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
I. The Devil in his _Temptations_ will set the Delight of this world
before us; but he'll set a fair, and a false _Varnish_ upon those
Delights. They were some unknown _Perspectives_, which the Devil had,
both for the Refracting of the _Medium_, and for the Magnifying of the
Object, whereby he gave our Lord at once a prospect of the whole Roman
Empire; but what was it? It was the _World_, and the _Glory_ of it; he
says not a word of the _World_, and the _Trouble_ of it. No sure; not a
word of that; the Devil will not have his Hook so barely expos'd unto
us. The Devil sets off the Delights of Sin, which he offers unto us,
with a stretched and raised Rhetorick; but he will not own, _That in the
midst of our Laughter, our Heart shall be sorrowful;_ and _That the end
of our Mirth shall be Heaviness._ There is but one Glass in the
Spectacles, with which the Devil would have us to read, those passages
in _Eccles. 11.9._ _Rejoyce, O young Man in thy youth, and let thy Heart
chear thee in the Dayes of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy Heart,
and in the sight of thine Eyes._ Thus far the Devil would have us to
Read; and he'll make many a fine Comment upon it; he'll tell us, That if
we'll follow the Courses of the World, we shall swim in all the Delights
of the World. But he is not willing you should Read out the next words;
_But know thou, that for all these things God shall bring thee into
Judgment._ O he's loth we should be aware of the dreadful Issues, and
Reckonings that our Worldly Delights will be attended with. He sets
before us, _The Pleasures of Sin_; but he will not say, _These are but
for a Season._ He sets before us, _The sweet Waters of Stealth_; but he
will not say, _There is Death in the Pot._ He is a _Mountebank_, that
will bestow nothing but Romantic Praises upon all that he makes us the
Offers of.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account