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
Had the Devil from the beginning been embodied, as he could not have
been invisible to us, whose souls equally seraphic are only prescrib'd
by being embody'd and encas'd in flesh and blood as we are; so he would
have been no more a Devil to any body but himself: The imprisonment in a
body, had the powers of that body been all that we can conceive to make
him formidable to us, would yet have been a Hell to him; consider him as
a conquer'd exasperated Rebel, retaining all that fury and swelling
ambition, that hatred of God, and envy at his creatures which dwells now
in his enrag'd spirit as a _Devil_: yet suppose him to have been
condemn'd to organic Powers, confin'd to corporeal motion, and
restrain'd as a Body must be supposed to restrain a Spirit; it must, at
the same time, suppose him to be effectually disabled from all the
methods he is now allow'd to make use of, for exerting his rage and
enmity against God, any farther than as he might suppose it to affect
his Maker at second hand, by wounding his Glory thro' the sides of his
weakest creature, MAN.
He must, certainly, be thus confin'd, because Body can only act upon
Body, not upon Spirit; no species being empower'd to act out of the
compass of its own sphere: He might have been empower'd, indeed, to have
acted terrible and even destructive things upon mankind, especially if
this body had any powers given it which mankind had not, by which man
would be overmatch'd and not be in a condition of self-defence; for
example, suppose him to have had wings to have flown in the air; Or to
be invulnerable, and that no human invention, art, or engine could hurt,
ensnare, captivate, or restrain him.
But this is to suppose the righteous and wise Creator to have made a
creature and not be able to defend and preserve him; or to have left him
defenceless to the mercy of another of his own creatures, whom he had
given power to destroy him; This indeed, might have occasion'd a general
idolatry, and made mankind, as the _Americans_ do to this day, worship
the _Devil_, that he might not hurt them; but it could not have
prevented the destruction of mankind, supposing the Devil to have had
malice equal to his power: and he must put on a new nature, be
compassionate, generous, beneficent, and steadily good in sparing the
rival enemy he was able to destroy, or he must have ruin'd mankind: _In
short_, he must have ceas'd to have been a Devil, and must have
re-assum'd his original, Angelic, heavenly nature; been fill'd with the
principles of love to, and delight in the Works of his Creator, and bent
to propagate his Glory and Interest; or he must have put an end to the
race of man, whom it would be in his Power to destroy, and oblige his
Maker to create a new species, or fortify the old with some kind of
defence, which must be invulnerable, and which his fiery darts could not
penetrate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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