N00445:43
Things to be looked for. Discourses on the glorious characters, with conjectures on the…Things to be look'd for. Discourses on the glorious characters, with conjectures on the…
Things to be looked for. Discourses on the glorious characters, with conjectures on the speedy approaches of that state, which is reserved for the church of God in the latter days. : Together with an inculcation of several duties, which the undoubted characters and approaches of that state, invite us unto: delivered unto the artillery company of the Massachusetts colony: New England; at their election of officers, for the year 1691. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Two lines from Luke]Things to be look'd for. Discourses on the glorious characters, with conjectures on the speedy approaches of that state, which is reserved for the church of God in the latter dayes. : Together with an inculcation of several duties, which the undoubted characters and approaches of that state, invite us unto: delivered unto the artillery company of the Massachusets colony: New England; at their election of officers, for the year 1691. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Two lines from Luke]
printed by Samuel Green for Nicholas Buttolph, 1691
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
The Devil is that monstrous Vulcan out of whose Forge our Swords and Spears were at first Educed; though we must now have them in our hands to put by his Passes at us. The same Devil that makes Demoniacs to tear and cut themselves, do's also cause men to Wound one another; and the same Devil that sometimes do's make Storms in the Air, do's also make Wars on the Earth. As in Rev. 12. 17. We read of, A War, of which the Dragon was the Enkindler; so there is indeed no War, which the Dragon is not the first Author and Raiser of. The Devil is a most Bloody Destroyer, and Envies unto us, all the Comfort of our Peace; hence there is rarely any Destruction, which this Angel of Death ha's not some Concernment in. There is no War, for the most part, which ha's not some •••stice on one side giving Rise unto it; now it may still be said, There is the Hand of Satan there! Who was it that once Provoked the Numbering of the People? Satan did it; and it is he that Provokes the wasting of the People still; it is an unutterable Satisfaction unto Satan to receive some Thousands of poor Souls falling into his greedy hands in one Morning from one Cruel and crimson Spot of Ground! Such •leals do our Wars often feast the Dragon with. But in the Last Days, the Devil shall be confined unto a closer and a darker Dungeon, than that in which he ha's been hitherto Imprisoned. We find in Rev. 20 1, 2. Our Lord Jesus then Comes down from Heaven, having a Great Chain in his hand; and He lays bold on the Dragon, that Old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and binds him: So that the Devil shall then be kept under a Shorter Chain, and the Roaring Lion shall ⟨p. 20⟩not then, as he do's now, Go about seeking whom he may devour. He shall then, with his Angels, be in those more Exquisite. Everlasting Chains under Darkness, for which they are now Reserved; and it shall then be the Time of their Torment, not of their Walking, not of their C•ealing, not of heir Empire still. It upon Shutting up the King of Babylon, that Incessant Embroiler of mankind in his Grave, it was said, The whole Earth is now at Rest and is Quiet, how much more will that be said, when Satan himself is thrown down into the Pit? When the God of Peace will shortly tread Satan under our Feet, we cannot but have The Peace of God.