180 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE 



Eliot (J. ) — Contiuued. 



I wrote down their confessions : wliicli having 

 done, and being in my own heart hopeful that 

 there was among them fit matter for a Church, 

 I did request all the Elders about us to hear 

 them reade, so that they might give me advice 

 what to do in this great, and solemn business." 

 A meeting was accordingly held in October at 

 Natick, at which these confessions were read 

 and translated in the presence of the ministers 

 of Boston. The conclusion, however, was not 

 favorable to Mr. Eliot's project, for it was re- 

 solved, "not to proceed any further at present, 

 yet so to carry the matter, as that the Indians 

 might in no wise be discouraged, but encour- 

 aged." Mr. Eliot was then desired to declare 

 it to the Indians, which he did to this purpose. 

 "That the Magistrates, Elders, and other 

 Christian People present, did much rejoyce to 

 hear their Confessions, and advised them to go 

 on in that good way ; but as for the gathering 

 a Church among them this day, it could not 

 be," etc. These confessions were printed with 

 Mr. Eliot's relation in the tract entitled. Tears 

 of Repentance ,- Or, a further Narrative of the 

 Progress of the Gospel Amongst the Indians in 

 New-England, London, 1653. 



Mr. Eliot's original purpose was to have 

 brought all the "praying Indians " together at 

 Natick. ' ' But it so fell out, " he writes in 1654, 

 "that because the Cohannet [or Dorchester] 

 Indians desired a gjace which they had reserved 

 for themselves, and I finding that I could not 

 at that time pitch there without opposition 

 from some English, I refused that place, and 

 pitched at Natick, where I found no opposition 

 at present. This choyce of mine did move in 

 the Cohannet Indians a jealousie that I had 

 more afi'ection unto those other Indians than 

 unto them. By which occasion (together with 

 some other Providences of God, as the death of 

 Cutshamoquin, and the coming of Josias, to 

 succeed in the Sachemship in that place) their 

 minds were quite alienated from the place of 

 Natick, though not from the work, for they 

 desire to make a Towne in that fore mentioned 

 place of their owne, named Ponkipog, and are 

 now upon the work. And indeed, it now ap- 

 peareth to be of the Lord, because we cannot 

 have competent accommodations at Natick, for 

 those that be there, which are about fifty Lots, 

 more or lesse. And furthermore, by the bless- 

 ing of Grod upon the work, there are People, 

 partly prepared, and partly preparing for three 

 Townes more." On the "13 of the 4 moneth" 

 (June 13th), 1654, a second public examination 

 was made, with the help of interpreters, of some 

 of the "praying Indians"and their confessions 

 of faith, at a meeting of the ministers and 

 elders held in Koxbury, for the purpose of 

 deciding on the propriety of establishing a 

 church among them. The result, however, which 

 Mr. Eliot desired, was not attained on this occa- 

 sion. Six years passed before the first Indian 

 church was organized at Natick. See Mr. 

 Eliot'sletter, and the confessions of the Indians, 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



printed in A Late and Further Manifestation of 

 the Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians 

 in New-England, London, 1655. 



The progress made by Mr. Eliot in trans- 

 lating the scriptures and other books into the- 

 Indian language is related in the notes to the 

 preceding titles. In 1654 a primer or catechism 

 had been printed, and in 1655 the book of Gen- 

 esis and the gospel of Matthew had passed 

 through the press. The next three years were 

 largely employed in the translation of the whole 

 bible, which was finished in the autumn or 

 winter of 1658. A portion of the psalms of 

 David in Indian metre was printed about the 

 same time. On the 10th of Decenaber, 1658, Mr. 

 Eliot wrote : " Eor my selfe I feele my strength 

 to decay, and I am not able to doe and bear 

 what I have done, and although temptation 

 may sometime breed waverings, yet my soul 

 doth desire & beleeve, that I shall live and dye 

 in the work." His two eldest sons, "John and 

 Joseph, began to help him in the Indian work, 

 and to learn the Indian language, about this 

 time. See Mr, Eliot's letters, printed in A fur- 

 ther Accompt of the Progresse of the Gospel 

 amongst the Indians in New- England, London, 

 1659. 



In April, 1659, preparations were made for 

 another public examination of the Indian con- 

 verts, "in order to their admission into Church- 

 fellowship." The meeting was held at Kox- 

 bury, on the 5th of July, when eight of the In- 

 dians made their confessions of faith before the 

 ministers, elders, and interpreters assembled 

 there. "This is the third time," Mr. Eliot 

 writes, "that the Praying Indians (some of 

 them) have been called forth into publick, to 

 make open confession of the Name of Christ, 

 to come under the publick try al of Gods people, 

 whether they be indeed Christians, as fit matter 

 for a Gospel Church." The decision of this 

 conference was, that some of the principal of 

 the Indians should "be seasoned in Church- 

 fellowship, in communion with our English 

 Churches, before they should be Churches 

 among themselves." They were accordingly ad- 

 mitted on trial for a season by the church in Rox- 

 bury. Mr. Eliot's account and the confessions 

 of the Indians were printed in the tract entitled, 

 A further Account of the progress of the Gospel 

 Amongst the Indians In New England, London, 

 1660. 



In the latter part of October, 1659, there was 

 printed in London a book entitled The Chris- 

 tian Commonwealth, which had been written 

 by Mr. Eliot nine or ten years before. After 

 the restoration of Charles II. in leiiO, the gov- 

 ernor and council of Massachusetts colony con- 

 sidered that the republican sentiments of this 

 publication, if allowed "to pass unnoticed and 

 unreproved, might be represented to their dis- 

 advantage." The book was therefore formally 

 condemned and suppressed on the 18th of 

 March, and in the following May a retraction, 

 signed by Mr. Eliot, was made publie. The 



