The Political History of the Devil

THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE DEVIL

consum’d, when they knew that the little City Zoar had been preserv’d for their Sakes.

This now was the third Conquest Satan obtain’d by the Gust of humane Appetite; that is to say, once by Eating and twice by Drinking, or Drunkenness, and still the last was the worst and most shameful; for Lot, however his Daughters manag’d him, could not pretend he did not understand what the Strength of Wine was; and one would have thought after so terrible a Judgment as that of Sodom was, which was, as we may say, executed before his Face, his Thoughts should have been too solemnly engag’d in praising God for sparing his Life, to be made drunk, and that two Nights together.

But the Devil play’d his Game sure, he set his two Daughters to work, and as the Devil’s Instruments seldom fail, so he secur’d his by that hellish Stratagem of deluding the Daughters, to think all the World was consum’d but they two and their Father: To be sure the old Man could not suspect that his Daughters Design was so wicked as indeed it was, or that they intended to debauch him with Wine, and make him drink till he knew not what he did.

Now the Devil having carried his Game here, gain’d a great Point; for as there were but two religious Families in the World before, from whence a twofold Generation might be supposed to rise religious and righteous like their Parents, (viz.) that of Abraham and this of Lot; this Crime ruin’d the Hopes of one of them; it could no more be said that just Lot was in Being, who vex’d his righteous Soul from Day to Day with the wicked Behaviour of the People of Sodom; righteous Lot was degenerated into drunken incestuous Lot, LOT fallen from what he was, to be a wicked and unrighteous Man; no pattern of Virtue,

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no Reprover of the Age, but a poor fallen Degenerate Patriarch, who could now no more reprove or exhort, but look down and be asham’d, and nothing to do but to repent; and see the poor mean Excuses of all the three.

Eve says, The Serpent beguil’d me, and I did eat.

Noah says, – – My Grandson beguil’d me, or the Wine beguil’d me, and I did drink.

Lot says, My Daughters beguil’d me, and I also did drink. It is observable, that as I said above, Noah was silenc’d, and

his Preaching at an End, after that one Action, so the like may be said of Lot; and in short, you never hear one Word more of either of them after it; as for Mankind, both were useless to them, and as to themselves, we never read of any of their Repentance, nor have we much Reason to believe they did repent.

From this Attack of the Devil upon Lot, we hear no more of the Devil being so busily employ’d as he had been before in the World; he had indeed but little to do, for all the rest of the World was his own, lull’d asleep under the Witchcraft of Idolatry, and are so still.

But it could not be long that the Devil lay idle; as soon as God call’d himself a People, the Devil could not be at Rest; till he attack’d them.

‘Wherever God sets up a House of Prayer, ‘The Devil always builds a Chapel there.

Abraham indeed went off the Stage free, and so did Isaac too, they were a Kind of first Rate Saints; we do not so much as read of any failing they had, or of any Thing the Devil had ever the Face to offer to them; no, or with Jacob either, if you will excuse him for beguiling his Brother Esau, of both his Birthright

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and his Blessing, but he was busy enough with all his Children; for Example.

* * *

He sent Judah to his Sheep-shearing, and placed a Whore (Tamar) in his Way, in the Posture of Temptation, so made him commit Incest and Whoredom both together.

He sent incestuous Reuben to lie with his Father’s Concubine Billah.

He sent Dinah to the Ball, to dance with the Sichemite Ladies, and play the Whore with their Master.

He enrag’d Simeon and Levi, at the supposed Injury, and then prompted them to Revenge, for which their Father heartily cursed them.

He set them all together to fall upon poor Joseph, first to murther him intentionally, and then actually sell him to the Midianites.

He made them shew the Party-colour’d Coat, and tell a lie to their Father, to make the poor old Man believe Joseph was kill’d by a Lion, &c.

He sent Potiphar’s Wife to attack Joseph’s Chastity, and fill’d her with Rage at the Disappointment.

He taught Joseph to swear by the Life of Pharoah.

* * *

In a Word, he debauch’d the whole Race, except Benjamin, and never Man had such a Set of Sons, so wicked and so notorious, after so good an Introduction into the World as they all of

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them had, to be sure; for Jacob, no doubt, gave them as good Instruction as the Circumstances of his wandring Condition would allow him to do.

We must now consider the Devil and his Affairs in a quite differing Situation: When the World first appeared peopled by the creating Power of God, he had only Adam and Eve to take care of, and I think he ply’d his Time with them to purpose enough: After the Deluge he had Noah only to pitch upon, and he quickly conquer’d him by the Instigation of his Grandson.

At the Building of Babel he guided them by their acting all in a Body as one Man; so that in short he manag’d them with ease, taking them as a Body politic; and we find they came into his Snare as one Man; but Now, the Children of Israel multiplying in the Land of their Bondage, and God seeming to shew a particular Concern for them, the Devil was oblig’d to new Measures, stand at a Distance, and look on for some Time.

The Egyptians were plagued even without his Help, nor tho’ the cunning Artist, as I said, stood and looked on, yet he durst not meddle; nor could he make a few Lice, the least and meanest of the Armies of Insects raised to afflict the Egyptians.

However, when he perceiv’d that God resolved to bring the Israelites out, he prepar’d to attend them, to watch them, and be at Hand upon all the wicked Occasions that might offer, as if he had been fully satisfied such Occasions would offer, and that he should not fail to have an Opportunity to draw them into some Snare or another, and that therefore it was his Business not to be out of the Way, but to be ready (as we say) to make his Market of them in the best Manner he could:

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How many Ways he attempted them, nay, how many Times he conquer’d them in their Journey, we shall see presently.

First he put them in a fright at Baal-Zephon, where he thought he had drawn them into a Noose, and where he sent Pharoah and his Army to block them up between the Mountains of Piahiroth and the Red Sea; but there indeed Satan was outwitted by Moses, so far as it appeared to be a humane Action, for he little thought of their going dry footed thro’ the Sea, but depended upon having them all cut in Pieces the next Morning by the Egyptians; an eminent Proof, by the Way, that the Devil has no Knowledge of Events, or any Insight into Futurity; nay that he has not so much as a second Sight, or knows to Day what his Maker intends to do to Morrow; for had Satan known that God intended to Ford them over the Sea, if he had not been able to have prevented the Miracle, he would certainly have prevented the Escape, by sending out Pharoah and his Army time enough to have taken the Strand before them, and so have driven them to the Necessity of travelling on Foot round the North Point of that Sea, by the Wilderness of Etan, where he would have pursu’d and harrass’d them with his Cavalry, and in all Probability have destroy’d them: But the blind short-sighted Devil, perfectly in the Dark, and unacquainted with Futurity, knew nothing of the Matter, was as much deceiv’d as Pharoah himself, stood still flattering himself with the Hopes of his Booty, and the Revenge he should take upon them the next Morning; till he saw the frighted Waves in an Uproar, and to his utter Astonishment and Confusion saw the Passage laid open, and Moses leading his vast Army in full March over the dry Space; nay even then ‘tis very prop-

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able Satan did not know that if the Egyptians follow’d them, the Sea would return upon and overwhelm them; for I can hardly think so hard of the Devil himself, that if he had, he would have suffer’d, much less prompted Pharoah to follow the Chase at such an Expence; so that either he must be an ignorant unforeseeing Devil, or a very ungrateful false Devil to his Friends the Egyptians.

I am enclin’d also to the more charitable Opinion of Satan too, because the Escape of the Israelites was really a Triumph over himself; for the War was certainly his, or at least he was auxiliary to Pharoah, it was a Victory over Hell and Egypt together, and he would never have suffer’d the Disgrace, if he had known it beforehand; that is to say, tho’ he could not have prevented the Escape of Israel, or the dividing the Water, yet he might have warn’d the Egyptians, and cautioned them not to venture in after them.

But we shall see a great many weak Steps taken by the Devil in the Affair of this very People and their forty Years Wandring in the Wilderness; and tho’ he was in some things successful, and wheedled them into many foolish and miserable Murmurings and Wranglings against God, and Mutinies against poor Moses, yet the Devil was oftentimes baulk’d and disappointed; and ‘tis for this Reason that I choose to finish the first Part of his History with the particular Relation of his Behaviour among the Jews, because also, we do not find any extraordinary Things happening any where else in the World for above one thousand five hundred Years, no Variety, no Revolutions; all the Rest of Mankind lay still under his Yoke, quietly submitted to his Government, did just as he bad them,

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worship’d every Idol he set up, and in a Word, he had no Difficulty with any Body but the Jews, and for this Reason, I say, this Part of his Story will be the more useful and instructing.

To return therefore to Moses and his dividing the Red Sea; that the People went over or thro’ it, that we have the sacred History for; but how the Devil behav’d, that you must come to me for, or I know not where you will find a true Account of it, at least not in Print.

1. It was in the Night they march’d thro’, whether the Devil saw it in the Dark or no, that’s not my Business.

But when he had Day-Light for it, and view’d the next Day’s Work, I make no Question but all Hell felt the Surprise, the Prey being thus snatch’d out of their Hands unexpectedly. ‘Tis true the Egyptians Host was sent to him in their Room, but that was not what he aim’d at; for he was sure enough of them his own Way, and if it was not just at that Time, yet he knew what and who they were; but as he had devour’d the whole Israelitish Host in his Imagination, to the Tune of at least a Million and a half of Souls; Men, Women and Children; it was, no doubt, a great Disappointment to the Devil to miss of his Prey, and to see them all triumphing on the other Side in Safety.

It is true, Satan’s Annals do not mention this Defeat, for Historians are generally backward to register their own Misfortunes; but as we have an Account of the Fact from other Hands, so as we cannot question the Truth of it; the Nature of the Thing will tell us it was a Disappointment to the Devil, and a very great one too.

I cannot but observe here, that I think this Part of the Devil’s Story very entertaining, because of the great Variety of In-

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cidents which appear in every Part of it; sometimes he is like a hunted Fox, curvetting and counter-running to avoid his being pursued and found out, while at the same time he is carrying on his secret Designs to draw the People he pretends to manage, into some Snare or other to their Hurt; at another time, tho’ the Comparison is a little too low for his Dignity, like a Monkey that has done Mischief, and who making his own Escape sits and chatters at a Distance, as if he had triump’d in what he had done; so Satan, when he had drawn them in to worship a Calf, to offer strange Fire, to set up a Schism, and the like; and so to bring the Divine Vengeance upon themselves, leaving them in their Distress, kept at a Distance, as if he look’d on with Satisfaction to see them Burnt, swallow’d up, swept away, and the like; as the several Stories relate.

His indefatigable Vigilance is, on the other hand, a useful Caveat, as well as an improving View to us; no sooner is he routed and expos’d, defeated and disappointed in one Enterprize, but he begins another, and, like a cunning Gladiator, warily defends himself, and boldly attacks his Enemy at the same time. Thus we see him, up and down, conquering and conquered, thro’ this whole Part of his Story, till at last he receives a total Defeat; of which you shall hear in its place: In the mean time, let us take up his Story again at the Red Sea, where he receiv’d a great Blow, instead of which he expected a compleat Victory; for doubtless the Devil and the King of Ægypt too, thought of nothing but Conquest at Piahiroth.

However, tho’ the Triumph of the Israelites over the Egyptians must needs be a great Mortification to the Devil, and exasperated him very much, yet the Consequence was only this,

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viz. that Satan, like an Enemy who is baulk’d and defeated, but not overcome, redoubles his Rage, and reinforces his Army, and what the Egyptians could not do for him, he resolves to do for himself; in order then to take his Opportunity for what Mischief might offer, being defeated, and provok’d, I say, at the Slur that was put upon him, he resolves to follow them into the Wilderness, and many a vile Prank he plaid them there; as first, he straitens them for Water, and makes them murmur against GOD, and against Moses, within a very few Days, nay, Hours, of their great Deliverance of all.

Nor was this all, but in less than one Year more we find them, (at his Instigation too) setting up a golden Calf, and making all the People dance about it at Mount Sinai; even when God himself had but just before appear’d to them in the Terrors of a burning Fire upon the Top of the Mountain; and what was the Pretence? Truly, nothing but that they had lost Moses, who used to be their Guide, and he had hid himself in the Mount, and had not been seen in forty Days, so that they could not tell what was become of him. This put them all into Confusion; a poor Pretence indeed, to turn them all back to Idolatry! but the watchful Devil took the Hint, push’d the Advantage, and insinuated that they should never see Moses again, that he was certainly devour’d by venturing too near the Flashes of Fire in the Mount, and presuming upon the Liberty he had taken before; in a word, that God had destroyed Moses, or he was starved to Death for want of Food, having been forty Days and forty Nights absent.

All these were, it’s true, in themselves most foolish Suggestions, considering Moses was admitted to the Vision of God,

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and that God had been pleased to appear to him in the most intimate manner; that as they might depend God would not destroy his faithful Servant, so they might have concluded he was able to support his Being without Food as long as he thought fit; but to a People so easy to believe any thing, what could be too gross for the Devil to persuade them to?

A People who could dance round a Calf, and call it their God, might do any thing; that could say to one another, that this was the Great JEHOVAH, that brought them out of the Land of Egypt; and that within so few Days after God’s miraculous Appearance to them, and for them; I say, such a People were really fitted to be imposed upon, nothing could be too gross for them.

This was indeed his first considerable Experiment upon them as a People, or as a Body; and the Truth is, his Affairs requir’d it, for Satan, who had been a Successful Devil in most of his Attempts upon Mankind, could hardly doubt of Success in any thing after he had carried his Point at Mount Sinai: To bring them to Idolatry in the very Face of their Deliverer, and just after their Deliverance! It was more astonishing in the main than even their passing the Red Sea: In a Word, the Devil’s whole History does not furnish us with a Story equally surprising.

And how was poor Aaron bewilder’d in it too? He that was Moses’s Partner in all the great Things that Moses did in Pharaoh’s Sight, and that was appointed to be his Assistant and Oracle, or Orator rather, upon all public Occasions; that he, above all the rest, should come into this absurd and ridiculous Proposal, he that was singled out for the sacred Priesthood, for him to defile his holy Hands with a polluted abominable Sacri-

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