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

by Daniel Defoe

And let none of my Readers be angry or think themselves ill used, when I tell them the Devil may be in them, and may act them, and by them, and they not know it; for I must add, it may, perhaps, be one of the greatest Pieces of human Wisdom in the World, for a Man to know when the Devil is in him, and when not; when he is a Tool and Agent of Hell, and when he is not; in a Word, when he is doing the Devil’s Work, and under his Direction, and when not.

It is true, this is a very weighty Point, and might deserve to be handled in a more serious Way than I seem to be talking in all this Book; but give me leave to talk of Things my own way, and withall, to tell you, that there is no Part of this Work so seemingly ludicrous, but a grave and well weigh’d Mind may make a serious and solid Application of it, if they please; nor is there any Part of this Work, in which a clear Sight and a good Sense may not see that the Author’s Design is, that they should do so; and as I am now so near the End of my Book, I thought it was meet to tell you so, and lead you to it as far as I can.

I say, ’tis a great Part of human Wisdom to know when the Devil is acting in us and by us, and when not; the next and still greatest Part would be to prevent him, put a Stop to his Progress, bid him go about his Business, and let him know he should carry on his Designs no farther in that manner; that we will be his Tools no longer; in short, to turn him out of Doors, and bring a stronger Power to take Possession; but this, indeed, is too solid a Subject, and too great to begin with here.

But now, as to the bare knowing when he is at work with us, I say this, tho’ it is considerable, may be done, nor is it so very difficult; for Example, you have no more to do but look a little into the Microcosm of the Soul, and see there how the Passions which are the Blood, and the Affections which are the Spirit, move in their particular Vessels; how they circulate, and in what Temper the Pulse beats there, and you may easily see who turns the Wheel; if a perfect Calm possesses the Soul; if Peace and Temper prevail, and the Mind feels no Tempests rising; if the Affections are regular and exalted to vertuous and sublime Objects, the Spirits cool, and the Mind sedate, the Man is in a general Rectitude of Mind, he may be truly said to be his own Man; Heaven shines upon his Soul with its benign Influences, and he is out of the Reach of the evil Spirit; for the divine Spirit is an Influence of Peace, all calm and bright, happy and sweet like it self, and tending to every Thing that is good both present and future.

But on the other Hand, if at any Time the Mind is ruffled, if Vapours rise, Clouds gather, if Passions swell the Breast, if Anger, Envy, Revenge, Hatred, Wrath, Strife; if these, or any of these hover over you, much more if you feel them within you; if the Affections are possess’d, and the Soul hurried down the Stream to embrace low and base Objects; if those Spirits, which are the Life and enlivening Powers of the Soul, are drawn off to Parties, and to be engag’d in a vicious and corrupt manner, shooting out wild and wicked Desires, and running the Man headlong into Crime, the Case is easily resolv’d, the Man is possess’d, the Devil is in him; and having taken the Fort, or at least the Counterscarp and Out-Works, is making his Lodgment to cover and secure himself in his Hold, that he may not be dispossess’d.

Nor can he be easily dispossess’d when he has got such hold as this; and ’tis no wonder, that being lodg’d thus upon the Out-Works of the Soul he continues to sap the Foundation of the rest, and by his incessant and furious Assaults, reduces the Man at last to a Surrender.

If the Allegory be not as just and apposite as you would have it be, you may, however, see by it in a full View, the State of the Man, and how the Devil carries on his Designs; nothing is more common, and I believe there are few thinking Minds but may reflect upon it in their own Compass, than for our Passions and Affections to flow out of the ordinary Channel; the Spirits and Blood of the Soul to be extravasated, the Passions grow violent and outragious, the Affections impetuous, corrupt and violently vicious: Whence does all this proceed? from Heaven we can’t pretend it comes; if we must not say ’tis the Devil, whose Door must it lie at? Pride swells the Passions; Avarice moves the Affections; and what is Pride, and what is Avarice, but the Devil in the Inside of the Man? ay, as personally and really as ever he was in the Herd of Swine.

Let not any Man then, who is a Slave to his Passions, or who is chain’d down to his Covetousness, pretend to take it ill, when I say he has the Devil in him, or that he is a Devil: What else can it be, and how comes it to pass that Passion and Revenge so often dispossess the Man of himself, as to lead him to commit Murther, to lay Plots and Snares for the Life of his Enemies, and so to thirst for Blood? How comes this but by the Devil’s putting those Spirits of the Soul into so violent a Ferment, into a Fever? that the Circulation is precipitated to that Degree, and that the Man too is precipitated into Mischief, and at last into Ruin; ’tis all the Devil, tho’ the Man does not know it.

In like manner Avarice leads him to rob, plunder and destroy for Money, and to commit sometimes the worst of Violences to obtain the wicked Reward. How many have had their Throats cut for their Money, have been murther’d on the Highway, or in their Beds, for the Desire of what they had? It is the same Thing in other Articles, every Vice is the Devil in a Man; Lust of Rule is the Devil of great Men, and that Ambition is their Devil as much as whoring is Father ———’s Devil, one has a Devil of one Class acting him, one another, and every Man’s reigning Vice is a Devil to him.

Thus the Devil has his involuntary Instruments, as well as those who act in Confederacy with him; he has a very great Share in many of us, and acts us, and in us, unknown to our selves tho’ we know nothing of it, and indeed tho’ we may not suspect it of our selves; like Hazael the Assyrian, who when the Prophet told him how he would act the Devil upon the poor Israelites, answer’d with Detestation, is thy Servant a Dog that he should do this Thing, and yet he was that Dog, and did all those cruel Things for all that; the Devil acting him, or acting in him, to make him wickeder than ever he thought it was possible for him to be.