Of the Number of Satan’s Host; how they came first to know of the new created Worlds, now in being, and their Measures with Mankind upon the Discovery.
Of the Number of Satan’s Host; how they came first to know of the new created Worlds, now in being, and their Measures with Mankind upon the Discovery.
Severalthings have been suggested to set us a calculating the number of this frightful throng ofDevils, who with Satan, theMaster-Devil, was thus cast out ofHeaven; I cannot say, I am so much Master of Political Arithmetick as to cast up the Number of the Beast, no, nor the Number of the Beastsor Devils, who make up this Throng. St.Francis, they tell us, or some other Saint, they do not say who, ask’d theDevilonce, how strong he was? for St.Francis, you must know, was very familiar with him;The Devil, it seems, did not tell him, but presently raised a great Cloud of Dust, by the help, I suppose, of a Gust of Wind, and bid that Saint count it; He was, I suppose, a Calculator, that would be call’d grave, who dividingSatan’s Troops into three Lines, cast up the Number of theDevilsof all sorts in each Battalia, at ten hundred times a hundred thousand millions of the first Line, fifty millions of times as many in the second Line, and three hundred thousand times as many as both in the third Line.
The Impertinence of this account would hardly have given it a place here, only to hint that it has always been the Opinion, thatSatan’s Name may well be call’d a Noun of Multitude, and thatthe Deviland hisAngelsare certainly noinconsiderable Number: It was a smart Repartee that aVenetianNobleman made to a Priest who rallied him upon his refusing to give something to the Church, which the Priest demanded for the delivering him from Purgatory; when the Priest asking him,if he knew what an innumerable Number ofDevilsthere were to take him? he answer’d,yes, he knew how manyDevilsthere were in all:How many?says the Priest, his curiosity, I suppose, being rais’d by the novelty of the answer.Why ten millions five hundred and eleven thousand, six hundred and seventy five Devils and a half, says the Nobleman:A half!says the Priest,pray what kind of a Devil is that? your self, says the Nobleman,for you are half a Devil already (and will be a whole one when you come there) for you are for deluding all you deal with, and bringing us Soul and Body into your Hands, that you may be paid for letting us go again. So much for their Number.
Here also it would come in very aptly, to consider the state of that long interval between the Time of their Expulsion fromHeaven, and the Creation of the World; and what the Posture of the Devil’s Affairs might be, during that Time. The horror of their Condition can only be conceiv’d of at a Distance, and especially by us, who being embodied Creatures, cannot fully judge of what is, or is not a Punishment toSeraphsandSpirits; But ’tis just to suppose they suffer’d all that Spirits of a Seraphic Nature were capable to sustain, consistent with their Existence; notwithstanding which they retain’d still theHellishnessof their rebellious Principles; namely, their Hatred and Rage against God, and their Envy at the Felicity of his Creatures.
As to how long their time might be, I shall leave that Search; no lights being given me thatare either probable or rational, and we have so little room to make a Judgment of it, that we may as well believe FatherM——, who supposes it to be a hundred thousand Years, as those who judge it one thousand Years; ’tis enough that we are sure, it was before the Creation, how long before is not material tothe Devil’s History, unless we had some Records of what happen’d to him, or was done by him in the Interval.
During the wandring Condition the Devil was in at that Time, we may suppose, he and his whole Clan to be employ’d in exerting their Hatred and Rage at the Almighty, and at the Happiness of the remaining faithful Angels, by all the ways they had power to shew it.
From this determin’d stated Enmity ofSatanand his Host againstGod, and at every thing that brought Glory to his Name, Mr.Miltonbrings inSatan, (when first he sawAdaminParadise, and the Felicity of his Station there) swelling with Rage and Envy, and taking up a dreadful Resolution to ruinAdamand all his Posterity, meerly to disappoint his Maker of the Glory of his Creation; I shall come to speak of that in its Place.
HowSatan, in his remote Situation, got Intelligence of the Place where to findAdamout, or that any such thing as a Man was created, is Matter of just Speculation, and there might be many rational Schemes laid for it: Mr.Miltondoes not undertake to tell us the Particulars, nor indeed could he find room for it; perhaps, theDevilhaving,as I have said, a Liberty to range over the whole Void or Abyss, which we want as well a Name for, as indeed Powers to conceive of; might have discovered that the Almighty Creator had form’d a new and glorious Work, with infinite Beauty and Variety, fillingup the immense Wast of Space, in which he, (theDevil) and hisAngels, had rov’d for so long a time, without finding any thing to work on, or to exert their Apostate Rage in against their Maker.
That at length they found the infinite untrodden Space, on a sudden spread full with glorious Bodies, shining in self-existing Beauty, with a new, and to them unknown Lustre, call’d Light: They found these luminous Bodies, tho’ immense in Bulk, and infinite in Number, yet fixt in their wondrous Stations, regular and exact in their Motions, confin’d in their proper Orbits, tending to their particular Centers, and enjoying every one their peculiar Systems, within which was contain’d innumerable Planets with their Satellites or Moons, in which (again) a reciprocal Influence, Motion and Revolution conspired to Form the most admirable Uniformity of the whole.
Surprized, to be sure, with this sudden and yet glorious Work of the Almighty; for the Creation was enough, with its Lustre, even to surprizethe Devils; they might reasonably be supposed to start out of their dark Retreat, and with a Curiosity not below the Seraphic Dignity; forthese aresome ofthe things which the Angels desire to look into, to take a flight thro’ all the amazing Systems of the fix’d Suns or Stars, which we see now but at a Distance, and only make Astronomical Guesses at.
Here the Devil found not subject of Wonder only, but matter to swell his revolted Spirit with more Rage, and to revive the Malignity of his Mind against his Maker, and especially against this new encrease of Glory, which to his infinite Regret was extended over the whole Wast, and which he look’d upon, as we say in humanAffairs, as aPays conquis, or, if you will have it in the Language of theDevil, as an invasion upon his Kingdom.
Here it naturally occur’d to them, in their State of Envy and Rebellion, that tho’ they could not assault the impregnable Walls of Heaven, and could no more pretend to raise War in the Place of Blessedness and Peace; yet that perhaps they might find Room in this new, and however glorious, yet inferior Kingdom or Creation, to work some despite to their great Creator, or to affront his Majesty in the Person of some of his new made Creatures; and upon this they may be justly supposed to double their Vigilance, in the survey they resolve to take of these new Worlds, however great, numberless and wonderful.
What Discoveries they may have made in the other and greater Worlds, than this Earth, we have not yet had an account; possibly they are conversant with other Parts of God’s Creation, besides this little little Globe, which is but as a Point in comparison of the Rest; and with other of God’s Creatures besides Man, who may, according to the Opinion of our Philosophers, inhabit those Worlds; but as no body knows that Part but theDevil, we shall not trouble our selves with the Enquiry.
But ’tis very reasonable, and indeed probable, thatthe Devilswere more than ordinarily surpriz’d at the Nature and Reason of all this glorious Creation, after they had, with the utmost Curiosity, view’d all the parts of it; The Glories of the several Systems; the immense spaces in which those glorious Bodies that were created and made part of it, were allow’d respectively to move; the innumerable fix’d Stars, as so many Suns in the Center of so many distantSolar Systems; the(likewise innumerable) dark opaque Bodies receiving light, and depending upon those Suns respectively for such light, and then reflecting that light again upon and for the Use of one another; To see the Beauty and Splendor of their Forms, the Regularity of their Position, the Order and Exactness, and yetinconceivableVelocity of their Motions, the certainty of their Revolutions, and the Variety and Virtue of their Influences; and then, which was even to the Devils themselves most astonishing, That after all the rest of their Observations they should find this whole immense Work was adapted for, and made subservient to the Use, Delight and Blessing only of one poor Species, in itself small, and in Appearance contemptible; the meanest of all the Kinds supposed to inhabit so many glorious Worlds, as appeared now to be form’d; I mean, that Moon call’d the Earth, and the Creature call’d Man; that all was made for him, upheld by the wise Creator, on his account only, and would necessarily end and cease whenever that Species should end and be determin’d.
That this Creature was to be found no where but (as above) in one little individualMoon; a Spot less than almost any of the Moons, which were in such great Numbers to be found attendant upon, and prescrib’d with in every System of the whole created Heavens; This was astonishing even to theDevilhimself, nay the whole Clan ofDevilscould scarce entertain any just Ideas of the thing; Till at lastSatan, indefatigable in his Search or Enquiry into the Nature and Reason of this new Work, and particularly searching into the Species of Man, whom he found God had thus plac’d in the little Globe, call’dEarth; he soon came to anEclairicissement, or a clear Understanding of the whole.For Example,
First, He found this Creature, call’d Man, was however mean and small in his Appearance, a kind of a Seraphic Species; that he was made in the very Image of God, endowed with reasonable Faculties to know Good and Evil, and possess’d of a certain thing till then unknown and unheard of even in Hell it self; that is, in the Habitation of Devils, let that be where it would, (viz.)2. ThatGodhad made him indeed of the lowest and coarsest Materials, but that he had breath’d into him the Breath of Life, and that he became a living thing call’dSoul, being a kind of an extraordinary heavenly and divine Emanation; and consequently that Man, however mean and Terrestrial his Body might be, was yet, Heaven-born, in his spirituous Part compleatly Seraphic; and after a Space of Life here, (determin’d to be a state of probation) he should be translated thro’ the Regions of Death into a Life purely and truly Heavenly, and which should remain so for ever; being capable of knowing and enjoying God his Maker, and standing in his Presence, as the glorified Angels do.3. That he had the most sublime Faculties infused into him; was capable not only of knowing and contemplating God, and which was still more, of enjoying him, as above; but (which theDevilnow was not) capable of honouring and glorifying his Maker; who also had condescended to accept of Honour from him.4. And which was still more, that being of an Angelic Nature, tho’ mix’d with, and confined for the present in a Case of mortal Flesh; he was intended to be remov’d fromthis Earth after a certain time of Life here, to inhabit that Heaven, and enjoy that very Glory and Felicity, from which Satan and his Angels had been expell’d.
First, He found this Creature, call’d Man, was however mean and small in his Appearance, a kind of a Seraphic Species; that he was made in the very Image of God, endowed with reasonable Faculties to know Good and Evil, and possess’d of a certain thing till then unknown and unheard of even in Hell it self; that is, in the Habitation of Devils, let that be where it would, (viz.)
2. ThatGodhad made him indeed of the lowest and coarsest Materials, but that he had breath’d into him the Breath of Life, and that he became a living thing call’dSoul, being a kind of an extraordinary heavenly and divine Emanation; and consequently that Man, however mean and Terrestrial his Body might be, was yet, Heaven-born, in his spirituous Part compleatly Seraphic; and after a Space of Life here, (determin’d to be a state of probation) he should be translated thro’ the Regions of Death into a Life purely and truly Heavenly, and which should remain so for ever; being capable of knowing and enjoying God his Maker, and standing in his Presence, as the glorified Angels do.
3. That he had the most sublime Faculties infused into him; was capable not only of knowing and contemplating God, and which was still more, of enjoying him, as above; but (which theDevilnow was not) capable of honouring and glorifying his Maker; who also had condescended to accept of Honour from him.
4. And which was still more, that being of an Angelic Nature, tho’ mix’d with, and confined for the present in a Case of mortal Flesh; he was intended to be remov’d fromthis Earth after a certain time of Life here, to inhabit that Heaven, and enjoy that very Glory and Felicity, from which Satan and his Angels had been expell’d.
When he found all this, it presently occur’d to him, that God had done it all as an act of Triumph over him (Satan,) and that these Creatures were only created to people Heaven, depopulated or stript of its inhabitants by his Expulsion, and that these were all to be madeAngelsin theDevil’s stead.
If this thought encreas’d his Fury and Envy, as far asRage of Devilscan be capable of being made greater; it doubtless set him on work to give a Vent to that Rage and Envy, by searching into the Nature and Constitution of this Creature, call’dMan; and to find out whether he was invulnerable, and could by no means be hurt by the Power of Hell, or deluded by his Subtilty; or whether he might be beguil’d and deluded, and so, instead of being preserv’d in Holiness and Purity, wherein he was certainly created, be brought to fall and rebell as he (Satan) had done before him; by which, instead of being transplanted into a glorious State, after this Life in Heaven, as his Maker had design’d him to be, to fill up the Angelic Choir, and supply the Place from whence he (Satan) had fallen, he might be made to fall also like him, and in a Word, be made aDevillike himself.
This convinces us that theDevilhas not lost his natural Powers by his Fall; and our learned Commentator Mr.Poolis of the same Opinion; tho’ he grants that theDevilhas lost his moral Power, or his Power of doing Good, which he can never recover.VideMr.PooluponActsxix. 17. where we may particularly observe,when the Man possess’d with an evil Spirit flew upon the seven Sons ofScævatheJew, who would have Exorcis’d them in the Name ofJesus, without the Authority ofJesus, or without Faith in him; He flew on them and master’d them, so that they fled out of the House from the Devil conquered, naked and wounded: But of this Power of the Devil I shall speak by it self.
In a Word, and to sum up all theDevil’s Story from his first Expulsion, it stands thus: For so many Years as were between his Fall and the Creation of Man, tho’ we have noMemoirsof his particular Affairs, we have Reason to believe he was without any Manner of Employment; but a certain tormenting Endeavour to be always expressing his Rage and Enmity against Heaven; I call it tormenting, Because ever disappointed; every thought about it proving empty; every attempt towards it abortive; Leaving him only Light enough to see still more and more Reason to despair of Success; and that this made his Condition still more and more a Hell than it was before.
After a Space of Duration in this Misery, which we have no light given us to measure or judge of, He at length discovered the new Creation of Man, as above, upon which he soon found Matter to set himself to work upon, and has been busily employ’d ever since.
And now indeed there may be room to suggest a LocalHell, and the Confinement of Souls (made corrupt and degenerate by him) to it, as a Place; tho’ he himself, as is still apparent by his Actings, is not yet confin’d to it; of this Hell, its Locality, Extent, Dimensions, Continuance and Nature, as it does not belong to Satan’s History, I have a good excuse for saying nothing,and so put off my meddling with that, which if I would meddle with, I could say nothing of to the Purpose.
Of the Power of the Devil at the Time of the Creation of this World; whether it has not been farther straitn’d and limited since that Time, and what Shifts and Stratagems he is obliged to make use of to compass his Designs upon Mankind.
Of the Power of the Devil at the Time of the Creation of this World; whether it has not been farther straitn’d and limited since that Time, and what Shifts and Stratagems he is obliged to make use of to compass his Designs upon Mankind.
CunningMen have fabled, and tho’ it be without either Religion, Authority or physical Foundation, it may be we may like it ne’er the worse for that; that when God made the Stars and all the Heavenly Luminaries, theDevil, to mimick his Maker and insult his new Creation, made Comets, in Imitation of the fix’d Stars; but that the Composition of them being combustible, when they came to wander in the Abyss, rolling by an irregular ill-grounded Motion, they took Fire, in their Approach to some of those great Bodies of Flame,the fix’d Stars; and being thus kindled (like a Fire-work unskilfully let off) they then took wild and excentrick, as also different Motions of their own, out of Satan’s Direction, and beyond his Power to regulate ever after.
Let this Thought stand by it self, it matters not to our purpose whether we believe any thing of it, or no; ’tis enough to our Case, that if Satan had any such Power then, he has no such Power now, and that leads me to enquire into his more recent Limitations.
I am to suppose, he and all his Accomplices being confounded at the Discovery of the new Creation, and racking their Wits to find out the meaning of it, had at last (no matter how) discover’d the whole System, and concluded,as I have said, that the Creature,call’d Man, was to be their Successor in the Heavenly Mansions; upon which I suggest that the first Motion of Hell was to destroy this new Work, and, if possible, to overwhelm it.
But when they came to make the Attempt, they found their Chains were not long enough, and that they could not reach to the Extremes of the System: They had no Power either to break the Order, or stop the Motion, dislocate the Parts, or confound the Situation of Things; they traversed, no doubt, the whole Work, visited every Star, landed upon every Solid, and sail’d upon every Fluid in the whole Scheme, to see what Mischief they could do.
Upon a long and full Survey, they came to this Point in their Enquiry, that in short they could do nothing by Force; that they could not displace any Part, annihilate any Atom, or destroy any Life in the whole Creation; but that as Omnipotence had created it, so the same Omnipotence had arm’d it at all Points against the utmost Power of Hell, had made the smallest Creature in it invulnerable, as toSatan; so that without the Permission of the same Power which had madeHeaven, and conquer’d theDevil, he could do nothing at all, as to destroying any thing that God had made, no, not the little diminutive thing call’d Man, whoSatansaw so much reason to hate, as being created to succeed him in Happiness inHeaven.
Satan found him placed out of his Power to hurt, or out of his Reach to touch; and here, by the way, appears the second Conquest ofHeavenover theDevil; that having plac’d his Rival, as itwere, just before his Face, and shew’d the hateful sight to him, he saw written upon his Image,Touch him if you dare.
It cannot be doubted, but, had it not been thus, Man is so far from being a Match for theDevil, that one of Satan’s least Imps orAngelscould destroy all the Race of them in the World, ay World and all in a moment;
As he is Prince of the Power of the Air, taking the Air forthe Elementary World, how easily could he, at one Blast, sweep all the Surface of the Earth into the Sea, or drive weighty immense Surges of the Ocean over the whole Plane of the Earth, and deluge the Globe at once with a Storm? Or how easily could he, who, by the Situation of the Empire, must be supposed able to manage the Clouds, draw them up, in such Position as should naturally produce Thunders and Lightnings, cause those Lightnings to blast the Earth, dash in Pieces all the Buildings, burn all the populous Towns and Cities, and lay wast the World;
At the same time he might command suited Quantities of sublimated Air to burst out of the Bowels of the Earth, and overwhelm and swallow up, in the opening Chasms, all the Inhabitants of the Globe?
In a Word,Satanleft to himself as a Devil, and to the Power, which by virtue of his Seraphic Original he must be vested with, was able to have made Devilish Work in the World, if by a superior Power he was not restrain’d.
But there is no doubt,at least to me, but that with his fall from Heaven, as he lost the Rectitude and Glory of his Angelic Nature, I mean his Innocence, so he lost the Power too that he had before; and that when he first commenc’d Devil, he received the Chains of Restraint too, as the Badge of his Apostacy,viz.a generalProhibition, to do any thing to the Prejudice of this Creation, or to act any thing by Force or Violence without special Permission.
This Prohibition was not sent him by a Messenger, or by an Order in Writing, or proclaimed from Heaven by a Law; butSatan, by a strange, invisible and unaccountable Impression felt the Restraint within him; and at the same time that his moral Capacity was not taken away, yet his Power of exerting that Capacity felt the Restraint, and left him unable to do, even what he was able to do at the same time.
I make no question, but the Devil is sensible of this Restraint, that is to say,notas it is a restraint only, or as an effect of his Expulsion fromHeaven; But as it prevents his Capital Design against Man, who, for the Reason I have given already, he entertains a mortal Hatred of, and would destroy with all his Heart, if he might; and therefore, like a chain’d Mastiff, we find him oftentimes making a horrid hellish Clamour and Noise, barking and howling, and frighting the People, letting them know, that if he was loose he would tear them in pieces; but at the same time his very Fury shakes his Chain, which lets them know, to their Satisfaction, he can only Bark, but cannot Bite.
Some are of Opinion that the Devil is not restrain’d so much by the superior Power of his Sovereign and Maker; but that all his milder Measures with Man are the effect of a political Scheme, and done upon mature Deliberation; that it was resolved to act thus, in the great Council or P——t of Devils, call’d upon this very Occasion, when they first were inform’d of the Creation of Man; and especially when they considered what kind of Creature he was, and what might probably be the Reason of making him, (viz.) to fill up the Vacancies in Heaven; I say, that then theDevilsresolv’d, that it was not for their Interest to fall upon him with Fury and Rage, and so destroy the Species, for that this would be no Benefit at all to them, and would only cause another original Man to be created; for that they knewGodcould, by the same Omnipotence, form as many new Species of Creatures as he pleased; and, if he thought fit, create them in Heaven too, out of the Reach ofDevilsor evil Spirits, and that therefore, to destroy Man would no way answer their End.
On the other hand, examining strictly the Mould of this new made Creature, and of what Materials he was form’d; how mixt up of a Nature convertible and pervertible, capable indeed of infinite Excellence, and consequently of eternal Felicity; but subject likewise to Corruption and Degeneracy, and consequently to eternal Misery; That instead of being fit to supply the Places of Satan and his rejected Tribe (the expell’d Angels) in Heaven, and filling up the Thrones or Stalls in the Celestial Choir, they might, if they could but be brought into Crime, become a Race of Rebels and Traytors like the rest; and so come at last to keep them Company, as well in the Place of eternal Misery, as in the Merit of it, and in a Word, become Devils instead of Angels.
Upon this Discovery, I say, they found it infinitely more for the Interest of Satan’s infernal Kingdom, to go another way to work with Mankind, and see if it were possible, by the strength of all their infernal Wit and Counsels, to lay some Snare for him, and by some Stratagem to bring him to eternal Ruin and Misery.
This being then approv’d as their only Method, (and theDevilshew’d he was no Fool in the Choice) he next resolv’d that there was no time to be lost; that it was to be set about immediately, before theRace was Multiplied, and by that means the Work be not made greater only, but perhaps the more difficult too; accordingly the diligent Devil went instantly about it, agreeably to all the Story ofEveand the serpent, as before; the belief of which, whether historically or allegorically, is not at all obstructed by this Hypothesis.
I do not affirm that this was the Case at first, because being not present in that blackDivan, at least not that I know of,for who knows where he was or was not in his pre-existent State?I cannot be positive in the Resolve that past there; but except for some very little Contradiction, which we find in the sacred Writings, I should, I confess, incline to believe it Historically; and I shall speak of those things which I call Contradictions to it more largely hereafter.
In the mean time, be it one way or other,that is to say, either that Satan had no Power to have proceeded with Man by Violence, and to have destroy’d him as soon as he was made; or that he had the Power, but chose rather to proceed by other Methods to deceive and debauch him;I say, be it which you please, I am still of the Opinion that it really was not theDevil’s Business to destroy the Species; that it would have been nothing to the purpose, and no Advantage at all to him, if he had done it; for that, as above, God could immediately have created another Species to the same end, whom he either could have made invulnerable, and not subject to the Devil’s Power, or remov’d him out ofSatan’s Reach, plac’d him out of theDevil’s Ken, in Heaven or some other Place, where the Devil could not come to hurt him; and that therefore it is infinitely more his Advantage, and more suited to his real Design of defeating the End of Man’s Creation, to debauch him and make aDevilof him,that he may be rejected like himself, and increase the infernal Kingdom and Company in the Lake of Miseryin æternum.
It may be true, for ought I know, that Satan has not the Power of Destruction put into his Hand, and that he cannot take away the Life of a Man: and it seems probable to be so, from the Story ofSatanandJob, whenSatanappear’d among the Sons ofGod, as the Text says,Jobi. 6. Now when God gave such a Character ofJobto him, and ask’d himif he had consider’d his Servant Job, ℣ 8. why did not the Devil go immediately and exert his Malice against the good Man at once, to let his Maker see what would become of his ServantJobin his Distress? On the contrary, we see he only answers by shewing the Reason ofJob’s good Behaviour; that it was but common Gratitude for the Blessing and Protection he enjoy’d, ℣ 10. and pleading that if his Estate was taken away, and he was expos’d as he (Satan) was, to be a beggar and a Vagabond, goingto and fro in the Earth, and walking up and down therein, he should be a very Devil too, like himself, and curse God to his Face.
Upon this, the Text says, that God answered ℣ 11.Behold all that he hath is in thy Power; now ’tis plain here, that God gave upJob’s Wealth and Estate, nay his Family, and the Lives of his Children and Servants into theDevil’sPower; and accordingly, like a true merciless Devil,as he is, he destroy’d them all; he mov’d theSabeansto fall upon the Oxen and the Asses, and carry them off; he mov’d theChaldeansto fall upon the Camels and the Servants, to carry off the first, and murther the last; he made Lightning flash upon the poor Sheep, and kill them all; and he blow’d his House down upon his poor Children, and buried them all in the Ruins.
Now here is (1.) a Specimen of Satan’s good Will to Mankind, and what Havock theDevilwould make in the World, if he might; and here is a Testimony too, that he could not do this without leave; so that I cannot but be of the Opinion he has some Limitations, some Bounds set to his natural Fury; a certain Number of Links in his Chain, which he cannot exceed, or, in a Word, that he cannot go a Foot beyond hisTether.
The same kind of Evidence we have in the Gospel,Matth.viii. 31. where Satan could not so much as possess the filthiest and meanest of all Creatures,the Swine, till he had ask’d leave; and that still, to shew his good Will, as soon as he had gotten leave, he hurried them all into the Sea and choak’d them; these, I say, are some of the Reasons why I am not willing to say, theDevilis not restrain’d in Power; but on the other side, we are told of so many mischievous things the Devil has done in the World, by virtue of his Dominion over the Elements, and by other Testimonies of his Power, that I don’t know what to think of it; tho’, upon the whole, the first is the safest Opinion; for if we should believe the last, we might, for ought I know, be brought, like theAmerican Indians, to worship himat last, that he may do us no Harm.
And now I have nam’d those People inAmerica, I confess it would go a great way in favour of Satan’s Generosity, as well as in Testimony of his Power, if we might believe all the Accounts, which indeed Authors are pretty well agreed in the Truth of, namely, of the Mischiefs theDevildoes in those Countries, where his Dominion seems to be establish’d; how he uses them when they deny him the Homage he claims of them as his Due; what Havock and Combustion he makesamong them; and how Beneficent he is (or at least negative in his Mischiefs) when they Appease him by their hellish Sacrifices.
Likewise we see a Test of his wicked Subtilty in his Management of those dark Nations, when he was more immediately worship’d by them; namely, the making them believe that all their good Weather, Rains, Dews, and kind Influences upon the Earth, to make it fruitful, was from Him; whereas they really were the common Blessings of a higher Hand, and came not from him, theDevil, but from him that made theDevil, and made him a Devil or fallen Angel by his Curse.
But to go back to the Method the Devil took with the first of Mankind; ’tis plain the Policy of Hell was right, tho’ the Execution of the Resolves they took did not fully answer their End neither; ForSatanfastening upon poor, proud, ridiculous MotherEve, as I have said before, made presently a true Judgment of her Capacities, and of her Temper; took her by the right Handle, and soothing her Vanity (which is to this Day the softest Place in the Head of all the Sex) wheedl’d her out of her Senses, by praising her Beauty, and promising to make her a Goddess.
The foolish Woman yielded presently, and that we are told is the Reason why the same Method so strangely takes with all her Posterity (viz.) that you are sure to prevail with them, if you can but once persuade them that you believe they are Witty and Handsome; for the Devil, you may observe, never quits any Hold he gets, and having once found a way into the Heart, always takes care to keep the Door open, that any of his Agents may enter after him without any more Difficulty: Hence the same Argument, especially the last, has so bewitching an Influence on the Sex, that they rarely deny you any thing, after they are but weakenough and vain enough to accept of the Praises you offer them on that Head; on the other hand you are sure they never forgive you the unpardonable Crime of saying they are Ugly or Disagreeable: It is suggested that the first Method the Devil took to insinuate all those fine things intoEve’s giddy Head, was by creeping close to herone Night, when she was asleep, and laying his Mouth to herEar, whispering all the fine things to her, which he knew would set her Fancy a Tip-toe, and so made her receive them involuntarily into her Mind; knowing well enough that when she had form’d such Ideas in her Soul, however they came there, she would never be quiet till she had work’d them up to some extraordinary thing or other.
It was evident what theDevilaim’d at,namely, that she should break in upon the Command ofGod, and so having corrupted her self, bring the Curse upon her self and all her Race, asGodhad threatn’d; but why the Pride ofEveshould be so easily tickled by the Motion of her exquisite Beauty, when there then was no prospect of the use or want of those Charms? that indeed makes a kind of Difficulty here, which the learn’d have not determined. For,
1. If she had been as Ugly as theDevil, she had no body to rival her, so that she need not fearAdamshould leave her and get another Mistress.2. If she had been Bright and Beautiful as an Angel, she had no other Admirer but poorAdam, and he could have no room to be jealous of her, or afraid she should cuckold him; so that in short,Evehad no such Occasion for her Beauty, nor could she make any use of it either to a bad purpose or to a good, and therefore I believe theDevil, who is toocunning to do any thing that signifies Nothing, rather tempted her by the Hope of encreasing her Wit, than her Beauty.
1. If she had been as Ugly as theDevil, she had no body to rival her, so that she need not fearAdamshould leave her and get another Mistress.
2. If she had been Bright and Beautiful as an Angel, she had no other Admirer but poorAdam, and he could have no room to be jealous of her, or afraid she should cuckold him; so that in short,Evehad no such Occasion for her Beauty, nor could she make any use of it either to a bad purpose or to a good, and therefore I believe theDevil, who is toocunning to do any thing that signifies Nothing, rather tempted her by the Hope of encreasing her Wit, than her Beauty.
But to come back to the Method of Satan’s tempting her,viz.by whispering to her in her sleep; ’twas a cunning Trick, that’s the Truth of it, and by that means he certainly set her Head a madding afterDeism, and to be made a Goddess, and then back’d it by the subtle talk he had with her afterward.
I am the more particular upon this Part, because, however the Devil may have been the first that ever practised it, yet I can assure him the Experiment has been tried upon many a Woman since, to the wheedling her out of her Modesty, as well as her Simplicity; and the Cunning Men tell us still, that if you can come at a Woman when she is in a deep sleep, and Whisper to her close to her Ear, she will certainly Dream of the Thing you say to her, and so will a Man too.
Well, be this so to her Race or not, it was it seems so to her; for she wak’d with her Head fill’d with pleasing Ideas, and as some will have it, unlawful Desires; such, as to be sure she never had entertain’d before; These are supposed to be fatally infused in her Dream, and suggested to her waking Soul, when the Organ Ear which convey’d them was doz’d and insensible; strange Fate of sleeping inParadise! that whereas we have Notice but of two Sleeps there, that in one aWomanshould go out of him, and in the other, theDevilshould come into her.
Certainly, when Satan first made the Attempt uponEve, he did not think he should have so easily conquered her, or have brought his Business about so soon; theDevilhimself could not have imagined she should have been so soon broughtto forget the Command given, or at least who gave it, and have ventur’d to transgress against him, and made her forget thatGodhad told her, it should be Death to her to touch it; and above all, that she should aspire to be as wise as him, who was so ignorant before, as to believe it was for fear of her being like himself, that he had forbid it her.
Well might she be said to be the weaker Vessel, tho’Adamhimself had little enough to say for his being the stronger of the two, when he was over-persuaded (if it were done by Persuasion) by his Wife to do the same thing.
And mark how wise they were after they had Eaten, and what Fools they both acted like, even to one another; nay, even all the Knowledge they attain’d to by it was, for ought I see, only to know that they were Fools, and to be sensible both ofSinandShame; and see how simply they acted, I say, upon their having committed the Crime, and being detected in it.
‘View them to Day conversing with their God,‘His Image both enjoy’d and understood,‘To Morrowskulking with a sordid Flight,‘Among the Bushes from theInfinite,‘As if that Powerwas blind, which gave themSight;‘With senseless Labour Tagging Fig-Leaf Vests,‘To hide their Bodies from the sight of Beasts.‘Hark! how the Fool pleads faint, for forfeit Life,‘First he reproaches Heaven, and then his Wife;‘The Woman which thou gav’stas if the Gift‘Could rob him of the little Reason left,‘A weak Pretence to shift his early Crime,‘As if accusing her would excuse him;‘But thus encroaching Crime dethrones the Sense,‘And intercepts the Heavenly Influence,‘Debauches Reason, makes the Man a Fool,‘And turns his active Light to Ridicule.
It must be confess’d that it was unaccountable Degeneracy, even of their common Reasoning, whichAdamandEveboth fell into upon the first committing the Offence of taking the forbidden Fruit: If that was their being made as Gods, it made but a poor Appearance in its first coming, to hide their Nakedness when there was no body to see them, and cover themselves among the Bushes from their Maker; but thus it was, and this the Devil had brought them to, and well might he, and all the Clan of Hell, as Mr.Miltonbrings them in, laugh and triumph over the Man after the Blow was given, as having so egregiously abused and deluded them both.
But here, to be sure, began theDevil’s new Kingdom; as he had now seduc’d the two first Creatures, he was pretty sure of Success upon all the Race, and therefore prepar’d to attack them also, as soon as they came on; nor was their encreasing Multitude any Discouragement to his Attempt, but just the contrary; for he had Agents enough to employ, if every Man and Woman that should be born was to want aDevilto wait upon them, separately and singly to seduce them; whereas some whole Nations have been such willing subjects to him, that one of his Seraphic Imps may,for ought we know, have been enough to guide a whole Country; the People being entirely subjected to his Government for many Ages; as inAmerica, for example, where some will have it, that he convey’d the first Inhabitants, at leastif he did not, we don’t well know who did, or how they got thither.
And how came all the Communication to be so entirely cut off between the Nations ofEuropeandAfrica, from whenceAmericamust certainly have been peopl’d, or else theDevilmust have done it indeed? I say, how came the Communication to be so entirely cut off between them, that except the time,whenever it was, that People did at first reach from one to the other, none ever came back to give their Friends any account of their Success, or invite them to follow? Nor did they hear of one another afterwards, as we have Reason to think: DidSatanpolitically keep them thus asunder, lest News from Heaven should reach them, and so they should be recover’d out of his Government? We cannot tell how to give any other rational Account of it, that a Nation, nay a Quarter of the World, or as some will have it be, half the Globe, should be peopled fromEuropeorAfrica, or both, and no body ever go after them, or come back from them in above three thousand years after.
Nay, that those Countries should be peopled when there was no Navigation in use in these Parts of the World, no Ships made that could carry Provisions enough to support the People that fail’d in them, but that they must have been starved to death before they could reach the Shore ofAmerica; the Ferry fromEuropeorAfrica, in any Part (which we have known Navigation to be practised in) being at least 1000 Miles, and in most Places much more.
But as to theAmericans, let theDeviland they alone to account for their coming Thither, this we are certain of, that we knew nothing of them for many hundred Years; and when we did, when the Discovery was made, they that went from Hence foundSatanin a full and quiet Possession of them,ruling them with an arbitrary Government, particular to himself; He had led them into a blind Subjection to himself, nay, I might call it Devotion, for it was all of Religion that was to be found among them) worshipping horrible Idols in his Name, to whom he directed human Sacrifices continually to be made, till he deluged the Country with Blood, and ripen’d them up for the Destruction that follow’d, from the Invasion of theSpaniards, who he knew would hurry them all out of the World as fast as he (the Devil) himself could desire of them.
But to go back a little to the Original of Things, It is evident thatSatanhas made a much better Market of Mankind, by thus subtilly attacking them, and bringing them to break with their Maker as he had done before them, than he could have done by fulminating upon them at first, and sending them all out of the World at once; for now he has peopled his own Dominions with them, and tho’ a Remnant are snatch’d as it were out of his Clutches, by the Agency of Invincible Grace, of which I am not to discourse in this Place; yet this may be said of theDevil, without Offence, that he has in some Sense carried his Point, and as it were forc’d his Maker to be satisfied with a Part of Mankind, and the least Part too, instead of the great Glory he would have brought to himself by keeping them all in his Service.
Mr.Milton, as I have noted above, brings in theDeviland all Hell with him, making aFeu de Joyefor the VictorySatanobtain’d over one silly Woman; indeed it was a Piece of Success greater in its Consequence than in the immediate Appearance; nor was the Conquest so compleat as Satan himself imagin’d to make, since the Promise of a Redemption out of his Hands, which was immediately made to the Man, in behalf ofhimself and his believing Posterity, was a great Disappointment to Satan, and as it were snatch’d the best Part of his Victory out of his Hands.
It is certain theDevilsknew what the meaning of that Promise was, and who was to be theSeed of the Woman, namely, the incarnateSon of God, and that it was a second Blow to the whole infernal Body; but as if they had resolved to let that alone,Satanwent on with his Business; and as he had introduc’d Crime into the common Parent of Mankind, and thereby secured the Contamination of Blood, and the Descent or Propagation of the corrupt Seed, he had nothing to do but to assist Nature in time to come, to carry on its own Rebellion, and act it self in the Breasts ofEve’s tainted Posterity; and that indeed has been the Devil’s Business ever since his first Victory upon the Kind, to this Day.
His Success in this Part has been such, that we see upon innumerable Occasions a general Defection has follow’d; a kind of a Taint upon Nature,call it what you will, a Blast upon the Race of Mankind; and were it not for one thing, he had ruined the whole Family;I say, were it not for one thing, namely, a selected Company or Number, which his Maker has resolv’d he shall not be able to corrupt, or if he does, the sending the promis’d Seed shall recover back again from him, by the Power of irresistible Grace; which Number thus selected or elected, call it which we will, are still to supply the Vacancies in Heaven, whichSatan’s Defection left open; and what was before fill’d up with created Seraphs, is now to be restor’d by recover’d Saints, by whom infinite Glory is to accrue to the Kingdom of the Redeemer.
This glorious Establishment has robb’d Satan of all the Joy of his Victory, and left him just where he was, defeated and disappointed; nordoes the Possession of all the Myriads of the Sons of Perdition, who yet some are of the Opinion will be snatch’d from him too at last; I say, the Possession of all these makes no amends to him, for he is such aDevilin his Nature, that the Envy at those he cannot seduce, eats out all the Satisfaction of the Mischief he has done in seducing all the rest; butI must not preach, so I return to things as much needful to know, tho’ less solemn.