The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts

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.

F I N I S

notes

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