ht among them, than there was among, _The Powers of the Air_
(after whom those _Ephesians_ walked) when first the _Silver Trumpets_
of the Gospel here made the _Joyful Sound_. The Devil thus Irritated,
immediately try'd all sorts of Methods to overturn this poor Plantation:
and so much of the Church, as was _Fled into this Wilderness_,
immediately found, _The Serpent cast out of his Mouth a Flood for the
carrying of it away._ I believe, that never were more _Satanical
Devices_ used for the Unsetling of any People under the Sun, than what
have been Employ'd for the Extirpation of the _Vine_ which God has here
_Planted_, _Casting out the Heathen, and preparing a Room before it, and
causing it to take deep Root, and fill the Land, so that it sent its
Boughs unto the +Atlantic+ Sea +Eastward+, and its Branches unto the
+Connecticut+ River +Westward+, and the Hills were covered with the
shadow thereof._ But, All those Attempts of Hell, have hitherto been
Abortive, many an _Ebenezer_ has been Erected unto the Praise of God, by
his Poor People here; and, _Having obtained Help from God, we continue
to this Day._ Wherefore the Devil is now making one Attempt more upon
us; an Attempt more Difficult, more Surprizing, more snarl'd with
unintelligible Circumstances than any that we have hitherto Encountred;
an Attempt so _Critical_, that if we get well through, we shall soon
Enjoy _Halcyon_ Days with all the _Vultures_ of Hell _Trodden under our
Feet_. He has wanted his _Incarnate Legions_ to Persecute us, as the
People of God have in the other Hemisphere been Persecuted: he has
therefore drawn forth his more _Spiritual_ ones to make an Attacque upon
us. We have been advised by some Credible Christians yet alive, that a
Malefactor, accused of _Witchcraft_ as well as _Murder_, and Executed in
this place more than Forty Years ago, did then give Notice of, _An
Horrible PLOT against the Country by WITCHCRAFT, and a Foundation of
WITCHCRAFT then laid, which if it were not seasonally discovered, would
probably Blow up, and pull down all the Churches in the Country._ And we
have now with Horror seen the _Discovery_ of such a _Witchcraft_! An
Army of _Devils_ is horribly broke in upon the place which is the
_Center_, and after a sort, the _First-born_ of our _English_
Settlements: and the Houses of the Good People there are fill'd with the
doleful Shrieks of their Children and Servants, Tormented by Invisible
Hands, with Tortures altogether p