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
But in reality, _Spiritual Woes_ are the _principal Woes_ among all
those that the Devil would have us undone withal. _Sins_ are the worst
of _Woes_, and the Devil seeks nothing so much as to plunge us into
Sins. When men do commit a Crime for which they are to be Indicted, they
are usually _mov'd by the Instigation of the Devil_. The Devil will put
_ill men upon being worse_. Was it not he that said in _1 King. 22.22._
_I will go forth, and be a lying Spirit in the Mouth of all the
Prophets?_ Even so the Devil becomes an _Unclean Spirit_, _a Drinking
Spirit_, _a Swearing Spirit_, _a Worldly Spirit_, _a Passionate Spirit_,
_a Revengeful Spirit_, and the like in the Hearts of those that are
already too much of such a Spirit; and thus they become improv'd in
Sinfulness. Yea, the Devil will put _good men upon doing ill_. Thus we
read in _1 Chron. 21.1._ _Satan provoked David to number Israel._ And so
the _Devil provokes_ men that are Eminent in Holiness unto such things
as may become eminently Pernicious; he _provokes_ them especially unto
_Pride_, and unto many unsuitable Emulations. There are likewise most
lamentable Impressions which the _Devil_ makes upon the _Souls of Men_
by way of punishment upon them for their _Sins_. 'Tis thus when an
Offended God puts the Souls of Men over into the Hands of that Officer
_who has the power of Death, that is, the Devil_. It is the woful Misery
of Unbelievers in _2 Cor. 4.4._ _The god of this World has blinded their
minds._ And thus it may be said of those woful Wretches whom the _Devil_
is a God unto, _the Devil so muffles them that they cannot see the
things of their peace._ And _the Devil so hardens them, that nothing
will awaken their cares about their Souls:_ How come so many to be
_Seared_ in their Sins? 'Tis the Devil that with a red hot Iron fetcht
from his Hell does _cauterise_ them. Thus 'tis, till perhaps at last
they come to have a _Wounded Conscience_ in them, and the Devil has
often a share in their Torturing and confounding Anguishes. The _Devil_
who Terrified _Cain_, and _Saul_, and _Judas_ into Desperation, still
becomes a _King of Terrors_ to many Sinners, and frights them from
laying hold on the Mercy of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. In these
regards, _Wo to us, when the Devil comes down upon us._
_Proposition V._ Toward the _End_ of his _Time_ the _Descent_ of the
Devil in _Wrath_ upon the World will produce more _woful Effects_, than
what have been _in former Ages_. The dying Dragon, will bite more
cruelly and sting more bloodily than ever he did before: The Death-pangs
of the Devil will make him to be more of a _Devil_ than ever he was; and
the Furnace of this _Nebuchadnezzar_ will be heated _seven times_
hotter, just before its putting out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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