728 _Of Hell as it is represented to us, and how the_ Devil _is to be understood, as being personally in Hell, when at the same Time we find him at Liberty ranging over the World._
729 It is true, as that learn'd and pleasant Author, the inimitable Dr. _Brown_ says, the _Devil_ is his own Hell; one of the most constituting Parts of his Infelicity is, that he cannot act upon Mankind _brevi Manu_, by his own inherent Power, as well as Rage; that he cannot unhinge this Creation, which, _as I have observ'd in its Place_, he had the utmost Aversion to from its Beginning, as it was a stated Design in the Creator to supply his Place in Heaven with a new Species of _Beings_ call'd _Man_, and fill the Vacancies occasion'd by his Degeneracy and Rebellion.
730 This fill'd him with Rage inexpressible, and horrible Resolutions of Revenge, and the Impossibility of executing those Resolutions torments him with Despair; this added to what he was before, makes him a compleat _Devil_, with a Hell in his own Breast, and a Fire unquenchable burning about his Heart.
731 I might enlarge here, and very much to the Purpose, in describing spherically and mathematically that exquisite Quality call'd _a devilish Spirit_, in which it would naturally occur to give you a whole Chapter upon the glorious Articles of _Malice_ and _Envy_, and especially upon that luscious, delightful, triumphant Passion call'd REVENGE; how natural to Man, nay even to both Sexes; how pleasant in the very Contemplation, tho' there be not just at that Time a Power of Execution; how palatable it is in it self, and how well it relishes when dish'd up with its proper Sauces, such as Plot, Contrivance, Scheme, and Confederacy, all leading on to Execution: How it possesses a human Soul in all the most sensible Parts; how it empowers Mankind to sin in Imagination, as effectually to all future Intents and Purposes (Damnation) as if he had sinned actually: How safe a Practice it is too, as to Punishment in this Life, namely, that it empowers us to cut Throats clear of the Gallows, to slander Virtue, reproach Innocence, wound Honour and stab Reputation; and in a Word, to do all the wicked Things in the World, out of the Reach of the Law.
732 It would also require some few Words to describe the secret Operations of those nice Qualities when they reach the human Soul; how effectually they form a Hell within us, and how imperceptibly they assimilate and transform us into _Devils_, meer human Devils, as really _Devils_ as Satan himself, or any of his Angels; and that therefore 'tis not so much out of the Way, as some imagine, to say, such a Man is an _incarnate_ Devil; for as Crime made Satan a _Devil_, who was before a bright immortal Seraph, or Angel of Light; how much more easily may the same Crime make _the same_ DEVIL, tho' every Way meaner and more contemptible, _of a Man or_ a Woman either? But this is too grave a Subject for me at this Time.
733 The _Devil_ being thus, I say, fir'd with Rage and Envy, in consequence of his Jealousy upon the Creation of Man, his Torment is encreased to the highest by the Limitation of his Power, and his being forbid to act against Mankind by Force of Arms; this is, I say, part of his _Hell_, which, as above, is within him, and which he carries with him wherever he goes; nor is it so difficult to conceive of _Hell_, or of the _Devil_, either under this just Description, as it is by all the usual Notions that we are taught to entertain of them, by (the old Women) our Instructors; for every Man may, by taking but a common View of himself, and making a just Scrutiny into his own Passions, on some of their particular Excursions, see a _Hell_ within himself, and himself a meer _Devil_ as long as the Inflammation lasts; and that as really, and to all Intents and Purposes, as if he had the Angel (_Satan_) before his Face, in his Locality and Personality; that is to say, all Devil and Monster in his Person, and an immaterial but intense Fire flaming about and from within him, at all the Pores of his Body.
734 The Notions we receive of the Devil, _as a Person_ being in Hell _as a Place_, are infinitely absurd and ridiculous; the first we are certain is not true in Fact, because he has a certain Liberty, (_however limited_ that is not to the Purpose) is daily visible, and to be trac'd in his several Attacks upon Mankind, and has been so ever since his first Appearance in _Paradise_; as to his corporal Visibility that is not the present Question neither; 'tis enough that we can hunt him by the Foot, that we can follow him as Hounds do a Fox upon a hot Scent: We can see him as plainly by the Effect, by the Mischief he does, and more by the Mischief he puts us upon doing, _I say_, as plainly, as if we saw him by the Eye.
735 It is not to be doubted but the _Devil_ can see us when and where we cannot see him: and as he has a Personality, tho' it be spirituous, he and his Angels too may be reasonably supposed to inhabit the World of Spirits, and to have free Access from thence to the Regions of Life, and to pass and repass in the Air, as really, tho' not perceptible to us, as the Spirits of Men do after their release from the Body, pass to the Place (wherever that is) which is appointed for them.
736 If the _Devil_ was confin'd to a Place (_Hell_) as a Prison, he could then have no Business here; and if we pretend to describe _Hell_, as not a Prison, but that the Devil has Liberty to be there, or not be there as he pleased, then he would certainly never be there, or _Hell_ is not such a Place as we are taught to understand it to be.
737 Indeed according to some, _Hell_ should be a Place of Fire and Torment to the Souls that are cast into it, but not to the _Devils_ themselves; who we make little more or less than keepers and Turnkeys to Hell, as a Goal; that they are sent about to bring Souls thither, lock them in when they come, and then away upon the Scent to fetch more: That one Sort of _Devils_ are made to live in the World among Men, and to be busy continually debauching and deluding Mankind bringing them as it were to the Gates of _Hell_; and then another Sort are Porters and Carriers to fetch them in.
738 This is, _in short_, little more or less than the old Story of _Pluto_, of _Cerberus_, and of _Charon_; only that our Tale is not half so well told, nor the Parts of the Fable so well laid together.
739 In all these Notions of _Hell_ and _Devil_, the Torments of the first, and the Agency of the last Tormenting, we meet with not one Word of the main and perhaps only Accent of Horror, which belongs to us to judge of about Hell, I mean the Absence of Heaven; Expulsion, and Exclusion from the Presence and Face of the chief Ultimate, the only eternal and sufficient Good; and this loss sustain'd by a sordid Neglect of our Concern in that excellent Part, in exchange for the most contemptible and justly condemn'd Trifles, and all this eternal and irrecoverable: These People tell us nothing of the eternal Reproaches of Conscience, the Horror of Desperation, and the Anguish of a Mind hopeless of ever seeing the Glory, which alone constitutes Heaven, and which makes all other Places dreadful, and even Darkness it self.
740 And this brings me directly to the Point in Hand, (_viz._) the State of that Hell which we ought to have in view when we speak of the _Devil_ as _in Hell_: This is the very Hell, which is the Torment of the _Devil_; in short, the _Devil_ is in HELL, and HELL is in the _Devil_; he is fill'd with this unquenchable Fire, he is expel'd the Place of Glory, banish'd from the Regions of Light, Absence from the Life of all Beatitude is his Curse, Despair is the reigning Passion in his Mind, and all the little Constituent Parts of his Torment, such as Rage, Envy, Malice, and Jealousy are consolidated in this, to make his Misery compleat, (_viz._) the Duration of it all, the Eternity of his Condition; that he is without Hope, without Redemption, without Recovery.
741 If any thing can inflame this _Hell_ and make it hotter, 'tis this only, and this does add an inexpressible Horror to the Devil himself; _namely_, the seeing Man (the only Creature he hates) placed in a State of Recovery, a glorious Establishment of Redemption form'd for him in Heaven, and the Scheme of it perfected on Earth; by which _this Man_, tho' even the _Devil_ by his Art may have deluded him, and drawn him into Crime, is yet in a State of Recovery, which the Devil is not; and that it is not in his (_Satan_'s) Power to prevent it: Now take the Devil as he is in his own Nature Angelic, a bright immortal Seraph, Heaven-born, and having tasted the eternal Beatitude, which these are appointed to enjoy; the Loss of that State to himself, the Possession of it granted to his Rival tho' wicked like and as himself; I say, take the Devil as he is, having a quick Sense of his own Perdition, and a stinging Sight of his Rival's Felicity, 'tis _Hell enough_, and more than enough, even for an Angel to support; nothing we can conceive can be worse.
742 As to any other Fire than this, such and so immaterially intense as to Torment a Spirit, which is it self Fire also; I will not say it cannot be, because to Infinite every Thing is possible, but I must say, I cannot conceive rightly of it.
743 I will not enter here into the Wisdom or Reasonableness of representing the Torments of Hell to be Fire, and that Fire to be a Commixture of _Flame_ and _Sulphur_; it has pleased God to let the Horror of those eternal Agonies about _a lost Heaven_, be laid before us by those Similitudes or Allegories, which are most moving to our Senses and to our Understandings; nor will I dispute the Possibility; much less will I doubt but that there is to be a Consummation of Misery to all the Objects of Misery when the _Devil_'s Kingdom in this World ending with the World it self, that Liberty he has now may be farther abridg'd; when he may be return'd to the same State he was in between the Time of his Fall and the Creation of the World; with perhaps some additional Vengeance on him, such as at present we cannot describe, for all that Treason and those high Crimes and Misdemeanours which he has been guilty of here, in his Conversation with Mankind.
744 As his Infelicity will be then consummated and compleated, so the Infelicity of that Part of Mankind, who are condemn'd with him, may receive a considerable Addition from those Words in their Sentence, to be tormented _with the Devil and his Angels_; for as the Absence of the Supreme Good is a compleat Hell, so the hated Company of the Deceiver, who was the great Cause of his Ruine, must be a Subject of additional Horror, and he will be always saying, as a _Scots_ Gentleman, who died of his Excesses, said to the famous Dr. _P----_, who came to see him on his Death-bed, but had been too much his Companion in his Life,
745 _O tu fundamenta jecisti------_
746 I would not treat the very Subject it self with any Indecency, nor do I think my Opinion of that _Hell_, which I say consists in the Absence of him, in whom is Heaven, one Jot less Solemn than theirs who believe it all _Fire_ and _Brimstone_; but I must own, that to me nothing can be more ridiculous than the Notions that we entertain and fill our Heads with about _Hell_, and about the _Devil_'s being there tormenting of Souls, broiling them upon Gridirons, hanging them up upon Hooks, carrying them upon their Backs, and the like, with the several Pictures of _Hell_, represented by a great Mouth with horrible Teeth, gaping like a Cave on the Sides of a Mountain; suppose that appropriated to _Satan_ in the _Peak_, which indeed is not much unlike it, with a Stream of Fire coming out of it, as there is of Water, and smaller Devils going and coming continually in and out, to fetch and carry Souls the Lord knows whither, and for the Lord knows what.
747 These Things, however intended for Terror, are indeed so ridiculous, that the _Devil_ himself, to be sure, mocks at them, and a Man of Sense can hardly refrain doing the like, only I avoid it, because I would not give offence to weaker Heads.
748 However, I must not Compliment the Brains of other Men, at the Expence of my own, or talk Nonsense because they can understand no other; I think all these Notions and Representations of _Hell_ and of the _Devil_, to be as prophane as they are ridiculous, and I ought no more to talk prophanely than merrily of them.
749 Let us learn to talk of these Things then, as we should do; and as we really cannot describe them to our Reason and Understanding, why should we describe them to our Senses; we had, I think, much better not describe them at all, that is to say, not attempt it: The blessed Apostle St. _Paul_ was, as he said himself, carried up, or caught up into the _third Heaven_, yet when he came down again, he could neither tell what he heard or describe what he saw; all he could say of it was, that what he heard was _inutterable_, and what he saw was _inconceivable_.
750 It is the same thing as to the State of the _Devil_ in those Regions which he now possesses, and where he now more particularly inhabits; my present Business then is not to enter into those grave Things so as to make them ridiculous, as I think most People do that talk of them; but as the _Devil_, let his Residence be where it will, has evidently free Leave to come and go, not into this World only; (_I mean, the Region of our Atmosphere_,) but for ought we know, to all the other inhabited Worlds which God has made, where-ever they are, and by whatsoever Names they are or may be known or distinguished; for if he is not confined in one Place, we have no Reason to believe he is excluded from any Place, Heaven only excepted, from whence he was expell'd for his Treason and Rebellion.
751 His Liberty then being thus ascertain'd, three Things seem to be material for us to give an Account of, in order to form this Part of his History.
752 1. What his Business is on this Globe of Earth which we vulgarly call the World, how he acts among us, what Affairs Mankind and he have together, and how far his Conduct here relates to Us, and Ours is, or may be influenc'd by him.
753 2. Where his Principal Residence is, and whether he has not a particular Empire of his own, to which he retreats upon proper Occasions; where he entertains his Friends when they come under his particular Administration; and where, when he gets any Victory over his Enemies, he carries his Prisoners of War.
754 3. 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.
755 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.
756 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.
757 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.
758 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_.
Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Project Gutenberg eBook; unrestricted use under Gutenberg terms in the United States