The Witchcraft Delusion in New England: Its Rise, Progress, and Termination, (Vol. 1 of 3)Mather, Cotton
History
The Witchcraft Delusion in New England: Its Rise, Progress, and Termination, (Vol. 1 of 3)
Mather, Cotton
Witchcraft -- New England
_Corollary II._ We may see the rise of those multiply'd, magnify'd, and
Singularly-stinged Afflictions, with which _aged_, or _dying_ Saints
frequently have their _Death_ Prefaced, and their _Age_ embittered.
When the Saints of God are going to leave the World, it is usually a
more _Stormy World_ with them, than ever it was; and they find more
_Vanity_, and more _Vexation_ in the world than ever they did before.
It is true, _That many are the afflictions of the Righteous;_ but a
little before they bid adieu to all those many _Afflictions_, they
often have greater, harder, Sorer, Loads thereof laid upon them, than
they had yet endured. It is true, _That thro' much Tribulation we must
enter into the Kingdom of God;_ but a little before our _Entrance_
thereinto, our _Tribulation_ may have some sharper accents of Sorrow,
than ever were yet upon it. And what is the cause of this? It is indeed
the _Faithfulness of our God unto us_, that we should find the Earth
more full of _Thorns_ and _Briars_ than ever, just before he fetches us
from _Earth_ to _Heaven;_ that so we may go away the more willingly,
the more easily, and with less Convulsion, at his calling for us. O
there are _ugly Ties_, by which we are fastned unto this world; but
God will by _Thorns and Briars_ tear those _Ties_ asunder. But, _is
not the Hand of Joab here?_ Sure, There is the _wrath_ of the _Devil_
also in it. A little before we step into Heaven, the _Devil_ thinks
with himself, _My time to abuse that Saint is now but short; what
Mischief I am to do that Saint, must be done quickly, if at all; he'l
shortly be out of my Reach for ever._ And for this cause he will now
fly upon us with the Fiercest Efforts and Furies of his _Wrath_. It was
allowed unto the _Serpent_, in Gen. 2. 15. To _Bruise the Heel_. Why,
at the _Heel_, or at the _Close_, of our Lives, the _Serpent_ will be
nibbling, more than ever in our Lives before: and it is _Because now he
has but a short time_. He knows, That we shall very shortly be, _Where
the wicked cease from Troubling, and where the Weary are at Rest;_
wherefore that _Wicked_ one will now _Trouble_ us, more than ever he
did, and we shall have so much _Disrest_, as will make us more _weary_
than ever we were, of things here below.
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