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John Eliot

1604 - May 21, 1690

One of the most wonderful things that God has given us is our imagination. We can use our imagination to travel thousands of years back in time and see things that we have never actually seen. We can imagine what it was like to live in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve or to live on the ark with all those animals like Noah did. In our imaginations, we can go places that we have never actually been to before.

 

Let us imagine now that we are back in the days when pilgrims and Indians lived in our country—way back before you and I were born, in 1645. Imagine that we are in an Indian Village near Boston, Massachusetts with a funny name: Natick. Here we are, in the middle of the woods with big, tall trees all around us. Can you imagine all the Indian people walking around? Don’t worry. These are friendly Indians.

 

Now imagine a white man coming into the village on a horse. He has a kind face and he wears a big pilgrim hat. His shoes are black with big, shiny brass buckles on them. In his hand, he is holding a book. Do you know what it is? It’s the Bible, God’s holy Word! This man is named John Eliot and he is a missionary to the Indians in Natick. He comes every two weeks to preach to the Indians and help them to form a church of their very own. Let me tell you a little bit about this man on the horse.

 

John Eliot is an amazing man. He was born in England in 1604. When he was still in school, a very sad thing happened: his father died, leaving John just enough money so that he could study at Cambridge University.

 

When John graduated from Cambridge, he became an usher at a school run by a man named Thomas Hooker. Thomas Hooker would later become the founder of the state of Connecticut. He wrote a special document called the “Fundamental Orders of Connecticut” which our founding fathers would read when it came time to write the “Constitution.”

 

It was during this period of his life that John became a Puritan, which is someone who loves God and lives a very strict lifestyle. Some people in England did not like the Puritans and began to persecute John and his other Puritan friends. This made John and his friends decide to move to America.

 

John came to America with three brothers and three sisters. A year later, a lady named Hannah Mumford came, too. John was engaged to Hannah, and they were married soon after her arrival. This was the first marriage recorded in Roxbury, Massachusetts, where they lived.

 

In Roxbury, John pastored a church for almost sixty years, where many other white people came to hear about Jesus Christ. But John was not happy to just tell the white people about the Lord Jesus; he wanted to tell the Indians about Him, too. He realized that the Indian people had souls and that they needed to know that Jesus Christ died for their sins, was buried and rose again from the grave. So, John Eliot began to ride his horse to many Indian villages and give them the gospel. Winning the Indian people to Christ was not easy, but John was so friendly to them that soon, the Indians wanted to listen to the things that he said. John taught the Indians many things, including how to raise crops, build bridges, make houses, and clothe themselves properly. He did this so that he could show the Indian people the love of Christ.

 

John Eliot loved God very much and did many things to show the love of Christ to people. He was a very generous man even though he only made a little bit of money. There is a story about a time when John Eliot got paid his salary. The man who gave Mr. Eliot his money, tied it in a handkerchief to keep him from giving any of it away; but on the way home, John Eliot stopped to visit a poor family and decided he wanted to help them. John reached for his handkerchief full of money and began to tug at the stiff knots so he could untie the handkerchief. He struggled and struggled, but he simply could not open the handkerchief no matter how hard he tried. But that didn’t stop John Eliot. Do you know what he did? He said, “God must have meant it all for you.” And he gave the family his entire week’s pay!

 

John started preaching to the Indians when he was forty-one years old. In fourteen years, he had thirty-six hundred people in his Indian churches. These people were called “Praying Indians.” John worked with the government to give the Praying Indians six thousand acres of land for them to use.

 

After years of preaching and teaching the Bible to the Indian people, John realized that the Indians needed a Bible in their own language. Can you imagine not having a Bible in your own language? How sad that would be! John did not want anyone to be without the Bible, so he started translating the Bible into the Indian language. This would not be an easy thing to do at all! The language that the Indians spoke was a difficult language and very hard to learn. They did not have an alphabet like what we have, so John had to teach them our alphabet. They did not even have terms for some of the words that are in the Bible such as “Amen” or “salt.” But John did not get discouraged. God sent an Indian who was captured in the Pequot War to help John Eliot translate the Bible. The Bible was finally finished and printed in 1633, and it was the very first Bible ever printed here in the United States! Later, John revised the translation and reprinted it at a cost of over five thousand dollars. John donated some of the money for the reprinting himself from his small salary. The rest of the money came from England. Today, it is very difficult to find one of these Bibles.

 

After John printed a Bible for the Indian people, he decided to print a grammar book for them. There are only fourteen or fifteen copies of this book left in the world today. At the end of the book, John Eliot wrote something that you would do well to memorize: “Prayer and pains, through faith in Jesus Christ, will do anything.” Do you know what that means? It means anything can happen if we do three things: Talk to God about it; Work as hard as you can; and trust God that He will do what He said He would do. If we do these three things, we can do great things for God!

 

What great things does God want you to do? Does God want you to win your friends to the Lord Jesus Christ? Does He want you to tell your neighbors that live on your street that God loves them and died for their sin? How can you accomplish all this? Pray and ask God to help you. Work as hard as you can to witness to them. Have faith that God is able to save your friends and neighbors! “Prayer and pains, through faith in Jesus Christ, will do anything.” What else can God help you with? Doing your best at school? Obeying your mommy and daddy? Getting along with your brothers and sisters? What things can you think of?

 

John Eliot died in 1690 when he was eighty-six years old, but he was faithful to God until his dying day. In fact, when he was too old and sick to get out of bed and preach, he asked his friends to send their slaves to him so he could give them the gospel! What a faithful man! Do you know what his dying words were? “Welcome joy!” Why don’t you decide today that you will show the love of Christ to others for the rest of your life just as John Eliot did?

 

This story is taken from Fifty Missionary Heroes Every Boy and Girl Should Know and is adapted by Katie Cox.

 

Visit the Indian display at the Christian Heritage Center on the campus of The Crown College, Powell, Tennessee.