Wrath. Such is the Antipathy of the Devil to our Prayer, that he cannot bear to stay long where much of it is: Indeed it is Diaboli Flagellum, as well as, Miseriæ Remedium; the Devil will soon be Scourg'd out of the Lord's Temple, by a Whip, made and used, with the effectual fervent Prayer of Righteous Men. When the Devil by Afflicting of us, drives us to our Prayers, he is The Fool making a Whip for his own Back. Our Lord said of the Devil in Matt. 17.21. This Kind goes not out, but by Prayer and Fasting. But, Prayer and Fasting will soon make the Devil be gone. Here are Charms indeed! Sacred and Blessed Charms, which the Devil cannot stand before. A Promise of God, being well managed in the Hands of them that are much upon their Knees, will so resist the Devil, that he will Flee from us. At every other Weapon the Devils will be too hard for us; the Spiritual Wickednesses in High Places, have manifestly the Upper hand of us; that Old Serpent will be too old for us, too cunning, too subtil; they will soon out wit us, if we think to Encounter them with any Wit of our own. But when we come to Prayers, Incessant and Vehement Prayers before the Lord, there we shall be too hard for them. When well-directed Prayers, that great Artillery of Heaven, are brought into the Field, There methinks I see, There are these workers of Iniquity fallen, all of them! And who can tell, how much the most Obscure Christian among you all, may do towards the Deliverance of our Land from the Molestations which the Devil is now giving to us. I have Read, That on a day of Prayer kept by some good People for and with a Possessed Person, the Devil at last flew out of the Window, and referring to a Devout, plain, mean Woman then in the Room, he cry'd out, O the Woman behind the Door! 'Tis that Woman that forces me away! Thus the Devil that now troubles us, may be forced within a while to forsake us; and it shall be said, He was driven away by the Prayers of some Obscure and Retired Souls, which the World has taken but little notice of! The Great God is about a Great Work at this day among us: Now, there is extream Hazard, lest the Devil by Compulsion must submit to that Great Work, may also by Permission, come to Confound that Work; both in the Detections of some, and in the Confessions of others, whose Ungodly deeds may be brought forth, by a Great Work of God; there is great Hazard lest the Devil intertwist some of his Delusions. 'Tis Prayer, I say, 'tis Prayer, that must carry us well through the strange things that are now upon us. Only that Prayer must then be the Prayer of Faith: O where is our Faith in him, Who hath spoiled these Principalities and Powers, on his Cross, Triumphing over them!
VIII. Lastly, Shake off, every Soul, shake off the hard Yoak of the Devil. Where 'tis said, The whole World lyes in Wickedness; 'tis by some of the Ancients rendred, The whole World lyes in the Devil. The Devil is a Prince, yea, the Devil is a God unto all the Unregenerate; and alas, there is A whole World of them. Desolate Sinners, consider what an horrid Lord it is that you are Enslav'd unto; and Oh shake off your Slavery to such a Lord. Instead of him, now make your Choice of the Eternal God in Jesus Christ; Chuse him with a most unalterable Resolution, and unto him say, with Thomas, My Lord, and my God! Say with the Church, Lord, other Lords have had the Dominion over us, but now thou alone shalt be our Lord for ever. Then instead of your Perishing under the wrath of the Devils, God will fetch you to a place among those that fill up the Room of the Devils, left by their Fall from the Ethereal Regions. It was a most awful Speech made by the Devil, Possessing a young Woman, at a Village in Germany, By the command of God, I am come to Torment the Body of this young Woman, tho I cannot hurt her Soul; and it is that I may warn Men, to take heed of sinning against God. Indeed (said he) 'tis very sore against my will that I do it; but the command of God forces me to declare what I do; however I know that at the Last Day, I shall have more Souls than God himself. So spoke that horrible Devil! But O that none of our Souls may be found among the Prizes of the Devil, in the Day of God! O that what the Devil has been forced to declare, of his Kingdom among us, may prejudice our Hearts against him for ever!
My Text says, The Devil is come down in great Wrath, for he has but a short time. Yea, but if you do not by a speedy and through Conversion to God, escape the Wrath of the Devil, you will your selves go down, where the Devil is to be, and you will there be sweltring under the Devils Wrath, not for a short Time, but, World without end; not for a Short Time, but for Infinite Millions of Ages. The smoak of your Torment under that Wrath, will Ascend for ever and ever! Indeed, the Devil's time for his Wrath upon you in this World, can be but short, but his time for you to do his Work, or, which is all one, to delay your turning to God, that is a Long Time. When the Devil was going to be Dispossessed of a Man, he Roar'd out, Am I to be Tormented before my time? You will Torment the Devil, if you Rescue your Souls out of his hands, by true Repentance: If once you begin to look that way, he'll Cry out, O this is before my Time, I must have more Time, yet in the Service of such a guilty Soul. But, I beseech you, let us join thus to torment the Devil, in an holy Revenge upon him, for all the Injuries which he has done unto us; let us tell him, Satan, thy time with me is but short, Nay, thy time with me shall be no more; I am unutterably sorry that it has been so much; Depart from me thou Evil-Doer, that would'st have me to be an Evil Doer like thy self; I will now for ever keep the Commandments of that God, in whom I Live and Move, and have my Being! The Devil has plaid a fine Game for himself indeed, if by his troubling of our Land, the Souls of many People should come to think upon their ways, till even they turn their Feet into the Testimonies of the Lord. Now that the Devil may be thus outshot in his own Bow, is the desire of all that love the Salvation of God among us, as well as of him, who has thus Addressed you. Amen.
Having thus discoursed on the Wonders of the Invisible World, I shall now, with God's help, go on to relate some Remarkable and Memorable Instances of Wonders which that World has given to ourselves. And altho the chief Entertainment which my Readers do expect, and shall receive, will be a true History of what has occurred, respecting the Witchcrafts wherewith we are at this day Persecuted; yet I shall choose to usher in the mention of those things, with
A Narrative of an Apparition which a Gentleman in Boston, had of His Brother, Just Then Murthered in London
It was on the Second of May in the Year 1687, that a most ingenious, accomplished and well-disposed Gentleman, Mr. Joseph Beacon, by Name, about Five a Clock in the Morning, as he lay, whether Sleeping or Waking he could not say, (but judged the latter of them) had a View of his Brother then at London, altho he was now himself at Our Boston, distanced from him a thousand Leagues. This his Brother appear'd unto him, in the Morning about Five a Clock at Boston, having on him a Bengal Gown, which he usually wore, with a Napkin tyed about his Head; his Countenance was very Pale, Gastly, Deadly, and he had a bloody Wound on one side of his Fore-head. Brother! says the Affrighted Joseph. Brother! Answered the Apparition. Said Joseph, What's the matter Brother? How came you here! The Apparition replied, Brother, I have been most barbarously and injuriously Butchered, by a Debauched Drunken Fellow, to whom I never did any wrong in my Life. Whereupon he gave a particular Description of the Murderer; adding, Brother, This Fellow changing his Name, is attempting to come over unto New-England, in Foy, or Wild; I would pray you on the first Arrival of either of these, to get an Order from the Governor, to Seize the Person, whom I have now described; and then do you Indict him for the Murder of me your Brother: I'll stand by you and prove the Indictment. And so he Vanished. Mr. Beacon was extreamly astonished at what he had seen and hear'd; and the People of the Family not only observed an extraordinary Alteration upon him, for the Week following, but have also given me under their Hands a full Testimony, that he then gave them an Account of this Apparition.
All this while, Mr. Beacon had no advice of any thing amiss attending his Brother then in England; but about the latter end of June following, he understood by the common ways of Communication, that the April before, his Brother going in haste by Night to call a Coach for a Lady, met a Fellow then
