The Witchcraft in New England. Calef Robert

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ we need not be cast into such deadly Agonies thereupon, as Hezekiah was: We are but going to that House, the Golden Doors whereof, cannot be entred by the Devil that here did use to persecute us. Methinks I see the Departed Spirit of a Believer, triumphantly carried thro' the Devils Territories, in such a stately and Fiery Chariot, as the Spiritualizing Body of Elias had; methink I see the Devil, with whole Flocks of Harpies, grinning at this Child of God, but unable to fasten any of their griping Talons upon him: And then, upon the utmost edge of our Atmosphœre, methinks I overhear the holy Soul, with a most heavenly Gallantry, deriding the defeated Fiend, and saying, Ah! Satan! Return to thy Dungeons again; I am going where thou canst not come for ever! O 'tis a brave thing so to die! and especially so to die, in our time. For, tho' when we call to mind, That the Devils time is now but short, it may almost make us wish to live unto the end of it; and to say with the Psalmist, Because the Lord will shortly appear in his Glory to build up Zion. O my God! Take me not away in the midst of my days. Yet when we bear in mind, that the Devils Wrath is now most great, it would make one willing to be out of the way. Inasmuch as now is the time for the doing of those things in the prospect whereof Balaam long ago cry'd out Who shall live when such things are done! We should not be inordinatly loth to die at such a time. In a word, the Times are so bad, that we may well count it, as good a time to die in, as ever we saw.

      Corollary V.

      Good News for the Israel of God, and particularly for his New-English Israel. If the Devils Time were above a thousand years ago, pronounced short, what may we suppose it now in our Time? Surely we are not a thousand years distant from those happy thousand years of rest and peace, and [which is better] Holiness reserved for the People of God in the latter days; and if we are not a thousand years yet short of that Golden Age, there is cause to think, that we are not an hundred. That the blessed Thousand years are not yet begun, is abundantly clear [35] from this, We do not see the Devil bound; No, the Devil was never more let loose than in our Days; and it is very much that any should imagine otherwise: But the same thing that proves the Thousand Years of prosperity for the Church of God, under the whole Heaven, to be not yet begun, does also prove, that it is not very far off; and that is the prodigious wrath with which the Devil does in our days Persecute, yea, desolate the World. Let us cast our Eyes almost where we will, and we shall see the Devils domineering at such a rate as may justly fill us with astonishment; it is questionable whether Iniquity ever were so rampant, or whether Calamity were ever so pungent, as in this Lamentable time; We may truly say, 'Tis the Hour and the Power of Darkness. But, tho' the wrath be so great, the time is but short: when we are perplexed with the wrath of the Devil, the Word of our God at the same time unto us, is that in Rom. 16. 20. The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet Shortly. Shortly, didst thou say, dearest Lord! O gladsome word! Amen, Even so, come Lord! Lord Jesus, come quickly! We shall never be rid of this troublesome Devil, till thou do come to Chain him up!

      But because the people of God, would willingly be told whereabouts we are, with reference to the wrath and the time of the Devil, you shall give me leave humbly to set before you a few Conjectures.

      The first Conjecture.

The Devils Eldest Son seems to be towards the End of his last Half-time; and if it be so, the Devils Whole-time, cannot but be very near its End. It is a very scandalous thing that any Protestant, should be at a loss where to find the Anti-Christ. But, we have a sufficient assurance, that the Duration of Anti-Christ, is to be but for a Time, and for Times, and for Half a time; that is for Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years. And indeed, those Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years, were the very Spott of Time left for the Devil, and meant when 'tis here said, He has but a short time. Now, I should have an easie time of it, if I were never put upon an Harder Task, than to produce what might render it extreamly probable, that Anti-christ entred his last Half-time, or the last Hundred and Fourscore years of his Reign, at or soon after the celebrated Reformation which began at the year 1517 in the former Century.[102] Indeed, it is very agreeable to see how Antichrist then lost Half of his Empire; and how that half which then became Reformed, have been upon many accounts little more than Half-reformed. But by this computation, we must needs be within a very few years of such a Mortification to befal the See of Rome, as that Antichrist, who has lately been planting (what proves no more lasting than) a Tabernacle in the Glorious Holy Mountain between the Seas, must quickly, Come to his End and none shall help him. [36] So then, within a very little while, we shall see the Devil stript of the grand, yea, the last, Vehicle, wherein he will be capable to abuse our World. The Fires, with which, That Beast is to be consumed, will so singe the Wings of the Devil too, that he shall no more set the Affairs of this world on Fire. Yea, they shall both go into the same Fire, to be tormented for ever and ever.

      The Second Conjecture.

That which is, perhaps, the greatest Effect of the Devils Wrath, seems to be in a manner at an end: and this would make one hope that the Devils time cannot be far from its end. It is in Persecution, that the wrath of the Devil uses to break forth, with its greatest fury. Now there want not probabilities, that the last Persecution intended for the Church of God, before the Advent of our Lord, has been upon it. When we see the second Woe passing away, we have a fair signal given unto us, That the last slaughter of our Lord's Witnesses is over; and then what Quickly follows? The next thing is, The Kingdoms of this World, are become the Kingdoms of Our Lord, and of His Christ: and then down goes the Kingdom of the Devil, so that he cannot any more come down upon us. Now, the Irrecoverable and Irretrievable Humiliations that have lately befallen the Turkish Power, are but so many Declarations of the second Woe passing away.[103] And the dealings of God with the European parts of the world, at this day do further strengthen this our expectation. We do see, at this hour a great Earth-quake all Europe over: and we shall see, that this great Earth-quake, and these great Commotions, will but contribute unto the advancement of our Lords hitherto depressed Interests. 'Tis also to be remark'd that, a disposition to recognize the Empire of God over the Conscience of man, does now prevail more in the world than formerly; and God from on High more touches the Hearts of Princes and Rulers with an averseness to Persecution. 'Tis particularly the unspeakable happiness of the English Nation, to be under the Influences of that excellent Queen, who could say, In as much as a man cannot make himself believe what he will, why should we Persecute men for not believing as we do! I wish I could see all good men of one mind; but in the mean time I pray, let them however love one another.[104] Words worthy to be written in Letters of Gold! and by us the more to be considered, because to one of Ours did that royal Person express Her self so excellently, so obligingly. When the late King James published his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, a worthy Divine in the Church of England, then studying the Revelation, saw cause upon Revelational Grounds, to declare himself in such words as these, Whatsoever others may intend or design by this Liberty of Conscience, I cannot believe, that it will ever be recalled in England, as long as the World stands. And you know how miraculously [37] the Earth-quake[105] which then immediately came upon the Kingdom, has established that Liberty! But that which exceeds all the tendencies this way, is, the dispensation of God at this Day, towards the blessed Vaudois. Those renowned Waldenses, which were a sort of Root unto all Protestant Churches, were never dissipated, by all the Persecutions of many СКАЧАТЬ