N00107:38
Indian dialogues, for their instruction in that great service of Christ, in calling home…Indian dialogues, for their instruction in that great sevice of Christ, in calling home…
Indian dialogues, for their instruction in that great service of Christ, in calling home their country-men to the knowledge of God, and of themselves, and of Jesus Christ. : [Seven lines from Malachi]Indian dialogues, for their instruction in that great sevice of Christ, in calling home their country-men to the knowledge of God, and of themselves, and of Iesus Christ. : [Seven lines from Malachi]
Cambridge: printed by Marmaduke Johnson, 1671
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Kinswom. We have all the delights that the flesh and blood of man can devise and delight in, and we taste and feel the delights of them, and would you make us believe that you have found out new joys and delights, in comparison of which all our delights do stink like dung; would you make us believe that we have neither eyes to see, nor ears to he•r, nor mouths to taste? Ha, ha he! I appeal to the sense and sight and feeling of the Company present, whether this be so.
Kinswom. We have all the delights that the flesh and blood of man can devise and delight in, and we taste and feel the delights of them, and would you make us believe that you have found out new joyes and delights, in comparison of which all our delights do stink like dung; would you make us believe that we have neither eyes to see, nor ears to he•r, nor mouthes to taste? Ha, ha he! I appeal to the sense and sight and feeling of the Company present, whether this be so.
A••. You say very true. Ha, ha▪ he!
Pium. Hearken to me, my friends, and see if I do not give a clear answer unto this seeming difficulty. Your dogs take as much delight in these Meetings, and the same kinds of delight as you ⟨p. 7⟩do; they delight in each others company; they provoke each other to lust, and enjoy the pleasures of lust as you do; they eat and play and sleep as you do: what joys have you more then d•gs have? to delight the body of flesh and blood. But all mankind have an higher and better part then the body, we have a Soul, and that Soul shall never die: Our Soul is to converse with God, and to converse in such things as do concern God, and Heaven, and an eternal estate, either in happiness with God, if we walk with him and serve him in this life, or in misery and torment with the Devil, if we serve him in this life. The service of God doth const in Virtue, and Wisdom, and delights of the Soul, which will reach to Heaven, and abide for ever. But the service of the Devil is in committing sins of the flesh, which defile both body and soul, and reach to Hell, and will turn all to fire and flame to torment your souls and bodies to all eternity. Now consider, all your pleasures and delights are such as defile you with sin, and will turn to flame, to burn and torment you; they provoke God to wrath, who hath created the Prison of Hell to torment you, and the more you have took pleasure in sin, the greater are your offences against God, and the greater shall be your torments. But we that pray to God repent of our old sins, and by faith in Christ we seek for, and find a pardon of what is past, and grace and strength to reform for time to come. So that our joys are Soul-joys in godliness, and virtue, and hope of glory in another world when we die. Your joys are bodily fleshly, such as Dogs have, and will all turn to flames in Hell to torment you.