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
Likewise we see a Test of his wicked Subtilty in his Management of those
dark Nations, when he was more immediately worship'd by them; namely,
the making them believe that all their good Weather, Rains, Dews, and
kind Influences upon the Earth, to make it fruitful, was from Him;
whereas they really were the common Blessings of a higher Hand, and came
not from him, the _Devil_, but from him that made the _Devil_, and made
him a Devil or fallen Angel by his Curse.
But to go back to the Method the Devil took with the first of Mankind;
'tis plain the Policy of Hell was right, tho' the Execution of the
Resolves they took did not fully answer their End neither; For _Satan_
fastening upon poor, proud, ridiculous Mother _Eve_, as I have said
before, made presently a true Judgment of her Capacities, and of her
Temper; took her by the right Handle, and soothing her Vanity (which is
to this Day the softest Place in the Head of all the Sex) wheedl'd her
out of her Senses, by praising her Beauty, and promising to make her a
Goddess.
The foolish Woman yielded presently, and that we are told is the Reason
why the same Method so strangely takes with all her Posterity (_viz._)
that you are sure to prevail with them, if you can but once persuade
them that you believe they are Witty and Handsome; for the Devil, you
may observe, never quits any Hold he gets, and having once found a way
into the Heart, always takes care to keep the Door open, that any of his
Agents may enter after him without any more Difficulty: Hence the same
Argument, especially the last, has so bewitching an Influence on the
Sex, that they rarely deny you any thing, after they are but weak
enough and vain enough to accept of the Praises you offer them on that
Head; on the other hand you are sure they never forgive you the
unpardonable Crime of saying they are Ugly or Disagreeable: It is
suggested that the first Method the Devil took to insinuate all those
fine things into _Eve_'s giddy Head, was by creeping close to her _one
Night_, when she was asleep, and laying his Mouth to her _Ear_,
whispering all the fine things to her, which he knew would set her Fancy
a Tip-toe, and so made her receive them involuntarily into her Mind;
knowing well enough that when she had form'd such Ideas in her Soul,
however they came there, she would never be quiet till she had work'd
them up to some extraordinary thing or other.
It was evident what the _Devil_ aim'd at, _namely_, that she should
break in upon the Command of GOD, and so having corrupted her self,
bring the Curse upon her self and all her Race, as GOD had threatn'd;
but why the Pride of _Eve_ should be so easily tickled by the Motion of
her exquisite Beauty, when there then was no prospect of the use or want
of those Charms? that indeed makes a kind of Difficulty here, which the
learn'd have not determined. For,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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