EDWARDS, JONATHAN, DD. president of Union college at Schenectady, New-York, was the son of the preceding. He was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, June 6, 1745. He was educated at Princeton college, and graduated in 1765./ After studying divinity under the care of Dr. Bellamy, he was licensed to preach by the association of ministers in the county of Litchfield, Connecticut, October, 1766. In 1767, he was appointed tutor of Princeton college. In 1769, he was called to officiate in the church at White-Haven, and continued there till May, 1795, when he was dismissed by an ecclesiastical council at his own request, and the request of his people. In January, 1796, he was installed pastor of the church at Colebrook, in Litchfield county. In June, 1799, he was elected president of Union college, in which office he died August 1, 1801. Dr. Edwards was a man of uncommon powers of mind. He has seldom been surpassed in acuteness and penetration, and is an author of very considerable reputation.) His answer to Dr. Chauncey, his dissertation on the liberty of the will, in reply to Dr. West, and his sermons on the atonement of Christ, are considered as works of great and peculiar merit, and prove him to be a critic and a scholar.

He also edited from the MSS. of his father, the history of the work of redemption, two volumes of sermons, and two volumes of observations on important theological subjects.

ELLIOT, JOHN, commonly called the apostle to the Indians, exhibited more lively traits of an extraordinary character than we find in most ages of the church, or in most christian churches. He who could prefer the American wilderness to the pleasant fields of Europe, was ready to wander through this wilderness for the sake of doing good. To be

active was the delight of his soul; and he went to the hovels which could not keep out the wind and the rain, where he laboured incessantly among the aboriginals of America, though his popular talents gave him a distinction among the first divines of Massachusetts. He was born in England in 1604. After receiving his education at the university of Cambridge, he was for some time the instructer of youth. In 1631, he arrived in this country, and in the following year was settled as a teacher of the church in Roxbury. His benevolent labours were not confined to his own people. Having imbibed the true spirit of the gospel, his heart was touched with the wretched condition of the Indians, and he became eagerly desirous of making them acquainted with the glad tidings of salvation. There were at the time when he began his labours near twenty tribes of Indians within the limits of the English planters. The Massachusetts language, in which he translated the bible and several practical pieces, serving the purpose of a missionary; the first thing he did was to learn this language of the people. An old Indian, who could speak English, was taken into his family, and by conversing freely with him, he learnt to talk it, and soon was able to reduce it to some method; and became at last so much master of it, as to publish a grammar which is printed in some editions of the Indian bibles.

In October, 1646, he preached his first sermon to an assembly of Indians at Nonantum, the present town of Newton. After the sermon was finished, he desired them to ask any questions which they thought proper. One immediately inquired whether Jesus Christ could understand prayers in the Indian language? Another, how all the world became full of people if they were all once drowned? A third asked, how there could be the image of God, since it was forbidden in the commandment? At another time when he preached to them, an old man asked with tears in his eyes, whether it was not too late for

him to repent and turn unto God! A second, how it came to pass, that sea water was salt, and river water fresh; how the English came to differ so much from the Indians in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, since they all at first had but one father; and why, if the water is larger than the earth, it does not overflow the earth? It was his custom to spend weeks together to instruct them in divine things, and how they could improve their condition upon the earth. He partook with them their hard fare, with locks wet with the dews of the night, and exposed to the attacks from the beasts of the forest; or to their spears and arrows who were fiercer than wolves, and more terrible in their howlings. None of these things moved him; like a brave soldier he fought the good fight of faith, bearing every suffering with cheerfulness, and every pain with resignation. They often threatened him when alone with them in the wilderness with evil, if he did not desist from his labours, but he was a man not to be shaken in his purpose by the fear of danger. He said to them: "I am about the work of the great God, and my God is with me; so that I neither fear you nor all the sachems in the country; and do you touch me if you dare."

In his missionary tours he planted a number of churches, and visited all the Indians in Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies, pursuing his way as far as Cape Cod. The first Indian church formed after the manner of the congregational churches in New-England, was established at Natick in 1660. Mr. Elliot afterwards administered to them baptism and the Lord's supper. He made every exertion to promote the welfare of the Indian tribes; he stimulated many servants of Jesus to engage in the missionary work, and lived to see twenty-four aboriginal fellow-preachers of the gospel of Christ. In 1661, he published the New Testament in the Indian language.

He

possessed an influence over the Indians which

no other missionary could obtain. During the war with the sachem Philip, 1675, he appears in a character very interesting to the community. He was their shield. He plead their cause with great firmness, and prevented their extermination by an infuriate multitude.

After living eighty-six years in this world of trial, the spirit of this excellent divine took its flight to a better world, May 20, 1690. Few of his family were alive to lament his death; but he was lamented by the whole family of virtue, and by all the sincere friends of religion. Though he lived many years, they were filled with usefulness; succeeding generations mentioned his name with profound respect; his labours were applauded in Europe and America; and all who now contemplate his active services, his benevolent zeal, his prudence, his upright conduct, his charity, are ready to declare his memory precious. Such a man will be handed down to future times, an object of admiration and love, and appear conspicuous in the historic page, when distant ages celebrate the worthies of New-England.

Besides his translation of the Bible into the Indian tongue, he published the "Glorious Progress of the Gospel Among the Indians, &c." 1649-" The Tears of Repentance," 1653-"A Farther Account of the Gospel Among the Indians,” 1659—“ The Christian Commonwealth," 1660-" The Jews in America," 1660, intended to prove that the Indians were descendents of the Jews-" The Harmony of the Gospels," 1678, &c.

ELLSWORTH, OLIVER, chief justice of the United States, and a distinguished statesman, was born at Windsor, Connecticut, April 29, 1745, and was

graduated at Princeton in 1766. He soon afterwards commenced the practice of the law, in which profession he attained an acknowledged eminence.

In 1777, he was chosen a delegate to the continental congress. In 1780, he was elected a member of the council of his native state, where he remained till 1784, when he was appointed a judge of the superior court. In 1787, he was elected a member of the convention which framed the federal constitution. In this assembly, illustrious for talents, erudition, and patriotism, he held a distinguished place. His exertions essentially aided in the production of an instrument, which, under the divine blessing, has been the main pillar of American prosperity and glory. He was afterwards appointed a member of the state convention, and contributed his efforts towards procuring the ratification of that instrument. In 1789, when the federal government was organized, he was chosen a member of the senate. With his accustomed dignity he filled this elevated station till 1796, when he was nominated by president Washington, chief justice of the supreme court of the United States. This office he discharged with great reputation. In 1799, he was appointed by president Adams envoy extraordinary to France, for the purpose of accommodating existing difficulties, and settling a treaty with that nation. In conjunction with governor Davie and Mr. Murray, his associates, he negotiated a treaty, which, though it did not answer the just claims and expectations of the American public, was undoubtedly the best that could be procured. In 1800, he transmitted a resignation of his office of chief justice. On his return to his native state, his fellow citizens, still desirous to enjoy his extraordinary talents, appointed him chief justice of the state. This office, however, he declined, on account of his bad state of health. He died November 26, 1807.