3 books to know The Devil. Джон Мильтон
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had created it f so the same omnipotence had armed it at all points against the utmost power of hell; had made the smallest creature in it invulnerable, as to Satan; so that without the permission of the same power which had made heaven, and conquered the Devil, he could do nothing at all, as to destroying anything that God had made, no, not the little diminutive thing called man, whom Satan saw so much reason to hate, as being created to succeed him in happiness in heaven.
Satan found him placed out of his power to hurt, or out of his reach to touch. And here, by the way, appears the second conquest of heaven over the Devil; that having placed his rival, as it were, just before his face, and showed the hateful sight to him, he saw written upon his image, touch him if you dare.
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 plain 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 waste 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 restrained.
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 ajigelic nature. I mean his innocence, so he lost the power too that he had before; and that when he first commenced devil, he received the chains of restraint too, as the badge of his apostasy; namely, a general prohibition to do anything to the prejudice of this creation, or to act anything 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, whom, 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 chained mastiff, we find him oftentimes making an horrid hellish clamor and noise, barking and howling, and frightening 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.
Some are of opinion, that the Devil is not restrained so much by the superior power of his Sovereign and Maker; but that all his milder measures with man are the effect of a political scheme, and done upon mature deliberation; that it was resolved to act thus, in the great council of devils, called upon this very occasion, when they first were informed of the creation of man; and especially when they considered what kind of creature he was, and what might probably be the reason of making him; namely, to fill up the vacancies in heaven; I say, that then the devils resolved, that it was not for their interest to fall upon him with fury and rage, and so destroy the species, for that this would be no benefit at all to them, and would only cause another original man to be created; for that they knew God could, by the same omnipotence, form as many new species of creatures as he pleased; and, if he thought fit, create them in heaven too, out of the reach of devils, or evil spirits; and that, therefore, to destroy man would no way answer their end.
On the other hand, examining strictly the mould of this new made creature, and of what materials he was formed; how mixed up of a nature convertible and pervertible; capable indeed of infinite excellence, and consequently of eternal felicity; but subject, likewise, to corruption and degeneracy, and, consequently, to eternal misery; that, instead of being fit to supply the places of Satan and his rejected tribe (the expelled angels) in heaven, and filling up the thrones or stalls in the celestial choir, they might, if they could but be brought into crime, become a race of rebels and traitors like the rest; and so come at last to keep them company, as well in the place of eternal misery as in the merit of it, and, in a word, become devils instead of angels;
Upon this discovery, I say, they found it infinitely more for the interest of Satan’s infernal kingdom, to go another way to work with mankind, and see if it were possible, by the strength of their infernal wit and counsels, to lay some snare for him, and by some stratagem to bring him to eternal ruin and misery.
This being then approved as their only method, (and the Devil showed he was no fool in the choice,) he next resolved, that there was no time to be lost; that it was to be set about immediately, before the race was multiplied, and by that means the work be not made greater only, but perhaps the more difficult too. Accordingly the diligent Devil went instantly about it, agreeably to all the story of Eve and the serpent, as before; the belief of which, whether historically or allegorically, is not at all obstructed by this hypothesis.
I do not affirm that this was the case at first, because being not present in that black divan, at least not that I know of, (for who knows where he was, or was not, in his preexistent state?) I cannot be positive in the resolve that passed there; but except for some very little contradiction, which we find in the sacred writings, I should, I confess, incline to believe it historically; and I shall speak of those things which I call contradictions to it more largely hereafter.
In the mean time, be it one way or other, that is to say, either that Satan had no power to have proceeded with man by violence, and to have destroyed him as soon as he was made; or that he had the power, but chose rather to proceed by other methods to deceive and debauoh him; I say, be it which you please, I am still of the opinion, that it really was not the Devil’s business to destroy the species; that it would have been nothing to the purpose, and no advantage at all to him, if he had done it; for that, as above, God could immediately have created another species to the same end, whom he either could have made invulnerable, and not subject to the Devil’s power, or removed him out of Satan’s reach; placed him out of the Devil’s ken, in heaven, or some other place, where the Devil could not come to hurt him; and that, therefore, it is infinitely more his advantage, and more suited to his real design of defeating the end of man’s creation, to debauch him, and make a devil of him, that he may be rejected like himself, and increase the infernal kingdom and company in the lake of misery, in ceternum.
It may be true, for aught I know, that Satan has not the power of destruction put into his hand, and that he cannot take away the life of a man: and it seems probable to be so, from the story of Satan and Job, when Satan appeared among the sons of God, as the text says, (Job i. 6.) Now when God gave such a character of Job to him, and asked him if he had considered his servant Job, (verse 8,) why did not the Devil go immediately and exert his malice against the good man at once, to let his Maker see what would become of his servant Job in his distress? On the contrary, we see he only answers by showing the reason of Job’s good behavior; that it was but common gratitude for the blessing and protection he enjoyed, (verse 10,) and pleading that if his estate was taken away, and he was exposed as he (Satan) was, to be a beggar and a vagabond, going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down therein, he should be a very devil too like himself, and curse God to his face.
Upon this, the text says that God answered, (verse 11,) “ Behold, all that he hath is in thy power.” Now it is plain here, that God gave up Job’s wealth and estate, nay, his family, and the lives of his children and servants, into the Devil’s power; and accordingly, like a true merciless devil,