gaining an Opinion among the People, behave like

so many Mountebanks of Hell, pretending to understand dark Things, cure

Diseases, practise Surgery, Physick and Necromancy altogether; I will

not say, but _Satan_ may pick out such Tools to work with, and I believe

does in those Parts, but I think he has found a nearer Way to the Wood

with us, and that is sufficient to my present Purpose.

Some would persuade me the _Devil_ had a great Hand in the late

religious Breaches in _France_, among the Clergy, (_viz._) about the

Pope's Constitution _Unigenitus_, and that he made a fair Attempt to set

the Pope and the _Gallican_ Church together by the Ears, for they were

all just upon the Point or breaking out into a Church War, that for

ought we knew might have gone farther than the _Devil_ himself car'd it

should; now I am of the quite contrary Opinion, I believe the _Devil_

really did not make the Breach, but rather heal'd it, for fear it should

have gone so far among them as to have set them all in a Flame, and have

open'd the Door to the Return of the _Hugonots_ again, which it was in a

fair Way to have done.

But be it one Way or t'other, the historical Part seems to be a little

against me; for 'tis certain, the _Devil_ both wanted and made Use of

Legions of Agents, as well human as infernal, visible and invisible in

that great and important Affair, and we cannot doubt but he has

innumerable Instruments still at work about it.

Like as in _Poland_, I make no Question but the _Devil_ has thousands of

his Banditti at work at this Time, and in another Country not far from

it, perhaps, preparing Matters for the next General Diet, taking care to

prevent giving any Relaxation to the Protestants, and to justify the

moderate Executions at _Thorn_, to excite a Nation to quarrel with every

Body who are able to fight with no body; to erect the Apostate Race of

_S----y_ upon a Throne which they have no Title to, and turn an elective

Throne into an hereditary, in favour of Popery.

I might anticipate all your Objections, by granting the busy _Devil_ at

this Time employing all his Agents and Instruments (for I never told you

they were idle and useless) in striving to enflame the Christian World,

and bring a new War to overspread _Europe_; I might, perhaps, point out

to you some of the Measures he takes, the Provocatives which his State

Physicians administer to the Courts and Counsellors of Princes, to

foment and ferment the Spirits, and Members of Nations, Kingdoms,

Empires and States in the World, in order to bring these glorious Ends

of Blood and War to pass; for you cannot think but he that knows so much

of the _Devil_'s Affairs, as to write his History, must know something

of all these Matters more than those that do not know so much as he.

But all this is remote to the present Case, for this is no Impeachment

of Satan's new Methods with Mankind, in this Part of the World, and in

his private and separate Capacity; all this only signifies that in his

more general and national Affairs, the _Devil_ acts still by his old

Methods; and when he is to seduce or embroil Nations, he, like other

Conquerors, subdues them by Armies, employs mighty Squadrons of

_Devils_, and sends out strong Detachments, with Generals and

Generalissimos to lead them, some to one Part of the World, some to

another; some to influence one Nation, some to manage and direct

another, according as Business presents, and his Occasions require, that

his Affairs may be carried on currently, and to his Satisfaction.

If it were not thus, but that the _Devil_ by his new and exquisite

Management, of which I have said so much, had brought Mankind in general

to be the Agents of their own Mischiefs, and that the World were so at

his Beck, that he need but command them to go and fight, declare War,

raise Armies, destroy Cities, Kingdoms, Countries and People; the World

would be a Field of Blood indeed, and all Things would run into

Confusion presently.

But this is not the Case at all, Heaven has not let go the Government of

the Creation to his subdu'd Enemy, the Devil; that would overturn the

whole System of God, and give Satan more Power, than ever he was or will

be vested with; when, therefore, I speak of a few forward Wretches in

our Day, who are so warm in their Wickedness, that they anticipate the

Devil, save him the Trouble to tempt, turn Devils to themselves, and

gallop Hellward faster than he drives; I speak of them as single

Persons, and acting in their own personal and private Capacity, but when

I speak of Nations and Kingdoms, there the Devil is oblig'd to go on in

the old Road, and act by Stratagem, by his proper Machinery, and to make

use of all his Arts, and all his Agents, just as he has done in all

Ages, from the beginning of his politic Government to this Day.

And if it was not thus too, what would become of all his numberless

Legions, of which all Ages have heard so much, and all Parts of the

World have had so much fatal Experience? They would seem to be quite out

of Employment, and be render'd useless in the World of Spirits, where it

is to be supposed they reside; not the Devil himself could find any

Business for them, which by the Way, to busy and mischievous Spirits, as

they are, would be a Hell to them, even before their Time; they would

be, as it were, doom'd to a State of Inactivity, which we may suppose

was one Part of their Expulsion from Blessedness and the Creation of

Man; or as they were for the surprising Interval between the Destruction

of Mankind by the Deluge and _Noah_'s coming out of the Ark, when

indeed they might be said to have nothing at all to do.

But this is not Satan's Case, and therefore let me tell you too, that

you may not think I treat the Case with more Levity than I really do,

and than I am sure I intend to do; tho' it is too true that our modern

and modish Sinners have arrived to more exquisite Ways of being wicked,

than their Fathers, and really seem, as I have said, to need no Devil to

tempt them; nay, that they do Satan's Work for him as to others also,

and make themselves Devils to their Neighbours, tempting others to crime

even faster than the Devil desires them, running before they are sent,

and going of the _Devil_'s Errands _gratis_; by which Means Satan's Work

is, as to them, done to his Hand, and they may be said to save him a

great deal of Trouble; yet after all, the Devil has still a great deal

of Business upon his Hands, and as well himself as all his Legions, find

themselves a full Employment in disturbing the World, and opposing the

Glory and Kingdom of their great Superior, whose Kingdom it is their

whole Business, however vain in its End, to overthrow and destroy, if

they were able, or at least to endeavour it.

This being the Case, it follows of course that the general Mischiefs of

Mankind, as well national and public, as family Mischiefs, and even

personal, (except as before excepted) lie all still at the _Devil_'s

Door, as much as ever, let his Advocates bring him off of it if they

can; and this brings us back again to the manner of the Devil's

Management, and the Way of his working by human Agents, or if you will,

the Way of human Devils, working in Affairs of low Life, such as we call

Divination, Sorcery, Black-Art, Necromancy, and the like; all which I

take to consist of two material Parts, and both very necessary for us to

be rightly inform'd of.

1. The Part which Satan by himself or his inferior _Devils_

empowers such People to do, as he is in Confederacy with here on

Earth; to whom he may be said, like the Master of an Opera or

Comedy, to give their Parts to act, and to qualify them to act it;

whether he obliges them to a Rehearsal in his Presence, to try

their Talents, and see that they are capable of performing, that

indeed I have not enquir'd into.

2. That Part which these empower'd People do voluntier or beyond

their Commission, to shew their Diligence in the Service of their

new Master, and either (1.) to bring Grist to their own Mill, and

make their Market of their Employment in the best manner they can;

or (2.) to gain Applause, be admir'd, wonder'd at, and applauded,

as if they were ten Times more _Devils_ than really they are.

In a Word, the Matter consists of what the _Devil_ does by the Help of

these People, and what they do in his Name without him; the Devil is

sometimes cheated in his own Business; there are Pretenders to

Witchcraft and Black-Art, who Satan never made any Bargain with, but who

he connives at, because at least they do his Cause no harm, tho' their

Business is rather to get Money, than to render him any Service, of

which I gave you a remarkable Instance before.

But to go back to his real Agents, of which I reckon two.

1. Those who act by Direction and Confederacy, as I have said

already many do.

2. Those whom he acts in and by, and they (perhaps) know it not, of

which Sort History gives us plenty of Examples, from _Machiavel_'s

first Disciple ---- to the famous Cardinal _Alberoni_, and even to

some more modern than his Eminence, of whom I can say no more till

farther Occasion offers.

1. Those who act by immediate Direction of the Devil, and in Confederacy

with him; these are such as I mention'd in the beginning of this

Chapter, whose Arts are truly black, because really infernal; it will be

very hard to decide the Dispute between those who really act thus in

Confederacy with the _Devil_, and those who only pretend to it; so I

shall leave that Dispute where I find it; but that there are, or at

least have been, a Set of People in the World, who really are of his

Acquaintance, and very intimate with him; and tho', as I have said, he

has much alter'd his Schemes and chang'd Hands of late; yet that there

are such People, perhaps of all Sorts; and that the Devil keeps up his

Correspondence with them; I must not venture to deny that Part, lest I

bring upon me the whole Posse of the conjuring and bewitching Crew, Male

and Female, and they should mob me for pretending to deny them the

Honour of dealing with the _Devil_, which they are so exceeding willing

to have the Fame of.

Not that I am hereby oblig'd to believe all the strange Things the

Witches and Wizards, who have been allow'd to be such, nay, who have

been hang'd for it, have said of themselves; nay, that they have

confess'd of themselves, even at the Gallows; and if I come to have an

Occasion to speak freely of the Matter, I may perhaps convince you that

the Devil's possessing Power is much lessen'd of late, and that he

either is limited, and his Fetter shortened more than it has been, or

that he does not find the old Way (as I said before) so fit for his

Purpose as he did formerly, and therefore takes other Measures, but I

must adjourn that to a Time and Place by itself: But we are told that

there are another Sort of People, and, perhaps, a great many of them

too, in whom and by whom the Devil really acts, and they know it not.

It would take up a great deal of Time and Room, too much for this Place,

so near the Close of this Work, to describe and mark out the involuntary

_Devils_ which there are in the World; of whom it may be truly said,

that really the _Devil_ is in them, and they know it not: Now, tho' the

_Devil_ is cunning and managing, and can be very silent where he finds

it for his Interest not to be known; yet it is very hard for him to

conceal himself, and to give so little Disturbance in the House, as that

the Family should not know who lodged in it; yet, I say, the Devil is so

subtle and so mischievous an Agent, that he uses all manner of Methods

and Craft to reside in such People as he finds for his Purpose, whether

they will or no, and which is more, whether they know it or no.

And let none of my Readers be angry or think themselves ill used, when I

tell them the Devil may be in them, and may act them, and by them, and

they not know it; for I must add, it may, perhaps, be one of the

greatest Pieces of human Wisdom in the World, for a Man to know when the

Devil is in him, and when not; when he is a Tool and Agent of Hell, and

when he is not; in a Word, when he is doing the Devil's Work, and under

his Direction, and when not.

It is true, this is a very weighty Point, and might deserve to be

handled in a more serious Way than I seem to be talking in all this

Book; but give me leave to talk of Things my own way, and withall, to

tell you, that there is no Part of this Work so seemingly ludicrous, but

a grave and well weigh'd Mind may make a serious and solid Application

of it, if they please; nor is there any Part of this Work, in which a

clear Sight and a good Sense may not see that the Author's Design is,

that they should do so; and as I am now so near the End of my Book, I

thought it was meet to tell you so, and lead you to it as far as I can.

I say, 'tis a great Part of human Wisdom to know when the _Devil_ is

acting in us and by us, and when not; the next and still greatest Part

would be to prevent him, put a Stop to his Progress, bid him go about

his Business, and let him know he should carry on his Designs no farther

in that manner; that we will be his Tools no longer; in short, to turn

him out of Doors, and bring a stronger Power to take Possession; but

this, indeed, is too solid a Subject, and too great to begin with here.

But now, as to the bare knowing when he is at work with us, I say this,

tho' it is considerable, may be done, nor is it so very difficult; _for

Example_, you have no more to do but look a little into the Microcosm of

the Soul, and see there how the Passions which are the Blood, and the

Affections which are the Spirit, move in their particular Vessels; how

they circulate, and in what Temper the Pulse beats there, and you may

easily see who turns the Wheel; if a perfect Calm possesses the Soul; if

Peace and Temper prevail, and the Mind feels no Tempests rising; if the

Affections are regular and exalted to vertuous and sublime Objects, the

Spirits cool, and the Mind sedate, the Man is in a general Rectitude of

Mind, he may be truly said to be _his own Man_; Heaven shines upon his

Soul with its benign Influences, and he is out of the Reach of the evil

Spirit; for the divine Spirit is an Influence of Peace, all calm and

bright, happy and sweet like it self, and tending to every Thing that is

good both present and future.

But on the other Hand, if at any Time the Mind is ruffled, if Vapours

rise, Clouds gather, if Passions swell the Breast, if Anger, Envy,

Revenge, Hatred, Wrath, Strife; if these, or any of these hover over

you, much more if you feel them within you; if the Affections are

possess'd, and the Soul hurried down the Stream to embrace low and base

Objects; if those Spirits, which are the Life and enlivening Powers of

the Soul, are drawn off to Parties, and to be engag'd in a vicious and

corrupt manner, shooting out wild and wicked Desires, and running the

Man headlong into Crime, the Case is easily resolv'd, the Man is

possess'd, the _Devil_ is in him; and having taken the Fort, or at least

the Counterscarp and Out-Works, is making his Lodgment to cover and

secure himself in his Hold, that he may not be dispossess'd.

Nor can he be easily dispossess'd when he has got such hold as this; and

'tis no wonder, that being lodg'd thus upon the Out-Works of the Soul he

continues to sap the Foundation of the rest, and by his incessant and

furious Assaults, reduces the Man at last to a Surrender.

If the Allegory be not as just and apposite as you would have it be, you

may, however, see by it in a full View, the State of the Man, and how

the _Devil_ carries on his Designs; nothing is more common, and I

believe there are few thinking Minds but may reflect upon it in their

own Compass, than for our Passions and Affections to flow out of the

ordinary Channel; the Spirits and Blood of the Soul to be extravasated,

the Passions grow violent and outragious, the Affections impetuous,

corrupt and violently vicious: Whence does all this proceed? from Heaven

we can't pretend it comes; if we must not say 'tis the _Devil_, whose

Door must it lie at? Pride swells the Passions; Avarice moves the

Affections; and what is Pride, and what is Avarice, but the _Devil_ in

the Inside of the Man? ay, as personally and really as ever he was in

the Herd of Swine.

Let not any Man then, who is a Slave to his Passions, or who is chain'd

down to his Covetousness, pretend to take it ill, when I say he has the

_Devil_ in him, or that he is a _Devil_: What else can it be, and how

comes it to pass that Passion and Revenge so often dispossess the Man of

himself, as to lead him to commit Murther, to lay Plots and Snares for

the Life of his Enemies, and so to thirst for Blood? How comes this but

by the Devil's putting those Spirits of the Soul into so violent a

Ferment, into a Fever? that the Circulation is precipitated to that

Degree, and that the Man too is precipitated into Mischief, and at last

into Ruin; 'tis all the _Devil_, tho' the Man does not know it.

In like manner Avarice leads him to rob, plunder and destroy for Money,

and to commit sometimes the worst of Violences to obtain the wicked

Reward. How many have had their Throats cut for their Money, have been

murther'd on the Highway, or in their Beds, for the Desire of what they

had? It is the same Thing in other Articles, every Vice is the Devil in

a Man; Lust of Rule is the _Devil_ of great Men, and that Ambition is

their _Devil_ as much as whoring is Father ------'s _Devil_, one has a

_Devil_ of one Class acting him, one another, and every Man's reigning

Vice is a _Devil_ to him.

Thus the _Devil_ has his involuntary Instruments, as well as those who

act in Confederacy with him; he has a very great Share in many of us,

and acts us, and in us, unknown to our selves tho' we know nothing of

it, and indeed tho' we may not suspect it of our selves; like _Hazael_

the _Assyrian_, who when the Prophet told him how he would act the

_Devil_ upon the poor _Israelites_, answer'd with Detestation, _is thy

Servant a Dog that he should do this Thing_, and yet he was that Dog,

and did all those cruel Things for all that; the _Devil_ acting him, or

acting in him, to make him wickeder than ever he thought it was possible

for him to be.

The CONCLUSION.

_Of the_ Devil_'s last Scene of Liberty, and what may be supposed to be

his End, with what we are to understand of his being tormented for

ever and ever._

As the _Devil_ is a Prince of the Power of the Air, his Kingdom is

mortal, and must have an End; and as he is call'd the God of this World,

that is, the great Usurper of the Homage and Reverence which Mankind

ought of right to pay to their Maker, so his Usurpation also, like the

World it self, must have an End: Satan is call'd the God of the World,

as Men too much prostrate and prostitute themselves to him, yet he is

not the Governor of this World; and therefore the Homage and Worship he

has from the World is an Usurpation; and this will have an End, because

the World it self will have an End; and all Mankind, as they had a

beginning in Time, so must expire and be remov'd before the End of Time.

Since then the _Devil_'s Empire is to expire and come to an End, and

that the _Devil_ himself and all his Host of _Devils_ are immortal

Seraphs, Spirits that are not embodied and cannot die, but are to remain

in being; the Question before us next will be, what is to become of him?

what is his State to be? whether is he to wander, and in what Condition

is he to remain to that Eternity to which he is still to exist?

I hope no Man will mistake me so much in what I have said as to Spirits,

which are all Flame, not being affected with Fire, as if I supposed

there was no Place of Punishment for the _Devil_, nor any Kind of

Punishment that could affect them; and so of our Spirits also when

transform'd into Flame.

I must be allow'd to speak there of that material Fire, by which, as by

an Allegory, all the Terrors of an eternal State are represented to us

in Scripture, and in the Writings of the learned Commentators, and by

which the Pain of Sense is describ'd; this, perhaps, I do not understand

as they seem to do, and therefore have said,

When we're all Flame (that is all Spirit) we shall all Fire (that is,

all such Fire as this) despise. And thus I claim to be understood.

It does not follow from hence, neither do I suggest, or so much as think

that infinite Power cannot form a something (tho' inconceivable to us

here) which shall be as tormenting, and as insupportable to a Devil, an

apostate Seraph, and to a Spirit, tho' exalted, unembodied and rarified

into _Flame_, as Fire would be to other Bodies; in which I think I am

orthodox, and do not give the least Occasion to an Enemy to charge me

with profane Speaking, in those Words, or to plead for thinking

prophanely himself.

It must be Atheistical to the last Degree to suggest, that whereas the

_Devil_ has been heaping up and amassing Guilt ever since the Creation

of Man, encreasing in hatred of God and Rebellion against him, and in

all possible endeavour to dethrone and depose the Majesty of Heaven;

that yet Heaven had not prepar'd, or could not prepare a just Penalty

for him; and that it should not all end in God's entire Victory over

Hell, and in Satan's open Condemnation: Heaven could not be just to its

own Glory, if he should not avenge himself upon this Rebel, for all his

superlative Wickedness in his modern as well as ancient Station; for the

Blood of so many millions of his faithful Subjects and Saints whom he

has destroy'd; and if nothing else offer'd it self to prove this Part,

it would appear undoubted to me; but this, I confess, does not belong to

Satan's History, and therefore I have reserv'd it to this Place, and

shall also be the shorter in it.

That his Condition is to be a State of Punishment, and that by Torment,

the _Devil_ himself has own'd, and his calling out to our blessed Lord

when he cast him out of the furious Man among the Tombs, is a Proof of

it, _What have we to do with thee_, and _art thou come to torment us

before the Time?_ Luke viii. 28. where the _Devil_ acknowledges four

Things, and three of them are directly to my present Purpose, and if you

won't believe the Word of God, I hope you will believe the _Devil_,

especially when 'tis an open Confession against himself.

1. He confess Christ to be the _Son of God_ (that by the Way) and _no

Thanks to him_, for that does not want the _Devil_'s Evidence.

2. He acknowledges he may be tormented.

3. He acknowledges Christ was able to torment him.

4. He acknowledges that there is a Time appointed when he shall be

tormented.

As to _how_, in _what Manner_, and by _what Means_, this tormenting the

Devil is to be performed or executed, that I take to be as needless to

us as 'tis impossible to know, and being not at present inclined to fill

your Heads and Thoughts with weak and imperfect Guesses, I leave it

where I find it.

It is enough to us that this Torment of the _Devil_ is represented to us

by Fire, it being impossible for our confin'd Thoughts to conceive of

Torment by any Thing in the World more exquisite; whence I conclude,

that _Devils_ shall at last receive a Punishment suitable to their

Spirituous Nature, and as exquisitely Tormenting as a burning Fire would

be to our Bodies.

Having thus settl'd my own Belief of this Matter, and stated it so, as I

think will let you see 'tis rightly sounded, the Matter stands thus.

Satan having been let loose to play his Game in this World, has improv'd

his Time to the utmost; he has not fail'd on all Occasions to exert his

Hatred, Rage, and Malice at his Conqueror and Enemy, _namely, his

Maker_; he has nor fail'd, from Principles of meer Envy and Pride, to

pursue Mankind with all possible Rancour, in order to deprive him of the

Honour and Felicity which he was created for, namely, to succeed the

_Devil_ and his Angels in the State of Glory from which they fell.

This Hatred of God and Envy at Man, having broken out in so many several

Ways in the whole Series of Time from the Creation, must necessarily

have greatly encreased his Guilt; and as Heaven is righteous to judge

him, must terminate in an encrease of Punishment, adequate to his Crime,

and sufficient to his Nature.

Some have suggested, that there is yet a Time to come, when the _Devil_

shall exert more Rage, and do more Mischief than ever yet he has been

permitted to do; whether he shall break his Chain, or be unchain'd for a

Time, they cannot tell, nor I neither; and 'tis happy for my Work, that

even this Part too does not belong to his History; if ever it shall be

given an Account of by Mankind, it must be after it is come to pass, for

my Part is not Prophesy of foretelling what the Devil shall do, but

History of what he has done.

Thus, good People, I have brought the History of the Devil down to _your

own Times_; I have, as it were, _rais'd him_ for you, and set him in

your View, that you may know him and have a Care of him.

If any cunninger Men among you think they are able now to _lay him_

again, and so dispose of him out of your Sight, that you shall be

troubled no more with him, either here or hereafter, let them go to work

with him their own Way; you know Things future do not belong to an

Historian, so I leave him among you, wishing you may be able to give no

worse an Account of him for the Time to come, than I have done for the

Time past.

FINIS.

Footnotes:

[1] N. B. He never refus'd setting his hand to any opinion, which he

thought it for his interest to acknowledge.

[2] Mean't of nothing.

[3] _Mr._ Pool's _words are these_: Some refer the words, _This day have

I begotten thee_, to the incarnation of the Son of GOD, others to the

Resurrection: our Translators lay the stress on the preposition of which

the verb is compounded, and by adding _again_, (viz.) _rais'd up Jesus

again_, Acts xiii. 33. intend it to be understood of the Resurrection;

and there is ground for it, in the context, for the Resurrection of

Christ, is that which St. _Paul_ had propounded in v. 30. of the same

Chapter, as his theme or argument to preach upon.

Not that Christ at his Resurrection began to be the Son of God, but that

he was manifested then to be so.

[4] Satan.

[5] The meaning of the word Devil is Destroyer. See _Pool_ upon _Acts_

xiii. 10.

[6] _As great as the Devil and Doctor_ Faustus. Vulg. Dr. _Foster_.

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.

Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate

both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as

presented in the original text.

Long "s" has been modernized.

The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these

letters have been replaced with transliterations.

The text includes two instances of unmatched round brackets; as these

require interpretation to close, they have been left unmatched.

The following misprints have been corrected:

"Origiual" corrected to "Original" (Table of Contents)

"34" corrected to "31" (Table of Contents)

"259" corrected to "159" (Table of Contents)

extraneous "a" removed (page 1)

"blinding" corrected to "binding" (page 9)

"decrib'd" corrected to "describ'd" (page 57)

"Battels" corrected to "Battles" (page 76)

"inconcievable" corrected to "inconceivable" (page 91)

"Devils" corrected to "Devil's" (page 101)

"hut" corrected to "but" (page 120)

"that that" corrected to "that" (page 127)

"opposs'd" corrected to "oppos'd" (page 152)

"notwitstanding" corrected to "notwithstanding" (page 162)

"a as Body" corrected to "as a Body" (page 172)

"Peoples" corrected to "People's" (page 184)

"Asia" corrected to "Asa" (page 187)

"was" corrected to "saw" (page 213)

"faling" corrected to "falling" (page 229)

"Christain" corrected to "Christian" (page 230)

"what's is" corrected to "what is" (page 233)

"disapointed" corrected to "disappointed" (page 234)

"been" corrected to "seen" (page 235)

"momentons" corrected to "momentous" (page 244)

"Chritians" corrected to "Christians" (page 250)

"Egyytian" corrected to "Egyptian" (page 252)

"Magnifience" corrected to "Magnificence" (page 256)

"whereever" corrected to "wherever" (page 267)

"compliasant" corrected to "complaisant" (page 294)

"coul'd" corrected to "cou'd" (page 298)

"Acquiantance" corrected to "Acquaintance" (page 299)

"Oportunity" corrected to "Opportunity" (page 300)

"har'd" corrected to "hard" (page 301)

"distingush" corrected to "distinguish" (page 312)

"whereever" corrected to "wherever" (page 322)

"the the" corrected to "the" (page 330)

"CHAP. VII" corrected to "CHAP. IX" (page 339)

"Businses" corrected to "Business" (page 370)

Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in

spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation usage have been retained.

End of Project Gutenberg's The History of the Devil, by Daniel Defoe