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
Nor will I undertake to tell you, till I have talk'd farther with him
about it, how far the _Devil_ is concern'd to discover Frauds, detect
Murthers, reveal Secrets, and especially to tell where any Money is hid,
and shew Folks where to find it; 'tis an odd thing that Satan should
think it of Consequence to come and tell us where such a Miser hid a
Strong Box, or where such an old Woman buried her _Chamber Pot_ full of
Money, the Value of all which is perhaps but a Trifle, when at the same
time he lets so many Veins of Gold, so many unexhausted Mines, nay,
Mountains of Silver, as, we may depend upon it, are hid in the Bowels of
the Earth, and which it would be so much to the Good of whole Nations to
discover, lie still there, and never say one Word of them to any Body.
Besides, how does the _Devil_'s doing Things so foreign to himself, and
so out of his way, agree with the rest of his Character; namely, shewing
a kind of a friendly Disposition to Mankind, or doing beneficent Things?
This is so beneath _Satan_'s Quality, and looks so little, that I scarce
know what to say to it; but that which is still more pungent in the Case
is, these Things are so out of his Road, and so foreign to his Calling,
that it shocks our Faith in them, and seems to clash with all the just
Notions we have of him, and of his Business in the World. The like is to
be said of those little merry Turns we bring him in acting with us, and
upon us, upon trifling and simple Occasions, such as tumbling Chairs and
Stools about House, setting Pots and Vessels Bottom upward, tossing the
Glass and Crokery Ware about without breaking; and such like mean
foolish Things, beneath the Dignity of the _Devil_, who, in my Opinion,
is rather employ'd in setting the World with the Bottom upward, tumbling
Kings and Crowns about, and dashing the Nations one against another;
raising Tempests and Storms, whether at Sea, or on Shore; and, in a
word, doing capital Mischiefs suitable to his Nature, and agreeable to
his Name, _Devil_; and suited to that Circumstance of his Condition,
which I have fully represented in the primitive Part of his exil'd
State.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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