Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	day_n	lord_n	see_v	3,711	5	3.5921	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A84357	Tears of repentance: or, A further narrative of the progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New-England: setting forth, not only their present state and condition, but sundry confessions of sin by diverse of the said Indians, wrought upon by the saving power of the Gospel; together with the manifestation of their faith and hope in Jesus Christ, and the work of grace upon their hearts. Related by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Mayhew, two faithful laborers in that work of the Lord. Published by the corporation for propagating the Gospel there, for the satisfaction and comfort of such as wish well thereunto.	Eliot, John, 1604-1690.; Mayhew, Thomas.; Mather, Richard, 1596-1669.	1653 (1653)	Wing E524; Thomason E697_16; ESTC R207106	52,811	83

on unto it with many fears and questions what they should do when they should be a Church When therefore I saw the Lord by the Counsel of his Servants which is an holy reverend Ordinance of Christ and by his Providence denying me the help of all Interpreters having many witnesses how much care and pains I took every way I knew to be supplied therein and that the work it self was extended by the Lords gracious inlarging them in their Confessions so that the day was not sufficient to accomplish it I say when I saw the Lord speaking that delatory word I cannot express what a load it took off my heart and I did gladly follow the Lord therein yea and I bless the Lord for that day that it was carried so far as it was for the cause of Christ hath many waies gained by it many hundreds of the precious Saints being much comforted and confirmed in their hopes of this work of Christ among them and their faith and prayers much quickned by what they heard and saw And because all witnesses failed me let me say but this I began and have followed this work for the Lord according to the poor measure of grace received not for base ends I have been true faithful unto their souls and in writing and reading their Confessions I have not knowingly or willingly made them better than the Lord helped themselves to make them but am verily perswaded on good grounds that I have rather rendered them weaker for the most part than they delivered them partly by missing some words of weight in some Sentences partly by my short and curt touches of what they more fully spake and partly by reason of the different Idioms of their Language and ours Now follow those Preparitory Confessions which were read before the Elders most of them The first that made a publick Confession and was took in Writing was Peter a Ruler of Ten among them a Godly man who quickly after he had made this Confession fell sick and died and now injoyeth the fruit of his Faith the end of his Hope the salvaion of his Soul among the Blessed where I am perswaded he shall be found in the great day His Confession was as followeth VVHen I first prayed to God I did not fear God but I feared perdition because the English had told me that all should be damned that call not upon God But now I know that God made all the world and I fear him now I beleeve that which you teach is true Now I beleeve that God calleth us to Natik that here we may be ruled by God and gather a Church now I beleeve that it is Gods Command that we should labor Six dayes and keep the Sabbath on the Seventh day now my heart is greatly abased for all my sins for we see though we pray to God we are ready to offend each other and be angry with each other and that we love not each other as we should do and for this I grieve my heart crieth now I remember that God saith thou shalt not lust but before I prayed to God I was full of lusts God saith We must have but one Wife and at first did make but one man and one woman but I followed many women God saith Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy but I did hunt or shoot or any thing on the Sabbath day many other sins I committed but now I see them and wil cast them away because they are vile and God forbiddeth them when I prayed first my sins were not pardoned for my praying is worth nothing now I am humbled and mourn for my sins and yet cannot deliver my self nor get pardon therfore I trust Christ with my soul The next Confession was made by John Speene as followeth His first confession was this WHen I first prayed to God I did not pray for my soul but only I did as my friends did because I loved them and though I prayed to God yet I did not fear sin nor was I troubled at it I heard that when good men die their souls go to God and are there happy but I cannot say that I beleeved it Afterward my heart run away into the country after our old wayes and I did almost cast off praying to God A little while after that I saw that I had greatly sinned and then I saw all my sins afore I prayed to God and since I prayed to God and I saw that God was greatly angry for them and that I cannot get pardon for them but yet my heart saith I will pray to God as long as I live I thought God would not pardon me and yet I would cast away my sins I did greatly love hunting and hated labor but now I beleeve that word of God which saith Six dayes thou shalt labor and God doth make my body strong to labor John Speene This Confession being short in some main points he afterward made Confession as followeth WHen I first prayed I prayed not for my soul but for the sake of men I loved men and for their sakes I prayed to God Before I prayed many were my sins and my heart was heaped full and ran over in all manner of lusts and sins After I heard of praying to God I let it fall and regarded it not after I came to hear the word I sometimes feared but soon lost it again Then my heart ran away after our former courses and then what ever I heard I lost because my heart was run away and many were my sins and therfore I could not get pardon because my heart run away and many were my sins and I did indeed go into the Country But afterwards I hearing the Catechism I desired to learn it and then I beleeved that when Beleevers die their souls go to God and are ever happy when Sinners die their souls go to Hel and are ever tormented and that when Christ judges the world our bodies rise again and then we shall receive the judgment of Christ the good shal stand at his right hand the bad at his left this I beleeved was true and then I saw all my great follies and evils and now my heart desired to lay by hunting and to work every day and this is Gods Command and therfore a good way God said Thou shalt work six daies and if thou work thou shalt eat therfore I beleeve it and my heart promiseth that I will this do as long as I live Now I see I did great folly for now I hear that God saith Work and now I fear because God hath afflicted me in taking away my brother a Ruler now I am troubled I fear I sinned in not beleeving our Ruler because now God hath taken him away he taught me good words but I beleeved them not and now I repent because Christ calleth me to it great is the punishment of God in taking away our Ruler and now I pray and say to Christ Oh Jesus Christ Christ

in another case I beleeve God that it shall be even as it was told me Act. 27. 25. Yea to beleeve it and wait for it as for that which in Gods appointed and due time shall surely come to pass and not fail as Hab. 2. 3. And not only so but heartily to desire it and fervently to pray for it as a thing wherein the Glory of God and of Jesus Christ is not a little concerned and interessed for if the multitude of People be the Kings Honor Prov. 14. 28. it must needs be the Honor of Christ Jesus the King of Sion when multitudes of People do submit unto Him as to their King and therfore it should be earnestly craved of God by all his Saints in their Prayers that so it may be according as the Sanctifying of Gods Name and the coming of his Kingdom are the two first Petitions in that Rule and Pattern of Prayer commanded and taught by our Savior to His Disciples Matth. 6. 9 10. And no man needs to doubt but that those things which are matter for Faith and Prayer to be exercised about their accomplishment are matters of Thanksgiving when once they come to pass Which being so the godly Christian who shall read or hear this ensuing Relation concerning the workings of Gods Grace towards these Indians in New-England and the Confessions of sundry amongst them will I doubt not see abundant cause of thanksgiving to the Lord therein For hereby it will appear That the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus which every faithful soul doth so much desire to see enlarged is now beginning to be set up where it never was before even amongst a poor people forlorn kind of Creatures in times past who have been without Christ and without God in the world they and their Fathers for I know not how many Generations yea so far from knowing and acknowledging God in Christ that they have been little better than the Beasts that perish But now they that were far off the Lord is at work to make them neer unto himself by the Blood of Jesus as Eph. 2. 13. that they which in time past were not a People might ere long become the People of God and they be called Beloved which were not Beloved and in the place where it was said unto them Ye are not my People that there ere long they might be called The Children of the Living God as 1 Pet. 2. 10. Rom. 9. 25 26. which is the Lords doing and it ought to be marvelous in our eyes And the truth is there are many marvels in it marvelous free-grace and riches thereof to look upon a People so wretched and unworthy yea it were marvelous Grace so much as once to offer the Salvation of God in Christ to any such as they are being not only the poor and maimed halt and blind but also as it is in Luk 14. 21. ranging and roving in the High-waies and Hedges and yet behold even these are not only invited but their hearts inclined to come in Mavelous Wisdom and Power is in it also that of matter so rugged and unlikely the Lord should ever frame and fashion any gracious and holy building to Himself which I hope He is now a doing And to say no more His mervelous Soveraignty and Liberty is therein to be observed also who till now of late hath seen meet never to look after this People but hath suffered them all this while to walk in their own waies waies of Sin and waies of Death yea and though there hath been Plantations of the English in the Country now 20. years and more yea some a matter of 30. years or thereabout yet of all this time except some little workings in a few no considerable work of Grace hath appeared amongst the Indians till now of late so true is that saying The times and seasons the Father hath put them in his own Power Act. 1. 7. If any shall say Oh but we are doubtful whether any sound and saving work be yet wrought in them or no Such an one I would wish seriously to weigh and consider the ensuing Confessions and then perhaps he will be better satisfied touching this Point for there he shall find many expressions savoring of their clear sight and sence of sin and that not only of gross and external sins but also of such as are more inward in the Heart and Soul Also he shall find expressions tending to shew their expecting all righteousness and salvation by Christ alone Now considering how the Work of the Spirit of God is said by Christ Himself to consist in great part in convincing of sin and of righteousness of sin in mens selves and of righteousness in Christ Joh. 16. 9. And considering also how the least beginnings of Grace are accepted of him that would not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax Matth. 12. 20. And lastly considering how it were not reasonable to expect such ripeness in these people as might be expected and found in others who have had more time and means and better help and breeding than these have had If these things I say be considered it may be an Inducement to hope the best in charity concerning the Work of Grace in their Souls as Charity hopeth all things beleeveth all things 1 Cor. 13. But thus much at the least I conceive is cleer and cannot be denied that since the Word of God hath been taught and preached among them the Spirit of the Lord hath been working thereby in the hearts of many of them such Illumination such Conviction c. as may justly be looked at if not as a full and through Conversion yet as an hopeful beginning and preparation thereto if the Lord be pleased to go on with what he hath begun as I hope he will And if there were no more but only an hopeful beginning and preparative to Conversion yet even this were matter of much comfort to the Saints and of thanksgiving to the Lord as it was in Israel at the building of the Temple when no more was yet done but only the foundation laid Ezr. 3. 10 11. yet even then they sung for joy giving praise and thanksgiving to the Lord How much more should it be so if the Work of Regeneration be already truly wrought in any of them as I hope it is in sundry In such case how ever it be with men on Earth sure there is joy in Heaven amongst the Angels of God when there is so much as one sinner that is truly brought home to God by Repentance Luke 15. 7. 10. But how shall we know that the Confessions here related being spoken in their Tongue were indeed uttered by them in such words as have the same signification and meaning with these that are here expressed for we have only the testimony of one man to assure us of it It is true we have only the testimony of one man for it but yet it is such an one as is unwillingly

expressed did much affect him And shortly after he came and desired to joyn with the praying Indians to serve Jehovah but it was to the great discontentment of the Sachems on the Mayn and those Indians about him News was often brought to him that his life was laid in wait for by those that would surely take it from him they desired him therfore with speed to turn back again The man came to me once or twice and I perceived that he was troubled he asked my counsel about removing his Habitation yet told me That if they should stand with a sharp weapon against his breast and tell him that they would kill him presently if he did not turn to them but if he would they would love him yet he had rather lose his life than keep it on such terms for said he when I look back on my life as it was before I did pray to God I see it to be wholly naught and do wholly dislike it and hate those naughty waies but when I look on that way which God doth teach me in his Word I see it to be wholly good and do wholly love it Blessed be God that he is not overcome by these temptations The next thing I judg also worthy to be observed My Father and I were lately talking with an Indian who had not long before almost lost his life by a wound his Enemies gave him in a secret hidden way the mark whereof he had upon him and will carry it to his grave This man understanding of a secret Plot that was to take away his Enemies life told my Father and I That he did freely forgive him for the sake of God and did tell this Plot to us that the mans life might be preserved This is a singular thing and who among the Heathen will do so I observe also that the Indians themselves do indeavor to propagate the knowledg of God to the glory of God and the good of others I heard an Indian after I had some discourse with the Indians in the night ask the Sachem and many others together how they did like that counsel they heard from the word of God They answered very wel then said he why do you not take it why do you not do according to it He further added I can tell you why it is Because you do not see your sins and because you do love your sins for as long as it was so with me I did not care for the Way of God but when God did shew me my sins and made me hate them then I was glad to take Gods Counsel this I remember he spake with some other things with such Gravity and truth that the Sachem and all the company was not able to gain-say Myoxeo also lately met with an Indian which came from the Mayn who was of some note among them I heard that he told them of the great things of God and of Christ Jesus the sinfulness and folly of the Indians the Pardon of sin by Christ and of a good life and so were they both affected that they continued this discourse two half nights and a day until their strength was spent He told him in particular how a Beleever did live above the world that he did keep worldly things alwaies at his feet as he shewed him by a sign That when they were deminished or increased it was neither the cause of his Sorrow or joy that he should stoop to regard them but he stood upright with his heart Heavenward and his whol desire was after God and his joy in him Now Much honored in the Lord and all that love Christ Jesus in truth let me prevail with you that we may be presented by you at the Throne of Grace in his worthiness to obtain those blessings that concerns his Kingdom and Glory our comfort and Salvation And you are and shall also be ever humbly so prayed for by him who is From the Vinyard the 22. of October 1652. Yours obliged and ever to be commanded in the Work of the Lord Jesus Thomas Mayhew To His Excellency the Lord General Cromwel Grace Mercy and Peace be Multiplied Right Honorable ENvy it self cannot deny that the Lord hath raised and improved You in an Eminent manner to overthrow Antichrist and to accomplish in part the Prophesies and Promises of the Churches Deliverance from that Bondage In all which Service the Lord hath not only kept Your Honor unsteined but also caused the Lustre of those precious Graces of Humility Faith Love of Truth and Love to the Saints c. with which through His Free Grace He hath enriched You to shine forth abundantly beyond all exception of any that are or have been Adversaries to Your Proceedings Now as the design of Christ in these daies is double namely First To overthrow Antichrist by the Wars of the Lamb and Secondly To raise up His own Kingdom in the room of all Earthly Powers which He doth cast down and to bring all the World subject to be ruled in all things by the Word of His mouth And as the Lord hath raised and improved You to accomplish so far as the Work hath proceeded the first part of His Design so I trust that the Lord will yet further improve You to set upon the accomplishment of the second part of the design of Christ not only by indeavoring to put Government into the hands of Saints which the Lord hath made You eminently careful to do but also by promoting Scripture Government and Laws that so the Word of Christ might rule all In which great Services unto the Name of Christ I doubt not but it will be some Comfort to Your heart to see the Kingdom of Christ rising up in these Western Parts of the World and some confirmation it will be that the Lords time is come to advance and spread His Blessed Kingdom which shall in his season fill all the Earth and some incouragement to your heart to prosecute that part of the Design of Christ namely That Christ might Reign Such Considerations together with the Favorable Respect You have alwaies shewed to poor New-England hath imboldned me to present unto Your Hand these first Confessions of that Grace which the Lord hath bestowed upon these poor Natives and to publish them under the protection of Your Name begging earnestly the continuance of Your Prayers for the further proceeding of this gracious Work And so committing Your Honor to the Lord and to the Word of His Grace and all Your weighty Affairs to His Heavenly Direction I rest Your Honors to serve You in the Service of Christ JOHN ELIOT To the READER Christian Reader I Know thy Soul longeth to hear Tydings of Gods grace powred out upon these goings down of the Sun because the Spirit of God by the Word of Prophesie useth to raise up and draw forth such actings of Faith as accord with the accomplishment of those Prophesies when the time of their accomplishment is come When Israel was