(better still) as the Scripture expresses it, by way of emphasis, the great red Dragon, the Devil and Satan.
But if we take this word to be, as above, a noun of multitude, and so to be used ambo-dexter, as occasion presents, singular or plural; then the Devil signifies Satan by himself, or Satan with all his Legions at his heels, as you please, more or less; and this way of understanding the word, as it may be very convenient for my purpose, in the account I am now to give of the infernal Powers, so it is not altogether improper in the nature of the thing: It is thus express’d in Scripture, where the person possess’d Matt. iv. 24. is first said to be possess’d of the Devil (singular) and our Saviour asks him, as speaking to a single person, what is thy name? and is answer’d in the plural and singular together, my name is Legion, for we are many.
Nor will it be any wrong to the Devil, supposing him a single person, seeing entitling him to the conduct of all his inferior Agents, is what he will take rather for an addition to his infernal glory, than a diminution or lessening of him in the extent of his Fame.
Having thus articl’d with the Devil for liberty of speech, I shall talk of him sometimes in the singular, as a person, and sometimes in the plural, as an host of Devils or of infernal Spirits, just as occasion requires, and as the history of his affairs makes necessary.
But before I enter upon any part of his history, the nature of the thing calls me back, and my Lord B – of – in his late famous orations in defence of liberty, summons me to prove that there is such a thing or such a person as the Devil; and in short, unless I can give some evidence of his existence, as my Lord – said very well, I am talking of nobody.
D – m me, Sir, says a graceless comrade of his to a great man, your Grace will go to the Devil.
D – m ye, Sir, says the D – , then I shall go no where; I wonder where you intend to go?
Nay, to the D – l too I doubt, says Graceless, for I am almost as wicked as my Lord Duke.
D. Thou ar’t a silly empty Dog, says the D – , and if there is such a place as a Hell, tho’ I believe nothing of it, ’tis a place for fools, such as thou art.
Gr. I wonder then, what Heaven the great wits go to, such as my Lord Duke; I don’t care to go there, let it be where it will; they are a tiresome kind of people, there’s no bearing them, they’ll make a Hell wherever they come.
D. Prithee hold thy fool’s tongue, I tell thee, if there is any such place as we call no where; that’s all the Heaven or Hell that I know of, or believe any thing about.
Gr. Very good, my Lord – ; so that Heaven is no where, and Hell is no where, and the Devil is nobody, according to my Lord Duke!
D. Yes Sir, and what then?
Gr. And you are to go no where when you die, are you?
D. Yes, you Dog, don’t you know what that incomparable noble genius my Lord Rochester sings upon the subject, I believe it unfeignedly,
After death nothing is,
And nothing death.
Gr. You believe it, my Lord, you mean, you would fain believe it if you could; but since you put that great genius my Lord Rochester upon me, let me play him back upon your Grace; I am sure you have read his fine poem upon nothing, in one of the stanzas of which is this beautiful thought,
And to be part of2 thee
The wicked wisely pray.
D. You are a foolish Dog.
Gr. And my Lord Duke is a wise Infidel.
D. Why? is it not wiser to believe no Devil, than to be always terrify’d at him?
Gr. But shall I toss another Poet upon you, my Lord?
If it should so fall out, as who can tell
But there may be a God, a Heaven and Hell?
Mankind had best consider well, for fear
’T should be too late when their mistakes appear.
D. D – m your foolish Poet, that’s not my Lord Rochester.
Gr. But how must I be damn’d, if there’s no Devil? Is not your Grace a little inconsistent there? My Lord Rochester would not have said that, and’t please your Grace.
D. No, you Dog, I am not inconsistent at all, and if I had the ordering of you, I’d make you sensible of it; I’d make you think your self damn’d for want of a Devil.
Gr. That’s like one of your Grace’s paradoxes, such as when you swore by God that you did not believe there was any such thing as a God, or Devil; so you swear by nothing, and damn me to no where.
D. You are a critical Dog, who taught you to believe these solemn trifles? who taught you to say there is a God?
Gr. Nay, I had a better school-master than my Lord Duke.
D. Why, who was your school-master pray?
Gr. The Devil, and’t please your Grace.
D. The Devil! the Devil he did? what you’re going to quote Scripture, are you? Prithee don’t tell me of Scripture, I know what you mean, the Devils believe and tremble; why then I have the whip-hand of the Devil, for I hate trembling; and I am deliver’d from it effectually, for I never believed any thing of it, and therefore I don’t tremble.
Gr. And there, indeed, I am a wickeder creature than the Devil, or even than my Lord Duke, for I believe, and yet don’t tremble neither.
D. Nay, if you are come to your penitentials I have done with you.
Gr. And I think I must have done with my Lord Duke, for the same reason.
D. Ay, ay, pray do, I’ll go and enjoy my self; I won’t throw away the pleasure of my life, I know the consequence of it.
Gr. And I’ll go and reform my self, else I know the consequence too.
This short Dialogue happen’d between two men of quality, and both men of wit too; and the effect was, that the Lord brought the reality of the Devil into the question, and the debate brought the profligate to be a penitent; so in short, the Devil was made a preacher of repentance.
The Truth is, God and the Devil, however opposite in their nature, and remote from one another in their place of abiding, seem to stand pretty much upon a level in our faith: For as to our believing the reality of their existence, he that denies one, generally denies both; and he that believes one, necessarily believes both.
Very few, if any of those who believe there is a God, and acknowledge the debt of homage which mankind owes to the supreme Governor of the World, doubt the existence of the Devil, except here and there one, whom we call practical Atheists; and ’tis the character of an Atheist, if there is such a creature
Mean’t of nothing.
