Life and Work of John Eliot (1604-1690)
Apostle to the Indians
Long
Eliot Presentation
(make a 20 min. short version for Gordon College, 9/28/21)
Resources: Winslow, Ola E. John Eliot: "Apostle to the
Indians" (1968)
Nehemiah Adams, The Life of John Eliot (1870)
Convers Francis, Life of John Eliot: The Apostle to the Indians (1840)
Williston Walker, Ten New England Leaders (1901)
(vid. Biblicalelearning.org website for many more resources on Eliot).
Dustin Benge and Nate Pickowicz, The American Puritans (2020)
Session #1:
Why Eliot: Significance, Birth (1604)
to
Roxbury Church (1643)
Session #2: Waban's Wigwam (1646) to Natick
and 14 Praying Indian Villages (1674)
Session #3: Eliot Bible (1663) – King Philip's
War (1675)
– Rebuilding and End (1690)
1.
Introduction: 6 Opening examples of John Eliot's significance recognized:
Famous Eliot Quote: [Quote picture]
"You will not do incredible things without an incredible dream"
1) Congregational
Archive – 14 Beacon St. 4 Domingo Mora's marble bas relief,
[video and bas relief image]
1)
Mayflower Compact (1620) Rule Under Law by Consent of the Governed –
The Pilgrims signing the Mayflower Compact
2) The Pilgrims’ observance of the Sabbath on Clark’s Island, December 20,
1620 - Worship According to Conscience
3) The founding of Harvard College in 1636 - Education for Leadership
4) John Eliot preaching to the Native Americans in the Nonantum settlement
in
1646 -- Community Witness or Philanthropy –
[Congregational bas-relief video]
2) Beacon St. State House Hall of Flags, Eliot Mural
[Images/videos] Significance of Eliot
3) First
book printed in America (The Bay Psalm Book) – 1640 [image]
4) First Bible
Printed in America (1663) Algonquin Bible 1180 pgs [image]
5) Oldest
continuous High School in America (Roxbury Latin School) – 1645
[image]
6) 14
Praying Indian Villages (by 1674) Natick the first in 1650. [signs
images]
Received the title "Apostle to the Indians" in 1660
from his friend Thomas
Thorowgood
(Walker, 138)
2. Life in
England (1604-1631; until 27 years old)
1A.
Widford Birth (1604): St. John the Baptist
Church in Widford, England
ca. August 1, 1604. [Baptized on August 5] His parents were
married in that church as well (Winslow, 6) – 28 miles north of
London
3rd child of Bennett & Lettese Eliot (yeoman, extensive
landowner)
both his brother and sister later traveled to New England shortly
after John and later his younger brother.
[Images of location, and St. John's church]
2A. Childhood
in Nazeing (ca. 1608) – this is where he grew up: he summarizes
life with his parents (Winslow, 8f) – 16 miles north of London
"I do see that it was a great favour of God unto me, to season my first
times
with the fear of God, the word, and prayer." – godly parents
[Images of location and All Saints Church]
3A.
Jesus College, Cambridge University (1618-1622)
enrolls at 14.
(Winslow, 14) – 60 miles north of London,
Emmanuel College was more favorable to Puritans (Walker, 139)
1) Probably had 7 years of Latin (reading and spoken), some Greek and
Hebrew, thorough acquaintance with the Bible, logic, public speak.
2) Roger Andrewes was one of the KJV [1611] translators was teaching
there when Eliot was there.
3) Later he would send one of his Indian Bibles inscribed: (Winslow, 16)
For Jesus College
"Accept, Mother, I pray, what a most humble
alumnus offers, a son ever having thy prayers. John Eliot"
4) Mother died in his sophomore year (March 16, 1620)
Father died in his junior year (Nov. 21, 1621).
Father's
endowment of £8 a year making sure his studies
at Cambridge could be completed (A.B. degree in 1622)
Plague hit
in 1625 classes interrupted for his MA and he
never returned
[Images of location and Jesus College,
Cambridge]
5) Apparently ordained shortly after that.
4A. Thomas Hooker's (1586-1647) school as
usher and lived in his house in
Little Baddow. 30 miles north east of London
Hooker, an Emanuel College grad, fled to Holland in July 1630 then to
America .
– Eliot 26 when school their closed. Archbishop Laud contra
Nonconformists Hooker which Laud saw as a threat to the Anglican Church
Hooker saw the handwriting on the wall rising power under Charles I
[Laud later executed 1645] Hooker fled to America.
Conversion of sorts with Hooker, who fled to Holland and then to
America
settled initially in Cambridge MA founding the first church
there. Went then to found Hartford CT became known as the father
of Connecticut (Winslow, 20f)
John Cotton, Thomas Shepherd also depart
for New England becoming "First Generation" of settlers group.
Eliot writes: To this place [Hooker's school] was I called [John Eliot
wrote] through the infinite riches of God's mercy in Christ Jesus to my poor
soul, for here the Lord said to my dead soul,
live! Live! And through the
grace of God I do live and shall live forever! When I came to this blessed
family I then saw as never before, the power of godliness in its lovely
vigor and efficacy." (Winslow 20; vid. Adams 47)
[Location maps]
3. Eliot Comes to New England (1631)
1A.
Eliot Comes to New England [1631-Boston First
Church]
Ship: Eliot leaves Nazeing arrives with 60 passengers and 200 tons of
provisions requested by Gov. Winthrop at Nantasket (Nov. 2, 1631) 10
weeks on ship Lyon with Captain Pierce (10 week
voyage). Wife and
children of John Winthrop on the boat with Eliot who was called "a
minister". (Winslow, 23f) Boat's provisions saved lives of many
in Boston suffering with scurvy – lack of vitamin C for 3 months
(Benge/Pickowicz, 146)
Promise: Eliot promised the Nazeing group that when they came he
would
be their pastor. They came and went to Roxbury and he followed them
there.
John
Wilson (past of the First Church of Boston) returned to England
trying to convince his wife to return to New England with him
(unsuccessfully). – leaves Boston Church [Nov.
5, 1632]
Eliot became minister until John Wilson returned. Boston only being
18 months old moving from Charlestown to Boston.
[Boston Map of First Church]
When Wilson returned Boston wanted him to stay as "teacher" but he
kept his promise to the Nazeing friends and when to Roxbury
[Location images: Boston, Roxbury]
4. First Church of Roxbury: pre-Nonantum/Indian years (1632-1646)
1A.
First Meeting house (lasted 40 years) build on
Meeting House Hill 20x30'
place of 5th meeting house now stands—his house was just
down the hill by the stream. None of Eliot's sermons have survived.
He will be teacher/pastor there for 58 years.
Thomas Welde called as first pastor (1632, 9 yrs. Older than
Eliot). Welde
would pass in 1674 (Walker, 143) just before King Philip's War.
Congregation: Originally 25 people, more from Essex UK joined
including some of Eliot's own family (older sister Sarah and husband
William Curtis, 1632). Sisters Sarah and Mary and brother Philip
join him in Roxbury (Benge/Pickowicz, 148). Brothers Jacob and
Francis join the Boston church.
[Images of First Church Roxbury, Eliot Square Roxbury]
2A. Wife: Hanna Mumford (1604-1687)
came and first marriage recorded in
Roxbury was Eliot's in Sept. 4, 1632 (Walker, 142). – known for
hospitality and nursing skills. Winslow comments: "In her
many-faceted
partnership in the Eliot home she probably deserved the superlatives she
inspired." (Winslow, 29, Benge/Pickowicz, 148)
Next 10-12 years Eliot primarily focused on Roxbury congregation
(1632-44).
Early fire destroyed many of the records of the Roxbury group.
1645, 17 barrels of powder blew up and scattered the flames
destroying many homes (not unusual in early New England).
(Winslow, 30f)
3A. 3
Family stories & 6 Character Qualities: 6 children, Hannah, John,
Joseph, Samuel, Aaron and Benjamin (1632-1646). (Winslow, 35)
4 of his children die before he does
Walker notes that Eliot (and J. Edwards) viewed business
incompatible with ministerial office so he divorced himself from it
leaving it to his wife. (Walker, 143) Some called Hannah and John:
Elizabeth and Zechariah (from Luke 2) (Adams 270f discusses
Hannah)
1) Hanna and the cows: some of their cows got loose. They were at
Eliot's front door. Hanna asked John whose they were. He did
not know and thought they were a neighbor's…(Adams,
54)
2) Eliot had an enemy to talked and wrote against him. The fellow
got
sick. Eliot sent Hanna to help him and he recovered. Eliot then
invited the fellow to his house for dinner not in any way
reprimanding him. They became friends. (Adams, 58)
3) Eliot and his salary
(generosity/kindness). Eliot was paid by the
treasurer of the church but the guy knew of Eliot's generosity so he
tied it in very tight knots of a handkerchief. Eliot stopped at the
home of widow in need on the way home. He wanted to give them
some money for their needs. He tried but couldn't get the
handkerchief unknotted so he said. Well, I guess the Lord wants you
to have it all and gave the whole handkerchief to the needy family.
(Winslow, 120; Walker, 145; Adams 53)
6 Character Qualities of John Eliot:
1) Practical: walking up hill to meeting house Cotton Mather
records him
saying "This is very like the way to heaven, 't is uphill….and truly
there are thons and briars in the way, too." (Walker, 144, Adams
49). (Francis, 331) used common things/images and linked them to
spiritual realities
2) Morning person: "He would say to students, "I pray
look to it that you
be morning birds." (Adams, 57)
3) Temperate: Having been invited at a stranger's house to take
some
drink, which he was told was wine and water, he replied, "Wine! 'tis
a notable, generous liquor, and we should be humbly thankful for it;
but, as I remember, water was made before it," and water was his
drink which was far from being common even in those days."
(Adams, 57f) "
4) Hospitality: "Few in New England at that day would have
shown the
charity that he did, in 1650, in inviting a visiting French Jesuit
missionary, Gabriel Druillettes, to spend the winter as an inmate of
his house." (Walker, 148) See below also. – expressed in the unity
Christian Indians felt toward other believers (Francis, 144)
Was not intolerant bigot as others (same example in Walker, 148)
5) Diligence, work ethic, persistence: (one guy producing Bible 1180
pgs.) Cotton Mather: what is Eliot spelled backwards:
toile –
his character of persistence (Adams, 78; Francis 339)
6) Humility: I am but a shrub in the wilderness."
(Winslow, 188)
4A. Passion for Schools: (Walker, 147; Adams 51,
Francis 125)
1) "Schools for the natives were favorite objects with our apostle"
(Francis
125, 142f) "if the work of improvement was to be permanent, the
foundation must be laid in the education of the young. He insisted,
therefore, that there must be an annual appropriation for the support of
schoolmasters and schoolmistresses." (Francis, 142)
Mather states: "that Roxbury has afforded more scholars, first for
the
college, and then for the pubic, than any town of its bigness, or, if I mistake
not, of twice its bigness, in all New England." (Francis, 314)
2) "He was remarkable for the efforts he employed to instruct the
children,
making catechisms for them… Cotton Mather said "As when certain Jesuits
were sent among the Waldenses to corrupt their children, they 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 seducers 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 the country." (Adams, 60)
1C. Cotton Mather (Magnalia Christi Americana,
1702) records Eliot
as saying: "Lord for schools every where among us! That our
schools may flourish! That every member of this assembly may go
home and procure a good school to be encouraged in the town where
he lives! That before we die, we may be so happy as to see a good
school encouraged in every plantation of the country!"
(Winslow, 37f)
2C. Roxbury Latin School
oldest continuous school in the country –
1645. Philip, John Eliot's older brother became its
first headmaster. à Entrants went
to Harvard (founded ca. 1636)
To this day Natanya says 20% success rate of getting kids into
Harvard. [images/video]
3C. Jamaica Plan – Roxbury Latin School.
(integrated
blacks, Indians and whites) Still standing on
Eliot St. in Jamaica
Plain. [video]
4C. Harvard – Indian College: It was
where his Bible was printed.
First brick building at Harvard. Built in 1656 only a handful
of students ever attended. Closed in 1693 and demolished in
1698. [video]
5A.
Champion of democracy: consent of the
governed: John Winthrop (gov.)
1634 treaty of amity with the Pequots who were facing war
with the Narragansets. Winthrop asked the ministers of Boston
for consent but not the people. Eliot objected. A committee of
ministers was immediately appointed to deal with the Roxbury
teacher and show him his error. Eliot apologized of his error
the next Sunday. (Winslow, 40; mentioned in Winthrop's journal,
also see Francis, p. 16f).
Adams comments he was strongly attached to the Congregational
for of church polity (Adams 61)
5. Two problems
1A. Anne Hutchinson's trial 1637/38 (Winslow,
41ff) 15 kids–
no secular/sacred or church/state divide. (vid. Adams
262ff, cf. Francis,
pp. 22ff) He also wrote the justification
for the banishment of Roger
Williams (Benge/Pickowicz, 151)
1) Governor was also defender of the faith, reenforced by the clergy.
Most heresy cases handled locally. Anne had attended John Cotton's
church in Lincolnshire, England. Was attracted to New England
when he was in Boston (with pastor John Wilson). She taught the
women of the settlement—talk of the town. Great knowledge of
the Bible. Accused basically all the ministers of New England of
teaching the "covenant of works" outer religion, as opposed to the
"covenant of grace" inner religion—buzz words.
2) Banged heads with John Wilson; only John Cotton and her brother-in-
law John Wheelwright had the "seal of the Spirit"—tried to vote
Wheelwright in as John Cotton's associate (failed).
John
Winthrop favored the "orthodox" party for his "city set on a
hill."
3) 1637 she was found guilty of sedition.
Thomas Welde sharply opposed her. John E. was kinder although he and
others found problems with her teaching. She was tried for disturbing
the peace of the community (now only 7 yrs. Old). John Eliot and
five other ministers condemn her.
4) She claims immediate revelation the same way God talked to Abraham.
Denied the bodily resurrection saying the soul was mortal.
Winter was setting in so they banished her to Roxbury (Welde and Eliot)
5) Second arraignment more damaging by the church (March, 1638).
She ends up getting caught in a lie and John Cotton finally turns against
her. She was banished from the community by the court. Went to
Rhode Island and where her husband died (1642) then went to Long Island
where she and her children were massacred.
6) Eliot at 36 first generation "After five years of association with
Thomas
Welde of Roxbury, it is too easy to say that he had allowed the elder
man to be his tutor. – Eliot established himself in this sad story as a
champion of orthodoxy. (Winslow, 64)
2A.
The Christian Commonwealth (published in
England, 1659). Strongly
opposed by leaders in England. Seditious (rulers of 10, 50, 100,
democracy). He used Exodus 18:25 Jethro's advice to Moses as model
(Walker, 149) Chief ruler of all chosen by the
people. Stuarts in England
condemned the book (May 1661) and ordered it suppressed.
He recants although in his tract "Communion of Churches" he applies
those
same principles to the churches and later will implement them in the Indian
villages. (Walker, 150f) – Communion of Churches the first privately
printed book in America (Eliot)
6. First Published book in America (Winslow, 65) – 1640, The Bay
Psalm Book
[Cover Image]
1A.
Cotton Mather's, Magnalia, iii, ch. 12: (Francis, 27)
You Roxb'ry
poets keep clear of the crime,
of missing
to give us very good rhime. – [Welde, Eliot]
And you of Dorchester your verses lengthen, --
[Richard Mather]
But with the text's own words you will them strengthen."
Francis comments: Mr. Eliot appears sometimes to have indulged
the rhyming vein for his own amusement." (Francis, 29)
1A.
Ministers and magistrates of Boston wanted their
own version of
Psalms "fit to be sung on Sabbath" and "good
Hebricians" among
the clergy were invited to prepare it. – Eliot would be one of those
English meter poetry used; Printed by the press in Cambridge, MA.
Puritans loved to sing.
Wanted the church council deliberations to be done in
Hebrew. These recommendations not followed in New England. Argued
for its universal use (Adams, 59, 258ff; cf. Francis, 210ff)
2A. Originally thought Thomas Welde and John Eliot of
Roxbury and
Richard Mather of Dorchester were the main contributors. Now realized
more than that involved. "We have endeavored, according to our light
and time, to retranslate the Psalmes, as near the originall as we could,
into meeter." (Winslow, 67)
3A.
Long preface done by John Cotton.
4A. Psalm 23 – 1640
THe Lord to mee a shepheard is,
want therefore shall not I.
Hee in the folds of tender-grasse,
doth cause mee downe to lie:
5A. Designed to be heard not just read. (Winslow, 69)
6A.
"The Bay Psalm Book was an event in which they took pride. To have
been one of the creators of this small volume was a shared honor,
but an honor for John Eliot." (Winslow, 70).
7.
Indian Mission early acknowledged and supported
1A.
Descriptions of Indians:
Francis, 32 "like all savages, were averse to regular
labor of any sort. Their time was spent in the alternations of war, hunting,
or fishing, and idleness or sleep. Elsewhere mentioned problems
with
drunkenness, gaming, revenge and powwowing. Francis says: "A powaw,
in short, was at once priest, physician, and juggler." Sachems were
the
chiefs. – Later there would be problems with these two as they lost
power.
2A. Indians emaciated after small pox
epidemic prior to 1620 and the
pilgrims landing at Plymouth. Some viewed it as God opening the
way for the settlers. In the "New England's
3A. Massachusetts Seal – Come over and help us.
[Image]
"our forefathers did not come here merely to "enjoy their
liberty," not
merely to flee from persecution, not to increase their worldly estate; they
came here, among other good reasons, as they expressly declare, to extend
the kingdom of Christ" (Adams, 25)
4A. The King's grant to the Council of
Plymouth:
"the principall effect which I can desire or expect of this action is the
conversion of the people of these parts unto the true worship of God and
Christian religion." (Winslow, 82)
5A.
In the letter of Matthew Craddock, Governor of the Company
to Governor
Endicott of MA, February 16, 1629, these words, "We trust you will not be
unmindfull of the main end of our Plantation, by endeavouring to bring
the Indians to the knowledge of the Gospel." (Winslow, 82)
6A. Indians believed to be one of the 10 lost
tribes of Israel. – Thomas
Thorowgood in his Jewes in America or Probabilities that the
Americans are Jewes. Eliot concurred. (Winslow, 82; Adams, 76,
also more in Adams 150-52) View also held by Rabbi Ben Israel
of Amsterdam (Francis, 140)
1) Why? Indians anoint their heads, wash stranger's feet, delight in
dancing, circumcision, belief in immortality, body will rise from
dead, express themselves in parables, believe to have said
"Hallelujah," didn't like swine/pork.
7A. Others who worked early and seriously with
the Indians:
1) Roger Williams at Plymouth and Providence, preached to them in their
language, "Key to the Indian Language of America" (1643) Walker
says as early as 1632 Roger Williams had begun to acquire the
Indian vocabulary (Walker, 153) banished in 1636 having a good
command of the dialects of the tribes of the region.
2) Thomas Mayhew and his children on Martha's Vineyard would continue
his work for 3 generations until 1806. Preaching in Indian tongue
Thomas Mayhew even more than Eliot on Martha's Vineyard. Two
generations following for a total of 163 years that family working
among the Indians there (Winslow, 165) Missed the hardships
Eliot's group had in King Philip's war (1675/6) (Walker, 165)
3) Eliot and his friends (Daniel Gookin, Thomas Shepard, … most
systematic; Edward Winslow published work in order to raise
money in England. Robert Boyle (great economic supporter
in England) and Richard Baxter spiritual support.
8A. 5
Indian groups in New England: (Adams, 17-19) Visited by plague in
1612-13 wiping out many before the settlers arrived.
Pequots formerly 4,000 warriors, in 1674 only 300 (S. part,
Connecticut)
Narragansetts formerly 5,000 warriors, 1,000 in 1674 (Rhode
Island)
Pawkunnawkuts formerly 3,000 warriors, 1674 nearly extinct
(Plymouth colony area)
Pawtuckets formerly 3,000 warriors, 250 in 1674 NE of
Masschusetts Indians, almost totally destroyed by plague
Massachusetts Indians 3,000 warriors, 300 in 1674.
8A. Massachusetts Tribe, Algonquin language – many dialects
(Eliot
translated for the Wampanoag people)
1B. Resistance from settlers, unwilling to
trust "Praying Indians"
Clash of farmers (fence, gardens, crops) versus Indians (hunters,
roaming) Different view of relationship to the
land: English
owned land; Indians roamed land.
[cf. Egypt farming and Hebrews (sheep) à Goshen]
2B. Resistance from sachems (chiefs) and
powwows (priests)—
loosing power when Indians became Christians and to the English
who put up fences etc.
3B. Cockenoe (captured in the Pequot wars
on Long Island (ca 1635-37)
fur trader and land investor Richard Callicott of Dorchester had
Cockenoe after the Pequot war. Eliot got Cockenoe from him.
(Benge/Pickowicz, 152)
Knew both English and Algonquin. Eliot employed him to
help teach him the Indian tongue.
4B Poetry: Robert Frost: "Poetry is what disappears in translation"
1/3 OT is poetry. New analogies needed.
5B. Indian Bible 1663 – First Bible printed in America
6B. Writing of The Indian Grammar Begun. [Image of cover]
Eliot said: "We must not sit still, and look for miracles; Up
and be
doing, and the Lord will be with thee. Prayer and
Pains through Faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything."
(Winslow, 95) - 1666
"You will not do incredible things without an incredible
dream" John Eliot [Quote picture]
Next time: Eliot's work among the Indians from Wabon's Wigwam to
Natick and 14 Praying Indian Villages.
Session #2: Waban's Wigwam (1646) to Natick
and 14 Praying Indian Villages (1674)
Review Session #1:
Why Eliot: Significance (State House, Congregational Bas-Relief, Birth (1604)
in Widford, childhood Naseing, Cambridge, Hooker, Boston, to Roxbury Church
(1643)
8. Waban's Wigwam, 1646 (Nonantum à Newton, MA) [Image, sign]
Nonantum= rejoicing "because they did rejoice [becomes Newton, MA]
at the word of God, and God did rejoice over them as penitent
sinners." (Adams, 99)
1A.
First sermon preached in Algonquin bombed: in Dorchester Mills,
Cutshamekin a shachem of the Massachusett tribe first convert.
(Benge/Pickowicz, 152)
2A. First meeting at Waban's wigwam (Oct 28,
1646). [Image of Newton]
Had preached in Dorchester Mill in Algonquin but without much effect.
1) Four went together: Daniel Gookin later appointed by the General Court
to supervise the Indian towns; Thomas Shepherd (minister of
Cambridge) and John Wilson (pastor of Boston)
2) Preached reading the Ten Commandments.
Preached on Ezek. 37:9 Vision of Dry Bones "Then said he unto me,
prophesy unto the wind," – they looked at Waban, only later
Eliot learned Waban's name meant "wind" in Algonquian
(Winslow, 98;
Adams, 80f)
3) 1 hr 15 minute sermon and then 3 hours of questions
(Adams, 85).
Key to Eliot was he had long question and answer sessions after sermons.
After the sermon Eliot's friends gave the men some tobacco and the
children some apples and said farewell (Francis, 55)
4) Questions:
a) How may we come to know Jesus Christ? Two ways he
responded often to the same question: read the Bible (but since they
didn't have it) listen to what he told them and prayer
(Winslow, 100;
Adams, 82f)
b) Does the white man's god hear Indian prayers?"
Eliot: Look at this basket. You made it. White straws, black
straws.
You know where they came from, and how you put them together.
Someone who didn't make it, wouldn't know. He wouldn't
understand how you could do it. God made Indians. He knows all
about them. Of course he knows your language and
understands
every word." (Winslow, 100; Walker, 157).
c) Waban: How do we believe what eyes cannot see?
Eliot: When you see a big wigwam, do you think the raccoons built
it, or the foxes, or that it built itself? Certainly not. Look at
the
house of this great world. Look at the sun, the moon, the stars,
Doesn't it look as though a very powerful, wise Being built it? We
can't see Him with our eyes, but look at his work." (Winslow, 93).
2A.
Second meeting: Fortnite back: sermon
on good news – Keep the Ten
commandments, repent of your sins, pray to God and believe in Jesus
Christ, escape hell and get to heaven (Nov. 12, 1646)
1) Questions: (Winslow, 103)
How comes it to pass that sea water is salt and land water fresh?
(in Francis as well, p. 57)
Why are strawberries sweet and cranberries sour? (Adams, 88)
Whither do our little children go when they die, they have not
sinned? (Adams,
132)
Many other Indian questions listed in Adams (pp. 145-148 and
155-58)
Why did not God kill the Devil, that made all men so bad, God
having all power? (Francis, 93) – origin of evil/theodicy question
2) Emphasis on prayer. Hence
"Praying Indians"
Did they keep the Sabbath? For Indians the easiest test of all.
"We never work on any day if we can help it," and Indian is
reported to have answered. (Winslow, 104)
3) Haunting question: Why has no white man ever told us this
before?
Why did you wait to tell us? There being no answer
John Eliot said simply, "I am sorry." (Winslow, 105).
Haunting
Question an old Powaw (priest type): "Why, seeing the
English had been in the land twenty-seven years, they had never
taught the Indians to know God till now? (Adams, 131)
4) Sad question from an old man near death: asked whether it was
not
too late for such an old man as he, who was near death, to repent or
seek after God (Adams, 88) – Eliot and his friends told him about
the laborer who was hired in the 11th hour.
5) "An old Indian had an unruly, disobedient son. He asked, 'What
should one do with him, in case of obstinacy and disobedience, and
that will not hear God's word, though his father command him, nor
will not forsake his drunkenness, though his father forbid him."
(Adams 113)
5) Sunshine response: Indian hanging his head in sorrow
"finally broke
out saying "Me little know Jesus Christ, or me should seek him
better." Mr. Eliot comforted him by telling him that as it is
early
dawn at first when there is but little light, but the sun rises to perfect
day, so it would be with him and his people with regard to a
knowledge of the favor of God if they would seek Him."
(Adams, 90)
6) "What shall we say to some Indians who say to us, What
do you get by
praying to God and believing in Jesus Christ? You go naked still,
and are as poor as we. Our corn is as good as yours; and we take
more pleasure than you; if we saw that you got any thing by praying
to God, we would do so." Mr. E. answered to them on this point as
follows: "First, God gives two sorts of good things; 1. Little
things,
which he showed by his little finger, ('for they use and delight in
demonstrations;') 2. Great things, (holding up his thumb). The little
mercies he said are riches, clothes, food, sack, houses, cattle, and
pleasures, all which serve the body for the little while, and in this life
only. The great mercies are wisdom, the knowledge of God, Christ,
eternal life, repentance and faith; these are for the soul, and
eternity."
(Adams, 133f; Francis also, 79f)
7) A Wife's Question: Wampas' wife asked: "When my
husband prays, if
I say nothing, and yet my heart goes along with what he says, do I
pray? … she learned to spin and one year after the 1647 visit "she
was attacked with an illness, in which she suffered much and which
proved fatal. When Mr. Eliot visited her, and prayed with her, she
told him, that "she still loved God, though he made her sick, and was
resolved to pray to him so long as she lived…she was willing
to die, and believe she should go to leave and live happy with God
and Christ there." She was the first adult that had died among the
Indians since Eliot began his mission." (Francis, 87)
Francis (p. 83) follows up with this story: "Tahattawan, a sachem
at Concord, with some of his people, went to Nonantum and heard
Mr. Eliot preach. Having learned that this project was secretly
opposed by many of his people, he summoned his chief men around
him, and assured them that what the English were doing was for
their good. "for," said he, "what have
you gained, while you have
lived under the power of the higher sachems, after the Indian
fashion? They only sought to get what they could from you, and
exacted at their pleasure your kettles, your skins, and your wampum.
But the English, you see, do no such things; they seek only your
welfare, and, instead of taking from you, they give to you." (In
Cleare Sun-shine of the Gospel, p. 2)
Sachem problem: whatever they might acquire was at the mercy of
the sachems, felt no desire to gain any thing more than a bare
sufficiency for present subsistence. Wherever Christianity was
introduced among them, it had a tendency to abolish, or greatly
mitigate, this state of servitude and oppression. The people learned
in some rude degree to understand their rights." (Francis, 155)
Eliot's analysis after Indian visits: "It is very likely if ever the
Lord
convert any of these natives, they will mourn for sin exceedingly,
and consequently love Christ dearly;" (Adams, 92)
3A.
Third meeting (Nov. 26, 1646)
theme: temptations of the devil
they believe in good god and evil god so this made better
sense to them than previous messages. (Winslow, 107)
1) Wampas brought his children to Eliot in Roxbury wanting to offer
his children so they could be educated (Winslow, 108; cf. Francis,
60)
He began catechizing their children:
Example
of Catechism:
1) Who made you and all the world. Ans. God
2) Who do you think should save you and redeem you from sin and
hell? Ans. Jesus Christ
3) How many commandments hath God given you to keep? Ans. 10
(Adams, 86)
2) Waban the leader: ten commandments assessed fines for his 10
rules:
3. For wife beating, including only one serious offence, the
offender shall have his hands tied behind him, and be carried to the
place of justice to be severely punished. (Winslow, 108f)
7. All those men that weare long locks shall pay 5 shillings.
Adams give a more extensive list (Adams 109f)
Combination of civilization and Christianity (Winslow, 108f)
4A. Fourth meeting (Dec. 9, 1646)
The Indians offered all their children to be educated by the English but
said they could pay nothing (Winslow, 109) – Eliot big on catechizing
children.
Winter set
in: "Meanwhile through snow and ice and winter cold, John
Eliot continued in alternate weeks to mount his horse and tread the rugged
trail through the woods to Waban's cabin where more and more Indians
waited." (Winslow, 110)
They looked upon the success of the Gospel among the Indians as a
fulfillment in part of the promise of God the Father to the Son, "Ask of
me,
and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for thy possession." (Ps. 2) (Adams, 101)
5A. Cutshamakin (first sachem Eliot preached
to) had a rebellious son.
(Francis, 171)
Eliot and John Wilson
teaching the boy the catechism rebuked him because he would not say
honor your "mother" but always substituted "father". They
rebuked the boy.
"On the next lecture day, therefore, they exhorted Cutshamakin to
prepare
the way for his son's reformation by confessing his own sins, of which,
they knew, the number was neither few nor light. Being thus faithfully
admonished, he honestly acknowledged and bitterly lamented his
offences….At last the boy yielded, made the most
humble confession, and,
taking his father's hand, entreated his forgiveness. His humiliation
overcame his parents so much, that they wept aloud…" (Francis, 72f)
Cutshamakin told Eliot the sachems were upset with him because they
were losing the accustomed revenues, should such settlements be
encouraged. (Francis, 75; story found in detail in Cleare Sunshine, pp. 31ff
my pp. 51ff – very touching detail)
9. Support for
Eliot's Indian's missionary work
1A.
Visitors
March 3 1647 Thomas Shepard of Cambridge (pastor d. 1649);
Mr. John Wilson of Boston (pastor d. 1667); Mr Dunster, president of
Harvard College [think Indian College later on] and other visit
Nonantum/Newton (Franics, 86)
Eliot's friendship network:
3 Mentors
1) Thomas Hooker (father of Conneticut)- Little Baddow school
2) Thomas Mayhew also working with the Indians on Matha's
Vineyard;
3) Thomas Welde minister of Roxbury (d. 1661)]
3 Companions:
1) Thomas Shephard (Cambridge pastor; d. 1649)
2) Daniel Gookin over the Indian villages (d. 1687) both these guys
seen on the Memorial at Newton.
3) John Wilson pastor of Boston also a good traveling friend.
In
England 3 supporters:
1) Edward Winslow published and raised money for Eliot;
2) Richard Baxter corresponded with him with a lot of spiritual
encouragement; and
3) Richard Boyle over the Society for the Propagating of the Gospel
very supportive.
2A. Cambridge (May, 1647) six months after
Waban's wigwam. Indians,
"women and children were taken to one of the sessions as a congregation.
John Eliot preached to them in Algonquian, catechized the children
and held the usual question period after the sermon. This public
exhibition impressed the clergy…" (Winslow, 111)
2A. July 19, 1649 (6 months after the execution
of Charles I) the Long
Parliament incorporated the "President and Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel in New England" with power to hold lands to the years
value of £2000. Collected money = £11,430 (amazing sum) (Walker 159f)
Eliot received £50 for his salary from them (1658) and £190 was paid
for the education of 9 young Indian men at Roxbury. Robert Boyle will
be a strong Eliot supporter at the head of this organization.
3A. Eliot's Missions philosophy:
"Mr. Eliot's care for the Indians was not
confined to religious teaching. It was his favorite and well-known opinion,
that no permanent good effect could be produced by efforts for their
spiritual welfare, unless civilization and social improvement should precede
or accompany such efforts." (Francis 67)
2A. Backed by England: Edward Winslow
took the news back to England
and pushed for support
1) "Just as Edward Winslow's sailing, he secured the
hastily written manuscript telling of the first four meetings at Waban's
wigwam. On shipboard he put them in shape for printing and immediately
on his arrival in London had them published". … addressed to Lords and
Commons. "The tract was entitled "The Day-Breaking, if not the
Sun
Rising of the Gospell with the Indians in New England." (Winslow,
112).
cf. Malachi 1:11 "From the rising of the sun to the going down of
the same, thy name shall be great among the Indians." (Francis, 107)
2) Three months later he received the manuscript of a second report of
Indian conversions: The Clear Sun-Shine of the Gospel Breaking forth
upon the Indians in New-England." John Eliot's long letter also
included
"The finger of God is here." Thomas Shepard also corroborated the
stories.
The Indians have utterly forsaken their powwows
They catechize their own children.
They have set up morning and evening prayers in their wigwams
They keep the Sabbath and punish those who profane it.
(Winslow, 113)
Indian questions:
What was the first sin of the devil?
Whether the devil or man was made first?
Why didn't God give all men good hearts?
If a man were enclosed in iron a foot thick and thrown into
the fire,
what would become of his soul? Could it
get out or not?
Whither do little children goe when they dye, seeing
they
have not sinned?
What do English men think of Mr. Eliot who comes among
wicked Indians to teach them? (Winslow, 114)
Edward Winslow's design was to get a bill through Parliament that
would insure the continuance of John Eliot's work.
(Winslow, 114)
3) Third tract April 1649: The Glorious Progress of the Gospel
amongst the Indians in New England, 3 letters by John
Eliot and one from Thomas Mayhew Jr. missionary on
Martha's Vineyard.
4) Second bill on July 27, 1649 "An Act for the promoting and
propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England."
Corporation of 16 people. Raised money house to house
in England to support Eliot's work, lasted 120 years.
FIRST Protestant Missionary Society. (Winslow, 117)
"intelligent persistence of Edward Winslow at the outset in getting
the bill drafted and then keeping the interest in it alive…without
its sponsorship, the missionary work of John Eliot among his
neighboring Indians might have ended at its beginning."
(Winslow, 117)
5) Results of Winslow's work: The first year £ 12,000 were
collected and invested, and by 1660, it was £15,000. As
disbursed by the commissioners, through the years, the
income from this fund founded schools for the Indians,
clothed Indian children, provided tools and implements as
they were requested, paid the sums allowed to native teachers,
added small stipends to the native assistants in the missionary
work of the Mayhew family on the Cape as well as John
Eliot's. One of the largest expenditures was the printing of
the Indian Bible." As well as Eliot's other translations
(Winslow, 118f) The brick building at
Harvard, known as
the Indian College, later the printing office, was built and
equipped out of it and Indian tuition paid.
Eliot kept poor records and poor answers to business
questions, they rebuked him but doubled his salary honoring
his zeal to £50 annually. (Winslow, 119)
2A. Robert Boyle, governor of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel (1661-1689) caught Eliot's vision and really personally
helped Eliot. Those three in England encouraged and made Eliot's
vision a reality: Richard Baxter, Edward Winslow and Robert
Boyle. Eliot's supporters in England.
3A. Hope that Indian converts might breathe
life into the dead Anglican
church. "Let these poor Indians stand up incentives to us, as the
Apostle set up the Gentiles a provocation to the Jews; who knows
but God gave life to New England to quicken Old, and hath warmed
them that they might heat us; raised them from the dead, that they
might recover us from that consumption, and those sad decays which
are come upon us." (Adams 105)
4A. Eliot's quote concerning missions:
"There is no need of miraculous
or extraordinary gifts in seeking the salvation of the most depraved
of the human family." (Adams, 277).
10. Natick
[means: place of hills] (The First Praying
Indian Town, 1650) – Winslow,
122. (Adams, 178; Francis 162ff.) [map and church, rock videos]
1A.
Rapid growth around Boston pushing outward. King's grant of land first
step in settlement. Civil right with the obligation to settle and cultivate
the land (Winslow, 123) Nonantum/Newton proved
unsuitable so Natick
by the Charles River was chosen (Walker, 161)
Indians could no longer rove over the land, hunting, fishing. Fences
and concept of English "ownership" of land foreign to the Indians.
Sawmills and cornmills polluted the rivers spoiling the fishing.
(Winslow, 123)
Many Indians in the country were desirous of hearing the Gospel, but they
would not remove into the neighborhood of the English, 'because they had
no tools or skill, or heart to fence their grounds." (Adams 142)
2A. Approval of Natick 6,000 acres including
Wellesley, Needham granted by
the General Court. Waban had requested land from Eliot at the first
meeting at his wigwam (1646) à 1650
Thomas Waban signs for the land
(Winslow, 125) Adams said about 100 Indians
gathered at Natick (p. 186)
1) River weir: two stone walls converging as a V. At the open point they
placed a widemeshed cage or basket made of twigs fastened to
hoops that caught fish swimming down stream… called an
Eelpot à in Eliot's Bible ("lattice"
couldn't find Algonquin word
so his translator told him "Eelpot" later Eliot just used the English
word "lattice" with the Indian ending to the word. (Winslow, 125;
Francis, 236) à latticeut
(English word with Indian ending,
E.g. cassettim (Hebrew)
2) The Indians built a footbridge 80' across the Charles River and 9'
high.
Lasted longer than the English bridges over the Charles (they were
really proud of that. Built a fort, meeting house at the center of town,
place for Eliot to stay overnight and a school room.
3) Town governance: Eliot goes back to Exod. 18 Jethro's advice to
Moses one man over 10, 50, and 100 to judge matters. (Winslow,
127; Walker 161)
Got to try out on the Indians what failed in England in his recanting
over his work "The Christian Commonwealth." à "Communion
of Churches"
Totherswamp (elderly) over the 100 and Waban over 50. (Aug. 6,
1651) (Winslow, 128)
4) Eliot's covenant written up and they pledged to it (Sept. 1651) (Winslow,
128f) "God shall rule over us, (Isa. 33, 22). The Lord is our Judge;
the Lord is our Law giver; the Lord is our King; his Booke, that shall
guide us and direct us in the Way. O Jehovah, teach us wisdom…
Send thy spirit into our Hearts, and let it teach us. Lord take us to be
thy People, and let us take thee to be our God." (Winslow, 129)
KEY: Eliot's friendliness had won them,… they trusted him.
(Winslow, 129)
5) Two anecdotal stories:
a) Justice
Waban on Sabbath: one occasion gave an order to kill a
raccoon
to supply food for his unexpected Sunday guest. He had
broken the
Sabbath. … even he not above the law. (Winslow, 130;
also Francis,
96)
b)
Totherswamp (ruler of 100's) law against drunkenness. 3 men got
drunk and
then realized they were in trouble so they got
Totherswamp's
11 year-old son drunk figuring they would be
spared punishment.
No, they were put in stocks and then whipped.
Totherswamp
put his son briefly in stocks and took him to the school
where he was
whipped. "Apparently the Indians were deeply
impressed by
their ruler's sense of duty." (Winslow, 131)
Adams
tells of Eliot's self-reflection on this incident: "I could
read nothing in it but displeasure, I began to doubt about
our intended work: I knew not what to doe, the blacknesse
of the sins, and the Persons reflected on, may my very heart
faile me: For one of the offendors (though least in the
offence) was he that hath been my Interpreter, whom I have
used in Translating a good part of the Holy Scriptures; and in
that respect I saw much of Satans venome. (Adam, 224)
3A. Comment on improvement of life of women: "A great
improvement
was soon visible among them in their treatment of
their
wives." (Adams, 129) Wife beating was outlawed among them
(Adams, 129f) Movement away from polygamy. (Adams 137,
Francis 100)
Francis
notes a woman who said "Before my husband prayed, he
was very
angry and froward; but, since he began to pray he has
not
been so much
angry, but only a little." (Francis, 88)
Wampas on
some trivial occasion, in a fit of passion, beat his wife.
This brutal
treatment of their females had formerly been, as is usual
among savage
tribes, very common, and passed without notice. But
since they
had received Christianity, they had learned to consider it
as a great
offence, and the transgressor in such cases was exposed to
a fine.
Wampas was made to stand up, and answer for his fault
before the
public meeting. (Francis, 97f)
4A. Governor
John Endicott governor of the colony (1651) preached in
in
Natick. "He had been greatly pleased at what he had seen. "The
Foundation is laid," he wrote, "and such a one that I verily believe
the
Gates of Hell shall never prevaile against." (Winslow, 132) Endicott
impressed with their industry and ingenuity: fort, meetinghouse, bridge.
Eliot 47 in 1651. Endicott said: "Truly, I account this one of the
best
journeys I have made these many years." (Francis, 176)
3A.
Founding of the church at Natick: Confessions:
Tears of Repentance
tract (church at Natick founded 1660 ten years after the village formed
– 50 Indians by 1674 (Walker 161).
They would have a Day of asking Questions or a Day of Examination:
when the Indians would answer questions and declare their confessions
(Adams, 195)
1) Confessions of each Indian documented by Eliot.
Totherswamp (elder of 100's) "I confess I deserve Hell, I cannot deliver
my self, but I give my Soul and my Flesh to Christ, and I trust my soul
with him for he is my Redeemer, and I desire to call upon him while I
live." (Winslow, 150, Adams, 195ff); Waban's
confession proved
unsatisfactory. Adams gives it at length-beautiful
2) Monequassun, the Natick schoolmaster, confessed that when he had
first heard instructions, he had laughed at them and scorned praying to God.
Later, when he felt differently, he had been very unwilling to move to
Natick, but he had come. He also found it very hard to cut off his hair, but
he had done that too." (Winslow, 151; Adams, 205f again Adams gives
lengthy confession from "Tears of Repentance")
These confessions found in "Tears of Repentance" published in England
3) Robin Speene: I see God is angry with me for all my sins, and he hath
afflicted me by the death of my children, and I fear God is still
angry…I remember my Pawwawing [for he was a Pawwaw] my lust,
my gaming, and all my sins; I know them by the Commandements of
God, and God heareth and seeth them all; I cannot deliver my self
from sin, therefore I do need Christ, because of all my sins, I desire
pardon, and I believe that God calls all to come to Christ, and that he
delivereth us from sin." (Adams, 212) Touching story of his child
making a confession on the verge of death (Adams, 221f)
Father Robin comments: He could not tell whether the sorrow for
the death of his child, or the joy for its faith were greater, when it
died. (Adams, 221f)
Francis notes (190): In some of the confessions…One
acknowledged, that he first became a praying Indian, not because he
understood or cared for religion, but because he loved the English,
and wished them to love him."
4) 3 years later after more instruction they would have a "Day of Asking
Questions" designed to show what they knew about the things of
religion (Winslow, 153) 5 years he trained them using his Logic
Primer; Eliot published "A Further Account of the Progresse of the
Gospel amongst the Indians of New England." Documenting
samples of Indian "Exercises" (Winslow, 155)
5) 1660 fourteen years after first preaching in Waban's wigwam (1646)
the Church at Natick was founded. (Winslow, 156)
4A. Eliot's Sciatic
and Lameness: At this time: Eliot suffering from sciatica
where upon he became lame in leg for the rest of his life (ca. 56
years of age). (Winslow, 157)
1650's three
of his sons trained at Harvard ready for work among the
Indians. All of his sons would die before him except one. Sadness
yet to come.
5A. Others
recognizing Eliot's gifts: "Mr. Eliot excels any other of
the English, who in the Indian language about common matters excel
him," (Adams, 114)—in 1647
General Court at Boston, May 26,m 1647: Mr. Shepard speaks of his
brother Eliot as a man "whom, in other respects, but especially for
his unweariednesse in this work of God, going up and down among
them, and doing them good, I think we can never love nor honor
enough." (Adams, 125)
6A. "In
1670, the number of men and women in full communion at Natick,
was between forty and fifty, and more than three hundred and fifty
had renounced their savage practices and open sins, and gave heed
to instructions of the Gospel." (Adams, 239)
11. More Indian Towns: Natick model scaled up to 14 in total
(7 old, 7 new)
The Sudbury, Concord, Lancaster, Medford, and Dedham Indians had all in
a few years
received the Gospel from Nonantum [Newton]. In
visiting that interesting spot we cannot but say, "From you sounded
out the word of the Lord." (Adams, 176)
1670's about 1100 Indians brought into Christianity under Eliot's influence
(Winslow,
160)
Massachusetts Colony known as the 7 Old Praying Indian Towns:
Wamesit (Chelmsford),
Nashobah (Littleton),
Okkokonimesit (Marlborough),
Hassannamesit (Grafton),
Makunkokoag (Hopkinton),
Natick (Natick), and
Punkapog or Pakomit (Stoughton). (Francis, 181)
Daniel Gookin, was superintendent of all these Indian towns in 1656.
all 14 planted by 1674. Became very good friend of Eliot (vid. Newton
image)
"On Sunday the Indians assemble twice at the beat of the drum, and walk
solemnly to the meetinghouse, dressed in their English best. On the bare
benches inside the men sit on one side, the women on the other, precisely as
in English practice, …We see Waban, now grown old, paid a tribute for his
prudence and piety. "I do not know of any Indian that excels him,"
Gookin
adds. (Winslow, 161) – my discovery of Waban Township by Wellesley.
1) Pakenit or Punkapoag (modern Canton) next after Natick (Neponset
Mill one of Eliot's first preaching posts. Made clapboards, shingles
from cedar successful town. John Eliot's son (John Eliot, Jr.)
preached there until his death in 1668. (Benge/Pickowicz, 156;
vid. Cogley, 145 on the other villages) 14 miles
S of Boston
2) Hassanamsasitt (place of small stones) now Grafton, 38 miles from
Boston. 8,000 acres granted for 60 Indians. It was from there that
Printer James, invaluable in the printing of the Indian Bible, lived.
(Winslow, 162)
3) Nashoban now Littleton, 25 miles from Boston, 8,000 acres made cider
problem with drunkenness
1674 Eliot and Gookin visit all 7 new Praying Towns (1650-1675 these
14 Praying Indian towns settled and begun.
Next Time: Session #3: Eliot Bible (1663)
– King Philip's War (1675) – Rebuilding and End (1690)
Session #3: Eliot Bible (1663)
– King Philip's War (1675) – Rebuilding and
End (1690)
Review:
Session #1: Why Eliot:
Significance, Widford Birth (1604), Naiseing childhood, Cambridge, Hooker,
Boston, Roxbury Church (1643)
Session #2: Waban's Wigwam (1646) to Natick and 14
Praying
Indian Villages (1674)
12. The Indian Bible: First Bible printed in America (Francis, 226)
1A.
Vision:
1) Letter to Edward Winslow (England in July 8, 1649) Eliot expressed
the intense desire "to translate some parts of the Scriptures" for
the
Indians…I look at it, as a sacred and holy work, to be regarded with
much fear, care, and reverence." (Francis, 218)
2) Eliot Wrote Thomas Thorowgood in June 18, 1653.
"I have had a great longing desire (if it be the will of God) taught our
Indian
language might be sanctified by the translation of the holy Scriptures into
it…but I fear it will not be obtained in my days. I cannot stick to the work
because of my necessary attendance to my ministrie in Roxbury, and
among the Indians at sundry places…" (Winslow, 138)
Having done a catechism, and a grammar not at 45 years of age worked
for 12 years on his Bible. (Adams, 239)
2A. Indian question: How do I get to
heaven? Answer "Pray; read the Bible"
but no Bible in their language and they couldn't read. (Winslow, 137)
3A. Initial translations: Catechism,
Lord's prayer, Ten Commandments made
with the help of Cockenoe (his Indian translator helper)
4A. In 1649, three years after his first sermon
at Waban's Eliot writes Edward
Winslow in London the urgent need for Indian schools.
"I do very much desire (he added) to translate some parts of the
Scriptures
into their language, and to print some Primer in their language wherein to
initiate and teach them to read….Such a thing will be
troublesome and
charageable, and I have not means of my own for it." (Winslow, 138)
1654 Catechism translated, 1658: Psalms done, 1661 the NT was done,
Bible first edition 1663. (Walker, 163)
5A. Cost
of printing a problem: "1658: he wrote, "The whole book of
God is
translated into their own language; it wanteth but revising, transcribing, and
printing. Oh, that the Lord would so move, that by some means or other it
may be printed." (Winslow, 141) – printing machine sent over.
1) Adams records: He was determined that the Indians should have the
word of God in their own tongue, and the work drew near to its
accomplishment. But how could it ever be printed? He slender
salary could not pay for it; ..In a letter to England
in 1651, he says,
with much sorrow, "I have no hope to see the Bible printed in my
days." The Society for Propagating the Gospel came to his
help. In
September, 1661, the New Testament in the Indian tongue was
published at Cambridge. Three years after this, the Old Testament
was added, and the whole Bible, with a Catechism and the Psalms of
David in metre, was thus given to the Aborigines of this desert, in
their own tongue, in forty years after the settlement of the country. It
was the first Bible printed on this Continent. It was printed at
Cambridge, by Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson. A copy
handsomely bound, was sent to King Charles II., and the Rev.
Richard Baxter says of it, "Such a work and fruit of a plantation was
never before presented unto a king." Two hundred copies, in plain
and strong leather, were immediately put in circulation for the use of
the Indians. … Eliot's joy when went to Natick and saw the Bible in
their hands …like Simeon Nunc Dimittis "Now, Lord, lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen
thy salvation."
(Adams, 241f) Mather says he wrote the whole
thing with one pen.
(Adams, 243)
2) Printing:
Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel paid the cost of printing
at Cambridge
MA by Samuel Green the only printer in New
England. His
press brought over in 1628. New press sent in 1654 for
the printing
of Eliot's work. Engaged Marmaduke Johnson, a
London
printer, to come over on a 3 year contract.
(Winslow, 145)
one hundred reams of paper were also sent, 1,500
copies of NT
printed and 1,000 whole Bibles (1663) (Benge/Pickowicz, 155)
In 1658 Eliot wrote the treasurer of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in New England:
"I
shall not trouble you with anything at present save this one business of
moment,
touching the printing of the bible in the Indian language…that
yourselves
might be moved to hire some honest young man, who hath skill
to compose,
(and the more skill in other parts of the work, the better) send
him over as
your servant , pay him there to his content, or engage payment,
let him
serve you here in New-England at the press in Harvard College, and
work under
the College printer, in impressing the Bible in the Indian
language,
and with him send a convenient stock of paper to begin withal."
(Benge/Pickowicz, 155).
"In the course of a
thousand years since Ulfilas (c. 311-383) constructed
the Gothic alphabet, Eliot was the only missionary to devise a new alphabet
from an unwritten language for thepurpose of teaching and preaching the
Scriptures" (Benge/Pickowicz, 156)
6A. Dr. Trumbull, in Pub. Narragansett Club
writes of the Eliot Bible (Walker,
163):
"a marvellous triumph of scholarship; achieved in the face of difficulties
which might well have appeared insurmountable. It may be doubted if, in
the two centuries which have elapsed since the Indian Bible was printed,
any translation of the sacred volume has been made from the English to a
foreign tongue of more literal accuracy and completeness. If a different
impression has been popularly received, slight study of the Indian text will
suffice to remove it."
7A.
KJV 1611; King 54 scholars in 7 years after
Rainholds' suggestion to the
king it was done. … Now a little less than 50 years later, John Eliot purposed
to translate it from English into a savage language (Winslow, 139) His full Bible completed in 1663 (first edition) He
did in 14 years
what 54 men had done in 7 (KJV). Amazing persistence and
self-discipline.
8A. Translation Issues:
1) Cultural issues: Lord's
prayer:
1) Our
Father, who art in heaven," father relationship to deity very
odd to
them. "Kingdom come" they frequently asked "what is the
kingdom of
heaven?" and Why must we forgive our enemies? As
the
Indians feel
no such desire (Winslow, 92)
2) Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not want" "The care of sheep and
the whole
panorama of shepherd life has no relation with Indian
experience." (Winslow, 92)
2) Difficulty
of the Language: Cotton Mather perhaps in jest said:
commenting
on Babel "he once put some demons upon their skill in
the tongues,
and found that though they could manage to understand
Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew very well, they were utterly baffled by the
speech of
the American natives." …Mr. Eliot must have found his
task any
thing but easy or inviting.(Francis, 42f)
3) Lattice:
"when in all his searching and inquiring he could not find
an
Algonquian word as suitable equivalent for the word he was
translating,
he kept the English word of the KJV. Judges 5:28
"looking out the window and crying through mishanttooan papashpe,
an eelpot,
instead of the lattice. … Fortunately, he was skeptical of
this hopeful
synonym, and he let the mother of Sisera cry through
the English
"lattice." (Winslow 140)
later Eliot
just used the English word "lattice" with the Indian ending
to the word. (Winslow, 125; Francis, 236) à latticeut
(English word with Indian ending, E.g.
cassettim (Hebrew)
4) 10
Bridesmaids in Mat 25:1-12 à
chastity is a male virtue to the
Indians so
he had 10 chaste young men go out with the lamps 5 with
oil 5
without. (Winslow, 141)
5) Very long words: sometimes filling a whole line: (Adams, 77)
"our loves" = noowoomantammoorkanunornash
Our question= Kummogkodonnattootummooetiteaongannunnarash.
"Instead of having separate words for pronouns and adjectives, the
noun or verb
expresses them by adding syllables to itself."
(Adams, 78)
6) Nouns not
male/female but animate (og endings for pl.)/inanimate
(ash ending for pl.)
7) Use of
"Jehovah" for "Lord" and other English words come in
8) No
substantive verb: is, was, become; so hard to render "I AM"
7A. 1500 copies of NT printed separately.
OT/NT and Psalms in meter
1000
copies in 1663 printed. Mostly destroyed in King's Philip's
war in 1675/6.
(Winslow, 142)
8A. Completed in 1663 was the first Bible to
be printed in America
(Winslow, 145) 26 copies bound and sent to England. 2 for King
James, One was given to Dr. John Rainholds who made the original
suggestion
for the KJV in 1604. (Winslow, 145) rest distributed to
Indians
Robert
Boyle of the London Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel gave
the copy to King James. Wrote to John Winthrop
describing
the occasion (Winslow, 146 gives "" of letter)
In 1966 copy
of Eliot's Bible sold for $43,000.
10A. Second edition (1685 printed by Samuel Green)
considerable
debate
(third edition not needed because the Indians spoke English
by then)
(Winslow, 142) Printer James or James Printer,
as he was
known as,
also helped on the Indian side. (Francis, 232f)
Second
edition: couldn't raise the money so Eliot took 40 lbs of
his own
money to get it started (around back, later had to apologize)
Apology
Letter to Mr. Boyle: My age makes me importunate. I
shall depart
joyfully, may I but leave the Bible among them; for it is
the word of
life." …"I desire to see it done before I die, and I am so
deep in
years, that I cannot expect to live long; and sundry say, if I
do not
procure it printed while I live, it is not within the prospect of
human
reason, whether ever, or when, or how, it may be
accomplished." (Francis, 230)
11A. The Indians love the OT stories. Named
their kids OT names.
OT help
bridge the cultures (Winslow, 143) as the supporters wanted
only to pay
for printing the NT
12A. Opposition and Eliot's person struggles:
"It is
worthy of remark, that Eliot makes no severe comment on this
sharp
opposition." He lamented and regarded it with compassion
(Francis, 157)
1)
"Though the long process of translating these 1180 pages in the
first
edition, John Eliot had little encouragement from his own
countrymen
of New England. Some doubted his ability to make the
translation.
More doubted the ability of the Indians to
understand
what he had translated. Still more grew all but
completely
skeptical of Indian sincerity in conversion. Hugh Peter,
minister at
Salem, did great damage to the cause by calling the
whole
missionary scheme a hoax and alleged Indian
conversions a
mere
cheat." (Winslow, 144).
2) Faced
opposition from the settlers who didn't trust the Indians.
Faced
opposition from sachems and powwows. In one case
he said to a
sachem: "I am engaged in the work of God, and God is
with me. I
fear not all the sachems in the country. I shall go on in my
work, and do
you touch me if you dare." Spirit of a martyr (Francis,
157f)
Vid. Francis
tribute below (pp. 240-241)
13A. Eliot's other works: (Walker,
164)
Translated
Baxter's Call to the Unconverted (1664)
Bishop
Bayly's Practice of Piety (1665)
Indian
Grammar Begun (1666)
Indian
Primer (1669)
Shephard's
Sincere Convert (1989) at 85 a year before his death
13. King's
Philip's war (1675-76)
1A. Pequot struggle in 1637 did not result in the Indian race being
stereotyped
(Walker, 152)
1A. 1670's Eliot and Daniel Gookin visit all
14 Praying Indian villages
"But instead of that harvest, in the following year came the war with King
Philip, after which John Eliot's work of more than thirty years lay in
ruins."
(Winslow, 166) – Mayhew's work on Martha's Vineyard went on well
not really impacted by King Philip's war. Mayhew's work discussed in
Adams pp. 163ff.
2A. Winslow said, putting King Philip's war in context: "one
remembers also
the devastation suffered by the English, which in proportion to the New
England population at that time exceeded that of any other war in our
history. The list of larger towns almost totally destroyed includes
thirteen.
… Whole families wiped out. (Winslow, 167f)
Philip was chief of Wampanoag's formerly named: Metacom
(vid. Benge/Pickowicz, 158f)
"King Philip's War was the deadliest blood bath to occur in seventeenth-
century New England, and it is often considered to be the most important
war in the history of American colonization." (Benge/Pickowicz, 159)
3A. First year of war Indians ambushed
English. Later English adopted that
method as well finally winning as it had looked like the English were going
to be totally annihilated. 1776 tide changed as they used Indian help.
4A. Praying Indians: not trusted by
Indians, and certainly not by settlers.
late 1675 taken to Deer Island [Show Images; map]
Saved them from settlers and Indian-hating whites.
5A. Murder of Sassamon, a Praying Indian
of Natick sparked the outbreak.
(Winslow,
169) He was a promising student who grew up in Natick. Had
been enrolled at Harvard. Helped Eliot in the translation work and became
a schoolmaster. He warned the governor that war was coming the next
day his body found underneath the ice near his home. 3 murderers arrested
ordered hanged by jury in Plymouth Colony. Now King Philip had pretext
for war the murder of three men of his tribe for the murder of Sassamon.
(Winslow, 171)
His murder did not really cause the war as the two sides
were destined for conflict. Indians roaming, hunting, fishing no
boundaries. English put up fences, farmers…
6A. Indians lumped together.
Deprived of guns, scarcity of food resulted.
Exiled to Deer Island because of clamor of English settlers (Winslow, 172f)
Thirty Indians roped together brought to Eliot's home in Roxbury. The
settlers there asked they might be released so they could be killed.
He refused.
7A. Exile
to Deer Island: [Images, map, Deer Island
videos] Oct. 13, 1675
Order came exiling Indians of Natick to Deer Island.
"None
of the Indians shall presume to goe off the said islande voluntarily,
upon paine of death, and it shall be lawfull for the English to destroy those
that they shall find straggling off from the said places of their
confinement." (Winslow, 173)
"Mr. Eliot met them at the Pines [on the Charles River] and endeavored to
soothe and cheer them. He was then seventy years old."
1) Captain Prentiss marched 200 Indians of Natick to the Charles River
when 3 boats waiting at "Pines". Eliot was there and prayed
with
and for them. (Winslow, 174) – Bibles and books left for the most
part.
2) No shelter (until they built wigwams). Already 500 Indians there when
Natick Indians arrived. Winter was hard (snow deep up to
shoulders…)
(Winslow, 174)
Eliot and his friends visited them, and found them patient and meek,
exhibiting the true influence of the Gospel in a satisfactory degree.
But they were exposed to want and suffering of various kinds.
(Adams, 252)
3) Eliot and Gookin visited them several times during the winter.
Boating out
to Deer Island in small boat with Daniel Gookin.
Collison with English boat which they claimed was "accident"
(on purpose). John was thrown into
the water and had to be pulled
out.
4) Captain Tom (Natick Indian) accused of being at one of the battles
was condemned to be hanged. Eliot told them he was speaking the
truth when he denied it was he. "On the
ladder he lifted up his
hands and said I did never lift up hand against the English, nor was I at
Sudbury." (Winslow, 175) … Eliot, because he sided with the Indians,
Drew great criticism. –Hadji lover
He objected strongly to selling of captive Indians into West Indian
slavery.
5) Change in Ethos: Some of the soldiers started using Praying Indians in
larger numbers and started winning (1676). They then started
making a distinction between the warring factions and the Praying
Indians. (Winslow, 176)
6) King Philip killed at Mount Hope on August 12, 1676 which was the
beginning of the end of that war.
After the war Indians given over to drunkenness in the younger generation.
"The success of the prewar years would not be repeated."
(Winslow, 177)
7) 14 towns devastated (fire, theft, shambles). Natick was rebuilt as one of
4 places Praying Indians could go by 1684. (Adams, 254)
After the war, four of the towns—Natick, Hassanamisco,
Chabanakongkomun, and Punkapog—became, until Plymouth and
the islands were added in 1692, the only Indian villages in the Bay
Colony.
Eliot persuaded Natick to ordain their own minister a native
American named: Daniel Tokkohwompait in 1683 (vid inside Eliot
church of Natick). (Benge/Pickowicz, 159)
In March 1684 Tokkohwompait wrote to Eliot expressing his
gratitude: "You are now grown aged. God hath made you to
us
and our nation a spiritual father, we are inexpressibly engaged to you
for your farther constant indefatigable labors, and us as well in our
adversity as prosperity, for about forty years making known to us the
glad tidings of salvation of Jesus Christ." (Benge/Packowicz, p.
160)
8) Tewksbury Indians fled into the wilderness when asked to return they
responded: "We are not sorry for what we leave behind, but we are
sorry that the English have driven us from praying to God, and from
our leader. We did begin to understand a little of praying to God."
(Adams, 252)
9) But the efforts to Christianize the Indians were never resumed with
the interest and zeal which were formerly felt. (Adams, 253)
14. Starting over
1A. Eliot now 72 and failing strength. Never
got over his sciatica and
lameness. Wrote Robert Boyle "I am lamed, and quite
disabled." He was
sole pastor at Roxbury now (Thomas Welde died 1674).
2A.
Facing the loss of most of the Indian Bibles as a result of the war.
He
pleads for another edition of the Bible: "In letter after letter to
Robert
Boyle he lamented the loss and pled that another edition be printed. "My
age makes me importunate. I shall depart joyfully, may I but leave the
bible among
them, for it is the word of life; and there be some godly souls
among them, that live thereby." (Winslow, 180).
English response: You have English schools among them. Let them read
the Bible in English henceforth.
Richard Baxter even doubted the need looking into the distant future
but:
"If the old man die first, it is a great doubt
whether any will ever
perform it. Because it may be useful." Defending Eliot.
3A. They
would only print the NT and Psalms + 1000 English Bible sent.
Printer James at Cambridge went to work as before. Eliot rode back
and forth to Cambridge to oversee it
4A. Sneakily:
He got £40 from a friend and ordered Printer James to go ahead
with the OT.
1) This order was without permission or authorization of any
sort from the London company. Printer James began to set Genesis.
When the London company found out about his "hasty venturing" it
won their sympathy and support.
2) Eliot wrote a letter of apology: "First, I pray, that you would
please to
accept an apology for my haste. Second…that you would please to
draw a curtain of love over all my failures, because love will cover a
multitude of transgressions."
3) Second edition was finished in 1685 ending 9 years of entreaty by
Eliot.
4) Third edition – no go: 1710 there was talk of a third edition
but the
arguments used against it were now 20 years stronger and the project
dropped (Winslow, 183)
"The publication of the second edition in 1685 was not only a triumph for
John Eliot; it was also a terminus for the active work of his life."
(Winslow
183).
15. Final Days of a life well lived:
1A. On his
80th birthday Nehemiah Walter was ordained as minister at Roxbury.
Eliot offered to give up his salary but the towns people refused.
2A. His
wife Hannah died in 1687, only his son Joseph, a pastor in Guilford
Connecticut would survive his father by 4 years. Hannah his oldest
daughter also survived (other four kids all died before him).
3A. Story
of his living longer and other of the first generation in
heaven wondering where he went (perhaps going the other way)
because he tarried so long on earth. (Get this story)
Eliot's cheerful humor:
"his old acquaintances had been gone to heaven so long before him
that he was afraid they would think he was gone the wrong way
because he stayed so long behind." Probably referring to John
Cotton of Boston and Richard Mather of Dorchester (Walker, 170;
Adams, 273, Francis 333) First generation:
Richard Mather died at
73, Hooker at 61, John Cotton 67, Eliot at 86, John Wilson d. 1667.
4B. His
own reflections on aging: "My understanding leaves me, my
memory fails me, my utterance fails me; but, I thank
God, my
charity holds out still." (Walker, 171; quoting Cotton Mather's
Magnalia Christi Americana I, 541, it was apparently written to
Richard Baxter who said it comforted him (Adams, 265, cf. 274;
Francis, 334).
5A. RIP:
Before he died Walker notes 24 Indians had been ordained to the Gospel
ministry (Walker, 168)
Indian and black children around his chair as he taught them how to read
and write. (Walker, 171) Cotton Mather
records: "He had long lamented
it, with a bleeding and burning passion, that the English used their negroes
but as their horses or their oxen, and that so little care was taken about
their
immortal souls; … (Benge/Pickowicz, 161).
86 year old died in 1690: last
words: "Welcome Joy" Samuel Sewall
mentions Eliot's burial as May 21, 1690. With about 70 French and
200 Indians attending. (Winslow, 186).
6A. Tomb in
Roxbury reads: (Winslow, 186)
Here lie the remains of
John Eliot
Apostle to the Indians
Ordained over the First church, Nov. 5, 1632
Died May 20, 1690. Aged LXXXVI.
7A. The
Natick Indian church lasted 26 years until the death of its Indian
preacher Daniel Tokkowampait in 1716. It became English
The town names have all changed except Natick (Winslow, 187)
Walker notes diminishing returns: 1749 there were 166 Indians at Natick
20 in 1797 and only one in 1855. (Walker, 169)
16. Tribute to John Eliot:
1A. Humility:
I am but a shrub in the wilderness." John Eliot wrote to
Robert Boyle in 1664. (Winslow, 1888) "My doings! Alas! They
have been poor and small and lean doings and I'll be the man who
shall throw the first stone at them all."
He had hoped that others would build on his foundation.
2A. "He
left behind him the evidences of what one man's dedication can
mean…" (Winslow, 189)
Persistence and dedication to his friends (Roxbury/Natick)
He was not an intellectual. He was not a
statesman. He did not enrich the nations art in any direction. He was
a very simple man. Simple in his acceptance of the Bible as the
word of God Himself, simple in his trust that God prospers and the
endeavors of those who believe that He will prosper them, simple in
his assumption that all men, even those who are degraded, are God's
children. In this simplicity lay his strength." (Winslow, 190) First
Generation of colonists… this is a major part of the history of
America.
3A. Life's work and Legacy:
Streets named after him (in Newton, Jamaica Plains…)
Churches named after him (Natick, Lowell…)
Schools named after him and Started (Jamaica Plains; Roxbury Latin 1645)
Murals: State House, Natick Post Office
Signs commemorating his work: Natick, Deer Island …
Carved in stone: Congregational Library/Archive, Canton
Character and what he did simply amazing!
First Printed book in America: The Bay Psalm Book
Oldest Continuous H. S.: Roxbury Latin School (1645)
Harvard Indian College (help found it) – First brick building at
Harvard
First intentionally integrated school [Indians, blacks, whites]:
Jamaica Plains
First Printed Bible in America: 1663
First Translation of the Bible into an Algonquian Language (1663)
First Grammar of the Indian language (1666)
Helped founding of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
in England
Recorded the confessions and lives of many Native Americas in
the 1600's.
4A.
Concluding Tributes:
1) When we take
that old dark volume into our hands, we understand not the
words in
which it is written; but it has another and beautiful meaning which we do
understand.
It is a symbol of the affection, which a devoted man cherished for the
soul of his
fellow-man; it is the expression of a benevolence, which fainted
in no effort
to give light to those who sat in darkness. (Francis, 241)
It has been
said, probably without exaggeration, that Mr. Eliot was the most
successful
missionary that ever preached the Gospel to the Indians. (Francis, 301)
2) Francis Tribute: (Francis, 240f)
We justly admire the moral courage, the
spirit of self-sacrifice, which sustained Eliot in the tasks of preaching,
visiting, and instruction, never deterred …, never daunted by the fierce
threats …, never moved by exposure to storms, cold, and
the various forms of physical suffering. But, when we represent him to our
minds,
as laboring at his translation of the Scriptures in the silence of his study,
year after year, in the freshness of the morning hour and by the taper of midnight,
wearied but not disheartened; continually perplexed with the almost
unmanageable phraseology of the dialect …, yet always patient to discover how
it might be made to represent truly the meaning of the sacred books; doing this
chapter by chapter, verse by verse, without a wish to give over the toil;
cherishing for a long time only a faint hope of publication, yet still willing
to believe, that God in his good providence would finally send the means of
giving the printed word of life to those for whom he toiled and prayed, --we
cannot but feel that we witness a more trying task, a more surpriseing labor,
than any presented by the stirring and active duties of his ministry among the
natives.
It was a long, heavy, hard work, wrought out by the silent
but wasting efforts of mental toil, and relieved by no immediately animating
excitement. It was truly a labor of love.
3) Mr. Everett: (Convers, )
* “Since the death of the Apostle Paul,” says Mr. Ever-
ett, “a nobler, truer, and warmer spirit, than John Eliot, never lived; and
taking the state of the country, the narrowness of the means, the rudeness of
the age, into consideration, the history of the Christian church does not
contain an example of resolute, untiring, successful labor, superior to that of
translating the entire Scriptures into the language of the native tribes of
Massachusetts; a labor
performed, not in the flush of youth, nor within the luxurious abodes of
academic ease, but under the constant burden of his duties as a minister and a
preacher, and at a time of life when the spirits begin to flag.” -- EVERETT'S
4) Francis, 301
that judicious modes of civilization and of social improvement must proceed
simultaneously
with such simple forms of religious instruction, as are adapted to
the mental
condition of the catechumens. There were errors and mistakes in Mr.
Eliot's
manner of proceeding, as there have been in all similar enterprises; but, on
the whole,
there are few, if any, better models of missionary effort, than
that which
his history presents. It has been said, probably without exaggeration,
that Mr.
Eliot was the most successful missionary that ever preached the Gospel to
the Indians.
5) From The cleare
Sun-shine of the Gospel, Thomas Shepard, 1648 p. 23f.
(my 43f) – how much Eliot was regarded by
people of his own day
Thomas Shepard – minister of the Cambridge church, MA
24 The cleare Sun-shine of the Gospel,
wherein they may see a little of the Spirit of this man
of God, whom in
other respects, but especially for his
unweariednesse in this
work of God, going up and
down among them
and doing them good, I think we
can never love nor honour enough.