word of Faith so long as Infidelity remains With what Confidence what Conscience do we not offer Christ to them that have him not Do we detain the Word of God in Unrighteousness Bernard lib. 3. cap. 1. de Consid Another Motive offers it self from the Coming of our dear LORD which if real Christians we do desire but if intelligent ones will not expect because we cannot obtain till the Indians be Gospellized Mat. 24.14 And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in All the World for a witness unto All Nations and then shall the End come I need not again rescue this Text to the sence that favours the Indians Gospelling but rather imploy it in this Service Christians Would you not gladly have Christ come Do you not long for such a Day of his Presence as will never be obscured by a Night of Absence or Withdrawing Do you not look out sharp for Him to end the Violences and Abuses of the sons of Wickedness To dispatch this Vain and Vexatious world What say you Do you so love Christ as to say with the Bride by the same Spirit Come Lord Jesus Come quickly Are you in good earnest that hear this Desire then Pray and Labour that the Gospel may be preached in all the World in this Indian End of it For till then Christ himself tells you He will not He cannot come The Door is as it were shut against Him How do you desire Him to come in and yet ly drowsing and turning on your Bed as a Door upon the hinge You are trying near hand how you can shift for your Selves and so in effect shift off CHRIST who is all this while kept without door For Love or Shame Get Up and Open the Door 2 Peter 3.12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God Sit not then still but as we use to do with desirable and welcom Guests go out to meet Him and bring Him in What is done or prepared by Papists among Indians is not to be despised but improved by Protestants There may be some sincere Labourers and Converts among them For Urbanus Calveto tells me of a Spanish Bishop of Mexico converted to the Truth I cannot but think well of Betanzus of Guatemala Bruno p. 174 256 257. Nor may I deem otherwise of Did. Lopez His Letter hath a Christian savour in it Yea pag. 3 Gage confesseth that he had known some of sober Conversation that had listed themselves for the Indian Missions And Acosta saith there are Men of God they are scarce indeed But I may not pass by Joseph Acosta himself whom I am inclined to judge a serious Man for the Conversion of the Indians In this Work he spent 17. Years and when he departed from them he was followed with Tears and Cries I cannot but esteem him for his pressing and maintaining so heartily the Preaching of Christ to be the principal Thing And he accounts it Ridiculous for the Indians to say them Prayers they understand not a word of He makes Explicit Faith necessary and saith it is not enough for vulgar people to profess that they hold what the Church believes He saith that Prayer is most needfull in this Business because it is all of God and his Grace and not of Merits â—06 Pareus Nat. 23.3 Moreover it was said by Hilary and Jerom that the hearts of the Hearers may be more holy than the lips of the Priests By means of the Spaniard the Indians have a School in every Town for Reading and Writing and Officers of their own to do Justice except in matters of Life Gage 146. I conceive Hope and Joy when I read what catachetical Doctrine was by a Synod at Lima appointed to be taught an Indian that would become a Christian He must believe in One God Acosta 467. Father Son and Holy Ghost and that this God is Maker of All and giveth eternal Glory to the good and Torment to the Wicked None is freed from Evil but by Jesus Christ made Man and suffering for Man and that He is our LORD and Redeemer and Only Hope and Reigneth in Heaven In Baptisine a man is made professedly his Servant If an Indian believe these Things and Repent of his past life and now will live according to the Command of God he may be accepted for a Christian Let Protestants now for shame arise and shew that they have some breathings of a true Apostolical Spirit in them I conclude with that of the Prophet Drop down ye Heavens from above and let the Skies pour down Righteousness Isa 45.8 The 189th Page shews the Nobility of Virginia's Original 1607. 1610. Most of the Adventurers were of such Quality as not to be likely to design their own Profit In their 53d Order it is Appointed that they shall according to the first Institution and Profession of this Company Advise and devise to the utmost of their Power the best Means for reclaiming the barbarous Natives and bringing them to the true Worship of God Civility of Life and Virtue I knew one who under the name of dust and ashes gave 500 l. in Gold for the breeding of Indian Children in true Religion Fair. Barber and then in Trades that they might live honestly And a zealous Minister made a considerable Collection in the East-India Fleet Vatr Cap. and. for the same End Mr. Nicolas Farrar gave 300 l. towards a College to be paid when Ten Indian Children should be placed in it and in the mean time 24 l. per annum to three discreet godly Men in the Colony which should honestly bring up three Indian Children in Christian Religion and some good Course to live by And the Company of Virginia did yearly appoint a Committee to take into their care the matter of the College to be erected in Virginia for the Conversion of Infidels To these Offerers we may well add those that offered themselves Mr. Glover that wanted no Employ yet would go with Sir Thomas Dale When also went Mr. Alexander Whitaker Son to that famous Professor in Cambridge being well settled in England on a Living and Means of his own yet had his heart stirred up to preach the Gospel in Virginia so that no disswasion nor discouragement could withdraw him from the Voyage The 10th Chapter p. 220. argueth for the planting of Colonies truly Christian in America for the Vindication of the Honor of God and Christian Religion horribly and unmatchably scandalized by the barbarous Cruelties of the Spaniards Yeel 2.3 The Land was as the Garden of Eden or Paradise before them and behind them a desolate Wilderness They have fullfilled and surpassed the Mischievousness of old Babylon Isa 14.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regionem Viventium Parker â— 2. p. 15 Psal 24.1 50.12 in making the World the Habitable or Fertile World as Gataker there as a Wilderness and destroying the Cities thereof Now the Good Lord by his
Phaenomena quaedam APOCALYPTICA Ad Aspectum NOVI ORBIS configurata Or some few Lines towards a description of the New HEAVEN As It makes to those who stand upon the NEW EARTH By Samuel Sewall sometime Fellow of Harvard Colledge at Cambridge in New-England Psalm 45.10 Forget also thy own people and thy fathers house Isai 11 14. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistins toward the west Act. 1.6 8 Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ye shall be witnesses unto me unto the uttermost parts of the earth hasta lo ultimo de la tierra Spanish Bible Luke 15 24 For this My Son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found V 32. For this thy Brother c. Ille non deerit Promissis restituet Regnum Israeli sed suo modo loco ac tempore Bullinger Nequis ista a me dicta aut adducta accipiat quasi contendendi aut adversandi studio ac non discendi potius ac conferendi gratia Fox Med. Apoc. p. 371. ad Phialam Sextam MASSACHVSET BOSTON Printed by Bartholomew Green and John Allen And are to be sold by Richard Wilkins 1697. TO THE HONORABLE Sir WILLIAM ASHVRST Knight GOVERNOUR and the COMPANY For the Propagation of the GOSPEL to the Indians in New-England and places adjacent in AMERICA THE Commendation of Erasmus in his Book entituled Ecclesiastes doth very justly belong to the English Nation upon account of their effectual Desires that the Americans might be gospelliz'd Pulcherrimum Deoque gratissimum erat dare potius quam accipere ijs quos stude mus Christo lucrifacere It was a most beautifull Thing Richard Ed in his Epist to P Martyâ— Decads of â—â— Ocean and most acceptable unto God rather to give to them than to receive from them whom we endeavour to gain for Christ. And yet their Praises are to be sung in a higher Note For I can't but think that either England or New-England or both Together is best is the only Bride Maid mentioned by Name in David's prophetical Epithalamium to assist at the Great Wedding now shortly to be made And for ought I know this Noble Gift Administred by your Hands may be partly intended Angels Incognito have sometimes made themselves guests to Men designing thereby to surprise them with a Requital of their Love to Strangers In like manner the English Nation in shewing Kindness to the Aboriginal Natives of America may possibly shew Kindness to Israelites unawares In the Year 1649. Mr. Downam gave his Conjecture to that purpose in his Appendix to New-English Letters then printed And Mr. Thorowgood was so far satisfied in his Opinion about it that he published a Treatise in the Year 1650. entituled Jews in America And it should seem many judicious Divines have been much of the same mind Mr. Eliot in his first Attempts to make them Christian was much concernd to find out some Promise in the Scriptures relating to them upon which he might ground his Faith and Hope in his incessant Labours for them But afterward he concluded that the Thirty seventh chapter of Ezekiel was written principally for their sake as also many other Scriptures In this Perswasion that worthy Person both liv'd and dy'd On the other hand if America be laid out as a Rendezvous for Gog and Magog this must needs tend to supersede all Desire and Endeavour for their Recovery But better Things are hoped concerning them even such as will issue in their Salvation when the fullness of Time is come In stead of being branded for Slaves with hot Irons in the Face nzo p. 11 â— and arms and driven by scores in mortal Chains they shall wear the Name of God in their foreheads and they shall be delivered into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God The Indians upon various Occasions do much affect to be called by a new Name which is given them by the Approbation of their Elders Persons of note among them that they may wash off their Mourning and be clean and that they may have a convenient Opportunity for publishing their New Name sometimes call for a solemn Dance Now tho their Miseries be very inveterate yet GOD can speedily and easily give them a New Name and in a moment change the Scene Asia Africa and Europe have each of them had a glorious Gospel Day None therefore will be grieved at any ones pleading that America may be made a Coparcener with her Sisters in the Free and Soveraign Grace of God God many times sets one thing against another and we may hope that Vnparallel'd Severity will be succeeded by Super abundant BENIGNITY And when the Messiah shall have gathered his Sheep belonging to this his American Fold His Churches Musick being them compleat in the Harmony of Four Parts The whole Universe shall ring again with seraphick Acclamations ONE FLOCK ONE SHEPHERD That your Honour and the Honourable Company and all concerned with you may be prospered by God in bringing forward this happy Match is the constant Desire and Prayer of Boston N. E. April 16th 1697. YOVR HONOVRS most humble Servant S. SEWALL TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM STOUGHTON Esq Lieut. Governour AND COMMANDER in Chief in and over His Majesties Province of the Massachusets Bay in New England WHEN I look upon the Longing Desire Non nos a tent siliqucorum doci nae daemon rum Ang. Psal 138. 1589 15 Psal 47.4 and Parental Pity that was raised in Divines and Christians of all ranks both in England and here upon the very first Appearance of the American Predigal his coming to himself and being disposed to return unto his Father I cannot chuse but judge it to be very like to if not the very same that is spoken of Luke 15.20 But when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had Compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him Venienti ocrit non verbe uno to squal deform amplectits Calvin p For as all physical Actions are of a Divine Original so the Actions of good and holy Men are in a peculiar manner ascribed to God A Relation entituled The DAY-BREAKING if not the SUN RISING of the GOSPEL with the INDIANS in New-England which was printed at London 1647. together with the following printed Relations do give a very pleasant Prospect of this notable Transaction from October 28. 1646. unto July 5. 1659. inclusively Bullinger Apoc. p. 2â— Ipse solus â— diceretur Aphricant Europaeus Asiatious Columbiun Christus â— tum hoc D ma hodic si vendicat The sorrowfull Decay and Languishing of the Work in many places since that time and the little Faith that is to be found in exercise concerning it are so far from being a ground of Discouragement that it gives us cause to expect that the set Time draweth very near for our blessed Lord Jesus Christ to be Recognised and Crowned KING of Kings LORD of
Name of thy welbeloved Son our Lord. Having prayed thus he turned himself towards Villagagnon and asked him for what he was to dye For signing an heretical and scandalous Confession said Villagagnon When he asked upon what point he was declared an heretick Villagagnon told him it was no time to dispute but to look to his Conscience and bid the Executioner make haste Bourdon seeing that Divine and humane Laws were as it were buried being very resolute he submitted himself to the Executioner and calling for the Help and Favour of God he dyed in the Lord. This Tragoedy was ended about ten in the morning After which Villagagnon exhorted the people to avoid the Sect of the Lutherans with which he himself was once infected to his great grief He threatened death to the obstinat saying that every one ought to observe what their fathers religiously taught them This day he commanded plenty of Provisions to be given to the Artificers and Labourers in token of Rejoicing He had written to some Courtiers that if they would not blame him for carrying Preaching into Brasil what great matters he would do against the Ministers promising to silence them French put to be sword by â—e Portugâ—ls â—eylyn Cosmog â—â—g 1080. After his great Cruelty his Affairs went every day to wreck Returning to France he fell into Disgrace there at last a secret fire consumed him by degrees and he dyed miserably without repenting of his Apostasie French Martyrol lib. 7. fol. 400 to 404. and 414 to 418. Also Fox his Table of French Martyrs Vol. 2. p. 129. In this history we are rather to admire the Grace of God helping three of this Company to go so far than that the fourth went no further Especially considering how destitute they were of Books and of Friends that durst speak a word on their behalf and above all of their godly learned Ministers who might counsel them and comfort them in their Agonies whenas they had to do with a hasty furious Tyrant more like a Leopard than a Lord. But to return to Revel 6.9 There seems to be a Distribution of Martyrs into two Classes The first were slain because they were Christians the latter were slain because they were Not Papists For the WORD of God i. e. For the sake of Christ They were for JESUS and not for Jupiter Testimony is as it were a Term of Art pointing to the Sack cloth Witnesses mentioned Chap. 11. dwell upon the Earth This Phrase seems to be a stated Periphrasis for Antichristians who impudently pretend to the Monopoly of all that is Ecclesiastical whereas it is here said that they themselves are Extra Ecclesiam And white Robes were given unto every one of them The very material garments in which they commonly suffered were of that Colour And these words seem to be meant of the Justice done to the Memory of these slain Martyrs by the True and Universal Histories that were written of Them about this time whereby they were vindicated from the Reproaches of their beastly Pursuers and had their Proper Character given them Their filthy garments and Crowns painted with Devils were taken off from them and Fair Mitres were set upon their Heads and they were clothed with change of Raiment So much as might be a particular Account was given of each ones Birth Education Employment and Causes of Suffering Illyricus his Catalogus Testium Veritatis was printed at Basil 1556. About the same time John Crispin Beza's intimat friend writ the French Martyrology at Geneva which has been very much enlarged a compleat and excellent Composure And t is remarkable that the words of Rev. 6.9 10. are set before us in the Title-page John Fox began his universal History of Martyrs at Basil during his exile there and perfected it at London after his return At first he writ in Latine and sent the Copy to Basil to be printed where the Work is in great Estimation as also in divers other foreign Nations Legatur Martyrologium Joh. Foxi saith judicious Pareus in his learned Commentary upon Rev. 16.6 Col. 821. His more compleat English Edition was finished about the Year 1570. Thus Christ commanded the Keepers of his Great Ward Robe to clothe his Martyrs with rich and costly white Robes of Latine English and French Contexture Mr. Fox affirms that by the Iniquity of Time this Work could not be contrived in any Kings Reign since the Conquest before the Halcyon days of Queen Elisabeth One Reason why this important Work could best be performed then may be gathered from the Triumph which this Learned Unwearied Author gives the Art of Printing invented about the Year 1450. Of which 1450. take this specimen By this Printing as by the Gift of Tongues and as by the singular Organ of the Holy Ghost the Doctrine of the Gospel soundeth to all Nations and Countries under Heaven and what God revealeth to one man is dispersed to many and what is known in one Nation is opened to all Vol. 1. P. 863. The Usefulness of Martyrologies He expresseth thus Et tamen voluit hoc enodo tua declarare Majestas nobisque innotescere hominibus quam honorificum fit pro tui nominis gloria fortiter dimicantes occumbere quorum Tu vitam a cinere ac rogo sic vindicas sic causam tueris sic dignitatem illustras ut candem cum gloriae foenore abs Te recipiant clariorem quam si nunquam alioqui perdidissent The best word the Lord Cardinal and Bishops could afford Mr. George Wisehart was False Heretick Runnagate Traitor and Thief But when this Cause is brought before Mr. Fox by an Appeal He by a very just and impartial Sentence assures us that he was a most charitable Gentleman a very good Scholar a vertuous Traveller an orthodox holy man of God and blessed Martyr of Jesus Vol. 2. p. 521. Very notable is the Restauration of the Memory of Martin Bucer Paulus Phagius by Matthew Parker Edmund Grindal Gualter Haddon and others the Commissioners of Queen Elisabeth Cardinal Poole's commissioners had been such Unrighteous and Cruel Exactors as to make the Bones of those Worthies to pay for their Orthodoxy and fruitfull Diligence in the Famous University of Cambridge It was expressly mentioned in their commission ad corum qui in baeresi decesserint memoriam damnandum And part of their sentence was Eorum Memoriam condemnandum esse condemnamus See the History at large Vol. 3. P. 639. of the Ninth Edition In this manner by these printed Martyrologies adorned with lively Cutts the blessed Martyrs are all under one both gloriously Apparelled and also placed in the open View of the whole World of Christians whom John personates And it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season Now what the Lord will do with this wicked World See Rogers's Nanman â— 601 602. or what Rest He will give to his Church after these long Sorrows He is our Father in Heaven
His Will be done in Earth as seemeth best to his divine Majesty In the mean time let us for our parts WAIT upon his Graces Leisure and glorifie his holy Name and edifie one another with all Humility John Fox his Protestation Vol. 1. I was now about to have passed on to the Sixth Vial but am interrupted by some of my Friends who suppose that not one of the Vials is yet poured out To which Objection I have nothing more satisfactory to my self to say than what I writ in answer to Mr. Benjamin Eliot April 7. 1685. Some object that Revel 11.19 Rev. 15.5 intend the same Thing and the Witnesses are not yet risen and therefore there is no Vial as yet poured out Vide Med. lib. 3. cap. 6. P. 735. Answ See Med. Synchron 5. Sect 3 P. 534. The word Temple in both places signifies the Reformed Church fashioned according to the Commandment of Christ and his Apostles and separated from that sorry earthy heaven conformable to the inventive fancys of men But these two Scriptures have respect to very different Times and Conditions of this Church The Opening mentioned Rev. 15.5 precedes that mentioned Rev. 11.19 some hundreds of Years The Temple Rev. 15.5 is the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony Tabernacle intimating its ambulatory and movable condition taken down in one place and set up in another according to the holy wise and soveraign Pleasure and Providence of God And this may be spoken in contradissinction to the Temple Rev. 11.19 wherein God will settle his Abode Psal 46.4 Testimony The Sack-cloth Witnesses are the constituent parts of this Temple which for the first Ages of it was more closely shut and less visible and began now to be more open when the Commissioners of the Sack-cloth Testimony stood forth in order to the execution of their Charge On the other hand the Church Revel 11.19 is called the Temple of GOD intimating that God had a more visible avowed and immediat Hand in building this Temple As the New-Jerusalem is said to come down from God out of Heaven It may also imply the Excellency and Glory of this Church above the former Ostendit aper tum SPONS Patrocinium Brightmaâ— Cantic 6.2 fol. 105. And therefore God will avowedly and plainly Own this Church to be His by his Wonder-working Providence in the face of the whole World Whereas God did but privatly and partially favour the other And that many times Not to save them from death The Witnesses must be slain but to strengthen them and inable them to dye Triumphing As it fared with Christ their Head In this Divine Temple the Ark of the Covenant is Seen There 's another difference Mr. Mede conjectures it may be meant of Christ's Personal Appearance See lib. 5. cap. 11. P. 1114. However then it will satisfactorily and plainly appear to the Saints that God in Christ is a God Keeping Covenant a God of Truth Fullfilling every good Word He hath spoken concerning his Chosen and concerning his Enemies Then and not till then will it fully appear that God is a faithfull Keeper of that Covenant recorded Jerem. 31.31 and Heb. 8.8 The Israelites had indeed served Baal and not Jehovah Therefore it was fit that God should carry it towards them as Baal did to his prophets 1 Kings 18.26 29. But now God will of his bounteous Grace provide that there shall be no more National permanent Apostasie For the Confirmation of what has been said take a few words of my ever honoured Master the late Reverend Learned and Holy Mr. Thomas Parker in a Manuscript of his upon Isai 60. Nova Hierosolyma quae bic describitur est ipsa Philadelphiensis Ecclesia quoad antitypum inchoata a temporibus Wiâ—lefi ante cujus pedes adorabunt omnes ipsius inimici in compensationem Patientiae qua sustinuerat Opprobrium antegressum tempora Wiclesi et qua sustinuerat Opprobrium Persecutiones passim crumpentes in primordijs Regni Christi post Wiclephum restituti Haec etjam est ipsa Nova Hierosolyma quae describitar Apoc. 21. Comprehendit autem statum imperfectiorem inchoatum a temporibus Wiclefi et statum perfectiorem post finem annorum Antichristi et etjam Perfectum tandem introducendum in Gloria Caelesti Et paulo post Violentia in ea jam ex parte cessavit saltem imperfectius et Vicibus alternis sed tandeno perfecte cessabit c. Sol igitur illius nunquam occumbet quoniam bostes Lucem ejus nunquam extinguent licet ad tres dies dimidium Voti sui compotes futuri videantur Upon these grounds the forementioned Objection ceaseth to be cogent with me And I am so far from thinking that no Vial is yet poured forth that I am apt to conclude that no less than Five ANGELS have already poured out their Vials So many guesses have been made about the Subject of the Fourth Vial that if I do enter a claim for the Sun of Persecution I shall no more incur the danger of being extravagant than some that have gone before me Certainly that is the Sun that consolidates and cherishes the Antichristian State As for the Fifth Vial Bullinger Brightman Forbes Pareus Mede and Company Interpreters of the Revelation have poured that to purpose As also Dr. Whitaker The Author of the History of the Council of Trent Chamier Robert Parker Dr. Ames Dr. Owen cum multis Alijs And seeing the Tower of Babel hath no other foundation than the Uncertain Vanity of the Apostle Peter's having been at Rome Uldaricus Velenus did the Babylonians a singular displeasure in writing a Treatise to prove that He was never there Bellarmin de Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 1. The truth is except their Index expurgatorius be enlarged with many Clauses of Scripture the Probability lies on Velenus his side Ten to One. And Bellarmin's arguing from Peter's Tomb is unsound For it was customary at Rome to make Funeral Solemnitys and erect Monuments for persons dying abroad Alcyone resolved to pay that Respect to her husband Ceyx who was lost at Sea Ovid Metamor lib. 11. lib. 12. princip Si non Urna tamen junget nos Littera si non Ossibus Ossa meis at Nomen Nomine tangam How easy was it for the modern Romans to make use of this Custom when it might serve their turn Moreover if this Vial partly intends Impressions to be made upon the City of Rome it self yet we need not wait longer for them There was a jostling between Charles the Emperour and Clement the Bishop The Emperours Army in their march towards Naples wanting both Pay and Provisions Charles Duke of Bourbon was fain to calm them by promising the Liberty of furnishing themselves at Rome Upon the fifth of May 1527 They incamped in a meadow near the City From thence He sent a Trumpet to the Pope to demand passage for his Army through the City in his way to Naples The next morning May 6. at