Wonders of the Invisible World, and A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New England Witches — 12. Conjectures 1, 2, 3

_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 Antichrist 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.

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_.

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_.

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.

_ 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 the _Earth-quake_ 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 Ages, till within these few years, the _French_ King and the Duke of _Savoy_ leagued for their dissipation.

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 a _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.

First, The Indian _Powawes_, used all their Sorceries to molest the first Planters here; but God said unto them, _Touch them not!

_ Then, _Seducing Spirits_ came to _root_ in this Vineyard, but God so rated them off, that they have not prevail'd much farther than the Edges of our Land.

After this, we have had a continual _blast_ upon some of our principal Grain, annually diminishing a vast part of our _ordinary Food_.

Herewithal, wasting _Sicknesses_, especially Burning and Mortal Agues, have Shot the Arrows of Death in at our Windows.

Next, we have had many Adversaries of our own Language, who have been perpetually assaying to deprive us of those _English Liberties_, in the encouragement whereof these Territories have been settled.

As if this had not been enough; The _Tawnies_ among whom we came, have watered our Soil with the Blood of many Hundreds of our Inhabitants.

Desolating _Fires_ also have many times laid the chief Treasure of the whole Province in Ashes.

As for _Losses_ by Sea, _they_ have been multiply'd upon us: and particularly in the present _French War_, the whole English Nation have observ'd that no part of the Nation has proportionably had so many Vessels taken, as our poor _New-England_.

Besides all which, now at last the Devils are (if I may so speak) _in Person_ come down upon us with such a _Wrath_, as is justly _much_, and will quickly be _more_, the Astonishment of the World.

Alas, I may sigh over _this_ Wilderness, as _Moses_ did over _his_, in _Psal.

90. 7, 9. _ _We are consumed by thine Anger, and by thy Wrath we are troubled: All our days are passed away in thy Wrath.

_ And I may add this unto it, _The Wrath of the Devil too has been troubling and spending of us, all our days.

_ But what will become of this poor _New-England_ after all?

Shall we sink, expire, perish, before the _short time_ of the Devil shall be finished?

I must confess, That when I consider the lamentable _Unfruitfulness_ of men, among us, under as powerful and perspicuous Dispensations of the Gospel, as are in the World; and when I consider the declining state of the _Power of Godliness_ in our Churches, with the most horrible Indisposition that perhaps ever was, to recover out of this declension; I cannot but _Fear_ lest it comes to this, and lest an _Asiatic_ Removal of Candlesticks come upon us.

But upon some other Accounts, I would fain _hope_ otherwise; and I will give _you_ therefore the opportunity to try what Inferences may be drawn from these probable Prognostications.

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 _Europaeans_ hither of later 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 Haemisphere 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 _Europaeans_ 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 therein 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!

_ 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 Reflections, 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_ 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!

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