The Political History of the Devil

THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE DEVIL

The Succession of Blood in the royal original Line of Adam, is preserv’d in the sacred Histories and brought down as low as Noah and his three Sons, for a continu’d series of 1450 Years, say some, 1640 say others; in which Time Sin spread it self so generally thro’ the whole Race, and the Sons of God, so the Scripture calls the Men of the righteous Seed, the Progeny of Seth, came in unto the Daughters of Men, that is, join’d themselves to the curs’d Race of Cain, and married promiscuously with them, according to their Fancies, the Women it seems being beautiful and tempting; and tho’ the Devil could not make the Women handsome or ugly in one or other Families, yet he might work up the Gust of wicked Inclination on either Side, so as to make both the Men and Women tempting and agreeable to one another, where they ought not to have been so; and perhaps, as it is often seen to this Day, the more tempting for being under legal Restraint.

It is objected here, that we do not find in the Scripture that the Men and Women of either Race were at that Time forbidden intermarrying with one another; and it is true, that literally it is not forbid; but if we did not search rather to make doubts than to explain them, we might suppose it was forbidden by some particular Command at that Time; seeing we may reasonably allow every Thing to be forbidden, which they are tax’d with a Crime in committing; and as the Sons of God taking them Wives as they thought fit to choose, tho’ from among the Daughters of the cursed Race, is there charg’d upon them as a general Depravation, and a great Crime; and for which, ‘tis said, GOD even repented that he had made them, we need go no farther to satisfy our selves that it was certainly forbidden.

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Satan no doubt too had a Hand in this Wickedness; for as it was his Business to prompt Men to do every Thing which God had prohibited, so the Reason given why the Men of those Days did this Thing was, they saw the Daughters of Men, that is of the wicked Race or forbidden Sort, were fair, he tempted them by the Lust of the Eye; in a word, the Ladies were beautiful and agreeable, and the Devil knew how to make use of the Allurement; the Men liked and took them by the meer Direction of their Fancy and Appetite, without regarding the supreme Prohibition; They took them Wives of all which they chose, or such as they lik’d to choose.

But the Text adds, that this promiscuous Generation went farther than the meer outward Crime of it, for it shew’d that the Wickedness of the Heart of Man was great before God, and that he resented it; In short, God perceived a Degeneracy or Defect of Virtue had seiz’d upon the whole Race, that there was a general Corruption of Manners, a Depravity of Nature upon them, that even the holy Seed was tainted with it, that the Devil had broken in upon them, and prevail’d to a great Degree; that not only the Practice of the Age was corrupt, for that God could easily have restrain’d, but that the very Heart of Man was debauch’d, his Desires wholly vitiated, and his Senses engag’d in it; so that in a Word, it became necessary to shew the divine Displeasure, not in the ordinary Manner, by Judgment and Reproofs of such kind as usually reclaim Men, but by a general Destruction to sweep them away, clear the Earth of them, and put an End to the Wickedness at once, removing the Offence and the Offenders all together; this is signify’d at large, Gen. vi. 5. God saw that the Wicked-

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ness of Man was great in the Earth, and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually. And again ver. 11, 12. The Earth also was corrupt before God; and the Earth was fill’d with Violence. And God look’d upon the Earth and behold it was corrupt; for all Flesh had corrupted his Way upon the Earth.

It must be confess’d it was a strange Conquest the Devil had made in the Antediluvian World, that he had, as I may say, brought the whole Race of Mankind into a general Revolt from God; Noah was indeed a Preacher of Righteousness, and he had preach’d about 500 Years to as little Purpose as most of the good Ministers ever did; for we do not read there was one Man converted by him, or at least not one of them left, for that at the Deluge there was either none of them alive, or none spar’d but Noah and his three Sons, and their Wives; and even they are (‘tis evident) recorded, not so much to be sav’d for their own Goodness, but because they were his Sons; Nay, without Breach of Charity we may conclude, that at least one went to the Devil even of those three, namely, Ham or Cham for triumphing in a brutal Manner over his Father’s Drunkenness; for we find the Special Curse reach’d to him and his Posterity for many Ages; and whether it went no farther than the present State of Life with them, we cannot tell.

We will suppose now that thro’ this whole 1500 Years the Devil having so effectually debauch’d Mankind, had advanc’d his infernal Kingdom to a prodigious Height; for the Text says, the whole Earth was fill’d with violence; in a Word, Blood, Murder, Rape, Robbery, Oppression and In-

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justice prevail’d every where, and Man, like the wild Bear in the Forest, liv’d by Prey, biting and devouring one another.

At this Time Noah begins to preach a new Doctrine to them, for as he had before been a Preacher of Righteousness, now he becomes a Preacher of Vengeance; first he tells them they shall be all overwhelm’d with a Deluge, that for their Sins God repented they were made, and that he would destroy them all, adding, that to prevent the Ruin of himself and Family, he resolv’d to build him a Ship to have recourse to when the Water should come over the Rest of the World.

What Jesting, what Scorn, what Contempt did this Work expose the good old Man to for above a 100 Years? for so long the Work was building, as antient Authors say; let us represent to our selves in the most lively Manner how the witty World at that Time behav’d to poor old Noah; how they took their Evening Walks to see what he was doing, and passed their Judgment upon it, and upon the Progress of it; I say, to represent this to our selves, we need go no farther than to our own Witicisms upon Religion, and upon the most solemn Mysteries of Divine Worship; how we damn the Serious for Enthusiasts, think the Grave mad, and the Sober melancholy; call Religion it self Flatus and Hyppo; make the Devout ignorant, the Divine mercenary, and the whole Scheme of Divinity a Frame of Priestcraft; and thus no doubt the building an Ark or Boat, or whatever they call’d it, to float over the Mountains, and dance over the Plains, what could it be but a religious Frenzy, and the Man that so busied himself, a Lunatick? and all this in an Age when divine Things came by immediate Revelation into the Minds of Men! the Devil must therefore

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CHAPTER X

OF THE DEVIL’S SECOND KINGDOM, AND HOW HE GOT FOOTING IN THE RENEW’D WORLD BY HIS VICTORY OVER NOAH AND HIS RACE

The Story of Noah, his building the Ark, his embarking himself and all Nature’s Stock for a new World on board it; the long Voyage they took, and the bad Weather they met with, tho’ it would embellish this Work very well, and come in very much to the Purpose in this Place, yet as it does not belong to the Devil’s Story, for I cannot prove what some suggest (viz.) that he was in the Ark among the Rest, I say, for that Reason I must omit it.

And now having mention’d Satan’s being in the Ark; as I say, I cannot prove it, so there are, I think, some good Reasons to believe he was not there: First, I know no Business he had there; secondly, we read of no Mischief done there, and these joyn’d together make me conclude he was absent; the last I chiefly insist upon, that we read of no Mischief done there, which if he had been in the Ark, would certainly have

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happen’d; and therefore I suppose rather, that when he saw his Kingdom dissolv’d, his Subjects all ingulph’d in an inevitable Ruin and Desolation, a Sight suitable enough to him, except as it might unking him for a Time; I say, when he saw this, he took care to speed himself away as well as he could, and make his Retreat to a Place of Safety, where that was, is no more difficult to us, than it was to him.

It is suggested that as he is Prince of the Power of the Air, he retired only into that Region. It is most rational to suppose he went no further on many Accounts, of which I shall speak by and by: Here he stay’d hovering in the Earth’s Atmosphere, as he has often done since, and perhaps now does; or if the Atmosphere of this Globe was affected by the Indraft of the Absorption, as some think, then he kept himself upon the Watch, to see what the Event of the new Phænomenon would be, and this Watch, wherever it was, I doubt not, was as near the Earth as he could place himself, perhaps in the Atmosphere of the Moon, or in a Word, the next Place of Retreat he could find.

From hence I took upon me to insist, that Satan has not a more certain Knowledge of Events than we; I say, he has not a more certain Knowledge; that he may be able to make stronger Conjectures and more rational Conclusions from that he sees, I will not deny; and that which he most outdoes us in is, that he sees more to conclude from than we can, but I am satisfied he knows nothing of Futurity more than we can see by Observation and Inference; nor, for Example, did he know whether God would repeople the World any more or no.

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I must therefore allow that he only waited to see what would be the Event of this strange Eruption of Water, and what God propos’d to do with the Ark, and all that was in it.

Some Philosophers tell us, besides what I hinted above, that the Devil could have no Retreat in the Earth’s Atmosphere, for that the Air being wholly condens’d into Water, and having continually pour’d down its Streams to deluge the Earth, that Body was become so small, and had suffer’d such Convulsions, that there was but just enough Air left to surround the Water, or as might serve by its Pressure to preserve the natural Position of Things, and supply the Creatures in the Ark with a Part to breath in.

The Atmosphere indeed might suffer some strange and unnatural Motions at that Time, but not (I believe) to that Degree, however, I will not affirm that there could be room in it, or is now for the Devil, much less for all the numberless Legions of Satan’s Host; but there was, and now certainly is, sufficient Space to receive him, and a sufficient Body of his Troops for the Business he had for them at that time, and that’s enough to the Purpose; or if the Earth’s Atmosphere did suffer any particular Convulsion on that Occasion, he might make his Retreat to the Atmosphere of the Moon, or of Mars, or of Venus, or of any of the other Planets; or to any other Place, for he that is Prince of the Air could not want Retreats in such a Case, from whence he might watch for the issue of Things; certainly he did not go far, because his Business lay here, and he never goes out of his Way of doing Mischief.

In particular, his more than ordinary Concern was, to see what would become of the Ark; he was wise enough doubt-

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less to see, that GOD, who had directed its making, nay even the very Structure of it, would certainly take Care of it, preserve it upon the Water, and bring it to some Place of Safety or other; tho’ where it should be, the Devil with all his Cunning could not resolve, whether on the same Surface the Waters drawing off, or in any other created or to be created Place; and this State of Uncertainty being evidently his Case, and which proves his Ignorance of Futurity, it was his Business, I say, to watch with the utmost vigilance for the Event.

If the Ark was (as Mr. Burnet thinks) guided by two Angels, they not only held it from foundering or being swallow’d up in the Water, but certainly kept the Waters calm about it, especially when the Lord brought a strong Wind to blow over the whole Globe, which by the Way was the first, and, I suppose, the only universal Storm that ever blew, for to be sure it blew over the whole Surface at once; I say, if it was thus guided, to be sure the Devil saw it, and that with Envy and Regret that he could do it no Injury, for doubtless had it been in the Devil’s Power, as God had drown’d the whole Race of Man, except what was in the Ark, he would have taken care to have dispatch’d them too, and so made an End of the Creation at once; but either he was not empower’d to go to the Ark, or it was so well guarded by Angels, that when he came near it he could do it no harm: So it rested at length, the Waters abating on the Mountains of Arrarat in Armenia, or some where else that Way, and where they say a Piece of the Keel is remaining to this Day; of which, however with Dr. – – – I say, I believe not one Word.

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The Ark being safe landed, ‘tis reasonable to believe Noah prepared to go on Shore, as the Seamen call it, as soon as the dry Land began to appear; and here you must allow me to suppose Satan, tho’ himself cloth’d with a Cloud, so as not to be seen, came immediately, and pearching on the Roof, saw all the Heaven-kept Houshold safely landed, and all the Host of living Creatures dispersing themselves down the Sides of the Mountain, as the Search of their Food or other proper Occasions directed them.

This Sight was enough; Satan was at no Loss to conclude from hence that the Design of God was to repeople the World by the Way of ordinary Generation, from the Posterity of these eight Persons, without creating any new Species.

Very well, says the Devil, then my Advantage over them, by the Snare I laid for poor Eve, is good still; and I am now just where I was after Adam’s Expulsion from the Garden, and when I had Cain and his Race to go to work with; for here is the old expung’d Corrupted Race still, as Cain was the Object then, so Noah is my Man now, and if I do not master him one way or another, I am mistaken in my Mark. Pardon me for making a Speech for the Devil.

Noah big with a Sense of his late Condition, and while the Wonders of the Deluge were fresh in his Mind, spent his first Days in the Extasies of his Soul, giving Thanks, and praising the Power that had been his Protection, in and thro’ the Flood of Waters, and which had in so miraculous a Manner, safely landed him on the Surface of the newly discover’d Land; and the Text tells us, as one of the first Things he was

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