695 I have examined the Antiquities of Satan's History in the former Part of this Work, and brought his Affairs down from the Creation, as far as to our blessed Christian Times; especially to the Coming of the _Messiah_, when one would think the _Devil_ could have nothing to do among us. I have indeed but touch'd at some Things which might have admitted of a farther Description of Satan's Affairs, and the Particulars of which we may all come to a farther Knowledge of hereafter; yet I think I have spoken to the material Part of his Conduct, as it relates to his Empire in this World: What has happen'd to his more sublimated Government, and his Angelic Capacities, I shall have an Occasion to touch at in several solid Particulars as we go along.
696 The _Messiah_ was now born, _the Fulness of Time was come_, that the old Serpent was to have his _Head broken_, that is to say, his Empire or Dominion over Man, which he gain'd by the Fall of our first Father and Mother in _Paradise_, receiv'd a Downfal or Overthrow.
697 It is worth observing, in order to confirm what I have already mention'd of the Limitation of Satan's Power, that not only his Angelic Strength seems to have received a farther Blow upon the Coming of the Son of God into the World, but he seems to have had a Blow upon his Intellects; his Serpentine Craft and _Devil-like_ Subtilty seems to have been circumscrib'd and cut short; and instead of his being so cunning a Fellow as before, when, _as I said_, 'tis evident he outwitted all Mankind, not only _Eve_, _Cain_, _Noah_, _Lot_, and all the Patriarchs, but even Nations of Men, and that in their publick Capacity; and thereby led them into absurd and ridiculous Things, such as the Building of _Babel_, and deifying and worshiping their Kings, when dead and rotten; idolizing _Beasts_, _Stocks_, _Stones_, _any Thing_, and even _Nothing_; and in a Word, when he manag'd Mankind just as he pleased.
698 Now and from this Time forward he appeared a weak, foolish, ignorant _Devil_, compar'd to what he was before; He was upon almost every Occasion resisted, disappointed, baulk'd and defeated, especially in all his Attempts to thwart or cross the Mission and Ministry of the _Messiah_, while he was upon Earth, and sometimes upon other and very mean Occasions too.
699 And first, how foolish a Project was it, and how below Satan's celebrated Artifice in like Cases, to put _Herod_ upon sending to kill the poor innocent Children in _Bethlehem_, in hopes to destroy the Infant? for I take it for granted, it was the _Devil_ put into _Herod_'s Thoughts that Execution, how simple and foolish soever; now we must allow him to be very ignorant of the Nativity himself, or else he might easily have guided his Friend _Herod_ to the Place where the Infant was.
700 This shews that _either_ the _Devil_ is in general ignorant as we are, of what is to come in the World, before it is really come to pass; and consequently can foretel nothing, no not so much as our famous old _Merlin_ or _Mother Shipton_ did, _or else_ that great Event was hid from him by an immediate Power superior to his, which I cannot think neither, considering how much he was concern'd in it, and how certainly he knew that it was once to come to pass.
701 But be that as it will, 'tis certain the _Devil_ knew nothing where Christ was born, or when; nor was he able to direct _Herod_ to find him out, and therefore put him upon that foolish, as well as cruel Order, to kill all the Children, that he might be sure to destroy the _Messiah_ among the rest.
702 The next simple Step that the _Devil_ took, and indeed the most foolish one that he could ever be charg'd with, unworthy the very Dignity of a _Devil_, and below the Understanding that he always was allow'd to act with, was that of coming to tempt the _Messiah_ in the Wilderness; it is certain, and he own'd it himself afterwards, upon many Occasions, that the _Devil_ knew our Saviour to be the Son of God; and 'tis as certain that he knew, that _as such_ he could have no Power or Advantage over him; how foolish then was it in him to attack him in that Manner, _if thou beest the Son of_ GOD? why he knew him to be the _Son of_ GOD well enough; he said so afterwards, _I know thee who thou art, the holy One of_ GOD; how then could he be so weak a Devil as to say, _if thou art_, then do _so_ and _so_?
703 The Case is plain, the _Devil_, tho' he knew him to be the Son of GOD, did not fully know the Mystery of the Incarnation; nor did he know how far the _Inanition_ of Christ extended, and whether, _as Man_, he was not subject to fall as _Adam_ was, tho' his reserv'd Godhead might be still immaculate and pure; and upon this Foot, as he would leave no Method untried, he attempts him three Times, one immediately after another; but then, finding himself disappointed he fled.
704 This evidently proves that the _Devil_ was ignorant of the great Mystery of Godliness, _as the Text calls it_, God manifest in the Flesh, and therefore made that foolish Attempt upon Christ, thinking to have conquer'd his human Nature as capable of Sin, which it was not; and at this Repulse _Hell_ groan'd, the whole Army of regimented _Devils_ receiv'd a Wound, and felt the Shock of it; 'twas a second Overthrow to them, they had had a long Chain of Success, carried a _devilish_ Conquest over the greatest Part of the Creation of GOD; but now they were cut short, _the Seed of the Woman_ was now come _to break the Serpent's Head_, that is, to cut short his Power, to contract the Limits of his Kingdom, and in a Word, to dethrone him in the World: No doubt the _Devil_ receiv'd a Shock, for you find him always afterward, crying out in a horrible Manner, whenever Christ met with him, or else very humble and submissive, as when he begg'd leave to go into the Herd of Swine, a Thing he has often done since.
705 Defeated here, the first Stratagem I find him concern'd in after it, was his entring into _Judas_, and putting him upon betraying Christ to the Chief Priest; but here again he was entirely mistaken, for he did not see, _as much a Devil as he was_, what the Event would be; but when he came to know, that if Christ was put to Death, he would become a Propitiatory and be the great Sacrifice of Mankind, so to rescue the fallen Race from that Death they had incurr'd the Penalty of, by the Fall, that this was the fulfilling of all Scripture Prophesy, and that thus it was that Christ was to be _the End of the Law_, I say, as soon as he perceiv'd this, he strove all he could to prevent it, and disturb'd _Pilate_'s Wife in her Sleep, in order to set her upon her Husband to hinder his delivering him up to the _Jews_; for then, and not till then, he knew how Christ was to vanquish Hell by the Power of his Cross.
706 Thus the _Devil_ was disappointed and exposed in every Step he took, and as he now plainly saw his Kingdom declining, and even the temporal Kingdom of Christ, rising up upon the Ruins of his (_Satan_'s) Power; he seem'd to retreat into his own Region the Air, and to consult there with his fellow _Devils_, what Measures he should take next to preserve his Dominion among Men; Here it was that he resolv'd upon that truly hellish Thing call'd Persecution, by which, _tho' he prov'd a foolish Devil in that too_, he flatter'd himself he should be able to destroy God's Church, and root out its Professors from the Earth, even almost as soon as it was establish'd; whereas on the contrary, Heaven counter-acted him there too, and tho' he arm'd the whole _Roman_ Empire against the Christians, _that is say_, the whole World, and they were fallen upon every where, with all the Fury and Rage of some of the most flaming Tyrants that the World ever saw, of whom _Nero_ was the first; yet in spight of Hell, GOD made all the Blood, which the Devil caus'd to be spilt, to be _semen Ecclesiæ_, and the DEVIL had the Mortification to see, that the Number of Christians encreased even under the very Means he made use of to root them out and destroy them: This was the Case thro' the Reign of all the _Roman_ Emperors, for the first three hundred Years after Christ.
707 Having thus tried all the Methods that best suited his Inclination, I mean those of Blood and Death, complicated with Tortures and all Kinds of Cruelty, and that for so long a Stage of Time as above; the _Devil_ all on a suddain, as if glutted with Blood, and satiated with Destruction, sits still and becomes a peaceable Spectator for a good while; as if he either found himself unable, or had no Disposition to hinder the Progress of Christianity in the first Ages of its Settlement in the World: In this interval the Christian Church was establish'd under _Constantine_, Religion flourished in Peace, and under the most perfect Tranquillity: The _Devil_ seem'd to be at a Loss what he should do next, and Things began to look as if Satan's Kingdom was at an End; but he soon let them see that he was the same indefatigable _Devil_ that ever he was, and the Prosperity of the Church gave him a large Field of Action; for knowing the Disposition of Mankind to Quarrel and Dispute, the universal Passion rooted in Nature, especially among the Church-Men for Precedency and Dominion, he fell to work with them immediately; so that turning the Tables, and reassuming the Subtilty and Craft, which, I say, he seem'd to have lost in the former four hundred Years, he gain'd more Ground in the next Ages of the Church, and went farther towards restoring his Power and Empire in the World, and towards overthrowing that very Church which was so lately establish'd, than all he had done by Fire and Blood before.
708 His Policy now seem'd to be edg'd with Resentment for the Mistakes he had made; as if the Devil looking back with Anger at himself, to see what a Fool he had been to expect to crush Religion by Persecution, rejoyc'd for having discover'd that Liberty and Dominion was the only way to ruin the Church, not Fire and Faggot; and that he had nothing to do but to give the zealous People their utmost Liberty in Religion, only sowing Error and Variety of Opinion among them, and they would bring Fire and Faggot in fast enough among themselves.
709 It must be confess'd these were devilish Politicks; and so sure was the Aim, and so certain was the _Devil_ to hit his Mark by them, that we find he not only did not fail then, but the same hellish Methods have prevail'd still, and will do so to the End of the World. Nor had the Devil ever a better Game to play than this, for the Ruin of Religion, as we shall have room to show in many Examples, besides that of the Dissenters in _England_, who are evidently weaken'd by the late Toleration: Whether the _Devil_ had any hand in baiting his Hook with an A--- of Parliament or no, History is silent, but 'tis too evident he has catch'd the Fish by it; and if the honest Church of _England_ does not in Pity and Christian Charity to the Dissenters, straighten her Hand a little, I cannot but fear the _Devil_ will gain his Point, and the Dissenter will be undone by it.
710 Upon this new foot of Politicks the _Devil_ began with the Emperors themselves: _Arius_, the Father of the Hereticks of that Age, having broach'd his Opinions, and _Athanasius_ the orthodox Bishop of the East opposing him, the _Devil_ no sooner saw the Door open to Strife and Imposition, but he thrust himself in, and raising the Quarrel up to a suited Degree of Rage and Spleen, he involv'd the good Emperor himself in it first and _Athanasius_ was banish'd and recall'd, and banish'd and recall'd again, several times, as Error ran high, and as the _Devil_ either got or lost Ground: After _Constantine_, the next Emperor was a Child of his own, (_Arian_) and then the Court came all into the Quarrel, as Courts often do, and then the _Arians_ and the _Orthodox_ persecuted one another as furiously as the Pagans persecuted them all before. To such a Height the _Devil_ brought his Conquest in the very Infancy of the Question, and so much did he prevail over the true Christianity of the Primitive Church, even before they had enjoy'd the Liberty of the pure Worship twenty Years.
711 Flush'd with this Success, the _Devil_ made one Push for the restoring _Paganism_, and bringing on the old Worship of the Heathen Idols and Temples; but like our King _James_ II. he drove too hard, and _Julian_ had so provok'd the whole _Roman_ Empire, which was generally at that time become Christian, that had the Apostate liv'd, he would not have been able to have held the Throne; and as he was cut off in his Beginning, Paganism expir'd with him, and the _Devil_ himself might have cry'd out, as _Julian_ did, and with much more Propriety, _Vicisti Galileane_.
712 _Jovian_, the next Emperor, being a glorious Christian, and a very good and great Man, the _Devil_ abdicated for a while, and left the Christian Armies to re-establish the Orthodox Faith; nor could he bring the Christians to a Breach again among themselves a great while after.
713 However, Time and a diligent _Devil_ did the Work at last, and when the Emperors concerning themselves one way or other, did not appear sufficient to answer his End, he chang'd Hands again, and went to work with the Clergy: To set the Doctors effectually together by the Ears, he threw in the new Notion of _Primacy_ among them, for a Bone of Contention; the Bait took, the Priests swallow'd it eagerly down, and the _Devil_, a cunninger Fisherman than ever St. _Peter_ was, _struck them_ (as the Anglers call it) with a quick Hand, and hung them fast upon the Hook.
714 Having them thus in his Clutches, and they being now, as we may say, his own, they took their Measures afterwards from him, and most obediently follow'd his Directions; nay, I will not say but he may have had pretty much the Management of the whole Society ever since, of what Profession or Party soever they may have been, with Exception only to the Reverend and Right Reverend among our selves.
715 The Sacred, as above, being thus hook'd in, and the DEVIL being at the Head of their Affairs, Matters went on most gloriously his own way; first, the Bishops fell to bandying and Party-making for the Superiority, as heartily as ever Temporal Tyrants did for Dominion, and took as black and devilish Methods to carry it on, as the worst of those Tyrants ever had done before them.
716 At last Satan declar'd for the _Roman_ Pontiff, and that upon excellent Conditions, in the Reign of the Emperor _Mauritius_; for _Boniface_, who had long contended for the Title of Supreme, fell into a Treaty with _Phocas_, Captain of the Emperor's Guards; whether the Bargain was from Hell or not, let any one judge, the Conditions absolutely entitle the _Devil_ to the Honour of making the Contract, _viz._ That _Phocas_ first murthering his Master (the Emperor) and his Sons, _Boniface_ should countenance the Treason, and declare him Emperor; and in Return, _Phocas_ should acknowledge the Primacy of the Church of _Rome_, and declare _Boniface_ universal Bishop. A blessed Compact! which at once set the _Devil_ at the Head of Affairs in the Christian World, as well Spiritual as Temporal, Ecclesiastick and Civil. Since the Conquest over _Eve_ in Paradise, by which Death and the DEVIL, Hand in Hand, establish'd their first Empire upon Earth, the _Devil_ never gain'd a more important Point than he gain'd at this time.
717 He had indeed prospered in his Affairs tolerably well for some time before this, and his Interest among the Clergy had got Ground for some Ages; but that was indeed a secret Management, was carried on privately, and with Difficulty; as in sowing Discord and Faction among the People, perplexing the Councils of their Princes, and secretly wheedling in with the dignified Clergy.
718 Also he had raised abundance of little Church-Rebellions, by setting up Hereticks of several Kinds, and raising them Favourers among the Clergy, such as _Ebion_, _Cerinthius_, _Pelagius_, and others.
719 He had drawn in the Bishops of _Rome_ to set up the ridiculous Pageantry of the KEY; and while he, the DEVIL, set open the Gates of Hell to them all, set them upon locking up the Gates of Heaven, and giving the Bishop the Key; a Cheat which, as gross as it was, the DEVIL so gilded over, or so blinded the Age to receive it, that like _Gideon's Ephod_, all the Catholick World went a whoring after the Idol; and the Bishop of _Rome sent_ more Fools to the _Devil_ by it than ever he pretended to let into Heaven, though he open'd the Door as wide as his Key was able to do.
720 The Story of this Key being given to the Bishop of _Rome_ by St. _Peter_, (who, by the way, never had it himself,) and of its being lost by Somebody or other, (the _Devil_ it seems did not tell them who) and its being found again by a _Lombard_ Soldier in the Army of King _Antharis_, who attempting to cut it with his Knife, was miraculously forced to direct the Wound to himself, and cut his own Throat; that King _Antharis_ and his Nobles happened to see the Fellow do it, and were converted to Christianity by it, and that the King sent the Key, with another made like it, to Pope _Pelagius_, then Bishop of _Rome_, who thereupon assum'd the Power of opening and shutting Heaven's Gates; and he afterwards setting a Price or Toll upon the Entrance, as we do here at passing a Turn-pike; these fine things, I say, were successfully managed for some Years before this I am now speaking of, and the Devil got a great deal of Ground by it too; but now he triumph'd openly, and having set up a Murtherer upon the temporal Throne, and a Church Emperor upon the Ecclesiastic Throne, and both of his own choosing, the _Devil_ may be said to begin his new Kingdom from this Epocha, and call it the _Restoration_.
721 Since this time indeed the Devil's Affairs went very merrily on, and the Clergy brought so many Gewgaws into their Worship, and such devilish Principles were mixt with that which we call'd the Christian Faith, that in a Word, from this Time the Bishop of _Rome_ commenc'd _Whore of Babylon_, in all the most express Terms that could be imagin'd: Tyranny of the worst sort crept into the Pontificate, Errors of all sorts into the Profession, and they proceeded from one thing to another, till the very Popes, for so the Bishop of _Rome_ was now called, by way of Distinction; I say, the Popes themselves, their spiritual Guides, profess'd openly to confederate with the _Devil_, and to carry on a personal and private Correspondence with him at the same time, taking upon them the Title of Christ's Vicar, and the infallible Guide of the Consciences of Christians.
722 This we have sundry Instances of in some merry Popes, who, _if Fame lies not_, were Sorcerers, Magicians, had familiar Spirits, and immediate Conversation with the Devil, as well visibly as invisibly, and by this means became what we call _Devils incarnate_: Upon this account it is that I have left the Conversation that passes between _Devils and Men_ to this Place, as well because I believe it differs much now in his modern State, from what it was in his ancient State, and therefore that which most concerns us belongs rather to this part of his History; as also because, as I am now writing to the present Age, I choose to bring the most significant Parts of his History, especially as they relate to our selves, into that Part of Time that we are most concern'd in.
723 The _Devil_ had once, as I observ'd before, the universal Monarchy or Government of Mankind in himself, and I doubt not but in that flourishing State of his Affairs, he governed them like what he is (_viz._) an absolute Tyrant; during this _Theocracy_ of his, _for_ Satan _is call'd the God of this World_, he did not familiarize himself to Mankind so much, as he finds Occasion to do now, there was not then so much need of it; he governed then with an absolute Sway; he had his Oracles, where he gave Audience to his Votaries like a Deity, and he had his Sub-Gods, who under his several Dispositions receiv'd the Homage of Mankind in their Names; such were all the Rabble of the Heathen Deities, from _Jupiter_ the Supreme, to the _Lares_ or Houshold Gods of every Family; these, I say, like Residents, received the Prostrations, but the Homage was all Satan's; the Devil had the Substance of it all, which was the Idolatry.
724 During this Administration of _Hell_, there was less Witchcraft, less true literal Magick than there has been since; there was indeed no need of it, the DEVIL did not stoop to the Mechanism of his more modern Operations, but rul'd as a Deity, and receiv'd the Vows and the Bows of his Subjects in more State, and with more Solemnity; whereas since that, he is content to employ more Agents and take more Pains himself too; now he runs up and down Hackney in the World, more like a Drudge than a Prince, and much more than he did then.
725 Hence all those Things we call Apparitions and Visions of Ghosts, Familiar-Spirits and Dealings with the Devil, of which there is so great a Variety in the World at this Time, were not so much known among the People, in those first Ages of the Devil's Kingdom; _in a Word_, the Devil seems to be put to his Shifts, and to fly to Art and Stratagem for the carrying on his Affairs, much more now than he did then.
726 One Reason for this may be, that he has been more discover'd and expos'd in these Ages, than he was before; then he could appear in the World in his own proper Shapes, and yet not be known; when the Sons of GOD appear'd at the divine Summons, Satan came along with them; but now he has plaid so many scurvy Tricks upon Men, and they know him so well, that he is oblig'd to play quite out of sight and act in disguise; Mankind will allow nothing of his doing, and hear nothing of his saying, in his own Name; and if you propose any Thing to be done, and it be but said the _Devil_ is to help in the doing it, or if you say of any Man he deals with the _Devil_, or the _Devil_ has a Hand in it, every Body flies him and shuns him, as the most frightful Thing in the World.
727 Nay, if any Thing strange and improbable be done or related to be done, we presently say the _Devil_ was at the doing it: Thus the great Ditch at _Newmarket Heath_, is call'd the _Devil_'s _Ditch_; so the _Devil_ built _Crowland_ Abby, and the Whispering-Place in _Gloucester_ Cathedral; nay, the Cave at _Castleton_, only because there's no getting to the farther End of it, is call'd the _Devil_'s A---- and the like: The poor People of _Wiltshire_, when you ask them how the great Stones at _Stonehenge_ were brought thither? they'll all tell you the _Devil_ brought them: If any Mischief extraordinary befalls us, we presently say the _Devil_ was in it, and the _Devil_ would have it so; in a Word, the _Devil_ has got an ill Name among us, and so he is fain to act more _in Tenebris_, more _incog._ than he used to do, play out of sight himself, and work by the Sap, as the Engineers call it, and not openly and avowedly in his own Name and Person, as formerly, tho' perhaps not with less Success than he did before; and this leads me to enquire more narrowly into the manner of the _Devil_'s Management of his Affairs since the Christian Religion began to spread in the World, which manifestly differs from his Conduct in more antient Times; in which if we discover some of the most consummate Fool's Policy, the most profound simple Craft, and the most subtle shallow Management of Things that can by our weak Understandings be conceiv'd, we must only resolve it into this, that in short it is the DEVIL.
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