THE APOSTLE OF THE INDIANS.
(Continued from page 306.)
III.
The next object to which Mr. Eliot turned his attention, was the formation of a Christian Church among the Indians. For this purpose, he continued to visit them weekly—to catechise their children—and to instruct all, both young and adults, in the elements of divine truth. At first his wish to form a Church among them was frustrated; but at length, he had the happiness, with the approbation of the New England ministers, of seeing a Church formed at Natick. The individuals composing it having first dedicated themselves to the Lord, and then to one
another in a holy covenant, were baptized and admitted to the Lord’s Supper. About this time, the charter of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England having expired, strong exertions were made to prevent its renewal; but by the divine goodness, these unhallowed efforts were frustrated, and a new charter was issued by Charles II., bearing date the 7th February, 1661. At the head of the new corporation thus appointed stands the celebrated name of the Honourable Robert Boyle.
In September, 1661, Mr. Eliot had the high pleasure of seeing an edition of the New Testament completed in the Indian language, and printed at the expense of the Society in England. This was followed in two years by an edition of the Old, published under the same benevolent patronage. Thus, was at length accomplished, after much labour and unwearied exertion, an entire version of the Bible, in the language of the North American Indians; and when we reflect that John Eliot was among the first that ever completed such a work, we cannot but regard it as reflecting the highest honour upon his Christian zeal and diligence, in the cause of missions. The translation of the Bible was followed by that of the Psalter, several copies of which were bound up with the Bible, and then by several smaller religious works, which were extensively circulated among the Indians.
That the great work in which Mr. Eliot was engaged might be carried forward with still greater efficiency, he endeavoured, by all possible means, to induce others to embark on the same holy enterprise. He was soon joined, accordingly, by several able and successful ministers; but what more than all other things tended to strengthen and encourage the heart of the apostolic Eliot, was the high privilege which he enjoyed of seeing his eldest son enter upon the same work. “He bore,” says Dr. Mather, “his father’s name, and he had his father’s grace.” He laboured much, both among the English and the Indians; but his labours were of short duration, for he was cut off in early life, and in the midst of his usefulness.
About two years before his son’s death, Mr. Eliot published an Indian Grammar, which he dedicated to the honourable Robert Boyle as President, and to all the other office-bearers and members of the Society in England for Propagating Christian
Knowledge in New England. With the view of still farther improving the understanding of the Indians in general, and of the teachers and rulers in particular, Mr. Eliot, about this time, established a lecture at Natick, in which he explained the leading doctrines of theology and logic. Keeping ever in view his grand object, the conversion of the Indians to the knowledge, the belief, and the obedience of the truth as it is in Jesus, he made use of all the means which Providence placed in his power to promote the mental cultivation of the converts. On this point, a striking lesson may be learned from the unwearied efforts of this devoted missionary. The delusion has been too prevalent in the Christian world, that the work of a missionary must be almost exclusively limited to preaching the Gospel. He ought to be a man armed at all points, and ready to adopt expedients of all kinds, as well for the eradication of prejudice and error, as for the communication of truth.
Mr. Eliot’s labours, however, were considerably retarded by a war which the colonists of New England had waged against Philip, the principal chief of the Indians. The converts naturally attached themselves to their benefactors, and some of them even took up arms against their infidel countrymen. Yet the fact, that a few of the professors of religion had been induced to join Philip’s forces, was sufficient to excite the prejudices of the colonists against the converts. They viewed them with abhorrence and distrust; they subjected them to severe persecution, and judged them even worthy of death. Mr. Eliot exerted himself to protect the persons and interests of his spiritual children; and in doing so, exposed himself to much calumny and reproach. An event occurred, which showed the malignity which rankled in the bosoms of some of the colonists towards this devoted servant of the Most High. “On a certain occasion, during the war, Mr. Eliot went to sea in a small boat, which happened to be upset by a larger vessel. When about to sink, without the expectation of rising again, he exclaimed, ‘The will of the Lord be done!’ He was happily rescued from the imminent danger in which he was placed; but his deliverance, instead of being a matter of joy to all his acquaintances, led one of them to remark, that he wished he had been drowned!”
At length, after a severe struggle and much loss, the war was terminated by the slaughter of Philip and many of his warriors,
on the 12th of August, 1676. On the conclusion, Mr. Eliot found that several of the towns, inhabited by the Indian converts, had been destroyed; some of them had perished in the contest, while others had fallen away from their Christian profession. Trusting, however, in Him whose ambassador he was, he went forward with alacrity and vigour in his labours among the heathen; and the Lord was pleased to accompany his exertions with no small success.” “The Eastern Indians,” he remarked in a letter dated 4th November, 1680, and addressed to Mr. Boyle, “do offer to submit themselves to be taught to pray unto God. A chief, Sachem, was here about it, a man of a grave and discreet countenance. Our praying Indians, both in the islands and on the main, are (considered together) numerous: thousands of souls, of whom some are true believers, some learners, and some are still infants. All of them beg, cry, and entreat for Bibles, having already enjoyed that blessing, but now are in great want.”
Mr. Eliot now directed his efforts towards the publication of a second edition of his translation, first of the New, then of the Old Testament. This important work he was enabled to accomplish by the remittances which from time to time he received from England; and it appears to have been one of the last public employments of this indefatigable missionary. He had now reached the advanced age of four score years, and was so weakened by the extent and variety of his labours, that he was unable to preach to the Indians oftener than once in two months. An Indian pastor, named Daniel, presided over the Church at Natick, and almost all the other Indian Churches listened studiously to the instructions of pastors from their own tribes. Such a state of matters it had been Mr. Eliot’s great wish to see, and the time had come when he was ready to say, like Simeon of old, “Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”
Feeling himself no longer capable of discharging his pastoral duties, Mr. Eliot wished to resign his charge at Roxbury. To this, however, his congregation would by no means consent. In suggesting the election of a colleague and successor, his conduct was truly disinterested.—“‘Tis possible,’ he said, when addressing them on this subject, ‘you may think the burden of maintaining two ministers may be too heavy for you, but I
deliver you from that fear. I do here give back my salary to the Lord Jesus Christ; and now, brethren, you may fix that upon any man that God shall make a pastor for you.’ His Church, to their immortal honour, assured him, that they would count his very presence among them worth a salary, when he should be altogether unable to do them any further service.” The choice of the congregation having fallen upon Mr. Nehemiah Walter, a graduate of Harvard College, a young man of great piety and worth, the venerable pastor readily received him, and like another Elijah, threw off his robe and gave it to his successor. So completely satisfied was he, in fact, with his youthful brother, that he could scarcely be prevailed upon to perform any public service for a year or two before his death. The last occasion on which he appears to have preached, was on the day of a public fast, when, after expounding with his wonted clearness and simplicity the eighty-third Psalm, he concluded with an apology to his hearers for “the poorness, and meanness, and brokenness of his meditations,” and adding, “My dear brother here will, by and by, mend all.” When at last compelled to abstain from his public duties in the Church, he would say with a tone peculiar to himself, “I wonder for what the Lord Jesus lets me live,—he knows that now I can do nothing for Him.” But even when unable any longer to preach to the English, he still continued once a week to catechise and instruct the Indians. At length it was evident, that, in the ordinary course of nature, his end could not be far distant. “But having been attacked with a considerable degree of fever, he rapidly sunk under his disorder. While he lay in the extremity of his sufferings, seeing Mr. Walter come to him, and fearing that by petitioning for his life, he might detain him in the vale of tears, he said, ‘Brother, thou art welcome to my very soul. Pray retire to thy study for me, and give me leave to be gone.’ Having been asked how he did, he answered, ‘Alas! I have lost every thing; my understanding leaves me,—my memory fails me,—my utterance fails me; but I thank God my charity holds out still:—I find that rather grows than fails.’ When speaking about the propagation of the Gospel among the Indians, he remarked, ‘There is a cloud, a dark cloud, upon the work of the Gospel among the poor Indians. The Lord revive and prosper that work, and grant that it may live when I am dead.
It is a work which I have been doing much and long about. But what was the word I spoke last? I recall that word, my doings! Alas! they have been poor and small and lean doings; and I’ll be the man that shall throw the first stone at them all.’ He used many similar extraordinary and precious expressions in his dying moments. Among the last words he uttered were, ‘WELCOME JOY,’ and his voice for ever failed him in this world, while he repeated, ‘PRAY, PRAY, PRAY.’ He departed from this life in the beginning of 1690, and in the eighty-sixth year of his age.”
The fall of such a man as Mr. Eliot could not fail to excite a strong sensation, not only in New England, but also in Britain, the land of his fathers, and the land, too, which had fostered and encouraged him in his holy labours among the Indians. The language of Dr. Mather, who knew him well, shows the feeling prevalent at his death. “Bereaved New England, where are thy tears at this ill-boding funeral? We had a tradition current among us, that the country would never perish as long as Mr. Eliot was alive! But into whose hands must this Hippo fall, now that the Austin of it is gone? Our Elisha is gone, and who must next year invade the land? I am sure that it is a dismal eclipse that has now befallen our New English world. If the dust of dead saints could give us any protection, we are not without it. We cannot see a more terrible prognostic, than tombs filling apace with such bones as the renowned Eliot’s: the whole building trembles at the fall of such a pillar. We hope that all true Protestants will count it no more than what is equal and proper, that the land which has in it the grave of such a remarkable preacher to the Indians, as our ELIOT, should be treated with such a love, as a Jerusalem uses to find from them that are to prosper.”
Oh, if I could praise Him! Yea, I would not rest content with a heart submissive and dying of love for Him. And, howbeit I never win personally in at heaven’s gates, oh, would to God I could send in my praises to my incomparable Well-beloved, or cast my love-songs of that matchless Lord Jesus over the walls, that they might light in His lap, before men and angels!
—Samuel Rutherford.