PRAELIMINARY I. The Birth, Age, and Family of Mr. ELIOT.

'Tis the Life of the Renowned John Eliot, which is to be now put into our Pages; a Life which Commenced about the Year 1604. And Expired, in the Year 1690.

THe Inspired Moses relating the Lives of those Ante-diluvian Patriarchs, in whom the Church of God and Line of Christ was continued, through the first sixteen hundred years of Time, recites little but their Birth, and their Age, and their Death, and their Sons and Daughters. If those Articles would satisfie the Appetites and Enquires of such as come to Read the Life of our Eliot, we shall soon have dispatch'd the work now upon our Hands. The Age with the Death of this worthy man, has been already terminated, in the Ninetieth year of the present Century, and the Eighty sixth Year of his own Pilgrimage. And for his Birth it was at a Town, in England: the Name whereof I cannot presently Recover; nor is 〈◊〉 necessary for me to look back so far as the place of his Nativity; any more than 'tis for me t •• recite the Vertues of his Parentage, of which h •• said, vix ea nostra voso. The Atlantick Ocean like a River of Lethe, may easily cause us t • forget many of the things that happened o • the other side. Indeed the Nativity of such 〈◊〉 man, were an Honour worthy the Contention of as many places as laid their Claims unto the famous Homer's; but whatever places may challenge a share in the Reputation of having Enjoy'd the st •• st Breath of our Eliot, it is New-England that with most Right can call him Hers; his best Breath, and afterwards, his la •• Breath as here; and here 'twas, that God be stow'd upon him Sons and Daughters.

He came to New-England, in the Month 〈◊〉 November. A. D. 1631. among those Blesses old Planters, which laid the Foundations of remarkable Country, devoted unto the Exercise of the Protestant Religion, in its purest and highest Reformation: He left behind him 〈◊〉 England, a vertuous young Gentlewoman, who • he had pursued and purposed a Marriage unto and she coming hither the year following, tha • Marriage was Consummated, in the Month of October, A. D. 1632.

This Wife of his youth lived with him until she became to him also the staff of his Age; and she left him not until about three or four years before his own Departure to those Heavenly Regions where they now together see Light. She was a Woman very Eminent, both for Holiness and Usefulness, and she excelled most of the Daughters that have done vertuously. Her Name was Ann, and Gracious was her Nature. God made her a Rich Blessing, not only to her, Family, but also to her Neighbour hood; and when at last she dyed, I heard and saw her aged Husband, who else very rarely wept, yet now with Tears over the Coffin, before the good people, a vast confluence of which were come to her Funeral, say, Here lies my dear, faithful, pious, prudent, prayerful Wife; I shall go to her, and she not return to me! My Reader will of his own accord excuse me, from bestowing any further Epitaphs upon that gracious Woman.

By her, did God give him six worthy Children; Children of a character which may forever stop the mouths of those Antichristian Blasphemers, who have set a false brand of Disaster and Infamy, on the Offspring of a Married Clergy. His First born, was a Daughter; born Sep. 17. A. C. 1633. This Gentlewoman is yet alive, and one well-approved for her Piety and Gravity. His next was a Son; born Aug. 31. A. C. 1636. He bore his Fathers Name, and had his Fathers Grace. He was a person of notable Accomplishments, and a lively, zealous, acute Preacher, not only to the English, at New-Cambridge, but also to the Indians thereabout. He grew so fast, that he was found Ripe for Heaven, many years ago; and upon him Death-bed uttered such penetrating things as could proceed from none, but One upon the Borders and Confines of Eternal Glory. 'Tis pity that so many of them are forgotten; but one of them, I think, we have cause to Remember; Well, (said he) my dear Friends; There is a dark day coming upon p •• or New-England; and in so dark a day, I pray how will you provide for your own security! My Counsel to you is, get an Interest in the Blessed Lord Jesus Christ; and that will carry you to the worlds end. His Third was also a Son, born Decemb 20 A. C. 1638. Him he call'd Joseph, and made a Joseph of him. This person is at this time a Pastor to the Church at Cu •• ford, and One of great Note, as well thro' the whole Countrey, as in the particular Colony of Connecticut, which God has made him considerable to. His Fourth was a Samuel, born, June 22. A. C. 164 • . who dy'd, a most lovely young man eminent for Learning and Goodness, a Fellow of the Colledge, and a Candidate of the Ministry. His Fifth was an Aaron, born Feb. 1 • . A. C. 1643. who tho he dy'd very young, yet first manifested many good things towards the Lord God of Israel. His Last, was a Benjamin, born Jan. 29. A. C. 1646. Of all these three, it may be said, as it was of 〈◊〉 , They dy'd before their Father; but it may also be written over their Graves, All these dy'd in Faith. By the pious Design of their Father, they were all Consecrated unto the Service of God, in the Ministry of the Gospel; but God saw meet rather to fetch them away, by a Death, which (therefore) I dare not call, Pr •• mature, to glorify him in another and a better world. They all gave such Demonstrations of their Conversion to God, that the good old man would somtimes comfortably say, I have had six Children, and I bless God, for His Fre-grace, they are all either with Christ, or in Christ; and my mind is none at rest concerning them. And when some asked him, how he could bear the Death of such excellent Children, his humble Reply thereto was this, My desire was that they should have served God on Earth; but if God will choose to have them rather serve Him in Heaven, I have nothing to object against it, but His Will be done: His Benjamins was made the Son of his Right-hand; for the invitation of the good people at Roxbury, placed him in the same Pulpit with his Father, where he was his Assistent for many years; there they had a Proof of him, that as a Son with his Father, he served with him in the Gospel. But his Fate was like that which the great Gregory N • z ••• zen describes in his Discourse upon the Death of his honourable Brother, his aged Father being now alive and present; My Father, having laid up in a better world, a rich Inheritance for his Children, sent a Son of his before, to take possession of it.

Praeliminary II.

Mr. Eliots, early Conversion, sacred Employment, and just Removal into America.

But all that I have hitherto said, is no more than an entrance into the History of our Eliot. Such an Enoch as he, must have something more than these things recorded of him; his Walk with God, must be more largely laid before the world, as a thing that would bespeak us all to be Followers no less than we shall be Admirers of it.

He had not passed many Turns in the world, before he knew the meaning of a saving Turn from the Vanities of an Unregenerate State▪ unto God in Christ, by a true Repentance; he had the singular happiness and priviledge of an early Conversion from the Ways, which Original Sin disposes all men unto. One of the principal▪ Instruments which the God of Heaven used in tingeing, and filling the mind of this chosen Vessel, with good principles, was that Venerable Thomas Hook whose Name in the Churches of the Lord Jesus, is, As an Oyntment poured for thy even that Hooker, of whom worthy Master Fuller could write, As Latymer would not stick it say, Saint Belney, so neither I to say, Saint Hooker • that Hooker, who having Angled many scores of Souls into the Kingdom of Heaven, at last laid his Bones in our New-England; it was an acquaintance with him, that contributed more than a little to the Accomplishment of our Elisha, for that work unto which the most High designed him. His liberal Education, having now the Addition of Religion, to direct it, and improve it, it gave such a Biass to his young Soul, as quickly discovered it self in very signal instances. His first Appearance in the world after his Education in the University, was in the too difficult and unthankful but very necessary Employment of a School-master, which Employment he discharged with a good fidelity. And as this first Essay of his Improvement was no more Disgrace unto him, than it was unto the famous Hieron, Whitaker, Vines, and others, that they thus began to be serviceable; so it rather prepared him, for the further service, which his mind was now set upon. He was of worthy Mr. Thomas Wilson's mind, that the calling of a Minister was the only one wherein a man might be more serviceable to the Church of God, than in that of a School-master. Wherefore having Dedicated himself unto God betimes, he could not Reconcile himself to any lesser way of Serving his Creator and Redeemer, than the Sacred Ministry of the Gospel; but, alas, where should he have Opportunities for the Exercising of it? The Laudian, Grotian, and Arminian Faction in the Church-of-England, in the prosecution of their Grand plot, for the reducing of England unto a moderate sort of Popery, had pitched upon this as one of their cursed methods for it; namely, to creeple as fast as they could, all the Learned, Godly, Painful Ministers of the Nation; and invent certain Shiboleths for the detecting and the destroying of such men as were cordial Friends to the Reformation. 'Twas now a time when there were every day multiplied and imposed those unwarrantable Ceremonies in the Worship of God, by which the Conscience of our considerate Eliot counted the second Commandment notoriously violated; it was a time, when such memorable Bishops as Wren, and Pierce, with others of that Conspiracy, silenced, censured, and ruined such Ministers as would not Read a Book for Sports on the Lords Dayes, or did but use a Prayer of their own conceiving before or after Sermon, or did but Preach on an Afternoon as well as in a morning, or on a Lecture, or on a Market, or did but explain the Church-Catechism, or in any wise discountenance the old Pagan Superstitions or new beastly Debaucheries among their miserable Neighbours. Moreover, 'twas now a time, when some hundreds of those amiable people which had the Nick-name of Puritans put upon them, transported themselves, with their whole Families and Interests, into the Desarts of America, that they might here peaceably Erect Congregational Churches, and therein attend and maintain all the pure Institutions of the Lord Jesus Christ; having the encouragement of Royal Charters, that they should never have any interruption in the Enjoyment of those precious and pleasant things. Here was a prospect which quickly determined the devout Soul of our young Eliot, unto a Remove into New-England, while it was yet a Land not sown; he quickly Listed himself among those valiant Souldiers of the Lord Jesus, who cheerfully encountred first the Perils of the Atlantick Ocean, and then the Fatigues of the New-English Wilderness, that they might have an undisturbed Communion with Him in His Appointments here. And thus did he betimes procure himself the consolation of-having afterwards and for-ever a room in that Remembrance of God, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, and the Love of thine espousuls, when thou wentest after me into the Wilderness.

On his first Arrival to New-England, he soon joyned himself unto the Church at Boston; 'twas Church-work that was his Errand hither. Mr. Wilson, the Pastor of that Church, was gone back into England, that he might perfect the Settlement of his Affairs; and in his Absence, young Mr. Eliot was he that supplied his place. Upon the Return of Mr. Wilson, that Church was intending to have made Mr. Eliot his Collegue, and their Teacher; but it was thus diverted. Mr. Eliot had engaged unto a select number of his pious and christian Friends in England, that if they should come into these Parts before he should be in the pastoral Care of any other people, he would give himself to Them, and be for Their Service. It happened, that these Friends transported themselves hither, the year after him; and chose their Habitation at the Town which they called Roxbury. A Church being now gathered at this place, he was in a little while Ordained unto the Teaching and Ruling of that holy Society. So 'twas in the Orb of that Church that we had him as a Star fixed for very near Threescore Years; it only remains that we now observe what was his Magnitude all this while, and how he performed his Revolution.

Part I. Dr. Eliot as a CHRISTIAN.

Part II. Or, Eliot, As a MINISTER.

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 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 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 〈◊〉 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 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 〈…〉 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 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 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 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 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 〈◊〉 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 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 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 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 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; 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 • 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.

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 honourable person did once in Print put the Name of an Evangelist upon him; whereupon in a Letter 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 things; 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 life up him, and lay ourselves low; I wish that word could be obliterated. My Reader sees what a caution Mr. Eliot 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 Evangelist, or one separated for the employment of Preaching the Gospel in such places where no Churches have hitherto been gathered he not all 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 Possessed by the New-Englanders, had been forlorn and wretched Heathen ever since their first herding here; and tho we know not When or How those Indians first became Inhabitants of this mighty Continent, yet we may guess that probably, the D • vel decoy'd those miserable Salvages hither, in hopes that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus would never come here to destroy or disturb his Absolute E • p •• over them. But our Eliot was in such all terms with the Divel, as to alarm him with founding the Silver-Trumpets of Heaven in his Territories, and make some Noble and Zealous Attempts towards outing 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 Shipwracked Frenchman which did in their hands, that God 〈…〉 them, and introduce a more 〈◊〉 and worthy people into their plate, blasphemously reph • j, That God could not kill them; were 〈…〉 with such a raging and wasting 〈◊〉 , 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 Uni • ta 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 Spirit of God, first moved him to the blessed Work of Evangilizing these perishing Indians; 'twas that Holy Spirit which laid before his mind the Ideal 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 enkindled in him a Fury, 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 Heather, an Article of their C • ead; but (setting aside the unrevealed and extraordinary Steps which the Holy One of s • rail may take out of His usual Pa • hes) he thought seen 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 〈…〉 to prove Plato a Christian, till they prove them selves little better than Heathen. It is indeed a principle in the Turkish Alcor • n, That Let a man's Religion be what it will, he shall be saved, if be conse • ention sl •• live up to the F • les of it: but our Eliot was no Mahometan. He could most heartily subscribe to that passage in the Articles of the Ch. of Engl. 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 diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and Light of Nature; For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us, Only the Name of Jesus Christs, 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 Phre • sy, as to deny peremptorily 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 he 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 those▪ Heathen from that all-devouring Fury?

But when this Charitable pitty had once begun to flame, there was a concurrence of many things to cast Oyl into it. All the good men in the Country were glad of his Engagement in such an undertaking; the Ministers especially encouraged him, and those in the Neighbourhood kindly supply'd his place, and perform'd his work, in part, for him at Roxbury, while he was Abroad Labouring among them that were Without. Hereunto, he was further awakened by those expressions in the Royal Charit • , in the assurance and protection whereof this Wilderness was first peopled; namely, To win and incite the Natives of that Country to the knowledge and Obedience of the only true God and Saviour 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 compassing Sea and Land that they might make Proselytes, 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 godly people in England for the promoting of it; 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 Christian 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 generously 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 person in this important Affair, will not be seen its due Lustre, unless we make some Reflection upon several circumstances which he beheld these forlorn Indians in. Know then, that these doleful Creatures are the veriest Ruines of Mankind, which are to be found any where upon the face of the Earth. No such Estates are to be expected among them, as have been the 〈◊〉 which the pretended Converters in other Countries have snapped at. One might see among them, what an hard master the Devil is, to the most devoted of his Vassals! These abject Creatures, • live in a Country full of Mines; we have already made entrance upon our Iron; and in the very surface of the ground among us, there lies C • per enough to supply all this world; besides other Mines hereafter to be exposed; but our shiftless Indians were never Owners of so much as a Knife, till we come among them; their name for a • English-in •• , was a Knife man; Stone was instead of Metal for their tools; and for their C •• ns, they have only 〈◊〉 B •• ads with Holes in them to string them upon a bracelet, whereof s • me are 〈◊〉 ; and of these there go six for a penny; some are black or 〈◊〉 ; and of these go three for a penny; this Wampam, as the 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 conveniencies of humane life: but as for them, their hoasing is nothing but a few matts ty'd about poles fastened in the earth, where a good are is their Bed-Clothes in the coldest seasons; their Coothing 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 De • rs Bears, Mo • se, 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 Spicificks, which some of them Encounter certain cases with, nothing hardly, but an Hot-house, or a Powam; 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 immediately run into some very cold adjacent brook, without the least mischief to them; 'tis this way they recover themselves from some •• feases, particularly from the French; but in • hoft of their dangerous Distempers, 'tis a 〈◊〉 that must be sent for; that is, a Priest, who has more Familiarity with Satan then his Neighbours; this Conjurer comes and Roars, and 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 Love is come, and then's an end.

They five 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 Minister, 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 hollow'd them; and sometimes of B • rks, which they stitch into a light so • t of a Vessel, to be easily 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 sl • athful; making their poor Sqaws, or wives, to plant, and dress, and barn, and beat there Corn, and Build their, Wig wams for them; which perhaps may be the reason of their extraordinary ease in Childbirth. In the mean time, their chief employment, when they I condescend unto any, is that of Hunting; wherein they' • 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 enquire about the English, Why come they hither! they have themselves very Learnedly determined the case, I was because we wanted Fiting. No Acts are understood among them, unless just so far as to maintain their Brutish Conversation, which 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 P •• ukunna •• w, or The Bear, which is the name whereby Europeans also have distinguished it. Moreover, they have little, if any Traditions among them worthy of our notice; and Reading and Writing is altogether unknown to them, tho' there is a Rock or two in the Country that has unaccountable Characters 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 believe, that every remarkable Creature has a peculiar God within it, or about it: there is with them, a Sun-God, a Moon-god, and the like; and they cannot conceive but that the fire must 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 Calamity they keep a Dance, or a day of extravagant ridiculous Devotions to their God, so in a time of Prosperity they likewise have a Feast, wherein they also make presents one unto another. 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 Entertainment with Kautantowit, but otherwise, must wander about in a restless Horror for-ever. But if you say to them any thing of a Resurrection, 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 after 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 Dogs, which would make a sad yelling if in the Night they scented the approaches of them, they sacrificed a Dog to the Devil; after which no English Dog would bark at an Indian for divers months ensuing. This was the miserable 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 Christianized; 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 argue 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, That our Indians are the posterity of the dispersed and rejected Israelites, concerning whom our God has promised that they shall yet be saved, by the Deliverer 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 at certain seasons, for secret causes; and accustoming 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 Hogs devour the Clams which are a Dainty with them. He also saw some learned men, looking for the lost Israelites among the Indians in America, and counting that they had Thorow-good reasons for doing so. And a few small Arguments, or indeed but Conjectures, meeting with a savourable 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 threatened unto the Israelites of old, strangly fulfilled upon our Indians; particularly that, Ye shal •• t 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 shall see it no more again; and there shall ye be sold unto▪ your Enemies, and no man shall buy you. This did our 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 Mediterranean Sea, and scarce any Chapmen would offer to take them off. Being upon such as these accounts not unwilling, if it were possible, to five, the Indians found Israelites, they were, you may be sure, not a whit the less, Beloved for their (supposed) Fathers sake; and the Fatigues of his Fravails went on the more chearfully, 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 partakers of any Spiritual Advantage by us: unless 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 language, 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, pronounce 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 Verb • which their Linguo is composed of; one would think they had been growing ever since Babil unto the Dimensions to which they are not extended. For instance, if my Reader will count how many Letters there are in this one word, Nammat chekodtant a mooon ganunnon 〈◊〉 when he has done, for his reward l'le 〈◊〉 him, it signifies no more in English that our Lusts; and if I were to translate, our Lyo •• it must be nothing shorter than, Noowomen tam • oonkanuonnash. Nor do we find in all this Language the least Affinity to, or Derivation from, any European 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 Dxmons is possessed young woman, whereof I have here tofore given the world some account, understood the Latin and Greek and Hebrew Languages, my curiosity led me to make trial of this Indian language, and the Demons did seem as if they did not understand it. This tedious language our Eliot quickly became a master of; he employ'd a pregnant and witty 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 variations: having finished his grammar, at the Close he writes, Prayers and p • bits thro Faith in Christ Jesus will do any thing! and being by his Prayers Pains thus furnished, he set himself in the •• ear 16 • 6. 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 Reprinting a letter, sent a while since by my Father, unto his Learned and Renoun'd correspondent, the Venerable Dr. Leusden at Utrecht: which letter has already been published, if I mistake not, in Four or Five divers Languages. I find it particularly published, by the most Excellent Jurien, at the end of a Pastoral Letter; and this Refflecton then worthily made upon it, Cette Lettre doit apporter 〈…〉 grande Consolation, a toutes les bonnes ames, qui sont alterees de Justice, & qui sont enflammees du zele de la gloire de Dien. I therefore perswade my self that the Republication of it will not be ungrateful 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 Annotations for the illustration of sundry memorable things therein Pointed at.

A LETTER Concerning the Success 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 Utrecht. 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 Utrecht 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 earn 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, Translated 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 Indian in a Town called (d) Natick; these Indians confessed their sins with Tears, and professed their Faith in Christ, and afterwards they and their Children were Baptized, 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 Nature, among our Inhabitants in the • A ssaeouses 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 formerl •• nsed to preach to them once every fortnight, but now he is weakned with Labours and Oldage, 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 Mashippang: the 〈◊〉 Pastor of that Church was an English Man, who being skilfull in the American Language, Preached 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 Professing the Name of Christ, not far distant from Mathipp •• g, which have Indian Preachers: (g) John Cotton, Pastor of the Church at Plymouths (Son of my venerable Father-inLaw John Cotton, formerly the famous Teacher of the Church at B 〈◊〉 ) hath made very great progress in learning the Indian Tongue, and is very skifull in it; he Preaches in their own Language to the last five mentioned Congregations every Week Moreover of the Inhabitants of Sacone in 〈◊〉 Colony there is a great Congregation of those who for distinction sake are called Praying Indians, because they Pray to God in Christ.

Not far from a promontory called Cape Cod, there are six Assembles of Heathens who are to be reckoned as Catechumens, amongst whom there are six Indian Preachers: Samuel Treat, Pastor of a Church at Eastham, Preacheth to those Congregations in their own Language. There are likewise amongst the Islanders of Non • ucket a Church, with a Pastor who was lately a Heathen, and several Meetings of 〈…〉 who are instructed by the Converted Indians. There is also another Island about seven Leagues long (called Marthas Utneyard) 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 H • acooms: John Hiacoomes, Son of the said Indian Pastor, also Preacheth the Gospel to his Countrey-men. In another Church in that place, john Tockinosh 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 (h) of the Converted Indians (both the Catechumens 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 whole Congregation 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 it, gathers Doctrines from it proves them by Scriptures and Reasons, and infers uses from them after the manner of the English, of whom 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 ignorant of the true God; hence it is that in their Prayers and Sermons they use English Words and Terms; he that calls upon the most Holy Name of God, says, Jehovah, or God, or Lord, and also they have learned and borrowed many other Theological Phrases from us

In short, There are six Churches of Baptized 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 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 Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and in their own Mother Tongue can answer to all the Questions in it.

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

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

Boston in NewEngland 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. Le • saen, together with a new and fair Edition of his Hebrew Psalter, Dedicated unto the Name of my Absent Parent. He therein informs me, That our Example had awakened the Dutch to make some noble Attempts for the Furtherance of the Gospel in the East-Indies; 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 Ceyl • n, the Dutch Pastors have Baptised about three hundred Thousand of the Eastern Indians; for altho' the Ministers are utterly ignorant of their Language, yet there are School-Masters who teach them, The Lords Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, a Morning Prayer, an Evening Prayer, a Blessing before Meat, and another after; and the Minister in his Visits being assured by the Master, 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 doubtless 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 accompany'd by three more, gave a visit unto an Assembly of Indians. of whom he desired a Meeting at such a time and place, that he might lay before them the things of their Eternal Peace. After a serious Prayer, he gave them 〈◊〉 Sermon which continued about a quarter 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 answered, They understood all. He then began what was his usual method afterwards in treating with them; that is, he caused them to propound such questions as they pleas'd, unto himself; and he gave wise and good answers to them all. Their Questions would often, tho' not always; refer to what he had new •• Preached; and he this way not only made a 〈◊〉 of their pros ••• by his Ministry, brought give an Edge to what he delivered unto 〈…〉 of their Questions would be a little 〈…〉 , and required a good measure of 〈◊〉 in the Minister concerned with them; 〈…〉 this our Eliot wanted not. He would also 〈◊〉 proper Questions unto them, and at one of his 〈◊〉 Exercises with them, he made the young ones capable 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 Salvages, at the first Addresses which he made unto them; yea, form 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 Wi •• he 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 Wauba • , 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. Wi • sl •• ; says he I have not been dry night nor day, from the third day of the week unto the sixth, but so Travelled, and at night pull off my Boots, wring my Stock ••• , and on 〈◊〉 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 illiterate Indians, was to bring them into the use of Schools and Books. He quickly procured the benefit of Schools for them; wherein thy profited so much; that not only very many of them quickly came to Read and Write, but also several arrived unto a Liberal 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 form 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 Indians he had Converted, but added, That he desired his Friend would send him the Book called the Bible; for he had heard of there being such a Book in Europe, which might be of some use to him. No, our Eliot found he could not live without 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 Labour 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 Ca • b • dge and it is the only Bible that ever was Printed in all America, from the very Foundation of the World. The whole Translation he writt with but one Pen; which Pen had it not been last, would have certainly deserved a Richer case than was bestow'd upon that Pen which will and writt his Translation of Plutarch with. The Bible being justly made the Leader, of all the rest, a Little Indian-Library quickly followed: for besides Primers, and 〈◊〉 & • ome other such Composures, we quickly had, the Practice of Piety, in the Indian Tongue; the Reverend Richard B •• ters, Call to the Un • nverted; he also Translated, some of Mr. Ship •• d's Composures; & such 〈◊〉 likewise there was occasion for. It cannot but be ho • ed that some Fish were to be made Alive, since the Waters of the Sanctuary thus came unto them.

(d) His Gathering of a Church at NATICK.

The Indians that had felt the Impressions of his Ministry, were quickly distinguished by the Name of, Praying Indians; and these Praying Indians as quickly were for a more Decent and English way of Living, and they desired a more Fixed Cohabitation. At several 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 General Court, not withstanding their exact study to keep these Indians very sensible of their being subject unto the English Empire, yet had allowed them their smaller Courts, wherein they might govern their own smaller Cases and Concerns, after their own particular Modes, and might have their Town-Orders, if I may call them so, peculiar to themselves. With respect hereunto, Mr. Eliot on a Solemn Fast made a publick Von, That seeing these Indians were not Prepossessed with any Forms of Government, he would with not 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 beginneth 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 opinion about the perfection of the Scripture had he, that he thus expressed himself upon this occasion, God will being Nations into Distress and perpi ••• ty, 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 pitched upon this foundation, they utterly abandoned that Polygamy which had heretofore been Common 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-Communion. The Churches of New-England have usually been very strict, in their Admissions to Church-Fellowship, and required very signal demonstrations of a Repenting and a Believing Soul, before they thought men fit subjects to be entrusted with, The Rights of the Kingdom of Heaven. But the seemed 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, Natooton • th earksuk, 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 notwithstanding the great satisfaction then received, our Churches being willing to proceed Surely, and therefore Slowly, in Raising them up to a ChurchState which might be Comprehended in our Consociations, 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, she 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 injury to God and His Goodness, for any to make light of it. To see and hear Indians opening 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 together; 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 penform the Duties mentioned with such grave and sober Countenances, 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 it 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 them 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 Roxbury, unto the work of the Lord Christ among the Indians, conceived himself sufficiently Authorized unto the performing of all Church-work about them; grounding is on Act, 13,1,2,3,4. and he accordingly Administred, f •• sh the Baptism, and then the Supper of the Lord unto them.

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

WE find four Assemblies of Praying Indians 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 care 〈◊〉 not to pray unto God. Indeed the Sachims, or the Princes, of the Indians generally did all they could that their Subjects might not entertain the Gospel; the Devils having the Sachims on their side, thereby kept their possession of the people too. Their Pa • waws 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 the Lord; but their Sachims or Magistrates did More 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 add Fear, that Religion would abridge them of the Tyranny which they had been us'd unto 〈◊〉 they always like the Divel held their people in a most absolute servitude, and Rul'd by no Law but their Will, which left the poor Slaves nothing that they could call their Own. They • ow suspected that Religion would put a Bridle upon such usurpations, and oblige them to a more Equal and Humane way of Government; they therefore some of them, had the Impudence to Address the English: that 〈◊〉 motions about the Christian Religion might ever he made unto them; and Mr. Eliot sometimes in the Wilderness, without the Company or Assistence of any other Englishman, has been treated in a very Threatening and Barbarous manner by some of these Tyrants; but God inspired 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 upon the Temptations 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 Obstacle to the success of Mr. Eliots Ministry; and it is observable, that several of those Nations which thus refused the Gospel, quickly afterwards were so Divel-driven as to begin an unjust and bloody War upon the English; which issued in their speedy and utter Extirpation from the Face of Gods Earth. It was particularly Remark'd, in Philip, the Ring-leader of the most calamitous war that ever they made upon us; our Eliot made a Tender of the Everlasting Salvation to that King; but the monster entertain d'it with contempt and anger, and after the Indian mode of joining signs with words, he took a Button upon the Coat of the Reverend Than, adding That he cared for his Gospel, just 〈◊〉 much • s he cared for that Button. The world has heard what a Terrible Ruine soon came upon that woful Creature, and upon all his People. It was not long before the Hand which now writes, upon a certain occasion took off the jaw from the blasphemous exposed Skull of that Leviathan; and the Renowned Samuel Lee is now Pastor to an English Congregation, sounding 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 Weymouth, set themselves to deter and seduce the Neighbour Indians from the Right ways of the Lord. But God quickly sent the Small-Pox among them, which like a great 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 prejudice the Pagans against the Gospel, had something in it extraordinary. While Mr. Eliot was Preaching of Christ unto the other Indians, a Daeman appeared 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 commanded 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 inculcated in Mr. Eliot's Ministry; promising therewithal unto him▪ That if he did so, at his death his Soul should Ascend unto an happy place; otherwise Descend unto miseries; but the Apparition all the while never said one word about Christ, which was the main subject of Mr. Eliot's Ministry. The 〈◊〉 received such an impression from the Apparition, that he dealt justly with all men, except in the bloody Tragadies & Cruelties he afterwards committed on the English in our Wars; he kept the Sabbath day like a Fast, frequently attending in our Congregations; he would not middle with any Rum, tho' usually his Country-men, had rather dye than undergo such a piece of Self-denial; that Liquor has meerly E •• nanted them At last, and not long since this Doemon appear'd again unto this Fagan, requiring him to kill himself, and assuring him that he should Revive in a day or two, never to dy any more. He thereupon divers times attempted it, but his Friends very carefully prevented it; however at length he found a f • ir opportunity, for this fowl Business, and Hanged himself; you may be sure, without his expected Resurrection. But it is easy to see what a stumbling block was here laid before the 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 accompany'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 confessions touching the Knowledge and belief, and Regeneration of their Souls, with such understanding 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 advancement of these Indians unto Church-Fellowship, they ordered their Confessions to be written and sent unto 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 Presence and consent, they became a Church, and chose Mr. Bourn to be their Pastor; who was then by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Cotton 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 Ordained by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Cotton thereunto. Distance of Habitation, caused this one Church by mutual agreement afterwards to become two; the Pastor and one Ruling Elder taking one part, & the Teacher & one Ruling Elder, another, & at Nantucket another adjacent Island was another Church of Indians quickly gathered, who chose an Indian, John Gibs to be their Minister. These Churches are so exact in their Admission, and so solemn in their Discipline, & so serious 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 Father has written about the other Indian Congregations; only there having been made mention of one Hiacooms, I am willing to annex a Passage or two concerning that memorable Indian. That Indian was a very great Instrument bringing his Pagan and wretched Neighbours, 〈◊〉 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 Prince, which, if some English 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 receive 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 terrify'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 Island 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 Powawes: 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 afterwards; 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 • ur'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 IndianHarvest; 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 Gospellize 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 Indians; there were fifteen years ago, by computation, 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 Remora's to the Successes of his Ministry. And godly Mr. 〈◊〉 , has in that Colony, deserved well, if I mistake not, upon the same account. In Massachusets we see at this day, the Pious Mr. Daniel Gookin, the gracious Mr. Peter Thatcher, the well-accomplished and industrious Mr. Grindal Rawson, all of them hard at work, to turn these floor 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 Generation; 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 refer 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 reach him the Indian Tongue; but his knavish Tutor having received his whole Pay too soon, r • n away before twenty-days were out; however, in this time he had profited so far, 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 • he 〈◊〉 Edition of the Indian Bible was wholly of his Correction and Amendment; because it, is not proper for me to say much of him, I shall only add this Remarkable Story. Mr. Cotton, accompany'd by the Governour and Major-General, and sundry Persons of Quality, made a Journey to a Nation of Indians in the Neighbourhood, with a free Offer of the Words whereby they might be Saved. The Prince took time to consider of it, and according to the true English of Taking Time in such cases, at length • e 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 Admonition, If God hate any mercy for your miserable people, He 〈◊〉 quickly find a way to take you out of the way. 'Twas presently after this, that this Prince going forth to a • attel against another Nation of Indians, was killed in the fight; and the young Prince being in his Ministry, the Government fell into the Hands of Protectors, which favoured the Interest of the Gospel. Mr. Cotton being advised of in speedily and prosperously. Renewed the Tidings of an Eternal Saviour to the Salvages, who have ever since attended upon his Ministry; and the young 〈◊〉 , after he came to Age, expressed his Approbation of the Christian Religion; especialy, when a while-since, he lay a Dying of a tedious Distemper, and would keep Rea • ing of Mr. 〈◊〉 Call to the Viconverted, with floods of Tears in his Eyes, while he had any theg • t to do it.

Such as these are the persons, whom our Eliot left Engag'd in the Indian-work. when he departed from his Employment unto his Recompence. And these Gentlemen are so indefatigable in their Labours among the Indians, as that the most equal 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 contemptible) Persecutor of this Country, who very Zealously Addressed the A. B. of Canterbury, 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 performed in the Indian Congregations.

MY Fathers Account of the Exercises performed in the Indian-Congregations, will-tell us what a Blessed Fruit our Eliot saw of his Labours, 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 after the English Mode, in which also after the English Mode, they attended the Things of the Kingdome of Heaven. And some of the English were helpful to them, upon this account; among whom I ought particularly to mention that Learned, Pious, and Charitable Gentleman, the Worshipful Samuel Sewal Esq who at his own charge built a Meeting house for one of the Indian Congregations, and gave those Indians cause to pray for him under that character, He loveth Our Nation, for he: hath built us a Synagogue.

〈◊〉 only remains that I give a touch or two upon the Worship which as attended in the Synagogues 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 not be our Eliot's Disciples if it were not so. But how do they Pray? We are told, it is Without a Form, because from the Heart; which is as I remember, L • tullions Expression concerning the the prayers in the Assemblies of the Primitive Christians; namely, siut 〈◊〉 g • iu de • ptutore. It is evident, that the Primitive Christians had no stated Lanhuages among them; that no Forms of Prayers were in their time imposed upon the Ministers of the Gospel; that •• on 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 〈◊〉 , that our Lord therein Taught 〈…〉 Words we should use in prayer, but what Things we should 〈…〉 . And whatever Scoffs the profanity of 〈◊〉 has abused that Phrase and Thing withal, 〈…〉 in his days counted it the Honour of his Fathers publick Prayers, That he had them from, and made them by the Holy Spirit. Our Indians accordingly find, that if they study the Words of God, and their own Sins and Wants, and Woes, they shall soon come to 〈◊〉 Attainment, Behold they pray! They can pray with much Pertinence and Enlargement; and would much wonder at it, if 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 the Scholar in it. I know not how to describe it better, than by reciting the Heads of a Sermon, uttered by an Indian, on a Day of Humiliation kept by them, at a time when great R • ins had given much Damage to their Fruits and Fields; 'twas on this wise.

A little I shall say, according to that little I know.

Gen. 8. 20,21. And Noah built • an Altar, unto Jehovah; and he took of to my clean Beast, and of every clean fom • and offered burnt-offerings on the Altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet favour, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again Curse the Ground.

In that Noah Sacrificed, he show'd himself thankful; in that Noah worshipped, he 〈◊〉 himself Godly. In that he offered Clean bea •• s, 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 Sacrifices 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 〈◊〉 . But if we be unrighteous, unholy, ungodly, we shall not be accepted: our Sacrifices 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 me 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 〈◊〉 fearest me, seeing thou hast not with-held thy Son, thy only Son from me. It seems, he has 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 Dead and in Truth! such an one must we offer. Only, God requires 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 favour 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 Ruin'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 or Rest, and he will with-hold the Rain, and Bless us with such Fruitful Seasons as we are desiring of him.

Thus preached an Indian called Nishokkon, above thirty years ago; and since that I suppose, they have grown a little further into the New-English way of preaching: you may have in their sermons, a, Kukkooton • wehteaonk, that is, a Doctrine, Nah • ootomtvehteaonk, or, an Answer, 〈◊〉 Witcheayeuonk, or, a Reason, with an Ouwot • ank, or, an, Use 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 i • self, he knew to be a stranger unto the▪ Apostolical Times; that the exquisite V • ss ••• ▪ himself acknowledges, 'twas not Celebrated in the first or second Century: and that there is a Truth in the words of the great Chemnuius, Auniversariura Diem Natalis Christi, celebratum f •• sse • apud vetustissimos nunquam▪ leg •• tur. 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 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 brought the Ark into the Temple; for our Lord was thirty years. Old when he entred upon his publick Ministry; and he continued 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 〈◊〉 did the body of Moses, to prevent Idolatry; but that Antichrist had ch • se this day, to accommodate the Pagans in their Licencious and their Debauched Saturnalia; and that a Tertullian 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, embrace 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 unwarrantable Holydays.

Nevertheless, he taught them to set apart their Days both for Fasting and Prayer, and for Feasting and Praise, when there should be Extraordinary 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, together, 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 exalt themselves. And when one asked them afterwards, 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. Thirdly, that they might withstand the Temptations of wicked men, so that they might not be drawn back, from God. • ourth • that they might be Obedient unto the •••• sils and commands of their Rulers. 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 Cautious 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 Pegun R •• es 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 fo • nded, in this way of 〈◊〉 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 ingratiate 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 Moo • says about our Compliances with the Papists, which are a sort of Pagans, Their Conversion and Salvation being not to be compassed by needless Symbolizing with them, in any thing, I conceive our best policy is studiously to imitate them in nothing; but for all indifferent things, to think • ather the worse of them for their 〈◊〉 of them. As no person of Honour, would willingly go in the known Garb of infamous persons. What s • ever we Court them in, they do but turn it to our scorn and contempt, &c are the more hardened in their own wickedness. To act upon this principle, is the design and glory of New-England! And our El • ot was of this perswas • on, when he brought his Indians to a pure, plain, Sy •• pture Worship. He would not gratify them with a Samariten sort of blended, mixed Worship; and he imagined, as well he might, that the Apostle Paul's first Epistle to the C •• tat •• ans had enough in it, for-ever to deter us all from such Unchristian and unhappy Temporizing.

(I) A Comparison between what the New-Englanders 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 Catholicks have a Clergy so very Numerous, and so little Encumbred, and are Masters of such prodigious Ecclesiastical Revenues, as renders it very easy for them to exceed the Protestants In their Endeavours to Christianize the Pagan Salvages. Nor would I Reproach, but rather Applaud 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 Reformed Churches upon this account, oblige me to tax divers very scandalous things in the Missions which they make propropaganda side, throughout the world; and therewithal to compare what has been done by that little Handful of Reformed Churches in this Country, which has in divers Regards Out-done the furthest Efforts of popery.

The Attainments which with Gods help we have carried up our Indians 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 • esuite, whom the French Employ'd as a Missionary among the Western Indians; in which papers there are, both a Catechism containing the principles which those Heathen are to be instructed in; and Cases of Conscience, referring to their Conversations. The Catechism which is in the Iroquoise Language (a Language remarkable for this, that there is not so much as one Labial in it) with a Translation annexed, has one Chapter, abut Heaven, and another about Hell, wherein are such Thick • ull'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 〈…〉 in Heaven?

A. No, 〈◊〉 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 Si • n, 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 pl • ck't one, but you see another presently har •• ing in its Room. And after this rate goes on the Catechism concerning Heaven. Concerning 〈◊〉 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 Div • ls.

Q. What shap'd things are Div • ls • ?

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

Q. W •• do they 〈◊〉 in Hell?

A. They are alwayes H • ngry; but the Damned feed upon 〈◊〉 Ashes and Serpents there.

Q. Wh • 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they in Drink?

A. Horrid water; nothing but melted lead;

Q. Don't they 〈◊〉 in Hell?

A. No; yet they eat one another, every day; But anon, God restores and renewes the Man that was eaten; as a cropt Plant, in a little time repullulates.

It seems they have not thought this Divinity too Gross for the barbaria • s. But I shall make no Reflections on it; only add one or two Cases of Conscience 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 Brutas. 〈…〉 •• swers, Tho' he be bound in Justice to do it, yet in as much as the Barbarians [and you must 〈◊〉 their Whores to be • uth!] Use to keep no faith in such matters, the Christians may •• onse whether they will keep any too. But Father P •• rr in with a most profound Learning answers, He is not bound unto if all; in as much 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 difficult Cases, is, Whether an Indian stealing an Hatchet from a Dutchman, be bound to make Restitution? And it in 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 'us 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 le • t him understand that the proselyted Indians of New-England have 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 Creed as the primitive Beleevers had, with such Explications as we embark our own Souls upon the Assurance of▪ And God has blessed our education of these poor creatures in such a measure, that they can Pray and Preach to better 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 〈◊〉 than the Roman-Catholicks did upon theirs at Maryland, Where they Baptized a great crue of Indians, in some New shirts, bestow'd upon them to encourage them thereunto; but he 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 Through-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 sort of Engine, to enrich Europeans 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 Spacious Country of California, but finding the Indians there to be extremely poor, they quickly gave over the work, because for sooth Such a poor Nation was not worth Converting. Whereas the New-Englanders could expect nothing from their Indians. We are to Feed them and Cloath them, rather than receive any thing from them, when we bring them home to God. Again, the popish Falsity disposes them to so much Legerdemain in their Applications as is very disagreeable to the Spirit and Progress of the Gospel. My Worthy Friend, Mynhee • Daille, who has been sedulous and successful in his Ministry among the Maqua's assures me, that a French predicator, having been attempting to bring over those Indians unto the interest (not of our Saviour, so much as) of Canada, at la •• , 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 • ate, and with great admiration and expectation, they told the Dutch of what was to come to pass; the Dutch reply'd This was no more than every Child among them could fore •• l; they all knew there would then be an Eclipse of the Sun; but (said they) soeak to Monsieur, that he would get the Sun extinguish'd a day before, or a day after what he •• oke of, and if he can do that, believe him. When the Indians thus understood what or Trick the Frenchman would have put upon them, they became irreconcileably prejudiced against all his offers; nor have the French been since able to gain much upon that considerable people. The New Englanders have used no such Stratagems and Knaveries, 'tis the pure light of true, which is all that has been used for the affecting of the rude people, 〈◊〉 'twas easy to have cheated into our Profession. Much less have 〈◊〉 used that Popish Cruelty, which the Natives of America have by some other people been treated with. Even a Bis ••• of their own, hath Published, very Tragical Histories of the Spanish Cruelties upon the Indians of this Western World. Such were those Cruelties, that the Indians of length declared, They had rather go to He • with their Ancestors, than to the same Heaven which the Spaniards pretended unto; 'tis indeed impossible to reckon up, the various and exquisite Barbarities with which these execrable Spaniards, murdered in less than fifty years no less than fifty millions of the Indians; it seems this was their way of • ringing them into the Sheepfold of our merciful Jesus! But on the other side, the good people of New-England have carried it with so much tenderness towards the tawny 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 Consent from the Natives that laid claim unto it; atheit we had a Royal Char • e • from the King of Great 〈◊〉 to Protect us in our settlement upon this Con •• nent I suppose 'twas in revenge upon us for this Conscientiousness, that the la • e oppressors of New England, acknowledged no man to have any Title at all unto one Font of Land in all our Colony. But we did and we do, think, notwithstanding the Ba •• ters of those lories, that the Indians had not by their Paganism so forfeited all Right unto any of their Possessions, that the first pretended Christians that could, right 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 encroaching, and that the Indians in streights are easily prevailed upon, to sell their lands, made a Law, That none should purchase, or so much at Receive any land of the Indians, without the Allowance of the Court. Yea, and some lands which were peculiarly convenient for the Indians, our people who were more careful of them than they were of themselves, made a Law That they should never be bought our of their bands. I suppose after this it would surprise mankind, if they should hear such wonderful Creatures as our late Secretary Randolph affirming, This barbarous people were never civilly treated, by the late Government, who made it their business to encroach upon their Lands, and by degrees to have 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 English Plantation, should have such Allotments among the English, as the English had themselves. 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 already 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 calumnious Exclamations of the Roman Catholicks against 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 immortal 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 bied 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 ha's been done for you; we have put you into 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, V • toh woh kitt • nne peh quo • humunan mishanant a mog ne mo • sag wadchanit • uonk! You all beleeve that your Teacher ELIOT, was a Good and a B • ave 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 Christians, you shall never have a comfortable 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 over you, even as tho' you had been his Children, when he saw any afflictions 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 Angels, 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 Estates, as many of your English Neighbours? whereas, you are now poor, mean ragged, sto • ved, contemptible and miserable; and instead of being able, as your Enlish Neighbours do, to support the ordinances of God, you are beholden to them, not only for maintaining of those Blessed ordinances among you, but for many other kindnesses. And have you indeed forgot the Commandment of God which has been so often laid before you, Six Days state thou Labour! 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 Drankenness. There are godly English Neighbours, of whom you should learn to Pray; but there are some of you that learn to Drink, of other, profane, debauched English Neighbours. Poor Creatures, 'tis by this Iniquity that Satan still keeps Possession of many Souls among you, as much as if you were skill in all your woful Heathenism; and how often have you been told, Drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? I heseech you to be sensible of the mischiess to which this thing exposes you, and never dream of escaping the Vengeance of Eternal F • re, if you indulge your selves in this Accursed 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 Readers loth to have me tell what now remains of this little History; doubtless they are wishing that this John might have T •• ried until the Seco •• Coming of our Lord. But, alas All-Devouring Death at last snatch'd him from us, and slighted all those Lamentations of ours, My Father, My Father, the Chariots of Israel, and the Horsemen thereof!

When he was become a sort of Miles Emeri • us, 〈◊〉 began to draw near his End, he grew still more Heavenly, more Savoury, more Divine, and Scented more of the s • icy Country at which he was ready to put a shoar. As the Historian observes of • ibe • ius. That when his Life and Strength were going from him, his Vice 〈◊〉 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 F • mber quite contrary thereunto; for finding many Months before his Expiration, That he had not strength enough to Edify his Congregation with publick Prayers, and Sermons, he importun'd his people with some impatience to call another Mi • stery professing himself, unable to Dy with Comfort, until he could see a good 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 â Gift unto Roxbury, and he sometimes call'd his whole Town together to joyn with him in a Fast for such a blessings. 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 Goa' • own Heart.

It was Mr. Nehemiah Walter, who being by the unanimou • Vote and Choice of the Church there, become the Past • r of Roxbury, immediately found the Venerable Eliot Embracing & Cherishing 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 Transla • tor, could 〈◊〉 be perswaded unto any publick Service, but humble pleaded, what none but he would ever have said, It would be wrong to the Seals of the people, for him to do any thing among them, when they 〈…〉 Advantage otherwise. If I mistake not, the last that ever he Preached was on a Publick 〈◊〉 ; when he fed his people within a very dut • nct▪ and useful, Expression upon the Eighty Third Psalm; and the concluded with an Apology, begging his Hearers to pardon the 〈◊〉 and meanness, and 〈◊〉 , (as he called it) of his Meditations; 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 him publick Labours; yet he would not give over his Endeavours, in a more privare Splae • e, to Do good unto all. He had alwayes been an Enemy to Idleness; any one that should look into the little D • ary that he kept in his Almoneck, would see that there was with him, No day without a Line; he was troubled when he saw how much Time was devoured by that slavery to Tobacco, which too many debase themselves unto: and now he grew old. he was desirous that his work should hold page with his • tfe; the less Time he saw less; 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 an Air peculiar to himself, I wonder for what the Lord Jesus Christ lets me live; he knows that I can do nothing for him! And yet he could not forbear Essaying to Do something for his dea • ch Lord; wherefore, thought' he. What shall I do? And he then conceived, 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 tell but the Negro's might! He had long lamented it with a bleeding and a burning passion, that the English used their Negro's him at their Horses or their Oxen and that so little care was taken about their 〈…〉 and i •• mbrial Souls; He look'd upon it as a prodigy, that any wearing the Name of br • lltares, should so much have the Heart of Devile in them, as to prevent and hinder the Information of the poor Bl • chamo • rs, and confine the Souls of their miserable Slaves to a destroying ignorance, meerly for fear of thereby loosing the benefit of their Vassalage; but now he made a motion to the English within two or three miles of him that at such a time and place they would send their Negro • once a week unto him: for he would then Car •• ise 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 progress in this Undertaking.

At length, when he was able to do Little without doors, he try'd then to do something within; and one thing was this. A young Boy in the Neighbourhood, had in his infancy fasten 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; yes, and an ordinary piece of latin was become easy to the lad; but having his own Eyes closed by Death, he could no longer help the poor Child against the want of his.

Thus, As the Aged Polycarp, could say, These Eighty Six years have I served my Lord Jesus Christ; and he • has been such a good Master to me all this while, that I will not now forsake him▪ Such a Polycarp was our Eliot; he had been so many years engaged in the sweet service 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.

White 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 something of this, whatever other, Subject he were upon. On this he talked 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 wa •• e 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 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. Water coming to him, he said unto him, Brother, thou art welcome to my very Soul. Pray, Retire to thy Study for me, and give me leave to be gone; meaning that he should, not by Petitions to Heaven for his Life, detain him here. It was, in these Languishments, that speaking about, the work of the Gospel among the Indians, he did after this Heavenly manner express himself, I here 〈◊〉 Cloud (said he) a dark cloud upon the work of the Gospel among the poor Indians. The Lord hevi • e 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 Doings, and I'le be the man that shall throw the first stare 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, Apophthegmata Morun •• um, have not therein been unserviceable to the Living; but the Apophthegm • of a Dying Eliot must have had in them a grace & a 〈◊〉 truly extraordinary, and indeed the •• lgar I • rr •• of the signal sace • ness in the Song of a D • rg Swan, was a very Truth in our Expiring Eliot; his left Breath smelt strong of Heaven, and was Articled into none but very gracious Notes; one of the last whereof was, Welcome Joy! and at last it went away calling upon the standers 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 once, I think, a pleasant Fear, that the old saints of his Aquaintance, especially those two dearest Neighbours of his, Co • ton, of Boston, and Mather, of Dorchester, which were got safe to Heaven before him, would suspect him to be gone the wrong way, because he staid so long behind them. But they are now together with a blessed Jesus, Beholding of his Glory, and celebrating that 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 Saint 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 preached, serv'd, and in whom he had been long Assured, there does All Fullness dwell. In that Heaven now leave him; but not without Grynaus's pathetical Exclamations, [O bea • um illum diem!] Blessed will be the Day, O blessed the Day of our Arrival to the glorious Assembly of spirits, which this great Saint is now rejoycing with.

Bereaved New-England, where are thy tears, at this Ill-boding Funeral? We had a Tradition among us, That the Country could never perish, as long as Eliot was alive. But into whose Hands must this Hippo fall, now the Austin of it is taken away? Our Elisha is gone, and now who must next year invade the Land? The Jews have a saying, Quando Luminaria paliuntur Eclipsm, malum signum est mundo; 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 Reliques of the Deed Saints, to be the Lowers and Ramparts of the places that enjoy'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 would 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 Churches was continually encreasing: and that the Churches were still kept as big as they were, by the daily Additions of those that shall be saved. But the going of such as the 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 accompanied 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 upon the surviving Elders of our Is •• el

The last thing, that ever our Eliot put off, was, The care of all the Chu • o • rs which with a most Apostolical and Evangelical Temper he was continually, solicitous about. When the Churches of New-England were under a very incomfortable prospect, by the advantage which men that sought the Ruine, of those golden and holy and Reformed Societies, had obtained against them. God put it into the heart of one well-known in these Churches, to take a Voyage into England that he might by his Mediations at Whitehal, divert the Storms that were impending over us. 'Tis not easy to express what Affection our Aged Eliot prosecuted this Undertaking with; and, what Thanksgiving 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 Pen to Paper in the world, was upon this occasion; I shall transcribe a short Letter, which was written 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-ever. It was written to the person that was Engaging for us, and thus it Ran.

Reverend and Beloved, Mr. Increase Mather. I cannot 〈◊〉 Read Neh. 2. 10. When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobijah the Servant, 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 lest few like him for a Comprehensive and Universal Regard unto the prosperity of all the Flocks in this Wilderness, we have little now to comfort us in the, loss of one so like a Patriarch among us, but only this, That our poor Churches, it may be • op'd, have him some interest in the Cares of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who walks in the midst of the Garden Candlesticks. Lord! make our Churches and keep them, yet Golden Candlesticks! Amen

But I have not obtained the end of this History, not may I set this History 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 ELIO • justly • oanted worthy of his utmost pains and cares. It was the confession of I Themist • cles, that the victories of Assistance would not let him sleep in qu • e • ness; may those of our Eliot raise a like emulation in those that have now seen the life of this evangelical He •• ! When one Robert Barly man • years ago published a Book, wherein several 〈…〉 by which the name of that JOHN COTION, who was known to be one of the Holiest Men then alive, was most injustiously made odious unto the Churches abroad, were 〈◊〉 with some Reflections upon poor New England, whereof this was one, The way of their Churches hath most exceedingly hindred the conversion 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 away. But set that which has been the Vindication of New England, be also the AEmulation of the world: for shame, let not poor little New England, 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 Feaders; and it is possible that the Great God who, disposes not the proper by the poor, may by the Influences of his Holy Spirit, upon the Hearts of some whose Eyes are upon these lines, give a Blessed Answer thereunto.

Wheresore, May the people of New England, 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 Civilizing, and then the Christianizing of the Barbarians, in their Neighbourhood; and may the New-Englanders be so far • olitick as well as, 〈◊〉 a particularly to make a Mission of the Gospel unto the mighty Nations of the Western Indians, 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 Shot against the Heavens, in Revenge upon, The Man in the Heavens, as they called our Lord, whom they counted 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 immediate and horrible Thunders from Heaven round about them, but kill'd them not!] for a Scourge to Us, that have not used our advantages to make a vertuous people of them. If a King of the West Saxons long-since ascribed all the Disasters on any of their Affairs, to Negligencies in this point, methinks 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 Amer •••• , which may more justly be call'd Golumba, that Salutation, O my Dove!

May the several Plantations, that live upon the Labours of their Negroes, no more be guilty of such a prodigious wickedness, as to deride, neglect, and oppose all due means of bringing 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 Catechisêd Servants; and not imagine that the Almighty God made so many thousands of Reasonable creatures for nothing, but only to serve the Lusts of Epicures, or the gains of Mammonists; lest the God of Heaven out of meer Pity, if not Justice, unth those unhappy Blacks, be provoked unto a vengeance which may not without Horrour be thought upon. Lord, when shall we see Ethiopians read thy Scriptures with Understanding!

May the English 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 Judgment of Heaven, which Gildas their Country-man; 〈◊〉 them, that they suffered for their disregards unto 〈…〉 may the • esandous Massa •••• of the English by the 〈◊〉 awaken the English to consider, whether they have done enough to reclaim the •• ish, from the Popish Bigottries and Abominations, with which they have been Intoxicated.

May the several Factories and Companies, whose Concerns'ly in Asia, Africa, or America, be perswaded, as Jacob once, and before him his Grandfather Abraham, was, That they always own unto God certain Proportions of their Possessions, by the honest payments of which little 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, Armenians, Muscovites, and others, in the Eastern Countrys, wearing the Name of Christians, that have little Preaching and no Printing, and few Bibles, or good Books, now at last be furnished with Bibles, Orthodox Catechisms, and Practical 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 hastened upon the whole Mahometan World by such an extensive charity!

May sufficient Numbers of great, wife, rich learned, and godly men in the three kingdomes, procure well-composed Societies, 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 Authority, 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 Remember what Russinus relates concerning the conversion of the lberians, and what Socrates, with other Authors, relates concerning, the conversion, wrought by occasion of Er •• mentius & AEdesius, in the Inner India, all as it were by Accident, surely twil make them Try, what may be done by Design 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 prosper 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 〈◊〉 will not bring to them the more happy 〈◊〉 wherein 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 Attempt 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.