Tackanash, and made a grave | muft needs give him this teftimo fpeech at his funeral, the fubftance of which was taken in writing by Rev. John Mayhew:Part of it I fhall tranfcribe-it may be grateful to fome ny, after fome years experience of him, that he is a man of a fober fpirit, and good converfation; and as he has, as I hope, received the Lord Jefus in truth; fo I look upon him to be faithful, diligent and conftant in the work of the Lord, for the good of his own foul, and his neighbors with him." To this teftimony of Mr. Mayhew may be added one of Rev. Henry Whitefield, firft minifter of the church of Guilford, Connecticut. Being about 10 days at Martha's Vineyard, he converfed frequently with Hiacoomes; and in a book* which he published after his return to England, he says, "I had fpeech with fome of the Indians, (Mr. Mayhew being my "Here," faid he, "is my deceafed brother. Paul faid, this body is fown in corruption; but it fhall be raised in ftrength: Now it is a pitiful mean body; but then it shall be a glorious body: Yea, however this body fhall be confumed, and be, as if it had never been, as it were turned into nothing; yet the power of God fhall bring it forth again, and raise it up an excellent, and glorious body: At the refurrection it fhall not be as you fee it is now; now every one is diverfely apparelled; but all after a mean fort; but the righteous at the refurrec-interpreter ;) above the reft, I detion shall have all one uniform glory. Thus much I fay as to that." "But I shall now speak a fhort word to the relations of the perfon deceased, especially to his wife and children. If you be defirous to fee your father, feek your father, for your father went before you in every good work; therefore feek your father in every good work, and you fhall find your father again; for God's mercies are exceeding great." This good man ftanding by the grave, as it was filling, was heard to utter thefe words, "This is the laft work, that man can do for him; the next work God himfelf will do." When he fpake of the refurrection, Mr. Mayhew obferves, that he uttered himself with fuch fervency and confidence, as would have become one, who had himself actually seen the dead raised. Rev. Thomas Mayhew, in a letter dated 1650, gives Hiacoomes this worthy character; "I fired to speak with the Indian, who now preaches to them every Lord's day; his name is Hiacoomes: He feemed to be a man of a prompt understanding-of a fober and moderate spirit; and a man well reported of for his converfation, both by English and Indians: With this man I had often fpeech; and I asked him many questions about the Chriftian religion, and about his own eftate before God, to all which he gave me very fatisfactory and Chriftian answers." Such was the character Hiacoomes had in the former part of his life; nor did he ever forfeit, but fupported it in full through a long life; and I do not learn, that his fincerity was ever called in queftion by any. He was of a great age when he made the fpeech above at the funeral of his colleague. Rev. Experience Mayhew obferves, that Light appearing more and more, &c. he lived feveral years after it, and as he thinks, till 1690; but, for fome years before his death was not able to difcourfe publicly to the congregation. This gentleman further fays, "I faw him frequently when I was a youth, and ftill remember the gravity of his countenance, speech and deportment: He feemed always to fpeak with much thought and deliberation. I was prefent, fays this gentleman, when he impofed hands on Japhet, who fucceeded Tackanafh; he prayed and gave the charge to him; which fervices he performed with great folemnity; and as a good judge, who was prefent, obferved, with very pertinent, and fuitable expreffions. In his laft ficknefs he uttered many pious expreffions, and gave good exhortations to all about him; and, as was firmly believed, went into eternal reft. fuch English perfons as took care of the Indians, for their inftruction in those things, in which he apprehended, that his own knowledge was deficient. By fuch means he fo increased in knowledge as to be efteemed inferior to none of his own nation that fucceeded him: And for a preacher, no Indians in those parts were thought to equal him. Nor was he only esteemed a perfon of good knowledge; but he was, in his converfation blamelefs-was looked upon, by all that knew him, to be a very ferious, and pious man-very devout and zealous in prayer, preaching, and adminiftering the facraments of baptifm, and the Lord's fupper. When there was no English paftor upon the island, fome ferious profeffors among the English very cheerfully received the Lord's fupper administered by him; and it is fuppofed none would have fcrupled it, had they understood the Indian language. "Bleffed are the dead, who die in the Lord, from henceforth: yea faith the fpirit, that they may During the time of his miniftry reft from their labors. and their he upheld, and maintained good works do follow them." Christian difcipline in the Church; A brief account of JOHN TACK- fenfible of its importance to reANASH, who was ordained teach- claim offenders-prevent viceer of the firft Indian church on promote circumfpection-keep reMartha's Vineyard, in conjunc-ligion from being evil spoken of tion with Hiacoomes as paftor, in the year 1670. HE was efteemed a perfon of good abilities, and of a very exemplary converfation. His mental powers were esteemed fuperior, not only by the Indians, but by thofe English, who were in any meafure capable of judging of them. He ufed great diligence to increase his knowledge: To this end he not only applied his mind with affiduity to ftudy, and allowed himfelf but a very fmall fhare of time for relaxation; but alfo frequently had recourfe to and to accomplish other weigh ty purposes. In the beginning of his laft ficknefs he had a very grievous conflict with Satan, the great adver fary of mankind: But having obtained the victory over this enemy, his mind was ever after calm, and ferene to the end of his life. His mind being thus quieted, he expreffed a steadfast hope in the mercy of God, through the only Saviour Jefus Chrift-Gave good inftructions and exhortations to his own family, and fuch as came to vifit him-nominated | perceive, by an impartial attenthree perfons to the church, one tion to facred and profane hiflory. of whom he defired might fucceed Moreover, we may have further him in the office, which he was convincing evidence of the truth about to lay down; and one of of the gofpel, if we consider the them accordingly did fo. admirable change which the Holy Spirit appears to have wrought in the hearts and lives of fome, who profefs they have experienced its convicting and converting influ He departed this life, January 22, 1684. A great number of people affembled to pay their refpects to the remains of fuch a pious and useful man. Many appeared to lament his death. His colleague, and Japhet Hannit, in their fpeeches at the grave, difcovered the high fenfe they had of his worth, and the great lofs the natives fuftained by his removal. (To be continued.) FOR THE CONNECTICUT EVAN GELICAL MAGAZINE. A Differtation on the inward fealing, T mankind. To this kind of evi- ences. But, there is another kind of evidence, which may, emphatically, be termed internal; and which is peculiarly adapted to convince and fatisfy true believers, by whom it is experienced, "He who believeth on the Son of God hath the witnefs in himfelf." (1 John v. 10.) This inward Witness is, as I conceive, the fame thing as the inward Sealof which St. Paul fpeaks, "In ing and the Earnest of the Spirit whom" (i. c. in Chrift) "after that ye believed, ye were fealed with that Holy Spirit of promife, which is the earneft of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchafed poffeffion__ unto the praife of his glory." Eph. i. 13, 14. In Chrift their head and Saviour, true believers are fealed, i. e. confirmed in their faith, and affured of their interest in the heavenly inheritance; which confirmation and affurance are wrought in their fouls by the immediate teftimony, or witnefs of the Holy Spirit. This, I conceive, is the true import of the term Sealing, as it is occurs in the above paffage, and in 2 Cor. i. 22. "God hath fealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." That the Sealing of the Spirit is fome teftimony or evidence which confirms and increases the believer's faith, and affures to him a part in the heavenly inheri tance, will more fully appear, if we confider the expreffion as an al- | words. Nevertheless, I fhall atlufion to the practice of Sealing as tempt to explain it as perfpicuoufit refpects things in natural and ly as I can. civil life. One principal defign of fealing a letter is to fecure its contents from the knowledge and ufe of persons, to whom it is not infcribed. A legal covenant, transacted between one man and another, is fealed, to confirm and fecure the contract. In allufion alfo to this practice of fealing, Jefus Chrift faid, that "God the Father had fealed him." John vi. 27. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon Chrift, and the voice from heaven, which faid, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; (Matth. iii. 16, 17.) together with Chrift's divine doctrines, and the miracles which he wrought in the prefence of the people, were a fufficient evidence and confirmation of his being the true Meffiah; whom it was their duty to reverence and obey, and in whom they might, with the greatest fafety, put their truft. The Apostle faith of the believing Corinthians, "The feal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord." I Cor. ix. 2. They were an evidence of his divine call: For, the grace of God had accompanied his preaching, fo that they were converted from their ftate of heathenifm and idolatry, to the knowledge and fervice of the one true God. Thus his apoftolical office had a confirmation in them, by the effect of his miniftry, as a written agreement is confirmed by a feal. But what the inward fealing, or earneft of the Spirit is, and how it is wrought in the foul, and difcerned by the understanding of the perfon fealed, is more fully known by experience, than expreffed by I conceive it is an impreffive and enlightening operation of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of the believer; by which he is delightfully entertained with a special manifeftation of the glory and excellency of God and Christ, and with a glimpfe of that heavenly light and felicity which enliven and entertain the bleffed fociety of the Spirits of juft men made perfect: So that he is made to rejoice with unspeakable, or glorified joy. This delightful experience tends greatly to difengage his affections from fenfual things; it eftablishes him in the love of God, and in the belief of the truths of the Chriftian religion; affures him of his fpiritual adoption, and union to Chrift, and, confequently, of his future admiffion into the prefence and full enjoyment of God. This manifeftation being given by the fpirit of truth, after believing in Chrift, it differs effentially from all delufive experiences; and is as sure a token that he is the true Saviour, who will receive thofe to glory who believe in his name, as the brightest dawning of day in the east, is of the approaching fun. This I confider as the inward fealing, earnest, or witness of the Spirit. And it feems to be directly and immediately adapted to excite and encourage the believer to walk in newnefs of life, and to confirm and fecure him. against infidel principles, and the alluring temptations of the present evil world. Through the rebellion of their own depraved hearts, and the oppofition of the wicked world around them, Chriftians have ma ences. "Thou art my God ; early will I feek thee: My foul thirfteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is: To fee thy power and thy glory, fo as I have feen thee in the fanctuary." But, though thefe feafons of fweet delight do not often occur to the beft Chriftians; nor, usu ny trials with which they muft | the continuance of such expericonflict. Their experience leads them to expect much tribulation in their way to heaven. And left their hearts faint and be difcouraged under the profpect of evil before them, God mercifully favors them with some special difplays of his excellence, and with prelibations of future glory. In thofe feafons of experience they have the most refined and fatisfying de-ally, continue long when they do; light, which the rational foul is capable of enjoying on earth. And, hereby, they moft clearly perceive that the fpiritual and holy joys of true believers differ widely and effentially from those fenfual pleasures which the impenitent fo eagerly pursue. Therefore, when they are under preffing affliction, the recollection of their former fweet enjoyment, and the pledge of their future felicity, will excite their humility and patience to endure, and will ftrengthen their hope of obtaining feasonable relief. Thus, when God caufed the waves and billows of affliction to go over the Pfalmift, he, for fupport, feems to recollect fome seasons when, it is likely, God gave him fpecial tokens of his love and power, and gladdened his heart with the light of his countenance. "O my God, my foul is caft down within me: therefore, will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. The Lord will command his lov-speak evil of those things which ing-kindness in the day-time, and they know not. They have not in the night shall his fong be with found the Meffiah, whose wisdom me. I fhall yet praise him for the and glory excel the fame they help of his countenance." have heard. A real believer having tafted that the Lord is good, and been fealed with fpecial manifeftations of his love, the impreffion cannot be erafed from his mind; but he, like David, will be defirous for VOL. III. No. 5. yet, on account of their worth and precioufnefs, they may be confidered as the golden paffages of their lives; and should be remembered, and thankfully improved. When Jacob fled from the wrath of his brother Efau, God met him with a wonderful manifestation of his glory and guardian protection. And Jacob faid, "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. "And he took a ftone and fet it up as a pillar of remembrance; and called the name of that place Bethel : i. e. the house of God. Truly, there was much propriety in the name. For, the people of God, while in the state of mortality, never feel his prefence fo fenfibly, nor have fo intimate communion with him, as when he approacheth to their fouls, by special manifestations of the excellence of his attributes. If any deistical perfons call these things imaginary and vain; I would modeftly reply: They Y How condefcending is the love of God, to approach fo fpecially to their hearts, whom his effica cious and irrefiftible grace converts, enlightens and purifies! A confideration of the mercy fhould |