N00530:350
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 molestations, by daemons and witchcrafts, which have lately annoyed the country; and the trials of some eminent malefactors executed upon occasion thereof: with several remarkable curiosities therein occurring. II. Some councils, directing a due improvement of the terrible things, lately done, by the unusual & amazing range of evil spirits, in our neighbourhood: & the methods to prevent the wrongs which those evil angels may intend against all sorts of people among us; especially in accusations of the innocent. III. Some conjectures upon the great events, likely to befall, the world in general, and New-England in particular; as also upon the advances of the time, when we shall see better days. IV. A short narrative of a late outrage committed by a knot of witches in Swedeland, very much resembling, and so far explaining, that under which our parts of America have laboured! 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 grievous molestations, by daemons and witchcrafts, which have lately annoy'd the countrey; and the trials of some eminent malefactors executed upon occasion thereof: with several remarkable curiosities therein occurring. II. Some councils, directing a due improvement of the terrible things, lately done, by the unusual & amazing range of evil spirits, in our neighbourhood: & the methods to prevent the wrongs which those evil angels may intend against all sorts of people among us; especially in accusations of the innocent. III. Some conjectures upon the great events, likely to befall, the world in general, and New-England in particular; as also upon the advances of the time, when we shall see better dayes. IV. A short narrative of a late outrage committed by a knot of witches in Swedeland, very much resembling, and so far explaining, that under which our parts of America have laboured! 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, and sold by Benjamin Harris, 1693 i.e., 1692
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.
III. High Stations in the Church of God, lay men open to violent and peculiar Temptations of the Devil. When Our Lord was upon the Pinnacle, that is, not the •ane, or Spire, but the Battlements of the Temple, there did the Devil pester him, with singular Molestations, and he therein, seem• to intend an Entanglement for the Jews, as well as for Our Lord. Believe me, they that Stand High, cannot Stand safe ▪ The Devil is a Nimrod, a mighty Hunter; and common o• little Game, will not serve his Turn: he is a Leviathan, […] whom we may say, as in Job. 41.34. He beholds all high Things. Men of High Attainments, and Men of High Employments, in the Church of God, must look, like Peter to be more Sifted, and like Paul, to be more Buffeted than other Men. Feriunt Summos Fulmina Montes ▪ —The Devil can raise a Storm, when God permitteth it, but as for those Men that stand near Heaven, the Devil will attack them with his most cruel storms of Thunder and Lightning. It was said, Let him that stands take heed; but we may say, They that stand most high, have cause to take most Heed. The Devil is a Goliath; and when he finds a Champion, he'll be sure most fiercely to Combat such a man. He is for, Killing many Birds with one Stone; and he knows that he shall hinder a world of Good, and produce a world of Ill, if once he can bring a man Eminently Stationed into his Toils. Hence 'tis that the Ministers of God, are more dogged by the Devil, than other persons are. Especially such Ministers, as move in the highest Orb of Serviceableness; and most of all such Ministers as have spent many years in Laudable Endeavours to be Serviceable; Those Ministers are the ⟨p. 23⟩Stars of Heaven, at which the Tail of the Dragon, will give the most sweeping and most stinging strokes; the Devil will find that for them, that shall make them Walk softly all their Days. These are the men, that have ••eepled, and vexed the Devil more than other men; for which the Devil has an old Quarrel with them. O Neighbours, Little do you think, what black Days of Mourning, and Fasting, and Praying before the Lord, a Raging Devil do's fill the lives of such Men of God withal.