The Life of John Eliot

p. 1The Introduction.

'TWas a very surprising as well as an undoubted Accident which happened within the memory of Millions yet alive, when certain Shepherds upon Mount N◊bo, following part of their straggling Flock, at length came to a Valley, the prodigious Depths and Rocks whereof rendred it almost inaccessible; in which there was a Cave of inexpressible sweetness, and in that Cave was a Sepul◊h◊e that had very difficult Char◊cters upon it. The Patriarchs of the Maronites thereabouts inhab ting, procured some learned Persons to take Notice, and make Report of this Cu◊iosity, who ◊◊und the Inscription of the Grave-stone to be ◊n the Hebrew Language and Letter, Moses, the Servant of the Lo◊d, The Jews, the Greeks, & ◊he Roman Catholicks, thereabouts, were all together by the ears for the possessi◊n of this Ra◊ity, but the Lu◊k◊ as quickly said Claim unto ◊t, and strongly guarded it. Nevertheless, the p. 2Jesuits found a way b◊ Pricks and Bribes to engage the Turkish Guards into a Conspiracy with them for the Transporting of the inclosed and renouned Ashes into Europe; but when they opened the grave, there was no Body, nor so much as a Relique there. While they were under the confusion of this Disappointment, a Turkish General came upon them and cut them all to pieces; therewithal taking a course never to have that place visited any more. But the Scholars of the Orient presently made this a Theme which they talk'd and wrote much upon; and, whether this were the true Sepulchre of Moses, was a question upon which many Books were pub◊◊shed. The world would now count Me very absurd, if after this I should say that I had found the Sepulch◊e of Moses, in Amer◊ca but I have certainly here found Moses himself; we have had among us, One appearing in the Spi◊it and Power of a Moses; and it is not the Grave, but the Life of such a Moses, that we value our selves upon being the owners of

Having implored the Assistence and Acceptance of that God whose Blessed Word has told us, The Righteous shall be had in everlasting Remembrance; I am attempting to write the Life of a Righteous Person concerning whom all things, but the meanness of the Writer, invite the Reader to expect nothing save what is truly Extraordinary. 'Tis the Life of One who has p. 3better and greater thi◊gs to be affirmed of him, than could ever be reported concerning any of those famous men, wh◊ch have b◊en celebrated by the Pens of a Plutarch, a Pliny, a L◊◊eritus, an Eunapius, or in any pagan Histories. 'Tis the Life of One whose Character might ◊ery agreeably be look'd for among the Collections of a Dorotheus, or the Orations of a Nazianzen; or is worthy at least of nothing less than the exquisite Style of a Melchior Adam to E◊ernize it. If it be, as it is, a true Ass◊rtion, That ◊◊e least Exercise of true Faith or Love towards God in Christ, is a more glorious thing than all the ◊riumphs of a Caesar, there must be something very considerable, in the Life of One, who spent several scores of years in such Exercises, and of One in the mention of whose A◊chievements we may also recount, that he fought the Devil in (once) his American Territories, till he had recovered no small party of his old Subjects and Vassals out of his cruel Hands; it would be as unreasonable, as unprofitable, for posterity to bury the Memory of such a Person in the Dust of that Obscurity and Oblivion, which has covered the Names of the Hero's, who dy'd before the Days of Ag◊memnoi◊.

p. 5PRAELIMINARY I. The Birth, Age, and Family of Mr. ELIOT.

Tis the Life of the Renowned John Eliot, which is to be now put into our Pages; a Life which Commenced about the Year 1604. And Expired, in the Year 1690.

THe Inspired Moses relating the Lives of those Ante-diluvian Patriarchs, in whom the Church of God and Li◊e of Christ was continued, through the first sixteen hundred years of Time recites little but their Birth, and ◊heir Age, and their Death, and their Sons and Daughters. ◊f those Articles would satisfie the Appetites and Enquiries of such as come to B◊ead the Life of our Eliot, we shall soon have dispatc 'd the work now upon our Hands. The Age with the Death of this worthy man, has ◊een already terminated, in the Ninetieth year ◊f the present Century, and the Eighty sixth p. 6Year of his own Pilgrimage. And for his Birth it was at a Town, in England; the Nam◊ whereof I cannot presently Recover; nor is 〈…〉 necessary for me to look back so far as the pla◊◊ of his Nativity; any more than 'tis for me t◊ recite the Vertues of his Parentage, of which h◊ said, vix ea nostra voco. The Atlantick Ocea◊ like a River of Lethe, may easily cause us t◊ forget many of the things that happened o◊ the other side. Indeed the Nativity of such a man, were an Honour worthy the Contentio◊ of as many places as laid their Claims unto th◊ famous Homer's; but whatever places may challenge a share in the Reputation of having Enioy'd the first Breath of our Eliot, it is New-England that with most Right can call him Hers; his best Breath, and afterwards, his last Breath was here; and here 'twas, that God bestow'd upon him Sons and Daughters.

He came to New-England, in the Month of November. A. D. 1631. among those Blessed old Planters, which laid the Foundations of a remarkable Country, devoted unto the Exercise of the Protestant Religion, in its purest and highest Reformation: He left behind him in England; a vertuous young Gentlewoman, whom he had pursued and purposed a Marriage unto 〈…〉 and she coming hi◊her the year following, that Marriage was Consummated, in the Month of October, A. D. 1632.