Chapter VIII: Part II: Chap. I (6)

It also remains a doubt with me, and, I suppose, will be so with others also, whether Satan has yet found out a Method to converse with Mankind, without the Help of Language and Words, or not: Seeing Man has no other Medium of Conversing, no not with himself: This I have not time to enter upon here; however, this seems plain to me (_viz._) that the _Devil_ soon learn'd to make Mankind understand him, whatever Language he spoke, and no doubt but he found Ways and Means to understand them, whatever Language they spoke.

After the Confusion of Languages, the People necessarily sorted themselves into Families and Tribes, every Family understanding their own particular Speech, and that only; and these Families multiplying grew into Nations, and those Nations wanting Room, and seeking out Habitations wandred some this Way, some that, till they found out Countries respectively proper for their settling, and there they became a Kingdom, spreading and possessing still more and more Land as their People encreased, till at last the whole Earth was scarce big enough for them: This presented _Satan_ with an Opportunity to break in upon their Morals at another Door, (_viz._) their Pride; for Men being naturally Proud and Envious, Nations and Tribes began to jostle with one another for Room; either one Nation enjoy'd better Accommodations, or had a better Soil or a more favourable Climate than another; and these being numerous and strong thrust the other out, and encroach'd upon their Land; the other liking their Situation, prepare for their Defence, and so began Oppression, Invasion, War, Battle and Blood, Satan all the while beating the Drums, and his Attendants clapping their Hands, as Men do when they set Dogs on upon one another.

The bringing Mankind thus to _War_ and _Confusion_, as it was the first Game the Devil play'd after the confounding of Languages and Divisions at _Babel_ so it was a Conquest upon Mankind, purely devilish, born from Hell, and so exactly tinctured with Satan's original Sin _Ambition_, that it really transform'd Men into meer Devils; for when is Man transform'd into the very Image of Satan himself, when is he turn'd into a meer Devil, if it is not when he is fighting with his fellow Creatures and dipping his Hands in the Blood of his own Kind? Let his Picture be consider'd, the Fire of Hell flames or sparkles in his Eyes, a voracious Grin sits upon his Countenance; Rage and Fury distort the Muscles of his Face; his Passions agitate his whole Body, and he is metamorphos'd from a comely Beauteous angelic Creature into a _Fury_, a _Satyr_, a terrible and frightful Monster, nay, into a _Devil_; for _Satan_ himself is describ'd by the same Word which on his very Account is chang'd into a Substantive, and the Devils are call'd _Furies_.

This sowing the Seeds of Strife in the World, and bringing Nations to fight and make War upon one another, would take up a great Part of the _Devil_'s History, and abundance of extraordinary Things would occur in relating the particulars; for there have been very great Conflagrations kindled in the World, by the Artifice of Hell, under this Head, (_viz._) of making War; in which it has been the _Devil_'s Master-piece, and he has indeed shewn himself a Workman in it, that he has wheedled Mankind into strange unnatural Notions of things, in order to propagate and support the fighting Principle in the World; such as Laws of War, fair Fighting, behaving like Men of Honour, fighting at the last Drop, and the like, by which killing and murdering is understood to be justifiable. Virtue and a true Greatness in Spirit is rated now by Rules which God never appointed, and the Standard of Honour is quite different from that of Reason and of Nature: Bravery is denominated not from a fearless undaunted Spirit in the just Defence of Life and Liberty, but from a daring Defiance of God and Man, fighting, killing and treading under Foot his fellow Creatures, at the ordinary Command of the Officer, whether it be right or wrong, and whether it be in a just Defence of Life, and our Country's Life, that is Liberty, or whether it be for the Support of Injury and Oppression.

A prudent avoiding causeless Quarrels is call'd Cowardice, and to take an affront Baseness, and Meanness of Spirit; to refuse fighting, and putting Life at a Cast on the Point of a Sword, a Practice forbid by the Laws of God and of all good Government, is yet call'd Cowardice; and a Man is bound to die duelling, or live and be laugh'd at.

This trumping up these imaginary Things call'd Bravery and Gallantry, naming them Virtue and Honour, is all from the _Devil_'s new Management, and his subtil influencing the Minds of Men to fly in the Face of God and Nature, and to act against his Senses; nor but for his Artifice in the Management, could it be possible that such Inconsistencies could go down with Mankind, or they could pass such absurd Things among them for reasoning; for Example, A is found in Bed with B's Wife, B is the Person injur'd, and therefore offended, and coming into the Chamber with his Sword in his Hand, A exclaims loudly, _Why Sir, you won't murder me, will you? as you are a Man of Honour let me rise and take my Sword_.

A very good Story indeed! fit for no body but the Devil to put into any Man's Head; But so it is, B being put in mind, forsooth, that he is _a Man of Honour_, starts back and must act the honourable Part; so he lets A get up, put on his Clothes and take his Sword; then they fight, and B is kill'd for his Honour; whereas had the Laws of God, of Nature and of Reason taken Place, the Adulterer and the Adulteress should have been taken Prisoners and carried before the Judge, and being taken in the Fact, should have been immediately sentenc'd, he to the Block and she to the Stake, and the innocent abus'd Husband had no Reason to have run any Risque of his Life for being made a Cuckold.

But thus has _Satan_ abus'd the Reason of Man; and if a Man does me the greatest Injury in the World, I must do my self Justice upon him, by venturing my life upon an even Lay with him, and must fight him upon equal Hazard, in which the injur'd Person is as often kill'd as the Person offering the Injury: Suppose now it be in the same Case _as above_, a Man abuses my Wife, and then to give me Satisfaction, tells me, he will fight me, which the _French_ call _doing me Reason_; _No Sir_, say I, _let me lie with your Wife too, and then if you desire it, I may fight you; then I am upon even Terms with you_; but this indeed is the Reasoning which the _Devil_ has brought Mankind too at this Day: But to go back to the Subject, _viz._ the Devil bringing the Nations to fall out, and to quarrel for Room in the World, and so to fight in order to dispossess one another of their Settlements: This began at a Time when certainly there were Places enough in the World for every one to choose in, and therefore the _Devil_, not the want of Elbow-room, must be the Occasion of it; and 'tis carried on ever since, as apparently from the same Interest, and by the same original.

But we shall meet with this Part again very often in the _Devil_'s Story, and as we bring him farther on in the Management of Mankind, I therefore lay it by for the Present, and come to the next Steps the _Devil_ took with Mankind after the Confusion of Languages, and this was in the Affair of Worship; It does not appear yet that ever the _Devil_ was so bold, as either,

1. To set himself up to be worship'd as a God, or which was still worse,

2. To persuade Man to believe there was no God at all to worship.

Both these are introduc'd since the Deluge, _one_ indeed by the _Devil_, who soon found Means to set himself up for a God in many Parts of the World, and holds it to this Day; but the _last_ is brought in by the Invention of Man, in which it must be confess'd Man has out-sin'd the Devil; for to do Satan justice, he never thought it could ever pass upon Mankind, or that any Thing so gross would go down with them; so that, _in short_, these modern Casuists, in the Reach of our Days, have, _I say_, out-sin'd the _Devil_.

As then both these are modern Inventions, _Satan_ went on gradually, and being to work upon human Nature by Stratagem, not by Force, it would have been too gross to have set himself up as an Object of Worship at first, it was to be done Step by Step; _for Example_.

1. It was sufficient to bring Mankind to a Neglect of God, to
worship him by halves, and give little or no Regard to his Laws,
and so grow loose and immoral, in direct Contradiction to his
Commands; this would not go down with them at first, so the Devil
went on gradually.

2. From a Negligence in worshiping the true GOD, he by Degrees
introduc'd the worship of false GODs; and to introduce this he
began with the _Sun_, _Moon_, and _Stars_, call'd in the holy Text
the Host of Heaven; these had greater Majesty upon them, and seem'd
fitter to command the Homage of Mankind; so it was not the hardest
Thing in the World, to bring Men, when they had once forgotten the
true God, to embrace the Worship of such Gods as those.

3. Having thus debauch'd their Principles in Worship, and led them
from the true and only Object of Worship to a false, it was the
easier to carry them on; so in a few Gradations more he brought
them to downright Idolatry, and even in that Idolatry he proceeded
gradually too; for he began with awful Names, such as were
venerable in the Thoughts of Men, as BAAL or BELL, which, in
_Chaldaick_ and _Hebrew_, signifies Lord or Sovereign, or Mighty
and Magnificent, and this was therefore a Name ascrib'd at first to
the true God; but afterwards they descended to make Images and
Figures to represent him, and then they were call'd by the same
Name, as _Baal_, _Baalim_, and afterwards _Bell_; from which, by a
hellish Degeneracy, Saturn brought Mankind to adore every Block of
their own hewing, and to worshipping Stocks, Stones, Monsters,
Hobgoblins, and every sordid frightful Thing, and at last the
_Devil_ himself.

What Notions some People may entertain of the Forwardness of the first Ages of the World, to run into Idolatry, I do not enquire here; I know they tell us strange Things, of its being the Product of meer Nature, one remove from its primitive State; but I, who pretend to have so critically enquir'd into _Satan_'s History, can assure you, and that from very good Authority, that the _Devil_ did not find it so easy a task to obliterate the Knowledge of the true God, in the Minds and Consciences of Men, as those People suggest.

It is true he carried Things a great Length under the Patriarchal Government of the first Ages, but still he was sixteen hundred Years bringing it to pass; and tho' we have Reason to believe the old World, before the Flood was arrived to a very great Height of Wickedness, and _Ovid_ very nobly describes it by the War of the _Titans_ against _Jupiter_, yet we do not read that ever Satan was come to such a Length as to bring them to Idolatry; indeed we do read of Wars carried on among them, whether it was one Nation against another, or only Personal, we cannot tell; But the World seem'd to be swallow'd up in a Life of Wickedness, that is to say, of Luxury and Lewdness, Rapine and Violence, and there were _Giants_ among them, and Men of Renown, that is to say, Men fam'd for their mighty Valour, great Actions of War we may suppose, and their Strength, who personally oppos'd others. We read of no considerable Wars indeed, but 'tis not to be doubted but there was such Wars, or else it is to be understood that they liv'd (in common) a Life somewhat like the Brutes, the Strong devouring the Weak; for the Text says, _the whole Earth was filled with Violence_, hunting and tearing one another in Pieces, either for Dominion or for Wealth, either for Ambition or for Avarice, we know not well which.

Thus far the old Antediluvian World went, and very wicked they were, there is no doubt of that; but we have Reason to believe that was no Idolatry, the _Devil_ had not brought them to that Length yet: perhaps it would soon have follow'd, but the Deluge interven'd.

After the Deluge, _as I have said_, he had all his Work to do over again, and he went on by the same Steps; _first_ he brought them to Violence and War, then to Oppression and Tyranny, then to neglect of true Worship, then to false worship, and then Idolatry by the meer natural Consequence of the Thing; who were the first Nation or People that fell from the Worship of the true God, is something hard to determine; the _Devil_, who certainly of all _God_'s Creatures is best able to inform us, having left us nothing upon Record upon that Subject, but we have Reason to believe it was thus introduc'd.

_Nimrod_ was the Grandson of _Ham_, _Noah_'s second Son, the same who was cursed by his Father for exposing him in his Drunkenness: This _Nimrod_ was the first who it seems _Satan_ pick'd out for a Hero: Here he inspir'd him with ambitious Thoughts, dreams of Empire, and having the Government of all the Rest, _that is to say_, universal Monarchy; the very same Bait with which he has plaid upon the Frailty of Princes, and ensnar'd the greatest of them ever since, even from his most August Imperial Majesty King _Nimrod_ the first, to his most Christian Majesty _Louis_ the XIV. and many a mighty Monarch between.

When these mighty Monarchs and Men of Fame went off the Stage, the World had their Memories in esteem many Ages after; and as their great Actions were no otherwise recorded than by oral Tradition, and the Tongues and Memories of fallible Men, Time and the Custom of magnifying the past Actions of Kings, Men soon fabl'd up their Histories, _Satan assisting_, into Miracle and Wonder: Hence their Names were had in Veneration more and more; Statues and Bustoes representing their Persons and great Actions were set 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 received Opinion, tho' I do not find Satan's History exactly concurring with it, was first call'd _Belus_, then _Baal_, and worship'd in most of the eastern Countries under those Names; sometimes with Additions of Sir-names, according to the several countries, or People, or Towns where he was particularly set up, as _Baal Peor_, _Baal Zephon_, _Baal Phegor_, and in other Places plain _Baal_, as _Jupiter_ in after Times had the like Additions; as _Jupiter Ammon_, _Jupiter Capitolinus_, _Jupiter Pistor_, _Jupiter Feretrius_, and about ten or twelve _Jupiters_ more.

I must acknowledge, that I think it was a Master-piece of Hell to bring the World to Idolatry so soon after they had had such an eminent Example of the infinite Power of the true God, as was seen in the Deluge, and particularly in the Escape of _Noah_ in the Ark, to bring them (even before _Noah_ or his Sons were dead) to forget whose 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 nothing when he was alive but Blood and War; I say, to bring the World to set up this Nothing, this meer Name, nay the very Image and Picture of him for _a God_, it was _first_ a Mark of most prodigious Stupidity in the whole Race of Men, a monstrous Degeneracy from Nature, and even from common Sense; and in the next Place 'twas a token of an inexpressible Craft and Subtilty in the _Devil_, who had now gotten the People into so full and compleat a Management, that in short, he could have brought them, by the same Rule, to have worship'd any thing; and in a little while more, did bring many of them to worship himself, _plain Devil as he was_, and knowing him to be such.

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 Confusion of _Babel_; for _Nimrod_, as is said, was no more than _Noah_'s great Grandson and _Noah_ himself, I suppose, might be alive some Years after _Nimrod_ was born; and as _Nimrod_ was not long dead, before they forgot that he was a Tyrant and a Murtherer, and made a _Baal_, that is a Lord or Idol of him, I say, he was not long dead, for _Nimrod_ was born in the Year of the World 1847, and built _Babylon_ the Year 1879; and we find _Terah_ the Father of _Abraham_, who liv'd from the Year 1879 was an Idolater, as was doubtless _Bethuel_, who was _Terah_'s Grandson; for we find _Laban_, who was _Bethuel_'s Son, was so, and all this was during the Life of the first Post-Diluvian Family, for _Terah_ was born within one hundred ninety three Years after the Flood, and one hundred fifty seven Years before _Noah_ was dead; and even _Abram_ himself was eight and fifty Years old before _Noah_ died, and yet Idolatry had been then, in all probability, above an hundred Years practised in the World.

N. B. It is worth Remark here, what a terrible Advantage the Devil
gain'd by the debauching poor _Noah_, and drawing him into the Sin
of Drunkenness; for by this, as I said, he silenc'd and stop'd the
Mouth of the great Preacher of Righteousness, that Father and
Patriarch of the whole World, who not being able for the Shame of
his own foul Miscarriage, to pretend to instruct or reprove the
World any more, the _Devil_ took hold of them immediately, and for
want of a Prophet to warn and admonish, 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 said to be thus overwhelm'd in Ignorance and Idolatry, we may make some tolerable guess at by the History of _Abraham_; for it was not till God call'd him from his Father's House, that any such Thing as a Church was establish'd in the World; nor even then, except in his own Family and Successors for almost four hundred Years after that Call; and till God brought the _Israelites_ back out of _Egypt_, the whole World may be said to be involv'd in Idolatry and _Devil_ worship.

So absolute a Conquest had the _Devil_ made over Mankind immediately after the Flood, and all taking its Rise and Beginning at the fatal Defeat of _Noah_, who had he liv'd untainted and invulnerable, as he had done for six hundred Years before, would have gone a great way to have stem'd the Torrent of Wickedness which broke in upon Mankind; and therefore the _Devil_, I say, was very cunning and very much in the Right of it, take him as he is a meer _Devil_, to attack _Noah_ personally, and give him a Blow so soon.

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 easily suppress the Principle of Worship and Homage to be paid to a Sovereign Being, the Author of Nature and Guide of the World; the _Devil_ saw this clearly in the first Ages of the new World, and therefore, as I have said, he proceeded politically and by Degrees: That it was so, is evident from the Story of _Job_ and his three Friends, who, if we may take it for a History, 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 _Temanite_, who it is manifest was at least Grandson or Great Grandson to _Esau Isaac_'s eldest Son, and by the Language of _Abimilech_ King of _Gerar_ to _Abraham_, and of _Laban_ to _Jacob_, both the Latter being at the same Time Idolaters; I say, if we may judge of it by all these, there were still very sound Notions of Religion in the Minds of Men; nor could Satan with all his Cunning and Policy deface those _Ideas_, and root them out of the Minds of the People.

And this put him upon taking new Measures to keep up his Interest and preserve the Hold he got upon Mankind; and his Method was like himself, subtle and politick to the last Degree, as his whole History makes appear; for seeing he found they could not but believe the Being of a God, and that they would needs worship something, it is evident, he had no Game left him to play but this, namely, to set up wrong Notions of Worship, and bring them to a false Worship instead of a True, supposing the Object worship'd to be still the same.

To finish this Stratagem, he first insinuates that the true God was a terrible, a dreadful, unapproachable Being; that to see him was so frightful, that it would be present Death; that to worship him immediately, was a Presumption which would provoke his Wrath; and that as he was a _consuming Fire_ in himself, so he would burn up those in his Anger that dar'd to offer up any Sacrifice to him, but by the Interposition of some Medium which might receive their Adorations in his Name.

Hence it occur'd presently, that subordinate Gods were to be found out and set up, to whom the People might pay the Homage due to the supreme God, and who they might worship in his Name; this I take from the most ancient Account of Idolatry in the World; nor indeed could the Devil himself find out any other Reason why Men should Cannonise or rather Deify their Princes and Men of Fame, and worship them after they were dead, as if they could save them from Death and Calamity, who were not able to save themselves when they were alive; much less could _Satan_ bring Men to swallow so gross, so absurd a Thing as the bowing the Knee to a Stock or a Stone, a Calf, an Ox, a Lion, nay the Image or Figure of a Calf, such as the _Israelites_ made at Mount _Sinai_, and say, _These be thy Gods, O_ Israel, _who brought thee out of the Land of_ Egypt.

Having thus, I say, brought them to satisfy themselves that they worship'd the true God and no other, under the Figures and Appearances which they made to represent him, it was easy after that to worship any thing for the true God; and thus in a few Ages they worship'd nothing but Idols, even throughout the whole World; nor has the _Devil_ lost this hold in some Parts of the World, nay not in most Parts of the World to this Day; He holds still all the Eastern Parts of _Asia_, and the Southern Parts of _Africa_, and the Northern Parts of _Europe_, and in them the vast Countries of _China_ and _Tartary_, _Persia_ and _India_, _Guinea_, _Ethiopia_, _Zanquebar_, _Congo_, _Angola_, _Monomotapa_, &c. in all which, _except Ethiopia_, we find no Vestiges of any other worship but that of Idols, Monsters, and even the _Devil_ himself; till after the very coming of our Saviour, and even then, if it be true that the Gospel was preach'd in the _Indies_ and _China_ by St. _Thomas_, and in other remote Countries by other of the Apostles; we see that whatever Ground _Satan_ lost, he seems to have recovered it again; and all _Asia_ and _Africa_ is at present overrun with Paganism or Mahometanism, which I think of the two is rather the worst; Besides all _America_, a Part of the World, as some say, equal in Bigness to all the other, in which the _Devil_'s Kingdom was never interrupted from its first being inhabited, _whenever it was_, to the first Discovery of it by the _European_ Nations in the sixteenth Century.

In a Word, the _Devil_ got what we may call an entire Victory over Mankind, and drove the Worship of the true God, in a Manner quite out of the World, forcing, _as it were_, his Maker in a new kind of Creation, the old one proving thus ineffectual to recover a certain Number by Force and meer Omnipotence to return to their Duty, serve him and worship him; _But of that hereafter_.

CHAP. XI.

_Of God's calling a Church out of the midst of a degenerate World, and of
Satan's new Measures upon that Incident: How he attack'd them
immediately, and his Success in those Attacks._

_Satan_ having, as I have said in the preceding Chapter, made, as it were, a full Conquest of Mankind, debauch'd them all to Idolatry, and brought them at least to worshiping the true God by the wretched Medium of corrupt and idolatrous Representations; God seem'd to have no true Servants or Worshippers left in the World, but if I may be allow'd to speak so, was oblig'd, in order to restore the World to their Senses again, to call a select Number out from among the rest, who he himself undertook should own his Godhead or supreme Authority, and worship him as he requir'd to be worship'd; this, _I say_, God was oblig'd to do, because 'tis evident it has not been done so much by the Choice and Council of Men, _for Satan would have over-rul'd that Part_, as by the Power and Energy of some irresistible and invincible Operation, and this our Divines give high Names to; but be it what they will, it is the second Defeat or Disappointment that the _Devil_ he met with in his Progress in the World; the first I have spoken of already.

It is true, Satan very well understood what was threatn'd to him in the original Promise to the Woman, immediately after the Fall, namely, _thou shalt bruise his Head_, &c. but he did not expect it so suddenly, but thought himself sure of Mankind, till the Fullness of Time when the Messiah should come; and therefore it was a great Surprize to him, to see that _Abraham_ being call'd was so immediately receiv'd and establish'd, tho' he did not so immediately follow the Voice that directed him, yet in him, in his Loins was all God's Church at that time contain'd.

In the calling _Abraham_, it is easy to see that there was no other way for God to form a Church, that is to say, to single out a People to himself, as the World was then stated, but by immediate Revelation and a Voice from Heaven: All Mankind were gone over to the Enemy, overwhelmed in Idolatry, in a Word, were engag'd to the _Devil_; God Almighty, or as the Scripture distinguishes him, _the Lord_, the true GOD, was out of the Question; Mankind knew little or nothing of him, much less did they know any thing of his Worship, or that there was such a Being in the World.

Well might it be said the _Lord_ appeared to _Abraham_, Gen. xii. 7. for if God had not appear'd himself, he must have sent a Messenger from Heaven, _and perhaps it was so too_, for he had not one true Servant or Worshiper that we know of then on Earth, to send on that Errand; no Prophet, no Preacher of Righteousness, _Noah_ was dead, and had been so above seventeen Year; and if he had not, his preaching, as I observed after his great Miscarriage, had but little Effect; we are indeed told, that _Noah_ left behind him certain Rules and Orders for the true Worship of God, which were call'd the Precepts of _Noah_, and remain'd in the World for a long Time; tho' how written, when neither any Letters, much less Writing were known in the World, is a Difficulty which Remains to be solv'd; and this makes me look upon those Laws call'd the Precepts of _Noah_ to be a modern Invention, as I do also the _Alphabetum Noachi_, which _Bochart_ pretends to give an Account of.

But to leave that Fiction, and come back to _Abraham_; God call'd him, whether at first by Voice without any Vision, whether in a Dream or Night Vision, which was very Significant in those Days, or whether by some awful Appearance, we know not; the second Time, 'tis indeed said expressly GOD appeared to him; Be it which Way it will, GOD himself call'd him, shew'd him the Land of _Canaan_, gave him the Promise of it for his Posterity, and withal gave him such a Faith, that the _Devil_ soon found there was no room for him to meddle with _Abraham_. This is certain, we do not read that the _Devil_ ever so much as attempted _Abraham_ at all; some will suggest that the Command to _Abraham_ to go and offer up his Son _Isaac_, was a Temptation of the _Devil_, if possible to defeat the glorious Work of GOD's calling a holy Seed into the World; for the _first_, if _Abraham_ had disobey'd that Call, the new Favourite had been overcome and made a Rebel of, or _secondly_, if he had _obey'd_, then the promis'd Seed had been cut off, and _Abraham_ defeated; but as the Text is express that GOD himself proposed it to _Abraham_, I shall not start the Suggestions of the Criticks, in Bar of the sacred Oracle.

Be it one way or other, _Abraham_ shew'd a Hero-like Faith and Courage, and if the _Devil_ had been the Author of it, he had seen himself disappointed in both his Views; (1.) by _Abraham_'s ready and bold Compliance, as believing it to be GOD's Command; and (2.) by the divine Countermand of the Execution, just as the fatal Knife was lifted up.

But if the _Devil_ left _Abraham_, and made no attack upon him, seeing him invulnerable, he made himself amends upon the other Branch of his Family, his poor _Nephew_ LOT; who, notwithstanding he was so immediately under the particular Care of Heaven, as that the Angel who was sent to destroy _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 the subtle _Devil_ found him out, deluded his two Daughters, took an Advantage of the Fright they had been in about _Sodom_ and _Gomorrah_, made them believe the whole World was burnt too, as well as those Cities, and that in short, they could never have any _Husbands_, &c. and so in their abundant Concern to repeople the World, and that the Race of Mankind might not be destroyed, they go and lie with their own _Father_; the _Devil_ telling them doubtless how to do it, by intoxicating his Head with Wine; in all which Story, whether they were not as drunk as their Father, seems to be a Question, or else they could not have supposed all the Men in the Earth were consum'd, when they knew that the little City _Zoar_ had been preserv'd for their Sakes.

This now was the third Conquest _Satan_ obtain'd by the Gust of humane Appetite; that is to say, once by Eating and twice by Drinking, or Drunkenness, and still the last was the worst and most shameful; for _Lot_, however his Daughters manag'd him, could not pretend he did not understand what the Strength of Wine was; and one would have thought after so terrible a Judgment as that of _Sodom_ was, which was, as we may say, executed before his Face, his Thoughts should have been too solemnly engag'd in praising God for sparing his Life, to be made drunk, and that two Nights together.

But the _Devil_ play'd his Game sure, he set his two Daughters to work, and as the _Devil_'s Instruments seldom fail, so he secur'd his by that hellish Stratagem of deluding the Daughters, to think all the World was consum'd but they two and their Father: To be sure the old Man could not suspect that his Daughters Design was so 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 religious Families in the World before, from whence a twofold Generation might be supposed to rise 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 said that just _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 incestuous _Lot_, LOT fallen from what he was, to be a wicked and unrighteous Man; no pattern of Virtue, no Reprover of the Age, but a poor fallen Degenerate Patriarch, who could now no more reprove or exhort, but look down and be asham'd, and nothing to do but to repent; and see the poor mean Excuses of all the three.

Eve says, _The Serpent beguil'd me, and I did eat_.

Noah says, ---- _My Grandson beguil'd me, or the Wine beguil'd me,
and I did drink_.

Lot says, _My Daughters beguil'd me, and I also did drink_.

It is observable, that as I said above, _Noah_ was silenc'd, and his Preaching at an End, after that one Action, so the like may be said of _Lot_; and in short, you never hear one Word more of either of them after it; as for Mankind, both were useless to them, and as to themselves, we never read of any of their Repentance, nor have we much Reason to believe they did repent.

From this Attack of the _Devil_ upon _Lot_, we hear no more of the _Devil_ being so busily employ'd as he had been before in the World; he had indeed but little to do, for all the rest of the World was his own, lull'd asleep under the Witchcraft of Idolatry, and are so still.

But it could not be long that the _Devil_ lay idle; as soon as God call'd himself a People, the _Devil_ could not be at Rest; till he attack'd them.

'Wherever God sets up a House of Prayer,
'The Devil always builds a Chapel there.

_Abraham_ indeed went off the Stage free, and so did _Isaac_ too, they were a Kind of first Rate Saints; we do not so much as read of any failing they had, or of any Thing the _Devil_ had ever the Face to offer to them; no, or with _Jacob_ either, if you will excuse him for beguiling his Brother _Esau_, of both his Birthright and his Blessing, but he was busy enough with all his Children; for Example,

* * * * *

He sent _Judah_ to his Sheep-shearing, and placed a Whore (_Tamar_)
in his Way, in the Posture of Temptation, so made him commit
Incest and Whoredom both together.

He sent incestuous _Reuben_ to lie with his Father's Concubine
_Billah_.

He sent _Dinah_ to the Ball, to dance with the _Sichemite_ Ladies,
and play the Whore with their Master.

He enrag'd _Simeon_ and _Levi_, at the supposed Injury, and then
prompted them to Revenge, for which their Father heartily cursed
them.

He set them all together to fall upon poor _Joseph_, first to
murther him intentionally, and then actually sell him to the
_Midianites_.

He made them shew the Party-colour'd Coat, and tell a lie to their
Father, to make the poor old Man believe _Joseph_ was kill'd by a
Lion, _&c._

He sent _Potiphar_'s Wife to attack _Joseph_'s Chastity, and fill'd
her with Rage at the Disappointment.

He taught _Joseph_ to swear by the Life of _Pharoah_.

* * * * *

In a Word, he debauch'd the whole Race, except _Benjamin_, and never Man had such a Set of Sons, so wicked and so notorious, after so good an Introduction into the World as they all of them had, _to be sure_; for _Jacob_, no doubt, gave them as good Instruction as the Circumstances of his wandring Condition would allow him to do.

We must now consider the _Devil_ and his Affairs in a quite differing Situation: When the World first 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 purpose enough: After the Deluge he had _Noah_ only to pitch upon, and he quickly conquer'd him by the Instigation of his _Grandson_.

At the Building of _Babel_ he guided them by their acting all in a Body as one Man; so that in short he manag'd them with ease, taking them as a Body politic; and we find they came into his Snare as one Man; but Now, the Children of _Israel_ multiplying in the Land of their Bondage, and God seeming to shew a particular Concern for them, the _Devil_ was oblig'd to new Measures, stand at a Distance, and look on for some Time.

The _Egyptians_ were plagued even without his Help, nor tho' the cunning Artist, as I said, stood and looked on, yet he durst not meddle; nor could he make a few Lice, the least and meanest of the Armies of Insects raised to afflict the _Egyptians_.

However, when he perceiv'd that God resolved to bring the _Israelites_ out, he prepar'd to attend them, to watch them, and be at Hand upon all the wicked Occasions that might offer, as if he had been fully satisfied such Occasions would offer, and that he should not fail to have an Opportunity to draw them into some Snare or another, and that therefore it was his Business not to be out of the Way, but to be ready (as we say) to make his Market of them in the best Manner he could: How many Ways he attempted them, nay, how many Times he conquer'd them in their Journey, we shall see presently.

First he put them in a fright at _Baal-Zephon_, where he thought he had drawn them into a Noose, and where he sent _Pharoah_ and his Army to block them up between the Mountains of _Piahiroth_ and the _Red Sea_; but there indeed _Satan_ was outwitted by _Moses_, so far as it appeared to be a humane Action, for he little thought of their going dry footed _thro' the Sea_, but depended upon having them all cut in Pieces the next Morning by the _Egyptians_; an eminent Proof, _by the Way_, that the _Devil_ has _no Knowledge of Events_, or any Insight into Futurity; nay that he has not so much as a second Sight, or knows to Day what his Maker intends to do to Morrow; for had _Satan_ known that God intended to Ford them over the Sea, if he had not been able to have prevented the Miracle, he would certainly have prevented the Escape, by sending out _Pharoah_ and his Army time enough to have taken the Strand before them, and so have driven them to the Necessity of travelling on Foot round the North Point of that Sea, by the Wilderness of _Etan_, where he would have pursu'd and harrass'd them with his Cavalry, and in all Probability have destroy'd them: But the blind short-sighted Devil, perfectly in the Dark, and unacquainted with Futurity, knew nothing of the Matter, was as much deceiv'd as _Pharoah_ himself, stood still flattering himself with the Hopes of his Booty, and the Revenge he should take upon them the next Morning; till he saw the frighted Waves in an Uproar, and to his utter Astonishment and Confusion saw the Passage laid open, and _Moses_ leading his vast 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; for I can hardly think so hard of the _Devil_ himself, that if he had, he would have suffer'd, much less prompted _Pharoah_ to follow the Chase at such an Expence; so that either he must be an ignorant unforeseeing Devil, or a very ungrateful false _Devil_ to his Friends the _Egyptians_.

I am enclin'd also to the more charitable Opinion of Satan too, because the Escape of the _Israelites_ was really a Triumph over himself; for the War was certainly his, or at least he was auxiliary to _Pharoah_, it was a Victory over _Hell_ and _Egypt_ together, and he would never have suffer'd the Disgrace, if he had known it beforehand; that is to say, tho' he could not have prevented the Escape of _Israel_, or the dividing the Water, yet he might have warn'd the _Egyptians_, and cautioned them not to venture in after them.

But we shall see a great many weak Steps taken by the Devil in the Affair of this very People and their forty Years Wandring in the Wilderness; and tho' he was in some things successful, and wheedled them into many foolish and miserable Murmurings and Wranglings against God, and Mutinies against poor _Moses_, yet the _Devil_ was oftentimes baulk'd and disappointed; and 'tis for this Reason that I choose to finish the first Part of his History with the particular Relation of his Behaviour among the _Jews_, because also, we do not find any extraordinary Things happening any where else in the World for above one thousand five hundred Years, no Variety, no Revolutions; all the Rest of Mankind lay still under his Yoke, quietly submitted to his Government, did just as he bad them, worship'd every Idol he set up, and in a Word, he had no Difficulty with any Body but the _Jews_, and for this Reason, I say, this Part of his Story will be the more useful and instructing.

To return therefore to _Moses_ and his dividing the _Red Sea_; that the People went over or thro' it, that we have the sacred History for; but how the Devil behav'd, that you must come to me for, or I know not where you will find a true Account of it, at least not in Print.

1. It was in the Night they march'd thro', whether the _Devil_ saw it in the Dark or no, that's not my Business.

But when he had Day-Light for it, and view'd the next Day's Work, I make no Question but _all Hell felt the Surprise_, the Prey being thus snatch'd out of their Hands unexpectedly. 'Tis true the _Egyptians_ Host was sent to him in their Room, but that was not what he aim'd at; for he was sure enough of them his own Way, and if it was not _just at that Time_, yet he knew what and who they were; but as he had devour'd the whole _Israelitish_ Host in his Imagination, to the Tune of at least a Million and a half of Souls; Men, Women and Children; it was, no doubt, a great Disappointment to the Devil to miss of his Prey, and to see them all triumphing on the other Side in Safety.

It is true, _Satan_'s Annals do not mention this Defeat, for Historians are generally backward to register their own Misfortunes; but as we have an Account of the Fact from other Hands, so as we cannot question the Truth of it; the Nature of the Thing will tell us it was a Disappointment to the _Devil_, and a very great one too.

I cannot but observe here, that I think this Part of the _Devil_'s Story very entertaining, because of the great Variety of Incidents which appear in every Part of it; sometimes he is like a hunted Fox, curvetting and counter-running to avoid his being pursued and found out, while at the same time he is carrying on his secret Designs to draw the People he pretends to manage, into some Snare or other to their Hurt; at another time, tho' the Comparison is a little too low for his Dignity, like a Monkey that has done Mischief, and who making his own Escape sits and chatters at a Distance, as if he had triump'd in what he had done; so Satan, when he had drawn them in to worship a Calf, to offer strange Fire, to set up a Schism, and the like; and so to bring the Divine Vengeance upon themselves, leaving them in their Distress, kept at a Distance, as if he look'd on with Satisfaction to see them Burnt, swallow'd up, swept away, and the like; as the several Stories relate.

His indefatigable Vigilance is, on the other hand, a useful Caveat, as well as an improving View to us; no sooner is he routed and expos'd, defeated and disappointed in one Enterprize, but he begins another, and, like a cunning Gladiator, warily defends himself, and boldly attacks his Enemy at the same time. Thus we see him, up and down, conquering and conquered, thro' this whole Part of his Story, till at last he receives a total Defeat; of which you shall hear in its place: In the mean time, let us take up his Story again at the _Red Sea_, where he receiv'd a great Blow, instead of which he expected a compleat Victory; for doubtless the Devil and the King of _AEgypt_ too, thought of nothing but Conquest at _Piahiroth_.

However, tho' the Triumph of the _Israelites_ over the _Egyptians_ must needs be a great Mortification to the _Devil_, and exasperated him very much, yet the Consequence 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 resolves to do for himself; in order then to take his Opportunity for what Mischief might offer, being defeated, and provok'd, I say, at the Slur that was put upon him, he resolves to follow them into the Wilderness, and many a vile Prank he plaid them there; as first, he straitens them for Water, and makes them murmur against GOD, and against _Moses_, within a very few Days, nay, Hours, of their great Deliverance of all.

Nor was this all, but in less than one Year more we find them, (at his Instigation too) setting up a _golden Calf_, and making all the People dance about it at Mount _Sinai_; even when God himself had but just before appear'd to them in the Terrors of a burning Fire upon the Top of the Mountain; _and what was the Pretence?_ Truly, nothing but that they had lost _Moses_, who used to be their Guide, and he had hid himself in the Mount, and had not been seen in forty Days, so that they could not tell what was become of him. This put them all into Confusion; a poor Pretence indeed, to turn them all back to Idolatry! but the _watchful Devil_ took the Hint, push'd the Advantage, and insinuated that they should never see _Moses_ again, that he was certainly devour'd by venturing too near the Flashes of Fire in the Mount, and presuming upon the Liberty he had taken before; in a word, that God had destroyed _Moses_, or he was starved to Death for want of Food, having been forty Days and forty Nights absent.

All these were, it's true, in themselves most foolish Suggestions, considering _Moses_ was admitted to the Vision of God, and that God had been pleased to appear to him in the most intimate manner; that as they might depend God would not destroy his faithful Servant, so they might have concluded he was able to support his Being without Food as long as he thought fit; but to a People so easy to believe any thing, what could be too gross for the _Devil_ to persuade them to?

A People who could dance round a Calf, and call it their God, might do any thing; that could say to one another, that this was the Great JEHOVAH, _that brought them out of the Land of Egypt_; and that within so few Days after God's miraculous Appearance to them, and for them; I say, such a People were really fitted to be imposed upon, nothing could be too gross for them.

This was indeed his first considerable Experiment upon them as _a People_, or as _a Body_; and the Truth is, his Affairs requir'd it, for _Satan_, who had been a Successful Devil in most of his Attempts upon Mankind, could hardly doubt of Success 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 just after their Deliverance! It was more astonishing in the main than even their passing _the Red Sea_: In a Word, the _Devil_'s whole History does not furnish us with a Story equally surprising.

And how was poor _Aaron_ bewilder'd in it too? He that was _Moses_'s Partner in all the great Things that _Moses_ did in _Pharaoh_'s Sight, and that was appointed to be his Assistant and Oracle, _or Orator rather_, upon all public Occasions; that he, above all the rest, should come into this absurd and ridiculous Proposal, he that was singled out for the sacred Priesthood, 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 monstrous it was!

And see what an Answer he gives to his Brother _Moses_, how weak! how simple! _I did so and so, indeed_, I bad them bring the Ear-rings, _&c._ and I cast the Gold into the Fire, and _it came out this Calf_. Ridiculous! as if the Calf came out by meer fortuitous Adventure, without a Mould to cast it in; which could not be supposed: And if it had not come out so without a Mould, _Moses_ would certainly have known of it; had _Aaron_ been innocent, he would have answered after quite another manner, and told _Moses_ honestly that the whole Body of the People came to him in a Fright, that they forced him to make them an Idol; which he did, by making first a proper Mould to cast it in, and then taking the proper Metal to cast it from: That indeed he had sinn'd in so 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 _Devil_ prompting his Fear beguil'd him, he had said nothing but what was certainly true; for if it was in Satan's Power to make the People insolent and outrageous enough to threaten and bully the old venerable Prophet (_for he was not yet a Priest_) who was the Brother of their Oracle _Moses_, and had been Partner with him in so many of his Commissions; I say, if he cou'd bring up the Passions of the People to a Height to be rude and unmannerly to him (_Aaron_) and perhaps to threaten and insult him, he may be easily suppos'd to be able to intimidate _Aaron_, and terrify him into a Compliance.

See this cunning Agent, when he has Man's Destruction in his View, how securely he acts! he never wants a handle; the best 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; only take it with you as you go, 'tis always _by Stratagem_, never _by Force_; a Proof that he is not empower'd to use Violence: He may tempt, and he does prevail; but 'tis all _Legerdemain_, 'tis all Craft and Artifice, he is still Diabole, the _Calumniator_ and Deceiver, that is, the Misrepresenter; he misrepresents _Man_ to GOD, and misrepresents GOD to _Man_, also he misrepresents Things; he puts false Colours, and then manages the Eye to see them with an imperfect View, raising Clouds and Fogs to intercept our Sight; in short, he deceives all our Senses, and imposes upon us in Things which otherwise would be the easiest to discern and judge of.