The Political History of the Devil

CHAPTER I

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.

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.

It is worth observing, in order to confirm what I have already mention’d of the Limitation of Satan’s Power, that not

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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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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?

The Case is plain, the Devil, tho’ he knew him to be the Son of GOD, did not fully know the Mystery of the In-

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carnation; 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.

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.

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

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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.

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

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destroy them: This was the Case thro’ the Reign of all the Roman Emperors, for the first three hundred Years after Christ.

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.

His Policy now seem’d to be edg’d with Resentment for the Mistakes he had made; as if the Devil looking back with An-

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ger 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.

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.

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 him-

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self 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.

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.

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.

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,

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