The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts

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 Ægypt too, thought of nothing but Conquest at Piahiroth.