Chapter IV: Part II: Chap. I (2)

Supposing then that there is such a superior Master-Devil over all the rest, it remains that we enquire into his character, and something of his History; in which, tho' we cannot perhaps produce such authentick documents as in the story of other great Monarchs, Tyrants, and Furies of the World; yet I shall endeavour to speak some things which the experience of mankind may be apt to confirm, and which the Devil himself will hardly be able to contradict.

It being then granted that there is such a thing or person, call him which we will, as a Master-Devil; that he is thus superior to all the rest in power and in authority, and that all the other evil Spirits are his Angels, or Ministers, or Officers to execute his commands, and are employ'd in his business; it remains to enquire, whence he came? how he got hither, into this World? what that business is which he is employ'd about? what his present state is, and where and to what part of the creation of God he is limited and restrained? what the liberties are he takes or is allow'd to take? in what manner he works, and how his instruments are likewise allow'd to work? what he has done ever since he commenc'd Devil, what he is now doing, and what he may yet do before his last and closer confinement? as also what he cannot do, and how far we may or may not be said to be exposed to him, or have or have not reason to be afraid of him? These, and whatever else occurs in the History and conduct of this Arch-devil and his Agents, that may be useful for information, caution, or diversion, you may expect in the process of this work.

I know it has been question'd by some, with more face than fear, how it consists with a compleat victory of the Devil, which they say was at first obtained by the Heavenly Powers over _Satan_ and his apostate army in _Heaven_, that when he was cast out of his holy place, and dash'd down into the abyss of eternal darkness, as into a place of punishment, a condemn'd hold, or place of confinement, to be reserved there to the judgment of the great Day; _I say_, how it consists with that entire victory, to let him loose again, and give him liberty, like a thief that has broken prison, to range about God's creation, and there to continue his rebellion, commit new ravages, and acts of hostility against God, make new efforts at dethroning the almighty Creator; and in particular to fall upon the weakest of his creatures, MAN? how _Satan_ being so entirely vanquish'd, he should be permitted to recover any of his wicked powers, and find room to do mischief to mankind.

Nay they go farther, and suggest bold things against the wisdom of Heaven, in exposing mankind, weak in comparison of the immense extent of the _Devil_'s power, to so manifest an overthrow, to so unequal a fight, in which he is sure, if alone in the conflict, to be worsted; to leave him such a dreadful enemy to engage with, and so ill furnish'd with weapons to assist him.

These objections I shall give as good an answer to as the case will admit in this course, but must adjourn them for the present.

That the Devil is not yet a close prisoner, we have evidence enough to confirm; I will not suggest, that like our _Newgate_ Thieves, (to bring little Devils and great Devils together) he is let out by connivance, and has some little latitudes and advantages for mischief, by that means; returning at certain seasons to his confinement again. This might hold, were it not, that the comparison must suggest, that the power which has cast him down could be deluded, and the under-keepers or jaylors, under whose charge he was in custody, could wink at his excursions, and the Lord of the place know nothing of the matter. But this wants farther explanation.

CHAP. III.

_Of the original of the_ DEVIL, _who he is, and what he was before his
expulsion out of Heaven, and in what state he was from that time
to the creation of Man._

To come to a regular enquiry into Satan's affairs, 'tis needful we should go back to his original, as far as history and the opinion of the learned World will give us leave.

It is agreed by all Writers, as well sacred as prophane, that this creature we now call a Devil, was originally an Angel of light, a glorious Seraph; perhaps the choicest of all the glorious Seraphs. See how _Milton_ describes his original glory:

_Satan_, so call him now, his former name
Is heard no more in Heaven: He of the first,
If not _the first Archangel_; great in power,
In favour and preeminence.

_lib._ v. _fol._ 140.

And again the same author, and upon the same subject:

------Brighter once amidst the host
Of Angels, than that star the stars among.

_lib._ vii. _fol._ 189.

The glorious figure which Satan is supposed to make among the _Thrones_ and _Dominions_ in Heaven is such, as we might suppose the highest Angel in that exalted train could make; and some think, _as above_, that he was the chief of the Arch-angels.

Hence that notion, (and not ill founded) _namely_, that the first cause of his disgrace, and on which ensued his rebellion, was occasioned upon God's proclaiming his SON Generalissimo, and with himself supreme ruler in heaven; giving the dominion of all his works of creation, as well already finish'd, as not then begun, to him; which post of honour (say they) _Satan_ expected to be conferr'd on himself, as next in honour, majesty and power to God the Supreme.

This opinion is follow'd by Mr. _Milton_ too, as appears in the following lines, where he makes all the Angels attending all a general summons, and God the Father making the following declaration to them.

"Here, all ye Angels, prodigy of light,
"Thrones, dominions, princedoms, virtues, pow'rs!
"Hear my decree, which unrevok'd shall stand.
"This day I have begot whom I declare
"My only SON, and on this hill
"Him have anointed, whom you now behold
"At my right hand; your Head I Him appoint:
"And my self have sworn to him shall bow
"All knees in Heav'n, and shall confess him Lord,
"Under his great vice-gerent reign abide
"United, as one individual soul,
"For ever happy: Him who disobeys,
"Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day
"Cast out from GOD, and blessed vision, falls
"Into utter darkness, deep ingulph'd, his place
"Ordain'd without redemption, without end.

Satan, affronted at the appearance of a new Essence or Being in Heaven, call'd the Son of God; for God, says Mr. _Milton_, (tho' erroneously) declared himself at that time, saying, _This day have I begotten him_, and that he should be set up, above all the former Powers of Heaven, of whom Satan (as above) was the Chief and expecting, if any higher post could be granted, it might be his due; I say, affronted at this he resolv'd

"With all his Legions to dislodge, and leave
"Unworship'd, unobey'd, the throne supreme
"Contemptuous. ------

_Par. lost_, lib. v. fo. 140.

But Mr. _Milton_ is grosly erroneous in ascribing those words, _This day have I begotten thee_, to that declaration of the Father before Satan fell, and consequently to a time before the creation; whereas, it is by Interpreters agreed to be understood of the Incarnation of the Son of God, or at least of the Resurrection: [3] see _Pool_ upon _Acts_ xiii. 33.

In a word, Satan withdrew with all his followers malecontent and chagrine, resolv'd to disobey this new command, and not yield obedience to the Son.

But Mr. _Milton_ agrees in that opinion, that the number of Angels which rebel'd with _Satan_ was infinite, and suggests in one place, that they were the greatest half of all the angelick Body or seraphick Host.

"But Satan with his Power,
"An host
"Innumerable as the stars of night,
"Or stars of morning, dew drops, which the Sun
"Impearls on ev'ry leaf and ev'ry flower.

_ib._ lib. v. fo. 142.

Be their number as it is, numberless millions and legions of millions, that is no part of my present enquiry; Satan the leader, guide and superior, as he was author of the celestial rebellion, is still the great Head and Master-Devil as before; under his authority they still act, not obeying but carrying on the same insurrection against God, which they begun in Heaven; making war still against Heaven, in the person of his Image and Creature man; and tho' vanquish'd by the thunder of the Son of God, and cast down headlong from Heaven, they have yet reassumed, or rather not lost either the will or the power of doing evil.

This fall of the Angels, with the war in Heaven which preceded it, is finely describ'd by _Ovid_, in his war of the _Titans_ against _Jupiter_; casting mountain upon mountain, and hill upon hill (_Pelion_ upon _Ossa_) in order to scale the Adamantine walls, and break open the gates of _Heaven_; till _Jupiter_ struck them with his thunder-bolts and overwhelm'd them in the abyss: _Vide Ovid Metam._ new translation, lib. i. p. 19.

"Nor were the Gods themselves secure on high,
"For now the _Gyants_ strove to storm _the sky_,
"The lawless brood with bold attempt invade
"THE GODS, and mountains upon mountains _laid_.
"But now the _bolt_, enrag'd _the Father_ took,
"_Olympus_ from her deep foundations shook,
"Their structure nodded at the mighty stroke,
"And _Ossa_'s shatter'd top o'er _Pelion_ broke,
"They're in their own ungodly ruines slain.--

Then again speaking of _Jupiter_, resolving in council to destroy mankind by a deluge, and giving the reasons of it to the heavenly Host, say thus, speaking of the demy-Gods alluding to good men below.

"Think you that they in safety can remain,
"When I my self who o'er Immortals reign,
"Who send the lightning, and Heaven's empire sway,
"The stern [4] Lycaon practis'd to betray.

_ib._ p. 10.

Since then so much poetic liberty is taken with the Devil, relating to his most early state, and the time before his fall, give me leave to make an excursion of the like kind, relating to his History immediately after the fall, and till the creation of man; an interval which I think much of the Devil's story is to be seen in, and which Mr. _Milton_ has taken little notice of, at least it does not seem compleatly fill'd up; after which I shall return to honest Prose again, and persue the duty of an Historian.

_Satan_, with hideous ruin thus supprest
_Expell'd_ the seat of blessedness and rest,
Look'd back and saw the _high eternal mound_,
Where all _his rebel host_ their _outlet_ found
_Restor'd impregnable_: The breach made up,
And garrisons of Angels rang'd a top;
In front a hundred thousand thunders roll,
And lightnings temper'd to transfix a soul,
Terror of _Devils_. _Satan_ and his host,
Now to themselves _as well as station lost_,
Unable to support the hated sight, }
Expand _seraphic wings_, and swift as light }
Seek for new safety in _eternal Night_. }

In the remotest gulphs _of dark_ they land,
Here vengeance gives them leave to make their stand,
Not that to _steps_ and _measures_ they pretend,
_Councils_ and _schemes_ their station to defend;
But broken, disconcerted and _dismay'd_,
By guilt and fright to guilt and fright _betray'd_;
Rage and confusion ev'ry Spirit possess'd,
And _shame_ and _horror_ swell'd in ev'ry breast;
Transforming envy to their essentials burns,
And _the bright_ Angel to a _frightful Devil_ turns.
_Thus Hell began_; the fire of conscious rage
No years can quench, no length of time asswage.
_Material Fire_, with its intensest flame,
Compar'd _with this_ can scarce deserve a Name;
How should it up to _immaterials_ rise,
When we're _all flame_, we shall _all fire_ despise.
This fire outrageous and its heat intense
Turns all the pain _of loss_ to pain _of sense_.
The folding flames _concave_ and _inward_ roll,
Act _upon spirit_ and penetrate _the soul_:
Not force of _Devils_ can its new powers repel,
Where'er it burns _it finds_ or _makes_ a HELL;
For _Satan_ flaming with unquench'd desire
Forms _his own Hell_, and kindles _his own fire_,
Vanquish'd, _not humbl'd_, not in will brought low,
But as _his powers_ decline _his passions_ grow:
The malice, _Viper like_, takes vent within,
Gnaws its own bowels, and bursts in _its own sin_:
Impatient of the change _he scorns to bow_,
And never _impotent_ in power _till now_;
Ardent with hate, and _with revenge_ distract,
A will to new attempts, _but none_ to act;
Yet all _seraphick_, and in just degree,
Suited _to Spirits high sense_ of misery,
Deriv'd from _loss_ which _nothing_ can repair,
And _room for nothing left_ but meer despair.
_Here's finish'd Hell!_ what fiercer fire _can burn_?
Enough ten thousand Worlds to over-turn.
HELL's but the frenzy of defeated pride,
Seraphick Treason's strong impetuous tide,
Where vile ambition _disappointed_ first,
To its _own rage_ and _boundless hatred_ curst;
The hate's _fan'd up to fury_, that to _flame_,
For _fire_ and _fury_ are in kind the same;
These burn unquenchable in every face,
And the word ENDLESS constitutes the place.

O _state of Being!_ where being's the only grief,
And the _chief torture_'s to be damn'd to life;
_O life!_ the only thing they have to hate;
The _finish'd torment_ of a future state,
Compleat in all the parts of endless misery,
And worse ten thousand times than _not_ to BE!
Could but the Damn'd _the immortal law_ repeal,
And _Devils dye_, there'd be _an end of Hell_;
Could they that thing call'd _Being_ annihilate,
There'd be _no sorrows_ in a future state;
The Wretch, whose crimes had shut him out _on high_,
Could be reveng'd on God himself _and die_;
_Job's Wife_ was in the right, and always we
Might end _by death_ all human misery, }
Might have it in our choice, _to be_ or not to be. }

CHAP. IV.

_Of the name of the Devil, his original, and the nature of his
circumstances since he has been called by that name._

The Scripture is the first writing on earth where we find the _Devil_ called by his own proper distinguishing denomination, DEVIL, or the [5] _Destroyer_; nor indeed is there any other author of antiquity or of sufficient authority which says any thing of that kind about him.

Here he makes his first appearance in the world, and on that occasion he is called the _Serpent_; but the _Serpent_ however since made to signify the _Devil_, when spoken of in general terms, was but the Devil's representative, or the Devil _in quo vis vehiculo_, for that time, clothed in a bodily shape, acting under cover and in disguise, or if you will the _Devil_ in _masquerade_: Nay, if we believe Mr. _Milton_, the _Angel Gabriel_'s spear had such a secret powerful influence, as to make him strip of a sudden, and with a touch to unmask, and stand upright in his naked original shape, meer _Devil_, without any disguises whatsoever.

Now as we go to the Scripture for much of his history, so we must go there also for some of his names; and he has a great variety of names indeed, as his several mischievous doings guide us to conceive of him. The truth is, all the ancient names given him, of which the Scripture is full, seems to be originals derived from and adapted to the several steps he has taken, and the several shapes he has appeared in to do mischief in the world.

Here he is called the _Serpent_, Gen. iii. 1.
The _old Serpent_, Rev. xii. 9.
The _great red Dragon_, Rev. xii. 3.
The _Accuser of the Brethren_, Rev. xii. 10.
The _Enemy_, Matt. xxiii. 29.
_Satan_, Job i. Zech. iii. 1, 2.
_Belial_, 2 Cor. vi. 15.
_Beelzebub_, Matt. xii. 24.
_Mammon_, Matt. vi. 24.
The _Angel of light_, 2 Cor. xi. 14.
The _Angel of the bottomless pit_, Rev. ix. 11.
The _Prince of the power of the air_, Eph. ii. 2.
_Lucifer_, Isa. xiv. 12.
_Abbaddon_ or _Apollion_, Rev. ix. 11.
_Legion_, Mark v. 9.
The _God of this world_, 2 Cor. iv. 4.
The _Foul Spirit_, Mark ix. 5.
The _Unclean Spirit_, Mark i. 27.
The _Lying Spirit_, 2 Chron. xxx.
The _Tempter_, Matt. iv. 3.
The _Son of the morning_, Isa. xiv. 12.

But to sum them all up in one, he is called in the new Testament _plain_ DEVIL; all his other names are varied according to the custom of speech, and the dialects of the several nations where he is spoken of; But in a word, _Devil_ is the common name of the _Devil_ in all the known languages of the earth. Nay, all the mischiefs he is empowered to do, are in Scripture placed to his account, under the particular title of the _Devil_, not of _Devils_ in the plural number, though they are sometimes mentioned too; but in the singular it is the identical individual _Devil_, in and under whom all the little _Devils_, and all the great _Devils_, if such there be, are supposed to act; nay, they are supposed to be govern'd and directed by him. Thus we are told in Scripture of the works of _the Devil_, 1 John iii. 8. of casting out _the Devil_, Mark i. 34. of resisting _the Devil_, James iv. 5. of our Saviour being tempted of _the Devil_, Mat. iv. 1. of _Simon Magus_, a child of the _Devil_, Acts xiii. 10. The _Devil_ came down in a great wrath, _Rev._ xii. 12. _and the like_. According to this usage in speech we go on to this day, and all the infernal things we converse with in the world, are fathered upon the _Devil_, as one undivided simple essence, by how many agents soever working: Every thing evil, frightful in appearance, wicked in its actings, horrible in its manner, monstrous in its effects, is called the _Devil_; in a word, _Devil_ is the common name for all _Devils_; that is to say, for all evil Spirits, all evil Powers, all evil Works, and even all evil things: Yet 'tis remarkable _the Devil_ is no old Testament word, and we never find it used in all that part of the Bible but four times, and then not once in the singular number, and not once to signify _Satan_ as 'tis now understood.

It is true, the Learned give a great many differing interpretations of the word _Devil_; the _English_ Commentators tell us, it means _a destroyer_, others that it signifies a deceiver, and the _Greeks_ derive it from a _Calumniator_ or false witness; for we find that _Calumny_ was a _Goddess_, to whom the _Athenians_ built altars and offer'd Sacrifices upon some solemn occasions, and they call her Diabole from whence came the masculine Diabolos which we translate _Devil_.

Thus we take the name of _Devil_ to signify not persons only, but actions and habits; making imaginary Devils, and transforming that substantial creature call'd DEVIL into every thing noxious and offensive: Thus St. _Francis_ being tempted by the _Devil_ in the shape of a bag of money lying in the highway, _the Saint_ having discover'd the fraud, whether seeing his _Cloven-foot_ hang out of the purse, or whether he distinguish'd him by his smell of _sulphur_, or how otherwise, authors are not agreed; but, I say, the Saint having discover'd the cheat, and out-witted the _Devil_, took occasion to preach that eminent sermon to his disciples, where his Text was, _Money is_ THE DEVIL.

Nor, upon the whole, is any wrong done to _the Devil_ by this kind of treatment, it only gives him the sovereignty of the whole army of Hell, and making all the numberless legions of the bottomless pit servants; or, _as the Scripture calls them_, Angels to _Satan_ the grand _Devil_; all their actions, performances and atchievements are justly attributed to him, not as the prince of _Devils_ only, but the Emperor of _Devils_; the prince of all the princes of _Devils_.

Under this denomination then of DEVIL, all the Powers of Hell, all the Princes of the air, all the black armies of _Satan_ are comprehended, and in such manner they are to be understood in this whole work; _mutatis mutandis_, according to the several circumstances of which we are to speak of them.

This being premis'd, and my authority being so good, _Satan_ must not take it ill, if I treat him _after the manner of men_, and give him those titles which he is best known by among us; for indeed having so many, 'tis not very easy to call him out of his name.

However, as I am oblig'd by the duty of an Historian to decency as well as impartiality, so I thought it necessary, before I used too much freedom with _Satan_, to produce authentick Documents, and bring antiquity upon the stage, to justify the manner of my writing, and let you see I shall describe him in no colours, nor call him by any name, but what he has been known by for many ages before me.

And now, though writing to the common understanding of my Readers, I am oblig'd to treat _Satan_ very coarsly, and to speak of him in the common acceptation, calling him plain _Devil_, a word which in this mannerly age is not so _sonorous_ as others might be, and which by the error of the Times is apt to prejudice us against his Person; yet it must be acknowledg'd he has a great many other names and sirnames which he might be known by, of a less obnoxious import than that of _Devil_, or _Destroyer_, &c.

Mr. _Milton_, indeed, wanting titles of honour to give to the Leaders of Satan's Host, is oblig'd to borrow several of his Scripture names, and bestow them upon his infernal _Heroes_, whom he makes the Generals and Leaders of the armies of Hell; and so he makes _Beelzebub_, _Lucifer_, _Belial_, _Mammon_, and some others, to be the names of particular Devils, members of _Satan's upper house_ or _Pandemonium_; whereas indeed, these are all names proper and peculiar to _Satan_ himself.

The Scripture also has some names of a coarser kind, by which _the Devil_ is understood, as particularly, which is noted already, in the Apocalypse he is call'd the _Great Red Dragon_, the _Beast_, the _Old Serpent_, and the like: But take it in the Scripture, or where you will in History sacred or prophane, you will find that in general the _Devil_ is, as I have said above, his ordinary name in all languages and in all nations; the name by which he and his works are principally distinguish'd: Also the Scripture, besides that it often gives him this name, speaks of the works of _the Devil_, of the subtilty of _the Devil_, of casting out _Devils_, of being tempted of the _Devil_, of being possess'd with a _Devil_, and so many other expressions of that kind, as I have said already, are made use of for us to understand the evil Spirit by, that in a word, _Devil_ is the common name of all wicked Spirits: For _Satan_ is no more _the Devil_, as if he alone was so, and all the rest were a diminutive species who did not go by that name; But, I say, even in Scripture, every Spirit, whether under his Dominion or out of his Dominion, is called the _Devil_, and is as much a real _Devil_, that is to say, a condemn'd Spirit, and employ'd in the same wicked work as _Satan_ himself.

His Name then being thus ascertain'd, and his Existence acknowledg'd, it should be a little enquir'd _what he is_; we believe there is such a thing, such a creature as _the Devil_, and that he has been, and may still with propriety of speech, and without injustice to his Character be call'd by his antient name _Devil_.

But who is he? what is his original? whence came he? and what is his present station and condition? for these things and these enquiries are very necessary to his History, nor indeed can any part of his History be compleat without them.

That he is of an antient and noble original must be acknowledged, for he is _Heaven-born_, and of _Angelic Race_, as has been touch'd already: If Scripture-evidence may be of any weight in the question, there is no room to doubt the genealogy of the _Devil_; he is not only spoken of as an _Angel_, but as a _fallen Angel_, one that had been in _Heaven_, had beheld the face of GOD in his full effulgence of glory, and had surrounded the Throne of the most High; from whence, commencing rebel and being expell'd, he was cast down, down, down, GOD and the _Devil_ himself only knows where; for indeed we cannot say that any man on Earth knows it; and wherever it is, he has ever since man's creation been a plague to him, been a tempter, a deluder, a calumniator, an enemy and the object of man's horror and aversion.

As his original is _Heaven-born_, and his Race _Angelic_, so the Angelic nature is evidently plac'd in a class superior to the human, and this the Scripture is express in also; when speaking of man, it says, he made him a little lower than the Angels.

Thus _the Devil_, as mean thoughts as you may have of him, is of a better family than any of you, nay than the best Gentleman of you all; what he may be fallen to, is _one thing_, but what he is fallen from, _is another_; and therefore I must tell my learned and reverend friend _J. W._ LL. D. when he spoke so rudely of _the Devil_ lately, That in my opinion he abus'd his Betters.

Nor is the Scripture more a help to us in the search after _the Devil_'s Original, than it is in our search after his Nature: it is true, Authors are not agreed about his age, what time he was created, how many years he enjoy'd his state of blessedness before he fell; or how many years he continued with his whole army in a state of darkness, and before the creation of man. 'Tis supposed it might be a considerable space, and that it was a part of his punishment too, being all the while unactive, unemploy'd, having no business, nothing to do but gnawing his own Bowels, and rolling in the agony of his own self-approaches, being a Hell to himself in reflecting on the glorious state from whence he was fallen.

How long he remain'd thus, 'tis true, we have no light into from History, and but little from Tradition; _Rabbi Judah_ says, the _Jews_ were of the opinion, that he remain'd twenty thousand years in that condition, and that the World shall continue twenty thousand more, in which he shall find work enough to satisfy his mischievous desires; but he shews no authority for his opinion.

Indeed let the _Devil_ have been as idle as they think he was before, it must be acknowledg'd that now he is the most busy, vigilant and diligent, of all GOD's creatures, and very full of employment too, _such as it is_.

Scripture indeed, gives us light into the enmity there is between the two natures, the Diabolical and the Human; the reason of it, and how and by what means the power of _the Devil_ is restrain'd by the _Messias_; and to those who are willing to trust to Gospel-light, and believe what the Scripture says of _the Devil_, there may much of his History be discover'd, and therefore those that list may go there for a fuller account of the matter.

But to reserve all Scripture-evidence of these things, as a Magazine in store for the use of those with whom Scripture-testimony is of force, I must for the present turn to other enquiries, being now directing my story to an age, wherein to be driven to Revelation and Scripture-assertions is esteem'd giving up the dispute; people now-a-days must have demonstration; and in a word, nothing will satisfy the age, but such evidence as perhaps the nature of the question will not admit.

It is hard, indeed, to bring demonstrations in such a case as this: _No man has seen_ GOD _at any time_, says the scripture, 1 _John_ iv. 12. So _the Devil_ being a spirit incorporeal, an Angel of light, and consequently not visible in his own substance, nature and form, it may in some sense be said, _no man has seen the Devil at any time_; all those pretences of phrenziful and fanciful people, who tell us, they have seen _the Devil_, I shall examine, and perhaps expose by themselves.

It might take up a great deal of our time here, to enquire whether _the Devil_ has any particular shape or personality of substance, which can be visible to us, felt, heard, or understood; and which he cannot alter, and then, what shapes or appearances _the Devil_ has at any time taken upon him; and whether he can really appear in a body which might be handled and seen, and yet so as to know it to have been _the Devil_ at the time of his appearing; but this also I defer as not of weight in the present enquiry.

We have divers accounts of Witches conversing with _the Devil_; the _Devil_ in a real body, with all the appearance of a body of a man or woman appearing to them; also of having a _Familiar_, as they call it, an _Incubus_ or _little Devil_, which sucks their bodies, runs away with them into the air, _and the like_: Much of this is said, but much more than it is easy to prove, and we ought to give but a just proportion of credit to those things.

As to his borrow'd shapes and his subtle transformings, that we have such open testimony of, that there is no room for any question about it; and when I come to that part, I shall be oblig'd rather to give a history of the fact, than enter into any dissertation upon the nature and reason of it.

I do not find in any author, whom we can call creditable, that even in those countries where the dominion of _Satan_ is more particularly establish'd, and where they may be said to worship him in a more particular manner, as _a Devil_; which some tell us the _Indians_ in _America_ did, who worship'd the _Devil_ that he might not hurt them; yet, _I say_, I do not find that even there the _Devil_ appear'd to them in any particular constant shape or personality peculiar to himself.

Scripture and History therefore, giving us no light into that part of the question, I conclude and lay it down, not as my opinion only, but as what all ages seem to concur in, that the _Devil_ has no particular body; that he is a spirit, and that tho' he may, _Proteus_ like, assume the appearance of either man or beast, yet it must be some borrow'd shape, some assum'd figure, _pro hac vice_, and that he has no visible body of his own.

I thought it needful to discuss this as a preliminary, and that the next discourse might go upon a certainty in this grand point; namely, that the Devil, however, he may for his particular occasions put himself into a great many shapes, and clothe himself, perhaps, with what appearances he pleases, yet that he is himself still a meer Spirit, that he retains the seraphic Nature, is not visible by our eyes, which are human and Organic, neither can he act with the ordinary Powers, or in the ordinary manner as bodies do; and therefore, when he has thought fit to descend to the meannesses of disturbing and frightning children and old women, by noises and knockings, dislocating the chairs and stools, breaking windows, and such like little ambulatory things, which would seem to be below the dignity of his character, and which in particular, is ordinarily performed by organic Powers; yet even then he has thought fit not to be seen, and rather to make the poor people believe he had a real shape and body, with hands to act, mouth to speak, _and the like_, than to give proof of it in common to the whole World, by shewing himself, and acting visibly and openly, as a body usually and ordinarily does.

Nor is it any disadvantage to the Devil, that his Seraphic nature is not confin'd or imprison'd in a body or shape, suppose that shape to be what monstrous thing we would; for this would, indeed, confine his actings within the narrow sphere of the organ or body to which he was limited; and tho' you were to suppose the body to have wings for a velocity of Motion equal to spirit, yet if it had not a power of invisibility too, and a capacity of conveying it self, undiscover'd, into all the secret recesses of mankind, and the same secret art or capacity of insinuation, suggestion, accusation, _&c._ by which his wicked designs are now propagated, and all his other devices assisted, by which he deludes and betrays mankind; I say, he would be no more a Devil, that is a Destroyer, no more a Deceiver, and, no more a Satan, that is, a dangerous Arch enemy to the souls of men; nor would it be any difficulty to mankind to shun and avoid him, as I shall make plain in the other part of his History.

Had the Devil from the beginning been embodied, as he could not have been invisible to us, whose souls equally seraphic are only prescrib'd by being embody'd and encas'd in flesh and blood as we are; so he would have been no more a Devil to any body but himself: The imprisonment in a body, had the powers of that body been all that we can conceive to make him formidable to us, would yet have been a Hell to him; consider him as a conquer'd exasperated Rebel, retaining all that fury and swelling ambition, that hatred of God, and envy at his creatures which dwells now in his enrag'd spirit as a _Devil_: yet suppose him to have been condemn'd to organic Powers, confin'd to corporeal motion, and restrain'd as a Body must be supposed to restrain a Spirit; it must, at the same time, suppose him to be effectually disabled from all the methods he is now allow'd to make use of, for exerting his rage and enmity against God, any farther than as he might suppose it to affect his Maker at second hand, by wounding his Glory thro' the sides of his weakest creature, MAN.

He must, certainly, be thus confin'd, because Body can only act upon Body, not upon Spirit; no species being empower'd to act out of the compass of its own sphere: He might have been empower'd, indeed, to have acted terrible and even destructive things upon mankind, especially if this body had any powers given it which mankind had not, by which man would be overmatch'd and not be in a condition of self-defence; for example, suppose him to have had wings to have flown in the air; Or to be invulnerable, and that no human invention, art, or engine could hurt, ensnare, captivate, or restrain him.

But this is to suppose the righteous and wise Creator to have made a creature and not be able to defend and preserve him; or to have left him defenceless to the mercy of another of his own creatures, whom he had given power to destroy him; This indeed, might have occasion'd a general idolatry, and made mankind, as the _Americans_ do to this day, worship the _Devil_, that he might not hurt them; but it could not have prevented the destruction of mankind, supposing the Devil to have had malice equal to his power: and he must put on a new nature, be compassionate, generous, beneficent, and steadily good in sparing the rival enemy he was able to destroy, or he must have ruin'd mankind: _In short_, he must have ceas'd to have been a Devil, and must have re-assum'd his original, Angelic, heavenly nature; been fill'd with the principles of love to, and delight in the Works of his Creator, and bent to propagate his Glory and Interest; or he must have put an end to the race of man, whom it would be in his Power to destroy, and oblige his Maker to create a new species, or fortify the old with some kind of defence, which must be invulnerable, and which his fiery darts could not penetrate.

On this occasion suffer me to make an excursion from the usual stile of this Work, and with some solemnity to express my Thoughts thus:

How glorious is the wisdom and goodness of the great Creator of the World! in thus restraining these seraphic OUTCASTS from the power of assuming human or organic bodies! which could they do, envigorating them with the supernatural Powers, which, as Seraphs and Angels, they now possess and might exert, they would be able even to fright mankind from the face of the Earth, and to destroy and confound God's Creation; nay, _even as they are_, were not their power limited, they might destroy the Creation it self, reverse and over-turn nature, and put the World into a general conflagration: But were those immortal Spirits embodied, tho' they were not permitted to confound nature, they would be able to harrass poor weak and defenceless man out of his wits, and render him perfectly useless, either to his Maker or himself.

But the Dragon is chain'd, the Devil's Power is limited; he has indeed a vastly extended Empire, being Prince of the Air, having, at least, the whole Atmosphere to range in, and how far that Atmosphere is extended, is not yet ascertain'd by the nicest observations; _I say at least_, because we do not yet know how far he may be allow'd to make excursions beyond the Atmosphere of this Globe into the planetary Worlds, and what power he may exercise in all the habitable parts of the _solar system_; nay, of all the other _solar systems_, which, for ought we know, may exist in the mighty extent of created space, and of which you may hear farther in its order.

But let his power be what it will there, we are sure 'tis limited here, and that in two particulars; first, he is limited as above, from assuming body or bodily shapes with substance; and secondly, from exerting seraphic Powers, and acting with that supernatural force, which, as an Angel, he was certainly vested with before the fall, and which we are not certain is yet taken from him; or at most, we do not know how much it may or may not be diminish'd by his degeneracy, and by the blow given him at his expulsion: this we are certain, that be his Power greater or less, he is restrain'd from the exercise of it in this World; and he, who was one equal to the Angel who kill'd 180000 men in one night, is not able now, without a new commission, to take away the life of one _Job_, nor to touch any thing he had.

But let us consider him then limited and restrained as he is, yet he remains a mighty, a terrible, an immortal Being; infinitely superior to man, as well in the dignity of his nature, as in the dreadful powers he retains still about him; it is true the brain-sick heads of our Enthusiasticks paint him blacker than he is, and, as I have said, wickedly represent him clothed with terrors that do not really belong to him; as if the power of good and evil was wholly vested in him, and that he was placed in the Throne of his Maker, to distribute both punishments and rewards; In this they are much wrong, terrifying and deluding fanciful people about him, till they turn their heads, and fright them into a belief that the _Devil_ will let them alone, if they do such and such good things; or carry them away with him they know not whither, if they do not; as if the _Devil_, whose proper business is mischief, seducing and deluding mankind, and drawing them in to be rebels like himself, should threaten to seize upon them, carry them away, and in a word, fall upon them to hurt them, if they did evil, and on the contrary, be favourable and civil to them, if they did well.

Thus a poor deluded country fellow in our Town, that had liv'd a wicked, abominable, debauch'd life, was frighted with an Apparition, as he call'd it, of the _Devil_; He fancy'd that he spoke to him, and telling his tale to a good honest christian Gentleman his neighbour, that had a little more sense than himself; the Gentleman ask'd him if he was sure he really saw the _Devil_? yes, yes, Sir, _says he_, I saw him very plain, and so they began the following discourse.

_Gent._ See him! See the Devil! art thou sure of it, _Thomas_?

_Tho._ Yes, yes, I am sure enough of it, _Master_; to be sure 'twas the _Devil_.

_Gent._ And how do you know 'twas the _Devil_, _Thomas_? had you ever seen the _Devil_ before?

_Tho._ No, no, I had never seen him before, _to be sure_; but, for all that, I know 'twas the _Devil_.

_Gent._ Well, if you're sure, _Thomas_, there's no contradicting you; pray what clothes had he on?

_Tho._ Nay, Sir, don't jest with me, he had no clothes on, he was clothed with fire and brimstone.

_Gent._ Was it dark or day light when you saw him?

_Tho._ O! it was very dark, for it was midnight.

_Gent._ How could you see him then? did you see by the light of the fire you speak of?

_Tho._ No, no, he gave no light himself; but I saw him, for all that.

_Gent._ But was it within doors, or out in the street?

_Tho._ It was within, it was in my own Chamber, when I was just going into bed, that I saw him.

_Gent._ Well then, you had a candle, hadn't you?

_Tho._ Yes, I had a candle, but it burnt as blue! and as dim!

_Gent._ Well, but if the Devil was clothed with fire and brimstone, he must give you some light, there can't be such a fire as you speak of, but it must give a light with it.

_Tho._ _No, no_, He gave no light, but I smelt his fire and brimstone; he left a smell of it behind him, when he was gone.

_Gent._ Well, so you say he had fire, but gave no light, it was a devilish fire indeed; did it feel warm? was the room hot while he was in it?

_Tho._ No, no, but I was hot enough without it, for it put me into a great sweat with the fright.

_Gent._ Very well, he was all in fire, you say, but without light or heat, only, it seems, he stunk of brimstone; pray what shapes was he in, what was he like; for you say you saw him?

_Tho._ O! Sir, I saw two great staring saucer eyes, enough to fright any body out of their wits.

_Gent._ And was that all you saw?

_Tho._ No, I saw his _cloven-foot_ very plain, 'twas as big as one of our bullocks that goes to plow.

_Gent._ So you saw none of his body, but his eyes and his feet? a fine vision indeed!

_Tho._ Sir, that was enough to send me going.

_Gent._ Going! what did you run away from him?

_Tho._ No, but I fled into bed at one jump, and sunk down and pull'd the bed-clothes quite over me.

_Gent._ And what did you do that for?

_Tho._ To hide my self from such a frightful creature.

_Gent._ Why, if it had really been the Devil, do you think the bed-clothes would have secur'd you from him?

_Tho._ Nay, I don't know, but in a fright it was all I could do.

_Gent._ Nay, 'twas as wise as all the rest; but come, _Thomas_, to be a little serious, pray did he speak to you?

_Tho._ Yes, yes, I heard a voice, but who it was the Lord knows.

_Gent._ What kind of voice was it, was it like a man's voice?

_Tho._ No, it was a hoarse ugly noise, like the croaking of a Frog, and it call'd me by my name twice, _Thomas Dawson, Thomas Dawson_.

_Gent._ Well, did you answer?

_Tho._ No, not I, I could not have spoke a word for my life; why, I was frighted to death.

_Gent._ Did it say any thing else?

_Tho._ _Yes_, when it saw that I did not speak, it said, _Thomas Dawson, Thomas Dawson, you are a wicked wretch, you lay with_ Jenny S---- _last night; if you don't repent, I will take you away alive and carry you to Hell, and you shall be damned, you wretch_.

_Gent._ And was it true, _Thomas_, did you lye with _Jenny S----_ the night before?

_Tho._ Indeed Master, why yes it was true, but I was very sorry afterwards.

_Gent._ But how should the Devil know it, _Thomas_?

_Tho._ Nay, he knows it to be sure; why, they say he knows every thing.

_Gent._ _Well_, but why should he be angry at that? he would rather did you lye with her again, and encourage you to lye with forty whores, than hinder you: This can't be the Devil, _Thomas_.

_Tho._ Yes, yes. Sir, 'twas the _Devil_ to be sure.

_Gent._ But he bid you repent too, you say?

_Tho._ Yes, he threatn'd me if I did not.

_Gent._ Why, _Thomas_, do you think the Devil would have you repent?

_Tho._ _Why no_, that's true too, I don't know what to say to that; but what could it be? 'twas the Devil to be sure, it could be nobody else?

_Gent._ No, no, 'twas neither the Devil, _Thomas_, nor any body else, but your own frighted imagination; you had lain with that wench, and being a young sinner of that kind, your Conscience terrified you, told you the Devil would fetch you away, and you would be damn'd; and you were so persuaded it would be so, that you at last imagin'd he was come for you indeed; that you saw him and heard him; whereas, you may depend upon it, if _Jenny S----_ will let you lye with her every night, the Devil will hold the candle, or do any thing to forward it, but will never disturb you; he's too much a friend to your wickedness, it could never be the Devil, _Thomas_; 'twas only your own guilt frighted you, and that was _Devil_ enough too, if you knew the worst of it, you need no other enemy.

_Tho._ Why that's true, Master, one would think the _Devil_ should not bid me repent, that's true; but certainly 'twas the Devil for all that.

Now _Thomas_ was not the only man that having committed a flagitious crime had been deluded by his own imagination, and the power of fancy, to think the Devil was come for him; whereas the Devil, to give him his due, is too honest to pretend to such things; 'tis his business to persuade men to offend, not to repent; and he professes no other; he may press men to this or that action, by telling them 'tis no sin, no offence, no breach of God's Law, and the like, when really 'tis both; but to press them to repent, when they have offended, that's quite out of his way; 'tis none of his business, nor does he pretend to it; therefore, let no man charge the Devil with what he is not concern'd in.

But to return to his Person, he is, as I have said, notwithstanding his lost glory, a mighty, a terrible and an immortal Spirit; he is himself call'd a Prince, _the Prince of the Power of the Air_; the Prince of Darkness, the Prince of _Devils_, and the like, and his attending Spirits are call'd _his Angels_: so that however _Satan_ has lost the glory and rectitude of his Nature, by his apostate state, yet he retains a greatness and magnificence, which places him above our rank, and indeed above our conception; for we know not what he is, any more than we know what the blessed Angels are; of whom we can say no more than that they are _ministring Spirits_, &c. as the Scripture has describ'd them.

Two things, however, may give us some insight into the nature of the Devil, in the present state he is in; and these we have a clear discovery of in the whole series of his Conduct from the Beginning.

1. That he is the vanquish'd but implacable enemy of God his
Creator, who has conquer'd him, and expell'd him from the
habitations of bliss; on which account he is fill'd with envy,
rage, malice, and all uncharitableness; would dethrone God and
overturn the thrones of Heaven, if it was in his power.

2. That he is man's irreconcilable Enemy; not as he is a man, nor
on his own account simply, nor for any advantage he (the Devil) can
make by the ruin and destruction of man; but in meer envy at the
felicity he is supposed to enjoy as Satan's rival; and as he is
appointed to succeed Satan and his Angels in the possession of
those glories from which they are fallen.

And here I must take upon me to say, Mr. _Milton_ makes a wrong judgment of the reason of _Satan_'s resolution to disturb the felicity of man; He tells us it was meerly to affront God his Maker, rob him of the glory design'd in his new work of creations and to disappoint him in his main design, namely, the creating a new species of creatures in a perfect rectitude of soul, and after his own image, from whom he might expect a new Fund of glory should be rais'd, and who was to appear as the triumph of the Messiah's victory over the Devil. In all which Satan could not be fool enough not to know that he should be disappointed by the same Power which had so eminently counter-acted his rage before.

But, I believe, the Devil went upon a much more probable design; and tho' he may be said to act upon a meaner principle than that of pointing his rage at the personal glory of his Creator; yet I own, that in my opinion, it was by much the more rational undertaking, and more likely to succeed; and that was, that whereas he perceived this new species of creatures had a sublime as well as a human part, and were made capable of possessing the mansions of eternal Beatitude, from whence, he (_Satan_) and his Angels were expell'd and irretrievably banish'd; envy at such a rival mov'd him by all possible artifice, _for he saw him deprived of capacity to do it by force_, to render him unworthy like himself; that bringing him to fall into rebellion and disobedience, he might see his Rival damn'd with him; and those who were intended to fill up the empty spaces in Heaven, made so by the absence of so many millions of fallen Angels, be cast out into the same darkness with them.

How he came to know that this new species of creatures were liable to such imperfection, is best explain'd by the _Devil_'s prying, vigilant disposition, judging or leading him to judge by himself; (for he was as near being infallible as any of God's creatures had been) and then inclining him to try whether it was so or no.

Modern Naturalists, especially some who have not so large a charity for the fair sex, as I have, tell us, that as soon as ever Satan saw the woman, and look'd in her face, he saw evidently that she was the best form'd creature to make a Tool of, and the best to make a hypocrite of, that could be made, and therefore the most fitted for his purpose.

1. He saw by some thwart lines in her face, (legible, perhaps, to himself only) that there was a throne ready prepar'd for the sin of pride to sit in state upon, especially if it took an early possession: EVE you may suppose was a perfect Beauty, if ever such a thing may be supposed in the human frame; her figure being so extraordinary, was the groundwork of his project; there needed no more than to bring her to be vain of it, and to conceit that it either was so, or was infinitely more sublime and beautiful than it really was; and having thus tickl'd her vanity, to introduce Pride gradually, till at last he might persuade her, that she was really Angelic, or of heavenly Race, and wanted nothing but to eat the forbidden fruit, and that would make her something more excellent still.