XVII. _If the witnesses affirm upon Oath, that the suspected person

hath done any action or work which necessarily infers a Covenant made, as, that he hath used En-[16]chantments, divined things before they come to pass, and that peremptorily, raised Tempests, caused the Form of a dead man to appear; it proveth sufficiently, that he or she is a_ Witch.[72] This is the Substance of Mr. _Perkins_. * * * * * 'Take next the Sum of Mr. _Gaules_[73] Judgment about the Detection of Witches. 1. Some Tokens for the Trial of Witches are altogether unwarrantable. Suchare the old Paganish Sign, the Witches _Long Eyes;_ the Tradition of Witches not weeping; the casting of the Witch into the Water, with Thumbs and Toes ty'd a-cross. And many more such Marks, which if they are to know a Witch by, certainly 'tis no other Witch, but the User of them. 2. There are some Tokens for the Trial of Witches, more probable, and yet not so certain as to afford Conviction. Such are strong and long Suspicion: Suspected Ancestors, some appearance of Fact, the Corps bleeding upon the Witches touch, the Testimony of the Party bewitched, the supposed Witches unusual Bodily marks, the Witches usual Cursing and Banning, the Witches lewd and naughty kind of Life. 3. Some Signs there are of a Witch, more certain and infallible. As, _firstly_, Declining of Judicature, or faultering, faulty, unconstant, and contrary Answers, upon judicial and deliberate examination. _Secondly_, When upon due Enquiry into a person's Faith and Manners, there are found _all_ or _most_ of the Causes which produce Witchcraft, namely, _God_ forsaking, _Satan_ invading, particular _Sins_ disposing; and lastly, a compact compleating all. _Thirdly_, The Witches free Confession, together with full Evidence of the Fact. _Confession_ without _Fact_ may be a meer Delusion, and _Fact_ without _Confession_ may be a meer Accident. _4thly_, The semblable Gestures and Actions of suspected Witches, with the comparable Expressions of Affections, which in all Witches have been observ'd and found very much alike. _Fifthly_, The Testimony of the Party bewitched, whether pining or dying, together with the joynt Oaths of sufficient persons, that have seen certain prodigious Pranks or Feats, wrought by the Party accused. 4. Among the most unhappy circumstances to convict a Witch, one is, a maligning and oppugning the Word, Work, and Worship of God, and by any extraordinary sign seeking to seduce any from it. See _Deut._ 13. 1, 2, _Mat._ 24. 24. _Act._ 13. 8, 10. 2 _Tim._ 3. 8. Do but mark well the places, and for this very Property (of thus opposing and perverting) they are all there concluded arrant and absolute Witches. 5. It is not requisite, that so _palpable Evidence of Conviction_ should here come in, as in other more sensible matters; 'tis enough, if there be but so much _circumstantial_ Proof or Evidence, as the Substance, Matter, and Nature of such an abstruse Mystery of Iniquity will well admit. [_I suppose he means, that whereas in other Crimes we look for more direct proofs, in this there is a greater use of consequential ones._] 'But I could heartily wish, that the Juries were empanell'd of the most eminent Physicians, Lawyers, and Divines that a Country could afford. In the mean time 'tis not to be called a Toleration, if Witches escape, where Conviction is wanting. To this purpose our _Gaule_.' I will transcribe a little from one Author more, 'tis the Judicious _Bernard_ of _Batcomb_,[74] who in his _Guide to grand Jurymen_, after he has mention'd several things that are shrewd Presumptions of a Witch, proceeds to such things as are the _Convictions_ of such an one. And he says, '_A witch in league with the_ Devil _is convicted by_ [1][75] _these Evidences;_ I. By a witches _Mark;_ which is on the Baser sort of Witches; and this, by the Devils either Sucking or Touching of them. _Tertullian_ says, _It is the Devils custome to mark his_. And note, That this mark is _Insensible_, and being prick'd it will not Bleed. Sometimes, its like a _Teate;_ sometimes but a _Blewish Spot;_ sometimes a _Red_ one; and sometimes the _flesh Sunk:_ but the Witches do sometimes cover them. II. By the Witches _Words_. As when they have been heard calling on, speaking to, or Talking of their _Familiars;_ or, when they have been heard _Telling_ of _Hurt_ they have done to man or beast: Or when they have been heard _Threatning_ of such Hurt; Or if they have been heard Relating their _Transportations_. III. By the Witches _Deeds_. As when they have been _seen_ with their Spirits, or seen secretly Feeding any of their _Imps_. Or, when there can be found their Pictures, Poppets, and other Hellish Compositions. IV. By the Witches _Extasies:_ With the Delight whereof, Witches are so taken, that they will hardly conceal the same: Or, however at some time or other, they may be found in them. V. By one or more _Fellow-Witches_, Confessing their own Witchcraft, and bearing Witness against others; if they can make good the Truth of their Witness, and give sufficient proof of it. As, that they have seen them with their Spirits or, that they have Received Spirits from them; or that they can tell, when they used Witchery-Tricks to Do Harm; or, that they told them what Harm they had done; or that they can show the mark upon them; or, that they have been together in their Meetings; and such like. VI. By some _Witness of God_ Himself, happening upon the Execrable Curses of Witches upon themselves, Praying of God to show some Token, if they be Guilty. VII. By the Witches own _Confession_, of Giving their Souls to the Devil. It is no Rare thing, for Witches to Confess.' They are Considerable Things, which I have thus Recited; and yet it must be with _Open Eyes_, kept upon _Open Rules_, that we are to follow these things. _S._ 8. But _Juries_ are not the only Instruments to be imploy'd in such a Work; all _Christians_ are to be concerned with daily and fervent _Prayers_, for the assisting of it. In the Days of _Athanasius_, the Devils were found unable to stand before that _Prayer_, however then used perhaps with too much of Ceremony, _Let God Arise, Let his Enemies be scattered_. _Let them also that Hate Him, flee before Him._ O that instead of letting our Hearts _Rise_ against one another, our Prayers might _Rise_ unto an high pitch of Importunity, for such a _Rising_ of the Lord! Especially, Let them that are _Suffering_ by _Witchcraft_, be sure to _stay_ and _pray_, and _Beseech the Lord thrice_, even as much as ever they can, before they complain of any Neighbour for afflicting them. Let them also that are _accused_ of _Witchcraft_, set themselves to _Fast_ and _Pray_, and so shake off the _Dæmons_ that would like _Vipers_ fasten upon them; and get the _Waters of Jealousie_ made profitable to them. And Now, O _Thou Hope of_ New-England, _and the Saviour thereof in the Time of Trouble; Do thou look mercifully down upon us, & Rescue us, out of the Trouble which at this time do's threaten to swallow us up. Let Satan be shortly bruised under our Feet, and Let the Covenanted Vassals of Satan, which have Traiterously brought him in upon us, be Gloriously Conquered, by thy Powerful and Gracious Presence in the midst of us. Abhor us not, O God, but cleanse us, but heal us, but save us, for the sake of thy Glory. Enwrapped in our Salvations. By thy Spirit, Lift up a standard against our infernal adversaries, Let us quickly find thee making of us glad, according to the Days wherein we have been afflicted. Accept of all our Endeavours to glorify thee, in the Fires that are upon us; and among the rest, Let these my poor and weak essays, composed with what Tears, what Cares, what Prayers, thou_ only _knowest, not want the Acceptance of the Lord._ FOOTNOTES: [71] The same "Master William Perkins," I suppose, who wrote the three stout Folios of Puritan Theology, published in 1606, besides many smaller Works. The earliest Notice I find of him is by another equally famous and voluminous Puritan, the Rev. Samuel Clark, in his _Marrow of Ecclesiastical History_, published in 1650. Mr. Clark informs us that William Perkins was born at Marston in Warwickshire, in 1558, was educated at "_Christ's_ College in _Cambridg_," and that in the 24th of _Elizabeth_, he was chosen a Fellow of that College, and that "hee was very wilde in his Youth." From his Professorship, "hee was chosen to _Saint Andrews_ Parish in _Cambridg_, where he preached all his Life after. His Sermons were not so plain, but the piously learned did admire them; nor so learned, but the plain did understand them: Hee brought the Schools into the Pulpit, and unshelling their Controversies out of their hard School-tearms, made thereof plain and wholsom Meat for his People: He was an excellent Chirurgion at the jointing of a broken Soul, and at stating of a doubtful Conscience. In his Sermons hee used to pronounce the Word _Damn_ with such an Emphasis, as left a dolefull Echo in his Auditor's Ears a good while after: and when hee was Catechist in Christ's College, in expounding the Commandments, hee applied them so Home to the Conscience as was able to make his Hearers Harts fall down, and their Hairs almost to stand upright." On Reference to the Works of famous Thomas Fuller, it will be found, that in his Life of Perkins he has substantially the same Account. From that Author Mr. Clark doubtless borrowed the Expressions used by him, as Fuller's Work was published several Years before, and they seem peculiar to that highly talented Writer. Clark is followed because he was of the same religious Denomination as Mr. Perkins. Mr. Clark continues: "In his Life hee was so pious and spotless, that Malice was afraid to bite at his Credit, into which shee knew that her Teeth could not enter: Hee had a rare Felicitie in reading of Books, and as it were but turning them over would give an exact account of all that was considerable therein: hee perused Books so speedily that one would think that hee read nothing, and yet so accurately that one would think he read all: Besides his frequent Preaching, hee wrote manie excellent Books, both Treatises, and Commentaries, which for their Worth were manie of them translated into Latine, and sent beyond Sea, where to this Daie they are highly prized, and much set by, yea some of them are translated into _French_, _High-Dutch_, and _Low-Dutch:_ and his reformed Catholick was translated into _Spanish;_ yet no Spaniard ever since durst take up the Gantlet of Defiance cast down by this Champion." But there is one Fact mentioned by Fuller which Mr. Clark omits: "There goeth," he says, "an uncontrolled Tradition, that Perkins, when a young Scholar, was a great Studier of Magic, occasioned perchance by his Skill in the Mathematics. For, ignorant People count all Circles above their own Sphere to be Conjring; and presently cry out, 'those Things are done by Black Art' for which their dim Eyes can see no Colour in Reason. And in such Case, when they cannot fly up to Heaven to make it a Miracle, they fetch it from Hell to make it Magic, though it may lawfully be done by natural Causes." Mr. Perkins died "in the fourtieth Year of his Age, _Anno_ 1602, being born the first, and dying the last Year of [the Reign of] Elizabeth: He was of a ruddie Complexion, fat and corpulent: Lame of his right Hand, yet this _Ehud_ with a left-handed Pen did stab the Romish Caus--as one faith: [Hugh Holland] 'Though Nature thee of thy right Hand bereft. 'Right well thou writest with thy Hand that's left.' "Hee was buried with great Solemnity at the sole Charges of Christs College, the Universitie, and Town striving which should express more Sorrow thereat: Doctor _Montague_, afterwards Bishop of Winchester preached his Funeral Sermon."--_Marrow of Ecclesiastical Historie_, 414-417, and Fuller's _Holy and Profane State_, 80-84. The well known Rev. Mr. Job Orton speaks of the Folios of Perkins with Delight, and adds: "What led me more particularly to read him was, that his Elder Brother was one of my Ancestors, from whom I am in a direct Line, by my Mother's Side descended."--Orton, in _Brook's Lives_, ii, 135. In his Will, dated 16 Oct., 1602, he mentions, among others, Nathaniel Cradock, his Brother-in-law, Wife Timothye, Father and Mother Thomas and Anna Perkins, Son-in-law, John Hinde, and Brethren and Sisters, but not by Name.--_Ibid._ I have been more particular in this Notice of Perkins for two Reasons; first, because of his Puritanism he was selected as a prime Authority in Matters of Witchcraft by our Author; and second, because he seems to have been a Man possessing that Precocity of Mind, and in other respects was similarly gifted. To those desirous of learning more of that noted Puritan Leader will find Gratification in the excellent and elaborate Life of him in Brook's _Lives of the Puritans_. [72] On perusing these Articles for the Detection of Witches, one cannot escape the Conviction that on their being sifted by the ordinary Rules of Common-sense, they actually amount to nothing at all. Thus in Article VI it is laid down, that "Witchcraft is an Art, that may be learned, and conveyed from Man to Man." This Postulate follows of course, previously assuming that the Occult Sciences originate in Mathematics; and further, that Mathematical Calculations are inseparable from the Laws that govern the whole System of the Universe, and hence emanate from, or are a Part of the Creator himself. Whence then, with this inevitable Conclusion, does the "Art" originate? Nothing can be clearer, therefore, than this,--if those learned Plodders of Master Perkins's Time had followed out the most simple Rules of Logic, they would have had neither Witch nor Devil wherewith to addle their own Brains, or to confound those of the unlearned Multitude. This Question being disposed of, all others having Dependence on it, or traceable to it, effectually dispose of the whole Question of Witchcraft. [73] John Gaule has not, so far as ascertained, been stumbled on by any Makers of Biographical Dictionaries, and Bibliographers are almost equally silent. How many Works he was Author of is not known. The Title of one is _Distractions, or Holy Madness_, 12mo, 1629. He wrote other theological Works, but their Titles have not come to the Annotator's Knowledge. [74] As there is more than one _Batcomb_ in England "Judicious Bernard's" being _of_ that Place is not much of a Guide to any looking after his Biography. Fortunately, or unfortunately for him, his Portrait was engraved, and that caused him to be noticed by Granger. His Name was Richard, and he was Pastor of "Batcombe" in Somersetshire. The Work extracted from by our Author was published in 1627. He was Author of a Concordance to the Bible, though it was not so entitled; also of a Work called the _Threefold Treatise of the Sabbath_, in 1641, in which Year he died. His Portrait by Hollar first appeared in this Work.--_Biog. Hist. England_, ii, 369. He was perhaps the Author of _The Isle of Man; or the Legal Proceedings in Man-Shire against Sinne_, 12mo, 1635. [75] Here the paging begins anew, in the Edition followed. [Decoration] [2] A DISCOURSE ON THE WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD.[76] UTTERED (IN PART) ON AUG. 4, 1692. Ecclesiastical History has Reported it unto us, That a Renowned Martyr at the Stake, seeing the Book of the REVELATION thrown by his no less Profane than Bloody Persecutors, to be Burn'd in the same Fire with himself, he cryed out, _O Beata Apocalypsis; quam bene mecum agitur, qui tecum Comburar!_ BLESSED REVELATION! said he, _How Blessed am I in this Fire, while I have Thee to bear me Company_.[77] As for our selves this Day, 'tis a Fire of sore Affliction and Confusion, wherein we are Embroiled; but it is no inconsiderable Advantage unto us, that we have the Company of this Glorious and Sacred Book the REVELATION to assist us in our Exercises. From that Book there is one Text, which I would single out at this time to lay before you; 'tis that in REVEL. xii. 12. _Wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth, and of the Sea; for the Devil is come down unto you, having great Wrath; because he knoweth, that he hath but a short time._ THE Text is Like the Cloudy and Fiery Pillar, vouchsafed unto _Israel_, in the Wilderness of old; there is a very _dark side_ of it in the Intimation, that, _The Devil is come down having great Wrath;_ but it has also a _bright side_, when it assures us, that, _He has but a short time;_ Unto the Contemplation of _both_, I do this Day Invite you. We have in our Hands a Letter from our Ascended Lord in Heaven, to Advise us of his being still alive, and of his Purpose e're long, to give us a Visit, wherein we shall see our Living _Redeemer, stand at the latter day upon the Earth_. 'Tis the last Advice that we have had from Heaven, for now sixteen Hundred years; and the scope of it, is, to represent how the Lord Jesus Christ having begun to set up his Kingdom in the World, by the preaching of the Gospel, he would from time to time utterly break to pieces all Powers that should make Head against it, until, _The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdomes of our Lord, and of his_ [3] _Christ, and he shall Reign for ever and ever_. 'Tis a Commentary on what had been written by _Daniel_, about, _The fourth Monarchy;_ with some Touches upon, _The Fifth;_ wherein, _The greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High:_ And altho' it have, as 'tis expressed by one of the Ancients, _Tot Sacramenta quot verba_, a Mystery in every Syllable, yet it is not altogether to be neglected with such a Despair, as that, _I cannot read, for the Book is sealed_. It is a REVELATION, and a singular, and notable _Blessing_ is pronounced upon them that humbly study it. The Divine Oracles, have with a most admirable Artifice and Carefulness, drawn, as the very pious _Beverley_, has laboriously Evinced, an exact LINE OF TIME, from the first Sabbath at the _Creation_ of the World, unto the great Sabbatism at the _Restitution_ of all Things. In that famous _Line of Time_, from the Decree for the Restoring of _Jerusalem_, after the Babylonish Captivity, there seem to remain a matter of _Two Thousand and Three Hundred Years_, unto that _New Jerusalem_, whereto the Church is to be advanced, when the Mystical _Babylon_ shall be _fallen_. At the Resurrection of our Lord, there were seventeen or eighteen Hundred of those Years, yet upon the Line, to run unto, _The rest which remains for the People of God;_ and this Remnant in the _Line of Time_, is here in our _Apocalypse_, variously Embossed, Adorned, and Signalized with such Distinguishing Events, if we mind them, will help us escape that Censure, _Can ye not Discern the Signs of the Times?_ The Apostle _John_, for the View of these Things, had laid before him, as I conceive, a _Book_, with leaves, or folds; which _Volumn_ was written both on the _Backside_, and on the _Inside_, and Roll'd up in a Cylindriacal Form, under seven _Labels_, fastned with so many _Seals_. The first _Seal_ being opened, and the first _Label_ removed, under the first _Label_ the Apostle saw what he saw, of a first _Rider_ Pourtray'd, and so on, till the last _Seal_ was broken up; each of the Sculptures being enlarged with agreeable _Visions_ and _Voices_, to illustrate it. The Book being now Unrolled, there were _Trumpets_, with wonderful Concomitants, Exhibited successively on the Expanding _Backside_ of it. Whereupon the Book was _Eaten_, as it were to be Hidden, from Interpretations; till afterwards, in the _Inside_ of it, the Kingdom of Anti-christ came to be Exposed. Thus, the Judgments of God on the _Roman Empire_, first unto the Downfal of _Paganism_, and then, unto the Downfal of _Popery_, which is but Revived _Paganism_, are in these Displayes, with Lively Colours and Features made sensible unto us. [4] Accordingly, in the Twelfth Chapter of this Book, we have an August Preface, to the Description of that Horrid _Kingdom_, which our Lord Christ refused, but Antichrist accepted, from the Devils Hands; a Kingdom, which for _Twelve Hundred and Sixty_ Years together, was to be a continual oppression upon the People of God, and opposition unto his Interests; until the Arrival of that Illustrious Day, wherein, _The Kingdom shall be the Lords, and he shall be Governour among the Nations_. The Chapter is (as an Excellent Person calls it) an _Extravasated Account_ of the Circumstances, which befell the _Primitive Church_, during the first Four or Five Hundred Years of Christianity: It shows us the Face of the Church, first in _Rome_ Heathenish, and then in Rome Converted, before the _Man of Sin_ was yet come to _Mans Estate_. Our Text contains the Acclamations made upon the most Glorious Revolution that ever yet happened upon the Roman Empire; namely, That wherein the Travailing Church brought forth a Christian Emperour. This was a most Eminent _Victory_ over the Devil, and _Resemblance_ of the State, wherein the World, ere long shall see, _The Kingdom of our God, and the Power of his Christ_. It is here noted, First, As a matter of _Triumph_. 'Tis said, _Rejoyce, ye Heavens, and ye that dwell in them_. The Saints in both Worlds, took the Comfort of this Revolution; the Devout Ones that had outlived the late Persecutions, were filled with Transporting Joys, when they saw the _Christian_ become the _Imperial_ Religion, and when they saw Good Men come to give Law unto the rest of Mankind; the Deceased Ones also, whose Blood had been Sacrificed in the Ten Persecutions, doubtless made the Light Regions to ring with _Hallelujahs_ unto God, when there were brought unto them, the Tidings of the Advances now given to the _Christian_ Religion, for which they had suffered _Martyrdom_. Secondly, As a matter of _Horror_. 'Tis said, _Wo to the Inhabiters of the Earth and of the Sea_. The _Earth_ still means the _False Church_, the _Sea_ means the _Wide World_, in Prophetical Phrasæology. There was yet left a vast party of Men, that were Enemies to the Christian Religion, in the power of it; a vast party left for the Devil to work upon: Unto these is a _Wo_ denounced; and why so? 'Tis added, _For the Devil is come down unto you, having great Wrath, because he knows, that he has but a short time_. These were, it seems, to have some desperate and peculiar Attempts of the Devil made upon them. In the mean time, we may entertain this for our Doctrine. _Great Wo proceeds from the Great_ WRATH, _with which_ [5] _the_ DEVIL, _towards the end of his_ TIME, _will make a_ DESCENT _upon a miserable World._ I have now Published a most awful and solemn Warning for our selves at this day; which has four _Propositions_, comprehended in it. _Proposition I._ That there is a _Devil_, is a thing Doubted by none but such as are under the Influence of the _Devil_. For any to deny the Being of a _Devil_ must be from an Ignorance or Profaneness, worse than _Diabolical_. _A Devil._ What is _that?_ We have a Definition of the Monster, in _Eph._ 6. 12. _A Spiritual Wickedness_, that is, _A wicked Spirit_. A Devil is a _Fallen Angel_, an Angel _Fallen_ from the Fear and Love of God, and from all Celestial Glories; but _Fallen_ to all manner of Wretchedness and Cursedness. He was once in that Order of Heavenly Creatures, which God in the Beginning made _Ministering Spirits_, for his own peculiar Service and Honour, in the management of the Universe; but we may now write that Epitaph upon him, _How art thou fallen from Heaven! thou hast said in thine Heart, I will Exalt my Throne above the Stars of God; but thou art brought down to Hell!_ A Devil is a _Spiritual_ and _Rational Substance_, by his _Apostacy_ from God, inclined to all that is Vicious, and for that _Apostacy_ confined unto the Atmosphere of this Earth, _in Chains, under Darkness, unto the Judgment of the Great Day_. This is a _Devil;_ and the _Experience_ of Mankind as well as the _Testimony_ of Scripture, does abundantly prove the Existence of such a Devil.[78] About this _Devil_, there are many things, whereof we may reasonably and profitably be Inquisitive; such things, I mean, as are in our Bibles Reveal'd unto us; according to which if we do not speak on so _dark_ a Subject, but according to our own uncertain, and perhaps humoursome Conjectures, _There is no Light in us_. I will carry you with me, but unto one Paragraph of the Bible, to be informed of three Things, relating to the _Devil;_ 'tis the Story of the _Gadaren Energumen_, in the fifth Chapter of _Mark_. First, then, 'Tis to be granted; the _Devils_ are so many, that some Thousands, can sometimes at once apply themselves to vex one Child of Man. It is said, in Mark 5. 15. _He that was Possessed with the Devil, had the Legion._ Dreadful to be spoken! A _Legion_ consisted of Twelve Thousand Five Hundred People: And we see that in one Man or two, so many _Devils_ can be spared for a Garrison. As the Prophet cryed out, _Multitudes, Multitudes, in the Valley of Decision!_ So I say, _There are multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of Destruction, where the Devils are!_ When [6] we speak of, _The Devil_, 'tis, _A name of Multitude;_ it means not _One_ Individual Devil, so Potent and Scient, as perhaps a _Manichee_ would imagine; but it means a _Kind_, which a _Multitude_ belongs unto. Alas, the _Devils_, they swarm about us, like the _Frogs of Egypt_, in the most Retired of our Chambers. Are we at our _Boards?_ There will be Devils to Tempt us unto Sensuality: Are we in our _Beds?_ There will be Devils to Tempt us unto Carnality; Are we in our _Shops?_ There will be Devils to Tempt us unto Dishonesty. Yea, Tho' we get into the Church of God, there will be Devils to Haunt us in the very _Temple_ it self, and there tempt us to manifold Misbehaviours. I am verily perswaded, That there are very few Humane Affairs whereinto some Devils are not Insinuated; There is not so much as a _Journey_ intended, but _Satan_ will have an hand in _hindering_ or _furthering_ of it. Secondly, 'Tis to be supposed, That there is a sort of Arbitrary, even Military _Government_, among the _Devils_. This is intimated, when in _Mar._ 5. 9. _The unclean Spirit said, My Name is Legion:_ they are under such a Discipline as _Legions_ use to be. Hence we read about, _The Prince of the power of the Air:_ Our _Air_ has a _power?_ or an Army of Devils in the _High Places_ of it; and these Devils have a _Prince_ over them, who is _King over the Children of Pride_. 'Tis probable, That the Devil, who was the Ringleader of that mutinous and rebellious Crew, which first shook off the Authority of God, is now the General of those Hellish Armies;[79] Our Lord, that Conquered him, has told us the Name of him; 'tis _Belzebub;_ 'tis he that is _the Devil_, and the rest are _his Angels_, or his Souldiers. Think on vast Regiments of cruel and bloody _French Dragoons_, with an _Intendant_ over them, overrunning a pillaged Neighbourhood, and you will think a little, what the Constitution among the _Devils_ is. Thirdly, 'tis to be supposed, that some Devils are more peculiarly _Commission'd_, and perhaps _Qualify'd_, for some Countries, while others are for others. This is intimated when in _Mar._ 5. 10. The Devils _besought_ our Lord much, _that he would not send them away out of the Countrey_. Why was that? But in all probability, because _these Devils_ were more able _to do the works of the Devil_, in such a Countrey, than in another. It is not likely that every Devil does know every _Language;_ or that every Devil can do every _Mischief_.[80] 'Tis possible, that the _Experience_, or, if I may call it so, the _Education_ of all Devils is not alike, and that there may be some difference in their _Abilities_. If one might make an Inference from what the Devils _do_, to what they _are_, One cannot [7] forbear dreaming, that there are _degrees_ of Devils. Who can allow, that such Trifling _Dæmons_, as that of _Mascon_,[81] or those that once infested our _New berry_, are of so much Grandeur, as those _Dæmons_, whose Games are mighty Kingdoms? Yea, 'tis certain, that all Devils do not make a like Figure in the _Invisible World_. Nor does it look agreeably, That the _Dæmons_, which were the Familiars of such a Man as the old _Apollonius_, differ not from those baser Goblins that chuse to Nest in the filthy and loathsom Rags of a beastly Sorceress. Accordingly, why may not some Devils be more accomplished for what is to be done in such and such places, when others must be _detach'd_ for other Territories? Each Devil, as he sees his advantage, cries out, _Let me be in this Countrey, rather than another_. But _Enough_, if not _too much_, of these things.[82] _Proposition II._ There is a Devilish _Wrath_ against _Mankind_, with which the _Devil_ is for _God's sake_ Inspired. The Devil is himself broiling under the intollerable and interminable _Wrath_ of God; and a fiery _Wrath_ at God, is, that which the Devil is for that cause Enflamed. Methinks I see the posture of the Devils in _Isa._ 8. 21. _They fret themselves, and Curse their God, and look upward._ The first and chief _Wrath_ of the Devil, is at the Almighty God himself; he knows, _The God that made him, will not have mercy on him, and the God that formed him, will shew him no favour;_ and so he can have no _Kindness_ for that God, who has no _Mercy_, nor _Favour_ for him. Hence 'tis, that he cannot bear the _Name_ of God should be acknowledged in the World: Every Acknowledgement paid unto _God_, is a fresh drop of the burning Brimstone falling upon the Devil; he does make his Insolent, tho' Impotent Batteries, even upon the _Throne_ of God himself: and foolishly affects to have himself exalted unto that _Glorious High Throne_, by all people, as he sometimes is, by Execrable _Witches_. This horrible Dragon does not only with his Tayl strike at the _Stars of God_, but at the God himself, who made the _Stars_, being desirous to outshine them all. God and the Devil are sworn Enemies to each other; the Terms between them, are those, in _Zech._ 11. 18. _My Soul loathed them, and their Soul also abhorred me._ And from this Furious _wrath_, or Displeasure and Prejudice at God, proceeds the Devils _wrath_ at us, the poor Children of Men. Our doing the _Service_ of God, is one thing that exposes us to the _wrath_ of the Devil. We are the _High Priests_ of the World; when all Creatures are called upon, _Praise ye the Lord_, they bring to us those demanded _Praises_ of God, saying, _do you offer them for us_. Hence 'tis, that the Devil has a Quarrel with [8] us, as he had with the _High-Priest_ in the Vision of Old. Our bearing the Image of God is another thing that brings the _wrath_ of the Devil upon us. As a _Tyger_, thro' his Hatred at man will tear the very Picture of him, if it come in his way; such a _Tyger_ the Devil is; because God said of old, _Let us make Man in our Image_, the Devil is ever saying, _Let us pull this man to pieces_. But the envious _Pride_ of the Devil, is one thing more that gives an Edge unto his Furious _Wrath_ against us. The Apostle has given us an hint, as if _Pride_ had been the _Condemnation of the Devil_. 'Tis not unlikely, that the Devil's _Affectation_ to be above that Condition which he might learn that Mankind was to be preferr'd unto, might be the occcasion of his taking up Arms against the _Immortal King_. However, the Devil now sees _Man_ lying in the Bosom of God, but _himself_ damned in the bottom of Hell; and this enrages him exceedingly; _O_, says he, _I cannot bear it, that man should not be as miserable as my self_. _Proposition III._ The _Devil_, in the prosecution, and the execution of his _wrath_ upon them, often gets a _Liberty_ to make a _Descent_ upon the Children of men. When the Devil _does hurt_ unto us, he _comes down_ unto us; for the Rendezvouze of the _Infernal Troops_, is indeed in the _supernal parts_ of our Air.[83] But as 'tis said, _A sparrow of the Air does not fall down without the will of God;_ so I may say, _Not a Devil in the Air, can come down without the leave of God_. Of this we have a famous Instance in that Arabian Prince, of whom the Devil was not able so much as to _Touch_ any thing, till the most high God gave him a permission, to _go down_.[84] The Devil stands with all the Instruments of death, aiming at us, and begging of the Lord, as that King ask'd for the Hood-wink'd _Syrians_ of old, _Shall I smite 'em, shall I smite 'em?_ He cannot strike a blow, till the Lord say, _Go down and smite_, but sometimes he _does_ obtain from the _high possessor of Heaven and Earth_, a License for the doing of it. The Devil sometimes does make most rueful Havock among us; but still we may say to him, as our Lord said unto a great Servant of his, _Thou couldst have no power against me, except it were given thee from above_.[85] The Devil is called in 1 _Pet._ 5. 8. _Your Adversary._ This is a Law-term; and it notes _An Adversary at Law_. The Devil cannot come at us, except in some sence according to _Law;_ but sometimes he does procure sad things to be inflicted, according to the _Law of_ the eternal King upon us. The Devil first _goes up_ as an _Accuser_ against us. He is therefore styled _The Accuser;_ and it is on this account, that his proper Name does belong unto him. There is a Court somewhere kept; a Court of Spirits, where the Devil enters all sorts of Complaints [9] against us all; he charges us with manifold _sins_ against the Lord our God: _There_ he loads us with heavy _Imputations_ of Hypocrysie, Iniquity, Disobedience; whereupon he urges, _Lord, let 'em now have the death, which is their wages, paid unto 'em!_ If our _Advocate_ in the Heavens do not now take off his Libel; the Devil, then, with a Concession of God, _comes down_, as a _destroyer_ upon us. Having first been an _Attorney_, to bespeak that the Judgments of Heaven may be ordered for us, he then also pleads, that he may be the _Executioner_ of those Judgments; and the God of Heaven sometimes after a sort, signs a Warrant, for this _destroying Angel_, to do what has been _desired_ to be done for the _destroying of men_. But such a _permission_ from God, for the Devil to _come down_, and _break in_ upon mankind, oftentimes must be accompany'd with a _Commission_ from some wretches of mankind it self. Every man is, as 'tis hinted in _Gen._ 4. 9. _His brother's keeper_. We are to _keep_ one another from the Inroads of the Devil, by mutual and cordial Wishes of prosperity to one another. When ungodly people give their _Consents_ in _witchcrafts_ diabolically performed, for the Devil to annoy their Neighbours, he finds a breach made in the Hedge about us, whereat he Rushes in upon us, with grievous molestations. Yea, when the impious people, that never saw the Devil, do but utter their _Curses_ against their Neighbours, those are so many _watch words_, whereby the Mastives of Hell are animated presently to fall upon us. Tis thus, that the Devil gets _leave_ to worry us. _Proposition IV._ Most horrible _woes_ come to be inflicted upon Mankind, when the _Devil_ does in _great wrath_, make a _descent_ upon them. The _Devil_ is a _Do-Evil_, and wholly set upon mischief. When our Lord once was going to _Muzzel_ him, that he might not mischief others, he cry'd out, _Art thou come to torment me?_ He is, it seems, himself _Tormented_, if he be but _Restrained_ from the tormenting of Men. If upon the sounding of the Three last _Apocalyptical Angels_, it was an outcry made in Heaven, _Wo, wo, wo, to the inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the voice of the Trumpet_. I am sure, a _descent_ made by the Angel of _death_, would give cause for the like Exclamation: _Wo to the world, by reason of the wrath of the Devil!_ what a _woful_ plight, mankind would by the descent of the Devil be brought into, may be gathered from the _woful_ pains, and wounds, and hideous desolations which the Devil brings upon them, with whom he has with a _bodily Possession_ made a Seisure. You may both in Sacred and Profane History, read many a direful Account of the _woes_, which they that are possessed by the Devil, do undergo: And from thence conclude, _What_ [10] _must the Children of Men hope from such a Devil!_ Moreover, the _Tyrannical Ceremonies_, whereto the Devil uses to subjugate such _Woful_ Nations or Orders of Men, as are more Entirely under his Dominion, do declare what _woful_ Work the Devil would make where he comes. The very Devotions of those forlorn _Pagans_, to whom the Devil is a Leader, are most bloody _Penances;_ and what _Woes_ indeed must we expect from such a Devil of a _Moloch_, as relishes no Sacrifices like those of Humane Heart-blood, and unto whom there is no Musick like the bitter, dying, doleful Groans, ejaculated by the Roasting Children of Men. Furthermore, the servile, abject, needy circumstances wherein the Devil keeps the Slaves, that are under his more sensible Vassalage, do suggest unto us, how _woful_ the Devil would render all our Lives. We that live in a Province, which affords unto us all that may be necessary or comfortable for us, found the Province fill'd with vast Herds of Salvages, that never saw so much as a _Knife_, or a _Nail_, or a _Board_, or a Grain of _Salt_, in all their Days. No better would the Devil have the World provided for. Nor should we, or any else, have one convenient thing about us, but be as indigent as _usually_ our most _Ragged Witches_ are; if _the Devil's Malice_ were not overruled by a _compassionate God_, who _preserves Man and Beast_. Hence 'tis, that _the Devil_, even like a _Dragon_, keeping a Guard upon such _Fruits_ as would _refresh_ a languishing World, has hindred Mankind for many Ages, from hitting upon those _useful Inventions_, which yet _were so obvious_ and _facil_, that it is every bodies wonder, they were no sooner hit upon. The _bemisted World_, must jog on for thousands of Years, without the knowledg of _the Loadstone_, till a _Neapolitan_ stumbled upon it, about _three hundred years_ ago. Nor must the World be _blest_ with such a _matchless Engine_ of _Learning_ and _Vertue_, as that of _Printing_, till about _the middle of the Fifteenth Century_. Nor could _One Old Man, all over the Face of the whole Earth_, have the _benefit_ of such a _Little_, tho' most _needful_ thing, as a pair of _Spectacles_, till a _Dutch-Man_, a _little while_ ago accommodated us.[86] 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 impreg[11]nate 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;[87] 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.[88] 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 _Dæmoniacks_, 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 _Thyestæan_ Banquets, he will push us upon as many _Wars_ as he can. Once more, why may not _Storms_ be reckoned among those _Woes_, with which the Devil does disturb us? It is not improbable that _Natural Storms_ on the World are often of the Devils raising. We are told in _Job_ 1. 11, 12, 19. that the Devil made a _Storm_, which hurricano'd the House of _Job_, upon the Heads of them that were Feasting in it. _Paracelsus_ could have informed the Devil, if he had not been informed, as besure he was before, That if much _Aluminious_ matter, with _Salt Petre_ not throughly prepared, be mixed, they will send up a cloud of Smoke, which _will_ come down in Rain. But undoubtedly the _Devil_ understands as _well_ the way to make a _Tempest_ as to turn the _Winds_ at the _Solicitation_ of a _Laplander;_[89] whence perhaps it is, that Thunders are observed oftner to break upon _Churches_ than upon any other _Buildings;_ and besides many a Man, yea many a Ship, yea, many a Town has miscarried, when the Devil has been permitted from above to make an horrible Tempest.[90] However that the Devil has raised many _Metaphorical Storms_ upon the Church, is a thing, than which there is nothing more notorious. It was said unto Believers in _Rev._ 2. 10. _The Devil shall cast some of [12] you into Prison_. The Devil was he that at first set _Cain upon Abel_ to butcher him, as the Apostle seems to suggest, for his Faith in God, as a _Rewarder_. And in how many _Persecutions_, as well as _Heresies_ has the Devil been ever since Engaging all the Children of _Cain!_ That Serpent the Devil has acted his cursed Seed in unwearied endeavours to have them, _Of whom the World is not worthy_, treated as those who are _not worthy to live in the World_. By the impulse of the Devil, 'tis that first the old _Heathens_, and then the mad _Arians_ were _pricking Briars_ to the true Servants of God; and that the _Papists_ that came after them, have out done them all for Slaughters, upon those that have been _accounted as the Sheep for the Slaughters_. The late _French_ Persecution is perhaps the horriblest that ever was in the World:[91] And as the Devil of _Mascon_ seems before to have meant it in his out-cries upon _the Miseries preparing for the poor Hugonots!_ Thus it has been all acted by a singlar Fury of the old Dragon inspiring of his Emissaries. 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 [13] 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 confounded 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 unto us, when the Devil comes down upon us_.[92] _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. We are in the first place to apprehend, that there is a time fixed and stated by God for the Devil to enjoy a dominion over our sinful and therefore woful World. The _Devil_ once exclaimed in _Mat._ 8. 29. _Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come hither to Torment us before our Time?_ It is plain, that until the second coming of our Lord the _Devil_ must have a time of plagueing the World, which he was afraid would have Expired at his first. The _Devil_ is _by the wrath of God the Prince of this World;_ and the time of his Reign is to continue until the time when our Lord himself shall _take to himself his great Power and Reign_. Then 'tis that the _Devil_ shall hear the Son of God swearing with loud Thunders against him, _Thy time shall now be no more!_ Then shall the _Devil_ with his Angels receive their doom, which will be, _depart into the everlasting Fire prepared for you_. We are also to apprehend, that in the _mean time_, the Devil can give a shrewd guess, when he draws near to the _End of his Time_. When he saw Christianity enthron'd among the _Romans_, it is here said, in our _Rev._ 12. 12. _He knows he hath but a short time._ And how does he _know it?_ Why _Reason_ will make the Devil to _know_ that God won't suffer him to have the _Everlasting Dominion;_ and that when God has once begun to rescue the World out of his hands, he'll go through with it, until the _Captives of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered_. But the Devil will have _Scripture_ also, to make him _know_, that when his Antichristian _Vicar_, the _seven-headed Beast_ on the _seven-hilled_ City,[93] shall have spent his determined years, he with his _Vicar_ must unavoidably go down into the _bottomless Pit_. It is not improbable, that the Devil often hears the _Scripture_ expounded in our Congregations; yea that we never assemble without a _Satan_ among us. As there are some Divines, who do with more uncertainty conjecture, from a certain place in the Epistle to the _Ephesians_, That the Angels do sometimes come into our Churches, to gain some advantage from our Ministry. But be sure our _Demonstrable Interpretations_ may give Repeated Notices to the Devil, _That his time is almost out;_ and what the Preacher says unto the _Young Man, Know thou, that God will bring thee into Judgment!_ THAT may our Sermons tell unto the _Old Wretch, Know thou, that the time of thy Judgment is at hand_. But we must now, likewise, apprehend, that in _such a time_, the _woes_ of the World will be heightened, beyond what they were at _any time_ yet from the foundation of the World. Hence 'tis, that the Apostle has forewarned us, in 2 _Tim._ 3. 1. _this know, that_ [14] _in the last days, perillous times shall come._ Truly, when the Devil _knows_, that he is got into his _Last days_, he will make _perillous times_ for us; the times will grow more full of _Devils_, and therefore more full of _Perils_, than ever they were before. Of this, if we would _know_, what cause is to be assigned; It is not only, because the Devil grows more _able_, and more _eager_ to vex the World; but also, and chiefly, because the World is more _worthy_ to be vexed by the Devil, than ever heretofore. The _Sins_ of Men in this Generation, will be more _mighty Sins_, than those of the former Ages; men will be more Accurate and Exquisite and Refined in the arts of _Sinning_, than they use to be. And besides, their own sins, the sins of all the former Ages will also lie upon the sinners of this generation. Do we ask why the _mischievous powers of darkness_ are to prevail more in our days, than they did in those that are past and gone! 'Tis because that men by sinning over again the sins of the former days, have a _Fellowship with all those unfruitful works of darkness_. As 'twas said in _Matth._ 23. 36. _All these things shall come upon this generation;_ so the men of the last Generation, will find themselves involved in the guilt of all that went before them. Of Sinners 'tis said, _They heap up Wrath;_ and the sinners of the Last Generations do not only add unto the _heap_ of sin that has been pileing up ever since the Fall of man, but they Interest themselves in every sin of that enormous heap. There has been a Cry of all former ages going up to God, _That the Devil may come down!_ and the sinners of the Last Generations, do sharpen and louden that _cry_, till the thing do come to pass, as Destructively as Irremediably. From whence it follows, that the Thrice Holy God, with his Holy Angels, will now after a sort more _abandon_ the World, than in the former ages. The roaring Impieties of the _old World_, at last gave mankind such a distast in the Heart of the Just God, that he came to say, _It Repents me that I have made such a Creature!_ And however, it may be but a witty Fancy, in a late Learned Writer, that the _Earth_ before the Flood was nearer to the Sun, than it is at this Day; and that Gods Hurling down the _Earth_ to a further distance from the _Sun_, were the cause of that Flood;[94] yet we may fitly enough say, that men perished by a _Rejection_ from the God of Heaven. Thus the enhanc'd Impieties of this _our World_, will Exasperate the Displeasure of God, at such a rate, as that he will more _cast us off_, than heretofore; until at last, he do with a more than ordinary Indignation say, _Go Devils; do you take them, and make them beyond all former measures miserable!_ If Lastly, We are inquisitive after Instances of those aggravated _woes_, with which the Devil will towards the _End_ of his _Time_ assault us; let it be remembered, That all the Extremities which were foretold by the _Trumpets_ and _Vials_ in the Apocalyptick Schemes of these things, to come upon the World, were the _woes_ to come from the _wrath_ of the Devil, upon the _shortning_ of his _Time_. The horrendous desolations that have come upon mankind, by the Irruptions of the old _Barbarians_ upon the _Roman_ World, and then of the _Saracens_, and since, of the _Turks_, were such _woes_ as men had never seen before. The Infandous _Blindness_ and _Vileness_ which then came upon mankind, and the Monstrous _Croisadoes_ which thereupon carried the _Roman_ World by Millions together unto the Shambles; were also such _woes_ as had never yet had a Parallel. And yet these were some of the things here intended, when it was said, _Wo! For the Devil is come down in great Wrath, having but a short time_. But besides all these things, and besides the increase of _Plagues_ and _Wars_, and _Storms_, and _Internal Maladies_ now in our days, there are especially two most extraordinary _Woes_, one would fear, will in these days become very ordinary. One _Woe_ that may be look'd for is, A frequent Repition of _Earth-quakes_, and this perhaps by the energy of the Devil in the _Earth_. The Devil will be clap't up, as a Prisoner in or near the Bowels of the earth, when once that _Conflagration_ shall be dispatched, which will make, _The New Earth wherein shall dwell Righteousness;_ and that _Conflagration_ will doubtless be much promoted by the Subterraneous _Fires_, which are a cause of the _Earthquakes_ in our Dayes. Accordingly, we read, _Great Earthquakes in divers places_, enumerated among the Tokens of the _Time_ approaching, when the Devil shall have no longer _Time_. I suspect, That we shall now be visited with more Usual [15] and yet more Fatal _Earthquakes_ than were our Ancestors; in asmuch as the _Fires_ that are shortly to _Burn unto the Lowest Hell, and set on Fire the Foundations of the Mountaions_, will now get more Head than they use to do; and it is not impossible, that the Devil, who is ere long to be punished in those _Fires_, may aforehand augment his Desert of it, by having an hand in using some of those _Fires_, for our Detriment. Learned Men have made no scruple to charge the Devil with it; _Deo permittente, Terræ motus causat_. The Devil surely, was a party in the _Earthquake_,[95] whereby the Vengeance of God, in one black Night sunk Twelve considerable Cities of _Asia_, in the Reign of _Tiberious_.[96] But there will be more such _Catastrophe's_ in our Dayes; _Italy_ has lately been _Shaking_, till its _Earthquakes_ have brought Ruines at once upon more than thirty Towns; but it will within a little while, _shake_ again, and _shake_ till the Fire of God have made an Entire _Etna_ of it. And behold, This very Morning, when I was intending to utter among you such Things as these, we are cast into an _Heartquake_ by Tidings of an _Earthquake_ that has lately happened at _Jamaica:_ an horrible _Earthquake_, whereby the _Tyrus_ of the English _America_, was at once pull'd into the Jaws of the Gaping and Groaning Earth, and many Hundreds of the Inhabitants buried alive.[97] The Lord sanctifie so dismal a Dispensation of his Providence, unto all the _American_ Plantations! But be assured, my Neighbours, the _Earthquakes_ are not over yet! We have not yet seen _the last_. And then, Another _Wo_ that may be Look'd for is, The Devils being now let Loose in _preternatural Operations_ more than formerly; and perhaps in _Possessions_ and _Obsessions_ that shall be very marvellous. You are not Ignorant, That just before our Lords _First Coming_, there were most observable Outrages committed by the Devil upon the Children of Men: And I am suspicious, That there will again be an unusual Range of the Devil among us, a little before the _Second Coming_ of our Lord, which will be, to give the last stroke, in _Destroying the works of the Devil_. The _Evening Wolves_ will be much abroad, when we are near the _Evening_ of the World. The Devil is going to be Dislodged of the _Air_, where his present Quarters are; God will with flashes of hot _Lightning_ upon him, cause him to _fall as Lightning_ from his Ancient Habitations: And the _Raised Saints_ will there have a _New Heaven_, which We _expect according to the Promise of God_. Now a little before this thing, you be like to see the Devil more _sensibly_ and _visibly_ Busy upon _Earth_ perhaps, than ever he was before. You shall oftner hear about _Apparitions_ of the Devil, and about poor people strangely Bewitched, _Possessed_ and _Obsessed_, by Infernal Fiends. When our Lord is going to set up His Kingdom, in the most _sensible_ and _visible_ manner, that ever was, and in a manner answering the _Transfiguration_ in _the Mount_, it is a Thousand to One, but the Devil will in sundry _parts of the world_, assay _the like_ for Himself, with a most Apish Imitation: and Men, at least in _some_ Corners of the World, and perhaps in _such_ as God may have some special Designs upon, will to their Cost, be more Familiarized _with the World of Spirits_, than they had been formerly. So that, in fine, if just before _the End_, when _the times of the_ Jews were to be finished, a man then ran about every where, crying, _Wo to the Nation! Wo to the City! Wo to the Temple! Wo! Wo! Wo!_ Much more may the descent of the Devil, just before his _End_, when also _the times of the Gentiles_ will be finished, cause us to cry out, _Wo! Wo! Wo! because of the black things that threaten us!_ But it is now Time to make our Improvement of what has been said. And, first, we shall entertain our selves with a few _Corollaries_, deduced from what has been thus asserted. _Corollary I._ What cause have we to bless God, for our preservation from the _Devils wrath_, in this which may too reasonably be called the _Devils World!_ While we are in _this present evil world_, We are continually surrounded with swarms of those Devils, who make this _present world_, become so _evil_. What a wonder of Mercy is it, that no _Devil_ could ever yet make a prey of us![98] We can set our foot no where but we shall tread in the midst of most Hellish _Rattle-Snakes;_ and one of those _Rattle-Snakes_ once thro' the mouth of a Man, on whom he had Seized, hissed out such a Truth as this, _If God would let me loose upon you, I should find enough in the Best of you all, to make you all mine_.[99] What shall I say? The _Wilderness_ thro' which we are passing to the _Pro-[16]mised Land_, is all over fill'd with _Fiery flying serpents_. But, blessed be God; None of them have hitherto so fastned upon us, as to confound us utterly! All our way to Heaven, lies by the _Dens of Lions_, and the _Mounts of Leopards;_ there are incredible Droves of Devils in our way. But have we safely got on our way thus far? O let us be thankful to our Eternal preserver for it. It is said in Psal. 76. 10. _Surely the wrath of Man shall praise thee, and the Remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain;_ But _surely_ it becomes to praise God, in that we have yet sustain'd no more Damage by the _wrath of the Devil_, and in that he has restrain'd that Overwhelming _wrath_. We are poor, Travellers in a World, which is as well the Devils _Field_, as the Devils _Gaol;_[100] a World in every Nook whereof the Devil is encamped with _Bands of Robbers_, to pester all that have their _Face looking Zion-ward:_ And are we all this while preserved from the undoing Snares of the _Devil?_ it is, _Thou, O keeper of Israel, that hast hitherto been our Keeper!_ And therefore, _Bless the Lord, O my soul, Bless his Holy Name, who has redeemed thy Life from the Destroyer!_ _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. _Corollary III._ What a Reasonable Thing then is it, that they whose _Time_ is but _short_, should make as great _Use_ of their _Time_, as ever they can! I pray, let us learn some _good_, even from the _wicked One_ himself. It has been advised, _Be wise as Serpents:_ why, there is a piece of _Wisdom_, whereto that old _Serpent_, the Devil himself, may be our Moniter. When the Devil perceives his _Time_ is but _short_, it puts him upon _Great Wrath_. But how should it be with _us_, when we perceive that our _Time_ is but _short?_ why, it should put us upon _Great Work_. The motive which makes the Devil to be more full of _wrath;_ should make us more full of _warmth_, more full of _watch_, and more full of _All Diligence to make our Vocation, and Election sure_. Our _Pace_ in our Journey _Heaven-ward_, must be Quickened, if our _space_ for that Journey be shortned, even as _Israel_ went further the _two last_ years of their Journey _Canaan-ward_, than they did in 38 years before. The Apostle brings this, as a _spur_ to the Devotions of Christians, in 1 _Cor._ 7. 29. _This I say, Brethren, the time is short._ Even so, I _say_ this; some things I lay before you, which I do only _think_, or _guess_, but here is a thing which I venture to _say_ with all the [33] freedom imaginable. You have now a _Time_ to _Get_ good, even a _Time_ to make sure of _Grace and Glory, and every good thing_, by true Repentance: But, _This I say, the time is but short_. You have now _Time_ to _Do_ good, even to _serve out your generation_, as by the _Will_, so for the _Praise_ of God; but, _This I say, the time is but short_. And what I say thus to _All_ People, I say to _Old_ People, with a peculiar Vehemency: Sirs, It cannot be long before your _Time_ is out; there are but a few sands left in the glass of your _Time:_ And it is of all things the saddest, for a man to say, _My time is done, but my work undone!_ O then, _To work_ as fast as you can; and of Soul-work, and Church-work, dispatch as much as ever you can. Say to all _Hindrances_, as the gracious _Jeremiah Burroughs_[101] would sometimes to _Visitants: You'll excuse me if I ask you to be short with me, for my work is great, and my time is but short_. Methinks every _time_ we hear a Clock, or see a Watch, we have an admonition given us, that our _Time_ is upon the _wing_, and it will all be gone within a little while. I remember I have read of a famous man, who having a _Clock-watch_ long lying by him, out of Kilture in his Trunk, it unaccountably struck Eleven just before he died. Why, there are many of you, for whom I am to do that office this day: I am to tell you _You are come to your_ Eleventh _hour;_ there is no more than a _twelfth part_ at most, of your life yet behind. But if we neglect our business, till our _short Time_ shall be reduced into _none_, then, _woe to us, for the great wrath of God will send us down from whence there is no Redemption_. _Corollary IV._ How welcome should a _Death in the Lord_ be unto them that belong not unto the Devil, but unto the Lord! While we are sojourning in this World, we are in what may upon too many accounts be called _The Devils Country:_ We are where the Devil may come upon us in _great wrath_ continually. The day when God shall take us out of this World, will be, _The day when the Lord will deliver us from the hand of all our Enemies, and from the hand of Satan_. In such a day, why should not our song be that of the Psalmist, _Blessed be my Rock, and let the God of my Salvation be exalted!_ While we are here, we are in _the valley of the shadow of death;_ and what is it that makes it so? 'Tis because the _wild Beasts of Hell_ are lurking on every side of us, and every minute ready to salley forth upon us. But our _Death_ will fetch us out of that _Valley_, and carry us where we shall be _for ever with the Lord_. We are now under the daily _Buffetings_ of the Devil, and he does molest us with such _Fiery Darts_, as cause us even to cry out, _I am weary of my Life_. Yea, but are we as _willing to die, as, weary of Life?_ Our Death will then soon set us where we cannot be reach'd by the _Fist of Wickedness;_ and where the _Perfect cannot be shotten at_. It is said in _Rev._ 14. 13. _Blessed are the [34] Dead which die in the Lord, they rest from their labours._ But we may say, _Blessed are the Dead in the Lord, inasmuch as they rest from the Devils!_ Our _dying_ will be but our _taking wing:_ When attended with a Convoy of winged Angels, we shall be convey'd into that Heaven, from whence the Devil having been thrown he shall never more come thither after us. What if God should now say to us, as to _Moses_, _Go up and die!_ As long as we _go up_, when we _die_, let us receive the Message with a joyful Soul; we shall soon be there, where the Devil can't _come down_ upon us. If the _God of our Life_ should now send that Order to us, which he gave to _Hezekiah_, _Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live;_ we need not be cast into such deadly Agonies thereupon, as _Hezekiah_ was: We are but going to that _House_, the Golden Doors whereof, cannot be entred by the Devil that here did use to persecute us. Methinks I see the Departed _Spirit_ of a Believer, triumphantly carried thro' the Devils _Territories_, in such a stately and Fiery Chariot, as the _Spiritualizing Body_ of _Elias_ had; methink I see the Devil, with whole Flocks of _Harpies_, grinning at this Child of God, but unable to fasten any of their griping Talons upon him: And then, upon the utmost edge of our _Atmosphœre_, methinks I overhear the holy Soul, with a most heavenly Gallantry, deriding the defeated Fiend, and saying, _Ah! Satan! Return to thy Dungeons again; I am going where thou canst not come for ever!_ O 'tis a brave thing so to die! and especially so to die, in _our time_. For, tho' when we call to mind, _That the Devils time is now but short_, it may almost make us wish to _live_ unto the _end_ of it; and to say with the Psalmist, _Because the Lord will shortly appear in his Glory to build up_ Zion. _O my God! Take me not away in the midst of my days._ Yet when we bear in mind, _that the Devils Wrath is now most great_, it would make one willing to be _out of the way_. Inasmuch as now is the time for the doing of those things in the prospect whereof _Balaam_ long ago cry'd out _Who shall live when such things are done!_ We should not be inordinatly loth to _die_ at such a time. In a word, the _Times_ are so _bad_, that we may well count it, as _good_ a _time_ to die in, as ever we saw. _Corollary V._ Good News for the _Israel_ of God, and particularly for his _New-English Israel_. If the Devils _Time_ were above a _thousand years ago_, pronounced _short_, what may we suppose it now in _our_ Time? Surely _we_ are not a _thousand years_ distant from those happy _thousand years_ of rest and peace, and [which is better] _Holiness_ reserved for the People of God in the latter days; and if we are not a _thousand years_ yet short of that Golden Age, there is cause to think, that we are not an _hundred_. That the blessed _Thousand years_ are not yet begun, is abundantly clear [35] from this, _We do not see the Devil bound;_ No, the Devil was never more let _loose_ than in our Days; and it is very much that any should imagine otherwise: But the same thing that proves the _Thousand Years_ of prosperity for the Church of God, under the whole Heaven, to be not yet _begun_, does also prove, that it is not very _far off;_ and that is the prodigious _wrath_ with which the Devil does in our days Persecute, yea, desolate the World. Let us cast our Eyes almost where we will, and we shall see the _Devils_ domineering at such a rate as may justly fill us with astonishment; it is questionable whether _Iniquity_ ever were so rampant, or whether _Calamity_ were ever so pungent, as in this Lamentable _time;_ We may truly say, _'Tis the Hour and the Power of Darkness_. But, tho' the _wrath_ be so _great_, the _time_ is but _short:_ when we are perplexed with the _wrath_ of the Devil, the _Word_ of our God at the same time unto us, is that in Rom. 16. 20. _The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet Shortly._ Shortly, didst thou say, dearest Lord! O gladsome word! Amen, _Even so, come Lord! Lord Jesus, come quickly! We shall never be rid of this troublesome Devil, till thou do come to Chain him up!_ But because the people of God, would willingly be told _whereabouts_ we are, with reference to the _wrath and the time_ of the Devil, you shall give me leave humbly to set before you a few _Conjectures_. _The first Conjecture._ The Devils _Eldest Son_ seems to be towards the _End_ of his last _Half-time;_ and if it be so, the Devils Whole-time, cannot but be very near its _End_. It is a very scandalous thing that any _Protestant_, should be at a loss where to find _the Anti-Christ_. But, we have a sufficient assurance, that the Duration of _Anti-Christ_, is to be but for a _Time_, and for _Times_, and for _Half a time;_ that is for _Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years_. And indeed, those _Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years_, were the very Spott of _Time_ left for the _Devil_, and meant when 'tis here said, _He has but a short time_. Now, I should have an _easie time_ of it, if I were never put upon an _Harder Task_, than to produce what might render it extreamly probable, that Anti-christ entred his last _Half-time_, or the last _Hundred_ and _Fourscore_ years of his Reign, _at_ or soon _after_ the celebrated _Reformation_ which began at the year 1517 in the former Century.[102] Indeed, it is very agreeable to see how Antichrist then lost _Half_ of his Empire; and how that _half_ which then became _Reformed_, have been upon many accounts little more than _Half-reformed_. But by this computation, we must needs be within a very few years of such a _Mortification_ to befal the See of _Rome_, as that Antichrist, who has lately been planting (what proves no more lasting than) a _Tabernacle in the Glorious Holy Mountain between the Seas_, must quickly, _Come to his End and none shall help him_. [36] So then, within a very little while, we shall see the Devil stript of the grand, yea, the last, _Vehicle_, wherein he will be capable to abuse our World. The _Fires_, with which, _That Beast_ is to be consumed, will so singe the Wings of the _Devil_ too, that he shall no more set the Affairs of _this_ world on _Fire_. Yea, they shall both go into the same _Fire_, to be _tormented for ever and ever_. _The Second Conjecture._ That which is, perhaps, the greatest Effect of the _Devils Wrath_, seems to be in a manner at an _end:_ and this would make one hope that the _Devils time_ cannot be far from its _end_. It is in Persecution, that the _wrath_ of the Devil uses to break forth, with its greatest fury. Now there want not probabilities, that the _last Persecution_ intended for the Church of God, before the Advent of our Lord, has been upon it. When we see the _second Woe passing away_, we have a fair signal given unto us, _That the last slaughter of our Lord's Witnesses is over;_ and then what Quickly follows? The next thing is, _The Kingdoms of this World, are become the Kingdoms of Our Lord, and of His Christ:_ and then _down_ goes the Kingdom of the Devil, so that he cannot any more _come down_ upon us. Now, the Irrecoverable and Irretrievable Humiliations that have lately befallen the _Turkish Power_, are but so many Declarations of the _second Woe passing away_.[103] And the dealings of God with the _European_ parts of the world, at this day do further strengthen this our expectation. We _do_ see, _at this hour a great Earth-quake all Europe over:_ and _we shall_ see, that this _great Earth-quake_, and these great Commotions, will but contribute unto the advancement of our Lords hitherto depressed Interests. 'Tis also to be remark'd that, a disposition to recognize the _Empire_ of God over the _Conscience_ of man, does now prevail more in the world than formerly; and God from on High more touches the Hearts of Princes and Rulers with an averseness to Persecution. 'Tis particularly the unspeakable happiness of the English Nation, to be under the Influences of that excellent Queen, who could say, _In as much as a man cannot make himself believe what he will, why should we Persecute men for not believing as we do! I wish I could see all good men of one mind; but in the mean time I pray, let them however love one another._[104] Words worthy to be written in Letters of Gold! and by _us_ the more to be considered, because to one of _Ours_ did that royal Person express Her self so excellently, so obligingly. When the late King _James_ published his Declaration for _Liberty of Conscience_, a worthy Divine in the Church of _England_, then studying the _Revelation_, saw cause upon _Revelational_ Grounds, to declare himself in such words as these, _Whatsoever others may intend or design by this Liberty of Conscience, I cannot believe, that it will ever be recalled in_ England, _as long as the World stands_. And you know how miraculously [37] the _Earth-quake_[105] which then immediately came upon the Kingdom, has established that _Liberty!_ But that which exceeds all the tendencies this way, is, the dispensation of God at this Day, towards the blessed _Vaudois_. Those renowned _Waldenses_, which were a sort of _Root_ unto all Protestant Churches, were never dissipated, by all the Persecutions of many Ages, till within these few years, the _French_ King and the Duke of _Savoy_ leagued for their dissipation.[106] But just _Three years and a half after the scattering_ of that holy people, to the surprise of all the World, _Spirit of life from God_ is come into them; and having with a thousand Miracles repossessed themselves of their antient Seats, their hot _Persecutor_ is become their great _Protector_. Whereupon the reflection of the worthy person, that writes the story is, _The Churches of_ Piemont, _being the Root of the Protestant Churches, they have been the first established; the Churches of other places, being but the Branches, shall be established in due time, God will deliver them speedily, He has already delivered the Mother, and He will not long leave the Daughter behind: He will finish what he has gloriously begun!_ _The Third Conjecture._ There is _little room_ for hope, that the _great wrath_ of the Devil, will not prove the present ruine of our poor _New-England_ in particular. I believe, there never was a poor Plantation, more pursued by the _wrath_ of the _Devil_, than our poor _New-England;_ and that which makes our condition very much the more deplorable is, that the _wrath_ of the _great God_ Himself, at the same time also presses hard upon us. It was a rousing _alarm_ to the Devil, when a great Company of English _Protestants_ and _Puritans_, came to erect Evangelical Churches, in a corner of the World, where he had reign'd without any controul for many Ages; and it is a vexing _Eye-sore_ to the Devil, that our Lord Christ should be known, and own'd and preached in this _howling Wilderness_. Wherefor he has left no _Stone unturned_, that so he might undermine his Plantation, and force us out of our Country. First, The Indian _Powawes_, used all their Sorceries to molest the first Planters here;[107] but God said unto them, _Touch them not!_ Then, _Seducing Spirits_ came to _root_ in this Vineyard, but God so rated them off, that they have not prevail'd much farther than the Edges of our Land.[108] After this, we have had a continual _blast_ upon some of our principal Grain, annually diminishing a vast part of our _ordinary Food_. Herewithal, wasting _Sicknesses_, especially Burning and Mortal Agues, have Shot the Arrows of Death in at our Windows. Next, we have had many Adversaries of our own Language, who have been perpetually assaying to deprive us of those _English Liberties_, in the encouragement whereof these Territories have been settled.[109] As if this had not been [38] enough; The _Tawnies_ among whom we came, have watered our Soil with the Blood of many Hundreds of our Inhabitants. Desolating _Fires_ also have many times laid the chief Treasure of the whole Province in Ashes. As for _Losses_ by Sea, _they_ have been multiply'd upon us: and particularly in the present _French War_, the whole English Nation have observ'd that no part of the Nation has proportionably had so many Vessels taken, as our poor _New-England_. Besides all which, now at last the Devils are (if I may so speak) _in Person_ come down upon us with such a _Wrath_, as is justly _much_, and will quickly be _more_, the Astonishment of the World. Alas, I may sigh over _this_ Wilderness, as _Moses_ did over _his_, in Psal. 90. 7. 9. _We are consumed by thine Anger, and by thy Wrath we are troubled: All our days are passed away in thy Wrath._ And I may add this unto it, _The Wrath of the Devil too has been troubling and spending of us, all our days_. But what will become of this poor _New-England_ after all? Shall we sink, expire, perish, before the _short time_ of the Devil shall be finished?[110] I must confess, That when I consider the lamentable _Unfruitfulness_ of men, among us, under as powerful and perspicuous Dispensations of the Gospel, as are in the World; and when I consider the declining state of the _Power of Godliness_ in our Churches, with the most horrible Indisposition that perhaps ever was, to recover out of this declension; I cannot but _Fear_ lest it comes to this, and lest an _Asiatic_ Removal of Candlesticks come upon us. But upon some other Accounts, I would fain _hope_ otherwise; and I will give _you_ therefore the opportunity to try what Inferences may be drawn from these probable Prognostications. I say, _First_, That surely, _America's_ Fate must at the long run include _New-Englands_ in it. What was the design of our God, in bringing over so many _Europeans_ hither of late Years? Of what use or state will _America_ be, when the _Kingdom of God_ shall come? If it must all be the Devils propriety, while the _saved Nations_ of the other Hæmisphere shall be _Walking in the Light of the New Jerusalem_, Our _New-England_ has then, 'tis likely, done all that it was erected for. But if God have a purpose to make here a seat for any of _those glorious things which are spoken of thee, O thou City of God;_ then even thou, _O New-England_, art within a very little while of better days than ever yet have dawn'd upon thee. I say, _Secondly_, That tho' there be very _Threatning_ Symptoms on _America_, yet there are some _hopeful_ ones. I confess, when one thinks upon the crying Barbarities with which the most of those _Europeans_ that have Peopled this New world, became the Masters of it; it looks but _Ominously_. When one also thinks how much the way of living in many parts of _America_, is utterly inconsistent with the very Essentials of _Christianity;_ yea, how much Injury and Violence is there[39]in done to _Humanity_ it self; it is enough to damp the Hopes of the most Sanguine Complexion. And the _Frown_ of Heaven which has hitherto been upon Attempts of better Gospellizing the Plantations, considered, will but increase the _Damp_. Nevertheless, on the other side, what shall be said of all the _Promises_, That _our Lord Jesus Christ shall have the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession?_ and of all the _Prophecies_, That _All the ends of the Earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord?_ Or does it look _agreeably_, That such a rich quarter of the World, equal in some regards to all the rest, should never be out of the _Devils_ hands, from the first Inhabitation unto the last Dissolution of it? No sure; why may not the _last_ be the _first?_ and the _Sun of Righteousness_ come to shine _brightest_, in Climates which it rose _latest_ upon! I say, _Thirdly_, That _as_ it fares with _Old England_, so it will be most likely to fare with _New-England_. For which cause, by the way, there may be more of the Divine Favour in the present Circumstances of our dependence on _England_, than we are well aware of. This is very sure, if matters _go ill_ with our _Mother_, her poor American _Daughter_ here, must feel it; nor could our former Happy Settlement have hindred our sympathy in that Unhappiness. But if matters _go Well_ in the Three Kingdoms; as long as God shall bless the English Nation, with Rulers that shall encourage _Piety_, _Honesty_, _Industry_, in their Subjects, and that shall cast a Benign Aspect upon the Interests of our Glorious Gospel, _Abroad_ as well as at _Home;_ so long, _New-England_ will at least keep its head above water: and so much the more, for our comfortable Settlement in such a Form as we are now cast into. Unless there should be any singular, destroying, _Topical Plagues_, whereby an offended God should at last make us _Rise;_ But, _Alas, O Lord, what other Hive hast thou provided for us!_ I say, _Fourthly_, That the _Elder England_ will certainly and speedily be Visited with the _ancient loving kindness_ of God. When one sees, how strangely the Curse of our _Joshua_, has fallen upon the Persons and Houses of them that have attempted the Rebuilding of the _Old_ Romish _Jericho_, which has there been so far demolished, they cannot but say, That the _Reformation_ there, shall not only be maintained, but also pursued, proceeded, perfected; and that God will shortly there have a _New Jerusalem_. Or, Let a Man in his thoughts run over but the series of amazing Providences towards the English Nation for the last _Thirty Years:_ Let him reflect, how many Plots for the ruine of the Nation have been strangely discovered? yea, how very unaccountably those very _Persons_, yea, I may also say, and those very _Methods_ which were intended for the tools of that ruine, have become the instruments or occasions of Deliverances? A man cannot but say upon these Reflec[40]tions, as the Wife of _Manoah_ once prudently expressed her self, _If the Lord were pleased to have Destroyed us, He would not have shew'd us all these things_. Indeed, It is not unlikely, that the Enemies of the English Nation, may yet provoke such a _Shake_ unto it, as may perhaps exceed any that has hitherto been undergone: the Lord prevent the Machinations of his Adversaries! But that _shake_ will usher in the most _glorious Times_ that ever arose upon the English _Horizon_. As for the _French_ Cloud which hangs over _England_, tho' it be like to Rain showers of _Blood_ upon a Nation, where the _Blood_ of the Blessed Jesus has been too much treated as an _Unholy Thing;_ yet I believe God will shortly scatter it: and my belief is grounded upon a bottom that will bear it. If that overgrown _French Leviathan_[111] should accomplish any thing like a Conquest of _England_, what could there be to hinder him from the Universal Empire of the _West?_ But the _Visions_ of the Western World, in the _Views_ both of _Daniel_ and of _John_, do assure us, that whatever Monarch, shall while the _Papacy_ continues go to swallow up the _Ten Kings_ which received _their Power_ upon the Fall of the Western Empire, he must miscarry in the Attempt. The _French Phaetons_ Epitaph seems written in that, _Sure Word of Prophecy_. [Since the making of this Conjecture, there are arriv'd unto us, the News of a Victory obtain'd by the _English_ over the _French_, which further confirms our Conjecture; and causes us to sing, _Pharaohs Chariots, and his Hosts, has the Lord cast down into the Sea; Thy right-hand has dashed in pieces the Enemy!_][112] Now, _In the Salvation_ of England, the Plantations cannot but _Rejoyce_, and _New-England_ also will _be Glad_. But so much for our _Corollaries_, I hasten to the main thing designed for your entertainment. And that is, FOOTNOTES: [76] This was printed at the Time (1692) in a Separate Tract. [77] Whoever has the Inclination to turn over the Pages of the Martyrology may perhaps find who this "Renowned Person" was. [78] To this elaborate Definition of the Devil and his Attributes it will hardly be necessary to add or diminish. But taking what Tillotson says of God, not quite so much need be said of the Devil. The Archbishop says, in his happy Manner: "We attribute nothing to God that hath any repugnancy or contradiction in it." It naturally follows then, that all else comes from the Devil. The famous Isaac Ambros says, "The first Period wherein Satan first begins to Assault the Elect, it is from their quickening in the Womb."--_War with Devils_, P. 29, 2d Ed. 1738. "So may we say of every Child, as soon as it is quickened in the Womb, that the Great Red Dragon, the Devil, stands ready to devour it."--_Ibid._ Our Author was not alone in remarkable Ideas. [79] It does not appear how the Devil-in-chief came by his Appointment; whether his Office was by Election, or in what Manner he attained his high Station. It is not very material however. [80] A very different Decision will be found elsewhere in our Pages. [81] "The Devil of Mascon" was one of the Productions following the "Glorious Restoration," as Carlyle ironically calls it. Full Title in Bohn's Lowndes, ART. DEVIL. [82] AMEN will doubtless be the Response of every one; but do not flatter yourself, Reader, that you are thus soon delivered from the Devil. [83] Perhaps it may not be irrational to conclude that the Abode of the Devil, in those _supernal_ Parts is at least as far from the Earth as the fixed Stars; the nearest of these, our Author informs us, in his _Christian Philosopher_, Page 18, is 2,404,520,928,000 Miles from the Earth. Now, allowing Lucifer to be able to fly with the Velocity of Sound, he could not reach this Planet short of 50,000 Years! Hence he must have set out on his Journey thousands of Years before the World was created. But the Arabians believe that Mahomet performed that Journey several Times in the space of a few Years. That Mahomet should beat the Devil is not extraordinary. [84] The Author doubtless viewed the Stories in the _Arabian Nights_ as Realities and actual Occurrences. [85] "Nay, though wee make Profession to seeke GOD alone in our Troubles; yet when it comes to the Pinch, doe wee not runne vnto the Deuill?"--Cooper, _Mystery of Witchcraft_, 18-19. [86] If Spectacles were invented as far back as 1269, "a little while ago" would hardly have applied to the Fact; but the Author probably had Reference to Z. Jansen, a Maker of Spectacles, living in Middleburgh, in 1590. The Inventor was a Monk of Pisa, named Spina. [87] A great Plague in London was not then (1692) a very remote Event. That which raged in 1665 carried off 68,000 People, according to the best Estimate which could be made at the Time. [88] This fabulous Monster was considered a Reality among a large Portion of the human Family. A satisfactory Account of what a Dragon is or is not, may be seen in that useful little Work entitled The _Home Cyclopedia_, compiled by Messrs. George Ripley and Bayard Taylor. [89] A very considerable Part of the learned John Scheffer's _History of Lapland_ is taken up in Details of Witchcraft, as observed in that Country. He was a Native of Germany, born 1621, resided some Time in Sweden, died 1679. For later Transactions of the same Kind, and in the same Country, the Reader may consult Dr. Horneck's _Account_, before referred to, "Done from the High-Dutch." [90] This will all be found verified (if the Reader can command sufficient Credulity) in a curious little Work entitled _England's Warning Pieces_, printed in 1642, and fully illustrated by Engravings. Among _Prodigies_ related, the Writer says: "I remember our Brethren in New England, not long since, made use of another most prodigious and mishapen and monstrous Birth, brought foorth by a Gentlewoman of that New Plantation, who had beene a maine Fautrix, if not originall Broacher of very many most wicked, dangerous and damnable Opinions in their Church." Page 27. For further Particulars see Savage's _Winthrop's Journal_, i, 261-3. [91] This has Reference to the then late Persecution of the Huguenots in France. They had been protected by the Edict of Henry the Fourth (Nantes, 1598), which was revoked in 1685 by Louis XIV; by which Revocation about 50,000 Protestants were forced to fly the Kingdom. Some fled to Germany, Holland, Switzerland, England, and some even took Refuge in New England, where their Posterity are yet well known, respected and honored. [92] If, according to our Author, there is anything good or bad, that the Devil does not do, and is not the Author of, one might not unreasonably inquire what it is? Certainly in his Charges against the Devil every Accusation imaginable is exhausted, not one left even to father upon a Witch. Erratic Brains thus overdo themselves. [93] Rome was built on seven Hills. It is to that he alludes. [94] Ray refers to the Subject of the Earth having been once nearer the Sun than at present. See _Physico-Theological Discourses_, P. 381; also Dr. John Woodward's _Natural History of the Earth_, 245, Edition 1695, 8vo. Other Authors might be referred to. [95] So far as the Annotator's Reading goes he has not found the Devil charged with making Earthquakes previous to our Author's Time. He certainly was in Advance of all Philosophers, ancient and modern, as respects that Discovery. [96] Claudius Nero Tiberius died A. D. 37, aged 78. [97] On the 7th of June, 1692, Jamaica was partly destroyd. Some 1500 People perished. Why Jamaica or its Capitol is compared to the ancient _Tyros_ or _Tyrus_ it is not easy to understand, as it might be difficult to find two Places differing wider in most Respects. See Ray's _Discourses_, 258, where may be seen a particular Account of this Earthquake. [98] The Annotator is very greatly out in his Reckoning if the Reader does not decide that the Author was of all Men the most "bedeviled" of any ever heard or read of by him. This is the Editor's _Corollary_. [99] This is related by one Mr. Balsom. See Clarke's _Martyrology_, ii, 179. The Devil had Possession of the Body of the Man, and uttered the Language italicized in the Text, making Use of the Man's Organs of Speech. [100] It may not be easy for the Reader to discern how the whole Earth and the infinite Realms of Space about it can be much of a _Gaol_, especially with such a liberal Yard. The Doctor's Imagination is singularly at random sometimes. [101] A noted Puritan of the Time of Cromwell. In such of his Books as have come under my Notice, his Name is uniformly _Burroughs_. His _Rare Jewell_, 410, 1648, was formerly very popular, and there is a handsome Edition of it as late as 1845. [102] One has indeed a very "_easie Time_ of it" in prophecying, and it is quite as easy to be laughed at for such Folly by those who come after such shallow-pated Soothsayers. The Author felt very sure that by the Year 1697, only five Years from the Time he was writing, that the Devil would have "his Wings so singed that he should no more set the Affairs of this World on Fire." That is to say--the Millenium would then begin! [103] The Turks had not received their greatest Check until after our Author wrote. Mahomet IV commenced with renewed Vigor the War against Germany in 1663. It was continued with alternate Success and Disaster, until 1683, when John Sobieski, King of Poland, raised the Siege of Vienna; but it was not till 1699 that the Turks were driven out of Transylvania. [104] The reported Utterance of Queen Mary (Consort of William the Third) at an Interview between her and the Author's Father, at Whitehall, April 9th, 1691. See _Parentator_, p. 130. [105] This refers to the coming in of the Prince of Orange, and the Overthrow of James the Second's Government. [106] On the 15th of March, 1691, Louis the XIV captured Nice in Piedmont, defended by the Duke of Savoy. But in the following Year the French lost the Supremacy of the Sea in the terrible Battle off La Hogue. That Supremacy they have never yet obtained. [107] See _Morton's Memorial_, P. 38, Edition 16º. Edition 1721. Mather's _Relation_, 110, Ed. 4º, 1864. Johnson's _Wonderworking Providence_, 51. [108] Having Reference, probably, to the Antinomians, as the more liberal Christians were called. [109] The Difficulties with the Episcopalians. [110] The absurd Notion that the Devil's _Time was very short_ in 1693, was generally entertained by Christians. This Matter has already been referred to. When the World and its Affairs can go on without antagonistic Forces it is pretty certain the Devil's _Time_ will be about out. [111] Although the Affairs of the French King had begun to decline when the Author wrote the above, his Opponents were not without great Fear from him, as he achieved several considerable Victories on the Land after the signal Defeat of his Fleet mentioned in a previous Note. [112] This Paragraph, though bracketed, is in the original Edition, _Page_ 47. AN HORTATORY AND NECESSARY ADDRESS, TO A COUNTRY NOW EXTRAORDINARILY ALARUM'D BY THE WRATH OF THE DEVIL. _TIS THIS_, LET us now make a good and a right use of the prodigious _descent_ which the _Devil_ in _Great Wrath_ is at this day making upon our Land. Upon the Death of a Great Man once, an Orator call'd the Town together, crying out, _Concurrite Cives, Dilapsa sunt vestra Mœnia!_ that is, _Come together, Neighbours, your Town-Walls are fallen down!_ But such is the descent of the Devil at this day upon our selves, that I may truly tell you, _The Walls of the whole World are broken down!_ The usual _Walls_ of defence about mankind have such a Gap made in them, that the very _Devils_ are broke in upon us, to seduce the _Souls_, torment the _Bodies_, sully the _Credits_, and consume the _Estates_ of our Neighbours, [41] with Impressions both as _real_ and as _furious_, as if the _Invisible_ World were becoming _Incarnate_, on purpose for the vexing of us. And what use ought now to be made of so tremendous a dispensation? We are engaged in a _Fast_ this day;[113] but shall we try to fetch _Meat out of the Eater_, and make the _Lion_ to afford some _Hony_ for our _Souls?_ That the Devil is _come down unto us with great Wrath_, we find, we feel, we now deplore.[114] In many ways, for many years hath the Devil been assaying to Extirpate the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus here. _New-England_ may complain of the Devil, as in Psal. 129. 1, 2. _Many a time have they afflicted me, from my Youth, may_ New-England _now say; many a time have they afflicted me from my Youth; yet they have not prevailed against me._ But now there is a more than ordinary _affliction_, with which the _Devil_ is Galling of us: and such an one as is indeed Unparallelable. The things confessed by _Witches_, and the things endured by _Others_, laid together, amount unto this account of our Affliction. The _Devil_, Exhibiting himself ordinarily as a small _Black man_, has decoy'd a fearful knot of proud, froward, ignorant, envious and malicious creatures, to lift themselves in his horrid Service, by entring their Names in a _Book_ by him tendred unto them.[115] These _Witches_, whereof above a Score have now _Confessed and shown their Deeds_, and some are now tormented by the Devils, for _Confessing_, have met in Hellish _Randezvouzes_, wherein the Confessors do say, they have had their diabolical Sacraments, imitating the _Baptism_ and the _Supper_ of our Lord. In these hellish meetings, these Monsters have associated themselves to do no less a thing than, _To destroy the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, in these parts of the World;_ and in order hereunto, First they each of them have their _Spectres_, or Devils, commission'd by them, & representing of them, to be the Engines of their Malice. By these wicked _Spectres_, they seize poor people about the Country, with various & bloudy _Torments;_ and of those evidently Preternatural torments there are some have dy'd. They have bewitched some, even so far as to make _Self-destroyers:_[116] and others are in many Towns here and there languishing under their _Evil hands_. The people thus afflicted, are miserably scratched and bitten, so that the Marks are most visible to all the World, but the causes utterly invisible; and the same Invisible Furies do most visibly stick Pins into the bodies of the afflicted, and _scald_ them, and hideously distort, and disjoint all their members, besides a thousand other sorts of Plagues beyond these of any natural diseases which they give unto them. Yea, they sometimes drag the poor people out of their chambers, and carry them over Trees and Hills, for divers miles together. A large part of the persons tortured by these Diabolical _Spectres_, are horribly tempted by them, sometimes with fair [42] promises, and sometimes with hard threatnings, but always with felt miseries, to sign the _Devils Laws_ in a Spectral Book laid before them; which two or three of these poor Sufferers, being by their tiresome sufferings overcome to do, they have immediately been released from all their miseries and they appear'd in _Spectre_ then to Torture those that were before their Fellow-Sufferers. The _Witches_ which by their covenant with the Devil, are become Owners of _Spectres_, are oftentimes by their own _Spectres_ required and compelled to give their consent, for the molestation of some, which they had no mind otherwise to fall upon; and cruel Depredations are then made upon the Vicinage. In the Prosecution of these Witchcrafts, among a thousand other unaccountable things, the _Spectres_ have an odd faculty of cloathing the most substantial and corporeal Instruments of Torture, with Invisibility, while the wounds thereby given have been the most palpable things in the World; so that the Sufferers assaulted with Instruments of Iron, wholly unseen to the standers by, though, to their cost, seen by themselves, have, upon snatching, wrested the Instruments out of the _Spectres_ hands, and every one has then immediately not only _beheld_, but _handled_, an Iron Instrument taken by a Devil from a Neighbour. These wicked _Spectres_ have proceeded so far, as to steal several quantities of Mony from divers people, part of which Money, has, before sufficient Spectators, been dropt out of the Air into the Hands of the Sufferers, while the _Spectres_ have been urging them to subscribe their _Covenant with Death_.[117] In such extravagant ways have these Wretches propounded, the _Dragooning_ of as many as they can, in their own Combination, and the _Destroying_ of others, with lingring, spreading, deadly diseases; till our Countrey should at last become too hot for us. Among the Ghastly Instances of the _success_ which those Bloody Witches have had, we have seen even some of their own Children, so dedicated unto the Devil, that in their Infancy, it is found, the _Imps_ have sucked them, and rendred them Venemous to a Prodigy. We have also seen the Devils first batteries upon the Town, where the first Church of our Lord in this Colony was gathered, producing those distractions, which have almost ruin'd the Town.[118] We have seen likewise the _Plague_ reaching afterwards into other Towns far and near, where the Houses of good Men have the Devils filling of them with terrible Vexations! This is the Descent, which, it seems, the Devil has now made upon us. But that which makes this Descent the more formidable, is; the _multitude_ and _quality_ of Persons accused of an interest in this _Witchcraft_, by the Efficacy of the _Spectres_ which take their Name and shape upon them; causing very many good and wise Men to fear, [43] That many _innocent_, yea, and some _vertuous_ persons, are by the Devils in this matter, imposed upon; That the Devils have obtain'd the power, to take on them the likeness of harmless people, and in that likeness afflict other people, and be so abused by Præstigious _Dæmons_, that upon their look or touch, the afflicted shall be oddly affected. Arguments from the _Providence of God_, on the one side, and from our _Charity_ towards _Man_ on the other side, have made this now to become a most agitated Controversie among us. There is an _Agony_ produced in the Minds of Men, lest the Devil should sham us with _Devices_, of perhaps a finer Thred, than was ever yet practised upon the World. The whole business is become hereupon so _Snarled_, and the determination of the Question one way or another, so _dismal_, that our Honourable Judges have a Room for _Jehoshaphat's_ Exclamation, _We know not what to do!_[119] They have used, as Judges have heretofore done, the _Spectral Evidences_, to introduce their further Enquiries into the _Lives_ of the persons accused; and they have thereupon, by the wonderful Providence of God, been so strengthened with _other evidences_, that some of the _Witch Gang_ have been fairly Executed. But what shall be done, as to those against whom the _evidence_ is chiefly founded in the _dark world?_ Here they do solemnly demand our Addresses to the _Father of Lights_, on their behalf. But in the mean time, the Devil improves the _Darkness_ of this Affair, to push us into a _Blind Mans Buffet_, and we are even ready to be _sinfully_, yea, hotly, and madly, mauling one another in the _dark_.[120] The consequence of these things, every _considerate_ Man trembles at; and the more, because the frequent cheats of Passion, and Rumour, do precipitate so many, that I wish I could say, The most were _considerate_. But that which carries on the formidableness of our Trials, unto that which may be called, _A wrath unto the uttermost_, is this: It is not without the _wrath_ of the Almighty _God_ himself, that the _Devil_ is permitted thus to come down upon us in _wrath_. It was said, in _Isa._ 9. 19. _Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, the Land is darkned._ Our Land is _darkned_ indeed; since the _Powers of Darkness_ are turned in upon us: 'tis a _dark time_, yea a black night indeed, now the _Ty-dogs_[121] of the Pit are abroad among us: but, _It is through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts!_ Inasmuch as the _Fire-brands of Hell_ it self are used for the scorching of us, with cause enough may we cry out, _What means the heat of this Anger?_ Blessed Lord! Are all the other Instruments of thy Vengeance, too good for the chastisement of such transgressors as we are? Must the very _Devils_ be sent out of _Their own place_, to be our Troublers: Must we be lash'd with _Scorpions_, fetch'd from the _Place of [44] Torment?_ Must this _Wilderness_ be made a Receptacle for the _Dragons of the Wilderness?_ If a _Lapland_ should nourish in it vast numbers, the successors of the old _Biarmi_,[122] who can with looks or words bewitch other people, or sell Winds to Mariners, and have their _Familiar Spirits_ which they bequeath to their Children when they die, and by their Enchanted Kettle-Drums can learn things done a Thousand Leagues off; If a _Swedeland_ should afford a Village, where some scores of Haggs, may not only have their Meetings with _Familiar Spirits_, but also by their Enchantments drag many scores of poor children out of their Bed-chambers, to be spoiled at those Meetings; This, were not altogether a matter of so much wonder! But that _New-England_ should this way be harrassed! They are not _Chaldeans_, that _Bitter and Hasty Nation_, but they are, _Bitter and Burning Devils;_ They are not _Swarthy Indians_, but they are _Sooty Devils;_ that are let loose upon us. Ah, Poor _New-England!_ Must the plague of _Old Ægypt_ come upon thee? Whereof we read in _Psal._ 78. 49. _He cast upon them the fierceness of his Anger, Wrath, and Indignation, and Trouble, by sending Evil Angels among them_. What, O what must next be looked for? Must that which is there next mentioned, be next encountered? _He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the Pestilence._ For my part, when I consider what _Melancthon_ says, in one of his Epistles, _That these Diabolical Spectacles are often Prodigies;_ and when I consider, how often people have been by _Spectres_ called upon, just before their Deaths; I am verily afraid, lest some wasting _Mortality_ be among the things, which this Plague is the _Fore-runner_ of. I pray God prevent it! But now, _What shall we do?_ _I._ Let the Devils _coming down_ in _great wrath_ upon us, cause us to _come down_ in _great grief_ before the Lord. We may truly and sadly say, _We are brought very low! Low_ indeed, when the Serpents of the dust, are crawling and coyling about us, and Insulting over us. May we not say, _We are in the very Belly of Hell_, when _Hell_ it self is feeding upon us? But how _Low_ is that! O let us then most penitently lay our selves very _Low_ before the God of Heaven, who has thus Abased us.[123] When a Truculent _Nero_ a _Devil_ of a Man, was turned in upon the World, it was said, in 1 Pet. 5. 6. _Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God_. How much more now ought we to _humble our selves_ under that _Mighty Hand_ of that God who indeed has the _Devil_ in a _Chain_, but has horribly lengthened on the _Chain!_[124] When the old people of God heard any _Blasphemies_, tearing of his Ever-Blessed Name to pieces, they were to _Rend their Cloaths_ at what they heard. I am sure that we have cause to _Rend our Hearts_ this Day, when we see [45] what an High Treason has been committed against the most high God, by the Witchcrafts in our Neighbourhood. We may say; and shall we not be _humbled_ when we say it? _We have seen an horrible thing done in our Land!_ O 'tis a most humbling thing, to think, that ever there should be such an abomination among us, as for a crue of humane race to renounce their _Maker_, and to unite with the _Devil_, for the troubling of mankind, and for People to be, (as is by some confess'd) _Baptized_ by a _Fiend_ using this form upon them, _Thou art mine and I have a full power over thee!_ afterwards communicating in an Hellish _Bread_ and _Wine_, by that Fiend administred unto them. It was said in Deut. 18. 10, 11, 12. _There shall not be found among you an Inchanter, or a Witch, or a Charmer, or a Consulter with Familiar Spirits, or a Wizzard, or a Necromancer; For all that do these things are an Abomination to the Lord, and because of these Abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out before thee._ That _New-England_ now should have these _Abominations_ in it, yea, that some of no mean _Profession_, should be found guilty of them: Alas, what _Humiliations_ are we all hereby oblig'd unto? O 'tis a _Defiled Land_, wherein we live; Let us be humbled for these _Defiling Abominations_, lest we be driven out of our Land. It's a very _humbling_ thing to think, what reproaches will be cast upon us, for this matter, among _The Daughters of the Philistines_. Indeed, enough might easily be said for the vindication of _this_ Country from the _Singularity_ of this matter, by ripping up, what has been discovered in _others_. _Great Britain_ alone, and this also in our days of _Greatest Light_, has had that in it, which may divert the Calumnies of an ill-natured World, from centring here. They are words of the Devout Bishop _Hall,_[125] _Satans prevalency in this Age, is most clear in the marvellous Number of Witches abounding in all places. Now Hundreds are discovered in one Shire; and, if Fame Deceives us not, in a Village of Fourteen Houses in the North, are found so many of this Damned Brood. Yea, and those of both Sexes, who have Professed much Knowledge, Holiness, and Devotion, are drawn into this Damnable Practice._ I suppose the Doctor in the first of those Passages, may refer to what happened in the Year 1645. When so many Vassals of the Devil were Detected, that there were _Thirty_ try'd at one time, whereas about _fourteen_ were Hang'd, and an Hundred more detained in the Prisons of _Suffolk_ and _Essex_. Among other things which many of these Acknowledged, one was, That they were to undergo certain _Punishments_, if they did not such and such _Hurts_, as were appointed them. And, among the rest that were then Executed, there was an Old Parson, called _Lowis_, who confessed, That he had a couple of _Imps_, whereof _one_ was always putting him upon the doing of Mischief; Once particularly, that _Imp_ calling for his Consent so to do, went immediately and Sunk a _Ship_, then under Sail.[126] I pray, let not _New-England_ become of an Unsavoury and a Sulphurous Resentment in the Opinion of the World abroad, for the Doleful things which are now fallen out among us, while there are such _Histories_ of other places abroad in the World.[127] Nevertheless, I am sure that _we_, the People of _New-England_, have cause enough to _Humble_ our selves under our most _Humbling_ Circumstances. We must no more be _Haughty, because of the Lords Holy Mountain among us;_ No it becomes us rather to be, _Humble, because we have been such an Habitation of Unholy Devils!_ _II._ Since the Devil is _come down in great wrath_ upon us, let not us in our _great wrath_ against one another provide a _Lodging_ for him. It was a most wholesome caution, in _Eph._ 4. 26, 27. _Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the Devil._ The Devil is come down to see what _Quarter_ he shall find among us:[128] And if his coming down, do now fill us with _wrath_ against one another, and if between the cause of the _Sufferers_ on one hand, and the cause of the _Suspected_ on t'other, we carry things to such extreams of _Passion_ as are now gaining upon us, the Devil will Bless himself, to find such a convenient _Lodging_ as we shall therein afford unto him.[129] And it may be that the _wrath_ which we have had against one another has had more than a little influence upon the coming down of the Devil in that _wrath_ which now amazes us. Have not many of us been _Devils_ one unto another for Slanderings, for Backbitings, for Animosities? For _this_, among other causes, perhaps, God has permitted the Devils to be worrying, as they now are, among us. But it is high time to leave off all _Devilism_, when the _Devil_ himself is falling upon us: And it is _no time_ for us to be Censuring and Reviling one another, with a _Devilish wrath_, when the _wrath_ of the _Devil_ is annoying of us. The way for us to out-wit the Devil, in the _Wiles_ with which he now _Vexes_ [46] us, would be for us to joyn as one man in our cries to God, for the Directing, and Issuing of this Thorny Business; but if we do not _Lift up_ our Hands to Heaven, _without Wrath_, we cannot then do it _without Doubt_, of speeding in it. I am ashamed when I read French Authors giving this Character of Englishmen [_Ils se haissent Les uns les autres, et sont en Division Continuelle._] _They hate one another, and are always Quarelling one with another._[130] And I shall be much more ashamed, if it become the Character of _New-Englanders;_ which is indeed what the Devil would have. _Satan_ would make us _bruise_ one another, by breaking of the _Peace_ among us; but O let us disappoint him. We read of a thing that sometimes happens to the _Devil_, when he is foaming with his _Wrath_, in Mat. 12. 43. _The unclean Spirit seeks rest, and finds none._ But we give _rest_ unto the Devil, by _wrath_ one against another. If we would lay aside all fierceness, and keenness, in the disputes which the Devil has raised among us; and if we would use to one another none but the _soft Answers, which turn away wrath:_ I should hope that we might light upon such Counsels, as would quickly Extricate us out of our _Labyrinths_. But the old _Incendiary_ of the world, is come from Hell, with _Sparks_ of Hell-Fire flashing on every side of him; and we make ourselves _Tynder_ to the Sparks. When the Emperour _Henry_ III.[131] kept the Feast of _Pentecost_, at the City _Mentz_, there arose a dissension among some of the people there, which came from words to blows, and at last it passed on to the shedding of Blood. After the Tumult was over, when they came to that clause in their Devotions, _Thou hast made this day Glorious;_ the Devil to the unexpressible Terrour of that vast Assembly, made the Temple Ring with that Outcry _But I have made this Day Quarrelsome!_ We are truly come into a day, which by being well managed might be very _Glorious_, for the exterminating of those _Accursed things_, which have hitherto been the Clogs of our Prosperity; but if we make this day _Quarrelsome_, thro' any _Raging Confidences_, Alas, _O Lord, my Flesh Trembles for Fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy Judgments_. _Erasmus_, among other Historians, tells us, that at a Town in _Germany_, a Witch or Devil, appeared on the Top of a Chimney, Threatning to set the Town on _Fire:_ And at length, Scattering a Pot of Ashes abroad, the Town was presently and horribly Burnt unto the Ground.[132] Methinks, I see the _Spectres_, from the Top of the Chimneys to the Northward, threatning to scatter _Fire_, about the Countrey; but let us quench that _Fire_, by the most amicable Correspondencies: Lest, as the _Spectres_, have, they say, already most Literally burnt some of our Dwellings there do come forth a further _Fire_ from the _Brambles_ of Hell, which may more terribly _Devour_ us. Let us not be like a _Troubled House_, altho' we are so much haunted by the _Devils_. Let our _Long suffering_ be a well-placed piece of _Armour_, about us, against the _Fiery Darts_ of the wicked ones. History informs us, That so long ago, as the year, 858, a certain Pestilent and Malignant sort of _Dæmon_, molested _Caumont_ in _Germany_ with all sorts of methods to stir up strife among the Citizens. He uttered Prophecies, he detected Villanies, he branded people with all kind of Infamies. He incensed the Neighbourhood against one Man particularly, as the cause of all the mischiefs: who yet proved himself innocent. He threw stones at the Inhabitants, and at length burnt their Habitations, till the Commission of the _Dæmon_ could go no further. I say, let us be well aware lest such _Dæmons_ do _Come hither also_. _III._ Inasmuch as the Devil is come down in _Great Wrath_, we had need Labour, with all the Care and Speed we can to Divert the _Great Wrath_ of Heaven from coming at the same time upon us. The God of Heaven has with long and loud Admonitions, been calling us to _a Reformation of our Provoking Evils_, as the only way to avoid that _Wrath_ of His, which does not only _Threaten_ but _Consume_ us. 'Tis because we have been Deaf to those _Calls_ that we are now by a provoked God, laid open to the _Wrath_ of the Devil himself. It is said in Pr. 16. 7. _When a mans ways please the Lord, he maketh even his Enemies to be at peace with him._ The Devil is our grand _Enemy;_ and tho' we would not be at peace _with_ him, yet we would be at peace from him, that is, we would have him unable to disquiet our _peace_. But inasmuch as the _wrath_ which we endure from this _Enemy_, will allow us no _peace_, we may be sure, _our ways have not pleased the Lord_. It is because we have _broken the hedge_ of Gods _Precepts_, that the hedge of Gods _Providence_ is not so entire as it uses to be about us; but _Serpents_ are _biting_ of us. O let us then set [47] our selves to make our _peace_ with our God, whom we have _displeased_ by our iniquities: and let us not imagine that we can encounter the _Wrath_ of the Devil, while there is the _Wrath_ of God Almighty to set that Mastiff upon us. REFORMATION! REFORMATION! has been the repeated _Cry_ of all the Judgments that have hitherto been upon us; because we have been as _deaf Adders_ thereunto, the _Adders_ of the Infernal Pit are now hissing about us. At length, as it was of old said, _Luke_ 16. 30. _If one went unto them from the dead, they will repent;_ even so, there are some come unto us from the _Damned_. The great God has loosed the Bars of the Pit, so that many _damned Spirits_ are come in among us, to make us _repent_ of our Misdemeanours. The means which the Lord had formerly employ'd for our _awakening_, were such, that he might well have said, _What could I have done more?_ and yet after all, he has done _more_, in some regards, than was ever done for the awakening of any People in the World. The things now done to awaken our Enquiries after our _provoking Evils_, and our endeavours to Reform those evils, are most _extraordinary_ things; for which cause I would freely speak it, if we now do not some _extraordinary_ things in returning to God; we are the most _incurable_, and I wish it be not quickly said, the most _miserable_ People under the Sun. Believe me, 'tis a time for all people to do something _extraordinary, in searching and trying of their ways, and in turning to the Lord_. It is at an _extraordinary_ rate of _Circumspection_ and _Spiritual mindedness_, that we should all now maintain a _walk with God_. At such a time as this ought _Magistrates_ to do something _extraordinary_ in promoting of what is laudable, and in restraining and chastising of _Evil Doers_. At such a time as this ought _Ministers_ to do something _extraordinary_ in pulling the Souls of Men out of the _Snares_ of the Devil, not only by publick Preaching, but by personal Visits and Counsels, _from house to house_. At such a time as this ought _Churches_ to do something _extraordinary_, in _renewing_ of their Covenants, and in _remembring_, and _reviving_ the Obligations of what they have renewed. Some admirable Designs about the _Reformation_ of Manners, have lately been on foot in the English Nation, in pursuance of the most excellent Admonitions which have been given for it, by the Letters of Their Majesties.[133] Besides the vigorous Agreements of the _Justices_ here and there in the Kingdom, assisted by godly Gentlemen and Informers, to execute the _Laws_ upon prophane Offenders: there has been started a _Proposal_ for the well-affected people in every Parish, to enter into orderly _Societies_, whereof every Member shall bind himself, not only to _avoid_ Prophaneness in himself, but also according unto to their Place, to do their utmost in first _Reproving;_ and, if it must be so, then _Exposing_, and so _Punishing_, as the Law directs, for others that shall be guilty. It has been observed, that the English Nation has had some of its greatest Successes, upon some special and signal _Actions_ this way; and a discouragement given under Legal Proceedings of this kind, must needs be very exercising to the _Wise that observe these things_. But O why should not _New-England_ be the most forward part of the English Nation in such _Reformations?_ Methinks I hear the Lord from Heaven saying over us, _O that my People had hearkened unto me; then I should soon have subdued the Devils, as well as their other Enemies!_ There have been some feeble Essays towards _Reformation_ of late in our _Churches;_ but, I pray what comes of them? Do we stay till the _Storm_ of his _Wrath_ be over? Nay, let us be doing what we can, as fast as we can, to divert the _Storm_. The Devils having broke in upon our World,[134] there is great asking, _Who is it that has brought them in?_ And many do by _Spectral_ Exhibitions come to be _cry'd out_ upon. I hope in Gods time it will be found, that among those that are thus _cry'd out_ upon, there are persons yet _Clear from the great Transgression;_ but indeed, all the _Unreformed_ among us, may justly be _cry'd out_ upon, as having too much of an hand in letting of the Devils into our Borders; 'tis _our_ Worldliness, _our_ Formality, _our_ Sensuality, and _our_ Iniquity that has help'd this letting of the Devils in. O let us then at last, _consider our ways_. 'Tis a strange passage recorded by Mr. _Clark_[135] in the Life of his Father That the People of his Parish, refusing to be Reclaimed from their _Sabbath breaking_, by all the zealous Testimonies which that good Man bore against it; at last, on a night after the people had retired home from a Revelling Prophanation of the _Lords Day_, there was heard a great Noise, with rattling of Chains up and down the Town, and an horrid Scent of Brimstone fill'd the Neighbourhood. Upon which the _guilty Consciences_ of the Wretches told [48] them, the Devil was come to fetch them away; and it so terrifi'd them, that an Eminent _Reformation_ follow'd the Sermons which that Man of God Preached thereupon. Behold, Sinners, behold and _wonder_, lest you _perish:_ the very _Devils_ are walking about our Streets, with lengthened _Chains_, making a dreadful Noise in our Ears, and _Brimstone_ even without a Metaphor, is making an hellish and horrid stench in our Nostrils.[136] I pray leave off all those things whereof your _guilty Consciences_ may now accuse you, lest these Devils do yet more direfully fall upon you. _Reformation_ is at this time our only _Preservation_. _IV_. When the Devil is come down in _great Wrath_, let every _great Vice_ which may have a more particular tendency to make us a Prey unto that _Wrath_, come into a due discredit with us. It is the general Concession of all men, who are not become too _Unreasonable_ for common Conversation, that the Invitation of _Witchcrafts_ is the thing that has now introduced the Devil into the midst of us. I say then, let not only all _Witchcrafts_ be duly abominated with us, but also let us be duly watchful against all the _Steps_ leading thereunto. There are lesser _Sorceries_ which they say, are too frequent in our Land. As it was said in 2 _King_. 17. 9. _The Children of_ Israel _did secretly those things that were not right, against the Lord their God_. So 'tis to be feared, the Children of _New-England_ have _secretly_ done many things that have been pleasing to the Devil. They say, that in some Towns it has been an usual thing for People to cure Hurts with _Spells_, or to use detestable Conjurations, with _Sieves_, _Keys_, and _Pease_, and _Nails_, and _Horse-shoes_, and I know not what other Implements, to learn the things for which they have a forbidden, and an impious _Curiosity_.[137] 'Tis in the Devils Name, that such things are done; and in Gods Name I do this day charge them, as vile Impieties. By these Courses 'tis, that People play upon _The Hole of the Asp_, till that cruelly venemous _Asp_ has pull'd many of them into the deep _Hole_ of _Witchcraft_ it self. It has been acknowledged by some who have sunk the deepest into this _horrible Pit_, that they began at these little _Witchcrafts;_ on which 'tis pity but the Laws of the English Nation, whereby the incorrigible repetition of those _Tricks_, is made _Felony_, were severally Executed. From the like sinful _Curiosity_ it is, that the Prognostications of _Judicial Astrology_, are so injudiciously regarded by multitudes among us; and altho' the Jugling _Astrologers_ do scarce ever hit right, except it be in such _Weighty Judgments_, forsooth, as that many _Old Men_ will die such a year, and that there will be many _Losses_ felt by some that venture to Sea, and that there will be much _Lying_ and _Cheating_ in the World; yet their foolish Admirers will not be perswaded but that the Innocent _Stars_ have been concern'd in these Events. It is a disgrace to the English Nation, that the Pamphlets of such idle, futil, trifling _Stargazers_ are so much considered; and the Countenance hereby given to a Study, wherin at last, all is done by _Impulse_, if any thing be done to any purpose at all, is not a little perillous to the Souls of Men. It is (_a Science_, I dare not call it, but) a _Juggle_, whereof the Learned _Hall_ well says, _It is presumptious and unwarrantable, and cry'd ever down by Councils and Fathers, as unlawful, as that which lies in the mid-way between Magick and Imposture, and partakes not a little of both_.[138] Men consult the Aspects of Planets, whose Northern or Southern motions receive denominations from a _Cælestial Dragon_, till the _Infernal Dragon_ at length insinuate into them, with a _Poison_ of _Witchcraft_ that can't be cured. Has there not also been a world of discontent in our Borders? 'Tis no wonder, that the _fiery Serpents_ are so Stinging of us; We have been a _Murmuring Generation_. It is not Irrational, to ascribe the late Stupendious growth of _Witches_ among us, partly to the bitter _discontents_, which Affliction and Poverty has fill'd us with: it is inconceivable, what advantage the Devil gains over men, by _discontent_. Moreover, the Sin of _Unbelief_ may be reckoned as perhaps the chief _Crime_ of our Land. We are told, _God swears in wrath, against them that believe not;_ and what follows then but this, _That the Devil comes unto them in wrath!_ Never were the offers of the _Gospel_, more freely tendered, or more basely despised, among any People under the whole Cope of Heaven, than in this _N. E._[139] Seems it all marvellous unto us, that the _Devil_ should get such a footing in our Country? Why, 'tis because the _Saviour_ has been slighted here, perhaps more than any where. The Blessed Lord Jesus Christ [49] has been profering to us, _Grace, and Glory, and every good thing_, and been alluring of us to Accept of Him, with such Terms as these, _Undone Sinner, I am All; Art thou willing that I should be thy All?_ But, as a proof of that Contempt which this Unbelief has cast upon these proffers, I would seriously ask of the so many Hundreds above a Thousand People within these Walls; which of you all, O how few of you, can indeed say, _Christ is mine, and I am his, and he is the Beloved of my Soul?_ I would only say thus much: When the precious and glorious Jesus, is Entreating of us to Receive _Him_, in all His _Offices_, with all His _Benifits;_ the Devil minds what Respect we pay unto that Heavenly Lord; if we _Refuse Him that speaks from Heaven_, then he that, _Comes from Hell_, does with a sort of claim set in, and cry out, _Lord, since this Wretch is not willing that thou shouldst have him, I pray, let me have him_. And thus, by the just vengeance of Heaven, the Devil becomes a _Master_, a _Prince_, a _God_, unto the miserable Unbelievers: but O what are many of them then hurried unto! All of these Evil Things, do I now set before you, as _Branded_ with the Mark of the Devil upon them. _V._ With _Great Regard_, with _Great Pity_, should we Lay to Heart the Condition of those, who are cast into Affliction, by the _Great Wrath_ of the Devil. There is a Number of our Good Neighbours, and some of them very particularly noted for Goodness and Vertue, of whom we may say, _Lord, They are vexed with Devils_. Their Tortures being primarily Inflicted on their _Spirits_, may indeed cause the Impressions thereof upon their Bodies to be the less _Durable_, tho' rather the more _Sensible:_ but they Endure Horrible Things, and many have been actually Murdered. Hard _Censures_ now bestow'd upon these poor Sufferers, cannot but be very Displeasing unto our Lord, who, as He said, about some that had been Butchered by a _Pilate_, in Luc. 13. 2, 3. _Think ye that these were Sinners above others, because they suffered such Things? I tell you No, But except ye Repent, ye shall all likewise Perish:_ Even so, he now says, _Think ye that they who now suffer by the Devil, have been greater Sinners than their Neighbours?_ No, Do you Repent of your _own Sins_, Lest the Devil come to fall foul of _you_, as he has done to _them_. And if this be so, How _Rash_ a thing would it be, if such of the poor Sufferers, as carry it with a Becoming Piety, Seriousness, and Humiliation under their present Suffering, should be unjustly _Censured;_ or have their very _Calamity_ imputed unto them as a _Crime?_ It is an easie thing, for us to fall into the Fault of, _Adding Affliction to the Afflicted_, and of, _Talking to the Grief of those that are already wounded_. Nor can it be wisdom to slight the Dangers of such a Fault. In the mean time, We have no Bowels in us, if we do not Compassionate the Distressed County of _Essex_, now crying to all these Colonies, _Have pity on me, O ye my Friends, Have pity on me, for the Hand of the Lord has Touched me, and the Wrath of the Devil has been therewithal turned upon me_. But indeed, if an hearty _pity_ be due to any, I am sure, the Difficulties which attend our Honourable _Judges_, do demand no Inconsiderable share in that _Pity_. What a Difficult, what [50] an Arduous Task, have those Worthy Personages now upon their Hands? To carry the _Knife_ so exactly, that on the one side, there may be no Innocent Blood Shed,[140] by too unseeing a _Zeal for the Children of Israel;_ and that on the other side, there may be no Shelter given to those Diabolical _Works of Darkness_, without the Removal whereof we never shall have _Peace;_ or to those _Furies_ whereof several have kill'd _more people_ perhaps than would serve to make a Village: _Hic Labor, Hoc Opus est!_ O what need have we, to be concerned, that the Sins of our _Israel_, may not provoke the God of Heaven to leave his _Davids_, unto a wrong Step, in a matter of such Consequence, as is now before them! Our Disingenuous, Uncharitable, Unchristian Reproaching of such _Faithful Men_, after all, _The Prayers and Supplications, with strong Crying and Tears_, with which we are daily plying the Throne of Grace, that they may be kept, from what _They Fear_, is none of the way for our preventing of what We _Fear_. Nor all this while, ought our _Pity_ to forget such _Accused_ ones, as call for indeed our most Compassionate _Pity_, till there be fuller Evidences that they are less worthy of it.[141] If _Satan_ have any where maliciously brought upon the _Stage_, those that have hitherto had a just and good stock of Reputation for their just and good Living, among us; If the _Evil One_ have obtained a permission to _Appear_, in the Figure of such as we have cause to think, have hitherto _Abstained_, even from the _Appearance of Evil:_ It is in Truth, such an Invasion upon _Mankind_, as may well Raise an Horror in us all: But, O what Compassions are due to such as may come under such Misrepresentations, of the _Great Accuser!_ Who of us can say, what may be shewn in the _Glasses_ of the Great _Lying Spirit?_ Altho' the _Usual Providence_ of God [we praise Him!] keeps us from such a Mishap; yet where have we an _Absolute Promise_, that we shall every one always be kept from it? As long as _Charity_ is bound to Think _no Evil_, it will not Hurt us that are _Private Persons_, to forbear the _Judgment_ which belongs not unto us. Let it rather be our Wish, May the Lord help them to Learn the _Lessons_, for which they are now put unto so hard a School. _VI._ With a _Great Zeal_, we should lay hold on the _Covenant_ of God, that we may secure _Us_ and _Ours_, from the _Great Wrath_, with which the Devil Rages. Let us come into the _Covenant of Grace_, and then we shall not be hook'd into a _Covenant with the Devil_, nor be altogether unfurnished with Armour against the Wretches that are in that _Covenant_. The way to come under the Saving Influences of the _New Covenant_, is, to close with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the All-sufficient _Mediator_ of it: Let us therefore do, _that_, by Resigning up our selves unto the Saving, Teaching, and Ruling Hands of this Blessed _Mediator_. Then we shall be, what we read in Jude 1. _Preserved in Christ Jesus:_ That is, as the _Destroying Angel_, could not meddle with such as had been distinguished, by the Blood of the _Passeover_ on their Houses: Thus the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Sprinkled on our Souls, will _Preserve_ us from the Devil. The _Birds of prey_ (and indeed the _Devils_ [51] most literally in the shape of great _Birds!_) are flying about. Would we find a Covert from these _Vultures?_ Let us then Hear our Lord Jesus from Heaven Clocquing[142] unto us, _O that you would be gathered under my wings!_ Well; when this is done, Then let us own the _Covenant_, which we are now come into, by joining ourselves to a Particular _Church_, walking in the Order of the Gospel; at the doing whereof, according to that _Covenant_ of God, We give up Our selves unto the Lord, and in Him unto One Another, While others have had their Names Entred in the _Devils Book;_ let our Names be found in the _Church Book_, and let us be _Written among the Living in Jerusalem_. By no means let, _Church work_ sink and fail in the midst of us; but let the Tragical Accidents which now happen, exceedingly Quicken that _work_. So many of the _Rising Generation_, utterly forgetting the Errand of our Fathers to build Churches in this Wilderness, and so many of our _Cottages_ being allow'd to Live, where they do not, and perhaps cannot, wait upon God with the Churches of His People; 'tis as likely as any one thing to procure the swarmings of _Witch crafts_ among us.[143] But it becomes us, with a like Ardour, to bring our poor _Children_ with us, as we shall do, when we come our selves, into the _Covenant_ of God. It would break an heart of Stone, to have seen, what I have lately seen; Even poor Children of several Ages, even from seven to twenty, more or less, _Confessing_ their Familiarity with Devils; but at the same time, in Doleful bitter Lamentations, that made a little Pourtraiture of _Hell_ it self, Expostulating with their execrable Parents, for _Devoting_ them to the Devil in their Infancy, and so _Entailing_ of Devillism upon them! Now, as the Psalmist could say, _My Zeal hath consumed me, because my Enemies have forgotten thy words:_ Even so, let the Nefarious wickedness of those that have Explicitly dedicated their Children to the Devil, even with Devilish Symbols, of such a Dedication, Provoke our _Zeal_ to have our Children, Sincerely, Signally, and openly _Consecrated_ unto God; with an _Education_ afterwards assuring and confirming that Consecration. _VII._ Let our _Prayer_ go up with great Faith, against the Devil, that comes down in great Wrath. Such is the Antipathy of the Devil to our _Prayer_, that he cannot bear to stay long where much of it is: Indeed it is _Diaboli Flagellum_, as well as _Miseriæ Remedium;_ the Devil will soon be Scourg'd out of the Lord's Temple, by a _Whip_, made and used, with the _effectual fervent Prayer of Righteous Men_. When the Devil by Afflicting of us, drives us to our Prayers, he is _The Fool making a Whip for his own Back_. Our Lord said of the Devil in _Matt._ 17. 21. _This Kind goes not out, but by Prayer and Fasting._ But, _Prayer and Fasting_ will soon make the Devil be gone. Here are _Charms_ indeed! Sacred and blessed _Charms_, which the Devil cannot stand before. A Promise of God, being well managed in the _Hands_ of them that are much upon their Knees, will so resist the Devil, that he will _Flee from us_. At every other Weapon the Devils will be too hard for us; the _Spiritual Wickednesses in High Places_, have manifestly the Upper hand of [52] us; that _Old Serpent_ will be too old for us, too cunning, too subtil; they will soon _out wit_ us, if we think to Encounter them with any _Wit_ of our own. But when we come to _Prayers_, Incessant and Vehement _Prayers_ before the Lord, there we shall be too hard for them. When well-directed _Prayers_, that great Artillery of Heaven, are brought into the Field, _There_ methinks I see, _There are these workers of Iniquity fallen, all of them!_ And who can tell, how much the most _Obscure Christian_ among you all, may do towards the Deliverance of our Land from the Molestations which the Devil is now giving to us. I have Read, That on a day of Prayer kept by some good People for and with a Possessed Person, the Devil at last flew out of the Window, and referring to a Devout, plain, mean Woman then in the Room, he cry'd out, _O the Woman behind the Door!_[144] _'Tis that Woman that forces me away!_ Thus the Devil that now troubles us, may be forced within a while to forsake us; and it shall be said, _He was driven away by the Prayers of some Obscure and Retired Souls, which the World has taken but little notice of!_ The Great God is about a Great _Work_ at this day among us: Now, there is extream Hazard, lest the Devil who by Compulsion must submit unto that _Great Work_, may also by _Permission_, come to Confound that _Work;_ both in the Detections of some, and in the Confessions of others, whose Ungodly deeds may be brought forth, by a _Great Work_ of God; there is Hazard lest the Devil intertwist some of his Delusions. 'Tis PRAYER, I say, 'tis PRAYER, that must carry us well through the strange things that are now upon us. Only that Prayer must then be the Prayer of Faith: O where is our Faith in him, Who _hath spoiled these Principalities and Powers, on his Cross, Triumphing over them!_ _VIII._ Lastly, Shake off, every Soul, shake off the _hard Yoak_ of the Devil. Where 'tis said, _The whole World lyes in Wickedness;_ 'tis by some of the Ancients rendred, _The whole World lyes in the Devil_. The Devil is a Prince, yea, the Devil is a God unto all the Unregenerate; and alas, there is _A whole World of them_.[145] Desolate Sinners, consider what an horrid Lord it is that you are Enslav'd unto; and Oh shake off your Slavery to such a Lord. Instead of _him_, now make your Choice of the Eternal God in Jesus Christ; Chuse him with a most unalterable Resolution, and unto him say, with _Thomas, My Lord, and my God!_ Say with the Church, _Lord, other Lords have had the Dominion over us, but now thou alone shalt be our Lord for ever_. Then instead of your Perishing under the wrath of the Devils, God will fetch you to a place among those that fill up the Room of the Devils, left by their Fall from the Ethereal Regions. It was a most awful Speech made by the Devil, Possessing a young Woman, at a Village in _Germany, By the command of God, I am come to Torment the Body of this young Woman, tho I cannot hurt her Soul; and it is that I may warn Men, to take heed of sinning against God. Indeed_ (said he) _'tis very sore against my will that I do it; but the command of God forces me to declare what I do; however I know that at the Last Day, I shall have more Souls than God himself_. So spoke that horrible Devil! But O that none [53] of our Souls may be found among the Prizes of the Devil, in the Day of God! O that what the Devil has been forced to declare, of his Kingdom among us, may prejudice our Hearts against him for ever! My Text says, _The Devil is come down in great Wrath, for he has but a short time_. Yea, but if you do not by a speedy and through Conversion to God, escape the Wrath of the Devil, you will your selves go down, where the Devil is to be, and you will there be sweltring under the Devils Wrath, not for a _short Time_, but _World without end;_ not for a _Short Time_ but for _Infinite Millions of Ages_. The smoke of your Torment under that Wrath, will _Ascend for ever and ever!_ Indeed, the Devil's time for his Wrath upon you in this World, can be but short, but his time for you to do his Work, or, which is all one, to delay your turning to God, that is a _Long Time_. When the Devil was going to be Dispossessed of a Man, he Roar'd out, _Am I to be Tormented before my time?_ You will _Torment_ the Devil, if you Rescue your Souls out of his hands, by true Repentance: If once you begin to look that way, he'll Cry out, _O this is before my Time, I must have more Time, yet in the Service of such a guilty Soul_. But, I beseech you, let us join thus to torment the Devil, in an holy Revenge upon him, for all the Injuries which he has done unto us; let us tell him, _Satan, thy time with me is but short, Nay, thy time with me shall be no more; I am unutterably sorry that it has been so much; Depart from me thou Evil-Doer, that would'st have me an Evil-Doer like thy self; I will now for ever keep the Commandments of that God, in whom I Live and Move, and have my Being!_ The Devil has plaid a fine Game for himself indeed, if by his troubling of our Land, the Souls of many People should come to _think upon their ways, till even they turn their Feet into the Testimonies of the Lord_. Now that the Devil may be thus outshot in his own Bow, is the desire of all that love the Salvation of God among us, as well as of him, who has thus Addressed you. _Amen._ HAVING thus discoursed on the _Wonders of the Invisible World_, I shall now, with God's help, go on to relate some Remarkable and Memorable Instances of _Wonders_ which that _World_ has given to ourselves. And altho the chief Entertainment which my Readers do expect, and shall receive, will be a true History of what has occurred, respecting the WITCHCRAFTS wherewith we are at this day Persecuted; yet I shall choose to usher in the mention of those things, with _A Narrative of an_ APPARITION _which a Gentleman in_ BOSTON, _had of his Brother, just then murthered in_ LONDON. IT was on the Second of _May_ in the Year 1687, that a most ingenious, accomplished and well-disposed young Gentleman, Mr. _Joseph Beacon_, by about Five a Clock in the Morning, as he lay, whether Sleeping or [54] Waking he could not say, (but judged the latter of them) had a View of his Brother then at _London_, altho he was now himself at our _Boston_, distanced from him a thousand Leagues.[146] This his Brother appear'd unto him, in the Morning about Five a Clock at _Boston_, having on him a _Bengal_ Gown, which he usually wore, with a Napkin tyed about his Head; his Countenance was very Pale, Gastly, Deadly, and he had a bloody Wound on one side of his Fore-head. _Brother!_ says the Affrighted _Joseph. Brother!_ Answered the Apparition. Said _Joseph, What's the matter Brother? How came you here!_ The Apparition replied, _Brother, I have been most barbarously and injuriously Butchered, by a Debauched Drunken Fellow, to whom I never did any wrong in my Life_. Whereupon he gave a particular Description of the Murderer; adding, _Brother, This Fellow changing his Name, is attempting to come over unto_ New-England, _in_ Foy, _or_ Wild; _I would pray you on the first Arrival of either of these, to get an Order from the Governor, to Seize the Person, whom I have now described; and then do you Indict him for the Murder of me your Brother: I'll stand by you and prove the Indictment_. And so he Vanished. Mr. _Beacon_ was extreamly astonished at what he had seen and hear'd; and the People of the Family not only observed an extraordinary Alteration upon him, for the Week following, but have also given me under their Hands a full Testimony, that he then gave them an Account of this Apparition. All this while, Mr. _Beacon_ had no advice of any thing amiss attending his Brother then in _England;_ but about the latter end of _June_ following, he understood by the common ways of Communication, that the _April_ before, his Brother going in haste by Night to call a Coach for a Lady, met a Fellow then in Drink, with his _Doxy_ in his Hand: Some way or other the Fellow thought himself Affronted with the hasty passage of this _Beacon_, and immediately ran into the Fire-side of a Neighbouring Tavern, from whence he fetched out a Fire-fork, wherewith he grievously wounded _Beacon_ in the Skull; even in that very part where the Apparition show'd his Wound. Of this Wound he Languished until he Dyed on the Second of _May_, about five of the Clock in the Morning at _London_. The Murderer it seems was endeavouring an Escape, as the Apparition affirm'd, but the Friends of the Deceased _Beacon_, Seized him; and Prosecuting him at Law, he found the help of such Friends as brought him off without the loss of his Life; since which, there has no more been heard of the Business. This History I received of Mr. _Joseph Beacon_ himself; who a little before his own Pious and hopeful Death, which follow'd not long after, gave me the Story written and signed with his own Hand, and attested with the Circumstances I have already mentioned. BUT I shall no longer detain my Reader, from his expected Entertainment, in a brief account of the Tryals which have passed upon some of the Malefactors lately Executed at _Salem_, for the _Witchcrafts_ whereof they stood Convicted. For my own part, I was not present at any of them; [55] nor ever had I any Personal prejudice at the Persons thus brought upon the Stage; much less at the Surviving Relations of those Persons, with and for whom I would be as hearty a Mourner as any Man living in the World: _The Lord Comfort them!_ But having received a Command so to do, I can do no other than shortly relate the chief _Matters of Fact_, which occur'd in the Tryals of some that were Executed, in an Abridgment Collected out of the _Court-Papers_, on this occasion put into my hands. You are to take the _Truth_, just as it was; and the Truth will hurt no good Man. There might have been more of these, if my Book would not thereby have swollen too big; and if some other worthy hands did not perhaps intend something further in these _Collections;_ for which cause I have only singled out Four or Five, which may serve to illustrate the way of Dealing, wherein _Witchcrafts_ use to be concerned; and I report matters not as an _Advocate_, but as an _Historian_. They were some of the Gracious Words inserted in the Advice, which many of the Neighbouring Ministers, did this Summer humbly lay before our Honorable Judges, _We cannot but with all thankfulness, acknowledge the success which the Merciful God has given unto the Sedulous and Assiduous endeavours of Our Honourable Rulers, to detect the abominable Witchcrafts which have been committed in the Country; Humbly Praying, that the discovery of those mysterious and mischievous wickednesses, may be Perfected_. If in the midst of the many Dissatisfactions among us, the Publication of these Tryals may promote such a Pious Thankfulness unto God, for Justice being so far executed among us, I shall Rejoice that God is Glorified; and pray, that no wrong steps of ours may ever sully any of his Glorious Works. But we will begin with, _A Modern Instance of Witches, Discovered and Condemned in a Tryal, before that celebrated Judge, Sir Matthew Hale_.[147] IT may cast some Light upon the Dark things now in _America_, if we just give a glance upon the _like things_ lately happening in _Europe_. We may see the _Witchcrafts_ here most exactly resemble the _Witchcrafts_ there; and we may learn what sort of Devils do trouble the World. The Venerable _Baxter_ very truly says, _Judge_ Hale _was a Person, than whom, no Man was more Backward to Condemn a Witch, without full Evidence_. Now, one of the latest Printed Accounts about a _Tryal of Witches_, is of what was before him, and it ran on this wise. [Printed in the Year 1682.] And it is here the rather mentioned, because it was a Tryal, much considered by the Judges of _New England_. _I. Rose Cullender_ and _Amy Duny_, were severally Indicted, for Bewitching _Elizabeth Durent_, _Ann Durent_, _Jane Bocking_, _Susan Chandler_, _William Durent_, _Elizabeth_ and _Deborah Pacy_. And the Evidence whereon they were Convicted, stood upon divers particular Circumstances. [56] _II. Ann Durent_, _Susan Chandler_, and _Elizabeth Pacy_, when they came into the Hall, to give Instructions for the drawing the Bills of Indictments, they fell into strange and violent Fits, so that they were unable to give in their Depositions, not only then, but also during the whole Assizes. _William Durent_ being an Infant, his Mother Swore, that _Amy Duny_ looking after her Child one Day in her absence, did at her return confess, that she had _given suck to the Child:_ (tho' she were an Old Woman:) Whereat, when _Durent_ expressed her displeasure, _Duny_ went away with Discontents and Menaces. The Night after, the Child fell into strange and sad Fits, wherein it continued for Divers Weeks. One Doctor _Jacob_ advised her to hang up the Childs Blanket, in the Chimney Corner all Day, and at Night when she went to put the Child into it, if she found any Thing in it then to throw it without fear into the Fire. Accordingly, at Night, there fell a great Toad out of the Blanket, which ran up and down the Hearth. A Boy catch't it, and held it in the Fire with the Tongs: where it made an horrible Noise, and Flash'd like to Gun-Powder, with a report like that of a Pistol: Whereupon the Toad was no more to be seen. The next Day a Kinswoman of _Duny's_, told the Deponent, that her Aunt was all grievously scorch'd with the Fire, and the Deponent going to her House, found her in such a Condition. _Duny_ told her, she might thank her for it; but she should live to see some of her Children Dead, and herself upon Crutches. But after the Burning of the Toad, this Child Recovered. This Deponent further Testifi'd, That Her Daughter _Elizabeth_, being about the Age of Ten Years, was taken in like manner, as her first Child was, and in her Fits complained much of _Amy Duny_, and said, that she did appear to Her, and afflict her in such a manner as the former. One Day she found _Amy Duny_ in her House, and thrusting her out of Doors, _Duny_ said, _You need not be so Angry, your Child won't live long_. And within three Days the Child died. The Deponent added, that she was Her self, not long after taken with such a Lameness in both her Legs, that she was forced to go upon Crutches; and she was now in Court upon them. [It was Remarkable, that immediately upon the Juries bringing in _Duny_ Guilty, _Durent_ was restored unto the use of her Limbs, and went home without her Crutches.] _III._ As for _Elizabeth_ and _Deborah Pacy_, one Aged Eleven Years, the other Nine; the elder, being in Court, was made utterly senseless, during all the time of the Trial: or at least speechless. By the direction of the Judge _Duny_ was privately brought to _Elizabeth Pacy_, and she touched her Hand: whereupon the Child, without so much as seeing her, suddenly leap'd up and flew upon the Prisoner; the younger was too ill, to be brought unto the Assizes. But _Samuel Pacy_, their Father, testifi'd, that his Daughter _Deborah_ was taken with a sudden Lameness; and upon the grumbling of _Amy Duny_, for being denied something, where this Child was then [57] sitting, the Child was taken with an extream pain in her stomach, like the pricking of Pins; and shrieking at a dreadful manner, like a Whelp, rather than a Rational Creature. The Physicians could not conjecture the cause of the Distemper; but _Amy Duny_ being a Woman of ill Fame, and the Child in Fits crying out of _Amy Duny_, as affrighting her with the Apparition of her Person, the Deponent suspected her, and procured her to be set in the stocks. While she was there, she said in the hearing of Two Witnesses, _Mr._ Pacy _keeps a great stir about his Child, but let him stay till he has done as much by his Children, as I have done by mine:_ And being Asked, What she had done to her Children, she Answered, _She had been fain to open her Childs Mouth with a Tap to give it Victuals_. The Deponent added, that within Two Days, the Fits of his Daughters were such, that they could not preserve either Life or Breath, without the help of a Tap. And that the Children Cry'd out of _Amy Duny_, and of _Rose Cullender_, as afflicting them with their Apparitions. _IV._ The Fits of the Children were various. They would sometimes be Lame on one side; sometimes on t'other. Sometimes very sore; sometimes restored unto their Limbs, and then Deaf, or Blind, or Dumb, for a long while together. Upon the Recovery of their Speech, they would Cough extreamly; and with much Flegm, they would bring up Crooked Pins; and one time, a Two-penny Nail, with a very broad Head. Commonly at the end of every Fit, they would cast up a Pin. When the Children Read, they could not pronounce the Name of, _Lord_, or _Jesus_, or _Christ_, but would fall into Fits; and say, Amy Duny _says, I must not use that Name_. When they came to the Name of _Satan_, or _Devil_, they would clap their Fingers on the Book, crying out, _This bites, but it makes me speak right well!_ The Children in their Fits would often Cry out, _There stands_ Amy Duny, or _Rose Cullender;_ and they would afterwards relate, _That these Witches appearing before them, threatned them, that if they told what they saw or heard, they would Torment them ten times more than ever they did before_. _V. Margaret Arnold_, the Sister of Mr. _Pacy_, Testifi'd unto the like Sufferings being upon the Children, at her House, whither her Brother had Removed them. And that sometimes, the Children (_only_) would see things like Mice, run about the House; and one of them suddenly snap'd one with the Tongs, and threw it into the Fire, where it screeched out like a Rat. At another time, a thing like a Bee, flew at the Face of the younger Child; the Child fell into a Fit; and at last Vomited up a _Two-penny Nail_, with a Broad Head; affirming, _That the Bee brought this Nail, and forced it into her Mouth_. The Child would in like manner be assaulted with Flies, which brought Crooked Pins, unto her, and made her first swallow them, and then Vomit them. She one Day caught an Invisible _Mouse_, and throwing it into the Fire, it Flash'd like to Gun-Powder. None besides the Child saw the _Mouse_, but every one saw the _Flash_. She also de[58]clared, out of her Fits, that in them, _Amy Duny_ much tempted her to destroy her self. _VI._ As for _Ann Durent_, her Father Testified, That upon a Discontent of _Rose Cullender_, his Daughter was taken with much Illness in her Stomach and great and sore Pains, like the Pricking of Pins: and then Swooning Fits, from which Recovering, she declared, _She had seen the Apparition_ of Rose Cullender, _Threatning to Torment her_. She likewise Vomited up diverse Pins. The Maid was Present at Court, but when _Cullender_ look'd upon her, she fell into such Fits, as made her utterly unable to declare any thing. _Ann Baldwin_ deposed the same. _VII. Jane Bocking_, was too weak to be at the Assizes. But her Mother Testifi'd, that her Daughter having formerly been Afflicted with Swooning Fits, and Recovered of them; was now taken with a great Pain in her Stomach; and New Swooning Fits. That she took little Food, but every Day Vomited Crooked Pins. In her first Fits, she would Extend her Arms, and use Postures, as if she catched at something, and when her Clutched Hands were forced open, they would find several Pins diversely Crooked, unaccountably lodged there. She would also maintain a Discourse with some that were Invisibly present, when casting abroad her Arms, she would often say, _I will not have it!_ but at last say, _Then I will have it!_ and closing her Hand, which when they presently after opened, a Lath-Nail was found in it. But her great Complaints were of being Visited by the shapes of _Amy Duny_, and _Rose Cullender_. _VIII._ As for _Susan Chandler_, her Mother Testified, That being at the search of _Rose Cullender_, they found on her Belly a thing like a Teat, of an Inch long; which the _said Rose_ ascribed to a strain. But near her Privy-parts, they found Three more, that were smaller than the former. At the end of the long Teat, there was a little Hole, which appeared, as if newly Sucked; and upon straining it, a white Milky matter issued out. The Deponent further said, That her Daughter being one Day concerned at _Rose Cullenders_ taking her by the Hand, she fell very sick, and at Night cry'd out, _That_ Rose Cullender _would come to Bed unto her_. Her Fits grew violent, and in the Intervals of them, she declared, _That she saw_ Rose Cullender _in them, and once having of a great Dog with her_. She also Vomited up Crooked Pins; and when she was brought into Court, she fell into her Fits. She Recovered her self in some Time, and was asked by the Court, whether she was in a Condition to take an Oath, and give Evidence. She said, she could; but having been Sworn, she fell into her Fits again, and, _Burn her! Burn her!_ were all the words that she could obtain power to speak. Her Father likewise gave the same Testimony with her Mother; as to all but the Search. _IX._ Here was the Sum of the Evidence: Which Mr. Serjeant Keeling,[148] thought not sufficient to Convict the Prisoners. For admitting the Chil[59]dren were Bewitched, yet, said he, it can never be Apply'd unto the Prisoners, upon the Imagination only of the Parties Afflicted; inasmuch as no person whatsoever could then be in Safety. Dr. _Brown_, a very Learned Person then present, gave his Opinion, that these Persons were Bewitched. He added, That in _Denmark_, there had been lately a great Discovery of Witches; who used the very same way of Afflicting people, by Conveying Pins and Nails into them. His Opinion was, that the Devil in Witchcrafts, did Work upon the Bodies of Men and Women, upon a _Natural Foundation;_ and that he did Extraordinarily afflict them, with such Distempers as their Bodies were most subject unto. _X._ The Experiment about the _Usefulness_, yea, or _Lawfulness_ whereof Good Men have sometimes disputed, was divers Times made, That tho' the Afflicted were utterly deprived of all sense in their Fits, yet upon the _Touch_ of the Accused, they would so screech out, and fly up, as not upon any other persons. And yet it was also found that once upon the touch of an innocent person, the like effect follow'd, which put the whole Court unto a stand: altho' a small Reason was at length attempted to be given for it. _XI._ However, to strengthen the Credit of what had been already produced against the Prisoners, One _John Soam_ Testifi'd, That bringing home his Hay in Three Carts, one of the Carts wrenched the Window of _Rose Cullenders_ House, whereupon she flew out, with violent Threatenings against the Deponent. The other Two Carts, passed by Twice, Loaded, that Day afterwards; but the Cart which touched _Cullenders_ House, was Twice or Thrice that Day overturned. Having again Loaded it, as they brought it thro' the Gate which Leads out of the Field, the Cart stuck so fast in the Gates Head, that they could not possibly get it thro', but were forced to cut down the Post of the Gate, to make the Cart pass thro', altho' they could not perceive that the Cart did of either side touch the Gate-Post. They afterwards, did with much Difficulty get it home to the Yard; but could not for their Lives get the Cart near the place, where they should unload. They were fain to unload at a great Distance; and when they were Tired, the Noses of them that came to Assist them, would burst forth a Bleeding; so they were fain to give over till next morning; and then they unloaded without any difficulty. _XII. Robert Sherringham_ also Testifi'd, That the Axle-Tree of his Cart, happening in passing, to break some part of _Rose Cullenders_ House, in her Anger at it, she vehemently threatned him, _His Horses should suffer for it_. And within a short time, all his Four Horses dy'd; after which he sustained many other Losses in the sudden Dying of his Cattle. He was also taken with a Lameness in his Limbs; and so vexed with Lice of an extraordinary Number and Bigness, that no Art could hinder the Swarming of them, till he burnt up two Suits of Apparel. [60] _XIII._ As for _Amy Duny_, 'twas Testifi'd by one _Richard Spencer_ that he heard her say, _The Devil would not let her Rest; until she were Revenged on the Wife of_ Cornelius Sandswel. And that _Sandswel_ testifi'd, that her Poultry dy'd suddenly, upon _Amy Dunys_ threatning of them; and that her Husbands Chimney fell, quickly after _Duny_ had spoken of such a disaster. And a Firkin of Fish could not be kept from falling into the Water, upon suspicious words of _Duny's_. _XIV._ The Judge told the Jury, they were to inquire now, first, whether these Children were Bewitched; and secondly, Whether the Prisoners at the Bar were guilty of it. He made no doubt, there were such Creatures as Witches; for the Scriptures affirmed it; and the Wisdom of all Nations had provided Laws against such persons. He pray'd the God of Heaven to direct their Hearts in the weighty thing they had in hand; for, _To Condemn the Innocent, and let the Guilty go free, were both an Abomination to the Lord_. The Jury in half an hour brought them in _Guilty_ upon their several Indictments, which were Nineteen in Number. The next Morning, the Children with their Parents, came to the Lodgings of the Lord Chief Justice, and were in as good health as ever in their Lives; being Restored within half an Hour after the Witches were Convicted. The Witches were Executed; and _Confessed_ nothing; which indeed will not be wondred by them, who Consider and Entertain the Judgment of a Judicious Writer, _That the Unpardonable Sin, is most usually Committed by Professors of the Christian Religion, falling into Witchcraft_. We will now proceed unto several of the like Tryals among ourselves.[149] FOOTNOTES: [113] Written in 1692. [114] Notwithstanding the extraordinary Familiarity of our Author with the Devil, he does not as yet pretend to have seen him, although he must have been in Everybody's Way. About twenty Years later, according to De Foe, he had become quite scarce, insomuch that few could pretend to have seen him; and hence People became somewhat credulous about the Existence of his Majesty, "as if nothing but seeing the Devil could satisfie them there was such a Person; and nothing is more wonderful to me, in the whole System of Spirits, than that Satan does not think fit to justify the Reality of his Being, by appearing to such in some of his worst Figures, and tell them in full Grimace who he is."--_Essay on Apparitions._ [115] The appearing of the Devil in the Shape of a black Man, or a Man in black is the old Story imported from England. See _Examination and Confession of_ Christian Green, Wife of Robert Green _of Brewham, Co. Somerset_, printed in _Sadducismus Triumphatus_, ed. 1726, P. 306. [116] It is not so remarkable that some should have destroyed themselves under such Circumstances, as that the greater Part of them did not so perish. [117] This is not a Whit behind the far-famed Story of "The Devil and Dr. Faustus." [118] Church Difficulties were so common, that it is not quite certain to which the Author has Reference; though it seems likely he refers to the Troubles in the Time of Mr. Nicholet.--See Felt, _History of_ ii, _Salem_, 587-8. [119] This was indeed a Dilemma; but it may now seem exceeding strange that learned Judges had not adopted the only safe Course at such a Time, and simply _to have done nothing_. They appear to have been as much amazed and out of their Wits as the poor Sufferers; and to find Relief proceeded to shed their Blood, and to shout thereupon that they "_had been fairly executed!_" [120] How the Judges could have read these Admissions of a "snarled Business" into which no one could pretend to see, and to "declare their singular Approbation thereof," it is difficult to comprehend, upon any other Grounds than as expressed in the last Note. They were indeed as blind as any in the "_Buffet_." [121] By these "Ty-dogs" the Author probably had Reference to _Cerberus_. Writers on Mythology do not mention, as I remember, that their Monster was ever turned loose to worry Mankind. [122] There was a Line of Swedish Monarchs of the Name of Biorn. The first of the Name began to reign about 829 of the present era. [123] When these _Wonders_ were written, the _Paradise Lost_ had been published twenty-five Years. The Author must have been very familiar with it, yet I have not met with any Reference to Milton in any of his Writings. [124] It may be Difficult for some to comprehend wherein the Devil was blamed; for, according to the Text he goes no further than he is commanded or permitted to go by a Power whereby he was fully and completely controlled. [125] "The pious Bishop of Norwich." He was a Cotemporary of the weak King James, and his Companion on one of his Excursions into Scotland. He was mild and temperate compared with Laud and others of his Time. He was born in Leicester about 1574, and died in Norfolk in 1656, in the 82d Year of his Age. He appears not to have been much behind Dr. Mather in speaking of the "damned Brood" of Witches. His Works are even now held in much Repute by many, and were collected and published in three heavy Folios, 1647-62. [126] The Reader may perhaps find all he will care to know respecting the Suffolk Witches in Hutchinson's _Historical Essay_, 79, _et sequen._ second Edition. But Suffolk furnishes but a small Portion of England infected by Witchcraft, and Mr. Hutchinson's Work has not the hundredth Part of them. [127] Witchcraft may be said to have been on the Wane in Old England when this of 1692-3 began in New England. Indeed there is no Comparison, as to the Extent of the Delusion between the two Countries. [128] If he _is_ such a knowing Devil as was generally supposed, he certainly must have known to a certainty the Success he was to meet with before setting out. [129] It is hardly to be inferred from the Sentiments here expressed, that the Author was among the most earnest of his blind Advocates for extreme Measures against those accused. [130] Not a good Translation, but the Sense is sufficiently apparent. Voltaire has the same in Substance in one of his "Letters concerning the English Nation." A Condition not peculiar to any Country. [131] The Time of Henry III was from 1574 to 1589. [132] Those who are familiar with the Works of Erasmus may verify the Story. He may have been, and probably was, like the Rest of the learned World, a Believer in such Nonsense. The great Poet who has contributed to his Immortality in the following Lines may not have heard of the above Story: "At length Erasmus, that great injured Name, (The Glory of the Priesthood and the Shame!) Stem'd the wild Torrent of a bar'brous Age, And drove those holy Vandals off the Stage." [133] There was about this Time a Society established in England expressly for the "Reformation of Manners," and a small octavo Volume was issued under its Auspices, setting forth the Objects and Necessity for such a Society. In it the Plantations are remembered. [134] The Author does not seem to remember that he has elsewhere said with much Emphasis, that "this remote Part of the Earth" was the Devil's own Territory, that he was undisturbed here before the white People came and that he did not expect to be disturbed here. [135] This was Mr. Samuel Clarke or Clark (as he indifferently wrote his own Surname), and his Father's Name was Hugh Clark. The Life spoken of is in the _Martyrology_ by the Son, a Work not now often referred to, but one abounding with interesting and curious biographical and historical Information, having intimate Connection with the Founders of New England, and containing a good deal concerning many of them. See his _Lives_, appended to the _Martyrology_, Page 127, _et seq._ Folio, 1677. I have often had Occasion to refer to his various Works. [136] There appears to have been some Mystery about that Perfume of Brimstone, if indeed "Metaphor" be left out of the Account, as the Author says it is to be. One might be led to suppose that the Circumstance which happened at Oxford in 1577, was of the Character of that in the Text, as alluded to by Hutchinson, in his _Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft_, Page 38, but on Reference to his Authority, a Parallel is hardly warranted. The Story will be found fully related in Camden's _Reign of Elizabeth_, 237, Ed. 1675. [137] In that curious Poem entitled _The Sorceress_, are the following Lines, among others, on "The Spell:" "Rust of the Gibbet, and Bone of the Dead, I mingle and into the Teakettle throw, Root of Skunk-cabbage and Rattlesnakes Mead, And Leaves pluck'd at Midnight from Juniper bough. Charm break the Rest Of the Parsun distrest, From his Eyes let the Blessing of Slumber depart; Lucifer aid me And Night overshade me, Spirit of Beelzebub, lend me thine Art." &c. [138] A vast Number of Books had been published previous to our Author's Time upon Magic, and Astrology. A principal Writer on these Subjects was Dr. John Dee. His Diary was published by the _Camden Society_ in 1842. See also William Lilley's _Hist. of his Life and Times_. [139] This most uncharitable Assertion is a complete Contradiction of what has before been asserted. He had already made poor New England bad enough, but this seems to place her in a perfectly hopeless Condition. Not many Pages back the Author cautioned the World lest it should not do Justice to New England, by believing her worse than Old England. A disordered Brain will always drive a Pen at random. [140] An Idea reminding one of the Case of the Jew in the _Merchant of Venice_. Unfortunately for the poor accused Wretches, there was no Daniel to sit in Judgment, and to see that no Blood was taken with the Pound of Flesh. [141] This certainly does not exhibit the Author as a "principal Ringleader" in those Persecutions. A Remark similar has been made to a previous Passage in the Text, of a like Purport. And frequent parallel Passages may be found. [142] This is the French Form of what we now write _Clucking_. The Verb _to cluck_ is well known, and in frequent Use where Hens are raised, but to employ it as the Doctor does cannot but excite Ridicule. [143] Allowing this to be a just Conclusion it is remarkable that the Devil did not set his Witches at Work in the Beginning in the Colony of Plymouth; there were repeated Complaints to the Commissioners of the United Colonies, that various Towns in that Colony had neglected Ministers and Churches altogether; while from the County of Essex we hear of no such Complaints. [144] Additional Particulars respecting this Woman may be seen in Dr.