N00530:74
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
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 ou• Lives. We that live in a Province, which afford unto us, all that may be Necessary or Comfortabl• for us, found the Province filled with vast Herd• of Salvages, that never saw so much as a Knife, o• 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 bitting upon those useful Inventions, which yet were so Obvious and Facile, that it is every bodies wonder, they were no sooner bit upon. The •emisted World, must •og 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 ou• Lives. We that live in a Province, which afford unto us, all that may be Necessary or Comfortabl• for us, found the Province fill'd with vast Herd• of Salvages, that never saw so much as a Knife, o 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 Raggd 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 bitting upon those useful Inventions, which yet were so Obvious and Facil, that it is every bodies wonder, they were no sooner bit upon. The emisted World, must og on for Thousands of Years, without the knowledge of the Loadston, till a Neapolitan stumbled upon it about Three Hundred