Eliot, John

ELIOT, JOHN: The Apostle to the North American Indians; b. either at Widford (20 m. n. of London), Hertfordshire, or at Nazing (15 m. n.n.e. of London), Essex, 1604 (baptized Aug. 5); d. at Roxbury, Mass., May 20, 1890. He studied at Jesus College, Cambridge, taking his degree in 1822; then for some years was usher in the grammareehool of the Rev. Thomas Hooker (q.v.), at Little Bsddow, near Chelmsford in Essex. Eliot's connection with this rigid Puritan formed a tusning-

point in his spiritual history. "When I came to this blessed family," said he, " I then saw, and never be-

fore, the power, of godliness in its lively Early Life vigor and efficacy." He resolved to and Emi- devote himself to the ministry of the gration to Gospel; and as his non-conformist prinAmerica. ciples hindered his advancement under Archbishop Laud, he sought America, arriving at Boston Nov. 4, 1631. In Nov., 1632, he was settled as teacher of the Church of Christ in Roxbury and continued in that office until his death,-a period of nearly sixty years. He married in the same year. With his colleague Thomas Weld, and Richard Mather of Dorchester, he prepared for the press a new metrical version of the Psalms, which was the first book printed in the English colonies in America, being issued at Cambridge by Stephen Daye in 1640, and known as The Bay Psalm Book (see Bay Psalm Book).

Soon after his settlement in Roxbury, Eliot became deeply interested in the Indians, and at

length resolved to preach the Gospel Ministry to them. Having prepared himself to the by two years' study of their language,

Indians. he preached for the first time to an assembly of Indians at Nonantum, in the present town of Newton, Oct. 28, 1646. He was opposed by the sachems and powwows, or juggling priests, but prosecuted his mission with apostolic energy, until villages of "praying Indiana" began to appear in different parts of the colony. In 1660, at Natick, the first Indian church was or ganized; it existed till the death of the last native pastor in 1716. Eliot tried also to civilize as well as convert the Indiana, thinking it "absolutely necessary to carry on civility with religion." In time he came to be regarded by them as their best friend. His influence over them was strong, and he exerted it for their temporal and spiritual good with rare wisdom and sagacity.

Transla- lions into the Indian Language.

In 1653 he published a catechism in the Indian language, and by Sept., 1661, the entire New Testament was printed at Cambridge; the whole Bible was completed two years later, and Cotton Mather wrote of it: " Behold, ye Americana, the greatest honor that ever ye were partakers of,-the Bible printed here at our Cambridge; and it is the only

Bible that ever was printed in all America, from the very foundation of the world." Seventeen years later, with the help of Rev. John Cotton (q.v.) of P Plymouth, Eliot prepared a second edition, which was printed at Cambridge between 1680 and 1685. Both editions are now rare and valuable, and no one is living who understands their language. Baxter's Call to the Unconverted and other religious treatises were also translated, and, assisted by his sons, John and Joseph, Eliot prepared The Indian Grammar Begun, or art Essay to bring the Indian Language info Rules (1866; ed. P. S. du Ponceau, Boston, 1822). In his last years, when weighed down by bodily in firmities, and unable longer to preach or to visit the Indians, he induced several families to send their negro servants to him once a week, that he might instruct them in the truths of the Gospel. His old

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age was adorned with the simplicity and artlessness of a little child, with wonderful humility, and a charity that never failed.

Eliot's work excited much interest in England, and funds for carrying it on were supplied by a "Corporation for the Promoting and Propagating the Gospel among the Indians of New England," instituted by ordinance of parliament in July, 1649, and reestablished after the Restoration by the exertions of Robert Boyle (q.v.). He also had support in the colonies and gave liberally of his own property. 1n 1874 the number of " praying Indiana " was estimated at 3,600; they fought with the English during King Philip's War (1875-78), but received a blow at this time from which they never recovered; after Eliot's death their extinction proceeded rapidly.

Eliot kept his friends in England informed of the progress of his work by letters (cf. Proceedings of the Massachusetts HistoricalSociety, Nov., 1879), and a detailed history of his labors and those of his assistants is given in a series of "Indian tracts," issued between 1624 and 1705. A list of these tracts may be found in the article

Other "Eliot, John," by H. R. Tedder in

Publications.

DNB, xvii. 189-194, where Eliot's publications are also enumerated. The more important not already mentioned were The Christian Commonwealth (London, 1659), which the authorities in New England found " full of seditious principles and notions"; Eliot recanted and the book was suppressed; Communion of Churches, or the divine Management of Gospel Churches by the Ordinance of Councils, constituted in order according to the Scriptures (Cambridge, 1665) the first book privately printed in America; The Harmony of the Gospels (Boston, 1678).

Bibliography: A number of the publications of Eliot have been republished in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, 1792, sqq. The moat complete life is by Convene Francis in Sparks's Library of American Biography, vol, v., Boston, 1838; there are later sketches by H. A. 8. Dearborn, Roxbury, 1850, J. 8. Stevens, Cheshunt, 1874, R. B. Caverly, Boston, 1882. Consult also G. Fritaehel, Geschichte den chrisUiehsn Mission enter den Indianern Nord Amarikaa, Nuremberg, 1870; J. Wineor'e Memorial History of Boston, vol. i., Boston, 1880; W. Eames, Bibliographic Notes on Eliot's Indian Bible and on his other Translations and Works in the Indian Language of Massachusetts, Washington, 1890.