The Wonders of the Invisible World: Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England, to which is added A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England WitchesMather, Cotton
History
The Wonders of the Invisible World: Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England, to which is added A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches
Mather, Cotton
Witchcraft -- New England -- Early works to 1800
VII. The _Temptations_ of the Devil, aim at puffing and bloating of us
up, with _Pride_; as much perhaps as any one iniquity. The Devil would
have had Our Lord make a _Vain glorious_ Discovery of himself unto the
World, by _Flying in the air_, so as no mortal can. _Hoc Ithacus
velit_--the Devil would have us to soar aloft, and not only to be above
other men, but also to _know_ that we are so, _Pride_ is the Devils own
sin; and he affects especially to be, _The King over the Children of
Pride_, it is a caution in _1 Tim. 3.6._ A Pastor must not be _A Novice_;
_Lest being lifted up with Pride, He fall into the condemnation of the
Devil._ (_Summo ac Pio cum Tremore Hunc Textum Legamus nos Ministri
Juvenes!_) Accordingly, the Devil would have us to be inordinately taken
and moved with what _Excellencies_ our God has bestowed upon us. If our
_Estates_ rise, he would have us rise in our Spirits too. If we have
been blessed with Beauty, with Breeding, with Honour, with Success, with
Attire, with Spiritual Priviledges, or with Praise-worthy Performances;
Now says the Devil, _Think thy self better than other Men._ Yea, the
Devil would have us arrogate unto our selves, those _Excellencies_ which
really we never were owners of; and _Boast of a false Gift_. He would
have us moreover to Thirst after Applause among others that may see Our
_Excellencies_! and be impatient if we are not accounted _some-body_. He
would have us furthermore, to aspire after such a _Figure_, as God has
never yet seen fitting for us; and croud into some _High Chair_ that
becomes us not. Thus would the Devil Elevate us into the _Air_, above
our Neighbours; and why so? 'Tis that we may be punished with such
_Falls_, as may make us cry out with _David_, _O my Bones are broken
with my Falls!_ The Devil can't endure to see men lying in the _Dust_;
because there is no falling thence. He is a _Fallen Spirit_ himself, and
it pleases him to see the _Falls_ of men.
S. The Third of Our Lords Three Temptations, is related in such Terms as
these. _Matth. 4.8, 9._ _Again the Devil taketh him up, into an exceeding
High Mountain, and sheweth him all the Kingdoms of the world, and the
glory of them: and saith unto him, all these things will I give thee, if
thou wilt fall down and Worship me._ From whence take these Remarks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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