The Witchcraft in New England. Calef Robert
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Название: The Witchcraft in New England

Автор: Calef Robert

Издательство: Bookwire

Жанр: Зарубежная психология

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isbn: 4064066393588

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СКАЧАТЬ till within these few years, the French King and the Duke of Savoy leagued for their dissipation.[106] But just Three years and a half after the scattering of that holy people, to the surprise of all the World, Spirit of life from God is come into them; and having with a thousand Miracles repossessed themselves of their antient Seats, their hot Persecutor is become their great Protector. Whereupon the reflection of the worthy person, that writes the story is, The Churches of Piemont, being the Root of the Protestant Churches, they have been the first established; the Churches of other places, being but the Branches, shall be established in due time, God will deliver them speedily, He has already delivered the Mother, and He will not long leave the Daughter behind: He will finish what he has gloriously begun!

      The Third Conjecture.

      There is little room for hope, that the great wrath of the Devil, will not prove the present ruine of our poor New-England in particular. I believe, there never was a poor Plantation, more pursued by the wrath of the Devil, than our poor New-England; and that which makes our condition very much the more deplorable is, that the wrath of the great God Himself, at the same time also presses hard upon us. It was a rousing alarm to the Devil, when a great Company of English Protestants and Puritans, came to erect Evangelical Churches, in a corner of the World, where he had reign'd without any controul for many Ages; and it is a vexing Eye-sore to the Devil, that our Lord Christ should be known, and own'd and preached in this howling Wilderness. Wherefor he has left no Stone unturned, that so he might undermine his Plantation, and force us out of our Country.

      I say, First, That surely, America's Fate must at the long run include New-Englands in it. What was the design of our God, in bringing over so many Europeans hither of late Years? Of what use or state will America be, when the Kingdom of God shall come? If it must all be the Devils propriety, while the saved Nations of the other Hæmisphere shall be Walking in the Light of the New Jerusalem, Our New-England has then, 'tis likely, done all that it was erected for. But if God have a purpose to make here a seat for any of those glorious things which are spoken of thee, O thou City of God; then even thou, O New-England, art within a very little while of better days than ever yet have dawn'd upon thee.

      I say, Secondly, That tho' there be very Threatning Symptoms on America, yet there are some hopeful ones. I confess, when one thinks upon the crying Barbarities with which the most of those Europeans that have Peopled this New world, became the Masters of it; it looks but Ominously. When one also thinks how much the way of living in many parts of America, is utterly inconsistent with the very Essentials of Christianity; yea, how much Injury and Violence is there[39]in done to Humanity it self; it is enough to damp the Hopes of the most Sanguine Complexion. And the Frown of Heaven which has hitherto been upon Attempts of better Gospellizing the Plantations, considered, will but increase the Damp. Nevertheless, on the other side, what shall be said of all the Promises, That our Lord Jesus Christ shall have the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession? and of all the Prophecies, That All the ends of the Earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord? Or does it look agreeably, That such a rich quarter of the World, equal in some regards to all the rest, should never be out of the Devils hands, from the first Inhabitation unto the last Dissolution of it? No sure; why may not the last be the first? and the Sun of Righteousness 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!