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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	call_v	day_n	sabbath_n	6,611	5	9.9211	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50170	The triumphs of the reformed religion in America the life of the renowned John Eliot, a person justly famous in the church of God, not only as an eminent Christian and an excellant minister among the English, but also as a memorable evangelist amoung the Indians of New-England : with some account concerning the late and strange success of the Gospel in those parts of the world which for many ages have lain buried in pagan ignorance / written by Cotton Mather.	Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.; Mather, Increase, 1639-1723. De successu Evangelii apud Indos in Nova-Anglia epistola. English.	1691 (1691)	Wing M1163; ESTC W479490	74,580	162

Callings we keep up Heavenly Frames we buy and sell and toyl yea we eat and drink with some eye both to the Command and the Honour of God in all Behold I have not now left an inch of time to be carnal it is all Engrossed for Heaven And yet lest here should not be enough Lastly We have our spiritual Warfare We are alwayes Encountring the Enemies of our Souls which continually raises our hearts unto our Helper and Leader in the Heavens Let no man say 'T is impossible to live at this rate for we have known some live thus and others that have written of such a life have but spun a Web out of their own blessed experiences New-England has Examples of this life tho alas 't is to be lamented that the Distractions of the world in too many professors do becloud the beauty of an Heavenly Conversation In fine our Employment lies in Heaven In the morning if we ask Where am I to be to day Our Souls must answer In Heaven In the evening if we ask Where have I been to day Our Souls may answer t● Heaven If thou art a Believer thou art no stranger to H ●ven while thou livest and when ●hou dyest Heaven will be no strange place to thee no thou hast been there a thousand times before In this language have I heard him express himself and he did what he s●id he was a Boniface as well as a Benedict and he was one of those Qui faciendo docent quae facienda docent It might be said of him as that Writer characterises O●igen Quemadmodum doeuit sic vi●it quemadmodum vixit sit docuit Article II. His particular care and zeal about the Lords-day THis was the Piety this the Holiness of our Eliot but among the many instances in which his H●liness was remarkable I must not omit his exact Remembrance of the Sabbath-day to keep it holy It has been truly and justly Observed Tha● our whole Religion fares according to our Sabbaths that poor Sabbaths make poor Ch●istian● and that a strictness in our Sabbaths inspires vigour into all our other Duties Our Eliot knew this and it was a most Exemplary zeal that he acknowledged the Sabba●h of our Lord Jesus Christ withal Had he been asked Servasii Dominicum he could have made a right Christian primitive answer thereunto The Sun did not set the evening before the Sabbath till he had begun his preparation for it and when the Lords-day came you might have seen John in the Spirit every week Every day was a sort of Sabbath to him but the Sabbath day was a kind type a tast of Heaven with him He laboured that he might on this High-day have no words or thoughts but such as we e agreeable ●hereunto he then allow'd in himself no Actions but those of a Ra●sed Soul One should hear nothing dropping from his Lips on this day but the milk and honey of the Countrey in which there yet remains a ●est for the people of God and if he beheld in my person whatsoever whether old or young my profanation of this day he would be sure to ●estow lively Rebukes upon it And hence al●o unto the general Engagements of a Covenant ●ith God which 't was his Desire to bring the ●ndians into he added a particular Article wherein they bind themselves mehquontamunat ●abbath pahketeaunat tohsohke pomantamog i. e. ●o Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy as ●ong as we live The mention of this gives me an opportunity not only to Recommend our Departed Eliot but also to Vindicate another great man unto the Churches of our Lord Jesus Christ The Reverend and Renowned OWEN in his Elaborate Exercitations on The Lords-day had let fall such a passage of this I judge that the Observation of the Lords-day is to be Commensurate unto the use of our natural strength on any other day from morning to night The Lords-day is to be s●t apart unto the ends of an holy Rest unto God by every one according as his natural strength will enable him to employ himself in his lawful Occasions any other day of the week This passage gave some scandal unto several very Learned and Piou● M●n among whom our Eliot was one whereupon with his usual zeal gravity and sanctity he wrote unto the Doctor his Opinion thereabout who returned unto him an answer full of Respect some part where of I shall here transcribe As to what concerns the Natural strength of man saith he Either I was under some mistake in my Expression or you seem to be so i● your Apprehension I never thought and 〈◊〉 hope I have not said for I cannot find it that the Continuance of the Sabbath is to b● commensurate unto the natural strength of man but only that it is an Allowable mean of me● Continuance in Sabbath Duties which I su●pose you will not deny lest you should ca● the Consciences of professors into inextricable Difficulties When first I engaged in that work I intended not to have spoken one word about the practical Obs●rvation of the Day but only to have endeavoured the Revival of a Truth which at present is despised and contemned among us and strenuously opposed by sundry Divines of the Vnited Provinces who call the Doctrine of the Sabbath Figmentum Anglicanum Upon the Desire of some Learned Men in these parts it was that I undertook the Vindica●ion of it Having now discharged the Debt which in this matter I owed unto the Truth and Church of God tho not as I ought yet with such a composition as I hope thro' the Interposition of our Lord Jesus Christ might find acceptance with God and his Saints I suppose I shall not again engage on that Subject I suppose there is scarce an● one alive in the world who hath more Reproaches cast upon him than I have tho hitherto God has been pleased in some measure to support my spirit under them I still relieved my self by this That my poor Endeavours have found acceptance with the Churches of Christ But my holy wise and gracious Father sees it needful to try me in this matter also and what I have received from you which it may be contains not your sense alone hath printed deeper and left a greater impression upon my mind than all the virulent Revilings and false Accusations I have met withal from my professed Adversaries I do acknowledge unto you that I have a dry and barren Spirit and I do heartily beg your prayers that the Holy One would notwithstanding all my sinful provocations water me from above but that I should now be apprehended to have given a wound unto Holiness in the Churches 't is one of the saddest frowns in the cloudy B●ows of Divine Providence The Doctrine of the Sabbath I have asserted tho' not as it should be done yet as wel as I could The Observation of it in Holy Duties unto the utmost of the strength for them which God shall be pleased to

added And truly there are Thorns and Briars i● the way too Which instance I would not hav● singled out from the many thousands of hi● Occasional Reflections but only that I might suggest unto the good people of Roxbury something for them to think upon when they are going up to the House of the Lord. It is enough that as the Friend of the famous Vrsin coul● profess that he never went unto him witho●● coming away aut doctior aut melior either t●● ●iser or the bette● from him so 't is an ackno●ledgment which more than one Friend of o● Eliot's has made concerning him I was 〈◊〉 with him but ●●●ot or might have got some 〈◊〉 from him 〈◊〉 hearing from the great God was an ●●●rcise of like satisfaction unto the Soul of this good man with speaking either to him or of him He was a mighty Student of the sacred Bible and it was unto him as his necessary food He made the Bible his Companion and his Councellor and the holy lines of Scripture more Enamoured him than the profane Ones of Tully ever did the famous Italian Cardinal He would not upon easy terms have gone one day together without using a portion of the Bible as an antidote against the infection of Temptation And he would prescribe it unto others with his probatum est upon it as once particularly a pious Woman vexed with a wicked Husband complaining to him That bad Company was all the day still infesting of her House and what should she do He advised her Take the Holy Bible into your Hand when the bad Company comes and you 'l soon drive them out of the House the woman made the experiment and thereby cleared her House from the Haunts that had molested it By the like way 't was that 〈◊〉 cleared his Heart of what he was loth 〈◊〉 Nesting there Moreover if ever any ma● could he might pretend unto that evidence o● Uprightness Lord I have loved the Habitation o●●hine House for he not only gave somethi●● more than his presence there twice on 〈◊〉 Lords Dayes and once a Fortnight besides 〈◊〉 b● Lectures in his own Congregation ou● 〈◊〉 made his weekly visits unto the Lectures in th● Neighbouring Towns how often was he seen at Boston Charlst●●n Camb●i●ge ●or●●●ster waiting upon the Word of God in the Recurring Opportunities and counting a Day in the Courts of the Lord better than a thousand It is hardly conceivable how in the m●dst of so many Studies and Labours as he was at home engaged in he could possibly repair to so many Lectures abroad and herein he aimed not only at his own Edification but at the Countenancing and Encouraging of the Lectures which he went unto Thus he took heed that he might Hear and he took as much heed how he He●rd he set himself as in the presence of the Eternal God as the great Co●stantine used of old in the Assemblies where he came and said I will hear what God the Lord will speak he expressed a diligent attention by a watchful and wak●f●l posture and by turning to the Texts quo●ed by the Preacher he expressed a suitable aff●c●ion by feeding on what was delivered and accompanying it with hands and eyes devoutly e●evated and they whose good hap 't was to go ●ome with him were sure of having anothe● Sermon by the way until their very Hear●● burned in them L●ct●ntius truly said Non e●●era Religio qua cum ●emplo ●elinquitur but o●● Eliot alwayes carried much of Religion with him from the House of God In a word he was one who Liv'd in He●●● while he was on Earth and there is no more th● pure Justice in our endeavours that he should Live on Earth after he is in Heaven We cannot say that we ever saw him walking any whither but he was therein walking with God wherever he sat● he had God by him and it was in the Everlasting Arms of God th t he Si●pi at n●ght M●thoughts he a little discovered his Heavenly way of livi●g when walk●ng one day in his Garden he ●luck●d ●p a w●●d that he saw now and then growing there at when a Friend pleasantly said unto him Sir you tell us we must be Heavenly 〈◊〉 but he immediately Reply d I● is ●●re and ●his is no impediment unto that for were I s●re to go to H●aven to morrow I would do what I do to D●● From s●ch a frame of spirit it was that once in a visi● fi●ding a Merchant in his Counting House where he saw Books of B●sines● only on his Table b●t all his Books of Devo●io● on the shelf he gave this Advise unto him Sir Here 's Earth ●n the Table and Heaven on the she●f pray d●●'t sit so much at the Table as altogether to f●rget the shelf let not earth by any ●ea●s thr●st H ●ve●● out of your mind Indeed I ca●not gi●e a fuller Description of him than what was in a Paraphrase tha● I have heard himself to make upon that Scripture ●ur Co●v●●sa●i ●is to H●aven I writt from him as he uttered it Behold Said he the Ancient and Excellent Character of a true Christian 't is that which ●eter calls Holiness in all manner of Conversation you shall not find a Christian out of the way of Godly Conversation For first a seventh part of our time is all Spent in Heaven when we are duely zealous for and zealous on the Sabbath of God Besides God has written on the Head of the Sabbath Remember which looks both Forwards and Backwards and thus a good part of the week will be spent in Sabbatizing Well but for the rest of our Time why we shall have that spent in Heaven ere we have done For Secondly we have many dayes for both Fasting and Thanksgiving in our pilgrimage and here are so many Sabbaths more Moreover Thirdly we have our Lectures every week and pious people won't miss them if they can help it Furthermore fourthly We have our private Meetings wherein we pray sing and Repeat Sermons and confer together about the things of God and being now come thus far we are in Heaven almost every day But a little farther Fifthly we perform Family-Duties every day we have our morning and evening Sacrifices wherein having read the Scriptures to our Families we call upon the Name of God and ever now and then carefully Catechise those that are under our Charge Sixthly we shall also have our daily Devotions in our Closets wherein unto Supplication before the Lord we shall add some serious Meditation upon his Word a David will be at this work no less than thrice a day Seventhly We have likewise many scores of Ejaculations in a day and these we have like Nehemiah in whatever place we come into Eighthly We have our Occasional Thoughts and our Occasional Talks upon spiritual matters and we have our Occasional Acts of Charity wherein we do like the Inhabitants of Heaven every day Ninthly In our Callings in our civil

Town-Orders if I may cast them so peculiar to themselves With respect hereunto Mr. Eliot on a Solemn Fast made a publick Vow That seeing these Indians were not prep ssessed with any Forms of Government he would ●nstruct them into such a Form as we had written in the Word of God that so they might be a people in all things ruled by the Lord. Accordingly he Expounded unto them the eighteenth Chapter of Exodus and then they chose Rulers of Hundreds of Fifties of Tens and therewithal Entred into this Covenant We are the sons of Adam We and our Forefathers have a long time been Lost in our sins but now the mercy of the Lord beginneth to find us out again therefore the grace of Christ helping us we do give our selves and our Children unto God to be his people He shall Rule us in all our Affairs The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us and the wisdome which God has taught us in his Book shall guide us Oh Jehovah Teach us Wisdome send thy Spirit into our hearts take us to be thy people and lett us take thee to be our God Such an o●inion about the perfection of the Scripture had he that he thus expressed himself upon this occasion God will bring Nations into Distress and Perplexity that so they may be forced unto the Scriptures all Governments will be shaken that men may be forced at length to Pitch upon that firm foundation The Word of God The Little Towns of these Indians being pitched upon this foundation they utterly abandoned that Polygamy which had heretofore been Common among them they made severe Lawes against Fornication Drunkenness and Sabbath-breaking and other Immoralities and they next began to Lament after the Establishment of a Church-order among them and after the several Ordinances and Priviledges of a Church-Communion The Churches of New-England have usually been very strict in their Admissions to Church-Fellowship and required very signal demonstrations of a Repenting and a Believing Soul before they thought men fit subjects to be entrusted with The Rights of the Kingdom of Heaven But they seem'd rather to Augment than Abate their usual Strictness when the examination of the Indians was to be performed A Day was therefore set apart which they called Natootom●threack●suk or a Day of Asking Questions when the ministers of the Adjacent Churches assisted with all the best Interpreters that could be had publickly examined a good Number of these Indians about their Attainments both in Knowledge and in Vertue And notwithstanding the great satisfaction then received our Churches being willing to proceed Surely and therefore Slowly in Raising them up to a Church-State which might be Comprehended in our Consociations the Indians were afterwards called in Considerable Assemblies convened for that purpose to make open Confessions of their Faith in God and Christ and of the Efficacy which his word had upon them for their Conversion to Him which Confessions being taken in writing from their mouths by able Interpreters were scanned by the people of God and found much Acceptance with them I need pass no further Censure upon them than what is given by my Grand-father the well-known Richard Mather in an Epistle of his Published on this occasion says he There is so much of Gods work among them as that I cannot but count it a great evil yea a great injury to God and His Goodness for any to make light of it To see and hear Indians opening their mouths and lifting up their hands and eyes in Prayer to the Living God calling on him by his Name Jehovah in the Mediation of Jesus Christ and this for a good while together to see and hear them Exhorting one another from the Word of God to see and and hear them confessing the Name of Christ Jesus and their own sinfulness sure this is more than usual And tho' they spoke in a Language of which many of us understood but little yet we that were present that day we saw and heard them perform the Duties mentioned with such grave and sober Countenances with such comely Reverence in their Gesture and their whole carriage and with such plenty of Tears trickling down the Cheeks of some of them as did argue to us that they spake with the Holy Fear of God and is much affected our Hearts At length was a Church-state settled among them they entred as our Churches do into an holy Covenant wherein they gave themselves first unto the Lord and then unto one another to attend the Rules and Helps and expect the Blessings of the Everlasting Gospel and Mr. Eliot having a Mission from the Church of Roxbury unto the work of the Lord Christ among the Indians conceived himself sufficiently Authorized unto the performing of all Church-work about them grounding i● on Act. 13.1 2 3 4. and he accordingly Administred first the Baptism and then the Supper of the Lord unto them e The Hindrances and Obstructions that the DEVIL gave unto HIM VVE find four Assemblies of Praying Indians besides that of Natick in our Neighbourhood But why no more Truly not because our Eliot was wanting in his Offers and Labours for their good but because many of the obdurate Infidels would not receive the Gospel of Salvation In one of his Letters I find him giving this ill report with such a good reason for it Lyn Indians are all naught save one who sometimes comes to hear the Word and the reason why they are bad is principally because their Sachim is naught and careth not to pray unto God Indeed the Sachims or the Princes of the Indians generally did all they could that their Subjects might not entertain the Gospel the D●vils having the Sachims on their side thereby kept their possession of the people too Their Pauwaws or Clergy-men did much to maintain the Interest of the Devils in this Wilderness those Children of the Devil and Enemies of all Righteousness did not cease to pervert the Right ways of Lord but their Sachims or Magistrates did M●re towards it for they would presently Raise a Storm of Persecution upon any of their vassals that should Pray unto the Eternal God The ground of this conduct in them was an odd Fear that Religion would abridge them of the Tyranny which they had been us'd unto they always like the Divel held their people i● a most absolute servitude and Rul'd by no Law but their Will which left the poor Slaves nothing that they could call their Own They now suspected that Religion would put a Bridle upon such usurpations and oblige them to a more Equal and Humane way of Government they therefore some of them had the Impudence to Address the English that no motions about the Christian Religion might ever he made unto them and Mr. Eliot sometimes in the Wilderness without the Company or Assistence of any other Englishman has been treated in a very Threatening and Barbarous manner by some of