266 _Of the station Satan had in Heaven before he fell; the nature and original of his crime, and some of Mr._ Milton_'s mistakes about it._
267 Thus far I have gone upon general observation, in this great affair of _Satan_ and his Empire in the World; I now come to _my Title_, and shall enter upon the historical part, as the main work before me.
268 Besides what has been said Poetically, relating to the fall and wandering condition of the _Devil_ and his Host, which poetical part I offer only as an excursion, and desire it should be taken so; I shall give you what I think is deduc'd from good originals on the part of _Satan_'s story in a few words.
269 He was one of the created Angels, form'd by the same omnipotent hand and glorious power, who created the Heavens and the Earth, and all that is therein: This innumerable heavenly host, as we have reason to believe, contain'd Angels of higher and lower stations, of greater and of lesser degree, express'd in the Scripture by _Thrones_, _Dominions_, and _Principalities_: This, I think, we have as much reason to believe, as we have, that there are Stars in the Firmament (or starry Heavens) of greater and of lesser magnitude.
270 What particular station among the immortal Choir of Angels, this Arch-seraph, this Prince of _Devils_, call'd _Satan_, was plac'd in before his expulsion, that indeed, we cannot come at the knowledge of, at least, not with such an Authority as may be depended upon; but as from Scripture authority, he is plac'd at the head of all the Apostate armies, after he was fallen, we cannot think it in the least assuming to say, that he might be supposed to be one of the principal Agents in the _Rebellion_ which happen'd in Heaven, and consequently that he might be one of the highest in dignity there, before that Rebellion.
271 The higher his station, the lower, and with the greater precipitation, was his overthrow; and therefore, those words, tho' taken in another sense, may very well be apply'd to him: _How art thou fallen_, O Lucifer! _Son of the Morning!_
272 Having granted the dignity of his Person, and the high station in which he was placed among the heavenly Host; it would come then necessarily to inquire into the nature of his fall, and _above all_, a little into the reason of it; certain it is, _he did fall_, was guilty of Rebellion and Disobedience, the just effect of Pride; sins, which, in that holy place, might well be call'd wonderful.
273 But what to me is more wonderful, and which, I think, will be very ill accounted for, is, how came seeds of crime to rise in the Angelic Nature? created in a state of perfect, unspotted holiness? how was it first found in a place where no unclean thing can enter? how came ambition, pride, or envy to generate there? could there be offence where there was no crime? could untainted purity breed corruption? could that nature contaminate and infect, which was always Drinking in principles of perfection?
274 Happy 'tis to me, _that_ writing the History, _not_ solving the Difficulties of _Satan_'s Affairs, is my province in this Work; that I am to relate the Fact, not give reasons for it, or sign causes; if it was otherwise, I should break off at this difficulty, for I acknowledge I do not see thro' it; neither do I think that the great _Milton_, after all his fine Images and lofty Excursions upon the Subject, has left it one jot clearer than he found it: Some are of opinion, and among them the great Dr. _B----s_, that crime broke in upon them at some interval, when they omitted but one moment fixing their eyes and thoughts on the glories of the divine face, to admire and adore, which is the full employment of Angels; but even this, tho' it goes as high as imagination can carry us, does not reach it, nor, to me, make it one jot more comprehensible than it was before; all I can say to it here, is, that _so it was_, the fact was upon Record, and the rejected Troop are in being, whose circumstances confess the Guilt, and still groan under the Punishment.
275 If you will bear with a poetic excursion upon the subject, not to solve but to illustrate the difficulty; take it in a few lines, thus,
276 Thou sin of Witchcraft! firstborn child of Crime! Produc'd before the bloom of Time; Ambition's maiden Sin, in Heaven conceiv'd, And who could have believ'd Defilement could in purity begin, And bright eternal Day be soil'd with Sin? Tell us, sly penetrating Crime, How cam'st thou there, thou fault sublime? How didst thou pass the Adamantine Gate; And into Spirit thy self insinuate? From what dark state? from what deep place? From what strange uncreated race? Where was thy ancient habitation found Before void Chaos heard the forming sound? Wast thou a Substance, or an airy Ghost, A Vapour flying in the fluid waste Of unconcocted air? And how at first didst thou come there? Sure there was once a time when thou wert not, By whom wast thou created? and for what? Art thou a steam from some contagious damp exhal'd? How should contagion be intail'd, On bright seraphic Spirits, and in a place Where all's supreme, and Glory fills the Space? No noxious vapour there could rise, For there no noxious matter lies; Nothing that's evil could appear, Sin never could Seraphic Glory bear; The brightness of the eternal Face, Which fills as well as constitutes the place, Would be a fire too hot for crime to bear, 'Twould calcine Sin, or melt it into air. How then did first defilement enter in? Ambition, thou first vital seed of Sin! Thou Life of Death, how cam'st thou there? In what bright form didst thou appear? In what Seraphic Orb didst thou arise? Surely that place admits of no disguise, Eternal Sight must know thee there, And being known, thou soon must disappear. But since the fatal Truth we know, Without the matter whence or manner how: Thou high superlative of Sin, Tell us thy nature, where thou didst begin? The first degree of thy increase, Debauch'd the Regions of eternal Peace, And fill'd the breasts of loyal Angels there With the first Treason and infernal War.
277 Thou art the high extreme of pride, And dost o'er lesser crimes preside; Not for the mean attempt of Vice design'd, But to embroil the World, and damn Mankind. Transforming mischief, now hast thou procur'd That loss that ne'er to be restor'd, And made the bright Seraphic Morning-star In horrid monstrous shapes appear? _Satan_, that while he dwelt in glorious light, Was always then as pure as he was bright, That in effulgent rays of glory shone, Excell'd by eternal Light, by him alone, Distorted now, and stript of Innocence, And banish'd with thee from the high Pre-eminence, How has the splendid Seraph chang'd his face, Transform'd by thee, and like thy monstrous race? Ugly as is the crime, for which he fell, } Fitted by thee to make a local Hell, } For such must be the place where either of you dwell. }
278 Thus, as I told you, I only moralize upon the subject, but as to the difficulty, I must leave it as I find it, unless, _as I hinted at first_, I could prevail with Satan to set pen to paper, and write this part of his own History: No question, but he could let us into the secret; but to be plain, I doubt I shall tell so many plain truths of the _Devil_, in this History, and discover so many of his secrets, which it is not for his interest to have discover'd, that before I have done, the _Devil_ and I may not be so good friends as you may suppose we are; at least, not friends enough to obtain such a favour of him, tho' it be for public good; so we must be content till we come ont' other side the _Blue-Blanket_, and then we shall know the whole Story.
279 But now, tho' as I said, I will not attempt to solve the difficulty, I may, I hope, venture to tell you, that there is not so much difficulty in it, as at first sight appears: and especially not so much as some people would make us believe; let us see how others are mistaken in it, perhaps, that may help us a little in the enquiry; for to know _what it is not_, is one help towards knowing _what it is_.
280 Mr. _Milton_ has indeed told us a great many merry things of the Devil, in a most formal, solemn manner; till in short he has made a good PLAY of _Heaven_ and _Hell_; and no doubt if he had liv'd in our times, he might have had it acted with our _Pluto_ and _Proserpine_. He has made fine Speeches both for _God_ and the _Devil_, and a little addition might have turn'd it _a la modern_ into a _Harlequin Dieu & Diable_.
281 I confess I don't well know how far the dominion of Poetry extends itself; it seems the Buts and Bounds of _Parnassus_ are not yet ascertain'd; so that for ought I know, by vertue of their antient privileges call'd _Licentia Poetarum_, there can be no _Blasphemy_ in _Verse_; as some of our Divines say there can be no _Treason_ in the _Pulpit_. But they that will venture to write that way, ought to be better satisfy'd about that Point than I am.
282 Upon this foot Mr. _Milton_, to grace his Poem, and give room for his Towring Fancy, has gone a length beyond all that ever went before him, since _Ovid_ in his _Metamorphosis_. He has indeed complimented GOD _Almighty_ with a flux of lofty words, and great sounds; and has made a very fine Story of the _Devil_, but he has made a meer _je ne scay Quoi_ of _Jesus Christ_. In one line he has him riding on a _Cherub_, and in another sitting on a Throne, both in the very same moment of action. In another place he has brought him in making a Speech to his _Saints_, when 'tis evident he had none there; for we all know _Man was not created till a long while after_; and no body can be so dull as to say the _Angels_ may be called _Saints_, without the greatest absurdity in nature. Besides, he makes CHRIST himself distinguish them, as in two several Bands, and of differing Persons and Species, as to be sure they are.
283 Stand still in bright array, _ye Saints_------ ---- ------ -------- -------- Here stand, _Ye Angels_. ------
284 _Par. Lost. lib._ vi. _fo._ 174.
285 So that CHRIST here is brought in drawing up his Army before the last Battle, and making a Speech to them, to tell them they shall only stand by in warlike order, but that they shall have no occasion to fight, for he alone will engage the Rebels. Then in embattling his Legions, he places the Saints here, and the Angels there, as if one were the main Battle of Infantry, and the other the Wings of Cavalry. But who are those Saints? they are indeed all of _Milton_'s own making; 'tis certain there were no Saints at all in _Heaven_ or _Earth_ at that time; GOD and his _Angels_ fill'd up the place; and till some of the _Angels_ fell, and Men were created, had liv'd, and were dead, there could have been no _Saints_ there. Saint _Abel_ was certainly the _Proto-Saint_ of all that ever were seen in _Heaven_, as well as the Proto-martyr of all that have been upon _Earth_.
286 Just such another Mistake, not to call it a Blunder, he makes about _Hell_; which he not only makes LOCAL, but gives it a being before the Fall of the _Angels_; and brings it in opening its mouth to receive them. This is so contrary to the nature of the thing, and so great an absurdity, that no Poetic License can account for it; for tho' Poesie may form Stories, as Idea and Fancy may furnish Materials, yet Poesy must not break in upon Chronology, and make things which in time were to exist, act before they existed.
287 Thus a Painter may make a fine piece of Work, the fancy may be good, the strokes masterly, and the beauty of the Workmanship inimitably curious and fine, and yet have some unpardonable improprieties which marr the whole Work. So the famous Painter of _Toledo_ painted the story of the three Wisemen of the _East_ coming to worship, and bring their presents to our Lord upon his birth at _Bethlehem_, where he represents them as three _Arabian_ or _Indian_ Kings; two of them are white, and one black; But unhappily when he drew the latter part of them kneeling, which to be sure was done after their faces; their legs being necessarily a little intermix'd, he made three black feet for the _Negroe_ King, and but three white feet for the two white Kings, and yet never discover'd the mistake till the piece was presented to the King, and hung up in the great Church. As this is an unpardonable error in Sculpture or Limning, it must be much more so in Poetry, where the Images must have no improprieties, much less inconsistencies.
288 In a word, Mr. _Milton_ has indeed made a fine Poem, but it is _the Devil of a History_. I can easily allow Mr. _Milton_ to make Hills and Dales, flowry Meadows and Plains (and the like) in Heaven; and places of Retreat and Contemplation in _Hell_; tho' I must add, that it can be allowed to no Poet on Earth but Mr. _Milton_. Nay, I will allow Mr. _Milton_, if you please, to set the _Angels_ a dancing in _Heaven_, _lib._ v. _fo._ 138. and the _Devils_ a singing in Hell, _lib._ i. _fo._ 44. tho' they are in short, especially the last, most horrid Absurdities. But I cannot allow him to make their Musick in _Hell_ to be harmonious and charming as he does; such Images being incongruous, and indeed shocking to Nature. Neither can I think we should allow things to be plac'd out of time in Poetry, any more than in History; 'tis a confusion of Images which is allow'd to be disallow'd by all the Criticks of what tribe or species soever in the world, and is indeed unpardonable. But we shall find so many more of these things in Mr. _Milton_, that really taking notice of them all, would carry me quite out of my way, I being at this time not writing the History of Mr. _Milton_, but of the _Devil_: besides, Mr. _Milton_ is such a celebrated Man, that who but he that can write the History of the _Devil_ dare meddle with him?
289 But to come back to the business. As I had caution'd you against running to Scripture for shelter in cases of difficulty, Scripture weighing very little among the people I am directing my Speech to; so indeed Scripture gives but very little light into any thing of the _Devil_'s Story before his Fall, and but _to very little_ of it for some time after.
290 Nor has Mr. _Milton_ said one word to solve the main difficulty (_viz._) How the _Devil_ came to fall, and how Sin came into Heaven; how the spotless Seraphic Nature could receive infection, whence the contagion proceeded, what noxious matter could emit corruption there, how and whence any vapour to poison the Angelick Frame could rise up, or how it increas'd and grew up to crime. But all this he passes over, and hurrying up that part in two or three words, only tells us,
291 ------ his Pride, Had cast him out of Heaven with all his Host Of rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring He trusted to have equal'd the most High.
292 _lib._ i. _fo._ 3.
293 _His pride!_ but how came _Satan_ while an Arch-angel to be proud? How did it consist, that Pride and perfect Holiness should meet in the same Person? Here we must bid Mr. _Milton_ good night; for, in plain terms, he is in the dark about it, and so we are all; and the most that can be said, is, that we know the fact is so, but nothing of the nature or reason of it.
294 But to come to the History: The Angels fell, they sinn'd (wonderful!) in Heaven, and God cast them out; what their sin was is not explicit, but in general 'tis call'd a Rebellion against GOD; all sin must be so.
295 Mr. _Milton_ here takes upon him to give the History of it, as particularly as if he had been born there, and came down hither on purpose to give us an account of it; (I hope he is better inform'd by this time;) but this he does in such a manner, as jostles with Religion, and shocks our Faith in so many points necessary to be believ'd, that we must forbear to give up to Mr. _Milton_, or must set aside part of the sacred Text, in such a manner, as will assist some people to set it all aside.
296 I mean by this, his invented Scheme of the Son's being declared in Heaven to be begotten then, and then to be declar'd Generalissimo of all the Armies of Heaven; and of the Father's Summoning all the Angels of the heavenly Host to submit to him, and pay him homage. The words are quoted already, page 32.
297 I must own the Invention, indeed, is very fine; the Images exceeding magnificent, the Thought rich and bright, and, in some respect, truly sublime: But the Authorities fail most wretchedly, and the miss-timing of it, is unsufferably gross, as is noted in the Introduction to this Work; for Christ is not declar'd the Son of God but on Earth; 'tis true, 'tis spoken from Heaven, but then 'tis spoken as perfected on Earth; if it was at all to be assign'd to Heaven, it was from Eternity, and there, indeed, his eternal Generation is allow'd; but to take upon us to say, that _On a day, a certain day_, for so our Poet assumes, lib. v. fol. 137.
298 ------ 'When on a day, ------ 'On such a day 'As Heaven's great Year brings forth, the empyreal Host 'Of Angels by imperial Summons call'd, 'Forthwith from all the ends of Heaven appear'd.
299 This is, indeed, too gross; at this meeting he makes God declare the Son to be _that day begotten_, as before; had he made him not begotten that day, but declared General that day, it would be reconcileable with Scripture and with sense; for either the begetting is meant of ordaining to an office, or else the eternal Generation falls to the ground; and if it was to the office (Mediator) then Mr. _Milton_ is out in ascribing another fix'd day to the Work; see lib. x. fo. 194. But then the declaring him _that day_, is wrong chronology too, for Christ is declar'd _the Son of God with power_, only _by the Resurrection of the dead_, and this is both a Declaration in Heaven and in Earth. _Rom._ i. 4. And _Milton_ can have no authority to tell us, there was any Declaration of it in Heaven before this, except it be that dull authority call'd _poetic License_, which will not pass in so solemn an affair as that.
300 But the thing was necessary to _Milton_, who wanted to assign some cause or original of the _Devil_'s Rebellion; and so, _as I said above_, the design is well laid, it only wants two Trifles call'd _Truth_ and _History_; so I leave it to struggle for itself.
301 This Ground-plot being laid, he has a fair field for the _Devil_ to play the Rebel in, for he immediately brings him in, not satisfy'd with the Exaltation of the Son of God. The case must be thus; _Satan_ being an eminent _Arch-angel_, and perhaps, the highest of all the Angelic Train, hearing this Sovereign Declaration, that the _Son of God_ was declar'd to be Head or Generalissimo of all the heavenly Host, took it ill to see another put into the high station _over his head_, as the Soldiers call it; he, perhaps, thinking himself the senior Officer, and disdaining to submit to any but to his former immediate Sovereign; in short, he threw up his Commission, and, in order not to be compel'd to obey, revolted and broke out in open Rebellion.
302 All this part is a Decoration noble and great, nor is there any objection to be made against the invention, because a deduction of probable Events; but the Plot is wrong laid, as is observ'd above, because contradicted by the Scripture account, according to which Christ was declared in Heaven, not then, but from Eternity, and not declared with power, but on Earth, (_viz._) in his victory over Sin and Death, by the Resurrection from the dead: so that Mr. _Milton_ is not orthodox in this part, but lays an avow'd foundation for the corrupt Doctrine of _Arius_, which says, there was a time when Christ _was not_ the Son of GOD.
303 But to leave Mr. _Milton_ to his flights, I agree with him in this part, _viz._ that the wicked or sinning Angels, with the great Arch-angel at the head of them, revolted from their obedience, even in Heaven it self; that _Satan_ began the wicked defection, and being a Chief among the heavenly Host, consequently carry'd over a great party with him, who all together rebel'd against God; that upon this Rebellion they were sentenc'd, by the righteous judgment of GOD, to be expel'd the holy Habitation; this, besides the authority of Scripture, we have visible testimonies of, from the Devils themselves; their influences and operations among us every day, of which Mankind are witnesses; in all the merry things they do in his name, and under his protection, in almost every scene of life they pass thro', whether we talk of things done openly or in Masquerade, things done in--or out of it, things done in earnest or in jest.
304 But then, what comes of the long and bloody War that Mr. _Milton_ gives such a full and particular account of, and the terrible Battles in Heaven between _Michael_ with the royal Army of Angels on one hand, and _Satan_ with his rebel Host on the other; in which he supposes the numbers and strength to be pretty near equal? but at length brings in the _Devil_'s Army, upon doubling their rage and bringing new engines of war into the field, putting _Michael_ and all the faithful Army to the worst; and, in a word, defeats them? For tho' they were not put to a plain flight, in which case he must, at least, have given an account of two or three thousand millions of Angels cut in pieces and wounded, yet he allows them to give over the fight, and make a kind of retreat; so making way for the compleat victory of the Son of GOD: Now this is all invention, or at least, a borrow'd thought from the old Poets, and the Fight of the _Giants_ against _Jupiter_, so nobly design'd by _Ovid_, almost two thousand years ago; and there 'twas well enough; but whether Poetic Fancy should be allow'd to fable upon _Heaven_, or no, and upon the King of Heaven too, that I leave to the Sages.
305 By this expulsion of the _Devils_, it is allow'd by most Authors, they are, _ipso facto_, stript of the Rectitude and Holiness of their Nature, which was their Beauty and Perfection; and being ingulph'd in the abyss of irrecoverable ruin, _'tis no matter where_, from that very time they lost their Angelic beautiful Form, commenc'd ugly frightful Monsters and _Devils_, and became evil doers, as well as evil Spirits; fill'd with a horrid malignity and enmity against their Maker, and arm'd with a hellish resolution to shew and exert it on all occasions; retaining however their exalted spirituous Nature, and having a vast extensive power of Action, all which they can exert in nothing else but doing evil, for they are entirely divested of either Power or will to do good; and even in doing evil, they are under restraints and limitations of a superior Power, which it is their Torment, and, perhaps, a great part of their Hell that they cannot break thro'.
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