The History of the Devil Part 7

Mr. _Milton_ here takes upon him to give the History of it, as particularly as if he had been born there, and came down hither on purpose to give us an account of it; (I hope he is better inform'd by this time;) but this he does in such a manner, as jostles with Religion, and shocks our Faith in so many points necessary to be believ'd, that we must forbear to give up to Mr. _Milton_, or must set aside part of the sacred Text, in such a manner, as will a.s.sist some people to set it all aside.

I mean by this, his invented Scheme of the Son's being declared in Heaven to be begotten then, and then to be declar'd Generalissimo of all the Armies of Heaven; and of the Father's Summoning all the Angels of the heavenly Host to submit to him, and pay him homage. The words are quoted already, page 32.

I must own the Invention, indeed, is very fine; the Images exceeding magnificent, the Thought rich and bright, and, in some respect, truly sublime: But the Authorities fail most wretchedly, and the miss-timing of it, is unsufferably gross, as is noted in the Introduction to this Work; for Christ is not declar'd the Son of G.o.d but on Earth; 'tis true, 'tis spoken from Heaven, but then 'tis spoken as perfected on Earth; if it was at all to be a.s.sign'd to Heaven, it was from Eternity, and there, indeed, his eternal Generation is allow'd; but to take upon us to say, that _On a day, a certain day_, for so our Poet a.s.sumes, lib. v. fol.

137.

------ 'When on a day, ------ 'On such a day 'As Heaven's great Year brings forth, the empyreal Host 'Of Angels by imperial Summons call'd, 'Forthwith from all the ends of Heaven appear'd.

This is, indeed, too gross; at this meeting he makes G.o.d declare the Son to be _that day begotten_, as before; had he made him not begotten that day, but declared General that day, it would be reconcileable with Scripture and with sense; for either the begetting is meant of ordaining to an office, or else the eternal Generation falls to the ground; and if it was to the office (Mediator) then Mr. _Milton_ is out in ascribing another fix'd day to the Work; see lib. x. fo. 194. But then the declaring him _that day_, is wrong chronology too, for Christ is declar'd _the Son of G.o.d with power_, only _by the Resurrection of the dead_, and this is both a Declaration in Heaven and in Earth. _Rom._ i.

4. And _Milton_ can have no authority to tell us, there was any Declaration of it in Heaven before this, except it be that dull authority call'd _poetic License_, which will not pa.s.s in so solemn an affair as that.

But the thing was necessary to _Milton_, who wanted to a.s.sign some cause or original of the _Devil_'s Rebellion; and so, _as I said above_, the design is well laid, it only wants two Trifles call'd _Truth_ and _History_; so I leave it to struggle for itself.

This Ground-plot being laid, he has a fair field for the _Devil_ to play the Rebel in, for he immediately brings him in, not satisfy'd with the Exaltation of the Son of G.o.d. The case must be thus; _Satan_ being an eminent _Arch-angel_, and perhaps, the highest of all the Angelic Train, hearing this Sovereign Declaration, that the _Son of G.o.d_ was declar'd to be Head or Generalissimo of all the heavenly Host, took it ill to see another put into the high station _over his head_, as the Soldiers call it; he, perhaps, thinking himself the senior Officer, and disdaining to submit to any but to his former immediate Sovereign; in short, he threw up his Commission, and, in order not to be compel'd to obey, revolted and broke out in open Rebellion.

All this part is a Decoration n.o.ble and great, nor is there any objection to be made against the invention, because a deduction of probable Events; but the Plot is wrong laid, as is observ'd above, because contradicted by the Scripture account, according to which Christ was declared in Heaven, not then, but from Eternity, and not declared with power, but on Earth, (_viz._) in his victory over Sin and Death, by the Resurrection from the dead: so that Mr. _Milton_ is not orthodox in this part, but lays an avow'd foundation for the corrupt Doctrine of _Arius_, which says, there was a time when Christ _was not_ the Son of G.o.d.

But to leave Mr. _Milton_ to his flights, I agree with him in this part, _viz._ that the wicked or sinning Angels, with the great Arch-angel at the head of them, revolted from their obedience, even in Heaven it self; that _Satan_ began the wicked defection, and being a Chief among the heavenly Host, consequently carry'd over a great party with him, who all together rebel'd against G.o.d; that upon this Rebellion they were sentenc'd, by the righteous judgment of G.o.d, to be expel'd the holy Habitation; this, besides the authority of Scripture, we have visible testimonies of, from the Devils themselves; their influences and operations among us every day, of which Mankind are witnesses; in all the merry things they do in his name, and under his protection, in almost every scene of life they pa.s.s thro', whether we talk of things done openly or in Masquerade, things done in--or out of it, things done in earnest or in jest.

But then, what comes of the long and b.l.o.o.d.y War that Mr. _Milton_ gives such a full and particular account of, and the terrible Battles in Heaven between _Michael_ with the royal Army of Angels on one hand, and _Satan_ with his rebel Host on the other; in which he supposes the numbers and strength to be pretty near equal? but at length brings in the _Devil_'s Army, upon doubling their rage and bringing new engines of war into the field, putting _Michael_ and all the faithful Army to the worst; and, in a word, defeats them? For tho' they were not put to a plain flight, in which case he must, at least, have given an account of two or three thousand millions of Angels cut in pieces and wounded, yet he allows them to give over the fight, and make a kind of retreat; so making way for the compleat victory of the Son of G.o.d: Now this is all invention, or at least, a borrow'd thought from the old Poets, and the Fight of the _Giants_ against _Jupiter_, so n.o.bly design'd by _Ovid_, almost two thousand years ago; and there 'twas well enough; but whether Poetic Fancy should be allow'd to fable upon _Heaven_, or no, and upon the King of Heaven too, that I leave to the Sages.

By this expulsion of the _Devils_, it is allow'd by most Authors, they are, _ipso facto_, stript of the Rect.i.tude and Holiness of their Nature, which was their Beauty and Perfection; and being ingulph'd in the abyss of irrecoverable ruin, _'tis no matter where_, from that very time they lost their Angelic beautiful Form, commenc'd ugly frightful Monsters and _Devils_, and became evil doers, as well as evil Spirits; fill'd with a horrid malignity and enmity against their Maker, and arm'd with a h.e.l.lish resolution to shew and exert it on all occasions; retaining however their exalted spirituous Nature, and having a vast extensive power of Action, all which they can exert in nothing else but doing evil, for they are entirely divested of either Power or will to do good; and even in doing evil, they are under restraints and limitations of a superior Power, which it is their Torment, and, perhaps, a great part of their h.e.l.l that they cannot break thro'.

CHAP. VI.

_What became of the_ Devil _and his Host of fallen Spirits after their being expell'd from Heaven, and his wandring condition till the Creation; with some more of Mr._ Milton's _absurdities on that subject._

Having thus brought the _Devil_ and his innumerable Legions to the edge of the Bottomless-pit, it remains, before I bring them to action, that some enquiry should be made into the posture of their affairs immediately after their precipitate Fall, and into the place of their immediate Residence; for this will appear to be very necessary to _Satan_'s History, and indeed, so as that without it, all the farther account we have to give of him, will be inconsistent and imperfect.

And first, I take upon me to lay down some Fundamentals, which I believe I shall be able to make out Historically, tho', perhaps, not so Geographically as some have pretended to do.

1. That _Satan_ was not immediately, nor is yet lock'd down into the Abyss of a _local h.e.l.l_, such as is supposed by some, and such as he shall be at last; or that,

2. If he was, he has certain liberties allowed him for excursions into the Regions of this Air, and certain spheres of action, in which he can, and does move, to do, _like a very Devil as he is_, all the mischief he can, and of which we see so many examples both about us and in us; in the inquiry after which, I shall take occasion to examine whether the Devil is not in most of us, sometimes, if not in all of us one time or other.

3. That _Satan_ has no particular residence in this Globe or Earth where we live; that he rambles about among us, and marches over and over our whole country, he and his Devils in _Camps volant_; but that he pitches his grand Army or chief Encampment in our Adjacencies or Frontiers, which the Philosophers call _Atmosphere_; and whence he is call'd the Prince of the Power of that Element or part of the World we call _Air_; from whence he sends out his Spies, his Agents and Emissaries, to get intelligence, and to carry his Commissions to his trusty and well beloved Cousins and Counsellors on Earth, by which his business is done, and his affairs carried on in the World.

Here, again, I meet Mr. _Milton_ full in my face, who will have it, that _the Devil_, immediately at his expulsion, roll'd down directly into a h.e.l.l proper and local; nay, he measures the very distance, at least gives the length of the journey by the time they were pa.s.sing or falling, which, he says, was _nine days_; a good Poetical flight, but neither founded on Scripture or Philosophy; he might every jot as well have brought _h.e.l.l_ up to the Walls of _Heaven_, advanc'd to receive them, or he ought to have consider'd the s.p.a.ce which is to be allow'd to any locality, let him take what part of infinite distance between _Heaven_ and a created h.e.l.l he pleases.

But let that be as Mr. _Milton_'s extraordinary genius pleases to place it; the pa.s.sage, it seems, is just _nine days_ betwixt Heaven and h.e.l.l; well might _Dives_ then see father _Abraham_, and talk to him too; but then the great Gulph which _Abraham_ tells him was fix'd between them, does not seem to be so large, as according to Sir _Isaac Newton_, Dr.

_Halley_, Mr. _Whiston_, and the rest of our Men of Science, we take it to be.

But suppose the pa.s.sage to be nine Days, according to Mr. _Milton_, what follow'd? why h.e.l.l gap'd wide, open'd its frightful mouth, and received them all at once; millions and thousands of millions as they were, it received them all at a gulp, _as we call it_, they had no difficulty to go in, no, none at all.

_Facilis desensus averni, sed revocare gradum Hoc opus hic labor est._---- Virg.

All this, as Poetical, we may receive, but not at all as Historical; for then come difficulties insuperable in our way, some of which may be as follow: (1.) h.e.l.l is here supposed to be a place; nay a place created for the punishment of Angels and Men, and likewise created long before those had fallen, or these had Being; this makes me say, Mr. _Milton_ was a good Poet, but a bad Historian: _Tophet_ was prepar'd of old, indeed, but it was for the King, that is to say, it was prepar'd for those whose lot it should be to come there; but this does not at all suppose it was prepar'd before it was resolv'd whether there should be subjects for it, or no; else we must suppose both Men and Angels were made by the glorious and upright Maker of all things, on purpose for destruction, which would be incongruous and absurd.

But there is worse yet to come; in the next place he adds, that _h.e.l.l_ having receiv'd them, clos'd upon them; that is to say, took them in, clos'd or shut its Mouth; and in a word, they were lock'd in, as it was said in another place, they were lock'd in, and the Key is carry'd up to Heaven and kept there; for _we know_ the Angel came down from Heaven, having the Key of the Bottomless-pit; but first, see Mr. _Milton_.

'Nine days they fell, confounded chaos roar'd 'And felt ten-fold confusion in their fall: '----h.e.l.l at last 'Yawning receiv'd them all, and on them clos'd; 'Down from the verge of Heaven, eternal wrath 'Burnt after them---- 'Unquenchable.

This Scheme is certainly deficient, if not absurd, and I think is more so than any other he has laid; 'tis evident, neither _Satan_ or his Host of _Devils_ are, _no not any of them_, yet, even now, confin'd in the eternal Prison, where the Scripture says, he shall be _reserved in chains of darkness_. They must have mean thoughts of _h.e.l.l_, as a Prison, a _local_ Confinement, that can suppose the _Devil_ able to break Goal, knock off his Fetters, and come abroad, if he had been once lock'd in there, as Mr. _Milton_ says he was: Now we know that he is abroad again, he presented himself before _G.o.d_, among his neighbours, when _Job_'s case came to be discours'd of; and more than that, it's plain he was a prisoner at large, by his answer to G.o.d's question, which was, _whence comest thou?_ to which he answer'd, _from going to and fro thro' the Earth_, &c. this, I say, is plain, and if it be as certain that h.e.l.l closed upon them, I demand then, how got he out? and why was there not a Proclamation for apprehending him, as there usually is, after such Rogues as break prison?

In short, the true Account of the _Devil_'s Circ.u.mstances, since his Fall from _Heaven_, is much more likely to be thus: That he is more of a Vagrant than a Prisoner, that he is a Wanderer in the wild unbounded Wast, where he and his Legions, like the Hoords of _Tartary_, who, in the wild Countries of _Karakathay_, the Desarts of _Barkan_, _Ka.s.san_, and _Astracan_, live up and down where they find proper; so Satan and his innumerable Legions rove about _hic & ubique_, pitching their Camps (being Beasts of prey) where they find the most Spoil; watching over this World, (and all the other Worlds for ought we know, and if there are any such,) I say watching, and seeking who they may devour, _that is_, who they may deceive and delude, and so destroy, for devour they cannot.

_Satan_ being thus confin'd to a vagabond, wandring, unsettl'd Condition, is without any certain Abode; For tho' he has, in consequence of his Angelic Nature, a kind of Empire in the liquid Wast or _Air_; yet, this is certainly part of his punishment, that he is continually hovering over this inhabited Globe of Earth; swelling with the Rage of Envy, at the Felicity of his Rival, Man; and studying all the means possible to injure and ruin him; but extremely limited in Power, to his unspeakable Mortification: This is his present State, without any fix'd Abode, Place, or s.p.a.ce, allow'd him to rest the Sole of his Foot upon.

From his Expulsion, I take his first View of Horror to be that, of looking back towards the Heaven which he had lost; there to see the Chasm or Opening made up, out at which, as at a Breach in the Wall of the holy Place, he was thrust Head-long by the Power which expel'd him; I say, to see the Breach repair'd, the Mounds built up, the Walls garison'd with millions of Angels, and arm'd with Thunders; and, above all, made terrible by that Glory from whose Presence they were expel'd, as is Poetically hinted at before.

Upon this sight, 'tis no wonder (if there was such a Place) that they fled till the Darkness might cover them, and that they might be out of the View of so hated a Sight.

Wherever they found it, you may be sure they pitch'd their first Camp, and began, after many a sour Reflection upon what was pa.s.s'd, to consider and think a little, upon what was to come.

If I had as much personal Acquaintance with the _Devil_, as would admit it, and could depend upon the Truth of what Answer he would give me, the first Question I would ask him, should be, what Measures they resolv'd on at their first a.s.sembly? and the next should be, how they were employ'd in all that s.p.a.ce of Time, between their so flying the Face of their almighty Conqueror, and the Creation of Man? as for the Length of the Time, which, according to the Learn'd, was twenty thousand Years, and according to the more Learned, not half a Quarter so much, I would not concern my Curiosity much about it; 'tis most certain, there was a considerable time between, but of that immediately; first let me enquire what they were doing all that time.

The Devil and his Host, being thus, I say, cast out of Heaven, and not yet confin'd strictly to _h.e.l.l_, 'tis plain they must be _some where_.

Satan and all his Legions did not lose their Existence, no, nor the Existence of _Devils_ neither; G.o.d was so far from annihilating him, that he still preserv'd his Being; and this not Mr. _Milton_ only, but G.o.d himself has made known to us, having left his History so far upon record; several expressions in Scripture also make it evident, as particularly the story of _Job_, mentioned before; the like in our Saviour's time, and several others.

If h.e.l.l did not immediately ingulph them, as _Milton_ suggests, 'tis certain, I say, that they fled Somewhere, from the anger of Heaven, from the face of the Avenger; and his absence, and their own guilt, _wonder not at it_, would make h.e.l.l enough for them wherever they went.

Nor need we fly to the Dreams of our _Astronomers_, who take a great deal of pains to fill up the vast s.p.a.ces of the starry Heavens with innumerable habitable Worlds; allowing as many _solar Systems_ as there are fix'd Stars, and that not only in the known Constellations, but even in _Gallaxie_ it self; who, to every such System allow a certain number of Planets, and to every one of those Planets so many _Satellites_ or _Moons_, and all these Planets and Moons to be Worlds; solid, dark, opaque Bodies, habitable, and (as they would have us believe) inhabited by the like Animals and rational Creatures as on this Earth; so that they may, at this rate, find room enough for the _Devil_ and all his Angels, without making a h.e.l.l on purpose; nay they may, for ought I know, find a World for every _Devil_ in all the _Devil'_s _Host_, and so every one may be a Monarch or _Master-Devil_, separately in his own Sphere or World, and play the _Devil_ there by himself.

And even if this were so, it cannot be denied but that one _Devil_ in a place would be enough for a whole systemary World, and be able, if not restrained, to do mischief enough there too, and even to ruin and overthrow the whole body of People contain'd in it.

But, I say, we need not fly to these s.h.i.+fts, or consult the Astronomers in the decision of this point; for wherever _Satan_ and his defeated Host went, at their expulsion from _Heaven_, we think we are certain, none of all these Beautiful Worlds, or be they Worlds or no, I mean the fix'd Stars, Planets, _&c._ had then any existence; for the Beginning, as the Scripture calls it, was not yet Begun.

But to speak a little by the rules of Philosophy, that is to say, so as to be understood by others, even when we speak of things we cannot fully understand ourselves: Tho' in the Beginning of Time all this glorious Creation was form'd, the Earth, the starry Heavens, and all the Furniture thereof, and there was a Time when they were not; yet we cannot say so of the Void, or that nameless _no-where_, as I call'd it before, which now appears to be a _some-where_, in which these glorious Bodies are plac'd. That immense s.p.a.ce which those take up, and which they move in at this Time, must be supposed, before they had Being, to be plac'd there: As G.o.d himself was, and existed before all Being, Time, or Place, so the Heaven of Heavens, or the Place, where the Thrones and Dominions of his Kingdom then existed, inconceivable and ineffable, had an existence before the glorious Seraphs, the innumerable company of Angels which attended about the Throne of G.o.d existed; these all had a Being long before, as the Eternal Creator of them all had before them.

Into this void or abyss of Nothing, however unmeasurable, infinite, and even to those Spirits, themselves Inconceivable, they certainly launch'd from the bright Precipice which they fell from, and here they s.h.i.+fted as well as they could.

Here expanding those Wings which Fear, and Horror at their Defeat furnish'd them, as I hinted before, they hurried away to the utmost Distance possible, from the Face of G.o.d their Conqueror, and then most dreaded Enemy; formerly their Joy and Glory.

Be this utmost remov'd Distance _where it will_, Here, certainly, _Satan_ and all his _Gang of Devils_, his numberless, tho' routed Armies retired. Here _Milton_ might, with some good Ground, have form'd his _Pandemonium_, and have brought them in, consulting what was next to be done, and whether there was any room left to renew the War, or to carry on the Rebellion; but had they been cast immediately into _h.e.l.l_, closed up there, the Bottomless pit lock'd upon them, and the Key carried up to _Heaven_ to be kept there, as Mr. _Milton_ himself in part confesses, and the Scripture affirms; I say, had this been so, the _Devil_ himself could not have been so ignorant as to think of any future Steps to be taken, to retrieve his Affairs, and therefore a _Pandemonium_ or Divan in h.e.l.l, to consult of it, was ridiculous.

All Mr. _Milton_'s Scheme of _Satan_'s future Conduct, and all the Scripture Expressions about _the Devil_ and his numerous Attendants, and of his actings since that time, make it not reasonable to suggest that the _Devils_ were confin'd to their eternal Prison, at their Expulsion out of _Heaven_; But that they were in a State of Liberty to act, tho'

limited in acting, of which I shall also speak in its place.