The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two PartsDefoe, Daniel
Philosophy
The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts
Defoe, Daniel
Devil -- Early works to 1800
And see what an Answer he gives to his Brother _Moses_, how weak! how
simple! _I did so and so, indeed_, I bad them bring the Ear-rings, _&c._
and I cast the Gold into the Fire, and _it came out this Calf_.
Ridiculous! as if the Calf came out by meer fortuitous Adventure,
without a Mould to cast it in; which could not be supposed: And if it
had not come out so without a Mould, _Moses_ would certainly have known
of it; had _Aaron_ been innocent, he would have answered after quite
another manner, and told _Moses_ honestly that the whole Body of the
People came to him in a Fright, that they forced him to make them an
Idol; which he did, by making first a proper Mould to cast it in, and
then taking the proper Metal to cast it from: That indeed he had sinn'd
in so doing, but that he was mobb'd into it, and the People terrified
him, perhaps they threatned to kill him; and if he had added, that the
_Devil_ prompting his Fear beguil'd him, he had said nothing but what
was certainly true; for if it was in Satan's Power to make the People
insolent and outrageous enough to threaten and bully the old venerable
Prophet (_for he was not yet a Priest_) who was the Brother of their
Oracle _Moses_, and had been Partner with him in so many of his
Commissions; I say, if he cou'd bring up the Passions of the People to a
Height to be rude and unmannerly to him (_Aaron_) and perhaps to
threaten and insult him, he may be easily suppos'd to be able to
intimidate _Aaron_, and terrify him into a Compliance.
See this cunning Agent, when he has Man's Destruction in his View, how
securely he acts! he never wants a handle; the best of Men have one weak
place or other, and he always finds it out, takes the Advantage of it,
and conquers them by one Artifice or another; only take it with you as
you go, 'tis always _by Stratagem_, never _by Force_; a Proof that he is
not empower'd to use Violence: He may tempt, and he does prevail; but
'tis all _Legerdemain_, 'tis all Craft and Artifice, he is still Diabole,
the _Calumniator_ and Deceiver, that is, the Misrepresenter; he
misrepresents _Man_ to GOD, and misrepresents GOD to _Man_, also he
misrepresents Things; he puts false Colours, and then manages the Eye to
see them with an imperfect View, raising Clouds and Fogs to intercept
our Sight; in short, he deceives all our Senses, and imposes upon us in
Things which otherwise would be the easiest to discern and judge of.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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