Inasmuch 



powers of darkness for his discomfiture, whom it 

 was an act of both religion and policy to destroy.&quot; 

 Eliot s zeal on their behalf was quickened by 

 his belief that he saw in them the descendents of 

 the lost ten tribes of Israel. His efforts for the 

 relief of their condition revealed the supreme evil 

 already afflicting them, and were curiously pro- 

 EHot s Indian phetic of the political method adopted, later, for 

 Reservation preserving the race. He applied to the General 

 Court of Massachusetts and received a grant of 

 land, the first &quot;Indian reservation,&quot; where the 

 Indians might settle and learn the arts of civilized 

 life, &quot;and he persuaded them to conform to a 

 code of simple laws drawn upon the basis of the 

 Ten Commandments. One of these aimed at 

 the suppression of the liquor traffic which had 

 already begun to ruin and degrade the character 

 of the natives.&quot; In the form of a &quot; penny worth 

 contribution of wampum on the end of a straw&quot; thrust into 

 his hand by a &quot;poor creature,&quot; Eliot received 

 the first recorded Christian contribution from a 

 member of the Red Race. Wars between the 

 colonists and the natives wrecked Eliot s work 

 and saddened the last years of his life. Shortly 

 before his death he wrote* &quot;I am drawing home, 

 the shadows are lengthening around. I beseech 

 you to suppress the title of Indian Evangelist; 

 give not glory to me for what is done.&quot; 



The evangelistic zeal and labours of &quot;John 

 Eliot&quot; were destined to set in motion, in the 

 ancient and established Church of England, 

 those streams of missionary vigor whose course 



Eliot died 



