"Sam": or The history of mystery./ By C. W. Webber.

"SAM:" OR, THEI HISTORY OF MYSTERY.
energy and employment, oftentimes in mischiefs done by
thunder. There (in the air) Satan can do mighty thingscommand much of the magazine of Heaven. Satan let loose
by God can do wonders in the air. He can raise storms, he
can discharge the great ordinance of Heaven, thunders and
lightning; and by his art can make them more terrible and
dreadful than they are in their own nature.'Tis no heresy
or blasphemy to think that the prince of the power of the
air hath as good share in Chemistry as goes to the making
of Aurunm fulminans.
"The devil is the prince of the power of the air, and when
God gives him leave, he has vast power in the air, and
armies that can make thunder in the air. A great man has,
therefore, noted it, that thunders break oftener on churches
than any other houses, because the demons have a peculiar
spite at houses that are set apart for the peculiar service
of God."
Quitting the direct agency of the devil, the doctor details
many other prodigies, which he supposes ominous of great
events, and which he probably imputed to the good angels,
one or more of whom he believed presided in the air, over
every town and village. A short time prior to Philip's war
he relates, in a grave and serious manner, that noises were
heard in the air, similar to the discharge of artillery and
small arms, accompanied with the beating of drums as in a
battle. In several places invisible troops of horse are said
to have been heard, riding through the air. His naval apparition must not be omitted. A ship sailed from a port in
New England for Europe, with many passengers, and was
supposed to be foundered at sea; but as the event was doubtful, the people remained in suspense. At length, behold! a
ship rigged out in every part similar to the one that had
been lost, entered the harbor of New Haven, and winged its
way through the air, directly in the face of the wind, until
it arrived near the wharf, when its masts and rigging went
overboard, and many signals of distress were displayed; but
soon the whole vanished from the sight. "Now," adds the
Bage, "prepare for the event of those prodigies; but count
me not struck with a Livian superstition in reporting prodigies, for which I have such incontestable proofs." Many other
xraorrdinary and unaccountable phenomena are also detailed
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