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; (any more than in the Language of the Chinese, or of the Greenlanders) 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 Alphabat be short, I am sure the Words composed of it are long enough to tire the Patience of any Scholar in the World; they are Sesquipedalia Verba, of which their Lingua is composed; one would think, they had been growing ever since Babel, unto the Dimensions to which they are now extended. For instance, if my Reader will count how many Letters there are in this one Word, Nummatchekodtantamooonganunnonash, when he has done, for his Reward I'll tell him, it signifies no more in English, than our Lusts, and if I were to translate, our Loves; it must be nothing shorter than Noowomantammooonkanunonnash. Or, to give my Reader a longer Word than either of these, Kummogkodonattoottummooetiteaongannunnonash, is in English, Our Question: But I pray, Sir, count the Letters! 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 Dæmons in a possessed young Woman, understood the Latin and Greek and Hebrew Languages," my Curiosity led me to make Trial of this Indian Language, and the Dæmons did seem as if they did not understand it. This tedious Language our Eliot (the Anagram of whose Name was TOILE) 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 through all its Variations: Having finished his Grammar, at the close he writes, Prayers and Pains thro' Faith in Christ Jesus will do any thing! And being by his Prayers and Pains thus furnished, he set himself in the Year 1646 to preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, among these Desolate Outcasts. *** 8. Literally, "foot-and-a-half words"; ridiculously long words. 9. Not uncommonly, witchcraft was de tected when a "possessed" victim spoke in languages with which he was normally unfamiliar. 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 a 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 newly preached; and he this way not only made a Proof of their profiting by his Ministry, but also gave an Edge to what he delivered unto them. Some of their Questions would be a little Philosophical, and required a good Measure of Learning in the Minister concerned with them; but for this our Eliot wanted not. He would also put proper Questions unto them, and at one of his first Exercises with them, he made the Young Ones capable of regarding those three Questions, Who made you and all the World? Q. 1. 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 those degenerate Salvages, at the first Addresses which he made unto them; yea, from the very worst of them all. He was very inquisitive to learn who were the Powawes, that is, the Sorcerers, and Seducers, that maintained the Worship of the Devil in any of their Societies; and having in one of his first Journeys to them, found out one of those Wretches, he made the Indian come unto him, and said, Whether do you suppose God, or Chepian (i.e. the Devil) to be the Author of all Good? The Conjurer answered, God. Upon this he added with a stern Countenance, Why do you pray to Chepian then? And the poor Man was not able to stand or speak before him; but at last made Promises of Reformation. * * * THE 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 Tarried unto the Second Coming of our Lord.1 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!2 When he was become a sort of Miles Emeritus, and began to draw near his End, he grew still more Heavenly, more Savoury, more Divine, and scented more of the Spicy Country at which he was ready to put ashore. As the Historian observes of Tiberius, That when his Life and Strength were going from him, his Vice yet remained with him; on the contrary, the Grace of this Excellent Man rather increased than abated, when every thing else was dying with him. 'Tis too usual with Old Men, that when they are past Work, they are least sensible of their Inabilities and Incapacities, and can scarce endure to see another succeeding them in any part of their Office. But our Eliot was of a Temper quite contrary thereunto; for finding many Months before his Expiration, That he had not Strength enough to Edify his Congregation with Publick Prayers, and Sermons, he importun'd his People with some Impatience to call another Minister; professing himself unable to die 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 Christ our Ascended Lord, that he would give such a Gift unto Roxbury, and he sometimes call'd his whole Town together to join with him in a Fast for such a Blessing. As the Return of their Supplications, our Lord quickly bestow'd upon them, a Person young in Years, but old in Discretion, Gravity, and Experience; and one whom the Church of Roxbury hopes to find, A Pastor after God's own Heart. It was Mr. Nehemiah Walter, who being by the Unanimous Vote and Choice of the Church there, become the Pastor of Roxbury, immediately found the Venerable Eliot Embracing and 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 Translation, could scarce be perswaded unto any Publick Service, but humbly 1. See Jesus' rebuke to Peter, concerning John: "If I will that he tarry till I come * " (John xxi: 22). 2. The words of Elisha when Elijah the prophet was "taken up into heaven" in a chariot of fire (II Kings ii: 12). 3. Soldier emeritus; i.e., honorably retired. 4. God commanded Moses to strip the aged High Priest, and bestow his office on his son, Eleazar; and Aaron died in the wilderness (Numbers xx: 22-27). pleaded, what none but he would ever have said, It would be a Wrong to the Souls of the People, for him to do any thing among them, when they were supply'd so much to their Advantage otherwise. If I mistake not, the last that ever he Preached was on a Publick Fast; when he fed his People with a very distinct and useful Exposition upon the Eighty Third Psalm; and he concluded with an Apology, begging his Hearers to pardon the Poorness, and Meanness, and Brokenness, (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 his Publick Labours; yet he would not give over his Endeavours, in a more private Sphere, to Do good unto all. He had always been an Enemy to Idleness; any one that should look into the little Diary that he kept in his Almanacks, would see that there was with him, No Day without a Line; and he was troubled particularly, 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 Works should hold pace with his Life; the less Time he saw left, the less was he willing to have lost. He imagined that he could now do nothing to any purpose in any Service for God; and sometimes he would say with an Air peculiar to himself, I wonder for what the Lord Jesus Christ lets me live; he knows that now I can do nothing for him! And yet he could not forbear Essaying to Do something for his Lord; he conceived, that tho' the English could not be benefited 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 but as their Horses or their Oxen, and that so little Care was taken about their immortal Souls; he look'd upon it as a Prodigy, that any wearing the Name of Christians, should so much have the Heart of Devils in them, as to prevent and hinder the Instruction of the poor Blackamores, and confine the Souls of their miserable Slaves to a Destroying Ignorance, meerly for fear of thereby losing 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's once a Week unto him: For he would then Catechise them, and Enlighten them, to the utmost of his Power in the Things of their Everlasting Peace; however, he did not live to make much Progress in this Undertaking. *** 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 Morientum, have not therein been unserviceable to the Living; but the Apopthegms of a Dying Eliot must have had in them a Grace and a Strain truly extraor[di]nary; and indeed the vulgar Error of the signal sweetness in the Song of a Dying Swan, was a very Truth in our Expiring Eliot; his last Breath smelt strong of Heaven, and was 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 Acquaintance, especially those two dearest Neighbours of his, Cotton 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 the High Praises of him that has call'd them into his marvellous Light. Whether Heaven was any more Heaven to him, because of his finding there, so many Saints, with whom he once had his Desirable Intimacies, yea, and so many Saints which had been the Seals of his own Ministry in this lower World, I cannot say; but it would be Heaven enough unto him, to go unto that Jesus, whom he had lov'd, preach'd, serv'd, and in whom he had been long assured, there does All Fullness dwell. In that Heaven I now leave him: Not without Grynæus's Pathetical Exclamations [O, beatum 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 rejoicing with!"*** 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.8 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. 1695-1697 1702, 1853 5. The wise words of the dying. 6. In Puritan theology, "sanctification" (sainthood) is the last stage of grace in the process of "regeneration." Cotton Mather refers to his two grandfathers, John Cotton (died 1652) and Richard Mather (died 1669). 8. Glastonbury Abbey in southeastern |