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
It cannot be doubted, but, had it not been thus, Man is so far from
being a Match for the _Devil_, that one of Satan's least Imps or
_Angels_ could destroy all the Race of them in the World, ay World and
all in a moment;
As he is Prince of the Power of the Air, taking the Air for _the
Elementary World_, how easily could he, at one Blast, sweep all the
Surface of the Earth into the Sea, or drive weighty immense Surges of
the Ocean over the whole Plane of the Earth, and deluge the Globe at
once with a Storm? Or how easily could he, who, by the Situation of the
Empire, must be supposed able to manage the Clouds, draw them up, in
such Position as should naturally produce Thunders and Lightnings, cause
those Lightnings to blast the Earth, dash in Pieces all the Buildings,
burn all the populous Towns and Cities, and lay wast the World;
At the same time he might command suited Quantities of sublimated Air to
burst out of the Bowels of the Earth, and overwhelm and swallow up, in
the opening Chasms, all the Inhabitants of the Globe?
In a Word, _Satan_ left to himself as a Devil, and to the Power, which
by virtue of his Seraphic Original he must be vested with, was able to
have made Devilish Work in the World, if by a superior Power he was not
restrain'd.
But there is no doubt, _at least to me_, but that with his fall from
Heaven, as he lost the Rectitude and Glory of his Angelic Nature, I mean
his Innocence, so he lost the Power too that he had before; and that
when he first commenc'd Devil, he received the Chains of Restraint too,
as the Badge of his Apostacy, _viz._ a general Prohibition, to do any
thing to the Prejudice of this Creation, or to act any thing by Force or
Violence without special Permission.
This Prohibition was not sent him by a Messenger, or by an Order in
Writing, or proclaimed from Heaven by a Law; but _Satan_, by a strange,
invisible and unaccountable Impression felt the Restraint within him;
and at the same time that his moral Capacity was not taken away, yet his
Power of exerting that Capacity felt the Restraint, and left him unable
to do, even what he was able to do at the same time.
I make no question, but the Devil is sensible of this Restraint, that is
to say, _not_ as it is a restraint only, or as an effect of his
Expulsion from _Heaven_; But as it prevents his Capital Design against
Man, who, for the Reason I have given already, he entertains a mortal
Hatred of, and would destroy with all his Heart, if he might; and
therefore, like a chain'd Mastiff, we find him oftentimes making a
horrid hellish Clamour and Noise, barking and howling, and frighting the
People, letting them know, that if he was loose he would tear them in
pieces; but at the same time his very Fury shakes his Chain, which lets
them know, to their Satisfaction, he can only Bark, but cannot Bite.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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