The History of the Devil Part 16

It must be confess'd these were devilish Politicks; and so sure was the Aim, and so certain was the _Devil_ to hit his Mark by them, that we find he not only did not fail then, but the same h.e.l.lish Methods have prevail'd still, and will do so to the End of the World. Nor had the Devil ever a better Game to play than this, for the Ruin of Religion, as we shall have room to show in many Examples, besides that of the Dissenters in _England_, who are evidently weaken'd by the late Toleration: Whether the _Devil_ had any hand in baiting his Hook with an A--- of Parliament or no, History is silent, but 'tis too evident he has catch'd the Fish by it; and if the honest Church of _England_ does not in Pity and Christian Charity to the Dissenters, straighten her Hand a little, I cannot but fear the _Devil_ will gain his Point, and the Dissenter will be undone by it.

Upon this new foot of Politicks the _Devil_ began with the Emperors themselves: _Arius_, the Father of the Hereticks of that Age, having broach'd his Opinions, and _Athanasius_ the orthodox Bishop of the East opposing him, the _Devil_ no sooner saw the Door open to Strife and Imposition, but he thrust himself in, and raising the Quarrel up to a suited Degree of Rage and Spleen, he involv'd the good Emperor himself in it first and _Athanasius_ was banish'd and recall'd, and banish'd and recall'd again, several times, as Error ran high, and as the _Devil_ either got or lost Ground: After _Constantine_, the next Emperor was a Child of his own, (_Arian_) and then the Court came all into the Quarrel, as Courts often do, and then the _Arians_ and the _Orthodox_ persecuted one another as furiously as the Pagans persecuted them all before. To such a Height the _Devil_ brought his Conquest in the very Infancy of the Question, and so much did he prevail over the true Christianity of the Primitive Church, even before they had enjoy'd the Liberty of the pure Worship twenty Years.

Flush'd with this Success, the _Devil_ made one Push for the restoring _Paganism_, and bringing on the old Worship of the Heathen Idols and Temples; but like our King _James_ II. he drove too hard, and _Julian_ had so provok'd the whole _Roman_ Empire, which was generally at that time become Christian, that had the Apostate liv'd, he would not have been able to have held the Throne; and as he was cut off in his Beginning, Paganism expir'd with him, and the _Devil_ himself might have cry'd out, as _Julian_ did, and with much more Propriety, _Vicisti Galileane_.

_Jovian_, the next Emperor, being a glorious Christian, and a very good and great Man, the _Devil_ abdicated for a while, and left the Christian Armies to re-establish the Orthodox Faith; nor could he bring the Christians to a Breach again among themselves a great while after.

However, Time and a diligent _Devil_ did the Work at last, and when the Emperors concerning themselves one way or other, did not appear sufficient to answer his End, he chang'd Hands again, and went to work with the Clergy: To set the Doctors effectually together by the Ears, he threw in the new Notion of _Primacy_ among them, for a Bone of Contention; the Bait took, the Priests swallow'd it eagerly down, and the _Devil_, a cunninger Fisherman than ever St. _Peter_ was, _struck them_ (as the Anglers call it) with a quick Hand, and hung them fast upon the Hook.

Having them thus in his Clutches, and they being now, as we may say, his own, they took their Measures afterwards from him, and most obediently follow'd his Directions; nay, I will not say but he may have had pretty much the Management of the whole Society ever since, of what Profession or Party soever they may have been, with Exception only to the Reverend and Right Reverend among our selves.

The Sacred, as above, being thus hook'd in, and the DEVIL being at the Head of their Affairs, Matters went on most gloriously his own way; first, the Bishops fell to bandying and Party-making for the Superiority, as heartily as ever Temporal Tyrants did for Dominion, and took as black and devilish Methods to carry it on, as the worst of those Tyrants ever had done before them.

At last Satan declar'd for the _Roman_ Pontiff, and that upon excellent Conditions, in the Reign of the Emperor _Mauritius_; for _Boniface_, who had long contended for the t.i.tle of Supreme, fell into a Treaty with _Phocas_, Captain of the Emperor's Guards; whether the Bargain was from h.e.l.l or not, let any one judge, the Conditions absolutely ent.i.tle the _Devil_ to the Honour of making the Contract, _viz._ That _Phocas_ first murthering his Master (the Emperor) and his Sons, _Boniface_ should countenance the Treason, and declare him Emperor; and in Return, _Phocas_ should acknowledge the Primacy of the Church of _Rome_, and declare _Boniface_ universal Bishop. A blessed Compact! which at once set the _Devil_ at the Head of Affairs in the Christian World, as well Spiritual as Temporal, Ecclesiastick and Civil. Since the Conquest over _Eve_ in Paradise, by which Death and the DEVIL, Hand in Hand, establish'd their first Empire upon Earth, the _Devil_ never gain'd a more important Point than he gain'd at this time.

He had indeed prospered in his Affairs tolerably well for some time before this, and his Interest among the Clergy had got Ground for some Ages; but that was indeed a secret Management, was carried on privately, and with Difficulty; as in sowing Discord and Faction among the People, perplexing the Councils of their Princes, and secretly wheedling in with the dignified Clergy.

Also he had raised abundance of little Church-Rebellions, by setting up Hereticks of several Kinds, and raising them Favourers among the Clergy, such as _Ebion_, _Cerinthius_, _Pelagius_, and others.

He had drawn in the Bishops of _Rome_ to set up the ridiculous Pageantry of the KEY; and while he, the DEVIL, set open the Gates of h.e.l.l to them all, set them upon locking up the Gates of Heaven, and giving the Bishop the Key; a Cheat which, as gross as it was, the DEVIL so gilded over, or so blinded the Age to receive it, that like _Gideon's Ephod_, all the Catholick World went a whoring after the Idol; and the Bishop of _Rome sent_ more Fools to the _Devil_ by it than ever he pretended to let into Heaven, though he open'd the Door as wide as his Key was able to do.

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

_Peter_, (who, by the way, never had it himself,) and of its being lost by Somebody or other, (the _Devil_ it seems did not tell them who) and its being found again by a _Lombard_ Soldier in the Army of King _Antharis_, who attempting to cut it with his Knife, was miraculously forced to direct the Wound to himself, and cut his own Throat; that King _Antharis_ and his n.o.bles happened to see the Fellow do it, and were converted to Christianity by it, and that the King sent the Key, with another made like it, to Pope _Pelagius_, then Bishop of _Rome_, who thereupon a.s.sum'd the Power of opening and shutting Heaven's Gates; and he afterwards setting a Price or Toll upon the Entrance, as we do here at pa.s.sing a Turn-pike; these fine things, I say, were successfully managed for some Years before this I am now speaking of, and the Devil got a great deal of Ground by it too; but now he triumph'd openly, and having set up a Murtherer upon the temporal Throne, and a Church Emperor upon the Ecclesiastic Throne, and both of his own choosing, the _Devil_ may be said to begin his new Kingdom from this Epocha, and call it the _Restoration_.

Since this time indeed the Devil's Affairs went very merrily on, and the Clergy brought so many Gewgaws into their Worship, and such devilish Principles were mixt with that which we call'd the Christian Faith, that in a Word, from this Time the Bishop of _Rome_ commenc'd _Wh.o.r.e of Babylon_, in all the most express Terms that could be imagin'd: Tyranny of the worst sort crept into the Pontificate, Errors of all sorts into the Profession, and they proceeded from one thing to another, till the very Popes, for so the Bishop of _Rome_ was now called, by way of Distinction; I say, the Popes themselves, their spiritual Guides, profess'd openly to confederate with the _Devil_, and to carry on a personal and private Correspondence with him at the same time, taking upon them the t.i.tle of Christ's Vicar, and the infallible Guide of the Consciences of Christians.

This we have sundry Instances of in some merry Popes, who, _if Fame lies not_, were Sorcerers, Magicians, had familiar Spirits, and immediate Conversation with the Devil, as well visibly as invisibly, and by this means became what we call _Devils incarnate_: Upon this account it is that I have left the Conversation that pa.s.ses between _Devils and Men_ to this Place, as well because I believe it differs much now in his modern State, from what it was in his ancient State, and therefore that which most concerns us belongs rather to this part of his History; as also because, as I am now writing to the present Age, I choose to bring the most significant Parts of his History, especially as they relate to our selves, into that Part of Time that we are most concern'd in.

The _Devil_ had once, as I observ'd before, the universal Monarchy or Government of Mankind in himself, and I doubt not but in that flourishing State of his Affairs, he governed them like what he is (_viz._) an absolute Tyrant; during this _Theocracy_ of his, _for_ Satan _is call'd the G.o.d of this World_, he did not familiarize himself to Mankind so much, as he finds Occasion to do now, there was not then so much need of it; he governed then with an absolute Sway; he had his Oracles, where he gave Audience to his Votaries like a Deity, and he had his Sub-G.o.ds, who under his several Dispositions receiv'd the Homage of Mankind in their Names; such were all the Rabble of the Heathen Deities, from _Jupiter_ the Supreme, to the _Lares_ or Houshold G.o.ds of every Family; these, I say, like Residents, received the Prostrations, but the Homage was all Satan's; the Devil had the Substance of it all, which was the Idolatry.

During this Administration of _h.e.l.l_, there was less Witchcraft, less true literal Magick than there has been since; there was indeed no need of it, the DEVIL did not stoop to the Mechanism of his more modern Operations, but rul'd as a Deity, and receiv'd the Vows and the Bows of his Subjects in more State, and with more Solemnity; whereas since that, he is content to employ more Agents and take more Pains himself too; now he runs up and down Hackney in the World, more like a Drudge than a Prince, and much more than he did then.

Hence all those Things we call Apparitions and Visions of Ghosts, Familiar-Spirits and Dealings with the Devil, of which there is so great a Variety in the World at this Time, were not so much known among the People, in those first Ages of the Devil's Kingdom; _in a Word_, the Devil seems to be put to his Shifts, and to fly to Art and Stratagem for the carrying on his Affairs, much more now than he did then.

One Reason for this may be, that he has been more discover'd and expos'd in these Ages, than he was before; then he could appear in the World in his own proper Shapes, and yet not be known; when the Sons of G.o.d appear'd at the divine Summons, Satan came along with them; but now he has plaid so many scurvy Tricks upon Men, and they know him so well, that he is oblig'd to play quite out of sight and act in disguise; Mankind will allow nothing of his doing, and hear nothing of his saying, in his own Name; and if you propose any Thing to be done, and it be but said the _Devil_ is to help in the doing it, or if you say of any Man he deals with the _Devil_, or the _Devil_ has a Hand in it, every Body flies him and shuns him, as the most frightful Thing in the World.

Nay, if any Thing strange and improbable be done or related to be done, we presently say the _Devil_ was at the doing it: Thus the great Ditch at _Newmarket Heath_, is call'd the _Devil_'s _Ditch_; so the _Devil_ built _Crowland_ Abby, and the Whispering-Place in _Gloucester_ Cathedral; nay, the Cave at _Castleton_, only because there's no getting to the farther End of it, is call'd the _Devil_'s A---- and the like: The poor People of _Wiltshire_, when you ask them how the great Stones at _Stonehenge_ were brought thither? they'll all tell you the _Devil_ brought them: If any Mischief extraordinary befalls us, we presently say the _Devil_ was in it, and the _Devil_ would have it so; in a Word, the _Devil_ has got an ill Name among us, and so he is fain to act more _in Tenebris_, more _incog._ than he used to do, play out of sight himself, and work by the Sap, as the Engineers call it, and not openly and avowedly in his own Name and Person, as formerly, tho' perhaps not with less Success than he did before; and this leads me to enquire more narrowly into the manner of the _Devil_'s Management of his Affairs since the Christian Religion began to spread in the World, which manifestly differs from his Conduct in more antient Times; in which if we discover some of the most consummate Fool's Policy, the most profound simple Craft, and the most subtle shallow Management of Things that can by our weak Understandings be conceiv'd, we must only resolve it into this, that in short it is the DEVIL.

CHAP. II.

_Of h.e.l.l as it is represented to us, and how the_ Devil _is to be understood, as being personally in h.e.l.l, when at the same Time we find him at Liberty ranging over the World._

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

_Brown_ says, the _Devil_ is his own h.e.l.l; one of the most const.i.tuting Parts of his Infelicity is, that he cannot act upon Mankind _brevi Manu_, by his own inherent Power, as well as Rage; that he cannot unhinge this Creation, which, _as I have observ'd in its Place_, he had the utmost Aversion to from its Beginning, as it was a stated Design in the Creator to supply his Place in Heaven with a new Species of _Beings_ call'd _Man_, and fill the Vacancies occasion'd by his Degeneracy and Rebellion.

This fill'd him with Rage inexpressible, and horrible Resolutions of Revenge, and the Impossibility of executing those Resolutions torments him with Despair; this added to what he was before, makes him a compleat _Devil_, with a h.e.l.l in his own Breast, and a Fire unquenchable burning about his Heart.

I might enlarge here, and very much to the Purpose, in describing spherically and mathematically that exquisite Quality call'd _a devilish Spirit_, in which it would naturally occur to give you a whole Chapter upon the glorious Articles of _Malice_ and _Envy_, and especially upon that luscious, delightful, triumphant Pa.s.sion call'd REVENGE; how natural to Man, nay even to both s.e.xes; how pleasant in the very Contemplation, tho' there be not just at that Time a Power of Execution; how palatable it is in it self, and how well it relishes when dish'd up with its proper Sauces, such as Plot, Contrivance, Scheme, and Confederacy, all leading on to Execution: How it possesses a human Soul in all the most sensible Parts; how it empowers Mankind to sin in Imagination, as effectually to all future Intents and Purposes (d.a.m.nation) as if he had sinned actually: How safe a Practice it is too, as to Punishment in this Life, namely, that it empowers us to cut Throats clear of the Gallows, to slander Virtue, reproach Innocence, wound Honour and stab Reputation; and in a Word, to do all the wicked Things in the World, out of the Reach of the Law.

It would also require some few Words to describe the secret Operations of those nice Qualities when they reach the human Soul; how effectually they form a h.e.l.l within us, and how imperceptibly they a.s.similate and transform us into _Devils_, meer human Devils, as really _Devils_ as Satan himself, or any of his Angels; and that therefore 'tis not so much out of the Way, as some imagine, to say, such a Man is an _incarnate_ Devil; for as Crime made Satan a _Devil_, who was before a bright immortal Seraph, or Angel of Light; how much more easily may the same Crime make _the same_ DEVIL, tho' every Way meaner and more contemptible, _of a Man or_ a Woman either? But this is too grave a Subject for me at this Time.

The _Devil_ being thus, I say, fir'd with Rage and Envy, in consequence of his Jealousy upon the Creation of Man, his Torment is encreased to the highest by the Limitation of his Power, and his being forbid to act against Mankind by Force of Arms; this is, I say, part of his _h.e.l.l_, which, as above, is within him, and which he carries with him wherever he goes; nor is it so difficult to conceive of _h.e.l.l_, or of the _Devil_, either under this just Description, as it is by all the usual Notions that we are taught to entertain of them, by (the old Women) our Instructors; for every Man may, by taking but a common View of himself, and making a just Scrutiny into his own Pa.s.sions, on some of their particular Excursions, see a _h.e.l.l_ within himself, and himself a meer _Devil_ as long as the Inflammation lasts; and that as really, and to all Intents and Purposes, as if he had the Angel (_Satan_) before his Face, in his Locality and Personality; that is to say, all Devil and Monster in his Person, and an immaterial but intense Fire flaming about and from within him, at all the Pores of his Body.

The Notions we receive of the Devil, _as a Person_ being in h.e.l.l _as a Place_, are infinitely absurd and ridiculous; the first we are certain is not true in Fact, because he has a certain Liberty, (_however limited_ that is not to the Purpose) is daily visible, and to be trac'd in his several Attacks upon Mankind, and has been so ever since his first Appearance in _Paradise_; as to his corporal Visibility that is not the present Question neither; 'tis enough that we can hunt him by the Foot, that we can follow him as Hounds do a Fox upon a hot Scent: We can see him as plainly by the Effect, by the Mischief he does, and more by the Mischief he puts us upon doing, _I say_, as plainly, as if we saw him by the Eye.

It is not to be doubted but the _Devil_ can see us when and where we cannot see him: and as he has a Personality, tho' it be spirituous, he and his Angels too may be reasonably supposed to inhabit the World of Spirits, and to have free Access from thence to the Regions of Life, and to pa.s.s and repa.s.s in the Air, as really, tho' not perceptible to us, as the Spirits of Men do after their release from the Body, pa.s.s to the Place (wherever that is) which is appointed for them.

If the _Devil_ was confin'd to a Place (_h.e.l.l_) as a Prison, he could then have no Business here; and if we pretend to describe _h.e.l.l_, as not a Prison, but that the Devil has Liberty to be there, or not be there as he pleased, then he would certainly never be there, or _h.e.l.l_ is not such a Place as we are taught to understand it to be.

Indeed according to some, _h.e.l.l_ should be a Place of Fire and Torment to the Souls that are cast into it, but not to the _Devils_ themselves; who we make little more or less than keepers and Turnkeys to h.e.l.l, as a Goal; that they are sent about to bring Souls thither, lock them in when they come, and then away upon the Scent to fetch more: That one Sort of _Devils_ are made to live in the World among Men, and to be busy continually debauching and deluding Mankind bringing them as it were to the Gates of _h.e.l.l_; and then another Sort are Porters and Carriers to fetch them in.

This is, _in short_, little more or less than the old Story of _Pluto_, of _Cerberus_, and of _Charon_; only that our Tale is not half so well told, nor the Parts of the Fable so well laid together.

In all these Notions of _h.e.l.l_ and _Devil_, the Torments of the first, and the Agency of the last Tormenting, we meet with not one Word of the main and perhaps only Accent of Horror, which belongs to us to judge of about h.e.l.l, I mean the Absence of Heaven; Expulsion, and Exclusion from the Presence and Face of the chief Ultimate, the only eternal and sufficient Good; and this loss sustain'd by a sordid Neglect of our Concern in that excellent Part, in exchange for the most contemptible and justly condemn'd Trifles, and all this eternal and irrecoverable: These People tell us nothing of the eternal Reproaches of Conscience, the Horror of Desperation, and the Anguish of a Mind hopeless of ever seeing the Glory, which alone const.i.tutes Heaven, and which makes all other Places dreadful, and even Darkness it self.

And this brings me directly to the Point in Hand, (_viz._) the State of that h.e.l.l which we ought to have in view when we speak of the _Devil_ as _in h.e.l.l_: This is the very h.e.l.l, which is the Torment of the _Devil_; in short, the _Devil_ is in h.e.l.l, and h.e.l.l is in the _Devil_; he is fill'd with this unquenchable Fire, he is expel'd the Place of Glory, banish'd from the Regions of Light, Absence from the Life of all Beat.i.tude is his Curse, Despair is the reigning Pa.s.sion in his Mind, and all the little Const.i.tuent Parts of his Torment, such as Rage, Envy, Malice, and Jealousy are consolidated in this, to make his Misery compleat, (_viz._) the Duration of it all, the Eternity of his Condition; that he is without Hope, without Redemption, without Recovery.

If any thing can inflame this _h.e.l.l_ and make it hotter, 'tis this only, and this does add an inexpressible Horror to the Devil himself; _namely_, the seeing Man (the only Creature he hates) placed in a State of Recovery, a glorious Establishment of Redemption form'd for him in Heaven, and the Scheme of it perfected on Earth; by which _this Man_, tho' even the _Devil_ by his Art may have deluded him, and drawn him into Crime, is yet in a State of Recovery, which the Devil is not; and that it is not in his (_Satan_'s) Power to prevent it: Now take the Devil as he is in his own Nature Angelic, a bright immortal Seraph, Heaven-born, and having tasted the eternal Beat.i.tude, which these are appointed to enjoy; the Loss of that State to himself, the Possession of it granted to his Rival tho' wicked like and as himself; I say, take the Devil as he is, having a quick Sense of his own Perdition, and a stinging Sight of his Rival's Felicity, 'tis _h.e.l.l enough_, and more than enough, even for an Angel to support; nothing we can conceive can be worse.

As to any other Fire than this, such and so immaterially intense as to Torment a Spirit, which is it self Fire also; I will not say it cannot be, because to Infinite every Thing is possible, but I must say, I cannot conceive rightly of it.

I will not enter here into the Wisdom or Reasonableness of representing the Torments of h.e.l.l to be Fire, and that Fire to be a Commixture of _Flame_ and _Sulphur_; it has pleased G.o.d to let the Horror of those eternal Agonies about _a lost Heaven_, be laid before us by those Similitudes or Allegories, which are most moving to our Senses and to our Understandings; nor will I dispute the Possibility; much less will I doubt but that there is to be a Consummation of Misery to all the Objects of Misery when the _Devil_'s Kingdom in this World ending with the World it self, that Liberty he has now may be farther abridg'd; when he may be return'd to the same State he was in between the Time of his Fall and the Creation of the World; with perhaps some additional Vengeance on him, such as at present we cannot describe, for all that Treason and those high Crimes and Misdemeanours which he has been guilty of here, in his Conversation with Mankind.

As his Infelicity will be then consummated and compleated, so the Infelicity of that Part of Mankind, who are condemn'd with him, may receive a considerable Addition from those Words in their Sentence, to be tormented _with the Devil and his Angels_; for as the Absence of the Supreme Good is a compleat h.e.l.l, so the hated Company of the Deceiver, who was the great Cause of his Ruine, must be a Subject of additional Horror, and he will be always saying, as a _Scots_ Gentleman, who died of his Excesses, said to the famous Dr. _P----_, who came to see him on his Death-bed, but had been too much his Companion in his Life,

_O tu fundamenta jecisti------_

I would not treat the very Subject it self with any Indecency, nor do I think my Opinion of that _h.e.l.l_, which I say consists in the Absence of him, in whom is Heaven, one Jot less Solemn than theirs who believe it all _Fire_ and _Brimstone_; but I must own, that to me nothing can be more ridiculous than the Notions that we entertain and fill our Heads with about _h.e.l.l_, and about the _Devil_'s being there tormenting of Souls, broiling them upon Gridirons, hanging them up upon Hooks, carrying them upon their Backs, and the like, with the several Pictures of _h.e.l.l_, represented by a great Mouth with horrible Teeth, gaping like a Cave on the Sides of a Mountain; suppose that appropriated to _Satan_ in the _Peak_, which indeed is not much unlike it, with a Stream of Fire coming out of it, as there is of Water, and smaller Devils going and coming continually in and out, to fetch and carry Souls the Lord knows whither, and for the Lord knows what.

These Things, however intended for Terror, are indeed so ridiculous, that the _Devil_ himself, to be sure, mocks at them, and a Man of Sense can hardly refrain doing the like, only I avoid it, because I would not give offence to weaker Heads.

However, I must not Compliment the Brains of other Men, at the Expence of my own, or talk Nonsense because they can understand no other; I think all these Notions and Representations of _h.e.l.l_ and of the _Devil_, to be as prophane as they are ridiculous, and I ought no more to talk prophanely than merrily of them.

Let us learn to talk of these Things then, as we should do; and as we really cannot describe them to our Reason and Understanding, why should we describe them to our Senses; we had, I think, much better not describe them at all, that is to say, not attempt it: The blessed Apostle St. _Paul_ was, as he said himself, carried up, or caught up into the _third Heaven_, yet when he came down again, he could neither tell what he heard or describe what he saw; all he could say of it was, that what he heard was _inutterable_, and what he saw was _inconceivable_.

It is the same thing as to the State of the _Devil_ in those Regions which he now possesses, and where he now more particularly inhabits; my present Business then is not to enter into those grave Things so as to make them ridiculous, as I think most People do that talk of them; but as the _Devil_, let his Residence be where it will, has evidently free Leave to come and go, not into this World only; (_I mean, the Region of our Atmosphere_,) but for ought we know, to all the other inhabited Worlds which G.o.d has made, where-ever they are, and by whatsoever Names they are or may be known or distinguished; for if he is not confined in one Place, we have no Reason to believe he is excluded from any Place, Heaven only excepted, from whence he was expell'd for his Treason and Rebellion.

His Liberty then being thus ascertain'd, three Things seem to be material for us to give an Account of, in order to form this Part of his History.

1. What his Business is on this Globe of Earth which we vulgarly call the World, how he acts among us, what Affairs Mankind and he have together, and how far his Conduct here relates to Us, and Ours is, or may be influenc'd by him.

2. Where his Princ.i.p.al Residence is, and whether he has not a particular Empire of his own, to which he retreats upon proper Occasions; where he entertains his Friends when they come under his particular Administration; and where, when he gets any Victory over his Enemies, he carries his Prisoners of War.