Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	grace_n	heart_n	holy_a	14,318	5	4.7839	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30858	The Banners of grace and love displayed in the farther conversion of the Indians in New-England held forth in sundry letters from divers ministers to the corporation established by Parliament, for promoting the Gospel amongst the heathen in New-England : and farther attested by Edm. Callamy, Simon Ashe, VVill Spurstow, Lazarus Seaman, George Griffith, [brace] [brace] Phil Nye, VVilliam Bridge, Henry VVhitfield, Joseph Carryll, Ralph Venning.		1657 (1657)	Wing B674; ESTC R38715	37,188	57

doe very much profit with a very little helpe especially some of them for they are very ingenuous And whereas I had thoughts that vvee must have an Englishman to be their Schoole-Master I now hope that the Lord will raise up some of themselves and enable them unto that worke with my care to teach them well in the reason of the sounds of Letters and spelling I trust in the Lord that vvee shall have sundry of them able to reade and write who shall vvrite every man for himselfe so much of the Bible as the Lord shall please to enable me to translate Besides those workes which concerne Religion and Learning wee are also a doing according to the measure of our day of small things in the civill part of this worke wee have set out some part of the Towne in severall Streets measuring out and dividing of Lots which I set them to doe and teach them how to doe it many have planted Apple-Trees and they have begun diverse Orchards it s now planting-time and they be full of businesse yet wee are doing some publicke workes the last weeke I appointed our Lecture to be at a Water which is a common passage and where the Fish wee call Alewives come there wee built a bridge and made a wyre to catch Fish and being many of them some wee appointed to one worke and some to another through the blessing of God wee brought both these workes to perfection wee also have begun a Pallizadoe Fort in the midst whereof wee intend a meeting-house and Schoole-house but wee are in great want of Tooles and many necessaries and when wee cannot goe wee must be content to creepe this present weeke I am going to Pawtucket the great Fishing place upon Merimek where I heare sundry doe expect my coming with a purpose to submit themselves unto the Lords hand Sir I doe earnestly beg your prayers both for mee and for this worke of the Lord which he hath set mee about John Eliott Roxbury the 28th of the 2d 1651. The former Letter of Mr Elliots came to hand about six Moneths before the latter and that 's the reason you have another of his followeth next after his former whereby the Reader may see and observe the constant goodnes of God in carrying on his owne worke notwithstanding all the opposition of Men. Every day bringing forth as it were additionall improvements to the praise of God who delighteth so much in this his day of small things Worshipfull and much honoured in the LORD IT is through the grace of Christ who hath called you into the fellowship of his Kingdome that you are willing to take such care and paines for the advancement and furtherance of his Kingdome and the Lord fill your hearts with the Consolations of his holy Spirit whose spirit hee hath set to seeke his glory in promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ and because the fruite of our Labours coming in with a blessing is a great meanes to quicken the heart to be constant in that worke which the Lord delighteth to prosper and blesse It is my duty to let you understand how it pleaseth the Lord to prosper and proceed in this worke of his among the Indians for the promoting vvhereof you travaile with care and paines that so you may goe on with the more Comfort and the better know how to direct your prayers unto the Lord in that behalfe I will not trouble you with rehearsall of such things as I have already this yeare written about unto our honoured Friend Mr Winslowe so farre as I can call to minde vvhat I wrote hoping in the Lord that the Ships are safely arrived and my Letters come unto his hands I know not whether I have yet mentioned our Schoole vvhich through the Lords mercy vvee have begun though vvee cannot yet be constant in it vvee have two men in some measure able to teach the youth vvith my guidance and inspection And thus vvee order the Schoole The Master daily prayeth among his Schollers and instructeth them in Catechisme for which purpose I have compiled a short Catechisme and vvrote it in the Masters booke vvhich he can reade and teach them and also all the Copies he setteth his Schollers vvhen he teacheth them to write are the Questions and Answers of the Catechisme that so the Children may be the more prompt and ready therein wee aspire to no higher learning yet but to spell reade and vvrite that so they may be able to vvrite for themselves such Scriptures as I have already or hereafter may by the blessing of God translate for them for I have no hope to see the Bible translated much lesse printed in my dayes Therefore my chiefe care is to Communicate as much of the Scriptures as I can by vvriting and further my scope so to traine up both men and youths that when they be in some measure instructed themselves they may be sent forth to other parts of the Countrey to traine up and instruct others even as they themselves have been trained up and instructed This consideration doth make mee very carefull to put on the Schoole and attend it with what diligence I can although I cannot as yet doe in it what I desire There be severall providences of God appearing to worke which make mee thinke that the most effectuall and generall way of spreading the Gospel will be by themselves when so instructed as I have above-mentioned 〈◊〉 for my preaching though such whose hearts God hath bowed to attend can picke up some knowledge by my broken expressions yet I see that it is not so taking and effectuall to strangers as their owne expressions be who naturally speake unto them in their owne tongue To the end therefore that they may be the better able to teach others I doe traine them up and exercise them therein vvhen I am among them on the Lords dayes appointing two each Sabboth to exercise and when they have done then I proceed and assuredly I finde a good measure of abilitie in them not onely in prayer wherein they exceed my expectation but in memory to rehearse such Scriptures as I have read unto them and expounded to expound them also as they have heard mee doe and apply them And now also the Schoole-Master taking the care of catechizing the Children I leaving that to him doe catechize the men examining and trying their knowledge which yet I am wary in doing least I should dampe and discourage the weake These things I attend with the more intention because it seemeth to mee God will imploy these first instructed to instruct others of which I have had sundry experiences some I shall instance it pleased Mr Winthrop son unto our late Honoured Governour now at rest to advise mee to send two discreete men to the greatest and most potent Sachem among the Naragansets to answer such Questions as they might propound and to stirre them up to call on God I did accordingly and sent him a Present by

THE BANNERS Of GRACE and LOVE DISPLAYED In the farther Conversion of the Indians In NEW-ENGLAND Held forth in sundry Letters from divers Ministers to the Corporation established by Parliament for Promoting the Gospel amongst the Heathen in New-England and farther attested by Edm. Callamy Simon Ashe VVill. Spurstow Lazarus Seaman George Griffith Phil. Nye VVilliam Bridge Henry VVhitfield Joseph Carryll Ralph Venning LONDON Printed by W. Godbid for Edw. Farnham and are to be sold at his Shop in Popeshead-Alley M.DC.LVII TO THE SUPREAME AUTHORITIE OF THIS NATION The Parliament of the Common-Wealth of ENGLAND THat the Fathers joy at the returning of a Spend-thrift Sonne ought to have an influence upon the whole Family of Heaven and Earth that is called after his name to worke their suitable affections and conformity to himselfe cannot be questioned by any true childe thereof Behold then Right Honourable a call thereunto Poore Prodigalls who have not only with our selves lost that rich Treasure of grace and holinesse wherewith in our Common roote and Fountaine we were entrusted but also in a course of Rebellion for many Generations wasted the remainder of Natures Riches to the utmost degeneracy that an Immortall rationall being is obnoxious unto not returning a farre off but rejoycing in the imbraces of their Father and enterteined with his flesh and bloud who was slaine and sacrificed for them The ayme of our walking with God here is to come up to some conformitie to them who behold his face and doe his Will in Heaven amongst them there is joy at the Repentance of one Sinner and shall not wee finde sweetnesse in the first fruits of a barren Wildernesse in the shining of a beame of light into the darknesse of another World giving hope of a plentifull harvest and a glorious day to ensue Let men take heed lest by despising the day and opposing the Worke of the Lord towards those poore Sonnes of Adam notwithstanding all their zealous profession they proclaime themselves to pursue a Carnall Interest by which they declare the enlargement of the Dominion of Jesus Christ is of no Concernment unto them Wee are by many Pledges assured better things of you Right Honourable and such as accompany zeale for the House of our God and therefore the ensuing Testimonialls of the progresse of the Worke of the Gospel being sent unto us wee make bold humbly to present them to you partly that we may invite you as the friends of Jesus Christ to rejoyce with him that some sheepe of his who were lost are found and partly to lay before you some such fruits of the putting forth of your Authoritie for the carrying on this most glorious undertaking as may encourage you to goe on through him who doth enable you unto future reall expressions of your love and zeale thereunto Wee shall not need to draw forth any particulars from the ensuing Narrative to give you a taste of that Spirit whereinto these poore Creatures are sweetly baptized Wee hope your delight in the Worke of God will inforce a leasure to view the whole this in Generall wee may say that in the Wildernesse are waters broken out and streames in the Desert the parched ground is become a Poole and the thirsty Land-springs of water in the Habitation of Dragons where each lay there is grasse with Reeds and Rushes the Lord hath powred water upon him that is thirstie and flouds upon the dry ground He hath powred his Spirit on the seeds of the Heathen his blessing on their Off-spring they spring up as among the grasse as willowes by the water-courses One sayes I am the Lords and another calls himselfe by the name of Jacob and another subscribes with his hand unto the Lord and sirnames himselfe by the name of Israel The Lord hath done a new thing and wee know it he hath made a way in the Wildernesse and Rivers in the Desert the beast of the feild doth honour him the Dragons and the Owles because he gives waters in the Wildernes and Rivers in the Desert to give drinke to his People his chosen so that upon the Report heere read unto us wee cannot but glorifie God with those Primitive beleevers of old and say then hath God also to the poore naked Indians granted Repentance unto life Their outward wants and streights have often been presented unto you wee shall not need to repeate them blessed be the Lord and blessed be you of the Lord that your hearts have been stirred up to give encouragement unto this Worke and to open a Doore for the reliefe of those Eminent Instruments in the hand of the Lord who carry it on who though they communicate to them Spiritualls yet are so farre from receiving of their Temporalls that they impart unto them a Portion of their owne dayly bread and provision necessary from their owne subsistence The good Lord lay the weight and concernment of this Worke upon your spirits and wee no way doubt that you will in any way be wanting to the Publique improvement of this blessed opportunitie for the enlargement of the Kingdome of him whom our Soules doe love There is a vexation of spirit which through their formalitie and unbeliefe hath encompassed many Professors that whereas they have with much seeming earnestnes cryed out for mercies when they have been bestowed they have thought scorne of them so did the Jewes in the busines of their Messias and many at this day amongst our selves in the great workes of the Provinces of God It is so with some to this breaking forth of light amongst the Indians desiring it before it began despising it in its very beginnings the Lord lay it not unto their charge and keep all our spirits in an holy admiration and reverence of the powerfull efficacy of his eternall and unchangeable purposes which through so many sinfull Generations falling in their Rebellion have preserved a seed to himselfe whereof he will take care that one graine fall not to the Ground Your Honors humble Servants John Owen Joseph Caryl Will Greenhill William Bridge William Carter George Griffith Tho Goodwin Sidrach Simpson Phillip Nye William Strong Henry Whitfeld Ralph Venning To the READER Christian Reader THese ensuing Letters doe represent unto thee and to the Churches the out-goings of Christ as a Light to the Gentiles that the grace which brings Salvation hath appeared unto them also in the furthest parts of the Earth for the accomplishment of that ancient and glorious Promise I will give thee for a Light to the Gentiles that thou may'st be my Salvation to the Ends of the Earth Isa 49.6 The People of God have been greatly affected with the appearances of Christ when he hath rode forth upon a red Horse to the destruction of his Enemies for he is glorious in his Apparell even when his garments are dipt in bloud but much more when he rides forth upon a white Horse for the Conversion of Soules and goes on Conquering and to Conquer Wee

them but the proud Sachem did little lesse then despise the offer though hee tooke the Present So they thought they should have returned without successe but when they came among the people especially such as were a little more remote from the great and proud ones they received them with great gladnesse one Company taking one of ours among them others taking the other of our men amongst them they asked them many Questions expressed their readinesse to call upon God if they had any to teach them expressing likewise that they did not expect their Sachems would pray to God because they vvere so proud by which I doe perceive that the Lord is preparing a plentifull harvest and not onely by this but by many other Evidences There is a great Countrey lying betweene Conectacott and the Massachusets called Nipnet where there be many Indians dispersed many of which have sent to our Indians desiring that some may be sent unto them to teach them to pray unto God And sometimes some of our best men doe goe to severall places for a little while and returne againe and not without successe These things being so the worke which vvee now have in hand will be as a patterne and Copie before them to imitate in all the Countrey both in civilizing them in their order government Law and in their Church proceedings and administrations and hence great care lyeth upon mee to set them right at first to lay a sure foundation for such a building as I foresee will be built upon it and in this matter I greatly need pray The order of proceeding with them is first to gather them together from their scattered course of life to cohabitation and civill order and Government and then to forme them the Lord having fitted them into visible Church-state for the guidance whereof I have instructed them that they should looke onely into the Scriptures and out of the word of God fetch all their Wisedome Lawes and Government and so shall they be the Lords people and the Lord above shall Reigne over them and governe them in all things by the word of his mouth Sundry of these which pray unto God have formerly subjected themselves unto the English So that in this Government among themselves they doe reserve themselves in that poynt to owne them as their superiours to make appeales unto them as neede may require and experience for these many yeares shew that though they have so subjected themselves yet the onely benefit they have is protection as for hearing and determining their causes the difference of language and paucitie of Interpreters prohibits and if their causes come they be so longsome and yet of small importance that it is of necessitie that either they must have no government as hitherto it hath been or else they must have it among themselves Besides all or many of their differences and causes they usually brought to mee which was not convenient and I was willing to avoyde themselves also found great need that some should be over them to judge their causes and end differences and much desired it Therefore upon the sixt day of the sixt Moneth of this present yeare their Pallizadoe Fort being finished they had a great meeting and many came together from diverse parts though sundry were hindred and came not at that time where with prayer to God I read and expounded to them the 18th of Exodus which I had done severall times before and finally they did solemnly choose two Rulers among themselves they first chose a Ruler of an Hundred then they chose two Rulers of Fifties then they chose Ten or Tithing Men so I call them in English for so they were called as is reported in England vvhen England did flourish happily under that kinde of Government And lastly for that dayes worke every man chose who should be his Ruler of ten the Rulers standing in order and every man going to the man he chose and it seemed unto mee as if I had seene scattered bones goe bone unto his bone and so lived a civill politicall life and the Lord was pleased to minister no small comfort unto my spirit when I saw it After this worke was ended they did enter into Covenant with God and each other to be the Lords people and to be governed by the word of the Lord in all things The words of which Covenant are these in English Wee doe give our selves and our Children unto God to be his people Hee shall rule us in all our affaires not onely in our Religion and affaires of the Church these wee desire as soone as wee can if God will but also in all our workes and affaires in this world God shall rule over us Isa 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King Hee will save us the Wisedome which God hath taught us in his Booke that shall guide us and direct us in the way Oh Jehovah teach us wisedome to finde out thy wisedome in thy Scriptures let the grace of Christ helpe us because Christ is the wisedome of God send thy Spirit into our hearts and let it teach us Lord take us to be thy people and let us take thee to be our God This Act of forming themselves into the Government of God and entring into this Government is the first publique Record among the Indians and for ought I know the first that ever was among them and now our next worke is to prepare them for Church-estate to which end I doe instruct them that the Visible Church of Christ is builded upon a lively confession of Christ and Covenanting to walke in all the Administrations of the publique worship of God under the Government and Discipline of Jesus Christ I doe therefore exhort them to try their hearts by the word of God to finde out what change the Lord hath wrought in their hearts and this is the present vvorke vvee have in hand Give mee leave much honoured Friends to goe a little backe in my relation that I might be more particular because these Letters I prepared in the sixt Moneth after they had chosen their Officers as I was propounding and teaching them the above-written Covenant for that I did often before wee did solemnely accomplish it that so they might doe it as an Act of knowledge and faith Now let mee relate the order of our proceeding Having againe and againe read this Covenant to them and instructed them in the meaning of it it pleased God to wrack Mr Webbers Ship at Conahasset though the Lord dealt favourably most goods were saved though much spoyled this was on the first day of the 7th Moneth wherefore at a Lecture at Natik on the 10th of the same Moneth I informed them of the plentifull supply which the Lord had made your selves his instruments to send unto them for the furtherance of this our worke and also how the Lord had frowned upon it and undoubtedly it was a fruit of sinne