A50177:78
The wonders of the invisible world observations as well historical as theological upon the…
The wonders of the invisible world observations as well historical as theological upon the nature, the number and the operations of the devils : accompanied with I. Some accounts of the grievous [sic] molestations by daemons and witchcrafts ... and the trials of some eminent malefactors ... II. Some councils directing a due improvement of the terrible things lately done by the unusual and amazing range of evil spirits ... III. Some conjectures upon the great events likely to befall the world in general and New England in particular ... IV. A short narrative of a late outrage committed by a knot of witches in Swedeland ... V. The devil discovered, in a brief discourse upon those temptations which are the more ordinary devices of the wicked one / by Cotton Mather.The wonders of the invisible world observations as well historical as theological upon the nature, the number and the operations of the devils : accompany'd with I. Some accounts of the greievous [sic] molestations by daemons and witchcrafts ... and the trials of some eminent malefactors ... II. Some councils directing a due improvement of the terrible things lately done by the unusual and amazing range of evil spirits ... III. Some conjectures upon the great events likely to befall the world in general and New England in particular ... IV. A short narrative of a late outrage committed by a knot of witches in Swedeland ... V. The devil discovered, in a brief discourse upon those temptations which are the more ordinary devices of the wicked one / by Cotton Mather.
Boston: printed by Benjamin Harris, 1693
A Discourse: ON The Wonders of the Invisible World. › Proposition 4: Proposition IV.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Furthermore, the Servile, Abject, Needy Circumstances wherein the Devil keeps the Slaves, that are under his more sensible Vassalage, do suggest unto us, How woeful the Devil would render all of our Lives. We that live in a Province, which affords unto us, all that may be Necessary or Comfortable for us, found the Province filled 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 Devils Malice were not over-ruled 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 hindered Mankind for many Ages, from hitting upon those useful Inventions, which yet were so Obvious and Facile, that it is every bodies wonder, they were no sooner hit upon. The Bemisted World, must jog on for Thousands of Years, without the knowledge of the Lodestone, till a Neapolitan stumbled upon it, about Three Hundred ⟨p. 17⟩years ago. Nor must the world be blest with such a matchless Engine of Learning and Virtue, 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.
Furthermore, the Servile, Abject, Needy Circumstances wherein the Devil keeps the Slaves, that are under his more sensible Vassallage, do suggest unto us, How woful the Devil would render all of 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 dayes. 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 VVitches are; if the Devils Malice were not over-ruled 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 knowledge of the Loadstone, till a Neapolitan stumbled upon it, about Three Hundred