I. It was fufficient to bring Mankind to a

Neglect of God, to worfhip him by halves, and give little or no Regard to his Laws, and fo grow loofe and immoral, indirect Con tradiction to his Commands •> this would not go down with them at firft, fo the Devil went on gradually.
z. From a Negligence'Mn worshiping the true GOD, he by Degrees introduc'd the worfhip of falfe GODS j and to introduce this he be gan [with the Sun^ Moon, and Sfars, call'd in the holy Text the Hoft of Heaven 5 thefe had greater Majefty upon them, and feem'd fitter to command the Homage of Mankind 5 fo it was not the hardeft Thing in the World, to bring Men, when they had once forgot ten the true God, to embrace the Worfhip of fuch Gods as thofe.
J. Having thus debauch'd their Principles in Worfhip, and led them from the true and
only
of the DEVIL; 151
only Object of Wor/hip to a falfe, it was the eafier to carry them on $ ib in a few Grada tions more he brought them to downright Idolatry, and even in that Idolatry he proceed ed gradually too 5 for he began with awful Names, fuch as were venerable in the Thoughts of Men, as BAAL or BELL, which, in Chaldaick and Hebrew^ fignifies Lord or Sovereign, or Mighty and Magnificent, and this was therefore a Name afcrib'd at firft to the true God> but afterwards they de- fcended to make Images and Figures to re- p relent him , and then they were call'd by the fame Name, as Baal^ Baalim, and after wards Belly from which, by a phellifh Dege neracy, Saturn brought Mankind to adore every Block of their own hewing, and to worshipping Stocks, Stones, Monfters, Hob goblins, and every fordid frightful Thing, and at lall the Devil himfelf.
What Notions fome People may entertain of the Forwardnefs of the firfl: Ages of the World, to run into Idolatry, I do not enquire here 5 I know they tell us ftrange Things, of its being the Product of meer Nature, one remove from its primitive State -y but I, who pretend to have ib critically enquir'd into Satan's Hiflory, can aflure you, and that from very good Authority, that the Devil did not find it fo eafy a tafk to obliterate the Know ledge of the true God, in the Minds and Con- fciences of Men, as thofe People fuggeft.
It is true he carried Things a great Length un der the Patriarchal Government of the fidl Ages, but ftill he was (Ixteen hundred Years bringing it to pafs 5 and tho' we have Reafon to believe the old World, before the Flood was arrived to a very great Height of 'Wickednefs, and Ovid L 4 very
j52 ^HISTORY
very nobly defcribes it by the War of the fitans againft Jupiter^ yet we do not read that ever Sa tan was come to fuch a Length as to bring them to Idolatry 3 indeed we do read of Wars car ried on among them, whether it was one Nati on againft another, or only Perfonal, we cannot tell 3 But the World feem'd to be fwallow'd up in a Life of Wickednefs, that is to fay, of Luxury and Lewdnefs, Rapine and Violence, and there were Giants among them, and Men of Renown, that is to fay, Men fanVd for their mighty Va lour, great A&ions of War we may fuppofe, and their Strength, who perfonally oppofs'd others. We read of no confiderable Wars indeed, but 'tis not to be doubted but there was fuch Wars, or elfe it is to be underftood that they iiv'd (in common) a Life fomewhat like the Brutes, the Strong devouring the Weak 3 for the Text fays, the whole Earth was filled with Violence, hunting and tearing one another in Pieces, either for Do minion or for Wealth, either for Ambition or for Avarice, we know not well which.
Thus for the ojd Antediluvian World went, and very wicked they were, there is no doubt of that 3 but we have Reafon to believe that was no Idolatry, the Devil had not brought them to that Length yet : perhaps it would ibon have follow'd, but the Deluge intervened.
After the Deluge, as / have faid^ he had all his Work to do over again, and he went on by the lame Steps 3 firft he brought them to Violence and War, then to Qppreffion and Tyranny, then to negle&of true Worfhip, then to falfe worfhip, and then Idolatry by the meer natural Confe- quence of the Thing 3 who were the firft Na tion or People that fell from the Worfhip of the true God, is fomething hard to determine 3 the De- yjl) who certainly of all God's Creatures is beft able
of the DEVIL; 153
to inform us, having left us nothing upon Record upon that Subject, but we have Reafon to be lieve it was thus introduc'd.
Nimrod was the Grandfon of Ham, Noah's fecond Son, the fame who was curfed by his Fa ther for expofing him in his Drunkennefs: This Nimrod was the firft who it feems Satan pick'd out for a Hero : Here he infpir'd him with am bitious Thoughts, dreams of Empire, and hav ing the Government of all the Reft, that is to ay^ univcrfal Monarchy -9 the very fame Bait with which he has plaid upon the Frailty of Princes, and enfnard the greateft of them ever fince, even from his moil Auguft Imperial Majefty KingM^- rod the firft, to his moft Chriftian Majefty Louis the XIV. and many a mighty Monarch between.
When thefe mighty Monarchs and Men of Fame went off the Stage, the World had their Memories in efteem many Ages after j and as their great Aftions were no otherwife recorded than by oral Tradition, and the Tongues and Me^ mories of fallible Men, Time and the Cuftom of magnifying the paft Aftions of Kings, Men foon fabl'd up their Hiftories, Satan affiftmg^ into Miracle and Wonder: Hence their Names were had in Veneration more and more 3 Statues and Bu boes repreicnting their Perfons and great Actions were fet up in public Places, till from Heroes and Champions they made Gods of them, and thus (Satan prompting) the World was quickly fill'd with Idols.
This Nimrod is he, who according to the re* ceived Opinion, tho' I do not find Satan's Hiftory exactly concurring with it, was firft call'd Eelus^ then Baal) and worfhip'd in moft of the eaftem Countries under thofe Names -, fometimes with Additions of Sir- names, according to the feveral £o^intries? or People, or Towps where he was
particu-.
154 The HIS TORY
particularly fct up, as Baal Peor, Baal Zephon* Baal Phegor, and in other Places plain Baal^ as Jupiter in after Times had the like Additions j as Jupiter Ammon, Jupiter Capitolinus^ Jupiter Pif- t Jupiters more.
1 rnuft acknowledge, that I think it was a Maf~ ter-piece of Hell to bring the World to Idola try fo foon after they had had fuch an eminent Example of the infinite Power of the true God, as was feen in the Deluge, and particularly in the Efcape of Noah in the Ark, to bring them (even before Noah or his Sons were dead) to forget whofe Hand it was, and give the Homage of the World to a Name, and that a Name of a mortal Man dead and rotten, who was famous for no thing when he was alive but Blood and War -y I fay, to bring the World to fet up this Nothing, this meer Name, nay the very Image and Picture of him for a God^ it was firfl a Mark of moil prodigious Stupidity in the whole Race of Men, a monftrous Degeneracy from Nature, and even from common Senfe > and in the next Place 'twas a token of an inexpreffible Craft and Subtilty in the Devil) who had now gotten the People into fo full and compleat a Management, that in ihort, he could have brought them, by the fame Rule, to have worfhip'd any thing j and in a little while more, did bring many of them to worfhip himfelf, plain Devil as he was, and knowing him to be fuch.
As to the Antiquity of this horrible Defection of Mankind, tho' we do not find the beginning of it particularly recorded, yet we are certain it was not long after the Confufion of Babel 5 for Nimrod^ as is faid, was rio more than Noah's great Grandfon and Noah himfelf, I fuppofe, might be alive fome Years after Nimrod was born > and as Nimrod was not long dead, before they forgot that
he
of the DEVIL. 155
he was a Tyrant and a Murtherer, and made a Baal^ that is a Lord or Idol of him, I fay, he was not long dead, for Nimrod was born in the Year of the World 1 847, and built Babylon the Year 1 879 5 and we find Terah the Father of A~ braham^ who liv'd from the Year 1 879 was an Ido later, as was doubtlefs Bethuel, who was Terab's Grandfon > for we find Laban, who was BethueFs Son, was fo, and all this was during the Life of the firft Poft-Diluvian Family, for Terab was born within one hundred ninety three Years after the Flood, and one hundred fifty feven Years before Noah was dead ; and even Abram himfelf was eight and fifty Years old before Noah died, and yet Idolatry had been then, in all probability, above an hundred Years pradifed in the World.
N. B. It is worth Remark here, what a ter rible Advantage the Devil gain'd by the de bauching poor Noah, and drawing him into the Sin of Drunkennefs 5 for by this, as I faid, he filenc'd and flop'd the Mouth of the great Preacher of Righteoufnefs, that Father and Patriarch of the whole World, who not being able for the Shame of his own foul Mifcarriage, to pretend to inftruft or reprove the World any more, the Devil took hold of them immediately, and for want of a Prophet to warn and admonifh, ran that little of Religion which there might be left in Shem and Japhet^ quite out of the World, and delug'd them all in IDOLATRY.
How long the whole World may be faid to be thus overwhelmed in Ignorance and Idolatry, we may make fome tolerable guefs at by the Hiftory of Abraham ; for it was not till God call'd him from his Father's Houfe, that any fuch Thing as a
Church
i56 TfoHIS T O R Y
Church was eftablinYd in the World $ nor even then, except in his own Family and Succeflors for almoft four hundred Years after that Call ; and till God brought the Ifraelites back out oF Egypt , the whole World may be faid to be involved in Idolatry and Devil worfhip.
So abfolute a Conqueft had the Devil made over Mankind immediately after the Flood, and all taking its Rife and Beginning at the fatal De feat ofNoab, who had he liv'd untainted and in vulnerable, as he had done for fix hundred Years before, would have gone a great way to have ilem'd the Torrent or Wickednefs which broke in upon Mankind > and therefore the Devil^ I fay, was very cunning and very much in the Right of it, take him as he is a meer Devil^ to attack Noah perfonally, and give him a Blow- fo foon.
It is true, the Devil did not immediately raze out the Notion of Religion and of a GOD from the Minds of Men, nor could he eafily fupprefs the Principle of Worfhip and Homage to be paid to a Sovereign Being, the Author of Nature and Guide of the World > the Devil faw this clearly in the firft Ages of the new World, and there fore, as I have faid, he proceeded politically and by Degrees : That it was fo, is evident from the Story of Job and his three Friends, who, if we may take it for a Hiftory, not a Fable, and may judge of the Time of it by the Length of Job's 'Life, and by the Family of Eliphaz the femanite^ who it is manifeft was at lead Grandfon or Great Grandfon to Efau Ifaac's eldefl Son, and by the Language of Ablmilech King of Gerar to .Abra- haW) and of Laban to Jacob^ both the Latter being at the fame Time Idolaters > I fay, if we may judge of it by all thefe, there were ftill very found Notions of Religion in the Minds of Men 5 nor could Satan with all his Cunning and Policy
deface
of the D EVIL. 157
deface thofe Ideas^ and root them out of the Minds of the People.
And this put him upon taking new Meafures to keep up his Intereft and prelerve the Hold he got upon Mankind -, and his Method was like himfelf, fubtle and politick to the lall De gree, as his whole Hiftory makes appear > for fee ing he found they could not but believe the Being of a God, and that they would needs worfhip fome- thing, it is evident, he had no Game left him to play but this, namely, to fet up wrong Notions of Worfhip, and bring them toafalfe Worfhip in- ftead of a True, fuppofing the Object worfnip'd to be flill the fame.
To finifh this Stratagem, he firftinfinuates that the true God was a terrible, a dreadful, unap proachable Being 5 that to fee him was fo fright ful, that it would be prefent Death ; that to wor fhip him immediately, was a Prefumption which would provoke his Wrath ; and that as he was a confuming Fire in himfelf, fo he would burn up thofe in his Anger that dar'd to offer up any Sacrifice to him, but by the Interpolation of fome Medium which might receive their Adorations in his Name.
Hence it occur'd prefently, that fubordinate Gods were to be found out and fet up, to whom the People might pay the Homage due to the fuprcme God, and who they might worihip in his Name } this I take from the moft ancient Ac count of Idolatry in the World 5 nor indeed could the Devil himfelf find out any other Reafon why Men ihould Cannonife or rather Deify their Princes and Men of Fame, and worfhip them after they were dead, as if they could fave them from Death and Calamity, who were not able to fave them- felves when they were alive ; much lefs could Satan bring Men to fw allow fo grofs, fo abfurd a Thing as the bowing the Knee to a Stock or a
Stone,
I58 The HISTORY
Stone, a Calf, an Ox5 a Lion, nay the Image or Figure of a Calf, fuph as the IJraelites made at Mount Sinai i and fay, Thefe be thy Gods, O Ifrael, 'who brought tbce out of the Land of Egypt.
Having thus, I fay, brought them to fatisfy themfelves that they worfhip'd the true God and no other, under the Figures and Appearances which they made to reprefent him, it was eafy after that to worfhip any thing for the true God j and thus in a few Ages they worfhip'd nothing but Idols, even throughout the whole World 5 nor has the Devil loft this hold in fome Parts of the World, nay not in moft Parts of the World to this Dayj He holds dill all the Eaftern Parts ot Afea, and the Southern Parts of Africa, and the Northern Parts of Europe, and in them the vaft Countries of China and fartary. Perfect and India, Guinea^ Ethiopia, Zanquebar, Congo, Angola, Monomotapa, &c. in all which, except Ethiopia^ we find no Veftiges of any other worfhip but that of Idols, Monfters, and even the Devil himfelf 5 till after the very coming of our Saviour, and even then, if it be true that the Gofpel was preach'd in the Indies and China by St. ffomas, and in other remote Countries by other of the Apoftles 5 we fee that whatever Ground Satan loft, he feems to have recovered it again j and all AJia and Africa is at prefent overrun with Paganifm or Mahome- tanifm, which I think of the two is rather the worft y Befides all America, a Part of the World, as fome fay, equal in Bignefs to all the other, in which the Devil's Kingdom was never interrupted from its firft being inhabited, 'whenever it 'was, to the firft Difcovery of it by the European Nations in the (ixteenth Century.
In a Word, the Devil got what we may call an entire Victory over Mankind, and drove the Worfhip of the true God, in a Manner quite
out
of the DEVIL. 159
out of the World, forcing, as it were, his Maker in a new kind of Creation, the old one proving thus ineffe&ual to recover a certain Number by Force and meer Omnipotence to return to their Duty, ferve him and worfhip him 5 But of that hereafter.
CHAP. XI.
Of God's calling a Church out of the midjl of a degenerate World, and of Sat an s new Meafures upon that Incident : How he attack d them immediately* and his Sue- cefs in thofe Attacks.
SAtan having, as I have faid in the preceding Chapter, made, as it were, a full Conqueft of Mankind, debauch'd them all to Idolatry, and brought them at lead to worfhipingthe true God by the wretched Medium of corrupt and idola trous Reprefentations •> God feem'd to have no true Servants or Worfhippers left in the World, but if I may be allow'd to fpeak fo, was oblig'd, in order to reftore the World to their Senfes again, to call a felect Number out from among the reft, who he himfelf undertook iTiould own his Godhead or fupreme Authority, and worfhip him as he requir'd to be worfhip'dj this, I fay, God was oblig'd to do, becaufe 'tis evident it has not been done fo much by the Choice and Council of Men, for Satan would have over-ruVd that Part9 as by the Power and Energy of fome irrefiftible and invincible Operation, and this our Divines give high Names to 3 but be it what they will, it is the fecond Defeat or Difappointment that the Devil 4 has
160 The HI ST O R Y
he met with in his Progrefs in the World j the firft I have fpoken of already.
It is true, Satan very well underftood what was threatn'd to him in the original Promiic to the Woman, immediately after the Fall, namely, tboujhalt bruife his Head, Sec. but he did riot ex pect it fo fuddenly, but thought bimfelf fure of Mankind, till the Fullnefs of Time when the Meffiah fhould comej and therefore it was a great Surprize to him, to fee that Abraham being call'd was fo immediately received and eilablifh'd, tho* he did not fo immediately follow the Voice that directed him, yet in him, in his Loins was all God's Church at that time contained.
In the calling Abraham, it is eafy to fee that there was no other way for God to form a Church, that is to fay, to fingle out a People to himfelf, as the World was then dated, but by immediate Revelation and a Voice from Heaven : All Mankind were gone over to the Enemy, ovef- whelm'd in Idolatry, in a Word, were engag'd to the Devil-, God Almighty, or as the Scrip ture diftinguifhes \nm,the Lord, the true GOD, was out of the Queflion ; Mankind knew little or nothing of him, much lefs did they know any thing of his Worfhip, or that there was fuch a Being in the World.
Well might it be faid the Lord appeared to Abraham, 6en. xii. 7. for if God had not ap- pear'd himlelf, he muft have fent a Meflenger from Heaven, and perhaps it 'was fo too, for he had not one true Servant or Worihiper that we know of then on Earth, to fend on that Errand j no Prophet, no Preacher of Righteoufnefs, Noah was dead, and had been fo above feventeen Year j and if he had not, his preaching, as I obferved after his great Mifcarriage, had but little Effe£t} we are indeed told, that Noah left behind him
certain
of the DE V IL. ist
certain Rules and Orders for the true Worfhip of GOD, which were call'd the Precepts of Noah, and remain'd in the World for a long Times tho* how written, when neither any Letters, much lefs Writing were known in the World, is a Difficulty which Remains to be folv'dj and this makes me look upon thofe Laws call'd the Pre cepts of Noab to be a modern Invention, as I do alib the Alphabetttm Noachl^ which Eocbart pretends to give an Account of
But to leave that Fiflion, and come back to AbrahamiGod call'd him, whether at firit by Voice without any Vifion, whether in a Dream or Night Viiion, which was very Significant in thofe Days, or whether by forne awful Appearance, we know not ; the fecoiid Time, 'tis indeed faid ex- prefsly GOD appeared to him ; Be it which Way it will, GOD himfelf call'd him, fhew'd him the Land of Canaan, gave him the Promife of it for his Pofterity, and withal gave him fuch a Faith that the Devil foon found there was no room for him to meddle with Abraham. This is certain we do not read that the Devil ever fo -much as attempted Abrahams. all> fome will fuggeft that the Command to Abraham to go and offer up his Son Ifaac, was a Temptation of the Devil, if pof- iible to defeat the glorious Work of GOD'S call ing a holy Seed into the World; for the /fry? if Abraham had difobey'd that Call, the new Fa vourite had been overcome and made a Rebel of or fecondly, if he had obeyed, then the promised Seed had been cutoff, and Abraham defeated 3 but as the Text is exprefs that GOD himfelf propofed it to Abraham, I {hall not ftart the Suggeftions of the Criticks, in Bar of the facred Oracle.
Be it one way or other, Abraham fhew'd a Hero-like Faith and Courage, and if the Devil had been the Author of it, he had feen himfelf
M
162 The HISTORY
difappointed in both his Views > (i.)by Abraham's ready and bold Compliance, as believing it to be GOD'S Command 5 and (i.) by the divine Coun termand of the Execution, juft as the fatal Knife was lifted up.
But if the Devil left Abraham, and made no attack upon him, feeing him invulnerable, he made himfelf amends upon the other Branch of his Fa mily, his poor Nephew LOT > who, not wit (land ing he was fo immediately under the particular Care of Heaven, as that the Angel who was fent to deftroy Sodom^ could do nothing till he was out of it > and who, tho' after he had left Zoar, and was retir'd into a Cave to dwell, yet thefubtle Devil found him out, deluded his two Daughters, took an Advantage of the Fright they had been in about Sodom and Gomorrah^ made them be lieve the whole World was burnt too, as well as thofe Cities, and that in fhort, they could never have any Husbands, 6cc. and fo in their abundant Concern to repeople the World, and that the Race of Mankind might not be deftroy- ed, they go and lie with their own Father-, the Devil telling them doubtleis how to do it, by in toxicating his Head with Wine 5 in all which Story, whether they were not as drunk as their Father, feems to be a Queition, or elfe they could not have fuppofed all the Men in the Earth were confum'd, when they knew that the little City Zoar had been preferv'd for their Sakes.
This now was the third Conqueil Satan ob- tain'd by the Guft of humane Appetite > that is to fay, once by Eating and twice by Drinking, or Drunkennefs, and {till the laft was the worft and moft fhameful > for Lot^ however his Daughters manag'd him, could not pretend he did not un- derfland what the Strength of Wine was 5 and one would have thought after fo terrible a Judg ment
of the DEVIL.
ment as that of Sodom was, which was, as we may fay, executed before his Face, his Thoughts fhould have been too folemnly engag'd in praif- ing God for fparing his Life, to be made drunk, and that two Nights together.
But the Devil pJay'd his Game fure, he fet his two Daughters to work, and as the Devil's In- ftruments feldom fail, fo he fecur'd his by that hellifh Stratagem of deluding the Daughters, to think all the World was confum'd but they two and their Father : To be fure the old Man could not fufpecl: that his Daughters Defign was fo wicked as indeed it was, or that they intended to debauch him with Wine, and make him drink till he knew not what he did.
Now the Devil having carried his Game here, gain'd a great Point ; for as there were but two re ligious Families in the World before, from whence a twofold Generation might be fuppoled to rife religious and righteous like their Parents, (viz.) that of Abraham and this of Lot ; this Crime ruin'd the Hopes of one of them > it could no more be (aid that juvt Lot was in Being, who vex'd his righteous Soul from Day to Day with the wicked Behaviour of the People of Sodom $ righteous Lot was degenerated into drunken in- ceituous Lot) LOT fallen from what he was, to be a wicked and unrighteous Man -9 no pattern of Virtue, no Reprover of the Age, but a poor fal len Degenerate Patriarch, who could now no more reprove or exhort, but look down and be afham'd, and nothing to do but to repent > and fee the poor mean Excufes of all the three.
Eve fays, The Serpent beguiled me^ and I did eat.
Noah lays, My Grand/on beguiFd m^ or the
Wind beguird me^ and I did drink.
M z Lot
i64 The HISTORY
Lot fays. My Daughters be guff d me^ and I aJfo
did drink.
It is obfervable, that as I faid above, Noah was filenc'd, and his Preaching at an End,^ after that one Action, fo the like may be faid of Lot ; and in fhort, you never hear one Word more of either of them after it 3 as for Mankind, both wereufe- lefs to them, and as to themfelves, we never read of any of their Repentance, nor have we much Reafon to believe they did repent.
From this Attack of the Devil upon Lot^ we hear no more of the Devil being fo bufily em ploy 'd as he had been before in the World; he had indeed but little to do, for all the reft of the World was his own, lull'd alleep under the Witch craft of Idolatry, and are fo ftill.
But it could not be long that the Devil lay idle j as foon as God call'd himfelf a People, the Devil could not be at Reft till he attacked them.
c Wherever God fets up aHoufe of Prayer, c The Devil always builds a Chapel there.
Abraham indeed went off the Stage free, and fo did Ifaac too, they were a Kind of firft Rate Saints , we do not fo much as read of any failing they had, or of any Thing the "Devil had ever the Face to offer to them 3 no, or with Jacob either, if you will excufe him for beguiling his Brother Efau, of both his Birthright and his Blef- fing, but he was bufy enough with all his Chil dren > for Example,
He fent Judah to his Sheep -{hearing, and placed a Whore (famar) in his Way, in the Po(-
ture
of the DEVIL. 165
ture of Temptation, fo made him commit In-
cefr. and Whoredom both together. Hefent inceftuous Reubenio lie with his Father's
Concubine Billah. He fent Dinah to the Ball, to dance with the
Sichemite Ladies, and play the Whore with
their Matter. He enrag'd Simeon and Levi^ at the fuppofed
Injury, and then prompted them to Revenge,
for which their Father heartily curfed them. He fet them all together to fall upon poor
Jofeph^ fir ft to murther him intentionally,
and then actually fell him to the Midia-
nites. He made them {hew the Party- coloured Coat,
and tell a lie to their Father, to make the
poor old Man believe Jofefh was kill'd by a
Lion, &c. He fent Potiphar's Wife to attack Jofeph's
Chaftity, and filFd her with Rage at the Dif-
appointment. He taught Jofeph to fwear by the Life of Pha*
roab.
In a Word, he debauch'd the whole Race, ex cept Benjamin^ and never Man had fuch a Set of Sons, fo wicked and fo notorious, after fo good an Introduction into the World as they all of them had, to be fure 5 for Jacob^ no doubt, gave them as good Inftru&ion as the Circumitances of his wandring Condition would allow him to do.
We muft now confider the Devil and his Af fairs in a quite differing Situation: When the World firil appeared peopled by the creating Power of God, he had only Adam and Eve to take care of, and I think he ply'd his Time with them to purpofe enough : After the Deluge he ha4
M 5 Noah
166 The HISTORY
Noah only to pitch upon, and he quickly conquer'd him by the Inftigation of his Grand/on.
At the Building of Babel he guided them by their acting all in a Body as one Man 3 fo that in fhort he managed them with eafe, taking them as a .Body politic j and we find they came into his Snare as one Man •> but Now, the Children offfrael multi plying in the Land of their Bondage, and God feem- ing to fhew a particular Concern for them, the Devil was obliged to new Meafures, Hand at a Di (lance, and look on for fome Time.
The Egyptians were plagued even without his Help, nor tho' the cunning Artift, as I (aid, flood and looked on, yet he durfl not meddle ; nor could he make a few Lice, the lead and meancil of the Armies of Infects raifed to afflict the Egyptians.
However, when he perceiv'd that God refolv- ed to bring the Ifraelites out, he prepared to at tend them, to watch them, and be at Hand up on all the wicked Occafions that might offer, as if he had been fully fatisfied fuch Occafions would offer, and that he fhould not fail to have an Op portunity to draw them into fome Snare or another, and that therefore it was his Bufinefsnot to be out of the Way, but to be ready (as we fay) to make his Market of them in the befl Manner he could : How many Ways he attempted them, nay, how many Times he conquered them in their Journey, we {hall fee prefently.
Firft he put them in a fright at Baal-Zephon^ •where he thought he had drawn them into a Noofe, and where he tent Pharoah and his Army to block them up between the Mountains of Piahiroth and the Red Sea j but there indeed Satan was outwitted by Mofes, fo far as it appeared to be a humane Action, for he little thought of their going dry footed thro* the Sea, but depended up on having them all cut in Pieces the next Morn ing
of the DEVIL. 167
ing by the Egyptians 5 an eminent Proof, by the Way^ that the Devil has no Knowledge of Events, or any Infight into Futurity j nay that he has not fo much as a fecond Sight, or knows to Day what his Maker intends to do to Morrow j for had Satan known that God intended to Ford them over the Sea, if he had not been able to have prevent ed the Miracle, he would certainly have prevent ed the Efcape, by fending out Pharoah and his Army time enough to have taken the Strand be fore them, and fo have driven them to the Ne- ceffity of travelling on Foot round the North Point of that Sea, by theWildernefs of Etan, where he would have purui'd and harrafs'd them with his Cavalry, and in all Probability have deftroy'd them : But the blind fhort-figh ted Devil, perfectly in the Dark, and unacquainted with Futurity, knew no thing of the Matter, was as much deceived as Pharoah himfelf, flood ftill flattering himfelf with the Hopes of his Booty, and the Revenge he fhould take upon them the next Morning j till he faw the frighted Waves in an Uproar, and to his utter Aftoniihment and Confufion faw the Paf- fage laid open, and Mofes leading his vaft Army in full March over the dry Space ^ nay even then 'tis very propable Satan did not know that if the Egyptians follow'd them, the Sea would return upon and overwhelm them j for I can hardly think fo hard of the Devil himfelf, that if he had, he would have fuffer'd, much lefs prompted Pha roah to follow the Chafe at fuch an Ex pence -y fo that either he mufl be an ignorant unforefeeing Devil, or a very ungrateful falfe Devil to his Friends the Egyptians.
I am enclin'd alfo to the more charitable Opini on of Satan too, becaufe the Efcape of the Ifraetites was really a Triumph over himfelf 5 for the War was certainly his, or at lead he was auxiliary to Pharoah^
M 4 it
168 The HISTORY
it was a Victory over Hell and Egypt toge ther, and he would never have fuffer'd the Dif- grace, if he had known it beforehand -> that is to lay, tho' he could not have prevented the Efcape of Ifrael) or the dividing the Water, yet he might have wairn'd the Egyptians, and cautioned them not to venture in after them.
But we fhall fee a great many weak Steps taken by the Devil in the Affair of this very Peo ple and their forty Years Wandring in the Wil- tiernefsj and tho' he was in fome things fuccefs- ful, and wheedled them into many foolifh and miferable Murmurings and Wranglings agajnft God, and Mutinies againft poor Mofe^ yet the Devil was oftentimes baulk'd and difappointed > and 'tis for this Reafon that I choofe to finifh the firft Part of his Hiftory with the particular Relation of his Behaviour among the Jews, becaufe alfo, we do not find any extraordinary Things happen ing any where elfe in the World for above one thoufand five hundred Years, no Variety, jio Re volutions 5 all the Red of Mankind lay ft ill under his Yoke, quietly fubmitted to his Government, did jufl as he bad them, worfhip'd every Idol he fee up, and in a Word, he had no Difficulty with any Body but the Jews, and for this Reafon, I fay, this Part of his Story will be the more life- ful and inftru&ing.
To return therefore to M&fes and his dividing the Red Sea , that the People went over or thro' it., that we have the facred Hiftory for; but how the 'Devil behav'd, that you muft come to me for, or I know not where you will find a true Accobnt of it, at leaft not in Print.
?. It was in the Night they march'd thro's whether the Zfcw/faw'it in the Dark or no, that's pot my Bufincfi,
But
of the DEVIL.
£ut when he had Day-Light for it, and view'd the next Day's Work, I make no Queftion but all Hell felt the Surprife, the Prey being thus fnatch'd out of their Hands unexpe&edly. 'Tis true the Egyptians Holt was lent to him in their Room, but that was not what he aim'd at 5 for he was fure enough of them his own Way, and if it was not juft at that Tiwe^ yet he knew what and who they were -y but as he had devour'd the whole Jfraelt- tijh Hoft in his Imagination, to the Tune of at leaft a Million and a half of Souls > Men., Wo men and Children j it was, no doubt, a great Di£ appointment to the Devil to mifs of his Prey, and to fee them all triumphing on the other Side in Safety.
It is true, Satan's Annals do not mention this Defeat, for Hiilorians are generally backward to regifter their own Misfortunes $ but as we have an Account of the Fa6b from other Hands, fo as we cannot queftion the Truth of it j the Na ture of the Thing will tell us it was a Difappoint- ment to the Devil, and a very great one too.
I cannot but obferve here, that I think this Part of the Devil's Story very entertaining, ber caufe of the great Variety of Incidents which ap pear in every Part of it > fometimes he is like a hunted Fox, curvetting and counter-running to avoid his being purfued" and found out, while at the fame time he is carrying on his fecret Defigns to draw the People he pretends to manage, into fpme Snare or other to their Hurt 5 at another time, tho' the Comparifon is a little too low for his Dignity, like a Monkey that has done Mil- chief, and who making his own Efcape fits and chatters at a Diftance, as if he had triump'd in •what he had done 5 fo Satan, when he had drawn them in to worfhip a Calf, to offer ftrange Fire, to (et up a Schifm, and the like j and fo to bring the Divine Vengeance upon themfelvcs3 leaving 3
I7o The HIS TORY
them in their Diftrefs, kept at a Diftancc, as i£ he look'd on with Satisfaction to fee them Burnt* fwallow'd up, fwept away, and the like 5 as the feveral Stories relate.
His indefatigable Vigilance is, on the other hand, a ufeful Caveat, as well as an improving View to us > no (boner is he routed and cxpos'd, defeated and difappointed in one Enterprise, but he begins another, and, like a cunning Gladiator, warily defends himfelf, and boldly attacks his Ene my at the fame time. Thus we fee him, up and down, conquering and conquered, thro' this whole Part of his Story, till at laft he receives a total De feat -9 of which you fhall hear in its place : In the mean time, let us take up his Story again at the Red Sea9 where he receiv'd a great Blow, inilead of which he expected a compleat Victory > for doubtlefs the Devil and the King of Mgypt too, thought of nothing but Conqueft at Piahiroth.
However, tho' the Triumph of the Ifraelites over the Egyptians muft needs be a great Morti fication to the Devil, and exafperated him very much, yet the Confequence was only this, viz. that Satan^ like an Enemy who is baulk'd and defeated, but not overcome, redoubles his Rage, and reinforces his Army, and what the Egyptians could not do for him, he refolves to do for him felf 5 in order then to take his Opportunity for what Mifchief might offer, being defeated, and provok'd, I fay, at the Slur that was put upon him, he refolves to follow them into the Wildernefs, and many a vile Prank he plaid them there > as firft, he ftraitens them for Water, and makes them murmur againft GOD, and againft- Mofes^ within a very few Days, nay, Hours, of their great Deliverance of all.
Nor was this all, but in lefs than one Year more
we find them, (at his Inftigation too) fetting up
4 a golden
of t^ DEVIL: 171
a golden Calf^ and making all the People dance about it at Mount Sinai $ even when God himfelf had but juft before appear'd to them in the Ter rors of a burning Fire upon the Top of the Mountain j and what was the Pretence ? Truly, nothing but that they had loft Mofes, who ufed to be their Guide, and he had hid himfelf in the Mount, and had not been feen in forty Days, fo that they could not tell what was become of him. This put them all into Confufion $ a poor Pre tence indeed, to turn them all back to Idolatry ! but the watchful Devil took the Hint, pufh'd the Advantage, and infinuated that they (hould never fee Mofes again, that he was certainly devour'd by venturing too near the Flafhes of Fire in the Mount, and prefuming upon the Liberty he had taken before j in a word, that God had deftroyed Mofes , or he was ftarved to Death for want of Food, having been forty Days and forty Nights abfent.
All thefe were, it's true, in themfelves moft foolifh Suggeftions, confidering Mofes was ad mitted to the Vifion of God, and that God had been pleafed to appear to him in the moft inti mate manner > that as they might depend God would not deftroy his faithful Servant, fo they might have concluded he was able to fupport his Being without Food as long as he thought fit $ but to a People fo eafy to believe any thing, what could be too grofs for the Devil to perfuade them to?
A People who could dance round a Calf, and call it their God, might do any things that could fay to one another, that this was the Great JE HOVAH, that brought them out of the Land of E- gypt ; and that within fo few Days after God's miraculous Appearance to them, and for them 5 I fay, fuch a People were really fitted to be im-
pofed
The H I S T O R Y
pofed upon, nothing could be too grofs for them.
This was indeed his firft confiderable Experi ment upon them as a People ', or a as Body -y and the Truth is, his Affairs required it, for &atanj \vho had been a Succefsful Devil in moil of his Attempts upon Mankind, could hardly doubt of Succefs in any thing after he had carried his Point at Mount Sinai : To bring them to Idolatry in the very Face of their Deliverer, and juft after their Deliverance ! It was more aftonifhing in the main than even their paffing the Red Sea : In a Word, the Devil's whole Hiilory does not furnifh us with 3. Story equally furpriting.
And how was poor Aaron bewilder'd in it too ? He that was A/0/w's Partner in all the great Things that Mofes did in Pharaoh's Sight, and that was appointed to be his Affiftant and Oracle, or Ora tor rat her ) upon all public Ocean* ons ; that he, above all the reft, fhould come into this abfurd and ridiculous Propofal, he that was fingled out for the facred Priefthood, for him to defile his holy Hands with a polluted abominable Sacrifice, and with making the Idol for them too, (for 'tis plain that he made it,) how monftrous it was !
And fee what an Anlwer he gives to his Bro ther Mofes , how weak ! how fimple ! I did fo and fe, indeed^ \ bad them bring the Ear-rings, &c. and I caft the Gold into the Fire, and /'/ came out tbis Calf. Ridiculous ! as if the Calf came out by meer fortuitous Adventure, without a Mould to caft it in j which could not be fuppofed : And if it had not come out ib without a Mould, Mofes would certainly have known of it j had Aaron been innocent, he would have anfwered after quite another manner, and told Mofes honeftly that the whole Body of the People came to him in a Fright, that they forced him to make them
of the DEVIL; 173
an Idol $ which he did, by making firft a pro per Mould to caft it in, and then taking the pro per Metal to caft it from : That indeed he had finn'd in fo doing, but that he was mobb'd into it, and the People terrified him, perhaps they threatned to kill him ; and if he had added, that the Dwil prompting his Fear beguiPd him, he had faid nothing but what was certainly true$ for if it was in Satan's Power to make the People in- folent and outrageous enough to threaten and bully the old venerable Prophet (for he was not yet a Prieft) who was the Brother of their Oracle Mo- feS) and had been Partner with him in fo many of his Commiffions -, I fay, if he cou'd bring up the Paffions of the People to a Height to be rude and unmannerly to him (Aaron) and perhaps to threat en and infult him, he may be eafily iiippos'd to be able to intimidate Aaron^ and terrify him into a Compliance.
See this cunning Agent, when he has Man's Deftruciion in his View, how fecurely he ac~b ! he never wants a handle 5 the beft of Men have one weak place or other, and he always finds it out, takes the Advantage of it, and conquers them by one Artifice or another 5 only take it with you as you go, 'tis always by Stratagem^ never by Force $ a Proof that he is not empower'd to ufe Violence : He may tempt, and he does prevail $ but 'tis all Legerdemain^ 'tis all Craft and Artifice, he is ftill ArajBoXn, the Calumniator and Deceiver, that is, the Mifreprefenter $ he mifre- prefents Man to GOD, and mifreprefents GOD to Man\ alfo he mifreprefents Things i he puts falfe Colours, and then manages the Eye to fee them with an irnperfec~b View, raifing Clouds and Fogs to intercept our Sight 5 in fhort, he deceives all our Senies, and impofes upon us in Things which otherwife would be the caueft to difcern and judge of. And
174 The HISTORY
This indeed is in part the Benefit of the Devil's Hiflory, to let us fee that he has ufed the fame Me thod all along y and that ever fince he has had any thing to do with Mankind, he has pra&is'd upon them with Stratagem and Cunning j alfo 'tis obfervable that he has carried his Point bet ter that way than he would have done by Fury and Violence, if he had been allowed to make ufe of it 5 for by his Power indeed he might have laid the World defolate, and made a Heap of Rubbifh of it long ago > but, as I have obferved before, that would not have anfwered his Ends half fo well, for by deflroying Men he would have made Martyrs, and fent abundance of good Men to Heaven, who would much rather have died, than yielded to ferve him, and, as he aim ed to have it, to fall down and worfhip him > I fay, he would have made Martyrs, and that not a few: But this was none of Satan's Bufinefs; his Defign lies quite another Way> hisBufinefsis to make Meny£#, not to make them fuffer-y to make Devils of them, not Saints ; to delude them, and draw them away from their Maker, not fend them away to him 5 and therefore he works by Stratagem, not by Force.
We are now come to his Story, as it relates to the Jewijh Church in the Wildernefs, and to the Children of Ifrael in their travelling Circumftan- ces 3 and this was the firft Scene of publick Ma nagement that the Devil had upon his Hands in the World > for, as I have faid, /;'// now, he dealt with Mankind either in their feparate Condition, one by one, or elfe carried all before him,engrof- fing whole Nations in hisSyftems of Idolatry, and overwhelming them in an ignorant Definition.
But having now a whole People as it were fnatch'd away from him, taken out of his Go vernment, and, which was ftill worfe3 having a
View
of the DEVIL; 175
View of a Kingdom being fet up independent of him, and fuperior to his Authority, it is not to be wondred at if he endeavour'd to overthrow them in the Infancy of their Conftitution, and tried all poffible Arts to bring them back into his own Hands again.
He found them not only carried away from the Country where they were even in his Clutches, furrounded with Idols, and where we have Rea- fon to believe the greater! part of them were pol luted with the Idolatry of the Egyptians \ for we do not read of any ftated Worfhip which they had of their own, or if they did worfhip the true God, we fcarce know in what manner they did it y they had no Law given them, nothing but the Covenant of Circumcifion, and even Mo- fes himfelf had not ftrictly obferv'd that, till he was frighted into it 3 we read of no Sacrifices among them, no Feafts were ordain'd, no folemn Wor fhip appointed, and how, or in what manner they perform'd their Homage, we know not 5 thePaf- Fover was not ordain'd till juft at their coming a- way j fo that there was not much Religion among them, at leaft that we have any Account of > and we may fuppofe the Devil was pretty eafy with them all the while they were in theHoufe of their Bondage.
But. flow, to have a Million of People fetch'd out of his Hands, as it were all at once, and to have the immediate Power of Heaven engaged in it, and that Satan faw evidently God had fin- gled them out in a miraculous manner to favour them, and call them his own ; this allarm'd him at once, and therefore he refolves to follow them, lay dole Siege to them, and take all the Meafures poffible to bring them to rebel againfl, and dif- obey GOD, that he might be provok'd to deftroy them > and how near he went to bring it to pafs, we fhall fee prefently. This
I76 The HISTORY
This making a Calf, and paying an idolatrous Worfhip to it (for they afted the Heathens and Idolaters, not in the Jetting up the Calf only, but in the manner of their Worshiping, viz. Dancing and Mufick^ Things they had not been- acquainted with in the Worihip of the true God) I mention here, to obferve how the Devil not only impofed upon their Principles, but upon their Senfes too 3 as if the awful Majefty of Hea ven, whofe Glory they had feen in Mount Sinai, where they flood, and whofe Pillar of Cloud and Fire was their Guide and Prote&ion, would be worfhip'd by dancing round a Calf! and that not a living Creature, or a real Calf, but the mere Image of a Calf caft in Gold, or, as fome think, in Brafs gilded over.
But this was the DeviFs Way with Mankind, namely, to impofe upon their Senfes, and bring them into the grofleft Follies and Abfurdities 5 and then, having firft made them Fools, it was much the eafier to make them Offenders.
In this very manner he a&ed with them thro' all the Courfe of their Wildernefs Travels 5 for as they were led by the Hand like Children, de fended by Omnipotence, fed by Miracles, in- flrufted immediately from Heaven, and in all things had Mofes for their Guide 3 they had no room to mifcarry, but by acting the greater! Ab furdities, and committing the grcateft Follies in Nature j and even thefe, the Devil brought them to be guilty of, in a furprifing manner: i. As GOD himfelf reliev'd them in every Exigence, and fupply'd them in every Want, one would think 'twas impoffible they fhould be ever brought to queftion either his Willingnefs or his Ability, and yet they really objected againft both j which was indeed very provoking, and I doubt not, that when the Devil had brought them to aft
m
of tfo DEVIL: 177
in fuch a prepofterous Manner, he really hoped and believed God would be provok'd effectually : The Teftimonies of his Care of them, and Abi lity to fupply them, were miraculous and unde niable 5 he gave them Water from the Rock, Bread from the Air, fent. the Fowls to feed them with Flefh, and fupported them all the Way by Miracles > their Health was preferv'd, none were lick among them, their clothes did not wear out, nor their Shoes grow old upon their Feet > could any thing be more abfurd, than to doubt whether he could provide for them who had ne ver let them want for fo many Years ?
But the Devil managed them in fpight of Mi racles j nor did he ever give them over till he had brought fix hundred thoufand of them to pro voke God fo highly that he would not fuffer a- bove two of them to go into the Land of Pro- mifej fo that in fhort, Satan gained his Point as to that Generation, for all their CarcafTes fell in the Wildernefs. Let us take but a fhort View- to what a Height he brought 'em, and in what a rude, abfurd Manner they acted 3 how he fee them upon murmuring upon every Occafion, now for Water, then for Bread j nay, they mur mured at their Bread when they had it 5 Our Soul I oaths this light Bread.
He fow'd the Seeds of Church-Rebellion in the Sons of Aaron^ and made Nadab and Abihu offer ftrange Fire till they were flrangely con- fumed by Fire for the doing it.
He fet them a complaining at Taberah, and a lufting for Flefti at the firft three Days Journey from Mount Sinai.
He planted Envy in the Hearts of Miriam and Aaron, againft the Authority of Mofes^ to pre tend GOD had fpoke by them as well as by him, till he humbled the Father, and made a Leper of the Daughter. N He
z.7s The HISTORY
He debauched ten of the Spies, frighted them with fham Appearances of Things, when they went out to fearch the Land j and made them fright the whole People out of their Underftand- ing as well as Duty, for which fix hundred thou- fond of their Carcafles fell in the Wildernefs.
He rais'd the Rebellion of Korah, and the two hundred and fifty Princes, till he brought them to be fwallowed up alive.
He put Mofes into a Paffion at Meribah, and ruffled the Temper of the meekeft Man upon Earth, by which he made both him and Aaron forfeit their Share of the Promife, and be ihut out from the Holy Land.
He rais'd a Mutiny among them when they travelled from Mount Hor^ till they brought fiery Serpents among them to deftroy them.
He tried to make Baalim the Prophet curfe them, but there the Devil was diiappointed : However, he brought the Midianites to debauch them with Women, as in the Cafe of Zimri and Casff.
He tempted Jlcban with the Wedge of Gold, and the Babyknijh Garment, that he might take of the accurfed thing, and be deftroy'd.
He tempted the whole People, not effectually to drive out the curfed Inhabitants of the Land of Promife, that they might remain, and be Goads in their Sides, till at laft they often op- prefs'd them for their Idolatry j and, which was worfe, debauched them to Idolatry.
He prompted the Benjamites to refufe Satisfac tion to the People, in the Cafe of the Wicked- nefs of the Men of Gibeah, to the Deilrudion of the whole Tribe, four hundred Men excepted in the Rock Rimmon.
At laft he tempted them to rejecl: the The ocracy of their Maker, and call upon Samuel 2. to
of the D E V I L. 179
to make them a King > and moft of thofe King3 he made Plagues and Sorrows to them in their time, as you {hall hear in their Order.
Thus he plagued the whole Body of the Peo ple continually, making them fin againft God, and bring Judgments upon themfelves, to the con- fuming fome Millions of them, fir It and laft, by the Vengeance of their Maker.
As he did with the whole Congregation, fo he did with their Rulers, andieveralof the fudges, who were made Inlfouments to deliver the Peo ple, yet ^ere drawn into fnares by this fubnl Serpent, to ruin themfeives or the People they had delivered.
He tempted Gideon to make an Ephod, con trary to the Law of the Tabernacle, and made the Children of Ifraei go a whoring (that is, a worihiping) after ir.
He tempted Sampfon to debauch himfelf with a Harlot, and betray his own happy Secret to a Whore, at the Expence £>f both his" Eyes, and at laft of his Life.
He tempted Eli's Sons to lie with the Women, in the very Doors of the Tabernacle, when they came to bring their Offerings to the Prieft 5 and he tempted poor Eli to connive at them, or not fufficiently reprove them.
He tempted the People to carry the Ark of God into the Camp, that it might fall into the Hands of the Pbiliftines. And
He tempted Uzzi to reach out his Hand to hold it up •> as if he that had preferved it in the Houfe of Dagon the Idol of the Pbiliftines^ couldv not keep it from falling out of the Cart.
When the People had gotten a King, he im mediately fet to work in diverle Ways to bring that King to load them with Plagues and Cala mities not a few.
N * He
I8o The HISTORY
tie tempted Saul to (pare the King of Ama- contrary to God's exprefs Command.
He not tempted Saul only, but poflefled him with an evil Spirit, by which he was left to way ward Difpoiitions, and was forced to have it fiddl'd out of him with a Minftrel.
He tempted Saul with a Spirit of Difcontent, and with a Spirit of Envy at poor David^ to hunt him like a Partridge upon the Mountains.
He tempted Saul with a Spirit of Divination, and fent him to a Witch to enquire of Samuel for him ; as if God would help him when he was dead, that had forfaken him when he was alive.
After that, he tempted him to kill himfelf, on a Pretence that he might not fall into the Hands of the Uncircumcifed 5 as if Self-Murther was not half fo bad, either for Sin againfl God, or Di (grace among Men, as being taken Prifoner by a Philiftine ! A Piece of Madnefs none but the Devil could have brought Mankind to fubmit to, tho' fome Ages after that, he made it a Fafhion among the Romans..
After Saul was dead, and David came to the Throne, by how much he was a Man chofen and particularly favoured by Heaven, the Devil fell upon him with the more Vigour, attacked him fo many Ways, and conquered him fo very often, that as no Man was fo good a King, fo hardly any good King was ever a vvorfe Man > in many Cafes one would have almoft thought the Devil had made Sport with David^ to fhew how eafily he could overthrow the belt Man God could choofe of the whole Congregation.
He made him diilruft his Benefactor fo much as to feign himfelf mad before the King of Gathy when he had fled to him for Shelter.
Z He
of the DEVIL. 181
He made him march with his four hundred Gut-throats, to cut off poor Nabal, and all hi^s Houfhold, only becaufe he would not fend him the good Chear he had provided for his honeil Sheep-fh carers.
He made him, for his Word's fake, give Ziba half his Mailer's Eftate for his Treachery, after he knew he had been the Traitor, and betray'd poor Mephibojhetb for the fake of it > in which
c The good old King, it feems, was very loth 4 To break his Word, and therefore broke his Oath.
Then he tempted him to the ridiculous Pro ject of numbring the People, tho' agaimt God's exprefs Command 3 a Thing Joab himfelf was not wicked enough to do, till David and the Devil forc'd him to it.
And to make him compleatly wicked, he car ried him to the Top of his Houfe, and fhew'd him a naked Lady bathing her felf in her Garden, in which it appear'd that the Devil knew David too well, and what was the particular Sin of his Inclination > and fo took him by the Right Handle -9 drawing him at once into the Sins o£Murtber and Adultery.
Then, that he might not quite give him over, (tho' David's Repentance for the kit Sin kept the Devil off for a while) when he could attack him no farther perfonally he fell upon him in his Fa mily, and made him as miferable as he could de- fire him to be, in his Children, three of whom he brought to Deftruftion before his Face, and ano ther after his Death.
Firir., he tempted Ammon to raviih his Sifter Tamar j fo, there was an End of her (poor Girl!) as to this World, for we never hear any more of her.
N 5 Then
is*
Then he tempted Abfalom to murther his Bro ther Amnon^ in Revenge for Tamar's Maiden head.
Then he made Joab run Avfalom thro' the Bo dy, contrary to David's Command.
And after David's Death he brought Adonija, (weak Man ! ) to the Block, for ufurping King Solomon's Throne.
As to Abfalom, he tempted him to Rebellion, and railing War againft; his Father, to the turn ing him fhamefully out of Jerufakw, and aim oft out of the Kingdom.
He tempted him, for David's farther Mortifica tion, to lie with his Father's Wives, in the Face of the whole City > and had AcbitopbeTs honeft Council been follow'd, he had certainly fcnt him to Sleep with his Fathers, long before his time- But there Satan and Achitophel were both out witted together.
Thro' all the Reigns of the feveral SucceMbrs of David) the Devil took care to carry on his own Game, to the continual infulttng the Mea- fures which God himfelf had taken for the efta- blifhing his People in the World, and efpecially as a Church j till at lad he fo effectually debauch'd them to Idolatry j that Crime which of all others was moft provoking to GOD, as it was carrying the People away from their Allegiance, and tranf- pofing the Homage they ow'd God their Ma ker, to a contemptible Block of Wood, or an Image of a brute Beaft -, and this how fordid and brutilh foever it was in] it felf, yetfo did his Ar tifice prevail among them, that, firft or laft, he brought them all into it, the ten Tribes as well as the two Tribes > till at laft God, himfelf was provoked to unchurch them, gave them up to their Enemies, and the few that were left of them, after incredible Slaughters and Defolation, were
hurried
of the D E V I L. 183
hurried away, fome into fariafy^ and others into Babylon^ from whence very few, of that few that were carried away, ever found their Way Home again 5 and fome, when they might have come, would not accept of it, but continued there to the very coming of the Meflrah. See Epiftles of St. James and of St. Peter^ at the Beginning.
But to look a little back upon this Part ( for it cannot be omitted, it makes fo confiderable a Part of the Devil's Hiftory) I mean his drawing . God's People, Kings and all, into all the Sins and Mifchiefs which gradually contributed to their Deftruchon.
Firft, (for he began immediately with the 'very befl and wifeft of the Race) he drew in King So- lomon, in the mid ft of all his Zeal for the build ing God's Houfe, and for the making the moft glorious and magnificent Appearance for God's Worfhip that ever the World faw > I fay, in the middle of all this, he drew him into fuch im moderate and infatiable an Appetite for Women, as to fet up the firft, and perhaps the greateft Se raglio of Whores that ever any Prince in the World had, or pretended to before > nay, and to bring whoring to much into Reputation, that, as the Text fays, feven hundred of them were Princefles.j that is to fay, Ladies of Quality : Not as the Grand Seigniors, and Great Moguls, (other Princes of the Eaftern World ) have fince pra&ifed, namely, to pick up their moft beauti ful Slaves j but thefe, it ieems, were Women of Rank, King's Daughters, as Pharaoh's Daughter, and the Daughters of the Princes and prime Men among the Moabites^ -Ammonites^ Zidonians, Hit- tites^ dec. i Kings xi. i .
Nor was this all > but as he drew him into the
Love of thefe forbidden Women (for fuch they
were, as to their Nation , as well as Number) fo he
N 4 cnfnar'd
1 84 The H I S T O R Y
enfnar'd him by thofe Women to a Familiarity with their Worihip; and by degrees brought that famous Prince (famous for his Wifdom) to be the
freateft and mohSimpos'd-upon old Fool in the V^orld y Bowing down to thofe Idols by the In- t icing of hjs Whores, whom he had abhorr'd and detelted in his Youth, as dishonouring that God for whom, and for whofe Worlhip he had finiih'd and dedicated the moil magnificent Building and Temple in the World : Nothing but tl^ffinci- ble Subtlety of this Arch Devil could ever have brought fuch a Man as Solomon to fuch a Dege neracy of Manners, and to fuch MeanneiTes 5 no, not the Devil himfelf, without the Aflifhmce of his Whores, nor the Whores themfelves, without the Devil to help them.
As to Solomon^ Satan had made Conqueft enough there, we need hear no more of him 3 the next Advance he made,, was in the Perfon of his Son Rehoboam ; had not the Devil prompted his Pride and tyrannical Humour, he would never have given the People fuch an Anfwer as he did > and when he faw a Fellow at the Head of them too whom he knew wanted and waited for an Occafion to raife a Rebellion, and had ripened up the Peo ples Humour to the Occafion : Well might the Text call it liftening to the Council of the young Heads j that it was indeed with a Vengeance ! but thofe young Heads too were a e- id!, who for his Craft is called, as I have obferv'd, I\K Old Serpent.
Having thus pav'd the Way, Jeroboam revolts. So far God had directed him -y for the Text fays exprefly, faking in the firft Perfon of GOD himfelf, This Thing is of Me.
But tho' GOD might appoint Jeroboam to be King, .(that is to fay, of ten Tribes,) yet GOD did not appoint him to fet up the two Calves in
the
of the DEVIL; is5
the two extreme Parts of the Land, viz. in Dan^ and in Bethel; that was Jeroboam's own doing, and done on purpofe to keep the People from falling back to Rehobcam^ by being obliged to go to Jerufakm to the publick Worfhip : And the Text adds, Jeroboam made Ifraelto fin. This was indeed a Mafter-piece of the Devil's Policy, and it was effectual to anfwer the End, nothing could have been more to the Purpofe > what Reafon he had to expec~b the People would fo univerfally come into it, and be fo well fatisfied with a couple of Calves, inftead of the true Worfhip of GOD at JeriffaIem-,01' what Arts and Management he (Satan) made ufe of afterwards, to bring the People in, to join with fuch a Delufion, that we find but little of in all the Annals of Satan; not is it much to the Cafe : 'Tis certain the Devil found a flrange kind of Propenfity to worfhip- ing Idols rooted in the Temper of that whole People, even from their firft breaking away from the Egyptian Bondage 5 fo that he had nothing to do but to work upon the old Stock, and propa gate the Crime that he found was fo natural to them. And this is Satan's general Way of work ing, not with them only, but with us alfo, and with all the World, even then, and ever flnce.
When he had thus fecur'd Jeroboam's Revolt, we need not trace him among his SuccefTors > for the fame Reafon of State that held for thefetting up the Calves at Bethel and Dan^ held good for the keeping them up, to all Jeroboam's Pofterity j nor had they one good King ever after > even JehU) who call'd his Friends to come and fee his Zeal for the Lord^ and who fulfill'd the Threat- nings of God upon Ahab and his Family, and up on Queen Jezabel and her Offspring, and knew nil the while that he was executing the Judgment of the true God upon an idolatrous Race 3 yet
he
iS6 TAeHlS T O R Y
he would not part with his Calves, but would have thought it to have been parting with his Kingdom, and that as the People would have gone up to Jerufalcm to worfhip, fa they would at the fame Time have transfcr'd their civil Obe dience to the King of Judab^ (whofe Right it really was, as far as they could claim by Birth and right Line) ; fo that by the way, Satan any more than other Politicians, is not for the jus divinum of lineal Succeffion, or what we call hereditary Right, any farther than ferves for his Purpofe.
Thus Satan ridded his Hands of ten of the twelve Tribes j let us now fee how he went on •with the reft, for his Work was now brought into a narrower Compafs j the Church of God was now reduc'd to two Tribes, except a few re ligious People, who feparated from the Schifm of Jeroboam^ and came and planted themfelves among the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin : The firft thing the Devil did after this, was to foment a War between the two Kings, while Judah was govern ed by a Boy or Youth, Abija by Name, and he none of the beft neither \ but God's Time was not come, and the Devil receiv'd a great Difap- pointments when Jeroboam was fo entirely over thrown } that if the Records of thofe Ages do not miftake, no lefs than foocoo Men of Ifrael were Idll'd, fuch a Slaughter, that one would think the Army of Judab, had they known how to improve as well as gain a Vi&ory, might have brought all the reft back again, and have intirely reduc'd the Houfe of Jeroboam and the ten Tribes that follow'd him to their Obedience 5 nay they did take a great deal of the Country from them, and among the reft Bethel it felf -9 and yet fo cunningly did Satan manage, that the King of Judah , who was himfelf a wicked King, and perhaps an Ido later in his Heart, did not take down the golden
Calf
of the DEVIL; is7
Calf that Jeroboam had there, no nor deftroy the Idolatry it felf, fo that in fhort, his Viclory figni- fied nothing.
From hence to the Captivity, we find the De vil bufy with the Kings of Judah, efpecially the beft of them> as for fuch as Mana/etb^and thofe who tranfgrefs'd by the general Tenor of their Lives, thofe he had no great trouble with.
But fuch as Afa^Jebofbaphat) Hezek'ab^ and Jo- iah^ he hung about them and their Courts, till he brought every one of them into fomeMifchief or another.
As fir ft, good King AJla^ of whom the Scrip ture fays, his Heart was perfeft all his Days, yet this fubtle Spirit, that could break in upon him no where elfe, tempted him when the King of Ifrael came out againft him, to fend to hire Benhadad the King of Syria to help him > as if GOD who had before enabled him to conquer the Ethiopi- ans^ with an Army of ten hundred thou&nd Men, could not have faved him from the King of the ten Tribes.
In the fame manner he tempted Jeho/bdpbat to join with that wicked King Ahab againft the King of £3770, and alfo to marry his Son to Ahab's Daughter, which was fatal to Jehojbaphat^ and to his Pofterity.
Again, He tempted Hezekiah to fhew all his Riches to the King of Babylon's MefTengers 3 and who can doubt, but that he (Satan) is to be un- derftood by the wicked Spirit which flood before the Lord, 2, Chron. xviii. 20. and offered his Service to entice Ahab the King of Ifrael to come out to Battle to his Ruin, by being a lying Spi rit in the Mouths of all his Prophets 5 and who for that Time had a fpecial Commiflion, as he had another Time in the Cafe of Job ? and indeed it was aCommiffion fit for no body but the Devi I: Thou
jlmlt
188 The HISTORY
jhalt entice him, and thoufloalt alfo prevail: Go out and do even fo, f.zi.
Even good Jofiah himfelf, of wliom it is re corded, that like him there 'was no King before himy neither after him arofe there any like him, 2, Kings xxiii. 16. yet the Devil never left him with his Ma chinations, till rinding he could not tempt him to any Thing wicked in his Government, he tempted or mov'd him to a needlefs War with the King of Egypt, in which he loft his Life.
From the Death of this good King, the Devil prevailed fo with the whole Nation of the Jews, and brought them to fuch an incorrigible Pitch of Wickednefs, that God gave them up, for- fook his Habitation of Glory, the Temple, which he fuffer'd to be fpoil'd firft, then burnt and de- niolinYd 5 deftroying the whole Nation of the Jews, except a fmall Number that were left, and thofe the Enemy carried away into Captivity.
Nor was he Satisfied with this general Deftruc- tion of the whole People of Ifrael, for the t'dn Tribes were gone before > but he folio w'd them even into their Captivity 5 thofe that fled away to Egypt, which they tell us were feventy thoufand, he firfl corrupted, and then they were deftroyed there upon the Overthrow of Egypt, by the fame King of Babylon.
Alfo he went very near to have them rooted out, young and old, Man, Woman and Child, who were in Captivity in Babylon, by the Miniftry of that true Agent of Hell, Haman the Agagite-, but there Satan met with a Difappointment too, as in the Story of /&/ he had met with, in all his Management fince the Creation 3 I fay, there he was difoppointed, and his prime Minifter Ham an was exalted, as he de-
Having
EVIL. IS9
Having thus far traced the Government and Dominion of the Devil^ from the Creation of Man to the Captivity > I think I may call upon him to fet up his Standard of univerfal Empire, at that Period 5 it feem'd juft then as if God had really for- faken the Earth, and given the entire Dominion of Mankind up to his outrageous Enemy the De vil -y for excepting the few Israelites which were left in the Territories of the King of Babylon, and they were but a few > I fay, except among them, there was not one Corner of the World left where the true God was call'd upon, or his Dominion fo much as acknowledg'd $ all the World was buried in Idolatry, and that of fo many horrid Kinds, that one would think, the Light of Rca- fon fhould have convinced Mankind, that he who exafted fuch bloody Sacrifices as that of Moloch^ and fuch a bloody cutting themfelves with Knives, as the Priefls of Baal did, could not be a GOD, a good and beneficent Being, but mutt be a cruel, voracious and devouring Devil, whofe End was not the Good, but the Deftruction of his Crea tures : But to fuch a Height wns the blind dement ed World arriv'd to at that Time, that in thefc fordid and corrupt Ways, they went on worfhip- ing dumb Idols, and offering human Sacrifices to them, and in a Word, committing all the moil horrid and abfurd Abominations that they were capable of, or that the Devil could prompt them to, till Heaven was again put, as it were, to the Neceflity of bringing about a Revolution, in fa vour of his own forfaken People, by Miracle and Surprize, as he had done before.
We come therefore to the Reftoration or Re turn of the Captivity : Had Satan been able to have afted any thing by Force, as 1 have obferv'd before, all the Princes and Powers of the World, having been, as they really were, at his Devotion,
he
tpo The HI ST O R Y
he might eafily have made ufe of them, arm'd all the World againft the Jews, and prevented the Rebuilding the Temple, and even the Return of the Captivity.
But now the Devil's Power manifeftly receiv ed a Check, and the Hand of God appeared in it, and that he was refolv'd to reeftabliih his People the Jews, and to have a fecond Temple built : the Devil) who knew the Extent of his own Power too well, and what Limitations were laid upon him, flood ftill as it were looking on, and not daring to oppofe the Return of the Capti vity, which he very well knew had been prophe- iied, and would come to pafs.
He did indeed make fome little Oppofition to the Building, and to the fortifying the City^ but as it was to no Purpofe, fo he was foon obliged to give it over \ and thus the Captivity being re- turn'd, and the Temple rebuilt, the People of the Jews encreafed and multiplied to an infinite Num ber and Strength $ and from this Time we may fay, the Power of the Devil rather declin'd and decreased, than went on with Succefs, as it had done before j It is true the Jews fell into Sects and Errors, and Divifions of many Kinds, after the Return from the Captivity, and no doubt the Devil had a great Hand in thofe Divifions j but he could never bring them back to Idolatry, and his not being able to do that, made him turn his Hand fo many Ways to plague and opprefs them j as particularly by Antlochus the Great , who brought the Abomination of Defolation into the holy Place -, and there the Devil triumphed over them for fome Time 5 but they were deliver'd many Ways, till at lail they came peaceably un der the Protection rather than the Dominion of the Roman Empire : When Herod the Great go- vern'd them as a King, and reedified, nay almoft
rebuilt
if the D EV IL.1 191
rebuilt their Temple, with fo great an Expence and Magnificence, that he made it, as fome fay, greater and more glorious than that of Solomon's^ tho^ that I take to be a great Fable, to fay
no worfe of it.
In this Condition the Jewijb Church flood, when the Fullnefs of Time, as 'tis call'd in Scrip ture, was come j and the Devi I was kept at Bay, tho' he had made fome Encroachments upon them as above 3 for there was a glorious Rem nant of Saints among them, fuch as old Zacha- rias the Father of John the Baptift, and old Si" meon^ who waited for the Salvation of Ifraeli I fay, in this Condition the Jewijli Church flood when the Mejpah came into the World, which was fuch another mortal Stab to the Thrones and Principalities infernal, as that of which I havefpo- ken already in Chap. III. at the Creation of Man > and therefore with this I break off the Antiquities of the Devil's Hiftory, or the antient Part of his Kingdom ; for from hence downward we fhall find his Empire has declin'd gradually j and tho* by his wonderful Addrefs, his prodigious Applica tion, and the Vigilance and Fidelity of his Inftru- ments, as well human as infernal and diabolical, and of the Human as well the Ecclefiaflick as the Secular > he has many Times retriev'd what he has loft, and fometimes bid fair for recovering the universal Empire he once poflefs'd over Man kind 5 yet he has been ftill defeated again, repulft and beaten back, and his Kingdom has greatly declin'd in many Parts of the World 5 and efpe- cially in the Northern Parts, except Great Bri tain-, and how he has politically maintained his Intereft and encreafed his Dominion among the wife and righteous Generation that we cohabit with and among, will be the Subject of the mo dern Part of Satan's Hiftory^ and of which we are next to give an Account. PART
192 The HIS TORY
P A R T II.
O F T H E
MODERN HISTORY
OF THE
D E V I L.
CHAP. I.
I Have examined the Antiquities of Satan's Hiltory in the former Part of this Work, and brought his Affairs down from the Crea tion, as far as to our blefTed Chriftian Times -, efpecially to the Coming of the Me/pah, v/hen one would think the Devil could have nothing to do among us. I have indeed but touch'd at fome Things which might have admitted of a farther Defcripuon of Satan's Affairs, and the Particulars of which we may all come to a farther Knowledge of hereafter 5 yet I think I have fpoken to the material Part of his Conduct, as it relates to his Empire in this World: What has happened to his more fublimated Government, and his Ange lic Capacities, I fhall have an Qccafion to touch at in feveral folid Particulars as we go along.
The
of the DEVIL. 193
The Mejffiah was now born> the Fulnefs of Time *wa$ come, that the old Serpent was to have his Head broken, that is to fay, his Empire or Domi nion over Man, which he gain'd by the Fall o'r our firft Father and Mother in Paradife, received. a Downfal or Overthrow.
It is worth observing) in order to confirm what I have already mention'd of the Limitation of Satan's Power, that not only his Angelic Jtrength feems to have received a farther 'Blow upon the Coming of the Son of God into the World, but he feems to have had a Blow upon his Intellects > his Serpentine Craft and Devil-like Subtihy feems to have been circumfcrib'd and cut Ihort $ and in- flead of his being fo cunning a Fellow as before, when, as I fold, 'tis evident he outwitted all Man kind, not only Eve, Cain, Noah, Lot, and all the Patriarchs, but even Nations of Men, and that in their pubiick Capacity j and thereby led them into abfurd and ridiculous Things, fuch as the Building of Babel, and deifying and worfhip- ing their Kings* when dead and rotten > idolizing Beafts, Stocks, Stones, any firing, and even Nothing ; and in a Word, when he manag'd Mankind juit as he pleafed.
Now and from this Time forward he appeared a weak, foolifh, ignorant Devil, compared to what he was before j He was upon alrnoil every Occafion refifted, difappointed, baulk'd and de feated, efpecially in all his Attempts to thwart or croft the Miflion and Miniftry of the Meffiab, while he was upon Earth, and fometimes upon other and very mean Occafions too.
And firft, how fooliih a Project was it, and how below Satan's celebrated Artifice in like Cafes, to put Herod upon fending to kill the poor in nocent Children in Bethlehem, in hopes to deftroy the Infant ? for I take it for granted, it was the
O Devil
194 the Modern HISTORY
Devil put into Herod's Thoughts that Executi« on, how fimpte and foolifh foever 5 now we mull allow him to be very ignorant of the Nativity himfelf, or elfe he might eafily have guided his Friend Herod to the Place where the Infant was.
This iliev/s that either the Devil is in general ignorant as we are, of what is to come in the World, before it is really come to pafs ; and con- fcquently can foretcl nothing, no not fo much as our famous old Merlin or Mother Shiptcn did, or elfe that great Event was hid from him by an im mediate Power fuperior to his, which I cannot think neither, confidcring how much he was con- cern'd in it, and how certainly he knew that it was once to come to pafs.
But be that as it will, 'tis certain the Dtvil knew nothing where Chrift was born, or when 5 nor was he able to direct Herod to find him out, and therefore put him upon that foolifh, as well as cruel Order, to kill all the Children, that he might be fure to deilroy the MeJJtah among the reft.
The next fimple Step that the Devil .took^ and indeed the moft foolifh one that he could ever be charged with, unworthy the very Dig nity of a Devil) and below the Underitanding that he always was allow'd to act with, was that of coming to tempt the MeJJiah in the Wilder- nefs -, it is certain, and he own'd it himfelf after wards, upon many Occafions, that the Devil knew our Saviour to be the Son of God > and 'tis as certain that he knew, that as fitch he could have no Power or Advantage over him 3 how fooliih then was it in him to attack him in that Manner, if thou bee ft the Son of GOD ? why he knew him to be the Son of GOD well enough j he faid fo afterwards, / know thee 'who thou art^ the holy One of GOD j how then could he be fo weak a Devil as to fay, if thou art^ then do/0 and fo ? 3 The
of the DEVIL, 195
The Cafe is plain, the Devil, tho' he knew him to be the Son of GOD, did not fully know the Myftery of the Incarnation $ nor did he know how far the Inanition of Chrift extended, and whether, as Man, he was not fubject to fall us Mam was, tho' his referv'd Godhead might be ftill immaculate and pure> and upon this Foot, as he would leave no Method untried, he attempts him three Times, one immediately after another > but then, finding himfelf diiappointed he fled.
This evidently proves that the Devil was igno rant of the great Myftery of Godlinefs, as tie Text calls />, God manifeft in the Fleih, and there*- fore made that fooliih Attempt upon Chrift, think ing to have conquer'd his human Nature as ca pable of Sin, which it was not> and at this Rc- pulfe Hell groan'd, the whole Army of regimen ted Devils receiv'd a Wound, and felt the Shock of it y 'twas a iecond Overthrow to them, they had had a long Chain of Succefs, carried a devilijb Conqueft over the greateft Part of the Creation of GOD 5 but now they were cut fhort, the Seed of the Woman was now come to break the Serpent* s Head, that is^ to cut fhort his Power, to con tract the Limits of his Kingdom, and in a Word, to dethrone him in the World : No doubt the Devil receiv'd a Shock, for you find him always afterward, crying out in a horrible Manner, when ever Chrift met with him, or elfe very humble and fubmiffivc, as when he begg'd leave to go into the Herd of Swine, a Thing he has often done fince.
Defeated here, the firft Stratagem I find him concern'd in after it, was his entring into Judas, and putting him upon betraying Chrift to the Chief Prieftj but here again he was entirely mif- taken, for he did not fee, as much a Devil as he was, what the Event would be 5 but when he
O £ came
I96 The Modern HISTORY
came to know, that if Chrift was put to Death, he would become a Propitiatory and be the great Sacrifice of Mankind, fo to refcue the fallen Race from that Death they had incurred the Penalty of, by the Fall, that this was the fulfilling of all Scripture Prophefy, and that thus it was that Chrift was to be the End of the Law, I fay, as foon as he perceiv'd this, he ftrove all he could to prevent ir, and difturb'd Pilate's Wife in her Sleep, in order to fet her upon her Husband to hinder his delivering him up to the Jews -y for then, and not till then, he knew how Chrift was to vanquifh Hell by the Power of his Crofs.
Thus the Devil was difappointed and expofed in every Step he took, and as he now plainly faw his Kingdom declining, and even the tem poral Kingdom of Chrift, rifing up upon the Ruins of his (Satan's) Power , hefeem'd to retreat into his own Region the Air, and to confult there \vith his fellow Devils^ what Meafures he ihould take next to preferve his Dominion among Men > Here it was that he refolv'd upon that truly hel- lifli Thing calPd Perfecution, by which, tho* he protfd a footijh Devil in that too, he flatter'd him- felf he fhould be able to deftroy God's Church, and root out its ProfefTors from the Earth, even almoft as foon as it was eftablifli'd > whereas on the contrary, Heaven counter-a6ted him there too, and tho' he arm'd the whole Roman Empire againft the Chriftians, that is fay^ the whole World, and they were fallen upon every where, with all the Fury and Rage of fome of the moft flaming Tyrants that the World ever faw, of whom Nero was the firft 9 yet in fpight of Hell, GOD made all the Blood, which the Devil caus'd to be fpilt, to befimen Ecckfix, ; and the DEVIL had the Morti fication to fee, that the Number of Chriftians en- creafed even under the very Means he made ufe
of
of the DEVIL, 197
of to root them out and defcroy them : This was the Cafe thro' the Reign of all the Roman Emperors, for the fir ft three hundred, Years after Chriit.
Having thus tried all the Methods that bell fuited his Inclination, I mean thofe of Blood and Death, complicated with Tortures and all Kinds of Cruelty, and that for fo long a Stage of Time as above 5 the Devil all on a iuddain, as if glut ted with Blood, and fatiated with Definition, fits ftill and becomes a peaceable Spectator for n good while; as if he either found himfelf unable, or had no Difpofition to hinder the Progrefs of Chriftianity in the firft Ages of its Settlement in the World : In this interval the Chriftian Church was eftablifh'd under Conftantine^ Re ligion flourifhed in Peace, and under the moft perfect Tranquillity : The Devil feem'd to be at a Lofs what he fhould do next, and Things began to look as if Satan's Kingdom was at an End 3 but he foon let them fee that he was the fame indefa tigable Devil that ever he was, and the Profperi- ty of the Church Jgave him a large Field of Ac tion; for knowing the Difpofition of Mankind to Quarrel and Difpute, the univerfal Paffion rooted in Nature, efpecially among the Church-Men for Precedency and Dominion, he fell to work with them immediately j fo that turning rheTables, and reafluming the Subtilty and Cra^, which, I fay, he feem'd to have loft in the former four hundred Years, he gain'd more Ground in the next Ages of the Church, and went farther to wards reftoring his Power and Empire in the World, and towards overthrowing that very Church which was fo lately eftablifh'd, than all he had done by Fire and Blood before.
His Policy now feem'd to be edg'd with Re- fentment for the Miftakes he had made; as if the
O 3 Devil
The Modern HISTORY
Devil looking back with Anger at himfelf, to fee what a Fool he had been to expect to crufh Re ligion by Perfecution, rejoyc'd for having difco- ver'd that Liberty and Dominion was the only way to ruin the Church, not Fire and Faggot; and that he had nothing to do but to give tjie zealous People their utrnoft Liberty in Religion, only fowing Error and Variety of Opinion among them, and they would bring Fire and Faggot in fail enough among themfelves.
It mull be confeis'd thefe were devilifli Poli ticks 5 and fo fure was the Aim, and fo certain was the Devil to hit his Mark by them, that we find he not only did not fail then, but the fame hellifh Methods have prevailed ftill, and will do fo to the End of the World. Nor had the De vil ever a better Game to play than this, for the Ruin of Religion, as we fhall have room to fhew in many Examples, befides that of the Dif- fenters in England^ who are evidently weaken'd by the late Toleration: Whether the Devil had any hand in baiting his Hook with an A— of Parlia ment or no, Hiftory is filent, but 'tis too evident he has catch'd the Fifh by it 5 and if the honeit Church o£ England does not in Pity and Chriltian Charity to the Diflenters, itraighten her Hand a little, I cannot but fear the Devil will gain his Point, and the Diflenter will be undone by it.
Upon this new foot of Politicks the Devil began with the Emperors themfelves : Arlus^ the Father of the Hercticks of that Age, having broach'd his Opinions, and jftbamjius the ortho dox Bifhop of the Ealt oppofing him, the Devil no fooner faw the Door open to Strife and Inipo- fition, but he thriift himfelf in, and raifing the Quarrel up to a fuited Degree of Rage and Spleen., he involved the good Emperor himfelf in it firft, and Aihznafitts was bamfh'd and recall'd, and ba-
nifh'd
of the D E VI L, 199
niih'd and recalled again, feveral times, as Error ran high, and as the Devil either got or loll Ground : After Conftantine^ the next Emperor was a Child of his own, (Arlan) and then the Court came all into the Quarrel, as Courts often do, and then the Arians and the Orthodox perfecuted one another as furiouily as the Pagans perfecuted them all before. To fuch a Height the Devil brought his Conquefl in the very In fancy of the Queftion, and to much did he pre vail over the true Chriftianity of the Primitive Church, even before they had cnjoy'd the Li berty of the pure Worfhip twenty Years.
Flufh'd with this Succefs, the Devil made one Pufh for the reitoring Paganifm^ and bringing on the old Worfhip of the Heathen Idols and Tem ples 5 but like our King James II. he drove too hard, and Julian had fo provok'd the whole Ro man Empire, which was generally at that time become Chriftian, that had the Apoftate liv'd, he would not have been able to have held the Throne 5 and as he was cut off in his Begin ning, Paganifm expired with him, and the Devil himfelf might have cry'd out, as Julian did, and with much more Propriety, F'icifti Gali- leane.
Jovian^ the next Emperor, being a glorious Chriftian, and a very good and great Man, the Devil abdicated for a while, and left the Chrifti- an Armies to re-eftabliili the Orthodox Faith; nor could he bring the Chriftians to a Breach again among themfelves a great while after.
However, Time and a diligent Devil did the Work at lad, and when the Emperors concern ing themfelves one way or other, did not appear fufficicnt to anfwer his End, he chang'd Hands again, and went to work with the Clergy : To fet the Doctors effectually together by the Ears, he
0 4 threw
2oo The Modern HISTORY
threw in the new Notion of Primacy among them, for a Bone of Contention 5 the Bait took, the Priefts fw allow 'd it eagerly down, and the Devil, a cunningcr Fifherman than ever St. Peter was, ftruck them (as the Anglers call it) with a quick Hand, and hung them faft upon the Hook. Having them thus in his Clutches, and they being now, as we may fay, his own, they took their Mcafures afterwards from him, and moil obediently followed his Directions > nay, I will not fay but he may have had pretty much the Management of the whole Society ever fince, of what Profeffion or Party foever they may have been, \vith Exception only to the Reverend and Right Reverend among our felves.
The Sacred, as above, being thus hook'd in, and the DEVIL being at the Head of their Af fairs, Matters went on moll glorioufly his own way •, firft, the Biihops fell to bandying and Party- making for the Superiority, as heartily as ever Temporal Tyrants did for Dominion, and took as black and devilifh Methods to carry it on, as the worft of thofe Tyrants ever had done before them.
At la ft Satan declared for the Roman Pontiff, and that upon excellent Conditions, in the Reign of the Emperor Mauritius > for Boniface^ who had long contended for the Title of Supreme, fell into a Treaty with Phocasj Captain of the Emperor's Guards , whether the Bargain was from Hell or not, let any one judge, the Condi tions abfolutely entitle the Devil to the Honour of making the Contract, viz. That Phocas firft murthering his Mailer (the Emperor) and his Sons, Boniface mould countenance the Treafon, and declare him Emperor j and in Return, Phocas fhould acknowledge the Primacy of the Church of Rim?) and declare Boniface univerfal Bifliop,
A blcfr
of the DEVIL; 201
A blefled Compact ! which at once fet the Devil at the Head of Affairs in the Chriflian World, as well Spiritual as Temporal, Ecclefiaftick and Civil. Since the Conqueft over Eve in Para- dife, by which Death and the DEVIL, Hand in Hand, eftablifh'd their firft Empire upon Earth, the Devil never gain'd a more important Point than he gain'd at this time.
He had indeed profpered in his Affairs tolerably well for fome time before this, and his Intereft among the Clergy had got Ground for fome Ages j but that was indeed a fecret Management, was carried on privately, and with Difficulty 5 as in lowing Difcord and Faction among the People, perplexing the Councils of their Princes, and fe- cretly wheedling in with the dignified Clergy.
Alfo he had raifed abundance of little Church- Rebellions, by fetting up Hereticks of feveral Kinds, and railing them Favourers among the Clergy, fuch as Ebion^ Cerintbius^ PelagiuS) and others.
He had drawn in the BHhops of Rome to fet up the ridiculous Pageantry of the KEY > and while he, the DEVIL, fet open the Gates of Hell to them all, fet them upon locking up the Gates of Heaven, and giving the Bifhop the Key 5 a Cheat which, as grofs as it was, the DEVIL fo gilded over, or fo blinded the Age to receive it, that like Gideon's Ephod, all the Catholick World went a whoring after the Idol $ and the Bifhop of Rome fent more Fools to the Devil by it than ever he pretended to let into Heaven, though he open'd the Door as wide as his Key was able to do.
The Story of this Key being given to the Bi-
ihop of Rome by St. Peter^ (who, by the way,
iiever had it himfelf,) and of its being loft by
Somebody or other, (the Devil it feems did not
5 tell
The Modern HISTORY
tell them who) and its being found again by a Lombard Soldier in the Army of King Antbaris^ who attempting to cut it with his Knife, was miraculoufly forced to direct the Wound to him- felf, and cut his own Throat j that King Antkarh and his Nobles happened to fee the Fellow do it, and were converted to Chriftianity by it, and that the King fent the Key, with another made like it, to Pope PelagiuS) then Bifhop of Rome, who thereupon aflum'd the Power of opening and (hutting Heaven's Gates > and he afterwards fet> ting a Price or Toll upon the Entrance, as we do here at paffing a Turn-pike 5 thefe fine things, I fay, were fuccefsfully managed for fome Years before this I am now (peaking of, and the Devil got a great deal of Ground by it too 3 but now he triumph'd openly, and having fet up a Mur- therer upon the temporal Throne, and a Church Emperor upon the Ecclefiaftic Throne, and both of his own choofing, the Devil may be faid to begin his new Kingdom from this Epocha, and call it the Reftoration.
Since this time indeed the Devil's Affairs went very merrily on, and the Clergy brought fo ma ny Gewgaws into their Worfhip, and fuch devililh Principles were mixt with that which we calPd the Chriftian Faith, that in a Word, from this Time the Bifhop of Rome commenced IVkore of Babylon, in all the mod exprefs Terms that could be ipnagin'd ; Tyranny of the word fort crept into the Pontificate, Errors of all forts into the Profeffion, and they proceeded from one thing to another, till the very Popes, for fo the Bifhop of Rome was now called, by way of Di- flan&ion $ I fay, the Popes themfelves, their fpi- ritual Guides, profefs'd openly to confederate with the Devil, and to carry on a perfonal and private Correfpondence with him at the fame time, tak ing
of the DEVIL; 20$
ing upon them the Title of ChrirVs Vicar, and the infallible Guide of the Confciences of Chri- ilians.
This we have fundry Inftatices of in fome merry Popes,who, if Fame lies » ans, had familiar Spirits, and immediate Conver- fation with the Devil, as well vifibly as inviilbly, and by this means became what we call Devils incarnate : Upon this account it is that I have left the Converfation that palles between Devils and Men to this Place, as well becaufe I believe it differs much now in his modern State, from what it was in his antient State, and therefore that which moffc concerns us belongs rather to this part of his Hiitory j as alfo becaufe, as I am now writing to the prefent Age, I choofe to bring the moil fignificant Parts of his Hiftory, efpeci- ally as they relate to our felves, into that Part of Time that we are mofl concerned in.
The Devil had once, as I obferv'd before, the univerfal Monarchy or Government of Mankind in himfelf, and I doubt not but in that flourifh- ing State of his Affairs, he governed them like what he is (viz.) an abfolute Tyrant > during this theocracy of his, for Satan is calTd the God of this World, he did not familiarize himfelf to Man kind fo much, as he finds Occafion to do now, there was not then fo much need of it j he govern ed then with an abfolute Sway> he had his Ora cles, where he gave Audience to his Votaries like a Deity, and he had his Sub-Gods, who un der his fevcral Difpofitions receiv'd the Homage of Mankind in their Names 5 fuch were all the Rabble of the Heathen Deities, from Jupiter the Supreme, to the Lares or Houfhold Gods of every Family j thefe, I fay, like Refidents, received the Proflrations^ but the Homage was all Satan's ; the Devil had the Subftance of it al!5 which was the Idolatry, During
204 The Modern HISTORY
During this Adminiftration of Hell, there was Ie6 Witchcraft, lefs true literal Magick than there has been fince $ there was indeed no need of it, the DEVIL did not ftoop to the Mechanifm of his more modern Operations, but rul'd as a Deity, and receiv'd the Vows and the Bows of his Subjects in more State, and with more Solemnity 5 whereas fince that, he is content to employ more Agents' and take more Pains himfelf too 3 now he runs up and down Hackney in the World, more like a Drudge than a Prince, and much more trran he did then.
Hence all thofe Things we call Apparitions and Vifions of Ghofls, Familiar-Spirits and Dealings with the Devil, of which there is fo great a Va riety in the World at this Time, were not fo much known among the People, in thofe firft Ages of the Devil's Kingdom 5 in a Word, the Devil feems to be put to his Shifts, and to fly to Art and Stratagem for the carrying on his Affairs, much inorc now than he did then.
One Reafon for this may be, that he has been more difcover'd and exposed in thefe Ages, than he was before $ then he could appear in the World in his own proper Shapes, and yet not be known j when the Sons of GOD appeared at the divine Summons, Satan came along with them 5 but now he has plaid fo many fcurvy Tricks upon Men, and they know him fo well, that he is oblig'd to play quire out of fight and act in difguife $ Mankind will allow nothing of his doing, and hear no thing of his faying, in his own Namej and if you propofe any Thing to be done, and it be but faid the Devil is to help in the doing it, or if you fay of any Man he deals with the Devil, or the Devil has a Hand in it, every Body flies him and fhuns as themoft frightful Thing in the World.
Nay,
of the D E V I L; 205
Nay, if any Thing ftrange and improbable be done or related to be done, we prefendy fay the Devil was at the doing it : Thus the great Ditch at Newmarket Heatb^ is call'd the Devil's Ditch $ fo the Devil built Cropland Abby, and the Whif- pering-Place in Gloucefter Cathedral j nay, the Cave at Caftkton^ only becaufe there's no getting to the farther End of it, is call'd the Devil's A— and the like: The poor People of Wiltjhire^ when you ask them how the great Stones at Stonehengc were brought thither ? they'll all tell you theZte- v/7 brought them : If any Mifchief extraordinary befalls us, we prefently fay the Devil was in it, and the Devil would have it fo 5 in a Word, the Devil has got an ill Name among us, and fo he is fain to act more in fenebris^ more incog, than he ufed to do, play out of fight himfelf, and work by the Sap, as the Engineers call it, and not open ly and avowedly in his own Name and Perfon, as formerly, tho' perhaps not with lefs Succefs than he did before 3 and this leads me to enquire more narrowly into the manner of the Devil's Manage ment of his Affairs fince the Chriftian Religion began to fpread in the World, which manifeftly differs from his Conduct in more antient Times 5 in which if wcdifcover fome of the moftconfum- mate Fool's Policy, the mofl profound fimple Craft, and the moft fubtle ihallow Management of Things that can by our weak Underftandings be conceiv'd, we muft only refolve it into this, that in fhort it is the DEVIL.
CHAP
The Modern HISTORY
CHAP. II.
Of Hellas it is reprefented to us, and how the Devil is to be underftood, as being per- fonally in Hell, when at the fame Time we find him at Liberty ranging over the World.
IT is true, as that learn'd and pleafant Author, the inimitable Dr. Brown fays, the Devil is his own Hell y one of the moft conftituting Parts of his In felicity is, that he cannot ac~b upon Mankind brevi Manu^ by his own inherent Power, as well as Rage $ that he cannot unhinge this Creation, which, as I have obfertfdin its Place, he had the uttnoft Averfi- on to from its Beginning, as it was a flated Defign in the Creator to fupply his Place in Heaven with a new Species of Beings calPd Man, and fill the Vacancies occafion'd by his Degeneracy and Re bellion.
This fill'd him with Rage inexpreffible, and horrible Refolutions of Revenge, and the Impof- iibility of executing thofe Refolutions torments him with Defpair > this added to what he was before, makes him a compleat Devil^ with a Hell in his own Breaft, and a Fire unquenchable burn ing about his Heart.
I might enlarge here, and very much to the Purpofe, in defcribing fpherically and mathemati cally that exquifite Quality call'd a devilijh Spi- rit) in which it would naturally occur to give you a whole Chapter upon the glorious Articles of Malice and Envy, and efpecially upon that lufcious, delightful, triumphant Paffion call'd REVENGE* how natural to Man, nay even to both Sexes ^ how pleafant in the very Contemplation, tho'
there
&fthe DEVIL: 207
there be not juft at that Time a Power of Exe cution 3 how palatable it is in it (elf, and how well it relifties when difh'd up with its proper Sauces, fuch as Plot, Contrivance, Scheme, and Confederacy, all leading on to Execution: How k poflefles a human Soul in all the moft fenfible Parts j how it empowers Mankind to fin in I- magination, as effectually to all future Intents and Purpofes (Damnation) as if he had finned actually : How fafe a Practice it is too, as to Pu- nifhment in this Life, namely, that it empowers us to cut Throats clear of the Gallows, to (lan der Virtue, reproach Innocence, wound Honour and rtab Reputation > and in a Word, to do all the wicked Things in the World, out of the Reach of the Law.
It would alfo require fome few Words to de- fcribe the fecret Operations of thofe nice Quali ties when they reach the human Soul j how ef fectually they form a Hell within us, and how imperceptibly they affimilate and transform us in to Devils, meer human Devils, as really Devils as Satan himfelf, or any of his Angels ; and that there fore 'tis not fo much out of the Way, as fome imagine, to fay, fuch a Man is an incarnate Devil j for as Crime made Satan a Devil^ who was before a bright immortal Seraph, or Angel of Light 5 how much more eafily may the fame Crime make the fame DEVIL, tho' every Way meaner and more contemptible, of a Man or a Woman either? But this is too grave a Subject for me at this Time.
The Devil being thus, I fay, fir'd with Rage and Envy, in coniequence of his Jealoufy upon the Creation of Man, his Torment is encreafed to the higheft by the Limitation of his Power, and his being forbid to act againft Mankind by Force of Arms > this is, I fay, part of his /&//, \vhich? as above, is within him, and which he
carries
20S The Modern HI S TORY
carries with him wherever he goes j nor is it fo difficult to conceive of He!/9 or of the Z>m7, either under this juft Defcription, as it is by all the ufual Notions that we are taught to enter tain of them, by (the old Women) our Inftruc- tors > for every Man may, by taking but a com mon View of himfelf, and making a juft Scrutiny into his own Paffions, on fome of their particular Excurfions, fee a /&// within himfelf, and himfelf a meer Devil as long as the Inflammation lafts > and that as really, and to all Intents and Purpofes, as if he had the Angel (Satan) before his Face, in his Lo cality and Perfonality ; that is to fay, all Devil and Monfter in his Perfon, and an immaterial but intenfe Fire flaming about and from within him, at all the Pores of his Body.
The Notions we receive of the Devil, as a Per" fon being in Hell as a Place^ are infinitely abfurd and ridiculous j the firft we are certain is not true in Fact, becaufe he has a certain Liberty, (however limited that is not to the Purpofe) is daily vifible, and to be trac'd in his feveral Attacks upon Man kind, and has been fo ever fince his firit Appear ance in Paradife 3 as to his corporal Viiibility that is not the prefent Queftion neither j 'tis enough that we can hunt him by the Foot, that we can follow him as Hounds do a Fox upon a hot Scent : We can fee him as plainly by the Ef fect, by the Mifchief he does, and more by the Mifchief he puts us upon doing, ffay, as plainly, as if we faw him by the Eye.
It is not to be doubted but the Devil can fee us •when and where we cannot fee him : and as he has a Perfonality, tho' it be fpirituous, he and his Angels too may be reafonably fuppofed to inhabit the World of Spirits, and to have free Accefs from thence to the Regions of Life, and to pafs and repafs in the Air, as really, tho' not perceptible to
us.
&f tke DEVI L. 209
us, as the Spirits of Men do after their releafe from the Body, pafs to the Place (wherever that is) which is appointed for them.
If the Devil was confin'd to a Place (Hell) as a Prifon, he could then have no Buiinefs here 3 and if we pretend to defcribe /&//, as not a Prifon, but that the Devil has Liberty to be there, or not be there as he pleafed, then he would certainly never be there, or Hell is not fuch a Place as we are taught to underfland it to be.
Indeed according to forne, Hell fhotild be a Place of Fire and Torment to the Souls that are call into it, but not to the Devils themfelves > who we make little more or leis than keepers and Turnkeys to Hell, as a Goal 3 that they are fent about to bring Souls thither, lock them in when they come, and then away upon the Scent to fetch more : That one Sort of Devils are made to live in the World among Men, and to be bufy continually debauching and deluding Mankind bringing them as it were to the Gates of Hell; and then another Sort are Porters and Carriers to fetch them in.
This is, in JJjort^ little more or lefs than the old Story of Pluto, of Cerberus^ and of Charon 3 only that our Tale is not half fo well told, nor the Parts of the Fable fo well laid together.
In all thefe Notions of Hell and Devil^ the Tor- - ments of the firft, and the Agency of the laft Tormenting, we meet with not one Word of the main and perhaps only Accent of Horror, which belongs to us to judge of about Hell, I mean the Abfence of Heaven 3 Expulfion, and Exclusion from the Prefence and Face of the chief Ultimate, the only eternal and fufficient Good 3 and this lofs fuftain'd by a fordid Neglect of our Concern in that excellent Part, in ex change for the molt contemptible and juftly con- P demn'd
aio The Modern HISTORY
demn'd Trifles, and all this eternal and irreco verable : Thefe People tell us nothing of the eter nal Reproaches of Confciencc, the Horror of Def- peration, and the Anguifh of a Mind hopelefs of ever feeing the Glory, which alone conftitutes Heaven, and which makes all other Places dread ful, and even Darknefs it felf.
And this brings me directly to the Point in Hand, (viz.) the State of that Hell which we ought to have in view when we tpcak of the Devil as in Hell : This is the very Hell, which is the Tor ment of the Devil; in ftiort, the Devil is in HELL, and HELL is in the Devil > he is filPd with this unquenchable Fire, he is expePd the Place of Glory, banifli'd from the Regions of Light, Abfence from the Life of all Beatitude is his Curfe, Defpair is the reigning Paflion in his Mind, and all the little Condiment Parts of his Tor ment, fuch as Rage, Envy, Malice, and Jealoufy are confolidated in this, to make his Mifery com- pleat, (viz.) the Duration of it all, the Eternity of his Condition > that he is without Hope, with out Redemption, without Recovery.
If any thing can inflame this Hell and make it hotter, 'tis this only, and this does add an inex- prcilible Horror to the Devil himfelf j namely^ the feeing Man (the only Creature he hates) placed in a State of Recovery, a glorious Eftablimment of Redemption form'd for him in Heaven, and the Scheme of it perfected on Earth 3 by which this Man^ tho' even the Devil by his Art may have de luded him, and drawn him into Crime, is yet in a State of Recovery, which the Devil is not $ and that it is not in his (Satan's) Power to prevent it : Now take the Devil as he is in his own Nature Angelic, a bright immortal Seraph, Heaven-born, and having tafled the eternal Beatitude, which thefe are appointed to enjoy j the Lofs of that
4 State
of the D E V I L. 21 r
State to himfelf, the PofTeffion of it granted to his Rival tho' wicked like and as himfelf 3 I fay, cake the Devil as he is, having a quick Senfe of his own Perdition, and a flinging Sight of his Rival's Fe licity, 'tis Hell enough^ and more than enough, even for an Angel to fupport j nothing we can conceive can be worfe.
As to any other Fire than this, fuch and fo im materially intenfe as to Torment a Spirit, which is it felf Fire alfo 3 I will not fay it cannot be, becaufe to Infinite every Thing is poffible, but 1 mufl fay, I cannot conceive rightly of it.
I will not enter here into the Wifdorn or Rea- fonablenefs of rcprefcnting the Torments of Hell to be Fire, and that Fire to be a Commixture of Flame and Sulphur \ it has pleafed God to let the Horror of thofe eternal Agonies about a loft Heaven, be laid before us by thofe Similitudes or Allegories, which are moft moving to our Senfes and to our Under (land ings ; nor will I difpute the PofTi- bility 3 much lefs wrili I doubt but that there is to be a Confummation of Mifery to all the Objects of Mifery when the Devil's Kingdom in this World ending with the World it felf, that Liberty he has now may be farther abridged 3 when he may be return'd to the fame State he was in between the Time of his Fall and the Creation of the World > with perhaps fome additional Vengeance on him, fuch as at prefent we cannot defcribe, for all that Treafon and thofe high Crimes and Mifdemeanours which he has been guilty of here, in his Convcr- fation with Mankind.
As his Infelicity will be then confummated and compleated, fo the Infelicity of that Part of Man kind, who are condemned with him, may receive a confiderable Addition from thofe Words in their Sentence, to 'be tormented with the Devil and his
P z
2ii The A/
Angels; for as the Abfcnce of the fupreme Good is a com pleat Hell, fo the hated Company of the Deceiver, who was the -great Caufe of his Ruine, muil be a Subject of additional Horror, and he will be always faying, as a Scots Gentleman, who died
of his Exceflcs, faid to the famous Dr. P ,
who came to fee him on his Death-bed, but had been too much his Companion in' his Life,
0 tu fundament a jecifti
I would not treat the very Subject it felf with any Indecency, nor do I think my Opinion of that Hell) which I fay confifts in the Abfence of him, in whom is Heaven, one Jot le(s folemn than theirs who believe it all Fire and Brimftone; but I muit own, that to me nothing can be more ridi culous than the Notions that we entertain and £11 our Heads with about Hell^ and about the De- «2/Ts being there tormenting of Souls, broiling them upon Gridirons, hanging them up upon Hooks, carrying them upon their Backs, and the like, with the feveral Pictures of /&//, repre- lented by a great Mouth with horrible Teeth, gap ing like a Cave on the Sides of a Mountain j fup- pofe that appropriated to Satan in the Peak^ which indeed is not much unlike it, with a Stream of Fire coming out of ir, as there is of Water, and {mailer Devils going and coming continually in and out, to fetch and carry Souls the Lord knows whither, and for the Lord knows what.
Thcfe Things, however intended for Terror, are indeed fo ridiculous, that the Devil himfelf, to be fure, mocks at them, and a Man of Senfe can hardly refrain doing the like, only I avoid it, be- c;aufe I would not give offence to weaker Heads.
However,
of the D E V IL. 213
However, I muft not Compliment the Brains of other Men, at the Expence of my own, or talk Nonfenfe becaufe they can underfland no other j I think all thefe Notions and Reprcfenta- tions of Hell and of the Devil, to be as prophane as they are ridiculous, and I ought no more to talk prophanely than merrily of them.
Let us learn to talk of thefe Things then, as we fhould do > and as we really cannot deferibc them to our Reafon and Understanding, why Should we defcribe them to our Senfes > we had, I think, much better not defcribe them at all, that is to fay, not attempt it : The blefTed Apoftle St. Paul was, as he faid hirnfelf, carried up, or caught up into the third Heaven, yet when he came down again, he could neither tell what he heard or defcribe what he was $ all he could lay of it was, that what he heard was inuticralle, and what he faw was inconceivable.
It is the fame thing as to the State of the Devil in thofe Regions which he now potteries, and where he now more particularly inhabits •> my prefent Bufinefs then is not to enter into thofe
frave Things fo as to make them ridiculous, as think molt People do that talk of them 5 but as the Devil, let his Refidence be where it will, has evidently free Leave to come and go, not into this World only 3 ( I mean, the Region of our jftmofphere,) but for ought we know, to all the other inhabited Worlds which God has made, where -ever they are, and by whatfoever Names they are or may be known or diftinguiflied j for if he is not confined in one Place, we have no Reafon to believe he is excluded from any Place, Heaven only excepted, from whence he was ex- peird for his Treafon and Rebellion.
His Liberty then being thus afcertain'd, three Things fecm to be material for us to give an Ao
P 3 count
The Modern HISTORY
count of, in order to form this Part of his Hit tory.
i . What his Bufinefs is on this Globe of Earth which \ve vulgarly call the World, how he acts among us, what Affairs Mankind and he have together, and how far his Conduct here relates to Us, and Ours is, or may be influenced by him.
z. Where his Principal Refidence is, and whe ther he has not a particular Empire of his own, to which he retreats upon proper Occafions > where he entertains his Friends when they come under his particular Admi- niilration 3 and where, when he gets any Victory over his Enemies, he carries his Pri- foners of War.
5. What may probably be the great Bufinefs this black Emperor has at prefent upon his Hands, either in this World or out of it, and by what Agents he works.
As thefe Things may perhaps runpromifcuoufly thro' the Courfe of this whole Work, and fre quently be touch'd at under other Branches of the Devil's Hiftory, fo I do not propofe them as Heads of Chapters or Particular Sections, for the .Order of Difcourfe to be handled apart ; for (by the way) as Satan's Actings have not been the moft regular Things in the World, fo in our Difcourfe about him, it muft not be expected that we can always tie our felves down to Order and Regularity, either as to Time, or Place, or Per- fons , for Satan being hie &? ubique^ a loofe un- govern'd Fellow, we muft be content to trace him where we can find him.
It is true, in the foregoing Chapter, I fhewM you theDsvu- enued into the Herd Eeelefiaftick,
an
of the DEVIL, 215
and gave you fome Account of the firft fuccefsful Step he took with Mankind fince the Chriftian Epocha j how having fecretly managed both Temporal and Spiritual Power apart, and by themfelves, he now united them in Point of Ma nagement, and brought the Church Usurpation and the Army's Ufurpation together \ the Pope to blefs the General in depofing and murthering his Mailer the Emperor j and the General to recog- nife the Pope in dethroning his Mailer Chriit Jefus.
From this time forward you are to allow the Devil a myftical Empire in this World 5 not an Ac~bion of Moment done without him, not a Trcafon but he has a Hand in it, not a Tyrant but he prompts him, not a Government but he
has a in it j not a Fool but he tickles him,
not a Knave but he guides him ; he has a Finger in every Fraud, a Key to every Cabinet, from the Divan at Conftantinople, to the Miffiffipi in France^
and to the South- Sea Cheats at > from
the firft Attack upon the Chriftian World, in the Perfon of the RomiJJj Antichriil, down to the Bull Unigenitus j and from the Mixture of St. Pe ter and Confucius in China , to the Holy Office in Spain *, and down to the Emlins and Dodwdls of the current Age.
How he has managed, and does manage, and how in all Probability he will manage till his Kingdom fhall come to a Period, and how at laft he will probably be managed himfelf, En quire within, and you jhall know farther.
P 4 CHAP.
216 The Modern HISTORY
CHAP. III.
Of the Manner of SatanV atiing and carry- ing on his Affairs in this World, and par ticularly of his ordinary Workings in the dark, by Pofleffion and Agitation.
THE DEVIL being thus reduc'd to a£b upon Mankind by Stratagem only, it remains to enquire how he performs., and which way he di rects his Attacks > the Faculties of Man are a kind of a Garrifon in a ilrong Caftle, which as they defend it on the one hand under the Command of the reafoning Power of Man's Soul, fo they are prefcribed on the other hand, and can't fally out without Leave j for the Governor of a Fort does not permit his Soldiers to hold any Corre- fpondence with the Enemy, without fpecial Or der and Direction. Now the great Enquiry be fore us is. How comes the DEVIL to a Parley with us ? how does he converfe with our Senfes, arid with the Underftanding ? How does he reach us, which way does he come at the Affections, and which way does he move the Pailions ? 'Tis a little difficult to difcover this treafonable Corre- fpondence, and that Difficulty is indeed the Devil's Advantage, and, for ought I fee, the chief Ad vantage he has over Mankind.
It is alio a great Enquiry here, whether the Devil knows our Thoughts or no? If I may give my Opinion, I am with the negative > I deny that he knows any thing of our Thoughts, except of thofe Thoughts which he puts us upon thinking, for I will not doubt but he has the Art to injecl: Thoughts, and to revive dormant Thoughts in us : Ic is not fo wild a Scheme as fome take it to be, 2. that
of the DEVIL. 217
that Mr. Milton lays down, to reprefent the Devil •injecting corrupt Defires and wandring Thoughts into the Head of Eve^ by Dreams, and that he brought her to Dream whatever he put into her Thoughts, by whifpering to her vocally when fhe was afleep 5 and to this End, he imagines the DEVIL laying himfelf clofe to her Ear, in the Shape of a Toad, when fhe was fall afleep > I fay, this is not fo wild a Scheme, feeing even now, if you can whifper any thing clole to the Ear of a Perfon in a deep Sleep, fo as to fpeak distinctly to the Perfon, and yet not awaken him, as has been frequently tried, the Perfon fleeping {hall dream diftinctly of what you fay to him* nay, fliall dream the very Words you fay.
We have then no more to ask, but how the DEVIL can convey himfelf to the Ear of a fleep- ing Perfon, and it. is granted then that he may have Power to make us dream what he pleafes : But this is not all, for if he can fo forcibly, by his invifible Application, caufe us to dream, what he pleafes, why can he not with the fame Facility prompt our Thoughts, whether fleeping or waking ? To dream, is nothing elfe but to think fleeping j and we have abundance of deep-headed Gentlemen among us, who give us ample Tefii- mony that they dream waking.
But if the DEVIL can prompt us to dream, that is to fay, to think, yet if he does not know our Thoughts, how then can he tell whether the Whifper had its EfFec~b ? The anfwer is plain, the DEVIL, like the Angler, baits the Hook, if the Fifh bite he lies ready to take the Advantage, he whifpers to the Imagination, and then waits to fee how it works > as Naomi faid to Ruth^ Chap. iii. f, 18. Sit ftill^ my Daughter , until thou, know ho'W the Matter will fall, for the Man 'will wt be at reft until he have finijhed the thing. Thus
when
2U The Modern HISTORY
when the DEVIL had whifper'd to Eve in her Sleep, according to Milton^ and fuggefted Mifchief to her Imagination, he only fat {till to fee how the Matter would work, for he knew if it took with her, he fhould hear more of it> and then by finding her alone the next Day, without her ordinary Guard her Husband, he prefently con cluded flie had fwallowed the Bait, and fo at- tack'd her afrefh.
A fmall deal of Craft, and lefs by far than we have reafon to believe the Devil is Mailer of, will ferve to difcover whether fuch and fuch Thoughts as he knows he has fuggefted, have taken Place or no > the Adbion of the Perfon prefently difco- vers it, at leaft to him that lies always upon the Wutch, and has every Word, every Gefture, e~ very Step we take fubfequent to his Operation, open to him j it may therefore, for ought we know, be a great Miilake, and what moil of us are guilty of7 to tell our Dreams to one another in the Morning, after we have been diflurb'd with them in the Night > for if the Devil converfes with us fo infenfibly as fome are of the Opinion he does, that is to fay, if he can hear as far as we can fee, we may be telling our Story to him indeed, when we think we are only talking to one another.
This brings me moil naturally to the impor tant Enquiry, whether the Devil can walk about the World invidbly or no? The Truth is, this is no queilion to me} for as I have taken away his Vifibility already, and have denied him all Prefcience of Futurity too, and have prov'd he cannot know our Thoughts, nor put any Force upon Perfons or Aftions, if we ihould take away his Invifibility too, we ihould undmil him quite, to all Intents and Purpofes, as to any Mifchief he could do j nay, it would baniflihim the World,
and
of the DEVIL:
and he might e'en go and feek his Fortune fome where elfe •, for if he could neither be vifible or invifible, neither act in publick or in private, he could neither have Bufinefs or Being in this Sphere, nor could we be any way concerned with him.
The Devil therefore mofl certainly has a Power and Liberty of moving about in this World, af ter fome manner or another ; this is verify'd as well by way of Allegory, as by way of Hiftory, in the Scripture it felf 5 and as the firft ftrongly fuggefts and fuppofes it to be fo, the laft pofi- tively aflerts it-, and, not to croud this Work with Quotations from a Book which we have not much to do with in the Devil's Story, at leaft not much to his Satisfaction, I only hint his perfonal Appearance to our Saviour in the Wil- derneis, where it is faid, the Devil taketh him up to an exceeding high Mountain , and in another Place, the Devil departed from him. What Shape or Figure he appeared in, we do not find men tioned, but I cannot doubt his appearing to him there, any more than I can his talking to our Sa viour in the Mouths, and with the Voices of the feveral Perfons who were under the terrible Af fliction of an a&ual PofTeflion.
Thefe Things leave us no room to doubt of what is advanced above, namely, that he, (the Devil) has a certain Refidence, or Liberty of redding in, and moving about upon the Surface of this Earth, as well as in the Compals of the At- mofphere, vulgarly call'd the Air^ in fome manner or other: That is the general.
It remains to enquire into the manner, which I refolve into two Kinds
. Ordinary ', which I fuppofe to be his invi- fible Motions as a Spirit 3 under which Con-
iideration
izo The Modern HISTORY
fideration I fuppofe him to have an uncort- jfin'd, unlimited, unreftrain'd Liberty, as to the manner of a6Hng > and this either in Perfons, by PofMion> or in Things, by A- gitation.
z. Extraordinary •> which I underfbnd to be his Appearances in borrowed Shapes and Bo dies, or Shadows rather of Bodies 5 afluming Speech, Figure, Pofture, and fcveral Pow ers, of which we can give little or no Ac count 5 in which extraordinary manner of Appearances, he is either limited by a fupe- rior Power, or limits himfelf politically, as being not the Way moil for his Intcreit or Purpofe, to act in his Bufinefs, which is more effectually done in his State of Obfcu- rity.
Hence we muft fuppofe the Devil has it very much in his own Choice, whether to act in one Ca pacity, or in the other, or in both} that is to lay, of appearing, and not appearing, as he finds for his Purpofe : In this State of Invifibility, and under the Operation of thefe Powers and Liberties, lie performs all his Functions and Offices, as De- •y/7, as Prince of Darknefs, as God of this World, as Tempter, Accuier, Deceiver, and all whatfoever other Names of Office, or Titles of Honour he is known by.
Now taking him in this large unlimited, or little limited State of Action, he is well calPd, the God of this World^ for he has very much of the Attribute of Omniprefence, and may be faid, either by himfslf or his Agents , to be every where, And fee every thing j that is to fay, every thing that is vifible -, for I cannot allow him any Share of Qmnifrisncz a: all.
That
of the DEVIL, 221
That he ranges about every where, is with us9 fcnd fometimes in us, fees when he is not feen, hears when he is not heard, comes in without Leave, and goes out without Noife, is neither to be fhut in or {hut out, that when he runs from us we can't catch him, and when he runs after us we can't efcape him, is feen when he is not known, and is known when he is not feen j all thefe things, and more, we have Knowledge enough about to convince us of the Truth of them} fo that, as I have faid above, he is certainly walking to and fro thro' the Earth, &c. after fome manner or other j and in fome Figure or other, vifible or invifiblc, as he finds Occanon. Now in order to make our Hiflory of him complete, the next Queftion before us is, how, and in what man ner he afts with Mankind ? how his Kingdom is carried on, and by what Methods he does his Bu- fmefs, for he certainly has a great deal of Bufinefs to do 5 he is not an idle Spectator, nor is he walk ing about incognito,and cloth'd inMift and Dark- nefs, purely in Kindnefs to us, that we fhould not be frighted at him 3 but 'tis in Policy, that he may a£b undifcover'd, that he may fee and not be feen, may play his Game in the dark, and not be detefted in' his Roguery ; that he may prompt Mifchief, raife Tempefts, blow up Coals, kindle Strife, embroil Nations, ufe Inftruments, and not be known to have his Hand in any thing, when at the fame time he really has a Hand in every thing.
Some are of Opinion, and I among the refi^ that if the Devil was perfonally and vifibly pre- fent among us, and we converfed with him Face to Face, we fhould be fo familiar with him in a little time, that his ugly Figure would not affecl us at all, that his- Terrors would not fright us, or that we fhould any more trouble our felves
about
222 The Modern HISTORY
about him, than we did with the laft great Co met in 1678. which appear'd fo long and fo con- ftantly without any particular known Event, that at laft we took no more Notice of it than of the other ordinary Stars which had appear'd before we or our Anceftors were born.
Nor indeed fhould we have much Reafon to be frighted at him, or atleaft none of thofe filly Things could be faid of him which we now amufe our felves about, and by which we fet him up like a Scare-Crow to fright Children and old Women, to fill up old Stories, make Songs and Ballads, and in a Word, carry on the low priz'd Buf foonery of the common People > we fhould either fee him in his Angelic Form, as he was from the Original, or if he has any Deformities entail'd upon him by the fupreme Sentence, and in Ju- ilice to the Deformity of his Crime, they would be of a fuperior Nature, and fitted more for our Contempt as well as Horror, than thofe weak fan cied Trifles contrived by our antient Devil-raifers and Devil- makers, to feed the wayward Fancies of old Witches and Sorcerers, who cheated the ignorant World with a Devil of their own mak ing, fet forth, in terrorem, with Bat's Wings, Horns, cloven Foot, long Tail, fork'd Tongue, and the like.
In the next Place, be his frightful Figure what it would, and his Legions as numerous as theHoftof Heaven, we fhould fee him ftill, as the Prince of De vils , tho* monftrous as a Dragon, flaming as a Co met, tall as a Mountain, yet dragging his Chain after him equal to the utmoft of his fuppofed Strength; always in Cuftody of his Jailors the Angels, his Power over-power'd, his Rage cow'd and abated, or at leaft aw'd and under Corre&ion, limited and reflrain'd \ in a Word, we fhould fee him a vanquifh'd Slave, his Spirit broken,
his
of the D EVIL; 22§
his Malice, tho' not abated, yet Hand-cuff'd and overpower'd, and he not able to work any Thing againft us by Force > fo that he would be to us but like the Lions in the Tower, encag'd and lock'd up, unable to do the Hurt he wimes to do, and that we fear, or indeed any hurt at all.
From hence 'tis evident, that 'tis not his Bu- finefs to be public, or to walk up and down in the World vifibly, and in his own Shape > his Affairs require a quite different Management, as might be made apparent from the Nature of Things, and the Manner of our Actings, as Men, cither with our felves or to one another.
Nor could he be ferviceable in his Generation, as a public Perfon as now he is, or anfwer the End of his Party who employ him, and who, if he was to do their Bu finefs in public, as he does in private, would not be able to employ him at ail.
As in our modern Meetings for the Propagation of Impudence and other Virtues, there would be no Entertainment and no Improvement for the Good of the Age, if the People did not all ap pear in Mafque, and conceal'd from the com mon Observation j fo neither could Satan (from whofe Management tbofe more happy AfTem- blies are taken as Copies of a glorious Original) perform the ufual and neceflary Bu finefs of his ProfefSon, if he did not appear wholly in Covert and under needful Difguifesy how, but for the Convenience of his Habit, could he caft himfelf into fo many Shapes, aft on fo many different Scenes, and turn fo many Wheels of State in the World, as he has done ? as/a meer profeiVd Zte- vil he could do nothing.
Had he been oblig'd always to aft the meer Devil in his own Clothes, and with his own Shape, appearing uppermoft in ail Cafes and Places, he
could
224- The Modern HISTORY
could never have preach'd in fo many Pulpits^ prefided in fo many Councils, voted in fo many Committees, fat in fo many Courts, and influenced fo many Parties and Factions in Church and State, as we have Reafon to believe he has done in our Nation, and in our Memories too, as well as in other Nations and in more antient Times. The Share Satan has had in all the weighty Confufions of the Times, ever fince the firft Ages of Chrifti- anity in the World, has been carried on with fo much Secrefy, and fo much with an Air of Ca* bal and Intrigue, that nothing can have been manag'd more fubtilly and clofcly, and in the fame Manner has he a&ed in our Times, in order to conceal his Intereft, and conceal the Influence he has had in the Councils of the World.
Had it been potllble for him to have raifed the Flames of Rebellion and War fo often in this Nation, as he certainly has done ? Could he have agitated the Parties on both Sides, and inflam'd the Spirits of three Nations, if he had appeared in his own Dreis, a meer naked DEVIL? It is not the Devil as a Devil^ that does the Mifchief, but the Devil 'in Mafquerade, Satan in full Difguife, and act ing at the Head of civil Confufionand Diitra6Hon.
if Hiitory may be credited, the French Court at the Time of our old Confufions was made the Scene of Satan's Politicks, and prompted both Parties in England wA in Scotland alfo to quarrel, and how was it done ? Will any Man offer to fcandalize the Devil fo much as to fay, or fo much as to fuggeft that Satan had no Hand in it all? Did not the Devil^ by the Agency of Cardinal Richlieu^ fend 400000 Crowns at one TimeJ and 600000 at another, to the Scots, to raife an Army and march boldly into England? and did not the fame Devil, at the fame time, by other Agents, remit 800000 Crowns to the other Party, in order to raife an Army to fall
upon
tftk DEVIL. 225
tip an the Scots ? nay, did not the Devil with the fame Subtilty fend down the ArchbifhopJs Order to impofe the Service-Book upon the People in Scotland^ and at the fame Time raife a Mob a- gainft it, in the great Church (at St. Giles's)? Nay, did not he actually, in the Perfon of an old Woman (his favourite Inftrument) throw the three-leg'd Stool at the Service-Book, and ani mate the zealous People to take up Arms for Re ligion, and turn Rebels for God Sake?
All thefe happy and fuccefsful Undertakings, tho' 'tis no more to be doubted they were done by the Agency of Satan, and in a very furpriz- ing Manner too, yet were all done in fecret, by what I Call Pofleflion and Injection, and by the Agency and Contrivance of fuch Internments, or by the Devil in the Difguife of fuch Servants as he found out fitted to be employ'd in his Work, and who he took a more effectual Care in con cealing of.
But we {hall have Occafion to touch all this Part over again, when we come to difcourfe of the par ticular Habits and Difguifes which the Devil has made ufe of, all along in the World, the better to cover his Actions, and to conceal his being concern'd in them.
In the mean Time the Cunning or Artifice the Devil makes ufe of in all thefe Things is in it felf Very considerable 5 'tis an old Practice of hisufing, and he has gone on in diverfe Meafures, for the better concealing himfelf in it ; which Meafures, tho' he varies fometimes, as his extraordinary Af fairs require, yet they are in all Ages much the fame, and have the fame Tendency -> namely, that he may get all his Bufinefs carried on by the In- flrumentality of Fools -, that he may make Man kind Agents in their own Deftruftion, and thac he may have all his Work done in fuch a Manner
Q_ as
^26 The Modern HISTORY
as that he may fccm to have no Hand in it ; nay he contrives fo well, that the very Name Devil is put upon his oppofite Party, and the Scandal of the black Agent lies all upon them.
In order then to look a little into his Conduit, let us enquire into the common Miftakes about him, fee what Ufe is made of them to his Ad vantage, and how far Mankind is impofed upon in thofe Particulars, and to what Purpofe.
CHAP. IV.
Of Satan's Agents or Miffionaries, and their Actings upon and in the Minds of Men in his Name.
IN finite Advantages attend the Devil in his re tired Government, as they refpect the Manage ment of his Intcrefts, and the carrying on his abfolute Monarchy in the World j particular ly as it gives him room to act by the Agency of liis inferior Mini tiers and Meffengers, call'd on many Occafions his Angel^ of whom he has an innumerable Multitude, at his Command, enough, for ought we know, to fpare one to attend every Man and Woman now alive in the World $ and of whom, if we may believe our fecond fight Chrillians, the Air is always as full, as a Beam of the Evening Sun is of Infects, where they are ever ready for Bufmefs, and to go and come as their great Governor iffucs out Orders for their Directions.
Thefe, as they are all of the dime fpirituous
Quality with himfelf, and coniequently invifible
like him, except as above, 'are ready upon all Oo
' cations .to be lent to and into any fuch Perfon, and
for
of the D E V I L. 227
for fuch Purpofes, fuperior Limitations only except- ed) as the grand Dire6lor of Devils, (The Devil properly fo call'd guides them 5) and be the Sub ject or the Object what it will, that is to fay, be the Perfon they are fent to, or into, as above , who it will, and the Bufinefs the Meflenger is to do what it will, they are diffidently qualified j for this is a Particular to Satan's Meflengers or Agents, that they are not like us humane Devils here in the World, forne bred up one Way, fome ano ther, forne of one Trade, fome of another, and consequently fome fit for fome Buiinefs, fome for another, fome good for fortieth ing, and fome good for nothing, but his People are every one fit for every Thing, can find their Way every where, and are a Match for every Body they are fent to ; in a Word, there are no fooliJJ} Devils^ they are all fully qualified for their Employment, fit for any thing he fets them about, and very feldotn miftake their Errand or fail in the Bu duels they are fent to do.
Nor is it ftrange at all, that the Devil fhould have fuch a numberlefs Train of Deputy Devils to act under him > for it muft be acknowledged he has a great deal of Bufinefs upon his Hands, a vaft deal of Work to do, abundance of public Affairs under his Direftion, and an infinite Va riety of particular Cafes always before him $ for Example.
How many Governments in the World are wholly in his Adminiftration ? how many Divans and great Councils under his Direftion ? nay, I believe, 'twould be hard to prove that there is or has been one Council of State in the World for many hundred Years paft, down to the Year 171 j, (we don't pretend to come nearer home) where the Devilry himfelf, or his Agents in one Shape or another, has not fat as a Member, if not talced the Chair. i And
228 The Modern HISTORY
And tho' forne learn'd Authors may difpuce this Point with me, by giving fome Examples where the Councils of Princes have been a£fced by a better Hand, and where Things have been carried againft Satan's Intereft, and even to his great Mortification, it amounts to no more than this ; namely, that in fuch Cafes the Devil has been out-voted 5 but it does not argue but he might have been prefent there, and have pufh'd his In- tereft as far as he could, only that he had not the Succefs he expedtedj for I don't pretend to fay that he has never been difappointed 5 but thole Examples are fo rare, and of fo fmall Significa tion, that when I come to the Particulars, as I ihall do in the Sequel of this Hi (lory, you will find them hardly worth naming > and that, take it one Time with another, the Devil has met with fuch a Series of Succefs in all his Affairs, and has fo feldom been baulk'd ; and where he has met with a little Check in his Politicks, has notwith- ftanding, fo foon and fo eafily recovered himfelf, regained his loft Ground, or replaced himfelf in another Country when he has been fupplanted in one, that his Empire is far from being leflen'd in the World, for the laft thoufand Years of the Chriftian Eftablifhment.
Suppofe we take an Obfervation from the Be ginning of Luther i or from the Year 1420. and call the Reformation a Blow to the Devil's King dom, which before that was come to fuch a Height in Chriflendom, that 'tis a Queftion not yet thorowly decided, whether that Medley of Superftition and horrible Herefies, that Mafs of Enthufiam and Idols call'd the Catholick Hierar chy, was a Church of God or a Church of the Devil; whether it was an AfTembly of Saints or a Synagogue of Satan : I fay, take that Time to be the Epocha of Satan's Declenilon and of Lu- 4 cifer's
of the D E V I L; 229
cifer's fating from Heaven, that is, from the Top of his terreftrial Glory, yet whether he did not gain in the Defection of the Greek Church about that Time and fince, as much as he loft in the Reformation of the Roman, is what Authors are not yet agreed about, not reckoning what he has regain'd fince of the Ground which he had loft even by the Reformation, (viz.) the Countries of the Duke of Savoy's Dominion, where the Re formation is almoft eaten out by Perfccution $ the whole Faltoline and (bme adjacent Countries 3 the whole Kingdom of Poland and almoft all Hungary 5 for fince the laft War the Reformation, as it were, lies gafping for Breath, and expiring in that Coun try, alfo feveral large Provinces in Germany, as Auftria^ Carinthia, and the whole Kingdom of Bohemia, where the Reformation once powerful ly planted, receiv'd its Death's Wound at the Battle of Prague, Ann. 1617, and languifh'd but a very little while, died and was buried, and good King POPERY reign'd in its ftead.
To thefe Countries thus regain'd to Satan's infernal Empire, let us add his modern Conquefts and the Encroachments he has made upon the Reformation in the prefent Age, which are, how ever light we make of them, very considerable (viz.) the Electorate of the Rhine and the Palatinate, the one fallen to the Houfe of Bavaria, and the other to that ofNeuburgh, both Popifh $ the Dutchy of Deux Fonts fallen juft now to a popilh Branch, the whole Electorate of Saxony fallen under the Power of popifh Government by the Apoftacy of their Princes, and more likely to follow the Fate of Bohemia, whenever the diligent Devil can bring his new Project in Poland to bear, as 'tis more than probable he will do fo fome. time or other, by the growing Zeal as well as Power of ( that; Houfe of Bigots) the Houfe of A —•— '.
But
230 The Modern HISTORY
But to fum up the dull Story 5 we mud add in the Roll of the //m'/'s Conquefts, the whole King dom of France^ where we have in one Year feen, to the immortal Glory of the Devil's Politicks, that his Meafures have prevailed to the total Extirpation of the Proteflant Churches without a War •> and that Intereft which for zoo Years had fupported it felf in fpight of Perfections, Mafiacres, five civil Wars and innumerable Bat tles and Slaughters, at lafl received its mortal Wound from its own Champion Henry IV. and funk into utter Oblivion, by Satan's moftexquifite Management under the Agency of his two prime Minilters Cardinal RiMieu and Lewis the XIV, whom he entirely poflefs'd.
Thus far we have a melancholy View of the Devil's new Conquefts, and the Ground he has re- gain'd upon the Reformation, in which his fe- cret Management has been fo exquifite, and his Politicks fo good, that could he bring but one Thing to pafs, which by his own former Miflake, (for the Devil is not infallible) he has rendred im- poffible, he would bring the Proteflant Intereft fo near its Ruin, that Heaven would be, as It were^ put to the Necefftty of working by Mira cle to prevent it ; the Cafe is thus.
Antient Hiftorians tell us, and from good Au thority, that the DEVIL finding it for his Intereft - to bring his favourite Afoto^/ upon the Stage, and fpread the victorious Half-Moon upon the Ruin of the Crofs, having with great Succefs, rais'd fir ft the Saracen Empire, and then the 'Turkijh to fuch a Height, as that the Name of Chriltain ieem- cd to be extirpated in thofe two Quarters of the World, which were then not the gre'ateft only, but by far the moft powerful, I mean dfia, and Afri ca ; having totally laid waft all thofe antient and flourifhing Churches of Afnca^ the Labours of
St.
of the D E V I L, 231
St. Cyprian, fertullian, St. dugufline, and 670 Chriiiian Biihops and Fathers, who governed there at once, alfo all the Churches of Smyrna , Phila delphia, Ephefus, Sardis, dnlioch, Laodicea, and innumerable others in Pontus, Bithynia, and the. Provinces of the letter Aft a.
The Devil having, I fay, finiih'd thefe Con- quells fo much to his Satisfaction., began to turn his Eyes Northward, and tho' he had a confidera- ble Intereft in the Whore of Babylon, and had brought his Power by the Subjection of the Ro man Hierarchy to a great Height, yet finding the Intereft of Mahomet moil fuitable to his devilijh Purpofes, as moil adapted to the Deftruftion of Mankind, and laying waile the World, he refolv'd to efpoufe the growing Power of the Turk, and bring him in upon Europe like a Deluge.
In order to this, and to make Way for an eafy Conquefl, like a true Devil he work'd under Ground, and fap'd the Foundation of the Chriiii an Power, by (owing Difcord among the reigning Princes of Europe 5 that fo envying one another they might be content to (land ftill and look on while the Turk devoured them one by one, and at lail might (wallow them up all.
This devilijh Policy took to his Heart's Con tent j the Chriiiian Princes ilood ftill, flupid, dozing, and unconcern'd, till the Turk con quered Thrace, over-run Servia, Macedonia, Bui* garia, and all the Remains of the Grecian Empire, and a,t lail the Imperial City of Conftantinople it felf.
Finding this politic Method fo well anfwer his Ends, the Devil, who always improves upon the Succefs of his own Experiments, refolv'd [from that time to lay a Foundation for the making thofe Divifions and Jealouiies of the Chrifti- an Princes immortal > whereas they were at
CL4 firft
232 The Modern HISTORY
firft only perfonal, and founded in private Quar rels between the Princes refpeftively ; fuch as Emulation of one another's Glory, Envy at the extraordinary Valour, or other Merit of this or: that Leader, or Revenge of fome little Affront -, for which notwithstanding, fo great was the Piety of Chrittian Princes inthofe Days, that they made no Scruple to facrifice whole Armies, yea, Nations, to their Piques and private Quarrels, a certain Sign whofc Management they were under.
Thefe being the Caufes by which the DEVIL firft fow'd the Seeds of Mifchief among them, and the Succefs fo well anfwering his Defign, he could not but wrfn to have the fame Advantage always ready at his Hand -y and therefore he refolv'd to order it fo, that thefe Divifions, which, how ever ufeful to him, were only perfonal, and con- fequently temporary, like an Annual in the Gar den, which muft be raised anew every Seafon, might for the future be national, and confequently dura ble and immortal.
To this end it was neceiTary to lay the Foundati on of eternal Feud, not in the Humours and Paf- iions of Men only, but in the Interefts of Nations : The Way to do this was to form and {late the Do minion of thofe Princes, by fuch a Plan drawn in Hell, and laid out from a Scheme truly political, of which the Devil was chief Engineer $ that the Divifions fhould always remain, being made a natural Confequence of the Situation of the Country, the Temper of their People, the Na ture of their Commerce, the Climate, the Man- ner of living, or fomething which ihould forever render it impoffible for them to unite.
This, I lay, was a Scheme truly infernal, in which the Devil was as certainly the principal Ope rator, to illuilrate great Things by fmall, as ever was of the High Dutch Rebellion,or
SU'
. 235
Sir John B / of the late Project, called the
South- Sea Stock. Nor did this Contrivance of the Devil at all difhonour his Author, or the Succefs appear unworthy of the Undertaker 3 for we fee it not only anfwer the End, and made the furk victorious at the fame Time, and formidable to Europe ever after, but it works to 'this Day, the Foundation of the Divifions remains in all the feveral Nations, and that to fuch a Degree that it is impoffible they fhould unite.
This is what I hinted before, in which the Devil was miftaken, and is another inftance that he knows nothing o'f what's is to come* for this very Foundation of immortal Jealoufy and Difcord between the feveral Nations of 'Spain, France, Germany, and others, which the Devil himfelf with fo much Policy contriv'd, and which ferv'd his Interefts fo long, is now the only Ob- flruction to his Defigns, and prevents the entire Ruin of the Reformation ; for tho' the reform 'd Countries are very Powerful, and fome of them, as Great Britain and Pruffia is particularly, more powerful than ever $ yet it cannot be faid that the Proteftant Interefts in general are flronger than formerly, or fo ftrong as they were in 162,3. under the victorious Arms of the Swede ; On the other Hand, were it pofTible that the Popifh Powers, to wit, of France, Spain, Germany, Ita ly and Poland, which are intirely Popilh, could heartily unite their Interefts, and fhould join their Powers to attack the Proteftants, the latter would find it very difficult, if not impofTible, to de fend themfelves.
But as fatal as fuch a Union of the Popifh Powers would be, and as ufeful as it would be to the Devil's Caufe at this time, not the Devil with all his Angels are able to bring it to pafs> no, with all his Craft and Cunning j he divided
them.
234 The Modern HISTORY
them, but he can't unite them 3 fo that evenjuft as 'tis with Men, fo 'tis with Devils, they may do in an Hour what they can't undo in an Age.
This may comfort thofe faint-hearted Chniti- ans among us, who cry out of the Danger of a religious War in Europe, and what terrible Things will happen when France, and Spain, and Ger many, and Italy, and Poland fhall all unite 3 let this Anfwer fatisfy them, The Devil himfelf can ne ver make France and Spain, or France and the Emperor unite 3 jarring Humours may be recon- cil'd, but jarring Interefts never can : They may unite fo as to make Peace, tbo* that can hardly be long, but never fo as to make Conquefis toge ther 3 they are too much afraid of one another, for one to bear, that any Addition of Strength fhould come to the other. But this is a Digreffion. We ihall find the Devil miftaken and difapointed too on feveral other Occafions, as we go along.
I return to Satan's Intereft in the feveral Go vernments and Nations, by verttie of his Invifi- bility, and which he carries on by Pofleffion 3 'tis by this Invifibility that he prefides in all the Councils of foreign Powers, (for we never mean our own, that we always premife 3) and what tho' it is alledged by the Criticks, that he does not prefide, becaufe there is always a Prefident 3 I lay, if he is not in the Prefident's Chair, yet if he be in the Prefident himfelf, the Difference is not much 3 and if he does not vote as a Coun- fellor, if he votes in the Counfellor, 'tis much the fame 3 and here, as it was in the Story of Jtbab the King of Ifrael, as he was a lying Spirit in the Mouths of all his Prophet s-y fo we find him a Spirit of fome particular evil Quality or other, in all the Tranfa&ions and Tranfadors on that Stage of Life we call the State.
Thus
tftke DEVIL. 235
Thus he was a diflembling Spirit in Char. IX. a turbulent Spirit in Char. V. Emperors > a bi- gotted Spirit of Fire and Faggot in our Queen Mary 5 an apoftate Spirit in Hen. IV. > a cruel Spirit in Peter of Caflik 5 a revengeful Spirit in Ferdinand II. 5 a Phaeton in Lewis XIV. > a &ir- dan&palus in C II.
In the Great Men of the World, take them a degree lower than the Clafs of Crown'd Heads, he has the fame fecret Influence; and hence it comes to pafs, that the greater! Heroes, and Men of the higheft Character for Atchievements of Glory, either by their Virtue or Valour, however they have been crowned with Victories, and elevated by human Tongues, whatever the mod confum- mate Virtues or good Qualities they have been known by, yet they have always had fome Devil or other in them to preferve Satan's Claim to them uninterrupted, and prevent their Efcape out of his Hands j thus we have been a bloody Devil in a D^Alva j a profligate Devil in a Bucking ham > a lying, artful, or politick Devil in a Ricb- lleu -y a treacherous Devil in a Mazarin ; a cruel, mercilefs Devil in a Cortez : a debauch'd Devil in an Eugene > a conjuring Devil in a Luxemburg j
and a covetous Devil in a M b : In a
word, tell me the Man, I tell you the Spirit that reign'd in him.
Nor does he thus carry on his fecret Manage ment by Pofleffion in Men of the firfl Magnitude only, but have you not had Evidences of it among our felves ? how has he been a lying Spirit in the Mouths of our Prophets, a fa&ious Spirit in the Heads of our Politicians, a profufe Devil in a
B s, a corrupt Devil in M , a proud
Spirit in my Lord Plaufible^ a bullying Spirit in
my Lord Bugbear^ a talkative Spirit in his Grace
the D — of Rattle-hall^ a fc^ibling Spirit in my
z Lord
236 The
Lord /if- , a run-away Spirit in my Lord
Frightful 3 and fo thro' a long Roll of Heroes, \vhofe exceeding, and particular Qualifications proclaim loudly what Handle the Devil took them by, and how raft he held them 3 for thefe were all Men of ancient Fame, I hope you know that.
From Men of Figure, we defcend to the Mob, and 'tis there the fame thing 3 Pofleflion, like the Plague, is Morbus Plebaei 3 not a Family but he is a Spirit of Strife and Contention among them 5 not a Man but he has a Part in him 3 he is a drunken Devil in one, a whoring Devil in ano ther, a thieving Devil in a third, a lying Devil in the fourth, and fo on, to a thoufand, and a hundred thoufand, ad mfinitum.
Nay, even the Ladies have their Share in the Pofleilion 3 and if they have not the Devil in their Heads, or in their Tails, in their Faces or their Tongues, it muft be fome poor defpicable She-devil that Satan did not think it worth his while to meddle with 3 and the Number of thofe that are below his Operation, I doubt is very fmall. But that Part I have much more to fay to in its Place.
From Degrees of Perfons, to Profeffions and Employments, 'tis the fame 3 we find the Devil is a true Poflure-mafter, he aflumes any Drefs, appears in any Shape, counterfeits every Voice, acts upon every Stage 3 here he wears a Gown, there a long Robe 3 here he wears the Jack- Boots, there the Small- Sword 3 is here an Enthujiaft^ there a Buffoon 3 on this Side he acts the Mounte- lank^ on that Side the Merry-Andrew 3 nothing comes amifs to him, from the Great Mogul^ to the Scaramouch 3 the Devil is in them, more or lefs, and plays his Game fo well that he makes fure Work with 'em all : He knows where the Common Foibkt lies, which is UNIVERSAL PAS SION,
SIGN, what Handle to take hold of every Man by, and how to cultivate his Intereft fo, as not to fail of his End, or mi Hake the Means.
How then can it be deny'd but that his acting thus in tenebris^ and keeping out of the fight of the World, is abundantly his Intereft, and that he could do nothing, comparatively (peaking, by any other Method ?
What would this publick Appearance have fig- nified ? Who would have entertain'd him in his
own proper Shape and Perfon ? Even B — B
himfelf, tho' all the World knows him to have a foolifh Devil m him, would not have been Fool enough to have taken him into his Service, if he had known him : And my Lord Simpleton alfo, who Satan has fet up for a cunning Fool, feems to have it fit much better upon him now he pafTes for a Fool of Art, than it ihould have done if the naked DEVIL had come and challenged him for a Fool in Nature.
Infinite Variety illuftrate the Devil's Reign among the Sons of Men > all which he manages with admirable Dexterity, and a Slight particular to himfelf, by the mere Advantage of his preient conceaFd Situation, and which, had he been ob liged to have appeared in Publick, had been all loft, and he capable of juft nothing at all, or at leaft of nothing more than the other ordinary Po liticians of Wickednefs could have done without him.
Now, Authors are much divided as to the man ner how the Devil manages his proper Inftru- ments for Mifchief j for Satan has a great many Agents in the Dark, who neither have the DEVIL in them, nor are they much acquainted with him, and yet he ferves himfelf of them, whether of their Folly, or of that other Frailty call'd Wit, 'tis all one, he makes them do his Work, when
they
23$ The Modern HISTORY
they think they are doing their own j nay, fo cunning is he in his guiding the weak Part of the World, that even when they think they are ferving God, they are doing nothing lefs or more than ferving the Devil; nay, 'tis fome of the niceft Part of his Operation, to make them be lieve they are ferving God, when they do his Work. Thus thofe who the Scripture foretold Should perfecute ChriuVs Church in the latter Days, were to think they do God good Service : Thus the Inquifition, (for Example,) it may be, at this time, in all the a£h of Chriftian Cruelty which they are fo famous for (if any of them are ignorant enough not to know that they are De* vils incarnate) they may, for ought we know, go on for God's fake 5 torture, murther, ftai;ve to Death, mangle and macerate, and all for God, and God's Catholic Church > and 'tis certainly the Devil's Matter-piece to bring Mankind to fuch a Perfection of Devilifm as that of the /«- quijition is > for // the Devil bad not been in them^ could they chriften fuch a Hell-fire Judicature as the Inquifition is, by the Name of the Holy Of fice ? And fo in Paganifm, how could fo many Nations among the poor Indians offer human Sa crifices to their Idols, and murther thoufands of Men, Women and Children, to appeale this God of the Air, when he is angry, if the Devil did not ac~b in them under the Vizor of Devotion ?
But we need not go to America ^ or to the In- quifition, not to Paganifm or to Popery Cither, to look for People that are facrificing to the Dc^il^ or that give their Peace-offerings to him, while they are offered upon God's Altar j are not our Churches (ay, and Mceting-houfes too, as much as they pretend to be more fancUfied than their Neighbours) full of Devil Worfhipers ? Where do his Devotees gratulate one another, and con gratulate
of the D EVIL. 239
gratulate him, more than at Church ? where, while they hold up their Hands, and turn up their Eyes towards Heaven, they make all their Vows to Satan, or at lead to the fair Devils his Repre- fentatives, which I fhall fpeak of in their Place, Do not the Sons of God make AfHgnations with the Daughters of Men in the very Houfe of Worfhip ? Do they not talk to them in the Language of the Eyes ? And what is at the Bot tom of it, while one Eye is upon the Prayer- book, and the other adjufting their Drefs ? Arc they not facrificing to F'enus and Mercury, nay, and the very Devil they drefs at ?
Let any Man impartially furvey the Church- Geftures, the Air, the Poitures and the Behavi our > let him keep an exact Roll, and if I do not fhew him two Devil Worfhipers for one true Saint, then the Word Saint muft have another Signification than I ever yet underftood it by.
The Church (as a Place) is the Receptacle of the Dead, as well as the AfTembly of the Living j what relates to thofe below, f doubt Satan, if he woukl be fo kind, could give a better Account of than I can j but as to the Superficies, I pre tend to fo much Penetration as to tell you, that there are more Speftres, more Apparitions always there, than you that know nothing of the matter may be aware of.
1 happen'd to be at an eminent Place of God's moft devout Worihip the other Day, with a Gen tleman of my Acquaintance, who, I obferved, minded very little the Bufinefs he ought to come about 5 firft I faw him always bufy ilaring about him and bowing this Way and that Way, nay, he made two or three bows and Scrapes when he was repeating the Refponfes to the Ten Command ments, and aflure you he made it correfpond ftrangely, fo that the Harmony was riot fo bro ken
240 The Modem HISTORY
ken in upon as you would expert it fhould j thus* Lord, and a Bow to a fine Lady juft come up to her Seat, have Mercy ' upon us-, — three Bows to a Throng of Ladies that came into the next Pew altogether, and- incline • • • then ftop'd to
make a great Scrape to my Lord 9our Hearts,
juft then the Hearts of all the Church were gone off from the Subject, for the Refponfe was over, fo he huddled up the reft in Whifpers, for God a Mighty could hear him well enough, he fatd, nay, as well as if he had fpoken as loud as his Neighbours did.
After we were come home, I ask'd him what he meant by all this, and what he thought of it ?
How could I help it, faid he^ I muft not be rude.
What, fays 7, rude to who ?
Why, fays he, there came in fo many Ihe De vils I could not help it.
What, faid 7, could not you help bowing when you were faying your Prayers ?
O Sir ! fays he^ tne Ladies would have thought I had flighted them, I could not avoid it.
Ladies ! faid 7, I thought you call'd them De vils juft now.
Ay, ay, Devils^ faid he, little charming Devils, but I muft not be rude to them however.
Very well, faid 7, then you would be rude to God a Mighty ', becatife you could not be rude to the Devil ?
Why that's true, faid he^ but what can we do? there's no going to Church as the Cafe (lands now, if we muft not worfliip the Devil a little be tween whiles.
This is the Cafe indeed, and Satan carries his Point on every Hand 5 for if the fair fpeaking World, and the fair looking World are general ly Devils^ that is to fay, are in his Management,
we
El L. £4I
we arc fure the foul fpeaking and the foul doing World are all on his Side, and you have then only the fair-doing Part of the World that are out of his Clafs, and when we fpeak of them, O how few f
But I return to the Devil's managing our wicked Part, for this he does with mod exquifiteSubtilty$ and this is one Part of it, (viz.)\ic thruih our Vi ces into our Virtues, by which he mixes the Clean and the Unclean, and thus by the Corruption or the one, poifons and debauches the other, fo that the Slave he governs cannot account for his own common A6tions, and is fain to be oblig'd to his Maker to accept of the Heart without the Hands and Feet ; to take, as we vulgarly exprefs it, the Will for the Deed^ and if Heaven was not fo good to come into that half in half Service, I don't fee but the Devil would carry away all his Servants : Here indeed I fhould enter into a long Detail of involuntary Wickednefs, which » in fhort, is neither more or lefs than the Devil in every Body, ay, in every one of you, (our Go vernors excepted) take it" as you pleafe.
What is our Language when we look back with Refleftion and Reproach on pail Follies ? I think I was bewitch' V/, I was/»o^/}V, certainly the Devil was in me^ or elfe I bad never been fuch a Sot : Devil in you, Sir ! Ay,,who doubts it > you may be fure the Devil was in you, and there he is ftill, and next Time he can catch you in the fame Snare, you'll bejuft the fame SOT that you fay you were before.
In fhort, the Devil is too cunning for us, and manages us his own Way j he governs the Vices of Men by his own Methods > tho' every Crime will not make a Man aZ)m7, yet it mutt be own ed that every Crime puts the Criminal in forms Meafure into the Devil's Power, gives him a Ti ll tic
242 The Modern HISTORY
tie to the Man, and he treats him magiftenally ever after.
Some tell us every {ingle Man, every indivi dual has a Devil attending him, to execute the Or ders of the (Grand Signior) Devil of the whole Clan> that this attending evil Angel ', for fo he is caird,fees every Step you take, is with you in every A6Hon, prompts you to every Mifchief, and leaves you to do everyThing that is pernicious to your felf -9 they alfo alledge that there is a good Spirit which attends him too, which latter is always accefTary to every Thing that we do that is good, and re- iu&ant to evil j If this is true, how comes it to pafs that thofe two oppodte Spirits do not quar rel about it when they are preffing us to contrary Actions, one good and the other evil ? and why does the evil tempting Spirit fo often prevail? Jnltead of answering this difficukQueftion, I {hall only tell you, as to this Story of good and evil Angels attending every particular Perfon, 'tis a good Allegory indeed to reprefent the Struggle in the Mind of Man- between good and evil Incli nations j but as to the reil, the beft Thing I can lay of it is, that I think *tis a Fib.
But ta take Things as they are, and only talk by way of natural Confequence, for to argue from Nature is certainly the beft Way to find out the Devil's Story > if there are good and evil Spirits attending us, that is to fay, a good Angel and a Dcvil^ then 'tis no unjuifc Reproach upon any Body to fay, when they follow the Dictates of the latter, "the Devil is in them > or they are Devils*, nay, I mud carry it farther ftill, namely, that as the Generality and greater!: Number of People do follow and obey the evil Spirit and not the good, and that the predominate Power is al- low'd to be the nominating Power j you mull then allow, that inihort, the greater Part of Man kind
of the DEVI L. 243
kind has the Devil in them,, and fo I come to my Text.
To this Purpofe give me leave to borrow a few Lines of a Friend on this very Part of the Devil's Management.
To Places and Perfons he (bits his Difguifes,
And drefles up all his Banditti, Who as Pickpockets flock to a Country Affixes,
Croud up to the Court and the City,
They're at every Elbow and every Ear,
And ready at every cal!5NSir$ The vigilant Scout plants his Agents about,
And has fomething to do with us all. Sir.
Jn fome he has Part, and in fome he's the Whole, And of fome (like the Vicar of Baddoiv)
It can neither be faid they have Body or Soul, But only are Devils in Shadow.
The Pretty and Witty, are Devils in Mafquc, The Beauties are meer Apparitions}
The homely alone by their Faces are known, And the Good by their ugly Conditions.
TheBeaus walk about like the Shadows of Men.
And wherever he leads 'em they follow, Buttak'em and fhak'em, there's not one in ten
But's as light as a Feather and hollow.
Thus all his Affairs he drives on in Difguife, And he tickles Mankind with a Feather :
Creeps in at our Ears, and looks out at our Eyes? And jumbles our Senfes together,
R 2 He
244 The Modern HISTORY
He raifesthe Vapours., and prompts the Defires,-
Andto ev'ry dark Deed holds the Candle j The Paffions enflames and the Appetite fires, And takes ev'ry Thing by the Handle.
Thus he walks up and down in compleat Maf- And with every Company mixes, (querade,
Sells in every Shop, works at every Trade,. And ev'ry Thing doubtful perplexes.
How Satan comes by this governing Influence in the Minds and upon the Actions of Men, is a Queftion I am not yet come to, nor indeed does it fo particularly belong to the Devil's Hiftory , it feems rather a Polemick, fo it may pafs at School among the Metaphyficks, and puzzle the Heads of our Mailers j wherefore I think to write to the learned Dr. B — about it, imploring his mofl fublime Haughtinefs, that when his other more momentons Avocations of Pedantry and Pedago- gifm will give him an Interval from Wrath and Contention, he will fet apart a Moment to con- fider human Nature Deviliz'd, and give us a Ma thematical Anatomical Defcription of it 5 with a Map of Satan's Kingdom in the Microcofm of Mankind, and fuch other Illuminations as to him and his Contemporaries - - and, - - &c. in their great Wifdom {hall feem meet.
CHAP,
of the DE VIL. 245
C H A P. V.
Of tie DevilV Management in the Hierarchy by Omens^ Entrails, Augurs? Oracles, andjuch like ^Pageantry of Hell j and how they went off the Stage at laft by the Introduction of true Religion.
I Have adjourn'd, not finiih'd, my Account of the Devil's fecret Management by Pojfcjfflon9 and fhall reaflume it, in its Place j but I mult take leave to mention fome other Parts of his retired Scheme, by which he has hitherto manag'd Man kind, and the firft of thele is by that Fraud of all Frauds call'd Oracle.
Here his Trumpet yielded an uncertain Sound for fome Ages, and like what he was, and accord ing to what he pra&ifed from the Beginning, hede- liver'd outFalfhood and Dclufion by Retale : The Priefts of Apollo acted this Farce for him to a great Nicety at Delptoos -, there were divers others at the fame Time, and fome, which to give the Devil his due, he had very little Hand in, as we ihall fee prefently.
There were alfo fome fmaller, fome greater, fome more, fome lefs famous Places where thofe Oracles were feated, and Audience given to the Enquirers, in all which the .2>w7,or fome Body for him, Per- mijfa Superlorumj for either vindictive or other hidden Ends and Purpofes, was allow'd to make at leaft a Pretenfion to the Knowledge of Things to come -y but, as publick Cheats generally do, they a6bed in Mafquerade, and gave fuch uncertain and inconfiftent Refponfes, that they were oblig'd
R 3 to
0
The Modern HISTORY
to ufe the utmoft Art to reconcile Events to the Prediction, even after things were come to pafs.
Here the Devil was a lying Spirit^ in a parti" cular and extraordinary manner, in the Mouths of all the Prophets 5 and yet he had the Cunning to exprefs himfelf fo, that whatever happen'd, the Oracle was fuppos'd to have meant as it fell out •, and fo all their Augurs, Omens and Voices, by which the Devil amus'd the World, not at that Time only, but fincc, have been likewife inter preted.
Julian the Apoftate dealt mightily in thefe A- mufements, but the Devil, who neither wifh'd his Fall, or prefag'd it to him, evidenc'd that he Icnew nothing of Julian's Fate 5 for that, as ho fent almoft to all the Oracles of the Eaft, and fummon'd all the Priefts together to inform him of the Succefs of his Perjian Expedition, they all, like Ahab's Prophets^ having a lying Spirit in them, encoijrag'd him and promis'd him Succefs.
Nay, all the ill Omens which difturb'd him, they prefag'd good from > for Example^ he was at a prodigious Expence when he was at Antloch to buy up white Beads, and white Fowls, for Sa crifices, and for predicting from the Entrails 5 from whence the Antiocbians^ in contempt, call'd him Vtftlmarim\ but whenever the Entrails fore boded Evil, the cunning Devil made the Priefts put a different Conflruftion upon them, and pro- iiiife him Good : When he entred into the Temple of the Genij to offer Sacrifice, one of the Priefts dropt clown dead > this, had it had any Signification more than a Man falling dead jof an Apoplectic, would have fignified fbmething fatal to Julian^ who made himfelf a Brother Sa- crill or Prieft -, whereas the Priefts turn'd it pre- fently to fignify the Death of his Colleague, the Confu! Salluftt which happened juft at the fame
Time,
of the DEVIL. 247
Time, tho' eight hundred Miles off 5 fo in ano ther Cafe, Julian thought it ominous that he, who was AttguftiiS) fhould be nam'd with two other Names of Perfons, both already dead 5 the Cafe was thus, the Stile of the Emperor was Juli- anus Fceltx Auguftus, and two of his principal Of ficers were Juli&nus and Foelix -, now both Julianut and Foelix died within a few Days of one another, which diflurb'd Him much, who was the third of the three Names > but his flattering Devil told him it all imported Good to him (w'z.) that tho' Julianus and F&Jix fhould die, Auguftus fhould be immortal.
Thus whatever happened, and whatever was foretold, and how much foever they differ'd from one another, the lying Spirit was fure to recon cile the Prediction and the Event ^ and make them at leaft feem to correfpond in Favour of the Per- foil enquiring.
Now we are told Oracles are ceafed, and the Devil is farther limited for the Good of Mankind, not being allow'd to vent his Delufions by the Mouths of the Priefts and Augurs, as formerly : 1 will not take upon me to fay how far they are really ceas'd, more than they were before ; I think 'tis much more reafonable to believe there was never any Reality in them at all, or that any Ora cle ever gave out any Anfwers but what were the Invention of the Priefts and the Delations of the .DEVIL ; I have a great many antient Authors on sny Side in this Opinion, as Eufebius^ fertulliani Ariftotk) and others, who as they liv'd fo near the Pagan Times, and when even fomeof thofe Rites were yet in Ufe, they had much more Reafon to know, and could probably pafs a better Judgment upon them ; nay Cicero himfelf ridicules them in the openeft manner 5 again, other Authors de- fcend to Particular and fhew how the Cheat was
R 4 manag'd
The Modern HISTORY
manag'd by the Heathen Sacrifts and Priefts, and in what enthuflaftic manner they fpoke ; namely, by going into the hollow Images, iuch as the bra zen Bull and the Image of dpollo , and how fub- tilly they gave out duhious and ambiguous Anfwers $ that when the People did not find their Expecta tions anfwer'd by the Event, they might be im- pofed upon by the Priefts, and confidently told they did not rightly underftand the Oracle's Meaning : However, I cannot fay but that indeed there are fome Authors of good Credit too, who will have it that there was a real prophetic Spi rit in the Voice or Anfwers given by the Ora cles, and that oftentimes they were miraculouf- Jy exact in thofe Anfwers $ and they give that of the Delphic Oracle anfwering the Queftion which was given about Crosfus for an Example, viz. what Croefus was doing at that time ? to w/>, that he was boiling a Lamb and the Flefli of a Tor- toife together, in a brafs VefTel, or Boiler, with a Cover of the fame Metal > that is to fay, in a Kettle with a brafs Cover.
To affirm therefore, that they were all Cheats, a Man muft encounter with Antiquity, and fet his private Judgment up againft an eftablifh'd O- pinion 5 but 'tis no matter for that j if I do not fee any thing in that received Opinion capable of E~ vidence, much Jefs of Demonftration, I mufl be allow'd flill to think as I do > others may believe as they lift j I fee nothing hard or difficult in the Thing j the Priefts, who were always hifto- rically inforrn'd of the Circumftances of the En quirer, or at leaft fomething about them, might cidly find fome ambiguous Speech to make, and put fome double Entendre upon them, which upon the Event folv'd the Credit of the Oracle3 were it one way or other ; and this they certainly did, or we have room to think the DEVIL knows
lefs
of the D E V I L.
kjs of Things now than he did in former Days.
Ic is true that by thefe Delations the Priefh got infinite Sums of Money, and this makes it itill probable that they would labour hard, and ufe the utmofl of their Skill to uphold the Cre dit of their Oracles > and 'tis a full Difcovery, as well of the Subtlety of the Sacrifts, as of the Ig norance and Stupidity of the People, in thole early Days of Satan's Witchcraft 5 to fee what merry Work the Devil made with the World, and what grofs Things he put upon Mankind : Such was the Story of the Dordonian Oracle in Epirus, viz. That two Pigeons flew out of Thebes (N. E. it was the Egyptian Thebes) from the Temple of Belus^ ere&ed there by the an- tient Sacrilts, and that one of thefe fled Eail- ward into Lybia^ and the Defarts of Africk^ and the other into Greece^ namely, to Dordona, and thefe communicated the divine Myfteries to one another, and afterwards gave myitical Solutions to the devout Enquirers j firil the Dordonian Pi-
fson perching upon an Oak fpoke audibly to the eople there, that the Gods commanded them to build an Oracle, or Temple, to Jupiter^ in that Place > which was accordingly done : The other Pigeon did the like on the Hill in Africa^ where it commanded them to build another to 'Jupiter Ammon^ or Hammon.
Wife Cicero contemned all this, and, as Authors tell us, ridiculed the Anfwer, which, as I have hinted above, the Oracle gave to Crcefus^ prov ing that the Oracle it felf was a Liar, that it could not come from Apollo^ for that Apollo ne ver fpoke Latin: In a Word, Cicero reje&ed them all, and Demofthenes alfo mentions the Cheats of the Oracles j when fpeaking of the Oracle of A- j he faid, Pithin Philippiz'd; that is, that
when
250 The Modern HISTORY
\vhen the Priefts were brib'd with Money, they always gave their Anfwers in favour of Philip of Macedon.
But that which is moft ftrange to me is, that in this Difpute about the Reality of Oracles, the Heathen who made ufe of them are the People who expofe them, and who infift moil pofitively upon their being Cheats and Impoftors, as in par ticular thofe mentioned above -, while the Chri- tians who reje6t them, yet believe they did re ally foret el Things, anfwer Queftions, &c. on ly with this Difference, that the Heathen Authors who oppofe them, infill that 'tis all Delufion and Cheat, and charge it upon the Priefts ; and the Chriitian Oppofers infift that it was real, but that the Devi^ not the Gods, gave the Anfwers > and that he was permitted to do it by a fuperiorPow* £'*, to magnify that Power in the total filcncing them at laft.
But, as I (aid before, I am with the Heathen here, againft the Chriftian Writers, for I take it all to be a Cheat and Delufion : I mud give my Reafon for it, or I do nothing; my Reafon is this, I infifl Satan is as blind in Matters of Fu turity, as we are, and can tell nothing of what is to come 5 thefe Oracles often pretending to pre- di6r, could be nothing elfe therefore but a Cheat fbrm'd by the Money-getting Priefts to amufe the World, and bring Grift to their Mill : If I meet with any thing in my Way to open my Eyes to a better Opinion of them, I {hall tell it you as I go on.
On the other hand, whether the Devil really fpake in thofe Oracles, or fet the cunning Priefts to fpeak for him > whether they predicted, or only made the People believe they predicted; whether they gave Anfwers which came to pafs, or prevailed upon the People to believe that
what
of the DEVIL; 251
was faid did come to pafs, it was much at one, and fully anfwer'd the Devil's End $ namely, to amufe and delude the World ; and as to do, or to caufe to be done, is the fame Part of Speech, fo whoever did it, the Devil's Intereft was carried on by it, his Government preferv'd, and all the Mifchief he could defire was effectually brought to pafs, fo that every way they were the Devil's Oracles, that's out of the Queftion.
Indeed I have wonder'd iometimes why, fince by this Sorcery the Devil performed fuch Won ders, that is, play'd fo many Tricks in the World, and had fuch univerfal Succefs, he fhould fet up no more of them j but there might be a great ma ny Reafons given for that, too long to tire you with at prefent : "Tis true, there were not many of them, and yet confidering what a great deal of Bufinefs they difpatch'd, it was enough, for fix or eight Oracles were more than fufficient to a- mufe all the World : The chief Oracles we meet with in Hiftory are among the Greeks and the JR0- ynanS) viz.
That of Jupiter Ammon, in Lylia^ as above.
The Dordonian^ in Epirus.
Apollo Delphicus, in the Country of Phocis
in Greece.
Apollo ClavtuS) in Afia Minor. Serapis, in Alexandria in Egypt, tfrophomisi in Bteotia. Sybitta Cumaea^ in Italy. Diana^ at Ephefus. Apollo Daphneus^ at Antioch. Befides many of lefler Note, in feveral other Places, as I have hinted before.
I have nothing to do here with the Story, men tioned by Plutarch, of a Voice being heard at
252 The Modern HISTORY
Sea, fromfome of the Iflands calPd and calling upon one Thamuz^ an Egyytian^ who was on board a Ship, bidding him, when he came to the Pakde^ other Jflands in the Ionian Seas, tell them there that the great God PAN was dead 5 and when Thamuz perform'd it, great Groanings, and Howlings, and Lamentation were heard from the Shore.
This Tale tells but indifferently, tho' indeed it looks more like a Chriftian Fable ^ than a Pa gan 5 becaufe it feems as if made to honour the Chriftian Worfhip, and blaft all the Pagan Ido latry ; and for that Reafon I reje6t it, the Chri ftian Profeflion needing no fuch fabulous Stuff to confirm it.
Nor is it true in fa£t, tnat tne Oracles did ceafe immediately upon the Death of Chrift^ but, as I noted before, the Sum of the Matter is this 5 the Chriftian Religion fpreading it felf univerfally, as well as miraculouily, and that too by the Foolijhnefs of Preaching^ into all Parts of the World, the Oracles ceas'd 5 that is to fay, their Trade ceas'd, their Rogueries were daily detected, the deluded People being better taught, came no more after them, and being afham'd, as veil as difcourag'd, they fneak'd out of the World as well as they could j in ihort the Cu- ftomers fell off, and the Priefts, who were the Shopkeepers, having no Buflnefs to do, fhut up their Shops, broke, and went away j the Trade and the Tradefmen were hifs'd off the Stage toge ther j fo that theZ)^/, who, it mult be confefs'd, got infinitely by the Cheat, became bankrupt, and was oblig'd to fet other Engines at work, as other Cheats and Deceivers do, who when one Trick grows ftale, and will ferve no longer, arc fqrc'd to try another.
Nor
of the D EVIL: 253
Nor was the Devil to feek in new Meafures j for tho' he could not give out his delufive Trail* as he did before, in Pomp and State, with the Solemnity of a Temple and a Set of Enthufiafts call'd Priefls, who plaid a thoufand Tricks to amufe the World, he then had Recourfe to his old Egyptian Method, which indeed was more antient than that of Oracles j and that was by Ma gic, Sorcery, Familiars, Witchcraft, and the like.
Of this we find the people of the South, that is, of Arabia, and Chaldea were the firft, from whence we are told of the Wife Men, that is to fay, Magicians, were call'd Chaldeans and South* fayers. Hence alfo we find Ahaziah the King of Jfrael fent to Eaalzebub the God of Ekron, to enquire whether he fhould live or die ? This fome think was a kind of an Oracle, tho' others think it was only fome over-grown Magician, who counterfeited himfelf to be a Devil, and obtain'd upon that Idol-hunting Age to make a Cunning Man of him $ and for that Purpofe he got him felf made a Prieft of Baalzebub, the God of Ekron, and gave out Anfwers in his Name. Thus thofe merry Fellows in Egypt, Jannes and Jambres, are faid to mimick Mofes and Aaron, when they work'd the miraculous Plagues upon the Egyptians ; and we have fome Inftances in Scripture that fupport this, fuch as the Witch of Endor, the King ManaJJes, who dealt with the Devil openly, and had a Familiar ; the Woman mentioned dfts xvi. who had a Spirit of Divi- nation^ and who got Money by playing the Ora cle 5 that is, anfwering doubtful Queftions, &c. which Spirit, or Devil, the Apoftles caft out.
Now tho' it is true that the old Women in the World have filPd us with Tales, fome improba ble, others impoffible ; fome weak, fome ridicu lous, and that this puts a general Discredit upon all
the
154 The Modern M I S f O R Y
the graver Macrons, who entertain us with StcM ries better put together , yet 'tis certain, and I muft be allow'd to affirm, that the Devil does not difdain to take into his Service many Troops of good Old JVomen^ and Old Women- Men too5 who he finds 'tis for his Service to keep in conftant Pay > to thefe he is found frequently to com municate his Mind, and oftentimes we find them fuch Proficients, that they know much more than the Devil can teach them.
How far our antient Friend Merlin^ or the
frave Matron his (Satan's) moil trufty and weli- eloved Coufin and Counfellor, Mother Shipton^ were commiffioned by him to give one their pro phetic Oracles, and what degree of Pofleflion he may have arrived to in them upon their Midnight Excurfions, I will not undertake to prove ;. but that he might be acquainted with them both, as well as with feveral of our modern Gentlemen, I will not deny neither.
I confefs it is not very incongruous with the Devil's Temper, or with the Nature of his Bufinefs, to fhift hands > poflibly he found that he had tried the World with Oracular Cheats > that Men began to, be forfeited with them, and grew fick of the Frauds which were fo fre quently detefted $ that it was time to take new Meafures, and contrive fome new Trick to Bite the World, that he might not be expos'd to Con tempt > or perhaps he fa\v the Approach of new Light, which the Chriilian Do&rine bringing with it began to fpread in the Minds of Men j that it would out-fhine the dim burning ignis fatuuS) with which he had fo long cheated Man kind, and was afraid to ftand it, left he fhould be mobb'd oft the Stage by his own People, when their Eyes fhould begin to open : That upon this foot he might in Policy withdraw from tbofe old i Retreats
of the DEVIL: 255
Retreats the Oracles, and reftrain thofe Refponfes before they loft all their Credit ; for we find the People (eem'd to be at a mighty Lofs for fome time, for want of them, fo that it made them run up and down to Conjurers, and Man-Gojfips^ to brazen Heads, fpeaking Calves, and innume rable fimple Th ngs, fo grofs that they are fcarce fit to be named, to fktisfy the Itch of having their Fortunes told them, as we call it.
Now as the DEVIL is very feldom blind to his own Intereft, and therefore thought fit to quit his old way of impofing upon the World by his Oracles, only becaufe he found the World began to be too wife to be impofed upon that way 5 fo on the other hand, finding there was 11 ill a Pof- fibilicy to delude the World, tho' by other In- ftruments, he no fooner laid down his Oracles, and the folemn Pageantry, magnificent Appear ances, and other Frauds of his Priefts and Vota ries, in their Temples and Shrines 5 but he fet up a new Trade, and having, as I have faid, Agents and Inftruments fufficient for any Bufinefs that he could have to employ them in, he begins in Cor ners, as the learned and merry Dr. Brown fays, and exercifes his minor Trumperies by way of his own contriving, lifting a great Number of new-found Operators, fuch as Witches, Magi cians, Diviners, Figure-caftcrs, Aflrologers, and fuch inferior Seducers.
Now it is true, as that Doctor fays, this was running into Corners, as if he had been expell'd his more triumphant way of giving Audience in Form, which for fo many Ages had been allow'd him > yet I muft add, that as it feem'd to be the DEVIL'S own doing, from a right Judgment of his Affairs, which had taken a new Turn in the World, upon the ihining of new Lights from the Chriftian Doctrine, fo it muft be acknow ledged
The Modern HISTORY
*edged the Devil made himfelf amends upon Man kind, by the various Methods he took, and the Multitude of Inftruments he employ'd^ and per haps deluded Mankind in a more fatal and fenfi- ble manner than he did before, tho' not fo uni- verfally.
He had indeed before more Pomp and Figure put upon it, and he cheated Mankind then in a Way of Magnifience and Splendor 5 but this was not in above eight or ten principal Places, and not fifty Places in all, public or private j whereas now fifty thoufand of his Angels and Inilruments, vifible and invifible, hardly may be faid to fuffice for one Town or City j but in ihort, as his invi fible Agents fill the Air, and are at hand for Mif- chief on every Emergence, fo his vifible Fools iwartn in every Village, and you have fcarce a Hamlet or a Town but his EmifTaries are at Hand for Bufinefs > and which is flill worfe, in all Pla ces he finds Bufinefs, nay even where Religion is planted and feems to flouriflij yet he keeps his Ground and pufhes his Intereft according to what has been faid elfewhere] upon the fame Subject, that wherever Religion plants, the Devil plants clofe by it.
Nor, as I fay, does he fail of Succefs, Delufion fpreads like a Plague, and the Devil is fure of Vo taries y like a true Mountebank, he can always bring a Croud about his Stage, and that fome Times falter than other People.
What I obferve upon this Subject is this, that the World is at a ftrange Lofs for want of the Devil ; if it was not fo, what's the Reafbn, that upon the filencing the Oracles, and Religion tell ing them that Miracles are ceas'd, and that God has done fpeaking by Prophets, they never enquire whether Heaven has eftablinYd any other or new Way of Revelation, but away they ran with
their
of the DEVIL. 257
their Doubts and Difficulties to thefe Dreamers of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes, and perfonal Oracles to be refolv'd 5 as if when they acknow ledge the Devil is dumb, thefe could fpeak $ and as if the wicked Spirit could do more than the Good, the Diabolical more than the Divine^ or that Heaven having taken away the DEVI L'S Voice, had furnifh'd him with an Equivalent, by allowing Scolds, Termagants, and old weak and fuperannuated Wretches to fpeak for him j for thefe are the People we go to now in our Doubts and Emergencies.
While this Blindnefs continues among us, 'tis Nonfenfe to fay that Oracles are filenced, or the Devil is dumb, for the Devil gives Audience It-ill by his Deputies 5 only as Jeroboam made Priefls of the meaner! of the People, fo he is grown a little humble, and makes life of meaner Inftru- ments than he did before j for whereas the Priefts of Apollo, and of Jupiter^ were fplendid in their Appearance, of grave and venerable Afpec~b, and fometimes of no mean Quality 5 now he makes ufe of Scoundrels and Rabble, Beggars and Va gabonds, old Hags, fuperannuated miferable Her mits, Gypfies and -Strollers, the Pictures of Envy and ill Luck.
Either the Devil is grown an ill Matter, and gives but mean Wages, that he can get no better Servants 5 or elfe Common Senfe is grown very low prized and contemptible 5 that fuch as thefe are fit Tools to continue the SuccefHon of Fraud, and carry on the Devifs Inter-eft in the World > for were not the Paffions and Temper of Man kind deeply pre-engaged in favour of this dark Prince, we could never fuffer our felves to accept of his Favours by the Hands of fuch contempt!-* ble Agents as thefe ! How do we receive his O- racles from an old Witch of particular Eminence, S and
2j 8 The Modern HISTORY
and who we believe to be more than ordinarily infpir'd from Hell > I (ay, we receive the Oracle with Reverence ; that is to fay, with a kind of Horror, with regard to the Black Prince it comes from, and at the fame time turn our Faces away from the Wretch that mumbles out the Anfwcrs, left fhe fhould caft an Evil Eye^ as we call it, upon us, and put a Devil into us when fhe plays the Devil before us? How do we liften to the Cant of thofe worft of Vagabonds the Gypfies^ when at the fame time we watch our Hedges and Hen-roofts for fear of their thieving ?
Either the DEVIL ufes us more like Fools than he did our Anceftors, or we really are worfc Fools than thofe Ages produced, for they were never deluded by fuch low-priz'd Devils as we are 5 by fuch defpicable Bridewell DEVILS, that are fitter for a Whipping-poft than an Altar, and inftead of being received as the Voice of an Ora cle, fhould be fent to the Houfe of Corre&ion for Pick-pockets.
Nor is this accidental, and here and there one of thefe Wretches to be feen, but infhort, if it has been in other Nations as it is with us, I do not fee that the DEVIL was able to get any better People into his Pay, or at leaft very rarely : Where have we fecn any thing above a Tinker turn Wizard ? and where have we had a Witch of Quality a-
mong us, Mother Je gs excepted ? and if
fhe had not been more of fomething elfe than a Witch, 'twas thought fhe had never got fo much Money by her Profeffion.
Magicians, Southfayers, Devil-raifers, and fuch People, we have heard much of, but feldom a- bove the Degree of the meaneft of the mean People, the loweft of the loweft Rank : Indeed the Word Wife Men^ which the Devil wou'd fain have had his Agents honour'd with, was % ufed
of the DEVI L. 259
tifed a while in Egypt ^ and in Perfia, among the Chaldeans^ but it continued but a little while, and never reach'd fo far Northward as our Coun try > nor, however the Devil has managed it, have many of our great Men, who have been moft acquainted with him, ever been able to ac quire the Title of Wife Men.
I have heard that in older Times, I fuppofe in good Queen Befs\ Days, or beyond, (for little is to be faid here for any thing on this Side of her time) there were fome Couritellors and Statefmen who merited the Character of •&•?/?, in the beft Senfej that is to fay, good^ and ivife^ as they fland in Conjunction > but as to what has hap- pen'd (ince that, or, as we may call it, from that Queen's Funeral to the late Revolution, I have little to fay -, but I'll tell you what honeft An drew Marvel faid of thofe Times, and by that you may, if you pleafe, make your Calculation or let it alone, 'tis all one.
" To fee a white 'Staff-maker, a Beggar, a Lord, " And fcarce a wife Man at a long Council-Board.
But I may be told this relates to wife Men in another Conftitution, or wife Men as they are oppofcd to Fools 5 whereas we are talking of them now under another Clafs, namely, as Wifemen or Magicians, South-fayers, &c. fuch as were in former Times call'd by that Name.
But to this I anfwer, that take them in which Senfe you pleafe, it may be the fame 5 for if I were to ask the Devil the Character of the beft States-man he had employ'd among us for many Years paft, I am apt to think that tho' Oracles are ceafed, he would honeftly, according to the old ambiguous Way, when I ask'd if they were Chriftians, anfwer they were (his) Privy-Coun- filhrs. S z It
*
It is but a little while ago, that I happened (in Converfation) to meet with a long Lift of the Magi- ilrates of that Age, in a neighbouring Country) that is to fay, the Men of Fame among them j and it was a very diverting Thing to fee the Judgment which was pafs'd upon them among a great deal of good Company j it is not for me to tell you how many white Staves, Golden Keys, Marefhals Ba- toons. Cordons Blue5 Gordon Rouge and Gordon Blanc, there were among them, or by what Ti tles, as Dukes, Counts, Marquis, Abbor, Bi(hop, or Juflice they were to be diitinguifh'd ; but the marginal Notes I found upon moft of them were ( being mark'd with an Afterifm) as follows.
Such a Duke, fuch eminent Offices added to his Titles ( * in the Margin) No Saint.
Such an Arch with the Title of Noble
added, • • No Archangel.
Such an eminent Statefman and prime Minifter, No Witch.
Such a Ribbon with a Set of great Letters added, No Conjurer.
It prefently occurred to me that tho' Oracles were ceafed, and we had now no more double Entendre in fuch a Degree as before, yet that am biguous Anfwers were not at an End > and that whether thofe Negatives were meant fo by the Writers, or not, 'twas certain Cuftom led the Readers to conclude them to be Satyrs, that they were to be rung backwards like the Bells when the Town's on fire > tho' in fhort, I durft not read them backward any where, but as fpcaking of foreign People, for fear of railing the Devil I am talking of.
But to return to the Subject 5 to fuch mean Things is the DEVIL now reduc'd in his ordina ry Way of carrying on hisBufinefs in the World, that his Oracles are delivered now by the Bellmen
and
of the DEVIL. 261
and the Chimney-Sweepers, by the meaneft of thofe that fpeak in the Dark, and if he operates by them, you may expe6t it accordingly j his Agents fecm to me as if the DEVIL had fingl'd them out by their Deformity, or that there was fomething particular requir'd in their Afpect ta qualify them for their Employment ; whence it is become proverbial, when our Looks are very dif- mal and frightful, to fay, I look like a Witch, or in other Cafes to fay, as ugly as a Witch 5 in ano ther Cafe to look as envious as a Witch j now whether there is any Thing particularly requir'd in the Looks of the DEVIL'S modern Agents, which is affirting in theDifcharge of their Offices, and which make their Anfwers appear more fo- lemn, this the Devil has not yet reveaPd, at leaft not to me > and therefore why it is that he fingles out fuch Creatures as are fit only to fright the People that come to them with their Enquiries, I do not take upon me to determine.
Perhaps it is necefTary they fhould be thus ex traordinary in their Afpect, that they might ftrike an Awe into the Minds of their Votaries, as if they were Satan's true and real Reprefentatives j and that the faid Votaries may think when they fpeak to the Witches they are really talking to the Devil', or perhaps 'tis neceflary to the Witches themfelves, that they fhould be fo ex- quifitely ugly, that they might not be fiu'priz'd at whatever Figure the Devil makes when he firft appears to them, being certain they can fee no thing uglier than themfelves.
Some are of the Opinion that the Communica tion with the Devil, or between the Devil and thofe Creatures his Agents, has fomething af- fimulating in it, and that if they were tolerable before, they are, ipfo fattoy turn'd into DEVILS by talking with him > I will not fey but that a S j Tremor
262 The Modern HISTORY
Tremor in the Limbs, a Horror in the AfpecT:, and a furpnzing Stare in the Eyes may feize. upon ibme of them when they really fee the DEVIL, and that the frequent Repetition may make thofe Diitortions, which we io conftantly fee in their Faces becomes natural to them j by which if it does not continue always upon the Countenance, they can at lead, like the Pofture-Mafters^ can: themfelvcs into fuch Figures and frightful Dif- locations of the Lines and Features in their Faces, and fo afiiime a Devil's Face fui table to the Occa- fion, or as may fervc the t urn for which they take it up, and as often as they have any ufe for it.
But be it which of thefe the Enquirer pieafcs, 'tis all one to the Cafe in Hand > this is certain, that fuch deform 'd Devil-like Creatures, moil of thofe we call Hags and Witches^ are in their Shapes and Afpecfo, and that they give out their Senten ces and frightful Meflages with an Air of Re venge for fome Injury received > for Witches are fam'd chiefly for doing Mifchief.
It feems the Devil has always pick'd out the mofl ugly and frightful old Women to do his Bufinefs 3 Mother Shift on^ our famous Euglifa Witch or Prophetels, is very much wrong'd in her Picture, if fhc was not of the moil terrible Afpecl: imaginable ; and if it be true that Merlin^ the famous Welch For tune- Teller, was a fright ful Figure, it will feem the more rational to be lieve, if we credit another Story, (viz.) that he was begotten by the Devil himfelf, of which I fhall fpeak by it felf : But to go back to the De vil's Inftruments being fo uglyj it may be ob- ferved, I fay, that the Devil has always dealt in fuch fort of Cattle ; the Sybils^ of whom fo many ftrange prophetic Things are recorded, whether true or no is not to the Queftion, are (if the Ita lian Painters may have any Credit given them)
all
of the DEVIL. 263
all reprefented as very old Women j and as if Ug- linefs were a Beauty to old Age, they feem to paint them out as ugly and frightful as (not they, the Painters) but even as the Devil himfelf could make them 5 not that I believe there are any ori ginal Pictures of them really extant > but it is not unlikely that the Italians might have fome tradi tional Knowledge of them, or fome remaining Notions of them, or particularly that antient Sy bil named jfms, who fold the fatal Book to far- quin -y 'tis (aid of her that Taiquin fuppofed fhe doated with Age.
I had Thoughts indeed here to have entred into a learned Difquifition of the Excellency of old Women in all diabolical Operations, and parti cularly of the Neceffity of having recourie to them for Satans more exquifite Administration, which alfo may ferve to folve the great Difficulty in the natural Philofophy of Hell $ namely, why it comes to pafs that the Devil is obliged for want of old Women, properly fo call'd, to turn fo many antient Fathers, grave Counfellors both of Law and State, and efpecially Civilians or Doc tors of the Law into old Women, and how the extraordinary Operation is perform 'd 5 but this, as a Thing of great Confequence in Satan's Manage ment of humane Affairs, and particularly as it may lead us into the neceflary Hi f lory, as well as Cha racters of fome of the moil eminent of thefe Sects among us, I have purpofely referv'd for a Work by it felf, to be publifti'd, if Satan hinders not^ in fifteen Volumes in Folio, wherein I fhall in the firft Place define in the moft exact Manner pof- fible, what is to be understood by a Male old 'Woman^ of what heterogeneous Kind they are produced, give you the monftrous Anatomy of the Parts, and efpecially thofe of the Head, which being fill'd with innumerable Globules of a fub-
S 4 lime
264. The Modem HISTORY
lime Nature, and which being of a fine Contexture •without, but particularly hollow in the Cavity, de fines molt philofophically that antient paradoxi cal Saying, (viz.) being full of Emptinefs, and makes it very confident with Nature and com mon Senfe.
I fhall likewife fpend fome Time, and it muftbe 'Labour too, I affure you^ 'when 'tis done^ in deter mining whether this new Species of Wonderfuls are not deriv'd from that famous old Woman Mer- //'», which I prove to be very reafonable for us to fuppofe, becaufe of the many feveral judicious Authors, who affirm the faid Merlin^ as I hinted before, to have been begotten by the Devil.
As to the deriving his Gift of Prophefy from the Devil, by that pretended Generation, I ihall omit that Part, becaufe, as I have all along infif- ted upon it, that Satan himfelf has no prophe tic or predicting Powers of his own, it is not very clear to me that he could convey it to his Pofterity, nil dat quod not habet.
However, in deriving this fo much magnified Prophet in a right Line [from the Devil^ much may be faid in favour of his ugly Face, in which it was faid he was very remarkable, for it is no, new Thing for a Child to belike the Father j but all thefe weighty Things I adjourn for the pre- fent, and proceed to the Affair in Hand, namely, the feveral Branches of the Devil's Management fince his quitting his Temples and Oracles.
CHAP.
if the D E V I
CHAP. VI.
Of the extraordinary Appearance of the Devil, and particularly of the Cloven- Foot.
SOme People would fain have us treat this Tale of the DeviFs appearing with a Cloven- Foot with more Solemnity than I believe the Devil himfelf does 5 for Satan, who knows how much of a Cheat it is, mull certainly ridicule it, in his own Thoughts, to the laft Degree 5 but as he is glad of any Way to hoodwink the Under- ftandings, and bubble the weak Part of the World j fo if he fees Men willing to take every Scarecrow for a Devil, it is not his Bufinefs to undeceive them j on the other Hand, he finds it his In- terefl to fofter the Cheat, and ferve himfelf of the Confequence : Nor could I doubt but the De vil, if any Mirth be allow'd him, often laughs at the many frightful Shapes and Figures we drefs him up in, and efpecially to fee how willing we are firfl to paint him as black, and make him ap pear as ugly as we can, and then flare and flart at the Spectrum of our own making.
The Truth is, that among all the Horribles that we drefs up Satan in, I cannot but think we fhew the lead of Invention in this of a Goat, or a Thing with a Goat's Foot, of all the reft} for tho' a Goat is a Creature made life of by our Saviour in the Allegory of the Day of Judg ment, and is faid there to reprefent the wicked reje&ed Party, yet it feems to be only on Account of their Similitude to the Sheep, and fo to repre fent the juft Fate of Hypocrily and Hypocrites, and in particular to form the neceflary Antithc-»
fis
266 The Modern HISTORY
fis in the Story j for elfe, our whimjical Fancies ex- cepted, a Sheep or a Lamb has a Cloven-Foot as well as a Goat ; nay, if the Scripture be of any Value in the Cafe, 'tis to the Devil's Advantage, for the dividing the Hoof was the diftinguifhing Character or Mark of a clean Beaft, and how the Devil can be brought into that Number is pretty hard to fay.
One would have thought if we had intended to have given a juft Figure of the Devil, it would have been more appofite to have rank'd him a- mong the Cat-kind, and given him a Foot (if he is to be known by his Foot) like a Lion, or like a red Dragon, being the fame Creatures which he is reprefented by in the Text, and fo his Claws would have had fome Terror in them as well as his Teeth.
But neither is the Goat a true Reprefentative of the Devil at all, for we do not rank the Goats among the fubtle or cunning Part of the Brutes ; he is counted a fierce Creature indeed of his Kind, tho' nothing likethofe otherabovemention'd 5 and he is emblematically ufed to reprefent a luftful Temper, but even that Part does not fully ferve to defcribe the Devil, whofe Operation lies prin cipally another Way.
Befides it is not the Goat himfelf that is made ufe of, 'tis the Cloven-Hoof only, and that fo particularly, that the Cloven Foot of a Ram or a Swine, or any other Creature, may ferve as well as that of a Goat, only that Hiltory gives us fome Caufe to call it the Goat's Foot.
In the next Place 'tis understood by us not as a bare Token to know Satan by, but as if it were a Brand upon him, and that like the Mark God put upon Cain,it was given him fora Punifhment, fo that he cannot get leave to appear without it, nay cannot conceal it whatever other Drefs or
Difc
of the DEVIL; 267
Difguife he may put on ; and as if it was to make him as ridiculous as poffible, they will have it be, that whenever Satan has Occafion to drefs him- felf in any humane Shape, be it of what Degree foever, from the King to the Beggar, be it of a fine Lady or of an oldlVoman^ (the Latter it feems he oftencft arTumes) yet ftill he not only muft have this Cloven-Foot about him, but he is oblig'd to {hew it too j nay, they will not allow him any Drefs, whether it be a Prince's Robes, a Lord Cha--- r's Gown, or a Lady's Hoop and long Petticoats, but the Cloven-Foot mufl be fhew'd from under them > they will not fo much as allow him an artificial Shoe or a Jack-Boot^ as we often fee contriv'd to conceal a Club-Foot or a ff^ooden- Leg-y but that the Devil may be known where- ever he goes, he is bound to ihew his Foot 5 they might as well oblige him to fet a Bill upon his Cap, as Folks do upon a Houfe to be let, and have it written in capital Letters, I am the DEVIL.
It muft be confefs'd this is very particular, and would be very hard upon the Devil^ if it had not another Article in it, which is fome Advantage to him, and that is, that the Fatt is not true; but the Belief of this is fo univerfal, that all the World runs away with it ; by which Mittake the good People mifs the Devil many times where they look for him, and meet him as often where they did not expect him, and when for want of this Cloven-Foot they do not know him.
Upon this very Account I have fometimes thought, not that this has been put upon him by meer Fancy, and the Cheat of a heavy Imagination, propagated by Fable and Chymny-Corner Divi nity, but that it has been a Contrivance of his own 3 and that, in fhort, the Devil rais'd this Scandal upon himfelf, that he might keep his Dif guife the better, and might go a. Vifiting among
his
The ModernHlS TORY
his Friends without being known ; for were it really fo, that he could go no where without this particular Brand of Infamy, he could not come into Company, could not dine with my Lord Mayor, nor drink Tea with the Ladies, could not go to the Drawing-R — — at , could
not have gone to Fount amble an to the King of France's Wedding, or to the Diet of Poland^ to prevent the Grandees there coming to an Agree ment j nay, which 'would be ft ill worfe than all^ he could not go to the Mafquerade, nor to any of our Balls > the Reafon is plain, he would be al ways difcover'd, expos'd and forc'd to leave the good Company, or which would be as bad, the Company would all cry out the Devil and run out of the Room as if they were frighted > nor could all the Help of Invention do him any Ser vice, no Drefs he could put on would cover him ; not all our Friends at T&viftock Corner could fur- niih him with a Habit that would difguile or con ceal him, this unhappy Foot would fpoil it all : Now this would be ib great a Lois to him, that I queltion whether he could carry on any of his moll important Affairs in the World without it 5 for tho' he has accefs to Mankind in his compleat Difguife, I mean that of his Inviiibility, yet the Learned very much agree in this, that his corpo- jal Pretence in the World is absolutely neceflary upon many Occafions, to fupport his Intercft and keep up his Correfpondences, and particularly to encourage his Friends when Numbers are requi- lite to carry on his Affairs $ but this Part I mall have Occafion to fpeak of again, when I come to confider him as a Gentleman of Bufinefs in his Locality, and under the Head of vifible Appa* rition ; but I return to the Foot.
As I have thus fuggefted that the Devil him-
felf has politically fpread about this Notion corv*
z cerning
ef the DEVIL: ; 2
earning his appearing with a Cloven-Foot ', fo I doubt not that he has thought it for hisPurpofe to paint this Cloven-Foot fo lively in the Imaginations of many of our People, and efpccially of thofe clear lighted Folks who fee the Devil when he is not to be feen, that they would make no Scruple to fay, nay and to make Affidavit too, even before Satan him- felf, whenever he fat upon the Bench, that they had feen his Worfhip's FOOT at fuch and fuch a Time-, this I advance the rather becaufe 'tis very much for his Intereft to do this, for if we had not many WitnefTes, viva voce^ to teftify it, we fhould have had fome obftinate Fellows always among us, who would have denied the Fac~b, or at leait have fpoken doubtfully of it, and fo have rais'd Difputes and Objections againft it, as impoffible, or at leaft as improbable 5 buzzing one ridiculous Notion or other into our Ears, as if the Devil was not fo black as he was painted, that he had no more a Cloven- Foot than a Pope, v/hofe Apo- ilolical Toes have fo often been reverentially kifs'd by Kings and Emperors : but now alas this Part is out of the Queftion, not the Man in the Moon, not the Groaning-Board, not the fpeaking of Fryar Bacon's Brazen-Head, not the Infpiration of Mother Shipton, or the Miracles of Dr. Fau- JluS) Things as certain as Death and Taxes, cafi be more firmly believ'd : The Devil not have a Cloven- Foot! I doubt not but I could, in a ihort Time, bring you a thoufand old Women together, that would as foon believe there was no Devil at all 5 nay, they will tell you, he could not be a Devil without it, any more than he could come into the Room, and the Candles not burn blue, or go out and not leave a fmell of Brimftone behind him.
Since then the Certainty of the Thing is fb well eftabliih'd, and there are fo many good and
fubftan-
270 The Modern HISTORY
fubftantial WitnefTes ready to teflify that he has a Cloven-Foot, and that they have feen it too 3 nay, and that we have Antiquity on our Side, for \ve have this Truth confirm 'd by the Teftimony of many Ages 3 why fhould we doubt it any lon ger ? we can prove that many of our Anceflors have been of this Opinion, and divers learn'd Au thors have left it upon Record, as particularly that learned Familiarift Mother Hazel^ whole Writings are to be found in MS. in the famous Li brary at Pye-Corner 3 alfo the admir'd Joan of^mes- bury, the Hiftory of the Lancajhire Witches, and the Reverend Exorciil of the Devil's of Lon- don^ whole Hiftory is extant among us to this Day 3 all thefe and many more may be quoted, and their Writings referred to for the Confirmation of the Antiquity of this Truth 3 but there feems to be no Occafion for farther Evidence, 'tis e- nough, Satan himfelf, if he did not raife the Re port, yet tacitly owns the Fact, at leaft he ap pears willing to have it believ'd, and be receiv'd as a general Truth for the Reafons above.
But beiides all this, and as much a Jeil as fome unbelieving People would have this Story pals for, who knows but that if Satan is empower' d to afiume any Shape or Body, and to appear to us viiibly, as if really fo fhap'd 3 I fay, who knows but he may, by the fame Authority, be allow'd to aiiume the Addition of the Cloven-Foot, or two or four Cloven-Feet, if he pleafed? and why not a Cloven-Foot as well as any other Foot, if he thinks fit? For if the Devil can ailume a Shape, and can appear to Mankind in a vifible Form, it may, I doubt not, with as good Authority be ad- vanc'd that he is left at Liberty to aflame what Shape he pleafes, and to choofc what Cafe of Flejh and Blood he'll pleafe to wear^ whether real or imaginary 3 and if this Liberty be allow'd him,
it
of the DEVIL. ;27I
it is an admirable Difguife for him to come gene rally with his Cloven-Foot, that when he finds it for his Purpofe, on fpecial Occafions to come without it, as I faid above, he may not be iuf- pecbed 3 but taks tins with you as you go, that all this is upon a Suppofition that the Devil can af- fume a vifible Shape, and make a real Appear ance, which however I do not yet think fit to grant or deny.
Certain it is, the fir ft People who beitow'd a Cloven- Foot upon the Devil, were not fo defpicable as you may imagine, but were real Favourites of Heaven > for did not Aaron fet up the Devil of a Calf in the Congregation, and fet the People a dancing about it for a God ? Upon which Occa- fion, Expofitors tell us, that particular Command was given, Levit. xvii. 7. They Jh all no more offer their Sacrifices unto Devils, after whom they have; gone a Whoring -, like wife King Jeroboam fee up the two Calves, one at Dan and the other at Be~ the!, and we find them charg'd afterwards with fet ting up the Worfhip of Devils inilead of the Worfhip of God.
After this we find fome Nations actually facri- ficed to the Devil in the Form of a Ram, and others of a Goat > from which, and that above of the Calves at Horeb> I doubt not the Story of the Cloven-Foot firft derived > and it is plain that the Worfhip of that Calf at Horeb is meant in the Scripture quoted above, Levit. xvii. 7. Thou Jhalt no more offer Sacrifices unto Devils : The Ori ginal is Seghnirim 5 that is, rough and hairy Goats or Calves; and fome think alfo in this Shape the Devil moft ordinarily appeared to the Egyptians and Arabians-) from whence it was derived.
Alfo in the old Writings of the Egyptians, I mean their hieroglyphick Writing, before the Ufe of Letters was known, we are told this was
the
The Modern HISTORY
the Mark that he was known by \ and the Fi gure of a Goat was the Hieroglyphick of the De vil j fome will affirm that the Devil was particu larly pleafed to be fo reprefented -> how they came by their Information, and whether they had it: from his own Mouth or not. Authors have not yet determined.
But be this as it will, I do not fee that Satan could have been at a Lofs for fome extraordinary Figure to have banter'd Mankind with, tho' this had not been thought of -, but thinking of the Cloven-Foot firft, and the Matter being indifferent, this took place, and eafily rooted it felf in the bewildred Fancy of the People, and now 'tis ri veted too fail for the Devil himfelf to remove it if he was difpofed to try 5 but as I faid above, 'tis none of his Bufinefs to folve Doubts or remove Difficulties out of our Heads, but to perplex us with more, as much as he can.
Some People carry this Matter a great deal higher (till, and will have the Cloven-Foot be like the great Stone which the Erafillan Conju rers ufed to folve all difficult Questions upon, after having ufed a great many monitrous and bar barous Geitures and Distortions of their Bodies, and cut certain Marks or magical Figures upon the Stone $ fo, Ifay^ they will have this Cloven-Foot be a kind of a Conjuring-Stone, and tell us, that in former Times, when Satan drove a greater Trade with Mankind in publick, than he has done of late, he gave this Cloven- Foot as a Token to his particular Favourites to work Wonders with, and to conjure by, and that Witches, Fairies, Hobgoblins, and fuch Things, of which the Antients had fevcral Kinds, at leaft in their Ima gination, had all a Goat's Leg with a Cloven-Foot to put on upon extraordinary Occafionsj it feems this Method is of late grown out of Pra&ice,
and
oftteDEVI L; 273
and fo like the melting of Marble and the paint ing of Glafs, 'tis laid alide among the various ufeful Arts which Hiftory tells us are loft to the World j what may be practifed in the Fairy World, if fuch a Place there be, we can give no particular Account at prefent.
But neither is this all, for other wou'd-be-wife People tike upon them to make farther and more confiderable Improvements upon this Doc trine of the Cloven- Foot ) and treat it as a moll fignificant Inftrument of Satan's private Opera tion, and that as Jofeph is faid to Divine^ that is to fay, to conjure by his Golden Cup which was put into Benjamin's Sack, fo the Devil has mana ged feveral of his fecret Operations, and Pofle£- lions, and other hellifh Mechanifms upon the Spi rits as well as Bodies of Men, by the Medium or Inftrumentality of the Cloven- Foot ; according ly it had a Kind of an hellifh Infpiration in it, and a feparate and magical Power by which he wrought his infernal Miracles j that the Clo ven-Foot had a fuperior Signification, and was not only emblematic and fignificative of the Con duct of Men, but really guided their Conduct in the moil important Affairs of Life j and that the Agents the Devil employ'd to influence Mankind, and to delude them and draw them into all the Snares and Traps that he lays continually for their Definition, were equipp'd with this Foot in Aid of their other Powers for Mifchief.
Here they read us learn'd Lectures upon the fovereign Operations which the Devil is at pre fent Mailer of, in the Government of human Affairs 3 and how the Cloven-Foot is an Emblem of the true double Entendre or divided AfpecTr, which the great Men of the World generally act with, and by which all their Affairs are di rected -} from whence it comes to pafs that there is
T no
274 The Modern HISTORY
no fuch Thing as a fingle hearted Integrity, or an upright Meaning to be found in the World 5 that Mankind, worfe than the ravenous Brutes, preys upon his own Kind, and devours them by all the .laudable Methods of Flattery, Whyne, Cheat and Treachery , Crocodile like^ weeping overthofe it will devour, deftroying thofe it fmiles upon, and, in a Word, devours its own Kind, which the very Beafts refufe, and that by all the Ways of Fraud and Allurement that Hell can invent 3 holding out a cloven divided Hoof, or Hand, pretending to dive, when the very Pre tence is made ufe of to enfnare and deftroy.
Thus the divided Hoof is the Representative of a divided double Tongue, and Heart, an Emblem of the moft exquifite Hypocrify, the mod fawn ing and fatally deceiving Flattery > and here they give us very diverting Hiftories, tho' tragical in themfelves, of the manner which fome of the Devil's infpired Agents have managed themfelves under the efpecial Influence of the Cloven- Foot -, how they have made War under the Pretence of Peace, murthefd Garrifons under the moll: lacred Capitulations, maflacred innocent Multitudes af ter Surrenders to Mercy.
Again, they tell us the Cloven-Foot has been made ufe of in all Treafons, Plots, AlTaflinations, and fecret as well as open Marchers and Rebel lions. Thus Joab under the Treafon of an Em brace, fhew'd how dexteroufly he could manage the Cloven- Foot , and flruck Abner under the fifth Rib: Thus David play'd the Cloven-Foot upon poor Uriah, when he had a Mind to lie with his Wife: Thus Brutus play'd it upon Cxfar-y and to come nearer home, we have had a great many retrograde Motions in this Country by this magi cal Implement the Foot > fuch as that of the Earl of EJJexs Fate, beheading the Queen of Scots^
and
of the DEVIL. 275
and diverfe others in Queen Elizabeth's Time : That of the Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir Thomas Over-bury^ Gondamor and Sir Walter Raleigh^ and many o- thers in King James the I.*s Time 3 in all which, if the Cloven-Foot had not been dexterouily ma- nag'd, thofe Murthers had not been Ib dexterouily manag'd, or the Murtherers have fo well been skrcen'd from Jufticej for which and the impre cated Juflice of Heaven unappeafed, fome have thought the innocent Branches of the Royal Houfe of Stuart did not fare the better in the Ages which follow'd.
It mult be confefs'd, the Cloven-Foot was in its full Exercife in the next Reign, and the Ge neration that role up immediately after them, ar rived to the molt cxquiiite Skill for Management of it 5 here they failed and pray'd, there they plundered and murther'd $ here they rais'd War for the King, and there they fought againlt him, cutting Throats for God's Sake, and depof- ing both King and kingly Government according to Law.
Nor was the Cloven-Foot unemployed on all Sides, for 'tis the main Excellency of this Inftru- ment of Hell, that it a6rs on every Side, it is its denominating Quality^ and is for that Reafon cali'd a cloven or divided Hoof.
This mutilated Apparition has been fo publick in other Countries too, that it feems to convince us the Devil is not confin'd to England only, but that as his Empire extended to all the fub- lunary World, fo he gives them all Room to fee he is qualified to manage them his own Way.
What abundant Ufedid that Prince of DiiTem- blers, Charles V. make of this Foot ? 'twas by the Help of this Apparition of the Foot that he baited his Hook with the City QtMilan, and tickled Francis I.
T 2, of
276 Tfo Modern HISTORY
of France fo well with it, that when he pafs'd thro' France^ and was in that King's Power, he let him go, and never get the Bait off of the Hook neither > it ieems the Foot was not on King Francis's Side at that Time.
How cruelly did Philip II. of Spain manage this Foot in the Murther of the Nobility of the Spanijb Netherlands ^ the Aflaffination of the Prince of Orange, and at lad in that of his own Son Don Carlos Infant of Spain ? and yet fuch was the Devil's Craft, and fo nicely did he beftir his C70- ven-Hoof, that this Monarch died confolated (tho* impenitent) in the Arms of the Church, and with the Benedi&ion of the Clergy too, thofe fecond left Managers of the faid Hoof in the World.
I mu ft acknowledge, I agree with this Opinion thus far j namely, that the Devil acting by this Cloven-Foot, as a Machine, has done great Things in the World for the propagating his dark Em pire among us 5 and Hiftory is full of Examples, befides the little low priz'd Things done among us 5 for we are come to fuch a Kind of Degene racy in Folly, that we have even difhonour'd the Devil) and put this glorious Engine the Cloven- Foot to fuch mean Ufes, that the Devil himfelf feems to be afham'd of us.
But to return a little to foreign Hiftory, befides what has been mention'd above, we find flaming Examples of moft glorious Mifchief done by this Weapon, when put into the Hands of Kings and Men of Fame in the World : How many Games have the Kings of France play'd with this Cloven- Foot, and that within a few Years of one another? Firft, Charles IX. play'd the Cloven-Foot upon Gafpar Collgni Admiral of France, when he ca- refs'd him, complimented him, invited him to Par is, to the Wedding of the King of Navarre , call'd him Father, kifs'd him, and when he was
wounded
of the DEVIL. 277
wounded Tent his own Surgeons to take Care of him, and yet three Days after order'd him to be aflliifinated and murther'd, ufed with a thouland Indignities, and at laft thrown out of the Win dow into the Street to be infulted by the Rabble?
Did not Henry III. in the fame Country, play the Cloven-Foot upon the Duke of Guife^ when he call'd him to his Council, and caus'd him to be murther'd as he went in at the Door? The Guifes again plaid the fame Game back upon the King, when they fent out a Jacobin Friar toafTaffi- nate him in his Tent as he lay at the Siege of Paris.
In a Word, this Opera of the Cloven-Foot has been acted all over the Chriftian World, ever fince Judas betrayed the Son of God with a Kifs > nay, our Saviour fays expreily of him, One of you is a Devil 5 and the facred Text fays in another Place, The Devil entered into Judas.
It would take up a great deal of Time and Paper too, to give you a full Account of the Travels of this Cloven-Foot j its Progrefs into all the Courts of Europe^ and with what mod accu rate Hypocrify Satan has made uie of it upon ma ny Occafions, and with what Succefsj but as in the elaborate Work of which I juft now gave you a Specimen I defign one whole Volume upon this Subject, and which I {hall call, The compleat Hi ft or y of the Cloven- Foot 3 I fay, for that Reafon, and diverfe others, I fhall fay but very little more to it in this Place.
It remains to tell you, that this merry Story of the Cloven-Foot is very eflential to the Hiftory which I am now writing, as it has been all along the great Emblem of the Devil's Government in the World, and by which all his mofl confiderable Engagements have been anfwer'd and executed j for as he is faid not to be able to conceal this Fqot? but that he carries it always with him, it
T 3 imports
27S The Modern HISTORY
imports moft plainly, that the Devil would be no Devil if he was not a DifTembler, a Deceiver, and carried a double Entendre in all he does or fays 3 that he cannot but fay one Thing and mean another, promife one Thing and do another, engage and not perform, declare and not intend, and act like a true Devil as he is,, with a Countenance that is no Index of his Heart.
I might indeed go back to Originals, and de rive this Cloven- Foot from Satan's primitive State as a Cherubim or a celeftial Being, which Chc- rubims, as Mofes is faid to have (e'en them about the Throne of God in Mount Sinai, and as the fame Mofes, from the Original reprefented them afterwards covering the Ark, had the Head and Face of a Man, Wings of an Eagle, Body of a Lion, and Legs and Feet of a Calf j but this is not ib much to our prefent Purpofe, for as we are to allow that whatever Satan had of heavenly Beau ty before the Fall, he loft it all when he com- menc'd Devil, fo to fetch his Original fo far up would be only to fay, that he retained nothing but the Cloven-Foot, and that all the reft of him was alter'd and deform'd, become frightful and horri ble as the DEVIL 5 but his Cloven-Foot, as we now under ftand it, is rather myftical and emble- matick, and defcribes him only as the Fountain of Mifchief and Treafon, and the Prince of Hy pocrites, and as fuch we are now to fpeak of him.
'Tis from this Original all the hypocritic World copy, he wears the Foot on their Account, and from this Model they a£t : This made our bleffed Lord tell them, the Works of your Father ye will do, meaning the Devil, as he had exprefs'd it juft before.
Nor does he deny the Ufe of the Foot to the meaner Clafs of his Difciples in the World, but
decently
of the DEVI L. 279
decently equips them all upon every Occafion with a needful Proportion of Hypocrify and De ceit -, that they may hand on the Power of pro- mifcuous Fraud thro' all his temporal Dominions, and wear the Foot always about them as a Badge of their profefs'd Share in whatever is done by that Means.
Thus every Diflembler, every falfe Friend, every fecret Cheat, every Bearskin-Jobber has a Clo- wen-Foot^ and fo far hands on the Devil's Intereft by the lame powerful Agency of Art, as the Devil bimfelf ufes to aft when he appears in Per- fon, or would aft if he was juft now upon the Spot 5 for this Foot is a Machine which is to be wound up and wound down, as the Catife it ap pears for requires -y and there are Agents and En gineers to aft in it by Directions of Satan (the grand Engineer) who lies ftill in his Retirement, only ifTuing out his Orders as he fees convenient.
Again, every Clafs, every Trade, every Shop keeper, every Pedlar, nay, that meaneft of Tradcf- men, that Church Pedlar the Pope, has a Cloven- Foot, with which he Paw w^s upon the World, wiihes them all well, and at the lame time cheats them y wifhes them all fed, and at the fame time itarves them j wiihes them all in Heaven, and at the fame time marches before them direftly to the Devil, alamode de Cloven-Foot.
Nay, the very Bench, the everliving Foun dation of Juflice in the World -y how often has it been made the Tool of Violence, the Refuge of Oppreffion, the Seat of Bribery and Corruption, by this Moniler in Mafquerade, and that every where (our own Country always excepted) ? They had much better wipe out the Picture of judice blinded, and having the Sword and Scales in her Hand, which in foreign Countries is generally painted over the Seat of thafc who fit to do Jullicc, and place
T 4 inilead
280 The Modern HISTORY
initead thereof a naked unarm'd Cloven- Hoof, a proper Emblem of that Spirit that Influences the World, and of the Juftice we often fee admini- ftred among them 3 human Imagination cannot form an Idea more fuitable, nor the Devil pro- pofe an Engine more or better qualified for an O- peration of Juftice,by the Influence of Bribery and Corruption > it is this magnipotent Inflrument in the Hands of the Devil, which under the clofeft Difguife agitates every Paffion, bribes every Af fection, blackens every Virtue, gives a double Face to Words and Aftions, and to all Perfons who have any Concern in them, and in a Word, makes us all Devils to one another.
Indeed the Devil has taken but a dark Emblem to be diftinguifh'd by, for this of a Goat wasfaid to be a Creature hated by Mankind from the begin ning, and that there is a natural Antipathy in Mankind againft them: Hence the Scape Goat was to bear the Sins of the People, and to go into the Wildernefs with all that Burthen upon him.
But we have a Saying among us, in Defence of which wemuffc enquire into the -proper Sphere of Action which may be afTigned to this Cloven- Foot, as hitherto defcribed : The Proverb is this; Every Devil has not a Cloven- Foot. This Pro verb, inilead of giving us fome more favourable Thoughts of the Devil, confirms what I have faid already, that the Devil rais'd this Scandal up on himfelf j I mean, the Report that he cannot conceal or difguife his Devil's Foot, or Hoof, but that it muft appear, under whatever Habit he fhews himfelfj and the Reafon I gave holds good flill, namely^ that he may be more effeflu- ally conceal'd when he goes abroad without it : For if the People were fully perfuaded that the Devil could not appear without this Badge of
4 his
of the DEVIL;
his Honour, or Mark of his Infamy, take it as you will -y and that he was bound alfo to ihew it up on all Occafions, it would be natural to con clude, that whatever frightful Appearances might be feen in the World, if the Cloven-Foot did not alfo appear, we had no Occafion to look for the Devi^ or fo much as to think 'of him, much lefs to apprehend he was near us > and as this might be a Miftake, and that the Devil might be there while we thought our felves fo fecure, it might on many Occalions be a Miftake of very ill Con- fequence, and in particular, as it would give the Devil room to a6b in the Dark, and not be di£ cover'd, where it might be moft needful to know him.
From this fhort Hint, thus repeated, I draw a new Thefis, namely, That Devil is moft dan gerous that has no Cloven- Foot 5 or, if you will have it in Words more to the common Under- ftanding, the Devil feems to be moft dangerous when he goes without his Cloven- Foot.
And here a learned Speculation offers it felf to our Debate, and which indeed I ought to call a Council of Cafuifts, and Men learned in the De vil's Politicks, to determine :
Whether is moft hurtful to the World, the Devil walking about without his Cloven-Foot, or the Cloven-Foot walking about without the De* vil?
It is indeed a nice and difficult Queftion, and merits to be well enquir'd into 3 for which Rea- fon, and diverfe others, I have referr'd it to be treated with fome Decency, and as a Difptite of Pignity fufficient to take up a Chapter by itfelf.
CHAP.
282 The Modern HISTORY
CHAP. VII.
Whether is moft hurtful to the World, the Devil walking about without his Cloven- Foot , or the Cloven- Foot walking about without the Devil ?
IN difcuffing this moft critical Diflin&ion of Satan's private Motions , I mull, as the Pul pit Gentlemen dire6t us, explain the Text, and let you know what I mean by feveral dark Exprefli- ons in it, that I may not be underflood to talk (as the Devil walks) in the dark.
i. As to the Devil's walking about. 2,. His walking without his Cloven-Foot. 3. The Cloven-Foot walking about without the Devil.
Now as I ftudy Brevity, and yet would be un^ derftood too, you may pleafe to underftand me as I underftand my felf, thus.