Ay, ay, Devils, said he, little charming Devils, but I must not be rude to them however.
Very well, said I, then you would be rude to God a Mighty, because you could not be rude to the Devil?
Why that’s true, said he, but what can we do? there’s no going to Church as the Case stands now, if we must not worship the Devil a little between whiles.
This is the Case indeed, and Satan carries his Point on every Hand; for if the fair speaking World, and the fair looking World are generally Devils, that is to say, are in his Management, we are sure the foul speaking and the foul doing World are all on his Side, and you have then only the fair-doing Part of the World that are out of his Class, and when we speak of them, O how few!
But I return to the Devil’s managing our wicked Part, for this he does with most exquisite Subtilty; and this is one Part of it, (viz.) he thrusts our Vices into our Virtues, by which he mixes the Clean and the Unclean, and thus by the Corruption of the one, poisons and debauches the other, so that the Slave he governs cannot account for his own common Actions, and is fain to be oblig’d to his Maker to accept of the Heart without the Hands and Feet; to take, as we vulgarly express it, the Will for the Deed, and if Heaven was not so good to come into that half in half Service, I don’t see but the Devil would carry away all his Servants: Here indeed I should enter into a long Detail of involuntary Wickedness, which in short, is neither more or less than the Devil in every Body, ay, in every one of you, (our Governors excepted) take it as you please.
What is our Language when we look back with Reflection and Reproach on past Follies? I think I was bewitch’d, I was posses’d, certainly the Devil was in me, or else I had never been such a Sot: Devil in you, Sir! Ay, who doubts it; you may be sure the Devil was in you, and there he is still, and next Time he can catch you in the same Snare, you’ll be just the same Sot that you say you were before.
In short, the Devil is too cunning for us, and manages us his own Way; he governs the Vices of Men by his own Methods; tho’ every Crime will not make a Man a Devil, yet it must be owned that every Crime puts the Criminal in some Measure into the Devil’s Power, gives him a Title to the Man, and he treats him magisterially ever after.
Some tell us every single Man, every individual has a Devil attending him, to execute the Orders of the (Grand Signior) Devil of the whole Clan; that this attending evil Angel, for so he is call’d, sees every Step you take, is with you in every Action, prompts you to every Mischief, and leaves you to do every Thing that is pernicious to your self; they also alledge that there is a good Spirit which attends him too, which latter is always accessary to every Thing that we do that is good, and reluctant to evil; If this is true, how comes it to pass that those two opposite Spirits do not quarrel about it when they are pressing us to contrary Actions, one good and the other evil? and why does the evil tempting Spirit so often prevail? Instead of answering this difficult Question, I shall only tell you, as to this Story of good and evil Angels attending every particular Person, ’tis a good Allegory indeed to represent the Struggle in the Mind of Man between good and evil Inclinations; but as to the rest, the best Thing I can say of it is, that I think ’tis a Fib.
But to take Things as they are, and only talk by way of natural Consequence, for to argue from Nature is certainly the best Way to find out the Devil’s Story; if there are good and evil Spirits attending us, that is to say, a good Angel and a Devil, then ’tis no unjust Reproach upon any Body to say, when they follow the Dictates of the latter, the Devil is in them; or they are Devils; nay, I must carry it farther still, namely, that as the Generality and greatest Number of People do follow and obey the evil Spirit and not the good, and that the predominate Power is allowed to be the nominating Power; you must then allow, that in short, the greater Part of Mankind has the Devil in them, and so I come to my Text.
To this Purpose give me leave to borrow a few Lines of a Friend on this very Part of the Devil’s Management.