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 â—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 oâ—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 Natootomâ—threackâ—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 iâ— 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 Dâ—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 Mâ—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 iâ— 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
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 tâ— Heaven If thou art a Believer thou art no stranger to H â—ven while thou livest and when â—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 sâ—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 Oâ—igen Quemadmodum doeuit sic viâ—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 Hâ—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 Thaâ— our whole Religion fares according to our Sabbaths that poor Sabbaths make poor Châ—istianâ— 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 Sabbaâ—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 â—hereunto he then allow'd in himself no Actions but those of a Raâ—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 â—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 â—estow lively Rebukes upon it And hence alâ—o unto the general Engagements of a Covenant â—ith God which 't was his Desire to bring the â—ndians into he added a particular Article wherein they bind themselves mehquontamunat â—abbath pahketeaunat tohsohke pomantamog i. e. â—o Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy as â—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 sâ—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 Piouâ— Mâ—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 iâ— your Apprehension I never thought and 〈◊〉 hope I have not said for I cannot find it that the Continuance of the Sabbath is to bâ— commensurate unto the natural strength of man but only that it is an Allowable mean of meâ— Continuance in Sabbath Duties which I suâ—pose you will not deny lest you should caâ— 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 Obsâ—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 Vindicaâ—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 anâ— 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 Bâ—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
with which that Institution has been defiled by the Roman Catholicks Indeed he thought with Learned Parker That the Cross is the greatest Devil among the Idols of Rome He could not Kneel before the Eucharist inasmuch as it was a usage introduced about the thirteenth Century meerly to suit and serve the Idolatry of the Transubstantiation He conceived that no protestation of ours could now free this gesture from the just interpretation of Idolatry because of the antecedent interpretation put upon it by those that first contrived it enjoyned it and have hitherto maintained it and it affrighted him to read what the Popish Writers assert about Kneeling if the Sacramental Bread remain Bread after the Consecration He could not understand a Bishop that should not be ejusdem Jurisdictionis and much less one that should not be ejusdem Ordinis with a Presbyter and when he saw the Clergy of a whole Nation at length of late so much Annihilate themselves as to Subscribe unto Canons which took away from every Parish-Minister all Obligation to teach or Authority to rule in the Church of God he soon said upon it Vnto their Assembly mine Honour be not thou Vnited It afflicted him to see these and more such as these things continued in the Church of England by the Artifice of certain persons who were loth to have the Refomation carried on unto those further Degrees which the most eminent of the first Reformers had in their Holy Designs and it fill'd him with a just Horrour and sorrow to see above twenty Hundred faithful Ministers in one Black Day turned out of their employments and several Thousands of Christians and Families in a little while Ruined because they could not swallow down such unaccountable superstitions We see what was not his opinion but let us hear what it was It was his as well as his master the great Ramus â—s principle that in the Reformatiâ—e of Churches to be now endeavoured things ought to be Reduced unto the Order wherein we find them at tâ—eir Primitive Original Apostolical Institution And in pursuance of this principle he Justly Espoused that way of Church-Government which we call the Congregational he was fully perswaded that the Church-state which our Lord Christ hath instituted in the New Testament is In a Congregation or Society of Professed Believers Agreeing and Assembling together among themselves with Officers of Divine Appointment for the Celebration of Evangelical Ordinances and their own mutual Edification For he saw it must be a cruel hardship used upon the Scriptures to make them so much as Lisp the least intimation of any other Church-state prescrib d unto us and he could assert That no Approved Writers for the space of two hundred years after Christ make any mention of any other Organical Vâ—sible Professing Church but that onely which is Congregational He look'd upon the Congregational way as a Largess of Divine Bounty bestow'd by the Lord Jesus on his people that follow'd him into this Wilderness with a peculiar zeal for Communion with him in his pure Worship here He perceived in it a sweet sort of Temperament between Rigid Presbyterianism and Levelling Brownism So that on the one side the Liberties of the people are not oppressed and overlaid on the other side the Authority of the Elders is not rendred insignificant but a dâ—ie Ballance is herein kept upon them both And hence he closed with our platform of Church-Discipline as being the nearest of what he had yet seen to the pattern in the Mount He could not comprehend that this Church-state can arise from any other Formal cause But the Consent Concâ—rrence Confederation of those concerned in it he looked upon a Relation unto a Church as not a Natural or a Violent but a Voluntary thing and so that it is to be entred no otherwise than by an Holy Covenant or as the Scripture speaks by giving our selves first unto the Loâ—d and then one unto another He could not think that Baptism alone was to be accounted the cause but rather the effect of Church-member-ship inasmuch as upon the dissolution of the Church to which a man belongs his Baptism would not become a Nullity nor that meer â— rof ssum would render men members of this or that Church for then it would be impossible to cut off a corrupt member from that Body Politic Nor that meer Co-habitation would make Church-members for then the vilest infidels would be actually incorporated with us And a Covenant was all that he now saw remaining in the Inventory But for the Subjects to be admitted by Churches unto all the priviledges of this Fellowship with them he thought they ought to be such as a trying Charity or a charitable Tryal should pronounce Regenerate He found the first Churches of the Gospel mentioned in the Scripture to be Churches of Saints and that the Apostles writing to them still acknowledge them to be Holy Brethren and such as were made meet for to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light and that a main end of Church-fellowship is to represent unto the world the Qualifications of those that shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord and Stand in his Holy Place forever He would therefore have Bona Mens and Purum pectus and Vita Innocens required as Lactantius tells us they were in his Dayes of all Communicants at the Table of the Lord and with Holy Chrysostom he would sooner have given his Heart-blood than the Cup of the Lord unto such as had not the hopeful Marks of our Lord's Disciples on them The Churches of New-England still retain a Custom which the great Justin Martyr in the second Century assures us to have been in the Primitive Churches of his Time namely To Examine those they Receive not only about their perswasion but also whether they have attained unto a work of Grace upon their Souls In the prosecution hereof besides the Enquiries of the Elders into the Knowledge and Belief and Conversation of them that offer themselves unto Church-fellowship it is expected tho' I hope not with any severity of imposition that in the Addresses which theâ— make to the Churches they give some written if not oral Account of what impressions the Regenerating Word of God has had upon their Souls This was a Custum which this holy man had a marvellous esteem and value for and I have taken from his Mouth such as these Expressions very publickly delivered thereabouts It is matter said he of great Thankfulness that we have Christ Confessed in our Churches by such as we Receive to full Communion there They open the works of Christ in their Hearts and the Relation thereof is an eminent Confession of our Lord experienced Saints can gather more than a little from it It is indeed an Ordinance of wonderful benefit the Lord planted many Vineyards in the first Settlement of this Countrey and there were ma Noble Vines in them it was their Heavenly-mindedness which dispos'd them
Evangelist or one separated for the employment of Preaching the Gospel in such places where no Churches have hitherto been gathered be not an Office that should be continued in our days but this I know that our Eliot very notably did the Service and Business of such an Officer ¶ The Natives of the Countrey now Possessed by the New-Englanders had been forlorn and wretched Heathen ever since their first herding here and tho we know not When or How those Indians first became Inhabitants of this mighty Continent yet we may guess that probâ—bly the Divel decoy'd those miserable Salvages hither in hopes that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus would never come here to destroy or disturb his Absolute-Empire over them But our Eliot was in such ill terms with the Divel as to alarm him with sounding the Silver-Trumpâ—ts of Heaven in his Territories and make some Noble and Zealous Attempts towards outing him of his Ancient possessions here Just before the first Arrival of the English in these parts a prodigious Mortality had swept away vast Numbers of the poor Indians and those Pagans who being told by a Shipwrack'd Frenchman which dy'd in their hands That God would shortly extirpate them and introduce a more civil and worthy people into their place blasphemously reply'd That God could not kill them were quickly kill'd with such a raging and wasting Peâ—tilence as left the very earth covered with their Carcases Nevertheless there were I think Twenty several Nations if I may call them so of Indians upon that spot of ground which fell under the Influence of our Three Vniâ—â—d Colonies and our Eliot was willing to rescue as many of them as he could from that old usurping Land-Lord of America who is by the wrath of God the Prince of this world I cannot find that any besides the Holy Spirit of God first moved him to the blessed Work of Evangelizing these perishing Indians 't was that Holy Spirit which laid before his mind the Idaea of that which is now on the Seal of the Massachuset-Colony A poor Indian having a Label going from his mouth with a COME OVER AND HELP US It was the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ which enkindled in him a Pitty for the dark dying damning souls of these Natives whom the god of this world had blinded through all the By past Ages He was none of those that make The Salvation of the Heathen an Article of their Creed bâ—t setting aside the unrevealed and extraordinary Steps which the Holy One of Israel may take out of His usual Pathes he thought men to be lost if our Gospel be hidden from them and he was of the same Opinion with one of the Ancients who said Some have endeavoured to prove Plato a Christian till they prove themselves little better than Heathen It is indeed a principle in the Turkish Alcoran That Let a man's Religiâ—n be what it will he shall be saved if he conscientiously live up to the Rules of it but our Eliot was no Mahometan He could most heartily subscribe to that passage in the Articles of the Ch. of Engâ— They are to be held accursed who presume to say that every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law â—nd Light of Nature For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us Only the Name of Jesus Christ whereby men must be Saved And it astonished him to see many dissembling Subscribers of those Articles while they have grown up to such a Phrensy as to deny peremptorily all Church-state and all Salvation to all that are not under Diocesan Bishops yet at the same time to grant that the Heathen might be saved without the Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ No it very powerfully moved his holy Bowels to hear the Thunderclapps of that Imprecation over the heads of our Naked Indians Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and thought he What shall I do to rescue these Heathen from that all-devouring Fury But when this Charitable pitty had once begun to flame there was a concurrence of many things to cast Oyl into it All the good men in the Country were glad of his Engagement in such an undertaking the Ministers especially encouraged him and those in the Neighbourhood kindly supply'd his place and perform'd his work in part for him at Roxbury â—hile he was Abroad Labouring among them that were Without Hereunto he was further â—wakened by those expressions in the Royal Charter in the assurance and protection whereof this Wilderness was first peopled namely To win and incite the Natives of that Country to the knowledge and Obedience of the only true God and Saviour of Mankind and the Christian Faith in our Royal Intention and the Adventurers free profession is the principal end of the Plantation And the remarkable zeal of the Romish Missionaries compassing Sea and Land that they might make Proselytes made his devout Soul think of it with a further Disdain that we should come any whit behind in our care to Evangelize the Indians whom we dwelt among Lastly when he had well begun this Evangelical Business the good God in an answer to his Prayers mercifully stirred up a liberal Contribution among the godly people in England for the promoting of 〈◊〉 by means whereof a considerable Estate and Income was at length entrusted in the hands of an Honourable Corporation by whom 't is to this Day very carefully employ'd in the Christian Service which it was designed for And then in short inasmuch as our Lord Jesus had bestow'd on us our Eliot was gratefully and generously desirous to obtain for him The Heathen for an Inheritance and the utmost parts of the Earth for a Possession The exemplary Charity of this excellent person in this important Affair will not be seen in its due Lustre unless we make some Reflections upon several circumstances which he behold these forlorn Indians in Know then that these doleful Creatures are the veriest Ruines of Mankind vvhich are to be found any vvhere upon the face of the Earth No such Estates are to be expected among them as have been the Bâ—â—â—s which the pretended Converters in other Countries haâ—e snapped at One might see among them what an hard master the Devil is to the most devoted of his Vassals These abject Creatures live in a Country full of Mines we have already made entrance upon out Iron and in the very surface of the ground among us there lies Coper enough to supplâ— all this world besides other Mines hereafter to be exposed but our shiftless Indians were never Owners of so much as a Knife till we come among them their name for an English man was a Knife man Stone was instead of Metal for their tools and for their Coins they have only little Beads with Holes in them to string them upon a bracelet whereof some are white and of these there go six for a
our Eliot's Disciples if it were not soâ— But how do they Pray We are told it is Without a Form bâ—cause from the Hearts which is as I remember â—ertullians Expression concerning the the prayers in the Assemblies of the Primitive Christians namely â—â—â—e â—honiâ—ore quia de pectore It is evident that the Primitive Christians had no stated Liturgies among them that no Forms of Prayers were in their time imposed upon the Ministers of the Gospel that eâ—en about the platform of prayer given us by our Lord it was the opinion of Austin himself not-withstanding the Advances made in his Age towards what we count Suâ—eâ—stitious that our Lord therein â—augâ—â— not what Words we should use in prayer but what Things we should pray for And whatever Sâ—â—â—â—â— the profanity of our days has abused that Pâ—â—raâ— and Thing withal Grâ—gâ—ry Nâ—ziaâ—zen in his dayâ— counted it thâ— Honour of his Fatherâ— publicâ—â—raâ—ers That he had them from and made the◠〈◊〉 the Holy Spirit Our Indians accordingly â—nd that if they study the Words of God and their own Sins and Wants and Wâ—es they shall â—â—on come to that Attainment Behold they pray They can pray with much Pertinence and Enlargement and would much wonder at it iâ— they should hear of an English Clergy that should Read their prayers out of a Book when they should pour out their Souls before the God of Heaven Their Preaching has much of Eliot and therefore you may be sure much of Scripture but perhaps more of the Christian than of thâ— Scholar in it I know not how to describe it better than by reciting the Heads of a Sermon â—ttered by an Indian on a Day of Hâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 kept by them at a time when great Râ—iâ—â— â—â—d given much Damage to their Fruits and Fieldâ— it was on this wise A little I shall say according to that little I kâ—oâ— Gen. 8.20 21. And Noah built an Altar unto Jehovah and be took of every clean Beast and of every clea◠〈◊〉 and offered burnt-offerings on the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet savour and the Lord said in his heart I will not again Curse 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—â—nd â—n that Noah Sacrificed he show'd himself Thankful in that Noah worshipped he shew himself Godly In that he offered Clean beasts he show'd that God is an Holy God And all that come to god must be pure and clean Know that we must by Repentance purge our selves which is the work we are to do this Day Noah Sacrificed and so Worshipped This was the manner of old time But what Sacrifices have we now to offer I shall answer by that in Psal 4.5 Offer to God the Sacrifice of Righteousness and put your Trust in the Lord. These are the true Spiritual Sacrifices which God requireth at our hands the Sacrifices of Righteousness that is we must look to our hearts and ways that they be Righteous and then we shall be acceptable to God when we Worship him But if we be unrighteous unholy ungodly we shall not be accepted our Sacrifices will be stark naught Again We are to put our Trust in the Lord. Who else is there for us to trust in We must believe in the Word of God if we doubt of God or doubt of his Word our Sacrifices are little worth but if we trust stedfastly in God our Sacrifices will be good Once more what Sacrifices must we offer My Answer is we must offer such as Abraham offered And what a Sacrifice was that we are told in Gen. 22.12 Now I know that thou fearest me seeing thou hast not with helâ— thy Son thy only Son from me It seems he had but one dearly beloved Son and he offered that Son to God and so God said I know thou fearest me Behold a Sacrifice in Deed and in Truth such an one must we offer Only God requires not us to Sacrifice our Sons but our Sins our dearest Sins God calls us this day to part with all our Sins tho' never so beloved and we must not with-hold any of them from him If we will not part with All the Sacrifice is not right Let us part with such Sins as we love best and it will be a good Sacrifice God smelt a sweet savour in Noahs Sacrifice and so will God receive our Sacrifices when we Worship him aright But how did God manifest his Acceptance of Noahs Offering 't was by promising to Drown the world no more but give us Fruitful Seasons God has chastised us of late as if he would utterly Drown us and he has Drowned and Spoiled and Ruin'd a great deal of our hay and threatens to kill our Cattel 'T is for this that we Fast and Pray this Day Let us then Offer a clean and pure Sacrifice as Noah did so God will smell a favour of Rest and he will with-hold the Rain and Bless us with such Fruitful Seasons as we are desiring of him Thus preached an Indian called Nishâ—kkon above thirty years ago and since that I suppose they have grown a little further into the New-English way of preaching you may have iâ— their sermons a Kuâ—kootonâ—wehteaâ—nk that is a Doctrine Nahtoâ—toâ—wchâ—â—aonk or an Answer a Wiâ—cheaâ—euonk or a Reason with an Ouworeank or an Uâ—â— for the close of all As for Holidays you may take it for granted our Eliot would not perswade his Indians to any Statted ones Even the Christmas-Festival it self he knew to be a stranger unto the Apostolical Times that the exquisite Vossius himself acknowledges 't was not Celebrated in the first or second Century and that there is a Truth in the words of the great Chemnuius Anniversarium Diem Natales Christi celebratum fuisse apud veâ—â—stissimos nunquam legitur He knew that if the Day of our Lords Nativity were to be observed it should not be in December that many Churches for divers Ages kept it not in December but in January that Chrysostom himself about four hundred years after our Saviour excuses the Novelty of the December season for it and confesses it had not been kept above ten years at Constantinople No that it should be rather in September in which Month the Jews kept the Feast that was a Type of our Lords Incarnation and Solomon also â—rought the Ark into the Temple for our Lord waâ— thirty years old when he entred upon his publick Ministry and he continued in it three years and an half Now his Death was in March and it is easy then to calculate when his Birth ought to be He knew that indeed God had hid this Day as he did the body of Moses to prevent Idolatry but that Antichrist had chose this day to accommodate the Pagans in their Licencious and their Debauched Sâ—turnâ—lia and that a Tertullian would not stick to say Shall we Christians who have nothing to do with the Festivals of the Jews which were once of Divine Institution embrace the Saturnalia of the Heathen How do the Gentiles shame us who are more true to their