The History of the Devil Part 30

I must be allow'd to speak there of that material Fire, by which, as by an Allegory, all the Terrors of an eternal State are represented to us in Scripture, and in the Writings of the learned Commentators, and by which the Pain of Sense is describ'd; this, perhaps, I do not understand as they seem to do, and therefore have said,

When we're all Flame (that is all Spirit) we shall all Fire (that is, all such Fire as this) despise. And thus I claim to be understood.

It does not follow from hence, neither do I suggest, or so much as think that infinite Power cannot form a something (tho' inconceivable to us here) which shall be as tormenting, and as insupportable to a Devil, an apostate Seraph, and to a Spirit, tho' exalted, unembodied and rarified into _Flame_, as Fire would be to other Bodies; in which I think I am orthodox, and do not give the least Occasion to an Enemy to charge me with profane Speaking, in those Words, or to plead for thinking prophanely himself.

It must be Atheistical to the last Degree to suggest, that whereas the _Devil_ has been heaping up and ama.s.sing Guilt ever since the Creation of Man, encreasing in hatred of G.o.d and Rebellion against him, and in all possible endeavour to dethrone and depose the Majesty of Heaven; that yet Heaven had not prepar'd, or could not prepare a just Penalty for him; and that it should not all end in G.o.d's entire Victory over h.e.l.l, and in Satan's open Condemnation: Heaven could not be just to its own Glory, if he should not avenge himself upon this Rebel, for all his superlative Wickedness in his modern as well as ancient Station; for the Blood of so many millions of his faithful Subjects and Saints whom he has destroy'd; and if nothing else offer'd it self to prove this Part, it would appear undoubted to me; but this, I confess, does not belong to Satan's History, and therefore I have reserv'd it to this Place, and shall also be the shorter in it.

That his Condition is to be a State of Punishment, and that by Torment, the _Devil_ himself has own'd, and his calling out to our blessed Lord when he cast him out of the furious Man among the Tombs, is a Proof of it, _What have we to do with thee_, and _art thou come to torment us before the Time?_ Luke viii. 28. where the _Devil_ acknowledges four Things, and three of them are directly to my present Purpose, and if you won't believe the Word of G.o.d, I hope you will believe the _Devil_, especially when 'tis an open Confession against himself.

1. He confess Christ to be the _Son of G.o.d_ (that by the Way) and _no Thanks to him_, for that does not want the _Devil_'s Evidence.

2. He acknowledges he may be tormented.

3. He acknowledges Christ was able to torment him.

4. He acknowledges that there is a Time appointed when he shall be tormented.

As to _how_, in _what Manner_, and by _what Means_, this tormenting the Devil is to be performed or executed, that I take to be as needless to us as 'tis impossible to know, and being not at present inclined to fill your Heads and Thoughts with weak and imperfect Guesses, I leave it where I find it.

It is enough to us that this Torment of the _Devil_ is represented to us by Fire, it being impossible for our confin'd Thoughts to conceive of Torment by any Thing in the World more exquisite; whence I conclude, that _Devils_ shall at last receive a Punishment suitable to their Spirituous Nature, and as exquisitely Tormenting as a burning Fire would be to our Bodies.

Having thus settl'd my own Belief of this Matter, and stated it so, as I think will let you see 'tis rightly sounded, the Matter stands thus.

Satan having been let loose to play his Game in this World, has improv'd his Time to the utmost; he has not fail'd on all Occasions to exert his Hatred, Rage, and Malice at his Conqueror and Enemy, _namely, his Maker_; he has nor fail'd, from Principles of meer Envy and Pride, to pursue Mankind with all possible Rancour, in order to deprive him of the Honour and Felicity which he was created for, namely, to succeed the _Devil_ and his Angels in the State of Glory from which they fell.

This Hatred of G.o.d and Envy at Man, having broken out in so many several Ways in the whole Series of Time from the Creation, must necessarily have greatly encreased his Guilt; and as Heaven is righteous to judge him, must terminate in an encrease of Punishment, adequate to his Crime, and sufficient to his Nature.

Some have suggested, that there is yet a Time to come, when the _Devil_ shall exert more Rage, and do more Mischief than ever yet he has been permitted to do; whether he shall break his Chain, or be unchain'd for a Time, they cannot tell, nor I neither; and 'tis happy for my Work, that even this Part too does not belong to his History; if ever it shall be given an Account of by Mankind, it must be after it is come to pa.s.s, for my Part is not Prophesy of foretelling what the Devil shall do, but History of what he has done.

Thus, good People, I have brought the History of the Devil down to _your own Times_; I have, as it were, _rais'd him_ for you, and set him in your View, that you may know him and have a Care of him.

If any cunninger Men among you think they are able now to _lay him_ again, and so dispose of him out of your Sight, that you shall be troubled no more with him, either here or hereafter, let them go to work with him their own Way; you know Things future do not belong to an Historian, so I leave him among you, wis.h.i.+ng you may be able to give no worse an Account of him for the Time to come, than I have done for the Time past.

FINISH.

Footnotes:

[1] N. B. He never refus'd setting his hand to any opinion, which he thought it for his interest to acknowledge.

[2] Mean't of nothing.

[3] _Mr._ Pool's _words are these_: Some refer the words, _This day have I begotten thee_, to the incarnation of the Son of G.o.d, others to the Resurrection: our Translators lay the stress on the preposition of which the verb is compounded, and by adding _again_, (viz.) _rais'd up Jesus again_, Acts xiii. 33. intend it to be understood of the Resurrection; and there is ground for it, in the context, for the Resurrection of Christ, is that which St. _Paul_ had propounded in v. 30. of the same Chapter, as his theme or argument to preach upon.

Not that Christ at his Resurrection began to be the Son of G.o.d, but that he was manifested then to be so.

[4] Satan.

[5] The meaning of the word Devil is Destroyer. See _Pool_ upon _Acts_ xiii. 10.

[6] _As great as the Devil and Doctor_ Faustus. Vulg. Dr. _Foster_.