The History of the Devil Part 28

But this is not the only way the Devil is injur'd neither, for we have often found People pretend upon him in other Cases, and of nearer Concern to him a great deal, and in Articles more Weighty, as in particular, in the great Business of Possession; it is true this Point is not thoro'ly understood among Men, neither has the Devil thought fit to give us those Illuminations about it, as I believe he might do; particularly that great and important Article, is not, for ought I can see, rightly explain'd, namely; whether there are not two several Kinds of Possession, (_viz._) some wherein the Devil possesses us, and some in which we really possess the Devil; the Nicety of which I doubt this Age, with all its Penetration, is not qualified to explain, and a Dissertation upon it being too long for this Work, especially so near its Conclusion, I am oblig'd to omit, as I am also all the practical Discourses upon the Usefulness and Advantages of real Possession, whether consider'd one Way or other to Mankind, all which I must leave to hereafter.

But to come back to the Point in Hand, and to consider the Injustice done to the Devil, in the various Turns and Tricks which Men put upon him very often in this one Article (_viz._) pretending to Possession, and to have the Devil in them, when really it is not so; certainly the Devil must take it very ill, to have all their demented, lunatick Tricks charg'd upon him; some of which, nay, most of which are so gross, so simple, so empty, and so little to the Purpose, that the _Devil_ must be asham'd to see such Things pa.s.s in his Name, or that the World should think he was concern'd in them.

It is true, that Possession being one of the princ.i.p.al Pieces of the Devil's Artifice in his managing Mankind, and in which, with the most exquisite skill he plays the Devil among us, he has the more Reason to be affronted when he finds himself invaded in this Part, and angry that any Body should pretend to possess, or be possess'd without his leave, and this may be the Reason for ought we know, why so many Blunders have been made, when People have pretended to it without him, and he has thought fit not to own them in it; of which we have many Examples in History, as in _Simon Magus_, _the Devil of_ London, _the fair Maid of_ Kent, and several others, whose History it is not worth while to enlarge upon.

In short, Possessions, as I have said, are nice Things, as it is not so easy to mimick the _Devil_ in that Part, as it may be in some other; designing Men have attempted it often, but their manner has been easily distinguish'd, even without the Devil's a.s.sistance.

Thus the People of _Salem_ in _New-England_ pretended to be bewitch'd, and that a black Man tormented them by the Instigation of such and such, whom they resolv'd to bring to the Gallows: This black Man they would have be the _Devil_, employ'd by the Person who they accus'd for a Witch: Thus making the _Devil_ a Page or a Footman to the Wizard, to go and torment whoever the said Wizard commanded, till the _Devil_ himself was so weary of the foolish Part, that he left them to go on their own Way, and at last they over-acted the murthering Part so far, that when they confess'd themselves to be Witches, and possess'd, and that they had Correspondence with the Devil, _Satan_ not appearing to vouch for them, no Jury would condemn them upon their own Evidence, and they could not get themselves hang'd, whatever Pains they took to bring it to pa.s.s.

Thus you see the _Devil_ may be wrong'd, and falsely accus'd in many Particulars, and often has been so; there are likewise some other sorts of counterfeit _Devils_ in the World, such as _Gypsies_, _Fortune-Tellers_, Foretellers of good and bad Luck, Sellers of Winds, Raisers of Storms, and many more, some practis'd among us, some in foreign Parts, too many almost to reckon up; nay I almost doubt whether the Devil himself knows all the Sorts of them; for 'tis evident he has little or nothing to do with them, I mean not in the Way of their Craft.

These I take to be Interlopers, or with the _Guinea_ Merchants leave, separate Traders, and who act under the Skreen and Protection of Satan's Power, but without his License or Authority; no doubt these carry away a great deal of his Trade, that is to say, the Trade which otherwise the _Devil_ might have carried on by Agents or his own; I cannot but say, that while these People would fain be thought _Devils_, tho' they really are not, it is but just they should be really made as much _Devils_ as they pretended to be, or that _Satan_ should do himself Justice upon them, as he threaten'd to do upon old _Parsons_ of _c.l.i.throe_ abovemention'd, and let the World know them.

CHAP. XI.

_Of Divination, Sorcery, the Black-Art, Pawawing, and such like Pretenders to Devilism, and how far the_ Devil _is or is not concern'd in them._

Tho' I am writing the History of the _Devil_, I have not undertaken to do the like of all the Kinds of People, Male or Female, who set up for _Devils_ in the World: This would be a Task for the _Devil_ indeed, and fit only for him to undertake, for their Number is and has been prodigious great, and may, with his other Legions be rank'd among the Innumerable.

What a World do we inhabit! where there is not only with us a great _Roaring-Lyon-Devil_ daily seeking whom of us he may devour, and innumerable Millions of lesser Devils hovering in the whole Atmosphere over us, nay, and for ought we know, other Millions always invisibly moving about us, and perhaps in us, or at least in many of us; but that have, besides all these, a vast many counterfeit _Hocus Pocus Devils_; human _Devils_, who are visible among us, of our own Species and Fraternity, conversing with us upon all Occasions; who like Mountebanks set up their Stages in every Town, chat with us at every Tea-Table, converse with us in every Coffee-House, and impudently tell us to our Faces that they are Devils, boast of it, and use a thousand Tricks and Arts to make us believe it too, and that too often with Success.

It must be confess'd there is a strong Propensity in Man's Nature, especially the more ignorant part of Mankind, to resolve every strange Thing, or whether really strange or no, if it be but strange to us, into Devilism, and to say every Thing is the Devil, that they can give no Account of.

Thus the famous Doctors of the Faculty at _Paris_, when _John Faustus_ brought the first printed Books that had then been seen in the World, or at least seen there, into the City, and sold them for Ma.n.u.scripts: They were surpriz'd at the Performance, and question'd _Faustus_ about it; but he affirming they were Ma.n.u.scripts, and that he kept a great many Clarks employ'd to write them, they were satisfied for a while.

But looking farther into the Work, they observ'd the exact Agreement of every Book, one with another, that every Line stood in the same Place, every Page a like Number of Lines, every Line a like Number of Words; if a Word was mis-spelt in one, it was mis-spelt also in all, nay, that if there was a Blot in one, it was alike in all; they began again to muse, how this should be? in a Word, the learned Divines not being able to comprehend the Thing (and that was always sufficient) concluded it must be the _Devil_, that it was done by Magick and Witchcraft, and that in short, poor _Faustus_ (who was indeed nothing but a meer Printer) dealt with the _Devil_.

N. B. _John Faustus_ was Servant, or Journeyman, or Compositor, or what you please to call it, to _Koster_ of _Harlem_, the first inventor of Printing; and having printed the Psalter, sold them at _Paris_ as Ma.n.u.scripts; because as such they yielded a better Price.

But the learned Doctors not being able to understand how the Work was perform'd, concluded as above, it was all _the Devil_, and that the Man was a _Witch_; accordingly they took him up for a _Magician_ and a _Conjurer_, and one that work'd by the _Black Art_, that is to say, by the help of the _Devil_; and in a Word, they threaten'd to hang him for a Witch, and in order to it, commenc'd a Process against him in their criminal Courts, which made such a Noise in the World as rais'd the Fame of poor _John Faustus_ to a frightful Height, till at last he was oblig'd, for fear of the Gallows, to discover the whole Secret to them.

N. B. This is the true original of the famous Dr. _Faustus_ or _Foster_, of whom we have believ'd such strange Things, as that it is become a Proverb, _as great as the_ Devil _and Dr._ Foster: Whereas poor _Faustus_ was no Doctor, and knew no more of the _Devil_ than another Body.

Thus the Magistrates of _Bern_ and _Switzerland_, finding a Gang of _French_ Actors of Puppet-shew open'd their Stage in the Town, upon hearing the surprizing Accounts which the People gave of their wonderful Puppets, how they made them speak, answer Questions, and discourse, appear and disappear in a Moment, pop up here, as if they rise out of the Earth, and down there, as if they vanish'd, and Abundance more Feats of Art, censur'd them as Demons; and if they had not pack'd up their Trinkets, and disappeared almost as dextrously as their Puppets, they had certainly condemn'd the poor Puppets to the Flames for _Devils_, and censur'd, if not otherwise punished their Masters. See _the Count de Rochfort's Memoirs_, p. 179.

Wonderful Operations astonish the Mind, especially where the Head is not over-burthen'd with Brains; and Custom has made it so natural to give the _Devil_ either the Honour or Scandal of every Thing, that we cannot otherwise Account for, that it is not possible to put the People out of the Road of it.

The _Magicians_ were, in the _Chaldean_ Monarchy, call'd the Wis.e.m.e.n; and tho' they are joined with the Sorcerers and Astrologers in the same Place, _Dan._ ii. 4. yet they were generally so understood among those People; but in our Language we understand them to be People that have an Art to reveal Secrets, interpret Dreams, foretel Events, _&c._ and that use Enchantments and Sorceries, by all which we understand the same Thing; which now in a more vulgar Way we express by one general coa.r.s.e Expression, _Dealing with the_ DEVIL.

The Scripture speaks of a Spirit of _Divination_, _Acts_ xvi. 16. and a Wench that was possess'd by this Spirit _brought her Master much Gain by Southsaying_, that is to say, according to the Learned, by _Oracling_ or answering Questions; whence you will see in the Margin, that this southsaying _Devil_ is there call'd _Python_, that is, _Apollo_, who is often call'd _Python_, and who at the Oracle of _Delphos_ gave out such Answers and _double Entendres_, as this Wench possibly did; and hence all those Spirits which were call'd Spirits of Divination, were in another Sense call'd _Pythons_.

Now when the Apostle St. _Paul_ came to see this Creature, this Spirit takes upon it to declare that _those Men_, meaning St. _Paul_ and _Timotheus_, _were the Servants of the most high G.o.d, which shew'd unto them the Way of Salvation_; this was a good turn of the _Devil_, to preserve his Authority in the possess'd Girl; she brought them Gain by Southsaying, that is to say, resolving difficult Questions, answering Doubts, interpreting Dreams, _&c._ Among these Doubts, he makes her give Testimony to _Paul_ and _Timotheus_, to wheedle in with the new Christians, and perhaps (tho' very ignorantly) even with _Paul_ and _Timotheus_ themselves, so to give a Kind of Credit and Respect to her for speaking.

But the _Devil_, who never speaks Truth, but with some sinister End, was discover'd here and detected; his flattering Recognition not accepted, and he himself unkennel'd as he deserv'd; there the _Devil_ was over-shot in his own Bow again.

Here now was a real Possession, and the evil Spirits who possess'd her, did stoop to sundry little Acts of Servitude, that we could give little or no Reason for, only that the Girl's Master might get Money by her; but perhaps this was a particular Case, and, prepar'd to honour the Authority and Power the Apostles had over evil Spirits.

But we find these Things carried a great Way farther in many Cases, that is to say, where the Parties are thus really possess'd; namely, the _Devil_ makes Agents of the possess'd Parties to do many Things for the propagating his Interest and Kingdom, and particularly for the carrying on his Dominion in the World: But I am for the present not so much upon the real Possession as the pretended, and particularly we have had many that have believed themselves possess'd, when the _Devil_ never believed it of them, and perhaps knew them better; some of these are really poor _Devils_ to be pitied, and are what I call _Diables Imaginaire_; these have notwithstanding done the _Devil_ good Service, and brought their Masters good Gain by Southsaying.

We find Possessions acknowledg'd in Scripture to be really and personally the _Devil_, or according to the Text, Legions of _Devils_ in the Plural. The _Devil_ or _Devils_ rather, which possessed the Man among the Tombs, is positively affirm'd to be the _Devil_ in the Scripture; all the Evangelists agree in calling him so, and his very Works shew it; namely, the Mischief he did, as well to the poor Creature among the Tombs, who was made so fierce, that he was the Terror of all the Country, as to the Herd of Swine and to the Country in the Loss of them.

I might preach you a Lecture here of the _Devil_'s Terror upon the Approach of our Saviour, the Dread of his Government, and how he acknowledg'd that there was a Time for his Torment, which was not yet come: _Art thou come to torment us before our Time?_ It is evident the Devil apprehended that Christ would chain them up before the Day of Judgment; and therefore some think the Devil here, being, as it were, caught out of his due Bounds, possessing the poor Man in such a furious manner, was afraid, and pet.i.tion'd Christ not to chain him up for it, and as the Text says, _They besought him to suffer them to go away_, &c.

that is to say, when they say, art thou come to torment us before the Time? the Meaning is, they begg'd he would not cast them into Torment before the Time, which was already fix'd; but that if he would cast them out of the Man, he would let them go away, _&c._

The Evangelist St. _Luke_ says, the _Devil besought him that he would not command them to go out into the Deep_: Our learned Annotators think that part is not rightly render'd; adding, that they do not believe the _Devil_ fears drowning; but with Submission, I believe the meaning is, that they would not be confin'd to the vast Ocean, where no Inhabitants being to be seen, they would be effectually imprison'd and tied down from doing Mischief, which would be a h.e.l.l to them; as to their going into the Swine, that might afford us some Allegory; but I am not disposed to jest with the Scripture, no nor with the _Devil_ neither, farther than needs must.

It is evident the _Devil_ makes Use of very mean Instruments sometimes, such as the Damsel possess'd with a Spirit of Divination, and several others.

I remember a Story, how true I know not, of a weak Creature next Door to an Ideot, who was establish'd in the Country for an Oracle, and would tell People strange Things that should be, long before they came to pa.s.s; when People were sick, would tell them whether they should live or die; if People were married, tell how many Children they should have; and a hundred such Things as fill'd the People with Admiration, and they were the easier brought to believe that the Girl was possess'd; but then they were divided about her too, and that was the finest spun Thread the Devil could work, for he carried a great Point in it; some said she had a good Spirit, and some a bad, some said she was a Prophetess, and some that she was the _Devil_.

Now had I been there to decide the Question, I should certainly have given it for the latter; if it were only upon this Account, namely, that the Devil has often found Fools very necessary Agents for the propagating his Interest and Kingdom, but we never knew the good Spirits do so; on the other Hand, it does not seem likely that Heaven should deprive a poor Creature of its Senses, and as it were take her Soul from her, and then make her an Instrument of Instruction to others, and an Oracle to declare his Decrees by; this does not seem to be rational.

But as far as this kind of Divination is in Use in our Days, yet I do not find room to charge the Devil with making any great Use of Fools, unless it be such as he has particularly qualified for his Work, for as to _Ideots_ and _Naturals_, they are perfectly useless to him; but a sort of Fools call'd the Magi, indeed, we have some Reason to think he often works with.

We are not arriv'd to a certainty yet, in the settling this great Point, namely, what Magick is? whether a diabolical Art or a Branch of the Mathematicks? Our most learned _Lexicon Technic.u.m_ is of the latter Opinion, and gives the _Magic Square_ and the _Magic Lantern_, two Terms of Art.

The _Magic Square_ is when Numbers in _Arithmetical Proportion_ are dispos'd into such Parallels or equal Ranks, as that the Sums of each Row as well _Diagonally_ as _Laterally_ shall be all equal; for Example, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Place these Nine in a Square of three, they will _directly_ and _diagonally_ make 18. Thus,

+------------+ | 5 | 10 | 3 | -------------| | 4 | 6 | 8 | -------------| | 9 | 2 | 7 | +------------+

This he calls the _Magic Square_, but gives no Reason for the Term, nor any Account of what infernal Operations are wrought by this Concurrence of the Numbers; neither do I see that there can be any such Use made of it.

The _Magic Lantern_ is an optic Machine, by the Means of which are represented, on a Wall in the Dark, many Phantasms and terrible Appearances, _but no_ Devil _in all this_, only that they are taken for the Effects of Magic, by those that are not acquainted with the Secret.

All this is done by the help of several little painted Pieces of Gla.s.s, only so and so situated, plac'd in certain Oppositions to one another, and painted with different Figures, the most formidable being plac'd foremost, and such as are most capable of terrifying the Spectators; and by this all the Figures may be represented upon the opposite Wall, in the largest Size.

I cannot but take Notice, that this very Piece of optic Delusion seems too much akin to the mock Possessions and infernal Accomplishments, which most of the Possessionists of this Age pretend to, so that they are most of them meer Phantasms and Appearances, and no more; Nor is the Spirit of Divination, the Magic, the Necromancing, and other Arts which were call'd Diabolical, found to be of any Use in modern Practice, at least, in these Parts of the World; but the Devil seems to do most of his Work himself, and by shorter Methods; for he has so compleat an Influence among those that he now Lists in his Service, that he brings all the common Affairs of Mankind into a narrower Compa.s.s in his Management, with a Dexterity particular to himself, and by which he carries on his Interest silently and surely, much more to the Detriment of Virtue and good Government, and consequently much more to his Satisfaction, than ever he did before.

There is a Kind of _Magic_ or _Sorcery_, or what else you may please to call it, which, tho' unknown to us, is yet, it seems, still very much encourag'd by the _Devil_; but this is a great Way off, and in Countries where the politer Instruments, which he finds here, are not to be had; namely, among the _Indians_ of _North-America_; This is call'd _Pawawing_, and they have their Divines, which they call _Pawaws_ or Witches, who use strange Gestures, Distortions, horrid Smokes, Burnings, and Scents, and several such Things which the Sorcerers and Witches in ancient Times are said to use in casting Nativities, in Philtres, and in determining, or as they pretended, directing the Fate of Persons; by burning such and such Herbs and Roots, such as _Helebore_, _Wormwood_, _Storax_, _Devilwort_, _Mandrake_, _Nightshade_, and Abundance more such, which are call'd noxious Plants, or the Product of noxious Plants; also melting such and such Minerals, Gums, and poisonous Things, and by several h.e.l.lish Mutterings and Markings over them, the like do these _Pawaws_; and the _Devil_ is pleased, it seems, (or is permitted) to fall in with these Things, and as some People think, appears often to them for their a.s.sistance upon those Occasions.

But be that as it will, he is eas'd of all that Trouble here; he can _Pawaw_ here himself, without their aid, and having laid them all aside, he negotiates much of his Business without Amba.s.sadors; he is his own Plenipotentiary, for he finds Man so easy to come at, and so easy when he is come at, that he stands in no need of secret Emissaries, or at least not so much as he used to do.

Upon the whole, as the World, within the Compa.s.s of a few pa.s.s'd Years is advanc'd in all Kinds of Knowledge and Arts, and every useful Branch of what they knew before improv'd, and innumerable useful Parts of Knowledge, which were conceal'd before are discover'd; why should we think the _Devil_ alone should stand at a stay, has taken no Steps to his farther Accomplishment, and made no useful Discoveries in his Way?

That he alone should stand at a Stay, and be just the same unimprov'd Devil that he was before? No, no, as the World is improv'd every Day, and every Age is grown wiser and wiser than their Fathers; so, no doubt, he has bestirr'd himself too, in order to an encrease of Knowledge and Discovery, and that he finds every Day a nearer Way to go to work with Mankind than he had before.

Besides, as Men in general seem to have alter'd their manner, and that they move in a higher and more exalted Sphere, especially as to Vice and Virtue; so the _Devil_ may have been obliged to change his Measures, and alter his Way of working; particularly, those Things which would take in former Times, and which a stupid Age would come easily into, won't go down with us now: As the taste of Vice and Virtue alters, the _Devil_ is forc'd to bait his Hook with new Compositions; the very Thing call'd Temptation is alter'd in its Nature, and that which serv'd to delude our Ancestors, whose gross Conceptions of Things caused them to be manageable with less Art, will not do now; the Case is quite alter'd; in some Things, perhaps, as I hinted above, we come into Crime with ease, and may be led by a Finger; but when we come to a more refin'd Way of sinning, which our Ancestors never understood, other and more refin'd Politics must be made Use of, and the _Devil_ has been put upon many useful Projects and Inventions, to make many new Discoveries and Experiments to carry on his Affairs; and to speak impartially, he is strangely improv'd either in Knowledge or Experiment, within these few Years; he has found out a great many new Inventions to shorten his own Labour, and carry on his Business in the World currently, which he never was master of before, or at least we never knew he was.

No wonder then that he has chang'd Hands too, and that he has left of pawawing in these Parts of the World; that we don't find our Houses disturb'd as they used to be, and the Stools and Chairs walking about out of one Room into another, as formerly; that Children don't vomit crooked Pins and rusty stub Nails, as of old, the Air is not full of Noises, nor the Church-Yard full of Hobgoblins; Ghosts don't walk about in Winding-Sheets, and the good old scolding Wives visit and plague their Husbands after they are dead, as they did when they were alive.

The Age is grown too wise to be agitated by these dull scare-crow Things which their Fore-Fathers were tickled with; _Satan_ has been obliged to lay by his Puppet-shews and his Tumblers, those things are grown stale; his morrice-dancing Devils, his mountebanking and quacking won't do now; those Things, as they may be supposed to be very troublesome to him, (and but that he has Servants enough would be chargeable too) are now of no great Use in the new Management of his Affairs.

_In a Word_, Men are too much Devils themselves, in the Sense that I have call'd them so, to be frighted with such little low priz'd Appearances as these; they are better acquainted with the old Arch-Angel than so, and they seem to tell him they must be treated after another manner, and that then, as they are good-natur'd and tractable, he may deal with them upon better Terms.