millions of their subjects unto whom both defensive offensive Iron was unknown which made the deadly impressions of their Enemies weapons and the inefficacy of their own surprising to amazement It is to be noted that the Pots wherein they boiled their fish and flesh c. were made of earth as also innumerable other vessels most were enjoind to use no other By this means the Potters trade was in principal demand among them which renders this Metaphor very agreeable In the computation of Time made by the Mexican Nation their greatest Period consisted of Fifty two Years which they call'd a VVheel Upon the last night of every Wheel they used to break all their Vessels and stuff and put out their fire saying that the World should end at the finishing of one of these Wheels and it might be at that time Upon this conceipt they passed the night in great fear and watched very carefully for the day But when they saw the day begin to break they presently beat many Drumms sounded Cornets Flutes and other Instruments of Joy saying that God did yet prolong the time with another Age. And then began another Wheel on the first day whereof they went to the high priest and took new fire and bought new Vessels Joseph Accsta lib. 6. cap. 2. When the Spaniards came they took these miserable Potters themselves and dash'd them in pieces one against another Holy Hilary in his Exposition of the second Psalm is exceedingly concernd lest there should be any imputation of Ingratitude to our LORD upon the account of his seising upon his Inheritance in such a manner as presently to break it in pieces with an iron Rod. But he quiets himself in this that it is in order to Restauration and Reformation Be wise now therefore O ye kings be instructed ye judges of the earth Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling Kiss the Son c. They who will not take warning by Beishazzar and Motezuma and will not learn in all their Administrations to glorifie the God in whose hand their breath is and whose are all their ways they must expect to come to worse ends than they did Great Motezuma who laboured to be worshiped as a god No plebeian might look him in the face if he did he was punished with death He did never set his soot on the ground but was always carried on the shoulders of Noblemen and if he lighted they laid rich Tapestry whereon he might go When he made any Voyage he and the Noblemen went as it were in a Park compassed in for the nonce and the rest of the people went without the Park He never put on a Garment twice nor did eat or drink in one Vessel or Dish above once all must be new He used to be attended by Noblemen barefoot This Motezuma of whose bloody Pride and Luxury he knew no bounds was at last imprisoned in his own Palace by his unwelcom Guests was hated by his subjects covertly and basely slain so that t is yet controverted whether Spaniards or Indians were the authors of his death But howsoever Motezuma died miserably and paid his deserts to the just judgment of our Lord of heaven for his Pride and Tyranny His body falling into the Indians power they would make him no Obsequies of a King no not of an ordinary person but cast it away in great disdain and rage A servant of his having pity of this king's misery made a fire thereof put the ashes in a contemptible place Acosta lib. 7. cap. 22 26. Some judicious and learned Divines have conjectured that America is prophesied of in the thirty seventh of Ezekiel under the denomination of a Valley Certainly no part of the habitable World can shew more Bones or bones more dry than these vast Regions do Mr. Downam thinks that Mr. Eliot's taking his Text from thence when he first preached to the Indians has its weight His Appendix to the Letters from New-England is well worth the reading The Prophet is said to be carried out in the spirit and for ought I know he might be carried beyond the limits of the then known World Dan. 11.45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy Mountain yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him The complexion of this portion of Scripture is such as constrains me to imagin that the place designed by the Holy Spirit is no other than America Every word almost has an emphasis carrying in it to me the perswasion of this sence They who remove from one Land to another there to dwell that settlement of theirs is call'd a Plantation Especially when a Land before rude and unfurnish'd is by the New-comers replenished with usefull Arts Vegetables Animals Thus when in the year 1492. Christopher Columbus had opened the way the Spaniards planted themselves in the spatious Regions of America and too much planted Antichristianisme in the room of Heathenisme Tabernacles So called from the movableness of their condition and shortness of their continuance As Tents they were lately set up and notwithstanding all their Praemunitions so far as they are Antichristian they shall be taken down before it be long by the immovable Counsel and Providence of God Palace The Extent Riches and Pomp of the Mexican and Peruvian Empires are very great Bellarmin 〈◊〉 notis Ecclesi ad Notam Quartam ◠Nonam Insomuch that when the Church of Rome met with Losses in Europe they pleased themselves with their Gains in the New-World They glory in the many Churches they have planted there which are they say without all mixture of Hereticks If with Mr. Nicholas Fuller Miscel sacr lib. 5. cap. 18. we take this word to signifie Equile Regium Horse Guards It will still look upon America The Reputation the Spaniards Horses gave them did much contribute towards their prodigious Conquests And after above threescore dangerous battels Mexico was at last taken upon Hippolytus day August 13. 1521. Since which time Horses that were never seen there before are one of the four Fair Things of that Citie Between the Seas The middle Provinces of the New World governed by the Vice Roys of Mexico and Peru are known to lye between two of the most wide and famous Seas of the whole World The American Inhmus respecting its own narrowness and the bold approaches of the huge Ocean on either side does command the title of Nonsuch America it self and they who pass thether are so much concernd with the Sea that Peter Martyr stiled his History Decads of the Ocean And in the general History of Spain part of the King's Title is The Islands and firm Land of the Ocean Sea Grimeston p. 1234. in the glerious holy Mountain Ingenious Joseph Accsta lib. 3. cap. 19. speaking of New-Spain hath these words Which without douct is the best Province the Sun doth circle And Mr. Gage in his faithfull Relations cap. 12. p. 134 speaks of
the Moment when Christ shall begin this mysterious Work At the date of this Letter sixteen Years were run out after Christ began to settle his Abode here May America prosper as Winthrop Wilson and Company cam into it upon good Grounds And I presume the Negative testimony of a Person three Thousand miles off the Place concerned will not obtain much credit with equal Judges Especially remembring that the 43th Epistle begins thus Concerning our Plantation in the American World I wish them as well as any body tho I differ from them far both in other things and the grounds they go upon Neither can I believe that the Captain of our Salvation hath landed his Forces here to disturb and vex Satan only * 1 Kings 20 23 28. but to fight with him in good Earnest and break his Head It is remarkable what Mr. Nathanael Morton relates of one Squanto an Indian in his New-England's Memorial p. 25 35 40. He proved a special Instrument sent of God for the good of the English and was their Interpreter directed them in planting of their Corn where to Fish and was also their Pilot to bring them to unknown places and never left them untill his death He was a Native of this place where Plimouth is and scarce any left besides him The great Sachem Massasciet sought his liâ—e which caused him to stick close to the English Being on a Voyage to buy Corn by reason of cross Winds they put in at Mannamork where Squanto fell sick and in a few days dyed A little before his death he desired Governour Bradford who was then there to pray for him that he might go to English-mans God in Heaven and bequeathed many of his Things to his English Friends for a Remembrance of his Love of whom they had a great Loss This fell out in the Year 1622. As Rahab he with the uttermost hazard of his life changed sides left his countrymen and espoused the Interest of Strangers And therefore I dare not deny but that Rahab and he do now fare alike This Year the Indians were exceedingly affected with the Providence of God in sending a plenteous Rain upon the very same day that the English had set apart and sought it by humble and fervent Prayer All the morning and the greatest part of the day it was clear weather no cloud or sign of Rain to be seen Yet towards Evening it began to be overcast and shortly after to rain It came without either Wind or Thunder or any Violence but by degrees and in that Abundance as that the Earth was thorowly soaked therewith which did apparently revive the languishing Corn and other Fruits to their own the Indians Admiration One of them was heard to say Now I see that English-mans God is a good God for He hath heard you and sent you Rain and that without thundering Storms and Tempests which use to break down our Corn. Surely your God is a Good God! The Drought lasted from the third week in May to the middle of July without any Rain and with great Heat for the most part N. E. Memorial p. 37 38. Since the death of our Author many of them have been converted a satisfactory Account whereof was sent over to England and is in Print by means whereof many fervent Prayers were offered up to God on their behalf So that we may hope the Children of so many Prayers shall not finally miscarry The New Testament was translated into their own Language and came forth in Print in September 1661. â—000 Copies of a more correct Edition were printed Anno 1685. 1661. And since that time the whole Bible hath been given them by the singular Industry of Mr. John Elict at the Cost of the Honorable Corporation and a Catechise and several books of practical Divinity to boot There are also several Churches of them wherein the Ordinances of Christ are administred and his Sabbath sanctified Which Congregations may be compared to a piece of a Pomgranat within the Locks of the New English Church To the many printed Testimonies of Mr. John Eliot Father and Son Mr. Thomas Mahew Mr. Henry Whitfield and others one manuscript Evidence may be added Major Daniel Gookin a Person of known Integrity who tho he were an Assistant yet disdained not to accept the Government of the Indians and was very conversant with them both at Cambridge and at their own homes for many Years together Anno 1674. He writ a Treatise thereabout which he entituled INDIANS CONVERTED In the 64th page is this Passage For my own part I have no doubt but am fully satisfied according to judgement of Charity that divers of them do fear God and are true Believers Well then as to the Massachusets Triumphant Whitaker's Hypothesis is happily made a Thesis Scripturas intelligunt Dominus illis suum Spiritum dedit Cujus finibus Judaeorum illa per omnes Gentes dispersio concluditur It is well known what Swarms of Jews did dwell in Spain especially from the times of Adrian the Emperour But in the Year 1492. Ferdinand and Isabel King and Queen of Castile made an Edict whereby all Jews which inhabited in Castile or Leon were enjoined to turn to the Christian Religion and to be baptized within three Moneths on pain of having their Goods cofiscat and perpetual Banishment By this means the miserable People were brought into Great Perplexity The most religious of them took counsel in the three moneths space of delay before they were to leave the Country and found means to send away their Money and chief Goods out of Spain wherein they were aided by many honest minded Christians who did help to hide them Others who valued their ease Native-Country and Goods above all other matters were baptised and made profession of the Christian Religion And in process of time the noble Families of Spain allied themselves by Marriage to that Race Grimeston Hist Spain p. 946 947. This was called the great Dispersion One hundred and two and twenty Thousand Families were driven out of Spain and were forbidden to return upon pain of forfeiting both Estate and Life Meminit hujus exilij Dav. Gans P. 1. pag. 60. b vocat Ejectionem magnam qua innumeri Solum plurimi etjam Religionem mutarint Scribit Calamitatem illius temporis ne quidem exprimi posse Plura habet Schebh Jehuda p. 38 39 40. Hottinger de Judaismo p. 914. Eodem illo Anno Hebraeos universos quorum ingens infinitus prope numerus crat Hispaniae finibus excedere jussit Et ut Haereticos Mauros et Hebraeorum reliquias e suo regno penitus evelleret sanctum Inquisitionis officium instituit Hispan illustrat p. 1188. The very same Year 1492. Christopher Columbus found out the New World for Castile and Leon. And altho the New World was not yet made ready for the Entertainment of the ejected Jews or else the Jews were not yet fit to dwell in a place
its Excellency in this manner There is nothing in Mexico and about it wanting which may make a City happy And certainly had those that have so much extolled with their pens the parts of Granada in Spain Lombardy and Florence in Italy making them the earthly Paradise had they been acquainted with the New World and with Mexico they would have recanted their untruths O that the Lord were truly worshipped where He hath poured forth the Treasures of his Goodness for the children of men O that in that Eden the tempting and enticing Serpent were not so much obeyed in the use of the fair seeming apple of Pleasures and the LORD that hath enriched it with such Varieties so much neglected The difficulty attending this construction lyes in the word holy which may be intended by way of Anticipation What place more infamous for Unholiness than Canaan and yet it is said Exod. 15 13 17. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy Holy habitation Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thy inheritance in the place O Lord which thou hast made for thee to dwell in in the Sanctuary O Lord which thy hands have established Neither is this altogether dissonant from excellent Calvin's Commentary For that which remains of the Roman grandeur is shared between the Emperour of Germany and the Pope and they both contributed towards the planting these Tabernacles Pope Alexander the sixth that horrible Monster by his Bull or Donation dated 1493. quarto Nonas Maij and Charles the fifth by his Expence and Royal Authority They also that do govern in America are not Kings but Vice Roys answerable to Calvin's Proconsuls And 't is not Mexico and Lima but Madrid and Rome that are the original and principal Seats of the Government Take a Specimen of Antichrists inevitable coming to his End in the death of Roderick Borgia afterward Pope Alexander the sixth taken almost word for word out of Onuphrius in the Life of that Pope and out of Guicciardin lib. 5. p. 235 236. It is most certain saith he that in his father and in him Caesar Borgia Duke Valentynois were natural customs to use Poison not only to be revengd of their Enemies or to be assured of Suspicions but also upon a wicked Covetousness to dispoil Rich Men of their Goods whether they were Cardinals or Courtiers altho they had never don them wrong as happened to the Cardinal St. Ange who was very Rich. This manner of Rage they would use also against their greatest Friends and Familiars and such as had been their most faithfull servants such as were the Cardinals of Capua and Modeno a Recompence unworthy the merits of good men and not disagreeable to the disposition of such a Father and son whereof the one made all things lawfull by vile Dispensation and with the other nothing was dishonest wherein was Opportunity to his purposes Upon the 17th of August anno 1503. a Banquet of Wine was made in the Arbour of the Vatican ad umbrosum Vaticoni ruris fontem for the poisoning of Adrian Ca dinal of Cornette or of some of the Richest Senators as Onuphrius has it Valentynois sent before certain flagons with Wine infected with Poison which he gave to a servant that knew nothing of the matter commanding that no person should touch them The Pope coming by adventure somwhat before the Supper and overcome with the Drought and immoderate heat of the time calld for drink and because his own provision was not yet brought from the Palace he that had the infected Wine in charge thinking it to be commended to his keeping for a wine most excellent gave the Pope to drink of the same wine which Vatentynois had sent who arriving whilest his father was drinking drank also of the same wine being but just that they both should taste of the same Cup which they had brewed for the destruction of others Valentinois by the vigour and strength of his Youth and ready Help of strong Meditines and Counterpoisons had his Life saved remaining notwithstandig oppressed with a long and grievous Sickness But his father the Pope being aged and unable long to endure the strength of the poison died the next day Aug. 18th in the Vatican at Rome in the 71th year of his Age and the eighth day of the twelfth Year of his Popedom The Corps was borne into the Church of St Peter black swolne and most deformed All the Town of Rome ran with great gladness to St Peters about the dead body of the Pope their eyes not being satisfied to see dead destroyd a Serpent who with his immoderat Ambition poisoned Infidelity together with all the horrible Examples of Cruelty Luxury and monstrous Covetousness selling without distinction both holy things and profane things had infected the whole World Thus far Guicciardin in that place In the Death of this Planter God hath given Earnest assuring us that He will in the fittest Season utterly roâ—t up the whole papal Plantation so as none shall be able to Help them The cognation that there is between this Prophesie and that of the Revelation is so great as occasioned Mede to answer I conceive Daniel to be Apocalypsis contracta p 964. It will not therefore be incongruous to pass immediatly thether without any other Transition Rev. 6.8 And I looked and behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death and hell followed with him and power was given to them over the Fourth part of the earth to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth The Four Quarters of the World seem to be reprosented by Four Animals Asia by the Lion Africa by the Call Europe by the Man and America by the Eagle Accordingly the four first Seals seem to be Local each of them chiefly or firstly regarding what was to be done in some One Quarter of the World So that Asia was to be the principal stage of the First Seal Africa of the Second Europe of the Third and America of the Fourth America is fitly represented by an Eagle which Royal Bird is very frequent there and was once the Standard of the Mexican Empire the unparalleld Miseries whereof and of the New World are here described And there is no Verse in the whole Bible doth so pathetically and with so much Amplitude and Variety foretell the Destruction of Men So wide and deep the Measure needed to be that was to contain the Blood and Slaughter of America If there may be any accommodation in that the Colour * Stephanus â—retius â—areus of this Horse is much like the Colour of the Indians And altho it seem an oddity in Beza's Translation set forth Anno 1556. to make the Rider feminine yet it may serve to put one in mind that this tragical Scene was first opened by the Magnanimous and Modest