ELLIOT.. 487 the work of reformation was opposed,. particularly by the bishops, in the church of England. it was a settled prin- ciple with him, that, in promoting the reformation of churches, every thing ought to be reduced to the primitive and apostolic institution. He was persuaded that a church, according to the New Testament, "is a congregation of professed believers, with officers of divine appointment, agreeing to meet together for the celebration of divine ordi- nances, and their mutual edification." After the closest examination, it was his settled opinion, " that no approved writers, for the space of two hundred years after Christ, make any mention of any other organized, professing chris- tian church, than that only which is congregational." He could not conceive how a church could arise from, any other formal cause than the voluntary consent and confede- ration of the several parties concerned, by first giving them- selves to the Lord, and then to one another. This great man could not be satisfied with his regular ministerial exercises among his own people : his soul longed for the conversion of the wild Indians. After much con- sideration, and earnest prayer for the direction and blessing of God, he entered upon the arduous work. His design was no sooner made known than several favourable cir- cumstances concurred to afford him encouragement. The enterprize was, indeed, laborious ; but all the good people in the country rejoiced in his undertaking, and neighbouring ministers kindly supplied his pulpit while he laboured abroad. Also the Lord inclined great numbers of religious persons in England to make liberal contributions for its encouragement and support. Oliver Cromwell warmly espoused the cause, and commanded collections to be made in all the parishes throughout England for this important object. The sum collectectwas very considerable. For, in addition to other stock, lands were purchased to the amount of seven or eight hundred pounds a year ; and a corporation was appointed to employ the rents for promoting the con- version of the Indians.. Mr. Elliot's first business was to obtain a correct acquaint- ancewith the Indian language, a work of immense difficulty, on account of the excessive length of the words, and, the little affinity with any other language. Many of the words are so prodigiously long, that one would think, says Dr. Mather, they had been growing in .length ever since the confusion of Sylvester's Life of Baxter, part ii. p. 290.
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