The History of the Devil Part 13

Hence it occur'd presently, that subordinate G.o.ds were to be found out and set up, to whom the People might pay the Homage due to the supreme G.o.d, and who they might wors.h.i.+p 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 wors.h.i.+p 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 G.o.ds, O_ Israel, _who brought thee out of the Land of_ Egypt.

Having thus, I say, brought them to satisfy themselves that they wors.h.i.+p'd the true G.o.d and no other, under the Figures and Appearances which they made to represent him, it was easy after that to wors.h.i.+p any thing for the true G.o.d; and thus in a few Ages they wors.h.i.+p'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 wors.h.i.+p 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 Wors.h.i.+p of the true G.o.d, 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 wors.h.i.+p him; _But of that hereafter_.

CHAP. XI.

_Of G.o.d'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 wors.h.i.+ping the true G.o.d by the wretched Medium of corrupt and idolatrous Representations; G.o.d seem'd to have no true Servants or Wors.h.i.+ppers 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 G.o.dhead or supreme Authority, and wors.h.i.+p him as he requir'd to be wors.h.i.+p'd; this, _I say_, G.o.d 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 G.o.d's Church at that time contain'd.

In the calling _Abraham_, it is easy to see that there was no other way for G.o.d 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_; G.o.d Almighty, or as the Scripture distinguishes him, _the Lord_, the true G.o.d, was out of the Question; Mankind knew little or nothing of him, much less did they know any thing of his Wors.h.i.+p, 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 G.o.d 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 Wors.h.i.+per 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 Wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d, 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_; G.o.d 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 G.o.d appeared to him; Be it which Way it will, G.o.d 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 G.o.d'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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d'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 Appet.i.te; 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 G.o.d 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 h.e.l.lish 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 G.o.d call'd himself a People, the _Devil_ could not be at Rest; till he attack'd them.

'Wherever G.o.d 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 Wh.o.r.e (_Tamar_) in his Way, in the Posture of Temptation, so made him commit Incest and Wh.o.r.edom 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 Wh.o.r.e 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 Chast.i.ty, 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 Circ.u.mstances 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 harra.s.s'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 Pa.s.sage laid open, and _Moses_ leading his vast Army in full March over the dry s.p.a.ce; 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 _h.e.l.l_ 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 G.o.d, 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, wors.h.i.+p'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 h.e.l.l felt the Surprise_, the Prey being thus s.n.a.t.c.h'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 wors.h.i.+p 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_.