The Political History of the Devil

THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE DEVIL

a strong Castle, and has a good Garrison plac’d within to defend it; if the Garrison behave well, and do their Duty, it is impregnable, and the cowardly Devil must raise his Siege and be gone; nay, he must fly, or, as we call it, make his Escape, lest he be laid by the Heels, that is, lest his Weakness be exposed, and all his Lurking, lying in Wait, ambuscade-Tricks; this Part would bear a great Enlargement, but I have not room to be witty upon him, so you must take it in the Gross, the DEVIL lies at Blye Bush, as our Country People call it, to watch your coming out of your Hold; and if you happen to go abroad unarm’d he seizes upon and masters you with ease.

Unarm’d, you’ll say, what Arms should I take? what Fence against a Flail? What Weapons can a Man take to fight the Devil? I could tell you what to fight him with, and what you might fright him with, for the Devil is to be frighted with several Things besides Holy Water; but ‘tis too serious for you, and you’ll tell me I am a preaching and a canting, and the like; so I must let the Devil manage you rather than displease you with talking Scripture and Religion.

Well, but may not the Devil be fought with some of his own Weapons? Is there no dealing with him in a Way of human Nature? This would require a long answer, and some Philosophy might be acted, or at least imitated, and some Magic, perhaps; for they tells us there are Spells to draw away even the Devil himself; as in some Places they nail Horse-Shoes upon the Threshold of the Door, to keep him out; in other Places old pieces of Flint, with so many Holes and so many Corners, and the like: But I must answer in the Negative, I don’t know what Satan might be scar’d at in those Days, but he is

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either grown cunninger since or bolder, for he values none of those Things now; I question much whether he would value St. Dunstan and his red hot Tongs, if he was to meet him now, or St. Francis or any of the Saints, no not the Host itself in full Procession; and therefore, tho’ you don’t care I should preach, yet in short, if you are afraid he should charge upon you and attack you, if you won’t make Use of those Scripture Weapons I should have mention’d, and which you may hear of, if you enquire at Eph. vi. 16. you must look for better where you think you can find them.

But to go on with my Work, the Devil, I say, is not to be fear’d with Maukins, nor does he employ his old Instruments, but does much of his Work himself without Instruments.

And yet I must enter a Caveat here too, against being misunderstood in my saying the Devil stands in no need of Agents; for when I speak so, I am to be taken in a limited Sense; I don’t say he needs them no where, but only that he does not need them in those polite Parts of the World which I have been speaking of, and perhaps not much here; but in many remote Countries ‘tis otherwise still; the Indians of America are particularly said to have Witches among them, as well in those Countries where the Spaniards and the English and other Nations have planted themselves, as amongst those where the European Nations seldom come: for Example, the People of Canada, that is, of the Countries under the French Government of Quebeck, the Equimeaux, and other Northern Climates, have Magicians, Wizards and Witches, who they call Pilloatas or Pillotoas; these pretend they speak intimately and familiarly with the Devil, and receive from him the Knowledge of Things to

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come; all which, by the Way, I take to be little more than this; that these Fellows being a little more cunning than the rest, think, that by pretending to something more than human, they shall make the stronger Impressions on the ignorant People; as Mahomet amus’d the World with his Pigeon, using it to pick Peas out of his Ear, and persuaded the People it brought him superior Revelations and Inspirations from Paradise.

Thus these Pillotoas gaining an Opinion among the People, behave like so many Mountebanks of Hell, pretending to understand dark Things, cure Diseases, practise Surgery, Physick and Necromancy altogether; I will not say, but Satan may pick out such Tools to work with, and I believe does in those Parts, but I think he has found a nearer Way to the Wood with us, and that is sufficient to my present Purpose.

Some would persuade me the Devil had a great Hand in the late religious Breaches in France, among the Clergy, (viz.) about the Pope’s Constitution Unigenitus, and that he made a fair Attempt to set the Pope and the Gallican Church together by the Ears, for they were all just upon the Point or breaking out into a Church War, that for ought we knew might have gone farther than the Devil himself car’d it should; now I am of the quite contrary Opinion, I believe the Devil really did not make the Breach, but rather heal’d it, for fear it should have gone so far among them as to have set them all in a Flame, and have open’d the Door to the Return of the Hugonots again, which it was in a fair Way to have done.

But be it one Way or t’other, the historical Part seems to be a little against me; for ‘tis certain, the Devil both wanted and made Use of Legions of Agents, as well human as infer-

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nal, visible and invisible in that great and important Affair, and we cannot doubt but he has innumerable Instruments still at work about it.

Like as in Poland, I make no Question but the Devil has thousands of his Banditti at work at this Time, and in another Country not far from it, perhaps, preparing Matters for the next General Diet, taking care to prevent giving any Relaxation to the Protestants, and to justify the moderate Executions at Thorn, to excite a Nation to quarrel with every Body who are able to fight with no body; to erect the Apostate Race of S – – y upon a Throne which they have no Title to, and turn an elective Throne into an hereditary, in favour of Popery.

I might anticipate all your Objections, by granting the busy Devil at this Time employing all his Agents and Instruments (for I never told you they were idle and useless) in striving to enflame the Christian World, and bring a new War to overspread Europe; I might, perhaps, point out to you some of the Measures he takes, the Provocatives which his State Physicians administer to the Courts and Counsellors of Princes, to foment and ferment the Spirits, and Members of Nations, Kingdoms, Empires and States in the World, in order to bring these glorious Ends of Blood and War to pass; for you cannot think but he that knows so much of the Devil’s Affairs, as to write his History, must know something of all these Matters more than those that do not know so much as he.

But all this is remote to the present Case, for this is no Impeachment of Satan’s new Methods with Mankind, in this Part of the World, and in his private and separate Capacity; all

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this only signifies that in his more general and national Affairs, the Devil acts still by his old Methods; and when he is to seduce or embroil Nations, he, like other Conquerors, subdues them by Armies, employs mighty Squadrons of Devils, and sends out strong Detachments, with Generals and Generalissimos to lead them, some to one Part of the World, some to another; some to influence one Nation, some to manage and direct another, according as Business presents, and his Occasions require, that his Affairs may be carried on currently, and to his Satisfaction.

If it were not thus, but that the Devil by his new and exquisite Management, of which I have said so much, had brought Mankind in general to be the Agents of their own Mischiefs, and that the World were so at his Beck, that he need but command them to go and fight, declare War, raise Armies, destroy Cities, Kingdoms, Countries and People; the World would be a Field of Blood indeed, and all Things would run into Confusion presently.

But this is not the Case at all, Heaven has not let go the Government of the Creation to his subdu’d Enemy, the Devil; that would overturn the whole System of God, and give Satan more Power, than ever he was or will be vested with; when, therefore, I speak of a few forward Wretches in our Day, who are so warm in their Wickedness, that they anticipate the Devil, save him the Trouble to tempt, turn Devils to themselves, and gallop Hellward faster than he drives; I speak of them as single Persons, and acting in their own personal and private Capacity, but when I speak of Nations and Kingdoms, there the Devil is oblig’d to go on in the old Road, and act by Stratagem, by his

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proper Machinery, and to make use of all his Arts, and all his Agents, just as he has done in all Ages, from the beginning of his politic Government to this Day.

And if it was not thus too, what would become of all his numberless Legions, of which all Ages have heard so much, and all Parts of the World have had so much fatal Experience? They would seem to be quite out of Employment, and be render’d useless in the World of Spirits, where it is to be supposed they reside; not the Devil himself could find any Business for them, which by the Way, to busy and mischievous Spirits, as they are, would be a Hell to them, even before their Time; they would be, as it were, doom’d to a State of Inactivity, which we may suppose was one Part of their Expulsion from Blessedness and the Creation of Man; or as they were for the surprising Interval between the Destruction of Mankind by the Deluge and Noah’s coming out of the Ark, when indeed they might be said to have nothing at all to do.

But this is not Satan’s Case, and therefore let me tell you too, that you may not think I treat the Case with more Levity than I really do, and than I am sure I intend to do; tho’ it is too true that our modern and modish Sinners have arrived to more exquisite Ways of being wicked, than their Fathers, and really seem, as I have said, to need no Devil to tempt them; nay, that they do Satan’s Work for him as to others also, and make themselves Devils to their Neighbours, tempting others to crime even faster than the Devil desires them, running before they are sent, and going of the Devil’s Errands gratis; by which Means Satan’s Work is, as to them, done to his Hand, and they may be said to save him a great deal of Trouble; yet after all,

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the Devil has still a great deal of Business upon his Hands, and as well himself as all his Legions, find themselves a full Employment in disturbing the World, and opposing the Glory and Kingdom of their great Superior, whose Kingdom it is their whole Business, however vain in its End, to overthrow and destroy, if they were able, or at least to endeavour it.

This being the Case, it follows of course that the general Mischiefs of Mankind, as well national and public, as family Mischiefs, and even personal, (except as before excepted) lie all still at the Devil’s Door, as much as ever, let his Advocates bring him off of it if they can; and this brings us back again to the manner of the Devil’s Management, and the Way of his working by human Agents, or if you will, the Way of human Devils, working in Affairs of low Life, such as we call Divination, Sorcery, Black-Art, Necromancy, and the like; all which I take to consist of two material Parts, and both very necessary for us to be rightly inform’d of.

1.The Part which Satan by himself or his inferior Devils empowers such People to do, as he is in Confederacy with here on Earth; to whom he may be said, like the Master of an Opera or Comedy, to give their Parts to act, and to qualify them to act it; whether he obliges them to a Rehearsal in his Presence, to try their Talents, and see that they are capable of performing, that indeed I have not enquir’d into.

2.That Part which these empower’d People do voluntier or beyond their Commission, to shew their Diligence in the Service of their new Master, and either (1.) to bring Grist to their own Mill, and make their Market of their Employment in the best manner they can; or (2.) to gain Applause, be admir’d,

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wonder’d at, and applauded, as if they were ten Times more Devils than really they are.

In a Word, the Matter consists of what the Devil does by the Help of these People, and what they do in his Name without him; the Devil is sometimes cheated in his own Business; there are Pretenders to Witchcraft and Black-Art, who Satan never made any Bargain with, but who he connives at, because at least they do his Cause no harm, tho’ their Business is rather to get Money, than to render him any Service, of which I gave you a remarkable Instance before.

But to go back to his real Agents, of which I reckon two.

1.Those who act by Direction and Confederacy, as I have said already many do.

2.Those whom he acts in and by, and they (perhaps) know it not, of which Sort History gives us plenty of Examples, from Machiavel’s first Disciple – – to the famous Cardinal Alberoni, and even to some more modern than his Eminence, of whom I can say no more till farther Occasion offers.

1.Those who act by immediate Direction of the Devil, and in Confederacy with him; these are such as I mention’d in the beginning of this Chapter, whose Arts are truly black, because really infernal; it will be very hard to decide the Dispute between those who really act thus in Confederacy with the Devil, and those who only pretend to it; so I shall leave that Dispute where I find it; but that there are, or at least have been, a Set of People in the World, who really are of his Acquaintance, and very intimate with him; and tho’, as I have said, he has much alter’d his Schemes and chang’d Hands of late; yet that there are such People, perhaps of all Sorts; and

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that the Devil keeps up his Correspondence with them; I must not venture to deny that Part, lest I bring upon me the whole Posse of the conjuring and bewitching Crew, Male and Female, and they should mob me for pretending to deny them the Honour of dealing with the Devil, which they are so exceeding willing to have the Fame of.

Not that I am hereby oblig’d to believe all the strange Things the Witches and Wizards, who have been allow’d to be such, nay, who have been hang’d for it, have said of themselves; nay, that they have confess’d of themselves, even at the Gallows; and if I come to have an Occasion to speak freely of the Matter, I may perhaps convince you that the Devil’s possessing Power is much lessen’d of late, and that he either is limited, and his Fetter shortened more than it has been, or that he does not find the old Way (as I said before) so fit for his Purpose as he did formerly, and therefore takes other Measures, but I must adjourn that to a Time and Place by itself: But we are told that there are another Sort of People, and, perhaps, a great many of them too, in whom and by whom the Devil really acts, and they know it not.

It would take up a great deal of Time and Room, too much for this Place, so near the Close of this Work, to describe and mark out the involuntary Devils which there are in the World; of whom it may be truly said, that really the Devil is in them, and they know it not: Now, tho’ the Devil is cunning and managing, and can be very silent where he finds it for his Interest not to be known; yet it is very hard for him to conceal himself, and to give so little Disturbance in the House, as that the Family should not know who lodged in it; yet, I say,

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the Devil is so subtle and so mischievous an Agent, that he uses all manner of Methods and Craft to reside in such People as he finds for his Purpose, whether they will or no, and which is more, whether they know it or no.

And let none of my Readers be angry or think themselves ill used, when I tell them the Devil may be in them, and may act them, and by them, and they not know it; for I must add, it may, perhaps, be one of the greatest Pieces of human Wisdom in the World, for a Man to know when the Devil is in him, and when not; when he is a Tool and Agent of Hell, and when he is not; in a Word, when he is doing the Devil’s Work, and under his Direction, and when not.

It is true, this is a very weighty Point, and might deserve to be handled in a more serious Way than I seem to be talking in all this Book; but give me leave to talk of Things my own way, and withall, to tell you, that there is no Part of this Work so seemingly ludicrous, but a grave and well weigh’d Mind may make a serious and solid Application of it, if they please; nor is there any Part of this Work, in which a clear Sight and a good Sense may not see that the Author’s Design is, that they should do so; and as I am now so near the End of my Book, I thought it was meet to tell you so, and lead you to it as far as I can.

I say, ‘tis a great Part of human Wisdom to know when the Devil is acting in us and by us, and when not; the next and still greatest Part would be to prevent him, put a Stop to his Progress, bid him go about his Business, and let him know he should carry on his Designs no farther in that manner; that we will be his Tools no longer; in short, to turn him out of Doors,

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