Eleazar Wheelock, letter, to Samson Occom, 1771 August 15
Date15 August, 1771
Call Number771465
abstractWheelock writes a strongly worded rebuttal of Occom’s criticisms regarding Wheelock’s withdrawl from Indian education.
handwritingDocument is not written in Wheelock’s hand. Letter case with regard to the letter “y” is difficult to discern -- when it is in question, the transcriber has opted for lower case.
paperLarge sheet folded in half to make four pages is in good condition, with light-to-moderate creasing, staining and wear.
inkLight brown ink is faded.
noteworthyPostscript appears to have been added in different ink. Given the lack of an address or seal, and the fact that the document is not in Wheelock's hand, it is possible/likely that this is a copy.
EventsFundraising Tour of Great Britain
Modernized Version Deletions removed; additions added in; modern spelling and capitalization added; unfamiliar abbreviations expanded.
ways to hear of your health and prosperity and have never failed
of a disposition to promote your usefulness and your
Comfort, but to use the same freedom which You
approve and set me an example of, I must tell You
I either very much want a good spiritual taste
or your letter has a very ill savor for a Christian
or rather if I have any good taste at all, it much
savors of pride, arrogance and a want of proper
concern to heal the bleeding wounds of our
glorious Redeemer. You discover very great Ig
norance of my plan, my object, my reasons and
motives, my views and prospects, and as great a
degree of uncharitableness as of ignorance. You
show no degree of brotherly and Christian Sympathy
towards me in my long and weary travail, notwith
standing your nation have been invariably my
chief object, nor any disposition to encourage
my Heart or strengthen my hands, though un
der a weight heavy enough to crush an Angel,
and in a Cause which has been and still is, so
astonishingly owned of God —
To Rev. Mr. Occom
August 15th 1771 —
And though my memory be poor, yet matters which
impress my mind, as the following particulars have
done, I am far from imagining that I have only
dreamed about them viz 1st when I saw you after
your return from Europe I proposed your going on a
mission among remote tribes, as those near you
were a[illegible]nder the care of and supplied by the
London Board in Boston. you insisted upon your
staying at home one Year, I proposed your
making a settlement for yourself and Wife and part
of your family among some remote na[illegible][guess: ]tion,
and promised you my assistance, and friend[illegible]ship as to your
comfortable support there, You rejected the proposal.
I offered to take part of your Children, viz all
that were suitable for it, if you pleased and educate
them in the best manner I could in my School,
You showed no disposition to comply with it. 2ndly
I never discouraged your going into the Indian
Country, nor showed any coldness towards it, unless
when you proposed only just to make a short
visit, which I was not sure would answer the
expense which You let me know would be necessary
to prepare You for and support you in it —
3rdly You always knew there was money enough and
my Heart always open to supply you as soon
as I could see your Heart in earnest to serve
the Redeemer's Cause in that capacity.
4thly the first I ever heard of your being dis
posed to seek a settlement in the wilder
ness, was by Mr. Woodward last Winter,
Whereupon I wrote a judicious Christian
friend, to inquire of your moral Charac
ter, and advise whether it was such, as that
I might with honor to the Redeemer's,
Cause employ you, and hoped to hear, that
which might warrant my proceeding
thereto. And there is nothing wanting at this
time, but proper satisfaction that it
may be done without reproach to the Re
deemer's Cause, in order to engage all my
heart and powers therein. 5thly I believed
your brother David did very sinfully in leaving
the Cause in the wilderness as he did.
and that his treatment of me was very ungenerous
and abusive, the particulars whereof I have
told him. I have constantly wished to
see him convinced of this rashness and folly, and have
been propense to forgive and restore him, and am so
at this moment, thus I have given you a
little sketch of things as they lie in my
mind. My dear Man, I think you much dis
honor God, in treating his great goodness to You
in opening such a favorable door to go on your
so much improving and advantageous tour to Europe
almost as though you had gone through a most tragical
Scene of persecution. I am now got near my
journey's end, and long to be at rest, God grant
we may both appear before him, washed in
the Redeemer's blood and clothed with his white
Robes.
With Love to You and Mrs. Occom
I am yet Your friend and Well wisher
Eleazar Wheelock
Consideration, or as much as you mention, provided he be in
earnest engaged to promote the Cause proposed. I am weary
of connections with Men in whom there is no Faith.