The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts

The Pretty and Witty, are Devils in Masque,
The Beauties are meer Apparitions;
The homely alone by their Faces are known,
And the Good by their ugly Conditions.

The Beaus walk about like the Shadows of Men.
And wherever he leads ’em they follow,
But tak’em and shak’em, there’s not one in ten
But’s as light as a Feather and hollow.

Thus all his Affairs he drives on in Disguise,
And he tickles Mankind with a Feather:
Creeps in at our Ears, and looks out at our Eyes,
And jumbles our Senses together.

He raises the Vapours, and prompts the Desires,
And to ev’ry dark Deed holds the Candle;
The Passions enflames and the Appetite fires,
And takes ev’ry Thing by the Handle.

Thus he walks up and down in compleat Masquerade,
And with every Company mixes,
Sells in every Shop, works at every Trade,
And ev’ry Thing doubtful perplexes.

How Satan comes by this governing Influence in the Minds and upon the Actions of Men, is a Question I am not yet come to, nor indeed does it so particularly belong to the Devil’s History, it seems rather a Polemick, so it may pass at School among the Metaphysicks, and puzzle the Heads of our Masters; wherefore I think to write to the learned Dr. B — about it, imploring his most sublime Haughtiness, that when his other more momentous Avocations of Pedantry and Pedagogism will give him an Interval from Wrath and Contention, he will set apart a Moment to consider human Nature Deviliz’d, and give us a Mathematical Anatomical Description of it; with a Map of Satan’s Kingdom in the Microcosm of Mankind, and such other Illuminations as to him and his Contemporaries – and, – &c. in their great Wisdom shall seem meet.

Chap. V

Of the Devil’s Management in the Pagan Hierarchy by Omens, Entrails, Augurs, Oracles, and such like Pageantry of Hell; and how they went off the Stage at last by the Introduction of true Religion

I have adjourn’d, not finished, my Account of the Devil’s secret Management by Possession, and shall reassume it, in its Place; but I must take leave to mention some other Parts of his retir’d Scheme, by which he has hitherto manag’d Mankind, and the first of these is by that Fraud of all Frauds call’d Oracle.

Here his Trumpet yielded an uncertain Sound for some Ages, and like what he was, and according to what he practised from the Beginning, he deliver’d out Falshood and Delusion by Retale: The Priests of Apollo acted this Farce for him to a great Nicety at Delphos; there were divers others at the same Time, and some, which to give the Devil his due, he had very little Hand in, as we shall see presently.

There were also some smaller, some greater, some more, some less famous Places where those Oracles were seated, and Audience given to the Enquirers, in all which the Devil, or some Body for him, Permissu Superiorum, for either vindictive or other hidden Ends and Purposes, was allow’d to make at least a Pretension to the Knowledge of Things to come; but, as publick Cheats generally do, they acted in Masquerade, and gave such uncertain and inconsistent Responses, that they were oblig’d to use the utmost Art to reconcile Events to the Prediction, even after things were come to pass.

Here the Devil was a lying Spirit, in a particular and extraordinary manner, in the Mouths of all the Prophets; and yet he had the Cunning to express himself so, that whatever happen’d, the Oracle was suppos’d to have meant as it fell out; and so all their Augurs, Omens and Voices, by which the Devil amus’d the World, not at that Time only, but since, have been likewise interpreted.

Julian the Apostate dealt mightily in these Amusements, but the Devil, who neither wish’d his Fall, or presag’d it to him, evidenc’d that he knew nothing of Julian’s Fate; for that, as he sent almost to all the Oracles of the East, and summon’d all the Priests together to inform him of the Success of his Persian Expedition, they all, like Ahab’s Prophets, having a lying Spirit in them, encourag’d him and promis’d him Success.

Nay, all the ill Omens which disturb’d him, they presag’d good from; for Example, he was at a prodigious Expence when he was at Antioch to buy up white Beasts, and white Fowls, for Sacrifices, and for predicting from the Entrails; from whence the Antiochians, in contempt, call’d him Victimarius; but whenever the Entrails foreboded Evil, the cunning Devil made the Priests put a different Construction upon them, and promise him Good: When he entred into the Temple of the Genij to offer Sacrifice, one of the Priests dropt down dead; this, had it had any Signification more than a Man falling dead of an Apoplectic, would have signified something fatal to Julian, who made himself a Brother Sacrist or Priest; whereas the Priests turn’d it presently to signify the Death of his Colleague, the Consul Sallust which happen’d just at the same Time, tho’ eight hundred Miles off; so in another Case, Julian thought it ominous that he, who was Augustus should be nam’d with two other Names of Persons, both already dead; the Case was thus, the Stile of the Emperor was Julianus Fœlix Augustus, and two of his principal Officers were Julianus and Fœlix; now both Julianus and Fœlix died within a few Days of one another, which disturb’d Him much, who was the third of the three Names; but his flattering Devil told him it all imported Good to him (viz.) that tho’ Julianus and Fœlix should die, Augustus should be immortal.

Thus whatever happen’d, and whatever was foretold, and how much soever they differ’d from one another, the lying Spirit was sure to reconcile the Prediction and the Event, and make them at least seem to correspond in Favour of the Person enquiring.

Now we are told Oracles are ceased, and the Devil is farther limited for the Good of Mankind, not being allow’d to vent his Delusions by the Mouths of the Priests and Augurs, as formerly: I will not take upon me to say how far they are really ceas’d, more than they were before; I think ’tis much more reasonable to believe there was never any Reality in them at all, or that any Oracle ever gave out any Answers but what were the Invention of the Priests and the Delusions of the Devil; I have a great many antient Authors on my Side in this Opinion, as Eusebius, Tertullian, Aristotle, and others, who as they liv’d so near the Pagan Times, and when even some of those Rites were yet in Use, they had much more Reason to know, and could probably pass a better Judgment upon them; nay Cicero himself ridicules them in the openest manner; again, other Authors descend to Particular and shew how the Cheat was manag’d by the Heathen Sacrists and Priests, and in what enthusiastic manner they spoke; namely, by going into the hollow Images, such as the brazen Bull and the Image of Apollo, and how subtilly they gave out dubious and ambiguous Answers; that when the People did not find their Expectations answer’d by the Event, they might be imposed upon by the Priests, and confidently told they did not rightly understand the Oracle’s Meaning: However, I cannot say but that indeed there are some Authors of good Credit too, who will have it that there was a real prophetic Spirit in the Voice or Answers given by the Oracles, and that oftentimes they were miraculously exact in those Answers; and they give that of the Delphic Oracle answering the Question which was given about Crœsus for an Example, viz. what Crœsus was doing at that time? to wit, that he was boiling a Lamb and the Flesh of a Tortoise together, in a brass Vessel, or Boiler, with a Cover of the same Metal; that is to say, in a Kettle with a brass Cover.

To affirm therefore, that they were all Cheats, a Man must encounter with Antiquity, and set his private Judgment up against an establish’d Opinion; but ’tis no matter for that; if I do not see any thing in that receiv’d Opinion capable of Evidence, much less of Demonstration, I must be allow’d still to think as I do; others may believe as they list; I see nothing hard or difficult in the Thing; the Priests, who were always historically inform’d of the Circumstances of the Enquirer, or at least something about them, might easily find some ambiguous Speech to make, and put some double Entendre upon them, which upon the Event solv’d the Credit of the Oracle, were it one way or other; and this they certainly did, or we have room to think the Devil knows less of Things now than he did in former Days.

It is true that by these Delusions the Priests got infinite Sums of Money, and this makes it still probable that they would labour hard, and use the utmost of their Skill to uphold the Credit of their Oracles; and ’tis a full Discovery, as well of the Subtlety of the Sacrists, as of the Ignorance and Stupidity of the People, in those early Days of Satan’s Witchcraft; to see what merry Work the Devil made with the World, and what gross Things he put upon Mankind: Such was the Story of the Dordonian Oracle in Epirus, viz. That two Pigeons flew out of Thebes (N. B. it was the Egyptian Thebes) from the Temple of Belus, erected there by the antient Sacrists, and that one of these fled Eastward into Lybia, and the Desarts of Africk, and the other into Greece, namely, to Dordona, and these communicated the divine Mysteries to one another, and afterwards gave mystical Solutions to the devout Enquirers; first the Dordonian Pigeon perching upon an Oak spoke audibly to the People there, that the Gods commanded them to build an Oracle, or Temple, to Jupiter, in that Place; which was accordingly done: The other Pigeon did the like on the Hill in Africa, where it commanded them to build another to Jupiter Ammon, or Hammon.

Wise Cicero contemned all this, and, as Authors tell us, ridiculed the Answer, which, as I have hinted above, the Oracle gave to Crœsus proving that the Oracle it self was a Liar, that it could not come from Apollo, for that Apollo never spoke Latin: In a Word, Cicero rejected them all, and Demosthenes also mentions the Cheats of the Oracles; when speaking of the Oracle of Apollo, he said, Pithia Philippiz’d; that is, that when the Priests were brib’d with Money, they always gave their Answers in favour of Philip of Macedon.

But that which is most strange to me is, that in this Dispute about the Reality of Oracles, the Heathen who made use of them are the People who expose them, and who insist most positively upon their being Cheats and Impostors, as in particular those mentioned above; while the Christians who reject them, yet believe they did really foretel Things, answer Questions, &c. only with this Difference, that the Heathen Authors who oppose them, insist that ’tis all Delusion and Cheat, and charge it upon the Priests; and the Christian Opposers insist that it was real, but that the Devil, not the Gods, gave the Answers; and that he was permitted to do it by a superior Power, to magnify that Power in the total silencing them at last.

But, as I said before, I am with the Heathen here, against the Christian Writers, for I take it all to be a Cheat and Delusion: I must give my Reason for it, or I do nothing; my Reason is this, I insist Satan is as blind in Matters of Futurity, as we are, and can tell nothing of what is to come; these Oracles often pretending to predict, could be nothing else therefore but a Cheat form’d by the Money-getting Priests to amuse the World, and bring Grist to their Mill: If I meet with any thing in my Way to open my Eyes to a better Opinion of them, I shall tell it you as I go on.

On the other hand, whether the Devil really spake in those Oracles, or set the cunning Priests to speak for him; whether they predicted, or only made the People believe they predicted; whether they gave Answers which came to pass, or prevail’d upon the People to believe that what was said did come to pass, it was much at one, and fully answer’d the Devil’s End; namely, to amuse and delude the World; and as to do, or to cause to be done, is the same Part of Speech, so whoever did it, the Devil’s Interest was carried on by it, his Government preserv’d, and all the Mischief he could desire was effectually brought to pass, so that every way they were the Devil’s Oracles, that’s out of the Question.

Indeed I have wonder’d sometimes why, since by this Sorcery the Devil perform’d such Wonders, that is, play’d so many Tricks in the World, and had such universal Success, he should set up no more of them; but there might be a great many Reasons given for that, too long to tire you with at present: ’Tis true, there were not many of them, and yet considering what a great deal of Business they dispatch’d, it was enough, for six or eight Oracles were more than sufficient to amuse all the World: The chief Oracles we meet with in History are among the Greeks and the Romans, viz.

That of Jupiter Ammon, in Lybia, as above.

The Dordonian, in Epirus.

Apollo Delphicus, in the Country of Phocis in Greece.

Apollo Clavius, in Asia Minor.

Serapis, in Alexandria in Egypt.

Trophomis, in Bæotia.

Sybilla Cumæa, in Italy.

Diana, at Ephesus.

Apollo Daphneus, at Antioch.

Besides many of lesser Note, in several other Places, as I have hinted before.

I have nothing to do here with the Story mentioned by Plutarch, of a Voice being heard at Sea, from some of the Islands call’d the Echinades, and calling upon one Thamuz, an Egyptian, who was on board a Ship, bidding him, when he came to the Palodes, other Islands in the Ionian Seas, tell them there that the great God Pan was dead; and when Thamuz perform’d it, great Groanings, and Howlings, and Lamentation were heard from the Shore.

This Tale tells but indifferently, tho’ indeed it looks more like a Christian Fable, than a Pagan; because it seems as if made to honour the Christian Worship, and blast all the Pagan Idolatry; and for that Reason I reject it, the Christian Profession needing no such fabulous Stuff to confirm it.

Nor is it true in fact, that the Oracles did cease immediately upon the Death of Christ; but, as I noted before, the Sum of the Matter is this; the Christian Religion spreading it self universally, as well as miraculously, and that too by the Foolishness of Preaching, into all Parts of the World, the Oracles ceas’d; that is to say, their Trade ceas’d, their Rogueries were daily detected, the deluded People being better taught, came no more after them, and being asham’d, as well as discourag’d, they sneak’d out of the World as well as they could; in short the Customers fell off, and the Priests, who were the Shopkeepers, having no Business to do, shut up their Shops, broke, and went away; the Trade and the Tradesmen were hiss’d off the Stage together; so that the Devil, who, it must be confess’d, got infinitely by the Cheat, became bankrupt, and was oblig’d to set other Engines at work, as other Cheats and Deceivers do, who when one Trick grows stale, and will serve no longer, are forc’d to try another.

Nor was the Devil to seek in new Measures; for tho’ he could not give out his delusive Trash as he did before, in Pomp and State, with the Solemnity of a Temple and a Set of Enthusiasts call’d Priests, who plaid a thousand Tricks to amuse the World, he then had Recourse to his old Egyptian Method, which indeed was more antient than that of Oracles; and that was by Magic, Sorcery, Familiars, Witchcraft, and the like.

Of this we find the people of the South, that is, of Arabia and Chaldea were the first, from whence we are told of the Wise Men, that is to say, Magicians, were call’d Chaldeans and Southsayers. Hence also we find Ahaziah the King of Israel sent to Baalzebub the God of Ekron, to enquire whether he should live or die? This some think was a kind of an Oracle, tho’ others think it was only some over-grown Magician, who counterfeited himself to be a Devil, and obtain’d upon that Idol-hunting Age to make a Cunning Man of him; and for that Purpose he got himself made a Priest of Baalzebub, the God of Ekron, and gave out Answers in his Name. Thus those merry Fellows in Egypt, Jannes and Jambres, are said to mimick Moses and Aaron, when they work’d the miraculous Plagues upon the Egyptians; and we have some Instances in Scripture that support this, such as the Witch of Endor, the King Manasses, who dealt with the Devil openly, and had a Familiar; the Woman mentioned Acts xvi. who had a Spirit of Divination, and who got Money by playing the Oracle; that is, answering doubtful Questions, &c. which Spirit, or Devil, the Apostles cast out.

Now tho’ it is true that the old Women in the World have fill’d us with Tales, some improbable, others impossible; some weak, some ridiculous, and that this puts a general Discredit upon all the graver Matrons, who entertain us with Stories better put together, yet ’tis certain, and I must be allow’d to affirm, that the Devil does not disdain to take into his Service many Troops of good Old Women, and Old Women-Men too, who he finds ’tis for his Service to keep in constant Pay; to these he is found frequently to communicate his Mind, and oftentimes we find them such Proficients, that they know much more than the Devil can teach them.

How far our antient Friend Merlin, or the grave Matron his (Satan’s) most trusty and well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor, Mother Shipton, were commissioned by him to give out their prophetic Oracles, and what degree of Possession he may have arrived to in them upon their Midnight Excursions, I will not undertake to prove; but that he might be acquainted with them both, as well as with several of our modern Gentlemen, I will not deny neither.

I confess it is not very incongruous with the Devil’s Temper, or with the Nature of his Business, to shift hands; possibly he found that he had tried the World with Oracular Cheats; that Men began to be forfeited with them, and grew sick of the Frauds which were so frequently detected; that it was time to take new Measures, and contrive some new Trick to Bite the World, that he might not be expos’d to Contempt; or perhaps he saw the Approach of new Light, which the Christian Doctrine bringing with it began to spread in the Minds of Men; that it would out-shine the dim burning ignis fatuus, with which he had so long cheated Mankind, and was afraid to stand it, lest he should be mobb’d off the Stage by his own People, when their Eyes should begin to open: That upon this foot he might in Policy withdraw from those old Retreats the Oracles, and restrain those Responses before they lost all their Credit; for we find the People seem’d to be at a mighty Loss for some time, for want of them, so that it made them run up and down to Conjurers, and Man-Gossips, to brazen Heads, speaking Calves, and innumerable simple Things, so gross that they are scarce fit to be named, to satisfy the Itch of having their Fortunes told them, as we call it.

Now as the Devil is very seldom blind to his own Interest, and therefore thought fit to quit his old way of imposing upon the World by his Oracles, only because he found the World began to be too wise to be imposed upon that way; so on the other hand, finding there was still a Possibility to delude the World, tho’ by other Instruments, he no sooner laid down his Oracles, and the solemn Pageantry, magnificent Appearances, and other Frauds of his Priests and Votaries, in their Temples and Shrines; but he set up a new Trade, and having, as I have said, Agents and Instruments sufficient for any Business that he could have to employ them in, he begins in Corners, as the learned and merry Dr. Brown says, and exercises his minor Trumperies by way of his own contriving, lifting a great Number of new-found Operators, such as Witches, Magicians, Diviners, Figure-casters, Astrologers, and such inferior Seducers.

Now it is true, as that Doctor says, this was running into Corners, as if he had been expell’d his more triumphant way of giving Audience in Form, which for so many Ages had been allow’d him; yet I must add, that as it seem’d to be the Devil’s own doing, from a right Judgment of his Affairs, which had taken a new Turn in the World, upon the shining of new Lights from the Christian Doctrine, so it must be acknowledged the Devil made himself amends upon Mankind, by the various Methods he took, and the Multitude of Instruments he employ’d, and perhaps deluded Mankind in a more fatal and sensible manner than he did before, tho’ not so universally.