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
Indeed, as the Devil does begrutch us all manner of _Good_, so he does
annoy us with all manner of _Wo_, as often as he finds himself capable
of doing it. But shall we mention some of the _special woes_ with which
the Devil does usually infest the World! Briefly then; _Plagues_ are
some of those _woes_ with which the Devil troubles us. It is said of the
_Israelites_, in _1 Cor. 10.10._ _They were destroyed of the destroyer._
That is, they had the _Plague_ among them. 'Tis the _Destroyer_, or _the
Devil_, that scatters _Plagues_ about the World. Pestilential and
Contagious Diseases, 'tis the Devil who does oftentimes invade us with
them. 'Tis no uneasy thing for the Devil to impregnate the Air about us,
with such Malignant _Salts_, as meeting with _the Salt_ of our
_Microcosm_, shall immediately cast us into that Fermentation and
Putrefaction, which will utterly dissolve all the Vital Tyes within us;
Ev'n as an _Aqua-Fortis_, made with a conjunction of _Nitre_ and
_Vitriol_, Corrodes what it Seizes upon. And when the Devil has raised
those _Arsenical Fumes_, which become _Venemous Quivers_ full of
_Terrible Arrows_, how easily can he shoot the deleterious _Miasms_ into
those Juices or Bowels of Mens Bodies, which will soon Enflame them with
a Mortal Fire! Hence come such _Plagues_, as that _Beesom of
Destruction_, which within our memory swept away such a Throng of People
from one _English_ City in one Visitation; And hence those Infectious
Fevers, which are but so many _Disguised Plagues_ among us, causing
Epidemical Desolations. Again, _Wars_ are also some of those _Woes_,
with which the Devil causes our Trouble. It is said in _Rev. 12.17._
_The Dragon was Wrath, and he went to make War;_ and there is in truth
scarce any _War_, but what is of the _Dragon's_ kindling. The Devil is
that _Vulcan_, out of whose Forge come the instruments of our _Wars_,
and it is he that finds us Employments for those Instruments. We read
concerning _Daemoniacks_, or People in whom the Devil was, that they
would cut and wound themselves; and so, when the Devil is in Men, he
puts 'em upon dealing in that barbarous fashion with one another. _Wars_
do often furnish him with some Thousands of Souls in one Morning from
one Acre of Ground; and for the sake of such _Thyestaean_ Banquets, he
will push us upon as many _Wars_ as he can.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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