Portugal in exchange for other territories,
the Indians, who dreaded the dominion of
the Portuguese, absolutely refused to be
transferred, and resisted the commissioners
of the two governments by force of arms.
This revolt of the natives was ascribed to
the influence of the Jesuits, their immediate



BOOK IV. CENTURY XVII. SECTION 1.



20. In the American provinces which the British occupied in tliia
century, the cause of Christianity was urged with more wisdom, ani of
course with more success, upon the stupidity and amazing listlessness oi
the Indians. The glory of commencing this most important work, is
justly claimed by those Independents as they are called, who had to forsake
their country on account of their dissent from the religion established by
law. Some families of this sect, that they might transmit uncontaminated
to their children the religious principles they embraced, removed in tha
year 1620 from Holland to New-England, and there laid the foundation oi
a new commonwealth.^ SO) A s these first adventurers were not unsuccess-
ful, they were followed in 1629, by very many of those called Puritans in
England ; who were impatient of the evils they suffered from the persecu
tion of the bishops, and of the court which favoured those bishops. (31)
But these emigrants, at first, had to encounter so many hardships and dif
ficulties in the dreary and uncultivated wilderness, that they could pay but
little attention to the instruction of the Indians. More courage and more
leisure for such enterprises, were enjoyed by the new Puritan exiles from
England, who went to America in 1623 [1633], and subsequently, Thomas
Mayhcw, Thomas Shepherd, John Eliot, and many others. All these mer
ited high praise, by their efforts for the salvation of the Americans ; but
none more than Eliot, who by translating the holy scriptures and other re
ligious books into the Indian language, and by collecting and suitably in
structing no small number of Christian converts among the barbarians, ob
tained after his death the honourable title of the Apostle of the Indians, \

rulers ; and the enemies of that order seized
this occasion, to effect not only the subver
sion of this their republic, but likewise the
overthrow of the order itself. The Portu
guese government was the first to suppress
the 3rder ; and to justify their proceeding,
they caused a narrative to be published, which
was printed at the Hague, in French, in
1758, 8vo, with the title : La Republique
des Jesuites au Paraguay renversee ; in
which the character of the order is treated
with no indulgence. From that time on
ward, the order of Jesuits and their republic
of Paraguay, have been generally treated
with execration. But of late many discern
ing writers, especially among the Protest
ants, defend the cause of the Jesuits, and
speak very favourably of their missionary la
bours in Paraguay. Tr.]

(30) Dan. Neal s Hist, of the Puritans,
vol. ii., p. 128. Ant. With. Bb hm s Englis-
che Reformationshistorie, book vi., ch. v., p.
807, &.c [Cotton Mather s Eccles. Hist,
of New-England, b. i., ch. ii., &c. Prince s
New- England Chronology ; Holmes Amer
ican Annals, vol. i., and the other histories
of the first planting of Colonies in New-Eng
land. Tr.]

(31) Increase Mather s History of New-
Fugland, p. 126, &c. Dan. Neal s History
ol the Puritans, vol. ii., p. 208, &c. [Cotton
Mu:h?*- s Eccles. History of New-England,



book i., ch. iv., &c., and the other writers
mentioned in the preceding note. Tr.]

(32) Jo. Hornbeck, de conversione Indor.
et gentil., lib. ii., cap. xv., p. 260. Increase
Mather s Epistola de successu Evangelii
apud Indos Occidentales ad Joh. Leusde-
nium, Utrecht, 1699, 8vo, [published also in-
English, in Cotton Mather s Eccl. Hist, of
New-Eng., book iii., p. 508, &c , ed. Hartf.,
1820 ; and in the Connecticut Evangelical
Magazine, vol. iv., for 1803, p. 164, &c.
The Rev. John Eliot was born in England
A.D. 1604. After leaving the university, he
taught school a few years, and then removed
to iMew-England in 1631, in order to preach
the gospel without molestation. The church
in Boston would have settled him as a col
league with Mr. Wilson ; but he had prom
ised several friends in England, that if they
removed to America, he would become their
pastor. Accordingly, on their arrival and
settlement in Dorchester, he was ordained
over them, in November, 1632 ; and served
them 58 years, or till his death in 1690. He
early turned his attention to the Indians
around him ; learned their language in 1 644 ;
and two years after, commenced a regular
weekly lecture to them at Natic. It was in
this year, that the general court of Massa
chusetts passed an act or order, to encourage
the propagation of the gospel among the In
dians. Eliot was countenanced and aided



GENERAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.



203



These happy beginnings induced the Parliament and people cf England,
after a few years, to resolve on extending the enterprise by public meas
ures and public contributions. Hence originated that noble society, which



by the ministers around him ; who frequent
ly supplied his pulpit in his absence, and
were always ready to afford him counsel, and
a so to aid him occasionally, so far as their
ignorance of the Indian tongue would permit,
in imparting religious instruction to the Indi-
zns. * He not only preached regular weekly
lectures at Natic, but likewise occasionally
to the Indian congregations at Concord, Dor
chester mills, Watertown, and some other
places. In the year 1670, he visited twelve
towns or villages of Christian Indians under
his care, in Massachusetts and along the
Merrimac ; in all of which there were Indi
an preachers regularly stationed, to serve
them on Sundays and be their constant spir
itual guides. At Natic there were two such
teachers, and between forty and fifty com
municants. For these natives, he translated
into the Indian language, primers, cate
chisms, the Practice of piety, Baxter s Call
to the unconverted, several of Mr. Shep
herd s works, and at length the whole Bible,
which was first published at Cambridge in
1GG4, and again just after his death. He
set up schools in his Indian villages, intro
duced a regular form of civil government,
and to some extent industry and the useful
arts ; and was the fountain from which
the Indian preachers under him drew all
their knowledge. See Cotton Mather s life
of Eliot, in his Eccl. Hist of N. Eng.,book
iii., vol. i., p. 474-532. Connecticut Evang.
Magazine, vol. iii., p. 361, 441 ; vol. iv., p.
1, 81, 161. Brown s Hist, of the propag.
of Christianity, vol. i.,p. 29. &c. The Rev.
Thomas Shepherd is erroneously placed
among those in New-England who diffused
Christianity among the Indians. He was a
silenced English Puritan, born in 1606, ed
ucated at Cambridge, came to New-England
in 1635, and was settled at Cambridge near
Boston, where he preached till his death in
1649. He was a distinguished preacher, and
writer on practical religion. See Mather s
Eccl. Hist, of N. Eng., vol. i., p. 343, &c.,
and Brook s Lives of the Puritans, vol. iii.,
p. 103, &c. In the year 1641, Thos. May-
hew senior obtained a grant of Nantucket,
Martha s Vineyard, and the Elizabeth islands,
which belonged to none of the existing colo
nies ; and the year following he commenced
a settlement at Edgarton on Martha s Vine
yard. His son, Thomas May hew junior, was
constituted pastor of the English settlement
at Edgarton ; while the father was chief
magistrate, or governor as he was styled, of
all these islands, until his death in 1681.



The son, having learned the Indian language,
commenced preaching to the Indians in his
vicinity in 1646, on weekdays ; and Hia-
coomes, a converted Indian, under Mr. May-
hew s guidance, instructed his countrymen
on the Lord s day. In 1652, an Indian school
was opened ; and by the end of the year,
there were 282 converts to Christianity, who
met at two places, the one three miles and
the other eight from Mr. Mayhew s house.
They were then formed into a regular church,
and the work of conversion went on rapidly.
In 1658 or 1659, Mr. May hew found the
harvest so great and the labourers so fe*v,
that he determined to go to England and
solicit aid. The vessel in which he sailed,
was never heard from, after she left the port.
Thomas May hew senior, after the death of
his son, took on himself the labours of an
evangelist, in addition to those of chief ma
gistrate. In 1670, two Indian preachers,
Hiacoomes and John Tackanash, were or
dained to the office of regular pastors and
teachers of the Indian church, while governor
Mai/hew continued the evangelist or over
seer of all the Indians. In 1674, of the 360
Indian families on Martha s Vineyard, two
thirds, or about 1500 persons, were profess
ed believers in Christianity ; and 50 per
sons were in full communion. There were
then ten Indian preachers, and six different
meetings on Sundays. At Nantucket, where
the families were about 300, there were about
thirty Indian communicants, and 300 pro
fessed believers in Christianity ; three places
of worship, and four Indian teachers. On
the death of Thomas May hew senior, in 1681,
his grandson, John Mayhew, son of Thomas
Mayhew junr., having been some time minis
ter to the English at Tisbury, in the middle
of the island ; took charge of the Indian con
gregations, till his death in 1689. His son,
Experience Mayhew, when arrived at the age
of 21, succeeded him in the year 1694 ; and
laboured among the Indians successfully, for
sixty years, or till about 1754. He was mas
ter of the Indian language, and translated
into it various works for the use of his charge.
He also composed a volume containing tho
lives of a large number of pious Indians,
preachers and others. See the Connecticut
Evang. Mag., vol. ii., p. 281, 361, 441, vol.
iii., p. 5, 161, 249, and Brown s Hist, of the
propag. of Christianity, vol. i., p. 47, &c.
In the colony of Plymouth, Mr. Richard
Bourne preached to the Indians in and about
Sandwich, in their own language. About
the vear 1660, he procured for them a per-



64



BOOK IV. CENTURY XVII. SECTION I.



derives its name from its object the propagation of the Gospel ; and which,
in its progress having increased in numbers, dignity, privileges, and advan
tages of every kind, has gradually enlarged and extended its efforts for
the salvation of the nations estranged from Christ especially in America.
Immensely more, as all must admit, remains still to be done : yet any one
must be uncandid or ignorant of such things, who can deny that much ha?
been done, and with greater success than was to be anticipated. We shal
hereafter have occasion to speak of Pennsylvania, in which people of all
sects and religions now live intermingled, and worship God in the manner
they see fit. The Hollanders began to diffuse the knowledge of Chris
tianity with great success, in those provinces of Portuguese America,
which iihey had conquered under the conduct of Maurice prince of Or.
ange :(33) but all these prospects were intercepted, by the Portuguese
recovering their lost possessions after the year 1644. Nor did the Dutch,
so far as I know, expend much labour and effort in improving the minds
of the Indians that inhabited Surinam and the adjacent regions.



manent grant of the lands at Mashpee ; form
ed an Indian settlement there, and a church,
over which he was ordained by J. Eliot and
others, in 1606. In 1674, his Indian charge
embraced about 500 souls, of whom 90 were
baptized^ and twenty-seven communicants.
He laboured among them about 40 years.
Brown, loc. cit., p. 59. Mr. John Cotton,
minister of Plymouth, understanding the In
dian language, preached to the natives south
of Plymouth, iufive different places, on week
days ; and aided their Indian teachers to
preach to them regularly. In the year 1693,
be had about 500 Indians under his care.
About the same time, Mr. Samuel Treat of
Eastham, preached in four Indian villages
near Cape Cod, to about 500 Indians ; who
had native teachers for their regular preach
ers on the Lord s day. At Sandwich also,
Mr. Thomas Tuppcr preached regularly
to about 180 Indians. In Connecticut,
something was done in this century, for the
religious instruction of the Indians. The
Rev. Mr. Filch of Norwich was particularly
desired to teach Uncas, a sachem, and his
family, Christianity. Mr. Stone and Mr.
Newton were employed, at the desire of the
colony, to teach the Indians in Hartford,
Windsor, Farmington and that vicinity. The
Rev. Mr. Pearson of Killingsworth, who had
learned their language, seems to have preach
ed some to them. And the ministers of the
several towns, where Indians lived, instruct
ed them as they had opportunity. But no
Indian church was ever formed in this colo
ny. TrumbulVs Hist, of Connect., vol. i.,
ch. xix., p. 494, &c. The state of Chris
tianity among the Indians of New-England,
in 1687, was thus described by Increase
Mather, in his letter to Leusden : " There
ire six ohurchcs of baptized Indians in New-
Sngland, and eighteen assemblies of catechu



mens professing the name of Christ. Of the
Indians, there are four-and-twcnty, who are
preachers of the word of God : and besides
these, there arc/owr English ministers, who
preach the Gospel in the Indian tongue."
Tr.]

(33) Jo. Hcnr. Holtingcr s Topographia
Ecclesiastica, p. 47. Fran. Mick. Janis-
son s Etat present des provinces unies, tome
i., p. 396, &c. He also treats of Surinam,
and the state of religion there, in cap. xiv.,
p. 407. [According to the testimony oi
John Nicuhoff, who resided in Brazil from
1640 to 1649, there were in 1643, or the
year before the revolt of the Portuguese, five
Protestant churches along the coast south of
the Recife or Pernambuco ; namely, at San
Antonio, at Cap San Agostinho, at Serin-
hem, at Porto Calvo, and at Rio San Fran
cisco. But these churches were not always
supplied with ministers ; as they came out
only for limited periods. North of the Re
cife, there was in 1643, one Dutch minister
at the island Tamaraca and Fort Orange,
another at Rio Grande, and two at Parayba.
At Recife or Pernambuco and in its vicinity,
there were about 400 Protestants, Dutch,
French, and English ; and three Dutch min
isters, besides one who served on board the
fleet and on inland expeditions ; and likewise
one French and one English minister. In
1646, there were but seven Dt tch ministers
in Brazil. The churches were regulated ac
cording to the synod of Dort. The minis
ter and the churchwardens constituted the
church session. The deacons visited tha
sick, to provide for them. The children
were catechized on Sundays ; and the sacra
ment was administered four times a year.
See Nieuhoff s voyages, in ChurchiVs Col
lection, Lond , 1730, vol. ii., p. 32. Tr.\



GENERAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 265

J 21 The opposers of all religion and especially of Christianity, are
represented by some as more numerous in this century, and by others as
less so, according to the party and the views which they embraced. The
English complain, that from the times of Charles II. their nation was con-
laminated with the grossest of vices and profligacy, that this state of things
gave rise to unbridled licentiousness of speculation and disputation on re
ligious subjects ; and that both united, produced a multitude of persons
who prostituted their talents and ingenuity to extinguish all sense of reli
gion and piety. And that these complaints were not groundless, appears
from the numerous examples of Englishmen of this period, who either de-
clared war against all religion, or who maintained that the religion of na
ture and reason was alone to be followed ; and likewise from the many
excellent treatises, by which the most solid writers of the nation defended
the divinity and excellence of Christianity against their hostile assaults.
The strongest evidence however, is the noble institution of the very learn
ed knight, Robert Boyle; who by his will in 1691, bequeathed a splendid
portion of his estate to religion ; the income of which was to be annually
paid over to acute and eloquent men, who should oppose the progress of
impiety, and demonstrate and confirm the truth of natural and revealed re
ligion, in eight public discourses each year. (34) Down to our own times,
men of the greatest talents and genius have undertaken this service ; and
their discussions or discourses have been laid before the public, to the
great advantage of all Europe. (35)

22. By the English generally, TJiomas Holies of Malmesbury, is rep
resented as the leader and standard-bearer of the impious company, who
from the accession of Charles II. set themselves in opposition to God and
to things sacred. He was a man daring, crafty, acute and perspicacious,
but of more genius than erudition or knowledge either sacred or human. (36)

(34) See Ricoticr s Preface to his French Butler, Woodward, Derham, Ibbof, Lcng,
translation of Sam. Clark s Discourses on J, Clarke, Gurdon, Burnet, Berriman."
the Being and Attributes of God, p. xiv., Mac!.]

&c. Of Boyle himself and his merits, Edw. (36) See Peter Bayle s Dictionnaire, tc-ne
Budgdl has treated very fully, in his Me- ii., p. 478. Anth. Wood s Athenoe Oxen-
moires of the Lives and Characters of the ienses, vol. ii p. 461, of the late edition,
illustrious Family of the Boyles, London, [Add Brucker t Historia crit. philos., Ap-
1737, 8vo. See the Bibliotheque Britan- pendix, Lipsic, 1767, 4to, p. 880, &c.,
nique, tome xii., pt. i., p. 144, &c. [" But where his life and character are described
above all, the late learned Dr. Birch s Life with impartiality and accuracy. In Crom-
of Boyle, published in 8vo, in the year weWs time he was a zealous adherent to the
1744 ; and that very valuable collection of royalist party, and a defender of their rights
Lives, the Biographia Britannica, Article with servile submission. Yet he lost the
Boyle, Robert, note (z). See also Article favour of the court, and died in 1679, in hia
Hobbes, in the same collection." Mad."] 91st year, a private country gentleman.

(35) A catalogue of these discourses is Two of his works, namely, de Give, Paris,
given in the Bibliotheque Angloise, tome 1642, 4to, and his Leviathan, 1651, fol.,
xv., part ii., p. 416, &c. A learned and are most worthy of notice. In them he rec-
neatly digested summary of all the discour- ommends monarchic despotism, represents
ses of this nature, thus far delivered, was the human soul as material and mortal, dis-
published not long since in English, by cards all natural distinction between moral
Gilbert Burnet ; which the French and the actions, and makes morality depend wholly
Germans have begun to translate into their on the enactments of monarchs. Schi.
languages. [" This abridgment comprehends The whole of the moral and political works
the discourses of Bentley, Kidder, Williams, of Tho. Hobbes, with a life of the author pre-
G a sir ell, Harris, Bradford, Blackball, Stan- fixed, were elegantly printed, probably un-
hcpe, Clarke, Hancock, Whiston, Turner, der the eye of Warburtin, Lond., 1750, fol.

VOL. III. L L



BOOK IV. CENTURY XVII. SECTION I.



Ele has however found some advocates, out of Great Britain ; who main,
tain that he erred indeed, yet not so basely, as to subvert the being of a
God and the worship of him. (37) Those who shall read attentively the
books he has left, must admit, that if he was not himself destitute of all
regard for God and religion, it is manifest his principles naturally lead to
an utter disregard for all things sacred : and his writings betray, not ob-
scurely, a mind most unfriendly to Christ and to the Christian religion. It
is said however, that in his old age he became more rational, and publicly
condemned the sentiments he had formerly published :(38) but whether he
was sincere in this, is uncertain. With more truth it may be said of John
Wilmot. earl of Rochester, who attacked God and religion with even more
fury than Holies, that he became a penitent. He was a man of great
discernment and brilliancy of genius, but of astonishing levity, and while
his bodily powers were subservient to his will, libidinous and debauched. (39)
Yet it was his happy lot, in the last years of his short life, through the ad
monition especially of Gilbert Burnet, to betake himself to the mercy of
God and Jesus Christ ; and he met death religiously, A.D. 1680, penitently
lamenting and detesting his former wickedness. (40) In this list may be
placed Anthony Ashly Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury, who died of a consump
tion at Naples, A.D. 1703 : not that he was an open enemy of Christianity,
but his pungent wit, the elegance of his style, and the charms of his genius,
rendered him the more dangerous foe to religion, in proportion to the con.
cealment he practised. Various of his works are extant, and have been of
ten published ; all exquisitely fine, from the native charms of his diction and



See Henke, Kirchengeschichte, vol. iv., p.
899, note. TV.]

(37) In defence of Hobbes, appeared, be
sides others, Nic. Hieron. Gundlmg, Ob-
serv. Selectee, torn. L, n. ii., p. 30, and in
the Gundlingiana, pt. xiv., p. 304. Add
God.fr, Arnold, Kirchen-und Ketzerhistorie,
pt. ii., book xvii., ch. xvi., 25, p. 1082,
&c. Against these, appeared Jo. Fran.
Buddeus, Theses de Alheismo et supersti-
tione, cap. i., p. 187, &c.

(38) This rests on the authority of An
thony Wood ; who states, in his Athens
Oxon., vol. ii., p. 646, that Hobbes wrote an
Apology for himself and his writings ; in
which he professes, never to have embraced
the opinions he proposed in his Leviathan,
but to have brought them forward merely to
try his ingenuity ; that, after writing the
book, he never defended those opinions,
either publicly or privately, but submitted
them to the judgment of the church ; that
those positions of his book in particular,
which seemed to militate against the re
ceived notions of God and religion, were
published, not as true and incontrovertible,
but only as plausible, and for the purpose of
drawing forth the judgment of theologians
concerning them. Wood does not tell us,
in what year this Apology appeared ; which
is eTidence that he had not been able to ex
amine the book. Neither does he state,



whether Hobbes was alive or dead, when it
was published. But its being placed in the
list of Hobbes writings, posterior to 1682,
leads to the conjecture that it was published
after his death; for he died in 1679. It
does not therefore yet appear, what we are
to think of this change of opinion in Holies.
I can believe, that such an Apology for
Holies exists ; but perhaps it was drawn
up by one of his friends, to shield his repu
tation after he was dead. Yet if it was
written and published by himself, it can af
ford but little support to those who would
defend his character. For the method
Holies takes to excuse himself, is that in
which all try to clear themselves, when
they have incurred odium and indignation
by advancing corrupt and pernicious opin
ions, and yet wish to live quietly, though
continuing to be just what they were before.

(39) See an account of his life and wri
tings, in Anthony Wood s Athenas Oxon.,
vol. ii., p. 654. On his poetic talents, Vol
taire treats, Melange de litterature et de
Philosophic, cap. xxxiv., in his Works, torn.
iv., p 303

(40) This scene is described by Gilbert
Burnet, in a special tract entitled : Some
passages of the Life and Death of John earl
of Rochester, written at his desire on his
deathbed, by Gilbert Burnet. T\D. It u
extant also in German, Frencn, and Latin



GENERAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.



267



thoughts, yet exceedingly dangerous to young and inexperienced minds. (41)
A rustic and coarse brawler, compared with these, was John Tokind, an
Irishman, who at the close of this century was not ashamed to disgrace
himself and his country, by several tracts reproachful to Christianity.
But as those who pamper the vicious propensities of men seldom lack ad-
mirers, so this man, who was not destitute of learning, though vainglori.
ous and of abandoned morals, was thought something of by the undiscern-
ing.(42) The other Englishmen of less notoriety, belonging to this class,
need not be enumerated : yet if any one is disposed, he may add to the
list Edward Henry [Herbert, baron] of Cherbury, a nobleman and philos
opher, who, if he did not deny the divinity of the Christian religion, yet
maintained that the knowledge of it was not necessary to salvation ;(43)