LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

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

Скачать книгу