306 _What became of the_ Devil _and his Host of fallen Spirits after their being expell'd from Heaven, and his wandring condition till the Creation; with some more of Mr._ Milton's _absurdities on that subject._
307 Having thus brought the _Devil_ and his innumerable Legions to the edge of the Bottomless-pit, it remains, before I bring them to action, that some enquiry should be made into the posture of their affairs immediately after their precipitate Fall, and into the place of their immediate Residence; for this will appear to be very necessary to _Satan_'s History, and indeed, so as that without it, all the farther account we have to give of him, will be inconsistent and imperfect.
308 And first, I take upon me to lay down some Fundamentals, which I believe I shall be able to make out Historically, tho', perhaps, not so Geographically as some have pretended to do.
309 1. That _Satan_ was not immediately, nor is yet lock'd down into the Abyss of a _local Hell_, such as is supposed by some, and such as he shall be at last; or that,
310 2. If he was, he has certain liberties allowed him for excursions into the Regions of this Air, and certain spheres of action, in which he can, and does move, to do, _like a very Devil as he is_, all the mischief he can, and of which we see so many examples both about us and in us; in the inquiry after which, I shall take occasion to examine whether the Devil is not in most of us, sometimes, if not in all of us one time or other.
311 3. That _Satan_ has no particular residence in this Globe or Earth where we live; that he rambles about among us, and marches over and over our whole country, he and his Devils in _Camps volant_; but that he pitches his grand Army or chief Encampment in our Adjacencies or Frontiers, which the Philosophers call _Atmosphere_; and whence he is call'd the Prince of the Power of that Element or part of the World we call _Air_; from whence he sends out his Spies, his Agents and Emissaries, to get intelligence, and to carry his Commissions to his trusty and well beloved Cousins and Counsellors on Earth, by which his business is done, and his affairs carried on in the World.
312 Here, again, I meet Mr. _Milton_ full in my face, who will have it, that _the Devil_, immediately at his expulsion, roll'd down directly into a Hell proper and local; nay, he measures the very distance, at least gives the length of the journey by the time they were passing or falling, which, he says, was _nine days_; a good Poetical flight, but neither founded on Scripture or Philosophy; he might every jot as well have brought _Hell_ up to the Walls of _Heaven_, advanc'd to receive them, or he ought to have consider'd the space which is to be allow'd to any locality, let him take what part of infinite distance between _Heaven_ and a created Hell he pleases.
313 But let that be as Mr. _Milton_'s extraordinary genius pleases to place it; the passage, it seems, is just _nine days_ betwixt Heaven and Hell; well might _Dives_ then see father _Abraham_, and talk to him too; but then the great Gulph which _Abraham_ tells him was fix'd between them, does not seem to be so large, as according to Sir _Isaac Newton_, Dr. _Halley_, Mr. _Whiston_, and the rest of our Men of Science, we take it to be.
314 But suppose the passage to be nine Days, according to Mr. _Milton_, what follow'd? why Hell gap'd wide, open'd its frightful mouth, and received them all at once; millions and thousands of millions as they were, it received them all at a gulp, _as we call it_, they had no difficulty to go in, no, none at all.
315 _Facilis desensus averni, sed revocare gradum Hoc opus hic labor est._---- Virg.
316 All this, as Poetical, we may receive, but not at all as Historical; for then come difficulties insuperable in our way, some of which may be as follow: (1.) Hell is here supposed to be a place; nay a place created for the punishment of Angels and Men, and likewise created long before those had fallen, or these had Being; this makes me say, Mr. _Milton_ was a good Poet, but a bad Historian: _Tophet_ was prepar'd of old, indeed, but it was for the King, that is to say, it was prepar'd for those whose lot it should be to come there; but this does not at all suppose it was prepar'd before it was resolv'd whether there should be subjects for it, or no; else we must suppose both Men and Angels were made by the glorious and upright Maker of all things, on purpose for destruction, which would be incongruous and absurd.
317 But there is worse yet to come; in the next place he adds, that _Hell_ having receiv'd them, clos'd upon them; that is to say, took them in, clos'd or shut its Mouth; and in a word, they were lock'd in, as it was said in another place, they were lock'd in, and the Key is carry'd up to Heaven and kept there; for _we know_ the Angel came down from Heaven, having the Key of the Bottomless-pit; but first, see Mr. _Milton_.
318 'Nine days they fell, confounded chaos roar'd 'And felt ten-fold confusion in their fall: '----Hell at last 'Yawning receiv'd them all, and on them clos'd; 'Down from the verge of Heaven, eternal wrath 'Burnt after them---- 'Unquenchable.
319 This Scheme is certainly deficient, if not absurd, and I think is more so than any other he has laid; 'tis evident, neither _Satan_ or his Host of _Devils_ are, _no not any of them_, yet, even now, confin'd in the eternal Prison, where the Scripture says, he shall be _reserved in chains of darkness_. They must have mean thoughts of _Hell_, as a Prison, a _local_ Confinement, that can suppose the _Devil_ able to break Goal, knock off his Fetters, and come abroad, if he had been once lock'd in there, as Mr. _Milton_ says he was: Now we know that he is abroad again, he presented himself before _God_, among his neighbours, when _Job_'s case came to be discours'd of; and more than that, it's plain he was a prisoner at large, by his answer to God's question, which was, _whence comest thou?_ to which he answer'd, _from going to and fro thro' the Earth_, &c. this, I say, is plain, and if it be as certain that Hell closed upon them, I demand then, how got he out? and why was there not a Proclamation for apprehending him, as there usually is, after such Rogues as break prison?
320 In short, the true Account of the _Devil_'s Circumstances, since his Fall from _Heaven_, is much more likely to be thus: That he is more of a Vagrant than a Prisoner, that he is a Wanderer in the wild unbounded Wast, where he and his Legions, like the Hoords of _Tartary_, who, in the wild Countries of _Karakathay_, the Desarts of _Barkan_, _Kassan_, and _Astracan_, live up and down where they find proper; so Satan and his innumerable Legions rove about _hic & ubique_, pitching their Camps (being Beasts of prey) where they find the most Spoil; watching over this World, (and all the other Worlds for ought we know, and if there are any such,) I say watching, and seeking who they may devour, _that is_, who they may deceive and delude, and so destroy, for devour they cannot.
321 _Satan_ being thus confin'd to a vagabond, wandring, unsettl'd Condition, is without any certain Abode; For tho' he has, in consequence of his Angelic Nature, a kind of Empire in the liquid Wast or _Air_; yet, this is certainly part of his punishment, that he is continually hovering over this inhabited Globe of Earth; swelling with the Rage of Envy, at the Felicity of his Rival, Man; and studying all the means possible to injure and ruin him; but extremely limited in Power, to his unspeakable Mortification: This is his present State, without any fix'd Abode, Place, or Space, allow'd him to rest the Sole of his Foot upon.
322 From his Expulsion, I take his first View of Horror to be that, of looking back towards the Heaven which he had lost; there to see the Chasm or Opening made up, out at which, as at a Breach in the Wall of the holy Place, he was thrust Head-long by the Power which expel'd him; I say, to see the Breach repair'd, the Mounds built up, the Walls garison'd with millions of Angels, and arm'd with Thunders; and, above all, made terrible by that Glory from whose Presence they were expel'd, as is Poetically hinted at before.
323 Upon this sight, 'tis no wonder (if there was such a Place) that they fled till the Darkness might cover them, and that they might be out of the View of so hated a Sight.
324 Wherever they found it, you may be sure they pitch'd their first Camp, and began, after many a sour Reflection upon what was pass'd, to consider and think a little, upon what was to come.
325 If I had as much personal Acquaintance with the _Devil_, as would admit it, and could depend upon the Truth of what Answer he would give me, the first Question I would ask him, should be, what Measures they resolv'd on at their first Assembly? and the next should be, how they were employ'd in all that space of Time, between their so flying the Face of their almighty Conqueror, and the Creation of Man? as for the Length of the Time, which, according to the Learn'd, was twenty thousand Years, and according to the more Learned, not half a Quarter so much, I would not concern my Curiosity much about it; 'tis most certain, there was a considerable time between, but of that immediately; first let me enquire what they were doing all that time.
326 The Devil and his Host, being thus, I say, cast out of Heaven, and not yet confin'd strictly to _Hell_, 'tis plain they must be _some where_. Satan and all his Legions did not lose their Existence, no, nor the Existence of _Devils_ neither; GOD was so far from annihilating him, that he still preserv'd his Being; and this not Mr. _Milton_ only, but GOD himself has made known to us, having left his History so far upon record; several expressions in Scripture also make it evident, as particularly the story of _Job_, mentioned before; the like in our Saviour's time, and several others.
327 If Hell did not immediately ingulph them, as _Milton_ suggests, 'tis certain, I say, that they fled Somewhere, from the anger of Heaven, from the face of the Avenger; and his absence, and their own guilt, _wonder not at it_, would make Hell enough for them wherever they went.
328 Nor need we fly to the Dreams of our _Astronomers_, who take a great deal of pains to fill up the vast Spaces of the starry Heavens with innumerable habitable Worlds; allowing as many _solar Systems_ as there are fix'd Stars, and that not only in the known Constellations, but even in _Gallaxie_ it self; who, to every such System allow a certain number of Planets, and to every one of those Planets so many _Satellites_ or _Moons_, and all these Planets and Moons to be Worlds; solid, dark, opaque Bodies, habitable, and (as they would have us believe) inhabited by the like Animals and rational Creatures as on this Earth; so that they may, at this rate, find room enough for the _Devil_ and all his Angels, without making a Hell on purpose; nay they may, for ought I know, find a World for every _Devil_ in all the _Devil'_s _Host_, and so every one may be a Monarch or _Master-Devil_, separately in his own Sphere or World, and play the _Devil_ there by himself.
329 And even if this were so, it cannot be denied but that one _Devil_ in a place would be enough for a whole systemary World, and be able, if not restrained, to do mischief enough there too, and even to ruin and overthrow the whole body of People contain'd in it.
330 But, I say, we need not fly to these shifts, or consult the Astronomers in the decision of this point; for wherever _Satan_ and his defeated Host went, at their expulsion from _Heaven_, we think we are certain, none of all these Beautiful Worlds, or be they Worlds or no, I mean the fix'd Stars, Planets, _&c._ had then any existence; for the Beginning, as the Scripture calls it, was not yet Begun.
331 But to speak a little by the rules of Philosophy, that is to say, so as to be understood by others, even when we speak of things we cannot fully understand ourselves: Tho' in the Beginning of Time all this glorious Creation was form'd, the Earth, the starry Heavens, and all the Furniture thereof, and there was a Time when they were not; yet we cannot say so of the Void, or that nameless _no-where_, as I call'd it before, which now appears to be a _some-where_, in which these glorious Bodies are plac'd. That immense Space which those take up, and which they move in at this Time, must be supposed, before they had Being, to be plac'd there: As God himself was, and existed before all Being, Time, or Place, so the Heaven of Heavens, or the Place, where the Thrones and Dominions of his Kingdom then existed, inconceivable and ineffable, had an existence before the glorious Seraphs, the innumerable company of Angels which attended about the Throne of God existed; these all had a Being long before, as the Eternal Creator of them all had before them.
332 Into this void or abyss of Nothing, however unmeasurable, infinite, and even to those Spirits, themselves Inconceivable, they certainly launch'd from the bright Precipice which they fell from, and here they shifted as well as they could.
333 Here expanding those Wings which Fear, and Horror at their Defeat furnish'd them, as I hinted before, they hurried away to the utmost Distance possible, from the Face of GOD their Conqueror, and then most dreaded Enemy; formerly their Joy and Glory.
334 Be this utmost remov'd Distance _where it will_, Here, certainly, _Satan_ and all his _Gang of Devils_, his numberless, tho' routed Armies retired. Here _Milton_ might, with some good Ground, have form'd his _Pandemonium_, and have brought them in, consulting what was next to be done, and whether there was any room left to renew the War, or to carry on the Rebellion; but had they been cast immediately into _Hell_, closed up there, the Bottomless pit lock'd upon them, and the Key carried up to _Heaven_ to be kept there, as Mr. _Milton_ himself in part confesses, and the Scripture affirms; I say, had this been so, the _Devil_ himself could not have been so ignorant as to think of any future Steps to be taken, to retrieve his Affairs, and therefore a _Pandemonium_ or Divan in Hell, to consult of it, was ridiculous.
335 All Mr. _Milton_'s Scheme of _Satan_'s future Conduct, and all the Scripture Expressions about _the Devil_ and his numerous Attendants, and of his actings since that time, make it not reasonable to suggest that the _Devils_ were confin'd to their eternal Prison, at their Expulsion out of _Heaven_; But that they were in a State of Liberty to act, tho' limited in acting, of which I shall also speak in its place.
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