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

R
ason 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

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 Phaenomenon 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.



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 doubtless 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.



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 employ'd in, He built an Altar unto the Lord, and offered

Burnt-Offerings upon the Altar. Gen. viii. 20.



While Noah was thus employ'd he was safe, the Devil himself could no

where break in upon him; and we may suppose very reasonably, as he found

the old Father invulnerable, he left him for some Years, watching

notwithstanding all possible Advantages against his Sons and their

Children; for now the Family began to encrease, and Noah's Sons had

several Children; whether himself had any more Children after the Flood

or not, that we are not arriv'd to any Certainty about.



Among his Sons the Devil found Japhet and Shem, good, pious,

religious, and very devout Persons; serving God daily, after the Example

of their good old Father Noah, and he could make nothing of them or of

any of their Posterity; but Ham the second, or according to some, the

younger Son of Noah, had a Son who was nam'd Canaan, a loose young

profligate Fellow, his Education was probably but cursory and

superficial, his Father Ham not being near so religious and serious a

Man as his Brothers Shem and Japhet were; and as Canaan's

Education was defective, so he prov'd, as untaught Youth generally do, a

wild, and in short a very wicked Fellow, and consequently a fit Tool for

the Devil to go to work with.



Noah, a diligent industrious Man, being with all his Family thus

planted in the rich fruitful Plains of Armenia, or wherever you

please, let it be near the Mountains of Caucasus or Arrarat; went

immediately to work, cultivating and improving the Soil, encreasing his

Cattle and Pastures, sowing Corn, and among other Things planting Trees

for Food, and among the Fruit Trees he planted Vines, of the Grapes

thereof he made no doubt, as they still in the same Country do make,

most excellent Wine, rich, luscious, strong, and pleasant.



I cannot come into the Notion of our Criticks, who to excuse Noah from

the guilt of what followed, or at least from the Censure, tell us, he

knew not the Strength or the Nature of Wine, but that gathering the

heavy Clusters of the Grapes, and their own weight crushing out their

balmy Juices into his Hand, he tasted the tempting Liquor, and that the

Devil assisting he was charm'd with the delicious Fragrance, and

tasted again and again, pressing it out into a Bowl or Dish, that he

might take a larger Quantity; till at length the heady Froth ascended

and seizing his Brain, he became intoxicate and drunk, not in the least

imagining there was any such Strength in the Juice of that excellent

Fruit.



But to make out this Story, which is indeed very favourable for Noah,

but in it self extremely ridiculous, you must necessarily fall into some

Absurdities, and beg the Question most egregiously in some particular

Cases, which way of arguing will by no means suppose what is suggested;

at first you must support there was no such Thing as Wine made before

the Deluge, and that no Body had been ever made drunk with the Juice of

the Grape before Noah, which, I say, is begging the Question in the

grossest Manner.



If the Contrary is true, as I see no Reason to question, if, I say, it

was true that there was Wine drank, and that Men were or had been drunk

with it before, they cannot then but suppose that Noah, who was a

wise, a great and a good Man, and a Preacher of Righteousness, both

knew of it, and without doubt had in his preaching against their Crimes,

preach'd against this among the rest, upbraided them with it, reprov'd

them for it, and exhorted them against it.



Again, 'tis highly probable they had Grapes growing, and consequently

Wines made from them, in the Antediluvian World, how else did Noah

come by the Vines which he planted? For we are to suppose, he could

plant no Trees or Shrubs, but such as he found the Roots of in the

Earth, and which no doubt had been there before in their highest

Perfection, and had consequently grown up and brought forth the same

luscious Fruit before.



Besides, as he found the Roots of the Vines, so he understood what they

were, and what Fruit they bore, or else it may be supposed also he would

not have planted them; for he planted them for their Fruit, as he did it

in the Provision he was making for his Subsistence, and the Subsistence

of his Family: and if he did not know what they were, he would not have

set them, for he was not planting for Diversion but for Profit.



Upon the whole it seems plain to me he knew what he did, as well when he

planted the Vines as when he pressed out the Grapes; and also when he

drank the Juice that he knew it was Wine, was strong and would make him

drunk if he took enough of it: He knew that other Men had been drunk

with such Liquor before the Flood, and that he had reprehended them for

it; and therefore it was not his Ignorance, but the Devil took him at

some Advantage, when his Appetite was eager, or he thirsty, and the

Liquor cooling and pleasant; and in short, as Eve said, the Serpent

beguilded her, and she DID EAT, so the Devil beguiled Noah, and he

DID DRINK; the Temptation was too strong for Noah, not the Wine; he

knew well enough what he did, but as the Drunkards say to this Day, it

was so good he could not forbear it, and so he got drunk before he was

aware; or as our ordinary Speech expresses it, he was overtaken with

drink; and Mr. Pool and other Expositors are partly of the same Mind.



No sooner was the poor old Man conquer'd, and the Wine had lighten'd his

Head, but it may be supposed he falls off from the Chair or Bench where

he sate, and tumbling backward his Clothes, which in those hot Countries

were only loose open Robes, like the Vests which the Armenians wear to

this Day, flying abroad, or the Devil so assisting on purpose to

expose him, he lay there in a naked indecent Posture not fit to be seen.



In this juncture who should come by but young Canaan, say some; or as

others think, this young Fellow first attack'd him by way of Kindness

and pretended Affection; prompted his Grandfather to drink, on Pretence

of the Wine being good for him, and proper for the Support of his old

Age, and subtilly set upon him, drinking also with him, and so (his Head

being too strong for the old Man's) drank him down, and then, Devil

like, triumph'd over him; boasted of his Conquest, insulted the Body as

it were dead, uncovered him on purpose to expose him, and leaving him in

that indecent Posture, went and made Sport with it to his Father Ham,

who in that Part, wicked like himself, did the same to his Brethren

Japhet and Shem; but they like modest and good Men, far from

carrying on the wicked Insult on their Parent, went and cover'd him, as

the Scripture expresses it, and as may be supposed inform'd him how he

had been abus'd, and by whom.



Why else should Noah, when he came to himself, shew his Resentment so

much against Canaan his Grandson, rather than against Ham his

Father, and who 'tis supposed in the Story the guilt chiefly lay upon?

we see the Curse is (as it were) laid wholly upon Canaan the Grandson,

and not a Word of the Father is mention'd, Gen. ix. 25, 26, 27, Cursed

be Canaan, a Servant of Servants shall he be, &c.



That Ham was Guilty, that's certain from the History of Fact, but I

cannot but suppose his Grandson was the Occasion of it; and in this Case

the Devil seems to have made Canaan the Instrument or Tool to delude

Noah, and draw him in to Drunkenness, as he made the Serpent the Tool

to beguile Eve, and draw her into Disobedience.



Possibly Canaan might do it without Design at first, but might be

brought in to ridicule and make a Jest of the old Patriarch afterward,

as is too frequent since in the Practice of our Days; but I rather

believe he did it really with a wicked Design, and on Purpose to expose

and insult his Reverend old Parent; and this seems more likely too,

because of the great Bitterness with which Noah resented it, after he

came to be inform'd of it.



But be that as it will, the Devil certainly made a great Conquest

here, and as to outward Appearance no less than that which he gain'd

before over Adam; nor did the Devil's Victory consist barely in his

having drawn in the only righteous Man of the whole Antediluvian World,

and so beginning or initiating the new young Progeny with a Crime; but

here was the great Oracle silenc'd at once; the Preacher of

Righteousness, for such no doubt he would have been to the new World, as

he was to the old, I say, the Preacher was turn'd out of Office, or his

Mouth stopt, which was worse; nay, it was a stopping of his Mouth in the

worst kind, far worse than stopping his Breath, for had he died, the

Office had descended to his sons Shem and Japhet, but he was dead to

the Office of an Instructor, tho' alive as to his Being; For of what

Force could his Preachings be, who had thus fallen himself into the most

shameful and beastly Excess?



Besides some are of the Opinion, tho' I hope without Ground, that Noah

was not only overtaken once in his Drink, but that being fallen into

that Sin it became habitual, and he continued in it a great while, and

that it was this which is the meaning of his being uncovered in his

Tent, and that his Son saw his Nakedness; that is, he continually

exposed himself for a long Time, a hundred Years, say they, and that his

Son Ham, and his Grandson Canaan having drawn him into it, kept him

in it, encourag'd and prompted it, and all the while Satan still

prompting them, join'd their Scoffs and contempt of him, with their

wicked Endeavours to promote the Wickedness; and both with as much

Success as the Devil himself could wish for.



Then as for his two Sons modestly and decently covering their Father,

they tell us, that Represents Shem and Japhet applying themselves in

an humble and dutiful Manner to their Father, to entreat and beseech him

to consider his ancient Glory, his own pious Exhortations to the late

drowned World, and to consider the Offence which he gave by his evil

Courses to God, and the Scandal to his whole Family, and also that they

are brought in effectually prevailing upon him; and that then Noah

cursed the Wickedness of Ham's degenerate Race, in Testimony of his

sincere Repentance after the Fact.



The Story is not so very unlikely as it is certain that it is not to be

proved, and therefore we had better take it as we find it (viz.) for

one single Act; but suppose it was so, 'tis still certain that Noah's

Preaching was sadly interrupted, the Energy of his Words flatter'd, and

the Force of his Persuasions enervated and abated, by this shameful

Fall; that he was effectually silenc'd for an Instructor ever after, and

this was as much as the Devil had Occasion for; and therefore indeed we

read little more of him, except that he lived three hundred and fifty

Years after the Flood; nay, we do not so much as read that he had any

more Children, but the contrary, nor indeed could Noah have any more

Children, except by his old and perhaps super-annuated Wife, who it was

very likely he had had four or five hundred Year, unless you will

suppose he was allow'd to marry some of his own Progeny, Daughters or

Grandaughters, which we do not suppose was allow'd, no not to Adam

himself.



This was certainly a Master-piece of the Devil's Policy, and a fatal

Instance of his unhappy Diligence, (viz.) that the Door of the Ark was

no sooner open, and the Face of the World hardly dry from the universal

Destruction of Mankind, but he was at work among them; and that not only

to form a general Defection among the Race, upon the Foot of the

original Taint of Nature, but like a bold Devil he strikes at the very

Root, and flies at the next general Representative of Mankind, attacks

the Head of the Family, that in his Miscarriage the Rise and Progress of

a Reformation of the new World should receive an early Check, and should

be at once prevented; I say, like a bold Devil, he strikes at the Root,

and alas! poor unhappy Noah, he proved too weak for him, Satan

prevail'd in his very first Attempt, and got the Victory over him at

once.



Noah thus overcome, and Satan's Conquest carried on to the utmost of

his own Wishes, the Devil had little more to do in the World for some

Ages, than to carry on an universal Degeneracy among Mankind, and to

finish it by a like diligent Application, in deluding the Generality of

the Race, and them as they came on gradually into Life; this he found

the less difficult, because of the first Defection which spread like a

Contagion upon the Earth immediately after.



The first Evidence we have of his Success in this mischievous Design was

in the Building that great stupendious Stair-case, for such it seems it

was intended, call'd Babel, which if the whole World had not been

drunk, or otherwise infatuated, they would never have undertaken; even

Satan himself could never have prevail'd with them to undertake such a

preposterous Piece of Work, for it had neither End or Means, Possibility

or Probability in it.



I must confess I am sometimes apt to vindicate our old Ancestors, in my

Thoughts, from the Charge it self, as we generally understand it,

namely, that they really design'd to build a Tower which should reach up

to Heaven, or that it should secure them in case of another Flood; and

Father Casaubon is of my Opinion, whether I am of his or no, is a

Question by it self; his opinion is that the Confusion was nothing but a

Breach among the Undertakers and Directors of the Work, and that the

Building was design'd chiefly for a Store-house for Provisions, in Case

of a second Deluge; as to their Notion of its reaching up to Heaven, he

takes the Expression to be allegorical rather than little, and only to

mean that it should be exceeding high; perhaps they might not be

Astronomers enough to measure the Distance of Space between the Earth

and Heaven, as we pretend to do now; but as Noah was then alive, and

as we believe all his three Sons were so too, they were able to have

inform'd them how absurd it was to suppose either the one or the other

(viz.) (1.) that they could build up to Heaven, or (2.) that they

could build firm enough to resist, or high enough to overtop the Waters,

supposing such another Flood should happen; I would rather think it was

only that they intended to build a most glorious and magnificent City,

where they might all inhabit together; and that this Tower was to be

built for Ornament and also for Strength, or as above, and for a

Store-house to lay up vast Magazines of Provisions, in Case of

extraordinary Floods or other Events, the City being built in a great

Plain, namely, the Plains of Shimar near the River Euphrates.



But the Story, as it is recorded, suits better with Satan's Measures at

that Time; and as he was from the Beginning prompting them to every

Thing that was contrary to the Happiness of Man, so the more

preposterous it was, and the more inconsistent with common Sense, the

more to his Purpose; and it shew'd the more what a compleat Conquest he

had gain'd over the Reason as well as the Religion of Mankind at that

Time.



Again, 'tis evident in this Case, they were not only acting contrary to

the Nature of Things, but contrary to the Design and to the Command of

Heaven; for God's Command was that they should replenish the Earth, that

is, that they should spread their Habitations over it, and People the

whole Globe; whereas they were pitching in one Place, as if they were

not to multiply sufficient to take up any more.



But what car'd the Devil for that, or to put it a little handsomer, that

was what Satan aimed at; for it was enough to him, to bring Mankind

to act just contrary to what Heaven had directed or commanded them in

any thing, and if possible in every Thing.



But God himself put a stop to this foolish Piece of Work, and it was

time indeed to do so, for a madder thing the Devil himself never

proposed to them; I say, God himself put a stop to this new Undertaking,

and disappointed the Devil; and how was it done? not in Judgment and

Anger, as perhaps the Devil expected and hop'd for, but as pitying the

Simplicity of that dreaming Creature Man, he confused their Speech, or

as some say, divided and confused their Councils, so that they could not

agree with one another, which would be the same Thing as not to

understand one another; or he put a new Shibboleth upon their Tongues,

thereby separating them into Tribes or Families, for by this every

Family found themselves under a Necessity of keeping together, and this

naturally encreased that Differing Jargons of Language, for at first it

might be no more.



What a Confusion this was to them we all know, by their being oblig'd to

leave off their building, and immediately separating one from another;

but what a Surprize it was to the old Serpent, that remains to be

considered of, for indeed it belongs to his History.



Satan had never met with any Disappointment in all his wicked Attempts

till now; for first, he succeeded even to triumph upon Eve, he did the

like upon Cain, and in short upon the whole World, one Man (Noah)

excepted; when he blended the Sons of God, and the Daughters of Hell,

for so the Word is understood, together, in promiscuous voluptuous

Living as well as Generation.



As to the Deluge, Authors are not agreed whether it was a Disappointment

to the Devil or no, it might be indeed a Surprize to him, for tho'

Noah had preach'd of it for a hundred Year together, yet as he

(Satan) daily prompted the People not to heed or believe what that old

Fellow Noah said to them, and to ridicule his whimsical Building a

monstrous Tub to swim or float in, when the said Deluge should come; so

I am of the Opinion he did not believe it himself, and am positive he

could not foresee it, by any insight into Futurity that he was Master

of.



'Tis true the Astronomers tell us, there was a very terrible Comet seen

in the Air, that it appeared for 180 Days before the Flood continually;

and that as it approach'd nearer and nearer every Day all the while, so

that at last it burst and fell down in a continual Spout or Stream of

Water, being of a watry Substance, and the Quantity so great, that it

was forty Days a falling; so that this Comet not only foretold the

Deluge or drowning of the Earth, but actually perform'd it, and drown'd

it from it self.



But to leave this Tale to them that told it, let us consider the Devil,

surpris'd, and a little amaz'd at the Absorption or Inundation, or

whatever we are to call it, of the Earth in the Deluge, not, I say, that

he was much concern'd at it, perhaps just the Contrary; and if God would

drown it again, and as often as he thought fit, I do not see by any

thing I meet with in Satan's History, or in the Nature of him, that he

would be at all disturb'd at it; all that I can see in it, that could

give Satan any Concern, would be that all his Favourites were gone, and

he had his Work to do over again, to lay a Foundation for a new Conquest

in the Generation that was to come; But in this his Prospect was fair

enough, for why should he be discouraged, when he had now eight People

to work upon, who met with such Success when he had but two? and why

should he question breaking in now where Nature was already vitiated and

corrupted, when he had before conquer'd the same Nature, when in its

primitive Rectitude and Purity, just come out of the Hands of its Maker,

and fortify'd with the Awe of his high and solemn Command just given

them, and the threatning of Death also annext to it, if broken?



But I go back to the Affair of Babel: This Confusion of Language or of

Councils, take it which way you will, as the first Disappointment that I

find the Devil met with, in all his Attempts and Practices upon Mankind,

or upon the new Creature, which I mentioned above; for now he foresaw

what would follow; namely, that the People would separate and spread

themselves over the whole Surface of the Earth, and a thousand new

Scenes of Actions would appear, in which he therefore prepares himself

to behave as he should see Occasion.



How the Devil learn'd to speak all the Languages that were now to be

used, and how many languages they were, the several ancient Writers of

the Devil's Story have not yet determined; some tell us they were

divided only into fifteen, some into seventy two, others into one

hundred and eighty, and others again into several Thousands.



It also remains a doubt with me, and, I suppose, will be so with others

also, whether Satan has yet found out a Method to converse with Mankind,

without the Help of Language and Words, or not: Seeing Man has no other

Medium of Conversing, no not with himself: This I have not time to enter

upon here; however, this seems plain to me (viz.) that the Devil

soon learn'd to make Mankind understand him, whatever Language he spoke,

and no doubt but he found Ways and Means to understand them, whatever

Language they spoke.



After the Confusion of Languages, the People necessarily sorted

themselves into Families and Tribes, every Family understanding their

own particular Speech, and that only; and these Families multiplying

grew into Nations, and those Nations wanting Room, and seeking out

Habitations wandred some this Way, some that, till they found out

Countries respectively proper for their settling, and there they became

a Kingdom, spreading and possessing still more and more Land as their

People encreased, till at last the whole Earth was scarce big enough for

them: This presented Satan with an Opportunity to break in upon their

Morals at another Door, (viz.) their Pride; for Men being naturally

Proud and Envious, Nations and Tribes began to jostle with one another

for Room; either one Nation enjoy'd better Accommodations, or had a

better Soil or a more favourable Climate than another; and these being

numerous and strong thrust the other out, and encroach'd upon their

Land; the other liking their Situation, prepare for their Defence, and

so began Oppression, Invasion, War, Battle and Blood, Satan all the

while beating the Drums, and his Attendants clapping their Hands, as Men

do when they set Dogs on upon one another.



The bringing Mankind thus to War and Confusion, as it was the first

Game the Devil play'd after the confounding of Languages and Divisions

at Babel so it was a Conquest upon Mankind, purely devilish, born from

Hell, and so exactly tinctured with Satan's original Sin Ambition,

that it really transform'd Men into meer Devils; for when is Man

transform'd into the very Image of Satan himself, when is he turn'd into

a meer Devil, if it is not when he is fighting with his fellow

Creatures and dipping his Hands in the Blood of his own Kind? Let his

Picture be consider'd, the Fire of Hell flames or sparkles in his Eyes,

a voracious Grin sits upon his Countenance; Rage and Fury distort the

Muscles of his Face; his Passions agitate his whole Body, and he is

metamorphos'd from a comely Beauteous angelic Creature into a Fury, a

Satyr, a terrible and frightful Monster, nay, into a Devil; for

Satan himself is describ'd by the same Word which on his very Account

is chang'd into a Substantive, and the Devils are call'd Furies.



This sowing the Seeds of Strife in the World, and bringing Nations to

fight and make War upon one another, would take up a great Part of the

Devil's History, and abundance of extraordinary Things would occur in

relating the particulars; for there have been very great Conflagrations

kindled in the World, by the Artifice of Hell, under this Head, (viz.)

of making War; in which it has been the Devil's Master-piece, and he

has indeed shewn himself a Workman in it, that he has wheedled Mankind

into strange unnatural Notions of things, in order to propagate and

support the fighting Principle in the World; such as Laws of War, fair

Fighting, behaving like Men of Honour, fighting at the last Drop, and

the like, by which killing and murdering is understood to be

justifiable. Virtue and a true Greatness in Spirit is rated now by Rules

which God never appointed, and the Standard of Honour is quite different

from that of Reason and of Nature: Bravery is denominated not from a

fearless undaunted Spirit in the just Defence of Life and Liberty, but

from a daring Defiance of God and Man, fighting, killing and treading

under Foot his fellow Creatures, at the ordinary Command of the Officer,

whether it be right or wrong, and whether it be in a just Defence of

Life, and our Country's Life, that is Liberty, or whether it be for the

Support of Injury and Oppression.



A prudent avoiding causeless Quarrels is call'd Cowardice, and to take

an affront Baseness, and Meanness of Spirit; to refuse fighting, and

putting Life at a Cast on the Point of a Sword, a Practice forbid by the

Laws of God and of all good Government, is yet call'd Cowardice; and a

Man is bound to die duelling, or live and be laugh'd at.



This trumping up these imaginary Things call'd Bravery and Gallantry,

naming them Virtue and Honour, is all from the Devil's new Management,

and his subtil influencing the Minds of Men to fly in the Face of God

and Nature, and to act against his Senses; nor but for his Artifice in

the Management, could it be possible that such Inconsistencies could go

down with Mankind, or they could pass such absurd Things among them for

reasoning; for Example, A is found in Bed with B's Wife, B is the Person

injur'd, and therefore offended, and coming into the Chamber with his

Sword in his Hand, A exclaims loudly, Why Sir, you won't murder me,

will you? as you are a Man of Honour let me rise and take my Sword.



A very good Story indeed! fit for no body but the Devil to put into any

Man's Head; But so it is, B being put in mind, forsooth, that he is a

Man of Honour, starts back and must act the honourable Part; so he lets

A get up, put on his Clothes and take his Sword; then they fight, and B

is kill'd for his Honour; whereas had the Laws of God, of Nature and of

Reason taken Place, the Adulterer and the Adulteress should have been

taken Prisoners and carried before the Judge, and being taken in the

Fact, should have been immediately sentenc'd, he to the Block and she to

the Stake, and the innocent abus'd Husband had no Reason to have run

any Risque of his Life for being made a Cuckold.



But thus has Satan abus'd the Reason of Man; and if a Man does me the

greatest Injury in the World, I must do my self Justice upon him, by

venturing my life upon an even Lay with him, and must fight him upon

equal Hazard, in which the injur'd Person is as often kill'd as the

Person offering the Injury: Suppose now it be in the same Case as

above, a Man abuses my Wife, and then to give me Satisfaction, tells

me, he will fight me, which the French call doing me Reason; No

Sir, say I, let me lie with your Wife too, and then if you desire it,

I may fight you; then I am upon even Terms with you; but this indeed is

the Reasoning which the Devil has brought Mankind too at this Day: But

to go back to the Subject, viz. the Devil bringing the Nations to fall

out, and to quarrel for Room in the World, and so to fight in order to

dispossess one another of their Settlements: This began at a Time when

certainly there were Places enough in the World for every one to choose

in, and therefore the Devil, not the want of Elbow-room, must be the

Occasion of it; and 'tis carried on ever since, as apparently from the

same Interest, and by the same original.



But we shall meet with this Part again very often in the Devil's

Story, and as we bring him farther on in the Management of Mankind, I

therefore lay it by for the Present, and come to the next Steps the

Devil took with Mankind after the Confusion of Languages, and this was

in the Affair of Worship; It does not appear yet that ever the Devil

was so bold, as either,



1. To set himself up to be worship'd as a God, or which was still worse,



2. To persuade Man to believe there was no God at all to worship.



Both these are introduc'd since the Deluge, one indeed by the Devil,

who soon found Means to set himself up for a God in many Parts of the

World, and holds it to this Day; but the last is brought in by the

Invention of Man, in which it must be confess'd Man has out-sin'd the

Devil; for to do Satan justice, he never thought it could ever pass upon

Mankind, or that any Thing so gross would go down with them; so that,

in short, these modern Casuists, in the Reach of our Days, have, I

say, out-sin'd the Devil.



As then both these are modern Inventions, Satan went on gradually, and

being to work upon human Nature by Stratagem, not by Force, it would

have been too gross to have set himself up as an Object of Worship at

first, it was to be done Step by Step; for Example.



1. It was sufficient to bring Mankind to a Neglect of God, to

worship him by halves, and give little or no Regard to his Laws,

and so grow loose and immoral, in direct Contradiction to his

Commands; this would not go down with them at first, so the Devil

went on gradually.



2. From a Negligence in worshiping the true GOD, he by Degrees

introduc'd the worship of false GODs; and to introduce this he

began with the Sun, Moon, and Stars, call'd in the holy Text

the Host of Heaven; these had greater Majesty upon them, and seem'd

fitter to command the Homage of Mankind; so it was not the hardest

Thing in the World, to bring Men, when they had once forgotten the

true God, to embrace the Worship of such Gods as those.



3. Having thus debauch'd their Principles in Worship, and led them

from the true and only Object of Worship to a false, it was the

easier to carry them on; so in a few Gradations more he brought

them to downright Idolatry, and even in that Idolatry he proceeded

gradually too; for he began with awful Names, such as were

venerable in the Thoughts of Men, as BAAL or BELL, which, in

Chaldaick and Hebrew, signifies Lord or Sovereign, or Mighty

and Magnificent, and this was therefore a Name ascrib'd at first to

the true God; but afterwards they descended to make Images and

Figures to represent him, and then they were call'd by the same

Name, as Baal, Baalim, and afterwards Bell; from which, by a

hellish Degeneracy, Saturn brought Mankind to adore every Block of

their own hewing, and to worshipping Stocks, Stones, Monsters,

Hobgoblins, and every sordid frightful Thing, and at last the

Devil himself.





What Notions some People may entertain of the Forwardness of the first

Ages of the World, to run into Idolatry, I do not enquire here; I know

they tell us strange Things, of its being the Product of meer Nature,

one remove from its primitive State; but I, who pretend to have so

critically enquir'd into Satan's History, can assure you, and that

from very good Authority, that the Devil did not find it so easy a

task to obliterate the Knowledge of the true God, in the Minds and

Consciences of Men, as those People suggest.



It is true he carried Things a great Length under the Patriarchal

Government of the first Ages, but still he was sixteen hundred Years

bringing it to pass; and tho' we have Reason to believe the old World,

before the Flood was arrived to a very great Height of Wickedness, and

Ovid very nobly describes it by the War of the Titans against

Jupiter, yet we do not read that ever Satan was come to such a Length

as to bring them to Idolatry; indeed we do read of Wars carried on among

them, whether it was one Nation against another, or only Personal, we

cannot tell; But the World seem'd to be swallow'd up in a Life of

Wickedness, that is to say, of Luxury and Lewdness, Rapine and Violence,

and there were Giants among them, and Men of Renown, that is to say,

Men fam'd for their mighty Valour, great Actions of War we may suppose,

and their Strength, who personally oppos'd others. We read of no

considerable Wars indeed, but 'tis not to be doubted but there was such

Wars, or else it is to be understood that they liv'd (in common) a Life

somewhat like the Brutes, the Strong devouring the Weak; for the Text

says, the whole Earth was filled with Violence, hunting and tearing

one another in Pieces, either for Dominion or for Wealth, either for

Ambition or for Avarice, we know not well which.



Thus far the old Antediluvian World went, and very wicked they were,

there is no doubt of that; but we have Reason to believe that was no

Idolatry, the Devil had not brought them to that Length yet: perhaps

it would soon have follow'd, but the Deluge interven'd.



After the Deluge, as I have said, he had all his Work to do over

again, and he went on by the same Steps; first he brought them to

Violence and War, then to Oppression and Tyranny, then to neglect of

true Worship, then to false worship, and then Idolatry by the meer

natural Consequence of the Thing; who were the first Nation or People

that fell from the Worship of the true God, is something hard to

determine; the Devil, who certainly of all God's Creatures is best

able to inform us, having left us nothing upon Record upon that

Subject, but we have Reason to believe it was thus introduc'd.



Nimrod was the Grandson of Ham, Noah's second Son, the same who

was cursed by his Father for exposing him in his Drunkenness: This

Nimrod was the first who it seems Satan pick'd out for a Hero: Here

he inspir'd him with ambitious Thoughts, dreams of Empire, and having

the Government of all the Rest, that is to say, universal Monarchy;

the very same Bait with which he has plaid upon the Frailty of Princes,

and ensnar'd the greatest of them ever since, even from his most August

Imperial Majesty King Nimrod the first, to his most Christian Majesty

Louis the XIV. and many a mighty Monarch between.



When these mighty Monarchs and Men of Fame went off the Stage, the World

had their Memories in esteem many Ages after; and as their great Actions

were no otherwise recorded than by oral Tradition, and the Tongues and

Memories of fallible Men, Time and the Custom of magnifying the past

Actions of Kings, Men soon fabl'd up their Histories, Satan assisting,

into Miracle and Wonder: Hence their Names were had in Veneration more

and more; Statues and Bustoes representing their Persons and great

Actions were set up in public Places, till from Heroes and Champions

they made Gods of them, and thus (Satan prompting) the World was

quickly fill'd with Idols.



This Nimrod is he, who according to the received Opinion, tho' I do

not find Satan's History exactly concurring with it, was first call'd

Belus, then Baal, and worship'd in most of the eastern Countries

under those Names; sometimes with Additions of Sir-names, according to

the several countries, or People, or Towns where he was particularly

set up, as Baal Peor, Baal Zephon, Baal Phegor, and in other

Places plain Baal, as Jupiter in after Times had the like Additions;

as Jupiter Ammon, Jupiter Capitolinus, Jupiter Pistor, Jupiter

Feretrius, and about ten or twelve Jupiters more.



I must acknowledge, that I think it was a Master-piece of Hell to bring

the World to Idolatry so soon after they had had such an eminent Example

of the infinite Power of the true God, as was seen in the Deluge, and

particularly in the Escape of Noah in the Ark, to bring them (even

before Noah or his Sons were dead) to forget whose Hand it was, and

give the Homage of the World to a Name, and that a Name of a mortal Man

dead and rotten, who was famous for nothing when he was alive but Blood

and War; I say, to bring the World to set up this Nothing, this meer

Name, nay the very Image and Picture of him for a God, it was first

a Mark of most prodigious Stupidity in the whole Race of Men, a

monstrous Degeneracy from Nature, and even from common Sense; and in the

next Place 'twas a token of an inexpressible Craft and Subtilty in the

Devil, who had now gotten the People into so full and compleat a

Management, that in short, he could have brought them, by the same Rule,

to have worship'd any thing; and in a little while more, did bring many

of them to worship himself, plain Devil as he was, and knowing him to

be such.



As to the Antiquity of this horrible Defection of Mankind, tho' we do

not find the beginning of it particularly recorded, yet we are certain

it was not long after the Confusion of Babel; for Nimrod, as is

said, was no more than Noah's great Grandson and Noah himself, I

suppose, might be alive some Years after Nimrod was born; and as

Nimrod was not long dead, before they forgot that he was a Tyrant and

a Murtherer, and made a Baal, that is a Lord or Idol of him, I say, he

was not long dead, for Nimrod was born in the Year of the World 1847,

and built Babylon the Year 1879; and we find Terah the Father of

Abraham, who liv'd from the Year 1879 was an Idolater, as was

doubtless Bethuel, who was Terah's Grandson; for we find Laban,

who was Bethuel's Son, was so, and all this was during the Life of the

first Post-Diluvian Family, for Terah was born within one hundred

ninety three Years after the Flood, and one hundred fifty seven Years

before Noah was dead; and even Abram himself was eight and fifty

Years old before Noah died, and yet Idolatry had been then, in all

probability, above an hundred Years practised in the World.



N. B. It is worth Remark here, what a terrible Advantage the Devil

gain'd by the debauching poor Noah, and drawing him into the Sin

of Drunkenness; for by this, as I said, he silenc'd and stop'd the

Mouth of the great Preacher of Righteousness, that Father and

Patriarch of the whole World, who not being able for the Shame of

his own foul Miscarriage, to pretend to instruct or reprove the

World any more, the Devil took hold of them immediately, and for

want of a Prophet to warn and admonish, ran that little of Religion

which there might be left in Shem and Japhet, quite out of the

World, and delug'd them all in IDOLATRY.



How long the whole World may be said to be thus overwhelm'd in Ignorance

and Idolatry, we may make some tolerable guess at by the History of

Abraham; for it was not till God call'd him from his Father's House,

that any such Thing as a Church was establish'd in the World; nor even

then, except in his own Family and Successors for almost four hundred

Years after that Call; and till God brought the Israelites back out of

Egypt, the whole World may be said to be involv'd in Idolatry and

Devil worship.



So absolute a Conquest had the Devil made over Mankind immediately

after the Flood, and all taking its Rise and Beginning at the fatal

Defeat of Noah, who had he liv'd untainted and invulnerable, as he had

done for six hundred Years before, would have gone a great way to have

stem'd the Torrent of Wickedness which broke in upon Mankind; and

therefore the Devil, I say, was very cunning and very much in the

Right of it, take him as he is a meer Devil, to attack Noah

personally, and give him a Blow so soon.



It is true, the Devil did not immediately raze out the Notion of

Religion and of a GOD from the Minds of Men, nor could he easily

suppress the Principle of Worship and Homage to be paid to a Sovereign

Being, the Author of Nature and Guide of the World; the Devil saw this

clearly in the first Ages of the new World, and therefore, as I have

said, he proceeded politically and by Degrees: That it was so, is

evident from the Story of Job and his three Friends, who, if we may

take it for a History, not a Fable, and may judge of the Time of it by

the Length of Job's Life, and by the Family of Eliphaz the

Temanite, who it is manifest was at least Grandson or Great Grandson

to Esau Isaac's eldest Son, and by the Language of Abimilech King of

Gerar to Abraham, and of Laban to Jacob, both the Latter being

at the same Time Idolaters; I say, if we may judge of it by all these,

there were still very sound Notions of Religion in the Minds of Men; nor

could Satan with all his Cunning and Policy deface those Ideas, and

root them out of the Minds of the People.



And this put him upon taking new Measures to keep up his Interest and

preserve the Hold he got upon Mankind; and his Method was like himself,

subtle and politick to the last Degree, as his whole History makes

appear; for seeing he found they could not but believe the Being of a

God, and that they would needs worship something, it is evident, he had

no Game left him to play but this, namely, to set up wrong Notions of

Worship, and bring them to a false Worship instead of a True, supposing

the Object worship'd to be still the same.



To finish this Stratagem, he first insinuates that the true God was a

terrible, a dreadful, unapproachable Being; that to see him was so

frightful, that it would be present Death; that to worship him

immediately, was a Presumption which would provoke his Wrath; and that

as he was a consuming Fire in himself, so he would burn up those in

his Anger that dar'd to offer up any Sacrifice to him, but by the

Interposition of some Medium which might receive their Adorations in his

Name.



Hence it occur'd presently, that subordinate Gods were to be found out

and set up, to whom the People might pay the Homage due to the supreme

God, and who they might worship in his Name; this I take from the most

ancient Account of Idolatry in the World; nor indeed could the Devil

himself find out any other Reason why Men should Cannonise or rather

Deify their Princes and Men of Fame, and worship them after they were

dead, as if they could save them from Death and Calamity, who were not

able to save themselves when they were alive; much less could Satan

bring Men to swallow so gross, so absurd a Thing as the bowing the Knee

to a Stock or a Stone, a Calf, an Ox, a Lion, nay the Image or Figure

of a Calf, such as the Israelites made at Mount Sinai, and say,

These be thy Gods, O Israel, who brought thee out of the Land of

Egypt.



Having thus, I say, brought them to satisfy themselves that they

worship'd the true God and no other, under the Figures and Appearances

which they made to represent him, it was easy after that to worship any

thing for the true God; and thus in a few Ages they worship'd nothing

but Idols, even throughout the whole World; nor has the Devil lost

this hold in some Parts of the World, nay not in most Parts of the World

to this Day; He holds still all the Eastern Parts of Asia, and the

Southern Parts of Africa, and the Northern Parts of Europe, and in

them the vast Countries of China and Tartary, Persia and India,

Guinea, Ethiopia, Zanquebar, Congo, Angola, Monomotapa, &c.

in all which, except Ethiopia, we find no Vestiges of any other

worship but that of Idols, Monsters, and even the Devil himself; till

after the very coming of our Saviour, and even then, if it be true that

the Gospel was preach'd in the Indies and China by St. Thomas, and

in other remote Countries by other of the Apostles; we see that whatever

Ground Satan lost, he seems to have recovered it again; and all Asia

and Africa is at present overrun with Paganism or Mahometanism, which

I think of the two is rather the worst; Besides all America, a Part of

the World, as some say, equal in Bigness to all the other, in which the

Devil's Kingdom was never interrupted from its first being inhabited,

whenever it was, to the first Discovery of it by the European

Nations in the sixteenth Century.



In a Word, the Devil got what we may call an entire Victory over

Mankind, and drove the Worship of the true God, in a Manner quite out

of the World, forcing, as it were, his Maker in a new kind of

Creation, the old one proving thus ineffectual to recover a certain

Number by Force and meer Omnipotence to return to their Duty, serve him

and worship him; But of that hereafter.



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