The History of the Devil Read Online

What may probably be the great Business this black Emperor has at present upon his Hands, either in this World or out of it, and by what Agents he works.

As these Things may perhaps run promiscuously thro’ the Course of this whole Work, and frequently be touch’d at under other Branches of the Devil’s History, so I do not propose them as Heads of Chapters or Particular Sections, for the Order of Discourse to be handled apart; for (by the way) as Satan’s Actings have not been the most regular Things in the World, so in our Discourse about him, it must not be expected that we can always tie our selves down to Order and Regularity, either as to Time, or Place, or Persons; for Satan being hic & ubique, a loose ungovern’d Fellow, we must be content to trace him where we can find him.

It is true, in the foregoing Chapter, I shew’d you the Devil entred into the Herd Ecclesiastick, and gave you some Account of the first successful Step he took with Mankind since the Christian Epocha; how having secretly managed both Temporal and Spiritual Power apart, and by themselves, he now united them in Point of Management, and brought the Church Usurpation and the Army’s Usurpation together; the Pope to bless the General in deposing and murthering his Master the Emperor; and the General to recognise the Pope in dethroning his Master Christ Jesus.

From this time forward you are to allow the Devil a mystical Empire in this World; not an Action of Moment done without him, not a Treason but he has a Hand in it, not a Tyrant but he prompts him, not a Government but he has a —— in it; not a Fool but he tickles him, not a Knave but he guides him; he has a Finger in every Fraud, a Key to every Cabinet, from the Divan at Constantinople, to the Mississipi in France, and to the South-Sea Cheats at ———; from the first Attack upon the Christian World, in the Person of the Romish Antichrist, down to the Bull Unigenitus; and from the Mixture of St. Peter and Confucius in China, to the Holy Office in Spain; and down to the Emlins and Dodwells of the current Age.

How he has managed, and does manage, and how in all Probability he will manage till his Kingdom shall come to a Period, and how at last he will probably be managed himself, Enquire within, and you shall know farther.

Chap. III.

Of the Manner of Satan’s acting and carrying on his Affairs in this World, and particularly of his ordinary Workings in the dark, by Possession and Agitation.

The Devil being thus reduc’d to act upon Mankind by Stratagem only, it remains to enquire how he performs, and which way he directs his Attacks; the Faculties of Man are a kind of a Garrison in a strong Castle, which as they defend it on the one hand under the Command of the reasoning Power of Man’s Soul, so they are prescribed on the other hand, and can’t sally out without Leave; for the Governor of a Fort does not permit his Soldiers to hold any Correspondence with the Enemy, without special Order and Direction. Now the great Enquiry before us is, How comes the Devil to a Parley with us? how does he converse with our Senses, and with the Understanding? How does he reach us, which way does he come at the Affections, and which way does he move the Passions? ’Tis a little difficult to discover this treasonable Correspondence, and that Difficulty is indeed the Devil’s Advantage, and, for ought I see, the chief Advantage he has over Mankind.

It is also a great Enquiry here, whether the Devil knows our Thoughts or no? If I may give my Opinion, I am with the negative; I deny that he knows any thing of our Thoughts, except of those Thoughts which he puts us upon thinking, for I will not doubt but he has the Art to inject Thoughts, and to revive dormant Thoughts in us: It is not so wild a Scheme as some take it to be, that Mr. Milton lays down, to represent the Devil injecting corrupt Desires and wandring Thoughts into the Head of Eve, by Dreams, and that he brought her to Dream whatever he put into her Thoughts, by whispering to her vocally when she was asleep; and to this End, he imagines the Devil laying himself close to her Ear, in the Shape of a Toad, when she was fall asleep; I say, this is not so wild a Scheme, seeing even now, if you can whisper any thing close to the Ear of a Person in a deep Sleep, so as to speak distinctly to the Person, and yet not awaken him, as has been frequently tried, the Person sleeping shall dream distinctly of what you say to him; nay, shall dream the very Words you say.

We have then no more to ask, but how the Devil can convey himself to the Ear of a sleeping Person, and it is granted then that he may have Power to make us dream what he pleases: But this is not all, for if he can so forcibly, by his invisible Application, cause us to dream, what he pleases, why can he not with the same Facility prompt our Thoughts, whether sleeping or waking? To dream, is nothing else but to think sleeping; and we have abundance of deep-headed Gentlemen among us, who give us ample Testimony that they dream waking.

But if the Devil can prompt us to dream, that is to say, to think, yet if he does not know our Thoughts, how then can he tell whether the Whisper had its Effect? The answer is plain, the Devil, like the Angler, baits the Hook, if the Fish bite he lies ready to take the Advantage, he whispers to the Imagination, and then waits to see how it works; as Naomi said to Ruth, Chap. iii. 5, 18. Sit still, my Daughter, until thou know how the Matter will fall, for the Man will not be at rest until he have finished the thing. Thus when the Devil had whisper’d to Eve in her Sleep, according to Milton, and suggested Mischief to her Imagination, he only sat still to see how the Matter would work, for he knew if it took with her, he should hear more of it; and then by finding her alone the next Day, without her ordinary Guard her Husband, he presently concluded she had swallowed the Bait, and so attack’d her afresh.

A small deal of Craft, and less by far than we have reason to believe the Devil is Master of, will serve to discover whether such and such Thoughts as he knows he has suggested, have taken Place or no; the Action of the Person presently discovers it, at least to him that lies always upon the Watch, and has every Word, every Gesture, every Step we take subsequent to his Operation, open to him; it may therefore, for ought we know, be a great Mistake, and what most of us are guilty of, to tell our Dreams to one another in the Morning, after we have been disturb’d with them in the Night; for if the Devil converses with us so insensibly as some are of the Opinion he does, that is to say, if he can hear as far as we can see, we may be telling our Story to him indeed, when we think we are only talking to one another.

This brings me most naturally to the important Enquiry, whether the Devil can walk about the World invisibly or no? The Truth is, this is no question to me; for as I have taken away his Visibility already, and have denied him all Prescience of Futurity too, and have prov’d he cannot know our Thoughts, nor put any Force upon Persons or Actions, if we should take away his Invisibility too, we should undevil him quite, to all Intents and Purposes, as to any Mischief he could do; nay, it would banish him the World, and he might e’en go and seek his Fortune some where else; for if he could neither be visible or invisible, neither act in publick or in private, he could neither have Business or Being in this Sphere, nor could we be any way concern’d with him.

The Devil therefore most certainly has a Power and Liberty of moving about in this World, after some manner or another; this is verify’d as well by way of Allegory, as by way of History, in the Scripture it self; and as the first strongly suggests and supposes it to be so, the last positively asserts it; and, not to croud this Work with Quotations from a Book which we have not much to do with in the Devil’s Story, at least not much to his Satisfaction, I only hint his personal Appearance to our Saviour in the Wilderness, where it is said, the Devil taketh him up to an exceeding high Mountain; and in another Place, the Devil departed from him. What Shape or Figure he appear’d in, we do not find mentioned, but I cannot doubt his appearing to him there, any more than I can his talking to our Saviour in the Mouths, and with the Voices of the several Persons who were under the terrible Affliction of an actual Possession.

These Things leave us no room to doubt of what is advanced above, namely, that he, (the Devil) has a certain Residence, or Liberty of residing in, and moving about upon the Surface of this Earth, as well as in the Compass of the Atmosphere, vulgarly call’d the Air, in some manner or other: That is the general.

It remains to enquire into the manner, which I resolve into two Kinds;

1. Ordinary, which I suppose to be his invisible Motions as a Spirit; under which Consideration I suppose him to have an unconfin’d, unlimited, unrestrain’d Liberty, as to the manner of acting; and this either in Persons, by Possession; or in Things, by Agitation.

2. Extraordinary; which I understand to be his Appearances in borrowed Shapes and Bodies, or Shadows rather of Bodies; assuming Speech, Figure, Posture, and Several Powers, of which we can give little or no Account; in which extraordinary manner of Appearances, he is either limited by a Superior Power, or limits himself politically, as being not the Way most for his Interest or Purpose, to act in his Business, which is more effectually done in his State of Obscurity.

Hence we must suppose the Devil has it very much in his own Choice, whether to act in one Capacity, or in the other, or in both; that is to say, of appearing, and not appearing, as he finds for his Purpose: In this State of Invisibility, and under the Operation of these Powers and Liberties, he performs all his Functions and Offices, as Devil, as Prince of Darkness, as God of this World, as Tempter, Accuser, Deceiver, and all whatsoever other Names of Office, or Titles of Honour he is known by.

Now taking him in this large unlimited, or little limited State of Action, he is well call’d, the God of this World, for he has very much of the Attribute of Omnipresence, and may be said, either by himself or his Agents, to be every where, and see every thing; that is to say, every thing that is visible; for I cannot allow him any Share of Omniscience at all.

That he ranges about every where, is with us, and sometimes in us, sees when he is not seen, hears when he is not heard, comes in without Leave, and goes out without Noise, is neither to be shut in or shut out, that when he runs from us we can’t catch him, and when he runs after us we can’t escape him, is seen when he is not known, and is known when he is not seen; all these things, and more, we have Knowledge enough about to convince us of the Truth of them; so that, as I have said above, he is certainly walking to and fro thro’ the Earth, &c. after some manner or other, and in some Figure or other, visible or invisible, as he finds Occasion. Now in order to make our History of him complete, the next Question before us is, how, and in what manner he acts with Mankind? how his Kingdom is carried on, and by what Methods he does his Business, for he certainly has a great deal of Business to do; he is not an idle Spectator, nor is he walking about incognito, and cloth’d in Mist and Darkness, purely in Kindness to us, that we should not be frighted at him; but ’tis in Policy, that he may act undiscover’d, that he may see and not be seen, may play his Game in the dark, and not be detected in his Roguery; that he may prompt Mischief, raise Tempests, blow up Coals, kindle Strife, embroil Nations, use Instruments, and not be known to have his Hand in any thing, when at the same time he really has a Hand in every thing.

Some are of Opinion, and I among the rest, that if the Devil was personally and visibly present among us, and we conversed with him Face to Face, we should be so familiar with him in a little time, that his ugly Figure would not affect us at all, that his Terrors would not fright us, or that we should any more trouble our selves about him, than we did with the last great Comet in 1678, which appear’d so long and so constantly without any particular known Event, that at last we took no more Notice of it than of the other ordinary Stars which had appear’d before we or our Ancestors were born.

Nor indeed should we have much Reason to be frighted at him, or at least none of those silly Things could be said of him which we now amuse our selves about, and by which we set him up like a Scare-Crow to fright Children and old Women, to fill up old Stories, make Songs and Ballads, and in a Word, carry on the low priz’d Buffoonery of the common People; we should either see him in his Angelic Form, as he was from the Original, or if he has any Deformities entail’d upon him by the supreme Sentence, and in Justice to the Deformity of his Crime, they would be of a superior Nature, and fitted more for our Contempt as well as Horror, than those weak fancied Trifles contrived by our antient Devil-raisers and Devil-makers, to feed the wayward Fancies of old Witches and Sorcerers, who cheated the ignorant World with a Devil of their own making, set forth, in terrorem, with Bat’s Wings, Horns, cloven Foot, long Tail, fork’d Tongue, and the like.

In the next Place, be his frightful Figure what it would, and his Legions as numerous as the Host of Heaven, we should see him still, as the Prince of Devils, tho’ monstrous as a Dragon, flaming as a Comet, tall as a Mountain, yet dragging his Chain after him equal to the utmost of his supposed Strength; always in Custody of his Jailors the Angels, his Power over-power’d, his Rage cow’d and abated, or at least aw’d and under Correction, limited and restrain’d; in a Word, we should see him a vanquish’d Slave, his Spirit broken, his Malice, tho’ not abated, yet Hand-cuff’d and overpower’d, and he not able to work any Thing against us by Force; so that he would be to us but like the Lions in the Tower, encag’d and lock’d up, unable to do the Hurt he wishes to do, and that we fear, or indeed any hurt at all.

From hence ’tis evident, that ’tis not his Business to be public, or to walk up and down in the World visibly, and in his own Shape; his Affairs require a quite different Management, as might be made apparent from the Nature of Things, and the Manner of our Actings, as Men, either with our selves or to one another.

Nor could he be serviceable in his Generation, as a public Person as now he is, or answer the End of his Party who employ him, and who, if he was to do their Business in public, as he does in private, would not be able to employ him at all.

As in our modern Meetings for the Propagation of Impudence and other Virtues, there would be no Entertainment and no Improvement for the Good of the Age, if the People did not all appear in Masque, and conceal’d from the common Observation; so neither could Satan (from whose Management those more happy Assemblies are taken as Copies of a glorious Original) perform the usual and necessary Business of his Profession, if he did not appear wholly in Covert and under needful Disguises; how, but for the Convenience of his Habit, could he call himself into so many Shapes, act on so many different Scenes, and turn so many Wheels of State in the World, as he has done? as a meer profess’d Devil he could do nothing.

Had he been oblig’d always to act the meer Devil in his own Clothes, and with his own Shape, appearing uppermost in all Cafes and Places, he could never have preach’d in so many Pulpits, presided in so many Councils, voted in so many Committees, sat in so many Courts, and influenc’d so many Parties and Factions in Church and State, as we have Reason to believe he has done in our Nation, and in our Memories too, as well as in other Nations and in more antient Times. The Share Satan has had in all the weighty Confusions of the Times, ever since the first Ages of Christianity in the World, has been carried on with so much Secresy, and so much with an Air of Cabal and Intrigue, that nothing can have been manag’d more subtilly and closely, and in the same Manner has he acted in our Times, in order to conceal his Interest, and conceal the Influence he has had in the Councils of the World.

Had it been possible for him to have raised the Flames of Rebellion and War so often in this Nation, as he certainly has done? Could he have agitated the Parties on both Sides, and inflam’d the Spirits of three Nations, if he had appears in his own Dress, a meer naked Devil? It is not the Devil as a Devil that does the Mischief, but the Devil in Masquerade, Satan in full Disguise, and acting at the Head of civil Confusion and Distraction.

If History may be credited, the French Court at the Time of our old Confusions was made the Scene of Satan’s Politicks, and prompted both Parties in England and in Scotland also to quarrel, and how was it done? Will any Man offer to scandalize the Devil so much as to say, or so much as to suggest that Satan had no Hand in it all? Did not the Devil, by the Agency of Cardinal Richlieu, send 400000 Crowns at one Time, and 600000 at another, to the Scots, to raise an Army and march boldly into England? and did not the same Devil at the same time, by other Agents, remit 800000 Crowns to the other Party, in order to raise an Army to fall upon the Scots? nay, did not the Devil with the same Subtilty send down the Archbishop’s Order to impose the Service-Book upon the People in Scotland, and at the same Time raise a Mob against it, in the great Church (at St. Giles’s)? Nay, did not he actually, in the Person of an old Woman (his favourite Instrument) throw the three-leg’d Stool at the Service-Book, and animate the zealous People to take up Arms for Religion, and turn Rebels for God Sake?

All these happy and successful Undertakings, tho’ ’tis no more to be doubted they were done by the Agency of Satan, and in a very surprizing Manner too, yet were all done in secret, by what I call Possession and Injection, and by the Agency and Contrivance of such Instruments, or by the Devil in the Disguise of such Servants as he found out fitted to be employ’d in his Work, and who he took a more effectual Care in concealing of.

But we shall have Occasion to touch all this Part over again, when we come to discourse of the particular Habits and Disguises which the Devil has made use of, all along in the World, the better to cover his Actions, and to conceal his being concern’d in them.

In the mean Time the Cunning or Artifice the Devil makes use of in all these Things is in it self very considerable; ’tis an old Practice of his using, and he has gone on in diverse Measures, for the better concealing himself in it; which Measures, tho’ he varies sometimes, as his extraordinary Affairs require, yet they are in all Ages much the same, and have the same Tendency; namely, that he may get all his Business carried on by the Instrumentality of Fools; that he may make Mankind Agents in their own Destruction, and that he may have all his Work done in such a Manner as that he may seem to have no Hand in it; nay he contrives so well, that the very Name Devil is put upon his opposite Party, and the Scandal of the black Agent lies all upon them.

In order then to look a little into his Conduct, let us enquire into the common Mistakes about him, see what Use is made of them to his Advantage, and how far Mankind is imposed upon in those Particulars, and to what Purpose.

Chap. IV.

Of Satan’s Agents or Missionaries, and their Actings upon and in the Minds of Men in his Name.

Infinite Advantages attend the Devil in his retired Government, as they respect the Management of his Interests, and the carrying on his absolute Monarchy in the World; particularly as it gives him room to act by the Agency of his inferior Ministers and Messengers, call’d on many Occasions his Angels, of whom he has an innumerable Multitude, at his Command, enough, for ought we know, to spare one to attend every Man and Woman now alive in the World; and of whom, if we may believe our second sight Christians, the Air is always as full, as a Beam of the Evening Sun is of Insects, where they are ever ready for Business, and to go and come as their great Governor issues out Orders for their Directions.

These, as they are all of the same spirituous Quality with himself, and consequently invisible like him, except as above, are ready upon all Occasions to be sent to and into any such Person, and for such Purposes, superior Limitations only excepted, as the grand Director of Devils, (The Devil properly so call’d guides them;) and be the Subject or the Object what it will, that is to say, be the Person they are sent to, or into, as above, who it will, and the Business the Messenger is to do what it will, they are sufficiently qualified; for this is a Particular to Satan’s Messengers or Agents, that they are not like us humane Devils here in the World, some bred up one Way, some another, some of one Trade, some of another, and consequently some fit for some Business, some for another, some good for something, and some good for nothing, but his People are every one fit for every Thing, can find their Way every where, and are a Match for every Body they are sent to; in a Word, there are no foolish Devils, they are all fully qualified for their Employment, fit for any thing he sets them about, and very seldom mistake their Errand or fail in the Business they are sent to do.

Nor is it strange at all, that the Devil should have such a numberless Train of Deputy Devils to act under him; for it must be acknowledged he has a great deal of Business upon his Hands, a vast deal of Work to do, abundance of public Affairs under his Direction, and an infinite Variety of particular Cases always before him; for Example.

How many Governments in the World are wholly in his Administration? how many Divans and great Councils under his Direction? nay, I believe, ’twould be hard to prove that there is or has been one Council of State in the World for many hundred Years past, down to the Year 1713, (we don’t pretend to come nearer home) where the Devil by himself, or his Agents in one Shape or another, has not sat as a Member, if not taken the Chair.

And tho’ some learn’d Authors may dispute this Point with me, by giving some Examples where the Councils of Princes have been acted by a better Hand, and where Things have been carried against Satan’s Interest, and even to his great Mortification, it amounts to no more than this; namely, that in such Cases the Devil has been out-voted; but it does not argue but he might have been present there, and have push’d his Interest as far as he could, only that he had not the Success he expected; for I don’t pretend to say that he has never been disappointed; but those Examples are so rare, and of so small Signification, that when I come to the Particulars, as I shall do in the Sequel of this History, you will find them hardly worth naming; and that, take it one Time with another, the Devil has met with such a Series of Success in all his Affairs, and has so seldom been baulk’d; and where he has met with a little Check in his Politicks, has notwithstanding, so soon and so easily recover’d himself, regain’d his lost Ground, or replac’d himself in another Country when he has been supplanted in one, that his Empire is far from being lessen’d in the World, for the last thousand Years of the Christian Establishment.

Suppose we take an Observation from the Beginning of Luther, or from the Year 1420, and call the Reformation a Blow to the Devil’s Kingdom, which before that was come to such a Height in Christendom, that ’tis a Question not yet thorowly decided, whether that Medley of Superstition and horrible Heresies, that Mass of Enthusiam and Idols call’d the Catholick Hierarchy, was a Church of God or a Church of the Devil; whether it was an Assembly of Saints or a Synagogue of Satan: I say, take that Time to be the Epocha of Satan’s Declension and of Lucifer’s falling from Heaven, that is, from the Top of his terrestrial Glory, yet whether he did not gain in the Defection of the Greek Church about that Time and since, as much as he lost in the Reformation of the Roman, is what Authors are not yet agreed about, not reckoning what he has regain’d since of the Ground which he had lost even by the Reformation, (viz.) the Countries of the Duke of Savoy’s Dominion, where the Reformation is almost eaten out by Persecution; the whole Valtoline and some adjacent Countries; the whole Kingdom of Poland and almost all Hungary; for since the last War the Reformation, as it were, lies gasping for Breath, and expiring in that Country, also several large Provinces in Germany, as Austria, Carinthia, and the whole Kingdom of Bohemia, where the Reformation once powerfully planted, receiv’d its Death’s Wound at the Battle of Prague, Ann. 1627, and languish’d but a very little while, died and was buried, and good King Popery reign’d in its stead.

To these Countries thus regain’d to Satan’s infernal Empire, let us add his modern Conquests and the Encroachments he has made upon the Reformation in the present Age, which are, however light we make of them, very considerable (viz.) the Electorate of the Rhine and the Palatinate, the one fallen to the House of Bavaria, and the other to that of Neuburgh, both Popish; the Dutchy of Deux Ponts fallen just now to a popish Branch, the whole Electorate of Saxony fallen under the Power of popish Government by the Apostacy of their Princes, and more likely to follow the Fate of Bohemia, whenever the diligent Devil can bring his new Project in Poland to bear, as ’tis more than probable he will do so some time or other, by the growing Zeal as well as Power of (that House of Bigots) the House of A——.

But to sum up the dull Story; we must add in the Roll of the Devil’s Conquests, the whole Kingdom of France, where we have in one Year seen, to the immortal Glory of the Devil’s Politicks, that his Measures have prevailed to the total Extirpation of the Protestant Churches without a War; and that Interest which for 200 Years had supported it self in spight of Persecutions, Massacres, five civil Wars and innumerable Battles and Slaughters, at last receiv’d its mortal Wound from its own Champion Henry IV. and sunk into utter Oblivion, by Satan’s most exquisite Management under the Agency of his two prime Ministers Cardinal Richlieu and Lewis the XIV, whom he entirely possess’d.

Thus far we have a melancholy View of the Devil’s new Conquests, and the Ground he has regain’d upon the Reformation, in which his secret Management has been so exquisite, and his Politicks so good, that could he bring but one Thing to pass, which by his own former Mistake, (for the Devil is not infallible) he has rendred impossible, he would bring the Protestant Interest so near its Ruin, that Heaven would be, as it were, put to the Necessity of working by Miracle to prevent it; the Case is thus.

Antient Historians tell us, and from good Authority, that the Devil finding it for his Interest to bring his favourite Mahomet upon the Stage, and spread the victorious Half-Moon upon the Ruin of the Cross, having with great Success, rais’d first the Saracen Empire, and then the Turkish to such a Height, as that the Name of Christian seemed to be extirpated in those two Quarters of the World, which were then not the greatest only, but by far the most powerful, I mean Asia and Africa; having totally laid wast all those antient and flourishing Churches of Africa, the Labours of St. Cyprian, Tertullian, St. Augustine, and 670 Christian Bishops and Fathers, who govern’d there at once, also all the Churches of Smyrna, Philadelphia, Ephesus, Sardis, Antioch, Laodicea, and innumerable others in Pontus, Bithynia, and the Provinces of the lesser Asia.

The Devil having, I say, finish’d these Conquests so much to his Satisfaction, began to turn his Eyes Northward, and tho’ he had a considerable Interest in the Whore of Babylon, and had brought his Power by the Subjection of the Roman Hierarchy to a great Height, yet finding the Interest of Mahomet most suitable to his devilish Purposes, as most adapted to the Destruction of Mankind, and laying waste the World, he resolv’d to espouse the growing Power of the Turk, and bring him in upon Europe like a Deluge.

In order to this, and to make Way for an easy Conquest, like a true Devil he work’d under Ground, and sap’d the Foundation of the Christian Power, by sowing Discord among the reigning Princes of Europe; that so envying one another they might be content to stand still and look on while the Turk devoured them one by one, and at last might swallow them up all.

This devilish Policy took to his Heart’s Content; the Christian Princes stood still, stupid, dozing, and unconcern’d, till the Turk conquered Thrace, over-run Servia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and all the Remains of the Grecian Empire, and at last the Imperial City of Constantinople it self.

Finding this politic Method so well answer his Ends, the Devil, who always improves upon the Success of his own Experiments, resolv’d from that time to lay a Foundation for the making those Divisions and Jealousies of the Christian Princes immortal; whereas they were at first only personal, and founded in private Quarrels between the Princes respectively; such as Emulation of one another’s Glory, Envy at the extraordinary Valour, or other Merit of this or that Leader, or Revenge of some little Affront; for which notwithstanding, so great was the Piety of Christian Princes in those Days, that they made no Scruple to sacrifice whole Armies, yea, Nations, to their Piques and private Quarrels, a certain Sign whose Management they were under.

These being the Causes by which the Devil first sow’d the Seeds of Mischief among them, and the Success so well answering his Design, he could not but wish to have the same Advantage always ready at his Hand; and therefore he resolv’d to order it so, that these Divisions, which, however useful to him, were only personal, and consequently temporary, like an Annual in the Garden, which must be rais’d anew every Season, might for the future be national, and consequently durable and immortal.

To this end it was necessary to lay the Foundation of eternal Feud, not in the Humours and Passions of Men only, but in the Interests of Nations: The Way to do this was to form and state the Dominion of those Princes, by such a Plan drawn in Hell, and laid out from a Scheme truly political, of which the Devil was chief Engineer; that the Divisions should always remain, being made a natural Consequence of the Situation of the Country, the Temper of their People, the Nature of their Commerce, the Climate, the Manner of living, or something which should for ever render it impossible for them to unite.

This, I say, was a Scheme truly infernal, in which the Devil was as certainly the principal Operator, to illustrate great Things by small, as ever John of Leyden was of the High Dutch Rebellion, or Sir John B———t of the late Project, called the South-Sea Stock. Nor did this Contrivance of the Devil at all dishonour his Author, or the Success appear unworthy of the Undertaker; for we see it not only answer the End, and made the Turk victorious at the same Time, and formidable to Europe ever after, but it works to this Day, the Foundation of the Divisions remains in all the several Nations, and that to such a Degree that it is impossible they should unite.

This is what I hinted before, in which the Devil was mistaken, and is another instance that he knows nothing of what is to come; for this very Foundation of immortal Jealousy and Discord between the several Nations of Spain, France, Germany, and others, which the Devil himself with so much Policy contriv’d, and which serv’d his Interests so long, is now the only Obstruction to his Designs, and prevents the entire Ruin of the Reformation; for tho’ the reform’d Countries are very Powerful, and some of them, as Great Britain and Prussia is particularly, more powerful than ever; yet it cannot be said that the Protestant Interests in general are stronger than formerly, or so strong as they were in 1623 under the victorious Arms of the Swede; On the other Hand, were it possible that the Popish Powers, to wit, of France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Poland, which are intirely Popish, could heartily unite their Interests, and should join their Powers to attack the Protestants, the latter would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to defend themselves.

But as fatal as such a Union of the Popish Powers would be, and as useful as it would be to the Devil’s Cause at this time, not the Devil with all his Angels are able to bring it to pass; no, not with all his Craft and Cunning; he divided them, but he can’t unite them; so that even just as ’tis with Men, so ’tis with Devils, they may do in an Hour what they can’t undo in an Age.

This may comfort those faint-hearted Christians among us, who cry out of the Danger of a religious War in Europe, and what terrible Things will happen when France, and Spain, and Germany, and Italy, and Poland shall all unite; let this Answer satisfy them, The Devil himself can never make France and Spain, or France and the Emperor unite; jarring Humours may be reconcil’d, but jarring Interests never can: They may unite so as to make Peace, tho’ that can hardly be long, but never so as to make Conquests together; they are too much afraid of one another, for one to bear, that any Addition of Strength should come to the other. But this is a Digression. We shall find the Devil mistaken and disappointed too on several other Occasions, as we go along.

I return to Satan’s Interest in the several Governments and Nations, by vertue of his Invisibility, and which he carries on by Possession; ’tis by this Invisibility that he presides in all the Councils of foreign Powers, (for we never mean our own, that we always premise;) and what tho’ it is alledged by the Criticks, that he does not preside, because there is always a President; I say, if he is not in the President’s Chair, yet if he be in the President himself, the Difference is not much; and if he does not vote as a Counsellor, if he votes in the Counsellor, ’tis much the same; and here, as it was in the Story of Ahab the King of Israel, as he was a lying Spirit in the Mouths of all his Prophets, so we find him a Spirit of some particular evil Quality or other, in all the Transactions and Transactors on that Stage of Life we call the State.

Thus he was a dissembling Spirit in Char. IX. a turbulent Spirit in Char. V. Emperors; a bigotted Spirit of Fire and Faggot in our Queen Mary; an apostate Spirit in Hen. IV.; a cruel Spirit in Peter of Castile; a revengeful Spirit in Ferdinand II.; a Phaeton in Lewis XIV.; a Sardanapalus in C——— II.

In the Great Men of the World, take them a degree lower than the Class of Crown’d Heads, he has the same secret Influence; and hence it comes to pass, that the greatest Heroes, and Men of the highest Character for Atchievements of Glory, either by their Virtue or Valour, however they have been crowned with Victories, and elevated by human Tongues, whatever the most consummate Virtues or good Qualities they have been known by, yet they have always had some Devil or other in them to preserve Satan’s Claim to them uninterrupted, and prevent their Escape out of his Hands; thus we have seen a bloody Devil in a D’Alva; a profligate Devil in a Buckingham; a lying, artful, or politick Devil in a Richlieu; a treacherous Devil in a Mazarin; a cruel, merciless Devil in a Cortez; a debauch’d Devil in an Eugene; a conjuring Devil in a Luxemburg; and a covetous Devil in a M————h: In a word, tell me the Man, I tell you the Spirit that reign’d in him.

Nor does he thus carry on his secret Management by Possession in Men of the first Magnitude only, but have you not had Evidences of it among our selves? how has he been a lying Spirit in the Mouths of our Prophets, a factious Spirit in the Heads of our Politicians, a profuse Devil in a B——s, a corrupt Devil in M——, a proud Spirit in my Lord Plausible, a bullying Spirit in my Lord Bugbear, a talkative Spirit in his Grace the D—— of Rattle-hall, a scribling Spirit in my Lord H———, a run-away Spirit in my Lord Frightful; and so thro’ a long Roll of Heroes, whose exceeding, and particular Qualifications proclaim loudly what Handle the Devil took them by, and how fast he held them; for these were all Men of ancient Fame, I hope you know that.

From Men of Figure, we descend to the Mob, and ’tis there the same thing; Possession, like the Plague, is Morbus Plebæi; not a Family but he is a Spirit of Strife and Contention among them; not a Man but he has a Part in him; he is a drunken Devil in one, a whoring Devil in another, a thieving Devil in a third, a lying Devil in the fourth, and so on, to a thousand, and a hundred thousand, ad infinitum.

Nay, even the Ladies have their Share in the Possession; and if they have not the Devil in their Heads, or in their Tails, in their Faces or their Tongues, it must be some poor despicable She-devil that Satan did not think it worth his while to meddle with; and the Number of those that are below his Operation, I doubt is very small. But that Part I have much more to say to in its Place.

From Degrees of Persons, to Professions and Employments, ’tis the same; we find the Devil is a true Posture-master, he assumes any Dress, appears in any Shape, counterfeits every Voice, acts upon every Stage; here he wears a Gown, there a long Robe; here he wears the Jack-Boots, there the Small-Sword; is here an Enthusiast, there a Buffoon; on this Side he acts the Mountebank, on that Side the Merry-Andrew; nothing comes amiss to him, from the Great Mogul, to the Scaramouch; the Devil is in them, more or less, and plays his Game so well that he makes sure Work with ’em all: He knows where the Common Foible lies, which is Universal Passion, what Handle to take hold of every Man by, and how to cultivate his Interest so, as not to fail of his End, or mistake the Means.

How then can it be deny’d but that his acting thus in tenebris, and keeping out of the sight of the World, is abundantly his Interest, and that he could do nothing, comparatively speaking, by any other Method?

What would this publick Appearance have signified? Who would have entertain’d him in his own proper Shape and Person? Even B—— B—— himself, tho’ all the World knows him to have a foolish Devil in him, would not have been Fool enough to have taken him into his Service, if he had known him: And my Lord Simpleton also, who Satan has set up for a cunning Fool, seems to have it sit much better upon him now he passes for a Fool of Art, than it should have done if the naked Devil had come and challenged him for a Fool in Nature.

Infinite Variety illustrate the Devil’s Reign among the Sons of Men; all which he manages with admirable Dexterity, and a Slight particular to himself, by the mere Advantage of his present conceal’d Situation, and which, had he been obliged to have appear’d in Publick, had been all lost, and he capable of just nothing at all, or at least of nothing more than the other ordinary Politicians of Wickedness could have done without him.

Now, Authors are much divided as to the manner how the Devil manages his proper Instruments for Mischief; for Satan has a great many Agents in the Dark, who neither have the Devil in them, nor are they much acquainted with him, and yet he serves himself of them, whether of their Folly, or of that other Frailty call’d Wit, ’tis all one, he makes them do his Work, when they think they are doing their own; nay, so cunning is he in his guiding the weak Part of the World, that even when they think they are serving God, they are doing nothing less or more than serving the Devil; nay, ’tis some of the nicest Part of his Operation, to make them believe they are serving God, when they do his Work. Thus those who the Scripture foretold should persecute Christ’s Church in the latter Days, were to think they do God good Service: Thus the Inquisition, (for Example,) it may be, at this time, in all the acts of Christian Cruelty which they are so famous for (if any of them are ignorant enough not to know that they are Devils incarnate) they may, for ought we know, go on for God’s sake; torture, murther, starve to Death, mangle and macerate, and all for God, and God’s Catholic Church; and ’tis certainly the Devil’s Master-piece to bring Mankind to such a Perfection of Devilism as that of the Inquisition is; for if the Devil had not been in them, could they christen such a Hell-fire Judicature as the Inquisition is, by the Name of the Holy Office? And so in Paganism, how could so many Nations among the poor Indians offer human Sacrifices to their Idols, and murther thousands of Men, Women and Children, to appease this God of the Air, when he is angry, if the Devil did not act in them under the Vizor of Devotion?

But we need not go to America, or to the Inquisition, not to Paganism or to Popery either, to look for People that are sacrificing to the Devil, or that give their Peace-offerings to him, while they are offer’d upon God’s Altar; are not our Churches (ay, and Meeting-houses too, as much as they pretend to be more sanctified than their Neighbours) full of Devil Worshipers? Where do his Devotees gratulate one another, and congratulate him, more than at Church? where, while they hold up their Hands, and turn up their Eyes towards Heaven, they make all their Vows to Satan, or at least to the fair Devils his Representatives, which I shall speak of in their Place.

Do not the Sons of God make Assignations with the Daughters of Men in the very House of Worship? Do they not talk to them in the Language of the Eyes? And what is at the Bottom of it, while one Eye is upon the Prayer-book, and the other adjusting their Dress? Are they not sacrificing to Venus and Mercury, nay, and the very Devil they dress at?

Let any Man impartially survey the Church-Gestures, the Air, the Postures and the Behaviour; let him keep an exact Roll, and if I do not shew him two Devil Worshipers for one true Saint, then the Word Saint must have another Signification than I ever yet understood it by.

The Church (as a Place) is the Receptacle of the Dead, as well as the Assembly of the Living; what relates to those below, I doubt Satan, if he would be so kind, could give a better Account of than I can; but as to the Superficies, I pretend to so much Penetration as to tell you, that there are more Spectres, more Apparitions always there, than you that know nothing of the matter may be aware of.

I happen’d to be at an eminent Place of God’s most devout Worship the other Day, with a Gentleman of my Acquaintance, who, I observed, minded very little the Business he ought to come about; first I saw him always busy staring about him and bowing this Way and that Way, nay, he made two or three bows and Scrapes when he was repeating the Responses to the Ten Commandments, and assure you he made it correspond strangely, so that the Harmony was not so broken in upon as you would expect it should; thus; Lord, and a Bow to a fine Lady just come up to her Seat, have Mercy upon us; —— three Bows to a Throng of Ladies that came into the next Pew altogether, and incline —— then stop’d to make a great Scrape to my Lord ——, our Hearts, just then the Hearts of all the Church were gone off from the Subject, for the Response was over, so he huddled up the rest in Whispers, for God a Mighty could hear him well enough, he said, nay, as well as if he had spoken as loud as his Neighbours did.

After we were come home, I ask’d him what he meant by all this, and what he thought of it?

How could I help it, said he, I must not be rude.

What, says I, rude to who?

Why, says he, there came in so many she Devils I could not help it.

What, said I, could not you help bowing when you were saying your Prayers?

O Sir! says he, the Ladies would have thought I had slighted them, I could not avoid it.

Ladies! said I, I thought you call’d them Devils just now.

Ay, ay, Devils, said he, little charming Devils, but I must not be rude to them however.

Very well, said I, then you would be rude to God a Mighty, because you could not be rude to the Devil?

Why that’s true, said he, but what can we do? there’s no going to Church as the Case stands now, if we must not worship the Devil a little between whiles.

This is the Case indeed, and Satan carries his Point on every Hand; for if the fair speaking World, and the fair looking World are generally Devils, that is to say, are in his Management, we are sure the foul speaking and the foul doing World are all on his Side, and you have then only the fair-doing Part of the World that are out of his Class, and when we speak of them, O how few!

But I return to the Devil’s managing our wicked Part, for this he does with most exquisite Subtilty; and this is one Part of it, (viz.) he thrusts our Vices into our Virtues, by which he mixes the Clean and the Unclean, and thus by the Corruption of the one, poisons and debauches the other, so that the Slave he governs cannot account for his own common Actions, and is fain to be oblig’d to his Maker to accept of the Heart without the Hands and Feet; to take, as we vulgarly express it, the Will for the Deed, and if Heaven was not so good to come into that half in half Service, I don’t see but the Devil would carry away all his Servants: Here indeed I should enter into a long Detail of involuntary Wickedness, which in short, is neither more or less than the Devil in every Body, ay, in every one of you, (our Governors excepted) take it as you please.

What is our Language when we look back with Reflection and Reproach on past Follies? I think I was bewitch’d, I was posses’d, certainly the Devil was in me, or else I had never been such a Sot: Devil in you, Sir! Ay, who doubts it; you may be sure the Devil was in you, and there he is still, and next Time he can catch you in the same Snare, you’ll be just the same Sot that you say you were before.

In short, the Devil is too cunning for us, and manages us his own Way; he governs the Vices of Men by his own Methods; tho’ every Crime will not make a Man a Devil, yet it must be owned that every Crime puts the Criminal in some Measure into the Devil’s Power, gives him a Title to the Man, and he treats him magisterially ever after.

Some tell us every single Man, every individual has a Devil attending him, to execute the Orders of the (Grand Signior) Devil of the whole Clan; that this attending evil Angel, for so he is call’d, sees every Step you take, is with you in every Action, prompts you to every Mischief, and leaves you to do every Thing that is pernicious to your self; they also alledge that there is a good Spirit which attends him too, which latter is always accessary to every Thing that we do that is good, and reluctant to evil; If this is true, how comes it to pass that those two opposite Spirits do not quarrel about it when they are pressing us to contrary Actions, one good and the other evil? and why does the evil tempting Spirit so often prevail? Instead of answering this difficult Question, I shall only tell you, as to this Story of good and evil Angels attending every particular Person, ’tis a good Allegory indeed to represent the Struggle in the Mind of Man between good and evil Inclinations; but as to the rest, the best Thing I can say of it is, that I think ’tis a Fib.

But to take Things as they are, and only talk by way of natural Consequence, for to argue from Nature is certainly the best Way to find out the Devil’s Story; if there are good and evil Spirits attending us, that is to say, a good Angel and a Devil, then ’tis no unjust Reproach upon any Body to say, when they follow the Dictates of the latter, the Devil is in them; or they are Devils; nay, I must carry it farther still, namely, that as the Generality and greatest Number of People do follow and obey the evil Spirit and not the good, and that the predominate Power is allowed to be the nominating Power; you must then allow, that in short, the greater Part of Mankind has the Devil in them, and so I come to my Text.

To this Purpose give me leave to borrow a few Lines of a Friend on this very Part of the Devil’s Management.

To Places and Persons he suits his Disguises,
And dresses up all his Banditti,
Who as Pickpockets flock to a Country Assizes,
Croud up to the Court and the City.

They’re at every Elbow and every Ear,
And ready at every call, Sir;
The vigilant Scout plants his Agents about,
And has something to do with us all, Sir.

In some he has Part, and in some he’s the Whole,
And of some (like the Vicar of Baddow)
It can neither be said they have Body or Soul,
But only are Devils in Shadow.

The Pretty and Witty, are Devils in Masque,
The Beauties are meer Apparitions;
The homely alone by their Faces are known,
And the Good by their ugly Conditions.

The Beaus walk about like the Shadows of Men.
And wherever he leads ’em they follow,
But tak’em and shak’em, there’s not one in ten
But’s as light as a Feather and hollow.

Thus all his Affairs he drives on in Disguise,
And he tickles Mankind with a Feather:
Creeps in at our Ears, and looks out at our Eyes,
And jumbles our Senses together.

He raises the Vapours, and prompts the Desires,
And to ev’ry dark Deed holds the Candle;
The Passions enflames and the Appetite fires,
And takes ev’ry Thing by the Handle.

Thus he walks up and down in compleat Masquerade,
And with every Company mixes,
Sells in every Shop, works at every Trade,
And ev’ry Thing doubtful perplexes.

How Satan comes by this governing Influence in the Minds and upon the Actions of Men, is a Question I am not yet come to, nor indeed does it so particularly belong to the Devil’s History, it seems rather a Polemick, so it may pass at School among the Metaphysicks, and puzzle the Heads of our Masters; wherefore I think to write to the learned Dr. B—— about it, imploring his most sublime Haughtiness, that when his other more momentous Avocations of Pedantry and Pedagogism will give him an Interval from Wrath and Contention, he will set apart a Moment to consider human Nature Deviliz’d, and give us a Mathematical Anatomical Description of it; with a Map of Satan’s Kingdom in the Microcosm of Mankind, and such other Illuminations as to him and his Contemporaries —— and, —— &c. in their great Wisdom shall seem meet.

Chap. V.

Of the Devil’s Management in the Pagan Hierarchy by Omens, Entrails, Augurs, Oracles, and such like Pageantry of Hell; and how they went off the Stage at last by the Introduction of true Religion.

I have adjourn’d, not finished, my Account of the Devil’s secret Management by Possession, and shall reassume it, in its Place; but I must take leave to mention some other Parts of his retir’d Scheme, by which he has hitherto manag’d Mankind, and the first of these is by that Fraud of all Frauds call’d Oracle.

Here his Trumpet yielded an uncertain Sound for some Ages, and like what he was, and according to what he practised from the Beginning, he deliver’d out Falshood and Delusion by Retale: The Priests of Apollo acted this Farce for him to a great Nicety at Delphos; there were divers others at the same Time, and some, which to give the Devil his due, he had very little Hand in, as we shall see presently.

There were also some smaller, some greater, some more, some less famous Places where those Oracles were seated, and Audience given to the Enquirers, in all which the Devil, or some Body for him, Permissu Superiorum, for either vindictive or other hidden Ends and Purposes, was allow’d to make at least a Pretension to the Knowledge of Things to come; but, as publick Cheats generally do, they acted in Masquerade, and gave such uncertain and inconsistent Responses, that they were oblig’d to use the utmost Art to reconcile Events to the Prediction, even after things were come to pass.

Here the Devil was a lying Spirit, in a particular and extraordinary manner, in the Mouths of all the Prophets; and yet he had the Cunning to express himself so, that whatever happen’d, the Oracle was suppos’d to have meant as it fell out; and so all their Augurs, Omens and Voices, by which the Devil amus’d the World, not at that Time only, but since, have been likewise interpreted.

Julian the Apostate dealt mightily in these Amusements, but the Devil, who neither wish’d his Fall, or presag’d it to him, evidenc’d that he knew nothing of Julian’s Fate; for that, as he sent almost to all the Oracles of the East, and summon’d all the Priests together to inform him of the Success of his Persian Expedition, they all, like Ahab’s Prophets, having a lying Spirit in them, encourag’d him and promis’d him Success.

Nay, all the ill Omens which disturb’d him, they presag’d good from; for Example, he was at a prodigious Expence when he was at Antioch to buy up white Beasts, and white Fowls, for Sacrifices, and for predicting from the Entrails; from whence the Antiochians, in contempt, call’d him Victimarius; but whenever the Entrails foreboded Evil, the cunning Devil made the Priests put a different Construction upon them, and promise him Good: When he entred into the Temple of the Genij to offer Sacrifice, one of the Priests dropt down dead; this, had it had any Signification more than a Man falling dead of an Apoplectic, would have signified something fatal to Julian, who made himself a Brother Sacrist or Priest; whereas the Priests turn’d it presently to signify the Death of his Colleague, the Consul Sallust which happen’d just at the same Time, tho’ eight hundred Miles off; so in another Case, Julian thought it ominous that he, who was Augustus should be nam’d with two other Names of Persons, both already dead; the Case was thus, the Stile of the Emperor was Julianus Fœlix Augustus, and two of his principal Officers were Julianus and Fœlix; now both Julianus and Fœlix died within a few Days of one another, which disturb’d Him much, who was the third of the three Names; but his flattering Devil told him it all imported Good to him (viz.) that tho’ Julianus and Fœlix should die, Augustus should be immortal.

Thus whatever happen’d, and whatever was foretold, and how much soever they differ’d from one another, the lying Spirit was sure to reconcile the Prediction and the Event, and make them at least seem to correspond in Favour of the Person enquiring.

Now we are told Oracles are ceased, and the Devil is farther limited for the Good of Mankind, not being allow’d to vent his Delusions by the Mouths of the Priests and Augurs, as formerly: I will not take upon me to say how far they are really ceas’d, more than they were before; I think ’tis much more reasonable to believe there was never any Reality in them at all, or that any Oracle ever gave out any Answers but what were the Invention of the Priests and the Delusions of the Devil; I have a great many antient Authors on my Side in this Opinion, as Eusebius, Tertullian, Aristotle, and others, who as they liv’d so near the Pagan Times, and when even some of those Rites were yet in Use, they had much more Reason to know, and could probably pass a better Judgment upon them; nay Cicero himself ridicules them in the openest manner; again, other Authors descend to Particular and shew how the Cheat was manag’d by the Heathen Sacrists and Priests, and in what enthusiastic manner they spoke; namely, by going into the hollow Images, such as the brazen Bull and the Image of Apollo, and how subtilly they gave out dubious and ambiguous Answers; that when the People did not find their Expectations answer’d by the Event, they might be imposed upon by the Priests, and confidently told they did not rightly understand the Oracle’s Meaning: However, I cannot say but that indeed there are some Authors of good Credit too, who will have it that there was a real prophetic Spirit in the Voice or Answers given by the Oracles, and that oftentimes they were miraculously exact in those Answers; and they give that of the Delphic Oracle answering the Question which was given about Crœsus for an Example, viz. what Crœsus was doing at that time? to wit, that he was boiling a Lamb and the Flesh of a Tortoise together, in a brass Vessel, or Boiler, with a Cover of the same Metal; that is to say, in a Kettle with a brass Cover.

To affirm therefore, that they were all Cheats, a Man must encounter with Antiquity, and set his private Judgment up against an establish’d Opinion; but ’tis no matter for that; if I do not see any thing in that receiv’d Opinion capable of Evidence, much less of Demonstration, I must be allow’d still to think as I do; others may believe as they list; I see nothing hard or difficult in the Thing; the Priests, who were always historically inform’d of the Circumstances of the Enquirer, or at least something about them, might easily find some ambiguous Speech to make, and put some double Entendre upon them, which upon the Event solv’d the Credit of the Oracle, were it one way or other; and this they certainly did, or we have room to think the Devil knows less of Things now than he did in former Days.

It is true that by these Delusions the Priests got infinite Sums of Money, and this makes it still probable that they would labour hard, and use the utmost of their Skill to uphold the Credit of their Oracles; and ’tis a full Discovery, as well of the Subtlety of the Sacrists, as of the Ignorance and Stupidity of the People, in those early Days of Satan’s Witchcraft; to see what merry Work the Devil made with the World, and what gross Things he put upon Mankind: Such was the Story of the Dordonian Oracle in Epirus, viz. That two Pigeons flew out of Thebes (N. B. it was the Egyptian Thebes) from the Temple of Belus, erected there by the antient Sacrists, and that one of these fled Eastward into Lybia, and the Desarts of Africk, and the other into Greece, namely, to Dordona, and these communicated the divine Mysteries to one another, and afterwards gave mystical Solutions to the devout Enquirers; first the Dordonian Pigeon perching upon an Oak spoke audibly to the People there, that the Gods commanded them to build an Oracle, or Temple, to Jupiter, in that Place; which was accordingly done: The other Pigeon did the like on the Hill in Africa, where it commanded them to build another to Jupiter Ammon, or Hammon.

Wise Cicero contemned all this, and, as Authors tell us, ridiculed the Answer, which, as I have hinted above, the Oracle gave to Crœsus proving that the Oracle it self was a Liar, that it could not come from Apollo, for that Apollo never spoke Latin: In a Word, Cicero rejected them all, and Demosthenes also mentions the Cheats of the Oracles; when speaking of the Oracle of Apollo, he said, Pithia Philippiz’d; that is, that when the Priests were brib’d with Money, they always gave their Answers in favour of Philip of Macedon.

But that which is most strange to me is, that in this Dispute about the Reality of Oracles, the Heathen who made use of them are the People who expose them, and who insist most positively upon their being Cheats and Impostors, as in particular those mentioned above; while the Christians who reject them, yet believe they did really foretel Things, answer Questions, &c. only with this Difference, that the Heathen Authors who oppose them, insist that ’tis all Delusion and Cheat, and charge it upon the Priests; and the Christian Opposers insist that it was real, but that the Devil, not the Gods, gave the Answers; and that he was permitted to do it by a superior Power, to magnify that Power in the total silencing them at last.

But, as I said before, I am with the Heathen here, against the Christian Writers, for I take it all to be a Cheat and Delusion: I must give my Reason for it, or I do nothing; my Reason is this, I insist Satan is as blind in Matters of Futurity, as we are, and can tell nothing of what is to come; these Oracles often pretending to predict, could be nothing else therefore but a Cheat form’d by the Money-getting Priests to amuse the World, and bring Grist to their Mill: If I meet with any thing in my Way to open my Eyes to a better Opinion of them, I shall tell it you as I go on.

On the other hand, whether the Devil really spake in those Oracles, or set the cunning Priests to speak for him; whether they predicted, or only made the People believe they predicted; whether they gave Answers which came to pass, or prevail’d upon the People to believe that what was said did come to pass, it was much at one, and fully answer’d the Devil’s End; namely, to amuse and delude the World; and as to do, or to cause to be done, is the same Part of Speech, so whoever did it, the Devil’s Interest was carried on by it, his Government preserv’d, and all the Mischief he could desire was effectually brought to pass, so that every way they were the Devil’s Oracles, that’s out of the Question.

Indeed I have wonder’d sometimes why, since by this Sorcery the Devil perform’d such Wonders, that is, play’d so many Tricks in the World, and had such universal Success, he should set up no more of them; but there might be a great many Reasons given for that, too long to tire you with at present: ’Tis true, there were not many of them, and yet considering what a great deal of Business they dispatch’d, it was enough, for six or eight Oracles were more than sufficient to amuse all the World: The chief Oracles we meet with in History are among the Greeks and the Romans, viz.

That of Jupiter Ammon, in Lybia, as above.

The Dordonian, in Epirus.

Apollo Delphicus, in the Country of Phocis in Greece.

Apollo Clavius, in Asia Minor.

Serapis, in Alexandria in Egypt.

Trophomis, in Bæotia.

Sybilla Cumæa, in Italy.

Diana, at Ephesus.

Apollo Daphneus, at Antioch.

Besides many of lesser Note, in several other Places, as I have hinted before.

I have nothing to do here with the Story mentioned by Plutarch, of a Voice being heard at Sea, from some of the Islands call’d the Echinades, and calling upon one Thamuz, an Egyptian, who was on board a Ship, bidding him, when he came to the Palodes, other Islands in the Ionian Seas, tell them there that the great God Pan was dead; and when Thamuz perform’d it, great Groanings, and Howlings, and Lamentation were heard from the Shore.

This Tale tells but indifferently, tho’ indeed it looks more like a Christian Fable, than a Pagan; because it seems as if made to honour the Christian Worship, and blast all the Pagan Idolatry; and for that Reason I reject it, the Christian Profession needing no such fabulous Stuff to confirm it.

Nor is it true in fact, that the Oracles did cease immediately upon the Death of Christ; but, as I noted before, the Sum of the Matter is this; the Christian Religion spreading it self universally, as well as miraculously, and that too by the Foolishness of Preaching, into all Parts of the World, the Oracles ceas’d; that is to say, their Trade ceas’d, their Rogueries were daily detected, the deluded People being better taught, came no more after them, and being asham’d, as well as discourag’d, they sneak’d out of the World as well as they could; in short the Customers fell off, and the Priests, who were the Shopkeepers, having no Business to do, shut up their Shops, broke, and went away; the Trade and the Tradesmen were hiss’d off the Stage together; so that the Devil, who, it must be confess’d, got infinitely by the Cheat, became bankrupt, and was oblig’d to set other Engines at work, as other Cheats and Deceivers do, who when one Trick grows stale, and will serve no longer, are forc’d to try another.

Nor was the Devil to seek in new Measures; for tho’ he could not give out his delusive Trash as he did before, in Pomp and State, with the Solemnity of a Temple and a Set of Enthusiasts call’d Priests, who plaid a thousand Tricks to amuse the World, he then had Recourse to his old Egyptian Method, which indeed was more antient than that of Oracles; and that was by Magic, Sorcery, Familiars, Witchcraft, and the like.

Of this we find the people of the South, that is, of Arabia and Chaldea were the first, from whence we are told of the Wise Men, that is to say, Magicians, were call’d Chaldeans and Southsayers. Hence also we find Ahaziah the King of Israel sent to Baalzebub the God of Ekron, to enquire whether he should live or die? This some think was a kind of an Oracle, tho’ others think it was only some over-grown Magician, who counterfeited himself to be a Devil, and obtain’d upon that Idol-hunting Age to make a Cunning Man of him; and for that Purpose he got himself made a Priest of Baalzebub, the God of Ekron, and gave out Answers in his Name. Thus those merry Fellows in Egypt, Jannes and Jambres, are said to mimick Moses and Aaron, when they work’d the miraculous Plagues upon the Egyptians; and we have some Instances in Scripture that support this, such as the Witch of Endor, the King Manasses, who dealt with the Devil openly, and had a Familiar; the Woman mentioned Acts xvi. who had a Spirit of Divination, and who got Money by playing the Oracle; that is, answering doubtful Questions, &c. which Spirit, or Devil, the Apostles cast out.

Now tho’ it is true that the old Women in the World have fill’d us with Tales, some improbable, others impossible; some weak, some ridiculous, and that this puts a general Discredit upon all the graver Matrons, who entertain us with Stories better put together, yet ’tis certain, and I must be allow’d to affirm, that the Devil does not disdain to take into his Service many Troops of good Old Women, and Old Women-Men too, who he finds ’tis for his Service to keep in constant Pay; to these he is found frequently to communicate his Mind, and oftentimes we find them such Proficients, that they know much more than the Devil can teach them.

How far our antient Friend Merlin, or the grave Matron his (Satan’s) most trusty and well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor, Mother Shipton, were commissioned by him to give out their prophetic Oracles, and what degree of Possession he may have arrived to in them upon their Midnight Excursions, I will not undertake to prove; but that he might be acquainted with them both, as well as with several of our modern Gentlemen, I will not deny neither.

I confess it is not very incongruous with the Devil’s Temper, or with the Nature of his Business, to shift hands; possibly he found that he had tried the World with Oracular Cheats; that Men began to be forfeited with them, and grew sick of the Frauds which were so frequently detected; that it was time to take new Measures, and contrive some new Trick to Bite the World, that he might not be expos’d to Contempt; or perhaps he saw the Approach of new Light, which the Christian Doctrine bringing with it began to spread in the Minds of Men; that it would out-shine the dim burning ignis fatuus, with which he had so long cheated Mankind, and was afraid to stand it, lest he should be mobb’d off the Stage by his own People, when their Eyes should begin to open: That upon this foot he might in Policy withdraw from those old Retreats the Oracles, and restrain those Responses before they lost all their Credit; for we find the People seem’d to be at a mighty Loss for some time, for want of them, so that it made them run up and down to Conjurers, and Man-Gossips, to brazen Heads, speaking Calves, and innumerable simple Things, so gross that they are scarce fit to be named, to satisfy the Itch of having their Fortunes told them, as we call it.

Now as the Devil is very seldom blind to his own Interest, and therefore thought fit to quit his old way of imposing upon the World by his Oracles, only because he found the World began to be too wise to be imposed upon that way; so on the other hand, finding there was still a Possibility to delude the World, tho’ by other Instruments, he no sooner laid down his Oracles, and the solemn Pageantry, magnificent Appearances, and other Frauds of his Priests and Votaries, in their Temples and Shrines; but he set up a new Trade, and having, as I have said, Agents and Instruments sufficient for any Business that he could have to employ them in, he begins in Corners, as the learned and merry Dr. Brown says, and exercises his minor Trumperies by way of his own contriving, lifting a great Number of new-found Operators, such as Witches, Magicians, Diviners, Figure-casters, Astrologers, and such inferior Seducers.

Now it is true, as that Doctor says, this was running into Corners, as if he had been expell’d his more triumphant way of giving Audience in Form, which for so many Ages had been allow’d him; yet I must add, that as it seem’d to be the Devil’s own doing, from a right Judgment of his Affairs, which had taken a new Turn in the World, upon the shining of new Lights from the Christian Doctrine, so it must be acknowledged the Devil made himself amends upon Mankind, by the various Methods he took, and the Multitude of Instruments he employ’d, and perhaps deluded Mankind in a more fatal and sensible manner than he did before, tho’ not so universally.

He had indeed before more Pomp and Figure put upon it, and he cheated Mankind then in a Way of Magnificence and Splendor; but this was not in above eight or ten principal Places, and not fifty Places in all, public or private; whereas now fifty thousand of his Angels and Instruments, visible and invisible, hardly may be said to suffice for one Town or City; but in short, as his invisible Agents fill the Air, and are at hand for Mischief on every Emergence, so his visible Fools swarm in every Village, and you have scarce a Hamlet or a Town but his Emissaries are at Hand for Business; and which is still worse, in all Places he finds Business; nay even where Religion is planted and seems to flourish; yet he keeps his Ground and pushes his Interest according to what has been said elsewhere upon the same Subject, that wherever Religion plants, the Devil plants close by it.

Nor, as I say, does he fail of Success, Delusion spreads like a Plague, and the Devil is sure of Votaries; like a true Mountebank, he can always bring a Croud about his Stage, and that some Times faster than other People.

What I observe upon this Subject is this, that the World is at a strange Loss for want of the Devil; if it was not so, what’s the Reason, that upon the silencing the Oracles, and Religion telling them that Miracles are ceas’d, and that God has done speaking by Prophets, they never enquire whether Heaven has established any other or new Way of Revelation, but away they ran with their Doubts and Difficulties to these Dreamers of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes, and personal Oracles to be resolv’d; as if when they acknowledge the Devil is dumb, these could speak; and as if the wicked Spirit could do more than the Good, the Diabolical more than the Divine, or that Heaven having taken away the Devil’s Voice, had furnish’d him with an Equivalent, by allowing Scolds, Termagants, and old weak and superannuated Wretches to speak for him; for these are the People we go to now in our Doubts and Emergencies.

While this Blindness continues among us, ’tis Nonsense to say that Oracles are silenced, or the Devil is dumb, for the Devil gives Audience still by his Deputies; only as Jeroboam made Priests of the meanest of the People, so he is grown a little humble, and makes use of meaner Instruments than he did before; for whereas the Priests of Apollo, and of Jupiter, were splendid in their Appearance, of grave and venerable Aspect, and sometimes of no mean Quality; now he makes use of Scoundrels and Rabble, Beggars and Vagabonds, old Hags, superannuated miserable Hermits, Gypsies and Strollers, the Pictures of Envy and ill Luck.

Either the Devil is grown an ill Master, and gives but mean Wages, that he can get no better Servants; or else Common Sense is grown very low priz’d and contemptible; that such as these are fit Tools to continue the Succession of Fraud, and carry on the Devil’s Interest in the World; for were not the Passions and Temper of Mankind deeply pre-engaged in favour of this dark Prince, we could never suffer our selves to accept of his Favours by the Hands of such contemptible Agents as these! How do we receive his Oracles from an old Witch of particular Eminence, and who we believe to be more than ordinarily inspir’d from Hell; I say, we receive the Oracle with Reverence; that is to say, with a kind of Horror, with regard to the Black Prince it comes from, and at the same time turn our Faces away from the Wretch that mumbles out the Answers, lest she should cast an Evil Eye, as we call it, upon us, and put a Devil into us when she plays the Devil before us? How do we listen to the Cant of those worst of Vagabonds the Gypsies, when at the same time we watch our Hedges and Hen-roosts for fear of their thieving?

Either the Devil uses us more like Fools than he did our Ancestors, or we really are worse Fools than those Ages produced, for they were never deluded by such low-priz’d Devils as we are; by such despicable Bridewell Devils, that are fitter for a Whipping-post than an Altar, and instead of being receiv’d as the Voice of an Oracle, should be sent to the House of Correction for Pick-pockets.

Nor is this accidental, and here and there one of these Wretches to be seen, but in short, if it has been in other Nations as it is with us, I do not see that the Devil was able to get any better People into his Pay, or at least very rarely: Where have we seen any thing above a Tinker turn Wizard? and where have we had a Witch of Quality among us, Mother Je———gs excepted? and if she had not been more of something else than a Witch, ’twas thought she had never got so much Money by her Profession.

Magicians, Southsayers, Devil-raisers, and such People, we have heard much of, but seldom above the Degree of the meanest of the mean People, the lowest of the lowest Rank: Indeed the Word Wise Men, which the Devil wou’d fain have had his Agents honour’d with, was used a while in Egypt, and in Persia, among the Chaldeans, but it continued but a little while, and never reach’d so far Northward as our Country; nor, however the Devil has managed it, have many of our great Men, who have been most acquainted with him, ever been able to acquire the Title of Wise Men.

I have heard that in older Times, I suppose in good Queen Bess’s Days, or beyond, (for little is to be said here for any thing on this Side of her time) there were some Counsellors and Statesmen who merited the Character of wise, in the best Sense; that is to say, good, and wise, as they stand in Conjunction; but as to what has happen’d since that, or, as we may call it, from that Queen’s Funeral to the late Revolution, I have little to say; but I’ll tell you what honest Andrew Marvel said of those Times, and by that you may, if you please, make your Calculation or let it alone, ’tis all one.

“To see a white Staff-maker, a Beggar, a Lord,
“And scarce a wise Man at a long Council-Board.

But I may be told this relates to wise Men in another Constitution, or wise Men as they are opposed to Fools; whereas we are talking of them now under another Class, namely, as Wisemen or Magicians, South-sayers, &c. such as were in former Times call’d by that Name.

But to this I answer, that take them in which Sense you please, it may be the same; for if I were to ask the Devil the Character of the best States-man he had employ’d among us for many Years past, I am apt to think that tho’ Oracles are ceased, he would honestly, according to the old ambiguous Way, when I ask’d if they were Christians, answer they were (his) Privy-Counsellors.

It is but a little while ago, that I happen’d (in Conversation) to meet with a long List of the Magistrates of that Age, in a neighbouring Country, that is to say, the Men of Fame among them; and it was a very diverting Thing to see the Judgment which was pass’d upon them among a great deal of good Company; it is not for me to tell you how many white Staves, Golden Keys, Mareshals Batoons, Cordons Blue, Gordon Rouge and Gordon Blanc, there were among them, or by what Titles, as Dukes, Counts, Marquis, Abbot, Bishop, or Justice they were to be distinguish’d; but the marginal Notes I found upon most of them were (being mark’d with an Asterism) as follows.

Such a Duke, such eminent Offices added to his Titles (* in the Margin) ——— No Saint.

Such an Arch—— with the Title of Noble added, ——— No Archangel.

Such an eminent Statesman and prime Minister, ——— No Witch.

Such a Ribbon with a Set of great Letters added, ——— No Conjurer.

It presently occurr’d to me that tho’ Oracles were ceased, and we had now no more double Entendre in such a Degree as before, yet that ambiguous Answers were not at an End; and that whether those Negatives were meant so by the Writers, or not, ’twas certain Custom led the Readers to conclude them to be Satyrs, that they were to be rung backwards like the Bells when the Town’s on fire; tho’ in short, I durst not read them backward any where, but as speaking of foreign People, for fear of raising the Devil I am talking of.

But to return to the Subject; to such mean Things is the Devil now reduc’d in his ordinary Way of carrying on his Business in the World, that his Oracles are deliver’d now by the Bellmen and the Chimney-Sweepers, by the meanest of those that speak in the Dark, and if he operates by them, you may expect it accordingly; his Agents seem to me as if the Devil had singl’d them out by their Deformity, or that there was something particular requir’d in their Aspect to qualify them for their Employment; whence it is become proverbial, when our Looks are very dismal and frightful, to say, I look like a Witch, or in other Cases to say, as ugly as a Witch; in another Case to look as envious as a Witch; now whether there is any Thing particularly requir’d in the Looks of the Devil’s modern Agents, which is assisting in the Discharge of their Offices, and which make their Answers appear more solemn, this the Devil has not yet reveal’d, at least not to me; and therefore why it is that he singles out such Creatures as are fit only to fright the People that come to them with their Enquiries, I do not take upon me to determine.

Perhaps it is necessary they should be thus extraordinary in their Aspect, that they might strike an Awe into the Minds of their Votaries, as if they were Satan’s true and real Representatives; and that the said Votaries may think when they speak to the Witches they are really talking to the Devil; or perhaps ’tis necessary to the Witches themselves, that they should be so exquisitely ugly, that they might not be surpriz’d at whatever Figure the Devil makes when he first appears to them, being certain they can see nothing uglier than themselves.

Some are of the Opinion that the Communication with the Devil, or between the Devil and those Creatures his Agents, has something assimulating in it, and that if they were tolerable before, they are, ipso facto, turn’d into Devils by talking with him; I will not say but that a Tremor in the Limbs, a Horror in the Aspect, and a surprizing Stare in the Eyes may seize upon some of them when they really see the Devil, and that the frequent Repetition may make those Distortions, which we so constantly see in their Faces becomes natural to them; by which if it does not continue always upon the Countenance, they can at least, like the Posture-Masters, cast themselves into such Figures and frightful Dislocations of the Lines and Features in their Faces, and so assume a Devil’s Face suitable to the Occasion, or as may serve the turn for which they take it up, and as often as they have any use for it.

But be it which of these the Enquirer pleases, ’tis all one to the Case in Hand; this is certain, that such deform’d Devil-like Creatures, most of those we call Hags and Witches, are in their Shapes and Aspects, and that they give out their Sentences and frightful Messages with an Air of Revenge for some Injury receiv’d; for Witches are fam’d chiefly for doing Mischief.

It seems the Devil has always pick’d out the most ugly and frightful old Women to do his Business; Mother Shipton, our famous English Witch or Prophetess, is very much wrong’d in her Picture, if she was not of the most terrible Aspect imaginable; and if it be true that Merlin, the famous Welch Fortune-Teller, was a frightful Figure, it will seem the more rational to believe, if we credit another Story, (viz.) that he was begotten by the Devil himself, of which I shall speak by it self: But to go back to the Devil’s Instruments being so ugly; it may be observed, I say, that the Devil has always dealt in such sort of Cattle; the Sybils, of whom so many strange prophetic Things are recorded, whether true or no is not to the Question, are (if the Italian Painters may have any Credit given them) all represented as very old Women; and as if Ugliness were a Beauty to old Age, they seem to paint them out as ugly and frightful as (not they, the Painters) but even as the Devil himself could make them; not that I believe there are any original Pictures of them really extant; but it is not unlikely that the Italians might have some traditional Knowledge of them, or some remaining Notions of them, or particularly that antient Sybil named Anus, who sold the fatal Book to Tarquin; ’tis said of her that Tarquin supposed she doated with Age.

I had Thoughts indeed here to have entred into a learned Disquisition of the Excellency of old Women in all diabolical Operations, and particularly of the Necessity of having recourse to them for Satan’s more exquisite Administration, which also may serve to solve the great Difficulty in the natural Philosophy of Hell; namely, why it comes to pass that the Devil is oblig’d for want of old Women, properly so call’d, to turn so many antient Fathers, grave Counsellors both of Law and State, and especially Civilians or Doctors of the Law into old Women, and how the extraordinary Operation is perform’d; but this, as a Thing of great Consequence in Satan’s Management of humane Affairs, and particularly as it may lead us into the necessary History, as well as Characters of some of the most eminent of these Sects among us, I have purposely reserv’d for a Work by it self, to be published, if Satan hinders not, in fifteen Volumes in Folio, wherein I shall in the first Place define in the most exact Manner possible, what is to be understood by a Male old Woman, of what heterogeneous Kind they are produced, give you the monstrous Anatomy of the Parts, and especially those of the Head, which being fill’d with innumerable Globules of a sublime Nature, and which being of a fine Contexture without, but particularly hollow in the Cavity, defines most philosophically that antient paradoxical Saying, (viz.) being full of Emptiness, and makes it very consistent with Nature and common Sense.

I shall likewise spend some Time, and it must be Labour too, I assure you, when ’tis done, in determining whether this new Species of Wonderfuls are not deriv’d from that famous old Woman Merlin, which I prove to be very reasonable for us to suppose, because of the many several judicious Authors, who affirm the said Merlin, as I hinted before, to have been begotten by the Devil.

As to the deriving his Gift of Prophesy from the Devil, by that pretended Generation, I shall omit that Part, because, as I have all along insisted upon it, that Satan himself has no prophetic or predicting Powers of his own, it is not very clear to me that he could convey it to his Posterity, nil dat quod not habet.

However, in deriving this so much magnified Prophet in a right Line from the Devil, much may be said in favour of his ugly Face, in which it was said he was very remarkable, for it is no new Thing for a Child to be like the Father; but all these weighty Things I adjourn for the present, and proceed to the Affair in Hand, namely, the several Branches of the Devil’s Management since his quitting his Temples and Oracles.

Chap. VI.

Of the extraordinary Appearance of the Devil, and particularly of the Cloven-Foot.

Some People would fain have us treat this Tale of the Devil’s appearing with a Cloven-Foot with more Solemnity than I believe the Devil himself does; for Satan, who knows how much of a Cheat it is, must certainly ridicule it, in his own Thoughts, to the last Degree; but as he is glad of any Way to hoodwink the Understandings, and bubble the weak Part of the World; so if he sees Men willing to take every Scarecrow for a Devil, it is not his Business to undeceive them; on the other Hand, he finds it his Interest to foster the Cheat, and serve himself of the Consequence: Nor could I doubt but the Devil, if any Mirth be allow’d him, often laughs at the many frightful Shapes and Figures we dress him up in, and especially to see how willing we are first to paint him as black, and make him appear as ugly as we can, and then stare and start at the Spectrum of our own making.

The Truth is, that among all the Horribles that we dress up Satan in, I cannot but think we shew the least of Invention in this of a Goat, or a Thing with a Goat’s Foot, of all the rest; for tho’ a Goat is a Creature made use of by our Saviour in the Allegory of the Day of Judgment, and is said there to represent the wicked rejected Party, yet it seems to be only on Account of their Similitude to the Sheep, and so to represent the just Fate of Hypocrisy and Hypocrites, and in particular to form the necessary Antithesis in the Story; for else, our whimsical Fancies excepted, a Sheep or a Lamb has a Cloven-Foot as well as a Goat; nay, if the Scripture be of any Value in the Case, ’tis to the Devil’s Advantage, for the dividing the Hoof was the distinguishing Character or Mark of a clean Beast, and how the Devil can be brought into that Number is pretty hard to say.

One would have thought if we had intended to have given a just Figure of the Devil, it would have been more apposite to have rank’d him among the Cat-kind, and given him a Foot (if he is to be known by his Foot) like a Lion, or like a red Dragon, being the same Creatures which he is represented by in the Text, and so his Claws would have had some Terror in them as well as his Teeth.

But neither is the Goat a true Representative of the Devil at all, for we do not rank the Goats among the Subtle or cunning Part of the Brutes; he is counted a fierce Creature indeed of his Kind, tho’ nothing like those other abovemention’d; and he is emblematically used to represent a lustful Temper, but even that Part does not fully serve to describe the Devil, whose Operation lies principally another Way.

Besides it is not the Goat himself that is made use of, ’tis the Cloven-Hoof only, and that so particularly, that the Cloven Foot of a Ram or a Swine, or any other Creature, may serve as well as that of a Goat, only that History gives us some Cause to call it the Goat’s Foot.

In the next Place ’tis understood by us not as a bare Token to know Satan by, but as if it were a Brand upon him, and that like the Mark God put upon Cain, it was given him for a Punishment, so that he cannot get leave to appear without it, nay cannot conceal it whatever other Dress or Disguise he may put on; and as if it was to make him as ridiculous as possible, they will have it be, that whenever Satan has Occasion to dress himself in any humane Shape, be it of what Degree soever, from the King to the Beggar, be it of a fine Lady or of an old Woman, (the Latter it seems he oftenest assumes) yet still he not only must have this Cloven-Foot about him, but he is oblig’d to shew it too; nay, they will not allow him any Dress, whether it be a Prince’s Robes, a Lord Cha—r’s Gown, or a Lady’s Hoop and long Petticoats, but the Cloven-Foot must be shew’d from under them; they will not so much as allow him an artificial Shoe or a Jack-Boot, as we often see contriv’d to conceal a Club-Foot or a Wooden-Leg; but that the Devil may be known wherever he goes, he is bound to shew his Foot; they might as well oblige him to set a Bill upon his Cap, as Folks do upon a House to be let, and have it written in capital Letters, I am the Devil.

It must be confess’d this is very particular, and would be very hard upon the Devil, if it had not another Article in it, which is some Advantage to him, and that is, that the Fact is not true; but the Belief of this is so universal, that all the World runs away with it; by which Mistake the good People miss the Devil many times where they look for him, and meet him as often where they did not expect him, and when for want of this Cloven-Foot they do not know him.

Upon this very Account I have sometimes thought, not that this has been put upon him by meer Fancy, and the Cheat of a heavy Imagination, propagated by Fable and Chymny-Corner Divinity, but that it has been a Contrivance of his own; and that, in short, the Devil rais’d this Scandal upon himself, that he might keep his Disguise the better, and might go a Visiting among his Friends without being known; for were it really so, that he could go no where without this particular Brand of Infamy, he could not come into Company, could not dine with my Lord Mayor, nor drink Tea with the Ladies, could not go to the Drawing-R—— at ———, could not have gone to Fountainbleau to the King of France’s Wedding, or to the Diet of Poland, to prevent the Grandees there coming to an Agreement; nay, which would be still worse than all, he could not go to the Masquerade, nor to any of our Balls; the Reason is plain, he would be always discover’d, expos’d and forc’d to leave the good Company, or which would be as bad, the Company would all cry out the Devil and run out of the Room as if they were frighted; nor could all the Help of Invention do him any Service, no Dress he could put on would cover him; not all our Friends at Tavistock Corner could furnish him with a Habit that would disguise or conceal him, this unhappy Foot would spoil it all: Now this would be a great a Loss to him, that I question whether he could carry on any of his most important Affairs in the World without it; for tho’ he has access to Mankind in his compleat Disguise, I mean that of his Invisibility, yet the Learned very much agree in this, that his corporal Presence in the World is absolutely necessary upon many Occasions, to support his Interest and keep up his Correspondences, and particularly to encourage his Friends when Numbers are requisite to carry on his Affairs; but this Part I shall have Occasion to speak of again, when I come to consider him as a Gentleman of Business in his Locality, and under the Head of visible Apparition; but I return to the Foot.

As I have thus suggested that the Devil himself has politically spread about this Notion concerning his appearing with a Cloven-Foot, so I doubt not that he has thought it for his Purpose to paint this Cloven-Foot so lively in the Imaginations of many of our People, and especially of those clear sighted Folks who see the Devil when he is not to be seen, that they would make no Scruple to say, nay and to make Affidavit too, even before Satan himself, whenever he sat upon the Bench, that they had seen his Worship’s Foot at such and such a Time; this I advance the rather because ’tis very much for his Interest to do this, for if we had not many Witnesses, viva voce, to testify it, we should have had some obstinate Fellows always among us, who would have denied the Fact, or at least have spoken doubtfully of it, and so have rais’d Disputes and Objections against it, as impossible, or at least as improbable; buzzing one ridiculous Notion or other into our Ears, as if the Devil was not so black as he was painted, that he had no more a Cloven-Foot than a Pope, whose Apostolical Toes have so often been reverentially kiss’d by Kings and Emperors: but now alas this Part is out of the Question, not the Man in the Moon, not the Groaning-Board, not the speaking of Fryar Bacon’s Brazen-Head, not the Inspiration of Mother Shipton, or the Miracles of Dr.