The triumphs of the reformed religion in America the life of the renowned John Eliot, a person justly famous in the church of God, not only as an eminent Christian and an excellant minister among the English, but also as a memorable evangelist amoung the Indians of New-England : with some account concerning the late and strange success of the Gospel in those parts of the world which for many ages have lain buried in pagan ignorance / written by Cotton Mather.

Part I. Or, Eliot as a CHRISTIAN.

Article I. His Eminent PIETY.

SUch was the Piety of our Eliot, that like nother M••ses, he had upon his Face a co••¦tinual shine, arising from his uninterrupted co¦munion with the Father of Spirits He was ind•• a Man of Prayer, and might say after the P••••••¦mist,

I prayer, as being in a manner made up of it. Could the walls of his old Study speak, they would even Ravish us with a Relation of the many hundred and thousand servent Prayers which he there poured out before the Lord. He not only made it his dayly practice to enter into that closet, and shut his Door, and pray to his Father in Secret, but he would not rarely set a∣part whole days for prayer with Fasting, in se∣cret places before the God of Heaven. Prayer solemnized with Fasting was indeed so agreea∣ble unto him, that I have sometimes thought he might justly inherit the Name of, Johannes Je∣junator, or, John the Faster, which for the like reason was put upon one of the Renowned Ancients. Especially, when there was any re∣markable difficulty before him, he took this way to encounter and overcome it; being of Dr. Prestons mind, That when we would have an•• great things to be accomplished, the best policy is to work by an Engine which the world sees nothing of. He could say as the pious Robertson did upon his Death-bed, I thank God, I have loved Fasting and Prayer, with all my heart! If one would have known what that sacred thing, The spirit of Prayer, intends, in him there might have been seen a most luculent and practical Exposition of it. He kept his heart in a frame for prayer, with a marvellous constancy; and was continually provoking all that were about him thereunto. When he heard any considerable News, his usu∣al

and speedy Reflection thereupon would be•• Brethren, let us Turn all this into prayer! and he was perpetually jogging the wheel of Prayer, both more privately in the Meetings, and more pub∣lickly in the Churches of his Neighbourhood. When he came to an House that he was inti∣mately acquainted with, he could often say, Come, let us not have a visit without a prayer; let us pray down the Blessing of Heaven on your Fami∣ly before we go. Especially when he came into a Society of Ministers, before he had sat long with them, they would look to hear him urging, Brethren, the Lord Jesus takes much notice of what is done and said among his Ministers when they are together; come, let us pray before we part! And hence also, his whole Breath seem∣ed in a sort made up of ejaculatory prayers, many scores of which winged Messengers he dispatched away to Heaven, upon pious Er∣rands every day. By them he bespoke B••essings upon almost every person or affair that he was concerned with; and he carried every thing to God with some pertinent H••sannah's or Halle∣lujah's over it. He was a mighty and an happy man, that had his Quiver full of these Heaven∣ly Arrows! and when he was never so straitly besieged by Humane Occurrences, yet he fastned the wishes of his devout Soul unto them, and very dexterously shot them up to Heaven over the head of all.

As he took thus delight in speaking to th••

Al∣mighty God, no less did he in speaking of him, but in serious and savoury Discourses, he still had his Tongue, like the Pen of a ready Writer. The Jesuits once at Nola made a no less profane than severe Order, That no man should speak of God at all; but this excellent person almost made it an Order wherever he came, to speak of nothing but God. He was indeed sufficiently pleasant and witty in Company, and he was af∣fable and facetious rather than morose in Con∣versation; but he had a Remarkable Gravity mixed with it, and a singular skill of Raising some holy Observation out of whatever matter of Discourse lay before him; nor would he o••∣dinarily dismiss any Theme without some grati¦ous, divine, pithy Sentence thereupon. Doubt∣less, he imposed it as a Law upon himself, tha•• he would leave something of God, and Heave•• and Religion, with all that should come a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 him; so that in all places, his company was a••¦tended with Majesty and Reverence; and it wa•• no sooner proper for him to speak but, li•••• Mary's opened Box of Oyntment, he stil'd 〈◊〉〈◊〉 whole Room with the perfumes of the Grace in his Lips, and the Ch••••stian Hearers taste•• a gr••ater sweetness in his ••ell-seasoned Speec¦es, than the illu••••••••ous ••••••er ascrib'd 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Orations of hi•• ••est▪

Whole Lip drop'd Lang••age tha•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 it 〈…〉〈…〉 or abundance.

His Conferences were like those which Ter∣tullian affirms to have been common among the Saints in his Days, Ʋt qui sciret Dominum audi∣re, as knowing that the Ear of God was open to them all; and he managed his Rudder so as to manifest that he was bound Heaven-ward, in ••is whole Communication. He had a particu∣•••••• ••art, at Spiritualizing of Earthly Objects, & Raising of high thoughts from very mean things. As, once going with some feebleness and weari∣ness up the Hill on which his Meeting-house now stands, he said unto the person that led him, This is very like the way to Heaven, 'tis up Hill! the Lord by his Grace fetch us up! and in∣stantly spying a Bush near him, he as nimbl•• added; And truly there are Thorns and Briars i•• the way too! Which instance I would not hav•• singled out from the many thousands of hi•• Occasional Reflections, but only that I might sug¦gest unto the good people of Roxbury, some¦thing for them to think upon, when they are go¦ing up to the House of the Lord. It is enough that as the Friend of the famous Ʋrsin coul•• profess that he never went unto him witho•••• coming away, aut doctior aut melior, either t•••• ••iser or the bette•• from him; so, 'tis an ackno••¦ledgment which more than one Friend of o•• Eliot's has made concerning him, I was 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with him, but ••••••ot, or might have got some 〈◊〉〈◊〉 from him.

〈◊〉〈◊〉 hearing from the great God, was an ••••¦••rcise

of like satisfaction unto the Soul of this good man, with speaking either to him, or of him. He was a mighty Student of the sacred Bible; and it was unto him as his necessary food. He made the Bible his Companion, and his Councellor, and the holy lines of Scripture more Enamoured him than the profane Ones of Tul∣ly, ever did the famous Italian Cardinal. He would not upon easy terms, have gone one day together, without using a portion of the Bible as an antidote against the infection of Temptation. And he would prescribe it unto others, with his probatum est upon it; as once particularly a pious Woman, vexed with a wicked Husband, complaining to him, That bad Company was all the day still infesting of her House, and what should she do? He advised her, Take the Holy Bi∣ble into your Hand, when the bad Company comes, and you'l soon drive them out of the House▪ the woman made the experiment, and thereby cleared her House from the Haunts that had molested it. By the like way 'twas that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 cleared his Heart of what he was loth 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Nesting there. Moreover, if ever any ma•• could, he might, pretend unto that evidence o•• Uprightness, Lord, I have loved the Habitation o•• ••hine House; for he not only gave somethi•••• more than his presence there twice on 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Lords Dayes, and once a Fortnight besides 〈◊〉〈◊〉 b•• Lectures, in his own Congregation ou•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 made his weekly visits unto the Lectures in th••

Neighbouring Towns; how often was he seen at Boston, Charlst••••n, Camb••i••ge, ••or••••••ster, waiting upon the Word of God, in the Recur∣ring Opportunities, and counting a Day in the Courts of the Lord better than a thousand? It is hardly conceivable, how in the m••dst of so ma∣ny Studies and Labours as he was at home en∣gaged in, he could possibly repair to so many Lectures abroad; and herein he aimed, not only at his own Edification, but at the Countenancing and Encouraging of the Lectures which he went unto. Thus he took heed, that he might Hear, and he took as much heed how he He••rd; he set himself as in the presence of the Eternal God, as the great Co••stantine used of old, in the Assemblies where he came, and said, I will hear what God the Lord will speak; he expressed a diligent attention, by a watchful and wak••f••l posture, and by turning to the Texts quo••ed by the Preacher; he expressed a suitable aff••c∣••ion by feeding on what was delivered, and ac∣companying it with hands and eyes devoutly e∣••evated; and they whose good hap 'twas to go ••ome with him, were sure of having anothe•• Sermon by the way, until their very Hear•••• burned in them. L••ct••ntius truly said, Non e•• ••era Religio, qua cum ••emplo ••elinquitur; but o•••• Eliot alwayes carried much of Religion with him from the House of God.

In a word, he was one who Liv'd in He•••••• while he was on Earth; and there is no more th••

pure Justice in our endeavours that he should Live on Earth after he is in Heaven. We can∣not say that we ever saw him walking any whi∣ther but he was therein walking with God; wher∣ever he sat••, he had God by him, and it was in the Everlasting Arms of God th t he Si••pi at n••ght. M••thoughts he a little discovered his Heavenly way of livi••g, when walk••ng one day in his Garden, he ••luck••d ••p a w••••d that he saw now and then growing there; at when a Friend plea∣santly said unto him, Sir, you tell us, we must be Heavenly-〈◊〉〈◊〉; but he immediately Reply d, I•• is ••••re; and ••his is no impediment unto that; for were I s••re to go to H••aven to morrow, I would do what I do to D••••. From s••ch a frame of spi∣rit it was that once in a visi••, fi••ding a Merchant in his Counting House, where he saw Books of B••sines•• only on his Table, b••t all his Books of Devo••io•• on the shelf, he gave this Advise unto him, Sir, Here's Earth ••n the Table, and Heaven on the she••f; pray d••••'t sit so much at the Table as altogether to f••rget the shelf; let not earth by any ••ea••s thr••st H ••ve•••• out of your mind.

Indeed I ca••not gi••e a fuller Description of him, than what was in a Paraphrase tha•• I have heard himself to make upon that Scripture, ••ur Co••v••••sa••i ••is to H••aven. I writt from him as he uttered it.

Behold Said he, the Ancient and Excellent Character of a true Christian; 'tis that which ••eter calls Holiness in all manner of Conversation;

you shall not find a Christian out of the way of Godly Conversation. For, first, a seventh part of our time is all Spent in Heaven, when we are duely zealous for and zealous on, the Sabbath of God. Besides, God has written on the Head of the Sabbath Remember; which looks both For∣wards and Backwards; and thus a good part of the week will be spent in Sabbatizing. Well, but for the rest of our Time! why, we shall have that spent in Heaven, ere we have done. For, Secondly, we have many dayes for both Fasting and Thanksgiving, in our pilgrimage; and here are so many Sabbaths more. More∣over, Thirdly, we have our Lectures every week; and pious people, won't miss them, if they can help it. Furthermore, fourthly, We have our private Meetings wherein we pray, & sing, and Repeat Sermons, and confer toge∣ther about the things of God; and being now come thus far, we are in Heaven almost every day. But a little farther, Fifthly, we perform Family-Duties every day; we have our morn∣ing and evening Sacrifices, wherein having read the Scriptures to our Families, we call up∣on the Name of God, and ever now and then carefully Catechise those that are under our Charge. Sixthly, we shall also have our daily Devotions in our Closets; wherein unto Sup∣plication before the Lord, we shall add some se∣rious Meditation upon his Word; a David will be at this work no less than thrice a day.

Seventhly, We have likewise many scores of Ejaculations in a day; and these we have, like Nehemiah, in whatever place we come into. Eighthly, We have our Occasional Thoughts, and our Occasional Talks, upon spiritual mat∣ters; and we have our Occasional Acts of Cha∣rity, wherein we do like the Inhabitants of Heaven every day. Ninthly, In our Callings, in our civil Callings, we keep up Heavenly Frames; we buy and sell and toyl, yea, we eat and drink, with some eye both to the Com∣mand and the Honour of God in all. Behold, I have not now left an inch of time to be car∣nal; it is all Engrossed for Heaven. And yet, lest here should not be enough, Lastly, We have our spiritual Warfare. We are alwayes Encountring the Enemies of our Souls, which continually raises our hearts unto our Helper and Leader in the Heavens. Let no man say, 'Tis impossible to live at this rate; for we have known some live thus; and others that have written of such a life, have but spun a Web out of their own blessed experiences. New-Eng∣land has Examples of this life; tho, alas, 'tis to be lamented, that the Distractions of the world, in too many professors do becloud the beauty of an Heavenly Conversation. In fine, our Employment lies in Heaven. In the mor∣ning, if we ask, Where am I to be to day? Our Souls must answer, In Heaven. In the even∣ing if we ask, Where have I been to day? Our

Souls may answer t•• Heaven. If thou art a Believer, thou art no stranger to H ••ven while thou livest; and when ••hou dyest, Heaven will be no strange place to thee; no, thou hast been there a thousand times before.

In this language have I heard him express himself; and he did what he s••id; he was a Boniface as well as a Benedict; and he was one of those

Qui faciendo docent, quae facienda docent.

It might be said of him, as that Writer cha∣racterises O••igen, Quemadmodum doeuit, sic vi••it, & quemadmodum vixit sit docuit.

Article II. His particular care and zeal about the Lords-day.

THis was the Piety, this the Holiness of our Eliot; but among the many instances in which his H••liness was remarkable, I must not omit his exact Remembrance of the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy.

It has been truly and justly Observed, Tha•• our whole Religion fares according to our Sab¦baths, that poor Sabbaths make poor Ch••istian•• and that a strictness in our Sabbaths inspires

vigour into all our other Duties. Our Eliot knew this, and it was a most Exemplary zeal that he acknowledged the Sabba••h of our Lord Jesus Christ withal. Had he been asked, Servasii Dominicum? he could have made a right Chri∣stian primitive answer thereunto. The Sun did not set, the evening before the Sabbath, till he had begun his preparation for it; and when the Lords-day came, you might have seen John in the Spirit, every week. Every day was a sort of Sabbath to him, but the Sabbath day was a kind, type, a tast of Heaven with him. He labour∣ed, that he might on this High-day, have no words or thoughts but such as we e agreeable ••hereunto; he then allow'd in himself no Acti∣ons, but those of a Ra••sed Soul. One should hear nothing dropping from his Lips on this day, but the milk and honey of the Countrey, in which there yet remains a ••est for the people of God; and if he beheld in my person whatsoever, whether old or young, my profanation of this day, he would be sure to ••estow lively Rebukes upon it. And hence al∣••o unto the general Engagements of a Covenant ••ith God, which 'twas his Desire to bring the ••ndians into, he added a particular Article, wherein they bind themselves, mehquontamunat ••abbath, pahketeaunat tohsohke pomantamog; i. e. ••o Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy, as ••ong as we live.

The mention of this, gives me an opportuni∣ty, not only to Recommend our Departed Eliot, but also to Vindicate another great man, unto the Churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Reverend and Renowned OWEN in his Elabo∣rate Exercitations on, The Lords-day, had let fall such a passage of this

I judge, that the Observation of the Lords-day is to be Commensurate unto the use of our natural strength, on any other day; from morning to night. The Lords-day is to be s••t apart unto the ends of an holy Rest unto God, by every one according as his natural strength will enable him to employ himself in his lawful Occasions any other day of the week.

This passage gave some scandal unto several very Learned and Piou•• M••n; among whom our Eliot was one; whereupon with his usual zeal, gravity and sanctity, he wrote unto the Doctor, his Opinion thereabout; who returned unto him an answer full of Respect, some part where of I shall here transcribe.

As to what concerns the Natural strength of man (saith he) Either I was under some mis∣take in my Expression, or you seem to be so, i•• your Apprehension. I never thought, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 hope, I have not said, for I cannot find it that the Continuance of the Sabbath is to b•• commensurate unto the natural strength of man but only that it is an Allowable mean of me•• Continuance in Sabbath Duties, which I su••¦pose you will not deny, lest you should ca••

the Consciences of professors into inextrica∣ble Difficulties.

When first I engaged in that work, I intend∣ed not to have spoken one word about the pra∣ctical Obs••rvation of the Day; but only to have endeavoured the Revival of a Truth which at present is despised and contemned among us, and strenuously opposed by sundry Divines of the Ʋnited Provinces, who call the Doctrine of the Sabbath, Figmentum Anglicanum. Upon the Desire of some Learned Men in these parts, it was, that I undertook the Vindica••i∣on of it. Having now discharged the Debt, which in this matter I owed unto the Truth and Church of God, tho not as I ought, yet with such a composition as I hope, thro' the Interposition of our Lord Jesus Christ might find acceptance with God and his Saints, I suppose I shall not again engage on that Sub∣ject.

I suppose there is scarce an•• one alive in the world, who hath more Reproaches cast upon him than I have; tho hitherto God has been pleased in some measure to support my spirit under them. I still relieved my self by this, That my poor Endeavours have found accep∣tance with the Churches of Christ: But my ho∣ly, wise, and gracious Father, sees it needful to try me in this matter also; and what I have received from you (which it may be contains not your sense alone) hath printed deeper, and

left a greater impression upon my mind, than all the virulent Revilings, and false Accusati∣ons I have met withal, from my professed Ad∣versaries. I do acknowledge unto you, that I have a dry and barren Spirit, and I do heartily beg your prayers, that the Holy One would, notwithstanding all my sinful provocations, water me from above; but that I should now be apprehended to have given a wound unto Holiness in the Churches, 'tis one of the saddest frowns in the cloudy B••ows of Divine Providence.

The Doctrine of the Sabbath, I have assert∣ed, tho' not as it should be done, yet as wel as I could; The Observation of it in Holy Du∣ties unto the utmost of the strength for them, which God shall be pleased to give us, I hav•• pleaded for; the necessity also of a serious pre∣paration for it in sundry praevious Duties, I hav•• declared. But now to meet with severe Ex∣pressions— It may be 'tis the will of God, tha•• vigour should hereby be given to my forme Discouragements, and that there is a Call i•• it, to surcease from these kinds of labours.

I have transcribed the more of this Lette•• because it not only discovers the concern whic•• our Eliot had for the Sabbath of God, but als•• it may contribute unto the worlds good Rece••¦tion and Perusal of a golden Book on that Su••¦ject, written by one of the most Eminent Pe••¦sons which the English Nation has been adorn•• with.

Article III. His Exemplary Mortification.

THus did Eliot endeavour to live unto God; but how much at the same time did he dye unto all the world?

'Twere impossible to finish the lively Picture of this pious and holy Eliot, without some touches upon that Mortification, which accompa∣ny'd him all his days; for never did I see a person more mortify'd unto all the pleasures of this Life, or more unwilling to moult the wing•• of an Heaven-born Soul, in the dirty puddles of carnal and sensual Delights. We are all of us compounded of those two things, the Man, and, the Beast; but so powerful was, The Man, in this holy person, that it kept, The Beast, ever ty'd with a short Te••der and suppressed the irregular Calcurati••ns of it. He became so nailed unto the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the Grandeurs of this world were unto him just what they would be to a dying man; & he maintained an almost unparal••el'd indifferency towards all the pomps, which Mankind is too ge∣nerally flattered and enchan••ed with.

The Lust of the flesh he could not reconcile

himself to the least pampering or indulging of; but he persecuted it with a continual A••tipathy; being upon higher principles than Tully was ac∣quainted withal, of his mind, Non est dignus no∣mine hominis, qui non •• di•••••• ••otum velit esse in isto genere voluptatis. The Sleep that he allow'd himself cheated him not of his Morning-hours; but he reckoned the Morning no less a friend un∣to the Graces, than unto the Muses. He would call upon Students, I pray look to it that you be morning-Birds! and for many more than a score of years before he dyed, he removed his Lodging into his Study, on purpose that being there a∣lone, he might enjoy his ea••ly Mornings, with∣out giving the disturbance of the least noise to any of his Friends, whose Affections to him else might have been ready to have called, Master spare thy self. The Meat upon which he lived was a Cibus simplex, an homel•• but an wholesome Diet. Rich Varieties, costly V••ands, and poi∣nant Sauces, came not upon his own Table, and when he found them on other mens, he rarely tasted of them. O••e Dish and a plain one, wa•• his Dinner; and when invited unto a Feast, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 have seen him sit Magnifying of God, for th•• Plenty which His people in this Wilderness we•••• within a few years arisen to; but not mor•• than a Bit or two of all the Dainties taken in•••• his own mouth all the while. And for a Supper he had learn'd of his loved and blessed Patron old Mr. Cotton, either wholly to omit it, or t••

make a small sup or two the utmost of it. The drink which he still used was very small; he cared not for Wines or Drams, and I believe, he never once in all his life knew what it was to feel so much as a noxious fume in his head, from any of them; good, clear water was more pre∣cious, as well as more usual with him, than any of those Liquors with which men do so fre∣quently spoil their own Healths, while perhaps they drink, those of other men. When at a strangers House in the Summer time, he has bin entertained with a glass, which they told him was Of water and wine, he has with a complai∣sant gravity reply'd unto this purpose; Wine, 'tis a noble generous Liquor, and we should be hum∣bly th••nkful for it; but as I remember, Water was made before it! So abstemious was he; and he found, that, Carere suavitatibus istis, his Absti∣nence had more sweetness in it, than any of the sweets wh••ch he abstained from; and so willing he was to have others partake with him in that sweetness, that when he has thought the counte∣nance of a Minister has lock'd, as if he had made much of himself, he has gone to him with that Speech, S••udy Mortification, Brother! study Mortification! and he made all his Addresses with a becoming Majesty.

The Lust of the Eye, was put out by him in such a manner, that it was in a Manner all one with him to be rich or poor. It could not be said of him, That he sought great things for himself;

but what estate he became owner of, was from the Blessing of God upon the Husbandry and In∣dustry of some in his Family, rather than from any endeavours of his own. Once when there stood several Kine of his own before his door, his Wife, to try him, asked him, Whose they were? and she found that he knew nothing of them. He could not endure to plunge himself into secular Designs and Affairs, but accounted Sacerdos in foro as worthy of Castigation as Mer∣cator in Templo; he thought that Minister and Market-man, were not Ʋnisons, and that the Earth was no place for Aaron's holy Miter to be laid upon. It was the Usage of most Parishes in the Country, to have an annual Rate for the maintainance of the Ministry, adjusted common∣ly by the select-men of the Towns; which tho it raised not any exuberant Salaries for the Ministers, who also seldome received all that the people had contracted for, nevertheless i•• many places it prevented sore Temptations from befalling those that were labouring in the Wor•• and Doctrine; who must else often have experi∣enced the Truth of Luthers Observation, Duri∣ter profecto & misere viverent Evangelij Ministri si ex Libera populi contributione essent sustentan•••• However, for his part, he propounded that wh•••• stipend he had, should be Raised by Contribution & from the fame temper it was, that a f•••• years before his Dissolution, being left withou•• an Assistent in his Ministry, he pressed his Co••¦gregation

to furnish themselves with another Pastor; and in his Application to them, he told them, 'Tis possible, you may think the burden of maintaining two Ministers may be too heavy for you; but I'l deliver you from that fear; I do here gave back my Salary to the Lord Jesus Christ, and now, Brethren, you may fix that upon any man, that God shall make a Pastor for you. But his Church wi••h an handsome Repl••, assured him, Tha•• they would count his very p••esence worth a Salary, when he should be so superannuated as to do no further Service for them.

And as for the Pride of Life, the Life of it was most exemplarily ex••ingu sh'd in him. The Humility of his Heart made him, Higher by the Head than the rest of the people. His Havit and Spirit were both such as declared him to be among the Lowly, whom God has most Respect unto. His Apparel was without any Ornament, except that of H••mility, which the Apostle Ele∣gantly compares to a knot of Comely Ribb••ns, in the Text where he bids us to be cloathed w••••h it; any other flanting Ribb••ns on those that came in his way he would ingenio••sly animad∣vert upon; and seeing some Scholars once, he thought, a little too gaudy in their Cloaths, H••miliamini, Juvenes, Humuliamini, was his im∣mediate complement unto them. Had you seen him with his Leathern Gardae (for such an one he wore) about his Loins, you would almost have thought what Herod fear'd, That John Baptist

was come to life again. In short, he was in all Regards, A Nazarite indeed; unless in this one, that long Hair was always very loathsome to him; he was an acute Ramist, but yet he pro∣fessed himself a lover of a Trichotomy. Doubtless, it may be lawful for us to accommodate the length of our Hair unto the modest Customs which vary in the Churches of God; and it may be lawful for them that have not enough of their own Hats for their own Health, to supply themselves according to the sober modes of the places where they live. But the Apostle tells us, Nature teaches us, that if a man have long hair, 'tis a shame to him; where, by Nature can be meant, no other than, The difference of Sex; as the word else-where is used.

Thus Mr. Eliot thought that for Men to wear their H••ir with a luxurious, Deli∣cate, Faeminine prolixity; or for them to pre∣serve no plain Distinction of their Sex, by the Hair of their Head and Face; and much more, for men thus to disfigure themselves with Hair ••hat is N••me of their own; and most of all, for Ministers of the Gospel to ruffle it in Excesses of this kind; may prove more than we are well aware, displeasing to the Holy Spirit of God. The H••ir of them that professed Religion, long before his Death, grew too long for him to swallow; and he would express himself conti∣nually with a boiling zeal concerning it, until at last he gave over, with some Regret complain∣ing,

The Lust is become insuperable! I know not whether that horrible Distemper prevailing in some Europaean Countries known by the name of Plica polo••ica, wherein the Hair of people mat∣ted into ugly and filthy forms, like Snakes upon their heads, which whosoever cut off presently fell blind or mad; I say, I know not whether this Disease was more odious in it self, than the sweeter, neater, but prolix Locks of many peo∣ple were to our Eliot. He was indeed one pris∣cis moribus, as well as Antiqua si••e; and he might be allow'd somewhat even of severity, in this matter on that account.

My Reader shall have a Touch or two, from a Manuscript of his, which I have in my hands, against (as he calls it) The violent and insupera∣ble Lust of Long Hair. He thus argues.

'Tis a sin for a man to do that whereof he hath cause to be asha••ed, Pro. 14.34. Rom. 6.21.

But it is a shame for a man to wear long hair, 1 Cor. 11.14. Therefore 'tis a Sin.

Obj. It was then so; but now 'tis a fashion and glory to do otherwise.

Ans. Nature is the same now as then; Un∣changeable. It speaks as loud now as it did then; only our Ears are so covered with Locks, that we cannot hear it!

Again, Long Hair on the Head, & No Hair on the Face, is the Habit of a Woman, 1 Cor. 11.16. But it is a sinful Abomination for a Man to wear the Habit of a Woman, Deut. 22.5.

Therefore 'tis a ••inful Abomination, for a man to wear long Hair on his Head, and no H•••••• on his F••ce.

With ••••••••e, and many other such perswasions did he endeavour to obvia e the Luxury, which he saw the crimes degenera••ing apace into; and he added hereunto his own Example, as a conti∣nual and effectual Sermon against what he thought was to be, co••d••mned in the world.

For m•• own part, I cannot think Wigs un∣lawful things, but I must concur with Mr. Eliot, so far as to think, that Im••oder••cy in them, as in Meats and in Drink•• is very sinful.

Article IV. His Exq•• ••••te Charity.

HE that will w••••te of Eliot, must write of ••hari••••, or say nothing His Charity was a S••ar of the ••i••st M••gnitude in the bright Con∣stellation of his Vertues; and the Rays of it were wonderfully various and extensive.

His Liberality to pious Uses, whether publick or private, w••nt much beyond the proportions of his little Estate in the world. Many Hun∣dreds of Pounds did he freely bestow upon the poor; and he would with a very forcible impor∣tunity press his Neighbours to jo••n with him, in such Beneficences. 'Twas a marvellous A∣lacrity, with which he embraced a••l opportuni∣ties of Relieving any, tha•• were miserable; & the good people of ••oxbury doubtless cannot

remember (but the Righteous God will!) how often, and with what Ardors, with what Argu∣ments, he became a Beggar to them, for Collect∣ions in their Assemblies to support such needy O••j••cts, as had fallen under his Observation. The poor counted him their Father, and repair∣ed still unto him, with a f••••ial confidence in their Necessi••ies; and they were more than se∣ven or ••igh••, or indeed than so many scores, who rec ived their po••tions of his Boun••y. Like that worth•• and famous Engl sh General, he could not perswade himself, That he had any thing but w••at he gave away; but he drove a mighty Trade at such Exercises as he thought would f••rnish him with Bil••s ••f Exc••••nge, which he ho∣ped after many days to find the comfort of; and yet after all, he would say like one of the most charitable Souls that ever lived in the World, Tha•• looking over his Accounts, he could no where fi d ••he God of Heaven charged a Debtor there. He did not put off his Charity, to be put in his last Will, as many who therein shew that their Charity is against their will; but he was his own Administrator; he made his own ••••ands his Ex∣ecutors, and his own Eyes his Overs••ers. It has been Remark'd, That liberal men are often long-liv'd m n; so do they after ma••y days find the B••e••d with which the•• have been willing to keep o••••er men ••••••e. The great age of our E∣liot was but agreeable to this Remark; & when his Age had unfitted him for almost all Em∣ployments,

and bereaved him of those Gifts & Parts which once he had been Accomplished with, being asked, How he did? he would some∣times answer, Alas, I have lost every thing; my Ʋnderstanding leaves me, my Memory fails me, my Ʋtterance fails me; but I thank God, my Charity holds out still; I find that rather grows than fails! And I make no question, That at his Death, his happy Soul was Received, and welcomed, into the everlasting Habitations, by many scores got thither before him, of such as his Charity had been liberal unto.

But besides these more Substantial Expressions of his Charity, hee made the Odours of that Grace yet more fragrant unto all that were about him, by that Pittifulness and that Peaceableness, which rendred him yet further Amiable. If any of his Neighbourhood were in distress, he was like a Brother born for their Adversity; he would visit them, and comfort them, with a most Fra∣ternal Sympathy; yea, 'tis not easiy to recount how many whole dayes of Prayer with Fasting he has got his Neighbours to keep with him, on the behalf of those whose Calamities he found himself touched withal. It was an extreme Sa∣tisfaction to him, that his Wife had attained un∣to a considerable skill in Physick and Chyrurgery, which enabled her to dispense many safe, good, and useful Medicines, unto the Poor that had oc∣casion for them; and some hundreds of sick & weak and maimed people owed praises to God,

for the Benefit which therein they freely recei∣ved of her. The good Gentleman, her Hus∣band would still be casting Oyl into the Flame of that Charity, wherein she was of her own accord abundantly forward thus to be doing of good unto all; and he would urge her to be serviceable unto the worst Enemies that he had in the world. Never had any man fewer Enemies than he! But once having delivered something in his Mi∣nistry, which displeased one of his Hearers, the man d••d passionately abuse him for it, and this both with Speeches and with Writings that revi∣led him. Yet it happening not long after, that this man gave himself a very dangerous Wound, Mr. Eliot immediately sends his Wife to cure him; who did accordingly. When the man was well he came to thank her; but she took no Rewards; and this Good man made him stay and eat with him, taking no notice of all the Ca∣lumnies with which he had loaded him; but by this Carriage he strangely mollifyed and conque∣red the Stomach of his Reviler.

He was also a great Enemy to all Contention, & would ring a loud Courseu-Bell wherever he saw the Fires of Animosity. When he heard any Ministers complain, that such and such in their Flocks, were too difficult for them, the strain of his Answer still was, Brother, Compass them! and Brother, Learn the meaning of those three little Words, Bear, Forbear, Forgive. Yea, his In∣clinations for Peace, indeed sometimes almost

made him to sacrifice Right it self. When there was la••d before an Assembly of Ministers, a b••n∣dle of Papers, which con ained certain mat••ers of Difference and Contention, between some people which our Elio•• thought should rather unite, with an Amnesty upon all their former Quarrels, he (with some Imitation of what Con∣stantine did up••n the l••ke occasi••n) hastily threw the papers in••o the Fire bef••re them all, and with a zeal f••r peace as h•••• as that F••••••, sa••d immediately, B••eth••en, wonder not at what I have done; I did it on my knees this m••rning before I came among you. Such an ex••••ss (if it were one fl••w••d from his Charitab••e Inc••ina ions ••o be sound among those Peace-m••••ers when by following the Exemple of that Man who is our Peace, come to be called, The children of God. Very worth ly migh•• he be called an Ire••ae••s, as being all for Peace; and the Commendation which Epiphanius gives unto the Ancient of that Name, did belong unto our Eliot, he was a most bl••ss••d and a most holy man. He d sliked all sorts of B••••very; but yet with an ingenious Note upon the Greek word in Col. ••.15 he propounded, That peace might brave it among us. In short, where-ever he came, it was like ano∣ther old John, with solemn and earnest perswa∣sives to love, and when he could say little else, he would give that Charge, My Children, love one another!

Finally, 'twas his Charity which disposed him

to continual Apprecations for and Benedictions on those that he met withal; he had, an Heart full of good Wishes and a Mouth full of kind Bles∣sings for them. And he often made his Expres∣sions very wittily agreeable to the circumstances which he saw the persons in. Sometimes when he came into a Family, he would call for all the young people in it that so he might very Di∣stinctly lay his holy hands upon every one of them, and bespeak the mercies of Heaven for them all.

Article. V. Some Special Attainments, that were the Effects of his Piety, and Charity.

But what was the Effect of this Exemplary Piety, and Charity in our Eliot? It will be no wonder, to my Reader, if I tell him, That this good man walked in the light of Gods Coun∣tenance all the day long. I believe he had a con∣tinual Assurance of the divine Lo e, marvellous∣ly Sealing, Strengthning, and Refreshing of him, for many lustres of years before he Dy'd; and for this cause, the fear of Death was Extir∣pated out of his heavenly Soul, more than out of most men alive. Had our blessed Jesus at a∣ny time sent his Wggons to fetch this old Jacob away, he would have gone without the least Re∣luctancies.

Labouring once under a Feavour and Ague, a Visi••ant asked him, How he did? and he Reply'd Very well, but anon I expect a paroxysm. Sa••d the Visi••ant, Sir, fear not; but unto that he answered, Fear! No, no; I been't afraid, I thank God, I been t afraid to Dy! Dying would not have been any more to him, than Sleeping to a weary man.

And another Excellency, which accompanied this Courage and Comfort in him was, A won∣derful Resignation to the Will of God, in all Events. There were sore Afflictions that sometimes befel him; especially when he follow'd some of his hopeful and worthy Sons, two or three desira∣ble Preachers of the Gospel, to their Graves. But he sacrificed them, l ke another Abraham; with such a sacred ind••fferency, as made all the Spectators to say, This could not be done without the Fear of God. Yea, he bore all his Trials with an admirable patience, and seemed loth to have any will of his own, that should not be wholly melted and moulded into the Will of his Heavenly Father. Once being in a Boat at Sea, a larger Vessel unhappily Over-run, and Over-set that little one which had no small Con∣cerns, because Eliot's in the bottom of it; he immediately sunk without any expectation of ever going to Heaven a••y other way; and when he imagined that he had but one breath more to draw in the world, it was this, The will of the Lord be done! but it was the will of the

Lord, that he should survive the danger; for 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was rescued by the help that was then at hand, and he that had long been like Moses in eve•••• thing else, was now dr••wn out of the Wate•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Which gives me oppor••unity to mention or Remarkable that had some Relation hereunto. This Accident happened in the Time of our In∣dian Wars, when some furious Engl••sh People that clamoured for the ex••irpation of the P••ay∣ing Indians, which were in subjection unto us, as well as the Pagan Indians that were in Hosti∣lity against us, vented a very wicked Rage at our holy Eliot, because of his concernment for the Indians; and one profane Monster hearing how narrowly Mr. Eliot escap'd from Drown∣ing, 'tis said, he wish'd this man of God had then been Drowned. But within a few da••s, that woful man by a strange Disaster wa•• Drowned in that very place, where Mr. Eliot had received his Deliverance.

There was indeed a certain health of Soul which he arriv'd unto; and he kept in a b••essed measure clear of those Distempers which too of∣ten disorder the most of men. But the God of Heaven favoured him with something that was yet more Extraordinary! By getting and keeping near to God, and by dwelling under the shadow of the Almighty, ••he contracted a more exquisite sense of mind, than what is usual among other Professors of Christianity; he som∣times felt a lively touch of God upon his refined

and exalted Spirt, which were not in any paper of ours lawful or easy to be uttered; and he was admitted unto a singular Familiarity with the Holy One of Israel. Hence 'twas, that as Bodies of a rare and fine constitution, will for••∣bode the Changes of the Weather, so the sub∣limed Soul of our Eliot often had strange Fore∣bodings of things that were to come I ha••e been astonished at some of his Predictions, that were both of a more personal, and of a more general Application, and were follow'd with exact Accomplishmen••s. If he said of any Af∣fair, I cannot bless it! it was a wo••se Omen to it, than the most inauspicious praesages in the world; but sometimes after he had been with God about a thing, he was able successfully to foretel, I have set a mark upon it, it will do well? I shall never forget, That when England and Holland were plunged into the unhappy War, which the more sensible Protestants every-where had but sorrowful Apprehensions of, our Eliot being in the height and heat of the War, pri∣vately asked, What News we might look for next? answered unto the surprize of the Enquirer, Our next News will be, a peace between the two Protestant Nations; God knows, I pray for it eve∣ry day; and I am verily perswaded, we shall bear of at speedily! and it came to pass accord∣ingly.

It is to be confessed, That the written Word of God, is to be regarded as the perfect and

only Rule of our Lives; that in all Articles of Religion if men speak not according to this word, there is no light in them; and that it is no war∣rantable or convenient thing for Christians to look for such Inspirations as directed the Pro∣p••et•• that were the Pen-men of the Scriptures. Nevertheless, there are some uncommon Instan∣ces of Communion and Fruition, which in our days the Soveraign God here and there favours a good man withal; and they are very Heaven∣ly persons, persons well purify'd from the Fae∣cul••n••tes of Sensuality, and persons better pur∣ged from the Leaven of envy and malice, and intollerable pride, than usually those vain pre∣tenders to Revelations, the Quakers, are, that are made partakers of these Divine Dainties. Now such an one was our Eliot; and for this, wo••thy to be had in everlasting Remembrance.

It would not be improper, under this File to lodge the singular and surprizing successes of his Pr••y rs! for they were such, that in our distresses we still repair'd unto him, under that encourage∣ment, He is a Pr••phet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou stalt Live. I shall single out but one, from the many that might be mentioned. There was a godly Gentleman of Charlstown, one Mr. Foster, who with his Son, was taken Captive by Turkish Enemies Much prayer was employed, both privately and publickly, by the good peo∣ple here, for the Redemption of that Gentle∣man; but we were at last informed, that the

bloody Prince in whose Dominions he was now a Slave, was resolved that in his Life-time no Prisoner should be released; and so the Dis∣tressed Friends of this Prisoner, now concluded, Our Hope is lost! Well upon this, Mr Eliot in some of his next prayers, before a very solemn Congregation, very broadly beg'd, Heavenly Father, work for the Redemption of thy poor Ser∣vant Foster; and if the Prince which detains him will not, as they say, dismiss him as long as himself lives, Lord, we pray thee to kill that cruel Prince; kill him, and glorify thy self upon him. And now, behold the answer. The poor Captived Gen∣tleman quickly Returns to us that had been mourning for him as a lost man, and brings us News, that the Prince which had hitherto held him was come to an untimely Death, by which means he was now set at Liberty. Thus we now know, That a Prophet has been among us!

Part II. Or, Eliot, As a MINISTER.

Article I. His Ministerial Accomplishments.

THe Grace of God, which we have seen so Il∣lustriousl•• Endowing and Adorni••g of our Eliot, as well Qualify'd him for, as Dispos'd him to, the employment wherein he spent about Six Decads of his years; which was, The service of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the ministry of the Gospel. This was the work to which he apply'd him∣self; and he undertook it, I beleeve, with as Right Thoughts of it, and as Good Ends in it, as e∣ver any man in our Da••••s was acted with. He look'd upon the Con••uct of a Church, as a thing no less Dange••ou•• than Important, and attended with so many Difficulties, Temptations, and H••¦miliations, as that nothing but a C••••l from the Son of God, could have encouraged him unto the susception of it He saw that flesh and blood would find it no very pleas••nt thing, to be O∣blig'd u••to the oversight of a Number, that by a solemn Covenan•• should be listed among the Voluntiers of the Lord Jesus Christ; that it was

no easy thing to feed the fouls of such a people and of the Children and the Neighbours which were to be brought into the same Sheepfold with them; to bear their manners with all patience, not being by any of their infirmities discou∣raged from Teaching of them, and from wa••ch∣ing & praying over them; to value them highly as the Flock which God has purch••sed with his own blood, notwithstanding all their miscarriages; and in all to examine the Rule of Scripture for the warrant of whatever shall be done; and to Remember the Day of Judgment, wherein an Ac∣count must be given of all that has been done; having in the mean time no expectation of the Riches & Grandeurs which accompany a world∣ly Domination. It was herewithal his opinion, That (as the great Owen expresses it) notwith∣standing all the countenance that is given to any Church by the publick Ministry, yet whilst we are in this world, those who will faithfully discharge their Duty, as Ministers of the Gospel, shall have need to be prepared for suffering; and it was in a sense of these things that he gave himself up to the sacred Ministry. A Stranger to Regenera••ion can be but poorly Accomplished, for such a Mi∣nistry; and however God may prosper the Ser∣mons of such a man for the advantage of his Church: however the building of the Ark may be help'd on by such Carpenters as perish in the Flood; & the Tyrians may do some work about the Temple, who arrive to no Worship in the Inner-Courts

thereof, and, as Austin Expressed it, a Stone-cutter may convey water into a Garden, without having himself any advantage of it; Nevertheless, the unsanctif••'d Minister, how Gifted, how Able soever he may be, must have it still said unto him, Thou lackest one thing! and that, One Thing, our Eliot had. But the One Thing, was not, All! as indeed, it would not have been, Enough. God furnished him with a good measure of Learning too, which made him capable to, Divide the word aright. He was a most Acute Grammarian; and understood very well, the Languages wh ch God fi st wrote his Holy Bible in. He had a sharp insight into all the other Liberal Arts, and made little Sy••••ems of them, for the use of certain Indians, whose exacter education he was desirous of. But, a∣bove all, he had a most eminent skill in Th••••dog••; and that which profane scoff••rs r••proached as the Disgrace of the blessed A••••••ng all of whose Works always weigh down the p••••rest Gold, was the H••nour of our Eliot, namely to be Scriptura∣••ius Theologus, or, One mighty in the Word; wh••ch enabled him to convince Gainsayers, and on all occasions to show himself, A thorough Divine, and, A Workman that needed not be ashamed.

In short, he came like another B••zaleel, or Aholiab, unto the Service of the Tabernacle. And from one particularity in that part of h••s Learning, which lay in the Affairs of the Taber∣nacle,

it was, that in a little Book of his we have those lines, which for a certain cause I now transcribe; Oh that the Lord would put it (say•• he) into the heart of some of his Religious and Learned Servants, to take such pains about the He∣brew Language, as to fit it for universal Ʋse! Considering, that above all Languages spoken by the lip of Man it is most capable to be enlarged, and fitted to express all things, and motions, and notions, that our humane intellect, is capable of in this mortal life; considering also, that it is the In∣vention of God himself; and what one is fitter to be the universal Language, than that which it plea∣sed our Lord Jesus to make use of, when he spake from Heaven unto Paul!

Article II. His Family-Government.

THe Apostle Paul, reciting and requiring the Qualifications of a Gospel Minister, gives Order, that he be, The Husband of one Wife, and one that ruleth well his own House, having his Children in subjection with all gravity. It seems, that a mans carriage in his own House is a part, or at least a sign, of his due Deportment in the House of God; and then, I am sure, our Eliot's was very Exemplary. That one Wife which

was given to him truly from the Lord, he loved, prized, cherished, with a kindness that notably represented the Compassion which he (thereby) taught his Church to expect from the Lord Je∣sus Christ; and after he had lived with her for more than half an hundred years, he followed her to the Grave with Lamentations beyond those, which the Jews from the figure of a letter in the Text, affirm, that Abraham deplored his aged Sarah with; her Departure made a deeper impression upon him than what any common Affliction could. His whole Conversation with her, had that sweetness, and that gravity and mo∣desty beautifying of it, that every one called them Z••cha••y and Elizabeth. His Family, was a little Bethel, for the Worship of God constant∣ly and exactly maintained in it; and unto the daily prayers of the Family, his manner was to pr••fix the Reading of the Scripture; which be∣ing done, 'twas also his manner to make his young people choose a certain passage in the Chapter, and give him some Observation of their own upon it. By this method he did mightily sharpen and impro••••, as well as try, their Under∣standings, and endeavour to make them wise unto Salvation. He was likewise very strict in the Education of his Children, and more care∣ful to mend any error in their Hearts and Lives, than he could have been to cure a blemish in their Bodies. No Exorbitancies or Extravagan∣••ies could find a room under his Roof, nor was

his House any other than a School of Piety; one might have there seen a perpetual mixture of a Spartan & a Chr••stian D••scipl••ne. Whatever De∣cay there might be upon Family-Religion among us, as for our Eliot, we knew him, that he would command his Children, and his Houshold after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord.

Article III. His way of Preaching.

Such was he in his less••r Family! and in his grea∣ter Family, he manifested still more of his Regards to the rule of a Gospel-minist••y. To his congregation, he was a Preacher that made it is care to give every one their meat in due season. It was Food and not Froth; which in his public ser∣mons, he entertained the souls of his people with, he did not starve them with empty and windy speculations, or with such things as, Animum non dant, quia non habent; much less did he k••ll them with such poison as is now too commoly exposed b•• the Arminian and Socinian Doctors that have lately too often sat in M••ses's chair. His way of preaching was Very plai••: so that the very Lambs might wade, into his Discourses on those texts and themes, wherein Elephants might swim; and herewithal, it was very powerful, his Deli∣very

was always very graceful and grateful; but when he was to use Reproofs and Warnings aga••nst any Sin, his vo••ce would rise into a warmth which had in it very much of Energy as well as Decency; he would brandish the Swords, and sound the T••umpets of God against all Vice, with a most penetrating Liveliness, and make his Pulpit, another Mount Sinai, for the flashes of Lightning therein display'd against the Brea∣ches of the Law given up n that burning Moun∣tain. And, I observed, that there was usually a specia•• Fervour in the R••bukes which he be∣stow'd upon Carnality, a carnal frame and life in Professors of Religion; when he was to brand the Earthly-mind••dness of Church-Mem∣bers, and the Allowance & the Indulgence which they often gave un••o themselves in sensual De∣lights, here he was a right Bodnerges; he then spoke, as 'twas sa••d one of the Ancients did, Quot verba tot Fulmina, as many Thunderbolts as Words.

It was another property of his Preaching, that there was e••ermore much of CHR••ST in it; and with Paul, he could say, I determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ; having that Blessed Name in his D••scourses, with a frequency like that, with wh••ch Paul mentions it in his Epistles. As 'twas noted of Dr. Bodly, that whatever sub∣ject he were upon, in the Application still his Ʋse of it would be, to drive men unto the Lord Jesus Christ; in like manner, the Lord Jesus

Christ was the Loadstone which gave a touch to all the Sermons of our Eliot; a glorious, preci∣ous, lovely Christ was the point of Heaven which they still verged unto. From this Inclination it was, that altho he Printed several English Books before he dy'd, yet his heart seemed not so much in any of them, as in that serious and sa∣voury Book of his Entituled, The Harmony of the Gospels, in the holy History of Jesus Christ. From hence also 'twas, that he would give that Advice to young Preachers, pray let there be much of Christ in your Ministry; and when he had heard a Sermon, which had any special Relish of a blessed Jesus in it, he would say thereupon, O bl••ssed be God, that we have Christ so much and so well preached in poor New England!

Moreover, he lik'd no Preaching, but what had been well-st••died for; and he would very much commend a Sermon which he could per∣ceive had required some good Thinking and Rea∣ding in the Author of it. I have been present, when he has unto a Preach••r then just come home from the Assembly with him, thus expres∣sed himself, Brother, there was Oyl required for the Service of the Sanctuary; but it must be beaten Oyl; I praise God, that I saw your Oyl so well bea∣ten to day; the Lord help us always by good Study to beat out Oyl, that there may be no knots in our Sermons left undissolved, and that there may a clear light be thereby given in the House of God! And yet he likewise look'd for something a Ser∣mon

beside and beyond the meer study of man, he was for having the Spirit of God, breathing in it and with it; and he was for speaking those things, from those impressions and with those Affections, which might compel the Hear∣er to say, The Spirit of God was here! I have heard him complain, It is a sad thing, when a Sermon shall have that one Thing, The Spirit of God, wanting in it.

Article IV. His Cares about the Children of his people.

BUt he Remembred, that he had Lambs in hi•• flock, and like another David he could not en∣dure to see the Lion sieze upon any of them. He always had a mighty concern upon his mind for little Children; 'twas an affectionate stroke in one of the little Papers which he published for them, Sure Christ is not willing to lose ••is Lambs; and I have cause to remember with what an hearty, fervent, zealous Application, he address'd himself, when in the Name of the Neighbour Pastors and Churches he gave me, The Right-hand of Fellowship, at my Ordination, and said, Brother, Art thou a Lover of the Lord Jesus Christ? Then, I pray Feed his Lambs.

One thing whereof he was very desirous for

poor Children, was the Covenanting of them; he was very sollicitous that the Lambs might pass under the Lords ••ything Rod, & be brought under the B••nd of the Covenant. He vey openly and earnestly maintained the cause of Infant-Baptism, against a sort of persons Risen since the Reformation, (among which indeed there are many godly men, that were dear to the Soul of our Eliot) who forget that in the Gospel Church-state as well as in the J••wish, The Pro∣mise is to Believers and their Child en: and are unwilling to reckon Child••en among the Disci∣ples of Jesus Christ: or to grant, That of such is the Kingdom of Heaven: or to know, That the most undoub••ed Records of Antiquity af∣firm Infant Baptism to have been an usage in all the Primitive Churches; That even before the early days of Nazianz n, Chrys••s••om, Basil, A∣thanasius, Epiphanius, in the Greek, and Ambrose Jerom, A••stin, in the Latin Church, all of which give glorious Testimonies for Infant Baptism, even Cyprian, before these assures us that in his days there was no doubt of it; and O••igen be∣fore him could say, 'Twas from the Apostles that the Church took up the Baptism of Infants; and Clemens Romanus before him could say, That Children should be Recipients of the Discipline of Christ; besides what plain evidence we have in Irenaeus and Justin Martyr; and that the very Arguments with which some of the Ancients did superstitiously advise the delay of Baptism,

do at the same time confess the Divine Right of Infants in it. Our Eliot could by no means look upon the Infants of Godly Men, as Ʋnholy, and Ʋnbelievers, and unfit Subjects to have up∣on them a Mark of Dedication to the Lord.

Wherefore, when there was brought among us a Book of pious Mr. Norcot's, whereby some became Disposed to, or Confirmed in, a preju∣dice against Paedo-Baptism, it was not long be∣fore Mr. Eliot published a little Answer there∣unto; the first lines whereof presently discover what a Temper he writ it with; says he, The Book speaks with the voice of a Lamb, and I think the Author is a Godly, though Erring Broth…… but he acts the cause of a Roaring Lion, who by 〈◊〉〈◊〉 crafty ways, seeketh to devour the poor Lambs of the Flock of Christ. And so he goes on to plead the cause of them that cannot speak for them∣selves. No man could entertain a person of a different perswasion from himself, with more sweetness and kindness, than he, when he saw, Aliquid Christi, or the Fear of God prevailing in them; he could uphold a most intimate Cor∣respondence with such a man, as Mr. Jessey, as long as he lived; and yet he knew how to be an Hammer upon their unhappy Errors.

But having once Baptised the Children of his Covenanting Neighbours, he did not as too ma∣ny Ministers do, think, that he had now done with them. No, another thing wherein he was very laborious for poor Children was, the Cate∣chising

of them; he kept the great Ordinance of Catechising, both publickly & privately, & spent a world of time, about the end of the Second Century, before there had in the least begun to Start up New Officers in the Church of God; we and there were persons called unto the Office of Publick Teaching, who were not Pastors, not Ru∣lers, not called unto the Administration of o∣ther Ordinances; those in the Church of Alexa∣andria, were of a special Remark and Renown for their Abilities this way; and their Employ∣ment was to Explain and to Defend the princi∣•••••• of the Christian Religion, unto all with ••••e ••om they could be concerned. Here was the Catechist, with reference unto whom the Apostle says, Let the Catechised communicate unto him in all good things. Now, tho' some think, a Teach∣er purely as such, hath no Right unto further Church Administrations, any more than the Rabby's or Doctors among the Jews, had to Of∣fer Sacrifices in the Temple; yet he who is called to be a Tea••her, may at the same time also be called to be an Elder, and being now a Teaching Elder, he becomes interested in the whole Go∣vernment of the Church, he has the power of all Sacred Administrations. 'Tis the latter and more compleat and perfect character, which the Churches of New-England have still acknow∣ledged in their Teachers; and such a Teaching Elder did our Eliot remember himself to be. He thought himself under a particular Obliga∣tion to be that Officer, which the Apostle calls in

1 Cor. 4.15. An Instructor of the young; no•• was he ashamed, any more than some of th•• worthiest men among the Ancients were, to b•• called, A Catechist. He would observe upon Joh. 21.15 That, the care of the Lambs, ••••onet hird part of the charge over the Church of God. ••t would be incredible if I should relate what pains he took to keep up the blessed Eccho's of Truth, be∣tween himself, and the young people of his Congregation; and what prudence he used, in suiting of his C••techisms to the age and strength of his little C••techumens. But one thing I must observe, which is, That altho' there may be, (as one has computed) no less than five hun¦dred Catecoisms extant, yet Mr. Eliot gave him¦self the Travail of adding to their number, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 composing of some further. Catechisms, whic•• were more particularly designed as an Antido•• for his own people, against the Contagion o•• such Errors as might threaten any peculiar dan∣ger to them. And the effect and success of this Catechising, bore proportion to the indefatiga••¦ble industry with which he prosecuted it; it 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a well-principled people that he has left behin•• him. As when certain Jesui••s were sent amo••g the Waldenses to corrupt their Children, they returned with much Disappointment and Con∣fusion, because the Children of seven years old, were well-principled enough to Encounter the most Learned of them all; so, if any Seducers were let loose to wolve it among the good peo∣ple

of Roxbury, I am confident, they would find as little prey in that well-instructed place, as in any part of all the Countrey; no civil Penal∣ties would signify so much to save any people from the Snares of buisy Hereticks, as the un∣wearied Catechising of one Eliot has done to preserve his people from the gangren of ill opi∣nions.

There is a third instance of his Regards to the welfare of the poor Children under his charge; and that is, his perpetual Resolution and Activity to support a good School in the Town that belong'd unto him. A Grammar School he would always have, upon the place, whatever it cost him; and he importun'd all other places to have the like. I can't forget the Ardour with which I once heard him pray, in a Synod of these Churches, which met at Bo∣ston to consider, How the miscarriages which were among us might be prevented; I say, with what Fervour he uttered an Expression to this pur∣pose, Lord, for Schools every where among us! That our Schools may flourish! That every Member of this Assembly may go home and procure a good School to be encouraged in the Town where he lives! that before we dy, we may be so happy as to see a good School encouraged in every Plantation of the Country. God so blessed his Endeavours, that Roxbury could not live quietly without a Free School in the Town; and the issue of it has bin one thing, which has made me almost put the

Title of Schola Illustris upon that little Nurse∣ry; that is, that Roxbury has afforded more Scholars, first for the Colledge, and then for the Publick, than any Town of its bigness, or, if I mistake not, of twice its bigness in all New-En∣gland. From the Spring of the School at Rox∣bury, there have run a large number of the streams, which have made glad this whole City of God. I perswade my self, that the good people of Roxbury, will for-ever scorn to begrutch the Cost, or to permit the Death, of a School which God has made such an honour to them; and this the rather, because their Deceased Eliot has left them a fair part of his own Estate, for the maintaing of the School in Roxbury; and I hope, or at least, I wish, that the Ministers of New-England may be as ungainsayably impor∣tunate with their people, as Mr. Eliot was with his, for Schools which may seasonably tinge the young Souls of the Rising Generation. A want of Education for them, is the blackest and sad∣dest of all the bad Omens that are upon us.

Article V. His Church-Discipline.

IT yet more Endears unto us the Memory of our Eliot, that he was not only an Evangeli∣cal Minister, but also a true New-English one;

he was a Protestant, and a Puritan, and one ve∣ry full of that Spirit which acted the first Plan∣ters of this Country, in their peaceable Secession from the unwarrantable things elsewhere im∣pos'd upon their Consciences. The Judgment and Practice of one that readily underwent all the misery attending the Infancy of this Plan∣tation, for the sake of a true Church-order, is a thing which we young people should count worthy to be enq••ired after; and since we saw him so well behaving himself in the House of God, it cannot but be worth while to know what he thought about the Frame, and Form, and Con∣stitution of that blessed House.

He was a modest, humble, but very reasonable N••n conformist un••o the Ceremonies, which have bin such unhappy Apples of strife, in the Church of England; otherwise the dismal thickets of America, had ne••er seen such a person in them. He could not count it lawful for him ordinarily to perform his Ministerial Acts of solemn and public Prayer, by reading or using any Forms of Prayer composed by other persons for him, as thousands of Preachers do at this day. And th••s, not only because an Ab••lity to express the case of a Con∣gregation in prayer, is a Ministerihl Gift, which our Lord forbids his Ministers to Neglect; and a Minister that should only Read Forms of Ser∣mons composed for him, would as truly dis∣charge the Duty of Preaching, as one that sh•••• only read such Forms of prayers, would the dut•• of praying in it; but also because he could no•• find that any Forms of prayer were used in an••

part of the Church, until about four hundred years after Christ; nor any made for more than some single Province until s••x hundred years; nor any imposed until eight hundred, when all manner of Abominable Things began to be found in the Temple of God; and he had over and a∣bove, his particulrr Dissatisfactions at the En∣glish Liturgy, for weighty causes rather increa∣sed than abated since his first notice of them. He could not wear a Surplice in and for the Worship of God; as well-knowing the Original of that unholy Vestment, and agreeing with Dr. Abbot; who was no Fanatick, and yet says in his Book of Antichrist, That all Priestly Gar∣ments, whereby Ministers are distinguished, from the rest of the Church, are a special part of the cha∣racter of the Beast. He could not use the Cross in Baptism; forasmuch as Dr. Taylor himself con¦fesses, 'tis An Ʋninstituted Ceremony retained as a part of External Worship; and so 'tis as much a violatiion of the Second Commandment in the Law of our God, as the oyl, cream, salt and spit••le, with which that Institution has been de∣filed by the Roman Catholicks. Indeed, he thought with Learned Parker, That the Cross is the greatest Devil among the Idols of Rome. He could not Kneel before the Eucharist; inasmuch as it was a usage introduced about the thirteenth Century, meerly to suit and serve the Idolatry of the Transubstantiation. He conceived, that no protestation of ours could now free this ge∣sture

from the just interpretation of Idolatry, because of the antecedent interpretation put upon it by those that first contrived it, enjoyned it, and have hitherto maintained it; and it affrighted him to read what the Popish Writers assert about Kneeling, if the Sacramental Bread remain Bread after the Consecration. He could not under∣stand a Bishop that should not be ejusdem Juris∣dictionis, and much less one that should not be ejusdem Ordinis with a Presbyter; and when he saw the Clergy of a whole Nation at length & of late so much Annihilate themselves, as to Subscribe unto Canons which took away from every Parish-Minister, all Obligation to teach, or Authority to rule, in the Church of God, he soon said upon it, Ʋnto their Assembly, mine Ho∣nour, be not thou Ʋnited.

It afflicted him to see these, and more such as these, things continued in the Church of England, by the Artifice of certain persons who were loth to have the Refomation carried on unto those further Degrees which the most eminent of the first Reformers had in their Holy Designs; and it fill'd him with a just Horrour, and sorrow! to see above twenty Hundred faithful Ministers in one Black Day turned out of their employ∣ments, and several Thousands of Christians and Families in a little while Ruined, because they could not swallow down such unaccountable superstitions.

We see what was not his opinion! but let us hear,

what it was. It was his as well as his master, the great Ramus ••s principle, that in the Reformati••e of Churches to be now endeavoured things ought to be Reduced unto the Order wherein we find them at t••eir Primitive, Original, Apostolical Institution. And in pursuance of this principle, he Justly Espou∣sed that way of Church-Government which we call, the Congregational; he was fully perswaded, that the Church-state which our Lord Christ hath instituted in the New Testament, is, In a Congregation or Society of Professed Believers, A∣greeing and Assembling together, among themselves, with Officers, of Divine Appointment, for the Cele∣bration of Evangelical Ordinances, and their own mutual Edification; For he saw it must be a cru∣el hardship used upon the Scriptures, to make them so much as Lisp the least intimation of any other Church-state prescrib d unto us; and he could assert, That no Approved Writers, for the space of two hundred years after Christ, make any mention of any other Organical, V••sible, Pro∣fessing Church, but that onely which is Congrega∣tional. He look'd upon the Congregational way as a Largess of Divine Bounty bestow'd by the Lord Jesus, on his people, that follow'd him into this Wilderness, with a peculiar zeal for Communion with him, in his pure Worship here. He perceived in it, a sweet sort of Tem∣perament, between Rigid Presbyterianism, and Levelling Brownism; So that on the one side, the Liberties of the people are not oppressed and

overlaid; on the other side, the Authority of the Elders is not rendred insignificant, but a d••ie Ballance is herein kept upon them both; And hence he closed with our platform of Church-Discipline, as being the nearest of what he had yet seen, to the pattern in the Mount.

He could not comprehend, that this Church-state can arise from any other Formal cause, But the Consent, Conc••rrence, Confederation of those concerned in it; he looked upon a Re∣lation unto a Church, as not a Natural, or a Vi∣olent, but a Voluntary thing, and so that it is to be entred no otherwise than by an Holy Cove∣nant, or, as the Scripture speaks, by giving our selves first unto the Lo••d, and then one unto ano∣ther. He could not think, that Baptism alone was to be accounted the cause, but rather the effect, of Church-member-ship; inasmuch as up∣on the dissolution of the Church to which a man belongs, his Baptism would not become a Nullity: nor that meer •• rof ssum would render men members of this or that Church; for then it would be impossible to cut off a corrupt mem∣ber from that Body Politic: Nor that meer Co-habitation would make Church-members; for then the vilest infidels would be actually incor∣porated with us And a Covenant, was all that he now saw remaining in the Inventory.

But for the Subjects to be admitted by Chur∣ches unto all the priviledges of this Fellowship

with them he thought, they ought to be such as a trying Charity, or a charitable Tryal, should pronounce, Regenerate. He found the first Chur∣ches of the Gospel mentioned in the Scripture, to be Churches of Saints; and that the Apostles writing to them, still acknowledge them to be Holy Brethren, and such as were made meet for to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light; and that a main end of Church-fel∣lowship, is to represent unto the world, the Qualifications of those that shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, and Stand in his Holy Place forever. He would therefore have, Bona Mens, and Purum pectus, and Ʋita Innocens, requi∣red, as Lactantius tells us, they were in his Dayes, of all Communicants at the Table of the Lord; and with Holy Chrysostom, he would sooner have given his Heart-blood, than, the Cup of the Lord, unto such as had not the hopeful Marks of our Lord's Disciples on them. The Churches of New-England still retain a Cus∣tom which the great Justin Martyr in the second Century assures us to have been in the Primitive Churches of his Time; namely, To Examine those they Receive, not only about their perswasion, but also whether they have attained unto a work of Grace upon their Souls. In the prosecution here∣of, besides the Enquiries of the Elders into the Knowledge and Belief and Conversation of them that offer themselves unto Church-fellowship, it is expected, tho' I hope not with any severity

of imposition, that in the Addresses which the•• make to the Churches, they give some written, if not oral Account, of what impressions the Re∣generating Word of God has had upon their Souls. This was a Custum which this holy man had a marvellous esteem and value for; and I have taken from his Mouth such as these Ex∣pressions very publickly delivered thereabouts.

It is matter (said he) of great Thankfulness, that we have Christ Confessed in our Churches, by such as we Receive to full Communion there. They open the works of Christ in their Hearts, and the Relation thereof is an emin∣ent Confession of our Lord; experienced Saints can gather more than a little from it. It is in∣deed an Ordinance of wonderful benefit; the Lord planted many Vineyards in the first Set∣tlement of this Countrey, and there were ma- Noble Vines in them; it was their Heavenly-mindedness which dispos'd them to this Exercise, and by the upholding of it, the Churches are still filled with Noble Vines; it mightily main∣tains purity of Churches. 'Tis the duty of e∣very Christian, With the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation. As among the Jews, usu∣ally most men did once in their life, celebrate a Jubilee; thus, this Confession of Christ, is me∣thinks, a sort of Jubilee; and every good man among us, is at least once in his life call'd unto it. It is a thing that gives great glory to the Lord Jesus Christ; and younger Converts are

thereby exceedingly Ed••fy'd; and the Souls of Devout Christians are hereby very much ingra∣tiated one unto another. The Devil knows what he does, when he thrusts so hard to get this Custom out of our Churches. For my part, I would say in this case, Get thee behind me Satan; thou givest an horrible offence unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us keep up this Ordinance with all gentleness; and where we see the least spark of Grace held forth, let us prize it more than all the Wit in the world.

There were especially two things, which he was loth to see, and yet fear'd he saw, falling in the Churches of New-England. One was, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 thorough Establishment of Ruling-Elders in our Churches; which he thought sufficiently warranted by the Apostles mention of, Elders that Rule well, who yet labour not in Word and Do∣ctrine. He was very desirous to have prudent and gracious men set over our Churches, for the Assistence of their Pastors, in the Church acts that concern the Admission and Excl•• s••n of Members, and the Inspection of the Conversation led by the Communicants, and the Instruction of their several Families, and the Visitation of the Afflicted in the Flock over which they should preside. Such Helps in Government had he him∣self been blessed withal; the last of which was the well-deserving Elder Bowles; and of him, did this good man, in a Speech to a Synod of all the Churches in this Colony, take occasion to

say, There is my Brother Bowles, the godly Elder of our Church at Roxbury, God helps him to do great things among us! Had all our Pastors been so well accommodated, it is possible there would be more encouragement given to such an Office as that of Ruling Elders.

But the mention of a Synod brings to mind a∣nother thing, which he was Concerned, that we might never want; and that is, a frequent Re∣petition of Needful Synods in our Churches. For tho' he had a deep and a due care to preserve the Rights of particular Churches, yet he thought all the Churches of the Lord Jesus by their Ʋnion in what they profess, in what they in∣tend, and in what they enioy, so compacted into one Body Mystical, as that all the several par∣ticular Churches every where should act with a regard unto the good of the whole, and unto the common Advice and Counsil of the Neighbourhood; which cannot be done al∣ways by Letters missive, like those that passed between Corinth and Rome in the early dayes of Christianity; but it requires a Convention of the Churches in Synods, by their Delegates and Messengers. He did not count Churches to be so Independent, as that they can always discharge their whole Duty, and yet not act in a conjunc∣tion with Neighbour-Churches; nor would he be of any Church that will not acknowledge it self accountable to rightly composed Synods, which may have occasion to enquire into the

circumstances of it; he saw the main Interest and Business of Churches might quickly come to be utterly lost, if Synods were not often called for the Repairing of Inconveniences, and he was much in contriving for the regular and re∣peated meeting of such Assemblies.

He wish'd for Councils to suppress all dam∣nable Heresies or pernicious Opinions that might ever arise among us; for Councils to extinguish all dangerous Divisions, & scandalous Contentions which might ever begin to flame in our Borders; for Councils to rectify all Male-Administrations in the midst of us, or to Recover any particular Churches out of any Disorders which they may be plung'd into, for Councils to enquire into the Love, the Peace, the Holiness ma••ntained by the several Churches; in fine, for Councils to send forth fit Labourers into those parts of our Lords Harvest; which are without the Gospel of God. He be∣held an Apostolical Precept and Pattern for such Councils; and when such Councils convened in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the consent of several Churches concerned in mutual Communion, have Declared, Explained, Recom∣mended the mind of God from his word unto us, he reckoned a truth so delivered, challenged an Observation from the particular Churches, with a very great Authority.

He therefore Printed an ingenious little Book wearing this Title, The Divine Management of

Gospel-Churches by the Ordinance of Councils, con∣stituted in order according to the Scriptures, which may be a means of uniting those two holy and emi∣nent Parties, the Presbyterians, & the Congrega∣tional. It is a remarkable Concession made by the Incomparable Jurieu who is not reckoned a Con∣gregational man, in his Traite de L'Ʋnite de L'Eglise, That the Apostolical Churches lived not in any Confederation for mutual Dependence. The grand Equipage of Metropolitans, of Primates, of Exarchs, of Patriarks, was yet unknown; nor does it any more appear to us, that the Churches then had their Provincial, National, and Oecumenical Synods; e∣very Church was its own Mistress, and independent on any other. But on the other side, our Eliot, who was no Presbyterian, conceived Synods to be the Institutions of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostolical Churches themselves acknowledging a Stamp of Divine Right upon them.

Such as these were the sentiments of our Eliot; & his deserved Reputation in the Church∣es of New-England, is that which has caused me to foresee some Advantage and Benefit ari∣sing unto the concerns of the Gospel, by so large a Recitation as I have now made thereof.

The Reader has now seen, An able Minister of the New-Testament.

Part III. Or, Eliot as an Evangelist.

THe Titles of a Christian and of a Minister, have rendred our Eliot considerable; but there is one memorable Title more, by which he has been signalized unto us. An honoura∣ble person did once in Print put the Name of an Evangelist upon him; whereupon in a Let∣ter of his to that person afterwards Printed, his Expressions were,

There is a Redundancy, where you put the Title of Evangelist upon me; I beseech you to suppress all such thing•• let us do and speak and carry all things with Humility; it is the Lord who hath done what is done; and it is most becoming the Spirit of Jesus Christ to lift up him, and say our∣selves low; I wish that word could be oblitera∣ted.

My Reader sees what a caution Mr. E∣liot long-since entred against our giving him the Title of an Evangelist; but his Death has now made it safe, as his Life had long made it just, for us to acknowledge him with such a Title. I know not whether that of an Evan∣gelist, or one separated for the employment of Preaching the Gospel in such places where no

Churches have hitherto been gathered, be not an Office that should be continued in our days; but this I know, that our Eliot very notably did the Service and Business of such an Officer.

¶ The Natives of the Countrey now Pos∣sessed by the New-Englanders, had been forlorn and wretched Heathen ever since their first herd∣ing here; and tho we know not When or How those Indians first became Inhabitants of this mighty Continent, yet we may guess that prob••∣bly, the Divel decoy'd those miserable Salvages hither, in hopes that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus would never come here to destroy or dis∣turb his Absolute-Empire over them. But our Eliot was in such ill terms with the Divel, as to alarm him with sounding the Silver-Trum∣p••ts of Heaven in his Territories, and make some Noble and Zealous Attempts towards out∣ing him of his Ancient possessions here. Just before the first Arrival of the English in these parts, a prodigious Mortality had swept away vast Numbers of the poor Indians; and those Pagans who being told by a Shipwrack'd French∣man which dy'd in their hands, That God would shortly extirpate them, and introduce a more civil and worthy people into their place, blasphe∣mously reply'd, That God could not kill them; were quickly kill'd with such a raging and wast∣ing Pe••tilence, as left the very earth covered with their Carcases. Nevertheless, there were, I think, Twenty several Nations (if I may call them so) of Indians upon that spot of ground,

which fell under the Influence of our Three Ʋni∣••••d Colonies; and our Eliot was willing to rescue as many of them as he could, from that old usurping Land-Lord of America, who is by the wrath of God, the Prince of this world.

I cannot find that any besides the Holy Spi∣rit of God, first moved him to the blessed Work of Evangelizing these perishing Indians; 'twas that Holy Spirit which laid before his mind the Idaea of that which is now on the Seal of the Massachuset-Colony; A poor Indian having a Label going from his mouth, with a, COME OVER AND HELP US. It was the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, which enkind∣led in him a Pitty, for the dark dying, damning souls of these Natives, whom the god of this world had blinded, through all the By past Ages. He was none of those that make, The Salvation of the Heathen, an Article of their Creed; b••t (setting aside the unrevealed and extraordinary Steps which the Holy One of Israel may take out of His usual Pathes) he thought men to be lost if our Gospel be hidden from them; and he was of the same Opinion with one of the Ancients, who said, Some have endeavoured to prove Plato a Christian, till they prove themselves little better than Heathen. It is indeed a principle in the Turkish Alcoran, That Let a man's Religi••n be what it will, he shall be saved, if he conscientiously live up to the Rules of it: but our Eliot was no Mahometan. He could most heartily subscribe

to that passage in the Articles of the Ch. of Eng••.

They are to be held accursed, who presume to say, that every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be dili∣gent to frame his life according to that Law, ••nd Light of Nature; For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us, Only the Name of Je∣sus Christ, whereby men must be Saved.

And it astonished him to see many dissembling Subscribers of those Articles, while they have grown up to such a Phrensy, as to deny peremp∣torily all Church-state, and all Salvation to all that are not under Diocesan Bishops, yet at the same time to grant that the Heathen might be saved without the Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. No, it very powerfully moved his holy Bowels, to hear the Thunderclapps of that Imprecation over the heads of our Naked Indians, Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not; and thought he, What shall I do to rescue these Heathen from that all-devouring Fury?

But when this Charitable pitty had once begun to flame, there was a concurrence of ma∣ny things to cast Oyl into it. All the good men in the Country were glad of his Engage∣ment in such an undertaking; the Ministers es∣pecially encouraged him, and those in the Neigh∣bourhood kindly supply'd his place, and per∣form'd his work, in part, for him at Roxbury, ••hile he was Abroad Labouring among them

that were Without. Hereunto, he was further ••wakened by those expressions in the Royal Char∣ter, in the assurance and protection whereof this Wilderness was first peopled; namely, To win and incite the Natives of that Country to the know∣ledge and Obedience of the only true God and Savi∣our of Mankind, and the Christian Faith, in our Royal Intention, and the Adventurers free profession is the principal end of the Plantation. And the remarkable zeal of the Romish Missionaries, com∣passing Sea and Land that they might make Prose∣lytes, made his devout Soul think of it with a further Disdain, that we should come any whit behind in our care to Evangelize the Indians, whom we dwelt among. Lastly, when he had well begun this Evangelical Business, the good God, in an answer to his Prayers, mercifully stirred up a liberal Contribution among the god∣ly people in England for the promoting of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by means whereof, a considerable Estate and Income was at length entrusted in the hands of an Honourable Corporation, by whom 'tis to this Day very carefully employ'd in the Christi∣an Service, which it was designed for. And then, in short; inasmuch as our Lord Jesus had bestow'd on us, our Eliot was gratefully and ge∣nerously desirous to obtain for him, The Heathen for an Inheritance, and the utmost parts of the Earth for a Possession.

The exemplary Charity of this excellent per∣son in this important Affair, will not be seen in

its due Lustre, unless we make some Reflections upon several circumstances which he behold these forlorn Indians in. Know then, that these doleful Creatures are the veriest Ruines of Mankind, vvhich are to be found any vvhere upon the face of the Earth. No such Estates are to be expected among them, as have been the B••••••s which the pretended Converters in o∣ther Countries ha••e snapped at. One might see among them, what an hard master the De∣vil is, to the most devoted of his Vassals! These abject Creatures, live in a Country full of Mines; we have already made entrance up∣on out Iron; and in the very surface of the ground among us, there lies Coper enough to suppl•• all this world; besides other Mines hereafter to be exposed; but our shiftless Indi∣ans were never Owners of so much as a Knife, till we come among them; their name for an English man, was a Knife man; Stone was in∣stead of Metal for their tools; and for their Coins, they have only little Beads with Holes in them to string them upon a bracelet, whereof some are white; and of these there go six for a penny; some are black or blew; and of these, go three for a penny; this Wampam, as they call it, is made of the Shell-fish, which lies upon the Sea-Coast continually.

They Live in a Country, where we now have all the conveniences of humane life: but as for them, their housing is nothing but a few w••••ts ••••'d

about poles fastened in the earth, where a good fire is their Bed-Clothes in the coldest seasons; their Clothing is but a skin of a Beast, Covering their Hind-parts, their Fore-parts having but a litle Apron where Nature calls for secrecy; their diet has not a greater dainty than their Nokehick, that is, a spoonful of their parch'd meal, with a spoonful of water, which will strengthen them to travel a day together; except we should mention the Flesh of Deers Bears, Mouse, Rackoons, and the like, which they have when they can catch them; as also a little fish, which if they would preserve 'twas by drying, not by salting; for they had not a grain of Salt, in the world, I think, till we bestow'd it on them. Their Physick is, excepting a few odd Specificks, which some of them Encounter certain cases with, nothing hardly, but an Hot-house, or a Powaw; their Hot-House is a little cave about eight foot over, where after they have terribly heated it, a crue of them go sit and sweat and smoke for an hour together, and then imme∣diately run into some very cold adjacent brook, without the least mischief to them; 'tis this why they recover themselves from some Di∣seases, particularly from the French; but in most of their dangerous Distempers, 'tis a Powaw that must be sent for; that is, a Priest, who has more Familiarity with Satan then his Neighbours; this Conjurer comes and Roars, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Howls, and uses Magical Ceremonies over

the Sick man, and will be well payd for it when he has done; if this don't effect the cure, the mans Time is come, and ther's an end.

They live in a Countrey, full of the best Ship-Timber under Heaven: but never, saw a Ship till some came from Europe hither; and then they were scar'd out of their wits, to see the Monster come sailing in, and spitting fire with a mighty noise, out of her floating side; they cross the water, in Canoo's, made sometimes of Trees which they burn and hew, till they have ••ollow'd them; and sometimes of Barks, which they stitch into a light fort of a Vessel, to be ••asily carried over land; if they over-sett, it is but a little paddling like a dog, and they are soon where they were.

Their way of living, is infinitely Barbarous: the men are most abominably sloathful; making their poor Sqaws, or wives, to plant, and dress, and barn, and beat there Corn, and Build their Wigwains for them; which perhaps may be the reason of their extraordinary ease in Child∣birth. In the mean time, their chief employ∣ment, when they'l condescend unto any, is that of Hunting; wherein they'l go out some scores, if not Hundreds of them in a company, driving all before them.

They contnue in a place, till they have burnt up all the Wood thereabouts, and then they pluck up Stakes; to follow the Wood, which they cannot fetch home unto themselves; hence when

they enq••ire about the English, Way come th•• ••ither they have themselves very Learnedly determined the case, I was because we wanted ••••∣ring. No Arts are understood among them, unless iust so far as to maintain their Brutish Conversation, wh ch is little more than is to be found among the very Bevers upon our Streams.

Their Division of Time is by Sleeps, and Moons, and Winters; and by lodging abroad, they have somwhat observed the motions of the Stars; among which it has been surprising unto me to find, that they have always call'd Charles••s Wain by the name of Paukunnawaw, or T••e Bear, which is the name whereby Europeans 〈◊〉〈◊〉 have distinguished it. Moreover, they have little 〈◊〉〈◊〉 any Traditions among them worthy of our no∣tice; and Reading and Writing is altogether un∣known to them, tho' there is a Rock or two in the Country that has unaccountable Chara∣cters Engrav'd upon it. All the Religion they have amounts unto thus much; they beleive, that there are many Gods, who made and own the several Nations of the world; of which a certain Great God in the South-west Regions of Heaven bears the greatest Figure. They beleive, that every remarkable Creature has a peculiar God within it, or about it: there 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with them, a Sun-God, a Moon-god, and the lik•• and they cannot conceive but that the fire mu•••• be a kind of a God, inasmuch as a Spark of it

will soon produce very strange effects. They believe that when any good or ill happens to them, there is the favour or the anger of a God expressed in it; and hence as in a time of Cala∣mity they keep a Dance, or a day of extrava∣gant ridiculous Devotions to their God, so in a time of Prosperity they likewise have a Feast, wherein they also make presents one unto ano∣ther. Finally, they beleive, that their cheef God Kautantowit, made a man and woman of a Stone; which, upon dislike, he broke to pieces, and made another man and woman of a Tree, which were the Fountains of all Mankind; and, that we all have in us immortal Souls, which, if we were godly, shall go to a splendid Entertain∣ment with Kautantowit, but otherwise, must wander about in a restless Horror for-ever. But if you say to them any thing of a Resur∣rection, they will reply upon you, I shall never believe it! And when they have any weighty undertaking before them, 'tis an usual thing for them to have their Assemblies, wherein af∣ter the usage of some Diabolical Rites, a Devil appears unto them; to inform them and advise them about their circumstances; and sometimes there are odd Events of their making these Applications to the Devil. For instance, 'tis particularly affirmed, That the Indians in their Wars with us, finding a sore inconvenience by our D••gs, which would make a sad yelling if in the Night they scented the approaches of them,

they sacrificed a Dog to the Devil; after whic•• no English Dog would bark at an Indian fo•• divers months ensuing. This was the misera∣ble people, which our Eliot propounded unto himself, the saving of! And he had a double work incumbent on him; he was to make Men of them, ere he could hope to see them Saints; they must be civilized er'e they could be Chri∣stianized; he could not, as Gregory once of our Nation, see any thing Angelical to bespeak his Labours for their eternal Welfare; all among them was Diabolical. To think on Raising a number of these hideous Creatures, unto the Elevations of our Holy Religion, must argu•• more than common or little Sentiments in the Undertaker; but the Faith of an Eliot could encounter it!

I confess, there was one, I cannot call it so much guess as wish, wherein he was willing a little to indulge himself; and that was, T•••••• our Indians are the posterity of the dispe••sed and rejected Israelites, concerning whom our God has promised that they shall yet be saved, by the ••e∣liverer coming to turn away ungodliness, from them. He saw the Indians using many Parables in their Discourses; much given to Anointing of their Heads; much delighted in Dancing, especially after Victories; computing their Times by Nights and Months; giving Dowries for Wives, and causing their Women to dwell by themselves, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 certain seasons, for secret causes; and ac∣customing

customing themselves to grievous Mournings & Yellings for the Dead; all which were, usual things among the Israelites. They have too a great unkindness for our Swine; but I suppose that is because our H••gs devour the Clams which are a Dainty with them. He also saw some learned men, looking for the lost Israelites a∣mong the Indians in America, and counting that they had Thorow-good reasons for doing so. And a few small Arguments, or indeed but Con∣jectures, meeting with a favourable Disposition in the Hearer, will carry some conviction with them; especially, if a Report of a Menasseh ben Israel be to back them. He saw likewise the Judgments threatned unto the Israelites of old, ••trangly fulfilled upon our Indians; particularly that, Ye shal eat the flesh of your Sons, which is done with exquisite Cruelties upon the Prisoners that they take from one another in their Battels. Moreover, 'tis a Prophesy in Deut. 28.68. The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with Ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again; and there shall ye be sold unto your Enemies, and no man shall buy you. This did out Eliot imagine accomplished, when the Captives taken by us in our late wars upon them, were sent to be sold, in the Coasts lying not very remote from Egypt on the Me∣diterranean Sea, and scarce any Chapmen would offer to take them off. Being upon such as these accounts not unwilling, if it were possible, to

have, the Indians found Israelites, they were you may be sure, not a whit the less, Beloved for their (supposed) Fathers sake; and the Fa∣tigues of his Travails went on the more chear∣fully, or at least, the more hopefully, because of such possibilities.

The First step which he judg'd Necessary now to be taken by him, was to learn the Indian-language; for he saw them so stupid and senseless that they would never do so much as enquire after the Religion of the strangers now come into their Country, much less would they so far imitate us as to leave off their beastly way of living, that they might be par∣takers of any Spiritual Advantage by us: un∣less we could first address them in a Language of their own. Behold, new difficulties to be surmounted by our indefatigable Eliot! He hires a Native to teach him this exotick lan∣guage, and with a laborious care and skill, reduces it into a Grammar which afterwards he published. There is a Letter or two of our Alphabet, which the Indians never had in theirs; tho there were enough of the Dog in their Temper, there can scarce be found an R in their language; save that the Indians to the Northward, who have a peculiar Dialect, pro∣nounce an R where an N is pronounced by our Indians; but if their Alphabet be short, I am sure the words composed of it are long enough to tire the patience of any scholar in the

world; they are Sesquipedalia Verba which their Linguo is composed of; one would think, they had been growing ever since Babel, unto the Dimentions to which they are now extended. For instance, if my Reader will count how many Letters there are in this one word, Nummatchekodtantamooong anunnonash, when he has done, for his reward I'le tell him, it signifies no more in English than, our Lusts; and if I were to translate, our Loves, it must be nothing shorter than, Noowoman∣tammoo••nkanunonnash. Nor do we find in all this Language the least Affinity to, or Deriva∣tion from, any Europae••n speech that we are acquainted with. I know not what thoughts it will produce in my Reader, when I inform him, that once finding that the Daemons in a possessed young woman, whereof I have here∣tofore given the world some account, under∣stood the Latin and Greek and H brew Lan∣guages, my curiosity led me to make trial of this Indian language, and the Demons did seem as if they did not understand it. This te∣dious language our Elio•• quickly became a master of; he employ'd a pregnant and wit∣ty Indian, who also spoke English well, for his assistance in it; and compiling some discourses by his help, he would single out a Word, a Noun, a Verb, and pursue it thro all its variati∣ons: having finished his grammar, at the Close he writes, Prayers and Pains thro Faith in Christ

Jesus will do any thing! and being by his Prayers & Pains thus furnished, he set himself in the Year 1646, to preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, among these Desolate outcasts.

¶ It remains, that I lay before the world, the Remarkable Conduct and Success of this Famous Man, in his great Affayr; and I shall endeavour, to do it, by Englishing and Re∣p••inting a letter, sent a while since by my Fa∣ther, unto his Learned and Renoun'd correspon∣dent, the Venerable Dr. Leusden at Ʋtrecht: which letter has already been published, if I mistake not, in Four or Five divers Lan∣guages. I find it particularly published, by the most Excellent Jurieu, at the end of a Pas••oral Letter; and this Refliecton then worthily made upon it, Cette Lettre doit apporter une ••res gran∣de Consolation, a toutes les bonnes ames, qui sont altereos de Justice, & qui sont enflammees d•• ••••le de la gloire de Dieu. I therefore perswade my self that the Republication of it will not ••e un∣grateful unto many good Souls in our Nation, who have a due thirst and zeal for such things as are mention'd in it; and when that is done, I shall presume to make some Ann••tations for the illustration of sundry memorable things therein Pointed at.

A LETTER Concerning the Succefs of the Gospel, amongst the INDIANS in New-England. Written by Mr. Increase Mather, Minister of the Word of God at Boston, and Rector of the Colledge at Cambridge in New-England, to Dr. John Leusden, Hebrew Professor in the University of Ʋtrecht.

Translated out of Latin into English.

Worthy and much Honoured Sir,

YOur Leters were very grateful to me, (a) by which I understand that you and others in your famous University of Ʋtrecht desire to be informed concerning the converted Indians in America: Take therefore a true Account of them in a few words.

It is above forty Years since that truly godly Man, Mr. John Elliot, Pastour of the Church at Rocksborough, (about a mile from Boston in New-England) being warmed with a holy Zeal of Converting the Americans, set himself to

learn the Indian Tongue, that he might more easily and successfully (b) open to them the Mysteries of the Gospel; upon account of which he has been (and not undeservedly) called, The Apostle of the American Indians. This Reverend Person, not without very great labour, Tran∣slated the whole Bible into the Indian Tongue; (c) he Translated also several English Treatises of Practical Divinity and Catechisms into their Language. Above 26 Years agoe he gathered a Church of Converted Indians in a Town called (d) Natick; these Indians confess'd their sins with Tears, and professed their Faith in Christ, and afterwards they and their Children were Bap∣tized, and they were solemnly joyned together in a Church-Covenant; the said Mr. Eliot was the first that Administred the Lords Supper to them. The Pastor of that Church now is an Indian, his Name is Daniel. Besides this Church at Natick, among our Inhabitants in the Massa∣chusets Colony there are four Indian Assemblies, (e) where the Name of the true God and Jesus Christ is solemnly called upon; these Assemblies have some American Preachers. Mr. Eliot former∣ly used to Preach to them once every fortnight, but now he is weakned with Labours and Old-age, being in the Eighty fourth Year of his Age, and Preacheth not to the Indians oftner than once in two Months.

There is another Church, consisting only of Converted Indians, about fifty Miles from hence

in an Indian Town called Mashippaug: the first Pastor of that Church was an English Man, who being skilfull in the American Language, Preach∣ed the Gospel to them in their own Tongue. (f) This English Pastor is dead, and instead of him that Church has an Indian Preacher.

There are besides that, five Assemblies of Indians profess••ng the Name of Christ, not far distant from Mashippa••g, which have Indian Preachers: (g) John C••••ton, Pastor of the Church at Plymouth (Son of my venerable Fa••her-in-Law John Cotton, formerly the famous Teacher of the Church at B ston) hath made very great progress in learning the Indian Tongue, and is very skifull in it; he Preaches in their own Lan∣guage to the last five mentioned Congregations every Week. Moreover of the Inhabitants of Sacones in Plymo••th Colony there is a great Con∣gregation of those who for distinction sake are called Praying Indians, because they Pray to God in Christ

Not far from a promontory called Cape ••od, there are six Assemblies of Heathens who are to be reckoned as Catech••mens, amongst whom there are six Indian Preachers: Samu••l Trea••, Pastor of a Church at Eastham, Preacheth to those Congregations in their own Language. There are likewise amongst the Islanders of N••••••ucket a Church, with a Pastor who was lately a Heathen, and several Meetings of Ca∣••ec••u••e••s who are instructed by the Converted

Indians. There is also another Island about se∣ven Leagues long (called Marthas Ʋineyard) where are two American Churches planted, which are more famous than the rest, over one of which there presides an ancient Indian as Pastor, called Hiac••oms: John Hiacooms, Son of the said Indian Pastor, also Preacheth the Gos∣pel to his Countrey-men. In another Church in that place, John ••ockinosh a Converted Indian teaches. In these Churches ruling Elders of the Indians are joyned to the Pastors: The Pastors were chosen by the people, and when they had fasted and prayed, Mr. Eliot and Mr. Cotton laid their Hands on them, so that they were solemnly Ordained. All the Congregations (n) of the Converted Indians (both the Cate∣chumens and those in Church Order) every Lords-day meet together; the pastor or Preacher always begins with Prayer, and without a Form, because from the Heart; when the Ruler of the Assembly has ended Prayer, the wh•••••• Congre∣gation of Indians Praise God with singing some of them are excellent Singers: After the Psalm, he that Preaches reads a place of Scripture (one or more verses as he will) and expounds its gathers Doctrines from it proves them b•• Scrip∣tures and Reasons, and infers uses from them after the manner of the English, of wh•••• have been taught; then another prayer to God in the Name of Christ concludes the whole Service. Thus do they meet together twice

every Lords-day. They observe no Holy-days but the Lords-day, except upon some extraordinary occasion; and then they solemnly set apart whole days, either in giving Thanks or Fasting and Praying with great fervour of mind.

Before the English came into these Coasts these barbarous Nations were altogether igno∣rant 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 Theological Phrases from us.

In short,

There are six Churches of Bapti∣zed Indians in New-England, and eighteen Assemblies of Catechumens, professing the Name of Christ: Of the Indians there are four and Twenty who are Preachers of the word of God, and besides these there are four English Ministers who Preach the Gospel in the Indian Tongue.

(i) I am now my self weary with writing, and I fear left if I should add more; I should also be tedious to you; yet one thing I must add (which I had almost forgot) that there are many of the Indians Children who have learned by heart the Catechism, either of that famous Divine William Perkins, or that put forth by the Assem∣bly of Divines at Westminster, and in their own Mother Tongue can answer to all the Question•• in it.

But I must end I salute the Famous professor•• in your University, to whom I desire you to communicate this Letter, as written to them also.

Farewell, Worthy Sir; the Lord preserve your Health for the Benefit of your Country, his Church, and of Learning.

Boston in New-England July 12. 1687.

Yours ever, INCREASE MATHER,

(a) The Success of the Gospel in the EAST INDIES

AFter the Writing of this Letter, there came one to my Hands from the famous Dr. Lousden, together with a new and fair Edition of his Hebrew Psalter, Dedicated unto the Name of my Absent Parent. He therein in∣forms me, That our Example had awakened the Dutch to make some noble Attempts for the Furtherance of the Gospel in the East-In∣dies; besides what memorable things were done by the Excellent Robert Junius, in Formosa fifty years ago. He also informs me, That in and near the Island of Ceylon, the Dutch Pastors have Baptised about three hundred Thousand of the Eastern Indians; for altho' the Mini∣sters are utterly ignorant of their Language, yet there are School-Masters who teach them, The Lords Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Command∣ments, a Morning Prayer, an Evening Prayer, a Blessing before Meat, and another after; and the Minister in his Visits being assured by the Ma∣ster, who of them has learn'd all of them seven things, he thereupon counts they have such a perfect number of Attainments, that he presently Baptises them. The pious Reader will doubt∣less

bless God for this; but he will easily see that one of our Converted Indians has cost more pains than many of those; more thorough work has been made with them.

(b) Mr. Eliot's way of opening the Mysteries of the Gospel to our INDIANS

Twas in the year 1646. that Mr. Eliot ac∣company'd by three more, gave a visit unto an Assembly of Indians, of whom he de∣sired a Meeting at such a time and place, that he might lay before them the things of the•••• Eternal Peace. After a serious Prayer, he gave them a Sermon which continued about a quar∣ter above an hour, and contained the principal Articles of the Christian Religion, applying all to the condition of the Indians present Having done, he asked of them, whether they understood? and with a general reply they an∣swered, They understood all. He then began what was his usual method afterwards in treat∣ing with them; that is, he caused them to pro∣pound such questions as they pleas'd, unto him∣self; and he gave wise and good answers to them all. Their Questions would often, tho'

not always, refer to what he had newly Preach∣ed; and he this way not only made a Proof of their profiting by his Ministry, but also gave an Edge to what he delivered unto them. Some of their Questions would be a little Philosophical, and required a good measure of Learning in the Minister concerned with them; but for this our Eliot wanted not. He would also put pro∣per Questions unto them, and at one of his first Ex••rcises with them, he made the young ones ca••able of regarding those three Questions,

Q. 1. Who made you and all the world?

Q. 2. Who do you look should save you from Sin and Hell?

Q. 3. How many Commandments has the Lord given you to keep?

It was his wisdom that he began with them upon such principles, as they themselves had already some Notions of; such as that of an Heaven for good, and Hell for bad people, when they Dy'd. It broke his gracious heart within him to see, what Floods of Tears fell from the Eyes of several among these Degenerate Salva∣ges, at the first Addresses which he made unto them; yea, from the very worst of them all. He was very inquisitive to learn who were the Powawes, that is, the Sorcerers and Seducers, that maintained the Worship of the Devil in any of their Societies; and having in one of his first Journeys to them, found out one of those Wretches, he made the Indian come unto

him and said, Whether do you suppose God, or Chepian (i. e. the Devil) to be the Author of all good? The Conjurer answered, God. Upon this he added with a stern Countenance, Why do you pray to Chepian then? and the poor man was not able to stand or speak before him; but at last made promises of Reformation.

The Text which he first Preach'd upon, was that in Ezek. 37.9, 10. That by Prophesying to the Wind, the Wind came and the dry bones lived; and it was an observation made by one, who then justly confessed, there was not much weight in it; That the word which the Indians use for Wind is Wauban, and an Indian of that Name was one of the first that here zealously promoted the Conversion of his Neighbours. But having thus entred upon the Teaching of these poor Creatures, t'is incredible how much time, toyl, and hardship, he underwent in the Prosecution of this Undertaking; how many weary dayes and nights rolled over him; how many tiresome Journeys he endured; and how many terrible dangers, he had experince of. If you briefly would know what he felt, and what carried him through all, take it in his own words, in a Letter to the Honourable Mr. Winslow; says he, I have not been dry night nor day, from the third day of the week unto the sixth, but so Tra∣velled, and at night pull off my Boots, wring my blockings, and on with them again, and so continue,

But God steps in and helps. I have considered the Word of God in 2. Tim. 2.3. Endure hardship as a good Souldier of Christ.

(c) His Translating the Bible, and other Books of Piety into the INDIAN TONGUE.

ONe of his Remarkable Cares for these illi∣terate Indians, was to bring them into the use of Schools and B••••ks. He quickly procured the benefit of Schools for them; wherein they profited so much, that not only very many of them quickly came to Read and Write, but also several arrived unto a Lib••ral Education in our Colledge, and one or two of them took their degree with the rest of our Graduates. And for Books, t'was his chief desire that the sacred Scriptures might not in an unknown Tongue be Locked or Hidden from them; very hateful and hellish did the policy of Popery appear to him on this Account; Our Eliot was very unlike to that Franciscan, who writing into Europe gloried much how many thousands of Indian he had Converted, but added, That he desire•• his Friend would send him the Book called th•• Bible; for he had heard of there being such a Boo•• in Europe, which might be of some use to him.

No, our Eliot found he could not live without a Bible himself; he would have parted with all his Estate sooner than have lost a Leaf of it; and he knew it would be of more than some use unto the Indians too; he therefore with a vast La∣bour translated the Holy Bible into the Indian Language. Behold, ye Americans, the greatest Honour that ever you were Partakers of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 This Bible was Printed here at our Cambrid••••; and it is the only Bible that ever was Printed in all America, from the very Foundation of the World. The whole Translation he writ•• with but one Pen; which Pen had it not been lost, would have certainly deserved a Richer Case than was bestow'd upon that Pen which Holland writt his Translation of Plutarch with. The Bible being justly made the Leader, of all the rest, a Little Indian-Library quickly fol∣lowed: for besides Primers, and Grammars, & some other such Composures, we quickly had, The Practice of Piety, in the Indian Tongue & the Reverend Richard Bax••ers, Call to the Ʋn∣converted: he also Translated, some of Mr. Shep∣herd's Composures; & such Ca••ech••s••ms likewise as there was occasion for. It cannot but be ho∣ped that some Fish were to be made Alive, since the Waters of the Sanctuary thus came un•••• them.

(d) His Gathering of a Church at NATICK

The Indians that had felt the Impressions of his Ministry, were quickly distin∣guished by the Name of, Praying Indians; and these Praying Indians as q••ickly were for a more Decent, and English way of Living, and they desired a more Fixed Cohabitation. At se∣veral Places did they now combine and settle; But the place of Greatest Name among their Towns, is that of Natick.

Here 'twas, that in the year 1651. those that had heretofore lived like the wild Beasts in the Wilderness now compacted themselves into a Town; and they first apply'd themselves to the forming of their Civil Government. Our Gene∣••al Court, notwithstanding their exact study to keep these Indians very sensible of their being subject unto the English Empire, yet had allow∣ed them their smaller Courts, wherein they might govern their own smaller Cases and Con∣cerns, after their own particular Modes, and might have their Town-Orders, if I may cast them so, peculiar to themselves. With respect hereunto, Mr. Eliot on a Solemn Fast made a publick Vow, That seeing these Indians were not prep ssessed with any Forms of Government, he would ••nstruct them into such a Form, as we had written

in the Word of God, that so they might be a people in all things ruled by the Lord. Accordingly, he Expounded unto them the eighteenth Chapter of Exodus; and then they chose Rulers of Hundreds, of Fifties, of Tens; and therewithal Entred into this Covenant.

We are the sons of Adam; We and our Forefathers have a long time been Lost in our sins; but now the mercy of the Lord begin∣neth to find us out again;

therefore the grace of Christ helping us, we do give our selves and our Children, unto God, to be his people. He shall Rule us in all our Affairs;

The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Law-giver, the Lord is our King; he will save us; and the wisdome which God has taught us in his Book shall guide us. Oh Jehovah, Teach us Wisdome; send thy Spirit into our hearts; take us to be thy people, and lett us take thee to be our God.

Such an o••inion about the perfection of the Scripture had he, that he thus expressed him∣self upon this occasion, God will bring Nations into Distress and Perplexity, that so they may be forced unto the Scriptures; all Governments will be shaken, that men may be forced at length to Pitch upon that firm foundation, The Word of God.

The Little Towns of these Indians being pitch∣ed upon this foundation, they utterly abandoned that Polygamy which had heretofore been Com∣mon among them; they made severe Lawes

against Fornication, Drunkenness, and Sabbath-breaking, and other Immoralities; and they next began to Lament after the Establishment of a Church-order among them, and after the several Ordinances and Priviledges of a Church-Com∣munion. The Churches of New-England have usually been very strict in their Admissions to Church-Fellowship, and required very signal de∣monstrations of a Repenting and a Believing Soul, before they thought men fit subjects to be en∣trusted with, The Rights of the Kingdom of Heaven. But they seem'd rather to Augment than Abate their usual Strictness, when the examination of the Indians was to be performed. A Day was therefore set apart, which they called, Na∣tootom••threack••suk, or, a Day of Asking Questions, when the ministers of the Adjacent Churches, assisted with all the best Interpreters that could be had, publickly examined a good Number of these Indians, about their Attainments both in Knowledge and in Vertue. And notwithstand∣ing the great satisfaction then received, our Churches being willing to proceed Surely, and therefore Slowly, in Raising them up to a Church-State which might be Comprehended in our Con∣sociations, the Indians were afterwards called in Considerable Assemblies convened for that purpose, to make open Confessions of their Faith in God and Christ, and of the Efficacy which his word had upon them for their Conversion to Him; which Confessions being taken in writing

from their mouths by able Interpreters, were scanned by the people of God, and found much Acceptance with them.

I need pass no further Censure upon them, than what is given by my Grand-father, the well-known Richard Mather, in an Epistle of his, Published on this occasion; says he,

There is so much of Gods work among them, as that I cannot but count it a great evil, yea a great in∣jury to God and His Goodness, for any to make light of it. To see and hear Indians o∣pening their mouths, and lifting up their hands and eyes, in Prayer to the Living God, calling on him by his Name Jehovah, in the Mediation of Jesus Christ, and this for a good while to∣gether; to see and hear them. Exhorting one another from the Word of God; to see and and hear them confessing the Name of Christ Jesus, and their own sinfulness; sure this is more than usual! And tho' they spoke in a Language, of which many of us understood but little, yet we that were present that day, we saw and heard them perform the Duties mentioned with such grave and sober Counte∣nances; with such comely Reverence in their Gesture, and their whole carriage, and with such plenty of Tears trickling down the Cheeks of some of them, as did argue to us that they spake with the Holy Fear of God, and is much affected our Hearts.

At length was a Church-state settled among

them: they entred, as our Churches do, into an holy Covenant, wherein they gave themselves, first unto the Lord, and then unto one another, to attend the Rules, and Helps, and expect the Blessings of the Everlasting Gospel; and Mr. Eliot, having a Mission from the Church of Rox∣bury, unto the work of the Lord Christ among the Indians, conceived himself sufficiently Au∣thorized unto the performing of all Church-work about them; grounding i•• on Act. 13.1, 2, 3, 4. and he accordingly Administred, first the Baptism, and then the Supper of the Lord unto them.

(e) The Hindrances and Obstructions, that the DEVIL. gave unto HIM.

VVE find four Assemblies of Praying In∣dians besides that of Natick, in our Neighbourhood. But why no more? Truly, not because our Eliot was wanting in his Offers and Labours for their good; but because many of the obdurate Infidels would not receive the Gospel of Salvation. In one of his Letters, I find him giving this ill report, with such a good reason for it; Lyn-Indians are all naught, save one,

who sometimes comes to hear the Word; and the reason why they are bad, is, principally because their Sachim is naught, and careth not to pray unto God. Indeed the Sachims, or the Princes, of the Indi∣ans generally did all they could that their Sub∣jects might not entertain the Gospel; the D••∣vils having the Sachims on their side, thereby kept their possession of the people too. Their Pauwaws or Clergy-men, did much to maintain the Interest of the Devils in this Wilderness, those Children of the Devil; and Enemies of all Righteousness, did not cease to pervert the Right ways of Lord; but their Sachims or Magistrates did M••re towards it; for they would presently Raise a Storm of Persecution upon any of their vassals that should Pray unto the Eternal God. The ground of this conduct in them, was, an odd Fear, that Religion would abridge them of the Tyranny which they had been us'd unto; they always like the Divel held their people i•• a most absolute servitude, and Rul'd by no Law but their Will, which left the poor Slaves no∣thing that they could call their Own. They now suspected that Religion would put a Bridle upon such usurpations, and oblige them to a more Equal and Humane way of Govern∣ment; they therefore some of them, had the Impudence to Address the English, that no motions about the Christian Religion might ever he made unto them; and Mr. Eliot some∣times in the Wilderness, without the Com∣pany

or Assistence of any other Englishman, has been treated in a very Threatening and Bar∣barous manner by some of these Tyrants; but God inspir'd him with so much Resolution as to tell them, I am about the work of the Great God, and my God is with me; so that I fear neither you, nor all the Sachims in the Countrey; I'l go on, and do you Touch mee, if you dare! upon which the Stoutest of them have shrunk and fell before him. And One of them he at length Conquered by preaching unto him a Sermon up∣on the ••emp••ations of Our Lord; particularly, the Temptation fetch'd from the Kingdoms and Glories of the World.

The Little Kingdoms and Glories of the Great Men among the Indians, was a Powerful Obsta∣cle to the success of Mr. Eliots Ministry; and it is observable that several of those Nations which thus refused the Gospel, qu ckly af••er∣wards were so Divel-driven as to begin an un∣just and bloody War upon the English, which issued in their speedy and utter Extirpation from the Face of Gods Earth. It was particu∣larly Remark'd, in ••hilip, the Ring-leader of the most calamitous war that ever they made upon us; our Eliot made a Tender of the Ever∣lasting Salvation to that King; but the monster entertain d it with contempt and anger, and af∣ter the Indian mode of joining signs with words he took •• Button upon the Coat of the Revere•••• Man, adding That he cared for his Gospel, just a••

much as he cared for that Button. The world has heard what a Terrible Ruine soon came up∣on that woful Creature, and upon all his Peo∣ple. It was not long before the Hand which now writes, upon a certain o••casion took off the jaw from the blasphemous exposed Skull of that Leviathan; and the Renowned Samuel Lee is now Pastor to an English Congregation, sound∣ing and showing the praises of Heaven, upon that very spot of ground, where Philip and his Indians were lately worshipping of the Devil.

Sometimes the more immediate Hand of God, by cutting off the principal Opposers of the Gospel among the Indians made way for Mr. Eliot's Ministry. As, I remember, he relates that an Association of profane Indians near our Weym••uth, set themselves to deter and seduce the Neighbour Indians from the R••ght w••••s of the Lord. But God q••ickly sent the Small-Pox among them, which ••ike a g••eat Plague soon swept them away, and thereby engaged the rest unto himself. I need only to add, That one Attempt made by the Devil, to prejud••ce the Pagans against the Gospel, had something in it extraordinary. While Mr. Eliot was Preaching of Christ unto the other Indians, a Daemon ap∣peared unto a Prince of the Eastern-Indians, in a shape that had some Resemblance of Mr. Eliot or of an English Minister, pretending to be, The English-man's God. The Spectre command∣ed him, To forbear the drinking of Rum, and To

observe the Sabbath-day, and To deal justly with his Neighbours, all which things had been incul∣cated in Mr. Eliot's Ministry; promising there∣withal unto him, That if he did so, at his death his Soul should Ascend unto an happy place; o∣therwise Descend unto miseries; but the Appa∣rition all the while, never said one word about Christ, which was the main subject of Mr. Eliot's Ministry. The Sachim received such an impre∣ssion from the Apparition, that he dealt justly with all men, except in the bloody Tragadies to Cruelties he afterwards committed on the En∣glish in our Wars; he kept the Sabbath-day like a Fast, frequently attending in our Congrega∣tions; he would not meddle with any Rum tho' usually his Country-men, had rather dy•• than undergo such a piece of Self-denial; tha•• Liquor has meerly Enchanted them. At last, an•• not long since this Daemon appear'd again unt•• this Pagan, requ ring him to kill himself an•• assuring him that he should Revive in a day o•• two, never to dy any more. He thereupon di¦vers times attempted it, but his Friends ver•• carefully preven ed it; however at length 〈◊〉〈◊〉 found a fair opportunity, for this fowl Busines•• and Hanged himself; you may be sure, withou•• his expected Resurrection. But it is easy to s•• what a stumbling block was here laid before th•• miserable Indians.

(f) The Indian-Churches at Mashippaug, and elsewhere.

THe same spirit which acted Mr. Eliot, quickly Inspired others elsewhere, to prosecute the work of rescuing the poor Indians out of their worse than Egyptian-Darkness, in which Evil Angels had been so long preying upon them. One of these was the Godly and Gracious Richard Bourn, who soon saw a great effect of his Holy Labours. In the 1666. Mr. Eliot ac∣company'd by the Honourable Governour, and several Magistrates and Ministers of Plymouth-Colony, procured a vast Assembly at Mashippaug; and there a good number of Indians, made con∣fessions touching the knowledge and belief, and Regeneration of their Souls, with such ander••tan∣ding and affection as was extreamly grateful to the pious Auditory. Yet such was the strictness of the good people in this Affair, that before they would countenance the advanaement of these Indians unto Church-Fellowship, they orde∣red their Confessions to be written and sent un∣to all the Churches in the Colony, for their Approbation; but so approv'd they were, that afterwards the Messengers of all the Churches giving their pr••sence and consent, they became a Church, and chose Mr. Bourn to be their Pas∣tor; who was then by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Cot∣ton

Ordain'd unto that Office over them. From hence Mr. Eliot and Mr. Cotton went over to an Island called Martha's Vineyard, where God had so succeeded the honest Labours of some, & particularly of the Mayhew's, as that a Church was gathered.

This Church, after Fasting and Prayer, chose one Hiacoomes to be their Pastor, John Tockinosh, an able and a discreet Christian to be their Teacher; Joshua Mummeecheegs and John Nanaso to be ruling Elders; and these were then Or∣dained by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Cotton thereunto. Distance of Habitation, caused this one Church by mutual agreement afterwards to become tw••; the Pastor and one Ruling Elder taking one part, & the Teacher & one Ruling Elder, ano∣ther, & at N••ntucket another adjacent Island was another Church of Indians quickly gathered, who chose an Indian, John Gib, to be their Mi∣nister. These Churches are so exact in their Admission, and so solemn in their Discipline, & so ••••rlons in their Communion, that some of the Christian English in the Neighbourhood, which would have been loth to have mixed with them in a civil Relation, yet have gladly done it in a Sacred One

'Tis needless for me to repeat what my Fa∣ther has written about the other Indian Con∣gregations; only there having been made men∣tion of one Hi••cooms, I am willing to annex a Passage or two concerning that memorable Indi∣an. That Indian was a very great Instrument

of bringing his Pagan and wretched Neighbours, to a saving acquaintance with our Lord Jesus Christ; and God gave him the Honour, not only of so doing much for some, but also of suffering much from others, of those unhappy Salvages. Once particularly, this Hiacoomes received a cruel blow from an Indian P••ince, which i•• some En∣glish had not been there, might have killed him, for his Praying unto God. And after¦wards he gave this account of his Trial in it; said he, I have two hands; I had one Hand for Injuries, and the other for God; while I did re∣ceive wrong with the one, the other laid the greater hold on God.

Moreover, the Powawes did use to hector and abuse the Praying Indians, at such a rate, as ter∣rify'd others from joyning with them; but once when those Witches were bragging, that they could Kill all the Praying Indians, if they would; Hiacoomes reply'd, Let all the Powawes in the I∣sland come together, I'l venture my self in the midst, of them; let them use all their witchcrafts; with the help of God, I'l tread upon them all. By this courage, he silenced the P••wawes: but at the same time also he Heartned the People, at such a rate as was truly wonderful; nor could any of them ever harm this Eminent Confessor after∣wards; nor indeed any Proselyte which had been by his means brought home to God; yea, twas observed after this, that they rather Kill'd than Cur'd all such of the Heathen as would yet make

use of their Enchantments for help against their Sicknesses.

(g) Of Mr. Eliot's Fellow-labourers in the INDIAN-WORK.

SO little was the Soul of our Eliot infected with any Envy, as that he long'd for nothing more than Fellow-Labourers, that might move and shine in the same Orb with himself; he made his cryes both to God and Man, for more Labourers to be thrust-forth, into the Indian-Harvest; and indeed it was an Harvest of so few secular Advantages and Encouragements, that it must be nothing less than a Divine Thrust, which could make any to Labour in it. He saw the Answer of his prayers, in the Generous and vigorous Attempts made by several other most worthy preachers of the Gospel, to Gos∣pellize our perishing Indians. At the writing of my Fathers letter there were Four; but the Number of them increases apace among us. At Martha's Vineyard, the old Mr. Mayhew, and several of his Sons, or Grandsons have done very worthily for the Souls of the Indi∣ans; there were fifteen years ago, by compu∣tation, about fifteen hundred Seals of their Ministry upon that one Island. In Connecticut, the holy and acute Mr. Fitch, has made noble Essays towards the Conversion of the Indians, but, I think, the Prince he has to deal withal,

being an obstinate Infidel gives unhappy Re∣mora's to the Successes of his Ministry. And godly Mr. Pierson, has in that Colony, deserv∣ed well, if I mistake not, upon the same ac∣count. In Massachusets we see at this day, the pious Mr. Daniel Gookin, the gracious Mr. Peter Thatcher, the well-accomplished and in∣dustrious Mr. Guindal Rawson, all of them hard at work, to turn these Poor Creatures from darkness unto light, and from Satan unto God. In Plymouth, we have the most Active Mr. Samuel Treat laying out himself to save this Generati∣on; and there is one Mr. Tupper, who uses his laudable Endeavours for the instruction of them.

'Tis my Relation to him, that causes me to defer unto the last place, the mention of Mr. John Cotton, who addresses the Indians in their own Language with an admirable Dexterity, and has done more than a little Service for them. He hired an Indian, after the rate of twelve pence per day for fifty days, to teach him the Indian Tongue; but his knavish Tutor hav∣ing received his whole Pay too soon, ran away before twenty days were out; however, in this time he had profited so fat, that he could quickly Preach unto the Natives, and he has ever-since being doing much for God among them. Having told my Reader, that the S••∣cond-Edition of the Indian Bible was wholly o•• his Correction and Amendment; because it 〈◊〉〈◊〉

not proper for one to say much of him, I shall only a••d this Remarkable Story. Mr. Cotton, accompany'd by the Governour and Major-Ge∣neral, and sundry Persons of Quality, made a Journey to a Nation of Indians in the Neigh∣bourhood, with a free Offer of the Words where∣by they might be Saved. The Prince took time to consider of it, and according to the true English of ••aking Time in such cases, at length he told them, He did not accept the Tender which they made him. They then took their leaves of him, not without first giving him this plain and short Admoni••ion, If God have any mercy for your miserable people, He will quickly find a way to take 〈◊〉〈◊〉 out of the way. 'Twas presently af∣ter this, that this Prince going forth to a Bat∣tel against ano••her Nation of Indians, was kil∣led in the Fight; and the young Prince being in his Minority, the Government fell into the Hands of Protectors, which favoured the Interest of the Gospel. Mr. Cotton being advised of it, speedily and prosperously Renewed the Ti∣dings of an Eternal Saviour to the Salvages, who have ever since attended upon his Mini∣stry; and the young Sachim, after he came to Age, expressed his Approbation of the Christi∣an Religion; especially, when a while-since, he lay a Dying of a tedious Distemper, and would keep Reading of Mr. Baxter's Call to the Ʋ••∣converted, with floods of Tears in his Eyes, while he had any strength to do it.

Such as these are the persons, whom our E∣liot left Engag'd in the Indian-work, when he departed from his Employment unto his Recom∣pence. And these Gentlemen are so indefatiga∣ble in their Labours among the Indians, as that the most aequal Judges must acknowledge them worthy of much greater Salaries than they are generously contented with. But one may see then, who inspired that clamorous (tho' con∣temptible) Persecutor of this Country, who very zealously Addressed the A. B. of Canter∣bury, that these Ministers might be deprived of their Little Stipends, and that the said Stipends might go to maintain that Worship among us, which the Plantation was Erected on purpose for the peaceable Avoiding of.

(h) The sacred and solemn Exercises perform∣ed in the Indian Congregations.

MY Fathers Account of the Exercises perfor∣med in the Indian-Congregations, will tell us what a Blessed Fruit our Eliot saw of his La∣bours, before he went unto those Rewards which God had Reserv'd in the Heavens for him. Some of the Indians quickly Built for themselves, good and large Meeting-houses af••er the English Mode, In which also after the English Mode, they atten∣ded the Things of the Kingdome of Heaven. And some of the English were helpful to them, upon

this account; among whom I ought particul••rly to mention that Learned, Pious, and Charitab••e Gentleman, the Worshipful Samuel S••••••••. E••••; who at his own charge built a Meeting house fo•• one of the Indian Congregations, and gave those Indians cause to pray for him under that ch••¦racter, He loveth Our Nation, for he hath built as a Synagogue.

It only remains that I give a touch or two up∣on the Worship which is attended in the Syna∣gogues of the Indians. And first, the very Name of Praying Indians will assure us that Prayer is one of their Devotions; be sure, they could no•• be our Eliot's Disciples if it were not so••. But how do they Pray? We are told, it is Without a Form, b••cause from the Hearts; which is as I re∣member, ••ertullians Expression concerning the the prayers in the Assemblies of the Primitive Christians; namely, ••••••e ••honi••ore quia de pectore. It is evident, that the Primitive Christians had no stated Liturgies among them; that no Forms of Prayers were in their time imposed upon the Ministers of the Gospel; that e••en about the platform of prayer given us by our Lord, it was the opinion of Austin himself, not-withstanding the Advances made in his Age towards what we count Su••e••stitious, that our Lord therein ••aug•••• not what Words we should use in prayer, but what Things we should pray for. And whatever S•••••••••• the profanity of our days has abused that P••••ra•• and Thing withal, Gr••g••ry N••zia••zen in his day••

counted it th•• Honour of his Father•• public•• ••ra••ers, That he had them from, and made the•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Holy Spirit. Our Indians accordingly ••nd, that if they study the Words of God, and their own Sins and Wants and W••es, they shall ••••on come to that Attainment, Behold they pray. They can pray with much Pertinence and En∣largement; and would much wonder at it; i•• they should hear of an English Clergy, that should Read their prayers out of a Book, when they should pour out their Souls before the God of Heaven.

Their Preaching has much of Eliot, and therefore you may be sure, much of Scripture, but perhaps more of the Christian than of th•• Scholar in it. I know not how to describe it better, than by reciting the Heads of a Sermon, ••ttered by an Indian, on a Day of H•••••••• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 kept by them, at a time when great R••i•••• ••••d given much Damage to their Fruits and Field••, it was on this wise.

A little I shall say, according to that little I k••o••.

Gen. 8.20, 21.

And Noah built an Altar, unto Jehovah, and be took of every clean Beast, and of every clea•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and offered burnt-offerings on the Altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again Curse 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••••••••••nd.

••n that Noah Sacrificed, he show'd himself

Thankful; in that Noah worshipped, he shew himself Godly. In that he offered Clean beasts, he show'd that God is an Holy God. And all that come to god, must be pure and clean. Know, that we must by Repentance, purge our selves; which is the work we are to do this Day.

Noah Sacrificed, and so Worshipped. This was the manner of old time. But what Sa∣crifices have we now to offer? I shall answer by that in Psal. 4.5. Offer to God the Sacrifice of Righteousness, and put your Trust in the Lord. These are the true Spiritual Sacrifices which God requireth at our hands, the Sacrifices of Righteousness; that is, we must look to our hearts and ways, that they be Righteous; and then we shall be acceptable to God when we Worship him. But if we be unrighteous, unho∣ly, ungodly, we shall not be accepted; our Sacri∣fices will be stark naught. Again, We are to put our Trust in the Lord. Who else is there for us to trust in? We must believe in the Word of God; if we doubt of God, or doubt of his Word, our Sacrifices are little worth; but if we trust stedfastly in God, our Sacrifices will be good.

Once more, what Sacrifices must we offer. My Answer is, we must offer such as Abraham offered. And what a Sacrifice was that? we are told in Gen. 22.12. Now I know that thou fearest me, seeing thou hast not with hel•• thy Son, thy only Son from me. It seems, he had but one

dearly beloved Son, and he offered that Son to God; and so God said, I know thou fearest me! Behold, a Sacrifice in Deed and in Truth such an one must we offer. Only, God re∣quires not us to Sacrifice our Sons, but our Sins; our dearest Sins. God calls us this day to part with all our Sins, tho' never so beloved; and we must not with-hold any of them from him. If we will not part with All, the Sacrifice is not right. Let us part with such Sins as we love best, and it will be a good Sacrifice!

God smelt a sweet savour in Noahs Sacrifice; and so will God receive our Sacrifices, when we Worship him aright. But how did God manifest his Acceptance of Noahs Offering: 'twas by promising to Drown the world no more, but give us Fruitful Seasons. God has chastised us of late, as if he would utterly Drown us; and he has Drowned and Spoiled and Ru∣in'd a great deal of our hay, and threatens, to kill our Cattel. 'Tis for this that we Fast and Pray this Day. Let us then Offer a clean and pure Sacrifice, as Noah did; so God will smell a favour of Rest, and he will with-hold the Rain, and Bless us with such Fruitful Sea∣sons as we are desiring of him.

Thus preached an Indian called Nish••kkon, a∣bove thirty years ago; and since that I suppose, they have grown a little further into the New-English way of preaching: you may have i•• their sermons, a Ku••kooton••wehtea••nk that is, a

Doctrine, Nahto••to••wch••••aonk, or, an Answer, a, Wi••chea••euonk, or, a Reason, with an Ouworeank, or, an, U•••• for the close of all.

As for Holidays, you may take it for granted, our Eliot would not perswade his Indians to any Statted ones. Even the Christmas-Festival it self, he knew to be a stranger unto the Apos∣tolical Times; that the exquisite Vossius himself acknowledges, 'twas not Celebrated in the first or second Century: and that there is a Truth in the words of the great Chemnuius, Anni∣versarium Diem Natales Christi, celebratum fuisse, apud ve••••stissimos nunquam legitur. He knew that if the Day of our Lords Nativity were to be observed, it should not be in December: that many Churches for divers Ages kept it not in December, but in January; that Chrysostom himself, about four hundred years after our Saviour, excuses the Novelty of the December season for it, and confesses it had not been kept above ten years at Constantinople: No, that it should be rather in September, in which Month the Jews kept the Feast that was a Type of our Lords Incarnation; and Solomon also ••rought the Ark into the Temple; for our Lord wa•• thirty years, old when he entred upon his publick Ministry; and he continu∣ed in it three years and an half; Now his Death was in March, and it is easy then to calculate when his Birth ought to be. He knew, that indeed God had hid this Day as he

did the body of Moses, to prevent Idolatry; but that Antichrist had chose this day, to ac∣commodate the Pagans in their Licencious and their Debauched S••turn••lia; and that a Tertul∣lian would not stick to say, Shall we Christians who have nothing to do with the Festivals of the Jews, which were once of Divine Institution, em∣brace the Saturnalia, of the Heathen? How do the Gentiles shame us, who are more true to their Religion, than we are to ours? None of them will observe the Lords-day, for fear lest they should be Christians; and shall not we then by observing their Festivals, fear lest we be made Ethnicks? In fine, it was his opinion, That for us to have stated Holy Days which are not appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ, is a deep Reflection upon the Wisdom of that glorious Lord; and he brought up his Indians, in the principles which the old Waldenses had about such unwar∣rantable Holydays.

Nevertheless, he taught them to set apart their Days both for Fasting and Prayer, and for Feasting and Praise, when there should be Ex∣traordinary Occasions for them; and they perform the duties of these Days with a very laborious Piety. One party of the Indians long since of their own Accord, kept a Day of Supplication, to∣gether, wherein one of them discoursed upon Psal, 66.7. He Rules by his power for ever, His Eyes behold the Nations, let not the Rebellious ex∣alt themselves. And when one asked them after∣wards,

what was the Reason of their keeping such a day, they reply'd, It was to obtain five mercies of God.

First, That God would slay the Rebellion of their hearts. Next, that they might love God and one another. Th••rdly, that they might withstand the Temptations of wicked men, so that they might not be drawn back, from God Fourthly, that they might be Obedient unto the counsils and commands of their Ru∣lers. Fifthly, that they might have their sins done away by the Redemption of Jesus Christ; And lastly, that they might walk in the good wayes of the Lord.

I must here embrace my opportunity to tell the world, that our Cauti∣ous Eliot, was far from the opinion of those who have thought it not only warrantable, but also commendable to Adopt some Heathenish Usages into the Worship of God, for the more easy and speedy gaining of the Heathen to that Worship. The policy of treating the Paegan Rites as the Jews were to do Captives, before they married them, to shave their Hair, and pare their Nails, our Eliot counted as ridiculous as pernicious. He knew that the Idolatries and Abominations of Popery, were founded, in thi•• way of Prosely••ing the barbarous Nations, which made their Descent upon the Roman Empire and he look'd upon the like methods which the Protestants have used, that they might ingrati∣ate

themselves with the Papists, and that our Separation from them should become the less dangerous and sensible, to be the most sensible and dangerous wound of the Reformation. Wherefore, as no less a man than Dr. Henry Moor says about our Compliances with the Pa∣pists, which are a sort of Pagans, Their Conversi∣on and Salvation being not to be compassed by need∣less Symbolizing with them, in any thing, I con∣ceive our best policy is studiously to imitate them in nothing; but for all indifferent things, to think rather the worse of them for their using of them. As no person of Honour, would willingly go in the known Garb of i••famous persons. Whatsoever we Court them in, they do but turn it to our scorn and contemp••, & are the more hardened in their own wickedness. To act upon this principle, is the design and glory of New-England! And our Eliot was of this perswasion, when he brought his Indians to a pure, plain, Scripture Worship. He would not gratify them with a Samaritan sort of blended, mixed Worship; and he ima∣gined, as we••l he might, that the Apostle ••aul's first Epistle to the C••rinthians had enough in it, for-ever to deter us all from such Unchristian and unhappy ••emporizing.

(I) A Comparison between what the New-En∣glanders have done for the Conversion of the Indians, and what has been done elsewhere by the Roman Catholicks.

IT is to be confessed, That the Roman Catho∣licks have a Clergy so very Numerous, and so little Encumbred, and are Masters of such pro∣digious Ecclesiastical Revenues, as renders it ve∣ry easy for them to exceed the Protestants in their Endeavours to Christianize the Pagan Sal∣vages. Nor would I Reproach, but rather Ap∣plaud their Industry in this matter, wishing that we were all touched with an Emulation of it. Nevertheless, while I commend their Industry, they do by their Clamours against the Reform∣ed Churches upon this account, oblige me to tax divers very scandalous things in the Missi∣ons which they make pro propaganda side through∣out the world; and therewithal to compare what has been done by that little Handful of Reformed Churches in this Country, wh••ch has in divers Regards out-dyie the furthest Efforts of popery.

The Attainments which with Gods help we have carried up our Indi••ns unto, are the chief Honour and Glory of our Labours with them. The Reader will smile perhaps, when I tell him, that by an odd accident there are lately fallen into my hands, the Manuscripts of a

Jesuite, whom the French Employ'd as a Missi∣onary among the Western Indians; in which Papers there are, both a Catechism contain∣ing the principles which those Heathen are to be instructed in; and Cases of Conscience, re∣ferring to their Conversations. The Catechism which is in the ••roquoise Language (a Lan∣guage remarkable for this, that there is not so much as one Labi••l in it) with a Translation annexed, has one Chapter, about Heaven, and another about Hell, wherein are such Thick∣skull'd passages as these.

Q. How is the Soyl made in Heaven?

A. 'tis a very fair Soil; they want neither for Meats nor Cloths; 'tis but Wishing and we have them.

Q. Are they employ'd in Heaven?

A. No, they do nothing; the fields yeeld Corn, Beans, Pumpkins, and the like, without any Tillage.

Q what sort of trees are there?

A. Always Green-Full, and Florishing.

Q. Have they in Heaven the same Sun, the same wind, the same Thunder that we have here?

A. No, the Sun ever shines; 'tis always fair weather.

Q. But how their Fruits?

A. In this one quality they exceed ours; that they are never wasted; you have no sooner pluck't one, but you see another presently hang∣ing in its Room. And after this rate goes on

the Catechism concerning Heaven. Concerning Hell it thus discourses.

Q What sort of a Soyl is that of Hell?

A. A Very wretched Soyl; 'tis a fiery pitt, in the Center of the Earth.

Q. Have they any light in Hell?

A. No. Tis alwayes Dark; there's alwayes Smoke there; their eyes are alwayes in pain with it; they can see nothing but the Divels.

Q. What shap'd things are the Divels?

A. Very ill shap'd things; they go about with Vizards on; and they terrify men.

Q. What do they Eat in Hell?

A. They are alwayes Hangry; but the Dam∣ned feed upon ho•••• Ashes and S••rpents there.

Q W•••••• ••ver have they to D••ink?

A. Horrid water; nothing but melted lead.

Q. Don't they Dy in Hell?

A. N••; yet they eat one another, every day; But ano••, God rest••res and renewes the Man that was eaten; as a cropt Plant, in a little time repull••la••es.

It seems, they have not thought this Divini∣ty too Gr••ss for the Barbariams. But I shall mak•• no Reflections on it; only add one or two Cases of C••••science, from their Directory,

'Tis one of their weighty cases,

Whether a Christian be bound to pay his Whore her Hire or no?

To this Father Bruias an∣swers, Tho he be bound in Justice to do it, yet in∣asmuch as the Barbarians [and you must sup∣pose

their Whores to be such!] Ʋse to keep no Faith in such matters, the Christians may choose whether they will k••ep any too. But Father Pierron with a most profound Learning answers, He is not bound unto it all; inasmuch as no man thinks himself bound to pay a Witch, that has Enchanted him; and this business is pretty much a kin to that. Another of their d fficult Cases, is,

Whether an indian stealing an Hatchet from a Dutch∣man, be bound to make Restitution?

And it is very conscientiously determined.

That if the Dutchman be one that has used any Trade with other Indians, the Thief is not bound unto any Restitution; for 'tis certain, he gains more by such a Trade than the value of many Hatchets in a year.

I'l tire my Reader with no more of this wretched stuff. But lett him understand that the proselyted indians of New-England ha••e been Instructed at a more Noble Rate; we have helped them to the sincere milk of the word; we have given them the whole Bible in their own Language; we have laid before them such a Cree•• as the primitive Beleevers had, with such Explications as we embark our own Souls upon the Assurance of. And God ha•• blessed our education of these poor creatures in such a mea∣sure, that they can Pray and Preach to b••tter edification (give me leave to say it) than multitudes of the Romish Clergymen. We could have Baptised many Troops of Indians, if we

would have used no other measures with them, than the Roman-Catholicks did upon theirs at Ma∣ryland, Where they Baptized a great crue of Indians, in some New shirts, bestow'd upon them to encourage them thereunto; but the Indians in a week or two, not knowing how to wash their shirts, when they were grown foul, came and made a motion, that the Roman Catholicks would give more shirts to them, or else they would Renounce their Baptism. No, 'tis a Thorough-paced Christianity without which we have not imagined our Indians Christianized.

Nor have we been acted with a Roman-Catholick Avarice and Falsity and Cruelty in prosecuting of our conversions; 'tis the Spirit of an ELIOT, that has all along directed us. 'Tis a Specimen of the Popish Avarice that their Missionaries are very rarely employ'd but where Bever and Silver and vast Riches are to be thereby gained; their Ministry is but a fort of Engine, to enrich Europaeans with the Treasures of the Indies; thus one escaped from Captivity among the Spaniards, told me, that the Spanish Friars had carried their Gospel into the spa∣cious Country of California, but finding the Indians there to be extremely poor, they q••••ckly gave over the work, because forsooth S•••••••• poor Nation was not worth Conve••ting. Whereas the New-Englanders could expect nothing from their Indians. We are to Feed them and ••••••ath them, rather than receive any thing

from them, when we bring them home to God. Again, the popish Falsi••y disposes them to so much Lege••demain in their Applications as is very disagreeable to the Spirit and Progress of the Gospel. My Worthy Friend, Myn••eer Daille, who has been sedulous and successful in his Ministry among the Maqua'••, assures me, that a French predicator, having been attempt∣ing to bring over those ••ndians unto the Interest (not of our Saviour, so much as) of Canada, at last, for a cure of their Infidelity, told them, he would give them a sign of God's Displeasure at them for it; The Sun should such a day be put out. This terrify'd them at a sad rate, and with great admiration and expecta∣tion, they told the Dutch of what was to come to pass; the Dutch reply'd This was no more than eve••y Child among them could fo••etel; they all knew there would then be an Eclipse of the Sun; but (said they) speak to Monsieur, that he would get the Sun extinguish'd a day before, or a day after what he spoke of, and if he can do that, bel••e••e him. When the Indians thus understood what a Trick the Frenchman would have put upon them, they became irreconcileably prejudiced, against all his offers; nor have the French been since able to ga••n much upon that considerable people. The New-Englanders have used no such Strata∣g••ms and Kn••veries; 'tis the pure light of truth, which is all that has been used for the affecting of the rude people, whom 'twas easy to have

cheated into our Profession. Much less have we used that Popish Cruelty, which the Natives of Americ••, have by some other people been treat∣ed with. Even a Bishop of their own, hath Pub∣lished, very Tragical Histories of the Spanish Cruelties upon the Indians of this Western World. Such were those Cruelties, that the I••d••ans at length declared, They had rather go to Hell with their Ancestors, than to the same Heaven which the Spaniards pretended unto; 'tis indeed impossible to reckon up, the various and exqui∣si e Barbaritie•• with which these execrable Spa∣niards murdered in less than fifty years no less than fifty millions of the Indians; it seems this was their way of bringing them into the Sheep∣fold of our merciful Jesus! But on the other side, the good people of New-England have car∣ried it with so much tenderness towards the ••awny Creatures among whom we live, that they would not own so much as one foot of Land in the Countrey, without a fair Purchase and Con∣•• nt from the Natives that laid claim unto it; albeit we had a Royal Charter from the King of Great Britain, to Protect us in our settlement upon this Continent I suppose, 'twas in revenge upon us for this Conscientiousness, that the late oppressors of New England, acknowledged no than to have any Title at all unto one Foot of Land in all our Colony. But we did and we so, think, notwithstanding the Banters of those ••ories, that the Indians had not by thei••

Paganism so forfeited all Right unto any of their P••ssessions, that the first pretended Christi∣ans that could, might Violently and yet Honestly sieze upon them. Instead of this, the people of New England, knowing that some of the English were sufficiently coveteous and en∣croaching, and that the Indians in streights are easily prevailed upon, to sell their lands, made a Law, That none should purchase, or so much as Receive any land of the Indians, without the Al∣lowance of the Court. Yea, and some lands which were peculiarly convenient for the Indians, our people who were mo••e careful of them than they were of themselves, made a Law That they should never be bought out of their hands. I suppose af••er this it would surprise mank••nd, if they should hear such wonderful Crea••ures as our late Secretary Randolph affirming, This ba••∣barous people were never civilly treated, by the late Government, who made it their business to encroach upon their Lands, and by degrees to drive them out of all. But, how many other Laws we made in favour of the Indians, 'tis not easy to reckon up. Twas one of our Laws,

That for the further encouragement of the hopeful work among them, for the Civilizing and Christianizing of them, any Indian that should be brought unto Civility, and come to live orderly in any En∣glish Plantation, should have such Allotments, among the English, as the English had them∣s••lves. And, that if a competent number of

them, should so come on to civility, as to be capable of a Township, the General Court should grant them Lands for a Plantation as they do unto the English.

Altho we had al∣ready bought up their Claims unto our Lands. We likewise had our Laws, That if any of our Cattle did any damage to their Corn, we should make them ample satisfaction; and that we should give them all manner of Assistance, in Fencing of their Fields. And because the Indians are excessively given unto the vice of Drunkenness, which was a vice unknown to them, until the English brought Strong-drink in their way, we have had a severe Law against all selling or giving any Intoxicating Liquors to them. It were well, if this Law were more severely Executed?

By this time I hope, I have stop'd the calum∣nious Exclamations of the Roman Catholicks a∣gainst the Churches of the Reformation, for neglecting to Evangelize the Natives of the Indies. But let me take this occasion to address the Christian Indians of my own Country, into some of whose Hands, 'tis likely, this little Book may come.

¶

Behold, yee Indians, what love, what care, what cost, has been used by the English here, for the Salvation of your precious and immor∣tal Souls. It is not because we have expected any Temporal Advantage from you, that we have been thus concerned for your good; No, 'tis God that ha's caused us to desire his Glory

in your Salvation; and our hearts have bled with Pitty over you, when we have seen how horribly the Devil Oppress'd you in this, and Destroy'd you in another world. It is much that has been done for you; we have put you in∣to a way to be happy both on Earth while you live, and in Heaven when you Dy. What can you think will become of you, if you slight all these Glorious offers! methinks you should say to your-selves, Vttoh woh kittinne peh quoh hum∣unan mishanantamog ne mohsag wadchaniltuonk! You all beleeve that your Teacher ELIOT, was a Good and a Brave Man, and you would count it your Blessedness to be forever with him. Nevertheless, I am to tell you, that if you don't become Real, and Thorough and Holy Ch••istians, you shall never have a comfor∣table sight of him any more. You know how he has Fed you, and Cloath'd you, as well as Taught you; you know how his Bowels yerned o••er you, even as tho' you had been his Chil∣dren, when he saw any affl••ctions come upon you; but if he find you among the wicked, in the Day of Judgment, which he so often warn'd you of, he will then be a Dreadful Witness against you, and when the Lord Jesus passes that sentence on you, Depart ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire with the Divel and his Ang∣els, even your own ELIOT will then say, Amen, unto it all. Now, to deale plainly with you, there are two Vices, which many of you are too

prone unto, and which are utterly inconsistent with a True Christianity. One of those Vices, is that of Idleness. If you had a Disposition to follow an Honest Calling, what should hinder you from growing as Considerable in your E∣states, as many of your English Neighbours whereas, you are now poor, mean, ragged, star∣ved, contemptible and miserable; and instead of being able, as your English Neighbours do, to support the ordinances of God, you are behol∣den to them, not only for maintaining of those Blessed ordinances among you, but for many o∣ther kindnesses. And have you indeed forgot the Commandment of God which has been so often laid before you, Six Days shalt thou La∣bour! for shame, apply your selves to such Labour as may bring you into more Handsome Circumstances. But the other of those Vices, is that of Drun∣kenness. There are godly English Neigh∣bours, of whom you should learn to Pray; but there are some of you that learn to Drink, of other, profane, debauch'd English Neigh∣bours. Poor Creatures, 'tis by this Iniquity that Satan still keeps Possession of many Souls among you, as much as if you were still in all your woful Heathenism; and how often have you been told, Drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? I beseech you to be sen∣sible of the mischiefs to which this thing ex∣poses you, and never dream of escaping the

Vengeance of Eternal Fire, if you indulge your selves in this A ccu••sed Thing. I have done, when I have wish d, That the Gospel of the Lord Jesus may always Run and be Glorify'd among you!

The CONCLUSION. Or, ELIOT Expiring.

BY this time, I have doubtless made my Rea∣ders loth to have me tell what now remains of this little History; doubtless they are wishing that this John might have Tarried until the Se∣cond Coming of our Lord. But, alas All-Devou∣ring Death at last snatch'd him from us, and slighted all those Lamentations of ours, My Fa∣ther, My Father, the Chariots of Israel, and the Horsemen there f!

When he was become a sort of Miles Emeri∣tu••, & began to draw near ••••s End, he grew still more Heavenly, more Savoury, more Divine, and Scented more of th•• spicy Country, at which he was ready to put a shoar. As the Histo∣rian observes of Liberius. That when his Life and Strength were going from him, his Vice ••et remained with him; on the contrary, the

Grace of this Excellent Man rather increased than abated, when every thing else was dying with him. 'Tis too usual with Old men, that when they are past work, they are least sensible of their inabilities and incapacities, and can scarce endure to see another succeeding them in any part of their Office. But our Eliot was of a Temper quite contrary thereunto; for finding many Months before his Expiration, That he had not strength enough to Edify his Congre∣gation with publick Prayers, and Sermons, he im∣portun'd his people with some impatience to ••all another Minister; professing himself, una∣ble to Dy with Comfort, until he could see a ••ood Successor ordained, settled, fixed among them. For this cause, he also cry'd mightily unto the Lord Jesus, our Ascended Lord, that he would give such a Gift unto Roxbury, and he sometimes call'd his whole Town together to joyn with him in a East for su••h a blessing. As the return of their Supplications, our Lord quickly bestow'd upon them, a person young in years, but old in Discretion, Gravity, and Experience; and one whom the Church of Roxbury hopes to find, A Pastor after God's own Heart.

It was Mr. Nehemiah Walter, who being by the unanimous Vote and Choice of the Church there, become the Pastor of Roxbury, immediate∣ly found the Venerable Eliot Embracing & Che∣rishing of him, with the tender Affections of a

Father. The good Old Man like Old Aaron as it were disrobed himself, with an unspeakable satisfaction, when he beheld his garments put upon a son so dear unto him. After this, he for a year or two before his Translation, could scarce be perswaded unto any publick Service, but humbly pleaded, what none but he would ever have said, It would be a wrong to the Souls of the people, for him to do any thing among them, when they were supply'd so much to their Advantage otherwise. If I mistake not, the Last that even he Preached was on a Publick East; when he fed his people with a very distinct, and useful, Exposition upon the Eighty Third Psalm; and he concluded with an Apology, begging his Hearers to pa••don the poorness, and meanness, and b••okenness, (as he called it) of his Medita∣tions; but added he, My dear Brother here, will by'nd by mend all.

But altho' he thus dismissed himself as one so near to the Age of Ninety, might well have done, from his publick Labours; yet he would not give over his Endeavours, in a more pri∣••ate Sphaere, to Do good unto all. He had al∣wayes been an Enemy to Idleness; any one that should look into the little Diary that he kept in his Almanalks, would see that there was with him, No day without a Line; he was troub∣led when he saw how much Time was devoured by that slavery to Tobacco, which too many de∣base themselves unto, and now he grew old,

he was desirous that his work should hold pace with his Life; the less Time he saw left, the less was he willing to have lost. He imagined that he could now do nothing to any purpose in any Service for God; and sometimes he would say with ••n Air peculiar to himself, I wonder for what the L••rd Jesus Christ lets me live; he knows that ro•••• I can do nothing for him! And yet he could ••ot forbear Essaying to Do something for his dearest Lord; wheref••re, thought he, What shall I do? And he then co••ceived, that tho' the English could not be benefi ed by any Gifts which he now fancied himself to have only the Ruines of, yet who can ••ell but the Negro's might! He had long lamented it with a bleed∣ing and a burning passion, that the English used their N••gro's but as their Horses or their Oxen, and that so little care was taken about their prec••ous and immortal Souls; he look d upon it as a prodigy, that any wearing the Name of Christians, should so much have the Heart of Devils in them, as to prevent and hinder the Instruction of the poor Blackanu••res, and con∣fine the Souls of their miserable Slaves to a de∣stroying ignorance, meerly for fear of thereby loosing the benefit of their Vassalage; but now he made a mo••••on to the English within two or three miles of him that at such a time and place they would send their Negro's once a week unto him: for he would then Catechise them, and Enlighten them to the utmost of his

power in the Things of their Everlasting Peace; however, he did not live to make much pro∣gress in this Undertaking.

At length, when he was able to do L••••le without doors, he try'd then to do something within; and one thing was this. A young Boy in the Ne••ghbourhood, had in his infancy fal∣len into a fire, so as to burn himself into a perfect Blindness; but this Boy being now grown to some Bigness, the good old man took him home to his house, with some intentions to make a scholar of him. He first informed him of and from the Scripture, in wich the Boy so profited, that in a little time he could, even Repeat many whole Chapters Verbatim, and if any other in Reading missed a word, he would mind them of it; yea, and an ordinary piece of latin wa•• become easy to the lad; but having his own Eye•• clos d by Death, he could no longer help the poor Child against the want of ••is.

Thus, As the Aged Polycarp could say, These Eighty Six years have I se••ved my Lord J••sus Christ; and he has been such a good Master in me all this while, that I will not now forsake h m Such a Polycarp was our Eliot; he had been so many years engaged in the sweet ser••ice of his dear Jesus, that he could not now give it over: 'twas his Ambition, and his priviledge, to bring forth Fruit in old Age; and what veneration the Church of Smyrna paid unto that Angel of theirs,

we were upon the like Accounts willing to give unto this Man of God.

While he was, thus making his Retreat out of this evil world, his Discourses from time to time ran upon, The Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; it was the Theme which he still had Recourse unto, and we were sure to have some∣thing of this, whatever other Subject he were upon. On this he talk d, of this he pray'd, for this he long'd, and especially when any bad News arriv'd, his usual reflection thereupon would be, Behold, some of the Clouds, in which we must look for the Coming of the Son of Man. At last, his Lord, for whom he had been long wishing, Lord, come! I have been a great while ready for thy Coming! at last, I say, his Lord came, and fetched him away into the Joy of his Lord.

He fell into some Languishments, attended with a Fever, which in a few days brought him into the Pangs (may I say? or Joyes) of Death, and while he lay in these, Mr. Walter coming to him, he said unto him, brother, ••hou art wel∣come to my very Soul. Pray, Retire to thy Study for me, and give me leave to ••e gone; meaning that he should not, by Petitions to Heaven for his Life, detain him ••here. It was in these Lan∣guishments, that speaking about the work of the Gospel among the Ind ans, he did after this Heavenly manner express himself, There is a Cloud (said he) a dark cloud upon the w••rk of

the Gospel among the poor Indians. The Lord Re∣vive and prosper 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 Recal that word, My Doings! Alas, they have been poor and small and lean Do∣ings, and I'le be the man that shall throw the first stone at them all.

It has been observed, that they who have spoke many considerable things in their lives, usually speak few at their deaths. But it was otherwise with our Eliot, who after much Speech of and for God in his Life-time, uttered some things little short of Oracles on his Death-Bed; which, 'tis a thousand pities, they were not more exactly regarded and recorded. Those Authors that have taken the pains to Collect, A••••p••th••gmata Morientium, have not therein been unserviceable to the Living; but the Apophtheg••ms of a Dying Eliot must have had in them a grace & a strain truly extraordina∣ry; and indeed the vulgar Error of the signal sweetness in the Song of a Dying Swan, was a very Truth in our Expiring Eliot; his last Breath smelt strong of Heaven, and was Arti∣cled into none but very gracious Notes; one of the last whereof, was, Welcome Joy! and at last it went away calling upon the slanders by, to, Pray, pray, pray! which was the Thing in which so vast a portion of it, had been before Employ'd.

This was the peace, in the end of this Perfect and upright man; thus was there another Star fetched away to be placed among the Rest that the third Heaven is now enriched with. He had o••••e, I think, a pleasant Fear, that the old saints of h•••• Aq••aintance, especially those two dearest 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••b••uts of h••s, Cotton, of Boston, and Mather, of D••••••••••••er, which were got safe to Heaven be∣fo••e him, would suspect him to be gone the w••o••g way, because he staid so long behind th••m. But they are now together with a blessed J••••••s, beholding of his Glory, and celebrating the High Praises of Him that has call d them into his marvellous light. Whether Heaven was any more Heaven to him, because of his finding there, so many Saints with whom he once had his Delicious and Caelestial Intimacies, yea, and so many Saints which had been the seals of his own Ministry, in this lower world, I cannot say; but it would be Heaven enough unto him, to go unto that Jesus, whom he had lov'd, preach'd, serv'd, and in whom he had been long Assured, there does All Fullness awell. In that Heaven I now leave him: but not without Grynaeus's pathe∣tical Exclamations, [O beatum illum diem!]

Bles∣sed will be the Day, O blessed the Day of our Arrival to the glorious Assembly of Spirits, which this great Saint is now rejoycing vvith!

Bereaved New-England, vvhere are thy tears, at this Ill-boding Funeral? We had a Traditi∣on among us,

That the Country could never

perish, as long as Eliot was alive.

Put in•••• whose Hands must this Hippo fall, now the A••∣stin of it is taken away? Our Elisha is gone, and now who must next year invade the Lan••? The Jews have a saying, Quando Luminaria pa∣tiuntur Eclipsin, malum signum est mund••; But I am sure, 'tis a dismal Eclipse that has now befallen our New-English World. I confess, many of the Ancients, fell into the vanity, of esteeming the Reliq••es of the De••d Saints, to be the ••owers and Ramparts of the places that en∣joy'd them; and the dead Bodies of two Apostles in the City, made the Poet cry out,

A Facie Hostili duo propugnacula praesunt.

If the Dust of dead Saints could give us any protection, we are not without it; here is a Spot of American Soyl that will afford a rich Crop of it, at the Resurrection of the Just. Poor New-England has been as Glastenbury of old was called, A Burying-place of Saints. But we cannot see a more terrible Prognostick, than Tombs filling apace with such Bones, as those of the Renowned Eliot's; the whole Building of this Country trembles at the Fall of such a Pillar.

For many Months before, he dy'd, he would often chearfully tell us,

That he was shortly going to Heaven and that he would carry a deal of good News thither with him; he

said, He vvould carry Tidings to the Old-Founders of New-England, which were now in Glory, that Church-work was yet carried on among us: that the Number of our Chur∣ches was continually encreasing: and that the Churches were still kept as big as they were, by the daily Additions of those that shall be sa∣ved.

But the going of such as he from us, will apace diminish the occasions of such happy Tidings.

What shall we now say? Our Eliot himself used most affectionately to bewayl the Death of all Useful Men; yet if one brought him the notice of such a thing, with any Despondencies, or said, O Sir, such an one is Dead, what shall we, do? he would answer, Well, but God lives, Christ lives, the Old Saviour of New-England yet lives, and He will Reign till all his Enemies are made his Footstool. This, and only this, consideration have we to relieve us; and let it be accompa∣nied with our Addresses to the God of the Spirits of all Flesh, That there may be Timothies raised up in the room of our Departed Pauls; & that when our Moses's are gone, the Spirit which which was in those brave men, may be put up∣on the surviving Elders of our Israel.

The last thing, that ever our Eliot put off, was, The care of all the Churches, which with a most Apostolical and Evangelical Temper he was continually solicitous about. When the Churches of New-England were under a very

uncomfortable prospect, by the advantage which men that sought the Ruine, of those golden and holy and Reformed Societies, had obtained a∣gainst them. God put it into the heart of o••e well-known in these Churches, to take a Voyage into England, that he might by his Mediations at Whitehal, di••ert the Storms that were im∣pending over us. 'Tis not easy to express what Aff••ction our Aged Eliot prosecuted this Undertaking with; and what Tha••k••giving he rendred unto God for any hopeful Successes of it. But because one of the last Times, and for ought I know, The Last, of his ever setting Pe•• to Paper in the world, was upon this occasion; I shall transcribe a short Letter, which was wri••∣ten by the shaking hand, that had heretofore by writing deserved so well from the Church of God, but was now taking its leave of writing for-e∣ver. It was written to the person that was Engaging for us, and thus it Ra••.

Reverend and Beloved, Mr. Increase Mather.

I cannot write. Read Neh 2.10. When Sanballat. the Horonite, and Tob••jah the Ser∣vant, the Ammonite, heard of it; it grieved them exceedingly, that there was come a man to seek the Welfare of the Children of Israel.

Let thy blessed Soul, feed full and fat upon this and other Scriptures. All other things I leave to other men; and rest,

Your Loving Brother, John Eliot

These two or three lines manifest the Care of the Churches which breath'd in this great old man, as long as he had a Breath to draw in the world And since he has left few like him for a Comprehe••sive and Universal Regard unto the prosperity of all the Flocks in this Wilder∣ness, we ••a••e little now to comfort us in the loss of one so like a Patriarch among us, but only this, ••••at our poor Churches, it may be hop'd, ha••e ••till some Interest in the Cares of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who walks in the midst of the G••lden Ca••dlesticks. Lord! make our Chur∣ches and keep them, yet Golden Candlesticks! A∣men.

BUt I have not obtained the end of this Histo∣••y, nor may I let this H••sto y come to an end, until I do with some Importunity bespeak the endeavours of good men every where, to labour in that Harvest which the Blessed FLIO•• justly counted worthy of his utmost pains and cares. It was the confession of ••hemist••cle••, that the vic∣torie•• of M••lti••••e•• would not let him sleep in quie ness; may those of our Eliot raise a like e∣mutation in those that have now seen the life of this evangelical He••••! When one Robert Ba••ly ma∣n•• years ago published a Book, wherein several G••oss Lie•• by wh ch the name of that JOHN COTTON, who was known to be one of the Holiest Men then alive, was most Injuriously made odious unto the Churches abroad, were ac∣companied with some Reflections upon poor

New England, whereof this was one, The way of their Churches hath most exceedingly hindred the con∣version of the poor Pagans: of all that ever crossed the American seas they are noted as most neglectful of the work of conversion. We have now seen those Aspersions and Calumnies aboundantly wip'd a∣way. But let that which has been the Vindication of New England, be also the Aemulation of the world: for shame, let not poor little New Eng∣land, be the only Protestant country that shall do any Notable thing for the propagation of the Faith, unto those Dark corners of the Earth which are ful of cruel Habitations. But the Addresses of so mean a person as my self, are like to prevail but little abroad with men of Learning and Figure in the world. However, I shall presume to utter my Wishes in the sight of my Readers; and it is possi∣ble that the Great God who despises not the prayer of the poor, may by the Influences of his Holy Spirit, upon the Hearts of some whose Ey••s are upon these lines, give a Blessed Answer thereunto.

Wherefore, May the people of New E••gland, who have seen so sensible a Difference between the estates of those that sell Drink, and of those that preach Truth, unto the miserable salvages among them, as that even this alone might inspire them, yet from a nobler consideration than that of their own outward prosperity thereby advanced, be encouraged still to prosecute, first the Civi∣lizing, and then the Christianizing of the Barba∣rians, in their Neighbourhood; and may the

New-Englanders be so far Politick as well as Re∣ligions, as particularly to make a Mission of the Gospel unto the mighty Nations of the Western Indi••ns, whom the French have been of late so studiously, but so unsuccessfully Tampering with; lest those horrid Pagans, who lately (as 'tis credibly affirmed) had such a measure of Devilism and Insolence in them, as to shoot a Volley of great and small S••ot aga••nst the Hea∣vens, in Revenge upon, The Man in the Hea∣vens, as the•• called our Lord, whom they count∣ed the Author of the heavy Calamities which newly have distressed them; be found spared by our Long-suffering Lord, [who then indeed presently ••ore the Ground asunder, with imme∣diate and horrible Thunders from Heaven round about them, but kill'd them not 〈◊〉〈◊〉 for a Scourge to Ʋs, that have not ••s••d our advantages to make a vertu••us people of them. If a King of the West Saxons long since ascribed all the Dis∣asters on any of their Affa••rs, to Negligencies in this point, meth••nks the New-Englanders may not count it unreasonable in this way to seek their own prosperity. Shall we do what we can that our Lord Jesus may bestow upon Ame••ic••, which may more justly be call'd Columba, that Salutation, O my D••ve!

May the several Plantations, that live upon the Labours of their Negroes, no more be guil∣ty of such a prodigious wickedness, as to de∣ride, neglect, and oppose all due means of brin∣ging

their poor Negroes unto our Lord; but may the Masters of whom God will one day require the Souls of the Slaves committed unto them, see to it, that like Abraham, they have Catechis∣ed Servants; and not imagine that the Almighty God made so many thousands of Reasonable crea∣tures for nothing, but only to serve the Lusts of Epic••res, or the gains of Mammonists; lest the God of Heaven out of meer Pity, if not Just∣ice, unth those unhappy Black, be provoked unto a vengeance which may not without Hor∣rour be thought upon. Lord, when shall we see Ethiopians ••ead thy Scriptures with Ʋnderstanding!

May the E••glish Nation do what may be done, that the Welch may not be destroy'd for the lack of Knowledge, lest our indisposition to do for their Souls, bring upon us all those Judgments of Heaven, which Gild••s their Country-man, once ••old them, that the•• suffered for their dis∣••••••ards unto ou••; and may the ••••sandous Massacres of the English by the Irish, awaken the E••glish to consider, whether they have done enough to reclaim the Irish, from the Popish ••i∣gottries and Abominations, with which they have been intoxicated.

May the several F••ctories and Companies, whose Concerns ly in Asia, Africa, or Ameri∣ca, be perswaded, as Jacob once, and before him his Grandfather Abraham, was, That they al∣ways owe unto God certain Proportions of their Poss••ssions, by the honest payments of which lit∣tle

Quit-rents, they would certainly secure and enlarge their Enjoyment of the Principal; but that they are under a very particular obligation to Communicate of our Spiritual Things, unto those Heathen, by whose Carnal Things they are Enriched: And may they therefore make it it their study, to employ some able and pious Ministers, for the instruction of those Infidels with whom they have to deal, and honourably support such Ministers in that Employment.

May the poor Greeks, Armentans, Muscovites, and others, in the Eastern Countrys, wearing the Name of Christians, that have little Preach∣ing and no Printing, and few Bibles, or good Books, now at last be furnished with Bibles, Or∣thodox Catechisms, and Pra••tical Treatises by the Charity of England; and may our Presses provide good stores of good Books for them, in their own Tongues, to be scattered among them. Who knowes what convulsions might be hast∣ened upon the whole Mahometan World by such an extensive charity!

May sufficient Numbers of great, wise, rich, learned, and godly men in the three kingdomes, procure well-composed Socie••ies, by whose united counsels, the Noble Design of Evangelizing the world, may be more effectually carried on; and if some generous persons will of their own Accord combine for such consultations, who can tell, but like some other Celebrated Societies heretofore formed from such small Beginnings,

they may soon have that countenance of Authori∣ty, which may produce very glorious Effects, and give opportunity to gather vast Contributions from all well disposed people, to Assist and Advance this progress of Christianity. God forbid, that popery should expend upon cheating, more than ten times what we do upon Saving, the Immortal Souls of men.

Lastly, May many worthy men, who find their circumstances will allow of it, get the Language of some Nations that are not yet brought home to God; and wait upon the Divine Providence, for Gods Leading them to, and Owning them in, their Apostolical undertakings. When they Re∣member what Ruffinus relates concerning the con∣version of the Iberians, and what Socrates, with o∣ther Authors, relates concerning, the conversion wrought by occasion of Frumentius & Aedesius, in the Inner India, all as it were by Accident, surely twil make them Try, wha•• may be done by De∣sign for such things now in our Days! Thus, let them see, whether while we at home in the midst of wearisome Temptations, are Angling with Rods, which now and then catch one Soul for our Lord, they shall not be Fishing with Nets, which will bring in many thousands of those, concerning whom with unspeakable Joy in the Day of the Lord, they may say, Behold, I and the Children which God has given me! Let them see, whether, supposing they should pros∣per no farther than to Preach the Gospel of the

Kingdom in all the World for a witness unto all Nations, yet the End which is then to come, will not bring to them the more happy Lott, where∣in they shall Stand, that are found so Doing.

Let no man be discouraged by the Difficulties, which the Devil will be ready to clog such At∣tempts against his Kingdome with; for I will take leave so to Translate the words of the wise man, in Prov. 27.4. what is able to stand before ZEAL? I am well satisfy'd, that if men had the Wisdom, To discern the Signs of the Times, they would be all Hands at Work, to spread the Name of our JESUS into all the Corners of the Earth. Grant it, O my God; and Lord Jesus, Come Quickly.

FINIS.