3 books to know The Devil. Джон Мильтон

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      THE SCRIPTURE IS THE first writing on earth where we find the Devil called by his own proper distinguishing denomination, DEVIL, or the Destroyer;² nor indeed is there any other author of antiquity, or of sufficient authority, which says anything of that kind about him.

      The meaning of the word Devil is destroyer. See Pool upon Acts xiii. 10.

      Here he makes his first appearance in the world, and on that occasion he is called the Serpent; but the Serpent, however since made to signify the Devil, when spoken of in general terms, was but the Devil’s representative, or the Devil in qnovis vehiculo, for that time, clothed in a bodily shape, acting under cover, and in disguise, or, if you will, the Devil in masquerade: nay, if we believe Mr. Milton, the angel Gabriel’s spear had such a secret powerful influence, as to make him strip of a sudden, and with a touch to unmask, and stand upright in his naked original shape, mere Devil, without any disguises whatsoever.

      Now as we go to the scripture for much of his history, so we must go there also for some of his names; and he has a great variety of names indeed, as his several mischievous doings guide us to conceive of him. The truth is, all the ancient names given him, of which the scripture is full, seem to be originals derived from, and adapted to, the several steps he has taken, and the several shapes he has appeared in, to do mischief in the world.

      Here he is called the Serpent, Gen. iii. 1.

      The Old Serpent, Rev. xii. 9.

      The Great Red Dragon, Rev. xii. 3.

      The Accuser of the Brethren, Rev. xii. 10.

      The Enemy, Matt. xiii. 39.

      Satan, Job i., Zech. iii. 1, 2.

      Belial, 2 Cor. vi. 15.

      Beelzebub, Matt. xii. 24.

      Mammon, Matt. vi. 24.

      The Angel of Light, 2 Cor. xi. 14.

      The Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Rev. ix. 11.

      The Prince of the Power of the Air, Eph. ii. 2.

      Lucifer, Isa. xiv. 12.

      Abaddon or Apollyon, Rev. ix. 11.

      Legion, Mark v. 9.

      Joke God of this World, 2 Cor. iv. 4.

      The Foul Spirit, Mark ix. 25.

      The Unclean Spirit, Mark i. 27.

      The Lying Spirit, 2 Chron. xxx.

      The Tempter, Matt. iv. 3.

      The Son of the Morning, Isa. xiv. 12.

      But to sum them all up in one, he is called in the New Testament plain DEVIL; all his other names are varied according to the custom of speech, and the dialects of the several nations where he is spoken of: but in a word, Devil is the common name of the Devil in all the known languages of the earth. Nay, all the mischiefs he is empowered to do, are in scripture placed to his account, under the particular title of the Devil, not of Devils in the plural number, though they are sometimes mentioned too; but in the singular it is the identical individual Devil, in and under whom all the little Devils, and all the great Devils, if such there fye, are supposed to act; nay, they are supposed to be governed arid directed by him. Thus we are told in scripture of the works of the Devil, 1 John iii. 8; of casting out the Devil, Mark i. 34; of resisting the Devi], James iv. 7; of our Saviour being tempted of the Devil, Matt. iv. 1; of Simon Magus, a child of the Devil, Acts xiii. 10; the Devil came down in great wrath, Rev. xii. 12; and the like. According to this usage in speech we go on to this day, and all the infernal things we converse with in the world, are fathered upon the Devil, as one undivided simple essence, by how many agents soever working: everything evil, frightful in appearance, wicked in its actings, horrible in its manner, monstrous in its effects, is called the Devil; in a word, Devil is a common name for all devils; that is to say, for all evil spirits, all evil powers, all evil works, and even all evil things: yet it is remarkable the Devil is no Old Testament word, and we never find it used in all that part of the Bible but four times, and then not once in the singular number, and not once to signify Satan as it is now understood.

      It is true the learned give a great many differing interpretations of the word Devil; the English commentators tell us, it means a destroyer, others that it signifies a deceiver, and the Greeks derive it from a calumniator, or false witness; for we find that Calumny was a goddess, to whom the Athenians built altars, and offered sacrifices, upon some solemn occasions; and they call her Διαβολὴ from whence came the masculine Διάβολος which we translate Devil.

      Thus we take the name of Devil to signify not persons only, but actions and habits; making imaginary devils, and transforming that substantial creature called Devil into everything noxious and offensive: thus, St. Francis being tempted by the Devil in the shape of a bag of money lying in the highway, the Saint having discovered the fraud, whether seeing his cloven-foot hang out of the purse, or whether he dis tinguished him by his smell of sulphur, or how otherwise, authors are not agreed; but I say, the Saint, having discovered the cheat, and outwitted the Devil, took occasion to preach СКАЧАТЬ