.-> 
 
 FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 u* 
 
nm ■KcajRflTfiEfr 
 
 OK 
 
 3AH .:..■; ST 
 
 — COSDL'CTKl) BY 
 
 _HTi r r^ -^.pvi n; & 
 
 NEW-YOBJC. 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://archive.org/details/johneliotOOfran 
 
THE 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OP 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CONDUCTED 
 Br JARED SPARKS. 
 
 VOL. V. 
 
 NEW. YORK: 
 PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, 
 
 NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET. 
 
 1 84 4. 
 
LIFE 
 
 <& 
 
 % 
 
 OCT 9 1931 
 
 OF 
 
 tOL 
 
 «BtttSftfS£i 
 
 JOHN ELIOT, 
 
 THE 
 
 APOSTLE TO THE INDIANS 
 
 By CONVERS FRANCIS 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 HARPER A BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET. 
 
 184 4, 
 

 Entered according to the act of Congress in the year 1836, 
 by Jared Sparks, 
 the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In preparing the following account of the 
 Apostle Eliot, it has been my object to con- 
 fine the narrative as strictly as possible within 
 the limits of his personal biography, and of 
 the circumstances necessarily connected with 
 it. The story obviously furnishes many 
 points, at which a writer would desire to 
 avail himself of the opportunities presented 
 for discussion and general remarks. Among 
 these topics, the condition and fate of the 
 American Indians, and the character of mis- 
 sionary enterprises among them since Eliot's 
 time, would open a large field for inquiry 
 and reflection, in connexion with the history 
 of a man, who labored so strenuously for that 
 interesting race. It would likewise be desir- 
 able to take a somewhat ample notice of Mr. 
 Eliot's fellow -laborers in the same benevo- 
 lent work. But my limits have necessarily 
 
^ PREFACE 
 
 precluded these and similar digressions. The 
 object of a work like the present is to give a 
 distinct and faithful picture of the life, doings, 
 opinions, and habits of the individual; and 
 the reader must be left to derive from the 
 account such materials for speculation as 
 may be suggested to his own mind. 
 
 Of the sources, from which I have drawn 
 the facts for this biographical sketch, some 
 are obvious, and have been before used ; to 
 others access has hitherto been had either 
 not at all, or only at second hand. The "Col- 
 lections of the Massachusetts Historical So- 
 ciety," which are full of useful materials for 
 the student of American history, have af- 
 forded important aid. These volumes, be- 
 sides the account of the apostle Eliot pre- 
 pared by his highly respected namesake, the 
 Reverend Dr. John Eliot of Boston, contain 
 scattered facts and documents connected 
 with the subject of this work. I have con- 
 sulted the Colony Records, and in a few in- 
 stances they have furnished' me with facts, 
 which I was glad to obtain. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 I have been reluctantly compelled, by- 
 want of room, to omit many of the most in- 
 teresting questions proposed by the Indian 
 converts to their teacher, and some details of 
 Mr. Eliot's proceedings. But I hope the book 
 will be found to present a fair representation 
 of his deeds and character, and to consti- 
 tute a memorial not altogether unworthy of 
 one belonging to the venerable class of " the 
 righteous who shall be in everlasting remem- 
 brance." The record of the wise and good 
 will never be forgotten by a community, who 
 understand what they owe to themselves ; 
 and it may be refreshing briefly to withdraw 
 from the heating excitements, which daily 
 crowd upon the public mind, to the con- 
 templation of a man, whose long life was a 
 life of moral labor, whose active spirit was 
 a spirit of self-sacrifice and of pure be- 
 nevolence. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 Eliot's Birth. — Education. — Connexion with 
 Mr. Hooker. — Arrival and Ministry in Bos- 
 ton. — Marriage. — Settlement at Roxbury. 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Eliot's Animadversions on the Pequot Treaty. — 
 His Connexion with the Trial of 3Irs. Hutch- 
 inson. — His Agency in the New England 
 Version of the Psalms 14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 General Remarks on the Indians. — Interest in 
 their Conversion to Christianity. — Mr. Eliot's 
 Preparation for the Work by learning the In- 
 dian Language 30 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Eliot's First Visits to the Indians at Nonantum. 46 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Nonantum Establishment. — Meetings and 
 Eliot's Preaching at Neponset. — Cutshdma- 
 hin. — Questions and Difficulties proposed by 
 the Indians. — Eliot at Concord. . . 67 
 
X CONTENTS . 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Visit of Shepard and Others to Nonantvm. — A 
 Court established for the " Praying Indians." 
 
 — Their Appearance before a Synod. — Their 
 Questions. — Their Observance of the Sabbath. 
 
 — Funeral of a Child 86 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Eliot's Visits to Passaconaway at Pautucket. — 
 Kindness experienced by Him from the Nasha- 
 way Sachem, and his Exposure and Suffering. 
 
 — His Agency with Regard to Murders com- 
 mitted among the Indians. — Excursion to 
 Yarmouth 104 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Eliofs Care of Nonantum. — Questions. — Eli- 
 ot 1 s Endeavors to interest Others in the Cause. 
 
 — His Need of Assistance. — Society for Pro- 
 pagating the Gospel among the Indians estab- 
 lished in England 124 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Further Labors of Eliot among the Natives. — 
 His Letters to Winslow. — Questions of the 
 Indians. — Eliofs Converts troubled by Gor- 
 ton's Doctrines. — Desire of the Indians for a 
 Town 'and School. — Opposition from the Pow- 
 aws and Sachems 138 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Settlement at Natick. — Labors of the In- 
 dians at that Place. — Form of Polity devised 
 for them by Eliot. — Their Civil Covenant. — 
 Visit of Governor Endicot and Mr. Wilson to 
 Natick, and their Account. — Eliot 1 s Endeav- 
 ors to form Indian Preachers. — Further Par- 
 ticulars of Natick 160 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Proposed Organization of a Church at Natick. 
 
 — Examination and Confessions of the In- 
 dians. — Delays. — Intemperance among the In- 
 dians. — Further Examinations. — A Church 
 established. — Affectionate Regards and Kind 
 Services of the Christian Natives. — Misrepre- 
 sentations as to Eliot and his Work. — Ap- 
 pointment of English Magistrates for the 
 
 " Praying Indians." 183 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Eliot's " Christian Commonwealth." — His Trans- 
 lation of the Scriptures into the Indian Lan- 
 guage. — Second Edition of the Translation. 
 
 — Remarks on the Work 210 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Further Translations and other Books for the 
 Christian Indians by Mr. Eliot. — His Indian 
 Grammar. — His " Communion of Churches," 
 fyc. — Indians at Harvard University. — In- 
 dian College. — Towns of " Praying Indians." 243 
 
Ill C ONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Letter from Eliot to Governor Prince. — Suffer- 
 ings and Conduct of the Christian Indians 
 during Philip's War, and Eliot's Solicitude on 
 their Behalf 266 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Eliot's " Harmony of the Gospels." — Informa- 
 tion gathered from his Letters to Robert Boyle. 
 
 — Notice of him by John Dunton and Increase 
 Mather. — Indian Teacher ordained at Natick. 
 
 — Remarks on Eliot's Labors among the In- 
 dians 288 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Studies, Preaching, Charity, and General 
 Habits of Mr. Eliot, during his Ministry at 
 Rozbury. — His Family 306 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Eliofs Old Age and Death. — Concluding Re- 
 marks 328 
 
 Appendix 345 
 

 
 5^ N 
 
 ^ 11 { 
 
 K^i> \. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 $ 
 
 
 K 
 
 B 
 
 
 4 
 
 *? 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 O 5 ' 
 1 
 
 0^ 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 R 
 
 | 
 
 '1 r ^ 
 
 1 * ^ 
 
 
 • 
 
 4. - x l^sV 
 
 \. 
 
 <h. 
 
 f- 
 
 i <>5 
 
 K 
 
 ^4 
 
 y ... 
 
 
 
 k 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 oJ 
 
 a 
 
LIFE 
 
 or 
 
 JOHN ELIOT, 
 
 APOSTLE TO THE INDIANS 
 
 BT 
 
 CONVERS FRANCIS, 
 
JOHN ELIOT 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Eliot's Birth. — Education. — Connexion with 
 Mr. Hooker. — Arrival and Ministry in Bos- 
 ton. — Marriage. — Settlement at Roxbury. 
 
 The distinguished man, whose life consti- 
 tutes the subject of the following narrative, is 
 familiarly known in New England history as 
 the Apostle to the Indians, a title as richly de- 
 served, as it is significant and honorable. John 
 Eliot was born at Nasing,* Essex County, Eng- 
 land, in 1604, and, as Prince supposes,! in No- 
 vember of that year. At this distance of time, 
 little information can be had concerning that 
 
 * I state this on the authority of Mr. Moore {Memoirs of 
 Eliot), and of President Allen [Biographical Dictionary, 
 second edition), who, however, both make a slight mis- 
 take of orthography in calling the place Nasin. The older 
 writers do not give the birth-place of Eliot. Cotton 
 Mather, who was his contemporary, says, " It was a town 
 in England, the name whereof I cannot presently recover." 
 Nasing is in Essex, near Waltham, and between Epping 
 and Harlow. 
 
 f Annals, Part II. Sec. 2. 
 
4 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 part of his life, which was passed in his native 
 country. All that we know of it is scanty in 
 amount, and of a general character. We learn 
 that Mr. Eliot's parents were persons of re- 
 markable piety, and that they sought, with 
 conscientious solicitude, to give the feelings 
 of their son a spiritual direction, and a devout 
 cast, even in the earliest days of childhood. In 
 his own expressive language, his " first years 
 were seasoned with the fear of God, the word, 
 and prayer." Their pious care was not lost. 
 It laid the foundation of a character well fitted 
 for extraordinary tasks in the service of God. 
 They cast good seed on the young mind ; but 
 they knew not, that, across the ocean in the far 
 distant wilderness, it was destined to produce 
 fruit for the nourishment of spiritual life in the 
 church, and in the cabins of the benighted chil- 
 dren of the forest. 
 
 Mr. Eliot was educated at one of the English 
 Universities, probably at Cambridge, though we 
 know not at which of the numerous halls in that 
 seat of learning. To his character as a scholar, 
 during this forming period of life, there is 
 merely a general, but an honorable testimony. 
 He acquired a sound, thorough, and discrim- 
 inating knowledge of the original languages 
 of the Scriptures, became well versed in the 
 general course of liberal studies, and was par- 
 ticularly skilful in theological learning. It is 
 
JOHN ELIOT. O 
 
 recorded that he had a partiality for philolog- 
 ical inquiries, and was an acute grammarian ; a 
 turn of mind which, we may suppose, afterwards 
 had its influence in stimulating and directing 
 the labor his pious zeal prompted him to be- 
 stow on the language of the Indians. 
 
 On leaving the University he engaged in the 
 business of instruction. Mr. Hooker, who at a 
 subsequent period became one of the most emi- 
 nent among the worthies of New England, hav- 
 ing been silenced in the work of preaching on 
 account of his nonconformity, had established a 
 grammar school at Little Baddow, near Chelms- 
 ford in Essex. In this school Mr. Eliot was 
 employed as an usher. It is recorded, that he 
 discharged the unostentatious, but important, 
 duties of this station with faithful and successful 
 industry. Cotton Mather, with an amusing zeal, 
 takes pains to prove that he was not disgraced 
 by the employment. This reminds us of the folly 
 of those writers, who drew upon themselves 
 the caustic remarks of Johnson for endeavour- 
 ing to vindicate Milton from the degradation of 
 having been a schoolmaster. There are many 
 facts, which show that in the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries the office of a teacher of 
 youth was far from being treated with that re- 
 spect in England, which belongs to the weighty 
 task of building up minds for the service of the 
 state and of the world. 
 
 B2 
 
6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Eliot was by his situation brought into that 
 familiar acquaintance with Mr. Hooker, which 
 exerted the happiest influence on the advan- 
 cing formation of his character and principles. 
 From that devoted and able man he received 
 deep religious impressions, which were never 
 effaced, and which reinforced with strong power 
 all the good effects of his pious education. He 
 always spoke of his residence at Little Baddow 
 as a rich blessing to his soul. In the loneli- 
 ness of retirement, and in the quiet sanctity of 
 Hooker's household, his spiritual life was kind- 
 led into that expansive energy, which led him 
 with unalterable purpose to the service of God. 
 " When I came to this blessed family," said he, 
 " I then saw, and never before, the power of 
 godliness in its lively vigor and efficacy." 
 Hooker must have experienced the happiness, 
 which a good man feels, when he has been the 
 instrument of bringing a gifted mind and a 
 sanctified heart to work for the cause of truth 
 and righteousness.* 
 
 To the Christian ministry Eliot now resolved 
 to devote himself. But for the Puritan or Non- 
 conformist preacher there was at that time no 
 open field in England. He was fortunate if he 
 
 * Cotton Mather was in possession of a manuscript writ- 
 ten by Mr. Eliot, in which he gave an account of the school 
 and of his residence at Little Baddow. See MagnaUa, 
 Book III. Life of Hooker. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 7 
 
 escaped imprisonment, and at best could but 
 exercise his office in a half-suppressed, clan- 
 destine manner, while he was continually star- 
 tled by the sound of pursuit, and liable at any 
 moment to be taken in the toils laid for him by 
 arbitrary power.* It is not necessary here to 
 enter into the detail of those measures, which 
 were pressed with pertinacious folly, till in the 
 stormy reaction the throne and the church went 
 to the ground, and the fierce struggle of a civil 
 war became the price, at which some advance 
 was gained in a cause, that has ever since, from 
 time to time, been in a course of onward move- 
 ment. When Mr. Eliot saw that his friend and 
 instructer, Hooker, notwithstanding the inter- 
 position of forty-seven conforming clergymen 
 on his behalf, could escape from the searching 
 tyranny of Laud only by fleeing to Holland, he 
 must have been convinced that neither safety 
 nor usefulness was any longer to be expected 
 in his native country. In these circumstances, 
 he turned his thoughts to the new western 
 world. There a refuge had already been found 
 by many, of whom England had rendered her- 
 self unworthy; and there he resolved to take 
 
 # In Eliot's case, it would seem, the persecution extend- 
 ed further than to the exercise of the ministry, if we may 
 believe Neal, who says that he was " not allowed to teach 
 school in his native country." — History of the Puritans, 
 Vol. II. p. 245. 
 
8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 his lot among those, who were driven forth by 
 their countrymen to do a great work for human 
 rights and for God's cause in the wilderness. 
 
 With a mind thus well matured, and a char- 
 acter thus prepared for the important duties 
 that awaited him, Mr. Eliot bade farewell 
 to the home of his fathers, and sought the 
 shores of America. On the 3d of November, 
 1631, the ship Lyon, in which he took passage, 
 came to anchor in Boston harbour, bringing a 
 company of about sixty persons. Among them 
 were the wife and children of Governor Win- 
 throp. Their arrival was welcomed with pecu- 
 liar demonstrations of joy, and every thing, 
 which kindness could suggest, was done to give 
 them a pleasant reception.* 
 
 Mr. Eliot was now twenty-seven years of 
 age, in the full vigor of youthful health and 
 strength. No sooner had he landed, than he 
 found a field of usefulness, and was called to 
 the work on which his heart was set. Mr. 
 Wilson, pastor of the First Church in Boston, 
 had gone to England, for the settlement of 
 his affairs, in the latter part of the preceding 
 March. In his absence, the religious services 
 had been superintended and conducted by 
 Governor Winthrop, Mr. Dudley, and Mr. Now- 
 ell, the elder. Wilson, at a solemn meeting 
 before his departure, had designated these in- 
 
 * Savage's Winthrop, Vol. I. pp. 63-66. 
 
JOHN ELIOT, 9 
 
 dividuals as best fitted for " the exercise of 
 prophecy," as it was termed, that is, for the 
 office of public religious instruction. The duty- 
 was doubtless well and wisely discharged by 
 these distinguished laymen ; and the church 
 must be deemed a favored one, which, in the 
 absence of its pastor, could thus furnish from 
 its own number gifted and pious men to sus- 
 tain the public offices of the Sabbath. But it 
 was natural, that they should avail themselves 
 of the first opportunity to procure the services 
 of a well-qualified minister. Such an oppor- 
 tunity occurred when Mr. Eliot arrived. He 
 immediately joined the Boston church, and of- 
 ficiated as their preacher until his removal to 
 Roxbury. He performed the duties of this sta- 
 tion with distinguished ability and usefulness ; 
 and the church welcomed him as a faithful 
 helper of their joy. 
 
 In the following February, Mr. Eliot is men- 
 tioned as one of those, who accompanied the 
 Governor on that excursion, in which they dis- 
 covered and named Spot Pond. 
 
 When Eliot left England, more tender affec- 
 tions than those of national feeling still lingered 
 there. His heart and hand were pledged to a 
 young lady, whose name is not transmitted to 
 us, but who seems to have been in every re- 
 spect worthy of such a man. She followed him 
 to New England, and their marriage took place 
 
10 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 in October, 1632. Their union was very long 
 and very happy. She is said to have been a 
 woman of much active benevolence and of ex- 
 emplary piety, prompt to share with her hus- 
 band the works of charity, and affording him 
 that aid, on which a mind tasked and wearied 
 with arduous duties might lean with full and 
 refreshing confidence. 
 
 So entirely faithful and acceptable were the 
 clerical labors of Mr. Eliot, that the Boston 
 church expressed a strong wish to retain him 
 permanently in their service. They would 
 gladly have settled him, as teacher, in connex- 
 ion with their pastor, Wilson, when he return- 
 ed from England. They seem, from Winthrop's 
 account,* to have set their hearts much on ac- 
 complishing this union. When we recollect 
 the character of the leading men in that church, 
 this urgency on their part speaks well for the 
 gifts and graces, which could so soon ex- 
 cite an interest so deep and strong. But, in 
 consequence of a prior engagement, their cher- 
 ished purpose failed of success. When Eliot 
 left his native land, a considerable number of 
 his Christian brethren, who loved him and sym- 
 pathized in his views, had thought of following 
 him to America. He had promised them, that, 
 if they should carry that plan into effect, and 
 should arrive in New England before he had 
 
 * Vol. I. p. 93. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 11 
 
 formed a regular pastoral connexion with any- 
 other church, he would be their minister and 
 devote himself to their service. The next year 
 they came hither, and settled at Roxbury. The 
 pledge he had given was now to be redeemed. 
 The Boston church strove earnestly to retain 
 him, but in vain. Both he and the new congre- 
 gation preferred to abide by their engagement. 
 Accordingly, on the 5th of November, 1632, he 
 was established as teacher of the church in 
 Roxbury, and continued in that office till his 
 death. The following year he received a col- 
 league, Mr. Welde, with whom his connexion 
 was uniformly harmonious and happy. In 1641 
 Mr. Welde went to England, as agent for the 
 province, and never returned. At subsequent 
 periods, Mr. Danforth and Mr. Walter were 
 colleagues with the Roxbury teacher. 
 
 Mr. Eliot now found himself placed in a re- 
 lation, for which his education, his habits of 
 thought, and the spirituality of his character 
 were adapted to give him a strong affection. 
 He loved the labors of the ministry, and en- 
 gaged in them with his whole soul. His situa- 
 tion had much that was attractive, amidst the 
 hardships and trials of a new settlement. He 
 was among friends, who had known him long 
 enough to give him their hearts without reserve. 
 He was not now for the first time to win their 
 confidence. They met in the new world as 
 
12 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 those, who had been drawn to each other by- 
 kindred feelings amidst the trials of their na- 
 tive land. From what has already been stated 
 of his history, it may seem almost superfluous 
 to say that his important duties were discharg- 
 ed with exemplary zeal, ability, and faithful- 
 ness. Even at that time, when ecclesiastical 
 labors were the first and highest in the infant 
 colony, and when the clergy by their office were 
 leading men in the community, scarcely a name 
 can be mentioned, which stood before that of 
 Mr. Eliot. Of his ministry in Roxbury there is 
 not much to be told, that can be presented in an 
 historical form ; for the life of a clergyman, as 
 such, though full of toil, is not full of events. 
 We know, that from first to last he was a hard 
 student and a hard worker ; breaking the bread 
 of life with affectionate fidelity, and administer- 
 ing divine truth with uncompromising sinceri- 
 ty ; fearless in rebuke and kind in counsel ; 
 meeting every claim of duty with unwearied 
 patience, and bringing his wisdom to bear on 
 the most common things ; proverbially charita- 
 ble, and ready to be spent in every good work.* 
 
 * " How strong," says Came, "must have been his emo- 
 tion, when the aged Hooker toiled up the hill to listen to 
 the words of the man, whose soul he had first guided ; it 
 was one of the most touching scenes of Eliot's life, when 
 the former, well stricken in years, came to America, to lay 
 his bones there, and found his once young and valued 
 
JUHX ELIOT. 13 
 
 Another part of this narrative may afford an 
 opportunity of recurring to this subject. At 
 present I will only remark, that the abilities 
 and graces manifested in his professional du- 
 ties naturally remind us of those delineations 
 of clerical excellence, in which simplicity of 
 heart, sanctified learning;, and watchful fidelity 
 are beautifully blended : 
 
 u Such priest as Chaucer san? in fervent lays, 
 Such as the heaven-taught skill of Herbert drew.' 
 
 friend thus surrounded with comfort and respect." — Lives 
 of Eminent Missionaries. Vol. I. p. 9. This is one of the 
 pleasant fancies, of which Carne's account is full. It B 
 altogether likely that Hooker, when he came to New Eng- 
 land, visited Eliot and heard him preach, though I know 
 not where Carne found any notice of the fact With re- 
 spect to the interest the picture derives fr^n the old age 
 of Hooker, it should be remembered t*«l he was but forty- 
 seven years old when he arrived «d Boston, and that three 
 years afterwards he remold to Hartford in Connecticut, 
 and died there in 1&*~, in his sixty-second year. During 
 the short time in which he had opportunities of hearing 
 his young friend in Roxbury, he could not, except by a 
 poetical license, be called "well stricken in vears." 
 
14 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Eliofs Animadversions on the Pequot Treaty. — 
 His Connexion with the Trial of Mrs. Hutchin- 
 son. — His Agency in the New England Version 
 of the Psalms. 
 
 Not long after Mr. Eliot's settlement at Rox- 
 bury, he was brought into some trouble by the 
 honest, though perhaps injudicious, freedom of 
 his remarks on a civil transaction. In Octo- 
 ber, 1634, a messenger from the sachem of the 
 Pequots waited on Mr. Ludlow, the deputy- 
 governor, for the purpose of soliciting the es- 
 tablishment ot friendly relations by treaty be- 
 tween that tribe and \he Massachusetts settlers. 
 The Pequots were then at ^ a r with the Narra- 
 gansets and with the Dutch; and their anxiety 
 to secure the friendship, if not the direct aid, 
 of the English, in this perilous crisis of their 
 affairs, was the occasion of the negotiation they 
 had set on foot. The messenger received from 
 the deputy-governor the answer, that his tribe 
 must send more responsible persons, before the 
 governor, Mr. Dudley, would consent to enter 
 upon the consideration of the business. 
 
 The next month two of the Pequots appeared 
 in the character of ambassadors, bringing with 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 15 
 
 them the usual Indian present of wampum.* 
 The deputy-governor accompanied them to 
 Boston, where several of the assistants were in 
 attendance on the weekly lecture. This afford- 
 ed an opportunity of consulting the clergy, as 
 was frequently done with regard to important 
 transactions of state. The result of the de- 
 liberation was, that an offer was made to the 
 Pequots of a treaty on certain conditions, one 
 of which was, that they should surrender those 
 Indians, who had murdered Captain Stone, and 
 other Englishmen, some time before. They 
 agreed to deliver up the two, who, as they al- 
 leged, alone survived of the number concerned 
 in that outrage. They also promised to favor 
 the settlement of an English plantation in Con- 
 necticut, and to furnish four hundred fathoms of 
 wampum, besides forty beaver and thirty otter 
 skins. On these terms, the government of the 
 
 * The best explanation I have seen of this term, so 
 often occurring in Indian history, is in the following note 
 furnished for Drake's reprint of "The Present State of 
 New England with respect to the Indian War," &c, p. 28. 
 
 " Wampampeag, commonly called Wampum, was the 
 money made by the Indians, and made a lawful tender by 
 the whites. It was white and black ; the Avhite was formed 
 of the Periwinkle, or, in Indian, Meteauhock (Buccinum la- 
 pillus and undatum, Linn.) The black, of the Poquanhock, 
 (now called Quahaug or Clam), the Venus mercenaria of 
 Linnaeus. Much of it, and indeed most of it, was made on 
 Block Island. It was reckoned by fathoms, and parts of a 
 fathom, being worth from 5 to 10 shillings the fathom" 
 
16 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 colony consented to establish a treaty of amity 
 and peace with them, but not to engage in an 
 alliance of defence against their enemies.* 
 
 On this proceeding Mr. Eliot thought it his 
 duty to animadvert with some freedom in a 
 sermon at Roxbury. This he did in accordance 
 with the spirit of those times, when the minis- 
 ters, in their concern for the general good, 
 took a large and free share in the discussion of 
 all matters of public interest. He blamed the 
 ministers for advising, and the magistrates for 
 concluding, the treaty with the Pequots in such 
 a manner ; nor did he limit his rebukes to that 
 point. The ground of his censures was, that 
 the engagement with the Indians had been 
 made by the governor and assistants on their 
 own authority alone, without the consent of the 
 people ; plebe inconsultd, as it was expressed. 
 
 The animadversions of the Roxbury teacher 
 gave much offence. It was supposed they might 
 tend to the disparagement cf the magistrates, 
 and excite a spirit of complaint unfriendly to 
 good order. The apprehension was natural, 
 considering the high character of the man from 
 whom the rebuke came ; and the actual effect 
 was to call forth expressions of disaffection 
 among the people. It was deemed too im- 
 portant a matter to be passed over in si- 
 lence. The government appointed Mr. Cotton, 
 
 * Savage's Winthrop, Vol. I. p. 147. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 17 
 
 Mr. Hooker, and Eliot's colleague, Mr. Welde, 
 " to deal with him," as the phrase was, that is, 
 to convince him of his error, and induce him to 
 make such an explanation of his opinion, as 
 would obviate the ill consequences of his cen- 
 sures. These divines discussed the subject 
 with their brother minister. He confessed, that 
 he had taken an incorrect view of the case, and 
 that the form of his opinion was erroneous. 
 He acknowledged, that, since this was a treaty 
 for peace and friendship, and not one the con- 
 sequence of which would be to involve the colo- 
 ny in a war, he thought the magistrates might 
 act in their official capacity on the occasion 
 without waiting for the consent of the people. 
 This explanation of his views seems to have 
 been satisfactory, and he promised to announce 
 it in his pulpit on the next Sabbath.* 
 
 Mr. Eliot's objection to the conduct of the 
 governor and his associates in this instance 
 can scarcely, I suppose, be considered sound or 
 defensible. The powers of the Massachusetts 
 government at that time seem to have been 
 somewhat indefinite. They were, by the ne- 
 cessity of the case, sometimes exercised rather 
 according to present wants and exigencies, 
 than upon settled and guarded principles. It 
 is true, the charter conferred on the governor, 
 
 * Ibid. p. 151. 
 vol. v. 2 ^2 
 
18 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 deputy-governor, and assistants no authority 
 to make treaties with any people or tribe.* 
 But the charter did not, and could not, provide 
 for every emergency, that should arise in the 
 affairs of a colony thrown into a situation, the 
 wants of which could not be foreseen. In the 
 absence of any regulation on the subject, the 
 treaty-making power seemed naturally to rest 
 with the executive magistrates. The construc- 
 tion, by which they considered the application 
 of the Pequots as a case lying within the scope 
 of this power, and believed themselves author- 
 ized to act in this instance, according to their 
 discretion, for the good of the colony, cannot 
 probably be deemed an unjust assumption. 
 Yet we may well suppose the point appeared 
 sufficiently doubtful to be a fair subject for dif- 
 ference of opinion, and to vindicate Eliot, if he 
 was wrong, from the charge of being captious 
 in his view of it. However unfounded might be 
 his objection, his error could have sprung only 
 from that watchful jealousy for the rights of 
 the people, which has always marked the char- 
 acter of the American communities, and which, 
 in most other cases at least, has been suffi- 
 ciently lauded. At the particular time in ques- 
 tion, this feeling may have been brought into 
 stronger action, than usual, in his mind. For 
 
 * The charter may be seen in Hazard's State Papers, 
 Vol. I. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 19 
 
 it was in 1634, the year of the transaction with 
 the Pequots, that the people vigorously assert- 
 ed their right to a larger share in the govern- 
 ment, and insisted on the institution of a rep- 
 resentative body to be chosen from the several 
 towns.* The popular interest excited by this 
 movement was still so fresh, when the Indians 
 sent their embassy to Boston, that there proba- 
 bly existed an unusually keen disposition to 
 question and scrutinize any new exercise of 
 power f by the governor and assistants. When 
 Mr. Eliot spoke of the consent of the people as 
 necessary to the making of the treaty, he must 
 have meant the consent of the new court of 
 delegates, the representatives of the people. 
 To have discussed or determined the matter by 
 a meeting of the whole people was manifestly 
 impracticable. 
 
 With regard to Eliot's concession, it is worthy 
 of remark, that it does not imply any change in 
 his view of the point at issue, considered as a 
 question of right. His explanation amounts, 
 not to the doctrine that treaties in general 
 
 * Hutchinson, Vol. I. p. 39. See Mr. Savage's excellent 
 remarks on the interesting occasion referred to ; Winthrop, 
 Vol. I. p. 129. 
 
 f There was, I believe, no instance of a treaty in Massa- 
 chusetts with the Indians before this with the Pequots. 
 Miantunnomoh, the Narraganset sachem, came to Boston 
 for that purpose in 1632 ; but nothing was done. See 
 Hutchinson, Vol. I. p. 32. 
 
20 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 might be concluded by the magistrates without 
 consulting the people, but that in this case 
 there was no objection to be made to the exer- 
 cise of such a power, because the people could 
 be involved in no injurious consequences by it; 
 an explanation, which takes the ground of pres- 
 ent expediency, not of a general principle. 
 He doubtless felt, upon consideration, a strong 
 reluctance to disparage the authority of govern- 
 ment, or to create disaffection, by insisting 
 pertinaciously on the question of right ; and 
 perhaps he had begun to see, that, should he do 
 so, he would find it difficult to sustain his opin- 
 ion. He was therefore ready at once to with- 
 draw his opposition, and make such a statement 
 as would allay excitement, and quiet the dis- 
 turbed feelings of the magistrates; though it 
 does not appear that he abjured the principle, 
 on which his censure was originally founded. 
 His conduct may be supposed to have proceed- 
 ed from a discreet regard to the public peace ; 
 but I find no evidence that he was timid.* 
 
 * Hubbard praises the magnanimity Eliot displayed by 
 acknowledging himself in the wrong. — General History of 
 New England, p. 166. 
 
 It should here be remarked, that Roger Williams is said 
 to have expressed the same views about the Pequot treaty, 
 as Mr. Eliot did, but could not, like him, be brought to 
 make any explanation. This statement is made in the ac- 
 count of Mr. Eliot in 1 Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol.,VIII. p. 28, and 
 repeated in Knowles's Memoir of Roger Williams, p. 126. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 21 
 
 Mr. Eliot's name stands connected with the 
 agitation respecting Mrs. Hutchinson, which 
 makes so conspicuous a figure in the early ec- 
 clesiastical history of New England. That the 
 religious opinions of this remarkable woman 
 were conscientiously and piously held, there is 
 no reason to doubt; and that she possessed 
 uncommon abilities, and knew well how to use 
 them, must be conceded by all. If she was 
 pragmatical or officious in the exhibition of her 
 sentiments, the fault, however lamentable, is 
 too common to diminish our sympathy for her 
 hard fate. The wisdom of permitting every 
 religious manifestation, however fantastic, if it 
 do not disturb the rights of others, to have 
 room in the community, and the assurance that, 
 if it be an error or folly, it will thus soonest 
 come to destruction, are lessons gathered from 
 experience, but were unknown to the early 
 
 Both of these writers refer for their authority to Bentley's 
 History of Salem ; but neither specifies the place. I can 
 find no such statement in Bentley's History. He says. 
 "Unfortunately for Mr. Williams, the apostle Eliot, immor- 
 tal by his services in the conversion of the Indians, had 
 taken liberty to speak against the Indian treaty, though, be- 
 ing brought to confess before the magistrate, he published 
 afterwards his recantation." — 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. VI 
 p. 247. The sentence is a blind one. Why it was un- 
 fortunate for Williams, or what connexion he had with it, 
 we are not told. I am not aware that there is any other 
 passage, in which Bentley alludes to the subject. 
 
22 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 settlers of New England, and not less so to their 
 brethren in the mother country. Had the zeal 
 of Mrs. Hutchinson been suffered to work itself 
 off in unnoticed assemblies with her friends, or 
 in the contests of private argument, a painful 
 season of bitterness would have been spared to 
 our fathers ; and we should not be called to 
 lament, that dignified magistrates and learned 
 divines should have deemed it their duty, in 
 solemn conclave, to hold sharp encounter with 
 a female on antinomianism, on the covenant of 
 grace and the covenant of works, on the per- 
 sonal indwelling of the Holy Ghost, on assert- 
 ed revelations and internal impulses ; that they 
 should have banished her from their communi- 
 , and afterwards regarded her tragical end 
 as a special judgment for her errors and sins. 
 She was evidently regarded as a formidable 
 antagonist ; for the author of Wonder-working 
 Providence, in the midst of his invectives, calls 
 her " the masterpiece of womens' wit." The 
 pertinacity and zeal of Mrs. Hutchinson caused 
 so general an excitement, that for the first time 
 in New England a synod was summoned by 
 order of the General Court. This assembly, 
 which met at Cambridge in August, 1637, seem 
 to have had as much, and probably about as 
 useful, business on their hands, as the synods 
 of earlier ages ; for, before they separated, they 
 pronounced condemnation on a list of eighty- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 23 
 
 two erroneous opinions.* In November of the 
 same year, Mrs. Hutchinson was brought before 
 the court and several of the elders for ex- 
 amination. f 
 
 On this occasion Mr. Eliot appeared among 
 the witnesses against her. He and others of 
 the clergy had visited her, and in the course of 
 their discussions had deemed it their duty to 
 rebuke her for the severe and irritating cen- 
 sures she had uttered against all the ministers, 
 except Cotton and Wheelwright. On the ex- 
 amination, Mr. Eliot as well as others gave his 
 report of what had passed in conversation. 
 He had at the time taken a memorandum, to 
 which he could now appeal. " I have it in writ- 
 ing," said he, " therefore I do avouch it." On 
 the second day of the examination, Mrs. Hutch- 
 inson demanded that the witnesses against 
 her should be put on oath. This occasioned 
 considerable discussion. Some thought there 
 was no need of complying with her demand ; 
 others deemed it judicious to do so, for the 
 
 * A catalogue of these, with the confutation of each, is 
 given in " A Short Story of the Rise, Reign, and Ruin of 
 the Jlntinomians," &c, a treatise full of bitterness and 
 bigotry, published by Welde, Eliot's colleague, after he 
 went to England. 
 
 f A minute account of the trial is given in Hutchinson, 
 Vol. II. p. 423, Appendix. This was "an ancient manu- 
 script " ; but at what time or by whom it was written, the 
 historian, if he knew, does not inform us. 
 
24 AMERICAN BIOGRAPh 
 
 sake of general satisfaction. Mr. Eliot de- 
 clared that he was willing " to speak upon 
 oath," adding the remark, " I know nothing 
 we have spoken, but we may swear to." His 
 colleague, Welde, and Hugh Peters were ready 
 to do the same. At length an oath was ad- 
 ministered to these three, and they gave their 
 testimony with respect to Mrs. Hutchinson's 
 conversation, as before. Soon after this, the 
 trial was closed by the condemnation and ban- 
 ishment of the female heresiarch. 
 
 It may be added, that during the trial Mrs. 
 Hutchinson had spoken with great confidence 
 of her supernatural impulses and revelations ; 
 the common resort of fanatics, especially in 
 seasons of persecution. Mr. Eliot had the good 
 sense to enter his protest against these idle 
 pretensions. " I say," was his judicious re- 
 mark, " there is an expectation of things prom- 
 ised ; but to have a particular revelation of 
 things that shall fall out, there is no such thing 
 in the Scripture." The sentiment seems to 
 have been regarded as somewhat bold ; for the 
 governor immediately interposed the caution, 
 that we must not " limit the word of God." 
 During the discussion, reference had been made 
 by one of the deputies to a revelation, which 
 Mr. Hooker, while he was in Holland, professed 
 to have had respecting the approaching de- 
 struction of England. Eliot, who could not 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 25 
 
 patiently hear the name of his revered instruo 
 ter adduced in support of a delusion, called in 
 question the truth of this statement. " That 
 speech of Mr. Hooker's," said he, " which they 
 allege, is against his mind and judgment " ; 
 meaning, I suppose, that it was inconsistent 
 with what he knew of Hooker's opinions and 
 habits of thought on such subjects.* This part 
 of the discussion at least was honorable to his 
 frankness and sound judgment. On the whole, 
 the agency which he had in the measures 
 respecting this unfortunate and misguided 
 woman, if considered in comparison with the 
 conduct of others, cannot be alleged to his dis- 
 credit. He was stern and inflexible against 
 
 * If wo may credit Mather (.Magnalia, Vol. I. Book III. 
 p. 310), Hooker afterwards avowed at Hartford the reve- 
 lation in question ; so that Eliot committed the creditable 
 mistake of thinking better of his instructor's judgment than 
 it deserved. It may here be remarked, that Hooker had, 
 by some report, been led to misapprehend Eliot's views 
 about the Hutchinson excitement ; for in a letter to Shep- 
 ard of Cambridge he says, "A copy of Mr. Vane's expres- 
 sions at Roxbury I desire to see and receive by the next 
 messenger. I have heard my brother Eliot is come about 
 to this opinion. I have writ to him about it. I would 
 fain come to a bandy where I might be a little rude in the 
 business ; for I do as verily believe it to be false, as 1 do 
 believe any article of my faith to be true." — Hutchinson, 
 Vol. I. p. 48. Hooker's information about Eliot's opinion 
 could not be true. There is no evidence that Eliot ever 
 belonged to Vane's party ; and in the examination of Mrs. 
 Hutchinson he was decidedly opposed to that party. 
 
 D 
 
26 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 her, as the rest were. But during the proceed- 
 ings at the trial, I see no evidence that he lost 
 his temper, or indulged in bitterness of expres- 
 sion, as some others unhappily did. He be- 
 lieved he was doing his duty to God and the 
 churches ; and, if he was right in that convic- 
 tion, his manner of doing it seems not justly 
 liable to censure. 
 
 We next find Mr. Eliot concerned in an at- 
 tempt, which was made to improve the psalmo- 
 dy of the churches. In 1639, the civil and ec- 
 clesiastical leaders of the colony decided to 
 have a new version of the Psalms for use in 
 public worship. The task of preparing it was 
 assigned to Mr. Eliot, Mr. Wekle, and Richard 
 Mather of Dorchester, who were considered 
 well qualified by their Hebrew scholarship. 
 Their work was printed at Cambridge by Daye 
 in 1640. It was entitled " The Psalms in 
 Metre, faithfully translated for the Use, Edifi- 
 cation, and Comfort of the Saints in publick 
 and private, especially in New England." It 
 was known by the name of " The Bay Psalm 
 Hook" but afterwards was more commonly 
 designated as " The New England Version of 
 the Psalms," by which appellation it is now best 
 known. We have no means of ascertaining 
 Eliot's individual portion of this pious labor. 
 The reverend versifiers seem to have antici- 
 pated some unfavorable criticisms. In the 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 27 
 
 preface they say, " If the verses are not alwayes 
 so smooth and elegant as some may desire or 
 expect, let them consider that God's altar 
 needs not our pollishings ; for wee have re- 
 spected rather a plaine translation, than to 
 smooth our verses with the sweetness of any 
 paraphrase, and soe have attended conscience 
 rather than elegance, fidelity rather than poe- 
 try, in translating the Hebrew words into Eng- 
 lish language, and David's poetry into English 
 metre." 
 
 Notwithstanding this deprecatory apology, 
 there were some, who did not suppress their 
 disposition to sneer at the new Psalm-book.* 
 The poetical merits of this metrical translation 
 are indeed sufficiently humble. One is com- 
 pelled to go back in imagination two centuries, 
 in order to understand how it was, that devo- 
 tion did not expire in singing such stanzas. 
 Yet, when compared with the specimens of 
 
 * The admonition of Mr. Shepard of Cambridge to his 
 brethren on this occasion has been often quoted, but is 
 perhaps sufficiently curious to be repeated. It is found in 
 the Magnolia, Book III. ch. 12. Life of Dunster. 
 
 " You Roxb'rv poets keep clear of the crime, 
 Of missing- to give us very good rhime. 
 And you of Dorchester your verses lengthen, 
 But with the text's own words you will them strengthen." 
 
 I know not how much of censure Shepard intended ; but 
 whatever it was, the poetry of it seems scarcely better 
 than that of the version, for the composition of which the 
 rhyming advice was given. 
 
28 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 church poetry then prevalent, it should not 
 be severely condemned. At least it may be 
 weighed against Sternhold and Hopkins with- 
 out sustaining disparagement. It is not till a 
 recent period, that the claims of the sanctuary 
 on the hallowed powers of imagination and 
 taste have been appreciated and answered, or 
 that strains of true sweetness and grandeur 
 have been consecrated to the service of God. 
 
 The second edition of this version was pub- 
 lished in 1647. When a third edition was 
 needed, it was thought necessary to attempt 
 some improvement. The task was committed 
 to Dunster, president of Harvard College, who 
 revised the whole, and added to it " Scriptural 
 Songs and Hymns," written by Mr. Richard 
 Lyon. The book passed through twenty edi- 
 tions, and was adopted immediately by all the 
 New England churches, except that of Ply- 
 mouth, into which it was not received for many 
 years. That church used the version made by 
 Ainsworth, whom they had known and highly 
 respected in Holland.* The New England 
 
 * A copy of this book is in the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society. The title is " The Booke of Psalmes in English 
 Metre ; by Henry Ainsworth." On a blank leaf, Prince, 
 who once owned the volume, has written the following 
 notice : " This version of Ainsworth was sung in Plymouth 
 Colony, and I suppose in the rest of New England till 
 the New England version was printed first in 1640." 
 Prince's supposition with regard to "the rest of New 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 29 
 
 version was reprinted in England and Scot- 
 land, and was in high favor with many of the 
 dissenting congregations. 
 
 The Psalms versified by Eliot, Welde, and 
 Mather were the first book printed in North 
 America. The " Freeman's Oath," and an 
 Almanac, had been printed the preceding year. 
 
 England " differs from the statement of Dr. Holmes (His- 
 tory of Cambridge, 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., VII. 19), who says 
 that Sternhold and Hopkins -were in common use before 
 the New England version was undertaken. Of this last, 
 Prince himself published in 1758 a revised and improved 
 edition. 
 
 It may here be mentioned that Mr. Eliot appears some- 
 times to have indulged the rhyming vein for his own 
 amusement. A few specimens of this sort, with the ana- 
 grams so common in that age, are found in the ancient 
 book of records belonging to the church in Roxbury. 
 
30 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 General Remarks on the Indians. — Interest m 
 their Conversion to Christianity. — Mr. Eliot's 
 Preparation for the Work by learning the 
 Indian Language. 
 
 We come now to that portion of Mr. Eliot's 
 life, which was spent chiefly in efforts to spread 
 the Christian faith among the native inhabit- 
 ants of New England. This was the great 
 work, to which he devoted the strongest ener- 
 gies of his mind, and the best part of his days. 
 It was the mission, to which he felt himself 
 called by the holiest inducements ; and, taken 
 in all its branches, with the collateral inquiries 
 and exertions to. which it led, it must be re- 
 garded as a remarkable passage in the great 
 history of Christian benevolence. 
 
 When our fathers came to the western world, 
 they found the wilderness peopled by a race, 
 who could not fail to be objects of strong in- 
 terest, apart from any friendly or hostile rela- 
 tions. The settlers had just arrived from a 
 country abounding in all the refinements of the 
 old world, and were suddenly brought into the 
 neighbourhood of a people exhibiting the pecu- 
 liarities of one of the rudest forms of savage 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 31 
 
 life. Among the several tribes, who roamed 
 over the territory, there was a general resem- 
 blance in character, modes of life, and religion. 
 The virtues and the vices of uncivilized man 
 have been exaggerated. Rousseau, who found 
 in him the model of perfection, and Volney, 
 who sunk him beneath humanity, have left the 
 truth between them. The savage is neither 
 the atrocious brute described by some, nor the 
 noble hero pictured by the imagination of 
 others. He is simply a man, in whom the ani- 
 mal nature predominates, and in whom the 
 intellectual nature, though far from being 
 quenched, is feeble, puerile, and slumbering. 
 The several functions of his physical and spir- 
 itual being have not been developed in harmo- 
 nious and well-proportioned movements, under 
 the influences supplied by the competitions of 
 ingenuity, by religion, by a sense of present 
 deficiency, and an earnest longing after im- 
 provement. He is a stationary being, because 
 he is chiefly a sensual being. The inward life 
 is in him ; but it is smothered, or has reached 
 only its childhood. He is a standing refutation 
 of the sophistry of those, who tell us that the 
 savage condition is the natural state of man. 
 Man's truly natural state is that, to which his 
 nature, in all its developements, efforts, and 
 wants, tends ; that is, a state of the highest 
 attainable refinement and civilization. The 
 
32 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Indians of New England, like all savages, were 
 averse to regular labor of any sort. Their 
 time was spent in the alternations of war, 
 hunting, or fishing, and idleness or sleep. 
 Their passions, when aroused, were fiercely 
 impetuous, their love of revenge keen and long- 
 cherished ; but the elements of generous and 
 noble dispositions were largely, though irregu- 
 larly, mingled in their character. Their knowl- 
 edge was limited nearly within the narrow 
 circle of animal wants ; and their ignorance of 
 the use of the metals was evinced by their 
 habit of calling an Englishman a knife-man, the 
 knife being an implement wholly new to them, 
 and one which they greatly admired.* 
 
 The germ of the spiritual, and of a tendency 
 to the infinite, lies in the bosom of savage as 
 
 * The contributions to the history of the Indians are so 
 numerous and common, that it is scarcely necessary to 
 make any special references. Heckew elder's "Historical 
 Account," published in the first volume of the Transactions 
 of the Historical and Literary Committee of the American 
 Philosophical Society, is written in an attractive manner 
 and with a deep interest in the subject. Hecke welder, 
 however, is considered by some as having been too credu- 
 lous and partial to be a trustworthy authority. It is 
 thought that he was disposed to paint in glowing colors 
 every thing pertaining to Indian life and character, es- 
 pecially among his favorite tribe, the Delawares. See an 
 able article in the North American Review, Vol XXVI. 
 pp. 366- 386 ; and a spirited and interesting examination 
 of the strictures made by the writer of that article, in the 
 United States IAtei-ary Gazette, Vol. IV. pp. 262 - 374. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 33 
 
 well as of civilized man. The religious senti- 
 ment is there, however wild, confused, or faint 
 may be its developement, reminding us that 
 " under the ashes of our collapsed nature there 
 are yet remaining sparks of celestial fire." 
 There has been much discussion, and no little 
 variety of statement, respecting the religion of 
 the American Indians. Some have declared 
 that they had no religion whatever.* This 
 erroneous assertion was the result, partly of 
 scanty observation, and partly of the wary re- 
 luctance of the natives to make any communi- 
 cations on the subject. The religion of the 
 Indians in its general features resembled that 
 of other uncivilized tribes. They recognised 
 the divine power in forms suitable to their 
 rude conceptions. The developements of this 
 sentiment resembled in some degree the poly- 
 theism of ancient times. Each part or mani- 
 festation of nature was supposed to have its 
 peculiar subordinate god. There was the sun 
 god, the moon god, and so of other things. 
 That disposition to believe in an invisible 
 
 * Winslow fell into this mistake, which however he 
 afterwards corrected ; "Whereas," says he, "myself and 
 others in former letters wrote, that the Indians about us 
 are a people without any religion, or knowledge of any 
 God, therein I erred, though we could then gather no 
 better." — Good Newes from New England, 2 M. H. Coll. 
 IX. 91. A similar error is found in the accounts of 
 Hearne and C olden. 
 
 VOL. V. 3 
 
34 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 agency concerned in each particular movement 
 or object, which is in fact the unfashioned pre- 
 sentiment of the true doctrine of the Infinite 
 Agent, was a striking part of their faith. Every 
 thing in nature had its spirit ; but these Manittos 
 were of different rank and influence. The In- 
 dian felt the sentiment, which in more graceful 
 or beautiful forms the imaginative religion of 
 poetry has always loved to cherish ; 
 
 u Live not the stars and mountains ? Are the waves 
 Without a spirit ? " 
 
 When the storm or the thunder-gust was ris- 
 ing, he would beg the Manitto of the air to 
 avert its terrors ; and when he committed his 
 light skiff to the bosom of the mighty lake, he 
 would pray to the Manitto of the waters to 
 calm the swell of its heaving waves.* When 
 any thing, which he did not understand, took 
 place, or any exploit, indicating wonderful 
 ability or skill, was performed, he exclaimed, 
 it is a spirit.] But with this polytheism the 
 Indians united a belief in one presiding or 
 chief deity, the author of good, who lived far 
 in the west part of the heavens, and in another 
 great being, the source of all evil and mischief; 
 a creed which contained the seminal principles 
 
 * Heckewelder's Historical Account, p. 205. 
 
 f So, too, the philosopher in ancient times affirmed, 
 "Nemo igitur vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu divino unquam 
 fuit." — Cic. de JVat. Deorum, Lib. II. 66. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 35 
 
 of the Manichean doctrine. The notion of 
 some form of existence after the present, and 
 the crude elements of the doctrine of retribu- 
 tion, were found among them. Their concep- 
 tions of a future life were sometimes connected 
 in a touching manner with the affections and 
 sympathies growing out of the relations of this 
 life.* But in these respects, doubtless, there 
 were differences among them corresponding to 
 individual susceptibilities and habits of feeling. 
 Something in the nature of a priesthood was 
 found among the New England Indians. They 
 had an order of men and women called pow- 
 awsj in whose connexion with invisible powers 
 they had great faith. The common office of 
 these persons was to cure diseases by means 
 of herbs, roots, exorcisms, and magical in- 
 cantations. A powaw, in short, was at once 
 priest, physician, and juggler. This order 
 of men, we may readily suppose, exercised a 
 strong and fearful influence over a people dis- 
 posed by ignorance to see the mysterious only 
 in its grossest forms, and to tremble before it. 
 Their power was found to present a formidable 
 obstacle to the spread of Christianity ; " for," 
 said the Indians, " if we once pray to God, we 
 must abandon our powaws, and then, when we 
 
 # See a beautiful instance of this in Carver's Travels^ 
 p. 231. 
 
36 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 are sick and wounded, who shall heal our 
 maladies ?"* 
 
 Such, among the Indians, were the principal 
 elements of that religious sentiment, which is 
 an indestructible part of man's nature, and 
 which always struggles forth into some out- 
 ward expressions, however gross and barbar- 
 ous. These were the minds, upon which and 
 for which Eliot was to work. His task was 
 certainly a laborious one ; and it required a 
 strong faith, like his, to make it lighter by the 
 encouragement of hope. 
 
 When the settlement of New England began, 
 an interest in the civilization and conversion 
 of the Indians was felt by many in the mother 
 country. Among others, Dr. Lake, the Bishop 
 of Bath and Wells, had the object so much at 
 heart, as to declare that nothing but his old 
 age prevented him from going to America and 
 devoting himself to the work. In the charter 
 granted by Charles the First to the Massachu- 
 setts colony, this was mentioned as a principal 
 
 # On the religion of the Indians, Gookin (1 M. H. Coll. I. 
 154, et seq.) ; Dr. Jarvis's learned and able Discourse before 
 the New York Historical Society, December 20th, 1819 ; 
 Heckewelder's Historical Account ; and Lafitau, Mazurs 
 dcs Sauvages Ame'riquains, may be consulted with advan- 
 tage. On the general subject of the religion of savage 
 life, there are many fine remarks in the work of Constant 
 De la Religion, fyc. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 37 
 
 object.* In the Plymouth colony, for many 
 years after the landing, but little was or could 
 be done in a systematic way towards bringing 
 the natives within the Christian church. " O 
 that you had converted some, before you killed 
 any," said John Robinson in a letter to the 
 governor of Plymouth. The wish was an ex- 
 pression of a pious concern honorable to the 
 good man ; but the circumstances of the Pil- 
 grim fathers must vindicate their conduct from 
 any blame, which it might imply. A few in- 
 stances occurred, in which the interest of the 
 Indians was excited towards the religion of 
 their new neighbors. One of them in 1622 
 was induced, by the supposed answer from 
 Heaven to the prayer of the English for rain, to 
 forsake his tribe, and seek some knowledge of 
 the Englishman's God, Two years after the 
 English settled in Massachusetts, Sagamore 
 John, who had from the first been kind and 
 courteous to them, contracted an affection for 
 
 # In this instrument the desire is expressed, that the 
 settlers " maie wynn and incite the Natives of the Country 
 to the Knowledg and Obedience of the onlie true God and 
 Sauior of Mankinde, and the Christian Fayth, which m our 
 Royall Intencon, and the Adventurers free Profession, is 
 the principall Ende of this Plantacion." — Hazard's State 
 Papers, Vol. I. p. 252. It should perhaps be mentioned, 
 that the device on the seal of the Massachusetts colony 
 was an Indian with a label at his mouth, containing the 
 words " Come over and help us." 
 
 E 
 
38 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 their religion, but was soon carried off by the 
 small-pox. One of the Pequots, named We- 
 quash, was so impressed with the destruction 
 of his tribe, that he importuned the Christians 
 to make him acquainted with their God ; and 
 having become, as was supposed, a sincere con- 
 vert, is said to have died by poison given him 
 by his incensed follow-savages. Hiacoomes, 
 the distinguished Indian of Martha's Vineyard, 
 was converted in 1643. But these were inci- 
 dental cases, not resulting from systematic 
 efforts on the part of our fathers. Probably 
 they judged wisely in not making such efforts, 
 till they had become better acquainted with the 
 Indian character. Besides, the care, toil, and 
 anxiety which gathered around the work of an 
 infant settlement, " res dura et regni novitas," 
 the quarrels in which they were involved with 
 the natives, and the disturbances among them- 
 selves, were sufficient for some time to occupy 
 all their industry, and engross all their energy. 
 But at length a direct action was awakened 
 on this subject. In 1646 an order was passed 
 by the General Court o f Massachusetts to pro- 
 mote the diffusion of Christianity among the 
 aboriginal inhabitants. The elders of the 
 churches were requested to consider how it 
 might be best effected.* It was probably this 
 proceeding on the part of the government, 
 
 * Hutchinson, Vol. I. p. 151. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 39 
 
 which fixed the immediate attention of Mr. 
 Eliot on the project. He had, however, long 
 felt a deep concern for the moral condition of 
 the natives ; a concern inspired by his sancti- 
 fied love of doing good, and increased proba- 
 bly by his belief, that the Indians were the 
 descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. This 
 theory, among the numerous conjectures on the 
 origin of the natives of America, has found 
 advocates not deficient in learning or talents, 
 however weak may be the foundation on which 
 their reasoning rests.* 
 
 * This much agitated topic still remains one of " the 
 vexed questions " of historical criticism. The theory es- 
 poused by Mr. Eliot was zealously defended by Adair, and 
 more recently by Dr. Boudinot in his ' : Star in the West." 
 I find that in Allen's Biographical Dictionary, and in 
 Holmes's American Annals (second edit. Vol. L p. 434), a 
 work on this subject is ascribed to Eliot, entitled " The 
 Jews in America." This, however, is a mistake. Thomas 
 Thorowgood, one of the Assembly of Divines, published at 
 London, in 1650, a work entitled "Jewes in America, or 
 Probabilities that the Americans are of that Race," &c. 
 To this book Cotton Mather alludes in one of his poor puns, 
 when he says, that Eliot " saw some learned men looking- 
 for the lost Israelites among the Indians in America, and 
 counting that they had thorow-good reasons for doing so." 
 In 1660 a second part of Thorowgood's work was published 
 in London, with the title, " Jewes in America ; or Proba- 
 bilities that those Indians are Judaical, made more probable 
 by some Additionals to the former Conjectures." To this 
 part " an accurate Discourse is premised by Mr. John Eliot 
 (who first preached the Gospel to the Natives in their own 
 
40 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Mr. Eliot had been for some time assiduously 
 employed in learning the Indian language. To 
 accomplish this, he secured the assistance of 
 one of the natives, who could speak English. 
 Eliot, at the close of his Indian Grammar, 
 mentions him as " a pregnant-witted young 
 man, who had been a servant in an English 
 house, who pretty well understood his own 
 language, and had a clear pronunciation." * 
 
 Language) touching their Origination, and his Vindication 
 of the Planters." See Rich's valuable " Catalogue of 
 Books relating principally to America," Part I. p. 86. The 
 connexion of Mr. Eliot's name with the book, by means of 
 his " Discourse," was probably the occasion of the work 
 being erroneously ascribed to him. 
 
 * Mr. Eliot had previously spoken of him in a letter 
 written in 1648. " There is," he says, " an Indian living 
 with Mr. Richard Calicott of Dorchester, who was taken in 
 the Pequott Warres, though belonging to Long Island ; 
 this Indian is ingenious, can read ; and I taught him to 
 write, which he quickly learnt, though I know not what use 
 he now maketh of it ; he ivas the first that I made use of to 
 teach me words and to be my Interpreter." This young 
 man was then about to join the church in Dorchester. — 
 Winslow's Glorious Progresse of the Gospel, p. 19. The 
 name of this Indian is supposed by Drake (Book of the 
 Indians, b. II. p. Ill) to have been Job Nesutan; and for 
 this he quotes the authority of Gookin's History, fyc. of the 
 Christian Indians. Bat Gookin's assertion does not prove 
 so much. He says, that Job Nesutan " was a very good 
 linguist in the English tongue, and was Mr. Eliot's assist- 
 ant and interpreter in his translation of the Bible and other 
 books in the Indian language." Whether he was Eliot's 
 first teacher in the language does not appear; it is not 
 improbable, however, that he was. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 41 
 
 He took this Indian into his family, and by- 
 constant intercourse with him soon became 
 sufficiently conversant with the vocabulary and 
 construction of the language to translate the 
 ten commandments, the Lord's prayer, and 
 several passages of Scripture, besides compos- 
 ing exhortations and prayers. 
 
 Here was a task, which must have been 
 formidable enough to discourage any one, 
 whose motives had been those of mere curi- 
 osity. The language, which this devoted man 
 resolved to acquire as an instrument to be used 
 in the cause of religion, mast have present- 
 ed appalling difficulties. The Indian tongues 
 have of late years been made a subject of curi- 
 ous inquiry by learned philologists. For a long 
 time it had been customary to describe them 
 as wretchedly poor and meagre dialects, com- 
 posed only of barbarous and irregular jargon 
 This is found to be an entire mistake, with re- 
 spect to the languages both of the northern 
 and southern tribes. They are represented to 
 be copiously expressive in their stock of words, 
 and remarkably regular in their structure. 
 
 Whatever may be said of the scanty fund of 
 ideas in the mind of the savage, and however 
 it may be supposed that these must be con- 
 fined to the obvious forms and phenomena of 
 material things, yet the fact that the whole 
 Bible could be translated into his language and 
 
 E2 
 
42 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 be made intelligible to him, affords sufficient 
 evidence, that moral relations and even meta- 
 physical ideas could be adequately expressed 
 in his speech, however destitute it might be of 
 the polished refinement, or the critical precis- 
 ion, belonging to the tongues of civilized na- 
 tions. The long words, which are found in 
 the Indian languages present indeed a formida- 
 ble aspect, and seem to set pronunciation at 
 defiance. Cotton Mather, who loved a jest 
 and superstition about equally well, thought 
 they must have been growing ever since the 
 confusion at Babel. He tells us in the same 
 breath, that he once put some demons upon 
 their skill in the tongues, and found that 
 though they could manage to understand Latin, 
 Greek, and Hebrew very well, they were 
 utterly baffled by the speech of the American 
 natives. The language, which thus sorely 
 puzzled the demons, has been discovered by 
 the inquiries of indefatigable scholars to be an 
 important branch of grammatical research.* 
 
 * For information concerning the Indian languages, 
 which exhibit many curious and remarkable phenomena, 
 the reader is referred to the labors of those accomplished 
 American scholars, Pickering and Duponceau, in their 
 Observations and Notes on Eliofs Indian Grammar, 
 (2 M. H. Coll. IX. 223, &c); the Correspondence between 
 Heckewelder and Duponceau (Transactions of the Hist. 
 and Lit. Com. of the Am. Phil. Soc. I. 357-448) ; Edwards's 
 Observations, (2 M. H. Coll. X. 81-134), to which Dugald 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 43 
 
 Mr. Eliot must have found his task any thing 
 but easy or inviting. He was to learn a dia- 
 lect, in which he could be assisted by no affin- 
 ity with the languages he already knew. He 
 was to do this without the help of any written 
 or printed specimens, with nothing in the shape 
 of a grammar or analysis, but merely by oral 
 communication with his Indian instructer, or 
 with other natives, who, however comparatively 
 intelligent, must from the nature of the case 
 have been very imperfect teachers. He applied 
 himself to the work with great patience and 
 sagacity, carefully noting the differences be- 
 tween the Indian and the English modes of 
 constructing words ; and, having once got a 
 clew to this, he pursued every noun and verb 
 he could think of through all possible varia- 
 tions. In this way he arrived at analyses and 
 rules, which he could apply for himself in a 
 general manner. 
 
 Neal says, that Eliot was able to speak the 
 language intelligibly after conversing with the 
 
 Stewart refers with much interest in the third volume of 
 his Philosophy ; and the Appendix to the sixth volume of 
 the Encyclopaedia Americana. The celebrated German 
 work, Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde, fyc, by 
 Adelung-, Vater, and Humboldt, is a wonderful treasury of 
 research. Roger Williams's Key into the Language of 
 America, reprinted by the Rhode Island Historical Soci- 
 ety, in 1827, as well as Eliot's Grammar, affords valuable 
 aid in these carious inquiries. 
 
44 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Indian servant a few months.* This in a limited 
 sense may be true; but he is said to have been 
 engaged two years in the process of learning, 
 before he went to preach to the Indians. In 
 that time he acquired a somewhat ready facility 
 in the use of that dialect, by means of which he 
 was to carry the instructions of spiritual truth 
 to the men of the forest, though as late as 
 1649 he still lamented his want of skill in this 
 respect. 
 
 When we consider the irksomeness of the 
 effort to learn, at the middle age of life, a new 
 tongue, remote in its character and derivation 
 from any already known to us, even with all the 
 aids of well-prepared books and trained instruc- 
 ted, we may form some estimate of the invin- 
 cible perseverance, the unwearied zeal, which 
 could impel Mr. Eliot to undertake, alone and 
 under every discouragement and difficulty, to 
 explore a dialect, that not only had no literary 
 treasures to reward his toil, but was merely 
 the unwritten medium of intercourse among the 
 squalid and barbarous natives of the wilder- 
 ness. Nothing but the sustaining influence of 
 a pious purpose, joined with great natural en- 
 ergy of spirit, could have carried him through 
 so heavy a labor. In the annals of literary 
 industry it is related of Cato, that he learned 
 Greek at an advanced age, and of Dr. Johnson^ 
 
 # History of New England, Vol. I. p. 242. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 45 
 
 that he studied Dutch a few years before his 
 death. In these cases there were abundant 
 helps and allurements. But a more honorable 
 fact is recorded of John Eliot, when it is told 
 that he found his way, through so many ob- 
 stacles, to the acquisition of a language, which 
 offered nothing to gratify taste or to impart 
 wisdom, solely that he might use the spoken 
 and written word for his God and his Savior. 
 Well might he say, as he does with pious 
 simplicity of heart at the end of his Indian 
 Grammar, " Prayer and pains through faith in 
 Christ Jesus will do any thing." 
 
46 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Eliot 1 s First Visits to the Indians at Nonantum. 
 
 Mr. Eliot's mental powers had now reached 
 the maturity of their strength ; his habits of 
 judgment were well formed and ripened ; his 
 zeal in the service of religion had by long ex- 
 ercise grown into a deep as well as fervent 
 principle of action. He was in the forty-second 
 year of his age, when he began to devote him- 
 self to the work of preaching Christianity to 
 the natives of New England. From the interest 
 he had taken in their language and their wel- 
 fare he was no stranger to such of the Indians, 
 as might be found in the neighborhood of 
 Roxbury. It may be presumed, that he had 
 already by personal acquaintance gained the 
 respect, perhaps the affection of some among 
 them. It w r ould seem from his own account, 
 that he had frequently conversed with the In- 
 dians on topics relating to their improvement, 
 before he visited them at their dwellings. 
 Some of them were so struck with the advan- 
 tages of the habits of civilized life, that tney 
 were desirous of adopting the customs of the 
 English. They expressed their belief, that in 
 forty years many of their people would be 
 
JOHN ELIOT 47 
 
 " all one " with the English, and that in a 
 hundred years they would all be so. They 
 hoped to coalesce with the white man, instead 
 of vanishing before him. Eliot was much af- 
 fected by this declaration. He endeavored to 
 make them understand, that the causes of the 
 superiority of the English were their posses- 
 sion of the knowledge of the true God, and 
 their skilful industry in the mechanical arts, 
 and in providing for themselves the comforts 
 of life by regular labor. They then lamented 
 their ignorance of God, and wished to be 
 taught how they might serve him. Eliot, glad 
 to find their interest thus excited, told them 
 he would visit them at their wigwams, and in- 
 struct them, together with their wives and 
 children, in the truths of religion. This prom- 
 ise they received with much joy.* 
 
 Notice having been given of his intention, 
 Mr. Eliot in company with three others, whose 
 names are not mentioned, having implored the 
 divine blessing on the undertaking, made his 
 first visit to the Indians on the 28th of Octo- 
 ber, 1646, at a place afterwards called Nonan- 
 tum, a spot, that has the honor of being the 
 firsj:, on which a civilized and Christian settle- 
 ment of Indians was effected within the Eng- 
 
 * Mr. Eliot's letter to Shepard in " The Clear Sun-shine 
 of the Gospel breaking forth upon the Indians in New- 
 England," p. 17. 
 
48 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 lish colonies of North America. This name 
 was given to the high grounds in the north- 
 east part of Newton, and to the bounds of that 
 town and Watertown. At a short distance 
 from the wigwams, they were met by Waban, 
 a leading man among the Indians at that place, 
 accompanied by others, and were welcomed 
 with " English salutations." * Waban, who is 
 described as " the chief minister of justice 
 among them," had before shown a better dis- 
 position, than any other native, to receive the 
 religious instruction of the Christians, and had 
 voluntarily proposed to have his eldest son 
 educated by them. His son had been accord- 
 ingly placed at school in Dedham, whence he 
 had now come to attend the meeting. 
 
 The Indians assembled in Waban's wigwam; 
 and thither Mr. Eliot and his friends were con- 
 ducted. When the company were all collected 
 and quiet, a religious service was begun with 
 prayer. This was uttered in English ; the 
 reason for which, as given by Mr. Eliot and 
 his companions, was, that he did not then feel 
 
 * Mr. Carne, who permits imagination, in some in- 
 stances, to take the place of sober history, describes Mr. 
 Eliot as approaching the Indians with " his translation of 
 the Scriptures, like a calumet of peace and love, in his 
 hand." — Lives of Eminent Missionaries, Vol. I. p. 10. Mr. 
 Carne should have remembered that the translation was 
 not accomplished till many years after this event. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 49 
 
 sufficiently acquainted with the Indian lan- 
 guage to use it in that service. The scruple 
 may, at first sight, seem overstrained, when we 
 remember that the meaning of the heart, not 
 the words of the lips, constitute the essence of 
 prayer. But the good man doubtless deemed 
 it irreverent to use in an exercise of devotion 
 those imperfect expressions, which might pos- 
 sibly convey improper or defective ideas to the 
 rude minds of his hearers ; an effect which, 
 especially at the outset, he would justly think 
 was by all means to be avoided. The same 
 difficulty would not occur in preaching, since 
 for this, we may suppose, he had sufficiently pre- 
 pared his thoughts and expressions to make his 
 discourse intelligible on all important points ; 
 and if he should, in some parts, fail of being 
 understood, he could repeat or correct himself, 
 till he should succeed better. Besides, he 
 took with him an interpreter, who was fre- 
 quently able to express his instructions more 
 distinctly, than he could himself. Though the 
 prayer was unintelligible to the Indians, yet, 
 as they knew what the nature of the service 
 was, Mr. Eliot believed it might be not without 
 an effect in subduing their feelings so as to 
 prepare them better to listen to the preaching. 
 It was moreover intended as an exercise of the 
 heart for himself and his brethren, with regard 
 to the duty before them. 
 
 vol. v. 4 Y 
 
50 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Mr. Eliot then began his sermon, or ad- 
 dress, from Ezek. xxxvu. 9, 10. The word 
 wind, in this passage suggested to the minds 
 of some, who afterwards gave an account of 
 this meeting, a coincidence which might, in 
 the spirit of the times, be construed into a 
 special appointment of Providence. The name 
 of Waban signified, in the Indian tongue, wind-, 
 so that when the preacher uttered the words, 
 " say to the wind," it was as if he had pro- 
 claimed, " say to Waban" As this man after- 
 wards exerted much influence in awaking the 
 attention of his fellow savages to Christiani- 
 ty, it might seem that in this first visit of 
 the messengers of the gospel he was singled 
 out by a special call to work in the cause. It 
 is not surprising that the Indians were struck 
 with the coincidence. Mr. Eliot gave no coun- 
 tenance to a superstitious use of the circum- 
 stance, and took care to tell them that, when 
 he chose his text, he had no thought of any 
 such application.* 
 
 In his discourse from this passage, the 
 preacher stated and explained to the untaught 
 minds of the assembly some of the leading 
 truths of natural religion, and of Christianity. 
 He repeated the ten commandments with brief 
 comments, and set forth the fearful conse- 
 quences of violating them, with special appli- 
 
 * Shepard's Clear Sunshine of the Gospel, fyc., p. 33. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 51 
 
 cations to the condition of his audience. He 
 spoke of the creation and fall of man, the 
 greatness of God, the means of salvation by 
 Jesus Christ, the happiness of faithful believ- 
 ers, and the final misery of the wicked, adding 
 such persuasions to repentance as he supposed 
 might touch their hearts. He did not choose 
 to take up more abstruse matters, till he had 
 given his untutored hearers a taste of " plain 
 and familiar truths." Of the topics which have 
 been mentioned, though high and difficult in 
 themselves, the preacher probably presented 
 only the most simple points, illustrated by 
 homely explanations. The sermon was an hour 
 and a quarter long. One cannot but suspect, 
 that Mr. Eliot injudiciously crowded too much 
 into one address. It would seem to have been 
 better, for the first time at least, to have given 
 a shorter sermon, and to have touched upon 
 fewer subjects. But he was doubtless borne 
 on by his zeal to do much in a good cause, 
 and, as we have reason to think, by the atten- 
 tive, though vague, curiosity of the Indians. 
 
 The scene presents itself to our imaginations 
 as one of deep interest. Here was a gifted 
 scholar, educated amidst the classic shades of 
 an English university, exiled from his native 
 land for conscience' sake, a man of high dis- 
 tinction in the churches of New England, 
 standing among the humble and rude huts of 
 
52 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the forest, surrounded by a peaceful group of 
 savages, on whose countenances might be 
 traced the varieties of surprise, belief, vacan- 
 cy, and perhaps half-suppressed scorn, seeking 
 to find some points of intercourse between his 
 own cultivated mind and their gross concep- 
 tions, that spiritual truth might enter into their 
 hearts, and leave its light and blessing there. 
 The communication of Christian instruction in 
 such a place, and under such circumstances, 
 has an affecting significance. To use the beau- 
 tiful illustration in the original narrative of 
 this visit, it was breaking the alabaster box 
 of precious ointment in the dark and gloomy 
 habitations of the unclean. 
 
 Our natural curiosity to know how this dis- 
 course was received can be in some measure 
 gratified. When the sermon was ended, Mr. 
 Eliot asked the Indians whether they under- 
 stood what he had said. Many voices at once 
 answered in the affirmative. They were then 
 requested to propose any questions, which 
 might have occurred to them in connexion 
 with the discourse. This drew from them 
 the following queries. First ; how they might 
 be brought to know Jesus Christ. Second ; 
 whether God or Jesus Christ could understand 
 prayers in the Indian language. Third; wheth- 
 er there ever w T as a time, when the English 
 were as ignorant of divine things as them- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 53 
 
 selves. Fourth; how could there be an image 
 of God, since it was forbidden in the fourth 
 commandment. Fifth; whether, if a father be 
 bad and his child good, God will be offended 
 with the child ; a question referring to what is 
 said in the second commandment. Sixth; how 
 came the world so full of people, if they were 
 all once drowned in the flood. These inquiries 
 seem natural, and some of them indicate a 
 more attentive state of mind, and deeper re- 
 flection, than could have been expected. The 
 second question affords a striking instance of 
 the views, which men in the lowest stage of 
 culture entertain of the attributes of the Deity. 
 It arose from the circumstance, that one of the 
 Indians, while praying in his own language, 
 was interrupted by another, who told him it 
 was useless to pray except in English, because 
 prayers in the Indian tongue would not be 
 understood by a Being, who had been accus- 
 tomed to hear them only in English. This 
 anecdote is valuable as an illustration of the 
 manner, in which the religious sentiment is 
 developed among savage tribes. The fifth 
 question is not without interest, as exhibiting 
 a tendency to more precise ideas of moral jus- 
 tice, than are commonly found in the specu- 
 lations of uncivilized man. All these que- 
 ries were answered by their visiters somewhat 
 at length, and with a judiciously directed 
 
 F2 
 
04 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 endeavor to meet and satisfy their state of 
 mind. 
 
 Mr. Eliot and his companions, wishing to 
 interest and enlighten them still further, pro- 
 posed in their turn a few questions, adapted to 
 draw out their thoughts respecting what they 
 had heard. They asked the Indians, whether 
 they would not like to see God, and whether 
 they were not tempted to doubt of his exist- 
 ence, because they could not see him. To this 
 some of them replied, that, although an actual 
 sight of this great Being would please them 
 much, yet they believed he was not to be seen 
 with the eyes of the body, but by " their soul 
 within." The answer implies a wise and 
 thoughtful recognition of a great principle ; 
 but it may have been only the verbal repetition 
 of what they had learned. Mr. Eliot then 
 asked them whether they found no difficulty in 
 believing, that one God should be in many 
 different and distant places at the same time. 
 Their reply was, that it did seem strange to 
 them, yet they thought it might be true. Their 
 instructer happily illustrated this point to their 
 apprehensions by comparing the divine omni- 
 presence to the light of the sun, which, while 
 it shone in one wigwam, shone also in the 
 next, and all over Massachusetts, and across 
 the big waters in old England also. He next 
 inquired of them, whether, when they had done 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 55 
 
 wrong, they did not feel trouble within, and 
 where they hoped to find comfort when they 
 should die. This appeal to the inextinguish- 
 able power of the moral faculty in the human 
 breast, and to the sentiment of immortality, 
 was answered by the confession, that they did 
 feel distressed when they had sinned, and that 
 they wished for further light on the subject ; 
 " for," says the account, " some knowledge of 
 the immortality of the soul almost all of them 
 have." Their reply gave their teacher an 
 opportunity to aim some pungent remarks at 
 their consciences and their fears. 
 
 Thus ended a conference three hours long, 
 at the end of which the Indians affirmed that 
 they were not weary, and requested their 
 visiters to come again. They expressed a 
 wish to build a town and live together. Mr. 
 Eliot promised to intercede for them with the 
 court. He and his companions then gave the 
 men some tobacco, and the children some 
 apples, and bade them farewell. 
 
 A fortnight afterwards, on the 11th of No- 
 vember, Mr. Eliot and his friends repeated 
 their visit to the wigwam of Waban. This 
 meeting was more numerous than the former 
 The religious service was opened, as before, 
 with a prayer in English. This was followed 
 by a few brief and plain questions addressed 
 to the children, admitting short and easy 
 
56 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 answers. The children seemed well disposed 
 to listen and learn. To encourage them, Mr. 
 Eliot gave them occasionally an apple or a 
 cake ; * and the adults were requested to re- 
 peat to them the instructions that had been 
 given. He then preached to the assembly in 
 their own language, telling them that he had 
 come to bring them good news from God, and 
 show them how wicked men might become 
 good and happy, and in general discoursing on 
 nearly the same topics as he had treated at his 
 first visit. 
 
 This was succeeded by conversation, in 
 which questions were proposed and answered. 
 One aged Indian touched the feelings of his 
 instructers by asking whether it were not too 
 late for such an old man as he to repent and 
 seek God. Their reply was an appropriate 
 illustration of the paternal mercy of the divine 
 character. They told the aged savage, that, as 
 a good father is always glad to welcome home 
 a son penitent for the wrong he has done, so 
 God would at no time refuse to pardon and 
 receive one of his repenting children. Some 
 of the assembly then desired to know how it 
 happened, that the English differed so much 
 from the Indians in their knowledge of God, 
 since they all had one common Father ; a 
 
 # This pleasant little circumstance is mentioned by 
 Winthrop, Vol. II. p. 304. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 57 
 
 question which furnished Mr. Eliot with an 
 opportunity to give them some explanation of 
 the religious history of mankind. Another in- 
 quiry was, how they might be brought to serve 
 God ; in answer to which they w T ere told, that 
 they must first feel their unworthiness, then 
 seek forgiveness, and strive to know God's 
 will, as a dutiful child would seek to know his 
 father's will. A fourth question was proposed, 
 which indicated a curiosity about natural phe- 
 nomena. How comes it to pass, said they, 
 that the sea water is salt, and the land water 
 fresh ? The reply was, that it was God's 
 pleasure to make them so, in the same way as 
 strawberries are sweet and cranberries sour, 
 for which there is no reason except that the 
 Creator so constituted them. However, an at- 
 tempt was made to explain the natural causes 
 and uses of the fact in question ; but these, it 
 is stated, were " less understood." This was 
 followed by another question of a like charac- 
 ter, namely, If the water be higher than the 
 earth, why does it not overflow the earth ? 
 To meet this difficulty, their visiters held up 
 an apple, and " showed them how the earth 
 and water made one round globe, like that 
 apple ; " and they compared the sea to a great 
 hole or ditch, into which when water is poured, 
 it is confined, and cannot overflow. The last 
 point they proposed was a question of casuistry ; 
 
58 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 If an Indian should steal goods, and not be 
 punished by the sachem or by any law, and 
 then should restore the goods, would all be 
 well and right, or would God still punish him 
 for his theft ? They were taught, that such 
 conduct would be an offence to God, who, if it 
 were not repented of, would punish the trans- 
 gressor, even if he should escape punishment 
 from man. There was a higher law, than hu- 
 man law, to which they must answer for their 
 conduct. 
 
 When the Indians had made an end of their in- 
 quiries, Mr. Eliot and his companions proposed 
 to them only two questions, the object of which 
 was to discover whether they remembered and 
 believed what they had heard. The meeting 
 was closed with prayer. This was expressed 
 in the Indian language, chiefly for the reason 
 that some doubt had formerly been raised 
 whether prayers in that tongue were under- 
 stood in Heaven ; a doubt which was probably 
 strengthened by Mr. Eliot's practice at the 
 first meeting. During the devotional exercise, 
 one of the assembly was deeply affected, even 
 to tears, illustrating the fine remark of Madame 
 de Stael, that " to pray together, in whatever 
 language and according to whatever ritual it 
 may be, is the most affecting bond of hope and 
 sympathy, which man can contract on earth." 
 After the prayer, the English visiters had some 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 59 
 
 conversation with this man, when he wept still 
 more, and seemed pierced to the heart by the 
 pungent power of divine truth. The fervent 
 appeals and the touching descriptions in Eliot's 
 preaching may well be supposed to have stirred 
 up strong emotions in a rude breast, brought 
 for the first time to feel, however confusedly, 
 the reality of spiritual things ; and in that ex- 
 citement might be the germ of an inward life, 
 which needed only time and opportunity to 
 grow into fulness and strength. The whole 
 afternoon was spent in this visit ; and as 
 nightfall approached, Mr. Eliot and the others 
 returned to their homes. 
 
 A third interview with these Indians took 
 place on the 26th of November, at which the 
 writer of the narrative before referred to was 
 not present. He has however given a brief 
 account of it, which he had from Mr. Eliot, 
 " the man of God," as he calls him, "who then 
 preached to them." Some impediments had 
 been thrown in the way of the good work since 
 the last meeting by persuasions and menaces. 
 Neal ascribes this mischievous interference to 
 the powaws or priests.* But Eliot's account 
 does not specify them particularly ; though it 
 is natural to suppose that their agency was not 
 wanting in the business. This circumstance 
 gave the preacher occasion to warn the Indians 
 
 * History of New England, Vol. I. p. 244. 
 
60 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 against the temptations of the Devil ; which, 
 as the account affirms, he did with great pun- 
 gency and effect. The Indians were more 
 serious than ever. Among the questions they 
 started were the following; Whether it were 
 lawful, as some of their people affirmed, to 
 pray to the Devil ; what was meant by humili- 
 ation ; why the English called them Indians ; 
 what a spirit is ; whether dreams are to be 
 believed. To all which, as the narrative states, 
 they had fit answers ; but these are not given. 
 On the Saturday night after this third meet- 
 ing, a judicious Indian, by the name of Wampas, 
 went as a messenger from Nonantum to Mr. 
 Eliot's house in Roxbury. He took with him 
 his own son, and three other children. He 
 asked permission to leave them with the Eng- 
 lish, that they might be educated to know 
 God ; for, he said, if they remained at home, 
 they would grow up in rudeness and wicked- 
 ness. The children were at the ages of four, 
 five, eight, and nine years. What became of 
 them we know not. We only learn that Wam- 
 pas received a promise, with which he was 
 satisfied, that his request should be complied 
 with as soon as convenience would permit. 
 This would seem to have presented a favorable 
 opportunity for trying the experiment of a 
 Christian education upon Indian children; and 
 it would be gratifying to learn the result. 
 
JOHN ELIOT, 61 
 
 Wampas was attended by two young and 
 strong Indians, who wished to find employ- 
 ment as servants in English families, that they 
 might be in the way of knowing and enjoying 
 the true religion. These were among the num- 
 ber, who had appeared deeply affected at the 
 Nonantum meetings. How long their good 
 impressions lasted, we are not informed ; but 
 situations were obtained for them in families, 
 according to their request. 
 
 Mr. Eliot experienced great satisfaction in 
 being informed of the zeal of Waban. On the 
 night after the third meeting, this man had 
 been heard by an English youth instructing 
 his company in the truths they had listened to 
 from the preacher that day ; and, when he 
 awoke in the night, he would be continually 
 praying and exhorting. Eliot's companion ex- 
 presses his belief, that this man might become 
 an instrument of great usefulness, but still does 
 not conceal his apprehension that " cowardice 
 or witchery " might blast the hopeful promise 
 in this, as in some other cases ; a fear, which 
 in the instance of Waban was not realized. 
 
 It is further related, that the old man, who 
 asked the affecting question at the second 
 meeting, had six sons, one of whom, and his 
 wife, were powaws. These had resolved to 
 abandon their sorceries and to seek Christian 
 instruction ; for they now believed that God 
 
 G 
 
62 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 was the only author of good, and they would 
 have nothing more to do with Chepian, that is, 
 the Devil. The young Indians, who had ac- 
 companied Wampas, explained to the English 
 the manner, in which their powaws were made ; 
 and it is a somewhat curious fact in the history 
 of the religion of barbarous tribes. It seems, 
 that if any Indian happened to have a certain 
 strange dream, in which Chepian appeared to 
 him in the form of a serpent, the next day he 
 would relate his dream to his companions. 
 This was immediately regarded by them as an 
 intimation from the invisible world, that the 
 person so visited in his sleep must be made 
 a powaw. The Indians consequently would 
 gather together, and dance and rejoice around 
 him for two days. This was considered as his 
 institution in the office of priest; and thence- 
 forth his chief business was to cure the sick 
 by magical powers and odd gesticulations. 
 Yet there seems to have been nothing sacred in 
 his person ; if a patient died under his hands, 
 he was bitterly reviled, and very likely to be 
 killed by some of the friends of the deceased, 
 especially if they could not recover what they 
 had paid for the promised cure ; for, it ap- 
 pears, the powaw took care to get his fee 
 beforehand. 
 
 On the 9th of December a fourth meeting of 
 the Indians was held at Nonantum. Of this 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 63 
 
 we have but a brief and general account. It 
 is stated, that the Indians offered all their 
 children to be instructed by the English, and 
 lamented that they were unable to pay any 
 thing for their education. This suggested the 
 necessity of making preparations for establish- 
 ing a school among or near them ; an object 
 which Mr. Eliot had always much at heart, and 
 which he rightly judged to be one of the most 
 important means of accomplishing his bene\o- 
 lent purposes. At this meeting a passage of 
 Scripture was explained, and applied to the 
 condition of his hearers. Questions, as before, 
 were proposed by both parties. One of the 
 assembly complained of a new species of perse- 
 cution from his fellows. He stated, that they 
 reviled the Christian Indians, and called them 
 rogues, for cutting off their hair and wearing 
 it short, as the English did. We discover an 
 amusing specimen of the notions, which then 
 prevailed, when we are told it was considered 
 an evidence of the influence of Christianity on 
 the natives, that they became sensible of " the 
 vanity and pride which they placed in their 
 hair," and, without any persuasion, cut it off, 
 after " the modest manner " of their civilized 
 neighbors. If we are inclined to smile at this, 
 we should remember, that, in times c'a'ming to 
 be more enlightened, other things, as frivolous 
 and indifferent as this, have been made matters 
 
64 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of religious duty. It was not long afterwards, 
 that the offence of wearing long hair became 
 so formidable in New England, as to induce 
 grave magistrates to enter into a combination 
 for its suppression. Mr. Eliot, we may pre- 
 sume, was as decided an enemy to long natural 
 locks, as we shall hereafter see he was to the 
 practice of wearing wigs. 
 
 Our good evangelist* was much encouraged 
 by the evidences of piety in Waban and some 
 others. They used in their prayers such fer- 
 vent and devout expressions as these ; " Take 
 away, Lord, my stony heart ; wash, Lord, my 
 soul; Lord, lead me, when I die, to heaven." 
 These words they had not, as we might sus- 
 pect, learned by rote; for their preacher af- 
 firmed he had never used them in his prayers 
 at their meetings. There were indications of a 
 true religious feeling among the Indians, which 
 Eliot was thankfully disposed to consider as 
 omens of good. He and his companions, how- 
 ever, were not credulous. They indulged with 
 caution and sobriety the hopes these meetings 
 had inspired. They were well aware, to use 
 the language of their narrative, that " the pro- 
 
 * Mr Eliot's modesty induced him earnestly to dis- 
 claim "the title of evangelist," which he so truly deserved, 
 and which designates justly his peculiar labors, bee 
 Whitfield's Farther Discovery of the Present State of the 
 Indians in New England, p. 18. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 65 
 
 fession of many is but a mere paint, and their 
 best graces nothing but flashes and pangs, 
 which are suddenly kindled, and as soon go 
 out again." But they labored in faith ; for, 
 they said, " God doth not usually send his 
 plough and seedsman to a place, but there is 
 at least some little piece of good ground, al- 
 though three to one be naught." They were 
 delighted to believe,that the minds of some of 
 the savages were open to the reception of 
 divine truth, and that by God's blessing the 
 good seed, sown in a soil hitherto dry and 
 barren, would yet spring up, and in time yield 
 the true fruit. 
 
 I have ventured to be the more particular in 
 describing these four meetings, which Eliot 
 and his associates had with the Indians at 
 Nonantum, because they were the commence- 
 ment* of that mission, to which he devoted so 
 large a part of his life and strength, and be- 
 cause they afford, probably, a fair specimen 
 of his general manner of instruction. They 
 bear unequivocal testimony to his singleness 
 
 * There had indeed been a meeting at Cutshamakin's 
 wigwam, near " Dorchester mill," six weeks before the first 
 meeting at Nonantum; but it amounted to little, and I 
 know not that any account of it is to be found. Mr Eliot 
 himself says, " I first began with the Indians of Noonan- 
 etum " (Nonantum). — Shepard's Chare Sun-shine, fyc, 
 p. 17. 
 
 vol, v. 5 G 2 
 
66 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of heart, and to the kind and faithful spirit, 
 in which this excellent man entered upon his 
 arduous task.* 
 
 * For a notice of the original narrative, from which is 
 taken the above account of the first visits to Nonantum, 
 and of other ancient tracts used in preparing this Me- 
 moir, see Appendix, No. I. 
 
 To this place belongs an extract from the Roxbury 
 Church Records in Eliot's handwriting, under the year 
 1646, for which I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. 
 Mr. Putnam, and which may preserve for the curious a 
 singular fact in the history of our climate. It is as fol- 
 lows. " This winter was one of the mildest that ever we 
 had ; no snow all winter long, nor sharp weather ; but they 
 had long floods at Connecticut, which was much [injury] 
 to their corn in the meadows. We never had a bad day 
 to go and preach to the Indians all this winter, praised 
 be the Lord." 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 67 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Nonantum Establishment. — Meetings and 
 Eliofs Preaching at Neponset. — Cutshamakin. 
 — Questions and Difficulties proposed by the 
 Indians. — Eliot at Concord. 
 
 Mr. Eliot's care for the Indians was not 
 confined to religious teaching. It was his 
 favorite and well-known opinion, that no per- 
 manent good effect could be produced by ef- 
 forts for their spiritual welfare, unless civiliza- 
 tion and social improvement should precede or 
 accompany such efforts.* In conformity with 
 this sound view of the subject, he had already 
 endeavored to introduce among them the bene- 
 fits of a school. He now aimed to soften, and 
 gradually to abolish, their savage mode of life, 
 by bringing them together under some social 
 
 * This opinion he has expressed in many passages of 
 his letters. The Reverend John Danforth of Dorchester, 
 who wrote verses consecrated to the memory of Eliot, put 
 his hints on this subject into rhyme ; 
 
 " Address, I pray, your senate for good orders 
 To civilize the heathen in our borders." 
 
 And again ; 
 
 " We hope in vain the plant of grace will thrive 
 In forests where civility can't live." 
 
 See 1 M. H. Coll. IX. 176. 
 
DO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 arrangement. The Indians, with Waban at 
 their head, formed the plan of a settlement, 
 and framed certain laws for their own regula- 
 tion. These laws are interesting, as specimens 
 of savage legislation, and as indicating the 
 existing habits among these people. They re- 
 late entirely to the promotion of decency, 
 cleanliness, industry, and good order.* 
 
 When the natives had received a grant of 
 land for the settlement, they next wished to 
 find a name for it. Their English friends ad- 
 vised them to call it Noonatomen or Nonan- 
 tum, which name was accordingly adopted. f 
 
 They now began to work very industriously, 
 being encouraged and aided by Mr. Eliot, who 
 promised to furnish them with spades, shovels, 
 mattocks, iron crows, &c, and to give them 
 sixpence a rod for their work on the ditches 
 and walls. So zealous were they in their new 
 enterprise, that he says they called for tools 
 
 * See Day-Breaking of the Gospell, Sfc, p. 22. 
 
 f The name is variously written by different authors, 
 and sometimes by the same, Nonantum, Nonandem, Noon- 
 atomen, and Noonanetum. " This towne the Indians did 
 desire to know what name it should have, and it was told 
 them it should bee called Noonatomen, which signifies in 
 English rejoycing, because, they hearing the word and seek- 
 ing to know God, the English did rejoyce at it, and God 
 did rejoyce at it, which pleased them much ; and therefore 
 that is to be the name of their towne." — The Day-Breaking; 
 of the Gospell, ^c, p. 22. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 69 
 
 faster than he could supply them. The wig- 
 wams they built were in a better style than 
 formerly. Before this time they had used 
 mats ; but now they used the bark of trees in 
 constructing their humble dwellings, and had 
 in them distinct rooms. 
 
 By Eliot's direction they fenced their 
 grounds with ditches and stone walls, some 
 vestiges of which were remembered by persons 
 in the latter part of the last century. Their 
 women partook of the spirit of improvement, 
 and became skilful spinners, their good teach- 
 er himself taking pains to procure wheels for 
 them. They began to experience the stimulat- 
 ing advantages of traffic, and found something 
 to carry to market in the neighboring towns. 
 In the winter they sold brooms, staves, eel-pots, 
 baskets, and turkeys ; in the summer, whortle- 
 berries, grapes, and fish ; in the spring and 
 autumn, strawberries, cranberries, and venison. 
 In the season for hay and harvest, they some- 
 times worked on wages for their English neigh- 
 bors, but were not found to be hardy and per- 
 severing laborers. 
 
 The impulse of improvement, however im- 
 perfect, was strongly felt. The poorest wig- 
 wams among them were equal to those of the 
 princes or sachems in other places. Their in- 
 fant settlement, rude and poor as it must neces- 
 sarily have been, already began to show, that 
 
70 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 man, amidst the relations of a community in 
 some degree orderly, working with his own 
 hands for himself and his family, is a being 
 far superior to man roaming through the 
 forest in reckless vagrancy, w T ith no excitement 
 to industry in any form, and dividing his time 
 between hunting and sleep. 
 
 The interest, which Eliot took in founding 
 and promoting this little establishment, is 
 scarcely less honorable to his memory, than his 
 labors of piety. When we thus see one, whose 
 talents and attainments fitted him to stand 
 with the highest in the land, busying himself 
 in the minute details of such an enterprise, 
 procuring tools for the men and spinning- 
 wheels for the women, advising and assisting 
 them with the kindness of paternal wisdom in 
 their new attempt at social order, we cannot 
 but feel, that in the humblest work of benevo- 
 lence, which man performs for his fellow man, 
 there are the elements of true moral greatness. 
 We are reminded of the excellent Oberlin, the 
 pastor of Waldbach, whose life is one of the 
 most delightful narratives in the history of the 
 lowly but important labors of devoted piety. # 
 
 * Hutchinson (1. 153), who is followed in the History 
 of .Yeidon (1 M. H. Coll. V. 259), says, that the Indians 
 built a house for public worship at Nonantum, fifty feet 
 long and twenty -five broad, which Mr. Wilson said, "ap- 
 peared like the workmanship of an English house wright." 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 71 
 
 Thus was established a company of praying 
 Indians, by which significant appellation the 
 converts to Christianity became distinguished. 
 
 Another place for religious meetings and in- 
 struction was found at Neponset, within the 
 limits of Dorchester. There our evangelist 
 preached in the wigwam of a sachem named 
 Cutshamakin. Gookin informs us, that this 
 man was the first sachem to whom Mr. Eliot 
 preached. It is probable that the operations 
 at Nonantum and at Neponset were nearly 
 simultaneous in their origin. They appear to 
 have been carried on alternately for some time. 
 
 With Cutshamakin the English had entered 
 into a treaty. He was one of the chiefs, who 
 in 1643 made a voluntary proffer of submission 
 to the government of the colony, agreeing to 
 observe their laws, on condition of receiving 
 the same protection which was extended to 
 other subjects. When this agreement was 
 ratified, they were made to understand the 
 articles, and " all the ten commandments of 
 God,"* to which they gave a full assent. This 
 curious specimen of the intermixture of reli- 
 
 This I suppose to be an erroneous statement. I cannot 
 find that any house for public worship was built at Nonan- 
 tum. Wilson's remark was applied to the house subse- 
 quently built at Natick, which was of the dimensions here 
 given. I suppose Hutchinson inadvertently transferred it 
 to Nonantum. 
 
 * Savage's IVinthrop, Vol. II. p. 157. 
 
72 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 gious instruction with a civil negotiation shows, 
 at least, a pious solicitude on the part of our 
 fathers for the good of the natives ; but, we 
 may suppose, the assent to the ten command- 
 ments was easily gained, if the other articles 
 were satisfactory. 
 
 At what time Cutshamakin became a Chris- 
 tian, or professed to be such, I have not dis- 
 covered. From the circumstance of Eliot's 
 giving lectures in his wigwam in 1646, it may 
 be presumed, that then, if not before, he was 
 favorably disposed towards the cause of the 
 " praying Indians." Mr. Eliot relates an in- 
 teresting case of discipline, which occurred in 
 this man's family. A son of the sachem, fif- 
 teen years old,, had been guilty of drunken- 
 ness ; he had also treated his parents with 
 contumacy and disobedience. When instructed 
 in the Catechism by Mr. Eliot, in repeating the 
 fifth commandment, he would omit the word 
 mother, and was very reluctant to say honor thy 
 father. For this conduct he was admonished. 
 He confessed the truth of what was alleged 
 against him, but at the same time accused his 
 father of treating him angrily, and compelling 
 him to drink sack. He was severely rebuked 
 by Eliot and Wilson* for his want of filial rev- 
 erence, but without effect. 
 
 * Rev. John Wilson of Boston, who sometimes accom- 
 panied Mr. Eliot. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 73 
 
 They were aware, however, that the son's 
 accusations against his father were not ground- 
 less. On the next lecture day, therefore, they 
 exhorted Cutshamakin to prepare the way for 
 his son's reformation by confessing his own 
 sins, of which, they knew, the number was 
 neither few nor light. Being thus faithfully 
 admonished, he honestly acknowledged and 
 bitterly lamented his offences. This example 
 had a good effect on all the Indians present, 
 who then joined their endeavors with those of 
 Eliot and Wilson to soften the son into a peni- 
 tent state of feeling. At last the boy yielded, 
 made the most humble confession, and, taking 
 his father's hand, entreated his forgiveness. 
 His humiliation overcame his parents so much, 
 that they wept aloud ; and the board on which 
 the stern and passionate sachem stood was 
 wet with his tears.* 
 
 In this anecdote, told with Eliot's charac- 
 teristic simplicity, it is delightful to recognise 
 the subduing spirit of love bursting forth in 
 the bosom of the savage, like a beautiful wild- 
 flower from the cleft of a rock ; and we cannot 
 fail to observe with pleasure the kind, judi- 
 cious, and patient discipline, by which Eliot 
 and his companions brought the heart of the 
 
 * Shepard's Chare Sun-shine of the Gospel, $"c, p. 21. 
 
 H 
 
74 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 rebellious young savage into the bonds of filial 
 obedience and affection. 
 
 A remark, made by Cutshamakin on one oc- 
 casion, shows a thoughtful and serious state of 
 mind. He said, that before he knew the true 
 God, he had been at ease and satisfied with 
 himself; but, since that time, he had found his 
 heart full of sin, more so than he had ever im- 
 agined it to be before ; " and at this day," he 
 continued, " my heart is but very little better 
 than it was, and I am afraid it will be as bad 
 again as it was before ; therefore I sometimes 
 wish I might die before I be so bad again." 
 
 Cutshamakin formed a true estimate of him- 
 self, when he distrusted his own reformation. 
 His wild passions were never well tamed; and 
 he was never a trustworthy man, or a hopeful 
 convert. At a subsequent period, about the 
 time of the settlement of Natick, hereafter to 
 be mentioned, he protested strenuously against 
 Mr. Eliot's proceeding to establish an Indian 
 town. He was violent on the subject, and 
 affirmed that all the sachems felt as he did. 
 Eliot's manner of subduing this opposition 
 bears honorable testimony to his invincible 
 firmness anxl his strong good sense. He found 
 that the Indians friendly to his undertaking 
 were frightened by the sachem's violence, 
 turned pale, and slunk away, leaving him to 
 contest the matter alone. He saw the necessity 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 75 
 
 of prompt resolution. With calm courage he 
 told Cutshamakin, that, as he was about God's 
 work, he feared neither him nor the other sa- 
 chems, and that, let them do what they would, 
 he should go on with his undertaking. The 
 spirit of the savage sunk before this deter- 
 mined firmness, as fierce animals are said 
 sometimes to be subdued by looking at them 
 with a stern and steady eye. This victory over 
 the violence of the chief contributed not a lit- 
 tle to strengthen the apostle's influence with 
 the other Indians. 
 
 The matter did not rest here. When Eliot 
 took leave of the meeting, Cutshamakin ac- 
 companied him a short distance, and unbur- 
 dened his heart by stating honestly the ground 
 of his opposition. He alleged that the "pray- 
 ing Indians " did not pay him tribute, as they 
 used to do before they became such. He was 
 alarmed, therefore, at the idea of losing his 
 accustomed revenues, should such settlements 
 be encouraged. Mr. Eliot, finding him now 
 brought to reason, treated him very kindly 
 He reminded the sachem, that this complaint 
 was not a new one, and that, when he had 
 heard it before, he had preached a discourse to 
 inculcate upon the Indians their duty in this 
 respect. Cutshamakin acknowledged that the 
 teaching was good, but complained that the 
 Indians would not do as they were taught ; 
 
76 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 they would not pay the tribute ; and this, he 
 affirmed, was the cause of that jealousy, with 
 which all the sachems observed these new 
 movements. 
 
 Eliot saw, that here was an evil not to be 
 neglected. He consulted the magistrates, Mr. 
 Cotton, and the elders in Boston, on the sub- 
 ject. Mr. Cotton's discourse at the next 
 Thursday lecture in Boston was to be on a 
 topic appropriate to the point. Eliot, being 
 apprized of this, advised such of the Indians 
 as understood English to attend the lecture. 
 By what they heard on that occasion, and by 
 what was told them otherwise, they were much 
 troubled to find themselves accused of refusing 
 to pay the just tribute to their sachem. They 
 declared the accusation to be false, and speci- 
 fied to Mr. Eliot all the particulars of service 
 and of gifts, which they had contributed to 
 Cutshamakin's revenue, such as twenty bushels 
 of corn at one time, six at another, several 
 days spent in hunting for him, fifteen deer 
 killed for him, breaking two acres of land, 
 building a large wigwam for him, &c. All 
 these Mr. Eliot set down in writing ; and, 
 though they were contributed but by a few, he 
 found to his surprise that they amounted to 
 nearly thirty pounds. He now saw, that the 
 sachem's complaint was groundless, and that 
 the real source of his resentment was in the 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 77 
 
 diminution of that despotic power, which he 
 once exercised over his subjects, and by which 
 he could dispose of their lives and goods at 
 pleasure. He still received a just and reason- 
 able tribute ; but the authority to exact what- 
 ever he might choose was questioned, and he 
 was sometimes freely admonished of the faults 
 of his government. 
 
 Mr. Eliot had now the difficult task of con- 
 vincing Cutshamakin of the injustice of his 
 complaints. At the next meeting of the In- 
 dians he took with him an elder by the name 
 of Heath. They found the sachem sullen with 
 resentment, and turning on them very sour 
 looks. Of this they took no notice, and Mr. 
 Eliot proceeded to preach as usual. He took 
 for his subject the account of the temptation 
 in the fourth chapter of Matthew. When he 
 came to the explanation of the eighth and 
 ninth verses, he applied it to Cutshamakin's 
 case, told him that he was guilty of wicked 
 ambition and lust of power, that a temptation 
 from Satan was upon him, soliciting him to 
 give up praying to God, that is, being a Chris- 
 tian, for the sake of recovering the greatness 
 of his former arbitrary dominion. The preach- 
 er exhorted him to reject the temptation, warn- 
 ing him that otherwise God would reject him. 
 The appeal was not lost on the sachem. After 
 the discourse, Mr. Eliot and the elder had 
 
 H2 
 
78 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 " much conference " with him. At length he 
 appeared satisfied, and returned to a fair and 
 orderly course of conduct.* But he was al- 
 ways an unsafe man, veering about with every 
 gust of passion, violent equally in his offences 
 and his repentance. 
 
 Mr. Eliot's conduct on this occasion is cer- 
 tainly worthy of all praise, both for the im- 
 movable firmness with which he repulsed the 
 turbulent onset of the sachem, and for the pa- 
 tient justice with which he afterwards investi- 
 gated the case, and brought the difficulty to an 
 equitable conclusion. 
 
 At one of the meetings at Neponset, the In- 
 dians with great anxiety inquired, whether it 
 were possible for any of them to go to heaven, 
 " seeing they found their hearts so full of 
 sin." This gave their preacher an opportunity 
 to open the whole subject to them, and to show 
 them how they might hope for the pardon of 
 sin through the Savior. 
 
 The only dependence of the Indians in case 
 of illness was on the miserable operations of 
 their powaws ; and they naturally shrunk from 
 the thought of losing what they supposed their 
 
 * See Eliot's letter in Whitfield's Farther Discovery of 
 the Present State of the Indians, p. 39. — The above ac- 
 count, though out of place as to the time, I have inserted 
 here as belonging to the history of this sachem. In this 
 case the chronological order is of little importance. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 79 
 
 sole protection against fatal disease. Eliot, 
 with his usual good sense, saw that the only 
 way to remove this fear was to have them in- 
 structed in the use of prop-er medical remedies. 
 He himself had endeavored to give them some 
 general notions of anatomy and physic, but 
 with little success. In this connexion, he ex- 
 presses his earnest wish, that their friends in 
 England might be induced to furnish mainte- 
 nance for some persons, who might give them 
 medical and anatomical instruction. By these 
 means, he thought, while important benefits 
 would be conferred on the natives, some ad- 
 vantage might also be expected for the healing 
 art; since, by the help of the Indians and of 
 the colonists, many new plants, valuable for 
 their medicinal efficacy, might perhaps be dis- 
 covered, to enrich the pharmacopoeia of medi- 
 cal science.* 
 
 Another difficulty occurred. The Indians 
 who opposed Christianity would ask the con- 
 verts tauntingly ; " What do you get by pray- 
 ing to God and believing in Jesus Christ ? You 
 are as poor as we, your clothes and your corn 
 
 * Cleare Sun-shine, &c, p. 26. — It may be worth re- 
 cording, as a fact in the history of anatomical studies 
 among us, that, according to Eliot's statement, there had 
 been at that time (1647) but one skeleton in the country, 
 upon which, he says, a Mr. Giles Firman had read some 
 good lectures. 
 
°0 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 are no better than ours, and meanwhile we 
 take more pleasure than you do. If we couid 
 see that you gain any thing by being Chris- 
 tians, we would be so too." This reminds us 
 of the scoffing question of the irreligious in 
 ancient times ; " What profit should we have, 
 if we pray unto him ? " * What should they 
 say to such persons 1 Mr. Eliot's answer to 
 the inquiry was very happily conceived. 
 
 He told them, that there are two sorts of 
 blessings ; the little ones, which he illustrated 
 by holding up his little finger, and the great 
 ones, which he signified by extending his 
 thumb, for they delighted in such symbolical ex- 
 planations. " The little mercies," he continued, 
 " are riches, good clothes, houses, pleasant food, 
 &c; the great ones are wisdom, the know- 
 ledge of God and Christ, of truth and eternal 
 life. Now, though God may not give you any 
 large measure of the little blessings, he gives 
 you what is much better, the great blessings ; 
 and these are things which those wicked In- 
 dians do not see or understand." Their teacher, 
 however, let them know that godliness has a re- 
 ward even in the things of this life; "for," said 
 he, " in proportion as you become wiser and 
 better Christians, you will be more industrious 
 and orderly, and then you will have better 
 
 * Job xxi. 15. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 81 
 
 clothes, more comfortable houses, and other 
 improvements." Thus skilfully and patiently 
 did the good evangelist accommodate his in- 
 structions to their conceptions and difficulties. 
 
 About this time, a question of casuistry was 
 proposed by some of the natives, which per- 
 plexed their teacher not a little. They had 
 been, it seems, exceedingly addicted to gam- 
 ing, a passion for which is generally one of the 
 strongest in the breast of savage as well as 
 civilized man. Those of them who received 
 Mr. Eliot's instructions were convinced of the 
 unlawfulness of this practice. Their query 
 then was, whether they were bound to pay the 
 debts they had formerly incurred by gaming ; 
 for these debts were demanded by such as 
 were not " praying Indians." Mr. Eliot saw 
 that the case was embarrassing, and that, 
 as he says, " there was a snare underneath." 
 On the one hand, he would not say any thing 
 which they could so construe as to countenance 
 the sin of gaming ; on the other, he would 
 not teach them to violate their promises. 
 
 In this dilemma, he first advised them, when 
 such debts were claimed, to refer the case to 
 the governor of the colony, presuming that 
 measures might be taken by him to settle the 
 matter to the satisfaction of both parties. But 
 this proposal was not relished. He then took 
 
 vol. v. 6 
 
82 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 another course. First, he talked with the cred- 
 itor, urged on him the sinfulness of the game- 
 ster's practices, and told him, that, having been 
 guilty in this respect, he ought to be willing 
 to give up half of his claim, to which it is 
 rather remarkable that he cheerfully consented. 
 He then talked with the debtor, reminding him 
 that, though he had sinned in gaming, and 
 must heartily repent of that transgression, yet, 
 as he had promised payment, and as God re- 
 quires us to perform our promises, it would be 
 a sin to violate his obligation. He then pro- 
 posed to the debtor, that he should pay one 
 half of the debt, to which he gave a very wil- 
 ling assent. With, this compromise, the one 
 surrendering half, and the other agreeing to 
 pay half, both parties were satisfied. 
 
 This mode of settling the difficulty came to 
 be the established rule of justice in such cases.* 
 It may be doubted whether Mr. Eliot's decision 
 would receive the approbation of every casuist; 
 but its effect on such minds as he had to deal 
 with was unquestionably salutary. 
 
 While these efforts were in progress at No- 
 nantum and Neponset, the attention of our In- 
 dian evangelist was called to another quarter. 
 The doings at the former place had been re- 
 ported among the Indians, and had excited a 
 
 # Cleare Sun-shine of the Gospel, pp. 26-28. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 83 
 
 good deal of interest. Tahattawan, a sachem 
 at Concord, with some of his people, went to 
 Nonantum and heard Mr. Eliot preach. Wheth- 
 er he received any religious impressions at this 
 time, we know not ; but we learn that he was 
 smitten with a desire to rise above the wild 
 courses of savage life, and to imitate English 
 habits. Having learned that this project was 
 secretly opposed by many of his people, he 
 summoned his chief men around him, and as- 
 sured them that what the English were doing 
 was for their good. " For," said he, " what have 
 you gained, while you have lived under the 
 power of the higher sachems, after the Indian 
 fashion ? They only sought to get what they 
 could from you, and exacted at their pleasure 
 your kettles, your skins, and your wampum. 
 But the English, you see, do no such things ; 
 they seek only your welfare, and, instead of 
 taking from you, they give to you." * 
 
 The effect of the sachem's speech was to 
 draw his people to his way of thinking. The 
 result appeared in a body of twenty-nine " con- 
 clusions and orders," which were established 
 as rules of government and behavior. Some 
 of these regulations related to moral points, 
 forbidding drunkenness, lying, theft, powaw- 
 ing, and adultery, and enjoining humility, 
 
 * Ibid., p. 2. 
 
54 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 peaceful living, improvement of time, obser- 
 vance of the Sabbath, &c. ; others were de- 
 signed to promote neatness, order, and mutual 
 respect in their daily conduct. Shepard, who 
 gives a list of all these rules, says that they 
 were generally well observed, and that most 
 of the Indians set up morning and evening 
 prayer in their families. 
 
 In drawing up these regulations, they had 
 the assistance of the wisest Indians at Nonan- 
 tum, and probably, through them, of Mr. Eliot. 
 They requested Captain Willard of Concord 
 to put them in writing, and to act as their re- 
 corder. They also desired the apostle to visit 
 and preach to then% and wished to have a town 
 granted to them near the English, that by the 
 neighborhood they might keep up a love for 
 religious instruction and for the word of God. 
 Such an opportunity for usefulness in his own 
 beloved way Mr. Eliot of course would rejoice 
 to improve. He visited the Concord Indians 
 as often as his pressing duties would permit. 
 He met their wants, and answered their inqui- 
 ries, with his usual Avinning affection and good 
 judgment. Land was granted them for a town 
 according to their request ; * but strong oppo- 
 
 * So says Shepard in his Chare Sun-shine, fyc, p. 3. But 
 Mr. Shattuck doubts whether there was, as has often been 
 stated, any definite grant of land to the Indians, either at 
 Concord or Nonantum. He thinks " they lived by suffer- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 85 
 
 sition from some of the natives prevented the 
 settlement at that time. 
 
 A few years afterwards, by the mediation of 
 Eliot, the object was accomplished. An Indian 
 town called Nashobah, a name given to a ter- 
 ritory lying partly in Littleton and partly in 
 Acton, was constituted. They had the insti- 
 tutions of Christian worship, and an Indian 
 teacher, probably one prepared by our evange- 
 list.* The desire of enjoying some of those 
 comforts of life, of which they saw the English 
 in possession, seems to have led the natives at 
 Concord to take the first step towards em- 
 bracing Christianity. 
 
 ance on lands claimed by the English, prior to their gather- 
 ing- at Natick." — History of Concord, p. 24. 
 
 * In addition to 3 M. H. Coll., IV. 38-41, see Shat- 
 tuck's History of Concord, pp. 20-27, and Emerson's 
 Historical Discourse, Sept. Wth, 1835, pp. 18-20. Mr. 
 Shattuck (p. 26) has given a copy of Eliot's petition to the 
 General Court in behalf of the Indians, who were dis- 
 turbed in the places where they settled. 
 
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Visit of Shepard and. Others to Nonantum. — A 
 Court established for the " Praying Indians.' 1 — 
 Their Appearance before a Synod. — Their 
 Questions. — Their Observance of the Sabbath. 
 — Funeral of a Child. 
 
 The Indian work was regarded with deep 
 interest by other clergymen, as well as by 
 Eliot, though on him the main responsible- 
 ness and the chief labor always rested. On 
 the 3d of March, 1647, Mr. Shepard of Cam- 
 bridge, Mr. Wilson of Boston, Mr. Allen of 
 Dedham, and Mr. Dunster, president of Har- 
 vard College, accompanied by others, attended 
 the lecture at Nonantum. 
 
 Of this visit Shepard has left a brief ac- 
 count. The women seem to have been objects 
 of more attention than at any time before. I* 
 was considered improper for them to propound 
 questions publicly themselves. They were 
 therefore requested to communicate their in- 
 quiries to their husbands, or to the interpreter 
 privately, who would propose them before the 
 assembly. Two questions were accordingly 
 stated, the first that were ever propounded 
 from their women in this public way. One was 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 87 
 
 suggested by the wife of Wampas, who has 
 been before mentioned. " When my husband 
 prays," said she, " if I say nothing, and yet my 
 heart goes along with what he says, do I pray ? " 
 This inquiry indicates that doubtful tendency 
 towards the true idea of devotion, which be- 
 longs to a mind just awakened to spiritual 
 thought, but ignorant of spiritual relations. 
 She was of course instructed, that prayer, be- 
 ing an act of the heart, is true and efficient, 
 whether words be uttered or not. 
 
 Mr. Eliot mentions this woman with great 
 interest, in a letter written more than a year 
 after this meeting. She was one of those 
 at the Nonantum establishment, who had 
 learned to spin, and was remarkable for her 
 industry and good management of her chil- 
 dren. She was attacked with an illness, in 
 which she suffered much and which proved 
 fatal. When Mr. Eliot visited her, and prayed 
 with her, she told him, that " she still loved 
 God, though he made her sick, and was re- 
 solved to pray to him so long as she lived ; " 
 that " she was willing to die, and believed she 
 should go to heaven and live happy with God 
 and Christ there." She was the first adult 
 that had died among the Indians since Eliot 
 began his mission.* 
 
 * Winslow's Glorious Progresse of the Gospel, fyc. 
 *p. 6, 7. 
 
88 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Another woman put what she had to say 
 into the form of a statement, rather than a 
 query. This she did, according to Shepard, 
 from motives of kindness to her husband. " Be- 
 fore my husband prayed," said she, " he was very 
 angry and froward ; but, since he began to pray, 
 he has not been so much angry, but only a 
 little." She meant, as was supposed, to imply 
 the question, whether a husband could with a 
 good conscience pray with his wife, and yet 
 continue to indulge his irascible passions. 
 But by the form in which she expressed her 
 suggestion, Mr. Shepard thought that she gave 
 her husband a creditable testimony for the de- 
 gree in which he had overcome his habit of 
 anger, and at the same time conveyed a gentle 
 admonition of the need of further reformation.* 
 It may be doubted whether the good divine did 
 not see more refinement in the case, than the 
 truth of the matter would warrant. 
 
 On the 26th of May, 1647, the General Court 
 manifested a regard to the welfare of the na- 
 tives, by passing an order for the establish- 
 ment of a judiciary among them, adapted to 
 their condition and wants. They had ex- 
 pressed to Mr. Eliot a desire to have " a course 
 of ordinary judicature." It was ordered that 
 one or more of the magistrates of the colony 
 should, once every quarter, hold a court at 
 
 • Cleare Sun-shine, &c, p. 7. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 89 
 
 some place where the Indians usually assem- 
 bled for religious purposes. It was the duty 
 of this court to hear and determine all civil 
 and criminal causes, not being capital, which 
 concerned the Indians only. The sachems 
 were empowered to issue orders or a summons 
 to bring any of their people before this tribu- 
 nal. They were also permitted to hold inferior 
 courts themselves every month, if there should 
 be occasion, to determine civil causes of a less 
 important nature, and such smaller criminal 
 causes, as might be referred to them by the 
 magistrates. The sachems were to appoint 
 officers to serve warrants, and execute the or- 
 ders and judgments of the courts. All fines 
 were to be appropriated to the building of 
 places of worship, or the education of chil- 
 dren, or to some other such public use as Mr. 
 Eliot and other elders might recommend. It 
 was also requested of the magistrates and of 
 Mr. Eliot, that they would endeavor to make 
 the natives understand the laws by explaining 
 the principles of reason and equity on which 
 they were founded, and that they would pro- 
 vide for the observance of the Lord's day 
 among the Indians.* These seem to have been 
 wise arrangements, and to imply no small con- 
 fidence in the integrity and good judgment of 
 the natives. 
 
 Ibid., p. 15. 
 
 12 
 
90 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 On the 8th of June, 1647, a synod of the 
 churches met by adjournment at Cambridge. 
 This was thought to be a favorable occasion to 
 call the attention of the leading men in eccle- 
 siastical affairs to the labors of Mr. Eliot, and 
 to give the messengers of the churches an op- 
 portunity of judging, by personal observation, 
 of the reports they had heard concerning the 
 good work. The " praying Indians" were en- 
 couraged to attend the meeting ; and there 
 was, we are told, " a great confluence of them." 
 In the afternoon of the second day of the ses- 
 sion, Mr. Eliot preached to them in their own 
 language from Ephesians ii. 1, and dwelt upon 
 the truths appropriate to their condition, sug- 
 gested by that passage. 
 
 After the lecture, the usual exercise of ques- 
 tions and answers took place in presence of 
 the ministers and elders. The only questions 
 by the Indians on that occasion, left on record, 
 are the following ; 
 
 " What countryman was Christ, and where 
 was he born ? 
 
 " How far off is that place from us here 1 
 
 " Where is Christ now ? 
 
 " How and where may we lay hold on him, 
 as he is now absent from us ? " 
 
 These inquiries, though relating to points of 
 great importance, are certainly not so striking 
 and significant, as some which were proposed 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 91 
 
 on other occasions. "What we know of the 
 Indian character will hardly allow us to sup- 
 pose, that they were overawed by the solemn 
 assembly of the clergy and elders ; but their 
 attention might have been so distracted by the 
 novelty of the scene, that they could not lay 
 open their minds with so much natural free- 
 dom, as at more private meetings. Full an- 
 swers were given to their questions. They 
 are described as having been profoundly atten- 
 tive to Mr. Eliot's preaching, and much moved 
 by it. Many of their children were present, 
 who in an interesting manner answered the 
 principal questions of the Catechism, in which 
 they had been instructed. The whole scene 
 must have been singularly impressive. One 
 can imagine, that the pencil of the painter 
 might sketch with good effect this assembly of 
 the grave fathers of the "churches, surrounded 
 by the red men of the woods, and their little 
 ones, as objects of that high interest, which 
 belongs to the spiritual relations of man with 
 man.* 
 
 In the latter part of the summer of 1647, 
 Mr. Shepard speaks of having again visited 
 the scene of Eliot's exertions, probably at No- 
 nantum. He was agreeably surprised to find 
 
 * Shepard furnishes us with an account of this meeting, 
 Chare Sun-shine, fyc, p. 1]. Winthrop also mentions it, 
 II. 308. 
 
92 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 many of the men, women, and children clad in 
 good clothes, after the fashion of their civil- 
 ized neighbors. These they had received from 
 their friends among the English, who attended 
 the lectures. A report is given of some of the 
 Indian questions in the course of Eliot's in- 
 structions during the subsequent winter, from 
 notes taken by a Mr. Jackson of Cambridge, 
 who was present at the meetings ; but the an- 
 swers are not recorded. 
 
 Among the difficulties, of which they sought 
 a solution from their teacher, were the follow- 
 ing. " Whether the Devil or man was made 
 first ? " One cannot but feel a curiosity to 
 know what train of thought suggested this in- 
 quiry. "How may one know wicked men, — 
 who are good and who are bad 1 " A question 
 which has puzzled wiser heads and more prac- 
 tised observers, than these untaught men of 
 the wilderness. " If a man should be enclosed 
 in iron a foot thick, and thrown into the fire,, 
 what would become of his soul 1 Could the 
 soul come forth thence or not ? " This is a 
 good illustration of the difficulty, which the 
 rude mind finds in conceiving the nature of a 
 spiritual existence, even when it has some ap- 
 prehension of a spiritual agency. It is at least 
 as important a question, as many of those on 
 which minute philosophers have disputed long 
 and angrily. " Why did not God give all men 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 93 
 
 good hearts, that they might be good ? And 
 why did not God kill the Devil, that made all 
 men so bad, God having all power ? " Here 
 struggles forth, in a crude form, from the labor- 
 ing breast of the savage, the same thorny per- 
 plexity concerning the existence and origin of 
 evil, which has been discussed from the earliest 
 to the latest of the philosophers, who have 
 speculated on the being and destination of 
 man. It would be gratifying to know in what 
 manner Mr. Eliot met such inquiries as these. 
 Other questions of much interest were pro- 
 posed ; as, " how they should know when their 
 faith was good, and when their prayers were 
 good prayers." 
 
 These questions, says Shepard, were ac- 
 counted by some " as part of the whitenings of 
 the harvest." The Indians likewise manifest- 
 ed some anxiety about the causes of natural 
 phenomena, and started inquiries concerning 
 the sun, moon, stars, earth, sea, lightning, 
 and earthquakes.* 
 
 About this time we find the first instance of 
 a disrespectful question addressed to Eliot. 
 A drunken Indian, known by the name of 
 George, being in a condition to feel more inter- 
 est in the origin of his beloved liquor than in 
 the origin of any thing else, called out impu- 
 
 * Cleare Sun-shine, &c, pp. 13, 14. 
 
y4 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 denlly, w Who made sack, Mr. Eliot, who made 
 sack ? " For this the other Indians rebuked 
 him, and termed it a papoose question, that is, a 
 child sh question. The preacher spoke to him 
 with 10 much gravity and wisdom, that his in- 
 scl^>ce was overawed into decency. Mr. Eliot 
 relies, that this same fellow, having killed a 
 cow in Cambridge, sold it at the College for a 
 TTiOose. For this he was subjected to admoni- 
 tion at one of the Indian meetings. But he 
 had contrived to cover his fraud with so many 
 dexterous lies, that Mr. Dunster, president of 
 the College, was reluctant to have him direct- 
 ly accused of it, and thought a further inquiry 
 should be made. However, he was called be- 
 fore the assembly, and charged with his fault 
 so powerfully, that he could not deny it, but 
 made an ample confession.* The president 
 of the College, and grave divines, sitting in 
 judgment on the trick of an Indian blackguard, 
 exhibit an amusing picture to our imaginations 
 at the present day, though doubtless the disci- 
 pline was necessary and salutary. 
 
 Mr. Eliot tell us, that the " praying Indians " 
 were strict in their observance of the Sabbath. 
 As the care of his own church would not allow 
 him to be with them often on that day, they 
 were in some perplexity ; for, they said, if they 
 
 * Eliot's letter in Chare Sun-shine, ^-c, p. 23. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 95 
 
 should go to the English meetings, they should 
 understand nothing, or so little, that it would 
 be useless. He advised them, as the only fea- 
 sible measure, to meet among themselves, and 
 request the best and wisest of their number to 
 pray with them, and teach them such things as 
 they had learned through him from the divine 
 word. 
 
 Some instances related by Eliot, show their 
 strong conviction of the impropriety of violat- 
 ing the Lord's day by common employments. 
 The wife of Cutshamakin once went to fetch 
 water on the Sabbath, and talked with other 
 women by the w T ay " on worldly matters," as 
 the account states. This came to the ears of 
 Nabanton, who was to be the teacher that day. 
 Nabanton preached on the sanctification of the 
 Sabbath, and at the close rebuked the miscon- 
 duct of which he had heard in the morning. 
 The wife of Cutshamakin, not dashed by this 
 personal application of the subject, shrewdly 
 and probably with truth told him after the ser- 
 mon, that he had done more harm by making 
 so much talk about the matter in the public as- 
 sembly, than she had by fetching the water. 
 This brought on a discussion, and they con- 
 cluded to refer the case to Mr. Eliot. To his 
 house in Roxbury they went the next day, and 
 laid the matter before him. What decision he 
 pronounced, he does not definitely say. He 
 
96 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHT. 
 
 only remarks, that he gave them such direc- 
 tions as were agreeable to the word of God. 
 
 Another instance occurred at the wigwam 
 of no less a man than Waban. On a Sunday 
 two Indians arrived there towards night, and 
 told him, that about a mile off they had chased 
 a racoon into the hollow of a tree. They 
 wanted help to fell the tree, and take the ani- 
 mal. It seems that Waban, who, like the In- 
 dians generally, was " given to hospitality," 
 thought the racoon would furnish a good meal 
 for his stranger guests. So he sent two of his 
 men, who felled the tree and caught the animal. 
 The rest of the Christian Indians were offend- 
 ed with this conduct, as a violation of the 
 Sabbath not to be overlooked. The subject 
 was kept for discussion at the next lecture, 
 when the questions to which it gave rise were 
 answered by Eliot. 
 
 A third case is mentioned, in which a vigi- 
 lance was exercised, that must have been sat- 
 isfactory even to the framers of the Connecti- 
 cut Blue Laws. On a certain Sabbath, the pub- 
 lic meeting was held long and late. One of 
 the Indians, on returning to his wigwam, found 
 the fire almost gone out. He took his hatchet, 
 as he sat by the fireside, and split a small 
 piece of d^v wood, which was kept for kin- 
 dling, and so lighted up his fire. This was 
 deemed a trespass by the Indians who took 
 
JOHN ELIOT Sr7 
 
 notice of it ; and at the next lecture the matter 
 was brought before the assembly for further 
 investigation.* 
 
 These instances may serve to show how they 
 were led to regard the Sabbath. It might be 
 supposed, that, to men accustomed to the wild- 
 est freedom of life at all times, such restraints 
 must have been irksome. Yet, if we may judge 
 from a curious expression of their feelings on 
 one occasion, they did not consider the sacri- 
 fice of their liberty in this respect as annoying 
 or troublesome. When Cutshamakin and oth- 
 ers entered into a treaty with their English 
 neighbors in 1643, they were asked whether 
 they would agree " not to do any unnecessary 
 work on the Sabbath day, especially within the 
 gates of Christian towns." They gave a ready 
 assent, replying with amusing naivete, that " it 
 would be easy to them, that they had not much 
 to do on any day, and could well enough take 
 their rest on that day." f 
 
 Another anecdote related by Eliot illustrates 
 his mode of administering admonition and cen- 
 sure. Wampas on some trivial occasion, in a 
 fit of passion, beat his wife. This brutal treat- 
 ment of their females had formerly been, as is 
 usual among savage tribes, very common, and 
 
 * Eliot's letter in Chare Sunshine, ^-c, pp. 19, 20. 
 >f Gookin's MS. Hist. Account of the Christian Indians. 
 vol. v. 7 K 
 
yo AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 passed without notice. But since they had re- 
 ceived Christianity, they had learned to con- 
 sider it as a great offence, and the transgressor 
 in such cases was exposed to a fine. Wampas 
 was made to stand up, and answer for his fault 
 before the public meeting, which happened to 
 be uncommonly large, being attended by the 
 Governor and many others of the English. The 
 Indian made an humble confession of his crime, 
 took the blame wholly to himself, and attempt- 
 ed no palliation. When Mr. Eliot set before 
 him, in its true light, the sin of beating his 
 wife and indulging his violent passions, he 
 turned his face to the wall and wept. All were 
 disposed to forgive him; but his fine was 
 strictly exacted, which he cheerfully paid. 
 
 Particulars like these are valuable for the 
 light they throw on the Indian character, as 
 it was sometimes affected by the instructions 
 of a teacher, who, while like all others of his 
 day he pressed some points with too much 
 rigor, still always aimed, and for the most part 
 wisely, at the true improvement, the real good, 
 of his rude disciples. 
 
 About this time an Indian, w T ho was reputed 
 to be a powaw, asked Mr. Eliot how it hap- 
 pened, that, as the English had been in the 
 country a considerable time, some of them no 
 less than twenty-seven years, they had so long 
 neglected to instruct the natives in the knowl- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 99 
 
 edge of God, and why they had not sooner 
 imparted what they professed to consider so 
 important. " Had you done it sooner," said 
 he, " we might have known much of God by 
 this time, and much sin might have been pre- 
 vented ; but now some of us are grown old in 
 sin." Whatever of rebuke there was in these 
 questions and remarks, Mr. Eliot received with 
 submissive acknowledgment of the fault. He 
 assured the Indian, that the English sincerely 
 repented of their neglect in this matter. But 
 he added, that the natives had never till now 
 been willing to hear religious teaching, and 
 profit by it. Had the experiment been before 
 made in any such manner, as to justify this last 
 assertion ? 
 
 Some of the Indians, with the interest natu- 
 ral to .the parental feelings, were anxious to 
 know what would become of their children 
 after death, since they had not sinned. Mr. 
 Eliot's theology led him, on this occasion, to 
 expound to his wild hearers, who at best were 
 " in the gristle and not hardened into the 
 bone " of Christianity, the mysteries of original 
 sin, and to assure them, that, when God elects 
 the father or mother to be his servant, he elects 
 the children also. This doctrine, he says, 
 " was exceeding grateful unto them." Might 
 not their good teacher have better used the 
 simple and touching illustrations taken from 
 
100 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the paternal character of God, which on some 
 other occasions he applied with much beauty 
 and power ? 
 
 The natives had learned from their new re- 
 ligion to renounce polygamy. But this change 
 in their habits gave occasion to a difficulty, 
 which they stated in the following way. Sup- 
 pose an Indian, before he knew God, had been 
 the husband of two wives, one of whom had 
 been barren, and the other had borne children ; 
 which of the two wives should he discard ? If 
 the first, then he would apparently violate the 
 solemn obligation belonging to her prior matri- 
 monial claim, solely because she happened to 
 have no children. If the second, then, together 
 with her whom he dearly loved, he must re- 
 nounce her children, and make them illegiti- 
 mate. Men, who could reason thus, were not 
 wanting in clearness of discernment, or in fine 
 feeling. To Eliot and Shepard the inquiry 
 was so embarrassing, that they declined giving 
 a reply, till they had consulted with some of 
 their brethren. We are not informed what 
 answer was finally returned ; but doubtless 
 some rule of action was established for such 
 cases. 
 
 At one of the Nonantum lectures, an old 
 squaw asked, " If God loves those who turn 
 to him, how comes it to pass that men are any 
 more afflicted after they turn to God ? " Here 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 101 
 
 was exhibited that notion of an obligation on 
 the part of the Deity to reward his worshippers 
 with good things, which is generally found in 
 the rude developements of the religious senti- 
 ment, accompanied with but little, if any, ap- 
 prehension of the nature of a state of disci- 
 pline and probation. 
 
 At another time Wampas, who is said to have 
 been "sober and hopeful," instead of propos- 
 ing a question, made the following statement 
 of a difficulty, under which the converts to 
 Christianity were suffering ; " On the one hand, 
 the other Indians hate and oppose us, because 
 we pray to God ; on the other, the English will 
 not put confidence in us, and suspect, that we 
 do not really pray. But," he added with an 
 affecting consciousness of honesty, " God, who 
 knows all things, knows that we do pray to 
 him." To this Mr. Eliot replied, that it was 
 true some of the English for various reasons 
 had suspicions as to the reality of their reli- 
 gion ; "but," said he, "I and others, who are 
 in the habit of seeing and conversing with you, 
 have no such suspicions." He then spoke en- 
 couraging words, and exhorted them to be 
 faithful, true, and persevering. 
 
 When Mr. Eliot had preached, at one of the 
 Nonantum lectures, from Ephesians v. 11, one 
 of his hearers, by a very natural application of 
 the text, inquired what the English thought of 
 
 K2 
 
102 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 him for coming among the wicked Indians to 
 teach them. Another query was, Suppose two 
 men sin, of whom one knows that he sins, and 
 the other does not know it ; will God punish 
 both alike ? He who put this question had 
 some better conceptions of moral equity in the 
 divine government, than is often found in the 
 savage breast. Again, another inquired, wheth- 
 er a wise Indian, who teaches other Indians in 
 the ways of God, should not be as a father or 
 a brother to those whom he so teaches. There 
 is in this question a fine moral meaning, in ac- 
 cordance with one of the most beautiful decla- 
 rations of our Savior, and worthy of the reli- 
 gious philosophy of the enlightened Christian. 
 An affecting scene occurred at Nonantum in 
 October, 1647. An Indian child had been for 
 a long time ill with a consumption, and at 
 length died. Some of the natives went to the 
 English to learn their manner of burying their 
 children. Having received the desired infor- 
 mation, they rejected all their own customary 
 observances on such an occasion, procured a 
 few boards and nails, made a neat coffin, and 
 about forty of them in a solemn manner accom- 
 panied the body of the little one to its resting- 
 place in the dust. They then withdrew a 
 short distance to the shade of a large tree, 
 and requested one of their number to pray 
 with them. Their devotional exercise, which 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 103 
 
 lasted nearly half an hour, was extremely fer- 
 vent, and accompanied with many tears. The 
 Englishman, who observed these proceedings 
 at a distance, and reported them, said that 
 " the woods rang again with their sighs and 
 prayers." * 
 
 # Cleare Sun-shine, &c, pp. 34 - 37. 
 
104 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Eliot's Visits to Passaconaivay at Pautucket. — 
 Kindness experienced by Him frorr the Nashaway 
 Sachem, and his Exposure and Suffering. — His 
 Agency with Regard to Murders committed, 
 among the Indians. — Excursion to Yarmouth. 
 
 Hitherto the exertions of the Apostle to the 
 Indians had not taken him far from his home. 
 By these he had gained such acquaintance with 
 the character, habits, and minds of the natives, 
 as enabled him to proceed in his work with re- 
 newed confidence. He now began to extend 
 the sphere of his pious duties to more distant 
 places. Wherever there was a call to do good, 
 by bringing the truths of the Gospel to bear on 
 the barbarism and ignorance of the wilderness, 
 he was happy to go, and ready to spend and 
 be spent. 
 
 Near Merrimac River at Pautucket he found 
 opportunities of intercourse with Passaconaway, 
 an Indian ruler of much celebrity. This man 
 is supposed to have been a Lashaba, that is, a 
 greater sachem, to whom inferior sachems ac- 
 knowledged subjection.* His dominion was 
 
 # Drake's Book of the Indians, B. III. ch. 7. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 105 
 
 of large extent, and his power great. The 
 English had become acquainted with him on 
 various occasions, and his name often occurs in 
 the history of the times. He is said to have 
 lived to a great age. Gookin remarks ; " I saw 
 him alive at Pautucket when he was about a 
 hundred and twenty years old," * but does not 
 tell us how he ascertained his age. He proba- 
 bly had no satisfactory means of information. 
 Eliot merely calls him " old " when he saw him. 
 Not long before his death, this chief made a 
 speech to his children and friends, in which he 
 advised them never to quarrel with the English. 
 "For," said he, "though you may doubtless 
 have it in your power to do them much harm, 
 yet, if you do, they will surely destroy you, and 
 root you out of the land. I was once as much 
 an enemy to them, as any one can be. I did 
 what I could to prevent their settlement, or 
 bring them to destruction ; but it was all in 
 vain I therefore counsel you never to contend 
 or make war with them." There is a tone 
 either of the piteous despair attending the con- 
 sciousness of a hopeless struggle, or of the 
 more refined sentiment of willing submission to 
 the superiority of the white man, in the feeling, 
 which thus burst from the soul of the old chief, 
 as he was about to close his eyes in death. He 
 
 * Historical Account of the Christian Indians. 
 
106 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 had the reputation of being a great sorcerer, or 
 powaw ; and his subjects believed, that he 
 could make a green leaf grow in winter, put 
 the trees into a dance, and set water on fire. 
 
 Some time in 1647, or perhaps in the preced- 
 ing year, Mr. Eliot, in company with Captain 
 Willard of Concord and others, travelled as 
 far as the Merrimac. At that time Passacona- 
 way would not see them, and fled with his sons, 
 pretending that he was afraid of being killed. 
 This conduct in a powerful Indian chief seems 
 inexplicable. That he really feared one who 
 came, as Shepard says, " only with a book in 
 his hand, and a few others without any weap- 
 ons to bear him company," is hardly to be sup- 
 posed. Many of his men remained, and lis- 
 tened to what the preacher had to say. Eliot 
 was accompanied by some Christian Indians 
 from his own neighborhood. These were of 
 much service on the present occasion, by pray- 
 ing in the wigwams and conversing about 
 " the things of God." 
 
 In the spring of 1648, Mr. Eliot again visited 
 Pautucket. At that season of the year, there 
 was annually a great confluence of Indians at 
 this spot, which was a famous fishing-place. 
 These gatherings reminded Eliot of the fairs 
 in England, which he thought they resembled. 
 He found them fit occasions for the good pur- 
 poses he had in view, because they furnished 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 107 
 
 him with large audiences, that came from vari- 
 ous quarters. It must have required all his 
 zeal, firmness, and prudence, to remain day 
 after day among this savage multitude, and 
 wait his opportunities of instruction amidst 
 their wild festivity. Already his influence 
 there had been such, that many of the Indians 
 had exchanged the gaming and other evil prac- 
 tices of those seasons, for religious instruction 
 and good conversation. On the present occa- 
 sion Passaconaway did not, as before, betake 
 himself to flight at the apostle's approach. He 
 was willing to stay and listen. Eliot preached 
 from Malachi i. 11, of which passage, — I sup- 
 pose that he might make it more intelligible 
 and striking to his hearers, — he gave the fol- 
 lowing version ; " From the rising of the sun 
 to the going down of the same, thy name shall 
 be great among the Indians ; and in every 
 place prayers shall be made to thy name, pure 
 prayers, for thy name shall be great among the 
 Indians." 
 
 After the preaching they proposed questions. 
 One of them inquired, whether all the Indians, 
 who had died hitherto, had gone to hell, and 
 only a few now at last were put in the way for 
 going to heaven. To this natural and fair 
 question Mr. Eliot has not recorded his reply 
 He merely remarks, that the doctrine of a two^ 
 fold future state was always one of the first 
 
108 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 points in his preaching, and that it was readily- 
 embraced by the natives ; for they had already 
 some traditional notions of another life and its 
 retributions. After some time, old Passacona- 
 way himself spoke. He said he had never yet 
 prayed to God, for he had never before heard 
 such instructions concerning God. But he de- 
 clared his belief in the truth of what had just 
 been taught, and his determination for the fu- 
 ture to pray to God, and to persuade his sons 
 to follow his example. Two of them were 
 present, who assented to their father's purpose. 
 The conversion of the old chief may seem to 
 have been too sudden to be lasting. But Mr. 
 Eliot had reason to think, that it was not a 
 vanishing impulse of the moment, because af- 
 terwards this sachem told Captain Willard, 
 who was in the habit of trading in those quar- 
 ters for beaver and otter skins, that he wished 
 him and the apostle to fix their abode in his 
 neighborhood, in order that his people might 
 enjoy religious instruction. He likewise offered 
 to allow them their choice of the best of his 
 lands for that purpose. It was the uniform 
 and judicious endeavor of Mr. Eliot to prevail 
 on the chief sachems to receive Christianity, 
 that, having the support of those who were as 
 princes among the barbarians, he might more 
 effectually encourage the timid, and repress the 
 insolence of the scorners. In this way Passa- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 109 
 
 conaway's conversion was likely to be of much 
 service to the cause.* 
 
 In this connexion our painstaking evange- 
 list speaks of the difficulty, which the mission- 
 ary to the Indians must experience from their 
 squalid poverty and barbarous habits of living. 
 He who went among them might not expect to 
 find food and drink, of which he could partake. 
 These he must take with him, and other things 
 besides for presents. " I never go unto them 
 empty," says Eliot, " but carry somewhat to 
 distribute among them." He also invited them 
 to his house, where he always had refreshments 
 and gifts for them. Nor did they omit such 
 humble expressions of kind feeling towards 
 their good teacher, as were in their power. 
 He relates with pleasant simplicity, that once, 
 as he was taking his horse to depart, " a poor 
 creature " seized his hand and thrust some- 
 thing into it, which he found to be a penny- 
 worth of wampum on the end of a straw. He 
 accepted the humble present with thanks, " see- 
 ing so much hearty affection in so small a 
 thing," and requested the Indian to visit him 
 at his house. 
 
 The next year Mr. Eliot was personally in- 
 vited by Passaconaway, with earnest importu- 
 nity, to live among his people, and be their 
 
 * Shepard's Cleare Sunshine, fy-c, p. 32. Winslow's 
 Glorious Progresse of the Gospel, p. 9. 
 
110 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 teacher. The sachem thought that his visits 
 once a year did but little good, because in the 
 long intervals his people were apt to forget 
 what they had heard. Many of them, he said, 
 were naught, and required long and patient 
 teaching. He illustrated his meaning by a 
 comparison not inaptly stated. " You do," 
 said he, " as if one should come and throw a 
 fine thing among us, and we should catch at it 
 earnestly, because it appears so beautiful, but 
 cannot look at it to see what is within ; there 
 may be in it something or nothing, a stock, a 
 stone, or a precious treasure ; but if it be 
 opened, and we see what is valuable therein, 
 then we think much of it. So you tell us of 
 religion, and we like it very well at first sight, 
 but we know not what is within ; it may be 
 excellent, or it may be nothing, we cannot tell ; 
 but if you will stay with us, and open it to us, 
 and show us all within, we shall believe it to 
 be as good as you say it is." 
 
 These " elegant arguments," as Eliot calls 
 them, he applied with much wisdom and affec- 
 tion. He was doubtless sincere and in earnest, 
 and he probably continued strongly attached to 
 his new religion. The appropriate comparison 
 which he used on this occasion, it may be re- 
 marked, more resembles the style of speaking 
 among a civilized people, than those bold, ab- 
 rupt, and violent figures, which are commonly 
 
JOHN ELIOT. Ill 
 
 considered as characteristic of Indian elo- 
 quence. His speech was that of a reasonable 
 man, and could not fail to arrest attention. It 
 had been for some time a favorite project with 
 Mr. Eliot to establish an Indian town, which 
 might form a sort of central point for the Chris- 
 tian natives ; and his heart yearned towards 
 Passaconaway's earnest proposal. 
 
 But there were weighty objections, as he 
 thought, to the plan of fixing his town in that 
 region. The Indians in his own vicinity, on 
 whom he must principally rely as the best ma- 
 terials for the nucleus of such a settlement, 
 were unwilling to remove thither ; though they 
 said they would, if necessary, go to any place 
 with him. This affecting expression of their 
 confidence made him more reluctant to cross 
 their inclinations ; and, as he cherished the 
 hope that he should need more than one town, 
 he probably thought the time would come, when 
 Passaconaway's wish for a settlement in his 
 domains might be gratified.* 
 
 Before this time, Mr. Eliot had visited Nash- 
 away, now called Lancaster ; but I find no par- 
 ticular account of his doings there. We know, 
 however, that the sachem was much interested 
 in his favor; and he alludes to his having 
 preached at the place. There was an old sa- 
 
 * Whitfield's Farther Discovery of the Present State of 
 the Indians, Sfc, p. 20. 
 
112 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 chem at Quabagud or Quaboag, now Brook- 
 field, a place which Eliot describes as "three 
 score miles westward " (that is, from his resi- 
 dence in Roxbury), who earnestly wished to 
 prevail upon him to visit his people, and even 
 to make his abode there. He undertook a jour- 
 ney thither, and went by the way of Nashaway. 
 There had been some disturbances between the 
 Narraganset and Mohegan Indians, and seve- 
 ral had been murdered in or about the region, 
 which he proposed to visit. This circumstance 
 threw some doubt on the minds of the Roxbury 
 church, whether it might be safe for their pas- 
 tor to venture thither. 
 
 When the Nashaway sachem heard of this, 
 he commanded twenty of his men to take arms 
 and be ready to protect the missionary, and 
 added himself to the number. Besides this 
 force, several of the Indians in Eliot's neigh- 
 borhood, and some of his English friends, at- 
 tended him as a guard. He was much gratified 
 by the promptness of the natives in protecting 
 him from harm, because he regarded it as a 
 proof of their interest, not in himself only, but 
 in his work. When he arrived at the place of 
 his destination, he found " sundry hungry after 
 instruction " ; but of the particulars of his 
 ministration we have no account. 
 
 The journey proved exceedingly wearisome 
 and exhausting. It may serve to give us an 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 113 
 
 idea of the toil and suffering, which this de- 
 voted evangelist sometimes incurred in the 
 course of his labors. The company were ex- 
 posed to continual rains and bad weather, with 
 no protection. They were drenched with wet; 
 and Eliot says, that from Tuesday to Saturday 
 he was never dry, night or day. At night he 
 would pull off his boots, wring the water from 
 his stockings, and put them on again. The 
 rivers were swollen by the rains ; and, as they 
 made their way through them on horseback, 
 they were still more wet. Eliot's horse failed 
 from exhaustion, and he was obliged to let him 
 go without a rider, and take one belonging to 
 another person. But he says, with his usual 
 piety of feeling, " God stept in and helped; I 
 considered that word of God, Endure hardness 
 as a good soldier of Christ." From this fa- 
 tiguing and perilous excursion the company 
 returned home in safety and health.* 
 
 In the proceedings, which took place in con- 
 sequence of the murders above mentioned, Mr. 
 Eliot had some agency, of which it is proper 
 to take notice. The murdered Indians were 
 supposed to be among those, who were under 
 the jurisdiction and protection of the Massa- 
 chusetts government. Acting on this belief, 
 the Governor and magistrates sent twenty men 
 
 * Eliot's letter to Winslow in Farther Discovery, ty-c, 
 p. 21. 
 
 vol. v. 8 L 2 
 
114 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to Nashaway to ascertain the facts of the case, 
 and, if possible, to arrest the murderers. But 
 the criminals had escaped to Narraganset ; and 
 the men sent by the Massachusetts government, 
 on their return, could only report, that the crime 
 had been perpetrated, and that it was well un- 
 derstood who were concerned in it. After- 
 wards the sachem Cutshamakin procured two 
 Indians, who offered to apprehend the mur- 
 derers. The reason why this sachem inter- 
 posed in the affair was, that three of the mur- 
 dered men belonged to a party at Quaboag, 
 with whom he was in a treaty of friendship, 
 and whom, indeed, he considered somewhat in 
 the light of subjects. The magistrates ac- 
 cepted the offer of the two Indians, gave them 
 a commission, and wrote to Mr. Pynchon of 
 Springfield to assist them in the search. 
 
 But Pynchon's reply put a stop to the pro- 
 ceedings. He maintained, that the murdered 
 Indians were not the subjects, nor the murder- 
 ers within the jurisdiction, of the Massachu- 
 setts government, and that by prosecuting the 
 matter they would be in danger of stirring up 
 a war. It is in this letter of Pynchon, that the 
 mention of Mr. Eliot's agency occurs. It 
 seems that Cutshamakin, who of course was 
 well acquainted with Mr. Eliot, had prevailed 
 upon him to use his influence with the magis- 
 trates to procure the desired assistance. Pyn- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 115 
 
 chon says, that in this the Indians of Quaboag 
 "dealt subtly." Eliot wrote a letter to Pyn- 
 chon, in which he exhorted him to assist the 
 two Indian agents in their inquest about the 
 murder, urging- the command of God to make 
 inquisition for blood, and denying that there 
 was any danger of war in consequence of this 
 proceeding. Upon this Pynchon remarks, that 
 if the murdered had been subjects of Massa- 
 chusetts, and the murderers within the juris- 
 diction of that government, Mr. Eliot's appeal 
 would have been seasonable and appropriate; 
 but, the facts being otherwise, it was of no 
 avail. Governor Winthrop desired, that Eliot 
 might immediately be made acquainted with 
 this letter of Pynchon. Dudley, the deputy- 
 governor, had a conference with Eliot on the 
 subject ; and they concluded, for various rea- 
 sons, to advise that a stop should be put to 
 any further proceedings.* 
 
 Mr. Eliot may have been in an error, as to 
 the point of jurisdiction ; but his active share 
 in this transaction unquestionably arose from 
 his strong desire to have such justice adminis- 
 tered for the crime of shedding blood, as would 
 conciliate the feelings of the Indians by con- 
 vincing them, that in the English they had 
 
 # Savage's Winthrop, Vol. II. p. 325, and Appendix, 
 pp. 384 -387. 
 
116 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 friends, who would not see them injured with 
 impunity. 
 
 It was in the latter part of 1647, or in 1648 y 
 that Mr. Eliot, with Wilson of Boston and 
 Shepard of Cambridge, visited Yarmouth on 
 Cape Cod. The harmony of the church in that 
 place had been disturbed by some unhappy dif- 
 ficulties ; and these clergymen with others from 
 Plymouth colony met, I suppose as a council, to 
 heal the breach, and bring into union the con- 
 tending parties. This they accomplished most 
 satisfactorily, and Christian harmony was re- 
 stored to the church and town. 
 
 But Eliot did not consider his errand to this 
 place as finished. The object, which was ha- 
 bitually uppermost in his thoughts, failed not 
 to claim his attention. He gladly availed him- 
 self of the opportunity to visit the Indians in 
 that region, and present to them the word of 
 life. It was with difficulty that they under- 
 stood him. The dialect of the Indians in that 
 quarter was found to differ considerably from 
 that of the natives in the neighborhood of Bos- 
 ton and in the western parts of Massachusetts. 
 Varieties of this kind were often observed in a 
 range of forty or sixty miles.* Besides, these 
 
 * One of the obstacles to the diffusion of Christianity 
 among the natives of New England was " the diversity of 
 their owne language to itself, every part of that countrey 
 having its owne dialect, differing much from the other." - - 
 Nev> England's First Fruits, p. 1. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 117 
 
 Indians were unaccustomed to those words and 
 forms of speech used for the expression of re- 
 ligious thoughts or conceptions, to the acquisi- 
 tion of which Mr. Eliot had been led by the 
 nature of his mission to give his principal at- 
 tention. In order to make himself intelligible 
 to them, he was obliged to use much circumlo- 
 cution, and put his remarks into various forms, 
 besides availing himself of the aid of inter- 
 preters who happened to be present. He over- 
 came all difficulties, and made himself under- 
 stood. 
 
 At this place there was no little opposition 
 to Eliot's preaching, especially by a reckless 
 sachem, to whom, on account of his fierce and 
 furious spirit, the English gave the sobriquet of 
 Jehu. He promised fairly enough, that on the 
 appointed day he would attend the religious 
 services, and bring his men with him. But, 
 when the day came, he sent his men away early 
 in the morning to sea, on the pretence, that 
 they must get some fish. He himself went to 
 hear the sermon, though late ; but, when there, 
 he affected not to understand any thing, though 
 some of the Indians assured Mr. Eliot, that he 
 did understand as well as any of them. Still 
 he would sit and listen with dogged sullenness 
 and a dissatisfied look. There was probably 
 as much of waggery, as of ill nature or malice, 
 in his conduct. There is something adapted to 
 
118 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 excite a smile in the grave but unsuccessful 
 attempt of the divines to manage this intracta- 
 ble and mischievous spirit. 
 
 There was another sachem of a better tem- 
 per and more pliable disposition, who lent a 
 willing ear to instruction, and whose people 
 were attentive and docile. It was here, that, 
 at the usual time for proposing questions, an 
 aged Indian made a statement, which at first 
 struck those who heard it with surprise, but 
 was found to admit an easy explanation. He 
 affirmed, that the very things which Mr. Eliot 
 had just taught concerning the creation, the 
 nature of God, and his commandments, had 
 been said years ago by some old men among 
 them, who were now dead, and since whose 
 death all knowledge or remembrance of these 
 doctrines had been lost, till they were revived 
 by what they had now heard. In a more figu- 
 rative manner, the same fact was expressed by 
 others to a Christian in that region, who com- 
 municated it to Eliot and his companions at 
 this time. They said that their forefathers 
 once knew God, but that afterwards their peo- 
 ple fell into a heavy sleep ; and when they 
 awoke, they had forgotten him. 
 
 These statements, implying that some knowl- 
 edge of the true religion was possessed by the 
 natives before their acquaintance with the 
 English, excited curiosity and inquiry. Mr. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 119 
 
 Shepard supposed, that the fact might be ac- 
 counted for by the circumstance of a French 
 preacher having been cast away on that coast 
 many years before, whose instructions might 
 have given the Indians of that day such an 
 acquaintance with religion, as was reported of 
 them. 
 
 Shepard was doubtless right in his conjec- 
 ture. About three years before the Plymouth 
 settlers arrived, a French ship was wrecked on 
 Cape Cod. The lives of the men were saved, 
 and they reached the shore. But they were all 
 killed by the Indians, except three or four, who 
 were kept and sent from one sachem to another. 
 Two of them were redeemed by Mr. Dormer, 
 and another died among the natives. One of 
 them lived with the Indians long enough to be 
 able to use their language. He instructed 
 them in religion, and, among other things, told 
 them, that God was angry for their wickedness, 
 that he would destroy them, and give their 
 country to another people. The natives replied 
 in derision, that they were too numerous for 
 God to kill them. Soon after the death of the 
 Frenchman, multitudes of them were swept 
 away by a terrible pestilence. They now be- 
 gan, with the superstition natural to savages, 
 to think that one part of the prediction they 
 had despised was fulfilled ; and, when the Ply- 
 mouth settlers came, they apprehended that 
 
120 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the other part was about to be accomplished. 
 When they afterwards became acquainted with 
 the English, several of the oldest and most 
 trustworthy among them related these facts.* 
 The story accounts sufficiently for the declara- 
 tion made by the Indians to Eliot, Shepard, 
 and Wilson, respecting the religious knowledge 
 of their fathers. 
 
 It may be here observed, that Mayhew re- 
 lates a similar, but less precise remark, made by 
 one of the natives on Martha's Vineyard. The 
 Indian said, that " a long time ago their people 
 had wise men, who in a grave manner taught 
 them knowledge ; but," he added, " they are 
 dead, and their wisdom is buried with them; 
 and now men live a giddy life in ignorance till 
 they are white-headed, and go without wisdom 
 unto their graves." f This speech may have 
 referred to the same reminiscence of a better 
 knowledge, which is explained by the instruc- 
 tions of the Frenchman; or it may have been 
 merely one of those complaints of the degener- 
 acy of present times, the disposition to which 
 is perhaps too natural to man to be confined to 
 the civilized. 
 
 * See Judge Davis's edition of Morton's New Eng- 
 land's Memorial, p. GO; also Mr. Savage's remark in his 
 notes on Winthrop, Vol. I. p. 59. 
 
 f Mayhew's letter to Winslow in Glorious Progresse, 
 tfc, p. 5. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 121 
 
 Another circumstance, which interested Mr. 
 Eliot and his companions, was the relation of 
 a dream by an Indian in these parts. He said, 
 that about two years before the English came 
 over, a very destructive sickness prevailed 
 among the Indians. One night, when his sleep 
 was broken and troubled, he saw, in a dream, 
 a multitude of men coming to that region, 
 dressed in precisely such garments as he now 
 found the English to wear. Among them was 
 one man all in black, with something in his 
 hand, which he now discovered to have been a 
 book, such as the English carry. The man in 
 black stood higher than the rest, having the 
 Indians on one side and the English on the 
 other. He assured the Indians, that God was 
 angry with them, and would destroy them for 
 their sins. Upon this, the dreamer stood up, 
 and begged to know what God would do with 
 him, and his squaw, and papooses. This ques- 
 tion he repeated three times, when his fears 
 were relieved by being told, that they would 
 all be safe, and that God would give them vic- 
 tuals and good things. Such was the vision 
 of the night, which the savage had to relate. 
 
 No one, I presume, at the present day will 
 be disposed to inquire, whether it were pro- 
 phetic, or will think the Indian had reason to 
 say with Eve, 
 
 " For God is also in sleep, and dreams advise, 
 Which he hath sent propitious, some great good 
 
 M 
 
122 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Presaging-, since with sorrow and heart's distress 
 Wearied I fell asleep." 
 
 But Shepard, who tells the story, while he pro- 
 fesses to have little faith in dreams, yet in- 
 clines to think, that God may see fit to speak 
 in this way to the Indians, when he would not 
 to those who have a more sure word of warn- 
 ing and direction. His construction is more 
 favorable to the savages, than the poetic judg- 
 ment of Claudian, who declares that 
 
 "Barbarians never taste the hallowed streams 
 Of prophecy, nor are inspired by dreams." * 
 
 The simple truth of the case is, that the dream 
 may be easily explained by adverting again to 
 the story of the French priest. The circum- 
 stances of it have a sufficient resemblance to 
 the facts of that story ; and it occurred during 
 the prevalence of the fearful sickness, when 
 the mind of the Indian was harassed by the 
 alarm, which the Frenchman's prediction had 
 awakened. He saw in his sleep a confused 
 image, with some additions, of what he had 
 seen, or heard of, when the man in black an- 
 nounced the judgments of God. The story 
 thus explained is of some value, as an illustra- 
 tion of the laws that prevail in the phenomena 
 of dreams. 
 
 * " Nullus Castalios latices, et prscscia fati 
 Flumina ; polluto barbarus ore bibit." 
 
 Claudian. In Ruf. Lib. n. Prsef. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 123 
 
 The man who told this dream proved to be no 
 hopeful hearer of the word. Mr. Eliot and his 
 brethren flattered themselves, that the vision he 
 had received would dispose him to attend par- 
 ticularly to the men in black, who had now come. 
 But his dream seems to have had no such stim- 
 ulating effect. He withdrew from the sermon, 
 though he came again at the latter part of it, 
 "hoping it had been done." The ministers 
 then endeavored to persuade him to stay ; but 
 " away he flung," and they saw no more of him 
 till the next day. Of the effect produced by 
 their labors in this quarter, we have no suffi- 
 ciently particular statement to form an es- 
 timate.* 
 
 # The only account of this visit to Yarmouth, which I 
 have seen, is in Shepard's Cleave Sun-shine, fyc., pp. 8 - 10. 
 
124 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Eliofs Care of Nonantum. — Questions. — Eliofs 
 Endeavors to interest Others in the Cause. — 
 His Need of Assistance. — Society for Propa- 
 gating the Gospel among the Indians established 
 in England. 
 
 The little establishment at Nonantum con- 
 tinued an object of as lively interest to Mr. 
 Eliot as ever; perhaps more so than any other 
 scene of labor, because his first converts were 
 there. In 1649, he wrote to a gentleman in 
 England, who had advised him to encourage 
 his Christian Indians to plant orchards and 
 cultivate gardens. This he had already done. 
 He had promised them several hundred trees, 
 which were reserved in nurseries for them, and 
 which he hoped they would plant the next 
 spring. They were then engaged in fencing a 
 large cornfield, and had finished two hundred 
 rods of ditching, securing the banks with 
 stones gathered from the fields. 
 
 Mr. Eliot complains of bad tools, and of a 
 want of tools, and says that a magazine of all 
 necessary implements must be provided for 
 them. He tells his correspondent, that they 
 were able to saw very good boards and planks, 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 125 
 
 and that they would do all these things better, 
 and in a more orderly manner, if he could be 
 with them more frequently. He found them 
 willingr to follow his advice, but was prudent 
 enough not to require a ereat deal of them at 
 first. " I find it absolutely necessary,*-' he ob- 
 serves, " to carry on civility with religion."' 
 The best mode of effecting his objects, as he 
 believed, would be to establish a settlement for 
 the Indians in some place distant from the 
 English, to live among them, to brinsf them 
 under a regular form of orovernment, and into 
 the practice of the mechanical arts and trades. 
 It gives us an affecting idea of the poverty of 
 our venerated fathers, when he adds, that such 
 an enterprise would be too costly for New Eng- 
 land at that time, which was her day of small 
 thin _ 
 
 Schools for the natives were favorite objects 
 with our apostle. A gentleman in London, 
 whose name he never knew, had in 164S sent 
 him ten pounds for that purpose. Eive pounds 
 he paid to a woman in Cambridge for teaching 
 Indian children; •'•'and,'" says he, •'•' God so 
 blessed her labors, that they came on very 
 prettily.'' The other five pounds he paid to a 
 schoolmaster in Dorchester, who taught the 
 children of the natives with very grood success. 
 He feared, however, that the schools would 
 fail, as he could hear of no further supply iov 
 
 M2 
 
126 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 their support, and so the children would lose 
 all they had learned the first year. His own 
 course of catechizing the young, whenever he 
 held a meeting, he continued constantly, and 
 found their proficiency very encouraging.* 
 
 These are specimens of the minute and hum- 
 ble labors, to which this devoted man gave his 
 time and heart, that he miodit bless the unen- 
 lightened with civilization and Christianity. 
 Many were his hindrances and discourage- 
 ments ; but he always toiled in the cheerful- 
 ness of hope. Is there not something touch- 
 ing in the incidental remark he makes, that " it 
 is hard to look on the day of small things with 
 patience enough " ? 
 
 Many of the questions propounded by the 
 
 * Glorious Progresse of the Gospel, &c, p. 16. — Mr. 
 Eliot was pleased with his success among the Indian chil- 
 dren, whose docility and good progress he on several occa- 
 sions praises. In this respect he was more fortunate than 
 was Mr. Egede with the Greenland boys, whom he took 
 into his house, and of whom we are told, "as to their learn- 
 ing, it went briskly at first, because they had a fish-hook, 
 or some such thing, given them for every letter they learnt. 
 But they were soon glutted with this business, and said, 
 they knew not what end it answered to sit all day long 
 looking upon a piece of paper, and crying a, b, c, &c. ; that 
 he and the factor were worthless people, because they did 
 nothing but look in a book, or scrawl upon paper with a 
 feather ; but, on the contrary, the Greenlanders were brave 
 men, they would hunt seals, shoot birds, &c." — Crantz's 
 History of Greenland, Vol. I. p. 290. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 127 
 
 Indians about this time sufficiently prove, that 
 they were neither dull hearers nor thoughtless 
 men. Specimens of them are recorded by their 
 teacher ; and they are found to be full of mean- 
 ing. The true principle of moral and mental 
 life must have been awakened, or they could 
 not have been suggested. They show, as Mr. 
 Eliot justly remarks, that " the souls of these 
 men were in a searching condition after the 
 great points of religion and salvation." 
 
 Meanwhile the Indian apostle endeavored to 
 inspire his brethren in the ministry and others 
 with a zeal kindred to that of which his own 
 heart was full. The sachem Cutshamakin had 
 some subjects at Martha's Vineyard. They 
 had been moved by his example to adopt the 
 new religion, and were reckoned in the number 
 of "praying Indians." 
 
 In 1648 Mr. Eliot speaks of having entreated 
 the younger Mayhew, who was the minister at 
 the Vineyard, to attend to the religious wants 
 of these Indians. To this call Mayhew was 
 not inattentive. Indeed he had for some time 
 been engaged in learning the language of the 
 natives, with a view to the introduction of 
 Christianity among them. Eliot speaks with 
 thankful emotion of the success of his efforts. 
 He afterwards recurs to the subject, and ex- 
 presses his gratitude for the blessing of God 
 on Mayhew's labors, hoping that the natives at 
 
128 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the Vineyard would be prepared to form a reg- 
 ular civil and religious settlement, when they 
 should see a successful experiment of that kind 
 in another place, such as he had set his heart 
 on endeavoring to effect. His friendship foi 
 Mr. Mayhew is further evinced by the pains he 
 took to procure books for him. In a letter 
 sent to England about this time, he mentions 
 him with much affection, as a young beginner, 
 who is in extreme want of books ; he begs, 
 therefore, that commentaries, and all the works 
 necessary for a young minister, may be for- 
 warded by the benevolent. It was a request 
 on which he laid much stress.* 
 
 Our good evangelist was importunate with 
 all the ministers, who lived near the Indians, to 
 learn their language, and put their hands to 
 the work of spreading among them the knowl- 
 edge of God. Having mentioned these solici- 
 tations, he adds, " I hope God will in his time 
 bow their hearts thereunto." These anxious 
 desires for cooperation were naturally dictated 
 by the strength of his own feelings for the 
 cause, and by his heartfelt conviction of its 
 great importance. There is an expansive ac- 
 tion in moral warmth, like that which belongs 
 to heat in the natural world. It cannot remain 
 shut up in the heart where it originates, but 
 
 * Eliot's letters in 3 M. H. Coll. IV. 81, 128. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 129 
 
 evei seeks to diffuse itself. No man can work 
 heartily for truth or benevolence, without en- 
 deavoring to infuse into others something of the 
 spirit by which he is himself animated and 
 impelled. 
 
 Hitherto the Apostle to the Indians had per- 
 severed in his pious enterprise with compara- 
 tively little aid. He had received indeed the 
 encouraging sympathy of many around him, 
 both of the clergy and the laity. Some of the 
 ministers, the Governor, and other magistrates 
 were frequently present at his leetures. They 
 cheered his spirit and strengthened his hands 
 by giving him their countenance and occasional 
 assistance. But nearly the whole burden of 
 the undertaking rested on him ; and the time 
 seemed to have arrived, when, if it was to be 
 sustained and enlarged, some efficient help 
 would be necessary. Shepard, who had taken 
 an active and hearty interest in Mr. Eliot's 
 success, and had often been his companion in 
 the work, died in 1649. The loss of such a 
 friend and counsellor must have pressed heav- 
 ily on the heart of the good evangelist. 
 
 The efforts he had already made appeared to 
 have been sufficiently successful to encourage 
 more extensive plans of benevolence for the 
 Indians. It has been before mentioned, that 
 his favorite project was to bring them together 
 in well-ordered towns, where industrious em- 
 
 vol. v. 9 
 
130 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ployment in the several arts and trades, and 
 general improvement in civil affairs, might ad- 
 vance hand in hand with religious instruction. 
 This wisely conceived part of his plan lay near 
 his heart ; but it could not be accomplished 
 without considerable assistance. Such assist- 
 ance, as we have seen, he could not and did 
 not expect from the infant colony ; for New 
 England, who now makes every ocean white 
 with her commerce, and over whose hills and 
 by whose rivers prosperous villages and wealthy 
 towns are at this day scattered broadcast, was 
 then scarcely able to sustain her own few and 
 poor settlements in the wilderness. Some pe- 
 cuniary aid, however, Mr. Eliot received from 
 an appropriation made by order of the Gene- 
 ral Court.* While he was grateful for this 
 
 * This was in May, 1647. The order was as follows ; 
 "It is ordered, that ten pounds be given to Mr. Eliot, as a 
 gratuity from this Court, in respect of his pains in instruct- 
 ing the Indians in the knowledge of God, and that order be 
 taken that the twenty pounds per annum, given by the Lady 
 Armine for that purpose, may be called for and employed 
 accordingly." See Savage's note on Winthrop, Vol. II. 
 p. 305. The benefaction of Lady Armine, here mentioned, 
 is recorded by Winthrop, Vol. II. p. 212 ; but he does not 
 state for what purpose it was given. It appears, by the or- 
 der of the Court, to have been designed to promote the In- 
 dian work. 
 
 From the above statement we learn, that Gookin was 
 not quite correct, when he said, " In this work did this good 
 man [Eliot] industriously travail sundry years, without any 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 131 
 
 proffered bounty, he must still have been aware 
 that the further extension of his efforts would 
 require a larger supply than could be looked 
 for at home. 
 
 At this juncture his heart was gladdened by 
 assistance from the mother country. The la- 
 bors for the conversion of the Indians had been 
 reported in England, and had excited not a 
 little attention. The tract entitled " The Day- 
 Breaking, if not the Sun-Rising of the Gospel" 
 &c, and Shepard's " Cleare Sun-shine of the 
 Gospel" &c, in which was given an interest-' 
 ing account of these labors, had been published 
 in London. Shepard's papers on the subject 
 were sent to Edward Winslow, who had gone 
 to England as agent for the colony. This 
 gentleman communicated them to some of the 
 most distinguished clergymen in and about 
 London, such as Marshall, Goodwin, Whitaker, 
 and Calamy, who, when the papers were pub- 
 lished, prefaced them with two very fervent 
 epistles, one addressed to the Parliament, the 
 other " to the godly and well-affected " of the 
 
 external encouragement, from men I mean, as to the re- 
 ceiving any salary or reward. Indeed, verbal encourage- 
 ments, and the presence of divers persons at his lectures, 
 he wanted not." — 1 M. H. Coll., 1. 169. It may be that 
 Eliot, in his usual spirit of disinterestedness, did not accept 
 the gratuity of ten pounds ; but the offer of it by the Court 
 proves, that he received somewhat more than merely 
 "verbal encouragements." 
 
132 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 nation. In these an earnest call was sounded 
 for interest and help in the work of converting 
 the natives of New England. 
 
 The appeal to Parliament was not made in 
 vain. An order was passed, March 17th, 1647, 
 requiring the Committee on Foreign Planta- 
 tions to prepare an ordinance " for the encour- 
 agement and advancement of learning and 
 piety in New England." The committee re- 
 ported the result of their deliberations. It 
 does not appear what course of measures, or 
 what mode of action, they proposed. But 
 whatever these were, Eliot was much gratified 
 with them ; for, in a letter to Winslow the next 
 year, he expressed his entire approbation of 
 what had been done, adding, " I trust it is per- 
 fected long before this time." But he ex- 
 pected more than had then been accomplished. 
 At that period of agitating excitement, the 
 Parliament were so absorbed in other more 
 urgent business, that the report of their com 
 mittee was for some time neglected. Winslow, 
 who felt a warm and honorable interest in the 
 matter, in an " epistle dedicatory " prefixed to 
 a tract which he published in 1649, ventured 
 to remind them of this neglect, and asked per- 
 mission to recall their attention to the subject. 
 By way of appeal to their piety, he dropped 
 the hint, that doubtless " the common enemy 
 of man's salvation" rejoiced, when a godly 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 133 
 
 enterprise, so happily begun, was suspended 
 for want of further encouragement ; and he 
 urged the probability, on which so much stress 
 was laid by many at that time, that the North 
 American Indians were the descendants of the 
 ten tribes of Israel. 
 
 How much influence this appeal may have 
 had in exciting an immediate attention to the 
 subject, we know not ; but the Parliament 
 passed an ordinance, July 27th, 1649, for the 
 advancement of civilization and Christianity 
 among the Indians of New England.* A cor- 
 poration in perpetual succession was instituted, 
 bearing the title of " The President and Soci- 
 ety for the Propagation of the Gospel in New 
 England," with power to receive, manage, and 
 dispose of moneys for that purpose. It was 
 also enacted, that a general contribution for 
 the object should be made through England 
 and Wales. The ministers were required to 
 read the ordinance from their pulpits, at the 
 same time exhorting the people to give gener- 
 ous aid to the pious undertaking. The uni- 
 versities of Oxford and Cambridge also issued 
 letters addressed to the ministers, calling upon 
 them to stir up their congregations to the good 
 work. But, notwithstanding this powerful in- 
 fluence, the contribution proceeded heavily and 
 
 * The breviat of this Act is given in Hutchinson's 
 History of Massachusetts, Vol. I. p. 153. 
 
 N 
 
134 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 slowly. It met a warm opposition ; and the 
 whole plan of converting the Indians was al- 
 leged by many to be merely a scheme to gather 
 money by appealing to the piety of the nation. 
 So discouraging was the prospect of a contri- 
 bution from the people, that an effort was made 
 to raise something from the army. 
 
 But, in despite of all opposition, a very con- 
 siderable sum was collected. Lands were pur- 
 chased to the value of between five and six 
 hundred pounds a year, and vested in a cor- 
 poration, of which Judge Steel was the first 
 president, and Mr. Henry Ashurst the first 
 treasurer. Portions of the income were from 
 time to time transmitted to America, and en- 
 trusted to the Commissioners of the United 
 Colonies of New England, who faithfully ap- 
 propriated the money to the objects for which 
 it was collected. 
 
 It appears from notices, which we gather at 
 different periods, that salaries were paid to the 
 preachers engaged in the work; that schools 
 for the Indians were supported ; tools, instru- 
 ments of labor, wool, and other commodities 
 provided for them; an Indian college erected, 
 and the expense of printing Eliot's Translation 
 of the Bible and of other books defrayed. The 
 last-mentioned of these objects will recur in a 
 subsequent part of this narrative. They were 
 the most expensive of any to which the funds 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 135 
 
 of the Society were applied. It cannot now 
 be ascertained, I suppose, how much Mr. Eliot 
 annually received from this source. We know, 
 however, that for the year 1662, as appears 
 from the account rendered by the Commission- 
 ers, his salary was fifty pounds.* This was a 
 larger sum, than was granted to any other in- 
 dividual that year. It was, we may presume, 
 justly deemed a liberal allowance. 
 
 On the restoration of Charles in 1660, the 
 funds, and even the existence of this corpora- 
 tion, were endangered. Some, who had the 
 ear of the king, endeavored to persuade him, 
 that the act by which the Society was consti- 
 tuted, having been passed without the royal 
 assent, was illegal ; and they advised him to 
 absorb its revenues into the royal coffers. The 
 corporation had purchased an estate worth 
 three hundred and twenty-two pounds per an- 
 num of one Colonel Bedingfield, a papist. This 
 man took advantage of the opportunity afford- 
 ed by the restoration, when he supposed the 
 corporation to be dead in law, to repossess 
 himself of this estate. He also refused to re- 
 pay the money he had received for it. 
 
 At this perilous crisis, the Society found an 
 able and efficient friend in the Honorable Rob- 
 ert Boyle, a name which so nobly adorns the 
 
 * Gookin, 1 M. H. Coll., I. 218. 
 
136 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 history of science and of general learning in 
 England. He promptly made use of his inter- 
 est with the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, to 
 avert the threatened injustice, and to reestab- 
 lish the rights of the corporation.* Richard 
 Baxter and Mr. Ashurst were likewise active 
 on the occasion, and their indefatigable zeal 
 was of great serviccf The king, probably by 
 the influence of Clarendon, instead of listening 
 to the evil counsel he had received, granted a 
 new charter to the Society, and confirmed its 
 rights under his royal hand. J Bedingfield pros- 
 ecuted his claim by a suit in chancery, and thus 
 delayed the recovery of the contested proper- 
 ty about a year. But the Lord Chancellor, who 
 in the whole course of this business had been 
 steadily favorable to the rights of the Society, 
 gave judgment against him, and granted a de- 
 cree for a new corporation. 
 
 Thus the question, in which Mr. Eliot's favor- 
 ite work in New England was so deeply interest- 
 ed, was happily settled, and the Society restored 
 
 # See Birch's Life of Boyle, p. 42, prefixed to the edi- 
 tion of Boyle's Works in five volumes, fol., London, 1744. 
 
 f See Reliquitz Baxleriana, or Baxter's Na?~rative of 
 his Life, published by Sylvester, p. 290. Baxter ascribes 
 a large share of influence in this business to himself and 
 Mr. Ashurst. There can be little doubt, that the agency 
 of Boyle was more efficient than that of any other man. 
 
 | The charter may be found in the Appendix to Birch's 
 Life of Boyle, No. I. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 137 
 
 to a secure course of usefulness. Robert Boyle 
 was appointed its first governor under the new 
 constitution, and remained constantly devoted 
 to its interests. The sincerity with which he 
 espoused the cause of the Society for Propogat- 
 ing the Gospel among the Indians, was evinced 
 by bestowing upon it a third part of the for- 
 feited impropriations in Ireland, which in 1662 
 were granted to him by the King.* An inter- 
 esting correspondence was carried on from 
 time to time between Mr. Boyle and Mr. Eliot, 
 to which, as well as to some letters that passed 
 between Eliot and Richard Baxter, I shall here- 
 after have occasion to refer. f 
 
 * Birch's Life of Boyle, p. 41. 
 
 f Mr. Boyle's first letter to the Commissioners of the Col- 
 onies, and their answer, are given by Gookin, 1 M. H. Coll., 
 1.214-218. They are both valuable, as exhibiting the 
 views and the spirit of the leading men, who were engaged 
 in the cause. 
 
 N2 
 
138 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Further Labors of Eliot among the Natives. — 
 His Letters to Winslow. — Questions of the In- 
 dians. — Eliofs Converts troubled by Gorton's 
 Doctrines. — Desire of the Indians for a Town 
 and School. — Opposition from the Powaws 
 and Sachems. 
 
 I now return to the story of Mr. Eliot's exer- 
 tions among the Indians ; but I find it difficult 
 to arrange his labors in chronological order, on 
 account of the disjointed manner in which they 
 are related by himself and others. 
 
 We learn from his statement, that the natives 
 in the southern parts of Massachusetts and the 
 adjoining region were in general but little dis- 
 posed to embrace Christianity. There were a 
 few " praying Indians " at Titacut. Young 
 Massasoit (whom Eliot calls by his other name, 
 Ousamequin), son of the sachem so distin- 
 guished in the history of Plymouth, was op- 
 posed to all attempts at religious instruction; 
 and of his father Mr. Eliot humorously says, 
 " The old man is too wise to look after it." 
 The western Indians were found to be more 
 docile. They listened to the word with much 
 willingness. Shawanon, the sachem of Nasha- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 139 
 
 way, had received Christianity ; and many of 
 his people, induced perhaps as much by his 
 example as by any other motive, had done the 
 same. We have seen before, that he was 
 friendly to Mr. Eliot, and ready to defend him 
 in the hour of danger. In the summer of 1648, 
 the apostle visited his domain four times, and 
 found a numerous people there. But, as it was 
 nearly forty miles from his home, he could not 
 be with them so frequently as he or they 
 wished. They begged him to come oftener 
 and stay longer.* 
 
 * When Shawanon died, an apprehension was enter- 
 tained, that his people might choose such a successor, as 
 would be friendly neither to Christianity nor to the Eng- 
 lish. To avert this danger, the Court made use of Mr. 
 Eliot's influence with the Indians. He and Mr. Nowell 
 were sent to them for the purpose of persuading them to 
 make a proper choice. This fact I learn from the follow- 
 ing notice, extracted from the Colony Records, under the 
 date of October, 1654. 
 
 " Whereas Shawanon, sagamore of Nashaway, is lately 
 dead, and another is now suddenly to be chosen in his room, 
 they being a great people that have submitted to this juris- 
 diction, and their eyes being upon two or three of the blood, 
 one whereof is very debased, and a drunken fellow, and 
 no friend of the English, another is very hopeful to learn 
 the things of Christ ; — This Court doth therefore order, 
 that Mr. Increase Nowell and Mr. John Eliot shall and 
 hereby are desired to repair to the Indians, and labor by 
 their best counsel to prevail with them for the choosing of 
 such a one as may be most fit to be their sagamore, which 
 would be a good service to the country " 
 
140 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 There are letters of Mr. Eliot, written to 
 Winslow in 1649 and 1650. From these we 
 learn something of the objects which engaged 
 his interest. Winslow had informed him of a 
 distinguished Jewish theologian at Amsterdam, 
 Rabbi Ben Israel, who affirmed, that the ten 
 tribes of Israel were certainly transported to 
 America, of which fact there were " infallible 
 tokens." Eliot eagerly seized on this piece 
 of information, supposing it might bring to 
 light new evidence for his favorite opinion. 
 He requested his correspondent to sift the mat- 
 ter thoroughly, and to learn, if possible, on 
 what grounds the Jewish doctor had founded 
 his assertion, at what time, in what manner, 
 and in what numbers the lost tribes had 
 reached America. In confirmation of the the- 
 ory he stated, that Mr. Dudley had told him of 
 one Captain Cromwell, lately deceased at Bos- 
 ton, who had frequently been among Indians at 
 the south, that were circumcised, and had been 
 able to ascertain the fact beyond all doubt. 
 " This," says Eliot, "is one of- the most prob- 
 able arguments that ever I yet heard of." His 
 solicitude to have this point proved did not 
 spring from idle curiosity. The inquiry was. 
 one of those, which clustered around the cen- 
 tral interest of his soul; for, if it could be 
 shown, that the Indians were descendants from 
 the ancient people of God, to whom a cove- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 141 
 
 nant of rich promises was once given, he be- 
 lieved there would be " a ground of faith to 
 expect mercy for them " ; for, as he says, " Je- 
 hovah remembereth and giveth being to ancient 
 promises." His heart would then be greatly 
 encouraged in his work.* 
 
 However we may smile at the theory which 
 he cherished with so much zeal, or at the argu- 
 ments by which he sought to support it, we 
 must respect the motive, which gave this bias 
 to his speculations. If his desire to impart 
 the blessings of divine truth to the Indians had 
 been less fervent, he would have cared less to 
 prove, that they came from the ancient stock of 
 Israel. 
 
 Mr. Eliot felt, and expressed in his corres- 
 pondence, a warm sympathy with those who 
 were placed amidst the strong conflicts, by 
 which the mother country was rent asunder. 
 His wishes and prayers were all in favor of the 
 dominant party ; but whether the execution of 
 the King was regarded by him with approba- 
 tion, we have no means of ascertaining. 
 
 From the contemplation of political convul- 
 sions, however, his heart was still returning to 
 his own good work at home, and rested there. 
 He was delighted to receive any sympathy on 
 
 * Further Discovery of the Present State of the Indians, 
 &c, pp. 14, 24. 
 
142 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 this subject. He blessed God when he heard, 
 that the celebrated John Owen expressed a 
 great interest in his labors. The favorable 
 notice, which the conversion of the Indians had 
 gained in Parliament, together with his politi- 
 cal prepossessions, induced him to speak of 
 that assembly in terms of indiscriminate praise, 
 which may be thought at the present day to 
 need some qualification. 
 
 He renewed at this time the mention of 
 schools to be provided for the natives. No 
 man believed more devoutly in the necessity of 
 dependence on the divine blessing ; but he no 
 less firmly believed, that, if the work of im- 
 provement was to be permanent, the founda- 
 tion must be laid in the education of the young. 
 He insisted, therefore, that there must be an 
 annual appropriation for the support of school- 
 masters and schoolmistresses. He proposed 
 to carry the business of education still further; 
 for he had found some of the Indian youth so 
 docile, and of such prompt and quick parts, 
 that he wished to have them, as he expressed 
 it, " wholly sequestered to learning." By this 
 he meant, that they should be sent to college, 
 and devote their lives to study and teaching. 
 Ten pounds per annum, he thought, would be 
 sufficient for the maintenance of a single youth 
 in this way. At a later period, we shall see, 
 unsuccessful attempts were made to carry this 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 143 
 
 plan in some degree into effect. Eliot like- 
 wise urged the importance of translating the 
 Bible and other books for the natives. He in- 
 sisted, that, if money could be procured, there 
 was no purpose to which it might be so use- 
 fully devoted as to this. These were the lead- 
 ing objects, to which he earnestly called the 
 attention of his friends in England. 
 
 Winslow and Mr. Herbert Pelham, who was 
 likewise in England at that time, had taken 
 occasion in their letters to express their affec- 
 tionate greetings to the " praying Indians." 
 Eliot, touched with this kind remembrance of 
 his converts, soon found opportunity to make 
 use of it, as an illustration in the course of his 
 instructions. Some Christian Indians from 
 Martha's Vineyard had visited those, to whom 
 our evangelist ministered in Massachusetts. 
 Among them was one, whose assistance May- 
 hew had found very serviceable in learning 
 their language. Eliot's Indians had much con- 
 versation with their visiters, and, finding a per- 
 fect sympathy on religious subjects, they gave 
 the strangers a hearty welcome. 
 
 This circumstance occasioned a question, 
 which to a man like their teacher must have 
 had an affecting interest. "How is it," said 
 they, " that, when an Indian whom we never 
 saw before, comes among us, and we find that 
 he prays to God, we love him exceedingly; but 
 
144 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 when our own brother, dwelling at a distance, 
 visits us, if he does not pray to God, though 
 we love him, yet it is not with such a love as 
 we have for the other man % " The sentiment 
 of religious sympathy must have been strong, 
 that gave rise to such a question in the minds 
 of men scarcely in any considerable degree re- 
 claimed from savage life. 
 
 Mr. Eliot first inquired, whether they really 
 found this feeling in their hearts. They replied 
 that they did, and had often wondered at it. 
 Encouraged by this answer, their teacher fur- 
 ther asked them, what they supposed could be 
 the reason, that good people in England, at 
 the distance of three thousand miles, who 
 never saw them, should love them as soon as 
 they heard of their praying to God, and send 
 them tokens of their affectionate regard. He 
 then mentioned the kind message sent by Mr. 
 Winslow and Mr. Pelham. He reminded them 
 of the good things already bestowed by their 
 friends in England, and assured them that they 
 would receive more, for that means would soon 
 be sent to assist them in building a town. 
 
 The Indians acknowledged, that they could 
 not account for this benevolent interest. Mr. 
 Eliot, having thus prepared their minds, pro- 
 ceeded to explain to them the nature of that 
 unity of spirit by which those who love reli- 
 gion are attached to each other, and doubtless 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 145 
 
 left on their hearts a far more salutary and en- 
 during impression, than could have been con- 
 veyed by any attempt to open the depths of 
 doctrinal mysteries. 
 
 Our apostle was troubled to hear, that some, 
 who had gone from America, had reported un- 
 favorably in England concerning his work 
 among the natives. He requested Mr. Winslow 
 to inquire of such, whether they had ever taken 
 the pains to go three or four miles to some of 
 the Indian meetings, that they might judge for 
 themselves from personal observation. If they 
 had not, he protested against their testimony. 
 If they had done so, and were acquainted with 
 the Indians, he begged to know specifically 
 what their objections were. 
 
 As to the general, sweeping charge, that all 
 the Indians were bad and reckless, because 
 those were so w r ho were found loitering around 
 the English settlements, watching for an op- 
 portunity to steal or to do mischief, he would 
 have such as talked in this way consider how 
 it would fare with the English, if the character 
 of all should be judged and condemned by that 
 of the worst among them. He asked only for 
 fair dealing. While he was far enough from 
 making any extravagant claims for his Indians, 
 he would not have them traduced by the 
 thoughtless or the malignant, without inter- 
 posing an honest vindication. 
 
 vol. v. 10 O 
 
146 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 While Eliot was thus actively engaged in 
 labors, which took and kept him much from 
 home, he was not unmindful of his studies. 
 His love of books appears by a request he 
 made to Winslow for assistance, to enable him 
 to purchase the library of Mr. Welde, his form- 
 er colleaguej who had gone to England, and 
 did not intend to return. He was extremely 
 unwilling, that these books should be sent back 
 to England, while they were so much needed 
 in the infant colony, where the means of theo- 
 logical learning were scanty. The price of 
 the library was thirty-four pounds ; but he 
 would pay that price only on condition that all 
 the books were included. 
 
 It seems, from his manner of speaking, that 
 he expected to refund the money which he 
 wished to have disbursed for him on this occa- 
 sion. But he soon after learned, that the cor- 
 poration in England were willing to discharge 
 the expense of the purchase, for which he was 
 heartily grateful. They likewise bought the 
 library of Mr. Jenner, minister of Weymouth, 
 for Harvard College, as appears from a letter 
 of Winslow, published by Hazard.* Eliot's 
 expressions seem to imply, that Welde's books 
 were to be presented to him ; but this is not 
 
 # See Savage's note on Winthrop, Vol. I. p. 25\. Mr. 
 Eliot also mentions Jenner's library in connexion with 
 Welde's. 
 
JOHN ELIOT 147 
 
 positively said. He promised to send to Eng- 
 land a catalogue of each of the libraries, as 
 soon as his engagements should allow him suf- 
 ficient leisure. 
 
 On one occasion, Eliot's converts were some- 
 what troubled by the doctrines of the notorious 
 Gorton, whose conduct and creed caused so 
 much disturbance in the early days of New 
 England. In July, 1650, two of the " praying 
 Indians " travelled to Providence and War- 
 wick, and spent the Sabbath among Gorton's 
 followers, with whom they had much confer- 
 ence about religion. They returned with per- 
 plexing doubts on their minds. At the next 
 lecture, before the assembly had fully come to- 
 gether, one of those Indians asked Mr. Eliot 
 this question ; " How happens it, that the Eng- 
 lish, among whom I have lately been, though 
 they have the same Bible as we have, yet speak 
 different things ? " He then said, that he and 
 his brother had visited Providence and War- 
 wick, and though they did not understand the 
 public exercises, yet they learned from conver- 
 sation, that there was much difference between 
 the opinions of the people there and those of 
 their own teacher. 
 
 Mr. Eliot requested him to state the particu- 
 lars. He accordingly enumerated the points, 
 about which their faith had been disturbed. 
 " First," said he, " you teach us there is a 
 
148 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 heaven and a hell ; but according to Gorton's 
 people, it is not so ; for they say the only 
 heaven is in the hearts of the good, and the 
 only hell in the hearts of the wicked." " Well," 
 said the preacher, " how did you answer that ? " 
 " I told them," rejoined the Indian, " that I 
 did not believe their doctrine, because heaven 
 is a place where good men go after death, and 
 hell is a place where the wicked go when they 
 die." Mr. Eliot was pleased with the reply. 
 
 Many reflecting Christians at the present 
 day would find little or nothing objectionable 
 in the doctrine of Gorton's followers on this 
 subject. But probably the conceptions, which 
 the Indians had naturally formed, were better 
 suited to the rude state of their minds, than 
 more refined views. A place, with outward 
 material accompaniments for happiness or mis- 
 ery, is a more definite and imposing object to 
 the imagination, than a state of the heart; be- 
 cause it admits those gorgeous descriptions 
 and that glowing imagery, which have all the 
 stirring effect of the most striking objects of 
 sense. 
 
 The Indian then proceeded to mention other 
 particulars, in which some of Gorton's peculiai 
 opinions against infant baptism, and against 
 the utility or propriety of the office of minis 
 ters and magistrates, were developed. On each 
 of these topics Eliot inquired, how they had 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 149 
 
 met and answered the doctrines of these men. 
 He found that in every instance, they had, as 
 he believed, replied wisely and soundly. Gor- 
 ton's people said, besides, something about the 
 Parliament of England, which the Indian re- 
 porter did not understand. 
 
 It is observable, that during this conversa- 
 tion Mr. Eliot himself made no remarks on the 
 errors of Gorton. He merely proposed que- 
 ries, to ascertain how the minds of his Indian 
 disciples were affected by these views, and 
 how their own unassisted thoughts could dis- 
 pose of them. Full of joy at finding these 
 untutored men, whose faith had been thus ex- 
 posed to a perilous encounter, so discreet and 
 firm in the right way, he offered solemn thanks, 
 in the prayer at the opening of the ensuing 
 service, that God had given them such ability 
 to discern between right and wrong, and so 
 stout hearts to stand for the truth against 
 error. He regarded this trial as an evidence 
 of the success, which the blessing of God had 
 bestowed on his teaching.* 
 
 It should here be mentioned, that in the re- 
 monstrance against " The Petition and Declar- 
 ation of Samuel Gorton," which was intrusted 
 to Winslow when he w T ent to England, and ad- 
 dressed to the Earl of Warwick and the other 
 Commissioners for Foreign Plantations, it was 
 
 * Eliot's Letter in Further Discovery, £fc, pp. 33-35. 
 
 02 
 
150 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 maintained, that the good work of christianiz 
 ing and civilizing the Indians, which had been 
 so happily begun by Mr. Eliot, would be dashed, 
 if Gorton should be countenanced and upheld 
 in his proceedings.* There was so much 
 heated excitement against this man, that it is 
 difficult to judge whether the accusation was 
 well founded. 
 
 The project of establishing a town for the 
 " praying Indians " was one of growing inter- 
 est and importance. The natives themselves 
 entered heartily into the plan, and in the spring 
 of 1650 importuned their teacher to permit 
 them to begin the enterprise. But at that time 
 he advised them to delay the business a little, 
 as he was waiting for tools and other helps 
 from England, by means of which he hoped to 
 prosecute the work in the summer. 
 
 Meanwhile several ships arrived without 
 bringing the expected supply. This failure 
 made Mr. Eliot sad. His heart smote him for 
 depending so much on human means, and for 
 repressing the zeal of the Indians, by holding 
 out a hope which was not fulfilled. The piety 
 of his day regarded every disappointment as a 
 rebuke from God. He thought himself now 
 called to learn the lesson of putting more 
 trust in the Lord, and less in man. So seri- 
 
 * Savage's Winthrop, Vol. II. p. 297. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 151 
 
 ously did he construe this temporary delay of 
 the expected assistance, that he consulted with 
 the elders and some of the members of his 
 church, as to the light in which it was to be 
 viewed. He also sought the advice of sever- 
 al elders at the Boston lecture. 
 
 Mr. Cotton declared, " My heart saith, Go on, 
 and look to the Lord only for help." Eliot's 
 church, upon his recommendation, observed a 
 day of fasting and prayer for this and for 
 other causes, and engaged to afford as much 
 aid as their ability would permit. At that very 
 time, before they had retired from the place of 
 meeting, they had notice of the arrival of a 
 ship from England, by which encouraging let- 
 ters and promises of aid were received from 
 private friends. This mercy cheered the spir- 
 its of Mr. Eliot; and it was so ordered, he 
 observes, that he " should receive it as a fruit 
 of prayer." 
 
 While his conduct on this occasion may be 
 thought to exhibit the hasty despondency, into 
 which a temporary check upon a favorite plan 
 sometimes betrays the feelings even of a good 
 man, and we wonder that he should so sud- 
 denly construe his disappointment into a re- 
 proof from heaven, and his relief into a special 
 answer to prayer ; we may also observe here 
 that habit of reliance on God, which is so often 
 the stimulating principle of energetic and 
 
152 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 persevering action in a good cause. Man is 
 never so strong as when, in the consciousness 
 of utter dependence, he leans on the wisdom 
 and goodness of Him whose arm sustains the 
 universe. 
 
 Meanwhile our evangelist continued with 
 unwearied zeal to preach, and to instruct by- 
 question and answer, at the several stations 
 where he was accustomed to collect the In- 
 dians. It was not to be expected, that he 
 could proceed without opposition from the na- 
 tives. No missionary ever went to unenlight- 
 ened men in a better spirit of love and wisdom 
 than Mr. Eliot. But all his prudence, all his 
 affectionate address, could not silence or obvi- 
 ate the irritated feelings of many, who were 
 unable to appreciate the kindness which aimed 
 only to do them good. The selfish passions, 
 too, were naturally stirred into resistance. 
 Mr. Eliot accordingly, while cheered with some 
 encouraging evidences of success, found him- 
 self called to meet and subdue the obstacles 
 thrown in his way by the action of fierce and 
 resentful feelings. 
 
 The opposition at first arose chiefly from the 
 powaws. These men, though occasionally 
 treated with indignity by their people, pos- 
 sessed that power, the stronger for being mys- 
 terious, which a supposed connexion with the 
 invisible world always confers. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 153 
 
 The savage, if inaccessible in other ways, is 
 for the most part easily held captive by his su- 
 perstitious fears. The howling and dances, 
 the charms and incantations of the powaws, 
 overawed men, whom no physical force could 
 intimidate, and from whom no physical pain 
 could extort a groan. It was believed, that 
 they could kill or cure the diseased, and that 
 they had communications from the world of 
 spirits, enabling them to bewitch their enemies, 
 or put them to death. Their influence operated 
 so deeply on the minds of the Indians, that 
 even the Christian converts stood in awe of 
 them, and found it almost impossible to shake 
 off their dread of the supernatural endow- 
 ments, with which they were supposed to be 
 invested. Such an influence as this, so flatter- 
 ing to the natural love of power in the human 
 breast, we may readily believe would not be 
 resigned without a struggle. 
 
 One of the first objects w T ith Mr. Eliot was 
 to induce the Indians to abandon their pow T aws, 
 and thus to liberate them from that debasing 
 thraldom in which they had been held. When 
 these men saw a new religion introduced among 
 their people, which threatened to withdraw 
 from their hands those over whom they had 
 exercised such power, they met the innovation 
 with determined resistance. They brought all 
 the agency of old fears to bear on every one, 
 
154 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 who showed a disposition to escape ; and it 
 required no common courage to set their 
 threats at defiance. Many of the apostle's 
 disciples were exceedingly troubled in this 
 way. He " observed a striking difference in 
 their countenances, when the powaws were 
 present and when they were out of the way." * 
 For some time the principal opposition to 
 Eliot's labors came from these men. But, in a 
 letter to Winslow in 1650, he observes, that 
 the sachems also had generally become formid- 
 able enemies, and omitted no effort or device to 
 prevent their people from " praying to God," 
 for this was the general phrase by which they 
 designated the new religion. Their opposition 
 sprung from one of the strongest feelings in 
 the heart of man, whether savage or civilized. 
 The effect of Mr. Eliot's success was to eman- 
 cipate their people in some degree from the 
 grasp of their despotic tyranny. They held 
 their subjects in absolute servitude. Both 
 property and persons were at their command; 
 and the language of the sachem was, " All is 
 mine." What they wanted, they would demand 
 with violent clamors, or seize without hesita- 
 tion. The consequence was, that their people 
 either timidly surrendered all that they had, or 
 concerted some plot to murder their oppres- 
 
 * Neal's History of New England, Vol. I. p. 253. 
 

 JOHN ELIOT. 155 
 
 sors. On one side was lawless tyranny ; on 
 the other, unconditional submission or reckless 
 outrage. The Indian subjects, knowing that 
 whatever they might acquire was at the mercy 
 of the sachems, felt no desire to gain any thing 
 more than a bare sufficiency for present sub- 
 sistence. 
 
 Wherever Christianity was introduced among 
 them, it had a tendency to abolish, or greatly 
 mitigate, this state of servitude and oppres- 
 sion. The people learned in some rude degree 
 to understand their rights. They were willing 
 to pay the tribute as before; but they insisted 
 that it should be regulated by acknowledged 
 and reasonable measures. 
 
 When the sachem attempted to overawe them 
 by rage and violence, they had the courage to 
 admonish him for his sin, instead of pacifying 
 him by submission. They let him know, that 
 their possessions were not to be extorted from 
 them in that way, and, reminding him that they 
 had learned industry from the divine command, 
 they even ventured to enjoin on him the same 
 duty. Neither in the splendid palace, nor in 
 the cabins of the forest, is man willing to re- 
 sign arbitrary power, so long as he can hold it. 
 The sachems could not look with complacency 
 or indifference on the inroads of a religion, 
 the effect of which was to bring their authority 
 
156 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 within some just limits and under some rea- 
 sonable principles. 
 
 Mr. Eliot tells us, that he had requested the 
 Commissioners for the United Colonies to de- 
 vise a general mode for the instruction of all 
 the Indians, and that in his prayers he was ac- 
 customed to offer petitions for some of the 
 tribes by name, such as the Mohegans and the 
 Narragansets. This, being made known among 
 them, occasioned much excitement. Uncas, 
 sachem of the Mohegans, went to Hartford, 
 when the Court of Commissioners was in ses- 
 sion there, and expressed to them the appre- 
 hensions this report had raised in his mind, 
 and his extreme dislike towards the introduc- 
 tion of Christianity among his people.* 
 
 Under these circumstances, the "praying 
 Indians " naturally became objects of aversion 
 and persecution. The sachems banished them 
 from their communities, and even in some in- 
 stances, it is said, put them to death. Had 
 not their fear of the English held them consid- 
 erably in check, the converts would probably 
 in general have fared much worse at their 
 hands than they did. 
 
 Mr. Eliot was often in great personal dan- 
 ger. His life would frequently have been in 
 peril among them, had they not dreaded the 
 
 * Eliot's letter in Further Discovery, ^-c, p. 38, &c. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. ] 57 
 
 retaliation of their English neighbors, who were 
 too strong to permit outrage with impunity. 
 They would sometimes drive him out with vio- 
 lent and menacing language, and would tell 
 him, that, if he came again, it should be at his 
 peril. 
 
 He had too much of the spirit of a martyr 
 to be intimidated by these threats. " I am en- 
 gaged," he said to them, " in the work of God, 
 and God is with me. I fear not all the sa- 
 chems in the country. I shall go on in my 
 work, and do you touch me if you dare." The 
 same man, whose heart was full of love, and 
 who with the most winning gentleness would 
 interest himself in the wants of the little child- 
 ren of the wigwam, could, when the occasion 
 called for unyielding intrepidity, face without 
 dismay the savage chiefs, and answer their 
 angry violence with a firmness, before which 
 the stoutest of them quailed. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that Eliot makes no 
 severe comment on this sharp opposition. He 
 lamented it chiefly because he feared it might 
 deter many of the Indians from venturing to 
 adopt the religion of Christ. He regarded it 
 with compassion, as the natural conduct of 
 men, who could not understand, that he was 
 bringing them a blessing, instead of inflicting 
 an injury. 
 
 He had, moreover, the piety and the wisdom 
 
 P 
 
158 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to believe, that good would spring out of this 
 warm opposition. The searching and sifting 
 trial, through which the Indians passed in be- 
 coming Christians, would be at once an evi- 
 dence and an exercise of their fidelity. The 
 chaff would be winnowed out, and only the 
 good grain brought in. The insincere, the 
 loose, the careless, who from various base or 
 unworthy motives might have called themselves 
 " praying Indians," could they have done it 
 with safety or advantage, would be effectually 
 kept away from a profession, which they could 
 adopt only at the risk of persecution. On the 
 other hand, a strong confidence might be placed 
 in those, who had firmness and faith enough to 
 brave the displeasure of sachems and powaws, 
 and give themselves up to the new religion in 
 defiance of the perils by which they were sur- 
 rounded. The impulse, that inspired such 
 courage, could be no light or hypocritical one. 
 There would be a well-founded hope, that the 
 true light had dawned on their minds, that the 
 principle of inward life had been touched by 
 divine truth. 
 
 It was wise in Mr. Eliot thus to derive en- 
 couragement even from strenuous opposition; 
 though, in expecting so much good from this 
 source, he did not, perhaps, make sufficient al- 
 lowance for the difference between savage and 
 refined man, as to the influence of such mo- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 159 
 
 tives. It should, however, be observed, that 
 his confidence even in those, who came into 
 Christianity through so many obstacles, was 
 not hastily bestowed. He cautiously waited 
 for the testimony of a competent time. If upon 
 experience they were found to improve in the 
 knowledge and love of religion, in proportion 
 as they understood it, and to submit to its 
 restraints, and practise its duties, "what," he 
 modestly and feelingly asked, " should hinder 
 charity from hoping, that there is grace in their 
 hearts, a spark kindled by the word and spirit 
 of God, that shall never be quenched 1 " 
 
160 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Settlement at Natick. — Labors of the In- 
 dians at that Place. — Form of Polity devised 
 for them by Eliot. — Their Civil Covenant. — 
 Visit of Governor Endicot and Mr. Wilson to 
 Natick, and their Account. — Eliot's Endeavors 
 to form Indian Preachers. — Further Particu- 
 lars of Natick. 
 
 The time had come when Mr. Eliot's long- 
 cherished desire for the establishment of a 
 town of " praying Indians " was to be grati- 
 fied. It would seem, that the settlement at 
 Nonantum would naturally have been selected 
 for that purpose. But there were reasons why 
 the leader of the enterprise preferred to seek 
 another place for the community he had in view. 
 
 It was his opinion, that the town ought to be 
 " somewhat remote from the English." Diffi- 
 culties had already been found to arise from 
 the vicinity of Nonantum to the English set- 
 tlers ; and Eliot was persuaded, that, for sev- 
 eral reasons, it would be expedient for the 
 natives to have a more insulated situation, 
 where there would be less danger of collision. 
 Besides, Nonantum did not afford room enough 
 for his purpose. He w T anted a tract of land, 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 161 
 
 where the Indians could be gathered into a 
 large society, furnished with instruction of va- 
 rious kinds, a form of government, and encour- 
 agements to industry in agriculture and the 
 trades, in fishing, dressing flax, and planting 
 orchards.* He wished to make the experiment 
 under the most favorable circumstances, be- 
 cause he intended to found such a town as 
 might be an example for imitation in future at- 
 tempts of the same kind, a model for all the 
 subsequent communities of Christian Indians, 
 that might be collected. 
 
 His own solicitude was increased by finding 
 a strong disposition on the part of his converts 
 to cooperate in the plan. They often ex- 
 pressed a warm desire to be gathered into a 
 church, to enjoy the administration of the ordi- 
 nances, and to have regular services of public 
 worship on the Sabbath ; in short, to be united 
 under such ecclesiastical forms as they saw 
 among their English friends. Their faithful 
 teacher told them, that in their present irregu- 
 lar, unfixed mode of life, they could not profit- 
 ably or decently maintain among themselves 
 these religious institutions ; that they must first 
 be established in civil order, and in the forms 
 of an industrious community, and then they 
 would be prepared to have a church and its 
 
 * Eliot's letter to Winslow in The Glorious Progres&e 
 of the Gospel, 4'c, p. 8. 
 
 VOL. V. 11 P 2 
 
162 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ordinances. This admonition quickened their 
 desire for the proposed settlement ; and some 
 of their aged men exclaimed, " that God 
 would let us live to see that day ! " 
 
 At length, in 1651, the "praying Indians" 
 came together, and laid the foundation of a 
 town on the banks of Charles River, about 
 eighteen miles in a southwestern direction from 
 Boston. They named it Natick, which signi- 
 fies a place of hills; and thither the Nonantum 
 Indians removed. Some delay and disappoint- 
 ment had occurred before this selection was 
 effected. Mr. Eliot regretted the delay, be- 
 cause he feared it might discourage his disci- 
 ples and embolden their adversaries. But he 
 deemed it imprudent to begin, until he had 
 heard from the friends of the enterprise in the 
 mother country. He therefore continued to 
 labor patiently and faithfully, as he had done, 
 waiting for the time when Providence should 
 grant the accomplishment of his wishes. 
 
 In the mean time he used all diligence to 
 select the best situation. For this purpose he 
 made several visits and surveys. At last he 
 believed himself to be guided to the choice of 
 the spot in answer to his prayers. However 
 he might mistake, as was the propensity of his 
 times, by a too confident estimate of the special 
 interposition of Providence, still this circum- 
 stance should be mentioned as an evidence of 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 163 
 
 the devout habit of his mind. In a letter writ- 
 ten in October, 1650, he speaks of having rode, 
 probably early in the spring, to what he calls 
 " a place of some hopeful expectation " ; but 
 he found it unsuitable for his purpose. He 
 stopped on his way, retired behind a rock, and 
 there prayed for divine direction. While he 
 was travelling in the woods, his Christian 
 friends at home were also asking in prayer the 
 blessing and guidance of God for him. His 
 company, in consequence of the sickness of one 
 of their number, were obliged to hasten their 
 return. But on their way home, some of the 
 Indians who were with them mentioned a situ- 
 ation, in the description of which he was so 
 much interested, that, taking them for guides, 
 he visited some parts of it. Upon a more careful 
 survey, he determined to choose this spot for 
 the settlement, being the same that was after- 
 wards called Natick. Hence he remarked, that 
 " the place was of God's providing, as a fruit 
 of prayer." 
 
 The settlement was to occupy both sides of 
 Charles River. Though the stream was so 
 shallow in the summer, that the Indians could 
 generally wade through it with ease, yet, as the 
 water was deep in the spring and at other 
 times, it became necessary to throw a bridge 
 over it. Mr. Eliot persuaded them to under- 
 take this work. They built a foot-bridge over 
 
164 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the river, eighty feet long and nine feet high 
 in the middle. Doubtless it was a sufficiently 
 rude structure ; but it answered their purpose, 
 and, what was quite as important, it gave them 
 the stimulating excitement of that satisfaction, 
 which man enjoys, in seeing the successful re- 
 sult of his labor in a new form. 
 
 When they had finished it, Eliot called them 
 together, offered thanks to God, and gave them 
 instruction from a portion of Scripture. He 
 then praised them for their ready and cheerful 
 industry. He added, that, as they had worked 
 hard in the water, if any desired wages, he 
 would pay them; but, as the bridge was wholly 
 for their own use, if they would consider it as 
 a labor of love, he should be glad, and would 
 remember it at a future time. They at once 
 replied, that they should accept no wages, and 
 thanked him for his kind assistance in an un- 
 dertaking so useful to themselves.* There 
 was in the transaction much of the character- 
 istic spirit of this earnest, artless, benevolent 
 man. 
 
 This took place in the autumn of 1650. The 
 next spring the Indians went to their work 
 with spirit and interest. Their town was laid 
 out in three streets, two on one side and one 
 on the other side of the river. Lots of land 
 
 * Further Discovery, &c, p. 37. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 165 
 
 were measured and divided, apple-trees were 
 planted, and the business of the sowing season 
 was begun. A house-lot was assigned to each 
 family ; and it is said, that some of the cellars 
 of these dwellings may be seen at the present 
 day. They built a circular fort, palisaded with 
 trees, and a large house in the English style, 
 the lower part of which was to be used for 
 public worship on the Sabbath, and for a school- 
 room on other days, while the upper apartment 
 was appropriated as a wardrobe and as a de- 
 pository for valuable commodities. A part of 
 this room was divided from the rest by a par- 
 tition for Mr. Eliot's peculiar use, — "the 
 prophet's chamber," in which he had a bed. 
 This house, fifty feet long, twenty-five feet 
 wide, and twelve feet high between the joists, 
 was built entirely by the Indians, excepting the 
 assistance they had from an English carpenter 
 for a day or two, who gave them directions 
 about raising the frame and some other par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 Canopies were constructed of mats upon 
 poles, one for Eliot and his attendants, and 
 others for the natives, the men and women hav- 
 ing separate canopies. These are said to have 
 been for " the hearers," I suppose on occasion 
 of the common discourses in pleasant weather, 
 or on other days than the Sabbath. Several 
 small houses after the English mode were 
 
166 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 erected ; but Gookin says, the Indians found 
 these too expensive, and, for that reason as 
 well as others, they generally preferred to 
 build wigwams in their old fashion.* 
 
 Some mode of government was now to be 
 provided for the new community, which Eliot 
 had collected. On this subject his principles, 
 however strange the form in which they are 
 stated may seem at the present day, w T ere such 
 as the religious character of the Puritan strug- 
 gle had made acceptable to many pious men at 
 that time. He thought, that all civil govern- 
 ment and all laws should be derived from the 
 Scriptures alone. A form of polity, which 
 did not take its model and authority from the 
 word of God, w r as false and bad. This point 
 Mr. Eliot loved to argue and enforce. We 
 find it frequently recurring in his correspon- 
 dence with his friends in England, when he 
 touched upon the mode of government he 
 should choose for his Indian converts. He 
 believed that the time would come, when all 
 other civil institutions in the world w T ould be 
 compelled to yield to those derived direct- 
 ly from the Bible. Of his Indians he says, 
 " They shall be wholly governed by the Scrip- 
 tures in all things, both in church and state; 
 the Lord shall be their lawgiver, the Lord 
 shall be their judge, the Lord shall be their 
 
 * 1 M. H. Coll. J. 181. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 167 
 
 king, and unto that frame the Lord will bring 
 all the world ere he hath done." 
 
 It was his earnest prayer, that the Puritans 
 in England, after the overthrow of the mon- 
 archy, might be led to reconstruct their civil 
 state on these principles. But his plan, he 
 supposed, would be more easily effected among 
 the unsophisticated men of the wilderness, 
 than anywhere else. Other nations, he said, 
 would be loth " to lay down the imperfect star- 
 light of their laws for the perfect sun-light of 
 the Scriptures " ; but the Indians, being neither 
 blinded by preconceived ideas, nor led astray 
 by false wisdom, would readily " yield to any 
 direction from the Lord," with respect to their 
 polity, as well as religion. 
 
 Such was Mr. Eliot's theory, which seems to 
 have been quite vague and indefinite, the aspi- 
 ration of piety, rather than the result of politi- 
 cal philosophy, but still containing the germ of 
 a principle as sound as it is noble. He earn- 
 estly desired to see his ideas on this subject 
 carried into practice in the mother country. 
 "Oh," he exclaimed, "the blessed day in Eng- 
 land, when the word of God shall be their 
 Magna Charta and chief law-book, and when 
 all lawyers must be divines to study the 
 Scriptures." * 
 
 # Eliot's letter in A Farther Discovery, fyc, pp. 23, 28. 
 
168 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 How extensive were the views he would have 
 derived from these principles, we know not. 
 So far as the occasion allowed, he applied them 
 in the government of his new town. He ad- 
 vised the Indians at Natick to adopt the plan, 
 which the father-in-law of Moses recommended 
 for the Israelites in the wilderness ; * that is, 
 to divide their community into hundreds and 
 tithings, and to appoint rulers of hundreds, 
 rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. Every 
 man was to choose under which ruler of ten he 
 would place himself; but this arrangement 
 must obviously have been regulated in some 
 such way as to prevent more than the due 
 number being assigned to any one. The rulers 
 of ten Mr. Eliot called tithing-men ; for so, he 
 says, they were denominated in the mother 
 country, " when England did nourish happily 
 under that kind of government." He here al- 
 ludes, I suppose, to the institutions established 
 by Alfred, when the invasions of the Danes 
 had thrown every thing into confusion, and he 
 was obliged to provide for the administration 
 of justice by making each division responsible, 
 by means of the decennary or frank-pledge, for 
 the good conduct of its members.f 
 
 The polity, which the Indians thus adopted 
 
 * Exodus xviii. 21. 
 
 f Hume's History of England, Vol. I. p. 92, and Tur- 
 ner's History of the Anglo- Saxons, Vol. I. p. 327. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 169 
 
 by their teacher's advice, was only a municipal 
 government for their own regulation. They 
 acknowledged their subjection to the magis- 
 trates of the colony, and appeals were to be 
 made to their authority in all necessary cases. 
 From Eliot's statement, the courts provided 
 for the natives by the Governor and magis- 
 trates appear to have been hitherto of little 
 practical use, in consequence of the difference 
 of language, the want of good interpreters, 
 and the trivial and tedious causes brought for 
 adjudication ; so that, as he says, they must 
 either have had no government, or one among 
 themselves. They had frequently referred their 
 disputes to his judgment ; but he found it in- 
 expedient and unpleasant to act as umpire. 
 He was right in wishing them to have a gov- 
 ernment of their own to meet their wants and 
 to settle matters of litigation. 
 
 Their form of polity being thus fixed, a 
 meeting was held on the 6th of August, 1651, 
 at which the " praying Indians " from different 
 quarters were collected. Mr. Eliot opened the 
 meeting with prayer; he then read and ex- 
 pounded to them the eighteenth chapter of 
 Exodus, which he had often explained to them 
 before, as exhibiting the model of their gov- 
 ernment. They next proceeded to their elec- 
 tions, and chose a ruler of an hundred, two 
 rulers of f ftiis, and rulers of tens, or tithing- 
 
 Q 
 
170 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 men. Then each one selected for himself the 
 tithing-man to whom he would belong, and 
 took his place accordingly. Eliot says, it 
 seemed to him " as if he had seen scattered 
 bones go bone to bone, and so live a civil, po- 
 litical life." The sight was refreshing to his 
 spirit. He then proposed to bring them into a 
 covenant, by which they should agree " to be 
 the Lord's people, and to be governed by the 
 word of the Lord in all things." To this pro- 
 ceeding he wished to give a peculiar solem- 
 nity, by appropriating a day specially for the 
 purpose. 
 
 Before this time, the Indians had inquired 
 of their teacher, why they had never been di- 
 rected to have a day of fasting and prayer, 
 like those observed by the English churches. 
 He replied, that whenever there should be an 
 important solemnity on hand, such as the work 
 of becoming the people of the Lord by cove- 
 nant, they would be advised or required to ob- 
 serve a day of fasting and prayer. The occa- 
 sion, of which he had spoken, had now arrived. 
 
 There was another reason for this public hu- 
 miliation before God. A ship, in which the 
 Society in England had sent large supplies for 
 the infant settlement of the Indians, was 
 wrecked at Cohasset on the 1st of September. 
 Most of the goods were saved, but were much 
 damaged. At a lecture on the 10th of the 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 171 
 
 same month, Eliot informed the Indians of the 
 misfortune, which had befallen the assistance 
 so kindly sent by their friends. He instructed 
 them to regard this as a peculiar frown of 
 Providence, and as " a fruit of sin." In con- 
 sideration of these circumstances, a day w r as 
 appointed to humble themselves before God by 
 fasting and prayer, and to enter into a solemn 
 covenant. 
 
 Before the day came, the conduct of Cut- 
 shamakin caused some trouble. Of this man 
 Mr. Eliot, w T ho probably regarded him with 
 special interest, as being the first sachem to 
 whom he preached, remarks, that, though con- 
 stant in his profession, he was " doubtful in 
 respect of the thoroughness of his heart." He 
 had been to the Narraganset country to ap- 
 pease some strife among his brother sachems. 
 On the journey he and his companions had pur- 
 chased " much strong water " at Gorton's set- 
 tlement, the consequences of which were rev- 
 elry and intoxication. Though Cutshamakin 
 himself was not known to have been actually 
 drunk, yet his conduct was scandalous, and 
 could not be permitted to pass without rebuke. 
 
 Thus the good apostle found himself an- 
 noyed in his proceedings by the Englishman's 
 alcohol, which, from the first hour of its intro- 
 duction to the present moment, has been a with- 
 ering curse to the poor Indians. 
 
172 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 A meeting was held September 24th, 1651, 
 the appointed day of fasting and humiliation. 
 Cutshamakin's misconduct had become pub- 
 licly known, and he was forbidden to take any 
 share in the teaching on this solemn occasion. 
 But he began the exercise with an humble con- 
 fession of his sin before them all. He offered 
 a short prayer, in which he acknowledged his 
 transgression, implored forgiveness of God, 
 and entreated that the spirit of the Lord might 
 for the future dwell in and govern his heart 
 One of the Indians then prayed, and taught 
 from Luke vii. 36, to the end of the chapter. 
 Another commented on the Lord's prayer. A 
 third spoke from Matthew vii. 19, to the end 
 of the chapter. These exercises they per- 
 formed in a manner which gratified Mr. Eliot. 
 He then gave them a discourse from Ezra ix. 
 3 and 9, in which he explained the nature and 
 meaning of a day of fasting. " By the parable 
 of a nut," says he, with his usual simplicity 
 of illustration, " I showed that outward acts 
 are as the shell, which is necessary, but a 
 broken and believing heart is the kernel." 
 
 There was then a pause in the services for 
 refreshment, during which we learn, that " a 
 question came, whether it were lawful to take 
 a pipe of tobacco." They soon reassembled, 
 and some of the Indian teachers addressed the 
 meeting. Night was drawing on ; and Mr. Eliot 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 173 
 
 closed the exercises by a discourse from Deu- 
 teronomy xxix. 1-16. He next recited the 
 covenant,* to which first the rulers, then the 
 people, all gave their assent. A collection was 
 taken for the poor ; and, as evening approached, 
 the work of the day, which Mr. Eliot in the joy 
 of his heart called " that blessed day," was 
 finished. These proceedings constituted the 
 first public and formal act of civil polity among 
 the Indians of North America.f 
 
 Thus, in the spirit of piety and good order, 
 a town of " praying Indians " was established, 
 with such religious, civil, and economical regu- 
 lations as seemed to give fair promise of a 
 prosperous issue. It was natural, that the 
 founder should wish some of the leading men of 
 the colony to take note of the settlement. On 
 the 8th of October, which was the next lecture- 
 day, Governor Endicot, the Reverend Mr. Wil- 
 son, and many others visited Natick, to see 
 for themselves what the pious industry of Eliot 
 had done for the natives. Soon after their ar- 
 rival, the usual religious service was attended. 
 One of the best instructed of the Indians dis- 
 coursed to his brethren. The Governor and 
 others were so much interested in his manner 
 
 * This covenant, with the addition recommended by Mr. 
 Cotton, is given in a letter from Mr. Eliot, in Further Pro~ 
 gresse of the Gospel, pp. 10, 12. 
 
 f Ibid., pp. 9-14. 
 
 Q 2 
 
174 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 and appearance, that they desired Mr. Eliot to 
 write down the substance of his remarks. 
 
 The subject of his discourse was taken from 
 the parables of the treasure hidden in a field, 
 and of the merchant man seeking goodly pearls, 
 Matthew xiii. 44-46. These he explained 
 with much good sense, and with appropriate 
 applications. The hidden treasure was the 
 knowledge of Jesus Christ, including repent- 
 ance, pardon, and the means of grace ; the 
 field where it was found was the Christian 
 church ; the things to be parted with in order 
 to gain it were their old customs and vices, 
 every thing, in short, which hindered them 
 from receiving, with the true spirit, the bles- 
 sings of the Gospel. The merchant man was 
 the seeker after God and truth, such as the 
 poor praying Indian ; the pearl of great price 
 was faith in the Savior, connected with repen- 
 tance for sin; the riches that he possessed 
 were interpreted to mean former evil courses 
 and manners ; and these were sold, that is, 
 sins must be cast away, for the sake of the 
 pearl. On these points he dilated with fervor, 
 and applied them with hearty feeling to the 
 condition of his Indian brethren. 
 
 This specimen of native preaching certainly 
 furnishes striking evidence of the Christian 
 advancement, to which Eliot had conducted 
 some of his disciples in the wilderness. The 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 175 
 
 apostle had not labored in vain, for the true 
 life was in those words ; and when they were 
 heard in the deep tranquillity of that retired 
 spot, which till now had echoed with few other 
 sounds than the wolf's long howl, or the fierce 
 war-hoop of the savage, the heart must have 
 been hard and dry, that was not moved by the 
 presence of such a spirit in such a place. 
 
 Of this visit to Natick both Governor Endi- 
 cot and Mr. Wilson have left interesting ac- 
 counts in letters, which they wrote at the time 
 to the corporation in England. They speak 
 with delight of what they witnessed. They 
 describe with some particularity the objects, 
 which arrested their attention in the new set- 
 tlement. Mr. Wilson takes special notice of 
 " the firm, high foot-bridge, archwise," and 
 says the Indians were much delighted to find 
 that their bridge withstood the ice and floods 
 of the preceding season, while one a few 
 miles from them at Medfield, built by the Eng- 
 lish, was carried away. He describes the 
 preaching of the Indian above mentioned, as 
 being marked " with great devotion, gravity, 
 decency, readiness, and affection. " He relates, 
 that Mr. Eliot prayed and preached in the In- 
 dian language for an hour, " about coming to 
 Christ and bearing his yoke," which was fol- 
 lowed by pertinent questions on the subject 
 from his converts. Then the Indian school- 
 
176 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 master * read, line by line, a psalm translated 
 by Eliot, which the men and women sung " in 
 one of our ordinary English tunes melodiously." 
 Wilson and the Governor were too much af- 
 fected to be silent. They each addressed an 
 exhortation and a word of encouragement to 
 the natives, which the apostle was requested 
 to translate and explain to them. Endicot 
 affirms, that he could scarcely refrain from 
 tears of joy on the occasion. " Truly," says 
 he, "I account this one of the best journeys I 
 have made these many years." He was much 
 pleased with the skill and ingenuity the natives 
 displayed in their various works. One kind of 
 manufacture he found among them, which rath- 
 er surprises us ; " They have made," he says, 
 " drums of their own with heads and braces 
 very neatly and artificially." f The next sum- 
 
 * His name was Monequassun. 
 
 f The following fact, mentioned by Gookin, will show 
 that drums at that period were sometimes devoted to other 
 than martial uses. Describing the Indian mode of worship, 
 he says, "Upon the Lord's days, fast-days, and lecture- 
 days, the people assemble together at the sound of a drum, 
 (for bells they yet have not,) twice a day," &c. — 1 M. H. 
 Coll., I. 183. But the Indians were not the only ones, who 
 were summoned to public worship in this singular manner. 
 The good people of Cambridge at one time had the same 
 practice. Johnson describes one who, in 1636, wandered 
 to that town, and came to a large plain ; " no sooner was 
 he entered therein, but, hearing the sound of a drum, he 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 177 
 
 mer they were to build a water-mill, concern- 
 ing which the advice of the Governor and other 
 gentlemen was requested. 
 
 It was a plan, which Mr. Eliot had much at 
 heart, to qualify the natives to instruct one an- 
 other. I have already mentioned the Indian 
 schoolmaster at Natick. Endicot and Wilson 
 state, that this man could read, spell, and write 
 English correctly, and that his success with 
 his pupils gave good promise. Mr. Eliot's ob- 
 ject was to prepare some of the most gifted, 
 intelligent, and serious of the Indians to be- 
 come the religious instructors of their own 
 people. He wished to form a kind of seminary 
 from which young natives, well taught and well 
 disciplined, should go forth as missionaries to 
 distant places. " There be several providences 
 of God," says he, " appearing to work, which 
 make me think, that the most effectual and gen- 
 was directed towards it by a broad beaten way ; following- 
 this road, he demands of the next man he met, what the 
 signal of the drum meant ; the reply was made, they had 
 as yet no bell to call men to meeting, and therefore made 
 use of a drum." — Wonder-working Providence, B. I. ch. 43. 
 Dr. Holmes, however, says there is evidence, that " the 
 church had a bell at first," and then adds, " A drum, for 
 what reason does not now appear, was afterwards substi- 
 tuted in its place." — History of Cambridge, 1 M. H. Coll. 
 VII. 18. If the use of the drum was a matter of choice, 
 and did not arise from the want of a bell, the fact is one of 
 curious, however trivial, interest. 
 
 VOL. v. 12 
 
178 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 eral way of spreading the Gospel will be by 
 themselves, when so instructed as I have above 
 mentioned. As for my preaching, though such 
 whose hearts God hath bowed to attend can 
 pick up some knowledge by my broken expres- 
 sions, yet I see that it is not so taking and 
 effectual to strangers, as their own expressions 
 be, who naturally speak unto them in their own 
 tongue." 
 
 Accordingly he was accustomed to select 
 two of them each Sabbath " to exercise," as 
 he termed it, intending thereby to habituate 
 them to a clear and forcible manner of convey- 
 ing their thoughts. They were required to re- 
 hearse such portions of Scripture as he read to 
 them, and to attend carefully to his expositions 
 as a model. The ability they manifested in 
 these attempts was encouraging, and in prayer 
 they exceeded his expectation. He left to the 
 schoolmaster the task of catechizing the chil- 
 dren, and reserved to himself that of catechiz- 
 ing the adults, in doing which he was cautious 
 and tender, lest he should "damp and discour- 
 age the weak." 
 
 On one occasion he mentions having tried 
 the experiment of these Indian missionaries 
 among their brethren. Mr. Winthrop, son of 
 the Massachusetts governor, advised him to 
 send two discreet men to the most powerful 
 sachem among the Narragansets. He thought 
 
JOHN ELIOT. ]79 
 
 the Indians in those parts might be stirred up 
 to attend to religion, and would have questions 
 to propose, which might furnish occasion for 
 spreading the truth among them. Mr. Eliot 
 followed the advice. He sent a present by his 
 missionaries to conciliate good will. The sa- 
 chem accepted the present, but treated with 
 contempt the offer of religious instruction. 
 The mission at first seemed likely to prove a 
 failure. But when Eliot's two Indians went 
 among the people, especially such as were 
 somewhat remote from the influence of the 
 leading men, they found more willing hearers, 
 who asked many questions, and expressed a 
 strong desire for instruction in the Gospel. 
 The particulars of the interview are not stated. 
 Many of the Indians scattered through the 
 Nipnet country sent a request to the "praying 
 Indians " for religious teachers. Occasionally 
 Mr. Eliot despatched some of the best and 
 most skilful to different places on short mis- 
 sions ; and they returned not without success. 
 The territory of Natick was granted to the 
 " praying Indians " by the inhabitants of Ded- 
 ham, at the intercession of Mr. Eliot. The 
 Indians gave the people of Dedham, in ex- 
 change, the township which is now called 
 Deerfield. The grant from Dedham was con- 
 firmed by the General Court. The original 
 
180 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 extent of Natick township was about six thou- 
 sand acres.* 
 
 A large part of this land was " the inheri- 
 tance of John Speene, and his brethren and 
 kindred." It was desirable, that they should, 
 by a formal act, resign their right in it, before 
 the settlement was finally organized. To this 
 proposal they willingly consented. Accord- 
 ingly on a lecture-day in 1650, they, in a pub- 
 lic and solemn manner, " gave away all the 
 right and interest, which they formerly had in 
 the land in and about Natick, unto the publick 
 interest of the town," reserving nothing to 
 themselves but the wears on the river for 
 catching fish.f Of the land, they only took 
 house-lots as others did. For this quitclaim 
 " they received a gratuity unto their good con- 
 tentment." Another family made a similar 
 surrender of their property. 
 
 It was Eliot's original intention to collect 
 all the " praying Indians " into one community 
 at Natick. But the Cohanit J Indians had re- 
 
 * So it is stated in Biglow's History of Natick. Dr. 
 Homer, in his History of Newton, says it was a "fertile and 
 beautiful tract of about three thousand acres." — 1 M. H. 
 Coll.,V. 263. 
 
 f This appears from a record, in the handwriting of Eliot, 
 among the archives of Natick, quoted by Biglow in his 
 History of that town, p. 23. 
 
 \ This was the Indian name for the territory now con- 
 stituting Taunton and Raynham. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 18 1 
 
 served a spot for themselves, where they wished 
 to fix their settlement. Mr. Eliot found, that 
 he could not take that place for the site of his 
 town, without opposition from the English. 
 He therefore rejected it, and pitched upon Na- 
 tick. This preference created among the Co- 
 hanit Indians a suspicion, that the apostle had 
 more affection for his other converts than for 
 them. The influence of this circumstance, to- 
 gether with the death of Cutshamakin,* and 
 the succession of Josias as sachem, so alien- 
 ated their feelings, that they would take no 
 part in the Natick establishment. They did 
 not, however, relinquish the design of a settle- 
 ment, but determined to effect it at Punkapog,f 
 the place of their first choice. 
 
 Mr. Eliot says, that three towns more were 
 in preparation. He came to the conclusion, 
 that separate settlements would be better for 
 the Indians, than his first plan of bringing them 
 into one. He found, that Natick would not have 
 afforded convenient accommodation for them 
 all, and that, had he gathered the whole body 
 of his disciples there, they would probably soon 
 have been compelled to separate and scatter, 
 
 * I have found no notice of the time of this sachem's 
 death. Mr. Eliot's tract, in which the above facts are men- 
 tioned, was published in 1655. Cutshamakin's death was 
 then probably recent. 
 
 t Now called Stoughton. 
 
 R 
 
182 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 which perhaps would have discouraged them at 
 the outset. By living in smaller companies, 
 they would find their condition improved, and 
 be more contented. These happy effects they 
 had already experienced at Natick, and were 
 beginning to experience at Punkapog, " through 
 God's mercy and the bounty of the good peo- 
 ple in England, whose love laid the foundation- 
 stone of the work." * 
 
 * Eliot's Brief Narration of the Indians Proceedings 
 in respect of Church-Estate, fyc, pp. 2, 3. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 183 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Proposed Organization of a Church at JSatick. — 
 Examination and Confessions of the Indians. — 
 Delays. — Intemperance among the Indians. — 
 Further Examinations. — A Church established. 
 — Affectionate Regards and Kind Services of 
 the Christian Natives. — Misrepresentations as 
 to Eliot and his Work. — Appointment of Eng- 
 lish Magistrates for the "Praying Indians" 
 
 The principles of civil order and social in- 
 dustry had now taken root in the wilderness. 
 The solitary place was made glad. The pleas- 
 ant sounds of the axe and the hammer were 
 heard in the woods, as well as the cry of the 
 wild hunter. The habitations of order and 
 peace sprung up by the river-side, where men 
 either had not been, or had been only as those 
 who roam in idle vacancy or in pursuit of 
 blood. The germ of spiritual life was devel- 
 oped, where the animal man alone had ruled, 
 and all had been dark and cold. When the 
 apostle visited the spot, his heart was filled 
 with that grateful gladness, which the achieve- 
 ment of a benevolent work kindles in the good 
 man's soul. But he had a still further object 
 in view, to which what he had hitherto done 
 
184 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 was meant to be subservient. He wished now 
 to gather his Indians into a Christian church. 
 The civil organization was to be followed by 
 the ecclesiastical. 
 
 He approached this point in the progress of 
 his plans with deliberate caution. To form his 
 converts into " a church estate " was a pro- 
 ceeding, into which he would admit nothing 
 that even appeared like haste or carelessness. 
 Perhaps he ascribed a disproportionate impor- 
 tance to this outward act, considered in itself. 
 He may have been too much disposed, as is 
 frequently the case, to regard it as the end, 
 rather than as one of the means, of the Chris- 
 tian life. But when we remember that, in 
 point of fact, this step was looked upon as the 
 crowning evidence of piety, we shall applaud 
 the cautious reverence, with which he guarded 
 against precipitation, in respect to men like his 
 catechumens, of whose religious proficiency or 
 soundness it was so difficult to have satisfac- 
 tory assurance. 
 
 His contemporaries observed and praised his 
 Christian prudence on this subject. It was re- 
 marked, that, if he had been disposed to hurry 
 the Indians to baptism, as the Catholics in 
 South America had done, or had bribed them 
 to a profession by giving them coats and shirts, 
 he could long ago have collected hundreds or 
 thousands under the name of churches. " But," 
 
J H ^ ELIOT. 185 
 
 it was added, " we have not learnt as yet, that 
 art of coining Christians, or of putting Christ's 
 name and image upon copper metal." * When, 
 therefore, Mr. Eliot at length believed there 
 was good ground for proceeding to constitute 
 a church of " praying Indians," we may be 
 sure it was, at least, no decision of hasty 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 He was persuaded, that it was time to take 
 this step. As a preparation for it, in the summer 
 of 1652, on the Sabbaths and lecture-days, he 
 was accustomed to require from many of them 
 statements of their religious knowledge and 
 experience. These they gave with much so- 
 lemnity, and he wrote down their sayings and 
 confessions. He then requested the elders of 
 neighboring churches to hear them, that he 
 might have their advice. His brethren were so 
 much pleased with these confessions, that they 
 deemed it expedient to hold a solemn meeting 
 on the subject at Natick. A day of fasting 
 and prayer was appointed ; the names of the 
 Indians, who were to present their confessions, 
 were sent to the churches in the vicinity ; and 
 a large assembly came together to witness their 
 qualifications for church fellowship. 
 
 This was on the 13th of October, 1652. The 
 morning, until eleven o'clock, was spent in 
 
 # The Day-Breaking of the Gospel, &c, p. 15 
 
 R2 
 
186 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 prayer and in discourses by Mr. Eliot and two 
 of the Indians. The elders were then request- 
 ed to ask such questions, as might put to the 
 test the religious knowledge and feelings of 
 the catechumens. But it was thought best to 
 hear their confessions, both such as they had 
 formerly made and such as they might now 
 make before the assembly, and then to pro- 
 pose questions, if it should seem necessary. 
 Five of them were called forth in succession, 
 and gave statements of their religious views 
 and feelings. Many more were ready; but, 
 when these had finished their confessions, the 
 time was so far spent, that it became necessary 
 to close the exercise. 
 
 The Indians were slow of speech ; and they 
 spoke the more slowly, because Mr. Eliot 
 wished to write down all they said. He some- 
 times found it difficult to understand fully 
 every sentence, and intimates, with all Chris- 
 tian gentleness, that they were disposed to be 
 tediously prolix. These circumstances, he says, 
 " did make the work longsome, considering 
 the enlargement of spirit God gave some of 
 them." This is not the only case, in which 
 verbosity has been considered as the result of 
 spiritual influence. Of the confession of the 
 Indian schoolmaster, who had probably ac- 
 quired a greater facility of speaking than the 
 rest, it is particularly recorded, that it was 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 187 
 
 growing very long and wordy, when the audi- 
 ence began to tire and go out, and there was 
 great confusion both within and around the 
 house. Mr. Eliot was obliged to cut short the 
 schoolmaster's speech, or, as he expresses it, 
 " took him off," and called another. 
 
 The assembly found, that, if they heard all, 
 sunset would overtake them, and leave them to 
 find their way home, in a dark, cold night, 
 through the woods. The elders, therefore, ad- 
 vised Mr. Eliot to proceed no farther at pres- 
 ent, but to assure the Indians, that nothing but 
 want of time prevented them from listening to 
 all the speeches. This was said, that they 
 might not be discouraged by an appearance of 
 neglect, or by the present disappointment of 
 their wishes respecting a church organization. 
 Eliot had expected the assistance of Mr. May- 
 hew from Martha's Vineyard, and Mr. Lever- 
 idge* from Sandwich on this occasion; but 
 they failed to attend. The interpreters also, 
 whom he had sent for to facilitate the work, did 
 not appear. The whole burden, therefore, 
 came on him. " I was alone," says he, " as I 
 have been wont to be." This was another of 
 
 * Mr. Leveridge was noted for hrs pious labors among 
 the Indians in and about Sandwich. A letter from him 
 may be found in 3 M. H. Coll., IV. 180. A brief notice of 
 him is given by Mr. Savage in a note on Winthrop, Vol. I 
 p. 115. 
 
188 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the circumstances, which retarded the business 
 of the day. He gave his converts a word of 
 encouragement, and promised them a second 
 similar meeting. The elders expressed to the 
 apostle a warm approbation of his labors, and 
 strengthened his heart by their kind sympathy. 
 Our faithful evangelist prepared an account 
 of the transactions at this meeting, containing 
 a report of all the Indian confessions. This 
 was published in London for the information 
 of the Society for Propagating the Gospel.* 
 
 # See the tract entitled Tears of Repentance, fyc., pub- 
 lished in 1653. Among the prefatory matter is an ad- 
 dress from the pen of Mr. Eliot to " His Excellency, the 
 Lord General Cromwell," which is full of such warm praise 
 of that extraordinary man, as might be called flattery, were 
 it not evidently the offspring of religious conviction. " The 
 Lord," says Eliot to the Protector, "hath not only kept 
 your honor unstained, but also caused the lustre of those 
 precious graces of humility, faith, love of truth, and love 
 to the saints, &c, with which through his free grace he 
 hath enriched you, to shine forth abundantly, beyond all 
 exception of any that are or have been adversaries to your 
 proceedings." This eminently able Leader of the Saints 
 received as much adulation, under the guise of pious 
 speeches, and loved it as well, as the proudest of the line 
 of Stuarts. Eliot compliments Cromwell for " the favora- 
 ble respect he hath always showed to poor New England," 
 and says, " In your great services unto the name of Christ, 
 I doubt not but it will be some comfort to your heart to see 
 the kingdom of Christ rising up in these western parts of 
 the world." Mr. Came gives us a beautifully sketched 
 conception of what he imagines must have been the Pro- 
 
JOHN ELIOT 
 
 u 
 
 Eliot averred, that he had been consciei 'tushr 
 scrupulous in giving the true substanc< of the 
 Indian speeches ; indeed, that, instead of mak- 
 ing them better than the reality, he feared he 
 had weakened them by omissions and abridg- 
 ment. There is no reason to doubt the rigor 
 ous truth of his affirmation. The ministers, 
 and others present on the occasion, were highly 
 pleased with the confessions. Richard Mather, 
 particularly, spoke of them, and of the whole 
 scene, with the warmest satisfaction. 
 
 These confessions are certainly valuable, as 
 honest specimens of the manner, in which the 
 inward life of the soul struggled forth in these 
 rude but sincere children of nature. They are, 
 as we should expect, incoherent and broken, 
 full of repetitions and wordy sentences, some- 
 times extravagant, and sometimes without 
 
 tector's feelings, when thus addressed by the Apostle to 
 the Indians. (Lives of Eminent Missionaries, Vol. I. pp. 
 41, 42.) But the reader's judgment of the fidelity of the 
 picture will depend very much on his opinion of Cromwell. 
 Mr. Carne makes a statement, for which one would be glad 
 to know his authority. He represents it as an instance of 
 the delusions of the heart, that the Protector " should write 
 to the man of God with earnest concern and affection for 
 the perishing heathen, while the blood of his King was 
 scarcely washed from his hand." If Cromwell ever wrote 
 to Eliot, it is a fact of which my inquiries have furnished 
 no evidence. It is to be regretted, that Mr. Carne has not 
 given the letter, or at least his authority for the assertion. 
 
190 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 much meaning. But no serious person can 
 read them without feeling a conviction, that 
 the crude minds, from which they came, were 
 awakened to some apprehension of the truths 
 of salvation, and were earnest seekers after 
 the way of God, however confused their con- 
 ceptions of it might be. 
 
 There are some expressions, which seem 
 rather like the mechanical repetition of what 
 they had heard, than the spontaneous outpour- 
 ings of their own hearts. This was naturally 
 to be expected, and may easily be excused. 
 But there is enough of another kind to show 
 us that divine truth was breaking into their 
 souls, that some of its rays had struck through 
 the darkness of barbarity. A seed was cast 
 into the ground ; and, though it might be the 
 least of all seeds, still it contained a vital 
 principle, from which the tree of life might 
 spring. 
 
 In some of the confessions there is a pecu- 
 liar air of honesty. One acknowledged, that 
 he first became a praying Indian, not because 
 he understood or cared for religion, but be- 
 cause he loved the English, and wished them 
 to love him. This impulse of feeling brought 
 him into a state of mind, which resulted in 
 deep and abiding convictions. Another said, 
 in a spirit of sadness, " My heart is foolish, 
 and a great part of the word stayeth not in it 
 strongly." 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 191 
 
 Mr. Eliot closes his account with the story 
 of two little children, under three years of age, 
 who died showing, as he believed, great "man- 
 ifestation of faith." While we may regret, that 
 the good man should have been carried so far 
 by his kind interest in these lambs of his flock, 
 as to attach much religious value to such infan- 
 tile expressions, we cannot but feel, that there 
 is some power of simple pathos in one of the 
 anecdotes. The mother had made for the 
 amusement of the child a little basket, a spoon, 
 and a tray. The child had been much pleased 
 with these toys when in health ; but in the 
 extremity of his sickness, when the mother 
 brought them to divert his attention from suf- 
 fering, he pushed them away, and said, " I will 
 leave my basket behind me, for 1 am going to 
 God ; I will leave my spoon and tray behind 
 me, for I am going to God." 
 
 The next year nothing was done towards 
 the formation of an Indian church at Natick. 
 Before Mr. Eliot proceeded further, he wished 
 to receive some answer or information from 
 England respecting the account, which he had 
 transmitted thither, of the doings of the pre^ 
 ceding year. No such communication, nor 
 the printed account itself, which he wanted for 
 distribution at home, had reached him in sea- 
 son. Another reason for the delay was, that 
 the "praying Indians " had, in the mean time, 
 
192 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 incurred an unjust obloquy, which threw a tem- 
 porary check and discouragement on Mr. Eli- 
 ot's proceedings. 
 
 Hostilities had commenced between the 
 mother country and the Dutch, which affected 
 the relations of the respective colonies of those 
 countries. In 1653 much alarm was excited 
 by information, received by the Massachusetts 
 government from the Indians, that the Dutch 
 governor of the colony at Manhadoes had been 
 attempting to draw them into a confederacy for 
 the destruction of the English settlements.* 
 It was believed, that such a conspiracy was on 
 foot, and a groundless rumor was spread, that 
 the " praying Indians " were among the num- 
 ber engaged in the confederacy. 
 
 The government of Massachusetts gave no 
 credit to the report ; but it was sufficiently be- 
 lieved in the community to create a strong feel- 
 ing of jealousy, and some ill will, towards the 
 Christian natives. Eliot deemed it inexpedient 
 to make any movement about their church af- 
 fairs, while " the waters were so troubled " ; 
 for, perhaps, the minds even of many serious 
 persons might be alienated by the force of pop- 
 ular opinion. We shall find subsequently, in the 
 transactions connected with Philip's war, an- 
 other more strong manifestation of this dispo- 
 
 * Hutchinson, Vol. I. p. 165 et seq. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 193 
 
 sition among the people to cherish suspicions 
 of perfidv on the part of the Christian Indians 
 
 It happened, that after the published ace ; 
 before mentioned, entitled Tears of Repent- 
 ance. <yc. had been receive;: from England, 
 
 : was a great meeting at Boston, at v. 
 the Commissioners of the United Colonies were 
 present. Our apostle, ever watchful for the 
 Indian interest, availed himself of this opportu- 
 nity to prepare the way for further pre; 
 ings at Natick. He proposed to the assembly, 
 that, as they had now seen the confessions of 
 his catechumens, there should be another ex- 
 amination as to their knowledge in th< 
 mental points of religion. If the result should 
 be satisfactory, and if trustworthy testimony 
 should be received as to their Christian walk 
 and conversation, he inquired whethei the or- 
 ganization of a church among them would be a 
 transaction acceptable to Christians. He re- 
 ceived an answer expressive of general ap- 
 probation. 
 
 Accordingly, in 1654. Eliot requested the 
 advice and assistance of the elders of the 
 churches in this matter. He proposed, that 
 
 should, at a convenient season, take ample 
 time by the aid of interpreters to examine into 
 the knowledge which the Indians had oi reli- 
 gion, that they might by personal inspe 
 be prepared to judge and testify, as to their 
 
 I v. 13 v 
 
194 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 qualifications to be gathered into a church. 
 The elders consented to the proposal ; and it 
 was resolved, that the time should be fixed for 
 a deliberate investigation. Meanwhile a fast 
 was ordered, on some other account, in the 
 churches ; and the Indians also observed the 
 day with reference to the appointed meeting. 
 
 But, about ten days before the examination 
 took place, an incident occurred, which had 
 well nigh occasioned much scandal and dis- 
 couragement. By means, however, of strict 
 discipline, its bad effects were obviated. Three 
 of the loose and unsound part of the " praying 
 Indians," who were perpetually bringing re- 
 proach on the rest, had procured several quarts 
 of " strong water " from those among the 
 English who were ready to furnish them with 
 the fiery poison, and had made themselves 
 drunk.* There was at Natick a ruler by the 
 name of Toteswamp, a man of gravity and 
 authority. It happened, that he had sent his 
 child, a boy eleven years old, to get some corn 
 and fish at the place where these drunken In- 
 dians were holding their revel. One of them 
 gave the boy two spoonfuls of rum, which 
 turned his head. Another put a bottle to his 
 mouth, and made him drink till he was entirely 
 intoxicated. When they had done this, they 
 
 * SeeAppENDix.No.il. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 195 
 
 cried out jeeringly, " Now we shall see whether 
 your father will punish us for drunkenness, 
 since you are drunk as well as we." The In- 
 dians soon began to fight, and the boy in this 
 situation lay abroad all night. 
 
 When this was reported at Natick, Tote- 
 swamp and the rest were deeply grieved. He 
 called the other rulers together to determine 
 what should be done in consequence of this 
 scandal. They sat as a court of judgment on 
 the case, and found that four transgressions 
 had been committed, namely, drunkenness, 
 making the child drunk, reproachful contempt 
 of rulers, and fighting. 
 
 In the mean time, intelligence of this shame- 
 ful business reached Mr. Eliot at Roxbury, just 
 as he was taking his horse on Saturday to go 
 to Natick for the Sabbath. The good apostle 
 was sorely afflicted by it, and said he judged it 
 " to be the greatest frown of God he had ever 
 met in his work." He thought of the scandal 
 it might bring on the cause nearest to his 
 heart, at the moment when he was looking for 
 the consummation of his religious establish- 
 ment, and his spirit sunk within him. He was 
 the more grieved, because one of the offenders 
 was an Indian, who had served him as an inter- 
 preter, and whose aid he had used in translating 
 a large part of the Scriptures. The sin of this 
 man was a hard trial to the evangelist ; but he 
 
196 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 hoped God would humble him, and he deter- 
 mined that he should not act as interpreter on 
 the day of examination. 
 
 Eliot proceeded to Natick, and there found 
 the court of Indian rulers in session. As soon 
 as he arrived, they told him the story of the 
 shame that had been brought upon them, and 
 asked his advice. Toteswamp spoke with deep 
 feeling. He considered, that it was now put to 
 the test, whether he loved the religion of Christ 
 better than his child. He then referred to 
 some Scriptural precepts and examples, and 
 said, " God requires me to punish my child ; 
 how can I love God, if I should refuse to do 
 it?" When reminded, that not the boy, but 
 those who had intoxicated him, were to be 
 blamed, he replied, that the child was guilty in 
 not giving heed to the counsel he had often 
 heard to beware of evil company, that, if he 
 had avoided sinners, he would not have- been 
 betrayed into drunkenness, and that he de- 
 served punishment. 
 
 After some conversation, the rulers retired 
 to deliberate again. At length they gave sen- 
 tence, that the three offenders should sit in the 
 stocks a long time, be taken thence to the 
 whipping-post, and receive each twenty lashes ; 
 and that the boy should sit in the stocks a 
 little while, and then be whipped by his father 
 at school before all the children. These judg- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 197 
 
 ments were faithfully executed. The men 
 were brought one after another, by the consta- 
 ble, to the tree used for a whipping-post, and 
 received their punishment. When this was 
 done, each of the rulers addressed the culprits 
 and the by-standers, telling them that the pun- 
 ishment was designed for the good of the of- 
 fenders, that here they might see the wages of 
 sin, and take warning not to disgrace religion 
 and incur such shameful punishment. 
 
 Mr. Eliot appears to have left the Indians to 
 take their own course on this trying occasion, 
 in order that the discipline might have the 
 better effect by being the expression of their 
 own spontaneous indignation at the sin. He 
 returned to Roxbury, and gave an account of 
 the result at Natick to one of the elders of his 
 church. The elder remarked, that the effect 
 of this affair, scandalous as it was, would on 
 the whole be beneficial, since the signal pun- 
 ishment would be long remembered, and do 
 more good than the offence could do harm ; a 
 mode of educing good from evil, with which 
 his minister was much consoled for the tempo- 
 rary shame that might fall upon his favorite 
 cause. 
 
 It was deemed advisable for several reasons 
 to have the proposed examination at Roxbury, 
 rather than at Natick. It was accordingly held 
 at the former place, probably in Mf. Eliot's 
 
 S2 
 
198 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 meetinghouse, on the 13th of July, 1654. Eliot 
 despatched letters to such as were acquainted 
 with the Indian language, requesting their 
 presence and aid on the occasion. Of these it 
 does not appear that any attended, except Mr. 
 Mayhew of Martha's Vineyard, who took an 
 interpreter with him. Eliot had given the In- 
 dians notice of what would be expected of 
 them at the time,* and advised them to pre- 
 pare for it with devout diligence. The Natick 
 schoolmaster, who was much wanted on the 
 occasion, was unfortunately detained by ill- 
 ness ; and, his disease being pulmonary, it was 
 feared he would not long survive.f 
 
 * They called it Natootomuhtede kesuk, i. e. " A day of 
 asking" questions." Neal incorrectly gives this as the 
 name, which the Indians applied to the day of the former 
 assembly on the 13th of October, 3652. (History of New 
 England, Vol. I. p. 255 ) In this mistake he is followed by 
 Mr. Moore. (Memoirs of Eliot, p. 69.) 
 
 f Consumption seems to have been a common mala- 
 dy among the New England natives. Gookin remarks; 
 " Of this disease of the consumption sundry of those In- 
 dian youths died, that were bred up to school among the 
 English. The truth is, this disease is frequent among the 
 Indians ; and sundry die of it, that live not with the Eng- 
 lish. A hectic fever, issuing in a consumption, is a com- 
 mon and mortal disease among them." — 1 M. H. Coll., 
 I. 173. And General Lincoln, in his Observations on the 
 Indians of North America, says, " Their tender lungs are 
 greatly affected by colds, which bring ^n consumptive hab- 
 its ; from which disorder, if my information is right, a large 
 proportion of them die." — 1 M. H. Coll., V, 7. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 199 
 
 When the assembly had come to order, Mr. 
 Eliot introduced the business by stating the 
 object of the meeting. Liberty was given to 
 every one, in due order, to propose such ques- 
 tions as he pleased. If any doubts respecting 
 the interpretation of the answers should be 
 entertained, it was desired that the words 
 might be reexamined and thoroughly sifted by 
 the interpreters, so as to leave nothing ambig- 
 uous or unsatisfactory. 
 
 In one case, and probably in more, this pro- 
 cess took place. The question proposed to 
 the Indians was, How they knew the Scripture 
 to be the word of God ? They replied, " Be- 
 cause they did find, that it did change their 
 hearts, and wrought in them wisdom and hu- 
 mility." Mr. Mayhew doubted the correctness 
 of the word humility* in the translation of this 
 answer. It was examined again by the inter- 
 preters, and, their version being proved to be 
 correct, Mayhew was satisfied. This beautiful 
 reply, so striking from the mouth of a savage, 
 expresses the principle of that powerful branch 
 of evidence, which arises from the admirable 
 adaptation of Christianity to the moral wants 
 and moral nature of man. 
 
 Eliot intended to write a precise record of 
 all the questions and answers, but was too 
 
 * The Indian word was hohpooonk. 
 
200 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 much engaged in carrying on the business of 
 the examination to attend to it, unless he had 
 interposed great delay. Mr. Walton, one of 
 the assembly, wrote an exact report of them, 
 which, together with Eliot's narrative of the 
 whole proceeding, was published by the corpo- 
 ration in London. It is a valuable tract.* The 
 questions concern all the most prominent topics 
 of religious knowledge, faith, and character. 
 The Indians, according to this report, certainly 
 sustained the catechetical process with much 
 credit to themselves. Their answers generally 
 indicate not only a good understanding of the 
 main points of religion, but sometimes more 
 quickness and clearness of thought, than one 
 would have # expected from them on such sub- 
 jects. To the question, " What is sin? " the 
 comprehensive and discriminating answer was 
 given, " There is the root sin, an evil heart ; 
 and there is actual sin, a breaking of the law 
 of God." 
 
 We cannot but observe the discretion and 
 fairness, with which Eliot conducted this whole 
 transaction. He seems to have feared his own 
 partiality for the Indians, and to have suspected 
 
 * The title is, A Late and Further manifestation of the 
 Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in Neio Eng- 
 land, fyc. London, 1655. This is followed by The Ex- 
 amination of the Indians at Roxbury, the 13th day of the 
 4th month, 1654. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 201 
 
 himself of a disposition to proceed too fast. 
 He therefore insisted, with the more cautious 
 rigor, upon a strict inquest into their qualifica- 
 tions, and upon the utmost deliberation in the 
 movement. Two meetings had now been held, 
 at each of which the Indian catechumens had 
 undergone no light scrutiny. Still the step, by 
 which they were to be gathered into a church, 
 was yet longer delayed. For this delay Mr. 
 Eliot assigned several reasons. He and some 
 others had much confidence in the sincerity of 
 the Indian professions. " Yet," said he, " be- 
 cause I may be in a temptation on that hand, I 
 am well content to make slow haste in this 
 matter." He felt strongly the necessity of 
 guarding against delusion as to appearances of 
 piety in men, who had so lately been brought 
 from the darkness and barbarity of savage life. 
 Their steadfastness needed to be yet further 
 tried. 
 
 In addition to this, there was much of jeal- 
 ousy and doubt, and something of unkindness, 
 among the people of the colony towards the 
 " praying Indians," as well as towards the 
 other natives ; and time, it was thought, might 
 efface these unfavorable impressions. Imme- 
 diate attention to the affairs of the Indians 
 was prevented by a press of other ecclesiasti- 
 cal business among the churches. Moreover, a 
 more urgent want than any other, as Eliot be- 
 
202 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 lieved, was the want of native preachers and 
 .nstructers to go forth among the tribes, speak- 
 ing to them from their own hearts, and in their 
 own way, and meeting them at those numerous 
 points of sympathy, which, the world over, man 
 has with his brother of the same nation. This 
 was an object to which, for the present, the 
 evangelist wished to devote his most energetic 
 labor. He was willing, under existing circum- 
 stances, to defer the ecclesiastical organiza- 
 tion, which he nevertheless longed to see. 
 
 It was not till 1660, that the Indian church 
 was formed at Natick, the first among the na- 
 tives of North America. I have found no par- 
 ticular account of the proceedings on that oc- 
 casion. We only learn, that Mr. Eliot baptized 
 the catechumens, and then administered the 
 Lord's supper. Of how many this church at 
 first consisted, I believe it cannot now be 
 ascertained. In a postscript to Narration 
 of Indian Proceedings, fyc, it is stated, that 
 " the number examined (at that time) was 
 about eight, namely, so many as might be first 
 called forth to enter into church covenant, if 
 the Lord give opportunity." But this was six 
 years before the church was organized ; and 
 during that time, we may suppose, additions 
 were made to the number. 
 
 Thus were laid at Natick the foundations of 
 the first civil and ecclesiastical community of 
 
JOHN EI 10 T. 203 
 
 Christian Indians. I have given a somewhat 
 minute account of these circumstances, because 
 this establishment may be regarded as the most 
 ample specimen of the manner, in which Eliot 
 designed to impart the blessings of social or- 
 der and of the Christian faith to that wild race, 
 whom our fathers found on these shores, when 
 they 
 
 "passed the sea, to keep 
 Their Sabbaths in the eye of God alone, 
 In his wide temple of the wilderness." 
 
 That the general principles of his plan were 
 the result of good sense and of enlightened 
 views, and that the pure spirit of Christian be- 
 nevolence pervaded his undertaking, no candid 
 inquirer, I think, will question. We may con- 
 fidently ask, whether the history of missions at 
 that period, perhaps at any period, presents an 
 instance of a similar work, in which was mani- 
 fested more true wisdom, or more affectionate 
 diligence. 
 
 It is no dubious evidence of the excellent 
 spirit, in which Eliot conducted this Christian 
 enterprise, that he secured the hearty affection, 
 and the profound respect of the Indians. They 
 loved and venerated him as a father ; they 
 consulted him as an oracle • they gathered 
 around him as their best friend. They would 
 make any sacrifice to serve him, and run any 
 risk to defend him. 
 
204 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Such feelings do not take root and last in 
 the bosom of the savage without good cause. 
 The presence of Mr. Eliot, whenever he was 
 among them, spoke to them in that strong nat- 
 ural language, by which a kind and faithful 
 spirit makes itself understood and felt, even 
 by the most untutored heart. They saw him 
 continually laboring, with that self-forgetting 
 charity which was always a bright grace in his 
 character, to make them wiser, better, and 
 happier ; and God has written it in the human 
 constitution, that man cannot see this without 
 some grateful returns of affection. He too 
 loved them as man loves those to whom he 
 wishes to do good. He looked through all the 
 outward circumstances of barbarous manners 
 and wild habits of life, and rejoiced to find un- 
 der them the elements of a capacity for im- 
 provement, the germ of the higher life. And 
 he would not despair ; for he believed, that no 
 spirit can grovel so low, or be so shut up in 
 darkness, but the labor of faith and patience 
 can do much to raise and redeem it into light 
 and liberty. 
 
 In this place may be stated the delight, with 
 which he relates, that when the small-pox 
 raged fatally among the Indians, in the winter 
 of 1650-51, many of his converts hazard- 
 ed their lives in unwearied attention to the 
 sick. There was an aged paralytic in a loath- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 205 
 
 some condition, which rendered him extremely 
 troublesome. His own children became tired 
 of the burden and forsook him. Mr. Eliot of- 
 fered six shillings a week to any one who would 
 take care of him. None would undertake the 
 office for hire ; but some of the families of the 
 Christian Indians offered their services gratui- 
 tously, and took charge of him in this way for a 
 long time. Others, who continued the irksome 
 task, were paid a small sum from a fund col- 
 lected among themselves. 
 
 Eliot says, that by speaking a word he could 
 have raised an abundance from his church and 
 other churches for the relief of the paralytic ; 
 but he did not choose to check the action of 
 the free charity of the Indians. He wished 
 them to learn, by exertion and sacrifice, in a 
 work of benevolence, how much more blessed 
 it is to give than to receive. 
 
 The work, in which Mr. Eliot was engaged, 
 did not proceed without opposition and oblo- 
 quy from his own countrymen ; nor did he per- 
 sonally escape censure. At the close of his 
 account of the examination of the Indians, he 
 observes that his faith in God was a strong 
 support to him against the suspicions, the hard 
 speeches, and the unkindness of some men, 
 who denied the reality of his success, and 
 blamed his management of affairs. 
 
 Of the nature of the accusations, to which he 
 here alludes, we are not specifically informed. 
 
 T 
 
206 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 We learn that in England many objections and 
 cavils were started, and many false reports 
 circulated, to prejudice the nation against the 
 alleged attempt to convert the Indians to the 
 Christian faith. Some affirmed, that, after all, 
 there was in reality no such work on foot, or 
 that at the best it amounted to nothing more 
 than to bring some half-dozen of the natives to 
 profess the Gospel by motives of interest. 
 Of these and other reproaches notice was taken 
 by the corporation in England, with an indig- 
 nant denial of their truth. Richard Mather 
 observes, that both in Old and New England 
 men were found, who declared the whole plan 
 to be only a device for getting money, and the 
 reported conversion of the Indians to be a 
 mere fable. Upon this calumny he remarks, 
 that, if such mercenary motives were at the 
 bottom of the affair, he wonders that the magis- 
 trates and elders should have advised the 
 delay of the Indian church at Natick, and not 
 rather have hastened the business with all 
 speed, regardless of any principles, since the 
 report of an organized church among the na- 
 tives would have done more to win money from 
 pious Christians, than any thing else. 
 
 The truth is, doubtless, that the accusations 
 proceeded from those enemies to the colonies, 
 who labored in various modes to prejudice the 
 mother country against the rising settlements 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 207 
 
 in the western world. I do not find that any- 
 definite facts, or specific charges, were alleged. 
 The objections seem to have consisted of those 
 general and random assertions, which are easi- 
 ly made, but have little weight in the mind of 
 an impartial inquirer. 
 
 Soon after the establishment of the Indian 
 town at Natick, the General Court of Massa- 
 chusetts again legislated for the protection and 
 improvement of the Christian natives. The 
 system of judicature instituted at Nonantum 
 appears now to have been renewed and en- 
 larged. It was enacted, that one of the magis- 
 trates of the colony, acting in conjunction 
 with the Indian rulers, should hold a higher 
 court, the powers of which should be of the 
 same latitude as those of a county court among 
 the English. The laws passed for the regula- 
 tion of affiirs among the Indians were to be 
 made known to them once a year. These laws 
 related chiefly t& the security of the property 
 of the Indians, and to the various ways in 
 which the objects of education, morals, and 
 religion might be promoted. 
 
 The first magistrate, who was appointed to 
 the abovenamed jurisdiction, was Daniel Gook- 
 in, a gentleman distinguished for piety and 
 intelligence, and whose name is honorably con- 
 nected with many important transactions in 
 Indian history by his valuable writings, as well 
 
208 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 as by his wise and kind conduct.* He was 
 the intimate friend of Mr. Eliot, who found 
 him a very valuable associate and counsellor in 
 his labors. Mr. Gookin received this appoint- 
 ment in 1656. Not long after this, he was ab- 
 sent on a visit to England two or three years. 
 During that interval the Indian affairs were 
 administered by Major Humphrey Atherton. 
 Gookin was reappointed to that agency in 
 1661, after the death of Atherton, and uni- 
 formly sustained the character of a faithful, 
 benevolent, and judicious magistrate, respected 
 and beloved by the Indians. One part of his 
 care was to provide for public worship and the 
 observance of the Sabbath, and for schools 
 and other means of improvement, among the 
 natives. 
 
 The Indian rulers and teachers received a 
 small stipend by tithes from their people, who, 
 when they gathered or threshed their grain, 
 set apart a tenth for this purpose, which was 
 carried to some general depository in the town. 
 This practice of paying tithes was introduced, 
 
 * A short account and candid estimate of Gookin may- 
 be found in 1 M. H. Coll., I. 228-230, written by the late 
 venerable Dr. Freeman, one of whose numerous claims on 
 the grateful respect of the community is the discriminating- 
 interest he took in the early history of New England. The 
 Biographical Dictionaries of Eliot and Allen may also be 
 consulted for information about Gookin. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 209 
 
 says Gookin, on the recommendation of "good 
 Mr. Eliot, who first led them into this way, not 
 without good reason." Gookin, apprehending 
 that it might " be censured by some, as savor- 
 ing too much of Judaism and anti-christianism," 
 enters into a defence of the practice.* Proba- 
 bly it was the only convenient or feasible mode 
 by which those natives, who were engaged in 
 managing the education and civil affairs of their 
 people, could be compensated for their time. 
 Mr. Gookin received no pay from them for his 
 services. After he had labored gratuitously 
 for several years, the corporation in England 
 granted him fifteen, or sometimes twenty- 
 pounds per annum. He died poor. 
 
 * 1 M. H. Coll., 1. 178. 
 
 vol. v. 14 T 2 
 
210 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Eliofs iC Christian Commonwealth." — His Trans- 
 lation of the Scriptures into the Indian Lan- 
 guage. — Second Edition of the Translation, 
 — Remarks on the Work. 
 
 To the year 1660 belongs the notice of a 
 book, of which we know little, but by which 
 Mr. Eliot drew upon himself a public censure. 
 It was entitled, " The Christian Common- 
 wealth." We gather from Eliot's statement, 
 that it was written by him nine or ten years 
 before this time, and that the manuscript, being 
 sent to England, was there published, whether 
 by his direction or consent we cannot certainly 
 ascertain. 
 
 How long the book had been received in 
 New England before it was condemned, we are 
 not informed. But on the 18th of March, 1660, 
 the Governor and Council took it up, and 
 passed upon it a formal judgment. They de- 
 clared that on a perusal of the book called 
 The Christian Commonwealth, they found it 
 " full of seditious principles and notions in re- 
 lation to all established governments in the 
 Christian world, especially against the govern- 
 ment established in their native country " 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 211 
 
 They were prepared to inflict censure on the 
 author ; but, having consulted with the elders 
 of the churches, they deferred it till the Gen- 
 eral Court should meet, that Mr. Eliot might 
 have time to consider the matter, and retract 
 the offensive publication. 
 
 In May, when the Court met, Mr. Eliot pre- 
 sented a paper containing a recantation given 
 under his hand. He owned himself the author 
 of the book; but his expressions intimate, that 
 it was published without his knowledge or con- 
 sent. He attempted no defence of it ; and, in 
 order to make public satisfaction for its errors, 
 he bore his testimony against all those expres- 
 sions in the work, which treated the govern- 
 ment of England by King, Lords, and Com- 
 mons as anti-christian, and which justified the 
 proceedings of " the late innovators." The 
 restored government of England he acknowl- 
 edged to be " not only a lawful, but eminent 
 form of government." He then declared his 
 readiness to subject himself, for conscience' 
 sake, to any form of civil polity, which could 
 be deduced from Scripture, as being of God, 
 and abjured every thing in the book inconsist- 
 ent with this declaration. 
 
 The retraction was ample enough to satisfy 
 the Court. They took measures to suppress 
 the book, and ordered Mr. Eliot's acknowl- 
 
212 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 edgment to be posted in the public places of 
 all the chief towns in the colony. 
 
 Such are the facts in the case, as stated by 
 Hutchinson, who adds the sarcastic remark, 
 that, "when times change, men generally suffer 
 their opinions to change with them, so far at 
 least as is necessary to avoid danger." If 
 this transaction be judged without any regard 
 to circumstances, it certainly bears no favor- 
 able testimony to Eliot's firmness or consist- 
 ency. It seems the conduct of a man, who has 
 the weakness to renounce declared opinions 
 for the sake of escaping present peril. But 
 candor requires us at least to remember, that 
 this occurred at a peculiar crisis in the political 
 condition of the colony. The restoration of 
 Charles had just taken place, and been an- 
 nounced in New England. The enemies of 
 the colony were already busy. Complaints had 
 been made against Massachusetts to the King 
 in council and to the Parliament by Mason, 
 Gorges, and others. During the preceding 
 subversion of the monarchy and church, the 
 sympathies of the New England Puritans had 
 of course been on the side of the Republicans. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the magistrates 
 of Massachusetts might well be apprehensive 
 of unfavorable suspicions on the part of the 
 English government. They would naturally 
 watch with anxious care against every move- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 213 
 
 ment, that might swell the obloquy already so 
 perilous. They had presented an address to 
 the King, and another to the Parliament, full 
 of loyalty and allegiance. 
 
 At this juncture of affairs Mr. Eliot's book 
 arrested their attention. To permit such a 
 work to pass unnoticed and unreproved might 
 be represented to their disadvantage, as imply- 
 ing a disposition to sanction the sentiments it 
 defended. To pronounce upon it a sentence 
 of condemnation might, when reported in Eng- 
 land, tend to allay unfavorable suspicions, and 
 to defend them against the injurious charges 
 urged by their enemies. It is probable, there- 
 fore, that, as a matter of state policy and from 
 a regard to the present public good, the magis- 
 trates of Massachusetts required Eliot to re- 
 tract the opinions given in his book. Had it 
 been received in New England during the as- 
 cendency of the Republicans, it would probably 
 have incurred no censure. 
 
 The same motive may have been considered 
 by Mr. Eliot sufficiently imperious to require 
 of him a compliance with the demand of the 
 magistrates. The safety of the state, which, in 
 a crisis of danger, is deemed the supreme law, 
 might induce him to recant offensive opinions 
 with a facility, which seems like timidity, and 
 certainly was a weakness. If his brethren in 
 the ministry urged him to make the desired 
 
214 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 acknowledgment, he would not be likely to 
 treat their opinion with indifference. Might 
 he not, moreover, be biassed by the apprehen- 
 sion, that his political sentiments, if left un- 
 explained, would in the change of affairs in 
 England, bring odium upon his beloved w r ork 
 among the Indians ? 
 
 Considerations like these afford no apology 
 for renouncing opinions sincerely and consci- 
 entiously believed to be true. But they show, 
 that, in a regard to the public good, which was 
 supposed to be at stake, he had a weighty 
 reason for reconsidering those opinions. It 
 is deeply to be regretted that the book itself 
 is not to be found.* Without it, w r e can 
 
 * It is not known that there is a copy in America, but 
 I find The Christian Commonwealth, in a catalogue of 
 books relating- to America, which constitute the Collec- 
 tion of Colonel Aspinwall, Consul of the United States 
 at London ; whose indefatigable zeal and efforts for many- 
 years, in collecting books illustrative of American his- 
 tory, deserve the gratitude of his countrymen. On this 
 subject his library is by far the most copious and val- 
 uable private collection in existence. It will be a serious 
 misfortune, should not this library be ultimately procured 
 and deposited in some public institution in the United 
 States. 
 
 Nor ought we here to forget, or pass over, the labors of 
 Mr. Rich in a similar walk. His Bibliotheca Ameri- 
 cana Nova, or Catalogue of Books in various Languages, 
 relating to America, from the year 1700 to 1800, recently 
 printed in London, and forming a beautiful volume of more 
 
JGHN ELIOT. 215 
 
 scarcely form a fair estimate of Mr. Eliot's 
 conduct in this affair. A copy of The Christian 
 Commonwealth, could we obtain it, would en- 
 able us to judge whether it deserved the sen- 
 tence passed upon it, and would probably give 
 us a better insight, than we now have, into 
 Eliot's political views. If it was indeed " full 
 of seditious principles," he did well to retract 
 it. But we may reasonably doubt, whether the 
 book deserved the sweeping censure passed 
 upon it. It may have been written with warmth, 
 and in a spirit of extravagance ; for Eliot not 
 only, as we may suppose, adopted the distin- 
 guishing political principles of the Puritans, 
 but, as we have seen on another occasion, had 
 certain visionary notions about a form of gov- 
 ernment to be derived from Scriptural authori- 
 ty, before which all human institutions must 
 fall to the dust. Upon cooler reflection, he 
 doubtless found some, perhaps many, of his 
 positions untenable. But the man, who had 
 recently flattered Cromwell and his adherents 
 in no stinted terms for " endeavoring to put 
 government into the hands of the saints," 
 should not have allowed himself, in a change 
 of power, to designate them contemptuously 
 
 than four hundred pages, is a curious and important con- 
 tribution to American literature, and the most interesting 
 bibliographical work that has ever appeared in relation to 
 America, 
 
216 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 as " the late innovators." The Christian Com- 
 monwealth was printed in London without date. 
 
 Mr. Eliot continued to visit the Christian 
 stations among the natives with unabated 
 industry. At Natick, Concord, Neponset, the 
 region of Merrimac River, and other places, he 
 devoted himself to the oversight and instruc- 
 tion of the " praying Indians," and to the fur- 
 ther diffusion of the word of life where it had 
 not been received.* 
 
 The course of this narrative has brought us 
 to that period of Eliot's life, when he accom- 
 plished a task, which, as a monument of pious 
 zeal and indefatigable industry, has always 
 been regarded with admiration. I refer to his 
 translation of the Scriptures into the Indian 
 language. 
 
 On this work he had long set his heart with 
 earnest desire, believing, that, until God's truth 
 could reach his Indian disciples in the written 
 as well as spoken word, the means of making 
 its power permanent and complete would be 
 wanting. If the schools, which in his plan 
 were to be the never-failing attendants of 
 Christian instruction, should effect their pur- 
 
 * Hutchinson mentions the notice, which Colonel Goffe, 
 the regicide judge, took of the questions at an Indian lec- 
 ture, which he attended in 1660. — History of Massachu- 
 setts, Vol. I. p. 152. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 217 
 
 pose among his converts and their children ; 
 and if he could then place the Bible, in their 
 own tongue, under their eyes in every wigwam 
 or house, he might justly feel that a strong 
 foundation would be laid for those great re- 
 sults, which were embraced in the anticipations 
 of his far-reaching benevolence. He had as 
 yet been able to communicate to his hearers in 
 the wilderness only fragments and insulated 
 portions of the Scriptures, by translating for 
 immediate use such passages or chapters, as 
 were required by the discourse, exposition, or 
 conversation at the time. 
 
 In this way the Indians had, indeed, acquired 
 a very considerable acquaintance with many 
 important parts of the Bible. Their questions, 
 their confessions, and their examinations evince 
 a better knowledge of the main points of Scrip- 
 tural instruction, than one would expect under 
 such unfavorable circumstances. Their teacher 
 must have been a man of no ordinary sagacity 
 and zeal, to have been able, under so many 
 difficulties, to make them comprehend and re- 
 member so much of the Bible. 
 
 But the best, that could be effected by such 
 means, was necessarily defective and slow. 
 It was of great importance that the Scriptures 
 in a body should be by their side as a per- 
 petual though silent instructer ; that they 
 should have the inspiration of Heaven in words 
 
 U 
 
218 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 familiar to their ears, to which they and their 
 apostle might always appeal. 
 
 From the commencement of his Indian la- 
 bors, Eliot had evidently kept this great ob- 
 ject in view. He had been intent upon obtain- 
 ing the best assistance he could command in 
 acquiring an accurate knowledge of the lan- 
 guage ; and his perseverance, under every dis- 
 couragement, in a pursuit so unattractive, is 
 truly wonderful. In a letter to Winslow, dated 
 the 8th of July, 1649, he expressed his intense 
 desire " to translate some parts of the Scrip- 
 tures " for the Indians. He considered it as 
 an undertaking demanding the most scrupu- 
 lous and conscientious care. " I look at it," 
 he said, " as a sacred and holy work, to be 
 regarded with much fear, care, and reverence." 
 His duties in the ministry among his own flock 
 had prevented his bestowing on the language 
 all the thorough and constant attention he 
 could have wished. It would be necessary, 
 therefore, he thought, to have assistants, In- 
 dians and others, continually at hand to exam- 
 ine and put to the test his translations. These 
 must be paid. Other expenses also must be 
 incurred. He could not undertake the work 
 with his own means, which were slender. He 
 had a numerous family to be educated ; and 
 his labors among the natives at that time were 
 gratuitous. His only regular source of main- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 219 
 
 tenance was his salary at Roxbury ; and he 
 could not give up his ministry there to devote 
 himself exclusively to the business of translat- 
 ing and preaching for the Indians. 
 
 Thus the work, which he had so much at 
 heart, was retarded, as he said, only by " want 
 of money." In 1651 he mentioned, in a letter 
 sent to England, the improvement he had been 
 gratified to find in the ability of the Indian, 
 who was assisting him in his version of the 
 Scriptures ; but soon after he said in a tone 
 of despondence, "I have no hope to see the 
 Bible translated, much less printed, in my 
 days." * We may infer that, for several years, 
 the project of the Indian translation was float- 
 ing in his mind, without any distinct expec- 
 tation of seeing it realized. Meanwhile he 
 labored at the task from time to time, trusting 
 that the providence of God would at length 
 send the aid necessary to bring it to the de- 
 sired result. 
 
 Nor was his trust in vain. When the funds 
 of the corporation in England became availa- 
 ble, here was an object, which was at once 
 seen to be the most important, to which assist- 
 ance could be appropriated. Their patronage 
 removed the only hindrance ; and at their ex- 
 pense the New Testament in the Indian lan- 
 
 * Further Progresse of the Gospel, &c. p. 7. 
 
220 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 guage was published in September, 1661, soon 
 after the restoration of Charles the Second.* 
 
 It happened that the printing was com- 
 pleted, while the question concerning the con- 
 firmation of the Society's charter in England 
 was pending. The friends of the Society- 
 thought this a favorable opportunity to con- 
 ciliate the good will of the King. The Com- 
 missioners of the United Colonies accordingly 
 prefixed to the Testament a Dedication to his 
 Majesty, written without adulation, but in a 
 tone adapted to win the favorable notice of 
 the sovereign. It was believed to have had 
 some influence in deciding his mind for the 
 confirmation of the charter. But we may be 
 permitted to suspect, that a monarch like 
 Charles was scarcely so much moved by a 
 pious dedication, as by the powerful agency 
 of Clarendon, to whose decision he was doubt- 
 
 * It has two title-pages, one in English, the other in 
 Indian. The first is, "The New Testament of our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ. Translated into the Indian Lan- 
 guage, and ordered to be printed by the Commissioners of 
 the United Colonies in New England. At the Charge and 
 with the Consent of the Corporation in England for the Pro- 
 pagation of the Gospel among the Indians in New England. 
 Cambridge. Printed by Samuel Green and Marmaduke 
 Johnson, mdclxi." The other is, " Wusku Wuitestamentum 
 JVul-Lordumun Jesus Christ Nuppoquohwussuaeneumun." 
 There is a copy of this New Testament in the library of 
 Harvard College. It has the Address or Dedication to the 
 King, which was not inserted in all the copies. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 221 
 
 less glad to leave the troublesome question. 
 Twenty copies of the Testament were sent to 
 England, each of which contained the dedi- 
 cation ; one for the King, the rest for other 
 distinguished persons.* In the Dedication the 
 Commissioners say to the King, " The Old 
 Testament is now under the press, wanting 
 and craving your royal favor and assistance 
 for the perfecting thereof." 
 
 In 1663 the Old Testament, thus promised, 
 was published, after having been three years 
 in the press. Copies of the New Testament, 
 already printed, were bound with it ; and thus 
 was furnished a complete Bible in the Indian 
 language.f To this Bible were added a Cate- 
 chism, and the Psalms of David in Indian verse, 
 which were a translation of the New England 
 version of the Psalms prepared for the churches 
 some years before, as has been mentioned, by 
 
 * In a letter of the Commissioners accompanying the 
 copies sent to England, they request, " that, two of the 
 special being very well bound up, the one may be present- 
 ed to his Majesty in the first place, the other to the Lord 
 Chancellor ; and that five more may be presented to 
 Dr. Reynolds, Mr. Carrill, Mr. Baxter, and the two vice- 
 chancellors of the Universities, who we understand have 
 greatly encouraged the work ; the rest to be disposed of 
 as you shall see cause." 
 
 f According to Thomas (History of Printing, Vol. I. 
 p. 255) it had two title-pages, the one English and the 
 other Indian. The copy of this edition in Harvard College 
 library has only an Indian title-page. 
 
 U2 
 
222 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Eliot and others. The natives were much 
 pleased with singing ; to gratify and improve 
 their taste, these Psalms in metre were affixed 
 to the sacred books. 
 
 The Commissioners, in a letter to Robert 
 Boyle, dated September 10th, 1662, speak of 
 the Bible as " about half done." This letter 
 was accompanied by an account rendered to 
 the corporation of the disbursements of the 
 moneys received from them. One item is, " To 
 sundry disbursements for printing the Bible, 
 two hundred and thirty-seven pounds five shil- 
 lings." The Commissioners say, that the fur- 
 ther requisite expense would be uncertain, but 
 could not be estimated at less than two hun- 
 dred pounds. I know not that we have any 
 means of ascertaining what was the whole cost 
 of this first edition. 
 
 When the Indian Bible was thus completed, 
 a copy in elegant binding was sent to Charles 
 the Second. " Such a work and fruit of a plan- 
 tation," observes Baxter, " as was never before 
 presented to a king." * Another Dedication to 
 the monarch, in addition to that of the New 
 Testament, was prepared by the Commission- 
 ers ; and both the dedications were inserted in 
 the presentation copies sent to England, but 
 in very few of those circulated in the colonies. 
 The additional Dedication, as prefixed to the 
 
 * Reliquiae Baxterianae, &c, p. 290. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 223 
 
 whole Bible, is consequently very rare in this 
 country. Indeed a Bible containing* it is scarce- 
 ly to be found. But a copy of it was fortunate- 
 ly rescued from destruction by the Rev. Dr. 
 Harris of Dorchester. He discovered in a bar- 
 ber's shop Eliot's Indian Bible of the first edi- 
 tion, in a mutilated state, which was in the 
 process of being used for waste paper. It was 
 found to contain both the dedications to the 
 King • and Dr. Harris seized upon it with all 
 the interest belonging to the discovery of a 
 long-lost treasure. He transcribed the ad- 
 dresses, and published them in the Collections 
 of the Massachusetts Historical Society.* One 
 of these valuable antiquarian relics thus incur- 
 red the risk of meeting a fate as disastrous 
 as that, which the manuscripts of Cardinal 
 Ximenes's Polyglot experienced at the hands 
 of the rocket-maker of Alcala ; but both are 
 now preserved beyond the reach of danger. 
 
 The second Address, or Dedication to his 
 Majesty, is an interesting document. It is writ- 
 ten with ability and with graceful propriety. 
 The Commissioners present their thanks to the 
 King for his royal favor in renewing the char- 
 ter of the corporation, and thus defeating the 
 attempts of its enemies. They assure his 
 Majesty that though New England has not, 
 like the Spanish colonies of South America, 
 
 * 1st Series, Vol. VII. p. 222. 
 
224 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 gold and silver, with which to enrich the 
 mother country, yet they rejoice to send tc 
 the land of their fathers the Bible in the lan- 
 guage of the natives, among whom the Gospel 
 had been planted and propagated, believing 
 this to be " as much better than gold, as the 
 souls of men are worth more than the whole 
 world." 
 
 One cannot but contrast with this the dif- 
 ferent estimate, which the voluptuous and 
 profligate monarch would be likely to make. 
 If the address found its way to the King, and 
 he paused from his career of sensuality long 
 enough to read it, we can almost imagine that 
 we see the sneering look and hear the merry 
 jests it would call forth, as he sat surrounded 
 by courtiers, who gained his favor in proportion 
 as they relieved him from the cares of state, 
 and ministered to his corrupt pleasures. The 
 pious exultation, with which the poor colonists 
 in the wilderness presented this laborious re- 
 sult of their Christian zeal, could hardly have 
 been addressed to one less likely to appreciate 
 its meaning or value. The mere act of legal 
 'ustice, which Charles permitted, by reestab- 
 .ishing the rights of the Society for Propagat- 
 ng the Gospel, seems to have been the whole 
 amount of aid, which he bestowed upon Eliot 
 and his fellow-laborers, in any part of their 
 enterprise. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 225 
 
 Thus was the apostle's toil at last crowned 
 with a result, which must have gladdened the 
 good man's heart. The Indians had now the 
 whole Bible in their own language ; and when 
 he visited their abodes he could, with such joy 
 as none but the Christian knows, hold it forth, 
 and say, " This word of life is now your own." 
 
 I do not know, that it can be ascertained 
 precisely of what number of copies this edition 
 of the Bible consisted. Different statements 
 are made.* But the corporation observe, in a 
 letter to the Commissioners, while the New 
 Testament was in the press, that in their judg- 
 ment " it is better to print fifteen hundred, 
 than but a thousand, hoping that by encourage- 
 ment from Sion College, with whom we have 
 late conference, you may be enabled to print 
 fifteen hundred of the Old Testament like- 
 wise." f It is fair to presume, that the judg- 
 ment of the corporation, who defrayed the ex- 
 pense of the work, would be followed on this 
 subject, and that consequently the edition con- 
 sisted of the number stated in their letter 
 Two hundred copies of the New Testament 
 were bound strongly in leather for the imme- 
 diate use of the Indians. 
 
 * Mr. Moore (Memoirs of Eliot, p. 83) says, "two thou- 
 sand." Mr. Thomas (History of Printing, Vol. I. p. 245) 
 mentions "one thousand" as the number. 
 
 | Thomas's History of Printing, Vol. I. p. 242. 
 
 VOL. V. 15 
 
226 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Of the printers of this edition of the Indian 
 Bible, Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson, 
 the former had for several years superintended 
 a press. The latter was sent over from Eng- 
 land by the corporation, in 1660, for the ex- 
 press purpose of assisting in the enterprise of 
 printing the Indian Bible. Johnson seems to 
 have been anxious to secure his share of honor 
 in publishing such a work ; for, " at his earnest 
 request and for his encouragement," the corpo- 
 ration desired, that his name might appear as 
 one of the printers on the title-page. 
 
 They also sent from England a press and 
 types, and furnished all the materials neces- 
 sary for the printing. Johnson was a good 
 workman, but behaved ill and exposed himself 
 to much censure. He was loose in his conduct, 
 and so idle that he absented himself from the 
 labors of the press more than six months at 
 one time. His unfaithfulness retarded the 
 work, which at best could proceed but slowly ; 
 and he was dismissed as soon as the time of 
 his engagement had expired. 
 
 This Indian version of the Scriptures was 
 the first Bible ever printed on the continent of 
 America. It was not till about the middle of 
 the next century, that the Scriptures in the 
 English language were printed in this country. 
 This was done as privately as possible. The 
 book bore on its title-page the London imprint, 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 227 
 
 and the name of the King's printer. This de- 
 ception was practised to escape prosecution 
 from those in England who had the exclusive 
 right of publishing the Bible, either by a pa- 
 tent from the King, or cum privilegio, as was 
 the case with the Universities. 
 
 Cotton Mather, who commonly has something 
 marvellous to tell, affirms, that Mr. Eliot wrote 
 u his whole translation with but one pen." 
 Mather is sometimes so loose in his state- 
 ments, that one scarcely knows how much they 
 mean. In this instance, however, his story 
 seems more precise than credible. If he meant 
 the translation of the New Testament, which 
 was published first, the anecdote may be cred- 
 ited, though this would be a great task for 
 one pen to perform. But it is hard to be- 
 lieve the statement, if applied to the whole 
 Bible. In either case, " we may presume," as 
 has been remarked, if the story be true, u that 
 the pen was not made of goose-quill, but of 
 metal." It has been reported of Gibbon, that he 
 wrote the twelve volumes of the " Decline and 
 Fall " with one pen, which he afterwards gave to 
 the Duchess of Devonshire, who enshrined it 
 in a silver case. Stories of this sort commonly 
 originate in some mistake, or some mere jest, 
 and float about in rumor for a while, till the 
 disposition to attach to a great work every 
 
228 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 possible circumstance of a surprising nature 
 receives them for accredited facts. 
 
 The first impression of the Indian Bible suf- 
 ficed for about twenty years. In 1680 another 
 edition of the New Testament was published. 
 Mr. Eliot, in a letter written during that year 
 to the Honorable Mr. Boyle, alludes to it when 
 he says, " We are at the nineteenth chapter of 
 the Acts ; and when we have impressed the 
 New Testament, our Commissioners approve 
 of my preparing and impressing the Old."* 
 In addition to the Psalms, a Catechism was 
 annexed, as in the first impression. This New 
 Testament has the imprint of Cambridge, but 
 no printer's name. 
 
 In 1685, a second edition of the Old Testa- 
 ment appeared, printed at Cambridge by Sam- 
 uel Green. This was bound with the last im- 
 pression of the New Testament ; and the two 
 parts, thus taken together, constitute the second 
 edition of the whole Bible, though there was 
 an interval of five years between the times 
 at which the two Testaments respectively 
 appeared. f Each part has but one title 
 
 * Letter III., in 1 M. H. Coll., III. 180. 
 
 f Mr. Thomas says, (History of Printing, Vol. I. p. 262, 
 that the second edition " was six years in the press." This 
 assertion, however, supposes that the printing of the Old 
 Testament followed that of the New continuously, without 
 any delay, which was probably the case, though we are 
 not certain of it. 
 
JOHN ELIOT 229 
 
 page, which is in Indian, and the same as 
 before.* 
 
 We learn some facts respecting this second 
 edition of the Indian version from Eliot's cor- 
 respondence with Mr. Boyle. The whole im- 
 pression was two thousand copies.f It was 
 superintended by Mr. Eliot, who gave a part 
 of his salary towards defraying the expense, 
 and received for the same purpose from the 
 corporation in England, through Mr. Boyle, 
 nine hundred pounds at different times, namely, 
 forty pounds at one time, four hundred and 
 sixty at another, and four hundred at a third. 
 If some collateral expenses be included, the 
 whole cost of the impression must have been 
 little, if any, short of a thousand pounds. Mr. 
 Eliot's remarks lead us to suppose, that the 
 first edition was nearly or quite exhausted. 
 If so, and if the number of its copies was what 
 I have supposed, this fact will furnish us with a 
 measure by which we may estimate the demand 
 for the Scriptures among the Indians for twenty 
 years after the translation was first printed. 
 We may presume, that the number of copies, 
 which curiosity might lead people in the colony 
 
 # The Indian title of the New Testament has been al- 
 ready given. That of the whole Bible is as follows; u Ma- 
 musse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God Naneeswe 
 Mukkone Testament kah wonk Wusku Testament" 
 
 \ Letter VII. 
 
 X 
 
230 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to purchase, or which courtesy might send to 
 England, could not be large. 
 
 Eliot apologized to Mr. Boyle for the slow 
 progress of the printing, by alleging the want 
 of an adequate number of workmen, and the 
 interruption of labor among those whom they 
 had, by sickness, which prevailed fatally in the 
 winter of 1683 and the spring of 1684. His 
 heart was saddened by these and other events, 
 which seemed to throw discouragement on the 
 work ; for he was then bending beneath the 
 weight of years, and, with the feelings of an 
 old and faithful servant, his soul yearned to 
 witness, as his last labor, the completion of the 
 new edition of his translation. 
 
 The affectionate earnestness, with which he 
 dwells on the subject in his correspondence 
 with the English philosopher, has a touching 
 interest. " My age," says he, " makes me im- 
 portunate. I shall depart joyfully, may I but 
 leave the Bible among them ; for it is the word 
 of life." Again he writes, " I desire to see it 
 done before I die, and I am so deep in years, 
 that I cannot expect to live long; and sundry 
 say, if I do not procure it printed while I live, 
 it is not within the prospect of human reason, 
 whether ever, or when, or how, it may be ac- 
 complished." He bore it on his heart to God 
 in his devotions, and the anxious earnestness 
 of his soul seemed to be fixed on this point. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 231 
 
 The prayer of the good old man was answered 
 He lived to see a new impression of his Bible ; 
 and when he took the precious volume in his 
 hands, we can easily imagine, that with up- 
 lifted eyes he may have uttered the Nunc dimit- 
 tas of the aged Simeon. 
 
 In preparing this second edition Mr. Eliot 
 received valuable assistance from the Reverend 
 John Cotton of Plymouth, who had spent much 
 of his time for several years in forming a 
 thorough acquaintance with the Indian lan- 
 guage. * This obligation Eliot acknowledged 
 in a letter to Boyle in 1688. f Several years 
 before that time, Boyle had intrusted to Eliot 
 thirty pounds for the promotion of religion 
 among the Indians. The money had not been 
 expended, perhaps because no opportunity 
 had occurred for the particular mode of using 
 it which Boyle designed. Of this sum, Eliot 
 requested that ten pounds might be given to 
 Major Gookin's widow, who was poor; ten 
 pounds to Gookin's son, who lectured among 
 the Indians ; and ten pounds to Mr. John Cot- 
 ton, " who," says he, " helped me much in the 
 second edition of the Bible." Probably Mr. 
 
 * He had a son, Josiah Cotton, who compiled a "Voca- 
 bulary of the Massachusetts (or Natick) Indian Language," 
 which was published, with a prefatory notice, by Judge 
 Davis, in 3 M. H. Coll., II. 
 
 f Letter IX. 
 
232 AMERICAN B I Cx R A P II Y . 
 
 Cotton revised the whole version with him, 
 that by their joint labors a more exact and 
 faithful translation might be exhibited in the 
 new impression.* 
 
 One of the Christian natives was concerned 
 in the process of publishing the Indian Bible, 
 who deserves to be specially mentioned. This 
 was James the printer, or, as he was called by 
 applying the name of his occupation to the man, 
 James Printer. He was born at Hassanamesitt 
 (Grafton), an Indian settlement, where his 
 father and brothers held civil and ecclesiastical 
 offices among their brethren. James received 
 so much instruction at the Indian charity 
 school in Cambridge, as to enable him to read 
 and write English correctly. He then served 
 an apprenticeship with Green, the printer, in 
 whose office he assisted as a pressman in work- 
 ing off the first edition of Eliot's Bible. 
 
 When Philip's war broke out, the smothered 
 embers of national feeling were rekindled in 
 his breast. He absconded from his employer, 
 and joined the forces of his countrymen against 
 the English. Hubbard f and Increase Mather, J 
 
 * It has been incorrectly said by some writers, that the 
 second edition of the Indian Bible was not published till 
 after the death of the translator, and that it was then re- 
 vised and corrected by Mr. Cotton. 
 
 f Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians, p. 9G. 
 
 X Brief History of the War with the Indians in New 
 England, p. 39. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 233 
 
 who speak of him with severity as an apostate, 
 relate, that he availed himself of the opportu- 
 nity to return to his English friends afforded 
 by the declaration published by the Council at 
 Boston in 1676, which proclaimed, that all In- 
 dians who should come in within fourteen days 
 might hope for mercy. James, after his return, 
 probably lived in or about Boston till 1680. 
 He was then employed by Green at Cambridge, 
 on the second edition of the Indian Bible. 
 
 Mr. Eliot alludes to this man in his corre- 
 spondence with Boyle. In 1682 he says, "We 
 have but one man, the Indian printer, that is 
 able to compose the sheets and correct the 
 press with understanding ; " and in 1684 he 
 remarks, " We have but few hands, one Eng- 
 lishman, a boy, and one Indian." As late as 
 1709, James's name appears in connexion with 
 that of Bartholomew Green, as printer, on the 
 title-page of the Psalter in Indian and English. 
 From Mr. Eliot's notice of him, we are led to 
 suppose, that he must have been an efficient 
 and valuable workman in printing the Indian 
 version. His acquaintance with both lan- 
 guages would of course enable him to work 
 with the more rapidity and accuracy. 
 
 Such is the history of the two editions of the 
 Indian Bible, which issued from the Cambridge 
 press. Mr. Eliot doubtless looked forward 
 with delightful anticipations to the time, when 
 
 X2 
 
234 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the multiplied converts to Christianity among 
 the natives would require impression after im- 
 pression of the volume, on which he had spent 
 so much exhausting but happy toil. One of 
 the hopes, we may suppose, which solaced the 
 evening of his days was, that ages after his 
 grey hairs should have gone down to the grave, 
 this sacred book would continue to be read in 
 the dwellings and heard in the churches of the 
 Indian settlements, far and wide, through New 
 England. 
 
 But these cheering expectations were des- 
 tined never to be realized. The second edi- 
 tion of his Translation of the Scriptures was 
 the last. The printer never was, and never 
 will be, again called to set his types for those 
 words, so strange and uncouth to our ears. A 
 century and a half has elapsed since the last 
 impression of the volume appeared ; and it is 
 a thought full of melancholy interest, that the 
 people for whom it was designed may be con- 
 sidered as no longer on the roll of living men, 
 and that probably not an individual in the wide 
 world can read the Indian Bible. It is a re- 
 markable fact, that the language of a version 
 of the Scriptures made so late as in the latter 
 half of the seventeenth century should now be 
 entirely extinct. 
 
 Of the correctness and fidelity of Mr. Eliot's 
 version no one has now the means of forming 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 235 
 
 an exact judgment. It would seem, indeed, 
 from the circumstances under which he learned 
 the language, that his knowledge of it for a 
 considerable time must have been limited and 
 imperfect. Many cases would occur, in which 
 the rude teaching of the natives on a subject 
 requiring so much precision would, we may 
 suppose, fail to satisfy his inquiries; and his 
 own patient observation, skilful comparison, 
 and gradual discovery must have supplied, as 
 they could, the deficiency of the usual helps in 
 learning the structure and power of a new or- 
 gan of thought. 
 
 He felt for some time the embarrassment 
 arising from a defective acquaintance with the 
 language. "My brother Eliot," said Shepard 
 in 1648, " professes he can as yet but stammer 
 out some pieces of the word of God unto them 
 in their own tongue ; " and Eliot himself, in a 
 letter to Winslow in 1649, remarked, " I have 
 yet but little skill in their language, having 
 little leisure to attend to it by reason of my 
 continual attendance on my ministry in our 
 own church." But this was said fourteen years 
 before the first edition of the Indian Bible was 
 published, and thirty-six years before the second 
 was completed. During that time his mind had 
 been industriously engaged on the language. 
 By preaching and conversation his knowledge 
 of its construction, and skill in its use, must 
 
236 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 have been perpetually enlarged with acceler- 
 ated progress. 
 
 When his version of the Scriptures appeared, 
 he was, therefore, undoubtedly as well qualified 
 for the work as any man could hope to be.* 
 The Indians could not have profited so much 
 as they evidently did by his instructions, had 
 he not been able to use their language with 
 propriety and force in spoken communications ; 
 and there is no good reason why he should 
 have been less successful in writing. The 
 greatest difficulty must have occurred in the 
 
 * Mr. Eliot would, of course, often be obliged, in the 
 process of his translation, to apply to the Indians for a spe- 
 cific term to designate an object, the name of which in 
 their language he had not learned. Tradition has reported 
 a curious mistake, incurred in this way. The story is, that 
 when he came to the passage in the book of Judges (v. 28) r 
 where the mother of Sisera is said to have " cried through 
 the lattice," he knew no Indian word which signified lattice. 
 In this perplexity he applied to some of the natives for a 
 suitable term. They had never seen a lattice ; but he en- 
 deavored by description to make them understand what it 
 was, illustrating it by wicker-work, netting, &c. Upon this 
 they soon gave him a word, which he used ; but some time 
 after, when he had acquired further knowledge of the lan- 
 guage, he was surprised and amused to find, that the word 
 which the Indians had given him for lattice, signified an 
 eel-pot. Such is the anecdote. That a mistake like this 
 may have happened in his inquiries of the natives, is not 
 improbable. But that the error did not find its way into 
 the printed Translation, I think, is evident ; for, on turning 
 to the passage in the Indian Bible, 1 find that the word, by 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 237 
 
 endeavor to represent the purely spiritual parts 
 of the Bible in words used by men unaccus- 
 tomed to spiritual modes of thought. But the 
 language itself is believed not to have been so 
 barren and poor in this respect, as one would 
 naturally suppose ; and perhaps few men could 
 have been better prepared to meet the diffi- 
 culty, than Mr. Eliot. On the whole, his ver- 
 sion, we may fairly presume, was such as to 
 give the Indians, in all important respects, 
 about as correct and competent a knowledge of 
 the Scriptures, as translations are generally 
 found to give. 
 
 The Indian Bible has become one of those 
 rare books, which the antiquarian deems it a 
 triumph to possess.* The copies in private 
 
 which lattice is translated, is latticeut, a term which un- 
 doubtedly is nothing but the English word with an Indian 
 termination to accommodate it to the structure of that lan- 
 guage. To this expedient Mr. Eliot would naturally resort, 
 when he found no Indian word, that could be used to ex- 
 press the object. Besides, in the passage in question, the 
 same word is used in both editions of the Translation. Had 
 the mistake described in the story been committed in the 
 first edition, Eliot must certainly have discovered and cor- 
 rected it during the many years which passed before the 
 second appeared. 
 
 * Ebeling, whose books form so valuable an addition to 
 the library of Harvard College, wrote in his copy of the 
 Indian Bible, "Liber summae raritatis." The following 
 descriptive title-page of the book, also written by Ebeling, 
 may be not without interest to the curious ; " Biblia Sacra, 
 
238 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 or public libraries are very few. It has acquired 
 the venerable appearance of an ancient and 
 sealed book ; and, when we turn over its pages, 
 those long and harsh words seem like the mys- 
 terious hieroglyphics in some time-hallowed 
 temple of old Egypt. It failed to answer the 
 pious purpose, for which the translator labored 
 in preparing it. But it has answered another 
 purpose, which was perhaps never in his mind, 
 or, if it were, was doubtless regarded as an 
 inferior consideration. In connexion with his 
 Indian Grammar, it has afforded important aid 
 as a valuable document, in the study of com- 
 parative philology. Though the language, in 
 which it is printed, is no longer read, yet this 
 book is prized as one of the means of gaining 
 an insight into the structure and character of 
 " unwritten dialects of barbarous nations," a 
 subject which, of late years, has attracted the 
 attention of learned men, and the study of 
 which, it is believed, will furnish new facts to 
 modify the hitherto received principles of uni- 
 versal grammar. 
 
 On this account scholars of the highest name 
 in modern times have had reason to thank 
 Eliot for labors, which the Indians are not left 
 
 in linguam Indorum Americans gentis t8» Natick trans- 
 lata a Johanne Eliot, Missionario Anglicano. Impressa 
 Cantabrigise," etc. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 239 
 
 to thank him for. While the cause of religion 
 missed, in a great degree, the benefit designed 
 for it, the science of language acknowledges 
 a contribution to its stores. Mr. Eliot trans- 
 lated the Bible into a dialect of what is called 
 the Mohegan tongue, a language spoken by all 
 the New England Indians, essentially the same, 
 but varied by different dialects among the sev- 
 eral tribes.* By Eliot and others it was called 
 the Massachusetts language.! 
 
 There is, besides, a moral aspect, in which 
 this translation of the Scriptures should be 
 viewed. It must be regarded as a monument 
 of laborious piety, of painstaking love to the 
 soul of man. Would the translator have had 
 the spirit to undertake, still more the persever- 
 ance to carry through, a work so wearisome 
 
 * Edwards's Observations on the Language of the Muh- 
 hekaneew Indians, 2 M. H. Coll., X. 86. But Heckewelder 
 makes the Delaware, or the Lenape, the common stock of 
 these dialects ; see Transactions of the Historical and Lit- 
 erary Committee, fyc, p. 106. 
 
 f The Indian Bible has been an object of much interest 
 among the literary collectors of Europe. See Bibliotheque 
 Curieuse Historique et Critique, ou Catalogue raisonne de 
 Livres difficiles a trouver, par David Clement, Tome IV. p. 
 204. It is there registered as Bible Virginienne. Virginia 
 was once a common designation of New England. Mr. 
 Eliot, and his labors in general, are mentioned with great 
 honor by Hoornbeeck, De Conversione Indorum et Genti- 
 lium, Lib. II. cap. xv., and by Fabricius, Lux Evangelii, 
 p. 589. 
 
240 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 and discouraging, had he not been animated 
 "by the deep, steady, strong principle of devot- 
 edness to God and to the highest good of his 
 fellow-men ? The theological scholar, who 
 translates the Bible, or even one of the Testa- 
 ments, from the original into his vernacular 
 tongue, is considered as having achieved a 
 great task, and as giving ample proof of his 
 diligence. Yet such a work is easy compared 
 with the labor which Eliot undertook and fin- 
 ished amidst a press of other employments, 
 which alone might have been deemed sufficient 
 to satisfy the demands of Christian industry. 
 
 Among the many remarkable doings of the 
 Apostle to the Indians, this bears the most 
 striking testimony to his capacity of resolute 
 endurance in the cause of man's spiritual wel- 
 fare. We justly admire the moral courage, the 
 spirit of self-sacrifice, which sustained him in 
 the tasks of preaching, visiting, and instruc- 
 tion, never deterred by the dark squalidness 
 of barbarity, never daunted by the fierce 
 threats of men who knew no law but their pas- 
 sions, never moved by exposure to storms, 
 cold, and the various forms of physical suffer- 
 ing. But, when we represent him to our minds, 
 as laboring at his translation of the Scriptures 
 in the silence of his study, year after year, in 
 the freshness of the morning hour and by the 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 241 
 
 taper of midnight, wearied but not disheart- 
 ened ; continually perplexed with the almost 
 unmanageable phraseology of the dialect of 
 the barbarians, yet always patient to discover 
 how it might be made to represent truly the 
 meaning of the sacred books ; doing this chap- 
 ter by chapter, verse by verse, without a wish 
 to give over the toil ; cherishing for a long time 
 only a faint hope of publication, yet still wil- 
 ling to believe, that God in his good provi- 
 dence would finally send the means of giving 
 the printed word of life to those for whom he 
 toiled and prayed, — we cannot but feel that 
 we witness a more trying task, a more surpris- 
 ing labor, than any presented by the stirring 
 and active duties of his ministry among the 
 natives. 
 
 It was a long, heavy, hard work, wrought 
 out by the silent but wasting efforts of mental 
 toil, and relieved by no immediately animating 
 excitement. It was truly a labor of love. 
 When we take that old dark volume into our 
 hands, we understand not the words in which 
 it is written ; but it has another and beautiful 
 meaning which we do understand. It is a 
 symbol of the affection, which a devoted man 
 cherished for the soul of his fellow-man ; it is 
 the expression of a benevolence, which fainted 
 in no effort to give light to those who sat in 
 
 vol. v. 16 Y 
 
242 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 darkness and in the shadow of death ; and so 
 it remains, and will ever remain, a venerable 
 manifestation of the power of spiritual truth 
 and spiritual sympathy.* 
 
 * "Since the death of the Apostle Paul," says Mr. Ever- 
 ett, " a nobler, truer, and warmer spirit, than John Eliot, 
 never lived ; and taking the state of the country, the nar- 
 rowness of the means, the rudeness of the age, into con- 
 sideration, the history of the Christian church does not 
 contain an example of resolute, untiring, successful labor, 
 superior to that of translating the entire Scriptures into the 
 language of the native tribes of Massachusetts ; a labor 
 performed, not in the flush of youth, nor within the luxuri- 
 ous abodes of academic ease, but under the constant bur- 
 den of his duties as a minister and a preacher, and at a 
 time of life when the spirits begin to flag." — Everett's 
 Address at Bloody Brook, p. 31. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Further Translations and other Books for the 
 Christian Indians by Mr. Eliot. — His Indian 
 Grammar. — His " Communion of Churches ," 
 fyc. — Indians at Harvard University. — In- 
 dian College. — Towns of Praying Indians. 
 
 Mr. Eliot did not confine his labors of trans- 
 lation to the Scriptures. He prepared by the 
 same process other books for the use of his 
 converts. In 1664 he published in the Indian 
 language Baxter's Call to the Unconverted. It 
 was a small octavo of one hundred and thirty 
 pages. A thousand copies were printed by 
 Green at Cambridge. Eliot thought this work 
 peculiarly fitted to be useful among the natives 
 by " the keenness of its edge and the liveliness 
 of its spirit." In his correspondence with 
 Baxter he mentioned his intention of clothing 
 this book in an Indian dress. The letter was 
 written in July, 1663 ; and he had then begun 
 the translation. 
 
 He allowed himself a liberty with regard to 
 this volume, which he did not dare to take with 
 the Scriptures. When the phraseology might, 
 if put into another form, be better and more 
 clearly translated, he hesitated not to make 
 
244 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the necessary change; and those parts of the 
 book, which were peculiarly adapted to the 
 condition of the people of England he so 
 altered as to suit them to the wants of his 
 Christian Indians. Of the liberties, which he 
 had thus taken, he gave Baxter notice ; "but," 
 he added, " I do little that way, knowing 
 how much beneath wisdom it is, to show a 
 man's self witty in mending another man's 
 work." In the same letter he observed, that 
 he intended to translate for the Indians The 
 Practice of Piety, or some similar book, which 
 might serve as a manual for their direction in 
 public and private worship, in days of fasting 
 and feasting, and generally in Christian life 
 and conduct.* 
 
 More than twenty years elapsed before this 
 last-mentioned work appeared. In 1685 Mr 
 Eliot published a translation of The Practice oj 
 Piety, of which in a letter to Boyle, written i» 
 August of that year, he remarks, " It is finished 
 and beginneth to be bound up."f A third 
 
 * Reliquiae Baxterianse, &c, p. 293. Baxter himself, 
 having mentioned Eliot's Bible (p. 290), proceeds to ob- 
 serve, — " He sent word that next he would print my Call 
 to the Unconverted, and then The Practice of Piety ; but 
 Mr. Boyle sent him word, it would be better taken here, 
 if The Practice of Piety were printed before any thing of 
 mine." Eliot seems not to have followed Mr. Boyle's ad- 
 vice in this particular. 
 
 f A copy of this translation, one of the Ebeling books, is 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 245 
 
 edition, we are told, was printed by Green in 
 1687.* If there be no mistake in this state- 
 ment, there must have been such a demand for 
 the book, as would indicate, that it shared in 
 its Indian form much of the popularity of its 
 English original.! 
 
 In 1688 Mr. Eliot informed Sir Robert Boyle, 
 that, many years before, he had translated into 
 Indian two small treatises by Mr. Shepard, 
 one entitled The Sincere Convert, the other, 
 The Sound Believer. These translations had 
 not been published ; and he requested his 
 honored correspondent to countenance the 
 project of printing them at the expense of the 
 Society for Propagating the Gospel. He ob- 
 served that they must be carefully revised, be- 
 fore they could be committed to the press. 
 He depended on the assistance of his friend, 
 
 in the library of Harvard College. Its Indian title is, 
 " Manitowompae Pomantamoonk sampiv shanau Christianoh 
 uttoh woh an Pomantog wussikkitteahonat God." 
 
 * Thomas's History of Printing, Vol. I. p. 262. 
 
 f The Practice of Piety was remarkable for the exten- 
 sive and long-continued popular favor, in which it was 
 held. Perhaps no book of practical religion, except The 
 Imitation of Christ, has passed through so many editions. 
 In 1792 it was in its seventy-first edition. The author of 
 the book was Lewis Bayly, at one time chaplain to James 
 the First. He was promoted to the see of Bangor in 1616, 
 and died in 1632. See Biographia Britan>'ica, Art. 
 Bayly, and Bishop Kexnett's Register and Chronicle, 
 Ecclesiastical and Civil, p. 530. 
 
 Y2 
 
246 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Mr. Cotton of Plymouth, in the task of revisal, 
 " which," he remarks, " none but Mr. Cotton 
 is able to help me to perform." A translation, 
 in a duodecimo volume of one hundred and 
 sixty-four pages, was printed by Green at 
 Cambridge in 1689, which Mr Thomas says 
 was Shepard's Sincere Convert* This I have 
 never seen ; but I am inclined to think, that 
 The Sound Believer was also included in the 
 volume. At any rate, as Eliot made the same 
 request of Mr. Boyle with regard to each of 
 the works, it is likely that they were both 
 printed. 
 
 Cotton Mather tells us, that Mr. Eliot 
 " translated some of Mr. Shepard's compo- 
 sures," but does not inform us which of them 
 were published. In selecting these books to 
 be put into the hands of the Christian natives, 
 we may presume that the translator was in- 
 fluenced, not only by their merit, but by affec- 
 tionate respect for the memory of their author, 
 who had taken a deep interest in the Indian 
 work, but was cut off before that progress had 
 been made, which would so much have gratified 
 his pious feelings. 
 
 In 1664 Eliot published the Indian Psalter at 
 Green's press. It was a small octavo of one 
 hundred and fifty pages, and the edition con- 
 sisted of five hundred copies. I suppose this 
 
 * History of Printing, Vol. I. p. 263. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 247 
 
 to have been a separate publication of the 
 Book of Psalms, taken from the Indian transla- 
 tion of the Old Testament. 
 
 Having given an account of Eliot's transla- 
 tions, I shall now take notice of other produc- 
 tions of his pen, which belong to nearly the 
 same period. As early as 1653 he had pub- 
 lished a Catechism in the Indian language, at 
 the charge of the corporation. In 1661 a 
 second edition was printed, consisting of a 
 thousand copies ; and in 1687 a third or fourth 
 edition appeared. These were all from Green's 
 press. Mr. Eliot more than once, in the course 
 of his correspondence with his English friends, 
 mentions his Catechism ; and we have seen 
 what use was made of it in teaching the Indian 
 children to write. 
 
 He prepared and published an Indian Prim- 
 er, perhaps more than one. The date of its 
 first publication does not appear. It was 
 printed in 1687, when it had already passed 
 through several editions at the expense of the 
 corporation. This little book has found a use 
 beyond that anticipated in its preparation. It 
 has assisted the philological inquirers of the 
 present day to gain a better knowledge, than 
 they could otherwise have had, of the syllabic 
 divisions of Indian words.* It was printed by 
 Green. 
 
 * 3 M. H. Coll., II. 244. 
 
248 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The book, which next claims our notice, is 
 Eliot's Indian Grammar. Mr. Thomas classes 
 this among the works printed by Green. He 
 describes it as containing about sixty pages 
 quarto, and adds, " No year is mentioned, as 
 I find is often the case with .other printers be- 
 sides Green ; but it must have been printed 
 about 1664." * Unless there was more than one 
 edition of the Grammar, which does not appear 
 to have been the case, there must be a singular 
 mistake in Thomas's statement ; for in the 
 modern republication of the book, the title- 
 page of which, being an exact reprint of the 
 original one, must give correct information, it 
 appears to have been printed by Marmaduke 
 Johnson, and bears the date of 1666. 
 
 Mr. Eliot prepared this Grammar for the as- 
 sistance of tho.se, who might be disposed to 
 learn the Indian language, as an instrument of 
 teaching religion to the natives, whom he de- 
 scribes as " those ruins of mankind,! among 
 whom the Lord is now about a resurrection- 
 work, to call them into his holy kingdom." 
 The book is prefaced with a dedicatory ad- 
 dress to Robert Boyle, and to the rest of the 
 corporation of which he was governor. Eliot 
 
 * History of Printing, Vol. I. p. 257. 
 
 f This strong expression was used, as descriptive of the 
 Indians, by Mr. Hooker. They are also called " the very 
 ruins of mankind " in New England's First Fruits, fyc. p. 1. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 249 
 
 speaks of it with much modesty, as " not wor- 
 thy the name of a grammar." He says that he 
 had merely " laid together some bones and 
 ribs preparatory at least for such a work." 
 At the close he gives a brief account of the 
 manner, in which he had acquired his knowl- 
 edge of the construction and peculiarities of 
 this language. 
 
 The Grammar was not destined to become 
 so extensively or permanently useful, as its 
 author hoped. But, as Governor Endicot said, 
 in 1651, " There are some scholars among us, 
 who addict themselves to the study of the In- 
 dian tongue," * it may be presumed that the 
 book was received with approbation and used 
 with profit by a few of the students of that 
 day. When the interest in the Indian cause 
 declined, the Grammar went out of notice, and 
 its leaves were seldom disturbed. But atten- 
 tion has been recalled to it in our own times 
 by a reprint, enriched with the philosophical 
 
 * Endicot's letter in Tht Further Progress of the Gospel, 
 fyc. p. 35. But Gookin, who wrote in 1674, says, " The 
 learned English young men do not hitherto incline or en- 
 deavor to fit themselves for that service (i. e. teaching the 
 natives) by learning the Indian language. Possibly the 
 reasons may be ; first, the difficulty to attain that speech ; 
 secondly, little encouragement while they prepare for it ; 
 thirdly, the difficulty in the practice of such a calling 
 among them, by reason of the poverty and barbarity ,"&c. 
 — 1M.H. Coll., I. 183. 
 
250 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 observations and learned notes of Pickering 
 and Duponceau. This appeared in 1822, and 
 constitutes a very valuable portion of the " Col- 
 lections of the Massachusetts Historical Socie- 
 ty." * The Grammar itself, and the important 
 annotations accompanying it, afford a rich fund 
 of materials to those, who have the curiosity 
 to inquire into the idiomatic structure of the 
 speech of the American Indians. However 
 humble might be Eliot's estimate of his own 
 work, its philological value is rated very high 
 by its modern editors. f 
 
 I shall here subjoin an interesting letter from 
 Eliot to Robert Boyle, by which it will appear 
 that the Grammar was prepared, or hastened, 
 at the suggestion of that distinguished patron 
 of the Indian work The letter is found in the 
 fifth volume of the folio edition of Boyle's 
 Works. As it is not included among the let- 
 ters from Eliot to Boyle in the " Collections of 
 the Massachusetts Historical Society," and is 
 in itself valuable and characteristic, the inser- 
 tion of it in this place may be gratifying to the 
 reader. 
 
 "Roxbury, August 26, 1664. 
 " Right Honorable, 
 
 " I am but a shrub in the wilderness, and 
 have not yet had the boldness to look upon, 
 
 * In the ninth volume of the Second Series. 
 f See Appendix, No. III. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 251 
 
 or speak unto, those cedars, who have under- 
 taken an honorable protection of us. But for 
 sundry reasons, I have now broke out, and 
 have taken upon me the boldness to write unto 
 yourself, Right Honorable Sir, because I do 
 sufficiently understand, how learning and hon- 
 or do rendezvous in your noble breast, and 
 what a true friend you are to all learning, and 
 also to this good work of the Lord in promot- 
 ing religion and the knowledge of Christ among 
 our poor Indians. 
 
 " I do humbly present my thankfulness to 
 yourself, Noble Governor, and all the rest of 
 your honorable Society, for your favorable pro- 
 tection and diligent promotion of this work, 
 which otherwise might have been sunk and 
 buried before this day ; but by your vigilance 
 and prudence, Noble Sir, it is not only kept in 
 being, but in a state of nourishing acceptation 
 with his Majesty, and other great peers of the 
 land ; which favor of yours Christian duty doth 
 oblige me to acknowledge. 
 
 " I am bold to present some things to the 
 honorable Corporation (according as I am ad- 
 vised) by the hand of my Christian friend, 
 Mr. Ashurst. What doth more immediately 
 concern learning, I crave the boldness to make 
 mention of unto yourself. You are pleased to 
 intimate unto me a memorandum of your de- 
 sires, that there may be a grammar of our In- 
 
252 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 I 
 
 dian language composed, for public and after 
 use ; which motion, as I doubt not but it spring- 
 eth from yourself, so my answer unto yourself 
 about it will be most proper. I and my sons 
 have often spoken of it. But now I take your 
 intimation as a command to set about it. 
 When I have finished the translation of The 
 Practice of Piety,* my purpose is, if the Lord 
 will, and that I do live, to set upon some essay 
 and beginning of reducing this language into 
 rule ; which, in the most common and useful 
 points, I do see, is reducible ; though there be 
 corners and anomalities full of difficulty to be 
 reduced under any stated rule, as yourself 
 know, better than I, it is in all languages. I 
 have not so much either insight or judgment, 
 as to dare to undertake any thing worthy the 
 name of a grammar ; only some preparatory 
 collections that way tending, which may be of 
 no small use unto such as may be studious to 
 learn this language, I desire, if God will, to 
 take some pains in. But this is a work for the 
 morrow ; to-day my work is translation, which, 
 by the Lord's help, I desire to attend unto. 
 And thus, with my humble thankfulness, I shall 
 cease to give you any farther trouble at pres- 
 
 * If the translation of this book was finished before the 
 Grammar was printed, it must have lain on Mr. Eliot's 
 hands many years unpublished, since it did not appear till 
 1685. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 253 
 
 <ent, but, commending you unto the Lord and 
 to the word of his grace, 
 
 " I remain, Right Honorable, 
 
 "Yours in all service I can in Christ Jesus, 
 
 " John Eliot." 
 
 In 1665 appeared an ecclesiastical tract from 
 the pen of Mr. Eliot, entitled, Communion of 
 Churches ; or the Divine Management of Gospel 
 Churches by the Ordinance of Councils, consti- 
 tuted in Order, according to the Scriptures, 
 printed by Marmaduke Johnson. 
 
 This pamphlet was intended only for private 
 distribution, and has become very scarce.* 
 The Preface begins with the following remark ; 
 <( Although a few copies of this small script 
 are printed, yet it is not published, only com- 
 mitted privately to some godly and able hands, 
 to be viewed, corrected, amended, or rejected, 
 as it shall be found to hold weight in the sanc- 
 tuary balance, or not." The object of the tract 
 was to defend the utility of councils or synods, 
 and to inculcate respect for their decisions, as 
 the safeguards of order, discipline, and purity 
 of faith in the churches. Mr. Eliot describes, 
 with considerable minuteness, the nature of 
 ecclesiastical councils, the numbers of which 
 
 * I have been furnished with a copy of it by the kind- 
 ness of a gentleman distinguished for his theological and 
 antiquarian learning, the Reverend Dr. Harris of Dor- 
 chester, y 
 
254 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 they should consist, the mode of electing their 
 members, the business which ought to come 
 before them, and the manner in which their ex- 
 penses might be defrayed. He would have 
 them summoned, not, as they are at the present 
 day, occasionally to meet particular emergen- 
 cies, but at regular periods, and as permanent, 
 established conventions for the arrangement 
 and adjudication of ecclesiastical affairs. His 
 plan was large and systematic. There were 
 to be four orders of these councils, or synods ; 
 each rising above the preceding in dignity and 
 extent of jurisdiction. They were to be desig- 
 nated as the First Order, the Provincial Coun- 
 cil, the National Council, and the (Ecumenical 
 Council. Of each of these Mr. Eliot points out 
 the constitution and the objects with a precis- 
 ion, which evinces his conviction of the im- 
 portance of an exact, well-defined system of 
 action. It is difficult to see how the liberty 
 of the New England churches, to which never- 
 theless he was a warm and firm friend, could 
 have been maintained under such an arrange- 
 ment. This was a favorite topic with our 
 author. Cotton Mather tells us,* that while 
 Eliot respected the independence of indi- 
 vidual churches, he attached great importance 
 to ecclesiastical conventions of delegates and 
 
 # In his Life of Eliot in the Magnalia, Part II. Art. V. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 255 
 
 messengers from the churches. He not only 
 deemed these synods in a high degree useful, 
 but was disposed to have the results of their 
 deliberations so submissively received, that 
 " he would not be of any church, which would 
 not acknowledge itself accountable to rightly 
 composed synods, which may have occasion to 
 inquire into the circumstances of it." Coun- 
 cils, he thought, should be called to settle all 
 questions relating to heresy, contention, mal- 
 administration, and disorder in ecclesiastical 
 affairs. 
 
 Mr. Eliot seems not to have been aware, 
 that, by multiplying occasions for councils and 
 clothing them with such authority, he would 
 leave but very narrow ground for the inde- 
 pendence of individual churches, and might 
 bring them under a system of censorship and 
 espionage not much better than the rule of 
 " the lords spiritual." It was not till the 
 middle of the second century, that the custom 
 of holding councils commenced in the Christian 
 church. Till that time each assembly of be- 
 lievers was like a little state, governed only 
 by such regulations as were established and 
 approved by the society. Gregory Nazianzen 
 was so much opposed to councils, that, in writ- 
 ing to Procopius, he apologized for his refusal 
 to attend a synod by saying, " 't o tell you 
 plainly, I am determined to fly all conventions 
 
256 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 of bishops ; for I never yet saw a council that 
 ended happily." There appears to be no mid- 
 dle ground between a regularly established 
 hierarchy and the unqualified power of self- 
 government in each body of worshippers 
 
 We learn from Cotton Mather, that Mr. Eliot 
 published an answer to a book in favor of anti- 
 pasdobaptism by Mr. Norcott. But I have seen 
 neither the tract itself, nor any other account 
 of it than that given by Mather. 
 
 We must now revert to the progress of the 
 exertions on behalf of the Indians. An at- 
 tempt was made to introduce among them in- 
 struction of a higher kind than had before been 
 given. With the view of supplying them with 
 learned and well-qualified ministers from their 
 own number, it was thought that some of the 
 most apt and studious of them might be carried 
 through the process of a scholastic education. 
 Two Indians of Martha's Vineyard, named Joel 
 and Caleb, were accordingly sent to the college 
 in Cambridge. Joel, whose improvement is 
 said to have been peculiarly hopeful, visited 
 his father at the Vineyard just before the com- 
 mencement at which he would have taken his 
 degree. On his return, the vessel was wrecked 
 on the island of Nantucket ; and all on board 
 were either lost at sea, or murdered by the In- 
 dians on shore. Thus perished a young man, 
 of whose usefulness flattering hopes were en 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 257 
 
 tertained ; for Gookin, who knew him well, 
 says, " he was a good scholar and a pious man." 
 Caleb finished the college course of study, and 
 took his bachelor's degree ; but, not long after 
 Commencement, died of consumption at Charles- 
 town.* 
 
 This was a discouraging beginning. But, 
 had it been more favorable, the experiment, if 
 continued, would doubtless have proved a fail- 
 ure. It was too soon to make such an attempt. 
 The natives must have been gradually softened, 
 and one generation after another brought under 
 the regular social habits of civilized life, be- 
 fore they could be prepared to receive academ- 
 ical education with any good effect. The 
 change from their roving, careless modes of 
 life, from the freedom of the woods, and the 
 excitement of the hunting-grounds, to the uni- 
 form and measured habits, the mental labor, 
 and the regular discipline of a college, was 
 quite too violent. We are not surprised, there- 
 fore, to be told that those, who undertook the 
 
 * His name appears on the Catalogue of Harvard Col- 
 lege, 1665, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, Indus. "At the con- 
 clusion of two Latin and Greek elegies, which he com- 
 posed on the death of an eminent minister," observes Mr. 
 Carne, " he subscribed himself Cheesecaumuk, Senior Soph- 
 ista. What an incongruous blending of sounds ! " (Lives 
 of Eminent Missionaries, Vol. I. p. 48.) See Gookin in 
 1 M. H. Coll., I. 173. 
 
 vol. v. 17 Y 2 
 
258 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 life of students, for the most part soon grew 
 weary, and pined for their forests and for the 
 company of their tribe. 
 
 But the friends of Indian education still 
 persevered, and in 1665 erected a brick build- 
 ing at Cambridge for the use of the natives, 
 called the Indian College. It was large enough 
 to accommodate about twenty students. The 
 expense, which was between three and four 
 hundred pounds, was defrayed by the corpora- 
 tion in England. This edifice, however, failed 
 to answer the purpose for which it was de- 
 signed, "not being improved," says Gookin, 
 " for the ends intended, by reason of the death 
 and failing of Indian scholars." Among other 
 uses, it was converted into a printing-office ; 
 and in it was set up Green's press for printing 
 Mr. Eliot's Translation of the Bible. 
 
 Meanwhile the apostle continued his mis- 
 sionary work with unremitted zeal. Of his visits 
 and preaching at the several Indian stations 
 between the time when the printing of his Bi- 
 ble was begun, and the war with Philip, we 
 have no circumstantial account. But an idea 
 may be formed of the progress of the work, 
 and of the amount of good effected, by the no- 
 tice which Gookin, who wrote in 1674, has left 
 of the " Indian praying towns." * 
 
 * 1M. H. Coll., 1. 180-196. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 259 
 
 At Natick Mr. Eliot, in addition to his other 
 instructions, set up " a lecture in logic and 
 theology," as it was designated. This was 
 attended once a fortnight during the summer. 
 He alludes to it in a letter to Boyle in 1670, 
 when he says, " Your Honor will see, that 1 
 have undertaken and begun a kind of academ- 
 ical reading unto them in their own language, 
 thereby to teach the teachers and rulers, and 
 all that are desirous of learning." We cannot 
 suppose, that he purposed, or expected, to in 
 doctrinate the natives in the technical forms or 
 subtile distinctions of the logic of the schools. 
 The object of his lectures was to accustom 
 them, in some degree, to clear and methodical 
 habits of thought, that they might arrange and 
 express their ideas on religious subjects with 
 propriety. These instructions seem to have 
 been designed chiefly for such as were to be 
 trained to the office of teaching and expound- 
 ing. In aid of this design, Eliot published, in 
 1672, an Indian Logick Primer, which was 
 printed by Johnson at Cambridge. Natick 
 became a kind of seminary, from which teach- 
 ers went forth among their brethren at the 
 other stations. 
 
 About two miles from Wamesit,* near Pau- 
 tucket Falls, was the wigwam of Wannalancet, 
 
 * Tewkesbury. 
 
26C AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 a sachem of much distinction, the eldest son 
 of Passaconaway, who has been before men- 
 tioned. Wannalancet, though grave in his 
 character and friendly to the English, had not 
 been persuaded to embrace Christianity, but 
 was willing to hear preaching. His reluctance 
 to yield himself a convert was thought to arise 
 from the opposition to such a step, which he 
 found among his relations and chief men. But 
 in May, 1674, his aversion was overcome. He 
 listened to Mr. Eliot's preaching, and, after the 
 discourse, signified to him his change of mind 
 by the following address, which is an apt illus- 
 tration of the Indian love of figurative speech. 
 " You have been pleased in your abundant 
 goodness, for four years past, to exhort me 
 and my people, with much persuasion, to pray 
 to God. I acknowledge, that I have been 
 used all my life to pass up and down in an old 
 canoe ; and now you wish me to make a 
 change, to leave my old canoe and embark in a 
 new one, to which I have been unwilling ; but 
 now I give up myself to your advice, enter into 
 a new canoe, and do engage to pray to God 
 hereafter." One of the company present, pur- 
 suing the figure, desired Mr. Eliot to say to 
 Wannalancet, that " while he went in his old 
 canoe, though the stream was quiet, the end 
 would be destruction ; but that now he had 
 embarked in the new canoe, though he should 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 261 
 
 meet storms and rough passages, yet he must 
 take courage and persevere, for the end would 
 be everlasting rest." After this, Wannalancet 
 became faithful and constant, for the most part, 
 in the observance of religious duties, though 
 he was deserted by many of his people. 
 
 There were seven old towns of " praying In- 
 dians," so called because they were first settled 
 in civil and religious order. 
 
 Besides these, there were in the Nipmuck 
 country seven " new praying towns," so desig- 
 nated because they were more recently brought 
 into the profession of the Christian faith. 
 They were on the territory now occupied by 
 the towns of Ward, Oxford, Uxbridge, Dudley, 
 and Woodstock. 
 
 In 1673 and 1674, Eliot and Gookin jour- 
 neyed through this region, to scatter the seed 
 of divine truth, to confirm the converted, to 
 settle religious teachers, and to establish civil 
 order. On this journey, the faithful evangelist 
 spent the day in travelling through pathless 
 woods and in preaching ; the evening he de- 
 voted to conversation in the wigwams, when 
 questions were heard and answered. The heart 
 of the good man glowed within him, as the 
 children of the forest gathered around him, and, 
 in the familiar confidence inspired by his un- 
 wearied affection, gazed on his countenance 
 with curious wonder, and sought instruction 
 
262 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 from his lips. At one place, he preached from 
 the passage, " Lift up your heads, ye gates, 
 and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the 
 King of glory shall come in." Perhaps never, 
 under the splendid arches or the beautiful 
 carved work of an ancient cathedral, did these 
 words inspire more of heartfelt eloquence, than 
 when this holy man discoursed of them in the 
 forest sanctuary of the wilderness. 
 
 The travellers proceeded to other places. 
 Religious teachers and civil officers were ap- 
 pointed or confirmed. These were charged 
 solemnly " to be diligent and faithful for God, 
 zealous against sin, and careful in sanctify- 
 ing the Sabbath." On the 18th of Septem- 
 ber, 1674, after prayer, singing, and religious 
 exhortation, Eliot and Gookin took leave of 
 these new settlements, went to Marlborough, 
 and thence returned to their own homes. 
 
 Within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts 
 there were, at this time, two Indian churches, 
 fourteen towns of " praying Indians," which 
 were considered as established, and two others 
 in a state of preparation. The number of In- 
 dians in this whole territory was computed by 
 Gookin to be eleven hundred.* 
 
 * The following- estimate of the whole number of "pray- 
 ing Indians " in 1674, at other places, as well as those 
 referred to above, is taken from Judge Davis's note to 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 263 
 
 We have already seen, that Mr. Eliot's care 
 extended beyond the Massachusetts line. He 
 sometimes travelled into the jurisdiction of 
 Plymouth and Martha's Vineyard. These visits, 
 as well as his letters and example, animated 
 his fellow-laborers in these places to prosecute 
 the cause of religion among the natives. In 
 1670, Eliot and Cotton of Plymouth went to 
 Martha's Vineyard, and there, in connexion 
 with Mr. Mayhew, ordained for pastor of the 
 Indian church Hiacoomes, the first converted 
 native. This church, for purposes of conven- 
 ience, was soon divided into two, one of 
 which had a pastor, the other a teacher, and 
 both ruling elders. Soon after this, an Indian 
 church was gathered at Mashpee, and Mr. 
 Bourne ordained its pastor. His ordination 
 was solemnized by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Cotton, 
 with delegates from the Natick church and that 
 of the Vineyard. 
 
 A letter is extant written by Mr. Eliot, in 
 
 Morton's Memorial (pp. 407-415), where may be seen 
 further statements of the situation and number of the 
 Christian natives at subsequent periods. 
 
 In Massachusetts, under the care of Mr. Eliot, . . .1100 
 In Plymouth Colony, by Mr. Bourne's and Cotton's account, 530 
 Additional number, under Cotton's care in Plymouth Colony, 170 
 
 On Nantucket 300 
 
 On Martha's Vineyard and Chappaquiddick, under the care of 
 the Mayhews, 1500 
 
 Total 3600 
 
264 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 August, 1673, to a friend, who had asked for 
 information as to the state of Christianity 
 among the Indians generally.* Eliot states, 
 that six churches had been gathered among 
 them, one at Natick, one at Hassanamesit,f 
 one at Mashpee, two at Martha's Vineyard, 
 and one at Nantucket. These churches had 
 been formed in the same way as among the 
 English. They were all furnished with reli- 
 gious officers, except the church at Natick, 
 where, says Mr. Eliot, " in modesty they stand 
 off, because, so long as I live, they say there is 
 no need." This favorite church, the first 
 planted by his special care and labor, might 
 well regard him as their only spiritual father. 
 There is something touching in their affection- 
 ate reverence for the apostle, which would al- 
 low them to receive no other teacher, while his 
 hallowed voice could be heard. 
 
 In these churches of the natives, the ordi- 
 nances were administered, and discipline exer- 
 cised, as in all other churches. Mr. Eliot vin- 
 dicated his converts from every suspicion of 
 heresy, with a zeal that is amusing, though it 
 was so sincere ; for, as yet, how or where 
 would the poor Indians be likely to become 
 heretics % He endeavored to persuade his 
 brethren and the elders in the churches, that 
 
 * 1 M. H. Coll., X. 124. J Grafton. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 265 
 
 it was their duty to receive these Christians of 
 the wilderness into their communion. From 
 his manner of expression, it would seem, that 
 some reluctance had been manifested towards 
 extending this fellowship to the Indians. But 
 Cotton Mather tells us, that, at Martha's Vine- 
 yard and Nantucket, " the Christian English in 
 the neighborhood, who would have been loth to 
 have mixed with them in a civil relation, yet 
 have gladly done it in a sacred one." 
 
266 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Letter from Eliot to Governor Prince. — Suffer- 
 ings and Conduct of the Christian Indians dur- 
 ing Philip's War, and Eliot's Solicitude on 
 their Behalf 
 
 Of the troubles, which preceded the war 
 with Philip, Mr. Eliot was no inattentive ob- 
 server. Those who are acquainted with Indian 
 history will recollect, that, before that war 
 broke out, much alarm had been excited in 
 Plymouth Colony by some threatening indica- 
 tions from that spirited and restless chieftain. 
 Fears were entertained, that the Indians about 
 Plymouth might be induced to join his stand 
 ard, and constitute an alliance formidable to 
 the security and peace of the colony. The 
 government of Plymouth took measures to sup- 
 press or prevent such movements. The na- 
 tives in several places had been required to 
 surrender their arms. Hostile appearances for 
 the present ceased ; for Philip at length re- 
 newed the covenant of peace and friendship 
 with the English, and agreed to resign his 
 arms to be kept by them as long as they should 
 find reason for so doing.* 
 
 * Hutchinson, Vol. I. p. 254 et seq., and Drake's Book 
 of the Indians, B. III. p. 18. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 267 
 
 In relation to this subject, Mr. Eliot in June, 
 1671, wrote a letter of advice to Mr. Prince, 
 Governor of Plymouth, which I shall here in- 
 sert, and which I believe has never before been 
 published. The address is, " To the Right 
 Worshipful Mr. Prince, Governor of Plimouth." 
 
 " Sir, 
 "Let not my boldnesse in medling with your 
 state matters be an offence unto you ; and, this 
 request being humbly premised, I shall be 
 bold to suggest my poor advice, that stoute 
 people, who refuse to render their armes, be 
 pursued with speed and vigor until they stoop, 
 and quake, and give up (at least) some of their 
 armes ; which done, immediately give them to 
 them again ; and first Phillip his, the sooner 
 the better. My reasons are ; first, lest we ren- 
 der ourselves more afraid of them and their 
 guns than indeed we are, or have cause to be; 
 alass, it is not the gun, but the man, nor in- 
 deed is it the man, but our sin, that we have 
 cause to be afraid of; secondly, your so doing 
 will open an effectual door to their entertainment 
 of the Gospel. Our worthys, by the assistance 
 of the Lord, have vigorously prosecuted and 
 executed the murderer. This act of eminent 
 justice hath and will strike more terror into 
 them than ten disarmings, though in due sea- 
 son that is a prudent way too. But I shall 
 
268 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 give you no further trouble at present, but, 
 committing you to the Lord and to the word of 
 his grace, I remain 
 
 " Your Worship's to serve you 
 " in the Lord Jesus, 
 
 " John Eliot.* 
 "Roxb., this 16th of the 4th, '71." 
 
 This advice seems to have been given with 
 the best intentions, and, however strange it 
 might seem to men alarmed as the Plymouth 
 
 * Mr. Eliot's autograph of the above letter is in the 
 possession of Judge Davis of Boston. To the kindness of 
 that distinguished jurist and scholar 1 am indebted for per- 
 mission to take this copy. Judge Davis has done me the 
 favor to accompany his transmission of the letter with the 
 following remarks. " Mr. Eliot's advice must have ap- 
 peared a little odd to the statesmen of the day ; but Gov- 
 ernor Prince appears to have yielded to it in part, or at 
 least to have pursued the course recommended, in refer- 
 ence to some of the Indians. (See his letter to Goodman 
 Cooke, August 24th, 1671, 1 M. H. Coll., V. 196.) The In- 
 dians there intended were, I suppose, those in the neigh- 
 borhood of Dartmouth." 
 
 With regard to the murderer, to whom Eliot alludes in 
 the letter, Judge Davis gives the following explanation. 
 " Hutchinson in a note (Vol. I. p. 258) speaks of ' an Eng- 
 lishman shot through the body in Dedham woods in the 
 spring of the year 1671,' and says, that 'an Indian, the sup- 
 posed murderer, was taken and imprisoned.' 'But,' adds 
 Hutchinson, 'whether he was executed or not, I do not 
 find ; but it kept the colony in an alarm for some time.' Is 
 it not probable, that this is ' the murderer ' mentioned in 
 Eliot's letter?" 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 269 
 
 people then were, it was probably not injudi- 
 cious. It may be questioned whether it was 
 wisely done to disarm the Indians, or at least 
 to detain their guns. The second of the rea- 
 sons, which Mr. EHot gives for his opinion, 
 shows that he never lost sight of the interests 
 of his favorite cause. 
 
 The work of planting Christianity among the 
 Indians had at this period reached its highest 
 state of prosperity. It had received its lead- 
 ing impulse from the hands of one devoted in- 
 dividual. From humble beginnings, through 
 difficulties and discouragements, it had, for 
 nearly thirty years, gradually gained strength 
 and found favor, till he who made his first 
 doubtful and almost hopeless visit to the wig- 
 wams of Nonantum, could range over a wide 
 region, or send his thoughts to far distant hills 
 and forests, with the cheering consciousness, 
 that God had blessed his toil, and that foun- 
 tains of life were opened to refresh the waste 
 places. It was to the aged apostle a season 
 of such happiness, as is known only to the 
 heart that gives itself up, as an offering on the 
 altar of a righteous cause. But the scene was 
 to be changed. It is a melancholy thought, 
 that the close of this good man's life should 
 have been saddened by seeing his long cher- 
 ished hopes overcast with a cloud of discour- 
 agement. Philip's war, which spread such terror 
 
 Z<2 
 
270 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 and devastation through some parts of New 
 England, smote heavily upon the Christian en- 
 terprise among the natives, and filled the hearts 
 of its ardent friends with that distress, which 
 the good feel, when the anticipations of piouis 
 benevolence are defeated. 
 
 Mr. Eliot was seventy-one years old, when the 
 war with Philip began, but was still strong, ac- 
 tive, and full of the Christian zeal which had an- 
 imated his earlier days. It does not fall within 
 my province to discuss the character of Philip. 
 That he was an able, bold, and astute chief, 
 no one can deny. His lofty and regal spirit 
 was strikingly exemplified in his answer to an 
 ambassador, sent to him by the Governor of 
 Massachusetts. "Your Governor," said he, 
 " is but a subject ; I will not treat except with 
 my brother, King Charles of England." * Like 
 his father, Massassoit, he would neither re- 
 ceive the Christian religion himself, nor permit 
 it to be introduced among his subjects. We are 
 informed, that when Mr. Eliot once offered to 
 preach Christianity to him and his people, he 
 rejected the offer with disdain, and, taking hold 
 
 * We learn this from a tract entitled, " The Present 
 State of New England with respect to the Indian War, 
 &c. ; faithfully composed by a Merchant of Boston, and 
 communicated to his Friend in London ; " first printed at 
 London in 1675, and republished at Boston in 1833, by 
 S. G. Drake. See p. 68. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 271 
 
 of a button on the apostle's coat, told him he 
 cared no more for the Gospel than for that 
 button. It seems, however, that a hope of his 
 conversion was at one time entertained. So, 
 at least, Gookin testifies, and affirms that he 
 himself had heard him use expressions, which 
 implied, that his conscience was touched by 
 good influences.* But, if such soft moments 
 of relenting ever came, they were soon ban- 
 ished by the habitually strong passions of the 
 wild sachem. The voice of holy persuasion, 
 which reached the hearts of so many in the 
 forest, could not subdue him. The war-cry, 
 which rang through the woods and echoed from 
 the hills, was more pleasant music to his ear, 
 than all the eloquent words of peace and love 
 which the good evangelist could utter. 
 
 When the war commenced, it was to be ex- 
 pected that those Indians, who were supposed 
 to be united with the English by religious sym- 
 pathy, would find little mercy at the hands of 
 Philip. He might hope to win or frighten 
 some of them to his side ; but for the most 
 part he could regard them only with feelings 
 of hostility. The annoyance and the injury, 
 which might come from this quarter, were to 
 be anticipated as the natural results of a state 
 of war. But the Christian Indians incurred 
 
 * 1 M. H. Coll., I. 200. 
 
272 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 another and more trying calamity from a source, 
 to which they looked only for kindness. The 
 English soon began to regard them with stern 
 suspicion and angry apprehension. There was 
 little or no confidence in their fidelity. It was 
 believed, that they would, at any moment, by 
 craft or open alliance, render all the assistance 
 in their power to the hostile Indians. This 
 became the popular sentiment ; and under its 
 influence Mr. Eliot's hapless converts suffered 
 the harshest injustice. It was their hard fate 
 to have the good will of neither party in the 
 war ; to be treated by Philip as allies of the 
 English, and to be sharply suspected by the 
 English of a secret but determined leaning 
 towards Philip.* 
 
 * My principal guide in this part of my narrative has 
 been a very interesting manuscript, written by Gookin, to 
 which I have already occasionally referred. Its title is, 
 An Historical Account of the Doings and Sufferings of the 
 Christian Indians in New England in the Years 1675, 1676, 
 1677. Impartially drawn by One ivell acquainted with that 
 Affair, and presented unto the Right Honorable the Corpora- 
 tion residing in London, fyc. It is preceded by Gookin's 
 " Epistle Dedicatory to the Honorable Robert Boyle," and 
 by a letter from Mr. Eliot to Gookin " upon his perusal of 
 it." Eliot testifies to the accuracy of the narrative. " I 
 do not see," he says, " that any man or orders of men can 
 find just cause of excepting against (human frailties ex- 
 cepted) any thing that you have written." 
 
 This manuscript was loaned to Mr. Sparks by the Rev. 
 Mr. Campbell of Pittsburg, who procured it in England, 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 273 
 
 The circumstances of the time account for 
 this inflamed state of popular feeling against 
 the Christian Indians. A fierce and powerful 
 enemy was ravaging the country. The flames 
 of burning villages glared in the darkness of 
 midnight ; the scalping-knife, the arrow, and 
 firearms were lurking in ambush by day. In 
 the storms of winter, and amidst the sunshine 
 of summer, an insidious and cruel warfare was 
 ever in progress, and dismay struck upon every 
 settlement. The passions of the people were 
 naturally exasperated to the highest pitch 
 against those, the dread of whose incursions 
 disturbed the slumbers of night, and surround- 
 ed the labors of the field with peril. The 
 usual epithets applied to the savage foe were 
 " wolves, blood-hounds, fiends, devils incar- 
 nate " ; and Increase Mather uttered the com- 
 mon sentiment, when he said, that the English 
 did not " cease crying to the Lord against 
 Philip, until they had prayed the bullet into his 
 heart." 
 
 Under intense alarm, men are apt to lose 
 sight of the distinction between justice and 
 
 and allowed Mr. Sparks to have a copy taken. It is now 
 about to be published by the American Antiquarian Society 
 in Worcester. It contains much that cannot be learned 
 from any other source, and, though perhaps the narrative 
 is sometimes colored by the partialities of the writer, id 
 doubtless in all important points faithful and correct. 
 VOL. V. 18 
 
274 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 injustice, between right and wrong. The peo- 
 ple in general, perhaps, were but little ac- 
 quainted with the Praying Indians ; and if 
 they had been, they might easily believe that 
 their adoption of the Christian religion would 
 not effectually repress the impulse to return, in 
 the hour of warlike excitement, to their brethren 
 of the woods, from whom they had been separ- 
 ated only by the slender line of an imperfect 
 civilization. These men had also been among 
 the English ; and, knowing their habits and 
 their force, might be the more dangerous, 
 should they go over to the enemy. Besides, 
 suspicion, which under any circumstances would 
 be likely to turn a watchful and keen eye upon 
 them, was inflamed by the fact, that some did 
 leave their settlements, and join the arms of 
 Philip,* though by far the greater part were 
 true to the English interest. These circum- 
 stances, while they do not justify, may account 
 for that blind excitement, which would not 
 stop to separate between the innocent and the 
 guilty, but involved all the Praying Indians 
 
 * These were almost wholly from what were called the 
 new praying towns, who, says Gookin, " being but raw and 
 lately initiated into the Christian profession, most of them 
 fell off from the English and joined with the enemy in the 
 war, some few excepted." The old towns remained faith- 
 ful, but the indignation of popular feeling did not attend to 
 the distinction. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 275 
 
 in one common proscription. From the indis- 
 criminate resentment, however, which pervad- 
 ed the mass of the community, the magistrates 
 and government were, for the most part, ex- 
 empt ; but they were seldom able to stem the 
 violence of the popular current. 
 
 On many occasions the Christian Indians 
 rendered good and faithful service during the 
 war, and were ambitious of acquitting them- 
 selves to the satisfaction of the English. In 
 July, 1675, Captain Hutchinson and Captain 
 Wheeler were sent to treat with the Indians in 
 the Nipmuck country. Three Christian Indians 
 accompanied the expedition, as guides and in- 
 terpreters, and so faithfully performed their 
 duties, that the most ample testimony to their 
 good conduct was given by the commanding 
 officers. One of them was taken prisoner. 
 But, notwithstanding their services, the two 
 who returned were treated with so much harsh- 
 ness by the English, that " for want of shelter, 
 protection, and encouragement," as Gookin 
 affirms, " they were in a manner constrained to 
 fall off to the enemy." One of them was kill- 
 ed by a scouting party of Praying Indians. 
 The other was taken prisoner, sold as a slave 
 in Boston, and sent to Jamaica. By the earn- 
 est intercession of Mr. Eliot, he was brought 
 back, but still held in slavery. His wife and 
 
276 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 his two children, who were also in captivity, 
 were redeemed by Mr. Eliot. 
 
 In August, 1675, a number of the Christian 
 Indians at Marlborough were seized and sent 
 to Boston for trial, on the charge of having 
 been concerned in the murder of several per- 
 sons at Lancaster. The accusation was ground- 
 less, and the whole affair was believed to have 
 been a malicious proceeding. During the trial, 
 Eliot and Gookin made every effort in their 
 power to save these men from being sacrificed 
 to popular fury, and thereby brought upon 
 themselves the indignation of those, whose 
 passions had heated them into a thirst for the 
 blood of the Indians. The venerable evangel- 
 ist and the faithful magistrate were reviled, 
 and subjected to the most injurious suspicions. 
 
 An anecdote may illustrate this state of 
 feeling. Mr. Eliot was once on a sailing ex- 
 cursion, when the boat in which he had taken 
 passage was run down and overset by a large 
 vessel. Eliot was in great danger of sinking 
 to a watery grave, but by strenuous effort was 
 happily rescued. This happened in the time 
 of the Indian war, when the excitement against 
 him was high ; and one man, full of the popu- 
 lar fury, hearing how narrowly Mr. Eliot had 
 escaped, said he wished he had been drowned.* 
 
 * Life of Eliot in the Magnalia, Part I. Article V 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 277 
 
 Gookin was publicly insulted, while acting as 
 a member of the court. He said on the bench, 
 that he was afraid to walk in the streets. 
 
 Facts like these mark the exasperated state 
 of popular feeling on this subject, and prove 
 that it required no common firmness in Mr. 
 Eliot and his friend, at such a time, to plead 
 the cause of those whom they supposed to be 
 innocent. They were ever on the alert to pro- 
 tect their defenceless converts, and, with a 
 courage inspired by Christian principle, shrunk 
 from no danger or obloquy. Their judgment 
 may have been in some instances biassed by 
 the partiality of zeal ; but their moral intre- 
 pidity was worthy of all praise. 
 
 In consequence of the prevalent excitement, 
 the court passed an order, that the Indians at 
 Natick should be forthwith removed to Deer 
 Island, having first obtained the consent of the 
 owner of that island.* Captain Thomas Pren- 
 tiss, with a party of horse, was appointed to 
 superintend their removal. He took a few men 
 to assist, and five or six carts to carry away 
 such commodities as would be indispensable 
 for the Indians. When he arrived at Natick 
 and made known to them the pleasure of the 
 court, they sadly but quietly submitted, and 
 were soon ready to follow him. Their numbei 
 
 * Mr. Samuel Shrimpton, of Boston. 
 
 Aa 
 
278 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 was about two hundred, including men, women, 
 and children. They were ordered to a place 
 called The Pines on Charles River, two miles 
 above Cambridge, where boats were to be in 
 readiness to take them to the island. At this 
 place, their spiritual father and ever faithful 
 friend, Mr. Eliot, met them, to say a few kind 
 and consoling words before they embarked. 
 While he sympathized in their sorrows, he ex- 
 horted them to be patient under suffering and 
 firm in their faith, reminding them that through 
 much tribulation they must enter into the king- 
 dom of God. 
 
 There is an affecting moral beauty in this 
 scene. That settlement, towards which the 
 heart of the good apostle had yearned alike 
 through seasons of discouragement and of 
 hope ; the foundations of which were laid by his 
 own hands and hallowed by his own prayers ; 
 where the tree of life, as he believed, was firm- 
 ly rooted in the wilderness ; where, by the pa- 
 tient labor of years, he had made the word .of 
 God understood, and had reared civil and so- 
 cial institutions ; that settlement, which prob- 
 ably next to his own home he loved better than 
 any thing else on earth, is suddenly broken up, 
 in consequence of a misguided excitement, and 
 its inhabitants are hurried away from their 
 fields and homes into what is little better than 
 an imprisonment. At the hour of their depar- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 279 
 
 ture, the venerable man, on whose head more 
 than seventy winters had shed their frosts, 
 stands with them on the bank of the river to 
 pour forth his prayers for them, to mingle his 
 tears with theirs, and to teach them the lesson, 
 not of resentment against man, but of submis- 
 sion to God, the lesson of meekness and of 
 strong endurance. The whole company pres- 
 ent were deeply affected to see the quiet resig- 
 nation " of the poor souls, encouraging and 
 exhorting one another with prayers and tears." 
 On the 30th of October, 1675, about midnight, 
 when the tide served, they embarked in three 
 vessels and were transported to their destined 
 confinement on Deer Island. 
 
 The slightest occurrence was enough to kin- 
 dle the passions of the English into outrage. 
 A barn in Chelmsford, full of hay and grain, 
 was burnt to the ground. This was afterwards 
 discovered to have been done by some skulk- 
 ing Indians of the enemy's party. But the in- 
 habitants of the place at once imputed the 
 crime to the Christian Indians of Wamesit, and 
 in the heat of resentment, without further in- 
 quiry, determined on revenge. Fourteen men 
 from Chelmsford went with arms to their wig- 
 wams, and called to them to come out. When 
 they, suspecting no harm, appeared, two. of the 
 men fired upon them. One lad was killed, and 
 five women and children were wounded. The 
 
280 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 murderers were soon arrested and brought to 
 trial ; but were acquitted by a jury acting under 
 the influence of the popular exasperation. The 
 Wamesit Indians were so frightened by this 
 brutal assault, that most of them fled from 
 their settlement far into the forests, and re- 
 mained there a long time exposed to cold and 
 hunger. 
 
 Attempts were made to induce them to re- 
 turn ; but the remembrance of the day when 
 their wives and children were shot down like 
 wild beasts was still fresh, and they refused. 
 They, however, sent by the messengers a let- 
 ter, addressed to Lieutenant Henchman of 
 Chelmsford, in which there was a passage, 
 which must have brought a blush to the faces 
 of men calling themselves Christians. " We 
 are not sorry," they said, " for what we leave 
 behind ; but we are sorry, that the English 
 have driven us from our praying to God, and 
 from our teacher. We did begin to understand 
 a little of praying to God." But at length 
 winter and hunger drove them back to their 
 wigwams. 
 
 When their return was made known at Bos- 
 ton, a committee, consisting of Mr. Eliot, Ma- 
 jor Gookin, and Major Willard, was appointed 
 to visit .them with a message of friendship and 
 encouragement, and to persuade the people of 
 Chelmsford into a better temper towards them. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 28 1 
 
 The committee discharged their duty promptly 
 by doing their utmost to restore quiet and am- 
 ity. They were also directed to visit Concord, 
 where the Nashobah Indians were then living. 
 These they placed under the care of Mr. John 
 Hoare, their firm friend, who allowed them to 
 establish their wigwams on his grounds near 
 his house. 
 
 The sachem Wannalancet, who has been be- 
 fore mentioned, had retired to some distance 
 from his usual residence on the Merrimac; but 
 he continued friendly to the English. In the 
 autumn of 1675, Messrs. Eliot and Gookin 
 were sent on an embassy to urge him to 
 return to his accustomed place of residence. 
 In a letter to Boyle, October, 1677, Mr. Eliot 
 writes thus ; " We had a sachem, of the great- 
 est blood in the country, submitted to pray to 
 God, a little before the wars. His name is 
 Wannalancet. In the time of the wars he fled, 
 by reason of the wicked actings of some Eng- 
 lish youth, who causelessly and basely killed 
 and wounded some of them. He was persuad- 
 ed to come in again. But, the English having 
 ploughed and sown with rye all their lands, 
 they had but little corn to subsist by." 
 
 The Christian Indians from Punkapog,* on 
 some slight pretence, were removed to Deer 
 
 # Stoughton. 
 
 Aa2 
 
282 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Island, as others had been from various places. 
 The whole number of those now collected there 
 amounted to about five hundred. They were 
 necessarily exposed to much suffering. To- 
 wards the end of December, 1675, Gookin, 
 Eliot, and others visited them several times to 
 cheer them under their trials. They found 
 these objects of their benevolent care uniform- 
 ly patient and humble, never disposed to mur- 
 mur at the treatment they had received, and 
 exhibiting in their whole temper much of the 
 spirit of practical Christianity. Such is the 
 testimony of Gookin; and, however inclined 
 he might be to look on the favorable side of 
 the case, he was certainly too conscientious to 
 overstate their merits purposely, and too sa- 
 gacious to be much deceived. Must not a 
 great part of their Christian deportment un- 
 der suffering be ascribed to the affectionate 
 instruction and powerful influence of Mr 
 Eliot ? 
 
 Wherever the Christian Indians were found, 
 they seem to have been considered as fair prey 
 by the English soldiers. Some of them, who 
 belonged to Hassanamesit, with their religious 
 teacher, had been taken prisoners by the ene- 
 my. These men had endeavored to effect an es- 
 cape, and so far succeeded as to get away from 
 the enemy's quarters. They were wandering 
 in the woods, when they were met by a party 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 283 
 
 of scouts under the command of Captain Gibbs, 
 who plundered them of the few things they 
 had, and among the rest of a pewter cup, which 
 Mr. Eliot had formerly given them to be used 
 in the communion service, and which the In- 
 dian teacher had religiously preserved. The 
 Captain took them to General Savage, the com- 
 manding officer, who did all in his power to 
 protect them. But they were afterwards ex- 
 posed to much cruel treatment. The Indian 
 teacher, with his aged father and several chil- 
 dren, was sent to Boston. There they were 
 kindly entertained by a friend, at whose house 
 Mr. Eliot met them, and gave them much con- 
 solation and good advice. They were after- 
 wards sent to Deer Island. 
 
 In the summer of the same year, a consider- 
 able number of the Christian natives were em- 
 ployed in the army against Philip. Perhaps 
 the popular sentiment against them had by this 
 time become somewhat softened. At any rate 
 the government were determined to avail them- 
 selves of the aid of these men ; and the confi- 
 dence reposed in them was not misplaced. 
 They proved good soldiers, true to the English 
 interest, brave, adroit, and adventurous. " I 
 contend," says Gookin, " that the small com- 
 pany of our Indian friends have taken and 
 slain of the enemy, in the summer of 1676, not 
 less than four hundred ; and their fidelity and 
 
284 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 courage are testified by the certificates of their 
 captains." Their acquaintance with the In- 
 dian modes of movement and fighting rendered 
 them a very efficient part of the army. When 
 the strongest and best of their number were 
 thus withdrawn from the island, the rest, who 
 were either women or old and feeble men, suf- 
 fered much from the want of provisions and 
 of proper care. 
 
 Soon after this the General Court gave per- 
 mission for their removal from the islands,* 
 taking care, however, to provide that it should 
 be done without any expense to the colony. 
 They were accordingly removed, under the 
 superintendence of Gookin, at the charge of 
 the corporation in England. They were taken 
 to Cambridge, where Mr. Thomas Oliver offered 
 them a residence for the present on his lands r 
 near Charles River. Here they found a con- 
 venient place for fishing. Many of them were 
 very ill, some dangerously so, at the time of 
 their removal. The assiduous and never- 
 wearied charity of Eliot and Gookin was called 
 into constant exercise. They took means to 
 provide the Indians w T ith wholesome food, and 
 with such care and medicines, as their sickness 
 
 * It appears from Gookin, that many of the Indians, at 
 this time, were on Long Island, in Boston harbour, while 
 others, as before mentioned, occupied Deer Island. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 285 
 
 required. By this kind attention most of them 
 recovered. 
 
 Philip, the white man's dreaded enemy, was 
 now dead, and probably the feeling of hostil- 
 ity to the Praying Indians lost much of its 
 heat. Before winter they removed from their 
 residence in Cambridge. Some settled about 
 the falls of Charles River, and some stationed 
 themselves at Nonantum, the spot where thirty 
 years before Mr. Eliot had first preached the 
 Gospel to the natives. Here one of their 
 teachers, named Anthony, built a large wigwam, 
 in which the meetings for lectures were held, 
 and a school kept during the winter. Mr. Eliot 
 preached to them once a fortnight at the place, 
 in which he began his course of pious useful- 
 ness, and which must have awakened in his 
 mind the most interesting associations. He 
 also lectured to another set of Indians, who had 
 been brought from one of the islands, and were 
 settled near Brush Hill in Milton. The aged 
 and the widows among the Christian natives 
 were supplied with clothing and all other ne- 
 cessary commodities, at the expense of the Eng- 
 lish corporation. By the aid of this charity, 
 and by the venison and fish the men were able 
 to procure, the settlements were comfortably 
 supported. Winter being past, most of the 
 Praying Indians returned to their old settle- 
 ments at Natick and at the other plantations. 
 
286 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 On one occasion, when a court was held and 
 Mr. Eliot had lectured to a large assembly of 
 the Praying Indians, Waban made a speech in 
 the name of the rest, which must have been 
 very gratifying to their English friends. It 
 was full of simple piety, humility, and thank- 
 fulness. The Indian orator acknowledged with 
 deep feeling the kindness of the corporation 
 in England, and of their friends in Massachu- 
 setts, touched lightly upon the sufferings they 
 had lately experienced, and rejoiced that his 
 brethren had been enabled by their good con- 
 duct, as soldiers, to gain so much favor and 
 acceptance. Gookin replied to this speech in 
 a few plain, affectionate, and pious remarks, 
 assuring them of continued friendship, and ex- 
 horting them to bear their cross wisely and 
 meekly. 
 
 The consequences of the war with Philip in- 
 flicted a disastrous blow on the progress of 
 Christianity among the Indians, from which it 
 never entirely recovered. Many of their vil- 
 lages were broken up ; and a feeling of dis- 
 couragement weakened those that remained. 
 How could it be otherwise ? The friendly sen- 
 timent so necessary to the successful diffusion 
 of religion, especially among rude minds, had 
 just grown warm, and was beginning to ce- 
 ment a bond of moral union between the untu- 
 tored men of the forest and their civilized 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 287 
 
 neighbors, when it was suddenly sundered by 
 the strong passions, that sprung from the heat 
 of a terrific warfare. After this rupture, it 
 was a hard work to reunite sympathies, which 
 were broken before they had time to coalesce 
 firmly. There would be bitter remembrances, 
 which might be smothered, but could hardly 
 fail to throw a chill upon the persuasions of 
 the English Christians. 
 
 These effects of Philip's war unhappily oc- 
 curred at a time, when the civil and religious 
 improvements among the Praying Indians 
 were new, and, being at best but feebly estab- 
 lished, were ill prepared for such a shock. If 
 the sense of wrong did not rankle in the minds 
 of the natives, they must at least have felt, that, 
 in case of any emergency, they were powerless 
 and insecure ; and if the pointed remark of 
 Tacitus, thaUit is the disposition of mankind 
 to hate those whom they have injured,* be as 
 true as it is sad, many of the Massachusetts 
 people could entertain but little kindness for 
 their fellow-men of the woods. 
 
 * " Proprium humani ingenii est, odisse quem lessens." 
 — De Vitd Agricola, 42. Seneca ascribes the same dispo- 
 sition peculiarly to those, who are inflated with power and 
 fortune; "Hoc habent pessimum animi magna fortuna in- 
 solentes ; quos lseserunt et oderunt." — De Ird, II. 33. 
 
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CHAPTER XV, 
 
 Eliot' 's "Harmony of the Gospels" — Information 
 gathered from his- Letters to Robert Boyle. — 
 JSotice of him by John Dunton and Increase 
 Mather. — Indian Teacher ordained at Natick. 
 — Remarks on Eliot's Labors among the In- 
 
 Amidst all the cares, with which the hands 
 and the heart of Mr. Eliot were full, his pen 
 was not idle even in old age. In 1678, he pub- 
 lished The Harmony of the Gospels in the holy 
 History of the Humiliation and Sufferings of Je- 
 sus Christ from his Incarnation to his Death and 
 Burial* The beginning of the title might 
 mislead the expectations of a reader at the 
 present day. It is not what would now be 
 called a Harmony of the Gospels, but rather a 
 Life of the Savior, presenting a connected 
 view of the events recorded in the evangeli- 
 cal history, with few comments of a critical na- 
 ture, but with many illustrative and practical 
 remarks. It breathes a deep spirit of piety ; 
 
 * This is a closely printed volume of one hundred and 
 thirty-one pages, from the press of John Foster, the first 
 printer in Boston. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 289 
 
 and the style has the unction, energy, and fer- 
 vent simplicity imparted by such a spirit. Its 
 theological character is what might be ex- 
 pected from the author's religious opinions, 
 and those of his times. Of these, different 
 estimates would be formed by different read- 
 ers, according to their habits of thinking on 
 these subjects. The volume is free from po- 
 lemical bitterness, and presents a valuable 
 specimen of the manner of treating the topics 
 connected with the history of Jesus, by one of 
 the most distinguished of the early divines 
 of New England. 
 
 By the occasional letters of Mr. Eliot to 
 Robert Boyle, between 1670 and 1688, we are 
 made acquainted with some of the subjects, 
 which occupied his thoughts at that time. He 
 sometimes mentions facts, which he supposed 
 might interest Mr. Boyle, as a philosophical in- 
 quirer into nature. He relates, for instance, 
 the great mortality among the fish in Fresh 
 Pond, which took place in the summer of 1670,* 
 and the increase of the disease of the stone 
 
 * Hubbard assigns this event to the summer of 1676. 
 (General History, p. 648.) Mr. Eliot says the fish thrust 
 themselves out of the water on the shore, as fast as possi- 
 ble, and there died. Not less than twenty cart-loads lay 
 dead around the pond. Hubbard remarks, " It was con- 
 ceived to be the effect of some mineral vapor, that at that 
 time had made an irruption into the water." 
 
 VOL. V. 19 B B 
 
290 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 among both the English and Indians, the cause 
 of which he thought he had discovered. 
 
 In speaking of the disturbance occasioned, 
 and the losses sustained, by the war with the 
 eastern Indians, he remarks, that the colonists 
 had learned by experience " the vanity of mili- 
 tary skill after the European mode," in their 
 encounters with the savages. " Now," he 
 adds, " we are glad to learn the skulking way 
 of war." * He alludes also to the disasters 
 suffered from the incursions of the fierce Mo- 
 hawks, a narrative of which Gookin had drawn 
 up, and presented to Lord Culpepper and Sir 
 Edmund Andros. A copy of this narrative 
 was to be sent to Mr. Boyle. 
 
 Information concerning the second edition 
 of the Indian Bible, while it was in process, 
 
 * It cost the English some time and a good deal of care- 
 ful attention to understand and meet the insidious mode of 
 Indian warfare. At first, Gookin informs us, they " thought 
 easily to chastise the insolent doings and murderous prac 
 tices of the heathens. But it was found another manner 
 of thing than was expected ; for our men could see no en- 
 emy to shoot at, but yet felt their bullets out of the thick 
 bushes, where they lay in ambushments. The enemy also 
 used this stratagem, to apparel themselves from the waist 
 upward with green boughs, that our Englishmen could not 
 readily discern them, or distinguish them from the natural 
 bushes. This manner of fighting our men had little expe- 
 rience of, and hence were under great disadvantages." — 
 Historical Account, fyc. Captain Church discovered some 
 of the principles, which the savages observed in their crafty 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 291 
 
 is frequently given in these letters. Mr. Boyle 
 had sent a number of English Bibles, for which 
 Eliot returns his cordial thanks, but reminds 
 his honored correspondent, that to have the 
 Scriptures in their own tongue was the great 
 want of the Indians. He says, " Our Praying 
 Indians, both in the islands and on the main, 
 are considered together numerous ; thousands 
 of souls, of whom some are believers, some 
 learners, and some still infants ; and all of 
 them beg, cry, entreat for Bibles, having al- 
 ready enjoyed that blessing, but now are in 
 great want." 
 
 It had been a source of deep grief to Mr. 
 Eliot, that many of the Indians captured dur- 
 ing the wars were sold into slavery. He 
 regarded this practice with that indignant ab- 
 horrence, which it ought to excite in every 
 
 mode of fighting. He "inquired of some of the Indians 
 that were become his soldiers, how they got such advan- 
 tage, often, of the English in their marches through the 
 woods. They told him, that the Indians gained great ad- 
 vantage of the English by two things ; they always took 
 care, in their marches and fights, not to come too thick to- 
 gether, but the English always kept in a heap together, so 
 that it was as easy to hit them as to hit a house. The 
 other was, that, if at any time they discovered a company 
 of English soldiers in the woods, they knew that there 
 were all, for the English never scattered ; but the Indians 
 always divided and scattered." — Church's History of 
 Philip's War, Drake's edition, p. 108. 
 
292 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Christian bosom. He remonstrated warmly 
 against the iniquity ; but the temper of the 
 times, in respect to the Indians, was but little 
 inclined to listen to reason or humanity. 
 
 By a letter, written in 1683, it appears, that 
 he was on the watch for an opportunity to re- 
 lieve some of those, who had suffered in this 
 way. He informs Mr. Boyle, that a vessel had 
 formerly carried away a number of these cap- 
 tives to be sold for slaves, but that " the na- 
 tions whither she went would not buy them." 
 She had afterwards left them at Tangier, and 
 Mr. Eliot had heard of them through an Eng- 
 lishman, who had lately come from that place. 
 He entreats Mr. Boyle to use his mediation for 
 their deliverance, so that they might be re- 
 stored to their homes, either by a direct pas- 
 sage to New England, or by being sent to 
 England and thence to America. He presses 
 this matter with all the earnestness of a benev- 
 olent heart, and says of the effort for the res- 
 cue of these men, which he requests Mr. Boyle 
 to make, " I am persuaded, that Christ will at 
 the great day reckon it among your deeds of 
 charity done for his name's sake." Whether 
 the application was successful, I have not been 
 able to discover. This noble spirit of human- 
 ity, this strong sense of justice, on behalf of 
 the oppressed and the wronged, when pub- 
 lic sensibility was dead on the subject, does 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 293 
 
 great honor to Eliot's character. However 
 they might be despised or forgotten by others, 
 in him they found a true and fearless friend.* 
 
 Mr. Boyle had requested a particular account 
 of the Praying Indians. Eliot's reply was 
 written in 1684, and gives a brief statement 
 of their condition at that time. Since Philip's 
 war, the stated places in Massachusetts, w T here 
 the natives met for worship and religious in- 
 struction, had been reduced to four.f Occa- 
 sional meetings were held in other places, when 
 they came together in large numbers to fish, 
 hunt, or gather chestnuts. 
 
 * Speaking of the fate of Philip's wife and son, Mr. Ev- 
 erett says, "They were sold into slavery, — West Indian 
 slavery ! an Indian princess and her child sold from the 
 cool breezes of Mount Hope, from the wild freedom of a 
 New England forest, to gasp under the lash, beneath the 
 blazing sun of the tropics ! ' Bitter as death ; ' ay, bitter 
 as hell ! Is there any thing, I do not say in the range of 
 humanity, — is there any thing animated, that would not 
 struggle against this ? " — Address at Bloody Brook, p. 28. 
 Well may we add, in the language of a poem, which has 
 many striking beauties, 
 
 " Ah ! happier they, who in the strife 
 For freedom fell, than o'er the main, 
 Those who in slavery's galling chain 
 Still bore the load of hated life, — 
 Bowed to base tasks their generous pride, 
 And scourged and broken-hearted died ! " 
 
 Yamoyden, Canto I. 10. 
 
 \ These were Natick and the towns now called Stough 
 ton, Tewksbury, and Dudley 
 
 Bb2 
 
294 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 A new assistant in the work had been re- 
 ceived in the person of Gookin's son, a pious 
 and learned man, thirty-three years of age, 
 who had been eight years " a fellow of the col- 
 lege." He was settled in the ministry at Sher- 
 burne, and once a month gave a lecture at Na- 
 tick, which was communicated to the Indians 
 by an interpreter. Mr. Gookin was learning 
 the language of the natives, that he might 
 preach to them with more efficiency. The heart 
 of the aged Eliot must have been gladdened, 
 as he was soon to be gathered to his fathers, 
 to see the cause sustained by the youthful arm 
 of the son of his beloved friend. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that one of Eliot's 
 letters to Mr. Boyle is dated " August 29th, 
 1686, in the third month of our overthrow." This 
 expression is presumed to refer to the change 
 in the government of the colonies by the dis- 
 solution of the charters and to the appointment 
 of Sir Edmund Andros, as Governor-General 
 of New England. The people felt it to be in- 
 deed a season of " overthrow." A deep senti- 
 ment of indignation and alarm pervaded the 
 community. They could no longer choose their 
 own governors, but were compelled to take 
 such as the royal authority designated. The 
 accession of James the Second to the throne of 
 England they believed to be the signal for op- 
 pression and tyranny ; and the conduct of the 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 295 
 
 new governor soon justified their fears. Mr. 
 Eliot begins his letter with saying, " I have 
 nothing new to write but lamentations." This 
 was an expression of the general feeling of the 
 country. 
 
 Eliot's last letter to Mr. Boyle, in which, 
 being eighty-four years old, he says with af- 
 fecting simplicity, " I am drawing home, and 
 am glad of an opportunity to take my leave of 
 your Honor with all thankfulness," expresses 
 a hope of the revival of the Christian cause 
 among the natives. It is pleasant to find, that 
 the light of hope sometimes fell upon the last 
 days of the venerable evangelist, instead of 
 the sadness which would have darkened them, 
 could he have looked into the future, and seen 
 that those for whom he labored were doomed 
 to vanish before the white man, instead of 
 sharing with him the blessings of civilization 
 and Christianity. 
 
 Among those who have recorded their notice 
 of Mr. Eliot and his doings, should be men- 
 tioned that amusing bookseller and writer, 
 John Dunton, who visited New England in 
 1685. He bears a full testimony to the good 
 effects of the apostle's labors for the Indians. 
 " I have been an eyewitness," he affirms, "of 
 the wonderful success, which the Gospel of 
 peace has had amongst them. Their manners 
 became less barbarous ; they formed themselves 
 
296 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 into more regular societies, and began to live 
 after the English fashion." * 
 
 Increase Mather wrote a letter in 1687 to 
 Leusden, Professor of Hebrew in the Uni- 
 versity of Utrecht, in which he presents a 
 sketch of the progress and condition" of the 
 converted Indians, and of course makes favor- 
 able mention of Mr. Eliot.f But there is little 
 to be gathered from it in addition to what we 
 learn from other sources. With regard to the 
 religious language used by the Indians, the 
 writer makes the following remark ; " Before 
 the English came into these coasts, these bar- 
 barous natives were altogether ignorant of the 
 true God ; hence it is, that in their prayers and 
 sermons they use English words and terms ; he 
 that calls upon the most holy name of God, 
 says Jehovah, or God, or Lord) and also they 
 have learned and borrowed many other theo- 
 logical phrases from us." This was naturally 
 the expedient, which a people would adopt, 
 when the ideas they wished to embody in 
 words, being in some respects new to them, 
 could find no precise expression in their own 
 tongue. With the new religion they would 
 necessarily learn some new words, and inter 
 weave them with their own phraseology. When 
 
 # See Dunton's Life and Errors, Vol. I. pp. 115-122. 
 f See Cotton Mather's Life of Eliot, in the Magnalia, 
 Part III. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 297 
 
 Increase Mather wrote this letter, Mr. Eliot 
 was bowed under the weight of eighty-three 
 years ; yet he still preached to his Indian dis- 
 ciples as often as once in two months. 
 
 An Indian teacher, whose name was Daniel 
 Takawombpait, was ordained at Natick. Mr. 
 Eliot had an agency in his ordination ; but at 
 what time this took place, we do not learn. It 
 must, however, have been before the summer of 
 1687 ; for by the above-mentioned letter of In- 
 crease Mather, of that date, it appears that this 
 man was then in the pastoral office. He died 
 on the 17th of September, 1716, aged sixty- 
 four years. A humble grave-stone marked the 
 spot where he was interred. It is now stand- 
 ing, as one of the lower stones in a wall, which 
 runs across his grave by the road near the 
 meeting-house in South Natick. The Indians 
 of Natick have entirely disappeared in the 
 progress of years. It is unnecessary here to 
 give the history, or to investigate the causes, 
 of their decay,* which is indeed but one item 
 in the general story of the wasting of the abo- 
 riginals. At the present day, one miserable 
 hut, or wigwam, inhabited by three or four of 
 mingled Indian and Negro blood, is the only 
 remnant of a settlement, which its founder 
 
 * On this subject see the statements in the Reverend 
 Stephen Badger's letter in 1 M. H. Coll., V. 33-45. 
 
298 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 hoped would prove a seminary of Christian 
 and social blessings for the natives of our land. 
 
 I have now brought to a close the account of 
 Mr. Eliot's persevering efforts for the civil and 
 religious improvement of the Indians. The 
 story might be enlarged ; but I hope enough 
 has been presented to give a correct concep- 
 tion of the task, on which this good man spent 
 so large a portion of his days and his strength. 
 
 It seems impossible for any candid mind to 
 doubt the purity of the motives, by which Mr. 
 Eliot was excited to engage in this Christian 
 enterprise. If we may trust the evidence of his 
 conduct, and of all testimonies concerning him, 
 he was a man distinguished by singleness of 
 heart, one w T ho listened to the voice of duty as 
 the voice of God. No one could be less likely to 
 make cunning calculations of personal interest 
 in any undertaking ; for he had the guileless 
 simplicity of a child, as well as the firmness 
 of a tried Christian. What inducement, but 
 the hearty love of doing good, could have sent 
 him forth on an errand of mercy, which pre- 
 sented no attractions, except such as the Chris- 
 tian sees in every proposal for advancing the 
 welfare of his fellow-men? 
 
 The design seems to have sprung up amidst 
 the silent workings of his own mind. No voice 
 of invitation or encouragement, at the first, 
 came to him from without. No eloquent appeal 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 299 
 
 to his piety or his compassion was made by 
 others. No one had gone before him in the 
 enterprise, and returned to tell the story of the 
 red man's wants, and to rouse the white man 
 to supply them. He hearkened in silence to 
 the admonition within his breast, which he re- 
 vered " as God's most intimate presence in the 
 soul," and which told him, that a work of be- 
 nevolence must be performed for the neglected 
 and forlorn barbarians. He went forth to per- 
 form it amidst discouragements and obstacles, 
 which were ever driving back his spirit on the 
 resources of faith ; amidst suffering, danger, 
 and personal exposure, which were ever mak- 
 ing large demands on his power of endurance. 
 No trace of spiritual ambition, no mark of 
 self-complacency, no word of vanity appears 
 in the whole course of the labors of more than 
 forty years. He cared not who had the praise, 
 so the work of God were done. There have 
 been achievements more brilliant than his ; 
 there have been enterprises more susceptible 
 of attractive embellishment in the description 
 than his ; but none more unequivocally marked 
 with the spirit of Christian disinterestedness. 
 We cannot hesitate to yield a full assent to the 
 testimony of Gookin, when he affirms, that 
 "Mr. Eliot engaged in this great work of 
 preaching unto the Indians upon a very pure, 
 and sincere account." 
 
300 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Nor can it be denied, that the manner, in 
 which he discharged his difficult duty, was 
 wise and judicious. No fanatical impulse, no 
 irrational expectation, carried him headlong 
 without regard to circumstances. He weighed 
 well the nature of the undertaking. He sought 
 to deal with the savage, as with a benighted 
 brother, who must be taken by the hand like a 
 child, and be led by winning means to feel his 
 want of a better state, till he should rejoice to 
 have the want supplied. No man was ever 
 more devoted to a task, than Mr. Eliot to his ; 
 but it was a devotedness regulated by good 
 sense and by the true spirit of faith. He en- 
 deavored to secure a lodgment for the truths of 
 the Gospel, not by inculcating abstract ideas on 
 the mind of the Indian, nor by leading it darkly 
 along a chain of reasoning, which it could not 
 grasp, but by plain and easy expositions of the 
 facts and teachings of Scripture, and by famil- 
 iar illustrations of elementary truths, borrowed 
 from objects or ideas to which his hearers were 
 accustomed. 
 
 We have seen how much importance he 
 ascribed to the mechanical arts, as well as to 
 schools, in bringing the natives to a better 
 condition, and how desirous he was to make 
 his Indians good farmers and good artisans, as 
 well as good Christians. He understood and 
 practised upon the true doctrine on this sub- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 301 
 
 ject, that judicious modes of civilization and 
 of social improvement must proceed simulta- 
 neously with such simple forms of religious in- 
 struction, as are adapted to the mental condi- 
 tion of the catechumens. There were errors 
 and mistakes in Mr. Eliot's manner of proceed- 
 ing, as there have been in all similar enter- 
 prises ; but, on the whole, there are few, if 
 any, better models of missionary effort, than 
 that which his history presents. It has been 
 said, probably without exaggeration, that Mr. 
 Eliot was the most successful missionary that 
 ever preached the Gospel to the Indians. 
 
 The question has been, and will be again, 
 asked, What after all was the use of this diffi- 
 cult effort, this hard toil ? Was it not a wasted 
 labor ? Were the Indians benefited, or was 
 Christianity planted with an abiding power in 
 their wigwams and villages ? Did not the 
 whole disappear, like the snow-wreath iD the 
 sun ? These questions are sometimes put in a 
 sneering and contemptuous spirit, which be- 
 comes neither the Christian nor the philoso- 
 pher.* If the natives of our forests derived 
 no permanent benefit from the exertions of Mr. 
 Eliot and others, let it be remembered, that 
 these natives vanished from among men, before 
 
 * See the flippant remarks of Douglass ; Summary 
 Historical and Political, Vol. I. p. 172. 
 
 Cc 
 
302 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the experiment could be tried on a large scale, 
 and for many successive years. They dwin- 
 dled away in presence of the ever-restless en- 
 terprise of the New England settlers; and 
 well might they say of " the pale race " around 
 them, 
 
 "They waste us, — ay, like April snow- 
 In the warm noon, we shrink away ; 
 And fast they follow, as we go 
 Towards the setting- day, — 
 Till they shall fill the land, and we 
 Are driven into the western sea." 
 
 I do not say that blame is necessarily to be at- 
 tached to those, by whom they were crowded 
 out ; for, the world over, it is, and has been, 
 generally a law of human progress, that civil- 
 ized man must overtop and displace uncivilized 
 man. But I say, that it ill becomes us, who 
 have taken possession of the broad and fair 
 lands of New England, to ask in derision, 
 what was the use of all the Christian zeal dis- 
 played in behalf of the race that once roamed 
 over our hills and plains, when we recollect 
 that they disappeared, to make room for us, 
 too soon for the great and final results of that 
 zeal to be fairly unfolded. 
 
 But tfie question may be asked, on the other 
 hand, Was there no good done ? It is true, 
 indeed, that both the red man and his Christi- 
 anity, such as it was, vanished ere long from 
 the roll of existing things. But while he re- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 303 
 
 mained, did the religion, which he had re- 
 ceived, do nothing for him ? True, it was a 
 very imperfect and rude exercise of faith ; his 
 conceptions of what he had learned under the 
 name of Christianity were, as we should ex- 
 pect, coarse and narrow. But was even such 
 a form of moral life useless to him ? God has 
 endowed spiritual truth with a power, which, 
 when it has once found its way to the heart, 
 cannot be wholly suppressed or extinguished 
 by any rudeness of apprehension, or any pov- 
 erty of knowledge. 
 
 " Who the line 
 Shall draw, the limits of the power define, 
 That even imperfect faith to man affords? " 
 
 I cannot readily believe, that any portion of 
 spiritual culture is entirely lost. Somewhere 
 and somehow it has worked, and will work, for 
 good. Even in the comparatively faint moral 
 life kindled among the Indian settlements 
 founded by Mr. Eliot, before they were broken 
 by war and discord, there was far more of the 
 substantial good that belongs to man in his 
 true attributes, than among all the tribes, who 
 still roamed in vaunted freedom through the 
 forests, unchained by any restraints of order 
 or religion. 
 
 But even if not one of the Indians had been 
 personally benefited by the labors of the apos- 
 tle Eliot, still those labors, like every great 
 
304 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 benevolent effort, have answered a noble pur- 
 pose. They stand as the imperishable record 
 of good attempted by man for man ; and such 
 a record, who, that values the moral glory of 
 his country, will consider as a trivial portion 
 of her history ? It constitutes a chapter in the 
 annals of benevolence, which every Christian, 
 every friend of man, will contemplate with 
 pleasure, even if his gratification be mingled 
 with the sad reflection, that so much was done 
 for so small results. When the settlers of 
 New England came hither, and built new homes 
 on these shores, they and the natives, the 
 stranger emigrant and the old inhabitant, stood 
 side by side, each a portion of God's great 
 family. Had our fathers never cast one kind 
 regard on these wild men, had they never ap- 
 proached them in any office of kindness or 
 any manifestation of sympathy, had they stood 
 off from them in surly or contemptuous indiffer- 
 ence, except when occasion might serve to 
 circumvent or crush them, a melancholy deduc- 
 tion must have been made from the reverence, 
 with which every son of New England loves to 
 regard their character and doings. 
 
 But it is not so. The voice of Christian af- 
 fection was spoken to the savage. The accents 
 of pious kindness saluted his ear. For him 
 benevolence toiled, and faith prayed, and wis- 
 dom taught ; and the red race did not pass 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 305 
 
 away, carrying with them no remembrance but 
 that of defeat, and wrong, and submission to 
 overpowering strength. The Christianity of 
 the white man formed a beautiful, though tran- 
 sient, bond of interest with them. The light, 
 which Eliot's piety kindled, was indeed des- 
 tined soon to go out. But there his work 
 stands for ever on our records, a work of love, 
 performed in the spirit of love, and designed 
 to effect the highest good which man is capa- 
 ble of receiving. Nonantum and Natick will 
 ever be names of beautiful moral meaning in 
 the history of New England. 
 
 vol. v 20 
 
306 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Studies, Preaching, Charity, and General 
 Habits of Mr. Eliot, during his Ministry at 
 Poxbury. — His Family. 
 
 While Mr. Eliot was thus for a long series 
 of years employed in the work, which has been 
 described, he had also been a faithful and labo- 
 rious servant of Christ in the ministry of his 
 own church. Few men could have carried on 
 two courses of service, one requiring such pe- 
 culiar efforts, and both sufficiently arduous, 
 with so much fidelity and success. His minis- 
 try in Roxbury was of nearly sixty years' du- 
 ration. For about thirty-four years of that 
 time, he had the assistance of colleagues at 
 different periods ; but his own attention to the 
 duties of the sacred office when at home, was 
 always constant and devout. When he began 
 to preach to the Indians, he had no colleague ; 
 and several of the neighboring ministers occa- 
 sionally assisted him by attending to his duties 
 in Roxbury, while he was engaged in a new 
 field of labor. Besides the work of his mission 
 to the natives, his exertions among his own 
 people were such, as to entitle him to the char- 
 acter of a most devoted and able minister. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 307 
 
 The sketch of that part of his life, which 
 was spent in these duties, must necessarily be 
 a description of general habits, rather than a 
 narrative of events. Mr. Eliot uniformly pur- 
 sued his theological studies with untired zeal 
 and with distinguished success. Amidst the 
 active and exciting engagements, in which he 
 was so constantly employed, it is surprising, 
 that he was able to find so much leisure for 
 meditation and learned inquiries. 
 
 The original languages of the Bible he 
 studied with an exact and persevering dili- 
 gence proportioned to his reverence for divine 
 truth. The Hebrew especially he held in high 
 honor. So great was his veneration for this 
 language, that he thought it admirably adapted 
 to supply the desideratum of a Universal Char- 
 acter, the attainment of which was a problem 
 that exercised the ingenuity of Bishop Wilkins 
 and other learned men of those days. In a 
 letter to Richard Baxter, written in 1663, Eliot 
 introduces this subject. He affirms, that no 
 language is so well adapted, as the Hebrew, to 
 answer the purpose of " that long talked of 
 and desired design of a universal character 
 and language." He quotes Jordini Hebreoe Ra- 
 dices, in the Preface to which it is affirmed, that 
 the Hebrew, by " the divine artifice " of its 
 construction, "is capable of a regular expatia- 
 tion into millions of words." Then, growing 
 
308 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 warm in his enthusiasm, Eliot adds, " It had 
 need be so, for being the language which shall 
 be spoken in heaven, where knowledge will be 
 so enlarged, there will need a spacious language ; 
 and what language fitter than this of God's 
 own making and composure ? And why may 
 we not make ready for heaven in this point, by 
 making and fitting that language, according to 
 the rules of the divine artifice of it, to express 
 all imaginable conceptions and notions of the 
 mind of man in all arts and sciences." * He 
 even thinks, that such a glorious result is a 
 subject of prophecy in Zephaniah iii. 9, and 
 other passages of Scripture. f Mr. Eliot's con- 
 fidence, that Hebrew is the language of heaven, 
 furnishes an amusing specimen of the whimsi- 
 cal notions, which a man may seriously adopt 
 in the ardor of a favorite study. It was not, 
 however, peculiar to himself; for the zeal of 
 other Oriental scholars had led them to defend 
 the same conjecture. The design of a Univer- 
 sal Character, on which Mr. Eliot dwelt with 
 so much pleasure, after having exercised the 
 learning and abilities of such men as Wilkins, 
 Dalgarno, Leibnitz, Becher,| and others, may 
 
 * Reliquiae Baxterianae, &c, p. 294. 
 
 f The same strain of remark respecting" the Hebrew oc- 
 curs in Eliot's Communion of Churches, $*e.,ch. in. p. 17. 
 
 | For some remarks on the views of Leibnitz on this sub- 
 ject, see the Eloge de M. Leibnitz par M. de Fontenelle; 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 309 
 
 probably be considered as having passed into 
 the region of philosophical vagaries. 
 
 On the metaphysical questions of theology 
 Mr. Eliot appears to have bestowed some 
 thoughtful attention, if we may judge from oc- 
 casional intimations. A few remarks mani- 
 festing this propensity occur in the before- 
 mentioned letter to Baxter, whose speculations 
 on the freedom of the will he had read with 
 much satisfaction. Having referred to Genesis 
 i. 26, he proceeds to remark, " But what our 
 likeness to God is, is the question. Why may 
 it not admit this explication, that one chief 
 thing is to act, like God, according to our light 
 freely, by choice without compulsion, to be the 
 author of our own act, to determine our own 
 choice. This is spontaneity ; the nature of the 
 will lieth in this." The freedom of the will, 
 he thinks, was not lost by the fall ; only, its 
 energies were wholly turned to evil. But what 
 difference there can be between a constraint 
 upon the spontaneity of the will, and an im- 
 possibility to act except in one direction, that 
 
 (Euvres de Fontenelle, Tome V. p. 493. An account of the 
 plan of Becher, an ingenious man, though a charletan, is 
 given in Adelung's Geschichte der .Menschlichen Narrheit, 
 Vol. I. p. 138. On the subject of a philosopical or universal 
 language, see Duga;ld Stewart, Works, Vol. I. p. i49 ; and 
 Cousin, Cours de VHistoire de la PhiLosophie, Tome IL 
 pp. 311 -315. 
 
310 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 is, towards sin, it would be difficult to dis- 
 cover. < 
 
 In the same letter Eliot manifests an inter- 
 est, which he had exhibited on other occasions, 
 in the progress of medical science. He speaks 
 in terms of high praise of the studies and la- 
 bors of the College of Physicians in London. 
 " By the blessing of God upon them," says he, 
 " they seem to me to design such a regiment 
 of health, and such an exact inspection into all 
 diseases, and knowledge of all medicaments, 
 and prudence of application of the same, that 
 the book of divine Providence seemeth to pro- 
 vide for the lengthening of the life of man 
 again in this latter end of the world, which 
 would be no small advantage unto all kinds of 
 good learning and government. And doth not 
 such a thing seem to be prophesied in Isaiah 
 lxv. 20 ? If the child shall die one hundred 
 years old, of what age shall the old man be 1 
 But I would not be too bold with the Holy 
 Scriptures." This fashion of finding at pleas- 
 ure predictions in the Bible, to suit all occa- 
 sions, w r as common at that time. 
 
 The preaching of Mr. Eliot is described* as 
 
 * On this and on most points relating to the ministry 
 and donestic habits of the Apostle Eliot, Cotton Mather, 
 who was his contemporary, and knew him well, gives us 
 more full and important information than any other writer. 
 In this part of my narrative I rely chiefly on his authority. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 311 
 
 having been of the most skilful and efficient 
 kind. It was distinguished by great simplicity 
 and plainness, " so that," says Mather, " the 
 very lambs might wade into his discourses on 
 those texts and themes, wherein elephants 
 might swim." * His manner was usually gen- 
 tle and winning; but when sin was to be 
 rebuked or corruption combated, his voice 
 swelled into solemn and powerful energy, and 
 the heart of the transgressor shook as at the 
 sound that rolled from Sinai. On such occa- 
 sions, there were " quot verba tot fulmina, as ma- 
 ny thunderbolts as words." 
 
 Carelessness or negligence in the duties of 
 the pulpit he could not tolerate. He always 
 insisted, that sermons should be prepared with 
 great attention, and with much mental effort, 
 at the same time that they were pervaded by 
 the sanctifying spirit of a divine influence. 
 He would say to one, whose preaching was of 
 this character, " Brother, there is oil required 
 for the service of the sanctuary, but it must be 
 
 * This striking, but somewhat quaint illustration was not 
 original with Mather, though perhaps, amidst his multifa- 
 rious reading, he had forgotten whence he received it. 
 " One of the Fathers," says Coleridge, " has observed, that 
 in the New Testament there are shallows where the lamb 
 may ford, and depths where the elephant must swim." — 
 Lay Sermon addressed to the Higher and Middle Classes, 
 fyc, p. 58. 
 
312 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 beaten; I praise God that your oil was so well 
 beaten to-day." 
 
 In the administration of ecclesiastical affairs, 
 Mr. Eliot, like most of the ministers at that 
 time, was an advocate for the rigorous strict- 
 ness of church discipline. The Congregational 
 form, which was the favorite one in New Eng- 
 land, he always loved and defended, as a happy 
 medium between Presbyterianism on the one 
 hand, and Brownism, so called, on the other. 
 
 In children, and in the young generally, Mr. 
 Eliot's interest was strong and hearty. He 
 loved them with a truly paternal kindness ; 
 and the efforts, which he made for their good, 
 were not undertaken in the mechanical or cold 
 spirit of one, who merely does what is expected 
 of him as an official duty. He had a deep con- 
 viction of the importance of placing religious 
 influence strongly and largely among those 
 first elements, which are to be the germs of 
 future character. He was thoroughly persuad- 
 ed that the piety, which takes its root among 
 the pleasant feelings and tender impressions 
 of childhood, is likely to be more enduring, 
 more true to God and the Savior, than that 
 which is laid upon the mind, rather than incor- 
 porated into it, at a subsequent period, when 
 the feeiings have grown hard and dry. 
 
 Mr. Eliot maintained a sympathy with the 
 youthful part of his flock, which could have 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 313 
 
 been the result only of a hearty concern for 
 their best welfare. This man, who stood high 
 among the first divines of his country and 
 age, and whose Christian activity was ever 
 going forth in far-reaching enterprises of piety, 
 had a heart for humbler scenes, and was ever 
 ready, like his Master, to take little children 
 into his arms and bless them. He was earnest 
 in inculcating the duty, and able in defending 
 the practice, of infant baptism. He valued 
 highly the religious instruction given by cate- 
 chizing ; a mode of teaching the young, to 
 which greater relative importance was ascribed 
 then, than will be assigned to it in modern 
 times, when more varied and more interesting 
 means of conveying religious truth to the mind 
 of the child are so generally in use. " The care 
 of the lambs," said Mr. Eliot, " is one third 
 part of the charge over the church of God." * 
 
 It was in the same spirit, that on all occa- 
 sions he pressed the importance of maintaining 
 good schools in the towns and settlements of 
 the colony. It is related, that he made this the 
 subject of fervent and special prayers at the 
 meeting of a synod in Boston. By his active 
 agency, a school of a high character was estab- 
 lished in Roxbury, for the support of which he 
 bequeathed a considerable part of his own 
 
 * This he said in commenting on John xxi. 15. 
 
 Do 
 
314 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 property. This free school was the admiration 
 of the neighboring towns ; and Mather states, 
 as a result of its influence, " that Roxbury has 
 afforded more scholars, first for the college, and 
 then for the public, than any town of its big- 
 ness, or, if I mistake not, of twice its bigness, 
 in all New England." 
 
 There was no point, on which Mr. Eliot was 
 more earnest in his exhortations, or more strict 
 in his example, than the observance of the 
 Sabbath. He might be said, indeed, to devote 
 every day to God, by devoting it to duty. But, 
 on the Lord's day, it was a matter of con- 
 science and of uniform practice with him to 
 consecrate his thoughts by special exercises to 
 spiritual communion and spiritual improve- 
 ment. Probably in the punctilious rigor, with 
 which he regulated his habits in this respect, 
 there was a portion of the superstitious pre- 
 cision that belonged to his times. But who 
 can doubt, that these seasons of exclusive de- 
 votion to the duties of religious abstraction 
 and meditative piety contributed much to arm 
 his soul with strength for the great tasks 
 of such a life as his ? On the subject of the 
 Sabbath he had some discussion by letter 
 with the celebrated John Owen of England, 
 the most eminent divine among the Independ- 
 ents, who, in his answer to Eliot, lamented, 
 as one of the saddest frowns of Providence 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 315 
 
 towards him, that he should have been so mis- 
 understood by the churches and the ministers 
 of New England whom he loved, as to be sus- 
 pected of having given a wound to the cause 
 of holiness. 
 
 Mr. Eliot's intercourse with the people of 
 his charge was a perpetual exhibition of the 
 fidelity of a spiritual friend, and the virtues of 
 a benevolent, heavenly-minded Christian. With 
 all his gravity of character, there was nothing 
 stiff in his deportment, or morose in his dispo- 
 sition. Social freedom and innocent hilarity 
 never fled from his presence. On the contrary, 
 he was distinguished by that facetious affabili- 
 ty, which springs naturally from a contented 
 and cheerful heart. He had a relish for chas- 
 tened wit, and his conversation was sprinkled 
 with its pleasant influence. His leading aim, 
 however, in social intercourse, was to promote 
 edification. No man was more intent upon 
 seizing every occasion for a good hint, or for 
 an apt illustration of moral and religious truth. 
 Scarcely a topic passed him in conversation, 
 without being made to minister to important 
 instruction. He discovered gold where others 
 saw only common stones. 
 
 In the ordinary occurrences of life, and in 
 the usual course of divine Providence, he had 
 the same disposition to find matter for fruitful 
 reflection, which Luther cherished in his study 
 
316 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of the Scriptures ; * so that he was compared 
 in his old age to Homer's Nestor, from whose 
 lips dropped words sweeter than honey. It 
 was the frequent remark of his friends, that 
 " they were never with him, but they got, or 
 might have got, some good from him." He be- 
 lieved a life of duty to be the best preparation 
 for death ; " for," said he, on one occasion, 
 " were I sure to go to heaven to-morrow, I 
 would do what I am doing to-day." The 
 spirituality of his feelings was ever going 
 forth in spontaneous manifestations. It is re- 
 lated, that when he once visited a merchant in 
 his counting-room, seeing books of business on 
 the table, and some books of devotion laid 
 away on a shelf, he said, " Here, Sir, is earth 
 on the table, and heaven on the shelf; pray do 
 not sit so much at the table, as altogether to 
 forget the shelf; let not earth thrust heaven 
 out of your mind." If the merchant regarded 
 the admonition as intrusive and unseasonable, 
 he doubtless respected the pious zeal and 
 apostolical simplicity of the good man. 
 
 In the performance of his duties among his 
 
 * " In the Bible," said Luther, " we have rich and pre- 
 cious comforts, learnings, admonitions, warnings, promises, 
 and threatenings." And he added, in his quaint way, 
 " There is not a tree in this orchard, on which I have not 
 knocked, and have shaken at least a couple of apples or 
 pears from the same." — Table-Talk, Chap. I. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 317 
 
 congregation and elsewhere, he was eminently 
 remarkable for his free and self-forgetting 
 bounty. The pecuniary resources of a New 
 England clergyman, slender enough at any 
 time, were then scanty indeed. But Mr. Eliot, 
 in the unchecked freedom of his liberality, 
 made the most of the little he possessed, in 
 works of benevolence. To the poor he gave 
 with an open hand, till all was gone; and they 
 looked to him as a father and a friend. The 
 amount of his personal charities in this way 
 alone, at different times, was many hundred 
 pounds. He did not wait for suffering to come 
 in his way, but sought it out diligently. As 
 other men would search for hidden treasures, 
 he searched for opportunities of raising the 
 wretched and relieving the miserable. When 
 his own means were exhausted, he applied to 
 those who were blessed with abundance, and 
 begged of them contributions for the children 
 of want. His bounty, to be so profuse, must 
 sometimes doubtless have been indiscriminate 
 and injudicious. With a benevolence too in- 
 cautious, he often distributed his salary for the 
 relief of others, before the wants of his own 
 family were supplied. 
 
 On this subject there is a well-known anec- 
 dote, which, though probably familiar to many 
 readers, is too characteristic to be omitted. 
 When the parish treasurer was once about to 
 
 Dd2 
 
3 18 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 pay him his salary, or a portion of it, knowing 
 his habitual propensity, he put it into a hand- 
 kerchief, which he tied in several hard knots, 
 in order to prevent Mr. Eliot from giving it 
 away before he reached home. After leaving 
 the treasurer, the benevolent man called at the 
 house of a family, who were poor and sick. 
 He blessed them, and told them God had sent 
 relief by him. His kind words brought tears 
 of gratitude to their eyes. He immediately 
 attempted to untie his handkerchief; but the 
 knots had been so effectually made, that he 
 could not get at his money. After several 
 fruitless efforts to loose the handkerchief, 
 growing impatient of the perplexity and delay, 
 he gave the whole to the mother of the family, 
 saying, " Here, my dear, take it ; I believe the 
 Lord designs it all for you." * 
 
 The kindness of Mr. Eliot was manifested 
 in other ways as effectually, at least, as in the 
 bestowment of money. His wife is said to have 
 had some skill in physic and surgery, sufficient 
 to enable her in common cases to administer 
 to the diseased and wounded with considerable 
 success. She was always glad to use her 
 knowledge as an instrument of charity ; and it 
 
 * See 1 M. H. Coll., X. 186, where, I believe, this often- 
 repeated anecdote was originally told. It is given in a 
 letter signed J. M. ; and the writer of the letter received it 
 from his parents, who were natives of Roxbury. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 319 
 
 was with delight that her husband saw her 
 engaged in these labors of kindness. One of 
 his parishioners was deeply offended by some- 
 thing he had said in the pulpit, and reviled 
 him in no measured terms, both by speech and 
 writing. Not long afterwards, this man hap- 
 pened to wound himself in a dangerous man- 
 ner. Eliot immediately despatched his wife to 
 dress his wound and relieve his suffering. She 
 discharged the office with ready kindness, and 
 soon effected a complete cure. When the man 
 had recovered, he went to thank the good lady, 
 and offered her a compensation, which she de- 
 clined. Mr. Eliot urged him to stay at his 
 house, and dine with him. The invitation was 
 accepted ; and Eliot treated him with great 
 kindness, never alluding to the calumnies and 
 the acrimonious speeches, with which his par- 
 ishioner had assailed his character. The man, 
 ashamed of his conduct, was subdued into 
 a friend. Is there a better illustration of the 
 fine precept, " Be not overcome of evil, but 
 overcome evil with good " ? 
 
 Our benevolent apostle was distinguished 
 for his love of peace. " He was a great enemy 
 to all contention," says Mather, " and would 
 ring aloud the curfew-bell wherever he saw the 
 fires of animosity." To one, who complained 
 of the intractable disposition of others, he 
 would say, " Brother, learn the meaning of 
 
320 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 those three little words, bear, forbear, forgive. 1 
 When either peace or his own rights must be 
 given up, he was always willing to sacrifice the 
 latter to the former ; and wherever he ap- 
 peared, his earnest persuasive was, like the 
 affectionate charge so often repeated by the 
 aged Apostle John, " My children, love one 
 another." 
 
 His habits with respect to personal indul- 
 gence were of the most simple and severe 
 kind. He had attained a complete mastery 
 over the pleasures of sense, and held them in 
 despotic subjugation. The lessons of self- 
 denial, which he had thoroughly learned and 
 daily practised, and his indifference to outward 
 accommodations, fitted him to endure with- 
 out complaint the privations, to which he was 
 often exposed in his ministry to the Indians. 
 He allowed himself but little sleep, rising early 
 and beginning his labors in the freshness of 
 morning. This habit he recommended to 
 others, especially to those who were engaged 
 in intellectual pursuits. He would often say 
 to young students, " I pray you, look to it that 
 you be morning birds." 
 
 His food was always the plainest and most 
 simple. Rich viands and highly seasoned va- 
 rieties for the table, it seems, were not un- 
 known in New England even at that time. 
 For these Mr. Eliot had no relish himself, and 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 32 1 
 
 but little mercy for the taste in others. When 
 he dined abroad, he partook of but one dish, 
 and that the plainest on the table. He was 
 habitually a water-drinker, and seldom devi- 
 ated into the use of any other liquor. The 
 juice of the grape he did not denounce, but 
 rarely tasted it himself. " Wine," he was ac- 
 customed to say, " is a noble, generous liquor, 
 and we should be humbly thankful for it ; but, 
 as I remember, water was made before it." 
 He thought very justly that intemperate eating 
 deserved to be severely rebuked, no less than 
 intemperate drinking. In his correspondence 
 with Baxter he remarks, " I observe in yours 
 a thing, which I have not so much observed in 
 other men's writing, namely that you often in- 
 veigh against the sin of gluttony, as well as 
 drunkenness. It appeareth to be a very great 
 point of Christian prudence, temperance, and 
 mortification, to rule the appetite of eating as 
 well as drinking ; and, were that point more 
 inculcated by divines, it would much tend to 
 the sanctification of God's people, as well as 
 to a better preservation of health, and length- 
 ening of the life of man on earth." * 
 
 Extravagance or finery in dress was likely 
 to draw from Mr. Eliot a witty or a serious re- 
 buke. His own apparel was not only without 
 
 * Reliquiae Baxterianse, &c, p. 294. 
 VOL. V. 21 
 
322 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ornament, but frequently of the most homely 
 kind. It is said that, like John the Baptist, 
 he sometimes had a leathern girdle about his 
 loins ; but this, it is likely, was worn only or 
 chiefly during his missionary excursions. In 
 some men, habits like these might justly be 
 supposed to proceed from an affectation of 
 homeliness ; for there is a pride of plainness, 
 as well as a pride of finery. But Mr. Eliot 
 was too guileless a man to be suspected of 
 such folly. His negligence of external appear- 
 ance, and his contempt for the pleasures of the 
 table, were the result of an unaffected love of 
 simplicity, strengthened by a studious life and 
 by intense engagement in absorbing duties. 
 
 Mr. Eliot had a few whims, to which he was 
 pertinaciously attached. One of these was an 
 unsparing hostility to the practice of wearing 
 long hair and wigs. He could not endure it ; 
 he regarded it as an iniquity not to be toler- 
 ated. The man, and especially the minister 
 of the Gospel, who wore a wig, he considered 
 as committing an offence, not only against de- 
 cency, but against religion. His zeal about 
 " prolix locks " was warm, but unavailing. He 
 lived to see the practice prevail in spite of his 
 remonstrances, and at last gave over his war- 
 fare against it with the despairing remark, 
 " The lust has become insuperable ! " The 
 readers of New England history will remem- 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 323 
 
 ber, that in 1G49 an association was formed, 
 and a solemn protest published, against wear- 
 ing long hair, by Governor Endicot and the 
 other magistrates.* 
 
 In this punctiliousness we see the influence 
 of sympathy with the English Roundheads car- 
 ried even into trifles. In England periwigs 
 were permitted quietly to cover the head soon 
 after the restoration of Charles. But for more 
 than thirty years after that time, they were 
 deemed by many a sore grievance in New Eng- 
 land. Gradually during that period they were 
 coming into use ; but they needed all the au- 
 thority derived from the practice of such di- 
 vines as Owen, Bates, and Mede, to find pro- 
 tection at last. The intolerance they experi- 
 enced from Mr. Eliot was not, therefore, a 
 singularity in the good man; he only perse- 
 vered in his stern hostility against them longer 
 than many others. 
 
 To the use of tobacco, the introduction of 
 which had caused no little disturbance in New 
 England, he had likewise a strong aversion, 
 and denounced it in the severest terms. But 
 his opposition in this case was as ineffectual, 
 as in that of the wigs. " In contempt of all 
 his admonitions," says Allen, " the head would 
 be adorned with curls of foreign growth, and 
 the pipe would send up volumes of smoke." 
 
 * Hutchinson, Vol. I. p. 142. 
 
324 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 In his domestic relations this devoted laborer 
 for truth and righteousness was richly blessed, 
 though the providence of God repeatedly called 
 him to that painful trial, the bitterness of which 
 none but a parent's heart can know. He had 
 six children ; one daughter, who was the eldest, 
 and five sons. Only the daughter and one son 
 survived him. The others died young, or in 
 middle age.* 
 
 The frequent and grievous disappointment 
 of parental hopes Mr. Eliot received with the 
 submissive piety of a Christian. " I have had," 
 said he in the calm spirit inspired by his faith, 
 " six children ; and, I bless God for his grace, 
 they are all either with Christ or in Christ, 
 and my mind is at rest concerning them. My 
 desire was that they should have served God 
 on earth ; but if God will choose to have them 
 rather serve him in heaven, I have nothing to 
 object against it, but his will be done." It was 
 his earnest desire to train up his sons to aid 
 and follow him in his favorite work of the In- 
 dian ministry. On this subject his feelings 
 were once much affected by the inquiries which 
 one of the natives made respecting his chil- 
 dren.! 
 
 # See an account of Eliot's children in the Magnalia, 
 Life of Eliot, Preliminary I. The youngest son assisted 
 his father some time in the ministry at Roxbury. 
 
 f "Another Indian," says he, "who lived remote another 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 325 
 
 Mr. Eliot's wife was a woman of many vir- 
 tues, distinguished for gentle piety and busy 
 usefulness, and admirably fitted to be the com- 
 panion of such a man. Their union was very 
 long and very happy. She stood by his side 
 for many years to soothe his sorrows, to en- 
 courage his heart, and to strengthen his hands. 
 It was fortunate for him, that she bestowed a 
 skilful attention on the management of the pru- 
 dential concerns of the family; for so negligent 
 was he of these things, that he did not know 
 his own property. His wife once amused her- 
 self by pointing to several of his cows, that 
 stood before the door, and asking him whose 
 they were. She found that the good man knew 
 nothing about them. 
 
 way, asked me if I had any children. I answered, Yea. 
 He asked how many. I said, Six. He asked how many of 
 them were sons. I told him, Five. Then he asked whether 
 my sons should teach the Indians to know God, as I do. 
 At which question I was much moved in my heart ; for I 
 have often in my prayers dedicated all my sons unto the 
 Lord to serve him in this sendee, if he will please to ac- 
 cept them therein; and my purpose is to do my uttermost 
 to train them up in learning, whereby they may be fitted in 
 the best manner I can to serve the Lord herein ; and better 
 preferment I desire not for them, than to serve the Lord in 
 this travail. And to that purpose I answered him ; and my 
 answer seemed to be well pleasing to them, which seemed 
 to minister to my heart some encouragement that the 
 Lord's meaning was to improve them that way, and he 
 would prepare their hearts to accept the same." — Eliot's 
 letter in Further Discovery, ^"c. p. 20. See Appendix. 
 No. IV. 
 
 F F 
 
326 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Her excellent domestic economy, her un- 
 wearied activity, and her truly Christian char- 
 acter made her a blessing to her family, to 
 the church, and to the whole circle of her ac- 
 quaintances. She died, three years before her 
 husband, on the 24th of March, 1687, in the 
 eighty-fourth year of her age. The Reverend 
 Mr. Danforth of Dorchester offered to her mem- 
 ory the tribute of a poetical effusion.* Her 
 death smote heavily on the heart of her vener- 
 able husband. The weight of eighty-three 
 years was pressing him down ; and she, who 
 was bound to him by the strong ties of early 
 love, who had been his solace amidst toil and 
 trial, and who was truly called " the staff of 
 his age," had fallen by his side. 
 
 When the aged are thus separated, there is 
 for the survivor a dreary loneliness, which 
 none but the aged can feel. The smile, which 
 had made the fireside cheerful for many years, 
 the busy kindness in the little details of every 
 day which grows more important as years steal 
 on, the quiet happiness arising from a perfect 
 acquaintance with each other's tastes and an 
 entire confidence in each other's hearts, the 
 pleasure of mutual dependence which habit has 
 
 # A poem " On the death of Mrs. Anne Eliot, the virtu- 
 ous Consort of the Reverend John Eliot, first Minister of 
 Roxbury." See 1 M. H. Coll., IX. 176. Mr. Danforth also 
 wrote " verses to the memory " of Mr. Eliot. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 327 
 
 made a daily want ; these are gone, and the 
 world offers nothing that can fill their place. 
 One, who was present at the funeral, tells us 
 that Mr. Eliot stood beside the coffin of her 
 whom he had so long loved, and, while the 
 tears flowed fast and full, said to the con- 
 course of people around, " Here lies my dear, 
 faithful, pious, prudent, prayerful wife ; I shall 
 go to her, but she shall not return to me." 
 He turned away from her grave, and went to 
 his house-; but it was desolate, for the light of 
 his home was gone. 
 
328 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Eliot's Old Age and Death. — Concluding 
 Remarks, 
 
 The closing scene of this excellent man's 
 life was now drawing nigh. Time had been 
 gradually doing its work upon him; the earthly 
 tabernacle was near to dissolution; " the time- 
 shadow " of this noble spirit was about to van- 
 ish. Mr. Eliot's rigid temperance, and the 
 hard exercise to which his various duties had 
 called him, had strengthened a constitution 
 naturally firm, and given him almost uniform 
 good health. He was one of those who wear 
 well. His last days were not days of pain and 
 disease, though the infirmities of long-pro- 
 tracted life gathered around him. The old 
 age of the apostle Eliot was indeed an envia- 
 ble one; calm, bright, and full of sustaining 
 recollections. His task was done, and well 
 done. " His witness was in heaven, and his 
 record on high." Years had struck feebleness 
 into his limbs ; but his soul was strong; his 
 spirit was ripe for the communion of the 
 blessed ; and the eye of faith ever looked up- 
 ward. He had stood, during a long life, at the 
 post of duty with sleepless vigilance ; success 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 329 
 
 had never seduced him into sluggishness ; dis- 
 appointment had never driven him into despair. 
 Not to one like him could be applied, in any 
 sense, the lamentation over the close of an idle, 
 useless life, so beautifully expressed by Sadi, 
 the philosophical poet of Persia ; 
 
 " Alas ! for him who has gone and has done no good work ; 
 The trumpet of march has sounded, aid his load was not 
 bound on." * 
 
 With a fidelity that never broke down, with 
 an affection that was never wearied out, Eliot 
 had gone forth among the wild men of the 
 woods, year after year, in sunshine and in 
 storm, under the burning rays of summer and 
 in winter's sharpest cold, to proclaim to them 
 "the unsearchable riches of Christ." He had 
 been the first to break the ground, on which 
 " the seed which is the word of God " was to 
 be sown ; and, in the devout confidence of faith, 
 he believed the harvest would come. He had 
 dealt kindly, truly, and earnestly with the bar- 
 barians ; and they had listened to him, loved 
 him, and in their homely way testified their 
 gratitude, and received his instructions. He 
 had left among them that noble gift, the fruit 
 of many years' hard toil, the Bible in their own 
 native words ; and there it would remain, the 
 silent but quickening teacher of God's truth, 
 
 * Malcolm's History of Persia, Vol. II. p. 538. 
 
 Ff2 
 
330 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 reminding them of him whose heart had felt, 
 and whose hand had labored, for them, when 
 that heart and that hand should be dust. He 
 had laid open a whole new field, on which di- 
 vine truth might work out its triumphs, and 
 send forth its blessings. 
 
 Besides this, he had done the duty of a faith- 
 ful minister at home ; he had been the counsel- 
 lor, the friend, the comforter of all ; living 
 words of instruction, of peace, of encourage- 
 ment, of warning, had gone forth from his lips, 
 and reached and quickened many souls. To 
 the church in general he had, with ability and 
 fidelity, rendered highly valued services by his 
 writings and his personal influence ; and he 
 had stood among the guiding spirits of the 
 country. When the feebleness of more than 
 fourscore years had disabled him for active ex- 
 ertion, and his frame was bowed, and his steps 
 slow, he was still beloved and revered ; he 
 was amidst a people who looked to him as to 
 one already speaking to them from another 
 world ; they called him their father, and loved 
 him as such ; and their children hung around 
 him " to share the good man's smile." Was it 
 not a happy old age, the old age of the Christian 
 scholar, the faithful missionary, the time-worn 
 servant of God ? How different from that old 
 age, barren of cheering recollections or full 
 of remorse, which may well be dreaded, and 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 331 
 
 which, it has been finely said, appears like the 
 magical beings fearfully portrayed in Oriental 
 fiction, who sit in clouds of darkness at the 
 end of man's course, fixing upon their victims, 
 as they approach, those keen, never-moving 
 eyes, which by an indescribable but terrific 
 power draw them towards their destiny in 
 spite of all their efforts ! 
 
 Mr. Eliot continued to preach as long as his 
 strength lasted. His trembling voice was still 
 heard, and his apostolic form seen, in the pul- 
 pit which had so long been his beloved place 
 of duty. With slow and feeble steps he as- 
 cended the hill, on which his church was situ- 
 ated, and once observed to the person, on 
 whose arm he leaned for support, " This is very 
 much like the way to heaven ; 't is up hill ; the 
 Lord by his grace fetch us up." At length his 
 physical powers failed so much, that he was 
 peculiarly reminded of his need of an assistant. 
 Since 1674 he had been without a colleague. 
 He now requested his people to provide them- 
 selves with another minister, that, before he 
 should die, he might have the satisfaction 
 of seeing his successor established in office. 
 When he made this request, he added, with 
 his characteristic liberality, " J Tis possible, you 
 may think the burden of maintaining two minis- 
 ters too heavy for you ; but I deliver you from 
 that fear ; I do here give back my salary to the 
 
332 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; and now, brethren, you 
 may fix that upon any man whom God shall 
 make a pastor for you." His church were 
 much affected by the old man's generous pro- 
 posal. With a noble spirit, worthy of imita- 
 tion, but not always imitated, they assured him, 
 that, though he was disabled from rendering 
 them the services they had so long received, 
 yet they should account his beloved presence 
 among them worth a salary. 
 
 On the 17th of October, 1688, the Reverend 
 Nehemiah Walter was ordained as his col- 
 league. Mr. Eliot received him with the kind- 
 ness of a father, and was delighted to witness 
 his usefulness, and the favor he found among 
 the people of his charge. After this it was 
 with difficulty that he could be persuaded to 
 engage in any public service. The last time 
 this venerable man preached was on the day of 
 a public fast. He delivered a clear and edify- 
 ing exposition of the eighty-third Psalm. At 
 the close he begged his hearers to pardon his 
 poor and broken thoughts, and added, " But 
 my dear brother here will by and by mend 
 it all." 
 
 This aged servant of Christ sat waiting, as 
 it were, in the antechamber of death, quiet 
 and full of hope. He used sometimes pleas- 
 antly to say, that he was afraid some of his old 
 Christian friends, who had departed before him^ 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 333 
 
 especially John Cotton of Boston and Richard 
 Mather of Dorchester, would suspect him to 
 have gone the wrong way, because he remained 
 so long behind them. His full share of work 
 seemed to have been done; but even now he 
 could not consent to be idle. He looked 
 around for some labor of benevolence and 
 piety, such as the remnant of his powers might 
 allow him to perform. The care of the igno- 
 rant and the neglected was still the ruling pas- 
 sion of his heart. He saw with grief the great 
 want of concern for the moral welfare of the 
 blacks. He proposed to many of the families 
 within two or three miles of his house, that 
 they should send their negro servants to him 
 once a week, to be instructed in religion. In 
 this humble, but truly benevolent work, he re- 
 joiced to occupy some of his last hours ; but 
 death intervened before much could be ac- 
 complished. 
 
 Another labor of charity, which he under- 
 took when he could no longer go out of doors, 
 was the instruction of a boy, who in infancy 
 had lost his sight by falling into the fire. To 
 this blind boy the venerable man devoted much 
 time and attention. He took him to his own 
 house ; and by the tedious process of verbal 
 repetition made him acquainted with many por- 
 tions of Scripture, so that the youth learned to 
 repeat whole chapters, and would instantly 
 
334 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 correct any mistake which he heard a person 
 commit in reading. Mr. Eliot instructed him 
 patiently in religion and other subjects ; and 
 the blind child heard the voice of love and 
 truth from the aged man, till that voice was 
 hushed in death. 
 
 Amidst the infirmities of his last days, Mr. 
 Eliot never lost his interest in the welfare of 
 New England. His heart was still upon the 
 good of the church and the colony. He ob- 
 served with distressing apprehensions the pro- 
 ceedings of the notorious Edward Randolph ; 
 and, when Increase Mather was about to depart 
 for England as agent of the province, Eliot 
 with a trembling hand wrote to him a few im- 
 perfect lines. This is supposed to have been 
 the last time that he used his pen. 
 
 While death was fast approaching, his men- 
 tal powers, though dimmed and broken, were 
 still retained. He rejoiced in the thought, that 
 he should soon carry to his friends in heaven 
 good news of the prosperity of the New Eng- 
 land churches. When some one inquired how 
 he was, he replied, " Alas ! I have lost every 
 thing; my understanding leaves me ; my mem- 
 ory fails me ; my utterance fails me j but, I 
 thank God, my charity holds out still ; I find 
 that rather grows than fails." One of his last 
 remembrances lingered sadly among those, to 
 whom he had given so much of his strength 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 335 
 
 and life. " There is a cloud," he said, " a 
 dark cloud upon the work of the Gospel among 
 the poor Indians. The Lord revive and pros- 
 per that work, and grant it may live when I am 
 dead. It is a work, which I have been doing 
 much and long about. But what was the word 
 I spoke last ? I recall that expression my do- 
 ings. Alas, they have been poor and small do- 
 ings, and I '11 be the man that shall throw the 
 first stone at them all." When, a short time 
 before his death, Mr. Walter came into his 
 room, he said, "Brother, you are welcome to 
 my very soul ; but retire to your study, and 
 pray that I may have leave to be gone." Mr. 
 Eliot died on the 20th of May, 1690, aged 
 eighty-six years. The last words on his lips 
 were " welcome joy ! " 
 
 Such was the life and such the end of John 
 Eliot. New England bewailed his death, as a 
 great and general calamity. The churches, 
 whose growth and prosperity had always been 
 among the things which lay nearest to his heart, 
 felt that they had lost a spiritual father, whose 
 venerable presence had been to them a defence 
 and glory. So deep was the sentiment of rev- 
 erence for his character, that Mather observes, 
 " We had a tradition among us, that the coun- 
 try could never perish as long as Eliot was 
 alive." One, who for a long series of years 
 had filled so large a space with eminent use- 
 
336 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 fulness, on whom the confidence of the best 
 men in church and state had reposed without 
 wavering, and over whose name, age and great 
 services had shed a saintly consecration, could 
 not depart from those, with and for whom he 
 had acted, without leaving a community in 
 mourning. The Indian church at Natick wept 
 the loss of their venerated instructer, as rough 
 men in simplicity of heart would weep for one, 
 who had loved them, who had prayed for them, 
 and guided them to the things of their ever- 
 lasting peace.* 
 
 A voice came across the waters, responding 
 to the voice of New England. When Richard 
 Baxter lay, as he supposed, dying in his bed, 
 he received a copy of Cotton Mather's Life of 
 Eliot.f He was able to read the book, and it 
 revived him. He wrote a short letter to In- 
 crease Mather, then in London, dated August 
 3d, 1691, in which he said, "I knew much of 
 Mr. Eliot's opinions by many letters I had 
 from him. There was no man on earth, whom 
 I honored above him. I am now dying, I hope, 
 as he did." Baxter, whose hearty integrity of 
 principle raised him above the weakness of 
 flattery, and gave peculiar value to his com- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. V. 
 
 f This was first published in a small book separately, 
 and afterwards incorporated into the Magnalia. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 337 
 
 mendation, had expressed, in a letter written 
 nearly twenty years before this time, his opin- 
 ion of Mr. Eliot's labors ; " There is no man 
 on earth," said he, " whose work I think more 
 honorable and comfortable, than yours. The 
 industry of the Jesuits and friars, and their 
 successes in Congo, Japan, China, &c, shame 
 us all, save you." Of a man to whom such tes- 
 timony was borne by the records of his own 
 life, and by the attestations of the wise and 
 good who knew him well, it may be said with 
 simple truth, in the lines of one whose poetry 
 has graced the literature of the age, as well as 
 of his own country, 
 
 " His youth was innocent ; his riper age, 
 
 Marked with some act of goodness, every day ; 
 And watched by eyes that loved him, calm and sage, 
 
 Faded his late declining years away. 
 Cheerful he gave his being up, and went 
 To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent" 
 
 Of Eliot's personal appearance we have no 
 information ; nor is there, so far as I can learn, 
 a portrait or effigies of him in existence. 
 
 In the course of this narrative all the writ- 
 ings of Mr. Eliot, which have come to my 
 knowledge, have been described or mentioned. 
 Some of these I have not seen, and presume 
 they are not to be found in any public or pri- 
 vate library among us. When we consider his 
 high character as a preacher, it is remarkable 
 
 vol. v. 22 Gg 
 
338 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 that he published no sermons.* Those of his 
 compositions, which are in our hands, prove 
 that he wrote with great simplicity and direct- 
 ness, with a heart full of his subject, and in- 
 tent on reaching the hearts of others. It is 
 evident that he had not studied much what is 
 commonly called the art of writing well; yet 
 he wrote well. His style is sometimes rugged 
 and ungraceful, but frequently strong, nervous, 
 peculiarly expressive, and always like the 
 speech of a man who earnestly believes what he 
 has to say, and therefore says it in a straight- 
 forward manner. Some of his best writing is 
 found in his letters concerning the affairs of 
 the Indians. In these his heart gushes forth in 
 a mixture of warm zeal and gentle feeling, 
 which sometimes has a beautiful effect. His 
 general character as a writer, and probably as 
 a preacher, so far as thought and style are con- 
 cerned, may be fitly described in the language 
 of Milton, who says, " True eloquence I find to 
 be none but the serious and hearty love of 
 truth, and that whose mind soever is fully pos- 
 sessed with a fervent desire to know good 
 things, and with the dearest charity to infuse 
 
 * Mather gives us what I suppose to have been a part of 
 one of Eliot's sermons on the passage, " Our conversation 
 is in heaven," which he wrote down from the lips of the 
 speaker. It presents a pleasing specimen of his style of 
 preaching. — Life of Eliot, Part I. Article 1. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 339 
 
 the knowledge of them into others, when such 
 a man would speak, his words, by what I can 
 express, like so many nimble and airy servi- 
 tors, trip about him at command, and in well- 
 ordered files, as he would wish, fall aptly into 
 their own places." * 
 
 It is difficult now to ascertain what were 
 Mr. Eliot's peculiar faults. He has been re- 
 proached, we are told, both with the want of 
 constancy in his opinions and conduct, and 
 with pertinacious obstinacy in maintaining his 
 peculiar notions. These two characteristics, 
 though not positively irreconcilable, could 
 scarcely have existed together in a mind like 
 his. From what we learn of his life, it is diffi- 
 cult to perceive the justice of the accusation. 
 A man is not necessarily versatile or fickle be- 
 cause on one occasion he retracts an opinion, nor 
 stubborn because on another he is not to be 
 moved from strict adherence to his own views. 
 His conduct, in the first instance, may be can- 
 dor ; in the other, it may be the firmness of 
 principle. 
 
 Cotton Mather, pursuing a fancy of which 
 he was very fond, tells us, that the anagram of 
 Eliot's name was Toile. This conceit has at 
 least the merit of expressing truly one of the 
 most prominent traits in the character of the 
 
 * Apology for Smectymnuus, Section XII. 
 
340 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Apostle to the Indians. His life may be re- 
 corded among the most eminent examples of 
 industry, which the world has furnished. How 
 few, even of those who might be deemed dili- 
 gent men, that would not have shrunk from the 
 tasks, which he cheerfully undertook, and reso- 
 lutely accomplished ! He had none of that dis- 
 trust or timidity, which springs from indolence. 
 Acting on the conviction, that, for the most 
 part, it is idleness alone which creates impos- 
 sibilities, he felt, that hard work, performed in 
 the spirit of faith and crowned with the bles- 
 sing of God, will remove mountains. He 
 seemed to consider incessant and strenuous 
 labor as his inheritance ; he loved it, and gave 
 himself to it with unsparing perseverance. By 
 day and by night, at home and abroad, in soli- 
 tude and in society, he was ever at work, ever 
 busy for truth, for his fellow-men, and for God. 
 His course of moral service was marked by 
 those excellences, which Cicero in his warm 
 panegyric on Pompey ascribes to the comman- 
 der in military service ; * and if ever there was 
 a man, who might justly be said to have died 
 " rich in good works," that man was John 
 Eliot. 
 
 Fervent piety and devotedness to duty were 
 
 * " Labor in negotio, fortitudo in periculis, industria in 
 agendo, celeritas in conficiendo, consilium in providendo." 
 — Oratio pro Lege Manilid, XI. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 341 
 
 the vital elements of Mr. Eliot's inward life. 
 His heart was given, as a holocaust, to the Fa- 
 ther of his spirit ; and because he loved God, 
 he loved and labored for man till the last hour, 
 till the grasp of death was on him. It would 
 not be easy to find on the records of human 
 virtue one, who more habitually felt, that in re- 
 ceiving the gift of life he had received a great 
 mission to do good. All his duties belonged, 
 in his estimate, to the family of religion ; and 
 his services to man were after the measure of 
 his piety to God. That intrigue between truth 
 and error, which so often constitutes the so- 
 phistical disguise of wrong, his simplicity of 
 heart sternly discarded. 
 
 His remarkable humility may be considered 
 as the consequence of the sense of God's pres- 
 ence by w T hich his mind was overshadowed, 
 and of the industrious consecration to labors 
 of usefulness which made up the history of his 
 days. He thought not of himself, because he 
 was intent on his work. In one, who became 
 a leader in a new moral movement, who was 
 the first Protestant* that diffused Christianity 
 
 * So it is stated in 1 M. H. Coll., VIII. 11. The com- 
 mencement of Mayhew's labors for the Indians is by some 
 placed a year earlier than that of Eliot's. But from May- 
 hew's own account (3 M. H. Coll., IV. 109-118) it ap- 
 pears, that he did not preach to the Indians till 1646, the 
 same year in which Eliot began his course. Before that 
 
 G g2 
 
342 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 among the wild tribes of America, and who 
 effected more than any other man in the Indian 
 mission, we might be disposed to pardon some 
 degree of egotism. But we have nothing of 
 this sort to excuse in Mr. Eliot. I know not 
 that in any of his writings, or in any account 
 of his conversation, there can be found a soli- 
 tary expression, that looks like self-seeking, or 
 a sense of personal importance. His forget- 
 fulness of self, while others were looking on 
 him with admiration, reminds us of the quaint 
 and significant remark of a Scotch divine, when 
 commenting on the circumstance, that Moses's 
 face shone as he came down from the mount ; 
 "It was a braw thing," he said, "for a man's 
 face to shine, and him not to ken it." It was 
 in accordance with the same disposition, that, 
 though ardent in his efforts, Mr. Eliot was 
 not enthusiastic in his statements of success. 
 His character presented the unusual combina- 
 tion of warm zeal in labor with habitual fair- 
 ness in estimating its results. 
 
 Never, perhaps, was there a missionary, 
 whose reports contained less that could be 
 
 time, Hiacoomes had by intercourse with the English be- 
 come a convert to their religion ; but there had been no 
 systematic exertions on the part of Mayhew. Eliot and 
 Mayhew may, therefore, be considered as having com- 
 menced the work of preaching to the natives about simul- 
 taneously. 
 
JOHN ELIOT. 343 
 
 called sanguine or fanciful. And whatever 
 success he supposed to be achieved, he as- 
 cribed to Him, on the strength of whose sup- 
 port he felt his dependence. He would have 
 no honor given to the instrument, but all to that 
 Being, faith in whom was his soul's central 
 principle. His gifts, his attainments, his life, 
 he consecrated to the cause of holiness and to 
 the work of duty. " I think," said Shepard, 
 who knew him well, " that we can never love 
 nor honor this man of God enough." The name 
 of the Apostle to the Indians must always 
 stand in distinguished brightness on that roll 
 of the servants of the Most High, whom New 
 England delights, and ever will delight, to 
 honor in the records of her moral history. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. p. 
 
 Account of rare and valuable Tracts, in which 
 are described the labors of the apostle eliot 
 in teaching Christianity to the Indians. 
 
 There are several old and very valuable tracts relating 
 to the Indians, and especially to the attempts made by 
 our ancestors to convert them to Christianity. These have 
 come down to us from the earliest periods of New England 
 history, and were written by men who lived in the midst 
 of the best opportunities for personal observation or knowl- 
 edge. As they are comparatively but little known among 
 us, and may be regarded as the original and best authori- 
 ties on these subjects, I have thought that the following 
 list of them might not be unacceptable to the curious 
 reader. 
 
 1. " Good Newes from JVeio England ; or, A True 
 Relation of Things very remarkable at the Plantation of 
 Plimouth in New England ; fyc. Written hy E. W. 
 [Edward Winslow], who hath home a Part in the fore- 
 named Troubles, and there lived since their frst Arrival ; fyc. 
 London. 1624." — This was reprinted among the Collec- 
 tions of the Massachusetts Historical Society (1st Series, 
 VIII. 239 - 276, and 2d Series, IX. 74 - 104) ; but in a 
 disjointed manner, as the whole original work was not to 
 be found till it was furnished by the Ebeling Library, and 
 the first republication was from the abridgment in Pur- 
 chas's Pilgrims. 
 
346 APPENDIX. 
 
 2. "Neio England's First Fruits; in Respect, 1. of 
 the Conversion of some, Conviction of divers, Preparation 
 of sundry of the Indians. 2. Of the Progresse of Learning 
 in the College at Cambridge in Massachusetts Bay, fyc. 
 London. 1643." — This tract is anonymous, and I am not 
 aware that the name of the writer can be ascertained. 
 A part of it (that which relates to the College) is reprinted 
 in 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., I. 242-250. 
 
 3. " The Day- Breaking, if not the Sun- Rising of the 
 Gospel ivith the Indians in New England, fyc. London. 
 1647." — In this account we have the original narrative 
 of the first visits to Nonantum. It was printed without 
 the writer's name. In the reprint which appears in the 
 Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc. (3d Series, IV.), it is, 
 in a note to the Advertisement to the Reader, ascribed to 
 Mr. Eliot. But this is unquestionably a mistake. There 
 are several circumstances in the narrative, which furnish 
 strong presumptive evidence, that he could not have been 
 the author of " The Day-Breaking, fyc." But the follow- 
 ing sentence, which occurs towards the close of the tract, 
 seems decisive of the question. "He that God hath raised 
 up and enabled to preach unto them, is a man (you know) 
 of a most sweet, humble, loving, gracious, and enlarged 
 spirit, whom God hath blest, and surely will still delight 
 in, and do good by." Now the person here spoken of 
 could have been no other than Eliot ; and he, of course, 
 did not Avrite this concerning himself. Nor do I find, upon 
 inquiry, any authority for the note, which assigns this tract 
 to him. In the valuable account of Eliot, which the Rever- 
 end Mr. Young of Boston affixed to his " Sermon at the 
 Ordination of the Reverend Mr. Thompson in Natick," he 
 ascribes " The Day-Breaking, fyc," to the Reverend John 
 Wilson of Boston. I am disposed to believe this statement 
 to be correct, especially as it is confirmed, I am told, by the 
 authority of the late Mr. Baldwin, librarian of the Ameri- 
 can Antiquarian Society, well-known for his accuracy in 
 matters of this kind. Wilson was a friend of Mr. Eliot, 
 
APPENDIX. 347 
 
 and very likely, from the interest he felt in his Indian 
 labors, to have written the account in question. It seems 
 singular, that Eliot's name is not once mentioned in the 
 whole narrative. He is spoken of as "one of the company" 
 who preached. It is not improbable that, with his char- 
 acteristic modesty, he requested the writer not to mention 
 his name. 
 
 4. " The Chare Sunshine of the Gospel breaking forth 
 upon the Indians in New England ; or, An Historicall 
 Narration of God's iconderfull Workings, $'C By Mr. 
 Thomas Shepard, Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ at 
 Cambridge in Xew England. London. 1648." — This 
 tract is preceded by a Dedication to the Parliament, and 
 an Epistle to the Reader, each signed by Stephen Mar- 
 shall and eleven other of the distinguished divines of that 
 period in England. Besides Shepard's own narrative, it 
 contains a letter from Mr. Eliot to him, giving an account 
 of his work among the Indians up to that time. 
 
 5. "The Glorious Progress of the Gospel amongst the 
 Indians in JVetc England, S,-c. Published by Edward Win- 
 slow. London. 1649." — This is dedicated to the Par- 
 liament by Winslow. It commences with some introduc- 
 tory remarks from the same hand ; and the rest of the 
 book consists of four letters, one from Mayhew and three 
 from Eliot, and an Appendix by "J. D." These initials are 
 supposed by Mr. Rich in his Catalogue (Part I. p. 70) to 
 designate John Dury, the famous pacificator of the Chris- 
 tian sects. They may, however, be the initials of John 
 Downam, one of the divines who took an interest in the 
 Indian cause. 
 
 6. " The Light appearing more and more towards the 
 perfect Day ; or, A further Discovery of the present State 
 of the Indiaris in .Xew England, fyc. Published by Henry 
 Whitfeld. London. 1651." — Mr. Whitfeld (or, as it is 
 sometimes written, Whitfield) was the first minister of 
 
348 APPENDIX. 
 
 Guilford in Connecticut. He returned to England in 1650, 
 and there published this book. It is dedicated by him to 
 the Parliament, and contains one letter from Mayhew, and 
 five letters from Mr. Eliot. 
 
 7. " Strength out of Weakness ; or, a Glorious Mani- 
 festation of the further Progresse of the Gospel amongst 
 the Indians in New England, fyc. London. 1652." — The 
 first tract published by " The Corporation for promoting 
 the Gospel among the Heathen in New England." It is 
 dedicated to the Parliament by William Steele in the 
 name of the Corporation, and has an "Address to the 
 Reader" by a number of distinguished divines. It contains 
 two letters from Mr. Eliot, one from the Reverend John 
 Wilson, and one from Governor Endicot, each giving an 
 account of the Natick settlement, and letters from Lever- 
 idge, Mayhew, and others. 
 
 8. " Tears of Repentance ; or, A further Narrative of 
 the Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New 
 England ; fyc. Related by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Mayhew, tivo 
 faithful Laborers in that Work of the Lord. London. 
 1653." — A large tract published by the Corporation. A 
 considerable effort was made to render it the means of 
 attracting attention to the cause of religion among the 
 Indians. It is preceded by an address to Cromwell from 
 William Steele, president of the Corporation ; by a letter 
 to the Corporation from Mayhew, setting in a favorable 
 light the nature and progress of the work at Martha's 
 Vineyard ; by an address to Cromwell from Eliot, and 
 another to the reader from the same hand ; and by remarks 
 " to the Christian reader " from Richard Mather of Dor- 
 chester. It begins with Mr. Eliot's " Brief Relation of the 
 Proceedings of the Lord's Work among the Indians in refer- 
 ence unto their Church- Estate." Then follow, in somewhat 
 minute detail, the Confessions of the Christian natives 
 preparatory to their ecclesiastical organization. 
 
a p p e x d r x . 3 49 
 
 9. " A Late and Further Manifestation of the Progress 
 
 of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England, 
 Declaring their constant Love and Zeal to ike Truth, %-c. 
 Being a Narrative of the Examinations of the Indians 
 about their Knowledge in Religion, by the Elders of the 
 Churches. Related by Mr. John Eliot. London. 1655. 5; — 
 Published by the Corpoidtion. There is an address to the 
 reader by Joseph Caryl, a divine known by his elaborate 
 commentary on Job. The tract consists of two parts ; 
 namely, "A Brief Narration of the Indians' Proceedings 
 in respect of Church-Estate, and how the Case standeth 
 at the present with us " ; and " The Examination of the 
 Indians at Roxbury, the 13th Day of the 4th Month, 1654." 
 
 10. " Of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New Eng- 
 land ; being a Relation of the Confessions made by several 
 Indians, in order to their Admission into Church Fellowship. 
 Sent over to the Corporation, fyc. By Mr. John Eliot, one 
 of the Laborers amongst them. London. 1659." — This 
 tract I have never seen. My only knowledge of it is 
 derived from Mr. Rich's Catalogue, (Part I. p. 86.) Judg- 
 ing- from its title, it may perhaps be another edition, or a 
 repetition in another form, of what Eliot had before written 
 on the same subject. 
 
 11. " A Briefe Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel 
 among the Indians in New England in the Year 1670. 
 Given in by the Rev. Mr. John Eliot, Minister of the Gos- 
 pel there, in a Letter by him directed to the Right Worship- 
 ful the Commissioners under his Majesty's Great Seal, for 
 the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the poor blind Na- 
 tives in those United Colonies. London. 1671." — A small 
 tract of eleven pages, which I have not been able to find. 
 Its title is contained in Mr. Rich's Catalogue, (Part I. 
 p. 96.) It was probably the first publication of the Cor- 
 poration, after their charter was confirmed or renewed by 
 Charles the Second. I presume it to be the same account, 
 
 Hh 
 
350 APPENDIX. 
 
 of which Hutchinson makes so much use in his note con 
 cerning the Praying Indians, Vol. I. p. 156. 
 
 Seven of the above tracts, namely, those from the third 
 to the ninth inclusive, have been republished together in 
 the fourth volume of the third series of the Collections of 
 the Massachusetts Historical Society. The original copies 
 were kindly furnished by the American Antiquarian So 
 ciety, whose valuable library contains them bound in onf 
 volume. Neal used several of these narratives in com 
 posing his History of New England. From him and frort 
 the London Missionary Register, I believe, our writers 
 had taken all that they knew of them, till the abovemen- 
 tioned reprint appeared. These very important tracts had 
 become exceedingly scarce ; and the Massachusetts His- 
 torical Society, by making them accessible to the public 
 have added another to their many good services in the 
 cause of American antiquities. Several of the originals 
 are now in the library of Harvard College. 
 
 It may here be added, that Mr. Eliot published, in a 
 small pamphlet of twelve pages, the " Dying Speeches and 
 Counsels of such Indians as dyed in the Lord." It is with- 
 out date, and contains the acknowledgments, testimonies, 
 and advice, which were uttered by some of the Christian 
 natives, when they were about to leave the world. 
 
 No. II. p. 194. 
 
 The sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians was for- 
 bidden in Massachusetts, but the prohibition was evaded. 
 " Though all strong drink," says Gookin, " is strictly pro- 
 hibited to be sold to any Indian in the Massachusetts 
 colony, upon the penalty of forty shillings a pint, yet some 
 ill-disposed people, for filthy lucre's sake, do sell unto the 
 Indians secretly, though the Indians will rarely discover 
 the«e evil merchants : they do rather suffer whipping or 
 
APPENDIX. 351 
 
 fine than tell." The same writer adds, — "This beastly 
 sin of drunkenness could not be charged upon the Indians 
 before the English and other Christian nations, as Dutch, 
 French, and Spaniards, came to dwell in America ; which 
 nations, especially the English in New England, have 
 cause to be greatly humbled before God, that they have 
 been, and are, instrumental to cause these Indians to 
 commit this great evil and beastly sin of drunkenness." 
 (1 M. H. Coll., Vol. I. p. 151.) The testimony of Gookin 
 on this point is confirmed by Heckewelder, who says, — 
 "The Mexicans have their Pulque and other indigenous 
 beverages of an inebriating nature ; but the North Ameri- 
 can Indians, before their intercourse with us commenced, 
 had absolutely nothing of the kind." (Historical Account, 
 &c, ch. 36.) 
 
 Mr. Eliot's attention was early turned to this subject, as 
 appears by the following petition presented by him to the 
 Court, October '-23d, 1648, a copy of which has been kindly 
 furnished to me, from the Colony Records, by the Reverend 
 Joseph B. Felt, to whose accurate and faithful researches 
 into our early history the community is much indebted. 
 
 "As the Indians have frequent recourse to the English 
 houses, and especially to Boston, where they too often see 
 evil examples of excessive drinking in the English, who 
 are too often disguised with that beastly sin of drunken- 
 ness; and themselves (many of them) greatly delight in 
 Btrong liquors, not considering the strength and evil of 
 them ; and also too well knowing the liberty of the law, 
 which prohibiteth above a half-pint of wine to a man, that 
 therefore they may without offence to the laws have their 
 half-pint ; and, when they have had it in one place, they 
 may go to another and have the like, till they be drunken ; 
 and sometimes find too much entertainment that way 
 by such who keep no ordinary, only desire their trade, 
 though it be with the hurt and perdition of their souls ; — 
 Therefore, my humble request unto this honored Court is 
 this, that there may be but one ordinary in all Boston, 
 who may have liberty to sell wine, strong drink, or strong 1 
 
*K>* APPENDIX. 
 
 liquors unto the Indians; and that vhoeurr shall further 
 them in their vicious drinking for their own base ends, 
 who keep no ordinary, may not be suffered in such a sin 
 without due punishment ; and that at what ordinary soever 
 in any other town, as well as Boston, any Indian shall be 
 found drunk, having- had any considerable quantity of 
 drink, there they should come under severe censure. 
 These things I am bold to present unto you, for the pre- 
 venting of those scandalous evils which greatly blemish 
 and interrupt their entertainment of the Gospel, through 
 the policy of Satan, who counterworked Christ that way 
 with not a little uncomfortable success. And thus, with 
 my hearty desire of the gracious and blessed presence 
 of God among you in all your weighty affairs, I humbly 
 take leave, and rest 
 
 " Your servant to command in our Saviour Christ, 
 
 "John Eliot." 
 
 This petition produced the following order from the 
 Court; — "On petition of Mr. Eliot, none in Boston to 
 sell wine to the Indians, except Wm. Phillips, on fine 
 of 205." 
 
 A valuable account of the baneful effects of supplying 
 the natives with spirituous liquors is given by Halkett, — 
 Historical Notes respecting the Indians of North America, 
 ch. 8 and 9. 
 
 No. III. p. 250. 
 
 In his Grammar, Eliot says, on the subject of the declen- 
 sions, " The variation of nouns is not by male and female, as 
 in other lea.-ned languages, and in European nations they 
 do." He adds, "There be two forms or declensions of 
 nouns, animate, when the thing signified is a living crea- 
 
APPENDIX. 353 
 
 ture, and inanimate, when the thing signified is not a 
 living creature." (Grammar, pp. 8 - 10.) But the most re- 
 markable peculiarity of the Indian languages is the alleged 
 absence of the substantive verb to be. " We have," says 
 Eliot, " no complete distinct word for the verb substantive, 
 as other learned languages and our English tongue have ; 
 but it is under a regular composition, where many words 
 are made verb substantive." (Grammar, p. 15. ) Mr. 
 Leveridge made a similar remark, and Mr. Duponceau 
 observes, " It is one of the most striking traits in the 
 Indian languages, that they are entirely deficient of our 
 auxiliary verbs to have and to be. There are no words that 
 I know in any American idioms to express abstractedly 
 the ideas signified by these two verbs." (Report, &c. in 
 Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee, 
 &c, p. xl.) On this remark, Judge Davis suggested some 
 doubts in a letter to Mr. Duponceau. (See the whole dis- 
 cussion in 2 Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. IX., Notes on Eliot's 
 Grammar, pp. xxiv.-xliv.) If the above statement with 
 respect to the Indian dialects be correct, there is an ex- 
 ception to the universality of Adam Smith's remark, who 
 says, " There is in every language a verb, known by the 
 name of the substantive verb ; in Latin sum, in English 
 lam. This verb denotes not the existence of any par- 
 ticular event, but existence in general. It is, upon this 
 account, the most abstract and metaphysical of all verbs ; 
 and, consequently, could by no means be a word of early 
 invention." (Considerations on the Formation of Lan- 
 guages ; Works, Vol. I. p. 426.) But the able writer in 
 the " North American Review," to whom I have before had 
 occasion to refer, dissents from the abovementioned opin- 
 ion with regard to the absence of the verb to be from the 
 dialects of our native tribes. " We have shown," says he, 
 " the manner in which assertions are made in the Indian 
 languages ; and such expressions as horse mine, rifle good, 
 1 hungry, are continually recurring. This anomaly could 
 not but excite the attention of those, who were investi- 
 gating these modes of speech, and no doubt led to the 
 vol. v. 23 H h 2 
 
354 APPENDIX. 
 
 conclusion too hastily adopted, that the substantive verb 
 was unknown to them. So far as this verb may be em- 
 ployed to denote simple existence, we believe it is found 
 in all the aboriginal dialects." (Vol. XXVI. p. 391.) But 
 this position is controverted with much strength of argument 
 in the " United States Literary Gazette," Vol. IV. p. 363. 
 
 No. IV. p. 325. 
 
 Twenty-four years after the death of Mr. Eliot, the 
 name of one of his grandchildren occurs in a petition 
 respecting a tract of land, which he had received or pur- 
 chased of the Indians. The case will be explained by 
 the following extracts, which I have transcribed from the 
 Colony Records in the office of the Secretary of the 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
 
 " In Council, June 22d, 1714. The following order 
 passed in the House of Representatives ; read and con- 
 curred ; viz. 
 
 " In answer to the petition of John Eliot praying a con- 
 firmation of a tract, of one thousand acres of land at a place 
 called the Allom Ponds, lying in the wilderness west of 
 Brookfield, given by the Indian proprietors to his grand- 
 father, the Reverend John Eliot, late of Roxbury, Clerk, 
 deceased ; Ordered, that the tract of one thousand acres of 
 land given by the Indian proprietors to the late Reverend 
 John Eliot, as by their grant thereof presented with this 
 petition is described, be confirmed to such of the descend- 
 ants of the said donee as are legally entitled to the same, 
 provided it do not interfere with any prior grant ; and they 
 may improve John Chandler, Esquire, to survey and lay 
 it out, and return a plat thereof to this Court for further 
 confirmation. 
 
 " Consented to. J. Dudlet." 
 
APPENDIX. 356 
 
 The survey was accordingly made, and a plat returned 
 to the Court, which is among the papers in the Secretary's 
 office. It contains a map and a minute description of the 
 land, certified by John Chandler. It is termed, " The sur- 
 vey of a thousand acres of land purchased by the Reverend 
 John Eliot, late of Roxbury, deceased, Clerk, of Wattal- 
 loowekin and Nakan, the 27th of September, 1655, and con- 
 firmed and allowed by the General Assembly," &c. The 
 survey was made August 26th, 1715. On the back of the 
 paper containing the survey is the following order ; 
 
 " In the House of Representatives, December 5th, 1715. 
 Ordered, that the plat on the other side be accepted, and 
 the land therein described be confirmed to the descendants 
 of the late Reverend John Eliot, deceased, pursuant to the 
 vote of this Court passed for that end at their session 
 in June, anno 1714. 
 
 "John Burrill, Speaker. 
 
 " Sent up for concurrence. 
 
 "In Council, December 5th, 1715. Read and concurred. 
 "Sam'l Woodward, Sec'y." 
 
 It will be observed that there is a discrepancy in the 
 above extracts with respect to the manner, in which this 
 land is said to have come into Mr. Eliot's possession. In 
 the first Order, it is described as given to him by the In- 
 dian proprietors ; in the Survey, it is spoken of as pur- 
 chased by him of Wattalloowekin and Nakan. The terms 
 of the description in the Order were probably taken from 
 the grandson's petition ; those in the Survey were, it may 
 be supposed, the terms used by the surveyor to designate 
 the land. The latter would be more likely, from inadver- 
 tency, to commit a mistake in this matter, than the former ; 
 and it may, therefore, be deemed more probable that the 
 land was a gift, than a purchase. 
 
356 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. V. p. 336. 
 
 A testimony, fifteen years after the death of Mr. Eliot, 
 to the veneration in which his name and authority were 
 held by the Indians, and also to the good effects of the 
 diffusion of Christianity among them, is found in a scarce 
 tract entitled, " A Letter about the Present State of Chris- 
 tianity among the Christianized Indians of New England. 
 Written to the Honorable Sir William Ashurst, Governor 
 of the Corporation for Propagating the Gospel," &c. Bos- 
 ton. 1705. This letter is signed by Increase Mather, 
 Cotton Mather, and Nehemiah Walter. They write as 
 follows ; 
 
 " But we have now before us a letter very lately 
 received from as knowing and as faithful a person, as 
 could be inquired of, wherein he speaks a little more 
 particularly. He says, ' The administration of sacra- 
 ments among them [the Indians] is like ours, and as they 
 were taught by their apostle Eliot. His name is of won- 
 derful authority among them ; and the rules he gave them 
 for the form of marriages, and for admonitions and excom- 
 munications in their churches, are not to be found fault 
 with by any, but it will provoke them. Not long since an 
 Indian lodged at an Englishman's house one night ; and 
 the next day he visited me and asked, why the man at 
 whose house he lodged did not pray in his family. Seeing 
 that Mr. Eliot taught the Indians to do it every day, morn- 
 ing and evening, he thought it strange that the English 
 should direct them to pray in their families, and yet not 
 do it themselves. But at last he entertained the distinc- 
 tion, that there were matchet Englishmen, as well as 
 matchet Indians, and that some English did not practise 
 as they had been taught to do. [Matchet, that is to say, 
 naughty or wicked].' 
 
 " ' To your last inquiry, What I think there may be of 
 piety among them. Sir, I think that there were many of 
 the old generation, who were instructed by the reverend 
 
APPENDIX. 357 
 
 Eliot and others, which died in the Lord, and the first 
 fruits of them are in heaven as an earnest of more to fol- 
 low. I think the censorious English among us are not to 
 be the rule for our charity about them. Yet let me say, 
 I could never yet inquire of any plantation or assembly 
 of Indians, but the most censorious English would grant, 
 there were three or four persons in that plantation, who, 
 they verily believed, were sound Christians, though they 
 condemned the rest. Whereas, a charitable man would 
 have reckoned these three or four to have been the most 
 eminent for piety among them, and have granted the rest 
 to have such a measure of knowledge in the Gospel 
 method of salvation, and to be so ready to submit with 
 most admirable patience to the church censures among 
 them, and so penitent in their confessions of their faults, 
 and fearful afterwards of relapsing into the same or like 
 faults, as might be a just foundation to hope that they are 
 travelling the right way to heaven.' " — pp. 9- 11. 
 
i ■ 
 
 t 
 
 **