122 _Of the original of the_ DEVIL, _who he is, and what he was before his expulsion out of Heaven, and in what state he was from that time to the creation of Man._
123 To come to a regular enquiry into Satan's affairs, 'tis needful we should go back to his original, as far as history and the opinion of the learned World will give us leave.
124 It is agreed by all Writers, as well sacred as prophane, that this creature we now call a Devil, was originally an Angel of light, a glorious Seraph; perhaps the choicest of all the glorious Seraphs. See how _Milton_ describes his original glory:
125 _Satan_, so call him now, his former name Is heard no more in Heaven: He of the first, If not _the first Archangel_; great in power, In favour and preeminence.
126 _lib._ v. _fol._ 140.
127 And again the same author, and upon the same subject:
128 ------Brighter once amidst the host Of Angels, than that star the stars among.
129 _lib._ vii. _fol._ 189.
130 The glorious figure which Satan is supposed to make among the _Thrones_ and _Dominions_ in Heaven is such, as we might suppose the highest Angel in that exalted train could make; and some think, _as above_, that he was the chief of the Arch-angels.
131 Hence that notion, (and not ill founded) _namely_, that the first cause of his disgrace, and on which ensued his rebellion, was occasioned upon God's proclaiming his SON Generalissimo, and with himself supreme ruler in heaven; giving the dominion of all his works of creation, as well already finish'd, as not then begun, to him; which post of honour (say they) _Satan_ expected to be conferr'd on himself, as next in honour, majesty and power to God the Supreme.
132 This opinion is follow'd by Mr. _Milton_ too, as appears in the following lines, where he makes all the Angels attending all a general summons, and God the Father making the following declaration to them.
133 "Here, all ye Angels, prodigy of light, "Thrones, dominions, princedoms, virtues, pow'rs! "Hear my decree, which unrevok'd shall stand. "This day I have begot whom I declare "My only SON, and on this hill "Him have anointed, whom you now behold "At my right hand; your Head I Him appoint: "And my self have sworn to him shall bow "All knees in Heav'n, and shall confess him Lord, "Under his great vice-gerent reign abide "United, as one individual soul, "For ever happy: Him who disobeys, "Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day "Cast out from GOD, and blessed vision, falls "Into utter darkness, deep ingulph'd, his place "Ordain'd without redemption, without end.
134 Satan, affronted at the appearance of a new Essence or Being in Heaven, call'd the Son of God; for God, says Mr. _Milton_, (tho' erroneously) declared himself at that time, saying, _This day have I begotten him_, and that he should be set up, above all the former Powers of Heaven, of whom Satan (as above) was the Chief and expecting, if any higher post could be granted, it might be his due; I say, affronted at this he resolv'd
135 "With all his Legions to dislodge, and leave "Unworship'd, unobey'd, the throne supreme "Contemptuous. ------
136 _Par. lost_, lib. v. fo. 140.
137 But Mr. _Milton_ is grosly erroneous in ascribing those words, _This day have I begotten thee_, to that declaration of the Father before Satan fell, and consequently to a time before the creation; whereas, it is by Interpreters agreed to be understood of the Incarnation of the Son of God, or at least of the Resurrection: [3] see _Pool_ upon _Acts_ xiii. 33.
138 In a word, Satan withdrew with all his followers malecontent and chagrine, resolv'd to disobey this new command, and not yield obedience to the Son.
139 But Mr. _Milton_ agrees in that opinion, that the number of Angels which rebel'd with _Satan_ was infinite, and suggests in one place, that they were the greatest half of all the angelick Body or seraphick Host.
140 "But Satan with his Power, "An host "Innumerable as the stars of night, "Or stars of morning, dew drops, which the Sun "Impearls on ev'ry leaf and ev'ry flower.
141 _ib._ lib. v. fo. 142.
142 Be their number as it is, numberless millions and legions of millions, that is no part of my present enquiry; Satan the leader, guide and superior, as he was author of the celestial rebellion, is still the great Head and Master-Devil as before; under his authority they still act, not obeying but carrying on the same insurrection against God, which they begun in Heaven; making war still against Heaven, in the person of his Image and Creature man; and tho' vanquish'd by the thunder of the Son of God, and cast down headlong from Heaven, they have yet reassumed, or rather not lost either the will or the power of doing evil.
143 This fall of the Angels, with the war in Heaven which preceded it, is finely describ'd by _Ovid_, in his war of the _Titans_ against _Jupiter_; casting mountain upon mountain, and hill upon hill (_Pelion_ upon _Ossa_) in order to scale the Adamantine walls, and break open the gates of _Heaven_; till _Jupiter_ struck them with his thunder-bolts and overwhelm'd them in the abyss: _Vide Ovid Metam._ new translation, lib. i. p. 19.
144 "Nor were the Gods themselves secure on high, "For now the _Gyants_ strove to storm _the sky_, "The lawless brood with bold attempt invade "THE GODS, and mountains upon mountains _laid_. "But now the _bolt_, enrag'd _the Father_ took, "_Olympus_ from her deep foundations shook, "Their structure nodded at the mighty stroke, "And _Ossa_'s shatter'd top o'er _Pelion_ broke, "They're in their own ungodly ruines slain.--
145 Then again speaking of _Jupiter_, resolving in council to destroy mankind by a deluge, and giving the reasons of it to the heavenly Host, say thus, speaking of the demy-Gods alluding to good men below.
146 "Think you that they in safety can remain, "When I my self who o'er Immortals reign, "Who send the lightning, and Heaven's empire sway, "The stern [4] Lycaon practis'd to betray.
147 _ib._ p. 10.
148 Since then so much poetic liberty is taken with the Devil, relating to his most early state, and the time before his fall, give me leave to make an excursion of the like kind, relating to his History immediately after the fall, and till the creation of man; an interval which I think much of the Devil's story is to be seen in, and which Mr. _Milton_ has taken little notice of, at least it does not seem compleatly fill'd up; after which I shall return to honest Prose again, and persue the duty of an Historian.
149 _Satan_, with hideous ruin thus supprest _Expell'd_ the seat of blessedness and rest, Look'd back and saw the _high eternal mound_, Where all _his rebel host_ their _outlet_ found _Restor'd impregnable_: The breach made up, And garrisons of Angels rang'd a top; In front a hundred thousand thunders roll, And lightnings temper'd to transfix a soul, Terror of _Devils_. _Satan_ and his host, Now to themselves _as well as station lost_, Unable to support the hated sight, } Expand _seraphic wings_, and swift as light } Seek for new safety in _eternal Night_. }
150 In the remotest gulphs _of dark_ they land, Here vengeance gives them leave to make their stand, Not that to _steps_ and _measures_ they pretend, _Councils_ and _schemes_ their station to defend; But broken, disconcerted and _dismay'd_, By guilt and fright to guilt and fright _betray'd_; Rage and confusion ev'ry Spirit possess'd, And _shame_ and _horror_ swell'd in ev'ry breast; Transforming envy to their essentials burns, And _the bright_ Angel to a _frightful Devil_ turns. _Thus Hell began_; the fire of conscious rage No years can quench, no length of time asswage. _Material Fire_, with its intensest flame, Compar'd _with this_ can scarce deserve a Name; How should it up to _immaterials_ rise, When we're _all flame_, we shall _all fire_ despise. This fire outrageous and its heat intense Turns all the pain _of loss_ to pain _of sense_. The folding flames _concave_ and _inward_ roll, Act _upon spirit_ and penetrate _the soul_: Not force of _Devils_ can its new powers repel, Where'er it burns _it finds_ or _makes_ a HELL; For _Satan_ flaming with unquench'd desire Forms _his own Hell_, and kindles _his own fire_, Vanquish'd, _not humbl'd_, not in will brought low, But as _his powers_ decline _his passions_ grow: The malice, _Viper like_, takes vent within, Gnaws its own bowels, and bursts in _its own sin_: Impatient of the change _he scorns to bow_, And never _impotent_ in power _till now_; Ardent with hate, and _with revenge_ distract, A will to new attempts, _but none_ to act; Yet all _seraphick_, and in just degree, Suited _to Spirits high sense_ of misery, Deriv'd from _loss_ which _nothing_ can repair, And _room for nothing left_ but meer despair. _Here's finish'd Hell!_ what fiercer fire _can burn_? Enough ten thousand Worlds to over-turn. HELL's but the frenzy of defeated pride, Seraphick Treason's strong impetuous tide, Where vile ambition _disappointed_ first, To its _own rage_ and _boundless hatred_ curst; The hate's _fan'd up to fury_, that to _flame_, For _fire_ and _fury_ are in kind the same; These burn unquenchable in every face, And the word ENDLESS constitutes the place.
151 O _state of Being!_ where being's the only grief, And the _chief torture_'s to be damn'd to life; _O life!_ the only thing they have to hate; The _finish'd torment_ of a future state, Compleat in all the parts of endless misery, And worse ten thousand times than _not_ to BE! Could but the Damn'd _the immortal law_ repeal, And _Devils dye_, there'd be _an end of Hell_; Could they that thing call'd _Being_ annihilate, There'd be _no sorrows_ in a future state; The Wretch, whose crimes had shut him out _on high_, Could be reveng'd on God himself _and die_; _Job's Wife_ was in the right, and always we Might end _by death_ all human misery, } Might have it in our choice, _to be_ or not to be. }
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