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
But 'tis very reasonable, and indeed probable, that _the Devils_ were
more than ordinarily surpriz'd at the Nature and Reason of all this
glorious Creation, after they had, with the utmost Curiosity, view'd all
the parts of it; The Glories of the several Systems; the immense spaces
in which those glorious Bodies that were created and made part of it,
were allow'd respectively to move; the innumerable fix'd Stars, as so
many Suns in the Center of so many distant _Solar Systems_; the
(likewise innumerable) dark opaque Bodies receiving light, and depending
upon those Suns respectively for such light, and then reflecting that
light again upon and for the Use of one another; To see the Beauty and
Splendor of their Forms, the Regularity of their Position, the Order and
Exactness, and yet inconceivable Velocity of their Motions, the
certainty of their Revolutions, and the Variety and Virtue of their
Influences; and then, which was even to the Devils themselves most
astonishing, That after all the rest of their Observations they should
find this whole immense Work was adapted for, and made subservient to
the Use, Delight and Blessing only of one poor Species, in itself small,
and in Appearance contemptible; the meanest of all the Kinds supposed to
inhabit so many glorious Worlds, as appeared now to be form'd; I mean,
that Moon call'd the Earth, and the Creature call'd Man; that all was
made for him, upheld by the wise Creator, on his account only, and would
necessarily end and cease whenever that Species should end and be
determin'd.
That this Creature was to be found no where but (as above) in one little
individual _Moon_; a Spot less than almost any of the Moons, which were
in such great Numbers to be found attendant upon, and prescrib'd with in
every System of the whole created Heavens; This was astonishing even to
the _Devil_ himself, nay the whole Clan of _Devils_ could scarce
entertain any just Ideas of the thing; Till at last _Satan_,
indefatigable in his Search or Enquiry into the Nature and Reason of
this new Work, and particularly searching into the Species of Man, whom
he found God had thus plac'd in the little Globe, call'd _Earth_; he
soon came to an _Eclairicissement_, or a clear Understanding of the
whole. _For Example_,
_First_, He found this Creature, call'd Man, was however mean and
small in his Appearance, a kind of a Seraphic Species; that he was
made in the very Image of God, endowed with reasonable Faculties to
know Good and Evil, and possess'd of a certain thing till then
unknown and unheard of even in Hell it self; that is, in the
Habitation of Devils, let that be where it would, (_viz._)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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