Final answer:
The excerpt from "Indian Relations" in Of Plymouth Plantation details the uneven early relations between New England Puritans and Native Americans, focusing on the Puritan mission to evangelize through Praying Towns and education, and the perceived decline of the Puritan mission in the late seventeenth century due to losing their charter and failing to engage new church members.
Step-by-step explanation:
The excerpt from "Indian Relations" in Of Plymouth Plantation reflects on the early relations between the New England Puritans and Native Americans. When the Puritans settled Plymouth and Massachusetts, their charters emphasized the need to spread the Christian gospel to the Indians. While initially, relationships were inconsistent, it wasn’t until after the Pequot War that substantial efforts, such as the work of John Eliot, began to convert and educate natives, leading to the establishment of Praying Towns and education of "praying Indians" who attended institutions like Harvard.
The objective summary of the text suggests that early relations between the Puritans and Native Americans were complex and evolved over time, with cultural clashes and the Puritan mission to convert the natives to Christianity being key factors. The author's opinion on Indian relations appears to be that, despite the intentions to evangelize and the temporary successes in creating Praying Towns, the overall period is viewed as a decline for the Puritans because they lost their charter and failed to win over new generations to the church, leading some to believe their mission had failed.