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John Eliot, the Puritan Missionary to the Indians1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2009

Ezra Hoyt Byington
Affiliation:
Newton, Massachusetts.

Extract

Special attention has been called recently to the life and work of the Apostle Eliot by the observance of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his first preaching to the Indians. New facts have been brought to light by recent investigations in respect to his life and work. It is quite possible at this time to form a more intelligent idea of his missions, and of their results, than it was even a generation ago. He is no longer regarded as an isolated missionary, a gifted and saintly man who stood quite apart from his environment; and entered upon a work which the men of his time did not appreciate; but rather as one who sought to carry out in definite and practical ways a missionary idea, which the Puritans had long before accepted, and which number of other men among the Colonists were also seeking to carry to successful results.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Church History 1896

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References

page 112 note 1 New England Historic Genealogical Register, 1894, page 402.Google Scholar

page 112 note 2 Eliot Genealogy, New Haven, Ct., 1854, ii., 3035.Google Scholar

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page 116 note 1 See a note at the end of his Indian Grammar, Cambridge 1666.Google Scholar

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page 117 note 1 Eliot, John's First Indian Teacher and Interpreter, Cockenöe de Long Island, W. W. Tooker. New York: Harper's, 1896.Google Scholar

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page 119 note 2 Ibid.

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page 121 note 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 3d series, 817.Google Scholar

page 121 note 2 Mr. Eliot extended his catechism for the children, so as to include the most important truths. This was afterwards printed, and was an important aid in teaching the Indian children. He also prepared and printed a larger Catechism for the Indians. Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., vol. i., p. 169.Google Scholar

page 122 note 1 Collections Mass. Hist. Soc., 3d series, iv., 51. Letter of Eliot to T. S.Google Scholar

page 122 note 2 Ibid., p. 88.

page 123 note 1 Collections Mass. Hist. Soc., 3d series, vol. iv., pp. 4459. Eliot's letters in the same.Google Scholar

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page 124 note 3 Ibid., 57.

page 125 note 1 Collections Mass. Hist. Soc., 3d series, vol. iv., 123. Eliot's Letter.Google Scholar

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page 125 note 3 Ibid., 1st series, vol. i., 212.

page 126 note 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, 3d series, vol. iv., 81.Google Scholar

page 127 note 1 Bigelow, 's History of Natick, Boston 1830, 23.Google Scholar

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page 127 note 3 Ibid., 1st series, vol. i., 181.

page 128 note 1 Collections Mass. Hist. Soc., 3d series, iv., 190; also 1st series, i., 181.Google Scholar

page 128 note 2 Ibid., 3d series, vol. iv., 172.

page 129 note 1 Collections Mass. Hist. Soc., 1st series, i., 177184.Google Scholar

page 130 note 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1st series, vol. i., 180195Google Scholar. The following are the names of the towns mentioned by Mr. Gookin:

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page 135 note 1 The Indian title of the second edition of the Bible is this: Mamusse Wuneetupanatamwe, Up-Biblum God Nanesswe Nukone Testament kah wonk Wusku Testament.

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page 145 note 1 See The Genealogical Register, vol. xiv., p. 220Google Scholar. The following inscription was placed upon his tomb:

Here Lie the Remains of John Eliot,

The Apostle to the Indians, Ordained over the First Church, November 5, 1632. Died May 20, 1690, Aged Lxxxvi.