Article I.
His Eminent PIETY.

SUch was the Piety of our Eliot, that like a­nother Moses, he had upon his Face a con­tinual shine, arising from his uninterrupted com­munion with the Father of Spirits. He was indeed a Man of Prayer, and might say after the Psal­mist, [Page 15] 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 fervent 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 a­part whole days for prayer with Fasting, in se­cret places before the God of Heaven. Prayer solemnized with Fasting was indeed so agreea­ble unto him, that I have sometimes thought he might justly inherit the Name of, Johannes Je­junator, or, John the Faster, which for the like reason was put upon one of the Renowned Ancients. Especially, when there was any re­markable difficulty before him, he took this way to encounter and overcome it; being of Dr. Prestons mind, That when we would have any 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 Robert son did upon his Death-bed, I thank God, I have loved Faster 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 usu­al [Page 16] and speedy Reflection thereupon would be Brethren, let us Turn all this into prayer! and [...] was perpetually jogging the wheel of Prayer! both more privately in the Meetings, and more pub­lickly in the Churches of his Neighbourhood. When he came to an House that he was inti­mately 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 Fami­ly 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 seem­ed in a sort made up of ejaculatory prayers, many scores of which winged Messengers [...] dispatched away to Heaven, upon pious Er­rands every day. By them he bespoke Blessings upon almost every person or affair that he was concerned with; and he carried every thing to God with some pertinent Hosannah's or Halle­lujah's over it. He was a mighty and an happy man, that had his Quiver full of these Heaven­ly 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 the [Page 17] Almighty God, no less did he in speaking of him; bat in serious and savoury Discourses, he still had his Tongue, like the Pen of a ready Writer. The Jesuits once at Nol [...] 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 af­fable and facetious rather than morose in Con­versation; 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 or­dinarily dismiss any I [...]e me without some graci­ous, divine, pithy Sentence thereupon. Doubt­less, he imposed it as a Law upon himself, that he would leave something of God, and Heaven, and Religion, with all that should come a near him; so that in all places; his company was at­tended with Majesty and Reverence; and it was no sooner proper for him to speak, but, like Mary's opened Box of Oyntment, he fill'd the whole Room with the perfumes of the Graces in his Lips, and the Christian Hearets [...]a [...]red a greater sweetness in his melt-se [...]son a Speech­es, than the illustrious Homer ascrib'd unto the Orations of his Nestor,

Whose Lip drop'd Language than sweet Hony [...].

[Page 18] His Conferences were like those which Ter [...] ­tuhian affirms to have been common among the Saints in his Days, Ut qui sciret Dominum audi­re, 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, i [...] his whole Communication. He had a particu­lar art, at Spiritualizing of Earthly Objects, & Raising of high thoughts from very mean things As, once going with some feebleness and weari­ness up the Hill on which his Meeting house now stands, he said unto the person that led him, This is very like the may to Heaven, 'tis up Hill! the Lord by his Grace fetch us up! and in­stantly spring a Bush near him, he as nimbly added, And truly there are Thorns and Briars [...] the may [...]! Which instance I would not have singled out from the many thousands of his Occasional Reflections, but only that I might sug­gest unto the good people of Roxbury, some­thing for them to think upon, when they are go­ing up to the House of the Lord. It is enough that as the Friend of the famous Ursin could profess that he never went unto him without coming away, aut d [...]ctior aut melior, either the wiser or the better from him; so, 'tis an acknow­ledgment which more than one Friend of [...] Eliot's has made concerning him, I was new with him, but I got, or might have got some go [...] from him.

And hearing from the great God, was an Exc­ercise [Page 19] 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 [...]ul­ [...]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 pro [...]a [...]um 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 an? He advised her, Take the Holy Bi­ble 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 was 'twas that he cleared his Heart of what he was loth to have Nesting there. Moreover, if ever any man could, he might, pretend unto that evidence of Uprightness, Lord, I have loved the Habitation of thine House; for he not only gave something more than his presence there twice on the Lords Dayes, and once a Fortnight besides on the Lectures, in his own Congregation, but he made his weekly visits unto the Lectures in the [Page 20] Neighbouring Towns; how often was he seem at Boston, Charlstown, Cambridge, Dorchester, waiting upon the Word of God, in the Recur­ring Opportunities, and counting a Day in the Courts of the Lord better than a thousand? It is hardly conceivable how in the midst of so ma­ny Studies and Labours as he was at home en­gaged in, he could possibly repair to so many Lectures abroad; and herein [...]e aimed not only at his own Edification, but at the [...] 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 set himself as in the presence of the Eternal God, as the great Constantine used of old, in the Assemblies where he came, and said, [...] hear what God the Lord will speak; he expressed a diligent attention, by a watchful and wakeful posture, and by turning to the Texts quoted by the Preacher; he expressed a suitable affec­tion by feeding on what was delivered, and ac­companying it with hands and eyes devoutly e­levated; and they whose good hap 'twas to go home with him, were sure of having another Sermon by the way, until their very Hearts burned in them. [...] truly said, Non est vera Religio, q [...] cum Terrplo [...]e [...]inquitur; but our Eliot alwayes carried much of Religion with him, from the House of God.

In a word, he was one who Liv'd in Heaven while he was on Earth; and there is no more than [Page 21] pure Justice in our endeavours that he should Live on Earth after he is in Heaven. We can­not say that we ever saw him walking any whi­ther but he was therein walking with God; wher­ever he sat [...], he had God by him and it was in the Everlasting Arms of God that he Slept at night. Methoughts he a little discovered his Heavenly way of living, when walking one day in his Garden, he plucked up a weed that he saw now and then growing there, at which a Friend plea­santly said unto him, Sir, you tell us, we must be Heavenly-minded; but he immediately Reply d, It is true; and this is no impediment unto that; for were I sure to go to Heaven to morrow, I would do what I do to Day. From such a frame of spi­rit it was that once in a visit, finding a Merchant in his Counting House, where he saw Books of Business only on his Table, but all his Books of Devotion on the shelf, he gave this Advise unto him, Sir, Here's Earth on the Table, and Heaven on the shelf; pray don't sit so much at the Table as altogether to forget the shelf; let not earth by any means thrust Heaven out of your mind.

Indeed I cannot give a fuller Description of him, than what was in a Paraphrase that I have heard himself to make upon that Scripture [...] our Conversation is in Heaven. I write from him as he uttered it.

‘Behold, Said he, the Ancient and Excellent Character of a true Christian; 'tis that which Peter calls Hol [...]ness in all manner of Conversation; [Page 22] 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 For­wards and Backwards; and thus a good part of the week will be spent in Sabbarizing. 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. More­over, 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 toge­ther 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 morn­ing and evening Sacrifices, wherein having read the Scriptures to our Families, we call up­on 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 Sup­plication before the Lord, we shall add some se­rious Meditation upon his Word; a David will be at this work no less than thrice a day. [Page 23] 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 mat­ters; and we have our Occasional Acts of Cha­rity, wherein we do like the Inhabitants of Heaven every day. Ninthly, In our Callings, in our civil Callings, we keep up Heavenly Frames; we bay and sell and toyl, yea, we eat and drink, with some eye both to the Com­mand and the Honour of God in all. Behold, I have not now left an inch of time to be car­nal; 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-Eng­land 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 mor­ning, if we ask, Where am I to be to day? Our Souls must answer, In Heaven. In the even­ing, if we ask, Where have I been to day? Our [Page 24] Souls may answer, In Heaven. If thou art a Believer, thou art no stranger to Heaven while thou livest; and when thou 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 the said; 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 cha­racterises O [...]igen, Quemadmodum do [...]uit, sic vixit, & quemadmodum vixit si [...] 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 Holiness was remarkable, I must not omit his exact Remembrance of the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy.

It has been truly and justly Observed, That our whole Religion fares according to our Sab­baths, that poor Sabbaths make poor Christians, and that a strictness in our Sabbaths inspires [Page 25] vigour into all our other Duties. Our Eliot knew this, and it was a most Exemplary zeal that he acknowledged the Sabbath of our Lord. Jesus Christ withal▪ Had he been asked, Servas [...] Dominicum? he could have made a right Chri­stian 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 find, a type, a tast of Heaven with him. He labour­ed, that he might on this High-day, have no words or thoughts but such as were agreeable thereunto; he then allow'd in himself no Acti­ons, but those of a Raised 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 Rest for the people of God; and if he beheld in any person whatsoever, whether old or young, any profanation of this day, he would be sure to bestow lively Rebukes upon it. And hence al­so unto the general Engagements of a Covenant with God, which 'twas his Desire to bring the Indians into, be added a particular Article, wherein they bind themselves, mebquont amunat Sabbath, pahketeaunat to [...]sobke pomantamog; i. e. To Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy, as long as we live.

[Page 26] The mention of this, gives me an opportuni­ty, 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 Elabo­rate Exercitations on, The Lords-day, had let fall such a passage of this.

[...]juage, 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 set 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 [...] Men; among whom out 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 where­of! shall here transcribe.

I have transcribed the more of this Letter, because it not only discovers the concern which our Eliot had for the Sabbath of God, but also it may contribute unto the worlds good Recep­tion and Perusal of a golden Book on that Sub­ject, written by one of the most Eminent Per­sons which the English Nation has been adorned 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 accompa­ny'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 wings 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 Tender and suppressed the irregular Calcurations of it. He became so mailed 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 unparallel'd indifferency towards all the pomps, which Mankind is too ge­nerally flattered and enchanted with.

The Lust of the flesh he could not reconcile [Page 30] himself to the least pampering or indulging of but he persecuted it when a continual [...] by being upon higher principles than Fully was ac­quainted withal, of his mind, Non est d [...]gnus [...] qui unum dwin [...]otum vol [...]t [...]sse in [...] genere voluptat [...]s. The Sleep that he allow himself cheated him not of his Morning-hours but he reckoned the Morning no less a friend us to the Graces, than unto the Mases. He would call upon Students, I pray look to it that you morning-Birds! and for many more than a scorn of years before he dyed, he removed his Lodging into his Study, on purpose that being there a­lone, he might enjoy his early-Mornings, with­out giving the disturbance of the least noise [...] 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 live was a Cibus simplex, an homely but an wholesome Diet. Rich Varieties, costly Viands, and p [...] ­nant Sauces, came not upon his own Table, [...] when he sound them on other mens, he rare tasted of them. One Dish and a plain one, [...] his Dinner; and when invited unto a Feast, have seen him sit Magnifying of God, for [...] Plenty which His people in this Wilderness we within a few years arisen to; but not [...] than a Bit or two of all the Dainties taken into his own mouth all the while. And for a Supper he had learn'd of his loved and blessed Patro [...] old Mr. Cotton, either wholly to omit it, or [...] [Page 31] 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 pre­cious as well as more usual with him, than any of those Liquors with which men do so fre­quently 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 complai­sant gravity reply'd unto this purpose; Wine, 'tis a noble generous Liquor, and we should be hum­bly thankful for it; but as I remember, Water was made before it! So abstemious was he; and he found, that, Carere [...], his Absti­nence had more sweetness in it, than any of the sweets which he abstained from; and so willing he was to have others partake with him in that sweetness, that when he has thought the counte­nance of a Minister has lock'd, as if he had made much of himself, he has gone to him with that Speech, Study Mortification, Brother I study Mortification! and he made all his Addresses with a becoming Majesty.

The Lust of the Ey [...], 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 [...] for himself, [Page 32] but what estate he became owner of, was from the Blessing of God upon the Husbandry and in­dustry 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 Sacerdo [...] in foro as worthy of Castigation as Mer­cator in Templo; he thought that Minister and Market-man, were not Unisons, and that the Earth was no place for A [...]run's holy Miter to be laid upon. It was the Usage, of most Parisnes in the Country, to have an annual Rate for the maintainance of the Ministry, adjusted common­ly 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 in many places it prevented sore Temptations from befalling those that were labouring in the Word and Doctrine; who must else often have experi­enced the Truth of Luthers Observation, Duri­ter profecto & misere viverent Evangeliy. Ministri­si [...]ex Libera populi contributione essent sustentandi, However, for his part, he propounded that what stipend he had, should be Raised by Contribution; & from the same temper it was, that a few years before his Dissolution, being left without an Assistent in his Ministry, he pressed his Con­gregation [Page 33] 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'll deliver you from that fear; I do here give 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 with an handsome Reply, assured him, That they would count his very presence worth a Salary, when he should be so superannuated as to do no further Service for them.

And as for the [...]ytae of Life, the Life of it was most exemplarily extinguish'd in him. The Humility of his Heart made him, Higher by the Head than the rest of the people. His Habit and Spirit were both such as declared him to be among the Lowly, whom God has most Ref [...]ects unto. His Apparel was without any Ornament, except that of Humility, which the Apostle Ele­gantly compares to a knot of Comely Ribbons in the Text where he bids us to be cloathed, with it; any other slanting Ribbons on those that came in his way he would ingeniously animad­vert upon; and seeing some Scholars once, he thought, a little too gaudy in their Cloaths, Humiliamini, Juvenes, Humiliamini, was his im­mediate complement unto them. Had you seen him with his Leathern Girdle (for such an one he wo [...]e) about his Loins, you would almost have thought what Herod fear'd, That John Baptist [Page 34] was come to life again. In short, he was in all Regards, A [...] indeed; unless in this one that long Hair was always very loathsome [...] him; he was an acute Ramist, but yet he pro­fessed himself a lover of a [...] 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 Hair for their own Health, to supply themselves according to the sober modes of the places where they live. But the Apostle tell us, Nature teaches us, that it 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. [...] thought that for Men to wear their Hair with a luxurious, Deli­cate, Faeminine prolixity; or for them to pre­serve 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 that is None of their own; and most of all, for Ministers of the Gospel to ra [...]ste it in Excesses of this kind; may prove more than we are well aware displeasing to the Holy Spirit of God. The Hair of them that professed Religion long before his Death, grew too long for him to swallow; and he would express himself conti­nually with a boiling zeal concerning it, until as last he gave over, with some Regret complain­ing [Page 35] The Lust is become insuperable! I know not whether that horrible Distemper prevailing in some Europaean Countries, known by the name of Plica polovica, wherein the Hair of people mat­ted 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 peo­ple were to our Eliot. He was indeed one pris­cis meribus, as well as Antiqua fide; 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 insupera­ble Lust of Long Hair. He thus argues.

With these, and many other such perswasions did he endeavour to obviate the Luxury, which he saw the times degenerating apace into; and he added hereunto his own Example, as a conti­nual and effectual Sermon against what he thought was to be, condemned in the world.

For my own part, I cannot think Wigs un­lawful things, but I must concur with Mr. Eliot, so far as to think, that Immoderacy in them, as in Meats and in Drink is very sinful.

Article IV.
His Exquisite Charity.

HE that will write of Eliot, must write of Charity, or say nothing. His Charity was a Star of the First Magnitude in the bright Con­stellation of his Vertues; and the Rays of it were wonderfully various and extensive.

His Liberality to pious Uses, whether publick or private, went much beyond the proportions of his little Estate in the world. Many Hun­dreds of Pounds did he freely bestow upon the poor; and he would with a very forcible impor­tunity press his Neighbours to joyn with him, in such Beneficences. 'Twas a marvellous A­lacrity, with which he embraced all opportuni­ties of Relieving any, that were miserable; & the good people of Roxbury doubtless cannot [Page 37] remember (but the Righteous God will!) how often, and with what Ardors, with what Argu­ments, he became a Beggar to them, for Collect­ions in their Assemblies, to support such needy Objects, as had fallen under his Observation. The poor counted him their Father, and repair­ed still unto him, with a filial confidence in their Necessities; and they were more than se­ven or eight, or indeed than so many scores, who received their portions of his Bounty. Like that worthy and famous English General, he could not perswade himself, That he held any thing but what he gave away; but he drove a mighty Trade at such Exercises as he thought would furnish him with Bills of Exchange, which he ho­ped 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, That looking over his Accounts, he could no where find the 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 Hands his Ex­ecutors, and his own Eyes his Overseers. It has been Remark'd, That liberal men are often long-lived men; so do they after many days find the Bread with which they have been willing to keep other men alive. The great age of our E­liot was but agreeable to this Remark, & when his Age had unfitted him for almost all Em­ployments, [Page 38] and bereaved him of those Gifts & Parts which once he had been Accomplished with, being asked, How he did? he would some­times answer, Alas, I have lost every thing; my Understanding leaves me, my Memory fails me, my Utterance 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 P [...]fulness 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 Fra­ternal Sympathy; yea, 'tis not eas [...]y 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 Sa­tisfaction to him, that his Wife had attained un­to a considerable skill in Physick and Chyrurgery, which enabled her to dispense many safe, good, and useful Medicines, unto the Poor that had oc­casion for them; and some hundreds of sick & weak and maimed people owed praises to God, for [Page 39] for the Benefit, which therein they freely recei­ved of her. The good Gentleman, her Hus­band 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 into the worst Enemies that he had in the world. Never had any man fewer Enemies than he. But once having delivered something in his Mi­nistry, which displeased one of his Hearers, the man did passionately abuse him for it, and this both with Speeches and with Writings that revi­sed 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 Ca­lumnies with which he had loaded him; but by, this Carriage he strangely mollifyed and conque­red the Stomach of his Reviler.

He was also a great Enemy to all Contention, & would ring a loud Courfeu-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 In­clinations for Peace, indeed sometimes almost [Page 40] made him to sacrifice Right it self. When there was laid before an Assembly of Ministers, a bun­dle of Papers, which contained certain matters of Difference and Contention, between some people which our Eliot thought should rather unite, with an Amnesty upon all their former Quarrels, he (with some limitation of what Con­stantine did upon the like occasion) hastily threw the papers into the Fire before them all, and with a zeal for peace, as hot as that Fire, said immediately, Brethren, wonder not at what I have done; I did it on my knees this morning before I came among you. Such an excess (if it were one), flow'd from his Charitable Inclinations to be found among those Peace-makers which by following the Exemple of that Man who is our Peace, come to be called, The children of God. Very worthily might he be called an Ireneus, 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 blessed and a most holy man. He disliked all sorts of Bravery; but yet with an ingenious Note upon the Greek word in Col. 3. 15. he propounded, That peace might brave it among us. In short, where-ever he came, it was like ano­ther old John, with solemn and earnest perswa­ [...]ives 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 [Page 41] 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 Bles­sings for them. And he often made his Expres­sions 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 Di­stinctly 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 Coun­tenance all the day long. I believe he had a con­tinual Assurance of the divine Love, marvellous­ly Sealing, Strengthning, and Refreshing of him, for many lustres of years before he Dy'd; and for this cause, the fear of Death was Extir­pated out of his heavenly Soul, more than out of most men alive. Had our blessed Jesus at a­ny time sent his Wggone to setch this old Jaco [...] away, he would have gone without the least Re­luctan­tancies [Page 42] Labouring once under a [...]lavour and [...] asked him, How he did? and [...] Very well, but [...] I expect a paroxysm [...] fear not; but unto that he answered, Fear! No, no; I been't afraid, I thank [...] I been't afraid to Dy! Dying would not have been any more to him, than Sleeping to a wear man.

And another Excellency, which accompanied this Courage and Comfort in him was, A won­derful Resignation to be Will of God, in all Events. There were fore Afflictions that sometimes befell him; especially when he follow'd some of his hopeful and worthy Sons two or three desira­ble Preachers of the Gospel, to their Graves. But he sacrificed them, like another Abraham▪ with such a sacred indifferency, as made all the Spectators to [...] 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 by 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 [...] that [...] one which had no small Con­cern, because Eliot's in the bottom of it; [...] without any expectation or ever [...] any other way; and when he imagined that he had but one breath more to draw in the world, it was this, The will [...] the Lord be done! But it was the will of the [Page 43] Lord, that he should survive the danger; for he was rescued by the help that was then at hand, and he that had long been like Moses in every thing else, was now drawn out of the Waters. Which gives me opportunity to mention one Remarkable that had some Relation hereunto. This Accident happened in the Time of our In­dian Wars, when some furious English People that clamoured for the ex [...]rpa [...]ion of the [...] Indians, which were in subjection unto us, as well as the Pagan Indians that were in Hosti­lity 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 Drown­ing, 'tis said, he wish'd this man of God had then been Drowned. But within a few days, that woful man by a strange Disaster was 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 blessed measure clear of those Distempers which too of­ten 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 some­times felt a lively touch of God upon his refined [Page 44] 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 fore­bode the Changes of the Weather, so the sub­limed Soul of our Eliot often had strange Fore­bodings of things that were to come. I have 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 Accomplishments. If he said of any Af­fair, I cannot bless it! It was a worse 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, pri­vately 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 eve­ry day; and I am verily perswaded, we shall hear of it speedily! and it came to pass accord­ingly.

It is to be confessed, That the written Word of God, is to be regarded as the perfect and [Page 49] 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 war­rantable or convenient thing for Christians to look for such Inspirations as directed the Pro­phets that were the Pen-men of the Scriptures. Nevertheless, there are some uncommon Instan­ces of Communion and Fruition, which in our days the Soveraign God here and there favours a good man withal; and they are very Heaven­ly persons, persons well purify'd from the Fe­culences of Sensuality, and persons better pur­ged from the Leaven of envy and malice, and intollerable pride, than usually those vain pre­tenders to Revelations, the Quakers, are, that are made partakers of these Divine Dainties. Now such an one was our Eliot; and for this, worthy to be had in everlasting Remembrance.

It would not be improper, under this File to lodge the singular and surprizing successes of his Prayers! for they were such, that in our distresses we still repair'd unto him, under that encourage­ment, He is a Prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou stall 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 peo­ple here, for the Redemption of that Gentle­man▪ but we were at last informed, that the [Page 46] 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 Dis­tressed Friends of this Prisoner, now concluded, Our Hope is l [...]st! Well upon this, Mr Eliot in some of his next prayers, before a very solemn Congregation, very broadly, begid, Heavenly Father, work for the Redemption of thy poor Ser­vant 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 Gen­tleman quickly Returns to us that had been mourning for him as a lost man, and brings us News, that the Prince which had hitherto help him was come to an untimely Death, by which means he was now set at Liberty. Thus [...] now know, That a Prophet has been among us!

Article I.
His Ministerial Accomplishments.

THe Grace of God, which we have seen so il­lustrious [...] Endowing and Adorning of our Eliot, as well Qualify'd him for, as Disposed him to, the employment wherein he spent about Sin 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 him­self; and he undertook it I beleeve, with as Right Thoughts of it, and as Good Ends in it, as e­ver any man in our Dayes was acted with. He look'd upon the Conduct of a Church, as a thing flo less Dangerous than Important, and attended with so many Difficulties, Temptations, and Hu­miliations, as that nothing but a Call 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 pleasant thing, to be Q­blig'd unto the over sight of a Number, that by a solemn Covenant should be listed among the Voluntiers of the Lord Jesus Christ; that it was [Page 48] no easy thing to feed the souls 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 discou­raged from Teaching of them, and from watch­ing & praying over them; to value them highly as the Flock which God has purchased 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 Ac­count must be given of all that has been done; having in the mean time no expectation of the Riches & Grandeurs which accompany a world­ly Domination. It was herewithal his opinion, That (as the great Owen expresses it) notwith­standing 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 sufferings; and it was in a sense of these things that he gave himself up to the sacred Ministry. A Stranger to Regeneration can be but poorly Accomplished, for such a Mi­nistry; and however God may prosper the Ser­mons 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 [Page 49] thereof, and, as Austin Expressed it, a Stone-cutter may convey water into a Garden, without having himself any advantage of it, Nevertheless, the unsanctified Minister, how Gifted, how Able soever he may be, must have it still said unto him, Thou lack est 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 Bearning too, which made him capable to, Divide the [...]artght▪ He was a most Acute Grammarian; and understood very well, the Languages which God [...] wrote his Holy Bible in. He had a sharp [...] sight into all the other Liberal Arts, and made little [...] of them, for the use of certain Indians, whose exacter education he was d [...]sitous of. But, a­bove all, he had a most emment skill in [...] and that which profane coffers reproached as the Disgrace of the blessed A [...]ing, all of whose Works always we go down the [...] Gold, was the Honour of our Eliot, namely to be Scripture thus I belong us, or, One mighty [...] the Word; which enabled him to convince [...] and on all, occasions to show himself, A thorough Divine, and A Workman [...] not be ashamed.

In short, he came like another [...], or Aboliub, unto [...] service of the [...] And from one particularity in that part of his Learning, which lay in the Affairs of the [...] [Page 50] 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 (says he) into the heart of some of his Religious and Learned Servants, to take such pains about the He­brew Language, as to fit it for universal Use! 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 In­vention of God himself; and what one is fitter to be the universal Language, than that which it plea­sed our Lord Jesus to make use of when he [...] from Heaven unto Paul!

Article II.
His Family-Government.

THe Apostle Paul, reciting and requiring the Qualifications of a Gospel Minister, give 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 was very Exemplary. That one Wife which [Page 51] 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 Je­sus Christ; and after he had lived with her for more than half an hundred years, he followed her to the Grave with La [...]enta [...]s 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 mo­desty beautifying of it, that every one called, them Z [...]cha [...]y and Elizabeth. His Family, was a little Be [...], for the Worship of God constant­ly and exactly maintained in it; and unto the daily prayers of the Family, his manner was to prefix the Reading of the Scripture; which be­ing done, 'twas also his manner to make his young people choose a certain passage in the Chapter, and give him some [...] of their own upon it. By this method he did mightily [...] and improve, as well as cry, their Under­standings, and endeavour to make them wise unto S [...]tuation. He was likewise very strict in the Education of his Children and more care­ful to mend any error in their Hearts and lives, than he could have been to cure a blen [...]sh [...] their Bodies. No Ex [...]itancies or [...] could find a room under his [...] [Page 52] his House any other than a School of Piety; one might have there seen a perpetual mixture of a Spartan & a Christian Discipline. Whatever De­cay 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 lesser Family! and in his great­er Family, he manifested still more of his Regards to the rule of a Gospel-ministry. 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 nor Froth; which in his public ser­mons, he entertained the souls of his people with, speculations, or with such things as, Animum non dan [...], quia non habent; much less did he kill them with such po [...]son as is now too commoly exposed by the Arminian and Socintan Doctors that have lately too often fat in Moses's chair. His way of preaching was Very plain: so that the very Lambs might wade, into his Discourses on those text and themes, wherein Elephants might swim and here withal, it was very powerful, his Deli­very [Page 53] was always very graceful and grateful; but when he was to use Reproofs and Warnings against any Sin, his voice would rise into a [...]a [...]mth which had in it very much of Energy as well as Decency; he would brandish the Swords, and sound the [...] of God against all Vice, with a most penetrating Liveliness, and make his Pulpit, another Mount Spirit, for the flashes of Lightning there in displaced against the Brea­ches of the Law given upon that burning Moun­tain. And, [...] observed, that there was usually a special Fervour in the Rebukes which he be­stow'd upon Carn [...]ity, a carnal frame and life in Professions of Religion; when he [...] to brand the Earthly mindedness of Church-Mem­bers, and the Allowance & one Indulgence which they other gave unto themselves in seasual De­lights, here he was a right Bhanerges; he then spoke, as 'twas sad one of the Ancients did, Quot v [...]ba [...] Fulmina, as many Thunderbolts as Words.

It was another property of his Preaching, that there was evermore much of CHRIST in it; and with Paul, he could say, I determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ; having that Blessed Name in his Discourses, with a frequency like that, with which Paul mentions it in his Epistles. As 'twas noted of Dr. B [...]aly, that whatever sub­ject he were upon, in the Application still his Use of it would be to arive men unto the Lord Jesus Christ; in like manner, the Lord Jesus [Page 54] Christ was the Loadstone which gave a touch [...] all the Sermons of our Eliot; a glorious, preci­ous, lovely Christ was the point or 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 sa­voury Book of his Enti [...]led, 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 blesseds be God, that we have Christ so much and so well preac [...]ec [...] in poor New England!

Moreover, he lik'd no Preaching, but what had been we [...]st [...]ated for; and he would very much commend a Sermon which he could per­ceive had required some good shinking and Rea­ding in the Author of it. I have been present, when he has unto a Preacher then just come home from the Assembly with him, thus expres­sed 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 bea­ten to day; the Lord help us always by good Study to beat our Oyl, that there may be no knots in our Sermons life 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 Ser­mon [Page 55] 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 Hear­er 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 his flock, and like another David he could not en­dure 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 his Lambs; and I have cause to remember with what an hearty, servent, 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, [...]nd 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 [Page 56] 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 Band of the Covenant. He vey openly and earnestly maintained the cause of Infants 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 [...]esh, The Pro­mise is to Believer; and their Children: and are unwilling to reckon Children among the Disci­ples of Jesus Christ: [...]or to grant, That of such is the Kingdom of Heaven: or to know, That the most undoubted Records of Antiquity af­firm Infant Baptism to have been an usage in all the Primitive Churches; That even before the early days of Naz [...]an [...]n, Chrys [...]s [...]om, Basil, A­thanaesius, Epiph [...]nius, in the Greek, and Ambrose Jerom, Austin, 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 Origen be­fore 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 i [...] Ire [...]eus and Justin Martyr; and that the very Arguments with which some of the Ancient did superstitiously advise the delay of Baptism [Page 57] [...] 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 Unholy, and Unbelievers, and unfit Subjects to have up­on them a Mark of Dedication to the Lord.

Wherefore, when there was brought among as a Book of pious Mr. Norc [...]'s, whereby some became Disposed to, or Confirmed in, a preju­dice against P [...]edo-Baptism, it was not long be­fore Mr. Eliot published a little Answer there­unto; 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 Faring Brother; but he acts the cause of a Roaring Lion, who by all 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 them­selves. No man could entertain a person of a different perswasion from himself, with more sweetness and kindness, than he, when he saw, Aliquid, Christs, or the Fear of God prevailing in them; he could uphold a most intimate Cor­respondence with such a man, as Mr. Jesses [...]s 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 ma­ny Ministers do, think, that he had now done, with them. No, another thing wherein he was very laborious for poor Children was, the Cate­chising [Page 58] of them; he kept up the great Ordinance of Catechising, both publickly & privately, & spent in it a world of time About the end of the S [...] ­Century, before there had in the least begun to Start up New Officers in the Church of God, we find there were persons called unto the Office of Publick Teaching, who were not Pastors, not Ru­lers, not called unto the Administration of o­ther Ordinances; those in the Church of Alex­andria, were of a special Remark and Renown for their Abilities this way; and their Employ­ment was to Explain and to Defend the princi­ples of the Christian Religion, unto all with whom 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 Teach­er purely as such, hath no Right unto further Church Administrations, any more than the R [...]bbt's or Doctors among the Jews, had to Of­fer Sacrifices in the Temple; yet he who is called to be a Teacher, may at the same time also be called to be an Elder, and being now a Teaching Elder, he becomes interested in the whole Go­vernment 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 acknow­ledged in their Teachers; and such a Teaching [...] did our Eliot remember himself to be He thought himself under a particular Obliga­tion to be that Officer, which the Apostle calls if [Page 59] Cor. 4. 15. An Instructor of the young; nor was he ashamed, any more than some of the worthiest men among the Ancients were, to be called, A Catechist. He would observe upon Joh. 21. 15. That, the care of the Lambs, is one third part of the charge over the Church of God. It would be incredible if I should relate what pains he took to keep up the blessed Ec [...]ho's of Truth, be­tween himself, and the young people of his Congregation; and what prudence he used, in suiting of his Catechisms to the age and strength of his little Catechumens. But one thing I must observe, which is, That altho' there may be, (as one has computed) no less than five hun­dred Catechisms extant, yet Mr. Eliot gave him­self the Travail of adding to their number, by composing of some further Catechisms, which were more particularly designed as an Antidote for his own people, against the Contagion of such Errors as might threaten any peculiar dan­ger to them. And the effect and success of this Catechising, bore proportion to the indefatiga­ble industry with which he prosecuted it; it is a well-principled people that he has left behind him. As when certain Jesuits were sent among the Waldenses to corrupt their Children, the returned with much Disappointment and Con­fusion, because the Children of seven years old were well-principled enough to Encounter the most Learned of them all; so, if any Seducer were let loose to wolve it among the good peo­ple [Page 60] 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 Penal­ties would signify so much to save any people from the Snares of buisy Hereticks, as the un­wearied Catechising of one Eliot has done to preserve his people from the gangren of ill opi­nions.

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 Bo­ston to consider, How the miscarriages which were among as might be prevented; I say, with what Fervour he uttered an Expression to this pur­pose, 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 to the Town where he lives! that before me 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 [Page 61] Title of Schola Illustris upon that little Nurse­ry; 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-En­gland. From the Spring of the School at Rox­bury, 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 impor­tunate 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 sad­dest 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 Evangeli­cal Minister, but also a true New-English one; [Page 62] he was a Protestant, and a Puritan, and one ve­ry full of that Spirit which acted the first Plan­ters of this Country, in their peaceable S [...]cessi [...] from the unwarrantable things elsewhere im­pos'd upon their Consciences. The Judgment and Practice of one that readily underwent [...] the misery attending the Infancy of this Plan­tation, for the sake of a true Church-order, is thing which we young people should cou [...] worthy to the enq [...]ired after; and since we sa [...] him so well behaving himself in the House of God it cannot but be worth while to know what [...] thought about the Frame, and Form, and Con­stitution of that blessed House.

He was a modest, humble but very reasonable Nonconformist unto the Ceremonies, which have bin such unhappy Apples of strife, in the Church of England; otherwise the dismal thickets [...] America, had never seen such a person in them. He could not count it lawful for him ordina [...] to perform his Ministerial Acts of solemn and public Prayer, by reading or using any Forms of Pray composed by other persons for him, as thousands of Preachers do at this day. And this, not only because an Ability to express the case of a Con­gregation in prayer, is a Ministerial Gift, which our Lord forbids his Ministers to Neglect; and a Minister that should only Read Forms of Ser­mons composed for him, would as truly dis­charge the Duty of Preaching, as one that [...] only read such Forms of prayers, would the duty of praying in it; but also because he could not find that any Forms of prayer were used in an [...] [Page 63] part of the Church, until about four hundred years after Christ; nor any made for more than some single Province until six 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 a­bove, his particular Dissatisfactions at the En­glish Liturgy, for weighty causes rather increa­sed 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 Gar­ments, whereby Ad [...]isters are distinguished, from the rest of the Church, are a special part of the cha­racter of the Beast. He could not use the Cross in Baptism; forasmuch as Dr. Taylor himself confesses, 'tis An Unt [...]s [...]uted 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 spittle, with which that Institution has been de­ [...]led 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 ge­sture [Page 64] from the just interpretation of Idolatry because of the antecedent interpretation put upon it by those that first contrived it, enjoyed 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 under­stand a Bishop that should not be ejasdem Juris­dictions, and much less one that should not be ejusdem O [...]dinis 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, Unto their Assembly, mine Ho­nour, be not thou United.

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 filled him with a just Horrour, and sorrow! to see above twenty Hundred, faithful Ministers in one Black Day turned out of their employ­ments, 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, [Page 65] what it was. It was his as well as his master, the great Ramuss principle, that in the Reformation by Churches to be now endeavoured things ought to be Reduced unto the Order wherein we find them at their Primitive, Original, Apostolical Institution And in pursuance of this principle, he Justly Epou­sed 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, A­greeing and Assembling together, among themselves, with Officers, of Divine Appointment, for the Cele­bration of Evangelical Ordinances, and their own mutual Edification; For he saw it must be a cru­el hardship used upon the Scriptures, to make them so much as Lisp the least intimation of any other Church-state prescribed 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, Visible, Pro­fessing Church, but that onely which is Congrega­tional. 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 Tem­perament, between Rigid Pre [...]erianism, and Levelling Brownism; So that on the one side, the Liberties of the people are not oppressed and [Page 66] overlaid; on the other side, the Authority of the Elders is not rendred insignificant, but a die B [...]llance 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 Church­state can arise from any other Formal cause, but the Consent, Concurrence, Confederation of those concerned in it; he looked upon a Re­lation unto a Church, as not a Natural, or a Vi­olent, but a Voluntary thing, and so that it is to be entred no otherwise than by an Holy Cove­nant, or, as the Scripture speaks, by giving our selves first unto the Lord, and then one unto ano­ther. He could not think, that Baptism alone was to be accounted the cause, but rather the effect, of Church-member-ship; inasmuch as up­on the dissolution of the Church to which a man belongs, his Baptism would not become a Nullity: nor that meet Profession would render men members of this or that Church; for then it would be impossible to cut off a corrupt mem­ber from that Body Politic: Nor that meet Co-habitation would make Church-members; for then the vilest infidels would be actually incor­porated with us. And a Covenant, was all that he now saw remaining in the Inventory.

But for the Subjects to be admitted by Chur­ches unto all the priviledges of this Fellowship [Page 67] with them he thought, they ought to be such as a trying Charity, or a charitable Tryal, should pronounce, Regenerate. He found the first Chur­ches of the Gospel mentioned in the Scripture, to be Churches of Saints, and that the Aposties 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-fel­lowship, 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 Vita Innocens, requi­red, as Lact entius tells us, they were in his Dayes, of all Communicants at the Table of the Lord; and with Holy Chrys [...]stom, 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 Cus­tom 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 here­of, besides the Enquiries of the Elders into the Knowledge and Belief and Conversation of them that offer themselves unto Church-fellowship, in i [...] expected, tho' I hope not with any severity [Page 68] of imposition, that in the Addresses which they make to the Churches, they give some written, if not oral Account, of what impressions the Re­generating Word of God has had upon their Souls. This was a Custom which this holy man had a marvellous esteem and value for; and I have taken from his Mouth such as these Ex­pressions 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 emin­ent Confession of our Lord; experienced Saints can gather more than a little from it. It is in­deed an Ordinance of wonderful benefit; the Lord planted many Vineyards in the first Set­tlement of this Countrey, and there were ma­ Noble Vines in them; it was their Heavenly-mindedness which disposed them to this Exercise, and by the upholding of it, the Churches are still filled with Noble Vines; it mightily main­tains purity of Churches. 'Tis the duty of e­very Christian, With the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation. As among the Jews, usu­ally most men did once in their life, celebrate a Jubilee; thus, this Confession of Christ, is me­thinks, 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 [Page 69] thereby exceedingly Edify'd; and the Souls of Devout Christians are hereby very much ingra­tiated 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 [...]s 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, A 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 Do­ctrine. 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 Exclusion 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 him­self 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 [Page 70] say, There is my Brother Bowles, the godly Eld [...] of our Church at Roxbury, God helps him to [...] 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 a­nother thing, which he was Concerned, that we might never want; and that is, a frequent Re­petition 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 Union in what they profess, in what they in­tend, and in what they enjoy, so compacted into one Body Mystical, as that all the several par­ticular 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 al­ways 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 conjunc­tion 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 [Page 71] circumstances of it; he saw the main Interest and Business of Churches might quickly come to be utterly loft, if Synods were not often called for the Repairing of Inconveniences, and he was much in contriving for the regular and re­peated meeting of such Assemblies.

He wish'd for Councils to suppress all dam­nable 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 maintained 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 be­held 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, Recom­mended 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 [...]aring this Title, The Divine Management of [Page 72] Gospel-Churches by the Ordinance of Councils; con­stituted in order according to the Scriptures, which may be a means of uniting th [...]se two holy and emi­nent Parties, the Presbyterians & the Congrega­tional. It is a remarkable Concession made by the Incomparable Jurieu who is not reckoned a Con­gregational man, in his Traite de L'Unite de L'Eglise, That the Apostolical Churches lived not in any Confederation for mutual Dependence. The grand Equipage of Metropolitans, of P [...]nates, of Exarchs [...], of Patriarks, was yet unknown; nor does it any more appear to us, that the Churches then had them Provincial, National, and Oecumenical Synods; e­very 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 Church­es of New-England, is that which has caused me to foresee some Advantage and Benefit ari­sing 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.