Of Satan's Agents Or Missionaries And Their Actings Upon And In The Minds Of Men In His Name
Infinite Advantages attend the Devil in his retired Government, as
they respect the Management of his Interests, and the carrying on his
absolute Monarchy in the World; particularly as it gives him room to act
by the Agency of his inferior Ministers and Messengers, call'd on many
Occasions his Angels, of whom he has an innumerable Multitude, at
his Command, enough, for ought we know, to spare one to attend every Man
an
Woman now alive in the World; and of whom, if we may believe our
second sight Christians, the Air is always as full, as a Beam of the
Evening Sun is of Insects, where they are ever ready for Business, and
to go and come as their great Governor issues out Orders for their
Directions.
These, as they are all of the same spirituous Quality with himself, and
consequently invisible like him, except as above, are ready upon all
Occasions to be sent to and into any such Person, and for such
Purposes, superior Limitations only excepted, as the grand Director of
Devils, (The Devil properly so call'd guides them;) and be the
Subject or the Object what it will, that is to say, be the Person they
are sent to, or into, as above, who it will, and the Business the
Messenger is to do what it will, they are sufficiently qualified; for
this is a Particular to Satan's Messengers or Agents, that they are not
like us humane Devils here in the World, some bred up one Way, some
another, some of one Trade, some of another, and consequently some fit
for some Business, some for another, some good for something, and some
good for nothing, but his People are every one fit for every Thing, can
find their Way every where, and are a Match for every Body they are sent
to; in a Word, there are no foolish Devils, they are all fully
qualified for their Employment, fit for any thing he sets them about,
and very seldom mistake their Errand or fail in the Business they are
sent to do.
Nor is it strange at all, that the Devil should have such a numberless
Train of Deputy Devils to act under him; for it must be acknowledged
he has a great deal of Business upon his Hands, a vast deal of Work to
do, abundance of public Affairs under his Direction, and an infinite
Variety of particular Cases always before him; for Example.
How many Governments in the World are wholly in his Administration? how
many Divans and great Councils under his Direction? nay, I believe,
'twould be hard to prove that there is or has been one Council of State
in the World for many hundred Years past, down to the Year 1713, (we
don't pretend to come nearer home) where the Devil by himself, or his
Agents in one Shape or another, has not sat as a Member, if not taken
the Chair.
And tho' some learn'd Authors may dispute this Point with me, by giving
some Examples where the Councils of Princes have been acted by a better
Hand, and where Things have been carried against Satan's Interest, and
even to his great Mortification, it amounts to no more than this;
namely, that in such Cases the Devil has been out-voted; but it does
not argue but he might have been present there, and have push'd his
Interest as far as he could, only that he had not the Success he
expected; for I don't pretend to say that he has never been
disappointed; but those Examples are so rare, and of so small
Signification, that when I come to the Particulars, as I shall do in the
Sequel of this History, you will find them hardly worth naming; and
that, take it one Time with another, the Devil has met with such a
Series of Success in all his Affairs, and has so seldom been baulk'd;
and where he has met with a little Check in his Politicks, has
notwithstanding, so soon and so easily recover'd himself, regain'd his
lost Ground, or replac'd himself in another Country when he has been
supplanted in one, that his Empire is far from being lessen'd in the
World, for the last thousand Years of the Christian Establishment.
Suppose we take an Observation from the Beginning of Luther, or from
the Year 1420, and call the Reformation a Blow to the Devil's Kingdom,
which before that was come to such a Height in Christendom, that 'tis a
Question not yet thorowly decided, whether that Medley of Superstition
and horrible Heresies, that Mass of Enthusiam and Idols call'd the
Catholick Hierarchy, was a Church of God or a Church of the Devil;
whether it was an Assembly of Saints or a Synagogue of Satan: I say,
take that Time to be the Epocha of Satan's Declension and of
Lucifer's falling from Heaven, that is, from the Top of his terrestrial
Glory, yet whether he did not gain in the Defection of the Greek
Church about that Time and since, as much as he lost in the Reformation
of the Roman, is what Authors are not yet agreed about, not reckoning
what he has regain'd since of the Ground which he had lost even by the
Reformation, (viz.) the Countries of the Duke of Savoy's Dominion,
where the Reformation is almost eaten out by Persecution; the whole
Valtoline and some adjacent Countries; the whole Kingdom of Poland
and almost all Hungary; for since the last War the Reformation, as it
were, lies gasping for Breath, and expiring in that Country, also
several large Provinces in Germany, as Austria, Carinthia, and the
whole Kingdom of Bohemia, where the Reformation once powerfully
planted, receiv'd its Death's Wound at the Battle of Prague, Ann.
1627, and languish'd but a very little while, died and was buried, and
good King POPERY reign'd in its stead.
To these Countries thus regain'd to Satan's infernal Empire, let us add
his modern Conquests and the Encroachments he has made upon the
Reformation in the present Age, which are, however light we make of
them, very considerable (viz.) the Electorate of the Rhine and the
Palatinate, the one fallen to the House of Bavaria, and the other to
that of Neuburgh, both Popish; the Dutchy of Deux Ponts fallen just
now to a popish Branch, the whole Electorate of Saxony fallen under
the Power of popish Government by the Apostacy of their Princes, and
more likely to follow the Fate of Bohemia, whenever the diligent
Devil can bring his new Project in Poland to bear, as 'tis more than
probable he will do so some time or other, by the growing Zeal as well
as Power of (that House of Bigots) the House of A----.
But to sum up the dull Story; we must add in the Roll of the Devil's
Conquests, the whole Kingdom of France, where we have in one Year
seen, to the immortal Glory of the Devil's Politicks, that his
Measures have prevailed to the total Extirpation of the Protestant
Churches without a War; and that Interest which for 200 Years had
supported it self in spight of Persecutions, Massacres, five civil Wars
and innumerable Battles and Slaughters, at last receiv'd its mortal
Wound from its own Champion Henry IV. and sunk into utter Oblivion, by
Satan's most exquisite Management under the Agency of his two prime
Ministers Cardinal Richlieu and Lewis the XIV, whom he entirely
possess'd.
Thus far we have a melancholy View of the Devil's new Conquests, and
the Ground he has regain'd upon the Reformation, in which his secret
Management has been so exquisite, and his Politicks so good, that could
he bring but one Thing to pass, which by his own former Mistake, (for
the Devil is not infallible) he has rendred impossible, he would bring
the Protestant Interest so near its Ruin, that Heaven would be, as it
were, put to the Necessity of working by Miracle to prevent it; the
Case is thus.
Antient Historians tell us, and from good Authority, that the DEVIL
finding it for his Interest to bring his favourite Mahomet upon the
Stage, and spread the victorious Half-Moon upon the Ruin of the Cross,
having with great Success, rais'd first the Saracen Empire, and then
the Turkish to such a Height, as that the Name of Christian seemed to
be extirpated in those two Quarters of the World, which were then not
the greatest only, but by far the most powerful, I mean Asia and
Africa; having totally laid wast all those antient and flourishing
Churches of Africa, the Labours of St. Cyprian, Tertullian, St.
Augustine, and 670 Christian Bishops and Fathers, who govern'd there
at once, also all the Churches of Smyrna, Philadelphia, Ephesus,
Sardis, Antioch, Laodicea, and innumerable others in Pontus,
Bithynia, and the Provinces of the lesser Asia.
The Devil having, I say, finish'd these Conquests so much to his
Satisfaction, began to turn his Eyes Northward, and tho' he had a
considerable Interest in the Whore of Babylon, and had brought his
Power by the Subjection of the Roman Hierarchy to a great Height, yet
finding the Interest of Mahomet most suitable to his devilish
Purposes, as most adapted to the Destruction of Mankind, and laying
waste the World, he resolv'd to espouse the growing Power of the Turk,
and bring him in upon Europe like a Deluge.
In order to this, and to make Way for an easy Conquest, like a true
Devil he work'd under Ground, and sap'd the Foundation of the
Christian Power, by sowing Discord among the reigning Princes of
Europe; that so envying one another they might be content to stand
still and look on while the Turk devoured them one by one, and at last
might swallow them up all.
This devilish Policy took to his Heart's Content; the Christian
Princes stood still, stupid, dozing, and unconcern'd, till the Turk
conquered Thrace, over-run Servia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and all
the Remains of the Grecian Empire, and at last the Imperial City of
Constantinople it self.
Finding this politic Method so well answer his Ends, the Devil, who
always improves upon the Success of his own Experiments, resolv'd from
that time to lay a Foundation for the making those Divisions and
Jealousies of the Christian Princes immortal; whereas they were at
first only personal, and founded in private Quarrels between the Princes
respectively; such as Emulation of one another's Glory, Envy at the
extraordinary Valour, or other Merit of this or that Leader, or
Revenge of some little Affront; for which notwithstanding, so great
was the Piety of Christian Princes in those Days, that they made no
Scruple to sacrifice whole Armies, yea, Nations, to their Piques and
private Quarrels, a certain Sign whose Management they were under.
These being the Causes by which the DEVIL first sow'd the Seeds of
Mischief among them, and the Success so well answering his Design, he
could not but wish to have the same Advantage always ready at his Hand;
and therefore he resolv'd to order it so, that these Divisions, which,
however useful to him, were only personal, and consequently temporary,
like an Annual in the Garden, which must be rais'd anew every Season,
might for the future be national, and consequently durable and immortal.
To this end it was necessary to lay the Foundation of eternal Feud, not
in the Humours and Passions of Men only, but in the Interests of
Nations: The Way to do this was to form and state the Dominion of those
Princes, by such a Plan drawn in Hell, and laid out from a Scheme truly
political, of which the Devil was chief Engineer; that the Divisions
should always remain, being made a natural Consequence of the Situation
of the Country, the Temper of their People, the Nature of their
Commerce, the Climate, the Manner of living, or something which should
for ever render it impossible for them to unite.
This, I say, was a Scheme truly infernal, in which the Devil was as
certainly the principal Operator, to illustrate great Things by small,
as ever John of Leyden was of the High Dutch Rebellion, or Sir
John B------t of the late Project, called the South-Sea Stock. Nor
did this Contrivance of the Devil at all dishonour his Author, or the
Success appear unworthy of the Undertaker; for we see it not only answer
the End, and made the Turk victorious at the same Time, and formidable
to Europe ever after, but it works to this Day, the Foundation of the
Divisions remains in all the several Nations, and that to such a Degree
that it is impossible they should unite.
This is what I hinted before, in which the Devil was mistaken, and is
another instance that he knows nothing of what is to come; for this very
Foundation of immortal Jealousy and Discord between the several Nations
of Spain, France, Germany, and others, which the Devil himself
with so much Policy contriv'd, and which serv'd his Interests so long,
is now the only Obstruction to his Designs, and prevents the entire Ruin
of the Reformation; for tho' the reform'd Countries are very Powerful,
and some of them, as Great Britain and Prussia is particularly, more
powerful than ever; yet it cannot be said that the Protestant Interests
in general are stronger than formerly, or so strong as they were in 1623
under the victorious Arms of the Swede; On the other Hand, were it
possible that the Popish Powers, to wit, of France, Spain,
Germany, Italy and Poland, which are intirely Popish, could
heartily unite their Interests, and should join their Powers to attack
the Protestants, the latter would find it very difficult, if not
impossible, to defend themselves.
But as fatal as such a Union of the Popish Powers would be, and as
useful as it would be to the Devil's Cause at this time, not the
Devil with all his Angels are able to bring it to pass; no, not with
all his Craft and Cunning; he divided them, but he can't unite them; so
that even just as 'tis with Men, so 'tis with Devils, they may do in
an Hour what they can't undo in an Age.
This may comfort those faint-hearted Christians among us, who cry out of
the Danger of a religious War in Europe, and what terrible Things will
happen when France, and Spain, and Germany, and Italy, and
Poland shall all unite; let this Answer satisfy them, The Devil
himself can never make France and Spain, or France and the Emperor
unite; jarring Humours may be reconcil'd, but jarring Interests never
can: They may unite so as to make Peace, tho' that can hardly be long,
but never so as to make Conquests together; they are too much afraid of
one another, for one to bear, that any Addition of Strength should come
to the other. But this is a Digression. We shall find the Devil
mistaken and disappointed too on several other Occasions, as we go
along.
I return to Satan's Interest in the several Governments and Nations, by
vertue of his Invisibility, and which he carries on by Possession; 'tis
by this Invisibility that he presides in all the Councils of foreign
Powers, (for we never mean our own, that we always premise;) and what
tho' it is alledged by the Criticks, that he does not preside, because
there is always a President; I say, if he is not in the President's
Chair, yet if he be in the President himself, the Difference is not
much; and if he does not vote as a Counsellor, if he votes in the
Counsellor, 'tis much the same; and here, as it was in the Story of
Ahab the King of Israel, as he was a lying Spirit in the Mouths of
all his Prophets, so we find him a Spirit of some particular evil
Quality or other, in all the Transactions and Transactors on that Stage
of Life we call the State.
Thus he was a dissembling Spirit in Char. IX. a turbulent Spirit in
Char. V. Emperors; a bigotted Spirit of Fire and Faggot in our Queen
Mary; an apostate Spirit in Hen. IV.; a cruel Spirit in Peter of
Castile; a revengeful Spirit in Ferdinand II.; a Phaeton in
Lewis XIV.; a Sardanapalus in C------ II.
In the Great Men of the World, take them a degree lower than the Class
of Crown'd Heads, he has the same secret Influence; and hence it comes
to pass, that the greatest Heroes, and Men of the highest Character for
Atchievements of Glory, either by their Virtue or Valour, however they
have been crowned with Victories, and elevated by human Tongues,
whatever the most consummate Virtues or good Qualities they have been
known by, yet they have always had some Devil or other in them to
preserve Satan's Claim to them uninterrupted, and prevent their Escape
out of his Hands; thus we have seen a bloody Devil in a D'Alva; a
profligate Devil in a Buckingham; a lying, artful, or politick Devil
in a Richlieu; a treacherous Devil in a Mazarin; a cruel, merciless
Devil in a Cortez; a debauch'd Devil in an Eugene; a conjuring Devil
in a Luxemburg; and a covetous Devil in a M---------h: In a word,
tell me the Man, I tell you the Spirit that reign'd in him.
Nor does he thus carry on his secret Management by Possession in Men of
the first Magnitude only, but have you not had Evidences of it among our
selves? how has he been a lying Spirit in the Mouths of our Prophets,
a factious Spirit in the Heads of our Politicians, a profuse Devil in
a B-----s, a corrupt Devil in M-----, a proud Spirit in my Lord
Plausible, a bullying Spirit in my Lord Bugbear, a talkative Spirit
in his Grace the D---- of Rattle-hall, a scribling Spirit in my Lord
H------, a run-away Spirit in my Lord Frightful; and so thro' a long
Roll of Heroes, whose exceeding, and particular Qualifications proclaim
loudly what Handle the Devil took them by, and how fast he held them;
for these were all Men of ancient Fame, I hope you know that.
From Men of Figure, we descend to the Mob, and 'tis there the same
thing; Possession, like the Plague, is Morbus Plebaei; not a Family but
he is a Spirit of Strife and Contention among them; not a Man but he has
a Part in him; he is a drunken Devil in one, a whoring Devil in
another, a thieving Devil in a third, a lying Devil in the fourth,
and so on, to a thousand, and a hundred thousand, ad infinitum.
Nay, even the Ladies have their Share in the Possession; and if they
have not the Devil in their Heads, or in their Tails, in their Faces
or their Tongues, it must be some poor despicable She-devil that Satan
did not think it worth his while to meddle with; and the Number of those
that are below his Operation, I doubt is very small. But that Part I
have much more to say to in its Place.
From Degrees of Persons, to Professions and Employments, 'tis the same;
we find the Devil is a true Posture-master, he assumes any Dress,
appears in any Shape, counterfeits every Voice, acts upon every Stage;
here he wears a Gown, there a long Robe; here he wears the Jack-Boots,
there the Small-Sword; is here an Enthusiast, there a Buffoon; on
this Side he acts the Mountebank, on that Side the Merry-Andrew;
nothing comes amiss to him, from the Great Mogul, to the Scaramouch;
the Devil is in them, more or less, and plays his Game so well that he
makes sure Work with 'em all: He knows where the Common Foible lies,
which is UNIVERSAL PASSION, what Handle to take hold of every Man by,
and how to cultivate his Interest so, as not to fail of his End, or
mistake the Means.
How then can it be deny'd but that his acting thus in tenebris, and
keeping out of the sight of the World, is abundantly his Interest, and
that he could do nothing, comparatively speaking, by any other Method?
What would this publick Appearance have signified? Who would have
entertain'd him in his own proper Shape and Person? Even B---- B----
himself, tho' all the World knows him to have a foolish Devil in him,
would not have been Fool enough to have taken him into his Service, if
he had known him: And my Lord Simpleton also, who Satan has set up
for a cunning Fool, seems to have it sit much better upon him now he
passes for a Fool of Art, than it should have done if the naked DEVIL
had come and challenged him for a Fool in Nature.
Infinite Variety illustrate the Devil's Reign among the Sons of Men;
all which he manages with admirable Dexterity, and a Slight particular
to himself, by the mere Advantage of his present conceal'd Situation,
and which, had he been obliged to have appear'd in Publick, had been all
lost, and he capable of just nothing at all, or at least of nothing more
than the other ordinary Politicians of Wickedness could have done
without him.
Now, Authors are much divided as to the manner how the Devil manages
his proper Instruments for Mischief; for Satan has a great many Agents
in the Dark, who neither have the DEVIL in them, nor are they much
acquainted with him, and yet he serves himself of them, whether of their
Folly, or of that other Frailty call'd Wit, 'tis all one, he makes them
do his Work, when they think they are doing their own; nay, so cunning
is he in his guiding the weak Part of the World, that even when they
think they are serving God, they are doing nothing less or more than
serving the Devil; nay, 'tis some of the nicest Part of his Operation,
to make them believe they are serving God, when they do his Work. Thus
those who the Scripture foretold should persecute Christ's Church in the
latter Days, were to think they do God good Service: Thus the
Inquisition, (for Example,) it may be, at this time, in all the acts of
Christian Cruelty which they are so famous for (if any of them are
ignorant enough not to know that they are Devils incarnate) they may,
for ought we know, go on for God's sake; torture, murther, starve to
Death, mangle and macerate, and all for God, and God's Catholic Church;
and 'tis certainly the Devil's Master-piece to bring Mankind to such a
Perfection of Devilism as that of the Inquisition is; for if the
Devil had not been in them, could they christen such a Hell-fire
Judicature as the Inquisition is, by the Name of the Holy Office?
And so in Paganism, how could so many Nations among the poor Indians
offer human Sacrifices to their Idols, and murther thousands of Men,
Women and Children, to appease this God of the Air, when he is angry, if
the Devil did not act in them under the Vizor of Devotion?
But we need not go to America, or to the Inquisition, not to Paganism
or to Popery either, to look for People that are sacrificing to the
Devil, or that give their Peace-offerings to him, while they are
offer'd upon God's Altar; are not our Churches (ay, and Meeting-houses
too, as much as they pretend to be more sanctified than their
Neighbours) full of Devil Worshipers? Where do his Devotees gratulate
one another, and congratulate him, more than at Church? where, while
they hold up their Hands, and turn up their Eyes towards Heaven, they
make all their Vows to Satan, or at least to the fair Devils his
Representatives, which I shall speak of in their Place.
Do not the Sons of God make Assignations with the Daughters of Men in
the very House of Worship? Do they not talk to them in the Language of
the Eyes? And what is at the Bottom of it, while one Eye is upon the
Prayer-book, and the other adjusting their Dress? Are they not
sacrificing to Venus and Mercury, nay, and the very Devil they
dress at?
Let any Man impartially survey the Church-Gestures, the Air, the
Postures and the Behaviour; let him keep an exact Roll, and if I do not
shew him two Devil Worshipers for one true Saint, then the Word
Saint must have another Signification than I ever yet understood it
by.
The Church (as a Place) is the Receptacle of the Dead, as well as the
Assembly of the Living; what relates to those below, I doubt Satan, if
he would be so kind, could give a better Account of than I can; but as
to the Superficies, I pretend to so much Penetration as to tell you,
that there are more Spectres, more Apparitions always there, than you
that know nothing of the matter may be aware of.
I happen'd to be at an eminent Place of God's most devout Worship the
other Day, with a Gentleman of my Acquaintance, who, I observed, minded
very little the Business he ought to come about; first I saw him always
busy staring about him and bowing this Way and that Way, nay, he made
two or three bows and Scrapes when he was repeating the Responses to the
Ten Commandments, and assure you he made it correspond strangely, so
that the Harmony was not so broken in upon as you would expect it
should; thus; Lord, and a Bow to a fine Lady just come up to her Seat,
have Mercy upon us; ---- three Bows to a Throng of Ladies that came
into the next Pew altogether, and incline ---- then stop'd to make a
great Scrape to my Lord ----, our Hearts, just then the Hearts of all
the Church were gone off from the Subject, for the Response was over, so
he huddled up the rest in Whispers, for God a Mighty could hear him
well enough, he said, nay, as well as if he had spoken as loud as his
Neighbours did.
After we were come home, I ask'd him what he meant by all this, and what
he thought of it?
How could I help it, said he, I must not be rude.
What, says I, rude to who?
Why, says he, there came in so many she Devils I could not help it.
What, said I, could not you help bowing when you were saying your
Prayers?
O Sir! says he, the Ladies would have thought I had slighted them, I
could not avoid it.
Ladies! said I, I thought you call'd them Devils just now.
Ay, ay, Devils, said he, little charming Devils, but I must not be
rude to them however.
Very well, said I, then you would be rude to God a Mighty, because
you could not be rude to the Devil?
Why that's true, said he, but what can we do? there's no going to
Church as the Case stands now, if we must not worship the Devil a
little between whiles.
This is the Case indeed, and Satan carries his Point on every Hand; for
if the fair speaking World, and the fair looking World are generally
Devils, that is to say, are in his Management, we are sure the foul
speaking and the foul doing World are all on his Side, and you have then
only the fair-doing Part of the World that are out of his Class, and
when we speak of them, O how few!
But I return to the Devil's managing our wicked Part, for this he does
with most exquisite Subtilty; and this is one Part of it, (viz.) he
thrusts our Vices into our Virtues, by which he mixes the Clean and the
Unclean, and thus by the Corruption of the one, poisons and debauches
the other, so that the Slave he governs cannot account for his own
common Actions, and is fain to be oblig'd to his Maker to accept of the
Heart without the Hands and Feet; to take, as we vulgarly express it,
the Will for the Deed, and if Heaven was not so good to come into
that half in half Service, I don't see but the Devil would carry away
all his Servants: Here indeed I should enter into a long Detail of
involuntary Wickedness, which in short, is neither more or less than the
Devil in every Body, ay, in every one of you, (our Governors excepted)
take it as you please.
What is our Language when we look back with Reflection and Reproach on
past Follies? I think I was bewitch'd, I was posses'd, certainly
the Devil was in me, or else I had never been such a Sot: Devil in
you, Sir! Ay, who doubts it; you may be sure the Devil was in you, and
there he is still, and next Time he can catch you in the same Snare,
you'll be just the same SOT that you say you were before.
In short, the Devil is too cunning for us, and manages us his own Way;
he governs the Vices of Men by his own Methods; tho' every Crime will
not make a Man a Devil, yet it must be owned that every Crime puts the
Criminal in some Measure into the Devil's Power, gives him a Title to
the Man, and he treats him magisterially ever after.
Some tell us every single Man, every individual has a Devil attending
him, to execute the Orders of the (Grand Signior) Devil of the whole
Clan; that this attending evil Angel, for so he is call'd, sees every
Step you take, is with you in every Action, prompts you to every
Mischief, and leaves you to do every Thing that is pernicious to your
self; they also alledge that there is a good Spirit which attends him
too, which latter is always accessary to every Thing that we do that is
good, and reluctant to evil; If this is true, how comes it to pass that
those two opposite Spirits do not quarrel about it when they are
pressing us to contrary Actions, one good and the other evil? and why
does the evil tempting Spirit so often prevail? Instead of answering
this difficult Question, I shall only tell you, as to this Story of good
and evil Angels attending every particular Person, 'tis a good Allegory
indeed to represent the Struggle in the Mind of Man between good and
evil Inclinations; but as to the rest, the best Thing I can say of it
is, that I think 'tis a Fib.
But to take Things as they are, and only talk by way of natural
Consequence, for to argue from Nature is certainly the best Way to find
out the Devil's Story; if there are good and evil Spirits attending
us, that is to say, a good Angel and a Devil, then 'tis no unjust
Reproach upon any Body to say, when they follow the Dictates of the
latter, the Devil is in them; or they are Devils; nay, I must carry
it farther still, namely, that as the Generality and greatest Number of
People do follow and obey the evil Spirit and not the good, and that the
predominate Power is allowed to be the nominating Power; you must then
allow, that in short, the greater Part of Mankind has the Devil in
them, and so I come to my Text.
To this Purpose give me leave to borrow a few Lines of a Friend on this
very Part of the Devil's Management.
To Places and Persons he suits his Disguises,
And dresses up all his Banditti,
Who as Pickpockets flock to a Country Assizes,
Croud up to the Court and the City.
They're at every Elbow and every Ear,
And ready at every call, Sir;
The vigilant Scout plants his Agents about,
And has something to do with us all, Sir.
In some he has Part, and in some he's the Whole,
And of some (like the Vicar of Baddow)
It can neither be said they have Body or Soul,
But only are Devils in Shadow.
The Pretty and Witty, are Devils in Masque,
The Beauties are meer Apparitions;
The homely alone by their Faces are known,
And the Good by their ugly Conditions.
The Beaus walk about like the Shadows of Men.
And wherever he leads 'em they follow,
But tak'em and shak'em, there's not one in ten
But's as light as a Feather and hollow.
Thus all his Affairs he drives on in Disguise,
And he tickles Mankind with a Feather:
Creeps in at our Ears, and looks out at our Eyes,
And jumbles our Senses together.
He raises the Vapours, and prompts the Desires,
And to ev'ry dark Deed holds the Candle;
The Passions enflames and the Appetite fires,
And takes ev'ry Thing by the Handle.
Thus he walks up and down in compleat Masquerade,
And with every Company mixes,
Sells in every Shop, works at every Trade,
And ev'ry Thing doubtful perplexes.
How Satan comes by this governing Influence in the Minds and upon the
Actions of Men, is a Question I am not yet come to, nor indeed does it
so particularly belong to the Devil's History, it seems rather a
Polemick, so it may pass at School among the Metaphysicks, and puzzle
the Heads of our Masters; wherefore I think to write to the learned Dr.
B---- about it, imploring his most sublime Haughtiness, that when his
other more momentous Avocations of Pedantry and Pedagogism will give him
an Interval from Wrath and Contention, he will set apart a Moment to
consider human Nature Deviliz'd, and give us a Mathematical Anatomical
Description of it; with a Map of Satan's Kingdom in the Microcosm of
Mankind, and such other Illuminations as to him and his Contemporaries
---- and, ---- &c. in their great Wisdom shall seem meet.