The History of the Devil, by Daniel Defoe

Table of Contents

Preface.

Part I.

  1. Introduction to the whole work,
  2. Of the word Devil, as it is a proper name to the Devil, and any or all of his host, angels, &c.
  3. Of the original of the Devil, who he is, and what he was before his expulsion out of Heaven, and in what state he was from that time to the creation of man,
  4. Of the name of the Devil, his original, and the nature of his circumstances since he has been called by that name.
  5. Of the station Satan had in heaven before he fell; the nature and original of his crime; and some of Mr. Milton’s mistakes about it.
  6. What became of the Devil, and his host of fallen spirits, after their being expelled from heaven, and his wandering condition till the creation; with some more of Mr. Milton’s absurdities on that subject.
  7. Of the number of Satan’s host. How they came first to know of the new-created worlds now in being; and their measures with mankind upon the discovery.
  8. Of the power of the Devil at the time of the creation of this world; whether it has not been farther straitened and limited since that time; and what shifts and stratagems he is obliged to make use of to compass his designs upon mankind.
  9. Of the progress of Satan in carrying on his conquest over mankind, from the fall of Eve to the Deluge.
  10. Of the Devil’s second kingdom, and how he got footing in the renewed world by his victory over Noah and his race.
  11. Of Gods calling a church out of the midst of a de generate world; and of Satan’s new measures upon that incident. How he attacked them immediately; and his success in those attacks.

Part II.

  1. The Introduction.
  2. Of hell, as it is represented to us; and how the Devil is to be understood, as being personally in hell, when at the same time we find him at liberty ranging over the world.
  3. Of the manner of Satan’s acting and carrying on his affairs in this world; and particularly of his ordinary workings in the dark, by possession and agitation.
  4. Of Satan’s agents or missionaries, and their actings upon and in the winds of me?i, in his name.
  5. Of the Devil’s management in the Pagan hierarchy, by omens, entrails, augurs, oracles, and such like pageantry of hell; and how they went off the stage at last by the introduction of true religion.
  6. Of the extraordinary appearance of the Devil, and particularly of the cloven foot.
  7. Whether is most hurtful to the world, the Devil walking about without his cloven foot, or the cloven foot walking about without the Devil?
  8. Of the cloven foot walking about the world without the Devil; namely, of witches making bargains for the Devil; and particularly of selling the soul to the Devil.
  9. Of the tools the Devil works with, namely, Witches, Wizards or Warlocks, Conjurers, Magicians, Diviners, Astrologers, Interpreters of Dreams, Tellers of Fortunes, and, above all the rest, his particular modern Privy Counsellors, called Wits and Fools.
  10. Of the various methods the Devil takes to converse with mankind.
  11. Of divination, sorcery, the black art, pa-wawing, and such like pretenders to devilism; and how far the Devil is, or is not, concerned in them.
  12. Of the Devil’s last scene of liberty, and what may be supposed to be his end; with what we are to understand of his being tormented for ever and ever.

THE

HISTORY OF THE DEVIL:

CONTAINING

HIS ORIGINAL; A STATE OF HIS CIRCUMSTANCES; HIS CONDUCT, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE; THE VARIOUS TURNS OF HIS AFFAIRS FROM ADAM DOWN TO THIS PRESENT TIME; THE VARIOUS METHODS HE TAKES TO CONVERSE WITH MANKIND; WITH THE MANNER OF HIS MAKING WITCHES, WIZARDS, AND CONJURERS; AND HOW THEY SELL THEIR SOULS TO HIM, ETC. ETC.;

THE WHOLE

INTERSPERSED WITH MANY OF THE DEVIL’S ADVENTURES.

TO WHICH IS ADDED

A DESCRIPTION OF THE DEVIL’S DWELLING, CALLED HELL.

BY DEFOE, AUTHOR OF ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE,’ ‘THE KINGDOM OF LILLIPUT,’ ETC.

Bad as he is, the Devil may be abused,
Be falsely charged, and causelessly accused;
When men, unwilling to be blamed alone,
Shift off the crimes on him, which are their own.

SIXTH EDITION.

BOSTON:

PRINTED BY DOW & JACKSON. 1845.

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